Michelle sighed as she stared out of the window of the castle. How many years had she already been stuck in here? Lumiere claimed it had been ten, but to her it felt like an eternity. She still remembered how her human body had looked like. But now, whenever she looked into a mirror, she only saw a brush, covered in red paint. She sighed and decided to go into the kitchen. Mrs. Potts was already busy making dinner.

"Say, dear, would you please help me?" the old teapot asked

"Of course, Ma'am. Let me please just quickly clean myself off." Michelle went to the next bathroom and started too clean herself. After all, no one liked paint on their food. She started to hear voices from outside the room and her heart almost stopped from aching.

"Oh, Lumiere, not again!" a girls voice giggled.

"Oh, Cherie."

Of course she knew very well, who the girl was. It was Babette, the duster. As a human, she had been a beautiful, young maid. And since Lumiere felt the need to flirt with every woman, she wasn't save either. There had been a time when even Michelle was charmed by him, but now she knew better.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a Childs voice.

"Mom. There's a girl in the castle!" that was Chi, Mrs. Potts son.

"Now, Chip, I won't have you making up such wild stories."

"But really, mom, I saw her." Chip insisted, but of course, his mother didn't believe him.

"Not another word. Into the tub. "

Michelle heard a loud splash. She sighed. As if anyone would ever come here. Sure, there was this old man, whom the master had locked away. But he was just an exception.

"A girl? I saw a girl in the castle!" Babette interrupted.

Michelle got curious and decided to look for herself. She saw Lumiere and Cogsworth.

"Hey, guys. What's going on? I heard there was an intruder?"

"Well," Cogsworth answered. "There actually seems to be another one of the townspeople here."

"Town? You mean the one where I used to live?"

Lumiere nodded. "And I think she is the daughter of the old man, who came here two days ago."

"Yeah, and Lumiere is under the impression, that she could be the one to lift the curse."

That one got Michelle interested. "Come on, guys. Let`s follow her." She whispered.

As they walked, she turned to Lumiere. "And you will leave her alone! She has to fall for the Prince, after. His birthday is soon, and we can't risk losing our only chance of being human again!"

"Oh, come on!" The candlestick smiled. "I know very well, that we can't risk that. But I wonder if you'll ever get over…"

"Never!" Michelle hissed.

Lumiere sighed and shook his head.

"What are you talking about?" Cogsworth asked irritated. „Silence! She'll hear us!"

When they finally reached the dungeon, the girl was talking to her father.

"Belle, I want you to leave this place now!"

"Who did this to you?" the young girl asked.

Michelle startled. "What…?" she asked quietly. Lumiere turned to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but before she could answer, the Beast stormed in. He angrily grabbed the girl.

"Get out, Belle!" Maurice yelled.

"Who's there?" Belles asked in fear. "Who are you? Please let my father go! He's sick!"

Quietly, Micelle watched Belle trading herself for Maurice. "Don't, Belle! Get out!" she whispered.

This girl…Belle., Michelle had known her growing up in the village. And now she was here? Michelle hardly paid attention to her surroundings anymore. She started to remember everything that had happened.

So, the chapter is a bit short. But's just the prologue anyway. The next chapters will be longer.