Rumplestiltskin approached the castle like Gaston had told him to, coming up to a hidden entrance on the side that was likely once used by servants and knocking three times. He had left Bae at home, but he still had to try to suppress the tremble in his hand at the thought of being caught.
With a loud creak that made him wince, the dark wooden door opened and Gaston peered out at him before wordlessly stepping aside to let Rumplestiltskin pass, closing the door behind him.
"You have the torch?" The knight whispered, leading Rumplestiltskin through the near-darkness with only his own torch for light and up a steep staircase.
"Aye."
"Good," he nodded, more to himself than to Rumplestiltskin. As they walked, Gaston gave him directions to the Duke's private rooms. Rumplestiltskin thanked the gods that he had been forced to memorize everything important his entire life so that now that it mattered, the facts stuck in his head like ants in honey. At the top of the staircase, Gaston turned and led him down another hallway before pausing in front of a door. "Here's the courtyard, spinner." He pressed one hand to the door and placed the other on his sword before looking Rumplestiltskin in the eye. "Belle will be waiting for you in the forest. Stick to the plan and be brave and you should be fine." He opened the door to a dark courtyard full of wood and straw. "Good luck," he murmured as Rumplestiltskin passed him, catching his torch on the one Rumplestiltskin carried, lighting it.
Moving as quickly as his leg would allow, Rumplestiltskin lit the debris in the courtyard on fire. Belle had assured him that his assumption that lighting what was in the yard would lead to the wood supports throughout the castle catching fire as well was correct, and she promised she would soak as many of them as she could in oil. He began to think that she hadn't done so and instead left him a sitting duck to be captured by the Duke, a game for her own amusement, when there was a large burst of flame that traveled up the walls and into the castle quickly.
Limping across the courtyard and avoiding the flames, Rumplestiltskin slipped through a passageway until he found another door. Following Gaston's directions, he made his way through the castle, hiding in shadows and ducking behind tapestries when servants passed him. Luckily, Gaston had sent him through a part of the castle that less people spend time in and even if there were crowds, they were all too busy with the fire to notice him. He reached the hallway that led to the Duke's chambers when he had to dive into a small room hidden by a tapestry to avoid two people coming towards him.
"Come now, your grace," Belle's voice said through the cloth. "Your rooms will be fine. You're lucky I came along and found you before the fire caught you. We need to get you out of harm's way."
"I appreciate your concern, princess; however…"
The Duke's voice faded as he and Belle rounded a corner, hurrying out of the hall. Rumplestiltskin counted to twenty before slipping out of the room and walking in the direction Belle had come from. At the end of the hall, there was a massive oak door with iron fastenings that he carefully pushed open as little as was necessary to get into the room.
The room looked like it had been full of beautiful and expensive things, but now it was filled with flames and smoke. At the far end, there was a large green and gold tapestry with the Duke's crest on it that was largely unharmed and Rumplestiltskin hobbled up to it. Once he reached it, he pulled it aside, revealing a long, curvy dagger with engravings the blade. Not daring to look at the carvings, he picked it up gingerly and tucked it into his belt before hurrying out of the room.
He left the castle the way he came and didn't see another soul as he wove his way through the hallways and passages, exiting through the old servant's entrance. Walking along the path into the forest, he followed the lines Belle had carved onto tree trunks to guide him off of it and towards her until he came into a clearing and found her pacing with her finger between her teeth.
"Rumplestiltskin!" she cried when she saw him, rushing forward to grip his arm. "Are you alright?" When he nodded, she released his arm, relaxing. "Did you get the dagger?"
Rumplestiltskin silently pulled the blade out from beneath his cloak and gripped it tightly, holding it slightly away from his body. Belle put her hand out for it and he stared at her before turning his gaze to the dagger. The blade seemed to call to him and he felt his fingers tighten around it, begging him to put it to use, to call the Dark One and enslave him.
"Rumplestiltskin," Belle whispered, stepping towards him. He stepped back, giving her a look as sharp as the dagger. She froze, her eyes flicking down to it and then back up to his eyes, which narrowed. "Rumplestiltskin, give me the dagger."
