Sleeping Beauty

Rumpelstiltskin stood in the doorway of his bedroom, well, he supposed it was their room now, his and Piper's, watching as the woman slept on in the rising sun. The light filtered in through the windows, illuminating her pale skin to a warm golden color. He tilted his head as he observed her, how calm she was even without him beside her, holding her in his arms. It seemed as though the burning room she dreamed about, the one she'd been tormented by ever since she'd fallen under the sleeping curse, only appeared when her body was truly and deeply asleep, near the middle of the night. When the sun was rising and it was as though her body was aware that the day would be starting soon, as it began its slow waking up, the threat of the burning room faded and she was able to sleep without him beside her.

He was rather disheartened at that knowledge but also thankful. He knew she went to that room each and every night, no matter how much time passed he was sure that it would never change, she would forever be cursed to stay in that room when she slept. He was thankful that she was able to have some peace as she woke, that the room wasn't a threat to her then, he had never really considered the effects of a sleeping curse like that, not until it had been someone he cared about that was suffering it. He wouldn't wish that torment on her, not after the hell her life had been since Regina came to power. But at the same time he was a little...sad, that she wouldn't need his comfort in those moments. He knew that his presence, his magic, seeped into her when she slept, when she went to the deepest parts of her sleep, and allowed him to soothe her and protect her from that room. She had woken with burns once and from that moment he swore no more. He protected her, kept the room from harming her, from burning her, as it once had. It was still a nightmare to be there, he knew, she didn't like going to sleep at night because of it. Even if it didn't burn her, she still felt the heat, she was still surrounded by flames, truly the worst nightmare of any water-based species, such as Sirens.

He loved the fact that he could offer her that comfort, that their love was so powerful that, even after the curse had been broken it still fought against the harms that the room could cause. Her being in his arms...he had grown far too used to it far too quickly but yet he couldn't bring himself to care much about that. He...loved her, truly and deeply, more than he thought he could love another other than his son, but she had proven him wrong. He couldn't help but think about the Seer he'd met when she had been a child and a woman, it was clear to him now that she had been speaking of two different women when she mentioned his wife and his truest love, but he'd been a fool then, insisting they were one in the same. He grew older, her grew wiser, he grew darker...and when it came time to crush Milah's heart he felt no sorrow at all, merely glee that he'd gotten his revenge and that he'd' caused the same pain to that pirate as he had caused HIM. He should have felt sorrow and pain when his wife crumpled to her doom before his eyes, but he felt nothing.

It was different with Piper. He felt everything for her and the way he felt...it startled him at times. It was especially startling when he thought back to just how deeply he felt for her so soon after just meeting her. He'd been intrigued, yes. But...he felt drawn to her as well, he was interested and captivated in a way he'd never been before. She reminded him, sometimes, of Cora, the darkness in her, but she had something else, she had lived the life Cora had wanted, she had been a princess and she had suffered the life Cora had, a begging peasant...but worse. Cora had never been beaten or nearly taken by other men against her will, she had never experienced half of what Piper had and...perhaps it was the idea of how hard Piper's heart was that did it for him but...she did such exquisite and powerful things with her magic, she could cut someone down, she could cause such agony...with her heart still in her chest. Not even Cora had been able to do that, to do what she had to to get what she wanted without taking her heart out.

Cora was weak.

Piper...was something else entirely and he did not want this crime against her, this torment she would have to endure for the rest of her life, to go unpunished. He let out a breath at that, that was just the same thinking he'd had a few times before. When she'd been stabbed, when she'd revealed her scars to him and told him their story, all the people who had ever harmed her, he'd sworn to himself, he would see punished, he would see her avenged. This was going to be no different.

He stepped into the room, to the side of the bed and knelt down. He gently touched her hair, brushing some of it off her sleeping face before he dropped a soft kiss to her forehead and stood, heading out of the room, knowing that she would recall, when she woke, that he'd mentioned he had a deal to see about that morning and to go about her daily routine as normal.

He just...hadn't mentioned that the deal in question was not one that he would be making, but one that another had made that he wanted to know more about.

He had to see an old scaly friend about a sleeping curse.

~8~

"I love what you've done with the place dearie," Rumpelstiltskin called as he sat on the throne of a castle rather tackily decorated in purple accents, looking at a woman with blonde hair as she entered the room, HER throne room, to see him sitting casually on HER throne.

