All copy rights of Once Upon a Time and characters are to ABC.


"Because I could not stop for death, [she] kindly stopped for me."

-Emily Dickenson


It snows.

"It is not the feeling of taking a life that frightens me, it's the movement their body makes in the moment of death. The shuddering that passes through the limbs while the soul slips from their grasp and into my own."

He smiles.

"What could be so frightening about that? If this is so painful for you I could take it away, so quickly and softly that you would only remember this as if it were only a dream. Ask, and I will take this curse away, ask, and I will let your time." With hands behind his back he clenches them into fists, straining to hold back the excitement threatening to spread a grin on his face.

"I hate collecting souls."

"Of course"

"I hate killing people."

"That's very understandable."

"But-"

Anger pulls down the sides of his mouth to a twisted grimace.

She smiles. "I'm put to the test every day with my work, it is only natural that I hate it at first, but I will never be pushed enough to see you as my only chance at a mortal life. To be completely honest Rumpelstiltskin, I enjoy relishing the thought I'm the only person in this world not desperate enough to come to you."

The snow stops.

"And that frightens you more than anything."