Belle was not one for staying inside all day. Usually she was one to jump at the chance to stretch her legs and bask in the warm glow of the sun, but on that particular day she would have preferred to do anything but. She had been awoken that morning by the sound of a brewing storm and as she inched her way out from beneath the covers she felt an immediate gust of cold that pierced her all the way down to the bone.
There had already been a basin of hot water prepared for her when she entered the bath and Belle felt almost as if she could have thrown open the door to Rumpelstiltskin's chambers and kissed him on his reptilian lips for what she considered to be a grand gesture of kindness. She did not take long washing up or getting dressed, though as she walked out of her bedchambers she found that Rumpelstiltskin was already waiting for her.
"You are late this morning," he said, arms crossed over his chest.
"Forgive me," Belle said, offering him a small curtsy. "I suppose it is the cold getting to me." Looking over at the grandfather clock she saw that it was only a few minutes passed six, though she choose not to press him on it.
"It couldn't be that my caretaker has become an old woman?" Rumpelstiltskin inquired, his giggle filling the hallway. He gestured for Belle to follow him and began his descent down the staircase.
"I am leaving today on business and there are a few things that I need for you to do for me." he explained. "You are to ready my horse, Thrasher, put together my saddlebags, and prepare a meal for my journey. You will do these things with haste and be ready for me within an hour."
"Yes, of course." Belle said, nodding her head to each of his requests.
"Very good, Dearie." he said, and then left her to her own devices.
This was how Belle found herself outside only half an hour later, cloak flapping wildly around her body and rain plastering her hair down over her eyes. The stable seemed to be miles away and her hot bath from before an even more distant dream as she trudged through the muddy grounds. Wind tore through her body, making her bones creak and tense and Belle feared that it must have been true that she was becoming an old woman, trapped in the body of an eighteen year old.
When she finally did reach the stable she threw open the doors and was greeted with such an overwhelming stench of horse that it brought tears to her eyes, though she was quick to choose this over the numbing cold outside. The door was closed before she had even lit her lantern and she stumbled about in the dark for a minute or two before there was finally a spark of red flame.
The two horses, Thrasher and Marigold, seemed to back further into the recesses of their stalls, unfamiliar with the bedraggled sewer rat that stood before them.
Belle threw back the hood of her cloak and pushed back the hair from her eyes, stepping towards Thrasher's stall. "Please do not be fearful of me," she said, her teeth chattering. "I have come only to prepare to for the master, not for your maker."
Thrasher seemed hesitant at first, but did choose to approach her in the end, allowing her to stroke his silky black mane.
"Good beast, wonderful beast," Belle murmured, relieved that at least one thing was going as planned that morning.
The preparations for Rumpelstiltskin's journey went on better than Belle would have expected, with only a bump or two in the road that couldn't really have been avoided. Regardless, she was still a few minutes late from when Rumpelstiltskin had demanded and he was sure to let her know about it.
As he left his great estate, looking quite the vision of doom and despair in his masterfully tailored suit and matching black cloak, Belle felt her breath catch in her throat and realized something quite awful; this would be her first time alone at the castle since her arrival. Many people would have been more than happy to be rid of the imposing man for a few days, though for Belle it posed only as a sort of punishment.
The great stone walls which held many the sparkling treasure of kings and fairies alike also paid as home to the greatest loneliness in the world. Each sad, tired step that would reverberate off the walls would be hers alone and even the absence of his great, piercing laughter would burrow a hole deep into her heart.
Rumpelstiltskin seemed unaware of her despair as he mounted his great steed, though before he left he had one more thing to say to her.
"The doors to the outside will not open for you until I return," he said, staring down at her from above his mount. "It will only bring you great suffering to try to escape."
"The doors?" Belle said, her body tensing up. "But if I cannot leave… what of Marigold?" she asked.
"Fear not for Marigold. She will be taken care of." he said, pulling his hood over his head.
"Do you not trust me?" Belle asked, her breath ragged as she tried to fight back tears.
"You said it, Dearie, not I." And with that he was gone, Thrasher galloping strong and true into the distance.
