Chapter 34
Rumple woke up sometime later and the sun was up. He knew that this wasn't a good sign. He scrambled to his feet and made his way over to the well. He looked down into it and only saw water. He sat back on a boulder and began to wonder if he had been dreaming the night before.
He knew it had been late and he had used a considerable amount of magic in trying to break through the barriers. He hadn't been smart about it and he knew it. He held his head in his hands and tried to remember as much as he could. He touched his face as soon as he remembered getting punched. He gingerly surveyed for damage and didn't find much but a bloody lip. He was surprised by this but thanked his magic for healing him quickly if it had.
He stood and looked back down into the well, again. Still not seeing anything, he wondered what came out of it. He finally looked at the ground around the well and he finally saw the evidence that something had indeed crawled out of the well and headed towards town. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that it couldn't be good. He also knew that they would blame him for bringing it in town. He had no way to disprove it, either.
He had been at the well. He had conjured something at the well and while he was sure that the spell hadn't worked, he wasn't completely sure that he didn't do something else. He knew that somehow Regina and the rest knew he had been at the well and was trying something. He didn't know how and it didn't matter.
Rumple knew that he needed to figure this out and he needed to figure it out quickly. Regina would soon have the town in a frenzy and after him. He would have to fight back more than he was. He would have to defend himself and he knew that Will was really the only one that could actually hurt him if she so wished. He was still wondering why Will hadn't laid a hand on him yet. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he looked down at the ground and the tracks there.
"Oh, gods damn it!" he exclaimed. "Of all the things I could bring to this noxious Hell, ogres. For the love of anything holy, I am dead. They will kill me. They won't even care."
He scrambled back to his feet. He needed to get to his shop and he needed to get there before anyone else did. He could protect himself there. He could hide there. He could plan there. He needed to plan. He needed to figure out how he could get the ingredients he needed to open the portal without having to go through the fairies. He had to find a way.
He ran…well, hobbled as fast as he could through the forest to his car. He got in it and took the long way back to town. He was trying to not raise suspicions, but knew it was a little bit too late. He saw the ogre lumbering towards town. Then, he had an auspicious thought. He could try to help them defeat the ogre and it would put him back into their good graces. Then he might be able to convince the fairies to give him the ingredients.
His thoughts changed as soon as he saw the vicious ogre turn from the forest and start heading for downtown. He could call and warn them. He could do something about it, but in the end, he did what Rumple always does. He protected himself. He did nothing. He watched as it turned towards Main Street.
He shook his thoughts and made up his mind to head for his pawn shop. He drove on, not caring that he could actually save someone if he just made phone call. He then decided that if everyone was worried about the ogre being downtown and how to deal with that, he would have free reign to try other locations to try to find the magical ingredients that he needed. He reached for his cell phone and dialed the Sheriff's number. He would give them a head's up. It would give him enough time to get what he wanted, he assured himself.
The call had come in that morning while they were eating breakfast. Emma just stared at the phone. Regina watched her move, but what surprised her most was how Coraline moved as well. She looked determined. Emma had gone back upstairs to change. Coraline followed her without word. The unspoken language of two warriors gearing for battle flowed between them.
Emma was surprised to see her on the landing moments later. She was dressed in black leather pants. She could barely make out the black undershirt under the billowy, deep royal blue sword shirt. The black jerkin over it was a nice touch, and Emma had to admit that her daughter was a handsome knight.
She saw Regina's face when she "poofed" her sword in her hand and fastened it to her waist. The next thing was a bow and hip quiver. Coraline wasn't going to let her Ma go alone.
Emma stood there staring. She was in her jeans, signature tank top and red leather jacket. Sans armor, her daughter looked like a knight rearing for battle. All she had was her gun and cell phone.
"Ready?" Coraline asked her, walking out the door, not waiting for an answer.
"Coraline!" Regina called after her.
She stopped on the walk and turned around. Brown eyes met brown eyes. The worried look on Regina's face morphed when she saw the look in Coraline's eyes. Coraline walked back up to the door and stopped right in front of Regina. She watched as Emma came up behind Regina.
"Please, be careful."
"Trust me, Mom. Ogres are nothing. I've got this," she replied and then looked at Emma, again. "You coming, Ma?"
