S3E15: QUIET MINDS PART 2

Fawn had been following Belle and Baelfire while they journeyed to the vault of the Dark One. She was listening in for any valuable information but so far all they'd talked about was 'Stiltskin and his great sacrifice. Fawn mentally scoffed, the great sacrifice should have been Henry. But no matter, if Zelena succeeded her future with Peter would be ensured.

"It's , uh – it's getting colder. Look." Belle pointed up ahead to a clearing.

"Come on. Let's get what we came here for. Let's get my father." Baelfire said as he plunged his torch into the snow. He took the candelabra out from his bag and lit the three candles.

"You found it. Thank heavens." Lumiere signed in relief.

"Now what?" Bae asked.

"Head to ze center of ze clearing." Lumiere instructed, "Under ze ice and snow, you shall find ze entryway to za vault."

"Belle!" Bae called when he found the circular entrance and took the key out from the inside of his jacket.

"Yeah, the key must go in the middle." Belle said as she crouched down by Bae.

"You're sure about this?" Bae asked turning to Lumiere.

"I spent two hundred years in Rumplestiltskin's library witnessing more dark magic and sorcery than any living creature has ever seen!"

"I'm – I'm sorry – how long did you say you were there?" Belle asked.

"Two hundred years – at least!"

Belle turned back to Baelfire and hurriedly whispered something to him that made him pause. Uh-oh Fawn thought, candle you screwed up. Belle got up and walked over to Lumiere.

"Rumple built that library for me not long before the curse. It's been there barely thirty years." Bae got up and made his way over to Belle, "Who are you?!" he yelled at Lumiere, "Unless you want to spend the rest of eternity under a snow drift, you better start talking." He demanded.

"I am who I appear to be, only it wasn't Rumplestiltskin who turned me into zis wretched form. It was ze Dark Witch Amara."

"Amara made you do this?" Belle asked.

"No, not Amara, ze one who promised to break her spell and turn me human again. Ze one who put me in Rumplestiltskin's library, Ze Wicked Witch of za West."

While the candle was giving his speech Fawn flew away; she was supposed to wait until the Dark One had been revived to get Zelena, but now was as good a time as any given that their part in this had been revealed.

"The Wicked Witch? She told you to lead us here?" Belle questioned.

"She wants you to bring back ze Dark One so she can control him with his dagger." Lumiere answered.

"Okay, we need to leave this place." Belle said turning to Baelfire.

"Belle, wait. It means we can bring him back. Does it matter who got us here?"

"Rumple didn't sacrifice his life for good so he could return to be a slave to evil."

"My father is the king of loopholes. I'm sure he'll figure out a way to deal with her."

"But what if he can't? Think what she could do if the Dark One was under her control. We'll find another way to bring him back."

"What if there is no other way? I can't waste any more time. I need to get back. To hell with the cost!"

"That's what your father told himself when he forged the curse that condemned countless people to misery. Don't make the same mistake he made." Belle pleaded with him as he slid the key into the chamber door.

"Neal, wait!" but it was too late, the door began to glow with heat and Baelfire screamed as the key burned his hand. The door lowered into the ground as a black goo arose from it, "Rumple?" Belle asked bewildered.

"Ahh!" Bae screamed

"Neal! Neal! What's wrong? Are you okay? Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. Neal! Just hold on okay?"

"Belle." Was the first thing 'Stiltskin spoke. "Bae. No. Bae." He said taking his son in his arms.

"Poor Baelfire." Zelena said as she emerged from a cloud of green smoke. "Just couldn't learn from his father's mistakes. He wanted so badly to get back to his son. Couldn't see the forest through the trees."

"You did this. You tricked him." 'Stiltskin growled.

"All I did was pass on some vital information - with the help of a friend, and then your son did the rest."

"You didn't tell him the price!"

"Oops. It's a sin of omission, love. Although, I would have thought it was rather obvious – a life for a life."

"It's gonna be all right, son."

"I do doubt that."

"Go." He told Belle before holding tighter to Bae, "I'm not gonna let him go!" he said with determination as a white film covered father and son.

"Sorry, Rumple, you can't hang on to both of them. ."

Rumple dropped the dagger and the white film glowed brighter, "Wow, I didn't think you had it in you." Zelena said as she retrieved the dagger. Baelfire getting absorbed into Rumple, "You've got your son, but you've lost yourself."

"Rumple?" Belle cried.

"No. No Rumple. No room. No room! No Rumple!"

"Enough of this. Your madness is your burden, not mine. It's time to go. But before we do. . . kill her." Zelena instructed gesturing to Belle. After a tense moment Lumiere shot fire at Zelena, trapping her.

"I can't keep her for long! Go! Hurry! Don't make me regret zis flash of conscience! Get out of here!" Lumiere yelled.

Belle ran and grabbed Lumiere off the stump.

"You're going to regret this, candle!" Zelena screamed as Belle took off.

Where there is desire there is bound to be a flame,

Where there is a flame someone's bound to get burned,

But just because it burns doesn't mean your gonna die,

You gotta get up and try, try, try. . .

"Try"

P!NK