For the Soul
Oct. 23rd, 2014 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katleeptWorking Title: For the Soul
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Character/Pairing: RumBelle (Rumplestiltskin/Belle)
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge: This is for a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lands_of_magic challenge. If you join, be sure to tell them Kat Lee of Team Neverland sent you!
Warning(s): SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 3 and 4!!!
Word Count: 1,537
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
He awakes to find himself alone in a bed long grown cold. His body has little, natural heat left to it, and his wife, his senses tell him, has not been in this room for hours. He also senses that she is in trouble and rises, calling her name. "Belle? Belle?"
It is his own voice that echoes back to him. His forehead creases as he leaves his bed and his bare feet hit a cold, stone floor. He isn't in their new home, or even his shop or her library. He's back in the castle. Laughter echoes, and memories flash through him. He would know that laugh anywhere.
"ZELENA!" he roars, drawing a ball of flame up into a hand as much to light the room as to hurl at her. If she was going to appear, she would have already shown, but that knowledge doesn't stop him from calling out, "SHOW YOURSELF!" It is only now that he thinks it truly wise that he never gave his dagger to Belle, but where is the dagger? He tries to materialize it, but nothing happens except laughter that burns him.
He growls. He killed the Witch! She shouldn't be here! But he knows that laughter is hers. "SHOW YOURSELF, DAMN YOU!" As the laughter continues, he leaves the room. He can feel her flying close to him, but he still can't see her. He strikes out, but his fists hit only the stone walls that seem to be closing in on him. He clearly recalls his castle being considerably more spacious, but though this place looks like his home in the Enchanted Forest, he knows it's not.
Nothing he is seeing at this time is as it appears. A trickster such as he can not be tricked. He knows illusions when he sees them, but Zelena's cackling laughter is real, too real. "SHOW YOURSELF OR I'LL -- "
Finally, she answers him, but she still doesn't show. "Really, Rumplestiltskin, what can you do now, even if I no longer have the dagger? You killed me, remember? You killed me, and your sweet, little Belle found out!" Her laughter grows hysterical.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH BELLE?!"
"Now, Rumple, you know that isn't the question."
"Regina? You're working with the Witch?!" He looks at her, aghast, as she comes out of one of the walls that still seem to be pressing in all around him.
"Never." She scowls her distaste of the thought. "But she is right. You know that. We never get our happy endings, because we don't allow ourselves to be happy." Her eyes bore into his. He can feel her breath washing over his face as she states matter-of-factly, "We always destroy our own happiness." She walks right through him, leaving him as cold as ice, and vanishes without a trace.
"This isn't natural, not natural at all, but also not magical. This place is topsy-turvy, topsy-turvy. Oh, what a mess I've a made! What a mess we've made!"
Flames jump from the walls, lighting the pathway ahead. Rumplestiltskin draws back when he sees his own self sitting once more at a spinning wheel. "Must spin my brain together, dearie. The magic's in the brain, and the brain's in the thread. Must spin, spin, spin."
Rumplestiltskin's cunning mind is indeed spinning for he knows this time he has finally been outwitted and whoever has done it has his beloved Belle. His mind races for answers, but none come quickly, let alone surely. He fears he may finally have gone truly, completely mad. He fears, too, that he may be in a Hell or another likewise entrapment. "Where am I?" His own voice echoes in the corridor.
"Spinning, spinning, spinning!" His other self giggles madly.
"Zelena! Where are you? What is this place?"
"Zelena can't answer you."
He whirls around to face the newcomer, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "Son?"
"You know that, Papa. You killed her, just like you killed me."
"I didn't kill you! She did! That's why I killed the Witch!"
"Is it? Is it, really, and not because you were angry at her for controlling you? You never were a very loving father."
"I always loved you, Bae! I might not have always known how to show it -- "
"Please," he scoffs. "You loved the magic. You never let me forget I wasn't as important as your magic. You couldn't even give it up to save my life."
"I'd give it up now! I'd give it all up now if only you truly lived again!"
"But the dead can't live again, can they, Papa? You think they can. You think that hat will show you the way. Then again," Baelfire shrugs, "you're probably just lying again. You've always been so full of lies!"
"I'm not lying!" Tears glitter in the Dark One's eyes. He tries to reach for his son, but suddenly, there seems to be miles between them. Still, he can hear his words clearly with ease.
"You are. You never told the truth, not when you said you'd change, not when you said you loved me, not when you told me everything you'd done, with the curse and all else, was to get me back. You never once told me the truth, and you never told Belle the truth! She finally found out, you know. That's why she left you!"
"She hasn't -- "
"She left you. She ran from you, and you killed her for her deceit!"
"I would never -- "
But then, suddenly, in the floor between them, a body appears. His heart sinks for he knows already who it is. "Belle? Belle! Oh, no! NO!" He runs to her and hits on the floor on his knees. He turns her over, and as surely as he'd feared, her body is still and cold. The beautiful, blue eyes that once looked at him with such unending love are now lifeless, staring at him with a dark, dullness he never saw in her before.
