Author's Note: hey again ;P this is chapter two of "In the Silence". Things are starting to heat up for little Danielle... once again, I dont own POTO or any of the cannon charecters. Please let me know what you think:)
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Hours later, Danielle snuck down the staircase. Her stomach was angry with her for skipping dinner, and she fully intended to make amends with it. She was slightly miffed that no one had bothered to wake her for dinner, but her common sense told her she had needed the time by herself. Wiping her hands across her still-swollen eyes, she rummaged in the lower cabinets of the kitchen for something edible. Danielle gave a small squeak of triumphant joy as she found what she was looking for – bread from this morning, and a dish of cheese. Cradling the foodstuffs to her chest, Danielle turned to return to her room. It was approaching her normal bedtime, and the house had begun to quiet down for the night. Papa was in his study, Reynard was in his room, the household staff was in their quarters, and Elinor was probably working on a needlepoint somewhere. Still, she tiptoed up the stairs cautiously, not wanting anyone to notice her presence and chide her for eating in her room. Her small feet made almost no noise as she padded past the open door to her father's study, where a lamp still smoldered in the corner. She was three steps from her room when her father's voice startled her into dropping her armload of snacks.
"Danielle?"
Self-consciously picking up the food off the floor and setting it on a hall table, Danielle peered in the door to her father's study. "Yes, papa?"
"Come here, my child." Raoul faced the opposite direction from his youngest daughter, staring into the flickering candle flame as it cast dancing shadows over his books and ledgers.
Danielle moved to stand by her father, her small hand resting on one of his chair's large wheels. She watched the candle also, eyeing a small glob of wax that dripped down its side and eventually pooled in the candlestick. She watched the reflection of the flame worry over her father's features, enhancing his wrinkles and giving him the appearance of and old and haunted man. Danielle shuddered in spite of herself.
"Are you cold, sweetheart?" her father turned his face towards her, a face that had seemed to age decades in mere days. He drew his arm around her petite shoulders, bringing her closer to him and pressing her side into the spokes of his wheelchair. The familiar smell of her father's fine tobacco clung to his clothes, and Danielle drew some small comfort in the fact that not all had changed.
"What was it you wanted, Papa?" Danielle queried, meeting his blue eyes with her hazel ones.
Her papa sighed deeply, and smoothed a hand over her dark brown braid. "Oh Dany, you have no idea how hard this is for me."
Danielle stood beside him in obedient silence, her eyes pleading him to continue his train of though. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck. She wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but it didn't seem good.
"After… after much… after much discussion and thought, I have decided that it may be better for our family to part ways for a while."
Danielle's hazel eyes grew wide, and she grabbed her papa's arm tightly. "No, papa, no! I swear Ill be good, I swear I will, please don't make me leave!" Tears which she had so recently subdued rebelled against her wishes in the corners of her eyes.
Raoul patted his daughter's hand sadly, if a bit idly. "My dear child, it is not your fault. Don't think for an instant that any of this is because of some action you have committed. I am not a well man anymore, Dany. I will not be able to do my job for quite a while, possibly not ever. I do not have the funds to keep this household together at present, and with your mother gone…" the victome paused here, and cleared his throat. "And with you're mother gone, and myself in the state I am in, I know I cannot care for you three in the way you deserve. This is only a temporary separation, my dear Dany, I promise we will be together again."
Tears blurred Danielle's vision, and she squeezed her fingers into the cloth of her father's robe. "But papa, where am I to go?"
"To the place where your mother grew up, my sweet. You will become a dancer in the Paris opera house."
Danielle was quite taken aback. "But papa, I cannot dance, and I have no natural grace. I sincerely doubt my singing ability, also. And I am young, wouldn't Elinor be better suited for a career at the opera house? What am I to do there? Papa, I cannot dance!" tears of fear and frustration welled in the corners of her eyes.
"Sweetheart, Elinor is far too old to learn to dance. You cannot dance because you have not been taught, dear Dany. The mistress of ballet is a dear friend of your mothers. She has agreed to take care of you, and that includes teaching you to dance. You will be just like your dear mother, my sweet child… you resemble her so much already…" Raoul looked into his daughter's upturned face and saw his wife reflected back at him, as she was when they had been children. Fate had gifted Danielle none of his own physical features, even her nose was Christine's through and through. One of the very few noticeable differences between mother and daughter was Danielle's eyes. Where her mothers had been deep chocolate brown, Danielle's were a snapping hazel, bright with new ideas and exciting stories. Those eyes were dulled slightly in the candlelight, and misty with tears.