"Rumpelstiltskin," she grinned maliciously, more a cross between fear she was trying to mask with irritation she was trying to control so as not to say something that would, undoubtedly, have him calling himself an enemy. She was powerful, yes, she was the resident sorceress of her area of the kingdom, she was best friends with the Evil Queen and, while she was not one to be trifled with...this was the Dark One. This was the man who was the embodiment of pure Dark Magic and she was most unwilling to truly upset him. Banter, sure, use each other, of course, but to genuinely anger him would mean her demise, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The man just bobbed his leg, casually thrown over his knee as he sat back in the throne, a glass of her wine in his hand, swirling around as he looked at her. She could tell he was likely in a foul mood despite the wide grin on his face. He was wearing black. Most would assume that the Dark One would wear dark clothing, naturally, but she knew him better. He preferred dull colors but colors none the less, anything to make him seem more grand to others. For Rumpelstiltskin to be wearing pitch black clothing, and leather clothing as well, it was not a good sign. Black meant that he was out for blood, black meant that he was prepared to sneak up to get what he wanted, black meant he was raging and what he wanted he would get and he would get it when he asked for it.

She barely manged to restrain a shiver from racing through her as she stared him down, standing before her own throne as though he were the rightful ruler of that castle. But she dared not demand her seat back. Perhaps at another time she would have been irritated, would have been cross and brash with him, demanded her seat if he wanted her help in anything. But that would only be if he were in a good mood and he was most certainly not. Whatever it was that had crossed him, he was going to see it through in the darkest way possible, and for him to come to HER? Well...she was truly frightened of what that could mean, if it was something she had done that had upset him so. She tried to keep her back straight, keep her chin up, keep her eyes firm, much like she knew Regina did when she was frightened, something they shared, but looking into his eyes she couldn't help but take a more wary stance. His eyes were odd to most people, appearing bigger than normal, less...expressive in a way, it was haunting and alarming to most, but she could read them, she could see it in his eyes the...murderous intent there.

He truly was out for blood and she was hoping that it wouldn't be her own that he sought.

"Maleficent," he began, grinning wider when he saw the briefest flicker of fright in her eyes at how he was addressing her by name. He knew that he rather tended to call anyone, be it male or female, 'dearie' but when he used their full name, it was either a serious or deadly matter, and right now it was both, "I had a run in with a particularly familiar sleeping curse."

Maleficent tried to frown, "I...I haven't cast a sleeping curse on anyone," she defended.

"No, I suppose not you," he sighed, "But someone you gave it to."

"It was an even trade," she began to speak quickly, "Regina and I exchanged..."

"No, no, no, no, no," he rolled his eyes, cutting in, waving his hand and making a pink lump appear in the air before the woman, who began to clutch at her throat as she realized her tongue had been fully removed, "It was not Regina, not this time, and not to me," he added, "This woman...she possessed no magic when she cursed my new caretaker with the sleeping curse," he eyed Maleficent, "And she was pricked," he added, "Regina favors her apples too much, but you..." he pushed himself up from his seat and slowly made his way to Maleficent, enjoying how she began to tense up and watch him approach with wide eyes, fear evident in them, "Your particular brand of sleeping curse is through a prick. Now," he waved his hand and returned her tongue, the woman stumbling back, her hand to her mouth as she felt it returned...only to stiffen moments later when she felt the tip of a dagger, not the Dark One's dagger, no he wouldn't bring that one anywhere near where she could get it, but a dagger nonetheless, pressed to the underside of her chin, lifting her head up, "Tell me, dearie," he began to step closer to her as she stepped back, trying to avoid the dagger but he kept it firm where it was, "Who did you last give a sleeping curse to?"

"I...I...I gave it to two women," she gasped.

"That doesn't help me dearie."

She winced as she hit the corner of a table in her trek backwards, "Perhaps if...if you told me what the one you're after looked like, I could..."

"Brown hair, blue eyes, royal," he added to the end, he couldn't prove that last one, but anyone able to get a sleeping curse from Maleficent would have to have the money or resources to spend, "Now..." he grinned as the woman was backed up into a wall, "Who is she?"

"Sleeping Beauty," Maleficent breathed, "She came to me requesting a Sleeping Curse. To...to avenge her brother. She said he had been killed."

He frowned at that, "I'm surprised you gave it to her dearie, last I could recall, you and the lovely young girl didn't see eye to eye."

Maleficent swallowed hard, "She offered an open ended price for it."

He nodded, open-ended prices were the best, they were the ones when the other person was so desperate that they would offer 'anything, anything at all' to get what they wanted. They hardly ever stopped to consider that such a price could be their entire kingdom, their lives, their families or more but they were willing to do it. That would be the only reason that Maleficent would agree to help the woman who not only defeated her but banished her.

