CHAPTER 2

GASTON eyed Belle from the mouth of the secluded cave where he had brought her, nestled deep into the forest, ensuring his newly turned and monstrous form remained shrouded in shadows.

It almost physically pained him to look upon the young woman's beauty, especially now as he was. A wretched disgusting monster. An evil Beast, a soulless creature deserving of death, for looking the way that he did right now. Belle would surely not wish to be with him with how he looked right now, he was sure of that much, but she was perhaps the only one with any sort of familiarity with this witch's hex.

She was, like it or not, his only hope. Gaston felt a low rumbling growl well deep within his broad chest, and he nearly growled with the effort to restrain himself. The edges of his lips curled upward to reveal his sharpened, deadly fangs. His narrowed eyes made a quick scan of pretty Belle.

The beauty he still hoped to marry, if she would have him.

Her lovely green dress that looked expensive was dirtied slightly at the hem and one of her sleeves was ripped. Her dress alone could have fed their entire provincial village for at least a month, maybe two.

Gaston let himself feel the feeling of gratitude that Monsieur D'Arque had not whisked Belle and her father away when he had attempted to keep her from interfering by going after the Beast that had held her captive.

Perhaps there was a way that she could help. She could tell him how the land's Prince broke his own curse. There was an odd pressure as he looked at her now apparently seeming to be sleeping peacefully, that seemed warmth throughout his whole body. It was a strange feeling, one that he had only ever encountered while around Belle, from the moment he first laid eyes on her and began to desire her to take as his wife.

Gaston had been skeptical of the sensation at first, but he soon came to understand that what he felt when around the lovely brunette was a good thing. Something he wanted to experience again for himself. Impatience flared to life within him. He wanted Belle to wake up. He wanted to hear his name on her lips.

When she had spoken his name in the Courtyard of the Prince's shining castle, and he felt the familiar tingling warmth seeping all throughout his body, Gaston quickly knew what it was.

What he felt for Belle was what the other villagers would call…what was it? Happiness.

He looked at her for a moment and frowned as he spotted the dried blood that now coated a gash on her forehead and was matting into her thick brown ponytail. He hadn't meant any of this to happen. He had only wanted Belle's help. He had not wanted to frighten her away or cause her to get so alarmed that she fainted and hit her head. He himself had been hit over the head countless times during the many battles he'd taken part in when he'd still been a soldier for the king's army, but he had never bled like this.

Belle must be more fragile than he thought.

BELLE woke to a horrible pounding throbbing at the base of her skull. Her eyelids fluttered open and for a moment, she was frighteningly disoriented as she was met with nothing but pitch-black.

Her cheeks felt clammy and hot, and strands of her bangs clung to her forehead, which was damp with sweat. Gingerly, she rose to a sitting position and tried to discern where she was.

For a moment, she was frighteningly disoriented, though it all came back to her in a flash of knowing so strong that it stole the very breath from her burning lungs. She felt her concern take hold of her heart as the feeble quivering muscle in her chest pounded audibly loud against her rib cage. Belle was hit with a flash of knowing so strong that she nearly cried aloud as it all came back to her and in a rush. There were no holes missing. None that she could recall, anyways. She tried to think about where she might be now and what she might be able to say to Gaston to convince the changeling man to let her go. She wracked her brain for something to say that might supplicate the man, but nothing was coming to her mind now.

She blinked her lids a few times and slowly, the darkness and giddiness began to fade away and her vision was able to recognize where she was. She looked to be in a cave of some sort but where…? Belle furrowed her thin brows as her nervous eyes made a quick scan of the cave's interior, and she nearly gasped as what she saw caused a wave of icy dread to wash over her. A pair of black eyes, little more than pinpricks, were currently watching her guardedly and tensely from the back-most part of the cave. A shudder went down her spine as she came to understand that Gaston had brought her here, but why had he gone to the effort?

She was so confused and disoriented that Belle did not think she should even take the time to figure out why Gaston had kidnapped her, more or less. She did not think any good would come from any kind of effort to try to reach the man within that she hoped he still was until her head was clear.

