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Belle ([info]loves_abeast) wrote in [info]expresslogs,
@ 2012-07-27 20:27:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:{belle, {prince charming

Who: Belle and Prince Charming
What: Drinks and discussion
Where: Back parlor
When: Friday evening
Ratings/warnings: Mention of imprisonment
Status: Closed/ongoing



While she certainly wasn't happy that someone else had been seperated from their true love, Belle was grateful that there was someone from home who hadn't any knowledge of that place, Storybrooke. While it was true that Rum and the Huntsman were both welcome (Rum was so much more, and seeing him again in the early morning had been wonderful), Belle felt out of place with them sometimes. They both knew so much that she didn't, were familiar with a world that was less real to her than that in a book. At least James knew only the one realm.

Still, she wasn't precisely sure how she was expected to act around him. He was a Prince, after all, and she supposed she still had some claim to being a Lady. But this wasn't court, or anything close. Figuring the blue dress she was already wearing would have to do, she settled for just puling her hair back and wishing for what was probably the millionth time that she had her mother's necklace around her throat. She put a note on Rum's side of the bed in case he came back to the room before her and went to the parlor.

It occurred to Belle, as she took a bottle of wine and two glasses from behind the bar, that the last time she'd really had a drink--bar a few sips at the bonfire at the resort--was when she was in that tavern just before the Queen had captured her. When she'd told that dwarf to go be with the girl who had invited him to Firefly Hill. As she filled the glasses, Belle couldn't help wondering what had become of those two. She hoped they'd found happiness.

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 02:55 am UTC (link)
Having only been here for a day, he had not managed to find any other clothing than what he had arrived in. So he was dressed in the black leather that he had last been wearing when searching for Snow. He ran a hand through his hair to straighten it, before making his way to the where they had agreed to meet.

Finding his way easily to the back parlor car, he smiled when he saw Belle sitting with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

He approached her, bowing deeply to her, with a warm smile on his face.

"Lady Belle?"

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 03:00 am UTC (link)
Belle had to bite back a laugh. It'd been quite a long time since someone had really used her title.

"Prince James," out of deeply-ingrained habit, she stood and made the smallest curtsy. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance." She smirked, "Though I must confess, it is a bit strange to hear myself called 'Lady' again. No one here does."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 03:07 am UTC (link)
"Then I think, perhaps, we should drop the titles all together? I shall call you Belle, and you may simply call me James."

He waited for her to sit again, before taking a seat across from her.

"I appreciate your invitation here tonight. I am not a heavy drinker, by any means, but arriving here, I think, is as good a reason as any for a glass of wine. There is...a great deal I do not understand yet about this place, and a great deal I think I shall never understand."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 03:12 am UTC (link)
She grinned,

"That sounds just fine, yes." She shrugged a little as she took her own glass in hand.

"I've been here--two months now, close to three, and I still understand very little. I don't think anyone knows very much, honestly. How we get here, why it seems to like to take people from certain realms in groups the way it does, why some stay for such short times," she laughed a little.

"Honestly, I'm quite surprised more people aren't driven to the drink, the way some of them carry on about things."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 03:24 am UTC (link)
"Ah, yes, I have certainly noticed that. People here seem to enjoy complaining, and being unpleasant. I still do not know what provoked that man to insult me so, but I think the problem lies more with him than with me."

He took a sip of his drink, looking up at her with a smile.

"I think if they have such a problem with being here, they should attempt to change their fate. Complaining does nothing other than make those around you unhappy. I cannot say that I am glad that Snow is not here. I miss her more than words can say. But I have faith that either she will arrive here, or I shall be sent home, because I know that we are destined to be together, and that we shall always find each other again."

He looked around him, and shrugged.

"This place...it is certainly not where I wish to be, but while I am here, I should like to make the most of it that I can. To meet people I would never be able to meet anywhere else. Like Miss Swan, who seems to be a charming young lady, and yourself."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 03:32 am UTC (link)
Belle grinned,

"I agree wholeheartedly. But--it's not easy for most people, to actually take action. It's far easy to sit and whine about it. And really, as frustrating as it is to listen to, I can't blame them really. It's...frightening, sometimes, trying to change your fate because you know you could fail."

