Rumplestiltskin woke early the following morning, feeling flushed with magic. It seemed that the recent neglect of his body was not affecting his other faculties. The urge to go after Jafar was overwhelming, but at the moment he had bigger fish to fry.
Leaving Belle to sleep, he stalked about his castle, vanishing and reappearing at will. It felt indescribably good, like stretching a muscle kept still for too long.
He spent some time hiding his dagger in clever places. He then set about fixing the breaks and cracks on his various treasures for the remainder of the morning. It was not until Belle gave him a uneasy look on her way to get breakfast that he realized he'd been giggling like mad the entire time.
He retreated to his tower to brood. All of his experiments were ruined through inattention, but that was the importance of outsourcing.
For a minute he considered popping in on Regina to check on her progress but soon dismissed the thought. There were easier ways. And he wouldn't have to deal with her smirking and wheedling. Nudging a rat out of the way, he settled on the floor with his back to the wall. Closing his eyes, he looked deep within himself, searching for that odd place where new magic grafted with old.
The future stretched out before him in the form of a twisting puzzle box. Rumplestiltskin ran his hands over it, watching it unravel and open for him. Shadows began to form out of the fog.
His own familiar shape appeared. Rumplestiltskin nearly fell out of the vision in shock. He had never before been able to see his own future.
He strained his eyes. His future self too was pressed up against something, scribbling on a piece of parchment. He narrowed his eyes as more of the scene became visible. Iron bars. He was lounging against a cage door.
Rumplestiltskin threw himself out of the vision, falling sideways onto the floor. Never. He would never go back to captivity. He would kill himself first.
The vision tugged at him again, and he slammed his eyes shut. He had to know what his future self was writing. The words appeared easily now. Emma.
A dense fog rolled over the image, the lurid purple of magic, and he knew instinctively that it was the curse. He opened his eyes to stare sightlessly ahead. The curse would catch him while he was in prison. How would that affect his fate on the other side?
Rage swelled within his chest, and he surged to his feet, looking for something to smash. It wasn't fair! He had been Jafar's plaything for years, and just when he had finally gotten free, hadn't even killed the foul man, now he was to return to another cage.
He hurled a bottle at the wall. And what about Belle? He had someone who again treated him with affection. Who teased him and didn't mind touching him.
He grimaced. He had all that before, hadn't he? He'd known two women who had touched him, who had even agreed to have children with him, for heaven's sake. They had both claimed to love him. It was foolish to believe that she would be any different.
He would have to do something about Belle. He didn't know how long he would have to stay in captivity before the curse hit, and at any rate, he wouldn't leave her alone in the Dark Castle. He would send her back to her father, as promised.
With a taste like ashes on his tongue, Rumplestiltskin left the ruins of his tower.
-X-
The castle felt too still, like a cat sighting its prey. Belle caught herself tiptoeing through the halls and had to grin at her own foolishness.
She was nervous about her plans for the castle's master. She had spent most of the morning in the library, reading every account she could find of true love. But when she had gone to find Rumplestiltskin, he had been bent over the two puppets, giggling in an eerie high pitched voice, and she had lost her nerve.
Two fortifying cups of tea later, she went looking for him with an urgency she couldn't explain.
She was striding through the dining room when he suddenly appeared in the door before her, making her jump back and squeak.
He ducked his head. "Belle, could you come with me for a moment?"
"Is something wrong?" He did not reply. She followed him out of the room and to the large doors that guarded the entrance.
Belle froze. On the flagstones before her sat two trunks with a two frozen roses from the garden sitting on top. "You're sending me away."
He spun to face her but would not meet her eyes. "We had a deal, dearie. I don't like to be in anyone's debt."
His hands fluttered nervously, and she caught them between her own. "Why don't we make a new deal?" she asked, feeling as if he would flee at any moment. "Come with me."
He pulled his hands from her grasp. "I can't."
"Why not?" When he still didn't answer, she stepped closer to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, remembering then how he had caught her when she fell. "Tell me, please."
"I'm going to put myself in prison."
Belle's hands dropped. "But you're free now! No one should ever control you again!"
"You wouldn't understand," he snarled at her. "I have plans that are centuries in the making, and I won't abandon them for one silly girl."
Belle fought back tears. "I was right before, wasn't I? You never wanted to be free. You're too scared of what it might mean."
She saw rage contort his features before he drew himself up and sneered down at her. "You stupid girl. This is not a book. I'm not a character that you can fit into a neat little box. You will never know who I am."
And in that moment Belle knew she had lost. Because he was right. She had been thought of the world like she did her novels. She had thought of him as an inevitability in her life.
But there was one fact that her shame and sorrow could not shake. She raised her chin and her voice did not waver: "I will always love you."
He stared at her, and for once, she could not read the expression in his eyes. Then he snapped his fingers, and the world vanished.
-X-
"Oh, good god!"
Belle struggled to open her eyes, trying to find the source of the cry. The voice sounded so familiar.
"Belle!" Hands grabbed her shoulders and shook her, and she moaned at the unwanted sensation.
She managed to force her eyes open. She was lying on her back, and her father's face loomed into her vision. "Father?"
"Belle!" he repeated, pulling her with limited success to her feet. "We thought you were dead! No one could find you."
"I'm not dead," Belle murmured. Her knees started to buckle, and Maurice pulled her into an embrace.
"I am so glad you're back. I am never letting you out of my sight again."
Belle nodded, struggling not to faint. Over his shoulder, she saw the two trunks by the bed. The roses remained frozen in bloom.
Burying her face in her father's shoulder, Belle began to sob.
-X-
Rumplestiltskin pressed himself against the bars of his new cage and scribbled furiously on the small piece of parchment. Emma. Emma. Emma. EMMA. Best to make it bone-crushingly obvious since the girl would be stupid enough to get herself trapped.
A manic giggle escaped his lips. What did that make him?
It had been physically painful to sign that blasted agreement. To lose his magic and his free will in the most transparent trap imaginable. He had blustered around the squeaking and trembling Cinderella for the better part of fifteen minutes, working up the nerve and savoring his last few moments of freedom. The only thing keeping him sane was the knowledge that it was his choice to be there.
It didn't feel like much of a choice though.
He was not being fed much either. After he had wheedled the name of their daughter out of them, Snow and her hubby hadn't cared much about his well fare. Well, he was used to it by now. But all of the hard work Belle had gone through to put some weight on him was for naught.
He held the image of Belle in his mind for a moment. Not as he had last seen her, but in earlier times, when she had smiled at him and how she had looked when she slept.
The knowledge that he would never touch her again made him want to curl in on himself. He was under no illusions that she would forgive him in this world, and now there was no hope that she might come back to him in the next.
He had realized in the moments after he had sent her away, shaking from frustration and the tightness in his chest, that he still owed her. She had saved his life, cared for him at the cost of her own comfort, and he had never repaid her.
The price had presented itself, as always. When Regina had stormed into his prison, furious that the curse wasn't working for her, Rumplestiltskin had realized that he had a choice. His memories or Belle's. For once, he had a choice that was easy to make.
Once he had sent Regina off to kill her father, the itchy feeling of an unpaid debt had vanished, replaced with an anxious quivering. Where would he end up on the other side?
Hours or weeks later, he felt a surge of power and knew the curse was coming. Rumplestiltskin squeezed his eyes shut. Oh Belle, he thought. Please come find me.
And that's it for Part I. Please stay tuned for Part II: Love and Obey.