His other self laughs at him as he keeps spinning. "Killed her! Killed her, we did!" he sings.
"No! No! NO!" He is openly sobbing now. Zelena's laughing once again, but she's not alone. Regina is with her, and so are the guards who once tormented him and Mia. They're all laughing at him, but all he can think is that his precious Belle is gone, taken from him . . .
By his own hand? Bae is still telling him he did it, he killed his Belle, when Rumplestiltskin spies the hilt of the dagger sticking in her stomach. He pulls it out, and it is indeed his name that flashes on the long, silver blade. "NO!" He screams and drops the weapon, but the dagger doesn't fall. It slashes into him instead as the world literally drops out from under his feet.
He's spinning, tumbling head over nothing into a gaping darkness. Belle's corpse is beside him, and Baelfire is on his other side. "Why do you act so surprised, Papa? You know you're a monster. You know you destroy everything you touch. Look at you. You're pathetic, always grabbing onto magic and never protecting the ones who claim to love! But that's just it, isn't it, Papa? You never loved us! You never loved us! You're incapable of loving!"
Baelfire's furious words, his own screams, and the laughter of all those who have gone against him are swirling around Rumplestiltskin as he falls. He grabs for Belle, but her body disappears, vanishing and leaving only dark, green scarves fluttering behind her in the wind where her dress had once been. He grabs at them, but his fingers go straight through them. He's still screaming when another voice breaks through to him.
"Rumple? Rumple, wake up, darling!"
His eyes crack open as Belle continues to shake him. "Belle?" he whispers breathlessly. The word is almost a whimper.
"Yes, yes, of course! I'm here! I'm fine! You're fine!"
He's far from fine, but he doesn't admit to it as he grabs her and holds her tightly against him. She strokes his face, looking at him once more with all the love she's always held for him, all the love he's never deserved. "You had a dream," she tells him softly, "an awful nightmare."
It felt so real, but still, he doesn't speak. It all felt so real. A part of him wants to reach for his dagger just to make certain that no one else has it, but the larger part of his heart and soul just wants to hold to Belle. "You're fine," she repeating, still stroking him. "Everything's okay."
Sometimes, he wonders if it will ever be okay again. He's lost his son, the very reason why he became the Dark One and why he's driven to do so much of what he's done. He turned all their worlds upside down, and for what? In the end, Bae was still gone. In the end, his nightmare of losing his child was still real.
"Sh." Belle hugs him, and if a few drops of moisture fall from his eyes into her long, brown hair, neither admits to noticing it. She holds and rocks him, and he holds to her for her life and for his very soul.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Character/Pairing: RumBelle (Rumplestiltskin/Belle)
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge: This is for a
lands_of_magic challenge. If you join, be sure to tell them Kat Lee of Team Neverland sent you!Warning(s): SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 3 and 4!!!
Word Count: 1,537
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
He awakes to find himself alone in a bed long grown cold. His body has little, natural heat left to it, and his wife, his senses tell him, has not been in this room for hours. He also senses that she is in trouble and rises, calling her name. "Belle? Belle?"
It is his own voice that echoes back to him. His forehead creases as he leaves his bed and his bare feet hit a cold, stone floor. He isn't in their new home, or even his shop or her library. He's back in the castle. Laughter echoes, and memories flash through him. He would know that laugh anywhere.
"ZELENA!" he roars, drawing a ball of flame up into a hand as much to light the room as to hurl at her. If she was going to appear, she would have already shown, but that knowledge doesn't stop him from calling out, "SHOW YOURSELF!" It is only now that he thinks it truly wise that he never gave his dagger to Belle, but where is the dagger? He tries to materialize it, but nothing happens except laughter that burns him.
He growls. He killed the Witch! She shouldn't be here! But he knows that laughter is hers. "SHOW YOURSELF, DAMN YOU!" As the laughter continues, he leaves the room. He can feel her flying close to him, but he still can't see her. He strikes out, but his fists hit only the stone walls that seem to be closing in on him. He clearly recalls his castle being considerably more spacious, but though this place looks like his home in the Enchanted Forest, he knows it's not.
Nothing he is seeing at this time is as it appears. A trickster such as he can not be tricked. He knows illusions when he sees them, but Zelena's cackling laughter is real, too real. "SHOW YOURSELF OR I'LL -- "
Finally, she answers him, but she still doesn't show. "Really, Rumplestiltskin, what can you do now, even if I no longer have the dagger? You killed me, remember? You killed me, and your sweet, little Belle found out!" Her laughter grows hysterical.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH BELLE?!"
"Now, Rumple, you know that isn't the question."
"Regina? You're working with the Witch?!" He looks at her, aghast, as she comes out of one of the walls that still seem to be pressing in all around him.
"Never." She scowls her distaste of the thought. "But she is right. You know that. We never get our happy endings, because we don't allow ourselves to be happy." Her eyes bore into his. He can feel her breath washing over his face as she states matter-of-factly, "We always destroy our own happiness." She walks right through him, leaving him as cold as ice, and vanishes without a trace.
