Brace yourselves, Francoeur fans, this isn't a kind chapter.
The two headed backstage, and heard the quiet murmur that came through the curtain, as patrons waited for the show to start. The murmur died down as Carlotta's voice went through the room. "Welcome, Mesdames and Messieurs to L'Oiseau Rare! I'm happy to introduce for you tonight the Angel of Montmartre and the Supreme Virtuoso: Lucille and Francœur!"
Applause rippled out from the crowd and the duet stepped out onto the stage as the curtains rose. Everything started normally, the two sang the slower version of 'La Seine', now arranged for a duet instead of a solo, and danced while the crowd cheered and watched on. By the middle of the performance, both singers were too lost in the song to even think about the threatening news articles. They both were dragged painfully back to reality when something crashed onto the stage. They both looked down in the direction of the crash, and were surprised and worried to see shards of broken glass in a puddle on the stage, almost right next to their feet. Right after they saw this, a loud voice could be heard coming from the banisters on the side of the room. "Freak! Get off the stage!" All eyes in the room went to the general area of the now-raging voice. "It's a sad day when good people are arrested for trying to kill something like that!" The room broke into murmurs, most of shock, but a few faces seemed to consider the ranter's words.
" I can't believe that you're all letting a monster act like he's one of us or something! We should all be doing what the commissioner did and hunting it down, not treating it like a celebrity!"
Lucille stopped and stared bloody-murder at the direction of the voice, before turning towards Francœur, who stood stock-still with shock and hurt creeping into his eyes. "Come on, Francœur, let's go" turning towards the audience, who was already being bustled out by Carlotta and even Raoul, Lucille announced "Show's over, folks. Go home".
"Yeah, you leave. Freak lover!"
Turning beet red, Lucille screamed, "Will someone get that guy out of here?!" before grabbing Francœur by a glove and giving him a gentle tug backstage. He followed without protest, only giving out a quiet whimper, his eyes still full of hurt. Once safely backstage, Lucille gave him a hug, telling him, "It's alright. That idiot was probably drunk. No sober person would want to hurt you like that. It's alright…" He leaned into her comforting arms, wrapping his own arms around her with grateful purr that was still tinged with sadness. Humans' fear, he knew, and had even come to resignedly accept as how things were: even now, he still scared people. But hatred, that was something new, and he liked it even less than their fear. What had he done, he couldn't help but wonder to himself, to deserve all this? All he wanted was to do what he loved with the people he loved, like anyone else. But just because of what he was, no one seemed to understand that. Even now, people saw him as a monster, and nothing seemed to have changed. Well, except for one thing…
Holding Lucille just a little tighter, Francœur was grateful that at least some humans understood.
"Hey, are you two alright?" Francœur was broken from his thoughts as Raoul came running down the hall towards them, and the hug was broken up right after for them to face him.
Francœur replied with a strained, but positive trill, and Lucille told him, "We're alright".
Raoul instantly looked relived, and taking a more casual posture, said, "Well, that's good. You know that guy broke a perfectly good champagne glass? How'd he get in here anyway? I thought that the L'Oiseau Rare didn't accept 'losers'". He looked at her with a lopsided smirk that helped to at least slightly break the heavy tension.
Lucille at first looked at him with confusion, before smirking herself. "We usually don't, but then again we've made exceptions before" the joking mood dissolving, she added in an exasperated voice, her anger at the situation coming back, "Please tell me you got that guy out of here".
He smiled again, this time not at Lucille, but to himself, "I didn't, but your aunt sure did. Threw out face-first onto the pavement, and banned him to boot. Remind me not to ever get on her bad side". Turning now to Francœur, he added, "And, don't worry, if he shows his face around here again I'll take care of him myself".
Francœur considered that for a moment, and then with a small churring laugh gestured towards Lucille, who looked back at him with a cocked eyebrow.
Waving his hands frantically, Raoul protested with a restrained laugh, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't want to hurt the guy that bad!"
Lucille crossed her arms with a huff, but accepted the joke at her expense. It really wasn't her fault she was so protective, or that she had a temper.
Jokes at an end, the trio in the hall fell silent, but the silence was much lighter than the atmosphere had been before. Then the silence was broken with a sigh from Raoul that seemed to reflect everyone's feelings, and said distantly with grim humor, "It looks like I was right after all, huh?"
Francœur chirred in regretful agreement, but Lucille replied, "You said we'd get injured. And look" she spread her arms out, gesturing at both singers, "We're fine".
"Ah, ah, ah" argued Raoul, shaking a finger, "I said one of you'd get hurt." His eyes turned serious and sad- after all, he'd heard the horrible things yelled about Francœur as much as Lucille had- and he ended soberly. "And someone did get hurt".
Lucille sighed, upset, but added, looking relieved "At least it's over". Francœur nodded and churred in relief, but Raoul shook his head.
"This won't be over until Maynott is charged guilty, and it might not even end there. You know how people can be. Some people still give you a hard time just because you're a woman, and you're even human! I'm sorry to drop some heavy realism on you, buddy" he said, turning towards Francœur and shaking his head in slow regret, "but I don't think there will ever be a time when every human completely accepts you".
Francœur sighed, realizing that what Raoul said was probably true, but when he looked over at Lucille, she looked like she wanted to slap Raoul, a look of determination on her face that the flea was coming to know, love, and sometimes rely on, more and more. "Maybe we can't change the mind of the entire world, but we call still show people, one person at a time, who Francœur really is. And just what Maynott is". She smiled, looking smug, as if they had already convinced everyone. "And Maynott's trial would be a great place to start".
So, R&R, until next chapter!
