Written for Rumbelle Spring Exchange on LJ, for joylee56.
Although I have seen many AU premises, I don't think I have encountered one where Rumple and Belle never meet in the Enchanted Forest and only first run into each other in Storybrooke (I'm obviously not counting modern!AUs set there). As for Belle's Storybrooke name, I know Isa/Annabelle and Rose are far more popular but Caroline means 'a free woman' and c'mon, what name would fit Belle "No one decides my fate but me" better? And I have yet to see any episode beyond "The Queen Is Dead".
Disclaimer: ABC/Disney, Kitsis and Horowitz own. I merely borrow and promise to put all back later.
The Price
I am almost scared by how easy it was to make that decision. When Lady Ursula said her price for her help was my beauty, I was relieved. My papa and the council were prepared to pay in gold and riches but none of that was of an interest to her. I thought she would leave and we would have no one left to turn to for help. And then she looked at me and said she wanted my beauty and I agreed.
Papa is still upset about that. So is Gaston. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, I have to agree that my appearance is far worse than what it used to be but I do not truly mind. I never really cared for how I looked. I am still the same person I was before, I just have more wrinkles than I used to.
It is going to take some time to get used to my new looks. Not for me but for the others. Everyone looks at me with a pity and barely disguised disgust. Papa thinks I should keep to my rooms for the time being. I will, to make this easier on him but I won't stay closed in forever. I am not ashamed of what I have done and I would have done it again. Our land and people will live and my outside appearance is more than a fair price for that.
Lady Belle closes her leather bound journal carefully, snapping the small lock into place and locking it with a key she wears on a fine chain around her neck. She puts the book away into a drawer in her vanity table and then takes another careful look into the mirror.
The face staring back is almost unrecognizable. A yellowed, blotchy skin instead of a smooth and pale one. Deep wrinkles around her eyes, nose and mouth. Her lips are thinner, her cheeks are hollow, her hair turned an ugly grayish colour. Her beauty is well and truly gone.
But so are the ogres and Lady Belle keeps her head up in pride. She kept her people safe. And that is the only thing that truly matters.
A Glimpse
Storybrooke has always seemed as if it was asleep, Caroline thinks as she hurries down the walkway, keeping the scarf firmly wound around her head. She has stayed longer than usual in her night shift at the sheriff station and she wants to get back to her apartment to finally get some sleep.
Emma Swan's arrival has shaken things up. Caroline cannot remember the last time a stranger has not only arrived into the town but also stayed over two nights. Graham is shaken as well, though Caroline suspects slightly different reasons for that in his case. But the blonde woman's impact is undeniable. There is a change in the air, a shift in the routine.
That feeling of alteration is probably what draws her eyes towards the window of Mr. Gold's shop. She must have passed it thousand of times in the past, never once glancing at the display inside. When she does now, she comes to an abrupt stop.
The leather bound book is the most beautiful thing Caroline has ever seen. She has always had a soft spot for books of any kind and her collection is enviable but there is something different about this one. There is no script on the front, only an etched picture of a feather quill.
A journal, she thinks suddenly and the thin strap around the book with a tiny lock attached confirms her suspicions. She feels inexplicably drawn to the thing, yearning to crack open the pages and read what is written inside.
Caroline glances at the door. The "Closed" sign is prominently displayed but there are the opening hours written beneath. She glances at her watch and bites her lip. She has some time to go home and change, maybe even catch a nap. And then she will come back and ask about the book.
Yes, she nods to herself, that is what she will do.
A Routine
Twenty eight years of routine are hard to change and Rumplestiltskin doesn't even try. He wakes up at the usual time, eats something small and drives to his shop, opening it exactly on time. Nothing out of the ordinary and yet everything is different. Two days ago, the Saviour arrived to the town. Last night, the Saviour decided to stay and he woke up from the curse.
The pieces are falling into place, hundreds of years of planning finally coming to a fruition. He needs only be patient for a while longer and then he will finally be able to find his son and make things right.
For now, though, he will amuse himself by watching the Saviour pull down everything Regina has so carefully built. The old memories have also settled in during the night and Rumplestiltskin starts identifying the people underneath the cursed personas, recalling his dealings with them and whether or not there are unpaid debts to be collected. And maybe there could be new ones made as well. Money is the magic of this world and like in the old one, he possesses an abundance of it.
And so he takes his usual place behind the counter in his shop and waits for the new opportunities to arrive.
