Summary: Rumplestiltskin sees Belle and Will together. He takes matters into his own hands. Sorry guys...this is dark. And not Will friendly
He's only back in town a few hours when he sees her. He didn't intend to. His plan was to stay far out of her way until he found the author, until he secured his happy ending, until he was ready.
He's not ready now.
He's not sure he ever will be.
She steps out of the pawnshop…his pawnshop…and she looks as fresh and beautiful as she did the day he first met her. He doesn't mean for her name to escape his lips and when it does, his heart stops. He can feel it grind to a halt and then start again a moment later.
She doesn't notice. She's too focused on the person who is still in the pawn shop. She turns and smiles and a moment later someone steps out. It's not who he expects. Not that he's really expected anyone exactly. Perhaps Snow White. Belle once told him how she comforted her after Baelfire's death. Or Charming. He's always ridiculously protective.
But no. It's someone he doesn't recognize. Another man, taller than Belle even in the ridiculously high heels she still favors, walking with a sort of cockiness that he was sure she'd find off-putting. But she doesn't. She smiles at him, brighter than before and Rumplestiltskin almost has to turn away from the brilliance of that smile.
Then the man leans down and kisses her.
And he feels his heart constrict, the pain almost taking him to his knees.
She doesn't notice him despite the gasp that he involuntarily lets out. He wonders if he's invisible, if she simply cannot see him anymore. When the man turns and walks away he's almost relieved to see Belle go in the other direction. She's not taking him back to their house. There's that consolation at least.
His hands grip the cane he's holding hard, knuckles white, as he watches the man saunter off, a slight bounce to his step and a smile on his face. He'll wipe that smile off soon enough. He sets out to follow. The cane is held aloft. He doesn't need to use it for walking. Why he even has it still on him he doesn't understand.
But it will come in handy.
So very very handy.
When they are far enough away from Belle that they can no longer see her, Rumplestiltskin makes a small coughing noise. The man turns on a dime. He's surprised at that, quite frankly. The way the man is moving indicates some bit of inebriation. His walk is not quite straight, his legs just a little too loose to be those of a sober man.
Rumplestiltskin steps out of the shadows and puts on his most feral grin. And the man takes just a moment for this to register, his eyes suddenly going slightly wide. "Rumplestiltskin," he mutters.
"Excellent. So you know who I am." He steps a little closer and is pleased to see the other man back up a pace. "Now just exactly who are you?"
"I…" The other man starts to say, but stops. There's a fear in his eyes that Rumplestiltskin finds strangely enjoyable.
"I'm sorry dearie, I didn't quite catch that." He lifts the cane, the mark of his cowardice, the mark of his darkness, and the other man pulls back.
"Will. Will Scarlet." He holds up his hands. "I didn't know. I swear."
"Didn't know?" Rumplestiltskin's voice turned silky. "Didn't know what exactly? That she was still married? To me? Is that what you didn't know, Mr. Scarlet?" The other man doesn't respond and the rage builds, the top finally blowing off when he raises his cane and lands a blow on the side of the other man's head.
Will goes down, hard, his hands coming up to protect his head.
But no further blows land and Rumplestiltskin waits, poised, just above him, breath coming hard, teeth bared. Like a wolf stalking his prey, he simply waits.
And then Will looks up, pulls his hand away from his face, leaves himself unprotected. He tries to run in that moment, when he sees Rumplestiltskin's face so near his own, tries to scrabble backward, tries to get away.
But it's useless.
Rumplestiltskin reaches forward and with one quick maneuver, pulls the man's still beating heart right out of his chest. It feels good to do it. It feels right. Whatever else he might have been before, anti-hero or villain, he is now all villain. There is a darkness at the edge of his vision as he squeezes the heart.
Not enough to kill.
Just enough to make the man groan.
Just enough to make Rumplestiltskin's smile a little wider, his eyes a little darker.
It hadn't been too long since he'd last held someone's heart in his hands. That time it had felt good to squeeze it, to cause torment to the man who had been nipping at his heels all these years.
This time it felt even better, the darkness an almost palpable thing.
"Please." The word comes out on a gasp.
"No," Rumplestiltskin answers with. There will be no mercy. Not for this one. Not now. Not ever ever. He squeezes the heart, harder this time, listening for the musical sound of the man's scream followed by silence.
The dust from the heart falls to the ground as he opens his hand.
There's nothing now. Nothing for him. They'll know who did this, know that his happy ending is now beyond him. The author wants him dark, a balance to the lightness of those he claims as heroes. Dark he will stay. There is no resisting its siren call.
He grips the bloody end of his cane in his right hand and limps off into the night, just another villain in the author's story.