"I've gathered another substantial portion of wild magic." Cora softly informed the Dark One as she shifted in her plush seat.
Sitting directly opposite of the ancient sorcerer, the cunning witch glared at the dastardly thing she called lover. The spell worn pads of her fingertips patted together in a small rhythm as the new declaration fell from her sly ruby mouth. Soon, that onerous chore would be finished and they could commence sorting out every minute detail for pilfering the good magic of the abysmally helpful fairies and casting their world into abject ruin.
Light filtered in through the undraped, titanic windows of the main hall, as the dark witch and the dark master lingered like phantoms, eternally bound to the keep, in the treasure laden chamber. Golden sun was distorted from the crimson glass casting the powerful persons below the window in dark crimson shadow as they languished in the main hall. Under the scarlet light they looked akin to shadows themselves, making a mockery of human form.
Demurely leaning into her plush burgundy leather chair, the cruel witch stared at a chess board that separated them. The game rested on a circular, three legged beech table easily moved from place to place for convenience of closeness.
In the boredom of the vile witch resting her powers for a new moment to strike and waiting for new streams of powerful wild magic to spring up, she and her love were mostly busy making potions or cutting the rare deal. Yet when even the bustle of plotting and weaving machinations to life died into a dark lull, they were left to do more than find passionate solace in one another's arms.
Too long were they both simply wandering about like phantasms in her dread citadel, or with either she in her tower or the Dark One spinning endlessly for hours. The thought of a fine chess game had been her idea. They were both extremely cunning with a penchant for schemes, but a trial of wits was always good for the long days languishing in evil nothingness.
Even with malicious intent they had to find a way to whittle at time that bound them all. So they found themselves at the table in a battle of stratagem and cunnings rather than plots that would affect the whole of the realms.
The pieces upon the bone and obsidian board were carved straight from Cora's dire, black imagination. The pawns were crafted akin to war weary slave troops with their spears dipping low in fatigue and their bodies bandaged in upon heads and arms and legs as they marched to death. Rooks were crafted as crumbling towers of ruined citadels parapet, destroyed from ages long war. The knights where haggard war bedraggled horses with drooping necks who had lost their riders. All four bishops wore tattered raiment's of those clerics who found no follower for all had forsaken their deities. Surmounting them all, king and queens were skeletons draped in mocking finery of their stations as they sat in caskets forms as affluent gilded thrones.
Each piece was molded in wretched detail of ivory or obsidian that would turn the eye of even the most morbid, but for the witch the set suited her fancy quite nicely. The trials of war were never pretty and she held no intentions to make such a set of dissolution.
Flickering her sly almond eyes to the Dark One, Cora eyed his emotions tactfully drawn upon his ugly features. A frown formed her cheery lips as she saw his gaze not turned to her but aimed towards the slave girl behind her.
Elbow on the carved armrest, the fiend leaned his scaled fingertips on his left hand. The Dark One's eyes were aimless dots of fathomless sable as he stared past his cruel lover to the woman standing dutifully behind her mistress' chair. His ebony eyes pinioned upon the slave girl as though she were some strange new curio to his beastly gaze. Novelty or her enraptured him into the strangest of distractions at the oddest of times.
Ever since that day weeks ago, he acted as such around the slave girl. He stared and gaped and sometimes brooded all the while his eyes stapled upon her. When not plotting or spinning his attentions were all but branded on her.
"Rumpel." Impatience laced the witches tone. Bitterness carved her marble features for a moment before she veiled the riotous emotion from her features. To have him suspicious simply would not do.
Shaking his head as though ridding himself of some alluring siren song wrapping about his mind, the beast flashed an insipid grin to his love. "Excellent Cora, all the more closer to our goals."
"And?" She perched a neat brow.
Confusion crinkled the face of the Dark One at her continued inquiry. His brilliant mind scrounged blindly about to find something he missed whilst his thoughts were elsewhere. What else had she said? "I'm sorry?" He finally asked tenuously, his voice apologetic for the clarification that proved his guilt of letting his mind wander.
