A/N: Thanks for the support with the following and the favoring and the comments! You guys might have to deal with moody Ruby for a little while, there was no other way. We all know that Belle is a stubborn girl. I hope you're enjoying it anyway!

Chapter 12: Hats And Portals

The people of Storybrooke are starting to act like caged animals. I know that feeling, so I recognize it pretty quickly. One of the dwarfs has lost all memories once again. Apparently none of us are able to leave town without losing memory of who we are all over again. The dwarf – I can't remember which one, apart from Grumpy and Doc the rest sort of blend together – has gone back to who he was before the curse was lifted. Once you cross the town line it's like you're back in cursed Storybrooke, only the people surrounding you are now freaking you out, because they know you are and you yourself don't recognize this person. That's what the dwarf acts like.

To be honest I thought about pushing Lacey, no Belle – I keep having to remind myself to call her Belle – past the town line. I'm not sure what would happen. Would she go back to being Lacey? Would she start out from another blank page? Did Regina create another identity for her, just in case, which she would then take? I have no idea. All I know is that it's tempting.

Snow disagrees though.

"You can't Red. You just can't."

"Why?"

"Because you said it yourself, you don't know what's gonna happen. It could hurt her."

"The dwarf-"

"Sneezy."

"Right him, he seems fine."

"Look, don't okay? It doesn't solve your problem; it might just create a whole new one."

"Such as Rumpelstiltskin turning me into a cockroach and stepping on me."

"For one thing. But what I meant was that it doesn't help Lacey realize her feelings."

I sigh. "Fine, I won't do it."

"Good. Now let's go back to town, I have to talk to Charming about all this."

We walk back through the forest. We were out setting up a safety perimeter so the townsfolk won't accidently walk too far out and get themselves lost. Literally speaking.

I like being out here. It speaks to the wild creature inside me. The sound of the wind through the trees sings to it, lulls it into a more sedated state. It's always awake, but out here, it feels like it just might be slumbering lightly. It calms me down a bit, something I desperately long for at the moment.

As we cross into the town again we pass through the part of town where Gold's shop is. My supernatural hearing picks up on Belle's voice instantly and I run towards it, before Snow can say a word.

"She has to be punished for what she's don'!" It sounds like Mr. Gold – or Rumpelstiltskin's – voice. I peek around the corner to see Gold and Belle are standing in the doorway of his shop, having some sort of argument. Belle is saying something to him. At that moment Snow catches up with me and tries to pull me away, but I don't let her.

"Wait a second Snow", I say in a low voice and focus on Belle's again.

"... I mean it, Rumple. Don't go after her."

"She locked you up Belle! She took you away from me!"

I step a little closer. In the pit of my stomach where the rage and the wolf lies I wish for him to say something cruel to her to make her see what a monster he is. If he hurts her just a bit, maybe she would finally open her eyes.

"What's happening?" Snow whispers to me.

"I'm not sure."

"You have to promise me, Rumple. The whole town's torn up already, don't make it worse."

"I'm not sure I can do that Belle."

She touches his arm. "Promise me. Promise me and we can be together." It physically hurts to hear her say this. I miss her so much, I miss her voice and the way she pronounces together as' togetha'. I want to rip that arm off that she's touching, but I'm frozen to the spot. Snow has tightened her grip on my shoulder, perhaps feeling the battle inside me.

The Dark One sighs and nods slightly. "I promise."

From here I can see the smile on Belle's face, that little smile she used to give me. She's short so with him she also has to stand on her toes. She does that now, reaching up and kissing him as they embrace each other. All of my insides turn to a cube of ice with razor sharp edges. My insides are a bloody massacre of so many horrible feelings that I can't even begin to name them. I'm still frozen as I watch the girl, who used to be Lacey and used to call me her girl, kisses the monster who brought the curse and all of these feelings in the first place.

"Red, let's go", Snow whispers softly. "Don't do this to yourself." She pulls at me and I follow, without being able to take my eyes off the newly reunited couple down the street. Snow manages to drag me a few blocks before I break down. The tears spill over and my body trembles with rage and anguish. Snow throws her arms around me and holds me tight.

"I want to kill him! I want to rip his head off Snow. I can't take it anymore!" I cry into her shoulder.

"No you don't Red, you just want her. There's gotta be another way."

I cry wordlessly and hug her so tight I hear her groan from the pain of my strong embrace. At that I loosen my grip and she catches my eye.

"Look at me, Red. We're gonna find a way."

