A/n: Hi again everyone. Thank you for reviewing! And the thanks go to:

Jello: Oops! I forgot to change the rating thing. Thanks! I changed that, in case you notice…and thanks for the compliments. Yeah, I really don't like how they portray Belle in Beauty and the Beast as this girl who's all naïve and happy and etc. And have you noticed how the Beast never says why he likes Belle? That just annoyed me for some inexplicable reason…despite the fact that the Beast, after his transformation, is the hottest cartoon guy from the Disney movies. Anyhows, hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 2: So They Meet

            Areida was still not up yet. And this led me to where I was now…sitting in her parlor unbelievably bored. I looked at the clock for about the ummpteenth time, to see that it had not moved. The world hates me. The maid that I had yelled at earlier came in and gave me a suspicious look.

            "Miss, are you really Belle?" she said in a suspicious voice and also with a weird squint.

            Do I look that bad?

            "Yes…" I tried to emphasize that point by saying it slowly in a tone that clearly said, "Yes you idiot. Now will you leave me alone?"

            Sadly enough, the girl obviously couldn't take a hint.

            "Wow. You look different, miss."

            This was a completely dumb conversation, so I started staring off into the space by her head thinking about dear (please note the sarcasm) Gridel.

            Yup, the idiot.

            Gridel was the main reason why I distrusted guys. He had gone out with me two years ago, sadly enough. I had thought him perfect and handsome (At the time of course) and all these other unbelievably sappy things. This has obviously blemished my guy free image.

            Then he had to go dump me, telling me that he had never liked me at all, and that he had only gone out with me to see my second oldest sister. So, now he comes over all the time, for any weird pretend reason such as sending messages to us from our father, to see whichever ditz he has a crush on. At the present moment, it's my oldest sister.

            What he does is sickening.

            Well, you can probably figure out that I wasn't too happy when he dumped me. I was infuriated, so I acted on the spur of the moment, probably not a good idea. Well, let's just say that his chest isn't the only part of his body that is as hard as iron…so I kicked his shin dozens of times, inflicting more pain on myself than him.

            I was utterly humiliated. I had practically worshipped the guy, a thing that I know now as stupid and dumb, and I had thought that he loved me, which I know now as impossible because love just doesn't exist.

            I mean think about it. How many people have actually fallen in 'true' love?

            Definitely not a lot.

            So, I try to stay as far away from guys as I can because I can be independent and I watch my own back. It's not like I'm afraid of getting hurt again. I just want to be independent.

            I think the maid realized that the weird person who had stomped into her house was obviously not listening to her, and got hysterical. She started yelling all these curses at me in French, and I had mastered French, so I understood every single bloody word.

            I feel so bad for whoever ended up marrying that girl…

            "BELLE!" yelled a loud voice.

            "Areida…?" I said kind of scared because the disembodied voice had been practically yelling my name. The voice sounded like Areida…

            I went on to say, "What did I do now?" in a bold voice. What was the worst thing that she could do to me? Sic her maids at me? That hysterical bit of fluff along with other hysterical French maids?

            I reminded myself to not think so much because a huge lavender blob chose to launch itself at me at that very moment. 'AH! THE BLOB! It's probably going to eat me! NOOOOOOOOOoooooo! I opened one of my closed eyes a tiny bit. The blob was…

            Areida.

            She gave me a huge hug in this undeniably hideous lavender dress, and I was just thinking, 'Yeah, glad to see you too…" when she said, "My husband died! What do I do?"

            Do I look like a coroner to you? I thought she was actually happy to see me, and then BAM! She tells me that her husband has died and wants to know what to do. This is just turning out to be a lucky day isn't it? I looked up and wished really hard for the heavens to shoot me with lightening. It didn't work.

            "Listen…Areida…I know your, err, dear husband has died. But I have a small problem…" How is marrying a beast a small problem?! "I have to get married to a beast because of my git of a father."

            I turned my head to stare at the clock. Strange…it seemed that time was passing by even slower than usual; it was still the same time it had been ages ago.

            I looked back at Areida and was shocked to see Areida's face. I felt kind of happy to know that she cared.

            Areida looked shocked, and said, "You're marrying a beast??!! But you're so beautiful! That is the dumbest idea you've ever had!"

            Now I felt like slamming my head against a wall.

