Chapter Thirteen – Fire and Ice
Belle stared at the bag in disbelief. She put a hand over her mouth in shock. In all of her dreams, it had been Adam's beast form head mounted on a wall as if he were a hunting trophy. Not even for a second had Belle expected for Adam's human head to have been decapitated. She had rights as his queen, didn't she?
Belle shook her head, she was in danger right now. She needed to think of how to get rid of Gaston. She was getting to her feet when she froze and saw that there was a controlled fire in the castle but Gaston had been brought down to his knees. She looked around and then felt her knees get weak, "Bouche?" she asked almost fearfully.
Bouche had never shown interest in magic but he had always done his best work professionally. Belle was always interested in learning his secrets and his techniques and he had helped her to learn how to prepare meals for her husband and their daughter when they had time. He wouldn't just turn on the family, would he? Belle walked over to him as a couple of the guards seemed to use magic to place him in chains. What was going on here?
Belle fell onto her knees in front of Bouche. "I…" she said although her eyes kept going back to the bag where Cogsworth had nervously wrapped the head back in. "I…I didn't know that…I…"
"Madame Belle," Bouche said as he looked at her in alarm. "Are you hurt? Did you hurt yourself?" As the two guards took Gaston to the dungeon, Bouche touched Belle's shoulder. He gently placed his hand on her face, cupping her cheek.
"Aside from A-A-Adam," Belle said and Bouche nodded. He bowed his head in a sign of respect but then realized that everyone was staring at him. Few people knew of his abilities when it came to fire and smoke. It was from those long years of being a stove. Despite the joy of leaving the one spot in which he had been placed, Bouche had missed the power of cooking and preparing a feast with his whole body engaged in the task and so had learned the magic of fire.
"There is…is a lot to process," Cogsworth said as he turned to the bag where the body part was.
"I need to see him," Belle said, "Please, please keep Isabella away from this area. I just need to see his face," she whispered and it could be seen that there was nobody who considered this a good idea. Cogsworth nervously helped her to unwrap the head and she burst into tears, her entire body shaking as she placed the head onto her lap.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she looked at the closed eyelids. "I'm so sorry. If I hadn't had met you…" she felt the pain in her heart again. She knew that he would be stuck as a beast but he'd be alive. He'd be alive and maybe he would have met someone who loved him just as much as she does. She kissed the ice cold forehead and sobbed before having to be physically held back as the head was removed from her sight.
"Adam," she whispered. She would get revenge for this. She stood up on shaky legs before looking over at Mrs. Potts. "Please make sure that Isabella is safe. Whatever you do, keep her safe. I need to find out what Adam did before he…before his death," she told them and as she walked to the front of the castle, she saw Adam's horse looking completely out of breath.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she saw the horse panting nervously and looking at her extremely guilty. "He's been here but I think," Belle said before she let the adrenaline fading from her body. She pushed her head into the horse's neck. "Adam is dead," she sobbed painfully. "He's gone. The man I love most is gone," she said and his horse gazed at her sadly before shaking his head.
"I saw his head," Belle gasped before feeling as if she were going to throw up. His head. If his head was there then what had Gaston done with the rest of his body? Belle had to take a leap of faith and trust the horse. She looked over at Phillippe who nodded that she should go and she went off into the woods. She knew the staff would fight to keep Isabella safe. She could trust them in that way.
…
…
Adam had convinced himself that he had died by Gaston's magic. He would never be able to protect his wife or his daughter in the ways that he wanted to. That was what was most important to him. Ruling a kingdom didn't matter, the welfare of the people mattered but that could be handled by another. Belle and Isabella were his hope, his family.
Adam felt a sharp pain in his chest as something hot was placed on his forehead. He flinched and heard the crackling sound of a fireplace. He was in hell, wasn't he? It made sense. He had been a beast, a monster, some might have even called him a monster from hell. It made sense that he would be here.
