Dance with the Devil

Written by: Adventure-Seeking-Juliet

When: While listening to the song by Breaking Benjamin, obviously.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

A/N The curse hits Fairy-Tale Land and Belle is dancing with the devil once again. This is an answer to Emoen's prompt: Dance With the Devil by Breaking Benjamin. It's a good song, so if you haven't heard it, I suggest you listen to it.

To Emoen: I'm sorry if this isn't exactly what you wanted...but it was the first thing that came to mind. I have another idea which I will post if you want to read it...it has more of a "dark beauty and the beast" feel.

From her tower, Belle watched the dark clouds roll in from the east.

They were dark and ominous as they raced past buildings and fields, engulfing everything it touched.

She stared straight into the irregular storm, unafraid. Maybe, the storm would carry her to a better place.

She moved as close to the window as her chains would allow, wincing when the metal scraped at her raw wrists.

The closer she inspected the storm, the easier it was for her to notice the vestiges of magic swirling in its depths.

The storm was surely a curse, designed to destroy anything it touched.

The thought should have frightened Belle, but instead it exhilarated her. The curse felt familiar to her. The magic didn't seem quite as evil as it should...

She could feel Rumpelstiltskin's presence grow stronger as the darkness rolled in. Belle climbed to her feet, intent on staring his curse right in its ugly face.

She had been trapped in Regina's tower for months now, locked away from the world. She had no one. Her father had assisted Regina in locking her away...and Rumpelstiltskin was nowhere to be found.

Until now.

Of course, Regina had tried to convince her that Rumpelstiltskin had been the one to trap her in the tower, but Belle had never believed her. Rumpelstiltskin was a coward, but he did care about her.

She was sure of that.

He would never have locked her in a tower and left the queen to torture her. She refused to believe such nonsense.

But she couldn't ignore the fact that he had never come to rescue her. Why would he? He wasn't a knight in shining armor.

He was a scared man with a tongue like a devil.

And now, with his curse coming at her at full force, ready to steal away all she'd ever known, Belle liked to imagine it was his way of rescuing her.

She stretched her arms out, like she was about to take flight, and the rolling thunder drowned out the sound of her chains rattling on the stone floor.

"Rumpelstiltskin."

She smiled as the lighting rippled and the tower dissolved around her.

Her eyes closed as she was stolen away. Belle was dealing with the beast.

Belle was dancing with the devil once again.

Rumpelstiltskin was cackling in his cell when the curse reached him.

His gilded hands were clenched on the bars that held him in, awaiting the moment when he would be free.

The tunnel began to shake as his curse devoured the rocks and stones...as it came for him.

He relished the idea of being free. He was impatient to be free from his memories. Free from the haunting images of Belle.

Rumpelstiltskin could only hope he would be fortunate enough to forget all about Fairy-Tale Land and happy endings.

He had never had one. And thanks to him, he never would.

The power of his curse surged all around him and a greedy grin stretched across his face. Finally.

But echoes came with the power, words spoken from the people who had been taken. Screams from the mothers, screeches from the animals...

They had all been stolen by his curse.

One sound rang out louder than the rest," Rumpelstiltskin."

It was the sound of a woman saying his name. His eyes widened and he began to shake like the rocks around him.

"Belle?" He growled, his anger swelling. It had to be. Magic does not lie.

It was her voice- strong and clear. Belle had to be alive.

But as the curse swept over him, a terrible realization was settling in his heart.

He must have conjured the sound of her voice himself. After all, he had been conjuring her in his dreams often enough.

The devil didn't utter a sound as his own curse danced him toward a land devoid of happy endings.

His happy ending had been dead for a long time.

A/N Very angsty and depressing...I'm sorry to Emoen if it wasn't what you wanted from the prompt...

If you would like to prompt me, please private message me your prompt or leave it in a review! I'll take anything from summaries, to songs, to pictures, to short phrases.

Please review, if you know what I mean.