Belle reunites with Gaston

As Adam turned, wrath on his face, Belle saw Gaston standing behind. Immediately, Claudette and her sisters were at Belle's side, Belle's parents behind them. Guards swarmed Gaston but were warded off by the village naysayers who rallied behind Gaston.

The hands of the guards rested on their swords, but did not draw them. Adam raised his hands to have them hold position. He stood facing Gaston, sizing him up.

"Gaston," he said. "It's been a long time."

"It has indeed, prince," Gaston said, sneering. "Your father would be so disappointed. I'm the one who carried on his work. It seems you've decided to associate with the…oddities."

Belle wondered what Gaston meant by that. She resisted the urge to shrink back behind Adam and hide. She stood there tall and proud, channeling Claudette.

"It seems you've stolen more than my wife from me," Gaston continued, eying the sisters. He looked at Claudette, "I hope you're not attached to anything at your home. You forfeited your right to it by abandoning me."

Claudette shrugged. "There's nothing for us there," she said, standing erect and proud. Her sisters nodded their agreement.

"What is it you want, Gaston?" Adam asked, eying Gaston with barely concealed fury and disgust.

"I want many things, prince," Gaston replied. "Namely my wife. But I'd be content with other things as well." Gaston made a motion with his hand.

Suddenly, the ringleader who'd been expelled from the hall, but had seemingly found his way back in, pulled out a wicked looking weapon and stabbed one of the guards. The other rabble-rousing men followed suit, but the guards recovered quickly and began to counter them.

Gaston lunged for Belle, but Adam jumped in front of her and grabbed Gaston's arms with his bare hands. "Go!" Adam yelled to Belle. "Get the bystanders out of here!"

Belle didn't need telling twice. She, Claudette, and the sisters began to shepherd the horrified villagers out. Some of the villagers, however, resisted and ran to aid Gaston's followers.

It was chaos. People ran in all directions. Belle did her best to point people towards the exits amidst the madness.

Belle's mother had disappeared. Belle didn't know where she went. Maurice stayed close to Belle, helping her and the servants rally the sympathetic villagers out of the hall.

As Belle shepherded people out of the ballroom, she saw her mother, Estelle, and a group of the magical folk rush forward and cast protective spells over the innocent. Colette and Estelle ran ahead of the group to try to stop Gaston's supporters.

Belle, feeling like she should help, left Claudette in charge of trying to get people out of the hall. She ran after her mother, hoping to help.

But she was too late.

Monsieur D'Arque had appeared, brandishing some kind of anti-magic device shaped like spear and counteracted everything that Colette and Estelle did. He strode directly towards the two women and stabbed Estelle in the chest. She fell to the floor. Colette, enraged, launched herself onto D'Arque, who laughed and whacked Colette away.

Belle saw all of this from afar as she ran desperately towards her mother, but she was waylaid by Lefou.

"Get away, Lefou," Belle said, pushing him off. "Hasn't Gaston gone too far this time? Why are you helping him?"

"It's all I've ever done," Lefou said, blocking her path. "He's all I've ever known."

"You can do better," Belle cried, trying to dodge him. "You deserve better. You're not a bad person. Stop helping him. Make things right."

Lefou hesitated. Belle took the chance to dart past him towards her mother. Belle crept around D'Arque and seized him from behind, wrapping her arms around his neck. Colette wrested his spear from and stabbed him in the chest. Belle hopped back, letting D'Arque fall to the floor.

"Die you wretched man," Colette said viciously, pressing the spear in deeper. "Die for what you've done."

Belle couldn't look at the violence before her. At the hatred and fury that had consumed her mother. She looked around, the guards and castle staff that remained to help had recovered ground and were pursuing the rioters, who were fleeing. Adam and Gaston were nowhere to be seen.

At the edge of the ballroom, Belle thought she saw two familiar looking men grappling. They ducked through the doorway that led outside. She ran towards them, determined to help Adam if she could.

On the patio where Belle and Adam had talked what had seemed like moments before, Adam and Gaston fought with a fury she'd never seen before. As she approached, Gaston punched Adam in the face with such a force it knocked Adam back onto the ground. Gaston spun away and ran to the edge of the patio. For a moment, Belle thought he was running away, but then she saw him withdrew his blunderbuss gun.

Without thinking, Belle ran to Adam and threw herself on top of him.

"What are you doing, Belle?" Gaston asked, striding warily towards her, pointing his gun at them. "Get out of the way. This man has hoodwinked you. He's not who you think he is. He's built his power off the backs of the poor. He's sympathetic to magical people. His father would be ashamed of him. I always planned to steal this castle from him and drive the magical folk away for good."

"Then what did you plan to do with me?" Belle asked, straightening up. In her heightened state from the panic, Belle had been feeling the magic within flow strong and fierce, ready to be released. Now, she allowed it to course through her. Her skin began to glow at the untapped potential.

"You?!" Gaston said, staggering backwards. "You do have magic! D'Arque was right. I was blind." Gaston glared at her, hatred consuming his features. "You're no wife of mine." He aimed his gun at her. "Very well," he said. "I'll go through you to get to him."

"No, you won't," Belle said, standing on her feet. She imagined Gaston encased in ice. Her hands began to freeze and, quickly, she held them up in front of her. Ice beamed from her hands. Gaston began to freeze.

BANG! Belle felt a pain in her stomach, but she kept her focus on freezing Gaston. She held the image in her mind of him completely solid and encased in ice. Her vision wavered as Gaston began to turn blue.

As the world went dark, Belle saw Gaston's face get entirely covered in ice.