A/N: This is the last of my Lucy/Weaver stories. I was going to write a funeral for Rumple, which was left out of the finale, but changed my mind.
Chapter One
Regina stood on the balcony as she looked out at the dark sky and the tears trickled down her cheeks.
"I can't believe he's really gone," she thought. She wiped the tears from her eyes while the image of Rumplestiltskin lying dead on the floor moved across her mind and she sighed.
"Mom?" Henry called out as she turned and watched him walking closer. "You alright?"
"No, I'm not alright," Regina said and he hugged her. He moved back as he lifted her chin and looked deeply into her eyes. He still couldn't believe his grandpa was dead and he regretted not treating him with the respect he deserved.
"I'm going to miss him, too."
"Are you?!" came from behind them as they turned and saw Lucy standing in the doorway. She had gone prone over her great-grandfather's body after they had told her Rumplestiltskin was dead and drying tracks of tears streaked her cheeks. Even though she didn't see much of him back in their realm, she and Rumplestiltskin had become nearly inseparable during their time in Hyperion Heights and she had come to love her great-grandfather.
"Luce…," Henry said as she ran out of the room and Henry felt his heart cracking. He let go of Regina when Regina thought of something and gasped while grabbing onto his right wrist.
"Gideon!" Regina said.
"What about him?"
"We have to tell him about his father."
"How? No one knows where he is or how to get hold of him."
"Don't bother. I'm right here," an angry voice said after a loud thud startled them and they saw the anger and hate in Gideon's eyes. The scrapbook his papa had made during their travels was under his right hand and Regina cautiously walked to the table.
"How did you get here?" Regina asked.
"I did a location spell to find my papa after the letters he sent me stopped then I used a magic bean and..."
"You came to the realm where I met Cinderella," Henry said.
"Yes," he said with a nod. "It took me a while to find my papa and, when I did, he was insane."
"That was my fault," Alice said as she and Robyn walked in the room and Wish Hook followed close behind them.
"No, Starfish, it was mine," Wish Hook said.
"I do not blame either of you," Gideon said then glared at Henry and Regina. "I blame you."
"Hey!" Henry said.
"He's right. Some of what happened to Weaver… to Rumplestiltskin… was your fault," Wish Hook said and stood next to Gideon. "I told you time and again he was getting worse and you just left him out there to suffer."
"Papa's right," Alice said.
"Yeah," Robyn said.
"I went to search the libraries for a means to end my papa's suffering, but he told me not to bother. That I should search for a way to cure the poison in his heart," Gideon said, pointing to Wish Hook. "I was close to finding a cure when the curse to send all of us into the past was cast and I ended up in Hyperion Heights like the rest of you."
"I don't remember seeing you," Henry said.
"Did you ever go to the local library? I was the head librarian."
"How did you get hold of his scrapbook?" Regina asked.
"I had received a text from my papa to go where you carelessly left it and….," Gideon said
"Let me see the text."
Gideon removed the phone from his jeans pocket when he handed her the phone and she looked at the screen.
"This was right after I had found him," she said and handed the phone back to him.
"I searched the room to make sure nothing was missing and that was when he showed up."
"You mean Wish Rumple?" Henry asked.
"Yes. At first, I thought it was my papa, but I sensed an aura of pure evil coming from him."
"So, he took you hostage like he did with Cinderella and Lucy," Regina said.
"No."
"Let me guess. He offered you a deal," Henry said. He thought back to how easy it was for Wish Rumple to manipulate Wish Henry as he sighed and shook his head.
"Yes, he did."
"What sort of deal?" Regina asked.
"He said he had a way to bring my mother back. I…."
"Belle is dead."
"I know that!" he shouted and placed the palms of his hands on the top of the table.
"Easy, Lad," Wish Hook said, placing his right hand on Gideon's right shoulder and was surprised that he didn't swat his hand away.
"Then what happened?" Henry asked.
"I told him I didn't want my mother back. She had lived a long and happy life with me and my papa and deserved to be at peace. That was when he told me what my papa had in mind. I knew he was looking for the Guardian, but I had no idea he wanted to die."
"What did you think he wanted to do?"
"I thought he wanted to get rid of the curse and the responsibilities which went with it. I told him I would take on the curse…"
"You wanted to be the Dark One?!"
