Not What It Seems
A Beauty & The Beast Spinoff
Belle and Rumplestilzkin's Love Story
1. The Birth of a Beauty
Father told me that the day I was born, spring truly began.
It was a long winter that my kingdom had suffered through that year. The frost came, and caused many of my people to fall ill and die. My mother was one of those individuals who had been struck with such an illness.
Her birthing woman told her that she would not live to see my face, but my mother defied the odds. Early March, I was born in the palace bedchambers. The flowers that climbed the palace walls began to burst into bloom that day as the sun shone. My mother in her weakened state held me close to her breast, and walked towards the window to see the sheer beauty of that day. "It truly is beautiful, just like you," she cooed as she kissed my forehead. "My beauty, my… Belle…"
And with that, she collapsed into my father's arms and died.
I grew up without my mother, only knowing the old stories that my father had told me of the times they spent courting each other. There was never a day, he told me, that he did not miss her. I vowed to find my own true love, just like my parents did.
But things do not always happen as we would like. Being a royal, especially an eligible woman, I was betrothed to one Gaston Lecroix. Gaston was a well-built man with oily black hair perfectly coiffed and styled. He wore the tightest clothing imaginable, almost to appear as if at any second he would burst out of his clothes. You could imagine my heartbreak when I found out it was an arranged marriage, set in stone unbeknownst to me when I was ten years old. You could imagine how I felt at hearing the news on my twenty-second birthday that I was to marry him in a month!
I cried every night. My father begged me to give him a chance, that out of this arrangement, true love could be formed. "Formed?" I thought to myself. "More like forced…"
Gaston attempted to court me, sending me dozens of bouquets of roses and singing under my window at night, but he did not capture my love. I saw through his love attempts, and one day, pulled him aside and asked what his intentions truly were.
"Why, I am one of the wealthiest bachelors in the kingdom!" smirked Gaston. "Why do you think your pathetic father arranged us together? Your kingdom is in financial ruin. Your soldiers are dying on the battlefield, invasion looms, and your about to lose the very castle we are standing in very soon. By marrying me, I would secure all of those things. Prevent anything from happening. Plus… I have always wanted to be the one to… deflower your maidenhood…"
"You disgust me," I snarled as I began to walk away. "I will not marry you!"
"Oh, but you will," said Gaston as he grabbed me by the wrists tightly. I cried out with pain as he twisted and squeezed. "Our marriage has already been arranged and set. You as a woman have no say in what happens. You will obey me as your fiancé, future husband, and master, or you will face consequences. Is this understood?"
"I will not be your slave," I said, wriggling out of his grasp. "I am my own person with feelings and emotions. You shall not intimidate me, or I will break the marriage contract. I will not be married to a barbarian!"
"It is not barbaric for a man to have control over his wife," said Gaston with a chuckle. "A woman ought to know her place: she is to feed me, submit to my sexual desires, birth my children, and cater to my every whim."
"I fear you have the wrong impression of women," I replied curtly. "For I am nothing of that sort."
I ran away as fast as I could out to the fields, tears flooding down my face. I reached the meadow, and stood on the bridge that crossed over the little brook. I sat down on the bridge, and pulled out my copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and began to pick up where I left off.
"Upset again?" said a voice from behind me.
"Yes," I said without looking up.
"Still reading that book?"
"It is not just any book!" I exclaimed, marking my page and getting up. "It is the greatest work of literature from the Bronte family!"
"Ooh I hope Charlotte doesn't come back and haunt me for that!" laughed Cinderella.
"Cindy, you have no idea what kind of hell I am living in," I said gloomily. "This is my only form of escape…"
"Try me," said Cinderella. "I was beaten and abused by my step mother and step sisters, forced to live in my own filth, my only friends were vermin, and I was living off of their table scraps. I don't just know hell, I owned it."
"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I know my problems are so insignificant to yours. And I truly am happy that you have overcome it all."
"Thanks Belle," said Cinderella. "Please, tell me what's bothering you."
"You know how you were able to marry for love?"
"Belle- No!"
