A/N: This is my second Rumbelle Secret Santa gift written for the tumblr event for thishintoflove! Their prompt was "Disney Style Dark Castle Rumbelle".

It was late summer. The glow of the sun overhead illuminated the Dark Castle in an almost pleasant light as birds fluttered around their nests in deep wall crevices and the tops of the towers. The afternoon was sweltering, a perfect day for Belle to keep her daily chores strictly inside for a while.

Belle had already been with the wizard Rumplestiltskin for a little more than a year. At first it was frightening for her despite her brave demeanor. He was unpredictable and it took a while for her to accept his polar opposite angry snapping when she cleaned too close to a precious object, or his chorus of mad giggling whenever he came home from a deal he couldn't resist. That was Rumplestiltskin, her poor, powerful, secretive master, who she gave her whole life to in exchange for the safety of her entire kingdom.

That day seemed so long ago to her now, ever since she was allowed to upgrade from a cold, hard dungeon room to a round, medium library room her life with him little by little began to improve from there.

Before she knew it, she was undeniably in love with him, and he was in love with her. She never would have imagined her life becoming so comfortable after they accepted the fact that they could no longer hide from the other.

And although she knew her true love harbored many mysterious antics, he always surprised her with things she never would have thought about.

Which was why, when she walked into the drawing room one morning with his usual tea, she was very curious, and a bit surprised, at what she saw.

A rose. A beautiful bright red rose.

This rose was not like any she'd ever seen before. No, this one was different. For one, it was hovering completely over the table. Well, she wouldn't exactly use that word. Rather it was completely still, as if trapped in midair. A glimmering red light outlined all of the edges and Belle felt transfixed by its beauty and elegance.

However, it soon ended when she heard, or rather felt, something wet crash near her feet. Apparently in her transfixed state she had inadvertently tipped the tea tray a little sideways, knocking over the milk jug.

"Belle?"

She looked up shocked to see Rumplestiltskin already up and making his way over her, concerned at her unusual carelessness. The rose near the end of the table was gone.

"Oh, Rumple I'm so sorry," she said, her face sheepish as he silently snatched the jug up to place it back on the tray, in the process taking said tray from her. "I just…I saw that beautiful rose and—"

"You were under a spell, Belle," he interrupted, placing the tray on the long table and gripping both of her hands in his. He stared at her, his dark eyes scanning her quickly and ignoring her obvious confusion. However despite that, finding out that he was worrying about her filled her with a gentle warmth.

"A…a spell?"

"Yes. Strong, unusual magic. Belle, I don't want you looking at it again, understand?" His voice was firm and had lost all of its lavishness. He was being very serious.

Before she had time to respond, he disappeared in a wiff of smoke, and Belle had no choice but to grumble about his strange, hurried response as she went about her chores for the day.

–

Belle had been adamantly cleaning the lower levels of the castle three days after that incident. Living there for so long now, she knew the layout of most of the castle, and effortlessly weaved in and out of various doors, corridors, and stairways. Humming to herself softly, her mind traveled back to that beautiful rose. She thought back to exactly what she felt when she saw the red, glowing outline and fine petals. She felt as if something was about to happen, like the rose was beckoning her towards it, wanting to share in all its secrets. She wondered what it would be like if she actually touched the petals and stems…

Doing one last sweep around the corner, she soon realized she'd gotten to the base of another large staircase, one that led ominously up and fading into a dusty black. That was strange. Rumplestiltskin always had the corridors lit so she could easily get around places to clean. Why was this one unlit?

Staring into the abyss, a sense of interest, excitement, and fright filled her. What could possibly be up there? She wondered. Just as she started to take a few steps, a booming voice came from her left.

"I wouldn't go up there if I were you, dear!"

Belle started, her head whipping to the side in shock and almost dropping the broom. The voice belonged to a male, but it clearly didn't belong to her master as accented as it was. Where had it come from?

She squinted and turned towards the wall, but all she could see was a small candelabra, similar to the one she always walked passed in the drawing room.

"Why not?"

"The master will get angry. He might curse you."

Belle only smiled at that. Clearly this candelabra was a bit behind events. "Not anymore he won't," she simply muttered, but she didn't think it heard her.

"Unstable magic lives up there," the candelabra continued, "Only the master goes. You must stay away," it pleaded. Well, at least it sounded like a plea to Belle, for she saw no eyes nor mouth on it.

