Breaking the Broken
Thirteen
Hello, Little Girl
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Human beings are the only species capable of endless evil and endless cruelty
But also endless compassion and endless hope
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Forget about the notion that
Our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, we are innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away
Dave Matthews Band, Seek Up
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It was all in the cough. The breath ripping its way viciously through the raw red throat, emitted the rasping that struck fear into the hearts of all around that she would be taken from them again. This sound garnered sympathy, concern, desperation to make things right. Most children did not have this advantage over others. Most people wouldn't consider this an advantage at all, especially not when considering the painful scar that accompanied it. However, she was not most people. It was in her blood to exploit the weaknesses of others, and to use what could become your own weakness to your advantage. None of this changed the deep red scar, age having done nothing to fade it, which stretched brilliantly down her small chest, accented by the pale glow of her porcelain skin. But it helped, a little.
This feeling had been described to her once, in a bedtime story told by her cousin. She had only heard it once, but she never forgot. Her mother had been outraged that she had heard such thing, but her mother was always a bit of a twit. The walls were closing in a bit, the stern faces seemed to loom a bit larger, and the expression in them was harder than usual. Her breath froze in her lungs as she realized that this would be hard to get out of, that a sweet smile wouldn't cut it this time. Cassidy had never told her that she wouldn't be able to breath. Then again, it wasn't her story to tell.
The wheels began to turn behind her beautiful blue eyes. The cogs spinning at hyper speed in her mind, the principal's office starting to spin a bit as well. Was this how Kathryn felt?' she found herself wondering. If so, she had just developed an entirely new level of respect for her cousin. The idea came in a flash, as all her best ones tended to do. Clutching her frail hand to her chest, fingering her scar lightly, the breath frozen in her lungs shot out violently, as she fell to the floor, limp as a rag doll. A sudden flurry of nervous activity overtook all the occupants of the office, including the victim and her family. Rushed phone calls were made, people running frantically about, hollering for help. No one except her father thought to peek down at her angelic face. He was the only one to notice the slight smile curve her pale pink lips as she peeled open one cerulean eye and winked at him, before her eyelids drooped and face fell slack.
The king sized bed seemed to swallow her whole, her fragile body drowning in a sea of silky sheets and down comforters. Propped up against a gigantic pillow, her blonde curls cast a halo about her head as her large eyes blinked fearfully up at the doctor.
"No, Mister Merteuil, I think she'll be just fine. She does show signs of exhaustion, so I suggest keeping her in bed for a few days. She was probably overexerting herself."
"Yes, she certainly does keep herself busy," Alain Merteuil responded, with an amused twinkle in his dark eyes. Exceptionally attractive, even as he reached middle age, Alain viewed the world with a sort of detached cynicism that could be rivaled by few. A typical trait of those he had been born too, he was not horrified by the misdeeds of others but actually found them quite entertaining.
As the medical professional left the room, he cast a concerned glance over his shoulder at the tiny beauty. His view of her was then obstructed by the heavy wood door shutting quietly behind him, and he shook his head, striding briskly down the long hallway.
Letting out a relieved sigh, the young girl slouched against the pillows and clicked on the television, finding her favorite soap opera. She immediately immersed herself in the daytime drama, as her father observed quietly.
At the tender age of six years old, Juliette Merteuil had already managed to get the world on a string. Her large blue eyes and golden blonde ringlets made her a stark contrast to most of her family, but the similarities were deeper than skin could portray. Charming and engaging, Alain had a feeling that his beautiful daughter wouldn't have had a problem coming out on top, even without the medical problems that caused people to hover anxiously about her.
Some nights he woke up, panicked, body drenched in a cold sweat remembering that night so long ago. Only three years old, and already plagued with what they could hope would be the worst to come of her precious life.
Juliette hadn't made a noise. Children should be seen and not heard, her mother had told her on many an occasion, and she obeyed in a way typical for the Merteuil in her—namely, at the worst possible opportunity. Alain wasn't sure what had alerted him that night, what made him realize that something was terribly wrong. This intuition led him to his toddler's bedroom, where he was greeting with the image that haunts his nightmares. Ghastly white and gasping, clutching desperately at the skin and bones that made up her frail torso, Juliette was curled up on the very same bed she rested in presently, convulsing violently. She had been so ill for so long, and those difficult three years culminated into the pain that shook her feeble body, causing silent tears to spill. The rest of the night was a blur, and his dreams seemed to make it a fill-in-the-blank, every night ending with a different possible outcome, all of them usually death. And every night, he would race down the hall, fling open the doors, and his precious daughter would be sleeping peacefully, a contented smile on her face as shallow breaths filtered in and out through her little ski-jump nose.
