Author's Note: Well, here I am again! I'm sorry it took so long, I had a lot of stuff I had to do and things… actually most of the time I was just lazy, let's face it, we all get that way.

burning ice: Thank you! I am glad you like this fanfic so much (honestly I like writing it just as much) and here's the next chapter!

Pennate Marauder: Yeah, it happens all the time. Thank you for reviewing and don't worry, this chapter has much more of a flashback, I mean, it has a real one (or two…) so thank you again, and no problem!
Oh yeah, don't forget to check out Pennate's OtGW forum known as Over the Garden Wall! It's really cool and there's RP(ing) and will be contests and various other things, just as I said last chapter! Thank you all and here's the chapter!

Wirt's/The Beast's POV:

As Beatrice stared at him, he looked away, and after she had gotten a long enough look at him, he moved back and stared at her in turn. Sweeping over her body as he had with his eyes for so many nights, wishing she could know but knowing she couldn't. Greg was the only one who knew, and he was gone, back in their world. Wirt had never left. He could remember the goodbye he had ended up having with Beatrice, and then the goodbye with Greg, which had only been a cry in the darkness of the night as Greg slipped from his grasp and he got stuck in the Unknown.

The rest was history. And now Beatrice knew and was aware of it. He wanted her to run away and tell the world. He hated her seeing him this way, he hadn't wanted to ever show her, but she appeared to want to know everything she could about what had happened to him, and now she wanted to die. Wirt knew a lot about dying in the Unknown, and knew that it was impossible for Beatrice to even drown. There were many reasons for this, but mainly because she was already dead and gone, stuck here in the Unknown, a purgatory where Wirt had ended up in after sinking and nearly drowning, and now was still here. He had hit the real world for a minute, enough to drag Greg out, but then he felt himself slipping back into the Unknown.

And so it was. He had grown used to the place by now, but being the new Beast and all, he wasn't too fond of it. It was rather dreadful, actually. Not that he thought about it that way. At the point he had transformed into the Beast, he had been in so much pain.

Flashback

He was standing by the river, and as he stared across at the other side, which was the mill. Then he fell backwards as a headache split his head, and he felt more pain than ever before. Something split from his head as he writhed on the ground, both sides of his head screaming. It was branches, and he felt a few branches grow from his body.

He could feel that his hat was still on his head and his cape had holes where there were now branches, and his eyes felt strange, like they were morphing. He reached to feel the branches, feeling his breathing become heavy, the fear driving up his back in shivers. Moaning, he fell backwards, and blacked out from the pain and terror. It was when he woke up that he regretted everything the most.

Wirt was in so much pain, he could hardly move. Struggling to get his body upright, he realized that a lantern was sitting next to him, his lantern, and the one thing that protected his soul. But it had been the previous Beast's duty before him, and now it was his.

He screamed in rage, finding his voice hadn't changed with the transformation. But he had never screamed like this before, found this much anger inside of him. From that day forward, he had anger that never could be satisfied.

End of Flashback.

He winced after this painful memory, and knew Beatrice had seen it. She moved closer, trying to get nearer to him, but he couldn't let her see him any further. He moved back instinctively, scared.

"Wirt?!" she screamed.

He only stared at her.

"I-I don't… I can't…what?" she asked. "How did this happen?!"

Wirt couldn't say anything, he stared at her with his glowing eyes again, hoping to induce fear into her. Then he realized that it was horrible thought that he had just had, the kind the Beast would have had. But his will was turning into the Beast's will, slowly but surely, he was turning into the true nature of the Beast.

"Where is Greg?" was her next question, and he couldn't bear to answer, turning his head away again. "If you don't answer me, I will make you. I need to know, Wirt, I hate seeing you like this, and with everything happening with that horrible man and everything I can't stand it and now this…"

Beatrice started to cry for the second time in front of him, tears streaming down her cheeks. He wanted to answer but didn't want to talk. He knew his voice sounded the same, but he had started talking to himself just to make sure it hadn't changed, scared that it would at some point when he talked to anyone, to himself or another person.

"Answer me, Wirt, now." Beatrice commanded.

"Beatrice, I-"he stuttered, and she interrupted him by coming up and hugging him, despite the tree parts of his body.

"I knew you would answer." she said, her voice muffled by his cape, but he could hear tears in her voice.

But a certain uncomforted feeling started to form inside of him, and he pulled away suddenly, Beatrice was thrown back. Her hurt face told him too much, each tear that fell left a scar in him. He felt horrible, but then the feeling left him as he became cold hearted.

"Why would you do this to me?" she cried, and he stared at the ground.

"Because… I care about you." Wirt said, feeling part of him rebel with each word he said.

"I do too, but I can't…" she trailed off, staring at him, the tears finishing their round, her face blushing red. "Ever since we traveled together, I have had this feeling, even when we were together, I felt like I was… I was closer to you than I had been to any other boy. Now I have to marry this man."

He wanted to help her, but the part of him that denied helping anyone was screaming at him to not do anything. So Wirt stayed silent, remaining where he was. Beatrice didn't move towards him, she looked unsettled, almost scared looking.

"Why won't you come help me? What is it that holds you back?" she said, then caught herself. "It's the Beast, isn't it? You're slowly turning into him, and you're slowly going to his side of life."

Wirt couldn't move, feeling immobilized with fear. He stood there, closed his eyes, and thought of the time when he was told what would happen to him.

Flashback

He stood at the edge of the pond, looking down into the other side, where the real world was, and thought of how he had been sinking down there. A strange voice in the back of his head told him to move on, to leave. Wirt had been hearing this voice for a while now, as he continued to stand there, as it had been a few days. And that would be the day he left the pond.

He started to move away, slowly, dragging his feet. He didn't really want to go, but it was almost as if he was required to, and he didn't really have anything else to do. A tree rustled near him as he walked, and he stopped, scared of what it might be.

How all of this had happened he did not know, for he had been in the real world for some time before he had ended up back here. Wirt had stared at the pond for a long time because he had been wondering what on earth to do with himself while he had been there. Why he was back there was beyond his comprehension. So now all he could do was stand in fright as a dark shape took form in front of him.

"You came.." said the voice.

"Are you… the Beast? But we…defeated you." Wirt stammered, nearly falling backwards.

"You can't defeat my spirit, as a mere human. But you also must become me." said the smoke-like wisp.

"No, I can't, I have to get back to Greg, where is Greg?"

"Greg is in your world, and you are still in ours. You weren't here for a while, though, and I thought I had finally been ended. But you are back, and so I will take you over." said the Beast's cloud.

"No, you won't take me away from the world I know, the one I must be in."

"You will. You will also be like me, you will be very much like me, yet slowly. And the true nature of the Beast will take over your body." the smoke said, and then floated into Wirt's arm.

Wirt tried to shake it out, but he couldn't feel anything, and it wouldn't come out, whatever it was. He had no clue why he always ended up like this, but he was scared and wanted to find comfort. And so he turned to the stream he saw going through a small area, and then he saw the mill. He was still here and still stuck in the Unknown.

Flashback ended

So does this chapter

Author's Note: Well, that's relieving, I finally got it up here. And that's chapter three! I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading, and please, please, please review, review, review, because another chapter will come sooner the more reviews I get!