Welcome back! Thanks again for all the alerts and reviews. This chapter will be a little bit shorter, but we're going to finally see what happens in Villeneuve.

Chapter 5

The sunlight crept through the shutters and Gaston groaned. Yesterday he finally got rid of Maurice and now Belle would have to marry him. To celebrate his success he gave multiple rounds at the tavern and now he was feeling the aftereffects of too much alcohol. Still he got up as fast as he could, he couldn't wait to find Belle and make her his wife.

He was still nursing his headache when loud banging on his door demanded his attention.

"What do you want!" he yelled while swinging the door open, he had no time or patience to deal with anyone right now.

Monsieur D'Arque stood on the other side, looking rather disgruntled. "I would be watch my attitude if I were you. Maurice never arrived last night and the wagon seems to have vanished without a trace."

Gaston stood there dumbfounded, Maurice never arrived? A vanished wagon? Nothing just vanished, even the most elusive prey left tracks for him to follow. And no prey has turned out to be more elusive then his Belle.

"Could you tell me exactly what you mean by vanished, nothing just vanishes," Gaston exclaimed.

Monsieur D'Arque continued, "They never arrived and when my men checked the roads there were no tracks to be found." Either that or his men were more incompetent than he thought.

"I'll go see for myself and I will find those tracks. No one is better at tracking than me," he boasted. "Go back to that asylum of yours. I'll find them before sunset."

Gaston slammed the door and gathered his bow and rifle. This was a set back, but he'd find Maurice and drag him to the asylum himself if he had to.

He mounted his horse and took the road out of town. So far he could still see clear tracks and had no trouble to follow then.

As he neared the woods the tracks became fainter till no more tracks could be seen. He got off his horse and looked down, they were still there. The shadows just made them rather difficult to see, he decided to continue on foot. Still as he went the tracks got fainter and fainter and he understood why the men of Monsieur D'Arque had trouble making them out. Loath he was to admit even he started to have some troubles seeing them. He was tracking now for 2 solid hours when he grudgingly had to admit that not even he could find any tracks. They had just vanished, but that wasn't possible. He looked around the forest to get his bearings, he recognised the place. Maurice had taken him and LeFou on this exact route, all the while rambling on and on about beasts and talking teacups. Getting an idea he decided to get back on his horse and rode to that infernal 'magical' tree. It didn't take long to find, but still he found nothing. He wouldn't give up though, it was too much of a coincidence for him to end up back here. He decided to check the bushes here, he wouldn't admit defeat this easily. He was Gaston, best hunter that ever lived and he would not have his reputation ruined by one crazy old man.

First he checked the left side of the road, while there were yet again no tracks. Something was off, he just couldn't figure out what it was. After another hour with no success, he angrily stomped out of the bushes.

Nothing, absolutely nothing could be found. But he would keep going, he was sure he would find something here.

Moving to the other side of the road, he didn't see anything else that might help him. But he decided to go in further, Maurice had been very insistent about going this way. Deciding he had nothing to lose, he continued on.

Ten minutes in he was met with the strangest sight, snowflakes which turned into a winter landscape. That crazy old coot was right! Winter in June, now he was sure he was on to something. It was getting late though and the sunlight seemed to disappear at an alarming rate.

Getting into a clearing he found a turned over cart and a broken music box. So Maurice had actually been telling the truth all this time! He grabbed his rifle and loaded it just in case he saw the beast that old man talked about.

Slowly he made progress making sure to be careful in this strange forest. He found the carcass of a wolf and took a careful glance of his surroundings. He didn't hear any wolves, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Going down the path before him, he finally found something to resemble tracks. Two sets of footprints and something else. They looked to be from a wolf except that they were simply too large and it was only two prints, not four. What animal walks on it's hind legs he wondered. Not that he cared, there was not an animal that he couldn't take on after all.

When the cold started to bother him, he found himself surprised to find himself before a huge closed gate. In the distance he made out an enormous castle, this must be where Belle was locked up in the dungeon! Finally it was hero time, he would go in find his wife and rescue her. She would never refuse him after that. All he had to do was to find a way to open the gate.

Unbeknownst to him he was being watched. Agathe thought she had been rather thorough is removing all traces of the wagon, but she hadn't accounted for Gaston's determination. That man just never knew when to quit, she did keep the wolves at bay though. They guarded the enchanted area of the forest, but she would never actually allow them to kill anyone. If Beast hadn't shown up to save Belle she would have stepped in, just like she had sent Philippe to help Maurice during their attack. The horse had run off frightened at first, but she had sent him back and guided him towards the castle.

For now the gate would keep Gaston out, but she was sure the man would find a way to get passed it.