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~Chapter II~
"What?" Belle asked, her brow crinkled in confusion.
"Regina. She lied to me; she had you the entire time. That sort of crime deserves punishment."
"No." Belle disentangled herself from Rumplestiltskin, shaking her head.
"No?" Rumplestiltskin was certain he had not heard her correctly.
"No. I do not want revenge, Rumplestiltskin. And certainly not at your expense."
"She locked you away for decades, and you plan on just letting it go?"
Belle shrugged, holding back a chuckle at the incredulous expression on Rumplestiltskin's face.
"It shouldn't be too hard. I don't remember much, anyway."
This time it was Rumplestiltskin's turn to laugh. "Tell me, dearie, how does one forget years of captivity?"
"I think...I was asleep for most of it."
And this time Belle could not withhold her laughter at the entirely bewildered expression Rumplestiltskin wore. She moved over to a maroon sofa, pulling him by the hand to sit beside her, before continuing.
"It was a few days after you...after I...after our...uh...argument. I was in a small tavern near the dwarf mines. I met a dwarf there. He was entirely smitten with a fairy. I-uh-sort of gave him some love advice. I told him to find her, to enjoy love while it lasts...because it doesn't always last forever."
She glanced sheepishly at Rumplestiltskin for a moment.
"Wise words," he quipped. She laughed.
"I think 'misguided and jaded words' is a more accurate way to put it. Anyway, I eventually decided to follow my own advice, and go back. To you."
Tenderness and warmth overshadowed the momentary shock in Rumplestiltskin's gaze; Belle felt her face flush lightly.
"On the way, I came across a deserted stone cottage that I am certain was not there when I first traveled that road. I should have kept walking...But my feet moved of their own accord. I went inside."
She looked over at Rumplestiltskin, embarrassed at her recklessness. Her embarrassment was unnecessary, however. Even from the little she had told him so far, Rumplestiltskin knew that magic, dark magic, was involved.
"The inside seemed perfectly normal, if a bit dusty and unkempt. I turned to leave, realizing how silly I was for venturing inside, when I saw it, resting in the corner...a spinning wheel."
Another lovely blush painted her cheeks.
"It—it reminded me of you, and before I could think otherwise, my feet were bringing me closer. I don't think I could have walked away if I wanted to."
Her brow furrowed as she remembered how strange she had felt, as though her mind and body had been two separate entities, working against instead of with each other.
"I spun it a few times, remembering how yours seemed to thrum with life under your touch. I traced its wooden contours with my fingertips. It was not dusty like the rest of the cottage... And then I was bleeding."
She rubbed the pad of her thumb across the tip of her index finger, remembering the tiny wound she had received from the spinning wheel's needle.
"Everything grew hazy...my whole body felt like it was made of lead...I believe I heard a woman laughing..."
Rumplestiltskin grit his teeth at her description. Oh yes, he knew just whose laugh Belle had heard before falling into an enchanted sleep.
"The next memory I have is of my...room...in the hospital basement. And even those are unclear, as though they were lived by someone else."
Rumplestiltskin clenched his fists. Three decades he had lived each day believing Belle to be dead, believing he would never again see her crinkle her nose at his wicked humor, or hear her lilting voice relay every detail of her current favorite book... He wanted Regina to pay. He wanted her to hurt for every moment he had spent hating himself for shutting Belle out, for every night he was tormented by visions of her mangled, lifeless body lying at the base of a tower...
"It is not worth it, Rum. I'm fine, I'm alive." Belle's soft voice pulled him from his dark reverie. He nodded at her words, though he did not agree. It would be worth it, to punish Regina, to give her a taste of her own bitter medicine. But he did not need to think on that just now.
He thought back to what Belle had said, what she had called him, and raised an eyebrow. "Did you say 'Rum'?"
She blushed scarlet at her slip-up. "It's...what I used to call you in my head at the Dark Castle. 'Rumplestiltskin' is a bit of a mouthful, you know."
Rumplestiltskin laughed loudly at her admission, and Belle was relieved when he did not seem to mind this new shorthand version of his name.
Belle slid closer to Rumplestiltskin on the sofa, hesitantly resting her head on his shoulder. Her heart fluttered lightly when he drew an arm around her.
"Rum...why did you bring magic here? How did we all get here in the first place?"
Rumplestiltskin sighed deeply. He had been expecting the first question, and was prepared to answer it now, but the second question... He had been hoping to put off telling Belle that it was he who had invented the most powerful curse in all the realms, that it was he who had told Regina how to cast it.
Taking a long, steadying breath, Rumplestiltskin did the only thing he could: he told Belle the entire, ugly truth, from his tragic deal with Bae, to his lethal curse-casting instructions to the Queen.
Belle was not entirely surprised to learn that he had created the curse which brought them all to this world, but she shot him a long, disapproving glare not so unlike that she had employed when he had tracked mud all over "her" floors.
But, she was surprised to learn that his son was alive. She had interpreted, as he had intended, his assertion that he had "lost" his son to mean that his son had passed away.
