A Story for zak194
Spencer pounded a fist on the door. "You will join me for dinner," she proclaimed, making it clear she wasn't asking. She wasn't in the mood for dissent.
But, naturally Mrs. Potts spoke up as the irritating voice of reason. "Gently, my lady, the girl lost her brother and her freedom in one day."
"That's not my fault, is it?" Spencer scoffed. "The boy was on my land, with odd machinery in his wagon. My life could have been in danger; I had every right to lock him up! And it was stupidity on the girl's part, coming to rescue him."
She didn't miss the glance of disapproval between Lumiere and Potts, and it made anger boil in her chest. A low growl huffed from her throat and she scowled, turning to bang on the door once more.
"That's not a request," she yelled. She turned to the candelabra and the pot, and hissed, "This is my castle and I'll treat guests how I see fit. The girl's barely more than a prisoner in my eyes."
Spencer heard the door open and felt a gust of wind at her back. Had the stupid girl been trying to get out through the window? Doesn't she realize she's in a tower?
Upon turning to address the petite girl, her head snapped to the side so suddenly that she hardly realized she'd been slapped until she saw the girl's hand lower and felt the sting on her cheek.
The girl's face was red with anger. "You take me prisoner, you insult my brother and me, and expect me to eat dinner with you? Are you insane? I'd rather starve!"
Spencer felt her own fury boil over and her voice rose quickly to a shout. "Fine! Be my guest, stay here and starve!" She gestured to the makeshift rope that was draped over the windowsill in the room. The girl really was trying to escape. Gutsy of her. "Or climb down that line of fabric until you fall to your death! I don't really care one way or the other, you stupid, insolent girl!"
Another slap and Spencer was ready to toss her out the window herself. Her claws were growing, tearing through the nearly-healed flesh of her fingertips, and the pain made her fury all the more powerful.
The girl retaliated with equally relentless brutality. "You're pompous and arrogant, and you're the ugliest creature I've ever laid eyes on, both inside and out!"
And the door slammed in her face, leaving Spencer with heaving breaths and a pounding skull. She wanted to rip the door off its hinges. She hadn't gotten this mad in ages, and she'd never in her life been so affected by harsh words.
Spencer turned to her servants, practically growling out the words, "If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all!" She turned and stormed off, pounding her clawed fists into the side of her head, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Hoping the girl would accept your offer and then saying callous, inconsiderate things. You're so stupid, Spencer!"
She was also so confused. Pushing people away, hurting them with vicious comments, that had always been so normal for her, even before she had been transformed into this monster. But she found herself wanting to be near the girl, wanting to eat with her and talk with her and get to know her. And she'd sabotaged everything with absolutely nothing but her own cold-hearted habits!
Reaching the West Wing, she threw the doors to her room open and let them slam behind her. She stood for a moment, her claws slowly sliding back into her fingertips and all her anger giving way to a heavier feeling that made her want to curl underneath her cape and disappear forever.
She watched another petal fall from the rose and her head dropped into her hands, the blood from her retractable claws warm on her forehead.
Hope breeds eternal misery, she recited to herself. She should have continued to heed her father's words, like she had since she was a child. She should have known that just because a beautiful girl had wandered into the castle, that it didn't mean it was destiny, it didn't mean the spell would be broken. She'd been so, so stupid for slipping up and letting her heart fill with hope. Her father was right:
She shouldn't go hoping for things that will never happen, because she can never change who she is.
Aria's fingers ran lightly over the mirror on the wall, its shattered surface throwing back her face in fragments. A chill ran down her spine and she turned away, heart pounding.
Is this where Spencer had gone?
The tiny brunette pressed on, her feet silent on the stone floor. She tugged at her sleeves, wishing they were longer to deflect the chill. A pair of candelabras stood at the end of the long corridor she had found herself in, but no other forms of heat were to be found. The place was desolate and haunting, drenched in flickering shadows, lined with ghoulish statues and depictions of monsters.
She had known that entering the West Wing was forbidden, but couldn't help her curiosity. Lumiere and Cogsworth would be looking for her soon, she knew, and perhaps this would make Spencer even more furious with her, but she felt the strongest urge to press on, so she took her time in examining the little aspects of the place, relishing the excitement of exploration.
