Title: A Price Upon the Snow
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin finds Red Riding Hood in the snow, the pristine white coated in her blood. As he licks the blood from her lips, he savors her words as she agrees to become his pet.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Pairing/Characters: Red Riding Hood/Rumpelstiltskin
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time is not owned by me but by ABC. I'm just borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: One of my fills for the OUAT kink meme on LJ.
As his boots crunched over the freshly fallen snow with each step he took, Rumpelstiltskin could clearly see the wolf had attacked this village. He also he knew he could have prevented it. Not that he felt guilty, nor sorry for himself or the girl that he had been late; rather he felt quite the opposite. He had come to her with a deal days before the attack and she had refused. He had gone to her grandmother with a similar deal a day later and she too had refused. They had told him they could handle the wolf themselves.
Clearly they had been wrong.
There Red Riding Hood lay presumably dying, her dress in tatters, what he could see of her body (which was quite more than he guessed she wished to be seen) marked by large claw and bite marks, her face nearly as pale as death itself, the otherwise pristine white snow beneath her running crimson with her blood.
But he could see she was not yet dead. And with that he moved to lay beside her, more curious than anything. Some people were much more willing to enter into a deal when their very lives literally depended on it. He wondered if she would be the same.
"I- Imp -" Red tried, gasping for breath. Any other day she would escape him, keep to her path or tell him off in a way that would make Granny proud. But tonight she knew if she had any chance of salvation at all, he would be it. If she could just get the words out to make a deal.
"Yes, dearie?" he grinned, propped himself up on one elbow as he looked her over again. Normally he might have taken umbrage at her calling him Imp, but it was clear she hardly had enough breath to sustain her long enough to call him by his name.
"The... wolf..."
"I can see. I did warn you however and you chose not to listen. Have you since changed your mind? Is there a deal you would wish to make? As you know I cannot bring you back to life should you die. But as you are not yet dead, I could reverse the process. For a price, of course."
"I... have nothing," she panted, her eyes on his despite her delirious state.
"Ah, but you are something. And you certainly still have some time before you truly need fear death claiming you. And for you, given your current state, I shall make our deal a simple one."
"To say... you... were right?" she asked, her wit clearly in better shape than the rest of her.
He grinned. "I was thinking something far more precious. Something personal," he answered, tracing a finger over one of the deep scratches at her exposed middle. He was sure she wouldn't feel it. Between the snow and the shock, it was doubtful she could feel much at all. The fact she didn't so much as wince at his touch proved it to him.
"Me?" she breathed. The stories had always been there. How he would sometimes take payment in the form of people, often babies. But the others had always been sure the day would come when he would wish to take someone like her, which was why Granny had worked so hard to keep her from him in every possible way she could. Only now he had found her, Granny was nowhere to be seen and Red knew that in order to live she would have to agree.
"Indeed, dear. You only need to say one word and you shall never want for anything again. Even this day will soon seem no more than a bad dream."
"Granny?" she asked in a near-breathless whisper.
"You may see her as you please. But each day, each night you will return to me. With one word, everyone wins, dearie. You get your life, your wounds healed as though they were never there, your Granny doesn't have to lose her precious girl and I, I get what I have wanted for longer than I care to share."
Red knew she wished to live. It was why she was even still attempting to speak to him no matter the toll it was taking on her. She knew what this deal would mean however. She may never again see her village, her own grandmother may cast her out despite the reason she would agree, if she agreed. But she still wished not to die here, not like this, not today. She refused to give the wolves that satisfaction. She also felt confident that if he did truly care for her, in any sense, then perhaps he would see to it no wolf so much as came near her again. He hadn't been there when the first wolf had attacked, but he was there this time. And now she could feel the word being breathed past her lips.
"You'll have to speak up, I'm afraid. I have to be sure of what you said," he told her. He had heard her, but it was a word he never tired of hearing. And one he knew he would never tire of hearing her say, or even breathe. There were few moments he wished to savor, this however was certainly one. In seconds he would be her hero.
