The Beast within the Beauty
*The story begins right after the Beast locks Belle in the tower, but instead of him returning to take her to her nice bed chamber, the Beast leaves her locked in the tower*
"Master", Lumiere beseeched, "since the lady shall be staying with us for quite some time; would it not be best to offer her a more comfortable room".
"No", the Beast bellowed, "she is my prisoner and prisoners belong in the tower".
The subject was not raised again with the master of the castle. No one wanted to see his temper directed at them, not even Lumiere.
For three months Belle remained alone in the tower cell. The suites of armor delivered food to her cell twice a day and changed out her chamber pot, but they provided her with no compassion. They had become only hollow shells long ago. All they could do now was follow the master's commands, which included keeping the other servants away from the tower. The master did not want the servants letting the woman go; for she had given her word that she would stay forever. And most of all, he did not want the servants (Lumiere) talking to the woman about the curse and giving everyone false hope. For who could ever love a beast.
During the first weeks in the tower Belle only sobbed for the loss of her father and her freedom. The tears poured from her eyes uncontrollably, she was only glad that there was no one around to see her in such a state.
After her tears had run dry, Belle began to draw on her cell walls with the white stones she found mixed in with the straw. At first she tried sketching her father, but could never settle on a likeness that pleased her eyes. Then she moved on to draw the moon and stars, which gave her some comfort. But as the weeks past and loneliness took hold of her mind, Belle switched to drawing her nightmares. The Beast's face was plastered on every inch on the tower walls by the time three months had past. And in that time, Belle had changed. She had become a beast herself. Scratching and gnawing at her food like an animal, crawling around on the filthy stone floor, and even snatching up rats and eating them alive. There seemed to be nothing left of the beautiful girl she once was.
"My dreams are getting worse, Lumiere", the Beast suddenly stated while he and Lumiere were alone by the fireplace.
"I did not know your dreams were troubling you master", Lumiere replied in a passive voice.
"The woman", the Beast continued, "she haunts my dreams".
Lumiere did not know what to say to his master, he knew that anything he said to the master would simply case him to act in the opposite direction.
"Perhaps the dreams shall pass with time", Lumiere said in a small voice.
With that, the Beast got up from his chair and left Lumiere alone by the fire.
There were more steps to the tower than the Beast had remembered. After leaving Lumiere the Beast had snuck down to the kitchen and pulled aside some bread and cheese for Belle. He had not seen her since he locked her in the tower, but her felt the something to eat other than bread and water was a good way to start banishing her from his nightmares.
Belle's face shot to the door as she heard the Beast order his guards away.
He entered the cell to find Belle crouched in the corner like an animal, holding a rat between her fingers. The Beast nearly dropped the tray of food upon the site of her. Her hair was a gnarled mess, her dress was ragged and barely hung from her skeletal body, and her eyes were wild and filled with rage.
Slowly, the Beast set the tray down next to the door and began to approach Belle.
"What have I done", he whispered as Belle left the rat scamper out of her grasp.
That is when she lunged at her. All of her strength went into that one movement. Her nails tried to claw out his eyes, as the both fell to the floor.
Of course, the Beast easily pushed Belle away from him, but she would not be stopped. She came at him again and again, each time with a little less strength, but even more determination and fury. Finally, the Beast had no choice but to strike her with enough force that it throw her against the cell wall and rendered her unconscious.
Belle awoke in a luxurious bedroom. At first her believed herself to be having her first good dream in months, but then she turned her head to the side and saw Lumiere and Mrs. Pots peering at her.
"Master, she's wake", Mrs. Pots hummed.
Belle looked around the room for the Beast, but all she saw was the site of the Beast's cloak disappearing through the door.
"Rest now, dear lady", Lumiere cooed, "you are safe".
Belle would have protested, or at least questioned her new surroundings, but she found herself to weak to speak and felt sleep calling her once again.
Within a week's time, Belle had become less skittish about being around talking things again. At first she was shocked by talking objects, but soon came to terms with the fact that she was in an enchanted castle.
She could tell that Mrs. Pots was a lovely woman, who would always make sure that she was clean and feed properly, so long as she was not returned to the tower. And Belle even found some comfort in Lumiere rambling on about this and that. But, no matter what, she still felt out of place, a felling she never had in the tower. With all the things she had with her new freedom to roam the castle, Belle still felt as though something was missing.
"Master", Lumiere called breathlessly, "we cannot find Belle".
With that the Beast was off, she went through every room of the castle and found no sign of her. He stormed the grounds and still found nothing. Finally, the Beast found himself in the rose garden, believing that Belle had broken her word and ran off home. And he could not blame her for doing so. He looked up at her castle in despair. It was then that his eyes caught a glance at the light coming from the tower window.
The Beast ran up the stairs, reached the tower cell, and saw that the door was open and the suites of armor were in pieces on the floor.
Cautiously, the Beast stepped into the cell. Belle was kneeling in the center of her former room, holding a single candle in her palm of her hands.
"In all those weeks, all I ever wanted was a candle", Belle said without taking her eyes off of the melting candle in her hands, the wax running down onto her hand.
The Beast fell to her knees in front of Belle. For a moment he could only stare at the woman in front of him. But, then reality hit him as his eyes fell to the rapidly melting candle in her wax, burnt hands. He grabbed hold of the candle and removed it from Belle.
Belle looked up at the Beast as he through the candle to the side and cradled her hands in his own.
"I'm sorry", the Beast whispered to her as he bowed his head.
"It took me coming back in here, and burning my hands, to get an apology out of you", Belle said with spite, "Well you can keep your apology, I would have much rather kept my candle". And with that Belle stormed out the room, leaving the Beast alone in the dark.