At the end of the hall sat a large set of doors, with golden handles shaped into the head of a beast. She hesitated as she reached for the horns, wondering what on earth could be inside, wondering if she should enter. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed that she was alone; no Spencer and no talking household objects anywhere in sight. No one would know, would they?
The door was heavy and groaned as she tugged it open, revealing a completely destroyed room. It was freezing inside, adding to the lifelessness of the space. She picked her way through destroyed furniture and torn fabrics, amazed and shocked at the utter disarray of the place.
"Oh my," she breathed, sweeping under a shredded tapestry. She took in the room, spinning to see every part of it, mouth agape. Her legs bumped into a wooden table, and she scrambled forward and caught it before it could clatter to the floor. She returned it to its original position and breathed a sigh of relief. Who knew what Spencer would do if she caught her here? Aria certainly did not want to be locked away in the dungeon, or killed even.
Something caught her eye as she scanned the area once more. A painting, slashed to pieces by large claws that could only belong to the beast herself. A pair of eyes peered at her from the canvas, hauntingly familiar and glinting with happiness. Her fingers reached up to smooth the hanging, torn bit of fabric back into its rightful place, to reveal the face of the princess in the painting. A princess Aria was suspecting had to be Spencer.
Before she could discover the identity of the girl in the painting, a pink light shone from beside her, captivating her peripheral sight and drawing her toward it. Resting underneath crystal-clear glass on a table in front of the balcony doors was a beautiful rose.
Her feet moved of their own accord, fascinated by the display, and soon she was reaching to uncover the flower. It hung in the air, shimmering and glowing in the most mesmerizing fashion. Her fingers reached for the perfectly crafted petals. One touch…
But a shadow fell over her, and in the doorway she saw the beast's silhouette. Spencer's lips curled back as she glared, her breath a white cloud in the freezing air, and her sharp teeth glinted in the light of the moon. She lunged forward with a suddenness that startled Aria, and the tiny brunette took a large step away from the flower, watching as Spencer replaced the dome of glass with practiced, hasty precision. Then, she turned to the frightened girl, rage burning in her eyes.
Aria backed away, hands raising in defense as she watched the beast of a girl bristle with anger. Spencer had never looked so monstrous before, not even when Aria had first laid eyes on her wicked fangs and curved horns.
"Why did you come here?" she growled, sending icy fear down Aria's spine.
Aria pleaded with her eyes, a strand of hair falling into them as she struggled for words. "I-I'm sorry! I wanted to apologize!"
"Sorry is never good enough!" Spencer charged forward, her cape fluttering behind her and making her look bigger than she actually was. Her face contorted with rage, awash in darkness, and she lifted a fist. "And I warned you never to come here! You disrespect me, slam the door in my face, and then think it okay to barge in here?!"
"I didn't mean any harm!" Dodging behind a table, Aria prepared for an attack.
"Do you realise what you could have done?!" Spencer's arm swung into a wooden table and sent splinters flying.
Aria lurched backward, stunned by the girl's strength, and her shoulders pressed into a wardrobe. "Stop!"
"Get out!" screamed Spencer. She pulled her arm back and Aria ducked away before hearing the sound of the wardrobe smashed to pieces.
Feet flying and eyes searching frantically for the exit, Aria ran, and heard another piece of furniture destroyed. Just as she was slipping through the heavy door, a long, terrifying yell sounded out from behind her:
"GET OUT!"
Her feet carried her to the front entrance, Lumiere and Cogsworth's voices calling from the staircase for her to stop.
"I know I said I'd stay, but promise or no promise," she started, yanking the door open and pulling her cloak around her shoulders as the frigid air hit her, "I can't stay here another minute!"
Wolves, snarling and snapping, closing in on her. All Aria had was a stick for a weapon, but that was never going to be enough. It broke just as a wolf caught hold of her cape and dragged her into the snow. She really was going to die out here, in this frozen wood.
But just as the wolf was lunging for her throat, ready to deliver the deathblow, a shadow darted from the trees and jerked it away from her.
Spencer.
The girl hefted the snarling animal, and let out a roar as she tossed it with impossible strength toward the trees. And then she was standing over Aria, facing the circling wolves.
Aria winced as she witnessed Spencer's claws emerging, saw the flesh of her fingertips tear and the wounds drip startling red splotches onto the cold, snow-covered ground. But the girl seemed to ignore it and swiped at the charging wolves, sending them tumbling away. They came back full force almost immediately, and a few slipped past Spencer and ran at Aria.
