Author's Note: This chapter will involve scenes of torture and death. If any of this is triggering to you, please refrain from reading and next chapter, I will post a summary of this chapter in an author's note. Thank you.

"There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Consuming, confusing
This lack of self control I fear is never ending
Controlling I can't seem
To find myself again
My walls are closing in
Without a sense of confidence
I'm convinced that it's too much pressure to take
I've felt this way before
So insecure"

Linkin Park - "Crawling"

Belle kept her eyes focused on the world passing by outside the carriage window, the cool glass on her face. Her tears had long dried as a dark emptiness took hold of her.

"Are you not enjoying the ride, dear?" Regina asked, her voice cutting through the silence.

Belle looked at Regina, her face impassive. Regina had a curious smile on her face and it frightened Belle. She could feel something deep inside Regina- something dark, something that was threatening to destroy her- but there was something struggling to fight- something struggling to be free. It was the struggle that frightened Belle.

"Well, here we are," Regina chirped, her eyes brightening as she saw the castle. The carriage doors opened and Regina took the hand that she was being offered. She looked back at Belle, a dark smile on her face.

"Well, come along. Patience has never quite been one of my...better virtues."

Belle was shaking as she took the hand extended to her. Her fear changed to fury when she saw who's hand it was. She glared darkly at the Huntsman, feeling deep betrayal, anger, and a deep desire for vengeance. As he helped her out of the carriage, she didn't let go of his hand. Her body was hot and she felt something dark inside her rise. Never had she felt such betrayal in her life. Her eyes darkened, not to the midnight blue they usually did when she fed emotions to others. This color reflected her anger. Her pain. Her rage. How dare he? Why? She could feel his sadness and his shame and felt insulted by it, disgusted.

He moved to release his hand and suddenly Belle tightened her hold, her nails digging into his skin. He looked at her and gasped quietly when he saw her eyes. He'd never thought it was possible to see a color darker than ebony, yet here it was. Dark grey smoke wrapped around his arm.

There was pain- pain he'd never though imaginable. He felt shame. Inconsolable sadness. Disgust, fury. It bore into him deeply. He looked up at Belle and realized that Regina was right. Belle had a power stronger than what anyone believed.

Belle released his hand as Regina sent a spell her way, causing her to fall into a dark abyss of sleep.

The Huntsman stood gingerly, his body aching. Not even when Regina had ripped his heart out had he felt such pain- both on a physical and emotional level. This was his punishment, however. Punishment for throwing a lamb into a den with a starving lion.

Regina walked beside him, an odd look on her face. "Huh. And I thought I was the only woman to ever best you. Take her to the dungeons and leave her there."

The Huntsman nodded, not answering Regina. The guilt he felt was consuming, unbearable.

He could only hear one word in his head.

"Traitor."

Rumplestiltskin's mind was envisioning terrible things. He kept seeing a woman's back, weeping blood. Flashes of silver, light glinting from the blade. Cries of grief, cries of pain.

He fought to put these images into the back of his mind as he listened to the elderly man across the table beg.

"You have the power, Dark One. Please!" the old man cried, flinging himself to the Dark One's feet, weeping heavily.

"Oh, yes. I do have the power- that and much, much more. The question to be asked now is what are you willing to give in exchange?"

"I-I...I have nothing to give, Dark One."

Rumplestiltskin tittered darkly, circling the old man on the floor, a malicious glee filling his eyes.

"So, dearie. You come to ask me for your wife to have just...-one- more day in exchange for...hm...oh, that's right. NOTHING!"

The old man looked up, his eyes flooded with tears.

"Have you never loved?" he said, his voice small. He saw the Dark One stiffen and felt a shiver of sadness and fear fall upon him. The old man sighed heavily as he stood and began to walk out of the castle, wiping away a tear from his eye.

Moments passed. Rumplestiltskin stared blankly at the wall, not focusing on anything.

The old man's pleas had reached him, yet the Dark One would still feel resent building in his heart, anger at himself for not trying to find Belle. For not trying to explain. But this was how it was- there were rarely any second chances in life- rarely. You only had one chance to make things right- to do the right...the brave thing before you're stuck in your own Hell, falling continually to your own regret.

He conjured a flask full of lavender liquid and sent it to the old man's wife. She would know to drink it with the small scroll attached.

His misery was his own at the moment. Let someone else enjoy their life. Love their love.

For he didn't deserve it.

Belle awoke, her head pounding in pain. She tried to move her arms, but felt them shackled. Her heart fell to her stomach when she saw her hands manacled above her, giving her no room to move her arms. She began to panic, trying to remember what happened. She remembered the carriage ride. She remembered Regina's face and the hand guiding her out of the carriage. The nothing.

