AN: Okay, I keep tricking you guys unintentionally. I'm going to actually try my hardest to concentrate Chapter Nineteen on Maurice but I felt leaving you on the cliffhanger of Chapter Seventeen might have been just a little too cruel
Chapter Eighteen
18.1
Belle looked towards the door with such hope in her eyes but as she saw the friendly Mrs. Potts enter she sobbed loudly and covered her mouth. She saw the former-teapot come over to her and then heard her scream at the way Adam was. Belle knew she couldn't reverse this but maybe there was some hope, some way to at least present his body a little better. Belle kissed Adam's forehead before placing her hands over the knife wound and chanted something.
She turned to Mrs. Potts, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I…" she said before crying further. She kept gently running her fingers through Adam's fur. "I didn't mean to."
"You did this? My love, I don't think you'd be capable," Mrs. Potts told her before they both froze as they heard a voice they didn't think was possible.
"She didn't," Adam spoke in barely more than a whisper. Belle quickly moved in front of him and heard him cough. She saw him attempt to focus on her but he was incredibly weak and she was terrified of seeing his eyes roll back as she had done before. Belle threw her arms over him and sobbed.
"Adam," she cried. "I'm so so sorry, I…I'm sorry," she said before kissing him. "I don't think you understand how sorry." She kissed him quickly and noticed that the blood was gone. "Can you stand? Can you move?" she asked him and he looked at her but as he did so there was something strange about his eyes. They looked the same on the surface but there was fear in them, terror. He was scared of something.
"Is everything okay? Do you need help? Of course you need help," Mrs. Potts said as she looked over the man she now felt a mothering nature over. Adam was her son. Maybe he wasn't her son by blood but he was someone she cared for like a son.
"They're talking to me," Adam whispered still in his beast form. "They're talking to me," he said before laughing in an odd way that made Belle and Mrs. Potts share a look of deep concern about him. "They have to leave. You have to make them leave."
"It's just the two of us with you and we love you so much," Belle tried to convince him. As Adam's body started to transform, she felt shocked at how he had gone from her believing he was dead to turning human and as he finally did turn human, he still looked so different. His hair was a mess, half of it pushed to the wrong side of his head. He was pale with his bones poking through his graying skin but it was his expression that scared her. After he had transformed, Adam usually either looked peaceful or in panic and self-doubt. She had become used to the fact that he needed to be reminded how much he was worth but the way he was now made her take a step back and look at him.
She covered her mouth as she glanced into his eyes. He looked like the few people she had seen carted off to the mad house. He laughed to himself, starting to sound like normal laughter before it was a little too loud and…disordered. He was staring near her but not at her and his smile was a bit lopsided.
He shivered and she found herself running towards him. He shook in her arms, still laughing but she felt tears hit the side of her neck. What had happened to him? "They're here," he said as he gestured behind Belle. She turned and as she had feared, there was no one there. "They've come to see the performance. The changing of the beast."
"You're safe," Belle tried to remind him. "I'm here. You're safe. You'll be all right."
"Of course I'll be all right," he said in a manner that wasn't like his own and the more she stood here with him, the more she feared for his sanity. "I do hope that you'll invite our guests to stay. I don't know if we have enough room for all of them." He laughed weakly and she held onto him tighter. What was he talking about?
"Adam," she said before taking a step back. His face and body were physically his own but she didn't feel safe any longer. There was something distorted about them. "Sweetheart," she cupped his face. "Do you know where we are?"
"This is the ballroom, right? We're married and we're holding our anniversary ball, that's right, isn't it?" he asked and Belle threw her arms around him again. He was scaring her but she had the feeling that he wasn't doing this on purpose. She looked to Mrs. Potts.
"Please go get someone," she whispered and the once-teapot reached her hand out to her. Belle found Adam to break into heartbreaking laughter again. "Please,"
"Dear, I'd feel much better if you were to come with me. Adam can stay here, he's safe here," Mrs. Potts said and Belle looked at her. They both knew that something was wrong with him. Belle found tears slide down her cheeks and she moved Adam back so he could sit down.
"I can't…" she whispered, "I can't leave him like this, please don't make me." She was shocked as she heard Adam start crying before he fully broke down like a young child. She pulled him close, kneeling before him, and gently guided his face to her shoulder. Something was really wrong with him. "I'm here," she told her husband. "I'm here. You're going to be okay."
"I'm afraid that he'll hurt you. I've never seen him like this before," Mrs. Potts said and Belle hated that she said that right in front of him where he could obviously hear them. Belle's eyes widened as she saw a bright light and turned to the enchantress.
"I agree, I'm afraid that he'll hurt you too. Adam had to give up something to stop you from being stupid, from taking the curse over for him," the enchantress said. Belle found Adam to freeze in her arm as the enchantress gestured towards him. Belle still held him close, trying her hardest to protect him. He needed to be protected.
"You can help him, right?" Belle pleaded. She hated seeing him like this even in a human form. He had never acted like this before and even through all of the depression, the heartache, the rage, he had always been able to make sense and think logically. "You can turn him back?"
"He had to give up something," the enchantress told her and Belle frowned. She kept her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "You should feel grateful that all that was taken from him was his sanity. Of course, the only place he belongs now is a mad house."
