Shattered Masks
Chapter 1: Curses and Counters
"There has to be something."
Emma stared through the glass screen into the ICU room. Henry lay inside, small and frail in a hospital gown. A respirator covered his mouth and nose. An IV had been inserted into his elbow. Monitors beeped out his vitals, the sound muffled by the thick glass.
Emma crossed her arms, clenching her hands to avoid lashing out. She really wanted to scream and shout and flail, maybe hit something. Unfortunately, there was no one to strike out at. The room's other occupant was, for once, not a viable target.
"I don't know." Regina stood by the glass, hands clenched, chin up in that trademark lift that meant the Queen was fighting tears. Emma recognized it. Just as she'd recognized the over-tones of truth and sincerity when she'd sprinted into the hospital room not half an hour ago, demanding to know what Regina had done.
'It was an accident. Henry came to visit me. I was in my vault, sorting through some things of my mother's. Henry just touched one. I didn't have a chance to warn him.'
She knew Henry had gone to visit his adoptive mother. In the wake of Cora's death, they'd all felt a bit sorry for Regina. She had been grieving for her mother, and Henry had asked to be allowed to go and comfort her, give her solace. Emma had allowed it, knowing how devastating some losses could be.
She knew that of all the things Regina might do, she'd never hurt Henry. Not like this, not deliberately. She wasn't above causing the boy emotional anguish at times, not if she thought it could cause a rift between him and Emma, but something like this wasn't the way Regina did things.
Pounding footsteps interrupted her thoughts. She and Regina both turned as three new figures came racing into the ward. David, Mary Margaret, and Neal. Or Prince Charming, Snow White, and Baelfire, if one went by their Enchanted Forest names. The whole thing still confused Emma sometimes.
Mary Margaret looked through the glass and into the ward, paling as she saw Henry. David paled as well, then whirled on Regina. "What did you do?"
Regina's head tilted up another fraction of an inch, from tears to defensiveness. "I didn't. It was an accident."
"Really?" David's tone was barely short of a snarl.
"Really." Emma broke in, physically stepping between her parents and Regina. "Look, I already asked her that, and she said it was an accident." She held up her hands in a conciliatory gesture.
"And you believe her?" David still looked angry.
"Yes. One, she hasn't done anything since Cora. Two, I gave Henry permission to go spend time with her, so it's not like this was some plot to get him. Three, my truth thing still works, and she wasn't lying when she answered me. And four, no matter what she does to the rest of us, Regina's never hurt Henry. I mean, the whole reason the curse broke was because she cared more about saving Henry than she did about keeping it active and me away." Emma stared her father down. It felt strange to be defending the woman she usually fought with, but she wasn't going to let Regina get used as a scapegoat.
Neal grimaced. "Gotta admit, that makes a lot of sense."
David huffed. "It does. You're right." He sighed again, shoulders relaxing. "Fine. So what happened?"
Regina relaxed, just a fraction. "I was in my vault going through mother's things when Henry came to find me. He offered to sit with me, talk, help me go through things. Just...spend time with me, I suppose. He wanted to stay, so I let him. While we were working, he happened upon an object that mother possessed. I didn't know what it was, so I wasn't able to stop him before he touched it. And it cursed him. But I don't recognize the curse. And I don't know how to counter it."
Emma winced. "About all we do know is that it's fatal." The curse was old, but Regina had been able analyze that much of it.
Mary Margaret flinched. "But...True Love's Kiss. It's a sovereign remedy for curses. You broke him out of the Sleeping Curse with that, right? So..."
"Tried that. It didn't take." Emma folded her arms again, gut clenching. "It was practically the first thing I did when I got here. We both did." She hadn't liked letting Regina try, but Regina did love Henry, so it was as valid as her own.
"And that would be because that's not an ordinary curse." The smooth voice made all of them turn.
Mr. Gold, better known as Rumplestiltskin, or the Dark One, stood in the doorway. His hands were folded carefully over the head of his cane, his eyes on Henry.
Emma took two steps towards him. "What do you know?"
"A great many things, particularly about magic, dearie. I felt that curse activate. I recognize the magic." Gold strode forward. "It shouldn't come as a surprise, but every person who becomes the Dark One has their reasons. And their...interests. Their pursuits. Their passions. Their...quests, if you will." His eyes flicked to Neal, then back to Henry. "Every inheritor of the Dark One's power receives some knowledge of his or her predecessors belongings, interests, obsessions and so forth. Possessions, spells and the like. That spell..." He indicated Henry. "Isn't one of mine. It's one of the previous Dark One's. Magic only knows how Cora got her hands on it. It was supposed to be lost. But, I do know what it does, what it is."
