Belle ran up the front steps to the Sorcerer's Mansion as quickly as her legs would carry her. She had long since abandoned her heels for the practicality of making it to her destination quicker. Rumplestiltskin was already way ahead of her, she knew. Somehow he had been able to free the Author from his captivity behind the door and it was a mad dash for her and the other heroes to prevent him from enacting whatever plan he had to give the villains their happy endings.
She could hardly believe that barely six months before, she and Rumple had walked arm and arm up these same stairs, newlywed and happy, ready to start their lives together. How wrong things had gone for them in such a short amount of time. If only he could have been honest and upfront with his feelings from the start, then it would have never come to this moment
Belle pushed open the mansion's doors and looked all around but did not see anyone. They must be in the hidden room behind the ballroom. She quickly dashed off into the direction of the ballroom and without hesitation threw open the heavy sliding doors. She tried not to think about their first dance as a married couple as she approached the entryway of the Author's work room, and slowed her steps as she heard voices speaking inside.
For the first time since they realized that the Author was released, Belle hesitated. How exactly was she going to stop Rumple? He had his dagger back so no one could force him to stop, (and that was just as well, she never wanted to touch that thing again). He sure wouldn't listen to her reasoning anymore. At one time perhaps, but not anymore.
Cautiously Belle approached the entrance to the Author's library. It was slightly ajar so she pressed her back against the wall and peered in as best as she could, while she tried to think up a plan. She could see Rumple, his back was to her as he stood over the Author's desk. From this angle she couldn't get a good look at the mysterious Author though but it looked like he was writing. She moved in a little closer to try and listen in on their conversation. She needed to think of something, and quick.
"This is not something that I normally do. Changing a story, no matter how small the detail, can set off a ripple effect of consequences for the other characters in play. You know this and yet you still demand me to proceed with this?" the Author questioned in a hoarse but knowing voice.
"I do," Rumple replied. "It will be better this way, I'm sure of it. You are to give Belle the happy ending that she deserves whether that be with the Knave or someone else." He could barely keep the distaste from his words but every word also rang with sincerity.
"But not with you?" the Author questioned and Belle felt her heart hitch in her chest as she awaited Rumple's response.
"Her happy ending was never with me. I can never be the man that she wishes me to be. I've only ever brought her heartache. No. I have long since realized that any chance I had for a happy ending died in the forest with my son," he responded sadly.
Belle felt her eyes fill with tears as she listened to her estranged husband tell this Author more of his feelings than he had shared with her the entirety of their marriage. Then came the anger. Rumplestiltskin had always been her happy ending. If he could have just talked to her, opened up and let her know how he was feeling instead of putting on a brave face then they would have been able to work through their problems and their lives never would have come to this point. They could have worked together to find another way to free him from the dagger. But he never communicated. And she never asked. And it all went to hell.
"You think your happy ending was lost with your son and yet you stand before me demanding for your wife to have a happy ending without you instead of asking for the resurrection of your son? Why?" the Author questioned but Belle got the distinct impression that he already knew the answer. He sounded wise and had probably been around longer than even Rumple.
Rumple turned his head and stared at the floor. His shoulders seemed to hunch in on themselves and Belle had to struggle to hear his next words, he spoke so softly.
"And…I still love Belle. I always will. But I have put her through hell. Now she finally sees the monster that I have been warning her about from the very start. I don't deserve to have my happy ending, but that doesn't mean that Belle should have to suffer for it. She deserves a better life. One without me," he continued and the Author made noncommittal noises in response.
"Some monster, giving up the things you want in an selfless attempt to ensure that your wife can experience true happiness,.."
"Oh I am a monster. You should know. You wrote my story."
"Ah, but that is where you are wrong. I write your story, yes, but you are the only one in charge of the choices and paths that you decide to take. Here we are…" he said and stood from his chair with a stack of papers in his hands.
"This is it? Belle's happy ending?"
"It is indeed. All that is left to do is to place them in the book," the Author continued as he flipped through the pages of the original storybook to the beginning of their story.
