Veritas Vos Liberabit

[Zetti]

Right its just a theory but I think Aden helped Belle to die but in his eyes he killed her but in Belle's POV he was giving her peace.. Is that anywhere near right/

[sephy]

Ah, that's what I was thinking. I was thinking that perhaps Belle convinced him to help her end her life, but he begins to regret it and tells himself he killed her when all he did is assist her. This guessing is going to drive be around the bend, lol. My imagination isn't wonderful, so that doesn't help.

[Taniya_K]

Wow, thank you guys for all the comments, and even the speculation. They're great ideas, but unfortunately, they're both wrong I'm not going to give out more than that. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and that it's a good way to turn it from the oneshot to the short fic.

Chapter 1

3 Months Earlier

"Please, Aden?" She begged him, tightening the arms that she had wrapped around one of his muscular ones, and pouted slightly.” If you loved me, you would."

"Who said I loved you?" He scoffed back, making her bite back a smile and mockingly scowl up at him as they continued to walk through the crowds.

"Well, after all them nights you spend in my bed, I just assumed you did. And, you know," Belle paused to shrug. "The fact that you told me so this morning that you did."

"Oh, you thought that was directed to you?" Aden asked her in faux shock. "Sorry, but it was for the person who was behind you."

"Sure, sure." She giggled, patting his arm gently while guiding him towards the stall that she wanted to get to. "There was no-one behind me. We were in my room."

"Actually, there's a photo on your vanity table of them." Aden corrected her with a smirk as realization came to her as to who he was hinting to.

"Irene?!" She exclaimed, pulling away from him briefly, eye wide in surprised.

"What can I say? If only I knew that night that she had the upstairs bedroom! I really should have checked that out." Aden mused loudly while pulling his arm free from her loosened grip and resting it along her shoulders to draw her closer. "Oh well. Could have been worse, I guess."

"True. You could have gotten Geoff's room and corrupted the poor guy." Belle giggled as Aden winced and shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of her words. "All things considered, I'd say you got pretty lucky."

"Alright, alright. When you put it like that, I guess I did come off better." He sighed heavily while pressing a kiss to the top of her head as they came to a stop near the front of the cotton candy stand. "Which colour?”

"Um..." Belle trailed off as her eyes trailed over the many bags of the yummy candy while thinking of the answer to her boyfriend's question. "I dunno."

"It's not that hard, Belle. Just choose one." He replied with a small roll of the eyes. He was glad that there were other people around who passed them by so it didn't look odd with the two 20 year olds faltering by the candy stall. "Belle...? Time's a ticking."

"Hold on a second! I can't choose."

"Fine. I'll choose instead-" Aden began only to be cut off by Belle shaking her head and slipping a hand into his jeans pocket to retrieve his wallet. That night had been his treat. Granted it was only a night out at Summer Bay's first, and hopefully not last, carnival, but it was different and right then, just the two of them. "Don't they all taste the same, anyway?"

"That's not the point." Belle told him after letting out a small sigh. "If I get the pink one, then it's too girly. But if I get the blue one, then it's a bit disrespectful to the pink one, cos I am a girl."

"I highly doubt it would care, sweetheart." Aden muttered in a bored tone, only to earn himself a deathly glare. "How about we just get the yellow one then?"

"No!" She quickly stopped him. "The yellow one's all fluffy and soft looking, like a baby chick. You can't eat that."

"Fine. How about I just choose then?" He asked her without bothering to comment on her last explanation, knowing that it would only result with him sleeping alone and in his own bed that night. "Get the blue one."

"But the poor pink one!" Belle quickly countered, pointing up at it with a slight pout.

"How about we get both?" Aden suggested in hope that she would agree.

"But then the poor yellow, chick one!" She cried, sticking out her both lip a millimetre more that made him exhale and smile ruefully.

"How about we get all three? Any problems there?"

"I guess that could work..." Belle agreed, stepping up to the counter to buy them only a second later with a huge smile, that only made him nod and smirk wryly.

"I just got emotionally blackmailed, didn't I?" He questioned her as she slid his wallet into her own pocket and untwisted the tag on one of the cotton candy bags, dipping in a hand to rip off a small piece instantly.

"Dunno what you mean." She replied innocently with an angelic smile that made him scoff once again.