"Spence!" The cry almost tore her vocal cords and Spencer wasted no time turning to block the blow. The wolf's teeth sunk into her arm and she let out an angry, pained scream, attempting to fling the beast away. But she was weakened, and the wolves took advantage of this and leaped on top of her.
Aria watched in horror as Spencer's legs were swept out from under her and the wolves began tearing into her. Spencer rolled, flailed, throwing them off only to have them hop back to their feet. The consciousness was slowly draining from the girl's eyes as her wounds bled. It looked like she was going to lose this fight, but Aria knew she couldn't let that happen.
Her cry cut through the freezing air. "Please, Spencer, please! Stay with me!"
Seemingly with renewed willpower, Spencer managed to drag herself to her feet and, with one good blow, a wolf fell dead. The others whimpered, backed off, and Spencer let out a guttural, very human scream, not a roar like Aria had been expecting. And then they were safe, the wolves bounding off.
Aria could see Spencer's chest rapidly rise and fall as the girl turned to look at her. She was dripping with her own blood. The tiny brunette rushed forward as Spencer's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed, and suddenly she was kneeling, placing a hand over the girl's heart to make sure it was still beating. Relief flooded her as she felt the strong thumping just beneath her palm.
But Spencer was still in critical condition, her wounds bleeding rapidly. With all her might, Aria dragged Spencer's unconscious form through the snow, trying to look anywhere but the streaks of crimson left behind. It took some effort, but she finally managed to drape Spencer across the back of her horse and ride back toward the castle.
There wasn't any time to waste.
Spencer's eyes opened slowly, a wave of pain washing over her. She was quick to realize she was in her bed, and she knew the events of the past days had not been a dream because of the sweet voice coming from her left. Aria.
"Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And theref—"
"Therefore is winged Cupid painted blind," Spencer finished, turning so she could see Aria, who was startled but smiling.
"You know Shakespeare?"
Spencer gingerly pushed herself to a sitting position, wincing as she felt her wounds stretch. She managed a weak grin. "I breathe Shakespeare."
xxxxxxx
Days passed and Aria had begun reciting every piece of Shakespeare she'd ever memorized to Spencer, while Spencer regaled Aria with stories from books of all kind. It healed Spencer as surely as her medicine did.
They grew so comfortably close that Spencer was able to drop her pride and accept help. She'd never had anyone spoon soup into her mouth or help her to sit up. Though they lived in luxury, her parents were the sort to push self-sufficiency, going so far as hardly hugging their own daughter, so Spencer was quite used to taking care of herself.
Now, as Aria was checking the bandages on Spencer's arms with a touch as light as butterfly kisses, the brunette's hazel eyes were falling to Spencer's fingertips.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, pressing a light touch to one of Spencer's fingernails. "When they come out?"
Taken off guard, Spencer quickly closed her hands into fists. Then she remembered Aria's curious nature and relaxed her hands as she realized she meant no harm or judgement.
"It's a curse," began Spencer, eyes downcast. "And the witch that cast it wanted me to feel sorry for my actions. So, yes, it hurts. The flesh there has healing properties, so the claws tear through almost every time. I've tried controlling it, but…" She shook her head, trailing off.
Aria furrowed her brow as she went back to replacing the bandage on Spencer's wrist. "A curse? Why?"
"Because I was a terrible person. One day, a haggard old woman came knocking, asking for shelter, food. I sent her away, but she transformed into a beautiful young woman right in front of my eyes. She told me how ugly I am inside, and said it'd teach me a lesson if I'm the same on the outside."
"Why, that isn't fair!" cried Aria.
Spencer smirked at her fervor. "It is fair, because I called her a worthless hag and intended to kick her out into the cold. I threw the rose she offered me as payment onto the floor."
"It was still a mistake, Spencer!"
"One I shouldn't have made. Now, when the last petal on that rose falls, I'll be like this forever."
Aria finished with the bandage and recognition flickered across her eyes. "That's why you didn't want me to go into the West Wing. That's where the rose is."
Spencer nodded.
"And how do you break the spell?"
Biting her lip as a tiny spark of hope lit up inside of her, Spencer answered:
"I have to fall in love."
Aria followed along behind Spencer, who was walking with quite a spring in her step for someone normally so bitter and hostile—and for someone who'd been mauled by wolves less than a week ago, of course. They reached a great set of doors, and Spencer turned to her, uncharacteristically smiling.
