Chapter 5

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Sleep, sleep, beauty bright

Dreaming in the joy of night;

Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep

Little sorrows sit and weep.

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Sweet babe, in thy face,

Soft desires I can trace,

Secret joys and secret smiles

Little pretty infant wiles.

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As thy soft limbs I feel

Smiles as of the morning steal

O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast

Where thy little heart doth rest.

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O the cunning wiles that creep

In thy little heart asleep!

When thy little heart doth wake,

Then the dreadful night shall break.

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Belle was standing in front of a heavy, oaken door, her heart beating feverishly like a caged hummingbird inside her chest, and her small hands trembling on either side of her body.

Jefferson led them through numerous broad and narrow corridors that were only illuminated by flickering torches and flames, causing moving shadows to appear on the cold, stony walls. Unlike his normal, rather chatty behavior, the young servant wouldn't say much – was downright ignoring Gaston's constant demands where he was leading them. Jefferson just looked back at the young noble man with a strange glimmer in his dark eyes, and brought his finger to his mouth, motioning for Gaston to stay quiet as a silent response.

Belle watched the moving shadows on the wall, and not only once did she anxiously turn around as the oppressive feeling of being watched had suddenly shot through her veins. But whenever she whirled around, nothing but darkness would greet her wary eyes. Belle shook her head repeatedly, trying to gather all of her remaining strength.

She was obviously just getting paranoid. She therefore kept her eyes glued on Jefferson's back as he moved gracefully through the darkness, and ignored the gnawing feeling that made her hackles raise.

Belle didn't know how long they had followed Jefferson until the young servant had suddenly stopped in front of a heavy, oaken door. His eyes flickered to the golden doorknob and then to Belle, and when the young woman met his sparkling gaze, Jefferson's lips curved into a smirk.

Belle stood there for some moments of awkward silence between the three of them, her heart beating feverishly like a caged hummingbird inside her chest, and her small hands trembling on either side of her body.

"Why so hesitant, Miss Belle?" she heard Jefferson's voice ask innocently. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

Belle's eyes flickered from the golden doorknob back to Jefferson. The young servant was staring at her with raised brows and a questioning expression on his pale face, and for the slightest of moments, Belle had thought to have detected a hint of challenge in both his voice and eyes.

The young beauty swallowed hard, but eventually nodded her head yes.

"Of course." she agreed hoarsely, her small voice seemingly barely able to make it through the swallowing darkness that was surrounding them.

She briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath, mustering all of her strength and trying to dispel the overwhelming fear that was starting to cloud her mind.

A fear of what to find behind this oaken door.

She reached out one trembling hand and closed it around the doorknob, a wave of surprise jolting through her body as her warm fingers made contact with the unexpectedly cold material.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she pushed the heavy door open.

Belle narrowed her eyes as she looked into the dark room. Some candles were lit besides a broad bed and next to the entrance door, filling the chamber with gloomy wave of lightness that was barely able to defeat the heavy darkness within. There was a small window on the right, but heavy, red curtains were drawn so that the softer darkness from outside was not able to reach through.

Belle let out a small gasp, however, when her eyes fell onto the motionless body that was lying on the bed.

"Papa!" she exclaimed heatedly and immediately rushed forward to where her father was lying.

Maurice was tucked under a thick, red blanket, with his eyes closed and his mouth slightly ajar.

"Papa! Papa, I'm here!" Belle whispered softly, but couldn't quite hide the tremor in her voice, and reached out one hand to grasp his hand.

Her eyes widened in shock as her skin touched his hand, and she noticed how cold it felt. She grabbed it with both hands and rubbed it within them, trying to offer her father at least some warmth. Her heart nearly stopped beating when she allowed herself to have a closer look on her father. Sweat was covering his entre face, and his closed eyes were framed with dark, bloodshot circles that stood out to his deathly pale skin. Her breathing increased when she noticed the fine, dark lines that were running down his neck, as if his blood has turned black, and Belle nearly dropped his hand when she noticed that these dark lines had even reached his limbs. She took another deep breath and reached into her dress's pocket, pulling out one of her soft handkerchiefs. The young woman slowly began to pat her father's forehead, removing the thick pearls of cold sweat that were lingering there.

"He's completely wet." she murmured as she continued to pat his face dry, her other hand moving cautiously towards his neck to feel his pulse.

She let out a noisy gasp as she felt that his pulse was hammering vividly against her fingers, but noticed that his chest was barely moving.

Belle finally forced herself to tear her gaze away from her father's death-like mask, and turned her head to look at Jefferson with desperate eyes.

