Disclaimer: unfortunately,Once Upon a Time doesn't belong to me.
The thoughts will be in italic, the lines are "quoted". Hope you enjoy!
Once he finally fulfilled the goal of bringing magic to that world, Rumpelstiltskin – feeling happy for being able to think of himself using that identity – turned back to the young woman that he'd thought he lost long ago: Belle. She was very pale, her hair was a real mess and there was suffering deep in her eyes that he had the conviction that would never disappear completely from her face.
The Dark One watched her for a long time thinking about everything she had probably gone through on these almost three decades in which the two of them had been apart from one another. Your fault, his conscience screamed, your foolishness and thirst for power caused her suffering. Again, he had hurt someone he loved. Always the same mistake!
"Tell me what happened to you, Belle."
Belle looked at him, the suffering very well hidden in her face – although Rumpelstiltskin was absolutely certain that it was still there – when she answered that she was abducted by Regina and told him how the Queen locked her up in a tower until she was able to cast the curse and, after that, hid her at the asylum.
Rumpelstiltskin felt happy, finally having something to distract him from his feeling of guilt. He let the anger for the Evil Queen – and that title never made more sense to him – overflow inside him.
"Over twenty-eight long years…"
She nodded with her head, now incapable of hiding the pain those memories brought, which made Rumpelstiltskin's anger grow even stronger. How did Regina dare to hurt one so sweet an innocent as Belle? How could she destroy such wonderful traits, leaving in their place nothing but pain? But he knew the Queen's reasons: she was aware that, as long as she held Belle, she'd have a weapon against Enchanted Forest's most powerful creature.
"During all these years, were you living in Storybrooke?"
Belle noticed the anger in Rumpelstiltskin's voice and the pain almost completely abandoned her, making way for concern. Even after all she went through, there still was something left of the young woman who fell in love with the beast, her generous heart, capable of forgiving even the worst enemy, still remained. Although noticing that was not enough to appease his anger, Rumpelstiltskin was relieved.
"Was- was that the reason why you brought magic to this realm? For vengeance?"
"No, I'd never be capable to predict it, but it might come in handy."
"No. No!"
Rumpelstiltskin saw no reason not to take revenge at that moment. Regina had fulfilled her role when she laid the curse to bring them to the World Without Magic, to the realm where Baelfire was. There was not any reason not to eliminate her, simultaneously avenging Belle and getting rid of a rival who – although not being as powerful as him – could become a problem.
A part of the Dark One – that seemed very small at that moment – knew he also had been responsible for the disappearance of Belle's innocence. First of all, there was the fact that he had seen it fading when he sent her away, when he showed her that endings were not always happy, and then there was the undeniable fact that Belle would have never been abducted if Rumpelstiltskin had kept her in his castle.
She held his hand firmly, although delicately, which made Rumpelstiltskin withdraw from his thoughts – he was already making plans on how he would kill the Queen, searching inside his head for an idea, something terribly painful and simultaneously quick – and he was brought back to reality:
"Promise me you will not give yourself to hatred and we could be together."
He looked in her eyes and realized that there was something more than the worry and the pain that he already had seen previously: there was something of a deep happiness and something of the true love that Belle felt for the man-beast. Seeing that appeased the Dark One's fury, and Rumpelstiltskin could not answer anything but "I promise."
Then, they kissed each other. Not a shy and innocent kiss like the one they shared long ago in the Dark Castle, but something deeper, endowed with an urgency that the Dark One didn't even know he felt.
He realized then that something meaningful changed inside him. For a moment, Rumpelstiltskin felt lost and unable to understand what happened. Suddenly, though, he remembered that the true love's kiss could break the dagger curse.
Fool! He couldn't comprehend how he didn't remember that the true love's kiss started to make him human again, and that it was the sole reason why he sent Belle away. How could he forget that?
Trying to not scare his lover with a rumble-tumble – Belle probably forgot, like him; after all she knew he didn't want to become human again –, he slowly started to part his lips from hers. The girl, however, held him tighter, refusing to stop the kiss.
The Dark One felt the magic gradually fading from his body, all his power leaving him. He tried again – and with greater strain – interrupt the kiss, but he found himself too weak to fight against Belle, who was still holding him in her arms.
Then, when he thought that the absence of power would make him faint, he felt something else awakening inside him, a strength simultaneously new and known. At first, Rumpelsiltskin thought that the fear of the human that was rising inside him was giving him strength to move off this situation, but soon he realized that it was not a feeling – and, most important, it wasn't anything negative at all.
Magic! He felt it flowing again through his body, transcending it to reach the woman he loved. Rumpelstiltskin realized – feeling a great weight leaving his heart – that the dagger's power didn't abandoned him completely, a part of it just changed. This realization paralyzed him.
So, Belle broke the kiss taking a step back and analyzed him with a look simultaneously worried, naughty and curious. Rumpelstiltskin felt naked from his skin as if she was assaying his soul. That, however, didn't embarrass him, just made him afraid of disappointing her.
"You don't look different in this world, but I can't see the darkness that has always been around you anymore," she said with a smile in her lips, at last.
He stared at her, incapable of sketching any reaction. Rumpelstiltskin knew that Belle had the goal of breaking his curse when she kissed him, and he was confused on how he was feeling about that. He knew that Belle didn't mean any harm – she was incapable of whishing any harm even to the woman who locked her up for almost three dacades -, but he really didn't like not being in charge of the situation.
