Thank you all so much for the support on this story! As some had guessed already, this time, from the eyes of the Beauty.

Chapter 3: The beauty of it all.

Belle;

She shivered… That was the only word for it, really, she pondered once more. For quivering was too fine, and shaking would be a rougher movement. This shiver however, had nothing to do with cold or even emotion. It was the shiver, she knew, of Magic.

Rumple's Magic was like an extension of her, she knew it as well as she knew the texture of his skin under her fingertips, his lips against hers. This was different, vibrant, filled to the brim with emotion. A gentle ribbon of hope tied around a package of… Revenge? Pain? Guilt? Regret? What had possessed the woman who had been her captor for so many years to let the object slide in her pocket? And why was she herself holding it now, clinging onto it as if it was a lifeline, as if the person giving it to her was a beloved friend?

Was it because she hoped it had been Ruby, sending her the odd gift she now held between her fingers? Ruby, who could make her laugh and feel a sort of safety she had never known she'd craved?

But why, in the name of all the books she had read, would she have used Regina, of all people, to give it to her?

A red glowing, radiating heat almost made her drop the shackle and it was the sound of him rummaging in the shop that made her close her hand and hide it, burning, with a surprising pleasant sensation, against her palm.

Catching sight of herself in a dusty old mirror, Belle felt and saw her blush deepen as the warmth rippled through her body, evoking all-new, lip-biting sensations which made her knees give way.

But it was not possible… Ruby, although in every way Magical, did not possess the Magic running through her veins. Could not direct it in forging or enchanting an object… At least, for as far as she had found in the books she had read on the subject. And even if she could, convincing the Queen to do her bidding with the odd, out-of-character fall and delivery? Very unlike Ruby. She would have, could have, asked Emma instead, not the woman who had held her prisoner for more than 28 years. Unless it all was a trick? But then who was being tricked and why?

The nagging doubt, however, seemed to drown in the sensations raging through her as she felt the metal come alive in her hand. It made her body throb and ache in places and ways she had only, with an only slightly lighter blush than the one now reddening her cheeks, read about. It made her gasp and grasp, with her free hand, the edge of the mirror before her, making it tilt slightly as some of the dust whirled from its surface.

It was a wild sensation… It tasted and smelled like forest and, in a way, salty, like she imagined the ocean would. Her knuckles turned white as she sensed how the throbbing intensified, making her knees buckle once more and a moan escape her lips. A moan sounding an awful lot like a name…

Her eyes widened as she caught the glimpse. The sight of the person who linked it all together. Whose Magic she felt through the layer of the Queens, as if Regina had captured Ruby's essence and wrapped it in a layer of her own Magic for Belle to unpack. As if to protect it…

It just did not make any sense.

Was she once again a pawn in the war between the Evil Queen and the Dark One? Was Regina trying to make her think of… But that wasn't fair. Not to the woman who had occupied her thoughts and mind and dreams long before the odd encounter of the morning. Not to the woman who had reached out to her, the first time she had entered this new world alone. The woman she could swear she could see behind the dust in that mirror.

Wiping some of the grayness off, creating a shiny, curved road she should be able to see herself in, her heart picked up its pace at the vision it created. She could feel the movements of the woman in the red cloak, could sense the tension in her own muscles, could taste the fear in her own mouth. The metal burned once more in her hand as the woman turned and seemed to look straight into her eyes. Belle lost her balance at the rush of something she wasn't quite sure of. Magic? Desire? It raged however, through her veins, mixed with despair and fear. Mixed with a sadness, making her heart heavy. Mixed with a loneliness she recognized…

A loneliness only disappearing when she was with…

It was as if something clicked as she slid to the floor. The connection she should have made so long ago. The moment her eyes had met Ruby's for the first time. The pacing of her heart as she thought of the woman she called her best friend. The dreams she woke from, panting, lips parted, entangled in sheets. For someone who had read so many books about the subject she had to face she had been ignorant…

So… SO ignorant!

The sound of voices from the shop drifted to her, reinforcing her thoughts. Enlightening her path as a lightning bolt would. It struck and hurt, the words she heard and yet, they liberated her as the tears found their way down her cheeks, onto the fist she held clutched against her chest.

Allowing her back to lean against the mirror she gasped at the sight of the object she held in her hand, glowing in a hue of Magic, burning in a rush of emotion. Where the shackle had been singular as she had closed her fingers around it, another one now caught the light, shining and linked, unbreakable, to the other.

Connected.

Forever.

Glancing back at the mirror, Belle felt her breathing halt as she recognized the background, dull and brownish to her, but beautiful in its contrast against the red of the cloak of the woman who seemed lost.

