1: All time favorite Disney movie: The Hunchback of Notre Dame2: Top 5 Disney movies: HoND, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Enchanted, and Lilo and Stitch3: Favorite Princess: Four way tie between Rapunzel, Tiana, Merida, and Elsa-- nothing against the older princesses, but there's just something about the new ones that I adore.4: Favorite Prince: I have the worst crush on Prince Naveen, which is in a big part thanks to one of his friends at WDW <35: Favorite couple: Another tie! This one's between Rapunzel/Eugene and Tiana/Naveen
a/n: hey soooo i never posted this chapter on tumblr and i think imma update this story later this evening, so here is chapter 5 :) if you wanna read the previous ones it's all on ff.net!
Summary: He often came to see her. He often wondered what that meant. He felt certain that she already knew. "Please, Jack. It's seeming like. . .like you're all I have left."
Fandoms: Rise of the Guardians/Frozen
Rating: T for the moment (it may be a very short moment)
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor do I own Frozen or ROTG.
~xx~
Elsa was overwhelmed instantly. She had never known something so beautiful could exist in the comfort of her own bedroom. The snow fell lightly onto her clothes and furniture, and everything was decorated in beautiful patterns of snow and ice. She gasped and laughed and looked around for the person responsible for the home-improvement experiment.
“Jack?” she called, closing her bedroom door so that no one could hear. “Hello?”
It took a moment, but he emerged from her closet. That scared her a bit, and she thought of all the embarrassing things he could have seen in there.
Elsa was so surprised that she seemed to have forgotten how to speak, and she felt such relief when Jack began to explain.
“I didn't know what to get you...I mean, you're just really different...” he walked closer to her and she gave him an odd look regarding his comment, “Not in a bad way!” he assured her, “Not at all! In fact, it's amazing.”
Elsa blushed crimson and Jack continued to glide toward her through the thin blizzard he had created. When he was only but a foot away from her, he picked up her hands and placed this little vase between them. “Here,” he said, “I thought you'd like it.”
She smiled softly, looking at the little rose in her hands with something like admiration. “I love it,” she whispered.
“You do?” Jack asked her.
She looked up at him. Her eyes were so bright and shining with happiness. “Yes. All of this. It's amazing, Jack...I can't believe that you did this for me, it must have taken you hours!”
“Well, I heard about the ball this evening and figured I could pull it off. You did get back sooner than expected though. And it's alright if you need to go back, I can wait for you.” He supplied.
Elsa rolled her eyes. “I don't need to go back. And even if they notice I'm missing they won't think to track me down. My parents are afraid of me. And it's such a silly ball. It's all publicity. They're trying to advertize me or something.”
Jack looked worried by this. Elsa wondered if it was because he didn't like the idea of her being advertized. Because that would mean he didn't want her being shown off to other men...right?
“Well, I guess it's good you got out of there, huh?” he said.
She looked around at the beautiful display surrounding her. The icicles formed at the corners of the room, and the misty coolness that overwhelmed her. Then she looked down at her simple little present and laughed softly, “Yes, I am very glad I came up here instead.”
In the silence that followed, a few things happened that Elsa could not possibly have expected. First, Jack took the little vase from her and placed it on the dresser while she looked at him quizzically. Then he came back over to her and took her hands in his. They were so cool, and she felt the ice crystals start to form inside their palms. The patterns were more beautiful when it was both of them creating them. And Jack was looking so intently into her eyes, and their faces were moving closer together without Elsa even realizing it and suddenly her eyes had drifted closed and Jack's lips were on hers.
His lips felt warm against hers, though Elsa knew they could not actually be. He held her hands a bit tighter and she felt the magic between them intensify. She was so surprised that he'd kissed her, and at the same time she had never been so happy in her whole life.
Elsa pulled away after a moment. Her whole face felt warm with an unfamiliar feeling. Jack was smirking at her, but it was nervous and he still was not letting go of her hands.
“That was the rest of your present,” he confessed.
She smiled brightly and purely. “It's the best thing I've ever gotten.”
