Snow White The Fairest of Them all

Chapter 12:Beauty and The Beast part 1

Belle was Standing as far from the dance floor as she can manage, avoiding the eyes of every young man who comes near, she does her level best to blend into the shadowy corner. She feels uncomfortable, bare in her mother's strapless yellow gown. Most of all, she feels out of place.It is difficult enough, most days, to go into town and interact with just a handful of the people who think she is odd and strange at best, who think she cannot hear them whisper behind her back about how unfortunate it is that such beauty was wasted on a girl who always has her head stuck in a book. Even then, she only has to deal with a few people at a time, and they will mostly let her do what she came for and be on her way. But here, at this awful ball, she is surrounded by every last adult in the town, each dressed in their finest clothes and jewels, however humble they may be. Here there is no pretext, no business to be done, only small talk and social niceties and a few dozen eligible young bachelors stalking the young women of the town onto the dance floor. And the few - Gaston the worst of them - who have tried to catch her eye and drag her onto the dance floor, are the most unsavory of them all, the ones so hell-bent on claiming the most beautiful woman as their prize that they don't care if she's the strange bookworm. It takes every transparent and pathetic excuse she can come up with to keep them at bay tonight. The hand on her back makes her jump. But her father's laugh echoes beside her ear. "It's only me, Belle."
"Papa, you scared me," Belle laughed in return. She presses in closer to him, turning away from the crowds, hoping no one will come to her while he is there. Even as a grown woman she feels like a little girl, shy and hiding away in her father's coat for protection.
"We really must get you out and socializing one of these days, Belle."
"We really must find some people who don't see me as either an oddity or a potential trophy wife, Papa."
He smiles and kisses her forehead. "Yes, I suppose we must." From behind his back he produces a book, leather-bound with the title embossed in silver leaf. She sighs gratefully, and embraces him before taking the book and hurrying towards the stares
She reads late into the night as the revelers dance below her. And so, when she heard the faintest sound of a scream, she belived she must have begun to doze, or else one of the townspeople has had one too many glasses of wine. Even as she stands to stretch her legs, and hears the echo again, she pays it little mind. It is not until the third time, when a
shrill cry of terror rings out from the woods beyond the open window, that she becomes afraid.

