Blind and the Beast

A World Apart

-Belle-

"I can just take you home Belle." said the man who had found her at the gate. 

They had been informed that her father was busy drinking at the nearby tavern, but she didn't care. She wanted to see her father more than anything else.

"Thank you for your concern, but I think I can handle it from here."

"Suit yourself!" He called out, leaving as she pushed open the door of the tavern. Usually she'd follow the wall to the bar, stepping over the drunk men slouched against the wall until she made it to the bar, and asked the bartender for assistance in locating her father, but today when she opened the door the entire tavern was washed over with silence.

Belle stepped in, letting the door close behind her as whispers erupted around her and without warning, a hand grabbed her and pulled her off balance and she fell into the chest of her father, who she could identify through the thick smell of wine and home. He wrapped her into a hug and she felt his face press into her neck as tears ran down his cheeks.

"I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. I'm not drunk enough to start seeing visions yet, so that must mean that you're here!" 

She couldn't help but smile and hug him back. She was surprised when tears came to her eyes and she burried her head into his shoulder. Despite everything, it was good to see her father.

"I'm sorry." He croaked out, pulling back from her. "I'm so sorry Belle. You'll never forgive me. I'll never forgive myself."

"Let's go home." She said to him before they made an even bigger scene. 

He ushered her to their house on the edge of town with desperate apologies between more drunken tears. When they entered the small house Belle relaxed and moved her father to his  chair.

"I had to sell your chair." He said miserably. "There hasn't been any work since you left, and I've been barely getting by." 

"That's ok." She said. It was a horrible chair anyways.

"Where have you been Belle? The forest? Did you manage it all yourself?" He asked.

"Tomorrow." She told him. If she told him anything while he was in this state he wouldn't remember annything by morning time.

"Yes, tomorrow. You must be tired." He said, with a large exagerated yawn.

She went to the back of the house to find a blanket, but there was nothing. She looked, but she couldn't find any blankets anywhere in the house. Her own mattress was stripped bare. 

She gave up and curled up on her matress. She wondered quietly what else was different, and exactly what else had happened to her father while she was gone.

She was at home.  This is what she was supposed to want, but an uneasy feeling settled in her very center. She felt more alone than she had ever felt before.

-The Beast-

He didn't return to the castle that night. He couldn't. He turned around and decided to track the last wolfman who escaped his earlier fight, but it didn't lead anywhere. He turned tail and ran straight back to their territory. Even standing at the border to the land that was claimed by them, he didn't see any sign of movement. None of them crawled out of the forests to defend their territory. It was unusual, but he didn't spend long dwelling on it.

It became hard to even stand as his eyes began to burn from the strain of remaining upright and alert. He only really started to head back to the castle when his vision began fading in and out.

He landed at the foot of the steps, and let out the ragged breath that he had been holding, and finally exhaustion managed to grab a hold of him. When he opened the doors and headed up the stairs he was, thankfully, alone. He didn't know where Polly and Vandy had gone off to, but he didn't care. He couldn't even try to care about anything.