Jack blushed, releasing one of her hands and placing his hand on her hip. “Do you mean that?”
“Of course,” she told him, “You've outdone yourself, Jack.”
He laughed. “Well, thank you. And happy birthday, princess.”
Elsa laughed in such a happy way it was almost unlike herself. She took her tight hair down and spun around in the snow that blanketed her room while Jack watched her, amused and charmed by her demeanor. She caught the snowflakes in her hand and then used her own magic to make it twist and swirl to her liking.
After witnessing this for a bit, Jack asked her, “What are you doing?”
She grinned wickedly and with a wave of her hand, transformed the bits of snow in her hand into a perfect snowball, and flung it toward Jack.
She missed, and he just shook his head at her.”I'm enjoying the snow!” she exclaimed, “Don't just stand there, join me!”
He laughed and her and went to stand by her side. She smiled. “Jack?”
a/n: hiiii dearest! It is I, your rumbelle ss! I hope you like this! I had lots of fun writing it! I know it's not perfect, and sorry it's late! Merry Christmas, babe!
~xx~
~Year One~
She felt awkward. She was trying hard not to let anyone see that, but riding the train alone was hardly enjoyable, and not a single person was making an effort to get to know her. She kept her eyes glued to the page of her book. It was a textbook, but she was curious about magic and was reading it purely for enjoyment. Well, and so that people might be fooled into thinking that she was sitting alone people she wanted to and not because she did not know a single person on this train.
There was only one other person she had seen that was sitting alone, and he was in the compartment directly across from her. He made no effort to look busy. Instead, he stared out the window as if contemplating something.
She had been sizing him up for most of the train ride, and it had been a while. She assumed they were close to the school. He never looked away from the window. He never cared that no one made an effort to talk to him.
She muttered to herself something about doing the brave thing, stood up, and opened the door to her compartment before crossing the hallway and opening the door to his.
"Hello," she said. He hardly paid her a glance, but did respond.
"Hello."
"Is anyone else sitting here?"
"No. Why?"
She was shocked at his response. She thought that it was obvious why, but apparently she was not making herself clear enough.
"Because I would like to join you," she stated. There. She could not possibly be any more clear than that.
"Oh," he said, which she took as invitation to sit down. She looked out the window, hoping to see something magnificent. After all, he seemed completely absorbed in whatever was out there.
"What's your name?" She asked absentmindedly, still searching for something out that window.
"Gold." he said flatly. She thought better than to question it.
"Oh, excellent," she said, but it hardly sounded like she thought it was excellent, "I'm Belle. Belle French."
He just nodded, and Belle began to get very frustrated with him.
"Where are you hoping to be sorted?" she asked, "everyone has a preference."
"Slytherin. My father was in slytherin. It's in my blood. Anywhere else is near to humiliating." he smirked, obviously certain that her preference was different. "And you? What's your preference, dearie?"
"I don't know," she answered, "My parents were in gryffindor, but bravery doesn't seem to be my strong suit."
"Well perhaps we'll be together then. I could stand to know someone in my house."
Belle laughed. "Perhaps. But I'm not sure. I doubt I have the...ambition to be in slytherin."
"Ambition is hardly a factor. It's all just a bit of personality typology and blood relations in my opinion."
She didn't really know how to respond to that. Maybe because he was right. Maybe because he was totally wrong. But he simply shrugged off her silence and directed his attention back out the window. She took out her textbook regarding beginners transfiguration.
They did not speak for the rest of the train ride.
~xx~
Belle walked next to him into the hallway where they were made to wait before being sorted. The silence was uncomfortable to her, but he seemed completely at peace with it. They listened to a tall woman with an aura of strictness explain the procedures that would follow. Belle listened to the other children discuss which houses they hoped to be sorted into. She really wished someone would pay her some attention, but no one did. Instead, she stood next to the silent boy and counted the seconds until they would be sorted.
When the ceremony finally began, she realized that most of it was watching and waiting. She stood patiently in the line, anxious and quiet, while the people in front of her were sorted into their houses.