Coraline look two steps away from the stoop and turned around again. She slammed her right fist into her breast in salute. Regina nodded realizing what her daughter was telling her without words. She waited for a second as Emma joined her.
Regina watched them walking away, storming down the street into the fray. She waited a second before she pulled out her cell phone and called Charming. She knew that Snow and Charming would want to know what was going on. She waited and when they didn't immediately pick up the line, she called Henry down.
"Henry?!"
"Yeah, Mom?" he called back down from his room.
"Pack a bag and come here."
"Okay? Everything okay? What's going on?" he asked coming out of his doorway and looking down at her.
"Just do it," she told him plainly.
He ducked back into his room and was downstairs before she could think to call him again. He looked up into her eyes and saw they were turning violet. She hugged him and poofed them to outside Snow's door. She didn't want to take the chance the Snow and Charming were busy. She knocked on the door and Snow answered it with the toddling Prince Neal behind her.
"Regina?"
"Is Charming here? I have need of both of your assistance. Can we come in? I need to make this brief. There are things that need to happen quickly," Regina told her.
Once she knew that Henry was safe, she started calling in more help. Granny was staying at Snow's with the boys. Belle and Ruby still hadn't answered, but she wasn't worried. Snow had insisted that she go help Charming and the family defeat the ogre. Regina was worried about her family and the town. She needed to know who unleashed it unwittingly on the town, but she needed help. She needed Wilhelmina and she hoped that she got her in time.
Across town at the Major Oak, Will was getting ready for work. Dressed in her normal royal blue shirt and jeans, she grabbed a jacket and her bag before heading out the door. On her way to the car, her cell phone rang. It was Regina.
"Yes, Majesty?"
"There is an ogre," Regina said simply.
"Where?"
"Downtown."
"I'm on my way."
"Don't let it hurt Emma or Coralline," Regina begged her.
"I won't, Majesty. But, I have no weapons here. I will need help."
"I'll meet you there," Regina told her, waved her arms, flashing to the scene.
Will ran to her car. She threw her bag in the passenger seat and peeled out of the parking lot. She took no regard for her own safety as she flew across town at a breakneck speed to get to the ogre before Coraline or Emma could confront it.
She came barreling down the street. She whipped the car sideways, threw it into park and was out the door before it came to a complete stop. She stood behind the door and assessed the situation before her. She could see Emma and Coraline near Emma's squad car. David wasn't far behind them, stalking up the road from his truck. She looked around, because she knew that if David was there. Snow was, too. She found Snow perched atop a building, bow and arrow in hand. She was drawing and aiming at the ogre. That is when she saw the movement from Emma, David and Coraline. David has his sword drawn, Emma her gun, and Coraline was notching an arrow, drawing down on the ogre in front of them.
She felt her rage burning inside her. She looked down at the asphalt, trying to quiet the rage just enough to formulate a plan of attack. When she looked back up, she saw the shock of dark hair. She met Regina's eyes from across the expanse and knew she was worried. Will nodded at her.
Regina was the only one who knew the rage inside her. She was the only one that had ever seen her truly fight and be a Vulcannonian. Their eyes met in a silent agreement and she could see Regina start muttering something. Then, she felt the comforting feeling of a yew long bow in her hands. She squared her shoulders and came around the car.
Her body was bowed and taught. Her muscles started growing and her eyes were flashing yellow. She knew it. She could feel her skin starting to tear as her size grew. She let the rage and anger flow. She knew that it would be a sight to behold and a wonder for those who had never seen a Vulcannonian fight. The poor ogre wasn't going to know what to do with her.
"Hey!" she shouted her voice deep and raw with anger.
The ogre stopped his advance towards the Charmings and turned to face her. She waved her hands at it as she jumped up and down. Emma lowered her gun and watched the sight before her. Coraline held her bow at the ready, but she was just as surprised. Regina took this moment to come up behind them.
"Hey!" Will shouted again, bowing up further.
The ogre turned more fully. Regina watched as Snow and Coraline look aim, waiting to see what Will did. Emma stood there in disbelief. David was by her side, sword at the ready to charge if needed, but no less dumbfounded by Will's actions.
