Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT!
AN: So I was talking with echofinley and had the idea that all the stuff that everyone was going through was just a dream or rather a nightmare. This is my take on how the nightmare ends. Enjoy!
They stood in the Sorcerer's mansion. All of them, well, the major players in this war. Rumple looked on the opposite side of the room to find the beautiful blue eyes of his wife. She looked at him with tear-filled eyes. His heart broke at what this was doing to her and what he had done to her. He looked at the people around him. Cruella to his left and Ursula to his right with Maleficent just beside her, all looked menacingly at the three men in the front of the room. Anastasia stood beside Cruella and looked over at Will Scarlett as he stood with a hand on Belle's arm; Regina was to her left as she looked painfully to Robin. He could feel the jealousy radiating from her, but couldn't focus on that as the men who were in the room, the Sorcerer, the Author, and the Apprentice, were both a danger to them all especially since the Sorcerer had obtained his dagger. It was the only thing keeping him at bay.
On the opposite side next to Belle and Will was Snow and Charming along with Robin, Henry, Emma, and Ruby. The men had seemingly placed them this way: Heroes and Villains. Rumple sighed and watched his wife.
"Rumplestiltskin and you other villains, what makes you think that any of you deserve a happy ending after all you've done?" The Author, Walt, addressed them.
Rumple turned to Walt and to the Sorcerer, Jacob. Jacob held the dagger slightly in front of him to remind Rumple who held the power in the room.
"We deserve happiness just as much as our counterparts. It's only fair. I know that some of us want to change the circumstances that brought us here, but we cannot. Only you can, Author, you wrote our stories this way and we want them to be changed," Rumple said.
"I didn't create you. I just recorded everything you've done. I have no power over your choices and over the choices of those who wronged you. Therefore, there is no way to change your fate unless you change yourselves. I can't make you and neither can anyone else. You and you alone have to want to change and have to make it happen," Walt replied.
"That's a lie," Maleficent said, "If you didn't create us, who did?"
"I don't know," Walt said, "Jacob?"
"I did create you, but I left you with the free will to make your own lives, to choose darkness or light. Since you chose darkness, it has enveloped you. The only way to change what you have become is to do as Walt said and make the decision to change and make it happen. I have no control over the choices you make or the dealings of the past that have caused you to be this way. I wish I could've changed some of your fates, but I can't. You villains, even though you have darkness about you, you still have people who care. Rumple, you have Belle. Regina, you have Robin. Ana, you have Will. The Queens, you have each other. You've got your lighthouses and now it's time to avoid the rocks or crash and sink," Jacob said.
"Meaning what? We become good or there is nothing for us?" Ursula asked.
"Pretty much how it's supposed to go," Walt said, "Good always wins."
"What about those who have changed and still get their happy endings taken from them? I never wanted to be this way, but someone had to have manipulated us to become this way," Regina said.
Jacob looked at Walt who shrugged and looked at the Apprentice, Michael.
"Michael, what have you done?" Jacob asked.
"I made it more fascinating. I never meant for it to get this far, Master, honestly. I wanted to have fun with the characters," Michael said.
"By toying with our lives?!" Belle exclaimed, "You took away my mother! You caused ogres to attack my village and for me to go with Rumple and fall in love with him so that you could just take him away! You're the villain if that's the case and the rest of us are just casualties of war!"
Michael looked at her. He smirked as he remembered that the bookworm did have teeth.
"What are you smiling at?" Rumple asked Michael.
"Such fire," Michael said as he yanked the dagger out of Jacob's hand, "And she's right. I am a villain. I'm tired of serving this powerful wretch and his cohort! I get ordered around and have nothing to show for it, so I used their characters and played a game. A game that is rigged and I'm the only one who can fix it, but I won't! I'm enjoying this too much!"
Regina and Maleficent went to cast fireballs from their hands at him, but Michael used Rumple to knock them back. Robin went over to Regina and helped her up.
"Why toy with not only the villains' hearts, but with the heroes who love them as well? It hurts the side of good just as much," Robin said.
"Haven't you heard that love is weakness? Everyone needs one, even villains. Except for me of course. Now, I think I shall have the villains to destroy those that love them so that they can feel even more pain and grief. So, let's start with Regina," Michael said, "Take Robin's heart and crush it."
Regina looked at him and at Robin.
"No, I'm not going to hurt him," Regina said.
Michael grabbed Henry.
"No!" Emma yelled as she went to use her magic. Michael used Rumple to fling her back. She landed hard on the floor, unconscious.
"Emma!" Snow cried as she and Charming went over to her.
Michael put the dagger to Henry's throat and looked at Regina.
"Take his heart and crush it or say goodbye to the boy," Michael said evilly.
"No, I can't. I love him and I love my son, but I can't hurt either one of them," Regina said as she looked at Henry's eyes.
Emma groaned as she began to come to. Michael was distracted and Regina used her magic to poof Henry to her.
Michael snarled and grabbed Belle.
"This should be easy," Michael said as he raised the dagger, "Dark One, I command you to kill the woman you love."
Rumple looked at him with horror. He fought hard against the chains that bound him. They compelled him to comply with the order given. He couldn't hurt the woman he loved. He just couldn't.
"No, I won't!" Rumple said as stripes began to appear on his face and arms. That was the price he was willing to pay to avoid obeying the command given. He'd die before he'd hurt her.
"You have no choice! The dagger controls you! Now, kill her or die yourself! We know how you are about self-preservation," Michael snarled.
Rumple felt himself moving forward towards Belle. He couldn't stop himself. He was just inches from her. He thought of the things that he'd done to her. He lied and hid things that were vile from her. He betrayed her. He then thought of what she told him when she was dating Will. He looked over to Will and the other heroes. He'd caused them just as much pain. He looked at his grandson and then back to his wife. He was close enough now that the dagger was just in reach.
Rumple reached out and grabbed the dagger and pierced it through his chest.
"No! Rumple!" Belle screamed.
Jacob and Walt restrained Michael now that he lost the power he controlled.
Rumple collapsed to the floor. Belle knelt beside him and put his head in her lap as tears fell down his face.
"Rumple, why? Why did you do this? I don't want to lose you," Belle cried.
"It was the only way," Rumple said as he looked at her, "I love you, Belle. I always have."
"I love you too," Belle said as she captured his lips in a kiss.
"They're safe now," Rumple said as his eyes shut.
His eyes burst open and he sat up in bed. He looked over at his new wife as she slept soundly. It was a dream. No, it was a nightmare or was it a vision of what was to come if he chose that path? He swung his feet off the bed and got up. He went downstairs where he'd seen the hat. He looked at the box. He wanted nothing more than to be free of the dagger and the ties that bound him to it, but if that end result was to be the cost he wouldn't do that. He couldn't do that. Not to Belle. Not to Henry or even the Charmings. He knew now that he had a choice and that he would use his free will wisely. He went back upstairs to his sleeping wife, content with the decision to change and be the better man that she so deserved.