It felt like such a long time had passed when she was finally called up. They placed the sorting hat over her chestnut curls and she listened to it debate about her.
"Interesting. Very interesting. A desire to be brave, I see, but that certainly does not overshadow your intellectual stability. I think..."
Belle stayed quiet, waiting for the hat's final decision...
"Ravenclaw!" she heard, and she sighed with half-relief, half-disappointment. She was glad it was over, but afraid of her father's reaction when he learned that she was not in gryffindor.
Gold was right after her. His sorting took longer than most. She wondered why. He seemed purely slytherin to her, and even though that was where he ended up, it seemed to take quite a while for the sorting hat to make that decision.
They were separated now. She tried not to be upset by that as she took her seat by a boy with brown hair and a perplexed gaze. He smiled at her briefly as she sat.
"Hi," he said softly, "I'm August."
She was so happy that someone was speaking to her that she could not help but grin. "Hi!" she said, perhaps too excitedly, "I'm Belle. Belle French."
He smiled softly again. "Nice to meet you, Belle French."
They watched more people get sorted. A cute boy with dark, messy hair into hufflepuff, a tall, dark, and handsome fellow into slytherin, a pale black-haired girl into gryffindor, a wicked-looking girl into slytherin...
No one else came to sit on the other side of Belle. She figured August may be the only person she met today.
As she thought this, her eyes locked with Gold's across the room. And she recalled that August was not the only person she met today, and certainly not the one that she would remember.
~xx~
~Year Two~
He hardly spoke to anyone last year, and anyone he did speak to somehow became his enemy.
This was mostly in reference to Killian Jones, the bothersome pirate who made it his personal mission to make Gold's life impossibly hideous. He loved make snide comments as he strode passed Gold, usually in toe with Ruby Lucas. The Lucas girl was too young now to be alluring, but both Gold and Jones saw her potential. Jones was just a bit more pursuing of it.
Then there was Regina. They shared quite a complicated relationship for two just-over-twelve year olds. They often allied for a mutual goal, but Regina's distaste of Gold was undeniable. She found him to be a conniving snake, as he always used her to undermine Jones without telling her that was the goal.
The only person in his house that Gold occasionally shared long conversations by the fireplace with was Milah. He had no idea what her last name was because she did not want him to know it. She didn't like when people called her by her last name. She seemed to be such a friend for Gold. Perhaps more, if he could keep Jones' filthy eyes off her. The stupid prat never left her alone once the Lucas girl was out of sight.
Gold's only truly enjoyable part of the day was History of Magic, which was odd since the class was painfully boring. But since the first day of this year, Gold knew he would like it since on that first day, Belle French came to sit down next to him.
He did not talk to her after the train ride last year, and during this year's venture to Hogwarts, she had been sitting with that August W. Booth person (who Gold believed to be a real piece of work, personally), and the Lucas girl, who was of course attached to Jones. Gold found it odd, seeing to Ravenclaws joined at the hip with another two Slytherins. but he figured if anyone was going to be that accepting, it was Belle French. Lucas too, since she was hardly like any other slytherin he knew. She lacked a certain coldness he found in most of his housemates.
When Belle saw Gold sitting in History of Magic this year, her eyes lit up and she instantly took the seat next to him, abandoning August W. Booth to take the only remaining seat in class, which was by Mary Margaret Blanchard, a gryffindor girl who was a little too sweet for Gold's taste in people.
Belle beamed when she sat down next to him. "Hello, Mr. Gold," she said, he blue eyes landing on his before he got the chance to look away, "It's been a whole train ride since I last saw you."
He smiled a bit and glanced down at the surface of the table. "Is that to say I've been missed?"
She smiled a bit too. "It's to say that I felt awful wondering if I would never again see the first friend I met here."
"Friend?"
"Of course. I don't consider you an enemy, Gold."
He shook his head. "That's odd you know."
"That's alright," she complied lightly, "I've been hearing that I'm rather odd from plenty of people."
The lesson began, and Gold wondered if this would be the only time he spoke with Belle French this year.
