My Candle in the Darkness ~ A Beauty and the Beast fanfiction

Chapter IX

"He asked you for a dance?" I asked Belle, my eyes widening.

"Yeah," she said. "I was cleaning up the ballroom and he told me that everything looked so beautiful and that he and I should have a dance tonight."

"That is amazing!" I said, twirling around.

It had been three days since Lumière and I confessed our feelings and we couldn't stay away from each other for longer than an hour - to everyone's annoyance. They would all groan if Lumière used another of his cheesy pickup lines on me and I would laugh.

"Do you think?" Belle asked. "He didn't look very happy when I said yes."

"That's probably because he didn't think you would agree with it," I told her. "Now, we have to make you look perfect for tonight. Madame De Garderobe!"

"On it," Madame De Garderobe said and started searching around in her drawers, Froufrou helping her.

I wasn't of much use when Belle put on the dress Madame De Garderobe had picked for her, so I was just there for mental support.

"Oh, beautiful!" Madame De Garderobe said when she was finished. Belle twirled around in the most gorgeous yellow dress I had ever seen.

"It really is eye-shattering," I told her.

"But something is missing," Madame De Garderobe said. "Oh yes - the finishing touch!" She raised her arms and the gold on Belle's bed posts started to fall off, floating through the air. It formed dozens of golden flowers and floated down, sticking to Belle's dress.

Belle and the Beast met at the top of the stairs to the ballroom. They smiled at each other and started walking towards each other, down the stairs. I grinned at Lumière, who was walking next to the Beast with Cogsworth, Plumette, Chip and Mrs. Potts. We walked towards Maestro Cadenza, who was playing a lovely tune and climbed on top of his frame while Mrs. Potts and Chip rolled their table next to him.

"Tale as old as time," Mrs. Potts started singing and Belle and the Beast walked onto the dance floor together. "True as it can be. Barely even friends. Then somebody bends, unexpectedly. Just a little change - small, to say the least. Both a little scared, neither one prepared - Beauty and the Beast."

Belle made a curtsy and I proudly noted that I had taught her how to do that. The Beast bowed to her and Belle reached out her hands. The Beast grabbed them and they started dancing.

"Ever just the same," Mrs. Potts continued to sing. "Ever a surprise. Ever as before. Ever just as sure as the sun will rise."

"Come, Lumière, let's dance," I said, grabbing Lumière's wrists. He laughed and we jumped off the Maestro, stepping on the dance floor. Lumière grabbed my hand and my waist and I put my other hand on his shoulder. We started to twirl around and for the first time in a while, I felt completely free.

"Tale as old as time, tune as old as song."

Lumière spun me around.

"Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change - learning you were wrong."

Lumière put his hands on the back of my neck and my back and I put my hands around his neck as we imitated Belle and the Beast. Lumière made me lean backwards, preventing me from falling on the ground by holding me close to him. I stuck out one my arms gracefully and could almost touch the floor with my hand. Lumière pulled me up again and grabbed my waist, lifting me in the air and spinning me around. He seemed to have no problems with it, since I was as light as a feather. Literally.

"Certain as the sun, rising in the east. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme - Beauty and the Beast."

Lumière and I spun around slowly, holding each other close. I had completely forgotten about the rest of the world. There was only me and him, holding onto each other as we danced away all of our worries and problems.