Belle had to stop this. She couldn't let Rumplestiltskin punish himself this way. He had done terrible things and made many mistakes along the way but he couldn't honestly believe that her life would have been better had they never been together at all. He had saved her in more ways than one. He saved her kingdom from the Ogres and in the process saved her from an unwanted marriage and a lifetime of being kept hidden behind castle walls. He taught her what it was to truly love someone. No one had ever made her feel like that before. Not Will. Not Gaston. Just Rumple and all of his imperfections. Sure there was plenty of heartache along the way, but she had learned from those experiences and grew from them as well. She couldn't let him erase all of that.
Rumple hesitated a moment as he looked over the storybook. The picture depicted on their opening page was of the very first time he had laid eyes on his beautiful Belle in her father's castle. He had forgotten how breathtaking she looked in that golden gown, and also how young and naive. This Belle was so pure and innocent. Not yet touched by his darkness. She deserved so much better than him. She always had.
"Rumple, wait!" Belle cried out as she busted through the door.
Rumple startled, nearly dropping the pages in his hands. He hadn't expected to see Belle again. She was flustered and breathing heavy, tears formed in her eyes, but she was as brave and beautiful as she had ever been. He was actually glad for a moment that he would get to see her for one last time.
"Rumple, I can't let you do this. You can't change the story," she said as she slowly approached him, weary that at any moment he held the power to alter their lives forever. He held a ticking time bomb in his hands and Belle still had no idea how to diffuse it.
"I have to Belle. I have to fix what I have broken. You deserve a better life than what you have now, and I'm going to see to it that you will always be happy."
"By erasing yourself from my life, you really think I want that?" she pleaded.
"It will be better…" he started.
"For whom? Not for me Rumple," she said and finally stood before him and cautiously reached her hand out to caress his cheek. He leaned in to the touch like an animal that was starved for attention, and in some ways she supposed he was. How long had it been since they had shown each other any kindness? The anger and the hurt had to end today. They had to start talking and moving forward. "No one decides my fate but me, remember?" she whispered softly.
Rumple closed his eyes as the tears began to fall on their own accord. It had been so long since he had felt Belle's soft hands upon his face. He wanted to remember this moment forever, capture it perfectly in his mind. The smell of her perfume was so familiar, so comforting. The way she stood bravely before him, defiant as always. His beautiful, brave Belle.
"I remember," he whispered and Belle smiled at him when he looked her in the eyes.
For a moment his eyes were so filled with love that Belle thought her heart might burst. This thing they had, had never been easy, but she wondered how she could ever doubt that he truly did love her.
In a flash, all of that changed. He pulled back from her touch and she could see his walls going up and her heart began to pound even more fiercely in her chest.
"I love you Belle…but I have to do this," he said and Belle's eyes widened as he lifted the pages and placed them in the book.
"Rumple, no!" she cried and he gave her one last look before slamming the book shut.
A pulse of magic blasted out from the book, warm and strange feeling as it engulfed the entire room. Belle felt terrified. She didn't know what was going to happen. Would she end up back in the Enchanted Forest married to Gaston? Would they have all still ended up in Storybrooke? Most of all, what would happen to Rumplestiltskin? The world seemed to be rumbling and cracking all around her and she closed her eyes tightly until finally it all stopped.
It took a long time for Belle to gather the courage to open her eyes once more. She had no idea what she might open her eyes to find but when she finally did, she had to say that it was not what she was expecting.
She was still in the Sorcerer's Mansion, in his library. Standing before her was a very confused, very agitated, Rumplestiltskin.
"Rumple?" she questioned as she looked around. Everything was as it was before he had inserted the pages into their story.
"You remember me?" he asked desperately and she nodded her head. Rumple let out a growl. "It didn't work!" he yelled as he glanced over at the Author, whom stood in his same spot, though with a wide grin upon his face. "You tricked me! You said it would work and it didn't! What happened?"
"Ohhhh but it did work," the Author said as he moved around his desk.
Belle watched the old man, getting her first good look at him since the ordeal began. His hair was white and so was his long beard that went to nearly the floor. He looked fragile but he moved with an agility that belayed that notion. His eyes crinkled up when he smiled and he had a kind face. Nothing like Belle was expecting at all.
