The Beast hurried through the halls, his arms full of library books. She had asked him at dinner what his favorite books were. He had been too shy to answer then, shrugging her off, but when he had returned the question she had spoken so passionately about each book she had read, and there had been so few. After dinner he had run off to the library to gather a few of his favorite books to share with her.

When he got to her room he raised his right arm to knock on her door, but quickly lowered it again as the door was already halfway open.

"Belle?" he called out. Perhaps she had left the door open so that the servants could enter. He had never really thought about it before, but it was probably hard to enter a room when you were a clock or a teapot.

"Belle?" he called out again, pushing the door further open and entering the room. He entered slowly in case she was inside sleeping. As in walked in the room he quickly realized that there was no one in the room at all.

The bedside table had been overturned and there were clothes and books littering the floor. The Beast walked over the clothes, searching for any clue about where Belle was. His eye caught a pile of linens on the floor and he picked it. It was a series of bedsheets and curtains strung together into a rope, each item attached with a small knot. She had been planning to escape this entire time! Afterall she had already attempted her escape once. It had only been the wolves that stopped her. What a fool he had been!

The Beast stormed out of Belle's room, headed for the West Wing. He was furious to have been duped this entire time by her. He knew she hadn't wanted to be here at first, but after their time together he thought she had at least grown not to hate it.

As the Beast stormed down the hallway he heard a muffled voice coming from the closet in the hallway. The Beast stormed past at first, but slowed his pace as the muffled yelling continued. The Beast backtracked and threw open the closet door. Inside he found Madame Garderobe with a gag around her mouth.

"What!" The Beast shouted, ripping off her gag!

"Master I am so sorry, but he took her!"
"What are you talking about?"

"Belle! After dinner she came back into her room to retire for the evening. She was reading me passages from Romeo and Juliet and ohhh how romantic it was!"

"Madame Garderobe explain yourself faster or I will leave you locked in this closet all night!"
"A man came into the bedroom, he forced his way in and told her that he was rescuing her from the Beast." The Beast shook his head in disgust and started to head back down the hallway.

"No master! You must listen, she didn't want to go with him! She put up quite the fight and he called her insane, saying that she had fallen in love with this Beast." That made the Beast stop and turn in his tracks. Did Belle actually love him? "When she refused to go with him he got very angry, picked her up and carried her kicking and screaming. I tried to stop him. I ran out the door after them, but my legs aren't so quick. He shoved me in this closet to keep me quiet and gagged the both of us. Belle was kicking and screaming up a storm!"

"What did this man look like? Was it her father?"

"No...no he was young, strong and quite handsome." The Beast let out a low growl at the wardrobe's description, "but he did have a foul look in his eye Master like he was up to no good."

"Do you know where they went?"
"I don't know. He threw her over his shoulder and headed down the main staircase towards the front door."

The Beast started running. He had heard enough. Belle was in trouble and needed his help.

He burst out the front door and into the cold night air. The Beast looked either direction, searching for a clue of where the pair had gone. How had no one noticed someone entering the castle? How had he not heard her screams! The Beast sniffed the air in either direction. He hated this part of him, the actual Beast side. For awhile after he had been changed he had even started hunting and he was quite good at it. His nose could sniff a scent out miles away.

It had been a long time since he had tracked anything. At first he had hunted and killed for the sport, but as the years went on it just made him feel more and more of an animal and he so desperately wanted to be human again. He could smell just the faintest scent of Belle's perfume drifting off to the East, along with another scent that was a swirl of alcohol and sweat.

The Beast started running on all fours in the direction of her perfume. He should have asked Madame Garderobe how much time had passed since the man had taken Belle. It couldn't have been too long. He was only in the library for maybe an hour or two. It had been a little difficult to find the books he wanted, but it couldn't have been too long.

Soon the Beast saw footprints in the snow and he knew he was on the right track. The man must have not come on horse, or if he had he must have left it at the edge of the castle grounds. That was a smart move considering the wolves would be a lot more likely to hear and hunt a horse. The Beast continued to run following the footprints in the snow. At some point it started to snow on him. He could feel the fresh flakes of snow sticking to the hair on his back and his toes tarted to go numb.

When he could run no farther he stopped for a minute to catch his breath, every inch of him was cold and felt like ice and his heart was starting to harden in despair, but that's when he heard them.

"You ungrateful girl! I save your life and you have no thanks for me! When I make you my wife I'll show you what it means to respect a man!"

The Beast followed the sounds and found the pair in the next clearing over. Belle was laying in the snow with her arms tied in front of her and her mouth gagged. Gaston held a flaming torch and was craning his neck around towards his back, trying to look at something.

"If that bite left a mark I'll leave my own mark on you!" Gaston threatened her. It appeared Belle had bitten Gaston in an attempt to flee.

The Beast sprung from the trees with a roar, leaping on Gaston. He made impact, his claws sinking into Gaston's flesh. Gaston was easily taken by surprise and fell to the ground, but Gaston was quick to retaliate, grabbing a knife from his belt. Gaston madly swung his knife at the Beast trying to slash into his ribs and stomach. The Beast roared again, using the strength he had to keep Gaston on the ground. Gaston was strong, but the Beast was stronger.

In a last desperate attempt Gaston spit in the Beast's eyes causing the Beast to flinch. Gaston took the opportunity to wiggle away and throw a clump of snow into the Beast's eyes. The cold wet snow hit the Beast's face and he moved his hands up to wipe away his eyes. Gaston made a run for it and was at the edge of the clearing. Gaston turned back for a minute, brandishing the knife as a threat. The Beast roared back and he could see Gaston flinch a little bit. Gaston gave one last look at the Beast, and over the Beast's shoulder to where Belle was laying before running off into the cold dark night.