Fires!Belle, what was it about Gold that made you fall in love with him? Were you worried that might happen when you were given your mission?

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(OOC: I love you anon, this is one of my favorite verses!)

Gold was my mission. Love was never supposed to be part of the deal. He was the target, I was to get close, infiltrate his life and then spy on him long-term. I would gain the dual benefit of access to his intelligence and my cover would be more secure due to our marriage.

Loving him went against …. well everything! However, it was impossible not to love him. Julian was like no man I’d ever met. He seemed to see through the cover identity which had been crafted to be irresistible for him – he seemed to see me, even more miraculous he seemed to prefer the real me. No matter how many times I told myself that he didn’t really know who I was, it always felt like he did. Oh he didn’t know the details of my past but I think he knew what was in my heart and he valued me.

It wasn’t about my training, or my pretty face, or what I could do for him. It felt like he cared about me just because I was me. How could I not love him? When I got subsequent missions, to sabotage operations or to kill his comrades I was very worried about what would happen. I never wanted our time together to end but it was doomed from the start. Even if there had been no side missions, I believed that he would never forgive me because of the deception that had brought us together.

It is possible that I might have been wrong about that…

How did Between!Rumbelle meet? I know she was sent to marry him, but what was the set up? Did they meet at a party or a bar or someplace else? Did Belle ask him on their first date, or did she “trick” him into it?

This was in the fic actually.

*****

~Flashback~
Twelve Years Ago

Gold grimaced at the loud music and the flashing lights. He hated visiting The Rabbit Hole, it wasn’t his kind of place at all. If he was going to a bar, he preferred somewhere quieter, where the pace wasn’t quite so frenetic. However, occasionally Jefferson liked Gold to deliver his credit payment in person and unfortunately Jefferson found it amusing to keep him waiting.

“Hit me again!” A young woman slammed her empty shot glass down onto the bar and stumbled heavily against Gold. “Oh sorry,” she mumbled. Her eyes raked him up and down, and she smirked. “Or perhaps not.”

“This one’s on me,” Gold instructed the barman, allowing his eyes to do some roving of their own.

The young woman was beautiful, scantily clad in a tight sequined blue dress which barely reached past the top of her thighs. Her chestnut hair was messily tied back, curls coming loose and tickling her neck. The dress matched her brilliant blue eyes and then there was that accent, Gold felt his mouth go dry.

“Lacey Beaumont,” Lacey offered, knocking back the shot he had just bought her. She winked at him. “Thanks for the drink.”

“Julian Gold, the pleasures all mine,” Gold murmured.

Lacey leaned against him, her hand tracing down his side until it reached his arse. She squeezed and laughed throatily. Gold swallowed hard, the air felt heavy, supercharged with all the sparks that were flying. Lacey’s eyes were bright and looking at him with obvious interest. This sort of thing didn’t usually happen to him, and for once Gold decided to just enjoy it.

Her hot breath ghosted over his neck, up to his ear, which she tugged on playfully with her teeth. Gold groaned and Lacey laughed again, pressing against him completely now. His arm wrapped round her loosely, so she could still pull back if she wished, his fingers falling tantalizingly close to her left breast.

“What do you say we get out of here?” Lacey whispered.

Gold’s eyes caught Jefferson’s to the back of the bar. Jefferson smirked and gave him a thumbs up, gesturing with his hand for him to leave.

“Why not indeed?” Gold smiled.

Lacey’s hand grabbed his and he allowed her to pull him out of the bar.

~Flashback~

That night at the bar, he had thought that she would just be a one-night stand. However, they kept falling into bed together. Without him really even noticing, they transitioned from ‘just sex’ to a real relationship. Lacey had changed too, her outfits became more demure and she shed her brash barfly personality.

Gold sipped his coffee, taking a deep breath and inhaling the reassuring smell. He remembered the day he had caught her reading on the e-Tab. She had been startled and tried to play it off as her being bored. However, he hadn’t bought it and they had wound up having a rousing discussion about books. Her previously hidden intelligence had completely entranced him.

If he was honest, he thought that was when he had truly fallen in love with her. He had been able to tell that she was hiding a lot but he had thought that she was just afraid. She had mentioned an ex-boyfriend once. Gold snorted, he had wanted to protect her, hold her close and keep her safe. He had showed her acceptance, waiting until she was ready. In turn, she showed him her warmth and her kindness.

He had fallen deeply in love. They had been happy. It had all been a lie.

Re-sending this ask since tumblr ate it. *side eyes tumblr* When did Between Two Fires!Belle fall in love with her husband? What were her feelings when she realized it?

I’m sorry I have the attention span of a goldfish. When questions require thought I think that fatal thing of “I’ll have to do that later” and then oops.

