Chapter 14

The next morning, Rumple woke up early. He glanced toward the window and saw that the sun had barely risen over the eastern horizon, it was just barely dawn. After a long stretch, he rose and walked to the window. Looking out, he saw that winter was beginning to stretch its icy grasp over the land; the first frost of the season had set.

Unintentionally, he shivered and backed away from the window. He glanced toward the bed to make sure Belle was still asleep, and then grabbed his shoes before making his way down the cold, damp stairwell.

Rumple went all the way down into the basement of the castle, into the rooms he had once used as a dungeon. Without a conscious plan in mind, he walked over to the cabinet on which he had once stored all the spells he had bottled up for later use. Some of them were still there, others had since fallen off the shelf and broken or been stolen while he was away.

As his gaze ran over the aged wood of the cabinet, he stopped on the most recently empty spot on the shelf. It was the spot where he had once kept the vial of true love that he had bottled from the Charmings, and had since used to help Belle learn magic. The most powerful magic of all, he thought sarcastically to himself. When he had first bottled it, he knew it was powerful, and he knew he wanted the power. But for what, he hadn't really known. He never had an actual plan of how he was going to use it, and then the curse came and he hadn't gotten a chance to actually make use of the bottled magic.

Looking back, he was surprised to find that he had held onto it that long. He had worked so hard to find a way to bottle true love, and then never used it? Why? Had it all been planned, had he somehow knew he'd need it in the future? Rumple laughed to himself and shook his head. Self-reflection wasn't his strong suit, and, as romantic as it was, he knew he hadn't really planned ahead, he'd just never needed it. He'd had all the power he needed, and had never had a use for the potion. Until recently, that is.

Continuing to search the shelf, Rumple kept going until he found the vial he'd been looking for. It was his prized possession, one that no one else knew he had obtained, and he grinned as he looked at its shining contents. It was the only light magic he had ever owned, until he had bottled true love. The only light magic he had and had never used. Now, though, he had need of it as well.

Rumple picked up the vial, a smile of smug satisfaction crossing his face. Pixie dust. Light magic. He'd obtained it from a disgraced fairy, without her knowledge of course. Rumple studied the contents of the vial, not sure exactly how to go about what he needed to do.

His magic was more powerful than light magic, of that he was sure. But if light magic was cast, would his magic be able to stop it? That was the question he didn't have an answer to, and the one that haunted him every time he thought of Belle using her magic. If she got in too deep, could he do anything to stop her? Would his dark magic even have any power over hers? He simply didn't know, but he was determined to find out.

Rumple went over to the counter that held all his spell items, and picked up a book. As good as anything else, I suppose, he thought. Rumple took a deep breath, and tried not to think about what he would do if this didn't work.

Impatient to get his answers, Rumple opened the vial of pixie dust and poured it onto the book. For an agonizing second nothing happened, and Rumple became increasingly impatient. But, as he watched, the old covers of the book began to move, and then it started to float away.

Rumple knew where it was going. The pixie dust he had taken had the power to return an object to the person or place it belonged to, like a locator spell, but much more powerful. The book he had chosen for this experiment was Henry's Storybook. If Rumple's dark magic wasn't able to stop the pixie dust, the book would travel realms and return itself, presumably, to Henry.

Rumple began to follow the book, waiting for the opportune moment to cast a spell to counteract the pixie dust. He didn't want to wait too long, or else the book would simply disappear from that realm, but he worried that if he did it too soon he wouldn't know if the pixie dust hadn't worked or if his magic had done the job.

As he got ready to cast his spell, Rumple noticed something odd. The book continued to float away. Why hadn't it tried to cross realms yet? Rumple warily began to follow it, confused. If the pixie dust was working, the book should have stayed in the same general area as it tried to cross realms, but it hadn't.

Forgetting about his original plan for the moment, Rumple curiously followed the floating book as it took him out of the cellar and up the stairs. It travelled the length of the hallway, and then made the turn into their bedroom.

Rumple ran after it, afraid it would wake up his sleeping wife. As he too turned the corner into their room, he was disappointed to find he'd been right; the book had plopped itself down on top of Belle, and, picking it up, she was drowsily gazing at Rumple in confusion.

