"She's not a prisoner. I don't know how many times I have to tell you this..."
Belle shook her head. The motion made her dizzy and she swayed, catching herself on a wall. A knobbled, smooth-worn wall shaped out of ancient roots, as far as she could tell. She had followed the tiny flame, the demon a dim presence barely visible in the darkness, and found herself walking into what she could only call a dungeon.
"And neither are you." Heiyan was somehow on the other side of the door already, peering in at her through the plate-sized circle where the roots thinned out to form a mesh-covered window. "It's only a dungeon if the door is locked."
Belle shut her eyes. Faint voices whispered against her ear when she pressed her head against the wall. Something crawled across the back of her hand. Startled, she jerked back and flung the hand out, flicking whatever it was against the wall in a soft tick. A faint light blinked on the floor, somewhere between green and yellow.
She let out a breath. On closer inspection, she saw that it was some kind of luminescent beetle — some kind of flightless firefly, perhaps? More emerged, creeping out through the tangled roots of the wall. They were almost big enough to cover her palm, glossy black with a glowing abdomen. Long, serrated antennae extended horizontally like horns, their vibrations stirring the air, emitting a soft rustling sound.
These beetles were the source of the voices!
Belle frowned. She knew better than to listen to a demonic manifestation, but something about the voices felt familiar. It sounded like someone crying. She could almost make out the words.
Help! Please, let me out!
The desperate plea tugged at her heart. She wished she could help. She had heard tales of people transformed into insects or mice through curses or dark fairy dust. Was that what had happened here?
"They're pests." Heiyan had noticed her distraction. "Those things gnaw at the roots, damaging the trees. But this place being what it is, it's only to be expected. A reflection of the true state of affairs."
Belle's mouth opened in protest. The beetles were talking.
Lost, lost, lost to the darkness...
"They'll eat up your pity and spit venom in your ears," warned Heiyan.
She thought unhappily that whether the demon was telling the truth or not, Belle had no real help to offer. She had no magic or fairy dust to break a curse. The only way she could end a curse was to kill the tiny victim, but that was too horrible to bear thinking about. And if they were only what they seemed, she didn't have the heart to crush innocent creatures that meant her no harm.
She turned to the door. That was when the whispers took on an angry, betrayed tone.
Liar. Beast. You can't keep me here forever. I WILL stop you in the end...
Belle shuddered and fled. To her relief, the door swung outward as soon as she pressed against it. She stumbled after Heiyan, leaving the hissing voices behind her.
The demon's hovering candle-flame danced ahead of them, illuminating a narrow path through the forest. Soon Belle heard the faint burble of running water.
"Here." Heiyan led her down a slope to where a small stream crossed their path. "If you won't take sustenance from a 'demon', perhaps this will be more to your liking."
She didn't have much choice. She needed water too desperately. She picked her way upstream to a flat rock slanting out from the bank and crouched down. She tested the water with a finger. It felt cool against her skin but not magical. Suddenly overcome by thirst, she bent over the surface and scooped up handfuls of water into her mouth.
Is this what turned those people into beetles?
She banished the thought. She was fine. This wasn't the water of Hell. It couldn't rip out her soul or her memories. So she told herself, but she remained crouched on the rock for a good ten minutes to be sure.
"Shall we be on our way?"
Belle nodded. She wiped the back of her mouth and stood up. The water sat queasily in her stomach, but she tried not to think about it. "Take me to my mother."
As they walked, she began to glimpse malevolent red eyes glaring at her from the underbrush. They seemed to watch her every move, projecting an aura of hostility too palpable to be mere imagination. The darkness weighed on her, seeping into her head as a bitter, despairing emptiness.
Those things gnaw at the roots. She remembered Heiyan's words. She swallowed, her steps growing slower and heavier. But these eyes were too big to be mere insects, and the shadows behind them suggested something far more formiddable. More dangerous.
"Keep going," the demon urged her.
Belle shivered. "What... what are those creatures? Demons? Ghosts? What do they want? Are we in danger?"
"Who can say what's in a human heart?" Heiyan answered her question with his own question. "There's nothing more dangerous. Not demons, not ghosts. Move."
Belle obeyed reluctantly. What was he saying? Was something human lurking out there in the shadows? Why did she feel such hatred pressing in on her? She whispered, "Why are they so angry? Or am I imagining things?"
Heiyan didn't turn around, but the dip of his horns acknowledged her question. "The water you drank. It connects you to the Wood. And in this place, the leaves tremble with pain."
"I don't understand."
"The trees of the Wood grow from the seeds of true love, the most powerful magic of all, the only magic strong enough to transcend realms." The demon walked on with slow, silent steps, letting Belle stumble along behind him.