"What is wrong with him?" Belle asked in a strained voice, desperately trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. "I thought he'd be conscious!"

The young servant was leaning heavily against the doorframe, his arms crossed before his chest, and watching the scene with a strange shimmer of wariness in his eyes.

After some more moments of awkward silence, Jefferson finally led out a long sigh and nodded.

"I'm afraid he's fallen back to sleep, Miss Belle." he explained with cocked head. "He has quite an exhausting disease, dear. The sickness is nourishing from Monsieur Maurice's life-essence – and being constantly conscious his almost impossible for him at the moment."

Belle nodded stiffly, and silent tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Why are the curtains drawn?" Gaston asked, eying Jefferson warily. "A little bit of sunshine always helps."

Jefferson narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head determinedly.

"Not in this case, Monsieur." was the servant's short answer.

Gaston cocked his head in response and narrowed his eyes.

"I beg to differ." he argued sternly and raised his chin high. "I've made some inquiries on this Highland Fever."

A frown appeared on Jefferson's forehead as he stared back at the noble man with dark eyes.

"Oh, is that so?" he replied calmly, but the coldness in his voice cut the air between them like a sharp knife.

Gaston nodded in response before he continued.

"Yeah. And I read that patients should be should be kept in a room full of light and warmth. It would slow down the disease's process."

There was a long moment of silence between them and Belle's eyes were quickly moving between the two men.

After moments that felt like hours, Jefferson finally let out a cheerful laugh and shook his head.

"Then pray tell, Monsieur Chevallier." he addressed the tall man with raises brows. "Exactly how many people have survived this disease with the aid of such a therapy?"

Gaston's eyes widened as he gaped at the other man.

"Thought so." Jefferson replied with a sigh, a mischievous smirk flirting over his lips.

"Please believe me, Miss Belle." he continued, turning his attention back to Belle. "The master knows exactly what he's doing here. Your father is well cared for."

Belle stared at him for some more moments, but eventually nodded.

"I know." she replied weakly. "Please forgive my fiancé's qualms. He is just as concerned as I am."

She moved her eyes away from Jefferson and settled her gaze back on her father's pale face.

"If I hadn't felt his pulse, I would think him dead." she added quietly.

"Maybe we should grant your father some rest, Miss Belle." she heard Jefferson suggest softly.

Belle managed to force herself to nod and slowly stood up.

She placed a soft kiss on her father's cold forehead and whispering a tender "I love you." against his skin. Belle had already turned around, ready to leave her father, when her wrist suddenly got caught by a cold, harsh grasp.

Letting out a sharp, surprised gasp, the beauty whirled around, staring at the cold hand that encircled her wrist with wide open eyes. Her heart missed a beat, however, when she realized that the cold hand with dark lines on it belonged to her father.

Her breath hitched as her wide blue eyes met her father's gaze.

The white of his eyes was completely red, and his normally blue pupils dilated and replaced by black, round pools.

"Belle" he breathed with a clattering timbre in his voice, his long nails digging painfully into her skin. "Go!"

Belle was frozen in motion, her tongue unable to form a single word when she stared down at her father with frightening eyes.

"Papa" she finally croaked out, and the grip around her wrist tightened mercilessly.

"GO!" Maurice then screamed, letting go of Belle's wrist and suddenly tossed and turned in his bed as if in pain.

"Papa!" Belle screamed and was just about to rush closer yet again, when strong arms closed around her small form, preventing her from making a single move.

"Don't!" she heard Jefferson whisper sharply into her ear, his cold breath causing goosebumps to appear down her neck. "You can't help him! Not now."

Belle cried and screamed, and tried to hurry back to her father, but Jefferson effortlessly pulled her out of the room, closing the door forcefully behind them.

Belle collapsed right then and there, and if Gaston hadn't caught her just in time, she would have crashed onto the hard floor.

"What was that?!" he demanded harshly, his eyes glistering darkly at Jefferson.

Jefferson turned around, looking at the couple with a grave expression on his face.

"Complications." was all he offered as a response.

"You should bring Miss Belle back to her room." Jefferson ordered monotonously. "I think she is in desperate need of some rest. Meet me in the Great Hall afterwards, I need to discuss something with you."

Gaston gave him a short nod and tightened his grasp around Belle's small form.

"Finally something we can agree on."