Not knowing what to do, Rumple just stood there, returning Belle's confused gaze. Belle yawned and blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the waking world before asking, "What's going on Rumple?"

He wasn't sure how to answer that. Instead, he answered her with a question of his own. "That's Henry's book, correct?"

Belle nodded. "Yes, I borrowed it from him before we left." She yawned again and sat up straighter, and then shivered when the covers fell from her shoulders.

Rumple walked to the bed and took the book from her hands. "This doesn't make sense," he said, more to himself than to her.

"What doesn't make sense?"

Rumple hadn't heard her. He suddenly turned and walked out of the bedroom, taking the book back down to the cellar for closer inspection.

Belle sighed, figuring this was one of those times where she'd have to figure out his plans by herself and then explain them back to him to see if she was right. With one final yawn, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and got up. The chamber was cold, so she found the thickest robe in the wardrobe, and put on her slippers before following her husband down the stairs.

When she finally found Rumple in the cellar, the book was lying on the table and he stood over it, inspecting it. Much as he had done to her, Belle walked over and took the book, turning away and inspecting it herself. She didn't know what she was looking for, she really just hoped doing something would get Rumple to tell her what was going on.

"You know," she mused, "This book always has a curious way of finding people. I once asked Mary Margaret where she found it, and you know what she told me?"

Rumple shook his head, not realizing that he was behind her and she couldn't see. He was annoyed that she was interrupting, but he knew better than to say so.

Regardless of whether he wanted her to continue or not, Belle did. "She told me she just found it one day, in her closet. She said she'd looked there thousands of times, and never once had this book been there. It was as if she found it just on the day that she knew Henry needed it, or, more accurately, as if it had found her."

Belle smiled at the memory. "Books have a way of doing that. You know," she said, smiling even more, and turning to face Rumple. "When I was little, there was a day when I thought my world was turning upside down. It was one of the worst days of my life, and in order to escape it I went to my father's library. In there, I found a book. It was a story of a young girl, going through much the same thing I was going through. And, reading it, I knew I'd be okay." Belle was thoroughly engrossed in the memory now, so she didn't see that, despite her interruption, Rumple was now smiling, too.

"It was like the book knew it had just the story I needed. Like it found me…" She trailed off, and, looking down at the book she held in her hand, she marveled at how much one story could mean to someone.

As Rumple watched his wife hold the book as if it were her prized possession, he smiled, and, walking around the table over to her, he put his hand on the book. "And this book, it found Henry at just the right time. If it hadn't, the curse never would have been broken." Belle nodded absently, lost in the thought of all the books she had read over her life time.

Rumple's thoughts, though, were solidly in the present. What if the pixie dust had worked, had returned the book to its owner? It had gone to Belle, not to Henry. Of course, Belle was the one who had brought the book into this realm, so did that make her its owner here? Why else would it go to her?

"Rumple," Belle's concerned voice interrupted his musings, and he looked at her. She wasn't looking at him; she was looking at the book. "You might want to take a look at this," she said warily.

Rumple glanced down at the book in her hands, and saw that she had turned to the last section of the book. It was blank. Suddenly uncertain, Rumple took the book from Belle and began frantically flipping the pages. The book ended, once again, with the curse being broken. The last section was gone.

"The part about Merlin," Belle said warily, "It's gone."

Rumple wasn't listening. The story had changed, which meant something had made it so that Merlin had never even been in their realm. The Wizard had lied to him. He had broken their deal. And now he was gone.

How could he have let this happen? Angrily, Rumple picked up the closest item at hand, which happened to be an empty vase, and flung it against the wall. Dropping the book, he stormed out of the room and up the stairs.

Belle flinched as he flung the door shut behind him, and then hurried over and picked up the book. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" she asked of no one in particular. Gently gathering the book up into her arms, Belle hurried out the door and up the stairs after her husband.

When she reached the main hall, she was disappointed to find it empty. "Rumple?" she called, not sure where he could have gone. "Rumple, where are you?"

