Beauty of the Beast
Fandom: Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
Ship: Belle/Beast
Word Count: 1,543
Warnings: None
Belle smiled as she took a stroll through the Beast's gardens. Winter had stolen all life from the flowers but it was still the most beautiful place on the castle grounds. There were huge stone circles where the flower beds had once been and in the middle of the barren, snow covered rings there rested a fountain. Each was different but all were beautiful. They were not pristine and they did not depict images of holy angels. They were carvings of sorrowful creatures. Large wings sprouted from their backs and the water would normally have spilled from their eyes like tears.
Belle placed her hand on the aged stone and rested her forehead against the creature's chest. She could see past such appearances and feel the fountains beauty radiate from within the enchanted sculpture. She could feel the same thing when she spent time with the Beast. It was faint at first but the more she got to know him the stronger the feeling became. There was a beautiful soul hiding inside that bundle of fur and fangs. She would just have to find it and coax it out into the sunlight where it would shine in all it's glory.
She turned from the fountain and looked up as she headed back towards the castle. The Beast was standing on the balcony watching her as he often did but upon seeing her knowing smile he turned from the railing in embarrassment. She laughed softly and returned to her favorite place in the castle. The library. The Beast did not see fit to disturb her reading but she had trouble concentrating anyways. She closed a book softly over the small slip of paper she used for a bookmark and sighed. She wondered what she could do to show the Beast she cared for him.
Perhaps she would ask him to dance with her. She had often passed a large, golden ballroom on her adventures through the castle but she'd never seen it used. This made sense of course but there must have been a time when it was filled with swirling skirts and beautiful music. Surely it hadn't been built for aesthetic reasons entirely. She thought about that as she paged through her novel silently. Could the Beast dance? Would she embarrass him if he didn't know how? She didn't want to risk it considering he tended to be sensitive and prideful. She tried to think of something else.
What did the Beast like? Though she'd been with him for some time now she still couldn't find anything he really enjoyed doing. Sometimes he would sit with her in the library and she would read aloud. He seemed to enjoy that well enough but they shared that event so often she doubted it would seem special to him. She continued to flip through her book as she thought when the pages suddenly stopped on an illustration. She smiled at the image of a man holding up a bouquet of flowers towards the balcony of his lover. She remembered that chapter. The hero of the story had climbed the rooftops of his family's enemies to present the woman he loved with a token of his affections. The balcony made her think of the Beast and how he always watched her from his lonely perch.
She couldn't climb to such heights of course and it would be far from appropriate. The Beast would probably think she'd gone mad in her imprisonment. She looked around the room at the wonderful gift the Beast had given her. She could never give him something so wonderful. She sighed as she stood and exited the room. She didn't know where to look for the Beast but she knew that Cogsworth would be in the lobby on his usual table, hoping for a moment of peace. He informed her that the master was alone in the West Wing.
She ignored his advice to leave him be and made her way up the stairs swiftly. She didn't think the Beast would mind if she came now. She had already been in the West Wing once before so what harm could it do? She approached the large doors hesitantly and finally realized she could be making a mistake. What if the visit made the Beast angry again? She pulled her hand away from the door and put it to her mouth as she stared at the knob. Did she want to risk that again?
She looked around once and turned to leave but stopped abruptly. Turning back to the door, she knocked quickly before she lost her nerve again. She couldn't hear anything from within the room at first. She thought perhaps he hadn't heard her and knocked again. She hoped he answered this time because she doubted she'd have the courage to knock again. She waited but upon hearing nothing turned to leave.
"What do you want?!" a voice demanded from within. "I said to leave me in peace!"
Belle turned back around but the Beast had not opened the door. He was simply yelling from inside the room. From his words she could deduce that he wanted to be alone but would he mind her company in particular. She would like to think that if he knew it was her he would change his mind but she knew that wasn't necessarily true. She opened her mouth to answer but closed it once again, looking around at the torn tapestries hanging from the walls.
"I said, what do you wan-"
Belle took a step back in surprise as the door was thrown open but upon seeing her standing there his angry face softened. He released the door and stood in the darkness staring at her as though he were seeing a ghost. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Belle looked down at her hands as she tangled them in her apron. That made her think that she might have worn something a little fancier.
"Belle..."
"Hello." she whispered, looking up with a shy smile. "I'm sorry to bother you but-"
"No!" he looked embarrassed at the volume of his voice and lowered it. "No, it's...fine. Did you want something?"
"Well, now that you ask, I suppose I just got a little lonely in the library. I thought you might have joined me but when you didn't show up..."
"Why didn't you just send someone to get me?" he demanded, less than polite in his confusion.
"I didn't think you'd mind if I knocked this time!" she shot back. "You aren't going to run me out of the castle again are you?"
The Beast looked surprised at her argumentative tone not realizing he had just started another battle of wits he'd lose. He lifted a clawed finger as he tried to think of something to say but Belled had stormed away from him. She couldn't believe she'd been trying to come up with a way to show such an insensitive creature she cared. Maybe she had been wrong about that beautiful soul after all!
She sighed as she stopped at this thought, knowing she was only thinking it out of anger. Unfortunately the Beast had been chasing after her and she felt his chest hit her back as he tried to stop himself from running into her. It almost knocked her over but she only stumbled a little. She turned around to face him and instead of anger the look on his face was that of apology. Probably for bumping into her, she thought with a silent laugh.
"Belle...I..." he mumbled.
"Well, I guess I got a little carried away that time." she admitted. "I'm sorry."
He appeared shocked at the fact that she had admitted to being wrong. It had to be the first time since she came to the castle. Of course this was probably because she was usually right but it still made him stop in his train of thoughts. He stared for a minute then gestured back to the room he had just exited. His private room filled with his most precious of possessions. The room not even his servants were allowed to enter entirely.
"Would you like to...come in?"
Belle nodded and, to his surprise, took his paw in both hands as they entered. They sat on the balcony she had watched him watch her from for the past month or two and had a conversation that ranged in topics but was really about nothing in particular. It was just the fact that they were beginning to enjoy their time together regardless of what they were doing that made Belle happy. She hadn't been able to think of anything to give him or a special event to make him see how she cared. However she could be by his side even when he was too embarrassed to come to hers.