"HEY! YOU BIG UGLY PIECE OF SHIT! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE THAT CAN ACTUALLY TAKE YOU! COME ON, YOU FILTH! COME AND GET ME! THAT'S RIGHT! COME ON!"
"What is she doing?" Emma whispered in question towards Regina.
"Her job," Regina replied and flicked her hand at Will.
Will stood in an archer's stance, left foot forward, bow at the ready in her left hand. It was then that she realized she didn't have any arrows. She gracefully shot her right hand towards the ground and felt two arrows materialize in her hand. She gave Regina a quick smirk as she notched them and took aim.
The ogre was angry at the noise and took a step towards Will. Everything happened so fast from there that Emma couldn't exactly keep up with it all. Snow had a small smirk start to grace her face as she watched Will move, knowing that her grace belittled her true power and strength.
"HEY! THAT'S RIGHT YOU BIG PILE OF SHIT! I'M YOUR HUCKLEBERRY!"
The ogre growled at her. It swung its massive hand knocking cars out of the way as it lumbered towards her. She dug her left foot in and steadied herself as she raised the bow towards the ogre's face. She leveled out the bow with both arrows drawn and spread. She took a deep breath and held it. She closed her eyes, calming her body before the shot. She opened them as she blew out and took the shot. The arrows flew across the expanse and found their marks, both of the ogre's eyes. She lowered the bow and watched as the ogre started to fall forwards.
She pushed off with her back foot and started charging the monster. Mid-stride she shifted the bow from her left hand to her right. As she neared the ogre, it transformed in her hand into a sword. She smiled as she accepted the weight of the new weapon. Ten feet from the falling behemoth, she launched herself from the ground into the air. She swung the sword around in her hand so that it would pierce the beast's head as she came down on top of it with a mighty roar.
The blade sank into the ogre's head. Will still had a grip on the handle as she was knelt down on the beast's lifeless body. She looked up and into Regina's eyes, watching the purple dissipate.
She tilted her head, stretching it, and withdrew the sword from its head. She stood up and slowly and methodically walked around to the beast's side. She wiped the blade on the bit of fur and hide that it was wearing, cleaning its own blood off.
When the blade was clean to her satisfaction, she stepped over the body and stalked towards Regina. Coraline and Emma were just staring at her. Snow had made her way down from her perch and she was currently wrapped up in Charming's arms. Both of them were just smiling at Will as she knelt before Regina, offering her the sword.
"Your sword, Majesty," she stated, bowing her head and staring at the street.
Regina reached over and took it. She pulled it away. She took a step forward and touched Will's shoulder, bidding her to stand before her. Her deep chestnut eyes met the now calm azure.
"You've done well today, Wilhelmina."
"Thank you, Majesty."
"Is there something you need?" Regina asked her, knowing that this was merely a show.
"May I go to work, now, Majesty?"
"Not dressed like that," Regina told her.
Will looked down at her shirt and frowned. She had torn it in places while she was hulking out to fight the ogre. She looked up at Regina with pleading eyes. Regina smiled at her and waved her hands over the clothing, returning it to its former state.
"Thank you, Majesty," Will replied.
"Now, you may go," Regina stated.
She bowed low, saluting her. She stood quickly and turned before anyone else could address her. She started to walk away when Coraline called out to her. She stopped and turned.
"Wait," Coraline called out, running after her.
"Yes, Coraline?" she asked when Coraline caught up with her.
"I just wanted to give you this," she replied kissing her.
Will gave her a smile in return. Coraline took her hand and held her there for a moment longer. It was then that Will finally noticed her uniform.
"You should go change, Princess. It won't do for you to run around town like that. It might give people the wrong idea about you," Will told her matter-of-factly.
"I will."
"I need to go," Will told her trying to leave again.
"You'll come by for dinner, right?" Coraline asked her.
She looked up at Regina, who nodded. The relationships between them all had been strained since Will came to town and outed herself. She knew that Regina was just trying to protect them all, but it still put a strain on Coraline and Will.
"I wouldn't miss it, Princess. I'll see you later. I promise," Will told her, leaning over and kissing her, not caring if Regina approved or not.
