Note: Gah! I am a horrible horrible person for making you wait! I have been toying with this chapter for far too long, the ideas in my mind refusing to spill into words! but alas I have it completed and here it is! p.s. this story is getting pretty dark, pretty fast and it will only get darker dearies, much darker.
"Where do you go?"
Belle watched as the Dark One pinched and pulled the straw as it fed through the spinning wheel, the movements of his hands fluid and elegant, a stark contrast with the mottled graying skin on the backs of his hands. Belle imagined that if the windows weren't blocked by heavy drapes, then the afternoon sun would probably make the golden thread sparkle. Rumpelstiltskin paused his spinning and blinked absently at Belle who had been sitting casually on top of the long dining table, with both legs tucked under her blue skirts.
"When you spin, where do you go?" Belle asked again.
Rumpelstiltskin frowned and turned back to his wheel, once again holding the golden threat between two long fingers and pushing the wheel with his free hand.
"I thought I told you not to sit on my table." Was his only reply as he continued to pinch, pull and spin, pinch, pull and spin. Belle ignored the curtness in his voice and jumped off the table, her forgotten book sliding from her lap and hitting the floor with a loud smack. Rumpelstiltskin glared sharply at Belle and Belle glared back, though she could not help the tiny smile that twitched at her lips. For a moment she thought she saw a slight quirk of her employer's mouth as well, but whatever it was quickly covered by another scowl as he returned his attention to the wheel.
Belle found herself once again entranced in the delicate movements of Rumpelstiltskin's fingers and the comforting whirr of the wheel. As she got closer, Belle tried to see where the straw ended and the gold began, but Rumpelstiltskin moved much too fast for her to catch the trick- the moment of magic.
Without thinking, Belle stood directly beside the Dark One, bending down to closely inspect the thread, her now very long hair nearly brushing the back of Rumpelstiltskin's grey hand.
"How do you do it?" Belle glanced at Rumpelstiltskin who by now was watching her instead of the wheel, a puzzled look on his face.
"Do what?"
"Turn straw into gold? Every day, I try to catch the moment when the straw is no longer straw and is gold instead. I've never seen anything like it "she said with a look of wonder on her face.
"Have you not? What a shock." Rumpelstiltskin smirked and then continued to feed more straw into his wheel. Belle rolled her eyes and returned her attention to his hands twisting and pulling.
"You know," she began, "In all my life, I've never witnessed magic, never even knew it existed, it certainly never existed in the Marshlands..." Belle trailed off as she bent down once more to get an even closer view of the gold thread.
"Not anymore at least." Rumpelstiltskin responded, slowly winding up the newly finished golden chord around an empty spool. Belle blinked at him and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, his comment not lost on her at all.
"What do you mean, not anymore?" she asked with wide eyes, "Was there magic where I'm from? What happened to it… where did it go?" she spoke hurriedly and followed as the Dark One stood from his stool and headed toward one of the side tables to place the spool along with ten others prepared for a deal he had glimpsed of in the future. He frowned at Belle when he turned around, finding her directly behind him, her eyes full of that familiar curiosity and desire for a good story.
Belle couldn't help the small smile that began to lift the corners of her mouth as she watched Rumpelstiltskin narrow his eyes in thought, his arms crossing over his gold brocade vest and his long fingers gently tapping his elbow. Every day she felt more and more confident in her ability to scope out the small nuances of the creature that had bound her to eternal servitude. She knew that Rumpelstiltskin loved a telling a good story just as much as she loved hearing them – his stories in particular began to slowly become her favorites to hear for Rumpelstiltskin had centuries worth of tales and refused to sensor his stories to the delight of Belle who felt both scandalized and thrilled at the subject matter; Nothing in her Father's library at home was close to being as interesting as his tales of deals with Kings and paupers, of Princes and Dragons and Evil Queens.
Rumpelstiltskin appeared to have come to a decision and with a slight grumble he tilted his head to the side and peered deeply into Belle's eyes, the seriousness in his look immediately wiping the smirk on her face. Belle felt almost hypnotized under his gaze, and the amber of his eyes darkened ever so slightly into a warmer shade, drawing her in and leaving her heart pounding a few beats faster than normal.
