'Only in dreams can men be truly free'

— John Keating - Dead Poets' Society

Belle blinked and whirled around, her eyes going wide at her surroundings.

'I'm in the Dark Castle,' she said, shocked. She looked down and found herself in her old blue dress.

'Mother?'

She turned again and saw her son coming towards her.

'Gideon!' she cried, reaching out her hands for him.

'What's going on?' he asked, taking her hands: 'why are we here?'

'I don't know,' Belle said. 'We're dreaming,' she added, frowning. 'Your father gave us some tea and we fell asleep. He must have dosed our tea with something.'

'He used magic on us?' Gideon asked, looking a bit lost, and hurt.

'Yes,' Belle said, thoughtful. What was Rumple up to?

'Why?'

'I don't know,' she said.

'I have a…bad feeling, Mother,' Gideon said quietly. And Belle knew her son was wondering if his father had betrayed them.

Belle could see shadows creeping from the corners of the great hall. Her own fears and doubts were emerging to torment her again, but if her husband was keeping secrets, she had to believe it was because he was protecting them, as he'd promised. He would lose them if he hurt them: he knew that. That was why he hadn't sped up her pregnancy. He'd obviously decided that price was too high, so he wouldn't risk hurting them now.

She looked up at her son. 'I know,' she agreed, 'so do I, but he promised us he was protecting us, no matter how it may seem, and I…I believe him, Gideon: I do.' Belief was a choice, and she chose to believe in her husband. Her bad feeling was not about Rumple, she realised, it was about his mother.

The shadows faded and the room was bright again, sun streaming in through the windows, birds singing outside.

'Ok,' Gideon said resolutely, reassured, 'then I do too.'

She squeezed his hands.

'This isn't my dream, Mother,' he said: 'it's yours, isn't it?'

She nodded. 'My subconscious must have known to take us somewhere we'd be safe. Rumple must have known it would. We will be safe here, Gideon,' she told him. 'I know this place: nothing can hurt us here.'

'What's he protecting us from?' her son asked.

'I don't know,' she replied. 'I don't know why he didn't just tell us instead of putting us to sleep.'

'I couldn't, not without her knowing.'

Belle and Gideon turned to see Rumplestiltskin standing in the doorway.

'Rumple…' Belle murmured, moving towards him.

'Belle, Gideon,' he breathed, moving into the room to meet them.

His wife and son came to him. He put a hand on Belle's cheek and the other on Gideon's, and looked at them solemnly.

'I'm sorry: I couldn't think of another way. I would have told you outright if I could have, but she's watching me.'

'So you put us to sleep to tell us?' Belle asked, holding his hand to her cheek.

'Yes,' he said. 'I don't have much time. I altered the Sands of Morpheus to put me into a trance: it'll only last ten minutes. She can't know I was here: if she knew I'd told you what I'm about to tell you, she'd try to hurt you, and I can't let that happen, but I needed you to know the truth, so I did this.'

'I thought you were going to defeat her, Father,' Gideon said.

'There was more to the story than we saw in my dream, son,' Rumplestiltskin said. 'I was born to be the Saviour, but she changed my fate. She used the Shears of Destiny on me, so that I wouldn't be the Saviour and I wouldn't kill her.'

Belle cried out. Rumplestiltskin looked at her.

'I'm sorry, Belle,' he said softly. 'Turns out I'm no hero after all.'

'No!' she cried. 'Rumple, that's not… She cut away your future! How could she do that to you? Why? Why would any mother do that to her child?'

'Because she chose to keep her power and take away mine so that we could be together,' he said.

Belle whimpered. Rumplestiltskin caught her tear on his thumb.

'How could she do that to you?' she asked again, voice breaking. 'How could she choose power over you?'

'I've made the same choice myself, Belle: when I let Bae go, when I pushed you away… It seems it's my family's destiny to always make the wrong choice.'

'But you didn't cut away your child's future!' she cried.

'I was going to, until you talked sense into me,' he reminded her.

'You let me do that,' she said: 'you wanted me to talk you out of it. You stalled and showed me the magic. You never show your hand, but you did, so I could talk you down. If you really wanted to do it, you would have put the magic in my food, like the queen did. You wanted me to stop you.' As she spoke the words, she knew they were true.

'Maybe I did,' he said, 'but I can't say I don't feel some affinity with my mother, knowing we've made the same mistakes.'

'You…you forgive her?' Gideon asked, face clouding over.

'Of course I don't forgive her, son,' Rumplestiltskin said at once. 'Gideon, she stole you away and tortured you for twenty-eight years: I will never forgive her for that. She brought your mother and me heartbreak. I've killed people who hurt your brother, used my power against people who hurt your mother: you don't have to worry that I'll ever forgive her for what she's done, to you, to all of us. I understand her better: that doesn't mean I condone what she did. She stole my future and yours. No, son, I don't forgive her.'

'You're working with her, though, aren't you?' Gideon asked.

'That's what she thinks, but it's nothing but a smokescreen. I play a very long game, son, and it's one I don't intend to lose, because I've got you and your mother to think about now. I promised you that what I'm doing is to protect you, even if it doesn't seem apparent, and I meant that.'

Gideon nodded, relaxing. 'I'm sorry.'

'I have a plan,' Rumplestiltskin said: 'I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?' he asked, looking between his wife and son.

'Rumple, you do what you have to do to get us through this safely,' Belle said, squeezing his hand: 'I trust you.'

'So do I,' Gideon said, 'completely, Father.'