Coraline and Emma watched Will walk away. They were staring at her as she crossed over the ogre's carcass and to her car. Regina just smiled at them as Will drove away leaving them to deal with the aftermath of the ogre.
"What are we supposed to do with that?" Emma asked her.
"I'll send it to the ocean. The fish can eat on it. Then we won't have to worry about the stink."
"You're just going to poof it out there?"
"You and Coraline are going to help. It is rather large, Darling. I don't think that I want to try that by myself," Regina replied with a hint of mirth in her voice.
Coraline laughed. She knew that her mother's sense of humor generally had a strange way of showing and usually at what would be considered inopportune times. Regina just smiled at Emma's gawking face. For once, she made Emma speechless.
"Come on, Mom. Ma will catch up when she realizes that you're kidding with her. So where are we really sending it?"
"To the wharf," Regina said a little more seriously. "I really don't want that stink in the town. At least in the water, it will be contained. And, the fish will actually eat it. We won't have to deal too much with the clean up after this."
"I'll organize the dwarves," Charming said joining them.
"To do what?" Emma asked him. "Drag that thing to the water? It's huge."
"No, Dear, they will clean up the town once we get it out of the way," Regina replied.
"Oh…well, I guess we should get to it then," Emma stated.
All three of them raised their hands and let the magic flow. The carcass started to glow. It lifted off the ground and then it was gone. It vanished. No sooner was it gone then Coraline's phone rang. She pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. It was Will.
"Umm…is there a reason there is a giant floating ogre in the water?" Will asked.
"We sent it there?"
"Fishy disposal?" Will questioned.
"Yeah," Coraline replied.
"Alright, I'll send some guys out to hack it up and try and sink it. The damn thing is floating and stinking up the wharf area. I'll call you later. Let me go deal with this. I'm probably going to be at it for a while," Will replied.
"I will, hun. Let me go check on Grams and the dwarves and see what they are up to. What do you want for dinner? I am going to cook whether Mom knows it or not," Coraline stated.
"Whatever, Love, I am not that picky. Oh, and tell your mother that I'm accepting my punishment for kissing you out in public. She'll get a full report of the disposal later."
"I will," Coraline said and hung up.
"Will?" Emma asked her.
"Yeah, she told me that she'd give Mom a full report on the disposal tonight before dinner."
"Ah, yes, reports. I guess I should write one up about this, too. We all know how your mother loves her paperwork. So, you planning on making dinner?"
"Yes, do you think Mom will mind?"
"Nope, not at all," Emma stated.
"Why you saying it like that?" Coraline asked her.
"Because you haven't tried to burn down an apartment or her house. You'll be fine. But, don't worry about getting some alone time with Will tonight. I'll make sure you get some. Now, go on and plan your menu. David and I will take care of this," Emma told her.
Regina watched her leave. She saw the smile on Emma's face and returned it. She wondered what made Emma smile like that. She walked across the street to where Emma was standing to find her with David. She had to admit that she was glad she resembled her father more than her mother, even if she was a Charming.
"Emma, a word," she stated as she joined them.
Emma turned to face her lover and smiled at her. The rest of them went to Granny's to celebrate another job well done. She watched them go, knowing that Snow had the clean-up covered.
"What is it, Regina?" Emma asked her.
"The call this morning," Regina started.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Who called you?"
"I don't know. It was a guy, older. I didn't even think about it. I was too busy trying to figure out how the hell an ogre ended up in town. I wasn't trying to recognize their voice."
"An older man called you personally? He didn't call the station. He didn't call 9-1-1. He called you, Emma. That doesn't tell you anything?" Regina asked her.
"It tells me that I know him," Emma replied.
"Exactly, you know him. He has your personal number. He might even have something to gain from this incident. Does that ring a bell?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake! You don't think that he is that desperate, do you? I mean: would he actually unleash an ogre on the town knowing all of your histories with them?"
"This is Rumple we are talking about. He would do anything that he can to get what he wants. He doesn't care how it will hurt others as long as he can get some sort of benefit from it."
"What should we do?" Emma questioned.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"If he thinks that we are on to him, he will keep throwing things at us. We need to find a way to make sure he doesn't know that we are aware of what he is trying to do. We should lower the shields at the Abbey and allow the fairies to go back."
