Beautiful Lily

The dagger

"Now I have to pay the price..."

Belle fades away and disappears entirely leaving nothing but the lily flower cradled in his hand where her heart should have been.

Rumple's eyes whipped open. They weren't home. They were still on their honeymoon at the cabin. He turned over to look at Belle's side of the bed and discovered that she wasn't there. He got up from bed and peered out their bedroom window. A thick fog had settled over the cabin, blanketing out the morning sun. He skulked around the cabin and began looking for Belle. Did she even come to bed last night? He wondered. Their argument last night did get a bit heated.

He walked down the hall and turned to his right to look into the kitchen. She wasn't there, but evidence of her presence still lingered. The teapot kettle still had steam escaping from its' spout and a box of teabags were left out. The kitchen was open and shared its space with the living room area. He looked over to the left and saw the fireplace still going. The fire had simmered down to its coals indicating that she was probably sitting in front of it all night reading, as evident by the pile of books that were strewn on top of a comforter.

He approached the window at the front of the cabin and scanned the porch. Through the glass he saw Belle sitting in one of the chair rocker's with a book in her lap. Although the book was open, she wasn't actually looking at it. She was staring pensively into the woods, possibly thinking about the content she was currently reading. After a few moments passed, she looked back down into her book and resumed reading again. She was safe and occupied; that was all that mattered. He was able to relax again. His heart quickly slowed from its panicked pace.

"I know about the dagger..." echoed the residual voice of Belle in his mind. His vision was telling him something. Does she know?

There was only one way to find out. He needed to know whether or not his dream was valid. He turned away from the window and scanned the room looking for her purse. It was the last place he remembered putting the fake dagger when he insisted on giving it back to her. If she didn't know about the switching of the blades, then it would still exist in her purse. But if she knew about the dagger's twin...

Belle's purse sat on the kitchen counter next to the fridge. He strode quickly over to it and immediately began sifting through the contents of her purse, but there was no blade.

"It's not there," she said to him. Hearing her voice startled him, but he immediately recovered trying not to look so guilty. Rumple was so focused on his search that he didn't realize Belle was watching him the entire time.

"What's not there?" he said feigning ignorance.

"...You know, the one item that is supposed to symbolize our trust in one another," she said leaning against the open door's frame with arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Her voice was unemotional and somber.

"Where is it?" he asked with concern.

"When I got kidnapped by Elsa I tried to call you on my cell phone, but the weather she was causing was interfering with the signal so I couldn't reach you. Fortunately, I had my purse with me and in it the dagger, so I thought to summon you for help. When Elsa caught me with the dagger she assumed I was going to threaten her with it, so she magically froze the dagger in my hands and caused me to drop it. When it fell it shattered. When the dagger broke I thought she had killed you, but deep down I should have known that something as simple as ice couldn't destroy your dagger like that. So when I saw you come for me, it told me all I needed to know."

Belle sighed, "So, now you're wondering, am I angry?" she said moving closer to him by the kitchen counter. She shook her head, "I should be angry... but I'm not... I can't be angry because that's not what I feel. What I really feel...," looking into his eyes, "...is disappointment. So please don't confuse what I say for anger because despite all of this... I still love you. I love you very much." She looked down for a moment then looked back up at him with saddened eyes, "So what reason, in all the realms, have I given you to still not trust me?"