At long last, here's the next chapter! I've really got to stop with these ridiculous delays. I'm very sorry for that. I'm going to try to be better about updating regularly.

Most importantly, I need to thank the reviewers of the previous chapter: Bloody Phantom and Bellaroe. As I've said before, your encouragement is what keeps me writing. I really can't thank you enough!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 8:

"Eavesdropping is wrong."

Belle bit back a scream, then whirled around to glare at the tall, pale man who had so rudely startled her. "Hush, Vincent!" she hissed at him. "You mustn't make a sound."

Abashed, Vincent mumbled an apology and did as he was told. After a minute or so, he imitated Belle and pressed his ear against the wooden door which muffled the conversation in the room within.

"Don't shove," Belle admonished him, adjusting her position so that they could both be more comfortable sharing the door.

"I thought you'd be happy now that she knows everything," Francoise was saying in a voice of exasperation. "I know Vincent is happy that he can once again walk freely throughout the castle. He hated being hidden away in the east wing, though he'd never say so."

In the hall, Belle looked up at Vincent with a compassionate expression. "Did you hate it?" she asked.

He nodded mutely.

"Besides," Francoise continued from behind the door, "you need him to be happy."

"Not necessarily," the Beast rumbled.

"I've said it from the beginning. Everything depends on Vincent," the old woman insisted.

"That's complete nonsense!" the Beast snapped. Belle knew the expression his face wore when he snarled like that, and the thought of it made her shudder.

Puzzled by the conversation, she turned to Vincent. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"

"Not at all," Vincent quietly replied. His face showed nothing but confusion.

"Nor do I, but I think Francoise is probably right. She tends to be." With that, Belle returned to her eavesdropping.

Evidently Francoise had asked another irritating question, for the Beast was growling in frustration.

"Growling won't help anything," Francoise said sharply.

"I wish you'd leave," the Beast grumbled in an uncharacteristically petulant voice. "I am your master, and you are being insolent."

"I apologize for my forwardness. I'm only speaking bluntly because I am concerned for you. You're squandering what may be your only chance."

"She must mean his chance to become human again," Belle surmised. "What do think, Vincent?"

"Probably," he mumbled.

"It's none of your concern," the Beast was snarling. Belle could hear him stomping angrily around the room. Suddenly he stopped and, after a long silence, emitted a heavy sigh. "I don't know what to do," he said in a low voice. His hopeless tone went straight to Belle's heart. A wave of pity rose up inside her. Surely there was something she could do to help him.

"Well, what do you think?" Francoise asked.

"About what?"

"Anything."

"Don't be ridiculous. Give me a subject."

"Belle."

"She's useless."

Belle rolled her eyes. She had heard the Beast apply that adjective to her so many times that it no longer offended her in the slightest. Oddly enough, the more she heard it, the less she believed it. She didn't think she was useless at all, and she didn't think the Beast really believed she was, either. She just needed to find her use.

Apparently Francoise was similarly unconvinced. "Master, you mustn't give me such silly answers," she told him.

The Beast began pacing again. "Let me amend my response, then," he snapped. "She has no use that could possibly be of any benefit to me."

"But you clearly don't believe that to be true, because you've kept her here."

"I keep her here because she suffers being away from her family, and I enjoy seeing people suffer," the Beast replied, but he didn't sound particularly sure of himself, and Francoise merely laughed at him.

"Do you like her?"

"No."

"That's also false. But if you insist on it being true, then you need to release her from this prison. If you hate her and she's truly useless, let her return to her family. Don't keep her here out of spite. If you've resigned yourself to withering away in despair, so be it, but don't make Belle share the same fate." She paused for a brief moment, then added, "Spare Vincent, as well. He deserves to live a full life after all he's suffered."

"A plague on both of them!" the Beast snarled. "Lately they've been as thick as thieves. I can smell them outside the door right now, eavesdropping on our every word."

Both Belle and Vincent stiffened in surprise. Inwardly, Belle was berating herself for her idiocy. Of course the Beast would be able to smell them. She should have known that. "I guess we'd better announce ourselves," she sighed. She timidly knocked on the door.

"Enter," the Beast rumbled. Much to Belle's relief, his voice held amusement rather than anger.

Vincent entered the Beast's chambers with his eyes fixed firmly on the stone floor. Belle, on the other hand, gave the Beast a guilty grin as she came before him. "It's impossible to fool you," she said, laughing nervously.

"And yet you try," the Beast replied. "Did you hear anything interesting?"

