The village kept quiet. It was dreary and dull, rain poured down as well as some unmissable tears. More houses emptied as people rushed to escape the reality of the situation, Maurcie was gone in a day, off to live with his daughter up in a palace. Apart from the cries of Madeleine, Chapeau's wife, no-one acted any different. The only difference being the suddenly saddened mood, no-one sang, no-one danced. Everyone just seemed to get on with life as they had done for years.
It was almost as if the entire village had an agreement to pretend that none of this ever happened, but no-one ever actually made an agreement at all. He hadn't gone crazy had he? No he couldn't have, Madeleine still acted as if he husband had just died.
Louis couldn't understand why his father, mother and older brother wished to pretend Babette, or now Plumette, as Lumiere's little pet name, really did not exist when she infact had all along. For years Mother had accidently set an extra plate at the table with no explantion before realising nobody would be sitting there, because they were a family of four were they not? Why did they have five plates anyway? And Fife would come home carrying one too many loaves of bread, never learning two loaves was enough. He understood now, they hadn't shook the feeling of needing to care for an extra person.
'It wasn't that unfair,' he supposed, being forbidden from seeing the people whom you attempted to murder in cold blood. It felt so wrong though. Suddenly he missed his big sister, her curly brown hair, amazing dancing, he recalled how happy everyone felt just from seeing her massive smile. Fife sneakily teaching her to read alongside him, just so she would get the same chance as them.
Fife, oh Jesus he must be taking this rough. Louis saw what happened. All the older boys had gone after a band of featherdusters, Fife unfortunatley grabbing the one who oddly enough had a beauty mark just above their lip. 'Strange,' he thought that at the time, featherdusters did not come designed with beauty marks. For a moment he had thought it look farmillar. He knew for sure now, it was farmillar.
He wasn't so sure now though, why hadn't he stopped to think what he was doing? It felt okay at the time. But why would anyone rush into a castle unsure of what they'd be fighting. As soon as something moved they were bent on destroying it.
Belle had tried to teach another girl to read. He shouldn't have had a problem with it, he does after all, have a sister who can read. But seeing Belle do such a thing somehow made it feel wrong. Even before the curse, not a very large portion of the town believed girls should be allowed to learn to read, their father included, part of the reason they were quiet about it. Even so, they should never have just ran up and destroyed Belle's machine, that would do no good, just telling her to stop would have worked, they couldn't un-teach someone to read after all.
Louis just was not so sure now.
Madleine walked alone. The wolves were gone but that didn't make the journey safe. Rain splashed down from the sky. The funeral was quick and quiet and modest. Just like her husband. She was made to sit in the back, quietly. Everyone had something kind to say. Chapeau was a man of few words, but everyone was sure to express how much of an impact he could make.
By God was he a cherished man, he knew his actions were twice as loud and meaningful as anything anyone had to say. How could she ever get on without him? How had she got on without him?
As She walked she passed a tree with a rope tied to it. Now there was a thought. She could be with him. Or maybe that was a tad too extreme. But then again who was left too judge. It was easy. It was quick. She would have done it. But she walked away. She wasn't that brave yet.
Yet.
This was not how the ending was meant to go. Not according to her. This was not how she planed it. A kind hearted prince was supposed to be the end result. Never had she thought would it end in a massacre. She felt okay about taking the blame, even though nobody had blamed her. They blamed the villagers. They had a right to. What had they been thinking. One possible threat and they kill everything in their path. She knew they didn't know who they were killing, but killing all the same.
How? How do you convince an entire town to turn and slaughter the innocent? That was what made Gaston impressive to her, the Enchantress. It was good he was gone. He wouldn't have coped well with the knowledge of what he had done. His mother had been in there, as well as his sister.
He would not be so sure now, if he knew about what he had done, where would his pride be then?