A Valentine's Day collaboration by my hubby and I! (My plot, his lovely words! *evil grin* =D
This is based on the T.V. series Once Upon a Time, as an alternate ending to the episode where Belle and Rumpelstiltskin are depicted as Beauty and the Beast. Sometimes love can conquer all. WARNING! Contains spanking!
Dedicated to my beautiful wife Jenna, of course, enjoy!
Belle paused at the grand oaken doors that heralded the entrance to Rumpelstiltskin's castle fortress, her eyes still damp with newly cried tears. In that moment of hesitancy was spelled her intense desire not to leave the home of the man everyone else called a monster.
Belle crossed her arms around her chest as she glanced back to see that he had not followed. She knew what he felt even if he denied it to himself, but if he was going to push her away because he was too cowardly to take a chance…
Belle's foot started to move toward the door, her hand reaching for the handle, but she paused again as a furious thought took hold of her; she didn't really have anything to go back to. She didn't want the life that awaited her on the other side of that door, not her arranged marriage to Gaston nor the confinement of a princess' birthright.
Belle clenched her fists as she stood there at the threshold of the life her and Rumpelstiltskin could have had if it wasn't for his ridiculous notions. It was as if he felt that once she got to know him, that she would suddenly cease feeling the way she did now.
Belle felt the tears still wending their way down her cheeks, but she cried in vain since without reciprocation, her love was for naught. Without a clear understanding of what she intended to do but driven by the powerful feelings tearing at her and wanting to escape her confusion, Belle stormed back the way she had come, finding Rumpelstiltskin where she had left him in her old 'room'.
He looked surprised to see her return, and she wordlessly took hold of his hand, pulling the surprised man along behind her as she headed into the foyer, "Belle… what are you doing?"
Belle's face was composed, now, a look of seriousness permeating her features, "If I can't convince you of what I know to be true with words, then I'll have to find another means to bring you around."
Rumpelstiltskin's face registered only confusion as she sat heavily on a large couch within, and he seemed only more perplexed when she folded her hands upon her knee and looked up at him levelly, "I wish to strike a deal."
The golden man stared at her for some time before raising an eyebrow, his expression curious, "You want to make a deal with me?"
Belle nodded, "It goes like this; I am allowed one hour to prove to you that you aren't turning away from me simply to retain your power. If I fail I will leave and never again shadow your doorstep."
Rumpelstiltskin's face contorted in a strange look, "You just want another opportunity to plant a kiss on me and remove me of what is mine!"
Belle shook her head, "I promise I shall not engage in any form of romantic persuasion, you have my word."
The wiry-haired man tilted his head to the side as he pursed his lips and studied her a moment, and then finally said, "Very well; we have a deal. What do you feel you can possibly say now to sway me?" "By the way," he said before she had a chance to respond, sweeping an arm out to indicate a large clock on the wall, "You now have less than an hour."
Belle smiled at him tightly, "Conversation has failed me already, I already told you I seek another route. Come." With that Belle patted her knee, looking up at Rumpelstiltskin expectantly.
Rumpelstiltskin gave her an incredulous look, as if she had suddenly gone mad, "What?"
Belle indicated that he was to come closer, "I wish for you to lie down across my lap."
Confusion colored Rumpelstiltskin's face until sudden understanding lighted his features, followed by a look of outrage, "You can't seriously mean to do that!"
Belle frowned up at him, "We have a deal, and there is no romance involved in this discipline; now come over here."
Rumpelstiltskin's face turned red as he became flustered, "But why? To what end would hitting me serve other than to make me very angry? Besides, what makes you think I deserve this disc…?"
Belle gave him a look and Rumpelstiltskin changed his thought mid-sentence, "Okay, I haven't exactly been the straightest of arrows, but," The golden-skinned man drew up to his full height and gave her a righteous look, "I have always been fair to you."
Belle narrowed her eyes at him, "You have, but concerning the change in our relationship you have been decidedly selfish."
Rumpelstiltskin grew quiet, unable to argue with her on this, since whether what he had earlier stated was true or if she was right and he was a coward, he was painted self-serving either way. "Then this is really just about you punishing me for hurting you…" He smiled, "I must say I've never heard of so mild a revenge plot."
Belle gave him a confident smile of her own, "It's revelation I seek more so than retribution, but my motives shouldn't matter anyways, since we have made a deal, yes?"
Rumpelstiltskin's eyebrow twitched and he frowned deeply, "You're wasting your time and aggravating me, the former I care little about but the latter is quite dangerous…"
Belle met his gaze evenly, "I'll take my chances. Now get on my lap, or are you so afraid of this princess?"
Rumpelstiltskin's frown deepened, but he quietly moved over to her, stopping one more time as he leaned in close to her, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Belle was scared by the darkness that swelled in him, constantly flitting back and forth behind his strange eyes, but she showed him her bravest face, "I will need you to pull your britches down as well."
The golden-skinned man barred his teeth at her request, but after shooting a dagger-like glare at the princess, he reached back and pulled his pants down to expose an equally golden ass. Belle wasted no time, reaching an arm around his waist to secure him as she brought her hand down on his naked cheeks as hard as she could, her palm flat as it struck.
Despite having expected the blow, Rumpelstiltskin breathed out heavily, his face never-the-less registering surprise at the sudden swatting. As Belle continued to strike him he grabbed hold of the couch, wincing and still a little shocked.
