he goes i go

notthehurricanedrunk:

Okay, this scene. Look at how fucking DEVASTATED Belle is that things went this way. We remember her at the wheel, the joy she felt when Rumplestiltskin started to transform, not just because she was breaking a curse that has done a great deal of damage to Rum, but because in the breaking she had proof that they had True Love. Rum knew it was proof too, but was so scared that he almost lost all his power, and so shocked at what the kiss meant that he fell apart right in front of her.

The idea that Belle would betray him is absurd and yet he finds that more believable than her wanting to help because she loves him. That is heartbreaking whichever way you look at it because he can’t be convinced he’s loved even with solid proof and she is unable to convince the man she loves that the kiss wasn’t trickery, it was born of her HOPE.

They’re both passionate people but in the dungeon both are holding back. Belle is dangerously near tears but stays long enough to make clear her feelings for him, and explains just how he’s fucked up. She could have been his best chance for a happy life and he had to be made aware of that.

Rumple alternates between sneering lies and silence, and is very still, in a way that just isn’t usual for him at this stage. It’s yet another performance and one that involves a great deal more dishonesty than we usually see. Maybe because he’s trying to convince himself (as well as her) that he actually wants Belle to go. Not only is he still angry at what he thought was outright deception, he’s angry at himself for scaring her. He’s shaken and afraid of his actions, and subsequently convinced himself that Belle had to go for her own sake. He doesn’t trust himself, and has likely told himself that even if they did have True Love he couldn’t ever deserve her.

They are both so very stubborn, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. His words don’t convince Belle, but she has to leave anyway, because to stay in this situation, one in which he can’t admit she loves him, and has instead called her a traitor, is untenable. So, Belle holds her head high and leaves him. When we see her again in Dreamy she is disconsolate, but not completely without hope, because she knows the value of love, and after her adventures in The Outsider has decided to return to Rumple so he can admit the value of love too. After time to cool down and think about things Rumple would have to be more reasonable, after all, and if he wasn’t willing to be reasonable right away, she’d convince him somehow. She’d have to. He’s worth fighting for, after all.

That fight first began at his spinning wheel, and ended in a dungeon, but that was just the first round. My money is on Belle.

#'the idea that Belle would betray him is absurd and yet he finds that more believable than her wanting to help because she loves him' #ouat