She searches the dark treeline and hills beyond for some sign of what is wrong, and as she squints, she can see firelight flickering through the trees, approaching the town. Another scream rips through the forest, this time followed by the most terrifying, guttural growl she has ever heard. The ballroom below is suddenly much quieter, revelers listening for the cries as well. Suddenly, the firelight emerges from the trees, torches carried by three men. Belle's eyes widen, and before she even realizes what she is doing, she runs to the edge of the balcony, overlooking the dance floor below, and screams at the top of her lungs."Ogres!"
As the word leaves her lips, the soldiers come barreling in, and moments later, a crash and a shower of wood and stone as the ogres break through the door frames. The hall fills with screams and cries of utter terror. Gaston and several other men who came to the ball with swords join the fight. Belle races across the balcony to the stairs, and hurries down as quickly as she can, nearly tripping over her skirt. By the time she makes it to the bottom, the screams and shouts have died down. She pushes her way through the still frantic crowd, and finds a pool of blood spreading across the dance floor. In the center lie the two ogres, dead, one with a sword through the back of his neck and the other with a large dagger sticking out from his temple. One soldier is dead, another lies clutching a wound at his side and does not look like he will survive more than a few minutes. The third is cradling a clearly broken arm. Four of her fellow townsmen bear sliced and bloodied clothes, but all are standing with their own strength and seem all right.
she could hears her father, calling out her name. She follows the voice and when he finds her, he sweeps her up in a crushing hug. "I'm fine, Papa, I'm fine."
The badly wounded one manages to tell them little before he bleeds to death. The other, as several people help him pull off his armor and tend to his arm, tells them that he and his fellow soldiers were caught in a battle on the front lines of the ogre wars, and that they were somehow separated from the battle, and have been running for their lives since before sundown.
That's impossible!" one man shouts. "The nearest battles of the ogre wars are hundreds of miles away!"
"Current circumstances would suggest otherwise." The voice that speaks is shrill and coarse, sick and delighted. Belle turns, along with everyone else, to the source of the voice at the far end of the room. Standing in the center of a crowd, far from any doors, like he simply appeared on the spot, is a small, thin, sickly looking man with a wicked smile on his face.Her father steps forward, shoulders square and head held high. "Who are you? And why are you here? The stranger smiles, showing yellowed teeth. "I," he says, bowing with a flourish, "am Rumpelstiltskin."
Gasps and whispers fill the room. The name has floated in rumors from far and wide for many, many years now.
He stands straight again, and steps towards her father. "And I am here to help you with your... pest problem. This soldier speaks true, the ogre wars have been raging through the lands for many months now. And, unfortunately for all of you folk, they've been raging in this direction. The nearest battle is not more than ten miles from this very building, and the rest are sure to catch up soon."
And how do you propose to help us with that? He smiles wickedly again, and gestures with dirty hands and blackened nails. "With magic, of course!" He clasps his hands behind his back and skips closer to her father and the other town elders. "I can cast a spell upon this entire town, and everyone within it, that will ensure that neither No matter how close the battles get, even if they try to seek you out, they will never be able to find you."
"You're sure?"
He stops, Belle turns back to her father, and smiles. "I guarantee it."
"Ah ah ah!" he chides, waving a finger. "Not so fast! I can do this for you, but it will cost you."
Of course, anything!" Her father looks to the crowd, waving at them. "Everyone pass up your jewels, all of them, quickly -"
"No, no," he says, stopping them. "I have no interest in your little trinkets. My price is something much more valuable."
They have heard stories, of a man who trades in infants, as his price and his commodity. Few ever believed the tales, but now, Belle knows, each and every one fears it."Name it."
Rumpelstiltskin smiles, and sweeps his eyes across the room. "I see many very beautiful young women in this town. My price, for protecting this village, is that one of you must come and live with me as my
"Come, now! Come, now!" Rumpelstiltskin shouts, his voice carrying over the noise. The crowd quiets, but not completely. "It's a perfectly reasonable arrangement. And of course, as soon as the war is over, and your town no longer needs to be concealed, she will be free
Rumpelstiltskin loses patience. "Silence!" The room falls quiet. "You have heard my price, and it is not negotiable. "I am not picky as to which one of you ladies comes with me, anyone fairly young and pretty will do.
"Really?" he eventually asks. "No one? Not a one of you is willing to save your village?"
"I'll go." Belle almost does not recognize the words as her own, does not know they are coming until they escape her lips. Rumpelstiltskin clasps his hands in delight and walks towards her. "My, my, my." He examines her, and although she has never felt more bare and exposed in all of her life, she holds her head up high, and looks him square in the eye. "I don't think I could have found a more beautiful woman in this room if I had chosen for myself. Tell me your name."
"Belle."
"Belle. Means Beauty. How very fitting." He smiles, lecherous and greedy, and a shiver runs down her spine. "Well then. Let's go draw up the contract, shall we?"
She takes a deep breath to steel herself, and follows him out of the ballroom.
She follows him to a nearby table, where he produces a parchment . Her father Maurice he grabs her by the shoulders, his grip was tighter than she has ever felt.
Belle, you don't have to do this -"
It's all right, Papa -"
"We'll find another way!" he insists, shaking her without meaning to. "We'll fight the ogres off, we'll fortify our defenses -"
"It won't work, Papa," she insists, holding his arms gently. "We can't protect ourselves from this war. We just can't. This way I know that you and everyone else will be safe. And I'll be safe, too, Papa. I just won't be here."
Tears fall from her father's eyes, but he can say nothing in protest. She smiles sadly, and wipes them from his cheeks. "This is my choice, Papa. I know what I'm doing. I'm okay with this."
"Belle, you can't do this!" Gaston shouts. "You're being ridiculous! I won't allow you to do this!"
She glares at him over her shoulder. "Since when do my actions require your permission, Gaston?"
"Don't be so stupid! You cannot go with some monstrous imp and -"
"What would you have me do?" she snaps, closing the gap between them and yelling without inhibition. "Would you have me be selfish and stay here, be your little wife, cook your meals every day, and then every night pray that we are not all slaughtered? Should I let us all be ripped to shreds by vicious ogres? Should I let soldiers pillage our town and steal our food for themselves until there is nothing left? Let them force us all into their armies until every able-bodied person in this town lies dead on some far-off battlefield? No! This is my decision and I have made it!"
"I will not have this monster take you!"
"And I will not have you fight my battles for me, Gaston!" And then, as quickly as it came, her anger simply falls away. Rumpelstiltskin waits patiently. He holds up the quill in one hand, and the completed contract in the other. "There is no battle to fight. Not for anyone." she signs the contract.
Excellent," Rumpelstiltskin grins as the contract disappears. "Shall we be on our way, then?"
Belle nods , but then she turned back to her father. He pulls her into a hug, his body shaking with sobs as she buries herself in his jacket one last time. "I love you, Papa."
"I love you, Belle, more than anything."
"I'll be okay, Papa," she whispers. "I promise."
As she pulls away, he kisses her cheek, and gives her one last brave, loving smile. She steps away and goes toward Rumpelstiltskin, holding her head high and proud. He flashes another of those terrifying grins, and puts a hand around her waist.