Belle walked down towards Baelfire's chambers to collect the dirty laundry that needed to be washed. Starting the day with some laundry would not be a bad thing, Belle tried to tell herself. It would get the chore directly out of the way so she would be able to have some spare time later on to read or leisure as she pleased. It was a strange pleasant thing when Rumplestiltskin never interrupted her when he saw her reading. In fact, after she was finished, he would often ask about what she was reading, or questions on the tale.
Belle walked down the stairs with the laundry basket in hand, and gently placed it down on the table. As she started to sort out all the different materials and fabrics, Rumplestiltskin burst through the door.
"Ah, Belle, would you happen to want to go on the road with me today?" He asked.
What a bizarre proposition, Belle thought. The beauty glanced up from sorting out the laundry like he was trying to trick her. Could this be one of his evil little quips? Perhaps one of his manipulative mind games?
"The road?" she repeated, he had never asked her to travel with him ever, unless it was a dire moment of transporting through magic smoke. "Where are you travelling to, exactly?"
"A kingdom far to the south," he answered. "It's their annual harvest festival today and I have an important deal to make, and I thought you might want to come along. You may be of use to me."
"What sort of deal?" she asked, hesitant it would be one involving a fair amount of violence. Or worse, they could run into the Sheriff of Nottingham again.
"I haven't got time to answer all your never ending dire questions, dearie, would you like to come along or not? I haven't got all day."
The offer was nearly too tempting to refuse, though she did not understand why Rumplestiltskin believed he needed her in one of his deals. She was his maid, his servant, someone that would bring nothing to a deal whatsoever, but somehow deep down in her heart, Belle knew that he was not playing a trick. Maybe he was offering an opportunity to get out of the castle walls for a day. Baelfire would be in school, most of the chores were already completed, and the last thing she wanted was to be left alone.
"Alright." She agreed, "I will come with you today."
Then, without nearly no notice at all, a smirk came upon Rumplestiltskin's face as he snapped his fingers, both of them disappearing into a cloud of smoke.
They transported to a hillside of a small village. It was clear that the season was indeed Autumn, for all the trees of the little valley were painted yellow and gold. Belle's whole world spun out of control as she fought the urge to throw up. Magic was not friendly to non-magic users. The affects of the transportation spell left Belle feeling nauseous and irritated.
"I hate it when you do that!" She gasped, "You could warn me, you know."
"Now, what fun would that be?" He quipped, earning himself a glare from the beauty.
Suddenly both their attentions turned to the sparkling lights and cheers coming from below. Belle heard the distant beating drums of the joyful upbeat music and the loud crackling sound of fireworks going off.
"It is their harvest festival today. I thought it might be good for you if you participated in these peasant activities."
Belle smiled a little at his words. It was sweet in a way, how he thought about her. The man that claimed he was the most powerful tyrant sorcerer in all the realms wanted his maid to enjoy a festival. Belle hardly had time to be affronted before he was pressing a heavy coin purse into her hand.
"Go on, dearie," he said, pulling his hood up to shadow his face. "Enjoy the carnival. I'll see to my business and meet you back here in an hour."
With that he turned on his heel and left. Belle stared after him for a moment with her mouth slightly agape. He'd just left her alone at a crowded festival far from the confines of his home. She would never think of shirking their deal and running away, and his obvious show of trust warmed her heart. Belle immediately set off and raced through the maze of tents, her coin purse clinking merrily against her hip. It was the most freedom she'd been given since she'd arrived at the Dark Castle, and she didn't mean to squander it.
The smells of different foods filled her nose and the sounds of musical instruments played in her ears. Belle wandered around the carnival, munching on toffees and enjoying being among so many people for the first time in months. She'd stopped to watch a troupe of jugglers when someone called out to her.
"Care to hear your future?" a strangely accented voice asked.
She turned to see a woman lounging outside a deep purple tent. She didn't look anything like the fortunetellers who used to come to the summer fair back home. They were always wizened old women, wrapped in gauzy shawls and beaded jewelry, hunched over their crystal balls and cards.
This woman was young, not much older than Belle herself. She had gleaming red hair that hung down her back in intricate braids and shrewd brown eyes. Her dress was an even brighter shade of red than her hair, though the simplicity of the cut kept her from being overwhelmed by the outfit.
"Only three pennies," the woman continued. "Such a small price for the knowledge of your fate."
Belle didn't put much stock in divination. There were people with the gift of foresight to be sure, though they'd hardly be peddling their powers at harvest festivals. But she had a purse full of coins and some time left to kill.
"Alright," Belle responded, pulling the coins from her purse and placing them in the woman's outstretched hand.
She followed her into the dim interior of her tent and glanced around, looking for some hint of a crystal ball. Perhaps the woman read palms. But there wasn't even a table in the tent, only two chairs arranged around a fire pit. The woman motioned for Belle to sit in one of the chairs and sat opposite her.
"So how does this work?" Belle asked skeptically, holding out her hands for the woman to grab.
"Shh, child, it is all in the flame." The fortune teller hushed her.
