Sullen charcoal painted the sky in the first tinges of dismal dawn over Cora's dark deplorable citadel. The morn was a dreary slate gray slanting in thorough the crimson tinted windows of the main hall, turning the color into a sickly red of crusted blood upon the black stone floors. Shadows still clung to the furthest corners of the ostentatious room, adumbrating the last of the trinkets and treasures upon their columns and in their glass cupboards.
Stray tendrils of thin, silvery smoke from the night blaze lazily swirled upwards through cold ashes and embers of the blackened hearth. The frigid draft stole the snaking streamers of gray away in their biting grip that whisked the smoke to the rafters. The scent of old timber and ash wafted uncomfortably through the chill air, filling the room with a cold dread of dying.
"Good morning Rumpel." Cora chirped pleasantly at ease to the monster that once shared her bed. Leaning back like a lazy cat in her seat, the witch vapidly cast her almond eyes about the room. Warning instincts of magic prickled against her skin like the cold air. Goosebumps thrilled against her flesh and made her hairs stand on end. The room looked barren enough, but her senses could long determine another user of magic drawing near before they appeared.
Rage filled the Rumpelstiltskin's black heart like a sea of boiling green bile as he stalked into the main hall. He seemed akin to a tiger easing in the sight of prey who held no hopes of safety or sanctuary. His eyes of night were pinioned upon her with nothing but malice in his depths. All adoration and lust that once gleamed in his eyes was as dead as the embers in the fireplace.
Clouds of thick damson smoke rolled under his black leather boots as her finally fully appeared. Purpose thundered with each of his steps over the rough stone. In his determination and rage he was transformed into a storm to be unleashed. He seemed akin to a gale, ready and willing to break upon the witch that was Cora and dash all she held dear no nothing.
Mouth a thin line, the monster glared darkly at the grinning witch. Anger of the other night still filled his heart, adding the kindling to his inferno. Flashes of the other night circled his vision with the utmost clarity. The blood, the bruises, the horror of seeing his Belle….
Stoically, shaking off the image, the fiend stopped a few paces from the long oaken table. His stomach churned in disgust even being so close to the malicious witch. Turning his body to the direction of the fireplace, the Dark One stared into the dead ashes. "We need to talk." He spat plainly his chilled words clipped as though the mere thought of talking to her once more was pure anathema. Hatred filled every crevice of his body for her, wishing to spit from his mouth like a fountain of overflowing lava burst from the very center of their world.
"About the slave girl no doubt." A sigh of abject boredom crossed her scarlet lips. Carelessness danced in her features with an insouciant grace. She seemed as though she couldn't care less about the occurrences of the past days. Still she treated Belle like some thing to be beaten and used.
Anger bristled in his blood like a dog piqued. The hair of the back of his neck rose on instinct. "You hurt her Cora." Clasping his wiry talons behind his back, he stared at the hearth, unwilling to bare her gaze a moment more. "I want nothing more to do with you. After what you've done you can continue with your plots alone."
Huffing, like a mother listening to an over dramatic child the witch waved a flippant hand, her wrist fully healed. "So you will simply abandon our plans all for this slave girl? Think on this Rumpel. This curse can be transformed into anything we want. I didn't want to simply bring down happiness, I want to rule this kingdom of misery I plan to erect. I wanted to rule with you." A wicked smile tilted her face. "Don't be so hasty to toss such a thing away."
Anger coiled like serpent scales over his black heart with her tempting words. Bile filled his throat, but as much as he was loathe to admit his logic, she had a point. They had worked so hard and there plots could gamer him endless deals he still craved. Besides her magic wouldn't effect him any. He could easily protect his castle and all his love held dear with but a counter spell woven into the darkness. He never cared about the realms much before, and even with Belle bringing light to his corrupted soul, he still didn't much find concern for others of the realms.
"The last thing I want is to be at your side, Cora. I no longer wish for this accord. I want one thing; free Belle." The magical monster spat simply. Though he still craved deals, Belle's freedom mattered much more. The sooner she was from under the heel of her slaver, the better.