"And did you give her a price?" he inquired carefully, knowing that this cold be just what he needed...if she gave him the right answer.

If she gave him the wrong answer well...what was one less villain and rival in the world?

"No," Maleficent stated, firm, knowing that if he thought even for a moment that she was lying he would kill her where she stood, "I told her I would come to collect and to be ready to give what I demand."

He nodded, "Well done, dearie," he began, making her smile only slightly before he stepped closer to her, lifting her chin almost impossibly high as the dagger came to point straight up, "I will be giving you the price to demand," he told her, "Is that understood?"

Maleficent nearly tried to nod before realizing it would mean she'd half-impale herself on the dagger if she did, "Yes," she whimpered, already feeling it cut into the underside of her chin just by speaking.

"Good," he stepped back, but let the dagger fall only to her heart.

"What price shall it be?" Maleficent inquired.

He grinned darkly, "The greatest treasure she has," he giggled, "Her precious little daughter, Aurora. I want you to demand her daughter be given the Sleeping Curse as well."

Maleficent frowned, not disagreeing to do it, knowing that he could still kill her where she stood instantly, but unable to think of why he would demand something like that when a Queen offered anything at all for payment, "Might I ask why?"

He gave her a mocking shrug and stepped back, "She inflicted the curse on something of mine, it is only fair that it be inflicted on something of hers as well, don't you think?" he giggled again.

"All this over a caretaker?"

Maleficent gasped as the dagger embedded itself in the wall just beside her head, a few locks of her curly blonde hair falling to the ground from where he'd thrown the dagger at her. When her eyes flickered back to him, he was right in front of her, so close she was almost cross-eyed to see him, "I do not appreciate anyone tampering with something that belongs to me."

He hated to say that, to say something instead of someone. But he knew his rather violent reaction would give Maleficent reason to pause and question why it was so violent. If she suspected, even for a moment, that Piper meant more to him than just as his caretaker...it would give her leverage against him and he was not about to let Piper become bait to a trap for him. He was not even concerned that it would be a trap, he would go to it willingly if it meant protecting her, but he didn't want her to be in that position at all, he wanted her safe and by his side always. And if that meant calling her a 'thing' so that Maleficent saw her as merely a possession, then that was what he would do.

He couldn't let the woman know the true depth of his feelings for Piper, not if it meant keeping her safe.

"I expect the payment to be made by sundown," he told her, stepping back and disappearing in a swirl of smoke, appearing back in his castle. He was in the kitchens now, in the doorway, watching as Piper stood at a small counter, chopping away at some sort of herbs for this dinner, a nice little soup. He had told her that he wasn't sure when he would be back, it was already dark as he'd spent the morning gathering evidence of who he thought the woman that attacked her had been before confronting Maleficent at sundown. Whenever he wasn't sure if he would return, he'd told her a soup would be fine. There was no need to make more unless she wanted to eat something more for dinner but that he was fine with soup. And there she was, making it for them to sup.

He wondered briefly if he was making a mistake, not just in demanding the price Maleficent would give to Aurora and Sleeping Beauty, but also if he was overstepping his place in Piper's life, doing all this. This wasn't the first time he'd taken revenge for her, she had appreciated it the other times, but he was never sure what she would think. This last injustice was a little...more personal. The scars he could heal, the people who harmed her he could kill so they wouldn't do it again. But this...the trauma of the sleeping curse, that burning room, it would always be with her, she wouldn't be able to escape it for the rest of her life. That made it that much more personal to her, he was sure, and he wondered if he had done right in stepping in.

He wondered as well if the price he'd demanded was a good one. It was tricky, open-ended deals, where you could take literally anything from the other person and they had to give it up. Would it have been better to take Aurora, make her a servant? Would it have been better to curse the girl to hate her mother? To take her heart and crush it in front of her mother? Was this the right punishment?

He looked up when he heard a gasp to see Piper drop the rather sharp knife she was using to cut the herbs and place her finger in her mouth. He stepped up to her, knowing she knew he was there, and took her hand, looking at her finger from where she'd nicked it. It was so small and meaningless...but the fact that she'd been hurt and HOW she'd been hurt, WHY she'd been hurt were more impactful. There were candles set up in the room, but none of them were close enough to give any sort of decent light to what she was doing. And he knew why, the burning room was still frightening her, even now. He knew she had a fear of fire, candles were fine, torches too some doing, a fireplace and cooking had been much for her to overcome. But even now, the unease around fire was back, evidenced by the candles being as far away from her as she could get them without ending up in the complete blackness of the room.

