Beauty, Her Beau, and Her Beast (A Rumbelle/OUAT Fanfic)

The Confrontation

*~ Haha, I started writing this as soon as I published the last one! ~*

// To recap for this chapter, Rumple and Belle had an argument over who Belle had met in her time on the run. Belle doesn't cooperate, and this causes Rumple to be enraged. But from their argument, a name arises- Graham. Rumple swears revenge. The next morning, when they finally begin to make up, the stranger from Belle's past reappeared. //

Rumple's POV, Where We Left Off In His Castle

"Belle, it's me, it's Graham!" I hear a voice call from the cloud of dust and rubble that used to be the dining hall doors.

Graham... Graham... Graham...

'A soldier helped me escape,' I hear Belle whisper in my mind, something she said yesterday. 'One of the Queen's men. His name was Graham.'

This is Graham? Belle's rescuer? Her knight in shining armor?

"You... YOU... I'm going to KILL you for what you've done!"

I cast my hand out, and he slowly floats up, clawing at the invisible hands around his throat.

"What's wrong, dearie? A little shortness of breath?"

Belle has been silent throughout the whole ordeal, most likely from shock, but now she speaks out.

"Stop it! Stop it, Rumplestiltskin! You'll kill him! I'd never forgive you for it, I SWEAR I wouldn't!"

That is enough to make me drop him. He lays curled up on the floor, heaving breaths, before rising shakily to his feet.

"Why did you come here? Hopefully not for Belle. I won't let you come any closer than you are now. And if you try... well, you might find your head isn't exactly where the rest of your body is."

Now that I get a good look at him, he looks nowhere near a knight in armor. More like a wildman, with the fur clothing and mad look in his eyes.

"Of course I came for Belle. How could I let her stay here? You want to kill me for what I've done? I saved her from that wretched cage, the one you put her in in the first place! I should be killing you!" Graham fires at me, anger pulling his features tight.

I begin to raise my hand to deal with him, perhaps turn him into a flea. That's not killing him, after all.

Suddenly, Belle jumps between us.

"Will you stop it, both of you! Graham, you certainly have no right to talk like that, not after... and Rumple, honestly, neither do you. Now will you both please calm down?"

Belle's POV, at Graham's Entrance

I can't believe my eyes. Rage, relief, yearning, joy, all these emotions flood into me in a tidal wave of feelings. Time seems to slow. A barrage of images hit me.

Graham, on the stairs of the Queen's tower... Graham, grabbing my hand as we sprinted through the forest... Graham, moving my hair out of my eyes, leaning in...

And then it ends in black, hitting a wall of anger so hard it could stop a bullet. Behind that wall was the memory I never wanted to revisit.

Oh, Graham...

Suddenly, I snap back to reality, only to find Rumple a hair's breadth away from suffocating Graham.

"Stop it! Stop it, Rumplestiltskin! You'll kill him! I'd never forgive you for it, I SWEAR I wouldn't!" And I mean it.

He and Graham are firing comments at each other, when I see him begin to resort to magic again.

I have to be the one to end this.

I jump between them.

"Will you stop it, both of you! Graham, you certainly have no right to talk like that, not after... and Rumple, honestly, neither do you. Now will you both please calm down?"

They both look at me, dumbstruck.

"I don't think we should judge each other too harshly," I continue quietly. "Graham, why are you here?"

"To rescue you, of course! I figured slaving away under such a beast was a fate worse even than that of serving prisoner under the Queen."

I stare at one, and then the other. Conflicting emotions for both of them are battling inside my mind, and it's all I can do to stay calm, but I somehow manage it.

"How about we finish the story then, and then you both can judge each other all you want," I say.

Graham looks confused. "What story?"

"Ours," I reply, without feeling. "The story of a silly girl and her pretend beau."

*~ Soooooo, how do you like it so far? Wow, Graham and Rumple confront one another! Now we finally get more backstory! Don't forget to vote and comment questions, guys! ~*