A Shift
The bell jingles twenty minutes after he has opened the shop and Rumplestiltskin looks up to see which desperate soul seeks him now. The woman who enters has a large scarf covering her head and face and it takes him a moment to recall her name to be Caroline French, a night dispatcher at the sheriff station and one of his more responsible tenants, even if their only contact up to now has been through the envelopes with her rent money. It takes him a while longer to identify her old self, considering they have also never crossed paths in the old realm.
Lady Belle of the Marshlands, the famed beauty who gave up her appearance to save her town from the ogres in a deal with Ursula. She has been whispered about with pity and mockery both, the strange girl who by all accounts never regretted her choice, although Rumplestiltskin suspected that to be merely a rumour to make the lady look better morally, considering her physical appeal was lost.
She doesn't pause in the door to look around with trepidation, as many newcomers to his shop do. No, she closes the door and crosses the distance to the counter in a steady walk.
"Good morning, Mr. Gold," she greets him and her voice is slightly raspy - a side-effect of her degenerative illness, the curse fills in the blanks for him - but firm.
"Good morning, Miss... French, was it?" he asked for the needless conversation and she nods. "What can I do for you?"
"There is a book in the window, a journal," she clarifies and he almost smiles at the first visible crack in the curse. The journal is hers, of course and has been in that window the whole time, never once catching her attention. Until now, shortly after the Saviour arrived.
"Ah yes," he speaks as he takes his cane and limps over to the piece. "A beautiful craftsmanship on the cover, genuine leather, hand-crafted," he enumerates the important points, playing his role to the letter as he takes out the journal and turns towards her. "You have a good eye, Miss French."
She looks at the book and he can see her impatience, tempered somewhat by her ignorance. She knows the journal is important to her but has no idea why.
"How much?" she asks quietly and Rumplestiltskin smirks, an opportunity to test this woman too tempting to pass.
"I never do business with people whose faces I cannot see."
She stiffens. She hides her face for a reason, everyone in the town knows she suffers from some kind of an illness that makes her hideous. But Rumplestiltskin is curious, about the curse Ursula used to take the beauty from her and how this shadow of a lady will react to his request, how ashamed she will be before relenting.
"It's not a pretty sight," she warns him but he shrugs carelessly.
"I've seen my share of ugly things, Miss French."
And so she pulls the scarf from her face and head, revealing the wrinkles and discoloration and she was right, it's not a pretty sight but he has seen far more disturbing things before so he's not surprised. What surprises him is that she doesn't avert her eyes to the ground. She meets his gaze levelly and - dare he say it? - bravely, not a hint of shame or fear in those blue eyes.
"How much for the journal, Mr. Gold?" she repeats in that raspy voice of hers and he offers the book to her.
"Fifty dollars," he says and she is startled by the low amount but her bravery deserves a reward. "The key is missing, you see," he explains, an acceptable justification but her face falls.
"Oh," she says quietly but accepts the book and follows him to the counter where he rings up the purchase, accepts her money and watches her quietly leave.
The Deal
Rumplestiltskin doesn't see Miss French for two weeks after their business is done but he is busy enough. The princeling wakes up from his coma and reunites with Snow White although Regina provides a stumbling block in the form of a convenient wife and there is that whole sorry business with Cinderella, even if he wrangles a favour out of the Saviour in the end so it's not a total loss.
He has put the whole journal thing out of his mind until Miss French breezes into his shop one evening, taking off the scarf immediately.
"Good evening," she greets him, her fingers
"Evening, Miss French," he says evenly, waiting for her to explain her reason for being there.
"You mentioned that the key, to the journal, was missing," she starts slowly. "What are the chances it is here, buried somewhere under it all?"
"Interested in the first owner's secrets, Miss French?"
"Yes," she admits easily. "The book is well-kept. It was loved by the person who used it. They loved books, considered them friends. I guess I want to know more about them."
Rumplestiltskin keeps a cruel quip about projecting to himself. She is, after all, right on all counts. He knows that the key is somewhere in his shop - the remains of the magic tell him that much. It will be easy to unearth it. The question is, does he? The journal keeps Lady Belle's deepest thoughts. What effect would reading those have on her cursed self?
It is this desire to test out the abilities of his curse more than anything else that leads him to suggest what he does.
"Why don't we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" she asks, just a little suspicious - she is a smart one, after all.
"I am quite interested in the contents of the journal as well. I will try and locate the key to it, on the condition that I will get to read it first."