Next thing I know there's a wraith loose in town. The magic has not been wasting any time, since it got here. No one knows who summoned the wraith, but it seems to be after Regina and I have a pretty good guess. Snow and Emma are working to free the town of it. Emma doesn't seem to think we should just let it take her. It must be weird, being to only one here to not having grown up the world of the Enchanted Forest. Of course Henry didn't either, but he grew up here. Emma keeps seeing something different in Regina, something none of us see. Personally I catch myself thinking it would serve Regina right to get sucked dry by that thing after all the pain she has caused. I know that's the rage talking and I'm supposed to be one of the good guys who wishes everyone well, like Snow does, but I can't bring myself to do it right now.

Instead I'm sitting on a bench across from the library thinking that if I stay here I won't be making any difference to the events. I can't bring myself to help Regina, but at least I'm not in the way.

As I sit there Belle comes out to open up the library as she always does. From the other side of the road a man is walking towards her. I expect him to just politely wish her a good morning, like by passers often do, but he stops at the sight of her.

"What the hell?" He says. My wolf-hearing catches everything even the surprised and angry sound of his voice. His body language is hostile.

"I'm sorry?" Belle says, looking confused.

"Don't tell me you don't remember me." Belle looks at him for a second.

"Now that you mention it, you do look familiar."

The man scoffs. "Familiar. I'm Jefferson! The guy who got you out of the asylum! You were supposed to go directly to the Dark One and he was supposed to throw a fit over you being alive and go kill the queen. I thought you had gotten yourself killed on the way, since the curse took so long to be broken. You ruined everything!" The last sentence he shouts into her face and grips her arm roughly.

It takes me exactly two seconds to shoot up from my seat, get over there and push him away from her.

"Ruby!" Belle gasps.

"Is there a problem here?" I ask the man, Jefferson, in an icy voice. He sends me a mean look. There's a touch of madness to his gaze. I take a good look at the man who freed Lacey from the asylum five months back and told her to go find Mr. Gold. He looks haunted.

"Who the hell are you?" He spits.

"Doesn't matter. You should behave yourself."

"I should behave? You tell your little friend here that if she'd done what I told her to I would leave her the hell alone."

"I don't understand what I did to you, sir? The curse is broken now." Belle's voice is shaken from the shock, but has regained its normal volume. Jefferson sneers at her and I stand between them. It takes most of my self-control to not push him further away.

"Why don't you just tell us what your problem is?"

"My problem is that she", he gestures violently towards Belle, "didn't get the Dark One to undo the curse sooner. Now my dear Grace is torn, she doesn't want to leave the family that bastard created."

"Regina created the identities", I say, not really caring about who Grace is.

"Well, the curse was supposed to break, when he went to kill her out of fury. He's quite fond of this one."

"So I have noticed." Even I can hear how dead my voice sounds right now. I feel Belle shift uncomfortably behind me. I add: "What's done is done. The curse is broken anyway. Leave her alone."

"You people are unbelievable. First the queen takes my hat, my very own portal, to save her own sorry soul and now I'm being the rude one for acting out over the fact that everyone got their happy ending back except for me."

"You know nothing", I spit at him. "Now go." I almost growl the last word. He takes a quick look at Belle, then one at me and starts turning around.

"Beast. Stupid girls protecting him. And they call me mad", he mumbles as he walks away.

I want to shout at him that I am certainly not protecting anyone but Belle at the moment, but I don't. Instead I watch him go, standing with my back still turned to Belle, unsure of what to say to her. She's the one who steps into my view.

"Thank you", is all she says.

"No problem", I say.

"I feel bad for him. Grace, that must be his daughter. Rumple told me." I turn to her, disbelieving of her reaction.

"He assaults you and you feel bad for him? God, you're unbelievable." I'm not sure if I meant it to be an insult or a simple comment, but it comes out a lot softer than I wanted it too. It's one of her great qualities, seeing good in everyone. Finding the good in every monster she encounters.

She means to say something, but is stopped as the sky suddenly turns dark and the wind starts picking up speed. I recognize it from yesterday.

"The wraith is coming back, get inside!" I say and push her through the doorway with a gentle touch to the back. As soon as she's inside she steps away like I've burnt her. The movement makes my chest ache. I snort at her and turn to the windows to look out. From here I see Emma, Snow and David running towards the town hall. They're quickly out of sight.

"What's goin' on?"

"You don't know?" She shakes her head. So her boyfriend didn't tell her that an unearthly creature is out for Regina's soul? If I didn't know better I would say he summoned it. He sounded like he meant it when he promised Belle not to take revenge, but then again I wouldn't trust a word he says.