"Now what do you have to say for yourself, Miss Merteuil?" Alain demanded of his daughter with mock-seriousness. He could never be angry with her. Juliette could commit any number of crimes, and judging by her bloodlines, she would be more than capable of them, but she would never be tainted in her father's eyes.
"Thank God that's over with. Do you have any idea how dirty the floor is in Principal McNamara's office?" Juliette asked, wrinkling her tiny nose in disgust. "Hey daddy, do you think you could donate mops to the school?"
"I don't know sweetheart, are you planning on pretending to faint there again?"
"Are you accusing me of something, sir?" Juliette's eyes widened in false indignance, before the six year old succumbed to laughter. Chuckling good naturedly, Alain made his way to the bed, propping himself up next to his child.
"So…why'd you do it?"
"Faint?" Juliette asked in confusion.
"No, of course I know why you did that. Why did you tell Claudia Daigle that her father would lose his job if she didn't let you be first in line?"
"Because I'm psychic?" Juliette chirped.
"Try again, pumpkin," Alain smirked.
"Well, he would've!" Juliette insisted. "He works for you, daddy! That means that he works for me."
Laughing slightly at his young child's reasoning, Alain found no grounds to argue with her. It was true—Mr. Daigle had been working at the Merteuil Corporation for a few years now. He worked for Alain, but Alain worked at the whims of Juliette.
"Is Auntie Cadee coming over today?" Juliette asked, her clear eyes glued to the television screen as the drama unfolded. Alain smiled involuntarily at the thought of the spunky brunette who had fought so hard at the beginning. Cadee Thomson had never wanted to be one of those girls, the ones who had an affair with their boss. Honestly, Alain had never wanted to be one of those guys, who claim to love one woman when their heart belongs to another. Neither of them was in their ideal situation, but neither could bring themselves to leave.
"Juliette Merteuil, for the five hundredth time, she is not your aunt."
"Would you prefer if I referred to her as what she really is?" her thin eyebrow rose in a challenge, and at that moment, she was the spitting image of his own mother. It was ironic, in a way, all the connections to the Merteuil clan that his child seemed to have when he had married Camilla Bertrand with the intention of breaking free from his old lifestyle. An infamous playboy, Alain had caused quite a stir when he took up with the virginal Camilla. Though his mother Isabelle had sworn that it would never last, he had married Camilla. When she became pregnant with Juliette, his hope had been to bring someone as kindhearted and pure as his wife into the world. However, Juliette turned out to have nothing in common with her mother besides glossy blonde curls and big blue eyes, and Alain found himself perfectly okay with that. People who weren't particularly twisted tended to bore him.
"No, that's fine," Alain clucked. Rising slowly from the bed, he smoothed down his beloved child's hair as her sleepy eyes locked with his own. "You should probably get some rest, sweetie."
"So then should I come back later?" a masculine voice rumbled from the doorway. Without looking, Juliette knew who it was, recognized the voice she hadn't heard it years. All traces of sleepiness gone, the frail six year old launched herself out of bed and across the room, landing in the waiting arms of Sebastian Valmont.
Sebastian, his step-nephew or something ridiculous like that, was supposedly dead, of course. However Alain found himself relatively unfazed by him showing up at the family home. He wasn't into poetical shit like the "meaning of life" or "living life to the fullest", but he saw a lot of himself in Sebastian, and figured that Sebastian, like himself, just wasn't done with the world. Their paths hadn't collided very often, but it was just wrong to think that the boy was dead. Alain felt slightly contented that Sebastian was alive, but it was still rather eerie to see your child in the arms of a young man you had thought dead for the past two years.
Sebastian was tall, with curly blonde hair and deep blue eyes, and honestly, he looked more like Juliette than her own family did. There was a strange bond between the two of them that seemed deeper than a blood connection could ever give them.
It was heart wrenching, the look in the young girl's eyes. Deep pools of blue, pouring out their emotion in earth shattering sobs.
"I have some bad news, baby," Alain had begun gently. His tongue seemed thick, the words too heavy, his soul made of lead. Juliette was only half-Merteuil, but it seemed she was more of one than he was. She could read him like a book, and she stiffened accordingly.
"It's 'ebastian, in't it?" her voice was higher than usual, which was certainly saying something for the four year old. The slight lisp that laced her speech was more prominent.
