Hey there, a sad chapter today. I feel quite bad for Belle, it was always her and Rumple against the world, and now it's like it turns out she stood alone. I guess that it will take some time for her to find her way through this.

Belle

The smell of the tea gave me a lazy, cozy feeling. I had the cup folded between my hands since it was still too hot drink. I felt like I was in another world, just sitting there with the warm tempting tea that could not be drinked. It made me feel a little sad.

"How's the tea?" Ruby asked carefully, snapping me out of my dreamlike state. I was sitting in the cornertable at Granny's and the noise of chattering people reached my ears again. The little tea shop was quite full this morning, which made the empty spot opposite from me seem even lonelier.

"Yes, it's good, thank you." I smiled to her, although it was a bit forced.

"Tell me if you need anything." she said. I understood the double meaning of her words and nodded in response. Then she left me to take care of other customers. It was not that I didn't appreciate her kindness, but she would not understand it, not really.

Mindlessly I took a sip. The burning pain made me spill the hot tea all over myself: a reflex that only worsened the pain.

The spring morning was promising lots of flowers and sunshine, but instead it was quite cold and not many flowers were showing themselves. I walked through the park searching for those flowers. I plucked them until I had enough for a small bouquet. I bound the flowers together with a lint from my pocket and headed towards the graveyard.

The silence of the graveyard was quite an opposite from the crowdy tea shop and the big park. The silence was deafening, yet somehow peaceful. The only sounds I heard were my footsteps and the wind that was rusteling the leaves.

I signed a little as I stopped before a grave. I forced a small smile around my lips as I read the inscription: "Beloved son, Neal Cassidy".
'It's been a while, Neal.' I said, as I kneeled down by the grave and layed down the flowers.
'I know that we hadn't talked much with each other, but we both loved Rumple, didn't we? It always made us somewhat connected, in a strange way I mean.' I let out a soft laugh, 'Yeah, I guess now I can relate to how you felt when he let go of your hand. It's quite a sad thing, loving him, isn't it?'

Chapter 1 part 2 The adventure is starting! I think I will change the form to omniscient narrator because it reads better

'It's a good thing you thought of him as a hero in the end... He wasn't always this way.'
Suddenly I realised something that hadn't crossed my mind before.
'It doesn't make sense...' she whispered, 'It's not logic at all!'
Rumple had always tried so hard to change for Neal and her. He was even willing to give his life for them and the other people in town. It just didn't make sense that Rumplestiltskin had such a drastic change of personality in such a short time. It couldn't be solely because of Neal's death. He would know that Neal would've wanted him to make the right choices, the heroic choices.
No, it had to be something else and there was only one thing she could think of.

Once Belle was back in the library, she started going through all books that involved dark magic. It took hours to even scan all the works, but she kept searching, completely focussed on her job. By nightfall, Belle slipped down against one of the bookcases, while letting out a big sign. There was nothing she could find about the dark one. She did expected that, since the library used to be Rumple's property, but this was quite the let down.