+1+
Murder
I could not bring myself to continue the pain. The messy heart wrenching loss of life. I had a clean conscious and I refuse to let Victor ruin it. He wanted to ruin me as I'd ruined him.
I couldn't let someone else's blood stain my hands.
My conscious was clear and it had to stay that way.
There had to be another way.
Lucie
reached out and let the doors to the wardrobe fall open. Once
I was on my feet I looked back to see Lucie still concealed in the darkness.
"Good-bye", I whispered.
The doors to the wardrobe closed and she faded into the darkness.
Has Lucie been redeemed yet ?
I stole into the hotel room and looked around for the few things I had brought in with me. Throwing everything to the floor till I found what I was looking for.
The
book, Alice in Wonderland. The one she reads to Rose. The one Mr. F gave Clara for Christmas in LL !
My Rosalie was still in there somewhere and I would find her.
I made my way to the service elevator that the bell man had used to bring up our luggage. On the short trip down I was suddenly aware that the bloody scissors were still in my hand.
Service elevator. Told you this comes back.
The elevator opened to the back of the main hall. From where I was standing I could see Victor looking as strict and handsome as he did in that painting. His eyes slowly shifted around the room.
Clara : Did I say handsome ?
LiLe : Well, he does and I love me some Clara/Victor
He was standing close to my daughter, his hand wound tightly around hers. She didn't look like she was in pain but that was because she didn't know what she was missing.
Yes very Pedo-creppy. Eh
“Rosalie”, said Victor, “Look who’s here.”
She looked at me , her eyes blank but I knew she was still there.
“So many choices Clara, are you ready to become a murderer to save a daughter who never even loved you? Or will you let me have her ? Think of all the terror we could cause together. . .
"Rosalie . . . please look at me." I said.
She kept her eyes forward, Victor's expression lightened at my words.
"What is in a name, Clara ?", he said, "She's not a real child so stop treating her as one, but when she is older she will make the perfect, beautiful and unique host. Besides she has given me so much already."
Okay
Victor you are making it hard to like you. So he wants to "Posses" Rose when she's older kind of what Lucie did to Clara in HOF. Moving On !
"Rosalie, please. . . we have to finish our book. Please Rosalie let me read it to you"
I gripped the tattered book in my hands, flipping through the pages she had colored. I thought of the nights Rose and I had spent curled up reading.
When she saw the book she moved one step closer to me. I placed the pink bookmark ribbon at the last page and I began to read to her.
". . .She would keep, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and she would gather other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, of Wonderland of long ago: and how Alice would find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days . . . . the end. "
This is almost as bad as when I used song lyrics
"Please comeback to me Rosalie. . . I'm sorry. I will love you the way you are . . . just come to me.", I said
"That won't work, Clara" he taunted me pulling Rosalie back to him.
"Please,
Rose, please wake up."
Wake up like Alice did.
"You have to let her go Clara, after all this isn't the daughter you want."
"Yes it is"
"Not it's not, this is the daughter you want."
He reached down and touched her with his other hand and though nothing changed I began to have Deja vu. The Rosalie infront of me was the same Rosalie but different.
It was as if I hadn’t seen her in a long time and she was just there.
She was bright, loving. . . she had a soul.
Rosalie ran to me terrified of what she didn't understand. I could love her, I could protect her.
"Mommy I don't want to go back.
I want to be a real girl"
"I know, I know"
"I want to be real"
So at this point the only living person Clara can kill is Mr. Fierro.
So I wrote this scene pretty early on and because it’s logical. . . they were supposed to kill Emile. I mean it’s the only logical answer.
He knows what hotel
they are in and he would sacrifice his life for Rose and how ANGSTY would it be ? But I could NOT do it.
Be glad he is put on a
bus in this chapter.
+2+
The eerie silence of the hotel was broken by Ms. DeLune’s sobs.
Clutching her real daughter for the first time. Blood from the cuts on her hands staining the girls dress. I watched her hand carefully, how she clutched the sharp scissors.
She continued to beg Victor, giving him exactly what he wanted all along.
To make her suffer
“Please”, she continued, “Just give me my daughter”
“I begged for my life when I was murdered, no one cared about me. Why should I give you the satisfaction ? You can either kill someone human, like your darling Mr. Fierro, to give your daughter a soul or you can let her come with me."
