I would like to dedicate this chapter to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting and their families. I finished it the day it occurred. I send my prayers and blessings to the victims, both the dead and the injured, and their friends and families. God bless them, and God bless America.

Emma Swan

Henry was on Archie's front porch when she went to pick up the cricket. He'd been sent there beforehand to brief Archie on everything before she got there so they wouldn't have to explain it in the car or at Granny's.

"Hey, Mom. Let me guess, Gold wasn't too thrilled about Operation Phoenix?"

"Operation Phoenix? That's what you're calling it?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. I actually put a lot of thought into it. A phoenix is a magical fire bird that ages hundreds of years, grows old, then 'dies' by bursting into flame. Then, it's reborn from the ashes new and happy and beautiful again. That's literally what we're doing for Gold so…"

"I like it kid, it's clever."

Then, Archie came out of the house. "Emma! Oh God, tell me what Henry's saying isn't true!"

"I'm afraid, from reliable evidence and the way Gold's been acting, there's a very high possibility it is." Emma sighed.

"Okay… okay. So, Henry says there's another psychiatrist in town you guys want me to work with?" Archie asked.

"Yes, his name is Dr. George Huang. He's an expert in helping rape victims and in criminal profiling. I'd like you two to work together. Each of you has expertise the other doesn't."

"That makes sense. I've never treated a rape victim before. But I know more about magic than someone from out of town would. Alright Emma, let's go meet them."

The car ride there was mostly silent, until Henry asked, "Emma, what are we going to tell Belle?" Emma almost wrecked the car, she could not believe the thought had not crossed her mind! What were they going to tell Belle?

"Hey Belle, we just thought we'd stop by and tell you your husband was brutally raped and tortured repeatedly last year and there's an entire NYPD SVU squad here investigating. Have a nice day!"

Nope, Emma was not looking forward to that conversation at all, but it had to happen. Belle was closer to Gold than anyone. If he was going to open up and let someone in, testify, and seek help like he needed to, Belle was the only one who was going to be able to convince him to do it or he'd do it for her. He'd already died for Belle. Emma doubted there was much he wouldn't do for her.

Emma pulled into the Granny's parking lot and the three of them went inside. Elliot, Olivia, and Huang were sitting at a booth in the back, sipping coffee. They did introductions and the two psychiatrists shook hands. Then, it was down to business.

"From what Elliot and Olivia told me, he's definitely suffering from PTSD. I don't have any solid evidence, but if I had to guess, I'd say something someone said triggered a flashback, that's probably why he bailed."

"I agree. Where could he have gone though once he left?" Archie asked rhetorically. He then answered his own question. "We can rule out the shop, and if he's trying to keep Belle from seeing his pain, he probably wouldn't go to the library upset. Which leaves his home, his cabin, and maybe the wishing well, but he doesn't exactly have good memories of the forest as of late, so I doubt it."

"Do you think he may be at my Dad's grave?" Henry asked.

"Oh my God, I didn't even think of that. Good thinking, Henry." Archie complimented.

"You mentioned a wishing well, why would Gold go there? What's it's significance?" Huang asked.

Emma left it to Archie to explain. "The wishing well is located not far from Gold's shop, in the middle of the forest. It's the heart of magic in Storybrooke, it's got the highest concentration of magic in town. Gold like it there because spells are easier to perform and more powerful in that area."

"And it's therapeutic for mages to be there because of the high concentration of magic. It makes them feel good. Learned that from Regina." Emma said.

"And he and Belle got married there last week." Henry added.

"But I still don't think he would go there." Archie said.

"Why's that?" Olivia asked.

"Getting married at the well seems like it'd be Gold's idea, right? Well, it wasn't. In fact, he kept hinting that he was against holding the ceremony there, but he went through with it because he'd rather die than disappoint Belle again. Nea- Bae died in the middle of the forest not far from the wishing well. Then Gold had no choice other than to just wait there until Zelena came to get him, and who knows what she did to him for running away?

"Most of the forest in Storybrooke looks pretty much the same. He may never be comfortable being surrounded by trees like that again. It'd bring back too many bad memories. That's why I don't think he'd go anywhere even a few feet within the treeline unless he absolutely had to."

"That makes a lot of sense. He was scared and upset when he ran away from you guys, why would he go somewhere that makes him uncomfortable?" Huang said.

"Okay, so that leaves his cabin, his house, and his son's grave as places he'd go." Olivia said.

Just as that conversation ended, Ruby came by with their lunch. As she was leaving, Emma stopped her. "Hey Ruby, we might need your help." Emma said.

"Really? What can I help you with, Emma?" Ruby asked.

"Okay, which one are you?" Stabler asked.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby, this is Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler, and George Huang." Emma said, pointing to each one as she spoke.

