AN: This is a much shorter chapter than others

Chapter Fifteen

Adam looked over to Belle and sighed as he saw the coil around her neck. It felt as if he were holding her prisoner. He saw her watching him and shook his head. He had to get control of these powers as soon as possible. He had to learn more about the enchantress. Was she human? For some reason, he didn't think so and that meant that he had a supernatural creature's blood pulsing through him – or at least their magical ability.

"I'm going to do my best to release you," he told Belle who smiled weakly and reached out to touch his arm.

"Adam, carrying this is no burden to me," she said as she placed a hand on her heart. Adam looked at the small lump near her breast. He had put that into her body and he was scared that he was asking too much of her. He also knew that nobody else could carry that weight. No one else could wear that necklace because it relied on honest love, unconditional love. "It doesn't hurt at all," Belle told him and that made Adam's eyes light up.

"Really?" he asked and Belle smiled.

"Really," she nodded. She wrapped her arms around him in a close hug. "Are you feeling better? You're not still feeling ill, are you?" she asked as she let her head rest on his shoulder. Adam laughed weakly before nodding.

"Yeah," he said and Belle kissed his forehead. "I'm feeling better. How's Riva?" he asked and Belle hummed. She hadn't checked on him and that was probably a huge mistake. Because of the way that Marie hadn't been able to come to terms with her big brother, Riva had tried his best not to scare her or hurt her. He had isolated himself because he thought that it would make him better. Belle didn't believe that was the right choice for him. "I'm a little sleepy but I think things will be better from now on."

Belle closed her eyes as she started to feel a little nervous and she tried her best not to fall victim to a panic attack. "Adam," she whispered and the king turned to her. "I keep seeing it. I keep seeing you dead," she whispered and Adam pulled her into his arms. "You have absolutely no idea how much I love you," she sobbed and Adam attempted to calm her.

"Belle, yes I do," he nodded to her. He gently tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I know because it's the same as how much I love you, how deep my love for you is. I promise to stay as close as possible. I won't take away those memories of me again."

"Good," Belle smiled. "Because those are my favorite memories."

Adam held her again and when he felt ready to stand up, he did so. He looked to Belle but she already knew what he was going to say. He wanted to check on Riva and see how Riva was coping. Adam was a great father. Belle turned to the library. Maybe sitting with Bastien and Marie would give her a better peace of mind.

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Riva sat alone in his bedroom looking at his paws. He didn't want to use the word hate because the word hate often dropped you down into a dark pit of despair where it was very difficult to come out of but he wasn't happy about his situation. Yes, his father said that he would try and cure him but his father was ill and Riva didn't want to ask more from him. He growled before throwing a pillow from the bed towards the window. He wanted to act angrily about this, he had rage he hadn't known before.

Riva closed his eyes but felt tormented by his new form. He heard a knock at his door and felt even lonelier. "It's open, Mother," he called out and was surprised to see his father open the door. He looked to him, Adam wasn't sick any longer. Did that mean he had had the power to make himself better? "Papa?" he asked.

Adam went to him and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry. I wasn't here for you. I…I didn't want for this to happen."

Riva looked to him before closing his eyes again. "Did you feel despair when you were in this form?" he asked, "As if nothing that you did was going right? Did you…"

"Yes," Adam nodded and Riva closed his eyes painfully. "Riva, I was a wreck. Anyone in this castle can tell you about the rage that I went through, how the inside of me matched the outside but you…you are so much better than how I used to be. You're dealing with that magnificently."

Riva turned to his father and then looked away. "I'm still a beast," he told him.

"Maybe on the outside," Adam replied, "but only on the outside. Inside, you're the same Riva. You aren't a beast unlike I was." Riva looked to him before sighing.

"I can't go outside, I can't do all the things that I liked to do," he complained and Adam placed a hand on his shoulder. "Papa, can't you try to do something, if only for a moment?" he asked and Adam looked down sadly. He didn't know how to break the curse that had impacted his son's life so badly. He wanted to but sometimes these things took a lot more than just wanting it to end.

"If it goes wrong it could end up harming you, I don't want that to happen," Adam said as he shook his head and saw Riva fall back onto the bed and fall into a depression. He looked to his son wanting to do something for him and feeling like a failure that he couldn't.

"You can't even try?" Riva asked and Adam bit his top lip. He didn't know how to use his magic successfully. He wanted to do whatever he could for his children but he couldn't risk endangering them. "Even for a moment?" he asked and Adam sat uncomfortably.

Adam looked down wanting to do what he had done for Riva before when he had temporarily changed his appearance to the human Riva. He put his hands on his son's shoulders and closed his eyes trying to truly concentrate. Riva needed some assurance that he was still himself. If he could see how Adam still saw him then he might be slightly happier.

However, before Adam could really focus he heard a growling and his eyes widened to see that Riva's eyes had lost the same color as they had before and Riva was snarling at him. Adam took a step back but Riva lunged at him, pouncing forward as if he were consumed by the beast that he looked like. Adam took a deep breath in, worried about his little boy.

"Riva," he said as he moved to the side and saw Riva still growling at him. Was his son in there any longer? "Riva, Riva" he said but the beast still looked like it was going to attack him. Riva snarled at him and then attempted to bite and attack him, he walked on all fours and Adam felt horrible that he wasn't getting through to his son. Was Riva still in there?

Adam tried to calm the beast before finding him to jump on him, pushing him to the ground and ripping him with his claws. Once Adam started to bleed, yelling out in pain, Riva blinked and pushed himself off, looking at his father absolutely horrified that he had hurt him. "Riva?" Adam asked but Riva had pushed himself to the corner of his room.

"What did I do?" Riva asked as he looked to the paws that had blood on them. Adam placed his hand on his wound and managed to heal it enough so that the blood stopped coming out. He reached out to Riva but the preteen was shaking his head in shock, his mind racing at what he had just done and what he had become even if just for a short moment.

"Riva, it's not your fault. It's mine. I didn't know what I was doing and I did that to you, I am so sorry," he said. Adam reached out to Riva but the boy shook his head.

"I don't want to hurt you again," he whispered as he felt sick as he looked at the wound. Adam shook his head but Riva seemed to close up. He wrapped his arms around himself and dropped down onto the ground, shivering.

"Riva," Adam said in a pleading manner but he knew that Riva was too hurt to hear him. His mind seemed so far away and Adam didn't know how to comfort him. He couldn't touch him with magic right now because he had never expected the magic to turn him into a beast on the inside. Still, Riva had attempted to kill himself before, why would this be any different? Adam couldn't leave him alone to suffer with this.

"I'm staying with you," Adam promised but Riva didn't seem to hear him. "We're going to get through this. Things will go back to normal, you'll see."

"When?" Riva asked and Adam hesitated, he didn't have an answer for that. As much as he wanted to provide an answer for that question there was nothing that he could say.

End of Chapter Fifteen

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Fourteen

KathyMesser