Chapter Three: All Magic Comes with a Price
Her imagination had come up with several different scenarios of who the mysterious man looking for Rumple might be, but his son hadn't been one of them. From what he'd told her the parting had been terrible. He'd abandoned him, Rumple had confessed, emotions that he usually kept so well under wraps bubbling to the surface. Finding him was the reason behind him writing the curse that had brought them to this land. It had been his driving force for three centuries, but as far as he'd told her he had never expected Baelfire to seek him out.
The drop had been rather sudden. He'd looked tired when he stopped by the library, but not nearly as ill as he appeared now. Rumple had been right there and sank to the ground with him, one arm wrapped around his son and a surprisingly even expression on his face as he checked him over.
"Is he really..?" Belle started, but couldn't quite finish.
"I think so."
"You don't sound sure."
Rumple grimaced, his eyes only barely flickering up to her before he continued to check to make sure the man in his arms wasn't in any unforeseen danger. "I hadn't dared to hope," he whispered after a moment.
Belle knelt down next to them hesitantly. She didn't want to intrude, but she couldn't leave him alone right now either. "What happened to him?"
Skilled hands that were shimmering ever so slightly with magic were checking him over, though Baelfire never roused. "Someone cast a spell that he took part in. It's... an incredibly complicated spell. It usually would require two very powerful magic users. One to cast it, one to...go."
"Go?" Belle echoed. "Go where? Is it some sort of teleportation spell?"
"No. It's as close to time travel as one might get. If memory serves, it sends the person's consciousness back, not their physical form. That's one reason it's so complicated." He looked up at her, dark eyes keen and it pulled on memories of her days with him in the Dark Castle when he'd taken the time to explain something he was working on. "Both consciousnesses reside in one body. Theoretically, the traveling one will usually fight for dominance, but the process is jarring. When you combine that with the fact that whoever cast it didn't seem to understand it in full, it's left a fair amount of Dark magic racing through his system."
"Is he going to be alright?"
"Oh yes. I'll make sure he is," Rumple answered easily. "He'll need some rest."
Belle hesitated. She'd always been a quick study of anything she put her mind to, but magic made her nervous. "This may be a silly question," she murmured, "but are you saying Baelfire - this Baelfire - is from the future?"
"Of sorts," he answered thoughtfully. "I fear we'll need to wait until he's well enough to wake to get the full story. I couldn't imagine something so desperate that would drive my son to dark magic."
"You took on your curse for him, didn't you?"
"I did, but Bae was always stronger than me."
Belle pursed her lips together thoughtfully, weighing her next words. "It's been many years, Rumple. Are you certain that this is Baelfire. I know you want him to be-"
"He knows too much not to be. Things that no imposter could know." His fingers worked their way through grey-flicked hair. "I'll make certain, though."
She knew there was likely a way, but she hadn't the faintest idea how. "Can I do anything to help?"
"If you would, thank you. David had mentioned he was staying over at Granny's. His things will likely be there. I'll need to get him to my house to have access to what I need."
Belle nodded and stood slowly. "I'll bring them over." She paused at the shop door and turned, watching Rumple check over his ill son once more. The expression on his face remained guarded, but there was hope not too far behind it. She could only pray that it wasn't ill-placed. It would shatter Rumple to have a reconciliation with his son dangled out in front of him only to have it snatched away.
The thoughts lingered as she walked down the street to Granny's. She sighed as she stepped into the diner, finding only a few stragglers there for breakfast. Ruby was busy putting together a basket of food for the dwarves in the mines, and she glanced up. "Belle!"
"Hey," she greeted, taking a seat and leaning closer so she and her friend could speak as quietly as possible. "I have a favour to ask you."
Ruby laughed. "Okay?"
"I need you to promise to keep something to yourself, alright?" She waited until the taller woman nodded slowly before glancing around, not entirely convinced that the dwarf a couple seats over waiting on the food to take back to his brothers wasn't trying to listen in. "The man that came in last night, did you meet him?"
"Briefly. He stayed in the inn. Do you know who he is?"
"Rumple thinks he does."
"Who? He's supposed to tell David as soon as this guy contacts him."
Belle resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The likelihood of that happening was very low. "It's someone he knows. Don't worry, the man isn't a threat to us and Rumple isn't a threat to him." As long as he is who he says he is, she wanted to say, but she didn't dare. David, as well-meaning as he'd be, would be sure to jump on the middle of this if she did. With the way that Happy kept thinking he was being discrete in the way he was eavesdropping, it would only be a matter of time anyway.
"I trust you, Belle. Not so sure I trust Rumplestiltskin."
