Ok, so sorry about not posting sooner, I got almost done, reread it, and found I hated the second half, twice, but now it's here, so enjoy.

Thank you to NicoleMuenchSeidel and Ryunn Kazan, for the wonderful reviews.

And on that note, no one tried to guess Belle's suitor for this chapter, come one guys, if I ask you to guess, can at least one of the 131 or so people who read chapter three please try and guess.

"Kuzco, Emperor Kuzco." Rumpelstiltskin couldn't hold it in anymore and just started laughing. Between fits of laughter he said, "For a…second…I thought…you wer…were in t…trouble."
Belle did not see the humor in this, and so did the logical thing any girl would do, she hit him with a pillow to emphasize each word. "This. Is. Not. Funny…The. Mans. IS. An. Idiot."

After getting hold of his senses, with the pillow's help, he finally managed to talk. "I'm sorry Belle, but from the way you were acting, pacing back and forth, bighting your lip, looking like the world was going to end, I thought you were in trouble."

"I am in trouble, I'm going to be sent off to marry an Emperor who lives on the other side of the world, who is the most self centered men on the planet."

"I wouldn't say the most…"

"I heard he has a planetarium with his head in the center."

"And that's true, but it's only a forth of the way around the world, or three froths the long way.

"It's still really far away, I'll miss my family, friends, you."

"Little Dearie; One, I can go anywhere I want at any time, so you won't need to worry about me. Two, I can cut travel time down a lot if you miss Snow White. And three, to my knowledge, in the last three years that his advisers have been looking, the average time it takes him to dismiss them all is ten seconds, he goes "Ew, no, no, sorry, and let me guess, you have a great personality,". So I don't think your father really wants you to marry him," he knew that was probably a lie, and that her idiot father probably thought that that moron of an Emperor could make Belle happy. "I think it's just a quick trip to a new and exotic location to help lift your spirits after what happened with your last betrothal, but there is a very small chance of marriage, so it's a good excuse to let you go. And then you can come back and look at real options."

"Still…."

"Still what, you're worried about something, what is it?"

"I guess," She sat down on her bed next to him with a frump. "I guess I just thought he would wait more than a week to spring another engagement on me."

"Like I said, he proudly thinks nothing will come from it, and if it does, it a rare opportunity for an Emperor to say anyone can attempt to court him."

"I know, it just seems so soon."

"Let me tell you something, courts are very fussy, they think that if you are 21, instead of being in the prime of life, you're an old maid. You, I'm sorry to say, are a baby maker, not much more, and so your father wants to find you a husband, so you can have lots of kids. Although the reason why four to five years makes the difference between you being a young women or an old maid is beyond me, personally, I find woman closer to 25 - 30 are better for making children then a 16 year old, stronger body and all that."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well, unlike the last one, Kuzco should be relatively simple. He is obsessed with perfection, perfect castle, wife, everything. He is also very superficial; he only will care about looks. Now while you are quite beautiful, anything imperfect will make him run. So if I gave you a blemish on your face, a mole, scar, anything really, he will not want you." Rumpel said, while dancing around the room, almost missing the blush on Belle. "Is something the matter?"

Belle wasn't sure why, but something about him saying she was beautiful meant more to her then when others said it, like he really meant it. "What, oh, nothing. It's just…"

"Yes?"

"But what if someone notices I suddenly have a blemish that wasn't there before?"

"I can make it so only he can see it."

"But what if..."

"Dearie, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you believe I might fail or something." He then put his hand on his chest in fake hurt. "Really, have you so little faith in me."

"No."

"Good, now, there is that age old subject of payment. I believe me last deal still stands."

Belle had to think for a moment to remember what deal that was, when she did, she became nervous. 'What do you think of me? And why did you kiss me? Oh and you have to be completely honest when you answer me.' She hadn't know what to say then and was still unsure how to answer, of course Rum was her friend, but why would she kiss him, even if it was just on the cheek, it was still a very intimate gesture, one only shared between family. Did she think of Rum as family, of more than that? She could still remember one time after her mom had died, she had been crying and her dad hadn't comforted her, still grieving in his own way, with large amounts of alcohol.