            "NO! AREIDA! Get it into your stinking mind that I wasn't the one who decided to marry a beast! Who says I'm beautiful? Nobody! I could have at least married a decent person but now that dream is dashed! I get stuck with marrying a beast instead." I yelled hysterically. Hey, it's not everyday that you find out that you have to get married to a hideously deformed monster.

            "What happened?"

            I told her the whole story, with a lot of deep breaths in between to keep myself from losing my composure. I swear that I was hysterical! What can you expect from hysterical people? At least I had not started bawling my eyes out the way that I wanted to.

            It's weird, but I haven't cried since the day that my mom died.

            I looked at the clock and I asked her, "How long have I been here?"

            "You know that clock has been broken for the longest time and its hands don't move?"

            Somebody really hates me up there…

            I left that day, after I got back from Areida's house. Dad sent me to the stable with a map to the chateau that the beast lived in.

            However, he didn't even come to say good-bye. What was wrong with this insufferable man? Didn't he care that I was being given away to a beast? I felt sort of hurt by my dad's obvious lack of concern.

            Well, if he did care, he never gave any inclination that he did.

            He gave me permission to choose any horse to ride over to the chateau, so I obviously took the best one, which happened to be MY horse Sempriana.

            I had caught her when she was a young colt and I had to tame her all by myself, but it was worth it. She was a beautiful dark chocolate-colored French Trotter specimen, and she ran like a dream; ever flowing and forever. (Did I ever say that I was the best poet? I don't think so.) But riding on Sempriana was like riding on the back of a gust of wind. Her gait was smooth and sure and I trusted Sempriana's instincts. Sempriana seemed to be more humanish than animalish because of her eyes, which were two deep pools of chocolate.

            I enjoyed the scenery that went by and the admiring stares from the village boys, probably impressed by the way that I can ride a horse. A girl can feel some pride you know.

            Sempriana and I rode on.

            After another hour or so, I realized that scenery could only amuse a person for so long before it got boring.

Beast's POV

            I stood by the darkened window that gave me the best view of the gate where I could see the girl coming, but she wouldn't be able to see me. Thank the heavens. I didn't want to scare her that much. I saw a dark spot appearing at the top of the hill, and I hurried outside.

            I really didn't want a girl living with me in my chateau, but if I spend enough time, she and I might be able to fool the Fairy into thinking that we are in love.

            I'll admit it, I'm using her, but that's okay because I don't really care anymore. I'm sure that I had a heart at sometime or another but I'm not so sure if the heart is still there.

            You see, I'm an elven prince, stuck in a Fairy's curse. She saw that I acted as selfish as a beast and had the heart of one too, so she changed me. She told me that I could only change back into an elven prince if I fall in love, and the girl falls in love with me.

            What a clichéd tale. And I'm stuck in the middle of it.

            Sadly enough for me, what girl would fall in love with a beast? Definitely a crazy one…so there was no way that the girl who was coming, whoever she was, would fall in love with me. I was hideous and frightful looking. The only way that she would fall in love with me is if she had a few screws loose up there…

            I looked around for a place to hide and ducked behind an extremely large bush. The girl rode up about five seconds after I hid in my hiding place. Then, I realized that I didn't even know why I was hiding. I was big and powerful; I could probably tear her apart in a few seconds. I gave myself a mental slap for being so spineless and chicken before starting to walk out from behind the bush when I heard her mutter,"There is only so much a person can take."

Great, I have to live with a person who talks to herself.

            Can we officially say that I wanted to kick her out of my chateau before she even stepped inside? She belonged in a mental institute, where she could be treated by professionals.

            "HELLO? Mr. Beast, are you home? I guess not……I'll be going now. Sempriana!" Here, she blew a whistled a shrill note, and her horse galloped over. I guess the horse's name was Sempriana.

            What a …unique… name.

            I stepped out from my hiding place just as the girl was about to go home.

            And Sempriana reared in fear, her hooves were dangerously close to my face and I started yelling at the horse for trying to kick me in the face. Definitely wouldn't want my beautiful face to get ruined. Please note the sarcasm folks because I'm truly a beast in every way. I have fur on my face, and I have horns, and fur all over my body. My feet have claws at the end, and I have canines about 4 inches long. My hands are basically claws, and my eyes are unbelievably large, but they are the only things that retain their former looks. My eyes are the exact light-blue color that they were before. Can you believe that I was good looking at one point? I was a prince, and I had a face and body that would have enabled me to get any girl that I set my heart on. Oh but nooooo… the stupid fairy had to come and think that I was selfish. She then turned me into this… thing. I hate looking at my reflection. All the mirrors in my private quarters are pretty much shattered.

