I tried my best with this chapter, so no biting off heads.
Adam and Sagittarius continued to run down the stairs and through the halls, nothing could express how worried they were when they found out that something was wrong with Belle and Sapphire. On the way down, Adam was starting to blame himself for letting Belle leave the castle grounds. When the two of them finally reached the bottom of the stairs, there were female servants blocking the door to the foyer. One of the female servants was Babette, Lumiere's girlfriend.
When she saw her master, she separated herself from the others and went up to him and Sagittarius.
"Babette," Adam said catching his breath, "what's going on?!"
"Sire-" Babette tried to talk, but Sagittarius interrupted her.
"Where are the girls?" he asked.
"Your majesties!" Babette said raising her voice, "Calmez vers le bas! Calm down! It's hard to discuss this with the two of you acting like this."
"How can we be calm when we heard that something happened to Belle and Sapphire?!" Adam said, still very worried.
"I do understand the situation with the two of you and the ladies," Babette said, "but you need to give me a chance to tell you!"
"Okay," Sagittarius said, taking a deep breath, "we'll...be quiet and tell us...what happened."
"Very well, but let's go into the parlor, nobody needs to know what happened twice." Babette said, opening the parlor door. Sagittarius went through, but Adam stalled. He looked back at the foyer doors, still being guarded by female servants. Adam could only guessed on what happened to Belle, Sapphire and, possibly, Tintement.
"Adam." Sagittarius said, Adam turned back to his cousin. "We won't know what's behind those doors until Babette tells us." Adam looked at the foyer doors one more time before turning and following his cousin into the parlor.
Once they were inside, Babette closed the door as the two men sat down on a couch. She turned around and said;
"As you know, the Mistress, her cousin, and Lady Sapphire went out of the castle gates to gather berries. None of us could express how we all felt when we saw the Mistress and her cousin."
"Sapphire wasn't with them?" Sagittarius asked in a panic.
"We didn't see her come into the castle," Babette said, "but, according to Tintement, she's still outside and refuses to come in. The two guards that were with them looked like they went through a war. When they came in, they...they told us that the Mistress was attacked and...they, Tintement and Lady Sapphire tried to protect her. That's all we were told, you may have to ask Tintement, or Lady Sapphire if she comes back in." Adam was just silent, hearing that the love of his life, his bride, was attacked felt like someone stabbed him all over again.
"Why won't Sapphire come back in?" Sagittarius asked, also stunned.
"Well, when Tintement carried the Mistress back in," Babette explained, "Belle was wearing the white cloak that Lady Sapphire always wore." That's when Sagittarius was showing understanding on why Sapphire wasn't coming in.
"I'm...going to go get her." Sagittarius said standing up, he then walked to the parlor door and left the parlor. Adam then heard the large front doors open and then close. After hearing Sagittarius go out the front doors, Adam again went very deep in his thoughts, he was...so worried and so...afraid that...Belle was more injured than what Babette was telling him. He was also worried about the guards who tried to protect the girls with their lives...and Tintement putting her life on the line to protect her cousin and Sapphire.
"Sire?" Adam looked back up at Babette when she spoke up.
"Yes?"
"You...can ask the Mistress' cousin now," she said, "if you like."
"As much as I like that idea," Adam said, "I need to let her injuries be tended to."
"Very well, sire, I'll go and check on the Mistress' and her cousin...just to be sure." Babette curtsied and turned to the parlor door. When she opened it, she looked at the other side of the grand hall and...just stopped in her tracks. "Um...sire?"
"Yes?" Adam said, seeing her blocking the door. Babette turned to look at him and then pointed towards the other side of the grand hall, Adam could tell that she was a little speechless at the moment. He got up and looked where Babette was pointing to, when he saw what she was pointing to, he was speechless as well.
What they were both seeing...was Tintement limping out of the foyer door. Both of her arms were bandaged and 'slinged' in such a position that she looked like her arms were crossed across her chest. She was limping because her left leg was heavily bandaged. Her left leg was completely straight, nothing was bending...well, except her foot. Her face and neck had some minor cuts and scrapes. Some of the female servants were trying to help Tintement walk, but her left leg wasn't helping. Even though it was looking like she was trying to hide it, Tintement was in obvious pain.
