Belle sighs and rubs at the cuffs of her wrists. She was glad Ruby's name had finally been cleared but she wished it could have been done without her spending most of last night handcuffed to a radiator. The librarian chuckled. She had no idea one person could have so many adventures in such a short span of time.
Belle startled herself when she almost ran into the front doors of the library, her thoughts muffling her other senses. She reached into her pocket, taking out the key Mr. Gold, Rumple, had given her and unlocking the double doors. She breathed in the smell of worn pages and soft leather and smiled softly. No matter what realm she was in, books always made her feel at home.
She walked around, grazing her fingers along the shelves and placing books back where they belonged. Belle was about to contemplate the benefits of rearranging the whole system — she didn't exactly have anything else to do — when she heard a slight rattle of metal from the elevator. It wasn't very loud, barely a bit of tinkling, and she wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't been standing stock still. She waited a few moments more and when she heard it again, Belle made her way over to the closed metal doors.
There was no gap, no break in the soundly sealed doors. Belle reached up and felt with her fingers along the edges, even knocking a few times. She pressed her ear up against the cold metal and waited. A scattering of stones accompanied the sound of metal this time. Belle's curiosity sparked and it took all of her willpower not to start prying the doors open with sheer force, regardless of how obviously futile it would be. Rumple wouldn't tell her not to mess with the elevator if it wasn't dangerous. He may be a liar in most regards, but she did believe he genuinely cared for her safety.
Belle sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the doors. She wasn't sure what to do next. This was a conundrum she had never expected to encounter. It reminded her of one or two mystery/horror novels she had gotten the chance to read. A character is faced with a forbidden door or room and are so caught up in the unknown, they go inside without a second thought. This generally leads to their death or severe injury. There was no way Belle was going to let that happen to her.
She scanned the doors and the adjacent panels, searching for any clue as to what, or who, was down below. Nothing but various gauges and levers met her. She looked again and paused. There was a box with a speaker underscored by a few buttons. Belle cautiously stood up and made her way over. It looked similar to the plastic boxes at the offices and apartments.
"What were those called again?" she whispered to herself. The word popped into her head and she couldn't contain her small squeak of delight. It was an intercom! She was pretty sure anyone from this realm would think her an idiot for her interest in the device, but it wasn't as if they were common in the Enchanted Forest, if they even existed there at all. Belle shook her head. That was another line of thought entirely.
She examined the intercom system and noted the convenient labels under the buttons. One was labeled, "Speak," another, "Mute," and the last, "Listen." The one marked Mute was pushed down and Belle only hesitated a second before pressing it. Immediately a green light appeared on the button marked Listen, apparently not a button at all, and Belle almost stumbled at the sound patching through. Despite the minor crackle of the speaker, it was clear the sound coming through was breathing.
"Oh my goodness," she gasped. She couldn't believe it. Something was down there and it was alive. She shuffled back a few steps and managed to take some deep breaths. Her mind couldn't help but go to the time when she was trapped in the asylum cell, all alone. Whatever or whoever was down there had clearly been alone these past 28 years and hadn't been given an opportunity to break free yet like Belle had. Granted it was possible the thing down there was trapped for good reason, no one deserved to be alone, especially for such a long span of time.
Belle steeled herself and walked over to the intercom, pressing down the button marked Speak. She took an added shaky breath before actually speaking. "Hello? Is anyone down there?" She turned her end off and listened. Nothing. Belle sighed. Maybe she was going mad or perhaps she had been too quick to assume it was a living creature and not gusts of air. Gusts of air deep underground in a sealed cavern which sounded very much like breathing and were strong enough to shift stones. Even Belle couldn't manage to convince herself of that tale.
She turned away from the elevator and began pacing. She didn't have very many options. Tell someone she wanted to check out the cavern underneath the library. Not a chance. Crack into the elevator and check it out without knowing what's down there. Big no. She was curious, not suicidal. She glanced around and stared at the shelves of books. Maybe... just maybe she could at least let the creature down there know they weren't alone. It was the least she could do. "And if anyone comes in here, I can play off reading out loud to myself. No harm, no foul. Now which one should I start with..."
Belle strolled among the shelves and glanced over summaries of anything that seemed mildly interesting. She wanted to make a good first impression if anything. Finally, she found something. She grabbed the book off the shelf and dragged a chair near the intercom, pressing the Speak button before sitting down. "I'm not quite sure what genre you're into, but this is one of my favorites. It's a whole volume of novels and short stories by a man named Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a private detective called Sherlock Holmes. His companion, John Watson, is a doctor who assists him in these adventures and it's written from his point fo view. Onto the first tale I suppose. "A Study in Scarlet." Oh this is a good one!" Belle took a moment to clear her throat before properly beginning.
"Chapter one. Mr. Sherlock Holmes. In the year 1878 I took of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to..."