The path was littered with old leaves, with random rocks exposed through the soil, making it difficult to navigate in the dim light. It could have been any forest. True love? What true love? Belle was skeptical. She wished she could see the trees more clearly. "How long until sunrise?"
"We are in the shadowed lands," Heiyan replied. "There is only night here."
"Eternal night," Belle echoed, appalled. "That's one of the layers of hell."
"It's a matter of opinion."
"But true love is light magic! You said—"
"Ah, but what's darker than love betrayed? Than love broken?" Heiyan sighed. "That's why we're here. Your bond of true love has been sundered. You don't remember, but the Wood never forgets."
"What?" Belle froze. "I don't have a true love." As the words fell from her lips, the eyes in the shadows flared brighter in their rage, accusing her. She recalled the ghost in the mirror telling her, You don't remember, and neither does he.
"You did, once. But that part of you was stolen."
"Stolen?" Belle shook her head. "You're trying to corrupt me. I was promised to—"
"Someone your father chose for you," Heiyan interrupted.
"For the greater good," Belle replied sharply.
"Very heroic, but in this case, misguided. You can't judge good and evil fairly without knowing the whole truth."
"And I'm supposed to believe you're in possession of this 'truth'? Hmph, not likely," she snorted.
"No, you are. Well, you will be, once we re-unite you with yourself," came the cryptic reply.
"You said you'd take me to my mother!"
"Which can't happen until your realities align. Well, I say 'reality', but your language lacks the nuance of my native tongue." Heiyan tsked in annoyance. "Shall we say, the path to your mother can't be drawn without a small detour..."
"What detour?" Was this some new torment the demon had dreamed up? Belle wondered if he would keep her wandering in circles in this nightmarish forest until her spirit was utterly crushed.
"You drank from the stream. The Wood is in your blood now." Heiyan followed the ominous reminder with, "Let your heart guide you now."
It was a twisted version of a cleric's advice to open your heart to the gods and heaven will guide you. Had she truly opened her heart to something so dark as the Wood Beyond? Was she a thief, trying to steal her mother's life from the destiny laid out by the gods damned them both? Belle wavered. She could refuse to listen any further to the tempter. She could...
The eyes watching her from the shadows glared at her in silent condemnation. Angry thoughts rang in her ears. And so you abandon those you claim to love. I knew it. Too good, too pure! Oh no, you'd never resort to darkness, not if it means getting your own dainty little hands dirty!
Belle stared blindly ahead. Those voices weren't real. But illusion or not, she was unable to block the spiteful words.
It's not what a hero does... except when it is. So which is it, this time?
The demon had stopped walking. He was waiting for her to lead the way. He seemed oblivious to the voices in her head.
True love? True suffering! It's better lost and forgotten. Who can love a beast? No happy endings for that tale. There's a home prepared for you: you've seen it. Turn around and walk back inside. Shut the door behind you.
The dungeon! Belle gasped as the vision overtook her. A life enveloped by the roots of the Wood. It offered her peace. Tranquility, if only she let go of her fears and worries. The universe was large, and she was small. A brief flicker of light against the vastness of eternity. Her mother was dead, and she would follow. Everything died, every story ended. Why struggle? It was only wasted effort.
Belle clenched her fists. No! She couldn't let herself succumb. That was despair, not peace! She brought her fist to her mouth and bit herself, hard enough to jar herself from the vision. She had made her decision already. She wouldn't stop now. She calmed herself with a deep breath.
Foolish girl! You have a chance to walk away and be free... The tone was angry, but the feeling that welled up under her feet was an overwhelming fear.
As oppressive as the anger that hung over her, this fear. It was fear of loss, from someone who had lost too much already. A fear that she would leave, that she would turn away.
Who are you? she wanted to shout at the trees. Who was there, that seemed to know her? Who was it that so feared her rejection yet craved her regard? Who was so hurt by her lack of recognition?
Please, Belle. The faint, sobbing cry sounded in the back of her mind.
She wanted to call it an illusion — if only it didn't hurt so much.
Belle held onto the hope that had brought her this far. The demon... had not harmed her. Frightened her and spouted a lot of nonsense. But harm? Not really. Perhaps... the clerics were wrong. There were other powers in the world, not all of them evil. Perhaps... she really had forgotten something.
Let your heart guide you...
She felt it now. A wisp of a notion, telling her, this way, this way.
A tree. Her heart had guided her to a tree. She let her fingers brush the ridged bark, traced the shape of the sharp, oval leaves. It was an ash tree, as tall as a house, the trunk a hand's span across at eye level.
