-The Sorceress-

"He's not your Beast King." The girl said ferociously and Mira couldn't help but smile.

"Well, without my curse he wouldn't even be the Beast King, so the way I see it, he is my Beast King." She looked down at the Beast king and frowned. This really was going to be a headache. Just her luck really that the Prince and the Beast killed eachother. No victor meant no one left alive to inherit the curse. Where was she going to find an obnoxiously prideful prince stupid enough to get himself cursed before every creature escaped from the forest and began to terrorize everyone?

Curses were hard enough to cook up on the fly, but victims were even harder. She put her hands on her knees looking at the gruesome sight of death. She turned to the blind woman in vague interest.

"What is your name girl?" she asked.

"Belle."

"You look like you loved him." She said, just calling out what she saw.

Tears built up in Belle's eyes and Mira smiled. A foolhardy woman in love could be cursed just as easily as a prideful prince.

"I'll take that as a yes. Did he love you?" She asked.

"I-I" Her sobs were trying to take over and the devastation was shown clearly on her face.

"Don't strain yourself dear. Just nod yes if he ever told you that he loved you."

The woman nodded.

"And you beleived him?"

"Yes." Belle said with a small hiccup.

Mira shook her head. It was a risk, but she had better things to do with her time than find another solution.

"I can bring him back." She said simply, casting out her line to see how the poor girl would react.

The blind woman turned to her and her face said everything Mira needed to know. This was going to be too easy.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm a sorceress. There is not a lot that is outside my power. You want him back don't you?"

"He's dead. I don't need you to mock me. Nothing can bring people back from the dead." She whispered.

"He's barely dead. That is an important distinction. I'm telling you that I can bring him back, but there will be a cost."

Mira could make this work. It wasn't exactly conventional, but it had potential to be her best idea yet. A good strong true love spell worked tenfold over her ordinary curses. If she played her cards exactly right she would never have to worry bout replacing the Beast King again.

-Belle-

Barely dead. That's what she called him. She still couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that he was really gone. This woman was cruel to bait her with fantasies. Belle held no love for magic and no love for the sorceress who had cast the curse in the first place.

"What's the cost?" She thought about the lengths of Adam's curse. What would she give up to see him again?

"Well that's a good question. There are costs and consequences to this kind of thing. The cost is your freedom and the consequence is your love."

"What do you mean?"

"It's simple. In order to cast a spell I need to be paid, and the thing I need most right now is a King of Beasts. Since you're not a Beast and I am not overly cruel, I think that we can come to an agreement. I will cast the spell if you agree to stay here and become the keeper of the castle."

There had to be something the sorceress was holding back.

"What about the consequence?"

"Well that one's unavoidable really. Bringing someone back from being barely dead is dangerous, but it's surprisingly easy. I just need to find their true love and work a little magic, and before you know it they're back to normal."

"How is it dangerous?" Belle asked. Magic people liked vague answers and control.

"If you're not really his true love and I attempt the spell with you then you will melt alive and he will remain dead. That's the consequence part."

Belle didn't trust the magic woman. There were consequences she didn't mention, but Belle wasn't thinking about the consequences right that moment. She was thinking about a man who sacrificed everything his whole life to die before his life could ever really start.

"I'll do it."

"You need to be sure. There is no going back. This is a spell not a curse, and once a spell is cast the cost is exacted and there is no finding your way out of it until death."

Belle didn't need to think. She didn't need a minute to herself. He was worth everything.

"I'll do it."

"Perfect!" the magic woman said in a cheery voice. She stood and walked away from Belle.

"I need you to stand, walk towards me a few steps, and hold out your hands."

Belle turned back to Adam and pressed a kiss to his cold forhead. She pushed herself up ignoring the cramping in her legs from sitting for so long. She took a few hestant steps towards the sorceress and held both her hands towards her.

The woman took both of her hands and sent a wave of energy surging through her. She clenched her teeth together as the energy became white hot and painful. She stood as long as she could until her knees gave in and she collapsed to the ground. The pain became overwhelming and all of her sorrow and heartbreak left her mind replace by burning.

She tried to break contact with the sorcceress, but their hands felt as though they were fused together. She couldn't hear anything anymore except a loud ringing. Death felt too near. Tears ran down her face, but she didn't even notice. She loved him. There was nothing else in the world she was sure of, but even if this killed her she knew she loved him.

Those were her last thoughts before she blacked out completely.

-Vandy-

"You can't keep me in here!" Maurice screamed from the other side of the door.

Chip had called Vandy over to see the damage that the human was doing to the door. The wood was cracking as the old human beat it over and over again with a chair.

"It wasn't the good chair in the room was it?" Vandy managed to ask.

Chip shook his head no but Vandy's releif was short lived when he realized that their master was no longer in need of the good chair. The constant reminder of death was everywhere and Vandy was beginning to understand why the boy had locked everything up in the west wing when his parents passed.

"If he breaks through that door lock him in the dungeon!" Vandy yelled, loud enough for Maurice to hear him. "I don't have time for childish antics."

He turned around and found Polly in the kitchen sby side with Anette. They were making a hearty dinner for everyone who had decided to stay in the castle. Polly avoided looking into his eyes when he entered the kitchen.

"Is everything ship shape for dinner?" He asked.

Anette nodded, "Soon, hopefully."

They had already worked themselves raw earlier. Everyone was equal parts exhausted and in shock. Vandy walked to where Polly was stirring a stew obsessively and he reached out to stop her hand.

"We need to see to his body." He said.

She was shaking underneath his grip. She kept her facce forward and didn't respond. She wasn't ready. He wasn't ready either, but leaving him cold on the floor while they ate felt wrong. They needed to be stong enough just for a little longer and then when everyone finally retired for the night he could let everything fall apart.

"Please Polly?" He asked. "I need you. I can't let anyone else do it and I can't do it alone."

She didn't move still and he was beginning to get desperate. "Someone needs to be there for Belle."

She met his eyes finally and they exchanged silent sorrows. She nodded to him and turned to follow him in silence. They walked around the same corner where he had watched the gruesome scene unfold. At first he thought Belle had left the beasts side at long last, but when they approached they saw that she was lying on the ground next to him.

Polly and Vandy both rushed towards her. Polly reached her first and tried shaking her awake while he tried to fine her pulse from her wrist.

"She's alive." Vandy said when hee found a pulse, but Polly was not having any luck waking her up.

She must be exhausted." Polly said in a breath of releif.

In the corner of his eye he saw womething clutched in her other hand. Vandy leaned over her still body and he froze. In her hand was clutched an all too familiar rose.

"Polly look at this."

She leaned over and he held up her hand that still clutched the rose.

She reached over and dislodged the rose from her hand and inspected it evenly.

"What does this mean?" She asked,

He didn't know. Nothing made any sense to him. For a rose to be here it must mean that magic was involved.

"Vandy." Polly sounded like she was somewhere esle.

"Vandy." She yelled.

He looked ar her and followed her eye sight to where the Beast King had fallen. He couldn't believe his own eyes as he watched The Beast King's chest rise and fall with great difficulty. Vandy stood so fast that he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground hard at the side of the Beast King.

"He's alive." Vandy said in complete shock. He repeated it over and over and over as he registered it. Belle brought him back, she must have.