"Sweet dreams, Adam." Belle said as she stood at her bedroom door, Adam was standing in front of her.
"Sweet dreams...my beloved." Adam said as he tucked Belle's hair back. Belle's face started to blush when her fiancee did that. After that, Adam turned towards the West Wing as Belle closed her bedroom door. Adam's heart always skipped a beat whenever he pushed Belle's hair back. Even though he was human for more than a week, it was still very strange for him feeling things with human skin, like brushing his fingers through Belle's hair.
He still could picture the look on Belle's face when he changed back into a human. Adam started to remember the night the spell broke as he walked up the stairs to the West Wing.
Adam woke up from a groggy sleep, he was about to rub the sleep from his eyes...until he caught sight of his paws, they were now hands, human hands! He quickly stood up on his human legs and stared at his hands, turning them over to make sure that he wasn't imagining things. It wasn't a dream, he was human! But...but how?
Belle! Adam quickly turned around hoping that she was there. She was still there on the balcony, with her hands slowly removing themselves from her mouth. Despite that she was very shocked, Adam thought that Belle never looked more beautiful.
"Belle," Adam said, he was surprised by his voice as he raised his arms to his chest. His voice seemed to come from such a smaller chest than that of the Beast's. "It's me." Adam reached out and held Belle's hand, he felt Belle almost pulling her hand away. Adam also saw doubt appear on his love's face, he really hoped that she could see that he is the Beast, but how? Belle reached out and touched a lock of his rusty hair, which was now a little below his shoulders, but Adam knew that wasn't enough to convince Belle. He was about to say something to her...until her eyes met his own. Adam saw the smile appear on Belle's face as she touched his cheek with her hand.
"It is you." Belle said, nothing could express how happy Adam was when he heard that. If he still had his tail, he probably would've wagged it. He brushed his human fingers through Belle's hair, Adam couldn't believe how soft it was...still is, but nothing could express how Adam felt when he first kissed Belle. When their lips met, it was like lightning went through his body. He felt the wind encircling them, it made him hold her closer to him. Adam wrapped his arms around Belle's waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Adam closed the door behind him as he remembered that sweet kiss, he thought he would never see Belle's sweet face after...he was dying from that stab wound. Adam didn't care about anything else, he was just happy to have seen Belle one more time, but he was deceived...but it was a good deceive. Adam closed his eyes and raised his hand to his own heart as he remembered that one sweet kiss.
"Remembering memories of the past?" asked a female voice.
"The good ones." Adam answered calmly at first, but when he realized that there was someone in his room, he quickly snapped his eyes open. He looked around his room, there, lying on his bed, was Lady Temps!
"Hello again, your highness." Lady Temps said, Adam was, once again, very worried. He remembered that Lady Temps was the sorceress of time and the empress of his mother's home. She also was the one that brought Veronica and Lydia back from the dead and erased their memories of their families in the human world. He also remembered the promise he made to Lady Temps, that he wouldn't tell anyone about the world of magic. Adam swallowed his nervousness and spoke.
"W-w-w-why are you...here?" He asked, Lady Temps quickly sat up and got off his king-sized bed. Adam couldn't help being afraid, he already knew what Rouge was capable of, but he didn't know what Lady Temps could do. He started to walk away from the door and walked backwards.
"Adam, stop!" Lady Temps said in a worried voice, "You're going to-" Just then, Adam fell backwards, he landed flat on his back. He quickly got up and saw that he tripped over his footrest that was next to his armchair. "I tried to warn you." Lady Temps added as she gave Adam her hand. He was still apprehensive about Lady Temps...and she could sense it, but he didn't want to disrespect her. He grabbed her hand and she helped him get back on his feet. When Adam got back up on his feet, he quickly brushed off his shirt. "You don't have to act so fancy with me, Adam." Lady Temps said.
