The roots of the Wood Beyond were anchors sunk into the infinite realms. They were mystical channels that siphoned time and reality to give substance to the outgrowth of true love. They were not roads to be easily traversed by sentient creatures.
Both travelers were forced out of their material forms as soon as they stepped into the shadowy tendrils that formed the roots. Belle felt the magic surrounding them, trying to fragment them into their constituent elements to be absorbed by the trees. That force impelled them in the direction they wanted to go, now that the barriers around Tartarus were broken. It also separated Belle from her husband.
It was all she could do to cling to her own name. She had to withdraw her magic into a tight shield around herself to protect the life growing inside her from being shattered, a spark of potential inside the pattern of light that was all that was left of her physical body. The trees, having caught her, trapped her inside ever-shifting shadows of leaf and branch.
She tried to call out for Rumple, but her voice had been stripped from her. Was she no more than one of the illusions and echoes that haunted Nevethe? Another Belle fading into the sea of Belles scattered throughout the multiverse? The whispers and sighs of the trees urged her to give herself up to the Wood, to let it wash harsh fate away, leaving only the pure essence of true love. Nameless, abstract.
No, no, no. I am real. Not... not some kind of fertilizer! A burst of anger helped her focus her thoughts. She remembered why she was here. They are depending on us to fight for them. She was going to have a child. That child had a future. She refused to forget. She wasn't going to let a damned forest stop her.
The wave of irritation carried her deeper into the shadows, where an answering indignation caught her up. She was still trapped, but the walls had become porous. A little effort, a little time, and she would soon be free.
Not inside a tree, but a human skin, she realized. As she slithered her way closer to the surface, she felt herself buffeted by a roil of dark emotions: anger, fear, a sense of frustrated urgency.
"You have to let me out!" The voice rang in her ears, resonated in her own throat. "I have to stop him before it's too late."
"I don't have to do anything." Belle couldn't see who the other speaker was, but she heard a weary exasperation in her voice. "I'm not a hero. Though honestly I'm not sure why you think you qualify at this point..."
"I'm trying to help! That's what a hero does. And I know he can be a hero, if you just let me talk to him and remind him to make the right choice." Underneath the words, desperate uncertainty and a well-worn pain of disappointment.
"'Remind' him? I think you mean 'dangle hope in front of his nose and then snatch it away when he fails to meet your heroic ideal'. Something of a hobby of yours. Well, this time you've broken your toy."
"Wh-what..." spluttered the first voice, the one that was too much like her own. She must be another version of myself, thought Belle. She concentrated, trying to see. If she could link herself to this body's vision... "How dare you? I love him!"
"You just don't want a life with him in it."
"I want him to be a good man!"
Aha! Belle blinked oddly heavy eyelids, just in time to see a blur of motion.
WHACK! Everything blurred and tilted. She felt a stinging in her cheek. Faintly, she had the impression of fingers pressing against skin. She blinked again. Was that a Timer? Had she just been slapped... by her tail?!
The other Belle was already spitting back in outrage, "Brutality isn't going to change my mind."
"Well, words weren't doing much to take off those blinders," retorted the Timer. She wasn't one that Belle knew, but on the other side, the Timer seemed to know far too much about her, or at least some version of her.
Belle was relieved not to arrive in the middle of a magical battle. However unpleasant the words being flung around, the two 'combatants' weren't trying to destroy each other in any literal sense. Score one for their unorthodox entry into Nevethe. Now that she could see and hear, she could even use this other Belle as cover while she investigated the current situation.
Which would work better if this other Belle weren't stuck inside... was this some kind of dungeon?! No wonder her other self was so furious! The argument wasn't getting anywhere, so Belle began quietly weaving a spell to freeze the Timer long enough to make an escape.
Unfortunately, the other Belle sensed the intruder and the magic and panicked. Belle's effort to calm herself down only made her struggle more frantic. And obvious.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" the Timer barked, lashing out with a powerful spiritual compulsion that hooked into Belle's soul.
Not wanting to hurt either her counterpart or the Timer, Belle let herself be yanked into the open. The two Belles staggered apart, taking a moment to catch their breaths.
The Timer swore under her breath in her own language, then shook her head. "I'm not paid enough for this..."
The other stared at Belle in shock. "Where did you come from?"
So much for stealth, Belle thought dizzily, then irrelevantly, Are Timers paid? Who would pay...? She gestured vaguely. "Oh, you know. Here and there." She blinked at the Timer. "I believe you have the advantage of me...?"
The Timer, who looked smaller and perhaps younger than Cogsworth or Lumiere, spread a pair of mottled gray wings tipped in black, ducking her head with more mockery than politeness. She hissed a name in the Timer language, then gave it again as, "Okulo, the eye that speaks. You've chosen a... challenging... moment to visit Nevethe, Lady Belle."
