No Love Lost (Rumbelle AU)

Chapter 1

Belle slowly peeked out the window. The town was mostly dark, with the glow of daybreak. Her tired, baggy eyes scanned the roads. All was clear. With a shaky hand, she let go of the curtain and let it fall, leaving her and her husband in the dimness of their living room.

"We have to go," Robert said, in a raspy voice. His left cheek was swollen and his right eye was bruised. He was covered in cuts and marks from the fight earlier and acquired stab wounds on his right upper arm and abdomen. Belle had done her best to stop the bleeding on his wounds and bandage him up. She had done an average job but it was better than nothing. What else could they do? They couldn't go to a doctor. They couldn't go anywhere without receiving taunts or threats of violence.

Belle stood still, staring at nothing with her empty, hopeless eyes.

"Belle, sweetheart, we need to get out of here," Robert said, "Now, when there is no one out there. If we don't want to run into them  we have to act fast. Now is our chance."

They walked quickly and quietly through the chilling cold dawn toward Granny's, Robert trying his best to be swift and silent with his cane. He spotted their Cadillac and stopped abruptly in the middle of the street. The car was now busted up and completely damaged. All the windows were shattered; the rear, hood, and sides were smashed in; and the tires...flattened. On the sides were the faded spray painted words, "Cheat" and "Whore", but now a new one was added: "Murder." Belle's tears ran furiously down her cheeks as Robert stared at the ruin in shock. They were trapped.

"Did you really think you were gonna get out so easily?"

Belle turned to see Emma Swan standing a few feet away from them, her hair uncombed, face pale, and her eyes puffy, red, and hollow. In her right hand, which was drawn to her side, she held a gun.

1 year earlier

Belle stepped out into the cool autumn air with her box of house decorations. She walked down the stairs of the apartment complex and went straight to the Cadillac where her husband was packing up the trunk. Belle opened the back door and shoved the box right in.

Robert laughed. "Belle, there are so many things in here that it's blocking the back window!"

Belle giggled. "Well I don't have much patience when it comes to organizing things."

Robert raised his brow. "This coming from a librarian?"

"Yes." Belle smiled sweetly and gave him a kiss.

Robert rolled his eyes and muttered, "Looks like I'll be cleaning it up on my own then."

"Oh come on, it's not too bad. I just didn't know where to put the box of decorations in all the clutter. I'm sorry."

Robert chuckled. "It's fine, it's not much a mess anyway." And it wasn't. Some of their things simply needed rearranging. After a couple minutes, Robert shut the door and the trunk.

"And that was the last box?" he asked her.

"Mhm," Belle replied, "this is it...We're really doing this aren't we?"

"We have a new life ahead of us," Robert said, putting his arms around his wife. "A fresh start."

"A fresh start," Belle whispered.

Robert smiled and gave her a long loving kiss.

"Well," he said, "it'll take us 5 hours to get to Storybrooke so we better get a move on."