"I can't help it," Adam said, "You are an empress and the one thing I do remember about royalty is that an empress...and an emperor...are a much higher rank than a prince and king." Lady Temps just smiled, she knew Adam meant well, even though he was still nervous and a little afraid of her.
"Well, around me, your highness," she said, "you don't have to do all that fancy stuff. I don't mind it too much."
"I'll...keep that in mind." he said, "You...uh...still haven't answered my question. Why are you here?"
"Ah, yes," Lady Temps said as she clapped her hands together, "I'm here to discuss something that I know that your mother won't talk about with you." Adam was a little surprised about that Lady Temps was going to do this.
"You didn't have to do this," Adam said, "I'll get her to tell me."
"Trust me, Lydia won't discuss it." she added, "In fact, no sorcerer or sorceress wants to discuss something like this if this happened to their child."
"What do you mean?" he asked very nervously, "Are you referring to the spell that...I was under for...ten years?"
"It involves that." Lady Temps then sighed, "You need to sit down, I don't want you to collapse on your feet." Adam decided to heed her words, he walked over to his armchair and sat down. Lady Temps, with her magic, made a white cushion chair appear. She then sat down in the chair as she started to speak.
"Adam," she started, "since you were born with a human parent and a sorceress for the other, you would usually have the choice to remain as a human or learn magic and become a sorcerer. But..." Lady Temps sighed, "this is one of a few times that this has happened, but since you were cursed for so long, your body is now used to having magic surrounding it and having it go through your body. So because of that...you no longer have the choice to remain human." Adam couldn't believe what he had heard, he leaned backwards in his chair.
Seeing Adam's reaction, Lady Temps almost understood why Lydia didn't want to tell him. She didn't say anything more after seeing his reaction. As for Adam, he couldn't believe what he heard, he finally becomes a human after ten long years of being a beast and now...he's told that he doesn't have choice between being a human and a sorcerer. He sat back straight in his armchair and looked at Lady Temps with a concerning look.
"Are you saying that I'll never be human again?" Adam asked, trying to hold tears back. Before Lady Temps said anything, she pulled out some tissues out of her little purse around her waist and gave them to Adam.
"I'm not saying that at all," Lady Temps responded, "I'm going to start at the beginning so that you can understand a little more. What Veronica and Lydia are a rare kind of sorceress called 'Mythical Fauna Creatures', where the two forms you've seen were really disguises." Adam eyes grew wide, if his mother looked like a beautiful human, then...what did she truly look like? "Mythical Fauna Creatures get their true forms and their powers from nature...and a few lessons that I would teach them. Your mother, Lydia, gets her powers from the porcupine and her true form looks like a human covered in black, red, blue and purple spikes, spines and quills."
"So, in other words...a human porcupine." Adam said.
"Almost," she said, "anyway, back to what I was saying, since...this is going to happen, you're going to have two forms instead of three like your mother. You'll have your sorcerer/human form which will look exactly the way you look now, so you won't lose that." Adam felt relieved hearing that, he won't have to look like a monster for the rest of his life like he feared most. "Then there's your true form, that will be the form that can control certain magic you may develop and use only in that form. To become a sorcerer, you're going to be transforming into your true form for a couple of days."
"W-why didn't...my mother tell me this?" Adam asked.
"I'm going to let Lydia answer that." Lady Temps said.
"So how long do you think this is going to happen?"
"Well, by that strong scent that you're producing, it's going to happen tonight."
"Scent?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow, "I don't smell anything."
"That's because your human nose can't smell it." she added, "Your nose isn't as sensitive as mine, Rouge's or Lydia's, at least not yet. There is one thing I need to test."
"What's that?" he asked.
"First thing though, get your mother here. I need to speak to her." Adam didn't hesitate with Lady Temps' request, he also wanted to discuss this with his mother. He got up from his armchair and over to his dresser in his closet. He opened one of the drawers near his mirror, he pulled out the black stone that Lydia gave him. Whenever Adam needed her, all he had to do was hold the stone and wished for her. Adam held the stone in both hands and wished for Lydia to appear in his room.