Rumpelstiltskin was quite true to his word and Belle found that after she re-entered the estate she was not again able to leave. Even when the storm lessened and the faintest of golden sunlight was able to peek out from behind the clouds she could not go outside to feel its warmth on her skin.
On the first day that he was away she stumbled upon the library. The shelves covered entire walls and reached to the very ceiling, filled with more books than Belle was sure could have possibly existed. She could have taken an armful of books each day for an entire year and she wouldn't have even begun to scrape the surface of all of the stories hidden away underneath each leather-bound cover.
Without her master around to check up on her with his usual quips and add-ons to her chores list Belle was finished around midday and usually snuck away to the library where she would devour Shakespeare one day and Voltaire the next. Eventually, though, even books were not able to console the gnawing feeling inside of her and she had to find new ways to busy herself.
For a couple of days she took to baking but once her dress started to tighten she knew that this activity would have to be shelved. There was then the few hours that she favored water color until her paints smeared together and her flower garden somehow turned into a circus of elephants.
Each day as she tried to find new ways to entertain herself it became more evident that what she needed was a healthy dose of sunlight and fresh air. What started off as the occasional glance soon grew into hours a day of her staring outside, daydreaming about riding Marigold through the fields or of planting a garden to bring forth some life in the castle other than her own.
Her hands had become blistered and nicked over time not because of her chores but because of Rumpelstiltskin's promise. Each time that her fingertips even grazed the front door she felt a jolt of electricity make its way into her body. It was not long after that she learned that the windows also would not open for her. She was a captive of the castle and was beginning to grow sick from the artificial light and stale air that could never even begin to replace the beauties of the outside world.
When she would get up each day and see herself in the long wall mirror she had to look away, no longer sure who the sickly girl before her was. She had grown into such a weak, old thing and a growing fear of hers was that by the time Rumpelstiltskin would return she would have withered away into dust.
Rumpelstiltskin had been gone for the past two weeks and in that time the castle had become the visual definition of immaculate. Belle had left not a single surface untouched and often went back to re-dust or re-scrub areas that she had been hard at work on only a couple of hours before.
It was late into the evening before Belle even put down her trusty broomstick or feather duster which she had taken to wearing on a belt at her waist. She had to yet to go into the library for her usual break and hadn't had a proper meal since the afternoon before. As she lowered herself down into one of the cushy armchairs by the fireplace her entire body seemed to be convulsing for the need to find something else to do. In the great main hall of the large estate she threw her head back and wept, wept for herself and her insatiable loneliness.
It was a long time before she could even lift her head up from her grief and when she finally was able to it was because she heard someone call her name. Her skin turned whiter than a sheet and as she got up from the chair her legs were shaking. From the window she could see the full white moon, signifying the late hour. Who could it be calling for her? Was it Rumpelstiltskin? Who else could be there in that terrible, lonely place?
Again her name was called out and Belle knew not else what to do other than open the door and let in whomever was calling her. As she approached the door she feared the electricity that would sear her flesh thought as she closed her hand around the knob she found no pain. Throwing open the door she nearly sank to the ground and pressed her lips to the Earth out of pure jubilation. Before she was able to fully lose herself the voice called out for her again and she snapped back to attention.
The voice seemed to cry out from the direction of the forest and as she listened harder Belle felt in her heart that it could be no one other than Rumpelstiltskin. He sounded hurt and without even gathering her cloak she went off after the sound of his voice, desperate to rescue her only other companion in this lonely piece of the world.
Above her head the trees worked as a cover which hid from her even the white light of the moon. Each sound, even the slightest, kept her alert as she made her way deeper into the heart of the woods.
"Where are you? Where are you?" she cried out, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Rumpelstiltskin, where are you?" Just as she was beginning to reach a clearing where she could make out the light of the stars she tripped out a thick root that had been hidden along the forest floor.
As she struggled to get up she felt a coursing pain shoot through her each time she brought weight upon her one foot. There was a cut on her forehead and just as she began to dab at the blood with her fingertips did she felt the warm breath against the nape of her neck.
After riding since very early in the morning to almost midnight even the greatest of mounts were capable of growing tired. Thrasher was beginning to sag from the weight of his master and though Rumpelstiltskin did pity the old Clydesdale he still would not break down and set up camp. All that kept him from his home was a single forest and he was determined to sleep in his own bed that night and be awoken the next day with the usual warm cup of tea from Belle.
