-A Familiar Face-

Adam and Belle quickly followed behind Lumière to where the hospital ward is in. Once there, Lumière looked around for Fife. "Fife! Where are you, mon amie? Tell them what you saw; I've brought the prince and princess here!" Shouted Lumière. No answer. "Zis iz bad, zis iz bad, zis iz bad," chanted Lumière. Prince Adam looked to him and asked, "What is bad, Lumière? What happened to Fife?" Lumière composed himself as much as possible before responding, "Oh it iz bad, Your Highness. I found Fife on ze floor, shaking uncontrollably from fear. He stuttered out that he saw Forte standing right behind him when he waz in ze infirmary."

Adam and Belle looked at each other with concerned faces. Lumière continued, "He said that az soon az he screamed, that old maestro grabbed him and tried to cover his mouth! When Fife would not stop, he said that he then glowed green and disappeared in a music sheet mist or somezing! Prince Adam, it sounds just like how he used hiz powers! I do not think you or Princess Belle iz safe here." Adam was astonished, mouth agape. "You said that he grabbed Fife? Impossible, I thought-we all thought-" "Exactly, Your Highness. We need to find him and what he haz done with Fife."

"No, no! I'm here, I was just h-hiding... f-f-from h-him..." said a frightened voice, running down the hall. "Fife! I'm so glad you're alright!" said Belle, running to hug him. Fife blushed, but gently pushed Belle away. "I-I'm so sorry to have frightened you all; I was so afraid he'd come after me after I made such a clamor!" said Fife fearfully. He looked around the room frantically. Adam, though a bit uneasy, maintained a stern expression. He's in disbelief that Forte is not only back, but alive. Tangible. With a big inhale, he asked, "What happened Fife? Did he actually grab you?" Fife turned pale. "Oh! It was awful! I was feeling watched in here, so I looked around, and then went into the hallway, but it w-was dark a-and-" Fife said quickly, but stopped abruptly to calm down. He continued, "I heard him call me by my nickname."

"'Fifey'," Adam mumbled under his breath. He remembered that it was the name Forte called him by, to gain his trust with his own solo. "Sounds a lot like him," Adam said plainly. "Oh come on, Your Highness! Surely this iz proof enough that Forte iz back!" exclaimed Lumière. Adam held up his hand to Lumière and said, "I'll let Fife finish his story." said Adam calmly. Fife continued, "Reluctantly, I turned a-around and I-I-" Fife paused for a moment. "-I saw him staring at me."

"He-he was different somehow, I can feel it, and when I saw him I screamed! I thought it was his ghost he-*shudder*-he GRABBED me! Tried to silence me, he did! I struggled and backed away, still screaming, then he just disappeared! Into the music sheet power thing he had before! I assure you Your Majesties, he's back." Adam and Belle stood silent for a long time. "And th-that's not all," Fife said. "What is it, Fife?" said Belle finally. Fife looked down and said, " I didn't see it in his face, but I felt it. I knew from before when we were all still enchanted, I could tell. I know when he's angry."

~~~

"What are we going to do Adam?" said Belle, looking up from her reading. Both Adam and Belle are in their bed, with Belle sitting up and Adam lying down. Adam sat up and said to Belle, "You won't do a thing. I'll handle this. Forte was my friend, or so I thought." Belle placed the book face down on her stomach and turned slightly to face Adam. "You think we may be able to talk to him? Reason with him?" Belle said hopefully. "He may harbor ill feelings and may not listen to reason anymore Belle, but I'll do what I can to resolve this issue." Adam assured her. He got up from the bed and walked to the door. "I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head. I can't sleep with this on my mind." he said to Belle. "Don't strain yourself, Adam. And be careful." Belle replied before resuming her book. "Make sure no one gets in this room until I return." Adam said to the guards standing outside their door before leaving.

~~~

Adam looked out on the balcony outside the ballroom behind him. The night was dull and dark, as if the stars were all hiding, afraid to come out behind the night clouds. The moon was absent most of the time, only to appear when the clouds roll by, then disappear again behind new clouds. "I knew someone who'd like this dreary night." Adam said out loud under his breath, leaning on the balcony ledge staring up into the void, head resting on his right hand. "Hello Master," said a colorless, familiar voice behind him. Whether it sounded subtlety malicious purposefully or this was a normal tone, Adam does not recall.

In alarm, Adam straightened up and said, slowly turning around, "Forte?" Before him stood the man once presumed dead. He thought he was seeing a delusion, created by the hysteria of the castle's residents. "Oh? You think I'm dead or something?" he said, perhaps sarcastically. "Wait, let me check just in case," he said as he patted himself down. "Well, I feel pretty real to me, what do you think, Master?" he said mockingly. Adam did not notice his own mouth open in awe, albeit in fear as well, until he said this. "This... isn't possible. We were all sure you were gone!" said Adam, astonished.