Belle moved her broom to rest up against the wall, all the while stepping a bit closer to the object, entranced. "What kind of unstable magic?" she asked.

The candelabra was silent for a few moments. Belle began to wonder again if she really was imagining things before she heard him speak again.

"Ah, the master will get angry if I tell. No, I cannot."

Belle suddenly formed an idea, raising an eyebrow at the denied request.

"Well if you're not going to tell me I guess I'll have to find out myself…" she retorted, taking another step towards the staircase.

"NO! You must not. It's too dangerous!"

Belle pulled back, facing the candle again. "But why?" Her hands now on her hips, she decided she was going to get some answer out of him. After all what kind of person, well object, warns someone about a dangerous place without telling them the reason?

The object's voice quivered fearfully, doubtfully. As if he was trying so hard to convey a message without actually saying anything.

Finally Belle took pity on him. "Look, if you tell me what's up there I promise I won't let Rumplestiltskin harm you," she said softly, trying to comfort him.

The candelabra considered this a while, humming and muttering curses under his breath about why he couldn't just keep his mouth shut. Finally he sighed.

"This corridor leads to the west wing. It is both where the master sleeps and where he keeps his most dangerous objects. "

The West Wing. The only place he warned her never to go near. Of course.

But Belle wasn't convinced at all. Rumplestiltskin surely wouldn't be hiding anything too dangerous in the castle while she lived here now, right?

Lumiere huffed, clearly knowing Belle wasn't going to change her opinion on this, "You don't know, dear. Don't say I didn't warn you!"

–

The following morning, Belle had returned to the same place, no longer finding the candelabra in its place against the wall.

But that did not matter. Belle had been thinking about the rose again. She had searched tirelessly in her library to find anything about lands with cursed flowers before going to sleep. She found only a single story about a Prince who lived in a castle who had acquired a rose from an enchantress in the most troubling way. The rose bloomed until he turned 21. If he did not find someone to love him before it died, he would remain cursed forever as a hideous beast.

But that did not really tell her anything. Why was she so affected by its power the other day? What does it do to those it completely entrances? Would it turn her into some beast if she touched it?

Belle knew it really wasn't like her to sneak around too much, but Rumplestiltskin had yet to come back from a trip he left for the previous afternoon, leaving her with the perfect opportunity for investigation.

As her eyes traveled their way to the mass of darkness up ahead, she felt her hand begin to tremble slightly at what she was about to do. Taking one single look behind her, she slowly walked up the wide, velvet coated staircase, a single candle lighting the way.

The corridor felt colder than most other places in the castle, despite the dungeon of course. Every step she took echoed a little louder than she wanted. A few more minutes of walking and the staircase curved slightly until she could barely make out large frames coating both sides of wall. Inspecting them further with her little light, she shivered as one of them depicted a man morphing into a terrible beastly figure. Another picture across from it was mysteriously torn as if from giant claw marks. Why would Rumplestiltskin have something like that?

This was beginning to get stranger the more she examined everything, and the more she climbed the staircase. After about a minute more she felt the stairs begin to level off and she became face to face with a very large golden door, the handles in the form of lions.

The door soon led her down another narrower corridor opening up to perhaps the dustiest room in the whole castle. Empty tables littered the floors, broken chairs looked to be thrown against a wall, and variously sized goblets and silverware lined a shelf close by. Her feet grazed a soft surface and she looked down to notice small feathers strewn about. This certainly couldn't be part of Rumplestiltskin's castle. Although he wasn't the cleanest person she'd come across, he wasn't downright filthy. What had happened in this room? Why was it like this?

Then, she finally saw it. A glimmer that surprisingly led out to a rounded balcony. There in the middle of the balcony on a white table, was the rose encased in glass.

Up close, she noticed the rose was a bright pink, its stem curling the petals downward, the leaves fanning out on either side as if in flight. Hesitating for the briefest of moments, she move d closer, trying to quench the guilt that she was going against Rumplestiltskin's wishes. But it would only be for a moment, she reasoned.

She did not know how long she stood there. The only thing she knew is that she wanted to move closer to it. Her hand touched the glass, lifting it up ever so slightly.

Then suddenly, movement in a corner caught her attention, a large shadow accompanied by a low growl. She flinched away and gasped. "Rumple?" she frantically tried. "Who's there?" The shadow didn't respond, as if it were waiting for someone.

