Her Name Shall be Belle (on hold)

Chapter 18: The Prisoner

Belle ran out of the room she was in, leaving the glass pile on the floor. She ran into the dining room where she saw Rumple was no longer atop his spinning wheel. Nerves were eating her alive.
"Belle... I'm leaving until nighttime. I expect the upstairs to be clean by the time I get back, no playing with swords that will kill you." He then poofed into the air. Belle immediately ran to the dungeons. She saw a bloodied man hanging by his hands. She gasped and threw her hands over her mouth.
"Please, help me." Belle was so speechless she couldn't verbally reply, so she nodded her head and ran to find keys. She came back with keys in her hand and unlocked the man. He fell to a ball on the floor.  Belle kneeled next to him and tried to help him stand.  He bloodied her dress up badly.
"What is your name?" Belle tried to help him keep his mind off of his injuries.  It was probably impossible though.
"Robin... Hood." His voice came out in ragged sharp breaths.  Belle put him down at a chair and ran to go get water.  When she came back, he was bobbing his head up and down, in and out of consciousness.
"Hey! Hey! Come on stay with me.  Stay awake for me, please.  Don't you have someone you need to get home to?" She held the cup of water to his mouth and he sloppily drank it.
"My wife... And son.  They will die if I don't get home to them."  Belle then went to get bandages and healing cream.  She warily looked out the window to see the sun, it was going down.  She had a few hours at most, and this man was in no shape to walk about on his own.  She started addressing his various wounds, starting with his leg.  She didn't think anything was broken, but some sprained or bloodied from cuts.
"Tell me more about you." Belle was trying to keep him awake and active.
"I lead a group of men.  We call ourselves the Merry Men.  We are thieves, not very honorable, I know.  But we steal only from the rich, and we give to the poor." He sounded very honorable to Belle.
"You sound very noble and brave to me."  She finished his leg and moved to his arm.
"I am sick of royalty getting everything that the poor cannot have.  Who says they are more deserving than us? All regals are selfish and greedy. They don't care about their kingdom, only their wealth." Belle cringed at that.  The reason she was in here was because she cared about all of her subjects.
"What about you? Why are you here? In this dreary place, working for this beast of a man?" Belle sighed.
"I made a deal with him..." Belle was hesitant to voice her reasons once she had heard about his hatred towards royalty.
"What kind of deal?" She didn't answer for a few seconds.  But then, she wanted him to know that not all royalty was like that.  Not her, not her father.
"He promised to provide protection for my kingdom if I agreed to be his maid for the rest of my life." The look on Robin Hood's face was pure terror.
"You are... Royalty?" Belle laughed.
"Yes.  But I always dreamed of being an explorer.  But with a life like this, I will never be able to go anywhere, see anything." Her gaze met the floor as she held back her tears.
"Why must you stay? He is gone right now, you could escape! Come with me! You can join the Merry Men!" Belle's imagination went wild at the thought of that.  It would be amazing, a team of vigilantes, traveling everywhere together. But then the cold face of reality hit her.
"I... I can't.  I must protect my kingdom.  My people are only guaranteed protection from the Ogres if I stay here. It's a small sacrifice for the good of the whole." By now, all of Robin's wounds were tended to. 
"Well, I must admit.  You change my views of royalty.  You are kind and giving, not like any I've ever met. I apologize for what I said earlier.  Can you forgive me?" Belle laughed.
"Of course.  But the sun looks like it will set soon.  You should be on your way.  I have my food rations for the night, you can have them.  I will be right back." She hustled down and got her food for the night.  She could skip a meal, it wouldn't affect her as badly as if Robin Hood skipped a meal.  They walked to the door together.
"Thank you... I never caught your name." He turned to her.
"Belle... Belle French. It was my pleasure." He kissed her hand and set off into the woods.  Belle watched him for a few minutes before closing the door.  She sighed and slid down it, dreaming of the life she would never be able to have.