Chapter 6: Meeting the Beast

A while later, Belle and Odette were riding on Philippe through the dark forest, until they arrived at the gates to the castle. The girls had their cloaks with the hoods covering their heads. They gasped in shock at the sight of the castle.

"What is this place?" Belle asked.

"I don't know," Odette shrugged. "But this place gives me the creeps."

The Belgian draft horse sensed danger, began to grow uneasy, and whinnied in fear.

"Philippe! Please, steady!" the brunette said, calming down the horse. The girls both dismounted and the brunette said petting his head, "Steady."

"It's okay boy," the strawberry blonde added. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I hope."

The girls turned back to the gate and saw a familiar hat lying on the ground. They gasped, entered the gate, and Belle knelt down and picked up the hat.

"Papa!" she said.

"He must be in there," Odette said.

Meanwhile, Lumiere and Cogsworth were on a table, and the clock was ranting about what happened to Maurice earlier.

"Couldn't keep quiet, could we?" Cogsworth scoffed mocking the candelabra as Lumiere looked away with his arms crossed. "Just had to invite him to stay, didn't we? Serve him tea, sit in the master's chair… pet the pooch!"

"I was trying to be hospitable," Lumiere simply replied.

Unknown to the duo, Belle and Odette entered the castle through the main doors. The strawberry blonde began to shudder at the sight of the dark foyer.

"Hello?" the brunette called. "Is anyone here? Hello! Papa!"

The girls walked up the staircase and traveled up to the right. They wandered through the hallways and up to the third floor.

"Papa? Are you here?" Belle called.

"Where are you, Papa?" Odette called. Then she felt her eyes starting to hurt and her vision turned cloudy. "Belle, I think my eyes are starting to hurt."

"Don't worry Odette," Belle said. "We'll find Papa, and treat your eyes soon."

Inside the kitchen, Mrs. Potts was washing up some dishes in a steaming tub. Her son, Chip hopped over to her with excitement.

"Mama! There are two girls in the castle!" he said.

"Now Chip, I'll not have you making up such wild stories."

"Really, Mama! I saw them!" the teacup insisted.

"Not another word!" Mrs. Potts said, sternly using her spout to lift up Chip. "Into the tub!"

Once the teapot placed her son into the tub, a feather duster with a brown wooden body, a white cap, blue eyes, and black and white goose feathers came bursting into the kitchen.

"Girls! I saw two girls in the castle!" the feather duster, known as Babette said in an excited tone.

Chip poked his head out of the tub, giggled, and spat some water out. "See?" he said, "I told ya!"

Meanwhile, Cogsworth kept ranting, "Irresponsible! Devil-may-care! Waxy-eared, slack jarred…" As the clock kept ranting, Lumiere used his candle hand as a little mouth puppet to imitate Cogsworth behind his back.

"Papa!" a familiar feminine voice called.

The call caused both Lumiere and Cogsworth to stop and freeze. They looked over to see two familiar girls walking by.

"Did you see that?" Lumiere asked. They hurried over to the edge of the room and peeked around the corner to see Belle and Odette wandering in the hallway.

"There are girls!" the candelabra gasped.

"I know they are girls!" the clock scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Don't you see? One of them could be the one! The girl we have been waiting for! One of them has come to break the spell!" Lumiere ran off to follow the sisters while Cogsworth chased after him.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Cogsworth said with a worried tone.

"Papa?" Odette called, holding onto Belle's hand. Lumiere and Cogsworth came to a door that was behind the girls and opened it. The strawberry blonde's hearing picked up and she turned around, and she almost saw something move. Belle turned around and saw the door opening.

"Papa?" the brunette said.

"Strange," Odette said. "I could have sworn I heard footsteps. Little footsteps."

Lumiere and Cogsworth, after opening the door, hurried away to hide from the sisters. The girls entered the doorway and were led into a dungeon and saw a light at the top of a stairwell.

"Hello?" Belle called. "Is someone here? Wait, we're looking for my father! I…" The brunette went up the stairs, holding the strawberry blonde's hand. Odette peered back in her peripheral vision and saw Cogsworth peering behind from the door. Before the younger girl could say something, her adopted sister continued to lead her up the stairs, making Odette forget about the clock. As they climbed up the stairs, and they noticed that the light disappeared.

"That's funny," Belle said, looking around. "I'm sure there was someone…"

"I don't know Belle," Odette said. "Hopefully it was just our imagination."

Little did the girls know that Lumiere was the source of the light. He stood still as a statue on a pedestal and his eyes were closed. The candelabra watched them cautiously and smiled.

"Isn't anyone here?" the brunette called.

"Hello?" the strawberry blonde added.

"Belle? Odette?" said a familiar soft voice from a dark corner.

"Papa!" the girls exclaimed in unison, recognizing the voice. Belle picked up a torch, took Odette's hand and made their way to a prison cell where Maurice was kept.

"H-how did you find me?" he asked, as he took his daughters' hands into his own. The strawberry blonde gasped at the feeling of his cold hand on her face.

"Your hands are like ice," the brunette said worriedly, as the middle-aged man coughed. "We have to get you out of here!"

"Are there any keys around?" the strawberry blonde asked, hoping to find a set of keys to unlock the cell.

