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That winter had truly been epic as Crystal Winter had said, Daring Charming contemplated.
He was sitting on one of the benches that had been pulled aside in the cafeteria, as the room had been prepped for skating that day. A snow day that the Princess of Winter had prepared for them. A celebration.
And it really was a day for celebration, as the King and Queen of Winter had been cured, Fabel got away from the debt, and Daring would not be enslaved for 200 years. He’d also changed from a beast back to a human. Everything should be perfect.
He wondered if he should join his friends in skating,instead of sitting alone and just watching. They all looked like they were having fun. He didn’t have time to make a decision when Rosabella Beauty sat down next to him.
“Why are you over here all alone?” she wondered, watching the others as well.
“Thinking,” he answered, and the princess looked over at him. He dared himself to meet her eyes and answer at her unwavering curiosity. Of course she would be, daughter of Belle and everything. “For all my life I’ve known, thought, that I was Apple’s prince Charming. That I’d save her from an eternal sleep. I’ve been told what my destiny is, and yet I couldn’t wake her. I’m not her prince. We don’t share a story. We don’t share a destiny”
Rosabella turned to face the skaters again, a smile playing at her lips.
“Seems everyone has thought wrong, then. She still has her Charming, but I don’t think she has realised it yet”
“I know. Who’d have thought? My sister being the prince, or I suppose, princess in the story of Apple White,” Daring laughed, though it quickly calmed to a light chuckle. “But ever since my sister woke up my princess, I have been thinking. If I don’t share a destiny with Apple, if I am not the prince of that story, what is my destiny? I’m sure it said in the Storybook of Legends, the real one, anyways. But it’s not like there exists a physical copy anymore. And then… Suddenly I wasn’t sure of anything… I wasn’t myself anymore”
“You weren’t yourself anymore? Isn’t that a little dramatic?” Rosabella wondered, eyes following Duchess Swan as the girl spun around on the ice, competing with Justine Dancer.
“No, I don’t think so. I’ve changed after being a beast, you know that better than anyone,” Daring turned to face Rosabella, who turned herself. He gripped her hands, smiling down at her, although his nervousness kept peeking through. “Rosabella, I think I might have found my destiny after all. I was never meant to be the prince who woke his princess, I was meant to be changed. I think I’m your prince, Rosabella, I think we share a story. And I think I want that. That is, if you want us to? As the book was shelved, we could change it, do something else, but…”
Rosabella stared at him with big, beautiful eyes, and all words died in his throat. Then, she smiled, lifting a hand to rest on his cheek. He leaned into it subconsciously, closing his eyes and opening them to the softest and most beautiful smile he had ever seen.
“I would never dream of changing it. I think you’re right, and I’d be happy to share a story with you, Daring,” she whispered gently. “Welcome to the Beauty and the Beast, I suppose”
“With the beauty being me, of course”
“Will you ever change?”
“...yeah, I think I will”