The Court Composer's Daughter: chapter 5

Felicity grew deeply more and more curious of her biological mother every day. She wondered who she could have been or where she might have lived now. Her father had told her that when she was a baby, her mother abandoned her on the castle doorstep without information of her location, why she had to give up Felicity, or if she would ever return. Felicity felt like she might have been an accidental birth or something due to this.

It was nap time in the castle for the children, so Cogsworth tucked everyone in and got the tarts Mrs. Potts left before she and Chip had gone out to visit his father who now lived in Toulouse. The court composer's daughter was nestled up in her bed and turned over around in her sleep a lot, but she didn't seem to be bothered with the dingy conditions before, but for the first time, Felicity had a different, kind of scary dream.

She dreamt of the night she was abandoned. It was very dark and the dark figure carrying her was racing out of a home to go in the forest. The figure took out something golden that resembled Cogsworth's pocket watch. The figure set the watch to some numbers Felicity didn't recognize then there was a bright flash. Felicity and the dark figure were still running, but in a different forest than the one before. Felicity looked to see the castle come into view, then the figure bent down, put a note against her blanket and ran off. There was a big, bright, white glow coming from inside the castle and Felicity cried. As she cried, her father ran to her and shook her while she cried.

In reality, Felicity was asleep, but her father was shaking her to wake her up. "Felicity Constance Michelle Forte, wake up!" Forte demanded.

"Huh?" Felicity looked all around, wearily.

"You were crying and talking in your sleep, enfant," Forte sat on the edge of her bed. "I was worried over you..."

"Oh, Papa..." Felicity sighed. "I was dreaming..."

"Want to talk about it?"

Felicity nodded and proceeded to tell her father all about the wild, crazy, scary dream she had.

"I see," Forte hummed. "How long have you had this dream?"

"For a while now," Felicity replied. "I wonder if it means anything..."

Forte looked stunned at her for a moment, then released a sharp sigh. "It does... It mostly involves your mother..."

"What about her?"

"I might not have been there, but she... she abandoned you on the castle doorstop."

"Who is she? Is it Queen Belle?"

"What?" Forte's eyes widened at the very thought of lusting over a woman like Belle. "No! I never loved Belle."

"You guys act weird when you're together." Felicity pondered.

"That doesn't matter, child," Forte tried to settle her. "Now look, your mother... your mother isn't quite born yet..."

"Huh?" Felicity was understandably confused.

"Your mother is from the 21st century in the future," Forte tried to explain. "I'm at least 370 years older than her..."

"Then how was I born?"

"It's very complicated to explain to a child," Forte sighed. "When your mother was a little bit older than you, she came to the castle with Belle back when she was just a peasant girl and not royalty. This was long ago when the castle was under an enchantment."

"Enchantment?" Felicity thought. "I thought that was just a bedtime story Queen Belle and King Adam made up."

Forte shook his head. "We were under a spell which turned Adam into a hideous monster and he had to find someone to fall in love with him and love her back and Belle could break the spell. Your mother was also a guest, but since she was so young, the Master couldn't fall in love with her. I was in love with your mother then though."

"Did that break the spell?" Felicity wondered.

"Non," Forte hesitantly replied. "The Master had to fall in love with Belle and her with him back so the spell could break. I didn't want the spell to break. I got Fifi's father and your mother to help change the plans so the spell couldn't break. If the spell broke, then the Master wouldn't spend time with me and I only felt needed and important when Adam would listen to my music with me. I always played music for his father and we were real close, so I was like a substitute father to him. But Belle made Adam fall in love and I had to do drastic actions."

"What did you do, Papa?"

"I...I..." Forte swallowed hard. "I tried to kill everyone..."

"What? Why!" Felicity's eyes widened as Forte's did earlier.

"I thought I'd be happier dead than forgotten..."

"Oh, Papa..." Felicity moaned.

"Your mother tried to stop me," Forte spoke up again, nervously. "I didn't want her to suffer, just everyone else, she was the only one who really cared about me and listened to me while everyone else would either fear me or ignore me..."

"So, what happened?"

"Adam thought he killed me..." Forte put his withering hands together. "He threw my keyboard against me and I came toppling down when I was a pipe organ. I woke up some weeks later after Christmas was brought back to the castle and the spell was broken. The last words I heard from your mother after turning into a unconcious court composer that no one else would dare check on or make sure was okay or not..."

"What did you do after that?" Felicity crawled closely to her father.

"I... I fell in love with her..." Forte gulped. "She was so sweet and innocent as a child, and I had to come apologize to her after overhearing she had terrifying nightmares about me... I felt so guilty... Once I came back to her and saw her grown up, she grew up to be a very dark, morbid, beautiful young adult and I even proposed to her, but I waited until she got out of college..."

"Oh, Papa, that sounds like a very tragic love story." Felicity swooned. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know," Forte hung his head, then turned to see the other children were waking up. "Erm... Why don't you play with your little friends, huh?"

"Thanks for telling me what you know, Papa." Felicity gently hugged him, then went out the doorway to meet with the others.

"Oh Cerise... If only you were here with me now... I need you more than ever..." Forte felt his heart ache and bleed for Cherry's love and devotion. She was torturing him by staying in the 21st century and he was stuck in the 18th century raising their daughter all by himself with no parenting experience, but he was glad he actually got to have a child with her. Thomas was a brilliant boy and a great son, but Felicity is both his and her child.