(no subject)
She cried out his name and he turns, seeing her hands and brilliant eyes reach for him, plead with him.
"Beauty!"
The shingles are slick with rain, but it matters not as his claws dig into the wood. All that matters is reaching her. "Beauty?" He raises a paw, gently stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "You came back!"
She smiles, about to say something, but then all is pain, sharp cold pain, as a blade slides between his ribs. The world dissolves in a roar and then he starts to slip, clawing at the wet stone. Somewhere, through a fog that is beginning to creep around his senses, he feels the man behind him slip, and hears the undignified scream as a coward falls.
He doesn't care anymore about that, though. He never particularly did. The cold is starting to penetrate his thick coat and the rain is mixing with the blood slicking his fur.
Small, dainty hands grab his cape and somehow keep him from falling. Somehow, they pull him forward, helping him over the rail onto the balcony; onto the balcony where he could lay on the cool stone where the rain gathers in puddles that run together and sent little rivulets in search of an escape path.
"You came back," he gasps, still not quite sure he can believe that she is really there. But no, she's there. His Beauty. Her hand is in his paw and she's staring at him with those gorgeous hazel eyes, bright and multi-coloured.
"Of course I came back. I couldn't let them..." She sobs, tears mixing with the rain.
The little rivers on the stone are beginning to streak with red.
"Oh this is all my fault. If only I'd gotten here sooner," she whimpers against his shoulder. He coughs weakly, trying to smile a little at her.
"Maybe it's better this way." She wouldn't want to live with a Beast; couldn't love a Beast. Could she? He wants to believe it. But after so long...
Her hand comes and strokes his face tenderly as she tries her best to smile. "Don't talk like that. You'll be all right. We're together now. Everything's going to be fine. You'll see." He can't hear her voice breaking as she speaks; he barely hears the words at all. Everything is so hard to make distinct. The grey fog surrounds her face and muffles her words and wraps around him and it's making him cold, so cold.
"At least I got to see you one..." The pain, it's like being stabbed again. It lanced through his side, causing a gasp to grab his throat. "Last...time." He wants to touch her face. To feel the softness one last time. Her hand is pulling his up, pressing it against her cheek. So soft, like velvet. Like rose petals.
His beloved roses.
He will never get to walk through them again. He will never smell them again. Never enjoy their fragrant beauty, their soft-yet-bright colours, their thorns, even.
The fog obscures the last of his vision, taking the last shred of heat away, and he sinks back, hand slipping out of Beauty's and falling against the stone.
She cries, pulling her hand away in shock and raising it to her mouth, open and hurt and whimpering.
"No, no! Please! Please!" She leans forward, sobbing into his fur. "Please don't leave me!" she begs.
"I love you."
But it is too late. The last rose petal has fallen already. It fell minutes ago, as the Beast was climbing to his Beauty.
When the mob finally makes it to the balcony, all they see is a gorgeous, heart-broken young woman sobbing over the body of a hideous beast, and they cannot understand why.
"Beauty!"
The shingles are slick with rain, but it matters not as his claws dig into the wood. All that matters is reaching her. "Beauty?" He raises a paw, gently stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "You came back!"
She smiles, about to say something, but then all is pain, sharp cold pain, as a blade slides between his ribs. The world dissolves in a roar and then he starts to slip, clawing at the wet stone. Somewhere, through a fog that is beginning to creep around his senses, he feels the man behind him slip, and hears the undignified scream as a coward falls.
He doesn't care anymore about that, though. He never particularly did. The cold is starting to penetrate his thick coat and the rain is mixing with the blood slicking his fur.
Small, dainty hands grab his cape and somehow keep him from falling. Somehow, they pull him forward, helping him over the rail onto the balcony; onto the balcony where he could lay on the cool stone where the rain gathers in puddles that run together and sent little rivulets in search of an escape path.
"You came back," he gasps, still not quite sure he can believe that she is really there. But no, she's there. His Beauty. Her hand is in his paw and she's staring at him with those gorgeous hazel eyes, bright and multi-coloured.
"Of course I came back. I couldn't let them..." She sobs, tears mixing with the rain.
The little rivers on the stone are beginning to streak with red.
"Oh this is all my fault. If only I'd gotten here sooner," she whimpers against his shoulder. He coughs weakly, trying to smile a little at her.
"Maybe it's better this way." She wouldn't want to live with a Beast; couldn't love a Beast. Could she? He wants to believe it. But after so long...
Her hand comes and strokes his face tenderly as she tries her best to smile. "Don't talk like that. You'll be all right. We're together now. Everything's going to be fine. You'll see." He can't hear her voice breaking as she speaks; he barely hears the words at all. Everything is so hard to make distinct. The grey fog surrounds her face and muffles her words and wraps around him and it's making him cold, so cold.
"At least I got to see you one..." The pain, it's like being stabbed again. It lanced through his side, causing a gasp to grab his throat. "Last...time." He wants to touch her face. To feel the softness one last time. Her hand is pulling his up, pressing it against her cheek. So soft, like velvet. Like rose petals.
His beloved roses.
He will never get to walk through them again. He will never smell them again. Never enjoy their fragrant beauty, their soft-yet-bright colours, their thorns, even.
The fog obscures the last of his vision, taking the last shred of heat away, and he sinks back, hand slipping out of Beauty's and falling against the stone.
She cries, pulling her hand away in shock and raising it to her mouth, open and hurt and whimpering.
"No, no! Please! Please!" She leans forward, sobbing into his fur. "Please don't leave me!" she begs.
"I love you."
But it is too late. The last rose petal has fallen already. It fell minutes ago, as the Beast was climbing to his Beauty.
When the mob finally makes it to the balcony, all they see is a gorgeous, heart-broken young woman sobbing over the body of a hideous beast, and they cannot understand why.