Chapter Seven

7.1

As Adam looked at the young girl in front of him, memories started to pour back of the few times in which he had been around girls of his own age and especially those just before he had transformed. He had often felt that they were inadequate. They weren't educated enough. They weren't pretty enough. He didn't like the way in which they spoke or the colors of their clothing. It made him feel that he might even deserve this form. And yet, as he looked at the little girl, Belle, he couldn't see a thing wrong with her. He was the one who was the mistake here. He was the deformed monster.

He wanted to apologize to all of those girls he might have hurt. If only he hadn't been so defensive, so aggressive, buried himself under so much armor that came from the knowledge his family didn't love him and his life's aim was to fill the role of prince. If he had hurt any of them then he wanted to apologize since negative words from Belle might slash his own heart into ribbons.

"Papa said you're a prince," Belle said as she looked at him. "And that this is your castle."

Adam nodded again, he looked up at Belle nervously before looking back at the castle. "Uh..yes…yes…are you hungry?" he asked, "Food. I can…I can get some food prepared for you if you're hungry."

"We can eat, right, Belle?" Maurice laughed and Belle nodded before staring at Adam, turning her head so she could study him from a number of different angles. Adam stiffened, his back straightening. Would she laugh at him? Tell him he was hideous freak. He already knew that but somehow those words coming from her mouth would be torture.

"I like your horns," she said as she nervously touched one. Adam flinched but remained still. Her nature seemed so much purer than her own. Unlike all of those he had feared in the past, she didn't seem to rip his horn off, carve it off his head and sell it in the market. "They're like a ram."

"I'm not sure," Adam said nervously. "I…what do you like to do…is it too early to eat?" he asked her and Belle laughed softly. Adam flinched from that. He had the idea that Belle wasn't laughing at him but all of this felt so weird to him when he was in this condition. Would she start to hurt him? No. She was too pure, too innocent for that.

"I like reading," Belle told him and Adam grinned happily. He could show her the library. He was at least capable of doing that much.

"Then you have to come with me!" Adam said excitedly. He looked to Maurice and knew that the friendly man knew what his intentions were. The library was massive with books that Belle would never have enough time in her whole life to read all of them. He just wanted her to smile and be happy. Would this make her happy?

"I…I'll show you something great and then - and then we can have a huge feast and I'll make sure that you have the best experience possible," he ran ahead and Belle turned to look back at her Papa as if asking whether everything was going to be okay. Maurice chuckled and gestured with his head.

"Go on. Follow him. Adam won't hurt you," he said and Belle nodded before following the little beast. Adam refused to let the words which he had heard change his expression or dull his excitement. It had been a long long time since he had even been in the presence of another child and a girl like Belle, he was lucky that she was even here. Still, did she think that he would hurt her? That he was capable of that? Maybe he had been a brat. Maybe he had been selfish and spoiled and cold and not the most kind or respectful but he would never physically attack someone.

Was that all that Belle saw as well, what this body was capable of but not what this heart could be capable of?

7.2

Belle looked at a book filled with drawings, famous artworks that had been collected. She stared at an image of the ocean and looked to Adam as he watched her. He didn't sit there with his own books. He was just watching her and Belle paused nervously as if wondering whether she was doing anything wrong. She held up the book to show him. "I've heard pirate stories," she said and Adam laughed weakly.

"Pirate stories?" he asked, "I like that. I don't think I could be a pirate."

"There aren't girl pirates," Belle said and Adam tilted his head to the side. "I think you have more chances," she grinned and Adam stared at his paws. Was she kidding him? Was she even thinking clearly? How could he even be considered as anything other than a monster? He was worse than a dog. At least everyone loved a dog. Nobody would love a creature like him.

"Adam," Belle said as she looked over at him. "What do you want to be?"

He laughed weakly. Was she serious? His eyes widened and he stood up and walked over to the window where he could stare out into the courtyard. What did he want to be? Anything but this. For the chance to be human, to be an actual person, he would give up anything or do anything. Still, the only thing that he knew was that there was the rose that told him that he could be a human only if he loved and was loved in return. Then there was the mirror that showed him the world he was missing out on and that portrait that showed him what could be if he learned his lesson.

