"Now I know she'll never leave me even if she fades from view"

- "Why would you come back?" Adam spoke with his jaw clenched

- "You scared me. Where would I be if not here with you?" Belle asked softly, walking closer to him as he began stepping back.

- "Anywhere. Anywhere other than here" his breaths were sharper, angry hurt all over his eyes.

- "Nope." Armoring herself, she smiled, still walking towards him. The one who wasn't afraid anymore, the one who showed no remorse, the one who stepped forward while others stepped back was in a place he couldn't decipher and couldn't let her stay. "You are only afraid. I am afraid too. It's okay, we can figure things out together."

- "You don't know what you're talking about!" He raged

- "Is this why you never come close to me? Are you scared… of me?" she whispered her face morphing slowly to hurt and that made him stop instantly.

- "You don't know what you're talking about." His eyes looked desperately for hers, to calm down his beating heart. This feeling of wanting to hug a person so badly, to be able to be theirs everything yet afraid to be so close to only to get left.

- "I am sorry I hurt you. You scared me, screamed at me, sent me away… What was I supposed to do? I was so scared. But I wanted to stay. I've always wanted to stay. If you really want me to go, I will. But to make it clear, I really want to stay but I will never push against your will. Do you really want me gone?" The words left her mouth, her eyes vulnerable, but defiantly meeting his.

There was only silence. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to tell her to stop leaving him. But he's too scared, too scared to ask for her to stay, because she was too close, and he was scared to trust her again, scared that she would leave him again, that he would hurt again, and worst of all, that he would hurt her again.

- "But" she lifts up his face with a delicate finger, her eyes glistening from tears threatening to spill. His heart picks up the pace again at the gentle touch "once I leave, I will never be coming back. Do you understand that?"

The words felt like they turned themselves into humans stabbing him till he couldn't feel any more.

She stepped back, giving him the space she felt he needed.

- "Say you want me gone" she gently demanded, but all he could do was calm his breathing.

- "I need to hear you say it. At least have the decency of totally breaking my heart. You owe me that." The room seemed silent now, echoing her words.

- "Say it" His dried up mouth was trying to form the words.

- "SAY IT!"

- "I can't."

And in that moment of vulnerability, she wrapped her hands around his waist pulling him close to her, as slowly melted in her embrace. And like that magic moment you only see in movies, that's when he knew.

- "If you leave, you have to do it now because I won't cope with you leaving me later." cupping her face. "Do you understand?"

- "I do. I'm here, aren't I? I've always known what I was getting myself into. And I will only leave if you push me away. Do you understand?"

- "I do."

- "Do you really? Do you understand what that means?"

- "I do. I think I understand more than you. I am a monster, you know, how could you ever come to love a monster?"

- "I already do."

There was no magic sparkle, no choir singing, no transformation with the power of love.

There was only a girl loving her monster exactly as he is.

And that was the most beautiful ending anyone could ever wish for.

"To be seen as you truly are, and to be loved for it."