The Beast and The Rose
Lilith nearly fell from her spot on the window seat as she watched her intruder walk out from the shadows. He was truly a sight to behold. At first she thought him a man, but the shade of skin and the raiment he wore told a different story.
The intruder was of average height, with a head of brown hair, long and curly, that touched the tops of his face and profile were sharp, maybe even darkly handsome, excepting the shock of his silver/green skin. It was hard to read status, for his clothing was rich dark green silk, and he was covered in silver and gold. And yet he didn't look like any royal or nobleman she'd ever seen or heard of. While she sized him up he suddenly stopped, grinning at her insanely.
"Like what you see dearie?" he asked, sweeping his hand across his chest. Lilith blushed, but continued to stare him down. Regaining her voice she asked him, "Who are you, and how did you get in here?" Lilith's eyes swept the room for the hundredth time, searching for some exit besides the one guarded and locked door.
"If you got in here, I can get out." she said, taking a few cautious steps toward him.
The man pointed up a finger. "With magic you can dearie!"
Then, leaning forward conspiratorially, he added, "And from what I hear, you've already got it. It's what got you landed in this little bird cage."
Lilith opened her mouth to explain her situation, but he only held up a hand, silencing her.
"I know who you are and how you got here dearie." he stated simply, then bowed low.
"The name is Rumplestiltskin, and everyone's business is my business." he said, rising and winking at her mischieviously.
Lilith growled, irritated at this crazy man's light hearted atttiude. "Look, are you going to help me or not? Show me how you got in." Rumplestiltskin's smile only got bigger.
Pointing behind himself at the door, he reminded her,
"You're only way out is through that door. But..." he trailed, "I do have the solution to your problem. For a price..."
Lilith's eyes widened.
"You can spin straw into... gold? It's not possible. Even I knew it wasn't when I claimed it could be done." she said, incredulous.
Rumplestiltskin merely grabbed a handful of straw and sat at the spinning wheel, feeding it in and spinning the wheel as he had been doing it for his entire life.
"It just so happens..." he said, leaning towards her from his seat, "That this particular magic is one that I am very familiar with." And with that, he gave the wheel a good, hard spin that made a gold rope of straw fall right into his outstretched hand.
Holding it up for Lilith to take and inspect, she took it from his hand in wonder. As she looked it over, she raised an appraising eye. "What's the price...?" she asked, curious.
At that, Rumplestiltskin jumped up from his chair and grasped her shoulders jovially.
"Why, only your firstborn child, dearie!" he exclaimed, and with a flourish of his hands, a scoll of paper rolled from one hand to the floor, and the other produced a flame red quill.
"You can read, can't you?" he queried, cocking his head to one side.
Lilith reached out a hand to take the quill, thinking, planning quietly and carefully to herself. Just as she took the scroll to read it over, she ventured another glance at her would-be rescuer.
"If it's such a small matter for you, and such a small price, why don't you just teach me how to do it?" she asked.
It was obvious the imp hadn't expected that, smiling as she saw his face blanche at her request.
"You... you want to learn how to do it, instead of me just do it for you...?" he asked, making sure he heard her right.
Lilith nodded, gesturing at the straw that surrounded both them and the spinning wheel.
"It makes the most sense, doesn't it? You do it for me this one time, but if they call upon me to do it again, I'd be doomed. Besides, with a gift like that, I'd be the most valuable creature in this whole kingdom." she said, her eyes falling away, thoughtful.
"No one would dare look down their nose at me like some damned commoner then..." she murmured.
Lilith didn't know it, but he heard her whispered words, and they struck a chord with him. He too had been commoner trash, had he not? And here, this peasant girl had the guts he never had before, asking the most powerful creature in all the lands to teach her his own magic.
Rumplestiltskin glanced up from the floor, looking at her again as he paced 'round the room. She was very beautiful as well, and cunning. The girl had the same keen eye that he had learned to have, reading him as best she could with her limited understanding. And she was not afraid...
"Alright dearie..." he said, waving his hand over the scroll in her hands. Blue smoke clouded over the writing for a moment, changing the written agreement.
"In exchange for your firstborn child, I will teach you the magical art of spinning straw into gold." he promised, bowing again.
Lilith signed the document quickly, and with a snap of his fingers, it disappeared. Going to stand behind the spinning wheel's seat, he gestured to the chair.
"Shall we get started my dear?"
Several hours had gone by. If it were possible, night had only grown darker outside the tower window, meaning that dawn would be following soon. Lilith could only hope they forgot her for a while and took their time coming to retrieve her.
