A/N Happy 2014 everyone!
Chapter 12
"It is you, isn't it?" Belle asked hesitantly. She didn't move from the doorway. It still was unbelievable, and it couldn't be true, but it felt true. "You are who I think you are?"
Adam couldn't control his excitement any longer. "Oh Belle… You remember!" He ran over to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "When I saw you with that man, I was so afraid I would lose you!"
Belle screamed in pain - Adam had touched the exact spot of her stab wound.
"Oh my darling, I'm so sorry," Adam apologized as he helped her to the couch. When she sat, he helped her by putting her legs on the couch. He almost couldn't believe that she was here with him in the West Wing. Now everything would turn out all right in the end.
He took her hands and kissed them. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to hurt you."
She was panting and she felt dizzy for several moments. But when this man held her, no matter the pain she was in, she knew it was Adam. She had to take a few deep breaths and the pain became less. Suddenly, she looked up and saw the torn painting across her. She realized now why the man at her wedding had looked so familiar. It was too much to contain. This man was Adam. Adam was the Beast. The Beast was this man.
She looked at his hands, holding hers, and remembered dancing with the Beast that one evening. But in front of her sat a man. His claws were now hands. Adam's claws were this man's hands. She pulled back her hands and said, "I need to ask you something."
"Anything, my darling."
Belle couldn't think of the right way to say this, but she had to know. "What are you?" she asked. "Are you a wizard?"
Adam was astonished for a moment. "What?"
"Or a shape shifter? I read a book once about a shape shifter. Sometimes he was a bear, most of the time he was a man. He couldn't control when he was going to change." She was getting out of breath, and the pain was distracting her. "I just don't understand how you can be both the Beast I knew and the man sitting in front of me."
This was not how Adam had pictured this moment. Now that he thought of it, he had not pictured this moment at all. He had not thought about how he was going to explain this entire situation to her. He had assumed that once the spell was broken, she would somehow know everything. He hoped that he could delay this conversation a little longer.
He placed his hand upon her cheek and smiled. "Are you sure you want to hear that now? You need to rest."
Belle nodded. She had thought he was an imaginary figure, that she had truly gone crazy. She needed answers. "Whether I lie in bed or here on a couch, I need to know: Who are you?"
Adam stood up from the couch and started to pace the room. How could he tell a girl as perfect as Belle who he had been before they met? Would she want to have anything to do with a man who had behaved as badly as he had? For a moment he thought about lying, making up a fantastic story that would make him look good. Telling her that he was the victim of everything that had happened.
Then he looked back at her and saw her waiting. He couldn't lie to her, nor did he want to. She was almost dead because of him. He owed her the truth. The whole truth.
"Adam?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry," he apologized. With his arms crossed he leaned against the table next to the couch. "I just don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning."
The beginning? Where did it begin? It began long before the actual spell was placed. "You live nearby," he decided. "You know who this castle belongs to?"
"Yes, the royal family of course."
"My father was the king's youngest brother. He, my mother and I lived in this castle during the winter months. The rest of the year we spend in Versailles or wherever the king decided to stay." He stopped as he looked at Belle, who looked amazed by what he had just said. "What is it?"
"You are a prince?"
"Yes," Adam said, confused. "I thought you had figured that out."
"I never really gave it much thought," she admitted. "I assumed you were a nobleman living here as some sort of steward."
"No, my darling, I was born in a royal cradle. Eighth in line for the throne of France. A prince of the blood." He sighed and looked at the Rose. "Not that I ever deserved that title."
"Why not?" she asked. If he was a prince… then he had to be good, hadn't he? "In my books, the princes were always the ones that saved everyone in the end of the story." When she said it out loud, she realized how naïve it sounded.
"I didn't save anyone. I have caused this all."
"You saved me from the wolves. I know you. I know you are a good… man. I know you have a good heart."
"You give me too much credit, Belle. I wasn't always like this." She didn't get it. He had to tell her everything. He opened his mouth, but then closed it. Explaining this was even harder than he had imagined.
"I wronged many people when I was younger. Although I had everything my heart desired, I was spoiled, selfish and unkind," he continued. "I cared for no one but myself."
He stopped talking. There was a long silence. Belle could see how he struggled to continue. She could see that every muscle in his body was tensed. She didn't want to rush him, but she was curious to hear how this story would end.
"What happened?" she tried to encourage him.
"Fate," he said as he looked back at her. "One winter's night an old beggar woman came to the castle and she offered me a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. And I…"
Again, he stopped. He couldn't continue. He was so ashamed how he had acted that night, how he had ruined the lives of so many people.
Belle reached out her hand to him. He looked so tortured. He had suffered more than she had ever thought. He took her hand, but he didn't continue immediately.
