AN: As I've written on other chapters and/or other fanfics that for my own peace of mind I'm trying to do one large update at the end of each month but I have a problem with being patient so sometimes I might break it like today. I have a master list of chapters that I'm going to be updating based on information collected on an Excel document and updated at the end of each month. So therefore the number of unique views for each of the latest chapters of my fics determines which fics I write and what order (with a few exceptions). Anyway. I hope you enjoy either way.
Chapter Twenty – A True Reflection
Adam stood and made his way over to the window to look out on the land below. When he was much younger, he would stand here in the form of a beast and wish that he could be anywhere else or at least he wished in his mind that he could be somewhere else whilst in human form. He hadn't been able to read well but he had seen illustrations and paintings of things out in the world. Now, he was human with more power and wealth than at that time and he was wishing that he could bring his family back home.
He had felt something strange the past day, a kind of tingle that was almost like a hug. He could imagine Isabella wrapping her arms around him but it just made him miss her more. He knew that she would be okay. She knew that despite Leo's form he was her brother. He had to be protected. He was innocent and even when young, Adam had never been an innocent person in that form. He wanted to hold his son in his arms and think about how defenseless he was and how much pain it would cause him to grow up that way.
If he forced him to always remain in the shadows then Leo would crave the sun. It wasn't as if it was particularly safe here either, there were those who wanted to do harm to the baby. Adam closed his eyes and imagined Belle and their children. He had to do his best for them. He wouldn't rest until he had done all that was within his power to have them here.
There was a knock on the door and Adam stepped back, going over to answer it and smiled as he saw the mother-figure of the household. "Good morning," he said weakly and Mrs. Potts placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It won't be too long," she told him and Adam smiled weakly.
"You can tell that I miss them that much," he said and Mrs. Potts looked at him in a manner that said exactly what she was feeling. He laughed weakly as he realized that despite being a gorgeous prince, the despair could be seen on his face. "I would have heard from one of the guards that I sent if something had happened to them, right?"
"I believe that you would have if there was news to tell," Mrs. Potts said and Adam nodded. He took another deep breath in before lifting his head and tried to ease his own nerves. "We may have tracked someone down. They're a fair distance away though so if you are going to see them then you should begin planning the trip. If they were to come here -"
Adam's eyes widened. They had found someone already. He had poured through the books in the library for hours, motivated by the desire to be with his loved ones once again and they had found somebody. "Do you have information that I could -" he said and Mrs. Potts watched him. She placed a hand on his shoulder again.
"I know that it sounds exciting and I know how badly you want to be able to bring magic back into the kingdom but many of these people have been outcast, they have been vilified, they have been forced to work outside the law for their own survival. I think that you need to be careful about who you see and how you see them."
Mrs. Potts looked at Adam in the manner a mother would look at their son or other close relative. Adam frowned and bowed his head before nodding. It was definitely going to take a longer time to be with his wife and children than he had wanted and he was afraid how Leo was growing up without him. Maurice might dislike him even if just a tiny amount but he couldn't hold that same dislike towards his own grandson. He was in a safe place. They were in a safe place.
"What information on them do you have so far?" Adam asked and Mrs. Potts smiled.
"They work at a travelling show. They are one of the headliners but usually work in one of the more rundown areas outside of Paris. There might be gypsies there," she said and Adam stared at her. "I don't know if you -"
"I don't show any difference whether they are or not and I'm more surprised if you do," Adam said before spreading his arms out. "I was very literally transformed into a beast for ten years. I was a grotesque monster that others didn't want to look at. I was cast out from society. Why do I care what other people look like or what their origins or race are. I was an animal. To look at anyone with judgement would undo all of the good which Belle has helped me with."
"It's just that you are no longer a beast," Mrs. Potts said and Adam looked away. "You aren't your younger self. I don't want for you to go down into one of these back allies with the mind that you're not able to be beaten and broken. Your body is -"
Adam sighed and nodded, he laughed weakly. "You always can read me better than I can read myself. If you could have Lumiere choose two people to go and check this man out and if they feel it safe to extend an invitation to meet with me then I would be grateful. I'll continue doing a little more research by myself."
