A/N I will update the fic about every three days. The story is originally posted on ao3 under the same penname and title if you're eager to find out how things went instead of waiting for a new chapter here.

Reviews aren't mandatory but much appreciated.
Enjoy!

Rumpelstiltskin heard the sound of steps approaching his cell and lifted his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light of the torches the guards were carrying. His night vision was sharper than the ordinary human's, and with him spending most of his time in the darkness of the dungeon the light made his eyes sting. The echoing steps alarmed the rat who scattered away from the corner and brushed against his boot. Curling his upper lip in disgust, the Dark One kicked away the vermin.

He'd been in his cage for so long he would have lost track of time were it not for the regular appearance of the prison duty boy who brought him meals - if those could be called meals, he mused. Thin tasteless porridge and some muddy water. Funny how people thought Charming was on his good side. If they knew how he treated his prisoner, they would probably reconsider.

The prison duty boy was quite a funny fellow. He always carried a lantern with him, which gave off a soft glow, barely enough to make the boy see where he stepped. Rumpelstiltskin believed that the lad was just too afraid to see the face of the Dark One lest he come close to the bars. He would push the tray till it was within the prisoner's reach and the boy's hands would often tremble.

Noticing that, Rumpelstiltskin made sure to taunt the boy or simply to give him one of his trademark high-pitched unnerving giggles. Scaring the boy and making him jump was the only entertainment he got down there.

Even though he did not know whether it was daytime or night outside, Rumpelstiltskin was sure it wasn't time for another portion of his prison ration, so he looked at the procession with mild interest. Maybe some desperate soul was coming to plead for a deal. However, he was disappointed to see that the silence of the dungeon was disturbed by two guards who were half-dragging another person with them.

It was a girl. Slim and not too tall, she was dressed in a horse-riding leather outfit. She didn't look dangerous and Rumpelstiltskin wondered why it took two guards to bring her down to the cell. Or why she was even put in a cell at all. The girl looked more of a dreamy-princess kind who belonged in a tower, singing and doing needlework, waiting for her true love to fetch her and ride with her into the sunset. She probably believed in that kind of love, he mused, even though she would never get any of that. Her clothes were well-made and seemed expensive, which implied she had some kind of aristocratic background. Noble girls never married for love, they were married for land or truce offerings. That, of course, suited the Dark One quite well, at least a third of his deals were concluded with foolish young girls who had a lot of romance but no practicality in their simple little heads.

The guards roughly shoved her in the cell next to Rumpelstiltskin, the girl stumbling on the stone floor and falling forward onto her hands and knees.

"When Prince Charming put me in his dungeon, I expected the luxury of privacy", Rumpelstiltskin said in a sing-song voice with a pout.

Neither of the guards replied as they turned the time-worn iron key in the lock of the girl's cell. She picked herself up and, turning around, glared at the men angrily. She was very pale and her face was as dirty as her disarrayed hair. She also had the biggest eyes of a rare deep shade of turquoise. Neither her eyes nor her small height helped her look a bit intimidating.

"Fierce little thing, aren't you?" One of the guards cooed at her. "Let's see how you'll feel after a couple of days being next to that lizard."

Only then did the girl turn to face her prison mate. Hey eyes widened with horror at the sight of Rumpelstiltskin's oversized irises, the green-gold hue of his skin and his long blackened nails.

"Like what you see, dearie?" The Dark one sneered, raising one of his eyebrows in fake interest and baring his yellowed crooked teeth in a snarl.

She gasped at the sound of his cold high voice and backed up, terrified, until she was pressed against the wall of her cell and as far from him as possible. The guards sniggered and walked away, taking the light away with them. As the shadows wrapped around her, the girl began to sob.