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Belle didn't know how long she had slept until she finally recovered consciousness. It was dark outside, and she was lying in the soft bed in her chambers, wearing one of her white silken nightgowns. A deep blush occurred on her cheeks as she thought of the fact that Gaston had changed her clothes. Fiancé or not – it was still quite an inappropriate thing to do. Belle let out a long sigh and moved her head to look at the half-burned candle on her nightstand. The images of earlier were suddenly knocking mercilessly in her mind, and out of instinct, she immediately wrapped her arms around her form as images of red eyes and dark pools appeared before her mind's eye.

Tears were clouding her sight as her mind wandered back to what had happened only hours ago. When she had decided to check on her father, she certainly had expected the worst. But never had she thought that reality would exceed even her darkest of expectations.

The cold- and paleness of his skin, his stertorous voice, those huge, inhuman and burning eyes… Belle buried her face into both hands and started to cry bitterly. She always believed in happy-endings, she had always believed that her father would survive this illness.

But having seen him like that, having heard his screams and having felt his sharp grasp… she suddenly wasn't so sure about it anymore.

Belle stayed like this for a while, curled up in her soft bed and completely lost in tears and sorrow, when the door suddenly creaked open and a breath of cold wind blew out the candle on her night stand. Belle sat motionless on her bed and stared at the open door through the darkness for some moments with bated breath, expecting someone to enter.

But nothing happened.

She slowly stood up, telling herself that Gaston apparently hadn't closed the door properly, when a strange shimmer of green light appeared through the crack of the door and caught her attention.

Her head screamed to close the door again, to huddle back into the safety of her bed, but an invisible force practically dragged her towards the strange light. Ignoring the protesting voices in her head, her body started to move towards the door and opened it carefully. Her eyes widened when she saw something like a green fireball hovering before her chamber, waiting for her.

Without thinking another thought, Belle reached out one hand to touch it, but only seconds before her finger was able to make contact with the strange, glowing object, it slowly moved away from her, swaying gracefully through the air and along the broad corridor, dipping its surrounding in a strange mixture of green and darkness. Belle's mind was completely blank by now. The only thought that was filling her mind and heart was to follow this strange object – wherever it might lead her.

The softly glowing ball led her through dark broad corridors, the beauty unaware of where she was, why she followed or where it would lead her. A slight shiver, the only weak sign of resistance that her body was apparently able to arise, ran through Belle's spine as the strange something led her up a narrow and stony circular stair, alluring her into an ocean of more darkness. But strangely enough, the more Belle focused on the green object before her, the more the light practically flooded all of her senses, the less did she bring herself to care. Nothing mattered in this very moment. Not Gaston, not her father, not the darkness – only this magical object in front of her – and like a moth to the flame, the young beauty was totally submissive to it.

As if by magic's force, the double-door before her flew open, and Belle entered a spacious, dark room. The green fire-ball floated to the center of the room and suddenly stilled there, hovering about six feet above the ground. Belle heard the doors behind her softly close, and she, too, moved further into the room, stilling right before her magical leader.

She didn't know how long she was staying like that – motionless, simply staring. Time didn't matter. Belle watched in awe as the green fire-ball suddenly started to pulse, and how it began to swirl around its own axis, growing first bigger and then smaller with every turn it took.

And suddenly, it was completely gone – leaving Belle alone in the dark room.

Except that she wasn't alone.

"Close thy eyes my tender flower" a dark, smooth voice announced from behind her, and she felt as slender, cold fingers traced down both of her upper arms.

"Darken thy world to my words." The voice breathed into her ear, and without knowing why, Belle complied.

Her eyes closed, and all of her remaining senses focused on the voice's touch and feel on her own skin.

A small voice in her head screamed at her, ordered her to run, to break through this overwhelming darkness, through this mind-clouding spell – but Belle couldn't find the strength in her to submit. She just stood there, completely frozen, and each and every muscle apparently no longer following her mind's orders but the stranger's instead.

"Do breath my gentle thoughts" she heard the voice whisper, and felt how one hand stroked towards the side of her neck, sharp nails gently scratching the skin there.

"Of mingled breath and sensual words" the voice continued softly, the cold presence behind her moving closer towards her small form. "Of lips to mouth that shall crush your passionate pleas."

Belle's heart was beating vehemently against her chest as the words reached her ears, and caressed and burned her at the same time.

"Who are you" she heard her weak voice ask into the darkness.

There was a long beat of silence stretching out between them, the stranger's lingering fingertips on her throat the only sign that he was still there.

"A friend, my sweet" the dark voice finally purred against her skin, and Belle let out a shuttering breath as she felt how one hand started to roam down her body, starting at her neck, to her breast, her hip and finally rested at the side of her thigh. "One who can dispel the darkness in your heart."