Her breath caught. The tree was screaming.
The rough contact between skin and bark struck her with the force of a lightning bolt. Pain. Anguish. Despair. She collapsed to her knees, arms flung around the tree in an instinctive, futile gesture of comfort. Eyes closed, her head dropped against the trunk, sharing its mute suffering.
Then she remembered everything. Another life in another world. The same threat to her people, but a different salvation. The Dark One! Memories of Rumplestiltskin (of her husband!) crowded into her mind. The tree had held the memories that no longer existed for her. The tree shaped from their true love, hers and Rumple's.
Belle lifted her head, gasping in shock. "How... how could I have forgotten?"
"The Author's work," said Heiyan grimly. "Your story was re-written."
But the tree had remembered when Belle could not. So that was what it meant for true love to have the power to transcend realms — even realities.
"But what about Rumple? Where is he?" Belle's anxiety mounted as she realized that there was no trace of him in her altered memories.
Then another voice spoke from the shadows, a woman's voice. "He lives. His fate was severed from yours in this new tale."
Belle froze in sudden recognition. "Mother?"
"My darling Belle. I'm so sorry."
"Mother!" Belle overcame her paralysis to hurl herself in the direction of the voice. All the misgivings of her rewritten self melted away in the heat of the moment. She knew in her heart that this was no lie.
The arms that caught her were just as she remembered. Only the face was hidden. After the initial rush of their embrace, Belle pulled back a little to look at her mother properly — only to find a black cloth covering her mother's face completely. In fact, all of her was similarly hidden, from the boots to the black leather gloves, leggings covering what her skirt left exposed, all under an expanse of cloak, not an inch of bare skin visible.
Belle's breath caught. She remembered the memories Rumple had restored for her. How her mother had changed. But the voice was the same familiar voice from her childhood, and the shape under the cloth was just as she remembered. "You... you won't let me see you?"
The veiled face turned away in shame. "Perhaps it's better this way."
"You think I won't be able to accept it?" Belle was hurt by her mother's doubt.
"Your father couldn't," Colette said softly. "And still cannot. That's why..."
"Why you left us?" The question shot out more resentful than not. Belle bit her lip. She wanted to understand, truly she did.
"My injuries brought me too close to death to be able to live again in a mortal realm." Colette gestured at the trees around them. "The magic of this wood sustains me, and the queen-my-stepmother granted me sanctuary."
"Oh," breathed Belle, letting her resentment dissipate. She should be happy to even be able to meet her mother again. Tears welled in her eyes. "I missed you. I wish you could have told me you were alive!"
"I'm sorry. It took me a long time to even find you. The Wood Beyond is a nexus of possibilities. The universe in which I am your mother is only one among a myriad." Colette touched her face gently. "But to know where but not be able to set foot there was its own agony. So I sent the cat to you..."
"Mr. Mistoffeles!" Belle gave a surprised laugh. "He's your cat?"
"No, no, no. He is a cat of Ulthar. They answer only to themselves. But he did agree to keep an eye on you on my behalf."
An eye. Just the one, then. Belle looked at her mother sadly. "It doesn't matter to me. Your appearance. You don't have to hide from me."
Her mother caught her hands. "It's not that I dare not show myself to you. No, I dare not see you... such is my nature that in seeing you thus, my sight would turn this false story into truth."
"Your nature?" Belle still wasn't clear on what that was. She remembered what Rumple had said about seers, and the ancient cult of the 'Knowing One'. Heiyan had mentioned her grandfather. Surely it wasn't Maurice's father he meant. Belle guessed, "Because of who your father was?"
"Like him, sometimes I see too much."
"You mean prophecies." Belle herself had seen how prophecy was both curse and blessing for Rumple. All his life had been shaped by one prophecy or another, whether he rebelled against it or deliberately followed its guidance. And lately it had become a trap, with all futures leading to death or abandonment. "I understand. Rumple showed me. You don't want to make it worse by seeing a 'truth' that turns our fears into reality..."
"Too much has already come true that I would have wished otherwise. I want better for you, as any mother would."
Belle nodded. She would not let this nightmare of a timeline be the end for them. "Then we have to change the story ourselves. Whatever this Author has done, we can undo it."
"To destroy it completely is one thing, but to restore the lives that were lost is another. That can only be done from within." Her mother shifted restlessly under the cloak. "Belle..."
When nothing more followed, Heiyan coughed and said apologetically, "Not so much of the 'we' as 'you', I'm afraid. No outsider can even enter that story. It seems that stipulation was specifically written into the foundations. Only you, who belong there as well as here, can enter that reality."
