WHAT: Ruby and Belle are reunited in Vallo WHERE: Forest, then Morningside WHEN: Friday late afternoon/early evening WARNINGS: Mentions of death STATUS: Complete
Ruby gasped for breath and fell to her knees on the forest floor.
She could still feel the crackle of energy, magic of the darkest kind, making her skin tingle and her hands shake. But it hadn’t hit. She knew it hadn’t hit because if it had, she would be dead. They knew the Black Fairy well by now. They knew she didn’t hold back. If her intent was to kill, you would be killed. No near misses, no last words - you were here one second and gone the next
Ruby had chosen that fate. It wasn’t planned - no secret death wishes here - but it was her or Belle. She couldn’t allow that. She couldn’t allow her wife to be murdered before her eyes and do nothing. All because an insane fairy blamed her (wrongly and unfairly) for the death of her son. So she leapt without hesitation, put herself between Belle and the magical equivalent of a bullet, knowing full well what was coming. No doubts, no regrets. Just one last look into those blue eyes before she pushed the woman she loved to the forest floor and waited for the inevitable to happen.
But it never came.
And this wasn’t Storybrooke.
When Ruby looked up, that much was obvious. She knew every inch of Storybrooke’s forest. She’d roamed it every Wolfstime for years now, memorized the scents and sights, even discovered the most hidden little spaces. This forest had none of that. But, after she’d clambered back to her feet and taken a deep, slow breath, she picked up a scent she knew better than anything.
She ran towards it right away, practically sprinting through a thick grove of trees and into the next clearing. Her entire face lit up when she found another confused, familiar figure standing there, her smile quickly growing so wide it made her cheeks ache.
“Belle!”
Belle blinked in the sunlight dappled forest that surrounded her. Seconds ago it had definitely been night time and she had been cuddled up at home with a blanket and a book. Quite unsure of how to process everything that she was seeing, Belle fixated on her missing novel and blanket. They were probably still on her chair back at home, with no one to pick them back up again.
Her brow creased and she turned in a circle trying to work out where exactly she was. Nothing about this place seemed familiar to her. Beyond that, how had she gotten here? She assumed magic was likely to blame (it usually was), but who was behind it? Why had they targeted her? She wrapped her arms around herself - half in comfort, half for warmth - and sighed.
She took a step in what she hoped was the correct direction when Belle saw a ghost. Every molecule of her body seemed to freeze all at once. She didn’t breathe, didn’t blink, didn’t move a muscle for fear that it would disappear. That she would disappear.
Then the ghost called her name and Belle’s face crumpled with emotion. “Ruby?”
Oh God. Ruby’s heart sank in her chest. There was no mistaking the pain she could see in Belle’s face, even from here, and she immediately knew it meant she hadn’t been as lucky as she’d thought. Thankfully, she was used to timeline madness - Storybrooke was full of it - but they’d come back to that. Right now, she closed the remaining distance between them in three long strides and wrapped her wife up in her arms.
“It’s okay, honey,” she murmured, pressing kisses down Belle’s cheek. “I’m here. I’m okay.” She buried her nose into Belle’s neck, inhaling that scent that was so uniquely hers - and her own mixed in, embedded into her wife’s skin after years together. “I love you,” she murmured, raising her head again to press their foreheads together. Green eyes focused on blue and she gave her the best comforting smile she could muster. “Don’t cry, okay? I’ve got you.”
Belle still wasn’t certain she could move, so she was beyond grateful when Ruby quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped her up in her arms. She practically collapsed into the embrace as all of the rigidity left her at once. She curled herself tightly into Ruby and breathed in a deep, hitching gasp.
It didn’t matter what was said, the tears were already streaming down her face. It had been weeks since they’d fought the Black Fairy. Long days filled with friends checking on her as she went through the motions. Then days that eventually faded into silence as everyone slowly got back to “normal”. Not Belle, though. Her normal was forever altered.
“You’re really here.” She wouldn’t ask the hows or whys, right now she didn’t care. If there was a price, she’d gladly pay whatever it was. It would be worth it.
Refusing to release Ruby, Belle did eventually pull back enough to get a good look at her. She truly was okay. Looking just as she had the last time Belle had seen her alive. “You’re really here,” she repeated and cupped Ruby’s face in her hands. Not able to wait another moment longer, Belle pulled her in for a kiss.
Ruby was about ready to cry herself when Belle looked at her like that, like she could barely believe she was real. If she hadn’t already known what fate befell her at home, she could imagine she’d be scared, frantically wondering why Belle was so obviously struggling. But she knew. And she knew it was her fault Belle was hurting so badly.
Still. No regrets.
She sank into the kiss, one hand raising to tangle in her wife’s brown locks. She made the most of that kiss, letting it linger, slow and deep and trying to make up for the time she’d been gone - however long that may be. She hoped it hadn’t been long. She hoped this place, whatever and wherever it was, had cut Belle’s suffering short when it brought them back together.
