AN: I know this is random but I'm not going to give the bookseller a name if he comes back in the fanfic. I don't like going by the 2017 movie and the name that he has in the book is the name of a good former friend which the friendship I screwed up completely.

Chapter Eleven

11.1

As Belle stood opposite Adam in the safety of the castle, she reached out for his wrist and held it. He stared at her and she slowly rolled back his sleeve. "Belle, you saw?" he asked and Belle could see what appeared to be a white scar in the shape of a rose. "I'm not sure what it means but -"

"It means that you will keep hold of your humanity, your mental state," Adam heard a voice and looked to the side to see the young enchantress's form. "It is an apology." Adam put his hand over his arm and saw the rose start to shine underneath his fur. "It will protect you and in the times when you most need it, well I'll give you a preview," she told them and Belle moved into Adam's body nervously.

She felt his form shrink and he stood there looking like his human self. Belle wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm human?" Adam asked as he looked at his hand but then saw the fur and the paw come back and he stood there fully beast. Belle looked up at him but pushed her face into his chest. "How? How was that possible?"

"There will be words that appear when you need to use them. You could read those words but when the danger has stopped, your memory of those words will disappear just as the words will disappear from your arm." Belle nodded as she listened to the enchantress explain that. She was very glad that due to the time they spent reading that both she and Adam were well versed in French, Latin, and even English. Belle had also taught herself Greek and Italian if that was ever needed. If it had been before she had met him or if they hadn't met then he might not be literate as he was now.

"If you want to help us then why did you give him the black rose?" Belle asked. She saw the fear in Adam's eyes.

"She didn't," he told her and Belle paused and looked at the enchantress in shock. There was another magic user that had positioned themself against Adam. "She doesn't even know how to solve it."

"With the death of a certain individual, with killing," the enchantress said and Adam flinched. Even in this form he struggled with the morality of killing another person. He would never do well on the battlefield. "If you take that person's life you will break the curse. Otherwise, you will remain a beast forever." Adam shuddered and Belle saw the anguish. That meant that he wouldn't be able to break it. He would either be stuck this way forever or he would go against his moral and ethical being.

"I love you," Belle whispered as she looked at him. "No matter what happens or what you do, I love you unconditionally." Belle turned to the enchantress. "Is there…anything which I can do for him."

"Continue to love him," the enchantress said, "I must take my leave but I believe with this opening of his own heart, he is worthy of love. If you love him at his best, hopefully you love him at his worst. In this hideous form."

"You're not hideous," Belle told him not watching as the enchantress seemed to fade away. "Adam, she's wrong about that part. You're not hideous and of course I'll always love you."

"We all love you," Mrs. Potts said as she approached the two of them. She let her hand press against Adam's larger arm. "Was that the -"

"Enchantress," Adam nodded. "Yes."

"Are you hungry?" Mrs. Potts asked, "Adam, despite how you look, I really do hope that you have an appetite this morning. You always had such an appetite when you were in this way," she said and Belle gently massaged his arm, rolling the sleeve down.

"We could eat," Belle said as she looked at her husband. "Right? You wouldn't let me eat alone, would you?" she asked. "You will join me for breakfast, I would hate to see you starve," she told him and he smiled, glad that she was supportive of him when she had been so terrified of him all those years ago.

"I'm not sure I can hold the spoon," he said and Belle kissed his cheek.

"It's okay. I don't mind cleaning up after you, I love you," she told him and Adam looked at her embarrassed but thankful for her support. Maybe this time it wouldn't be as traumatizing as before. At least he had Belle with him.

11.2

Belle had requested that after breakfast had been served that she and Adam were alone in the dining room. She had brought her own dish to be near the corner at his side. She placed a hand on his paw as her eyes studied him. He had some food near his snout. She smiled weakly and saw him try to rub it with his wrist nervously. "Here," she whispered as she placed a napkin in some water and got the food off of his face. He watched her slowly.

Belle smiled as she kissed his cheek thinking back to when they had shared their first meal together. So much had changed from then. Before when she had first seen him eat, she had tried to hold back judgment but it had seemed a little gross to her. He hadn't been able to eat with the silverware and so he had been messy. Now, now that she knew him intimately and loved him with even more intimacy, she felt sorry for him. She wanted to help him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I suppose I have to get used to it…right?" he asked, his eyes showing how big a blow this was to his self-confidence. Belle kissed him again.

"Would it help if I cut any of it up for you?" she asked as she looked at the food in front of him. She saw how there was some food on his paw where he had picked it up without the silverware. She smiled as she observed it and he lifted it. Before he could hide it, Belle lifted it and kissed the side of it.

"I love you, Adam," she repeated making sure to use his name to remind him that this time she was there to support him as well. He gave her a nervous look and weak smile.

"Belle…" he breathed out. "Thank you."

Adam nervously reached for the large fork on the table and it slid out of his paw. He bowed his head, closing his eyes with the pain radiating through his expression. He didn't know how to use his body any more. He couldn't do the things he had done for the past few years. "Can you look away?" he asked and Belle raised an eyebrow.

