by A. Anders
It was as she held him that she knew that she could spend the rest of her life with him. Belle more than just loved him. Buried in his strong grasp, Belle knew that this was who she was supposed to be with.
It was Belle who slowed their twirling motion encouraging the Beast to look down. Belle slowly looked up lifting her chin. This was it. Belle was about to kiss her beast. And as she pressed her lips against her love’s, the Beast suddenly pulled back letting go of Belle.
“What’s the matter?” Belle asked desperate to be in his arms again.
The Beast turned and looked away. Belle followed him again placing herself in front of him. “Beast, you don’t have to be afraid. I love you. If you love me too…”
“Belle, stop.”
“Why should I stop? I don’t care what you are or what you look like. None of that matters to me. I have seen the man you are inside and with that man, I have fallen in love,” she said vulnerably.
The Beast, who had been avoiding Belle’s eyes, finally looked at her sympathetically.
“What’s wrong, Beast? You don’t have to hide anything from me.”
The Beast took a deep breath and looked at Belle with love. “Belle, there is something that I haven’t told you.”
“What is it?”
“I love someone else.”
“What? Who?” Belle asked feeling her heart break.
“When I was a boy, I fell in love. Perhaps I was too young and innocent to know what love was or the effects my love would have on others, but I did fall in love. This was after my mother had died. She might’ve understood. My father didn’t.
“One day my father stumbled upon us together. He flew into a rage. He beat me and the person I loved. My father banished their entire family. He had taken the only person I had ever loved from me. He ripped a hole in me that can never be filled.”
The Beast looked at Belle. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. He wiped them with his large fingers.
“I could never feel for you the way I will always feel for the only person I have ever loved. I’m sorry, Belle. I care about you, but I could never love you in that way.”
Belle’s heart broke as she listened to the Beast. She couldn’t understand why the Beast would say such a thing. Everything he had done with her and for her had told her that he loved her. Why would he say this now?
It was in that moment that the books surrounding the music hall suddenly jumped from the shelves and began swirling around the room. This didn’t look playful or magical. This was threatening and dangerous. Instinctually Belle clutched the Beast. He reached his hand around her protecting her.
“What’s wrong?” the Beast asked looking up at the invisible enchanters. After he asked it, the Beast’s ears twitched. Whipping his attention towards an open door, the Beast let go of Belle and sprung to life in full fury.
“Beast, what’s happening?” Belle yelled after him.
“Stay back, Belle,” he bellowed. “We have an intruder.”
Needing to know what was going on, Belle followed the Beast as he charged through the castle. Soon she heard it too. There was something banging on the castle’s main entrance door. As she ran towards it, she heard what sounded like an explosion. It was gunfire. It didn’t deter Belle. Knowing that the Beast was in danger, she moved her legs even faster to find him.
When Belle reached the walkway overlooking the main entrance, it was in time to see the Beast leave the last stair. He leaped at the intruder who charged towards him with gun drawn. Before the Beast could do anything, the intruder shot. The Beast was hit.
Although slowed, that didn’t stop the Beast. Continuing through the air, Belle’s protector landed on the large man. The weakened beast fought with him. The large man was winning.
“Belle?” A familiar voice yelled.
The sound of the voice made Belle’s stomach drop. She knew who it was. Her body moved towards it before the image displayed in her mind. “Papa?” Belle said searching the open entrance way for his face.
Sprinting down the stairs, Belle forgot about the Beast.
“Belle, is that you?” Her father asked stepping into the hall making himself visible.
“Papa!” She said holding back the tears as she ran towards him.
The Beast, who had worked his way to his feet, lunged again at the intruder. Rolling out of the way, the intruder withdrew his sword and slashed. It caught the Beast across his chest. The intruder wasted no time going in for his attack.
With the Beast off balance, Captain Bernard hit the Beast across the head with the hilt of his sword. The Beast dropped like a rock. He wasn’t fighting anymore.
The monster would be Captain Bernard’s greatest kill. Stepping above him, the Captain wasted no time placing both hands on his sword’s hilt. Turning the blade towards the Beast’s chest, he lifted it high into the air.
“No, wait. He’s not a monster,” Belle said throwing her body over the Beast.
It was then that Belle recognized him. “Captain Bernard?” She said suddenly confused.
“Belle, what are you doing?” Captain Bernard asked fighting back his bloodthirsty rage.
“You don’t understand,” Belle told him. “He’s gentle. He looks like a monster but he’s one of the kindest men I have ever met.”
The Captain was about to dismiss her and finished his job when something inside of him clicked. With his sword still held high, Captain Bernard stopped. As he looked down into the Beast’s eyes, Bernard had a flash. The monster’s eyes were hauntingly familiar.
