"Let me read your mother's note," the Beast said softly. Then holding the mirror up he spoke again. "Show me the note Belle wrote for me."

A piece of paper on a table appeared in the glass. Then the image zoomed so that he could read the words, giving him plenty of time to read before scrolling to reveal more of the letter. The letter read as follows.

My dearest Beast,

I am writing this because I fear I've been struck by plague. I'm waiting for a doctor to come and confirm but if so, and it is likely since several in Villeneuve have already succumbed, I shall have to send my daughter away. Much how my own mother had to send my father and I away to protect us from plague when I was but a few months old. I can only pray to get my precious Didiane out of town before she too is infected. I cannot even send this letter, but I haven't touched the mirror in about a week, so she should be safe in taking it. If Didiane comes to you and you read this letter, it is because plague has been confirmed. I've told her to keep well away from me until we know for sure. I've also told her a bit about you.

I hope you don't mind me sending her to you. This illness comes just a week after my husband was killed while hunting, and I cannot bear the thought of my daughter going to an orphanage.

While I stayed in Villeneuve and married Gaston, I want you to know that I've wanted to return to you. I realized within a week away from the castle that I loved you. I did not want to marry Gaston, but when I got back to the village it was the only way I could make them let my father go from the asylum. Well there was one other way. I could use the mirror to prove your existence and his sanity. Forgive me Beast, I'm so sorry, but I almost did that. I almost exposed you. But I realized the mob would only come after you, especially with Gaston at its head. He told me that just before Papa was locked in the asylum wagon, just before I rode in, that Gaston had offered him an out. Grant Gaston my hand in marriage. Papa refused. He later told me that Gaston had offered to help rescue me, though he never believed the Beast story, to blackmail Papa into granting him my hand. You know, look like the hero. I'd already refused his proposal so I guess he figured if I wouldn't willingly marry him he'd get my father to compel me to. But my father saw Gaston's temper start getting out of control as they searched, without success, for the castle. My father didn't like what he was seeing and refused to give Gaston his blessing. So Gaston knocked him out and tied him to a tree for the wolves to eat. Thankfully one of our few friends in the village found him and rescued him. Papa tried to tell everyone what happened, but Gaston twisted things around so it looked like not only was Papa delusional about a Beast, but also delusional about Gaston trying to murder him. So he declared my father should be committed. Gaston has a very heavy influence in town. Everyone will follow what he says without question. I used this influence to get my father released. I told Gaston that if he let my father go, I would marry him. He agreed and told the asylum warden to release my father. Papa objected, just like when I took his place at the castle, but I was not going to see him carted off to the madhouse or you harmed. Papa didn't understand why I didn't confirm his beast story, especially when he later learned I had the means to prove your existence. But I told him that when you locked him away you were deeply troubled and hurting, and covering that with anger. I told him that I had come to know the kind, witty, empathetic man you truly are. I told him if circumstances were different I'd bring him back to the castle and we'd stay with you if you'd have us. But I had given Gaston my word and must live up to my end of the bargain.

The only good thing to come from my marriage was Didiane. I gave her the name because it means 'longing', and I was longing for you. I still do. I've looked upon you often and know you also longed for me. Sometimes I would hear your anguished voice say my name, say that you love me, and I want nothing more than to reach through that mirror and hug you and tell you that I love you. I would have looked at you more often, but I had to be careful that Gaston never saw you.

I tried to teach my daughter to read and write, but she's not at the level she could be. I also had to do this in secret. I had to keep my own reading from Gaston. Female literacy is frowned upon here, and Gaston would not have any wife or daughter of his burying their nose in a book. If he caught either of us reading, he would scold us, even beat us. Much of my defiance I'm sure you remember has been whipped out of me. But I refuse to let go of all of it. I will proudly carry some of my independent nature with me to my grave.