"Only me?" Belle repeated in a small voice. She was weak there, a subservient daughter, with no magic or followers to call upon.
"But you are free now," said her mother. "There is no need to return to that false story. There are endless possibilities. From the Wood, we can find somewhere safe for you. Somewhere you can be happy."
"But... what about everyone else? Won't they still be trapped?" Was her mother telling her to run away? That couldn't be right! "What about Rumple?"
"Through your tree, you are bound. We can use that link to pull him out, just like we did for you," explained Heiyan.
Colette nodded. "That false world is best forgotten. There are so many better alternatives. Other copies of the people you know, happier versions."
Belle thought about it. At first, she was swayed by her mother's argument. If you could move from reality to reality as easily as you could move from one town to another, why stay in one that made you miserable? Then she thought, this was more like leaving your home town to burn to the ground while you went on your merry way. "No, no, I can't do that. Endless possibilities, but that reality is my reality. Those people trapped in there are my people. I can't abandon them!"
Colette sighed. "I was afraid you would say that."
"Mother, you taught me that running away never made anyone a hero."
"Is being a hero the most important thing?" Colette held up a hand before Belle could answer. "I once admired humanity for its capacity for love, for heroism. I thought I had found both in your father... but you know how that ended."
Belle dropped her gaze. Her father. No, he hadn't been a hero after all, had he? A protective father, maybe, but rigid in his conception of family. "What he did to you was horrible and wrong."
Colette sighed. "But you still want to go back in there, risking everything..."
"It's not about wanting," Belle protested. She wasn't even sure what she could do. She was no savior. "But I have to try." She just wasn't sure where to start, except... "Wait, you said you could get Rumple out by using this tree."
"It grew out of the love you share," said Heiyan. "Its magic should be able to reach either of you no matter where you are."
"Then let's find him first, restore his memories, and then we can go back together to help everyone else," said Belle.
"Your true love, the Dark One," murmured Colette. "Will you make a hero of him, then?"
"He's already a hero!" Belle said hotly. What did her mother mean with her question? It seemed to hold a note of warning. Was it disapproval of her? Of Rumple? "He... he died once already for us, for the people he loves."
Her mother nodded. "Then for your sake I hope he won't have to do it again."
"Bad luck, bad luck!" cried Heiyan. "See, this is why I hate talking to seers..."
Belle smiled despite herself. Though they hadn't said anything overtly, something in his tone made her wonder about his relationship to her mother. And the way he was so quick to offer his help. But this wasn't the time to ask. "You're right. Let's get Rumple back."
Easier said than done.
Rumple!
Lost. Lost in the dark. Lost to the darkness. All his darkness, that she had taken into her own heart to save his life, had been poured back into him. All the magic that she could have used to try to help him, cut away from her.
Belle wrapped her hands around the trunk of their tree and shook it frantically, but all her strength could barely move it. "The most powerful magic in all the realms! Why can't you bring him to me? Or was that a lie?"
"Something may be preventing him," murmured her mother, laying a gentle hand on Belle's shoulder.
"What? What can..." Belle saw Heiyan looking at her then, and she swallowed the rest of her question.
"The only thing that can truly bind the Dark One," said the demon.
Belle closed her eyes, hearing Zelena's voice in her memories. This is more powerful than your true love. "You mean someone has the dagger."
"I'm so sorry." Her mother's face remained hidden, but the veil trembled as she spoke. She took a step back.
Belle nodded. "Then it's simple. I'll find him myself." She took a deep breath and straightened, releasing her death-grip on the tree. A leaf detached itself and fell at her feet. She picked up the leaf — seven slender leaflets arranged evenly along a central stalk. "We can't bring him to the tree, so I'll bring the tree to him."
"I can help you find the way," promised Heiyan.
"But you can't come with me..." Belle sighed. "No one can."
"Well... there's also the cat," said Heiyan brightly. "A cat of Ulthar goes where he chooses, and this one has taken a liking to your family. Perhaps he will find you there as he did before."
The cat who was nowhere in sight at the moment.
"It's only because we've been feeding him." Belle wondered how much magic the cat really had. Besides which, she had no right to drag an innocent animal into her fight. She looked down at the leaf in her hand. "I hope this magic is enough to restore Rumple's memories."
"There is one more thing I can do to help you," Colette spoke up abruptly. She stepped away, turning her back on Belle. Her cloak billowed out, and the clothes underneath rippled oddly. In the dim light, Belle couldn't see what she was doing, only heard a gasp and a sharp movement of her arms. Then she returned to face Belle again, reaching out with her hands, one open and one closed.