"Do you know how to break it?" It took all of Emma's control not to shout at him, or attempt to shake him. This was Gold. He was like this. Enigmatic, cryptic, always dancing around what needed to be said. Push him too hard, and he'd get angry and refuse to speak.
"I do." He turned his head to look at her, and there was something in his eyes that she couldn't define, and was a little afraid of. Something worse than his cold calculations or infrequent irrational anger. "See, the Dark One who created this spell had a particular aversion to...love. True Love in particular. Now, the details aren't known to me, but I do know he set out to create a spell that would defy True Love. That not even love could break. He wasn't entirely successful, of course, but he did create this." He looked back at Henry. "A curse that slowly destroys its victims, killing them over a matter of hours, days, while their loved ones are forced to watch. A curse that cannot be broken by True Love's Kiss."
"But it can be broken, right? All curses can be broken." Emma swallowed hard. She'd never wanted so much for the answer to be yes.
"Oh yeah. Yes, it can be broken. But not by a kiss. Nothing so simple as that. This curse requires a sacrifice." Gold turned to face the family again, eyes glittering with that strange, terrifying serenity. "The terms are, I believe, 'the greatest sacrifice'."
Emma blinked. "So...one of us has to die, or something like that?"
"Nothing so simple, I'm afraid. As amusing as it would be to watch you fight out who should die for the boy, it wouldn't do any good." One corner of Gold's mouth turned up in a smile, but there was no humor in it, only something knife-edged and vicious, and possibly a little desperate. Emma had seen that smile before sometimes, on marks she cornered. And on Gold, when he'd been demanding her help finding his son.
Gold continued. "See, I've been watching you. And I know, for a fact, that giving up your own lives isn't anywhere near the greatest sacrifice any of you could make. Matter of fact, with the exception of Bae, none of you seem to value your own lives very much at all. No, what you five value most...it's in there." He dipped his head towards the window. "You'll sacrifice your lives, your identities, even each other for that boy."
"So? So you're saying to save Henry...we'd have to kill him?" Neal's voice was a low growl.
"Quite the conundrum isn't it?" That edged smile was back on Gold's face. "Of course, one route might have been to have Regina sign Henry's custody away to Miss Swann, but the strength of the curse...this magic requires a sacrifice that can't be undone." His eyes flicked over the group. "You might manage, if you two..." He indicated David and Mary Margaret with a flick of his hand. "...were willing to kill her." He gestured to Emma. "The sacrifice of the daughter you gave up everything for might do it."
Emma felt her gut freeze, but she couldn't even get a word out before David bristled, stepping in front of her protectively. "That's not gonna happen."
She swallowed hard. "Look, if there's no other way..."
"No." Mary Margaret seized her arm and stepped around to face her. "We can't do that, Emma. Even if we were willing, you know what that would do to Henry. What's the point of saving his life if we destroy his spirit?"
"It's better than his death!" Emma bit the inside of her cheek. "Look, he's got a mom, and a dad, and you two. He's known me less than a year. He can bounce back from this."
"No. He can't." Regina's quiet voice startled her. She turned to face the Queen. Regina looked at her with calm eyes. "You really think it's that simple? I love Henry, Miss Swann. I've given him everything I could think of to show him just how much. I've even tried to change for him. And even with all of that, he still looks to you."
"She's right." Mary Margaret squeezed Emma's arm. Then she turned to face Gold. "There has to be another way."
"And there is." Gold's hands tightened on the cane. "There is my way." His expression tightened.
Emma's gaze jolted to Neal. "Wait, you can't mean..."
"No, no. I don't intend to sacrifice my son, Miss Swann. Bae can tell you I've already done that." A thin thread of anguish, and anger, moved beneath the calm of Gold's words.
"Then you intend to die? For Henry?" Regina sounded faintly surprised.
Gold laughed, a short, sharp bark of sound that had no more mirth than his smile. "After centuries as the Dark One, I hold my life to even less value than you hold yours. Part of the price, I suppose."
Mary Margaret froze. "But the candle...Cora..."
