Today’s update of Painting Layers of Love will be slightly delayed due to the crashing thunder and lightning. I always turn my PC off during storms in case the power goes out.
It’s supposed to stop by this evening so I’ll post it then. At least the storm has made it cool down, it was way too hot yesterday.
David: He took the ‘hero’ thing to uncomfortable extremes. He didn’t believe he could do any wrong and as we’ve learned lately, that line of thinking is dangerous. However, he did save Storybrooke so misguided though he might have been, he was a hero.
Emma: His sacrifice meant no-one I loved had to die.
Regina: All he wanted was to be a hero, perhaps this was his ‘happy ending’. I think to borrow a phrase from one of Henry’s TV shows, he was a ‘few fries short of a happy meal’ but then I would have once said that about any hero, especially one who sacrificed themselves. Also, he ended a mess I made so I can’t think ill of the man.
Snow: He was a murderer and dangerous, even if he thought his motives were good. I’m grateful that he ended the cauldron attack and I’m sorry he died, but I’m glad he’s not around any longer. He would have hurt more people.
Synopsis: Alternate Season Six. Storybrooke is visibly under threat once more from Hyde and the Evil Queen. However, not all threats are visible as an old forgotten foe has been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The very nature of darkness is revealed as everyone struggles with the most difficult beast of all – acceptance.
Note: You are either going to love me or hate me for this chapter. There’s a lot of Rumbelle goodness but … well no spoilers 🙂 Anyway, chapter fifteen (the final chapter) will be on Tuesday as normal. Enjoy!
Warning: Spoiler alert but there’s basically what amount to zombies in this chapter. There’s no really disgusting descriptions because I personally don’t like that but the dead do walk Storybrooke.
The mirror room
shuddered again. This time Belle barely flinched, it seemed to happen with
alarming regularity and no harm had come to her, so she was trying not to be
scared by it. There was no way to know what it meant, it had happened far too
many times to be her body passing through a realm. Belle shivered, suddenly
feeling acutely vulnerable. Hades couldn’t steal her child under a sleeping
curse, but anything could happen to her body.
Belle sat up, from her
prone position on the floor, and stretched. A sad wry smile crossed her face,
she had to admit that wasn’t entirely true. So long as she was with
Rumplestiltskin, no harm would come to her, her husband would protect her. The
only problem she had was the means that he might use to achieve that protection.
She couldn’t condone the darkness.
Light bounced around
the room, in swirling patterns as another mirror came to life. Belle sighed and
twisted to look at it, wondering what piece of her past it would show her now.
It seemed to be choosing memories based on what she was thinking. However, she
had no idea what memory it would choose, to reflect her firm belief, that she
couldn’t condone the darkness.
What a great ending to the chapter, it would make a perfect episode cliffhanger. I liked the explanation of how the books and the grail came to be at the library; it didn’t make any sense that they’d been there all along. And Don Quixote came in handy! That was thinking ahead, if you knew you were going to have him sacrifice himself all along. Also, I just wish the show would fully utilise the sleeping curse as you’ve done, for Belle to reflect on her life and her choices up to this point. It’s very satisfying and I know we’re not going to get anything remotely like it in canon.
I did know that was going to happen to Don Quixote actually 🙂 I planned out the entire story before I wrote it, so I’ve always known exactly what was going to happen. To be fair to the show, it’s hard to show somebody ‘thinking’ on screen so they wouldn’t be able to do what I did. Maybe they’ll do something with the sleeping curse, I don’t know what but I’m glad you liked my take on it, thank you 🙂
I agree with you, it didn’t make sense that the grail and the books just ‘conveniently appeared’ unless somebody made them appear.
Anyway, thank you very much for all your really nice comments.
The next chapter will be posted on Tuesday. I hope you will enjoy it!
Some Saturday randomness (aka I’m procrastinating again) ….
Last night I was at home and the person I was with was channel surfing. They landed on one channel and I went “ooooh Stargate SG1. Fragile Balance, season 7, episode 3″ and they looked at me incredulous and said “it’s been on all of five seconds!” and I shrugged and said “sorry I recognized it.”
It’s not like I tried to remember, it just stuck in there.
Anyway, this morning I woke up and I don’t know what I had been dreaming about but without any prompting I started plotting a Rumbelle AU. I wasn’t even properly awake and I was picking the characters for the team. Then I woke up and shook myself “you’re not supposed to be writing that now!” because seriously I’ve already got the next couple of months fully booked for fic.
I know I’ve probably been writing too much fic when it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up. Mind you, that’s happened middle of the night before. Get up, get a drink of water, write down fic thought, go back to bed. Get back up and write down some more, take phone with me this time. Repeat the writing, phone down, new thought etc. until eventually I can stop thinking and try to get back to sleep.
