Belle was alone in the castle. It had been three days now and Belle was enjoying every second of it, she barely slept. Of course, she kept dusting, but not so much to be honest. Why? Well, the answer was simple, she was snooping around. The castle was full of things, objects, books, potions and many other things. Wonderful and interesting things. Belle was really curious to know everything about them, she liked imagining where those things came from, their story and the adventures that Rumple had to face to take them. 

Adventures, Belle would have loved to live some adventures. She had just one and that didn't end well. Well, actually two, but she didn't like thinking about the very first one...the orge war...her mother. So, to pass the time instead of crying in her cell...ehm...room, Belle had decided to look around the castle, especially the rooms that Rumple never told her to dust. Belle knew that it meant she wasn't supposed to go in those rooms, but technically Rumple never told her that, he just told her to not dust those rooms and Belle never dusted those rooms. She looked at the things in these rooms. Yes, it was just an excuse and Belle knew it, she knew that she shouldn't go in those rooms, but still...she wasn't dusting them. 

Belle was in one of the many long and huge castle's corridors, walking towards a ramp of stairs that led down, there wasn't even enough light there, but luckily there were torches on the walls. She took one and turned it on, her heart started beating faster because she was excited to see what there was down there...and also because she hoped that Rumple wasn't going to come back any time soon or she was going to be in a lot of trouble. Belle stopped walking for a moment thinking about Rumple, but her curiosity won again so she kept walking.

She reached a wooden door, it was painted black "No lock...?" Belle thought, she tried to open the door but no dice. She sighed and turned around, but in that moment she heard noises coming from the door. Belle noticed that the door had a lock now "What kind of magic is this?" she thought frowning and tried to open the door sure that it was going to be closed, but instead it opened. Belle entered in the room that was even darker than the door. As soon as she stepped inside, the door closed behind her. Belle jumped in surprise and anxiety, her only light the torch. Belle couldn't see almost anything "What things does Rumple keep in here?" she thought, curiously.
Belle couldn't know that the room itself was the thing. 

Rumplestiltskin  

Rumple had been on quite an annoying adventure, but he was glad that he had managed to procure another item for his collection. He didn't like making deals with people that took a lot of his time, but it couldn't always be helped, he supposed. Without so much as a sound, he appeared in the middle of his main living room, where a large portion of his safer items were kept. He moved to one of the cabinets, opening the glass door and setting what looked like a jeweled egg inside on a small stand seemingly meant for it.

Sighing softly, he closed the case, taking a step back to observe his collection. But he wasn't just marveling it- he was taking note of the fact that it seemed to be quite dusty. now where was that silly maid of his? Did she think that, just because he wasn't around for a few days, that she could just run off and do whatever she pleased?

He knew she wouldn't try to escape, which was why he left her alone in the first place, but that didn't mean she would do the work she was supposed to do in his absence. Apparently she was more interested in doing her own thing, whatever that ended up being. Perhaps she was tucked away somewhere, reading a book. She seemed to like doing that, even when it was the same book again and again. Sighing to himself, the golden-skinned man teleported himself to her quarters, where he was surprised to find she was not hiding in.

Blinking, he walked out of the room, looking around with a befuddled expression. It was strange- normally he could sense someone and appear directly in front of them whenever he wanted to, but he couldn't seem to get a lock on Belle. Now where had that girl gotten to?

"Belle?" He called, though he hardly expected an answer. If he couldn't feel her, there was little chance she was close enough for her to hear him. All the same, he found himself feeling something strange swirling inside the pit of his stomach.

He was a little concerned that she really had left him.

---

Belle French

Belle didn't know where she was and frankly she was starting to be afraid. The room was in complete darkness, the torch wasn't even useful anymore, it didn't illuminate anything. Belle tried to find the door, but it was like the room just kept going forever, she couldn't even find walls or anything. It wasn't nice, being in a dark room, without being able to feel anything because even the sounds were muffled. Belle crouched down and touched the floor, even though it was cold, Belle actually felt better to be able to feel something in this room. At least the floor was still there and it wasn't lava or something.

