Chapter submitted by Rory4.
Her departing footsteps still echoed throughout the dark lair.
Beast looked down at the enchanted rose, unseeing and despondent.
The Phantom's taunting words in the ballroom had proven to be true. In the snapping green lightning that surrounded his magic mirror, Belle had seen a vision of her father falling in the woods. Lost, alone, and coughing. Clearly deathly ill. It had only taken a moment of deep contemplation before he'd known what he had to do. Even aware of what it meant for him, he'd told Belle that she was no longer his prisoner, and free to go to her father. A life time trapped in this cursed form was worth Belle's happiness. He had done the right thing.
Knowing that he'd done that right thing didn't make loosing her any easier to bear.
Beast stumbled out onto the balcony, just as Belle approached the front gates on her horse. He helplessly rested his paws on the marble railing, in an effort to keep himself from collapsing. As he watched her leave, galloping away from him and into the starry night, an image of her laying her head on his chest and the scent of her chestnut hair -- like wild flowers -- darted through his mind. His head thrust back as he let out a grievous roar that tore through his lungs, and thundered up into the stormy indigo sky.
"Now you know how it feels to loose everything," the disembodied voice seemed to be the darkness itself whispering to him.
Beast didn't need to look to know who it really was.
"You're right, I have lost everything," he replied, staring down at the deserted courtyard. "But, you have no idea what you speak of."
"I know exactly what I speak of," hissed Erik. "I have lost everything because of you!"
"I've taken nothing from you," mumbled Beast, his reply spiritless.
A scraping chime was all the warning Beast had before he felt the sharp point of Erik's unsheathed sword pressing into his back. He made no move to protect himself.
The masked man was breathing hard with effort to contain his rage. "Take a look at your present."
It was a command.
Beast showed no signs of having heard him. He didn't move from his position on the balcony.
Erick could feel a vein begin to throb in his neck. He shoved the tip of his sword harder into Beast's back, drawing a rivulet of blood that slid lazily down it's twinkling blade. The sight appeased him, but was not nearly enough by far.
"READ IT!" His shout caused the sturdy balcony to vibrate beneath his feet.
Very slowly, Beast reached into his cape where he'd stowed the parchment Erik had thrown at him, and pulled it out. At first he didn't react to the too-familiar musical score he read. A heady fog had wrapped itself around him, and he'd fallen willingly into it's bleak folds. But, then he read the name of the composer beneath the title, and the memories came rushing back with the vivid force of a flash flood.
A young man screaming about wrongs done to him, and clutching a horribly burned face. Old feelings of revulsion, as the younger version of himself ignorantly ignored the injured young man's pleas to see the truth in his claims, and focused only on the fact that some one had dared to bring such a grotesque sight before him. An order to have him thrown out into the streets. Vague flashes of a young boy he'd barely noticed arriving at the castle, wide-eyed and rumored to be immensely talented in the arts. Forte's pupil.
Beast's stomach turned, as he whispered, "No, it can't be…"
And Erik knew he finally, finally, knew. He cackled manically, sheathed his sword, and stepped in front of Beast as he backed away in horror, inside.
"Oh, but it is. Hello, master." He bowed mockingly.
Shame at himself washed over Beast, as the truth of that night ten years ago filled him. How foolish he had been, how blind and cruel and self-absorbed. How sad that it had taken a curse that transformed him into a beast, to show him what a monster he had been.
He clung to the edges of the table that the rose rested on, drowning in grief and guilt. He raised his wearied head, and looked Erik straight in the eye. Took in the way they sparked and spit raw, animal rage towards him.
And he said, "I'm sorry."
Erik nearly burst out into hysterical laughter. Denial, he had expected. Craved, almost. Remorse was a new and unforeseen tactic. The pain and regret in his voice sounded almost sincere. He was good, but Erik was no longer the gullible young idiot he had once been.
