Started with the prompt "Would you love a monsterman? Could you understand the beauty of the beast?" from ripperblackstaff

I don't own OUAT

Belle wandered down the dirt path, gawking slightly at the brightly colored tents and lights that towered above her. Men with with white faces played at charades with each other, and other men in hats called out to passersby to come and try their game - everyone who plays is a winner!

The circus was in town.

Her mother had told her to stay close, and not wander off - but at this point it was said in an almost resigned way. Belle always wandered off. And the circus was in town. There was only so far Belle could wander - as long as she didn't leave the grounds her parents would find her, eventually.

She took another turn, this road taking her further away from the games and into the area of attractions. She had only just started school, but her mother had been working with her at reading for awhile now. "In case you get lost, you should know where you are." she'd said in that resigned way of hers. Belle squinted at the signs. The Bearded Lady. World's Smallest Horse! The Human Spider. And then:

SEE THE MONSTER MAN!

Belle made her way towards that tent, and wordlessly fished out one of the dollars her mother gave her - giving it to the bored looking attendant. He waved her inside.

She was alone. The room was dark and no one else was in this particular tent at the moment - no one besides the Monster Man. Belle shivered, and made her way towards the cage that took up one side of the room. There were bales of hay set up with the obvious intention of keeping people from approaching the cage, but they were not difficult to get around, even for a seven year old. She grabbed onto the bars of the cage, pressing her face up against them, trying to peer into the darkness.

"Boo!" A figure suddenly landed directly in front of her, as though he fell from the ceiling. Belle screamed and fell back over one of the bales of hay. She heard laughing as she tried to right herself. She was panicked, and made for the exit - but halfway there remembered that the man who scared her was in a cage, and she was not. Turning around, she stomped over to the bars where the figure was huddled, no longer laughing.

"That wasn't very nice!" she huffed, her hands on her hips as she'd often seen her mother do when 'fussing'.

"Not nice? Did you miss the sign, dearie? I believe it says 'Monster' on it." The voice was mocking, but Belle still couldn't make out his face. Intrigued, she stepped closer.

"Are you really a monster?"

"Come a little closer and find out." it purred.

"Hmm." Belle considered. "I want to see you. I can't see you if hide in the dark… even if I did come over there."

"And why should I come out, little darling? What would you give me if I did?"

She tapped her foot. "I already paid a dollar - and the sign says "See The Monster Man" - well, I can't see you."

"Hmm." she saw the shadow tilt it's head, as if considering "True. The thing is - I didn't make that sign. You think I'd play by the rules of my captors? If you want to see me, you'll have to give me something else."

Belle looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the places where the bars met ceiling and floor. "Your captors? You don't want to be in there?"

"Who wants to be in a cage?"

She considered this, and nodded sagely. She could share the feeling of not wanting to be trapped. "I understand."

"Do you?" he asked

"Yes", she moved around to the front of the hay, closer to the cage, and sat down on the bale. "Mom always tells me 'don't wander off', 'stay inside'. It's very annoying - but she says at my age I'm not allowed to just explore."

"How old are you?"

"Seven." She stopped, and ventured "Nearly eight."

"Oh, nearly eight." She could practically hear him sneering.

"How old are you?" she demanded, feeling slightly offended at his tone.

"I am three hundred and twenty four."

"And you're the one that got caught and locked up." she couldn't help but point out. She didn't believe that he was three hundred. She'd never met anyone that old. Yet - she'd never met a monster. "How did they catch you?"

"With magic."

"And you can't get out with magic?"

"Oh, not with my kind of magic." he stated, his tone morose.

"What kind of magic is that?" she asked, curious, her head tilted.

"The worst kind." His tone was theatrically menacing, but Belle could sense a self-depreciating amusement running through it. That decided her. She stood.

"I want to see you." She stated.

"Like I said, it's going to cost you."

She began to search through her pockets. She had another three dollars - she took them out and held them in eyesight.

"No." he said.

"It's all I have." she protested.

"And what exactly am I going to buy in here?" he gestured to the interior of his cage.

Belle gave a frustrated sigh, and continued to rummage. Her hands brushed against well remembered things she'd picked up during her explorations.

"A piece of grape bubblegum?"

"No."

"A shiny rock I found by the river."

"Ah, no."

"But it's pretty."

"Next."

"I dug up a really old penny."

"I'm older than that is."

She was beginning to get desperate. If she'd known this morning she was going to be facing such a strange and demanding creature she would have packed accordingly. Belle stilled as she felt the hard stone of the necklace her mother had given her for her birthday. She refused to wear it - certain she would lose it in her explorations, but it was always with her.

"Yes! That!" He stood up slightly, peering at her as though he knew what she had. "Whatever it is you've got now - I'll take that."

Breathing harshly, Belle drew the necklace from her pocket, and the bright stone caught the light. It was the prettiest thing she owned. The strange man moved closer to the bars.

"Give that here, and I'll let you see me."

"My mother gave this to me when I turned seven." she bit her lip. It was the first delicate and lovely thing her mother had given her. She'd promised to take care of it.

"And? You're nearly eight. Ask for another."

Belle considered the man in front of her - and the cage he was in. She decided then and there that he needed a delicate and lovely thing more than she did.

"Ok." stepping forward, Belle waited. The man stretched his arm through the bars, into the light that streamed in through the parts in the ceiling. He opened his hand, and it glinted.

"You're made of gold!" Belle gasped, delighted. The creature harrumphed.

"Just flesh and blood, dearie. The necklace, if you please." Belle dropped her necklace into the outstretched hand, which quickly withdrew back into the shadows. She could see him playing with the chain, examining his new acquisition.

"Very well," he said with finality "a deal is a deal - over there." he pointed, indicating a place in the cage where the light fell. Belle walked towards it and his form shadowed her. She then turned, and waited.

First his boot came into view, black dusty leather - stained from the dirt of the floor he was in, pants that matched, then - a vest that seemed to be made of crocodile skin. And finally… Belle could see his face.

"Oh! You are made of gold!" she cooed, studying his dappled appearance.

"I told you, girl - just flesh and blood."

"Can I touch you?" she reached a hand towards the cage, almost involuntarily.

"Certainly not. That was not part of our deal." But he knelt down anyways, putting himself on eye level with her, if not within reach. She looked her fill. His eyes were large, and she could see they were also a gold-green that nearly matched his skin tone. His hair was brown, and curly, long enough to brush the top of his crocodile skin vest.

"You're…" Belle paused to think of the right word. "You're… beautiful."

He seemed startled by her assessment, and to her disappointment withdrew once again into the shadows.

"And you're foolish to think such a thing of a monster." his voice echoed from a bit further in the cell now.

"You're not a monster." she protested, wishing he wouldn't hide.

"No?"

"No." she stated, adamant. "And you shouldn't be locked up."

"There are obviously those that believe otherwise."

She ignored him. "Maybe I could help you escape?"

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend that, dearie. I bite." he snarled from the corner of his cage, as far from Belle as he could get.

She frowned, but felt a certain determination flood her. "I'm coming back again tomorrow with something else, and you're going to let me touch you."

He chuckled. "Oh no - I expect I'll never see you again."

Instead of arguing, Belle turned on her heel and marched out. She would prove him wrong.