Belle took slow breaths, she couldn't let go of him. Seeing him dead wounded her and seeing him this way still pained her. "He doesn't deserve this and there is no chance that I'm sending him there. I'll help him. I'll make sure that he gets the help which he needs."
"If he's strong enough, he'll break free from the shackles inside his mind," the enchantress told her and Belle frowned. "I do suggest though that you allow the professionals to handle this. You know he belongs at the sanitarium now."
"I will never send him there," Belle whispered before finding the enchantress to gesture to Adam's body again and he transformed into the beast but once again awakened, he was still shaking and sobbing and Belle had to change her hold on him.
"I'm sorry," Adam whispered. "I want to come home. I want to come home. I don't want to be out here. I don't want to - home is safe, home is safe"
Belle placed her hand on his face and then lifted his chin up to make eye contact with him. "My home is with you," she told him as he blinked at her in a childlike manner. "Can we please go to bed? I think you need some sleep" she asked, rubbing his back in an attempt to soothe him and he nodded. "You trust me, right?"
"Of course, Belle," he laughed in the form of the beast. "Of course. You're my wife, right? My love? You won't hurt me, you won't hurt me, they want to hurt me, they will hurt me."
"No." Belle repeated, "They won't and of I'm your wife. I will always love you, no matter how selfish others can be when it comes to hurting you."
"Hurting me?" Adam asked, "I don't see blood. There's no blood."
"That's right," Belle whispered as she kissed him. "There's no blood."
18.2
For some reason, Adam had been switching back and forth between his beast and human states with much more frequency than before. The scariest part though was that Belle wasn't sure of how much he was aware of this. His mind was broken. It was better than him dying by a stab wound and her losing him forever but his mind had broken or else it had bent in a way that terrified her. Even if he remained human though, she couldn't send him away. It wasn't even that this was something she had caused to happen. She wouldn't be able to cope if he had to endure that cruelty.
She carried a tray of food up to the bedroom and slowly opened the door to see Adam lying in the bed in beast form, he didn't even more as she entered. She walked over to him and slowly sat in front of him in the most comfortable manner she could with Juliet in her belly. Adam didn't even look at her. His eyes showed how hollow he must be feeling on the inside.
"I brought you some food," she said and he didn't even acknowledge her. "It's soup so it'll be easy to eat and then there's some bread, you can rip pieces off to eat them. Please, eat for me?" she asked as she reached out a hand to brush through the fur on the side of his face. He just stared off blankly.
"Adam?" she asked only to hear that weak laughter that pained her.
"They want to hurt me," he whispered and Belle hated this. "They're going to hurt me. He has an arrow. He…he has weapons…he'll kill me, he'll kill Belle, he'll kill Juliet."
"We're safe," Belle whispered as she kissed his forehead. "We'll all be safe, Adam," she said before seeing him cry and he pressed his head into the sheets, his entire body shaking.
"How do you know my name? How do you know my name?" he asked her and Belle set the food aside in case he got hungry later. She moved to the bed and placed her hand on his back. She moved closer to him, hugging him from behind as best she could.
"I'm Belle," she said as he shook harder. "Your Belle. Your wife. Your love. I love you, Adam," she repeated to him but he still sobbed. She hated seeing him this way but this was much better than dead. "Can you hear me, my love?" she asked him before hearing a knock on the door. She turned towards it but the person knocked again and the noise made Adam flinch.
"They're here," he whispered. "They're here to stare at the beast. They want to kill me. They will kill me."
"You're safe, we'll protect you," Belle said as she kissed him again and then walked to the door. She smiled weakly as she saw Cogsworth there and he glanced in Adam's direction. Belle bit her top lip. "Adam…isn't feeling very well."
"I heard," the former-clock replied and Belle nodded, she looked back at him and his body was still. She hated how she had done this to him. "I also heard that he's been changing back to his human form with greater frequency, if he is able to stay human long enough there are places for him to go, people who are trained to take care of those who are sick in the brain."
"And did you hear me repeat that I am never going to send him there or allow anyone else to send him there." Belle heard him sob again and tears appeared in her own eyes. What had happened to him to bring him to this position? "Is my father here?"
"He just arrived," Cogsworth nodded. "We just returned."
Belle turned back to concentrate on her husband. She moved over to him and then walked in front of him, he still stared off into the distance. "Adam," she whispered as she touched his cheek. "I'm going to go for a little bit. I'll be back soon," she took the food and put it on the desk. "Can you please try to eat? Even just a little? A few bites? You need to eat, my love."
Adam looked at her as if he had finally heard her. "Ca—Can you," he finally asked, his voice reflecting how he appeared.
"I'm right here," Belle said as she reached for his paw. She held it lovingly and kissed the back of it. "What is it? What can I -"
"Belle," he said as he looked at her. "I want to see Belle. I want to see my wife. Where is she? Is she safe?" he asked as if staring through her. Belle held herself back from crying again. She didn't know how to respond to that.
"Yes," she tried to assure him and saw that strange smile again. "Yes, she's very safe."
"Thank you," he whispered. "I want to see her."
Belle nodded before Adam closed his eyes. She saw Cogsworth open his mouth and shook her head. Never. She was never going to send him away even in human form. He would break free of the prison inside his own mind. He was strong enough to do that. He had to be strong enough to do that.
End of Chapter Eighteen
Thank you for reading