I'm skipping over the scene in the movie where Gaston assaulted Maurice because we all know what happened, and I have two different BATB fanfics including that scene. So this chapter will be what happened after that. I'm having a hard time coming up with one-shots for Belle and the Beast in this story. So, not sure what the next chapter will be.

Ella had refused to let sleep overtake her, but mental exhaustion from worrying had finally won out. She was dozing, leaning on her arms on the dinner table when she thought she heard cart wheels down in the lane. She sat up straight and tried to wake herself up. There was a knock at the door. She sighed heavily in relief and rushed to the door. "Thank God!" She told herself and flung the door open. There stood Gaston and a reluctant Lefou lingered behind him. "Gaston!" Ella greeted happily. "You found them?" She asked eagerly.

"Ohh, Ella, I wish I had some good news to bring you." Gaston shook his head sorrowfully. Ella's smiled quickly faded and the icy fears rushed through her again. She glanced behind the broad captain, hoping to see Maurice or Belle, but they weren't there!

"What's the matter?" Ella asked worriedly. Gaston stepped inside without waiting to be invited, taking over the entryway as he stood there with his feet spread apart. Lefou hung back by the front door. "Would you please tell me what's going on?!" Ella asked firmly. "Where is my father? Where is Belle? Why aren't they with you?" Then a terrifying thought hit her mind and she almost went dizzy. "Where is my father?" She asked again.

Gaston put on his best sympathy bit and removed his hat, setting it on the table. "Ella, I'm so sorry." He said sadly. "I'm afraid your father isn't coming back." He said bluntly. Lefou stared at him in disbelief. That was rather quick, and cold, he thought.

A gasp escaped Ella's lips. She felt as if someone had hit her with a brick. Her heart screeched that it wasn't happening again! NO! No, no, no! NO, please! No! Her mind clawed at her frantically. "W-what are you talking about?" She asked shakily. Gaston came to her and touched her shoulder. She wasn't sure whether she appreciated the touch, coming from him of all people, but she wanted to know what was going on.

"Ella, I'm so sorry to say that your father has met with a nasty accident." Gaston explained with a heavy voice. Ella bit her lip hard, trying not to freak out, but she was icily afraid of what he was going to say next. "We were on the trail he'd led us to, on our way to save Belle..." Gaston rambled, just having to throw in his heroics, "when Maurice thought he saw something familiar and jumped out to make sure. It was near the edge of a cliff and I warned him to be careful. But he was so determined to be right, so anxious about saving your sister, that he went a little too far. He slipped..." At this, Ella stiffened and pursed her lips hard and her heartbeat pounded in her ears. "Believe me, I rushed over to pull him up, but he couldn't hang on and slipped further! He was on a ledge and I tried to reach him but the ledge crumbled, and..."

"PLEASE!" Ella begged, covering her face and shaking her head. "Don't! Don't say it!" She cried. She felt as if the world around her was closing in. She couldn't bear the thought of Maurice, helplessly falling to a horrible death! She couldn't believe that he was gone! Yet, she'd known all along that it might happen, but it had been her greatest fear ever since she'd come to live with Belle and Maurice. She whimpered and felt dizzy. Her knees buckled and she felt herself falling to the floor. Gaston's strong arms caught her, bringing her back to her feet but she anxiously staggered away from him and tightly gripped the stove for support. She hunched over it, trying to breathe. Gaston startled her as he came from behind and patted her back.

"I can't tell how sorry I am." He said 'kindly' but since he was standing above her with her back to him, she did not see the evident smirk on his face. "Maurice was a good man, and a good friend. You can rest assured that the end was quick. He can have suffered no pain."

"Shut-up!" Lefou hissed from the front door. "Leave her be!" If Gaston was a real friend, maybe he would've said the same thing to Ella if it were true what had happened. But it wasn't true and Lefou could see that Ella didn't need to hear anymore, especially the way Gaston kept dramatizing it to make himself out a hero. Lefou was a bit turned off at that.

"We'll leave you now." Gaston told the shocked girl. "And remember, Ella: I'm here for you. If you ever need anything, anything, please don't hesitate to ask. It would be my honor to do it for so good a man as Maurice."

Lefou rolled his eyes. If you want to be so helpful, why don't you go back and let Maurice go? He really wanted to say, but he knew that right now it was out of the question. And why don't you go try to rescue Belle? That was your original plan, wasn't it?

"Please go..." Ella cried, hanging her head.

"Of course, of course. You must be brave. And you have friends here who will help you." Gaston said. Ella wished he would just quit talking and leave. She turned her face farther away from him. He finally stepped back, grabbed his hat and headed for the door. "Good-night, Ella." He said casually and let himself and his friend out. Ella looked back at the door, raced to it and shut it. Then she leaned against it, her heart caught in her throat.

"Well, that's that. Come, Lefou. Time for some relaxation." Gaston sighed heavily in relief, glad that he'd gotten that part of his plan all over with. He started to stride over cheerfully toward his tavern. Ella had completely fallen hook, line, and sinker for that melodramatic story he'd cooked up, just as he knew she would, and the gloating murderer could not be more pleased with the way she'd been so easily fooled. He smirked with satisfaction and was halfway down the street when he noticed that his companion wasn't following. He looked back and saw Lefou, standing at the end of the Pisters' lawn. "What's the matter with you?" Gaston asked nonchalantly.

