It was dark and so very quiet as she made her way through the servants passageways, the candle she carried throwing the small light to create unnerving shadows. She clutched the blanket wrapped around her shoulders tighter, only having ventured out wearing nothing but her chemise, perhaps a little unwise as she walked the roughened floorboards barefoot, and completely inappropriate she knew. But she surely had nothing to be afraid of, the curse had been lifted, they were human and finally free, so why did she feel so anxious? She had left Lumière asleep in his bed where they had retired to during the spontaneous party that had carried on into the night, he wasn't usually a deep sleeper but had been so exhausted from all that had happened that he hadn't stirred when she crept out.
She would have preferred to stay warm in his arms, peacefully asleep but there was something that had kept her awake, something that she had to see for herself. She continued on, her footsteps light and quick as she went up stairs, along other corridors, down more steps and finally came into the female staffs quarters. Her heartbeat in her throat, nervous but wonderfully human all the same as her feet remembered the way from all those years ago that she had crossed so many times and at last arriving at the plain wooden door. Her fingers clutched a key that she had dug out of a pocket in her skirts before she had journeyed out. It was the only one for this particular door in the entire castle and it had vanished as had the rest of her clothes when she had been first transformed and the door had been securely locked before that fateful ball. Lumière tried to pick the lock and on failing that had offered to burn it down but she hadn't let him, no no, she had cried, he would burn down the entire castle if he were to do that.
She pressed the key into the lock and opened the door, it was surprisingly loose for all the time it had been shut. She stepped inside holding her candle up as she glanced around, tears suddenly heavy in her eyes. It was her room, her human room with all her human things. The smell of her perfumes pleasantly heavy in the air, she quickly stepped forward towards the vanity and placed the candle down, picking up bottles of perfume oils and bringing them up to her nose, such beautiful smells that she had loved, lavender, jasmine, vanilla and patchouli … roses, she frowned, perhaps she would throw away that one. She placed the bottles down and turned her attention to the pots of coloured pigments beside them, her make up brushes haphazardly left on the table from where she had gotten ready for the ball. Dipping her fingertip into one pot the beautiful gold pigment that was the same that still adorned her cheekbones was still as fresh as ever, nothing showing the years that had past, not even dust or a single cobweb. It was exactly how she had left it an entire decade ago.
It was like walking into a fairytale, or perhaps waking from a long dream, she remembered it all so well and looking around it was like she was never gone though it felt so far away. She picked up her candle again and moved on, her fingers brushing against a shawl draped over a chair, the wool softer than she remembered. She sat down on her soft bed, her eyes roaming across the room when her heels bumped into something under the bed, jolting as she realised what it was she leaned down to snatch it up and place it beside her on the bedsheets. A boxful of treasures of her past life, keepsakes, pressed flowers, pretty trinkets Lumière had gifted her. She took out items and looked them over, held them in her hands as she remembered, her brow tightening at the stack of papers, letters from her friends in Paris, her parents and sister. It had been ten years, and although she understood the curse had made them forget her and they would probably, hopefully remember her now, unless they wrote her first she had no idea where they were. A decade was a very long time for people to move on, to move away, or even die. Were her parents still alive? Had her little niece Esme gotten better from that bout of sickness? Had her sister Colette had more children? Would she ever see them again even now?
She didn't know, and it made her heart ache as she stroked her finger to Colette's signature.
Perhaps it was best she hadn't been able to enter her room during those long years, being able to see these letters then wouldn't have provided her any more comfort than they did now. After all, the majority of the staff made the subconscious decision to stay away from their quarters, do not go to your rooms, do not look at your clothes, it will only remind you of what you've lost. It was the reason that even if a servant had the ability to move about the castle they would still normally be found in the kitchen, in the hall, the dining room, places that were open and didn't hold such personal memories.
With a deep breath she left the box and stood up, her watering eyes casting a few more longing glances around before she headed for the door. This was a bit too much to cope with for her right now, it was all here still and knowing that made her feel a little easier, she could return whenever she wanted, go in her human room with her human clothes as a human, that wasn't going to change anytime soon. She pulled the door closed behind her but left it unlocked, still there and open for whenever she wanted.
Coming to a narrow stairway she paused, having been ready to head off back to the male quarters and Lumière when she found her feet going down instead of up, one last thing she had to see with her own eyes before she could fully be at peace. Down the dark stairs, through another passageway and out of a concealed door out to the entrance hall. The party was dying down but still with a few stragglers here and there. A particularly amorous couple at the top of the grand stair case paused from gazing into each other's eyes to smile at her as she past, he'd been a chair, she a broom, Plumette smiled back, tugging her blanket more firmly around herself to hide her state of undress and she placed her candle down on a table.
