A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Oh and sorry for not posting this up yesterday, finals are not fun…
~8~8~
Belle sighed wistfully as she cleaned the last tearing streak of soapy water off the large window pane. The remnants of the liquid faded into crystal nothingness leaving Belle to scan the estate and the mountains that sprawled against the azure sky.
Autumn was in full swing; the trees donned their glorious hues and were beginning to shed their vibrant plumage across the forest floor. The air was crisp and the scents of the village harvest were alive in the air as townsmen and farmers from the little shire made preparations for winter. The fresh hearty whiffs of tilled earth and wood smoke from their labors drifted towards the ominous castle nestled in the mountains, filling the air with an array of lovely smells.
The colors, the smells, and even the crisp chill in the air all reminded Belle of her old and far away home. Autumn was a special time for her people and she couldn't help but think about the holiday that had so long been conjured around it.
The Harvest Moon festival would be fast approaching the village of Avonlea and the peasantry and nobles alike would be racing around in a good humored flurry to have everything prepared.
The people of her old land worked frenziedly to bring in all their crops by the time of the Harvest Moon, where the huge lunar orb took on an orange pallid luminance that reminded one of a ripe pumpkin that represented the end of harvest.
With the help of bonfires to aid the always luminescent glow of the moon, the entire village would carouse outside in the open cool night air and sit at festively garland tables fashioned with hues of mulled orange and burgundies that blended well with the season. The people would dance about the roaring hypnotizing flames of the bonfires, sing songs that were long forged in the town's history about battle and loves, and listen to traveling bards that passed through telling tales of far off lands and partake of a sumptuous feast that celebrated a good harvest.
Even if it had been a poor crop season, they still celebrated if just to spit in the eye of cold father winters face. It had become tradition in the little towns and shires of her fathers land. A tradition that she admittedly would miss.
But, she supposed there would be some sadness of leaving the only home she'd ever known. It was where she had grown up; surely no one could protest her having a slight ache for her old life.
Smiling slightly, the beauty shook the thought away as she dumped the rag back into the bucket of cold water and headed to dump the grimy liquid out. She probably would miss home even more if Rum didn't treat her so well. Belle couldn't suppress a girlish giggle and another warm smile as her master came to mind. The beauty didn't think she could tolerate toiling for any one else save him.
For all his infamous reputation of being an evil entity that toyed and tricked with the heartbroken and desperate, Belle did not see that side of him too often anymore. Granted, she knew what lurked inside him and knew he was aptly dubbed the Dark One, but it was hard to see it or believe it was there when the man most people termed a monster left a snack for her while she labored or even made her work even lighter than normal.
She had to laugh as she recalled the many instances of watching him peer behind a darkened corner or a doorway (although she was certain he didn't know that she knew he was there) to see if she found his kind gift he left for her.
He acted akin to some shy admirer, leaving tokens of affection for her to find in place of the words he could not deem to say. It was endearing in its own way, Belle admitted to herself; endearing and lovely and...
Oh what was she thinking! Belle forced herself not to groan at her stupidity as she traversed the halls with her burden of sloshing water. Sometimes she had to curse her fertile imagination, seeing things that weren't there or jumping and bounding to conclusions. Who was she to think him some intrepid soul who had a crush on her, but some chivalrous code kept him at bay from scooping her up in his arms and proclaiming his feelings.
"Just because you feel one way about him doesn't mean he feels the same." She chided herself sternly. No matter what things he did for her, Rum was odd to say the least; who knew the reason behind his actions?
Perhaps his treatment of her affected her wild and ridiculous notions of love. When she had first come here Belle had never expected to be treated this way. Her always fanciful imagination only focused on the eerie tales told around inn hearths, and all the stories she had read about monstrous beasts who took captives or spirited away maidens to lock in towers.
There had even been a soldier once who had come to the palace of her father and told a tale of meeting the Dark One in the midst of a battle field and struck a bargain with him to save his life. He saved his life alright, but had lost so much more.
The first week she expected him to treat her cruelly and perhaps even ravish her, but now she realized how foolish those terror laden thoughts were and even had a bit of anger with herself that she had once thought he was capable of such dastardly actions. Despite his beastly demeanor there was a polite gentlemen hidden behind the scaly gray-gold flesh.
Inwardly the beauty was glad that if this had to be her only fate then she was actually happy it'd been him who had taken her. Other men, less honorable, men wouldn't have thought twice about mistreating her or even harming her for cruel amusement. But Rum, never.