"Hmm," said Forte, as he slowly inches towards the prince. "Are you sure Master? You all seem so eager to get rid of me, eh? To just assume I'm gone and to stay dead in your mind; just erase me from existence, why don't you? I feel offended," he said feigning hurt. His sad expression quickly faded. A dull and emotionless expression plaster Forte's face now. "Oh, well that's awful of you. All of you." Adam did not move. Adam tried to look past him to where the guards were supposed to be. Forte picks up on this and says flatly, "Don't worry Master, they're only sleeping for now. It could've been much worse, oh with my homicidal tendencies and such." he teased. Adam flinched at the memory of Forte nearly killing everyone in the castle when he had a meltdown.

He continued, "You don't think I've heard what everyone has said about me this past year?" He was inches from Adam's face. His tall structure almost towers Adam. Adam did not move. He wanted to, but couldn't. He felt frozen to his spot. "H-how?" Adam rasped hoarsely, barely masking his fear. Forte didn't even change face to Adam's visible display of fear. He said to Adam calmly, "If you were wondering if I had died, then yes I had. It was, for lack of a better term, empty. I felt nothing, saw nothing, knew nothing. Only, there was one thing I had known. I did not want to stay this way. I wanted out. How, it seems, I came back must've been of my own determination, because before I knew it, I was awake back inside the castle."

Adam tried inching away from Forte, but Forte saw this and frowned a little, disrupting his placid expression. He grabbed Adam's shoulder, to which as a reflex, Adam gasped and slapped away his hand, sliding to the side and backing away a few feet. "Not so sure I'm not a ghost yet, Master?" said Forte sarcastically, a hint of irritation in his voice despite his expression dull again. Forte continued, "But then I realized it may not have been sheer determination that brought me back..." With that, he stepped back and placed his hands in front of him. He slammed down on non-existing keyboards, except there was a loud sound of many keys at once. From his hands, green music notes and sheets whirled and materialized a glowing green organ in front of them.

"..apparently, it was the power I obtained when I was enchanted. Infused with my desire to live again, this power has brought me back to life!" said Forte, increasing in volume and changing his expression into one of pure anger. "For a year, A YEAR, NO ONE HAS EVEN ONCE CAME DOWN TO SEE IF I EVEN WAS DEAD FOR GOOD! I WAS ALIVE FOR A WHOLE YEAR!" The materialized organ turned red, and so has the power from around Forte's hands. He took in a deep breath, and with a wave of his hands, all the energy vanished, including the organ. "I may have died as a pipe organ, but the power that was left behind-lingering around it-has brought me back when the spell was broken." he said venomously.

Adam set aside his fear for a moment to ask, "Then, if you're alive, how were you able to get around the castle so quickly? Disappearing and reappearing at will?" Forte recomposed himself and said flatly, "It's amazing how much one could forget when enchanted for a long time that there were secret service tunnels all around the castle. Plus a few tricks of my own of course. I'm not even a maid or servant, but even I knew of these tunnels before the enchantment. I used to frequent them to be alone from time to time."

"S-so," Adam started, fighting off the fear again, "You're not mad? I mean, everyone did think that you were gone and had no need to check the West Wing basement." Forte feigned a small smile, but his eyes weren't smiling. Adam continued, "Some even said that your, uh, corpse may have even materialized and nobody wanted to even check for that. I did get someone to go down there eventually, but he's not a castle resident." Forte looked down. "Oh him," he mumbled, referring to Jacques who disrupted his practice on the pipe organ. Adam, feeling reassured, said kindly, "So we'll not have any trouble, right?" He grinned to try and make the situation lighter.

Forte's faux grin changed to a genuinely malicious one, and he sneered, "Oh? Will there be any trouble? Oh of course not, Master!" he chuckled darkly. Adam became grave. With a stern voice, he stated, "I will not have anymore of this Forte! You need to either stop terrorizing the residents or get out!" Forte's grin left him and his face became unreadable again. "Oh, how unfortunate." he stated monotonously. Adam raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How so?" he asked, eyes dangerous. Forte continued flatly, "The way I went was a horrible one. You took something of mine away. It brought me pain. Agony. I literally fell apart. It would only be fair if I could return the favor..." he trailed off.

"What are you implying?" asked Adam, fear and anger rising. Forte grinned mischievously and said, "It would be a shame if anything happened to that precious child of yours, wouldn't it, Master?" With that regard, he laughed maniacally as he vanished into green energy. Adam's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no, he wouldn't-Belle!" he said fearfully. He dashed from the balcony and raced upstairs. The guards watching the door, alarmed that the prince is escorted alone and running, said with weapons raised, "Is something the matter, Your Highness?" Adam ignored them and flung open the door. "BELLE!" he bellowed.