"I know, Ruby, but I do. He's trying. Really he is, and if this man is who he says he is... It'll be good for him."
"If he's not?"
"Then we'll deal with it, but I have to believe Rumple will do his best to handle it well."
Ruby heaved a sigh and rested her chin against the palms of her hands, elbows braced against the counter. "What do you need?"
"Rumple said he's staying here. I was just going to grab his things for him."
The werewolf quirked an eyebrow. "Why doesn't he come get them?"
"He's not... well. I think it has to do with how he got here. Rumple said he'd have more answers once he's feeling better."
"Okay," Ruby answered as if she didn't really believe the story, but she did trust Belle. "I'll have them down in just a couple minutes." She paused, as if she were thinking very hard on something and then turned. "Do you think Mr Gold might be in his shop later on? I've been looking for something from our world and I can't seem to find it."
Belle smiled. "Well, when things don't show up form our world in our own possession, if they come over they're often in Rumple's shop. I don't know when he's going back or if he is today, but give me a call when you need to take a look and if he can't make it I'll get him to give me the key."
"He'd do that? Just… let us rummage around?"
The blue eyed woman laughed. "I don't think we'll make much of a mess. The man has never been the most organized of sorts."
Ruby nodded slowly. "I'll call after the lunch crowd. It usually slows down. Thanks. I'll go get the suitcase."
Belle smiled and watched her go, settling in to wait and wondered if Ruby would be quicker with the clothes or whatever else he'd brought with him than Happy would be to fetch David as the dwarf scurried out the door now that his order was ready.
Rumplestiltskin had settled his son into one of the guest rooms in his three-story house. He'd woken only briefly, his fever spiking even as he did and then drifted back off to sleep. The man that had sought him out was, in fact, the son he'd been looking for. After the terrible event with August Booth he hadn't dared trust his own raging emotions. Once he'd gotten him settled and his own spells working to counter the nasty side effects of the spell he'd taken part in, Rumple had taken just a moment to place a couple of loose hairs into a beaker. Magic swirled and confirmation was given in the only way he could really accept now. This was Baelfire and he'd been desperate enough to do something utterly foolish.
Bae was mumbling a bit in his sleep and his father pulled a chair up to the side of the bed, easing himself into it and resting his cane against the nearby dresser. The counterspell was working through him slowly, but it hadn't done enough yet to ease the lines in his face deepened by the pain. Rumplestiltskin reached forward, one hand going to his son's forehead and the other taking hold of his limp hand. Fingers flexed ever so slightly in his own and a small smile came to his lips. He'd spent so long looking for him that to find him now - and to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was him - brought a strange sort of warmth to him that he hadn't been sure he could feel again outside of his time with Belle.
Slowly, carefully, Rumple added to the spell already working through Baelfire. The young man's body and mind was having trouble adjusting to the shock of the spell that had shoved his consciousness into an earlier point in time, so to speed up this process without taking the necessary precautions could do more harm than good. He used himself as an anchor, the darkness not burning him like it did his son, and after a moment he felt at least some of the tension ease away and Bae let out a weak cough, his dark eyes sliding sluggishly open. "Papa?"
"Hey," Rumplestiltskin greeted softly and Bae squeezed his hand, a tired smile making it to his lips. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I got run over by a truck. I think it backed up for another go too."
His father gave a short chuckle. "It's bound to take some time to get your bearings. The darkness of the spell you used clung to you."
"I felt fine when I got here last night."
"You came from beyond the town line. Once you cross it, there's magic here. You're likely to be a little worn down yet. It'll pass."
Bae leaned in towards where his papa's hand rested against his forehead, pulling at some of the darkness left behind. "Feels good," he murmured and Rumple thought he'd drifted back off again until he spoke softly. "Guess I startled you this morning, huh?"
"A bit, yes," Rumplestiltskin admitted in a faint whisper.
"Sorry. Didn't know where else to go. I knew you'd know what to do. How to fix it."
Hope reared its often traitorous head and Rumple tried to keep it in check. The fact that Bae had know where to seek him out meant that in whatever time he'd been pulled from they'd likely come across each other and Bae had spent time in Storybrooke. Until his son was strong enough to speak at length about it, there'd be no telling what those details were, or even what had been so terrible that he'd come back to fix it. The truth remained though, even if he didn't know the details, that Bae had sought him out for help with the problem, just as he had when he was young and Rumplestiltskin had been the father he'd loved. "We'll fix it, Bae. I promise."
Bae chuckled. "You always try to fix everything," he said, his voice slurred with sleep trying to creep back in. "I hope... I need you to help, Papa. I need them back."