"Are you sure?" Emma asked, not quite understand where Regina was going with her thoughts.
"Think about it. If we lower the barriers, he will go look for the ingredients he needs. When he still can't find them, he'll have to give up. We still don't what exactly he is still trying to do. This will give us both time. We can narrow down what he is trying to do and he will just waste his time trying to find something that we don't have," Regina explained.
"It sounds too easy," Emma replied.
"Sometimes, easy is the best thing magically. He won't realize what we are doing. He'll think we just gave up or we decided to move things because we know something. I'll talk to Blue. We'll make sure that he can't get whatever he needs. We'll protect the stash. You watch him or get him under surveillance. I'll work with Red and Belle. We'll figure this all out," Regina assured her. "We need to do this. You've done similar things running cons, right?"
"Yeah, I did. Alright, we'll give it a go. But, if things even remotely start to go hinky, I'll pulling the plug and just arresting the bastard," Emma told her.
"Yes, Dear, if you want, you can certainly try," Regina told her with a laugh as they walk away from downtown and towards the Sheriff's station.
Ruby rolled over and realized that she was next to something warm. It was soft and warm. She was in bed with someone. Her eyes flew open and she stared at the auburn headed woman lying next to her. She didn't remember getting in bed with Belle, but it was evident that it had happened. She tried not to move because she didn't want to wake her.
She sighed and stared at the ceiling. She couldn't believe that she had gotten herself into this mess. She loved Belle, but she'd never acted on it. Now, she was in bed with her and she couldn't remember how. She couldn't remember if she'd wolfed out or not. She'd been angry the night before. She was emotional. She wanted Rumple dead, but she knew that she couldn't fight him on her own. She promised Will that she wouldn't hurt him either. She was defaulting that privilege to her cousin and her Beta Wolf. She didn't like it, but as long as Rumple was punished for his deeds she'd learn to live with it.
"Ruby?" Belle asked her sleepily.
"Yes?"
"Why are you awake?"
"The sun is up."
"What's wrong?"
"What happened last night?"
"What do you mean, Ruby? Nothing happened last night. You were angry. Your wolf was begging to be released so you could go after Rumple, but somehow you managed to hold back. I don't know why or how, but you did. I am proud of you for that."
"I am still angry."
"I don't blame you for you that."
"Belle…"
"Shh, Ruby, you have right to be mad at him. I won't deny you that. He wasn't always like this. He was sweet and caring, but now…Regina is helping me get a divorce. I am sure that my father will be extremely happy, but…I still love him, but he isn't the same man anymore. His heart is dark and corrupted. I cannot help him. I cannot be what he needs," Belle told her.
"He will fight for you," Ruby said, resigning to the fact that she might never have Belle.
"He might, but I am not his anymore. I can't go back to him. There is too much pain. Even all the happiness and love between us, I cannot forgive or forget everything that he has done to us. I just can't," Belle explained.
"I understand."
"Do you know that he tried to file a police report with Emma about me?"
"He what?" Ruby asked, turning to face her.
"He tried to file a report stating that you, Snow and Regina had stolen me and he wanted his property returned. That was what finally did it for me. No matter how much I love him, I was never his property. I won't live like that. I sacrificed myself to him to save my family and our kingdom. I was a prisoner but over time, I became more, a slave, a servant, a friend and finally a lover. But, never once in the Enchanted Forest did he treat me as his property."
"Belle…"
"No, Ruby, I don't know when it happened, but that is not my Rumple."
Ruby sat up. She didn't want to talk about Rumple. She didn't want to think about him.
Belle turned in the bed to face her. She could see the questions in Ruby's hazel eyes. She wasn't sure what to do or what to say to the Wolf. She knew that Ruby was quiet and hid her feelings. She knew that it was part of her being a Wolf. She also knew Ruby's history. It was sorted and not something that Ruby liked to publicize if she didn't have to. Too many people would just try to kill her just because she was a Wolf. If they knew her complete history, they would demand her head. Belle was one of the few that new the stories and knew how much they affected Ruby. But, lying with her now, in her bed, Belle wasn't sure what was really bothering the Wolf. She wondered if it had something to do with Rumple or if was the fact that she was having to default her Alpha status to her cousin for the purposes of stopping Rumple's plans.