The hall was silent for a few seconds, and then Belle heard the sound of a strong wind coming from the window. Running over to it, she flung the window open, and saw a Rumple outside, surrounded by a swirling purple storm cloud of magic. He was shouting, but Belle couldn't make out the words. Distraught, Belle put the book down on the nearest table and ran outside.

"Rumple!" she shouted, but he never heard her. Braving the storm, Belle ran into the purple cloud until it enveloped her and she could no longer see. Trying to get her bearings, Belle followed the sound of Rumple's voice until she nearly ran into him.

Grabbing his shoulders, she shook him, trying to get him to notice her. "Rumple!" She shouted again. "Rumple, what are you doing?"

Eventually her shaking disrupted Rumple's concentration, and he reluctantly gave up the spell and looked at her in anger. "What are you doing?" He yelled, unaware that he had echoed her own question. "You're in my way!"

Not afraid of his rage, Belle spat, "That's the point! I'm going to keep being in your way until you calm down and tell me what is going on!"

The look on her face was one Rumple had seen before, and it brought up a particularly unhappy memory for him. That look told him he needed to get control of himself and be honest with her, or risk losing her as he had before.

But it wasn't enough. Rumple wasn't ready to heed any emotion but anger. Anger was what had gotten him so far in this land. It was the driving force behind his power; his rage had sustained him. Now that he hit a roadblock in his mission, he needed the anger to allow himself to feel powerful enough to overcome that, and it never crossed his mind that Belle wouldn't understand that.

What she did understand, though, was the look on his face. It told her she wasn't getting through. He wasn't listening, but she kept trying. "Rumple, tell me what is going on! Why did you have the book this morning, and why is it blank? What are you trying to do?"

Though she meant well, her questions only annoyed him further. Rumple angrily shook her hands off his shoulders and stalked back toward the castle.

Belle let out a frustrated sigh and followed quickly after him. When she had caught up, she said, calmer now, "Rumple, please tell me, what's wrong?"

Rumple wasn't ready to let go of the anger. Turning to face her, he yelled, "I don't know!" and then disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

For a moment, Belle wasn't sure what had happened. She just stood there, staring at the space he had been standing in a moment before, and then slowly began to realize what had just happened.

He'd left. He'd left her in a fit of fury, and she had no idea where he had gone. And wherever he was, she couldn't be there to comfort him, to calm him down. No, he had left on purpose, had wanted to be alone with his anger.

Just as Rumple had predicted, Belle didn't understand. She didn't see why he needed the anger. She'd always been guided by common sense and a level head, and she used that to balance out his fits of rage. Now, though, he had chosen to be alone.

Belle wasn't sure if she should be angry or sad, or what she should feel. Her initial reaction was anger that he had left her. If he was that upset, then something important was going on, and he hadn't bothered to include her, hadn't even told her what was wrong. Then, she was sad, knowing that he had given in to his inner darkness once again, and had deliberately left so she couldn't be there to help him, to stop him.

Slowly walking back inside the castle, Belle sighed. "Oh, Rumple. Why won't you let me in?" She wished he had the courage to do so, and she had always held on to the hope that one day he would overcome his need for power and let her in. Deep inside, though, she knew it was hopeless. The darkness would always be a part of him, and she wouldn't be able to change that, as much as she wanted to believe she could.

Steeling herself, Belle refused to let herself cry. She couldn't give in to her emotions, or she wouldn't be in any better shape than he was. Taking a deep breath, Belle remembered the book she had set down on the table earlier.

Returning to it, Belle opened it up and flipped to the last few pages. To her surprise, they seemed to be moving. Belle stood there, rapt, and watched as storied formed on their pages, and then she smiled. The picture was of Rumple, and he was approaching the Queen's castle. He was going to confront Merlin.

Belle smiled, proud of herself. "See," she said to herself, "A calm head and a good book solve most people's problems." She laughed then, and glanced down at the book.

"Well," she said with a sigh, "I'm going to find you, Rumple." She closed her eyes then, and pictured the Queen's castle. She brought back all the anger and sadness she had felt a moment before, and prepared herself to use her magic and follow in her husband's footsteps.