"Good. You're awake, my dear." Belle turned her head and saw Regina standing slightly behind her.

"What do you want?" she whispered weakly, fear taking away most of her voice.

"Oh, just a little chat with a friend of a friend. I'm sorry for the shackles, but I can't have you acting up the way you did with my Huntsman."

"I haven't hurt anybody!" Belle countered, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Regina raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember?"

"No!"

Regina sat back and thought. She'd seen the young woman using her powers, but what she witness with the Huntsman was another thing- it was something the last Pain-Eater had done many times, but never to the extent this young woman had done with the Huntsman.

"You nearly killed him. I don't know what you did to him, but I plan on finding out."

Belle began to shake, feeling everything at once. She looked at Regina and felt so much pain. So much regret. The only thing that frightened her was the anger. It wasn't emanating from Regina...almost as if she were trying to hold it back.

"Please. Don't."

"I'm sorry?" Regina asked, her voice hard. She approached Belle and stared her down, Belle's face looking down as tears fell.

"Please don't. Whatever you're going to do, please don't. Don't hurt my baby."

"Oh, Gods!" Regina laughed, clamping her hand over her mouth.

Belle looked straight at Regina, something deep inside her taking over. The Queen's laughter was cruel, but it didn't hurt Belle. Her heart remained shut, the wound staying closed. The Queen's laughter triggered something in Belle.

Belle stared at Regina, who was still laughing. Her eyes had become a dark shade of ebony and she focused on Regina. Regina suddenly stood straight, her hands to her side. Magic was filling the small dungeon, and it wasn't her magic, nor that of the Dark One. Regina turned to Belle and began to gasp in pain. Belle peeled through Regina's memories, through her happiness. She focused, her mind intent on the base instinct to defend her infant. Belle fed dark emotions- emotions that left a stain like indelible ink on the mind and psyche. She watched as Regina's mouth opened in horror.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked indignantly, her hand over her heart. Belle didn't answer. Truthfully, she couldn't even hear Regina. All she could focus on right now was protecting her unborn child, no matter what. Belle focused deeper, twisting and corrupting Regina's memories. She remained vaguely aware of what she was doing to Regina and while it hurt her to cause pain to another human being, instinct had taken over and claimed her as its slave.

Regina's eyes began to tear as she felt her mind and memories being violated. Her memories of Daniel. Of her father. They were being corrupted to a point where Regina feared the only memories she would ever have left were those of her mother. The mother who was too selfish to let her only daughter live the life she wanted. The mother who tore out the heart of Daniel while she watched in horror. The same mother who killed her own husband in cold blood when she discovered that Henry was planning to spirit away Regina for her own safety.

Her mother. Her mother- the woman who gave birth to her, merely as a means to live through her own daughter.

The pain became to much to bear. Regina lost all control as her dark magic escaped, filling the room. She walked over to Belle had thrust her hand into the younger woman's chest, squeezing until she saw her eyes return to their normal color.

After moments of attacking her heart, Regina drew her hand back out. She was crying right now, silent tear of repressed anger. Not caring anymore, she began to hit Belle- anywhere she could. She ignored Belle's cries, all while the opal ring on her hand swirled.

After Belle had left the camp, Red and Jiminy contemplated the same thing. The camp members had begun to dwindle, most of them making the choice to leave- to find their own place in the world. To make their own destiny. And they did. Red and Jiminy would receive letters from time to time, letters of new accomplishments, new lives, and new families.

The small number that remained in the camp seemed determined too. Red and Jiminy decided if the rest of the camp members left, they would, too. And so it was.

They had never experienced such freedom. But they didn't know their freedom- the freedom to live their lives- would soon get taken away with one visit.

Not even a few days into their new lives, the Huntsman returned.

Jiminy and Red had been too busy to notice anyone's approach in their hidden cove. But when they heard a heavy sigh, a sigh from weariness- they turned.

"I need your help."

Red turned to him, slightly confused.

"With what? What's happened?" she asked, worried for her friend.

"I've made a mistake."

Red's breath stilled as she felt Jiminy's hand on her shoulder- she knew he was trying to keep her in check. But the tone of the Huntsman's voice and the look on his face made her wary.

"What is it that you think you've done?" she asked cautiously, the memory of the message he had given to Belle flashing over and over in her mind.

"...Forgive me," he said, hanging his head down in shame. After that, there were no answers. The only thing that happened was Red leaping at him, pinning him to the ground with her eyes violently flashing.

