I was still clapped in the fireplace when Dominique found me. It seemed bizarre and unnatural to see her apart from her two best friends. There was a tear running down her face, and with one finger she held her hair out of her eyes, as if she was forcing herself not to hide from what had happened. Looking her over again, I could see a red mark on her ankle, that looked like a cross between a bite and a burn.

"Is it over?" I asked.

"Over?" she said in a hysterical voice. "Over? Oh, yes, it's over… Over… Heh… You need to come with me. Keep quiet, I don't know what someone might do."

"What do you mean, 'someone'?" I asked, but in this castle I was ready to believe anything.

"I mean… THEM… you saw them. Don't tell me you hid the entire battle, LeFou. You saw who… WHAT we were fighting."

"Yeah, I did," I replied, "I got attacked by a damned teapot."

"Cheesegrater," Dominique replied dryly, gesturing to her ankle.

"Where are Chanal and Anne?" I didn't ask about Gaston. After all, it's not like anything was going to happen to HIM. "Are they all right?"

"Oh, I think they're fine," she replied. When we were going around the castle, Chanal and I decided we were going to go look for Gaston, while Anne was going to try her hand at getting rid of a particularly troublesome clock. In other words," she said, grinning, "she was going to try and make time fly."

"Did she get it?"

"Uh… Not exactly. I saw the clock running after her yelling, 'Tally ho!', but then I saw her make it out the door okay."

"What about Chanal?"

"Chanal… Chanal got into a fist-fight with a spatula."

"I see. Where's Gaston, by the way?"

Dominque's happy look vanished instantly.

"Come with me," is all she could say, as her eyes began to tear up again. "Quickly." She led me down the steps and outside the castle, until we got to the courtyard which lay just beneath a large tower.

And there I saw… I saw Gaston. Lying crumpled in a heap at the edge of the courtyard. There was blood lying all around him, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Is he…?" I asked Dominique quietly.

"He's still…" she whispered. "Let's go to him." She walked over to Gaston and knelt next to his head. "Gaston, it's me. Dominique. I brought LeFou."

I knelt beside her and looked at Gaston. The vibrant, angry, self-conceited look normally in his eyes was gone, and all that was left was a look of exhaustion. But… Dominique was right. He was still alive. Just barely.

"Gaston," I whispered.

Gaston slowly turned his head, as if he was too drained to put in the effort.

"Did I get him?" he choked out, before spitting out a clump of blood. I didn't really have any clue what he was talking about, but I tried to smile. I remembered back when I used to hunt with him.

"Get him?" I said in a fake cheery voice. "Of course! You… you didn't miss a shot!"

"I knew it," he said, wheezing again one last time before another spat of blood flew across the courtyard. "I knew…"

And then he fell silent.

"Gaston… Gaston, you're gonna… Gaston come on, wake up!" I cried, pushing him with my palm. "You've gotta wake up, we're gonna go back to the town. We've got to go back. It was a mistake to come here. It was a mistake… all of this was a mistake. Can we go back and not… not talk about this anymore? Come on, Gaston… Let's go…" My voice was getting frantic, as I shoved on him once again. My hand reached up to Gaston's chest, and when I brought it in front of my eyes, it was streaked with blood. "Who did this to you? Come on, Gaston, tell me, please…" I turned to Dominique, who was sobbing silently.

"Gaston," she said in a voice depleted of her normal girly love for him, "Come on, Gaston. Forget about Belle… Forget about her. Let's go back." But as she looked down, and then into my eyes, we both knew there was no hope. "LeFou, do you think…?" she asked. "Do you think we can carry him back to the town?"

"No," I replied, my voice catching in my throat, "Without Gaston, we can't do ANYTHING."