Rumplestiltskin told her that he needed the magic to find his son, and for protection, which was mostly true. He did not tell her how much he had missed magic, how he had missed the static warmth of it coursing through his veins, the thrilling sense of control it gave him, but the piercing look Belle gave him suggested that she had already guessed as much.
It was nearly sundown when Rumplestiltskin finished his tale, or was it a confession? Belle sat in silence for a long moment, her gaze fixed on her lap, before pulling herself to her feet.
Rumplestiltskin's pulse began to race. She was leaving him. He was losing her.
But she was walking the wrong way. The front door was on the northern side of the house, not the southern.
"Where are you going?" He croaked out, halting her steps.
Belle turned around to face him, eyebrow quirked.
"If we are going to embark on a worldwide search for your son, I should like to wash up first."
The breeze that had been humming against the windows of Rumplestiltskin's mansion drifted in the direction of the rest of the tiny town that had been thrust into magic's fickle hands. As it neared the modest convent, its speed and intensity increased, until it was howling with the ferocity of a tempest. It burst through a tiny upstairs window and soared toward the petite brunette sitting at a wooden desk.
The Reul Ghorm's body stiffened at the sudden encounter, her eyes clouding as they glimpsed something worlds away. She clenched her fists against the shadow of dread that settled over her small form. With a gasp she yanked herself back to the present, sweat beading on her pale brow. She ran a shaking hand through her lanky brown hair, trying to interpret what she had just seen.
With a solitary steadying breath, she grabbed her coat and exited the room. Without a word to the other fairies, she left the convent and started down the town's main road. The purple haze had completely dispelled by now, and the air seemed to buzz with a life it had not possessed before. In one brief moment this entire world had been transformed into something it was not destined to be.
Anxiety gnawed at the Blue Fairy's stomach with every step she took as she realized just whom she was going to see.
Rumplestiltskin rifled through his wardrobe of pressed suits, searching for something less constricting and conspicuous to wear. He could hear the shower running across the hallway. With a smirk and a shake of his head, he recalled how relieved he had been when it became clear that the vestiges of memories Belle retained of this world included familiarity with the modern shower.
He eventually found something practical; it felt slightly foreign, but not unpleasant, to wear something other than the starched suits he'd worn for nearly three decades.
Before leaving the room to start packing-and wait for Belle to finish what was becoming a rather long shower-Rumplestiltskin reached into the side pocket of his discarded pair of pants.
He pulled out a thin silver bracelet. He had given it to his son shortly after he had become the Dark One...
Rumplestiltskin sat before his spinning wheel, his eyes squinted slightly in concentration. At his feet lay a pile of silver twine, with a few strands of copper mixed in. He had been spinning since dawn, using his magic to transform the straw into metal, and it was now well past sundown. He had managed to upgrade from copper to silver rather quickly, but could not seem to produce even a single strand of gold.
With a frustrated sigh he dropped his discolored hands from the wheel, rubbing one against this forehead, which had begun to ache from his efforts.
"Papa, what is the matter?" Baelfire asked drowsily from his bed across the room.
"It's nothing, Bae. Go on back to sleep," Rumplestiltskin responded, his mouth stretching into a small smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
"Please, I can help. What keeps you awake so late tonight?" Baelfire asked, sliding off of his bed and approaching his father. He sat down on the small stool beside the spinning wheel.
"I am trying to spin straw into gold," Rumplestiltskin relented, knowing his son's concern for him would not be quelled easily, "So I can give you a better life, the one you deserve."
"I don't need gold, Papa. I have you." He said quietly, before his mouth stretched into a wide yawn. Rumplestiltskin smiled, shaking his head lightly, wondering what he had ever done to deserve such a kind-hearted son.
He wrapped an arm about his son's shoulders, pulling him closer so he could kiss the crown of his head. "Get some sleep, son." He said quietly.
"Goodnight." Baelfire murmured, returning the one-armed embrace tightly. He rose from the stool then, teetering for a moment, and returned to his bed, falling swiftly back to sleep.
The next morning Baelfire had woken with a thin braid of silver string tied about his wrist.
"I would have made you one of gold, if I could." Rumplestiltskin had said quietly at breakfast.
"I would have worn one of straw, if you'd made it." Baelfire answered, smiling fondly at the silver chain.
The bracelet had broken and fallen off of Baelfire's wrist the night Rumplestiltskin had let him fall through the vortex alone. Since then Rumplestiltskin had carried it with him, waiting for the day when he could return it to its rightful owner.
Squeezing the bracelet tight for a moment, Rumplestiltskin placed it in his jacket pocket. He walked over to another closet, retrieving two rucksacks. Casting a quick look about the room, he turned about and started down the stairs.
Belle ventured downstairs about an hour later, her auburn curls tied in a loose bun at the base of her neck and her skin still flushed from showering. The scalding stream of water had untied most of the knots in her shoulders and stomach, and she had thoroughly scrubbed away any lingering scent of ammonia from the hospital. She felt refreshed, renewed...and utterly silly in the pair of clothes she had borrowed from Rumplestiltskin's wardrobe.
