A/N: I have changed the rating to M, mostly because there will be some pretty dark topics and violence in later chapters. I hope this doesn't put anyone off, just want to be on the safe side.

Chapter 7

Red felt her heart start to beat faster, shooting blood too fast through her system as she watched Belle's pale face. It wasn't just that she'd be forced to run again, it was the shocked expression on the girl's face. Sweet Belle, now forced to hate her and fear her like everyone else.

Belle nodded, answering her question.

"How?"

"There was a group of men at the tavern tonight and they had a picture of you with the name Red Riding Hood written on it. That's why you didn't want to use your real name, isn't it?"

Red nodded once, her gaze fixed on the other girl's, trying like hell to decipher every little change in her face. At the same time Red wondered why she had returned to the room at all.

"They were saying all kind of horrible things about you, but I won't believe a word of it. I want to hear the truth from you." She started to move again, walking with more hesitation than before as she pulled out the chair and sat on it, facing Red. "Will you tell me?"

She was actually offering Red the choice not to. Red watched her with wonder as she sat on the chair, cross-legged, waiting for her to speak. For a moment Red considered if it would be better to tiptoe around the subject or give her the brutal truth. How much did she already know? Red decided that didn't matter. The wolf was out of the bag anyway. She owed Belle to tell her the truth and she was just gonna have to live with watching her go. Red took a deep breath and prepared herself. She shortly wondered what kind of reaction her confessions would bring about this time. Disgust? Hatred? Fright?

"I wasn't travelling through the forest; I was chased by a hunter. I'm… Whatever they said, Belle, I'm sure it's true."

"Well, tell me your version."

Red started again: "I'm not… entirely human. There's a monster inside of me that breaks out every full moon no matter how hard I try to contain it. The only thing that has ever stopped it is my hood. It's magical, you see, and it keeps me from turning. Only the hunter tore it with his sword and the magic seeped out of it. I turned and… I killed him." Red kept a close eye on Belle's face and a knot tied painfully in her stomach at the sight of her eyes widening. She said nothing, but kept looking at Red. Red couldn't hold her gaze, but looked down. "I can't control it. It's why I run. Before I had the hood I would always turn and kill someone and the word travelled, so I'm wanted dead in most of my own kingdom. At first we could make people believe that it was a wild animal, which when you think about isn't that much of a lie, but in the end people found out. That's when I ran away from home. It's been four years now. Most of the places I come to now, they've already heard of me and they send their soldiers after me. This is one of the few place I've been where people haven't recognized me immediately. The hunter must have chased me far. He was quick. The reason I got hurt was because I was focused on the hood and I didn't see him swing his sword. It was a silver blade, so… I honestly don't remember much from after I turned back and until I ran into you."

Red stopped for a moment and dared watching Belle's face again. She looked absolutely horrified and Red's stomach twisted with anxiety. Suddenly she felt like her world would crash in on itself, if the girl got up and left. God, you're so stupid Red. Why did she have to like this girl so much, just because she had taken care of her? But it wasn't just that. It was her smile, her adorable accent, her passion for something as distant to Red as books. The way she moved, such light steps that spoke of freedom and innocence. She must be something of an opposite of Red, but perhaps that was it. Red longed for innocence and freedom, but more than that she longed for Belle, she realized. Not because she was a personification of Red's desires, but because she made Red feel good about herself. Until now.

"I heard them say you killed a young boy at your village? In Westloch?" Her voice was impossible to interpret. It sounded like a simple question, one of curiosity only with only a hint of darkness at the edge. Red barely reacted to the notion that Belle now knew of her hometown back in Westloch. If she had she might have been frightened to learn just how much everyone seemed to know about her.

Red nodded and watched the girl's face grow darker. "Peter. He was my best friend and for a while something more. It was the night I realized what I was. Neither of us had any idea. They say that if you're cursed with the wolf it breaks out the first full moon after you turn thirteen. That was then. Please believe me, when I say that it was an accident. I had no idea and my grandmother, she… maybe she tried to warn me, but I had snuck out like I always did and she couldn't find me. I don't think she knew about the first moon either. It took us by surprise…" Red trailed off and looked at Belle with pleading eyes. She hadn't meant to plead, but if she could at least make Belle understand how difficult her monster was to control, Red could have hope that the girl in front of her wouldn't hate her, when they parted ways.

Belle had pulled a hand up in front of her mouth as if to underline the horror of what she was hearing. When she let her hand drop and spoke, Red held her breath without realizing it.

"I think I knew. That there was something about you. The men said that animals run from you and I've seen that, or insects in either case. You always move with such caution like a scared, well, animal. I can feel that, but coming to know you I just can't believe what they said. I heard them say that you would kill anything in your way", Red cringed at this, knowing it to be at least partly true, even it was outside her control, "but we're all still here. I'm here. I believe you Red. I believe that whatever's inside you it's out of your control."

