Thanks to With-a-Momo-on-Top, lavadiamond10, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, , Hopefaith2, Strong-till-the-end, Maggs5396, Wyomingbeast, Chwilio Am Rhywbeth, xxxMadameMysteryxxx, Randall Boggs, Seionastar, Sound of the Heavens, CrazyGlitch, Sylxx, and segagenny who reviewed my first story.
Chapter 9: Parents:
Belle had insisted that Gabriel would eat with her for now on, claiming that he too deserved to eat at his own table. At first he hadn't talked to her, not even moved, staring at his silverware, as if they were taunting him.
Belle watched as he clumsily grabbing his spoon wholly and trying to eat it like how a child would try to eat it. Belle thought that it was sweet of him to try, but after five minutes of this, Belle decided to just lift up her bowl porridge and eat it that way. Gabriel followed her example and for the first time in a long while, he ate like a human being.
Afterwards, Belle offered to take him out to the gardens for a walk. Gabriel gladly accepted and at first they were silent as they walked, but it was not awkward. Gabriel often refused to go out, so to be outside, feeling the warm sun and the cool breeze grazing his feathers, something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Belle was pleased to see him so happy, enjoying himself when he seemed to have so little to enjoy.
"It's been a long while since I have been out in daylight."
"Why haven't you gone out?"
"I suppose I was worried that someone might see me, and I didn't wish to risk to be seen. Also, my father often locked me up during the day, but my mother let me out at night."
Gabriel stopped and fell silent. "Mother was quite kind to me. She said that I could go out as long as I was quiet and father wouldn't have to know."
Belle wrapped her arm around his and smiled as she continued to walk.
"What else do you remember of your mother?"
Gabriel had actually smiled and said, "She would sometimes make me a soup that was a special treat for me, if I had behaved or didn't make father angry. When she died, there were no more soups."
Belle understood what that felt. "Gabriel, I know how that feels. My mother died when I was a child too. She was giving birth to my brother, Jean. She made it through the day, but soon, the doctor told her that she had to stay in bed longer than she needed. I had to watch her wither away, while my father sat by her side. She died within the week."
Belle was closed to crying, and Gabriel hated to see her sad. Gabriel remembered what she did when he was crying, so he lifted a hesitant finger and wiped away Belle's tears. He had hoped he did the right thing and was rewarded with a smile and she took his arm again.
"Tell me more of your family. You have heard too much of mine. You said that you had a little sister?"
Gabriel knew that she had said brother, but he wanted to make her smile, and did.
"Silly beast, it was my brother. His name is Jean and he certainly a character. He is my best friend and is what had helped me get through the years against my half siblings."
Gabriel continued to look at her with interest and seemed intrigued by the idea of siblings.
"My father had married before he had met my mother, and it was an arranged marriage, and he was unhappy. When she died, he left with three children and was unhappy. After two years of widowhood, he was invited to a ball and from across the room, he spotted my mother and fell completely in love with her at first sight."
"Do you truly believe that?"
Belle was awoken by the sound of his voice from her haze, and asked, "What?"
"Love at first sight?"
"Oh. Well, if my father was able to fall in love at first sight, then how could I deny the power of it? Why do you ask?" She asked innocently.
"Oh, no reason." Gabriel said carelessly. "Tell me more about these half-siblings."
"They are so God-awful! Oh it feels so good to tell the truth. I always try to get Jean to see them as siblings rather than half siblings, but they are so terrible. Ludovic is a drunkard and a gambler, and he often picks on my poor brother to make himself seem stronger. Adélaïde and Félicie are spoiled brats; they are more cruel to me more than they are to Jean. I always liked the idea of having older siblings, especially sisters, but they never fail to remind me that we are half sisters."
"Seems to me that you have gotten the good half."
Belle found it to be both true and funny. She let herself have a giggle over it, while Gabriel chuckled, a sound that reminded Belle of that first soft sound of upcoming thunder.
"Oh Belle, I suppose I am glad that I did not have siblings. My parents must have thought that one beast was enough; there was no need of a clan."
"But surely you were not born as such. They never told you how you have come to be?"
"There was very little correspondence between me and my parents."
Belle couldn't even imagine never speaking to her father and never hearing his gentle voice comforting her, "I wonder how you could have made it through the times of loneliness."
Gabriel led her to a rose bush with its twin guarding a gate. "When I was younger and I was locked up in my room, there would be roses that climbed up into my room and bloom. I had treated each as if they were my dearest friend, they were what I had longed for most of all, something that was beautiful and didn't run from me or tried to hurt me. That is why I was so angered when your father picked one of my roses; it was like watching friend being murdered. So, I required a friend to replace my old one. I am glad that you had choose to stay with me, or else I would have found it hard to have had killed him."
"Would you have killed him?"
"Most likely not. I probably would have left him alone and made him know the same loneliness that I had suffered."
"So, you would rather punish him with loneliness?" Belle didn't sound angry, which sort of surprised Gabriel, he would have thought she'd be angry at him for being cruel. He supposed that she must have thought it kinder to let him live rather than killed him.
"I survived, he would have too. And I wouldn't have been too cruel, I probably would have let himself go home and go right back to being alone."
They fell silent for a few moments until Gabriel looked at her and smiled. Belle oddly enough liked his smile, it was sincere and tender, and those smiles were always the most beautiful.
"Let's not speak anymore of this. Please tell me more your brother, Jean."
They walked around the garden many times as Belle told stories from her brother to just any stories that she remembered as a child. She told each story with such joy and confidence and seemed to glow like the sun giving light to the world.
Gabriel could tell that she was an avid storyteller and how well she tells her stories with such confidence. This inspired him to do something he had failed to do and hoped that whatever magic guided him would help him with his surprised.
Oh, what is he going to give her? I am glad to be back at school, it makes me get in front of a computer and type. Thank you so much to Sylxx, for favoring and following, as well as reviewing along with xxxMadameMysteryxxx, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, lavadiamond10. I hope I will send out a chapter soon. Fingers cross!
