Once Upon A Nightmare

- FOURTEEN -

- Bella -

Oh, my Lord Shakespeare! What a night! All of that talking and trying to make Tiana understand and believe me, it can take a whole lot out of this girl. In all honesty, it was all pretty stressful, actually. How could one person give and take in so much information at one time? To learn that the life they have been living happens to be a complete lie? It was all too much to explain and understand in one single moment.

Yet, I still did it. But I had a whole lot of time to understand the world around me; to understand my real life. I was in the loop since the beginning. I knew what my real life was and I knew how others were to live out their own. I had time to process it all. And Tiana, well, she didn't.

I just threw all of this, her true history, love, and title all to her. And I had to do it again until everyone was in the loop. Every last one of us had to do everything to make our mission possible. Numbers helped to win a war but so did a strategy. Right now, we had nothing. Sure, we had numbers, but what can you do with an army if you had no tactics or strategy? You can't do anything without a plan.

We needed a plan. None of us girls could really come up with one. We weren't smart enough. Anything Matoka would give us with just didn't sound good enough. There was one girl who had experience with this and could do anything and right now, I just hoped someone had told her.

Mulan was unstoppable. I remember reading up on her and wow, she was one heck of a woman. She was practically an entire army in just one body; taking down the Huns all on her own. She was proof that anyone was capable of anything; that they could accomplish whatever they wanted as long as they tried. She empowered us girls to keep fighting and power through this.

So, in Mulan's honor, I will keep fighting. I will fight for my happiness. I will fight for my life. And I will fight for my people. But in order to win this fight, I needed help. The only other person who was in this fight as much as I was happened to be the tamed beast that held my heart. So, there I went.

I pulled back the knocker and let the sound ring out three times. Nothing. I knew he was in there, I could feel it. I could feel the connection and something told me he stood on the other side of this large, metal door, deciding whether or not to open it. It took everything for me to not run away. I loved him, I still do. I knew what he was like in our life before all this, but I still never ran away. So I won't run away now.

"Adam, I know you're in there. I can feel you right on the other side. Please, let me in, I need to talk to you."

My voice sounded hushed and I almost thought he wouldn't hear me. As I turned to walk away, the door opened and there he stood in all his beauty. "You remember," he spoke as if he had been running for miles.

I nodded my head under my cloak. "I remember everything. The ball. Our friends. Us. But I remember you the most. I remember how I fell in love with you and what it felt like. I―"

"―Miss it." he finished for me. "I miss it as well. Come inside, I don't want you to catch a cold."

I took a step inside the large, warm home and fell awestruck. The room around me was magnificent. It was just... beautiful. I couldn't describe it. It might have been the entrance room to the large building but still, it was perfectly crafted to make you feel at home as you walk in.

Adam's voice cut into my thoughts. "So, when did you start to remember?"

I took in his features once again. "A while now but it happened at Azel― Rapunzel's ―sleepover. We all woke up with dreams of our pasts while she woke up from the nightmare of her's. I still feel bad for her."

He nodded slowly. "Eugene might have seen the same thing too. I guess.... I think we had ours when you girls did and ever since, we began remembering more and more. We just never said anything and sort of thought of it as nothing. Then, when we had the meeting with Hercules and Meg, it all lined up."

"Oh." That was all I could say. Oh.

He thought nothing of it; he thought nothing of us. Never said anything about it. He didn't even care. It didn't matter to him. We didn't matter to him. How could he? In this world, we were nothing by kids who passed by each other in the halls. None of this mattered. I didn't matter...

"Hey," his voice cut in softly, "I know what you are thinking and it isn't like that. I love you, I really do, Belle. I just― it didn't make sense to me at the time. I didn't understand any of it. You and Cinderella had all the pieces while the guys and I just had a board. It was nice to know why I want to be with you every aching moment of my life, why I love you and feel the way I do. Once you enlightened me, I have never wanted to do this more in my life than I do now."

As he finished his sentence, confusion struck me. "I have never wanted to do this more in my life." What was that supposed to mean? Do what?

But before I could ask him, his lips softly touched mine. Butterflies filled my stomach and a gust of wind engulfed us. It was like magic. In that moment, everything came flooding back. Our lives, our happiness, and our... children? Flashes of big blue eyes and a small head of thick brown hair appeared in front of me. The memories of our kids came back to us.

"The kids," we said together.

"Adam, where are the kids? Are they okay? Do you think they killed them? What do―"

He wrapped me up in his arms. "Belle, love, stop. Hold on a moment." I waited a beat in his tense arms. He let out a sigh and relaxed. How could you relax at a time like this, Adam?! Our kids are somewhere out there without us!

He chuckled. "Love, they don't exist." I pushed myself from his arms

"What do you mean 'they don't exist', Adam? How could you say that? I just saw them!"

He pulled me back to him. "They don't exist now. You haven't given birth to them yet. We're still young, almost the same age as we have met before. In our real, past life, we have our first baby when you are about twenty. Don't worry, if they were in this world with us, we could feel them. Thankfully, they aren't."

I slapped him on the arm. "Do not ever wish our kids were never born!"

He put his hands up by his head. "I'm not saying I don't want them, I'm saying I'm happy they aren't here for this madness. I don't want you to be pregnant and have kids in this crazy world where Gaston is running around trying to hurt us. I want our children to be able to live their lives Gaston free. And well, evil free, too."

"Yup, I remember how you solved that in the first life." His eyes bore into me. "What? I'm just saying, you didn't have to kill him."

"I was just trying to protect you. Plus, if he didn't die the first time, then I wouldn't be standing here and you wouldn't be my beautiful wife." He pulled me in and gave me a small kiss before pushing me towards the door. "Now, it is getting late and I don't want Maurice to be worried that his little girl is off in the world lost and helpless."

"I am not helpless, you big tease. I am a strong, independent woman," I pouted.

He pecked my forehead. "That's not what the wolves told me. Now, get going," he deepened his voice, "Before I keep you as my prisoner."

I rolled my eyes at him. "It wasn't so bad being your prisoner, Beast, it was quite... Charming. Fine, I'm going! Bye!"

"Goodbye, my beauty."

I smiled walking to my car. This day turned out for the better. I went to open my car when someone cleared their throat.

"Belle." Uh-oh. "We need to talk," they demanded. 

🔽🔼🔽

► They have kids?!? Oh my glob! Didn't see that coming! Well, I did since I wrote it and all. ◄

► Who do you think wants to talk to Bella/Belle? Leave a comment with your theories. ◄