Disclaimer/SPOILERS:

This story isn't exactly canon. It's a blend between the show and Nym's A Bed of Thorns (up to Chapter 91 - yes it's long but definitely worth it). I don't think you need to read ABoT to get this story (Although I highly recommend it - Archive of Our Own). Everything from the show is the same except Rumple didn't lock her up. From ABoT the main take away is that they were married in FTL and Belle had a miscarriage.

Chapter 1

It was like they stepped through an invisible wall and entered a new world - and in reality they had. Except they weren't entering this world they were leaving it and returning to the life that had been theirs.

"Wait," Belle called as she struggled to absorb decade of memories in a matter of seconds.

"No, no we've very close," Gold insisted not pausing to wait.

Since he had been immune to the curse's effects the world felt no different to him when it ended.

"Rumplestiltskin, wait."

Gold froze at Belle's world and the wall that had hit the other finally had its effect on him. He never liked his name but when she said it he love it. Only because he loved her and everything she said. It had been 30 long years since he had seen her last - his Belle. Now the sound of her voice left him shaken. Gold turned in disbelief as Belle reached out to him.

"I-I remember. I - I - I love you," Belle's voice shook as she spoke the words. It had been so long since she said them last. She knew it had been a long time but how long she couldn't tell. Wrapped in Gold's embrace she allowed herself the freedom not to care.

"Yes, yes. And I love you too. But there'll be time for that. There'll be time for everything. But first there's something I must do."

Gold felt comfort with Belle's presence but not peace. While she had been locked in a mindless state for decades - virtually unchanged, he had changed a great deal. His understanding of love had always been poor but now those few lessons had receded further into the background, replaced with a comfortable and satisfying thirst for power and now revenge.

"What is this?" Belle asked leerily as they approached an old well.

"This is a very special place Belle. The waters that run below are said to have the power to return that which one has lost," Gold explained stepping closer to the well and dropping a glass bottle.

"I-I don't understand…." Belle replied confused by this new reality. A sense of discomfort took over as she found herself standing in an unfamiliar land, in unfamiliar clothes with a man who she knew but was not at all familiar with.

"We're in a land without magic Belle and I'm bringing it. Magic is coming," Gold explained a satisfied smile spreading across his face as purple mist filled the air.

"Why?"

"Why? Because magic...is power."

As the mist cleared so did Gold's singular quest for power. Without the purple barrier he could finally see Belle and greet this new reality.

"My Darling Belle, you have to tell me what happened to you."

"I was abducted." Belle replied coldly the pain of her imprisonment rising to the surface.

"Regina," Gold pressed through grit teeth his anger held at bay only for Belle's sake.

"She found me a while after I went away…She kept me in a tower until her curse. And I've been in the asylum ever since." Belle forced herself to use her head and not her heart as she reported her lost time - a story, not truly her reality.

"For 28 years?" Gold asked a question but knew the answer. "All these years...you've been here? Alive."

Darkness filled Gold's face and Belle could see the embers of his curse growing inside him.

"Is that - is that why you did this? Why you wanted magic? For revenge?" Belle wondered, not prepared for his answer.

"Oh no - but it might come in handy."

"No…no!" Belle fervishly protested shaking her head.

"I cannot let this stand Belle, I will not let this stand!" Gold's anger boiled to the top and Belle was reminded of their time in the castle. The moments he became so angry his eyes bulged and she feared what he might do. Those moments had been frightful in part because he did not look like a typical male but she had become use to his moods. Now it was different. His anger revealed a person she did not recognize.

"Look." Belle pleaded taking his hand, anxious to draw back the man she loved. "Promise me - promise me you don't give into your hate. Promise me you will not kill her." Belle's heart sank as she watched him avoid her glance and refuse to speak but she could not lose hope. "Promise me, and we can be together."

Gold's defenses fell as he looked at Belle's pleading blue eyes. He had longed to see her and feel her. He'd let go of any hope that he would so long ago that having her before him felt unreal. Now she was asking the impossible of him but he would do anything to keep her.

"Sweetheart…I promise."