Disclaimer: I do not own the song Stand in the Rain by Superchick, nor any published version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (yet).
Erupting from the front door of the palace Belle fled the roars of pain and betrayal. Her feet were heavy but she forced herself across the courtyard and into her old beater of a truck named Fred. She clambered into the driver's seat, stabbed the key into the ignition and floored it out the gate.
Behind her eyes tears burned, but she wouldn't let them out. The rain pelted her windshield, almost opaque in its intensity. Belle kept her mind blank, afraid to think about anything, afraid to think about him.
Through the mountains and down into the foothills she pushed the speed limit. Finally Fred ran out of gas, sputtering to a stop.
"No," Belle pleaded with her classic steed, "No, not now." She pounded at the steering wheel in vain, hysteria coming on quick. Trying to restart the poor fossil she turned the key at least ten times. She could feel the tears coming, feel the sobs crawling up her throat.
As long as she was moving she could stay ahead of her heart and her grief. Throwing herself against the door she jumped out of Fred and into the tempest. For a minute she just stood there staring up into the heavens, not thinking, just feeling the tears of angels washing over her cheeks.
Then the storm behind her eyes finally broke through, and the grief caught up with her. She turned to run from it but she couldn't. It was in her. He was in her. She could never get far enough away. Falling to her knees Belle wailed into the wind, sobbing unintelligibly. Bent over double she sat on the double yellow line. This was the end. She could go no further. Everything was over and there was nothing left. She had failed.
Above her the storm roared so loudly it reminded her of something, someone from not so long ago. Belle hugged her sopping trench coat tighter and tried to breath. "There's only one way out of this," her heart whispered through the tempest.
"I'm not going back!" she screamed out loud, and the sobs dug their talons into her lungs again. "I can't - I can't go back." Curling into a fetal ball of young woman smack dab in the center of the mountain road she gave over to the tears and the screams of hopelessness. They were a better alternative to thinking.
Finally when she had exhausted herself Belle collapsed and fell prostrate on her back, looking up at the falling rain. From this angle it looked like she was traveling through a rip in time. Through the rain drops came images, pictures she didn't want to see, or remember; curling up next to the fire and reading Cupid and Psyche aloud to him, falling asleep in his arms and the gentle sway of him carrying her up the stairs as she snuggled into his warm fur coat, waking up on the coldest mountain morning and feeling no bite of cold because of the hulk of heat and fur that sat next to her bed, radiating heat.
"If you're going to miss him this much then go back!" her heart scolded her. "He needs you just as much! Stand up, child, and go get your man!"
Beneath the pounding of the rain and the roaring of the thunder a loan figure slowly found the strength to push herself to her feet and stand straight. She looked up again to the vortex of water and saw that hideous face she had learned to love. Her shoulders lifted and her breath came back.
"I'm coming," she whispered into the rain, hoping beyond hope that he heard her. Belle turned around slowly walking as if she had forgotten how, one step slowly in front of the other. But she gathered more surety with each step and soon she was running back the way she came.
AN: Inspired by Superchick's Stand in the Rain.