"Um, yes…" Alain had begun, slightly suspicious. He wondered how much his daughter knew or if she had just read it off of him. Still, he tread on eggshells while trying to deliver the blow.
"He's dead, isn't he? She really did it. It finally happened," she choked, and he could almost see the lump that had risen in her throat. This was when the tears began to fall, subsiding quickly into bawling. Alain found himself helpless for only the second time in his life, both revolving around his young Juliette. Reaching out to hold her, to comfort her, to do anything to try and take this additional pain from her, Alain Merteuil was hurt when she cowered away. She curled herself into a tight ball, ghastly white and shaking. Slowly, she regained her composure, sitting up and blinking as if awaking from a long sleep and finding a whole new world in place of the one she had left behind.
"What do you mean by 'She really did it. It finally happened'?" Alain asked in confusion. From what he heard from his sister, Sebastian's stepmother, he had been hit by a car and died in the hospital a few hours later.
"Kathryn," the young blonde had said harshly. Alain's eye's narrowed in confusion. Kathryn? Catching his confused gaze, Juliette sighed exasperated and continued. "Sebastian always said she'd been the end of him."
He laughed to himself quietly at this. He could only imagine, Sebastian Valmont, notorious playboy and Manhattan's resident deviant, confiding in a four year old. "Honey, that's only a figure of speech. Kathryn had nothing to do with Sebastian's accident."
Juliette's large eyes blinked up at him, clearly disbelieving. Honestly, he himself wasn't too sure. It was a common whisper, a dirty little secret among the Merteuil clan, that the relationship between the two stepsiblings wasn't exactly wholesome. Beautiful, sweet, intelligent Kathryn was surely not exactly as she appeared, and Sebastian… well, Sebastian's reputation preceded him. It was only a matter of time before their games caught up with them.
"Are you feeling okay?" he had asked her, deeply concerned that the color still hadn't returned to her face though her tears had long since ceased.
"My heart hurts," she had said simply, staring distantly through the window at the dark landscape surrounding the manor.
"Do you need to see the doctor?"
"No. He can't help. Sebastian'll still be gone," Juliette sighed hoarsely, bottom lip quivering.
That had been all she said for months, in response to why she was so pale, so tired, so lifeless. It was as if the young girl had lost her puppy, but everyone knew that Sebastian meant much more to her.
"My heart hurts," she would reply listlessly, and as concerned as he was, Alain was always slightly jealous. How much did he mean to his daughter? Would she be this distraught if he were gone?
"You are a big fat secousse!" Juliette pouted, pounding her tiny fists against Sebastian's muscular chest.
"Watch your mouth, mademoiselle," Sebastian laughed, planting a small kiss on the young girl's forehead, pretending he hadn't heard her muttered response of "bâtard". Carrying her easily back to the bed, he plopped her down on top of it, lightly tickling her sides. "You need to eat a sandwich, skinny girl."
"I hate sandwiches," she pouted.
"Since when?"
"Since forever! If you were here, you'd know," Juliette glared.
"I'm sorry Julie," Sebastian sighed, frown lines creaking his forehead.
"That's okay!" she chirped, all the hurt she had lived with for the past years forgotten. That was the beauty in being a child, so young and untroubled. If people were gone, they came back. If they said sorry, they were forgiven. It was a simple action-reaction in Juliette's mind, leaving her with no doubts that Sebastian should be forgiven for leaving her for so long. If only Kathryn thought the same way. Leaning forward in interest, she asked him, "So tell me, what was heaven like?"
"I wasn't in heaven," Sebastian laughed, his true laugh.
"Then where were you?" she puzzled.
"All sorts of places," he hedged.
"Like where?"
"Like the Greek islands," Sebastian conceded, mentally searching his mind for a single place he had been, rather than the broad 'globe-trotting' he tended to write it off as, perfectly willing to forget all about it.
Juliette remained silent for a moment, her brow furrowed. "Is that like heaven for rich people?"
"Sort of," Sebastian laughed, and Alain chuckled from the doorway.
"Can we go there sometime?"
"We can go anywhere you want," Sebastian smiled, and Juliette beamed in response.
"Let's go to New Guinea!" she clapped in excitement.
"Why?"
"Cause that's where they make guinea pigs, duh."
"How are you, Alain?" Sebastian asked, turning his attention to the man. Juliette did the same, eyes interested, as if she was only just seeing him as Sebastian was, instead of having spent most of her life with him.
