A/N: This was a drabble I posted on my Tumblr, but decided to post it here too. :)
"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."
The Dark One remained rooted to the spot, his defiant act of uncaring for the woman a mere mask. He did not move not out of stubbornness or indifference…but fear. Fear that even the slightest twitch of his face would cause everything he was to crumble, breaking him apart with sobs and pleas.
Everything he wanted to say, everything he couldn't say, simmered behind a calm and expressionless mask as Belle spoke, golden eyes fixed upon her, unblinking and glowing from the shadows over his face.
I will do nothing else! I will love nothing else! I will find a way!
He had made the mistake of slipping in his oath, falling in love with a woman who would drag his attentions away from saving his son. Oh true, he would never have given up his searching, not even if the miller's daughter had run away with him that night…but his attention would be divided, his progress slowed. He had been willing to do that…only for her to tell him it had all been a lie, a lie to gain power from him.
He had been heartbroken…but not surprised. Who could love a beast such as himself?
Rumple would not allow it to happen again, out of pride of his oath and fear of being hurt. So when Belle turned away sharply, tears brimming in her bright blue eyes as she left the castle, Rumple could do nothing but slowly close his eyes against it all, a single tear daring to betray him and slip down his scaly face.
…I don't believe she loves me. I won't let her convince me…I can't let her…
As silence fell around him and assured him no one would witness him, Rumple's rigid pose finally broke - his knees gave out, and the man fell to the floor, hands unclasped and hanging limply at his sides, his head slumping forward as a sob burst free of his chest.
…So why does it still hurt?
…Because you're going to regret it. Just like the day you let Bae go. You're making the same mistake! Again!
The realisation hit him relentlessly, with such force it struck the air from Rumple's lungs, his eyes wide.
I'm not betraying Bae by loving Belle…I'm making the same mistake all over again by letting her go!
"B-Belle!"
Rumple scrambled to his feet, all but throwing himself out of the door in his desperate clamber to chase after the woman, nearly tripping over himself in the process.
"Belle! Belle!" Rumple's raw shout echoed through the castle in vain as he ran up the stairs from Belle's rooms to the main hall. She wasn't there…
"Belle, please don't go! I-I don't wantyou to go, I never wanted you to go!" He begged, hoping that somehow Belle was near enough to hear him and would stop. Panic clearing momentarily, the Dark One stopped his senseless running and used his magic to transport himself to the castle entrance.
"Belle?"
The front doors were open, but she was not there. Rumple turned on the spot, looking around despairingly for a flash of blue, a shimmer of brown hair, anything…
Darting outside, his golden eyes searched in vain across the landscape…
…Nothing.
She was gone.
Just like Bae, he'd let her go…and a split-second too late, regretted it. Too late to change his mind, too late to fix it…too late to go with Bae, and too late to stop Belle leaving as he had demanded.
Staring out across the land in front of the castle, Rumple was frozen in defeat, unmoving as two trails of tears slipped soundlessly from his wide, unfocused eyes and down his face as he felt his heart shatter one last time.
"…I want to go with you…" He whispered meekly, echoing the words he had spoken to Bae after the portal had disappeared along with his son.
…And like that day, no one heard the Dark One's plea.