"The Marshland's were once rich in Magic Dearie, didn't you know that?" he asked with that wicked giggle that never failed to send shivers down Belle's spine. Belle huffed indignantly and folded her arms across her chest, for some reason feeling ashamed of her lack of knowledge.
"I think your lying." She replied haughtily, "I would have known if there was magic once, I would have read about it or… something." She frowned when Rumpelstiltskin let out another impish laugh.
"What need do I have to lie, Dearie?" he asked with a wrinkle of his thin nose and a thin smile. Belle took a deep breath and clenched her jaw, conceding to his logic.
"What do you know of the Cleric's?" he asked suddenly, moving lightly across the room with elegance only Rumpelstiltskin could pull off naturally. Belle distractedly watched as he glided across the floor, and she realized with a start that she was being abandoned and quickly ran to catch up as Rumpelstiltskin soundlessly made his way up the main staircase.
"Cleric's? What Cleric's?" Belle called to him, out of breath and hitching up her blue skirts. She made a mental note to shorten them a bit and maybe loose a layer of petticoats since winter was almost through (or so she hoped). Belle was startled when instead of turning left to go toward the East wing as she had thought, they turned right to head toward the Western Wing of the castle, a place she specifically remembered being told not to go to upon the first week she arrived, and though she considered herself brave for the most part, the Western Wing had always felt a bit unnerving and she gladly agreed that the Western Wing was not the place for her. She halted at the landing and watched nervously as Rumpelstiltskin continued up toward the forbidden wing. It took only five steps for him to realize Belle had halted and he spun around on his heel and tilted his head at his maid.
"Coming Dearie?"
Belle gulped and clumsily attempted to mask her nervousness by clenching her jaw and attempting a nonchalant look, but she knew that nothing got past Rumpelstiltskin and she furrowed her brow when a wide grin slid upon his face.
"Afraid are we? My my my, what a surprise." He tittered teasingly as he sauntered down the stairs toward her with a smug look. Belle took a tentative step backward when he reached the landing and she found herself flinching when he held out a hand to her. Instead of her reluctance making his grin wider, as she expected it to, something different flashed across his amber eyes, though his smile still remained plastered on.
"It's alright to be a little bit afraid from time to time," His voice was low and surprisingly human sounding, a vast difference from his usual impish octave. He leaned in slightly dipping his chin down a bit so as to meet her eye to eye, "especially since I enchanted this Wing to keep intruders out. I'm glad to see that the enchantments still hold, now aren't you just a little bit curious Belle?"
Belle startled at the use of her name and contemplated his outstretched hand for a moment before looking back up into Rumpelstiltskin's face. She could taste his dare on the tip of her tongue, sharp and exciting and it made her heart beat just a bit faster once more. Belle lifted her left hand hesitantly and she could feel a cold clamminess build upon the palm, her fingers going slightly numb at the adrenaline bursting fourth. Closing her eyes for a moment, Belle took a deep breath and then gingerly placed her small pale hand into the palm of his grey green palm and for an instant all nerves left her and she felt a cool calm descend upon her heart. He grinned then, like a cat who caught a bird but Belle could only return his grin, much to her own surprise and by the slight raise of his brow his own surprise as well.
Rumpelstiltskin tucked her arm through the crook of his elbow like a gentleman escorting his lady to the dance-floor and silently they made their way up higher and higher. Every few steps Belle felt a wave of sickly dread flow over her, her stomach turning knots over and over and her heart pounding in her chest.
"Why would you enchant an entire wing of the castle?" Belle asked while clinging embarrassingly tight to the crook of Rumpelstiltskin's arm while another nauseous wave of dread washed over her.
"Why not?" was his infuriating reply and Belle grunted with displeasure, her mouth tight in a straight unamused light. When they made it to a darkened corridor, Belle felt Rumpelstiltskin drop her arm and she glanced at him curiously. Without a word Rumpelstiltskin produced a golden candelabrum with three large white candles, shining bright and letting off just enough light to form a warm circle around Belle as she grasped the handle of it. Rumpelstiltskin silently gestured with his left hand and dropped halfway into a bow, encouraging her to lead the way and with a slight hesitation in her step, Belle found herself slowly inching down the Corridor with Rumpelstiltskin behind her moving among the shadows.
