Sorry for the long wait! See the AN below!

Belle sat up straight against the cold metal of the wall, ignoring the prickles of goose bumps covering her arms and legs. Was that a noise? She was positive that the unpleasant woman upstairs wouldn't be caught crashing around in her kitchen, the little boy perhaps? Belle dismissed the idea. She doubted that the little boy would have anything to do with that awful woman…except perhaps if he was captured too? It was just another unanswered question to add to the list.

I really need to stop thinking until I actually get something solved, she thought grumpily. Belle was surprised by her own emotions. She had gone through every deep emotion in the book yesterday: confusion, anger, sadness—but she still wasn't used to having this much power over herself and her own actions. The thought that she might one day have responsibility over her life scared her, but not as much as the thought that she might spend the rest of her life inside the dreary little dungeon. Deciding on the lesser of two evils, Belle forced her aching muscles to move as she examined the interior of her prison and tried to think of a way to escape.

Where was she? Belle cursed herself for adding another question to the list, and silenced that query. Asking more questions that she didn't know the answers to wasn't going to get her anywhere.

There were no windows. The walls and floors were solid concrete. It looked like the only way she was going to escape was through the door. Belle surprised herself by coming up with this simple decision. It heartened her enough to work up the courage to try the door. Locked. She felt like screaming in frustration. What? Did you think this was going to be easy? Her thoughts taunted her. If you're going to get out, you're going have to try a lot harder than that.

Could she possibly overcome the woman with pure physical ability? As much as she hated these questions, she forced herself to ponder the idea anyway. The woman didn't look particularly strong, but she'd made it as far as locking a girl in her basement. Belle knew she shouldn't expect the door to her room to be her only barrier. Belle would have to wait for an opportunity to gain more knowledge about the building she was trapped in.

A thought occurred to her. "Hey!" She shouted as loud as she could, risking another attack. "I've got to use the bathroom!"

Silence. "Hey—" She began again.

"I'm coming," Her spirits rose as she heard the sharp clicks of someone in heels trying to shuffle down a set of stairs.

I know that I'm in the basement of this house. Answering one question gave her hope. Maybe I actually can do this.

Belle stood up straighter, trying to best prepare for an attack, just in case. After gaining a new sort of independence, Belle planned to keep her mind free from outside interference. She no longer wanted to be numbed.

The door opened without any sort of setback to the woman in black, surprising Belle and giving her yet another clue. Maybe the door is only locked from the inside. She wasn't sure if this could help her at all, but she was willing to try anything.

"Hurry up, I'm doing you a favor. And don't believe for a second I'm not willing to leave you in here to your own devices," the woman snapped. It was obvious that Belle had reached her at a bad moment, but Belle decided it might mean that the woman was unprepared and might make sloppy mistakes in concealing the house. Maybe this is what I need to escape. Still, there were too many maybes for Belle to actually use in a plan.

The dark-eyed woman led Belle down a long stone hallway, and up a set of stone steps. At the top of the staircase a small door was thrown open, revealing a polished kitchen. Belle's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the beautiful kitchen. A fresh wave of questions poured into her mind. Downstairs her captor had looked out of place, but up here in the midst of a glowing house, Belle's shabby look stood right out. She found herself running her fingers through her hair sheepishly, and then quickly forced herself to stop before the woman noticed. It wasn't Belle's fault that she looked so horrible.

"Well?" Belle turned to see the woman glaring at her impatiently. "We certainly don't have all day!" She pointed sharply to a small bathroom across the hall. Belle stumbled into it, caught too off guard to be taking notice of the rooms nearby.

Belle sat down hard on the floor right in the center of the little room and struggled to make sense of anything she had seen. So far? She had no idea what she was doing and how she was going to escape. All she wanted was to leave, or at the very least she wanted to know why she was here in the first place. Had she done something bad? Belle wracked her brain, and suddenly images of an estranged man yelling in her direction popped into her head. The image was gone within seconds, but Belle didn't know what it meant. The man felt familiar but…

A crash echoed through the large home, and Belle froze. It could just be the woman taking out her frustration on some poor object, but it didn't feel like it. It was the same sound that she had heard earlier, but somehow…louder. She stood up and opened the door a crack.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my home?" The voice was unforgettable. It was that same scary woman, but she was out of sight. Belle strained to hear a second voice.

"I need to see her," this was a new sound, but somehow it had a tinge of remembrance in it too. Was this someone Belle knew? Could he even be asking about her? The voice sounded panicked, and she waited for more.

"I explained this to you just a few minutes ago. You know the agreement," the woman sounded more irritated than anything else. "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."

"But I need to see her—"

"Luckily for you she has plenty of time on her hands. Good bye, Mr. Gold," Her tone dripped of superiority and Belle could almost hear the smirk in her voice. Instead of hearing a door close like she expected, Belle heard footsteps tearing in her direction. She panicked and almost closed the door, but fought against her instincts. What if this person was someone who could help her?

She threw open the door and watched a tall man struggle into the room as quickly as he could manage. She noticed that he depended heavily on one of his legs, giving him quite a bit of trouble in getting away from the woman. He stopped suddenly, nearly crashing into the wall he was heading towards. Belle felt his gaze on her, but she was too scared to meet it. She regretted leaving the bathroom.

"Belle," He whispered.

I did say that it would be a bit of a wait, but I didn't think it would be three weeks. Sorry about that! Now, here is a LIFE OR DEATH decision for you readers to make. It is ridiculous that I have over 30 people on story alert-not to mention all the non-story alert readers and anons—and yet I am still struggling to get 10 reviews per chapter. If you want this story to be continued, REVIEW. Without those 10 reviews for this chapter (they don't even have to be HAPPY reviews) I will not be updating. EVER. You will never get to see their happy reunion.