He cannot afford to have the curse shake too badly before the Saviour is ready to act. A part of him is also curious about the Lady Belle. If her cursed self - a pale imitation of the original at best - is able to look into his eyes without a fear, he cannot help but wonder how she would have reacted had they met in the old world.
"Alright," she agrees after she thinks about it for a moment. "We have a deal."
Small Steps
Caroline isn't sure what it is about that old journal that draws her in so much. She keeps it on her night table, falling asleep while imagining what it could contain. She makes a habit out of visiting the pawnshop every third day to ask about the key. Her impatience in regards to the matter surprises her but she knows there is also another reason for her regular visits.
She doesn't have to hide her face while in there. Back when she fell ill and the changes started to manifest, she foolishly thought that people around her would accept her still. But she could see how uncomfortable they were when having to look at her, how they tried not to meet her eyes, some of them even started to avoid her. She started to cover her face for their sake, not hers.
Mr. Gold never stares. It's almost like he doesn't even see her appearance and Caroline never thought she would appreciate it that much. She could count people able to do that on one hand - Graham, Ruby, Archie, Granny and now Mr. Gold.
The frequency of her visits increases after Graham's death and Emma Swan's election as a sheriff. Emma is good about trying to face her directly but Caroline suspects the new sheriff is glad that she works the night shifts. Strange as it seems, Mr. Gold's shop becomes a refuge to her.
They start taking tea together in the third week of her visits and she starts dusting off some of the objects in the fifth. She reasons that he will never find the key to the journal in the mess that is his pawnshop. It is the week before the Valentine's Day that she realizes somewhere along the way she started to think about Mr. Gold as a friend.
Strangest thing is, she is happy about that realization.
The Key
Caroline French is a pleasant companion. She is an intelligent conversationalist who possesses a rare gift of also knowing when a silence suits better. She is well-read and witty and Rumplestiltskin realizes early on he actually looks forward to her visits. Even if she wants something from him - the key to her journal - she doesn't make it the only point of their interactions. Sometimes, the key is not mentioned at all aside from a brief inquiry at the beginning.
He wonders if he should feel bad for keeping the key - which he found three days after their deal was made - from her. But he enjoys her visits and as long as he has something she wants, she will keep coming. She is a distraction he allows himself while he waits for the Saviour to pull her act together. He even toys briefly with a thought of maybe breaking Ursula's curse on her after he reunites with Baelfire, to prove to his son he can do good with his powers.
He forgets that this woman has been continually surprising him since that first day she entered his shop and so her handing him a box of dark chocolates on February 14th catches him off guard although it's her explanation that makes him feel shame for the first time in years.
"I'd like to think we are friends," she says as she tucks a strand of her gray hair behind her ear, a nervous gesture of hers that he rarely sees. He smiles to hide his own nervousness and comes to a decision.
"Well, thank you, Miss French. It's quite convenient, really," he continues, reaching under the counter, pulling out a small pouch. "Since I finally found the key to your journal."
He opens the pouch and pulls out a delicate chain with a small key hanging on it. He offers both items to her. She moves to pull the key from the chain but he stops her, closing her fingers over the chain.
"Keep them both. We had a deal for the key but you can consider the chain a symbol of our friendship."
He's unprepared for the fierce hug that she envelops him in. He cannot recall the last time he has been touched without any ulterior motive but Miss French radiates sincerity and so he accepts her affection for what it is.
A Soul of the Lady
She brings the journal over the very same day and he retreats into his house for the evening to find out about the Lady Belle. He skims the pages at first, appreciating the neat penmanship and the obvious care she put in her words. They offer an incredible insight into her character and so he flips to the beginning and reads all she recorded.
She started the journal on the day she came of age and used it as a confidante in regards to all the important things that had happened to her, from her engagement through the Ogre War, her sacrifice and beyond. Her optimism is never dimmed and Rumplestiltskin's respect for this woman grows with every page read.
Written word has its own magic of a kind and the honesty and genuinity in hers cannot be feigned. He feels almost humbled once he finishes the journal. His first estimation of Lady Belle is correct. She is one of those rare, genuine souls who are brave and kind and not even his curse has been able to entirely wipe out that aspect of her. She is a town outcast in this world like in the last because of her appearance but she doesn't blame the fate for her loneliness.
Rumplestiltskin closes the journal, locks it and thinks for a long, long time.
An Awakening
Caroline is surprised to hear a knock on her door in the afternoon. She is even more surprised to find Mr. Gold is her visitor. She invites him in and brews them tea, all the while thinking about his reason for coming. Some of her questions are answered when she spots the journal and the key on her coffee table. She is strangely touched by his gesture and she smiles at him as she serves them tea in her small living room.
