A/N: Those plot bunnies. I swear they are stalking me and now they have taken ninja classes so I am screwed. Anyway, I've been thinking of this story for a long while. It's AU mostly, I suppose. The thought of what if Belle was Rumpel's slave in Storybrooke kinda stuck with me for a while.
~8~8~
Light cascaded grandly from the setting sun slowing sinking into the hazy western horizon. Warmth engulfed the main hall of the terrifying Dark Castle as dusky crimson luminance streamed serenely through the titanic windows of the main hall like a maidens colorful carnelian handkerchief waving through the air to bid the world ado until the morrow.
The golden orb of day was regally descending from its lofty aerie to nestle behind the jagged line of dark, frost capped peaks casting the vivid cobalt sky with streamers of violet and ruby and mystical purple painted in mulled hues upon the never ending firmament.
Misty blue vapors of flitting the thin mountain air and the colors of falling day relinquishing its hold to the cool night mingled breathtakingly in the expanse of crags and dizzying precipices upon the line of perilous mountain range safeguarding the citadel of her master behind its shield of sharpened stone and drifts of heavy snow all but impassable without the aid of magic or a stubborn, hardy will.
The world seemed quiet, and at peace like a child being put to bed; innocent and unsuspecting of the evil about to be doused upon its lush earth and spring boughs budding with greenery and flourishing life.
Belle stared at the glorious sun set solemnly as she rested upon the plush window seat in the main hall. It was her favorite spot to read when the master desired company whilst he sat at his spinner's wheel transmuting heaps of cheap, worthless straw into hoards of gold in quiet reverie of some inner turmoil constantly besetting him.
Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her chin rested upon her arms while her bright sapphire eyes dictated every inch of the land before her to memory. Silky chestnut hair caught the last flaxen rays of day, allowed the sleepy sun to dance in her thick tresses as if not ready to depart from its dominion upon the world.
Normally she adored witnessing the last radiance of the sun fall into its nightly repose and watching the stars blossom upon the satin night sky one by one, but today her heart was leaden with thick clouds of forlornness and regret.
In a few hours all she had ever known, everyone she had recalled from a life before selling herself to Rumpelstiltskin's would be transformed forever.
The evil queen, Regina, who fraternized regularly with her master, known throughout the realms as one of the most powerful wielders of magic, was enacting a curse to abduct them all from their world and spirit them to a land without magic.
With such a spell the entire world would change leaving everyone in an accursed state forever for all eternity.
Of course Rumpelstiltskin had played a hand in it.
She did not know the specifics of what he had wrought, only that he admitted to scheming with the witch and presenting the curse to the vile woman eager to decimate all happiness for her own gain.
When asked, her master refused to tell her what it was all about or why he had bestowed upon the malicious monarch such a terrible weapon. In his own whimsical, lackadaisical manner he would always tell her it was none of her concern, but as the days waned his normally light thoughtful demeanor had grown dour and dampened like a candle running out of wick and wax.
No longer was he the master who delighted engaging in jesting banter with a quip or two, or having an intellectual bandy of words with his brilliant slave. His mood was more contemplative and sagacious in the few days before the terror would pry their world asunder and place them in a foreign land.
For the three days prior, since she learned of his actions, or rather he had finally filled her in, Belle furiously dedicated herself to hopefully convince him to have a change of heart. She ranted and reasoned and pleaded with him to open up to her so that mayhap he would see exactly what his manipulation would bring to innocents and those who merely wanted to live their lives in peace.
But no, he remained staunch in his will to let things run in their dire, inevitable track for whatever reasons he kept tucked into the niches of his black soul leaving her to merely wonder and surmise what in the all the realms was his goal in allowing such disaster to occur. In the few months she had known him, she learned perceptively nothing he did was without reason. There was always a hidden agenda. The only question was, what particular agenda was he aiming for.
"Belle." Rumpelstiltskin's voice broke the tranquil plaintive air as he appeared in the Main Hall in a puff of purple clouds making her abandon her depressed and blazingly curious contemplations.
The lovely beauty did not turn to face her master, the Dark One, but let her bright cobalt orbs soak in the last sun set of their world. From the very corner of her eyes she could see his gangly refection in the translucent pane staring at her softly. An indistinguishable murmur insipidly passed her pink lips in dour reply.
The Dark One stood near the large oaken table in the epicenter of the grandiose room awkwardly as though he did not belong in her presence. Ever since he had purchased her in return for her peoples lives and safety, he felt slightly nervous around her as though she were a dangerous animal that could bite at any given time.
