The kingdom didn't see much sunshine as fall approached. It was a long, dark, rainy month. If it wasn't raining it was alway covered with dark clouds. It never seemed to fade.
She could do this, Belle believed it. No matter how much pain she was put through she honestly believed that she would make it. It was the eight month of her pregnancy, she just had to stick it out one more month. Belle had always been delicate, like a flower. She looked at this pregnancy as a chance to gain a child and become a stronger woman. Snow, Charming and Rumpel they have always been strong for Belle, now it was her turn. Despite the pain the child put her through, Belle grew to love her and Rumpel's baby more and more. She could still picture her, Rumpel and her baby all growing together.
Belle was laying in her bed tossing and turning. She spent most of her days in bed watching the rain fall and sleeping but now she was wide awake and bored. She felt like she wanted to get up and walk around but every time she did the child would use magic again. Furthermore Rumpel and Snow wouldn't allow it, anytime she tried they would rush her back to bed. She wasn't comfortable and now her stomach had tripled in size, she was tired of being pregnant. She was ready for her baby, even if Rumpel wasn't
Elsewhere in the castle Rumpel, Baelfire, Emma, Charming, Snow and many others were at a meeting again trying to come up with a plan for Rumpel and Belle. It wouldn't remain a secret for long to other kingdoms that Rumpel's child was born. Baelfire was planning a defense strategy for when they were attacked. They were beginning an entire war strategy, most of which included using Rumpel's magic to deffend themselves.
To Rumpel there was nothing that could be done, no amount of planning was going to save Belle. He didn't even care that the neighboring kingdoms were on their way, he could see it. The war was inevitable, he was only concerned that he was going to lose the one thing that meant more to him than anything in the world. The only thing that the council had right was that he was defiantly going to be using him magic to defend them, he was going to do alot more than that actually. With Belle gone, the only thing that Rumpel would want would be to watch is the world burn at his hands.
"We just need to cover up Belle and Rumpel's child. Keep them here in the palace, while Rumpel teaches the baby to control it's powers," Snow suggested.
"And keep the child locked here in the palace forever?" Charming pointed out the flaws.
"As long as no one on the outside knows we will be fine," Snow confided.
"There's one problem, a problem that would backfire on us," Emma began, "if the kid is found, and the other countries realize that we've been lying and that theres a kid here with magic they'll come at us with everything they've got."
"So we don't get caught," Snow reassured.
"Emma's right though, if we do get caught it'll mean hell for all," Charming agreed.
"We just need to prove it to them," Snow stated, "Me and Belle both believe that this baby isn't evil. If we can convince everyone else then there isn't a problem."
"So then we only need to hide the kid for a few years until it learns how to use it's magic the right way," Emma said, she then turned to Rumpel, "how long do you think it will take for you to teach your kid to control it's magic?"
"I have no intention of helping that thing it's going to kill her," Rumpel said darkly.
"Rumpel it is your child-" Charming began to try to explain.
"Father, you can do this," Baelfire said coming to Rumpel side, "I know you and I haven't had much time together but I know how much family means to you. That child in Belle, it's your family."
"And that thing is going to kill the family I already have. What if this thing does turn out evil? What if it does destroy the world? If it does I'd expect that you would want me to kill it before it kills the world, so then I'd lose Belle, my home and the only living part of Belle," Rumpel stated clearly.
"If you can find your way to good then I'm sure that your child can too. Beside's Belle's right, the child is only have yours. It's half Belle too," Snow explained.
At that moment Henry came storming into the council room.
"Henry, you know you can't be in here right now," Emma stated.
"I know but there's something wrong," Henry stated, "it's Anthony."
"Who?" Emma asked.
"Anthony he was a knight in Lancelot's brigade," Henry explained.
"What about him?" Charming asked.
"He's gone," Henry reported.
"Gone where?" Emma asked.
"We don't know, no one has seen him anywhere in the last week," Henry explained.
"Well maybe he's just in the forest or somewhere else in the kingdom," Emma replied.
"He's not I'm pretty sure I know where he went," Henry said desperately.
"Where?" Emma asked.
"Camelot," Henry said, everyone went silent, "He moved here to our kingdom almost two years ago. He's still loyal to Camelot, he always said that Camelot was his home...I think he went back."
"But he's been working here inside the palace guarding all off us since he got here," Snow said slowly connecting the pieces.
"Which means he knows about Belle," Emma said stating the final piece.
"He's going to tell Camelot," said Charming.
"So we fight," Baelfire stated, "We'll defend ourselves and we'll defend Belle."
"This will just lead us to death and war," Rumpel stated bluntly.
