Belle shook her head, trying to rid her eyes of the unwanted tears. "Yes, I'll.....I'll be alright." She said gently wiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She quietly calmed herself, though her eyes were still welling up a bit.

When he asked another question, Belle turned quickly to look at him. "Oh, no." she said, turning the rest of her body to face him. "It's not you. I just....I just lost someone close to me. That's why I'm lonely." She sighed. "I guess that's why I'm feeling lonely."

Jareth could tell that she was crying, even though she was facing away from him. He felt incredibly awkward in this situation. He was not used to anyone crying around him, at least not women who had not wished anyone away.

When she turned quickly his eyes widened a bit. "You lost someone?" He cocked his head to the side. He and the petite brunette had quite a bit more in common than he previously thought. "As have I."

She had finally stopped her tears and nodded in agreement. She remembered how the small novel had described Jareth and Sarah's interactions in way that led her to believe the man had most definitely been in love with the young girl. She remembered how she had felt for him and how, at times, wondered if they had ever found each other again.

She gazed up at Jareth, noting that his face bore no smile. "Someone you loved?" she asked, watching his face closely to see which expression he would bare next.

The streaks in his hair turned black. "Indeed." He summoned another crystal and started twirling it around his fingers. "You already know who it was." He gazed at the crystal as it glided effortlessly over his fingers. "She made it very clear that I was to never see her again."

As she studied him, Belle saw the streaks in his hair change color again.

Ah, so I wasn't seeing things.

As he began to fiddle with another crystal, she again became mesmerized by it. She watched it roll around in his hand and nearly forgot that they were having a conversation. She was startled back to reality when he spoke to her again, nodding politely as if to answer as question that he didn't ask. "Well, in my case, I was the one who did the.....banishing."

Jareth cocked a brow. So she was lonely due to her own actions. Jareth still felt pity for her however and he vanished his crystal. "So it is your fault that you are so lonely." He sighed. "I apologize, I am sure that whoever you banished must have deserved it in some way."

Belle nodded and crossed her arms across her chest. She began to think of the many horrible things Rumple had done, not only to her, but to the entire town. Her fist began to clench slightly from underneath the arm in front of it. "Yes, well," she began, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "He may have deserved it, but that doesn't mean I should have gone about it the way that I did."

Jareth cocked a brow. "Do you care to talk about it? You already know my story." He chuckled a little under his breath. "At least I believe that you do. I do not remember how that book ends anymore."

Belle just stood there quietly for a moment, trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to talk about Rumple. Was she ready for that? Or, would she simply burst into tears in front of an already confused man that she hardly knew? She directed her gaze at Jareth, trying to judge his mood and figure out whether he actually wanted to talk about it or if he was just being polite.

"I do know your story." she said, leaning back against a nearby wall. "Mine is a tad too long for suitable conversation." She began to play with the floor, softly gliding the tip of her shoe back and forth, as if trying to stir the linoleum. "I guess the simplest way to put it is, I married a man that I thought I knew. It turns out, I knew as much about him as I do about quantum physics." She sighed and continued to sway her foot back and forth. "Hardly anything at all."

Jareth blinked. He thought that this girl was sensible, but obviously not if she married someone that she did not know as well as she thought. However he could sense that she truly was upset about this. "I am glad that the book did me justice then I suppose. The last time I read it I was cast as the villain, and my Sarah was the glowing heroine." He snorted.

He watched her foot for a moment before speaking again. "Do you wish to talk about it further? I may have never been married but I certainly know what it is like to think that you know someone."

Belle chuckled a bit and looked over at Jareth. "When I read books, I look between the words on the page. I read the fine print that not everyone can see." She stepped away from the wall and began walking slowly about the room. "At first glance, yes, you are painted as somewhat of a villian." She paused for a moment, then began speaking a little more forcefully. "However, if you actually read into the book instead of just skimming the pages you can see that you're just a lonely man looking for companionship and that, by the end, your heart was ripped from your chest and stomped on like an unwanted piece of trash."

After finishing her sentence, Belle realized that she might be speaking a little too dramatically. She looked over at Jareth and shrugged. "Sorry. I tend to get a little carried away when I talk about literature."

Jareth watched her speak, a small smile pulling at his lips when he realized just how much she loved literature. However when she said hat he was a lonely man, and that it was obvious that his heart was stomped on he had to restrain to correct her. "I was merely doing my job as Goblin King. Sarah wished away her brother and I took him. I was not looking for companionship."

What a load of crap.

Jareth was bluffing with the best of them. He was lonely, and his heart had been stomped on, but then again Sarah was far too young to understand his feelings. "Nothing to apologize for. I have a love of literature as well."

As Belle listened to him deny everything that she had just said, she rolled her eyes slightly.

Perfect. Another man in denial.

"You may not have been looking, but you are seriously going to tell me that you felt nothing for that girl." She watched him intently, looking for any sign of compassion or regret.

Jareth's mouth twitched, before he sighed. "I loved her, I still do." He scowled. "But she is lost to me so I gave up trying to even win her back." He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a brow at her. "Now, your husband, how exactly did you banish him when you have no magic of your own?"

Belle took a few moments before she answered him. She knew it was not a good idea to tell anyone that didn't already know about Rumple's dagger, but she couldn't figure out how to explain what happened without mentioning it in some way. "This town has a spell on it that makes it so anyone that crosses the town line can never return. And those with magic that cross it lose their power because, well the world out there doesn't have magic." She hung her head, part in shame and part with sorrow. "My husband was a very powerful man, and he did unspeakable things. So I forced him over it. So he couldn't do anymore harm."