A blush came unbidden to her cheeks as he forced herself to stop thinking about the Dark One. She could barely get him off her mind most of the time, she didn't need him barging into her contemplations of home!
Opening the servant's kitchen door, the beauty heaved the bucket tossing the water unto the estate grasses. She placed the bucket right outside the door to the side then leaned against the door jam. Her arms were crossed as she peered out into the land that she was forbidden to tread, and let the wafting breezes of autumn assail her face.
She couldn't deny it, no matter how decently Rum treated her; she missed home.
~8~8~
Belle wasn't her normally vivacious self lately, Rumpel noticed as he peered at her intently through quickly spared glances. He sat at his usual haunt, spinning the heaps of ugly cheep straw into flaxen strands of beautiful gold, but his eyes and mind were focused entirely upon his less than cheerful servant.
She had been this way of late, a shadow of her inquisitive, talkative, witty self that now sat trapped behind a wistful look in her ice blue eyes. A contemplative frown often graced her soft lips rather than her usual beaming smile, and even when she did grin the faint upturn of her mouth seemed half-hearted at best. Sighs where laughs had once frolicked were most often heard now. They sounded longing, but in a way where she knew her desire would not come to pass; a far away dream that she wanted to be real as it where.
For the life of Rumpelstiltskin he could not place what was wrong. Anything she asked for he mostly granted; her very desire was his goal to acquire for her; be it pearls from the depths of the blackest ocean or stars from the farthest reach of the onyx firmament. Not that she ever asked for such ridiculous things, if rarely anything at all. Belle was a surprisingly content soul never needing much and cherishing what she did have, but if she ever did take a fancy to something he would always see her want met in some way.
Her work was not strenuous or back breaking and he always made sure she did not labor too long in the day. She might be a slave, but he wasn't a driving, demanding taskmaster.
So what in heavens name was wrong with her?
She sighed again, softly as usual, but the faint sound was very easy for the Dark One to pick up with his sharp hearing. Her gaze looked out of the sparkling clear windows towards the valley below, and beyond as she absently stirred a cup of tea.
A slight furrow of her brow was the only indication outward that something was amiss inside the lovely Belle. Rumpel had been around her for so long that he could translate the slightest hint about her beautiful body and read it as easily as a book.
"Is something troubling you, Belle?" Rumpel inquired softly if not hypothetically. His hand had stopped spinning the huge wooden wheel, but his other kept the thread tightly between two fingers.
He looked at her clearly now, seeing no reason to simply pretend that he hadn't been looking at her through every now and again glances from his loom.
Belle donned a half won smile, trying her best to seem right. "Not at all."
She didn't counter with a question, Rumpel immediately pointed out inwardly; now he was certain than ever before something troubled her.
Placing the thread down gingerly, the fiend stood up slowly to stretch his stiff bulk from staying in one position for so long before padding cautiously over to her. "Come now, Dearie, we both know you're a terrible liar. I don't even have to use magic to see that something is wrong."
The beauty tilted her head down, letting her chestnut curls drape across her face as she slowly stirred the warm brew in her hands, not offering a reply. If only he knew what longing she felt for home. Would he disapprove of such feelings; become his usual inappropriate quipping self?
She didn't want him to think she hated it here, but what could she say; the woman who sold away her own freedom pined for home?
"Are you ill?" He pressed on gently, his head cocking slightly to the side as if a new angle would reveal a hidden pain wallowing inside his Belle. His hands fell over hers as he removed the cup slowly from her grasp to place on the table.
Belle bit her bottom lip slightly, a mirthless chuckle wanting to spring up at the irony of his words, but she fought it back down. "In a way." She admitted quietly forcing herself not to shudder from the tender touch of his fingers against her own.
In an instant his hand glowed vibrant purple with a hint of black flecking in the mix. Dark magic swirled through the air, filling her nostrils with its sweet yet sickly odor that left a bitter taste on her tongue. She could almost feel his magic pulsing against her skin as he moved a few inches closer.
"Where do you hurt?" He asked firmly to hide the panic that had suddenly swelled within him. His marble ebony orbs searched her intently, wanting to take the pain away.
"I'm not sick, physically." Belle explained, with a touch more of a genuine smile than before towards her master. The beauty shook her head slightly before knocking her russet tresses from her face. "It's nothing to be concerned about."
"Belle." Rumpel stated her name in a plain firm manner that warranted none of her dodging of brushing it away. She was sad, and he hated to see her saddened. He wanted his old Belle back, to see her laughing and smiling and anything she required to be that same wonderful Belle that made his heart smile he would garner for her.