She threw the straw rope in her hands to the ground in frustration. "I'm not getting anywhere Rumplestiltskin!" she fumed. Looking up from her task with indignation, she accused him.
"I thought you were going to teach me how to do this."
Rumplestiltskin merely smiled, waggling a finger to chide her.
"You've got to stop thinking dearie. The magic won't flow to do it's work if you're trying to think it to death. It needs no restraints, like thought." he said.
Lilith put a hand upon her knee, looking at him in earnest.
"What do you do? You know, to get it to work. How do you stop thinking about making it work?" she asked, pursing her lips.
The imp's smile vanished, his thoughts taking him back in time. No one had ever asked him things like this before. This encounter with someone he was "dealing" with was the first to get him to think back, remember who he was and why he was doing what he did...
He shook his head, clearing his mind. Cocking his head again, he regarded her with amusement.
"You really want to know, eh?" he asked.
Lilith nodded seriously, inclining her head further to listen.
He sighed, indulging her.
"When I was merely human, before I became what I am, guards came to my village. They wanted to take my son. We tried to escape in the woods, but they discovered us..." he told her.
"The head of the guard made me kiss his boot in front of my son, in exchange for not taking him." he said, his words full of disgust.
At his pause, Lilith asked, "What did you want to do to him...?"
Rumplestiltskin looked dead at her as he answered, his face devoid of emotion, and fightening in it's seriousness.
"I wanted to break his legs. I wanted to rip him limb from limb, to crunch his throat beneath my teeth as he fell to pieces at my feet."
Lilith turned back to her task slowly, thinking over his words. Not looking up from the wheel, she inclined her head slightly in his direction.
"So, it's hate, even passion, that brings the magic out...?" she asked.
Rumplestiltskin could not mistake the excited tremble in her voice, or how it called to him, as she asked. It had been years since he had hoped for anything but fear from anyone. The lilt to her voice, the way she could regard him fearlessly, and maybe even... with interest. He walked up closer behind her, gently and hesitantly sweeping her hair off her shoulders.
"Here, let me help you..." he trailed off, sitting on the edge of the stool behind her. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing small circles on her back with his thumbs.
She arched back slightly at his touch, eased immearsurably by his presence. This was crazy, she knew. Yet how could she act shocked? This man, imp, whatever he was, was just the same as her, only he had power; the same thing she craved. There wasn't anything about him that scared her, only drew her.
"They humiliated me in front of the entire royal court, and I didn't even do anything wrong. I was merely delivering flour from my father's mill, when this arrogant princess tripped me." she said, quietly, but scathingly. The hiss in her voice only drew him closer. Rumplestiltskin lowered his face to her shoulder blade, running the tip of his nose along her skin, breathing in the scent of wild roses.
"And what does that make you want to do to them...?" he asked her, the lust in his voice rising to her ears, unguarded.
Lilith leaned her shoulder back further, letting his lips find the base of her neck.
"I want them to bow to me, all of them, like they made me bow. I want their kneecaps to freeze on the cold, marble floors for the length that they have bowed there. I want their bones to break from how low the bow to me..." she trailed, looking off into nothing as she mused. Suddenly, the straw rope in her hands grew heavy.
Without moving her shoulder from his reach, she glanced downward at her lap. There lay a perfect, golden chain-rope.
"I did it..." she breathed, getting Rumplestiltskin's attention as he began to run his teeth along her shoulder. Lilith felt his hands snake their way around her waist, turning her sideways to meet his eyes. "This is only the beginning of what you could learn from me..." he told her, solemnly.
Lilith couldn't help it. She could already feel the posessive grip he had on her waist, could see the temptation in his eyes to continue their deal further. And none of it alarmed her. Even the shade of his skin seemed a mere nuance to her. He looked, acted, and reminded her in every way of herself; one who had been wronged by people not worthy of their station. And they both desired a comrade.
She leaned in closer to him, practically seeing the flames of desire in his eyes grow brighter. A dark chuckle rose from her belly as she watched his eyes momentarily wander from her lips to her half-exposed bosom. That brought his gaze back to her own, him touching his nose to hers, breathing on her skin. His scent was wild and thrilling, like magic.
"As long as you will teach me, how can I refuse?" she asked, simply. And with that, she leaned in to kiss him. The Dark One.
The all powerful Beast, Rumplestiltskin.