"When you sent me away from your castle, I travelled around the world like I always dreamed of. I talked to a lot of people who had knowledge about magic and discovered some important things. There are many things that I need to tell you, Rum. I hope you don't get angry with me. I knew- I knew that you would not lose your powers."
Rumpelstiltskin took a step toward Belle without knowing if he would yell at her or hug her, when he felt something amazing: his injured leg was completely cured. He-Who-Was-The-Dark-One stared his lover with an inquisitive look, but a smile in his face:
"We really have a lot of things to talk about, my Belle."
~~/~~
Rumpelstiltskin took Belle to his house, where she finally took a warm bath and changed the old clothes from the asylum for new ones he gave to her – the young woman couldn't believe when she felt the hot water on her skin, and that was just the first of many wonders from the World Without Magic that she experienced on that night. After that, the two of them sat together to talk.
She told him about everything she lived after he sent her away from his castle, about her journeys: the realms she visited and the people she met. Then she told him about her visit to Midas' kingdom – it was said that this king could turn any metal to gold – where she heard about the dwarves mines, where the fairy dust was made.
Belle told him she never gave up on him, although she repeated several times to herself that she had forgotten him. When she heard about the dwarves, however, she could not hold her expectations: maybe, just maybe, the dwarves could explain to her about what the true love's kiss was and give her a hint about what would had happened to Rumpelsiltskin if they kissed each other again. He can't be right, true love wasn't supposed to make anyone weak, it should be strength!
Belle, then, headed to the mines to the south of the Midas' kingdom, where she put herself in trouble several times trying to convince the dwarves to give her information until she caught the attention of the Blue Fairy.
The fairy looked very shocked when Belle told her about her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin and how the kiss they shared had begun to change him, but agreed to inform Belle what she knew about true love. The magic of the true love's kiss, according to Blue Fairy, was a magical blessing send from one person to her or his true lover, something so powerful that could break any curse.
"A true love's kiss is not capable of making anyone weaker, Rum. If your magic was stronger than our love, a kiss could not destroy it. It is a magical gift given to the beloved person, especially when one side, or both of them, are touched by magic. Didn't you know that a child born from a couple who share true love is always special?"
Of course Rumpelstiltskin knew it. Although he had never been interested about the knowledge of this kind of magic – so different of his own –, it was him who planned that Emma, born from the true love of Snow White and Prince Charming, would breaks his curse.
However, he never gave much thought to the implications of true love's magic in his life, not even when Belle kissed him. The idea of losing my magic was more powerful inside my mind than my love for her. I was a fool.
He-Who-Was-The-Dark-One broke the distance between him and his lover and hug her tight, still incapable of believing that they were together and there was nothing between them. The dagger's power – hated by everyone who ever loved Rumpelstiltskin – was gone forever, although he still possessed magic.
Rumpelstiltskin held Belle's chin making her look at him. Those amazing blue eyes pouring something he still could not believe that existed: a pure love naked from interest and completely directed to him.
She broke the last remnant of distance between them and kissed him back. Without the sensation of weakness that held him when they kissed before, Rumpelstiltskin could enjoy completely: he felt the magic pouring from his lover's body, reaching his body and filling it completely – he also could feel the magic flowing inside him and leaving in direction to Belle's body. Would that be the sensation of the true love's kiss? Or is it the fact that it's me and Belle?
"I love you," he said, incapable of taking his eyes of hers.
Then, he noticed something peculiar shining inside Belle's eyes, something almost magical. It was, however, momentary, so that Rumpelstiltskin was not truly sure if it was not just his imagination.
Belle laid her head on his shoulder smiling and, for the first time in twenty-eight years, she felt nothing but happiness.
"I love you too."
~~/~~
The two of them spent most of the night enlaced, remembering the time when they were together in the Dark Castle and talking about everything that happened with them since they parted.
While Rumpelstiltskin was preparing something for them to eat, Belle watched him with a growing curiosity about some objects that she didn't recognize from the other world. The microwave, for example, intrigued her for its capacity to warm the food without a fire and for the small sound made when it finished doing what was commanded.
During the meal, he told her everything he could about that world. Spoke especially about the stuff that were inside the house and came to turn on the television, but when Belle asked him how it worked, he could not answer and she sighed, delighted with the many things she had to learn about that world.
When Belle finally fell sleep it was already very late and – although Rumpelstiltskin loved to be with her and was relieved to have her by his side – there was something he had to do urgently and could not take her with him without risking giving her important and dangerous knowledge that could hurt her.
The Clock Tower, at the center of Storybrooke, was the place where he had hidden his dagger after he led Pinocchio – August, he reminded – to the previous hideout, thinking he was his son.
Rumpelsiltskin picked the dagger up from behind of one of the clock hands and held it up under the moonlight so he could see what was written there. Happiness and relief rose inside his heart: his name was no longer there.
Although He-Who-Was-The-Dark-One knew there was still a long way to trail before he could consider himself totally free from his mistakes, he also knew that his body and his soul were now free from the dark magic of the dagger.
Thanks to Belle – that young woman who was capable to see behind the beast –, Rumpelsiltskin could finally have a chance to begin anew, to be a man again.
Author's Note:
Hey, guys! That's my first try to write anything in english. I always wrote a lot in brazilian portuguese, so there can be a few issues about the text's structure. If you find any problems, please tell me.
I am a bit nervous about it, but I expect you like it. I truly hope you have enjoyed.
I'd like to thanks my friend Rubem, who was gentle reading this story before I published and correcting my mistakes.