Sorry about the time between updates. Latin is time consuming and I get way too many ideas swirling around in my head. It makes it hard to concentrate. Anyways, thanks to everyone who reads. I hope you're enjoying the story. Or well, maybe not enjoying per say since it's a rather sad story, but i hope you're getting something out of it.
They've been huddled in their little group for ten minutes now, and Bae wants nothing more than to stay this way for all of eternity. However, the heroes of this town tend to be impatient. So, he regretfully has to get things moving along before someone tries to come back in to get the answers. "Papa?" he questions softly. His dad moves slightly in response, snuggling even closer to him, though he hadn't thought that was possible. "Papa, I fear they'll all come barging in here if you don't send Belle out there soon," he states. His father pulls back, moving so he's sitting up on his own.
"You're right," he agrees, looking down at his lap. It hurts to see his father this timid and unsure. It's worse than it had been all those years ago when his papa was the bullied spinner. Bae wishes he could just make all his father's pain go away. Hadn't they both suffered enough in the past three centuries for fate to leave them alone?
"It's okay Rumple," Belle prompts, holding his hand in her own. "He will understand." This causes Bae to pause. Does Belle already know about this? Well, he supposes that there was quite an uproar when Henry stated his theory. Everyone had been paying attention to the boy and, he remembers regretfully, had ignored the man they were talking about. He must have told Belle during that time.
"You can tell me anything Papa," Bae states. His dad looks up at him as though to judge whether or not he's telling the truth. It hurts a little that his dad doesn't trust him, but he gets it. The man has been through so much recently; he's allowed to have some doubts.
Rumpelstiltskin looks back down, his hair obscuring his face. Right when Bae's about to give up on his father bringing him into the loop, he hears a soft, "It's broken." Bae frowns for a minute, looking over at Belle. She's not giving anything away.
"What's broken," he prods gently. Henry's theory surfaces in his mind, and even though a part of him still thinks it's crazy, he asks, "Is your curse broken?" A slight nod is all the answer he needs. "That's great!" he says happily, feeling overjoyed. "I can't believe it. You broke your curse. This is what I've always wanted!" His dad doesn't as much as move. Bae is fairly certain that the man isn't even breathing. He looks to Belle, confused. She giving him a look that clearly says he's done something wrong, but he can't figure out what that might be.
"So, is that all you want me to tell them?" Belle finally breaks the awkward silence. Bae stares at her, silently pleading her to fill him in on what he's done wrong. He doesn't get it; he was being supportive and expressing his joy at his papa's accomplishment. How could that be bad?
"I still have foresight," Rumple tells Belle. He's still being super quiet and timid.
"Okay," Belle says. "Do you want me to go tell them now, or wait for a little bit longer?"
There is a long pause where Rumpelstiltskin is most likely trying to decide what to tell Belle. "Go now," he says. She gives him a smile, which he can't see because he's still looking down. Belle slides off the bed, giving her true love's hand a slight squeeze. But before she can let go, Rumple is squeezing back, preventing her from leaving. He looks up at her, and Bae can imagine the pleading look in the deep brown eyes that are turned away from him. "Come back soon?"
"As soon as possible," Belle promises him before she starts walking toward the door. Rumple doesn't even watch her leave; he just ducks his head down again. Bae gives Belle a look as she leaves, desperate to know what he did wrong. She gives him an encouraging smile right before she closes the door as if she thinks that will help. He sighs before turning his attention back to his father. He racks his brain for a minute, trying to figure out what he did and what he can say to fix it. Eventually, he realizes that there is really only one thing he can say.
"What did I do?" he asks. His papa looks up at him.
"Nothing," his dad tells him. But Bae's no fool. His papa has the look he always got whenever his was concerned for his son. Bae knows it even better now that he has a son of his own, but he's not going to let his dad get away with not telling him things, even if it is just to spare his feelings.
"I know I did something," Bae says. This makes his father look down again. He looks like some chastised kid. No; he looks more like an abused animal. It threatens to split Bae's heart in two. "I want to know what I did so we can talk through it," he informs his dad.
There is another long silence. If his dad is going to do this all the time, Bae's going to get annoyed. "It's just…" he starts to say after a minute. Then he pauses again. Bae figures it's best to let his dad say what he's going to say in his own time instead of prodding him. "I just… I don't know," he says with a sense of finality to the statement that makes Bae realize that he's going to have to do some prodding.
