Beauty and the Beast

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen:

Lumiere held Cecile as she quietly cried into his chest. His hand carressed her light brown hair that was blowing softly in the breeze. His eyes, however, were focused on the other brunette who was falling apart at her very seams a few feet away.

Isabelle was rocking back and forth, cradling Adam's upper body in her small arms. Lumiere couldn't exactly make out what she was whispering but it seemed that she was repeating it over and over again.

"Shhh," he said to Cecile and she wrapped her arms more securely around him and continued crying.

Cogsworth was on the ground as well, silent tears streaming down his face. The man who killed his Master lay dead a few feet from him.

"Cogsworth?" Lumiere called to his friend. Cogsworth looked up to him, the torture and pain they were all going through very apparently in his eyes and expression.

"Yes?" he called back weakly.

"I think it might be a good idea to call the authorities, and a doctor," Lumiere said, fighting back the emotion in his own voice.

Cogsworth nodded and stood up slowly, "I'll go find a place where I can use a phone."

Lumiere nodded and his attention was drawn back to Isabelle, who had quieted some. 

"Lumiere!" Isabelle called for him, her voice remarkably clear. Lumiere stepped out of Cecile's embrace but laced his fingers with hers. Both of them approached Isabelle and Adam's body. 

"What is it, Izabelle?" Cecile asked with a thick voice. She wiped a few tears away as they both knelt down beside her.

"Dear God," Lumiere whispered as he reached out and grabbed Adam's hand. It was retracting before his very eyes into a normal sized hand. He looked up at Adam's lifeless face and the same thing seemed to be happening. 

"What's going on?" Isabelle whispered. Hope swelled within her chest, but she would not give in. She kept her arms around him, but when the fur completely disappeared from his face she carressed the side of his face with one of her hands. "What's happening to you?" 

Cecile gasped as she watched his hunched back shrink and straighten. She reached out toward Adam's face but but Isabelle tensed and pulled him a bit away from her. "Izabelle," she said softly, "I was going to check to see if he has a pulse. That ez all."

Isabelle hesitantly relaxed and allowed Cecile to check for a pulse in Adam's neck. 

Lumiere wanted to move to the other side of Adam to inspect the rest of his body but Cecile snapped, "Stop moving! If he has a pulse it ez probably very faint and I can't tell if I have you moving around all over creation, Lumiere!" 

Lumiere froze and perhaps under other circumstances Isabelle and he would have shared a quiet laugh. Instead Isabelle's eyes went back and forth between Cecile's face and her fingers pressing on Adam's neck. She felt Lumiere apply pressure to Adam's fatal wound, and silently hoped. 

Cecile's expression remained concerned and slightly confused but she eventually said, "I would do this myself Izabelle, but I can see you would probably not let him go for a few moments?"

Isabelle shook her head with a frown. "I can do whatever you think is necessary but I'm not letting him go."

Cecile nodded, "I need you to lean down and see if you can feel breath from his mouth or from his nose. His mouth would probably be the best place."

Isabelle looked down into Adam's handsome face and gently manuvered his jaw so that his mouth was slightly open. Isabelle then brought her cheek to the opening of his mouth.