Choices Choices
“No”
"You make it sound as if that is an option. My God ,you should be thrilled I'm saving your bastard child from the hands of your father."
I stood in the dark, the small pistol still in my hand. I could make the choice for her
Now that Rosalie temporarily had a soul I could kill her. Saving Clara from committing a crime and saving Rosalie from Victor . . . but taking her from her mother.
Plot twist
Muse : This is getting complicated
LiLe : It makes sense on paper
Or I could let Ms. DeLune kill me granting her daughter a permanent soul. . .
Or I could kill Ms. DeLune before she killed me.
Or I could do nothing and let Victor take the girl.
. . . .if you leave here you will never comeback .If you leave you will be forced to make one of the hardest decisions of your life
I remember Lucie’s last words to me in stride.
Right,
so Spectres can randomly see the future now. I imply this a lot but here it’s
like right out stated. Not sure why they can see the future they just can !
Death and misery are what follow me now, but they didn’t have to follow her. I saw the cruel glint in Victor's eyes, I couldn't let him take her.
I stepped out of the shadow, Victor eye’s met me and I knew he had known me to be standing there all along.
“Please, Ms. DeLune let me do this”, my voice trembled
“No don’t”, she begged me still clinging to her soul-filled child.
“This can end here, Clara, her blood will be on my hands… not yours. I understand you will never love me afterward but I pray you will at least forgive me.”
She shook her head, her arms still wrapped around Rosalie.
“I would never forgive you.”
"Don't let him do it", Victor said causing her to waver, "Kill him before he kills your only child."
Victor
is eating popcorn at this point. Seriously this tension goes on for SO LONG.
"I can't ", she was getting weak.
"Fine" Victor continued to speak, "then I guess it is time to go Rosalie… What is it your father is always saying Clara ? That everyone has to suffer because you couldn't keep your legs together."
LiLe : Okay Victor we are breaking up.
"Shut up", she screamed to him.
She had fallen to her knees everything she had left resonated with one fact, she wanted to save Rosalie. She wanted to give her the second chance that she had received.
Look
at me throwing back to LL. Continuity High Five !
I stepped closer placing the gun on the ground,
"It's alright", I said, "Give her your soul by murdering me."
"No"
"Yes", I corrected her, "Victor can keep the soul he took and you will give up yours. .. you will never be able to die. You will be forced to watch everyone you ever loved die including me.", I turned to Victor, "Will that be enough. Will you leave us alone then ?"
So he suggests this because Clara’s gone 3 years already thinking he was dead so if he really was dead it wouldn’t change anything. I should have focused more on that.
Victor smiled and nodded.
Rosalie stepped away from her mother, helping her to stand. Hand in hand the pair walked towards me. She still clutched the silver scissors till she was only inches from me. She held them firmly by the center, tracing the tip over where my still beating heart was.
Uh, she is going to stab him with sharp scissors-- not super deadly
"Why?", she asked, "why would you let me do this"
"What were you going to tell me before we blacked out."
She loosened her hand from Rosalie and placed it on my shoulder giving her leverage.
"I was going to tell you that--that Rosalie is our daughter. . . I was going to tell you that you're her father."
Clara has been using the term “My daughter” a lot.
"Then that will be my reason. I want Rosalie to grow old and tired of this world one day and be able to find herself in the place where we fell in love. The day she dies will be the happiest day of my life."
So, Essex says this to Mr. F in chapter 13 or something.
):
"I can't"
"You can, and this time you can ensure that I truly am dead."
"No"
"I beg you"
NOOOO. What is this ??? what am I doing to these poor characters.
I flinched as her hand tensed, realizing I could just as easily force myself onto the blade.
Guys, Guys I had no idea how make this work. I mean it really only works if they kill Emile.
“No, you aren't leaving me again. I don't want you to be alone any more. Either one of us is alone any more No man is an island unto itself.. . your death diminishes me. We're a family."
Awww, (:
Logic : You really should have called this House of Fierro
LiLe : Right ? I hate the name. I should have called HOF something else and this HOF.
Victor smiled living off the chaos and fear he had caused. He was triumphant watching Ms. DeLune cling to her innocence, her human daughter.
"I can't", she said
My eyes were drawn to the top of the stairs where Lucie was standing.