It wasn't.
~xx~
~Year Three~
They rode the train together in secret that year. As it turned out, Gold had made another enemy in August W. Booth. He had cornered Gold a few times the previous year and told him to stay away from Belle. According to Booth, "she didn't need any rotten slytherins making her feel bad about herself."
Of course, Gold never made her feel bad about herself. He made her feel happy. He was her friend, and that was okay.
At the start of the train ride, Belle had been sitting with Booth and the Lucas girl (Killian was off being a bother to someone else, that heavens) in the compartment directly across from Gold. He sat with Regina and Milah. Regina was hardly amused.
But Gold and Belle had been writing to each other all summer, and planned to sit together as they had that first year. And so after the first hour or so of the ride, Belle got up and said, "I um...I have to go to...check on something. Sorry."
And she went to the very back compartment of the train. It was always empty, and no one ever went back there because it was cold and drafty. But moment later, Gold arrived, and they sat together, talking like old friend and laughing about the people they knew. They sat like two happy thirteen-year-olds who were a little bit in love.
~xx~
They had found a bit of separation throughout the year, due to having no classes with each other, and their friends being overly suspicious of them. August hated Gold. And Milah hated Belle. This caused quite a bit of distance between the two of them.
But they often found their peace of mind in the library, around five pm. Gold would write, and Belle would read. It was often silent because they were in the library, but they stole smiles and glances across the table they sat at.
On one particularly memorable library visit, Belle was on a ladder, looking for books high above the ones on the bottom shelf, and Gold was writing.
Finally, she broke the silent wall between them. It had been there for much of the year, and she was sick of it.
"Why do you write so much? What are you writing?"
He didn't even look up. He barely seemed to register that this was their first sort-of conversation in months of this routine. "I write what I remember. Help me forget it."
"Forget what?"
"I guess it worked."
She laughed, and he smiled knowing that he had made her laugh. It had been a while since he last accomplished that. He stood up, making his way over to her.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Trying to get this down," she replied, pulling at a book, "It's a nice one, good for letting some light in.."
She struggled more and more with it, and finally the book came right off the shelf, and Belle's feet came right off the ladder and she fell in a panic towards the floor.
But the hardwood never hit her back. Instead, a pair of arms caught her and she gasped, looking up into Gold's perfect, chocolate brown eyes and finally she said breathlessly, "I-I'm sorry."
"It's no matter," he stammered, setting her down quickly. She was so winded from falling, and so happy that he had caught her.
He left the library completely flustered.
But she didn't stop smiling.
And he didn't stop coming to the library every day, around 5 pm.
~xx~
~Year Four~
Belle remembered it as the year Gold ignored her completely.
Gold remembered it as the year Milah seemed to go absolutely insane, and Jones made killing him a lifelong goal.
In October on evening, Gold had stayed in the common room late with Milah. They were alone, and he had been telling her about something simple, like a potions exam or something of the sort. She had seemed so different though, and finally she said:
"Gold, I want to give you something."
He stopped short, though he was a bit insulted that she had blatantly interrupted him. "What?" he asked.
And then she had kissed him. And of course it was a standard fourteen-year-old kiss. Gold had been completely shocked by the gesture, and Milah had pulled away quickly before stammering something about wanting to do that for a while. He nodded and said "Me too," but he did not know if he was lying.
Of course, as with all first kisses, Gold stayed up thinking about it all night, and finally came to the conclusion that, yes, he liked her very much.
So when he saw her with Killian Jones the following day, he was so angry it was painful.
And maybe he should have spoken to her. Maybe he should have spoken to Killian. Maybe he should not have gone to the library, searched for how to duplicate handwriting. Maybe he should not have written a note from "Killian" to Milah and asked her to meet him out side Snape's office after curfew. Maybe he should not have gotten her expelled. But he did. And he never apologized. He never admitted to it, but Killian knew.
The remainder of the year consisted of screaming matches with Killian in the common room.