"I'm good. And how is the afterlife treating you, Sebastian?" Alain quipped.
"Fine. How's Cadee?" Sebastian smirked. Touché.
"She's wonderful," Alain replied through gritted teeth.
"I'm sure she is," Sebastian drawled suggestively.
"Well, it's been a long day so far, and I think I need a nap. I'm off to bed," Alain began after a few tense moments of silent during which Juliette's large eyes slid back and forth between the two, as if watching a high-stakes tennis match.
"I can't imagine whose," Sebastian said with a large smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Glaring, Alain turned and shut the door behind him.
"Phew. Thank God he's gone," Juliette sighed, relaxing against the pillows, overdramatic in the way that only a spoiled prepubescent child could be. Sebastian turned an amused gaze upon the young girl. "It's just that I never know how much he knows. So I feel like I should just play dumb until he's gone."
"You don't have to play dumb, Jules. Just stop doing things that'll get you in trouble," Sebastian said sternly. Steely blue eyes met their match in the other as the two blondes reached a stalemate, before Sebastian broke out into laughter. "Okay, fine, be good at hiding it."
"I am good at hiding it!" Juliette protested.
"And so I've heard. What's this I heard about you threatening Claudia Daigle?" Sebastian asked, his eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth.
"Oh. Well, you see," Juliette heaved a long-suffering sigh, "she took my place in line. I just wanted to be the line-leader, but she stepped in front of me, and she wouldn't let me pass. It was quite rude."
"And that's the whole story?"
"Well, no. By took my place, I mean that I stepped in front of her, and then she stepped back in front of me. But, you know, you move it you lose it," Juliette shrugged her bony shoulders, a twinkle in her light eyes.
"How'd you get out of that one?"
"I pretended to faint on the principal's office floor," she admitted easily.
"That's my girl. I told you that you could always use that to your advantage," Sebastian laughed.
"Yeah. The floor was really hard, too," Juliette shifted, rubbing her shoulder lightly.
"Yeah? Are you okay?" Sebastian asked, moving closer to inspect any possible damage.
"Of course. Sucker," she laughed gleefully, bumping the supposedly-injured shoulder against Sebastian's much broader one, before settling herself in his lap. "So, are you taking me back with you?"
"Back where?" Sebastian asked, playing with her long blonde curls. In the back of his mind, he registered that if he and Annette had had a child, she would look very much like Juliette Merteuil. Curly blonde hair, clear complexion, beautiful blue eyes. However, Sebastian knew that there was no child in the world who could compare to the one he currently held. Truthfully, he valued her over any member of his own family, but he felt that way towards most of the Merteuil clan. While the Valmonts were bloodsuckers, each and every one of them, there was an exciting variation among the Merteuils. You had your gold-diggers, entrepreneurs, upstanding businessmen, less upstanding business men, trophy wives, black sheep, artistes, and even the occasional few who tried to break free and live away from the family legacy.
"Back to wherever you're living in hiding with Kathryn," Juliette replied, in the same tone in which she had informed him that guinea pigs were 'made' in New Guinea. As if it were the most obvious thing the world had to offer its occupants.
"What makes you so sure that I'm in hiding with Kathryn?"
"I know that she isn't at the Clinic anymore. I heard mommy and daddy talking about it the other day. They said that she's missing, but grandmere didn't seem too worried. So that means that she knows where Kathryn is."
"That doesn't mean that she's with me."
"Yes it does. You're Sebastian and Kathryn. Kathryn and Sebastian. You're always together. You have to be," Juliette said, frowning slightly at the inconceivable notion that quite possibly her two favorite people in the world could live without each other.
"Yeah, Kathryn's with me," Sebastian said, letting out a noise that was half-way between a laugh and a sigh at the realization that a six year old had concluded what had taken everyone else so long to figure out. Apart, they just didn't make sense.
"Well, are you going to take me to see her, or am I going to have to track her down myself?"
Sizing up the tiny blonde, Sebastian knew that she wasn't one to make idle threats. If she wanted to find Kathryn, she most certainly would. Sebastian had a feeling that if Juliette had had an inkling that his death was a hoax, she would've found him too. Part of him wished that she would have.
"Do you want to come with me?" he asked seriously. Her entire face lit up, as if he had promised her her own country or that every day would be Christmas.
"Of course!" she replied breathlessly, giving the matter no real thought. In her mind, it was simple—she could stay at home, where her parents adored her but didn't quite know her and didn't exactly love each other; or she could go with Kathryn and Sebastian, who adored her and knew her and loved her and each other, but didn't quite know it yet.