There was a part of Belle that was even afraid to speak to Gaston at all until she had her words carefully planned out. She suspected he was likely very angry with her still, confused, and perhaps terribly unstable right now. She did not want to provoke Gaston.

A tremor went down her spine as she heard the Beast growl and she thought it sounded like Gaston was restlessly pacing in growing agitation. The claw marks of his paws made an audible scraping sound against the cold hard stone ground of the cave he had apparently brought them to for refuge.

She was startled as she realized that she was at Gaston's complete and utter mercy. She could only hope now that, whatever affection Gaston might still hold in his heart, if there was any left at all, would save her. Gaston could have easily killed her when he'd come upon her in the Courtyard but he hadn't. Instead, he had brought her here for reasons unknown, perhaps to talk in private. Belle cautiously tried to remind herself of this little fact as she sat up, hoping that the knowledge alone would give her some courage.

"Gaston?" Belle whispered in a low and scratchy voice as she squinted into the darkness, just barely to make out the man's new cursed form as the Beast paced on all fours. His back was towards her and his tail a sharp whip going back and forth when she softly spoke his name. He whirled around to look at her and let out a low growl. He was breathing hard and she could see the glint of his white fangs in the darkness.

She knew then with a heavy heart that he was struggling internally with his curse. He was much changed now, and he was angry, maybe even hurt. Belle bit down on her bottom lip as she shakily rose to her feet, having to use the cave's wall as a brace to support herself until she could stand upright on her own.

She gingerly touched the side of her head and winced as the tips of her fingers came away slightly bloodied. There was a big swollen lump at the back of her skull the size of an egg and she was sure the tender skin there had bruised. She touched it unconsciously to hopefully remind Gaston that she was hurt, and could only pray that it would stir some sort of affection or tender emotion in the man she thought she had known.

The Beast's eyes, dark and rage-filled, watched her silently for what felt like an eternity.

Belle could not stand how loud her thoughts were in the heavy silence and blurted out the questions just burning on the tip of her tongue before she had time to process just what it was that she was saying now.

"Will you…will you hurt me, Gaston? Will you...are you going to kill me now, Gaston? Will you let me go, Gaston? I...I give you my word that I will say nothing to the Prince when he returns. No one needs to know you brought me out here. I would tell the others at the castle that I went for a walk on my own, and got lost...Please, Gaston, why did you bring me out here? What is it that you want from me?" she asked, her voice cracking as tears came to her eyes as Gaston hunched into the shadows, taking comfort in the darkness, those uneasy black and rage-filled pinpricks of his that were his eyes glinting dangerously.

She watched in horror as Gaston scraped his front paw along the ground, his claw marks leaving visible scratch markings even in the stone. A wave of cold dread washed over her as his eyes lingered upon the gold ring on her finger, and she very nearly screamed as he growled, a low, dangerous, and feral sound.

She gasped slightly, an instinctive reaction but Gaston did not immediately turn his head to look at her, having sharply turned his head to the left the moment he spotted her gold ring.

"If I wanted you hurt, pretty Belle, I would have done it already, I never took you for stupid, Belle, please don't say such things to me now that would have me think of you otherwise, please, don't," Gaston spoke in a hoarse voice that sounded waxy, as though he had not used his voice within the last two weeks.

For all Belle knew of him, perhaps he had not if he had been hiding out here in the woods as a recluse. Gaston took several steps towards her until the Beast towered and loomed over her.

He tilted his head to the side and glowered at Belle. She pressed her back as far as she possibly could against the wall of the cave, not that it was going to do her much felt an inexplicable wave of guilt course through her and the sadness that a person feels whenever they experienced a deep loss.

Gaston had lost something when the curse had apparently passed onto him, his looks, his charm, and now, just as it had happened to Adam, the former handsome hero of their village was a monster. And it would take a woman learning to look past his horrific visage to see the man within, unfortunately, that woman could not be her, as much as Gaston seemed to be clinging to the hope. Her heart broke for the man.