At the very last moments before the storm hit, he decided to come down finally and be with her when the magic struck. All the pieces were in place to his liking leaving now only the expectant waiting for their world to become nothing more than a distant memory in an ancient mind.
Drumming his dexterous talons lightly upon the wood, the magical monster licked his lips once to buy time on what he desired to speak. In the scant time he had bought Belle and lived with her, she had never been so saddened. Not even her first night in the pitch black dungeon. He did not like it seeing her so glum and solemn. No, he would rather she smiled and talked and been normal Belle that made him feel not so lonely.
Clearing his throat, he tried to don the nonchalant mantle of his normal carefree attitude. But with the knowledge of what was to befall them all in the coming hours or perhaps minutes, the noble attempt failed leaving only the dangerous air which crackled about him akin to lightening dancing upon the thick clouds.
Easing down into his normal, leather chair he sighed almost regretfully. His scaled, sharp nailed fingertips pressed together in a sort of triangular fashion as his glassy midnight eyes scanned her intriguingly. Life in the new world would not be all bad, yet still he knew she abhorred the fate of being snatched away from their true home.
"Things will be very different in this new land." The magical monster stated abruptly, his usually trilling timbre low and contemplative. Leaning back rigidly he narrowed his icy ebony gaze as though peering past her to some life beyond and the future events to take place. "I will not look the same as I do here. In fact I do not know what we all may look like. You, I, and Regina will retain our memories of this land, but no one else, I think; at least no one else with no type of magic and no threat to us." A muscle twitched slightly in his jaw at her uncaring of the proclamation.
After her begging and pleading and trying to reason with him not to allot the witch the curse to ferry them all into a new realm simply for vengeances sakes she had finally calmed on the last day and relinquished her reasoning for his to stop such madness. Now she seemed gravely resigned like those who knew deaths skeleton grip was near to snatching their souls into the realms of eternal twilight and let it molest them without protest.
He flinched at the silence floating about them, but hid it behind a sharp, steely glare.
Dabbing his dry lips with an even dryer tongue once more, he forced himself to continue and not be daunted by her quiet acceptance, nor the guilt welling in his corrupted heart. Pity washed over him for his diligent slave. He couldn't really blame her for being upset. Not only had he taken her into a life of thralldom away from her father, and her fiancé, he was now spiriting her away to a world where a handful would know the truth.
"Your father will be there. He will be alive and safe and have means for a life and a steady living." Rumpelstiltskin added quietly trying to assuage her melancholy and perhaps bring a smile to her features with the little bit of assurance to placate her.
She hadn't smiled for the last three days since she learned of his plot and what he had given Regina. A part of him feared she would never bestow that lovely grin that made his day just a little brighter ever again.
At that, the dutiful servant swiveled her head away from the view of the jagged peaks shadowed softly with mulled twilight growing steadier ever moment to sprawl in a blanket of ebony upon the unsuspecting world. A ghost of a smile briefly dashed upon her lips before falling away quicker than it had come.
"Thank you." She replied gratefully with a faint incline of her head before turning back to drink in the last image she would have of home.
It would have been a magnanimously glorious instance to view the very last golden rays retreating behind the perilous peaks, only she was met with the darkness of her master's powerful curse speeding towards them.
In favor of the lovely sun set, dark purple clouds crawled over the rambling mountains with a dark sickly air. Instantly the sky turned from its startling blue to a leaden lilac hue blotting out the firmament with its vile, curdled vapors.
A sound like close thunder, or a rabid wolf snarling, growled out from the lofty heavens as the malignant miasma of purple tumbled down the mountains akin to liquid from an over boiling witches cauldron running down its stone sides.
The sun was swallowed up in the thick mist of lavender and the mountains, once so grand and tall and magnificent beacons of the world, swathed with danger and mystery, were enveloped and vanished in the cowl of repugnant plum tint never to be seen again. It was as though the breath of death itself was misting the world.
To Belle it seemed like the shroud of purple apprehended all hope from the depths of her heart; banishing it like they to were about to be banished from their lands for all eternity.
Scrambling frantically from the window seat, the frightened beauty slowly backed away from the monolithic panes and the horrible storm headed straight for the mottled gray stone of the Dark Castle. Even the cold granite trembled at its coming, making the ominous palace seem like a peasant's unsteady hovel in the wake of a gale.