Red gaped at her. This girl must be some kind of saint. Or the truth hadn't sunk in yet.

"So you're a… Werewolf then?"

Red nodded, speechless.

"I've read something about it once. How the moon affects you. I think I heard you that night, there was a howling-"

"Belle."

Belle cocked her head slightly to the side and looked at Red with question in her eyes. Her posture in the chair was remarkably relaxed. Red could only assume that of the two possible scenarios, causing Belle to act like this, it had to be the latter.

"Why are you still here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why haven't you gotten up and left yet? I really glad you believe me and that you're not disgusted with me like most people, honestly, you can't imagine how much, but it doesn't change that fact that I'm dangerous. There's a reason animals run from me by instinct and all the soldiers in the kingdom wants my head on a plate. I'm a monster and I always will be. And I have no protections spell anymore." Red said this with a growing desperation as her words seemed to have no significant effect on Belle. Now she even leaned forward.

"You don't seem like monster to me. You don't seem dangerous." She said the word with a grimace, like the word itself was appalling to her. "To me, you just seem like someone who's been hurt a lot."

"I am the one who hurts", Red said in a dark voice.

"I don't believe that. Not on purpose anyway."

"That's the point!" Red threw her arms in the air in exasperation. "I have no control! I'm an accident waiting to happen. Come full moon the wolf will come out, unless..."

"Unless what?" Belle was watching her intensely. Red sighed.

"Unless I can repair the hood."

To her surprise Belle's face lit up in a smile. "That's what we will have to do then. How is it done?"

Red pondered this in silence for a moment before she answered. Should she really tell her? Looking at Belle's naïve smile, she knew it would be difficult to keep her from going with her. Red couldn't have that. Not only did she not want to put Belle in harm's way, she was also… Distracting.

She looked at Belle again. She then sighed once more, finding it hard to deny Belle at least answers.

"I have to return to the dark wizard who made it. That's Rumpelstiltskin."

Belle's face fell and the smile faded from her lips. Inside Red there was a battle between ambivalent emotions. Belle might not want to go back to the place she had just escaped and this was supposed to be a good thing, but Red felt a sting of disappointment at that same thought. But she should want to stay away. Red didn't want to go there herself if there was any other way.

"I know the way to the castle", Belle then said, leaving Red in disbelief once again.

"Belle…" She started, but trailed off at the look of determination on the girl's face. Red found her to be quite a stubborn girl.

"It could take you a whole week to get there, if you don't know the way. And I'm guessing you don't want to stop anyone to ask directions? There must be a little over two weeks until the next full moon. He's not an easy man to bargain with, you might need that extra time." Clever too.

Red tried a different approach: "But you said you just ran from his castle. You really want to go near that place again?" Belle had never actually used the word 'run', just that she was somehow fired, but Red recognized a fellow refugee when she saw one.

Belle hesitated with her answer this time and it seemed she had hit a soft spot.

"I don't know. I'm torn about that, but I want to help you."

"Why? You barely know me."

"I know enough", she simply said and the crooked smile returned. They shared a look and Red could taste something new in the air. A change in atmosphere. Red's infatuated mind fed on this change and she held Belle's gaze with a mimicking sideways smile and a silent gratitude. Belle became the first to tear her eyes away and she shifted nervously in her seat.

"Um, I think it's time to change your gaze, if that's okay? It shouldn't stay on for too long."

"Sure." Red started to get up, but paused for a second. "You know, I think I can do this myself now, if you don't want to." Red sincerely hoped she did.

"I don't mind", Belle said in a quieter voice as she looked at Red, while getting up. "Besides you can't reach around yourself properly."

"Okay, but at least let me make it easier for you by standing up for once."

"Are you okay with that?"

Red nodded. "Yeah, I'm feeling much better." She was actually. The fever must be withdrawing, because the sense of cold was fading and the dizziness was down to a minimum as she stood up and lifted her shirt to give Belle access to the bandage. It was different like this. Now that she was standing, it felt even less like a patient-caretaker situation. Belle must be feeling it too, because her movements showed more hesitation this time as she unwrapped Red's stomach. Red stood still, watching her. She only now realized that the other girl was almost a whole head shorter than her. Red could smell her hair and watch her changing expression from a safe hidden space above her.

Belle's eyes widened as the sore became exposed.

"Look at this, it's incredible! That wound was a finger deep six days ago."

"Fast healer", Red said with a smirk and debated internally whether to tell her that she dug out a piece of silver from of her stomach in order for it to heal. She decided against it and settled for: "It's one of the perks of being what I am."