Belle closed her eyes for a second and breathed heavily, trying to calm down. Because, she had to calm down. Belle looked at the torch, there was still fire, but it wasn't so warm "Call him...it always works, he always knows where I am when I call him...at least I should try" but she wondered what would happen if she tried to speak, what if there was something else here, what if she woke up it or something? Belle decided that she had to try anyway, it was worth a shot. If Rumple could hear her then she would be safe...or maybe not exactly safe because she was snooping around.

She had to try "Rumple...stiltskin!!!" just calling him Rumple sounded strange, but not really, she liked calling him Rumple. However, she called Rumplestiltskin for three times. It usually worked. Belle waited for a while, but then the room started shaking like if there was a earthquake. Then the floor behind her started cracking, breaking. Belle started running, feeling her heart in the throat, however she didn't run fast enough. Belle fell down, under the floor. She hit the ground and the torch slipped away from her hand. The first thing that she noticed was that it didn't hurt...all of this had to be magical...maybe was the room...or maybe was Rumple? What was happening? Probably this room just tricked the mind...right?


Rumplestiltskin  

Rumple frowned. He couldn't sense her anywhere- he knew she couldn't have gone far, but still. Even if she were miles away from the castle, there would have been some indication she was still around. But it was like she had just... vanished. He sighed heavily, returning to the entry way of his castle as he considered his options. He supposed he could always venture out and look for her. Perhaps she had left without taking anything with her.

But she wasn't that desperate to get away from him, was she? He had thought their relationship had... improved over the months. The idea of her just running away now, out of the blue, seemed very difficult to accept.

So she had to still be in the castle. Where?

His thoughts were interrupted when a sense of dark magic washed over, causing him to shudder. It wasn't his own magic, of course- it was something much more twisted. Dark in an entirely different way. He frowned, struck with a sudden, dreadful thought. Surely she couldn't have found THAT room. In his panic, he warped himself down deep below the castle, in front of a room that lurked well out of reach of everything. This room... it wasn't meant for mortals to explore. Hell, it wasn't meant for HIM to explore, either. The one place in his castle he never wanted to deal with.

Belle had to be in there. Something told him that she was just inquisitive enough to explore it. If the room wanted you, if would call to you. He had thought his enchantments had stopped that magic, but seeing the door unlocked only proved that he had been foolish to think he could lock away the magic. Frowning, he pushed open the door, taking a step inside. Immediately, the floor gave out from under him, and he toppled blindly into the dark. As he fell, he heard the door slam shut above him, somewhere. He slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, though he hadn't been injured. Sitting himself, he cast a spell to make a ball of light appear next to him, illuminating the area around him. "Belle?!" He called, "Belle, are you in here?"

---

Belle French

Belle's torch was off, no more light, she was all alone...in the darkness...and....suddenly, Belle saw some light, it wasn't far away, but Belle smiled only when she heard Rumple's voice. He was here! He had been searching for her! Then the smile disappeared imagining how angry he was. But...Belle couldn't stay in the darkness...she was afraid, well, she wasn't completely afraid, a part of her was enjoying this...the adventure and the adrenaline...and the man with the fire. Belle ran towards him while he was calling for her "I'm here!!" she said and reached him out. She was happy to see him.

"What..." Belle let out a sigh "...is this room?" she looked around, just moving her eyes, she didn't want to walk away from Rumple, but maybe the room had other ideas. Then she thought about explaining herself...why she was here...what had happened...but it wasn't the moment. A loud growl came from the end of the room...of what it seemed the end of the room...this room had no ends, at least it seemed so. Belle looked at Rumple with eyes that were saying: You know how to handle the situation, right?. This room was in his castle, he had to know how to handle all of this, or maybe not, maybe this room was a problem even for Rumple.

The growl could be heard again, closer, too close, but it was impossible to see what was the source "Perhaps is nothing....maybe it is just the room, it's playing with us" because it was, this room was strange, it played with your head, using your fears...fears that you didn't even know that you had. But...how many fears could Rumple have? Belle looked at him...someone could think that Rumple had no fears with all his dark power, but Belle could see beyond that.

Rumplestiltskin  

Rumple went a sense of relief wash over him when he heard Belle calling to him, though he was quick to shrug it off. He frowned at her through the weak light from his spell, clearly displeased to have found her there. "This room is exactly why I told you never to come down here, dearie," he snapped bitterly, though he turned his eyes from her when something growled at them in the darkness. He felt his chest tighten with fear- this wasn't good. They needed to get out of there before the room took both of their minds, as well as his magic.