"Yes, but he told me no. He said he never wanted me or my brother to take on such a burden and to never mention it again," Gideon said and lowered his head. Alice took his left hand as they wrapped their fingers together and he smiled at her. "After he told me, I demanded he take me to my papa. He just laughed, waved his hands and we came here."
"Why didn't we see you when we arrived?" Regina asked.
"I guess you just didn't look hard enough," he said with a growl to his voice.
"Who finally found you?" Henry asked.
"Robyn and I found him locked in one of the libraries," Alice said.
"Imagine my surprise when they took me to where my papa was and told me how he died," Gideon said then looked at the scrapbook.
"Gideon….," Regina said. Roaring, Gideon slammed his fist on the cover of the scrapbook as one of the photographs slid out of the scrapbook and Regina pick the photograph off the floor. She looked at Rumplestiltskin and Belle smiling at her while she sadly smiled then her face changed into shock as Rumplestiltskin and Belle started faded in and out of the photograph. "What the hell?"
Henry took the photograph from her as he looked at Rumplestiltskin and Belle fading in and out and frowned.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked and Wish Hook looked at the photograph.
"Why are they doing that?" Wish Hook asked. Regina opened the scrapbook as she carefully flipped through the pages and saw some of the other photographs were fading in and out and other pages were blank.
"I think we need to go back to Storybrooke," Regina said. "Now!"
They left the room as they headed for the room where Cinderella and Wish Henry were watching over Rumplestiltskin's body and walked in the room. Cinderella was holding onto Lucy when Wish Henry looked at them and saw the worry in Regina's eyes.
"What's wrong?" Wish Henry asked. Regina walked to Rumplestiltskin's body as she blinked back the tears and felt anger and fear moving through her. She waved her hands as his body rose from the floor when two objects fell out of the pockets of his jacket and clattered to the floor. One of them was a small scroll and the other was a magic bean. Lucy ran to pick up the scroll and the magic bean as Regina nodded and Lucy handed the magic bean to Henry. Henry concentrated as the magic bean shimmered then he tossed the bean and the portal opened. One by one, they entered the portal as the portal closed and the wind from the portal closing blew the ashes of Wish Rumple around the room.
The bright light faded while Belle looked deeply into Rumplestiltskin's chocolate brown eyes and he brushed some of her auburn hair behind her right ear. He moved closer when he kissed her lips and she half closed her eyes. He moved back as she saw the worried look on his face and he gave her a sad smile.
"I… I still can't believe this. I thought I had ruined everything," Rumplestiltskin said and she kissed the tip of his nose.
"You didn't ruin anything," Belle said then he noticed the frightened look in her eyes. "But I did think you would be angry with me."
"Why would I be angry with you?"
"I didn't fully explain the prophecy to you nor did I give you another option to breaking your curse."
"Darling," he said as he held her tighter in his arms. "I never blamed you for any of it. And, if I hadn't been trying to find the Guardian, I wouldn't have figured out if was me. I thought, at first, the guardian was a young girl called Ana. She had raw magical powers, but she wasn't the Guardian I was looking for. Then there was Alice."
She noticed the smile on his face as he sighed and shook his head.
"You would have liked Alice."
"Who was she?"
"Believe it or not, she was Killian's daughter."
"Emma and Killian had a child?!"
"Uh, yes, I think Regina told me Emma was pregnant, but this is a different Killian," he said then told her about Wish Hook and Alice. Belle was a little shocked over him becoming friends with any version of Killian, let alone giving him his heart, as she smiled and Rumplestiltskin shrugged.
"What did you do with his heart?"
"I removed it, but I don't know where I put it. I was… I was in a bit of a hurry," he said and she softly laughed.
"Do you think he's alright?"
"I hope so," he said then she saw the sadness in his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I was thinking about Lucy."
"Lucy?" she asked and he told her about Henry, Cinderella and Lucy.
"I'm a grandpa?!" came from the mist while Rumplestiltskin turned around and his eyes widened. They watched while Baelfire walked closer as Rumplestiltskin let go of Belle and ran to his son. Belle softly laughed while they hugged and Rumplestiltskin ruffled the back of Bae's head. They moved back while Bae followed his papa and stopped in front of Belle. "Hey, Belle."
"Hello, Neal," she said and he rolled his eyes.
"Don't call me that. My name is Baelfire or Bae," he said and she nodded. Bae looked at his papa as Rumplestiltskin sighed and lowered his head. "Papa, what's wrong?"
