Chapter Ten

Belle was awoken from a light sleep by a small noise and the most awful stomach pains she had ever felt. She opened her eyes wearily and stared into the dimly lit room. She made out a small human figure next to her bed. It took a few moments for her to process what she was seeing. Eventually she made out the small, shaking form of Le Fou.

"Le Fou," she muttered, still dazed from sleep and distracted by pain. "What are you doing h-"

That's when she saw Gaston's knife sitting in Le Fou's oversized hands. She let out a horrified scream that could have woken the entire castle. Pierre, the servant who had been assigned to guard Belle, burst into the room, followed quickly by Prince Étienne who had decided to head to bed early. It seemed like the three of them stared at Le Fou forever.

"I knew it!" shouted the Prince. "I knew he was up to something! And it looks like we got here just in time! What are you doing here?"

"N-n-nothing!"

"Do you break into the bedrooms of sleeping women often? Is that some kind of sick hobby for you?"

"N-no, Your Highness."

The Prince reached out and grabbed Le Fou by the collar, pulling him up so that they were face to face. Gaston's knife slipped out of his hands and dropped to the floor.

"Étienne, dear, please be careful!" Belle shrieked. "You know what the physician said about your back!"

Étienne ignored her and spoke to Le Fou in a low, growling tone that sounded unnatural coming from a human.

"Tell me," he growled. "Tell me why I found you standing next to my wife's bed holding a knife."

"I-I-I w-was gonna-"

"Yes?" Étienne's deep blue eyes shined with anger.

"I was gonna kill her but-"

"But you didn't think you'd get caught?"

"Yes! I mean no! I don't know. Let me explain. I wanted to get back at you for killing Gaston so I-"

"And what exactly would killing Belle accomplish other than revenge? Killing her won't bring him back."

"I know! I was going to kill her but-"

Le Fou looked over at Belle. He saw the betrayed expression on her face. He felt disgusted with himself. He was just as bad as Gaston, and that man who took advantage of Émilie.

"I couldn't. Gaston was an awful person. I can't believe I ever thought that blackmailing Belle into marrying him was a good idea. I'm sorry I ever had this stupid plan."

"I've heard enough." Étienne threw Le Fou back down to the floor. "I appreciate that you can acknowledge that you were wrong. But you're a danger to my wife and child. Pierre, take him to the tower."

Belle moaned and clutched her stomach. "Étienne! The baby!"

"And then get the midwife!"

The tower was much colder than the rest of the castle. . It was also much darker and looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in twenty years. Le Fou shivered as he tried to make himself more comfortable in the mountain of hay that he presumed was there for him to sleep on. They could have at least given him a blanket. Le Fou supposed that it was right that he was here. He didn't blame the Prince for imprisoning him. He did, after all, almost murder his pregnant wife.

How had he let himself get to this point? How had he let himself become so obsessed with revenge that he started to hear Gaston's voice in his head? Gaston was dead. Which was a good thing, he told himself. A very good thing.

Le Fou sat up as he heard footsteps coming down the long hall. Oh great. The Prince was probably here to punish him. Wait. Those footsteps sounded too dainty to belong to the Prince. In fact, they sounded very familiar.

"Émilie?"

"Le Fou!" Émilie crouched down to speak to him through the little barred window. "What happened?"

"I'm locked in a tower."

"Obviously. Why are you in here?"

"I-I kinda." Le Fou sighed. He decided to just tell Émilie the truth. "I snuck into Belle's bedroom and tried to kill her while she was sleeping."

Émilie gasped. "You-you did what? No wonder I heard the Prince say…" Émilie trailed off, a grim expression coming over her face.

"Heard him say what?"

"He said that he was going to execute you."

"Can he do that?"

"He is the prince! And you did try to kill his wife."

"I didn't even try! I mean, I was going to! But I just couldn't do it."

Le Fou told her the whole story. How he had felt neglected in the village after Gaston. How he had formulated the plan. And about the moment when he realized that he had been wrong all along. Émilie listened with rapt attention.

"And then when I got up there. I just couldn't do it. "

"Why not?"

"The prince was the Beast. Gaston killed him. Or he tried to. I'm not quite sure about it, actually. And I thought about what you said about Gaston forcing Belle to marry him. You're right. He was an awful person. I am so sorry for yelling at you."

Émilie was quite for a few moments. She had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Alright. I accept your apology," she said. "But what are we going to do now?"

"What do ya mean?" Le Fou asked.

"Well, the Prince said he was going to execute you. You're going to die!"

"I s'pose I deserve it."

"But you realized you were wrong. We need find a way to unlock this door. Let's see. It looks there's just a big metal thing. I'll try sliding this across and… Yes!"

The wooden door swung open.

"Come on," Émilie grabbed Le Fou's hand without hesitation. "We have to get out of here before they realize you're missing."

"We? What about your job here?" asked Le Fou.

"They're royalty! They can always hire someone else. You know I've always wanted to escape from servitude. I want to be free. Come on! Let's go!"

"I cannot believe it!"

Cogsworth ducked as a vase came flying at his head. It had been years since the Master had gone on one of his furniture smashing rampages.

"How could I have let this happen?" the Prince roared. "That ugly little rat! Worming his way into my household. Pretending to have no ulterior motive! I didn't want him here anyway. But no! He had changed, apparently! Belle's kindness almost killed her!"

