At the moment Alastor was approaching the mill with a wide smile on his face and a Magnolia flower in his hand, Charlie's favorite.

"Princess." He said rehearsing his words. "First of all, how are you this evening? Good I hope...Listen I...I noticed some magnolias growing around here and I remembered they were your favorite so I picked one for you...Why? Excellent question. Well the thing is...I...I'm in trouble."

During the time he spent by himself, Alastor had done a lot of thinking. Thinking about his life, thinking about this entire week, thinking about Charlie, and thinking about how he felt about her. At first glance he thought that she would just be some shallow, spoiled, and snobby princess who would look down on him and belittle him for what he was. Treating him like an undesirable, like so many other humans he had encountered. But as he spent more time with her, he realized that wasn't the case at all.

She could be traditional but also open minded. She looked good but she didn't show off. She's kind but she has her limits. She's very smart but she doesn't act like she knows everything and is willing to learn from others. And yes like every typical princess, she dreamed of finding love and living happily ever after but she didn't want some superficial romance with a handsome prince. She just wanted to find true love with the right person. And Alastor was thinking that maybe, just maybe he was the right person.

After all they had a lot in common, they could relate to each other, they could be empathetic to each other. He found himself feeling so happy whenever he was with her. It was a happiness that he had never known, not even when he was living alone in the forest. A happiness that was greater than any he had ever felt before, and he never wanted that happiness to go away. He found himself dreading the day she would have to go marry that cybertronic tyrant Vox and the very thought of them being married gradually repulsed him. She was much too good for him. He'd never appreicate her wonderful personality and he'd never find her little quirks adorable. He'd never truly love her, he was just using her to become king.

At first he was so confused about why he felt this way. What these feelings were and why did this woman cause him to have these feelings. But it all became clear to him when he learned that she was that little girl he had met years ago. That she had never seen him as a monster even back then. That she had always seen him the way no one else had. And it was that which had caused him to fall in love with her.

He loved her. He loved her and he wanted to be with her. So tonight, he was going to tell her how he felt and ask her to run away with him. If she rejected him, he would accept it. He knew that if she turned him down, she would do it kindly and they could always remian friends. But if she returned his feelings, he would make it his new goal in life to be the most wonderful husband any woman could hope for. Far better than any of those princes she read about in books. True eloping with her would cost him his land but he could always find some other secluded place for them to live on. He could take care of her and he would do whatever he could to make her happy.

"Okay, here we go." He told himself.

He took a deep breath and climbed up the steps of the mill. When he reached the door, he raised his hand to knock but his ears picked up the sound of voices talking. He leaned close and listened carefully.

"Who could love such a hideous freak?" He heard Charlie say with contempt. "There are certain rules and expections that the world has. One of which is no one who is different will ever be accepted. Ever. My only chance to live happily ever after is to marry my true love. That's just how it is Angel."

Alastor felt his heart shatter into a million pieces as her words echoed in his mind.

"Who could love such a hideous freak?" and "No one who is different will ever be accepted."

He looked at the flower in his hand and frowned. What was he thinking? What a fool he had been. She had never cared for him. No one would ever care for him. Not her, not Angel, not anybody. They were just like everybody else in the world. In their eyes he was a freak and that's all he'd ever be.

Crushed by the thought, he threw down the flower and ran away. Not staying behind to hear the rest of the conversation.

"It's the only way to break the spell." Charlie finished explaining to Angel.

"Well you at least have to tell Alastor the truth." He replied.

"No! No you can't breathe a word! No one must ever know!"

"What's the point of being able to talk if you have to keep secrets?"

"Promsie you won't tell. Promise!"

"Alright, alright, I won't tell him." He promised. "But you should."

It was time for Angel to go. He stepped outside, Vaggie decided to join him and give Charlie some time to herself but not before giving her this last bit of advice.

"He's right you know. You should tell Alastor." Vaggie said.

"He wouldn't understand. No one could possibly understand." Charlie said.

"He wouldn't understand?" Vaggie repeated in disbelief.

"Yes! He's not like me! He doesn't spend every day as one speices and every night as another one!"

"You're right he doesn't so I don't suppose he could understand that. But do you really think that he wouldn't understand what it's like to hate yourself? That he wouldn't understand what it's like to grow up isolated and lonely because you didn't live up to the world's expectations? That he wouldn't understand wanting so badly to be accepted? Do you truly believe that he can't understand any of that? Because from what I've learned about him, he would probably understand your situation better than anyone else you know."

Charlie was quiet for a moment. Then she gave a reply.

"Do you really believe he won't think I'm ugly or freakish, if I tell him?"

"I have no doubt about it. Not only that but I believe there's a reason he ended up being the one who rescued you. Your story says that your true love is the one who frees you from the tower, he got you out of there. Yes he's not the prince charming you dreamed about but let's be honest, those superfical princes wouldn't accept you or see how amazing you really are, but Alastor is someone who could. I believe with all my heart that he's your true love, because he has made you so happy these last few days and there's not one superficial bone in his entire body."

Charlie touched the pendent of the necklace Alastor made for her, as she considered Vaggie's words.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do." Vaggie said. "But can you at least think about it? Before you rush off to marry some stranger?"

Charlie nodded and Vaggie bid her good night then exited the mill to join Angel.

"I'm telling ya sweet wings, before this is over I'm gonna need a whole lot of serious therapy." Angel told her. "Look at my eye twitchin."

"Oh come on it's not that bad." Vaggie said. "There are princes who have been turned into frogs for God's sake."

"I meant the whole drama and unspoken feelings."

"Oh, yeah that can put a lot of stress on the brain. Let's go sleep it off. Hopefully things will work out tomorrow."

They had left the door cracked open. When Charlie went to close it, she had found the Magnolia flower Alastor had left behind. She brought it back inside with her and spent the entire night pondering true love and expectations. All her life she had been told what kind of person her true love would be and Alastor did not fit the descriptions that she had been told. But he did fit the ones that her heart had hoped for. He was someone she could talk to like a friend, she could be herself around him, he was so caring and thoughtful towards her. Her dreams of marrying Vox or any other expected man had been replaced with dreams of marrying Alastor instead. Her childish infatuation with a fantasy had transformed into true love with a real person. She loved him. She loved Alastor.

But could she really tell him her secret?

"I tell him." She said plucking a petal from the flower with each phrase she said. "I tell him not. I tell him. I tell him not. I tell him."

She reached the last petal and decided in that moment she didn't need a flower to make her choice.

"I tell him!" She declared without conviction.

She got up and headed out the door in her full white doe form.

"Alastor!" She called out. "Alastor, there's something I want..."

But Alastor wasn't there. She saw Angel and Vaggie sleeping by the fire, unconsciously curled up in each other's arms, but Alastor was nowhere to be seen. Charlie looked around for him, not noticing the sun rising above the horizon. As it's first ray hit Charlie, there was a blinding flare of white and she was transformed back into her daytime self.

Now against the morning light, she saw a lone figure approaching. It was Alastor. She smiled, the beautiful sunshine streaming over them. He almost looked like a knight in shinning armor. It was a misty, magic moment. She ran to greet him, full of happiness. Unfortunately her joy would not last very long.