It was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. Although she'd been expecting and hoping for it, she hadn't been prepared for it and her mouth fell open with a silent gasp that turned into a happy smile. "Oh, what's happening?" he muttered. She knew exactly what was happening, she could see it, but he couldn't. How must it have felt for the one experiencing this wonderful transformation?! Before her eyes that greenish gold tint to his skin suddenly began to fade away. Starting with his lips, the place she had kissed him first and moving outward: nose, cheeks, chin, even his hair was taking on a lighter more natural shade.
It had worked. She'd broken his curse! Which could only mean one thing: he was her true love. No wonder she'd felt drawn to him, no wonder she'd never feared him, he was meant for her and she had been meant for him. There was a whole new world of possibilities opening up for them now, and she wanted nothing more than for the transformation to be complete and for them to begin discovering it together!
Boldly she reached out and pushed the soft hair away from his face. "Kiss me again!" she begged. His eyes. She could see his eyes now. Gazing down at her were no longer those strange searing reptilian eyes but gentle brown ones. They watched her with the same interest the others had as she spoke the words. They were taking in every sensation every word that she had said, trying to comprehend what had just happened, trying to understand. "It's working," she exclaimed for his sake and to her own relieved nerves.
"What is?" he asked his voice deep without any hint of the high pitches she'd become so accustomed to. And her heart skipped a beat as she felt him reach out for her, placing his hands at her waist. It was so natural, so perfect. Yet still he looked confused. It was like he was getting his senses back, his eyes squinting like they had to, for the first time, adjust to the low light around them. It was almost as if he was coming out of a dizzy spell, and she was grateful that he'd been sitting down. This moment couldn't have been more perfect, couldn't have been any better if she'd had a hundred years to plan it.
She smoothed his hair back and looked at him, excited for what had happened, excited to tell him what she had learned, and excited to see what he would do with himself now. "Any curse can be broken!" she whispered to him, repeating the words the woman on the road spoke to her only a short while ago. She watched him as his jaw dropped and the words sunk in. She waited for the reaction, wondering what would happen next, what he would do what he would say. She waited to see the amazement and wonder on his face at what had been done.
Suddenly he pulled away from her so violently that it sent the stool he'd been sitting on flying across the room. "Who told you that?!" he yelled. Her jaw dropped, not only was this not the reaction she'd been planning on but the sudden violent outburst seemed to have stopped any progress that the curses cure had made and she found herself staring back at the same monstrous form she'd been confronting since she first laid eyes on him months ago. "Who knows that?!" he demanded when she didn't answer. She'd been so shocked that she forgot he'd asked her a question.
She still felt shocked, she couldn't believe this was happening, couldn't believe what she was staring at and didn't understand how they'd gone from sharing a kiss to screaming. "I, I don't know…" Her brain seemed to have paused and she had to shake her head and look away from him to try and get it to work again. Who'd told her that? She knew the answer to this question. "She, she, uh, she-"
"She…" he muttered like the word was as good as a name to him. She took a risk and looked up at him to see him stride over to that mirror that he kept covered up! The one that he'd warned her about uncovering, telling her that she could never tell what would be looking back at her. She stood to watch his actions, equal parts amazed and disappointed. No matter how much she wanted to she couldn't seem to stop watching him.
"You. Evil. Soul!" he shouted, punctuating each word with anger. And despite his earlier warnings he snapped the thick covering off of the glass and looked into the mirror. She saw nothing. Nothing but him and her own reflection wringing her hands nervously as she wondered what she should do now. "This was you!" he yelled at the mirror, still no one appeared. "You turned her against me!" She walked forward wondering if she would see something different if only she got closer to the object. But it was just a mirror, he was only talking to himself. No, there had to be more to this! She had never known him to be insane, or act this way before. There had to be someone he was talking to...somehow. "You think you can make me weak," he accused. "You think you can defeat me!"
"Who are you talking to?" she asked bravely, finally getting her thoughts together. Was there any way this moment could be salvaged?
"The Queen!" he squealed into the mirror, then turned and faced her. "Your friend the Queen!" The Queen? The Evil Queen? She'd known of her but she'd never met her. Her village had never involved themselves with her affairs especially after all the rumors started. Why would she be friends with a person like that? "How did she get to you?" he asked through gritted teeth.
She didn't like the look on his face. He'd never looked at her with that much anger in all the time since she'd been here. Not even when she had freed Robin Hood. And though she'd never feared him, she suddenly feared his temper and his words. He needed to calm down, he needed to understand. She needed to understand! "The, the Queen?" she stuttered with a shake of her head. None of what he was saying made sense to her. "I don't…"
"I knew this was a trick," he accused, creeping closer to her with all the grace of a hunter stalking his prey. She had to fight the urge to run. "I knew you could never care for me." Care for him? She'd just broken his curse! How could she not care for him?! Whatever anger he had toward the Queen, the rage was blinding him, making him unable to see what he had right in front of his eyes. "Oh, yeah," he whispered like he'd just pieced everything together. "You're working for her," he accused, she meant to defend herself but he cut her off again. "Or is this all you?" he questioned. "Is this you being the hero and killing the beast?"
She had to get him to see. She wasn't trying to hurt him she was trying to help him! How could he have seen a curse breaking as threatening? "It was working-"
"Shut up!" he screamed.
"This means it's true love!" she shouted back, hoping the words would reach the man inside of him.
"Shut the hell up!" he yelled louder.
"Why won't you believe me?" she cried, begged really. But he was gone, the monster was fighting back and had his claws in him so deep that she had never seen him acting this bad in all the time they'd had! How could this have happened? It should have been easy. So why was she trying to prove something to him with words when her actions should have been all the proof he needed.
Suddenly the monster grabbed her roughly around the arms and shook her furiously. She closed her eyes trying to brace herself against his rage. "Because no one, no one, can ever, ever, love me!" he screamed. He released one of her arms and pulled, practically dragged, her toward the hall and down into the dungeons. She fought him at first but the grip on her arm only tightened, enough to know that she would be seeing bruises there in no time at all.
Before her suddenly was the cell that she'd spent her months living in. She was forcefully thrown into the dungeon and landed, fortunately enough, on all fours, her palms scrapping against the stone and her knees stinging painfully as they caught her weight and absorbed the blow. She felt a brief moment of thankfulness that it wasn't her nose that had met the hard stone surface, and then she heard the door creak closed and slam shut behind her.
The click of the lock seemed to echo inside the hallow space, taunting her failed actions. But it wasn't loud enough to drown out the sound of the tears that suddenly began streaming down her face, the sharp intakes of scared and ragged breaths, and the wrenching sound of her heart beat as it began to break. She balled herself up there on the ground and wept as she realized what had just happened. It seemed clear enough to her. It only took one moment for the delicate pieces of her soul to shatter into a million broken shards. And she didn't know if they could ever be put back together.
Sigh...sometimes, I'll be honest, I'm not even sure how they recover from this. It's sad that this happened, but I'm glad that they did recover from it and go on. And I'm glad that they didn't make us wait for seasons until Belle returned like I initially feared they would. Not that it matters, after this there are a lot of problems for them to work out that don't include this little spat.
Yay! Thanks for your reviews LaurieAHancock, Skitzoeinhoven, Grace5231973, Guest, and Moniii! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, even knowing that this little spat was coming! Sorry I didn't put this chapter with the last one, I know it's short but I just loved the last chapter too much to sully it. Well...when you are ready go ahead on to the next and say good-bye to Rumple for the rest of MK&U. I promise there is not much more to go on after that! Peace and Happy Reading!
