Author's Note: This is an alternative ending to the 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. It is based on a little technicality that should have prevented the curse from being lifted. This technicality, plus other references to events in the movie, are of course spoilers so if you haven't seen this yet you may choose to hold off reading this until after you have. You have been warned.

The technicality, of course for those who have seen the new movie, is the fact that Belle proclaimed her love well after the last petal had fallen. I wanted to explore what might happen if the enchantress was bound by the rules she set and couldn't do what she did and basically say 'screw the deadline I'm lifting the curse anyway'. What if she could restore life, but not human form?

I know I have an alt. ending to the 1991 movie in progress but this just had to be written. My 1991-based story may have to endure a bit of a hiatus as seeing the 2017 movie has gotten the plot bunnies multiplying. This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I decided it would be best divided into a few chapters.

Enjoy!

Belle sobbed over the body of the one she loved. She'd begged him to come back to her, told him she loved him, but the still form gave no response as the glazed, unseeing eyes stared up at her. How could this have happened? How could she have been so stupid as to show the mob the Beast in the mirror? She didn't think. It was a knee jerk response. And that knee jerk response killed her Beast just as surely as if she'd pulled that fatal trigger.

As she wept and ran her fingers through the Beast's mane, a hand laid itself on her shoulder. Belle looked up and gasped as she recognized the owner of the hand.

"Agathe?" she asked, quite surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Wishing things were different," the old woman said sadly. "You've always been so kind to me Belle, where most of the villagers weren't. It pains me to see you in such grief."

"This is all my fault," Belle said. "They demanded proof. I had to clear my father's name. But I should have found some other way. I should have known what Gaston would do."

"You couldn't have dear," Agathe said. "You had no way of knowing how low Gaston could go. He was having your father committed to cover up the fact he tried to kill him."

"What?" Belle asked in horror.

"Well your father sought help for you," Agathe explained. "Gaston went along with it and when Maurice failed to find the castle, Gaston admitted he only went along to look like a hero to blackmail Maurice into giving him your hand in marriage. When your father, seeing Gaston's true colors, said he'd never give him your hand, Gaston declared your father an obstacle, knocked him out and tied him to a tree to fall victim to wolves or exposure. Unfortunately for Gaston I found and rescued your father. He tried to tell the villagers what happened and offered me to corroborate his story. Unfortunately a 'filthy hag' as Gaston so kindly pointed out is regarded as an unreliable witness. Gaston declared Maurice a danger to himself and others and said he needed help...which led to the scene you rode into."

"Poor Papa!" Belle cried. "I'm so glad you found him. I just wish Gaston hadn't succeeded here." She gestured to the slain beast.

"Stand," Agathe commanded gently but firmly.

"I don't want to leave his side," Belle choked out. "Not yet. I want to hold him while he's yet warm. I can't bear to leave him here now."

"I'm not asking you to," Agathe said kindly. "Just that you stand for a moment."

Belle reluctantly complied. Agathe waved her hand over the Beast, who rose to float above the ground and turned over to reveal his wounds. She pointed to each wound in turn, and as she did so the bullets came out of them and disintegrated into shimmering dust before disappearing. Bright golden light filled each wound and soon subsided, leaving no trace of the wounds. Once all wounds were healed, the Beast turned back over and gently lowered back to the ground where he lay before. Life returned to his eyes as he took the first breath he'd taken within the last quarter of an hour. He blinked a couple times as Belle knelt once more beside him, a bit confused by what she'd just witnessed.

"Belle..." he said, himself confused. "What happened? Did I only lose consciousness? And how am I awake but not feeling the wounds?"

"Hello Beast," Agathe said before Belle could respond. "Do you remember me?"

The Beast looked at the old woman who stood behind Belle. He sat up as recognition dawned on his face.

"You..." he said softly, if a bit less than thrilled to see her. "You healed me?"

"You know Agathe?" Belle asked, still not quite connecting all the dots.

"I don't recall her giving a name," Beast said as he stood. "But yes, we have met."

"You came so close, my Prince," Agathe said. "I wanted to lift the curse, but the last petal had fallen by the time Belle confessed her love. I wanted to lift it anyway, but I am bound to the conditions I set. But I could reverse the number Gaston did on you."

"Wait," Belle said, finally putting the pieces together. "You...you're the enchantress?"

"I am," Agathe said, allowing her old hag disguise to dissolve and reveal her true form. After a moment, she turned back into the old woman, knowing Belle would likely be more comfortable seeing Agathe the way she knew her. "I suppose this comes to you as quite a surprise."

"Quite indeed," Belle said. "What were you doing as a beggar in Villeneuve all this time?"

"Searching for the one who could help the beast break the curse," Agathe said. "I had cleaned the Prince and the servants, even the castle itself, from local memory, and made the castle hard to find what with the year-round winter and the wolves. I wanted no one to come here until I had ascertained who was capable of loving a beast. I needed someone gentle and kind, brave and adventurous. So I observed as I walked the streets, testing all people sort of like how I tested the Prince. While a few would occasionally throw me a coin or a stale crust, you consistently brought me fresh bread and talked to me. So would Pere Robert but a village priest is hardly the one to meet the requirements of the curse. Occasionally you took me home to have a proper meal with you and your father. I wasn't just an old hag to be ostracized and perhaps a little pitied to you. I was someone to be helped and befriended. And with all the reading you did and wishing for something more than life in a small provincial village. You were gentle and kind, yet strong and able to speak your mind. Brave and adventurous too. You were definitely the one. If you couldn't steal into a beast's meloncholy heart, help him to learn to love and love him in return, I knew no one could."

"So you deliberately led him to the castle..." Belle observed. "My father I mean."

"I did," Agathe confirmed. "I wasn't quite sure how it would play out. It was convenient that Philippe was spooked when Maurice was captured. I made sure the wolves didn't attack him so he could get home, then get you back to the castle."

"So Belle was someone you picked for me?" the Beast asked, a bit confused by the revelation. "I thought you just gave me an impossible task and left me to my fate."

"Why would I do that?" the enchantress asked. "My whole goal was for you to become a kinder, better person. I never wanted or planned for the curse to be permanent. I thought it would turn out. But Belle confessed her love just a bit after the rose lost its last petal. No fault of hers or yours given Gaston's shenanigans. I wanted to lift the curse anyway, but like I said, I'm bound by the deadline I set. Why don't we go inside?"

Little did Belle or Beast know, this suggestion would be yet another test of his character. There might be one more thing Agathe could do, even if she couldn't make anyone human again.