Nothing to Say

Hero and the Beast

"Heartbroken."

"Homeless."

"Half of a person."

These are the murmurs that the violet-eyed beast hears when she runs throughout town. The rumors that tell her that she's not good enough, that she isn't even human. The soft whispers as the beasts run past saying that they don't deserve to live because they're different. These are the words that lead her to believe--or to know, as she puts it--that she's a monster.

This is her label. This is her fate. She was born a monster, and she will die as one.

What's your name?

Until she doesn't.

The people see you as a monster, don't let them see you as that!

Until someone saves her life and tells her without telling her that she's worth it.

You deserve a happy ending.

So when she finally manages to believe those words..

Your name will never be monster again, I promise.

She's letting the hero choose her identity as a new person.

I'll take care of you.

Beast, as she always has been.

What they call me is none of your business.

Or human, what she has never been.

My name is Mayhem.

And finally, finally, she's thought of as.. Real. Living.

Alive.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" The hero asks, while they sit on the bell tower laughing about everything they could laugh about. The beast's eyes glimmer with sadness as she stares out at the city below them, her violet gaze skimming the rooftops.

"Like this," she finally says after a long silence, and the hero raises a questioning eyebrow before she continues, "Happy."

They stand on the edge of everything. Here we are, Lill. On the edge of death, and the beginning of life. The beast watches carefully as he steps into the waves.

Choose wisely.