My weekend plans are work, writing, attempting to write my first smut story, watching two new movies I haven’t yet had a chance to watch (California Solo and the Frank Keane one) and then probably more writing, maybe even a movie review or two.
Synopsis: Alternate Season Six. Storybrooke is visibly under threat once more from Hyde and the Evil Queen. However, not all threats are visible as an old forgotten foe has been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The very nature of darkness is revealed as everyone struggles with the most difficult beast of all – acceptance.
Note: This chapter is plot-centric but I will be posting chapter 14 on Friday which is full of Rumbelle goodness. I know I haven’t balanced the chapters very well. That’s because when I write my outline I don’t know how long the scenes will be, which sometimes makes the writing .. interesting 🙂 Anyway, enjoy!
Warning: Spoiler alert but there’s basically what amount to zombies in this chapter. There’s no really disgusting descriptions because I personally don’t like that but the dead do walk Storybrooke.
“Father,
father!” John Darling screamed, running down the corridor.
His little
brother, Michael scrambled to keep up, his sock covered feet slipping on the
wood flooring. John collided heavily with the wooden door of his parents
bedroom. He banged loudly with the side of his hand, and shot Michael a
panic-stricken look. The door was flung open, their father framed by the light
of the lamp inside the room.
“What on earth
is the matter?” George Darling demanded.
“It’s Wendy
father, she went after Baelfire, the shadow took her,” John cried, his chest
heaving as he struggled not to cry.
That was so sad that the Darlings lost all their children. Not very smart of John, just waiting there in his nightshirt to be taken by the Shadow. He should have been sturdily dressed with pockets stuffed full of supplies. Pocketknife, compass, string, paper and pencil, you never know what might have come in useful. Zombies, ugh! Just when you think you’ve gotten rid of scum like Cora, her corpse comes back. Henry’s excitement at getting a sword was adorable.
Yeah it was quite idiotic of John but then he looked like he was maybe 6 on the show during the flashback part? Possibly 7 or 8 but even so he was very young and he didn’t think it through. He could see the happy ending and it was like it had already happened, the messy middle was just like /shrug I’ll figure it out.
Thanks for commenting. I’m glad you are enjoying it 🙂 I’m going to be posting the next chapter in a few minutes!
Today has been very productive. I … finished The War Within *dances* … although finished is relative because of the handful of oneshots I’m going to add to the verse. However, the main chaptered story is complete. That’s the first WIP I can tag as complete and that feels pretty damn good.
I then thought I should at least start thinking about my Rumbelle Revelry fic (shh I know it’s been ages but I’ve been busy) and I have a plot! My prompt words couldn’t have been better for it. I’ve decided to Rumbelle ‘The Tomb’ which should be fun.
Now, I just need to decide whether I want Dr Gold and Dr French to be partners or adversaries (at the beginning). Any opinions?
I’m leaning towards them being married and working together. There’s not enough fic like that. Although it would simplify matters a little bit, as there is one survivor from the ‘adversary’ team and obviously if it was Belle vs Gold, then the survivor would be one of them.
Yeah … this fic is going to have a hefty warning for character deaths. I mean four people on the missing team, three out of four on the adversary team. That’s seven people, although we only witness three of the deaths, so I suppose those are the ones that kinda matter. I have a real problem killing people I like, I don’t know if I can do it.
In fact if anyone had any suggestions about who to kill off, I’d love opinions on that as well 🙂
There were five prompts on the Rumbelle Blow-off list that I liked and thought I would maybe take a stab at writing … eventually. I can handle the plot part no problem but I’m still working up my courage for the smut part. Anyway, three of them made it into the final five – score! Except the winning prompt was not one of those three /facepalm
Oh well, I suppose that’s one less event for me to worry about. I have Rumbelle Revelry (due in October), A Monthly Rumbelling (every month) and then Rumbelle Secret Santa when that comes round. Plus all my own fics and the WIP list is getting longer … and longer.
You know if I only procrastinated half as much I would write so much more. Note to self – try harder. I have so many fic ideas and it’s taking far too long to get them written, hence why the list is getting longer and not shorter.
This month is going to be very unbalanced in terms of fic. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to post something every Tuesday and Friday. However, that still leaves several fics that will get posted in one big fic splurge at the end of the month. Providing of course I get them written but I’m going to do my best. I have a list, I have put it in order of priority and I am working my way down.
I won’t get any writing time tonight though *whistles* .. have to watch Captain America: Civil War – can’t wait! 🙂
Synopsis: Alternate Season Six. Storybrooke is visibly under threat once more from Hyde and the Evil Queen. However, not all threats are visible as an old forgotten foe has been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The very nature of darkness is revealed as everyone struggles with the most difficult beast of all – acceptance.