"You don't know what?" he asks, doing his best to sound gentle instead of annoyed.
"I don't know how to deal with this," comes the response. The minute it comes, Bae feels like an idiot. Of course his papa wouldn't know what do after a curse he'd lived under for centuries finally broke. No duh his dad would have mixed feelings about a curse that made him want to commit horrible acts but also gave him the power to save his son. Bae should have known.
"I'm so sorry," he apologizes, and it's finally his turn to look down. His papa has been threw who knows what and here he is making him feel worse. Making him feel guilty for not sharing in Bae's excitement over the broken curse. He's completely startled when he's suddenly pulled up against the other man's chest. It's like how it used to be when Bae was a child; he's distressed and his papa is comforting him.
"It's okay Bae," he says as he rocks his son. Bae hadn't even realized he was crying until this moment. He feels terrible. After everything that happened he should be the one comforting his dad, not the other way around. But then again, maybe this is good for both of them. His dad probably likes holding him in his arms; likes comforting him. So he lets his dad rock him back and forth, whispering words of comfort to him as he sobs away all the guilt for causing his dad pain, the sorrow of losing his dad, the nagging pessimistic thought that keep telling him this is all just a dream, and a billion more emotions he doesn't care to try to identify. But there is one reason for his crying that he doesn't sob away. It's relief. He's finally back together with his dad, and this time, he's going to make sure that nothing can tear them apart.
He's been comforting his son for a few minutes when Belle finally comes back in. She looks slightly shocked to see them like this. He doesn't blame her; if anything this situation should be in reverse with Bae comforting him. But he's glad it's not. This is something he used to do all the time, and holding his son gives him a feeling that everything is normal. Everything is the way it is supposed to be; the way it was before his dark curse intervened.
Bae notices Belle too and pulls away from his dad on instinct, whipping the tears from his eyes. "How'd it go?" he asks, trying his best to sound like he hadn't just been crying. Belle, being the wonderful person she is, graciously decides not to ask about what happened, though Rumple suspects she'll ask him later.
"It seemed to go okay," she says, "though I'm not sure if everyone believes it yet."
"As long as they don't pester us about it, it doesn't matter whether they believe it or not," Bae says. He agrees with his son. People have never really listened to him or believed him. They've only tried to use him to get what they want. He doesn't really care if that's changed or not; all he really wants his privacy. Which he really doesn't get much of in the hospital.
"Can we go home?" he asks. Belle and Bae think for a minute.
"There's really no reason that you have to stay in the hospital," Belle says at last. He knows why. He's not physically injured, just mentally. Going home would probably help him, and that's what they just thought through. He hates it, how weak he is now. He hates that his son and true love will have to take care of him and he knows he won't be able to give much back in return. But there is literally nothing he can do to change all that, so he just accepts it for now, but not before he vows to try and get better as soon as possible.
"Home sounds good to me," Bae states. "Let's borrow an extra cane from the hospital and we can be out of here." This causes him to remember the price Bae had had to pay. He hates the fact that his son now bears the mark of his father's cowardice. It isn't right.
"I'm sorry Bae," he states, unable to look at his son.
"For what?" Bae asks, sounding confused. "Saving my life? Because I'm very happy you did that, even if the price was getting a limp." But it's not just that. Bae doesn't know everything. He tries to find the words to tell his son, but they catch in his throat. How do you go about say something like that?
"Well, I'll go try to find a cane and someone to give us a ride home," Belle states. Rumple can tell that she thinks they need some time alone to talk about this. But that won't help at all when he doesn't know how to say what he's thinking. He moves his hand and sees the mark there, the mark of the vault. Maybe he can show his son.
He hears the door open. "Oh, hello," Belle says, sounding surprised. He had figured she was the one to open the door, so now he looks up to see who she bumped into. He's expecting Emma or Regina, but he sees Dr. Hopper instead. Great. The guy thinks he is so bad he needs therapy right of the bat.
"I'm not trying to intrude," the man says before Bae can start yelling at him. "I just thought you might need a ride home," he suggests.
"That would be perfect," Belle says, seeming relieved that she doesn't have to go find someone else to ask.
"I also have this," he says, holding up a battered looking simple metal cane. "The hospital didn't have anything else," he says apologetically.