"Ruby?" Belle asked, realizing that they hadn't said anything to each other in a few moments.
"Hmm?" Ruby lazily answered back.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Ruby…" Belle stated more like a warning.
"It's nothing," Ruby replied and then sharply turned over when she heard her phone ring.
She grabbed her cell and looked at it. She amazed to see missed calls. She couldn't believe that she'd slept through her ringer. She scrolled through the list as the phone just continued to ring for a second. She saw some missed from Regina, Will, and Emma. It was the final calls from Snow and Granny that made her answer the ringing phone in her hand, fearing that something was majorly wrong and she'd slept through it.
"Hey, you finally awake?" Emma asked her.
"Yeah, sorry. Long night and all. What's up?"
"Ogre."
"Are you fucking shitting me?" Ruby asked.
"Nope."
"I'll be right there," Ruby stated, flying out the bed and towards her chest of drawers.
"No worries, Rubes. We've already dealt with it. Rather, Will did. It's dead and in the harbor being cut up and dragged out to sea."
"Then, why are you calling?" Ruby asked her flatly.
"I need you to track it."
"You don't know where it came from?"
"Not the foggiest idea. Regina and I both suspect Rumple, but we can't prove it. No one has seen him in days…well, since you did that night in the woods. He's stopped attacking the Abbey according to Coraline. She can't feel him trying to get the barrier anymore," Emma told her.
"Sure you don't want me to track him?" Ruby questioned.
"I am not worried about him at the moment. If has unleashed something, we want to get in front of it. If he did do something, we need to know. Can you track the damn ogre?"
"Yeah, I can. Give me a few minutes. I got to get dressed and I'll head down to Granny's. That sound good or do you want me meet you somewhere else?"
"Granny's is good. We're all heading there to talk strategy anyway. You haven't happened to have seen Belle have you. There is something that Regina found that she needs translated."
"She came home with me, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, well, bring her with you."
"Okay. See you soon. I need to wake her up."
"Rubes?"
"What, Emma?"
"You okay?" Emma asked her.
"I'm fine."
"If you say so."
"I do."
"Okay, just wondering. You sound off. Something happen?"
"No, I'll see you in few minutes," Ruby replied, ringing off before Emma could say anything else, causing Belle to sit up in bed and study her harder.
Ruby didn't say anything as she quickly striped her shirt off and pulled another one on. Her back had been to Belle. She didn't even think about her being there. She was more worried about how she didn't hear her phone while the town had been under attack, probably just outside her window, by an ogre while she slept.
"Ruby?"
She didn't reply. She just continued to change, silently berating herself for feeling like she did. She didn't know if she was angrier with herself for not remembering going to bed with Belle or the fact that she'd slept through the phone calls when they needed her to help them. She didn't know how she could possibly be an Alpha of any pack when she'd let her guard down.
"Ruby?" Belle tried again.
Still lost in thought, Ruby left the bedroom for the bathroom. She shut the door behind her. She was staring at herself in the mirror as she watched her eyes changing from hazel to yellow.
Belle pulled the door open and stared at her staring at herself. She couldn't understand the torment in her eyes. They hadn't done anything the night before. They hadn't talked. Red merely let her feelings be known about the situation. Belle thought it had been enough for Red to back down and let Ruby sleep, but seeing her now like this, she was wrong. Even she was surprised at the quickness that Red feel asleep next to her after she admitted that she was afraid of Belle. Belle had lain there for a few minutes wondering exactly what Red had meant by her statements. She eventually fell asleep, too. But, seeing her like this again after the phone call scared Belle. She needed to find a way to get through to her.
"Ruby?" she asked again, seeing her eye flick up in the mirror and meeting her blue.
"We need to go," Red answered.
"Where?"
"There was an ogre."
"An ogre?" Belle asked.
"Yes, we slept through it."
"Oh…Ruby, wait. We need to talk. Regina and Emma can wait. This is important."
"There was an ogre that attacked the town, Belle. Whatever else there is can wait. It is bad enough that I slept through the fight. Now you are asking me to do nothing?" Red accused.
"I am not saying that. I am saying that we need to talk. You need to tell me what has you so riled up? Why is it that Red is here and not Ruby?"
