Archive of Our Own ^beta

“No, don’t! It’s too far!”

That may have been true, but Adam was tired of being any distance away from Belle. This time, he would tell her how he felt and hope that she felt the same, finally ending this living hell he and the others had been trapped in for so long. The stone was rough and cold beneath his fingertips as he readied his body and leapt across the divide. Belle moved to one side as he barely made it onto the balcony, his claws digging into the stone as he pulled himself up. So distracted by this was he that he didn’t register what was happening behind him until he heard Belle scream and a pistol firing. He winced, bracing himself for impact, but instead of another bullet, he felt Belle thumping against his back. Spinning around, he saw Belle falling to the ground, clutching her stomach, while the man from the village looked on in shock. But that shock soon gave way to horror as the bridge beneath his feet gave way and he fell to his doom.

His heart pounding in his chest, Adam knelt on the ground and pulled Belle against him. The white material of her dress above her abdomen was stained with bright red blood, and her skin was growing paler than ever. He adjusted her in his arms with her head resting in the crook of his arm and pressed one hand on her wound. His voice cracked when he asked, “Why did you do that, Belle?”

Belle licked her lips and took a deep breath, burrowing closer to his bulky form. “I couldn’t...couldn’t let him hurt you. Must have read one too many of your adventure novels and fancied playing the hero.”

“Anything is better than Romeo and Juliet, I suppose,” he teased even as his throat closed up. He could feel her blood spreading under his palm. He straightened up, moving his hand and tucking his arm beneath her legs, ready to stand. “We have to find you a doctor. There’s not a moment to lose.”

Belle shook her head urgently, clutching the lapel of his shirt. Her breathing became even more labored as she whispered, “You asked me a question earlier...if I could be happy living here. I didn’t give you a proper answer.”

Adam wanted to insist they find a doctor but knew in the pit of his stomach that it was too late. She paused and her eyes fluttered close, causing the Beast’s heart to skip a beat. He shook her lightly and begged, “Belle, please...stay with me.”

Her eyes reopened and she took a long shuddering breath, coughing, “M-my answer is yes, I could have been happy here. I was happy here. Happy with Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the others…”

She then slid her hand up along his neck to cup his cheek and smiled, a tear sliding from the corner of her eye. “But I was most happy with you. Once I saw the man behind the monster, once you accepted me just as I was, how could I not?”

Adam could feel tears soaked into the fur around his eyes, but he didn’t care. He swallowed past the thick knot in his throat and cried, “I was happy with you as well, Belle. Incandescently so!”

“How funny and cruel life and death can be at times,” she slurred, swallowing thickly as she struggled to stay awake. “I’ve spent my life reading romances but only in my final days did I live the greatest romance of all.”

Her eyes closed and her hand slid down his jaw as she whispered, “I lo-love you...always remember that.”

As the words past her lips, her eyes fluttered closed and he felt her go limp in his arms. As if to state the finality of it all, the castle gave one finally violent tremor before falling into ghostly silence. Adam knew in the back of his mind that the final petal had fallen, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He kept staring down at her face, willing her eyes to open.

“Please don’t leave me,” he cried softly. “I love you as well! Please Belle...come back to me.”

But still Belle’s eyes remained closed. He let out a roar of grief that seemed to echo for miles. Snowflakes and dust swirled in the breeze, the chill piercing even his thick fur coat. He couldn’t say how much time had past, hours or seconds, when he heard a voice he never thought he would hear outside his nightmares again.

“So the Beast finally learned to love and be loved in return.”

Adam lifted his head but didn’t look behind him. Soft footsteps echoed against the stone floor as the Enchantress from long ago emerged from the dark quiet of the castle. She wore a ragged cloak from similar to the one from when they first met, when she cursed him and all of those inside the castle. Her appearance, while not as old as it had been that night, still hid her truth magical form. He looked up into those same impassive eyes but couldn’t feel anything apart from his grief.

“Consider your lesson learned,” Adam stated in a gruff tone of voice. “Now leave me in peace, I beg you.”

“Do you not wish to have the curse reversed?” the Enchantress asked, her tone ever neutral.

Adam looked down at Belle’s still face and thought of all of the servants that had fought so hard to bring them together. Heaving a sob, he said, “Do so for the servants as they never deserved to be punished with me, but please...leave me as I am.”

When he didn’t hear her footsteps, he looked up to see her still standing in front of him. What was more curious was the expression on her face. It portrayed something apart from her previously neutral expression: she seemed confused. Cocking her head slightly to the side, she asked, “Why them but not yourself?”

“What would be the point?” Adam asked, his grief welling up inside him and leaving him breathless. “Belle is gone. I’d sooner spend eternity as a beast than live the rest of my life as a man without her.”

Adam looked away from the Enchantress once more, hoping that would settle the issue and that she would leave him. He wondered if he would be able to leave the area around his castle now so that he may return Belle to her father. Guilt and shame mixed with his grief as he remembered the little room in Paris, filled with the remnants of a once happy family. Now Belle’s father would have to face the cruel world without his wife or his daughter.

A hand on his shoulder shocked him once again from his thoughts and he looked up to see the Enchantress now kneeling in front of him. Her skin was beginning to clear up and glow slightly, her voice a faint whisper as she stated, “You have truly learned, Prince.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Belle, can you hear me? Please open your eyes.”

Belle gasped as she opened her eyes and lifted a hand to shield them from the sunlight. That confused her as she remembered being in cold darkness only moments ago. Her confusion only deepened when she found herself in the arms of a man who was smiling at her and crying. He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek, crying, “You came back!”

She looked down at her stomach, remembering the phantom pain of Gaston’s bullet, before looking back at the man holding her. Sitting up, she pulled away from him slightly and asked, “Who are you?”

The man laughed and tucked his thick blond hair behind one ear. He licked his lips and said nervously, “It’s me, Belle...the Beast. The curse is finally broken.”

She felt her jaw drop but she still found herself searching for something familiar in this man’s features. She found it in his eyes, the same piercing blue eyes that had stared at her from various shredded paintings throughout the castle and that had looked at her alive with amusement, irritation, and a myriad of other emotions that he had never been able to hide from her as her Beast. Even now as a man, she could see his fear and naked hope as he waited. She grinned and moved to her knees, sliding her hands up his neck and along his jaw.

“It is you!” she exclaimed in wonder, causing his face to break out into a grin of his own. Leaning in, her eyes drifted closed as she pressed her lips against his. She felt him pull her closer by her waist and she let out a happy squeak as their kiss quickly deepened. Finally when the need for air became great, they broke their kiss but remained close, pressing against each other’s foreheads.

“What is your name?” Belle asked with a giggle. She pulled back to look once more into his true blue eyes, continuing, “I can't very well call you Beast anymore...unless I get extremely cross with you.”

Her prince responded with a chuckle of his own. He straightened up before bowing his head slightly and replying, “My name is Adam.”

Belle pretended to consider it, teasing, “Would you be open to changing it? Perhaps to Romeo?”

Adam rolled his eyes and scoffed but before he could retort, Belle pulled him in for another kiss. He responded in kind, standing and pulling her up with him. They broke their kiss yet again and Belle smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck. He spun her around as the two of them celebrated the prospect of a new future together.

fin.