"Oh, it's something all right," he said, shooing down her attempt to brush off the noises they were hearing, "this room... it's the product of my early adventures as the Dark One. I stumbled across a power even darker than what I control. I wanted it. I took it. But it was too much, even for me. I ended up locking it away in this room, attempting to seal it away forever until I could find a way to either control it, or destroy it. But I have found neither and now I'm stuck here! All thanks to you, I might add!" Not that it was entirely true- he could have just left her to perish in the room and re-sealed it to save himself.

He hadn't needed to risk his life coming after her.

"The room itself isn't what's evil, it's what I locked away inside. But now even this room is at that power's command, it seems. There's no saying what it'll make us see or feel, but it's all going to be very real, I assure you of that much."

He noticed that something had changed in his voice- the light notes of humor and mischief were gone. The accent that had sprung forth from being the Dark One had dribbled out of his tone, a morning normal voice breaking through the shadows. Quickly, he cast another spell, the ball of light next to him branching off into many light sources, illuminating the room like candlesticks. Not that it helped much- there was nothing to see. Nothing but the now human-looking Rumplestiltskin standing next to Belle. He looked at his hands, turning them over slowly to take in the absence of gold skin.

"It's draining my magic," he said, "we have to find a way out of here before it can use my darkness with its own."

---

Belle French

Belle frowned at Rumple's comeback, their relationship was based on comebacks, but...he was here...he was risking his life to save her. Belle couldn't help but smile, she knew that she was right, she had seen the good side in him and it hadn't been an illusion. However, the smile disappeared when Rumple's voice and skin changed...something was happening to him "The only thing that I think of is running!" Belle said to him and luckily he had enough magic to illuminate the place, well, it wasn't enough, but at least it was something.

Belle grabbed Rumple's arm and started running away from the growl, but it was coming closer anyway. It got so close that it was possible to see what made the growls: it was an ogre. Or better, ogres. What...?? Belle kept running, but it seemed impossible to run away from them. At some point, Belle lost balance and fell on the ground, one of the ogres behind her grabbed her and started tightening the grip around Belle's body. Belle started screaming in pain, it was really painful. Belle looked at Rumple for a second, but then she screamed again. Meanwhile the other ogres were moving forward towards Rumple.

Rumplestiltskin

Rumple didn't have time to argue- before he knew it, he was being pulled along behind Belle. Thankfully, his foot didn't seem to be reverting back to its normal state, it had simply been his appearance that had changed. Likely because looking human was a frightening prospect for him- it meant that he really was losing his magic. The room was toying with him. His magic was indeed being drained, but not that quickly. It would take some time before the Dark One would fall.

He ran with Belle, though he wasn't sure it was really going to do them much good. "We have to find the source of the darkness and find some way to stop it! I know WHAT it is, I just don't know WHERE it is," he barked, though his explanation was cut short as they found themselves getting attacked by Ogres after Belle tripped.

"Belle!" He yelped in spite of himself, charging back the way he had come to help her. One of the Ogres had picked her up, but it wouldn't be holding her for long. Rumple drew the dagger from his jacket, stabbing the Ogre attacking Belle over any of the ones advancing on him. But it wasn't just to use a weapon against the beast- he channeled his magic into the attack, spreading a spell through the Ogres. He burst into hundreds of butterflies, releasing Belle the moment the bugs started to scatter. Rumple, meanwhile, was just in the right spot to catch Belle and keep her from hitting the ground. Awkwardly, he set her down. "Stay here," he told her, before looking up at the other ogres. They were, at least for the moment, distracted by the butterflies in their eyes, the bugs having swarmed around their faces at Rumple's command.

He rushed away from Belle, leaving her to recover on her own while the ogres gave chase to him. He made sure to put some distance between them and him before spinning on his heels to face them. He gripped his dagger, raising it to cast another spell. Unfortunately, one of the ogres had gotten closer than he would have liked, and he barely had time to cast the spell before feeling a heavy club smack him right in the side. He was sent crashing off to the side, rolling head over heels a few times before coming to a stop on his side. His dagger went spinning off into the darkness, clattering a moment before falling silent, much like its master. However, he had still managed to cast his spell before getting struck- the Ogres that had been chasing them had all been turned to stone.

