"I failed. I failed."
He wasn't sure how long he lay on top her body. He was too aggrieved; wishing time would stop, wishing that he would never have to open his eyes again so wouldn't have to see the damage, the sight of her blood, her brown eyes staring lifelessly up at his.
He knew that the moment he heard the gunshot that he'd been too late. Dieu, it wasn't fair. He'd saved her from wolves, he'd saved her from drowning, but when he needed her most, the moment when he was about to commit his life to her forever, to repay her for everything she had given up for him, he lost her. He felt his body tremble as he gripped the fabric that made up her dress, trying his hardest to hold back the cries of anguish that were about to escape from him. Belle. She had meant the world to him. How could he let this happen? How could he let her get hurt like this? We should have never come here. It should have been me instead of her.
From around him he could hear voices muttering. Startled, anxious. If only he could drown them out, disappear even. In his mind he began to do exactly that; creating a world for himself where he was the Beast, standing in the confines of the West Wing, away from reality, away from everything. He knew before he'd even finished it that it wasn't going to work. That part of his life was gone, finished. He was a human now, not an animal. What was the point of trying to wish himself away to another place when he'd only feel more hurt about it after? It was like finishing a good story, only to wish you hadn't read it after because it made your own life so dull and meaningless in comparison. It was painful, and it was unecessary. Besides, it was only a matter of time before one of them would pull him off, discover her body underneath and then he wouldn't be able to play dead anymore. Better to just accept reality than escape it, and knowing this, he held her closer as though his life depended on it. It was the last piece of her he had left...he would hold on to her until the end of time if he had to.
The voices grew more intense, more frantic. A part of him was annoyed, surely it didn't take that long for them to move a couple of bodies off of the podium. Unless they were afraid to touch him, now that was an interesting thought. He was beginning to wonder if he should just roll off Belle himself, when he heard a strange scuffling noise followed by a grunt and a shout. Then, quite abruptly, a louder voice cut out over the noise:
"Unhand me you idiots, unhand me at once!"
He couldn't take it anymore. Tentatively, he opened his eyes. Blinking back the sunlight, he could see that there was a wild goose lying with its wings outstretched on the edge of the podium. He was confused…that certainly hadn't been there before. His eyes moved from the goose to the edge of the town square where he saw what had caught the villagers' attention: Avenant had been captured, cursing loudly as he was restrained by two of the castle guards. A third guard had taken hold of his rifle and was pointing it at him in case he tried to escape. Well it seems they aren't completely useless.
But what about the goose? Turning back to it, Adam could see that there was a bullet wound embedded in its breast. But that didn't make sense. He'd only heard one gunshot go off for Belle. Unless someone else had shot for the bird at the same time that could only mean…
"Adam," a voice said from underneath him, "You're crushing me."
"Belle!" Adam exclaimed in disbelief. He quickly got off of her so she could breathe. "You're…you're alright."
"Of course I am," Belle said as she sat up from the floor, "Are you?"
"Yes," Adam replied. He trembled as he put his arms on her, hardly believing his eyes. He didn't know how she'd survived, but she had, and armed with this knowledge, he pulled her forward and he kissed her. He didn't care who was watching, he needed this, he needed to know the worst hadn't happened, to feel the warmth of her body against his, to know that he wasn't imagining things, that she really was alive and wasn't going to leave him. And Belle was only glad that Adam was alright. Losing her life was one thing, but she couldn't bear to think about what would happen if she'd lost him to one of the Légume brothers, again.
"Your highness?" a voice interrupted, bringing them back to reality. Adam looked up to see one of the townsmen who had attacked him earlier looking at him him in fright, as though he was about to be sent to the guillotine at any moment. "Please have mercy! We didn't know Avenant was going to shoot at her! We thought we was going to teach you a bit of a lesson, that's all!"
Adam's expression hardened. After all the shit they'd put him through, did he honestly think he was going to let them get away that easily? "Arrest them all." he ordered.
"Yes, master." The guards moved forward to arrest the rioters, and surprisingly, none tried to resist. Maybe they were too shocked, maybe they were too afraid to mess with the prince now that they'd seen how angry he could get, Adam didn't know and quite frankly he didn't care. Slowly, he stood up and helped Belle to her feet. They were leaving, no question about it. He wouldn't be at peace until Avenant was locked away in the dungeons, and Belle and Maurice were back in the safety of the castle. But what about the other villagers? He felt his anger ebb away slightly as he realized he hadn't finished his speech yet. But what could he say to them all after what they'd witnessed?
