And It's a Happy Ending For Everyone
rated: G
by Linda J.
Disney owns all characters in the Beaty and the Beast franchise. Any original characters are mine, but written for pure self satisfaction, not monetary profit.
FEEDBACK AND REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
10 years has past since the enchantment was lifted and there's nothing Belle and Prince Adam's 2 children love more than to hear the story how everyone in the castle was made human again. Everyone was made human again, right? Hmmm…
CH1
"I wonder whose turn is it to tell the story, tonight?" Mrs. Potts eagerly asked as everyone interested in "story time" gathered around in the living room. Just then, two young children, a girl and a boy ran past her, racing to be first to get a kiss from their mother Belle. She was now in her late twenties, and looking as lovely as ever. Prince Adam, now just past thirty-one stood close by, smiling proudly and content with his kingdom; his dear friend Lumiere ever beside him. Their two children Denise and Adam II, or AJ loved story time more than any other time of day; and their favorite story to hear was of course the one of their own mother and father. They never grew tired of it. In the day time, they were satisfied to listen to the new stories their mother would read to them, or find entertainment from the many, many tall tales they heard from Lumiere and Cogsworth not to mention the occasional tidbits of gossip they'd catch from the maid servants and others about in the castle, but this time every evening, they simple would not go to sleep unless they heard the beloved tale that was as old as time itself.
"I believe it's…" The head of the house, Prince Adam began to announce.
"Oh, please let it be Cogsworth," the young girl sitting beside her mother insisted. "I love it when he tells the story in all those funny voices he makes up for everyone."
Prince Adam paused his sentence and gently smiled down at his lovely daughter Denise, who was a nine year old spitting image of her mother. Meanwhile, Cogsworth who also was standing close by, gloated without shame. His smile was broad and his head held high, making sure to give his life long "frien-emy" Lumiere, a haughty glance.
"Na-ugh!" Prince Adam II, or little beast, as some have affectionately come to him, defiantly argued as he squirmed his five year old body, squeezing in between the couch's armrest and his mother. "Lumiere tells the story better than anyone here!"
Cogsworth's smiled dropped like a brick as Lumiere nudged him in the ribs, returning the same smug look.
"Even better than you own mother?" His father gasped in mock shock. "Because that is whose turn it is."
"Oh," both children chimed in together in pleasant surprise. Adam Junior, now comfortable in his place, looked up into his mom's deep brown eyes. "You're not as good as Lumiere, but I like to hear you tell the story too, mother."
Denise then leaned toward Cogsworth, whispering loudly, not realizing she was loud enough for all around to hear, "But she doesn't make those funny voices!"
Everyone burst into a quiet chuckle as well as Belle, before she began their favorite. As she began, Denise reached down under the couch, and grabbed her own book, which she had used for drawing the pictures she imagined in her head of the time when her mother and father met and come to love one another. She had been chastised in the past for drawing while the story was being told, explaining to her that it was rude not to pay attention. So, she obediently refrained from drawing any more until after the story was told. She looked at the pictures she had drawn over the years and noticed how her drawing skills had progressed over the time she had started the book. From shaking stick figures, to now reasonably recognizable drawings of the household items that were once alive and moving about in the castle. Her drawings of the actual people however still needed work, even she noticed that, but like her dear friend Cogsworth always said, "Practice makes perfect."
Denise turned the pages of her book, keeping pace with the story's timeline until the end, but then the drawing she had made of Chip, made her stop and begin to think what would have happened had Chip been smashed and not just chipped.
"And they all lived happily ever after!" Mrs. Potts cheerfully exclaimed as she hugged Maurice, Belle's father who stood close to her.
"Mama," Denise asked in a serious tone as she continued to stare at her drawing of Chip. "Did anyone in the castle die when they were under the enchantment?"
Belle smiled warmly at her daughter, sensing the child's compassion. "No dear; things don't die, they, break."
Young Adam then shifted his body so he could curl up on his mother's lap. "Then grandpapa fixes them, right momma?"
Belle hugged her little prince, "That's right, your grandfather fixes them so they'll be good as new."
Denise's mind began to click, "Did anyone get so broken that they needed to be fixed?"
Suddenly a quiet hush fell over the room. Until now, most in the castle had put that dark and gloomy night out of their mind. Prince Adam and Belle looked at each other, not entirely sure what to say next. They had discussed what they would tell their children if and when they ever asked this kind of question, and had decided the truth was always the best approach; but now that the occasion had arrived, it wasn't easy tackling the subjects of betrayal, and jealousy from one of their own servant's, much less explain how said servant tried to destroy the entire castle and kill everyone inside.
"Well, Denise," Belle began to explain. "His name was Maestro Forte. He was the court's composer before the enchantment came over the castle. He was turned into a massive pipe organ and for those years under the enchantment, he played music just for your father."
"What made him break, mama?" Denise wondered softly.
"The man lost his flipping mind, that's what made him break!" Cogsworth spoke up gruffly.
Lumiere nodded. "He tried to kill us all, especially your mother and father!"
Both children's eyes flew wide open. "Why?" Denise gasped.
Fife, the castle's current court composer, knelt down to look at Denise face to face and tried to explain. "He was afraid if your mother and father fell in love, then he'd return to his human form."
"Who could blame him for fearing that?" Lumiere joked under his breath. "Remember how creepy he looked?"
Cogsworth chuckled a bit, "He looked like something you'd find lurking in a dark corner, ready to strike."
