Big Bad had assigned a shadowy personal maid to Belle, her name was simply Potts.
She would be there for every need of her's including the early morning meals as well as getting out the clothes Belle wear,
it felt like rather odd for her to be treated with such kindness from the so called "Beast".
This morning Belle had more much tried then the previous evening and she don't know how.
Potts had fixed for her a warm comfortable bath for which to fully get ready for tonight.
Belle had felt even more confused when it come to Ruby and what she wanted from her
As she undressed with Potts's help, it seemed to be hard to bloody think of Gaston and what he stood for. The man was a hero and she fell right into his trap of loving him while Ruby almost died for her when defending her from the Swamp Troll.
It was funny to her to not think of them both as "perfect gentlemen"
And yet one of them was a woman who cursed herself as a werewolf.
But Belle know she was not simply prize to be won. Yet Big Bad was winning in ways that Gaston would overwise fail at.
Ruby was mysterious while Gaston was plain, she was intense and brooding compared to the macho almost comical nature of him, even as a werewolf she still kept herself every bit of as a queen while Gaston would just do some hunting along with his job of monster hunting..
She was a monster while Gaston wasn't
Gaston had asked for her hand in marriage while Ruby remained silent on the issue as if that comforted her any better
Belle couldn't just say no to the handsome hunter and yet Ruby was making her doubt his word in so many ways.
She was feeling quite selfish for believing a werewolf would understand such a concept. Yet he was pursuing her love while she remained silent, she hated the fact that a creature like her was even confusing it further.
What made Ruby any different from Gaston in Belle's mind was still the fact that she was hired to kill the creature and it was hard to stop thinking of that.
"Keep the gloves on" Belle ordered to the shadowy maid as she get into her bath.
She was always nervous with the idea of taking off her leather gloves and no one not even her family would question it.
Belle closed her eyes as lower herself into the big tub that was seemingly in the back of the room. With the near lack of sleep had come with them a series of unnerving nightmares ,some of which troubled her endlessly.
Ever since her time in the city of Agrabah, she had always been on edge and she know why.
Just she just don't want to dwell on it or else she would lose her mind to those thoughts
Something dark had always kept coming up from the back of her mind, usually her hired jobs would make fine distractions from it but not always. She hated this feeling and it made her feel sick. Whatever it was she know perfectly well it wasn't anything good.
Swimming toward the edge of the massive tub, she grabbed from her small beg a black leather skin. She always kept it with her and what it had in it was far more greater then money. Taking the skin she opened her mouth to drink the strange smooth blue liquid that was inside.
After a full hour of drinking she stopped and wipe her body felt better then ever before
She felt more alive and she always need it before anyone asked.
Now she just need to find a way to stop the nightmares...
At 6:000 pm
Belle had dressed herself in flowing green dress she found that seemed to have been thrown away in the hall and had done up her hair in a tower bun, a popular look for ladies among Snow White's kingdom. She kept tightly to her gloves as she take sit in the far off end of the table. A lit candle was near her as there was no other light sources within this room
Ruby still had the same look of before, her full body displayed in a causal manner as sit with one leg swinging wildly over the side of the chair. She sit at the other end with a unlit candle eating as she did before Belle did.
Her red hood trailing at the floor as Belle entered this newer and much smaller dinning area, Belle don't understand how she was the one most elegantly dressed while her companion was still nude.
Belle must have thought that Ruby may have even forget the concept of clothes when it come to being cursed as she was. But she was used to it by now
"Now Big Bad, what is your question?" Belle said in a straight forward manner as Ruby smiled with the glowing eyes
"Will you marry me?"
"WHAT!?"
"I said will you..."
"NO...i can't marry you, do you even realize what the hell your saying or thinking with that" Belle was outraged as Ruby was restraining her temper, why was she was so hard on her?
"Am offering you the world, how many men can do that?"
"I HAVE A SUITOR, already Big Bad how the hell can you compare to him?" Belle said in a near temper as she continued
"You think i want YOU for a bloody husband, what type of fucking madness is this to think i would EVER to choose between at least one of you?"
"YOU saved my life for one thing, this "suitor" can ever make you happy or are you just a prize to be won by him?. Am not trying to force into something you maybe can't handle because i am really to start thinking he is NOT good enough for you"
"STOP thinking am apart of your world, MONSTER.
I happen to know he cares deeply for me and that he would go to the ends of the earth for me. Am not going to give up on my own personal duties to you!" Belle said as Ruby closed her glowing eyes from across the table
"Those "personal duties" would they happen to be Monster Hunter?"
"I wouldn't be honest if i say YES then"
"It doesn't matter to me, your just making things alot harder for me then they are. Can your suitor ever try to reason with why you went to kill yourself with your job?, can he think that your just doing it all for money?"
Ruby really don't care for her being a monster hunter just that someone else was at her heart
"According to you i just thought things like "True Love" was complete and utter crap?"