It was amazing how many of the townspeople were still standing in the square despite the fight that had just taken place. Many of them were looking up at the prince with expressions of fear and concern on their face. The little boy who had spoken out earlier – Luc was now clinging to his mother and sobbing. Adam couldn't help feel a bit sorry for him. It wasn't like he had been the reason the men had charged at him and Belle. He was just curious to know how Gaston died, like the rest of his village. And maybe in some ways they did have a right to know the truth. It wasn't exactly a story he planned to share with them, but if it was what he needed to earn their respects, maybe, just maybe it was worth coming clean about.
"Wait here," he said to Belle. Slowly, he slumped back to the podium stand. "You need to understand," he said as he addressed the curious crowd, "The Beast was real. I was him."
Several gasped elicited throughout the square. Ignoring them, he continued:
"Ten years ago, on Christmas Eve, an enchantress came my to my castle and put a spell on my household that turned me into a Beast and my servants into enchanted objects. She gave me a magic rose as a timepiece, and told me that the spell would be permanent unless I could find someone to love me before the last petal fell.
In shame for what I had become, I hid myself away in the castle and forbid any of my servants from leaving the grounds. I cut off all communications with the other kingdoms and led them to believe that the castle had been abandoned and my fate left to the unknown.
If not for Maurice getting lost in the woods I may have never had a chance to be human again. He came upon my castle looking for shelter from a storm and I…I intended to keep him as my prisoner, but Belle found him and agreed to take his place. Through the course of the winter, she became a friend to me and helped me see the world in ways I'd never seen it before. I fell in love with her, and in time, she learned to love me back.
The night before the last petal of the rose was meant to fall I let Belle return to her father. That same night, Gaston and his men came to seek me out at the castle. I did not know anything about Gaston; I didn't know that he and Belle were from the same village or that he intended to take her as his wife. He led me out on to the rooftop, stabbed me, and would have killed me if Belle hadn't confessed her love and turned me back into a human.
Unfortunately for Gaston…" he hesitated for a moment, "...could not be saved. After he stabbed me he lost his footing and fell into the ravine. He was both violent and corrupt, and I can assure you that either Belle or myself could stop him from meeting his fate.
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure he meant a lot to all of you."
A tense silence fell over the square as Adam finished his story. The townspeople were speechless. Avenant's story was one thing, but Prince Adam's sounded positively mad, like the attackers had hit him back on the podium harder than he thought. Did he really expect them to believe that an enchantress had just waltzed into his castle one night and turned him into a Beast? That was positively ridiculous, it was practically a fantasy! And the great Gaston dying by his own hand? Proposterous! He had to be bluffing, just trying to cover up Avenant's story with one he knew they wouldn't believe.
But still, the facts remained. Those who had been in the tavern that night remembered how terrified Maurice had looked when he'd come in rambling about the Beast who had locked his daughter away in a castle. They'd all thought he was crazy, but then again, wasn't it a bit strange that no one, not even the baker or the bookshop keeper had seen Belle since the first snowfall? Could it had been that Maurice was right, and she had in fact been trapped in a Beast's castle for the whole winter?
The query went on. Even some of the people who thought Gaston should have had Belle for his wife had to admit that he hadn't quite been himself that night. They all knew Gaston was a man who liked to get what he wanted, but wasn't threatening Belle into a marriage a bit over the top, even for his standards? And the livid look in his eyes when he'd rounded up the townsmen to come to the castle...he's looked more like a monster that night than anything. Could that really mean that he had been responsible for his own death that night? And if so, did that mean that Belle and the prince were innocent?
Of one thing the townspeople were all certain about, there was nothing evil about the young man who stood before them. The fact that he had put his life at risk to save Belle had to mean he cared about her. And Belle…they'd always known that she was different from the rest of them. If she was meant to fall in love with a Beast and turn him back into a human…well they guessed she was so odd, it would only make sense.
"Vive le prince," a voice spoke out. He was an elderly man with white hair and spectacles and Belle immediately recognized him as the bookshop keeper who had given her a free book at his store almost a lifetime ago.
"Vive le prince!" another voice shouted.
"Vive le prince!" said another.