The walls were covered in the most fascinating and intricately woven tapestries, their colours shining brightly as the light from her Candelabra lit the way. She found herself mesmerized by the shining metallic thread that appeared to weave in and out of each covering giving off an almost lifelike glow, as if the sun itself was woven within the fabric. She paused at a particularly large tapestry on her left depicting a glorious ball held within what appeared to be the most extravagant garden's Belle had ever laid eyes on. The figures danced across the length of the long tapestry and Belle could almost hear the playing of the lute and the tinkling of champagne glasses.
"It's beautiful…" Belle murmured, leaning into the lower border to get a better look at the woven golden threads that fastened the entire thing together. She looked back to where Rumpelstiltskin was standing behind her, a safe distance away but close enough for her light to shine off his shoes.
"Is this your thread?" she asked in amazement, glancing back at the familiar gold stitching.
Rumpelstiltskin let off a surprised sound, "Very good Miss French, top marks." He replied with thick sarcasm, but Belle ignored him and let out the breath she had been holding. She smiled and stood back up again facing him, the dimple in her cheek deepening.
"This is extraordinary!" she exclaimed, "I had no idea you were so talented. Is this what you do with all that thread? How do you do it? Do you have a loom? How long does it take you to make something like this?"
Rumpelstiltskin stood silent as she fired off one question after another, barely stopping for breath, his face showing no real emotion except for a tiny twitch in his brow and at the side of his mouth that only Belle would have been able to notice. Belle stopped and narrowed eyes, "Is this why you enchanted the wing? To protect your tapestries?" When he didn't respond Belle let out an unimpressed sound and continued to examine the Ball scene. "I don't understand, what does this have to do with magic in the Marshlands?" she asked while tracing a finger along one of the almost lifelike rose bushes before standing up again. When she looked back to where Rumpelstiltskin was standing she found herself staring at an empty spot, the Dark One nowhere to be found.
"Rumpelstiltskin?" she said nervously, whipping her head to look around. Without him standing near, Belle felt a tremor of fear pierce through her. She spun on her heel and looked down the opposite way they had come.
"Rumpelstiltskin? This isn't funny." She called out placing a hand on her hip and listening intently. After a while of stomping her foot and biting her lower lip Belle looked back the way she had come and then down the way she was going. The silence was deafening and she could hear the blood rushing to her ears and feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Her breathing came out in heavy pants as she slowly moved down the corridor toward where Rumpelstiltskin had wanted her to go.
"You should be going back the way you came, " she told herself as she put one foot before the other, glancing back behind in as if to catch her shadow trying to escape from her. "You shouldn't be moving further down the possibly haunted and definitely enchanted corridor, you should go back the way you came…" Belle tried to calm her nerves by voicing her thoughts, but her thoughts and her feet were moving in opposite directions and Belle found herself finally facing the end of the hall and she was only slightly surprised to find herself at a dead end. She could have sworn she heard thunder crash somewhere to her let and she jumped a bit at the sound, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end and her arms prickling as if someone ran a hand up her arm. But there was no other sound of thunder and no windows available to her in order to see out of anyway.
"The darkest part of the Dark Castle…" she whispered to herself as she glanced at the dead end. This wall also featured a giant Tapestry handing from the high ceiling straight down to the floor and expanded to the very corners of the single wall, the rim overlapping with the other tapestries hanging. Unlike the other tapestries that covered the walls which depicted Pastoral romance and elegant Ball's; this one was entirely grotesque and make Belle's blood run cold.
Belle wanted to avert her eyes but like with the others she felt herself drawn in. The entire tapestry depicted what appeared to be a massive torture room, the dark colours blending together to create a bloodied scene of pain and gore. Men hung from hooks which dug into their backs naked with faced twisted in pain, another man was being drawn and quartered in the center of the bloodied room, his face holding an eerily calm expression upon his face. Belle's lip trembled and her heart quickened as her eyes moved from men handing off of pillars and being whipped with torn backs, another was being flayed alive and a few more appearing to be roasting over an open fire, pure anguish on their faces. The detail was disturbing and Belle felt herself feeling queasy.
"Do you not like it?"
