This very short piece is based on the 2017 live action version, which of course I also don't own.
He'd waited so long for this moment.
Certainly the years he'd waited, vainly hoping to be human again, weighed heavily upon him. But that weight was rapidly slipping away as the reality of the changes finally sank in. What was foremost in his mind was how much he'd longed to take his beloved in his arms.
He first wanted to hold Belle during their trip through the magic book in the library. She'd told him about her early childhood in Paris, and finally realized what had happened to her mother and why her father refused to discuss his wife's fate. She had sobbed so brokenly, staring off into the middle distance as forlorn tears glimmered in her eyes. Clearly longing for the comfort of someone else's arms, someone far away.
Someone he—the Beast— had been responsible for removing from her life.
So though he longed to take her in his arms and stroke her hair and tell her that he understood her pain after enduring the loss of his own mother as a child, shame held him back. For the first time he'd realized the magnitude of the dreadful thing he'd done to her—taken her away from the only family she had left. He'd hate her, were their places reversed. So he kept his distance, standing awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do.
Finally she looked up at him, eyes brimming. "Can we go home, please?" she quavered.
Home. The word warmed him. She meant the castle, the place they shared. He struggled not to read more into her choice of words than she probably intended.
Of course he had held her when they danced, and had reveled in it. For one dizzying moment their faces had come quite close. His still-human and very male brain had entertained one insane thought of closing that last distance, but his more rational side slammed the lid on that before it was more than a whisper of an idea. He was a Beast, a monster. Surely she had never entertained the notion of kissing him, even knowing he'd once been human. She'd be repulsed.
And yet, the way she was looking at him...he dared to hope that he saw trust and affection in her huge, dark eyes. She didn't shy away from his touch, or from the considerable damage his claws could do.
He'd thought the chance to hold her close lost forever, first when he freed her to help her father, and then when he believed he was dying. Never before had he longed so keenly to take her in his arms and reassure her as she pleaded with him not to go, but he'd lost the use of his limbs entirely. He cursed that he'd be forced to leave the world without being able to let her know how he felt.
And now, here he stood, human again at last. He wore his own true form, all thanks to this incredible girl before him. They stared at one another. She was still so delicate compared to him. Even in human form he towered over her, though not so much as before. Cautiously, she approached. Her eyes were still shocked, he assumed from watching him transform. The marks of recently shed tears glittered on her cheeks in the early morning light.
They came together naturally, sliding into the kiss as if that had been the plan all along. This was utter bliss. This was all that he had longed for, and more. The feel of her skin against his was exquisite. There was no more rough fur barrier. Their lips pressed together as if they never wanted to let go again.
Eventually, of course, they did. They leaned back just far enough to look again into each others' eyes. "You're really here," she whispered, reaching up to stroke a lock of his now-blond hair. "I thought you were gone. I thought I'd lost you." Her eyes started to fill again.
"I'm really here," he said. "I came back." He crushed her to him and folded her head to his chest, rejoicing once again in simply being able to feel her close to him. Her arms darted around his waist and she squeezed, hard, hard enough that he let out an involuntary squeak of protest as the air was pressed from his lungs. For a slight woman, she was strong. She relaxed her hold, but only barely. He planted a kiss on the top of her head, then buried his face in her bedraggled hair.
They stood that way for awhile, letting the relief at the reality of the other wash over them. Eventually it was he who broke the silence.
"I love you, Belle."
"And I love you."
Again there was a silence, until they were ready to pull back and look each other.
He tried a smile. "Shall we go down and check on the others?"
"The others?" Belle looked at him in puzzlement. "You mean...?"
"The curse is broken." He gestured to himself. The old sardonic lilt tinted his voice as he added, "I believe it stands to reason the others will have become human again as well."
They started for the door to the West Wing, hand in hand. He noticed distantly that the dead rose and the protective bell jar it had been under were both gone as if they had never been. The West Wing itself was restored to its former magnificence. Belle glanced around at it all with interest, but she kept pace with him and did not let go of his hand.
She slowed a little as she thought of something. "Wait a moment. How did the curse break? I thought..." she glanced back at the spot where he had been lying.
Damn. In his excitement he'd forgotten she didn't know about the curse's escape clause. The Prince shrugged one shoulder, a bit sheepish. "I think I might have a bit of explaining to do..."
Author's Note: One of the things I think the animated movie gets absolutely right but not many other versions do well is once Belle's accepted the human Prince as her Beast, the chief emotion being a massive sense of relief off of both of them as well as the joy of finally being able to be together fully. They both thought they'd lost the other, and now they're back and together at last. The 2017 movie didn't quite get me there, so I wrote this little addition-I could picture this happening while the servants are transforming downstairs.
