Belle stepped into the main hallway, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Rumplestiltskin?" She called. Suddenly, all went dark when a hand came across Belle's eyes like a blindfold. "It's a surprise, dearie." Rumplestiltskin cooed in her ear. She flinched, but was surprised to feel that the hand was not rough or scaly. In fact, it was quite gentle.
"I'm going to lead you there." He whispered. Belle felt the fingers of his other hand wrap softly on her waist. A chill ran up Belle's spine, but it was not out of fear or discomfort. The chill made her feel at ease; nervous, but at ease, and wanting something more to come of his touch.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked, even though she knew he wouldn't tell her.
"If you knew where I was taking you, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" he sniggered.
Although Belle could not see where she was going, she knew the castle well enough to be able to blindly navigate the staircase. Of course, his hands and words in her ear guided her. After about ten minutes of walking through the castle, the hand was removed from over Belle's eyes, but not her waist. Belle felt her heart begin to beat fast as Rumplestiltskin laid his other hand gently on the other side of her waist. A warm feeling rushed up and down her body. She was surprised to see where he had brought her: his study. Normally, she was not allowed up here; he had told her so when he had originally showed her around the castle. "This place is private. You are never to go in here, is this understood?" He had said. She had always wondered what he was keeping in this room and why she mustn't enter when she allowed everywhere else in the manor.
"Your study…I thought I wasn't allowed in here?" Belle asked, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He giggled.
"Normally, you are not. But I feel that you have been here long enough to earn yourself entrance." He said. He opened the large double doors to reveal an enormous circular room, its walls full of books, its tables and cupboards full of vials, artifacts, and things that Belle had never seen before.
"This is amazing." She said breathlessly, her eyes wide and attempting to absorb the sight in front of her.
"I know that you are interested in reading and learning. I thought you would be able to do both of those here." Rumplestiltskin replied. He led her inside and over to the large cupboard that was filled with vials.
"Before you do any reading, however, I do need your help with something." He added. There must have been at least fifty vials lined up, all had different labels underneath them: "anger", "hope", "fear", and almost all of them held curious things inside them. Belle assumed they were spells; they looked more magical than anything Belle had ever seen before. Quite a few of them were empty, however.
"How could I help though? I know no magic spells." Belle said, looking at him with her brows furrowed. He stared back at her and smiled mischievously.
"No, you don't. One thing you do know, though, is emotion and feelings. I knew them once…" he looked away, studying the vials in front of him, "but you have always known them. You still do. There are some spells and magic that I have not been able to find, to capture into these vials." Belle studied them; she saw two empty vials directly in front of her: desire and love. She turned to him slowly.
"What can I do?"
"I'll make you a deal," he began, leaning close to her, "if you give me a strand of your hair, I will take you anywhere you want for one day. I will bring you wherever you like, you must stay with me wherever we go."
Belle considered his offer. It seemed like a bargain; one strand of her hair and she could go anywhere? She could see her father. Nodding at him, she gently plucked a strand of her chocolate curls and placed it in his hands.
"Wonderful. Now, if you'll excuse me, dearie. Go think about where you would like to go tomorrow. I will be down in a short while." He said, staring at the strand of hair in his palm. Belle, intrigued by this deal, left the room, her thoughts racing. Rumplestiltskin carefully took the vial labeled "desire" off of the shelf and placed Belle's hair inside of it. Then, he took a strand of his own wavy, silvery hair and dropped it in the vial. The hairs curled and twisted together as if dancing and began to produce a golden glow. Rumplestiltskin grinned; perhaps there was hope of filling the other vial…perhaps he could finally capture true love.