The cardinal rule is “don’t fall for the mark” so Belle had no intention of falling in love with Julian Gold. She focused on all the disagreeable facts in his profile but it was difficult. She had to make him fall in love with her. So she couldn’t stoke the fires of negativity too much because on the surface she had to appear to like him, and unfortunately it was far too easy to like him.

He made her laugh, he listened to her, they could discuss anything; he didn’t dwarf her physically, she felt like she fit into his arms and what was scary is that she felt safe with him. When Belle realized that she wanted to run a mile because Gold was the enemy, she shouldn’t feel at home in his arms, but she had her assignment and she didn’t want to fail.

Was there a specific moment that made her fall in love? I don’t think so, I think it was a gradual thing until they were doing something perfectly innocuous one day, like a lazy Sunday watching movies or something, and it hit her like a thunderbolt. Belle panicked, ran to the bathroom, breathing like she’d run a marathon because she couldn’t love him, that broke the rule and it would complicate everything.

Then the little voice in the back of her head suggested it wasn’t such a bad thing, it would be easier to keep cover if it wasn’t a lie. However, Belle could never really relax and enjoy her life because she always had a ticking clock in her head. She knew that their happiness – being together, couldn’t last and that one day she would lose him. Sometimes she kissed him a bit too desperately, or hugged him too tightly. Belle told him that she loved him every day because she wanted him to know, and to maybe believe deep down, even though she knew she was going to break his heart.

Always remember that I love you…

What happened to Between Two Fires!Rumbelle? (I feel so awful for just realizing you wrote that, I /love/ that fic!)

I rather love that fic as well, an author probably shouldn’t admit to having favorites but I do confess that’s one of mine.

In regards to what happened next. I just looked back at my review replies and apparently I said I was going to continue this verse *hides in a box of a shame* and I would certainly love to write more. The problem is I remain uncertain about what happens next. Writing a prequel would be easier.

I went over a couple of the options here.

Basically if he turns her in, then obviously she’s imprisoned – problem. However, if he doesn’t turn her in then he’ll have to betray his principles (to everyone else, it would look like he was betraying his nation), he would have to live a double life or maybe even go on the run and lose everything. Whatever he chose there would be angst and difficulties. I could see arguments for and against either choice.

It was one of those scenarios where they was no good option, and no happy endings. Even if they found some remote place, where nobody knew them, and made a life together. There would always be the fear of discovery, they would have to lie to everyone they ever met, and they would lose contact with anyone who had ever met anything to them in their old life, they would only have each other.

Whether he turns her in or not there would be a metric-ton of angst. I mean unless something major shifted in the political landscape and Belle managed to cut a deal, so that she got her freedom legitimately, maybe defected and worked alongside Gold against Avonlea. Maybe then, there could be a happy ending or a happy beginning 🙂

Fic Commentary Meme for Between Two Fires: “What are you saying? Evil is a point of view?” Belle shook her head. “I know who I am and what I’ve done. I fought for Avonlea, for what I thought was right.”“I fought for the Frontlands, for what I thought was right. There is a line though that …”“That line is a million miles behind me. I don’t even remember what it looks like anymore,” Belle admitted.

Yay thank you! I haven’t done one of these before so I hope I do it right, and I seriously love this fic so double thank you 🙂

The prompt for this fic was Light!Gold and Dark!Belle. Gold’s perspective right now, is of someone who has done some things he’s not proud of – he knows what it’s like to make the hard call – but he has clean hands. He has always followed orders, followed protocol. He has been ordered to do some distasteful things, but never anything utterly immoral. He’s a soldier and he’s probably veered close to the line but he’s never crossed it.

Belle crossed it a long time ago. She said earlier in the scene “When
I signed up, I thought I knew what I was getting into. I wanted to help, to
protect and serve – to be a hero.”
and then she started rationalizing. At first it was just dirty jobs, and then it started getting more and more wrong but it’s a slippery slope. Once she’d started down that path, she kept telling herself it was for the best, or that she was committed and had to see it through. There were no good choices and she wound up doing things, that she would have vowed never to do when she started.

Gold tries to empathize with her. To say that he gets it, that he made an oath to his nation, that he has always fought for the Frontlands and what he thought was right. Belle shuts him down because while she may have always fought for Avonlea, she knew that she wasn’t fighting for what was right. She knew at the time what she was doing was wrong, but she was in too deep and did it anyway. They aren’t the same and she doesn’t want him to think that they are.

She betrayed him but she learned to shut out her conscience a long time ago. It’s like she repressed it, and now he’s killing her with kindness and understanding. It would be easier if he raged, if he hated her because she hates herself and she knows that she deserves it. She knows that but she doesn’t feel that. She learned to live with it long ago, because she had to and so the choices became easier.