"A good reading?" she asks, gesturing to the book. He nods, his hands clasped over the top of his cane.
"Enlightening," he says. "The person it belonged to was a rare kind. I think you will enjoy it."
Caroline glances down, her hand moving as if to pick it up but she remembers her manners and pulls her hand back, wrapping it around her cup instead.
"Go ahead, dear," Mr. Gold says unexpectedly. "I don't mind."
She needs no further encouragement to pick the journal and open it on the first page, crediting the ownership to Lady Belle of the Marshlands. A fiction? Or an old local name? But as she turns the page and she looks at the lines of text, an uneasy feeling settles in her stomach. It's her handwriting. She recognizes the peculiarity of the capital Ls and the curving tails of As and Os.
"Something the matter?" Mr. Gold's voice sounds different, more anxious somehow and Caroline raises her head to look at him. He watches her intently and she flinches as a sharp pain lances through her temple and she rubs at it, closing her eyes. She drops the book and it clatters down but for the first time in her life she pays it no attention. Something in her mind is waking, demanding to be let out and she cannot keep it away.
And then, in a blink of an eye, it's over. Caroline French blinks and Lady Belle blinks again as the two personalities shift and align. When she opens her eyes again, nothing seems to have changed outwardly but she knows the truth now and that it is somehow connected to the man she has proclaimed as her friend just a day earlier.
"Who are you?" she whispers and he bows his head, sweeping one hand through the air.
"My name is Rumplestiltskin, Lady Belle."
"Is this a dream?" she asks, stunned by how ordinary the famous Dark One looks. He shakes his head.
"No, just a very powerful curse."
And Belle isn't sure if she wants to know more.
A Pretense
Rumplestiltskin provides Belle with the basic facts of their situation. She takes it all in, her mind cataloguing the facts. He leaves shortly after he explains and it only occurs to her then she never asked for his reason for telling her. She feels uncomfortable enough with her new knowledge that she calls in sick and spends a couple of days just adjusting to the new situation.
When she finally ventures out, she sees everything and everyone with new eyes. She avoids going to Rumplestiltskin's shop, though, the feeling of him not telling her everything he knows strong. She heard a lot about him in their old land and she thinks she got to know him fairly well in this new one as well. That's why she doesn't go to him, even if she misses his company. It's clear to her he has been aware of the curse for a long time and she's afraid that if she would ask him about it, he would lie to her. And that's not a thought she cherishes.
The Curse
When the curse breaks, Belle doesn't realize at first. She has had her memories back for a long time now and the change doesn't register with her. It's the commotion on the street that has her looking out only to see people hugging each other and cheering.
She smiles at the picture, happy for the others and for herself as well. She can finally talk to her father as he is, not the person the curse made of him. And maybe she could finally dare to talk to Rumplestiltskin as well, to reclaim their friendship. Because strange as it seems, it was a friendship and she wants it back.
It's time for her to be brave again.
An Offer
Rumplestiltskin stares at the potion in his hand for a long while. He has already brought the magic back and so he can finally use it to try and find his son. But there is a debt he has to pay first, a debt of gratitude and unasked-for affection.
The bell above the door rings and he looks up to see the woman he was just thinking about standing before him. She hesitates before coming closer.
"Rumplestiltskin," she greets him and he bows.
"Lady Belle, what a pleasant surprise."
"The curse is broken," she says and he nods.
"Miss Swan came through in the end. Maternal love is just as True as any other."
And had he planned the whole thing beyond adding the loophole into the original curse, he couldn't be more satisfied with the result.
"So it's over?" she asks, plaintively and he no longer questions his impulse to reassure her.
"Not quite. There are some loose ends to tie but that should be easy to do, now that the magic is back. Which reminds me," he says before she can ask. "I have something for you. A gift, if you will. For a friend," he adds and extends the hand with the potion.
Belle looks at the potion and then at him.
"What is it?"
"Once you drink it, the curse that took your beauty will be destroyed. You will be like you were before."
She doesn't take the offered potion at once like he expected. She meets his eyes instead.
"Do you want me to drink it?"
And her voice trembles for some reason he cannot fathom.
"It's your choice, dearie," he tells her and then, for good measure. "I don't care one way or the other."
And the way she smiles is enough to make her beautiful without the potion's help.
The End
No one is surprised more than Rumplestiltskin when they kiss and the curse breaks anyway.