Author's Note: Apologize for the long hiatus. I have been really busy and barely had time to post up any chapters for this story and the others as well. I hope to be better at updating once a week as usual. Sorry for the short chapter.

Chapter 9 Stay Close

Belle

Darkness closed up on Belle like a familiar friend and she was confused about how she had gotten herself stuck in the dark. Belle tried to walk out of the darkness but she knew that she was not going anywhere. She could feel strong hands pushing her so far into the darkness; that she was unsure what was going on. Because she could feel nothing but hollowness around her and the only place she could think that could be, so hollow is a tree.

'How in the world did I get myself stuck inside a tree?' Belle thought to herself curiously.

She could hear two voices talking not too far away from her. Belle made out the voices to be Gaston and Beast. She had started to wonder how she was able to hear them in a tree. Until, Belle reminded herself that she was in an enchanted tree and anything was possible in the magical woods.

"All right I will tell you where she is. I pushed her inside the enchanted tree and she is sealed in tight. It's your problem to figure out now, Beast." Gaston said to Beast with an evil grin on his face as he started to walk away from him.

"You are not going to walk away from me so easily," Beast said to Gaston as he grabbed his shoulder digging into his skin.

"You are becoming more of a beast every time we cross paths with each other." Gaston said to Beast jokingly.

Belle didn't want to depend on the Beast to save her, so she closed her eyes and communicated with the enchanted tree in her thoughts to let her go. When she opened her eyes Belle had found herself in between Beast and Gaston in the middle of the woods.

"Belle! You got yourself out of the tree." Beast said to Belle with astonishment in his voice.

"It was easy since Gaston pushed me in there," Belle said to Beast as she turned to look at Gaston angrily.

"I can never keep you two apart. However, one day I will succeed and you will be looking broken." Gaston said to Belle as he pushed her into the tree.

"I'm not afraid of what you will do to me or Beast either." Belle said to Gaston with confidence in her voice as she disappeared into the tree again.

Beast turned around to see a glimpse of Belle's hand. His blue eyes reddened in front of Gaston as he looked up in shock over what happened.

"What have you done with Belle?" Beast asked Gaston as he used his furry hand to shove him down.

"I made her disappear in the enchanted tree. Why are you caring about, Belle so much? You barely even know her." Gaston said to Beast as he paced himself around him in a circle.

"I care about Belle as my friend. What's wrong a friend can't care about the other? No wonder she wants to get away from you." Beast said to Gaston as he balled his hands into fists.

"When Belle marries me she will no longer have any contact with you and I will make sure of it," Gaston said to Beast as he charged him with his dagger.


Beast

Beast was not surprised that Gaston was trying to fight him again. He grabbed Gaston's arm that held the dagger and picked him up. Gaston was struggling and trying his hardest to get out of his grip, but he had failed to escape.

"You need to tell me what you have done to, Belle." Beast said to Gaston in a guttural tone.

"You don't need to know anything that I have done to her," Gaston said to Beast.

'Beast don't do anything that you will regret later. I allowed Gaston to push Belle into the tree, so she can be on her own. To discover who she really is. She was molested and almost raped by Gaston. I beg of you not to harm Gaston he will get back later on,' The Enchantress said to Beast in his thoughts.

"You are not worth it," Beast said to Gaston as he lunged him across the woods.

Beast turned around and continued his journey across the woods without Belle by his side and he didn't give another thought about Gaston.

'You must focus on your mission without Belle. She will be fine on her own remember the both of you are on a test, if you two don't pass the test. The two of you will not end up together.' The Enchantress said to Beast as her voice faded away.

'When will we be able to see each other again?' Beast asked the Enchantress in his thoughts.

'You will have to learn to be patient, Beast. Also, you will have to do some soul searching within yourself to find out what kind of man that you are meant to be.' The Enchantress said to the Beast.

'I feel like this punishment you have put me on is pure torture and I don't know why,' Beast said to the Enchantress angrily.

'That is something that you will have to figure out on your own. I am just someone that you can talk to. I am not here to tell you what to do,' The Enchantress said to Beast as her voice faded away from his thoughts.

Beastwalked over to the tree where Belle disappeared into. He placed his furry paw on the tree and watched as it disappeared, and then he started to walk inside the tree to begin his quest. Not knowing what would be waiting for him on the other side. All he cared about was saving Belle and keeping Gaston away from him. Inside the tree there was endless darkness that he was not afraid to go through, but he feared that Belle would be scared.