Title: "Not Alone"
Author: Kat Lee
Rating: G/K
Summary: She believes she has nowhere to go, but his arms are still waiting. A series of drabbles.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Belle shivers as a light breeze runs over her bare arms. She's alone, having just been released from the hospital, as she walks down the calm streets of this strange, seemingly quaint town in the moonlight. She doesn't quite know where to go. The doctor had offered to lead her home or call some one, but she has no one to call and just wanted to be out of that horrible place. Her brown eyes scan her surroundings carefully, eager to take in any sign that something in this odd world is amiss. Everything looks normal. Music plays from a restaurant called Granny's. The place seems bright, warm, and welcoming, but she remembers the one girl who came to see her, Ruby, having mentioned it. Ruby claimed they were friends, but Belle knows better. She lied to her, like all the others. She has no friends. She wraps her arms around herself and continues forward.
She's not alone, though he knows she thinks she is. He keeps himself cloaked, despite his promise to her not to use any more magic. He's still trying to keep his vow, even if she doesn't remember him or their love, but he won't let her see him, not yet, not tonight. She's not ready to know she's not alone, much less to see him. His grip tightens on his cane, moonlight reflecting in his dark, glimmering eyes, as he remembers how she screamed at him. He won't give her cause to be frightened of him again, but he also will not let harm come to her ever again, even if it means breaking every promise he ever made.
She stops at a shop and peers into the window. There are all kinds of neat objects on display; she has a feeling she could spend hours in this little shop. She leans closer as a strange longing rustles in her soul. Her hand presses the glass. The place seems so familiar. He holds his breath while watching. Is she remembering at last? Does he dare hope the spell is waning? But then she sees the name of the shop and hurries away so fast that he'd lose sight of her if not for the bright moonlight. Determinedly, he follows.
She stops a mile up the road, bending, and almost falling over, in a great effort to catch her breath. She almost wishes she hadn't left the hospital. She's exposed here in this town, exposed to whatever creatures they are, exposed to their dark magic, and she's more frightened now than ever before as bits and pieces of memories, something to do with Mister Gold and that shop, float through her mind. Part of her wants to remember, but another part is too scared. For a moment, she thinks something's moving behind her, but when she turns to look, tears pouring down her face, the moonlight reveals that there's nothing there, just her imagination and memories that won't quite clear. She's still alone, and that hurts even more.
He pauses several feet away from her, still hidden perfectly despite standing directly in a patch of silver moonlight. He aches to go to her, but he knows he can't yet. He will soon, though, he vows, as his heart breaks a little more at the sight of her tears. He'll go to her, restore all her memories, make her whole again, return her love to him, return herself to them both. He'll save her, and save them both in doing so, or his name isn't Rumpelstiltskin. Still hidden, but not alone, he, too, cries with the woman he loves.
The End