Granting wishes
Finally, now that Prince James had been replaced and he knew the whereabouts of that pesky fairy, he could go make that deal with Cinderella. The sun had set by the time he convinced Belle to come in from the garden. In the past two days she had become much more cheerful, taking delight in the fact she was now permitted to go outdoors. She 'poofed', as she called it, back into the Great Halls, and he rolled his eyes at the grass stains she had on her clothes and skin. He told her to clean herself up and she did, her deerskin and red leather outfit seemingly freshening itself, and she gave him a hesitant smile. "What are we doing today Rumple?" It had been a while since she had called him that. "Today, dearie, we're paying a visit to Cinderella." She smiled, happy they were going to make a lonely girl into a Princess. He had not yet told her they were going to be 'stealing' said Princess' first born. Ah well. It was need to know information. He'd tell her later.
He projected the image of the place in her mind, and she grasped a focus on it. Neither had been to the estate before, and so securing their travel there was difficult. They shifted between there and the dark castle, dramatic red smoke flaring around them. Belle had managed to create an illusion around her magic, so only she saw its true colour of blue, but it made transporting across the realm slower than it used to be, and Belle's ineptitude meant they rarely landed immediately. Instead they faded in and out of existence, reminding him of the time he had watched that Madman and his box disappear with his quickest route to Baelfire. The first time they shifted to the rundown building they watched three less-than-attractive women board a carriage in more-than-hideous dresses. The second time they saw the fair girl that had been left behind; it seemed she had been instructed to sweep up the dirt outside, and her dress was greying and in tatters. Fireworks went off in the distance to celebrate the Prince's ball. The third (and final) time they shifted to Cinderella's home they saw the Fairy Godmother flitting down in a garishly yellow dress, her dark skin complementing the colour and making it look less like a ruined pumpkin. He thanked Belle for shifting them there, and stepped forwards.
Rumple crept up behind the fairy in her off-gold dress, and sent her the command to 'get rid' of the woman. She suspected he meant kill but he thankfully hadn't specified, and in a dramatic collection of fire and light she transported the woman to a land she had read about, 'Agrabah'. Rumple didn't miss a beat, and immediately crouched, her making him visible a moment before, to pick up the now-abandoned wand. Belle could tell the poor woman-left-behind (though truly more of a girl-left-behind) was terrified, backing away in small steps from the scaly man before her, her breath short and quick to pass. She was a little irritated she had been made to remove the Fairy Godmother of this poor girl, but she could hardly disobey the man. She'd tried that at the start, and he'd commanded her to set herself on fire. He let her put it out after five minutes, and it truly didn't hurt that much with her thicker skin and higher capacity for pain, but he did not permit her to heal herself for five days and it was uncomfortable. She'd avoided him like the plague until he sheepishly apologised and promised to never command her to do such a thing again.
Now Rumple was dangling the wand in front of the blonde's face, her blue eyes following desperately. He called the wand evil, proclaiming 'all magic came with a price', and young Cinderella watched on confusedly. She reeked of desperation. Why should Rumple be the one to make the deals? She wanted to know how it felt to have that power over a person! She forced herself out of it, to focus on the clean air around her. If only it didn't smell like a desperate soul! Now Rumple walked away, swinging the wand around in his hand but the child called him back. "Wait!" (I will go, with you, forever) "I can handle it!" She asked if he could wield the magic and he answered the positive, introducing himself. "Rumplestiltskin." There was something about the way he rolled his 'R's... He stepped closer to the girl, just brushing her shoulder, and informed her that using the magic meant she would owe him a favour. He asked for 'something precious', and Belle suddenly had a bad feeling about it all. He gave a swish of his hand, and it was too late for her to try and get young 'Ella to change her mind.
He had her summon a scroll and dramatically unfurled it, and the poor girl immediately lunged forward to sign it. Rumple offered his back as something to lean on, and the deal was struck. Then he had her remove the contract (she had long since been banned from reading them, after she tried to make amendments), and contemplated the figure before him. With a dramatic flourish of the wand the other woman was shrouded in the wand's signature smoke (a sickening pumkin-orange), and when it cleared the sight was breathtaking. Cinderella was now in a shimmering ball gown that Belle suspected matched her eyes, the straps frilled and sequined. Elbow-length white gloves covered her arms, and her elegantly done hair, piled upon her head in ringlets and curls, was adorned with a shimmering band of diamonds. She wore a matching necklace and earrings, and it looked as though her slippers were made of glass.
She had long since moved around to stand unseen beside Rumple, and as she stood there she realised he was staring. At Cinderella. With her face cleared of soot and her beaming smile she truly was radiant, the image of delicate beauty. Did Rumplestiltskin think so too? Had the girl before him stolen his breath away? His voice did seem different as he spoke to her. Was he smitten with her, now that she was free and beautiful in a way Belle would never again be?
When the deal was done, and Cinderella off to the ball in her pumpkin carriage, he had Belle take them back to the castle. She complied, and asked him something she hadn't asked in a while. "Would you like some tea?" He smiled and looked at her. "The chipped cup, if you please." She smiled back.