Laughter, harsh and cruel escaped her lips. "She would hardly want that." The witch parried in an amused huff.
"She would hardly wish to be away from you, her tormenter, her slaver?" Rumpelstiltskin turned to her, his eyes hard as the black stone about them. His talons curled into fist at his side. If she thought to taunt his Belle even now….
A vile, cunning smile snaked to her face. "If I set her free the magic I endowed upon her fathers realms will crumble just like their happiness. The ogres will come and destroy all they've built and leave nothing neither standing nor any alive." She revealed nonchalantly. "The magic has been bound to that accord. She wouldn't be very thankful if I freed her and all she loved was trampled to ruin."
"Let me buy her debt then." The beast snarled heatedly, his wild sable eyes afire. Urgency thrilled and galloped through his blood. Anything to free Belle from her misery, he swore in his ancient mind. All that mattered was she be free from the witch who made her life agony.
Lips slightly pursed, the sorceress slyly perched a brow. "Her debt is her life, Rumpel." The sorceress explained lightly. "She will be trading one master for another until you find away to sever her debt."
That would take a little time, she knew, but fair enough to see her plan put in motion. If all things went well, they could even coincide, adding more pain to what was to come for their humiliation of her.
"Far better me than you." The magical monster spat acidly. Taking a step to the table, he pointed a wiry finger at his brown vest. "At least I will treat her like a human being. At least I won't be cruel to her."
Broken laughter erupted from her mouth at his exclamation. He was almost truly hilarious. He had played many parts, but acting the chivalrous love smitten fool was never one. "I never figured you one to be a love sick puppy, Rumpel. All because this chit of a slave girl has offered you her attentions. Were you so desperate to be patted on the head and be told you were a good monster?"
Mirth sobering, her pallid face grew into the half hearted seriousness once more. Oh this was fun, to see him so afire for his slave girl, not realizing every words he spoke was in vain. Placing a hand under her chin, she canted her head slightly to the left. "Though this has me curious. What are you willing to give to buy her? Can you put a price on your love?"
"Whatever the price to take her from you." He spat lowly, his voice full of hate. Staring at her now his eyes were open to the malice brewing behind the lovely face and soft words. Behind the painted face and cunning was an ugly hag moving the puppet strings of beautiful flesh. Disgust and nausea roiled in his stomach at the sight of her. How could he have bedded such a venomous serpent filled with the blood of bile and the heart of a cactus?
"Your part of the magic." Cora stated her price flatly, forgoing the games usually played in bartering. Neither had time for such, nor, she guessed, would he have played such a match with his so called love involved. "I still wish for my plans to come to fruition. I won't have them trampled because you've fallen for some slave. Swear to do your part and the girl is yours at this moment."
Nodding his head, the fiend accepted her terms. His face was a grimace as he stared into the eyes of his former lover. The price was heavy, but not unreasonable. Not a hint of guilt strayed into his black heart. Better the realms fall than his Belle be enthralled to such a hag. "A deal then."
"Before the deal is struck, Rumpel remember this." The witch's voice softened into a low hiss, her ruby lips a serpents grin. "Love is weakness. This girl can offer you nothing but a step down. When the time comes Rumpel, you'll know the grievous error you've made. You should have stayed with me, Rumpel; we're far to much alike to be good for anyone else."
The Dark One's sable eyes narrowed upon the witch. His lips were a thin, unbreakable line, unwilling to answer her or parry another word. She couldn't be right. What he felt for Belle denied every poisonous word she spat.
"I'll summon her then." The witch crooned, her lips a victorious ruby crescent. Clapping her hands in two quick motions, the witch beckoned the girl. Her almond eyes never left the glaring fiend as they battled with their gazes. He didn't believe her now of course, but he would.
In their tumult of hatred and carelessness, a door creaked to their left ending the wordless combat.
A soft thump of the door and the scuffling of feet echoed about the room as Belle scurried forward. Padding softly into the room, head bowed, the beauty shuffled tenuously towards her captor. Cora had not summoned her in two days. Why now, she pondered warily.
