Birthday pt.2

He jumped and turned around, blocking the view of the cake as he said "Angel!" Zerotwo said sadly "Where did you go? Nana said she never messaged you."

Hiro said quickly "Because I didn't go to Nana. I went to do something else. Sit down." Zerotwo pouted and sat down, Hiro clapped and closed the lights. Zerotwo looked around saying "Darling?" Hiro took out the cake and brought it in front of her.

Zerotwo was dazed and looked at the 'Happy Birthday Zerotwo' on the cake. Her nose felt stuffy and her eyes teared up. Hiro said gently "You don't have a birthday, so I though today would be your birthday. Every year we'll celebrate on the same day with cake and gifts. En. Blow out the candles and make a wish."

Zerotwo cried and blew out the candles, Hiro clapped the lights on and Zerotwo sniffed, crying her eyes out. Hiro was stunned and wiped her tears quickly saying with pain "Do you not like it? I'm sorry, I-" she slapped his hands away and kissed him deeply.

She pulled away and said through sobs "Y-You s-snuck a-away to me m-me a cake?" Hiro nodded gently and she cried even harder, sobbing "I'm just a monster... Why?" she covered her eyes and cried while running away.

Hiro was stunned and sighed before taking out the candles and throwing them in the garbage. He sent the cake to the system space and left after her, having a feel where she went.

He came to the roof and saw her lonely figure, bathed in moonlight, crying on the edge of the roof. He walked over and sat behind her, pulling her into his embrace as he said softly "You're not a monster." She shouted through tears "I am! Look at me! Who else do you know has horns?!"

Hiro rested his chin on her head and hugged her as he said "Nobody." She cried "See!?" Hiro added "I don't see how that makes you a monster. You're beautiful. Everything about you is wonderful." he shook his head and continued "I got you a gift." as he grabbed a wrapped gift out of thin air.

He put it in her hands and said "Go on, open it." she sniffled and tore the wrapping gently, revealing the finished 'The Beast and the Prince' book. She was dazed and her hands trembled holding onto the book.

Hiro kissed her head and said "Do you want me to read it to you?" she didn't respond and opened the book before freezing at the paragraph written

'To my dearest Angel. You light up my world and bring color to my life. Without you, I don't know where I would be. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my Angel you'll be. -Your Darling'

Zerotwo cried rivers of tears from her face. They wouldn't stop, he hands couldn't stop shaking, suddenly, big hands covered hers and stopped them from shaking.

Hiro rested his chin on her shoulder and touched his cheek with hers as he said "As long as I'm here, nobody can hurt you anymore. You're not a monster, you're my Angel." she shook and kept crying, Hiro held her hands and turned the page as he started reading out loud.

"In the deepest, darkest part of a forest lived a tribe, hidden from all. They had large wings on their backs and were beautiful, but they were what would be called beasts. Among them was their princess, who had huge, ashen wings. Their law said that once one turned sixteen, they would be allowed to fly outside the forest.

And on her sixteenth birthday, the princess took flight to the world beyond the forest. She crossed the steep mountains and the surging rivers and reached a world of humans. The moon shone brightly in the sky.

She landed in a castle garden, where she found a young man gazing up at the moon. The princess hid in the bushes and stared at the young man, and for the first time, love bloomed in her heart. But he was clearly of a different race. A beast and a human could never be together.

And so, the princess went to see a witch who lived in the same forest and said, "I want to live as a human. I want to be united with him." The witch replied like so: "I can help you if you offer me your wings. But keep this in mind. No matter how you disguise yourself, you are a beast, and you will consume the prince's life one day."

The princess ripped off her wings and was assaulted by pain far more intense than she had ever felt. She could never fly again.

Even so, she smiled happily, with tears of joy streaming down her face. "I'm human! I'm human! I'm the same as him now!

The princess once again set out for the land of humans, this time on foot. In the desert, she spotted a group of people. "Oh no! Is there anyone who can save him?!" There lay a young man, his leg bitten by a snake. The princess rushed to his side and sucked the venom out from his wound. "Thank you, o brave lady. I am the prince of these lands." It was the same young man she had met in the castle. "I owe my life to you. Please marry me."

A wedding ceremony was held soon after. The priest asked the princess, clad in a wedding dress of pure white, "Do you vow to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do." The two exchanged rings, and when the priest said so, they sealed their vows with a kiss. And cheers rang out across the land. "Bless the brave girl who saved our prince's life!" The whole kingdom celebrated their marriage.

"Humans! Humans! They have neither the wings to fly nor the claws or fangs to hunt. Such weak and frail creatures, but they are so, so warm. Humans are wonderful!"

After the wedding, she lived happily as the princess of a human land. She supported the prince in his work, traveled the world, and saw oceans studded with glints of sapphire, sparkling grasslands, and auroras that swayed like raging flames.

The princess took the prince's hand and said to him with a smile on her face, "Grab on to me and never let go, Darling."

But the princess's happiness was short-lived.

She woke up one night to a pain that threatened to rend her asunder and found her body turning into one of a beast. "Why? I asked you to make me human!" On her back were jet-black wings, tearing through her flesh and skin to spread. "Using magic comes at a price. You've attained plenty of happiness as a human. Now, it is time for you to lose yourself and turn into an ugly monster," the witch of the forest whispered to her. "However, if you kill the person you love most, you will be freed of your curse and return to the beast you originally were."

The princess gazed at her beloved prince as her claws reached for his throat. She loved him more than anything and anyone, but the desire to rip his neck apart welled up inside her. As she desperately tried to clench her fist and stop herself, her claws dug into her skin, and blood started gushing out.

"If I kill the prince, I will be freed of this curse..." With tears streaming down her face, she kissed the prince on the cheek.

When the prince awoke, the princess was no longer beside him. Instead, the bed was covered in jet-black feathers.

He immediately left the castle and searched far and wide, looking for the princess. Finally he came to the witch and begged her to make him a beast and find the princess. The witch agreed saying "For your soul." to the prince this was a simple price to pay.

He traded his soul to the witch, who gave him the princess' first pair of wings. He had become a beast, just like her! The witch told him where the princess was and the prince flew away, spreading his ashen wings across the sky, no longer the prince of a kingdom, but a Darling looking for his Angel.

He found the princess, who was shocked to see the prince become just like her. He held onto her and never let go as they flew into the sky, together, living out the rest of their lives together happily.

The End"

Hiro closed the book and Zerotwo leaned her head against his, he kissed her tear-stained cheek and said "I love you, Zerotwo. Happy birthday." Zerotwo cried "I love you too... Please don't leave me alone again." she kissed his lips and hugged the book tightly to her chest, their lips separated and he said "Never again."

He took out the cake and smiled, Zerotwo sniffed and wiped her puffy red eyes, they turned to happy crescents and she gave him a beautiful smile as she nodded. He smiled and they ate cake together under the moonlight, leaning on each other, wiping their loneliness away.