"Your move, Rumpel." A sigh fell from her glossy lips in terse reply. Rubbing her temple in tiny circles with her fingertips, the witch scoffed. "You make look like a dumb beast, but you aren't stupid as one. Do keep up."
Delicately, plucking up a knight in his black nailed fingers, the find moved him in an 'L' formation to take one of Cora's white pawns. Knocking the pawn down with a flick of the wrist he banished the piece all in the same smooth motion. A sliver of purple thread enveloped the pawn in a coil of magic and placed the piece to the side of the table as he put his knight in place.
Taking a sip of fine wine in a golden, ruby studded goblet, the fiend smacked his lips. "There. Happy now, Dearie?" Satisfaction laced his low impish timbre.
Dutifully, Belle moved in as the cup left his pencil thin lips. Glazed brown jug of wine in hand, the assiduous beauty narrowed in like some tangible shadow beckoned form the world beyond. Cora never missed a chance to put her to work for some simple, demeaning errand. Tasked to served them as a cup bearer, she poured another dose of cold crimson wine in the sweating goblet.
Like magnets, the Dark One's black eyes flickered up to her even with the small action. What was wrong with him, the thought danced wildly through his vile mind. Why was getting his mind off her such a chore? Why did he despise taking his thoughts away from her?
Finding her sapphire depths, he flashed a rapid grin, showing nothing of the thoughts milling about his head. "Thank you."
Studiously nodding, not daring to return his sincere smile with Cora so near, the beauty slid away, like some ghost lingering in and out about them. If Cora caught an inkling of what transpired between them, she would most likely simply kill her slave altogether in a wave of rage.
"Something on your mind, Rumpel?" Cora inquired curiously as the slave retracted. Her sly eyes flashed a lightening glance to the girl before focusing on her lover once more. "You seem… distracted."
The moment she discovered what lay in his foul heart, she had felt a surge of blistering anger coil over her form. Rage bubbled through her vile sensuous body like a vein of lava to the surface. Stoically, the witch clamped a vice on the bubbling emotions seeping through the striations of her heart. She couldn't just rush in with accusation. There had to be a time to be bided and moments to observe to see just how far he had fallen and how she could use such to her advantage.
If she played her cards right the beauty could be a valuable pawn, but only if she ascertained what laid betwixt them.
A faint hint of a genuine smile traced his narrow gray lips, showing a mouth full of his dappled teeth. "Just thoughts of the future."
That, to a degree was no lie. Indeed his thoughts roved to the future, the future of the magic good and bad and wild, the future of their plots bearing fruit, the future of himself and his malicious lover, the future of Belle and what she meant in his life.
After sparing Hood's life something strange bloomed a small blossom against the black steel of his heart. There was something new now that could not be easily crushed by the heel of the darkness lurking inside. Evil wished to stamp out the little stem and the intrepid buds dotting the vine, but nothing could stifle the rabid growth of the new life boiling within.
The thought of Belle being enslaved to his cruel lover infuriated him, but on the same hand, her enslavement guaranteed his nearness. How long he could go seeing her so miserable though… Cutting the aspiring thought down the moment the contemplation surged, the fiend faintly shook his head. That was a thought for the future.
"I see." The witch took her own draught of cold, sweet wine. Hints of early winter's grapes flared gently across her palate from her exquisite wine. She only drank the best of course.
Before the beauty could zone in to bring her mistress' cup back to brim, the witch placed a delicately small hand over the rim of her goblet. Her eyes never once left the Dark One, but she was all aware of every move the beauty made as she retreated a few steps away from the table.
The strange gazes of her formally cowed slave girl to her lover had not escaped her knowledge either. Behind her back, the girl stared at the Dark One as much as he did her, the witch knew imperatively without even taking a spare glance. Simply by looking at the Dark One, she could see the girl behind her did the exact same. They talked silently with their sable and azure eyes; holding a conversation that was both mysterious and circumspect to even themselves.
