Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time, Beauty and the Beast, any of it's characters, or the images posted with this story.
Belle was never meant to be a princess. She never felt like she fit in and others would always call her odd. She hated having everything decided for her. It was her life and she was going to be the one to decide her own fate.
She was rarely allowed to leave the castle and it drove her crazy. When she was twelve she discovered a secret passageway in her room that led to other parts of the castle. Apparently the castle was full of them. It was as if there was an unknown maze in the castle. The passageway would lead to almost every room, plus onto the castle grounds. There was also a secret passage, which lead beyond the castle wall. This is how she would escape the confines of palace life at least for a few hours some days.
She spent several years mapping out the passages and learning where all of them went. By the time she was eighteen she knew by heart where all the tunnels led. She could sneak around the castle without ever being noticed. She assumed her father never knew of the tunnels, but if he did, he never mentioned them. She did well to keep from getting caught. Getting caught meant she would be forever again confined to the palace.
On one beautiful fall day, Belle was out in the castle gardens reading a book underneath a tree. Books were her passion. They were her way of seeing the world and having adventures. People thought it wasn't right for a princess to read, but she didn't care.
She was in the middle of an incredible love scene when two knights approached her. "Princess Belle, I have orders from the king to escort you to your quarters," one of the knights said rather forcefully.
Belle leaned up from the tree aggravated she had been interrupted. The girl had just found her prince charming and they were about to share true love's kiss. "Why? I haven't done anything wrong. I'm allowed to be in the gardens," she objected.
"It's nonnegotiable. You need to get to your quarters or I will have to drag you there myself."
Belle stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off her dress. "Fine, have it your way."
The two knights escorted Belle to her room. Once she was inside, and the door was shut, Belle rushed to the passageway entrance. She grabbed a torch, opened it, and went inside. She hurried her way through the corridors. She was not going to stay inside on such a nice day.
As she was passing by the corridor, which led to the main hall of the castle where her father's, King Maurice, throne was, she could hear raised voices. Her curiosity got the best of her, so she decided to investigate. She came to the end of the hall and peeked through a peephole.
Her father was standing there as if he was waiting for someone. She saw at least ten knights enter the room. They were dragging a man by each of his arms…at least she thought it was a man. The man looked defeated. He was collapsed on his knees being held up by two knights. He had shoulder length curly hair and his skin looked to be some sort of greenish gray golden color, which glistened in the light. His clothing was rather eccentric. He was wearing black leather pants, with knee high boots to match. He had a long sleeved yellow silk shirt on underneath what looked to be a red dragon hide vest.
"Kneel beast before your king," one of the knights bellowed and shoved the man forward.
The man looked up at her father and appeared to growl at him. The man was definitely angry.
King Maurice stepped forward and addressed one of the knights. Belle realized the knight he was talking to was the head knight, Sir Lucan. "I'm assuming you got it?" the King asked.
"Yes sir," Sir Lucan stepped forward and handed Belle's father something wrapped in a brown cloth. Belle watched as her father unwrapped it to reveal a funny looking dagger. She couldn't see it very well, but she could tell it was curvy shaped, and had words etched across it.
Her father held up the dagger, "Submit, O Dark One! I control you now!"
Belle was confused, 'Why would my father want to control someone? It's not his nature,' she thought.
The man looked up at King Maurice, "Yes, you do. And I hope you are planning to wield the powers wisely," he said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I'll do what I will, but first to the dungeon with him!"
Belle had never heard her father sound so…evil.
The man screamed at Maurice as he was being dragged towards the dungeon by the guards, "You don't have to lock me in the dungeon! I can't escape! Not while you have that, but I'm sure you already know that!" The man let out a howlish laugh.
Maurice chuckled, "Why take a chance?"
Belle watched as the man disappeared. Her father turned and left the room, but halted when he realized Sir Lucan had something else to say. "Yes, Sir Lucan?" the King questioned.
"Your Majesty, everything went well in the capture, except there was one complication," Sir Lucan stated.
"Oh?"
Sir Lucan turned his head slightly and gestured for two more of his men to enter. The King squinted his eyes to see what they had in tow.
Belle gasped. She had to put her hand over her mouth to keep the guards and her father from hearing her. When she saw what the guards were bringing her father, she was in utter disbelief. It was a boy, a very small boy who only looked to be about three or four years old. He had a head full of curly black hair; she could tell he had been crying and was very scared.
"We found him in Rumplestiltskin's estate," Sir Lucan explained, "We didn't know what to do with him. We brought him here because we couldn't leave him alone. There's no telling why that monster had a child in his home."
"Well it's no surprise. He's known to take children, but you did the right thing," King Maurice took a few steps toward the boy and smiled, "Hello there, what's your name?"