"Well, I feel sorry for the poor man!" Mrs. Potts angrily insisted. "Poor thing; chained up to the wall all that time, like a common prisoner in a dungeon. Unable to move; stuck in a dark room year after year. I'd would have gone mad too if that had happened to me."
"H-how did he try to kill everyone if he was chained to the wall?" Denise was trying to imagine how that could even be possible.
"He used the powerful sound that came from his pipes to shake the castle right down to its foundation!" Maurice exclaimed in awe.
"Was it like a clap of thunder that shakes the windows in my bedroom?" Young Adam asked, as he partly clung to Belle's dress because the story was starting to make him just a bit afraid.
"Yes, exactly!" His grandfather smiled, pleased to see the boy's ability to make scientific comparisons in his mind.
"Is that how he got broke?" Adam then asked. No one minded his poor grammar, he was after all only five.
"To save us and the castle, you father took his keyboard away and that's when he…" Mrs. Potts paused for a second to find the right words.
"That's when he really lost his flipping mind!" Lumiere finished Mrs. Potts sentence.
"An act of suicide, if you ask me." Cogsworth snorted in disgust. "I mean really, what did he think was going to happen after he ripped out those bolts? That he'd suddenly grow legs or something?"
Until now, Prince Adam had remained quiet, recalling how much his relationship with Forte had meant to him during his saddest days; but seeing the look of mild terror on his children's faces shook him to the present moment. "Forte was, just different from most. He kept a lot of his own pain pent up inside so that he could preform for others. In many ways I pushed him to what he did, and I, nor your mother, hold any grudge against him. When he pulled himself out from the wall, he fell hard onto the floor, and many of the pieces that were, well, pieces of him, were scattered everywhere. We collected all we could find, and stored them in one of the caverns away from the castle."
"You said grandpapa fixes what is broken," Denise, restlessly reminded everyone. "Please say you fixed him too!"
"Of course your grandpapa did." Belle softly assured her daughter.
"And did Maestro Forte become human again too? Like everyone else?" Denise's voice seemed to plead.
Her father and mother both drew closer to her to comfort her worries. Adam, put his hand on Denise's head and softly stroked her hair. "We made sure we had all the pieces of that pipe organ and your grandfather made sure we put the pieces back exactly like they were supposed to be."
"As we put the pieces together, Monsieur Forte grew conscience and began to beg and plea with us not to make him human again. So, we stopped putting him together and left him like he is now." Belle assured Denise with a kind smile.
"Just like he had hoped for." Prince Adam quickly added to comfort his empathic child.
Denise gave up a sad smile, as she tried to wrap her mind around such a complicated matter. "You said you stopped putting him together; does that mean he can't make music anymore?"
Now it was Maurice's turn to reassure the child. "Oh no, on the contrary; Forte is fit as a fiddle. W-well, fit as an organ in this case."
"But," Denise wasn't looking any less worried. "You said you put the pieces in a cavern away from the castle. Is that where he is now? Alone? Away from everyone; why?"
"Well, dear, he did try to kill us once before and we can't take the chance of him hurting you or your brother." Belle sighed a bit, seeing that her daughter wasn't going to leave any question unanswered. "But I assure you Denise, we go to visit Forte quite often. He's perfectly happy with this arrangement."
Denise's spirits brightened a hope. "Oh; so he had a happy ending too?"
"Yes child," Mrs. Potts spoke warmly. "Even Forte had a happy ending."
Denise was finally happy with what she was hearing. "The next time you visit Maestro Forte, may we come along?"
Prince Adam and Belle looked at each other hoping to read the other's mind. "Maybe not the next time," their father decided.
"But I promise the next time we visit Monsieur Forte, we will ask him if he'd like to meet you."
"When will you visit him, papa? Tonight?" Denise's hopes rose to a fever pitch.
Adam stood back unprepared for such an outburst. "No, its way too late for that!"
"Well, when then? Tomorrow morning? I hope its tomorrow morning. Tell me tomorrow morning!" Denise was practically bouncing up and down on the couch.
Prince Adam leaned in close to Lumiere and Cogsworth, "Was I this…"
"Oh yes," both nodded without hearing the rest of his sentence.
"Worse, if you don't mind me saying your Majesty." Cogsworth mentioned.
"Promise me you'll go see Maestro Forte tomorrow morning, papa. Please?" Denise insisted. "Please, please, please!?"
"Fine, tomorrow I will visit Forte." Adam began to chuckle. "Now will you stop asking your mother and I so many questions?"
The young girl shook her head giving her father a dead serious look. "You know I can't make that promise."
Prince Adam rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know; you would explode if you had to stop asking questions."
Denise then proudly nodded as her little brother stood up raising his hands in the air.
"Yep; she'd go, Ka-BOOM!" the lad yelled as he plopped back down on his mother's lap making the whole couch jiggle.
"All right you two, its almost your bedtime," chirped Mrs. Potts, as she and their grandfather scooped them up for bed. The group that had gathered for "story time," had dispersed, leaving the royal couple to enjoy the rest of the evening in peace.
Once the two children were well out of ear's reach, Belle quietly asked, "Do you intend on keeping your promise to Denise?"
Her husband nodded as he reclined next to her to enjoy the quiet time together. "I don't see any reason why not."
"What if Forte says, he'd like to meet the children? Should we let them go?" Not that Belle was all really that afraid of Forte, even she had grown fond of the unusual being. But she couldn't forget the fact that he had, after all, tried to murder everyone in the entire household only ten years ago. Could she really trust him around her children?
"Well in that case, we'll send someone to watch over them. How does that sound?" Adam understood Belle's concern.
Belle nodded, feeling a subtle sense of relief.