Belle squeezed her eyes shut hard and turned away as she exhaled a shaky breath. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open as she regained some courage and Belle nervously turned to look at him.

"I-I'm very sorry, Gaston, truly, I am. You were many things, Gaston, but I don't think even you deserved to have this happen to you, monsieur, please don't take in my words," Belle whispered, the man's name sounding funny on her lips. "B-but I can't help you, I-I'm married to Prince Adam now, Gaston, I…I can't be what it is that you seem to think I could be," she confessed, shamefaced, as a fiery heat crept to her cheeks.

Her big doe eyes moved up towards Gaston to try to gauge his reaction, but his face was still shrouded in shadow and it was too difficult for her to make out what, if anything, Gaston felt.

Though Belle swore she heard Gaston growl and thought she caught the faint flickering of moisture welling to life behind his black eyes. She heard him swallow a lump in his throat.

"Your Prince has you good then, Belle, does he? Hmm? You married him, then?" Gaston spoke to her in a low voice that she could only describe as a dangerous, wolfish growl that stuffed the chills down her throat.

There was an angry snap to his voice, a hardened edge she had never heard before, that made Belle look up in surprise. "I...yes, I...I love him, I...I would not have married him if I didn't, Gaston," Belle whispered.

She found that she wanted to contain her honesty, but lying to someone even like Gaston felt horribly wrong, and the truth was ripped from her lips despite her best efforts to stop herself from accidentally saying something that might stoke the fires of the Beast's anger further.

He leaned forward, his lips parting as if to speak further, as indignant rage flashed through his narrowed eyes which now resembled a pit viper snake's slit-like pupils as he angrily eyed the woman who had just ripped his heart asunder. He pulled back, pausing just a few inches from Belle's nose.

Belle flinched and Gaston blinked, observing her face close up like this for perhaps the first time since knowing the woman. She had fair skin, was almost deathly pale, too much so for him to call her healthy, and her eyes were currently displaying more fear and vulnerability in a woman than he had seen around him in a very long time. Not since the wars had he seen this.

Yet, Belle was trying so very hard to be strong, and Gaston found it brought him intense vexation.

Even in this monstrous form, was he truly that despicable to her? Gaston bared his fangs and let out a animalistic growl that sent a shiver down Belle's spine. She was sure no human could make such a noise.

"What is it that you saw in your Prince, Belle? His wealth? His titles, his land, what? How did he win your love?" he growled, his hoarse tone dripping with bitterness as the horrid emotion seeped into his stomach.

Belle stared, hardly daring to believe it. She could only gape at the Beast with a slightly slack mouth and wide eyes. She did not know how to go about this or where he was going with this, but again, despite her best efforts in wanting to conceal the truth from him, she couldn't. She heard herself answering honestly.

"I…my love for him came in time, Gaston, it wasn't something that he tried to force," she tried to explain in a shaking voice. "It just happened. Once he…once he started treating me kindlier, Gaston. My affection for him grew over time and I started to see that he was trying his best, Gaston. He was…is…good to me. He loves me for who I am, not what he wanted me to be. Not...not like you wanted me to change for you, I'm sorry, Gaston, b-but I would never have been happy if I had chosen you," Belle whispered remorsefully, the faint twinges of affection tugging the edges of her mouth upwards just slightly as she spoke of her Prince.

Gaston felt something ugly snap and shift within himself at that moment as his mind struggled to process Belle's words. His hope that she would come to her senses and choose him had been a fool's hope all along. Her kindness towards him, though distant, had been a farce all along.

The poisonous words were ripped from his lips before he even knew what he was saying.

"Go, Belle. Leave," he blurted out, his words clumsy and blunt, his tone trembling slightly. "I was a blind and idiotic fool to have brought you here, to have put any of my trust into you, thinking you could help me left this wretched witch's curse, was so very stupid of me, and I wish that when all this be over, that the wolves that live in this forest would have you for a snack," he growled, his tone dripping with seething fury.

He turned his monstrous profile to the side so she could not see his twisted features.

