"We're together now, it's going to be fine."
He slowly felt himself slip away. The physical pain was close to unbearable, and he instinctively knew he was fading. The darkness was already closing in on him, slowly but steadily. He had never thought it possible, that any pain would outweigh the pain he had experienced all those years ago, on that fateful night when she had come into his life and turned it all upside down. The pain he had felt then, when she changed him into the creature he was still today, was nearly as indescribable as it was now.
He remembered how he staggered forward and fell to his knees once more. He remembered how he arched his back with a groan, his muscles and bones were instantly aching and protesting, and it felt as if his skin was ready to burst. Shortly after, he heard the sound of his expensive court dress ripping, the buttons falling on the floor. The screams from the debutantes and all the others who were there in the ballroom, who saw it transpire before their very own eyes, that was a sound he would never, ever forget. He tried to scream as well, to beg for forgiveness once more, but all he could hear was his own growling, instead of the rich, masculine voice that had once made maidens swoon and royal advisors approach him with the upmost caution. He had reached then, trying to hold unto something, anything, but the man who stood closest to him, rooted to the spot, the man whose hand the young prince had tried to reach, suddenly jumped backwards as if he had burned himself, his expression repulsed, and he quickly fled the castle. As did all the others. The prince was all alone then, and as the transformation was finally completed, he could clearly hear the sobs of anguish and pain from the other side of the grand doors, where his servants had been watching.
He sat on his knees, motionless, in the middle of the ballroom. How he wished he would wake up from this horrible nightmare. But it wasn't a nightmare. He wasn't going to wake up. This was his new reality. And as if this knowledge, the excruciating pain and the heart wrenching sobs weren't enough proof that this wasn't some sort of sickening joke, he stretched out his arms with upturned palms. His hands were gone. Instead, two massive claws adorned with sharp, black nails came into sight; claws that had once been slender hands with long, graceful fingers and perfectly manicured nails.
The candlelight that had been used to illuminate the majestic room had been extinguished by the force of the storm and the transformation. Gone was the buzzing, stifling atmosphere. In its wake, darkness and despair remained. The prince, who had been transformed into a beast, brought his claws to his face, and wept. He wept like he had done so many years ago when his stern, merciless father had dragged him away from his mother's deathbed. Forgive me, Maman..
He willed his eyes to focus on her, on her captivating brown eyes, on her tear-stained face. He wanted to live, to gently wipe away those tears from her cheeks. How he wished he could reassure her that yes, he was going to be fine. That they were going to be just fine
"At least I got to see you.. one.. last time..."
The darkness finally swallowed him, and he reluctantly accepted it. Fighting death any longer was useless, and he knew it. Gone were his dreams and hopes for a better and brighter future. He drifted, and all was silent. Gone were the echoes of a faraway battle, gone was the sweet musical voice of the woman he loved.
Belle, forgive me. Please forgive me, mon amour..
As he continued to drift, he suddenly felt a comfortable, almost reassuring warmth settling over him, its pressure intense but far from stifling. It seemed to hug his skin tightly, and when it almost became unbearable it seemed to slowly drip through his skin, into his bones, muscles and veins. He felt his strength return to him, the pain in his side and back vanished, and whatever fatigue he must have felt disappeared just as quickly. He could hear his pulse in his ear once more, a steady and strong heartbeat. Within seconds, he felt that exact same heartbeat, along with the warmth, travel through his entire body, from his toes to the tip of his ears. He felt safe and secure. Reassured. No matter what he had done to deserve his fate, he knew instinctively that he had been forgiven, because for what other reason could he be experiencing this? Had his love for Belle been his redemption after all?
Belle. The warmth gradually left his body, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. He realized he was standing up straight again, and he opened his eyes. What he saw then was unlike anything he had expected he would see. He was facing the snow-covered steps that led to the balcony which adjoined his rooms in the West Wing, and for the first time in years he could feel that the ground underneath his feet was actually cold to the touch. Looking down, he frowned in disbelief. He was still wearing the beast's thin linen undershirt and breeches, but his limbs were no longer the hairy, appalling limbs of a beast. Those were his legs, covered with soft human skin instead of thick fur. His hind paws had been replaced by human feet, and as he held up his arms to look at his hands, as if to reassure himself that they were no longer the claws of a monster but truly the hands of the man he used to be, he began to smile.
