Chapter Two: Silent Night?

The hours passed by. The moon was round. It was probably a full moon tonight. An owl could be heard outside the window. A few hours before, Fife, like Angelique and a few other members of the castle, listened to one of the books Belle read every evening at 7:30 PM after dinner.

It was one of the activities in the castle. And they'd always love listening to Belle as she read the words with ease. Fife thought of the story she read tonight. Then he thought of Angelique. She was as beautiful as the princess in the book, both inside and out.

He remembered when he first saw her when he was spying on Belle for Forte. She was so pretty in her glory and her angelic wings, not to mention her voice which was as lovely as an angel's.

He gazed upon the roof. It was dark and cold in his room. And there was no light except for the dim moonlight. He thought of Angelique again. He really liked her, but did she like him? Did she even care about him at all? Did anyone care about him? He didn't know.

No one had been there for him when he grew up, for all he knew. He was forced to be a good performer in order to earn the respect and acceptance he deserved. And he tried really hard, but it seemed that he always let everyone down.

"Ye failure! Ye will never make a great musician!"

Those were the words his father screamed at him whenever he failed to play the correct note.

The words echoed inside his head. He tried to keep his eyes open, but failed. A few moments later he found himself drifting off into an uneasy sleep…..

A few years earlier…

The bell rang. School had ended and it was time to go home. Even though he was only ten, he was the smallest and the thinnest child in class.

And this also meant the easiest one to pick on…And then it started again. The mockery. The laughter. The humiliation…

It hurt. It hurt real bad.

He remembered so well how he struggled to hold back the tears and try his best to save the little dignity he had left. He couldn't be weak in front of them, but he was a sissy. He knew that very well.

He stepped a few steps away, but then a huge, muscular boy grabbed his arm."Hey, let go!" Fife said desperately.The boy just laughed and swung him far away.

With a scream he flew through the air and landed in the dirt.He saw them coming closer and closer….

He headed home, tired, beaten and alone with messy clothes, ruined hair and a sore knee.He opened the door to his house where his mom and dad were. He carefully took a step inside and slowly closed the door behind him.

His mother didn't even pay any attention to him, as she was busy doing the food. She looked extremely grumpy so it was best not to bother her. He knew she had a temper of her own, and it was never pretty whenever she got angry.His father looked at him in disdain and scornfully snorted as he took his pipe away."What did you do now?" he growled."N-nothing, Sir." Fife stammered nervously. "Honest."

He didn't believe him for a moment. He motioned for him to go up to his room where he could use the time to think about what he had done.He also did so whenever he didn't want him to be near him or his mother, which was almost all the time.

When Fife walked up on the cold wind, he felt movements near the old bed. It was Curley, the older peasant boy from school. What was he doing here?"I came here to take back what you took from me!" he shouted and jumped onto the startled, frail boy who was as pale as a ghost.Fife struggled to call for help but to no avail.Then, everything went black…...

Fife woke up, startled.

It was just a dream. A horrible dream. A real nightmare.

He panted quick gasps but it slowly but surely slowed down to a more even tempo.

He tried to lay back down, but no matter how hard his efforts were, he couldn't go back to sleep.

He needed to do something to cool his nerves down. And he knew just the best thing to do.

He carefully got up from the bed and sneaked out of his room.

He tiptoed through the corridors until he came to the old room where Forte used to hang around.

As carefully as he could, he picked up his piccolo and started to play a quiet but happy melody on the piccolo.

It helped. He was already feeling a bit better.

But what he didn't know was that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep….

Angelique walked through the halls in the castle. She couldn't sleep either. The little orphan girl had been crying at night again. She had heard Belle rushing into the girl's room to comfort her.

She couldn't help but feel sorry for the little one. Maybe she was having nightmares of her past.

Anyhow, she was able to sleep because of the noise, so she tried to walk until she was feeling sleepy again.

As she strolled around, she swore she could hear sounds of a flute playing.

"Maybe it's Fife. Can't he sleep either?" Angelique thought to herself.

She walked as carefully as she could to not wake up the rest of the castle.

Finally after what seemed like hours, which in reality was a few minutes, she reached the room where the flute sounds came from.

As she had suspected, it indeed was Fife who was playing on his piccolo. But why did he do it at night?

Shouldn't he be asleep? He shouldn't be working now, should he?

"Fife?" Angelique asked softly with a whisper.

Fife turned around immediately by the sound of her voice. When he saw it was her and no one else he felt relief flowing through his body, but he blushed at the sight of her. It was the girl he loved so much.

He was on cloud nine, just by looking at her made him feel more relaxed and comfortable. She was an angel in every way possible.

"Uh, hi Angelique." he said nervously. "Did you hear me play?"

She nodded. He blushed even harder. Did he wake her up? How awkward this was!

"I...I..I.. didn't… wake you up…. Did I?" he stuttered, trying his best to speak while his face was a red as an apple's.

"No, you didn't." she answered, much to his relief. "I couldn't sleep either, actually."

Couldn't she sleep too? Was it possible that she had nightmares just like him?

