Belle's thoughts drifted around alluring images of Rumplestiltskin's anatomy. Her daydreams and the masking sound of the waterfall hid the sound of the three men advancing. The tallest of the three slowly entered the pond, he soundlessly edged up behind an unknowning Belle. She didn't hear anything till it was too late.
Two dirty hands reached around her, one at her throat, holding a knife and the other at her waist. Her scream died in her throat as the knife pressed against her windpipe. The hand at her waist pulled her tight against her attacker as he began to back out of the pond with Belle in tow.
She didn't see the others till he turned her around to make thier way to shore. She couldn't see the man that had her but the other two had long dirty hair with scraggly beards and thier smiles reveled broken and missing teeth.
As Belle and her captor climbed out of the pond, she began to stuggle. the men laughed at her weak attempts to escape. Then for the first time the man that held her spoke,"My, my, look what a pretty little fish we've caught here." Another of the men chimmed in,"Well, I know what's on the menu tonight boys." The men exchanged laughter and knowing glances.
the man that held Belle moved his hand up from her stomach to grab at her breast, "look boys, she's happy to see us." the other men encircled her laughing. The man with the knife launched Belle into the other man's arms, he caught her by the shoulders. Belle struggled, but to no avail.
"I think we have caught a mermaid, Coy" he addressed Belle's attacker. He crushed Belle against his chest with one hand, as the other grabbed at Belle's bottom, giving it a painful squeeze. Belle struggled to get a breath. She managed to get her arms between his chest and her face. She regained her balance momentarily and as she did she landed a knee to the man's groin. He immediatly let go of her to cup himself while grunting in pain as he fell to his knees. For a brief moment Belle was free, she took advantage of it, she ran.
She made it to the ridge before the men, she tried to scale the steep hill. She was still damp from the pond, and as she clawed her way up the hill, dry leaves and dirt caked on to her feet and hands, sticking to her clothes. She dug in with her feet, trying to get her footing, it was much steeper than she had antisapated. Before she could make any headway, they were upon her.
frantically, she grabbed at roots and plants in the side of the hill, she could hear the men laughing at her actions. Belle lost her footing, as she did she lashed out with her hands wildly, grasping at anything she could, Her breaths came in shallow gasps as she fought against falling. Unfortunatly, her hand grabbed a thorn bush, the branches seemed to wrap around her hand of thier own accord, tearing at the tender flesh of her arm. "aah," she screamed out as she lost her balance and slid back towards the men.
The trip back down proved to be painful as roots and rocks scraped at her stomach and legs, cutting into her. She clawed as she fell but it did her no good, she fell to the ground at thier feet.
"Let me have her" the man she had kicked, grabbed her, jerking her up off the ground, he backhanded her, splitting her lip. Belle's head swam with pain as he slapped her again , then slung her to the ground with a thud.
Belle lay in a heap at thier feet as another reached down and grabbed her by the hair, he drug her to her feet, yanking her head back, causing her to cry out in pain."Aint so tuff now, are ya darling?" he growled in her ear. The pain caused tears to well up in Belle's eyes, but she was determined not to show fear as she dug her nails into his hand trying to get him to let go.
"Our little mermaid is dirty, How's about a swim, little fishy" the man barked at her as he began dragging Belle toward the pond. She could taste blood in her mouth , comming from her swollen , busted lip, she tried to scream out in an attempt for someone to hear her, but there was no one.
Suddenly, the man let her go, he fell to his knees, he was holding his head between his hands, screaming. Belle fell to the ground and stared at him in disbelief. The other men started to wail and began thrashing around on the ground.
Belle scooted away from the man closest to her, as she watched his body start to change before her very eyes. The men transformed, into worms, thier eyes had a look of pain, and horror as purple smoke encircled thier bodies, they dissapeared before Belle's eyes to be replaced by small, common earthworms.
Belle began to crawl on her hands and knees, panting heavily, pulling herself away from the water . She rolled over to her back and closed her eyes, she wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but she knew the men were gone.
suddenly, She felt a warm hand on her cheek and she opened her eyes to Rumple leaning over her. "Belle, speak to me, are you alright, love?"
At the sound of Rumplestiltskin's comforting voice, Belle began to cry, tears streamed down her face. "sshh" Rumple crooned as he tenderly pulled Belle into his lap as he sat down beside her. Belle curled around him as she put her arms around his neck, crying. Rumple ran his fingers up and down her back, murmering comforting words in her ear. "I'm here, I've got you" Rumple whispered as he made small rocking motions to calm her down. Soon Belle started to relax and she leaned back, looking into his worried face.
"Belle, what were you doing all the way out here, all alone?" Belle didn't answer, she just sniffled and plus she had the hiccups.
Then she gingerly touched her swollen lip with her tongue. "I was going to take a bath, in the falls." Rumple smiled at her child like actions. "Well, you look like you took a bath in dirt" He pulled a few leaves out of her hair. "I fell down the hill." Belle sat up , still in Rumple's lap, examining the scratches on her arm. She sucked in breath as she tenderly touched her wounds.
Rumple quietly spoke, "Here, let me." He turned her hand palm up and lightly placed a kiss on it, magically the painful scrape dissapeared. Belle drew her hand back, turning it this way and that in awe of his talents. Rumple took her arm and placed his lips on a gash, going up to her shoulder, it was gone in an instant. he looked up at her, those deep blue eyes, just staring back at him.
'Lay back, so I can see where your hurt at" he whispered. Belle allowed him to help her lay down on her back, her head started to spin, but she wasn't quite sure why. Rumple began inspecting her cuts.
He started at her legs, they were cut up but it wasn't deep, mostly she was just dirty from her climb up the ridge. Rumple's heart pounded in his chest as he took in her scantally clad body. her shift was all she wore and it was wet , clinging to every curve. He bit his lip and inhaled deeply in a vain effort to control his beating heart, tenderly he placed a chaste kiss to her knee. Belle didn't realize she had been holding her breath till his lips touched her skin, she tried not to make noise for fear it would come out sounding like a moan.
"there are some on my stomach" she said timidly. A root had tore a hole in her shift along her side and he could see a faint blood stain through her clothes."I can fix that" and before Belle could react, Rumple leaned over her, parallel to her body. He pulled back the torn fabric, reveling the deep scratch along her ribs and chills ran up Belle's back as she visably shivered when Rumple kissed her wound.
"Better?" Rumple whispered as he raised up, looking at her. Belle's voice failed her as she could only nod. She looked at him and noticed Rumple's eyes were a deep green with gold flecks swirling through them like jewels. Her breath was comming in tiny gasps as he neared her face.
"Does your lip hurt?" he whispered, he was so close now, reaching up to push her hair back from her face. "A-alittle" she barley got out before he pressed his lips to hers. Belle closed her eyes, her heart was going to pound out of her chest, she was sure of it. Stars exploded behind her eyelids as she leaned into him. All too soon , it was over, Rumple pulled back to look at Belle's face. he couldn't help but grin, as her eyes were still closed. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, even with leaves stuck in her hair, she took his breath away. Rumple knew he said he wouldn't touch her again, but never was such a long time, and this was a necessaity, right?
"Better?" He had a hard time keeping that low, husky tone out of his voice.
"Better" Belle whispered.
"Maybe we should get you that bath" Rumple chuckled as he reached up and pulled a leaf from Belle's hair. he got to his feet as he helped Belle up and led her to the water fall, thier hands entertwined.