Chapter Three: The Talk
A/N: Very unimaginative chapter title, I know. Yep, didn't have this out until today (sorry) but I've been working on Chapter Two of True Love: It's Forever (nearly finished) and kind of neglected to even start this until, like, 11pm (Tuesday). :( Enjoy!
It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Belle looked at the large mantel clock in Rumple's living room, astonished that the time had passed so quickly since they'd arrived home from Granny's. In that time, in preparation for Emma's arrival, Belle had cleaned the house and de- cluttered all the rooms, eaten lunch with her True Love, and finished a book her new friend Ruby had recommended called Fifty Shades of Grey. It was… meant to be erotic, she knew, but it was nothing compared to some of the old velvet- bound novels she'd discovered in the library Rumple had built for her in the Dark Castle. Still, it had been a good read. She reminded herself to thank Ruby.
"Is Miss Swan here?" Rumple called to her from the balcony, clad in the same impeccable dark suit he'd worn to Granny's Diner.
She shook her head- he could see her from up there, she thought- and said, "No, she isn't. But she'll come."
"I have no doubt she will."
True to her word, Emma appeared not five minutes later, breathing fast, her cell phone in hand. "Sorry," she gasped. "Henry wanted to come. I had to make a run for it while he was in the bathroom."
Belle smiled welcomingly. "He could've come," she said, agreeably, "I wouldn't have minded."
"Speak for yourself," she heard Rumple mutter behind her, low enough that only she would hear. She shot him a chastising look and let Emma into the house.
Emma had to admit, she was slightly awed by the immaculate furnishing and decor in Mr. Gold's pink (pink!) Victorian. Belle had welcomed her in easily, Mr. Gold himself looming behind her like a shadow. She scanned the place quickly, Belle directing her to a living room, where she hesitantly sank down onto a red leather couch.
"I…" Emma was at a loss for words. Which usually didn't happen to her. People simply never had that effect on her. Apparently Belle and Mr. Gold- combined to conquer- did.
Belle sat on the white sofa opposite her, and after a moment Mr. Gold joined her, resting his gold- handled cane on the edge.
Considering her words, Emma spoke slowly. "Um… so… what's your story?"
Belle fidgeted on the couch, and looked at Gold before saying, "I was born to King Maurice and Queen Beatrice, the rulers of the kingdom of Avonlea." She blinked. "When I was about twelve, my mother was killed in an assassination meant for me. She… died to protect me." The words, softly spoken, were full of lifetimes of pain, and Emma felt a rush of sympathy. "My father turned colder- less the benevolent King and more the manipulator," she clarified, with another look at Gold, who smiled at her. Smiled.
"Belle, you don't have to-" Gold began, hastily.
Belle exhaled lightly, effectively cutting him off. "Rumple, please." She brushed a lock of hair away from her aquamarine eyes. "My father signed a betrothal contract with Sir Leroex- the father of Sir Gaston, a boisterous knight in my father's army- and would have me be wed at twenty… which was at the time very late. My mother married my father at fifteen, I think. But then…" She sighed. "The ogres came, and brought havoc with them. They plagued our lands for nearly four years before we became desperate enough to call on the one being who could rid them from our land forever."
Emma could connect the puzzle pieces now. "He summoned Gold," she surmised, looking at the pawnbroker more than Belle herself.
He inclined his head in silence.
"Well, actually, it was my idea to summon the Dark One," Belle admitted. "As you may have heard, Rumplestiltskin never makes a deal without a price. And in this case… his price was me."
Emma had in fact heard of his nefarious reputation for dealmaking from her fairytale- obsessed son, but she had not expected a demand so exorbitant. "You dealt for a human?" she said to Gold incredulously, frowning as though upon murder.
He laughed. And so did she. Which was just a tad bit strange. "Indeed I did." At her look of disgust, he added, "Oh. Don't you worry your little blond head, Ms. Swan, it was purely for cleaning purposes. My Belle was the caretaker…" And here his face slipped into a rather devious grin. "Of my rather large… estate."
Emma glanced at Belle, who nodded as if to say yeah, I know, it's ridiculous, but it's true.
"So what happened?" she asked the brunette, confused still.
"I fell in love with him," Belle admitted, as freely as though she was speaking of the weather forecast. "And… we suffered for it."
The sheriff raised her eyebrows.
"I…" Belle blushed a bit, which made Emma wonder, but she continued on anyway. "I kissed him," she said quietly, "because Regina said it would break his curse. And it nearly did. But…"
"But I acted truly like the selfish bastard you think of me as," Gold interjected calmly, "and I threw the little Beauty in the dungeon. And then I cast her out of my castle and out of my life. And…" His voice trembled with anger. "Your Evil Queen captured her, and took her to her own Winter Palace, to hold her hostage without my knowledge in the North Tower so she could- so she could torture her. Torture my Belle for her own sick amusement." He was shaking, Emma saw, and she was somewhat frightened; this was the most display of emotion she had ever seen from Gold. "When the Dark Curse was cast, she had the dark nerve to keep Belle in the asylum beneath the basement, for twenty- eight years. And all the while… I thought she was dead. Because that was what Regina-" he nearly spat her name "-led me to believe."