"That was a long time ago and besides i changed!" Ruby said in straight forward manner to Belle
"Well I haven't, you can believe what went to do Big Bad, but my feelings are already on one man and NOT a woman..." Belle was shaking suddenly
"...However brooding you maybe, you and i are simply poison together.
I have spent my life just locking my own heart against people like you.
Because each and every time i found someone to share it, they end up leaving me or they have no time for what the hell they do to me. And then they make me feel like i want to tear out my own heart and crush it into little pieces that way i wouldn't get hurt..."
"Am not trying to hurt you..."
"That's what makes this all the more funny, you CAN'T offer the entire world to me because i don't want the world!"
"What do you want Belle?"
Belle begin to giggle nervously as if Ruby had told a joke or something as she bite abit into the finger of her left glove as tears fell down her face
"...Can you make the nightmares go away?"
Before Ruby could say anything Belle left the table and open the door as she watched, not knowing as what she meant.
With her clawed hands she sit in darkness just eating the raw meat of boar
Silently she promised herself, she wasn't going to give up on asking Belle the same question as she looked at the old clock across the small room
"The answer is still NO..." Belle said on the next night
"You're asking me AGAIN...
"Okay which part of NO don't you understand?...
"Stop with this non sense about marriage, Big Bad...
"Rather jump off the nearest cliff while wearing anything even like a wedding dress...
"There is a thousand things completely WRONG with me marrying a werewolf!...
"I am NOT giving birth to puppies if that's what you thinking plus i personally HATE dogs...
"I think we can discuss who pays Miss Potts now...
"Alright this is becoming like a bad joke...
"I need a different dinner date then you, i heard ogres make for fine companions as they crush you...
"It's not that your woman!... it's just that you're a CURSED woman and...this suddenly become a very awkward conversion...
"Whose up for NOT talking to me about marriage ALRIGHT!...
"This is why i want someone ANYONE to come in and kill me right now...
"What are you FIVE YEARS OLD, the answer is NO...
"Your being unreasonable and you need a better reason for dinner then marriage...
"I AM NOT BEING UNREASONABLE, which part of last night is suppose to be different from the other nights?...don't answer that...
"Is this my punishment for something in a past life because this becoming really stupid...
"I rather marry a vampire then a werewolf, at least there dead...
"I rather marry the ugliest mermaid on the face of the earth then go through this again...
"Which PART of NO is so hard for you, listen Big Bad...I AM NOT MARRYING YOU!"
Belle stumped out of the room once again and this time slummed the door so hard that a nearby bookcase fall down,
Ruby just sit there once again disappointed...
"Well that could gone alot better then excepted...
"This is why Gran CURSED ME in the first place right?...
"There NO cliffs near my castle!...
"She isn't seeing the big picture,not that i know what that really is...
"Well she maybe not my type anyways...do i even have a type?...
"Am not a five year old!...
"She just has the wrong come backs ever!...
"Is EVERY night going to feel like this where she wants me to go right to Maleficent and be hired as a guard dog!...
"Why the hell am even doing with a brat like that again?...
"Dinner is going as about as well if i eat with a really angry giant that will crush me at any second...
"She hates ME and all i stand for, yet maybe i can try again the next night...
"Vampires don't get along with werewolves anyway!...
"Is there a reason she can't see a little bit of what i am trying to do here?...
"Marriage is like horses...they kick really hard!...
"Maybe i can get her to NOT try to tear down my castle with her biting words against me...
"She couldn't have at least not make me feel like i want to go BACK to the Evil Queen this time freely...
"Okay maybe am just so full of charm, wit and...she hates me!...
"I want to cry my eyes out and then rip them and...NONE of that sounds like a good plan!...
"Which part of NO don't i understand?, well let me see if i can't just...
"I am the world's worst suitor of all time and she still says NO!...
"I would have ASKED a mermaid the same question but then again maybe they spear me or something...
"Maybe someone in OZ can help me by looking for if that..."woman" has a heart or not!...
"My sister is dating THAT woman's sister!?...is that why my life completely sucks right now...
"Is she just upset that am not that suitor fellow and NOT a woman because if it is then am screwed!"
Each night felt like it was becoming a bigger mess then the previous one,
Ruby and Belle can't come to one solid agreement when it come to discussing the marriage thing at dinner.
And it seemed like they were growing ether closer due to hating each other or dinner was going really well in which case it still was completely terrible to both parties.
Ruby so determined to get her say "yes" and Belle equally determined to say "no", It was amazing they were still eating anything off the table given the fact that both were so still set in there goals.
Ruby had felt like she don't need this become a major issue in there ever complex relationship. But still she don't what she was feeling like around Belle even when they hating each other it felt more honest then anything she had known before with her previous disastrous handling with women as lovers.
She hadn't known how really handle everyone like Belle whose so opposite the personally of her. It was laughable that they would ever see eye to eye on anything but then again Belle on walks with her would still bring up the suitor now and again.
