Where I Belong

After helping Mulan and Phillip, Belle had decided to return to Rumplestiltskin. The whole situation had her thinking about him. In truth she never did stop thinking of him. Even when reading, he was there in the back of her mind - ever present. Still the situation made her think of him in earnest.

Unfortunately, she had been captured by the Queen. They had set up camp for the queen to rest. The majority of the guard focused on the queen while two were left to watch her. Those two guards were busy chatting by the campfire. Belle watched them for a short while after dark before she made her move. She quickly slipped her hand into her bosom and pulled out an iron pick. She'd been locked up twice by Rumplestiltskin and found she didn't much care for it.

The guards were deep in conversation when she picked her way to freedom. Once it was open, she slipped through the door as narrowly as possible. Belle made a cautious climb down, and after the thing with the Yaoguai, Belle was a bit more weary of fallen branches and twigs.

After she could no longer see the light of the campfire, Belle broke flat out into a run. Her only problem was she needed a map. She needed to make sure she stayed the course because it could very well mean the difference between capture and freedom.

Belle obtained a book with current maps of the lands and from there set her way. All the while she remain vigil for the Queen's men, as well as the Queen herself. Belle walked and hitched rides making her way to the Dark Castle. It took a few days to arrive in the town that she had retrieved straw from some time ago. She had suffered through freezing nights that she dare not light a fire, lest she risk capture. A warm bed and meal as well as a bath sounded fabulous, yet she couldn't risk it. She knew how bad the Queen wanted her, wanted her just to hurt the man she loved.

When she arrived there, belle was eager to see him again - whether he wanted to see her or not! She had decided when she had decided to return that she would have her say and would be heard. Belle had already forgiven him after thinking hard on how he must have felt. However, she still had some words for him.

As she passed through the town towards the Dark Castle, she decided that she'd spend the last of her coin and buy some straw.

Since the Queen knew she was heading back to the Dark Castle, belle walked through the woods with her medium bundle of straw. She stayed far enough away to barely see the road, feeling certain that the Queen's men would be on it looking for her. A few men on horseback went down the road towards town, and belle squatted down behind some bushes until the could no longer be heard. She arrived at the castle gate around midafternoon.

Just as she came up to the gate, Belle heard a fury of hooves charging towards her. She turned to see the Queen and her men. Fear seized Belle, and she began yanking at the iron gates. "Not now! Not when I'm so close to home!" Belle cried to herself as a smash of magic hit the gate wall beside her. Queen Regina growled because she missed. The gate opened, and Belle tumbled inside. As soon as she regained her balance, she spun and closed the gates. Queen Regina launched another magic attack only to have it rebound off the gates, which had a magical barrier. Belle still shook in shock.