Fire flickered crazily in their sconces and tongues of flame bickered and guttered nervously as though the very elements themselves could feel the change and the magic stealing over every inch of the world.
Unable to pry her mist blue eyes away from the evil drawing closer, ever closer, to drown them in its waves of unadulterated malice, she fought the panic bubbling inside her with every last shred of will still retained in her agonizingly small form. Even a giant would be uneasy to see such a tsunami of magic barreling towards them.
The burgundy curtains whipped like banners upon the storms air, and little stalks of wheat colored straw left over near his ancient spinners wheel tumbled away into cleaned corners. It seemed as though the entire world was not only being eaten by the gluttonous power, but being blown away as well.
She only stopped backing away when she ran into the wiry form of the Dark One. The magical monster now stood behind her gazing with a sinisterly proud glint in his bottomless, voided ebony orbs. He stood stoically and unmoving like a jutting pinnacle in a raging sea, keeping her from being taken away by the wind.
Straggly brown hair fluttered with the noxious winds of magic giving him a beastly appearance as he stared manically at the purple undulating clouds hurtling their way.
His dexterous claws wrapped over her upper arm firmly, keeping her in place as they both watched with wide eyes the magic rushing over the land and ravenously swallowing everything in its all consuming path.
There were always legends of how the realms would be ended whispered to frighten children or warnings for the elder generations. Stories of wrathful deities clashing against the realms, nature turning violent and the world being drowned by fire and earth quakes and gaping chasms swallowing the earth.
Ironically, with the last scant cognitive comprehension she still retained in her numbed mind, she had the best view of their end charging upon them.
Magic wafted heavily through the air akin to acrid smoke that forced itself down the beauty's throat clogging her lungs and pulling at the very intangible fibers of her soul. The eerie feel of spider webs just barely skimming across her flesh made shivers uncontrollably tromp up and down her spine as the Dark One gripped her close, almost protectively, to shield her from any ill harm.
Her heart thudded uncontrollably against her chest as the end crawled nearer and nearer. Blood raced rapidly through her veins, making her head swim and stomach roil in anxiousness and fear. In some ways, despite despising what he had done to bring forth such a curse, she was thankful that he was so near; keeping her safe in his owning grasp. At least being his to own, she could assure herself no harm would befall her wherever they were to dwell and dub home. Rumpelstiltskin never let anything terrible happen to his property of course.
Hot breath whispered viciously against her ear as his final words in their true home drifted possessively into her mind and soul. Though the wind wailed and screamed like specters in their ghastly shrieks bellowing deafeningly about them, she could comprehend every low murmured word from his lips that were quirked in a devious, feral grin. "Remember, Belle, while this is a new land our deal is not terminated. I will not have magic but I will still possess you. Never forget, you belong to me now and forever."
Even as the last word hissed from his thin gray lips the power of the magical storm hit them with all its corrupted fury. Glass shattered about them as the world became nothing more than an undulating mass off eternal blackness in a bottomless gorge. She tried to clutch at her master, as an anchor, but only swatted at heavy layers of magic wafting through the air.
Terrified, Belle wrenched open her mouth to scream at the sheer deluge of power dousing her form and ripping her away, but only inhaled thick darkness as her world tumbled into nothingness…
~8~8~
The russet haired beauty groaned groggily as she awakened with warm morning sun obliquely slipping through closed light blue curtains shining upon her porcelain features. She felt the firmness of a comfortable mattress under her slightly aching form, but how had she arrived there, and why had Rumpelstiltskin opted to allot her a bed and not a pile of hay on a dungeon floor?
The annals of her mind lay obfuscate and vaugly veiled as though sheer, gauzy silk was covering it, or cobwebs had layered over old memories like dust upon an attic chest. She knew what they were, but there was vast new information thronging in her mind as well as overlapping the old thoughts or combining them in some joint recognition.
She knew her name was Belle, but if someone called her Annabelle or Anna it felt natural to reply to that as well. Her papa's noble moniker was Maurice, yet if she wrote a letter it would be penned to Moe.
Somewhere in her room, or so her mind told her, an alarm clock buzzed incessantly to let her know it was time to get up. Part of her knew precisely what an alarm clock was, and yet the other half was intrigued and mildly confused at such a contraption that was akin to a great grandfather clock like there had been in the Dark Castle.
Lines wrinkled her furrowed brow as she sat up upon her elbows and eased open her azure eyes to look upon a whole new world that she knew of thoroughly, but also knew was not her own.