Mrs. Potts turned slowly to Adam, "I'm sorry if what I said was judgmental. Of course we know how you were in that form and I don't think that Leo deserves any mistreatment or treatment different from that of a prince with no irregular features. I do understand the feeling of not being human but I always had my family surrounding me."
"Right now," Adam sighed, "It's better that they are safe and if that means that they are safe away from here then I can feel I've fulfilled my duties as a father and husband."
"You know that they say there's a hunchback who -" Mrs. Potts said and Adam laughed and shook his head.
"I don't blame you or them but I'd prefer to not focus on physical appearances," Adam said as he pointed to himself with a soft expression on his face which showed not anger but a resolve that the outside and inside should never be judged as one. "I was very much so a beast. Fangs. Pointed Horns. Big furry tail. If there is a so-called hunchback out there then they have my sympathy. They are also not a monster just someone very misunderstood and if I could solve that injustice I would like to try to."
"I'll remember that and tell the others and I'll go straight to Lumiere to tell him, what if he volunteers for it himself?" she asked and Adam laughed softly.
"Depending on what else he has or how he feels about this particular person, I would expect for him to volunteer. Just please make sure he goes with someone who has a bit more body strength than him and I don't mean Cogsworth, someone who I don't keep in our inner circle," he stated and Mrs. Potts nodded.
"Understood, si-" she said and Adam frowned as he pointed to her in a manner a teenager might, "Adam."
"Thank you," he told her before sighing and looking around. Breakfast. He should probably at least have something to eat before he balanced trying to figure this puzzle out whilst doing his duties as a ruler. He couldn't let those in the kingdom suffer just for his benefit. That was why he stayed behind. Putting others first was how he had decided to rule but he needed to have his family. He couldn't lose his temper getting angry over this because anger would make him less capable of doing what was being asked of him.
20.2
"Are you sure that you don't need more towels?" Maurice asked as Belle fed Leo from the bottle since she couldn't breastfeed him as she had with Isabella. Belle shook her head as she managed to tilt the bottle just so and heard Leo give a small burp. "Papa, you…you know that Leo is just doing his best. He's a baby and -"
"I know that he didn't choose this life. I know that Adam is regretting that he -" Maurice tried to say in a comforting manner before Belle interrupted him.
"But this has nothing to do with Adam, Papa. Adam doesn't want Leo like this but I don't think he'd change anything which he did. Isabella is a darling child and we love both she and Leo the same. This has nothing to do with Adam other than him wanting to give Leo the best life possible."
Maurice sighed and sat down on the chair opposite her, "Can I hold him?" he asked and Belle nervously set Leo in her father's arms before coming to sit down on the floor beside them. She very nervously watched as Leo snuggled into the warmth of his grandfather's chest.
"He is a little cute when you look at him from certain angles," he said and Belle let her finger run behind his baby horns. If this curse was never broken then she and Adam would do everything that they could for Leo. Hopefully he would be a normal and healthy kid in a few months or sadly but more likely a few years but even if he wasn't, she knew that she and Adam would raise him together and would educate him and do whatever they could to give him a good life.
Isabella smiled as she stood next to a bucket where they had used towels from other times that Leo was being fed. Belle looked up at where her daughter was and saw that the towels were on the table and not in the bucket anymore.
"Papa, I'll take him," Belle said wanting for someone to go to check on what Bella was doing. Maurice shook his head as he wrapped his arms securely around his grandson who had fallen asleep.
"I've got him. He's sound asleep, he can stay with me," Maurice attempted to persuade her and Belle nodded as she got up and walked over to where Isabella was. Her eyes widened as she saw a glowing pink energy coming from the tip of Isabella's finger into the water where there was a clouded image of Adam in the library looking exhausted and lonely.
She took a step back before sitting down beside her daughter and just staring into the water where she could see her husband. She wrapped her arms around Isabella wanting to protect her and saw the small girl turn to her and smile.
"Look, Mama. I found Papa," she said and Belle nodded slowly.
"Adam?" she asked as she stared into the water and then saw Adam lift his head and close the book with a startled expression on his face.
"Belle? Is that…how can I hear you?"
End of Chapter Twenty
Thank you for reading
Thank you to those who left a review on Chapter Nineteen
Juliette Derouluede, KathyMesser
