Hello! Here is the last part of episode 5. Thanks for reading and enjoy!
All across the world, the news report from Storybrooke was being broadcast. In New York City, the United Nations had called an emergency meeting and were discussing whether they should use the nukes. Several countries wanted to use the nuclear weapons and several others were afraid that with the United Nations permission, the US would use the weapons first on the aliens, and then on their other enemies as well. Ursula had supplied the United States government with proof that the sky-born alien weapons existed and they were using this to argue for the nukes.
In Storybrooke, Maurice and Gaston watched the news report nervously from Gaston's house. In the sheriff station, Ursula was waiting by the phone, almost giggling with glee. The Monster for all his talk was still trapped in the conference room, unable to exit without being killed by Ursula and Flotsam on the spot. It didn't matter, Ursula thought, he could stay there until the bombs killed the whole world and die with the very humans he was trying to save.
In the conference room itself, the Monster was leaning silently against the wall. Ariel and Belle were on the phone with Maurice and Gaston, trying to figure out a plan.
"I keep calling the emergency numbers," Gaston told Belle, "But they all just go to voicemail."
Belle felt like screaming in desperation, trapped, as they were in a room in the sheriff station, about to all die in a nuclear war. "If only there was a way out." She finally muttered, dejectedly.
"There is." The Monster said quietly, so quietly Belle almost didn't hear it.
"What?" Belle questioned, turning back to face the Monster eye to eye.
"There's always been a way out." He said again, this time with sorrow in his voice.
"I don't understand," Belle said confused and worried for Gold's expression was grave, "Why haven't we used it?"
"Because," He started and walked over so he was close enough to the speakerphone for Maurice and Gaston to hear as well, "Because I can't promise your daughter's safety."
"Then don't do it." Maurice yelled through the phone.
"But if he doesn't do it, everyone will die. You must do it." Belle walked over to him and took his hand in hers, her eyes staring into his, pleading with him to save the world.
"You don't even know what it is Belle." The Monster said, stroking her cheek with his hand, "You don't know what it is and you would just let me do it?"
"Yeah," She paused, "I would."
"Belle, don't do it!" Maurice growled through the phone, "Please Monster, I've lost her once, I can't lose her again. She's my daughter, the only thing I have left."
"You think I don't know that?" The Monster was angry now, not with Belle, not with Maurice, but with himself for every getting Belle involved in his life. "There's a reason people call me the Monster. I don't live a life of happiness and fun. This is my life. I make the hard decisions, the ones that good people can't and shouldn't make, but that need to be made nonetheless."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Belle said, stepping back from him gently.
"I've lost so much Belle. I can't lose you too." He stepped forward so they were standing face to face again.
"But you have to." Belle told him as bravely as she could, "You have to save the world. And if I might die for that to happen, then I will." Her voice quivered but bravery kept her words loud. She would die for the world, no, she did not want to, but she would. She would give her life so everyone else could live, so that Gold could live, and her father, and even Gaston.
"I can't." He replied, looking away from her eyes. "I won't."
"You must." Ariel spoke up, "It's not your decision. It's mine."
Belle and the Monster looked at Ariel in shock and Maurice screamed through the phone, "Who the hell are you?"
"Ariel." Ariel replied calmly, "An animal rights activist and also an elected member of Storybrooke's city council. I'm the only elected member of government in this room right now, chosen by the people, for the people, and on behalf of the people, I command you, do it." Her voice boomed with authority as she spoke, commanding the Monster to let Belle leave.
The Monster hated to be commanded and he almost growled a refusal before he felt Belle's eyes still on him, still pleading with him to let her be the hero. To let her save the planet. It was her choice, he decided, and no matter how much he was beginning to love the girl, if she wanted to leave, he would let her.
"Fine." The Monster said, "Gaston. I need you to use the password I gave you, it overrides everything." He then instructed Gaston on how to enter the US Navy system online and helped him enter into the missile directory. "We need a missile." He told Gaston once the young man had gotten into the program.
