V

Belle twisted her hands in the folds of her skirt and prayed for patience as both the men in her life disregarded the facts before them. Her father was an idiot and her master had suddenly gone mute. She felt it would be more prudent to bang her head on the wall. Perhaps such an uncharacteristically bizarre act would snap them back to reality.

"Belle, darling, I don't see why you're so fussed about this. It is merely another sign of our kingdom's recovery. If we would have had something like this in our coffers when we were forced to call upon the Dark One, we could have offered him something more valuable than gold in exchange for his aid," her papa tried to explain. "You wouldn't have had to sacrifice –"

Her eyes flashed dangerously, teeth clenching painfully together as she drew in a sharp breath through her nose. "I swear by the gods, Papa … if you lured Rumpelstiltskin here in order to change or nullify the deal I made with him, I will find a way to curse you myself!" she fairly snarled.

"Daughter!" he bellowed, outraged that she would think such a thing about her own father.

Belle evaded the placating hand Maurice held out to her and moved to Rumpelstiltskin's side. "Rumpel, would you say something please?" She felt the beginning stirrings of panic as he gazed down at her with such hope in his eyes. Never, in all the time that she'd known him, had she seen him so vulnerable. "Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Bae …" he said, his voice no more than a tortured whisper, but she heard him, nonetheless.

She shook her head in confusion. "Bae?"

"My son, Baelfire."

"Rumpel," she murmured, gentle fingers beneath his chin bringing his gaze back to her and away from that accursed plant, "what has he to do with the beans? You said he died."

Those words had the power to snap him back to the real world, rescuing him from the storm-tossed sea of his self-deprecating thoughts. "No, my dear, I said he was lost. There's a difference." He looked over at the plant once more before his amber eyes returned to meet hers. "Belle, I've been searching for him for centuries just so I can tell him how sorry I am that I ever let him go. Nothing I've found can take me to a land without magic."

Belle gasped, cerulean eyes filled with wonder at his confession and the ramifications of what lay before them. "Except a bean … a bean can take you to this land to find him. How is he even alive after all this time?"

"A seer … a seer told me I would be reunited with him."

Her brow furrowed in disbelief at his confession. "And you believed her?" she asked dubiously.

The Dark One shifted uncomfortably, keenly feeling the press of the king's presence. He'd much rather talk to Belle about this without an audience, but it would be just like her to get angry if he placed the two of them in a magical bubble. "She hadn't been wrong before, but that's another story, and I'm not so dimwitted as to not do my own research, dearie. I've cast numerous spells, and they have all assured me he is still alive. I just can't quite lock down his location."

Maurice, having listened quietly to the exchange, strode forward, and plucked a handful of pods from the stalk. He gingerly approached the Dark One and held out his hand, a fatherly smile tugging at his lips. "There's nothing more important than family, Rumpelstiltskin. Here … take these with my blessing and a hope that you're able to find yours."

The mage gasped. "I couldn't, not without a deal in place. It is never something for nothing."

The king was taken aback. "Have you never received a gift?" He sighed as he noticed Rumpelstiltskin's blank stare. "If it's a deal you're after, then take these as payment for bringing my daughter to visit her grateful father."

Belle blinked in surprise at her father and took the pods from his large hands. "The deal is struck," she announced, her tone brooking no objection. "Thank you, Papa, but would you please give us a moment of privacy? We won't be long."

Rumpelstiltskin jerked as the magic took hold of him, his eyes slightly unfocused as Belle pressed the pods against the palm of his hand. "Belle …"

Maurice retreated to the furthest point across the room, leaving them to speak privately.

She beamed at Rumpelstiltskin, happiness and excitement shining upon her lovely features from the brightness of her eyes to the wide curve of her smile. "So … when shall we leave to find him? I'll have to pack a bag for us. What do you think we will need in this new land?"

"Dearest … I'm afraid I won't be taking you with me," he bit out, feeling her impending loss as sharply as he'd felt his son's, the endearment slipping out without him realizing. What was he to do without her?

Belle stumbled back a step, feeling as if he'd struck her. Betrayal wrapped around her with it's vicious sting and she could only stare at him through eyes clouded with pain. "Wh-What? You would l-leave me?" She drew in a deep shuddering breath. "Why? I could help … I want to help!"

Rumpelstiltskin closed the distance between them once more and held up his closed fist, amber eyes beseeching her to understand. "This is my one chance to find my boy, Belle. My one chance to get to him without tearing our world apart."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

He ducked his head and averted his gaze, though he was no less honest with her. "A curse. A very dark curse – once cast - would tear us all away from this realm and bring us to the land without magic. There we would forget ourselves, our lives … torn away from everything we love for twenty-eight years until the savior would come and break the curse. Then, memories restored, I could set out into the world to find Bae. That is my only other alternative."