"Gaston, you...you lied to her!" Lefou exclaimed. Gaston arched his eyebrows, wearing a crooked grin and shrugged casually as if to say, your point? "But...don't...don't you think that was...a little hasty?" Lefou asked timidly. "I mean, we don't know for sure that Maurice is actually dead, and..."

"He's as good as dead by now. You know it and I know it. And we can't change that."

"We could," Lefou whispered. If my navigation skills were half as sharp as yours I'd go do it myself!

"What would you have me do? Wait until his carcass is torn to bits and then show it to her?" Gaston asked in an annoyed tone. Lefou's eyes widened. Just the thought of that made him feel nauseous and he shifted uncomfortably. Gaston noticed this, glad that he was getting the last word in, but also irritated that his friend looked about to crack.

"N-no. Of course not." Lefou bit his lip. "I just think it was too soon."

"If she saw us return without her father she'd want to know what happened. I was just softening the blow by making it sooner rather than letting it drag out." Gaston said calmly.

"But..." Lefou tried to speak. Gaston came over to him and touched his shoulder.

"Aww, Lefou. It's brutal, I know." Gaston spoke dramatically. "Being the bearer of bad news is always painful."

Yes, I can see that you are so grief-stricken, Lefou thought as his friend smiled.

"But, life is hard. Don't forget, we served in the war together. We had to do hard things, even kill. But we survived, and I'd say we're doing pretty well for ourselves."

"But this isn't the war." Lefou pointed out. "That was different, Gaston. That was a matter of survival against the enemy. It was different. We did what we had to."

"You see? It's just strategy." Gaston said with satisfaction, as if that ended the conversation.

"But...have you forgotten? Ella lost her own father two years ago." Lefou pointed out. "And now she's most likely lost another one..." Thanks to you! "She's all alone now, and probably very frightened. Do you have any idea what your words might have done to her? Have you any conception of how she may be feeling right now?"

Gaston hung his head, the look on his face saying, would you quit being such a whiner? "I know. Ugly isn't it?" He remarked with mock sympathy. "Like I said, my friend, life is hard. Sometimes we just have to do the hard things."

"I still think we should've waited." Lefou mumbled. It was bad enough when Gaston had blown over with Maurice, but putting Ella in the middle as his indirect advocate to marry Belle, especially after he'd told her she was orphaned again, Lefou felt that this time he had to be more persistent in speaking up. He truly felt very bad for Belle's sister. He'd seen the despair in her face when his friend just dropped the bomb on her-the bomb he'd been rehearsing in his mind all the way back to town-and felt terrible for her. He hadn't been able to protect Maurice, but he felt it was his responsibility to at least attempt to help the older man's daughter somehow.

"I'm sorry, old friend." Gaston cocked his head, patting Lefou on the back.

No you're not! He thought to himself. Gaston could put on those pleading puppy dog eyes and strike hearts with his arrows of manipulation, but Lefou could see right now that he was more than satisfied with the turn of events. However, Lefou remained silent now.

"Come on." Gaston said cheerfully, puffing out his big chest. "Let's go get a drink, my dear fellow. Believe me, you'll feel much better." He practically dragged his pudgy friend along with him to the tavern. Lefou knew he was wrong. He didn't and wasn't about to feel better at all!

Ella was in such a state of shock that she could barely cry. Her grief was so painful, and ran so deep that it took her breath away. It hurt so bad and so potently that she couldn't shed tears. She just huddled on the floor with her back leaning against the door, with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her little mice friends crouched up to her and crawled into her lap. She gently stroked them. A thousand hurtful memories she wanted to run away from flooded her mind right now and no matter how desperately she wanted to, she could not escape it. No doctor on earth could do anything professionally that would ease or remove the heavy loss that filled her chest right now. Ella sat against the door in a daze. What was she going to do now? What would happen now? How had this wonderful life been cut so short, too soon? Would she be sent back to her stepmother who bitterly resented her? She'd had a family again, a very dear family, and now they'd been taken away from her! At the moment, Ella knew only one thing: Not again! Not again. I want to die. I want to die!

Gaston had absolutely no idea of the deep and unthinkable pain his words had caused Ella. And he didn't care. All he knew was that he had her right where he wanted her: feeling destitute so that in the long run she would help Belle to see, if not beg her sister to marry him! If she'd been able to think more clearly, she would've been able to see that there was something suspicious in Gaston's behavior, but being as it were, he'd used her greatest fear as a weapon against her, with alarming success!

Though he'd said them 'kindly', Gaston's words hit Ella as much as if she'd been run over by a stampeding team of horses! Everything around her became a blur, and she didn't even try to notice anything. There was no one around to comfort her, just like when her own father died! Belle was missing, and now...Maurice was gone! Ella was all alone...again! She was coldly, cruelly, acutely, devastatingly alone!