Phantasm Deliverance

Divergence II

Lumière had come to like bathing.

In her previous life, she was subjected to lukewarm sponge baths a few times a week, but in her new life, she had a giant marble bath and was attended to by three beautiful maids.

Lumière was never shy about nudity. She had to be physically taken care of during bad patches. Dignity abandoned her the first time she needed a sponge bath because her colostomy bag popped during a seizure. Strangers came and went in her life, all of them dispassionately taking care of her near-skeletal body.

Her new body wasn't wasted away. It was soft and squishy. She had breasts (which she found funny to see jiggle because the physics didn't consistently work on them and she had no idea why) and even a butt. Her skin was smooth without any stress wrinkles or scars from IV ports.

She had a really nice body. She liked it a lot. She finally felt like she fit a beauty standard that was previously unobtainable.

That confidence in her body, coupled with her indifference to being seen nude, meant that she was wholly unbothered when the maids offered to help with her bathing.

In fact, Lumière enthusiastically agreed to it. She never had hair or wings before, she didn't really know how to take care of either. The maids said they could, and so nightly baths became a part of her routine.

After dinner, Lumière and three maids would head to her bathroom.

It was a huge room. The white marble bath was big enough to fit a couple of dragons, complete with a quiet waterfall along the far back wall. Underneath the waterfall was seating arrangements, and all along the edges of the bathroom was a smooth marble bench. It was absurdly immaculate. Not surprising since Ankoro Mocchi Mochi designed it and she loved luxury.

Lumière would strip and waddle her way into the bath until the water covered her hips and wings. The room was kept steamy enough that outside the water she wouldn't be cold.

The maids would join her, each stripping down. They were always lovely to look at. Although the maids that served her were on rotation, every homunculus maid in Nazarick seemed to know exactly what to do to preen her wings and help her bath.

They would use soft sponges to wipe her body down, and pretty combs to brush out her hair. With their fingers, they would delicately pluck any loose feathers from her wings, and then they would gently rinse her down.

When it was done, Lumière would sit on one of the benches as they continued to pamper her. One would massage her scalp, another would work on her calves, and the third would rub her hands.

It was bliss.

At the end of the bath, they would dry her off and help her change into a nightgown.

By the time she finished her bath, Lumière would be so warm and fuzzy-feeling, she'd always feel sleepy.

That was where Jack would come in. As soon as Lumière stepped out of the bathroom, he was there to help her to bed. He would lovingly tuck her—and Cheshire since the fairy slept with her—into bed and he would sing her a lullaby until she slept.

Recently, since Lumière had kissed him, he would kiss her goodnight.

That was how Lumière had spent all of her nights since waking up in her new body.

That night was a little different.

The maids had only finished rinsing her of the floral-smelling suds when Cheshire teleported above her. "My dearest lady, Shalltear wants to speak to you."

"Right now?" Lumière's eyes widened. "If she's okay with that, then sure."

Cheshire disappeared without a sound. Scarcely a minute later, Shalltear stepped into the bathroom. The true vampire walked delicately into the steamy room, eyes wandering until she saw Lumière. Shalltear inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh scents of the angel bathing.