Occasionally, Gold would go into the library around 5 pm and look to see if Belle was there, just so that maybe he could find some peace of mind from everything that was happening. But she had stopped showing up after Christmas because he had stopped showing up for the entire month of December.
And he missed her so much.
A few days before the last day in the semester, he ran into Belle in the hallway during dinner. Since everyone was in the Great Hall, they were alone.
She tried to walk past him without a word, but his voice stopped her.
"Belle, wait. Please."
She turned around, her eyes narrowed in anger.
"What?" she demanded.
He searched for words for so long, "I just...I mean...hey."
It was such a stupid thing to decide on saying.
"Hey?!" she echoed, as if asking if he was actually serious.
"Belle, I-"
"Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think I don't know what you did to that girl? Do you think I don't care about what you did to me? You treated me like I was nothing this entire year and now all you have to say is 'hey'? Just save your breath, Gold. I've heard plenty."
"But you haven't heard it from me."
"Because you don't talk to me!" she yelled, and her voice echoed all throughout the halls. He winced. She was right, and he hated that.
"I-I'm sorry," he said softly.
"Good!"
And that was it. She stormed off into the Great Hall.
That was the last time he spoke to her that year.
~xx~
~Year Five~
My darling Belle,
I'm sorry that as it appears, I had ignored you. I'm sorry that you thought I'd forgotten because I promise that I hadn't. I'm sorry that you're all I have thought about this summer because I know you can sense that and that must be very annoying.
I'm sorry that I only realized how beautiful and special you are once you were gone. And that I spent so much time thinking about a million different futures when there was only one I should have been concerned about.
I want you to forgive me. No, scratch that. All I want is for you to ride the train with me to Hogwarts like always. Meet me in the back compartment. Please.
~Gold
~xx~
She did meet him in the back compartment. She was tempted not to because meeting him there felt like telling him she had accepted everything and that was not true.
But she would be lying if she said that she did not miss him, so she hurried to the back of the Hogwarts express and just admired him for a moment. He was so still, staring out the window like he expected something to change. Like it wasn't the same train ride as every year.
She moved the door open, and when he saw her he looked up nervously.
"Hey," he said.
She smiled softly. She couldn't help it. He was making her happy and she could not explain why. "Hey," she replied.
"Belle, I'm so sorry, I don't want--"
"It's fine," she said quickly, "You apologized so much in your letter. I would rather forget things now."
He nodded. "Alright."
"Good."
She took out a book on this year's astronomy course and became lost in the many pages on planets and stars. It was pretty boring, honestly, but she was afraid to talk to Gold. She had no idea what he might say.
But eventually, he was too sick of looking for something new in the scenery, and she'd had enough of the speculations and theories on the stars in Orion's belt. So they were just looking at each other.
"I should have known better than to let life take hold of me like that. You're such a brilliant person, Belle, and I didn't think you would mind if I was preoccupied for the moment. You shouldn't have minded because you're too good to worry about people like me. But I want you to...I don't know...I just want you to care but I know that you shouldn't. Does that make any sense?" Gold told her. He was so flustered searching for the right words to tell her.
"No," Belle said, laughing, "To any sane person that sounds absolutely and completely insane. But lucky for you, I am actually rather odd."
He grinned at her. "Good."
~xx~
They had continued with their library visits this year, despite all the irritating disturbances. Others had seemed to discover their little routine, and sometimes people like August or Jones would wander up purely to be a bother. August said it was because he was protecting Belle. He said he was raised being taught how to protect people.
"Bullshit," Gold told him, "she doesn't need your protection."
Jones was trying to gather intel on Gold, and so whenever the little irritant showed up in the library, Gold got a little more distant from Belle. He did not need Jones knowing his weakness.
All these issues led to a new meeting place for Belle and Gold: the front courtyard. They would meet there during dinner, when the area was empty.
And this was the final evening before the end of the year.
"I'm sorry to be keeping you from the feast...again," Gold said, running over to Belle, who stood by the fountain outside.
"Stop apologizing to me!" Belle said to him, "I would rather be here than inside listening to life lessons from August."
