Chapter 13

For the next few days, things were rather quiet around the castle. The Beast remained isolated in his room and Belle did the same in her own. Although in truth being confined to her room was done more out of necessity rather than as punishment. The injury to her leg prevented her from roaming any farther than the room itself, so this gave her a good chance to allow it to heal. It was a peculiar thing, how she had once longed to stay away from the world, while in the village, and here, with no choice in leaving she had never felt a great need to roam.

The words of her mother, there are something's you never will truly miss until they are gone, was ringing clear, and now she knew just how right she had been. If I could go back, I would have never tried to hide, I would never have taken that freedom to leave for granted. All that wasted time, haunted her.

However this confinement did come as a blessing in disguise as she was hardly deprived of attention, many of the castles staff came by to visit on an almost hourly basis.

Among them there was Lumiere, a dashingly charming candelabra and his current love interest Babette a pretty feather duster. They were certainly a very romantic couple, but it was a dangerous mix between them, and Babette had many feathers that appeared singed to prove it. The footstool, who behaved more like a hyper puppy was always happy to provide her with warm cuddles, and Chip along with several of his teacup siblings would keep her entertained for hours with their games and funny tricks.

Her most interesting visitor had been the reappearance of the wooden mantle clock that she had learned was named Cogsworth. He would only pop in periodically to see if she was in need of anything and no sooner would she say "No thank you" and then he would be gone, moving with the speed of a rabbit making his escape back to the kitchen or wherever it was he spent his time. She had strange feeling about him and the notion that he was hiding something. She could tell he was uneasy being in her presence and often gave the impression of avoiding her.

Belle was most interested to learn if this could in fact be Roland's brother, as it would completely prove the theory that everyone here had at one time been human. While the idea still struck her as quite ridicules, she had to agree that believing they had always been in their current state was far more so. The main problem remained that Roland had never once told her his brother's name, and she had never thought to ask. The only knowledge she had been provided was that a clock had spoken with his voice, meaning that the only way to know for sure would be to ask him directly. Still she remembered what Madame la Grande Bouche's answer had been when she had first questioned things.

Also due to this clocks particular mannerism, this would not make this task any more easily done, so for the time being she had decided to withhold her questions and approach the matter at a later time perhaps, when she and Cogsworth might be able to speak in private.

As far as her being forbidden any food, often Mrs. Potts would stop by, and regardless of the Beasts orders that she just starve, she would provide her with several small meals throughout the day.

Whether or not the Beast was aware of this or not, no one really bothered to ask. Actually most of the staff had felt a great sense of satisfaction upon hearing that the master had been cut down to size by this simple peasant girl who refused to be bullied by his temper. For so long they had resisted the urge to give him the tongue lashing he needed, and now this wonderful girl had stepped up and taken matters into her own hands. While they knew it was hardly an aim towards breaking the spell it did well to perk up their spirits.

While things could have simply carried on in this manner, it soon became clear to the staff that was closest to him that the Beast had simply given up and stopped caring. They had never seen him in such a low state of mind, even in the earliest days of the curse being placed. The time had come for an intervention of sorts. And it had been decided that Mrs. Potts was just the teapot for the task.

She headed into the west wing, and found him in a sort of slumped position over the table that held the rose. He was just staring at the rose, his face void of any emotion and his entire being was in a deep state of depression, it was hard to see.

"Sir" She began in a firm yet gentle tone that he was only too familiar with. "I really think you should try and talk with her again. Giving up like this is not the answer and it's not being fair to you or anyone else for that matter. The breaking of this spell lies more on your actions than it does the young lady's, so it's up to you to make the first move."

The Beast didn't answer, but Mrs. Potts knew her point had been made. She also knew as did he, that having to put any amount effort, however small into something was a complete unknown for him. Never once in his life had he had to work towards or even really had to go so far as to ask for anything. There had never been the need for such actions when as a prince; everything had simply been given to him.

It hadn't been meant to be an undoing of his once kind nature as a child, but more like a way to distract him from the loss of his mother and neglectful nature of his father. Mrs. Potts had wanted so much to provide the young prince with a mothers love and let him know that he wasn't alone. But she could never really replace the mother he had loved for 12 years.

Yet now wasn't the time to regret actions of the past, and The Beast knew that only the future was what really mattered. And it was all in his hands now

Author notes: I hope everyone is liking the story so far. There is a bit more to the Beasts backstory that will be discussed later on. So what is the Beast going to do to try and win Belle's affection, and how will this up coming interaction between them pan out, as far as him not losing his temper again. More coming soon :)