The Best Tea Cup is Chipped Book 1

Dreamy

Before setting out from the castle a second time Belle made a few preparations changing from her dress into a pair of tall brown boots and dark leather breeches, over it went a gold shirt and a maroon leather jerkin with slightly poofy gold and maroon striped shoulders and maroon leather sleeves. She finished the look off with a black belt cinching the jerkin around her waist and a gold scarf around her neck.

Next, she packed plenty of food as well as taking some of the gold thread from next to Rumplestiltskin's wheel. It wasn't really stealing. After all, if the infuriating man was throwing her out at the very least, he could provide her with the means to support herself on her travels. Lastly Belle packed a few books in her satchel before walking to the front doors.

A part of her desperately hoped that Rumple would change his mind and stop her. Yet she'd given him plenty of time to change his mind. Belle took one final look around the castle that had become her home and many happy memories flew through her head. She would miss this place. But she wouldn't stay where she wasn't wanted. Taking a deep breath Belle turned around and left the Dark Castle for good this time.

OUAT

Belle really didn't have anywhere specific in mind as far as where to go. She figured that she'd eventually return to her father. But returning there also meant returning to the confines of her old life and she wasn't quite ready for that. Perhaps she could do a bit of exploring first.

So, she travelled slightly aimlessly away from the Dark Castle, camping in the forest when the weather allowed or other times staying at inns though she was careful to be sparing with her gold.

One night a few weeks after Belle had left Rumplestiltskin she was sitting in a tavern reading and drinking a mug of ale when she overheard several dwarves talking loudly

"I don't know. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I don't feel at all like myself. Maybe I should have Doc take a look at me." said a dark-haired dwarf. The white-haired one across from him shook his head.

"You're going to trust a dwarf that got his medical degree from a pick axe? I wouldn't worry about it. Dwarves don't get sick. It must be in your head." Belle smiled sadly because she very much recognized those symptoms having experienced them all too well recently.

"It's not in his head – it's in his heart. You're in love." The white-haired dwarf scoffed.

"Well, that's impossible. Dwarves can't fall in love."

"Says who?" said Belle.

"The blue fairy." Belle recalled Rumple's unpleasant opinions about the head fairy and judging by what she seemed to have been telling these dwarfs maybe he wasn't wrong. Still, she decided to focus on the lovestruck dwarf.

"Well maybe the blue fairy doesn't know everything. Trust me. I know love, and you're in it." The white-haired dwarf dismissed her but the dark haired one turned and came to sit by her.

"What's it like?" Belle smiled fondly thinking back on all her happy memories of times with Rumple. Of the hours the two of them had spent getting to know each other. If only he'd trusted her enough to believe she could love him.

"It's the most wonderful and amazing thing in the world. Love is hope. It fuels our dreams. And if you're in it, you need to enjoy it. Because love doesn't always last forever." She'd learnt that the hard way. She'd had true love and lost it before she'd fully realized the importance of what she had.

"But, if love's so great, then why do I feel so bad right now?" asked the dwarf.

"You need to be with the person you love." explained Belle. It certainly explained why she felt so miserable. She was doing her best to distract herself with this journey but there was also a part of her that simply wanted to be back in Rumple's arms the way she had been during that moment with the mirror.