#kamdensl

After a minute or two, both Belle and Rumpelstiltskin had stopped shrinking, and were now standing nervously in the piles of clothes which had fit them not a minute before. There was an awkward silence as they stood, holding up their own clothes around them. “What the hell just happened?” asked Belle. “Well, dearie, what do you think?” “Can you magic us big again?” He made a characteristic swish of his fingers, then looked confused as nothing happened, and swayed slightly on the spot. There was another awkward pause. “What on earth…? Why isn’t my magic working on this?” Rumple looked very befuddled. “In the meantime, maybe some fitting clothes?” This proved much easier, and in a puff of smoke they both found themselves in miniature versions of the clothes they had been wearing not two minutes before.

Belle looked up at the now-huge table above them, where the tea set still lay. “I don’t suppose you can teleport us onto the table…?” Again, he gestured, and the surroundings of the two changed to the seat next to the table. Rumple’s usually gold skin was starting to turn a worrying shade of beige, and he wobbled slightly in trying to stand. “On second thoughts… I might summon help for this…” He clicked his fingers, then promptly fell over in a dead faint.

Many miles away, in a cottage in the woods, Jefferson was teleported two feet to the left.

Meanwhile, back at the Dark castle, Belle was frantically trying to get Rumpelstiltskin to wake up. She knelt next to him and gently shook him, but nothing happened. A brief insane thought that ‘kissing him might wake him up’ crossed her mind, but her more rational brain pointed out that he was fainting, not drowning, and was breathing fine on his own. She shook him again, and he finally started to stir. “Belle?” he murmured woozily. “How are you feeling?” “Like a table fell on my head…” he replied unhappily, lifting a hand to rest against his forehead. “I’m not sure why, but becoming smaller has also reduced the amount of magic I can use, at least without falling over…” As his usual gold skin colour returned to his cheeks, Belle slowly helped him to stand up. His hand lingered in hers for a couple of moments after he was stable and upright, then abruptly snatched away when he realized he was still holding her hand. Rumpelstiltskin cleared his throat loudly. “Right. How are we going to get onto the table?” Belle asked matter-of-factly. “We could teleport again, dearie, but I’ll need a couple of minutes to rest afterwards. You’ll have to investigate what happened. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been something in the tea…” He took her hand, made a swishy gesture with the other, and the both again disappeared in a puff of smoke.

As soon as the table beneath them was solid, Rumpelstiltskin quickly sat down, almost dragging Belle down in the process. She quickly let go and righted herself, and looked across at the tea tray. She turned back to Rumpelstiltskin. “Milk or sugar?” “I don’t know! Check both!” It took a few minutes for Belle to scramble up the side of the milk jug, but she promptly dropped down again when she saw what was in there. “That’s definitely NOT milk…” She walked back over to Rumpelstiltskin, who was slowly recovering again. “It’s the milk. Or rather, not-milk. It’s teal and clear. Have you been storing potions in the pantry again?” “You should take more care taking stuff out of the pantry!” he replied snappily. “Well, storing dangerous potions with food isn’t going to help… I don’t suppose you remember what potion it is?” “Sadly, I do. And I know why my magic didn’t work against it. It’s because it’s magic of another realm.” “Which realm?” “Wonderland.” “Okay… do you know the antidote then?” “Possibly… but we’ll need the recipe book of other-realm recipes.” “Wait… I think I read that last week! I think I know where it is!” Belle excitedly helped Rumpelstiltskin up, then ran to the edge of the table before stopping abruptly. Feeling much better now, the Dark One pushed her off the edge of the table, then jumped off himself. A quick spell ensured that they both touched the ground as softly as a feather. Belle looked slightly shaken for a minute. “Rumple, that was a bit cruel.” “I’m the Dark One, dearie, what did you expect?” He started walking off towards the library, and Belle slowly followed.

It took several hours to climb the spiral staircase to the library, and as they walked in the library door, it was getting dark outside. Although Rumpelstiltskin walked confidently across the shadowy floor, Belle was more cautious and flinched away from the darker areas. “I don’t suppose you could light some candles…” she asked timidly. “If you insist, dearie…” He clicked his fingers, and the main chandelier in the library lit up. He stumbled slightly, then righted himself. As soon as it was light, Belle rushed off to the left. “Where are you going, dearie?” “To where I left the book, obviously!” He quickly hurried after her to a precarious pile of books next to Belle’s favourite reading chair, and both started to climb the pile. However, as they got nearer the top, the pile started to lean… and tip… and then they and the pile fell over with a resounding crash. Rumpelstiltskin landed on top of Belle with a loud ‘oof’. He stayed there for a moment, stunned, until she pushed him off. “Are you alright?” he asked, unusually quietly. “Yes, I’m fine.” She replied shakily. As they got up slowly, Rumpelstiltskin noticed a book in front of them, titled “Potions of Wonderland”. “That must be the recipe book!” They worked together to flip through the pages, until they reached a double spread with recipes entitled ‘Drink Me’ and ‘Eat Me’. The illustration of the ‘Drink Me’ potion exactly matched the colour of the what Belle had seen in the milk jug earlier. There was also a note at the bottom: “If you are not in Wonderland, these will work the opposite way round.” “This must be it! If we make this ‘Eat Me’ cake, we should be able to make ourselves normal size again!” Belle said excitedly.  

It took several more hours (and a nap partway down the stairs for Belle) to get the book down to the kitchen. While Belle was asleep, Rumpelstiltskin also took a small side trip to his potions room to get the more magical ingredients of the cake. The next morning, they had everything assembled to make the cake. Belle dashed about on the table tossing ingredients into the bowl they used, while Rumpelstiltskin lit the oven and shouted parts of the recipe from the floor. He also grumbled about not having Wonderland mushrooms, which would have done the same trick.

Finally, when the cake was ready, Belle paused before they were about to eat it. “Wait… what about our clothes?” “I’ve enchanted them to grow and shrink as we do, dearie.” She looked at him incredulously. “What? I’m not about to embarrass myself in front of my maid again!” She sighed, and took a bite of the cake.