Author's note: hey guyssss ;p this is my first phanfic, and actually my first fanfic ever. What you think is incredibly important to me, I would love suggestions and criticism. Trust me, I need all the help I can get! This is based off of the movie, with a few timeline and other liberties taken by yours truly. As you probably knew, I dont own POTO, Erik, Raoul, or any of the other 'cannon' charecters in this phic. Hope you guys enjoy this story, remember to let me know what you think!

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Danielle de Chagny sniffed back her tears as she stood at the ornate grey headstone. A strong-willed child of 12, she was not accustomed to crying, even with ample reason. And this was ample reason. As she watched the wind blow the leaves over the base of the granite stone, the finality of her mother's death sunk in. Her loving mother would no longer be there to wipe her tears, bandage her skinned knees, or cook her suppers. The simple finality of the carved numbers one, eight, nine, and zero told her that all too well. The tasks that her mother had so lovingly attended to would now fall to her older sister, who at the moment was standing beside her father. The two spoke in hushed tones, with occasional glances at both Danielle and her older bother, Reynard. They muttered darkly in low voices, and Danielle wasn't sure she could trust the words exchanged between them were of a happy nature. Her brother stood as far away from his father and sisters as he possibly could, a dark cloud covering his handsome features. Of the three, he was possibly the most hurt by his mother's untimely demise. He and his father were often locking horns over even the smallest matters, and his relationships with his sisters were practically nonexistent. His mother was the only one he had even felt some connection to, and tears unsightly for a 15 year old boy threatened to make their presence known. In uncharacteristic pity for her brother, Danielle turned her attention back to the headstone. She traced the cold curve of a stone ribbon with one finger.

"I love you, mama. I miss you. Please come back…"

Danielle knew her words were unheard. Her mother was dead, and stones had no ears. Taking one last look at her mother's final resting place, she turned and walked back to where her sister and her father stood. Her sister Elinor straightened up, an attempt to make herself look more like an in-control adult, instead of a grieving child. Golden curls fell into her eyes, which she brushed away with one well-manicured finger.

"Dany.. your father… I mean… we… we thought…" Tears choked Elinor's words. "Oh, nevermind, my pet." She forced a smile onto her swollen, tear-strained features.

Danielle looked at her sister quizzically, then tuned her inquiring eyes to her papa. Something was not right. He smiled a sympathetic smile at his youngest daughter, and patted her hand as if to calm her. Traces of sadness left her papa's eyes moist and clear-blue.

"We'll talk later, my sweet. Why don't you go… collect… your brother?"

Confused, Danielle backed away and turned to her older brother, who was now sitting irreverently on someone else's gravestone.

"Reynard!" Danielle hissed, mortified. "Get off there! How would you like it if someone did that to mama's headstone? For shame, Reynard, you're supposed to be the mature one!" Her hazel eyes darted around the kirkyard, looking to see if another had chanced upon her brother's irreverence. Not another soul met her gaze.

Reynard's dark brown eyes snapped with a sudden hardness. Swinging his long legs, he kicked himself off the cold granite and landed with a thump in the newly fallen snow. He turned to face his little sister, eyes glimmering with nothing but hatred and hurt. He stood a good head and shoulders above her diminutive form, and for a moment looked as if he was going to use that to his advantage. Instead, he shrunk away from her slightly, the quick ire leaving his eyes. Offering his sister a quiet smile, Reynard turned to join his father and older sibling.

Danielle, now completely confused, followed after her stoic brother. Her feet made crunching noises in the white snow, and little white flakes landed like teardrops on her cranberry hood. She wondered to herself if the snow had been her mother's doing.

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The carriage ride back to the de Chagny manor was an uncomfortably quiet one. Her papa said next to nothing, her sister and brother even less. Danielle had at first tried to get the three of them engaged of conversation of some sort, but to no avail. A dark cloud had fallen over the de Chagny family with the death of its matron, the one-time great opera singer Christine.

As she watched the lines of trees pass by outside the carriage, Danielle thought back three days ago, when she had heard of the horrible accident that claimed her mother's life and left her papa a wheelchair-bound cripple. The news had come when she and Elinor were baking pastries in the kitchen, under the careful supervision of their cook, Elsie. Elinor had dropped the platter carrying the cooling sweets, scattering them across the hard kitchen floor and shattering the dish. Danielle hadn't reacted at all, save for to pick up the shards of pottery. Her mind at first decided to block it out as an unreality, but that illusion was shattered just as easily as the dish had been.

Her papa had come home in a wheeled chair a day later, and her mother never returned.

Danielle was snapped out of her miserable reverie by the jerking stoppage of the carriage. She had been so lost in though she hadn't even noticed their approach to the manorhouse. Danielle hopped out of the carriage, ignoring the proffered helping hand of the coachman. Without so much as a backwards glace to the remainder of her family, she ran up the oak stairs to her bedroom in a whirl of child's skirts.

After shutting the heavy door behind her, Danielle sank to the floor and allowed the sobs she had held inside her to break free. She was a brokenhearted child, and she cried as such. Turning her tear-streaked face heavenwards, Danielle cried for her mother.

"Mama, mama, don't you love me anymore?"

"Why did you leave us here, what did we do to make you leave?"

"Mama, mama, I don't understand!"

"I don't understand mama!"

"Where are you, Mama?"

"Mama please…"

Her petulant voice met with nothing but rafters. Her mother couldn't hear her, her mother wouldn't hear anyone anymore. Accepting the finality of her mother's death had taken its harsh toll on the young girl. Danielle's sobs slowly reduced themselves to sniffles. Exhausted, she curled up on the floor, the small of her back braced against the heavy door. She had never felt so utterly alone in all her life. She sobbed once again, this time more of a hiccup then a cry. Closing her eyes, she allowed her fatigue to take over her small body.

On the other side of the door, Raoul de Chagny closed his eyes, face ashen with remorse.

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Im gonna try to keep a chapter-a-week posting schedule... I have several chapters prewritten, Ill prolly put at least three of those up initially. Hope yall are enjoying "In the Silence" so far, please drop me a review if you get the chance:)