Imprisonment

Synopsis: After being rejected by Rumplestiltskin, Belle set out to see the world. Unfortunately, the Queen caught her first. Takes place between the time of her capture and the curse being activated. Belle x Huntsman friendship

AN: The idea for this story came many episodes ago, so I didn't include much of anything new. It is written in its entirety, and I will update the new chapter every week. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

What are the ways of getting over a broken heart? Well, there was drinking until the pain was forgotten; trying to start over with someone new; crying or doing everything in your power to get them back, or simply moving on.

Belle contemplated all of these as she sat by herself in the little pub, in an equally little town. This was not the town near the dark castle. After Rumplestiltskin told her to leave, Belle had walked for days, unaware of the passage of time or her own fatigue. All she could feel was the pain in her broken heart and dry eyes that she hadn't allowed to cry.

She had finally collapsed from exhaustion in this small, provincial, town, and someone had taken her to the local inn. When she woke up, at first she was terrified. She didn't know where she was, except that it wasn't her room at the dark castle. And then she had remembered. But she didn't cry; it had been his choice, his mistake, and she wasn't going to cry over him. But she didn't know what she was going to do now.

So she spent the next few days at the inn, helping out where she could, and spending the rest of her time sitting alone, often with a mug. She liked the work; it helped to take her mind off of things. And the drink helped to dull the pain sometimes. She had begun to think that maybe, just maybe, she could go back to a normal life when she had met the dwarf.

All eight of them had been sitting at a table, laughing and having a good time. All but one, who was staring off into the distance, looking dazed.

Eavesdropping slightly, she had listened in on his and another ones conversation. From the few minutes that she heard, she knew that the dwarf was in love, and he had it bad. She said as much when she butted into the conversation.

They had talked for just a few minutes. She was happy to see someone else so much in love (and oblivious to it), but at the same time it hurt a little. She had laughed at how he couldn't see an invitation that was right before his eyes. She advised him to go to the one he loved, because as she said, sometimes love didn't last forever.

The dwarf smiled and thanked her, and then he ran off to go find his love. Belle had smiled as he left, but the pain was stronger in her chest again. She leaned back and decided to not think about it, instead she was going to think about what she was going to do now.

A large part of her wanted to storm back to the castle and yell at Rumplestiltskin some more, maybe hit him, maybe even kiss him again. But her for the most part, hear head and heart were telling her to leave; to get away from her pain.

This is the situation that had led up to Belle thinking of ways to cure a broken heart. Unlike the dwarf, her love couldn't let himself want her. What was she supposed to do? After a while, she decided that the only thing she could do was to move on with her life. She didn't want to return home, to Gaston, where she would spend the rest of her life in one place. She wanted to travel and see the world. At least Rumplestiltskin had given her the freedom to do that.

So, Belle set out on her journey to see the world, even though she had no idea where to start. She set off down the road, opposite to the direction that she had come down just a few days before.

She had been walking for a few hours, and was now alone in the woods. Her head snapped around as she heard the sounds of a carriage coming from around a bend. She had a bad feeling about the noise, and was preparing to run if she needed to. And she did need to.

A black carriage rounded the corner, the carriage of the queen. Belle had heard a few whispered stories about the queen, none of them good. She wished she had known who the woman was the first time they had met. She also knew that the carriage appearing then, as it was now, was not a coincidence. The queen wanted something from her again, and this time it wouldn't be a chat.

Belle began to run as fast as she could. She darted into the cover of the trees, hoping uselessly that she could escape the queen. But she knew the powers of magic, had lived around it for months even, and knew that there was no real hope of escape.

Her fears were confirmed when the cold tree roots grabbed her feet, bringing her crashing onto the ground. The roots quickly squirmed up her body and tightened like ropes. The queen stood on a small hill looking down at her and laughing.

"Is that anyways to treat an old friend? I try to help you and you repay me by running away?" She asked with faked emotion. All Belle could do was glare. The queen smirked.

"With you being here, I suppose that means that you failed. It is a pity. It was such a brilliant plan, especially since you really are in love with him, though I don't see why." The queen mocked. "Oh well, I guess your usefulness is over." With a flick of her hand, the roots began to tighten, cutting off Belle's air. The queen watched with sadistic glee as Belle began to panic, struggling to breath.

Black dots began to swim in her vision. So much for seeing the world, she thought ruefully. As her vision faded to black, she thought she hear the Queen say something.

"Although, maybe you could still be useful to me."