He laughed. "Well that's understandable."
"Are you going to write me this summer?"
"Of course," he told her, "And I will think about you every moment, Miss Belle French."
She smiled. "Me too. I-I mean...about you," she stammered, blushing furiously.
But he was so happy to hear that. Nothing else mattered.
In the silence that followed, he could have kissed her. He could have taken her face in his hands and pressed his lips softly against his and let her know exactly how precious she was to him. If she was not so good and perfect and beautiful, he would have kissed her so passionately that her head might have spun a bit.
But the fact was that she was too good for him.
So he didn't kiss her.
~xx~
~Year Six~
They rode the train together again.
She read him a herbology textbook with her head resting in his lap and her legs hanging off the side of the bench, and he laughed at how revolting most of the plants mentioned were. She shushed him and he ignored her. They both laughed and fell in love in a was that was subtle but completely undeniable.
~xx~
Christmas was especially beautiful this year. It was a bit colder than usual and neither Belle or Gold returned home for the holiday.
Belle explained that her parents were leaving on some sort of trip for the holidays and she had told them not to worry about her.
Gold said that he never went home for Christmas because his Papa didn't want him getting in the way.
They had been warned not to ditch dinner for the courtyard anymore, but the teachers said nothing about the outdoorsy, pillared balcony from which one could see a bright moon and falling stars.
They stood out there during the Christmas feast. The snow was absolutely gorgeous, and Belle could not think of a time when a moment had been more perfect except for...
"Gold," she said quickly, "Why have you distanced me since fourth year?"
"I have done no such thing," he argued.
"No, really," she said, "You had many opportunities and you just...kept me at arms length. Why?"
He sighed. "You're too good for me, Belle."
"No, I'm not!" she cried, "Is that all you see in me? A good girl?"
He allowed the silence to seep into the two of them before he responded. "No. I see so much in you, Belle. You're very brave, and you're upset that no one sees it. You expect too much of people. You like Christmas and prefer the cold. You're a beautiful girl, in every way possible. And you love someone who is not good enough for you."
And that was when she kissed him. She had to, really. It had been postponed for far too long.
And in that moment both of them were certain: This Christmas was absolutely more beautiful that any had ever been.
~xx~
~Year Seven~
It should have been a perfect year, full of love and laughter and stolen kisses. It started that way.
But on a cool October evening, Belle found herself alone in the hallway attempting to make her way back to Ravenclaw tower. when Killian Jones cornered her.
"Stop there, miss French," he instructed. She paused and turned around to face him.
"What do you want, Jones?" she asked, annoyed.
He sneered. "Oh really, you're going to talk like that to me like that? Like you think people are accepting of you?"
"I'm not talking any certain way to any certain person, and frankly I don't know what you're talking about and I think that you're embarrassing yourself."
Belle tried to walk away curtly, but Killian grabbed her by her wrists and slammed her against the wall. She turned her face away from him.
"I can't help you, Killian!" she cried, "I don't know what you want!'
I smirked at her. "Oh, well let me enlighten you. I'm looking for revenge on a certain person who sent the girl I love right out this door," he sneered, "You're the quickest way to accomplish that."
"What do you want from me!?" she shrieked. She was in a bit of a panic, honestly.
He removed his wand from his pocket and pressed the tip of it against her neck. "Just stay still...I won't hurt you. Just him."
She wanted to scream but instead she just shoved Killian and his wand out of the way.
"You're not going to touch either of us!" she said, "It was three years ago, and I'm sorry but there's nothing either of us can do!"
He lifted his hand as if to hit her, but she fled the corridor and did not see his intentions completely.
When Gold found her, she was an angry mess, her back against the wall of the dungeon entrance.
"Hey," he said when he saw her, "That Lucas girl told me you were out here....Belle..." she was sobbing into her knees, "Belle, what's wrong?!"
He was a bit panicked now. He'd never seen her like this.
"That stupid--" she sobbed a bit, "Killian Jones! He cornered me, tried to put some spell on me, I think...he said he was going to hurt you," she started to cry even harder, "Oh, Gods can we please just go somewhere alone!?"