'Thank you,' Rumplestiltskin said, closing his eyes in relief. He opened them then and looked from Belle to Gideon. 'My mother is going to cast her curse tomorrow and the Final Battle will begin.'

'No,' Belle breathed: 'we have to stop her!'

'We can't stop the curse, Belle,' Rumplestiltskin said, 'but I can protect you from it, and I will, no matter what.'

'How?' Gideon asked.

'Belle,' Rumplestiltskin said, holding her by the arms, 'when you wake up, you won't remember me, or Gideon.'

She cried out, her hands convulsively gripping his arms. 'No,' she breathed, mouth going dry, staring at him, staring at Gideon.

'It'll be alright,' Rumplestiltskin promised.

'Wh-why is she doing this?' Belle demanded, upset.

'It's her happy ending,' he said. 'Me and her together, forever.'

'And I…I'm not part of it,' she said, looking down.

He touched her cheek, tilting his head to catch her eye. 'If this were my curse, my happy ending, I would want you with me.'

She looked at him, a softness in her heart for him that would never leave her, and she didn't want it to. She would…she would want that too. She hoped he knew.

He stroked her cheek. 'But this isn't my curse, and it's not my happy ending she's creating. She promised me you would be with me, but she was lying. She thinks I don't know that, but I do. She doesn't want you around to influence me: she wants me to herself.'

'But how will I find my way back to you?' Belle asked, frightened, 'to both of you?'

'I'll come to you, Belle,' Rumplestiltskin said, 'and I'll help you remember.'

'How?'

'Before the first curse, I worked in a trigger word that, when spoken, would wake me up. I've done the same for myself this time, and I'm going to give you one too. When I say it, you'll remember everything.'

'What is it?' she asked.

He smiled and leaned in, whispering to her. Gideon.

Belle shivered. There was magic in the name, but Rumple's closeness also made her shiver.

'Make it stick, Belle,' he advised. 'You don't have long. Write it down, repeat it to yourself over and over. It should be powerful enough to wake you, given the associations it has for you.'

'It will work,' she said quietly, sure of it.

He nodded, smiling at her.

'What about me, Father?' Gideon asked.

'You'll be with me, son,' Rumplestiltskin said. 'She wants you as part of our family, so you'll be safe.'

'Will I remember?'

'No,' his father replied, 'but I'll wake you too.' And he beckoned to his son so he could whisper to him. Mother. 'When I say that to you, you'll remember.'

'And then?' Gideon asked.

'Then we stop the Black Fairy for good.'

'What about everyone else, Rumple?' Belle asked. 'Will they be caught up in the curse too?'

'I don't know exactly,' he said: 'I don't know what she has planned for them. I know she won't kill them because she wants them to suffer, and Emma may be immune to the curse anyway because she's the Saviour. Henry may be too because he was born in the Land Without Magic. I can't be sure about any of that, though. We just have to trust that they can all find their way back to each other. Then maybe we can all work together to stop her.'

'And we can't stop her before she casts this curse?' Belle asked.

'She has to think she's won, Belle,' he said. 'I have to let her think she's won. That way, we can catch her off guard.'

'Father's right,' Gideon said. 'If she thinks she's won, she'll be less vigilant. If Father tries to stop her now, there'll be no telling what she'll do, who she'll hurt.'

'And I can't risk that being either of you,' Rumplestiltskin said. 'I've lost so much that I loved: I don't want to lose you too.'

'You won't,' Belle said, taking his hand. 'If you believe this is the only way we have a chance to stop her, then, so be it. We'll do whatever we can to stop her when we get out the other side.'

'It's a lot to ask,' Rumplestiltskin said, 'for you both to trust me when I don't know exactly how this will all go. I appreciate your trust. I won't ever forget it. I promise to be worthy of it.' He squeezed Belle's hand and clapped Gideon's cheek. 'I love you both,' he said, 'more than anything in all the realms.'

'I love you too, Father,' Gideon said, putting his arms around his father and hugging him.

Rumplestiltskin looked at Belle and she joined them, wrapping her arms around her husband and son.

Gideon pulled back after a moment, but Belle held onto Rumple.

'I'll be gone in a minute, Belle,' he whispered.

'One thing first,' Belle said, looking up at him. 'I believe in you, Rumplestiltskin,' she murmured. 'You don't need a title to make you the good man I've always seen in you: you just need faith in yourself. I believe in you,' she repeated, 'and I love you,' she added in a whisper.

He trembled a bit, closing his eyes.

Belle pressed her forehead to his. 'I never stopped loving you, Rumple,' she whispered, crying now.

'Beautiful Belle,' he breathed, pulling her close, burying his face in her hair. 'I promise you, I will come to you, Belle, and when this is all over, we'll go and see the world like you always wanted, you, me, and Gideon. Would you like that?'

'Yes,' she replied, smiling: 'yes, I would.'

He stroked her hair. 'Good, then that's what we'll do. I love you.'

She beamed at him. 'I love you too.'

'I love you both,' he said, stepping back: 'never forget that.'

'We won't,' Belle said.

'Never, Father,' Gideon added.

'I'll save you: I promise.'

'We believe you,' Belle told him as Gideon nodded.

Belle trembled as he faded out of the dream, but Gideon took her hand and she squeezed his.

It would be alright: it would. She just had to keep telling herself that.

She turned to the window, her son by her side, and they looked out at the sunlit day, and listened to the birds singing.

Hope: they just needed to hold on to hope.

The end