Chapter One: Loveless

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere; I want it more than I can bear..." Once said Belle. But now, as she sat beside the fireplace, tending to the Animal's wounds, she wondered if this grand "adventure" was not just an excuse to put an end her boring life. Before she met the Beast, she was not content with her existence; she devored books with desperation and vanity, seeking comfort in unrealistic worlds, unable to face reality. So when her father was captured by the Animal and left to rot in his cell, Belle readily told the Beast she would take her father's place. She had absolutely nothing to lose; even her own identity had no value to her.

But the Beast showed her compassion; he allowed her to stay in a large bedroom with talking furniture for company. Belle was ungrateful and threw tantrums. The Animal could not understand why. Why didn't Belle want to eat supper with him? Why didn't she relax and make herself comfortable? Why didn't she listen to him when he asked her not to go into the West Wing?

The day he caught her in the West Wing was a day when the Beast revealed himself to her; a true Animal, full of passion, hysterical delights. Belle fled, hoping to be chased down and hunted. She wanted to be caught and shredded in his powerful jaws... But instead, she was the one saving him: The Beast did pursue her, but only as a savior against the wolves- a battle which left her at a crossroads, and him in rags.

Belle wanted danger. She craved it. She wanted to be roughed up and abused. She wanted to feel alive. But the Beast steeled himself; he tried yelling less often, he tried listening to her stories. He practiced patience and kindness; he showed to her his massive library, thinking that she would be happily surprised.

But Belle never visted the library since that day. Instead, he found her wandering, brown eyes glazed over with a pain he could not connect with. But then something happened between them. Belle discovered that her father was dying, and begged to leave the castle in order to help him. By this point, Belle was so tired of waiting for the tame Beast to dominate her that she couldn't stand the thought of staying with him.

The Beast allowed her to go, letting her keep the mirror to his world so that she can always look back and see him. But Belle had no interest in the mirror; she had no reason to look back into the face of submission.

The next time Belle saw the Animal, he was climbing up the side of the castle. She could see him plainly from her position on the balcony in the West Wing. She had returned in order to see what strength he could muster up when fighting Gaston- would the Beast finally let himself go? Or would he let himself be slaughtered like a stupid lamb?

"Beast!" She called down to him. A reminder.

The Animal looked up into the rain, squinting his eyes. "Belle..." He whispered. She extended a hand out to him and he took hold of it tightly.

Just then, Gaston plunged his knife into the Beast's side. The Beast let out a tremendous roar that send shivers up Belle's spine. Gaston waved around pathetically, lost his footing, and fell down into the shadows, never to be seen again.

And now, Belle thought, this Beast has become my responsibility. This dominated pet, who swoons at the slightest attention I give to him. She realized, deep inside, that she felt nothing for this sad Animal except pity. She did not love him.

As she continued washing his wound, Belle caught the Beast's blue eyes staring straight at her. She didn't know why. Was it sadness in his eyes..? Near by, the enchanted rose finally lost it's last petal.