"I couldn't see it," he finally said. "I didn't see the beauty of that simple gift. All I saw was the bearer of something small and insignificant: an ugly old hag in tattered clothes. I laughed and I sent her away. He sighed. " "She tried to warn me. She said that I shouldn't be deceived by appearances, but that beauty was found within."
"Oh…"
"I didn't listen. I turned around and wanted to go back into the castle, when behind me I heard the most beautiful music I had ever heard. I saw bright lights. When I looked back, the old woman had disappeared and there she was."
"Who?" Belle narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling where he was going.
"An enchantress. She was floating in mid air. Everything about her was magic. I tried to beg for her forgiveness, but she said that it was too late. There was no love in my heart. And my punishment was to live in this castle transformed into a hideous beast."
Everything fell together; it was just like in one of her books. "You were under an enchantment. A prince in disguise."
Adam smirked. "There were so many days that I couldn't recall what it was like to be a prince. Or even human." He let go of her hands and walked through the West Wing. He had spent so many hours here. "I was locked away here, I didn't dare to go out. Not that I wanted to. I was too ashamed of my monstrous form. I didn't want anyone to see me like that."
He closed his eyes and said the words he had never said out loud. "All I could do was wait."
"For what?"
"For death." He opened his eyes and was surprised not to see any fear or horror in her eyes. It wasn't pity either. It was compassion. He gave her a smile. "Or the girl who would learn to love me. And earn her love in return. That was the spell. I had to be worthy of someone's love." He knelt down next to the couch and looked at her. "Your love."
"Oh Adam…" Belle placed her hand on his and leant in to kiss him.
It was a lot to take in, but he was here and he was real. And it was her love that had broken the spell. Not even in her dreams could she have come up with this story.
Adam broke their kiss and caressed her hair. He carefully pulled her in for a hug. He was finally reunited with the one he loved. He couldn't remember a day that he had ever been so happy. But there was one thing that was bothering him.
"I know you are tired and I don't want to fatigue you, but I need to ask you a question as well." He said as he let go of her to look at her. "There is something I need to know."
"Of course," she smiled.
"Were you engaged to that man when you came to the castle the first time?"
Belle gasped. Gaston! She had almost forgotten about him. If he knew she was here… No. He was locked in a tower, he couldn't hurt her.
"Why do you want to know…?"
Adam didn't say anything. He couldn't be thinking… No, he wouldn't. He knew she loved him. She had broken the spell, hadn't she? How could she be engaged if she loved another man? But then again, all the memories in her mind tumbled over one another. Gaston had brought her to the Maison to get her to marry him, that she was sure of. But how their relationship was before she went to the castle...she couldn't remember it clearly. "I… I don't think so."
"What do you mean, you don't think so? Either you were engaged or you were not."
"My mind… my memories," Belle stuttered. "It's all a blur!"
Adam tried to be patient, but it was so hard. He had to know the details. "Try to think, darling. This is important." All he had to hear was that Belle had been somehow tricked into her marriage. Or forced. That she loved him and him alone. "Who brought you to the asylum? It was him, I know it! He brought you there, didn't he?" Adam insisted. "He brought you there, he let people torture you..."
"I don't want to talk about that place." Belle's voice started to tremble as memories of the Maison came back to her. She felt the cold of the water from her first day again. She saw Gaston's face as he closed her cell door. She saw-
Adam interrupted her thoughts: "Were you engaged to him or not?"
"I don't know!"
Belle started to cry, and Adam took her in his arms again. He tried to comfort her, but she couldn't stop her tears. She couldn't make any sense of her memories. She couldn't have been engaged to Gaston. But she was married to him now. She loved Adam, but she was married to Gaston. Her Lord and Master, who she was bound to serve, love and obey. Gaston who was waiting for her in the tower, waiting till she would get him out of there. She didn't want him to get out, but she couldn't let her husband stay in prison for the rest of his life! How could she ever make a decision?
"I don't know!" she cried.
Adam had made up his mind. This fragile girl in his arms was not the girl he once knew. He knew he had made the right decision. Engaged or not, Married or not, he would end it. That man had totally shattered her personality.
"You don't need to worry, Belle," he whispered. "He will die first thing tomorrow morning. I have already ordered the execution."
Belle tried to catch her breath between the tears. She heard Adam speak, but she wasn't sure what he said. "The what?"
"The execution," Adam repeated as he looked at her. He stroked her hair and wiped away a few tears. "He will never hurt you again. I won't let him."
"You are going to kill Gaston?" Belle said, astonished. She must have misunderstood Adam. He couldn't have said what she thought he had said. No matter what someone had done, she had never understood a death sentence. She was taught to forgive. She was taught everyone was entitled to a second chance. Even Gaston.
"It's not killing. It's justice," Adam explained. "The death sentence is valid. He has to pay for his crimes. An execution is only valid."
How could he say that so calmly, without any emotion? "The outcome is the same," Belle argued. She wiped away her remaining tears and tried to sit up straight.