Gold snorted. "Just because I told you where that candle was didn't mean I thought you'd actually use it, dearie." His shoulder shifted in a minute shrug. "Actually, I was expecting you to throw it at me and spit in my face. It was a last ditch possibility that I never expected to come to anything, if you want the truth." His face was still, expressionless, but Emma read the truth in his words.
"You expected to die."
"Yes. And I'd made my peace with that. After all, I'd accomplished the one thing I ever intended to do as the Dark One. See my son safe." Gold's hand tightened on the cane.
Neal's jaw tightened. "You said you had a way to save Henry."
"I do." Gold's shoulders tightened. "And, fortunately for all of you, it's not a method that involves killing anyone. Though we all may well wish it had, before it's done."
Emma felt her shoulders lock. Something about his words made her feel wary. "What do you mean?"
Gold met her eyes. "I spent over 300 years searching for my son, Miss Swann. But before that, I let him go. Because there was something I was unwilling to let go of even more." His jaw tightened, and Emma saw regret and grief in his eyes.
"Power." Neal's voice was rough, ragged with old hurt.
"Not precisely." Gold's eyes flicked to his son. "Power for power's sake was something Cora sought. I did want power, yes, but not simply to have it." His hands clenched. "As I once told Belle...it is my safety, my security. My crutch, if you will, as surely as the cane I use in this world." His hands flexed on the handle, as if to make a point. "What I desire, what I would give up, have given up everything for..."
"Is security. Safety." Emma felt her throat constrict.
"Invulnerability. Or as near as mortal man can come to it." Gold nodded. "Very good, Miss Swann." His gaze flicked to Henry, then to Neal. "But, as I've come to discover, that safety can be taken from me. Or done away with."
"You'll give up your magic?" David frowned.
"He can't. Not without dying." Regina frowned. "The only way to cease to be the Dark One is to die, to be killed with his own dagger."
"Exactly. But there are other ways." Gold's jaw set. "Including one I will take, if you agree to my conditions."
Emma swallowed. There was something about his demeanor, about the whole exchange, that was making her very nervous. Terrified, actually. Something about Gold's expression. Still, it was for Henry. "What conditions?"
"I have three." Gold raised one finger. "First, that this be done in a place of my choosing, under the conditions I demand. This is for your own safety, and to some extent mine as well." Emma nodded. She could see the wisdom of that. Gold lifted a second finger. "Second, there will be someone to watch over myself and the boy at all times, to monitor both of us. You will need to know if the counter is effective."
"That explains Henry, but why would you want us to monitor you?" David frowned.
"Because my magic is dangerous, and it may get a little uncontrolled. And because there are likely to be side affects to this process that may be hazardous for my health." Gold's hand clenched on the cane so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Trust me dearie, I've no more liking for the stipulation than you do."
He was lying about something, but Emma's gut told her it wasn't worth pursuing. At least, not right at the moment. "What's the third condition?"
Gold looked at her. "You are to tell no one what I am doing, or what I have done afterward, with two exceptions. Henry, because he will ask, and I've no wish for the boy to go snooping for answers. And Belle, if and only if she asks for me. You will check on her while I am incapable, and if she inquires, you will tell her the truth. She deserves that much of me."
That seemed reasonable. Emma looked at the others. Regina nodded. David and Mary Margaret both hesitated, then nodded as well.
Neal was facing his father. "What are you going to do?"
Gold shook his head. "Not something I can explain. However, I imagine you'll sort it out as it happens." That dark smile twisted his mouth again, but this time with an element of sadness. "Let's just say, it's something I should have done a long time ago."
Emma stepped forward. "I agree with all your conditions, but...I have one last question. Why are you doing this? You just found out Henry was your grandson. And your track record...it kind of sucks, no offense. So...why? Why volunteer?"
"That's more than one question. And I don't have to answer them. I have my reasons, and that should be enough, dearie." Emma stared him down. After a moment, Gold's jaw clenched, then relaxed. "Let's make a deal, Miss Swann. Get this done and if, when it's over, Henry survives and you still want answers, I'll give them to you."
She could live with that. Emma nodded. "So where and how are we gonna do this?"
Author's Note: This story's been brewing ever since I saw how Rumplestiltskin became the Dark One, and especially after the episode 'The Miller's Daughter'. Set between 'The Miller's Daughter' and the whole Neverland arc.
It gets a little darker from here. Fair warning.
Let me know how you like it?