Just a Little Change
Disclaimer: I do not own Beauty and the Beast.
Lumiere first noticed it when he came tapping into the West Wing one morning to find his Master tangled up in a shirt that was halfway on.
"Master, what on earth are you doing?" he asked without thinking.
The Beast glared at him with as much dignity as he could manage with only one eye poking beyond the shirt collar and his arms crossed before him in the wrong sleeves. "Putting on a shirt, what does it look like?" he growled.
"Of course, of course," Lumiere said quickly. "But I thought—" This time he checked himself before he said too much. He'd thought the Beast had stopped wearing shirts several years before. The first time the Master had come out of the West Wing wearing only a cape and breeches, Mrs. Potts had managed to force him to go back and put on a shirt. But it kept happening, and eventually Mrs. Potts gave up. It wasn't worth the fighting, the roars, and the broken furniture, and Mrs. Potts always feared that the Master might break her in a fit of temper if she ever pushed too hard one day.
So the servants had watched helplessly as more vestiges of their Master's former humanity slipped away. No more shirts, and what clothes he did wear were reduced to rags as he continued to wear the same ones, as if he'd forgotten how to change them. He began disappearing into the forest to hunt. Cogsworth had nearly thrown up—if that had been possible for a clock—the first time he discovered picked-over bones in the West Wing. Increasingly in the last year the Beast had been going on all fours. He growled, snorted and grunted more than he spoke. Lumiere had privately begun to fear that soon he would lose the power of speech altogether.
The animal was clearly taking over the mind of the man, bit by bit. And then what were the chances of him finding the love of a human woman? Would he have to crawl into her lap and somehow find the ability to purr to communicate his affection? This thought alternately amused and terrified Lumiere.
But the young woman Belle was now staying in the castle, having exchanged her freedom for the life of her father. The Master had saved her from a pack of wolves, proving that even underneath the clawed animal there was still some human compassion. He'd managed to say "You're welcome," when she thanked him for saving her life, a phrase Lumiere would have sworn the former prince had forgotten entirely.
He'd spoken more, and increasingly with better articulation, in the past few days than he had in…well, Lumiere couldn't remember how long it had been.
And today, a shirt. On his own, with no prompting. Lumiere also noted he was wearing a fresh pair of unripped breeches, which he'd clearly put on himself.
What was happening? Could it be possible…?
Lumiere shook off his growing excitement. "Master, would you like some help?"
"No! I'm fine!" snapped the Beast. There was a pause as they regarded each other, then, much more quietly, "Yes." Another pause. "Please."
This time Lumiere had to stifle a gasp. He hadn't heard that word unprompted from his Master since before the spell, and only rarely.
"Right away, Master!" he said, trying to muster his usual enthusiasm when his mind was whirling. Between the two of them and some creative hopping on Lumiere's part, they managed to get the Beast untangled and the shirt on properly.
Lumiere stood on a table and regarded the Beast critically. He would never pass for remotely good-looking, not with all that fur and the horns and claws and fangs and so on, but with the shirt on, he looked…different. It was easier somehow to connect him with the man in the shredded portrait on the wall. Lumiere found himself studying his Master's face intently, searching for…what? Fur falling out? Fangs shrinking, perhaps? The candelabra chided himself for indulging his fantasies a tad too far.
And yet there was something different. Something Lumiere couldn't put a wick on. Something about his eyes…
"What?" the Beast demanded.
Lumiere blinked. He'd stared too long. "Nothing, Master."
The Beast growled and turned away. Lumiere sighed. Still, it was obvious to him that things were changing. He vowed to keep an eye out from then on for more unprompted human behavior.
Cogsworth waddled in at that moment. He caught sight of the Beast wearing a shirt, though the Master's back was turned. His jaw dropped and he began mouthing silent inarticulate words of shock.
Lumiere held a candle up to his lips in a "shhh!" gesture. He motioned Cogsworth out into the hall.
Once the door was shut, Cogsworth didn't waste any time. "What is going on?" he hissed in an undertone. They'd learned the hard way years ago that the Master's Beast hearing was impeccable.