"Father, you need to be with Belle. I know you're strong, and now you need to be strong for her. I know you can do this, we all believe in you," Baelfire said boldly.
Rumpel silently agreed. He figured there wasn't much time left, and right now he only wanted to do one thing. So he got up and left the council room and made way to where Belle was. He stopped outside her room, tried to put out all his dark angry thoughts that matched the growing storm outside and entered the room.
Belle was laying on the bed covered by the blanket. Rumpel could see the small sparkle in her eye when he was her. Despite that, she looked weary, tired. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair was a mess and she had lost much weight in her face. despite all this, Rumpel still saw her as the most beautiful woman he ever knew.
"Hey," she said with a gravely voice.
"Hey," he whispered back to her and went over to her. He walked over to the other side of the bed, crawled in and scooted over to Belle. She turned over and faced him, Rumpel wrapped his arms around her waist holding her close...at least as close as he could. Her belly kept him from getting closer than he wished.
"I feel like there's something between us," Rumpel joked with her.
It made Belle giggle, he loved hearing that sound. It seems like he hasn't heard it in a long time. In that moment a strike of lightening light up the sky but only for a second. It made Belle jump, she hated thunderstorms. She also groaned and tried to readjust to become more comfortable.
"Something wrong...well besides the obvious," Rumpel asked.
"My back is sore from being in bed all day," Belle groaned.
"Let me help," Rumpel offered helping her sit up. The blanket fell past her stomach, when Rumpel saw the stomach he felt his anger blaze. Belle noticed this and pulled the blanket back over her stomach.
With Belle sitting up Rumpel tried to swallow it's anger and began to rub her back to help ease the pain, "Do you remember the first time we met dearie?"
"Yeah, it was at my old home," Belle said smiling, her voice was quiet and weak, "it was when my old home was plagued with ogres and my father was asking for your help. You knew even when I first met you, I felt there was something about you."
"Something like what?" Rumpel asked.
"I'm not sure...like you were lonely. Like you were looking for companionship," Belle said, "I felt sorry for you."
"Is that why you agreed to come with me?" Rumpel asked continuing on her back.
"Not entirely, I wanted to help my people as well," Belle explained.
"You know dearie," Rumpel said thinking back to sweet memories, "that wasn't the first time I saw you."
"It wasn't?" Belle asked.
"No," Rumpel said feeling his heart glow, he had never told anyone this story, "I remember the first time I saw you. I was in your town making a deal with a mermaid, but I stayed in the town trying to find a place to stay. Then I passed by the library and saw you sitting there, you had a stack a mile high of books you were reading. You were reading a story about a bean stalk and giants. I never forgot you after I first saw you. You still had a baby face and I saw the way your golden brown curls fell down you and the way your eyes darted back and forth reading that book. I wasn't in love with you...not yet. But there was something about you."
Belle could feel herself blushing past her dull skin. She remembered every detail of what he was saying.
"As the years passed I often came back to your town to see you," Rumpel continued, "I saw you through your birthdays, the nights you cried yourself to sleep when you missed your mother, even the first time you met that brute Gaston. He was criticizing you for reading, talking about how it wasn't right for a woman to be reading. Almost made me want to cut the brute down right then and there."
"Did you ever come after that?" Belle questioned, Rumpel rubbing her back defiantly was helping.
"No..." Rumpel said and pulled her hair back so her neck was exposed.
Belle could feel his breath on her skin and it made her quiver.
"I stopped after your father had arranged a marriage between the two of you" Rumpel went on, "I thought that you would go on to have a good life. Then I received word that your town was being invaded my ogres and your father requested my help. Even when I first met you I can't say I loved you...but I always had a fascination with you. Perhaps it was just a part of me deep down that could sense the fate to come."
"I know what you mean by the sense of fate Rumpel," Belle said turning to face him, "I can feel it to...only it's about someone else." She placed her hand on her stomach.
"Belle," Rumpel whispered placing his forehead on hers, "I love you so much. This baby is killing you and I can't bear the idea of living in a world with out you. If I do I know I'll be alone again and I'll just go back to what I used to be. I don't want to lose you again."
Belle leaned forward and placed her lips on his. They hadn't been very physical since they found out about the pregnancy and the worse things got with Belle the farther her and Rumpel had drifted. The kiss still had the effect the first one did over the both of them, they both felt the warmth in their hearts. Belle wrapped her arms around Rumpel and buried her face into Rumpel's neck. She missed this, she missed being close to him. She could feel the warmth from his hug and hear the heart beat in his neck. She wished they they could just stay in this embrace forever.
