Started as a prompt. "Would you love a monsterman ? Could you understand the beauty of the beast ?"

These are lyrics from a song by Lordi.

Number of ABC Fantasy Television Shows I own the rights to: 0

It was later in the day than Belle would have liked as she arrived at the open field where the circus was set up - but it had been a couple miles she'd walked to get here. Her mom wouldn't bring her again - had said that one trip to the circus was enough. Nothing could persuade her. Not even Belle's promise to not complain about cleaning her room for a year. So Belle ran away.

She had to.

She'd made a promise to the Golden Man. (She didn't know his name, and refused to call him Monster, even in her head.) Sure, he hadn't believed her when she said she'd come back - but that just made her want to keep her promise even more.

Belle snuck into the park, near a place where the trailers for the circus performers met the woods. She was used to sneaking around, and small enough that no one noticed. She would have paid to get in if she could. Clearing the trailers there was no longer a need to hide as she joined the main crowd of attendees.

Remembering her path from the day before, it only took Belle a few minutes to locate the tent. She looked up.

SEE THE MONSTER MAN!

The lettering was harsh, in bright red, with the words "Monster" looking as though they were dripping with blood. It should have been gold lettering - maybe with a more flourished style. It didn't fit him at all.

She took one of her remaining dollars and handed it to the same attendant from yesterday, who no longer looked bored. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement as he accepted her payment.

"Back again, eh?"

She nodded silently, not sure what else to say.

"Well, be careful with that one - he might not seem so, but he's very dangerous. Don't go near the bars."

"I'll be careful, Sir." Belle widened her eyes a bit, trying to put on her best unassuming face.

He eyed her skeptically. "See that you are." He snapped the dollar between his hands before putting it carefully away and waving her inside.

It was slightly darker in the tent than yesterday, given the hour. It hadn't quite started to grow dark outside, but would begin to soon.

"Hello?" she whispered into the shadows as she approached the cage. She kept her voice low, aware of the attendant (guard?) just outside.

"Well, well." a voice drifted out of the dark. "So you did return." he sounded genuinely surprised.

"I said I would." She tossed her hair, as though this was something she did every day.

He moved towards the bars, wrapping his hands around them. "Why did you come back?"

"I wanted to talk to you again." she confessed. "And, you said if I brought you something to trade - you'd let me touch you."

"I didn't say that, little one. You did."

Belle brew a breath out, causing the hair near her face to float briefly. "Don't you at least want to see what I have?"

He remained still, saying nothing. Belle reached into her pockets. She'd spent all last night raiding her collections, trying to find the best things. Yet - he'd already taken her most precious possession yesterday, and Belle could find nothing to match it. Maybe if she put on a brave face, he would believe these things were important.

"I was in the woods one day, and found a stone that had the shape of a fish on it." she pulled the stone out, her mom had told her it was a fossil. "It's…millions of years old. Way older than you."

"All rocks are millions of years old, dearie."

"This one has the shape of an ancient creature, though." she knew there was a slight whine to her voice.

"….pass."

She screwed up her courage, and forced a smile. "Ok, then - how about this flower?" she pulled a cloth out, unfolding it to reveal a pressed blue violet. It was a unique color, and once it began to wilt Belle had kept it instead of leaving it to rot on the forest floor.

He tilted his head slightly, as though considering.

"No."

"A candy bar?" she knew she sounded pleading.

"No."

"No?"

"No, Thank you." his voice was once again mocking. He seemed to do that a lot. "Don't you have anything you truly treasure?"

"The most important thing I have you took yesterday." she said, frowning. He was silent a few moments.

"There is something you can give me. A very important thing. Something that would signify everything about you."

"What?" she asked, excited "Name it."

He giggled, his voice high pitched. "Spot on, little one. Your name. I want your name."

She furrowed her brow, confused. "It's Belle. Belle Marie French."

"Belle." he said her name slowly. "A beautiful name."

Belle found she was blushing, despite herself. Her mom had told her what her name meant, but she was a 'tom boy' - she tromped around in the forest and always came home covered in dirt. Nobody ever said anything about her was beautiful. Nobody except her parents. And everyone knew that didn't count.

"It's just a name. I would have told you if you'd asked."

"Oh, but this is so much better, you see?"

"I don't see." She still didn't know his name.

"We've made a deal. You gave me your name in trade, and that gives it power. Magic."

"You can use your magic in there?"

"No, but these are only temporary accommodations" He said, his hand gesturing.

"So, you have a plan to get out?" She crept closer to the cage.

"I'm working on it." His tone was unhappy.

"What's your name?"

"You don't have anything else to give me for that information, Belle." He emphasized her name, highlighting the fact that he now possessed something she didn't.

Belle frowned. "You're not very good at having friends, are you? You can't just always demand things in return all the time. Especially names."

"Oh?" He asked, sounding interested. "We must not be friends, then. I don't recall that you've parted with anything for free just yet, either."

She moved a bit closer, now at the line of hay bales. She perched on the edge of one. She chewed on her bottom lip, considering.

"If you won't give me your name, then… I'll just call you Mr Gold." she nodded more to herself than him. It was a good name.

"I've certainly been called worse."

" …" she began, and stood.

"Monster!" A harsh female voice sounded from behind her, and Belle jumped, turning around. A woman with short black hair, dressed in a short, dark dress with severe red lipstick strode in. Belle took a step away from her, towards the cage, but the woman's eyes landed on her. Belle tried to hold her gaze and not flinch.

"Well, hello little girl." The woman bend over slightly, and smiled at her. It made Belle's skin crawl.

"Hello."

"Are you enjoying the circus?" She tilted her head.

Belle glanced over at . He remained unmoving, sitting close to the bars as he was before. She looked back at the woman.

"Yes."

The woman followed her glance over to the man in the cage. "Oh, don't let him scare you. He is a dangerous monster, but we have him locked up nice and tight." She might have been imagineing it, but Belle could almost feel loathing roll off Mr. Gold behind her for the woman.

"Still" she continued "It's dangerous to talk to him. He's a sneaky monster." she cocked her head slightly. "You didn't tell him anything about yourself or give him anything, did you?"

Belle shook her head. "No, ma'am."

The woman smiled. "Good. Are your parents around?" she looked around the room, as though they were hiding in the corner.

"They let me come to the circus on my own."

"Well - it's actually against the rules for children to be here unaccompanied." Belle didn't remember reading any signs that said that. "Come with me, and we'll get you home safely." She held out her hand towards her.

Belle eyed the offered hand, and glanced back up at her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Oh, she's the steward here." Mr. Gold's voice piped up for the first time since the woman entered the room.

The woman sent him an annoyed glance. "I am owner and manager of this circus."

"Owner is it? And why don't you tell us how you went about obtaining it Re-gin-a?" he was being more scathing now than at any time Belle had heard him.

"I don't need to engage in conversation with our attractions." she sneered, lifting her head slightly. She was quite literally looking down her nose at Mr. Gold.

"And yet here you are." He sounded delighted. "Tell me Regina, did your guard dog outside alert you to the fact I had a visitor?"

"He told me he saw an unaccompanied child, yes." No one had reported anything yesterday.

"She doesn't like it when I have repeat customers." he said, directing his response towards Belle. "Suspects I might use them to plan an escape. She'd close this tent, but it amuses her too much to know that I'm now just an attraction." He giggled.

"Come along, girl." the woman named Regina said again, ignoring Mr. Gold's comment, but clearly irritated. She held out her hand again, and Belle couldn't think of a way to refuse taking it. She slipped her own hand inside.

Walking out with Regina, Belle took one last look towards Mr. Gold as he watched them leave. She would come back, no matter what.