"We're very sorry, dear. We loved her too." Mrs. Potts comforted the weeping child as he held onto the woman with a tight grip.
"It was not her time to go." A young man spoke with a heavy french accent as he sat with his legs crossed beside the child's bed as he cried onto the woman.
The young Prince has just lost his mother - His safety net - His heart. The young boy had everything he could ever dream of. He lived within a gigantic castle, he had around the clock servants attending to his every will. But when his mother passed, there was a nothing that could fill her place.
The young boy sat on his bed, leaning against his maid as he cried. The woman was always like a second mother to the boy. She attended his every need when his actual mother was busy with his father, the king. But little did Mrs. Potts know she'd be serving as that mother figure for years to come.
The child was in his sleep ware. No longer having to dress as elegant as he did during the day with wigs, heels, and powder. He had short brown hair, and bright blue eyes.
The young prince couldn't shake the image of his mother laying on the bed, still as a doll, and cold as ice as he kissed her goodbye one last time.
As a child, the boys family had dozens of servants. Each member of the royal family had their own individual staff member when it came to regular day to day needs. Mrs. Potts was not the princes personal servant, it was in fact another young boy. Who was only a few years older then the prince himself. His name was Lumiére, and he had come straight from the village to work within the castle walls. But he had no idea he'd be attending to a child's needs. But he wasn't going to risk the most honorable job one could get by complaining.
Little did the staff know, that as the sweet boy grew, his tendency, temper, attitude, and ways of running the kingdom slowly melted in the same ways as his father did before him. While getting raised by his father, the young prince was abused and tormented for not obeying orders or trying to change something his father had previously done. But he didn't know any better, for he was only a child. Whenever his father would lay a hand on him, or threaten him, and a servant happened to be nearby, they were not allowed to interfere. For they feared for their own lives. They had all learned a lesson one night when Maestro Cadenza defended the child after dinner when the king nearly hit the child with a vase. But when the Maestro stepped in, the king had no problem crushing the mans hand - and since then, no one ever tried to step in. They'd just have to listen to the crying from the distance. Which broke their hearts.
As the prince grew, he only became more and more like his father everyday. Not only in looks—but even his disrespect towards the staff had rubbed off on the boy as well.
As a young man, Adam, the prince, wanted only the biggest, most expensive things within his castle. So after the passing of his father, the young prince taxed the village to pieces, all to fill his castle with the best of the best of whatever money could buy. For the prince, happiness could be bought. He simply just had to snap his fingers....and it was there.
As the prince grew, so did the staff. As the boy grew into a man, he extended his line of servants, going from a few dozen, to a few hundred. But even as the staff grew, he had a few servants attend to his needs specifically while the others did other tasks, such as cook and clean.
The royal family paid hundreds for their servants. For example, the former king had chosen Mrs. Potts when she was newly married - due to her excellent baking skills, and after offering the royal family a pie, she was signed up as a cook right away. The Maestro Cadenza was bought from his family in Paris for nearly a thousand, due to his excellence at playing the harpsichord. Cogsworth had worked in the castle since he was a young man, having known the king from the war, which gave him the spot as 'head of the household'. Lumiére, on the other hand, didn't have a set of skills. He was just very charismatic. The young man had grown up in the village where both Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth were from, but his mother died when he was a child after delivering his three sisters; Claudette, Laurette, and Paulette. The boy was brought up in an abusive household, so when the king was willing to pay for him after Lumiére was able to fix the royal carriages broken axle, his father accepted without any second thoughts whatsoever. But, his new job did allow him to escape from the torment his father brought down upon him and his sisters.
Now being of age, the prince wasted no time in beginning to court. He made sure his staff only prepared the ballroom in the most beautiful way, and only allowed the most beautiful people to be in attendance.
The staff never minded the courting, thinking that maybe if he met a young woman, she'd change him for the better. Even though it was a lot of work to set up the ballroom for such an elegant event nearly monthly - due to the fact the prince would always tease and never picked any of the woman who so desperately wanted to be with him. The few minutes the staff got to watch the dancing take place, was nearly the only real break they ever had.
During one specific courting event, Lumiére had been standing relatively close to the dancers, and luckily too. For when he stood so close, a young woman of a dark completion had tripped over her long, heavy, gorgeous dress. Before she could smack onto the ground and cause a scene by throwing the other woman off, Lumiére was luckily right there, and caught the young woman. The second their eyes met, it was love.
Once she stopped courting all together, Plumette, the woman who had fallen over, generously took up the job as a maid within the castle, all to be closer to her love. Even if it meant having to wear a ridiculous outfit and heavy wig as she worked every single day - with no exceptions.
As months went by, the staff were on their toes, as Mrs. Potts had mentioned she needed to speak to the prince about something very important. Mrs. Potts had raised the prince from a small child, so she couldn't help but feel humiliated as her hands shook as she approached the man who sat in his chair at the end of the large dinning table.
Cogsworth, Lumiére, and Maestro Cadenza, all watched from the kitchens doorway with nervous expressions as they watched the woman approach the prince. These three men were very close with Mrs. Potts, mainly because they were a few of the first servants to work inside of the palace along side her in years previous. They knew she could handle whatever the prince threw her way. But after spending years together, they all couldn't help but feel like family. So they felt it was their job to watch over the woman as she took such a risk.
When the maid approached his seat, the prince inhaled deeply before adjusting himself so he sat straight up.
"How was dinner, Master?" Mrs. Potts spoke softly as she held her trembling hands behind her.
