Thank you again to everyone that is currently reading my story! I have enjoyed reading all of the reviews that are posted! I promise you all, do not fear for Gaston's character! I plan on good things for he and Belle in the near future - but for now if you have any questions feel free to post them in a review or PM and I will make sure all your worries are settled!

Your obedient servant,

PhantomsAngel1870

Belle opened her eyes slowly and began to look around at her new environment. All around her were dirty grey stones creating the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room she now resided in – except for the large gaping hole in the wall across from her. To her left were large, thick, tall, iron bars that created a door to keep her locked in making Belle feel more like an animal than a human being. Putting her face in her cupped hands Belle became angry with herself, to the point of crying, for not keeping her promise to her mother to rescue her father. She had no idea where she currently was now, and now she did not know how to get out, let alone locate her father to bring him back home.

After a few minutes of releasing her pent up frustrations from initially discovering her father was missing, and the entirety of her journey, Belle knew that she would not get far by feeling sorry for herself and not trying to fix the mistakes that have occurred. She stood up and began looking at every little crack in this cell-like room. She brushed her fingers across every groove and crevice, looking to see if there was anything she could find to use to help her escape. The floor was covered in sparse strands of hay with a small stool in the corner. Belle began to inspect the stool is see if there were any nails that she could use, however, there were none to be found.

Continuing her careful investigation of the room she was imprisoned in, Belle finally reached the cell door and inspected the lock that kept her inside. The lock itself was large and sturdy, however, the keyhole was much smaller compared to the entirety of the lock. Belle guessed that the key itself was as tiny as a pin and looked around to the best of her ability outside of her cell and saw a walkway that stood alongside a large drop. Remembering the hole in the wall across the room from her, Belle went and looked outside of it to see how far the drop went. Peering her head out towards the ground she guessed about seventy-five to one hundred feet – much too long of a drop for anyone to survive, especially since the ground was made of stone as well.

Belle nodded to herself, she knew that despite the little she has discovered she knew that she was making progress on her escape from this place. Mentally crossing off the idea of jumping from the room's hole, she began searching again for something to use to pick the lock. She reminded herself that the key itself would be extremely thin and immediately went to the ground to try using the hay that laid there, however, the humidity of the room made the hay virtually useless due to not being resilient against the iron lock. Trying once more before giving up on that particular endeavor, Belle accidentally slid her hand against the lock's edge and sliced her hand open. Softly cursing under her breath, Belle immediately ripped a piece of her apron off and wrapped it around her palm to reduce the bleeding.

"Belle?" The raspy voice called from outside Belle's view from her cell. She immediately jumped up and looked for the source of the voice, she had kept part of her promise and found her father.

"Papa? Where are you? What is this place?" Belle cried out for her father, she needed to locate him now and draw up a plan before their captor heard their voices and made the idea of escaping even more challenging than it was now.

"Belle! How did you find me? I'm locked away in a cell, the monster who owns this castle put me away just as I was leaving to return to you. I'm sorry I never made it back home Belle, forgive me if I caused you any worry or distress," Maurice tried to soothe his daughter. He knew that Belle would not have just sat at their home and waited for his return should she have any reason to believe that something went wrong on his journey home, he was proud to be her father – nonetheless, he prays to the Lord that watches over them and his wife that his Belle makes it out of this hell-like place before she becomes hopeless.

"Who is the monster that did this to you Papa? I came to get you, when you didn't come home on Philippe I knew something was wrong, I couldn't just leave you wherever you were left behind," Belle began searching around her more frantically, trying to find their salvation and to keep her father talking to her. His voice reminded her that he was alive, and due to the raspy, pressing, way he was speaking Belle knew that her father was far worse off than she was – his cold wet coughs only serving to further prove her point.

Feeling entirely stupid for not thinking of it before, Belle reached up in her hair and pulled out a pin that held her bun in place. Feeling the rest of her hair fall down and frame her face even more, she quickly shoved her hair inside her dress so it did not fall into her eyesight as she pulled the lock up and begin working on picking it with her pin. After a few failed attempts Belle finally managed to free herself from her cage and called out to her father once more.

"Papa I need you to help me and talk to me so I can find you," Belle spoke in a loud whisper watching all her surroundings to make sure that she was not seen by their captor.

"I'm here Belle! I'm very much displeased with the decorations and lack thereof any refreshments, honestly this monster really doesn't have many guests over anymore I'm guessing also based on the lack of any life at all in this castle besides the three of –" Maurice turned around as saw his daughter standing before him smiling at her father. Belle always loved how her father could look past the terrible exterior of a situation and find even a small amount of humor in such a dark time.

"How did you manage to get in so fast?" Maurice asked his daughter, Belle immediately laughed and ran into her father's arms and stood there for a moment breathing in the familiar smell of safety and home.

"I had an amazing teacher, that's how Papa," Belle said as she grabbed her father's hand to start leading them out of this dark, dreary, prison. As soon as their hands made contact Belle looked down at her father's and immediately wrapped it around both of hers.

"Your hands are ice, we need to get you home" Belle stated just as they both heard a loud roar encompass the entire room. Belle began looking around for the source of the sound, feeling her heart beat terribly loud in her chest – so loud that she was sure that her heart alone would give away their location.