I don't think I've seen you in town before, did you guys come over with the second curse?" Ruby asked.

"Kind of." Henry said.

"It's a delicate matter. We want as few people as possible to know about it. After lunch we're all headed over to Archie's to drop off George and Archie. If you can get off early and meet us there, we'll tell you about it. But seriously. Tell no one." Emma said.

"Yeah yeah, I got it. I'll ask Granny about it, I'm sure she'll let me go." Ruby said.

"Granny? I don't mean to sound rude, but everyone in this town is Legendary, who are you in… the other world?" Stabler asked.

"Oh, right. You asked. My name's Ruby here, but in the Enchanted Forest, everyone called me Red. I'm a werewolf."

Three jaws dropped.

Ruby smiled at them. "See ya." She said, then she went back behind the counter and into the kitchens."

Olivia was the one to break the silence between the three SVU members. "Well, my inner child is coming out for like the hundredth time today. Hence far I've met Snow White, Prince Charming, the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, The Beast slash Rumpelstiltskin slash Tic-Toc-Croc, Jiminy Cricket, and now Little Red Riding Hood."

"If you want to add one to the list, Cinderella and her Prince are eating lunch with their daughter a few tables away from us." Henry said.

Elliot almost spat his coffee back into his cup, but managed to swallow most of it.

Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold

He had almost done it. The night after Zelena's defeat, he had stolen the dagger from Belle as she slept (she'd told him that if he killed Zelena, she wouldn't be happy nor angry with him), he had teleported into the Sheriff's station, the dagger in his hands, inside the cell, a few feet away from her, with the spell on the tip of his tongue, the magic at the edge of his fingers, and yet… something inside him had told him 'no'.

Maybe it was that he'd promised himself he would live this life a good man, a man his son, grandson, and wife wanted-no, needed him to be. Maybe it was that Zelena was asleep (he hadn't thought he'd have the courage to face her awake, she had too much to mentally torture him with). Or maybe it was his own fear holding him back, turning him back into the crippled village spinner.

Who was he kidding? He was still the crippled village spinner. Just the coward who had run from the wars.

"Who are you, Rumpelstiltskin?" She purred in his ear.

He was in her bedroom, shirtless, on the floor, on his knees, with his hands chained behind his back. Zelena was standing in front of him, twirling his dagger casually between her fingers, taunting him with it.

He answered what she wanted to hear, what she was cementing in his brain, forcing him to believe to be true. Anything to stop her from beating him again. He already had a black eye and his back was covered in lashes. She gave him a cat-o-nine-tails each time he tried to disobey.

"I'm a crippled village coward who ran from the war." Rumple replied fearfully.

"Now now, all people have more than one title. Surely you know that by now, Rumple? So who else are you?"

"I'm the Dark One."

"Also known as?"

"Your Slave, Zelena."

"Also known as?"

He gulped, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes from pure shame. He'd been trying to avoid this one. "I'm your filthy little slut, Zelena." He whimpered.

She grinned and yanked his head back by his hair, when he gasped from the pain, she kissed him and forced her disgusting, slimy, treacherous tongue inside his mouth.

"And don't you ever forget it." She growled, unbuttoning his pants. "Coward."

Despite having memories like that permanently stuck in his brain, he had gone home that night, without laying a finger on the witch, put the knife back where he'd found it, and gone back to a light and insomnia-ish, nightmare-filled sleep on the couch.

It was a constant terror of his that if he slept beside Belle, he'd have a nightmare and accidentally hurt her in his sleep. That was the last thing he ever wanted to happen. Belle, his precious bookworm, was one of the last treasures he had. He was already falling apart at the seams. If he lost her, especially if by his own doing, he knew it would be the end of him. He'd shatter.

Zelena liked taunting him with that, staring at him through the bars of his cage like a cat staring at a mouse, telling him all the different ways she was going to make him hurt Belle, then force him to rip her heart out and crush it.

That was why whenever he and Belle went to bed, no matter how tired he was, he always waited until she was asleep, then got out of bed and went to sleep on the couch. In the mornings, he always set his alarm clock to twenty minutes before Belle usually awoke. Then Rumple would get up, make the living room look like nothing had happened, and crawl back into bed with Belle until she woke up to her husband laying beside her, stroking the side of her perfect, soft cheek saying, "Wake up, dearie. It's morning." And with sleepy blue eyes, his beauty would smile.

"Go ahead Rumple, I love it when you call me 'dearie'."

Go away. Go away. Why wouldn't the memories just go away? He could never make enough dream catchers to make it all disappear. He could never spin enough gold to spin it all away.

"No. I think the spinning is bringing the madness."

Maybe she was right. Rumple was quite sure he was slowly losing his mind. The delicate strands of his sanity were slowly wearing, getting thinner and thinner by the day. But what could he do to stop it?