He grabbed the front of Beast's cloak, and brought his face close to his. The creature only looked at him, his blue eyes flat and sad. "Stop putting on a show, it is only you and I now, master. I know Belle's finally seen what you truly are, and escaped, just like I said she would…"
If it was possible, Beast's eyes became even sadder. "I let her go."
"Yes, I saw her --" Erik stopped speaking as Beast's words sank in. "You what?" He scoffed. "Liar!"
Beast continued as if Erik had not spoken, dazed by the heartbreaking farewell and the events of the past. "Her father…it was the only thing to do."
Erik abruptly tore away from Beast, and turned his back to him, hiding the look on his face. He was gobsmacked. Despite knowing the truth about the nature of this thing, he sensed, just knew, that Beast was telling the truth. It was something in his demur.
"You let her go? Why would you do that?" His tone was unguardedly confused.
Beast could still feel the touch of Belle's hand to his cheek as she said good-bye. "I had to."
Erik turned and stared at him in reluctant amazement.
"Yes, but why?" he hissed, frustrated and impatient for a straight answer. He had to figure out what this monster had to gain by releasing Belle of his own free will. He didn't like feeling like he'd missed something.
Beast's voice was haunted as he confessed the truth out loud, for the first time. "Because, I love her."
Erik charged Beast without any warning, and slammed him against a wall, his face once again contorted in rage. Beast barely reacted. "Liar! You are not capable of loving, do not know the definition of the word! I am the one that loves her, the one that wants what's best for her! You only wanted her to restore your humanity!"
Beast didn't reply. Erik continued to rant.
"After you were changed, I vowed I would keep you from getting that second chance the enchantress thought you deserved. You didn't deserve it, after what you had done to me! And that's only further proven after what you did to Belle!"
"I am more sorry than you can comprehend, for the way I treated you," Beast's tone oozed sorrow.
Erik tore away from Beast. "Do not apologize to me again, you fifthly animal! You did not love her, you brainwashed her into caring for you!"
"She is the one that changed me," Beast's reply was full of bittersweet longing.
Erik began to pace. This subdued creature was nothing like the one he'd encountered in the ball room only a short while ago. Nothing like the one he'd been craving to destroy all these years. It was more than just his deadened demur. He seemed almost…human. Could such a monster truly change, as he claimed? He paused to consider Beast, as lightning began to flash and the clouds burst open to unleash a torrent of fat rain drops. He was once again hunched over the enchanted rose, simply watching as more of it's petals began to fall. He looked…resigned.
The enchantress had been right. He was capable of changing. Erik's heart began to pound.
Abruptly he was consumed by a cloud of smoke and flames, and Beast didn't even notice when he was finally alone in the room. He just continued to stare at the enchantress's rose, as it slowly died.
Erik stumbled through his lair, desperate to reach his magic wall mirror. When finally he stood in front of it, he stared at himself for a long moment.
He squeezed his eyes shut, as he desperately requested, "Show me Belle!"
When he opened his eyes again, it was to an image of Belle dabbing at her father's forehead with a damp cloth, and smiling gently as the old man opened his eyes. He brushed his finger tips over her beautiful face. What had he done, in his blind thirst for revenge, to this young woman he claimed to love? At what point had he turned into the very thing he'd sworn vengeance on?
He had been the one manipulating Belle's mind, terrorizing her with his plot to sabotage the enchantress's good will. The creature had been the one trying to save her, from nearly the very beginning. The role reversals were making his head spin.
He was the only monster left in this castle.
Masquerade, Belle, I love you
paper faces of parade
masquerade
hide your face
so the world will never find you
He spun away from the mirror, unable to look at Belle anymore, and covered his ears to block out the lyrical sound of her voice. It was too much. Too much!
You alone can make my song take flight
Its over now, the music of the night.
He turned back to the wall mirror, teeth gritted and heart breaking, then raised his fist and brought it smashing down into the spellbound glass, shattering it into millions of tiny shards that winked like stars as they flew through the air, and tinkled as they disjointedly
hit the floor, composing a fractured melody.