"Pack as much as you can, only what you cannot live without." That was her parent's order the moment they'd made their plan and finally put it into action. Her mother called for her nurse and the pair of them raced back to her room. Two trunks were brought out for her and her nurse quickly began tossing dresses and corsets, skirts and bodices, then nightgowns and petticoats into them. Her nurse packed sensible things she supposed but she didn't exactly see the logic of that.

Pack what she couldn't live without? She could live without her dresses. They were easily replaceable. So while her nurse was fretting over this and that she was busy searching her room for the things she knew that she couldn't live without, things that couldn't be replaced!

Samuel's letters. Her first crown, the one she'd worn as a baby. A few pieces of jewelry that her grandmother had given her. Her baby blanket. The diary she'd kept for a while as a child. A stuffed bear. A book her father had given to her and read to her as a child-

Her books!

Hours later she was nearly packed and ready to go. La Belle et La Bete the wonderful book her mother had given her, that was quickly becoming her favorite and had spent the last few years on her nightstand, worn and thoroughly read was the last thing she placed safely inside the trunk but she was missing something else. Just one other thing. Her Handsome Hero. She couldn't leave without it! It was the first book her mother had ever read to her!

"Miss!" her nurse cried as she tried to leave. "There's no time! We need to get you to the carriage!"

"No!" she argued. "I'll be there soon, I can't leave without it!"

"Miss!" she screamed as she ran down the hall, she'd didn't stop. There was no possibility of her leaving without that book! Their family room was eerie, stranger than it normally felt during the day and she realized why right away why. The window was open and she smelled something different. Fire. Mixed with something foul that turned her stomach. And then there was the noise. She was used to silence, perhaps the peaceful chirping of birds and the sound that small bugs made but she wasn't used to screaming, to yelling. The sound of marching, orders being thrown out by unfamiliar voices.

Her chest felt tight. She had to get her book now! She reached for the place she kept it on the shelf but her fingers closed only over air.

Gone.

It wasn't here! This shelf that was where it was kept! That's where she always put it every time! Every time except…except when she left it lying out and one of the maids put it back in the library…

The library!

She tore out of their family room and back down the hall-

And stopped outside her mother's room.

Servants were carrying trunks out for her, probably packed in the same way that hers were. Only her mother wasn't there. She was missing. And outside…

The window by her mother's room showed an orange sky and she heard the cries now not just of soldiers, but people. Women. Children. She moved around the servants drawn to the window like moths to flames and her heart stopped beating in her chest. Soldiers. Their weapons drawn, arrows and swords aimed for…

The trees. The trees were moving. Not with the wind. Something else. Something moving through them. Something big. And the castle, the stones around her…they were vibrating in rhythm to something. With every beat the vibrations grew, morphing into swaying and shaking shockwaves…

She needed to find her book.

She needed to find it now.

The servants, her nurse, they all tried once more to stop her on the way out. This time they even tried to grab her and reel her in so they could take her to the carriages with her things forcibly but she wouldn't listen and she wouldn't allow them to take her without that book in her hand. If this castle was going to be destroyed, if this world that she knew was going to be obliterated after today, then she had to have that book with her! And-

She wasn't the only one.

"Mother!" she gasped when she ran into the library. She was there too, surrounded by trunks, some filled with books, some empty, one right next to her mother half full and becoming fuller with every slam of a new book falling into it.

"Belle! What are you doing here, you should be by the carriage!" she reprimanded.

"I needed a book why did you-"

"A kingdom needs more to rule than dresses for its royalty. And you should be by the carriage!"

Carriage. Leave. No! She couldn't leave yet! She needed-

"I will!" she cried running into the room. "I will I just need something!"

"Belle! Belle!" her mother cried as she vanished around the corner. "Fetch it with haste my darling!" she heard her scream as more books fell into the trunk.

Haste. She didn't need haste she just needed to use her brain. When she left her books lying around the castle her servants always returned them here and the historian that worked within the library always put it in the same place for her. Especially Her Handsome Hero! He knew just how much she read that book and he always made sure to keep it-

"There!" she shouted spotting it on the shelf just like normal.

A sudden feeling of sadness washed over her as she clutched it to her chest.

Normal.

She looked around her library, the green and gold walls, the dark chestnut shelves, the books she knew perfectly…

Would things ever be normal again?