"Beast?" she heard a soft, feminine voice from behind. She barely hand time to process what she heard before a woman figure rushed right past her, approaching the shadow, or Beast.

She was beginning to become frightened. She tried calling out to the woman but she couldn't hear her. The woman embraced the Beast warmly and that's when the rose begin to glow, magnificently radiant, almost blinding Belle. A warmth spread through her, paralyzing her and she could not look away from the plant. Images raced in her mind, images from her childhood, her father, mother, kingdom, her beautiful bedroom, Gaston. But then the images began to fade away and all she felt was dread, sorrow, and emptiness. She had to get away, but she couldn't move.

"Belle! What do you think you're doing?!"

Rumplestiltskin.

"Belle, hold on."

Do I know a Rumplestiltskin?

She felt light fill the room around her and her vision begin to clear. Blinking furiously, she took in her surroundings. The first thing she saw was Rumple, kneeling over her with a goblet of something in one hand. His other was on her shoulder and moved swiftly to the back of her head, lifting it up gently.

"Drink this quickly, Belle. Hurry."

She took the cup and drank, downing it all down in one go. It was tasteless, but calming. She inhaled heavily. "What…what happened?" she stuttered, staring at the man fearfully.

Rumplestiltskin was silent for a moment, grimacing.

"I told you never to come up here, Belle. Why did you not listen?" His voice rose angrily.

"I…I'm sorry I…" Belle tried to say, now deeply ashamed of herself.

"Do you realize what you could have done to yourself?" He continued. "If I hadn't have come…"

"But Rumple, listen…I'm fine," she grabbed his face with both hands to get his attention, eyelids suddenly feeling heavy. "I'm sorry," she said again, slowly, "I'm…"

–

When she opened her eyes again, she was in her library room. Her head was pounding. Perhaps she hit it against the floor when she fell.

Eventually he came to her room, all grim and paler than usual. At least he did not look too angry anymore. Instead he stiffly walked to sit down on the edge of the bed, reached for her and pulled her against him, sighing in a satisfying way.

"You're not hurt," he said softly in relief, "Do you remember who I am?" He asked cautiously.

Belle's eyes furrowed. "You're Rumple. Of course I know who you are." She couldn't help but giggle at the silly question.

"And YOU are very lucky." He pulled away from her, starting intently in a stern sort of way. "All it would have taken was for you to touch that rose and…" he trailed off, turning his face slightly away from her.

She let the silence hang in the air for a few moments, trying to take in all that has happened to her. Some of it she could remember, but most was a blur.

"And what?" she pressed gently, reaching over to take his hand.

Rumplestiltskin let out a heavy sigh. "What you just experienced was a living memory. The previous owner's memory to be specific, "he explained. That's why she saw those two figures and that dirty, tangled room. It was all part of the memory.

"That's the power of that rose. Anyone who looks at it for too long and gets enchanted by the spell becomes trapped, forgetting who they once were. You would have forgotten everything, Belle," he then lowered his head. He still wouldn't look back at her.

Belle felt her heart go out to him. She felt guilty for what she had done. She had put her own life in danger just to satisfy her curiosity, and was not strong enough to overcome the allure of the enchanted rose.

"Rumple," she whispered, "I'm so…I'm so sorry. I won't ever do something like that again."

"If you were to simply touch the rose…."

"But I didn't," she stressed, getting out of bed and coming around to face him now, putting both of her hands on his face again, as she knew he liked the comfort of it.

"No, you didn't." he agreed, closing his eyes in relief and contentment. Her tiny arms soon snaked around his in a long embrace, her long dark tresses burying into the fine silk of his clothes.

"By the way, you never told me you had a talking candlestick here," she laughed lightly, pulling away slowly.

"Oh him?" Rumplestiltskin scoffed, rolling his eyes slightly. "Irritating imbecile. He's a ghost who decided to possess one of my most expensive objects and refuses to leave."

Belle decided she did not need to ask why this time, but silently thanked the spirit for the warning. She was done with questioning for a while. There were many strange things in Rumplestiltskin's castle, some more dangerous and mysterious than others. The one she experienced that day might have actually harmed her seriously.

But as Rumplestiltskin left her alone to spin for the day, she thought that maybe she didn't mind quite so much anymore. After all, she knew now that he would always be there for her, just like she decided to stay for him, even with potentially dangerous objects about.