---

Belle French

Belle didn't even know what the source of the darkness was so she couldn't even know where the source of it could be. Belle heard Rumple screaming her name, but she couldn't really do anything now...but Rumple did something and Belle suddenly fell down. She was sure to fall on the ground, but instead Rumple caught her. Belle looked at him with gratitude, but there wasn't enough time to thank him. Belle nodded when he told her to stay there so she didn't move. Her breath was still short because of all that tightening...and her concern for Rumple made her breathing even worse.

He started running away from the ogres, but then he stopped and faced them "What is he doing?" Belle thought, worried sick that something was going to happen to him. Belle saw the dagger...his dagger...he was raising it for some reason "RUMPLE!!!" Belle screamed when an ogre hit him. It was her turn to help him now, although she didn't know what she could do for him. Belle stood up, her back and chest were hurting very much, but seeing Rumple over there...motionless...made her find the force to keep walking.

With a grimace of pain on her face, Belle finally reached out for Rumple "Are you okay... Rumple??" Belle tried to wake him up shaking his body a bit. She was being so worried for Rumple that she didn't even notice that the ogres had been turned into stone. Mh, Belle wanted adventure and adventure she was having. Happy? No. Belle was hating herself for this, Rumple was wounded because of her. Belle noticed the dagger "Maybe...I can wake him up with the dagger!" she thought and rushed to take it.

The dagger was more heavy than it looked like and Belle couldn't help but stare at Rumple's name on the blade. She wasn't feeling very comfortable holding his dagger. Belle looked up at Rumple and walked towards him raising the dagger in front of her "Rumplestiltskin! Wake up!" she said, trying to use an authoritative tone. There she was, with his dagger trying to control him. Well, she just hoped that Rumple would understand that she was doing this to help him.

Rumplestiltskin 

Rumple was out like a light when Belle found him, lying on his side where he had landed. With the darkness draining his magic, he could actually take damage. Well, not ACTUALLY, but at least as far as the room was concerned. He didn't hear Belle calling for him, and he didn't feel her give him a shake. What he did feel, though, was a sudden surge of power flood through him without warning, snapping him out of the darkness. His eyes fluttered open, the Dark One, slowly sitting himself up with a groan.

It took him a moment to realize what was happening, but when he looked up to see Belle holding his dagger out in front of him, he was able to put two and two together. Had she COMMANDED him to wake up?! No wonder he had been brought back to consciousness so suddenly- the magic had flowed into him and helped him recover from his hit more quickly than he otherwise would have been able to. But that hardly mattered to Rumple- he didn't care that she had helped wake him up.

All he cared about was that she was holding his dagger- she was able to control! His maid could become the master!

And the darkness would make her aware of it, too. It would feed her with thoughts, tempting her with the possibility of torturing Rumple with his own dagger. Making him suffer because he deserved it. The darkness was maybe a little bit bitter about being sealed away.

"My dagger!" Rumple hissed reaching for it quickly, "give that back to me! Now!" Of course he was upset- that was his life she was holding onto. He didn't want to end up the slave of someone he had won in a bargain! He didn't want to end up as ANYONE'S slave. It was, of course, one of his greatest fears, and even though he knew the darkness could exploit his fears right in front of him, he couldn't stop himself from feeling the panic set in at the sight of Belle holding the dagger out in front of him.

---

Belle French

Belle smiled seeing Rumple waking up, she was even going to give the dagger back to him right away when suddenly he screamed to her. Belle stepped back, scared. She stepped back again when Rumple reached out for it, but she did all of this because she was scared. Belle couldn't know, but the room, or better, the darkness in it was using Belle as a tool to show to Rumple his fear of being controlled by someone else. If just Rumple had been more nice he would have held his precious dagger right now "I was just trying to help you!" Belle said to him, her voice cracked because of fear. She was still holding his dagger in front of her, as if that dagger could protect her from the fear she was feeling.

