A/N: I'm back! Yeah, sorry I got a little…off track. In fact another story off track, but I'm back now! Thanks all readers and reviewers!
~8~8~
Belle woke well before dawn to the sound of her door squeaking opening on its own magical accord; releasing her from her room for the day. The hallway was dark, but the sudden cool air that streamed in and brushed against her with its cold wisps that jettisoned her from the heavy sleep she'd been falling in and out of.
At the revelations she was now free to traverse the castle, Belle quickly jumped out of bed, and zipped out completely forgetting the pair of clothes tucked away in the chest that Rumpelstiltskin had so graciously donated to her.
As she exited the room, her permanent accommodations, she hoped, it had then become the quest of finding out what doors led to where in the servant's quarters. Thankfully, the first door she had come upon was a wash room allowing her a brief few moments to wash her face in cold clean basin of water taking the last remnants of sleep from her fogged mind and able to concentrate upon the quick illumination of day.
Afterward freshening up slightly, she's spent a good 15 minutes trying to find which door led to the kitchen and pantry. She was surprised to find how well the larder had been stocked with food, even a few pleasantly pungent ingredients she'd never seen before hung from parts of the rafters for easy access.
Once being a noble, she'd never cooked anything in her life aside from the one or two dishes that had piqued her curiosity every now and again. And even those the always patient cooks in her fathers castle had helped her with.
She grimaced as she began to slice bread she had found in a cupboard, realizing she'd have plenty of time to learn, but not this morning when she her new 'home' was still foreign territory. Fortunately tea boiling came natural in her limited cooking skills as well as toasting thick slices of bread over a banked cooking fire.
As she placed the items on a silver tray, she knew that'd be all she'd be able to do for the time being. Hopefully he would be a trifle lenient being her fist day and all and excuse the poor pittance for breakfast she offered him. His taste were probably more accustomed to eggs done up in some fanciful way and caviar or some nonsense.
Even as she stacked the meager meal on the fine quality silver tray, she knew her time to serve breakfast was nearing. He said he wanted it exactly at seven, and that time was closing in rapidly.
Now came the frantic scramble to retrace her steps and find what door led to the main hall. Belle stalked out carefully into the dim walkway, her hands laden with her burden as she half focused of keeping the tray from upturning and finding the right door. Since last night everything looked different, the shadows gone and the darkness less so. She recognized nothing in the myriad of the dim apertures of hallways and corridors that seemed to lead on forever in any direction and into a dank dusty darkness that promised nothing but horrors at the end of their paths.
Being that everything had gone modestly smooth so far, Belle was only mildly surprised that attempting to locate the correct door was far easier said than done as she had scoured what seemed like the whole lower tier of the castle opening doors and peering through crannies trying to find her way along to the main hall.
Murmuring franticly under her breath, she beseeched whatever deities might be listening that she would find it in time…
Sunlight filtered through the grimy windows of the main hall in long golden slanted shafts as the thing known as Rumpelstiltskin waited for his morning tea. He ponderously watched dust particles dance lazily in the streaks of light that managed to break through the thick curtains, as he rapped his thin wiry fingers along his chairs plush armrest in a rhythmic drumming.
In the silence his heightened hearing listened out for her as she precariously raced through the winding halls trying to find the right door in the maze he called his home. No doubt she was lost and bewildered at such a plethora of matching doors that lined the halls of his lavish citadel.
Rumpel smiled slyly as he plied his fingers together in amusement; hearing her footsteps nearing closer and closer in the frantic, yet never dull, game of find the correct door or face the master's wrath.
His slave had come to the right door now, he could tell. The beast could almost here her baited breath catch in her throat to see if it truly was the right opening that led to the main hall. She paused for a moment, perhaps adjusting her burden of tray and kettle and turned the golden latch with a quiet prayer murmured under her breath. She would enter in three…two…one…
"Right on time, dearie." Rumple crowed with a smile just as the main door creaked open and she peaked inside.
Belle's sigh of relief was almost audible as she padded into the huge room. She balanced a tray carefully in her hands that held a blue and white ceramic kettle and cups, along with a matching plate that was stacked with warm toast and a small pot of raspberry jam that sat to the side.
The beautiful captive offered him only a wary glance at his words as she carefully laid the tray on the wooden table, turning back to the new task of tea serving. Her heart was still pounding at just how close she had come to being late and the unpleasantness she was sure would have followed.
"Two sugars, please." Rumple stated with a thin smile, as he watched the woman try to concentrate upon her task.
She nodded but didn't look up as she poured the steaming liquid precariously into a cup. The warm steam swirled up in thin meandering strands about her face, the delicious aroma wafting across the room making Belle's stomach grumble faintly.