Unable to stop herself, Belle continued to softly cry even as they kissed. The rush of familiarity that came with the kiss was overwhelming. The feel of Ruby’s hand in her hair, of her lips, the way they moved so perfectly together. It was something Belle had been forced to acknowledge she would never feel again outside of her memories, and yet here it was. It was real and Ruby was alive. Belle’s eyes memorized every inch of Ruby’s face when they broke apart. She sucked in another breath in an attempt to calm herself enough to speak more than a few words at a time.
“I’m okay.” She dropped her head a little, and her hair fell over her shoulders. She pulled her hand inside the sleeve of her cardigan and used it to try and mop up her face a little. “I’m more than okay.”
Ruby nodded without disagreeing, despite the concern furrowing her brow. She understood, really. This was emotional for her, too, but she hadn’t been the one forced to deal with such an immense loss. She pressed another long kiss to Belle’s forehead, brushed her fingers over her cheeks to wipe away the dampness left behind by falling tears, then cradled Belle’s face in both hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. She may not regret what she’d done to keep Belle safe, but she was sorry she’d had to suffer because of it. They’d been in an impossible situation; someone’s heart would have broken no matter what happened. At least the sacrifice she’d made meant Belle was still alive to mourn. “Was it… How long has it been?”
Belle was still trying to focus on her breathing as it seemed to be helping to settle her jangled nerves. It was made difficult, however, by her extremely intense desire to do nothing but kiss Ruby senseless. There would be time enough for that, she tried to reason with herself even as she leaned into her wife’s gentle touch and closed her eyes.
As Ruby’s apology reached her, Belle had to swallow another lump of emotion in her throat. “Three weeks, four days.” She probably could have counted it down to the minute if pressed. Belle had been acutely aware of every excruciating second since they’d been separated.
She opened her eyes again. “I don’t know where we are or how we’re both here, but if you even think about leaving me again, Ruby Lucas, I swear I will never forgive you.”
“Never wanted to leave you to begin with, sweetheart,” Ruby insisted, hardly letting a second lapse before she replied. “I’m not going anywhere.” She stole another kiss, lingering for a long few moments before she shifted again to fold Belle into her arms. She needed to just hold her, for both of their sakes. She had been sure she’d never get this chance again, and Belle - she’d already gone without it long enough.
Three weeks, four days wasn’t long, in the grand scheme of things. But she knew it would have felt like a century to her if their positions were reversed.
It was while she had her wife protectively wrapped up in her arms that she heard the crunch of feet on the forest floor beneath them, not far - three yards at best. Her head whipped around to face the intruder, a blonde woman about her height in red, blue, and gold with a military star stamped across her chest. God, wouldn’t it be their luck to be dragged into some off-the-wall human military experiment?
“Who are you?” she questioned, her voice just shy of a protective growl. She already knew this wasn’t Storybrooke, and it didn’t smell like Misthaven, which meant this place, no matter what good it had given her, couldn’t quite be trusted yet. Residents included.
“Carol Danvers. Newbies, right? Welcome to Vallo.”
“Vallo?” Ruby repeated, eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Is that part of the Enchanted Forest?” If it was, she’d never heard of it, but it wouldn’t be wise to rule out the possibility entirely.
Belle stared at the newcomer with curiosity, but not the same level of suspicion that Ruby seemed to be emanating. Of the two of them, Belle would always be the more trusting one. She reached down to lace her fingers through Ruby’s reassuringly. She couldn’t help but listen with intense interest as Carol began to explain the mechanics of Vallo, how they’d ended up there, and what they could expect to happen next. Belle knew other realms existed of course, but this seemed to be beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
Carol ran them through the basics, and as far as Ruby could tell, it all boiled down to one thing: magic. It was always magic. And a lot of theory, from what Carol seemed to know. There didn’t seem to be any exacts - no reasons, no true understanding of whatever had physically brought them here, whether it was a portal, a wormhole, some sort of spell gone very wrong. It was unsettling, but there was a strong possibility she was still on high alert after what she’d been through.
After putting them relatively at ease, Carol brought them to the DOA - apparently, a government department that would help them handle their affairs in this brand new universe - and there went the next hour of their lives. The DOA representatives they dealt with were efficient, she’d give them that. One of them even seemed to recognize her, but she chose to brush the feeling aside, dismissing it as a side effect of the ‘multiple worlds, multiple versions of people’ and the ‘media or all sorts exists here’ parts of the very well-rehearsed rundown speech they were given.
Soon, they’d been registered as Outlanders and tucked away in the DOA-sponsored housing at Morningside Manor. It was all a bit of a whirlwind; Ruby didn’t think either of them would fully process it for a while yet, but as long as she had Belle back, she knew they would get through it together. This was it for them now - at home, Ruby was dead and Belle was alone, and there was no going back.
She had taken the quickest shower of her life after they’d nailed down the apartment’s layout, and honestly, she was exhausted enough to sleep. But she was also starving and a little wired at the same time. It felt like the adrenaline high was finally fading, and all these basic urges she’d ignored were hitting her all at once.
“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” she asked Belle, stepping into the kitchen to see what she had to work with here. They had some one-size-fits-all clothes in the bedroom - she had thrown on a t-shirt and sweatpants that were a tiny bit short in the legs for her - and the cabinets in the kitchen didn’t disappoint either. She found enough basics to throw together something simple for them. “I can probably make a couple of grilled cheeses?”