They stared at each other for a long moment in which everything was silent. Neither of them breathed and it seemed as if the whole forest was holding its breath with them. Not even the wind blew and the whole world was not only silent but perfectly still, frozen until Rumplestiltskin released a shaky breath and thrust the dagger at Belle, causing her to jump back and reach for the blade on her hip before she realized he was holding it with the handle towards her, offering it to her and resisting its seduction.
Carefully, Belle pulled it out of his grasp, keeping her eyes on him even as he couldn't meet her gaze, staring at the ground and gripping his walking stick with both hands as soon as the dagger left his grip.
"Thank you," she whispered. He looked up at her but she was fingering the blade, reading the word written on it. Glancing up at him, she offered him a tight smile. "Are you ready to meet the Dark One?" Not waiting for an answer, she held the dagger up in the air. "Zoso, I summon thee."
There was silence.
Rumplestiltskin and Belle stared at each other before Belle's eyes widened as they moved to a spot above his shoulder and when he turned to look behind him, he yelped and jumped back towards her. Behind him was a man in a cloak that shrouded his face in shadow.
"You are the not the new master I expected, your highness," he said in a deep, gravelly voice.
Belle straightened her shoulders and stepped forward, shoving her torch into Rumplestiltskin's hand and putting herself between him and the Dark One. "You are Zoso, the Dark One?"
He bowed his head. "I am, mistress. What would you have me do? Do you wish for me to end the war you and your father are too weak finish? I can't imagine what it must be like to not even be able to protect the people you are born to lead."
Rumplestiltskin couldn't see her face, but the back of her neck, bared by her hair being plaited to the side, paled even as she shook her head. "I am not interested in any mind games, Zoso. You have to follow my orders, correct? An honest yes or no will suffice."
"Yes," Zoso said, a frown in his voice.
"Excellent," Belle said. "From this point on, you will answer all of my questions honestly. No twisting of words or any falsehood of any kind. Nothing but the truth, understood?" Zoso nodded. "Good. Now, kindly remove your hood."
Zoso reached up slowly and did as she said, showing his face for the first time, causing Rumplestiltskin to step forward, recognizing him even with the green-gold scales that now covered his skin. "You're the beggar," he said, shaking where he stood next to Belle. "You're the beggar who told me how to control the Dark One."
"Very observant, Rumplestiltskin," Zoso said, amused.
"Why would you tell him how to kill you?" Belle said, frowning.
"My life is such a burden," Zoso growled. "Magic always comes with a price, and mine is being passed around between petty lords and ladies who have no qualms with enslaving me as long as I win them land and gold and power."
Belle stayed silent for a long time before taking a deep breath. "Can you end the Ogre War?"
"Aye, mistress," he said.
She nodded. "Then end it with no further bloodshed. Send all of the ogres somewhere they cannot harm any person, somewhere they cannot leave and no one else can enter."
Zoso closed his eyes for the span of three breaths and then opened them again. "It is done."
"You shall harm no person for the rest of your life unless it is in self-defense. You will only use your powers for good and will help people who need it, understood?" Belle said, stepping towards him and tightening her grip on the dagger.
"Yes, princess."
"Good," Belle said, frowning hard at him. "I am going to ask you another question and it is even more important for you to be honest with this one than any other I asked." Zoso and Rumplestiltskin both stared at her as she gathered her thoughts. "If I were to release you, would you have to follow my orders still?" They both kept staring at her, though in shock now.
"N-no," Zoso stammered, eyes wide. "I would not be required to, but I would give my solemn promise that I would, and I would kept that promise."
Belle gave him another hard look before nodding. "I accept that promise." Holding the dagger out, she murmured, "Zoso, I release thee."
With a shaking hand, he reached out and grasped the dagger, a grin spreading across his face once it was in his hands. Tucking it into his clothing, he beamed up at Belle. "You have just gained yourself a powerful ally, your highness. Should you be in need, do not hesitate to call on me for help. I am in your debt." Belle smiled and bowed her head. "You will make a great queen one day."