The suitor was a big issue with her and she couldn't let this unseen person interfere with any of her feelings.
He was someone who had indeed won his prize since Belle never stopped talking about how..."wonderful" he was. Ruby did know for a fact that it was the same way alot men within her court would talk about her.
The men would come from around the world just see and talk with the young, beautiful and single Queen of Red Forest, she basically deny any of there flattery. But now it seemed she was doing the same thing they were to get Belle's hand.
But it wasn't working it seemed at all.
It was hard to believe these two young women had no real connecting interests ether with each other.
Ruby don't get what made Belle so independent as she was once before her curse, now it looked like she was just courting randomly "normal" women just selfishly break her curse and Belle wasn't falling for that same type of charm that used to get her so many girls.
Yet she truly don't love any of them and after each night would usually end in a slap in the face. It was pretty much the story of her life that Belle could leave any time she wanted.
She did finally figure out Belle's entire purpose which was to kill the Big Bad Wolf and she was going to ignore that
For her own safety she had make Belle see past the monster she was...
Walking near a old small cave, Ruby saw Belle reading quite intensely at a old batted book as she sit down at the opening of it.
"I like the part where she's about to met her prince for the first time, she just don't realize him till chapter three"
Belle looked up to Ruby standing over her smiling "I'll read this book so many times, it was lying around the castle and..."
"Take it, everything within my grounds is yours including books..."
"Oh thank you Big Bad"
Belle looked to see a changed and excited look on Ruby's face suddenly as she spoke up happily "...Better yet follow me!"
Walking away from the castle grounds, Ruby lead Belle down a long stone pathway through a forest filled beautiful tall red colored trees.
Along the pathway Belle suddenly noticed a strange sight, what looked to be a small log one room cabin. Yet the entire thing was made from glass much like the roses, she looked to see that Ruby was ignoring it. Not wanting to question the sight before her she kept up with the black haired woman
The pathway ended near a line of trees as Ruby parted them to reveal to Belle a magnificent view...
A village filled with the same red brick look of the castle, the buildings stood taller and sleeker then the ones in Cocteau. Belle gasped in surprised for this must have been the same place she briefly viewed when she first come here.
The entire village it seemed to have been abandoned and yet she noticed lights were still on in some houses, there was amazingly enough running water for a small modest foundation in the very center.
"What is this place?" Belle questioned to Ruby
"Welcome to the town of Red Forest, don't worry no one has lived here for quite some time...
I come here to get away from my troubles but lately i guess that's been alot" She said rather sadly as Belle walked around the foundation
"Am feel too lonely lately as well, there's a issue with me that i...want gone so badly" Ruby noticed her tightening the gloves she wore as if not to pay attention to them as she continued
"What is it now you wanted to show me?
Ruby take her hand to lead toward the central building with a wide grin on her face as she kicked the door opened.
If Belle was amazed by this town, it was nothing compared to the look she now had to see a gigantic library filled to the brim with countless books. She run toward a huge pile in the middle of the room and begin to read the first book there smiling widely.
"Everything here is yours, this library, this entire town it is my gift..."
"This isn't a wedding gift is it?" Belle asked and yet Ruby stood in the middle of the room unmoving
"No it's more like a gift of friendship and not love, believe me when i tell you am a bad example in that area..."
"What caused you be this way?"
Ruby nodded her head wildly "Let's just say i kept making some very bad choices in my life and leave it at that..."
"Like the roses being a cure for werewolves, Queen Ruby..."
"I'll rather you called me Big Bad Wolf, i told you before of her mistakes and am still paying for them!..."
Belle walked around the taller woman, her leather glove running slowly along her red lips. Her other hand wandered to touch one of her breasts, Ruby cursed herself silently for moaning loudly in front of Belle.
"Whatever you did wrong am sure you're found a way to make right..."
"YOU HATE ME!, i know you do because you been sent here to KILL ME...
So what are you waiting for anyways Belle, if your going to do it...DO IT NOW" Ruby yelled out as Belle stood unmoving, her face was turning red as fresh tears fell down her face and her voice tumbled when she next spoke actually to her
"I don't know what to think or feel with you Ruby,
YOU CONFUSE ME with whatever your feeling including the fact that somehow you fell in love with me. Your fucking insane puzzle of a werewolf am pretty damn sure of that, how in the world am i going to explain to people of me MARRYING a werewolf.
How am going to explain to my family about us..."
"Us?..."
"For which is that no US, Ruby there never has and there never will, you're once again forcing me to choose ether you or my suitor.
And i don't know what to think or if there's a clear answer but right now i can't make my bloody mind. Yes i was meant to kill you but that's changed too and it's hard..."
Ruby closed her eyes to all that as she begin to spoke "Belle, if...if went to leave just please..."
Belle cut off the corny speech Ruby had made up in her head as she directly begin to passionately kiss with the abandoned library. They were so wrong for each other but yet nether one of them was caring at that point...
Next Chapter:Day of the Wolf