"You think that I'm going to judge you?" she asked and saw his nervousness. "No, Adam, I won't."

Adam reached out for the egg and lifted it with where his fingers would be. He brought it to his mouth, quickly sending glances in Belle's direction but she didn't look as if she was disgusted or as if she pitied him or felt sorry for him. It was filled with love and understanding. He had to do things a little differently but he was still the same prince inside.

Once the meal had been finished, Belle gently cleaned some of his fur for him. She smiled to him before placing a hand on her belly. "Thank you, for eating for me," she said and he nodded, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "Adam, did you want to talk about what the black rose means?" Belle asked without holding back and Adam looked to her.

"You mean…whether I want to kill someone?" he asked and Belle saw how haunted he was by that thought. She almost anticipated the words which were next spoken. "I would rather kill myself."

"And I'm not going to let you do that?" she asked before grabbing his paw with two hands. "Adam, you are still you. We just need to come up with a reason to why you can't perform your social duties and I think the whole of France knows that you are ill. It's a good thing that you're not heir to the throne, people don't have to think about you and you don't need to be seen by the public."

Adam nodded, "My father wanted to use me as a weapon," he argued and Belle kissed his paw.

"You have friends who will protect you. You won't be used as a weapon," she tried to tell him. She kissed his fur again and closed her eyes. She let her cheek rest against his paw. "I love you so much. I'd like to show you something that I've been working on."

Adam stared at her and then nodded slowly. Belle kissed his cheek and left him alone at the table. He sighed as he managed to clean his paws with the water. So, he would have to get used to this again. He remember when he had been a young boy and that every day, every new thing seemed to be a torture for him. He hadn't wanted to eat for a while after he had transformed. He had been in despair, pain, anger both at himself and the world around him. He had nearly died but had been told that there was hope. That was something cruel, hope. Still, it wasn't just hope for himself but hope that the rest of those living here had had, the desire to be human again. At least he was the only one cursed right now.

As Adam sat at the table, he heard the door open and looked up but then flinched as he found Lumiere there instead of Belle. He frowned before his eyes widened. There was a burn on the man's clothes. His eyes widened as he studied him. "Your shirt," he said as Lumiere lifted his sleeve and then hummed.

"I will change this at once," he told him and Adam's eyes widened. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening again. "I know that the right appearance is best for -"

"I don't care about the appearance of your clothes," Adam said, his voice a little rougher than he meant it. Lumiere stared at him and Adam felt that he was even more obvious in the room. Did the man hate him now? Had he remembered how cold Adam had been as a child, a teenager? "Are you okay? You…you haven't…there's no wax? Right? Please tell me that there hasn't been any -"

Lumiere froze and shook his head, "No, it was an accident with the fire this morning," he said and Adam leaned forwards, his eyes widened in fear. "I'm not -"

"Shrinking?" Adam asked nervously. "How are everyone else? Please tell me that nobody else ha-"

"You are the only one who has returned to your previous cursed state," he said and Adam finally allowed himself to relax. "I assure you that the rest of us are all hum-" he said and Adam smiled knowing that as much as Belle argued against it, he wasn't human any longer. Yes, he still had the same name and memories and history but this body was not human.

"Good. Please inform me at once if that stops being the case," he said and Lumiere smiled. "I don't want the rest of you getting caught up in this," he looked at his hairy arms and paws. How was he still trying to act like a man? Why was he trying to pretend that the only difference was how he looked? No. This wasn't like a wound or a burn. He was a completely different animal now.

"You're handling it better than expected, if I can tell you that," Lumiere commented and Adam bowed his head. He looked up at the only man in the room. "Whatever you might need, we can hopefully do better to provide for it."

"I just want to be human again," Adam whispered and took a breath, "I don't know if I can do anything to get it though." He looked at the doorway and saw Belle return with some parchment in her hands. He smiled at her and she went over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and letting her cheek press into his fur. She placed down some papers in front of him.

Adam's paws went over the pages. All of them were hand drawn images. On the outside was an outline and light coloring of him as a beast, underneath and centered in the image of his beast form was the way he looked as human. He could see there were pictures of him reading, dancing, and then one where he was holding a baby wrapped in a blanket, no defined features but one could tell this was the child already growing in Belle's womb.

Adam looked at it, if he looked at it one way he could see himself as human holding onto his child but that happiness continued as he looked at his present form holding the same child. He felt tears in his eyes as he stared at it. "Thank you," he whispered to Belle. He just had to understand that this was the way she saw him. This might even be the way their child would see him. A captured prince buried under a great amount of fur.

End of Chapter Eleven

Thank you for reading

Thank you to Rachel for your review of Chapter Ten

AN: I've had some people tell me from different fics that they'd be interested in a continuation of Beauty and the Beast (1991) with something happening to Belle and Adam having to break her free of a curse. I might play with this idea. I've got some sparks of small ideas I could possibly use already for a whole new fic. Just wondering