The beauty waited as the woman mumbled some words that did not sound like the common tongue, and let out a short but loud hissing sound. Then her once friendly and cheerful voice turned low and dark, which gave Belle shivers down her spine. The orange flame quickly disappeared into a black smoky flame right before her eyes.
"There is a man," the woman whispered creepily, "and he will bring you darkness."
The beauty wished she would have simply declined this woman's offer of her future. She wished that she would of turned away the moment the woman called out for her. Regardless, she was in this mess now and Belle needed to finish it. "A man?" Belle questioned, "what man? Do you see what he looks like?"
The mysterious woman ignored Belle's questions of identification, only continuing to stare at the supernatural flame before them. "You have darkness all around you, child. But there is also light. Pure light. This darkness will drag you into a place of unknown one of which you may not be able to return."
Belle felt more intense shivers crawling up her spine and only wished they would stop. She wanted to leave this tent, because at that very moment it was all seemed like a whirlwind of nonsense. Belle did not want to believe any words spoken out of this witch's mouth. Though in the back of her mind she could not help but wondering:
Was Rumplestiltskin the man the woman warned Belle about? Was he the one to embrace her into darkness?
The witch let out a sharp wail and a gasp at what she was seeing, then like the flame, she became quiet and faded into nothing. Belle sat on the chair opposite of where the woman was and stared in shock at the absent seat in front of her. Where had she gone? What did she mean by darkness surrounding her?
Belle shakily got up, and ran out of the tent and away from the carnival. Her heart was beating fast and her palms had become sweaty. She spotted a nearby lone tree in the middle of the meadow and sat underneath it. Belle still felt herself shaking and afraid from that unpleasant horrific experience.
Then a familiar voice sounded behind her, and Belle never thought she would be so glad to hear Rumplestiltskin's voice in her whole life. She let out a tiny sigh of relief and got up to greet him.
"What have you been up to these past hours?" Rumplestiltskin asked, "Why aren't you still at the carnival?"
"I have a stomach ache." Belle lied. She did not want to relive the eerie confrontation she had with that strange fortune teller, nor did she want to tell Rumplestiltskin about it.
"Are you ready to return to the dark castle?" He questioned, sincerely, noticing she had a frightened look all over her pretty face.
"I thought you would never ask" she admitted, taking in a shaky breath and clasping her arm in his.
When the returned back to the castle, Rumplestiltskin paced and paced around the living room. He had a black velvet small bag in hand and inside contained a tiny stone. He picked up the little rock and held it up to the light, watching as the stone glistened and sparkled.
"So, this is what you went in town for?" Belle stared at the tiny stone in Rumpleatiltskin's hands, "this was the deal you were telling me about?"
"It is," he stated, continuing on with his observation.
"You went to all this trouble for a rock?"
"It is not just a rock, little maid." Rumple cooed. "I need this rock to operate the compass, which will lead me to the wand of the fairy godmother of Cinderella. I have been looking for it for years now-"
"and the compass will help you find it?" The beauty asked.
"Indeed," he answered, "it will lead me to the thing I want most, and in this case the compass will be more than happy to oblige to my desire."
"Alright" she crossed her arms and raised a skeptical brow, "lets see how this compass works."
Rumplestiltskin flipped open the cap of the device, placing the tiny rock inside, inserting it like a battery. His big eyes scanned the dial, waiting and watching for where the arrow would point. All he would have to do now was follow the direction of the compass and it would lead him straight to the wand.
He watched closely, as the little brown arrow flicked back and forth before staying perfectly still pointing across the room. He excitedly looked up in the direction of the compass and felt his heart flutter when the arrow pointed directly at Belle.
His mouth opened to speak but no words came out. His hands shook as he tried to shake the direction of the compass, as to try and change the result, but there was no changing its powerful magic. There standing right in front of him was Belle, the princess of Avonlea, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen throughout his hundreds of years, and the compass pointed right at her.
Even as she paced around the room, waiting for him to reveal the direction of the dial, the compass followed her every move and every little step she took. What he wanted most wasnot the all-powerful wand he thought he desired, but instead was her.
"Well..?" Belle impatiently waited, "where is it pointing?"
He snapped the lid of the compass shut and looked at her like a deer in headlights. "Nowhere." He concluded, "clearly this device does not work."
"But what about everything you told me? It is made up of very powerful magic, I am sure wherever it pointed was the direction your heart wanted it to point to."
"My heart?" Rumplestiltskin sounded like he was going to be sick. Rumplestiltskin pulled open the wooden cabinet and grabbed the half empty bottle of rum. He felt a slight illness amongst his normaility, a feeling that crept up on him until that very afternoon. But Rumplestiltskin was no sick of disease-no, he was sick with something much stronger.
The Dark One was lovesick.
Hey everyone, sorry I have not had the chance to update sooner. I've had a lot of things going on these past couple weeks. Next chapter should be up next week! And again I would like to give thanks to everyone following this story(you guys are the best!) and a big thank you to everyone who reviews, follows and favourites this fic of mine! Thanks for reading!
Next Chapter: Belle reads a sad story and is comforted by Rumplestiltskin.