Belle cried out and spun around, her heart painfully pounding in her chest cavity as she gasped for the breath she had been holding. Rumpelstiltskin was watching her stone faced from the corner of the room, one leg casually draped over the other and hands crossed over his chest, the blood red of his silk sleeves almost looking black in the dark corner. Belle shot him a venomous look and calmed her breathing.
"Where have you been?" she asked breathless and confused at the sense of relief she felt when she saw him there. Rumpelstiltskin pushed off the wall and stood next to Belle, staring at the tapestry with cold detachment. Belle could feel the heat radiating from him and she realised then that she was freezing in that corridor. She stared at his profile for a while, attempting to decipher his expression, the light from the candelabra in her hand danced off the contours of his face and emphasized the narrow hook of his nose and the slight roughness of his skin. She tried to picture what he would look like if he were human, if only as an attempt to tare her thoughts away from the tapestry of torture before them.
"Did you make this one as well?" she asked Rumpelstiltskin's profile. His mouth twitched upward for a brief moment before his eyes came to rest upon her face.
"I did indeed. Titled it as well, Repurgatione Ordinem…"
"…Purging of the order?" Belle responded with and Rumpelstiltskin let out an amused sound. Belle nodded and stepped closer to the fabric, this time examining all its parts. She imagined she heard whispers coming from the tapestry but she immediately shook off the notion and focused on the details.
"What do you make of it?"
"It's grotesque." She murmured straight away, her quick response earning her an eerie chuckle.
"It's no less than they deserve." Was his response and Belle furrowed her brow in confusion. What did that mean?
"Who?" she stood and turned her head along with the candelabra to light Rumpelstiltskin's face. His grin was dark and menacing, like he was contemplating a much anticipated murder. He blinked and took one step forward,
"Why, the Clerics of course." He responded with a flourish of his hand as if it were the most obvious assumption. Belle blinked at him and returned her attention to the tapestry, going over every book she read that mentioned cleric's – not many coming to mind – and at the same time she examined the details of the Tapestry, took in the figures, the faces, the clothing, every detail almost life like and sickening. She found herself examining the tapestry closer than ever and a movement out of the corner of her eye made her gasp out loud.
"He moved!" she whispered frantically, eyes wide as saucers as she stared at the upturned face of a man who was in the process of being disemboweled. She could have sworn that his head was facing the opposite direction when she first examined that portion of the tapestry, but now it appeared he was looking right at her. She nearly chocked on a scream when she realized that now every face in the tapestry was turned to her, watching her every move and the whispers became louder and louder.
"That-that's impossible…" Belle trembled and backed away with jerky steps, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, the light from the candelabra shaking from the tremors in her hand.
"It's not impossible, it's magic." Rumpelstiltskin was closer than Belle had anticipated, his warm breath brushing past the shell of her ear and she let out a cry of surprise. She spun around and stared at Rumpelstiltskin who was now examining her closely, as if she were a painting in a museum.
"I don't understand." She said with small quick shakes of her head. Rumpelstiltskin shrugged and Belle was taken aback by the innocent movement.
"They needed to be punished for the crimes they committed against the people, against those with magic." He took one step toward her and Belle automatically took one shaky step backwards. Rumpelstiltskin stilled for a moment, a flash of surprise crossing his face before he set his features back into the darkening calm they were before. "It didn't matter how innocent, how pure or light the magic. They believed that magic was inherently evil and required torture and what they called cleansing with whips and fire in order to purify the soul. Death was too good for them I'm afraid…"
Belle felt her back brush against the horrid tapestry and she jumped away as if bitten by a static shock, she didn't want to be anywhere near the thing.
"So you-you put them…" Belle stammered uncontrollably as the realization dawned on her. "You wove them into the tapestry? They're alive?" she whispered and covered her open mouth with her free hand.
"Torture for all eternity. I thought it was fitting. You never know what happens on the other side after you die. I figured it was best just to … control the situation myself. Make sure they pay their dues so to speak." Rumpelstiltskin grinned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"that's horrible…" she whispered faintly and Rumpelstiltskin's face darkened, the amber disappearing from his eyes and his lips thinning out even more into a straight line.
"Would you have preferred to let them be free? Hmm?" he growled. Belle clenched her jaw and turned her back on Rumpelstiltskin, no longer willing to look at his face.