The beast stared at her, a slight smile upon his thin lips. "From now on you will dust my collection, launder my clothing, scrub the floors, cook the meals, and clean the rooms."
"I understand, master." Belle replied with a slight nod in his direction then turned back to her delicate job with the thin ceramic cup; careful not to spill a drop as she began to bring it to him. She'd almost done it perfectly!
"You will also skin the children I hunt for their pelts." He added nonchalantly as if it were an every day happenstance.
Belle's shoulders slumped, her hands falling to the side making the cup tumble away as her jaw dropped in disbelief.
Rumple grinned widely, a small chuckle passing his lips. "A quip." He revealed with a nasty smirk and a suppressed giggle.
The beauty's face was a curious mixture of relief and crestfallenness as she bent down to pick up the cup. So close to doing her first thing right, and he had to yank the rug from under her.
Warm brown liquid pooled about her feet and soaked into the no doubt expensive rug as she grabbed the fallen cup still rolling slightly from side to side. There was a slanted chip in it, but otherwise just as good.
"Uh…sorry." She said warily while hefting the cup up bashfully showing the chip. "It's still good, just a slight chip." Her gaze fell on the calm Rumple worriedly as if she expected him to explode at her clumsy blunder. Who knew what could set off the temper she was sure her master had lurking beneath the gray gold surface of his scaly skin.
He stared at her for a moment then the cracked ceramic held in her delicate hands. He had never used that particular tea set anyhow; a part of him wondered why he'd never noticed it before; it was actually quite a lovely set in a plain sort of way. "It's just a cup." Rumple shrugged uncaringly with a faint heave of his shoulders and a slight flutter of his fingers. "Now to continue, after you complete your chores, or I dismiss you for the day, you may use the rest of the time at your leisure."
Leisure, Belle forced herself not to grimace as she plated him a few pieces of toast slathered in jam. She was dubious she'd have any of that. Just one look at the Dark Castle had her wondering would it take an eternity to clean.
She nodded again, filling the cup anew with two more sugars just the way he liked it. She'd take to mind these little things he asked, so that it would already be on hand again.
"Have you eaten?" He inquired quite suddenly; peering at her from over the cups new cracked rim as he took a sip.
Belle shook her head. "No, I was planning to take my breakfast in the kitchen." She revealed.
"You'll share your meals with me from now on." He commanded mildly almost as if she might have had a choice to say no.
She turned to him, her eyes searching his inquisitively at the strange request but nodded dutifully. Back in her father's castle, the servants never ate with the nobles, but she wasn't in her father's castle anymore, this was a place with a different set of rules she'd now have to conform and abide by. If the master wished to break bread with her, then so be it.
~8~8~
The first day was mostly getting to know her was around the Dark Castle. The beauty made mental notes of what she should clean first and things that could wait. She discovered the closets that housed dusty buckets, mops, brooms, and other cleaning implements that had gathered dust of their own, with more than a few spiders haven spun their lavish sticky homes in the never used items.
The beauty grimaced stoically as she picked up one of the ancient brooms, hefting it like it was a spear. This would be her new friend, along with the mop and the bucket in her now eternal quest to keep the huge palace clean of the filth and debris of time.
She grimaced as her hands traced the patterns on the coarse grain of the wood over the broom handle. This wasn't a life she'd particularly wanted for herself but if the hand of fate had dealt her this then she would simply have to do accordingly.
As the day went on, the former nobleman's daughter busied herself frantically to learn the main rooms she could start on and then spread out from there. Occasionally she'd find the oddity, Rumpelstiltskin watching her, his midnight eyes narrowed in her direction searching and scrutinizing her; probably making sure she didn't try to escape.
If he knew her at all, he would have known not to waste his time thinking she'd run. Belle had never once in her life dishonored an agreement, and being that this one held the fate of her family and friends, she was loathe even to the thought of running from the…thing she'd sold herself to.
It was late in the evening before the beauty allowed herself a slight reprieve. Belle sighed in defeat as she leaned against a cool gray pillar to steady herself from toppling. She closed her cobalt eyes, her hands curled into tight fists as thoughts of her life that she'd been trying to subdue under the pretenses of hard work began to plague her.
And here she assumed she would live more than a normal woman's life. Long ago, the intelligent beauty had sworn to herself she'd not be as one of the other noble's daughters or richly endowed princesses. She had stalwartly refused to be a painted, pretty sheep whose only use was looking fashionable on a strong or rich mans arm at balls or diner parties; who fluttered her eyelashes and swooned at his daring stories of courage.