That man who had caught Mrs Potts and saved her from smashing sat in a corner with another man who she didn't recognise apart from being one of the villagers, the pair of them quietly talking and holding hands. She didn't know what to make of the shorter one yet, her first instincts being not to trust him, after all he had seemed to be one of the main culprits of the castle raid but perhaps in time she would change her mind.
"Plumette!" cried a excited, although very drunk voice before Cuisinier had wrapped his arms around her, his skin still unusually warm to the touch, Chapeau bobbed up along behind him, smiling the smile of someone who had drank far too much wine, he leaned against the cook and the maid, nuzzling in on the hug.
"Love you" he breathed, barely audible with a chuckle.
She grinned, her arms awkwardly clutching at the pair of them. Cusinier released her "It is so good to see you!" he beamed.
"You saw me only a few hours ago" she giggled, as he cupped her face between his hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his lips near burning on her skin.
"Ah but seeing you as you truly are fills my heart with joy! It has been too long since I've seen those beautiful eyes and... ah!" he cut his words short as the mantel clock above the fireplace began to chime the hour, both he and Chapeau turning towards it. "Oh my! Do you know what that means?"
"It's midnight?" she guessed, an eyebrow raised as the clock steadily chimed twelve times.
"It's a new day! A new day and we're still human! At last we are free and our happy tomorrow is here!"
"No more three legs" Chapeau hiccuped to himself, lifting up one foot, wobbling dangerously while giving it a wiggle about and doing the same with the other. "Violins are easier with fingers"
"Come have a drink with us!" Cusinier implored.
"Ah no thank you, I am busy right now" Plumette replied.
He frowned before smiling. "Off to find Lumière, eh? If that man has any sense he'll marry you straight away, you're much too fine a lady to let slip through his fingers"
"Old Sparky and Feathers, heh" Chapeau snorted, his lips sealed around a the neck of a wine bottle he had produced from underneath his coat.
She bid them adieu, making her way past the few other people still about and out through the open front door. The night was warm with no trace of the ice and snow that had encased the castle for years and the moon bright enough to easily see by. More people here and there, minding their own business and simply being happy at being themselves again.
She walked on determinedly until another voice called to her. "Plumette?" Belle sat alone on the bench under the roses, a lantern beside her and an open book in her lap.
Plumette turned towards her and curtsied "My Lady, is there something I can do for you? You are out very late"
Belle shrugged "I couldn't sleep so I was hoping perhaps reading would help... everyones so happy" she trailed off.
"And you are not?" Plumette questioned, her head tilted to the side.
She shook her head, her eyebrows drawn in "It's not that at all, I am happy, I'm happy that everyone is alright, that you're all free, it's just so much has happened lately it's all a bit much to take in" she breathed out all at once. "I love it here, I love Adam and I love all of you it's just ..."
"Overwhelming?" the maid finished and Belle nodded.
Brown doe eyes turned up to look at her "... Are you happy?"
Plumette was a little caught out by the question, one that no one had asked her in a long time, because during the curse it was something no one asked, because of course she wasn't, how could anyone be happy when they were trapped in a form that was not their own and now tonight no one had asked because it was assumed she must be, as they all were, they were free now and had the rest of their lives to look forward to. Mrs Potts, Chip, Cusinier, Chapeau, Garderobe, Cadenza, Cogsworth and her darling Lumière were so overcome with joy so why did she feel tears of sorrow pressing at her eyes, why did her chest feel so tight that she couldn't breathe?
She spoke slowly "... I am glad we are alive and free, that you saved us, I am glad that my beloved and our friends are safe, I am glad but not happy" she twisted her fingers into her blanket anxiously. "I think happiness will come one day, but right now I feel burdened by the weight of my heart"
"I'm sorry" Belle offered weakly.
Plumette focused on her, her eyes sharp. "You have nothing to be sorry for, I am so grateful to you" before she knew what she had done she'd pressed her lips to the girl's cheek. An action a bit inappropriate for a servant to do with her Lady, especially a servant dressed only in her underwear. "Now you must excuse me mademoiselle" with that she turned and walked off in the direction she had been going originally, away from the castle and deeper into the gardens.
"Where are you going?"Belle called, jumping up to follow her with her book under her arm and holding the lantern, running to keep up with the maid.
"I must see the gates" She spoke simply, striding on.
Belle caught up to her, walking beside her. "The gates?" she echoed.
"Oui, we could never leave, it was the wolves you see, they were part of the curse and they would attack if we went through the gates and we were so much more breakable then" she said, the bitterness unpleasant on her tongue, the years of entrapment just as hard as being turned into an object. They physically were not allowed to leave, the book didn't work for them and with the wolves that guarded the surrounding woods there was truly no hope of leaving as they had been.
