"Get out of my way!" Tintement shouted as she picked up one of the guards' weapons. She had a nasty black eye, red spots all over her clothes and she wasn't using right arm. Many of the guards were trying to block her way to the castle's front doors, but some of the others were running off because of Tintement's brute force, despite she was only using one arm.
As for Tintement herself, she was trying to get into the castle to see if Belle, Adam and Maurice made it there. She couldn't tell because the guards were blocking her way. Many of the guards had spears, bow and arrows and swords; the rest had only their strength alone. If her eyes could turn color, Tintement's would be a bloody red because that's how frustrated and angry she was because the guards won't let her pass. She didn't care about the guards, Tintement had to see that her cousin was safe.
"I said get out of my way, you worthless men!" Tintement shouted as she punched one guard in the stomach and kicked another in the head. Another guard was coming at her with a sword, but Tintement saw him out of the corner of her eye. She got to the ground and swung her leg, at just the right time and the right amount of strength, she made the guard trip. The guard fell backwards as Tintement grabbed his sword, she didn't want him to get stabbed by his own sword.
"Stand down!" shouted a man. Tintement looked over at the castle doors, there was Adam and Belle standing at the door. "Stand down!" Adam was shouting to the guards, they all put their swords, bows and arrows and spears on the ground.
"Tintement!" Belle shouted as she made her way over to her cousin. Tintement was happy to see that her little cousin was safe. When Belle approached Tintement, she was very shocked because of Tintement's condition.
"Don't worry," Tintement calmly said, "the red spots didn't come from me." Belle didn't say anything, she just bear-hugged her cousin. Tintement almost screamed in pain because of the pressure on her right arm.
"Tintement," Belle said as she released her cousin, "where in the world have you been? What happened to you?"
"To answer the first question," she said, "don't you remember what happened last night?" Belle knew that she didn't, but she did know that she fainted...and there was only one reason behind that, but Belle also didn't have the heart to be honest to Tintement.
"Yes, most of it." Belle said, "Let's get inside and tend to your injuries first."
"I'm not that terribly hurt."
"Then why are you not using your right arm?" Belle asked. Tintement looked back at her right arm, then to Belle and back to her arm.
"All right, all right, I broke it," Tintement finally confessed, "but I am all right." Belle didn't care what else Tintement said, she grabbed her cousin's left arm and dragged her inside the castle. Of course, Tintement was complaining that she was okay, but Belle wouldn't hear any of it. As for Adam, he followed Belle and Tintement back into the castle. He followed them into the foyer, he had never seen Belle in such a frenzy before, but since this was her cousin, he didn't make any excuses. Adam called Mrs. Potts to come and help Belle, but he stayed outside of the foyer, just in case they need to remove Tintement's clothes.
"I said I'm fine!" Tintement said as Belle tried to clean up her black eye.
"Tintement, for once, be quiet and let me do what I need to do!" Belle said, Tintement was going to say something else, but she flinched when Mrs. Potts straightened her right arm.
"It's not a serious break," Mrs. Potts said, "but we're gonna have to bandage this and to make sure that you don't move it."
"It's hard not to when you're messing with it!" Tintement said, trying to prove her point.
"Hush your mouth, quit complaining and hold still!" Mrs. Potts said, Tintement just groaned and didn't say another word after that. She tried not to scream or yell out in pain when Mrs. Potts wrapped her arm with a thick bandage. Tintement didn't feel any pain from her eye when Belle tried to clean the area, Belle knew that Tintement wouldn't show that she was pain because she believed that it showed weakness...like a predator.
"There you go," Mrs. Potts said as she finished the bandage, "I'll tie a sling so you won't move that arm. I should also give you some fresh new clothes."
"No thanks." Tintement said.
"Tintement, for once, just accept someone's help or gift when they offer it." Belle said, Tintement looked at her cousin and then to Mrs. Potts.
"All right then." she said as she removed her clothes, "Just don't lose any of them."
"I don't plan to." Mrs. Potts said as she received Tintement's clothes.
Adam saw Mrs. Potts as she came out of the foyer with Tintement's clothes in her arms.
"Sire," Mrs. Potts said, "this...might be a strange question, but...do you...know who that is?"
"The woman with Belle and you with earlier?" Adam asked, Mrs. Potts nodded 'yes', "Her name is Tintement, she is Belle's cousin."