Belle's eyes were watery blue now, like a glass of coloured water. She leaned against Gold.
"What did she tell you?" Emma wondered, almost afraid to ask.
Gold- or, rather, Rumplestiltskin- snarled. "She came to my Dark Castle," he growled, "and said 'her father shunned her. Cut her off. Shut her out'… at which point, I asked if she… needed a home."
Belle's face shone with sadness as she looked at the pawnbroker, and Emma felt it. She felt sorry for them.
Gold wasn't finished, and the muscles of his jaw clenched as he went on. "The Evil Queen said to me, 'he was cruel to her. He- he- locked her in a tower'." His hands clenched where they sat fisted together on his lap, and Belle leaned further against him. He looked at her then, like she was the only thing that would keep his heart from shattering, and Emma then could not fathom how they had survived. Together. It made her think of Neal again.
When Gold concluded, his tone was like a tornado, dropping and whirling in cold, unforgiving fury. "'And sent in clerics to… cleanse her soul… with scourges and flaying'," he quoted Regina's words, and Emma now more than ever understood why he hated her so much. "She told me," he whispered, apparently now beyond repeating the Evil Queen's taunts to him, "that she had committed suicide. Jumped off the tower. Died," he spat.
Emma realized something that had been surely staring her in the face this entire conversation. "Oh my God," she said. "That's why, on Valentine's Day, when you…"
Rumplestiltskin nodded, grimly but acceptedly. "Why I beat Moe French nearly to death with a cane, yes."
Belle showed next to no reaction to this; Emma assumed even though the fault in her imprisonment had not been her father's so much as the Evil Queen's, King Maurice had still done a grievous wrongdoing back in their land, and so Gold had told his True Love of the caning incident.
"And why you sent that… thing after Regina."
"The Wraith. Yes."
Emma could not help but understand now, and she regretted being so harsh before. Even though she'd never say it aloud.
"What about you, Emma?" Belle inquired. "Why don't you want to go back to the Enchanted Forest with your family?"
Emma flinched. But she supposed it was only fair for her to answer Belle's queries after she had shared her and Gold's dark, twisted version of Beauty and the Beast. "I… don't really know. I just don't think it's my life. It's too much- all of it. I can barely take the fact that Rumplestiltskin is the Beast. How would I take a world full of all this screwed-ness?"
She didn't dare look at the two sitting opposite her.
"Emma," Gold said, his voice warmer than she'd ever heard it, "you're not honestly concerned about fitting in there?"
She heard more than saw Belle slap him on the arm; without meaning to, she grinned. And then looked sheepish. "…Maybe."
"Well, you shouldn't be!" Belle burst out, before Gold could throw in a snappish retort. "I never fit into society, and I ended up with True Love! Emma, please. You've changed the lives of everyone here. It would be so terribly drab without you there. Please think about coming with us!"
There was something that flashed on Gold's face that looked to Emma like a secret kept, but (now) she knew better than to pry. She stood up, noting that over half an hour had passed- they'd talked for that long? - and made to leave. "Thank you, Belle," she said sincerely, and grudgingly she added, "You too, Gold. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome!" Belle called brightly, and as she left, she caught Gold's smile.
Emma entered her mother's apartment with a grin on her face. "Hey, kid!" she exclaimed, upon seeing Henry, who sat on the counter with the Once Upon a Time book as usual. "Want some ice cream?"
Her son's face lightened considerably. "Yeah, sure!"
Maybe starting over in the Enchanted Forest with all her friends and family would be a good fresh beginning, Emma thought with a smile.
A/N: UUUUUGGHHH my pitiful little short chappie. *sad face*. I was half- asleep when I wrote this. Sorry if it sucks. It probably does. Just wanted to get it out in time (although technically, it's Wednesday, so- sorry! :( I kept writing bits of True Love: It's Forever into this and had to go back and change it, so apologies in advance for any typos and such.
I am unfortunately quite busy Wednesday and Thursday, so hopefully chapter four will be out Saturday- not quite sure. Next chapter: Emma has a proper talk with her parents about the EF, Ruby and Belle chat over iced teas, and Rumple works on finding Baelfire. Not certain whether next chapter or chapter five will be the last one.
Thanks ever so much to all who reviewed, favourited, or followed! Love you all, dearies, and please share your opinions, whether they are good or bad, on this latest chapter!