Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Once Upon a Time; they belong to the show creators and ABC.

Summary: He let her go because he didn't want to give up his power, but living in Regina's sordid world without his magic for twenty-eight years, he would give anything to go back and make her stay. Will he find out the truth of Belle's fate, or will she be forever doomed to the darkness of a cell in the basement of the hospital?

A/N: Okay, I know I re-edited it. However thanks to the great Grace52373 (thank you once more) I was able to actually get the original copies of the story. So once more…a little more editing. I am trying to stick true to the original storyline and can do that a bit more now that I got the original back. So bear with me please, I am a perfectionist.

Fractured Memories

Pain of an Empty Heart

Mr. Gold left the sheriff's station in an elated mood, no one could keep him behind bars, not even Emma Swan. With a slight bounce in his step as he walked to the end of the walkway. That mood quickly turned sour when he felt the heaviness of the chipped tea cup in his coat pocket. Stopping on the walk he pulled the broken object from his pocket and stared at it. All you'll have is an empty heart…and a chipped cup. He swallowed back the emotion that tried to spill from him and put the cup back in his pocket before continuing on his way home.

The walk to his well-kept Victorian home was a long one. Without a car the fastest route would be to pass the hospital. As he walked, he stared up at the tall white building and paused. The hair on the back of his neck stood as the overwhelming longing to go into the hospital passed over him. This seemed to happen whenever he passed the building, so much that he had taken the means to go out of his way to avoid the hospital for that very reason. Shaking off the feeling he continued on his way home.

The lights were off, as they normally were, being a frugal man he only left one on in the hall, just to make sure he didn't stumble in the dark. Along with the darkness, the house stood extremely empty. It held his belongings, but it never really seemed like home. Nowhere had seemed like home, not after his son…and not since Belle. Everywhere he turned in this house he wanted to see her warm, smiling face to welcome him home. He wanted to hear her laugh, her voice, and to feel her touch.

Flicking on a light, he walked toward the curio in his study. Opening the cabinet door, he carefully placed the cup on a small pillow inside. It had always had a place of importance in the cabinet, it would have been easy for Moe French to find it even without Regina's instruction. His eye caught his reflection in the mirror at the back of the cabinet. Staring back at him he saw a weakling, a man with a gimp and no strength at all. When he had had power nothing could stand in his way. He couldn't understand how she could want him as a human, as a man that people looked down upon. He had been a man that a wife ran out on, a man who raised a son that may not have even been his, how could anyone love him? She did though and it frightened him. He had pushed her away, and then horrible things happened, things he could have saved her from if pride and power hadn't gotten in the way. He had been foolish, a powerful man with everything he could want, but foolish.

Turning away from the curio, Mr. Gold made his way towards the stairs and the painful climb that would lead him to the comfort of his bed. You're a coward Rumpelstiltskin. Her voice had been increasingly haunting his thoughts and dreams. Especially on this day when everyone went out of their way to show someone they loved their feelings and affections. Ironically it had also been the day her turned her out of his castle. Stopping half way up the stairs, he willed her voice to be silent, just for one night. However, she was always strong and stubborn, and so it seemed her voice would be as well.

He watched her leave the dungeon and closed his eyes tightly to mask the pain. When would he learn? When would he finally just admit that all he needed, all he wanted, was power? Love made one weak and foolish. That is how he lost his wife, but power is how he had lost his son. He could stand it if she left. There had been many before her who had done the same. To his deep surprise she stopped in the hall and turned around, walking back with a fire in her eyes. He held his breath so as not to let slip any of those foolish and weak emotions show through. She stared at him with those bright blue eyes he had slowly fallen for, wet with unshed tears.

"You are freeing yourself." Her voice shook as she spoke, as did her shoulders. "You could have had happiness if you just believed someone could want you, but you couldn't take the chance."

He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that he did truly love her, but he couldn't. She would be no good for him, just a simple fantasy to wash away the loneliness on a boring afternoon. He needed to let her go for her own sake. He needed to push her away so that she could find her true happiness.

"That's a lie." His voice seemed foreign to him as he said those three words, three words different than the ones he wanted to say.

"You're a coward Rumpelstiltskin." He stared into her eyes as she scolded him like he was a schoolboy. "No matter how thick you make your skin that doesn't change."

"But I'm not a coward, dearie." The words couldn't be anymore untrue. He was in fact a coward, in every sense of the word. "It's quite simple really. My power means more to me than you."

She looked at him, anger and sorrow shining through in tears that she refused to let fall. "No. No it doesn't. You just don't want me to think I can love you." Smart girl, smarter than it really seemed fair. "Now you've made your choice and you're going to regret it, forever." The pain of her words seemed to choke him and he couldn't breathe. He told himself in a mantra over and over again to be still, to look at her like her words meant nothing to him. "All you'll have is an empty heart and a chipped cup." She stared him with one last pleading look.

When he didn't say anything she left, leaving him to star at the walls of the dungeon and shed the tears that he had been holding back as he counted each step she took. The sound of the door to the castle slamming shut echoed all the way to the dungeon. It left a hollow sound and feeling within the castle, once again the Dark One found himself alone.

The memory seemed to knock the wind out of him and he collapsed on the stairs. Her voice still rang in his ears and he choked on the pain and regret. He needed to not feel anything anymore. He needed to forget her and become the creature he had once been. That magic didn't exist, not in this life or the last. Grabbing onto the railing, he struggled to pull himself up. Moving shakily he made his way to the bedroom, not even bothering to change as he collapsed upon the bed.

~O~

She stared at the moonlight that fought its way through the small window near the ceiling. Time had no meaning in this little room. She didn't know how many minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months had passed. She didn't know how old she was or even if anyone looked for her. Hell, she didn't even know where this prison was. The only thing that seemed constant was the woman that would come stare at her through the small window in the door. That woman. The reason she found herself stuck in this prison on bad advice.

When she slept, which was very little, she dreamed of a great castle of warm colors and beautiful tapestries. In all her dreams there was a man, sitting at a spinning wheel, eyes glazed over as his fingers passed over straw that turned to gold, almost the same hue as his scaly skin. At first glance he seemed like a beast, someone to fear. The more she dreamed of him, the more she felt that he was lonely, sitting there in an empty castle with only a spinning wheel for company, a spinning wheel he used to forget. She wanted to step out of the shadows of that dream world to comfort him, be a companion. Every night she tortured herself with wanting to know if this man, this golden man, had forgotten her. Every night the Evil Queen's words echoed in her head like an insult. True love's kiss can break any curse.

"Unless one is a coward." She whispered into the darkness. "And you are a coward Rumpelstiltskin."

A/N: Okay so this is the revamped original first chapter of Fractured Memories. Let me know if you like it! As always reviews are like candy…or coffee (I have an addiction to coffee), anyways they help fuel the imagination and keep me motivated to continue writing stories that you, the awesome readers, will enjoy. Angelbabie13190 ^_^