"That will work fine," Bae says, moving forward to accept the cane. This is where he should speak up. He should tell them. He moves to stand as Bae grasps the hospital cane and almost falls over when his right leg threatens to give out underneath him. "Easy Papa," Bae says as he comes to his side, moving to hand him his cane. Images flood into his head unbidden. Images of him beating people with that cane. But more importantly, he remembers that, in a way, that cane represents his power. It's elegant, graceful, and easy associated with the ruthless pawnbroker of Storybrooke. It's something he doesn't want to be reminded of. So he shakes his head and motions for his son to hand him the other cane.
"Are you sure?" Bae asks, looking confused. He just nods back, and then he's holding the battered old hospital cane. It looks like it's trying to be just like him, but there is no way it can ever become as old or as battered as he is. They would throw it out before it gets the chance. So doesn't that mean they should throw him out too?
"Are you ready to go?" Belle's gentle question pulls him from his thoughts. He nods again, placing the cane on the ground and moving towards Belle and the door. He finds it ironic that the mark is on the hand he needs to hold onto his cane. The first injury signifies him trying to be with his son and the second testifies to him saving his son. It's fitting that they're on the same side of his body.
Soon they are in Archie's car. He doesn't really pay attention during the trip. He just sort of stares out the window as Belle chats with Archie up front. He looks at the town as they pass through. Nothing has really changed. He died and nothing changed. Nothing save Bae being maimed for life. Even the people didn't really change; they were more worried about getting information out of him than about what he had been through. Well, he supposed not everyone had done that. Bae and Belle had tried to get the others to let him rest, but he'd expected that from them. Archie had as well, but he is supposed to be a conscience. Henry might care too, but he was the boy's grandpa. As much as he loves his family and true love, he'd like to know that there was someone else out there who cares. But he doesn't deserve that. He doesn't even deserve to have Bae and Belle here, caring about him. But here they are anyways, and he still can't understand why.
Soon they are at the house and Archie has left. He finds himself sitting on his sofa and he isn't quite sure how he got there. He's really tired. Despite what people might think, being under a sleeping curse does little to help you rest. "Hey, let's get you upstairs," Belle suggests. "It looks like you need to sleep." He nods in agreement, letting her gently guide him up the stairs. He realizes that this must be how he got to the couch. Soon, he is sitting on the bed. Belle rummages through his dresser, trying to find his pajamas. Exhaustion overtakes him as he collapses back onto to bed, deciding Belle can help him sit up again in a minute. Only, he can't even manage to stay awake for a minute; as soon as his head hits the bed, he is fast asleep.
He opens his eyes, confused. He feels groggy and he isn't quite sure where he is. "Hello," a male voice says and he jumps, turning to see who it is. When he sees the dark one, fear takes over and he backs up. His returning memories cause confusion; he thought he had escaped the dark vault. Why is he here now? Had all that just been a deceivingly good dream that is now going to be spoiled by reality? It appears so.
"Please," he begs as the others approach. He can't bear the thought of going through more torture. They merely laugh.
"And so like returns to like," one says, confusing him. What are they talking about? "You didn't think you could escape us, did you?" Wait. So, all that hadn't been a dream. But then, why is he here now? And then it hits him. Those who have been in a sleeping curse always return to the Netherworld in their sleep. This is kind of like that, only he returns to the dark vault since he was a dark one.
"I… I did escape," he says, trying to sound confident but failing miserably. "I am free of the dark curse," he tells them. This just causes them to laugh.
"No, you will never be free of it," they tell him. "Don't you see? Only dark ones can come here. You are still one of us."
"No!" he states in denial and dread. "No; that can't be! The others! They knew something had changed!" he remembers, suddenly grateful for the noisiness of Emma and Regina.
"We made it so. After all, it will be easier for you to do evil if everyone thinks you are free of it."
"No…" he mutters, not wanting to believe. They had to be lying, they just had to.
"After all, we wouldn't want our line to end, now would we?" they question. "Naturally there are things put in place to keep the dark one linage going. It just took us some time to activate, and we decided to try and help make you more evil while we waited." He is shaking now, trembling all over. He had thought he was finally free. Now he knows that was a lie fabricated to make it so he could do more evil. He lets out a sob and falls to his knees. All those years he had thought he was the master mind; the manipulator. Now he knows the truth; he's been manipulated just as much as everyone else.
"Don't worry," someone says in a sickeningly sweet voice as the dark ones close in on him. One comes up right behind him and whispers right in his ear. "We'll make sure you kill your loved ones first," he says. Before he can respond the familiar dreaded pain floods into him and he is unable to do anything save scream in agony.