"Even Lumière?"
"He might have been studier than most but he was still small... I was foolish once, I flew through the gates and into the woods, the wolves caught me, if it wasn't for him I would have been destroyed years ago... we also found that the closer to the woods we got the harder it was for us to move, we became slow and stiff, that is why I could not fly high enough safe from the wolf's jaws. It was frightening, the feel of loosing control of my wings it was like when we … well" she cut herself off, stopping before she could over think the moment when they had all faded away, that was something to deal with later, not now, not tonight.
Belle followed her through the curves and turns of the gardens listening intently. "But had you been able to leave, would you?"
"...Perhaps not, after all where could a talking feather duster go? Spending the rest of however long I might have had alone in hiding? Leaving my friends behind? … But the option to go would have been nice..."
Soon they came upon the gates, the large looming things appearing from the darkness still open from when the villagers had left earlier in the evening. Taking in a sharp breath Plumette approached them, Belle cautiously behind her, her eyes watering dangerously as she looked at them and then into the woods, looking for the gleaming eyes of the hungry wolves but not finding any sign of them, not even a howl on the breeze.
"They're open, you're free now" Belle spoke gently as not to startle her.
"It's been so long..." She near sobbed, her hands covering her mouth "... I want to go..."
"Wait wha?" before Belle could finish Plumette had bolted, running as fast as her newly appeared legs could carry her "Plumette! Wait!" she called, chasing after her. "It's dark!" She ran after the shape of the maid's blanket billowing out into the deep woods where the moon struggled to break through, her lantern the only source of light.
Plumette did not stop, running along the barely visible path through the trees, her lungs burning and her heart beating wildly in her chest and oh so fantastically alive, a feeling so wonderful she refused to give it up, leading Belle further and further away from the castle. She ran until her legs screamed at her to stop, slowing she came to lean heavily against a tree, bent over and laughing. Belle stumbled up to her, flushed and panting. "Oh! Oh my, that was wonderful!" she laughed, clasping a hand to her chest as to feel her heart thundering against her ribs. She turned to Belle who was fighting to regain a good hold on her book and lantern and trembling slightly. "You amazing girl, thank you"
Belle smiled, although a little concerned "Perhaps we should head back?"
"Oui, mademoiselle" Plumette nodded, letting her Lady go first back along the path, a few moments spent in silence as they fought to get their breath back.
After some time Plumette spoke up, the excitement gone and her voice once again calm"I would like to say I am very sorry"
"For what?" the other girl blinked in confusion.
The maid glanced away from her, the ground easier to look at as guilt settled thick and cold in her stomach"... we didn't know you and we used you, we would have let the master keep you even if you had despised him"
Belle cut her off "Look, I understand, it's ok"
"But it really isn't, it may have been Lumière's plan to start with but we all agreed to it, I imprisoned you as much as anyone else did"
"It was that or you all would have died, I understand" she repeated "I'm sure I'd do exactly the same in your place, please don't be sorry I am truly not upset and I would like for us to be friends"
"Friends?" Plumette echoed, her voice light with hope.
Belle blinked, fearful that she had perhaps pushed some boundaries "If you want?"
"I would love to! I was just thinking, I have not made a new friend in decades"
"Neither have I"
Plumette frowned at that, holding back a curse at the villagers. She took the book out of Belle's hand before linking their arms. "Then I am most honoured" she smiled gently. They made their way out of the woods, the maid still cautiously eyeing the gates as they past through and back along the gardens. Back through the entrance hall, where Chapeau had curled up in front of the fire fast asleep and clutching an empty wine bottle, picking up the candle from where it had been abandoned and leaving behind the lantern. All the way together to Belle's room where Plumette had insisted on tucking her into bed as it was late and she wouldn't have her Lady wandering about in the dark much more, a nearby clock chiming one in the morning as she kissed her goodnight and shut the door behind herself.
Perhaps everything would be alright, she pondered as she climbed the stairs back up to the servants quarters, having spent far enough time away from her beloved, creeping along the passageways until she came to Lumière's room and slipped inside. She placed the candle down on the bedside table and made quick work of stripping away her blanket and chemise.
Lumière felt so warm to her night chilled skin as she slid in beside him, pressing herself up to him and nuzzling her face into his neck. "... Mmmm... where'd you go?" he breathed only just awake.
"Only for a midnight walk mon amour, do not worry" she pressed a kiss to his sleepy mouth, his moustache ticking against her skin.
"Have fun?" he yawned, scooping his arms around her and holding her tightly, she nodded against his neck. "... Are you happy?"
The question gave her pause again before she smiled "I think so" he mumbled something in reply but was already asleep.