"Close your eyes."
Aria obliged and heard the creak of the doors opening. Then she felt Spencer's bandaged hands gently envelope hers and she stepped forward cautiously, trusting Spencer to lead her. Crossing the threshold, Aria was hit with a scent so familiar it made her heart jump in her chest.
She could hear the excitement in Spencer's voice. "Now open them."
A gasp slipped from her lips as her eyes landed upon the towering shelves, rows and rows of them. She'd been correct in identifying the lovely, musty smell of books. They were everywhere: filling the shelves, piled on tables, stacked in windows.
Spencer let go of her hands and, though she found herself missing the touch, Aria grinned at her.
"Do you like it?" asked Spencer, a tad reserved. "I mean, if you don't—"
"No, no," Aria's mouth hung agape as she struggled to form a coherent sentence. "It's magnificent. I love it!"
"Then it's yours," Spencer proclaimed. She scratched the back of her neck, her eyes dropping to the floor. "I-I just wanted to express how sorry I am for… the way I acted before. And I'd like to thank you for saving me."
Aria's grin widened, but then went a tad slack as the last sentence hit her. "I saved you? What do you mean? I should be the one apologizing for being so rude, and you risked your life for silly little me."
"I don't mean the wolves, Aria," sighed Spencer, "I mean… you showing up here, you caring for me in a way I thought wasn't possible. And when you called my name in the forest, when I was about to give up, it—I don't know—it brought me back to life. Then, you helped me when I was bedridden, even though I didn't deserve—"
Aria cut her off, placing her palm against Spencer's cheek. "Don't. I was just as harsh to you. I had no right to call you those things. I was wrong."
Spencer's eyes softened and she leaned into the touch.
"You're the most beautiful person I've ever met," continued Aria. "You're just a little rough around the edges."
"Rough around the edges, huh?" Spencer suddenly recoiled, gently taking hold of Aria's wrist, pulling her hand off her face. "You wouldn't say that if you could have seen how cruel, how selfish I used to be. I was awful to so many people, and then I got what I deserved when I was turned into—into a monster. And I still haven't learned my lesson, I still can't stop stepping all over people." Spencer shook her head. "Laughter dies when I walk into a room."
"Me too," said Aria. Spencer's brow furrowed. "The villagers say I'm a funny girl, but I don't think they mean it as a complement. They whisper, they talk about me. There are rumors. But sometimes people don't know the real you unless you choose to show them, and I believe you are a good person, Spence. I've seen it."
"I…" A beat passed as Spencer simply blinked, a blush tinging her ears pink. "I'm not entirely sure how to respond to that."
Her hands were trembling as she straightened her skirts and stepped into the breathtaking expanse of ballroom, where she spotted the girl waiting patiently with her hands clasped behind her. Aria felt a small smile creep onto her lips when she noticed Spencer's nervously tapping feet and how her lips were moving like she was talking to herself, much like Aria had been while getting ready moments before.
It's just a dance, she'd reminded the petite girl in the mirror. Simple…
...but utterly terrifying.
Now her stomach was in knots as she lifted her skirts to just above her ankles―so she wouldn't trip and embarrass herself, of course―and crossed the floor. Spencer turned and spotted her then, freezing completely, her lips parting in what Aria hoped was awe.
Aria's heart thundered like a drum in her chest as they both allowed their eyes to examine the other, and Aria was sure she was going to trip and her hair was probably askew or her dress didn't fit right or―
Spencer looks beautiful.
Her dress was blue and elegant, with swirling yellow accents meant to match Aria's lovely yellow dress. A daffodil was tucked in the loose bun tied just behind her ear and her lips were painted as the color of a rose. When Aria reached her, those perfect bow-shaped lips pulled back to reveal a nervous smile, and Aria was struck by how cute Spencer's exaggerated canines suddenly were.
She didn't look anything like the monster that had roared at her to leave and yelled hurtful things at her a month ago. Instead she looked like a lost puppy, scared and cautious.
Spencer dipped into a practiced bow, then held her hand out, palm up, for Aria to take. As gracefully as she could, Aria curtsied and took Spencer's offered hand. A blush crossed her cheeks when Spencer pressed a light kiss to her knuckles and pulled her closer. The taller girl's hands were shaky, damp with anxiety as she cautiously placed one on Aria's waist then intertwined the fingers on her other hand with Aria's.
