Alastor and Charlotte would have loved nothing more than to hug and kiss each other for all eternity but then reason insisted that emotion take a back seat for a moment which caused the couple to break apart and wonder of the circumstances of what just happened.
"Alastor I know that it's you." Charlotte assured him. "There's no doubt in my mind now but how? Why do you look like this?"
"I honestly don't know." Looked at his reflection again in the nearest glass he could find. "For a moment I thought I had to be hallucinating but you can see me like this so obviously this is real. Also my injury is gone. That shouldn't have happened."
"I thought you were a better healer than most?"
"I am but not against iron."
"Why iron?"
"Well here's some interesting information about myself that I neglected to tell you. I was born with a human body and soul but fairy blood flows through my veins and fairy skin covers my bones. Fairies are vulnerable to iron and that blade I was stabbed with was made of iron."
"Wait you have fairy flesh and blood? How?"
"It's a long story and I'll tell you later but for now I need to figure out what's transpired here. I should be dead Charlotte. Dead and in my old body. It doesn't make any sense. Just what the devil happened to me?"
"I believe I can answer that." A third voice replied.
Just as the sun was rising over the horizon, a familiar red-haired and green-eyed woman stepped forth from the shadows.
"Well look at you." She said taking in Alastor's new appearance. "You're almost the spitting image of your father but that hair, that nose, those cheeks, and that mouth are identical to your mother's. And you've always had her smile."
"You?" Charlotte said, her tone skeptical. So many months since she had last seen this female but she remembered her from her dreams.
"You!" Alastor said with bitterness. He remembered her from somewhere too but it wasn't under pleasant circumstances.
Alastor grabbed Charlotte and pulled her behind him, trying to shelter her from the woman's gaze. His hand then made a grab for the discarded iron dagger which he held up defensively.
"You have exactly five seconds to get out of here and if you come one step closer I'll-"
"Oh put that away you before you hurt yourself with it again." The woman said unafraid. "I thought Marie raised you better than that. Threatening me with a weapon. Now is that anyway to treat your family?"
"Family?" Charlotte said confused.
"You have a funny definition of family Aunt Rosie." Alastor said.
"Aunt Rosie?" Charlotte said.
"What are you doing here?" Alastor asked.
"Calm down, I come in peace."
"That's a first."
"Alastor who is this woman?" Charlotte asked.
"I much prefer to do my own introductions." Rosie said. "I'm his Aunt Rosie."
"She's my mother's older sister." Alastor said. "She's also one of the two witches that made my life a living Hell. Which reminds me, where's the other she-devil?"
"She's right here." Rosie said producing a rat trap from behind her back. Inside was by far the ugliest rodent that ever existed. "Say hello to our nephew sister dear, doesn't he look divine?"
"Aunt Katie?" Alastor looking at the rat which hissed and tried to bite at him. "Yep that's her alright. Interesting new look, I must say it's quite an improvement."
The rat hissed again.
"Aunt Rosie what's going on here?" Alastor asked.
"Well you and your lady love better take a seat because my explanation for all of this is dreadfully long and complicated."
So Rosie told them the whole story. How Marie fell in love and married a human prince, she and Katie had killed Etienne and cursed Alastor to be born as a beast, how to break the curse and how since then both fairy sisters had been somewhat interfering with the events regarding the curse.
"The curse could only be broken if Alastor fell in love with a woman and she returned his love." Rosie elaborated. "But it couldn't be just any woman. She had to be a true beauty, one with a beautiful face and a beautiful heart, Katie was so sure that no such creature existed but Charlotte is living proof that she was wrong. All that was needed was for you two to fall in love, confess your love, and seal it with a kiss. Then all damage that myself and Katie caused would be undone. Within reason of course."
"Is that why my wound healed also?" Alastor asked.
"Yes. Every sort of harm that happened because of mine and Katie's interference has been undone. Which reminds me, I have a gift for you. It's your father's castle and kingdom, both have been completely restored. You'll be able to take your rightful place as a royal monarch."
But Alastor was not pleased by these news.
"Thank you but that's not what I want restored to me. I want my mother back." He said. "Can you undo that? Or maybe you can bring back the father I never knew."
Rosie sighed, her face so remorseful and ashamed.
"I'm sorry but nothing can raise the dead. Breaking the curse only restores things within reason."
"I was dead! And I was brought back to life!"
"Technically you weren't dead yet. Your body did stop working but your soul had not ascended."
"Then your wasting your time trying to earn my forgiveness."
"I know how you feel about me Alastor and you have every right to have those feelings. What I did to you was horrible and there's no excuse for it. But I want you to know that I do regret it. For twenty-three years I have felt nothing but guilt and remorse for what I put you through. For what I put your mother through. I even regret killing your father. You have no idea how much I wish that I could take it all back."
"You know what I want to know is why did you do it in the first place? How could you even do it? You knew how much mother loved you and I wasn't even born yet so what the hell did we do to deserve what you did?"
"Nothing. You did nothing and I...I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought that your father had forced your mother into the marriage, that she had been brainwashed or something. I only wanted to snap her out of what I thought was a state of insanity."
