Here I am again! I know you guys can't wait for Rogue to appear, but that won't be until… *counts* I'll try to make her appear in chapter 5, maybe 6… We'll see. Now! Let's go put some angst in that jolly happy story!
Enjoy!
Irons
Belle shivered as a cool draft coming from the sea seeped through her clothes. Éloïse huddled closer to her, shivering, and she sighed in anger. What were the English doing, anyway? Waiting for them to freeze to death?
It was October 4, 1755, and the Acadians from the area of Baie Ste-Marie were kept on the bank at Port Royal, waiting for the boats to arrive.
They certainly were taking their time, Belle though. A painful cough came from behind her, and she looked behind to meet Sylvain's glassy eyes. "Oh, Sylvain, don't tell me you caught a cold, chéri." She reached out to take the little boy's limp body, and winced when he coughed again.
They had been taken away from their homes, and they were nearly two thousand homeless here in Port Royal. And even if they'd ran away to go back to their houses, Belle knew that only ashes waited for them. Ashes, and certain death if they were recaptured. There had been no news from the three hundred men kept in Grand Pré, and Belle had almost lost all hope of seeing her husband again. Her hand went up to her lips, where he had kissed her before leaving, a month before. Where he had kissed her, just after telling her he'd be back soon.
She squinted her eyes shut, trying not to cry for the umpteenth time. She was taking in a deep breath when Alexandre gently touched her shoulder, making her look up to her oldest son's eyes. "What is it, chéri?"
"There's something going on over there, maman. Do you think its papa coming?" Belle looked at the direction Alexandre was pointing, and her heart leaped. Could it be?
Dozens of men on horses were circling a large number of walking individuals, and Belle narrowed her eyes, trying to see if they were women and children, like it had been in the last weeks, or men. They came to a stop at the other side of the bank and she suddenly got on her feet, gasping. They were men.
"Mercy! There they are!" Mercy rose to her feet and walked to Belle's side, narrowing her bright green eyes to see. Then her face lit up, and she smiled.
"It really is them. At last…"
"Maman?" It was Thomas this time, and Mercy looked down.
"What, mon petit?" Thomas pointed at the ocean.
"There are boats on the water, maman." Sure enough, three ships were coming in the harbour, mats pointing to the sky, sails swelling in the strong autumn wind. Belle felt her heart squeeze, and glanced nervously at the group of men at the other end of the bank. Surely they would bring families together…
~~
I climbed one of the rocks nearby, and sat on it. It had taken the English authorities three weeks to finally get us out of the church in Grand Pré, feeding us with stuff you wouldn't even see on a boat, and we had walked a week to get to Port Royal. I was drained of all energy, and the thought of getting on a boat was making me feel sick. I was a farmer, not a sailor. Émile sat down with a deep sigh next to me, and waved to the incredible number of women and children in front of us. "Do you think we could find them?" I shrugged.
"I don't know, Émile. But Winslow said they would keep families together, so we shouldn't worry." Henri came to stand behind me, and pointed something at the other end of the bank.
"Look. The boats are coming." My heart clenched. I've never been on a boat before.
"It's beautiful" said my brother Jules, sparkles in his eyes. He'd always wanted to be a sailor, but being the son of a farmer, odds had made his life something else.
"Yeah, well, we'll talk about it once on board" I said, looking back at the people in front of us. They were all looking at us with hope, probably looking for their husband or son. We all did the same, but my heart was hoping maybe Belle and the kids had managed to escape in the woods, and seek refuge with the Indians we made trade with. I had heard some had done that, and I knew they'd be safe with them. Maybe.
The boats berthed and the English officers yelled in English at us, pushing us in the back towards the boat. Looks like we were the first to get on the boats. I turned to my father, a deep frown on my face. "How are they going to put families together if they get us on right now?" A feeling of dread was slowly settling in my stomach as I looked around, looking for bright blonde hair, or a brown haired six years old running around. Jean-Luc sighed.
"Je ne sais pas, Remy. [I don't know] And I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it." I turned back to look in his eyes, and the rock in my stomach grew heavier. It wasn't until I was halfway on the embarkation ramp that I turned around to get back on the bank. I had to find them. I couldn't – couldn't !– leave without Belle and my children. Three English Dragoons got a hold of me, though, and I struggled the best I could to keep them from bringing me back on the embarkation ramp. "Lâchez-moi!" [Let go of me] I yelled in their ears, but they just yelled back at me, slowly dragging me up. From the corner of my eyes, I saw other men trying the same, and together we were giving a hard time to the officers. I drew back my arm and punched an officer in the face. He finally let go of my shirt and stumbled backwards, falling in another officer's arms, and his nose bleeding in profusion. That hadn't been a good idea, and two more officers were on me now, irons* in their hands, and trying to get a hold of my hands.
~~
"What's going on?"
Henriette narrowed her eyes, looking at the commotion on the embarkation ramp, not very far from where they were. She barely smiled when one of the officers fell in the water, but her smile froze suddenly. "It's Remy." Belle ran to her side, Julien in her arms.
"What? Where?" Henriette pointed at the base of the ramp.
"Over there, he's almost made it to the bank." Belle watched as he punched an officer in the face, and as two more officers jumped on him, almost bringing down on his knees. First thing she knew, she was running towards the boat, the baby in her arms.