No. They couldn't be. The shaking and vibrating around her made that clear. They may return here someday and they may rebuild this palace exactly the way it was, but it would never be as whole as it was now, it would never be exactly the same as before. And she knew that-

"Darling we must leave! Quickly!" the voice of her mother cried out suddenly. The desperation in her voice shocked her back to reality and she remembered there would be plenty of time to mourn later, once they were safe. She took off to find her mother immediately. She had her book. They had to go. "Where are you?!"

"I'm right here, Mother!" she declared. "I'm…" she saw her mother through the shelves, looking calm, offering her a familiar and gentle smile among the chaos that she heard outside the castle. It eased her. Instantly that one look reminded her things would be alright. They would be just fine no matter in this castle or in Avonlea! Things may change and be different from this moment on, but some things would always be the same.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't leave without this!" she insisted holding up her book. Take what was necessary. This was necessary. "It's the…first story you ever read to me, remember. It's when I fell in love with books," she lamented as she caught her breath, thinking about that beautiful moment preserved in her memory. If this palace was going to fall, if she was never coming back to it, she had to at least have that memory.

"Of course I remember, my Belle," her mother breathed reaching out and touching her cheek. She was trying to be calm, but her eyes betrayed her. The way they darted around the library, to the windows behind her, to the doors where she could hear the clank of armor as soldiers prepared to defend a town that should have had more time to be empty…she could see the worry and panic in her eyes.

"Quickly, we must flee before-"

Suddenly the floor beneath her feet vibrated. The entire room shook, somewhere she heard books toppling to the ground and another crash greeted them stealing her breath away even as it filled her nose with the most atrocious scent at the same time.

"Ogres!" she breathed.

They…they couldn't be here. Not yet! The guards should have been able to hold them off! They…they…they should have…they should have had more time to-

Fear pressed down on her as she realized what had happened. She felt her heart pound as she struggled to catch her breath as she reached for her mother, trying to figure out what to do where to do, how to move! "They're here!" she cried, trying not to break into tears. They were supposed to be gone by now. They were supposed to be long gone and-

Her mother's hand on her was soothing as she found her eyes. "We will hide till they pass!" her mother commanded as the walls shook again. "There are not many of them my darling. They will pass!" She nodded and after a reassuring glance her mother let her go and went to the door. She secured it and locked it. But it wasn't enough. A locked door? Keep an ogre out?!

"They're blind!" she blurted out so suddenly she nearly looked around the room to find the speaker before she realized that it was herself. She'd said it. But she was right. It had been a long time, years since Samuel's death, since a shaken soldier had given her that small fact, it had been even longer since she'd seen her last ogre and used that fact to help her determine its age…but she remembered it just fine now all the same. "They can't see anything, they are blind!"

From the door her mother nodded and offered her another calming smile. "Of course you are right my darling. See! We'll hide away easily enough and when they've passed the three of us will be off to Avonlea just as we…planned…" Her mother's voice died away the moment she looked out the window. She stared wide-eyed outside, at something she couldn't see, only hear. Swords. Metal clashing. Screaming. Orders. A loud roar.

"Come my girl," her mother finally sighed after enough time had passed that she was panicking again. "We'll hide away under the table, just was we did when you were a child and it stormed. Do you remember my darling? The fun we had in our wooden fortress.

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but it wouldn't go anywhere. It was painful to swallow. Painful to talk. Too painful to do anything but cry and she couldn't allow herself to do that. She couldn't cry! She felt as though she was only managing not to scream in terror by sheer luck. If she opened her mouth to cry?!

But she wanted to. How could she not?! Crawling under the reading table on her hands and knees to meet her mother…all she wanted to do was close her eyes and be on a carriage hours from here.

"Hush now my child," her mother cooed, when they finally met her in the middle. She reached up to wipe something that might have been tears from cheeks and kissed her forehead. "Are you frightened?" she asked. She opened her mouth but no sound came out and in the end all she managed was a nod before her a whimper escaped her throat and she fought to hold in her fear. Her mother delicately traced her cheek with her finger. "Do not fear, my Belle. This will be over soon you'll see. This will end and you'll realize just how truly brave you were all this time."

She nodded to let her know she'd heard, even if she didn't know that she could agree to such a thing and allowed her mother to hold her as more shocks rocked her home. The table was a good idea. The first time a small piece of ceiling fell it landed not two feet from her mother. The next time it fell onto the table and not onto them. She counted the seconds between shocks. It was something to do. Something that kept her focused on something other than the fear. And then it was something that gave her hope, something that took her tears away. She didn't know exactly how long it was, but eventually the time between shocks went from seven heartbeats to nine. Then twelve. Then twenty. Then fifty-two. She located each one when they came and followed them around the palace, figuring where they were. She was still breathing heavily, but finally beginning to calm and think that maybe her mother was right. It was just like a storm. She heard it come and now she was hearing it go. Her mother might be right. It would be fine in the end. She couldn't be sure the state of the village or the rest of the castle but if the library was intact maybe they'd beaten the demons back. Maybe they could stay here after all.

But just as she was beginning to feel positive, another noise rang out loud and clear. A bang at the door. It made her jump at first, and then she felt elated. Perhaps it was a soldier, or many of them. Perhaps they'd figured out they were missing and they'd come to liberate them, or tell them it was over, or get them on the road-

But with another bang suddenly the door was no more. Only a large pink foot that smelled like a rotten marsh and legs dressed for battle that made her panic all over again. "Ogres!" she whimpered, feeling like she couldn't catch her breath. There was no denying, this ogre was no child. Images she thought she'd long moved passed reappeared in her mind. Bodies in trees. Unseeing eyes. Cogsworth under his makeshift tent. Death. Everywhere death.

And then there was her mother, calm as ever, giving her a single nod and putting her finger to her mouth to hush her as if she was a young child again. Quiet. She had to be quiet. If the ogres couldn't see then that left sound and smell. She couldn't be odorless, but she could be quiet. She had to be! But that was a difficult feat when she felt as though all the blood had just rushed to her head and her heart was surely louder than any of the fighting she'd heard outside.

She was shaking. Or was the floor shaking? Both? At the sound of footsteps she couldn't help her instinct and turned to look behind her and saw those feet again. Big enough to crush her with a single step.

She felt like she was going to cry again and turned her nose into her mother's bodice, breathing in her perfume instead of the foul odor of the beast. She stayed close to her mother to keep calm even as the steps of the monster drew her attention away. Her mother cradled her closer to her and held her hand throughout the long seconds. But then suddenly the creature stopped moving and she panicked again, thinking it had heard her heart or her whimpering! She wanted to tell her mother to run, her legs itched to get up and sprint for someplace safer before the inevitable happened!

"Shh," her mother only hushed quietly, anticipating her fear with only the look of her eyes as a hint. "It's going to be alright."

It was going to be alright. It was going to be alright. It was going to be alright. She fought hard to hold onto those words. She fought hard to hold onto the image in her head only moments ago, that morning when she'd had hope that everything would be alright.

Her father in his chair by the fire, pipe in hand.

Her head on her mother's shoulder, listening as she read to them.

Her Handsome Hero. She'd forgotten it on the table but that was alright because she didn't need the book. She knew the words perfectly. They were all there in her head.

"Once Upon a Time in a Kingdom that time has forgotten there was a beautiful Princess and though she had many fine suitors that could give her land and gold dresses nearly as beautiful as she was none of them were worthy of her heart. For there is a difference between offering another a heart and a hand. And somewhere out in the world, unknowing of his own true worth the man worthy of her heart sat alone watching the-"

Suddenly the table over her disappeared with a loud crash and she stared up into a roaring face twice her size staring down at them, screaming at them sight unseen!

She felt her heart explode, the grip her mother had on her hand tighten and then-

And so we've finally arrived to the first chapter for Moments Lost that I actually had to transcribe. And of course there is a reason that I cut it off there and that reason would be that in this fiction ::Spoiler alert:: Belle has more than simply "forgotten" what happened to her in these moments. What, how, and why? I suppose those are questions for the rest of this fiction because it's going to get...well, it's going to get interesting. I'll explain a little more in the chapters to come, but it's all part of this big doosey reveal of a chapter coming at the end of the fiction and I really hope that you'll like where I take this. (And looking at the BTS pictures from yesterday I hope the writers will like where I take this because I really don't want to have to start from scratch.)

Thank you Fox, Grace, Ladybugsmomma, and Kathryn for all your wonderful and awesome reviews of the last chapter. I'm thrilled with the reception of this fiction and grateful for your comments that get me though no matter what! On to the next Rumbellers! Peace and Happy Reading!