"Um.. um.. why couldn't you sleep, Miss?" he asked carefully. Oops! He maybe shouldn't have said that.

She looked at him. She raised an eyebrow but answered simply:

"Oh, the little girl woke me up with her wails, I'm afraid."

Fife felt sorry for the girl. Surely, it was bad that she had woken up his girlfriend he loved, but she was only a child. Maybe she needed help.

Instinctively, he was starting to feel a little worried, something he didn't know why, but he somehow cared for the little one even though he had barely seen much of her. It sparked some kind of parental instinct inside him so to speak.

"I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad. I mean, she's just a kid after all, right?" he said trying to lighten up the mood a little while at the same time trying to sound reasonable.

She just snorted a little but smirked. She understood what he meant.

"Like I wouldn't know." she said sarcastically. "Of course I get it you fool."

Fife smiled anxiously while he was starting to sweat.

She smiled softly. Something that was very unusual for her. She walked over to the young conductor and took his hands in her own.

"She is very cute, you know. I guess she has to get used to the castle. Maybe she's just afraid of the dark." Angelique guessed. Fife shrugged his shoulders. He felt that maybe it was something even, something that was even deeper than they could know. It maybe had to do with her whereabouts somehow.

"Uh, Angelique…." Fife began.

"Yes, Fife." she answered patiently.

He took a deep breath.

"Um, the thing is.." he said. "I had a dream too. It was about my past."

She gave him a sympathetic look. It must have been hard for him.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Angelique whispered in her angelic voice. "What exactly happened then?"

He looked away for a moment, then he turned to face her again.

"I was bullied. A lot, in fact." he mumbled sadly. "That's why I am so worried about making a fool out of myself."

She sighed. She understood what he meant.

"I have to admit I also had a rough time when I first got to the castle, being a woman." she confessed. "But I am over it now. I think you also should try to let go. It's in the past."

Fife nodded. He would certainly try for her sake and he really didn't want to be worse than Forte, who couldn't forget about his past.

"I'll try." Fife said in determination, straightening his back and shoulders.

He gently let go of her hands and picked up his piccolo again.

He started to play a little part of the solo for Angelique.

She listened as she watched the moon outside the window. It was yellowish white and it shone in a stark white light. It was beautiful and along with the music from Fife's piccolo, she felt harmony and peace.

Outside the castle, the moon was shining. A few ravens flew through the sky. And deep into the darkness, howling of few wolves could be heard. Nature was living as anything else and the Forest was almost a treasure chest full of memories and mysteries.

As the two friends sat next to each other they occasionally looked out through the window.

Fife had stopped playing and glanced at Angelique.

He took her beautiful hand in his and kissed it gently.

"You know, I know we are friends but I guess I have something I would like to tell you," he said.

"And what could that be?" Angelique asked.

He held his breath. It was now or never.

"I am in love with you. I… I love you so much. You mean everything to me." he confessed. "I have been wanting to tell you before but I was too shy and afraid. I thought maybe you wouldn't like me if I said it."

She looked a little surprised at first, but quickly regained her senses and said:

"Oh, that was a surprise. I have to admit that I feel the same for you, Monsieur Fife." she said with a small giggle. "But we can't say this to anyone. Not yet anyways. Promise?"

Fife nodded.

"I promise."

Angelique stretched her arms and looked at the watch. It was already 12 PM, it was midnight. She needed to go to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day and she needed all of her energy to get it just perfect.

She stood up and prepared to leave. Fife followed her silently through the door and through the corridors. They stopped short in the big hall.

They looked at each other.

"Goodnight, Monsieur Fife." she mumbled.

"Goodnight, Miss Angelique." he answered in a bashful tone.

They parted and went to their respective rooms. They slept relatively for the rest of the night.

Angelique couldn't really stop thinking of what Fife said. She really loved him and she was hoping he wasn't tricking her, but he had never really played any tricks on her so she could trust him.

The little girl in the room next to Angelique had fallen asleep thanks to Belle and her stories. The storybooks could really be a lifesaver sometimes.

The girl's name was Jeanette D'Ville. She was an orphan who ran away from her orphanage due to the harsh and unfair treatment she received. She wanted to run away, and one night, she managed to sneak out of the terrible house and its inhabitants.

The housekeepers were constantly mocking her. The main woman in the orphanage would often punish her severely whenever she made the slightest mistake that could be considered "abnormal" by their rules.

She wasn't allowed to read or write and she was forbidden to have a voice of her own. She wasn't old enough to speak for herself as they put it.

She didn't agree with this. She was her own person, not a puppet.

Jeannette laid in her bed, half asleep. She was thinking about all the new experiences she had in the castle. She had seen so many new people. And best of all, they were so nice to her and let her be the one she wanted to be.

She liked Lumiere, Mrs Potts and Chip, Angelique, Prince Adam Belle and Cogsworth. These were the people she had spent the day with today. However, she was determined to go exploring around the castle.

There were so many things to do and to see.

She couldn't wait until tomorrow, but she had to.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day to say the least….