For what seemed like an eternity, the room remained eerily silent with nothing but a tremendous amount of tension and awkwardness filling the air.
Two words finally broke the silence; two words that were spat out like venom from the wizard's mouth, never breaking eye contact with Belle as he spoke. "Leave us." The statement was directed toward both Lumiere and Baelfire.
Lumiere, being a servant in the castle, had no oppositions, disappearing almost instantly when told to do so. The fire remained, but the face was gone. Baelfire, however, was not so easily persuaded. The boy took a deep breath before swirling around to greet his father with a large grin, pretending as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Papa! You're home!" he said, running up to his father and embracing him in a hug. "I missed you yesterday."
Rumplestiltskin barely acknowledged his son, returning his hug in a perfunctory manner. His eyes remained unblinking, still lingering on Belle's.
Belle didn't know how much longer she could hold his gaze. Her palms were sweating, her heartbeat was quickening, and her whole body was shaking. She considered bolting for the door. However, not only was he blocking it, but there was also no way she could outrun a wizard. He had magic. She wasn't sure what kind of magic. For all she knew, with one blink he could probably make her freeze in place, or he could transport himself wherever he needed to go. She couldn't take the chance. It would only make the situation worse and more suspicious.
"Papa, this is Belle…" Baelfire started, trying to keep up the appearance that having a visitor was normal.
"Bae!" Rumplestiltskin exclaimed, not letting him finish. "I said. Leave. Us." It was indisputable the wizard was trying to hold his temper with his son.
Bae frowned, realizing his method was not working. He glanced up at his father with pleading eyes. "Papa…please don't hurt her! She doesn't mean any harm…" He tried to plead her case, but Rumplestiltskin wouldn't let him.
Rumplestiltskin's eyes finally fell away from Belle, onto Bae, showing him he meant business. "BAE. GO. NOW." He spoke sternly with his son and his fists were clenched at his sides.
Bae let out a shaky breath, knowing there was no reasoning with his father in this state, so he turned to leave. As he walked toward the exit, he passed by Belle, giving her an apologetic look.
Belle's heart sunk. Bae had promised to protect her, but how could he do that if he wasn't there? She didn't know why she had believed him in the first place. What could a child do when up against a powerful wizard? It wasn't like she wanted anything to happen to him anyway. She wasn't sure what Rumplestiltskin would do if he became angry enough. Bae was just a boy, so it was better she was the one who faced his wrath instead.
After hearing the door slam behind her, Belle knew just only her and Rumplestiltskin remained. Her gaze had dropped to the floor. She couldn't look into those demon eyes, not anymore; they were too frightening and intimidating.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Rumplestiltskin demanded to know, rushing right up next to her as soon as he was sure his son was gone. He screamed at the top of his lungs; there was no denying he was angry.
Belle gasped as soon as she felt his presence right next to her. Her courage had completely faded, not allowing her to look back up at him. Her body tensed and she couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe. "I..I…" Belle started, but before she could finish her sentence, before she could even come up with what to say, Rumple interrupted her, drilling her with questions as he started circling her like prey.
"How did you know to come here?! Why did you come here? What right do you have to do what you did then show up at my doorstep?! How did you even get in my castle?!" With every word, his voice rose higher and higher.
Do what she did? Wait…what was he talking about? Was she missing something or had she just misheard him? He was yelling so loud, it was hard to understand everything he was saying. Not to mention she was completely terrified.
"WELL? ANSWER ME!" he screamed right in her ear causing her to flinch.
Belle still didn't have an answer for him. She had only come in because of the cold and rain. And then there was the slight hope that he might be able to help with her memory loss…but after this reaction she knew that was a lost cause. She had expected him to be angry, but nowhere near as much as he actually was. Next time she would just stay out in the cold. Next time she wouldn't listen to a cursed scarecrow who she now knew deserved the name she gave him: the Mad Hatter. She had to be a little mad as well. After all, she could have easily turned away from the castle and tried to find shelter somewhere else.
Her thoughts lingered on her mistake; causing a long moment of silence that Rumplestiltskin was clearing getting fed up with. "Perhaps a night in the dungeon will persuade you to speak up!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her by the arm and begun to drag her along toward the doorway.
Dungeon?! What?! He would actually lock her in a dungeon? "NO!" Belle exclaimed without hesitation, ripping her arm from his grasp and taking a few steps away from him. He still hadn't removed his hood, so she couldn't see his face very well and for that Belle was thankful. She didn't think she would be able to stand up to him as easily if his face wasn't concealed.
"Very well," he said keeping his distance and giving her one last chance, "Then answer me." He spoke a little softer now, but she could still here the agitation in his tone. It was as if he was forcing himself to be calmer.
"I…I don't know," she finally said honestly, her voice barely above a whisper. It was an answer to all his questions, the only answer she had to give. She wasn't sure how he'd react to her response, but it was the truth.
