Author's note: I'd just like to thank all the wonderful people who read this, and all those who have left such lovely comments about it. As always, all the mistakes are mine, I apologise for them, and I hope you enjoy reading the rest of it. And if anyone has any suggestions for other fics, please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. Thank you again :)
Belle sat down at the table, finally realising how hungry she'd been. Ruby, whose fur was still damp, was forbidden to jump on any furniture until she was dry, so now the wolf was trailing after Belle in the kitchen as the librarian cooked, begging not-too-subtly for scraps. Belle resisted at first, but after Ruby had sat with her ears drooped and a sad expression on her wolfy face, Belle couldn't help herself. She tossed Ruby little bits of food and Ruby ate them up happily. As Belle tucked into her meal, she watched in amusement as Ruby attempted to sit on the chair opposite her. After slipping off three times, Ruby settled down on top of Belle's bare feet.
"You make a fantastic hot water bottle," she commented. The remark was met with a grunt of approval from under the table.
Later that night, Belle sat watching the television on her couch, Ruby curled up on the floor in front of her. Belle felt herself dozing off after a while, and checked the time. It was nearly midnight. Yawning, Belle got to her feet, careful not to step on Ruby's fur, and checked to see if the wolf was still awake. Ruby's ears twitched as Belle moved, and raised her head tiredly.
"I'm heading to bed, do you want me to let you out?" she asked, secretly not wanting Ruby to leave, but knowing she probably didn't want to stay. At Ruby's head tilt that Belle had learned to associate with confusion, Belle crossed the room and opened the door to let her out. Ruby glanced from the door to Belle and back again, and slowly got to her feet, tail sagging and ears drooping. As the wolf pawed closer, Ruby rubbed her head against Belle's hand.
"You don't have to go, I was just offering-"
Belle was cut off as Ruby jumped up on her and licked her face.
"Ruby! What have I told you?" she laughed. Ruby dropped onto all fours with a strange look, and Belle could imagine Ruby's face in her You-love-it-don't-pretend-you-don't expression. Belle sighed happily as she locked the door and walked to her bedroom, closing the door as she put on her pyjamas.
The small part of Ruby that was left unaffected by the wolf was internally scolding herself for being such a clingy puppy. But she was where she wanted to be, she didn't want to be outside when she could be here. Hearing Belle getting changed in the bedroom through the door, she padded into the living room to wait. Belle seemed to be enjoying their time together. When she had opened the door, she thought Belle wanted her to go, and, if it made the librarian happy, of course she would have, but given the choice to stay, well, her reaction said it all really. Ruby cringed inwardly as she remembered jumping up on Belle. She was such a PUPPY. Glancing around the room, she noticed something on the table.
Belle finished changing and brushed her teeth, before going back to the living room to find Ruby, and hoped fervently that the wolf hadn't gotten herself in trouble in the five minutes Belle had left her alone. Human Ruby was bad enough, massive puppy Ruby was even worse. However, when she walked through the door, she saw Ruby sitting waiting with something in her mouth. Hearing Belle enter, Ruby turned and padded over to her, the book Belle had dropped downstairs in her jaws.
"Thank you," she said, giving Ruby a stroke on the head. Belle wandered back to her room, Ruby in tow, and crawled onto her bed, snuggling under the covers and propping herself up on the pillows, watching an uneasy Ruby in the doorway. She wondered why Ruby always seemed so unsure of herself at times. She didn't even dare believe it was for the exact same reason that Belle was nervous, but she had trouble thinking up other reasons. She decided to push the thought to the back of her head for now. Patting the bed gently, she gestured for Ruby to jump up.
"If you want to," she mumbled. Ruby slowly scrambled up, slipping slightly as the covers moved. Belle couldn't help but chuckle again, a sound Ruby dearly loved to hear. Ruby gave her an exasperated look before licking her cheek and settling down, her head lying on Belle's stomach. Belle's hand automatically went to Ruby's head, stroking the fur, and burying her fingers in it. Together, they drifted off, completely at ease in each other's company.
A terrific crash woke the sleeping wolf and beauty, both of them sitting up straight. Ruby jumped up onto all fours, sniffing the air and straining her ears as Belle hurried to the window, wrenching the curtains apart to view the street below. Amidst the beautiful, snow covered landscape, a battle ensued. A loud roar sounded, followed by another, and another, and then a loud crash. Belle and Ruby glanced at each other before they both scrambled across the bed and into the living room. Belle hurriedly pulled on a pair of boots and a long black coat as Ruby scratched at the door. Flinging open the door, the pair hurtled down the stairs together and out of the library.
The street was chaos, the inhabitants armed with a variety of weapons, swords, spears, fire, arrows, baseball bats and other assorted items. Belle had had the sense to grab the long butcher knife from the kitchen before heading out. Together, they watched for a moment as the Charming family, bar Henry, took on a massive creature. Both women recognised it as an ogre. They glanced at each other fearfully, but their attention quickly returned to the battle as the ogre batted Snow and David aside in one motion, and began towards the struggling Emma, who was attempting to get to her feet in the snow. Belle gasped as the ogre raised its massive fist above Emma, but a flash of purple smoke wrapped around the ogre's wrist and wrenched it away. The ogre backed off, seeming to be burned. Belle followed the line of smoke to see Regina standing with her somehow still immaculate suit, a look of deep concern on her face as she hurried forwards and helped Emma to her feet. Another roar brought Belle back to her senses, as she saw Leroy being beaten by another ogre. She had tried to count the number of the creatures, but there were too many. Belle ran towards Leroy, Ruby bounding in front of her. Ruby leapt at the ogre, burying her teeth into the creature's arm. It roared, and flung her aside, but she simply got back up and attacked again. Belle reached Leroy, while Ruby was luring the creature away, and discovered gratefully that he was still alive.
