Still sitting in front of the rose, as a petal fell, Rose felt her tears that she had tried to hold back, fall down her cheeks as she lamented the loss of her true love, how she had blown her and the servants' last chance to be free and that she would never see her parents and grandfather again as she put her paws to her face and sobbed.
'Leon,' she whispered sadly, 'I only wish you could have stayed longer so that I could say that I love you.' Her heart was aching with her loss and guilt at sealing her and the servants' fate and destroyed their hopes by letting him go without even telling him that she loved him.
She stared at the rose, cursing it for enticing her to pick it and cause the predicament she had gone through these past ten years, which she had lost out of her seventeen years of life and would never get back.
'You stupid rose! Why did I even want you in the first place?' she shouted to the flower, 'You have caused me nothing but misery! I should have never picked you!'
She removed the bell jar and was about to grab the rose and tear off the last petals, thinking it would be better to put her out of her misery right there but stopped herself as she was reminded that without it, she would have never met Leon.
Calm down, she thought, don't lose your temper and rip off the petals, it won't bring Leon back and he wouldn't want you to do this, you're better than that now. Don't go back to your beastly behaviour, it's not who you are anymore.
She backed away from the rose slowly and slumped back to the ground, not caring if her dress got dirty, it was going to come off in a few minutes anyway, Katrine's hard work and sacrifice of her life savings having been for naught.
'Well, this is something that I did not expect to see,' a familiar voice rang out, as the room glowed green and Irena descended from the sky onto the ground, which made Rose look up and face the enchantress, who did not have the scornful look she had when she came a couple of months ago, rather one of pity and understanding.
'Why did you do it? Why did you let the boy, who has grown to love you and who you love dearly, as I have seen over the winter, when your relationship blossomed through your own efforts, go without the chance to tell him how you feel about him?' Irena said.
'Because, Irena, I had to. Leon's mother is in danger and he would have never forgiven me if I didn't. I had to let him go if I really loved him, even if it means that I won't break the curse and free everyone from the misery that they don't deserve and as much as it hurts me inside.' Rose replied, downcast.
'How you have changed,' said Irena, giving her a small smile, 'you're not the ill-tempered, cruel and heartless monster that I saw two months ago. That was truly a brave sacrifice you made, that you were willing to set Leon free. This is just like what happened with your father, when he let your mother go to rescue your grandfather and it is bittersweet that your wonderful night had to end like this.'
'But he did promise that he would come back to me, when his mother was better, though I did say I couldn't ask that of him.' Rose said.
'Indeed you did,' Irena said, gently, 'but you do realise by letting him go, you're not going to break the spell and that you will be a beast forever, losing your humanity permanently and becoming a literal beast inside and out?'
'I was never going to break it in the first place, Irena,' Rose said, miserably.
'I think you were, once you changed for the better,' the enchantress said, before disappearing in a green glow. Rose walked out onto the balcony at hearing the sound of hooves and sad whinnies outside to see Leon leave the castle with Sabine and she let out a long, mournful and anguished howl, like the animal she was, shattering the peaceful night air.
Earlier before, Leon entered his room, carrying a small bag of food that he had gotten from the kitchen and placed it on the bed, along with his bag and his normal clothes, which he had found washed and ironed in his hamper and had forgotten about.
'Monsieur, what's going on?' Madame Armoire said, surprised to see him, as he took off his suit and changed back into his clothes, which felt strange to him after wearing all the elegant and grand clothes that the wardrobe and Katrine had gone to great lengths to get for him, to ensure that he had something to wear.
'Wasn't the mistress nice to you, this time? And you were getting along so well, you two are practically inseparable! Didn't you have a good time at the ball? Don't you like the suit Katrine made for you? What did she do to upset you and make you leave?'
'Oh, no, it's not that, Madame,' said Leon, as he untied the ribbon in his hair and put the simple blue band he had always worn and laid the suit gently on the bed, as not to wrinkle it and packed his bag, carefully placing the mirror at the bottom as not to break it.
'The ball was wonderful and it was one of the best nights of my life but I'm afraid that I have to go now. Mama needs me, as she's lost in the forest, alone and dangerously ill.'
'Oh, dear, that poor woman,' Madame Armoire said, 'I hope that you can get to her before the cold does, the weather is nasty out there.'
'Thank you, Madame, I certainly hope so,' Leon said.
He then saw the drawing that Sophie had drawn for him on his first night in the castle to cheer him up and picked it up, looking at it and feeling guilty and sad about not only leaving Rose, but Sophie as well, who thought the world of him, who he let ride Sabine, drew a picture for and read stories to.
'I'm sorry, Sophie,' he whispered, as he put the drawing in his bag, not realising that the little paint bottle had followed him into the room and hopped into his bag, when he wasn't looking and was about to tag along with him.