"You called mistress?" The enslaved Belle queried tremulously. Dread flipped in her heart as she tried to look at the floor and not at the two wizards. Cora still held her debt no matter what Rumpel said.
Almond eyes falling to the girl who entered, the witch frowned. Things were going to plan, but seeing the girl she had lost out to, a slave no less, writhed unpleasantly in her vile husk of a heart. "Congratulations slave. Rumpel has brought your life debt. You are now his."
Amazement thrilled through the beauty's blood with the unexpected words of emancipation. Her head spun in a tilt O' whirl at the thought of sudden freedom from her tormentor. Of course she believed Rumpel to keep his word, but so soon! Jerking her head up, wonder danced in her cerulean orbs. Did she truly mean she was no longer her mistress?
Relieved by her presence the fiend glided towards the beauty. Softness danced upon his gray-gold features with a loving smile. No matter the cost he saved her from her misery and that was all that mattered.
Standing behind her, the Dark One placed a gray-gold hand on her left shoulder, every inch the protector she claimed him to be. His eyes were glossy black marble aimed towards the witch. "While we remain here I expect Belle to be treated with courtesy. You won't lay a hand on her. She will be free to go anywhere she pleases. So long as we are here she will sleep in a room on the second floor, not the dungeon. If I catch you tormenting her in any way…." He let the threat go unsaid but the power behind his word spoke for themselves.
If she cast one more cruelty upon his love there wouldn't be enough of her for her pet crow to peck at! He would make her a smear on her castle and leave it there till the end of all creation.
"Of course Rumpel." Cora replied softly.
Ice filled her eyes as her gaze drifted to the girl who stared back, no longer the beaten slave. For a moment the beauty held her gaze before her eyes fell from her cruel former mistress. Old habits died extremely hard.
A frigid smile painted Cora's lips towards the woman, knowing there was a bit of the girl that still feared her. "Of course." She echoed, her words soft with haughty amusement.
Cutting his gaze from the vile sorceress, the Dark One stared down at his love. "Let's go, Belle." His tender voice belayed the rage he felt a mere heartbeat ago.
Nodding numbly, the beauty turned. Strange disbelief coupled together in her heart like whispers of happiness. Just like that she was free from the cruel mistress who owned her for 5 long, grueling years?
"Is it true Rumpel?" Belle inquired nervously as they disappeared from the main hall. Her hands shook as she walked beside him down the dark corridors that offered so much dread to her existence. Hope and disbelief etched her sapphire eyes. "Am I free from her? Truly?"
Love bloomed over the abject hate he felt for Cora. Belle could banish any darkness he felt stewing within. A smile wove upon his gray-gold face. She seemed like a child given a gift she could not fathom.
Taking her into a second room ordained for her, the Dark One gently pulled her inside. The room was a cheery thing taken from the morbid castle and shed of the dour aura Cora painted about her keep. Bright sky blue curtains draped the windows banished from the bloody panes. Soft gray light from an overcast sky drifted in from the breaks in the blue drapes. The bed, her first in five years, was soft with snowy gryphon down and simple but soft cotton sheets of blue below a thick cover to ward off the night chills that plagued the castle so.
Staring about in awe, the beauty let her surroundings soak in. She would have been content with a cot somewhere. The last thing had been expecting was something so lovely in the very belly of her mistress', no, her former mistress' keep.
Drifting to the bed as though led by an invisible cord, the beauty flopped down on the mattress. A giggle leapt from her mouth as she let the feathers buoy her. Propping up on her elbows, Belle motioned to her love.
"Well?" His smile went from ear to ear.
He arched a brow, confused. Certainly he was content enough to stand a respectful distance away and admire her. "Well what, my Belle?"
"This is the first time I've slept in a real bed for five years." She laid her head down on the fluffy pillows. "The first thing I'm going to do is take a nap."
Ducking his head, the fiend turned away. "I'll leave you to your napping then." Jesting echoed in his voice.