"I came in and found him all tangled up in the shirt, like he'd started to put it on without thinking and then realized he'd forgotten how to do it," Lumiere explained.
"But…but…" Cogsworth glanced at the closed door.
"I know," Lumiere said. "I don't completely understand what it might mean. But…" and he explained the other subtle changes he'd observed in the few days since the incident with the wolves.
"Cogsworth, we may have to consider the possibility that the spell is reversing," he finished. "He isn't doing these things because we, or even the girl, are telling him to. He's remembering his humanity. He's starting to think like a man again instead of an animal."
"I wonder…" said Cogsworth. "I wonder if just being around a human again after so long is prompting this sudden urge to act like a man, or if it's because…" he trailed off.
"If it's because he's already starting to have feelings for the girl, and the curse is beginning to reverse as a result," Lumiere finished. "We can hope, mon ami. We can hope. But we need to be prepared. If that is the case, he won't know what to do about these feelings. Remember, he hasn't loved anyone in a long time."
"I know that. That's the reason we're in this mess in the first place," Cogsworth grumbled. He glared at the metal fittings that should be his hands. "If the spell is indeed reversing, perhaps we'll start to notice some side effects as well?"
"Who knows?" Lumiere said with a shrug. "We must keep our eyes open, and warn the others as well. Come! Let's see how he's doing."
They went back into the West Wing, to find the Beast on his balcony watching Belle walk her horse down below. Lumiere nudged Cogsworth, then they hopped up on the balcony rail.
They were all silent for a moment. Belle, laughing, began to play in the snow with Sultan, the dog-footstool. The cheerful sound echoed around the grounds and up to the balcony. Lumiere could almost see a few cobwebs drifting away behind his Master's eyes as he watched the girl.
"I've never felt this way about anyone," the Beast said quietly.
-0-0-0-
More changes in the following weeks, observed with increasing joy by the servants. No more midnight hunting trips or bones littering the West Wing; instead, meals of cooked human food even when Belle took a meal privately. Walking on two legs nearly all of the time. Always wearing a shirt, even if it was usually also covered by a cloak. Re-learning to read with Belle.
If the Beast had any self-awareness about how much more human he was beginning to act, for the most part he kept it to himself. Lumiere thought maybe he did know how much he was changing but couldn't figure out how to verbalize his hopes. There was no way to tell how much of it was unconscious and how much was on purpose. The young prince hadn't exactly been talkative (when he wasn't yelling) even before the spell; now he was only just learning to express himself in words again. Sometimes Lumiere would catch him standing just beyond a mirror's reflection, trying to find the courage to look into it. Once Lumiere unobserved found the Beast staring at his paws intently as if willing them to shrink. When nothing happened, he covered his face in despair. Lumiere's heart nearly broke when he saw this. It was a glimpse into how badly the Beast wanted to be human again, how much he longed for the nightmare of his monstrous form to end.
Lumiere didn't even tell Mrs. Potts about these observations, and if she had any of her own she kept them to herself as well. Their Master's private pain was so intense it didn't bear sharing. And anything they could have said to him would only make things worse.
-0-0-0-
But the Master wasn't changing fast enough. That much Lumiere did gloomily observe whenever he looked at the rose. It was wilting too quickly, and even with the rapid progress the Beast was making towards humanity there was no way at this rate he would change all the way back before the last petal fell. Besides, there was no change in his physical form at all. That part of the curse apparently remained unaltered. He was still hulking and hairy. His horns didn't shrink and his claws didn't retract, even as his eyes lost the dull sheen of a caged animal and became clear, intelligent human eyes. The servants also noticed no changes in their own outward forms despite it becoming more obvious every day how deeply the Beast was falling in love with Belle.
"Well, you can't be right about everything, you know," Cogsworth sneered when the subject came up. Lumiere tolerated it; his hopes about slowly becoming human again over time had been dashed as well. He understood Cogsworth's disappointment.