"Need who back, Bae?"
"My son," he whispered and then sleep had claimed him again, leaving Rumplestiltskin to stare in shock. Bae had a son. The desperation made sense now. His father could certainly understand it. Dark magic pulled on desperation, even desperation to save those that you loved.
Carefully, Rumple raised his son's limp hand to his lips and pressed a tentative kiss to it. "We'll save your son, Bae. I won't fail you again."
He heard the front door opening downstairs and the faintly irritated voice of his True Love arguing with someone. None of his wards seemed to be sensing an honest threat, but he stood, swaying a bit at the movement after draining so much darkness from Bae. His curse would take it in and make use of it, but it left him a little light headed at first. Slowly he steadied himself, grabbed his cane, and left the room as quietly as he could to see what all the commotion was.
Balancing Storybrooke sometimes seemed more difficult than balancing two kingdoms within the Enchanted Forest. Granted, he'd had Snow at his side in the Enchanted Forest. David was certain if she were there now she'd know just how to approach this situation. Not that he really knew what it was. A man had come to Storybrooke and Rumplestiltskin knew him. He hadn't liked how the wily sorcerer had handled the conversation just a couple hours before, but pressuring him into doing anything he didn't want to was difficult on the very best of days and dangerous to anyone in the vicinity on a bad day.
That's why it was best to catch Belle first. The librarian was on her way up the steps as he pulled up to the three-story pink house and battling for a key while balancing what looked like the luggage Happy had said she was sent after. If Belle was involved, it made David a little easier about the situation, but he still needed answers. Rumours would spread that there was a visitor and when they did he needed to have answers if he was was going to ease people's panic.
"Hey, Belle?"
The beauty glanced his way, looking as exasperated as he'd ever seen her and he reached out to take the bag from her. "Here, let me help you with that."
"Thank you, but I know why you're here, David."
Well, he'd always heard she was sharp. Henry adored her. To keep his mind off of the fact that his birth mother and grandmother had been pulled through a portal that probably had dropped them back into a land that might or might not exist, that his step mother struggling to be what he needed, and the dreams that pulled at him every night, the kid had needed a break and had started taking one once or twice a week in the library with Belle. "I know, but I just need to make sure everything is in the open. The rumours are going to spread and I-"
Belle bristled just a little, though her irritation was utterly controlled next to Rumplestiltskin's. "The town doesn't need to know everyone's business all the time, David," she told him firmly as the key clicked into place and the door opened.
"A stranger affects us all."
"Good thing he's not a stranger then," Rumplestiltskin's voice wafted down from the landing leading to the second floor. He looked down at David, not quite accusingly, but the prince knew better than to think that a cheerful sound coming from him meant he was overlooking the intrusion into his home - that David realized he was now standing inside of - that it might feel like. "Come on in, Charming. Make yourself at home."
David set the bag he'd taken for Belle down. "You knew I'd come by when you didn't follow through."
"Give me five minutes, dearie," the Dark One snapped, even if the sharp edges were a little duller than usual.
"Who is he, Rumple?"
Rumplestiltskin's lips twitched. "Don't call me that."
David sighed. "Fine. Gold, who is he?"
That seemed to amuse him. "I've never heard you uncomfortable to use my name before. What changed?"
The younger man snorted and rolled his eyes. "Rumplestiltskin, who is the man that showed up last night?"
"Not so hard, was it?"
"Rumple," Belle admonished softly and even David saw how he relented some of the teasing at that. She was good for him, there was no question about it, but the prince wondered if he'd ever manage to be able to be good for her in return.
"His name is Baelfire. He's my son."
The words had come out quietly, but they caught David as if the smaller man had struck him. "Your… what?"
"My son," the Dark One repeated.
"I didn't… know you had one."
"And now you do."
He didn't know what to say. Anything that came to mind would never come across as he meant it to, though he hardly knew what he meant it to come across as. Rumplestiltskin had a son. Had he had a family? A wife? Belle was hardly old enough to be the man's mother, but there might have been someone before her. Other children? It registered with David just how little he knew about the man that had sometimes played their ally, sometimes their foe, but he could say nothing further as his cellphone rang in his pocket and he pulled it numbly out. "Yeah?"
David barely heard anything on the other end until it registered that Doc was telling him that there'd been an accident in the mines. Leroy had fallen through into a hidden cavern and he needed to come quickly. He was still staring at Rumplestiltskin as he hung up the phone. "I have to go."
"I doubt I can convince you to keep this to yourself."
"I don't keep secrets from this town," David answer tightly, turning toward the door.