Note: Tomorrow I will be posting my fic for the OUaT Positivity gift exchange. I’m hoping that on Friday I’ll be able to post Chapter Three of Painting Layers of Love. I had to go out of town unexpectedly at the weekend, so it might not happen but I’m going to try. Anyway, enjoy chapter twelve!
That evening
found a large chunk of Storybrooke once more outside of city hall. The polls
had closed an hour earlier for the votes to be counted. Granny had marched
inside and peered down her glasses at everyone in there, pronouncing that there
would be no ‘funny business’ and she would be double checking the count.
Regina obviously hadn’t objected. Granny had
always been close with Snow and David, she frequently babysat for baby Neal.
However, Alexander had offered no objection either. Perhaps, Regina mused, that was because he thought
that he had Granny’s support. Granny had refused to publically state an
opinion, which she had to admit did seem tantamount to supporting the
opposition.
“It’ll be ok
mom,” Henry reassured her.
“I know,” Regina replied.
Truthfully it
wasn’t actually the election that was playing on her mind. She had spent a few
hours this afternoon, along with Emma and Henry, searching for Jekyll. They
hadn’t found him and nobody claimed to have seen him in a couple of days. In
fact they hadn’t found anyone who had seen Jekyll since Hyde’s disappearance.
It was an ominous coincidence.
BUT I LIKED ARTHUR IN THE UNDERWORLD! WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO BRING HADES BACK?
Haha the kiss is … well spoiler alert but … *whistles*.
As for Hades nobody gave me permission but it made sense, Zelena has to remain relevant somehow if she isn’t on ‘Team Hero’ because villains can’t last forever or the heroes look inept. However, if you liked Arthur in the underworld … you might be interested in what happens in *checks outline* not Tuesday’s chapter, the chapter after that (chapter fourteen) most likely.
There’s three chapters left of the main story, though I have lots of oneshots I’m going to add to the verse showing different things and it’ll be open to prompts of course. Thanks for commenting – I loved the gif reactions! 🙂
“How do I get into these things?” Nicholas Gold muttered to himself.
He caught sight of his son, beaming from ear to ear, practically dancing as he walked around the small stall area in front of the Knights quarters. Ah – that was why.
He looked down at his costume, butter soft light brown leather jerkin, darker leather pants. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be a knight of old or a rockstar. All he knew is he felt ridiculous.
“Neal!” Gold called.
Neal ran over. “It’s Baelfire today dad! Remember?”
“Yes of course,” Gold agreed with a soft smile. “Now Bae ….”
“Can I go up to the castle?” Neal asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Gold eyed the nearby cliff edge. “Not until I can take you.”
Neal pouted but nodded in agreement. “This is so cool!”
Gold was glad none of his business associates were here to see him. He couldn’t help but smile at his son’s obvious happiness. For the last year Neal had become obsessed with fairytales, Knights, anything medieval. When he had heard a renaissance faire was coming to Storybrooke, a nearby coastal town just a couple of hours from their home in Boston, Neal had been begging to go. When Gold had inquired, he’d found that there were no sightseers welcome, just participants in the fun. If anything that had made Neal even more ecstatic and Gold had never been able to deny his boy anything.
“You’re going to be great dad!” Neal enthused. “You are so going to win.”
Gold hissed in alarm. He didn’t want to disappoint Neal and his fencing days at university were more years than he cared to remember behind him.
“I’ll do my best but I might not win,” Gold cautioned.
“Hey do you think my dad will win?” Neal suddenly asked.
Gold looked up in horror. One of the passing ladies, dressed in traditional gown and corset had been passing. She was young and very beautiful. She smiled warmly at Neal.
“Oh I think he looks like a winner to me,” she teased. “I am Lady Belle.”
She curtseyed and laughing Neal bowed in front of her. She pulled a ribbon from her gown.
“A knight can’t fail to win with a ladies favour.” She tied the ribbon around his arm.
Gold’s arm tingled with her soft touch. He smiled hesitantly at her. Belle leant over and lightly kissed his cheek. Gold felt himself blush. There was an announcement from the herald but Gold didn’t make out the words. Belle nudged him.
“It sounds like your bout is next.”
Aw, it’s not like he has to fight a crown tourney – but it’s adorable that he let his son talk him into competing anyway.
I bet Belle has a Laurel or is well on her way to one.
I’m guessing you know something about the reenactment circuit .. or the actual historical thing it’s based on .. or renaissance faires .. or something because I have no clue what you mean. What is a “crown tourney”? and what is a “laurel” and why is Belle getting one?
I did think maybe I would expand this next month but I’m thinking I might need to do a fair bit of research first. I just liked the visual but I really have no clue about it at all, which is not really very good for writing. Yup, research, definitely a good idea. Half remembered movies, might be good for a visual but not for detail.
Thanks for commenting! You’ve certainly given me a lot to think about 🙂