"Rumpel." Belle's voice lured him to freeze. Not putting her head up she sighed in pleasant contentment. "I meant for you to join me."
Red flushed the Dark One's scaled cheeks. She wanted him so close even for a simple nap? "I'd…" Breathing in deep he pushed his cowardice away. "I'd be honored."
Slipping into the bed with the beauty the Dark One stared at his love. Her azure yes gleamed like crystals. Her dark amber hair molded against her face and danced in the gray light that streamed through the thin chinks in the drapes.
How could such beauty call him love, he pondered, truly at a loss. Perhaps some mysteries were not even for he to discover.
Laying down beside her, the fiend tenuously reached out for her. Wrapping the beauty in his arms, the beast pulled her close. Heart crashing crazily in his chest, his body felt tense as she settled in his grasp. A sigh eased from his mouth as he made herself comfortable. She was safe. That was all that mattered.
Closing his eyes slowly, the Dark One yawned once before sleepiness overtook them both.
~8~8~
Twilight lorded the sky when beauty and beast awoke. The day had passed them by, lost in their enchanted slumber of one another's arms. They had slept the day away only waking in intervals to chat quietly before falling into the realm of sleep once more.
Wriggling awake, Belle yawned politely behind her hand. "I've never slept so good." She admitted with a dozy smile.
"I can't recall a sounder sleep in all my days." Rumpelstiltskin agreed, his voice carrying traces of the imp. Looking back, he could not even recall a day that came close.
Snuggling in his grasp, the beauty looked at the last bit of light disappear. "So I was wondering you know. The library is on the second floor. I was never allowed much time there only to clean. Do you think I may spend time there tomorrow?" She asked tenuously.
Wrapping his skinny arms about her, the Dark One held her tight. A soft giggle escaped his mouth. "You have no need to ask permission of me Belle. You may do what you wish. I see a free woman on the in and out."
Soft laughter bubbled from her smiling lips. "Are you not my master?" She jested. "Doesn't seem you're doing a very good job."
"You aren't a slave to me Belle. I will never consider you such." A faint laugh fell from his lips. Gently brushing the side of her face with his fingertips, the Dark One smiled lovingly to the woman that owned his heart. "If there is anyone enslaved then surely it is I to you."
A soft smile traced her lips in a sleepy grin. "If that's so then let's leave this place. Let's turn away and never look back here." While she was grateful to him, she didn't understand why they were still there.
"We only have to stay a little while longer." He stroked her cheek, his thumb tracing her skin. Part of him wished to tell her about the deal, but she would be against that. Better she not know. "And when this is all over we'll leave and never be reminded of this foul place and what it represented. I will find a way to end your debt so you can be truly free and then… then who knows."
Hugging his neck, the beauty held the wiry fiend close. How could one person be so kind? "I'm so glad." She whispered, her tears tipping from her closed lids. "I'm so glad I can be with you."
Slowly, as though controlled by some unseen hand, the beauty lifted her face to his. This time no uncertainty grabbed the strings of her heart to yank her back. No fear of being rebuffed, no trepidation only love.
Hands upon his gray-gold cheeks, the beauty inclined her head to him. The darkness of the room did little to hide the want in her eyes nor in his. Pressing her lips to his own, the beauty captured his mouth in a soft kiss. The kiss was a chaste one, but a leap that scaled all boundaries before.
Light pulsed from her body as her lips finally melded with his. Her lush, warm lips tenuously searched his mouth with exploratory rapture. Eyes closed she lost herself in the windmill that was his love. His kiss was everything she hoped in her dreams and more. Despite his looks they were soft and warm and full with the passion once locked behind his heart. There was a sourness to his kiss, but only helped in brining out the sweetness as well.
Power, greater than his own struck the Dark One as his lips felt hers. Her silken mouth, ripe and sweet as the ambrosia form the heavens danced over his mouth in the vibrant of tastes. Her kiss was like a flood raging through his mouth and down his heart, washing away the darkness that clung to his soul. Ever touch was a flaming brand scouring the shadows and the filth away. For the first time in centuries he felt loved. He felt like a man.