Captain Bernard’s heart snapped in two as he recognized from where. He slowly lowered his sword. He could barely breathe. As much as he tried, words could no longer leave his lips. Knowing that he needed to speak, he used every bit of his strength to force something out.
“Prince Renaud?” Bernard said unable to fight back his tears.
Belle looked at the Captain strangely. “Prince Renaud? No. This is the Beast. But he isn’t really a beast. He is a wonderful man.”
“Prince Renaud, is that you? Don’t you recognize me? It’s Bernard your childhood friend.”
“No. I said he wasn’t Prince Renaud. He’s…”
It was then that it hit Belle. Captain Bernard had called the Beast Prince Renaud. Bernard had said that he was the Beast’s childhood friend. The Beast had said that the love of his life was ripped from him by his father. Prince Renaud had said that that was what had turned the boy into the Beast. And Captain Bernard had said that he had once loved a man.
Captain Bernard was the boy that Prince Renaud had loved.
Belle rolled off of the Beast struggling to put it all together.
“Prince Renaud?” Bernard asked again.
“Bernard?” the Beast said beginning to see the boy he loved in the Captain’s eyes. “Bernard, is that you?”
Captain Bernard smiled under a flood of tears. “It is me, Prince. I have missed you so much.”
The Beast started to cry as he reached out for the Captain. “And I have missed you. I can’t tell you how much.”
Captain Bernard threw his body on the Beast and held him tight. The love that the two men showed for each other confused Belle. How could this all be happening? How could the Beast be Prince Renaud? Hadn’t she met Prince Renaud in her dreams? Had the dreams been just that, a figment of her imagination?
“Belle,” her father said running to her and holding her in his arms.
Through the confusion, Belle recognized the strong loving touch of her father. “Papa, I don’t understand. How is it that you two are here?”
“A miracle, Belle. Captain Bernard agreed to help me rescue you. We have you now, but I’m not sure what else is going on.”
As grateful as Belle was to see her father, she wasn’t sure about his assessment. Had she needed to be rescued? As unfortunately as the entire situation had begun, this castle was beginning to feel like home. At the center of that was the Beast. But she was beginning to question whether she knew the
Beast it all now that Captain Bernard had called him Prince Renaud.
“Captain Bernard, I demand you tell me what is going on here?” Belle said feeling her life slowly being ripped from her.
The Captain responded.
“Belle, I wish I knew myself. This man here is not a beast all. He is my Prince. I don’t know what could have happened to him that would make him look like this, but he will always be my Prince.
“You and your father should go. The forest is teeming with wolves. We may have beaten them back on our way here, but there is no telling when they will return.
“Go with your father now. I will stay here and take care of him. I have nursed back to health men who have been much worse off than this. If you care about him, don’t worry. He will be fine. But you should go now before the wolves make it impossible for you to pass.”
Belle’s father squeezed her shoulder. “The Captain is right, Belle. We almost didn’t make it here. We need to go back while we still can.”
Belle felt dazed. Too much was going on. She couldn’t think much less sort everything out. “Wait, I have to take care of the Beast.”
“I told you, he is no beast. He is a man, one of the most beautiful that I’ve ever known. I will take care of him. I promise. And then I will love him like no one else could,” Captain Bernard confirmed.
“But…” Belle said struggling to put her thoughts into words.
“Belle?” the Beast said as he lay on the ground.
Belle left her father’s arms and rushed over to the Beast. The Captain moved aside giving her space to talk to her captor one last time.
“Yes, Beast?” She grabbed his hand with both of hers.
“Belle, I want you to go.”
“What? No.”
“You must. It was a mistake for me to capture your father and then have you suffer the same fate. That is not the man I want to be. This injustice must be corrected. Besides, I’ve told you, I could never feel for you the way I’ve always felt for him.”
Belle’s heart ached hearing the words. “But you care for me. I know you do.”
“I do care for you. I might even love you. But the way I feel for Bernard goes beyond just caring. I know that you are an innocent girl so I will be respectful. But I feel something physical for Bernard and it is not something I could ever feel for you. I’m sorry, Belle. You should go.”
The tears that soaked Belle’s cheeks could not begin to represent the ache that she felt in her heart. She couldn’t take anymore. She had to leave. Standing and running to her father, she threw her arms around him. Bawling in his arms, he escorted her out.
Before she knew it, she was sitting next to her father on the carriage. Quickly after that, the castle, where she thought she had found the man she wanted to spend the rest my life with, was fading into the distance.
Belle continued to cry as she laid in her father’s lap. She couldn’t give any thought to the danger that they were under as they crossed through the Dark Forest. She was too lost in the pain of it all.