My plan after Gaston was killed was to bring Didiane and finally come back to you. I had only to stay until after the funeral. But after the funeral the plague hit. We were going to leave in the morning but now I'm sick. My father passed away two years ago or I know he'd take Didiane somewhere, hopefully to you. But it may be a blessing he is gone and doesn't have to deal with plague again. He was always haunted by having to leave my mother. You may recall I told you that was the one thing he couldn't tell me. I did tell him about our Paris trip and how we learned of Maman's fate. I know it never stopped haunting him and I think going through it all over again would just be too much.

I hope you don't mind me sending Didiane to you. You were the only one I've ever known, who has fully supported my love of literature, besides my father and the village priest Pere Robert, sadly also now deceased. Though you told me your presence would cause laughter to die, you made me laugh often with your dry sense of humor. You were the best friend I ever had, and I wish I could have returned to you. I can think of no one besides you I'd rather have raise my child. I know I'm asking a lot, but I hope you'll love her as your own. I could never return to you, even though I've wanted to for so long. Perhaps in some way I am returning to you in the form of my daughter.

That night, after we danced, just a short time before I left, you asked if I thought I could be happy at the castle, and I asked if it was possible to be happy when not free. I was much happier and freer at the castle than as Gaston's wife. You also stated it was probably foolish to hope to earn my affection. Not so. You've had it for these past twelve years, and I wish for all the world I could have let you know that.

Please instill within her soul the love of reading that you and I shared. She can read some, but like I say my opportunities to teach her were limited and it saddens me to say she's below her potential, through no fault of her own. Please help her with that. Hug her often as I do. Tell her stories about my time in the castle. I know the staff are all gone, but please show her the objects they've become and tell her of the friends they once were. Keep her safe. Above all, love her. She's a good child, and very rarely is a stern voice required to bring her into line.

I haven't told her a lot about the curse, as that's your story to tell should you choose to do so, but I did feel some background was appropriate. I told her you used to be a human who had a painful childhood and grew up to be someone you weren't meant to be, and were thus cursed to be a Beast. I also told her that you had a full staff who were turned into various objects that turned inanimate when the curse became permanent. I told her how I watched the gentle soul that was buried within you emerge. By the way, I know you grew to be the way you were because of loss and a father who left much to be desired. Didiane's childhood has had its share of losses, mine being the latest. And Gaston left much to be desired as a father as well. Please see that she doesn't hide her gentle soul behind a wall as you did. Don't be afraid to let her see your grief, as I know the news of my fate will cause you.

I've had to take several breaks writing this letter. So much more I want to say. I have more than a decade of things I want to say. But my strength is finite. If in the unlikely event this is not plague, I will destroy this letter and when I'm recovered we'll both come to you. If it is, though, I'll send Didiane with the mirror, and have her ask you to view the letter through it. If she comes without me, as I believe she will, I'm afraid this letter is goodbye. One more thing. Please check me in the mirror every so often. I don't want you to have to watch my struggle, but with the mirror you and Didiane can at least know when I pass. I know that always tortured my father, for he never knew how long my mother lived after he took me away. At least you can check and have the closure my father was denied. I hope you and Didiane can comfort each other as you both grieve.

I guess this is as good a place as any to end this. Like I said, I want to say so much more. I wish I could grasp your paw once more. I wish I could hug you and stroke the soft fur of your mane. But I'm afraid that will never be. I cannot tell you Beast how desperately I wish this didn't have to be goodbye.

With much love, and more gratitude for having known you than I can ever begin to express,

Belle

So many emotions ran through Beast at once as he set the mirror down on the table next to the chair he sat in. It brought a measure of comfort to finally know she loved him, even if she realized it too late. He felt honored that she would trust him with her daughter, though he felt woefully inadequate for the task of raising a child. And he felt much grief and sorrow. Not only because she was facing a horrible death, but because her last twelve years were unhappy ones. When he let her go, he wasn't just sending her to her father's aid. He meant to set her free. He wanted her to be happy, even if it wasn't with him. The one small comfort he'd found in these last twelve years was being sure she was happy and free. Now he knew she hadn't been, and it was partly to save him. If she'd just shown him in the mirror, she and her father could be free, even if it had to cost the Beast his life. It felt suffocating. His head and shoulders slumped forward as he grieved not only Belle's impending death, but the life far worse than she deserved.

