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Belle was the princess of Avonlea, she was a woman who really loved her people and was obviously very appreciated in return.
She was kind and compassionate way more than her father, king Maurice.
Although she loved her country and people Belle dreamt of the adventures she loved to read in her books.
She wanted more, something out of the ordinary and one day she found it in one of her father's dungeons.
Trapped into a tiny cell, curled up into a ball and laying on the straw was a man dressed in weird dark clothes.
He was trembling violently and looked very scared, Belle couldn't see his face which was hidden behind a curtain of long brown hair.
Curious she approached the bars.
"What did this man do?" Belle asked a guard.
"He was wandering around the castle so your father had him arrested"
Belle sighed.
Her father was capable of having unfortunate people arrested just because they stayed too close to his castle so it wasn't really a news.
"I order for him to be released now" she commanded.
"Lady Belle I..."
"I'm your princess and that's an order, open the cell door please"
The guard was a bit unsure but then he nodded and unlocked the door like Belle had asked him to do.
The princess kneeled down next to the man who flinched as she held out her hand to touch him.
"Hey it's ok I won't hurt you" she reassured him as she took a closer look at his weird clothes.
He had a strange dark jacket with equally dark pants, his shoes were a kind Belle had never seen before and he had a really weird shaped scarf around his neck.
The first thought Belle had was that he must have been a foreigner.
She was soon really interested in that man.
He was the out of the ordinary thing she was desperately searching for.
"Come on sir there's no need to be afraid, come with me" Belle tried to lift his shaking form from the straw but as soon as he was on his feet he staggered and would have certainly fell backwards if Belle didn't catch him in time.
The man pointed to a walking stick on the floor.
"Please" he said in a whisper.
Belle immediately took the stick from the floor and gave it to him.
"Thank you" he murmured.
Belle smiled.
"Here" she offered him her arm for support.
"Come with me"
The guards stepped in front of them causing the man to flinch again and hold into Belle tighter than before.
"Stop it you are scaring him!" Belle scolded them.
She had dismissed the guards and took the man out of the dungeon and into the castle.
He was looking around them in confusion, it was almost like he wasn't used to that kind of place at all.
Belle was getting more and more curious to know from what kind of realm he was from but she had to take care of him first, staying into her father's dungeons wasn't really a good experience.
She lead him to her bedroom and then closed the door behind them.
"Don't hurt me please!" the man pleaded trembling slightly.
"I'm not going to hurt you" she reassured him and gently made him sit on her bed.
He was still trembling but he didn't oppose to her pushing him to sit down, he was silent and was holding into his stick like he was about to crack it.
Belle sat next to him so she could take a better look at his face.
He was a good looking man with long brown hair and gentle eyes.
"I'm princess Belle of Avonlea" she told him with a smile.
The man gave her a quick look and then stared down at the floor.
He played with his fingers as he kept his head down.
"I'm Mr Gold" he said.
Belle frowned.
What a strange name.
She preferred not to say anything about it, she didn't want to sound rude and besides that she needed to get Gold's trust.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You are in the kingdom of Avonlea" she told him.
So he really didn't know about her lands.
"I don't know what an Avonlea is..." Belle noticed he had started to tremble again.
He must have been really shocked.
"It's ok you will be all right" she passed her hand on his back to soothe him.
She really wanted to do something for him.
"I don't even know where I am..." he said in a whisper.
"Where do you come from?" Belle asked.
Mr Gold didn't answer.
"You can talk to me" she reassured him.
"It's just... the last time I asked for help in this place your guards threw me in prison..."
Belle rolled her eyes.
"My father is way too quick judging people... I promise I'm not like him"
The man looked into her eyes, she had been kind enough to let him out of the dungeon and he had to show her his gratitude somehow.
"I'm from Storybrooke..."
"Storybrooke? What kind of kingdom is it?"
Gold chuckled.
"It's not a kingdom, it's a little town in Maine..."
"Maine?"
Gold shook his head.
"I guess it's not from this world... this place is so different from where I live..."
Belle had read a lot of things about other worlds especially from her books and was excited to meet someone who travelled that far.
"How did you end up in this world?"
"I don't know" he looked tired and defeated, Belle didn't want to pressure him more so she placed one hand on his shoulder and swore to herself that she would have helped that no ordinary man.