"We are the same."
"But, you are different. I am Lacey and I am Belle. Ruby, you've been fighting for so long that you haven't taken the time to sit back and relax. No one is going to fault you for needing some personal time. It is one of the reasons that the town survives. We all work together. If someone needs a day, they can take it. The town won't fall apart. There is always someone there who can feel the gap and step up. We fight based on both sets of memories. There is nothing that you can say that will make me think any different."
"Belle…"
"Don't, Ruby. Don't push me away. Besides, Regina, I don't have many close friends here. I can't lose you to whatever you think that you have to fight on your own. I won't let you do it. There is nothing wrong with asking for help," Belle told her, getting closer to her.
Ruby gripped the sink as hard as she could. Her eyes never left Belle's in the mirror. Her mind was stalking her, watching her, smelling her and trying ever so hard not to take her.
She up next to her. Ruby could feel her heat penetrating her shirt into her skin. She could smell the unique smell that was Belle. She could feel her body responding.
"Belle…" she warned again.
Belle saw the look her eyes. Suddenly things started to make sense. She watched the rapid fall of Ruby's chest. She could see her speeding pulse and watched as her pupils dilated again
"No, Ruby, I am not letting you go," Belle told her as she grabbed her waist and turned her around to face her.
"Belle…" Ruby said, barely holding the Wolf back.
"Ruby Elizabeth Lucas, you will tell me what is bothering you!" Belle demanded.
Her eyes flashed yellow completely. She didn't realize what she was doing until she was already moving. She'd picked Belle and was moving back towards her bed. She dropped Belle on the bed and stalked up on it. Eyes still yellow and intent, she never let her gaze drop from Belle's blue eyes as she silently moved across the bed on her hands and knees. It was very much like a predator stalking the prey as she came up from the foot of the bed.
Belle's heart was skipping beats as she watched Ruby's face. There was no thought behind her movements. It was pure instinct and emotion. She tried not to let Ruby see that she was slightly frightened by her strength, her intensity and her animalistic nature. She just kept her piercing blue eyes on Ruby's fully blown yellow eyes.
When Ruby was over her, one leg between hers, hands on either side of her shoulders, and effectively pinning Belle to the bed, she stopped. She held herself over Belle and just stared into her face. She cocked her head and just watched Belle's eyes as they danced with emotion. Suddenly, Ruby turned her head and sniffed the air.
"Belle…" she whispered in a growl, still trying to hold herself back and realizing how far she had actually come with Belle in that moment.
Belle looked at her eyes. She saw the yellow starting to fade. She saw the raw emotion that Ruby had been trying to hide start to surface and things began to make sense for her. Ruby was a beautiful woman. She always had been, but she hadn't been with anyone in years. Instead, Ruby was loyal to a fault to Granny. She gave into to Wolf on the weeks of the Moon. Belle knew that sometimes Emma, for some uncanny reason, was the only one who could reason with her when Red started to appear. But, it was only since Coraline's revelation and Will's sudden reappearance that Ruby's Alpha state had come to the forefront. Belle began to wonder what that was doing to her libido. She knew that Wolves mated for life and being the Alpha Ruby would be expected to find a mate to help continue the line and the pack.
"Ruby?"
"Belle…" she whispered, fighting back the Wolf and trying to will herself to not Wolf-out.
Belle then realized why Ruby has insisted on being so close to her. She understood why Will had insisted that she walk them home and she always kept Ruby aware of where Belle was. It should have been more obvious to the librarian but she had been dealing with her own issues with Rumple. Regina and Emma even seemed to support the match without even thinking about it. It would be no different than her match with Rumple. There was still darkness in Ruby, but Belle could see how much she fought it in order to maintain some semblance of a human identity. It was the one thing that Rumple couldn't do. He refused to give into his humanness, while Ruby tried to embrace it whole-heartedly.
She tried to soften her features. She reached out and touched Ruby's cheek. She felt her melt into the touch. It was enough to break her heart. She could see the look of desperation that Ruby was giving her and she didn't know how to ease Ruby's mind or her heart. So, she did the only thing that she could think of doing at that moment. She leaned up slightly off the bed and kissed her.