She had, after all, spent her first night in the Dark Castle crying. She would always make that same choice, but it had been large and frightening and...forever. But she had changed her fate, found a friend and beloved. The losses tangled in all of that were more than worth it.

Taking a drink, Belle sighed. "I do wish for your sake that you will either be returned quickly, or that your love arrives here. I myself am in no hurry to return." She grinned then, trying to think not of the queen's dungeons but adventure. "I had always wanted to travel on my own, not exactly something encouraged in a lord's daughter."

Her eyebrow quirked a bit, "I have--not spoken to Miss Swan, but I saw her on the network when she arrived, and her name seemed very familiar, though I can't quite remember why," she shrugged. "I think R--someone I ran into from her world might have mentioned her in passing."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 04:07 am UTC (link)
"Yes, perhaps, but if you do not try, you are certain to fail. That is what I have never understood. You can never be happy, you can never succeed, if you don't give yourself a chance. If you don't jump into the dragon's lair and grab life by the horns. Oh, I have been frightened in my life. There is no doubt of that. Only a fool has never felt fear. But that fear gives you untold strength, and courage to fight even the darkest of battles..."

He hesitated, nearly telling her the story of when he had defeated the dragon for King Midas, but he still feared that telling anyone his true story could endanger his mother, or Snow. So he simply smiled softly at her.

"I met Miss Swan yesterday. She looked very familiar to me, although I cannot put a finger on why. She is a good person, although she seems...very sad in many ways."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 04:13 am UTC (link)
Belle grinned. "I've always believed that myself. Of course, for a very long time it was all just talk. But I did take my chance when it presented itself, and all the cost I paid was more than worth it."

Knowing how people thought of Rumplestiltskin made her reach for her drink again. She felt no shame in going with him, in loving him, but remembering the Huntsman's reaction--his concern that she was his prisoner here...

A small smile touched her mouth. "Well, it's not surprising if people here are sad in some ways, at least. Being away from home and whatever they might have left there, not knowing when or if they'll return. That at least I can understand. Still, more of them should be grateful for what they do have, here. I certainly am." She had, after all, spent all their days apart checking that the other name was still on the door, and was so thankful that it was.

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 04:20 am UTC (link)
"I think for some that it can be very hard to accept change. Especially for those who have trouble seeing the joys in the world that are right under their fingertips. The world is full of beauty and surprises, and if you are desperate to see only what you want to see, only those things that you think will bring you joy, you will miss so very much. The smell of the woods after a rainstorm, the starry sky on a clear night, a simple smile from your beloved...these things are precious and yet so very small, in the scheme of things. And I think these people have convinced themselves that they should not look small. Their worlds are defined only by the large things that they can acheive; by the riches and the gold and the power they can amass, by their successes instead of by these tiny gifts that the world gives us every moment."

He smiled, taking his mother's ring from his pocket and smiling at it softly.

"But true happiness, and true joy cannot be found in these things, for they are only transient. Love - in all its forms - is eternal, and cannot be purchased for all the gold in the world. It is one of the few things that even a poor shepherd boy can afford."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 04:28 am UTC (link)
Belle couldn't help grinning. As much as she knew, from the story Rum had told her, that he was also a believer in true love...she knew he didn't see things like she did. That the centuries and his losses had worn on him. But she'd see the light in the world for both of them.

"You'll hardly get any argument from me there. I thought for so long that I'd not have love. Not really." It was hard not to reach for her drink at the thought of the loveless marriage she had nearly entered into crossed her mind. "I was supposed to marry a knight--alliances, that sort of thing. He was a fine man, but I never truly loved him. So when I had a chance to...change my fate--when I found love..." it was impossible for her eyes not to light up or her face to colour, although some of that may have been the wine,

"...I can understand how people can be caught up in seeking larger things. But honestly, even if I'd only had those few moments of happiness, that would have truly been enough."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 04:38 am UTC (link)
He nodded at her words, his mind going to Abigail. A soft smile crossed his lips as he remembered the last time he had seen her, happy with her own beloved.

