Bittersweet and strange,

finding you can change,

learning you were wrong.

It's funny, change. There are the small changes, the scientific ones—the shifting of the stars and the heavens, the growing of the hair, the rush of hormones through the body… and then there are the other ones, the burning, hateful glances, to the still-burning, passionate ones. The angry explosions, the fights of rage, to the bickering, never-ending flowing of a lover's quarrel.

He hadn't come to her, nor she to him—they had just been lost. That, too, changed, for even as they were lost in the woods, they found themselves in each other's hearts and souls and eyes. In the skipping of a heart and the stopping of a breath, the things that science cannot explain, does not even try.

And even later, when they left each other, left their hearts in the woods, in the past, they didn't forget. Both were slightly changed forever, both a little more lost than before, a little more sad, and a little more whole. At first, no one noticed the change. Then slowly, people began to see—eyes shining a little too brightly in the campfire at night, breathing a little too uneven and ragged at night, skin too pale, faces too tired, bodies too thin… but no one would open up. His uncle died, and he was completely alone. Her brother asked questions, her friend tried to comfort, to no avail.

So one day he came to find them, and all her friends got ready to fight, not going to give him up. But then they realized—he wasn't fighting back. His eyes were wide, his face pale, his scar standing out horribly. He had come for her. So they lost someone anyways, but when they saw the look on her face, subtle shock, tears in her eyes, colour in her cheeks—happiness, and the cry she gave out. The boy, her friend, had loved her, but this… this was something that he could never feel, not matter how he wanted it. He through down his swords, she dropped her water, and they ran to each other, and when they embraced, it was truly like two halves of a whole—they fit together perfectly.

The hearts beat in unison. The boy's heart broke a bit, but at least two were happy.

It's the story that everyone knows, of love prevailing over all—the cheesy, oft-told story, older than time itself, sung in the hearts of everyone, the story of wasting away and growing whole. The one that we all secretly want.

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small, to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
Rising in the East
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast