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“The summer’s wild, but I’ve been waiting for you, all this time, I adore you. Can’t you see? You’re meant for me”
In the pitch-dark night, standing on the solid wall of the magnificent, complicated-designed castle, Gaston speaks with pride and anger whiles he smirks at the Beast. His voice is deep, but he speaks it loudly:
“Hello, Beast!”
The Beast sitting on the edge of the castle wall doesn’t even bother to turn around, which pisses Gaston off a little bit. He doesn’t want to attack him from behind, what’s the fun of that? Nevertheless, he takes out his gun and shoots at the Beast at the hip. The might Beast roars in pain, collapses and falls down along the roof to a lower story level.
Without hesitation, Gaston jumps down. He intends to shoot the Beast once more, but he decides to play with his “prey” for a moment…
“What’s the matter? Heartbroken because Belle left you?’, Gaston smirks bumptiously.
“No”, the Beast manages to stand on two feet despite the pain, “If you love Belle that much, then take care of her. I’m not in your way…”
“Wait… What are you saying?”, Gaston holds his attack in confusion.
“Belle is not the one I’m looking for…”, the Beast turns to look at Gaston with saddened eyes.
“What do you mean? Isn’t that why you had her in your castle, gave her a ball gown, and everything else?”. Gaston still holds his gun at the Beast.
“It was my servants’ idea... Not mine… I had her as my prisoner but I was going to let her free anyway, not to charm her… I had some affections for her but we never fell in love. She couldn’t love me because she was not free and she worried about her father… But I… I couldn’t love her because…”
“Because what?! Keep talking!”, Gaston shouts.
“Because… I cannot love any girls!”, the Beast screams, holds his wound in pain.
“What? What do you mean?”, Gaston lowers his gun, stepping close to the Beast.
“I only love men…I’m not straight... I’m not bisexual… I’m gay… And there was a man whom I loved years ago… But I left him… But I never stopped thinking about him…”
Gaston stays in silence… Something is coming back to his mind…
“You say you used to be in love with another man?”, Gaston asks.
“Yes?”
“What was his name?”
“I don’t remember… It’s been bothering me for years… I love him so much…”, the Beast starts to slightly sob.
“Then what is your name, Beast?”, Gaston looks directly into those charming eyes.
“Adam. Prince Adam.”
Gaston immediately drops his weapon and says under his breath: “Adam?”
“Yes?”, the Beast frowns while holding back his bleeding wound.
“You really are Adam!”, Gaston bursts into tears and runs forward to embrace the Beast. Something is also kicking in the Beast’s mind…
“Gaston?”, the Beast murmurs.
“Yes, here I am now. You don’t know how much I miss you”. There are tears in their eyes, memories are coming back to them. Gaston cups the Beast’s face gently, “What happened to you?”.
But before the Beast can answer, he collapses due to the wound.
“No, Adam! I’m so sorry! Adam! Adam! Stay with me!”, Gaston panics, starts holding the Beast in his arms and sobbing.
“It’s alright… I’m not mad at you… You’re in love… Please treat Belle with all your love”, Adam looks into Gaston’s eyes warmly.
“No! Adam! She’s not the one I’m looking for”, Gaston takes Adam’s hand and holds it tightly.
“What are you saying?”
“When I did not remember you… I was feeling empty and lost, so I was looking for some way to fill my emptiness but no one could… Then Belle showed up, she was really like you. She was always the center of attention of the whole town, but she did not care what the other villagers thought… She was mysterious and class just like you… Though she is a girl, those characters of hers reminded me of you… I could tell but I could not love her, I just wanted her to put an end to all my emptiness inside… I did not feel love for years and I did not know what to do… That’s why I was so aggressive, that’s why I attacked you… I’m so sorry…”
“I’m glad I know how you feel for me. I was having the same emptiness like you, Belle reminded of you because she always stood out of the crowd, she was headstrong and confident… Just like you always were… I did not think I could fall in love with her, but my servants believed she could help me lift the curse on me”, Adam takes Gaston hand currently in his palm to place on his chest.
“What curse? Who made you like this?”, Gaston runs his other hand through the hair on Adam’s beastly face.
“It was an enchantress… She disguised as an old hag and asked me for a place to stay but I refused and told her off… Then she turned me into this form and everyone in my castle into household objects… She told me I was narcissistic, arrogant with no love in my heart…”
“That wasn’t true… It was me who was narcissistic and arrogant… I had feelings for you… But I left you for the war because I was craving the honor of the soldiers, because I wanted to show everyone how great I was, to be with a prince… It should have been me”, Gaston cries.
“No. It was right to be me… I was so arrogant because of my wealthiness, I was narcissistic because of my royalty. I wanted everyone to pay attention to me like they did to you… Because don’t you know how much I adore a strong and famous like you…”
“You do?”
“Yes. You were famous even before you left for the war. And when you left, I threw parties on and on to brag that I was just confident like you… I always heard the war would supposedly end in the summer… And I partied even harder so when you came back you would know how cool I was… But I guess that was just jealousy… And all the wild summers passed, I was still waiting for you… And in this July, you are finally here…”
“And I’m not going anywhere anymore… I did not know we were so alike…”, Gaston holds Adam’s hand more tightly.
“I’m meant for you and you’re meant for me, can’t you see? I still love you even if I have to die after this?”
“No, you don’t… Stay strong!”
“Now all the summers were made cold by her with her everlasting winter… I could not feel it hot like when we used to hang out in the village… I was so wrong to not tell you how much I loved you.”
“So was I… I’m sorry, Adam. If I had, none of this would have happened?
“No… Don’t blame yourself…”, then Adam aches heavily once more and he feels that his time is up., “Gaston, I love you”, then he shuts his eyes and lets it go.
“I love you, too”, Gaston bursts harder into tears, holding Adam really tight and then kisses him on his forehead to say goodbye, then finally pins his head into Adam’s wide chest and cry…
Belle makes it into where they are, holding the glass containing the rose with its last petal just fell off. It was too late, she cries to see the Beast dead, despite her surprise to see Gaston holding his hand and crying on his chest.
The enchantress, Agathe, walks in, she looks at the rose and asks Belle “Do you love him?”
Belle hesitated, “As a friend.”
Agathe smiles and casts her magic on the dead enchanted rose. Shiny gold glitter appears, reviving the rose and travels to the lying beast, carries him up in the air, bring him alive and turns him into the charming prince again. Gaston is in awe, astonished by the magical scene. The sun rises, beautiful and peaceful atmosphere takes place for the gloomy one before. After the transformation finishes, Adam looks at his human body in shock and turns to look at Gaston.
“Adam?”, Gaston says in overjoy.
“Yes, I am, Gaston”, Adam grins.
They burst into tears and run to hold and kiss each other.
“I could not remember what you looked like. Now I do”, Gaston says
“Thank you for lifting my curse”, Adam smiles.
“How?”, Gaston asks.
“Only true love could”, the enchantress says, “You love him and he loves you. Your love broke my spell. Congratulations”, she smiles.
They smile in happiness. Then Gaston asks the Enchantress: “Why did you curse him? Why not me?”
“Because you would be a specific image of him if he hadn’t changed… I had to fight fire with fire.”
“Thank you. It took years but thanks to your curse, we are finally together again”, Adam says, “I am also sorry for what I’ve done…”
Gaston interrupts, “No. It should be me that needs to apologize. I did terrible things. I treated Belle’s father horribly, I was possessive to her, I shot the man I love…”
“Yes, you did”, the enchantress cuts in, “but I guess you already learned you lesson. You should be thankful that love have guided you, both of you. It was strong enough to weaken the memory-wipe spell I cast on this land. Your love is stronger than anything I have seen, and that’s why what you two have done is forgivable…”
“Well thank you”, Adam smiles, “and we have to thank Belle for bringing us together, too. If it hadn’t been for you, we would not have the chance to see each other again…"
Belle smiles in pride. Gaston looks at Belle “Uhm… Belle, is it me for I really heard you said you loved Adam just as a friend?”
Belle chuckles, “Relax, Gaston. I’m not stealing your boyfriend. I saw something nice in him, after all the kind things he had done to me. But after the ball dance, I knew there was something not right. He told me he could not love me despite everything he had tried, and that was the reason why he let me go. He let me see my father because he said that was the last thing a friend could do because his time was running out fast and he lost hope in lifting the curse.”
“Oh”, Gaston replies in funny way, “Then you are welcome to our wedding soon”, he jokes.
“Don’t get too excited”, Adam says with a chuckle.
“Kiss me again”, Gaston says.
“My pleasure”.
Everyone else including Adam’s servants who have turned back into humans and villagers who have taken back their memories can see the beautiful and romantic scene from the ground and they all cheer for the couple. Even LeFou, who used to have a secret crush on Gaston even cheers for them, because he has found his true love, Stanley.
The next day, Adam holds a ball to celebrate the special event. He has Belle, his lovely friend, LeFou, Stanley, Belle’s father and everyone else join. He even has the enchantress attend, and he even convinced her to bless them for their marriage. But the main reason for this is to have the dance with the man he loves, whom he never had the chance with before.
“Our first dance together’, Adam says to Gaston while guiding him through the moves.
“We’re doing fine, I guess”, Gaston smiles.
“So how do think about my new look?”, Adam asks.
“I love you no matter what. How do you think about growing a beard”, Gaston jokes.
Adam just grins and makes a growl.
They laugh. But then Gaston trips and falls, but Adam manages to catch him in the dipping position. Everyone around stops to look at them.
“Thank you, my savior”, Gaston jokes again.
“You’re welcome, everyone’s looking.”
“Let them look.”
“I love your confidence”
“I love yours, too.”
“You’re so meant for me”
“Who else could I be meant for?”
“I love you, Gaston.”
“I love you, too”.
THE END.