Closing her fingers around the metal in her hand, Belle felt a smile tug the corners of her mouth as she, with a deep breath, pushed herself up. She only stopped to glance back once more, her finger moving through the dust in a swift and graceful movement, before she took her first step.

Away…

Towards…

The linked metal in her hand appeared to ease, to sink, gently into her palm, seemingly content with the direction of her steps. The direction of her heart.

And as the door clicked shut behind her and she blinked against the brightness of the light, Belle, for the shortest of seconds, felt lost as she had the first time she had closed it. And yet she could so nothing else than smile.

For, this time, she knew exactly where to go.

To find herself again.

Once Upon A Time in The Enchanted Forest:

'And there you thought I got it all…'

His sing-song voice was taunting as he, showing much more agility than he should possess, jumped up at her side.

'You know, dearie. The beauty of it all is that you remain the answer to everything.'

She stood stock still, the image in the mirror dissolving, leaving nothing but the reflection of someone worthy of the title Snow had given her. The Evil Queen. And yet, she felt herself crumble. The visions of what she craved most, right before her eyes. But still impossible to grasp, leaving her even more empty and cold than she already had been. She saw the mask she had, only moments before, kept in place without problem, waver in the reflection. The deep dark eyes she always avoided to look into, turned not into those of the regal woman of power she had been raised to be, but into the ones of the girl who had believed, more than anything, in love...

'Well, dearie… I can make it all come together… OR… I can make it all fall apart… What's the deal you want to strike?'

'I…'

'All you have to do is follow the path you were set out to follow, Dearie. For you see, it also leads to your happiness…'

She tried to tear her gaze away from the mirror. From the turmoil, so clearly visible in her eyes it physically hurt her to see it. It was as if she had just let her heart slide back into her chest, after a time of keeping it outside of her body, the intensity of feelings overwhelming and so utterly painful it made her want to rip out the organ once more and toss it to the side.

Yet it was the memory of her mother's hollow eyes that prevented her to do so and the hand, hovering before her chest, clutched onto the soft material of her dress, her knuckles whitening in frustration.

'Or you can chose any other path, dearie… Of course, it is all upto you in the end…'

The image flashed, so quickly she would have missed it had she not been so focused on the mirror. But it pulled her in to roughly, so strongly, she could smell the odd metallic scent, could feel the glass under her feet, hear it make its characteristic breaking sound. The sound she associated with the silence of the night, when all she could listen to was the sound of her own heart, trying to beat as if it was whole. Trying to act as if it wasn't all ragged edged and shattered. And then, she saw him, the boy who had just with his image, already stolen that unworthy, darkened, ragged heart.

He was there, pale. Laying, motionless, on the dirt. The glass surrounding him. She reached, to nudge, to wake, but knew her form had no influence what so ever on the visions of the mirror, no matter how close she felt to them. She saw Rumple's form, his skin no longer filled with golden flecks, a cane helping him walk… But the malice in his eyes shone as he waved his hand, causing a large boulder to free itself from the ragged walls and roll in the direction of the child.

'Henry!'

The voice was panicked and filled to the brim with the emotion she heard in her own as she cried out the only word she could think of.

'No!'

But he snapped his fingers just as Regina felt someone rush passed her in the direction of the boy and the last image she could see, before it all disappeared into blackness, was a rush of yellow hair combined with bright red as she heard the rumbling of the stones, coming down.

'What did you do!?'

She lunged at him, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest as if aching to find its way out.

'The question, Dearie, is not what I did, but what I will do…'

'I will… YOU will… '

'Oh no, don't even think about it… Once I'm satisfied with you we will see about your reward now, won't we?'

He smiled at her pensively, his lips curling up eerily as he did so, tapping his fingers together.

'Oh and Dearie? I know how your mind works… Staying out of his life will not help him or you. Fate has its way of finding us. His is you… You do not wish to deny him happiness now, do you?'

As she felt the last of her options slip away from her at his words, the key found its way to the floor, the sound of metal meeting wood echoing through the empty room. He laughed again as he picked it up and pushed it back into her palm, emphasizing, with his words, the lack of options laid out for her...

'You want your life back, you say? Choices? Well the world is full of them… Happiness or misery. Power or weakness. Allow me to let you in on a little secret, Dearie… They all… It all connects. And you, Regina, hold the key to your own destiny…'

His mocking laugh rang through her ears long after he had disappeared and she had sunk to the ground, clutching the piece of metal, sealing her fate.

The key to her very own prison.

TBC