She wore one of his long-sleeve, button-down shirts, rolling back the cuffs so that they rested at her elbows. On her legs she wore a pair of his black pants. Although he was not a very tall man, the legs fell several inches past her toes, so she had been forced to cuff them a few times. The waistline fit well enough; in fact, it was a little snug. Belle made a mental note to make sure Rumplestiltskin ate more.
When he saw what a picture Belle was in a borrowed pair of his clothes, Rumplestiltskin could not stifle his laughter.
"Oh, stop it. It's only temporary." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to fight back her own small smile.
"You wear them far better than I ever could, my dear," Rumplestiltskin politely offered, still chuckling.
"Why, thank you." Despite how obviously untrue his words were, Belle blushed lightly and curtsied.
Belle took a moment to take in Rumplestiltskin's appearance. He had changed clothes while she showered, and she was quite pleased to see that he had abandoned the crisp black suit and tie. He now wore a brown leather jacket over a white shirt with a flattering pair of dark blue jeans. On his feet was a practical pair of brown leather shoes. Belle smiled at this, remembering how cumbersome the knee-high boots he had favored back at the Dark Castle had been.
She liked the way the leather jacket seemed to bring out the natural highlights of his sandy brown hair.
"What is it?" Rumplestiltskin asked lightly, having noticed her quick analysis.
Belle felt her face flush scarlet. "Nothing...you just wear it well," she replied, gesturing to the jacket.
He quirked an eyebrow at her words. "I wore leather back in our world, too, you know."
"Well, you wore it well then, too." Belle responded, and this time it was Rumplestiltskin's turn to flush lightly.
Rumplestiltskin cleared his throat, returning his attention to the two rucksacks he'd been packing.
"We'll be leaving tonight; I'm afraid there's been a slight change in plans." He spoke to her over his shoulder.
"I was not aware there was a plan to begin with." Belle responded, moving to stand beside him and help pack. He chuckled at her words.
"My dear, do you not know me at all?" He turned his attention back to their bags, smiling at Belle's soft laughter.
"The magic I brought to this world is behaving rather...unexpectedly. It is not bending to my will as I had hoped it would. It is resisting." Rumplestiltskin explained, his voice contemplative, if a little agitated.
"But, you healed your leg." Belle recalled, frowning in confusion.
"I can channel a very small amount, so far. Perhaps when it settles, when it adjusts to the natural laws of this world, I will be able to do more."
"You talk about magic as though it has a personality, feelings." Belle observed, both unnerved and intrigued by Rumplestiltskin's words.
"It would be reckless to treat it otherwise. This magic is new, born of True Love, the most powerful magic of all. And I have just thrust it into a world that is not built to accommodate it. Needless to say, I believe it will be some time before everyone regains their full power." He pulled the straps of his rucksack closed, lifting it to test its weight.
"That's why we're leaving tonight, then? So you can put as many miles between us and your...adversaries, before they can use magic again?"
"Precisely. So we can search without any trivial interruptions, at least for a while."
Belle nodded at his words, tucking a folded flannel blanket in her rucksack.
"What about the rest of the town," Belle asked after a moment, frowning slightly, "when Regina regains her powers?"
Rumplestiltskin's lips stretched in a small smile; of course his Belle would be concerned for the others.
"The fairies will have regained their powers as well. They'll look after the others; they're on the 'good' side."
"Which side are you on?" Belle asked, a playful glint in her eyes.
"That, my dear, is the beauty of being an opportunist. Either side suits me just fine." Rumplestiltskin said, smirking puckishly.
A sudden, frantic knocking sounded at the door. Belle jumped slightly and opened her mouth to speak, but Rumplestiltskin pressed a finger to his lips.
Rumplestiltskin slowly approached his front door, unable to distinguish the identity of the visitor through its stained glass window. Reaching inside and taking hold of the little magic he had managed to harness, he pulled open the door.
"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise." He sneered, taking in the harried expression on the incessantly interfering Blue Fairy's face.
"I need to speak with y—"
"You have no business here." Rumplestiltskin cut her off, moving to close the door.
"On the contrary, I'm afraid I do." But for her petite hands twisting in the hem of her black coat, she was the picture of serene certainty.
"You're lying; you've never sought my assistance before." He scoffed, his smirk contradicting the coldness in his eyes.
"You have not changed one bit, Rumplestiltskin." The Blue Fairy sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. "I had hoped I would be wrong..." She added more softly.
"Well, you should know dealing with little cockroaches such as yourself does not bring out the best color in me, dearie." Rumplestiltskin leered, the look in his eyes hardening when the fairy pressed her hand against the door to prevent him from closing it.
"I am well aware, but now is not the time for this. I have a matter to discuss with you."
"And what matter is this?" Rumplestiltskin grinded out through clenched teeth.
"A matter concerning your son."
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