Chapter Text
Belle entered the Dark Castle and saw Rumple sitting behind his spinning wheel, doing his best to look casual, what failed dramatically.
“Oh, you’re back already? Good. Good thing. I’m nearly out of straw.”
She walked towards him and put the straw dawn. “come on. You’re happy that I’m back.”
“I’m not unhappy.” he admitted.
“And you promised me a story.”
“Did I?” he continued to spin, but Belle stopped the wheel and sat down.
“Mm-hmm!”
“Oh.” he looked slightly flabbergasted.
“Tell me about your son.” She encouraged.
“I lost him. There’s nothing more to tell, really.” He said quietly.
“And since then, you’ve loved no one, and no one has loved you.”
“Why did you come back?”
“I wasn’t going to, but then… something changed my mind.” she gathered her courage, and pressed her lips against his and closed her eyes. He tasted sweet, with the metallic taste of magic. She could feel the magic working, and when she opened her eyes again she saw the scales dissapearing and two beautiful brown eyes watching her.
“What’s happening?” He asked suprised.
“Kiss me again,” she said exited, “it’s working!”
“What is?”
“Any curse can be broken.”
He stood up, and the chair fell down behind him. “Who told you that? Who knows that?”
“I… I don’t know. She, uh… She…”
“ ‘She.’ “ He walked towards the mirror, and Belle stood up. This wasn’t going as planned. This wasn’t going as planned at all.
“You. Evil. Soul.” He ripped the cloth from the mirror and looked furiously at it. “This was you! You turned her against me! You think you can make me weak? You think you can defeat me?”
“Who are you talking to?”
He turned around. “The queen! Your friend, the queen. How did she get to you?”
“The queen? I don’t…” This was wrong. This was very wrong.
“I knew this was a trick. I knew you could never care for me. Oh yeah. You’re working for her. Or is this all you? Is this you being the hero and killing the beast?”
She grabbed his hands. “It was working!”
“Shut up!”
“This means it’s true love!”
“Shut the hell up!”
“Why won’t you believe me?”
“Because no one could ever, ever love me!”
He grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the dungeons and threw her in the same cellar where he put her when everything began. Great. Life loved a little irony. He slammed the door closed behind her and she sunk down on the bed in the corner. This was not how she expected the evening to go...
Rumple ran to the hall and tossed the dining table to the wall. It crashed with a satisfying bang, and he grabbed the cupboard.
She knows too much. She can destroy you. What are you without your powers? You have too many enemies out there. You won’t survive a day without me.
“Stop!” he yelled, and destroyed the nearest chair. “This is not helping!”
You know I am right. And what about Baelfire? We spent too long searching for him to simply let him go…
“I know!” The second chair caught fire, and the third exploded and broke the closest window.
And what about Regina? Are you letting her get away with this? You know as well as I do that she needs to be punished. And you have trained her too well. She can destroy you in the blink of an eye if you can’t defend yourself. Do you remember what you was before?
“Shut up!” He screamed, and smashed the spinning wheel. The spindle stuck in his finger. The pain brought him back to his senses. He took a deep breath, and decided what he needed to do next.
The door opened with an extremely cliché screach and Belle stood up quickly. She squared her shoulders. She would not show him what she was thinking. She would not. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Go.” he said, without a trace of the rage he displayed earlier.
“Go?"
“I don’t want you anymore, dearie.”
Fine, Belle thought. She walked towards the door, but changed her mind and walked back. She looked Rumple in his now golden eyes. “You know you were freeing yourself. You could have happiness if you just believed that someone could want you. But you couldn’t take the chance.”
“That’s a lie.” he said quietly.
“You’re a coward, Rumplestiltskin. And now matter how thick you make your skin, that doesn’t change.”
“I’m not a coward, dearie. It’s quite simple, really. My power means more to me than you.”
“No. No it doesn’t. You just don’t think I can love you. Now you’ve made your choice, and you’re going to regret it. Forever. And all you’ll have is an empty heart and a chipped cup.” She walked away without looking back. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t.
Rumple didn’t move for five minutes after she left. He tried to convince himself that he did the good thing, but that was difficult when part of him was screaming: Don’t let her go! You love her! and another part said: Love is weakness. You should have killed her! She knows too much. and a third part kept repeating: She doesn’t love you. Nobody has ever loved you. She betrayed her. Regina betrayed her. Kill her! so he didn’t move. He felt a strange emptiness in his heart and he started to shake.
What is this suppost to mean? You are the dark one. You are not upset because you eliminated a weakness, are you? How have you survived all these years?
“Shut up” he said weakly, and fell to his knees. The shaking worsened, and his head felt like it was on fire. His body ached everywhere, and the emptiness grew and grew untill suddenly it stopped. He tried to stand, but realised that he couldn’t.
Look at where you’ve gotten us into this time. We have changed into some kind of hairy animal.
Rumple looked at himself in confusion, untill he remembered the spindle. “Maleficent” he tried to say, but it sounded like an angry roar.
What are you waiting for? Turn us back!
I’m working on that! Rumple thought furiously, and reached for his magic. It was still there, luckily, but when he tried to unravel the spell around him a wave of pain shook through his body. He tried again, but the pain only grew worse.
It isn’t working! Why isn’t it working? What did I do wrong?
It doesn’t want to change back.
Lovely, another voice in my head. Just what I need. Rumple thought to the voice, but he slowly started to panic. I can’t help Bae like this. I can’t find him like this. I need my magic. This cannot happen. I need to find Bae!
It doesn’t have to worry about things like this. Just let yourself go for a minute. It can help you take revenge without ruining your plans. Nobody knows it is you, and no mortal weapons can defeat it. Just give in. You know you want it. You know you need it.
No I don’t. Rumple thought, but he felt himself slowly fade away. I…
It roared, and ran away from the dungeons.