Post by Belle French on Mar 24, 2014 17:27:56 GMT -5
A haunting moon filtered through the iron bars that allowed her a small glimpse of something other than the room that held her. The moonlight was her only light into the nightmare of madness that gripped her mind. On the other side of the room a brick wall stared back at her. Every now and then she saw a bug wander up the tall and forgotten brick. The cell that had become her home for the last 28 years was not much to look at. The heavy smell of musk lingered in the room and there seemed to be no escape from the desperation that had befallen her. Belle knew nothing. She felt as if there was a past that she should remember. A family that she had belonged to, and a love that she would have died for. There is nothing more maddening than knowing you should know something and not being able to figure it out.
Many moons she spent trying to figure out the blurry face of the monster who had haunted her dreams. He was a man that had meant the world to her and yet seemed completely out of reach. She focused on his face when the woman was torturing her. A sick sadistic pleasure overtook her keeper when she tortured Belle to the brink of death. Strangely enough that was the only sense of normal in Belle’s life. The daily tortures were her only escape from the cold four walls that bound her to the reality that Regina had created for her. She did not know what she had done to deserve such a cruel fate but the madness was beginning to overtake her.
A bug scattered across the pavement of her floor. Her light blue eyes followed it as it tried to escape the prison. It ran into the door and stopped for a moment as if it was thinking. Belle frowned at the creature. A creature that normally would have disgusted a woman, she felt pity for it. Swiftly the young woman moved to the creature and extended her hand to it. Without another thought the beetle crawled onto her hand. It was the first action of acceptance that she could remember. She smiled brightly at the thought of having a friend in her torment, but her mind went to her torture. No one was safe as long as they were tied to her. She could have killed it to spare it suffering, but somewhere deep down Belle still existed. She saw beyond the bug exterior and raised it to the small metal bars.
“Be free. There is a life outside of here somewhere… be free!” Belle shouted at the bug as she released it to the wind. She slumped back against the cold walls and pulled her head into her knees crying. A simple bug had given her a glimmer of hope and she had released it. The face of the man she loved came back into her thoughts. He was hovering over here while she was on the floor cleaning. The marble of the floor looked as if she was in a Palace, had she been a Princess? No this made no sense, “Please…” She cried out into the darkness, “Please just let me see your face!” Belle screamed while slamming her fist into the stone floor.
She had gone from sitting in her hard bed to the ground within a matter of seconds. The torment of him haunting her to the brink of insanity. She screamed frantically trying to let out the frustration of missing someone she could not remember. 28 years of suffering. She could not remember being a child, she could not remember being a lover, she could not remember any birthdays that had passed. She did not even know her birthday. She knew how to count. Her tear filled and glistening eyes turned towards the wall where she had marked every day for the last 28 years. Somewhere deep down Belle still existed. Regina had tried to tear that away from her and had tried to destroy her. She had toyed with her allowing her to live just to suffer. Belle could not imagine what had caused Regina to be so cruel but she assumed that she had made a deal with the devil for her soul. She quickly wiped away her tears as the door opened. She did not want anyone around her seeing her weakness or broken heart. She refused to allow them to see her suffer. She would not bow. If there was one thing she did remember it was that she would never bow to anyone. She was a strong woman. Her mind was a quiet mind, but a beautiful one.
“Chow time,” A man in black said while tossing her some bread and dry rice. She quickly lunged for it because she had not been fed in a few days. According to her home made calendar it had been three days since the Evil Queen had offered her any nutrition. The bread was stale but it would satisfy the growling in her stomach. The rice was try and hard to swallow, but if it killed her she would welcome it. The man laughed as he watched her suffer. She had gone from a Princess, to a Servant, to a Prisoner. Belle raised her eyes to the man and narrowed them slowly. She lunged at him with a shank that she had made in her madness from the leg of her cot. He backed against the wall in surprise as Belle stabbed his chest. The blood quickly consumed the end of the blade and he screamed. She tilted her head and grinned. It felt oddly satisfying to hurt him, but yet again her conscious tore at her as she back up. Quickly her hands rushed through her hair as she began to rock back and forth in the corner. She could have escaped at that point, but her guilt for killing a man consumed her.