Belle’s not about to break down and wail with guilt because she knows who she is, and what she’s done. She accepts it, and she might wish things had been different, and she might try and be better now. However, what’s done is done and if push came to shove, she’s still capable of almost anything. She might have a few qualms about it, but she’s learned to live with the guilt, push into a box and get on with the job. That coldness is always going to be a part of her, even if miraculously she did manage to build a new life.

@mysticpoet asked:

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That would be telling wouldn’t it 🙂 … bit of a spoiler should I write another installment. I think I probably will actually. This was a good cut-off point, which was why I ended it there. Plus I knew I was racing the deadline for the month anyway. However, I would like to continue and expand this verse.

So … wait and see! I know, I know, that’s a horrible answer 🙂

However, in all fairness, I haven’t actually decided yet. I could take it in either direction and I’m not sure which option I like best.

Option A: He doesn’t turn her in and then is forced to hide her/go on the run/mixture of both. Gold is a good guy in this verse and he would feel guilty for not doing the right thing. No matter how much he loves Belle, she still killed good people, caused a lot of death and destruction. Her victims deserve justice, even if he has lost his zeal in fighting the war between Avonlea and the Frontlands.

Option B: He does turn her in and then there’s angsty prison visits and guilt because he still loves her. Every move they made would be monitored. Gold would still be under a microscope in regards to his career. Plus then there would be the mystery of how do they eventually reconcile because Belle would be in prison, potentially death row. Maybe she would breakout, maybe there would be a prisoner exchange, maybe she cuts a deal. Lots of possibilities.

Basically either way there’s a metric ton of angst. After all that has happened, is there any possibility they could be happy again? Sometimes love isn’t enough, which is actually also why I liked ending it where I did. It left the ending up to imagination. As a reader I loathe open endings like that, as a writer they are kinda useful sometimes 🙂

This was a really good ask. Thank you very much!

Between Two Fires

calmandbalancedpersonhah:

still-searching47:

calmandbalancedpersonhah:

still-searching47:

Synopsis: Captain Julian Gold, a decorated hero of the Frontlands Defense Force was once married to Lacey Beaumont. They had been happy but then she had died. Shortly after her death Gold discovered the truth. She wasn’t really Lacey Beaumont, she was Belle French and she was from Avonlea. Five years later there is a twitch on the border line. Gold follows the trail, stunned to find himself face to face with his supposedly dead wife – Belle.

Note: Written for @a-monthly-rumbelling in August. The prompt was Dark!Belle and Light!Rumple. If anyone has ever seen Alias, then you’ll know where I got my inspiration from – Jack and Irina. They were the best part of that show. There’s also shades of Marvel, Black Widow especially, which was fun to include.

AO3 Link

“You’re
supposed to be dead.”

“I’m supposed
to be a lot of things.”

Captain Julian
Gold stared at the woman in front of him, illuminated by the flashlight he held
in his left hand. It had been five years since he had last laid eyes on her and
she didn’t look as if she had aged a day. Her chestnut hair was scraped back in
a practical ponytail, and she was wearing an outfit similar to his own, dark
combat trousers and jacket.

It was very
different from the outfits she had favored as his wife, but then so was the gun
she was currently pointing at his head.

Keep reading

Oh.My.God.

Thanks! I’m glad you liked it 🙂 You said you needed more. I do like this verse and I would be happy to write more of it in the future. Did you have anything particular in mind?

Oh, oh oh!!
Well, I’ve never seen Alias, so I don’t really know the base of the story, but I’ll look into it now!!

You really don’t need to have seen Alias. I mean for one thing the Jack/Irina angle was only a minor part of the show unfortunately 🙁 I took inspiration for the basis of Gold and Belle’s relationship but that’s it. Everything pertinent is already included in the fic.

All the sci-fi stuff in this fic is mine. Plus, Alias was only KGB vs CIA when Jack and Irina were married. However, on Alias what we actually saw of their relationship was twenty years later when Irina was working for herself, for her own interests. Alias went in a completely different direction than this fic did so Jack and Irina provided inspiration only.

Yeah TLDR: Knowledge of Alias, totally not necessary 🙂

Anyway in regards to writing more, it might be nice to explore more of Belle and Gold’s relationship when they were married. I did one flashback of the night they met and then I summarized the important points. However, show is always better than tell.

grace52373:

I left a review on a03 because tumblr kept shutting down on me! I really enjoyed this and I hope there is more. I want to see more of their past and hear why Belle did what she did! Between this and War within, you are fast becoming a favorite writer of mine!

Oh wow, that is some compliment, thank you 🙂 I sort of touched on why Belle made the choices she made in the last scene. However, yes showing more of their past would be an interesting thing to explore! I’m definitely going to add to this verse in the future 🙂