"King," Belle said.
Zoso gave her a knowing smile. "Indeed." He bowed deeply to her and she sank into a graceful curtsey, hands out to her sides as if she was gripping an invisible skirt. He turned to Rumplestiltskin. "Spinner, it would seem I am indebted to you as well for bringing the Lioness my dagger. You may call on me as well."
"T-thank you," Rumplestiltskin stammered.
Zoso nodded to both of them one last time before vanishing.
They both stared in shock at the spot Zoso had been standing in before Belle turned to Rumplestiltskin, smiling brightly. "That went well."
He just looked at her with big eyes and she laughed, linking her arm through his as she began to walk in the direction of the town. "Thank you for everything, Rumple," she said, smiling up at him as she squeezed his arm gently.
He cast her a tentative smile, which she seemed content with as she looked towards the path.
"Princess, may I speak frankly?"
"I encourage it," Belle said, beaming at him. "But only if you call me Belle."
"Belle," he murmured, loving the way her name rolled off his tongue, and she giggled. He immediately decided he wanted to hear that sound again. "Belle, you are not like any princess I would expect."
Belle chuckled. "That's because I'm not like any other princess. I was raised like a prince to be king, rather than a princess raised to marry a nobleman and be his queen."
"That's why you corrected Zoso," Rumplestiltskin said, frowning.
"Aye," she said, nodding. "My mother and baby brother died in childbirth when I was a girl. She was the love of my father's life, so he refused to remarry. When his advisors told him that was unwise for it would leave him without an heir, he declared that I would be sole heir to the throne and would one day be king, solving that problem." Rumplestiltskin stared at her in surprise and she squeezed his arm again. "It was quite scandalous, but most people seem to have accepted it now."
"It would be a waste to have you just as queen," he said, earning another one her bright smiles that warmed his undeserving heart.
"What word is that?"
"C-coo… No… Cow!"
"Perfect!" Belle said, grinning at Bae where she sat next to him at the table. Rumplestiltskin glanced over at them, stopping the spinning wheel for a moment, and smiled.
It had been an eventful two months since Belle had released the Dark One. The first thing she had done was write to her father with a request to strip the Duke of his title and as soon as she got a response, she marched up to the Duke in the town square and handed him the king's order.
"What the hell is this?" The Duke growled. "These are my lands."
"Not any longer," Belle said with a satisfied smirk. "You don't have the Dark One to hide behind anymore, as I'm sure you noticed, so it's time for you to answer to your crimes. My men will escort you back to the king's palace."
The Duke stepped closer to her, lifting his hand as if to strike her, and she didn't so much as flinch, even as Gaston stepped forward and grabbed the Duke's wrist, twisting it roughly.
"It's been a pleasure, your grace. You're in good hands now," she said, nodding permission to Gaston to take him away. She looked at the people gathered in the square before turning to a shopkeeper and gestured to a wooden crate that was lying in front of his shop. "May I use this?" When he nodded, she overturned it and stepped up onto it. "People of the Frontlands! You no longer have a tyrant as a lord. I will be taking over management of the former duke's lands until my father the king decides who your next duke will be." She smiled out at the crowd. "Rest assured that the next man chosen will be good and just and would never send your children to war."
Someone cheered in the back of the crowd, and then everyone erupted in celebration. As townspeople swarmed her, thanking her, she caught Rumplestiltskin's eye and winked at him.
She had spent the next two months rebuilding the war-torn town and the surrounding villages, seemingly determined to make the town a thriving city, but even with everything she was doing, Rumplestiltskin somehow found her in his home at least two nights a week. Sometimes she brought dinner for them or a large bolt of cloth and lately had taken to bringing books to teach Baelfire how to read. When Rumplestiltskin asked her to stop taking pity on them, she had given him an adoring smile.
"Rumple, you do realize that without your help the Duke would still be the lord here, don't you?" she said. "I'm showing my thanks. Besides, I love spending time with you and your son." At his shocked expression, her smile faltered. "If you don't want me here, of course, don't hesitate to say so…"
"No!" Rumplestiltskin said, startling Belle with his outburst. "No, I love having you here. I just don't want you to feel obligated to visit us or bring us things."