"I've done this plenty of times," Spencer said. "But I've never been this nervous."
Aria grinned. "I make you nervous?"
"Absolutely." She audibly swallowed. "You-You're beautiful."
Then the piano began playing a dreamy, tinkling melody and they were sweeping across the marbled floors in nearly perfect sync.
The cold bit into Spencer's skin, but the body pressed against her side provided a bit of warmth. They were on the balcony just outside of the ballroom, and Aria was clutching her hand so tightly as they looked out at the snow falling on the courtyard.
"Is it foolish," started Spencer, her voice a low whisper, "to hope that a creature like me and someone so lovely such as you could be something more than friends."
Aria paused, tilting her head up and resting her chin on Spencer's shoulder. "I don't know. I may have to think about it." She smiled and then, much to Spencer's surprise (but not exactly to her disdain), Aria was up on tiptoe and pressing her lips firmly against Spencer's.
Spencer blinked, breathless, as Aria pulled away from the chaste kiss, her heart pounding in her ears. "I take it you are happy here, with me?"
"Yes," said Aria, confident.
But Spencer noticed a flicker of sadness in the girl's eyes and was filled with doubt. Had she done something wrong? "What is it?" Spencer prompted.
"I only wish I could see my brother and my mother again, just for a moment. I miss them so much."
It only took a moment for Spencer to think of how to grant Aria's wish. "There is a way."
xxxxxxx
Spencer lifted the mirror carefully from its spot beside the covered rose and offered it to Aria. "This mirror will allow you to see your family," she supplied. "Just tell it who you want to see."
"Show me my mother," Aria spoke at the mirror. Swirls of green smoke and jagged arcs of electricity surrounded the mirror as it worked, and soon a woman who looked similar to Aria was behind the glass, her face contorted with dismay as she thrashed against the arms of a man with dark hair and cold, blue eyes. They seemed to be standing on the edge of a fray.
"No! That's my boy!" the woman screamed. "You can't do this, he's all I have left!"
"Shush," said the man. "He's been raving nonsense! He's obviously lost his mind. The boy needs an asylum."
"Ezra," Aria breathed, her eyes round in panic.
"Who?" wondered Spencer aloud.
Aria shook her head in disbelief. "He's in love with me. My brother has always been there to help fight him off. I think Ezra's trying to get rid of him!" Her breaths became rapid as she spoke to the mirror again. "Show me my brother!"
The mirror glowed green and switched to a scene with the same boy who Spencer had originally taken prisoner. He was being hauled toward the open doors of a padded prison wagon.
"No!" cried Aria. "Please, Spencer, I have to go to them!"
Spencer thought for a moment, conflicted. Would Aria come back to her when it was all over? Or would she stay in her village and forget all about the moments they'd shared?
But, no. She couldn't be selfish now, not while Aria's family was in trouble. She had to let her go.
"Go," she said simply. "You-you've paid for any mistakes, you're free."
Aria backed away, picking her skirts up as she went, and sent what Spencer hoped was a longing look towards her. "Thank you."
And then she was running away, her lovely chestnut hair billowing behind her, leaving Spencer to nurse her aching heart all by herself.
Wasting no time, Aria swung down from her horse onto the cobblestone street, blocking the prison wagon and the mob following it from moving any further.
"Stop!" she cried, clutching the magic mirror in her arms as she sprinted towards the back of the wagon and climbed to look in its tiny, barred windows. "Mike! Mikey, are you okay?"
"Aria, you're here!" Her brother's face appeared and he reached a hand out for her. She held tight to it. "I thought that monster killed you!"
"Aria!" came Ezra's voice, and she stiffened. She heard his footsteps approach the wagon and turned to hop down. Her mother was left crumpled in a sobbing heap. "Why you really are alive! I think this proves your brother truly is insane. He's been spouting some story about how a beast got you!"
Aria showed the mirror. "What he's saying is true, Ezra. And if you had any doubt that he wasn't lying, you could have helped him! Instead you're tearing my family apart!" She gripped the mirror tighter and shoved it into his face. "Show me the beast!"
Ezra's face glowed green and he gasped, yanking the mirror from her hand and waving it in the air. "This is sorcery!" he yelled. The crowd nodded along, gasping as he thrust the mirror towards them. "Look at this beast! Look at her fangs, her horns!"