"I never go back on my deals either Rumplestiltskin. In my thanks for freeing me from the book, I have done what you asked. What you do with this chance is up to you! But remember, everything is not how it seems and nothing is how it was!" he said cryptically before vanishing in a flash of blue smoke.
"Come back!" he called futilely. "I don't understand…" He was so confused when he finally turned to really look at Belle again but she had tears welling in her eyes as she realized the truth.
"Don't you see you idiot?" she asked and Rumple cocked his head to the side. "My happy ending has always been with you."
It took a moment for it to sink in to Rumple's mind but when it did she saw the tears coming back to his eyes as she rushed into his arms to hold him. Rumple clung to her desperately and she held him just as tightly. She thought it was over, that they would never see each other again and now they were saved and together again. Despite all of their fears, all of their problems. Belle knew that in time they would be able to work through them all. They may never get back to where they were before, things had changed too much, but they had grown and learned from their problems. They would forge a new way in their relationship. She was sure of it.
Belle smiled at him brightly as she pulled back from their embrace. Rumple stared back intently, eyes searching her face, looking for something, she wasn't sure what, until his eyes slowed and came to rest upon her lips. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly and she wondered if he was nervous about whether she would let him kiss her again after they had been separated for so long. She nodded her head a little to let him know it was alright but he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
When he finally spoke it was a low whisper, his normally subdued accent hanging a little thicker to his words. "Yes… I think I am finally ready."
Belle wasn't sure what he meant by then but then his soft lips were on hers, gently kissing her and she sighed against him, having missed him and this so much. Then she felt something warm and tingly on her lips, a feeling so reminiscent of a time long ago that she had to pull back. Belle gasped as magic seemed to be encircling them. It was gold and shimmering as it swirled and Belle had never seen such a beautiful sight.
Rumple opened his eyes to see Belle's own and noted her confusion. He smiled and reached inside of his suit jacket and pulled out the kris dagger. He smiled as he turned the name side around for her to read and she watched as the letters of his name began to fade from it and she gasped and dropped the dagger as she realized what was happening. She turned back to Rumple and he leaned his forehead to touch with hers before whispering in her ear, "Kiss me again, it's working."
Belle didn't need any other encouragement as she nodded her head and tears once more flowed from her eyes. She cradled his face with one hand as their mouths met and with her other she ran her fingers through his soft, thick hair. A burst of light shot out the moment their mouths touched again but Belle didn't stop. This was it, the moment she had waited years for. Rumple's curse was finally being broken. Her tongue brushed against his lips begging for entrance which he easily granted her. Nothing had ever felt so right in her life.
When they finally had to break apart they were both left gasping for air, neither wanting to relinquish the other from their embrace. Belle smiled brightly as she bent down to pick up the dagger from where it fell to the floor. When she searched for the engraving of his name she found none. It was just an ordinary kris dagger. She couldn't even feel any magic radiating from it anymore as she had been able to before.
"That's it? This is real then? Your curse is broken?" he asked in amazement and Rumplestiltskin nodded. She scanned her eyes over his body, taking him in. He didn't look any different. Though she supposed since they were in Storybrooke that he wouldn't. "Why now? Why did the curse break?"
Rumple smiled at her again but then turned his eyes to his feet. "Because I was finally ready to choose love over power," he answered, eyes flickering back to look at her face. Rumple felt like a heavy black storm cloud had been lifted from his soul. No longer did he hear that voice continually pushing him to make the wrong choices. He felt free for the first time in over three centuries. And for once, without his power, he was no longer afraid. He had Belle now. And that was all that mattered.
Belle smiled and was about to kiss him again when the door burst open and Belle knew that the heros must have finally found them. Boy would they be surprised to hear everything that had happened.
"Hey, guys did you see that flash of light? What happened?" the voice called as they entered the room and Belle saw Rumple's face visibly drop. Belle whipped her head around and gasped in shock.
"Neal!" she cried out in unison with Rumple as he called, "Bae."
