Freak, monster, monster child, doesn't belong...
The words echoed throughout Belle's nightmares.
Go back to the Columbus Gardens where you belong!
"No," she murmured, tossing in her bed.
You're evil, just like your daddy!
"No! NO!"
Loki was instantly at her bedside. Fortunately, she had not put a magical barrier around her room as well.
"Belle, honey?" he gasped. "What's wrong?"
The girl shrieked as her eyes popped open. She sighed in relief at the sight of her father.
"I'm okay, Daddy. I just had a bad dream."
"Oh, I see." He sat upon her bed. "Care to talk about it?"
"It was...those things they said about me today...they won't go away..."
"Is that all?" He took her into his arms and patted her on the back. "There, there. What do I always say?"
Belle scrunched her nose. "What fun is there in making sense?"
"No, no, the other thing."
"Never bring pie to a cake fight?"
"No, no, no! I mean about name-calling!"
"Oh. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."
"Exactly! Well, technically the sticks and stones won't hurt you either after a healing spell, but you get the picture."
She pulled away from his embrace and looked up at him desperately. "But Dad, what if they're right? I lost my mind today! I even scared my friends!"
He waved his hand as if it were a minor detail. "Everybody loses their mind once in a while. You should have seen your mother at her first Grand Marching Gala!" He tapped his chin. "Actually, you can!"
He snapped his fingers and an image appeared on the wall. Belle gasped at the sight of a slightly younger version of her mother in a torn ball gown, standing beside a huge net.
"I'll catch you yet, my pretties!" she said creepily to the animals cowering in fear. "Oh, yes. As soon as one of you little birds, or monkeys, or bears touches this net, you'll be mine! MINE!"
She then broke into maniacal laughter, lightning striking from nowhere. Belle did not know whether to be scared or amused. It was hard to believe that the mare she was watching was her sweet, nurturing mother.
Loki sighed in awe. "Yes, isn't she ravishing?" He snapped the image away. "Now you know not to get on your mother's bad side. The treatment she gave you and I today was nothing."
"Okay, so it's not as bad as I thought," Belle admitted. "It's worse! I'm crazy on both sides!"
She groaned as she collapsed her head onto her pillow.
"Belle, Belle, Belle," Loki said, shaking his head. "Everybody's crazy! Some just show it better than others."
"I being one of them," she mumbled, flipping onto her side.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, sweetie," her father assured her, stroking her head. "You have something that other people do not: mischief!"
"And where is that going to get me? Look at what it did to you!"
Loki was taken aback by this. Belle sat up and faced him.
"I'm sorry, but..." She hugged her knees. "Sometimes I think I might go too crazy...that I might turn evil...that they'll have to turn me to ice!"