"Yes, so I've heard. But it's a 'challenging' moment everywhere," Belle shot back. "The Titans have escaped from Tartarus."
The other Belle started. Then her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Okulo looked like she wanted to hide her head behind her wings. The end of her tail twitched. "Brilliant. As if we weren't doomed enough already."
"Maybe not if we work together. Rumple and I thought, if we help you and you help us, we can save..." Belle's optimism faltered. "Well, as many as we can."
At that, Okulo's wings folded back and she peered warily at Belle for a long moment. Then she stretched her neck high and looked around sarcastically. "A fine thought, but I don't seem to see this helpful Rumple of yours...?"
"We, uh, got separated on our way here," Belle confessed.
The other Belle gave her a knowing look. "Yes, he's done that to me before. Off pursuing one of his schemes behind your back, no doubt."
"Excuse me?" Belle was taken aback by her counterpart's bitter tone. "What are you talking about?"
The other Belle pursed her lips. "Maybe he's still pulling the wool over your eyes, but in your heart, you know I'm right. You just don't want to believe it..."
Belle stared. What had happened to this other her? Memories stirred in the back of her mind, memories shared by another version of Rumplestiltskin — the one who had tried to prevent her own marriage. "Look, I'm sorry that your relationship suffers from trust issues, but you're you and I'm me."
"And your Rumple?" The other Belle didn't look convinced. "Odds are he's gone to join the other ones attacking this wood, because he would rather destroy love than let it guide him."
An enemy of love... came the thought, in her husband's voice. Belle looked at the Timer. "Her Rumple is...?"
"Indeed. She followed him here, hoping to change his mind."
"I can get through to him," insisted the other Belle.
"Or you could make things worse," retorted Okulo. "I've seen enough to know which I'd bet on."
Belle frowned, biting her lip. She didn't want to make things worse, either. Maybe it would help if she understood why they were trying to destroy Nevethe. She knew that her Rumple carried the ghost of one of them, a version of himself who had been enslaved and broken by Zelena, forced into a twisted parody of true love. He had tried to free himself by throwing himself into a chasm of darkness deep enough to eradicate all such bonds. Could anyone have changed his mind? When her Rumple had followed in that path, she had fallen with him, light and dark preserving the shadows that defined them.
"You're wrong. I stopped him before," the other Belle declared. "If I can catch up to him in time..."
"You'll what? Tell him to be a good boy or he'll lose you forever?" Okulo scoffed. "I fear you've played that card too many times. The only thing keeping him tied to you was your son, and, well..." The Timer shrugged.
"Your son?" Belle asked in alarm, instinctively wrapping an arm around herself. "What happened to your son?"
The other lowered her gaze, and her strident tone. "Our son... he left. He said he never wants to see us again."
Belle gasped. "But why?"
The other flinched, guilt written all over her face. "He blames us for abandoning him."
"You abandoned your son?" Belle could hardly believe it. In what reality would she or Rumple abandon their own child? "Rumple searched for Bae for hundreds of years, how could he...?"
"He didn't have much choice, did he?" interjected Okulo. "Someone was afraid he would destroy their family. Someone said something along the lines of, what was it? Oh yes: 'You will never even set eyes on this child.' Ten years moping on the shores of the Lake of Ten Thousand Memories, and that one still stuck..."
"No! It wasn't like that." The other Belle's voice rose again in protest. "I asked Reul Ghorm to be his fairy godmother. I thought... I thought she would be powerful enough to protect him."
"That self-righteous blue gnat," spat the Timer, sounding remarkably like Rumple to Belle's horrified ears. How could things between them have come to that? She half-listened as Okulo continued her rant, "The only power she has is to ruin lives!"
The other Belle sighed in defeat. "It wasn't her fault. The Black Fairy ambushed her..."
Belle's focus returned to the conversation with a start, and said the first thing that came to her mind. "...and stole your baby?"
"Yes. But time runs strangely in the Dark Realm. For us, barely a day had passed, but when he returned, he was twenty-eight years old. He killed the Savior, took her magic, then killed the Black Fairy... then took all the children she had abducted and left."
Belle nodded. "At least he freed the others." She thought about it, then shook her head, stuck on an earlier point. "But I don't understand why you tried to keep your son from Rumple. He loves his children. He would do anything to protect them!"
The other Belle's expression hardened. "That's the problem. He's the Dark One! I couldn't let him darken Gideon's soul. After what happened in the Underworld, I knew I couldn't let him do that to our child."
Belle blinked. They had gone to the Underworld, too? "What happened in the Underworld?"
"He told me to trust him, but he only ended up making me darken my soul." The other Belle's mouth tightened in resentment and guilt.
Belle opened her mouth to ask about it, but another voice cut in before she formed the question.
