Author's Note: A very big thank you to my beta readers TheGreenArcher, ArtFlourish, and Emily for helping with everything in not only this first chapter but my notes for the whole fic. Please read TheGreenArcher and ArtFlourish's fics.
The Enchanter growled as he observed Belle and Adam fooling around on the castle grounds. He was so certain the Enchantress's pet project would fail, and that Adam would remain a Beast forever. When she led Belle to the castle three months before the deadline, he appealed to the great council, the most powerful all magic users, accusing her of cheating to help Adam win, but the council, in their infinite wisdom, declared she was working within the ancient law that ruled over them all. She was not forcing Adam's hand; she was simply getting him started on the path of change. Though the wolves were her agents and chased Belle because the Enchantress willed it, it was the horse's own fault that he got his reins tangled on the branch and tossed his rider; Beast saved her of his own accord, and it was Belle's own decision to return the favor and save the Beast's life.
There must be something I can do to end this idyllic scene, he thought, getting sick to his stomach as we watched Belle and Adam frolic. All it took was one human, just one girl, to break the spell. Many of their fellow enchanters thought she had taken on an impossible task, and the only difference her spell would make was giving some daring entrepreneur the perfect freak show attraction. No one thought she would succeed, but for ten years, she was so smug, so certain everything would turn out fine, and she was declared the best of them all when Adam was saved a mere second before the deadline. He wanted such praise, such adoration, but a human like Adam was hard to come by, and a girl like Belle was harder still. It had been over a year since the transformation and he thought the praise would stop as everyone moved on to other projects, but no, it was all anyone could talk about! He had to prove that somehow she made a mistake, that there were more lessons to be learned, changes to be made. Watching Belle and Adam kiss only heightened his resolve as he disappeared with a flash and a puff of smoke, not caring if anyone noticed.
"I'm so glad spring is finally here," Belle said, turning around in Adam's arms so she could look up at the blue sky.
"New life everywhere," Adam pointed out, smiling down at his dear wife. "New grass, new leaves," he placed both hands on her waist, "new additions to the castle."
Belle quickly turned around, looking nervous and scared as she tried to find the right words to say. "Adam…I just don't think I'm ready for that yet."
He tried to hide his disappointment, but he couldn't understand why she was so afraid. He was certain she'd be the perfect mother, didn't she have such faith? "Belle, I know you, you would be wonderful with children."
"Give me time to think about it, please," she said sharply.
"As you wish," he conceded, taken aback by her sudden harshness. Did she think he was pressuring her? He would never! "Please, just answer me this. You do want to have children with me, right?" He placed a finger over her lips when he saw in her eyes that she was going to protest, "Eventually, not now, but someday."
"Of course I do," she insisted. "More than anything, just please, let me think about it first."
"Think quickly, I'm not getting any younger!" Maurice called from his bedroom window.
"Papa, have you been spying on us?" Belle demanded as she moved away from Adam, her face suddenly turning red.
"You'd be surprised how sharp an old man's hearing gets when he hears his only daughter and his son-in-law mention children."
"I thought Chip would keep him happy and distracted from wanting grandchildren," she said quietly.
"He wasn't around when Chip was a baby that he could bounce on his knee," Adam reminded her, kissing her neck. "Take your time, Belle. Mrs. Potts and Chip keep him younger than his age."
She softly smiled and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "Thank you for understanding, Adam."
"That's what I'm here for." He leaned in for another kiss but Cogsworth's frantic calls pulled him back and he growled. "Now what?"
"You're late to your appointment with the duke of—"
"Can't you see I have more important matters here?"
"Sire, you can't—that is I mean to say—"
"Go, Adam, duty is duty," she reminded him and gave him a wonderful goodbye kiss to remember her by.
"I'll be back by dinner," he promised, still unwilling to leave her side no matter how blue in the face Cogsworth became.
"I know you will," she replied, pleased that he always put her before work, if only to constantly remind her that she was first in his heart when he couldn't get out of it. He was going to give poor Cogsworth a heart attack as he casually walked into the castle instead of running to meet the duke like the majordomo wanted. No doubt Adam wanted to show the duke that he was not a man to be pushed over and that everyone waited to be graced with his presence. She couldn't be more proud of her beloved husband.
