Another request from a fan, hopefully this chapter is to their liking.
Everyone in the cottage was sleeping; Belle was in her old room, Maurice in his own, Adam was in the living room and Tintement was on top of the house. She felt the most comfortable being outside rather being cooped in a house like an animal. Tintement was trying to sleep, but because of so many years of being a bat at night and a bird during the day, her senses were still very heighten. Tintement missed being able to sleep like dead, but there were a few advantages with her senses still heighten. She managed to catch an hour of sleep before she heard a noise. She groaned as she rubbed her eyes.
"Ugh, I hate these night noises." Tintement whispered to herself. "Always a bother." She was going to try to go back to sleep...until she heard a twig snap. Now usually Tintement would just ignore it, but because it seemed real close, she decided to look around. Just then, Tintement heard a rustle, coming from the left side of the cottage. She crawled over the left side of the cottage, where the water wheel was. She took a peek from the roof and saw something...or rather someone hiding over by the water wheel.
'Such a short person with a large nose.' Tintement thought to herself as she stared at the person. 'Why is he here in the middle of the night' Suddenly, she saw something glimmer in his hand. Tintement squinted her eyes, she almost gasped when she figured out what it was...a knife; a hunting knife.
The short little man was making his way towards the front door of the house. He looked around him to make sure no one was around, but he didn't look up, so he didn't see Tintement. He walked up the few stairs and was about to jiggle the doorknob, but then, he felt a harsh blow to his head. Then everything went black.
When the man came around, he still felt pain to his head.
'Uh...what hit me?' he thought to himself.
"About time you woke up." said a female voice, the short man looked around and saw a woman standing in front of him, it was Tintement with her arms crossed. She jumped off the roof, gave a blow to his head and dragged him down to the cellar. "I tied you up and gagged you, so don't even try to fight." she said, the man looked at himself. Tintement was right, he was tied up with rope and his mouth was gagged with a piece of cloth. "I'll remove the gag if you answer my questions." Tintement said, "But if you even try to make an effort to scream, I'll put that gag so deep in your throat you won't be able to get it out! Are we clear?" The short man was very afraid of Tintement as he nodded 'yes'. She grabbed the gag and pulled it out of his mouth. He spat out the small piece of cloth still in his mouth. "What's your name?" Tintement asked.
"L-L-Lefou." he said.
"What in lord's name are you doing here?" she asked, Lefou was hesitant about answering that. "I make good on my threats, so answer the question!" Tintement didn't want to be any louder than she should, she didn't want to wake everyone else.
"To see if Belle really was here." Lefou answered.
"Why?"
"Because she's exiled here!" he said.
"Keep your voice down!" Tintement said, "If everyone hears you, I'll make sure that you won't speak again, got it!" Lefou nodded, he was shaking in fear. "Why is my little cousin exiled?"
"Because...she killed our most respected hunter, Gaston." Lefou said, Tintement wasn't believing that part of the conversation.
"Where's your proof?" she asked.
"Gaston gathered a mob together to fight this beast that lived in a castle," Lefou explained, "we were going to destroy it before it came to our village. But when we got to the castle, there was all these objects that were fighting us. We got so scared that we ran away from the castle, but Gaston never came back."
"What makes you think that it was my cousin?"
"Because Belle refused to marry Gaston and made a mockery out of him, she even told the mob that the beast was her friend and I saw her galloping towards the castle!" Lefou said, "When Gaston never came back, we didn't want Belle to come back either. We told Gaston's brother, Anton, the news about what happened. He wants revenge against Belle, so when rumor spread around that Belle was back here, Anton told me to come here to see if it was true."
"What does he plan to do to her?" Tintement asked as she grabbed his neck collar.
"Do what Gaston never was able to do." Lefou said choking, "Force Belle to marry him. Once he does that, he plans to send her father and herself to the asylum. That's his way of torturing her for murdering his brother." Fury was building inside Tintement, no one in the village knew the whole story and they assumed that Belle killed Gaston. She had to get Adam, Belle and Maurice out of the cottage and out of the village. She held his neck collar even tighter than before.