"Monsieur Beast?" Didiane said, bringing him back to the present. "Are you all right?"

"Just call me Beast," he said. "No daughter of Belle has any need to address me with formality. And I'm all right. I just wish things had turned out differently for her. For both of you."

"She loved you," Didiane said. "You loved her too didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Beast said softly. "Very much."

"My father didn't," the girl said. "Not really. He thought he did. But he loved how pretty she looked. I overheard him tell his friend LeFou one time that he enjoyed the thrill of bringing her into submission like breaking a high strung horse."

The Beast stifled a sob that rose in his throat. To think Gaston had seen her as something to be subdued.

"I'm very sorry to hear that," he said when he felt he could speak with a somewhat steady voice. "And that you even had to be aware of it."

The Beast was suddenly thankful Gaston had died first. Had it been Belle, and had Gaston lived to raise Didiane, would this sweet child grow up twisted as had the erstwhile prince?

"Oh," the girl said crossing the distance between them. "Maman told me to give you a hug from her."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He reciprocated without hesitation. Receiving an embrace sent from Belle was something he didn't want to end. Neither seemed to want it to end. When they did finally pull apart, the Beast gently laid his paws on Didiane's shoulders and studied her. She seemed to be studying him as well. He was amazed not to see a trace of fear in the child. He certainly did not want her to fear him, but he did look rather fearsome.

"You have your mother's eyes," he said softly. "And her hair. And her inquisitive nature. You're studying me quite astutely. But tell me...are you not afraid? You've no need to be certainly. But I am a hideous creature."

"I saw you in the mirror," Didiane said with unwavering calmness. "And Maman said you wouldn't harm a fly. She said there was nothing in you I need to fear...except for giant snowballs."

The Beast chuckled at the memory of the snowball fight he'd had with Belle, in which his snowball was perhaps a bit bigger than it needed to be, he might have thrown a bit harder than necessary, and Belle found herself flat on the ground.

"Well yes," he said. "You may want to watch out for those. I can be...slightly over-enthusiastic in a snowball fight."

"My mother said you've been alone for these past twelve years," Didiane said, bringing the conversation back to a somber tone. "She said she could tell whenever she checked on you that you were hurting terribly. She hopes I can be a comfort to you that she was unable to be since she left."

"Do you know she asked that I have you live here at the castle and take care of you?" the Beast asked.

"Yes," Didiane said. "She said it's in the letter."

"Is that all right with you?" the Beast asked. "I mean, the only one living here is me, and I don't really know much about children, except one of my servants had a little boy. And I can't really take you anywhere off castle grounds. A creature like me does not belong in society."

"I don't mind," she said. She looked up into his deep blue eyes. She found them captivating. "It must be very sad not to leave your home."

"It is," the Beast said. "And I feel bad that I'll have to subject you to it when you can have a place in the outside world. I know when you're older you can go out on your own, even leave here and find a new home, but I feel bad about what the intervening years will be like for you."

Suddenly Beast was hit with a new sadness. When Didiane was old enough, she could and probably would leave this secluded castle. Belle had asked that he love her as his own, and he found he already did love her, since she reminded him so much of Belle. Would he be able to stand watching Didiane ride off, just as he'd watched Belle? Didiane spoke again, breaking into his thoughts.

"My horse," she said. "Rosemonde. She's tethered outside."

"I'll go put her in the stable," the Beast said.

"I'll go with you if that's all right," Didiane said. "While I'm not afraid of you, Rosemonde might spook."

So Didiane put her cloak back on and they went outside to get her horse settled.