~Bitter consequences of Obsession~
Disclaimer: I don´t claim any rights to the characters of this story . I don´t own them . All rights belong to ABC Studios and the creators of Once upon a Time ( Kitsis /Horowitz Production) .
Author´s Note: I will attach a longer Author's Note at the end, there isn't much to say right now! Please you should read it till the end because it's not supposed to be something spooky at all ..If you can even call it spooky ^^ This idea popped into my head after my dearest friend mentioned a change of Rumpel's outer appearance in Lacey.
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The sounds started only two weeks after Belle was allowed to clean the library of the Dark One. First, she hadn't listened to them knowing that terrible things were happening in this dark and cold place from time to time. However, when they got louder and harder to ignore she started to wonder what horrible things her Master was doing now.
Late at night, when she was locked up in her "cozy" chamber they haunted her like so many of her bad dreams. Those indefinable sounds mocking her ears and driving her crazy. If only she could at least construe them. They were loud (which was the most obvious fact), they were disgusting because to her it sounded like he was walking on a floor covered with snails squeezing them with his shoes. Gods NO! He hadn't done it again, had he? She had heard the rumors about him transforming a man into a snail once and the whole procedure had a terrible ending! But on the other hand she could swear that the sounds were followed by something strange, like a burp and a moan. Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't moan about his bad deeds would he? At least if he was the monster that he pretended to be.
So what was going on?
People had told her once that she was an intelligent girl and the one thing she always wanted to be was brave. An intelligent decision would be to stay in her chamber and forget about the terrible noises because whatever it was, it couldn't be something good. A brave decision though would be to search for the source so that sleeping would be much easier at night.
Although she was torn she decided to be brave waiting for the next day to come.
Before Rumpelstiltskin had been able to lock her up, she had tricked him by pinning something on the door frame to keep it unlocked. To her luck he hadn't noticed it. When it was dark outside and Belle was sure that the noises had started once again, she made her way through the many dark corridors.
Oddly enough they were much more frightening now that Rumpelstiltskin wasn't by her side. Deep down in her heart she started to develop strong feelings for the old imp. Instead of killing that poor man who had stolen the wand from Rumpel, he had shown mercy and something that seemed to be a long forgotten heart. Her memories of that day when Rumpelstiltskin had allowed her to clean his library and that innocent/nervous look on his face made her smile,
*smack* , *smack*
There they were again! How dare the noises bring her back to reality? While she was unable to see much around her, she instead followed her instincts and listen to the sounds which slowly lead her to a huge wooden door. The door was covered with different kinds of locks and bolts but all of them were unlocked. The wood looked dead and old, the door's surface was covered with scratches making Belle flinch. They looked as if someone had dug their fingernails into the wood while it had been softer and maybe wetter many years ago.
Belle took a deep breath, she had a feeling that the door would screech when she opened it , but she was curious about the noises and she needed to know.
One of her hands touched the surface of the door and with only a little pressure she pushed the door open. Her gaze first met Rumpel who was sitting in front of a table, then her eyes located something mushy lying next to him, the form of this object indefinable. And as she examined the rest of the room her feet nearly tried to make her leave again for the walls were covered with a scary looking brownish color that reminded her of dried blood.
"Oh dear Lord," she whispered under her breath and to her surprise the Dark One turned around with a sudden haste.
A loud scream escaped her lips and Belle wasn't sure if she should run or faint. Rumpel's whole face was covered with that brownish pulp, his fingers looked sticky and for only a few seconds she got very angry about his dirty shirt because she knew that she had to wash it (only if he would let her live after this).
The first thought that crept into her mind was a horrifying one, making her hands shake and her legs wobbly. Her heart raced in her chest and she tried to avoid his frightening gaze as long as possible.
There was no doubt- Rumpelstiltskin was covered with blood! The mushy lump next to him was one of his victims. He was a cannibal! She never asked when another desperate soul suddenly disappeared and never came back again. She had assumed that once he set them free they would crawl out on all fours and not leave any noise, but now she was sure that they never really left the castle after all.
He got rid of them by eating their bodies! This thought alone made her gulp and she hardly tried not to throw up behind the door. Rumpel still looked at her with something that seemed to be utter shock and surprise, instead of anger and hatred but she didn't care for it.
Belle was too shocked to interpret the reason for his reaction, she was too afraid of losing her life as well, too disgusted by the sight of her master (the man she had gushed about only a few seconds ago) and without saying another word she turned around and ran!
"Belle I.. I can explain!" she heard Rumpel yelling behind her, but she didn't dare to look back. When she reached her chamber she threw herself against the door and locked it with still shaking hands. Her fear made her sink to the ground covering her face with her hands. Silent tears left her eyes, terrible pictures trying to escape her mind.
Within an hour exhaustion made her slip into a long sleep without dreams.
Back in the "Room of Horror" as Belle was going to refer to it from that day on, Rumpel was still standing in the middle of it. There were so many things he had wanted to say, so many ways in which he could have explained her that it all wasn't what it looked like. Realizing that Belle wouldn't come back and that he needed to convince her of his innocence whenever he got the chance to, he slowly turned to the table and let himself sink onto a bulky chair.
With his dirty fingertip he brushed over the surface of the table - the rest of the brown secretion covering it now. He carefully guided it to his mouth and then licked on it with passion. His eyes were closed now and shortly afterwards he let out a satisfied moan.
Two days later he stood in front of Belle's door, not ready for his confession but forcing himself to tell her.
"Belle ..I..I wanted to tell you earlier, but you ran away so I couldn't explain myself. ..I know that what you saw looked horrible and it indeed is horrible but... I'm really working on it," he mumbled. There was no response but he knew that she had heard him because he could hear her sobbing close to the door, so he went on.
"You might think that I did something terrible but let me just say that you didn't see dried blood down there! I had to keep it a secret because it would make me seem weak ..I ..For God's sake I'm the Dark One .. Everyone should be afraid of me! And now they all seem to.. laugh at me ..I gained a lots of weight but not because I eat my victims! Besides I didn't allow you to snoop around my castle so it was your own fault anyway! I indeed hide in that chamber to eat but..." he stopped but then he spit it out.
"Belle I'm obsessed with Chocolate Cake!" he screamed.
And after that the sobbing stopped and it was silent.
Author's Note: So first of all: Thank you for everyone who decided to read this story ;) And now I want to explain this mess.. After watching Lacey my friend told me that she noticed something about Rumpel, namely that he gained some weight since Skin Deep, I hadn´t notice it first but after she showed me a picture from Rumpel in that apron I was convinced that she was right! Due to the fact that it had been Mr. Carlyle's birthday only a few days before the airing of Lacey I got the idea that Rumpel may gained weight because of too much birthday cake and that's how it all started ..My friend encouraged me to write a Rumbelle cake story and here it is. There might be a sequel where we´ll see Belle helping Rumpel to get rid of his little problem. Thank you very much for your attention.