Belle automatically mirrored the gesture and clasped her mother's hands. Something wet pressed into her right palm, the one not holding the leaf. Belle bit back a cry of surprise. Was that blood?
Her mother's fingers tightened, not letting Belle draw back her hand, not yet.
A spark of magic tingled across her skin. It sank into flesh and sent a cold thrill through her nerves.
She could see again! The sudden burst of vision had her staggering back in shock. She barely noticed when her hands slipped from her mother's grasp. The rewritten story had stolen this from her along with the dark magic she had found in her half of Rumple's heart. But this was her own birthright.
Belle met her mother's gaze from behind the veil. No matter how many layers of cloth she draped around herself, she was still recognizably herself to this augmented vision. And Belle could see the glow of true love that infused the leaf, could trace the lines connecting it to the tree and to their souls. Its clear strength gave her confidence in this quest. "Thank you."
"One eye. Insight enough to guide you, but not so much as to trap you." Colette's smile behind the cloth was tentative. "Or so I hope. Daughter, take care."
And now she was here. Alone, hiding behind a tree. Not one of the enchanted trees of the Wood Beyond, just an ordinary tree, one among many, bare-branched in the snow. Ahead of her lay a large clearing where a sumptuous mansion sprouted from the ground like an oversized mushroom.
False memories told her she stood before the Palace of the Wicked and that she had never been here before. She knew better. Once before, she had stood in this place in the winter cold, searching for her true love. Behind those walls, beyond this facade of lies, the palace had been built over something far older: the Vault of the Dark One.
But here and now, Zelena ruled over a kingdom of monsters and demons. She had sent an army of ogres to besiege Avonlea.
Belle studied the palace, probing for any weakness. She didn't have the power to force a way in, but this time around, she could see the lines of magic woven through the walls. The flying monkeys perched on the eaves and ridgeline of the roof were bright points of transmutation. She knew they would raise the alarm if they spotted her, and any two of them could easily overpower her.
She touched the leaf — now tucked safely in her waistband — for luck. The protection spells were messy, not as meticulously watertight as her husband's tended to be. Belle thought it was deliberate, meant to lure any intruders into overconfidence. The Wicked Witch enjoyed toying with her enemies. But Belle would take any advantage Zelena was foolish enough to give up. She mentally plotted out the tiny, shifting gaps in the wards. Perhaps she was the fool for running headlong into a trap, but if she was fast enough, if she could reach Rumple fast enough, they could win this game.
Then a small furry shape darted past her, a streak of black and white motion narrowly evading the guards to vanish through the gates.
Mr. Mistoffeles!
Flying monkeys swooped down in a loud flurry of wings.
Silently thanking the cat for the distraction and hoping he knew what he was doing, Belle ran for the gate, then ducked inside and slowed to a confident walk. She could see where the cat's passage had distorted the magical wards, making it easier for something human-sized to slip through. Thankfully, ogres were too either too big or too ugly to serve as palace guards.
Ahead of her, the monkeys screeched and roared, their cries mingled with human voices as the palace guards were drawn to the commotion.
Belle focused on the concentrated point of magic she sensed deep inside the palace. That had to be the dagger. She recognized the entwined strands of light and dark, distinctive even in this rewritten reality. It was useless to find Rumple without also securing possession of the thing that held such absolute control over him (but not her, not in this false world).
But Belle was not the first or the only person to know that.
She ducked around another corner and slipped through a hidden door to emerge in an alcove. She peered warily around a glowing green column to see the throne room. Green and gold everywhere, with curtains marking the seat of power at the back of the dais.
And the Wicked Queen, in all her green-skinned glory, strode across the stage, angry snarl on her face as she berated the flinging monkey squealing at her feet. "Silence! Half a dozen of you, outwitted by one miserable feline?"
The monkey whimpered, wings drooping pathetically. Four or five more clustered just outside the main entrance of the room, peeking at their unlucky comrade.
Zelena sneered. "I'll feed you to Rumple. At least I'll get some use out of you."
The monkey broke and fled, claws scrabbling on the slick floor.
Zelena laughed and gestured. "Snack time, pet! You've been such a good boy, you need to keep your strength up."
And from under her skirt, a ten-foot long serpent slithered out. With deceptive speed, it lunged and struck, fangs sinking into the monkey's left flank.
She had found the dagger. She had found him. This close, the blaze of magic was blinding, brightest in the collar around the serpent's neck. Belle could see the spikes of power where the collar had been nailed deep into the flesh, holding it in place. Anchoring it to what felt like a bottomless hungry void.
Rumple! The silent cry burst out from her heart.
He couldn't hear her. He was lost.
Damn Zelena! Belle had never hated anyone so much. What has she done to him?
