Chapter 10: Give Up?

Belle was more than happy to wake up in the morning and be greeted by her operatic armoire. She'd missed the enchanted woman's humming in the mornings.

"Good Morning!" the armoire sang out joyfully when she noticed that the young woman in the bed was sitting up.

"Good morning," Belle returned the smile and accepted her friend's advice on what to wear for the day. How the enchanted armoire seemed to have clothes in just the right side had made her wonder at first. In the end, she had just put it down to magic. What else could she say about it?

"I suggest that you wear the pink one!" her friend sang, "I don't think he'll be able to look away from you!"

Belle nodded in agreement as she accepted the dress and moved towards the vanity to wash up and begin getting dressed. She wasn't in the mood for a complete bath, but washing up even a little always helped wake her up. She finished pulling her hair back up after brushing it until it shone. She smiled at her friend through the mirror.

"Well, it looks like today is going to be a good day."

Belle laughed softly, "I hope so; I certainly hope so."

She was both looking forward to introducing her father to her friend and dreading it at the same time. The last time the Beast had been in the same room as her father things had not gone well. They had gone almost the extreme opposite of well. She hoped that things would go better this time around. She wasn't quite sure what she would do if they went otherwise.

"I'm sure they will both surprise you quite pleasantly, Belle."

"Did you ever have this kind of problem?"

The armoire blushed, or would have if she was still a woman. "Not this problem exactly, but having my mother meet my paramour was quite…" She trailed off and seemed to lose herself in the fond memory.

Belle smiled and bid her a goodbye before leaving the room. Her furniture bound friend hummed her farewell as she stayed in her memories.

Belle traded soft hellos with the servants as she walked towards the breakfasting room in the castle. She would stop and converse with them for a few moments in the past, but they all seemed eager for her to continue on her way this morning even if they didn't quite say it in those terms. She wanted to pretend that she didn't understand just why they were doing this, and in a way she didn't, but she also understood that they were just as nervous about what would happen during breakfast as she was. Even if whatever it was they were nervous about was different from what she was nervous about.

She was the last to arrive in their rather small party for breakfast.

The room was very quiet, as if everyone inside had been waiting for her to arrive before they continued living. It reminded her of one of the stories that she had borrowed from the bookkeeper in town. A story about a princess who had pricked her finger and fallen into an eternal sleep; some fairies had spread the eternal sleep throughout the small kingdom. It had been quiet for something like one hundred years before the silence had been broken and the kingdom and princess were awakened. This is what she thinks of when she enters the room that her father and her Beast and a few servants are in.

As if she had broken some kind of eternal spell just by walking into the room.

The smile she gives them is a small way of not having to laugh at the ridiculousness of that last thought. She's not in a story, after all; she's in real life. Just because her life happens to include a Beast that is more man and servants that are animated objects doesn't mean anything.

XXxxXX

"What possessed you to do such a thing?"

Chip had a hard time meeting his mother's eyes. Truth-be told, he hadn't really thought about what he was doing when he'd snuck into Belle's bag. All he'd been thinking about was that he couldn't let Belle leave them, even if he had to drag her back himself. He'd never seen anyone in the castle as happy as when Belle was with them.

"I just wanted her to come home."

"While your heart was in the right place, my dear, you should not have snuck off like that! I was worried sick!"

"But Mom, I came home all right."

Mrs. Potts pressed her lips into a think line and Chip knew that if they had been human, then his mother would have her hands balled up and on her hips. She'd probably spank him as well and then send him to his room. As they weren't human and his mother didn't have hands or arms, the most he'd get out of this would be a blistering lecture, time in his cupboard and extra chores.

He was probably the only person under the spell that was occasionally grateful for being under it.

XXxxXX

Lumiere continued to search for a cure long after night had fallen. He was unaware of Belle's return as he had managed to nap during the time when she'd returned and the uproar it had caused. He searched through the books as much as possible. There were those that he was unable to reach by simple virtue of the fact that his reach wasn't as good as it used to be. He didn't need to worry about it being light enough for him to read at least.

"There must be something here." He muttered to himself as he flipped carefully and yet fitfully through another tome. "We have books from all over and years in age. I know that there are books on magic in here, there has to be."

He hadn't found anything that they hadn't already known. He was losing patience and it was only his respect and loyalty to his master that stopped him from 'accidentally' singeing the pages of the books in front of him. His master had been, well, careful wasn't the right word for it, but he hadn't destroyed anything that wasn't fixable or replaceable. Books were not in that list and so had been ignored for the most part during their time under the curse. A few of the maids had dusted in the library now and then, but the majority of them weren't able to read more than a few words here or there.

Lumiere didn't have much hope for finding anything. Cogsworth had spent most of his down time, what little he'd allowed himself, looking through the books during the first few years of their curse. He hadn't found anything helpful and no one else had looked as far as the candlestick knew.

"Why did we give up? A little hope is better than despair, just because-"

"There you are!"

It was only because he managed to drop the book off the table shelf that he didn't set it on fire. He still wasn't sure why he didn't set any of the others on fire. On further reflection, he didn't set anything on fire because he had gotten to the point where he would drop the offending non-answer holding books off the edge to the floor below. It was a short drop, so the books weren't really damaged and very few people had wandered past the library both before and after Belle had left.

He cursed under his breath in French and turned to see who had interrupted his research.

"Mrs. Potts, is there something I can help you with?"

She frowned at him in disapproval, "There is no cause for language like that."

He nodded, sorrier that he'd been caught than anything. He was lucky that she didn't have any of the children with him; he'd have really been in for it then.

"I just wondered where you'd been these last few days," she continued, "I know it hasn't been easy since Miss Belle left, but I'd have thought that you'd be planning some kind of party, not sitting in a dusty library."

"Why would I be planning anything? It's not like anything we do will make a difference at this point. There's nothing to celebrate."

"Nothing to celebrate!" she chuckled, "How long have you been cooped up in here?"

He didn't answer, just looked down at the small cluster of books on the floor below the shelf he was on. "Long enough to create quite a mess." He tried to inject some humor in his voice, but failed.

"Then you don't know, do you?"

"Know what? That we're probably going to be locked away in these forms for the rest of our unnatural lives? That all hope is lost and there's nothing we can do about it?" he asked bitterly.

She blinked at him in slight shock before smiling gently, "Belle returned to us."

"What?" he breathed in disbelief.

"She came back to the master and she brought her father to meet him this time."

He continued to stare at her in silence.

She smiled joyfully, "There is still hope."

"How?" he croaked, "How can there still be hope for any of us? The rose is dead."

Her smile turned a tad sad, "I don't know, but I know that she came back for us and that she obviously loves the master and cares for all of us. That has to mean something, doesn't it?"

He frowned at her, but didn't say anything as he hopped down from the shelf he was on. He ignored the books on the floor as he followed Mrs. Potts out of the library. He'd be back after taking care of the dinner preparations with the maternal teapot. He wasn't done looking for a way out, even if things were looking a little brighter with the return of the lovely young woman who had captured their master's heart.