"Leroy! You'll be okay, just take deep breaths, okay?" she said, assessing him. He had numerous cuts on his face, but nothing life threatening. A yelp of pain made Belle's blood run cold, as she whipped around to see Ruby being pinned down by the ogre. Anger rose in Belle's heart, and she sprinted the short distance to the pair. The ogre's face was close to Ruby, smelling her. It twitched as it heard Belle approaching, but before it had time to do more than turn, Belle had thrust the knife into its eye. It screamed loudly, releasing Ruby and stumbling around for a moment, before collapsing into the snow, dead. Ruby gave Belle a confused look.
"You have to stab it in the eye," said Belle, a little breathlessly.
"HENRY!" The pair heard an agonised scream come from both Regina, who was standing supporting Emma, whose left side was drenched in blood. Snow, on the other side of the road, was dragging David's body under the cover of Granny's diner. Granny herself was standing by the upstairs window, firing arrows with tremendous accuracy. However, Belle and Ruby looked in horror as an ogre lurched towards Henry, casually running over a car on its way. Henry stumbled and fell, and before anyone could react, the ogre was upon him. However, just before the creature could touch him, none other than Mr Gold appeared, raising a hand. From his left hand, a stream of purple smoke erupted and knocked the ogre backwards off its feet. Next, he grabbed Henry and made him disappear in a puff of smoke. Belle ran forwards, unable to help herself. She didn't condone what he had done in the past, but saving Henry, for whatever reason, was a good thing. He brushed off his suit and turned back to the ogre, just in time to be whacked in the face by its massive fist. He landed a few feet from Belle, sliding to a halt at her feet in the snow. Belle was about to check if he was alright, but the ogre kept coming. Instead of running, she remembered everything she had read, and ran diagonally to the left of it, it's weaker side, and slashed at it with the knife. It roared in pain, but she kept running, knowing that if she stopped, she'd be dead. Changing direction again, she managed to dodge one blow, but was clipped by the next. She stumbled into the snow, landing flat on her face before twisting onto her back, breathing heavily, trying to keep as quiet as possible, but she was sure the ogre could hear her beating heart. The ogre homed in on her, roaring in her face. Belle lunged with the knife, but it sank deep into its cheek. It reared back, taking the knife with it. Belle cursed and tried to scramble backwards, but the ogre caught her foot, crushing it under its weight. She cried out in pain and the creature lunged forwards, ugly teeth bared.
Ruby saw Belle running to aid Gold, and knew Belle would take care of herself, so she ran to Snow, helping her move David.
"Ruby! Thank God!" Snow exclaimed as she set David down in the diner through the smashed window. She caught Ruby sniffing at his body. "He's alright, he's just a bit concussed. I don't' know what happened, there was a flash of purple in the distance and then these ogres just came into town and began wrecking the place."
Ruby nodded, glancing out of the broken window again. Her eyes roved the battlefield. There were many casualties, but no-one seemed to have died. The ogres numbers were significantly smaller than they were a few minutes ago. Regina was tending to Emma behind an overturned car. Leroy was being looked after by one of the nuns. The Blue Fairy was vaporising an ogre. Rumplestiltskin was… being looked after by Belle… who was about to be eaten by an ogre! Ruby felt her body speed up, moving faster than she ever had before as she sprinted through the window, across the snow covered ground, dodging other fighters and debris, until she leapt in front of Belle, barrelling into the ogre and knocking it to the side. She felt pain explode on her left side as she rolled to a halt in the snow. She heard Belle call her name faintly as the world went black.
Belle got to her feet and, upon seeing Ruby's limp form on the ground not too far away from her, felt adrenalin course through her veins, fists clenching in anger. The ogre was stunned, lying on its side. Belle, not really thinking about what she was doing, approached it, bold as brass, and opened one of its eyes. Without a second thought, she drove her fist into its massive eye. The ogre moaned, and she punched it again. And again, until it stopped moaning. She then hurried to Ruby, collapsing to her knees next to the wolf.
"Ruby?" she called, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. She gently placed a hand on the wolf's head, which lolled limply as she tried to wake her up.
"Ruby," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek. The sky was lighter, she ignored the cold seeping through her black leggings. Looking up, she saw the first rays of sunlight pouring over the town. Looking back down, Belle saw the wolf shrink, transforming into Ruby. More tears slipped down Belle's face as she saw Ruby, her beautiful face coated in blood and her clothes stained. Belle knew she couldn't look much better herself. Gathering herself, she got to her feet and, as gently as she could, she dragged the barely conscious Ruby to her feet, and supported most of her weight as she dragged her across the snow.