Title: Imperfect
Genre: Romance-Angst
Pairing: David/Belle
Rating: K+
Chronology: AU, Post Season 1 Finale
Notes: I can't believe I'm writing this story. First I'm Rumbelle all the way but for a weird reason that story is stuck in my head and doesn't want to let go until I finally wrote it. Second, normally I write all fluffy and happily ever after stories, it's a little dark for my taste. And finally I think that nobody's gonna read that story except for my beta reader (Ghost the Forbidden) because of the pairing but it's the kind of story that's gonna haunt me if I don't write it.
I've just finished season 1 of OUAT, didn't watch season 2 yet but anyway, it's AU from the finale of season 1.
Summary: Sometimes ''happily ever after'' is just too heavy to carry on. David POV
0o0o0o0o0
You may think that it's the end of the curse that changes everything. It is not. Because the evil is always stronger then happiness, because everything has to be ripped away from us all over again.
Just when we found light, darkness came crashing on us. Regina can't handle anyone being happy but her. She has to spread the poison of her hate everywhere she goes, and she did just that. The last piece of light remaining for us, our last hope, has been destroy.
Regina killed my daughter.
And that changed nothing, and everything at once. We're not back in our kingdom, we are still at Storybrooke. But it changed everything else.
My wife, for instance. Snow has changed after Emma's death. She's not smiling, she's not laughing, she's not living anymore. She's like an empty shell, her soul, her essence is gone. Snow, the woman I love, is not there anymore.
Henry has changed too. The death of his mother has had the opposite effect than it had on Snow. He's not lifeless, quite the contrary. There is so much hate in his eyes that it's scary sometimes.
Regina wanted Henry for herself, now she lost him forever.
I've wanted to take him with us. After we understood what happened to Emma and who did that to her, I wanted to take Henry as far away from Regina as I could. But Snow was unable to handle it. The only sight of him made her mourn the death of her daughter again. Anyway the power of Regina over the whole damn town was too strong. There was nowhere to hide him in this world.
So I walk in this miserable life, waiting for hope to be back again.
That's when I spoted her. Unlocking the door of the library. I remember a conversation with Mr. Gold. Seems like ages ago since I heard his words.
It was a brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness.
I still don't know what make me pass the door, or what I was searching for.
One look in her eyes told me the truth. She has the same look than the one I see in the mirror every day. Her lover is there, but not quite there either. Just like me.
So we began to talk. For hours and hours, days after days. At first, we talked about nothing in particular, nothing important but after sometimes it got deeper and one night, the truth that was burning our tongues and killing us inside was spilled out.
''He will always choose power over me.''
''Our dead daughter is always going to be between me and her.''
And we continued to talk, to whisper the truths that nobody else heard. And sometimes, I wanted to kiss her, just to feel someone who's really alive and not just breathing against me. And I know that she wanted to kiss me too, to feel someone who'd put her above his desires of grandeur.
Sometimes, I wanted more then that, I wanted to run away. Really far and really fast. But I couldn't. There simply was nowhere to run to. Nowhere to hide.
Until then.
I thought that fate was finally on my side, because I found out that Emma's death may have, in fact, changed the town. It was subtle, but it was there.
A breach.
I was taking a walk in the forest, a reason to get out of the house, where my empty shell of wife and the ghost of my daughter were, both, lifeless.
As I was walking I saw a flick of light and then the trees where still all around me, but everything was brighter and more colorful. I was wearing some fancy prince clothing. I went back. Another flick of light, and back in the dark, colorless forest with my old t-shirt and jeans on.
I understood in a second what it meant.
I left my watch on a branch and ran toward the town. Telling Snow didn't even cross my mind. I needed a reaction, I needed hope. She was at the library, as usual. My explanations probably didn't make any sense, but she understood quickly. When? As soon as I got Henry. We could't leave without him. It seemed obvious to her. Of course, we weren't going anywhere without Henry.
We were ready in an hour. We wanted to just go, so bad. The afternoon was perfect. Regina and Gold were working. Henry was just out of school.
He seemed surprised to see me. I didn't had to say a word, I just reached out my hand to him and he took it. He seemed even more surprised to see her in the car, he frowned. I panic for two seconds. Maybe it won't work the way it was planned. She just smiled at him and he looked at me. Then, understanding appeared in his eyes, his grandmother was gone, she would never come back the way we knew her. He smiled back, the first one I've seen on his face in months.
Soon enough, we were there. I took back my watch, I didn't want to leave any clues to where we were and where we're going.
With one hand entwined in hers and the other in Henry's, we walked toward the breach.
0o0o0o0o0
It's been 3 years since Emma's death.
I don't know if anybody find us or if they just didn't search but after she said she would handle the hiding place, I felt safe.
We kiss now. Because she's smiling, laughing and living and because I have no desire of power so she's above everything else. Ex aequo with Henry. And the baby.
Sometimes I look at her swollen belly, which looks so much like Snow's in a past life, and I hyperventilate. What if something happens? What if another ghost comes around, taking everything from me? But then she smiles at me and I'm at peace again.
She's not a flicker of light, she's a freaking lighthouse.
I don't know what happened to Snow. It's not that I don't care but sometimes the true love is just too heavy to carry on. It hurt too much to hold on to.
It's not perfect. I am still longing Snow. I deeply miss the one who's not there anymore. And she's longing Rumpelstiltskin, she misses the one who was never really there.
She's with Henry. At the memorial for Emma that we built in the yard. Henry is telling Emma the story he add in his book. Our story. She has a hand on her baby bump and she looks up at me, with that little smile of hers. The love in her eyes is not less real, just like the one in my eyes.
So no, it's not perfect.
But it's enough for being happy.
The End
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Even if it wasn't a story that I expect to write for OUAT, I'm really proud of it. I grow fond of this story more and more as I type it. If you read it and want to leave me a review, go ahead I love them, but no purpose to say oh no that's not supposed to be a couple! I know, that's a fiction and I ship Rumbelle normally. And it's my first complete fic in english! Hurray!