Rescued
lxve-conquers:
The closer Belle got to the thick forest, the louder his voice became which only lead her to believe that he really was out here, but why? For what purpose? He had promised her he wouldn’t go after the Queen, and she believed him, she still did, so perhaps something else brought him all the way out here. It had to be something important, something urgent, and clearly something that put him in danger judging by the way he was calling her name. It instilled fear into her heart - panic to be more exact because of how panicked he sounded. He was in danger, he sounded hurt and the thought made Belle grip the sword’s hilt even tighter as she ventured into the woods.
“Rumple!? Rumple, I’m here!” Belle called out to him as she continued walking in the direction his screams had been coming from. “Where are you!?” She called out to him, knowing she had to be close judging by the distance she walked and how much louder his voice became the further she went. She didn’t even realize just how far from his castle she was now, but she hadn’t given it second thought either because all that mattered to her was finding the man she loved.
Only this time, instead of his voice, silence followed. That wasn’t a good sign. “Rumple!?” She called out again, her voice sounding a bit desperate now at the thought of something having happened to him. Had she been too late? Did she move to slow? No. No, he had to be okay! He had to be out here somewhere!
“Rumple, please! Where are you!?” She asked again, desperately hoping that he would call her name at least one more time so she could find him, but there was nothing. Only the sound of the leaves blowing in the cool forest breeze and she could feel her heart shatter in pieces. Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of being too late to find him, to save him, but she continued to move deeper - refusing to give up until she knew for sure. What if the Queen had captured him? Or worse. What if he had been… “No. No, I will find you, Rumple.” She wouldn’t dare think those dark thoughts.
She continued her search, not even thinking about the barrier Rumple had placed around his castle and how far it stretched so as far as she knew, she could have been way beyond the edge of it. Or perhaps she was still inside of it because, chances are, he would have at least made it visible to Belle’s eyes.
Suddenly she heard some noise come from behind her - leaves and twigs being crunched as if someone were walking. With a light gasp, Belle turned around, sword still in her hand. “Rumple?” She softly called out, her heart beating a mile a minute as she took a few steps forward, desperately hoping that noise had been him.
But then came a growl. A low, menacing growl that didn’t sound of a human, but instead of an animal and it made her freeze. “Who’s there?” She asked, her grip on the sword tightening once more as she readied herself for whatever beast may make an appearance. And then the growl was heard again, this time followed by a snarl to her right and when she looked in that direction, there it was. A wolf. Large than normal and looking quite agitated. Had she stepped into it’s territory by mistake? It bared it’s fangs at her, giving another warning snarl as it inched closer to her, prompting Belle to step backwards. Then another wolf made an appearance in the original direction she first heard the growling coming from. Then another next to that one.
Belle’s eyes widened with fear as more continued to step out from the shadows, eventually leaving her almost surrounded. The only way to run was behind her, the direction that would take her further away from the castle. “I mean no harm! Please, I was only searching for someone.” Belle spoke out on the off chance that maybe they could understand her. But they only snarled at her and stepped closer. Had this been some sort of trick? Had she been lured purposely out here by fake screams. With a hard swallow, Belle turned as if she were about to run but one of the wolves attacked and with a frightened shout, Belle swung the sword at the animal and watched as it hit the ground with a whimper. Then another came at her and she did the same thing, watching as that one also fell to the ground causing the others to step away. Her hands were shaking - heck, her whole body was shaking now not just from the fear and panic, but from the adrenaline surging through her body.
Another wolf, this time from the side, lunged at her and this time went for the sword. Its jaw clamped down on the weapon while it’s claws grabbed onto her hand making her let out a painful yell before dropping the weapon. She grasped at her bleeding hand before immediately turning and running away from the wolves - ducking under and leaping over branches and nearly tripping over bushes. “Rumple!!” Belle called out, partly from fear and panic of something happening to him, still hoping he was out here, and the other part out of instinct and habit - because whenever she was in some kind of danger, her mind always went to him. Eventually one of the wolves caught up from behind her and grabbed onto the tail end of her, biting down hard and yanking roughly which pulled Belle backwards, throwing her onto the ground with a frightened yell. The wolves then surrounded her, their growls threatening as they inched closer to her. In a panic, she looked around her, trying to find something she could use as a weapon, anything, but all she had within reach, right behind her to be exact, was one rock the size of a baseball. So, desperate to use whatever she could, she grabbed onto it and the wolves took that as a threatening sign and one lunged at her from behind and another from the front - they knew she had no way out of this one. Not this time…
His heart pounded with trepidation and fear. Belle wasn’t in their castle and it was terrifying. After everything that had happened with the Evil Queen he felt like he was on the edge anyway when it came to protecting the woman he loved and their son. But to traipse through the hallways of the castle without her in sight it was mortifying in how horrific it left him feeling. He needed to find her and the open door was the only clue he had to where precisely she had gone.
So he raced through the forest and used his magic to try to track her, cursing to himself as he felt a weakness to his magic. The Queen. It had to be her. She’d done something, not something strong enough to break his barrier but something strong enough to put something in there. Something that was getting stronger the further he got, the closer he grew to the barrier of his own protective wards. Which could only mean one thing; the Queen was trying to harm Belle again.
He was sick of how people used her as a pawn against him. Stripping away her identity as a strong, independent woman to consider her as nothing more than the love of The Dark One. He understood, of course and still believed love could be a weakness. But the strength Belle gave him and his love for her gave it, absolutely overwhelmed any weakness he felt. It didn’t make it any better though that people used her as they did because she was so much more. People underestimated her constantly and the Queen was more guilty of that than anyone else.
Finally, mercifully - perhaps not if it meant she were in danger? - Rumple could hear his name being shouted by Belle and knew he was nearing her. He ran and he ran, cursing further at the weakness he felt to his magic. But whatever the Queen had done he would fight it, he would stop it, and he would find and save Belle. He wouldn’t allow any harm to come to Belle without any retribution towards the Queen. Promises be damned; the Queen had to die for the trouble she was putting his love through.
When he heard snarling and shouting he felt a panic rise but knew he had to fight it, harness it and use it because when a pack of wolves came in sight surrounding something he knew instinctively that they were surrounding Belle. Wolves that were larger than usual so obviously the product of magic. Which meant the only way to stop them would be magic, which was going to be an issue to fight for him.
He let out a sound of fury as he lifted his hands up, channelling whatever strength in magic he had in him and the protective instincts he felt to send the wolves all flying backwards with a blast of light. He lifted one hand up towards a lone wolf that remained standing, vadering him as he lifted the wolf up in the air. The others were vanishing in to piles of dust from the impact of his magic as he stepped in towards the wolf, wanting to work out just what the hell it was that these wolves were crafted from.
So he reached in to the chest of the wolf to snap his hand back out to pull out whatever heart it had beating within it, finding - unsurprisingly - nothing. Which made it clear to him that this was a purely magical creation, and was destroyed with another forceful wave of his hand. It took a lot out of him to do what he did with his magic considering the affect the Queen had somehow had on his wards, causing him to drop down to one knee briefly.
But he knew he had to pull himself together. Belle had been harmed and she was his priority, always. So almost as soon as he had fallen he was back up, moving towards her to purposely drop to his knees this time in order to check her for wounds. “Belle, love, what are you doing out here? Did she-- was she here?”