Normally, the girl would never dare stare so blatantly, but her mind was burdened with fatigue from her strenuous chores. The girl was tired beyond imagination. Her chores of scrubbing were never pleasant and the tower stairs more so. How she was even standing straight was an example of her stalwart tenacity, but also the card that gave her away all too easily.
Flicking a small but power laden hand to the chess board, the witch moved one of her doubtful bishops to the knight he had just placed. On the board he had unwittingly opened himself up to several moves to take his queen and in a few more his king to finish the game.
"What thoughts of the future then Rumpel?" Mocking pleasantness laced her voice. "Do your thoughts linger on the fairies?" The witch queried insouciantly.
Silence retorted as her only reply, leaving the sting of her words numb.
Casting her vile eyes up behind the veil of lashes, the witch caught his gaze again upon the woman behind her once more. Anger, misbegotten of copious jealously stored away, flared wildly and spanned out across her foul heart. Sometimes emotions could not be stashed away in a wink.
Slamming the flat of her hand on her upholstered armrest her red lips molded into a displeased snarl. "Rumpel!"
Caught in act, the fiend turned his black eyes back to the witch. Sun beaming in from the crimson panes turned her features into a dreaded carnelian tint cutting him.
"Yes, Cora?" He replied in a feigned teasing manner, his mouth curved into an impish grin as though jesting with her.
"Pay attention." Ice fanged her dangerous tones in shards of frost. Her almonds orbs eyes bored into him cruelly up and down, in no mood for his impish antics. "I don't put up with your company because I simply want to look at you."
Flippant laughter fell from the Dark One. His features turned into mock horror and offense as he placed a scaled hand to his heart as though struck by the darts of her venomous tongue. "You wound me, Cora. No need to snap, Dearie. I was simply thinking of my next move."
"Why?" The cruel witch shot back. "You'll lose. You always do. You have cunning in many things, Rumpel dear, but I always win at chess." Pride filled her haughty timbre with the mostly true statement. Even before magic she held a cunning mind to plan nine moves ahead for everything. Just like with the magic.
"Actually…." Belle took a sharp intake of breath as the words slipped unbidden past her lips. Her heart froze with the rest of what she deemed to speak. What was she thinking?
Pallid tint ghosted her features as she clamped her mouth shut. What was she thinking to open her mouth? For a long while she managed to hold her peace yet the words tumbled free with her mistress's insults. Had she been in a stronger state she would have held her tongue, but exhaustion and injustice made words slip out.
Rage crawled just beneath her skin at the witch's attitude. She was not pleased with the cruelty she dealt to the Dark One, but certainly she hadn't meant for any words to slip free from her brave soul. Or… perhaps she had.
Observant to even the smallest changes, the witch narrowed her attentions on her slave girl. Surprise sparkled in her almond eyes at the blatant speaking out of turn from her slave. What made her suddenly so bold and daring again? What brought that woman she had squashed years ago into the perfect obedient slave back to life?
Turning about, the witch glared murder at her slave. Hatred and loathing filled her almond eyes as she glared at the bowed servant holding the brown pitcher. As of late she was getting bold once more. The old Belle she had crushed and mutated into a cowering, obedient slave seemed a flimsy façade to mask the rebellious, outspoken slave girl that first arrived.
"You have something to say, worm?" Her voice challenged coolly.
Belle raised her head a touch, meeting her mistress dark eyes for a moment. Averting her gaze again she shifted nervously on her aching feet, her azure eyes looking into the cold spirits she held. "I couldn't help but notice the chess board when I went to refill the master's cup." She explained delicately, her voice wary and mingled with tactful humbleness. "I… I see a way he could when is all."
Cruel laughter barked abruptly from Cora's slick ruby mouth. Black amusement swirled like vile smog her heart that belayed her frothing rage for a brief moment. "You think he can win? You're stupider than I thought before." Beckoning the girl, the witch motioned for her to place the clay jug of wine down by the board. "Come then, slave. Show me how he can win. Prove to me he can, and I might even give you a taste of wine to celebrate your impossible victory."