"I was just thinking about when I had to go to the Underworld. Emma said you came to talk to her…"
"Yeah, I did."
"She thought it was a dream."
"It turns out that's a way for someone who's passed on can talk to someone."
"Why didn't you come and talk to me?"
"You don't sleep," Bae teased and Rumplestiltskin softly laughed. "Why were you in the Underworld? I thought only Emma was there to get Hook back."
"She blackmailed me into going."
"What did you do this time?" Bae asked, fringing anger. Rumplestiltskin told him as Bae sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Papa."
"I already scolded him about that," Belle teased and Rumplestiltskin shrugged.
"The other reason I went there was to find you," Rumplestiltskin and Bae frowned.
"Why?" Bae asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright or if you were there at all."
"I never went there."
"I found that out. I did find your mother," he said then told him what happened with Milah. He was waiting for Bae to start shouting or leave, but Bae just sighed and folded his arms over his chest.
"Papa, that wasn't your fault. You wanted to send her to me, but Hades stopped you."
"So, you're not angry?"
"No," he said then saw there was still some hurt in his eyes. "What else is wrong?"
"I broke my promise. I told Lucy I would stop trying to get myself killed so I could be with Belle and I…"
"Rumple, no, I'm sure she understands why you had to die," Belle said.
"I hope so."
"Well, Papa, you ready to go home?" Bae asked.
"Home?!"
"Follow me," Bae said as they headed for the mist and the mist surrounded them. Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure how long they walked when the mist faded and he was shocked to see the little house he and Belle had made at the End of Time.
"Is that…?!"
"Yes, it's our house," Belle said, sliding her arm around his waist. He moved her arm away as he walked to the small porch when he placed his hand on the door and felt the warm wood under his hand. He placed his hand on the door handle when he turned around and looked at them. Holding out his hand, Rumplestiltskin smiled while Belle walked to him then he picked her up and carried her over the threshold after he opened the door. Softly laughing, Bae followed them inside then he closed the door behind him and the mist moved over the house.
Storybrooke
Past Regina walked down the pavement as she looked at the text from Henry and smiled. She had decided he should go on a short vacation before heading off to college and she placed the phone in her purse. She stopped in front of the pawnshop as she looked up at the sign when a flash of golden light filled the pawnshop and she ran for the door. She opened the door when she saw herself, Henry, a grown-up Henry, someone who looked like Killian, Gideon, three woman and a little girl and Rumplestiltskin was floating over the floor.
"What the hell?!" Past Regina asked and closed the door behind her.
"I know this looks strange, but there is a perfectly good explanation for it," Regina said and Past Regina nodded.
"Go ahead," she said and Regina told her. Regina watched her past self as Past Regina walked to Rumplestiltskin and carded his hair. She blinked the tears from her eyes when she thought of something then waved her hands and they vanished in a puff of red smoke.
Storybrooke General Hospital
The red smoke faded as Regina placed Rumplestiltskin's body on a gurney and Alice and Robyn pushed the gurney down the hallway.
"Whale!" Past Regina called out after seeing Doctor Victor Whale walking down the hallway and he turned to look at her. His eyes widened as he looked at her then at the gurney and walked to them. "Yeah. Look. It's complicated. You see…"
"Follow me," was all Victor said as they headed down the hallway and stopped at the doorway to one of the rooms. Inside the room was Belle, Rumplestiltskin and a younger version of Gideon and they were connected to heart monitors as well as EEG monitors, pulse clips were connected to their right index fingers, blood pressure cups were around their right biceps, oxygen masks were over their noses and mouths and the needles to the intravenous drips were taped to the back of their left hands.
"What happened to them?" Henry asked.
"That is what we've been trying to figure out," Victor said.
"Gold had returned from their travels after Belle started to feel ill," Past Regina said, looking at Belle. "She fell into some sort of coma shortly afterwards."
"What about him?" Gideon asked as he looked at his younger self.
"He fell ill just a few minutes ago," Victor said.
"Was it shortly after he did?" Lucy asked after walking to the bed and looked at Rumplestiltskin.
"Yes. Now, will someone tell me where all of you came from?"
"Would you believe it was….?" Regina asked.
"Time travel," a voice said when a tall man with black curly hair and blue/green eyes walked to them and Regina noticed his sharp handsome features and how nice he looked in his dark suit.
