Es blinked in the sudden bright sunlight, such a stark contrast to the gloomy jail cell. For the first few minutes they just stood and stared in silence, the news still sinking in, until Gudule finally spoke up.
"Esmeralda, how could you?" she whimpered meekly.
"I'm not going to talk about it," Es deadpanned. "You wouldn't understand anyway, no matter what I said."
More awkward silence followed, until Fleur announced that she was going to find her family and stormed off.
"Mum…you should've stayed home for the funeral," Clopin muttered, his gaze fixed to his worn-out shoes. "To be truthful…I wasn't even going to attend, until you spoke up. I made the whole thing up on my way back from town this morning. I was trying to cover for Esmeralda's pregnancy. I figured that if the captain was dead, he wouldn't be around to deny having a child with her, so…"
"So you…you lied to me?" Gudule gasped, poking Clopin with an arthritic finger.
"Yes, Mum." His shoulders slumped. "I was only trying to protect Esmeralda. I-I—" He trailed off before shrugging weakly.
Es walked over close and gently laid a hand to his shoulder. "You were trying to do the right thing, and I thank you. I'm sorry that it all went wrong."
The king lifted his gaze from the dirt long enough to look his sister in the face. "Thanks," he murmured weakly. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly as if fighting a headache, he sighed. "Let's see if that donkey is still where I left it outside of Notre Dame."
"Quasi brought me on the horse," Es added quickly. "He promised me when he dropped me off that he would come back for me later today. You can go on without me."
"So long as you're sure that you'll be fine…"
"I'll be fine."
"'Kay." Clopin and his mother slowly walked away. Es watched them go, shrinking to the size of a child's dolls as the distance increased, before disappearing completely over the horizon. After they were gone, she continued to stare after them, before finally crumpling to the ground. Pounding the earth with her fists, her tears flowed like the Seine. This was not the reunion she had wanted with her mother.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't she have a nice, happy, drama-free family life like normal people did?
For her exhausted soul, the wait for Quasi and Snowball was an eternity. Quasi patted her and hugged her and reassured her that everything would be all right, and that he would still be her friend. It provided a tiny glimmer of comfort amidst her raging anger and despair.
Back at the Court of Miracles, Esmeralda's mother remarked on how fine a horse Quasi led, but did not even acknowledge her daughter's return. Es grabbed a loaf of bread and stalked off to her wagon to brood in silence. Outside, muffled voices came through the cloth wagon discussing the price of the horse and if it should be kept or sold. Quasi insisted on keeping it.
That stupid horse is worth more than I am. Es dug her knuckles into her eyes, trying to stem the swelling wave of tears.
Besides, he isn't even theirs to sell! Shouldn't all of Claude's belongings be given to Quasi and myself? We're his only surviving family!
Fat chance of that happening—Claude's home has already been ransacked. Everyone knows that Claude had no Last Will and Testament. He never legally adopted Quasi, and he married me about two hours before his death. There is no marriage certificate. In the eyes of the Law, nobody will care that he fathered an illegitimate child.
It just isn't right! Sobbing, Es collapsed in the floor, hoping that sleep would provide a moment of escape.
Something poked her in the ribcage. "Hey. Um. Similar-ella."
Es glanced up and immediately recognized the face. "Seriously, you butchered my name again? I thought I had finally drummed into your thick skull how to pronounce it correctly."
"Eh…heheh…nervous." The ghostly ex-Captain shrank backwards. "I wish that I could go back to calling you 'Babe'…that's easier."
"I don't think my husband would appreciate that."
"Ehm…probably not." The blonde ghost shuffled his boots on the wagon floor.
"But seriously," Esmeralda grunted, pulling herself into a sitting position (her belly was beginning to make that difficult), "what are you doing in my dreams?"
"Apologizing," Phoebus explained, turning bright red. "My probation angel made me."
"Uh-huh. I haven't seen you this awkward since I said that I wanted us to get married and you oh-so-artfully dodged the question."
"Sorry about that." He looked down at his boots. "I really did like you, it was just…"
"That you already had a wife back home," Es growled. "And besides, how about you look me in the eye and apologize like a man, instead of staring at the ground like a guilty child?"
"Whoa, you're in a baaaaaaaad moooooooooood," he responded with half-lidded eyes.
"Of course I am!" she snapped. "My own mother cares about a stupid horse more than me, not to mention that this whole thing blew up because of your memorial service."
"Well, I wasn't even there for that," Phoebus huffed. "Don't blame me."
"I thought you were supposed to be here to apologize," Es stated flatly, crossing her arms above her pregnant belly.
"Okay. Okay. Sorry." His head and shoulders slumped. "Look, I'm very sorry about everything. I wish that I could help you; truly I do. If I was still alive, I'd put you on Achilles right now and carry you all the way back to the family estate. It doesn't bother me that Frollo has already had you."
"So that I could be the 'other woman'?" Es made air quotes with her fingers.
"So that I could protect you!" the former captain protested. "I'd get everything to work out with my wife. I wouldn't let her throw you out, not when you needed a home."
Es opened her mouth to reply, but was abruptly cut off by a new voice. "I do hope you'd have had the decency to ask me first…instead of just showing up with that woman," came a tired sigh. Es looked in the direction from which the sound had come, and spotted a familiar blonde woman.
The captain's wife.
Author's note: Thank you everyone for your patience! After many long months, my muse has finally returned. Please leave feedback, it really helps me (:
