Well, this is it. This is the end. I want to thank you all for reading through my first completed story. I've been writing for years, but this is my first time actually finishing something. If you review this chapter, tell me what you did and didn't like about the story as a whole. I would also like to hear your thoughts on what my next story should be. I'm still struggling with Rapunzel's story so I've put that on hiatus for a while. I'm most likely going to be deleting it, and starting fresh. I'm trying to explain everything in this last chapter and wrap it up neatly. If you still have questions, you can PM me for my Skype. I always like talking to new people!
The wedding feast lasted for nearly a week, and for that Belle would forever be grateful. It gave her time to view the castle in a new light - full of life. The villagers returned when she and the Beast - Adam - took a carriage and Phillipe into the square to entice them. He was a marvelous story teller, and soon their ballroom was filled with joyful guests. Only two people did not enjoy themselves. Laura and Pauline. Her sisters were pale and expressionless as she and Adam exchanged their vows, even more so when Adam was crowned as the reigning monarch he had always been. Laura in particular was tight lipped and red-eyed. Belle had been the one to tell her of Gaston's death, and she appeared to take in in stride. She cried, she mourned, and she moved on.
For several months she and Adam lived quite contentedly in the castle. It seemed that when the curse was lifted, their home was transformed. Gone was the grime and the dust and the gargoyles with their hideous fangs and membranous wings. The walls were now pristine stone, polished to gleam in the sun. Borders of gold and balconies of the purest white marble stood out, and the gardens were even bursting with life and color. She learned they had a bee keeper, who had been transformed into a rather unhappy hive, and Cogsworth was the head butler. Lumiere tended to the maids more than he should have, but kept the hundreds of lights and torches throughout the castle burning without smolder or smoke. Mrs. Potts ruled in the kitchen like a war general, but was always happy and willing to share a nice, warm cup of tea. Chip was the liveliest stable boy she'd ever met, but when she inquired after his father she was met with somber faces.
Apparently broken furniture stayed broken.
Eventually Belle grew tired of traveling into town for the sole purpose of visiting her family and, not long before their child was set to arrive, she and Adam invited her father and sisters to live with her. Pauline fell into a happy routine in the castle. She was given gowns and shoes, and a room bigger than twice what Laura's had previously been. She took the carriage to town several times a week to visit with her friends but seemed happier still with the women tasked with being Belle's 'ladies-in-waiting'. They took care of her mending and plaiting her hair. They drew her baths and readied things for the baby. Two of them had been forks once, and blushed every time they looked at her. Belle did her best not to notice.
Some weeks into the arrival of her sisters, she felt a pain twist in her lower back. Mrs. Potts was convinced the baby would be arriving shortly, and confined her to bed. She'd grown large enough that traversing the gardens and tending to Phillipe was exhausting; it was nice to relax for a time. Mrs. Potts drew her a warm bath and scented it with lavender soap, promising to have someone bring her a fresh towel. Belle slid into the soothing water and sighed happily as the pains she'd been feeling faded away.
The door clicked open, and two familiar faces peered in. Laura was wearing a dress of the deepest reds, its bodice so tight it was a wonder she could breathe. Pauline's hair was loose and her cheeks pink. She twisted a handkerchief anxiously as they walked in. Laura's arms were burdened with towels. "Enjoying your bath?" Laura asked with a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Your maid said we should bring you some fresh towels." Belle frowned when her sister dropped them on the floor just inside the doorway.
"Um, yes, thank you. Her name is Mrs. Potts, you know," Belle ran her fingers through her dark hair and wondered why Pauline looked so nervous. She sat up in the bath when her eldest sister turned and locked the bedroom door, then approached the tub. "Laura, are you all right?"
Her sister swirled the frothy bubbles of the bath with her fingertips, then shook the water onto the floor. "It's all your fault, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Belle looked between her sisters and didn't like the expression on either face.
"Everything. Gaston could have given me a life. Now I'm living on your charity. You think you're so much better than either of us..." And her sister was on her.
Belle had never drowned before. She'd dove deep enough in the pools and lakes that her lungs burned, but this mindless terror was something new. Her chest ached as she fought against the two hands pushing her under, kicking and clawing at whatever she could reach until through the muffle of the water she heard Laura demand Pauline's help. Belle's mouth opened in a last, desperate plea for air and instead was rewarded with a mouthful of water. Her vision blackened, the pain receded. Her flailing slowed, then stopped.
When her sisters pulled away she bobbed to the surface like a swollen cork. The roundness of her belly pushed through the surface of the bath, and her head lolled against the side of the tub. Her lips were nearly violet, and her sightless eyes bored holes through the wall.
"Oh god, Laura, what have we done?" Pauline cried, leaping away from the tub as though it scalded her. She twisted the sodden front of her skirt, causing a small puddle of water to form at her feet.
"We have done nothing that shouldn't have been done long ago. Papa would have married us both off long ago if not for her! Gaston would still be alive! This castle would have been given back to the people, and our father might have had his business again!" Laura pressed her lips firmly together and looked away from the garish sight of her youngest sister's corpse. "She got what she deserved."
"Laura, the child? Why didn't we wait until she'd had the baby?" Pauline glanced nervously at the door as though expecting someone to burst in at any moment.