"My story is...similar. I was engaged to the daughter of King Midas, and she was a very beautiful, very sweet girl, very kind, although she had tragedies in her past as well. We did not love each other, but I like to think that we parted as friends, after I broke the spell that kept her from her true love. How...how did you change your fate? I should like to hear that story, if you are willing to tell it."

He'd finished his glass of wine by now, and he had been honest earlier when he'd told her that he was not a heavy drinker. He was feeling the effects from the wine, in the way that her last words brought tears to his eyes. He reached out and took her hand in both of his, a gentle, platonic gesture.

"It is true, isn't it? That you'd trade everything for a few moments with your beloved. That one smile, one kiss, one day walking by their side is worth more than all the days you'd ever lived without them."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 04:47 am UTC (link)
Belle smiled, though the tears were there for her as well. Because it was impossible not to think about their horrible parting even as she held on to memories of his going out of his way to make her laugh. But the bright times did outshine the dark ones, always.

"It is. I would spend all the rest of my days in darkness, as long as I could keep the memory of those days with him."

She swallowed at his request. She knew that it was likely James would find out that Rum was here, on the train. It wasn't that large, after all, and she was not the only one who knew his identity. But his reputation being what it was...she finished her glass at that, sighing.

"...as people come here from different times, I'm not sure if this has even passed when you are from, or if word has reached that far. But I'm sure the war must have. My village was threatened, and I convinced my father to..." she drew a long breath, holding fast to the knowledge that he was not the monster everyone thought him to be.

"I convinced him that we should send for Rumplestiltskin, to make a deal to save our people. He did, and Rumplestiltskin did come. I am sure that you...are aware that his deals are not ones that are made without great cost. He did not want any of my father's wealth," she worried at her skirt slightly,

"...he asked for me, to take as his housekeeper. My father and betrothed objected, of course, but I--did the brave thing. I went with him, even though he gave me several chances to change my mind, knowing it was forever."

She swallowed again, waiting to see if James would put the rest of the pieces into place for himself.

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 04:57 am UTC (link)
He watched her a moment, his eyes searching her face even after she went silent. There had to be more...there had to be a way she had escaped and found her true love...

Unless...

The surprise as his mind put the pieces together was tangible, but he did not drop her hand, and there was no look of disgust on his face. Just...intense surprise.

"You...you fell in love with the Dark One? Oh, what a gentle and loving heart you must have. I have...met him once...it seems like long ago, so much has passed and so much has changed for me since then, but it...it was only perhaps a year ago?"

He looked down at the table, at the wine, as memories of his home, of his mother, of all that he had lost forced more tears down his cheeks, but he bit his lip and looked up at her.

"And yet, I would, perhaps, never have met Snow at all without your beloved's intervention. I cannot say that I understand the attraction, but then again, I do not understand why Snow loves me, either. The hearts of women are precious things, and we men are beyond lucky when we win them."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 05:06 am UTC (link)
Despite herself--perhaps because of the wine--Belle laughed.

"Believe me, I did not expect to. And it wasn't like they say in the stories. It wasn't at first sight or kiss. He was..." a strange smile passed over her mouth. "Not cruel. He tried to make me think he was. Told me the most horrible stories of things he'd supposedly done. But...over time..."

She shook her head. "He was a man once. Did you know that? A normal man. And...he didn't mean to, I don't think, but he showed me that. He was more a man than any I had known. He listened when I spoke, didn't mock my dreams or wave them off as girlish notions. Not that he understands any of this, still. I think he thinks himself more a monster than anyone in the kingdom ever will."

She smiled a little, "He's said to me before than he's a fan of true love, so I'm quite sure he'd be pleased to know whatever deal you made brought you to your beloved. Although I'm not certain I'll ever understand the ways behind the deals he makes. I still have no idea why he wanted me in particular."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 05:13 am UTC (link)
"I did not know that, although I suppose it stands to reason. I know little of the history of the Dark One, but I think they have all been men, yes?"