"Divine." The prince answered simply as he stared up at the woman, being able to /feel/ her nervousness roll off her.
"That's just lovely." She forced a smile and turned her shad slightly, glancing back at the three men who were so eagerly watching her every move.
After getting a small smile from each, Mrs. Potts turned her attention back to the prince. She inhaled before letting out a small sigh. She didn't know how to tell him. So she instead just said it the first way it came to mind;
"Master......as you know. I am wed...." she explained slowly as she noticed the princes expression tense up a bit at the mention of her husband, who lived down in the village. The prince hated the villagers. He may have saw his staff as inferior, but the villagers were so low on his scale that he barley had an opinion on them. But the fact that the woman who had raised him was married to a villager did mean he couldn't rant aloud about them as he usually did when she was near.
Whenever the prince would travel down to the village, she always went with him, all so she could visit her husband. The prince didn't like it. But he wanted her to be happy.
"Yes. I am aware." The prince dragged his finger around his wine glass as he listened to the woman speak ever so softly.
"Well.....Master....I just thought I should inform you that....well....I am with child. So I may be less attentive to your needs as I typically am." She spoked, but quickly regretted everything she had said when she saw the princes blue eyes widened.
The prince was silent for nearly a minute before speaking; "You bare a child?" He set his glass down and turned his full attention to the woman. "You're pregnant?" He asked, his voice hitching as he felt his temper rise.
Mrs. Potts forced herself to smile as she gave a small nod. "Yes....." she inhaled again as another smile formed, this time, a real one. "Yes I am." She spoke with more confidence.
"Who is the father?" The prince asked with a calm tone. To calm.
He could see the three men who stood in the doorway get struck with nerves when the question was asked through the corner of his eye. He knew she was married, but she hadn't been down in the village for weeks. So his thoughts did stray a bit - being that all of the rooms within the servants quarters were a bit close together.
He only waited a few seconds before slamming his fists down onto the table and standing up out of his seat.
"ANSWER ME." He raised his voice quickly towards Mrs. Potts. Before he could do anything, Lumiére had already ran over. His heels making loud impressions as he rushed to the woman's side, wrapping his arm around her.
"Beatrice. Mon amour, did you tell him?" Lumiére asked as he leaned to his side and kissed Mrs. Potts cheek.
He had good intentions, yes. But he completely forgot two very important things. The first being that Mrs. Potts was a Mrs. for a reason, and that he himself had just tied the knot of the sacred bond of marriage with his dear Plumette a month earlier.
Mrs, Potts, clearly shook by the mans sudden actions, stood still.
Cadenza and Cogsworth watched with wide eyes as Lumiére innocently kissed her cheek, but what the prince did next, was definitely expected.
"Lumiére." The prince started softly, but his temper soon shot up again. "I know for a fact you are not the father. For you are Plumette's." The prince snapped with a very irritated tone, which caused Lumiére to grasp Mrs. Potts arms softly and take a few steps back with her as the man raised his voice.
"Well. You see. Master—"
"I am the father!" Lumiére got cut off by Cadenza rushing over. But what the men kept forgetting - was that each one of them were married! Lumiére and Plumette, Maestro Cadenza shared his love with Madame de Garderobe, and Cogsworth - well, he had a wife who lived down in the village. But they were having their own problems when Cogsworth left to work in the palace.
The prince, clearly furious at their pathetic excuses, did begin to yell at his staff. But through his belittling, he noticed the Mrs. had begun to cry.
He lowered his arms and approached Mrs. Potts. with soft steps. The prince held onto the woman's one hand softly as she covered her mouth with the other as she continued to cry.
The three men watched the prince do this, and couldn't help but get a sick feeling as they watched. They now stood behind the prince, and wouldn't stop giving Mrs. Potts signals to not speak.
"Mrs. Potts....." Adam started softly as he placed his other hand onto the woman's cheek. He was a good actor, indeed. He threw the woman a fake smile, which sent a shiver down Cogsworth's spine. His fake smile resembled his father so much, it was sickening.
"Tell me who the real father is. I promise I will not raise my voice anymore if you simply just tell the truth." Adam spoke softly, convincing the woman it was safe to speak to him.
Mrs. Potts could feel her hands shake and her tears pour out of her eyes as the prince spoke to her. She knew his thoughts on her, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed to say the least.
She took once glance at the men who were sending signals for she not to speak before she indeed, did speak to the prince; "The father is my husband, Jean. He is the man I'd always go visit when I go with you down into the village." Mrs. Potts sobbing got louder as she pulled off of the mans grip on her hand, as well as her face.
"Beatrice, why would you—" Maestro Cadenza got cut off by the prince turning towards the three men, causing them all to stand at attention in pure fear.
As the prince stormed passed the men, he approached his chair, and out of anger, flipped it onto its side, unintentionally breaking it. The breaking of objects within the dinning room went on for a while before the prince finally smashed a wine bottle against the wall, and stormed out of the room as steam smoked from his head in fury.
The four servants stared at one another in silence while the man broke items around them. But whenever he passed one of them, they couldn't help but tense up - Cadenza especially. Ever since the former king had crushed his hand, he always kept his distance from the prince, in fear he'd do the same.
When the prince was gone, Mrs. Potts sobbing continued. Her face had turned red, as well as her eyes. The men had sat the woman down at the dinning table once they picked up one of the many chairs the prince had flipped, so she could sit.
As they picked the chair up, and brought it to its feet. Lumiére couldn't help but overhear Maestro Cadenza murmur under his breath;
"Well he didn't raise his voice."