my feelings after the winter finale are indescribable. .. but this came out of it!

My firsrt multichap fic in a while!

I own nothing

Grace

She couldn't tell you who'd picked her up, if anyone. She couldn't even tell you who had been there in the first place.

But she could tell you every little detail about him in his last few minutes. The new strength she saw shining out of his eyes, the harrowing sadness that had taken over his body and the release she saw ripple over his face as he twisted the dagger.

"I love you Belle. You made me stronger." Her heart ripped in two as he said this, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips while she stood there motionless. She could feel every cell in her body fighting the dark magic holding her frozen, unable to run to him and show him just how much she loved him, how he was the one who had made her so much stronger.

And now he was gone, vanished before her eyes as her soul tried to leave her to follow him.

She had never felt so broken as she did the seconds after he disappeared, all the strength she'd ever had left her in and both her body and soul crumbled.

"Rumple… he's gone." How he words formulated she'd never know. The tears physically stung her as they fell each one a painful realisation of what had just happened. She fell forward onto all fours her stomach folding on top of itself, in the back of her mind she could faintly remember the feel of cold metal against her arm as someone tried to steady her. Reaching out she grasped the small object in her hand hiding it from eveeyone. Desperate for something to cling to.

The next thing she knew she was standing at the town line being held up by someone who smelt vaguely familiar. She could almost remember a yellow car, there was others crying, hugs being exchanged, but her head was so light that it all ran thorough her.

He was gone, he'd finally broken through the man everyone thought he was, the devious, dangerous, evil coward. He'd finally set that aside and shown who he truly was. The brave, loyal emotional man she knew and she loved so dearly. For years she had dreamed of adventure and excitement. She had never known that the love you can have for someone could be more excitement and adventure than anyone heart could fully deal with. And now it was gone. He was gone.

The dizziness she was feeling only intensified as the smog filled in the darkness around her. She breathed it in, opening her mouth as wide as she could, praying silently that she could take in enough to suffocate her. Let her drift off and join him.

The tears welled up again when she realised it hadn't worked. She was still breathing, blinking and hurting. Only now it was in a ball gown in the middle of a field. Looking up and shaking her head slowly she looked around. Everyone was there, absolutely everyone from Storybrooke, bar three. The yellow bug had taken them away, she guessed. No, no. Her head shake sped up fractionally. It had taken two of them away. The boy, Henry and Emma. The third… pulling her cloak tightly around her she turned and frantically tried to figure out where they were. There was only one place in this world she wanted to be.

"Belle…" she heard faintly as she started walking. "BELLE!" two arms grabbed her and she had no choice but to stop. "Where are you going?" she came face to face with the first person she'd seen in focus in quite a while. Baelfire. She just shook her head and tried to pull away. "Where are you trying to go? We need to discuss what we're going to do next."

"Let me go Bae!" she snapped, the first words she'd managed to form since that moment on the street. Her breathing quickened and her face grew flushed.

"Where are you going?" he said gripping her a little tighter. She found the pain in her chest intensify as she recognised those eyes, a different colour but the same shape. It got even worse when she saw her own pain reflected so clearly in his eyes.

"To my home, to the dark castle. Please…" she pleaded, not holding anything back.

"It… its in ruins Belle its not…"

"I don't care, I just need to be there. I've lost everything…"he dropped her arms and wiped the tears from her face.

"Belle I really don't think we should be splitting up just now, there are so many new evils in the enchanted forest. Your father is around here…" Snow White stepped forward.

"My father?" she half laughed. "I have lost everything that meant anything in my life. And the worst part is. He did exactly what I wanted all along. He did the right thing. Its my fault he's gone"

##### end of part one #####