Tenuously placing the pitcher on the tripodic table side, the enslaved beauty walked forward. Bravery and fear collided in a tangled mesh of battle within her heart, but she refused to let Cora drape the cloak of the terrified slave over the true Belle again. Not when Rumpelstiltskin had awakened that woman once more.
Padding over to the board, the girl surveyed the pieces placed on their checkered squares once again. Her azure eyes roved over the morbidly carved pieces left on the table and the ones they had taken.
Tenuously picking up the Dark One's black bishop she moved the figurine out on the field alone.
"What a foolish thing to do." Cora snapped haughtily and moved her rook to take the offered piece. Slapping Belle's piece of the board, she let the bishop roll away to the floor.
A smile softly curved Belle pink lips as she shook her head. "Sometimes we have to give up something to win the bigger prize." The beauty explained to her cruel owner. Taking her other bishop she took one of Cora's pawns.
Too late did Cora see what her bright slave intended. Her cunning eyes widened in sheer disbelief at the subtle, clever move from the slave girl. The dark bishop figurine effectively aimed towards her king who was caught at all sides with no where to go but in the same direction of the bishop. Her queen could not move to block, not any other piece that could afford her advantage.
Victory glittered in Belle's bright cobalt eyes as she backed away from the board. "Check mate." She didn't even try to sound humble.
Still as the stone of her castle, the witch stared at the offending board. Her cunning dots scanned the positioning of the figurines like a hawk marking out the route of prey. Every move for every piece she tossed over in her mind, but there was no move to make. The girl had decidedly won the match with a few tactile moves.
Chaotic fury erupted in errant bursts inside the witch with the show of her failure so blatant before her. Gouts of red, blistering angry jutted from her black volcano of a dreadful heart.
"Bold of you slave." Her words dripped poisonous honey as she smiled nearly pleasantly. "Still, I can't deny your triumph and a bargain is a bargain."
Suddenly viscous, the witch gripped the ancient tripod table. Heaving the table as she stood up she upended the perch and all the contents.
Ivory and obsidian pieces mingled together as they clattered in a black and white mess to the stone floor. The ancient clay pitcher tumbled end over end and cracked against the merciless rock. Red wine and brown shards of clay mingled together on the gray stone and stained the pieces wobbling on their sides. Liquid ran into the groves and striations of the stones, offering a hard labor of scrubbing to clean the hard grains. The black and white board was cracked in a corner and lay on the playing side in show of sore defeat from the witch.
A wicked smile marbled Cora's pallid features as she stared at the mess she caused. Vile satisfaction did a bit to balm the burning of her heart into a cooler temperature that composed her flaring rage. "Since you've won…" Cruel boiling bile mingled with her alluring voice. "There's your wine; you can lap it up. Then after that you can clean the rest of your victory off the floor."
Without looking to find the Dark One's eyes and what dismal, disapproving emotions dwelled there in his sable orbits, the witch gathered herself imperiously. "When you're done with your victory you can start luncheon slave. And next time." Her eyes hardened as she stared at her bowed slave. "The next times you have some ludicrous epiphany of cleverness keep the thought to yourself. Remember what you are slave, only a piece of property and property should never be smarter than the ones who own them."
Turning away sharply, the malicious sorceress snapped her fingers and transported herself in her tower. On any other occasion she would have stayed to berate her slave girl and watch her clean up the mess, but being away opened the Dark One up to the woman where he could be if she stayed about.
A soft sigh cleared Belle's tight lipped mouth as the witch disappeared in a veil of black magic raven feathers that swirled about her form and spirited her away. Kneeling down she began to gather the pieces of the glazed pitcher.
Happiness sparked at her bright heart even though the witch left her a large mess to mend. Beating her at her favorite game was worth such a punishment. Just the look on her face made the victory worth the trouble.
She herself was no novice to the game and if her mistress ever challenged her to a sport of chess, the witch would find herself sorely outmatched. Oh but that would be too painful to Cora's pride and therefore her slaves flesh.