Belle's eyes fluttered shut, the sensation of this stranger's touch a strange mixture of electricity and softness that she had never felt before.

She swallowed hard, shaking her head slightly.

"There is no darkness in my heart." she sighed weakly, that earned a low chuckle from the stranger behind her.

"No?" The young woman felt how a nose gently brushed against the side of her neck. "But I can smell it, sweetness, I can sense it. The aura of sadness, the heavy cloud of despair that surrounds you."

One long finger traced her jaw, titling her head to the left side.

"I can make it better, my sweet girl. Let me make it better." he purred and cold breath tickled her skin, making her shudder. And it was exactly that shudder that finally forced her to bring her mind back to work again. This was not good, she could feel it. This feeling of safety that surrounded her only an illusion, a deception vailing the real danger she was in.

"No" she gasped, still unable to move a single muscle. "Leave me alone."

A low chuckle escaped the stranger, sending waves of shivers down Belle's spine. The cold entity behind her suddenly vanished, the feather-light touch on her skin disappeared.

"But you are alone." she heard the voice whisper from somewhere to her left.

Belle forced herself to open her eyes again and turned left, trying to make out the stranger in the darkness.

"I know what you have spoken to the darkness when you thought to be alone, my Belle." the stranger whispered, the voice suddenly sounding from somewhere behind her, and making Belle whirl around.

Her eyes went wide, her heart fluttering nervously in her chest.

"I know what you feel in the bitter watches of the night… when all your life seems to shrink, and the walls of your chambers closing in about you, trapping you inside like a wild animal in a cage."

Belle closed her eyes again, the truth behind his words fisting tightly around her heart. A chilly gust of wind made her long hair float through the air, and she immediately sensed the stranger's presence before her.

"So fair…" he sighed, stroking some dark curls out of her face and behind her ear. "Always so duteous."

Belle felt how the creature circled her, stopping again right behind her.

He gently pulled her hair to one side, leaving the left side of her neck bare.

"Why are you always trying so hard to fit in when you are obviously born to stand out?" he asked lowly, his right hand pulling her gently against his body. "Light to my darkness."

Belle let out a weak sigh when her head fell back against his shoulder, no longer ruler over her own body. She felt how one of his hands traced the rim of her nightgown, following the swell of her breasts. Her breath hitched as she became aware of the heat that he called to her skin. His hand moved slowly, making its way down her length. He stroked down her flat stomach, and the young beauty began so tremble as she realized through a cloud of dizziness that his hand travelled even further.

Without noticing, Belle let out a soft moan when he reached between her legs, cupping gently her most sacred place. The beauty's head was completely filled with this new sensation and a heat started slowly to burn inside her body, bringing a furious flush to her cheeks and cleavage. She felt him smile against her skin as cold lips started to suck softly on the conjunction where her neck and shoulders met, and before she could stop herself, a sigh of pleasure escaped her plump lips

Belle gasped as sharp teeth grazed her skin, and a strange mixture of pain and pleasure ran through her entire body.

"My sweet, innocent Belle." The voice purred lowly against her neck. "How your sweet blood is running vividly beneath my lips."

His nails scraped the skin of her neck, stroking it gently.

"How you have filled my dreams in my restless nights."

His grasp tightened around her, her small form like a submissive doll against his lean but firm form.

"How I desire you."

Belle let out another pleasure-filled moan when he increased the pressure between her legs.

"What do you want from me?" she managed to sigh, fighting for breath – his overwhelming presence almost too much for her to bear.

The cold presence behind her froze for a moment, and through the heavy dizziness in her mind, Belle wondered if she had felt a wave of irritation run through his body.

She felt how his lips moved to the side of her neck, pointed teeth scratching her soft skin lightly.

"Everything."

Belle gasped and sighed loudly as she felt how sharp teeth broke the skin of her neck.

Pain mingled with a strange feeling of ultimate pleasure.

And then her world went dark.

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NOTES

My lovely readers,

I'm really sorry for the long wait! I hope my little story still has your attention and you are not mad at me.

Please forgive me the long wait for chapter 5, and I hope you liked it. And I know ... cliffhanger ... I'm such mean person... but I promise I will update chapter 6 as soon as possible ;)

Please enjoy reading, and enjoy tonight's (!)Belle-centric OUAT episode (!)

I'm so looking forward to this - I have to admit I was a little bit upset as we haven't seen much Rumbelle so far! Hopefully things will change .. :)

Anyways, thank you so much for your support!

J