With shaking hands he touched his torso, and he was delighted to feel the skin of his lean body underneath his fingertips. This was real, this was actually happening. God had tempered judgment with mercy, at last. He had scarcely dared to hope that his death would reverse the curse, but here he was; in his human form.
But then he remembered – he was at the castle, and it was still dark outside. It was his panting he could hear, and underneath his fingertips he had felt the steady and strong beating of his own heart. But if he was truly alive, and if the curse had been lifted, then –
He slowly turned around. He didn't know if Belle would still be there, if she had witnessed his transformation. He knew that Belle was an intelligent, open-minded woman, who wasn't easily impressed by anything, but only so many things could be logically explained, even by the most educated scholar.
He gasped as his gaze fell on the woman he loved. Belle still stood there, motionless. Her tear-stained cheeks and red eyes a silent reminder of what had transpired earlier. He saw a lot of emotions in her eyes, but none of them were fear. Then, slowly, she took a tentative step towards him, as if she was afraid that he would vanish into thin air if she moved too quickly.
He felt like his heart could burst as he tried to catch his breath. How he longed to close the distance between them, to take her in his arms and never let her go ever again. But he knew better than that, and so he mentally admonished himself to remain where he was, hoping that his eyes would speak for themselves as much as Belle's did to him.
With a small smile on her lips, Belle came closer and closer, her eyes taking in the man that stood before her. Carefully, she lifted her right hand and laid her palm along the angle of his jaw, her fingertips lightly caressing his stubbled cheek. And as human skin touched human skin, flesh against flesh, the man before her released the breath he didn't know he had been holding.
Then, Belle looked up into his eyes once more, and her eyes showed him what he so longed to see – she had realized he was indeed the very same person who had lain dying in her arms mere minutes ago. He reached out for her then, unable to keep still any longer. And while his fingers softly brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, a sob escaped her lips as her smile widened. Her eyes shone with unshed tears and the look of pure love.
Slowly, wanting the moment to last forever but at the same time yearning to finally be as close to her as he possibly could, he lowered his face closer to hers. She automatically turned her face upwards towards his, her lips slightly parted. Locking his gaze with hers, he halted for a moment, hesitating. Allowing her the opportunity to step back if she wanted to. Because if there was one thing he was sure of, it was the fact that he wanted to take things slowly, to give her all the time she needed. He would do things differently now. It was the least he could do, because she had changed him; he was a changed man because of her. He owed her that much.
But his doubts and hesitations were for nothing; the young woman was just as eager to be close to him, and as she rose on her tiptoes, she leaned into him and pressed her lips against his. Over the previous weeks, the young man had become accustomed to her fearless nature, he even admired her for it, but for some reason he had been unprepared of the fervor she expressed right now. After a mere second he overcame his surprise and delighted in the enthusiastic press of her lips against his, and he leisurely let his hands wander; one hand travelled from her cheek to the back of her head, to angle her lips more fully against his, the other rested on her waist. Then, both hands travelled to her shoulders, caressing the soft cap sleeves of her underdress and her upper arms. Her hands moved simultaneously from his jaw and neck to his waist, and as she held him tightly, they deepened the kiss.
"You love me", he whispered huskily as they came up for air. After clearing his throat, his eyes searched hers before he repeated the words in a much more confident way. Belle blinked as her mind raced to keep up with what was happening. His voice, though not as deep as the Beast's, was undoubtedly his. It suited him, and hearing his voice for the first time somehow sent tremors down her spine, something she had never experienced before in real life.
The short sentence, or rather the way he phrased it, caught her off-guard. It wasn't a question, he said it so matter-of-factly that it seemed as if, to him at least, it was an indisputable fact.
