Chapter 1

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A/N: Thanks for reading on! Make sure you let me know what you think. Also: This chapter takes place immediately after the curse has been placed. (Many thanks to @batbobsession on Tumblr for letting me use this!)
Anyways.... ONWARD!
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When the foggy darkness finally cleared from Mrs. Potts' eyes, she finds herself back in the kitchen, nearly eye level with the cooking table. The panic she felt nearly moments ago is still there, but muted, not so tangible as it was before. After blinking slowly, she tries to get to her feet, only to find that she is already standing, or at least upright. When has she ever slept standing up? Well, that's embarrassing. But, where is everyone? More importantly, where is Chip?
The thought of her son not being in her line of vision brings panic to her mind. She needs to find him, make sure he's safe, at her side, but she finds that she can't move as easily as she used to. It's all she can do to keep from falling over after attempting to take a stride forward. Not only that, but she feels  different; fragile, cold, hollow. Missing something, missing everything that makes her feel human.... makes her feel anything at all. She can't even turn her head for God's sake; what had happened? What did that witch do? To her? To everyone? To Adam-?

that poor boy, he must be suffering

Just then, the doors to the kitchen fly open, and in walks the strangest thing that she's ever seen: a coat rack. It's tall and gilded black, with the occasional golden pattern gilded here and there. She's suprised; last time she checked, coat racks didn't walk, much less  move around. But then she notices something about the way that it moves: tall, straight, stiff, and quick, like it doesn't want to be noticed, but has someplace important to be. Mrs. Potts had seen that same way of walking before...

The coat rack turns around slightly as it almost walks past her. When it does, Mrs. Potts catches a golden design at the top of it that slightly resembles a face and a wig.

Wait a minute.

"Chapeau?" She calls out tenatively. "Is that you?"
The coat rack stops and turns around, catching sight of Mrs. Potts as he looks down.

"Mrs. Potts?" His quiet voice is unmistakable, it is him.

"Yes, it's me.", Mrs. Potts replies, wondering if she's as unrecognizable as he is. "What..... do you know what happened?"

Chapeau does not answer, he only gives her a lost, sad look. He is not a man of many words, but he can convey what he needs to when the time is right. Even after whatever the witch has done to them.

"Have you seen anyone else?" she asks. "We need to find them so that we can figure this out."

Chapeau nods and walks around behind her. She can feel herself moving forward, so she wrenches herself around, only to find that she's on a cart. The very same cart that she used to serve the Master his tea every morning, and Chapeau is pushing it. And it's so big now...

What has she done to them?

As they reenter the halls of the castle, there is not a single human being in sight, only things that are moving that shouldn't be. As the cries of servants she knew echoed around her, Mrs. Potts realizes that everyone has been turned into some type of household object. Which means that Chip could be anywhere in the castle, and she would not be able to recognize him unless he directly spoke to her. Not being able to recognize your own son..... a terrifying thought.

"Has anyone seen Chip?!" she calls, desperately trying to be heard over the wails of the other staff. "Where's my son?! He's probably all alone somewhere, please-!"

"Mrs. Potts!"

She turns around. "Yes, who is it?"

"Mrs. Potts, down here!"

At last, Mrs. Potts manages to look down, and sees a white feather duster with an ornately carved birdlike handle, the voice of Plumette emmiting from its beak. She looks up at Mrs. Potts with small, beady red eyes that are scared, horrified.

After Chapeau has set Plumette on the cart next to her, Mrs. Potts asks her if she had run into anyone else.

Only one other, she responds. Cogsworth's a mantle clock now, and he's still trying to be head of the household, not faring well amidst all of the chaos.

The doors to the ballroom suddenly fly open, and out runs a cushioned bench, yipping playfully. Numerous objects - servants - dive out of the way as it rushes through the halls, the bench sniffing, stopping, then going in another direction.

"It's the maestro's dog, the one that watched them while they were performing," Plumette says.

The maesto..... Mrs. Potts feels a pang of regret for not being able to warn them in time. Now he, the madame, and their pet are as much a part of this as they are.

Chapeau pushes the cart toward the ballroom, seemingly sensing what she wants without her saying it. She nods. They were all in this together now.

The ballroom is a bit less crowded than the corridor, but crowded nonetheless. Many of the servants seem to have her idea - getting out of the way of the others outside - but there are some, like the harpsichord in the center of the room, that were still confused and panicked. A cacophony of sound emits from him as he asks, flustered, what's going on: at one point they sound like a music piece, then they're cut off and replaced by a mix of frantic French and Italian, then to a discordant scramble of notes that have no relation whatsoever. Mrs. Potts can hardly understand him, but his repeated cries of amore, mio amore tells her enough.

Suddenly a flash of.... blue? crosses Mrs. Potts' vision and flies toward the harpsichord.
"Calmez-vous! Calmez-vous! Maestro, calmez! Calmez....," She says, hovering over the Maestro.

Mrs. Potts recognizes her voice.
"Fantasia?" She turns her head at the sound of her name being called.

"Mrs.- Mrs. Potts! Hold on I'll be right there..." Fantasia flits around for a second, looking for someone. Suddenly, she darts towards the ground, and Mrs. Potts hears her grunt as she lifts something- no, someone.

"Maman!"
Mrs. Potts is alert at once; this is a voice she knows well, it's Chip!
"Chip! Where are you?"
He soon appears, being lifted by Fantasia, but he isn't the boy she remembers. He's a teacup, with his face painted with gold, and she notices his rim is a bit chipped near the handle.
Chipped.
Fantasia puts him on the cart and he immediately sides up to her in an attempt to hug her, but he doesn't have any hands, and she can't even feel her beside him. He's so close, yet so far away...
"Are you okay?," Fantasia asks everyone.
"Well, not really, but what happened to you?"

L'Amour  (Lumiere X OC) ~2017 Beauty and the Beast~Where stories live. Discover now