"She was right about one thing." The Dark One finally spoke up after the match ended and the witch was gone. Kneeling down as well, the fiend proceeded to help gather the mess. Working studiously without magic, the fiend plucked up wine wet pieces. A proud smile he could not banish stretched his lips. "That was bold of you, Belle. Dangerously bold."
A half smile came to her lips. His actions of kindness, no longer surprised her, though his aide was always as pleasant as his company. "I wasn't trying to be bold. I just… how she spoke to you wasn't right." The beauty snorted in roiling anger.
The though still brought rage to her chest. How dare she be cruel to such a man. He was not some animal though she spat such cruelties to him like some poison saliva from her forked tongue.
"They may not be good word but they're right." The fiend heaved his slender shoulders in a shrug and began to collect the morbid chess pieces again. "I'm a monster true enough."
Tenderness perked a small smile upon the enslaved beauty's lips. "You're not a monster. You think you're uglier than you truly are, that's why you stand her company…." Abruptly her words trailed off into the bleak realm of realization. Horror traced her features as the words she spoke caught up to her mind. Dark red liberally painted her cheeks as she caught herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said such a thing. She is your lover after all."
Silence prevailed as the pair tended to the mess of broken pottery and figurines and tumbled table. The words she spoke from the depths of her soul lingered in both their minds and heart.
Did he really think himself a beast?
Did she really think he was not a monster?
Did he only abide Cora because he thought himself darker than she?
"Well that's all of the pottery." Belle shifted the pile of wine stained cracked shards to the side. A grimace swathed her face as she wiped her wine stained fingers on her tattered raiment of gold. "Now let me get to this wine."
Scrubbing was going to take a fair while, she knew. Nothing liked to come out of the stone, especially not liquid. With her luck she'd be through right went the time to prepare lunch was due.
Flourishing his wiry fingers through the air, the Dark One summoned black magic to his call. Focusing on the potent liquid, the fiend formed the spirits by his dark power. Slowly the wine began to shiver and take form that he wished. Magic crafted dark red wine into something special for the victor of the match. Since his lover gave her the rest of the wine, he saw no reason why she should not have the reward.
Plucking up the magic endowed wine, the fiend held the items gently betwixt his black nailed fingertips. The wine, once in a wayward mess was now shaped into a glossy wine red rose. Dark magic hardened the spilled spirits making the rose liquid still on the inside but like glass to hold.
"Here." The Dark One presented the gift to her as they rose in tandem. A sly half impish, half human grin pressed upon his gray-gold visage. "If you'll have it."
Delight the beauty could not conceal bloomed upon her lovely features in a ray of warm light. Kindness touched her heart with the surprising, thoughtful gift. "Why thank you." She accepted his wine rose.
Dipping a small curtsey, the beauty hid a bashful smile.
Heart bursting that she liked his gift, the Dark One bowed in kind, every inch the gentleman.
A giggle tumbled from Belle's lip at the courtly gesture. He could be a man with manners with he was of the mine, particularity around her. The thought he went an extra mind made her feel special in ways she hadn't in decades.
Holding the crafted flower close the brown haired beauty gave an intrepid sniff of the magically crafted bloom. Soft aromas of exquisite wine swirled in her senses instead of the perfume of a rose. Still, the thought was sweet coming from him and imaginative in every manner.
Holding the precious bibelot like some treasured trinket, the beauty turned away slowly. Red tinged her cheeks as turned away to hide the fierce blush from his perceptive sable orbits.
"You had a life, Belle before… all this." Gliding away from the remnants of the mess reaped from Cora's rage, the fiend eyed the tender slave from the other side of the large table. They seemed like shy partners in a tenuous dance neither was too certain in taking part.
Certainly she must have long ago had a fine life, the fiend supposed. Pity sprang to his black heart at the thought of her old days before thralldom. A girl such as her must have had people swarming about her at ever turn, even more so with her noble status and her pleasant… Belle-ness. People would have congregated to her even if she was no one of noble caste "What made you chose to come here to work for Cora?"
