A/N: Okay, so here comes my first full-length Rumbelle fics. The one-shots went over well so hopefully I can pull this off. Would love any and all opinions by way of reviewage please - it really helps me! With thanks to my wonderful OUAT beta, Holly :)

(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the creators of Once Upon A Time and/or Brother Grimm and/or Disney - basically, they don't belong to me!)

Chapter 1

Belle wasn't sure where she was going. For days she had been wandering almost aimlessly and seeking shelter wherever she could find it. Her head told her plainly she should head back to her own kingdom, back to the safety of her father's castle. That was the general direction in which she was headed, she realised. She knew she would be perfectly safe since the ogres would leave their village alone, that was the deal. Unfortunately, it was not enough to sway her decision entirely and convince her that the castle she left months ago was really the home she belonged in.

Thoughts of the deal that took her away pulled at her heart strings now, the heart that wanted her desperately to turn around. The Dark Castle wanted to draw her back, but as encouraged as Belle was by her feelings of love for Rumpelstiltskin, she was sure any attempt she made to reconcile with him would end badly.

Poor Rumpel was so very stubborn, tried to be so very angry at her. Belle could not, would not believe that what he said was true. He did love her, only True Love's Kiss could break such a curse as that which had turned a good man into a strange creature as he was. Inside he had the heart and mind of a human male, and Belle was sure he did love her, body and soul. Getting him to admit such a thing had proved pointless, and trying was as cruel to herself as to him, she had decided.

It was not that Belle had given up on love entirely. She believed that for others happiness in romance and companionship could be found. She had said as much to a dwarf she had befriended at a nearby tavern. They called him Dreamy, and she tried to encourage him to follow his latest dream and meet with the woman he loved. Whether or not they could be happy together, nobody would know, but the least people could do was try. Belle had tried her best with dear Rumpel, and he would have none of her affection. Her own love was doomed apparently, but still she hoped others would be more lucky.

Coming over the next hill, Belle was admiring the view a moment, wondering where she should go next, when she heard what sounded like crying. With a frown, she looked left and right, and only then realised the sound was coming from above.

"Oh," she said with surprise as she spotted the fairy sobbing into her hands. "Are you alright up there?" she called up to her, knowing the question was a little pointless given the way she was crying, but not sure what else to say.

"No!" the fairy shouted back. "Leave me alone!"

Belle was quite taken aback, but apologised quickly and made to walk away before she caused further offence. Almost immediately she heard a further shout and then turned to watch the pink-clad fairy flutter down none too gracefully to land beside her.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I shouldn't be so rude, I just... I don't know what to do".

She began crying again, and Belle felt quite heart-broken for her. The young woman had done her own share of sobbing into her hands these past couple of days, and it had done her no good at all. She had no-one to turn to with her own problems, but was determined this poor creature would not suffer the same fate.

"Perhaps if you told me what's happened?" she suggested, putting a hand to her shoulder in a gesture of comfort and friendship. "A problem shared is a problem halved, so they say".

"Maybe," the fairy sniffed. "Though I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, especially human strangers," she noted with some alarm at her mistake.

"Well, my name is Belle," the young woman smiled kindly. "You know, if you tell me your name too, then we won't be strangers anymore".

The fairy smiled at the suggestion and nodded her head.

"Nova," she said then. "My name is Nova," she added, still sniffling somewhat from all her crying.

"Come, sit down, Nova, and tell me your troubles," Belle encouraged her, taking a seeat on the hill and patting the grass beside her. "I'm sure they can't be so very bad".

Nova huffed at the suggestion as she sat down with a bump next to her new friend.

"Have you ever been in love with someone who refuses to be with you?" she asked grumpily.

Belle was of a mind to laugh at such a question, and yet there was hardly humour in either of their situations.

"Funny you should ask that," she noted, watching Nova turn wide eyes upon her.

It would seem they were both involved with stubborn males that had left them with damaged hearts and tears enough to cry, though Belle suspected the fairy's problems were at least slightly different to her own. There was only one Rumpelstiltskin, no other person, be they man or creature, could compare. Still, she was prepared to hear the tale her newest friend needed to tell, sympathising and helping as much as she could.

Belle listened intently as Nova told of her brief romance with the dwarf named Dreamy. She was only slightly surprised to realise it was the very same person she had spoken to in the tavern just a day or two before. She had encouraged Dreamy to reach for the stars, to go to his true love, to live in the moment. Clearly his conviction to do so had only lasted so long, and in the end he had chosen the safety of a life he knew over risking his heart for love. It was sad, indeed, but there was little Belle could say to make it better, except to sympathise with a situation she understood all too well.

"If it's any consolation, I know how you feel," she sighed when Nova's tale was done, and the fairy sat blowing her nose into a hanky her new friend had provided.

"Did someone break your heart too?" she asked, and Belle looked forlornly at her own hands in her lap.

