Spun with Straw
A/N: Why hullo there! If any of my Hatterites are reading this, I know, I know, I apologise. I'll work on Alice next, I swear. This one came to me during lecture today and I figured, what the hey! I do not own Belle or Rumples, though I certianly wish I did. They are the creative property of ABC's Once Upon a Time. I'm only borrowing them, chicklets.
Read, review, take out to a party or slaughter, it matters not.
Tata my dahlings.
Always,
|ACP|
Chapter 1: Pre-Emma Gold, Pre-Story Forgetting
Mr. Gold walked with purpose. A talented feat, considering his limp. The end of the cane snapped against the floor of the hospital, but nobody looked up, though everyone noticed it. The noise had a certain sharpness to it, a bite that resolutely forbade anyone but the most daring to look up. It was a known sound, and its owner was well feared. There was, after all, a reason for everything about Mr. Gold. Today, the reason behind his stride was Regina. She was at it again, campaigning for her assumed image of a caring mayor by visiting invalids in their sickbeds. She'd done the same thing as Queen. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. The method had never failed her yet. He had been "summoned" by her, or at least so he let her think. He'd come of his own accord, as he always did, and deep down she knew it. He found her standing in the coma ward, lightly terrorizing the woman that called herself Mary Margaret. Some things never change. he thought, leaning on the gold head of his cane and waiting patiently for the Mayor to notice him. He'd have felt bad for Snow White if he hadn't known it was ultimately her fault the Queen was this way. Her fault we're here.
The life in Storybrooke suited Mr. Gold, but he did miss the real world occasionally. Still, at least here he could keep a very close eye on all the subjects of his deals, rather than zipping about all the kingdoms in a constant haze of foul-smelling smoke. Although, if he was being honest, he knew he could've just held court in Dark Castle if he had wanted to in that other world. But that would've required staying there, staying and seeing the rapidlydeteriorating state of everything he could've had. Everything remained exactly as she'd left it, everything except the shattered cabinet of useless trinkets and the teacup that sat in all its chipped glory in a place of honour.
Regina finally noticed him, and sent the poor woman away with a mock smile and a single word of dismissal. He mimicked her smile as she approached, well versed in the cold, meaningless act they would play. Still, deep inside his bones he felt the harrowing fatigue that always came when Regina wanted something from him creeping up. Mr. Gold may have been the more powerful of the two, but he was certainly not the more enduring. Not anymore. "Madam Mayor." he said politely, a frosted dislike buried beneath every syllable. "Mr. Gold. So glad you could make it." her eyes, he thought, were oddly a brighter shade than usual. It would seem that torturing her once-stepdaughter had put the world's most wearsome, evil woman in a pleasant humour. Behind them slept Prince James, unconscious in his curse-induced coma.
Idiot children. Thinking they could outrun the Queen. In the end, even he hadn't been able to. "Walk with me." Regina commanded, but she did at least have the decency and common sense to pretend that she was asking. He nodded and gestured with his cane for her to lead the way, which she did of habit. Royals. They turned as one to make their way towards the exit of the building. Regina was chattering on about some city project she wanted him to back, or some person she wanted him to keep an eye on because for some obscure reason her idiot mirror-man couldn't do it. He didn't really care which. Gold hated coming to the hospital. Every time he passed the area surrounding the receptionist's desk, he got an uncomfortable lurch in the pit of his gut. Not the most pleasant of sensations: like he was forgetting something.
But he didn't forget. He never forgot.
That was, after all, part of the deal he'd struck.
And Mr. Gold always kept his word.
A/N: Whatcha think? Good, bad? Any criticism I'd be happy to take, I'm a big girl. I need to know where to improve so I can get to it.
Thank you for your time!
La, lovelies. Always,
|ACP|