The boy just shivered and tried to back away. He wouldn't speak.
"It's alright, I won't hurt you. That beast won't hurt you anymore either. Your safe."
The little boy began wailing. He still wouldn't speak, but Belle could have sworn she heard him call for his daddy once or twice.
"What shall we do with him your majesty?" Sir Lucan asked.
King Maurice stood back up, "Have the maids prepare a room in the east wing and I'll have a plan by tomorrow."
"Yes, sir," Sir Lucan and his guards grabbed the crying child and followed King Maurice to carry out his orders.
Belle almost fainted. She couldn't believe what just transpired before her. 'The little boy, who is he?' she wondered, 'Could the man my father captured be his Papa?' She was very worried what was going to become of the boy, and she didn't like how upset he was. She really wanted to comfort him. Being dragged away screaming by knights would definitely be traumatic to the little one.
She knew the only way to see him, would be to intercept her father and Sir Lucan before they took the boy to his room. Her father would probably never let her in on the situation so she had to act fast, even if it meant getting in trouble.
Belle knew they were taking the boy to the east wing, so it wouldn't be too hard to find them. She had to hurry so her father wouldn't know about the secret passages. Her plan was to act like she was already there for the library, disobeying his orders to stay in her room.
As she rushed through the corridors toward the library exit, she couldn't help but think of the man her father had captured and called a beast. She was curious about the man she had just seen. Curiosity had always been her weakness. She had never met anyone like him. Something, which she couldn't put her finger on it, just seemed to draw her to him. Maybe it was her thirst for adventure.
Belle really wanted to meet this man. He intrigued her. She also wanted to know why her father wanted to control him, and what power he had that was so valuable. She knew visiting that man had to wait; helping the little boy was more important. As she was walking she made plans to visit the dungeon after dark.
Belle snuck into the library and grabbed a book as she headed toward the main entrance. She burst through the library doors just in time to hear her father and the knights approaching. The little boy was still crying. She cleared her throat and began walking toward the oncoming people, acting as if she just got done choosing a book from the library.
When her father saw her, she could tell he was not happy to see her, "BELLE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR ROOM?!"
"I was just getting a book from the library…" Belle's gaze fell to the little boy, who was now staring shyly up at her, but still weeping. Belle's mouth fell open, "Who is this?"
"It's none of your concern Belle, now go back to your room and stay there until I say otherwise!" King Maurice pointed toward her quarters.
Belle ignored her father and slowly approached the little boy. She bent down to his level and smiled at him, "Hello. I'm Belle. What's your name sweetie?"
The little boy stayed quiet, but his tears began to diminish as he watched her.
"Belle! I told you to go back to your room!"
Belle faced her father, "Papa can't you see he's scared? I don't think you yelling at me is helping matters!"
Belle turned her attention back to the boy. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "There now, would you like to come to the library with me and pick out a book?"
"Belle…"
Belle kept talking to the boy, "We have some children's books I think you'd like very much."
After a moment, the boy gave a small nod. Belle took his hand and led him into the library with her.
King Maurice followed, "Belle, you need to let me handle this."
"No Papa! I'm just trying to help."
"We need to take him to his room."
"And what? Are you just going to lock him in there all alone? He's just a toddler…"
King Maurice sighed, "Very well. Choose some books for the lad and take him with you to your room for now, and you will stay there until I tell you otherwise."
"Why are you confining me to my room? Have I don't something wrong?"
"No, it's just not…safe."
Belle sighed, "Can you at least tell me why?"
"All will be revealed soon enough, but please know it is nothing you have done. I'll send Lucan up for the two of you when it's time for dinner."
Belle was glad she got her father to give in, "Yes, Papa."
King Maurice turned and left, but flashed the boy a smile before doing so. The little boy hid behind Belle's skirts trying to ignore him.
Once they were alone, Belle bent back down to talk to him, "It's ok, I won't bite. It's just me and you now. You've nothing to be afraid of."
The boy still wouldn't anything to her. He just stood there and examined her with those big sad brown eyes. She smiled at him, "It's ok, you don't have to say anything. Let's find you some books, then we'll go back to my room ok?"
He nodded. They went and choose a few age appropriate books then headed back to her room. The mysterious man was still on her mind again as they walked through the halls. The excitement was building up now as she waited for the day to be over when she could visit this mysterious man in the dungeon.
a/n tell me if you like this idea. Don't worry I have been writing for the other two stories as well, it's just when I get these plot bunnies in my head I have to get them out or I'll go crazy. I constantly find myself writing more than one story at the same time on two different computers lol. I always preferred stories where Bae wasn't lost, and I don't see many where he's a young boy so thought I'd give it a shot.