"Excuse me, Babette." Adam said, getting around Babette. He walked up to Tintement, or tried to since she had two servants trying to help her walk. When Tintement looked up and saw Adam, she was...a little surprised...and worried about what he might say.
"Adam." Tintement said softly, "Uh..."
"Tintement," Adam said, "I'm not going to push you about anything, but...can't you tell me what happened...please?" Tintement looked down at her injuries as she rummaged through her head. She was about to say something until...
"Get out of my way!" Everyone looked over to another hall and saw Maurice coming towards them. Tintement was now even more worried on how she would explain the situation to both Adam and her Uncle Maurice. When Maurice saw Tintement, nothing could express how worried he was for her...and his daughter. "Tintement, what happened?" he asked in a frenzy, but Tintement couldn't talk because...she basically didn't know how explain such an attack.
"You need to calm down and soyez tranquille!" Babette said to Maurice, "Be quiet! You need to give others a chance to speak!" Maurice was just shocked that someone said such a thing to him after his daughter was attacked.
"Everyone needs to calm down," Adam said, everyone turned and looked at him, "otherwise, we're never going to find out." Tintement nodded her head and tried to speak again.
"Thank you, your highness." Tintement said softly, "I don't deserve the kindness that everyone's giving me and my cousin, but right now, I need to accept it. Anywho, it was a bad attack."
"I...can tell." Adam said.
"What about Belle?!" Maurice said in worry, Tintement groaned as she tried to get her arms comfortable.
"She's...still in the foyer," Tintement answered, "Sapphire is still outside, not that I don't blame her. She saved Belle and me...including the guards." Tintement saw the look on Adam's and her Uncle Maurice's faces, "But I can tell that you want to know what happened, very well. First thing first, I need to sit." Two of the female servants helped her walk over to a cushioned chair.
"I can tell how bad you are," Maurice said, "but what happened to Belle?"
"I'm getting to it!" Tintement said, her temper starting to flurry, but she quickly calmed down when a shot of pain went through her left leg.
"Sorry." Maurice said, trying to stay calm.
"Okay," Tintement said, "Sapphire, Belle and I were picking berries as the guards were doing their jobs. The three of us were enjoying ourselves until we left. We had one guard in front of us and the other behind us, we...heard muffling behind us. We all turned around...and..." She started to sniffle and cry, "he fought with the guard and threw him at the other one."
"Who's 'he'?" Maurice asked.
"Uncle Maurice, are you that dumb?" Tintement quickly said, "A...A...Anton attacked us!" When Maurice and Adam heard that, they couldn't believe it. Maurice actually snapped and kicked and punched the wall. Adam's temper was just flaring inside, but he didn't want to lash it out on anybody near him. It was not easy for Adam to keep his temper to himself.
"Anton?" Adam said in an angry voice.
"Yes, it was him." Tintement answered, "Both guards fought him while Belle, Sapphire and I tried to get away, but...Anton swung them off and came chasing after us. When...I saw him chasing us, I told Sapphire to take Belle and keep going to castle."
"You stayed behind and fought him." Adam said, completing the sentence.
"Yes," she said, starting to cry, "he remembered me and said that he knew that I knew about Belle, he broke both of my arms and threw me against a tree so hard that...my left leg broke. He then said he was done with me and went after Belle and Sapphire. I wasn't going to give up that easily, I quickly walked after them, despite my broken leg. When I caught up with them, I saw Sapphire fighting Anton and...Belle was unconscious on the ground, covered with Sapphire's white cloak. When I approached her, the two guards ran over at the same time. The guards took me and Belle while Sapphire fought with Anton. Both men tried to get us back to the castle quickly, but Belle and I were too heavy for them. That's when I told them to go on ahead while I carried Belle."
"You must've been in a lot of pain, Tintement." Maurice said, trying to calm down after lashing out at the wall.
"As long as Belle was okay, the pain was worth it." Tintement said, "While I was carrying Belle with her right arm over my neck, Sapphire caught up with us and told us...that Anton wasn't going to be moving for a while. I didn't even want to know what she did, but she took over carrying Belle as I lagged behind. When we got to the castle, Belle was still unconscious as Sapphire gave her back to me. She told me to go in, she wasn't ready to come in. I...lagged Belle to the castle doors, that's when the servants and the two guards that were with us came out and helped us."