"You are one crazy chick." He murmured into her hair to make her giggle lightly as they carried on walking aimlessly.

"Yet you still love me." She insisted. Aden merely raised an eyebrow at her and turned down her offer of some of her sweets.

They had only been at the fair for just over an hour, and so far, all they had done was walk around, play a few games and laugh. He had been forced to win her something, which he had, to both of their joys. It had been such a simple thing, but it had made Belle so happy that it was hard not to find it contagious. He had figured that that night out was probably only their third or fourth proper date since they had gotten together over a year beforehand, even if it was down at the beach and surrounding areas. It almost ashamed him to admit that it was near to the best that he could afford, especially when he wanted to wine and dine her, and shower her with expensive gifts. But she was happy, ecstatic even, and that was all he needed to be happy too.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" He asked her after they had slipped into a comfortable silence. "Shouldn't you slow down on that? You're going to get a tummy ache."

“I’ll be fine.” She replied around another mouthful of the sugary treat. “Maybe we should play another game. And by ‘we’, I mean ‘you’. And by ‘play’, I mean ‘win’.”

“Is that all we’re going to do?” Aden moaned good-naturedly, resting his cheek against the top of her head as he sighed and pulled her tighter to him.

“No, not all.” Belle insisted slowly. “But mostly.”

“Why?” He repeated in the same playful tired tone as before, to which she simply smirked.

“Cos it’s the manly thing to do. And I figured that a manly man like you would want to do the manly thing.” She told him seriously, keeping her eyes fixed ahead at nothing to stop him from seeing her teasing smile on her face. “Unless you’re not manly, of course. I wouldn‘t want to have overestimated your manliness.”

“Firstly, I am definitely manly.” Aden replied in a gruff voice and with an amused smile. “And secondly, when you use the same word over 3 times in the space of 30 seconds, it means you’ve had too much sugar.”

“No…! Sugar’s good.” She said, stretching her arm out away from her body and his reach as he made to grab for the opened bag of cotton candy, before poking him in the chest. “Unmanly man’s bad!”

“Unmanly?!” He repeated in disbelief. There was a small pause where Aden could feel her shoulders shake silently under his arm as gentle giggles.

“You could always prove me wrong, you know…” Belle suggested matter-of-factly, already directing them towards where a line of stalls with typical fair-type games were situated.

“Let me take you home and I will.” Aden whispered to her in a low and rough voice that made it tremendously hard for her to reject his offer.

“I’ll take you up on that later.” She brushed off, hoping she sounded as nonchalant as she wanted to be. “But first, I want that.”

“Belle. I’ve already gotten you a teddy.” He reminded her as he followed to where her finger pointed to a place diagonally opposite them a few feet away.

“I know, but…” Trailing off, confusion crossed both of their faces as Belle stopped and turned around with wide eyes. “Aden! Where’s the teddy?!”

“Here.” He chuckled, holding up the medium sized white teddy bear by it’s chubby arm with his free hand.

“Oh, good! I thought I’d lost it.” Aden rolled his eyes and let it dangle back towards the ground as her attention waned again. He couldn’t help but to find it cute about how attached she was to all things small and fluffy. And with every bite of the sugary sweet that she kept on eating, she became more and more excited and energetic, and thus, cuter. “Right, so I want the green one. Think you can handle that?”

“You do realise that I could just buy you one from a toy store down in Yabbie Creek, right?” He questioned her as she turned to face him with a sceptical look.

“That doesn’t sound like a very manly thing to say, Aden.” Belle warned him, making him laugh. “I’m being serious here.”

“You know what would be very manly?” He asked her and then answering before she got the chance to speak. “Going on one of these really slow but fun rides.”

“You’re calling a Ferris wheel fun?” She replied incredulously. Aden nodded once and looked over at where the ride, lit up in many different lights, stood proudly before stepping closer to Belle as if to tell her secret.

“Trust me. You. Me. Ferris wheel. An experience you’ll never forget.” He informed her with a sly look and his infamous ‘bad boy’ grin that made her reciprocate the look without even thinking. “Is that a ‘yes’?”

“No!” Belle quickly scowled.

“Oh, c’mon! What’s the harm in even trying?” He tried, stepping closer once again and wrapping his arms around her slim waist.