"We can't go nuclear." Gaston replied, "Not without the US government giving us the missile codes."
"We don't need nuclear. An ordinary missile will do." The Monster told Gaston. Gaston quickly began to search through the list of missiles before reading one out to the Monster. "Yes, that will do. Now aim it at the Storybooke sheriff station. " The Monster said to Gaston.
"I could stop you." Maurice said to Gaston upon hearing where the missile was heading. This missile would kill Belle, his daughter, his only family left.
"Go ahead then." Gaston challenged Maurice, thinking that Belle had made her decision, if she was willing to sacrifice herself for the world, who was he to stand in her way. Maurice seemed to eventually arrive at the same conclusion for he eventually relented and sat down.
"Gaston, I hate to say this but the world is in your hands." The Monster said to Gaston, obviously hating giving the idiot that much power but he had no other choice.
Gathering his courage, Gaston hit the fire button on the computer.
"So that's it?" Ariel said quietly, "We are going to die here?"
"Afraid so." The Monster said, not quite as scared as one would expect when about to die.
"No!" Belle said, "Stop it you two. We are not going to die. We are going to ride this one out. Come on, it's like an Earthquake; we can hide in this storage closet. Come on, let's get all this stuff out of here!" Quickly Belle and Ariel ran to the closet and began to remove the junk that was inside it.
In New York City, the United Nations had made their decision. They were going to allow the United States to use nuclear weapons. Unbeknownst to almost all of the country except for Ursula, the nuclear weapons were located under Storybrooke. With the UN's okay, the launch codes would be given to her because she was in charge of Storybrooke at the moment, and the nuclear weapons needed to be launched now. They could not wait for the military to arrive in Storybrooke. Upon hearing this news, Ursula's smile grew and she slid out of her human skin. Flotsam joined her in his own eel like shape and together they waited excitedly for the sheriff's phone to ring.
Outside of the conference room and the sheriff's office, in the main lobby of the sheriff's station, one of police officers had just gotten a call from the US government that a missile was currently being launched at the station. His face turned white with horror and immediately he began to yell, smashing the fire alarm in the process, in the hopes of getting everyone to evacuate the precinct before the missile hit it.
The police officers upon hearing this began to run out but the brave man who had gotten the call ran into the sheriff's office in order to ensure that Ursula and Flotsam had evacuated.
"M'am!" He called out, running into the sheriff's office before stopping suddenly, his face amazed and simultaneously horrified as he saw Ursula and Flotsam in their alien forms.
"Sorry." He muttered, and then before they could harm him, he ran out. Ursula and Flotsam quickly tried to put their human disguises back on in time to evacuate but the missile was approaching quickly and was set to strike in seconds.
In the conference room, the Monster, Ariel, and Belle had ran into the closet. They huddled under the shelf, as low to the ground as possible. Gently the Monster wrapped his arm around Belle and held her close. Belle in turn grabbed his hand in one of her hands and Ariel's in the other.
"Well, it was nice knowing you both." Ariel said sarcastically as the three sat in the storage closet.
"Yes." Belle echoed Ariel but her eyes were on the Gold's, "It was. It is."
And then the missile hit. With a terrible boom the cabinet began shaking, books and papers poured down around them and then as the missile exploded, wood and bricks began to fall as well. The sheriff's station was destroyed but somehow the closet survived and as soon as the dust had settled the trio stepped out of the closet, and into the surprising sunlight of Storybrooke. Immediately police officers that had been waiting on Main Street ran over.
"Are you alright?" The officer who had arrived first asked them.
"Fine sir." Ariel replied, her voice calm and commanding as she addressed the officer, "Member of Storybrooke Council. I want you to call the UN and tell them the crisis is over and that they can step down."
The officer stared at Ariel for a second, wondering if he should listen to a woman who really had no authority in the situation before deciding that there was no one else to listen to and so he nodded and said, "Yes m'am."