After hearing what happened, Adam just wanted to punch out the wall and go after Anton himself, but...he knew it would be foolish if he did such a thing. As for Maurice, he was also thinking the same thing, but not the foolish part.
"I'm going after him!" Maurice said angrily, but before he went towards the front doors, some of the servants blocked his way and kept him from reaching the doors.
"Tintement," Adam said, "maybe you should go and get some rest, you really need it."
"Please, Adam," she said, "I'm begging you, let me stay out here until I hear about Belle, please!"
"I...I don't know." Adam said, but then the sound of the front doors opened, they turned and saw Sagittarius coming inside. There was something hiding underneath his black cape.
"I know that's you, Sapphire!" Tintement said out loud, Sagittarius stopped in his tracks and looked over at Tintement.
"Whoa, you weren't kidding, Sapphire." He said.
"Wait a minute," Adam said, "how do you know that's Sapphire under his cape, Tintement?"
"I recognized those feet." She answered, Adam looked back and looked at the floor, that's when Sagittarius quickly went to the parlor, closed the door and came back out by himself.
"Be careful about what you say!" Sagittarius said, "But I'm not going to argue with you in this situation. Sapphire told me her side of what happened."
"Tell her that...I'm grateful for her saving Belle from that monster." She said.
"She knows, don't worry." Sagittarius said, " But she doesn't want to come out until she gets her white cloak back."
"Which won't be anytime soon." Everyone turned and saw Mrs. Potts coming out of the foyer, she was holding Sapphire's white cloak and Belle's blue dress. Both had splotches of Belle's blood on it. "I'm going to need some help bring Belle to her room, I need four people." Before Adam and Maurice could go in, four female servants, including Babette, went into the foyer very quickly.
"Mrs. Potts," Maurice said, "how bad is my daughter?"
"Well," Mrs. Potts said as she looked over at Adam, "both legs are broken and...her right arm, hand and fingers are broken and a...nasty cut on her head." Maurice just put his hands to his face from hearing the truth. Adam just plain didn't say anything, he didn't want to say something bad. "Sire?" Adam looked up and saw Mrs. Potts coming towards him.
"Yes?" He said, Mrs. Potts gave him Belle's torn blue dress.
"Look in the left pocket." She said, Adam tried not to let the red spots distract him as he reached into the left pocket. He grabbed whatever was in there and pulled out his hand. He saw pieces of different colored jewelry broken in many pieces and a piece of long string connected to one of the jewelry pieces. Adam's eyes widen because...he recognized the silver rose ring he gave to Belle as her engagement ring. For the first time in a long time, tears fell from Adam's eyes. He didn't recognize the other jewelry, he just closed his hand and held onto Belle's dress.
"She's...that badly injured?" Adam basically said, he didn't want to sound...depressed or anything else.
"Belle is badly injured," Mrs. Potts said, "but the doctor says that as long as she doesn't push herself, she'll slowly get better. That also applies to Tintement, her injuries are just as bad as Belle's." Just then, the foyer doors opened wider as two female servants came out, each holding one end of a sheet. The rest of the sheet came out and the other two female servants were holding the other two ends of the sheet. When Adam looked at the sheet, his jaw dropped.
There was Belle on the sheet, a blanket was covering her body, but her head was shown. The top part of her head and her left ear was covered in bandages, both of her eyes were closed. Adam wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn't want to wake her while the servants were taking her to her room.
"According to the doctor," Mrs. Potts said, standing next to Adam, "her injuries are consistent with being slammed into a tree or the ground." Adam just stood there and watched the servants carry Belle up to her room.
"Cousin?" Adam looked over at Sagittarius, he could tell that Sagittarius was worried about him and Belle.
"Everyone," Adam said turning back to his servants, "right now, Belle and Tintement should be the top priority. Anything they need, you make sure that they get it, including my cousin's fiancee, Sapphire."
"Uh...I'll...take care of anything Sapphire needs." Sagittarius said, "Don't worry about that."
"Very well." Adam said, "I'm...going upstairs." He gave Sagittarius Sapphire's white cloak, he held onto Belle's blue dress. Adam couldn't stand what happened anymore, he quickly went to his room. Adam felt...the moth sorcerer inside him trying to come out. He didn't want to take the chance to let the servants and his cousin see such a sight. He continued to run up the stairs and to keep the moth sorcerer inside until he reached his room.