Chapter Three:
Terror flood through Rumplestilskin the moment he opened his eyes.
He was laying down on a cot in a small bedroom, completely unfamiliar to him. His whole body hurt, his head ached, and his left leg felt like it was on fire.
Rumplestilskin groaned, and attempted to sit up, but found that he couldn't. His arms and legs were tied down with rope to the cot beneath him. Panic flared in his chest. He was captured!
"Oh!" his head snapped to the side, eyes wide, to see a young female human, a woman, with shoulder length almond brown hair and the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen standing in the door way to the bedroom.
"You're awake," the woman said, rubbing the side of her arm awkwardly with her other hand.
At first he didn't understand why she should feel awkward, especially when he was her prisoner. But then he realized that he literally wore nothing but his spaceship boxers, and a few bandages.
His face went hot, and if his species could be seen blushing, his face would be turning bright red about now.
The woman approached him, and he shrank back, afraid. He knew what his own species did to the humans they caught, and though he had never approved of it, he still helped them catch human after human to experiment on as he was the pilot of the ship.
The ship!
Rumplestilskin began thrashing about, desperately trying to free himself. He had to get back to the ship, back to the others! Were they ok? Had Nimua and Zoso been captured as well?
The last thing he could remember was his ship being hit by a strange projectile and then everything had gone hay wire. The ship had swung out to the side swiftly, and while Rumplestilskin had been trying to turn it back upright, he had accidently flipped it so that it flew upside down. After that they had crashed through the trees, and part of the ship had caught fire.
He jerked back again as the woman gently brushed her hand against the side of his face, her eyes full of concern. The woman bit her lower lip when he jerked back, and then stood back up.
"It's ok, I won't hurt you," she told him, "My name's Belle. What's yours?"
Rumplestilskin stared at her, his throat refusing to work, even to make the smallest of sounds. Should he say something? No. It's all a trap to get information out of him about the upcoming invasion of Earth.
But how did they know about the Nano-humans' plans? Had they seen the ships? Rumplestilskin was sure that he and his fellow space-craft pilots had been extremely careful about not going out during daylight, and being sure to stay away from large crowds of humans.
"Um, can you understand me?" Belle asked hesitantly, she was still figiting.
An idea instantly popped into Rumplestilskin's mind at her uncertain words.
He grinned at her, "Why of course I can dearie," he quipped in the highest pitched voice he could manage.
Maybe if he could scare her, he could manipulate her into untying him, then he would run off and find the other members of his crew. They had to get back to Boov, their home planet, where the high council was waiting for the last invasion prep team to return, which would let them know if it was indeed a good time or not to start the invasion.
Belle swallowed hard, her eyes widening in surprise, but to his disappointment, she didn't seem the least bit afraid of him.
"So why won't you answer my question then," Belle asked, narrowing her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest, and huffed in annoyance.
I can't let her know my name, I can't let her know my name!
"Why should I tell you dearie," Rumplestilskin spat, "You've captured the wrong Nano-human to be questioning little human".
He could tell his words surprised her, but not his hostility. She had obviously expected some sort of aggression from him, but then again what else could she expect. Even humans had to know that prisoners weren't pleased to be captured by the enemy.
"Questioning?" Belle echoed, her brow furrowing in confusion, "What are you talking about? When I found you, you were half dead. I was trying to save your life, alien".
She was toying with him, trying to manipulate him into giving her his complete trust. But it wouldn't work. He was too smart for that, too clever to fall for a human's tricks a second time. But he would play along with her little game.
"Of course you were just wanting to help me little human," Rumplestilskin purred in his pitched voice, "I'm sure you've already helped my comrades, haven't you?"
The woman shifted uneasy from foot to foot. She stared at the floor, suddenly avoiding his gaze. This immediately perked Rumplestilskin's interest.
"When I found your ship, they were already dead," she told him quietly, "I'm sorry, but I was too late to help them".
Rumplestilskin felt the icy hand of fear squeeze his heart, his comrades were dead. He was captured and stranded on a hostile planet, completely on his own. He was without any way to contact his allies.
The room became deadly silent for a few moments while this news sunk in. He had never been particularly fond of Nimua and Zoso, but at least he had known he could trust them with his life should they come across trouble.
And now they were gone . . .
"Are you hungry?" she asked him.
He looked over at her, "Why so you can poison me dearie?"
Belle huffed angrily and shook her head in disbelief, before the young human left the room. Rumplestilskin listened to the sound of her footsteps as she walked around the cabin, trying to find something. A few moments later she came back holding a bowl of strange golden pellets.
"This is cerial," Belle told him, and popped a few of the pellets into her mouth. She chewed noisily and then swallowed, waiting.
He stared at her for a few minutes, then she came over to him, and sat on the edge of the bed. Rumplestilskin automatically scooted as far away from her as possible. He didn't like the idea of humans touching him. Didn't want a human to touch him in any way.
Especially since the clothing he wore barely covered his modesty.
The last time he had been this close to a human like this, lying down on a cot, almost completely unclothed . . . Rumplestilskin shook himself. He didn't want to even think about that instance from his past. He had worked too hard to all but erase the incident from the records on his planet.
Belle rested the bowl of "cerial" on her lap, and took a few pieces out of the bowl, holding them in between her fingers as she placed them just in front of his lips.
"Here," she said, "You know it's not poisoned because I just ate some".
Rumplestilskin swallowed hard, his belly felt too hollow. But he didn't want to let this human, or any human for that matter feed him. Didn't want to be tied down, so helpless, so vulnerable.
No, I won't eat anything she gives me, no matter what, he decided.
His stomach growled in protest loudly.
Belle frowned, worried, "Its ok, I'm not going to hurt you. And I know you're hungry," she said with a pointed look at his stomach.
"No, I'm not dearie," he snapped, turning his face away from the food in her fingers.
Oh, it smelled so good, even if it did look like pellets. Or was that just his body' natural reaction to smelling food when he was hungry?
Belle sighed, "Fine, don't eat. I'm not going to force it down your throat".
She stood up, and placed the bowl on the night stand, then turned back to face him, "Is there anything you need before I leave for a little while?"
He snorted, "You're leaving me unguarded? Not so wise little human."
Belle huffed, and paused at the threshold to the room, her hand on the door knob, "Who says I'm leaving you unguarded". With that said, she left the room, and closed the door behind her, leaving him alone.
I have to find a way to get out of here, and back to Boov, so the invasion can start, Rumplestilskin thought.
Hope you guys liked this chapter. It took a bit longer to write than normal. As for future chapters, I'll try to keep them long.