Protege
Chapter One
Mr Gold, a lean man in his 40s, hobbled cautiously around his cluttered, and yet somehow organised, antique shop. Mr Gold specialised in the strange and the unique. If anyone were to want something of a mysterious nature, all they would need is a trip around Mr Gold's labyrinth of a shop and they would surely find what they were looking for, even if they hadn't really realised what they wanted at the time. "It's magic the way he always knows" a customer had claimed whilst leaving his shop. Mr Gold could only grin to himself at these words, for you see it was magic. Magic of the greatest kind. Mr Gold himself was indeed magical, though no person in Storybrooke knew this. As a result of a curse that had been placed upon the residence of this town by the truly Evil Queen, Regina, no one remembered that Mr Gold held this power or indeed the fact they too were from a completely different world for that matter. The curse had wiped the memories of who they were and where they had come from. All memories except for Mr Gold and Regina's. It could then perhaps be understood why Mr Gold would give a small sly smirk on hearing the customer jokily accuse his shop of being magic.
Walking around his small shop he glanced with pride at its content. Prizes. Trophies. This is what they really were. Objects that had been taken from people he made deals with when he was in this other world. In what was called The Enchanted Forest he had gone by another name. Rumplstilskin. A name that had aroused so much fear into the hearts of the people than dared to make deals with him. He was the deal maker. Cunning and cruel. Although he never broke his deals, they never appeared to work in the favour of the one who asked for the deal. Rumplestilskin collected objects of value from all those he interacted with. Looking at his possessions his heart warmed reminding him of all his conquests. Some objects had been brought, the ones Mr Gold cared little for, and at times Mr Gold would have to suppress a grin as items had been bought by the people that they had originally belonged to. Some possessions were of more value, however, and it was these objects he kept in a locked cupboard behind his counter. Feeling the sudden urge to look upon a particular object he slid his brass key into the lock and after a click he opened the door. Before him there were many objects of all varying shapes and sizes that would interest anyone off the street, but it was the object placed on a small square platform that held Mr Gold's gaze. A chipped teacup. To anyone observing Mr Gold right then an understandable though of confusion would undoubtedly be etched across their face. To Mr Gold, however, this chipped cup meant the world. An image of a beautiful girl with chestnut hair and deep blue eyes swam across his mind. "Belle." He sighed aloud to himself. Memories of his time with Belle caused a smile creep on to his faces sadly. This would only last a few moments as the painful reminder of what happened to her to cause his eyes to water.
He had loved her and she loved him but his own insecurities and greed for power had pushed her away. Belle had run back to her father's kingdom but was instantly shunned and banished for her association with Rumplstiliskin. Hurt, abandoned and alone she had taken her own life. If he had known what her father had done he would have gone after her, helped her, saved her and brought her back to his castle. But he hadn't known Rumplestilskin had learnt this terrible news from the person who was casuing him the most grief. Regina. Queen Regina as she was then, perhaps still is though under her new title as 'the Mayor'. Rumplestiltskin had almost thrown Regina out of his castle when she had divulged this news. Instead, he had sunk back into his scheming self, taking his anger out on those had dared to make a deal with him and he placed his soul into discovering his long lost son. This son he had soon learnt was residing in this new world. This knowledge is what gave him the idea to inform Regina to build the curse and bring the Enchanted Forest to Storybrooke.
With another sigh Mr Gold replaced the Chipped Cup back on its platform and closed the cupboard door. He stood silently in front of it trying to regain some self-control by attempting to put aside his memories of Belle when the shop door burst open with the cling sound of the door bells and in walked a tall, handsome, yet slightly deranged looking man.
"She's here!" The man said slightly out of breathe, clearly his news was important for Mr Gold to hear. "She's hear in Storybrooke!"
"Who's here?" Replied Mr Gold turning at the urgency in the other man's voice.
"Belle!" The man practically shouted the name. In his excitement or eagerness to deliver this news he strode to Mr Gold's counter. "I've seen her!"
"Then take me to her." Despite sounding almost indifferent, Mr Gold's heart had skipped a beat. It was too good to be true. How could she be here? The curse only brought the living with it ... not the dead. Mr Gold struggled with this thought as he hobbled with his walking cane out of the shop. Jefferson had best be correct about this, Mr Gold thought to himself following the tall man, Jefferson, out of the shop, or else.