As morning rose, the light began to shine into the tower window. It lit the room into a blaze of light. Not a single piece of straw lay anywhere, only bits and pieces of gold rope. And from the spindle stool, the magic pair looked around proudly at their work. Rumplestiltskin had even magicked his own spindle into the room to help Lilith accomplish this huge feat, for there was no way she could've finished alone. Though now, as the last had been spun, he had come back to her stool to pay his attentions. As she sat back and took it all in, it was all he could do to take all of her in.
Wild, red hair fell carelessly across her exposed shoulders. Skin as creamy white and delicate looking as porcelain. Rough, work-hardened hands from running the flour mill at home. And a face like a fallen angel; beautiful and fair to behold, but tinged with pain and anger that only the eye of one wronged could truly see. And was he not of the same cloth?
"There is no reason why I could not hope to have her. We are the same, she and I..." Rumple thought.
It was the whole reason he had agreed to teach her this bit of magic; why he had offered even more to learn. He glanced at his hands where they rested on her waist. There, in one moment, he remembered why he stopped hoping. The sick, metallic silver/green pallor of his skin and the scaliness of his complexion, likened to a dragon's scales, or quite nearly. This was why the fairer sex would not spare a glance, not unless they were after him for a deal. Even when he had brought the children back from the Ogre War, returning them safely to their parents, hoping to be a hero, finally... The shade and texture of his skin, even befor the weight of his magic surfaced, was enough to have heads turned away in disgust, even as they thanked him. Always fear, never love.
Rumplestiltskin released her waist and stood from his place at her spinning stool, causing her to turn and wake from her reverie. She wore the most lovely smile of satisfaction at their work, and he couldn't believe that she was able to keep it as she beheld him. Yet she did, never faltering, like she was regarding an old friend. Lilith could tell something was wrong, the moment their eyes met.
"What troubles you, my Dark One?" she asked, hesitantly.
Lilith had no idea how he would take her boldness, calling him in any way her own. She winced, so very slightly, as he turned his eyes on her with shock at her familiarity. Rumple walked around to face her, kneeling before her knees. The wild, grey/green eyes bore into hers unflinchingly, as if he sought to search her soul. In truth, he wanted to close his eyes and glance into the future, see if he could find her smiling face paired with his own. Too often, though, his hope had undone him. Or had passed him by completely. This time he didn't want to know, not that way.
"Let the disappointment come if it must..." he thought solemnly.
"I want to experience this on my own, even if it's only for a short time. I'm too tired of knowing every turn of the future as it bends and changes..."
Carefully, he placed his hands upon her knees, never removing his gaze from hers. Almost automatically, Lilith placed hers over his. Rumple closed his eyes and bowed his head as the wave of shock at her gesture nearly toppled him. Lilith leaned closer forward in worry, sensing his plight somehow.
"Rumplestiltskin, what is wrong? I thought we had done well together...?" she asked, placing one hand gently (but hesitantly) on his head.
He leaned into her touch, like some wild cat, and she smiled again.
"Oh, Rumple..." she breathed, truly realizing the trouble.
This magic creature loved her, the miller's daughter, of all things! How could this have happened when he was in her company only a night, promised to King Cyrus's son, Prince Henry, should she succeed? Yet, again, there were those wild eyes, begging her silently. And, honestly, it made her heart soar.
"Why would you choose a miller's daughter?" she asked quietly.
"Why want a poor, pitiful wretch as I when you could have the fairest maiden in all the lands?"
The Beast gave a viscious sigh as he heaved himself from his knees, glaring at her like she was a nuisance.
"How can the loveliest creature I have ever beheld strike a deal with me, change it to ask of me, The Dark One!, to learn my OWN magic, treat me as if I were nothing to fear, and then ask me what I would possibly want with her?!" he raged, stomping back and forth across the tower.
Lilith's eyes widened as he calmed and walked toward her, again kneeling where she sat.
"I am looking at the fairest, bravest maiden in all the lands. One who has done what no other before her has; captured the attention of The Dark One and wanted it." he said.
Just as he leaned forward to kiss her, the sharp strike of a spearhead sounded upon the door, announcing the guards arrival outside.
Rumplestiltskin looked into her eyes, mirth written upon his own at her mixed expression.
"I will be watching as you awe them, apprentice... My beautiful, wild rose." he whispered, disappearing into smoke as the door opened.
The guards, one to each side of Lilith, took much more care escorting her out than they had going in at the first. Seeing the gold scattered about in piles 'round the room had caused them to regret earlier unkindness, now afraid that she might turn them to golden statues, like the hand of Midas.