"I don't feel obligated," Belle said, putting her hand over his on the table. "There's no place I would rather be right now."
He hadn't been able to stop himself from smiling at her then.
"You'll be reading faster than me at the rate you're going," Belle said, smiling at Bae and bringing Rumplestiltskin back to the present.
"I don't know about that," Bae said, smiling back at her and for a moment Rumplestiltskin could pretend that this was how it always would be before he remembered who Belle was and how ridiculous that hope was.
"Bae, I think it's time you went to bed," Rumplestiltskin said quietly, keeping his eyes on the spinning wheel.
"Papa," he whined.
"We have to be up early to shear the sheep tomorrow, son," Rumplestiltskin said. "Go to sleep."
Grumbling, Bae stood up and bid Belle goodnight before going into the loft where his pallet was kept.
As soon as Bae left the room, it was silent except for the creaking of the wheel and the crackling of the fire. Rumplestiltskin could feel Belle's eyes on him, but he didn't look around at her.
"Do you like it?"
"What?" he said, glancing at her and finding her standing right behind him.
"Spinning," she said, tilting her chin towards the wheel. "I know you spin have to spin for your livelihood, but do you like it?"
"Aye," Rumplestiltskin said, turning back to the wheel. "I suppose it's the only thing I'm good at, and it helps me forget."
"Forget what?"
He paused. "I guess it worked."
Belle surprised him when she laughed. "Rumple, can I ask you a personal question?"
"It depends on what it is."
"How did you injure your leg?"
He shook his head, looking up at her but not meeting her eyes. "Not that, Belle. Anything but that."
"Alright," she said gently, putting her hand on his shoulder. "What about Bae's mother? What happened to her?"
Rumplestiltskin swallowed. "She was kidnapped by pirates when he was a boy. When I went to the captain to try to get her back, he told me he would fight me for her. If I won, he would let her go, but if I lost…"
"If you lost, he would kill you and leave Bae completely parentless." When Rumplestiltskin nodded, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "You didn't take him up on his offer."
"I would have lost," he murmured, gesturing to his bad leg. "I failed her."
Belle sighed and tightened her arm around him. "The first lesson that my father taught me about ruling a country is that sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils and while neither of them are the right thing to do, you can only choose what's best in the long run. You made the right choice, Rumple, no matter how much it hurt."
"Thank you," he whispered, looking up at her. She gave him a watery smile and he cast around in his mind desperately for a new topic. "What about you? I thought princesses got married young, and you're…"
"An old maid?" she said with a wry smile.
"No!"
She laughed. "I'm twenty-seven years old, Rumplestiltskin. That's hardly young for an unmarried woman." She pulled a chair from the table over to sit next to him at the wheel. "I was actually supposed to marry Gaston when I turned nineteen, but I refused. Neither of us would have been happy. He's my oldest friend and I love him dearly, but not in the way I want to love the man I marry. After that, no one wanted to marry me, not that I would have wanted to marry any of the noblemen who would have come for my hand," she said, shrugging.
"Why wouldn't they want to marry you?" Rumplestiltskin said, frowning, and she smiled at his confused expression.
"I'm a princess who will be king. Noblemen want to marry princesses so that they can be king, but any man who would marry me would have to defer to my authority, and it takes a rare man to be willing to submit to a woman in any way, let alone like that," she said.
"Well, that just reaffirms my theory that all noblemen are idiots," he said and she giggled, making him smile.
"Thank you, Rumple," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek before standing. "I'll see you at the market tomorrow." When he nodded, she smiled and left his home, leaving it feeling empty.
True to her word, Belle came up to his stall to buy more thread the next day, Gaston in tow as usual.
"You're my best customer, Belle," Rumplestiltskin said, smiling at her as she picked out some spools.