Things were reaching a breaking point. The rose was going to wilt before the Beast gathered up the courage to tell Belle how he felt. Lumiere found himself thinking one day while watching the Beast pull a jacket on over a shirt that somehow he had become a self-conscious but gentle young man in literally everything but appearance by this point. He even moved like a man instead of an animal, carefully inserting one enormous arm into each armhole with grace and precision. They were so close, the thought of the curse becoming permanent now was more intolerable than it had ever been. Something had to be done.
So Lumiere suggested the dance. Dancing at least was a form of courtship without words. And Lumiere was fairly certain this was another once-known human skill the Beast would find came back to him if given the chance.
-0-0-0-
Lumiere watched in horror from one of the castle windows. He'd thought all the invaders driven from the castle, but apparently they had missed one. The big man was battling with the Beast on the roof, though how they had gotten out there Lumiere couldn't begin to guess.
Worst of all, Lumiere could see an unconscious struggle going on as the Beast not only held off the other man, but the animalistic qualities he'd shed in the past weeks. He'd drop to all fours, then abruptly bob back up to two legs. He fluctuated between fighting with his teeth like an animal and fighting like a man by grappling for possession of his opponent's club. He was obviously so caught up in survival that he had no idea how much his dual nature was in conflict, but to an observer who knew him as well as Lumiere did it was painfully obvious.
Lumiere couldn't tear his eyes away. He thought he sensed Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth somewhere nearby but didn't look around. They were probably as riveted as he.
At last the man appeared to have the Beast cornered. He yelled something, and in that moment the Beast became all animal again. Lumiere could see it in his Master's crouched stance. He knocked the man down with his huge body and had him dangling by the throat off the castle before anyone knew what was happening.
Then there was a long, drawn out pause. Lumiere held his breath, not sure why or what he was waiting for. Everything seemed frozen except the pouring rain.
And then the animal seemed to drain out of the Beast. His posture changed. He straightened, almost imperceptibly unless like Lumiere you knew what you were looking at. He brought his adversary back onto the roof and shoved him aside like a man would an opponent who is beaten and not worth his time anymore.
Lumiere heard Cogsworth let out a shaky breath beside him. Lumiere found his own breath releasing. He was fairly sure he knew what he had seen: the Beast had consciously chosen to overcome the animal's kill-or-be-killed instinct and act like a man with a mind and heart.
The Beast turned, looking with eager interest towards something above him. Only one person could illicit a response such as that. Lumiere was now fairly certain he hadn't imagined seeing Belle in the castle at some point towards the end of the fighting. She had returned! The spell might be broken in time after all!
"Come on! Hurry!" he cried, rushing towards the West Wing.
-0-0-0-
Lumiere knew he would never forget, even if he lived to be one hundred, the sight of the Beast transforming back into a human prince. A barefoot prince dressed in oversized rags, true, but finally returned to his rightful shape. Having cast off the last of the Beast in his mind just minutes before, it was fitting that he now had a human form to match. The Beast was gone for good in more ways than one.
Lumiere recognized the prince immediately when he turned around, but he had changed from what he had been before the spell, too. He was much taller, years older, and built like an athlete instead of a gawky adolescent, every muscle now lean and finely shaped. And his face…where once there had been nothing but stern, cold lines and a permanent scowl, now the lines were softer and his expression gentle, infused with delight and disbelief at finding himself human again at last. His eyes were the Beast's eyes, or more accurately those of the man who had been looking out from the Beast's eyes: brilliant blue, clear and thoughtful and a little shy.
Lumiere knew the instant Belle met the prince's eyes because her whole face lit up. She knew those eyes even if she hadn't recognized the man.
Lumiere gave a contented sigh and leaned against Mrs. Potts as the prince bent and gave Belle a kiss that was anything but shy. An expert kisser himself, Lumiere recognized quite a bit of passion mixed in with heady relief from both parties.
"At last," he murmured to Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts. Then, as sparkles began to rain down upon the castle and he saw the changes in the stone begin, he realized what was coming next. "And now it's our turn."
The transformation was finally complete.