Belle nodded vigorously. "Yes, many things, but I know you'll only become grumpy if I start asking questions, so I won't pester you."

The Beast turned to Francoise with an exasperated expression. "This girl thinks she knows everything about me," he grumbled. Francoise snorted in amusement.

"Oh, I just realized that there's one little thing I'd like to say," Belle suddenly spoke up.

The Beast did not move, but shifted his eyes to look down at the girl. "What?"

"Please don't become annoyed," she said as an introduction.

"I'll try."

That was not particularly reassuring, but Belle pressed on anyways. "I heard Francoise saying that you should try to make Vincent happy, and I agree." She paused before adding, "That's all."

Hearing this, the Beast snorted. "Thank you for your advice," he said sarcastically. Glaring down at Vincent, he asked, "What do you have to say, Vincent? Are you unhappy?"

Vincent refused to raise his eyes, but he shook his head.

"You're intimidating him. Of course he's not going to complain," Belle pointed out. "But just because someone won't speak up doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to make him comfortable and happy."

Once again, the Beast growled, and Belle braced herself for one of their arguments. Francoise, sensing a quarrel brewing, took Vincent by the arm and led him out of the room. "Come, Vincent, I need your help in the kitchen," she quietly said to him as they left. Before she closed the door behind her, she gave a look of warning to Belle and the Beast. "Control your tempers," her face said.

The door closed, and a think silence fell between Belle and the Beast. After a minute or so, the Beast sighed and muttered, "I'm tired of our confrontations."

"They're extremely tiring," Belle agreed. "We need not have them, you know. We could talk reasonably with one another."

The Beast snorted derisively at these words. "You, talk reasonably?" he said.

"Yes," Belle insisted. "You're not the only one in this room with a brain."

"Whatever brain you have has only developed since you came to live in my home," the Beast replied.

"Maybe," Belle admitted. She went to the corner of the room and pulled her usual stool into the center of the room. The Beast watched as she sat and stretched out her legs. After another long silence, she looked up and asked, "Will you please tell me Vincent's story?" The Beast didn't immediately reply, so she added, "It doesn't make any sense to keep secrets from me. If you'd rather not talk about it, would you have Francoise tell me?"

"Francoise may give you the wrong version."

"Then I suppose you will have to tell me."

The Beast bowed his head. "I suppose so," he slowly said. So suddenly that it made Belle jump, he jerked his head upwards again. "Let's go outside."

Belle leapt to her feet as the Beast threw open the door. "Why outside?" she asked, struggling to keep up with the Beast's rapid pace down the hall.

"I haven't been outside in weeks," the Beast replied as he trotted up the stairs to the castle's entrance hall.

"Oh," Belle intoned, still confused as to his sudden desire to be out of doors.

She could see his powerful muscles working under his hair as he opened the castle's massive front doors. She had never before used this entrance; Francoise had told her many times that she could only enter and exit through the castle's side entrances.

The Beast charged onwards, leaving Belle blinded in his wake. The sudden stream of sunlight into the castle had rendered her temporarily disabled. Once she had recovered her sight, she stepped through the immense doorway into the fresh, early spring air.

"Belle, this way!" the Beast's voice called out.

Belle followed the voice to the side of the castle, where she found the Beast standing beside the rosebush which had made her his prisoner. He was panting and looked much more alive than she had ever seen him before. He also looked extremely sad.

"This rosebush is enchanted, as I'm sure you already know," he informed her as she approached.

"Yes, I did know that," Belle replied. She hesitated briefly before asking, "How did it come to be enchanted?"

"That's what I'm going to tell you," the Beast said, regarding the rosebush with stony expression. "Vincent is a central character in the story."

Belle said nothing, but simply waited for the Beast to begin his tale. At last, he said, "It may surprise you to hear that Vincent and I are half-brothers."

It did indeed surprise Belle, more than anything she had ever before heard. She contained her shock, however, and simply gazed up at the Beast with a serious expression that demanded an explanation.

"Vincent's mother, Francoise's younger sister, was my father's mistress. Her name was Marie. Vincent was born five years before me. When I was born, my father decided that Vincent and I should be raised together so that I would have a playmate. Needless to say, both our mothers were unhappy with this situation. My mother wanted Marie to be thrown out of the castle."

"What did Marie want?" Belle quietly asked.

The Belle shifted uncomfortably at this question. "I believe she would have liked to leave so that she could raise her son in peace. But my father kept her here, and Vincent and I grew up together. After a while, when Vincent was about twelve years old, my mother decided that she couldn't bear to have him treated as my equal any longer, so she sent him to the servants' quarters. He's never thought of himself as my inferior, though."