"Remy!" He heard her, snapping his head in her direction, and fought vehemently with his opponent to get down. Belle tried to walk to the ramp, but was stopped by a firm hand closing on her arm and dragging her back. "Non, lâchez-moi! Remy!" She turned around to see pale blue eyes, and recognized officer Wolfe. "Vous! Lâchez-moi, je dois rejoindre mon mari!" [Let go of me, I have to go with my husband]
"You have to wait until all men are on board, m'am" he said to her, his voice not as cold as she remembered it. He squeezed her arms, trying to make her understand with gestures what she couldn't understand with words. "You'll get hurt if you go further." She held on tight to the crying baby in her arms and looked at him a long moment, before looking back to the ramp where her husband was still struggling with the officers. She could see he was tiring, though, and one officer clubbed in behind the head with the butt of his gun, and he fell on his knees, almost unconscious, as they put the irons on his wrists.
"Non" she whispered. "Non, Remy!" Logan squeezed her arms again, and she saw compassion in his eyes.
"Stay here, m'am. I'll see what I can do." He left her there as they brought the last men on the boat. She moaned, looking for Remy, but he was nowhere to be seen.
~~
"Colonel?" Monkton turned his head to see lieutenant Logan Wolfe standing next to him. "Colonel, the men are almost all on board, but the women and children are still on shore, sir." Monkton sighed.
"I've got orders, lieutenant Wolfe. When the boat is full, send it." Wolfe looked surprised.
"Forgive me sir, but families will be torn apart…" Monkton looked at him, a hard look in his eyes.
"I said I've got orders from governor Lawrence. Send the ship when it is full."
"It is, sir. But…" Monkton sighed, knowing well what Wolfe was meaning. They had promised the Acadians that families wouldn't be torn apart, but he had received a letter from governor Lawrence. He fumbled in one of his pockets, looking for it. Finding it, he unfolded the sheet of paper, and gave it to lt. Wolfe. The short man read it aloud, his eyes growing with surprise.
"'I am not asking you to wait for the women and children to get on board, send the men without them'…" Wolfe looked up at Monkton, who shook his head sadly. "This is not serious, right?"
"I'm afraid it is, lieutenant Wolfe."
~~
Belle watched in horror as they pulled up the embarkation ramp, and untied the ship's ropes. "Non" she whispered again, and hugged her baby against her chest. She let herself fall on her knees and cried, until a warm hand closed on her shoulder, making her look up in soft brown eyes. "Oh, Maximien, what am I going to do…" Maximien got down on his knees as the rest of the family gathered around them, and took her in his arms. He looked up to see the ship was sailing away, wind blowing in the sails, and taking half of their family with it.
"I don't know, Belle. We'll find a way" he said, quite unconvinced of his own words.
~~
I sat in a dark corner, still dizzy from the hit on my head. I moved a bit, hearing the sound of chains, and opened my eyes. I blinked, a ray of light painfully blinding me, and soon I took in my surroundings. The place was dark and smelled of fish and salt, but a few portholes let in some light, which helped me see that we were about fifty men in the room, probably a section of the hold. I tried to get up, for I lost my balance for some reason and fell on my right side, the irons painfully searing in my wrists. A tall figure loomed over me, grabbing the wall for support, and crunched to look at me. "Are you okay, Remy?" I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't get words out. I cleared my throat, and looked up at Henri.
"I… I'm alright, I guess" I croaked, and raised a hand to my throat. It stopped in mid-air, though, as I realized I had irons on my wrists. Someone sighed next to me.
"You really had to do something stupid, huh?" I recognized Émile's voice in the darkness, and I sat, my back against the wall.
"I had to get to Belle." I said, my voice hoarse with despair. Émile sighed again, and Henri sat next to me.
"Good try. Well, you didn't. And the ship sailed." He sounded like he wanted to cry, and I looked down at my hands, the irons gleaming in the pale sunray. And wondered. What was going to happen to our wives, the kids?
What was going to happen to us?
For the first time in my life, I was truly scared.
* Irons, in case you didn't already know, are the ancestor of the actual handcuffs. I was much larger and heavier, though, and left painful marks on hands and wrists.
What do you think? Review pleeeeeze! I need to know!
***********************************************
foofighta : I do love history, and I sincerely hope it shows in the way I write. And btw, Dragoons is not a typo, nor a mistake. Dragoons is the names given to the English crown officers (kinda like the Musketeers in France, though less cool), and it is spelled Dragoons, not Dragons. You worried me with the notice in your review, but I checked it out. Thanks anyways! (for once, I was right!)
sweet-chick3 : I'm really sorry to disappoint you, but Belle and Remy love each other in my fic. I was getting tired of Belle being shown as a bitchy woman in other fics, and I wanted to make her a human being for once, and give her feelings. The detail being that know, they're separated, and I will make Rogue appear in the fic (in chapter 5 or 6, like I said in the A/N at the beginning). We haven't seen the last of Belle, though, and my goal is to make you guys think she's… nice?
BJ2 : Good news : I've got most of my essential information gathered, so the writing will be faster. Also, I've dropped 16yrs for a time, so all my writing time is put in making this fic good. Yay! So the chapters should be coming faster.
WarmerThanFire : Rogue coming in will be interesting, I'm promising that. And I'm glad you're learning while reading this… it was my point, after all.
ishandahalf : I'm afraid you'll have to summon some patience, because Rogue isn't coming in before chapter 5, or even 6… *evil laugh* That should be somewhere during next week-end, if I have time to write more. But I promise it'll be worth waiting! As for Belle and the kids… *thinks* See, you almost were right. They're not dead, of course, but it looks unlikely Remy will see his family anytime soon. I will continue following Belle in her adventures, alternating chapter with Remy's POV and chapter with her, though, so we don't loose track of her and the kids.
velvetine*rose : *wipes a tear away* Awww, you're soooo nice to me! That has to be the nicest thing I've ever seen in a review. Wow, you even read stories because I've reviewed? You've just became my favorite reviewer!