Elle and the Mysterious Beast (One Direction)

Chapter 13 - The End

I watch in horror as the gun falls from Phillip’s hand and the life escapes him, he wasn’t dead before! Though he is now. But the beast! He crashes down onto the floor and clutches his gut where a trail of blood begins oozing out.

“No!” I go over to him quickly and cradle his head in my arms. I want to say something more but I really don’t know what.

“Don’t, don’t cry Elle,” he says quietly.

“You can’t die, you can’t!”

“It’ll be okay-“

“No it won’t! I don’t want to lose you!”

“You were fine without me, you’ll be fine again. You know how to get to the new village, the backpack is still out back, just go out there and follow the same direction-“

“No! I’m not leaving you! You’ve helped me since the first time we saw each other when you saved me from those wolves. You’ve fed me, got clothes for me, kept me clean and gave me a place to sleep, you broke me out of jail, introduced me to different kinds of music, you’ve done so much for me! You’ve been an amazing friend but I know you feel it too, we’re more than friends!” Even considering the conditions of the situation, a laugh escapes my chest, “I don’t even know your name but I love you!”

His eyes widen and I hear him gasp. Before he can respond I do what I’ve secretly been wanting to do for quite some time now, I lean down and kiss him.

It’s awkward at first, unsurprisingly, but he softens beneath me and I become less stiff too. One of his large hands cups the side of my head and holds me in place while he kisses me back.

We pull away slowly, looking into each other’s eyes.

He gasps again as he’s lifted into the air by some unseen force. A bright light forms around him and it’s so blinding I have to squeeze my eyes shut. But just as fast as it was there it’s gone.

When I open them again the beast is standing there, back on his feet on the floor, except he’s no longer the beast…he’s a boy.

“Zayn…” I’m not even aware I say it. He’s examining himself in awe. I notice he’s normal height now, hands are smaller, head teeth and eyes are normal sized now, the same boy from the pictures. He’s beautiful. Dark skinned, the darkest, chocolaty brown eyes I’ve ever seen, no longer black.

He looks up at me and smiles, lighting up his whole face, it’s infectious. “It was you… after all this time… I should’ve known.”

“What do you mean?”

“Would you like me to tell you the story now?”

I nod, “Yes please.”

“Okay,” he takes a deep breath but his face is still happy, “Back when I was human before and One Direction was big, we had a rival band, The Wanted. They hated us because we were more popular and we hated them back equally. Two of the members, Tom and Max, they did most of the fighting and it was usually directed towards me and Lou. We usually fought over twitter, a social site on the internet, and one day Max direct messaged me and told me, “You’re all talk, if you really wanna fight like a man meet me in New York… without your security”. He had the time and place and everything. Anxious to keep my ‘manhood’ if you will, and plus I really wanted to beat his ass, I went.

We met in a large alley in Brooklyn and all five of the boys were there. I was pissed right away, he hadn’t said anything about bringing back up. I called him a few unholy names and said it wasn’t a fair fight and turned to walk away but he shook his finger and said “Nuh uh uh, you’re not going anywhere.” I turned around and a woman was there, she looked odd, she had long black hair, like past her bum, and was wearing a long purple skirt and a white blouse. She looked like a fortune teller.

Max stepped up to me then and told me, “This is Belinda, she does magic.” I actually laughed then, I thought it was all a joke, I didn’t believe in magic… or black magic that is. He went on, “You won’t be laughing much longer. You see Zayn, One Direction is on top, but will they be on top with not all of their members? What would happen if suddenly one of them disappeared?” I stopped laughing then.

The woman came up to me and emptied a packet of dark green powder into her hand and she blew it in my face and all she said was, “Until you’re truly loved…” I didn’t understand what she meant by that until just now. You Elle, you are what she meant. Until someone actually loved me for me.”

He smiles down at me and yet another tear escapes my eye and rolls down my cheek. How could anyone want to do something so awful? Take away someone’s life and force them to sit around and watch it happen slowly? Watch everyone they love slowly die and leave?

“Wh-what happened then?” I ask.

“Basically the same thing that happened just now, except when I stood up I was that hideous beast. I ran after that. I ran and I didn’t stop until I’d reached Texas and after that I just tried to hide, I couldn’t let anyone see me. Everyone thought I’d been kidnapped at first, it was all over the papers, but after about a year they concluded I was probably dead. The band had stopped right away but the fans encouraged them to be strong and continue on as the four. I know they never gave up on me, them or the fans, they knew I was out there somewhere, they just didn’t know where or why. Shortly after is when someone discovered me and turned me into the government and you know what happened after that…”

“I’m so sorry Zayn… that’s awful.”

“It was yeah, but it was worth it really. If I hadn’t stopped aging I would’ve never met you.”

“And the clothes…?”

“Were Perrie’s, my girlfriends from before.”

Oh no! “You had a girlfriend?!”

“Yes, but after a while she moved on, which I was glad about. I didn’t want her waiting around for me to appear again when I wasn’t. Who knows, maybe if I had approached her she would’ve broken the spell too but I didn’t think about that at the time, I didn’t even know there was a spell to be broken.” He must be seeing how upset I feel right now because he steps closer and puts his arms around my waist. It’s nice not having to look so far up just to see him. “Elle, it all happened for a reason, for you. I was meant to find you… or more like you found me.”

I can’t help but smile big, something about him… and he’s so handsome! 50 times more attractive than Phillip! I can only imagine what Anna would think if she saw him.

“Come,” he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door. His hand is so soft and warm, flesh on flesh, no fur.

He leads me down stairs and into the music room. He releases me just long enough to choose and album off the shelf and put it into the CD player. A soft tune with a pretty voice, female, plays out. He grabs my hands, both this time, and lifts them then softly rests them on this shoulders and places his own on my waist. I tighten my hands around the back of his neck and let him spin me around the room to the music. For once there aren’t any bombs going off, yelling, fighting, nagging, or arguing. Just me and my beautiful beast.