Finding Beauty

Bonus Chapter: The Beast Is Gone

Takes place during the burning building scene after Belle runs out.

~The Beast~

The stench of fire grips my nose. I shake my head, trying to wrestle it away. Belle becomes heavier in my arms as she goes completely unconscious. Her head dips back and her limbs go limp.

"Please stay alive," I whisper as a drop of blood rolls down her forehead.

I don't even want to think about what would have become of her if I hadn't gotten out of that building. Grayson was close to striking me but before he could he fainted from inhaling too much smoke. If he killed me Belle would have been engulfed by the flames.

I reach a patch of grass away from the flaming building and carefully lay Belle on top of it. Here she'll be safe and the paramedics - who I faintly hear arriving at the scene - will find her.

Sighing, I head back to the building picking up my pace. I dodge flames that stretch out to burn me. Leaping over the broken step, I find Grayson on the ground where I left him. He's unconscious but breathing.

It wasn't a question of whether I should save him or not. I've learned my lesson after turning all of those criminals into roses. Everyone has something in them worth saving. He's another human being just like me. I have to help him, despite his very stupid decision to try and kill me.

What was that about anyway? Why try to kill me? Was it to avenge the kidnapping of Belle? I don't even know. Doesn't matter now.

I wish my first time seeing Belle after the curse was happier and less 'watch out you're gonna die'. I've missed her so much. I hope after all this we could maybe meet up and talk about what happened? No, that would be too risky. Can we ever see each other? Does she even want to see me? I know she cares about me but what I feel for her is different. It's . . . love.

I shake my head and snap myself back into focus. First, help Grayson. Then, worry about relationship problems.

I wrap my arms around the boy and pull him up. I'm carrying him outside when he stirs.

His head lifts and he starts blinking his eyes. "Belle? Where's Belle?"

Uh oh.

"She's safe," I offer, hoping he takes my word for it. "I got her away from the fire. The paramedics should be helping her."

To my surprise, he doesn't pull away or fight, or scream. He just mumbles a 'thank you'.

I place him a few feet away from Belle and take my last glance at her. It feels like I'm saying goodbye all over again and it hurts.

"I think I found some injured!" A paramedic is jogging through the lengthy grass, determined to help the people in front of me.

She'll be alright.

That final reassuring thought pushes me to run away. To turn away from the women I love for the better.

Pausing to catch my breath behind the building, I felt something tingle inside me. It wasn't an emotional feeling. It was stronger.

The tingle moved up to my chest, making it hard to breathe. I placed my hands on my knees and took deep breathes which only made me become dizzy. Suddenly I was having a hard time seeing straight and distinguishing up from down.

Had the curse sealed my fate as a beast? Maybe the last petal fell and now in addition to being a beast, I would undergo torment as well.

Then my muscles tighten and squeeze like they're being pressed together by metal. I bite the inside of my mouth to keep from yelling in pain. They feel like they're shrinking.

I fall to my knees, panting in pain.

A bright purple light begins to glow on my skin and traveled my body. I look at my hands and see the claws that line my fingertips fall off and the tips of my fingers smooth out.

I feel my feet lift off the ground as my head involuntarily whips my head to the side. The light travels down my neck and body by way of the curvy lines, making them disappear. I laugh as my fangs seep back into my gums. My nose feels warm and when I touch it I find a perfectly sculpted one.

The light strikes me one last time in the chest and I land on the ground.

I don't know how but I know: The spell is broken.

I feel my new body, I had shrunk a bit. I am smaller, my clothes were baggy now. Then I realize that my new appearance didn't even matter. There was only one reason why breaking the curse mattered.

I run to my car at full speed, which wasn't as fast as it uses to be. My body falls into the car and I race back to the mansion, going a couple miles over the limit. Squirming in my seat, I picture what's waiting for me at the mansion.

She's standing in the living room in front of the fire. I just want to go up to her and hug her. I want to tell her about everything. The important things like how I found love, the awesome things like how I had become a superhero, and the dumb things like how it took me months to figure how to wash clothes without her.

But I'm unsure. I have forgiven myself for what I had accidentally done to her but I don't know if she has forgiven me for being a snobby son or killing her.

I simply say "Mom . . ."

Her eyes well up with tears when she sees me and she opens her arm. "Gale!"

I'm so happy I could burst. I had her back. I had my mom back and this time I would never let her go.

"I'm so sorry mom for everything for-" she cuts me off saying it doesn't matter. I don't need to apologize, she's just happy to have her son back.

I tell her that dad left a while ago and she can call him if she'd like. Despite his abuse, she had always seemed loyal to him.

She shook her head and took my face in her hands. "Forget him. Lets not even let him know we're here and doing fine. We're going to start all over without him."

"I'd like that."

"But first," she said, smiling through her happy tears and motioning towards Belle's old room, "tell me about the girl."