"Who are you?"
"May I introduce Doctor Alexander Hartdegeon," Victor said
"Hello," Alexander said.
"Alexander is an expert on time travel."
"Well, I wouldn't say an expert…"
"Sorry to interrupt, but are they the only ones who got sick?" Henry asked.
"No," Victor he turned and they headed across the hallway. Regina was stunned to see Past Zelena and younger Robyn lying on the beds and were hooked up to the same machines and equipment as Belle, Young Gideon and Rumplestiltskin. "She came in a short time ago with her daughter. The girl was unconscious then she passed out."
"Henry!" Past Regina suddenly shouted and Henry and Wish Henry looked at her.
"What?" Henry asked.
"Not you," Past Regina said then vanished in the puff of red smoke and he looked at Regina.
"Mom, what is going on?"
"Hold on," Regina said then vanished and Robyn walked to the window. She looked at her mother and her younger self when the image of a puff of red smoke appeared in the glass and Robyn turned to see Zelena and Regina behind her.
"Mom!" Robyn said as she ran to Zelena and Zelena hugged her. Zelena then saw herself and a younger Robyn lying in the beds and frowned.
"Is that me?!" Zelena asked.
"Yes," Regina said when the purple smoke appeared and Past Regina was holding onto an unconscious Past Henry. "Whale!"
"Not another one," Victor sighed as he looked down the hallway and pointed.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?!" Zelena asked.
"Like I pointed out earlier. We are dealing with the ramifications of time travel," Alexander said.
"And you are?!"
"This is Doctor Alexander Hartdegeon," Henry said as Victor came out into the hallway and they looked at him.
"How's Henry" Regina asked.
"Both he and you are in a coma," Victor said while Alexander looked at the gurney and walked closer. He looked down at Rumplestiltskin when he placed his hand on Rumplestiltskin's chest and frowned.
"Why isn't he breathing?" Alexander asked. Victor removed the stethoscope from around his neck as he walked to the gurney, placed the earbuds in his ears and listened to Rumplestiltskin's chest.
"He's dead," Victor said, removing the earbuds from his ears.
"When did that happen!?" Zelena asked.
"it was just a few minutes ago," Regina said and told them about his battle with Wish Rumplestiltskin.
"This is bad," Alexander said, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Having him die here in the past has caused a ripple effect."
"Great. Leave it to the Dark One to mess things up," Victor said. He grunted after Wish Hook slammed him into the wall and the hook was pressed tightly against his throat.
"Hook, stand down!" Regina said. Growling, Wish Hook moved away when he walked to the gurney and looked down at his friend.
"Are all of you familiar with the Butterfly Effect?" Alexander suddenly asked and they looked at him.
"Isn't that where you go back in time and have to be careful not to step on a butterfly or you change history?" Henry asked.
"Yes, that is exactly what it is."
"What does that have to do with this?" Zelena asked.
"When my grandpa died, he destroyed not only Wish Rumplestiltskin, but all Rumplestiltskins," Henry said.
"I get that part," she said then scrunched up her face. "And when did you start considering him your grandpa? I thought you hated him as much as the rest of us."
"Papa," Alice whispered as she stopped Wish Hook from hitting Zelena and he sighed, lightly nodding his head.
"That aside," Alexander said. "When he decided to destroy the wish version of himself, your grandfather didn't take into consideration what would happen to the past version of himself and has created a time loop."
"And that is causing the past versions of us to fall into comas," Regina said.
"Yes," he said with a nod. "Everything which has happened to all of you is now in a state of flux due to his unintentional destruction of all the Rumplestiltskins."
"Which means there is a chance the future will change and Henry and I would never have met and had Lucy," Cinderella said.
"Or I might have not met Gothel and had Alice," Wish Hook said.
"Or I might have never met Alice," Robyn said.
"Exactly," Alexander said. "Or all of you will faded out of existence due to the strain on their bodies. You see, there is only so much a body can stand and being stuck in time causes the body to break down then the body dies."
"How do we end the time loop?" Robyn asked.
"It's simple," he said and looked down at Rumplestiltskin. "We have to bring him back."
A/N: Alexander Hartdegeon was the name given to the traveler in the 2002 movie directed by H G Wells' great-grandson, Simon Wells. I pictured Benedict Cumberbatch from Doctor Strange and Sherlock as Alexander.