It had been a bad day for Belle, the first anniversary of her mother's death. Her father had spent the day locked in his study; a servant had brought in a keg of mead in for him a half hour later. But other than the servant that had lost the dice roll, and there for was forced to check on him occasionally, no one was aloud in the room.

Belle had been sad to, everything reminded her of her mom somehow, and there was nowhere to go where she wasn't assaulted by painful memories, the library, where her mom and her had spent hours reading, her room, where her mom brushed her hair. The color black or white, or a lily, reminded her of a funeral. The way smells of flowers reminded her of the perfume her mom let her try once. Everything was painful, so she did the best, most logical thing she could, she cried her eyes out.

After crying for a minute, or an hour, she wasn't sure, she felt someone stroking her hair. "There, there Belle, don't cry. Why is my brave little Belle crying, and on such a nice day, there is no reason to cry, is there?"

"Mama died today." She said in a very sad and pathetic way, but also very cute.

"Now why does that make you sad?"

"Because I miss her."

"Ah, the age old question. You know, I once loved three different people. One didn't love me, she said so herself many times. The second loved me greatly, but I lost him. And the third was an evil witch, who also didn't love me. Now, do you know what I learned from all three?"

"What?"

Rumpel scrunch up his nose, got in real close and said. "You don't know what you got tell it's gone. That's the thing about love dearie, it can slip through your fingers easier than water, can be gone faster than a lightning strike, and most people are guilty of wasting it." He then moved back. "The thing you must not focus on is what could have been, you must focus on what was. Focus on the good memories, focus on what you had, and remember the good time. Remember, that the past is the past, nothing can change it, but you can use it to tell you of the future."

"And what does your past tell you?"

He then became completely serious "That there is only one thing I can ever truly love, and until I find it again, I must be careful not to love anything else. Because any time I have loved anything, I've lost not only what I thought I loved because it didn't love me, but I lost another part of my heart, and more importantly, sight of my ultimate goal."

'Is that what he's worried about, love? Of course she loved him, but in what way, she loved her people, her family, her friends, and hoped one day to have true love. But what category was Rumpel in. And what did she say so she didn't lose him.'

"I sorry, but I still don't know myself, I think I was just overly grateful for your friendship, I'm so sorry if it made you uncomfortable."

She was being honest; his Belle was the world's worst liar, maybe even worse than that. "No, it's all right, it was just shocking, that's all. Last time I was kissed was before your parents met, maybe even your grandparents." He joked, at least about the grandparent part.

The trip to Kuztopya, was everything named after the Emperor, was long, hot and boring, Belle was glad that Rumpel put a cooling spell on her, who whore 12 layers in this weather, the urge to take everything but her underwear off was extreme otherwise, but three layers of thin cotton seemed like too much even then, and her maids would probably faint if she did. 'They only have on three layers of light clothing, why do I have to where all this in this weather.' Although she did feel a little stupid for complaining when Rumpel took care of her, but the stupidity of her clothing was no less true.

The real tortured though, was the long bumpy road, after 3 days of rather interesting scenery change, they got on a boat. The ocean was pretty, but it lost its appeal after a minor storm, and really, what was so nice about a big expanse of water as far as the eye could see, there was nothing to see, and she had run out of books.

But the road there was the worst, no new books the whole time, even though she saw a book store, or kuzcroll store, no one would let her go in for a minute, and then it was a 4 day trip to the palace, with nothing to do but count how long they could go without being jostled by a big rock, 23 seconds was the record. 'I'm getting Rum to take us back, if I have to spend a month cleaning his castle to make it so no one asks why were back so soon, I'll do it whistling.'

But they got there, a bit worse for wear, and Belle was told that she would get to meet the Emperor in three days. "I hate this trip more and more Rum. If dad thought that this was a way to help me forget Humperdinck, he did, I can barely remember anything from all the bruises."

"Maybe he's trying to remove your spirit of adventure; I'm tempted to not leave my home for a month just looking at you. How they think you can survive with that much on, and travel on such bad roads without 12 mattresses to help you with all that bouncing is beyond me."