"I think you're leaving a few steps out, dearie!" It was Rumple! Belle's heart leaped to see him, then sank when she saw that it was yet another version of him. This one looked more like the one they had met in Tartarus, though the twirl of his hand was achingly familiar. "That's hardly the whole story, not if your Rumple's history is anything like mine!"
"He lied to me."
"No. I made no promise, but only asked you to trust me. And you must have heard what I said and what I didn't say, yet you agreed."
"I wanted you to stop him, not throw him into the River of Souls!"
"You wanted me to solve the problem," he corrected, but his voice gentled. "As always. You just didn't want to get your hands dirty. You lied to yourself, until your own honesty got the better of you and you tried to take it back."
"By taking his dagger!" hissed the Timer, wings flaring up in fury. "After everything, you still did that. You despise him for wanting power, but can't admit that you want it just as much, so you sit on your high horse and order your slave around. Because you know he'll forgive you. Because he'll darken his soul to protect his family and spare you from bearing the guilt. Because he loves you."
"Okulo..." murmured the other Rumple, laying a hand on the Timer's wing with such obvious affection that it made Belle blink.
"What?" The Timer wriggled in an irritated shrug, wings settling back under the other Rumple's touch. "I'm just trying to explain to Belle why you've condemned love as the most cruel weapon, more painful than the darkness which promises oblivion at the end..."
The other Rumple sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head slightly. "Yes, well, I tottered on the brink for a while... Let's just say that sometimes it's better to make a clean break with the past, and for your Rumple, that means you, dear. Let it go. Let him go."
The other Belle glared at him suspiciously. "What did you do? Use the Shears of Destiny? That's you all over: reach for a magical solution because you think it's easier."
"Because it solves the problem," snapped Okulo. "Remind me again, how did you meet the Dark One? Yes, all magic comes at a price, but..."
"Some things are worth paying for," murmured Belle. She wondered if this other Belle had been more influenced by the clerics to think of human (or Dark One) magic as inherently sinful. She turned to the other Rumple, glancing between him and Okulo suggestively. "Well, magic or no magic, you found love again, if I'm not mistaken..."
A brief smile and a nod.
"And your version of Belle?" she couldn't help but ask.
"She returned to Avonlea to help rebuild the kingdom," he said. "Later... later, she became a nun."
"A nun!" The other Belle sounded shocked. "That's hardly fair!"
"Fair? I fail to see how 'fair' enters into it," the other Rumple replied dryly. "She felt a calling. I did not."
The other Belle scowled. She said crossly, "No, you only felt 'called' to lock me up. You have no right to keep me prisoner here!"
The other Rumple tutted, raising an admonishing finger. "You came to a realm woven of the most powerful magic of all. You must expect to pay the price..."
"What price?" demanded the other Belle.
"For each time you commanded him with the dagger, a price..." Okulo answered when the other Rumple didn't speak. "For each time you held your love over his head to bind him to your choices..."
"What about the time he imprisoned me on Hook's ship? What about the times he used his magic on me without my consent?"
"Oh, I paid," said the other Rumple darkly. "And so will your version of me. But this is the Wood Beyond, so this is the shape your debt takes."
"How long?" the other Belle asked through gritted teeth. "How long are you planning to keep me locked up?"
The other Rumple shrugged. "That's between you and the Wood Beyond. I merely transported you here. I don't have the key. In any case..." He glanced at Okulo.
The Timer nodded. "We have more critical things to worry about than another stray Belle or three haunting Nevethe." She spread her wings again, vanishing along with the other Rumple in a flash of light.
"Hey, wait!" Belle had subconsciously started to think of the other version of herself and Rumple (and the Timer) as actors in some stage play, but the sudden disappearance of two of the players shook her out of her trance. She went to test the dungeon door, but it wouldn't budge. Aware of the other Belle watching her, she summoned her magic and tried all the spells she knew for unlocking and opening doors. No such luck. Although composed of wood rather than metal or stone, they proved even more impervious to force or fire.
The other Belle snorted. "Guess you're stuck with me."
Belle shook her head. Never mind the door. Never mind the walls. She simply needed to be elsewhere. But her magic recoiled, as if this place was specifically designed to contain her. Her, or any other version of herself. "I don't have the time for this."
On the contrary. Within these walls, you have all the time you need, came the answering thought, but it was not her own. She recognized in it the spirit of Nevethe, still tangled in her essence from her induction through the roots.
"Well, neither have I!" The other Belle hammered futilely at the wall with a fist.