"Oh Papa…" Danielle cried, her tears breaking their dams. She threw her arms around her father's neck, sobbing her little heart out in earnest. "Papa, papa, papa, I don't want to leave!" She wailed.
Raoul patted his daughter's straight brown hair, another very slight alteration from the feature she shared with her dear mother. "My child, my child… it is what is best." He stared into the candle's flame once more as his daughter cried into his robe. He was no longer sure that this was truly the right choice.
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Three short weeks later, Danielle bid her bedroom farewell. It didn't seem like much of a bedroom anymore, at least to her. All the things that had made it warm and inviting and hers were placed in trunks – some to take with her to the opera house, others to sit in storage till she could rejoin her family. Danielle collected her coat from the rung on the door, and walked out of her room for the last time. The cook, Elsie, met her at the landing. She pressed a cloth wrapped package into her hand, which Danielle guessed contained food of some kind. Tears in her eyes, the old cook squeezed Danielle in a tight embrace. She returned the hug gratefully; the cook had always been kind to her, and Danielle truly would miss her. Her sister stood at the bottom of the stairs, with Reynard's and her things scattered around the foyer. Her papa was sending Reynard away, also, to be apprenticed to a smithy in Paris. He was actually grateful for the opportunity to leave the house, and Danielle thought her papa might be grateful to have him gone, also. Elinor held her arms out to her younger sister, smiling a sad smile. She would not be leaving their father, but staying behind with him to help him become accustomed to his disability. Her beau was eagerly awaiting their wedding date, which Danielle was sure would come in the next few months.
"Oh Dany, I will miss you so much. Robert promised me once we're settled in together you may come and stay with us if you find the opera not to your liking." Elinor smiled kindly down at her, leaving out the unspoken phrase that hung like an electric vibration in the room – or if we never come together as a family again. "You will always be my dear little sister, and I will always love you."
Danielle lingered for a moment in her sister's embrace, and then continued towards the door. Reynard helping the coachman load their luggage into the carriage for the trip to the train station. They would travel together for a short while yet, so there was no need for goodbyes between them. Her eyes wandered around the courtyard for her father, but she saw no trace of him. Worried, she ran over to Reynard and tugged on his sleeve.
"Where is papa? Surely he will come to tell us goodbye!"
Reynard flashed her look, anger igniting a feral flame in his eyes. "Do you truly believe I care where he is, Danielle?"
Like a struck dog, Danielle shrunk away from her irate brother. Perhaps her father sending him away had affected him more than she had thought. Turning, Danielle ran around to the coach house, wondering if he could possibly be in there. Her father was not there either. Frantic, Danielle ran back inside in manor house.
"Papa? Papa? Where are you?!" she tore past crates of her things, darting around corners and peering into darkened rooms. She continued this for several minutes, but to no avail. Her father was simply nowhere to be found. Danielle darted outside again, and was quickly caught by the coachman.
"Mademoiselle? We must depart now if we are to be timely. You wouldn't want to miss your train."
Danielle struggled against his grip for a moment, crying out that she must say goodbye to her father. The coachman, however, refused to release her arm.
"M'selle, we must be getting underway."
Danielle realized that struggling against the much stronger coachman would get her nowhere. She nodded mutely, and allowed herself to be helped into the carriage. Suddenly, she understood that her father did not want to say goodbye to her. It hit her like a rock to the stomach. Swallowing back tears for what seemed the hundredth time this month, Danielle set her face into a mask. She would not cry over this. She had cried enough tears to last her a lifetime, if not longer. She settled in beside her brother, whose eyes were already glued to the window of the carriage, distantly focused on the future that awaited them both. So much the better, it saved her from trying to have to make small talk with the beast that inhabited the form of her brother. Danielle gave a shuddering sigh, and closed her eyes. She bit her lip to control her tears once more when the realization she was completely abandoned struck her.