"Well you were wrong!"
"I know I was wrong! I'm a terrible woman! I should burn in hell for my actions! I ruined my sister's life and I forced you to grow up in torment! I don't expect you to forgive me for this!"
She was on her knees and fighting back tears. She almost let one fall but she willed it to stay and recomposed herself.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. But I hope that you can understand that I didn't do it to be cruel. I hope that you can understand that I loved Marie and that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her. And I know you hate me Alastor but I hate myself more than you can ever imagine."
Alastor wanted to hate her. He hated her for years. From the very moment he understood who she was and what she had done. But seeing Rosie abandon her pride, reduce herself to apologizing and admitting her wrong-doing to a human, seeing the self-hate in her face, he just couldn't hate her anymore. He couldn't because it reminded him of himself.
"I don't hate you Aunt Roise." He confessed. "Not anymore. But I don't know if I can forgive you now. When I look at you I can only think about all the pain my mother and I suffered with. Feelings like that don't just go away."
"I know. I didn't expect them to."
"But I understand your reasons." His voice was softer now. "I know that you tried to give me a fair chance at breaking the curse and I can tell that you are remorseful for what you've done. So forgiveness is possible in the future."
"I do hope that things can be civil between us and I'll leave you alone until you summon me but may I do one last thing before I go?"
"What?"
"I kind of owe your servants a favor."
That's when Alastor finally remembered them. With everything that had happened, he almost forgot all about them. He realized that he hadn't seen or heard from them in hours.
"Where are they?" He said looking around. "Niffty! Anthony! Vagatha! Husk! Cherri!"
"They're here."
Rosie snapped his fingers and the five animals appeared.
"Oh my God! No!" Alastor immediately bent down to them and quickly grabbed the mouse before the cat could eat it.
"What's happened to them?" Charlotte asked carefully picking up the spider and moth.
"They reverted back to their original forms." Rosie said.
"Can you change them back?" Charlotte said.
"No but I can give them something better. You see when you do a good deed for a fairy or a fairy's child, you're given a wish. These creatures took care of you Alastor so they've earned the right to have their greatest wish granted."
Rosie waved her hand over the animals, in a swirl of light and color, one by one they began to transform.
First the spider was changed into a tall, thin, dashing, young man in a suit with blonde hair, and freckled skin. Second the moth turned into a slender, attractive, olive-skinned brunette with hazel eyes and a fitting dress. Both were a little disoriented as their animal urges faded and their minds became human like again. When they saw each other their memories were instantly returned and although they looked different, they would know each other any time and in any form.
"Anthony?" The woman inquired.
"Vagatha?" The man guessed.
Overcome with emotion, the lovers tearfully embraced one another and kissed breathlessly.
Third came the mouse who took the form of a petite but busty little lady with short red hair and a sweet face. Fourth was the cat who turned into a gruff, rugged man who was sporting a few whiskers on his new prominent chin. And last was the lizard that morphed into a fine-figured, strawberry blonde. Like the first two, they were slightly dizzy from the sudden change but they became used to it very quickly and once they saw what they had become, they were torn between feeling happy and feeling disbelief.
"Wake up." Husk said slapping his face when he saw his reflection. "Wake up! Wake up!"
But it appeared that he was awake and in the world of reality. He looked at Niffy and Cherri stunned.
"This is a dream right?"
"Must be." Niffty said looking at her own reflection. Tears of joy were forming in her eyes and she turned to hug him and Cherri. "But happy."
"Very damn happy!" Cherri said getting teary eyed as well.
Alastor grinned at his faithful servants. He turned briefly from Charlotte and embraced them. They returned the embrace and let out screams of indescribable happiness.
"It's a miracle!" Anthony rejoiced.
"And it's all thanks to her!" Vagatha said, leading everyone to look upon Charlotte with gratitude. "You saved us. Thank you."
"You're welcome but I didn't really do anything." Charlotte replied.
"Yes you did." Alastor re-approaching her. "You saved my life. You rescued me from a world of darkness, blood, and misery. If it weren't for you I would have never learned to be happy again. I would have never learned to love again. And this may not be the right time or place to do this but if I don't do it now I'll probably never do it."
"Do what?"
"What I wanted to do the last night we were together."
He gently took both her hands into his own and kneeled down on one knee.
"Charlotte my dear, you've become the most important person in my life. More important than myself in fact, like how a rose cannot grow without the warmth of the sun, that is how much I cannot bare to be separated from you for more than a day." He professed. "For you are the sunlight which keeps my shadows at bay. For so long I have had the exterior of a beast but you saw me as the man I was within, which is why I love you so. I've spent my life guarding and deluding my heart as though I had none and yet you have broken those barriers and touched my heart with your goodness. It's you who I love above all things in my life and your existence is what matters to me the most in this world, will you marry me?"
At first Charlotte was completely speechless. Silenced by awe and joy. It all seemed too good to be true. Dear lord if this was a dream, she hoped that she would never wake.
"Yes." She nodded with happy tears. "Yes. I will."
She threw herself into his arms and once again kissed him passionately, deciding once and for all that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him.