Belle immediately began opening a random cell door to get them both inside to hide them from whomever was stalking their every move in the dark. She would rather have a door between them than the dangers of their freedom in this moment.

Being as silent as the warmth and joy in the castle, Belle listened for any sound of life outside of their cell. As she approached the bars closer she looked out in the hallway and screamed as she saw the monster standing so close to the edge of the doorway in the shadows, making sure he could see them but they couldn't see him at first. Belle tried to see them better, but to no avail.

"Who's there?" Belle asked timidly.

"Who are you?" The almost man-like voice spoke directly to her. Belle would have been lying if she had said that it didn't surprise her when she heard the monster speaking to her as clearly as any man in the village, like Gaston.

"Who are you?" The voice in the shadows mocked her. Belle was not ready to play any childish games today, not when her and her father's lives were at stake.

"I've come for my father!" Belle stated as she motioned towards her father who was sitting on a stool in the middle of a coughing fit. For a moment Belle wanted to lean down and help him, but she knew that she had to deal with this monstrous thing at the moment.

"Your father is a thief." The creature before her accused.

"Liar!" Belle retaliated back. She knew good and well that her father was not capable of harming anyone physically or stealing any of their property. It was against his moral codes, something he had taught Belle as soon as she began to talk at a very young age.

"He stole a rose," the creature said, venom leaking out of each word he spoke now. It was obvious to Belle that this thing truly believed that her father was as guilty as a person committing murder, shocking her to her bones that such things were being said.

"I asked for the rose. Punish me, not him!" Belle demanded to the entity that was denying both of them freedom now. She needed to keep the promise to her mother and make sure that her father returned safely home. She was sure that she would get out of this place, but she needed her father home first.

"No Belle! He means forever. Apparently, that's what happens around here when you a pick a flower." Maurice sarcastically retorted towards Belle as he explained the severity of the consequences for amputating a rose from its bush.

"A life sentence for a rose?" Belle was confused as to what she was hearing, could someone really do such an injustice?

"I received eternal damnation for one. I'm merely locking him away so you should be thanking me from the ground you're standing on for being so generous towards the thief you are meekly trying to shield before me now because the sentence could have been much worse. Now, do you still wish to take your father's place?" The beast gave the girl before him an ultimatum. He didn't want anything to do with the girl, she was nothing to him. His salvation was lost a year ago, he had no reason to try anymore because any attempts and prayers were useless at this point.

Before Belle could tell the beast before her that she would gladly take her father's place she was immediately grabbed by the arm by the very creature before her and thrown in the cell adjacent towards her father's, locked inside the cold dark walls once more.

"Why didn't you let her go you beast?!" Maurice yelled at the creature before him. Maurice was fuming, his daughter was supposed to go back home, be safe and secure. He would have gladly given his life to make sure that his daughter was able to life out her life full of happiness and have the rest of her days in the sun. But this vile creature before them was making sure that his daughter was die in the darkness.

"Like father, like child," was all the beast replied and left the entire dungeon.

Belle fell the ground distressed that everything that she had worked for had gone to waste. It seemed to her that there was no way of escape now, and she was sure that nobody would ever find them in the village – or even want to try to find them. That's when she began thinking of Gaston.

Belle knew that Gaston has tried courting her in the past, she was just never ready for such a new type of relationship. No matter how many times she denied his advances, he was always there the next day by her side. At first it annoyed her to great lengths that the man could not take no for an answer. But after some time she began to realize that she was grateful for moments he did intervene on her behalf. The villagers never listened to her, being that she was an outsider, and despite the few years that she had lived her they still cannot trust her. Gaston was always ready to jump to her aide and help deflect any blows that came her way from the villagers. He never asked for anything in return except the invitations for her to go on walks with him or go look at his war trophies in the tavern. Each and every time she successfully denied him, and each and every time he came back to ask again.

Belle knew that he would go and look for her when he realized she was missing. She knew that he would be the most successful out of anyone in the village, however, she was sure he was no match for the extremely large beast she saw only moments ago. Nobody who took on that beast would live to see the die, in that moment Belle knew it was a suicide mission to try to free herself again. She began looking out the doorway wondering what she could do as she awaited her fate when the door began opening slowly.

Carefully walking outside, Belle saw a man smiling widely at her. She didn't know him yet felt a friendly air around him. Behind the stranger was another man, much older, that looked like he needed to be somewhere very soon by the many times he kept looking at his watch.

"Come mademoiselle, we shall show you to your room!" The first stranger told her with a very strong accent.

"My room? What about my father?" Belle didn't know these men, why would she go with them anywhere in this dreadful castle willingly, especially if she knew that she was leaving her father behind?

"But of course! And your father shall be situated in a room of his own soon enough, as long as the Master says it is ok!" The man tried to brush off the last sentence as quick as possible, already knowing that the girl before him would not be able to relax enough without knowing the future of her father.

"Fine, and thank you…?" Belle wasn't sure what else to say at that moment. If this truly was an opportunity for her and her father to be more comfortable, then she would do anything in that moment to get them out of this cold, dark, death sentence.

"You may call me Lumiere!" The man said ecstatically and kissed Belle's hand as he led her to the room that was promised to her.