"What did you do!?" she screamed at him, tightening her grasp on his neck. She heard Jiminy trying to reach out to her, but his voice sounded as if it were miles away.

"I had no choice, Red," he strangled, his hands trying to pry her off him. Red growled and instead tightened her hold on the one she considered her friend.

"You gave her to the Queen," she stated, her voice edges with venom.

"She controls me! I had no option!"

Jiminy managed to pull Red off the Huntsman before she harmed him seriously. He held her tightly in his arms even though she violently struggled against him.

"Red, we'll help her," Jiminy said, trying to soothe her.

"You're damn right we will. And all we need right now is a certain traitor to show us the way," she said, her eyes snapping to the Huntsman once more.

"If Belle is hurt in any way, of her child...I will kill you."

Rumplestiltskin sat at his spinning wheel, absent-mindedly threading straw onto the wheel. The numbness he felt was consuming. But this was his price to be paid.

Suddenly, he stood- the motion knocking the wheel over. He held his hand to his chest, feeling undeniable sorrow and pain flow through him. He couldn't breathe.

He ran out to the balcony, seeking solace in the cool night air. The pain remained, sharpening with every moment.

After he sent his Belle away, he'd done more research on Pain-Eaters. Of their powers. Of their capabilities. He read that when a Pain-Eater forms a deep, emotional bond with another- a path is open. No matter the distance or time, their emotions, their hearts remained connected to one another.

He threw his head back and screamed her name to the empty sky, finding no release from their shared pain.

The pain was consuming Belle. There was so much darkness in this room, it hurt her even more. Even more than the whip she had been flogged with. Even more than the feel of Regina crushing her heart over and over. Even more than the burns. She held on, trying to fight through the pain. Trying not to focus on Regina's hand, squeezing her heart repeatedly.

Something inside her broke. She screamed loudly and began to sob as she looked down her legs and noticed the stream of blood that had begun to run. Her eyes widened at the sight and she began to breathe heavily. She could feel the loss in her body in every nerve.

Regina stopped the torture and looked down at Belle, noticing the younger woman was bleeding down her legs. She dropped the whip and held her hands to her mouth, fighting her revulsion- not at Belle, but at what she'd done. Regina bit her lip a she looked down at her hands- stained with the blood of an innocent. Fighting tears, she could only whisper one thing before she fled the room.

"Oh, Gods. What have I done?"

She ran through the corridors of the castle, her tears finding release. What had she done? She had not lost control. She had done something much worse. The realization hit her as she fell to the floor, staring at the opal ring that now remained motionless.

Before she fell, she saw a glimpse of her reflection. But it wasn't her. It was the reflection of her mother. The one person Regina swore to never become. But as she sobbed on the floor, her hands covered in the blood of another, she knew the truth.

The small window in the dungeon allowed small slivers of moonlight through and cast a haunting shadow on Belle's face. She had felt the broken pieces of other's, but it was one thing to experience it yourself. She stood, her hands still chained above her, covered in blood and gashes. Standing over the remains of the child she had lost. "Lost"...what a ridiculous word for something like this. You know where your child is. You know you'd do anything to keep your child safe. This was something that transcends loss.

She heard the creak of the door and prepared herself. She waited for Regina to come into the room and was ready to beg. Not for her life- but for her death. She had lost her Dark One. She had lost their child. What was there to live for?

"Belle?" a familiar voice whispered. Belle looked up quickly in shock, the motion causing her body to scream in pain. It was Red.

Red walked in, followed by Jiminy and the Huntsman. Red gasped and began to cry silently as she saw her friend in the state she was in.

"We're taking you away, Belle. You're going to be safe."

"Please take me home," Belle spoke.

Belle closed her eyes as she felt the manacles release her arms. She fell forward into the arms of the Huntsman, her mind and body heavy with untol grief and pain. She heard Red's cries muffled against Jiminy's shoulder. His voice spoke to Belle, softly.

"We're taking you home, Belle."

She shook her head, ignoring the pain. She knew what they meant. But she meant something different from their home.

"No. Take me home," she said again, trying to find the words to explain.

Red looked at her, slightly confused. "To...to the Dark Castle?" she asked.

Belle nodded as her eyes fell shut, unconsciousness taking hold of her body.

Red ran forward and kneeled, her hand touching Belle's face which was warm and covered in sweat.

"Red, she knows what she's doing..." Jiminy said. Red nodded and watched the Huntsman with cautious eyes.

"She'll be safe with the imp than anywhere else right now," he said, gently lifting the broken beauty over his shoulder. Red nodded, tears forming again. But she knew they all were right. Belle needed to be safe. Belle needed to go home.