The sound of footsteps rushing to her but her on alert and she knew she was going to pay the price. Two tall and bulky men dragged the dead man off. They looked at her in surprise and said nothing while closing the door behind them. They would be back for her. Belle was sure of it. She began to rock back and forth once more. The young woman began to count out loud the seconds it would take for them to return for her.
“2445, 2446, …2447..” The door creaked and her eyes immediately went from the blood stains on the wall to the person who had entered the room. It was the hooded man. Belle gulped and slowly slid up the wall knowing what this meant. An evil laugh erupted from the man’s lips as he grabbed her violently around her wrist.
“Try that one on me darling.” He laughed while dragging her down the hall. Her hospital gown nearly fell off from the sheer force of his pull. She twisted and turned against him trying to break free but experience told her it would be to no avail. He was the only man that she knew. He was her torturer and worked for Regina. She could never place Regina’s face but she knew her. She knew the cold and dead eyes that the Queen stared at her with. She knew that she was nothing more than a pawn that the Queen loved to use.
The room that he pulled her in was padded and full of white. She winced trying to adjust her eyes to the light. The only light that she saw outside of this room was the moon that sometimes found its way into her room. She frowned as he strapped her onto a bed. The sound of the fluorescent flickering light was what she focused on as he began to ready his tools. He hummed happy birthday while lining up different things to hurt her with. If she could have she would have cried, but something in her told her not to bow. It drove her to focus even more on the sound of the light. Her eyes dilated as they focused on the light above them. A sinister female voice came in over the loud speaker.
“What is your name?” The woman hissed.
Belle did not respond. She refused to play the Queen’s game. She lay motionless counting in her head over and over again. How many buzzes would the light put out before it finally burnt out? She screamed and dug her nails into the side of the foam bed hoping to transfer some of her pain into another part of the room. The man began to cut into her leg with a scalpel.
“I suggest you answer the woman.” The man smiled while cutting into her deeper, “And it won’t hurt as bad if you hold still.” He laughed against her face. Belle screamed before biting down on her lip trying to avoid showing them that she was suffering.
“I don’t know what I did to you. I don’t even know who you are. But there is a special place in hell for witches like you!” Belle cursed at the two way mirror that Regina was most likely hiding behind.
The man placed two electric pulses on Belle’s chest. He shocked her to the point of exhaustion and to the point she passed out. She never once gave them her name, because she did not remember. If she had not been part Fae she would have died from Regina’s torture long ago. If the need to love the man she could not remember did not drive her, she would have given into the darkness long ago. She was tossed on her hard cot and she could feel her bones crack as her body hit the bed. Belle slowly raised an arm and marked another day on the wall before passing back out.
“Funny, I don’t remember the Mayor telling me to expect someone today? Maybe I should call this in.” The head nurse said while picking up the phone.
“Do you really want to bother the mayor with such trivial issues? I’m hardly a threat. I’ve had three hip replacements in the last four years and my eyesight is rather dismissed.” She woman used her age to her advantage and the nurse put the phone down. She smiled sympathetically and opened the door for the woman, “Thank you. I left you some tea to help you through your shift.”
“That’s lovely! Thank you.” The nurse said while the woman entered the long hall of Regina’s prisoners. She returned to her desk to sip the tea and hit her head on her keyboard. Instant death. Mrs. Potts could not afford witnesses.
The sound of the door opening in the morning three days past made her flitch. Her body was beginning to scar but she could not move. The gentle touch of a woman made her open her eyes and a unfamiliar familiar face stared down at her. Her features were tired and old. She looked to be about 60 years old and yet a wise woman. An warmth radiated from her and Belle still could not place where she knew her from.
“H..ello?” Belle choked out. Her words soon turned into a coughing fit because she had been on the verge of death. She had been ready to die. Her dreams had been sweet of the man she could not remember.