An ordinary man….
"What's happening?" The fiend pulled away from the kiss. The tingle of her lips spread like wildfire about his body. His head swam in dizziness as the darkness wrestled in his heart. Somewhere something vile warned him there was something amiss.
"I don't know." Belle gasped as she looked into his eyes. Amazed, her azure orbits studied his face. Slowly the scaled texture of his skin was fading. Elation filled her heart in dizzying jubilation. Did she dare dream? "Rumpel... I think you're becoming human!"
Human. The word stilled the fiend's heart.
No!
To become human meant taking the mantle of cripple. To become human meant to be the coward who couldn't protect his precious boy.
To become human meant the would lose the magic.
Leaping to his feet the Dark One shook his head. To lose his magic. He could do many things, but that was not one he planned anywhere near the future. Magic was his lifeblood. Magic made him who he was, the strong. Magic kept him safe and gave him all he could ever desire.
Abruptly a fearful though struck his heart. A lance of cowardice stabbed at his soul nearly making him wince. Did being with Belle mean losing his magic?
"This must mean something." She reasoned, her voice pleading. "It must mean…."
In an instant his body jerked back from the bed. His eye looked upon her as though she were a venomous snake found in his bed. The kiss so ripe and lovely was severed in a tear of darkness.
Wiping at his lips, the Dark One stared at her in the last rays of light. Oh indeed the unfettering of magic did mean something. The human in place of the beast meant something as well. Everything meant Cora had been right. All things came with a price. Even love.
A hiss spewed darkly from the beast's mouth with the thought. Clutching the sides of his head the Dark One danced away from the beauty. His black nailed fingers dug mercilessly into his scalp on the cusp of shedding blood. What a fool he was!
"It means the loss of my power!" He roared, her words brimming with rage. "Loving you means losing magic!"
Alarm surged through the beauty at his outcry as she slid from the bed. Was magic so important? Did the claws of his power burrow so deep to keep him grounded?
"Rumpel." Soft pleading for reason fringed her voice. "I don't know what's happened, but please we can get through this."
Shaking his head the beast let his hands drop. Cold rage mingled with the craven fires of dread sparkled in his ebony eyes. "Oh no." He parried his voice soft and biting. "We can't."
If being with her meant the surrender of his power, the very darkness that made him the Dark One, then he wished for none of her love. None. Magic or his love. Darkness or light. That was the choice put before him.
"Don't say such things." Hot tears filled her eyes. Pain clawed at her heart with the shunning of her love.
Holding out a hand he paused her before another word could leave her mouth. His sable eyes glared at her the same way he glared at his former lover. Like Cora she was dangerous, only much more so. Cora's affections wouldn't leave him a bitter cripple, limping about on a stick!
Darkness swirled in his heart, taking thrall of him all. "Stay away." He hissed. Snapping his gray-gold talons the fiend disappeared into a cloud of smoke, leaving his love alone.
Astounded by the change the beauty dropped to the bed. Numb disbelief danced her eyes dimmed by the fading light. How could he say such things? How could he covet his power so much as to swipe away all he felt?
Putting her head down, the beauty's shoulders heaved in quiet sobs as she let the tears roll down her cheeks.
~8~8~
A pleasant hum sang softly from Cora's mouth as she primly sat in front of her glass topped vanity. Multitudes of vibrantly colored amphora's of blue and plum and green hoarded the edges of her gilded treasure. Boxes and bottles of kohl and rouges and perfumes and other implements from as far as Agrabah, were all collected for her use to bring details to her charms.
Taking down her face was one of the last things she did in the day after the deals were struck and the masks could come off. Patting a white wet cloth across her face she wiped away the blush and the coral she used upon her pallid visage. She wasn't particularly vain about her image, but she adored keeping up her appearance. At least putting on her face gave her something to do in the long days and longer nights.