As he ran off Ariel looked at the Monster and Belle and sighed, "Someone is really going to have trouble cleaning this whole mess up." She gestured to the rubbish that used to the sheriff station. "Oh my," She paused, "We don't even have a mayor."
"Well I think you would do a wonderful job." Belle replied, smiling at her encouragingly.
"Oh come on." Ariel said, "I was only elected to the council last year."
"Never know what you can do until you try dearie." The Monster spoke as well, looking at Ariel.
"Yes, well I better go and see if I can help." Ariel nodded uncomfortably at the pair, mulling over what they had said in her had, before walking off and asking the police officers what she could do to help.
The Monster and Belle meanwhile had walked back to Belle's house. As soon as the pair entered, Maurice walked up to Belle and enveloped her in a hug. The Monster watched them hugging and slowly, quietly slid out of the house. Discreetly he walked back to the MAGIC and began to flip switches and plot a new destination.
In the French house Maurice and Belle were watching Ariel make a speech on TV about how Storybrooke would be stronger and how the community could prosper by rebuilding together.
"That should be you." Maurice grumbled, "You saved the world."
Belle laughed lightly and added, "And Gold. He saved everyone too."
"The Monster?" Maurice questioned, not used to Belle's nickname for the man. Belle nodded and he continued, "I guess. Why isn't he out there then? Taking the credit, playing the hero?"
"That's not how he does things." Belle said, "He doesn't see it as being a hero or as saving the world. He just does what needs to be done and moves on." She paused and looked at her father, "Please Dad, he's not bad if you gave him a chance."
"Hmmph." Her father snorted but upon seeing the hurt look on Belle's face added, "He is good in a crisis."
Belle smiled happily at her father's words and Maurice smiled back, half joking and half serious, "But I'm not giving him my permission to marry you or anything like that!"
"Well I think you have some time before that anyway." Belle replied smirking, watching as her father's mouth dropped at the fact that she did not refute the idea that one day the Monster would ask for her hand in marriage.
Picking his jaw up off the floor Maurice managed to reply, "Well at least he could come to dinner then. He does eat right?"
"Of course father! He eats." Belle smiled and grabbed her father's hand, "Thank you for trying."
"Belle, I love you. If he's the one for you then I'll try and be okay with it. I want to be part of your life and if he is going to be part of it as well then I'd say we better figure out a way to get along." Maurice told Belle, her hand still covering his.
Belle's cellphone began to ring and she pulled her hand away from her father's to answer it. He got up to go to the kitchen to grab a beer and Belle put the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" Belle asked, not having seen the number before.
"Hello dearie. I'll be gone a couple of hours and then I'll be back and we can go." The Monster's voice replied from the other line.
"You have a phone?" Belle questioned instead of replying.
"Of course. I can travel through all of time and space, do you really think I wouldn't have a phone?" The Monster retorted and Belle could almost hear his smirk through the phone. "Anyway, as I said, I'll be a couple hours. I have to ensure Ursula doesn't have any more signals out or anything first, and then I'll be back and we can go."
"My father wants to meet you." Belle said, all of a sudden nervous.
"Why?" He asked bluntly.
"Because he wants to get to know you. And I want you to get to know him." Belle replied honestly.
"I don't do that." The Monster retorted quickly.
"Oh." Belle muttered softly, both upset and sad at the same time, "Why not?"
"I have better things to do. I don't particularly care to get to know good Maurice." The Monster replied, his voice growing harsh.
"He's my father!" Belle exclaimed.
"He's not mine." The Monster quipped back.
Belle sighed; she should have known he wouldn't come. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up that he would come by her house, take her on dates, meet her father. He wasn't human after all; he wasn't normal. He was an alien who called himself the Monster but yet when she was around him, she forgot all that. To her, he was just Gold, the man she was slowly falling for.
She was broken out of her thoughts when the Monster spoke again, this time quietly and serious, "You don't have to come with me. You can stay there and be with your father and your friends and live a normal life."