“Hush child.” The woman said while running her hands along Belle’s body. Her bones were aching as though someone had taken a sledge hammer to her, “Wow they really did a number on you… poor dear.” She frowned and placed a cool washcloth on her bruised forehead.
Belle nodded weakly and looked over at her wall. She had been beaten 3 days ago. They had left her for dead to rot in a cell, literally. She was weak and even breathing hurt. The woman quickly sewed up Belle’s wounds after shoving a washcloth in her mouth. Belle was too weak to fight and simply endured the pain of the needle moving within her flesh. Mrs. Potts dug into the depths of her uniform’s pockets and handed Belle a key from her past. A silver key lay in Belle’s open palm as Mrs. Potts enclosed the key around her hand. The key had once freed Rumple from his cage and if Belle showed it to Mr. Gold he would know for sure that she was not an illusion.
“Child, this key will guide you to the man who is haunting your dreams. I have bought you sometime so if you have any strength left you must get up. You must fight and you must find him. Go to Mr. Gold’s pawnshop and tell him who you are. Your name is Belle. You don’t remember now but you will soon. There are events unfolding that are changing the game. You must tell him Regina locked you up and that he needs to keep you safe. I know he will. I raised him to be a good man.” She frowned.
Belle turned her head and her eyes focused on the key. It mixed with the fae magic that was fighting to be free. Something was changing and Belle could feel it. Emma was close to saving Henry and the curse was on the verge of breaking. Her tortures had stopped lately and Belle was not sure as to why, but it was because Regina had been distracted with her son nearly dying. Slowly she sat up for the first time in days. She had nearly been left for dead and now she was barely holding on and Mrs. Potts expected her to go on a walk? Belle let out a small laugh of bitterness before turning her gaze back to the key. It began to glow because it was back to its rightful owner. She blinked and looked up, but Mrs. Potts was gone. She was alone again.
“I.. can’t…” She said while falling back over. She closed her eyes hoping the room would stop spinning if only for a mere minute. It did. Slowly Belle raised herself back up. Her bones cracked and the stitches adjusted themselves to her position. She groaned in pain and slowly pulled herself up by sticking her fingers inbetween the stones of her cell wall, “I can, and I will.” She spat out before wrapping a jacket that Mrs. Potts had laid out for her before poofing. Inch by inch Belle pulled herself along the wall. It was odd being free without being dragged down a hall. It was odd that there was nothing but the flickering of the light overhead to guide her… and the key. She looked down as the key still glowed. The closer she got to her freedom the closer she got to the one she was missing. She wished with all of her heart that she could remember, but she could not. Belle, that was her name.
She pushed the heavy metal door with a force usually unseen by her. She was pissed and so close to being completely free. 28 years of suffering was about to end. All of the fight in her was finally coming to the surface. She had hope. The sun, it was too bright. Her right arm instantly shielded her eyes as if someone had thrown acid on her face. She shook her head and gave herself a moment to adjust. The feel of fresh air against her battered skin was exhilarating. She broke into hysterical laughter as she walked down the streets. Her hair was in every direction her hospital gown stained with her own blood and her feet bare. The pavement was hot against her feet, but it did not matter because she had found what she was looking for. Mr. Gold’s shop sign loomed above her as she peered in the window. The Belle in her was fascinated by all of the old antiques that seemed to stare at her in surprise. She had always been a fan of history and story, and to her each piece had a story to tell. The sign said closed, but the key urged her to go in. She was not about to sleep on the streets tonight. She feared the Queen would come for her.
The door opened and the air in the room seemed to change. She stopped for a moment suddenly afraid to confront what might be ahead. Slowly her bare feet urged her towards the man who stood with his back to her.