"You don't even know where we're staying," he laughed.
"I'm sure it's very nice," she said solemnly.
"It's in California."
Widening her eyes slightly, she echoed his statement. Then realization dawned upon her face. "Cassidy's there too, isn't she? What's Kathryn's up too?" she asked with a malicious sort of glee that seemed too mature for her youthful existence.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Julie. But you really want to come? You hate warm weather. I really don't think that the humidity will be good for you—"
"If you think you can leave me behind again Sebastian, you're dead wrong. Wait, not dead. Just wrong. Very, very wrong," Juliette said stubbornly, blonde tendrils falling across her face.
"Alright, then rest up. I'm gonna go talk to your dad."
"Don't bother. He isn't home," Juliette said, eyes returning to the television. "He's always with Cadee."
"Does that bother you?" he asked.
"Not especially. I don't expect him to be home. I'd leave if I could. I'm leaving now. It's just mom here, and she's a Bible-thumping hick," Juliette sneered with great disdain.
"Where the hell did you learn that term?"
"Kathryn," Juliette said simply. "And grandmere may have used it a few times. Usually in relation to a girlfriend you had a few summers ago. I don't recall you telling me about any girlfriend, 'Bastian," her gaze turned accusing.
"It wasn't very serious," he shrugged.
"So you were cheating on Kathryn?"
"What!Juliette, Kathryn isn't my girlfriend."
"But you love her," she said simply, sorting his entire existence into a few phrases in the way that only she could do. With all that she had been through in her few years, Juliette had come out on the other side with damaged health and an aged soul. Sebastian found that they were kindred spirits in that sense, wise beyond their years, jaded beyond reason. But he couldn't help but be taken by the way Juliette still managed to find certain joy in particular things. Presently, he couldn't figure out why it was so hard for him to tell her she was wrong.
"Kathryn's my stepsister, Jules."
"So? Cadee's dad's like secretary or something. He loves her, why can't you love Kathryn?" she asked. "Oh wait, did you guys break up? Break ups are hard. I guess that's why my parents haven't done it yet. You guys should really think about getting back together, because I'm pretty sure she loves you."
"You think so?" Sebastian asked, a wry smile tugging at his full lips as he thought of his sudden introduction to Sean only hours before.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said distractedly.
"And you're sure you want to come back with me?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," her eyes glued to the television program she had been trying to watch since she returned from school.
"And you're sure that Santa Claus is real?" he asked, testing to see if she was listening at all. To his mild surprise, she responded in kind without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Don't be ridiculous, Sebastian," she replied with a withering gaze.
"Are we taking your car?" she called happily, skipping down the path from the foreboding front door of her home. Carrying only her backpack for her, as their luggage had been packed up by the help, Sebastian pulled her back suddenly.
"Yes, we're taking my car. So you know what that means?"
"That I can't touch anything 'cept for the radio," she nodded, familiar with the routine. Lifting her easily, he plopped her into the passenger seat. "Can we stop for sandwiches on the way to California, Sebastian? I think I'm getting too skinny."
His golden laugh filled the distance, the true one that so few people managed to evoke. As they made their way back to California, the blonde duo that was alike in so many ways, Sebastian couldn't help but smile. He had certainly missed Juliette. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was driving into the eye of a storm.
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Hey guys. So… what do you think? I'm not sure how this turned out, but please review and let me know what you think.
There's a certain kind of irony in this new Merteuil being introduced in Chapter Thirteen, don't you think?
Hint: You should
Katie- YAY! Juliette's here! Now we must get prepared for the attack… muah ha ha! Love you.
Luvs-bitch01- Now you know who Sebastian's been neglecting… what do you think? Good adding of characters? I hope so lol. Trust me, we're nowhere near the end of this story.
Ocfan108- I really love your reviews. Probably more than you like updates. Haha. I'm glad that you enjoyed the eye description. They're usually what I look to in photographs too, but it's nice to have a professional opinion lol.
y-x- So true. Who isn't under Sebastian's spell!
Thank you guys for reviewing!
Thanks for reading!
Xo Sam
PS- I do have a new one-shot. I can practically feel you all rolling your eyes. Hahah. Anyway, it's very different (no, that doesn't mean it's an A/S! .:my turn to roll my eyes lol:.) but please go check it out. It's called "Life In A Glass House"
PPS- Katie, remember my threat. K/S all the way... right?