Chapter 11

The Beast wasted no pleasantries in knocking politely on the bedroom door, but instead gave only a swish pound to signal his arrival there. Belle was seated back on the bed, tightly clutching the sheets beside her. "Come in." she called so quietly it was a surprise that he heard her at all, but she didn't have much time to think on that as the Beast barged into the room.

There he stood before her, much the same as the last time they had met. She could now see him a bit more clearly, and that he was only dressed in torn black pants and a purplish colored cloak. His torso was completely exposed and tightly firm with muscles. She tried to keep her eyes focused on his, which truly were a beautiful shade.

"Why did you come here?" the Beast demanded to know, His voice daring her to try and test his temper. Slowly Belle took a steady breath. "I was told…by… a man in the village that there was an enchanted castle in the woods. No one believed him, and I wanted to find out if…. he was really telling the truth." She had decided for now it would be unwise to mention about Roland's brother and keep things simple.

As it was she feared he would not believe her, and she fell silent as he snorted at her. "LIES! And now what?" the Beast asked, with a slight tone of mockery. "I suppose now it's back to the village and you'll be leading them all here to hunt me down like some kind of animal." Belle gasped at her, never had that thought crossed her mind. "NO, I would never do that. You have to believe me" her face pleading.

The Beast however would have none of it. "LAIR!" He shouted with enough force to shake the window panes. "You dare to lie to me!" Belle was too afraid to even try and speak, and only shook her head. "That's right" the Beast bellowed on "You won't dare to lie to me. And don't even think about trying to leave here." Belle suddenly found her voice. "What!? You can't just keep me here like this!" The Beasts temper was nearly at its breaking point, and he had to fight to keep control over his building rage.

"This was your choice, you chose to come here, you said so yourself!" he roared "and now you can stay here forever as my prisoner." Belle could hardly believe what she was hearing, and any sense of fear she had quickly disappeared "But that's not fair!"

That caught the Beast off guard and for a moment now it was he who could only stare at this young woman, who met his look with equal anger. "Don't you dare talk to me about what is fair and what is not. You have no idea." With that he turned sharply to leave the room. Halfway through the doorway, he turned slightly "You will be joining me for dinner, and that is not a request!" with that he turned away again, slamming the door hard behind him.

Belle remained where she was on the bed, her eyes not moving from the door. She had somewhat expected the Beast to come storming back in, but after a few minutes she decided he had gone. Her mind was trying hard to wrap it's self around what had just taken place. The Beast was actually real, he was keeping her as a prisoner, and had….told her to join him for dinner? The last part was what really got her attention, and despite her fear she couldn't help but feel slightly amused at his nerve. Did he honestly think she was going to just go along with this and be ordered around? If that's the case, Belle thought to herself, than he is greatly mistaken.

So fixated on the issue at hand, Belle had not even given notice to the large wardrobe in the room, which had only just woken up and was watching her with interest. While she had only caught some of the conversation, she had a feeling that things had not gone in the master's favor. "You know" she began quietly "he really isn't so bad, once you really get to know him" Belle nearly fell off the bed as she franticly looked around her for the source of the voice. "Who said that?"

Glancing over towards where the wardrobe stood, she nearly fainted at the sight that a face was now clearly staring back at her. "You're alive?" she managed to squeak. While she knew that the old man's story at so far proved correct, it hadn't really crossed her mind that everything in this castle might actually be alive.

The wardrobe gave her a warm smile and she hobbled over to the b ed. "amazing isn't it, and might I add rather in impossible, but yes I am alive. My name is Madame la Grande Bouche, and It is my very good pleasure to meet you Miss…I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your name?" Belle tried to quickly recover from her shock of talking to her wardrobe. "Oh, um, Belle, my name is Belle. And, um forgiving me for asking this but, how can you possibly be talking to me? How is any of this possible?"

Madame had known this question was coming, but also knew for the stake of the curse she could not relieve anything to this young woman. "I'm afraid I can't answer that, but please let me assure you that we servants are only here to attend to your every wish and need. You have nothing to be afraid of." Before Belle could say another word the door came flying open as a teacart raced into the room. The plump looking teapot sitting in the front also had a face and it wore a very concerned expression "Oh my dear." it spoke in voice that held a hint of British accent "I'm so sorry about the master's behavior. We haven't had any other visitors in many years and I'm afraid he may have forgotten his manners a bit."

Belle nodded her head "I suppose that is a good way to phrase it, although I'd say it was far more than a bit." The teapot had to agree with that. "Again I aploizgie for that, and perhaps you might like a cup of tea." Though she hardly had an appetite at the moment she couldn't say no to the sweet smell of the tea. After being filled small cute looking teacup came hopping over to her, it had a small crack around its rim, and Belle had little doubt that this cup was in some way this Teapots child.

As if to confirm her thoughts, the teacup grinned up at her. "Hi, I'm Chip, and that's my Mama" he said nodding towards the teapot, who had gone slightly red in the face. "Oh my dear I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. Potts and yes this is my son Chip." Belle smiled to herself while taking a small sip of the sweet tea. "It's very nice to meet you all. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

It suddenly dawned what her original purpose in coming here had been, that she needed to find this clock that Roland had told him about. If in fact the two had been brothers, then she needed to inform him of what had become of his brother. But before she could ask, the Teapot had called for Chip to come join her back on the cart. "I'm so sorry to visit and run, my dear, but we have a lot to get done for dinner tonight. Please excuse us." Then suddenly the cart raced off as quickly as it had appeared.

Once again alone Belle noticed that the wardrobe seemed to be rather excited about something, and she soon found out what. "So shall we find something for you to wear for dinner? I haven't gotten to show off these gowns in so long." She whipped open her top doors, revealing several beautiful clothes of varying fabric and design. They were slightly dated though and Belle had honestly not seen such clothes since her youth. But they had been the high fashion at time. She gingerly ran her fingers a crossed the material, thinking how lovely her mother had looked wearing similar gowns to dinners…..wait ….DINNER?! What the wardrobe had been implying had suddenly become crystal clear.

Belle looked at the wardrobe with a clearly surprised expression. "You can't really think I would be joining him for dinner, after he threatened me and called me his prisoner? Would you honestly do it?"

The wardrobe paused before she answered, even though it was hardly a question that required much thought. Though she herself had also known the master since he was a child, his temper could still strike fear into her, and she knew that being a Beast all these years had only fueled his anger to an extreme level. "No." she finally admitted. "I suppose not."