"Yes, he once laughed when I referred to you as the 'master,'" Belle murmured.

"My mother always considered him a lowly servant and treated him accordingly, but at the same time, my father treated him as a son. When I grew older, I began to notice this discrepancy. I made Francoise explain it to me. Once I understood the situation, I immediately took my mother's side and turned on Vincent. I blamed Marie for stealing my father's love from my mother, and I accused Vincent of stealing my father's love from me.

"When I was perhaps fifteen years old, Vincent confronted me about my changed behavior towards him. We fought, and afterwards, I went to my father with a bloodied face and told him that I hated him and Vincent. I demanded that Vincent be treated only as a servant, and I ordered my father to send Marie away from the castle.

"He refused, but I raged at him, cursing his name and insisting that I would find some way to take revenge on him if he didn't do as I said. I think I frightened him." The Beast sounded curiously proud of himself as he said this. "At last, he agreed to obey me. After that, I developed a habit of overriding my father's wishes. My mother often tried to stop me, saying that I needed to respect my father, but I ignored her. She died soon enough of illness. It was a tragedy, but not wholly unexpected. She had borne me fairly late in life, so she was far from being young.

"After her death, I continued to dominate my father. Eventually, he decided to abdicate his ruling powers to me. He wanted to live in peace somewhere where I wouldn't trouble him. So he left. He tried to take Vincent with him, but I wouldn't allow it."

"Why not?" Belle asked.

The Beast shrugged his massive shoulders. "I suppose I didn't want him or Vincent to be happy. It doesn't matter now; my father died alone two years ago. But after he left, for the next several years, I continued to abuse Vincent. Now that my father was gone, Vincent was entirely friendless, since his position as an illegitimate son meant that he could never fit in with the other servants. Francoise kept him company as best she could, I suppose."

"But she's not very tender or loving," Belle pointed out.

"Precisely," the Beast agreed. "Thus, Vincent still felt alone. Although we had been raised together, he now became terrified of me, as did everyone else. I admit that I should not have treated him as I did. I took great delight in making him labor twice as hard as everyone else. I especially enjoyed abusing his emotions, pointing out how friendless he was and making a mockery of him."

Seeing a tear roll down Belle's cheek, the Beast paused briefly before resuming his story. "Five years ago, on a cold winter evening, a hideous old woman came to the door of the castle and asked if she could spend the night. I said no, she could not. She offered me a rose in exchange for a room. It was a laughable offer, and I turned it down. She left, and I thought no more of her.

"The next morning, one of the servants informed me that Vincent had snuck her into the castle and given her a place to sleep. I was furious that he had subverted my decision, and I stormed to his room, eager to punish both him and the old woman. He tried to hide the woman, but I quickly found her and ordered them both to be put in chains. It was then that the woman transformed into a majestic and beautiful fairy."

The Beast halted his story, trying to see what effect it was having on Belle. She remained solemn and silent, so the Beast continued, "The fairy told me that I was to be punished for my cruelty. She said, 'Not only do you refuse to practice kindness, but you will not allow it to be practiced under your roof. You give your contempt to those who most deserve your compassion. Your handsome face hides a beast's heart. But no longer will that be so.' She changed me into this form."

Once again, the Beast stopped speaking. He was breathing heavily, and Belle could see that the painful memory was upsetting him. However, she still remained quiet, and her eyes willed him to finish his tale.

He took a deep breath and said, "She disappeared after her magic had taken its effect, leaving this rosebush outside the castle as a mark of her enchantment. Vincent understood exactly what had occurred, and he tried to calm me. However, I roared at him and told him that it was his fault. If he hadn't disobeyed me, nothing would have happened. I told him this repeatedly until he believed me. After I had vented my anger, I ordered him to bring Francoise to me.

"She took charge of the situation, telling the other servants and all my vassals that I had been called away by the king to lead his troops in the Holy Crusade. One by one, the servants left the castle to find employment elsewhere. When only Francoise and Vincent remained, I emerged from hiding. The three of us have lived here ever since."

With the story completed, a heavy silence fell between the Beast and his prisoner. The Beast stood as though awaiting judgment, while Belle could not bring herself to speak. After several long minutes during which the only sound was the whistling of the wind through the trees, she reached out and patted the Beast's hairy side.

"That's an awful story," she murmured. "I understand why you didn't want me to hear it."

The Beast nodded. He and Belle returned to the castle in silence.

So this chapter was kind of heavy. What do you think of it?