Belle shook her head, horrified. "You would cast such a curse and condemn us all to this fate?"

"No," he denied, "someone else would have to do it for me."

She cocked her head to the side and studied the guilt written all over his expressive face. And though he tried to hide it, she could read him as clearly as her favorite book. "The queen." Restless with pent up frustration, she paced back and forth before him. "But you don't need her to cast it now, Rumpel. You have a way to find him without destroying our entire world. Let me help you."

"I can't," the sorcerer insisted. "I don't know what to expect, what dangers we might encounter. I won't put you at risk. You can't ask that of me. This is my journey, Belle. I have to try to right my wrongs."

Belle reached up and laid a soft hand against his cheek, repeating the same words she'd put to him the night he'd rescued her from the witches who'd stolen her away from him. "Why do you care about me?"

It briefly occurred to him to answer in the same manner he'd done that night so many months ago, but he knew she'd never believe him. Not after all the time they'd spent building their tentative friendship. Once again, his ally was honesty. "Because you're my light, and I will not see it snuffed out. You mean … too much to me, my dearest little maid."

Her lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears, but she held herself together. "You promised," she murmured, her voice breaking on a sob when he nuzzled his lips against her palm. "You promised you wouldn't break our deal. You promised me forever, and Rumpelstiltskin never goes back on his w-word."

"I have no choice. He's my son, Belle, and I will always choose him," he returned, his voice just as tortured as hers. "I can do no less after the way I let him go. This way I can do right by both of you."

Spell clever fingers plucked at the pearl necklace hanging about Belle's neck, the only thing she had left of her mother. Whispering one incantation after another, he wove as many protection spells as possible into the pendant and along the chain. He then lifted her hand and changed the spell he'd placed upon the bracelet he'd given her that morning.

"See the world, my Belle. Follow your dreams and have the adventures you've always craved." He placed a kiss to the inside of her wrist just below the jewels resting against her skin. "This will take you anywhere you wish. Just think of a destination and off you go."

Tears flowed freely over her ashen cheeks, blinding her to anything but her pain. "You are my greatest adventure, Rumpelstiltskin. I don't want any part of a world where you aren't in it."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled sadly. "You'll change your mind."

Belle made a disgusted sound and moved away from him to pluck another pod from the stalk. "Those are for your search," she hissed, still furious with his blatant stubbornness, "but this one … this one is to bring you home to me."

"Belle …"

"Even if it is just to say goodbye and break our deal." She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed against his shoulder. Her heart felt as if it were breaking into a thousand pieces, and it was at that moment she realized how deeply she loved him. "I will see you again, Rumpelstiltskin."

The Dark One stepped back and brought her hand to his lips, pressing a reverent, lingering kiss to her knuckles. "Thank you, my Belle."

Maurice rushed across the room as the maroon smoke of the Dark One's departure subsided, gathering Belle in his arms as her knees tried to buckle beneath her. "Oh, Petal, what's happened?" he asked worriedly as she sobbed uncontrollably against his chest. "Please, daughter, tell me what I might do?"

Belle just shook her head, unable to speak through the wealth of emotion and heartbreak rendering her mute. She simply clung to her father like a lifeline, praying it was all a horrible nightmare, but knowing it wasn't and nothing would ever be the same.

"Sire, the carriage has arrived. Shall we continue?" Chancellor Badeaux inquired as he jovially entered the room. His brow quickly furrowed as he took in the sad state of the princess weeping against the king and the absence of the Dark One. "Ah … what did I miss?"

Belle pushed herself away from Maurice and fled the room, thanking the gods neither her father nor Edward tried to stop her.

"I leave the room for no more than a quarter hour and chaos ensues. What in heaven's name is going on, Moe?"

The king shook his head, refusing to explain. At least, what little he knew of the situation. "Edward, have the maids air out Belle's chambers. I believe she might be with us for a while."

His friend nodded, confused, but he dared not disobey his king. "How do you know that isn't where she's going?"

Maurice scoffed. "When have you ever known Belle to sulk in her room? If she's running off to wallow in her upset, there's only one place she'll go."

"The library," they said in unison.