She wouldn't fall in love with the first handsome lunk that came her way offering her flowers and outdated words of affection that would be whispered in her ear. She wouldn't become some mild mannered house wife who ruled the day to day of her husbands castle while he was out and about making the 'important' decisions of their home by tacitly planning the war strategies and new ways to help his people.
No, Belle wanted to be a woman who used her wit and mind to stand beside her mate, not in the back tucked away in a castle as a cloak is tucked away in an attic chest; only to be brought out for special occasions.
Even with Gaston she had planned to have far more than the normal matronly duties simply because he was nearly incompetent in every other aspect save fighting. For all his knowing bravado he wouldn't even realize she was ordering things about. It wouldn't have been her perfect marriage, with Gaston, but at least she'd be doing more than knitting quilts with pale faced ladies in waiting and tittering about the latest gossips around the lands through sips of dark cordial and sweetly laced implications.
Now even that was out of the question. Now she found herself stripped of all title and prestige, to drudge for the most feared and hated monster in the entire realm. She wasn't in her most dreaded situation, of being a pretty little mannequin for a husband, but she was very close.
But perhaps this life wouldn't be so terrible, Belle thought with her last scrap of hope she managed to bring out for the day. Always an optimist, her strongest silver lining in the dark overcast clouds that promised nothing but despair and misery peaked through. She would still work and see progress she had made even if it was now in the most physical way. The balustrades would become polished, the furniture cleaned, his trinkets and collection kept in tip top order with out a spec of dust on any surface. There would be a satisfaction in her labors albeit small, not like managing a blossoming kingdom, but there no less.
"If this shall be my fate I shall make it a content one." She promised under her breath with a determined nod before going down to explore another stretching corridor that seemed to meander along for eternity.
~8~8~
Well her first day hadn't gone terrible, Rumpel thought as he watched the beauty scrub the last of the diner dishes. Her chestnut hair that she'd pinned up to keep from becoming wet in the soapy water fell in tiny wisps about her face, annoying her every time one blew in front of her vision.
She scrubbed with a vigor, sending particle of food floating in the water as she attempted to hum a little tune; but even that seemed to exhausted for her. It had been a long day for her, he knew, getting used to such a place and all.
She'd only dropped one thing, which he surmised was a plus to add to the day. A cup, some useless silly trinket that had four more of the same types. After she had left the tray to go figure out her chores, he'd picked up the tiny item fingering it gently as he peered at the slanted chip. He should have thrown it away, but had placed it back on the silver gilded tray instead. It was of course, just a cup.
"My, my if you attacked the ogres with the same gusto as you do pots and pans, I don't think your people would have needed my aid at all." He observed wryly from the darkness; allowing himself to be seen now that he had gotten bored of watching from the shadows.
A tiny yelp of surprise pierced her throat as she dropped the heavy pan in the soapy water causing a loud splash, and spun around to see him coolly reclining against the table, his arms crossed against his brown brocade vest and black eyes shimmering mischievous delight.
Her heart pounded like mad in her chest at the sudden noise when she had thought she was all alone. She had had a feeling something had been watching her, but had accounted it for the ominous air that seemed to enshroud the Dark Castle; not that he could be lurking in the shadows like some hungry predator.
"I didn't know you were here." She replied evenly; gathering back some of her demeanor. "Is there anything you need; more straw, a midnight snack?"
The beast snorted and rolled his eyes comically at her words in amusement. Him want a midnight snack? He wasn't a coddled five year old. "No, I only came to tell you that it's rather late. Time to go back to your room." He stated in his ever cheerful attitude.
"You don't have to lock me up." Belle sighed as she dried her hands on a rag. "I won't try to run. We had a deal and I shall abide by it."
"I like to lock up all my things at night- habit, Dearie." He replied nonchalantly tacking on his sinister little chortle. Pointing a finger to the direction of the door it swung open at his silent command with a faint hum of magic gliding through the air. "Off with you now, I'm sure you'll need your beauty sleep." He sniggered.
She was tired, there was no denying that. Her back ached, her feet hurt, and she felt totally crumpled. Flashing him a hard fought weak smile, she nodded to him once, gratefully. "Thank you." She replied quietly as she dipped out of the kitchen.
As she left, Rumpel made sure his features were carefully neutral to her observations. How odd, why did he all of a sudden sense a tingling warmth when she did that little smiling thing at him. Was it the sheer novelty of a smile directed at him? He pondered the sensation he felt, his scaled brow furrowed, as he trekked down the dark corridors back to his awaiting wheel.
As he sat to spin the straw into fine golden thread he couldn't shake the feeling of that look. It was as if it lingered on him like a specter haunting his person, of a fragrance of spring that hung to his clothes.
He snorted derisively once as the coarse straw and twine passed through his pinched fingers. That smile…how odd indeed.