Author's Note: This is written with great respect, love and gratitude for the talents of Robert Carlyle, Emilie de Ravin, all those involved in Once Upon A Time. I do not own the OUAT characters.
This chapter is a shorter reflective/transitional chapter, of Rumple and Belle preparing for the events of the next day. It really felt like it should be a chapter unto itself. Enjoy!
Upon leaving Clarice, Rumplestiltskin sends forth tentacles of magic to verify Jeremy's current state. He feels that Jeremy is indeed alive, thus he casts a small spell to provide him protection until tomorrow when Jeremy can be brought home from the war front after Belle and his deal becomes a display of War Council theater. Knowing that Jeremy is currently among the living, Rumplestiltskin will not risk that changing in the interim. He also casts a protection spell upon Belle's chambers to prevent anyone who may harm her from entering. He swears to protect her from that swine, Gaston.
He appears in his tower setting to work on preparations for protecting Avonlea from the ogres. During his bleakest moments as Dark One after he losing Baelfire, when called upon to remove a threat to desperate souls, he relished the often violent demise of said threat. The physical assault on the offender satisfied his blood lust born of rage. However, being the Dark One means having the power to handle a threat without carnage nor getting his hands dirty. When he stopped the first Ogre War, the children who had been forced to fight had already seen more horrors than even an adult should witness, thus not wishing to traumatize them any further, he repelled the ogres without a drop of bloodshed for their young eyes to witness.
Now, he will be damned if he will have his bride seeing him drenched in blood, wearing the mask of fury the day that they are wed. A variation on a cloaking spell will protect Avonlea from the rampaging ogres. His brow furrows as he thinks, "Belle deserves better, than to have her only option in life to wed a monster and bear the scorn that will undoubtedly come with being recognized as my wife, but that's our deal. However, I can do what's needed to make our wedding day...her wedding day as palatable as possible."
Later, he enters the chamber two doors down from his own bedchamber. The chamber between them will allow for his bride to have her privacy. Her bed is opulent and made for comfort, boasting the finest sheets. It is ostensibly like his own, thus sleeping in either bed will feel the same, with exception for the company. The differences between the two beds are cosmetic. While Rumplestiltskin's four poster bed is adorned with deep burgundy and midnight purple trimmed velvet curtains, Belle's matching bed has a set of iolite blue brocade curtains and duvet with butter-cream colored lace. He provides a wardrobe full of the finest gowns, some more comfortable dresses, shoes, and night dresses, as well as an array of 'unmentionables', on which he tries not to focus, less it become a distraction.
Turning to her bathing chamber, he supplied it with all the pampering soaps, oils, etc. that he can imagine a woman wanting. He nervously fiddles with the end of his sleeve as the thinks, "What other things might she need? Oh, Hell, she can ask if she needs something.", letting out a frustrated grunt. "What business do I have getting married again?! It worked out so 'wonderfully' the last time.", and then his expression softens, "But I did get Bae out it." At that, he turns on his heel and marches to the chamber between his and Belle's private chambers. He looks around the expanse of the empty room. With a thought, his spinning wheel, stool and a basket of straw materialize, and he commences with his next task.
In the village of Avonlea in her bedchambers, Belle anxiously searches through her wardrobe for a gown that will be pleasing to Rumplestiltskin. Unaware of Clarice and Rumplestiltskin's secret arrangement for her wedding gown, she thinks determinedly, "I agreed to this deal, and I'm going to do it right. Best to start our marriage on a good note."
Uncertain about how quickly the nuptials will take place after she agrees to leave with him, she decides that it will be best to wear the gown to the War Council, in case he wants the wedding to commence immediately after she agrees in front of the council. All of her gowns are appropriate for appearing to try to please her pompous father and Gaston. "Imbeciles!" The only person she worries about pleasing is her secret betrothed, Rumplestiltskin.
Belle selects a portrait collar golden-yellow gown with intricate embroidery and bead work on the bodice. She knows it will expose her skin that has been bruised by Gaston, thus she selects an ivory velvet wrap to hide her marred skin. She will wear her mother's necklace for luck, although she doubts it is very lucky as her mother did marry Maurice. In this moment, she can't bring herself to think of him as her father after his horrid display of indifference for her safety.
Unsure of what Rumplestiltskin may have at the castle, she selects her medium sized trunk, not wanting to seem presumptuous nor precious taking too much or too little. First, she packs hand-embroidered linens and quilts, some cooking necessities, as well as a book of recipes, which she is sure to need as cooking has never been her forte. She also packs some of her favorite books; not knowing Rumplestiltskin's opinion on women reading, she tries not to take too many...just enough to feed her mind, in case he frowns upon such activities, as Gaston does. It occurs to her how little she knows about Rumplestiltskin and his opinions of women. Moving on from the worrisome thought, she places in the trunk some necessities for when she has her time, not wanting to talk to him about that. She groans realizing, at some point, she will need to talk to him about that. Her mind drifts to what she heard Gaston say about her and woman's time, and revulsion churns in her stomach.
