Forget Me Not
By: RosexKnight
With a gaping hole in her heart, Belle does the only thing she can think of to get rid of the pain: erase all the memories of her True Love. Rumpelstiltskin is back in the Enchanted Forest.
Chapter Two
"Belle this is crazy." Yes it was. "Are you sure this is even what you want?" No she wasn't. "I mean, I forgot my sister had ice powers when I was little and it drove us apart. Granted I had to but that's not the point. The point is Belle are you sure? Like really sure? Because you're gonna regret it if you're not 110% sure."
Anna had been trying to talk her out of it since they left the palace. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't 110% sure about this. About any of it. The entirety of her being was warring with itself. Part of her wanted to go home, to cry in her father's arms and marry suitor and be done with it. Another part wanted to listen to the reason Anna was saying and go back to Arendelle to slowly get on with her life. And still part of herself wanted to find a way back to Storybrooke to look for him, or go back to The Dark Castle and hope that somehow he was there waiting for her.
But it all hurt too much. What was the good of True Love if you were destined to always lose it?
"I'm sure, Anna." She said, waiting for her to catch up as she rounded a corner of a steep cliff.
She could practically hear Mary Margret's voice telling her it was a mistake. She knew first hand how forgetting a true love could devastate the relationship. She'd almost lost Charming because of a forgetting potion. But this was different. Charming always found Snow White. And there was a time Belle would have said she always found Rumpelstiltskin. But right now, she wasn't looking.
The rest of the walk to the Rock Trolls was silent, though Belle was sure that Anna had many more words of protest swirling in her mind. Heck, so did she. But she wasn't listening to them.
"Grandpabi? We..." Anna hesitated, glancing to Belle as they entered the quarry. "We need you."
One of the round rocks stirred, rolling to rest at Anna's feet. Belle blinked, and the rock was suddenly a familiar elder rock troll.
"Anna!" He said happily, "How was the honeymoon? Did Kristoff shower daily as I instructed?"
"Yes of course." Anna said with a nervous laugh. "The honeymoon was lovely, but that's not why we're here, Grandpabi. You remember Belle..."
The rock troll turned to the brunette. "Of course." He said with a happy nod, "Did the stone help you recover your memories?"
Belle but her lip. "Not exactly. It got complicated."
"Are you back to regain those memories?"
"No." Anna said, for once too nervous to speak, "She...We..."
"I want to forget my True Love." Belle finished, trying to make her voice sound firm. "I want to forget him. And my time with him. As if it never happened."
Grandpabi looked surprised for a moment, then skeptical. "Your true love?" He echoed slowly, "And who is that, my child? Why would you want to forget them?"
"The...The Dark One. Rumpelstiltskin."
"Your true love is WHO?!" Anna was squealing, and Belle flinched, "I thought I told you that you should never meet him! He's a monster."
"He's—" Knee-jerk reaction, Nothing more. "I know you did. But my kingdom was in danger and he could help so we sent for him..."
"And you fell in love with him?!" It was obvious Anna was trying to sound gentle, but it was all too much for her to process. "I mean I can see why he'd fall in love with you. You're kind and sweet and pretty. And I'm sure he has his moments but honestly he was nothing but a liar and a beast to me. He used me. Had me almost murder a man fir his own gain. How did you ever fall for someone so dark and terrible?"
"You knew him? He said..." Belle's voice trailed off. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Yes I fell in love with him. I thought I saw the man behind the monster. But just because he's my True Love doesn't mean that I am his. He's a man who makes wrong decisions."
"What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Belle turned back to the Rock Troll. Her only hope. "Please help me."
"A broken heart can heal only in time my child..." Grandpabi offered, taking Belle's hand in his. "And forgetting someone so close to it can be...complicated. The head may forget but the heart is not so easily persuaded."
"The pain though? The nightmares? They will all stop?"
"Yes."
"Then do it."
"Very well."
With gentle yet tentative hands, the rock troll began his magic. Belle could feel it tickling her mind, and then nothing but silence and darkness overtook her.
Belle's body fell limp and fell to a heap on the ground.
Anna rushed to the brunette. "Grandpabi! What-?"
"She will be fine." He said, purple magic still flowing from Belle to his hand. "Just a side effect, my dear. True Love is not so easy to forget. Such dark magic has touched her. But also so much light."
"You said her heart would still know. What did you mean?"
"The heart always knows." He explained, the purple magic coming to rest in his hand, and he closed them, forming a perfectly round red stone. "She will always feel a silent tug to her True Love. Just as everyone does."
"Will she be able to find love again?"
"That I don't know. True Love is the most powerful of magic. It can cross realms. I have heard tell that not even death can stop True Love. It can only delay it a little while. Here."
Anna took the perfectly round stone from Grandpabi. It seemed heavier than the memory stones she'd held before. "Why? She didn't want this. If I were her I'd just get rid of it. Destroy it if it holds any connection to that terrible man."
"Magic cannot be destroyed. It can only take on another form. The stone is her memories but also the magic of True Love within her." He patted Belle's head gently, his hand glowing for a moment, manipulating memories and filling in gaps. "She may need it. I don't know what will happen if she comes into contact with him again."
"Well." Anna said, her tone lighter with relief as she placed the stone in her pouch. "We're lucky that's impossible. I mean, he's all the way in that weird other world. I don't see how he could get back here again."
All those who had dared ventured towards The Dark Castle in its ruined state had quickly disappeared. Whether or not it was because the master had made them disappear with the flick of his wrist no one ever said. Because Rumpelstiltskin was back in the Enchanted Forest, and that's all that really mattered.
The Dark One himself was tearing through his castle, muttering only swears and inaudible phrases as he flung aside books, furniture, and damn near everything else in his wake.
"Has to be here. Has to be here."
The Queens of Darkness thought they were clever. Sending him back to The Enchanted Forest, thinking he'd be the same limp spinner he was when they saw him. But The Enchanted Forest had magic. And magic meant he had his powers back. Which means he could check on her.
"Aha!"
The sound was more of a snarl than cheerful as the imp's fingers fell upon what he was searching for. A silver mirror with gold designs. Something that looked so common no one would ever be fool enough to steal it. Which suited him just fine.
Brushing the rubble off of the object, his heart began to pound. It had been a month, two weeks, and six hours since he'd seen her. She'd banished him. Left him powerless and penniless without so much as a cane. And yet he could not bring himself to hate her. After all hadn't he deserved it? He had indeed, but all he wanted to do was see her. Make sure she was alright. Make sure she was healing.
"Show me Belle." He commanded, and the mirror's surface began to swirl with cloudy magic. When the surface cleared, he saw her. Belle was laughing. Her smile was enough to make his knees weak. But it was the setting that fascinated him. "That's not Storybrooke…"
Another girl came into view. Anna. The red-head pulled the brunette away, and the two were racing off to join Elsa, the ice queen, in building a snowman.
"Arendelle."
Rumpelstiltskin didn't know his knees had buckled until he hit the floor. Arendelle. She was in Arendelle. She was but a stone's throw away. And he could get back to her.