Just then, there was a pop and a bright purple light in the room. Adam walked out of his closet as he saw sparkles appear, the sparkles started to swirl as the light started to take shape of a person spinning in circles. The purple light actually turned into an actual person spinning as the sparkles started to fade away. The person stopped spinning and faced Adam, it was Lydia! Adam saw the look of concern on his mother's face, he knew what was going to happen.
"Adam, what is it?" Lydia asked as she quickly approached him, "Did something happen? Do you need my help?" Adam knew that he wasn't going to get a chance to tell her, so he basically pointed over at Lady Temps. When Lydia saw that pointed finger, she raised her head to the ceiling and clapped her hands together. "Empress...you're here."
"Of course I am." Lady Temps said as she got up, Lydia quickly turned around. Adam just quickly went inside his closet, he didn't want to be a part of this.
"Go ahead and say it, Empress." Lydia said, "It's not like we haven't discussed this since about an hour ago."
"Calm yourself, Lydia." Lady Temps said, "I already got on your nerves about this, I don't need to do it again. I just want to say that...you should stay here during this 'sensitive' time."
"I wouldn't call it sensitive," Lydia said, "but I'm not going to say more about that. I do think that I should stay here for Adam, but...I'm more worried about the servants if they find out about something, especially if Belle comes in here all the time and Adam can't leave!" Lady Temps put on a very sly smile, Lydia knew that she was going to do something. "I don't even want to know what's going in your head, Empress."
"I'll take care of that part," Lady Temps said, "you just stay here and be that mother you haven't been in a very long time. First things first, we have to do something to show that it's going to happen."
"Adam," Lydia groaned, "can you come here for a minute?" The closet door slowly opened as Adam peeked through, he was worried about what was going to happen. When he completely came out of the closet, he saw Lady Temps with a match in her hand. Adam was very nervous as he walked up to the women. Lady Temps laid the match on her belt and struck it. She raised the burning match up to Adam's face.
When Adam saw the light, he felt something that he never felt before. He didn't want to be anywhere near the light, he quickly closed his eyes, raised his hand and carefully backed away from the light.
"It doesn't take much," Lady Temps said as she blew out the match, "you're going to have to cover every bit of light that can get in here, Lydia."
"Yes, ma'am." Lydia said.
"Good," Lady Temps said, "you know what to do if you need my help." Lady Temps raised her fist and threw down something from her hand onto the ground where she was standing. A white powder came up from the ground and engulfed Lady Temps, when the usual smoke that powder makes disappeared, so did Lady Temps. Lydia looked over at her son, she felt bad that this choice was taken from him.
"Adam," Lydia said, "I'm...sorry...about everything." Tears were starting to form in her eyes, but she wiped them away before they had the chance to fall. Adam saw the same look on his mother's face when she realized she shot him when his father was killed. Adam just walked up to his mother and just hugged her. Lydia didn't want to believe what her son was doing, she didn't think that her son wouldn't forgive her about everything that's happened. Lydia raised her arms and held her son, nothing could express how she felt about everything that's happened to her son.
"Just...stay here until this is over with." was all Adam said.
"I will." Lydia said as she released her son, "Right now, you need some sleep and...we'll take care of what you need in the morning. I'll just be in your armchair near that fireplace." Adam followed his mother's words and went into his closet to change into his pajamas. Once in them, he came out of the closet. Adam saw his mother starting a fire in the fireplace, he was starting to have his reaction to the light again, but Lydia quickly pulled over a dark metal cover before Adam said anything about it.
"Have a good night...mother." Adam said as he climbed into his bed.
"Sleep well, son." Lydia said, Adam just pulled his covers over his head and tried to go to sleep.
Merry Christmas (early)! It won't be until after New Year's that I'll put up number 15. So please be patient!