Chapter 1: The coward and the Dark One
As it was said before, the Enchanted Forest was quite big, with several kingdoms. It's not known precisely, as this passed over 300 years ago, in which kingdom exactly did Rumple, Milah and Bae live. Especially because borders are easily changed. But it is in every way unfortunate that The Captain decided to dock right in their village. But destiny has some of these things. Call it black humor or irony, however you like.
Some years had passed and Baelfire had grown up a bit and was now a six-year-old handsome and smart boy. Milah never forgave her husband for deserting the army and became bitter. Their once happy marriage was now reduced to nothing. Rumple did everything for Milah and especially Bae, his beloved Bae, but Milah hated her life and spent many, many nights in the tavern.
One of these nights, having just come from several months at sea, Killian Jones, The Captain, and his crew also happened to be in the tavern, with his dark pirate charm, and many tales of adventures. Milah, desperate to escape the sameness of her sad life, was immediately drawn in. Used to having as many women as he so desired, Killian first thought of the sad housewife as fresh meat, another woman to fall for his most times exaggerated tales and the unknown, the novelty he represented. Neither of them expected to fall in love. But destiny has some of these things. Apparently the Greek Cupid had some counterpart, maybe a lost cousin, in that land and that unimaginable duo, the wife of the village coward and the brave, adventurous pirate fell in love. Rumplestiltskin tried to "save" his wife, but the allure was too big for Milah to resist and she escaped. Ran way, leaving husband and son behind, no looking back. Rumple tried going to the docks to prevent Killian from leaving with his wife, begging the Captain not to leave his son motherless, but it was useless. Coward that he was, especially being crippled, he refused to duel the Captain, who left with Milah.
But Rumple put that aside and went on taking care of his son, his beloved son, until Bae grew to be a few days short of his fourteenth birthday. The Ogre Wars were still happening, and killing, and destroying the land. Because of the many years the war had been raging, there was a shortage of men and even of women, so the ruler of that region, a cruel Duke, using to his advantage the control he had over the evil Dark One, declared all children of 14 or more able to fight and therefore obligated to leave their family and go to the battlefront. Rumple watched his neighbors being taken and immediately grew scared. Bae was brave, and wanted to go, but his father would not hear of it. So two nights before the fourteenth birthday of Bae, Rumple woke his son in the middle of the night and together they escaped their village. But the soldiers were roaming the roads, expecting fugitives, and they were caught.
That was an unfortunate encounter in more ways than one. The leader of the soldiers recognized Rumplestiltskin and told all the other, including Bae, of his cowardice. Upon leaving, he also said they would back in two days time to get Baelfire to fight in the war. And lastly, a beggar that was passing went to help Rumple, who had been thrown to the ground by the soldier. As gratitude, Rumple offered him a warm meal.
Over dinner, the beggar told Rumple of the power the Duke had over the Dark One. Even beyond one of the most powerful beings of the Enchanted Forest, the Dark One had a weakness – his dagger. At this point maybe it would be wise to explain what exactly "the Dark One" was. Because this was not restricted merely to one person or being, it was a curse, a curse as old as time itself. Long, long ago, when the Enchanted Forest first came to be, it was born tow ancient powers, Good and Evil, who would then keep the balance of the magic of the realm. Good took the form of Reul Ghorm, who today we call the Blue Fairy. There are other fairies, of course, but those came much later and don't have nearly as much power as the original one, their leader. Evil took the form of the Dark One. And he was indeed evil. We don't know the name of the first Dark One, only his powers, his curse survived. He spread pain and death and despair across the real and across time. But mind you, he, like the Blue Fairy, was not human, so it was impossible to call on his humanity, for he had none. Also, not being human, he didn't have the weakness of death. One day, a couple of centuries later and still several centuries ago, a mage ran into a discordance with him. Obviously, it didn't end well. The mage then spent almost two decades looking for a way to eradicate the Dark One, obtaining revenge. The mage's solution came in the form of a dagger. A dagger that had mixed in its metal a single strand of hair of the Dark One, that the mage was able to obtain from their confrontation. The only weapon able to hurt in any way this most powerful creature. What the mage couldn't anticipate, of course, was that by using the dagger, he would not merely kill the Dark One, but become it himself. He could kill the vessel, but not the power. Darkness had to exist to balance light. It's how the world works. For that, the dark power had to find a new vessel. That's the origin of the Dark One Curse. By using the dagger to kill the Dark One, whoever wields the weapon become himself the Dark One. Also, because the dagger had a strand of hair of the original Dark One, possessing the dagger granted its possessor the ability to control the power, to control the Dark One. For that reason, this is a secret most well kept.