"I have to give Gaston something to do to keep the boredom away, and he so loves embroidery," she said, her eyes sparkling. Gaston rolled his eyes and she snickered as she handed Rumplestiltskin some coins. "I have a new book I want to show Bae, so I was thinking I could bring some dinner by tonight? The castle's cook is happy to finally make something more than the roasted pork the Duke demanded, so there's more food than any of us can eat. I can smuggle some out before the extras are given away."
"Bae would love that," he said, smiling at her.
"Princess, I understand that you want to get to know the people you rule over, but you shouldn't bother wasting your time on Rumplestiltskin," Annette, the butcher's wife, said as she walked up to the stall. Her dirty blonde hair was piled on top of her head and she looked at Rumplestiltskin scornfully.
"Pardon?" Belle said in a warning tone that Annette ignored as she kept talking.
"Our dear spinner hobbled himself so he wouldn't have to fight in the Ogre War," she said, sneering at him. "He made sure he would be too injured to go to battle while the rest of our men stood and fought and died, Milady Lioness."
He stared at his thread, not daring to look up at Belle, though he could feel both her eyes and Gaston's fixed on him.
"Spinner, is that true?" Gaston said at last.
"Aye," Rumplestiltskin whispered, looking up at him. The knight was staring at him with an unreadable expression and when Rumplestiltskin glanced at Belle, she was giving him a sad look. "I didn't want Bae to grow up fatherless." Belle's brow furrowed before she turned back to Annette.
"Annette, are you glad the Duke is no longer your lord?"
"Of course, your highness," Annette said, blinking at Belle.
"And you are aware that if the Dark One was still under his thrall, the Duke would still control these lands?" Belle said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes, your highness," Annette said, confusion clear in her tone.
"You have Rumplestiltskin to thank for freeing the Dark One," Belle said, eyes fixed on Annette.
"What? But I thought you—"
"I wouldn't have even known how to free the Dark One without Rumplestiltskin's help and he was key in the actual act of getting the power away from the Duke, so maybe he isn't quite the coward you think he is," Belle said quietly. "Thank you for your input, Annette." Annette stared at Rumplestiltskin before walking away stiffly at Belle's dismissal.
Belle sighed, exchanging a look with Gaston before turning back to Rumplestiltskin. "Thank you for your kind words, princess," he said, looking at his wares again.
"Back to titles, are we?" Belle said, giving him a small smile.
"You won't want to be associated with me now that you know what a coward I really am," he murmured, avoiding her gaze.
"I'll decide what I want to do, thank you very much," Belle said, slamming her palm on the stall in frustration. "Do you remember what I told you, Rumplestiltskin? About me being the Lioness and knowing a coward when I see one?" When he nodded, she glared at him. "That still stands, Rumple. If you're a coward, then you're the most lionhearted coward I have ever met. My friendship isn't lost so easily. Is yours?"
He looked up at her then to see her staring hard at him with her clear blue eyes, eyes that were filled with an impossible affection that couldn't possibly be directed towards him but was, and he nearly fell to the floor with thanks then and there but instead tightened his grip on his walking stick and smiled at her. "No, Belle, it isn't."
"Good," she said, smiling so brightly that all of her worry lines melted away and she looked as if she didn't have a care in the world, although he knew that she felt like had the world on her shoulders even if she didn't show it. "I'll see you tonight then." With one last smile, she sauntered away, casting a look at the group of women huddled around Annette at the other side of the town square.
"Rumplestiltskin," Gaston said, leaning against the stall. Rumplestiltskin looked up at him in surprise at being addressed by his name. "There is no shame in abandoning a hopeless war to be with your son."
"I didn't want him to grow up without a father like I did," Rumplestiltskin said and Gaston held up his hand.
"You don't have to justify your actions to me. I understand. Believe me, I understand." A haunted look crossed the normally stoic knight's face before he covered it up with a serious expression that Rumplestiltskin suspected, for the first time, was a mask to hide the true coward that was inside every person. As if reading his mind, Gaston nodded. "Belle is the only truly brave person I've ever met, and even she gets scared sometimes. There's no shame in feeling fear."
"I can't imagine Belle scared."