Belle did not even need to look into the Beast's glistening black eyes to see the horrible antagonizing hurt that she knew with a heavy heart that she had a hand in putting there. A horrible wave of guilt washed over her, and her lips parted as if to speak, however, it took her a moment to say his name.

"Gaston, I don't..I never meant this..." she started to say, though she immediately cut herself off as she heard the Beast emanate a low growl, a dangerous warning sound from deep within Gaston's broad chest.

She let out a gasp and stepped back as his head whip-lashed sharply upwards, and there was no mistaking the anger welling behind his dark eyes. She shivered. In this moment, he was more Beast than he was man.

"Did you not hear me? Are you deaf now, Belle, as well as so incredibly cruel and hurtful? LEAVE! GO!" Gaston roared, his powerful voice echoing throughout the entire cave and outside into the forest.

She heard the skittering of ravens taking the flight to the skies and squawking their displeasure at their nesting interrupted. Belle did not need to be told a third time. One look at Gaston's face was enough for her.

The Beast's black eyes were laced to the brim with such horrible, antagonizing hurt, that she could not bear it. She turned on her heels and fled as terror seized at her heartstrings and tugged relentlessly. Already, she was beginning to fear for the worst. That unlike Adam, Gaston would not be able to be rid of his curse. She had come to understand in the weeks that had passed since she had married her handsome Prince, that it had been her love that had undone the witch's curse that had been cast upon Adam at such a young age.

But she was beginning to doubt that Gaston had the capability of love, though she hoped that he did.

Even still, as she ran, with horror clinging to her heels, Belle was smart enough not to look back, though she felt Gaston's eyes on her, burning a hole through the back of her skull as she fled from the dark cave.

Gaston turned as Belle fled from his now-monstrous form, a horrible abrupt bitterness seeping its way into the pit of his swooping stomach. His mouth was dry and he licked his lips. He wanted nothing more than to follow her. It was a primal need, instinctual. He did not understand it. As furious with Belle as he was, when it boiled down to it, he needed Maurice's daughter by his side. Wanted her, even if she did not want him. As he fully turned towards the cave's entrance and briefly saw Belle's silhouette disappear into the mist, he was inexplicably stricken with a bout of regret at how he'd spoken such poisonous words to her.

He'd not meant to fling such venom at her in self-pity as he had or to chase away still the one woman who could help. But to look into her eyes, to see the ring glittering on her finger and know that she belonged to another, hurt worse than this transformation had. He wished he had been allowed to stay dead at the bottom of the ravine. Surely, that would hurt far less than to watch the woman that he had thought he would marry and spend the rest of his life with walk away from him. Again.

Perhaps this was what Hell felt like.

His face froze as he caught the tip of Belle's dark ponytail disappearing into the thick white mist that was slowly seeping its way through the forest, shrouding everything in a thick white blanket. His anger swelled. Belle did not know these woods as he did. They were wicked woods, a cursed forest. And yet, despite this little fact, it was the perfect place for a monstrous Beast like him to live out the rest of his days in hiding if this wretched witch's hex could not be lifted. Gaston cursed himself for not being more careful with Belle.

Once again, he'd let his temper take control over his emotions and it had hindered his ability to think this through logically, like the soldier he had once been. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt in his black, wretched heart, that Belle would only succeed in getting herself lost in this dark forest. There were rumors among the villagers that these woods in particular were ancient. Sentient, even. He had never quite believed the stupid peasant lies, but after spending two weeks in the woods, he was starting to believe the whispers.

The forest had a habit of getting folks lost if you did not have the foresight to stick to the path. Belle didn't.

Gaston waited a moment to compose himself and allowed the worst of his temper to cool down before daring to leave the safety and comforting darkness of the cave he had taken to living in these last two weeks to begin searching for her. She would not escape this forest alive. Not unless he took it upon himself to save her. If the forest did not purposefully get her lost and send her into a panicked frenzy and cause her to try to hurt herself, or worse, then the wolves would surely get to her and rip poor Belle apart, limb from limb.

He only hoped he found her before Belle stumbled onto a pack of wolves…