"No, don't be afraid!" Aria rushed forward, her voice pleading. "She's kind."
"She's a hideous monster!" Ezra threw the mirror to the ground and it shattered.
Aria scrambled forward to pick it up, eyes filling with horror as she looked up at Ezra's face. He was unhinged. "She isn't the monster, Ezra, you are! Spencer wouldn't hurt anyone!"
She watched as the man's face slowly went from rage and exaggerated fear to a deadly sort of calm. "Spencer," he scoffed. "I've heard of the effects of dark magic but I've never seen it in person. Clearly, this monster has her under its spell! If I didn't know better, I'd say she even cares for it! Take her!"
A wave of bodies descended on her and Aria was being pushed toward the wagon. They tossed her inside and her little brother caught her in his arms just as the doors slammed shut. She saw Ezra's face peer inside. "If I can't have you, no one can," he hissed. Then he turned away to address the crowd. "This monster will come in the night and ravage our lands, destroy our homes! She'll kill all of us if we let her! But I'm not going to let that happen because I say we kill the beast!"
Spencer saw them coming. Torches, pitchforks, battering rams. She heard the echoes of battle downstairs, but couldn't bring herself to move from where she stood on the balcony.
She didn't know whether or not to believe Aria had sent them after her, but there wasn't any point to fighting back. The last rose petal was barely hanging on and Aria was nowhere to be found.
Hope really did breed eternal misery.
Spencer was tired of living as a beast, and she was weary of the life sentence before it'd even started. Aria wouldn't ever leave her mind, she would suffer over and over again for the rest of her life because she had actually thought that someone could love her and break the spell.
Let them kill her. Maybe with death would come peace.
The air shifted, and for a moment, she thought Aria had come back to her. But then a man's familiar voice cut through the cold wind.
"Hello, Beast."
"Ezra," she spoke without turning, allowing him a perfect shot at her back. Hurry up and get it over with, she thought.
The click of a gun made her heart lurch with fear, but she closed her eyes in acceptance.
"Aria sent me."
Her eyes snapped back opened. It was like a spear had gone through her chest, the pain dragging her down until she was sitting on the floor. "Okay," she responded, her voice almost inaudible. "Go ahead."
She looked up at the snow falling from the navy sky, feeling tears well in her eyes. It'd been so long since she'd last cried and it didn't seem like a bad way to go out. A release of emotions just before her miserable life of constantly burying her feelings ended.
Okay, if this is the last thing that you ever see, she said to herself, I can handle that.
But it wasn't the last thing she saw.
Suddenly, a rough hand was pulling her up by the nape of the neck and she was spun around to look into the face of the man Aria had sent to kill her. He pushed her against the balcony railing and pressed the barrel of his gun into her abdomen, putting his sneering mouth right next to her ear. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see his face when she died. Instead, she conjured an image of Aria, standing on her tiptoes to initiate their first—and last—kiss.
"Pathetic," Ezra hissed, and he pulled the trigger.
"Spencer, no!"
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Aria lunged forward just as the shot rang out. Ezra stepped back and holstered his gun. Spencer's eyes blearily slid to look at Aria standing behind him, and the tiniest of smiles appeared on her lips.
Then, Spencer was slipping over the railing and falling to the courtyard below.
The snow was deep. She'd landed feet first. She wasn't fully human. All those things contributed to her survival. And, though she may have shattered an ankle, it seemed luck was on her side.
Aria came back.
The smile on her lips was borderline insane, but she could just make out Aria's form leaning over the balcony railing above and it made her the happiest being alive to know she was there, watching, probably hoping Spencer would get up.
Spencer was suddenly determined to make sure Aria never learned the same twisted lesson about hope that she had grown up with.
Spencer was standing up, against all odds. She was standing and looking up from the circle of crimson she was standing in and Aria could have sworn she was smiling.
"You're all mine now."
Ezra grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the railing, pressing his lips against hers without permission.
She shoved him back and slapped him as hard as she could.
"What the hell?" He pressed his fingers to his lip, which was split and bleeding. "You bitch!" His hand was reaching for his pistol.
She let out a scream of fury and grabbed his arm, and they began to grapple with the gun. Shots fired into the air until she was finally able to yank the weapon from his grasp. He raised his hands in surrender as she raised the gun, his back now to the balcony railing.