The room was showing to her one of her fears too: the beast behind the beast. There was no man, but just a beast addicted to power. Although, that beast had saved her just few minutes ago "...he saved himself, he had to turn those ogres in stone, look what just an ogre did to him, knocking him out so easily..." Belle was sure that thought was hers, that she was thinking, but in reality it was the darkness talking to her. Belle stepped back again "Don't come any closer!" she ordered to Rumple, her fear was obvious right now, Belle wasn't afraid of the man behind the beast, but she was afraid of the beast.

"He has killed so many times for his whims...there is no man behind the beast and if there is one then that man is a murderer of innocent people" the type of darkness locked here was very powerful and for a very simple reason: it used someone's fears as a weapon. Fighting fears could be almost impossible, and sometimes was just impossible, but fear could really make anybody do something that wasn't in themselves? Like torture? Like punishment? Because...the Dark One deserved to be punished...and she could do it. She could do justice to those innocent people. The darkness was making Belle think all of this while she was holding the dagger.

Belle looked at the dagger then Rumple then back at the dagger. Belle knew that she had all the rights to harm him, but...Belle didn't want to do it. She wasn't a beast. She wasn't evil...although she had been always afraid to become one. Belle didn't want to become a beast like him. But...it could be so easy to just torture him in the names of all the innocent people that he had killed. Belle opened her mouth, but then let the dagger fell down on the ground, shaking her head. Not even fear could turn her into a villain, maybe something else could, but fear wasn't it.

Rumplestiltskin

"If I want your help, I'll ask for it!" Rumple snapped back. He knew she had the ball in her court at that moment- she could make him do whatever she wanted to. She could have all the power from here on out. All because he had stupidly run in to protect her! What was he thinking? He never should have put himself on the line for something as simple as his maid! Slowly, he got himself to his feet, wincing as he moved a hand to his side. With the magic being drained from him, pain was becoming more prominent. An injury he would have been able to heal was now causing him trouble. He reached for her again, to try and get the dagger out of her grasp, but froze when she commanded him not to come any closer. Of course, he had no choice in the matter, and was forced to lower his hands, watching her without taking another step towards her.

It really sucked, not being able to control your own actions. That was why he had never wanted anyone to get his dagger in the first place! He knew, of course, that the darkness in the room was likely enjoying what was happening- it wanted to see Rumple suffering. Injuring him wasn't enough. He needed to have his fears exploited as much as possible- he needed to know what true suffering was. What better than having the woman he was having some conflicted feelings for suddenly turn against him? Control him?

It was probably the worst thing he could have pictured.

But then, he watched as Belle dropped the dagger. At first, he didn't know what to do, staring wide-eyed at the woman. Then, quickly, he bent down, scooping up the dagger before anything else could happen to it. He stuffed it back into his coat, before his eyes finally found their way back to Belle. She... she had given it up? The dagger that could give her everything she wanted?

"T-thank you," he offered weakly, before clearing his throat. "Now, we should try and find our way out of here, though I think that might not be possible without finding the cauldron first." He took a step towards her, though the pain in his side caused him to pause. He winced, pressing his hand against his ribcage. "Once we're out of here... these injuries we received will heal. It's all part of the illusion. Real in here... but not in the waking world."

---

Belle French

"You saved my life...thank you" Belle replied, she had understood that Rumple could have just left her here to die...she was just his mind after, but instead he had come here and saved her. However, their problems weren't finished, the ogres were stones now, but the room...what was in the room...was still active. They had to stop it to escape from here. At least Belle had just learnt an important lesson about adventuring: it could be something that she couldn't handle, especially if it magic was involved. Belle wasn't a magician, but she had been reading books about magic...she knew that it couldn't be enough though. Luckily, Rumple was here...not lucky for him, he was losing his dark magic because of her. She was going to pay for this, later, if they succeeded to get away from here.

"The cauldron...?" Belle asked rising a brow and looking at Rumple taking back his dagger, Belle could still see in her head the name Rumplestiltskin on the blade...it didn't give her a nice feeling at all. Belle then stepped closer to Rumple when he pressed his hand against his ribcage, she wanted to help him, but she didn't want to upset him. So, she just nodded at his words, without saying anything "Can't you use the dagger on yourself asking for your powers to come back to you?" Belle suggested, but probably he couldn't do it or he would have already done that.