This couldn’t be the end of it. There had to be more to her story with the Beast then that. What could it be, though? The Beast had reconnected with the love of his life. Where did that leave her?
Chapter 18
After Belle and her father had arrived home, Belle found it hard to stop thinking about the Beast. She had to, though. Her father needed taking care of. He wasn’t the same man that left their house to sell the clock all of those weeks ago. He was a little more scatterbrained and distraught.
With each day, it got better for both of them. It didn’t take long for a sense of normalcy to return. Eventually, Belle’s father went back to making his clocks. Belle went back to assisting him when she could, cooking meals and taking the occasional fishing trip to the stream.
The agony she felt from losing the Beast hit her in waves. But the more time passed, the more release she felt from the pain.
“Papa, are you sure you’ll be okay without me today?” Belle asked her father a final time.
“Yes, Belle. I’ll be fine. Go enjoy your time fishing. You deserve a break too, you know.”
She did know. She was feeling quite tired and this was one of the days when losing the Beast weighed on her heavily.
Kissing her father and leaving the house with her supplies, she casually made her way through town and the surrounding field. When she reached the stream, she spread out her blanket. Sitting for a moment, she reminisced on all the memories that she had there.
This was the only place that she and Trudeau had been together. This was also where she had been with Captain Bernard. It made her feel good to remember all of the people that she had loved. And getting comfortable, she set up her fishing box, tossed out her hook, and then leaned back and read a book.
Later, with two fish already in her basket, Belle was considering returning home. It was approaching evening but she certainly had enough time for one more casting. Wondering if it would be worth it, she heard something rustling in the brush. It snatched her attention.
“Hello?” Belle asked wondering if she should be concerned.
“Hello?” A rattling older voice replied.
Belle relaxed. “Who is it?” Belle called out.
“It’s just an old woman,” the woman said before stepping into view.
Out of courtesy, Belle stood up. She certainly was an old woman. She had to be ancient. Covered with rags, she was short. Her back was curved like the ‘C’ and the only thing keeping her from toppling over was the wooden cane that she leaned on.
“Oh, can I help you with anything,” Belle asked feeling sympathy for the old woman.
“Yes, perhaps you have something that a hungry, old woman can eat,” the old woman said.
Belle immediately thought about the fish she had caught. “I do.” Belle retrieved her basket. “In fact, I have these two fish if you would like them.”
The old woman looked at Belle a little surprised. Her widened eyes quickly narrowed and the old woman looked down as she held out her hand. “That is very kind of you. But as you can see, my fingers are gnarled and worthless. I could never cook the fish, so I will never be able to eat them.”
Belle looked down at the old woman’s hands. They certainly were gnarled. All of her fingers were bent unnaturally to the side. Feeling sympathy for her again, Belle thought of something else.
“Well, if you would like me to, I can escort you back to my home and I could cook the fish for you. Would you like to do that?” Belle asked graciously.
Again the old woman was surprised. “An old woman like me would like that very much,” she said stepping forward.
Belle and the old woman walked back to Belle’s village. The old woman moved slowly. That left a lot of time for conversation. Belle wasn’t in the mood for talking, but she politely answered when the old woman asked her about herself.
Belle told her that she and her father lived in a very beautiful hamlet where everyone was as friendly as they could be. Belle decided that that was true. The locals weren’t very friendly to her, but considering their close-minded upbringings, they were actually being as friendly to Belle as they knew how to be.
By the time that Belle and the old woman reached their home, Belle was thinking about her father. The walk back took considerably longer than she had planned for. Her father had to been starving by now. But seeing the condition of their guest, Belle was also sure that her father would understand.
“Papa?” Belle called out as she entered their quaint house.
The only response Belle got back was a snore. Her father was asleep.
“That’s strange,” Belle said to the old woman.
“What’s that, Deary?”
“My father. He’s never asleep at this time.”
“Perhaps he’s taking a nap. When you get old, you start to need a lot of naps.”
“I guess,” Belle conceded turning her focus to cooking for her guest.
Belle scaled and salted the
fish. When done, she hung the fish over the stove to dry.
“The fish will be ready in about an hour. Afterward, I can give them to you and you can eat them whenever you’d like.”
“You are the kindest, Deary. But what this old woman would like more than anything else would be, perhaps, a slice of bread,” the old woman requested.
“Of course,” Belle replied pulling a loaf from a cabinet. “You can have this entire loaf. And, if you’d like, you can have two.”
The old woman was pleased as Belle handed her the bread. But instead of eating it, the old woman looked around excitedly wondering what else she could get.