Chapter Twenty: A Matter of the Heart

David had always been a believer of using his wits as well as his sword and he'd never had trouble accepting a good diversion, but a giant was a bit much. Especially one that thought he was his twin brother that had, apparently, done a real number on him. He hadn't even had a chance to deny the accusation or to find out what happened before the full-sized giant started his rampage through the streets of Storybrooke.

Another angry scream came from him and he slammed a foot down on the street, buckling pavement and nearly throwing David from his feet. He would have tumbled had a hand not reached out to steady him, and David was suddenly much happier that Baelfire had offered to come with him on this route instead of accompanying Emma and Leroy to get people rounded up into safety. Snow usually would have come with him, but she was off with Regina now to put an end - hopefully - to the whole Cora fiasco. As much as he liked a good adventure, he wouldn't mind a few moments to breathe at this point.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Rumplestiltskin's son asked as they dodged a fairly well-aimed car lobbed in their direction.

David grimaced. "He called me James. That's my brother's name."

"You have a brother?"

"Did. A twin. He died. He was-" The explanation paused as the two men threw themselves in opposite directions, a stoplight aimed to take off a head and more crashing down where they had been. The prince rolled, coming up to his feet just in time to dodge again. They'd been leading him steadily further and further away from where the people were, but they could only go so far without hitting the town line. Briefly, David wondered if this giant - whose name he had never caught - would be able to cross it. He wasn't under the Dark Curse, but he would certainly be considered a magical creature by the Land Without Magic. The musings were cut short though as the ground shook dangerously, threatening to cave altogether beneath their feet.

"Did you notice how scarce August has been for this fun little outing?" Bae chuckled as he pulled himself up from where he'd hit his knees hard. While the giant hadn't been aiming for him specifically, he'd caught a fair amount of the attacks that had been thrown towards David.

"Emma didn't tell you?" David asked, blinking owlishly at him. "She sent him away last night. From what it sounded like, she made it pretty clear that she didn't want to see him again."

Bae stopped where he was. "Seriously? I'll be damned."

David grinned even as the giant made a swipe for him. He stumbled back and the second grab connected, pulling him fully off his feet and into the air. His arms were pinned to his side and no matter how hard he struggled, the giant's fingers wouldn't loosen. "Now you'll pay, James, for all the suffering you caused!" he growled.

"I'm not James," David argued. "He was my twin brother, raised by a tyrant. I'm sorry for whatever pain he may have caused you, but he's not me."

"Liar!" The giant roared. "You won't trick me again!"

The fingers around him began the squeeze tighter and David found it difficult to breath. He winced, unable to work his way out. He had to think. Snow would know just what to say to calm the giant down, but she wasn't here. Emma might be able to help to, with her new experience with… That was it! Giants were meant to be extinct all except one, and this must be it, so this must have been the same giant that Emma had met in the Enchanted forest. "Listen," David gasped out, "you know my daughter Emma. You… you helped her get the magic compass that got her… home to us."

The giant glared. "I don't see her here. Where is she?"

"She's helping to get people out of danger," Bae said from the ground, "but I can get ahold of her."

David craned his neck around just enough to see Baelfire digging his phone out of his pocket, showing his other was empty and harmless. He was wearing a grin that must have been used to put most people at ease, and even the giant seemed to be affected by it as his grip loosened and the prince felt the air rush back into his lungs. He took advantage of it it in several deep gasps, the seconds ticking by, feeling more like hours.

"Well?" the giant demanded.

"There were a lot of scared people in town and Emma's job is to make sure they're safe," Bae said carefully, his voice as light as he could manage. "She's doing that, but she'll be here as soon as she's done."

"You can talk to her through that? Let me see it?"

"She's… kind of not answering, but she will. I'll leave her a message and she'll get it. She'll come straight here."

David let out a startled cry as the pressure returned and the hand around him squeezed tightly against bones threatening to give. "How convenient," the giant growled. "Seems like the only one out of you people I would actually trust isn't around. All you humans do is lie and cheat and kill! I'm sick of it!"