“Hello…” She paused, “I was told to find you. I was told you could protect me. I’ve been locked up for 28 years and I am in dire need of your protection. I was told by an elderly lady that you would protect me.” She opened her palm revealing the silver key that had once freed him from Regina’s shackles and had led Belle to him. The key to both of their hearts, “She said you would recognize this.”
ooc: To any guests reading this. This site is AU so I had Belle saved by someone from my RP with Rumpelstiltskin instead of Jefferson.
Tags: Mr. Gold
Many moons she spent trying to figure out the blurry face of the monster who had haunted her dreams. He was a man that had meant the world to her and yet seemed completely out of reach. She focused on his face when the woman was torturing her. A sick sadistic pleasure overtook her keeper when she tortured Belle to the brink of death. Strangely enough that was the only sense of normal in Belle’s life. The daily tortures were her only escape from the cold four walls that bound her to the reality that Regina had created for her. She did not know what she had done to deserve such a cruel fate but the madness was beginning to overtake her.
A bug scattered across the pavement of her floor. Her light blue eyes followed it as it tried to escape the prison. It ran into the door and stopped for a moment as if it was thinking. Belle frowned at the creature. A creature that normally would have disgusted a woman, she felt pity for it. Swiftly the young woman moved to the creature and extended her hand to it. Without another thought the beetle crawled onto her hand. It was the first action of acceptance that she could remember. She smiled brightly at the thought of having a friend in her torment, but her mind went to her torture. No one was safe as long as they were tied to her. She could have killed it to spare it suffering, but somewhere deep down Belle still existed. She saw beyond the bug exterior and raised it to the small metal bars.
“Be free. There is a life outside of here somewhere… be free!” Belle shouted at the bug as she released it to the wind. She slumped back against the cold walls and pulled her head into her knees crying. A simple bug had given her a glimmer of hope and she had released it. The face of the man she loved came back into her thoughts. He was hovering over here while she was on the floor cleaning. The marble of the floor looked as if she was in a Palace, had she been a Princess? No this made no sense, “Please…” She cried out into the darkness, “Please just let me see your face!” Belle screamed while slamming her fist into the stone floor.
She had gone from sitting in her hard bed to the ground within a matter of seconds. The torment of him haunting her to the brink of insanity. She screamed frantically trying to let out the frustration of missing someone she could not remember. 28 years of suffering. She could not remember being a child, she could not remember being a lover, she could not remember any birthdays that had passed. She did not even know her birthday. She knew how to count. Her tear filled and glistening eyes turned towards the wall where she had marked every day for the last 28 years. Somewhere deep down Belle still existed. Regina had tried to tear that away from her and had tried to destroy her. She had toyed with her allowing her to live just to suffer. Belle could not imagine what had caused Regina to be so cruel but she assumed that she had made a deal with the devil for her soul. She quickly wiped away her tears as the door opened. She did not want anyone around her seeing her weakness or broken heart. She refused to allow them to see her suffer. She would not bow. If there was one thing she did remember it was that she would never bow to anyone. She was a strong woman. Her mind was a quiet mind, but a beautiful one.
“Chow time,” A man in black said while tossing her some bread and dry rice. She quickly lunged for it because she had not been fed in a few days. According to her home made calendar it had been three days since the Evil Queen had offered her any nutrition. The bread was stale but it would satisfy the growling in her stomach. The rice was try and hard to swallow, but if it killed her she would welcome it. The man laughed as he watched her suffer. She had gone from a Princess, to a Servant, to a Prisoner. Belle raised her eyes to the man and narrowed them slowly. She lunged at him with a shank that she had made in her madness from the leg of her cot. He backed against the wall in surprise as Belle stabbed his chest. The blood quickly consumed the end of the blade and he screamed. She tilted her head and grinned. It felt oddly satisfying to hurt him, but yet again her conscious tore at her as she back up. Quickly her hands rushed through her hair as she began to rock back and forth in the corner. She could have escaped at that point, but her guilt for killing a man consumed her.
The sound of footsteps rushing to her but her on alert and she knew she was going to pay the price. Two tall and bulky men dragged the dead man off. They looked at her in surprise and said nothing while closing the door behind them. They would be back for her. Belle was sure of it. She began to rock back and forth once more. The young woman began to count out loud the seconds it would take for them to return for her.
