Copyright infringement not intended.
Warnings: Spoilers.
A/N: My first OUAT fic; but that's no excuse. Ahhh.. I love Rumpelstiltskin/Belle, or Gold/Belle. It's so cute, but heart-breaking. It's the provoker of such a fic as this. Enjoy, loves. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way.
¤ Fool Me Once ¤
{ shame on you
- fool me twice,
shame on me. }
For an endless moment, hope overtakes him.
It's sickening and intoxicating, as heady as the finest wine. It burns in his veins, setting his thoughts alight; his heart, long cold and closed off, warms. He finds himself falling over himself, his eyes fluttering as he just tries to grasp what his old foe is saying.
"So she needs..." His tongue is too heavy and far too large for his mouth, dumbly sounding out the suddenly unfamiliar syllables. Hope, betraying, deceitful, lustful hope, clouds his mind. "A home?"
Could this be it - could he make up for his mistake and angry words by taking the poor woman in? Could this be his chance at a true happy ending, one without hatred and bitterness?
The Queen chuckles darkly; she's enjoying this, he knows. Toying with him and his feelings, pulling his strings and making him jerk like a helpless puppet. He shouldn't be giving her the satisfaction of a response, but...
He can't help it. He needs to know.
Her mouth curls into a sneer, her dark eyes bright with malevolency. "He was cruel to her," she drawls, humour dancing in her words. Slowly, she advances, her fingers curling around the teacup. "He locked her in a tower and sent in clerics to cleanse her soul, with scourges and flames," the Queen continues, her lips twisting.
She enjoys this far too much. Seeing his hope fall and flatten, his stomach give way as horror replaces oxygen and blood. She likes hurting him - it is a sport to her.
"After a while, she threw herself off the tower." She states nonchalantly, as indifferent as if they were talking of the weather and not ... Not Belle, whom had seemed too happy, too full of life, to do such a thing.
He wishes she would stop talking; he already knows where her story is going, but he cannot bear to hear the words spoken aloud. He wants to at least be able to dream of the dark-haired girl, alive and smiling, not broken and misshapen on the ground.
"She died."
Blank, numb stare - "You're lying."
She has to be. Belle would never end her life, no matter how horrible it had become. He knew - he had tried to make her life hell in the first few days she spent with him. She was too strong to break so easily.
"Am I?" The Queen taunts and arches a delicate brow, challenging him. She's always challenging him, always pushing and pulling and tugging and hurting him. But not anymore. He refuses to be lead on by her - by anyone - anymore.
She wanted a fight?
She would sure as hell get one. No one fools Rumpelstiltskin.
No one.
Ah, hullo?
So, how did you like it? :o
I have to say, at the beginning I quite liked it - but, it was essentially going to be a drabble...
It got a bit out of hand. Er. My bad.
Ah, anyways. Review, tell me how you thought. Even if it's, OMG this is shit. (But, preferably, don't flame.)
Depending on this one goes, I might do more for this fandom...
Er, yeah - until next time, babes!
Yr Alban.