"Well, it looks good. You'll be able to travel very soon. Alright hold still, I'll be right back with the fresh one. In the meantime let this get some air." She turned and left the room. Red tried to inspect the wound herself. It was now looking like a normal human flesh wound in process of healing just the way it should.

Belle returned shortly thereafter with the cleaner, whiter gaze in her hand. She closed the door behind her and stepped close to rewrap Red's body. The fresh layer of fabric felt good against her sore skin, but not nearly as good as Belle's soft hands tracing the gaze-covered skin, smoothing wrinkles out. Red stifled the urge to close the last bit of distance between them. To place mimicking touches on Belle's body and pull a little at those thick, soft-looking curls… Pull yourself together, Red.

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" She asked instead.

"What, help you?" Belle looked up as she said it. Good God, she's so close. Her hands still lingered flat against Red's stomach, but just then she seemed to realize it and she let them drop. Red nodded. "Of course I am. Why?"

"Because I think you're gonna regret it."

Belle shook her head. "I don't think I will. Besides, it might be best that I return. That way I can talk to Rumpelstiltskin and sort some things out."

"Things like what?" Red asked with wary curiosity. She was aware that there was a lot Belle hadn't told her about her job there and whatever this was, it clearly wasn't just employment issues. Belle sighed and increased the distance between them. She looked around for a moment and then settled for the chair again, the whole time acting like this was a particularly trying subject.

"He and I, we… We had a complicated situation. My working there was a deal to save my kingdom with help from Rumpelstiltskin. I was supposed to stay at his castle and work for him for the rest of my days. Somewhere along the way we fell in love." Belle was talking slowly, like she was reliving the memories as she spoke them. Red had sat down on the bed and felt a new uncomfortable knot harden in her stomach, as Belle went on: "I think he fought it a lot. Myself, I didn't even realize it until I was in the middle of it. We only ever kissed once." Belle looked down as she said this and continued watching her own fiddling of hands. Red couldn't decide if it was out of shyness or pain. "It did something to him. It began to take away his magic. Like our love was cancelling his dark magical skills. When he realized this he broke away and panicked. He locked me back in the dungeon where I spent the first two weeks of my stay and he drew into himself again. Shut off from me, became malicious. In the end he chose his power over me. He began to shy further away from me and I barely ever saw him until one day I tried to confront him. He lost his temper, started tearing up the place and screamed at me to leave. I think he was afraid he would hurt me. And I ran. I feel bad that I did instead of consoling him. I accept that he can't love me and that there are parts of him too dark for a human heart, like my own, to hold, but I long for reconciliation. And I do want to help you. I might be a bigger help than you think."

Red nodded without speaking. She hadn't been prepared for this. The care with which Belle spoke of him. It felt like the knot in her stomach had branched out and was starting to strangulate all her remaining organs. She mentally kicked herself for having played too much with the thought of Belle and her soft touches before. She didn't even know if Belle felt any of the sorts. If she was even capable. That change in the air could have been anything. It could have been spun from her own hopeful mind, never even real. Red suddenly felt much more reluctant at the thought of going to Rumpelstiltskin's castle. When Belle finally finished telling her story, she looked up and Red was caught by the look of passing unhappiness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry" was all Red could muster.

"It's okay, I've come to terms with it, like I said." Red couldn't help but feel that this was a lie.

"But why you anyway?" She asked.

Belle smiled a little. Red didn't think she realized it herself and she felt a jab of jealousy at watching Belle relive another memory with the wizard.

"It was Rumple's condition for helping my father. For defending the kingdom. I asked Rumple the same thing, to which his answer was that he needed a maid, but really, I think he was lonely."

"Hm", Red mumbled. called him Rumple. "But why did your father…"

"He's the king of my kingdom", she said. This made Red forget her jealousy for a minute to stare at Belle with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"You're a princess?"

Belle snickered at Red. "Well, not anymore. I gave up that title when I went with Rumpelstiltskin."

Red was still astounded beyond words. Here she was, an outlaw by accident, a monster, and her beautiful caretaker was a princess. Actual royalty. It was as odd as having the queen serve you dinner. What was more impressive was that Belle was doing just that. A girl like her had without a doubt had a brighter upbringing than Red herself, one within a giant castle filled with servants and shiny objects. And now she was nursing Red all day and worked at the tavern to pay for their board and lodging.

"You are by far the bravest person I have ever met." Red paused to see the girl squirm in her seat under Red's admiring look. Then she added: "Even though you're afraid of the dark." She said it with a teasing smile and couldn't help the adoring tone. It made Belle smile with a quality of shyness. The notion gave Red a kind of hope she knew she shouldn't allow herself to feed on.