“What, other than falling to our deaths from very… very… very high up?” She retorted, swallowing as she eyed the huge mechanical monster and urging herself to keep the shiver from tingling down her spine.

“It’s not that bad. Besides, that’s the worst case scenario.”

“Chances are, we’ll get stuck with the worst care scenario.” Belle told him, trying to pull out of his grip as his face contorted from a tempting smile and into a teasing smirk. “What?”

“You’re scared.” Aden stated.

“I am not scared.” She scoffed back, eyes averting away to keep up her appearance.

“You so are!” He argued, letting his smirk die down into a gentle smile while tapping her softly on her hip to regain her attention. “Belle, babe, you know you can tell me anything.”

“Hmm.” She simply replied, narrowing her eyes at him before letting out a sigh and giving in. “Fine! I’m scared, alright? I’m scared of heights.”

“Alright, then.” Aden answered while trying to keep back his smile from deterring her away. “Glad we got that sorted. Though it might have been better to know before we came to a place with amusement park rides.”

“There are other things to do here, darling.” Belle said in a preppy voice that had returned once again with her excitement. She used her free hand to pull his hands off of her and held onto his free one to tug him along. “Such as these games.”

"Why are you scared of heights, anyway? And why didn't I know?" He asked her curiously while allowing her to pull him along with little resistance.

"Because it's never really came up before." She shrugged from her place a step in front of him, her voice managing to carry the boredom that she spoke with as it travelled back to him.

"Ok, I'll give you that. I guess." Aden agreed, squeezing her hand tighter to make her stop and finally fall into step with him. "But why are you scared?"

"Phobias are usually irrational." Belle recited to him from her high school psychology lessons. "But in this case it's cos of the accident."

"Oh. Yeah, of course." He replied, feeling slightly awkward and guilty for bringing the terrifying experience back to the forth of her mind. "Sorry. Should have guessed."

"No probs. You're not a genius like you like to think you are." She told him teasingly, lightening the atmosphere immediately as Aden shot her a look of disbelief.

"Can't believe you just said that."

"Aw, I'm sorry. The truth hurts sometimes, huh?" Belle's tone was sickly sweet as they came to stop by the stall that they had been heading for. "I'll make it up to you. I'll win you something."

"I thought I was meant to be winning it for you?" He argued, watching as she let go of his hand and dug out his wallet from her pocket to pull out the correct fare to have a go at the 'shoot the target' game. He had no idea where the organisers of the event, primarily Colleen, had gotten their hands on such games, but it was worth it nonetheless.

"You were, but you began moaning and whining, and that's not really manly." Belle explained to him, laying the two full bags of cotton candy by her side along with the empty one to hand over the money and take hold of the specially designed gun that only shot toy rubber bullets, yet worked in the same way. "So it's up to me now."

"To be manly?" Aden questioned her in confusion.

"No, you dodo!" She huffed while rolling her eyes, not bothering to look at him as he leant against the counter next to her, smiling softly at her words and stance. "To win me this teddy."

"And if you miss?"

"I won't. Look at how close it is." She replied in a murmur while shutting one eye to get a correct aim towards the spinning target.

"Just don't shoot yourself." He advised her, snapping a quick photo on his phone as slyly as he could.

"I'll shoot you in a minute if you don't put that away."

"I'll take the risk." He replied, taking another picture as Belle continued to even up her aim and change grips on the gun. "C'mon! If you're going to miss, you're going to miss!"

"Hold on! I need to get this perfect." She murmured, finally finding the hold she was looking for and staying still. Watching the target now spin, she counted slowly in her head before pressing tightly on the trigger of the gun. The pressure and actual discharge of the bullet made her wince, but she dismissed it immediately to see the result.

"Whoa." Aden simply said in awe, standing next to her to make sure he was seeing right. There, in the direct center of the now-still target, was a small red stain left by the impact of the bullet against it. "Remind me never to annoy you again."

"I'll try." Belle giggled, blowing the top of the gun in a dramatic fashion and then placing it down. The vendor behind the stall handed over the winning toy to her which made her slightly giddy. "Look what I won!"

"With my money." Aden reminded her as she picked up the two remaining full candy bags as they turned to walk away.