"I'm not sure it's completely broken yet," she admitted, "but it hurts," she nodded. "I have some hope, I'm sure he does love me, he's just... he's afraid, I think," she considered, thinking of her dear Rumpel and how badly he had reacted to her attempts to love him as she felt he deserved. "Afraid to get close, afraid to let his heart go. I suppose I understand why," she considered, having thought about it almost constantly since the day she was turned out of the Dark Castle. "I just wish things had ended differently".

"Me too," the fairy beside her sighed much more heavily than one so dainty ever should.

It seemed they were both in a similar sort of predicament with no way out. They were in love with those that were unprepared to sacrifice their heart for a possibility of happiness. They chose the safety of what they knew best, a world they could thrive in. The seemingly flimsy promise of a happy ending was always a risk, and one neither Rumpelstiltskin nor Dreamy were willing to take apparently.

"Are you going to be alright, Nova?" asked Belle when the fairy suddenly seemed to realise the time and began preparing to leave. "You know I don't think you should fly when you're so upset," she noted.

"I'll be fine," her new friend smiled slightly at the kindness. "I have to get this bag of fairy dust back home and... Oh!" she squealed so loudly and suddenly Belle physically jumped with the surprise. "I can help you!" she said with a grin wide enough to split her face in two.

Belle wasn't sure what to make of the fairy's sudden change of mood, but she took it as a good sign. Maybe it helped Nova to think that she was assisting someone else, even if she couldn't help herself. Unfortunately, Belle could not see how she would do such a thing.

"Fairies can't grant wishes for themselves," Nova went on to explain. "I can't mend my own broken heart, but I can help with yours," she smiled. "A little fairy dust and the right words, your guy could admit all that he's feeling and you two could live happily ever after!" she declared joyously.

The corners of Belle's mouth came up slightly at the sound of such a thing, though she could hardly believe it were that simple. Of course, she knew something of magic and curses. The fact that Rumpelstiltskin was the creature he appeared as now and no longer a man was because of such things. His saving her village had required a spell, and spinning straw to gold was magic indeed. Still, Belle could scarcely believe that she might wield a little of that power and make her dreams of love and a happily ever after finally come true.

"Nova, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," she shook her head delicately. "This dust is meant to be taken back to your home, and I wouldn't know how to use it..."

"It's fine! It'd only take a little!" the fairy insisted, encouraging Belle to open up her pocket and depositing a handful of dust from her bag into it. "All you have to do to use it is just make your wish and toss the dust on the person or thing that the wish is about," she explained. "Oh, but don't throw it on yourself because sometimes that ends badly," she said with a look so suddenly solemn, that Belle dare not ask why!

She was still dubious about all this talk of fairy dust and magic but before she really had a chance to argue the point, Nova was making her excuses to leave. She thanked Belle profusely for her kindness, and the young woman winced then as she waved goodbye to her fairy friend, who hovered and dropped every few feet as if she might fall out of the sky.

When Nova was but a pink speck in the distance, Belle looked down into the pocket of her old blue dress that now sparkled with its filling of fairy dust. She would be a fool to believe it could work, that such magic could really fix her breaking heart and make things as she wished they were between herself and Rumpelstiltskin. She considered then that perhaps she would be more foolish still to turn her back on the chance of happiness. She was the one who convinced the dwarf they called Dreamy to live up to his name, to go forth and find the love and happiness he craved. Just because he had lost his nerve didn't mean Belle had to, or else she was leaving Rumpel to suffer as Nova was. She could not be so cruel as he had tried to appear to her; she just had to try.

There was a spring in Belle's step that had not been seen for days as she began hurrying back towards the Dark Castle. It wouldn't take so long to get there, she might even borrow a horse on the way, perhaps be offered a ride in a carriage by some kind passer by. She had a renewed belief in goodness and kindness, in love and the good in all people and creatures. She headed down into the woods and had barely begun picking her way through the trees in the morning light when she was sure she heard horses hooves somewhere behind her.

Moving off the road for fear of being trampled, Belle looked back the way she had come, but saw no horse or rider. Still, she heard the thundering of hooves against the ground and looked in all directions to see who was there. Though the sun was rising, even a little way into the woods it was quite dark. Anything and anyone could be hiding in the shadows, and Belle pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she hurried along the edge of the road and then further into the trees that she felt would hide her from harm.

Belle thought of Rumpelstiltskin, of the magic that she held within her pocket, of how happily things could yet turn out to be. She focused only on these things and tried desperately to push aside the noises and shadows her own mind must have conjured, for there was nobody and nothing there to see.

It was just a minute or two later, too deep into the woods, that Belle realised her vast imagination had not played quite as many tricks as she first thought. A strong arm grabbed her by the waist from behind, and a hand covered her mouth before she could even scream. She struggled and kicked, all to no avail, feeling that the very breath was being squeezed out of her. All at once the world began to grow darker, a piece at a time, and then was entirely black.

To Be Continued...