Chapter 3: Fire Man

About half an hour later, the prince walked casually into the kitchen. He saw Mrs Potts at the stove, cooking bacon by the smell of it. He looked around. I haven't ever really been in this part of the castle before. He strolled over to where Mrs Potts was standing and pretended to be interested in what she was doing.

"Mrs Potts!" said the prince enthusiastically, "What delicious meal have you cooked up this morning?"

Mrs Potts turned her head in astonishment. She was quite surprised to see the prince in the kitchen. She turned down the stove to a lower heat, and spun her plump body around to face him, as she wiped her greasy hands on her dirty white apron.

"Oh my! What brings you into the kitchen at this hour dear? Actually what brings you in here at all?" She asked curiously, tilting her head to one side.

The prince tried to think of a good reason. It had to be something worth talking about. The prince had only ever been into the kitchen before, to yell at the staff for, Not preparing his meal right, or he wanted his food now and that by the way they were going, it would be five years before he got his meal, etc. He felt guilty all of a sudden, as he remembered the way he had treated his staff, when all they had ever done was provide him with a wonderful, rich and spoilt life.

He pushed that memory away, and tried to concentrate on giving Mrs Potts a reasonable answer for his being there. He didn't want to talk about the stranger or Belle. He had only come in here because he knew that this would be the last place, that anyone would look for him. If they were looking for him. He thought miserably, as his thoughts trailed off once again. He saw Mrs Potts staring at him impatiently, while tapping her foot, so he told her the first thing that came to his confused mind.

"Um – well I – I just wanted to see what I pay you people for?" he said more formally as he lifted his head up.

Mrs Potts gave him a look of disbelief, which quickly turned into a grin. She knew that wasn't the reason for why he was here. She had a little inkling that it might have something to do with the new guest and perhaps Belle as well.

So she calmly turned around so as to hide her smile, and started to flip the bacon again. She then said, "Master, if you don't mind my asking, does this little trip to the kitchen have anything to do with our new guest?"

Mrs Potts didn't look at him as she said this. She pretended to be more interested in making sure the breakfast didn't burn. The prince was stunned at her question. She must have known all along that I was only hiding out in here. I feel like such an idiot.

"Sir, are you alright?" asked Mrs Potts turning to face him, with a look of concern, when he didn't answer.

He lifted his head up from his thoughts and said, "What was that Mrs Potts? Did you say something?"

Mrs Potts looked at him very carefully and replied, "I asked if you were alright. You are alright, aren't you?"

Her back was to the stove as she waited for him to answer.

The prince rubbed his forehead, as if "thinking", was the most difficult and painful task ever known to mankind.

"Yes I suppose I am, I think I – Mrs Potts – the stove!" yelled the prince as he pointed hysterically at the flames rising from the frying pan. He grabbed a tea towel, which was hanging on a hook nearby and started to smother the flames, while Mrs Potts backed away towards to door in fright.

"Help!" screamed Mrs Potts frantically. "Help, there's a fire."

At that very moment, the mysterious stranger came barging through the kitchen doors with a bucket full of sand. He shoved the prince to the side, and then tipped the sand over the flames.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Mrs Potts, trying to catch her breath. "Aren't we lucky you came along?"

She didn't even thank the prince for his efforts, until she spotted him leaning against a wall near the stove, almost out of breath himself.

"Oh, and thankyou also master." said Mrs Potts without much meaning. She turned back to focus on the man once again.

The prince looked at them both and thought, What does she mean, "Aren't we lucky you came along?" If it wasn't for him, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be worrying about him and Belle. So that means I would have had no reason to come into the kitchen to hide and disturb Mrs Potts from her duties.

He looked up at the man once again and listened to him as he said in a heroic tone, "No problem at all Madame. Always a pleasure to be of assistance for a damsel in distress." A slight grin appeared on his mouth.

The man looks different, now that I can see him in the light. Thought the prince. He had shoulder length sandy coloured hair, which was tied back with a black bow. He had beady-black eyes, which he had already established the night before. His skin was slightly tanned and he was about the same height as the prince himself. The prince had to admit; he was a handsome looking fellow, who could easily have any woman he wanted. He somehow reminded him of Gaston. (The prince knew about Gaston from Belle, who had talked about him a few times before.) His attitude was totally out of wack, but he could be charming when he wanted. That was for sure. The prince was startled, when he realised that his body was being shaken all over the place, by the man.

