Steel Roses

The Death Of The Beast

Beldon knelt there, just watching The Beast's chest, waiting for him to take another breath. He started trembling. "Wait," he whispered, gripping his hand tighter. "Wait, wake up... wake up." He shook him. "Wake up. You can't leave. Not yet, the curse isn't fixed..." 

His eyes spun to look at The Beast's still face. He stared, leaning forwards, pushing his hair from his eyes. "Beast?" he whispered, resting a hand on his chest, feeling for that heartbeat that he had felt when they had danced together.

It wasn't there.

"Beast," he gasped, his eyes stinging, his throat choking. "Please wake up.... please... don't stop speaking to me..."

But this time The Beast didn't answer. This time he didn't ask what Beldon was doing or if he was alright. Didn't even give him a look.

Beldon let out a scream, tears streaming down his face as he stared, eyes painfully wide. His voice cracked as he wailed, pressing his face to The Beast's chest, pulling him tight against him.

"Beast!" he screamed, "Don't! You can't! WAKE UP! PLEASE!"

He cried. Cried and cried. He barely registered his brothers pulling him away from The Beast as Christian and Jean gently lifted the body from the floor, placing it on the bed just as Julius and Iago raced in with Jasper. He just screamed and cried, reaching for The Beast as he was pulled away, back out onto the balcony, not caring about the rain.

"Wake up!" he cried, "Please, Beast! Please!" He pressed his hand to his face, his knees collapsing under him. "Oh God, please," he sobbed.

Hands gently rested on his head and back, stroking his hair, soothing his muscles that were wound so tight they throbbed.

"I'm sorry, Beldon."

Beldon's eyes snapped open and his body started tremble as he stared at what knelt in front of him.

Someone in a dress.

A black dress.

His eyes snapped up and Vanessa looked down at him, her eyes heartbroken. But she knelt before him, not inside a mirror, but there as a real living breathing human being who he could touch and who could sooth him.

He scrambled backwards, his back hitting the stone railing, staring at her, terror in his eyes.

Then his eyes flicked past to see Jasper, and the cat began to change before his eyes. A glow surrounded him as he stepped onto his hind legs, and he began to grow, and when the glow faded, a man stood there, portly in figure, glasses on his nose and a face that would usually be unimpressed but now just gazed into the bedroom, a sheen over his eyes.

He looked at Julius.

"Don't," he whispered as Julius stepped out into the rain, slowly reaching up and undoing the strings that held his mask in place. "Please don't," he sobbed.

Julius pulled his mask away, revealing a young man of his age, with gorgeous amber eyes that were filled with tears. "Oh Beldon," he gasped, his body trembling, looking back into the bedroom, then down at his mask. It fell from his hands and he backed away from it like it was a snake, his hands flying to his mouth, tears spilling down his cheeks.

A new wave of tears hit Beldon as Iago walked towards him, the darkness around him simply blowing away with the wind, leaving a man with dark skin and electric black eyes that were as calm and controlled as Beldon had always imagined them. His long black hair was instantly soaked as he knelt beside Beldon, then bowed his head.

"Time... time to come in from the rain, Master Beldon," he said softly and Beldon put his hands to his face and screamed, his head falling back, feeling snow mix with the rain around them as both fell, the snow blanketing the castle.