Chapter 40: Stay Strong
In Belle's dream, the wolves were surrounding her but to make things worse, there was a monster! He looked like he had different animal parts, but he was wearing clothes and stood upright like a human.
She was terrified of this Beast who kept yelling at her and roaring. She didn't recognize this monster but somehow, she had a feeling that the monster wasn't what he appeared to be.
Then images appeared in front of her, one after another. She saw herself spending time with the Beast and even though he was rude, he had a dear and awkward side to him. They shared a meal together and he made a mess, he gave her his library, and they even danced together!
She had a scowl on her face as she dreamed but by this point, her expression loosened up and changed to a smile.
However, the golden book inside her drawer started glowing an ominous violet light.
The Beast disappeared then the villagers showed up one by one, calling her father crazy, slandering her mother as a runaway who abandoned her family, and called her "weird" and a "disgusting harlot." They called her father "shameful" because he allowed her to make money.
The villagers could never understand her let alone her family but unlike her father, she couldn't ignore their mean words. Many times, she wrote down all the pain she felt in her golden book, her diary, and many times she thought of ending all the pain, but she always remembered her father. If she was gone, how would he feel? Would he be fine without her?
The moment she thought of that, the diary glowed more intensely then in her dream, the villagers' backs were turned. They were saying "Finally", "good riddance", "she's finally out of our lives."
This brought tears down her closed eyes. Her father was brought before her and he looked happy. He had a new wife. He was finally accepted by the villagers now that she was gone…
She woke up with a jolt. Her eyes were wet, and she was sweating as she panted heavily. She could still hear the villagers' cruel words. She shot up and ran out of the front door. She just wanted to run, to escape from it all…
She ran and ran until she encountered the blonde sisters. They had just left the tavern and cheery voices were still in there.
Due to her recent nightmare, Belle thought that they were having a party but didn't bother to invite her family. The blonde sisters started jeering "What's the matter harlot? Your customer didn't treat you well tonight?"
Belle started crying and ran away. She thought that this was it. It was finally time. The villagers never accepted her anyways. Her father was probably better off without her. She changed her direction towards the forest.
Back at the house, Angel, Vanessa, Sakura, and Luna were sleeping heavily. Angel jolted awake which made Vanessa open her eyes and Sakura fell out of the bed which made everyone more awake.
Vanessa sat up and asked with a tired voice "What's the matter Angel?"
Angel ran out of the room. Vanessa looked down at Sakura who was sitting on the floor then they both ran after Angel, followed by Luna.
Angel opened Belle's room only to find that she wasn't there!
Meanwhile, Belle was slowly approaching the forest. She thought 'I'm so lonely… I want to die in a beautiful place, quietly disappear, and stop troubling people.'
When she got to the path that led to the forest, she saw bushes of crimson roses, but one rose, emitted a pink glow. It enchanted her and reminded her of the dream she had of the Beast. No… She shook her head. It wasn't just that one dream but multiple dreams.
Every time she was depressed, he appeared in her dreams. But she always forgot about him when she woke up.
A smile finally reappeared on Belle's face. There was someone other than her father who cared about her and was there when she needed him. Even if he only existed in her dreams.
Suddenly, Luna began hissing at Belle's desk as she got a bad feeling all over her body from it, Vanessa got a bad headache, Angel's vision went black, and the ringing in Sakura's ears got worse.
One of the drawers in Belle's drawer suddenly opened! The book brimming with dark energy suddenly floated out and an alarm suddenly rang from Vanessa's apron pocket.
Vanessa yelled "That must be the world's distortion!"
Sakura covered her ears and yelled "Turn off that noise!"
Angel decided to strike the book with a light beam, but it successfully dodged and flew outside which made the alarm stop and a notification appeared "GPS function activate."
Vanessa said, "The GPS will lead us to the distortion!"
Sakura held up two brooms and said, "How about we follow it on these?"
Vanessa led the team in the air with Luna on her shoulder as she held her phone in her right hand while Angel and Sakura followed right behind.
When they finally caught up to the book, they saw it float around a person who was kneeling, speaking in a male voice that she was "nothing but a failure", "weird", "delusional", "a harlot." Belle covered her ears and shook her head, trying to ignore the negative voice.
Sakura covered her ears as the ringing got stronger and remarked "Somebody shut that thing up!"
Angel released a stronger light beam which held the book in place. Vanessa held out her left hand and began to say "Begone-"
The book suddenly erupted in dark purple light in retaliation which made the girls bounce back before falling with their brooms!
When they fell on top of the snow, they sat up and noticed that their surroundings were in shades of gray. What was going on?! The color even left their outfits!
Belle started wailing horribly loud and suddenly stopped. She softly said "I don't want to live anymore... I've been trying so hard to stay alive for my father...I stayed alive all this time because of the Beast! But the Beast only lives in my dreams...The villagers all hate me and my father… What reason do I have to live anymore? My father is probably better off without me…"
Angel's eyes widened in horror. She knew that there had been a depressing feeling around Belle and the book's taunts made it stronger! Angel turned to Sakura and asked "Sakura! You can manipulate sound, right? Can you do something to make Belle stop hearing the book?"
"Sure!" Sakura held out her hand and cast a sound barrier around Belle. The book noticed Belle's strange actions and stopped talking. It realized that Sakura was responsible for making Belle ignorant of its voice. It flew towards Sakura!
Vanessa swung her arm which pushed Sakura out of the way while the book was determined to get to Sakura, Vanessa kept creating a distance between them while Angel focused on creating a big ball of light.
When she was ready, she threw the big ball of light into the book's path and successfully trapped it!
Vanessa held up her broom and chanted the levitation spell, making her fly into the sky.
"This is the end for you! You nasty book!" Vanessa put her hands together and prayed "Namo Amitabha…"
Then she held her left hand forward and called "Begone distortion! Bring the world back to proportion!"
A pink light burst forward from Vanessa's hand and hit the book, turning it back into the blue book that Belle liked to reread and hit the ground. The pink light from the book, spread out into the ground, restoring the color of the snow back into a pure white. The surroundings' color and the color of everyone's outfits were restored as well. The pink light surrounded Vanessa and turned her back into her default Sailor Moon Crystal animated appearance and dissolved the sound barrier which surrounded Belle.
Vanessa fainted and she and her stick fell into the snow.
Vanessa's phone flew up into the sky and shot a light blue light into the sky. The team began floating up and Luna made a bubble to contain them in.
Belle stood up and yelled "Bye Angel! Bye Sakura! Goodbye everyone! Thank you for everything! I hope we meet again!"
Angel yelled back "I hope you live happily Belle! Stay strong!"
Their bubble went out of sight...
To Be Continued...