Gold nodded and picked her up, allowing her to lean on him as they walked a bit down the hallway. "There's a secret passageway up here. I'm so sorry, Belle," he murmured, "It's going to be alright," he pushed open the door to a very dimly lit hallway with stone walls, "You're okay. I'm okay. We're going to be fine."
She nodded and stared up at him, her eyes still full of tears. "I know," she said softly, "I'm just scared. He wants to hurt us."
He held her tightly, stroking her hair and sighing. "He won't. I promise."
Then he kissed her, meaning for it to be a reassurance, but she deepened it and ran her hands up and down his body, stimulating all of his senses. Her fingers tickled his chest and then moved downward, further and further until he finally stopped kissing her.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked, terrified that she was going to say no.
She nodded. "Yes. Please."
And she kissed him again.
~xx~
By the end of the year, it seemed that everything had turned out alright, just as Gold said it would. Killian had begun writing letters to Milah, which was something he apparently had not thought of before, and was slightly more tolerant of Belle and Gold.
For a while after that October evening, he had stalked Belle until Gold finally appeared and after a long and exhausting screaming match, convinced Jones to leave Belle alone.
She knew there had been confrontations between Killian and Gold after thatm but she was afraid to know and so she did not ask.
August had found someone new to protect: Mary Margaret Blanchard. He decided that her relationship with David Nolan was "dangerous". Belle didn't mind since this time it wasn't her relationship he was getting in the way of.
Belle and Gold were happy and free in their ways these days. They had plans for a future, and hopes for a new life.
Prompt: Rumpelstiltskin gets Regina to give him Belle in exchange for activating the curse. But in Storybrooke, Mrs Gold is agoraphobic and has not left their house since their wedding day.
He was trying to love her.
He has some memory (or at least, he thinks he has it) of a Belle that was beautiful, vibrant, and full of life. Not like this. Not so petrified of the outside world, shut up in the bedroom reading books all day and hardly even speaking to him.
She was so cold. She never wanted to do anything with him. Everything he said seemed to hurt her ears and the faces she made hurt him beyond belief.
Even though she was just torturing him, he knew she didn’t want to be this way. She wanted to be herself again, but she said that she didn’t know how. She won’t speak to anyone about it, and she won’t try to change.
Perhaps he was wildly insensitive, but it angered him. He told her so. “Belle, you must leave this place. You’re being absolutely…crazy! You’re being crazy, Belle!”
And while trying to prove she was not in fact crazy, she smashed some of his belongings and then curled up on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Today he came home to the same sight as normal. But today it did not frustrate him. Today it upset him and angered him and killed him inside. But he was not angry at her. Because he knew that this was really not her fault.
He had asked for her. He knew that now, after learning the name of the blond girl at Granny’s. Emma. The savior. She really was now. She was his savior. His and Belle’s. Belle, who he had asked Regina to give him in exchange for enacting the curse. And he got her. He got her, but he never thought he would get her like this.
"Belle," Mr. Gold said softly, entering the bedroom and watching her tentatively. She was beautiful. Why couldn’t he see that under the curse?
She did not even shoot him a glace. “Belle, darling, look at me,” he begged. And she did, if only for a moment without saying a word. “Belle, I…I…please, stand up.”
She did, and then she walked over to him staring him in the eyes. Those beautiful, blue eyes looked so dead right now. It hurt him so much to see. “Yes?” she asked.
Her face was inches from his and it was honestly such good luck for him. He sighed, whispered her name, and kissed her softly.
When he pulled away from her, she looked different. “Do you know who I am?” he asked her softly.
"Of course," she said, "You’re my husband, Mr. Gold. I just…I forgot that I loved you," she trailed off at the end, her brilliantly dead eyes brimming with tears.
It hadn't worked. She still didn't remember. And yet...it almost didn't matter. Because even if kiss her did not remind her that she was from the Enchanted Forest and that he was Rumpelstiltskin, it reminded her that she loved him.
