So everything I post here are drabbles I have written for my Belle roleplay blog. They're inspired by a lot of my headcanons for Belle, or fanart, or things that I think should happen, etc. The idea behind this particular drabble came from my thought process of how exactly Belle become so enraputred with reading. That and I wanted to write a cute piece with Belle and her Mom. Enjoy!

Magic Worlds

"Maman!" came the wailing cry, just as she knew it would. Laying aside her book, Cateline grabbed the lamp from its spot on the table and padded down the hall. Pushing open the second door, she found her five year old daughter huddled in the middle of her bed, valiantly trying to get the white silk gloves off of her tiny hands.

"Oh, mon petit Belle," she crooned, joining Belle on the bed. She grasped her tiny hands gently, tugging the gloves back into place. "Dearest, you must not scratch."

"But they itch!" Belle protested, trying to tug away from her Mother's grip. "I don't likes the itchy pox."

"The chicken pox," Cateline corrected gently. "And I know you do not like being sick like this. But if you want to get better, you have to try not to scratch."

"How? All I can think 'bout is itching at them," Belle said, pouting.

Cateline laughed softly at her daughter's words. "Scratching, darling. Luckily, I have the perfect cure for that."

"Candy?" Belle asked, hope shining in her eyes.

"Better!" Cateline promised. She rose from the bed and went over to the small set of shelves in the room. She didn't need to scan the shelf for what she was looking for; it always got put back in the exact same spot.

"King Arthur!" Belle exclaimed excitedly when her Mother showed her the book. "I like this story, but…I don't know that it is better than candy."

"You have me there, ma chère. You may have some with lunch tomorrow, but only if you do not scratch," Cateline relented.

"But how? How is King Arthur gonna help with that?"

"By reading and focusing. Remember the picture I drew last week?" Cateline asked as she made herself comfortable on the tiny bed. She patted a spot on her lap, inviting Belle to climb up.

"Yes, the pretty castle one," Belle remembered, crawling over her Mother's legs to her favorite cuddling spot.

"That is King Arthur's castle, in Camelot," Cateline explained.

Belle's mouth dropped open in fascination "But how do ya know what it looks like?" she asked, taking the book from her Mother's hands and flipping through the pages. "There are no drawings in here!"

"You are right, the book does not have any pictures, but that is where your imagination helps you," Cateline said, tapping a finger against the top of Belle's head. "When I read to you, do you sometimes try to picture what is happening in your head?"

"All the time!" Belle assured her with a vigorous nod. "Because I wanna know what it all looks like."

"That is your imagination," Cateline revealed. "That is the greatest thing about reading. It lets your imagination take over and transports you to the magical worlds within the pages. Whenever you read a book, if you really focus, you can leave this world behind for a completely new one."

Belle flipped through a few more pages before she caught on to what her Mother was telling her. "So I won't itch in this new world!" she declared proudly.

"No ma chère, you won't itch," Cateline confirmed, placing a kiss on Belle's forehead.

"Then I want to read!" Belle declared, turning the pages back to where they had last left off. She stared at the page for a few seconds before craning her neck up to gaze up at Cateline. "Will you help me with the words?"

"Of course!" Cateline promised, smiling. She wrapped her arms around her precious daughter, her life, and pointed to the first word on the page. "We can read for as long as you like."