She got just as caught up in the search for Bae as Rumple did, but working so closely with him only made her more aware of how much he had changed.
She grew to despise words like deal, or power, or magic, and she recoiled in horror as she learned of each terrible new deed. But despite it all, she kept her hope alive, because she knew that the man inside the monster was well worth saving.
In time, he forgave her for her part in Bae's attempt to free him from his curse, just as she'd forgiven him in that awful moment when she realized that he'd clung to his dagger, instead of his little boy.
There were other moments, when it was nearly impossible to see her brother at all. He'd grown suspicious of everyone, and everything.
— Rumple's POV—
She was hiding something. He was certain of it. She pretended to help him, but he caught her studying old texts about past dark ones. And then there was another matter, entirely.
He found her in the dining room, and pinned her up against the wall. When she just rolled her eyes at him, he made a mental note that it was harder to intimidate people when you've never given them a reason to believe that you'd hurt them, personally.
"Did you want something?"
He glared at her. "What aren't you telling me?"
She actually paused to consider that. "About?"
He made a circling gesture to her face. "This, for one thing. Did you think I wouldn't notice that you stopped aging the day you left home?"
She shrugged. "I just figured it was something I ate in…" her eyes widened. So that was it.
"In where?"
She squirmed under his gaze, then her shoulders sagged. "In Neverland."
"What?" That didn't make any sense… she had been a child when they'd gone to Neverland… unless… "Explain!"
"I don't know how, but Milah found a way to contact… him. I don't even know if she realized who he was, just that… he was well known for luring children away from their homes."
"You weren't a child. Not really."
She shrugged. "Anyway, he brought me back to Neverland."
He looked at the wall, scowling. "With his magical flute."
Her nose wrinkled in confusion. "You mean the one that doesn't play music?"
He let go of her shoulders. "You didn't hear it?"
She shook her head.
"You saw him playing the pipe?"
She nodded. "Often. But I never heard any music."
But why? She'd been abandoned, too. Or had she? The girl had certainly never cried any tears about her wayward Poppa. Rather, she'd slept more soundly, snuggled safely by his side at night.
Her stared into her too-young face and remember why he'd started questioning her to begin with. "What did you eat?" Something that could slow the hands of time on a face would be priceless… a very useful bargaining tool, indeed.
"I don't know. I was just trying to survive and avoid, him, and his lost boys."
Try as he might, he couldn't get anymore information out of her. Apparently, there was a ring of truth to the stories of the fountain of youth. But there wasn't enough information to go on to risk a venture to Neverland.
"Rumple… how did you know about the pipe?"
He tipped his head to the side. "We… had a bit of a run in. Bae… was drawn to the music."
"What music?"
He turned to study her, wondering again why she hadn't heard the music's haunting tune. "Never mind."
—_—
"What do you say, Rumpelstiltskin? Do we have a deal?"
"I'll get you what you want. Your conditions don't seem… reasonable."
The man he was bartering with, one Dows, by name, leaned back in his chair. "It's incentive. For the price your asking, I need to be sure this will be done in a timely fashion, or the girl comes with me. It's not like I'm asking to marry her. So my question to you, is this… how badly do you want to find your son?"
The dark one looked across the room at the piece of merchandise in question. Normally, he'd never consider a gamble like this, but the odds were remarkably in his favor, and she never need know...
"Sign here."
And with that signature, Molina's freedom hung in the balance.
It would be alright, though. He needed this deal. He'd come out on top, like always.
As the door slammed shut, she looked up, and he wondered if it was the twinge of guilt in his heart that made her eyes seem so, trusting, at this particular moment.
It didn't matter. He wasn't going to lose, so it was inconsequential. She was right to trust him.
She came over, but didn't ask what the man had wanted badly enough to dare a visit to the dark castle. She rarely wanted anything to do with his deals, unless she found away to make his life miserable with pleas that they weren't fair. He forced nothing on anyone.
Her eyes studied him, as if she sensed something was wrong, then she walked away, as ageless as he was, thanks to some unknown plant in their father's playworld.
So it hadn't been fair to include her in the deal. But it was for Bae. She'd have accepted the risk herself, and it would be far less of a gamble than rushing off to war like last time.
But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that all would be well, that he'd obtain said object in time and be one step closer to finding Bae, something inside him kept whispering that the deal had been struck with magic.
And he knew better than anyone, that all magic, comes with a price…