He lifted her finger to his lips and pressed a kiss on the small cut, healing it, his resolve strengthening as he looked at the nearest candle flame.

Aurora suffering the burning room as Piper was?

Yes, it had been the right punishment.

~8~

Rumpelstiltskin stood in the main hall of his castle, looking out the window, watching as Piper returned from her latest trip into the village for straw, just...thinking. The moment that Maleficent had confirmed that the woman was Sleeping Beauty who had taken the curse from her, it made sense to him why she had targeted Piper. When she had been in Hamelin, the mayor of the rather wealth town had been the brother of Sleeping Beauty herself. The woman was the eldest daughter of the king, but he had gone on to have children after that, three boys. The mayor of Hamelin, much like many second and third-born sons, went off to a position of power in a neighboring kingdom or in different districts of their own. The mayor of Hamelin had been the woman's brother and, when Piper had been there, well...the rather portly man had been torn to shreds and left with his head rotting on a pike. Rumor had spread that the Piper had made the townspeople do it and clearly the woman was enraged enough to wish to seek revenge for her brother. It appeared the pretty princess felt herself more entitled and powerful than her brothers and family saw themselves.

He had kept tabs on the mayor's family after he heard about Hamelin, because he knew that the mayor was the third son of the king. He was intrigued to see what the royal family would do, especially when word got out that the Piper was working for him. Before she had come to him, no one really knew where she was or where she would go, appearing at towns where the whispers were that she was needed. But now...now she was a permanent place in his castle and others knew it. He'd watched the king for retaliation, but the man and his sons had kept back, none of them willing to risk the ire of the Dark One. It appeared dear Sleeping Beauty however was of a different sort, cut of a different cloth. She was so cross and saw herself so powerful that she actually thought she could just attack Piper and that he wouldn't discover who it was?

Hardly.

If that woman was going to place his true love under a sleeping curse, then he would place her daughter under one as well. Perhaps he would even devise a way to keep the prince that was rumored to be courting dear Aurora away from her. That would prove interesting, the princess without a true love to wake her. He would rather love to see that reaction, he would rather love to see Sleeping Beauty breaking down when she realized her daughter had fallen under the same curse she had, the same curse she had inflicted on someone else. That was what they called just desserts he thought.

He looked to the side when the doors opened and Piper was standing there, her shadow cloak on, giving him a look that was a cross between suspicion, being touched, and being a little...cross actually. Well that last emotion he hadn't been hoping for.

"Safe trip dearie?" he asked her, grinning widely.

She stepped into the room, keeping her gaze locked on his as she approached, not even looking away as she placed the straw down beside her, "I heard a rather interesting bit of news in the village," she began.

"Oh?" he reached out to take her cloak off, draping it over his arm, "And what was that?"

"The Princess Aurora, daughter of the famed Sleeping Beauty, has succumbed to the sleeping curse as well," she told him.

"Tragedy," he tried to seem serious but was far too gleeful to manage it, "Truly, quite one, isn't it?"

"The villagers were going on about how it was ironic that she should fall under the same curse as her mother," she added, "How they supposed history could repeat itself, especially because of how similar both women look to each other. Brown hair," she gave him a meaningful look, "And blue eyes. Much like the woman who attacked me and placed ME under the sleeping curse. Quite ironic indeed."

"It is," he nodded, though his grin hadn't diminished.

Piper eyed him for a long while, "You placed Aurora under the curse."

He opened his mouth in mock-outrage at the accusation, though there wasn't a hint of actual accusation in her voice but more like she was stating a fact, "Not I, Pip," he crossed his heart, "I believe that wold be Maleficent. The sleeping curse is her specialty."

"You cannot expect me to believe that you had no hand in this Rummy," Piper crossed her arms but gave him an amused look, "You disappear to see about a 'deal' yesterday morn, and now, the very next day, the daughter of the woman who cursed me is cursed as well."

"Then you caught me," he held up his hands in playful surrender.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you engineer for Aurora to be cursed?"

"Revenge."

"Revenge for what?"

"For you being cursed Pip," he said, as though it were the most obvious thing, "She attacked you, I attack her back."

Piper nodded, "That IS how revenge often works."

He eyed her for a moment, "Are you...upset with me? For avenging you?"