"I think I broke the seat after a really big one."

"I'm sure you did. But there is a bright side."

"Really, because right now the only bright thing I see are the places where the bruises are only bright red, and not some other color."

"The bright side is you have 3 days to explore a town with some very large book stores, and I have a bag that has three spools of gold thread worth of coins in it, and nothing better to do with them then use it on you."

And so, for the next three days, Belle went and bought every book she could find. She bought so many, that Rumpel had to get more coins. By the time it was her day to go before the Emperor, Rumpl was sure there were no books, scrolls, pamphlets, or any paper really left in a 20 mile radius of the palace, 'that's what I get for offering to teleport all the stuff back'. Belle however was bursting with happiness, so it was worth it. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU." Belle said squeezing the life out of him in a bear hug.

"You're welcome; you can repay me by letting go." Which she did after a minuet more, "I hope I've managed to make it so the trip wasn't too painful."

"If you teleport us back home, I think I'll be fine."

"I suppose, I could be persuaded to help. But are you sure you don't want to go back via a long uncomfortable carriage ride, and a bumpy boat ride."

"NO."

"A well, I suppose a bit of help getting back is reasonable. But first we have to keep you from getting engaged." He said, standing her up. "Now for your attire, a simple mole on your forehead, like such." He then waved his hand. "And you won't have to worry about getting married."

"Good."

"Now if you need me, I'll be busy with a deal, so you can tell me afterwards how it went." And with that, Rumpel disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Waiting for the Emperor was very boring, so Belle decided to sit down and read a scroll while waiting. It was very peaceful, until they heard someone singing.

There are despots and dictators
Political manipulators
There are bluebloods with the intellect of fleas
There are kings and petty tyrants
Who are so lacking in refinements
They'd be better suited swinging from the trees
He was born and raised to rule
No one has ever been this cool
In a thousand years of aristocracy
An enigma and a mystery
The quintessence of perfection that is he

'And not very humble' Belle thought.

He's the sovereign lord of the nation
He's the hippest cat in creation
He's the alpha, the omega, a to z
And his perfect world will spin
Around his every little whim
'Cause his perfect world begins and ends with Kuzco

What's his name? Kuzco...That's his name... Kuzco... He's the king of the world! Kuzco... Is he hip or what? Kuzco... Yeah!

It was a great relief when the music stopped; there was only so much praise Belle could take in the course of one minute. She was about to start reading again when she head.

What's his name? Kuzco! Kuzco... That's his name! Is he hip or what? Don't you know he's the king of the world? Whoa, yeah! Oww! Kuzcoooooooo...

!BOOM BABY!

"Aah, your Highness! It is time for you to choose your bride!" Said a short man, he then directed Kuzco over to were Belle and the other girls were waiting.

"Allrighty! Trot out the ladies! Let's take a look-see. Hate your hair, not likely, yikes, yikes yikes, and let me guess, you have a great personality. Is this really the best you could do?" Was all Kuzco said to them and the little man.

"Oh yes! Oh, no! I mean, perhaps!" Belle was starting to pity the man. Having to find girls for Kuzco to reject every day must get boring sooner or later.

Belle was more then happy to leave, she came, she got to explore, got a lot of new reading material, all in all it had been a great trip, at least once she got here. When she got back to her room, Rumpel was nowhere to be seen, but there was a glass of wine on the table. "Rum, you are a life saver." She said to no one, and then took the glass and drank happily. Then everything went black.

Rumpelstiltskin had had a good trip; he had sent the ingredients to Yzma a month ago, and had just gotten the latest shipment of potions.

Yzma was by far one of his best clients, he provided goods to make her potions, and she got to keep a few of each batch. It was always amassing how many different types of transformation potions she could make, he remembered once she made a giant tooth potion, along with a few other very unusual one's, like body swapper, or a reverse potion.