"Belle, I want you and Odette to leave this place!" Maurice said with a worried voice.

"What? Why?" Odette asked.

"Who's done this to you?" Belle asked.

"Who ever did this, I'll give him a piece of my mind!" the strawberry blonde growled, balling her fists.

"No time to explain," Maurice said, looking around in fright. "You girls must go! Now!"

"We won't leave you!" Belle cried, shaking her head. Suddenly an enormous brown paw gripped the brunette's shoulder and spun her around!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" the Beast yelled.

"RUN GIRLS!" cried Maurice.

The torch flew out of Belle's hand and landed in a puddle of water, extinguishing the flames. The entire dungeon was completely dark, except for a little bit of light that was coming from a hole in the ceiling. Odette screamed in alarm from the sound of his voice and hurried behind Belle's back. The hoods from their cloaks came down as they looked around.

"Who's there?" the brunette called. "Who are you?"

"The master of this castle," the voice growled, encircling around them and hidden within the shadows.

"My sister and I have come for our father!" said Belle. "Please let him out. Can't you see, he's sick?"

"Then he shouldn't have trespassed here!" the Beast yelled.

"Please monsieur, I beg you to spare Papa's life. He wouldn't survive for long in the cold. He's the only family, Belle and I have left."

"But he could die! Please, I'll do anything!"

"There is nothing you can do," the Beast said, before walking away. "He's my prisoner."

"There must be some way I can…" Belle said to herself, and called, "Wait!" The Beast stopped and looked back at her impatiently.

The brunette hesitantly looked at her father, her adopted sister, and back at the Beast. She gathered up as must courage as she could, leaned into the light, and said, "Take me instead!"

"You!" The Beast scoffed at first, but then his blue eyes widened in surprise and asked softy, "You would… take his place?"

This made Odette gasped with fear.

"Belle no! You don't know what you're doing!" Maurice cried.

"What? Belle, are you crazy?" Odette cried, taking her sister's hands. "Have you lost your mind? You have so much to live for! You can't lose your freedom!"

Belle ignored her father's reaction; she turned back to Odette, and placed her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. The strawberry blonde knew that since her vision was fogging up around her, she knew that the brunette was forcing her to look at her.

"I know Odette, I may not like this, but what else can we do? If Papa dies, I would be left to live a life worse than death as I would be left alone to… you know… If I stay here with him, Papa would be able to continue to live his life to the fullest. After all, I would rather use my last bit of freedom to save Papa than let him die."

The strawberry blonde listened to her adopted sister's words and began to realize that Belle was right. Without Maurice around, they would be more vulnerable back in the village and Gaston would be able to force Belle into a loveless marriage. Even Odette would be alone again and live in a world without acceptance.

The strawberry blonde came to her senses, and she turned to the Beast and said, "If she stays here, take me as well! There's no way I would abandon my best friend!"

"You too would take his place?" he asked.

Odette gave him a firm nod, bowing her head.

"If we did, would you let him go?" Belle asked.

"Yes," the Beast said, firmly getting closer to the light. "But you two must promise to stay here forever."

The brunette couldn't make out her captor and wanted to see what he really looked like. "Come into the light," she said, with a raised eyebrow. An enormous brown foot came into view, and then followed by a hideous hairy body, and finally his face was shown with his blue eyes.

The sight of the Beast made Belle gasp. She covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. She turned back to her father in fear. The strawberry blonde's vision was blurry, as all she could see was a large blurry figure. Her hands reached to her eyes and could only make half of him. She swallowed hard in fear, her body trembled, and stood by Maurice kneeling next to his cell frightened.

"No Belle! I won't let you and Odette do this!" Maurice cried.

Knowing that there was no other choice, Belle stood up with her head held high and walked towards the Beast until she was a foot away. Odette came up and hid behind the older girl, and clutched onto her shoulders, peering at the Beast from behind her adopted sister.

"You have our word," the brunette told the Beast, with her voice nearly choking to a sob.

"Done!" The Beast snarled, before making his way to the cell and unlocked the door. Belle covered her face with her hands and dropped to her knees in sorrow and defeat. Odette knelt down and hugged the brunette close to comfort her. Maurice hurried over to his daughters and held them close.

"No Belle and Odette, listen to me!" Maurice said. "I'm old and I've lived my life…"

But before Maurice could continue to talk, the Beast began to drag and pull the middle-aged man away by his cloak.

"Wait!" Belle cried.

"Belle! Odette!"

"Wait!"

"Papa!" The strawberry blonde cried.

The Beast continued to drag the poor middle-aged man to the outdoor grounds towards a palanquin. "No, please spare my daughters!" cried Maurice, "Please!"

"They're no longer your concern!" growled the Beast as he shoved poor Maurice in and closed the door commanding, "Take him to the village!"

The palanquin broke free from its' vines and branches, and came to life. It began to trot away from the castle with poor Maurice trapped inside.

"Let me out!" the middle-aged man cried from inside, "Please let me out! Please!"

Belle and Odette watched helplessly from their window as their father was carried away from the castle. The brunette broke down in tears and began to sob in her arms. The strawberry blonde hugged her sister, trying to comfort her, but she too began to cry.