"Sir, are you alright?" asked the man, making sure that the prince saw the mischievous grin on his face.

The prince shook him off angrily and said, "I'm fine."

Mrs Potts, who was watching, came over to the man from her position near the door, grabbed the man's arm gently and said, "I do believe he is just a little shocked."

She then reached over to the prince's arm and walked him over to sit at a bench on a stool.

"I'll get you some tea sir." She said warmly and scurried over to boil the teapot.

The man paced around the prince, with his hands behind his back and whispered, once Mrs Potts was out of hearing range, "I can understand why you were so afraid. I mean being raised by nanny's, being spoiled by your parents, and waited on hand and foot your whole life, has gotta do something to you. You would have never expected something like this to happen to you I bet. You've been brainwashed your whole life, into believing that you were a God or something. So I can understand why a sweet little boy like you didn't have a clue what to do." Said the man with so much sarcasm, that it made the prince want to throw up.

The prince just felt like hurling his hot cup of tea at the man, the moment it arrived. However, now that the prince thought about it, the man was actually quite right in a way. As much as the prince hated to admit it, he had been rather spoilt, waited on hand and foot, and practically treated like a God. Hang on! Why am I even listening to this insane lunatic? I'm just letting him get to me. Well two can play at that game.

"Well apparently I'm much better off. I, at least, can control my bodily functions, whereas you have personality spasms every few minutes." The prince snickered at the man triumphantly. He felt much better, now that he had got some of the anger out of his system.

The man glared at the prince with his beady-black eyes. His jawbones were moving violently up and down on both sides of his face. Belle walked in at that exact moment.

"Ah, goodmorning Belle, are you..." started off the prince cheerfully.

But was cut off by Belle, who had rushed into the room, put her hand to her mouth and said, "Oh my gosh, what happened here? I heard a commotion from upstairs so I hurried down here as fast as I could." She said as soon as she saw the burnt-up stove, not even acknowledging the prince's warm welcome.

Mrs Potts arrived back on the scene and replied, "Oh Belle. The master and I were talking and I accidentally let the whole stove catch fire."

She smiled when she saw the man standing in the middle of the room, and said rather happily, "However, if it hadn't of been for our guest, I don't think I would have lived to tell the tale."

The man struck his most stunning smile at Belle and said arrogantly, "Oh, it was nothing. It's one of those things that should come naturally to any man. Especially when a woman's life is at stake." He said eyeing Mrs Potts, with as much charm as he could muster.

She in return giggled, like she was a young girl, who had just fallen in love for the first time.

This made the prince sick to the stomach. Why was no one acknowledging him? If it wasn't for him, Mrs Potts may have been burnt alive.

The prince started to walk over to the man. His fists were clenched up into balls of fury. He was ready to beat this weirdo, once and for all. However just as the prince raised his right fist, to strike the man in his left cheek, a thought occurred to him. If I beat this stranger, I will most likely not be able to stop until he's dead. I'm not going to sink as low as that. Especially in front of Belle and Mrs Potts.

So he turned his fist into an outstretched hand and patted the man on his shoulder. "Thankyou kind sir. I'm so glad you were here to help." Said the prince kindly. He then watched as the mans' victorious grin quickly changed to a confused look.

Once the prince had left the room, he realised that he had just scored. The man expected the prince to go off at him like he did in the library. Not a satisfied guest anymore, are we? Thought the prince mischievously. Now at least Belle didn't think that he was going mad. However as he turned to enter the main room he thought, Wait a minute! How did that man manage to get to the fire so quickly with a bucket of sand, like that? It was as if the man had been expecting the fire, and had the bucket already prepared. And where did he get the sand? There was nothing but snow outside. Who is this man? And what is he really up to?

Thankyou to everyone that has reviewed my story so far. I have a lot more chapters to go. So stay tuned. I really appreciate it when people review my stories. It gives me the energy to keep going. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, I updated this chapter to a more sufficient standard. I thank TrudiRose for sending me her suggestions and little nitpicks to help me write my story better. I also thank her for reviewing all of my chapters so far. I also thank Yuffie Paine for reviewing my chapters so enthusiastically. And some of the other very kind people who have sent wonderful comments on my story so far. I hope my story sounds better and doesn't confuse anyone.

candy depp sumpter