His keen yellow eyes made out the path before them and he urged Thrasher to continue onward. It was just as he was able to make out one of the towers of his estate that he heard a very feminine shriek pierce the air. He knew of no other woman who could have been around for miles and was quick to dismount Thrasher and send him in the direction of the castle. Where he was going, Rumpelstiltskin knew, was no place for a horse.
Without the burden of Thrasher Rumpelstiltskin was able to give into his more animal instincts and threw his nose up in the air, searching for the scent of the young woman. He tore blindly through the forest until his nose caught the stench of wolves and his head went back with a brilliant roar of anger. His eyes made out their tracks among the forest floor and as he followed them he was able to find their camp.
They were speaking in their broken wolf language of Belle and of how they would dispose of her. She was battered and bleeding and the stink of her blood was beginning to stir feelings of hunger from within the pack. A small silver wolf made mention of the price on the girls head that had been made by an outside force, one who had walked on two legs.
"What are we to do of her?" the wolf hissed, biting at the ankles of one who meant to take a bite from Belle's shoulder.
"She made no mention of wanting the girl in one piece!" barked another, earning the approving howls of his pack mates.
"Oh, please, no." Belle cried, her voice coming out as a croak. "I will do you no good. I am all skin and bone."
It was just as they began to advance on the girl that Rumpelstiltskin made himself known, launching himself out from the darkness at one of the larger wolves. He sunk his teeth into the wolf's flesh, earning a howl of pain which echoed through the entire forest. Other wolves were now beginning to set their sights on Rumpelstiltskin, coming to the conclusion that he would be unable to fight them all at once.
They came out at him in a wave of fangs and claws, aiming to kill and feast on the scaly man. Rumpelstiltskin growled back at them as if he were of their own kind and tore into their bodies with his bare hands. He was able to take at on at least two at once and while he took many hits from them he was able to eventually push them back into the darkness, their tails tucked between their legs.
When he finally approached Belle, blood dripping from his lips, she let out another hysterical cry, and flattened herself against the tree on which she laid against.
"Why did you try to leave?" he growled, crouching down so that he could face her.
"I, I…" Belle whimpered, crying out when he caught her jaw and forced her to face him. "I thought I had heard you…!"
"Do you think that I'm an idiot?" he snarled, his gaze boring holes into her eyes. "Do you think that you can lie to me? That you can lie to the man who holds your life in his hands?"
Belle was fortunate for the fog in her vision that her tears created, though she could still feel his tight grip on her which she was sure would leave bruises the next day.
"I thought you were hurt…" she whispered, her voice hushed as she took in shaky breaths of air. "I thought you needed me, but you weren't there. You weren't there for such a long time. Every sound was my own until it wasn't… I thought it was you…" She was hysterical and underneath the moonlight her eyes had bags and were bloodshot.
The great beast of a man took pity on her, allowing for his walls to came down. No longer did he his eyes resemble those at the wolves that had threatened her life only moments ago. Gathering her up in his arms Rumpelstiltskin murmured, "Hush," and started towards the estate.
Belle cried against the warmth of his chest, clinging to him as she had to her father when she had been a child.
When they finally did reach the estate Rumpelstiltskin looked over the open front door and saw that there were no signs of struggle; no shattered glass as well as no door hanging off its hinges. Walking inside he closed the door with the back of his foot and then began to scale the stairs. The candles in the hallway lit up as he passed them and when he finally reached Belle's chamber she tired herself out from crying so many tears and was now sleeping.
Even as he laid her down on the bed she held on to him and Rumpelstiltskin looked to the sky, cursing God for torturing him like this. "Let go, you silly girl. Let go." he whispered, prying her clenched hands from him. "You do not want me like this. You do not want me at all."
He did not go to sleep until hours later, finally entering his chamber after taking a long bath and having something warm to drink. As he lowered himself against the soft goose feather pillows and pulled his blanket to his chin he thought of Belle and how broken she had been. His lips curved into a wistful smile as he realized that he must have looked like that nearly everyday of his life.