She shrugged feigning carelessness. "I am a trifle homesick I suppose."
Homesick, Rumpel echoed the word in his head as if it were a filthy curse, a deep frown cascading across his thin lips. There were many things he could cure, but that wouldn't, couldn't, be one of them.
Did he not make her content enough here where her old life didn't matter? Why couldn't she just forget about it like he had done for all his centuries and face the fact that that part of life was over and dead and gone and nothing was going to bring it back.
Was she not happy here?
He grimaced inwardly at the thought, of course she wasn't; what woman would be happy being the slave of a monster. No matter what he did, no matter how kind he was to her that fact would never change.
"I can't fix that." He snapped suddenly, a faint snarl coming to his face as he transformed from the concerned equal to the cold master. The magic that flamed around his hand flickered and died so that only a talon remained. "You sold yourself to me and now you must deal with your choice."
"I know this." Belle countered gently as if facing a child with an oncoming temper tantrum. Her soothing timbre quelled the indignant rage stewing with in the Dark One, and gutted out the flames before they could rise too high. "I except and even come to enjoy that this is my home now and forever; but have you ever had something or someone in a part of your life that you missed? Have you felt the aching sickness that feels more acute than any real pain?"
Of course he did, he felt that pain and knew it everyday, which was why he spun so much gold. Every mile and inch of flaxen shimmering strings upon the spools was time he had spent trying so hard to block memories and moments with what he used to know.
After so many centuries, and an entire store room of thread that could never be spent in three lifetimes, the pain had become only the slightest bit dull, making it possible to carry on every day with out wanting to break down and weep. But it would never be fully gone.
He snorted once in irritation as he crossed his arms. "Then why do you hang onto those memories and longings instead of trying to forget? I have potions that will take those things from your mind."
"Because I don't want to forget. I would lose a part of me that I still cherish even though it hurts." She replied simply as if trying to teach a child.
Rumpel stared at her critically for a moment before his black eyes flashed in vexation. She wanted the memories that would make her heart ache for the nostalgia of time gone by? Why would anyone choose to keep their pain when they could forget it to the fine clear liquid of a memory wipe potion? But then again he had never opted for that recourse either; he paused suddenly at the thought banishing it from surfacing as quickly as it had come.
"Fine, keep your pain." He growled. "Day dream and wish for home all you want, but that's all its ever going to be- a dream. You are stuck with the beast forever whether you like it or not!"
"Rumpel that's not what I mean-" The words died on her throat as he disappeared before she could finish. He had probably gone to his apothecary to brood like he usually did when a foul mood gripped him.
Sighing, this time in frustration, Belle slumped into a chair her hand rubbing the edge of her temple. How could she make him understand that yes she missed home, but was content in this one as well? Not that he would believe her anyway; she was dubious anyone would believe that she liked living with him. In truth she could barely believe it herself.
~8~8~
"She wants for nothing, she is free to gain as much knowledge she pleases at her leisure, there is no one breathing down her neck to be something that she would hate to be, and yet she misses that little back woods kingdom!" Rumpel snarled aloud as he paced through his apothecary.
Potions bubbled and stewed, while little things either caught in jars or running free upon the stone floor squeaked and scurried about. This was the one place where Belle was banished from cleaning. It was his sanctuary as much as the library was hers. He folded his hands behind his back as he trailed back and forth talking aloud to himself.
How could she miss a place that frowned upon women desiring knowledge or trying to be more than pretty little trinkets for men? How could she miss a place where her father had bartered her for marriage to a brute that probably couldn't even spell his name?
Rumpel's heart suddenly plummeted into the deepest parts of his stomach as he thought about her once engagement. Could she miss Gaston? Was it he that she pined for and thought of as she stared out the windows and sighed in want? Could it have really been love she felt for him even if the brute did not feel the same? Such things were uncommon, but not unheard of. Who knew, perhaps Belle did have a liking for the hulking, moronic types.
But no, he couldn't believe that Belle would find anything to like about Gaston. Scoffing once, angrily, he turned to his shelves and jars of regents to try and take his mind off her.
Whatever she yearned for from her old home didn't matter. She was his now and forever, and if she didn't want to be happy here that was her problem.
He couldn't help but sigh as he pulled the vials and glasses from their perches. If only he could truly make himself believe that.
~8~8~
That night they ate in silence, both frustrated with the other. The only sound that passed between them was the click of spoons upon bowls or the scrape of a fork over a barely touched plate.
Why could he not understand what she meant?
