Hook… I Will Always Find You

Chapter Seven

Meanwhile, back in Gold's shop…

Once their friends were gone, Belle turned back the man she loved and watched him without saying another word to him, as Gold stiffly moved away from the bed to walk out into his shop. After doing so, he turned to the main counter, then raised his hand out while he focused on one of the books lying open upon it and tested himself to see if any of the darkness remained within him at all, as he attempted to summon the power he's lived with for over two hundred years now through his body, in hope of moving it telekinetically.

When he failed, the former Dark One lowered his arm towards his chest as he clenched his fist together in frustration until Belle walked up behind him, having seen what he had attempted to do, then she spoke up worryingly saying, "Your power is gone, Rumple. After all the pain it has caused you, a part of you still wants it. Don't you?"

Gold turned around to face his wife as he lowered his arm at his side while he replied quietly, "That's not true, Belle. I don't want it any longer. I'm grateful. Not having the darkness within me to corrupt my heart… it feels as though a giant weight has been lifted from me. I was only testing myself. I've lived with the power inside of me for centuries. It just feels strange not to have it in me any longer."

"I hope so," the beauty desolately answered while she pulled her husband into a firm embrace again and held him tightly against her as though she believed he would disappear from before her, or that the darkness having finally been destroyed was nothing more than just a dream that would fade away at any moment. "I've waited for this day for so long, Rumple. At last, you can be the good man you've longed to be since we met. The man I always believed you would be one day without the darkness there to come between our happiness."

"My only fear… is that now without the darkness inside of me, I am once again the man I was before it became a part of me," he quietly responded while he stared ahead darkly, until Belle pulled back so she could look at him again and he at her. "I'm nothing but a coward with a bad leg. What good am I to you now without my power?"

She looked into his eyes while she replied, "You are not a coward, Rumple. You may have made mistakes back before the darkness ever came into your life, but your actions didn't make you a coward. You tried to do what was best for your family. For Baelfire and…"

Gold knew what his wife was about to say until she cut herself off, then finished for her as he uttered coldly, "…and for Milah, you mean? Despite my other wife leaving me for my enemy, a part of me still did love her. And yet with or without the darkness in me to corrupt my heart, a majority of me also hated her for what she did. She betrayed me and abandoned me, but worse… she abandoned our son. However, I hated Hook even more. And because I did, killing Milah was only that much easier to do because I did it in front of him. Now he hasn't just taken her from me, but he's taken the darkness from me as well."

"You can't possibly still be angry at Killian," Belle said to him more crossly as she stepped back and looked at her husband with disappointment in her eyes. "Certainly not after what he's done for the both of us. He saved your life, Rumple. I will forever be grateful to him just as you should be. How can you still hold onto your hate for him? I hoped that your heart would be healed… even pure and cleansed of all evil now that the darkness has been removed from it. But I guess I was wrong."

"Forgive me, Belle," Gold answered when he immediately pulled his wife in close to him once again when she attempted to walk away. "You're right. It's wrong of me to keep blaming Hook for my own shortcomings. For everything I've ever blamed him and anyone else for. He has saved my life and for that… I will do my best to be grateful for his sacrifice. Which is why I will help Emma get down into the Underworld so she and the others can save him. But the truth is, I'm more afraid of the consequences of their actions. Because of Zelena, my son messed with life and death in order to bring me back from the dead and as a result, he died. I lost my only son and were it not for you in my life, I would have allowed the darkness to fully consume me long ago and unleashed my wrath on everyone here just to make Zelena pay. What will happen now when Emma and the others risk everything to try to save Hook? There's a slim chance they will succeed and should they fail, what will come of the Savior then? And on top of that, the God who rules the realm of the dead will not accept their attempt to steal back one of his souls. There will most assuredly be great consequences."

Belle looked at him sadly and then she responded, "I really do understand what you're saying, but... Is what Emma said true? Would you be willing to make the same sacrifice they're about to make for Killian, for me too should I die?"

Gold took her hand in his own and pulled it up to his lips to kiss it, then replied, "I would do anything for you, Belle. However, even though I have the blood needed to descend into the Underworld… Why do you think I haven't done as Emma is about to do for Hook, for my own son's life? Because the probable consequences are far too great and because I have been there. I suffered greatly down there after I died. I could never go back, especially now without my powers to defend myself against Hades' wrath. They are making a mistake even if the reasons for their journey are noble. I will help them save Hook by giving them my blood, but you and I should leave Storybrooke. Let's leave here ad start our life someplace new. Someplace where we can live happily… away from whatever consequences will come as a result of their actions, away from magic, and away from the dangers of living here among the rest of the heroes."

"Storybrooke is our home, Rumple," the beauty answered sadly. "As much as I fear what might come from this, and as wonderful as starting our lives over sounds without having to fear the future, we can't just run away from who we are. We're a part of this world. And I love everyone here. They've become my family almost as much as you and my father are. I don't wish to ever leave them. At least not right now. Maybe one day we can, but so long as there are threats out there that will continue to come against us, we cannot just run away from them when you and I are both needed here. Please understand, Rumple."

"Of course I understand," the former Dark One responded, then he pulled his wife in close for an embrace once more while Belle stared ahead of her with worry in her eyes. "I look forward to that day."