"Yes, ever since I was ten, my father had arranged my marriage to Gaston Lecroix," I said, tears starting to swell. "I tried to contest it, I even tried to get to know him better, but it was all in vain. It was a business deal. All over money and war. I feel like… like I am just an object, an insignificant pawn in a game of crowns and thorns. He even said himself that he wants nothing more for me to be than a sex/house slave!"
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Cinderella. "No wonder you were are so distraught! Belle, I am so sorry for all of this. I honestly don't know what to say. If I were you, I would run away as fast as my feet would carry me, and never look back. If it has to be, then disappear, and it won't."
"But my kingdom needs money," I said, wiping my tears. "We are in such great debt that we are losing our titles and castle as we speak. War is looming ever near, and if it is not prevented…"
"I will get Prince David to help you out," promised Cinderella as she held my hand. "He will give you all the money you need, all of the soldiers, protection you could want."
"I cannot accept this from your husband," I said quietly. "I cannot risk their deaths and have an uprising in your kingdom as well as mine."
"Belle…"
"I have no choice but to accept my fate," I sobbed, and covered my face. "Of all people, I never thought I would fall into this category of a woman trapped by fate. I always thought destiny was defined by what the individual made their lives out to be. Now I know that philosophy to be utter foolishness…"
"You can still change your fate, Miss Belle," said Ruby as she scampered up the path towards the bridge. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your predicament."
"It's okay Ruby, it's not like you're the Big Bad Wolf," I sniffled.
"As I was saying," continued Ruby, ignoring my comment. "You are not confined to suffer in a loveless marriage. HE can change it for you."
"He? Who is he?" asked Cinderella.
"Rumplestilzkin of course!" said Ruby as she clapped her hands together.
"Don't you speak his name!" hissed Cinderella. "Why, the mere mention of it will conjure him up just like Beetle- yeah you know who I mean…"
"What makes you think he would help me?" I asked.
"He helps anyone-" started Ruby.
"For a price," ended Cinderella.
"What kind of price?" I asked curiously.
"It's best if you don't get involved with him," said Cinderella. "All magic comes with a price, and I have personally experienced that first hand. When the clock strikes twelve, the magical dress will disappear, and the real Cinderella will be revealed."
"Anything would be better than living like a slave," I said, straightening out my dress.
"I hear you," said Ruby. "I just wish Grandmama would get better so I wouldn't have to walk through the woods all alone every night and day. I wish someone else could take my place, but then again, what's life without a bit of risk?"
"Exactly!" cried Cinderella. "If I did not defy my step mother, I would have never met Prince David…"
"Wait, so now you are condoning me asking Rumple-"
"SH!" said Cinderella. "Don't say his name! And… I cannot lead you to the right decision, you must find it on your own."
"You are right," I said as I got up and dusted myself off. I tucked my book into the pocket of my dress. "For the first time, I am going to show them all that I am master of my own fate, and it will be ME, not Gaston, who saves the kingdom from financial ruin and war."
"How do we even contact this… Beast?" father asked the court.
"I've heard if you call out his name three times-"
"No you twit, that's the OTHER monster," cried my father. "And we will not unleash him into this kingdom."
"Father, please," I said, holding his hands in mine. "He might just appear on his own. Testimonies show that he knows-"
"A desperate soul when I see one," said a voice from behind the court. "And yes, I do." Rumplestilzkin stood there, a man with gray skin, striking green eyes, and shoulder length wavy light brown hair. He was dressed in tight black leather pants and a long sleeved dark red shirt with a black spiked collar. Although he looked most intimidating, he bowed, showing the only respect he could after appearing before them from out of nowhere.
The court was in an uproar. Father raised his arms to silence the court, and turned to face Rumplestilzkin. "Can you save my kingdom Rumplestilzkin? My people are living in constant fear of war, starvation, and poverty. Day by day, my kingdom is weakening. Can you help us?"
"I can do anything you wish," smiled Rumplestilzkin. "For a price…"
"Name your price and you shall have it," said my father.
"All I want… is her."
And he pointed right at me.