"Even when they're not yours to tell."
David ignored the jab and turned. He had bigger things to worry about right now, but that didn't mean that the newfound knowledge wasn't still burning in his mind.
Bae thought that he might have come around once or twice before now, but as he blinked his eyes open he felt a little more more human than he had felt before. The room didn't spin as badly and he could breathe without feeling like someone had put an old, wet cloth over his face. He shifted, making sure everything was working correctly, and found his papa sleeping there in the most awkward position that he thought he'd ever seen. He'd pulled a chair to the bedside and was craned over, bent at the waist so that his lying against the bed, bent arm tucked under his cheek. The other arm was attached to the hand that may never have left Bae's own.
The younger man smiled, squeezing his father's fingers. He'd known that he wanted to get back to him, but he hadn't understood quite how badly he needed to see him again after he'd watched him simply disappear from the earth. As in everything he'd done in Bae's lifetime his death had been a grand gesture. He wasn't under any of Belle's dissolutions - dissolutions that she might never have now - that his papa had died for anyone other than them. Maybe Henry too. He'd been warming to the idea that he was a grandfather and once Rumplestiltskin accepted you as family there was no going back. Definitely Henry too.
His papa stirred, coming back to wakefulness slowly and, from the looks of it, painfully. He winced at the terrible position and Bae found himself laughing softly. "Better ways to sleep, Papa."
"I'd meant to stay awake."
"Best laid plans and all that." Bae shifted again and managed to ease himself up this time. Rumplestiltskin watched him carefully but didn't make any demands that he lie back down, so he assumed he wasn't going to do any permanent damage. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few hours."
"Don't know why, but I thought it'd be a lot longer than that."
"I might have had something to do with that," his papa said with a small smile. He looked at Bae like he thought it might land him in some sort of trouble. When it didn't he straightened a little better and his gaze turned serious. "If you're well enough, son…."
"Guess you want to know why, huh?"
"I don't know what you've been through, but the last time I saw you, Bae, you abhorred magic. You wouldn't even let me heal an injury with it."
"You always did say that desperation makes us do things we might not do otherwise."
"And I've said that magic comes with a price, but that didn't seem to stick either."
Bae grinned and reached out a hand to him, finding his father ready to take it. "I get it now. The curse, I mean. There's a lot I'll never be able to understand, Papa, but I get being willing to give anything to get to and take care of your son."
"What happened to your boy, Bae?"
"We were separated. A lot of stuff happened and Regina had to reverse her curse. Your curse, I guess." The image of his father looking at him and explaining the curse to became vivid in his mind.
"So he's here? In Storybrooke?"
"Yeah. Reversing the curse took everyone back, but it would have left him alone."
"Why?"
"He was born here in the Land Without Magic."
Bae could see his father's clever mind working and he stared at his son. "Henry."
"Yeah."
"You and Emma."
"Yeah."
"Henry is my… grandson." He stopped a moment and looked like he was processing it. Finally he forced a long breath out through his nose and turned his gaze back to his son. "That doesn't make any sense, Bae. Why wouldn't I have just brought Henry with us? Regina may have cast the damn thing, but it's my curse. I could have found a way."
Baelfire didn't know if there were any rules involving what he could or couldn't say, but he was pretty sure that if there were he'd broken them all just by coming in the first place. He meant to shatter the reality that he'd lived. It was terrible, and he was willing to risk the unknown if it meant that his family would be safe. "You died, Papa," he whispered. "You saved us and you died."
"I see," his father said slowly.
"But we can fix it, Papa. I know it's probably not right to screw with everyone else's lives so that I could get back to the people I love, but… Maybe something good will come out of it too."
"Tell me what happened."
"All of it?"
"All of it," he confirmed, sitting back in the chair and watching Bae intently.
Baelfire had never been a storyteller, but he told it as best as he could. He told his father about how he had landed in Neverland after a brief stay in London, about how he and Emma had met, and how August had convinced him to let her go to jail and it'd been one of the worst mistakes of his life. He told him about how he and Emma and Henry had just shown up on his doorstep without so much as a warning and how angry he'd been. He watched his papa's expression try to remain even as he described their reunion in Manhattan and Bae could feel his own heart breaking. He'd been so angry then. Angry and hurt and betrayed and so very, very abandoned, but he hadn't understood. He'd made a mistake, Rumplestiltskin had told him. One that he regretted with everything he had in him, and even without those words spilling out in a rehearsed fashion, he could see it in the elder man's eyes as he tried to keep himself composed. He skipped over some of it and tried not to linger too much on Neverland when he saw his father wince at the name of the place at the first mention. "Belle and I were going to open up something called the Vault of the Dark One, but she talked me out of it."
