Time slowed and her mind was screaming, 'Run! Run! Run the hell away before he wakes up!' But her heart softened at the sight of the exhausted Beast, 'He saved your life. Are really just going to leave him there? What if the wolves come back?!'

Tony and Pepper had always told her to listen to her heart. So she did.

She moved ever so slowly towards him, jumping a little when he'd move, and placed a hand under his shoulder blade.

He looked up at her and she got a clear view of his eyes. They weren't yellow like a wolf's or brown like a bear's, they were a deep ocean blue and... human.

Screaming could be heard in the distance, "Belle?!"

"Papa! I'm over here!"

Tony came int view but immediately charged his repulser rays as he laid eyes on the Beast, the others following suit.

"Belle, get away from that thing!"

"What?"

"Come on get away! Let's go!"

"I can't leave him here!" She ran up to him and lowered his arm, "He saved my life."

Tony froze, "What?"

"There were wolves, they tried to kill me but he stopped them. He saved my life Papa." She said it as though just now realizing it. She swallowed hard, "You don't want to hurt my savior, do you?"

Tony looked at everyone and told them to stand down, they did it slowly and cautiously.

Belle went to kneel besides the Beast, who still grunted in pain, "You have to help me. You have to stand."

He rose to his feet and she wound his arm over her shoulders and let him lean on her, his fur blocking the icy air.

She looked back at the others, "Well, are we leaving or not?"

"Wait for us!"

Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip came hopping over through the snow carrying what looked like a floating rose in a glass dome.

Belle smiled at seeing her new friends. Lumiere panted, "Sorry it took us so long mademoiselle, the snow put out my fire."

"It's alright Lumiere." She looked up to see everyone's wide, shocked eyes. Well, they did just see a candelabra talk. "I'll explain later."

They walked back to the quinjet in silence, Vision did come to help Belle carry Beast, not wanting we to carry all his weight.

~

The trip back felt like hours, which it was. The servants fretting over their master the whole time. He currently sat in the very back, only the Belle and servants keeping him company. Everyone else kept their distance, which Belle understood.

She was still frightened by him. But the helplessness in his eyes from. before made her stay beside him the whole trip.

~

When they got back he was taken to the med bay where Dr. Cho went to work on him. She didn't even bat an eye when a humongous Beast waltzed into her lab, having dealt with Ultron and being a surrogate mother to Vision.

After knowing their master was in good hands, the objects finally felt like giving out more information.

They were cursed.

When the last petal of the rose they brought falls, their master stays a Beast forever, "and we become antiques." Lumiere finished.

"Rubbish. We become rubbish." Cogsworth alliterated.

Though none of them spoke of how to break it for their mixed company.

No one acknowledged the Beast the next morning, in fact, no one spoke at all. Cho did let them know he was fine and resting.

Belle didn't go to see him. She found herself sitting in front of the enchanted rose, thinking about the turn her life has taken in just a day.

~

"Alright, where is she?" Kate came storming into the tavern.

Gaston and LeFou looked up from their seats, "What do you mean?"

"Belle. She wasn't at classes today and she's not  You guys were planning your idiotic schemes last night, now where is she?"

Gaston stood up, "We don't know. We haven't done anything... yet."

Kate sighed, "Fine. I'm going to go look for her." She went back to the door, LeFou followed and gave her a beer, "Thanks LeFou."

Before she left she turned back to him, "I still don't know what you see in him." She gestured towards Gaston and LeFou's face turned red with embarrassment. Kate laughed, "Don't worry, in the only one that knows, besides, you don't hide it very well." She left and LeFou felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

~

Belle had finally gotten the courage to go see Beast. He was laying down on a cot, trying to lick the claw marks on his forearm, "Don't do that!" He snarled but Belle stayed at the door, "You may make it worst."

He seemed to take her advise for he stopped. Belle took a seat, a single question needed to be answered, "Why did you save me?"

He looked at her, "You were in danger. Don't look into it."

"How did you get cursed is their a way to break it?"

"Ha. Wouldn't you like to know."

He was getting on her nerves, "Yes I would!"

"Even if I could tell you, I wouldn't."

Belle then got up and stomped out of the room before more colorful language could be said.

Beast watched as she left, slightly guilty. The servants came in and Cogsworth sounded excited, "A girl master! A girl!"

"Yes I know."

Lumiere hopped up onto the chair, "Master, did you ever think that she could be the one? The one to break the spell?"

"Of course I have! I'm not a fool."

"Excellent! You fall in love with her, she falls in love with you, and poof! The spell is broken!"

Mrs. Potts shook her head, "That's not how it works Lumiere, these thins take time."

"But the rose has already begun to wilt!"

The Beast sighed, "It's no use. She's so beautiful and I'm, well look at me!" He through the blankets of him to reveal his monstrous body.

"Oh you must help her see past all that." Mrs. Potts explained.

"I don't know how."

"Well, you can start by acting like a gentleman instead of a two year old."

~

Belle was still angry when she walked through the common room. But the door bell and the outline of Kate through the window lifted her spirits. She opened the door and Kate walked in and plopped down on the couch, "You weren't at classes today."

Crap! "Oh know! I had forgotten all about them!"

"How?! You never forget anything!"

Belle hesitated, how would she react? It didn't matter, she found herself telling her anyway. Kate's expression changed from happy to concerned to intrigued throughout the whole story. "To be fair, if I didn't know you as much as I did, I'd have called a psychiatrist. But, the world has dealt with killer robots and alien invasions so I can't really dismiss it."

"You could go see him if you'd like."

"Na. I don't think I want to." She got up and headed for the door, "I cover for you in class, you've got enough to worry about."

"Thanks."

"Anytime Beauty."

A smile graced Belle's lips, "Ever since you found out what my name means, you've. Ever stopped calling me that."

"And I'm not going to." She stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

Beauty sat or the common room, too much going through her mind. Lumiere and the others came in, "Do forgive our master, manners are not his strong suit."

Mrs. Potts hopped up onto the table, "His father wasn't very kind. After his mother died, his father went to work turning him into the kind of man he is."

Guilt pierced her heart, "Why were you all cursed when it was he who hurt that woman?"

"Because we let it happen, Ms." Cogsworth solemnly said.

Belle then smiled as Chip jumped up to sit in her lap and they all conversed. Lumiere told of his love, Plumette, who got turned into a feather duster. Ironic, since she was a maid. Cogsworth reminisced about his time as a general in the French army and Mrs. Potts told story's about Chip, who apparently is no more than a child.

Belle soon left to go to her room to sleep, they'd been talking all day! But looked back when Lumiere began to sing, "Will I tremble again, to my dear one's gorgeous refrain? Will she now forever remain, out of reach of my arms?"

Mrs. Potts joined in, "Oh those Days in the Sun, what I'd give to relive just one. Undo what's done, and bring back the light."

Chip cuddled up next to him mother, "I could sing, of the pain these dark days bring. The spell we're under, still it's the wonder us us I sing of tonight."

Belle felt tears form in the corners of her eyes, "How in the midst of all this sorrow, can do much hope and love endure? I was innocent and certain, now I'm wiser but unsure!" She down the hall, "I can't go back into my childhood, one that my father made secure. I can feel a change in me, I'm stronger now but still not free!"

She found herself in the Beast's room. She walked up, caressed his forehead, then sat down in the chair and let sleep take her.

The servants came in, pleased by the sight, "Days in the Sun will return. We must believe. As lovers do, that Days in the Sun will come shining through."

They left the two alone. Beast opened his eyes to see Belle there, and closed them, a small smile forming knowing that he may not be doomed after all.