'It is such a shame that you are leaving us, dearie,' the wardrobe said, 'and after everything we've been through and seeing the mistress so happy, only now she's deeply depressed and heartbroken at your departure. Surely, your mother couldn't have chosen a worse time to get lost and sick in the forest?'
'I know and I'm sorry, as much as I don't want to leave Rose and you all as you have been very kind to me but I have to find Mama, before it's too late,' Leon said, 'It's something I have to do but thank you, Madame for dressing me and getting me my clothes, but I'll come back when I can, I promise.'
'If that's what you've decided, dearie,' the wardrobe said, resigned, 'and you're welcome, I've enjoyed dressing you, even if you didn't always like what I picked out for you, like that jacket and that pink, frilly dress,'
Leon gave her a small smile as he put on his boots and cape, slung his bag on his shoulders with its stowaway inside and looked around the room, that he had grown to like in spite of its feminine décor and the wardrobe who had helped him get dressed and been good company in the early days of being in the castle, for the last time before heading towards the stables.
'Sabine,' Leon whispered, as he entered and found her sleeping and nuzzling up to Philippe, the two horses who were close mates, only now they were about to be split apart, as he approached them and gently nudged the mare awake, who gave a snort of annoyance, 'Come on, girl, we're going,' as he placed her saddle, halter and reins on her.
But Sabine was unwilling to be separated from her love and let Leon know it by whinnying loudly which woke up Philippe and he too was distraught about losing her, having gone for so long without a companion and when he finally had found one, it was about to be taken away, condemning him yet again to a sad and lonely life.
'I know you don't want to be separated from Philippe and you want to stay in this nice, warm stable with him but we have to go,' Leon persisted yet remained calm, as he gently pulled on her lead and led her out of the stall, but Sabine nuzzled closer to Philippe until they were spilt apart, as she was dragged across the stables whinnying sadly at her love, longing to be with him.
'Come on, girl, stop being silly,' he said, 'I don't like being apart from my love just as you don't, but it's urgent. Mama is lost, sick and alone in the forest and she needs us to find her, so we can bring her back to the cottage and take care of her until she recovers, then we can come back to the castle and you can be reunited with Philippe and I can be with Rose again.'
Hearing that Madeleine needed help and with the promise of coming back, Sabine reluctantly followed Leon out of the stables as Philippe's sad whinnies echoed around the stables at losing her and probably never seeing her again as both man and horse galloped across the bridge at lighting speed, each minute counting against them, as they raced towards the gates.
Rose's roars of anguish from the West Wing balcony were soon piercing the quiet, still night and echoing in Leon's ears as he glanced sadly at the castle which had once been his prison and became his home for the last time and whispered,
'I'm sorry, Rose,' and with a heavy heart, flicked Sabine's reins and the horse picked up her speed as they headed into the forest to search for Madeleine, hoping that they wouldn't be too late and that she would still be alive when they found her.
Sabine then slowed down to a trot, as Leon called out to his mother not too loudly as not to attract the wolves again, although it was nearly spring, meaning that they wouldn't be out as often as they would be as they passed through the forest, the trees bending eerily over them, like they had done the first time they were heading to the castle.
'Mama?' Leon called out, 'Where are you?'
The only response he got were owls hooting and Sabine snorting, as she sniffed the ground for any tracks that Madeleine may have left or any items she may have dropped, only finding nothing, which frustrated Leon, as he hoped that there would be clues which would indicate her whereabouts and would make the search far easier, like when he had found her headband in the castle grounds.
'Mama, please let me know where you are!' he said again, sounding more desperate each time, his heart beating madly, as each second he spent looking was slipping away from him.
What if I never find her? He thought, as he urged Sabine on, not wanting to think the worst, although what the mirror, Rose's mirror, showed him wasn't promising which made his heart ache as he thought of her and hearing her anguished howls in his head, as she had been truly heartbroken by his departure.
He then pulled it out of his bag and was about to use it to find the last known place Madeleine was when Sabine suddenly whinnied loudly, almost bucking Leon off her and trotted towards a clearing a few miles near the village as he put the mirror back and he gripped her reins like his life depended on it, confused at why she was behaving like this.
'Woah, girl, what is it?' Leon said, 'What have you found?'
The horse snorted, as she found some human tracks in the ground, which looked very much like the imprints from Madeleine's boots, along with some pieces of material snagged on some tree branches which could also belong to her.
'We must be getting close to Mama,' he said, 'Keep leading the way, girl, we're getting close to the village,' although he had wished that she would be nearer the castle, so they could bring her there and take care of her although she would need to be convinced that Rose was no longer the horrible and cruel beast that imprisoned her and took her son away from her.
His thoughts were soon interrupted by Sabine's loud whinnies, for she had found Madeleine, who was lying motionless on the ground, as shown in the mirror and he immediately jumped off the horse to tend to her and was alarmed at how sick and cold she was as he removed his cape and draped it over her to keep her warm.