He had gotten done early and was waiting for Belle, when he had heard the most annoying singing, someone was praising the Emperor like he was a king of gods, or king of the world at least. 'They need to get out more, see the rest of the world', but after a minuet the song ended, 'what a relief' he thought. And then the singing started again, and so he just gave up, went out to the balcony, and cast a spell so he couldn't hear anything, 'it's a good thing Belle got such a nice room, anymore of that and I might have killed the Emperor to stop it,' he then laughed, or I could use I could use one of Yzma's potions and turn him into a lama.'

And so he just stood there, imagining the life the ruler of the land would lead, how funny it would be to see him eat grass and how he would probably get eaten by panthers or alligators. 'Or maybe he'd make a squirrel angry, and it would try to do him in.' Now that would be funny.

When ten minutes had passed, he figured it might be safe to go back in, and if they were still singing, he was defiantly going to turn Kuzco into a lama. But when he got back in, there was no singing, just a light purr.

'A light PURR!' his brain was yelling at him, trying to get the point across that something wasn't right, and that something was a very confused looking brown cat. 'How in all the realms did that get in here' then the cat started mowing, and trying to stand on its head or somthing, "You think your adorable doing that, don't you."

It was only then that the cat noticed him, and it looked scared, and then started mowing franticly, "Smart cat at least, begging for its life. Personally I've always been more of a dog person, although puss in boots was always a fun drinking partner, odd girl, but the stories she told dunk could rival most of mine." 'Are you really talking to a cat?' 'Who asked you? And yes, that is perfectly normal behavior talking to an animal.', 'for a crazy person.', 'I'm having an argument with myself, and I'm the Dark One, of course I'm crazy. And will someone shut that cat up.'

It was then that he realized that the cat had kept meowing, going high then low, like it was testing its voice for the first time. "If you aren't carful cat, were going to have to test to see if cats really do have nine lives." He threatened, and the cat's reaction was unexpected.

"Rum, don't, please." It took him a minute to realize that, the words he had just heard had come from, well, the cat.

"Belle?" He then looked over at the table and saw the tipped over wine glass. And then he remembered he was going to test the one of the newer potions of Yzma's, the cat potion. "Oh my dear little Belle," He then knelt down and pated the cat, Belle, he meant Belle, on the head and skracthed behind her ear. "what am I going to do with you. I leave for ten minutes and you become a cat." He then picked her up and went over to where the other potions were. "I hope you realize what would happen to my reputation if someone saw me holding a cat. Cora would never let me hear the end of it." He said as he looked for the human potion, but the one he found would turn Belle in to a guy, 'that mental image is horrifying.' And sadly Yzma was not very good at labeling her potions. "Well, it looks like its trial and error Belle."

And so he began giving Belle a small amount of each potion, and made sure to label each one clearly. Lion, tiger, bear, oh my. lizard, frog, spider, bunny, lama, oh the irony. "Rum, I don't think this is working." Said the lama Belle. "Won't the potion just where off, or maybe the person that made them have one that could help."

"Yzma could help, but she is a little bit crazy, and I have nothing to trade her for another potion." He said, but when he saw how sad she looked, he thought he thought of something. "We could see if her assistant Kronk would be willing to help, but the man, while well meaning, has the intelligence of a post."

"Well, I don't think he could make it much worse than it is." And all he heard was 'famous last words'.

And so Rumpelstiltskin and Belle went and looked for Kronk, when they found him, he was preparing dinner. "Hello Kronk."

"Hellow Rumpe… Um, are you aware there's a lama following you?"

"Yes, she's a friend, she drank this," Rumpelstiltskin said putting the lama potion on the table. "And I was wondering if you know if Yzma has a potion that will make her a girl again, all I have is a man potion."

"Rrriigghht, well, I think she might have one, but I don't know, all I have is a vial of poison." Kronk said setting a vial from his pocket on the table.

"And why do you have that?" Belle asked.

"Oh, uh, no reason, certainly not for poisoning Kuzco because he fired Yzma. Oh." Kronk said, realizing he said too much. "Um, you guys won't mention this, will you?"

"I'm a girl." Said Belle.

"It's an exspretion." Kronk defended.