“2445, 2446, …2447..” The door creaked and her eyes immediately went from the blood stains on the wall to the person who had entered the room. It was the hooded man. Belle gulped and slowly slid up the wall knowing what this meant. An evil laugh erupted from the man’s lips as he grabbed her violently around her wrist.
“Try that one on me darling.” He laughed while dragging her down the hall. Her hospital gown nearly fell off from the sheer force of his pull. She twisted and turned against him trying to break free but experience told her it would be to no avail. He was the only man that she knew. He was her torturer and worked for Regina. She could never place Regina’s face but she knew her. She knew the cold and dead eyes that the Queen stared at her with. She knew that she was nothing more than a pawn that the Queen loved to use.
The room that he pulled her in was padded and full of white. She winced trying to adjust her eyes to the light. The only light that she saw outside of this room was the moon that sometimes found its way into her room. She frowned as he strapped her onto a bed. The sound of the fluorescent flickering light was what she focused on as he began to ready his tools. He hummed happy birthday while lining up different things to hurt her with. If she could have she would have cried, but something in her told her not to bow. It drove her to focus even more on the sound of the light. Her eyes dilated as they focused on the light above them. A sinister female voice came in over the loud speaker.
“What is your name?” The woman hissed.
Belle did not respond. She refused to play the Queen’s game. She lay motionless counting in her head over and over again. How many buzzes would the light put out before it finally burnt out? She screamed and dug her nails into the side of the foam bed hoping to transfer some of her pain into another part of the room. The man began to cut into her leg with a scalpel.
“I suggest you answer the woman.” The man smiled while cutting into her deeper, “And it won’t hurt as bad if you hold still.” He laughed against her face. Belle screamed before biting down on her lip trying to avoid showing them that she was suffering.
“I don’t know what I did to you. I don’t even know who you are. But there is a special place in hell for witches like you!” Belle cursed at the two way mirror that Regina was most likely hiding behind.
The man placed two electric pulses on Belle’s chest. He shocked her to the point of exhaustion and to the point she passed out. She never once gave them her name, because she did not remember. If she had not been part Fae she would have died from Regina’s torture long ago. If the need to love the man she could not remember did not drive her, she would have given into the darkness long ago. She was tossed on her hard cot and she could feel her bones crack as her body hit the bed. Belle slowly raised an arm and marked another day on the wall before passing back out.
--3 days later--
“Hello dear, I’ve brought fresh linens.” An old woman said while pushing a laundry cart.“Funny, I don’t remember the Mayor telling me to expect someone today? Maybe I should call this in.” The head nurse said while picking up the phone.
“Do you really want to bother the mayor with such trivial issues? I’m hardly a threat. I’ve had three hip replacements in the last four years and my eyesight is rather dismissed.” She woman used her age to her advantage and the nurse put the phone down. She smiled sympathetically and opened the door for the woman, “Thank you. I left you some tea to help you through your shift.”
“That’s lovely! Thank you.” The nurse said while the woman entered the long hall of Regina’s prisoners. She returned to her desk to sip the tea and hit her head on her keyboard. Instant death. Mrs. Potts could not afford witnesses.
The sound of the door opening in the morning three days past made her flitch. Her body was beginning to scar but she could not move. The gentle touch of a woman made her open her eyes and a unfamiliar familiar face stared down at her. Her features were tired and old. She looked to be about 60 years old and yet a wise woman. An warmth radiated from her and Belle still could not place where she knew her from.
“H..ello?” Belle choked out. Her words soon turned into a coughing fit because she had been on the verge of death. She had been ready to die. Her dreams had been sweet of the man she could not remember.
“Hush child.” The woman said while running her hands along Belle’s body. Her bones were aching as though someone had taken a sledge hammer to her, “Wow they really did a number on you… poor dear.” She frowned and placed a cool washcloth on her bruised forehead.
