Chapter 2

The townsfolk of Paris thought Belle was crazy, wandering all day with a book in her hand and looking after her father, Maurice. Maurice was the town inventor, but his inventions almost never worked. "He'll never make anything useful," people used to say, but Belle and her older sister, Megara, believed in him. Their faith allowed him to keep trying and never give up, even when the odds didn't look so good. As Belle walked through town, an arrogant young man named Gaston, who was the town hero/hunter, sauntered up to her.

He hated books, and had been one of the first to start the rumors that Belle and her father were crazy, just because she hadn't accepted his offer for a date. One rejection didn't keep him from continuing to pursue her though.

As crazy as she is, Belle is the most beautiful girl in town, and I must marry her! Gaston was desperate to have Belle as his wife, and was willing to go to any means necessary to achieve that goal. He considered himself to be the most handsome man in the world, and felt that he deserved the best that there was, as far as looks go. Nothing else mattered to him.

He had long black hair and piercing blue eyes, but he was heartless and selfish. However, everyone in town considered him flawless and unable to do any wrong. In their minds, Belle was strange and undeserving of someone as magnificent as Gaston. Gaston was their idol; he was someone that all the men in the village wanted to be and who all the women wanted to marry.

Belle didn't see it that way though; she cared more about what was in someone's heart. To her, what was inside was more important than the outside. If Gaston even had a heart, he would only be able to love himself. Suddenly, Gaston rushed over, cornered Belle, and grabbed her book. In a small town like Belle's, it was not uncommon for people to know the habits of everyone else and then judge them very harshly. In Belle's case, reading was not a popular past time in the village, and she was scorned for her views and the way she boldly, but not unkindly, expressed her opinions and what she thought of the villagers' contempt for learning and knowledge. Both her and her sister Megara had been highly educated. Maurice had paid for excellent tutors for them when they lived in Paris, before they lost everything and had to move.

Down in the Underworld, books were highly respected, at least by Hades. He found the pursuit of knowledge a very thrilling experience, especially since he had little companionship, endless amounts of time to spend, and lived mainly in solitude. However, both Belle and Hades were very unaware that their lives were about to change dramatically, and maybe for the better.

Gaston was also unaware of these upcoming events and went about his daily routine of irritating Belle with his callousness and vulgarity, as well as being completely blind to her lack of affection for him. He was very conceited as well as narcissistic, constantly believing he was the best.

"Hello Belle," Gaston casually remarked, carelessly flipping through Belle's book trying to make sense of it, eventually giving up and began smirking immediately, realizing a good way to attract her attention.

"Bonjour, Gaston. May I have my book, please?" Belle was a little irritated, but she was very kind and sincere, and tried not to show Gaston how much he aggravated her. She often wished that he would just leave her alone and flirt with the other girls instead. After all, there were so many girls in the village who would do anything for him, and would die for just one look at him.

"How can you read this? There are no pictures," Gaston spoke again, hoping Belle would see his point of view and realize that books were useless and served very little purpose. The truth was that, however, there was so much more to reading and stories than just pages with words on them.

Belle sighed in frustration. Doesn't anyone understand? I guess not. She often wished that she could tell someone other than her father about how she felt.

"Well some people use their imagination and can imagine a more exciting life than this. Nothing ever happens here." Or at least not with you always getting in the way and trying to change me.

"Actually, it could," Gaston remarked. "Belle, everyone here knows that you aren't normal like everyone else. But if you married me, all that could change, and I could make everyone see how great you are. So, what do you say?"

"What kind of a girl do you think I am, that I will continue to let you insult and try to change me?" Belle retorted. She was furious; he couldn't just change her or her father. He had no right to.

"I'd assume you were like all the other girls; they would do anything for me. But obviously, you need time to think about my generous offer, so I will give you until tomorrow. Until then, my love." Gaston blew a kiss to Belle and walked away as all the other girls grew faint.

"What could Belle possibly be waiting for?" they said to each other. "Gaston is the best there is! And he is so handsome!"

Belle retrieved her book from out of the mud where Gaston had suddenly "dropped" it, cleaned it off with her apron, and ran home close to tears. She wished that her father was healthier so that they could leave town, but as it was, the fever he had was nearly killing him. He managed to cheer up a little bit every day though, when Belle brought him his invention book and a freshly sharpened pencil.

She still remembered the things he used to tell her about what life would be like far away from the town and every day was filled with new adventures and places to explore. Belle wished that they could move to Greece with Megara and her husband, Hercules, but she knew that it was impossible. Maurice would never leave France; he would just move to a different town. Belle wanted to see the world, including all the different countries and cities that were mentioned in some of her favorite books.

Thinking of those dreams that she and her father had had so long ago helped her to get through all of life's most difficult moments, and to dream for better things. But Belle pushed those thoughts of her dreams aside for now, since Maurice was still very ill and needed her full care and attention. She could only hope that the illness wasn't fatal. She had already lost her mother to scarlet fever, and she couldn't bear to lose her father too.

Quickly, Belle walked up the steps to the cottage, and went over to the coffee table. The table was left from the days when she had her whole family together and her life was complete. Now it felt like she was missing something. Belle couldn't understand the feeling at all; her papa loved her more than anything, even his inventions. Maybe she was just slightly jealous of Meg and Hercules, and their constant adventures. Or maybe she was missing true love, like the kind she read about in her books and had seen with her sister, however, it certainly wasn't with Gaston. Back in the Underworld, Hades was feeling the same emptiness.