"Master!"

"I'm not going to let this happen again! From now on, we thoroughly question everyone we hire!"

"Master, please calm down. You've already destroyed half of the things in this room."

A very loud piercing scream came from the next room. Étienne pounded on the door.

"Let me in! Let me in! My Belle needs me!"

Mrs Potts opened the door and glared at him.

"Please Master! We're almost there. Calm down."

"Let me see her. I want to know if she's alright."

"Master, this is women's business. She's fine."

Belle let out another anguished scream.

"She doesn't sound fi- Hey! Don't slam the door in my face!"

"Master, sit down and take some deep breaths," said Cogsworth, leading him away from the door.

Étienne sat down in his favourite chair and buried his face in his hands.

"Perhaps some brandy will calm you."

"Master!" Two servants burst into the room. "Master! He's escaped!"

"What!" Étienne stood up furiously. Fresh rage was building inside of him.

"We don't know what happened! We just went to check on him. The door was open and he was gone!"

"Why weren't you guarding him?" asked the Prince angrily. "You should have been watching him at all times! Don't just stand there! Go out and search for him!"

The Prince ripped the bottle of brandy from Cogsworth's grip and threw it at the wall. He let out a few expletives.

"Ugh! Why are my servants so incompetent?"

"Master, please do calm down," Cogsworth insisted, a little offended.

"Oh Master!" Mrs Potts opened the door with a giggle.

"What do you want?" Étienne screamed as he turned to face her.

"Master! Don't yell at me! Be a gentleman. That's a good boy."

"Sorry," he muttered.

"That's better!" Mrs Potts declared. "It's a girl. She has your eyes."

"A girl? Oh, Cogsworth!" he embraced his manservant. "Get the brandy!"

"Master, I don't want to anger you again, but you hurled it at the wall!"

"Alright! I think we're safe now."

Le Fou and Émilie slowed down to a stop and sat down to rest. They must have been running for at least an hour.

"What should we do now?" ask Émilie.

"I dunno. I guess we should keep walking until we find somewhere to stay."

"You're right. At least day is beginning to break," Émilie said, looking up into the sky. "Let's go."

"Isn't she beautiful?" Belle gazed at her newborn daughter.

"Uh-huh," Étienne breathed. "Can I hold her?"

"Of course! She looks just like you!"

Étienne's eyes widened suddenly. He anxiously started to fiddle with the baby's blankets.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking that she doesn't have a tail. Or claws."

"Oh, Étienne. She's completely human."

"You're right. I'm just paranoid. What should we name her?"

"What about Rose?"

"What?" Étienne was aghast. "No! I don't want to name her after the very thing that tormented me for ten years. Every time I'd look at her I'd be reminded of the monster I used to be. How would you like it if we named her Gaston?"

"Sorry, dear. I just thought it was a nice name." Belle hadn't expected that outburst. "That was insensitive of me. Can I have her back now?"

Étienne carefully handed the baby back to his wife. As she nestled into Belle's arms, the baby opened her big blue eyes and gazed up at her mother. A fat little hand emerged from the blankets, grabbed one of Belle's long slender fingers and put it into her mouth.

"Isn't that sweet? She's sucking on my fing- Ouch!"

Belle quickly withdrew her finger. "She bit me!"

"That's ridiculous," Étienne scoffed. "She doesn't have any teeth yet."

"Hmm." Belle opened the baby's mouth and looked inside. There, nestled into the middle of her top gum, were two very small sharp teeth.

"I think I'll bottle feed her," Belle said, frowning.

"Master!" Two more servants burst into the room. "We still can't find him."

"Well keep looking! I want everyone out there searching for him. He's a danger to Belle and little Belle."

"Oh, Étienne! Give up. He knew he was wrong. Let him go," Belle said, smoothing down the small tuft of brown hair on her daughter's head.

"Belle, he almost killed you!"

"You're right. And as long as he doesn't come back, I'll be happy and safe. I don't think executing him will solve anything. Now, can you take the baby? I need a nap."

Epilogue

Le Fou and Émilie travelled for days and days before they finally came across a pleasant little town, not unlike Le Fou's old village. They decided to settle down there. Le Fou got a job working at the local tavern, which was owned by a friendly old man and his three misfit sons. Émilie made money looking after the children of the village while their mothers were busy. Le Fou hopes that one day she will see him as more than just a friend, but knows that it won't be easy for her to learn to trust men again.

Belle and Étienne named their daughter after his grandmother. Étienne is thankful for this, as Belle had wanted to name her Cinderella Ophelia.

It took Cogsworth three days to clean up the mess the Prince had made. He bought three cases of brandy at a large town a few miles away. He took a fancy to the girl who sold it him. They courted for a few weeks, before he decided that he was married to his job and broke it off with her.

After accepting that Lumiere had chosen Babette, Fifi drowned her sorrows with alcohol down at Guillaume's tavern. She caught the eye of the proprietor, and they had a whirlwind romance and married quickly. Eventually the spark between them cooled and they bicker constantly.

Lucette, Lilette, and Laurette all became pregnant again. Lucette and Lilette both gave birth to twins on Christmas day. Laurette gave birth to quadruplets three days later. Their husbands are currently wondering what possessed them to move to that town in the first place.

The End