Prologue
The sickening creak of the large castle doors being pushed open echoed throughout the empty hall. An unusual sound in the long forgotten castle, one that gathered the attention of all the furniture in the entrance hall, after all these years with no one coming or going who was this stranger? A faint flicker of light graced the entrance as the door swung open and the silhouette of a small figure appeared and the pitter patter of barefeet on stone could be heard as the figure darted into room and down a corridor.
If the residence of this place were anticipating a guest they certainly weren't expecting for an entrance like this. All at once the seemingly vacant hall burst to life as all the furniture began speaking at once.
"Who in the world does he think he is bursting in like this uninvited?", started Lumière.
"Where did he come from?", came another voice.
"Who is that?", came a third.
The sudden chatter that came over the room silenced quickly as a firm consensus came over them to confront the intruder once and for all before the master of the house got to him first.
As they all started moving down the corridor leading to the ballroom, the previous emotion they had built up faded more and more the closer they came to the room...there was something eerily quiet even for this forgotten castle.
Lumière peered cautiously through the crack in the door and stared in quiet shock at the now visible child sitting on the floor by the glass door with her knees hugged to her chest. He could see bruises on her tear stained cheeks illuminated by the moonlight.
A murmur had broken out amongst the crowd, everyone pressing to move into the room, everyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the strange visitor, but something with him said to let the child be just for the night at least.
"Move back, move back! Cogsworth, go wake and fetch the master! Plumette get a room ready in the east wing. Mrs Potts have the kitchen prepare a warm soup. Tonight we have a guest and we need to make a good impression….heaven knows we need to make a good impression if we ever want to be free again." Lumière whispered to the crowd and watched as their eyes grew with the implications for his words.
For a moment they all froze in shock before the once dead castle burst into life, everyone moving to get things ready and a burst of energy he previously believed to be lost filled the walls once more. Lumière peered sadly back through the crack at the sad bruised girl who was lost in thought.
"You think she could be the one dearie?", came Mrs. Potts voice from beside him, "She's younger than expected, but I suppose the form of love was never specified."
"Either way she'll be good for him, at least by the looks of it they'll have something in common." His voice was soft and sad with the memories of the past.
The hustle and bustle stopped on a dime as the large shadow of the beast was visible at the other end of the corridor.
~To be continued~