"Deal," she sighed, only slightly louder. Then she added, "I will... I will be yours."
"I always knew you would be, Pet," he replied. Already beginning to enact the magics necessary for such an arrangement, Rumpelstiltskin leaned closer. It would still be several minutes before she could be on her feet again, and he was happy to wait right there with her. He had waited years for this moment, another few minutes wouldn't hurt.
As much as part of Red wanted to, she didn't turn when she felt his hand to her face. Nor could she stop her eyes from closing when he leaned in further still and ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip; surely tasting the blood that had begun to seep from her mouth moments before.
Rumpelstiltskin almost moaned with that first taste of her. But he managed to hold back, and he supposed that was what he had to thank for what happened next. Red's movement had been so slight at first he almost hadn't noticed it. Perhaps if he were still a mortal man he may not have noticed it at all. But he wasn't and he had. He could feel Red's lips ghosting against his own. Did she think he had meant to kiss her? Or had she hoped to seal their deal with a kiss?
Now that she was concentrating, Red could feel her skin beginning to mend itself, she could feel her strength returning as well. Clearly he had accepted her deal and truly did have the powers that her fellow villagers had whispered about since she was a child. And yes, there was part of her that did want to thank him. But it was his closeness to her then, his mouth still just above her own, and feeling his breath upon her skin that made her wonder what it might be like to test these new waters.
Maybe it was because it had been so very many years since a woman had kissed him. Or maybe it was because he had such a fondness for this young huntress, and had ever since his foresight had shown him years ago what she would grow to be. But no matter the reason, Rumpelstiltskin didn't allow himself to pull away even as Red closed the gap between them and her lips truly met his in possibly the softest kiss either of them had experienced.
When they parted an all too short moment later, Red asked him, "What will you do with me now?"
"Now?" he asked as he moved to sit up beside her. "Take you to my castle, of course!" He couldn't help but take pride in that exclamation, knowing that might be the closest he may ever get to seeming like a prince. He had rescued the fair maiden from her otherwise certain death, healed her wounds to where not even a scar could be seen and now they would soon in fact be on their way to his castle. "I'm sure you would find it nice too to get out of this snow. What shame it would be for you to catch your death of cold after surviving the wolf. Even with a little help," he giggled.
Red was surprised to find herself laughing at that. No one that she knew of would ever mistake him for a prince, yet he seemed quite happy with that all the same. And then, in the time it had taken her to merely blink, she found he had been true to his word. Instantly she was far from the snow covered ground and instead lying atop his bed in his castle. She then looked to find the shredded remains of her dress were also gone. In its place was an almost equally revealing, corseted bed dress. While it wasn't what Red would have originally had in mind despite its rich red color, she decided it was kind of nice. In fact, it was far more becoming of a young woman who had recently reached adulthood than most of her other possessions. She then looked to find her cloak laying over a chair on the opposite side of the room, presumably to dry.
And still, Rumpelstiltskin was beside her.
"Why -?" she tried, unsure why he hadn't offered to let her change out of her earlier clothing herself nor offered to help as she would have guessed he would. He had never exactly struck her as a gentleman.
"As part of our deal, as you have sworn to be mine, you will never want for anything again. Not riches nor warmth nor even companionship. This new life of yours comes with that price and as you have agreed to it, it can never be broken. I never asked nor really wished to be a prince, and you feared me as you were told to. But fear can turn to love, dear and that much I am sure you will soon find."
Red's heart raced at that. He was right, of course, when it came to his deals. Anyone who had attempted to break a deal with him was often met with greater suffering than what she had just endured. The most powerful and dangerous man in the forest had saved her, but he had also chosen her for his own and had made her swear she would be his.
But then, as she noticed his eyes once more, she realized she couldn't remember the last man to look at her as he was. Nor a man who had kissed her so tenderly. Perhaps, somehow, she had made the right choice after all.
As she continued to lay beside him, Red decided he may have also been right about love. And when she soon gently pulled him into a kiss far more passionate than the last, she wondered if perhaps her fear was already beginning to give way to that love.
The End