Title: The Heart Knows
Author: Jasmine Shigeru
Pairing: Belle/Rumpelstiltskin
Summary: Belle's life before and during her stay at the Dark Castle.
AN: This is a retelling of Season 1.
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time nor do I wish I do. This is just for my entertainment and whoever wishes to read it. I am not making any profit from this and do not care for that matter.
Rating: T
The Heart Knows
By: Jasmine Shigeru
Chapter One: Once Upon a Time…
As I write this down, I am in a large castle, in the bedchamber I share with my true love. I am parted from my family and friends. Though I came to live in this castle as the price for a deal, I am unbelievably happy with my life as it is. My life used to be so different. I had my mother and my father. I was a princess of a small kingdom.
Back in Avonlea, people thought I was an odd girl. I was never the kind of princess who dreamt of a grand wedding and a handsome knight, nobleman, or prince to marry. I valued education over pretty dresses. I was always reading my books and no one understood why a girl would spend most of her time with a head buried in a book. But they did not have to understand, I loved to read and did not care what other people thought. I absorbed the material like a sponge. I learned different languages and excelled at research. I was proud of my knowledge and so were my parents.
I was very smart, I was also lonely. I had little friends. Most children did not want to be near the brainy girl, even if she were royalty. My mother encouraged my education. She often sat with me while we read. She always discussed the books with me. My father taught me how to ride. He gave me my horse, Philippe. He taught me all I needed to know about horses.
I was also the girl who put high standards upon my family and the few friends I had. This prevented me from making and keeping friends. They could never do any wrong. Not that I saw past their wrongs, no, it was because I had the habit of lecturing them on their poor choices. In the end, I would leave no give for any choice I viewed as wrong.
When I was a child, I hated being alone. I wanted to have someone my own age to spend time with. A few friends came and went. My first friend was a servant boy. His name was Frankie. He liked when my mother read to us. We were always acting out the stories together. He died when a harsh winter storm came and he fell ill.
My next friends were twins, Caroline and Coraline. They were cruel and troublemakers that got me in trouble constantly. They were the children of a noblewoman, Lady Camilla that my family visited during the summer. We would loosen inkwell caps, hide quills, track mud through the castle, push over suits of armor, tease poorer children (I always hated that), and go swimming in the nude. I always felt guilty and never understood why I ever listened to them. It was when I nearly drowned in a river near their home was when my parents decided never to associate with that woman or her children again.
My last childhood friend was a sweet girl named Celeste. She was quiet and loved horses just as much as I did. We were like sisters. We were close friends. We dreaded the day she would have to marry a duke twice her age she was promised to and move to one province away from the castle town. When I was a teenager I was just as alone but Celeste and I did not care. I was happy with my books, Celeste, and my parents. Even when she married, Celeste and I always made sure to write to one another.
When I was a bit older, my lovely life began to look a little less lovely. My father and mother thought it was good for me to start meeting suitors. They were making plans for me to marry. I was not ready to marry. I wanted to see the world, travel, go on adventures. Marriage would ruin everything. But I was of marrying age and my father made clear that I would have to pick a suitor. I was granted one gift that most girls were not granted, the power to accept or deny my suitor.
Since it was my choice, I refused every man who called. I was not going to marry anyone who could not love me or I could not love in return. I wanted someone who could respect me, my opinion, and my intelligence. So, many of the suitors came and went because they did not meet my standards. They all seemed to not except me for one reason or another.
One, Henri Demont, a young duke, did not like that I read. He saw no point in a book without pictures. Another, Jacques Veritas, did not like I understand many languages. The third, Richard Mormont, did not like that I refused to just be his breed mare. Colin Danvers, wanted me to be a prize on his arm. This went on for years. My parents and our kingdom were patient with me.
For a few years, our kingdom had been at odds with the ogres. The ogres would sometimes cross our borders, but nothing more serious. Still, my father was constantly worried that there would be a war like there had been many generations before.
It was in my twenty-fifth year that my life changed forever. It was that year I gained and lost a fiancé, lost my mother, I had my first adventure, I gave up my freedom, and willing gave my heart.
I am Princes Belle of Avonlea and when I was twenty-five, I fell in love.
END OF CH. 1