Magic filled the air as Cora dabbed the last smear of the rouge from her face. Fighting a smile, her eyes flickered up to the three mirrors. The image of the Dark One, black and vile as she had ever seen stared back at her. His weed like body heaved as though he had battled an entire legion of ogres.
Her heart paused a beat to see him such. This was not a Dark One she knew, desperate and hungry for evil and the malice that owned their hearts. Her breath stole from her mouth in a hush, enraptured in his darkness.
In an instant, the Dark One was upon her. His strong hands snatched her like a found treasure and swept her up from her vanity in a whirl. Stray stoppers from uncorked glass bottles rolled to the floor and one bottle toppled spilling a black ink upon the crystal glass vanity.
Tossing her unto the lavish bed, the fiend followed in short order. "You were right." Huskiness forged his voice with the dark confession. Slipping unto the plush mattress, his eyes pinioned upon Cora's. This was where the magic said he belonged.
Her almond eyes stared at him lustfully. Not the faintest hint of surprised danced in her eyes nor malice. Her lips, pale from her dismissing of her paints curved into a seductress grin that promised him the sweet comforts of bitterest darkness.
He didn't need true love, the darkness assured the fiend in cajoling whispers that beckoned him to the witch's charms. Enthralled to the whispers, his body crawled over Cora's.
His mouth found her bare skin and he kissed the pale flesh, making ever part of her his. Every kiss banished the light of Belle's one kiss away. His heart plummeted into darkness as he made ready for his dark lover. He needed magic and the blackness to consume him. How he wished to drown in the safety of his dark magic's!
Wrapping her tight in his arms, the fiends kissed her deeply upon her pale pink lips. Her mouth tasted like hemlock, but he lost himself in the bile of her kiss. Better poison and remain in power that sweetness and be unfettered from his magic.
A lascivious chuckle escaped the witch's throat as he lavished her neck with hard bites and bit at the lobe of her ears. Tossing her head back, she allowed his mouth and teeth greater access to plunder his pale skin and caress her body. Her spell worn hands ran along his thin back holding him tight, like a serpent with a mouse in their coils. Such a simple frightened fool he was.
Smiling, her glossy ruby lips neared his ear as she crooned. "Welcome back, Rumpel. You knew I was right. How fine a thing to see you come to your senses. Back where you belong."
Yes, he wished to agree with all the darkness in his heart; where he belonged. The words lay on the tip of his tongue but refused to pass. Trepidation speared the blackness of his soul, making his evil furl back. She was right, wasn't she…?
Retreating from his hungry kisses, the fiend stared down into her eyes. Her cunning almond orbs danced with mischief, offering blackness and evil in her embrace. Normally, he was aroused, even comforted by such a look, but now… now he felt his skin crawl. Spiders danced over his flesh in a skittering dance. His stomach turned to see her lying beneath him, waiting for his attentions, relishing in his evil and misery.
She was no Belle, whose smiles purified his heart, and the darkness warranted no comforts like her laugh and touch. Laying in her arms he felt cold and more alone than ever before. The magic would not comfort him. Her arms would not make him feel at peace and loved.
Only Belle.
"No." He bit out. Forcing himself away from the witch he staggered to his feet. He couldn't lay with her again. Not after telling Belle what he felt for her. That would have broken something sacred her shared with her. Magic or not he couldn't let her gift fall away. She had given him her love and he could not go and sully her ardor because of his want of magic.
Shaking his head softly her turned away from her, disgusted at what he saw. "You aren't right. I just… I just…."
Heart torn, the Dark One snapped his fingers. Calling his magic, the fiend disappeared in a cloud of purple fog. He had to get out of the castle, he knew, as the mist enveloped him. He had to think.
Lying on her now ruffled bed, the witch curled a lock of dark hair around her finger and smiled at the last place the Dark One stood. Her body tingled all about with the last remnants of his darkness, but she pushed the feeling aside like an old memory.
Such a thing as his coming to her was unexpected, but would have uses in the future. At least now he was solidified in his love for his slave girl by denying himself his darker passions, making her plots all the more hurtful when they struck.