            I hated the nameless girl from the very moment she rode up on her horse.

            She was going to bring trouble. I felt it in my gut.

            I gritted my teeth before saying, "Welcome to Chateau Amboise."

Belle's POV

            The beast was hideous. I sincerely hoped at first that the guy was trying some kind of new beauty treatment that used fur to cover every single part of the body. I realized that this was really what the beast looked like when I saw the horns. When have horns ever been used for beauty treatment? Probably never the way that it looked like this guy was using them...and he had CANINES! And to top it all off, they were SUPER LOOOOONG. There was probably going to be basically no chance of me escaping, so I decided to follow the beast around the chateau, and see whatever there was to see.

            The beast had brought me up to the wing where I would be living. It didn't surprise me when I asked the beast where his wing was and it was on the other side of the chateau. He had been giving me death glares throughout his whole chateau tour.

            I would never admit it to his face, but his chateau did have a kind of homely regal touch to it. It was beautiful in a dark way. There was a HUGE kitchen, which I fell in love with, and this HUGE HUGE library. There were about 50 staircases in the whole chateau (Oh yeah, such a homely place) and 500 rooms. All of them were kept in tip-top condition, but I really didn't care about going in those rooms did I? Near the end, the beast led me to this gigantic staircase, which was dead center in this huge reception room. It led to a lovely balcony which branched off in two separate directions. As you already know, yours truly was living on the left side and the beast was basically living somewhere far far off to the right side of the castle.

            So, I had been stuck in my room for about an hour, before I came up with my ingenious plan that involved sneaking into the kitchen.

            I was hungry, and hungry people do not think clearly. A normal person wouldn't be wandering around a 500 room chateau without a proper light…

            And then I bumped into a suit of armor…which in turn bumped another suit of armor…which sort of set off a domino effect where one suit of armor toppling over led to another suit of armor falling down and you know how the rest of that tale goes…

            At the very end of the domino chain, I heard a yell of pain and an unhappy grunt.

            "DIE GIRL DIE!" yelled a voice at the end of the hall, and my first thoughts were 'RUN!'

            I ran through twisted, serpentine halls that were slightly sinister feeling before, miraculously, ending up in the kitchen! I walked in and thought that I had died and gone to heaven. There were plates stacked high with food on the table in front of me. There were hocks of ham hanging from the ceiling and hunks of beef jerky hanging from the ceiling too. There was a pot of rabbit cooking in the corner that smelled heavenly. I wandered over to that corner only to uncover a crack in the wall that was unnoticeable from the kitchen's magnificent doorway. In that nook, I found a lovely rectangular room and there was a row of ovens on the right side. On the left, there was a huge counter where I found countless pots of soup cooling! I tried several, and found them all to be delectable (There was clam chowder, egg drop, vegetable soup, a meaty stew, a hearty blend of herbs and meat, and a fish stew.) The wall at the back was nearly sagging under the weight of all the ingredients and various jars that were on shelves built into the wall. At the end of each shelf was a candle burning brightly, and I moved closer to find that they had a magical scent of the watermelons from summer. I danced back out and into the main Kitchen, only to find more delights awaited discovery from this new point of view of the Kitchen! There was a hidden closet, only viewable from the entryway of the nook. I opened it to find it shoved full with sweets.

            Yup, I've officially died and gone to heaven. Then, I noticed another nook and entered it to find a pantry with shelves filled with dried fruits, fruits, vegetables, dried meats, and all sorts of drinkable liquids.

            I think I've found where I'm going to be for most of my stay here at Chateau Amboise. All of a sudden, a grunt came from the entranceway to the sacred Kitchen. I looked over to find the source of the sound, only to see the Beast standing there looking rather miffed. "I see you've found the Kitchen. It's not all that wonderful you know…but you probably disagree since you're drooling at the mouth."

            I wiped around my mouth with my sleeve to make sure that I wasn't drooling. Ugh. I looked down at my sleeve to see this HUGE splotch of wetness. Urgh. I hate it when people I don't like are right.