"You don't know? You don't know?!" He basically spat the words out as if they tasted bad in his mouth. "You'll have to do better than that dearie!" he shrieked in a singsong voice, stepping toward her again. Every word he spoke was accompanied by a flamboyant hand gesture that emphasized what he was trying to say.
Belle didn't want him anywhere near her and she began to back away. Her heart was beating faster than ever and her palms were sweating. There were no words that could explain how terrified she was right now. Yet, she didn't know what else to tell him. "It's the truth!" she exclaimed trying to get him to believe her.
He pointed toward the entranceway to the castle. "Yes, and your Prince Charming will come bursting through that door any minute now to save you from the beast," he said mockingly, creating a story that was unlikely to ever come true and motioning toward himself to show he was the beast he was referring to.
Belle wasn't going to argue with him on that point. She had only known him several minutes and right now beast was the perfect word to describe him. Still, she knew he was basically telling her he didn't believe her and she didn't know how to convince him. There might be no convincing at all, at least not when he was in this mental state. Was her being in his castle really that big of a deal? Why couldn't he see that she meant no harm, that she was telling the truth?
"I don't! I swear!" she tried again even though she knew it was hopeless. He was coming closer to her and she was panicking, not knowing what he was about to do. "I…I…I…" she stuttered, feeling lightheaded from his coercion. "I don't remember!" she finally confessed.
Rumplestiltskin stopped in his tracks and looked at her skeptically. "Memory loss, how convenient." He shook his head. "Come up with something better, dearie. Otherwise you'll spend your days rotting in that dungeon until you tell me the truth!"
"But it is!" she countered back, lost at what else to say or do. At first Belle had not wanted to tell him about her memory loss, but it was evident it didn't matter now that she did. He obviously didn't believe her and she didn't think he was going to. "Please believe me!" Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.
Rumplestiltskin let out a high-pitched giggle, sending a chill through Belle's spine. He began stalking toward her again, this time with a little bit of hop in his step. It seemed as if he was enjoying this. Belle started to back away again, fearful of what he was about to do. She gasped as her back collided with something hard-the wall. She was cornered; there was nowhere else for her to go. She couldn't escape this wizard or his wrath. He was going to lock her away in a dungeon all because he wouldn't believe her; all because she had only needed a place to stay.
He was mere inches away from her, getting closer every second. There was only one thing left Belle knew to do. It wouldn't work, but looking back into those dark reptilian eyes caused her to lose all sense of reason. Swiftly she jerked to the side, bolting for the exit as fast as her little blistered feet would carry her.
"Oh no you don't!" Rumple exclaimed, disappearing from where he was standing and reappearing right in front of her.
Belle gasped loudly, unable to stop when she was suddenly confronted with him as he came out of nowhere. Apparently he could use magic to teleport where he wanted to go.
Her body slammed right into his, causing her to almost fall to the floor, but he caught her by the arms just in time.
He pulled her close to his face, only leaving a mere centimeter between them. "You know too much-you've seen my son! You're not going anywhere," he growled down at her. Belle turned her head to the side because she did not want to look directly at him. She could feel bits of his saliva hit her cheeks as he spoke so forcefully and it made her stomach lurch.
"That is, except for the dungeon!" he added as if he was teasing her, but Belle knew he wasn't. This was all just some cruel joke to him. Rumplestiltskin began pulling her along with him, back toward the door that led to other parts of the castle.
"Please!" she begged, trying to wiggle free of his grasp but couldn't this time. "Don't put me in there! I can't go in there!" That had been exactly what she trying to avoid in Storybrooke: being locked up.
"Well you should have thought of that before you decided to deceive me!"
Belle continued to plead and beg as he dragged her along through the dark halls and down a set of stairs, but it was no use. He wasn't listening or caring; she didn't know which.
As they came to the bottom of the stairs, Belle couldn't see any better than she could in other parts of the castle, but there was no doubt in her mind where she was: the dungeon. A wave of nausea surfaced as the air met her nose. It was stale, smelling putrid and moldy. She could hear leaking water dripping off in the distance as it echoed off the walls. There was a faint light from a torch on the wall, enough to illuminate the large solid wood door with a small window with steel bars.
Rumple didn't have to let go of Belle to open the door as it swung open on it's own. Giving her no chance to escape his grasp, Rumple shoved her inside with one swift push, slamming the door behind him.
Belle fell to her knees, but quickly clambering back up to her feet just in time to hear the lock click. Running to the door she pounded on it with both fists, continuing to plead with him even though she knew it was useless. "Please, you can't leave me down here!" she called after him, but he didn't answer.
Instead, she heard the sound of his footsteps as he ascended up the stairs, growing fainter and fainter until they disappeared altogether.
Finally realizing what she was doing was completely hopeless, Belle collapsed right there on her hands and knees, not caring that she landed in a shallow puddle of water. Tears began streaming down her face as she broke down. Her bawling echoed through the walls louder than the dripping. If he could hear her, she didn't know, but she did know that he was too callous to care. But there was nothing she could do but cry. She had made a horrible mistake by coming to the Dark Castle and now she was paying the price.