"How about a deal then Kronk, something to ensure we both get what we want. I let you carry on your plan, if you go, right now, and get that potion, the young lady has to leave soon." Rumpelstiltskin said and his own flashy, over-the-top way.

"DEAL." And then Kronk ran out of the kitchen.

Now, Belle had to admit that Kuczo was not the best Emperor in the world, but he didn't deserve to be poisoned. But on the other hand, or hove, he was not the nicest fellow, and was very selfish, she remembered one of the guards saying he had throne an old man out a window for interrupting his dancing to that song earlier. So Belle knew what she should do. "Rum, could you go and get me a glass of wine, for when the potion gets here."

"Belle you don't need to worry, her potions are always flavorless."

"Well, if it all the same, please, it would help me feel better after such a weird day."

"Alright dearie, if you really need it." And he went to go fill a glass of wine, and while his back was turned, Belle switched the positions of the poison and the lama potion. "Here you go."

"Don't forget your potion Rum." Belle said pointing to the poison.

"Yes, thank you." He said pocketing the vial. And then Kronk came back.

"Ok, here it is." He said holding up a vial, he then put the countenance into the glass of wine. "Drink this and you'll be human again."

"Aaah...human again. Well, wish me luck." Belle said, about to drink the potion.

"Wait!" Rumpelstiltskin yelled. "Why don't you drink this back in your room."

"Oh, ok, well, good luck Kronk."

"You to madam." Kronk said, more focused on the food he was making.

"Don't forget to put the poison away." Belle said.

"Oh, thanks." He said, quickly pocketing the lama potion.

When Rumpelstiltskin teleported them back to her room, Belle finaly got to drink the wine that would help her. "Well, wish me luck, again." And so she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and drank. And after drinking the potion, Belle felt much better, more like herself, but very cold.

"Um Belle." She heard Rum say, but he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"What is it, is something wrong?!" She said, afraid to open her eyes.

"Well, depends on your point of view. By the way, you never told me you had a birth mark."

Belle had to think for a moment, she had a fecal on her neck, and one on her arm, and a mole between her…

Her eyes flew open, she had a mole between her breasts, and she now knew why she was cold, she was naked. "Rum, you… you…" She didn't even bother finishing the sentace as she ran around trying to find some clothes. "You know a gentleman would look away."

"Well then it a good thing I'm not a gentleman." He said, and then with a wave of his hand, some clothes appeared. "I guess the cat potion was more experimental then she said, normally you get your clothing back."

"Yah, thanks for the warning." She said throwing a pillow at him.

"Think of it like this dearie, if I hadn't told you to wait to drink the potion up here, you'd have been naked in front of Kronk to. So really you should thank me."

"Really, and just why did you want me to come up here, did you know this would happen."

"No, I just figured the less Kronk knew about our connection the better, he's not the best at keeping his mouth shut."

"Sure, so what do we do now, I for one do not want to go husband hunting again for at least a month, or five."

"Sadly I can't make your father do anything, but I could cause a minor disease outbreak to keep him busy."

"If no one dies or hurt badly, I fine with that."

"Oh, no need to worry, I'll have it be something like an outbreak of red spots on their body, no one will die, or even have much more than an annoying cough."

And so Belle returned to her kingdom, and a week later reports of an outbreak of a sickness causing red spots began coming to the castle.

King Marcus, however, decided that after two weeks of the sickness that the kingdom needed help, and it just so happened that one of Belle's marriage contracts was from a doctor.

'Nice man, smart, a doctor, and a brilliant war strategist, and he's in need of gold to fix his kingdom. The marriage has advantages to both sides, young, handsome, and his contract had few requirements. It's perfect, I'll have a man sent there to tell him of Belles arrival, and she'll be there in less than a fortnight. Count Belle Lecter, what a lovely name.

Once again try and guess who it is Belle is off to woo (or un-woo) to be (or not to be) her husband (Look at chap one for a clue, (no I can't be any more obvious as to who it is without saying his name (although I did say part of it and the title) so don't ask for more clues) so go back and look there for details as to who it could be.)

You read it up to here, what are you thinking, why not review and tell me.

So please review.