"It's a wraith. Someone put a mark on Regina that summoned it. From here it looks like it's gonna take the entire town with it. We better stay here until it's over."

"Can we defeat it?"

"Snow said they were thinking about sending it through a portal." I look out the window while talking to her, even though there's nothing but dark skies and bending trees to watch. I feel that if I look at her now I'll break down. And I can't break down, because for now I'm trapped in here with her.

"So that's what Jefferson's talkin' about."

"Guess so."

There's silence for a while, apart from the wooshing of the wind outside. Everything loose out there is blowing around. Papers, leaves and the bench I was sitting on just before is moving up the street like it's being pulled towards something.

"Ruby…" Her voice is different now. "I'm sorry for the way things are. I don't know what to do."

I snort again. "You made it pretty clear that whatever you'll do it has nothing to do with me." I can't help the hostility in my voice. I can see her flinch in the reflection from the window.

"Ruby-"

"Let's not talk about it right now, okay? There's nothing to say anyway."

"Fine… Who do you think summoned the wraith? I've read that it takes powerful magic to summon creatures, which themselves are so powerful." I roll my eyes. She seems determined to talk about something.

"Well it would take a powerful wizard, yes. And I doubt Regina would do this to herself."

"You don't think… Rumple?" Her voice has grown insecure. There's a hint of realization in it. I almost laugh in bitter amusement.

"Well, he made a promise to you not to, right?"

"Do you know somethin'?"

"I don't know anything."

She finally stops talking. Silence comes over the dark room of the library. The sounds of the outside don't drown out the sound of Belle's breathing; agitated, nervous. The sound becomes all I hear. It reminds me of the nights where I used to sleep in her room to make sure she was okay, after having fetched her from the Rabbit Hole. I put my head against the window, wishing that I didn't have to be in here with her. It hurts to be around her, it hurts to stand here listening to her breathing. It hurts that she denies our memories their meaning, when all I want to do is turn around, push her against one of those stupid bookcases and kiss her senseless. I miss the sound of her soft moans and the feel of her skin.

Suddenly I see something impossibly dark float by in the sky, that rips me back into reality. It must be the wraith.

"Do you see somethin'?"

"Think it was the wraith."

"Where's it goin'?" She sounds nervous again.

"Towards the town hall I think. That's where the others are."

She gets up and comes over to stand beside me. I move a little to give her enough space to look out the window with me, even though there's nothing to see now. Her body doesn't touch mine as we stand there, but I feel something touching me, electricity maybe.

"Hope they make it."

"So do I." I suddenly realize the danger that my best friend and Emma are putting themselves in. Like it didn't occur to me until now that the plan might not work. Snow's plans don't always work at first shot. "I have to go help", I say and reach for the door, when Belle puts her hand on mine. I freeze to the spot and try not to stare at her hand over mine too longingly. I feel like I have just about no dignity left, but I'm fighting to save some anyway.

"Don't. It's dangerous out there. You could get hurt."

"Like you care." I know that's a mean comment, but I just can't help it. Half the words I say these days don't seem to check in with my brain before leaving my mouth.

"Of course I care, Ruby." The softness of her voice makes me meet her gaze. She's standing so close. She hasn't moved her hand from mine yet. It's so soft and warm. My mind immediately starts fantasizing about pushing her up against the door right here and…

No. I can't do that. I think she notices though, because there's something in her eyes now. It's a familiar look, a look she used to give me when she was drunk and flirting with me at the bar before finally letting me take her home to sober up. Back when we had that tension loaded with all the unspoken feelings.

She breaks the gaze. Her hand lingers for a moment then drops.

"Just wait a minute please", she says.

At that the dark sky starts to brighten outside and returns to normal. The wraith must be gone. I fly out of the door and run towards the town hall, before Belle can stop me again.

The first thing I lay eyes on is Regina. So she's apparently okay.

Then I see Henry. And David crouching in front of him. Telling him that he'll get them back. He promises.

"What happened?" I say. All three look up. I watch their faces. Henry and David have a similar expression of despair. Regina's is far more composed. She is the one who speaks first.

"Emma was caught by the wraith and fell through the portal with it. Snow White jumped in after her."

"What?" I refuse to believe her, but as I look around from the standing hat in the middle of the otherwise empty room to David's expression of shock I know she's telling the truth.

Regina is standing there looking somewhat displeased.

I attack her.