The Old Path
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Red Riding Hood | Ruby, Grumpy | Leroy, Evil Queen | Regina Mills, Blue Fairy | Mother Superior, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy Additional Tags: Winter Solstice, Wild Hunt, rumbelle secret santa 2025, Rumbelle Secret Santa (Once Upon a Time), Mysticism, Magic, AU
Summary: An ancient curse, an unlikely protector, and a remembered shared past all come together to combat a new danger to Storybrooke as sudden onset of winter after a too long summer heralds the arrival of merciless Wild Hunt, and this time, the Fae have a single target in mind. Rumbelle Secret Santa 2025.
Written for @chippedteacupchat for Rumbelle Secret Santa 2025. The prompts were: Forced proximity, Christmas Eve, Baelfire. I took some artistic license with one of those, but only by a day or two. I hope they don't mind.
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The Old Path.
Mōdraniht
It had been such a long, hot summer that had lingered far too long into fall, that when winter fell like an ax, sudden and brutal, no one was prepared for it, certainly not the smaller towns in Maine, towns like Storybrooke.
Belle pulled the meager cardigan more tightly around her shoulders, making a mental note to speak to Regina about getting the heating in the library maintained. It wasn’t that it didn’t work at all, it was just that it couldn’t keep up to heat the building since the temperature began plummeting. It was winter, after all. Almost midwinter in fact, and Belle, like everybody else, had become complacent; lulled into a false sense of security that a sweater was enough, and no one needed to change the thermostat.
“Ah, Ms. French,” Regina’s voice came from nowhere, as if Belle had conjured her by the power of thought alone, “I’m glad I caught you without too many patrons.” Belle’s stomach twisted with a new worry. Whatever was coming, she sensed it wouldn’t be good. “I need to speak with you about an important matter.”
“Madame Mayor, of course,” she said, trying not to let her wariness color her voice. “Would you care to sit—?”
“No need,” Regina answered brusquely, “this won’t take long, and I’ll cut right to the chase. Effective immediately, the Library will open ten until one—”
“Three hours daily!” Belle said, indignation replacing trepidation. “No, that’s not right. The peop—”
“Ten until one, Thursday through Saturday,” Regina ran right over her objections.
“You can’t do that!” Belle yelped.
“I already have,” Regina said coldly, “And since it’s already two thirty, you’re done for the day. With its current patronage, Storybrooke simply cannot support a full time library, or Librarian. You can stay in the apartment until the new year, but then after that…”
“This is outrageous!” Belle spat. “How am I supposed to survive on scraps.”
“How you make your living is your own business,” Regina absently examined the fingertips of her gloved hands, “but the reduced hours should give you plenty of time to make… alternative arrangements, don’t you think?”
“The people of Storybrooke won’t stand for this,” Belle warned.
“The people of Storybrooke will do as they’re told,” Regina countered. “As will you,” she added. “Unless you’d like me to fire you, and close the library altogether.”
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Belle growled, gathering her purse from its place beneath the circulation desk, then grabbing, and holding tightly to the library key. “So, I’m damned if I’ll give you that satisfaction.”
“I’m glad we understand one another,” Regina purred, dripping sarcasm with each syllable. “I’ll see myself out.”
The retort Belle conjured never made it past her lips before Storybrooke’s mayor swept out of the library, and had entirely disappeared by the time Belle reached the door and stepped outside.
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