Belle didn't reply, but just thought about what he was offering. She could stay here and live a normal life with a father and friends who loved her but she would never see Gold again. That alone almost made her decision. But if she left with him, she would be leaving her father again. Her father who had no one else but her.
When she still hadn't responded the Monster added sadly, "Your choice." Then he hung up the phone. Quietly he put the phone down. He should have said yes, he thought, to meeting her father and having dinner with the man. But he hadn't lied when he said he didn't do that. He was a monster, an alien creature, not some human who could court Belle as he desired. Not a man who sat down for meals and made small talk. No, it was better this way. If Belle didn't come, well at least he had met her, and if she did, at least she would have realized he wasn't a good man after all.
The woman taking up the Monster's thoughts was currently sitting on her couch, looking at her phone. Belle had to decide, did she go with Gold or did she stay with her father? Who was she supposed to choose?
"Me." She decided, "I do not choose Gold and I do not choose my father. I choose me. And I" she thought, "do not want to live in small town Storybrooke. I do not want to marry Gaston, not now and not ever. I want adventure, I want to see the world." Only one of her choices offered those possibilities. So Belle got off her couch and quietly slid into her room, packing her suitcase full of clothes.
"Belle?" Maurice questioned, coming out of the kitchen and not seeing his daughter on the couch. "Belle!" He yelled nervously as he walked up the stairs to her room. He stopped short when he saw her packing. "Belle, what are you doing?" He questioned sadly.
"I'm packing." She replied, her voice quivering.
"Please don't go." Maurice murmured softly, his eyes portraying the sadness he felt at the idea of his only child leaving him.
"I have to." Belle replied, "I love you Dad. I'll be back, I promise." Grabbing the suitcase Belle hugged her father close and walked down the stairs and out the front door.
Meanwhile Gaston, who had left his house after firing the missile was standing in the woods, close to what he hoped was the MAGIC and not just another tree.
The Monster opened the MAGIC door, looking to see if Belle was coming but instead only saw Gaston standing against a tree. Sighing he stepped out of the tree and walked toward Gaston.
"I went down to the shop." Gaston spoke first, "Thinking the whole world had changed. Thinking that people finally knew about aliens, about you." He grabbed a newspaper that he had bought at the local Storybrooke convenience store and showed it to the Monster, "And look. How can they do it? They saw it with their own eyes!"
The Monster looked at the paper and saw the headline in big bold letters, Alien Hoax. "You're just not ready. " He told Gaston, "Humans always want magical solutions, always want to believe in the invisible, you wish under bridges and are afraid of black cats, but you see something different, something extraordinary in front of your own eyes and you won't believe it. That's just how humanity is, you're thick."
Gaston chuckled at this. "So we're all just idiots?"
"Well," the Monster replied smirking, "Not all of you." He may not have liked Gaston but the man had saved all their lives today. Even he could show gratitude occasionally. "Present for you. It's a CD with a virus on it. Download it online and it will destroy every mention of me; I'll cease to exist." He pulled a CD out of his jacket and handed it to Gaston.
"Why would you want to do that?" Gaston asked, slightly suspicious.
"Because there is a reason I'm called the Monster. I'm dangerous and I don't want anyone following me."
"Anyone but her." Gaston said angrily, nodding at Belle who by now could be seen walking toward the MAGIC with Maurice following behind her.
The Monster almost broke out in a huge smile upon seeing she had come but instead kept his mouth flat and serious as always. Thinking about Gaston's question wiped the smile from his face anyway. Sighing, he knew the man was right; he shouldn't be taking her with him. He lived a dangerous life that she in no way deserved. But he was selfish; he wanted her to come with him. He wanted her to travel with him through all of time and space.
Still all he said to Gaston was, "I gave her a choice. I didn't force her to come."
"Yeah and that's a real fair choice. Storybrooke or all of time and space, what did you think she'd choose?" Gaston muttered, no longer angry but slightly sad.