'Mama!' Leon said, feeling her neck for a pulse and was relieved when he felt it and that she was breathing and alive but her skin, while blue from the cold, was hot with fever, as shown by the beads of sweat on her forehead and she was getting dangerously sicker by the minute, as Leon gently gave her a nudge on her shoulder to rouse her, but she didn't even stir.
'Mama, it's me, Leon!' he said, as panic rose in his chest, as he tried to rouse her again, 'We need to get you home, so you can get better again! I know you're still alive, so please wake up!'
Miraculously, Madeleine gave a soft moan and stirred slightly, wiggling her fingers, as Leon sighed in relief at the little movements she was making, as he managed to lift her up gently by her armpits and lay her on Sabine's back, making sure that she wouldn't fall off, as she moaned and muttered incoherently, but Leon could hear her say,
'..got to rescue Leon,', as she slumped back into unconsciousness against Sabine's neck.
'It's alright, Mama, you're safe now and I'm here. Let's get you home, before you succumb to the cold,' Leon said, gently kissing her and grabbing Sabine's reins, coaxing the horse to trot slowly towards the village, since they were only a few miles away from it, although it wasn't home for Leon anymore.
His real home was a castle in the middle of the forest and he had just left it and the beast that he had fallen in love without realising it and it wasn't the same without...
'Without Rose,' Leon said sadly, as he led Sabine and Madeleine towards the village, holding her reins in one hand and the mirror in the other as he told it to show him the quickest path to take towards their cottage.
After an hour of careful riding and taking the path that the mirror showed him, the cottage soon came into Leon's sight, although it was strange to be coming back to it and the village as he and Sabine trotted to a stop. Leon gently coaxed Madeleine off the horse and leaned her against him, as she moaned softly and they walked towards the cottage with Sabine staying outside chomping on some grass, miserable about being away from Philippe.
'You miss Philippe already, don't you?' he said to the horse, who whinnied as if to say, 'Yes I do, why did you separate me from him? We were so happy together!'
'I know, girl, just like I miss Rose,' Leon said, patting her nose with his free hand. Sabine snorted and carried on chewing her mouthful of grass, which didn't taste as good as the carrots, apples, oats and hay she had enjoyed back at the castle, where she had become used to being pampered, only to face life as a village horse again.
Leon,as he walked up the steps to the cottage, didn't notice a small snowy figure near the water wheel which soon revealed itself to be Martine, whose skin was light blue from sitting in the cold and being a lookout for months and she sneezed before seeing Leon and Madeleine go inside, having finally returned to the village after being away for so long, enough for Martine to nearly freeze to death while waiting for them and she said,
'They're back,' and ran off to tell Amandine about their return because she had been told to and also to tell Jean-Luc, so that he could warn Leon about the plan to throw Madeleine into the asylum unless he married her. In a sense, she was partly informing Amandine like a loyal sidekick about her soon-to-be husband and mother-in-law returning and partly betraying her to help a friend of her boyfriend, no longer caring if it was taboo to be with him.
'Mama..' Leon's voice called to her, once they were inside in the warm and he put her to bed and into her nightgown, while she was still unconscious, hoping that she would wake soon.
Madeleine slowly and groggily opened her eyes, at hearing Leon's voice as a blurry image of him came into her view. The last thing she remembered before collapsing from the terrible weather was being in the forest trying to find the castle to rescue her beloved son from the horrible beast that was holding him captive, lost to her forever and battling against the elements, being on the losing side.
But she was hearing his voice as she woke up, in her room in the cottage, dressed in her nightgown in her bed, her skin returning to its normal colour with Leon dabbing her forehead with a damp cloth to cool her down as he looked down on her, convinced that it was a dream or a vision to torture her but it was real.
Her Leon, her brave, devoted and loving son was back at home with her, but she was wondering how he had managed to escape from the beast. But it didn't matter at this point; there would be time for questions later, as Leon said soothingly,
'Shhh, Mama, it's alright. You're safe now and I'm home,' he said, although it was a lie, but he was glad his mother was alive, in spite of her fever and illness but it was better than being left to freeze to death in the forest.
'My darling boy,' Madeleine whispered, as mother and son embraced for the first time since they were in the dungeon, with Rose about to drag her away from Leon forever, 'I thought that I'll never see you again and that you were lost to me.
But how on earth did you manage to escape from that terrible beast? She'll be after you when she finds out you're not there in the dungeon!'
'No, Mama, she won't be,' Leon said, 'you see, I didn't escape from her, she let me go willingly,'
'She did?' Madeleine said, in disbelief, 'That horrible monster that threw me in that cold, damp dungeon and sent me away from you, leaving you to rot in that terrible castle?'
