Beauty and the Beast [ #justwriteit #altending #wattpad10 ]

XIII. Champagne

Beast had waited that night, expecting Belle to come down for dinner like she had said. He had worn his best suit, wanting to impress her with his style since he couldn't impress her with his looks. Not yet anyways. It would only be a matter of time before he would make Belle fall in love with him and the curse would be broken, He had decided he would try. Try to remember how girls worked, in order to win over Belle's heart. He knew it wouldn't be easy but he had to try.

It wasn't like it used to be for him, not with Belle. With other girls, he had simply wanted to bed them and send them on their way after a night or week of fun, depending on if he enjoyed their company or not. But with Belle, he wanted more from her.

It must be that pesky feeling of love that the witch had promised him. That feeling that was so foreign and unfamiliar to him.

Belle was a woman of her word. Most of the time.

She had promised her presence at dinner and Abigail had followed through, waking her upon her request. Belle had slept all day and finally felt refreshed, but as expected by Beast, her mind came flooding back with all the details and happenings of last night.

She was bombarded with feelings she hadn't felt when she had realized she was okay, alive, in the castle.

James had almost killed her after confessing his feelings - how sane those feelings were, she wasn't sure - but he was gone now. Sebastian's Lycan had killed him and then had almost killed her before giving her his blood to heal her and she woke up. Then she told her life story to the man! But he did allow her to call her father, telling him some bogus story that she herself would have never believed.

Her dad really trusted her and the guilt she felt over it was immense. The guilt over James' death was also there- but more than that, she was relieved not to have to look over her shoulder all the time, wondering... waiting for him to attack.

She had been lied to. They all had. James had never escaped from prison...

With a sigh, Belle finished her look, wearing a green gown with white lace trim. With these older dresses, she opted not to wear the extremely long underwear and corset. Nor the petticoat. How did women survive in those days? She really needed to request some proper modern clothing if she was going to stay here for two more weeks. Sebastian needed to realize that times had changed and so had women...

Touching up the last of her makeup and fixing her hair as Abigail chattered in the background, Belle was in her own thoughts about the decision she had made before her tired mind crashed and she went to sleep.

She had decided, after the conversation with her dad, that no, she wouldn't try another escape attempt. Surely those rose petals would fall within that time frame and surely two weeks would be enough. She would either develop no feelings for the deformed monster of a man and break the curse, not knowing the outcome - or.. she would feel nothing but friendship and at the drop of the last petal, Sebastian and everyone in the castle would perish as if they had never been there.

Wouldn't that be the best outcome? she thought to herself. After all, they could all go where they should have been this whole time - to be in heaven with their loved ones. They would see their families again that way. but at the same time, Belle knew that spending two weeks with these people, Sebastian and the paintings alike, that she would develop a friendship with them and the guilt would eat at her.

Belle wasn't one for guilt... it would eat at her and she would always wind up doing the right thing by everyone but herself. Maybe it was time to be selfish? She was sure that she couldn't 'love' Sebastian. Looks weren't everything but when someone looked like that ... quite scary.. how could she be expected to fall in love with the beast?