She didn't move from her spot on the staircase, instead she was holding out her hands. Entwining the fingers of her two hands to create a heart. The familiar gesture I'd noticed in India. She was trying to tell me something. After repeating the gesture I understood her meaning.
She blew me a kiss and disappeared.
DEAUX EX MACHINA
That's the last we see of Lucie, she finally has come to terms with Fierro and Clara and offers them a way out of Victor's evil plans.
“Victor", I called to him, let me offer you a compromise"
"Compromise ?"
"I offer you a chance to damn two lives instead of one"
His interest was perked
"Let's hear it"
"Ms. DeLune and I will kill an innocent person, together. Giving Rosalie half of each of our souls to make a whole. In time we will both bury the only child we will ever have. Watch our friends and family leave us. Forever living till the end of days . . . with you as our only constant companion."
Victor : Well that does mean there could be a chance at a threesome.
LiLe : *drinks wine*
Oh, and Lucie. Not sure why they didn't mention that Lucie would be there.
Victor closed his eyes, there was complete silence but he turned his attention to the staircase then back to us.
“Oh, Lucie”, Victor whispered, “You always ruin my fun but I always have an ace up my sleeve. I accept your compromise. . .Are you ready to stain your pure heart Ms. Clara? To commit the mortal sin ?”
See it should have been Emile. I’m such a weakling.
She dropped the scissors disgusted at the choice I'd forced her to make.
Good point. No one consults Clara on this.
"You're not alone in this", I reminded her.
She watched Rosalie listlessly shifting through the tattered novel, dreaming of being a real girl.
“Yes, I'm ready”
+3+
Return
of the third person er, VICTOR pov.
It was still raining when the doors to the St. Mark opened and the tired man entered the hotel to shield himself from the rain. I almost felt sorry for him, he didn’t realize he would not be checking out.
So
then I was like, I’ll just write some rando but I realized I couldn’t do that so
I made it Peter. Yay, emotional payoff.
He tossed his rain coat and kept his brim down low. He called for service in the vacant hotel but no one would answer him. The man stood puzzled waiting for someone, anyone. It was too silent but still he stayed
Stupid humans.
The man huffed in confusion and rang the bell to receive service. The minute he rang that bell the countdown began.
The man didn’t hear the couple appear from behind him. It was his last moments and he was oblivious to it all.
He didn’t turn to see the woman’s ugly tears as she knew the man’s fate, as she anticipated what she and her companion were to do next.
The only way to end the terror and the pain was to pass it to someone else.
The man didn't watch as another pale hand worked it's way around the woman's the pair of hands firmly held around the trigger.
A little pressure
That was all.
One
Two
Three
Shots knocking on the door of unhappiness.
Okay, this line is an expy of a famous piece of literature. I just can’t remember what it is.
The woman didn’t stay afterwar,d she turned disgusted at this final act to save her child. She found solace in a dark corner on the second floor where she gave into a weary sleep.
The pale man however.
He stayed.
Watching the body as it fell to the floor and stilled.
Something tugged at the pale man as he carried the lithe body to the dumpster. A light rain started to fall an although he should not have he turned to look at the dead man. A pair of blank green eyes meet his. The pale man looked in my direction now aware of my deceit.
I smiled
The pale man took the dead man's hat and placed it over his face, then taking time remove the diamond engagement ring in the dead man's pocket. He admired the way the one-of-a-kind ring sparkled in the dusk light.
" Good-night, sweet prince may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest", the living said to the dead
I think this is where my obsession with associating male characters with the term "prince" started. Cillian's OG name was Cillian Prince.
The hotel was old and it had a history, it had stood for a long time and had seen the death of nearly one member of the Bordeaux family tree every 50 years. As my dear Paris burned the St. Mark was moved brick by brick to hideous mother Britain.
Locals knew the hotel to still be haunted, only the macabre and curious would dare to stay here. I wondered back to room 127 where I had been murdered and reflected
For generations the Bordeaux family has sacrificed their own to rule the land of the dead.
Ha.
c'est la vie, let the Morratti Monarch reign now.
The only way to end the terror and the pain was to pass it to someone else.
Yep,
they killed Peter. He showed up to the
hotel to propose to Clara, which is why he had an engagmenet ring. Also once again I know it makes a lot sense drama-wise for this to have been Emile. But I just CAN'T.
