Small puffs of smoke left her mouth as she ran, her small legs struggling to keep her ahead of the feral wolves behind her. Dark brown eyes darted about the forest, looking for an unlikely savior as she scrambled over fallen branches and screamed for help. A startled yelp left her when her hair snagged on a overhanging branch, halting her progress. Shaking overwhelmed her small body as she watched the wolves circling her eagerly, their glowing eyes flashing in the darkness. She whimpered as the biggest wolf came towards her, teeth bared. A loud snarling was heard and she saw a flash of black tackling the wolf away from her, followed by the rest of the wolfs jumping towards the brawling duo. Her fingers shook as she struggled to free her hair, and when she finally succeeded, everything had fallen silent. She slowly turned back around to see the largest wolf she'd ever seen standing before her. (Though her experiences thus-far with wolves had been limited to those chasing her.) Yellow eyes glowed at her as the black canine stalked toward her slowly, more intimidating alone than the whole pack had been. It tilted its head to the side as though considering her, and disappeared a moment before she heard her father's shouts for her.

Belle jerked awake, eyes searching the darkness for eyes that would not be there. Long nailed fingers raked through her hair slowly as she sat up, pursing her lips. It had been twelve years since that night, and even now, she still had that dream. She had not seen a glimpse of the wolf that had saved her that night, but she heard about him every now and then. The Beast. He had killed grown men that went after him, so it made no sense to her why he would save her, a little girl. But there was no denying that he had, and her tales of the beast's actions had made her a village outcast, some people even going so far as to call her a 'devil's spawn'. But there was still one man who-

"Belle! Are you awake yet?! Have you decided to change your mind yet?"

-was annoyingly persistent and would not leave her the hell alone! She felt her mood sour as she hastily got dressed, not willing to put it past Gaston to burst into her father's house.

"Ah, Gaston! Here to attempt to woo Belle again are you lad?"

"Of course! She's the lucky girl I'm going to marry!"

"Haha, good lad, good lad. She'll wear down eventually, don't worry!"

Her father was quickly making his way onto her bad side, it seems. She narrowed her eyes on her reflection as she pulled her long brown hair into a loose ponytail, allowing her wavy bangs to frame her pale face. Nowadays, it was supposed to be her choice who she married. Then again, her father came from a different time, and fully believed that women could be worn down. She'd show him worn down-

"Belle! You lazy girl, get your head out of your books and come great our guest!"

She gave a mischievous smirk as she pulled on her stall-mucking outfit, and made her way downstairs. Unfortunately, she had cleaned it the previous day, so it wouldn't deter Gaston by smell, but the loose trousers and shirt would put off most men anyways.

"Oh, papa, I was just getting ready to clean out Phillipe's stall..." she murmured, hand over her face in mock embarrassment.

"You impossible girl! How am I going to marry you off when you present yourself like that!" the old man frowned sharply.

"They all think I'm either crazy or the devil himself anyways, remember?" she frowned, and he laughed, mood changing quickly.

"Ah, but good ol' Gaston here doesn't!"

Of course he doesn't. He's a lunatic himself, Belle thought, frowning slightly as she bowed her way out of the room.

"Sorry Monsieur Gaston, but I have chores to do today!" she quickly ducked out of the room, heading for the forest.

"Be careful in there Belle! The Beast has been seen close lately!" she heard the hunter worn from her back porch.

"Take a hint already will ya?" she mumbled as she waved over her shoulder, not looking back.

She quickly found her way to the large tree that she had claimed for her own, in a glad that wasn't too deep into the forest, but deep enough that her father wouldn't follow. Her hands lifted one of the books that she had hidden beneath the trunk, and she settled herself down to read, sighing in relief.

VI

"You could do a lot worse than a noble, you know?" Belle frowned as her mother began curling her hair.

She had been bathed, tied into a corset and thrown into a crimson, off the shoulder dress as soon as she'd gotten home that night.

"How much better do you think you could get? You won't get a prince, that's for sure. Gaston is a well off noble, a successful hunter. You won't get better than him as far as a provider goes," her mother continued when Belle stayed silent.

"How about that goat herder that lives south of the village?" she murmured, causing her mother to tug her hair sharply.

"Curb that tongue young lady. You need to act like a lady for your fiance tonight," Belle's eyes widened in horror at the word.

Fiance? Not Gaston, surely...

VI

The occasion for the dress was a party. The reason for the party was her betrothal. To Gaston. She felt bile rise in her throat as the large man put his hand at her waist, laughing in a loud, obnoxious voice. I want so much more than this provincial life. She waited until the others had left before turning to the noble beside her.

"Gaston, you know I don't want this," she tried to reason, stomach tightening when he just smirked.

"I thought you might say that. Bring her in!" he called out, making her frown.

She thought they were alone. She was wrong. Two of his lackeys allowed small, hunched back woman to enter. A cloak was drawn over her head, covering her face from their view. Belle felt extremely uneasy around her.

"So this is the girl that refuses to marry the pompous noble?" a soft, laughing voice asked as the woman began to circle her.

"You will do very nicely girl. Tell him to be a good boy when you see him now, won't you?" she cackled, causing Gaston to give a soft grunt.

"Just get on with it witch. You see Belle, I can't have my reputation ruined by you refusing me. Why, it was an unfortunate accident that caused a wolf I was keeping here to kill you," Gaston said, smirking.

"A wolf? You keep a wolf here?" Belle asked distractedly as the woman's hands began to glow.

"No, of course not. I've yet to work out all of the details yet..." the man looked almost nervous for a moment, before shrugging and deciding to put off the cover story until later.

It occurred to Belle that she ought to run. But she knew, without a doubt, that once the woman had set her eyes on her, there would be no escaping whatever she was going to do. It didn't hurt when it happened, so much as itch. It felt very similar to the time she'd fallen into a patch of stinging nettles as a child. Only this time, instead of coming away with many itching spots, she onto her hands. Or...they were her hands. Looking down, she discovered that instead of hands, paws were in their place. A whine left her throat as she looked back to see that she was, indeed, what appeared to be a small brown wolf.

"Oh yes. You will do very nicely for him," the old woman said smiling.

"You're job is done. Leave now. Naboo! Bring me my gun," Gaston demanded, causing the woman to look at him sharply as Belle began to back towards the closed window nearby.

If she could just get the latch open...but paws were not very conductive to such a thing.

"This was not our deal hunter."

"You really thought I'd let you take her? No, I have to make sure she's disposed of...Naboo! My gun!"

"I don't think so, you foolish bastard," the old woman gave him a sharp glare before throwing out her hand towards the window, which flew open.

"I have plans for her," she finished smugly as Belle clumsily climbed out the window, running unsteadily through the dark village, towards the forest.

She made her way to 'her tree' slowly, knowing that she might need to do more running before the night was over. The old woman would surely buy her some time...she had seemed fairly angry at Gaston. Curling up at the base of her tree, she laid her head on one of her books, letting out a huff. Well...she wasn't going to be married to that pompous hunter. And she wasn't dead. All in all, it seemed like the night was looking up.