She let out a long breath, "Not quite, I am rather...touched you went to such trouble to do that," she told him, a soft smile on her face and he beamed at that, "However..." his face fell comically, "I should like to ask that you not take revenge on EVERY person who wrongs me."

"But..."

She held up a finger to stop him a moment, "I mean..." she started to grin that dangerous, dark grin that he loved, that made his black heart beat faster and harder in his chest, "That I should like the pleasure of seeking my own revenge at times," she continued, "It is rather fun."

"Ooh yes it is," he nodded, understanding, "I'm sorry Pip," he took her hand, kissing the back of it, "I should have let you take part, no...I should have requested to take part WITH you and..."

"You do not have to apologize," she told him, cutting him off gently, "I am..." she tried to find the words, "My heart races when I think of you enacting vengeance in my name, for slights against me," she admitted, "I am quite sure you could do a world more damage with your magic than I could with my pipe."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that Pip," he tried to reassure her, lifting her hand to his heart, "How about a deal..."

She raised an eyebrow at that, "What sort of deal?"

"If you ever feel the need for revenge," he began, "I should like to be there for some of it."

"And what would you give me for my allowance of your attendance?" she smiled.

"My power," he told her, making her breath escape her, "I gave you my dagger for a reason Pip," he grew serious, "I trust you with it, I trust you with my life and magic, that you will use it wisely. And I don't mean that I should give you my power in that you should use the dagger when you want revenge...but merely...I wish to help," he looked at her, "I wish to be there, beside you, using my power to make your vision of the revenge come true as best I can. Not you controlling my magic, but you directing it."

Piper leaned in and kissed him gently, "Much like you can direct my magic for your clients," she offered, trying to give him a parallel to his example.

"Exactly," he nodded.

"If you wish to be there and to help then you shall be," she nodded, "There is only one act of revenge though, that I should like to see through on my own."

He frowned at that, "And what is it?"

"The Queen," she stated, "One day...I will kill her father," she told him, "As she killed mine. A parent for a parent. I want to see his life end and drain from him, I want her to watch it happen, and I want to be the one to do it."

He looked at her a moment, considering if he should tell her about the Dark Curse, about what he was planning to do with it, what it would require of Regina, the heart of her father, how it would mean that her plans for revenge would be lost before she could even enact it. But then he realized...Piper was unaware that Cora was still alive and he didn't doubt that, one day, mother and daughter would be reunited. He could see it now, in his mind's eye, Cora standing over him with his dagger in hand, no...not his dagger, a false one, and Piper there. He could see something happening, Cora falling to the ground, Regina there, the woman cradling her mother in her arms as she died, completely and utterly broken and devastated, with Piper smirking over her.

He blinked and shook his head, "I can guarantee you Pip," he looked at her, the vision of the future still fresh in his mind, "You shall have your revenge."

He couldn't tell her about the Dark Curse just yet, not right now. She had endured so much and was still recovering from her stabbing and the sleeping curse, she still wasn't used to the burning room and he didn't want to burden her just yet, not now. He would wait, just a short while longer, and then tell her about the curse and what would be needed, why he was intent to see it through and promise her that all would be well.

A parent for a parent, she'd said and he knew...she would get it.

A/N: From what I gathered of the show, Aurora once says to Phillip, when he tells her Maleficent is gone after waking her, that she finds it hard to believe that Maleficent wouldn't be a threat anymore as she first came after Aurora's mother and then herself. I take that to mean (and I think the show implies) that Sleeping Beauty and Aurora are mother and daughter instead of the same people :) And here we have it, the reveal of just who the woman that cursed Piper was ;) Sleeping Beauty seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed lol :)

Also, for anyone who's interested. I'll be posting a new Doctor Who OC series tomorrow, featuring my 5th Time Lady, the Doctor's Wife from Gallifrey :)

Some notes on reviews...

We'll have to wait and see about Rumple's fate ;) As for the vault, oh Piper will not be ok with Neal there, but she might just have a trick up her sleeve and Neal might end up being the one that's not ok with the plan }:)

I did post yesterday :) I also posted the cover and link to the story on my tumblr's queue, it was up at about 10pm for me, but the email notifications didn't go out :( I didn't get one either :(

Piper knows almost every secret of Rummy yup, including Pan ;) Piper's reaction will be a little surprising to Robin but that's all I can say about that just yet ;) As for Wendy, I think she'll like her well enough, for having taken care of Bae but she won't be pleased that she's semi tricking people :( We'll have to wait and see about Piper's magic and the shadow though ;)