            "Well, excuse me for not living in a castle that has a Kitchen stocked full with food. I happen to come from a rich family gone poor, so this is a very lovely Kitchen to me. Unfortunately, SOME PEOPLE don't appreciate the wholesome goodness here." I sniffed disdainfully, one of the only useful skills that I learned from my ditzy sisters. And yes, I am not afraid to call my sisters ditzes. It's not like they're going to be able to hurt me because they care far too much about what could possibly happen to their nails if they did try to kill me. (OH MY GOD! I BROKE MY NAIL!!!!! NOOOOOO!)

            Yeah, just imagining them even trying to fight against me is hilarious because I know that I will win. Kicking will always have a special place in my heart though. I probably looked dumb just standing there. "Ahem. Anyhows. I guess I was drooling. Thank you kind sir for making that clear.' Sarcasm was practically dripping from that last sentence in case you haven't guessed. Why was I sent here in the first place???

Beast's POV

            Damn that girl. I never even got to know her name…which made me feel a shred of guilt. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME? I've been basically ugly for about…4 years of so and I'm now 18. Can you imagine what it felt to be 14 years old and super-ugly? There was once this servant girl that I had a super big crush on…but she deserted the chateau the moment I turned into a beast (Along with everyone else) and has been married for about two years now to a farmer living in the western village of Townsend, at the very farthest place from society. SHE LEFT ME FOR A HILLBILLY!

            Sadly enough, the fairy that cursed me made sure that she was able to have a sort of sisterly bond tethered to me…so she knew immediately that I had been crushed. Of course, she sort of felt bad for giving me the curse by then, and she still wouldn't take it off because once a curse, always a curse unless it is broken, but I can't help but get the feeling that there must be something that she can do to take it off. She just won't do it because she enjoys watching my tortured life. Die evil fairy die. Ahem, back to the point. The fairy noticed that I was upset with my family and fellow castle members for leaving me and also that servant girl for going off and getting married when she knew that I had a huge crush on her. As a gift for my 16th birthday, the fairy gave me enchanted servants, which were basically invisible people who served me and were obedient to my will and anyone I chose to have them obedient to. (I know that she means my future intended…stupid fairies who are obsessed with the idea of true love. I know that she has given me an impossible curse, despite her constant assurances that curses are never impossible to undo, because true love is one of those things that don't exist.)

            So, I wasn't surprised when I heard a disembodied voice say, "GO GET THE GIRL'S NAME YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A BEAST!" Thank goodness that girl wasn't here. She would probably get hysterical and go on rampage again. May I introduce you to Jacque, my invisible servant/best friend? He was one of the first invisible servants to befriend me in the beginning. Since then…well…let's just say that the chateau is no longer as boring as it was before. "That girl is one fine specimen of a woman. You don't want her? I'll gladly sneak into her room then and we'll get acquainted…"

            Did I ever mention how he's just a tiny bit off? Yeah…

            "Listen, Jacque, I really don't want to know what you would want to do to that girl."

            "William, stop worrying so much. Now go get the girl, and if you don't, I will, and bring her down to dinner. She seemed pretty hungry down in the kitchen. And you know that that is not just your kitchen. Te kitchen me kitchen. Remember? Plus we BUILT IT TOGETHER!"

            Ah yes, how I could have forgotten the sight of nails floating in the air is such a mystery.

Oh, and Jacque and any of the other servants can be seen in anything that will reflect reflections, so I kind of regret not having any mirrors in my private quarters because I never know when Jacque is sneaking around…which would have been helpful a few minutes earlier in the Kitchen…then I would have known that Jacque was in the Kitchen admiring Belle and suffering silently because Belle did not know that we built the Kitchen together.

            "Jacque, just leave me alone."

            There was a super long silence. Did Jacque do what I think he just did? Did he just listen to me?? It was almost too good to be true. I thought all was well, and I was just settling into my armchair to read a book of mythology when a loud screech pierced the air. Then, I saw the girl come running down the main staircase and towards MY study where I happened to be sitting. Then, I realized that the girl was only holding a towel around her. What was wrong with her??!! I knew it was all too good to be true…

            Belle's POV

            If I were thinking with my normal thinking capacity and if I were not mentally insane, I would not be running down the stairs wearing nothing but a towel. DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES!

            "SOMETHING GRABBED MY LEG WHILE I WAS TAKING A BATH!"

            The beast got a look of disbelief on his face, and he said, "It couldn't be. You probably imagined it."

            "YOU DON'T GET IT! SOMETHING WAS GROPING ME IN THE WATER!"

            I don't think water would be groping at me the way that it had been.