Neal froze in the doorway of the room looking thoroughly confused to be greeted in such a manner as his father rushed towards him and clasped him in a bear hug. His father was squeezing him so tightly that he could hardly breathe. "Whoa, Papa, what's going on? Are you okay?" he asked hugging the man back.
Rumple was sure that he had cried more times on this day than he had ever before, as his shoulders shook while he grasped his son to him. This was real. His son was alive and real before him, looking as though he had never died at all. Could it be that through Belle's happy ending he had earned his own? He needed to look through the book.
"I just missed you is all," he said and reluctantly pulled back from his boy, still in disbelief.
Neal's eyebrows were scrunched together in worry still but he seemed to accept the explanation for now. "So, what was the light thing about? Are you guys alright?"
Belle looked to Rumple and they both laughed, unbelieving that all this was happening at once. "Belle, she…well…we broke my curse."
Neal's face went from concern to playful disbelief. "No…you're serious?" Belle showed him the blank dagger that she still clutched and he laughed excitedly. "Papa… that's amazing. You're finally free."
The weight of that statement hung heavy from his lips. Neal had always dreamed of the day that he would be able to free his father from his wretched curse. After his father had let him fall through the portal he never thought that it was possible. "Can you still do magic?"
Rumple nodded his head. "I think so. I can feel it inside of me. The curses granted me many powers but there was much I taught myself in three hundred years. I think I will just have to reteach myself." Neal nodded his head in approval and shyly turned his brown eyes, so much like his father's to stare at the floor bashfully.
"I love you, Papa," Neal spoke sincerely and pulled his father in for another hug, and if they both held on a little longer and a little tighter, they never mentioned it. Neal smiled brightly as he pulled away. "Alright, now that I know it's good news and that everyone is fine, I'm going to get back out there and let everyone know that there's nothing to worry about. You guys should also probably get back out here. I know you're anxious to get to the honeymoon but Belle, you're the one that insisted on this huge wedding reception," Neal joked as he exited the room and closed the door back.
It was only then that they both realized that Neal had been wearing a suit and tie.
"I think we had better read the book," Belle spoke. "Before we get any other surprises." Rumple agreed and they both moved forward to skim through the text.
In this timeline Rumple had been resurrected but Belle and Neal had found an alternate path when they realized the candelabras deception. Rumple was able to keep his son, his sanity and his agency. Zelena still cursed them back to Storybrooke and they still went up to battle against her but she had easily been defeated by Emma, and Rumple was never once held prisoner. Zelena was banished to the land without magic, her pendant destroyed. A time portal was never opened up.
Snow and Charming still gave birth to a son, of which they named Graham, after the huntsman that had saved their asses many times. Robin and Regina were together as well and happy. And it would seem as though events had still played out towards them getting married. All the villains had their happy endings.
"Rumple, this is amazing." Belle said quietly. Waiting for another solution to resurrect Rumple had impacted everyone for the better. Something so simple, yet so crucial.
"It is indeed," he whispered as he ran his hand over the image of his and Belle's wedding at the wishing well. The wedding had still been a small affair. Only the additions of Neal, Henry and Emma were made. But Belle had apparently insisted on having a large reception to celebrate with the entire town.
"What of our other memories? From our universe?" Belle asked. So many thing had happened in such a short span of time. She wondered how much more their minds could take of the double lives and alternate timelines.
"I can't say for certain, but I should think that within time, they shall fade and in their place these new memories will exist. They will always be there but they will be…distant…we'll remember the lessons learned but not why we learned them. That's what I assume anyways. And everyone else…it's as if that time never existed for them…"
Belle stayed quiet as she brought her hand to rest on his. He instinctively wrapped his free arm around her and she snuggled in to his side. "We still have a lot that we need to work through…our communication mostly…but I know that this time around we will be able to make things work.. I love you, Rumplestiltskin."
He turned to her, a sweet smile playing on his lips. "Yes. And I love you too." He kissed her once more before pulling back and offering his hand. "Care for a dance? Mrs. Gold?"
Belle smiled brightly. "Of course my love," she answered and allowed him to lead her out of the hidden library and into the ballroom where all of their friends and family waited for them, as it should have been all along.