"This isn't natural, not natural at all, but also not magical. This place is topsy-turvy, topsy-turvy. Oh, what a mess I've a made! What a mess we've made!"
Flames jump from the walls, lighting the pathway ahead. Rumplestiltskin draws back when he sees his own self sitting once more at a spinning wheel. "Must spin my brain together, dearie. The magic's in the brain, and the brain's in the thread. Must spin, spin, spin."
Rumplestiltskin's cunning mind is indeed spinning for he knows this time he has finally been outwitted and whoever has done it has his beloved Belle. His mind races for answers, but none come quickly, let alone surely. He fears he may finally have gone truly, completely mad. He fears, too, that he may be in a Hell or another likewise entrapment. "Where am I?" His own voice echoes in the corridor.
"Spinning, spinning, spinning!" His other self giggles madly.
"Zelena! Where are you? What is this place?"
"Zelena can't answer you."
He whirls around to face the newcomer, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "Son?"
"You know that, Papa. You killed her, just like you killed me."
"I didn't kill you! She did! That's why I killed the Witch!"
"Is it? Is it, really, and not because you were angry at her for controlling you? You never were a very loving father."
"I always loved you, Bae! I might not have always known how to show it -- "
"Please," he scoffs. "You loved the magic. You never let me forget I wasn't as important as your magic. You couldn't even give it up to save my life."
"I'd give it up now! I'd give it all up now if only you truly lived again!"
"But the dead can't live again, can they, Papa? You think they can. You think that hat will show you the way. Then again," Baelfire shrugs, "you're probably just lying again. You've always been so full of lies!"
"I'm not lying!" Tears glitter in the Dark One's eyes. He tries to reach for his son, but suddenly, there seems to be miles between them. Still, he can hear his words clearly with ease.
"You are. You never told the truth, not when you said you'd change, not when you said you loved me, not when you told me everything you'd done, with the curse and all else, was to get me back. You never once told me the truth, and you never told Belle the truth! She finally found out, you know. That's why she left you!"
"She hasn't -- "
"She left you. She ran from you, and you killed her for her deceit!"
"I would never -- "
But then, suddenly, in the floor between them, a body appears. His heart sinks for he knows already who it is. "Belle? Belle! Oh, no! NO!" He runs to her and hits on the floor on his knees. He turns her over, and as surely as he'd feared, her body is still and cold. The beautiful, blue eyes that once looked at him with such unending love are now lifeless, staring at him with a dark, dullness he never saw in her before.
His other self laughs at him as he keeps spinning. "Killed her! Killed her, we did!" he sings.
"No! No! NO!" He is openly sobbing now. Zelena's laughing once again, but she's not alone. Regina is with her, and so are the guards who once tormented him and Mia. They're all laughing at him, but all he can think is that his precious Belle is gone, taken from him . . .
By his own hand? Bae is still telling him he did it, he killed his Belle, when Rumplestiltskin spies the hilt of the dagger sticking in her stomach. He pulls it out, and it is indeed his name that flashes on the long, silver blade. "NO!" He screams and drops the weapon, but the dagger doesn't fall. It slashes into him instead as the world literally drops out from under his feet.
He's spinning, tumbling head over nothing into a gaping darkness. Belle's corpse is beside him, and Baelfire is on his other side. "Why do you act so surprised, Papa? You know you're a monster. You know you destroy everything you touch. Look at you. You're pathetic, always grabbing onto magic and never protecting the ones who claim to love! But that's just it, isn't it, Papa? You never loved us! You never loved us! You're incapable of loving!"
Baelfire's furious words, his own screams, and the laughter of all those who have gone against him are swirling around Rumplestiltskin as he falls. He grabs for Belle, but her body disappears, vanishing and leaving only dark, green scarves fluttering behind her in the wind where her dress had once been. He grabs at them, but his fingers go straight through them. He's still screaming when another voice breaks through to him.
"Rumple? Rumple, wake up, darling!"
His eyes crack open as Belle continues to shake him. "Belle?" he whispers breathlessly. The word is almost a whimper.
"Yes, yes, of course! I'm here! I'm fine! You're fine!"
He's far from fine, but he doesn't admit to it as he grabs her and holds her tightly against him. She strokes his face, looking at him once more with all the love she's always held for him, all the love he's never deserved. "You had a dream," she tells him softly, "an awful nightmare."
It felt so real, but still, he doesn't speak. It all felt so real. A part of him wants to reach for his dagger just to make certain that no one else has it, but the larger part of his heart and soul just wants to hold to Belle. "You're fine," she repeating, still stroking him. "Everything's okay."
Sometimes, he wonders if it will ever be okay again. He's lost his son, the very reason why he became the Dark One and why he's driven to do so much of what he's done. He turned all their worlds upside down, and for what? In the end, Bae was still gone. In the end, his nightmare of losing his child was still real.
"Sh." Belle hugs him, and if a few drops of moisture fall from his eyes into her long, brown hair, neither admits to noticing it. She holds and rocks him, and he holds to her for her life and for his very soul.
The End