Elsewhere in the Castle, young Henry was patrolling the hallways. Or perhaps not so young. He was growing into a young man. He was going to turn 16 in a mere few months. He had grown taller and shed his baby weight in return for muscle. His face still had the appearance of a child. His father Baelfire, and Charming had been training him in many things. Such as riding horses and how to use a sword. He was eager to be a hero, but Charming often warned him about going to look for trouble. Still he wanted to prove to others that he could be a hero but he wasn't allowed to any council meetings or any of the knights training. He wasn't old enough for that yet.
The other's were guarding the castle, patrolling the hallways just as he was. He had just told everyone about Anthony, a rouge knight who left. He knew Anthony, he always talked about how much he loved Camelot but about how he came to this kingdom because of a job offer. He was positive that was where he left to, that's where his true loyalties lied.
Most of the castle's windows and doors had been tightly closed to ward off the storm, it was growing and lightning and thunder rolled over the kingdom. But even pass all the booming thunder Henry heard it, a bang. A band of a wooden door against the stone walls.
Henry followed the source of the sound, he rounded the corner of the hallway pulling out his sword. There we was standing at the doorway, Anthony. He was only 3 years older than Henry and had completed one year of his knights training. His face was like Henry's, on the verge of being a man but still looked like a child.
"What are you doing here?" Henry asked.
"Saving you Henry," Anthony admitted. He had his sword at her hip but he didn't wield it.
"Saving me from what?" Henry asked keeping his sword raised.
"From the prophecy of course," Anthony admitted, "Rumpelstiltskin's baby is going to kill us all."
"No it isn't, Rumpelstiltskin used to be evil but now he's one of us," Henry explained, "that mean the baby can be good too."
"You haven't heard the details of the prophecy have you?" Anthony asked pulling his sword out but not raising it, "Rumpelstiltskin and his wife aren't in it. The baby kills it's mother during the birth. Rumpelstiltskin looses his mind at the sight of his dead wife and goes back to the monster he was. This baby is going to be the death of all of us."
"No it's not, a prophecy can be re-written, Rumpelstiltskin's was," replied Henry.
"I'm doing this for your own good Henry," Anthony stated and swung his sword at him.
Belle still had her arms wrapped around Rumpel. She had lost track of how long they were sitting there, but she didn't care. Rumpel tried to commit every second of this moment to his memory, not knowing how much longer he would have. He held onto Belle as if his life depended on it.
A loud quick crack of thunder seemed to rattle the castle and in that moment instantaneously, a sharp cramp ran up all through Belle's body. She gasped loudly and gripped onto Rumpel out of pain.
"Belle!?" Rumpel asked quickly panicking.
Bell threw her head back screaming, her stomach continued to cramp that made her whole body ach. This wasn't like any of the pain she felt before. Snow had explained what this would feel like, it had to be a contraction. Being that her child was magic Rumpel said that her labor pains were going to be intensified. But she was only at 8 months. It was to early.
"No! No! Belle just hold on. Just try to breathe!" Rumpel yelled holding her hand. It was to early for this. He wasn't ready to loose his Belle. Not Yet, not ever.
"Belle hold on, you need to try to calm down," Rumpel tried to sooth her hoping that this wasn't her real labor. Perhaps he could delay it.
Belle could feel her body betraying her. The baby was defiantly coming, it was coming all too quickly.
"Rumpel!" she yelled out in between the pain, "we have to do this now."
"No! No! Belle you can't leave me! You can't! I can't do this without you!" Rumpel said holding onto her.
Belle could feel it, maybe it was her mothers intuition she felt like she was close to needing to push. The pain this time was more unbearable than any of the pain she had felt throughout her pregnancy. She wanted to ask Rumpel to use his magic on her to alleviate the pain but she couldn't find the words to say it. All she could do was scream through the pain.
Once her contraction was over, she still felt the pain but she found the energy to speak, "Rumpel! Rumpel, you need to help me get this baby out. The sooner it's out the sooner it's over!"
"Belle you won't make it!" Rumpel yelled back to her with tears now streaming down his face.
"Yes I will! I know I can but the baby! The baby wont! Please! Please Rumpel do this for me," Belle begged of him.
Rumpel found what ever last bit of faith he had in himself to try to save Belle...not the baby. Belle did have a point, the sooner it was out the sooner it was done. He decided to use all of his magic to try and use his magic to save Belle. He knew that the magic he would have to use would come at a price but he was ready to pay anything, even his life for hers.
"Ok..." Rumpel whispered with more tears escaping him. Either way he was going to loose his Belle, either by his death or hers. It wasn't hard to pick on though, "ok... I love you Belle."
Belle started to say the same but when she opened her mouth it was just another scream, another contraction.