'Mama, she's not the cruel and heartless beast you knew,' Leon said, 'Her name is Rose and yes, she was at first, but she had been hurt and abandoned by those she loved and just forgot how to treat people and was a lost, lonely soul who needed a friend she could trust in.
Once I got to know her, she's actually kind, gentle, sweet, funny and caring, as soon as she allowed her temper to fade. She didn't keep me in the dungeon; she gave me my own room and let me wander around the castle freely.
She loves reading as much as I do and gave me her entire library and likes the same fairy tales and books as I do and she even has The Snow Queen, that book you tried to get for me, but couldn't. She listened to me, understood me when no one else did and encouraged me to be myself.
Rose is the best ever friend that I've had and a real lady, as long as you don't provoke and make her lose her temper,' he said, while Madeleine looked at him in confusion and surprise at hearing her son describe the beast which was different to the one she had seen. But it seemed like Leon really cared for her and maybe she wasn't the monster Madeleine had known, judging by the way he talked about her and that not only had she changed, he had too.
'Rose,' she whispered, 'that's the same name as the princess that went missing ten years ago, along with her parents. Do you think that..'
'No, Mama, that's just coincidental and I know you must hate her for throwing you in the dungeon, but she has changed and for the better,' Leon said, 'and I promised that I would go back to her, once you are well again.'
'So have you, Leon,' Madeleine said, 'you were always such a dreamy thing, with your head in the clouds and I don't know what you two had got up to in the castle in the time we've been apart but it seems your luck has indeed changed and that you have finally found the right girl even if she is a beast and I trust your judgment. If you say she's kind and caring instead of cruel and heartless, then I believe you.'
'You're right, Mama, it has and she is my home now,' said Leon, just as a rustling sound could be heard from his bag and Sophie came rolling out, along with the mirror and the drawing that she had done for him.
'Hi!' she said, chirpily.
'Oh, look who's here!' Madeleine said, chuckling, 'a little stowaway! I never thought that I'll see you again!', as Sophie giggled and hopped into Leon's hand, which he held out for her.
'Sophie, how did you get into my bag?' Leon said, 'Do your parents know you're here?' he then asked, wondering if Raymond and Amelie had discovered that their daughter was missing and if they did, they would no doubt be worried about her.
'No they don't and I jumped into your bag when you weren't looking.' Sophie said, as Leon remembered hearing a clinking sound in his bag before he left the castle and realised that it had been Sophie hopping into it, intending to tag along and find out why he left.
'Leon, why did you have to go away and leave us? Don't you like us anymore?' she then said, giving him a sad face, as his departure had upset her and she was worried that he wasn't happy in the castle, when it was the complete opposite, but she was too young to understand what was going on, yet brave enough to hide away in a bag, at the risk of being broken or seen.
'Oh, Sophie, sweetheart, of course I do! I like you all very much as you are my dear friends, it's just that..'
'Rose really misses you, Leon,' said Sophie, giving him a sad face, 'She's roaring and crying over you and it's making everyone else sad too.'
'I really miss her too, Sophie,' Leon replied, sadly, his heart aching for her.
'Then please come back and make her happy again!' Sophie said, pouting.
'Oh, I will come back, as soon as Mama is better,' Leon said, as a knock at the door, which was unusual for this time of night, could be heard from downstairs and it sounded urgent, judging by the loud pounding on the door, like someone was desperate to get in.
'Who on earth could that be?' Madeleine said, 'It's just gone midnight! Some people are not considerate of the fact that people will be sleeping at this time! How rude they can be! I'm going to go downstairs and give them what for!'
'I'll deal with it, Mama, you just stay in bed and rest, it's probably Amandine,' Leon said, rolling his eyes, 'Doesn't that stupid girl realise that I'm never going to marry her? She should have given up by now and found some other love-sick fool!'
He got up from where he was sitting on the bed and said, 'You stay there, Mama and don't move a muscle. You too, Sophie, we don't want anything bad happening to you if any of the villagers were to see you.'
Sophie nodded and hopped back into the bag, as Leon descended down the stairs and walked towards the door, saying, as he opened it,
'Amandine, if you're asking me to marry you, you're wasting your time…Oh,' as it was revealed to be Jean-Luc, who was surprised to see him yet glad at the same time, as he had made it back safely and unharmed, contrary to his belief that Leon had suffered during his imprisonment.
'Jean-Luc,' Leon said, 'what brings you here?'
'Leon,' Jean-Luc said, breathlessly, 'It's so good to see you but I'm afraid that you and your mother have to get out of here. She's in danger and you have to get her out of harm's way.'
'Why, what's happened?' said Leon, concerned.
'The whole town thinks she's crazy because she came into the tavern, ranting about a beast that was holding you captive in its castle,' Jean-Luc said, tilting his head towards the villagers, who were gathered outside the cottage, carrying torches, weapons and pitchforks and were in the form of an angry mob, baying for the blood of Madeleine Dupont.