Suddenly, a cold laugh filled the room. It was an actual voice, maybe a voice that Rumple could recognize "Oh...he can...he imprisoned me because he wanted me, but then he found out that he couldn't handle my power...he remembers well why he can't control me" the voice was in her head now, Belle looked up at Rumple with a worried expression "Someone is talking into my..." she couldn't finish the sentence because the sound of footsteps interrupted her "You are afraid that something happens to her" a tall man with white hair and blue eyes was walking towards them, he was wearing black clothes and his hands were behind his back, but it didn't seem that he was hiding something, it just seemed his way of walking "You know what that means here, dearie..." the man said to Rumple mocking him "...something shall happen to her" the man smiled, he seemed harmless, but Belle never judged someone by their appearance.

However, she got worried...something was going to happen to her? What...and...why...?! Belle did understand the man's words, but she was too worried about her life to process the words at the moment "Also, losing your power is your second fear..." the man pointed at Rumple's skin "...but the first one is losing your son" the man laughed shaking his head "When I get out of here I'll make sure to grant your fears to thank you for your hospitality" Belle couldn't stay and listen to them anymore because something grabbed, it looked like black tentacles...like if they were shadows made of darkness. She tried to free herself, but the tentacles dragged her somewhere "RUMPLE!!!" Belle screamed.

Rumplestiltskin

Rumple wasn't sure what the being was or why it had appeared, but he assumed it had something to do with the cauldron. He frowned, watching him. "Why should I care what happens to my maid? The only reason I even came after her is because I don't want her releasing you," he shot back easily enough, though a part of him knew it was useless. He didn't know WHY, but he didn't want anything to happen to Belle. Perhaps because she was the only one who saw past the monster on the outside to the man he was deep inside.

"You don't seem to understand anything about my fears," he hissed sharply, "I've already lost my son. You're wrong about that and you're wrong about getting out of here. Even taking my powers isn't going to be able to free you from your own foolishness." Not that he thought this figment was what he was really dealing with. He knew the cauldron, and he knew the man that had been trapped inside of it. Or rather, the creature. "I wasn't the one who trapped you in that cauldron, if you can hear me, Horned King. But I'll be the one to make sure you never leave it."

He watched as the tentacles took Belle, frowning. He didn't immediately rush after her, mostly because he was still figuring out what to do. If he kept chasing the illusions, they would never get out of there. He would just be defending them from whatever crap kept getting shoved in their faces.

What he needed to do was find the cauldron. If he did that, he could free himself and Belle from its power and they would both be back to normal. He sighed heavily, running after Belle anyway. Even knowing what he needed to do, it seemed he couldn't just leave Belle alone. In any case, perhaps it would give him more time to try and sense the real problem.

---

Belle French

The darkness didn't even bother to reply, it was useless, Rumple and the darkness both knew what the truth was. Also, the darkness could actually harm Belle because of Rumple's fear to lose her. The Dark One could lie to himself, but the darkness knew that Rumple was growing feelings for the maid. Ah, this was fun. Belle was being dragged somewhere and she couldn't even scream because the darkness was giving her enough time to do anything. Belle had just time for feelings like fear and questioning where the hell she was being dragged to, maybe it was hell.

Suddenly, the darkness stopped dragging her and Belle could see a cauldron "We were searching for it!" Belle thought, but she couldn't do anything to it, she didn't have magic powers and especially she didn't have dark magic powers. For a moment, just a moment, she wished she had dark magic so that she could destroy the cauldron and all this could stop.

Belle stood up and tried to reach the cauldron, but she couldn't. It seemed that the cauldron was always too far away. Suddenly, there was a laugh and Belle could see forming a maze, the exit led to her, in fat Belle could see the exit in front of her. The maze had mirrors on the walls and the maze went all over the place even up and down or oblique...gravity wasn't a problem here apparently, it wasn't ever a problem with dark magic.

"RUMPLE!!" Belle screamed again hoping that Rumple could use her voice to escape from the maze, but her voice couldn't reach him probably. In fact, the darkness built the maze trapping Rumple inside of it, Belle knew because she just figured it out. Also, the maze was impossible to escape by cheating, the darkness even made some kind of roof and also teleporting wasn't going to help either. Belle screamed again, but this time the darkness pushed her on the ground.

Rumplestiltskin