"Insignificant. I would have won it with or without you!" Belle teased, looping her free arm through his and walking with a literal spring in her step.

"I would have won it if you hadn't." He retaliated only to make her scoff at him.

"Jealous." She stated. "Just admit it. I'm awesome."

"Sweetheart, you are most definitely awesome." He readily agreed with her. "But that doesn't mean I'm jealous or that I wouldn't have won it too."

"Oh well. I guess we're never going to know now."

"True." Aden agreed once again. "Although, you know what this makes you now?"

"What?" Belle asked carefully, her steps slowing down to a normal pace as they carried on walking without having destination.

"Manly."

"No....!" She groaned.

"Yup. Sorry, babe. But you are now 'manly'."

"Yeah, well, if I'm manly then you're girly!" She argued with a hint of pride in her voice. "What do you say to that?"

"I'm ok with that." Aden replied. Shocked, she looked up at him with incredulously, clearly not having expect that answer. His jaw was fixed and he was doing his best not to look at her. The persistent stare, however, wore him down and he let out a deep sigh. "Yeah... You're not manly."

"Good to know." She smiled as Aden brought them to a pause. She let her eyes scan upwards slowly before averting them to the side in arrogance. "No! No rides!"

"Look at it Belle! It's so slow!"

"Yeah! More time to get stuck up there and die." She retorted. Aden merely chuckled at her words.

Letting her eyes move back to the Ferris wheel in front of them, she watched as a blonde girl who she just knew had to be Nicole considering the dress she had on and the sneer at the fact that she was been forced to where it on the ride. Belle didn't manage to catch sight of who she was with, as moments later, the cabin was already suspended in the air. While she watched the cabin, Belle could see that it moved at a reasonably slow speed as Aden had said. Watching the zooming lights around, however, made it seem faster. Mesmerised, Belle stared at the lights for a little too long until another feeling deep in her stomach made her tear them away.

"Aden, you were right." She muttered while leaning into him.

"I usually am." He smirked. "But what about this time?"

"My tummy hurts. Can we just go home?" She asked him in a sweet and small voice. He quickly looked down at her to see a pout forming on her lips and eyes shining back up at him.

"I told you, didn't I?" He whispered into her hair before pressing a kiss to her forehead and wrapping an arm around her shoulders to lead her away. "C'mon, let's go."

"I'm sure we can have more fun at home, anyway." Belle tried, offering him a smile, making him roll his eyes.

"Uh huh.” He laughed. “Depends on your definition of fun, I guess."

---

[MrsL]

OOooooo Loving it

[~Zoe~]

I really liked the update Taniya

x

[LauraPhilly!!]

LOVE it..!!

can't wait 4 more!!

xx

[sephy]

Oooh, I liked. I liked very much. I LOVED, in fact. What was there not to love? I was preparing for angsty/drama/sad Adelle stuff, but instead we got a chapter choke full of Adelle fluff. Absolutely brilliant. To both the fluff, the events and the writing, as always. Honestly, I don't know how many times I can say it, or how to get across exactly what I mean, but you are definitely the best writer I've come across, in my opinion. Especially of Adelle, lol. Your ideas are so fresh and different, it makes me wonder whether you're a professional writer and are just being modest and hiding it, lol. Superb, as I said before. But seeing as we know that not all ends well, I'm guessing this chapter had some kind of importance? Belle doesn't get food poisoning from the candy floss, does she? Lol. Or maybe something happens on their way home... I was just waiting for something major to happen in that chapter, like them falling off the ferris wheel, or just Belle. Glad it didn't happen though. Doubt it would be entertaining. Hope you update soon! Can not wait for the next chapter and more clues about how Aden killed Belle.

[Lise]

That was brilliant. I liked the fluff but I'm very curious as to why he killed her.

[bradyell]

Awwww! What a nice surprise to wake up to!!

Loved it! soooooo fluffy and cute!!

Really Intrigued to find out what went wrong!!!

Can't wait for more!

[Jody]

Good chapter. There was some nice banter and it's good to see some happy Adelle. But like Lise, I'm really curious to see why he killed her, and how he got to that point.

This chapter was kinda like what watching Adelle on the show has been like recently, not the storyline but seeing them happy yet knowing it's going to come to a tragic end soon.