"No, no, no, we have to think about this." Why had Nevethe gone to the trouble of constructing such a dungeon? With the Queen of the Wood gone, there was no higher authority to appeal to. The Queen... the voice of Nevethe. Once, Belle and Rumple could have asked her for help, and she would have decided whether to ally the power of the Wood with them. Now. Now it was different. Now Belle was here with Rumple to claim allegiance from the Wood — an allegiance once offered to them, once refused by them. Realization dawned. "This is a test..."
"A test?"
Belle nodded. "Nevethe needs to know if we can be trusted."
"If we can be trusted?" the other Belle scoffed. "Ridiculous. Rumple is the real threat. Why haven't they locked him up?"
"Maybe they have." Or tried. Belle remembered the glimpse of chaotic darkness Rumple had barely restrained in Tartarus. "Or maybe they can't. The inherent power of destruction in dark magic may overcome even true love..."
"He always claimed true love was the most powerful magic of all. Another lie, then."
"No, no, it's not as simple as that." Belle wished this other version of herself wasn't so quick to jump to the worst conclusions. She laid a palm flat against the wall, silently probing it for the question woven into its substance. How could she prove herself trustworthy? "It's the darkness at the end of all things. But between the beginning and the end, it's true love that creates what is most precious to us..."
The other Belle sighed. "I wish I could believe that. We had true love once. A kiss nearly broke his curse, but he chose power over love."
"What?" Belle turned away from the wall in surprise. "Really?"
The other nodded. "He said to my face that his power was more important to him than I was. Then he threw me out of the Dark Castle..."
Belle winced. Their cruel words to each other had carved such deep, long-lasting wounds. And not only words, if it was true that she had used the dagger to command her version of Rumple. Belle could only imagine the feeling of betrayal if her own Rumple had done it to her! She could only murmur, "It seems your life took a very different path than mine. How did you even meet him in the first place?"
The other told her a story of ogres besieging Avonlea, only a generation later than had happened in Belle's own timeline. They had both paid the price to save their people, only the other had been chosen as an adult rather than an unborn child, and only as a servant rather than a bride. The other Belle had not looked for love, but it had snuck up on her, mingled with something else.
"I thought to free him from his curse," the other said. "How naive I was. I actually believed a kiss could lead to our happiness.,,"
Is this you being the hero, killing the beast? Rumplestiltskin's furious accusation echoed in the back of her mind. Now, looking at this other version of herself, she thought it wasn't completely unjust. This other Belle did want to be a hero. Their first kiss had been one-sided, given with ulterior motives — even with the best of intentions, that Belle had hidden her intent from him.
Before I became the Dark One for his sake, I told Bae of my plans. This time, Rumple's voice in her head was tinged with regret. If only... If only this other Belle had not been so hasty, how much of their misery could they have averted?
"What happened after that?" Belle asked cautiously.
Misery indeed. The other Belle had also been captured by Regina, but her imprisonment lasted years, across two realms, with her Rumple grieving her for dead. Things after that had continued on with one crisis and betrayal after another. They had been broken by Baelfire's death, never quite able to recover afterwards. The loss of a second child had been the last straw.
"So here you are," Belle concluded.
"Here I am, because even if we can't be together, I won't let him destroy any more lives." The other looked at her sternly. "You have magic. There must be some way you can get us out of here. And then..."
"And then...?"
This time, the other hesitated, biting her lip. Finally, she said in a low voice, "If that Timer was right... if it really is too late for me to persuade him. Then... If you have magic, you can help me find the one thing that can still stop him."
"You mean the dagger." Belle stared at her in disbelief. "Because that's always gone so well for you."
"I don't want to!" cried the other. "But there's no other choice."
"So you're choosing to take away his free will? Again?"
"I'm choosing the wellbeing of innocent people!" The other Belle doubled down in her determination.
Hasty AND stubborn. Well, it wasn't as if Belle wasn't familiar with those traits in herself. She met her own eyes. "There has to be another way."
"What if there isn't? Please, you have to help me."
"If there isn't, we'll create one! A way that doesn't require enslaving anyone." Belle turned her back to the other before she lost her temper. She could explain that the dagger's control could be broken, so it wouldn't even be the ultimate solution the other Belle wanted, but that wasn't the point. "What if there was no so-convenient dagger? What then?"
"But it does exist. We can't just pretend it doesn't!"
"No?"
"There's too much at stake."
Indeed. Too much at stake to waste her energy arguing with herself. What was there to fear? She and Rumple had been to death's country and found oblivion to be a blessing. Whatever was at stake included their own freedom of choice. She was not going to enslave any version of Rumple, or anyone else, and that was that. She extended her senses to the wall again, prodding at it with both hands. This time, it seemed to evaporate under her touch. Astonished, she took a step forward, then another. Dappled light met her, trees rising up all around her, old leaves underfoot.
"Ah! That's what it wanted..." Belle began, turning around to share her discovery with her other self—
—who was no longer there, vanished along with the dungeon itself.