Despite knowing he should probably tell someone, anyone, he didn't. He stayed silent. He smiled when he was expected to smile. He put on a brave face. No one could possibly imagine the screaming and crying and wailing happening inside him.

Rumple buried his knees closer to his body and covered his head with his hands, feeling tears coming… but he wouldn't cry again, not today. Crying was for cowards. He didn't want to be a coward.

If people were like mountains, he was Vesuvius. And the pressure was building…

John Munch

"This place is disgusting." Fin said. Munch couldn't help but agree with him.

It wasn't often in SVU that they had a case where the victim was a male and the offender was female. Even fewer where they were both adults. Stereotypically, it was the other way around. But this was Storybrooke Maine, apparently the usual rules didn't apply here.

They had found the battered, beaten up suit Emma had described unwashed (thank God) in the clothes hamper. The zipper on the pants was worn and looked like it had been broken once, like someone had tried taking this poor man's pants off too fast and had broken the zipper. There was also a disgusting layer of ejaculate all over the inside and outside of the groin area on the trousers and bottom of the shirt.

Munch had a feeling it wasn't all Rumple's.

After that, they hadn't found much evidence… until they'd gotten to the bedroom, that is. It was something out of a nightmare. Chains on the walls, encrusted with old blood around the cuffs where that poor man had struggled, every sex toy known to mankind, whips and cat-o-nine-tails, spatters of blood on the walls, ceiling, and on the wooden parts of the bed.

There were also papers under the bed in messy, shaky cursive. Written in what looked like ink or blood. I am disgusting... My son is dead because of me... I don't deserve anything good I have... Belle will leave me if she knows what I did… Henry will hate me if I ever tell… Wicked is good… I am so useless… I'm not attractive… I tried to kill Roland… I attacked my own family… I am a monster… I am as ugly as I was in the Enchanted forest… I am weak… Why won't she just END IT?

They went on and on. Zelena had forced this poor man to write all this over and over and over again, cementing it into his mind until he believed her. It was no wonder he wouldn't come forward himself, he was convinced he'd lose everything he held dear if he did.

"How does this woman sleep at night?" Munch asked. For a few seconds, Fin said nothing. Then, he spoke. "Just get Warner in here."

Regina

Regina walked into the sheriff's station, knowing what she had to do, but unsure how to do it. She'd been considering it- giving Zelena a second chance, maybe turning it from a sibling rivalry into a sisterhood. She had always wanted a sister as a child, but had never gotten one, only to find out years later that she did have a sister all along.

But now that Regina knew what Zelena had done, the almost-complete list of what Zelena had done, she would never consider it again. She didn't want Zelena near Henry, or Robin, or Rollan, or even in town now that she knew what she knew.

Back when she had been the Evil Queen, she would have done anything to get what she wanted, but not this. This was torture for fun, rape for pleasure. This was a new level of low, a type of evil that even the Queen wouldn't touch. This was wicked.

Regina and Rumpelstiltskin had never been what one would call 'friends'. And he hadn't exactly been the kind of teacher you brought an apple to class for either… But he'd never beat her, he always stopped the lesson when he knew enough was enough, he had taught her almost everything she knew about magic, and it was his fluency in the legal system that had brought her and Henry together… so she supposed she owed him something.

Finally, she walked into the sheriff's office. Zelena was in her cell, tapping her long, red fingernails on the green metal bars. What did Rumple see when he looked at her like that? What memories resurfaced? Did she ever scratch him when she beat him or raped him?

"What do you want?" Zelena asked. Then she saw the look on her sister's face. Disgust, anger, disappointment. "What?"

"I know what you did, Zelena." Regina said. Zelena gave her a look. "We all know what you did to Rumple." Zelena's face fell. Regina continued. "How could you? I'm the Evil Queen and I would never have done what you did, even in my evil days." Regina said. Zelena still hadn't said a word. But she spoke now.

"He's too terrified to tell you anything, I made sure of that for just in case the plan failed, which it did."

"So you admit he's got something to tell?" Regina said.

"Well you already know, it was so intoxicating to watch him squirm, to watch the frustration feed his madness. And the whimpering was pathetic. 'I'm so sorry, Belle.' 'Please stop, Zelena.' 'I don't want to, Zelena.' 'Bae, forgive me.' He could have snapped over to his son at any second back when he was insane, but no, he'd rather take all the pain than let me inflict anything on his precious boy. Honestly, he didn't seem to know what I was doing half the time when he was insane. It got so much more fun once the voices were gone."

"You are a monster." Regina said.

"And you're going to burn for it." Regina swirled around, staring right at Henry, who was standing by the open door. She'd never seen her adopted son so angry, his nostrils flared, his chest heaving, his fists clenched.

