Rumplestiltskin smirked, watching the young warrior woman walk towards him through the forest, stalking prey that didn't exist. It was rare he found a woman who took her life into her own hands and acted like a knight, even after centuries, but when he did, she always seemed to earn his respect somehow, even if she didn't know it.
He couldn't see this particular woman's face. Her head was wrapped with a scarf to keep out the night's chill, but she was wearing tight-fitting trousers and a red vest with leather gloves and boots and had a long knife on her hip, which told him she knew what she was doing. As she neared his hiding place, he stepped out and cleared his throat.
"Now what's a young lady like yourself doing wandering the woods?" he said, sneering at her. She froze and though he couldn't see her eyes, he could tell they were fixed on him. "You must need something, something that I am more than happy to offer, for a price."
She stayed silent, watching him watching her, until she simply walked past him, not acknowledging him at all.
"Tsk, dearie," he said, magicking himself in her path. "Manners."
She jerked her head to the side and he giggled.
"No, no, dearie, I'm not leaving," he said. "Not at least until you answer me. I'm sure such a worldly lady such as yourself knows who I am." She gave a small nod and then jerked her head again, making him clasp his hands together in delight. "It's at least polite to explain why you don't want to enter into a business arrangement with someone."
She stared at him, keeping her eyes covered with shadow, and drew her knife, gesturing it in a way that her message was clear: I will fight until you let me leave.
"You won't win in a duel with me, dearie," he said, stepping closer to her. "Better men than you have tried."
She tried to walk around him, but he grabbed her arm and held her in place, causing her slice her blade towards him. When he conjured his own knife, she took a small step back and shook her head. "You should have thought about if you really wanted to fight me before you tried," he said, leaning forward to whisper in her ear, before swinging his own knife towards her stomach.
She backed away from him, refusing to swing again, even as he stalked towards her. "Was it really so hard to explain yourself, dearie?"
She tried to duck under his arm and gasped when he grabbed her around the waist and threw her back towards a tree with an inhuman strength, causing her to collapse to the roots with her arms wrapped around her abdomen, her knife lying next to her forgotten.
"Now let's see that pretty face," he crooned, kneeling in front of her and pulling the scarf off.
Rumplestiltskin jerked back as if burned when he saw blue eyes glaring back at him. "Belle," he whispered, reaching a hand out to touch her cheek and flinching when she smacked it away.
She shook out her curls, which were windswept and messy, falling out of the knot she had them in at the base of her neck, and stood up before gasping and leaning against the tree, her hand clutching her side.
"Belle, I'm sorry," he said, rising and taking a step forward, stopping when she glared at him again. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have thrown you—"
"Thrown me what, Rumplestiltskin?" she hissed through clenched teeth. "Thrown me against a tree? Thrown me out?"
He flinched again and looked down. "Both."
"Tough," she said, and he when he looked up at her, her eyes were full of a steel he had always seen, but it had never been so cold before. "You did both. So leave me alone."
He nodded, stepping away from her. Even after months, he would still do anything for her, even if he never could tell her. "If you ever need anything, you can always call my name or—or come home."
She stared up at the stars, her anger fading into exhaustion. "I'll always love you, however much it hurts, and I'll always fight for you," she turned her blue eyes towards him, pining him in place. "But right now, I can't. I need to fight for me."
He nodded again and turned away. "Goodbye, Belle," he said over his shoulder, unable to look at her.
Belle sighed behind him and he heard her slide down the trunk again to sit on the ground. "Goodbye."
A/N: Instead of doing my homework, I wrote this. This was inspired by the released behind the scenes photos from Sunday's episode of Belle being completely badass with Mulan. If you want to see what she's wearing in this, check out the stills. Thanks for reading!