It was an hour before the beast regained consciousness... Sitting up, she noticed that she was in the drawing room of her castle... The beast shook her head in confusion... Wasn't she in the forest looking for that idiot? Or was it just some bizarre nightmare?
"Nnnn..." she groaned rubbing her throbbing forehead hissing slightly as she noticed the numerous bite marks on her arm... No it wasn't a nightmare... It was real... Groaning, she leaned forward to examine the damage... It was bad... and the pain was unpleasant... Out of instinct started to lick her arm, only to stop when someone held her head, causing her to look up.
"Don't do that... You'll get an infection..." Beau instructed the uneasy beast only to get a low growl in reply...
"Come on..." but the beast growled once again, eyeing the hot towel in his hand, almost like she was afraid of it...
"Hold still..." he advised trying to hold back his surprise as the beast did all in her power to avoid the hot towel. Rolling his eyes, Beau slyly grabbed onto her arm and pressed the hot towel onto the bloody wound. His actions were rewarded with an earthshattering roar.
"THAT HURTS!" she bellowed angrily, her green eyes locking fiercely with Beau's brown ones.
"If you didn't move, it wouldn't hurt so much..." Beau said sarcastically washing the blood off.
"If you hadn't ran... than none of this would have happened..." the beast sulked.
"Well if you hadn't tried to kill me I wouldn't have run off..."
"Then you shouldn't have come into the west wing!"
Beau rolled his eyes. Ignoring her previous argument, he pressed the towel onto her arm a second time, stifling laughter as the beast released a dog like whine. For someone who looked so terrifying, she acted like a small helpless child.
"You're really something you know that... First you attempt to kill me in the west wing, and then you risk your life saving me from wolves... Now you're no better than a seven year old..."
The Beast, used to years of nothing but obedience, was momentarily taken aback by Beau's defiance. She opened her mouth to retort, but stopped, only to stare at him with those beautifully haunting green eyes. Finally, with her lips pursed she slumped back into the chair...
"I'm sorry..." she mumbled.
Beau blinked, nearly dropping the towel he was holding.
"What was that?" he asked slowly, hardly believing his ears.
The beast sighed, like admitting her mistakes pained her to the core, but she did so anyway...
"I'm sorry." She repeated. "I'm sorry for trying to kill you... I didn't mean to... It's just that... You have no idea... how its like... living here... alone... looking the way I do... where people can't bear to look at you... and even your own servants fear you... and..." noticing Beau's expression, she quickly clamped her mouth shut knowing at once she had said too much.
Beau sat there allowing her short confession to sink in. It never dawned on him that this beast... this monster could have human emotions... It was like talking to a totally different person... or beast... Also, it genuinely surprised him that she was aware of how her appearance affected other people... Curious, Beau turned around and true enough the servants were cowering behind a large table, their eyes wide with fear he then turned to the beast whose eyes refused to meet his...
For the first time, Beau felt... sorry for the beast... She didn't ask to be born like this... Maybe... Maybe he could have been wrong about her... Who would want to be born for the sole purpose of scaring the living daylights out of people... Not anyone he could think of... It must be terribly... lonely...Finally, Beau gave her a small smile.
"Well... I want to apologize too and... Thank you...You saved my life..."
The beast's ears perked up, her eyebrows raised
"Your... your welcome..." she said cautiously.
Beau nodded before reaching for the bandages.
It took about another twenty minutes before all her wounds were cleaned and dressed and although the Beast was an enormous baby about the entire affair, she did manage a grudging "thank you" once the ordeal was over...
Beau whipped the hair out of his face, his ears still ringing from the numerous roars and whines of pain that escaped the beast... The beast... Could he even call her that anymore? She seemed so... She was just so different from the terrifying monster he had met hours before... He looked at her, noticing how she was looking at her bandages nervously... Her ears pressed against her head as her green eyes glanced to meet his, an almost scared expression within them and for a moment, Beau could see the vulnerability of another human being within them... However that moment of uncertainty was broken when the beast, noticing the amused expression on his face, turned once again to look away...
"Why don't we start over?" Beau suggested after a round of tensed silence and getting nowhere... The beast looked up, her fur bristling with unnecessary nervousness...
"What do you mean?" her voice still cautious...
"Well for starters I haven't told you my name yet ..."
"Yes... you haven't..." she said flatly.
"Well... My name is Beau... Beau Chevalier..."
"Beau... That's a nice name... Beau Chevalier..." the beast mumbled softly.
Beau shrugged.
"Thank you ..."
There was an awkward silence for a little while before Beau tried again...
"Why don't you tell me your name?" he asked gently.
The beast recoiled a little, like a wild animal being cornered.
"My... My name?" she said uncertainly almost like she didn't know how to respond...
Beau winced... Was he making a mistake asking for her name? Did beasts even have names? Well they had to right? How else would they tell each other apart...
"Do you have a name?" he asked curiously without thinking.
"I have a name!" the beast shot back indigently. "It's just been... So long since..." her tone died down...
Beau slid his hands in his pockets... Not knowing what else to do, he decided to just drop the matter all together...
"Its alright... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to... I..."
"Angela " The beast said softly "My name was... is Angela..."
Beau blinked, genuinely surprised by the sweetness of her name... Angela? That was just so... unexpected... So human... A cough snapped him out of his revere, reminding him of the beast's presence... Despite his doubts about her, Beau smiled warmly at the beast...
"Angela... A beautiful name..."
From the far corner of the room behind their table, the servants couldn't help but smile wholeheartedly as well at the spectacle before them... For once in those long, lonely ten years, they felt something that they thought they had all forgotten...They felt hope...