"I wasn't sure." The Monster admitted honestly, "I wasn't sure what she'd choose."
"Well she's here. She chose you." Gaston replied briskly and turned away from the Monster to look as Belle and Maurice approached.
The Monster thought about Gaston's words. Had she chosen him? No, he decided, she had chosen the adventure; still, it was nice to imagine that he had had some influence in her decision.
Maurice and Belle were standing next to the Monster and Gaston now, arguing.
"I'll get a better job Belle." Maurice pleaded, "I'll sell the flower shop and work in an office. I'll pay off my debt."
Belle cut him off before he could continue. "I'm not leaving because of you. I'm traveling. I'm going on an adventure just like I always wanted."
"But it's not safe Belle." Maurice exclaimed.
"Dad, if you saw it out there. If you saw all the wonders of the worlds, you wouldn't stay here in Storybrooke either." Belle replied, trying to get her father to understand.
"I see you made your decision then." The Monster said to Belle, grabbing her suitcase from her.
"Yes." She replied, smiling at him. "I did."
"Lovely." He said, smiling back at her and grabbing her hand.
Belle squeezed it and then gave Gaston a quick hug, "Goodbye Gaston."
"Goodbye Belle." He replied evenly.
"You still can't promise me that she will be safe, can you?" Maurice had taken this opportunity to confront the Monster. "What if something happens to her? What if she gets lost? What happens if you can't protect my baby girl and she's stranded on some moon all alone, light years away? How long do I wait then?"
The Monster had no answer and luckily didn't need to give one for Belle had grabbed her father by the shoulders and turned him away from Gold to look at her. "Dad." Belle said reassuringly, "It's a time machine. I can travel the whole world, five times over, and come back here and only ten second would have past. So stop worrying. I love you."
Then Belle hugged her father and followed the Monster into the MAGIC. The tree began to flash in and out and the whirling sound was heard and then the time traveling tree was gone leaving Maurice and Gaston standing alone in the forest. Maurice looked at his watch, waited ten seconds, and then laughed sadly before walking away back toward his house.
Inside the MAGIC Belle all of a sudden felt incredibly sad. She had just left everything she had ever known. Sensing her sadness the Monster spoke up, "I can take you back." He muttered softly, coming to stand beside her.
"What?" She asked, not quite catching what he had said she had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts.
"If you want to go back to Storybrooke. I can take you back." He said again, turning to look at her.
"I," She paused, unsure if she did want to return or if she was just feeling momentarily nostalgic, but then she looked up at him, "I don't want to go back. I'll miss my father, yes, but I don't want to go back." She grabbed his hand gently, trying to reassure him that her sadness wasn't because she was here with him but because she had left her father alone in Storybrooke.
"I'm glad you are staying." He admitted gently and swallowing his pride, added, "I'm sorry I couldn't go to dinner with your father. I just, I don't think your father would very much like to get to know me."
"Well you'll never know unless you try." She said, repeating similar words to what he had told Ariel earlier today.
"Maybe some other time then." He smiled as he said it but Belle could tell he was just trying to appease her.
"I don't want you to make me empty promises." She said seriously, still holding his hands and making sure his eyes met hers as she said it. "You don't have to meet my father, you don't have to pretend to be human if you don't want to. I won't force you."
"Thank you." He replied, surprised at her words. "I do promise though, for you I will try to be more human. I will try to be a better man. I will try to protect you as your father asked."
"Well protection would be nice," She laughed as she said this, easing the tension in the room but then she turned serious again. "I don't want you to try and be more human though, and I don't want you to be a better man for me. You are a good man, whether you let others see that or not is up to you."
"I'm not sure how I ever got so lucky to meet you." The Monster replied, stroking Belle's face, not sure how to reply to what Belle had just told him.
"I ask myself the same question." She replied coyly and then she kissed him. He kissed her back and the thoughts of her father, alone in Storybrooke, soon left her mind.