Why couldn't she be happy with him and forget her old life?
Master and slave sat on opposing ends of the table, there heads down as they plucked and picked absently at their meal; sending crumbs and little flecks of food crossing about the wooden plates.
Sometime they threw glances at one another as if they simply could not figure the other out or some new clue to why they did what they did would be revealed. It'd grow awkward when they both did it at the same time; a blush springing to her cheek while he would cough awkwardly. They'd both stare at something else for a moment before turning back to their meals in another melancholy silence.
Belle hoped it wouldn't always be like this. She wanted him to understand and know that just because she missed her old home didn't mean she was unhappy at the Dark Castle. But he didn't seem to understand that. Didn't he know that she did not see him as the beast that enslaved her?
At first she might have thought of him as the snarling dragon dragging her away to his lair, but then she saw what lay beneath the scales and that over threw his beastliness. It was just so frustrating that she couldn't make him understand that!
Forcing herself not to sigh, the beauty turned her head to the window for lack of anything better to do. She had to do a double take at the sight.
Thousands of lights illuminated the estate ground fluttering and flickering in the air and on the ground like miniscule lanterns. They swarmed the entire air in beautiful lights that took her breath away.
"What is that?" She asked breathlessly, her eyes sparkling in wonderment.
Rumpel arched a brow at her reaction as he turned to look at what she was seeing. A frown formed at his lips as he saw the multitude of lights glowing and swaying in the moon lit night. "Fireflies. They always come out in mass when the harvest moon is out." He shrugged in reply.
He had forgotten about the little pests that swarmed on this night; there was some legend behind them, but he had long cast aside such a foolish tale.
His ebony eyes fell back upon the beauty who watched the tiny glows of luminescence outside upon the estate grounds. This was the first time in a week he had seen her act her normal self, making an idea come to his mind. "Would you like to go out and see them?" He asked suddenly as he put his spoon down.
She turned her head to him, her cobalt eyes alight in a way that warmed him all over. "Could we?" She asked precariously as if it was only a trick.
"If that is your wish." Rumpel assured her as he stood up from the table. He should have known the answer before he even asked it; Belle wanting to experience something new would be an immediate yes from her. "Fetch one of my spare cloaks and we'll be off."
The night was chillier than Rumpel had expected it to be, but he showed no discomfort from the nip in the air. His breath hissed out in a thin wisp of vapor as master and servant tracked out upon the estate.
The entire land was aglow in the lights of the fireflies that hummed and swooped through the air as if celebrating the autumn moon as well.
To Belle they all looked akin to floating jewels of topaz that danced upon the air and zipped through the dark grass. The air practically was filled with them, but not in a stifling way. "It's wonderful, isn't it, Rum." Belle commented as she held out her hands. The tiny insects landed on her open palm for a moment before zipping off again.
They swirled about the two foreign entities of the night in curiosity then playfulness. They buzzed and landed upon them, their orbs of light flickering happily as if offering them to dance with them.
Rumpel was less than amused by the glowing insects; his arms were crossed reprovingly as he glared at the spectacle. He could have done away with the pests for good, but Belle seemed to be enjoying it well enough. He harrumphed at her words, merely shrugging. "If you call wonderful dancing in a field of bugs, please be my guest."
The fiend watched in hidden amusement for it did look as if the bugs were prodding her out to dance with them. They swirled and played about her as if asking her to partake in a ballroom foxtrot.
From the corner of her eye Belle watched the Dark One as he leaned against a tree staring at her. His eyes followed every trace of her graceful movements eagerly, making the beauty want to blush against his marble gaze. But still, his hungry perusal of the eyes wasn't going to make her shy away from the wonderful night.
As she twirled about the field of swaying fireflies, the sadness seemed to lift from her like a veil. She missed home, yes, but she realized she didn't miss home so much as the memories that home held. The laughter, smiles and tears would all be missed, but they should be cherished not brooded over.
She would miss what once was, but now it was time to forge new memories of her new home. Lives changed, time moved on; such was the way of the world.
"I have cured my homesickness." Belle stated victoriously to the fiend as she managed to stagger out of the streams of lightening bugs. Her breathing was a bit heavy, but her smile was as wide as he had ever seen it.
Rumpel smirked slightly, one of his chuckles escaping his lips faintly. "Do tell, Dearie."
She poked him once in his chest, and laughter that was far overdue bubbled up like a brook that watered the Dark One's heart. "I craved reminiscence and the memories of my old life; that's what was making me homesick. But since this is my home forever, I shall simply have to make memories with you!"