Belle crawls into bed expecting exhaustion to claim her, but it does not. The realization hits her that tomorrow night she will be in bed with a man...her husband...Rumplestiltskin...the Dark One. She swallows hard, wondering if he is a treacherous as most men she's known. Her pulse races and her breathing becomes erratic, thinking, "Surely, there must be a reason for his reputation. What if the gentlemanly qualities I sensed were all a façade, meant to lull me into a false sense of security, just to get what he wanted? What if he's as cruel as Gaston?" She wonders what would be worse, having Gaston follow through with his plans, knowing he has the morals of a dung beetle or having the same done to her by Rumplestiltskin, whom she inexplicably expects to be kinder.
Unsure she can take anymore betrayal in her life, she begins to cry and whispers to an empty room, "Please don't let Rumplestiltskin be like the others."
In the Dark Castle sitting by his spinning wheel, admiring the ring that he created for his bride, Belle's plea reaches his consciousness. He feels a pain deep within him for the anguish that Belle is experiencing. Collectively, the men in Belle's life have given her little reason to expect that she will be treated humanely in their marital arrangement, much less respected. He stares at the wedding band with "pigeon's blood" ruby of pristine quality and substantial in size, yet not so big that it would be cumbersome to her delicate finger. As a gift, a ruby is a token of love and admiration. Lapis Lazuli entwined in the purest gold that he can spin. He eyes the stones of deep medium to royal blue with gold flecks. In addition to the color reminding him of her eyes...the eyes in which he could too easily become lost...Lapis Lazuli enhances the higher mind and intellect.
It seems appropriate that a woman of such an astounding mind should bear this crystal. Knowing of its healing properties for body, mind and spirit, it is his wish for his Belle to have this with her always. Satisfied that the band is the best ring that he can make for her, he secures it in leather waist pouch, then summons the finest wool he has ever carded and commences with spinning the wool, rather than his usual gold.
As Belle calms herself, she goes through a mental checklist of what must be done before tomorrow's War Council meeting. It occurs to her that she is missing a ring to give Rumplestiltskin. She has the ring she was to give Gaston. It's a horrid gaudy thing that suits her father's and Gaston's tastes. She can't imagine bestowing that ring upon Rumplestiltskin...it might turn his finger a different color and interfere with his magic just by its pure hideousness.
She hops out of bed and kneels, reaching beneath to find her mother's secret jewelry box, which she has hidden away since her mother was on her deathbed and told her to keep it from her father's prying eyes. No doubt, she thought that he would sell or trade the jewels for his own benefit...or get rid of them, merely out of spite. Belle is certain that assumption was right. She breathes a sigh of relief that with all the chaos of the unfolding events that she remembered the box. She would never want to leave it behind.
Climbing back in bed placing on her lap the box of rosewood with inlaid Mother of Pearl, Belle opens it and begins to sort through the contents for the desired item. She ponders a ring that is bronze comprised of endless knots. It had belonged to her maternal great-grandfather, Leo. His name was not an abbreviation of Leopold nor Leonardo; simply unassuming Leo.
Leo and his wife, Belle's great-grandmother didn't have much, thus the ring was made of bronze, as opposed to gold or silver as cherished by those of higher status. Belle hopes Rumplestiltskin will like it, even though it was not of gold. She thinks pensively, "After all, he makes gold, so how precious could it be to him?"
Belle had always loved the ring, and her mother would tell her stories of Leo and Aquarilina. Though they lacked material things, they had an abundance of passion and love between them. They were said to be two sides of the same coin...each other's compliment. They were each other's balance...providing strength where the other may lack. They shared an ardent fire for their lover spouse, as well as a devotion to their daughter, Myrna. Sadly, both Leo and Aquarilina had died when a plague consumed their village before Myrna had come of marrying age. By some miracle, Myrna survived, however necessity had made holding to her desire to marry for love no longer viable.
In turn, Myrna's daughter, Gabrielle, had suffered the same fate, given that her father, Angus, had been insistent that she marry someone, he presumed to have stature, Sir Maurice. Neither Myrna nor Gabrielle gave Leo's ring to their husbands, rather hiding it away in hopes that one day it would be worn in love.
Belle had never once considered giving it to Gaston, for she knew there would never be love between them. Though she does not know Rumplestiltskin well enough to say she loves him, she knows that she also doesn't know him well enough to assume that she could not one day love him. She opts to believe in the possibility that love could one day bloom between them, and that possibility will have to be enough.