"No one deserves this…" Belle whispered despairingly looking once more upon the strained faces of the eternally tortured Cleric's, the horrifying mutilations all at the hand of the last man Belle will ever know. She gasped when she felt Rumpelstiltskin's hands grab her shoulders and spin her around to face him. The candelabra in her left hand dropped to the ground with a large crash, all but one of the thick candles extinguishing its flame. She could feel his claws squeezing her shoulders roughly and she winced but refused to cry out, meeting his glare with her own glare of defiance.
"Do you know what they would do to you Belle?" he snarled, "If I had let them carry on with what they did, do you have any idea what sort of things they would do to that pretty face of yours, knowing your association with me?" Rumpelstiltskin breathed, his nose nearly touching her own. Belle let out a burst of air and shrugged out of Rumpelstiltskin's grip, clenching her fists. The last candle that remained lit rolled around on the ground, casting eerie shadows across the canvas of the tapestry of torture, the deranged faces of the eternally damned skidding around with what little light was left.
"No, Rumpelstiltskin. I can't say that I would know." Belle stuck out her chin defiantly, but her eyes betrayed her inward uneasiness. Rumpelstiltskin appeared to deflate before her and he took a step away from her evaluating her expression.
"Well I do Dearie. I have seen firsthand what they can do. And believe me, that" Rumpelstiltskin shoved a blackened finger toward the tapestry, not once tearing his eyes away from Belle, "is exactly what they deserve." He finished passionately, his chest heaving heavily as if he had just finished an arduous climb up the side of one of the mountains that surrounded the Castle. Belle was the first to break eye contact and she shifted nervously on her feet. She felt guilty, but for what reason she could not explain for even though his reasons felt sound, she still could not fathom anyone deserving such a punishment for there was good in everyone, there had to be.
"Do you ever use your magic for good?" she asked, again locking eyes with Rumpelstiltskin. He blinked at her in confusion, momentarily surprised at the question. He recovered quickly though,
"Not if I don't have to."
Belle raised her brow impertinently and she caught a hint of a smile within Rumpelstiltskin's eyes, the dark slowly dissipating and making room for the bits of amber that normally coloured his eyes.
"Why ever not?" she asked. Belle was curious to know his answer for over the past few weeks she had slowly begun to suspect that the Dark One was not as dark as he wanted people to believe. Indeed, he had a violence about him that made Belle uncomfortable and frightened, but then there were moments of quiet gentility and comfort emanating from him. Belle was concerned at the calming affect her Master had on her, at times feeling a sense of relief wash over her when she felt his presence or heard the spinning of his wheel. Not all of him was bad; she was determined to see that.
"I'm a monster, Dearie. There is nothing nice or good about me."
"That's a lie." Belle replied with enthusiasm. "You're not a monster. Not to me."
Rumpelstiltskin's mouth twitched a bit and once again he knit his brows together in a frustrated glare.
"Then you're a fool." He spat as he snapped his fingers and reassembled the candelabra the light brightening up the corridor and splashing along the bright Tapestries that hung on the walls.
"Perhaps I am. Or…" Belle shifted over to Rumpelstiltskin and looked up into his face, noticing his expression softening just a bit, the amber growing ever so brighter the nearer she got. "Or perhaps I'm right. And you are not as dark as you want everyone to believe." Belle creased her forehead and chewed on her lower lip in thought. "Though for what purpose, I don't think I will ever understand." She gave the tapestry one last look before turning her back on it forever.
Pursing her lips, Belle gave a sideways glance at Rumpelstiltskin. "So, you think I'm pretty?" she asked curiously. Rumpelstiltskin seemed surprised at her question and frowned down at her, his fingers dancing wildly at his side – a nervous habit he had.
"Out of everything I just told you, that is the only thing you took away from it?" he asked incredulously. "You are by far the oddest girl I have ever the misfortune to know…"
"I get that a lot." She sighed bluntly as she slid her arm through Rumpelstiltskin's elbow once more. His eyes followed the movement in bewildered wonder. She wanted to forget the horrid history lesson and half-truth's she was told that day, the garish misfortunes of Rumpelstiltskin's foes a topic too dark for her heart to handle. She looked at Rumpelstiltskin expectantly as he continued to stare down at her arm in his, as if disbelieving that she would ever instigate such an action and Belle nodded toward the exit, "Shall we go?"