all swirly green portals lead to argentina [belle]

[Baelfire]

"You coward! Don't break our deal!"

And then he was falling, surrounded by streaks of green light. Closing his eyes tightly, Baelfire felt his cloak swirl around his as he fell. Where would he land? The world without magic, the one that he and his father were supposed to go together. He had promised, had made a deal with him. His father had never broken a deal before, and the betrayal was a fresh wound, only making his fall seem that more disorienting and awful.

After what seemed like hours, he finally hit something. However, it wasn't entirely pleasant. Instead of depositing him somewhere safe and ensuring he wasn't hurt, the portal opened and Bae fell out oynto something hard, covering his head to make sure it didn't take the brunt of the fall. The portal disappeared as quickly as it had opened, leaving Baelfire to lie there for a minute or two and recover from his journey.

Covered by his cloak, he laid there, making sure nothing was injured or broken. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything more than a pain in his shoulder, which had taken more of the fall. He rose, looking around at an empty alleyway. At the end of said alleyway was what looked like a road, but not a road, somehow. There was something black where stones or sand should have been, and there were yellow lines drawn in the center. Strange...

Something raced by and Bae blinked in surprise, walking to the end of the alley to see what that had been. However, it was gone and all he could see was the back of it, moving away. There didn't seem to be anything that was making it move. It just did so by itself. And it looked too shiny to be an animal. He shook his head, dispelling it for now. He needed to find out exactly where he was, for nothing looked familiar. This would have been easier if there had been someone else with him.

For all his bravery, Baelfire was still a thirteen year old boy, now trapped in someplace unfamiliar. He'd only once ever left the village that he and his father lived in...and being somewhere like this, with nothing he recognized around, was disorienting to say the least. Luckily, there didn't seem to be many people around, save for one woman standing at the end of the street. Well...she didn't look dangerous. Though, she was dressed in clothes that he had never seen anything like before. Ah well, it was either her or nothing.

He approached her carefully and hesitantly tapped her on the shoulder. "Miss?" Bae decided it was probably best to be formal, or as formal as he knew how to be. "Do you know where we are?" She was going to think he was insane, but that didn't matter now. He needed to know.

[innerbeauty]

Belle sighed as she walked down the street. Honestly, she really should've known better than to do this, she should've known she would've hit a dead end. Rumpelstiltskin was the one with the magic and the fantastic abilities of finding people. All she had was a name and a city in some state called 'Argentina' in this new world she'd found herself in. It didn't help that the only place she knew in this world was her padded room in Storybrooke's hospital. Belle tried to see the good in everyone, most of the time, but if there was one thing she could resent Regina for (besides turning her against her true love), it was holding her in such solitude. For twenty-eight years, Belle's whole life was that padded room in the psychiatric ward.

However, now the girl was walking the streets of Buenos Aires, forced to travel from one airport to another just to get back home; if Storybrooke could indeed be called home... She sighed again at that thought. 'Home is where the heart is,' after all. As long as she and Rumpelstiltskin were together, she knew they could withstand anything; she knew they'd find his son, Baelfire, somehow. For now, she supposed she'd best return to Storybrooke and help Rumpelstiltskin plan their next move. shaking herself of plans for the future, her mind came back to her only to remind her of the book her nose was currently invested in. These were books she'd just recently found after 'waking' from the Dark Curse. She'd eagerly picked it up; she couldn't resist a book about magic and wizards and the fight against Evil. She'd only just begun reading the first of the seven-book series before she'd hopped on her plane to Argentina and she was already on Book 6.

You'd think it'd be a bad idea to walk down the streets with your face inside of the pages of a book; and usually it is. Except Belle, having lived in her town with nothing to do but read everywhere she went, was really talented at reading while walking and being able to avoid obstacles. Soon enough, she reached the bus stop that would take her to the airport she needed. As soon as she stopped, it was as if the book was actually eating her face off as she brought it closer, reading it faster now that she didn't have to focus on her surroundings. It was just a little while after she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking down, she spotted the young man who'd pulled her out of her fantasy world, and it took her a moment for his question to register.

"Oh, um..." Belle paused for a moment to actually remember where she was. But, could you blame her? After all, it is a very good book. "We're in Argentina... in South America." She felt she'd better add that last part, still a bit unsettled by the fact she was in an entirely new world. With a frown, Belle looked about her, oddly finding absolutely no one on the street. She looked back to the boy before her. "Are you here alone...?" She found it hard to believe someone has young as him would be in a city so big by himself. Well, naturally, the city of Buenos Aires felt larger to Belle; she'd barely known the city of Storybrooke, after all. Come to think of it, wouldn't most people at least know what city they were in...? Belle's frown deepened slightly. "What's your name?"