A/n Things may be getting ugly here folks but never fear, they are a couple that will bounce back, or will they? Ah, some beasts are too jaded to see what is right in front of them...
And remember reviews fuel the writers soul and quite honestly put a fire under my backside to write the next chapter ;-D
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I know it isn't true
I know it isn't true
Love is just a lie
Made to make you blue
-Love Hurts, Nazareth
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Belle sat staring at nothing in the fading light as she had been doing all day. He had been gone hours. Was he ever coming back, she thought fingers tracing the petals of the rose he had given her. She walked back over to the window again, looking out hopefully for some trace of him on the path below but all that greeted her was an empty path. She wrapped her arms around herself as the cold crept into her soul. Was what she did really so terrible? What, was wanting him to have freedom, them to have a life together really so bad? She walked back over to the chair and sat down, this time giving into her grief, sobs wracking her body. Did he not love her? Was this just a game to him? Was she just a pawn for him? Just some kind of fun? Was he never coming back?
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What Belle didn't know was that Rumple had never left the castle. She believed that she knew of every room in the castle but there was one she didn't know about. Rumple paced the secret chamber, his hand raking his hair. He was at a loss what to do. Once he took the Dark One's power he never thought that something like this would happen. He had given up on love a long time ago. He wasn't sure what he wanted. He knew that he wanted Belle and loved her, but at what price would that love cost? And what would the Evil Queen do to Belle if she ever found out. He shuddered with the thought. Without his power how could he defend her? What would happen to her? Could he take it if their love caused her end or worse?
He walked over to a long mirror, staring at his reflection. A reflection that he hadn't seen in so long that it was foreign to him. His hands balled up into fists. Maybe that was it. She couldn't love him as Rumpelstiltskin the beast, only Rumpelstiltskin the man. She didn't or couldn't accept him for who he really was. It was just a lie. She wanted to mold him into what she wanted him to be. That really wasn't love. It was more like hate. With a cry of pain and rage he slammed his fists into the mirror shattering it all over his arms. Enraged he turned and began smashing and breaking anything he could get his hands on. He had just raised his arm to hurl a vase against the wall when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. His hand was gold. The vase slipped from his hand and crashed to the floor but he took no notice. He looked at his other hand and saw that it was gold as well. He rushed over to the broken mirror and picked up a large shard. There, staring back at him was a figure he knew all to well. He was once again the beast, the monster to be feared by all. He let out his mad little giggle.
"That's right dearie! You can't change me!" he said as his dark side reclaimed him. With a determined look he stormed out of the room, intent on finding Belle. It was time for her to learn her place in this castle and his life. No one would make a fool of him!
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Belle left her seat and moved to look at the spinning wheel wondering if it could really help someone forget. She fingered it gently making the wheel move ever so slightly. She withdrew her hand as memories flooded her. Well, this is doing the opposite, she thought to herself. But there was no where she could go in the castle or on the grounds that she wouldn't have some memory of him. And what if he didn't return? What would she do? She could never stay in the castle, not without him. She would die of loneliness. But she certainly didn't want to return home of where she was very little value. And chances are she would not be welcomed anyway. She had left far too willingly. She walked back to the window but now it was to dark to see anything at all.
She sank back down in the chair letting out a deep sigh. OK, she thought I should have told him but how does one even begin to approach that? Hey listen, if we kiss or go even further you may turn back into a man...want to give it a go? She shook her head. There was no way to approach the subject and what a mood killer to boot. Besides she didn't even really know if it would work. Not for certain. Maybe once she realized that it was working she should have been more vocal in telling him what was going on. But she was very much caught up in the moment as he was. Still she couldn't help but feel guilty, that maybe just maybe he had a right to be angry. After all she had knowingly changed his whole form and did so without telling him, really telling him. But she did it with the best of intentions and she did it because she loved him. Love conquers all, right? They would get through this! He just needed to come back, allow her to explain herself, beg for forgiveness and throw herself on his mercy. After awhile she was confident that he would see that she made the right decision.
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Before heading upstairs to find Belle, he gathered some items and tossed them into her old 'room'. She thought she could change him! She thought she could use him like a plaything, did she? Hers to do with as she wished? He thought angrily. Well, she would soon learn her lesson! No one controls Rumpelstiltskin but Rumpelstiltskin! With a mad laugh he headed back to the great room where he hoped that he would still find her. But she would learn, oh would she learn...
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With a loud bang the doors to the great room slammed open. Belle jumped at the sound and turned.
"Helloooo dearie, did you miss me?" he hissed, standing in the doorway.
Belle's eyes widen and she jumped up from them chair. She unconsciously took a few steps back. There before her stood Rumpelstiltskin the beast. Her heart dropped when she looked into his eyes. There she saw nothing but rage and madness. The love, the tenderness was gone.
"W-wh-what hap-" she started to ask but the look in his eye told her the better of it.
He already knew what she was going to ask. "What happened, you want to know? Is that it? What happened to me?" he almost yelled, taking a step forward with each word. He stopped suddenly. "I have returned to who I really am. Quite a shock to you, I suppose. I am sorry to have to ruined your little plans, whatever they may have been. But when it comes right down to it, no one controls me and no one tricks me as you did, dearie. No one." With that he slowly, menacingly started towards her.
Belle didn't realize that she was backing up until she ran into the wall. Too late she realized that she was trapped between it and an enraged Rumpelstiltskin. She took several deep breaths trying to steady her heart which had been pounding in her chest since the moment he walked in.
He moved in close to her. A long black jagged nail pressed under her chin forcing her to look at him. "Not so appealing now am I?" he said with a humorless grin.
"It has never been about how you look on the outside." she said her voice steady despite her rising fear.
"Oh yes, yes and unicorns, pixie dust and all that." he said waving a hand dismissively in the air.
"What?" she asked very confused.
"I'll tell you 'what'." he growled between clenched teeth. "You dearie, need to learn a lesson and tonight you will learn one. Oh how you will learn." he chuckled. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him. Belle pulled away but was quite powerless in the face of his anger. He drug her down into the bowels of the castle. It was soon apparent where he was taking her. Belle renewed her struggles, but he just shrugged them off very intent on what he was doing.
He stopped in front of the open door to her old cell.
"Now let's get this straight, so there is no confusion. I am the teacher and you are the pupil." he said glaring down at her. He knelt down, bringing his face inches from hers. "You are going to learn tonight that you never, ever mess with Rumpelstiltskin." The last words coming out in a hiss.
"Please don't lock me in there again." she said her voice trembling slightly.
"Oh I am locking you in, but you won't be in there alone." He said his eyes narrowing.
"What are you going to do to me?" She shivered, something between fear and intrigue creeping into her body and mind.
"Oh now, I can't tell you that! That would ruined the surprise! And I think I owe you at least one surprise!"
With that he threw he in the cell, walked in behind her, shut and locked the door.