He smiled as he listened to her speak, watching the way her face and her eyes lit up as she spoke of him. He himself was deeply in love enough to recognize another with the same affliction, so he did not in any way question her feelings. However strange it seemed to him that someone could love such a man, she did. And that very fact gave him such...hope. Not for himself, but for all of the kingdom, for all of humanity. For if the Dark One could find love, perhaps love truly was the strongest magic of all. Stronger even than the Queen's hatred.

"Have you spoken to him about breaking the curse that made him the Dark One? Does he want that? Because you know that True Love's kiss can break any curse. Or so they say."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 05:22 am UTC (link)
Belle sighed. There was no alcohol strong enough--for she'd tried, in her short travels--to drown or numb the pain that came with these memories. She forgave him, of course she did, but she'd never forget that horrible day.

"Spoken, no. I--" she had to close her eyes, for she'd cried enough over that terrible woman's actions, she would not again. Not anywhere but her beloved's arms.

"One day, we were talking. He asked about my betrothed. If I missed him. I told him that I'd never loved the man, really. That love was too layered for me to feel it for someonoe so supercifical. And he..." she let out a sound that might have been laughter.

"I should have seen it. He told me to go town then, for straw. When I asked..if he trusted me ot come back, he said he never expected to see me again. And...I was going to leave, for good. But on my way, there was this woman..."

For a split second, all she saw was a dungeon and a blood-red smile. But she shoved the memory away. "The queen. Her carriage splashed me, and she...walked with me. Asked where I was headed. Asked about my master. If he was...if I..." she shook her head, laughing tearfully. "I was so stupid. It never occurred to me she might have some motive in telling me that my kiss could break his curse."

She swallowed again. "I did go back then. And I did kiss him. But...he couldn't believe. He flew into a rage. He said no one could love him, that she must have turned me against him..." she couldn't continue, because even though she knew now that he accepted her love, had heard him return it, there was no way to take back the screaming and shaking, the ice in his voice, I don't want you anymore, dearie. Words that still found their way into her nightmares.

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 05:30 am UTC (link)
His face hardened, but not towards Belle.

"The Queen. She...she is an evil woman. She has hurt a great number of people, and all because of her deep selfishness. I cannot forgive what she has done, no matter how hard I try. And this is just another reason. She thinks of no one but herself, every move she makes seems calculated to improve her position at the cost of an innocent's happiness."

He stood then, shaking his head as he paced.

"And you say she is here, on this train? She must be stopped. There are enough of us here that surely we can stop her."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 05:33 am UTC (link)
Belle shook her head,

"Not enough that know who she is. And certainly no one powerful--" she choked a little on that sentence, knowing what she'd be saying. But it would come out soon enough. James wouldn't see the imp he recognised. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, before speaking softly

"You and the Huntsman would be the only ones who know what she is who could do anything at all. Rumplestiltskin is not...he is a man here, an old man, and through nothing I did. He's no magic that could aide you against her."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 05:41 am UTC (link)
"Then there is no hope for that," he said softly. "While both the Huntsman and myself are, I am sure, competent fighters, we lack magic, and thereby the means to defeat the Queen."

He was obviously disappointed by this, but his gentle smile to her did not change.

"He has been freed from his curse, then. This is a good thing, isn't it? For both of you."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 05:54 am UTC (link)
Belle managed a smile in return, then.

"I suppose that depends on how you look at it. It does mean that he is not afraid to touch me, to love me, and that is worth so much. I would have suffered his rage ten thousand times over, knowing what was truly in his heart, that he was just afraid. But it also means he is powerless. That was why he was so furious with me. His curse, as twisted as it made him--well, you know some of what he can do, at least. And he's his reasons for wanting that, so without it..."

She knew too well how he saw himself. A cowardly, lame old man who had nothing to offer her. She'd never see that, but it didn't mean there wasn't a slight truth to it as well.

"I am happy, and I believe he tries to be as well. But one can see why he finds it hard, after being that, to be a normal man again. Especially with her here, he..." she sighed, "He fears for me. Wishes he could do more to protect me. She..." speaking of this made Belle glad she'd kept the bottle nearby, as it seemed very necessary to refill her glass. "I was in her dungeons, when I arrived here."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-28 12:24 pm UTC (link)
"Many of us must spend our whole lives powerless, it is not so terribly bad," he smiled gently. "Although I can only imagine how impotent it must make one feel, after being so strong for so long. But do not despair, if he loves you as you say - and I do not doubt you - then he will find the truth in that love, and all will be well."