And it's part of this tale the beggar told Rumple in that disastrous night. He said the Duke controlled the Dark One because he possessed the dagger. But were Rumplestiltskin to steal the dagger, he could control the Dark One or, as Rumple said he'd be terrified, the beggar said he could take the power. Clever manipulation, all clever manipulation and at that point poor Rumple was gullible. Most unfortunate since, were Rumple to realize the consequences of his action, he'd never have set the Duke's castle on fire, stolen the dagger, or driven it through the Dark One's heart. Who, surprisingly, happened to be the beggar. Zoso, for this was his name, told Rumple that the Dark One's power was a curse, a burden, and that now it was Rumple's turn to endure it. But Rumple finally found himself. Always a coward (even though he had tried to escape it, he couldn't), weak, afraid, he was now immortal. No power could match him. Except, of course, the dagger, but that was a secret very well kept that Rumple did not intend to spread.
He wasn't all that evil, though. It's important to remember that Rumple's motivation to steal the dagger was not to become powerful for shallow reasons, but to be able to protect Bae. Bae, oh his precious Bae. If Rumple's love for his son was already bordering on obsessive and dangerous, it was now beyond so. He went to the battlefront, called a truce and ended the war, sending the children, along with the rest of the soldiers, home. He was a war hero. But it was not enough. Bae was righteous, correct and, above all, good. He loved his father very much, although he rarely thought of his mother, whom he thought dead. He hated when his father killed, or hurt anyone for any reason, more so when the reason was futile. Slowly Bae started to resent magic, to resent what his father had became. The villagers were scared of him, for if he so much as got a scratch during a game, Rumple would chase the person, turn him into a snail and kill him.
Bae couldn't take it anymore, so he made a deal with his father: if Bae found a way to break the curse, would Rumple accept it? Would he break it? His love for his son was so great that he said yes. One day Bae's friend Morraine told him about Reul Ghorm, the other ancient power, the power who ruled the night. Bae was excited and waited until nightfall in the forest, and asked Reul Ghorm for a way to be with his father like it was before. The Blue Fairy's solution was extreme, and perhaps a bit selfish. She told Bae that his father's powers were exclusive to that real, where magic existed, but where they didn't belong. The only way to save Rumple was to send him to "A Land Without Magic", where he'd be normal again. She gave Bae a magic bean, the last one the fairies had, so he could open the portal.
But magic had become a crutch with which Rumple could not live without. Bae was brave enough to leave everything behind and go to a land where he knew nothing or no one, all to save his father. Bae was brave. Rumple was not. When the portal opened, he couldn't go through. He was scared of losing his powers. He was scared of the unknown. He let Bae go. And as soon as Bae went through the portal closed. And as soon as the portal closed and silence once again claimed the forest, Rumple regretted his decision. He wanted his son back. He needed his son back. So Rumple searched for the Blue Fairy, who said she had no way of helping Rumple. He in turn accused her of taking his son from him. She denied. And he vowed he would get Bae back, he would find a way. When told only a curse could do it, but at the cost of destroyed their world for the next, Rumple declared he would not rest until he had his son back. Rumple had no limits, and he had all the time in the world. He was immortal. That's how Rumple sealed his destiny. His actions left Bae fatherless. And he vowed not to rest until he was finally reunited with his son, oh his beloved son again.