Gaston smiled slightly. "You should have seen her the day you stole the dagger. Have a good day, spinner." He nodded to Rumplestiltskin before following Belle across the market.
Another month passed, during which the new duke came to the Frontlands, a man called Leonard who brought a pregnant wife and three daughters with him and spent much of his time the first few days he was in town walking around with Belle, who introduced him to his new subjects and explained to him the improvements she hoped he would make.
Two weeks after he arrived, Belle was sitting in front of the fire in Rumplestiltskin's home, looking over Bae's shoulder at the book he was reading aloud to her as Rumplestiltskin cleaned up from dinner before sitting at his wheel.
"Bae, bed," he said when Bae finished the chapter with much praise from Belle.
"Wait," Belle said, putting a hand one Bae's shoulder to stop him from standing before looking down at her other hand in her lap. "I came tonight to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" Bae yelled. "You're leaving?!" Rumplestiltskin stared at her sadly as it hit him that the day he had been dreading had finally arrived.
"Yes," she said, trying to smile at Bae as she cupped his cheeks in her palm. "Leonard is all set up here and will be a good duke, and however much I wish I could stay, I need to return to my father."
Bae's lip quivered before he tackled Belle with a hug, almost forcing her to the floor. She gripped him in her arms just as tightly, holding him practically in her lap. As he pulled away, he held her book out for her to take. She gently pushed it away. "I brought it for you, love. I brought them all for you to keep," she said, nodding towards the small stack she had let Bae choose from earlier in the evening. "You keep reading even after I'm gone, you hear? You be smart and keep using that clever head of yours." Bae nodded and she reached out to wipe a tear away from his cheek. "It's been my honor to spend time with you, Baelfire. I'm so glad to have met you." She hugged him again before he went up to the loft, casting his father a miserable look as he left.
Looking towards his spinning wheel, Rumplestiltskin tried to keep his own misery from showing. "We'll miss you, Belle," he said when he couldn't take Belle's eyes being on him anymore.
She smiled as she stood up and went to the table, pulling a pouch out of the bag she had left there with her leather gloves. "I'll miss both of you so much," she said, walking over to him and handing him the pouch. He took it and looked inside, finding it full of gold coins.
"Belle, no," he said, standing as he shook his head and held it back out to her.
She closed his fingers around it in his palm. "Please take it, Rumplestiltskin. It will make me feel better about leaving you two."
She stared at him with suspiciously bright eyes and he nodded, setting it on top of the basket where he kept his wool. "Thank you," he whispered, knowing she knew that he was talking about so much more than just the gold. She gave him a tight smile.
He closed his eyes, not wanting to have to see her and know it would be the last time, and was taken by surprise when her lips covered his and she pressed her body into his, pushing him until his back hit the wall and he dropped his walking stick to wrap both arms around her waist, kissing her back as forcefully as she kissed him, hands tangling in hair and grasping necks and arms holding on tighter until she pulled away as suddenly as she had kissed him, her breathing ragged and eyes glistening.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against his cheek, moving her hands to clench his shoulders. "I shouldn't have done that. Not with me leaving in the morning." She shook her head against his and took a deep, shuddering breath before stepping back, stepping out of his arms. He watched as she pulled her gloves on, avoiding his eyes.
"Belle?" he said, trying to be brave, trying to gather his courage for her, for his lioness. She paused, her hand on the door and eyes fixed ahead of her. "I love you."
She laughed shakily and leaned against the door, eyes closed again. "You couldn't have told me that before?" She sighed. "I love you too, my lionhearted coward." They stayed like that, him watching her, her with her eyes closed, until she stood up straight and looked right at him, completely composed except for the tears in her eyes. "Goodbye, Rumplestiltskin."
Wrenching the door open, she left without looking back.
A/N: Thank you for the amazing response and all the follows, favorites, and encouraging reviews! It really means a lot to me. Just as a side note-Belle's whole situation with her father decreeing her to be king is inspired by Christina, the girl king of Sweden. If you're interested, you should look her up. She's fascinating. Thanks for reading :) There's one chapter to go.