"Tomorrow morning everything will be back to normal," Adam said. "And then-"
"Killing a man at the break of dawn is normal?"
"HE TRIED TO KILL YOU!" Adam didn't mean to yell, but it was almost impossible to control himself. Why couldn't she see things his way? He took a deep breath and said in a calmer voice: "He tried to kill you."
Belle took a deep breath as well and tried to ignore throbbing pain in her side. "He didn't succeed." Whatever Gaston had done, he didn't deserve to die. "I'm doing much better."
Adam stood up and walked away from her. "I'd thought you'd be pleased!"
"Pleased?!" Belle exclaimed. She gasped as the pain in her side increased. "How can I be pleased when you want to kill my-"
"Your what, Belle? Your fiancé, your husband?" Adam interrupted. "The man who locked you away in an asylum!"
Belle didn't speak.
"Belle, listen. I thought this through. Execution is the only way to get rid of him."
Belle was astounded by how casually Adam talked about life and death. 'Get rid of him'… It sounded so simple. But if Adam did this for her, then she would be just as guilty. She looked up to him. "Then he's dead. And then what?"
"Then we can finally be together," Adam started. "Then you are no longer bound to him and we can get married. You can come live here. Your father can come live here. I can take care of you both. When we are together, everything will be all right."
"That's what this is all about? To get me?" Belle couldn't believe her ears. Gaston would lock her up to marry her. Adam would kill Gaston to marry her. Was she the one that was insane, or everyone around her? "You sound just like Gaston!"
Adam's eyes narrowed. "Don't ever compare me to that man!" he whispered, agitated.
"You are no better than Gaston..." Belle said as she felt tears coming up again.
"I would never lock you up."
"You already did." She shook her head. "When I first came here."
Adam didn't know what to say for a moment. He couldn't deny that, but he was not the man or the Beast he had been back then. "That was different. I was different! Belle, I have changed!"
"If you are going to kill another man, then, yes, you have changed," Belle said through her tears. "Only not for the better…"
"He has to die!" Adam could barely restrain himself. The frustration was clearly getting to him. But she couldn't agree to his point of view. "It is for your own good!"
With those words, something snapped in Belle. Now she knew for sure that Adam was no better than Gaston. "That's exactly what Gaston told me!" she exclaimed. "I had to go to the asylum for my own good. My books had to go for my own good!" She looked at Adam. "And now Gaston has to die for my own good!"
Both stared at each other in silence.
Adam turned his back on her. Why was she so stubborn? He was nothing like that man. He was trying to do the only decent thing he could do. He was trying to protect her. He owed her protection, whether she wanted it or not. She had broken the spell. He couldn't let her be married to that man.
"Adam, please… Isn't there another way?" he heard Belle say. "An execution is not-"
"You know, Belle, maybe you are the one who is changed."
Belle didn't know what to say to that. There was only one thing she could think of. "I wish to see my father."
"He is in the room next to yours," Adam said without looking at her.
He heard how she struggled to get up from the couch, but he couldn't bring himself to help her. She had hurt him more than he could ever say.
How could she not see what he was trying to do? This was right. How could she be against it?
She didn't understand that when this man doesn't die she will be married to him for the rest of her life. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let the girl who rescued him be married to a violent, dangerous man.
Belle walked slowly across the hall with her hand on the wall for support. She tried to keep her head high and her back straight. The hallway seemed to go on forever.
She had to get to her father. She had to get out of here. She had to get away from Adam.
Gaston had been right. Adam was a ruthless noble who was going to kill Gaston. How could Adam think that she would marry him because he was going to kill for her? He was not the man she had thought he was.
She tried not to think about what was worse: the pain in her side, or the pain in her heart. She had really thought he had changed. When they had their night together, their dinner, their dance, their moment on the balcony… he was changed. The Beast was kind and gentle. He had released her when she needed it most.
Adam and the Beast were not the same.
Her strength was gone by the time she reached the door. It took her last energy to knock. When her father opened the door, she fell into his arms and started crying. "Papa!"
"Belle!" her father said in surprise. He took her face between his hands. He looked into her eyes and was shocked by what he saw. "What happened, honey? You look so pale!"
"Please, papa, don't ask any questions. I want to go home!" she said between sobs. "Please take me home!"
He took her in his arms and gently rocked her. "My poor girl. What happened?"
Belle was unable to speak. She was so exhausted. "Oh, Papa! Get me out of here…"
"It will be all right," he said as he patted her on her back. "It will be all right." He pulled a cord and a servant appeared.
"My daughter and I want to go home to Montville. Can we borrow a carriage?"
It was almost noon when Adam looked out of the window of the West Wing. He saw the carriage with Belle and her father ride over the bridge.
"Cogsworth, get everything ready. Tomorrow there will be an execution."