"She had relations with that...thing!" Her elder sister hissed, glancing at the slick swell of her belly. "We'll say we came in and found her like this. Help me push her head under the water. It will look accidental, like...like something just caused her to drown. Maybe something went wrong with the baby and she simply died," The two sisters moved forward and pushed her beneath the surface, just as the door burst open. Adam entered at a sprint, the looking glass in one hand and a sword in the other. Cogsworth and several servants flanked him, along with a terrified Mrs. Potts.
"What have you done?" He roared, shoving the girls away. He fought to pull Belle's body from the water. "Belle! My beautiful, wonderful, Belle...no, no..." He moaned as her limp form was lifted out of the bath. "What have you done? How cold are your hearts that you would do this to your own sister?" He asked, staring down at the body of his bride.
Laura opened her mouth in defense, Pauline lifted her hands, and the room erupted with light. From the looking glass now forgotten on the floor rose a figure. Her hair tumbled in waves of gold to the floor, and her gown of emerald green seemed to twist around her feet. In her eyes was blind, vengeful fury. She pointed at Belle, who suddenly convulsed and vomited bath water. The color returned to her face as quickly as she'd died. "A-Adam?" She gasped as she reached for him. He wrapped her in his arms and turned his face away from the beautiful woman, choosing instead to comfort his wife.
"I am the sorceress who once transformed the prince," said the imposing figure. "I have noted your good heart, Belle, and taken you under my protection. These miserable ones killed you. Now I leave their fate in your hands!" It was quite clear she wanted to do nothing of the sort.
Belle begged for mercy for them, and implored that they simply return to the village, but the sorceress shook her head and said, "They must die, for you will never be safe from their malice, and as soon as they have been punished, I would speak with you and your husband. I feel I must explain myself,"
"Then do with them what you will!" sobbed Belle, holding tight to her husband. She felt ill now, looking on her family. Laura and Pauline had fallen to their knees and were sobbing and clutching one another. Yet, there was a fire in Laura's eyes that said the sorceress told the truth. She was not sorry for what she had done.
"Let them be transformed into columns and remain such until a man falls in love with them," The Sorceress said with a smile. "And that will never happen."
She touched the sisters with her hand, and they were immediately transformed into two stone columns, impossible to tell from those that supported the castle. In a blink the two were whisked away out to the garden, and thick vines of ivy twisted along their sides. Belle knew that as long as time existed, it would not occur to any man that he should fall in love with cold, heartless stones. The pain she'd felt earlier returned with a vengeance, and the young woman cried out. The sorceress turned to her with a small smile, and ushered the servants away. All who remained was Mrs. Potts and Adam, who were now risking a look at her.
Her ferocious power seemed to have faded. Belle winced again. "You...you cursed them all...why? Why would you do such a terrible thing?"
"I saw the corruption growing deeper and deeper in the heart of his mother, and knew it was beginning to blossom in the young prince. By cursing him, I spared him from her fate," The sorceress murmured something to Mrs. Potts, who hurried from the room. "Darling Belle, before you came to the castle he was trapped in the form of a Beast always," She fluffed the pillows and moved about the room lighting candles and stoking the fire. She left the smell of daisies in her wake, and a shimmer on everything she touched. "When you arrived, he was so struck by your beauty and selflessness that it quite destroyed some of my curse. Not a lot, just enough for him to gain his human appearance for several hours. Thankfully enough of it remained in that time that he was quite unable to explain who he was. I'm sure he didn't understand it at all himself,"
Mrs. Potts returned with a servant girl and a cart laden with blankets, a bowl of water, and all manner of lotions and tools. "Madam Sorceress, you are remaining?" The older woman asked, closing the door firmly behind her and opening the windows.
"Yes, Mrs. Potts. The curse I laid was much too great, and in return I offer my services as a god-mother. Beginning now," Belle glanced from the strangely beautiful woman to her husband, and couldn't stop the tears that formed. It was so much to take in all at once!
"Belle, darling, we can do this," Adam promised, kissing her gently. "You can do this," The young woman nodded and drew in a breath.
When dawn crested over the hills the next morning, it was the first light for two sets of eyes. Belle lay exhausted in the bed, cleaned and clutching her son to her chest while Adam sat in a nearby chair staring down at his daughter in awe. The twins were quiet now, and a pleasant calm had settled over the room. Bird-song was the only sound to break the silence. "Well, the girl is Rose, of course," Murmured Adam as he traced the pink flush of his babe's cheeks. She stirred in his arms but did not wake. "I've never seen anything so incredible,"
Belle smiled and stroked the feather-soft curls of her son as he nursed. "Rose and...Leon, I think," She whispered, placing a kiss on the top of his head. "It's fitting." Adam chuckled and slowly stood, then walked towards the foot of the bed and laid Rose in her cradle. Belle passed Leon to him once he had finished, and the new father laid his son beside his sister. The two babes slept quite contentedly, oblivious to the horrors that had taken place merely a day before.
"I love you, Belle," Adam said as he climbed into the bed beside her.
She curled against him and laid her head on his chest, always happy to wake to find him still beside her. "I love you, Adam,"
And so they ruled in kindness and selflessness for all the years of their lives, and all was...
Happy Forever After
So, um, wow. Holy shit. I finished it! If you're wondering, the versions I used were The Little Broomstick (Germany), Beauty & The Beast (France), Beauty & The Beast (Disney) and one other but I can't remember which version it was. I hope the ending was satisfying. I have officially completed The Reddest Rose. Look for more of my work to come soon!