She caresses the ring reverently. The ring is encrusted with various stones. Each stone, as it shines in the oil lamp light, brings to mind the tales her mother told her of their purpose. There is a piece of a violet stone flecked with white and metallic brown called Lepidolite, which is a love, power, luck, and protection stone; Blue Quartz, the stone of mystic blue to be precise with touches of gray, is for love and hope, as well as assuaging fear and calming the mind; a small "pigeon's blood" red ruby with a hint of blue is said to be infused with love and passion; a purple, lavender and pinkish-gray swirled Lithium Quartz, which is said to enhance love, intimacy, harmony and passion. Belle is struck by the fact that the common denominator for all the stones is love. She presses her lips to the ring in a delicate kiss, and reasons silently, "Best to start our marriage with a bit of love."
She puts the jewelry box into her trunk, leaving out Leo's ring to be hidden in the bodice of the gown she will wear to the War Council. Feeling more relaxed than before and aware of the late hour, she is determined to go to sleep this time. Though maybe one day she and Rumplestiltskin could have love between them, she holds no illusions that he currently wants her for more than a beautiful trinket. Thus, it will not do to have her appearing before him with dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. If he wants her for her beauty, she will do her best to provide him what he wants.
As she lies on her side closing her eyes, again the realization that she will be sleeping with Rumplestiltskin tomorrow occurs to her, but this time she simply accepts the thought, saying "Goodnight, Rumplestiltskin".
Far away in the Dark Castle, Rumplestiltskin replies, "Goodnight, Belle", as she lies in her bed in Avonlea with a trace of a smile gracing her lips as she drifts off to sleep.
Pondering his sleeping Belle, Rumplestiltskin can't help but wonder about the power she has over him, as he sits knitting. The Dark One, of all beings, has spent hours knitting to make something he would not have considered until his Belle...with obsessive focus, he spends much of the night knitting a baby blanket for their child, who is yet to exist. Part of him still fears the prospect of another child, yet he reasons that Belle is sacrificing so much to pledge her troth to him, taking on the scorn that comes with being the Dark One's wife, "How can I deny her the one thing that might make it bearable, a child...if that is indeed her desire?"
Still rather disbelieving that she would want a child with him, since clearly his wife had not wanted such a thing from him even before he was cursed, he also holds onto a flicker of light in the imagine of a little version of Belle running around the castle making mischief. The imagine burning brightly in his mind's eye gives him a flutter of something he has not felt in centuries...joy.
Later, looking at the finished product of his toiling through the night, he runs his hands over the blanket proudly picturing their child swaddled in its warmth. He waves his hand and a mahogany cabinet appears, and he gently folds the blanket, placing it inside.
Stretching his lanky body, he has one more thing to do. He walks through the door into his own bedchamber to the bathing room. With a thought, his spacious brass tub is filled with hot water. He smirks at the thought of the stories of how the Dark One abhors bathing. In people's desire to see him has an animal...a monster, the rumor of him preferring to wallow in filth has run rampant. Regardless of Belle's proclamation to the contrary, he knows he is a monster, but he is a monster all too aware of the luxury of a nice hot bath. During his peasant days, a proper bath was an indulgence that often wasn't feasible.
As he soaks in the scented and bubble infused water, he recalls his dream of Belle in this very tub with him. The recollection excites his mind...and well, other parts of him too. Scrubbing his body, trying to distract his mind and body from his current need, he knows a mere bath will not work magic for his appearance, but it is the least he can do to be respectful of his bride on their wedding day. The day that his dreams become reality will be more than worth the frustration he feels at the moment. As the sun crests over the mountain range, he is dressed and ready.
He thinks of the plan that he and Belle have devised for the War Council meeting, and with a self-satisfied expression and a gleam in his eyes, he says, "Time to fetch my wife...let the game begin."
Author's Note: Coming up in the next chapter, the War Council meeting, and depending on how long that runs, maybe the introduction of Jeremy and the wedding. I'm playing it by ear.
Before that, I need to update some other fics and finish first two chapters of a new fic, then I'll post the first chapter of it. The new fic is a GoldenBelle with little Bae...and it involves chocolate somehow, but that's all I'm revealing about it right now. And I might have a one-shot inspired by a certain holiday song appear at some point. So, I've written my notes on the idea to get the bunnies to calm down a bit. Since it's a one-shot, it might be easily missed in the RumBelle search feed, so if you have an interest in reading about Gold as a world renown guitarist having a chance meeting on Christmas Eve with his college sweetheart, Belle, 15 years after they met, let me know in the reviews or PM me, and if you have the ability to receive PMs on your account, I'll let you know when it's posted. BTW, if you've guessed the song, the story will go 2 years beyond the events of the song. In the meantime I've recently updated "What's Next?" and "Metamorphosis Through Love".
Please review...guest reviews are fine. You don't need a FFnet account; I just like to read people's thoughts on my stories. So raise of cyber hands, how many people, besides me, want to see Rumple knit a baby blanket on OUAT? What did you think of Rumple and Belle's preparations for their big day?