"Her cousin?" she asked, "My, my, looks like Belle had more family than we thought."
"Yep," he said, "how is she?"
"It's not a serious break in her right arm, but it is a bad one. She gonna have to not move her arm a whole lot and leave it in a sling for at least two to three weeks, possibly four. Her eye should be better in a couple of days. Right now, I'm going to get her some clothes so I could wash these. Whatever in heaven's name she did, it was pretty serious, considering how red these stains are."
"I think we have a pretty good idea what it is." Adam said, Mrs. Potts nodded her head and turned to go wash Tintement's clothes.
About twenty minutes later, Belle and Tintement came out of the foyer. Tintement was now wearing a silver dress, similar to Belle's green dress.
"I feel silly." Tintement said as she looked at her dress.
"You look wonderful." Maurice said, "The most wonderful that I've ever seen you."
"I think I want my old clothes back." Tintement said, still feeling uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, cousin," Belle said, "you'll get used to them."
"You better be right about that." Tintement said as she looked at the rim of her dress. "Belle, why don't you go do something of your own? I need to talk to Uncle Maurice about something."
"Okay," Belle said, "I know Adam has a few things he wants to get done, but he knows where to find me." Adam smiled at Belle as she went to the library, he knew that's Belle's comfort zone, his comfort zone too when he's with her. Tintement keep an eagle eye (and an owl's ear) on her cousin until she was sure that her cousin was gone, at least far away enough that Belle couldn't hear her.
"Is this about what happened when we left?" Maurice asked, Tintement nodded her head 'yes'.
"I had quite a fight with...Anton." Tintement said as she crossed her arms.
"You saw him?" Maurice asked.
"Yep, he's what I was expecting," she said, "A worthless excuse of a man. He made a laughing stock of himself when I twisted leg which caused his pants to fall down." She laughed. "Made me laugh as well."
"Then...how did you break your arm?" Adam asked, Tintement stared at her right arm.
"He...yanked my arm backwards, enough to break it." she answered, "I decided to get out there at that point, but not without giving him one-last-hard...blow."
"Where did you give it?" Adam asked, Tintement rolled her eyes.
"Son," Maurice said, "she means in the worst possible place a man could get hit."
"Which is?" Adam asked, still not getting the idea.
"We need to have a talk about that." Maurice added, "Anyway, Tintement, you got out of the situation before it escalated?"
"It already was, he wanted to know if I knew Belle and where she was. I wasn't going to give that up, I didn't care if my life was on the line, Belle is more important to me than anything else in my life." Maurice knew that was true, Tintement was more of a sister rather than a cousin to Belle. "I've protected her for so long that...I can't stop protecting her."
"What do you mean?" Adam asked.
"Belle...has gotten herself in trouble a few times and I have to save her." She explained, that's when Maurice asked a question he didn't think to ask her.
"Did...did you know...what Anton did to her...all those years ago?" Tintement raised her head, she had this look of death in her eyes, like she wanted to kill somebody.
"More like what he almost did to her." Tintement answered.
"Almost?" Adam asked, "What do you mean by that?" Maurice's eyes widen.
"Are you telling me that...you were there?" he asked.
"Yes, I was." she answered, "I followed Belle that night, the night is dangerous for a woman when she's alone. I was still under Aunt Celia's curse, since it was night, I was in the form of a giant human bat. I stayed in the shadows so nobody could see me, but that night...I'm glad I came out of the shadows! That idiot grabbed her shoulders, pulled her into the shadows and tore the black dress Belle was wearing. Before he actually did anything to her, I came after Anton and bit his neck. He still has the teeth marks I left on his neck." Adam couldn't believe what Tintement was saying, how could a man treat a woman like property? Adam knew that he had once treated Belle badly, but he would never go that far to force her to do something.
"There was so much I didn't know about that night because Belle didn't want to tell me," Maurice said, "now I know the rest of it. I just wished that I was there that night."
"There wasn't much you could do, Uncle Maurice, Anton was much stronger than you and since I was under that spell, I was more stronger than him. I had to fight him." Adam couldn't stand what Tintement was saying, Tintement could sense that Adam and Maurice didn't want to hear anymore. "I think we've had enough of me talking, Belle said that you have some business to take care of."
"I do," Adam said, "but first, I promised Belle and Maurice that I would show them Maurice's workshop. I'll go get her."