Learned his lesson? Ha. Was this his lesson. It appeared that a lot of the time, young children might find themselves in trouble if they didn't eat their vegetables or if they told lies. He just didn't want to let a smelly ugly beggar in and now he knew that he couldn't judge others on appearances alone but he had been scared, hurt, pained that he had no family who wanted to spend the holidays with him. He had done something bad but the punishment didn't match with the action. He hadn't done anything this wrong.

"What is it?" Belle asked, "I won't laugh."

Adam's jaw dropped as he continued to look away from her. Laugh? He wasn't worried about her laughing. He was worried because there was a huge possibility that there wasn't a future for him other than to be covered in fur for the rest of his life.

"Human," he said before finding tears in his eyes. No. He couldn't cry in front of her. Crying wasn't a cool thing to do and he wanted to impress Belle. How could he even dream of impressing her if he was crying like a baby?

"And then what?" Belle asked and Adam stared at her. His face had turned pale and he didn't know what to reply to her. It wasn't that easy? Why was she acting like him turning human again was just a given? Nothing about it was given.

"Even that might be too much to ask," Adam said before shaking his head. He took slow breaths in as he tried to think of a way in which he could change the subject. He needed to do something to get the topic away from the transformation and his fear that it could quite possibly never happen for him. "How about you, Belle?" he asked her. "What dreams do you have?"

"I'm supposed to be a wife and mother," she sighed and Adam frowned.

"You can do more," he tried to persuade her and Belle laughed and shook her head. "No. You can do more. You can leave the village and you can leave here, you can go anywhere you want. If you need money then…when you're older I can help with that. I have money," he tried to tell her and Belle tilted her head to the side.

"I'm only six," she laughed weakly and Adam laughed at that response.

"Yeah," he said as he watched her. She was even younger than he was and he kept thinking of how he should have tried to be more like her when he was at her age. Instead he had been selfish and spoiled and demanded the world on a silver platter for him. That was what he didn't want for Belle. He didn't want her to be like he was then, for her to feel despair and loss of hope until someone like Maurice seemed to change things for her. He wanted her to be happy and for everything in her future to look bright and happy. His was full of uncertainties.

"I was told that I could find a prince just for me when I'm older," Belle commented before looking down. "I don't know of any boys that fit that. I prefer to be by myself than play with the other children. Not many children read, I love my books."

"I have faith that you'll find them," Adam replied and Belle smiled to him hopefully. "Your prince. I am sure that one day you'll find a prince who loves you and wants nothing more than to protect you. Maybe they won't be a real prince but any boy who treasures a girl can be her prince." Adam froze. He wasn't sure where he had heard all of this. Maybe it was from one of those stories that Mrs. Potts had told to her children which he had eavesdropped upon since he had never had those types of stories told to him in the past by his own mother.

"Do you have dress up clothes?" Belle asked and Adam nodded.

"I think but…we have to ask…" he said as he looked around and Belle tilted her head to the side. Hadn't she seen that there were no other people here? Wasn't she able to understand that right now that she and her father were the only real people here? He coughed again. "Maybe we can ask Madame de la Grande Bouche," he said. He hadn't really been close with her as he had been with Mrs. Potts but she seemed kind and understanding and if she didn't want to play with him then how could anyone turn Belle away from them.

"I want to meet her!" Belle said excitedly, "Who is she? She sounds like a princess"

Adam laughed and shook his head. Maybe she wasn't a princess but maybe she deserved to belong to the royal family more than he did. He wasn't elegant, he was an animal. Even as a wardrobe, Madame de la Grande Bouche always carried with her a sense of charm and class.

They would have to talk to her and find out.

End of Chapter Seven

Thank you for reading

Thank you very much to the reviewers for Chapter Six

DarthLeia19, KathyMesser, LoveShipper, NoShudderAtMyPaw, ralukaralu954,