"What's the sen-sen—sen-" Adam said but he felt too cold to talk. He couldn't really open his eyes and heard a familiar woman's voice.
"I didn't mean to cause a war," she said before taking a seat opposite him. "I don't think my apologies will ever be enough but I've been doing some thinking and I might have punished you too harshly. I might not have punished Gaston when he needed it," the enchantress said and Adam tried to control his breaths. The enchantress was with him? Was she going to guide him to the spirit world?
Adam's entire body looked like it had been frozen solid, as if he had died from hypothermia, but he was still trying hard to catch his breath. He was still living somehow, still fighting somehow. He finally opened his eyes to find that his head hurt but he could see her sitting there as beautiful as she had been when she had doomed him. However, if she hadn't had done that - "You're the reason I me-me-met Belle."
"You can't credit me with that, I didn't think that you'd actually find someone," the enchantress told him and Adam shook his head. He still struggled to move and so he couldn't get up or physically interact with her just yet.
"I was different. I was spoiled and stubborn and and may-may-maybe I still am-am…" he shivered and the enchantress placed a fourth blanket on top of him. "I would have go-go-gone on with li-life not mee-meeting people…." He grimaced from the pain but he wanted to explain himself. He bit his tongue and continued to speak. "below my sta-sta-station. You gave me B-B-Belle."
The enchantress smiled as she looked at him and felt the honesty behind those words. Yes, she had been the one who had made it so that Adam could look at others who wouldn't be considered royal or even important and one of them had become the most important person in his life.
"You would die for her wouldn't you?" the enchantress asked and Adam laughed.
"Without a moment of hesi-hesi—ta-tation," he shivered and the enchantress looked at him. That was something that she could give to him but it didn't make up for the suffering that he had already been put through and that which was yet to come but it was important in building his strength.
…
…
Belle was riding on the horse to the village when she saw something fly through the air and down to the ground, she realized that this was something magical but whether it was good or bad was up for debate. It had the same kind of glow that the enchantress had had and she hadn't turned into a beast this night which she had been worried about. She wanted to find the truth.
Belle paused as she realized that they were near the river and that there was minimal llight. Maybe if she had turned into a beast form she could protect herself better. She looked to the horse and led him to where the magic stopped, a walk that took just over ten minutes. She found herself at a small cottage near the river where a fisherman or sailor might have lived.
She nervously tapped on the door before slowly opening it to get a peak inside. She heard familiar coughing and saw a few candles that were lit. There was something under the blankets on the sofa. She took a few deep breaths in before the figure moved and she pushed her back against the wall opposite him.
"He-Hello?" Adam asked as he felt himself only slightly better. He looked around in the room but the darkness still covered everything. He grabbed hold of a knife and tried to stand up but he didn't have his strength and he crashed onto the ground like a puppet. He coughed painfully, trying to catch his breath. He had never felt this weak before, it was as if he was running off of no fuel at all.
Belle flinched at the sudden movement and took another breath in. She was stupid to come here. This man on the ground could do harm to her. She had no guarantee that this wasn't a ploy and the closer she got to him, he would lure her away from safety and into a place where she would join Adam in that painful meaning of the word join.
"I won-won't do y-you-" Adam choked, he got onto his feet again and Belle felt that she could see his form in the glimmering candlelight. She was confused. She had seen his head. She had been given proof that he was. As soon as he was up, he crashed back down and Belle grabbed a candle. Bringing it to her face and smiled in disbelief as the light of the candle flickered showing Adam's human form. He was extremely weak but he was here.
"Adam?" she asked in disbelief. This might not be him but she really wished that it was. He was so weak right now and she could only believe that he would be like this if it was the real him. Someone taking on his appearance would have overpowered her right now. "Are you okay, darling?" she asked and he closed his eyes, allowing Belle to move him back to the sofa.
"I will be if you and Isabella are okay."
End of Chapter Thirteen
Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated
Thank you to sailorsenshi13 for reviewing Chapter Twelve