One by one, the townspeople were slowly adding on to the cheers. Adam looked on them in amazement. He couldn't believe it…they actually believed him.
"Th – thank you," he managed, lifting his head for silence. He hadn't realized until now that he felt quite dizzy. The world took on a pleasantly fuzzy quality as he staggered away from the stand. The last thing he heard was a cry from the crowd before he fell forward and then everything went black.
When Adam came around again he was lying on a bed back at Belle's cottage. Belle was dabbing at his face with a wet cloth, looking at him in concern. Two of the guards were standing watch from behind.
"How are you feeling?" she asked him.
"Swell," he replied gruffly, "What happened?"
"You fainted after your speech."
"I fainted," Adam repeated in disbelief, "See, I told you something would go wrong."
"Tais toi!" Belle replied, resting a hand on his chest, "That was a very brave speech you made and everyone knows it. There's not a person in Molyneaux who doesn't want to come to the wedding now."
The wedding. Adam's smile lowered slightly. "Belle, where's your father?" he asked.
"He's downstairs. The doctor is looking after him."
"Is he –?"
"He's fine, he's just a bit winded," she explained, "The doctor's going to give him a bit of medicine before we head back." She averted her eyes from him as she spoke, and Adam could tell that she was a bit worried.
"You should go to him," he told her.
"Will you be okay?"
"Belle, you and I both know that I've experienced worse injuries than this. I'll be fine. But thank you...for taking care of me."
He took her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. Belle found herself smiling back. "Don't try to get up too fast," she warned.
"I won't."
She kissed him on the forehead and left the room, leaving Adam alone with the castle guards. They walked up to him and introduced themselves, telling him what happened in the moments Avenant had tried to kill Belle and explaining how they'd both run for him and thrown off his aim. The bullet had hit a flock of birds instead, resulting in the dead goose he had seen back on the podium.
"Belle and I owe you our lives, messieurs," Adam said when they were done, "I will be sure to tell Cogsworth and Lumiere to reward you both when we return."
"Thank you, master," the first guard said with a bow.
The second guard began to shuffle his hands nervously. "Your grace," he said to him, "I'm afraid there's something else you should know about the hunter."
Five minutes later, Adam flew down the stairs, where he found Belle tending to Maurice in an armchair by the fireplace. "You," he said, his eyes blazing, "You talked to him earlier."
"What?" Belle asked with a start. She turned around and saw something dark in his expression, something she hadn't seen in him for a long time.
"Don't hide it from me," Adam snarled "He came to the house earlier. Avenant!"
"Oh!" Belle exclaimed. Someone...one of the guards must have told her about the encounter she'd had with Gaston's brother outside the house "Yes," she explained, "But...it was just for a moment."
"A moment? Why didn't you say anything?"
"I thought...," her sentence trailed off. Why hadn't she told him? It seemed so irrelevant at the time, but now that she looked back at it...
"Belle he was going to kill both of us!"
"I didn't know, okay? If it makes you feel better, I didn't tell him anything about Gaston or the curse. But maybe...," she thought to herself, "Maybe you should."
Adam looked as though Belle had just told him that he should try controlling his temper, for a change, which they both knew was impossible. "What makes you think he deserves to know?" he demanded.
"Adam, his brother just died!"
"And he almost killed you! Do you think I'm just going to just...just let him get away with that?"
"You've already told half the village already, why exclude him? Maybe if you just put yourself in his shoes for a minute –"
"You think I don't know what he's like?" he challenged, "I know a hell lot more about his type than you do! And trust me, telling him the truth won't help us at all."
He crossed his arms over his chest and Belle could get a good view of his knuckles, raw and bloody from when he'd scraped them against the podium in his attempt to rescue her. She immediately felt a sense of guilt. Adam had risked his life for her; maybe she should try to be a bit more considerate of his feelings.
"Come now," she said as she tried to reach for him, "Let me find some bandages for your hands."
Adam took a step backwards. "How can you be so unconcerned that our lives were almost in danger? I don't understand, Belle."
"They're not in danger now. Please…let's not make a scene in front of my father. Just...just try to calm down. We're all fine. Nobody got hurt. Avenant's been captured. There's no need to get angry."
"Angry?" Adam's expression became a shade darker, "You have no idea how I feel right now."
He sped out of the room and slammed the door before Belle could say another word.