in a dreaming place
Hey there, hereās my entry for the @rumbellebigbang. Companion piece to this excellent gifset by @jackabelle73, who brought the scene to life in a way that is still a little eerie to me. (Witchcraft, I tell you. Gifmaking is witchcraft.)
Summary: Belleās mother disappeared eight years ago, and now Belle has returned to sell the old family home in Storybrooke and finally move on with her life. However, she meets Rumplestiltskin, a member of the Fae Courts, who not only seems connected to Coletteās disappearance, but brings his own host of problems into Belleās life. As reluctant partners (though increasingly attracted to each other), they have to navigate both smalltown life in Storybrooke, as well as the intrigues and mind-bending oddities of the Fae Court to find what they are looking for.
Prologue
7 years agoā¦
This shortcut had been a bad idea, Belle realised. The sky was already dark as midnight, and they weren't even halfway to the house. "Maybe we should go back?" she called.
No reply.
"Maman? Maman, are you there?" Again, nobody answered, and Belle stopped to look around with a frown. Colette had been right behind her when they'd decided to cut through the forest and Belle could have swornā Thunder rolled in the distance, and Belle flinched. She'd always liked rainstorms, but mostly from inside a house. This was decidedly closer to nature than she'd ever intended to get in her life, never mind this afternoon, after what had probably been the biggest fight with her father, yet. Right now, she couldn't even remember what they'd both been angry about, but she was certain that it had been very important.
Moe French was not a bad father, as such, but he disliked change, and he disliked it even more when things outside of his control happened. His only daughter leaving town to go to college was both of those in one package, wrapped up in just a touch of preemptive empty nest syndrome. This hadn't been their first fight, and until she left for college, it probably wouldn't be their last. At this point, Belle had learned to just leave the house for a few hours and come back when they'd both had the time to calm down.
Except today, a storm warning had come over the radio, and her mother had felt the need to come pick her up. It had been Belle's idea to cut through the woods, but even she was starting to doubt the wisdom of it. They were going to get drenched either way, and on the open road there was less chance of a stray bit of tree hitting them.
Except now her mother was nowhere to be seen, and Belle felt the first wisps of panic snake their way up her throat. "Maman?" she called again, much more quietly this time. She took a step backwards, and something snapped under her shoe. In a flash of flying leaves and damp earth, Belle was on the ground. Her hand hit a tree, rough bark harsh against her skin, and her head hit the soft ground with a sickening lurch.
The world shifted.
Belle could have sworn that she got up in seconds, but when she did, the storm had vanished, and even the sunlight looked different. Much more like a late dusk than the afternoon that it should still have been. Gone were the layers of wet leaves on the ground, replaced with long, deep green grass. She blinked at her surroundings, half convinced that she had just lost consciousness and was imagining this. Maybe she wasāhow would she be able to tell.
"You shouldn't be here."