Belle nodded weakly and looked over at her wall. She had been beaten 3 days ago. They had left her for dead to rot in a cell, literally. She was weak and even breathing hurt. The woman quickly sewed up Belle’s wounds after shoving a washcloth in her mouth. Belle was too weak to fight and simply endured the pain of the needle moving within her flesh. Mrs. Potts dug into the depths of her uniform’s pockets and handed Belle a key from her past. A silver key lay in Belle’s open palm as Mrs. Potts enclosed the key around her hand. The key had once freed Rumple from his cage and if Belle showed it to Mr. Gold he would know for sure that she was not an illusion.
“Child, this key will guide you to the man who is haunting your dreams. I have bought you sometime so if you have any strength left you must get up. You must fight and you must find him. Go to Mr. Gold’s pawnshop and tell him who you are. Your name is Belle. You don’t remember now but you will soon. There are events unfolding that are changing the game. You must tell him Regina locked you up and that he needs to keep you safe. I know he will. I raised him to be a good man.” She frowned.
Belle turned her head and her eyes focused on the key. It mixed with the fae magic that was fighting to be free. Something was changing and Belle could feel it. Emma was close to saving Henry and the curse was on the verge of breaking. Her tortures had stopped lately and Belle was not sure as to why, but it was because Regina had been distracted with her son nearly dying. Slowly she sat up for the first time in days. She had nearly been left for dead and now she was barely holding on and Mrs. Potts expected her to go on a walk? Belle let out a small laugh of bitterness before turning her gaze back to the key. It began to glow because it was back to its rightful owner. She blinked and looked up, but Mrs. Potts was gone. She was alone again.
“I.. can’t…” She said while falling back over. She closed her eyes hoping the room would stop spinning if only for a mere minute. It did. Slowly Belle raised herself back up. Her bones cracked and the stitches adjusted themselves to her position. She groaned in pain and slowly pulled herself up by sticking her fingers inbetween the stones of her cell wall, “I can, and I will.” She spat out before wrapping a jacket that Mrs. Potts had laid out for her before poofing. Inch by inch Belle pulled herself along the wall. It was odd being free without being dragged down a hall. It was odd that there was nothing but the flickering of the light overhead to guide her… and the key. She looked down as the key still glowed. The closer she got to her freedom the closer she got to the one she was missing. She wished with all of her heart that she could remember, but she could not. Belle, that was her name.
She pushed the heavy metal door with a force usually unseen by her. She was pissed and so close to being completely free. 28 years of suffering was about to end. All of the fight in her was finally coming to the surface. She had hope. The sun, it was too bright. Her right arm instantly shielded her eyes as if someone had thrown acid on her face. She shook her head and gave herself a moment to adjust. The feel of fresh air against her battered skin was exhilarating. She broke into hysterical laughter as she walked down the streets. Her hair was in every direction her hospital gown stained with her own blood and her feet bare. The pavement was hot against her feet, but it did not matter because she had found what she was looking for. Mr. Gold’s shop sign loomed above her as she peered in the window. The Belle in her was fascinated by all of the old antiques that seemed to stare at her in surprise. She had always been a fan of history and story, and to her each piece had a story to tell. The sign said closed, but the key urged her to go in. She was not about to sleep on the streets tonight. She feared the Queen would come for her.
The door opened and the air in the room seemed to change. She stopped for a moment suddenly afraid to confront what might be ahead. Slowly her bare feet urged her towards the man who stood with his back to her.
“Hello…” She paused, “I was told to find you. I was told you could protect me. I’ve been locked up for 28 years and I am in dire need of your protection. I was told by an elderly lady that you would protect me.” She opened her palm revealing the silver key that had once freed him from Regina’s shackles and had led Belle to him. The key to both of their hearts, “She said you would recognize this.”
ooc: To any guests reading this. This site is AU so I had Belle saved by someone from my RP with Rumpelstiltskin instead of Jefferson.
Tags: Mr. Gold