"No, no, no, NO!" The Enchanter shouted as he threw the book across the room. "There must be something! Some loophole I can exploit, anything!" He was home and consulting his old books of magic, trying to find a way to prove the Enchantress wrong, that Adam hadn't changed enough to break the spell. "He's perfect, he did everything right! Damn him!" He paused a moment as a new thought occurred to him. "He was only one half of the equation. What if his darling Belle…" he grabbed a new book from the shelf and quickly flipped through, finding exactly what he needed. "Yes, yes, YES!" Loud, evil laughter filled the room as he began to conjure, growling the incantations necessary for his spell. "You failed, Enchantress, you FAILED!"
Adam ran down the corridors, dodging servants and ignoring Cogsworth's pleas to slow down. Everyone waited for him except Belle, that was the rule, and he refused to break it for any kind of castle etiquette or protocol. "Sorry I'm late," he hastily apologized as he burst into the dining room. "I—"
She waved off his apology, "You're right on time." Actually, he was a few minutes late, but she appreciated him making the effort to be with her just the same. As much as she missed the old days where she and Adam had every second of the day to spend together when he was the Beast, those days would never be theirs again, and Adam made certain there was time for her every single day.
"I don't know which smells better: the food or you," he smiled. He took a step toward her and suddenly felt his body tense. There was a strange feeling creeping over him, like a ghostly intruder.
"Adam, what's wrong?" Belle asked nervously. Why did he suddenly look like a predator reading scents on the wind? "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Adam said, his eyes darting wildly across the room. "Come here." He held out his hand to her, and Belle reached out to grab it, wanting his protection, but she quickly pulled back when she saw white light circling her arm.
"Adam, what's going on?" she asked in alarm. As she spoke she the light began to glow brighter, and she began to feel strange sensations running through her body. She looked to Adam but he couldn't answer her, only openly stare, frozen in place. He knew that light all too well, seeing it often in his nightmares.
"Adam, please, help me!" She pleaded, getting more frightened by the strange look in his eye.
He snapped out of it and tried to grab her, but it was too late. The magic threw him across the room as her arms and legs were stretched wide, the light intensifying, penetrating through her chest before shooting out of her fingertips and toes, changing into a beast. Adam stayed where he was, helplessly watching on as the Beast in his heart let out a deafening roar. He vowed to protect her, to keep her safe at all times, and he had failed.
The combined screams of pain and disbelief from the prince and princess did not go unheard by the servants, and soon a massive crowd of them ran into the room, forgetting their manners as they stared in open shock and horror at the new form of their mistress. Belle had collapsed to the floor like a rag doll, breathing steadily as she tried to comprehend what just happened. She was as thin and sleek as a wolf where Adam had the torso of a grown bear and was missing the goat's beard; otherwise she now shared the exact same beastly form as her husband once did.
"BELLE!" Adam ran as fast as he could, dropping to his knees and scooping her up in his arms, his face visibly contorting with pain as he touched fur rather than flesh. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he cried, holding her tightly. "We'll change you back, there has to be a way, and I won't stop until I find it, I promise. You don't deserve this, not at all, not like I did."
"Adam—" she gasped and pressed a hand to her mouth. Her voice was deeper and she could feel a rumble in her throat like she was growling without meaning to. She gave up on speaking and instead cried into his shoulder, wondering if becoming a mute would be better than letting him hear such a distorted voice.
Maurice was one of the last to arrive, but it looked like he aged ten years in less than a minute as he took in his daughter's plight. Adam suddenly feared that her father would blame him for this, but the old man was silent as he dropped to his knees before her and she moved into his arms, holding him close as she continued to cry. Adam slowly stood up, fighting back his own hot tears. Seeing his strong Belle reduced to a quivering mass of fear and sorrow disgusted and angered him all at once. How could this happen? She didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve this.
"Master," Cogsworth tried to place a comforting hand on the prince's shoulder but Adam shook it off, feeling a violent rage in his heart.
"Damn her," he shouted, clenching his fists, and then lifting his head to the ceiling "Where are you, Enchantress? SHOW YOURSELF, NOW!"
As soon as the Enchantress appeared, Adam lunged at her, pinning her to the wall, his eyes blazing with anger. "Remove the spell you put on Belle, NOW!" he demanded, not caring that he was flirting with death by assaulting a powerful magic user. "She doesn't deserve it, she never did anything wrong to deserve this! Why couldn't you at least give the courtesy to tell her why you were doing this, you coward?"
Although she had the power to blast him across the room and out the window, she simply narrowed her eyes. "Adam Vincent Robert Brice Deslar, prince de Champagne, the only reason you are alive is because I know how much you love Belle, so may I suggest you release me before I change my mind?"