The beauty shrugged her delicate shoulders as she padded away from the Dark One. "Heroism, sacrifice." She placed the rose like a gentle breath upon the table and began to scoop up the pottery from the floor. "There's not a lot of opportunity for women in my land. When I saw I could save my people that was my chance."
"Surely you must miss your people; friends, family…" His voice grew wary in his throat. Swallowing hard, his eyes scanned her circumspectly. "A courtly interest." The fiend finished sturdily to veil his trepidation. Icy claws clenched at his sordid heart as the last part left his lips. Noble women like Belle were oft married before there 18th year. Was she different, had she been a bride to be?
Sliding into his normal seat at the far end of the large, polished table, the Dark One stared intently at the beauty gathering the last of the mess Cora spilled in her cheated fury. His gray-gold talons tented in a pyramid under his chin as he unabashedly observed the woman that sparked some errant heat in his black heart and cast light over that which one was dark.
Her bright smile died upon her pink lips, dimmed by thoughts of times gone by. "All I had was my father, never many friends. I miss my papa greatly. As for any courtship plans, Gaston, he was my betrothed." Her grin returned a bit at the mention of the noble knight. "I can't say I much miss him. We had an arranged marriage, more of convenience than anything. He was a friend but I never loved him in the way I man and wife should love. That was one thing I did find solace in when I came here; not having to wed him." Shaking her umber mane, the beauty carefully deposited the broken shards elsewhere in a waste bin. "No, I could never give my heart to someone as superficial as he."
"Why not?" The Dark One heard himself whisper, though he felt not at all in control of his wily mouth. Looking at her, hearing those words, congealed his cunning and the trap upon his tongue. Word and queries that lay in his heart spouted forth from the depths of his hidden soul.
Wiping her hands she danced back to the large oaken and jumped upon the edge. Placing her hands on her laps she fiddled coyly with the remains of her tattered dress. "Love is not some deal to be made. No to me love is… layered, a mystery to be uncovered." She shook her head, her eyes cast down. "I could never give my heart to someone as superficial as he."
Awe blazoned freely upon the Dark One's face as he stared at the enslaved beauty. Her admissions made his soul sing in a chorus he could not contain. How could one girl make his heart beat so? How could one slip of a woman make him… make him…?
Plucking up the delicate wine rose once more, the beauty assiduously held the stem by pinched fingers. Admiring the gift once again her smile brightened once more. "I should probably put this away before Cora sees."
If Cora caught a glance of the lovely trinket she would assuredly break the trinket. That, Belle determined immediately, was not going to happen.
"Of … of course." The Dark One stammered lamely, wondering why he hadn't said more, breaking the spell of his thoughts.
Ducking her head once, the beauty slipped like a shaft of pure light from the chamber leaving the main hall in the shadow of the Dark One and his strange heart.
Staring off into the dim crimson nothingness of the main hall, the fiend let the images of her swirl abut his head in a jumble. Belle, he smiled at the name that became the most cherished in his mind.
Beautiful, wonderful, Belle.
In the dim hall just outside the chamber, the beauty lingered about the threshold like some wayward ghost. Darkness swathed the dreary aperture like a cloak threatening to engulf and smother her as she stood in the blackness. For once Belle was glad of the dimness for the eternal black hid the face molded with new emotion.
Leaning against a jet black pillar, the beauty held the gifted rose close to her flipping heart. Her work calloused fingers delicately touched the crystal crafted petals with the shivering pads of her fingertips. Crimson light swirling within the magically molded rose glowed soft red pulsing a ruddy tint upon her pale flesh.
Hints of luminance from the rose penetrated the hand of darkness casting away the blackness into bleak shadows about her body and heart. Looking thoughtfully at the bloomed, magical rose, the beauty let her mind wander to the one who crafted such a special prize; Rumpelstiltskin.
Thoughtful, kind, Rumpelstiltskin.
Staring out at the bleak nothingness that once laid waste upon their hearts, the beast and the beauty found in the shadows of their worlds there was something there that wasn't there before.