            The beast now looked very disturbed. COULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON??? He started mumbling a few things before saying, "Could I please inquire whether you had a bubble bath?"

            I glared my famous squinty glare at him before saying, "Why do you want to know? That has absolutely nothing to do with my problem right now and I WANT WHATEVER IN THE WATER OUT!"

            The beast gave an ominous growl before saying, "Have the bubbles cleared by now?"

            "OF COURSE! YOU IDIOT!!! DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BUBBLE BATHS? Apparently not!"

            "We'll see who's the one who doesn't know anything…"

            The beast and I marched onwards towards my bathroom, and, I swear, you could almost see storm clouds floating around us…

            We finally reached my room, and even though I'm pretty sure the beast was a guy, I didn't feel any misgivings towards the beast being in my room and all. It's not like he looked human…

            He flung open the doors of my bathroom and immediately stuck his hands INTO my water! I started picturing the endless hours of scrubbing the tub…trying to clean off the beast's germs.

            The beast broke me out of my reverie when he said, "Get over here and see the guy that groped you." I looked over across the tub, but I saw the beast holding air above the water. Huh? What was he doing? He jerked his head in a way so that I realized that I was supposed to actually walk over to the tub. (Well…the glare that he sent me kind of helped too.) I ambled over to the side of the tub and looked into the murky water, only to see the reflection of a super handsome guy. The reflection waved at me and shot me a dazzling smile. I couldn't help but wave back, and I saw the beast drop the guy in my tub in disgust. I saw a huge splash, and realized that this man was invisible. HOW FREAKY WAS THAT???

            "Jacque, you really shouldn't do that…" the beast had started saying before (I guess that's what his name was…) Jacque said, "Come on Will…it was just a bit of harmless fun!"

            "Just get out and put some clothes on."

            I gasped. WHAT THE HELL??? I was in the bathtub with a albeit naked MAN????

            "Will, you seriously need to lighten up. Don't you agree cherie?" came Jacque's voice from somewhere by the floating towels…

            The beast's name was Will? As in William??? Who in their right mind would name a beast William?

            "I suppose you have a last name too." I said, accidentally.

            The beast growled before replying, "Yes, Lafae." Why wasn't he asking what my name was???

            "In case you were wondering Jacque, my name is Bellevania, BUT NO ONE EVER EVER CALLS ME THAT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Good, because you call me Belle."

            I felt something moist brush against my hand (I guessed that it was Jacque placing a kiss on my hand because I felt it lifted up.) and then he said, "The name suits you wonderfully my love." My love? Now wasn't that going a bit too far???

            The beast apparently thought so too because he said, "Jacque, let's go before we get Miss High-and-Mighty hysterical again."

            "I'll be back for you later hun."

           Now if Jacque was actually visible outside of reflections, I would probably consent…but he wasn't so I was thinking, 'Only in your dreams…'

"Why'd you force us to get out of her bathroom Will???!!! I could have been having a nice conversation but NOOO! You had to force me out and walk with you…and you're boring compared to Belle!"

            Will looked at Jacque's reflection in the mirror that they passed by, and was surprised to see that Jacque was pouting. Will then grimaced when he saw his face, before saying, "Thanks. Yeah, it makes me feel better. I'm going to sleep now…don't you dare do anything to that girl while she's sleeping or sneak into her room…" Will then went on to yawn and shook the dust out of his mane. Jacque stopped in front of the mirror and stood there staring at his reflection. William walked off, too tired to notice that his best friend wasn't saying anything about the criticisms that the not-present Jacque was supposed to be hearing.

            "I wish I could be visible…" Jacque could be heard saying before a magical chiming noise (Yeah, the kind that get annoying after a long time) was heard and POOF the Fairy appeared in front of Jacque and said, "Brother, I guess I got over you burning my wand…I guess I could change you back to a normal fairy. I kind of liked you this way too…but I'm doing this under one condition..."

            The Fairy and Jacque could be seen conversing quietly before Jacque got a sly smile on his face and said, "OKAY!"

            The Fairy whacked her wand against the top of Jacque's head, and Jacque was visible (Yes, all 5 feet 9 inches, white-blonde hair, and green eyed bits of him). Then, he headed towards Belle's room.

            His sister gave a satisfied nod of her head and said, "Let's see what Will thinks of Belle now…I hope he doesn't murder Jacque…" Then, she disappeared in a POOF.