A/N- Hey. It was a bit of a bad day today at work. Therefore my mood affected my writing in a bad way. Please no flames, I feel bad enough for this fic already. Read and Review, thanks to my Beta Woubazoid, AWESOME FRIEND.
Disclaimer-I own nothing.
Her face was empty.
Throughout the whole service, through the eulogy, through the drive over to the grave yard. Even while they committed his body to the ground, she shed not a tear; not a noise from her. The only time she even moved was to lay a gilded rose on his golden oak coffin. A light breeze tugged her black skirt onto her legs, and pushed her veil into her face, getting it stuck in her lip gloss.
She didn't bother to brush it away.
Everyone began to disperse once he was in the ground. The grave digger began to push the dirt back onto the casket. She watched as the tiny pebbles bounced off the coffin, as the dirt gave a muffled thud on the wood.
Ruby slipped her arm around the other woman's weight. "Honey, we should go now." Her grandmother looked on, concerned for the petite brunette.
"No." Shifting slightly, she shrugged out of Ruby's grasp. It was the first word she had said all day. The grave digger had finished covering the coffin. She moved towards the headstone, and rested her hand on the rich slab of white marble.
"Granny, go on home," Ruby said softly. "I'll stick around and keep an eye on her." Pulling the cloak she wore off, the wolf rose, and rippled under her skin. Allowing the shift to overcome her, she trotted off to the edge of the woods that surrounded the graveyard, and lay down in the shade.
Back at the graveside, Granny reached over to the grieving woman. "When you need anything, let me know."
"Thank you." Turning, Granny began the trek back to her car.
Now that she was alone, she sank to the ground. She kept her right hand on the grave marker, and her left hand clenched into the loose dirt. She felt tiny stones working their way under her fingernails, felt the dirt get under the ring she wore on her left ring finger.
Looking from where the diamond sparkled on the dirt, to the golden name etched into the white marble. With her clean hand, she traced the letters one by one.
R-U-M-P-L-E-S-I-L-T-S-K-I-N
"It's not right," Belle whispered, her blue eyes filling with tears.
Because out of everything that could happen in Storybrooke, all the dangers they faced every day, it just didn't seem possible that something as simple as an infection could kill someone so ancient, someone with so much power.
She pulled the stiff chiffon veil off that she had worn for the funeral and draped it on the tombstone. Tears traced down her cheeks, unchecked. She could no longer hold back the emotion that had threatened for the whole funeral. It was only through sheer will power that she had managed to keep such a numb face.
Not caring about her hair, or her outfit, she stretched out alongside the grave, her left hand still clenching the dirt.
"I don't know where the nice man went Rumple." Her voice was low and cracking as she spoke to the ground. She split a broken smile. "If you go before I do," she quoted softly. "Gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two." She closed her eyes. "He forgot to dig mine."
At that, she lost control. Burying her face in her hands she sobbed. "Rumple I can't live without you. It hurts too much. There's a missing piece of me, and I can't... I can't go through losing you again."
The breeze ruffled her hair again, and on the wind she could almost hear him talking to her.
"Dearie, you can't give your life up for me. I was an old man; you have your whole life ahead of you."
'My life is nothing without you in it Rum.' She thought about the dress she had hanging in her closet. 'We didn't even make it to the wedding.'
Images of what that day would have been like filled her mind. Her dress was a mermaid style with a corset for the top, and strapless. It had been planned that Rumplestiltskin would have worn a white suit shot through with gold threads. Red roses would have been her bouquet and his boutonniere. The reception was going to be in the town square, under a huge tent.
None of that mattered now. He would never wait for her at the end of the aisle; he would never tell her how much he loved her again.
Closing her eyes, she snuggled into the soft fresh dirt. In the dark, it almost felt like she was holding him again.
The next morning came subtly. The wolf uncurled from under the pine tree, and huffed out a yawn. Warm breath met cold air in a puff of ice crystals. Shifting back into human form, she felt the stiffness of the cold in her muscles. This is why she hated shifting in the winter. And then she remembered why she had, and turned panicked to the grave site.
She hadn't meant to drift off. She had meant to wait until Belle slept so as to take her to safety. The other girl was lying still, so still. Ruby hurried to her friend's side.
Belle's skin was as cold as ice, and tinged blue. Her dark hair was painted white with the frost of the winter morning. And more importantly, more terrifying, was the absence of the white puff that should have been present with every breath.
Heart sinking, tears streaming, Ruby's fingers sought the pulse that she instinctively knew she wouldn't be present.
Belle was gone.
If you go before I do, tell the grave digger that he better dig two.