He patted her hand gently, giving her his support as best he could. His face fell, however, when she spoke of Regina's dungeons.

"Gods, why would she put a sweet, innocent girl in her dungeons? Has the woman no sense of decency? What crimes does she claim you committed against her?"

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-28 02:06 pm UTC (link)
In spite of the turn in the conversation, Belle smiled. Because the reason made her remember why she'd survived--why she would survive--with all that mattered intact.

"My only crime has only ever been to love him. She tried to drive it out of me, anyway she could. Illusions, terrible lies anyone else would have believed about him. Once she even tried to break me by saying that if he truly loved me, he would have rescused me by now," she shook her head. "It's--well, it's not all right. I've nightmares of that horrible place every night. But it's not the worst thing."

Belle couldn't help remembering the sound of her love's voice when he told her what that terrible woman had done to him. His pain would always be worse than hers. Even in another realm, he was burdened with guilt over something that had never happened. "She told him that my father had, among other things, locked me in a tower. That I had thrown myself to my death. At least I believed he lived, that I could still return to him if ever I found a way out. He thought me lost forever, and blamed himself." When she remembered that, it was slightly less painful to remember what he had done to her father.

Her smile was more tearful now, but sincere. "I suppose that's why neither of us are particularly worried about being rescued or leaving any time soon. Well," she laughed a little, maybe slightly bitter. "I never found him nearly as ugly as he thought he was, but the lack of fangs or claws on this new form hasn't gone unappreciated." She wasn't certain if it was her usual optimism or the wine talking, there. Possibly both.

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-29 02:34 pm UTC (link)
He listened to her story with a soft smile, his his heart all the while aching for his own love. He was happy that she had been reunited with hers - yes, without a doubt - but the loneliness of being so near to another who loved so was a brutal pain. Still, he smiled for her as she spoke.

"I can see why you would want to remain here, why this place - however strange it may be to us - would hold untold possibilities of happiness for you. And I hope that the train allows you to stay as long as you wish for it to. The Queen is cruel - there is no doubt of that. She wishes only to destroy the happiness of others, because hers was destroyed. She wishes for everyone to live in darkness because she feels she must. I am sorry that you have been caught in her web of hatred."

He could not comment on the rest - his memories of Rumplestiltskin were of the beast, and while he could accept that she loved him, he could never share her opinion on the matter. That, of course, was part of the beauty of true love - it could find people even when others could only blink in surprise. He did not hold it against either of them, in fact in his romantic heart, he found it rather beautiful.

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-29 02:47 pm UTC (link)
Belle beamed back at him,

"She can't win, though, so it will all be right in the end. There's no way she can. Not when there are people like us who know love and hope are more powerful than her magic could ever be."

She tipped her head back, eyes maybe getting a little bit hazy. "He shouted--when he cast me out--that she could never be more powerful than him. And he was right. But not the way he thought. I never feared him before, not really. But I'd fear for the person who threatened me within his reach." Her smirk was small, then, but a little bit playful as words tumbled out with little thought.

"He brushed my hair this morning. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd have the Dark One brushing my hair. Honestly, it makes me quite glad I'm the person I am. A lesser woman would take advantage of the situation, even when he's without his powers."

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[info]is_charming
2012-07-29 03:01 pm UTC (link)
That was an image that made his head spin, but he simply pushed it aside for the moment. It obviously pleased her, so he would take it at face value.

"Love is the most powerful magic of all," he said with a soft smile. "And those of us who have it as we do are stronger than all of the Queen's evil."

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[info]loves_abeast
2012-07-29 03:08 pm UTC (link)
"Hmmm," Belle's eyes lit up a little. "It makes me wonder how she can be so...insistent on trying to force it out of people. She must know how strong it is by now, when people will do for love. After all, innocent girl like me who can't even wield a sword shouln't really have had any chance at all."

Her grin was a tad lopsided. "But I did. Bit her hand once, among other things, fighting to keep it."

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