Epilogue
Yay, It’s Roaslie’s Birthday.
“Careful”, I watched Rosalie as she inched closer to where the water met up to the pier, running her hand through the clear blue water.
I was careful not to lose my balance once I stepped out the backdoor of the house and in to the warm summer sand. Rosalie came to help me as I set the cake in the sand.
Yay now Rose will eat her birthday cake !
'Matches", I reminded myself standing back up.
'Wait, Ms. DeLune"
I moved away my hand as the lighter sprang to life, lighting the four candles.
Tomas : Oh, now he gets a lighter
LiLe : Wrapping it up here.
"Thank you. Okay Rosalie make a wish"
She knelt down closed her eyes tight and blew the out the candles.
"Happy Birthday"
"Happy Birthday, sweetheart", I kissed her four times.
Look, she’s using Lucie’s term of endearment.
"Can we go in the water now"
"Yes", I said taking her hand as she led me to where the waves crashed on the shore. She let go of my hand and we began collecting seashells till the sun went down
Look at her, all normal and collecting seashells. This is a lot better than the original ending where Martin drowns her at the beach on her birthday.
Clara & Mr. F : What ?!
LiLe :Ummmm
+++
Mr. Fierro placed his hand in mine and , we walked so we were no longer standing in the chilly water. Rosalie noticing we were moving kept a few paces ahead. After a while a large shell caught her attention, and I took the opportunity to talk without her listening.
Look at Clierro holding hands.
It was almost time
Yep, it’s time for LiLe to be tricky and red-herring just for the sake of it. I just liked being misleading.
“I just can’t ask her to keep this kind of secret”, I said.
Clara : I mean my father would lose his mind if he finds out the man he thinks is a ghost really is a ghost and he must know that Rosalie couldn’t die before. Not to mention people still might think Mr. F kidnappd me. It’s just a whole thing. It’s easier if we just aren’t together right now.
“I understand.”, and for the fist time I believed he was lying to me.
“I have to make things right for what my father did, I at least owe her that. Besides you and I will always have forever."
He stopped walking, somewhat angered at my words.
"Don't fool yourself Ms. DeLune, this life. these choices are all that matter"
"I know"
I motioned for Rosalie to follow us to the main road to where the car was sitting. I buckled her into the back seat and walked to the driver's seat starting the car.
I stepped out finding a hug appropriate with Rosalie watching.
Also, this takes place a month after the last chapter, so they’ve had tome to make amends.
Muse : And my amends you mean
LiLe
: Coming to terms with Mr. F and Emile lying to Clara.
LiLe
: NO ! BAD, MUSE !
"We'll be together sooner than later.", he reminded me.
"I know", I said.
He kissed my hand and closed the passenger door to the old Buick before getting into the driver's seat.
"Bye", Rosalie said from the open window.
"Not good-bye" I said leaning in. "Never good bye"
"I love you, Mommy"
"I love you too, be a good girl"
I
watched till the car drove out of sight, though I could swear I could still
hear her laughter.
LiLe : Wait what ? What are you doing ?
Muse : What do you mean
LiLe : This ending leaves way to much room. Why is Clara leaving. What is going on ? Did you just want to psych people out one last time. Why are we doing this ? . . .
Muse : Well . . .
LiLe
: What ?
Muse : Oh, come on. We aren’t going to punish Martin for abusing Rosalie ? Also
we never get to hear Rosalie call Mr. F Daddy ? And wouldn’t losing half a soul
make Clara and Mr. F a little darker ? Plus I think we can do better with this
retrospective thing. At least be a bit more complicated. Also just one kiss ? really ?
LiLe : I have no idea how to work in a paranormal angle anymore
Muse : Picture this
LiLe : No--
Muse : Clara in a dark room waiting. She hears them coming for her and she’s not afraid. Suddenly the door burst open and there are a group of people in suits. They approach her and arrest her. She doesn’t fight back, she gets inside of a police car and as the door shuts . . . she smiles
(These are the images that came to me when it came to JNRR)
LiLe : Yeah but did she do ? What will she do to get out of it ? How would Mr. F fit into it ? I mean I guess I could explore
Muse : *WIN*
FIN