"Listen to me well, Lefou; you're going to say that you never saw Belle!" Tintement said in a deep voice. "If you even let a small bit of it slip out of your mouth, you're going to regret ever listening to Anton, are we clear?"
"C-c-c-c-crystal." Lefou said in fear.
"Tintement, are you down here?" Tintement looked over at the stairs and saw Adam coming down. Adam couldn't believe what he was seeing when he got down to the basement; Tintement was holding this short man by the neck collar.
"Before you say anything, Adam," Tintement said, "go wake up Belle and Uncle Maurice, this is serious. Go!" Adam turned around and went back in the house, he could tell that Tintement was serious by the sound of her voice. Tintement pushed the gag back in Lefou's mouth and dragged him to the main level of the cottage. She threw him over at the wood stove as she heard Belle coming down the stairs. The last thing Tintement wanted to do was wake everybody, but this was a very serious matter.
When Belle came down the rest of the stairs, she saw Tintement with a very worried look on her face.
"Tintement, what's wrong?" Belle asked, Tintement pointed at Lefou, who was still tied up and gagged. Belle's eyes widen, she was about to ask why he was here, but Tintement interrupted her.
"When Adam gets Uncle Maurice out of bed, I'll tell you what's going on." Tintement said, trying to contain her anger. She then looked back at Lefou, he was deathly scared of her now. "Remember, one scream and it will be the last thing you'll ever do." Tintement said to Lefou, he just nodded to show that he agreed to what Tintement was telling him. Just then, Maurice and Adam came down the stairs. Maurice was still a little groggy, but Adam made sure that he didn't fall down the stairs. When Maurice saw Lefou, his body snapped awake.
"What is he doing here?" Maurice said.
"I asked him the same thing," Tintement said, "he wanted to see if Belle was here."
"What for?" Belle asked.
"I'll let him answer that." Tintement said, she turned back at Lefou and pulled out the gag. "Tell them what you told me." She said, Lefou was too scared of Tintement to not do what she said. Lefou told them the whole story, Belle felt like her heart stopped. How could the village think of such a thing? But when Lefou mentioned Anton, Gaston's brother, Belle fainted on her feet, but Adam caught her before she actually fell to the wooden floor.
"By the looks of things," Adam said, "Belle knows him."
"More than know," Maurice said, "I don't want to hear his name again!"
"Note taken, Uncle." Tintement said.
"Wait, uncle?" Lefou asked, Tintement's temper burst and she punched Lefou on the top of his head.
"You really are a fool!" she angrily said as she raised her fists, "Did you not hear what I've been saying? Belle's my cousin and Maurice is my uncle! Before I get even more upset, what were you planning to do when you figured out Belle was here?"
"Well...I was supposed to confirm that Belle was here and then go back to the tavern." Lefou said, "But..."
"But what?" Adam said with such anger as he held onto Belle.
"Answer us!" Tintement said as she grabbed Lefou's neck.
"But if I didn't return in two hours," Lefou said choking, "Anton and some of Gaston's old friends will come here." Everyone was in shock, except Belle since she fainted from hearing about Gaston's brother.
"We've had him here for about an hour." Tintement said worriedly.
"That means we only have another hour until they get here." Maurice said.
"Then let's gather the last few things that's in the cottage, put them in the carriage and get out of here." Adam said, professionally but serious. Maurice nodded and agreed with him, so did Tintement. She looked back at Lefou.
"Listen to me well, Lefou," Tintement growled as she held Lefou by the neck, "you tell anyone what had happened or if Belle was here, I'll be your worst nightmare!" Lefou closed his eyes as he nodded his head. Tintement then gave him a sharp blow to the head, knocking him out of consciousness. She looked back at Maurice and Adam. "Let's get busy."