So, I'm pretty much the worst fanfiction writer ever because I'm starting a new story even though I've neglected my other two for a good four and a half months now. Sorry! I got on this Disney kick and wanted to see if I could do Beauty and the Beast any justice. Feel free to rant, rave, and threaten in your reviews... but don't forget to tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beauty and the Beast, nor will I ever. -sniffs-

Chapter One: Disagreement

It was his eyes, Belle mused, that had really captured her heart.

The only problem with this musing was that it decided to occur in the middle of an argument they were having about a decidedly important topic: whether or not the couple planned to produce any children in the near (or even distant) future.

Vincent's intense blue eyes were far from passive as he clenched his teeth, his hair mussed from running a hand through it one too many times. Though his tone was harsh - commanding, even - Belle could not help but be distracted by the passion that lit those eyes; her favorite pair in the world. Even while they fought with everything in them, nothing could possibly stop her from appreciating how unique they were, and how they were more hers than her own set could ever be.

"Are you listening to me, Belle?" he snapped, and she found herself sighing. "Well?"

"I'm listening to you," she insisted, distracted from her more-friendly thoughts. "And I'm hearing you, too."

He paused for a moment, awarding her a puzzled look. "What a terribly odd thing to say," he remarked. "They mean the same thing!"

"They don't," she argued, and before she could support such a claim, he cut her off.

"No," he snapped. "We're not going to start another argument when we've barely gotten to the heart of this one! I don't think you fully understand what I'm trying to say -"

"On the contrary, dear husband, I think I understand perfectly! I think it is you who is refusing to hear my words!"

"We don't need children, Belle," he said flatly, completely disregarding her accusation. "We've only been married four months, and we're both so young! What has possessed you into thinking that we need a further addition to our family when our family is so new in the first place?"

"I am twenty-one," she said heatedly, "and you are twenty-three. We are not so young, and many people from the village were having children at sixteen and seventeen!"

"Well, we're not in the village," he countered, "and we have all of our lives ahead of us. Must we rush into eliminating 'us' time? With a baby, we would be constantly distracted - we would have no time for each other any more!"

Belle wanted to scream - she wanted to scream so loudly that he would continue hearing it echo off the mountains well into the night. Her lips were pulled tightly into a frown, her eyes blazing with anger that was the result of her opinion (that was not, perhaps, so far from the truth) that he had no interest in listening to what she had to say.

"You are being utterly unreasonable," she told him, her tone flat and lacking the patience that was almost always present. "I think a baby would bring us closer together - in fact, I think it would make us more of a family than we already are."

"It can wait," he insisted. "It doesn't have to be now."

"When, then?" Belle demanded, throwing her hands into air with frustration. "You are never going to want children, are you? Today, we're too young. Next year, we'll be too busy. In five years, we'll be too old!"

Vincent didn't respond, and therefore did not deny it.

Letting herself fall into a well-cushioned armchair, Belle fought back the tears that were beginning to build up in her eyes. "We won't live forever, you know," she informed him, trying to keep her voice calm. She resorted to the last defense she had against his stubborn refusal. "As a prince, it's your job to produce an heir so that the title must live on."

"I don't follow the restrictions placed upon me by my birth," he returned coolly. "If I choose so, I will simply appoint an heir when we are getting older. Or, better yet, I'll have the palace donated - turned into a museum or something. After all, I will have no further use for it."

"You would rather donate your palace than have children with me?" she asked in disbelief. Her cheeks, already slightly tinted from her anger, turned bright red with the rage that replaced it. "Fine, then! Perhaps I will find another prince more suited to my wants!"

"Good!" he snarled back. "And perhaps he'll be a bumbling idiot like every father in France!" With that, he stormed out of the parlor, leaving her to stare after him.

"Oh!" she muttered to herself, lifting her knees to her chest as the tears began to flow freely.

Outside the parlor, Lumiere and Cogsworth kept their eyes cast down as their master walked briskly past them, afraid (and ashamed) to meet his eyes.

"Mon dieu," Lumiere murmured with a sigh.

Well, what'd you think? Should I put down the (metaphorical) pen and give up completely? Decent enough to perhaps, maybe, possibly keep going? Don't forget to review and let me know!

Ever yours,

-~- Tears of Insanity