Adam let her go, but stood protectively before his wife. "Change her back," he growled like an animal.
"Don't you think I would if I could?" She snapped back, and turned to face Belle with sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry, my dear; Adam is right, you don't deserve this. It is not my custom to transform someone without telling them why, and I offer a small chance of redemption just before. This is the work of a fellow enchanter, a man who is envious of my accomplishments with Adam. He and I have always been rivals, but he is cheap and cowardly, playing with human lives as if they are nothing. He did this to you solely to get back at me."
"How can I change back?" Belle shyly asked, feeling awed and intimidated by her presence.
Adam was always so certain that the Enchantress had brought them together, how unfortunate she had to meet her under these circumstances. It wasn't a good time to thank her for delivering her to her beloved husband.
"Why can't you just change her back right now?" Adam demanded. "You're an all-powerful enchantress."
"The first human who discovered and learned to manipulate magic was scared of her apprentices abusing their abilities and treating mankind as their puppets. So she wrote a great book full of rules dictating how everyone is to use their magic and turned that book into an unbreakable law. If I tried to change Belle back, nothing would happen, and if I tried harder and harder, I would die from the great exertion and accomplish nothing."
"Then how did this Enchanter transform her, and how did you change me if you can't use magic on humans?" If she was a liar, his hands would be stained with more than Gaston's blood.
"The only way we can use magic on humans is to reward virtues within one's soul or punish those for their vices while offering them a chance to redeem themselves. I had been watching you for years, Adam, before I came to the castle. I wanted to save you from what you were becoming. If you allowed me inside, I would have rewarded your one act of kindness despite the hundreds of bad acts I had witnessed. My magic would slowly mold you so when Belle was old enough, you would be the man she needed, the man you are now."
Learning that Belle would always be his calmed his rage, though he forever wished he could have taken her in that fateful Christmas Eve and not had to suffer as the Beast. "Thank you for sending her to me regardless of my past behavior," he said humbly, "but how was the Enchanter able to change her?"
"He took advantage of the fact that she confessed her love after you had died, and felt Belle's hand was forced. Though my enchantment was still lifted despite her hesitation, it gave the Enchanter a loophole in which he could punish her by turning her into what she feared to love."
"My hand was not forced," Belle growled, not caring that her voice was indistinguishable from an animal's. She tried to stand but Maurice held her down, fearing that she would do something to offend the Enchantress and be punished for it. He had heard far too many stories of beings above and beyond the ability of man having little to no restraint and mercy against those who did not shower then with worship and praise. "I loved him long before that moment; I didn't care that he was a beast! Anyone would be scared and hesitant to tell someone they loved them!"
The Enchantress held a hand up to silence her. "I know your love for Adam is true, Belle Bouvier; I observed you both during that whole winter, but I cannot undo what has been done. That is reserved for the two of you. Belle; I can offer you a chance to prove without a doubt to the enchanter and my fellow enchanters, that your love for Adam is undeniably true and pure. Though the way will be hard, and the path not always obvious, I will give you this chance to save yourself. Find the path that leads to your redemption, a path marked by love, together you must go, for alone you will fail. Find the magical mirror in the tower of stone, without breaking from the path, without being fooled by other barriers that will keep you from your goal. Find the mirror, and if your love is pure and true, if it holds fast, the unjust hands that have turned you thus, will return you to your true form and never more shall they lay harm upon you or yours again."
"Where do I find this tower?" Belle asked, already anxious to get started and return to her human form.
"In the Black Forest," she replied. "You leave in twenty-four hours. I need time to prepare for your journey." She smiled at them both when they nodded in agreement. "I know you can do it, both of you. Just have faith in each other and yourselves." With that, she disappeared in a flash of light.
Once she was gone, Adam sank to his knees, feeling helpless and weak. It was unfair that his beloved had to suffer being a monster and that he could do nothing to protect her. Belle reached out and touched his hand, her claws and his fingers entwining as he tried not to react to the strange feeling of her fur, but she caught the momentary glimpse, and her heart sank. Adam suffered so much in his life; she didn't mean to add to his pain.
Catching her crest-fallen expression; Adam suddenly brought her enclosed paw to his lips, kissing the fur as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Everything's going to be alright, Belle. There's nothing we can't overcome."
She smiled and nodded. They fought foes before and always won no matter what the odds, this one would be no different.