If there was one thing Rumplestiltskin understood, it was magic.

And he knew that all magic had its limits, especially once it's creator was dead. So he simply had bided his time, waiting for the Snow Queen's curse to wear off, so he may finally return to Storybrooke.

Why he wanted to return to that accursed place, was beyond him. Why he had decided to strike a bargain with the three divas of darkness or whatever they called themselves was even further beyond his recollection. He could go out into the world, and make something new of himself. Even without his powers, he was still cunning, he could certainly build some kind of life for himself. But no, he knew he had left to much unfinished for him to be happy. If he was going to create a life for himself, he had to be out in the world on his own terms.

All he knew, as he approached the town line in a car with Ursula and Cruella, was that at least now he had a mission. Get Malificent. Find the author. Get their happy endings. Who cared if the rest of the town burned in the process?

But he knew, in the depths of his hardened heart, that this mission, whether it ended in them finding the author or not, would never grant him his happy ending. Even if he was cleaved of his damn dagger, it didn't matter. Because his happiness, his light, the one person who had always been by his side, no longer wanted a happy ending with him.

Belle.

The distance, and eight weeks time, had made it easy for his anger to over take his heartbreak. She had left him, just like everyone always did. She was too good for her own good. She fell in the same category with every other one of those heroes. And he was a villain. Heroes never fell in love with villains. He can't believed he fooled himself into thinking she could actually love him for so long.

You tried to change, and look what good it did you, he had told himself for so long. Did she not remember when you sacrificed yourself for this whole accursed town?And what happened? You're son died, and you're wife cast you out like the monster you are. She was playing the hero, just like she always wanted to.

But as he got out of the car, he already felt his heart regain the heavy weight of sadness as he stared at the spray painted orange line, recalling the look of heartbreak on his beauty's face, the tears blurring both of their visions. She didn't love him anymore. She couldn't. Not after everything he had done. She had made that clear.

"Now there's only the beast." She had said, leaving the coldness trilling in his ears. It still echoed, even now, as he approached the barrier. He had stayed there kneeling for what he was sure had been hours, looking into the empty abyss that he knew contained his beloved.

He put his hand tentatively on what he knew to be the fading effects of the Snow Queen's Spell, and felt his hand push through it like water. He hadn't noticed the sensation the night he left, his mind had been to focused on not losing Belle.

No no no, his mind stated, his walls that blocked the broken parts of his soul flying back up with every new thought of his wife. She's not your happy ending. Being free of that dagger is. She was just another damn hero slaying the beast.

His mind rationalized what his heart knew wasn't true, and as he fully stepped inside the borders of Storybrooke, he shook his head. Belle would never be part of his happy ending again. She would never want to, she had made that incredibly clear. And he kept telling himself that he didn't want her either. So he needed to settle for the next best thing.

XXXXX

Belle was bent. At least, that seemed the best way to describe it to herself. Not exactly broken anymore, eight weeks had given her heart time to heal. But she certainly wasn't fine either.

The library was moving slowly today, which she couldn't stand, because it gave her nothing to preoccupy her brain with. So she decided to take an early lunch break. However as she turned away from the locked up doors, her feet decided to take her not to Granny's diner, but rather to that god forsaken pawn shop.

She hadn't been in the shop since that dreadful night. The night she had sat at the town line for hours, crying her eyes out on her knees. She had stayed there longer than Rumple had, she just couldn't muster up the strength to move,even when it had begun to rain. Her emotions had simply exhausted her.

When she had finally mustered some ounce of dignity to remove herself from the cold,wet cement, she had moved in a daze. She had stumbled into the pawn shop and simply left the dagger on a counter in the cluttered back room; it was useless now, just a knife. Then she went the only place she thought she could count on; the library.

But when she had woken up amongst the stacks, instead of being comforted as she would have been in any other situation, her memories rushed back to her, and her emotions overwhelmed her, causing her to break down.

What were you thinking? She said quietly in her mind. You sent him, alone and broken, into the world that he loathed, without magic, without anything! A place where he is a nobody, and has nobody.

But no, a different part of her brain said, this was the only way he could no longer hurt people, the only way he could ever change.

But you used the dagger on him again! You betrayed him, just as nearly everyone else has. You know he's changed! He's sacrificed himself for this whole town! And now he can never return thanks to you.

No! This was the only solution.

No it wasn't.

Yes it was!

No. Yes. Yes. No. And that was how her heart and mind had handled the situation ever since. A constant battle in her conscience.

She sighed heavily as she opened the shop door, and walked into the shop, her mind still wrapped up in her dark thoughts. No matter how much Emma, Snow, Ruby, Charming, Henry and hell, at one point even Hook and Regina, tried to comfort her, all she could ever do was give a small fake smile, and not really ever take in all they said. They had never loved a villain before. Well, Emma technically had, but both Hook and Regina seemed to be in full hero mode as of recently, so that didn't count in her mind.

But Rumple wasn't a villain. Just a man who makes a lot of wrong choices. At least half of her mind told her that. She didn't seem to agree with herself on anything recently.

Belle walked through the curtain to the back room, her nose crinkling slightly at the sight and smell of dust on everything. She immediately spotted the dagger, lying lifelessly on the counter. She paused for a moment to stare at it. Why did one stupid knife have to be powerful enough to cause so much trouble? Even though she knew it was useless, she still didn't like the idea of the dagger lying about where anyone could find it. So, tentatively, she reached out to grip the hilt, one last time.

She never expected there to be weight to the dagger. As little as she remembered of that night at the town line, she remembered one detail clearly; once Rumple had crossed over, the dagger had gotten significantly lighter. But now the weight was back. That could mean only one thing.

"Rumple. You're back." Belle murmured almost breathlessly to herself before quickly regaining her senses, putting the dagger in her purse for safekeeping only, and rushing out of the shop.