Belle knew in her heart that it was true; she loved him. She may have loved him for a long time now, but hadn't realized it until the moment he had stopped breathing, laying motionless in her arms. The recent events had blurred together in her memory. Their dance in the ballroom, her father being assaulted and nearly sent away to an asylum by the villagers of Villeneuve, her sudden flight from the castle, and her subsequent return.. only to find the one place, the one man she felt she belonged to, was no longer. When she was with him, everything fell into place. He was the only one who accepted her as she was, and not only that, he encouraged her. All her life, she had not belonged anywhere; instead she had longed for the unknown, to live her life and face adventures far away from that dull provincial life. She knew in her heart she was destined for so much more than that.
And she had found her 'so much more' in him. So yes, she loved him. And yes, she had professed her love to him, but she was certain that there was no way he could have heard her stammering the words out loud; his eyes had already lost their glow then, his heart had stopped beating against the palm of her hand, his soul had already lost his body and there was no way that she could ever shake away the empty feeling she had felt in that moment; her eyes and mind had not fooled her, of that she was absolutely certain.
But now, the man in front of her looked at her in earnest, patiently waiting for her to gather her thoughts. His eyes were so blue she felt like she could get lost in them. She shook her head a little to clear her thoughts, but wasn't very successful. "Wait, what-", the emotions that knotted her throat choked off her voice and she was unable to finish her sentence. Sensing her sudden unease, he impulsively flexed his fingers, which helped steady her.
"It was your love for me that broke the spell," he started to explain in a gentle voice, his eyes never leaving hers. "When the enchantress cursed us all, she told me that the only way it could be lifted was by me opening up my heart and learning how to love, and earn love in return." His gaze then veered from her face towards the side table, which had once held the glass dome in which the rose had slowly withered all those years.
"As you know, our time was almost past," he continued, his voice softer than before, "there was only one petal left, and–".
"And you sacrificed the one chance you had by sending me away?" Belle bristled, unable to keep the angry tremor from her voice. "You let me go, knowing the consequences, thus dooming your staff, dooming yourself," she nearly spat out, "for all eternity?" The man nodded, his clear eyes burning into hers, silently imploring her to understand that he had to, there simply was no other way.
"Yes. I had to."
"But why?"
"Don't you see, Belle? You taught me to love again; it is you who opened up my heart. You understood me, stood by me, even after all the terrible things I had said and done to you. You challenge me in a way no one else ever had the courage to, and after everything that had happened, you still came back…" The last words hung in the air between them for a few seconds, and all they could do was stare at each other. The silence seemed to stretch for hours, before Belle finally lowered her head, tears in her eyes. The young man reached out to her, placed a gentle finger against her chin and slowly lifted it. And as their eyes met once again, she nodded, fresh tears making their way down her cheeks. But before they could drip down her jaw and chin, he softly wiped them away with the pad of his thumb. "Yes," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Yes, I do love you."
She then slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, and while she rested her cheek against his shoulder, she closed her eyes in content. His arms tightened protectively around her, and he pressed a few gentle kisses on her hair.
"I'll tell you everything there is to know Belle, I promise. But all in due time. I reckon everything is back to normal now," he muttered, as he looked around him, drinking in the beauty of his newly restored home, "and they're all waiting for you."
Hearing her sharp intake of breath as she remembered her friends who were undoubtedly still downstairs, he took her hands in his and unclasped them from behind his back. Then, he took her left hand in his right and started to lead her into his rooms, eager to race down the stairs with her and find his faithful friends, his family. But before they made it inside, she tugged at his hand. Slowing down, thinking he must have been walking to fast for her smaller legs to keep up with him, he kept his gaze fixed upon the other end of the room, where the door that led to the hallway was. It was her clear voice that halted him, eventually.
"Wait."
The young man turned around again, the intense gleam in his eyes showing her his sudden uncertainty. "What is it?"
Smiling brightly, her flushed cheeks seemed to enhance the glow in her brown eyes as she looked up at him, a mischievous smile playing on her kiss-reddened lips. "So.. you love me?"
She had meant to sound hesitant and innocent, but failed miserably. Her lips trembled as she tried to suppress her smile. Looking down at her affectionately, the young man almost reverently took her face between his hands. "Oh, Belle…" he muttered, and once again he let his lips settle warmly on hers, making them both lose themselves in their passionate kiss.