"We've got detectives visiting town who expertise in this kind of crime. New York's best Special Victims' Unit. They won't let you get away. They're at the farmhouse and the cellar right now collecting evidence. Do you know what happens to rapists in prison in this world? They get raped. I hope the other inmates kill you in prison if we don't give you the chair! That's my grandpa you were talking about, you witch!"

With that, Henry bolted down the hall and out the front door.

Henry

Henry didn't know how long he ran, but the next thing he knew, he was in the forest a few feet away from the wishing well. Why his feet had brought him here, he'd never know. Henry yelled in anger and kicked the trunk of one of Storybrooke's old trees.

He'd had to deal with the frustration of being the only one who knew about the curse, he'd been taken prisoner by Peter Pan, but listening to that woman talk about his grandfather like that, Henry didn't think he'd ever been this angry.

It took a few seconds, but Henry calmed himself down and sat down next to the old well. Anger never led to anything good, he had to think rationally, for Gold.

Henry sat at the steps for several minutes, trying to collect his thoughts. The reason he'd been at the station was because the adults had wanted a grown-up conversation once Ruby had arrived at Archie's office. The werewolf's sense of smell was going to be very useful in the investigation. He hated being left out for being too young, but understood their reasons. He didn't know why he'd gone to the Sheriff's Station, he supposed he was just looking for some way to be useful, then he'd overheard his adopted Mom and Zelena talking…

Henry wanted to tell someone. Someone close to Gold who could help him. Not Belle, because Henry knew how humiliated and upset his Grandpa already was, and didn't want to make it worse by telling the #1 person Gold didn't want to know about 'it'. It would really be perfect if there was someone who had known him a really long time, who was actually ther-

Wait, there was someone like that! There was someone in town who had known Rumple, even before he became Dark One, and might know just how much he was hurting… His Dad. Unfortunately, Neal Cassidy, Baelfire, Bae, his Dad, was dead. Dead and never coming back.

But Henry knew that when love and magic mixed, they were a powerful combination. His Dad might be dead, but that didn't mean he wouldn't respond if Henry asked for help.

Henry got up and made the three-mile walk to the Storybrooke Cemetery. He arrived at about five. The sun was just starting to set, casting a lovely tangerine glow over everything. A soft Maine breeze blew over the trees and gravestones, Henry like the sound of the wind through the leaves. Yes, though all cemeteries had a melancholy air about them of what once was, this was a peaceful place to have your final resting place.

Gold had definitely been there recently. Henry's hunch must have been right. For one thing, his large footprints were in the dirt and grass around his Dad's grave, and there was a lovely, fresh bouquet of red roses on his Dad's grave, neatly tied together with a glimmering strand of gold straw.

Henry sat down in the grass in front of his Dad's grave. Henry cleared his throat nervously. How to begin?

"Uh, hey Dad. I've really missed you. I really wish you were here now, of all times. I know he's been coming to see you, so you probably know, but Zelena didn't just keep your Papa prisoner. She beat him and tortured him. She raped him. A lot. He's really hurting. He's upset and angry and alone and he hates himself for what happened.

"You're one of the only people who could ever get through to him. You're…" Henry started to get choked up.

"You're dead. So I don't know how much you can do, but I hope you can help us in some way. Give us the strength we need to help him. Give him the strength and the courage to get through this and get help. He needs it. He needs all the help he can get."

Henry sniffed, holding back tears. "So uh, I'd better be headed back before my Moms start looking for me, you know how they get. I love you, Dad. And I miss you. I'll be sure to come visit again sometime. Bye." Henry walked away from the marble grave, and towards the road home.

He didn't see the pretty red feather land right next to where he'd been sitting just a moment before. And if one had been in the cemetery that afternoon, though Henry didn't hear it, you may have heard the faint whisper in the wind.

"I'm going to do much more than that."

Review, Review, Review! The more often I get Reviews, the more often I update! Operation Phoenix is on! Archie and Ruby Red have been added to the equation! And we've heard a few lines from Zelena! And... has Baelfire's ghost been added to the mix as well? Why, I just don't know (Muahahahaha!) Soon, we will be seeing more and more characters come together to help poor Rumple, and there will be Rumbelle VERY SOON!

Speaking of which, what IS anyone going to tell Belle?

If you guys include ideas in the reviews, I might go through with them. This story is not actually a well planned-out plot as many of my others are. I'm writing as I go. OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS!

Lastly, seeing a red feather is a sign that there is the spirit of someone you love close by, for those of you who don't know. That's why a red feather landed on the bench next to Regina after she lost a certain someone (DON'T WANT TO SPOIL ANYTHING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CAUGHT UP ON OUAT!).

See you next time!

Prayers for the victims of Las Vegas and their loved ones. :(