Belle was still in somewhat of a daze, and never strayed more than a few feet away from her wife as they went from the DOA to their new home. She kept waiting for the moment she’d wake up to find out that everything had been a very complex and heartbreaking dream. At one point she literally pinched herself, just to see if she would wake up. A small wave of relief swept through her when nothing changed except the slight pain in her arm.
Perhaps it was all real - extreme and nonsensical as it was. Belle turned back to look at Ruby in her slightly too-short trousers and smiled. Emotion made it difficult to swallow and she could feel tears beginning to sting at her eyes again. “I’d love a grilled cheese.” She gave a slightly watery laugh.
Ruby turned around quickly, abandoning her quest for a proper pan to use, when she heard that laugh. She could tell it was a little sad, and when she saw tears beginning to fall down Belle’s cheeks again, her heart sank. She hurried around the counter to hug her wife again, pulling her close. So much had happened in the last hour that she had just jumped right into whatever semblance of normal she could find without really thinking about it.
“Or we can order in so you don’t have to let me go,” she offered, the words soft against Belle’s ear. She could cook any time, but it wasn’t conducive to clinging. Now that she had her arms around Belle again, she was inclined to want to do some clinging herself. “I’m sorry. With everything happening, I just - I didn’t think about it for a little while. You’re not mad at me, are you?”
She didn’t blame Ruby for wanting to dive headfirst into whatever normalcy this place could provide. She craved it herself after weeks of feeling like nothing would ever be normal again. Still, she wasn’t at all sorry to be wrapped up in Ruby’s arms again. Cooking and all the rest could come later. For now she thought they both needed to just hold one another. “No, of course not.” She shook her head fervently. “I was mad, but never at you. Only at how unfair it all was.” She swallowed and looked over to the living area just a few feet away from them. She took Ruby’s hand firmly in hers and led them both over to the large, comfortable sofa.
Once they sat down, Belle hooked her arm through Ruby’s and nestled in close to her. She hugged her wife’s arm tightly, just as much for Ruby’s sake as for her own.
Ruby didn’t resist when she was led over to the couch. She curled up, shifting both their positions slightly so Belle could lay against her chest and she could rub circles up and down her back. She realized as soon as they were settled that this was really what she’d needed. Calm, quiet, a moment to really decompress and take in what had almost happened to her - happened to her, actually. She may have lucked out here, but Belle had lived through a timeline, however short, where she hadn’t.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” she said quietly, pressing a kiss to the crown of her wife’s head, “but saving you was worth it. Storybrooke needed you more than they needed me.” She had known that for a long time now - she was the back-up muscle, and she was fine with that. Belle was the smart one, the researcher; without her, they wouldn’t have come anywhere close to taking out the Black Fairy. “Did they get her…after?”
Belle vehemently disagreed with that statement. Ruby had a long history of downplaying her importance to those around her, but now was not the time to point that out. Instead she wrapped her arm snuggly around Ruby’s waist and listened to the sound of her heart beating. It was a reassuring sound, more proof that this was real and she wasn’t alone any longer.
“Yes,” Belle murmured quietly, her mind going back to that time. She’d been nearly incapacitated with grief, but had helped get the Black Fairy’s wand to Regina who had used it to end her. It felt like just yesterday and also a decade ago all at the same time. Belle lifted her head slightly to look Ruby in the eye. “Would you like to hear all the details?” She was fine with recounting them if that’s what Ruby needed, but didn’t want to force them on her if she wasn’t ready yet. For as much processing as Belle had to deal with right now, she knew Ruby had just as much on her own plate.
There was a wave of emotion that came with that quiet but very succinct ‘yes’ from her wife’s lips. It wasn’t quite relief and it wasn’t full satisfaction - more the hollow kind. The Black Fairy was gone, which was great. It meant Belle and the rest of the people they loved were safe again. Maybe her sacrifice had helped, had been worth it. But there was still this part of her that was sad she wouldn’t get to see what Storybrooke could be like with her gone.
Maybe that was best. She was beginning to believe Storybrooke would never have peace, not really. There had been moments, brief glimpses of time without any trouble, where everyone got to just be happy and make the best of their lives. But as soon as things were good, they went bad again. She doubted that would ever change.
She could only hope this place - Vallo - gave them a chance to truly find some of that balance they needed so desperately. A little excitement would be a welcome reprieve compared to the apocalyptic disasters they were so used to encountering back home.
“Maybe later.” She gave Belle her best comforting smile. She was processing Vallo itself right now; too many huge things at once would make her crazy. “Right now, I just want to be with you. No distractions, I promise.” Her fingers tangled into her wife’s hair and urged her gently closer to kiss her.
That smile brought on another wave of emotion. Ruby had to be just as bewildered and upset as Belle, yet here she was still doing her best to comfort her in spite of everything. It was a safe feeling, being loved so completely. Thankfully no tears came this time, though Belle was certain they would likely make many more appearances as she grappled with all of these very intense feelings in the coming days. For now, though, she was content to stay right here on this sofa kissing her happily ever after.