As it quickly became clear that she meant to punish him as severely as her stronger-than-expected arms would allow, Rumpelstiltskin glanced back at her angrily, "I knew it; you only made this deal to humiliate me in addition to your attempt to assassinate my powers!"
Belle bit her bottom lip, checking her own emotion before responding, "This part is to show you how much hurt your cowardice has caused me. Would someone who wasn't in love with you care this much about your rejection?"
Rumpelstiltskin snarled at both her and the stinging pain she continued to cause him, "Still you continue your ruse! You can never win, though, and I bid you remember that your hour winds down, our contract binding you to leave, forever."
The man in her lap gasped as Belle kept the swatting steady regardless of the painful words he lobbed at her. She could only pray he came around in time, but she would not show him either her desperation or her worry; he must see only the strength of her conviction.
As time wended on Rumpelstiltskin could not help but to look at the clock periodically, helpless but to note that it seemed the hands of the device seemed to move more slowly between each glance. He tucked his face behind an arm as he grunted his extreme discomfort and annoyance.
Over time, however, annoyance turned into surprised dread. Rumpelstiltskin twisted as best he could to observe that Belle was panting, a bead of sweat on her forehead marking the strain of her efforts, "Do you derive some sick joy from doing this to me?" He tittered unstably, "And they call me the monster!"
Belle frowned and looked at him, but did not lose a beat in swatting him uniformly. "Perhaps as this continues, to the very end of my time if it must, you will realize that I'm not going to quit on you."
Rumpelstiltskin stared at her with wide eyes, taking in sharp breaths as her palm kept coming down, his body writhing in her grip. He went back to staring at the clock, his expression blank as he thought out how much she was planning on putting him through.
Only a scant few minutes had passed, and meeting the duration of an hour would take very long indeed when the golden man's cheeks already burned as if on fire from her ministrations. Rumpelstiltskin gripped the couch more tightly and hissed at the prospect of enduring the entire time limit, but he had made a deal…
Never before had someone used a contract specifically to injure him until now, not even the hardhearted Queen. If it was simply meant to make him suffer, then that would place
Belle as one of the most evil creatures he had ever encountered…
Rumpelstiltskin shook his head, looking back at Belle and for the first time since she started this exercise allowing himself to see the strained hope that marked her face so clearly behind her pretended confidence.
But hope to do what, to succeed in fulfilling her master's wish? Rumpelstiltskin barred his teeth at the thought of losing to her, but memories of how Belle had been pushed into his thoughts; the kindness in her eyes when she had asked about his lost family, the timidity of her voice when she had accidentally broken his tea cup that he had immediately marked as so very innocent…
All tricks, he thought. They could all be clever ploys and deceptions. Rumpelstiltskin glanced at the clock, seeing that he still had better than a half-hour to go. He clenched his teeth and cried out in rage, using his anger at the betrayal to spurn him to the finish.
It all fell away when he glanced back at Belle, though. Gone was her facade of strength, her show of force lacking all of its previous confidence as it seemed her hope waned, and she wept openly. The anger slid from Rumpelstiltskin's face; no one could fake such tears, he truly felt he looked into her soul now, and what he saw was the same thing he had seen before at the loom.
She loved him, despite his appearance or what he had done; this woman had grown fond of him. The greatest lie that protected him unraveling, Rumpelstiltskin turned his face away from her, not wanting her to see his own tears, which sprung up suddenly, as if a dam within him had been broken.
Sensing what he felt, not needing to hear his words to validate what had been realized, Belle stopped hitting him and pulled him close, both sobbing now. Rumpelstiltskin laughed a bit manically, "You are such a foolish girl to choose a monster over a life of luxury and freedom."
Belle turned to look at him, smiling as she leaned far enough to grab the corner of a heavy cloth that draped over one of Rumpelstiltskin's hidden full-length mirrors. She pulled hard at it and the cloth slid away, revealing the two of them reclined on the couch.
Rumpelstiltskin's brow was creased at confusion as to why she would have done such a thing until he realized belatedly that his skin had returned to a natural color. He brought a hand to his face, touching the soft skin there dazedly.
Rumpelstiltskin leapt to his feet suddenly and looked about at Belle wildly, who stared at him worry, "Is everything alright?"
"Alright?" he grabbed her hands in his and spun them both around as he Bellowed laughter, stopping a moment to awkwardly pull his pants back up as they threatened to drop to his feet. "I'm fantastic! It's gone, it's finally gone!"
Belle smiled at him and Rumpelstiltskin gave her an odd look, "I thought we had to share true love's kiss to break the curse though…"
Belle's smile widened as she narrowed her eyes at him, "We already have, but why don't we do it again just to be safe?"
Rumpelstiltskin smiled back at her, his voice a low promise, "Just to be safe."
The Queen snatched a vase from a stand beside her and reared back to throw it, a cry of fury escaping her lips.
The mirror shifted from the image of Rumpelstiltskin and his new lover and reformed into the green-tinged face of a dark-skinned man, "Wait! Don't smash me! Don't smash me!"
The Queen stayed her arm just in time not to ruin the strange mirror, smashing it against the wall instead and moving to sit down angrily.
After a tense few moments the voice from inside the mirror prompted her, "Why are you upset; didn't you want him to lose his powers? Now you are the most powerful sorceress in the land!"
The Queen sulked, setting her chin upon one black-gloved hand as she mused, "Yes, but he wasn't really supposed to get to be so… happy about it. Just you wait… I'll come up with something, and my happily ever after will make them all suffer…