DISCLAIMER: I still do not own HoND. I only own the Aurelia's, Clopin's family - minus Clopin, of course- Fabrice, Bertrand, Jacques, and Audric as of now.

Bernie: I hope that this chapter conveys the emotions of the characters better, at least in the slightest.
Courtney: I hope this chapter gives your imagination a little bit of rest at least.

Chapter Three: Meeting Madame Fabrice

Celie Aurelia shook uncontrollably between the two guards keeping watch over her outside the large doors of the Palais du Justice. She had long since learned that to cry in front of these men would do no good, but of course she learned it the hard way.

"Where's my mama? Where's my mama!" screamed Celie, tears spilling down her face.

"I've told you once already, shut your trap. Maybe this time you'll listen," Jacques slapped the young girl across the face with his meaty hand.

As a set of great bells sounded nearby, Celie shuddered at the memory of the pain the man had inflicted upon her. She idly traced the bruise on her face with the fingertips on her right hand as the doors opened and the guards near her snapped back to attention. The guards who had kidnapped her the night before, Jacques and Bertrand, walked through the door and whispered to the tall man on her left.

"Gypsy girl, come with me," Bertrand ordered and stalked off down the street. Celie scurried after him, afraid of where he was leading her to.

"Will you tell me where we're going, monsieur?" asked the little girl with an innocent, almost pleading look on her face.

"Not yet," the man answered off-handedly, shaking his head, allowing his sandy brown hair to fall loosely under his guard's helmet. He quickened his pace a bit and Celie had to run a bit to catch up with him again. The two walked in silence together until they came to a smaller building attached to the side of the Palais du Justice.

This annex was certainly more run down than the few others like it they had passed on the way there. The black paint on the facade of the building was flaking off, and it looked as if you were to knock on the door too hard it would fall right off of its hinges.

As if to test that theory, Bertrand took the door knocker and brought it down on the door three times, hard. A bit of screaming was heard inside the building and then a frazzled looking woman answered.

"Yes?" she asked out of breath.

Bertrand stepped up to her and whispered a few words in her ear, causing her facial expression to first harden, then progressively grow softer. Once their whispered conversation was over, she looked at Celie and smiled.

"Come in, come in, my dear," she half-laughed. Celie quickly was pulled into the building and could finally take a good look at the woman. She appeared to be about twenty-eight years old. She wasn't afraid to show off her plump figure with the considerably provocative dress she was wearing. She had pulled her blonde tresses back into a half-ponytail. Her crystal blue eyes shone brightly as she looked over the small girl.

"I'm sorry, where have my manners gone, my name is Fabrice Marquet, you are to call me Madame Fabrice. And your name is?" Fabrice asked with a curious look on her face.

"Celie. Celie Aurelia. Why am I here?" she asked the cheery woman.

Bertrand selected this moment to excuse himself, kissing Madame Fabrice's hand goodbye, his lips lingering a moment longer than they usually would have. This made the woman giggle a bit, then shoo him out the door. With a sigh she turned back to Celie.

"Oh sweetie, you're going to live here now. You're one of the servants here, along with the other children," as if on cue, two boys passed through the hall yelling at one another. Fabrice shook her head and whispered a few words under her breath that Celie couldn't manage to hear.

"Where's my mama and Gitana?" she asked the woman, worry flooding through her.

A dark look crossed Fabrice's face but she quickly extinguished it and provided an answer for Celie. "Oh hunny, your family is dead. I'm sorry. We're your only family now."

Tears quickly sprang to Celie's eyes at the mention that her entire family was gone, but for some reason, she liked the idea of a new family.

"Okay," she whispered, and hugged the colourful woman before wiping her tears.

A/N: Sorry for such a short chapter, but I want to save what I have in store for Gitana for chapter four. I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow hopefully.