"Good thing too. Whichever one of you that used the key would have died," his papa said tightly.
"Yeah, we found that out later." He thought about the way the book's letters had become clear for him and how the transportation spell hadn't worked for Belle but had obeyed his commands. He wanted to ask, but a different question rolled off his tongue instead. "When I came into the shop this morning you said you wouldn't be tricked again. What did you mean again?"
Rumplestiltskin went pale. "Nothing."
"No, you don't get to do that. I just told you everything, now it's my turn to ask a question."
A short chuckle left him. "We didn't make that deal."
"Didn't have to, Pop."
Some of the tension eased, but not all of it and Bae took his father's hand. It took several long moments of silence before he pulled in a deep breath and spoke quietly. "I don't know how much of this you know… if we talked about what happened after you… after I let you go." The words were forced out and he squeezed his eyes shut against them as if it might banish a terrible image playing over and over in his mind.
"No, we didn't. Not really. We didn't get the chance."
"I became obsessed with find you. I traveled, I created plans, and sought after insane rumours that couldn't have been true if you wished on a lamp for them. Finally, I came across the same seer that predicted your birth. She told me I'd write the curse-" he motioned around them - "that would create Storybrooke. There were bits that had to be to deal with the price of something so massive. One of those things was that I couldn't cast it."
"Kind of like the spell that brought me here?"
"Exactly. Who cast that anyway?"
Bae chuckled. "Regina."
"Imagine that. She's quite talented, but don't tell her I've said so. She often needs a bit of work to reach her potential. She'll get lazy otherwise."
"Who tricked you, Papa?"
Rumplestiltskin pulled in another deep breath. "I set in some protections for myself. Regina was going to cast it so that everyone's wills bent to hers. Oh, I made sure that I'd live well. She agreed to that much at least, but that wasn't really the point. The point was to find you." His hand tightened around Bae, as if he were drawing the strength to keep going with the story. "So I made sure there'd be something to wake me up before the others so that when the savior came that I could help her along to breaking the curse."
"Emma."
"Emma. She woke me up. I was at Granny's collecting the rent and that name hit my ears. Can you imagine some three centuries suddenly rushing in on you? All at once a life that I thought I knew became meaningless and all that mattered was having her break the curse and going out into the world to find you. I'd have done it, Bae. I'd have crossed that line into a place without magic, without… I'd have done it."
"You did do it, Papa," Bae assured him softly. "I know you would have, because for me you did. You still haven't answered my question though."
"A young man came into town before Emma broke the curse. He…" He paused, shaking his head. "No, Bae, please don't ask. I was a fool. A desperate fool. I should have known."
"Did someone impersonate me?" Bae asked, the question sounding idiotic even as he asked it. Who would have known to?
"I was a fool," Rumplestiltskin repeated.
Anger began to burn deep in Baelfire's chest and he reached out to him. He looked so hurt in that moment, so vulnerable. It wasn't a place he was used to seeing his father at. "Who was it?"
"A lad named August-"
"Booth? August Booth? Pinocchio?"
Rumplestiltskin snorted and nodded.
"I'm going to kill August. The guy that convinced me to leave Emma? That was August."
"I suppose we were both duped by him then. I'm sorry, son."
"I don't know what you're apologizing to me for. I'm going to break his nose next time I see him."
The door to the room opened and Belle appeared, whispering apologies even as she did. She had her cell phone pressed against her blouse and she looked directly at Rumplestiltskin. "Do you know if you have a long red cloak somewhere in the shop? It would have had a hood on it and-"
"Ruby's cloak?" he asked and reached for his cane, easing himself to stand.
"Yes. She's still looking for it and says she can't find it anywhere. She says it's important."
"I'd say so. Is that her? Tell her to meet me at the shop. We'll have a look."
Belle nodded, repeating the invitation as she walked back out. Bae's papa turned back to him. "I'm sorry, but this is quite important. Ruby has a condition-"
"She's a werewolf. Got that memo. You mind if I come along? I think if I try to sleep anymore I may go crazy."
He looked like he might argue for a moment but shrugged instead. "I'll admit I'd rather keep my eye on you for any other adverse effects."
"Could they show this late?"
"Never underestimate the price of dark magic, Bae, especially dark magic like you used."
TBC
Notes - Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews! Every one that hits my inbox makes me smile like crazy.
Next time - Chapter Four: Through the Fire, in which Henry gets to know Baelfire and King George stirs up trouble.