A laugh tore nastily from his throat as she hesitated. "You won't shoot me," he said. And with a smirk, he lunged.
Aria didn't think. She pulled the trigger before he could reach her and he staggered back, tripping and falling over the railing.
Hopefully, he wouldn't get back up.
"Spencer!" Aria called as she ran down the entryway staircase.
Just inside the door lay Spencer, her midriff soaked in crimson. The streaks of blood on the marble showed she had dragged herself all the way inside. The door was still slightly ajar, letting in a draft of snow and icy wind that had blown out all of the lighting in the entryway. The village mob had evidently been disbanded, as nothing remained of them besides discarded, burned out torches. Everything was dark and grim, and Aria couldn't get to Spencer faster.
"Spence," she said, falling to her knees beside the girl and pressing a palm against her cold cheek. "Hey, Spencer. Please wake up."
Spencer's eyes fluttered open. "Ar… you came back."
Tears were beginning to flood Aria's eyes, but she managed a rueful smile. "Of course I came back. I'll never leave you again."
The injured brunette dragged in a ragged breath. "I'm afraid it's my turn to leave."
"We're together now," Aria pleaded. "Everything is going to be fine."
Spencer shuddered and went still, a long sigh leaving her lips and her eyes glazing over.
No, no, no—
"No!" she screamed. "Please say something, Spencer! Please move!" She sobbed hard, a terrible pain in her chest that shattered her heart to pieces. "Come back! Stay with me!"
Desperation took over and she began slapping the girl's face, shaking her, pressing her hands against the wound on her stomach. She was screaming incoherently and pounding her fists against the girl's chest, trying to force life into her. All she wanted was to see Spencer smile again.
"Come back," she begged. Her voice broke and then she was crying too hard to do anything but whisper. "Please, Spencer. I… I love you."
She planted one last kiss on her lips and rested her forehead against Spencer's, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore…"
"Is winged Cupid painted blind," Aria unconsciously finished. Then it dawned on her.
Was she imagining it? That couldn't be...
But Aria was filled with a hope so strong that she opened her eyes.
Spencer's chocolate orbs were staring back, and a small smile was gracing her lips.
Their lips collided, and Aria was laughing and crying and holding onto Spencer with every ounce of strength in her being.
Finally, they were broken apart by a blinding white light that seemed to engulf Spencer completely. Aria watched in awe as the girl's monstrous attributes disappeared and her wounds healed. And she was human again.
The door slammed open.
Both girls looked to see Ezra, his eyes crazed and his red jacket covered in powdery snow. His right shoulder was bleeding. But most concerning was the gun in his hand.
"You!" he screamed. "Both of you! You ruined everything! All I wanted was your hand in marriage, Aria. Was that so much to ask? Now I have to kill you both because you, Aria, were so stubborn!"
They both stared at him with bated breath as he aimed and pulled the trigger.
The gun only let out an empty click.
"Damn it!" Ezra chucked the weapon at them, but Spencer caught it easily.
The taller brunette sat up and, gently, she pushed Aria aside so she could get to her feet. She sauntered over to Ezra and grabbed his collar. Her hand balling into a fist, she swung her arm and a perfect tooth flew from his mouth. He whimpered, but still tried to maintain some dignity by spitting viciously at her, "Aria is mine."
"And you're pathetic." She shoved him back. Her voice became low and threatening. "Get. Out."
Ezra stumbled toward the door, blood running down his chin. He pointed a trembling finger at them. "She'll accept me some day. I'll-I'll be back to deal with you both."
Spencer felt a grin tug at her lips, and, for once, her fangs didn't get in the way. Aria clung onto her arm from behind and nuzzled her head against Spencer's shoulder. Spencer chuckled, and she allowed herself to feel hopeful that everything was finally going to work out. The next words fell from her lips with ease:
"Be our guest."
A/N: Aaaaannd roll credits, cue bad ass rock music. Damn, I have a flair for the dramatic. I don't know if I ever would have written this epic story without zak194 suggesting it. It took awhile, but I had fun. I really hope you enjoyed it, buddy!
I tried to add elements from both Beauty and the Beast movies and Pretty Little Liars. I dug deep into my Sparia heart, too. Honestly, I am so proud of this.
Comments are greatly appreciated and thanks for reading!