*.*.*

Belle didn't stop running until she reached the library, trekking up the spiral staircase to the second floor and throwing herself into the wide window seat before pulling the heavy drape closed, hiding her from the world. The cushion was a soft buttery yellow damask, faded a bit from the sunlight, but it was a fabric Colette had chosen because she'd deemed it a 'happy' color. Silk pillows in floral patterns were strewn about and several of her favorite books were still where she'd left them when last she'd been home.

She reached for the sky blue throw her mother had knitted for her so many years before and dragged it around her shoulders, wishing it were Colette's arms instead of soft wool. How she longed for her mother to hold her, to brush away her tears and tell her things would sort themselves out.

Another sob ripped from her throat as she remembered the pain in Rumpelstiltskin's eyes when he'd told her of his son, the honesty as he'd confessed to caring for her, and the heartbreak she could see when he'd left her there in the solarium. Why couldn't he have just taken her with him on this quest?

To be honest, she didn't care if the quest were trekking down into the pit of Tartarus or getting trapped in the Infinite Forest. She just wanted to be with him. Why had it taken losing him to realize how much she loved him? She'd grown so comfortable with her wily master, regarding him as a friend, her dearest friend. The best she'd ever known in her life. Yet, upon closer inspection, during all those tea times, the teasing, discussions of literature and yes, even the times they'd had heated arguments … she'd been falling in love with him the entire time.

"Stupid, silly, gullible girl," she choked out. Just as he'd called her that when she'd let Robin Hood go and the thief had stolen the wand despite her kindness. She felt herself ten kinds of fool.

Belle wrapped her arms around her drawn up legs and buried her face against her knees, not even trying to stem the flow of tears coursing from her tortured eyes. She gave a start, her gaze darting up to meet the hulking figure of her father as he pulled the drape back and settled onto the seat next to her feet.

Maurice enveloped her much smaller hand in his and offered her silent comfort as he tried to find the words to console her. "Belle, please, darling … I can't help you if you won't talk to me. Please tell me what's troubling you. What happened between you and Rumpelstiltskin?"

Using the edge of her blanket, Belle dried her tears and sat back against the smooth stone of the alcove to stare down at the view from the window. "You gave Rumpel the means to find his long-lost son, Papa, but he didn't want me to go with him … thinks it might be too dangerous and doesn't want to put me in harm's way."

"Petal, that is nothing to cause you to be so overwrought. He doesn't know what he might encounter in his search," he tried to explain, though he must have taken leave of his senses to be defending the Dark One of all people. "Perhaps this is his way of protecting you."

Belle brushed angrily at her tears. "What if he needs me?"

"Daughter," the king shook his head placatingly, "he is the Dark One." As if that explained everything.

She closed her eyes briefly and prayed for patience, but her father's reassurances couldn't quell her fears for long. "What if he doesn't come back?" she asked in a small voice, feeling the weight of her despair heavy in her heart. "What if he finds Baelfire and doesn't return to this realm? He tried to release me from our deal, even gave me the means to see the world if it was my wish."

The king pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "He's in love with you."

"Don't be absurd, Papa," she snapped, letting her head fall back against the stone. "If he loved me he wouldn't have tried to be rid of me."

He reached out and patted her hand, trying to soothe her. "Belle, that's exactly why he did it. The deal you made with him … it bound you to him as his servant. How could you truly love him if you were in an untenable situation with no choice? Haven't you ever heard the saying 'if you love something, set it free'?"

Her pearly teeth sank into the soft flesh of her lower lip. "I wouldn't let him break it. I gave him another bean to bring him back to me," she confessed.

"Because you love him, too."

Belle turned beseeching eyes onto her father. "Does the thought of me loving him upset you?"

"Petal, I will admit I'd never dreamed of having the likes of Rumpelstiltskin as a son in law, but look at what he has done for this kingdom. He went above and beyond the terms of your deal to help this land heal. And don't you know, the greatest joy a parent can ever experience is to see their child happy? That's all I've ever wanted for you, Belle."

Belle threw her arms around her father and buried her face against his broad shoulder. "Oh, Papa."

"You have always been unique, my petal. Only you could have even fallen in love with a man so steeped in darkness and bring him into the light." He enveloped her in his embrace and rested his cheek atop her head. "I will not ask you to remain in Avonlea and become queen if it is not your wish, but I would like you to stay long enough for your Uncle Hugh to bring Gabriel to court to see if he will suit as my heir."

"Of course," she nodded. "It's not like I have anything pressing at the moment."

"And what will you do once that is accomplished, hm? Go off to see the world as Rumpelstiltskin suggested?"

Belle shook her head. "No," she said, determination straightening her spine and giving her an air of confidence. "No, I'm going home."