Bae met David's pained look with one of suppressed fear and the prince could almost see the shorter man's clever mind working. "Oh hell," he breathed and looked like he was concentrating on something as hard as he could, reaching a hand out and slowly his fingers began to tinge a light blue, magic gathering there.

"What are you doing?" the giant demanded as the magic leapt from Baelfire's hands, wrapping around him and holding him in place. "Let me go!"

"Only if you promise… to put him down," Bae managed, his voice tight with the stress the focused - but untrained - magic was putting on him.

"He killed my family!"

"Did you hear him? He-" The Dark One's son let out a sharp cry and dropped suddenly to his knees, blood trickling from his nose and the magic immediately dissipated.

"You're all alike," the giant growled as he threw David as if he'd been nothing more than a doll in the hands of a child. "You're all liars!"

David landed hard, rolling as he hit the broken street and the last conscious thought to sweep through his mind was that he hoped Emma could calm the giant before he hurt anyone else.

"If you're so nervous, why don't you go help them?" Belle asked sensibly. Her love was obviously feeling better as he was pacing back and forth the length of the sitting room, cane tapping against the floor every other step in an increasingly quick pattern. He seemed to be trying to ignore her as she watched him from her place on the sofa, book in her lap and legs curled up under her. Her words didn't help at all as he loosed a snarling growl that was reminiscent of some of his more volatile tempers back in the Enchanted Forest.

"I tried, or didn't you hear? They won't listen to reason."

Belle pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. She loved him, but sometimes wondered if he would ever learn to trust those around him. This had been Baelfire's idea, giving it the greatest possibility for acceptance, but he'd refused to budge, no matter how many times she asked.

She set her book aside, uncurled her legs, and stood, catching him as he tried to make his way past her again. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor," she told him firmly as she had to tighten her grip to keep him from brushing past her again.

"It's my floor," he responded childishly and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Instead, she tipped up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips, effectively silencing any further protests. He relaxed just a bit as she wrapped her arms around his neck and finally pulled back just enough to speak quietly. "You're worried."

"Yes," he admitted softly as she worked her hands through his hair, still up on her toes so that she could kiss him at a moment's notice. Her presences seemed to relax him and he closed his eyes, breath leaving him in a huffing sound, but it was better than what it had been. Rumplestiltskin, as long as she had known him, had always had a temper that was fueled by worry. Fear and a lack of control always made it worse, sending him spiralling into these fits. Admitting it was new though, and Belle had noticed that in more recent times. She wasn't sure if it was due to Bae showing up or if Rumple might be more isolated from the more demanding parts of his curse in the Land Without Magic. She wasn't complaining, whichever scenario was at the root of it. It at least allowed him to speak a little more sensibly about things, even if it took some work at it.

"I've never known you to sit idly by."

"You heard them, Belle. They won't listen. They don't know her like I do."

Belle tilted her head in question. "Who is she then? I know that she is Regina's mother, but who is she to you?"

Rumplestiltskin froze at that question, his dark brown eyes opening wide and he stared at her. She sank back down so that her bare feet were pressed flat against the wooden floor, surprise pulling her back. So many emotions were raging through those eyes that she couldn't quite pick them out. Fear, hatred, betrayal, and so much more. They flashed, one right after the other and before she knew it he'd taken a physical step back from her. "She was my first student."

That was interesting, and certainly not what Belle had expected. She knew Rumple had lived several centuries, so the fact that Cora was his first seemed rather odd to her. She'd assumed that he'd taken on many students over the years as the whim caught hold of him. Perhaps not.

"I knew her daughter was important for the curse," he explained softly. "When I met her, she was about to die at the hands of a king."

"You saved her?"

"Because I needed her."

"And you… taught her to be like she is?"

He shrugged, and turned a little more away from her. She hated when he started out like this. The temper may have been dampened somewhere, but the fear and the certainty that those he loved would leave him seemed to cling to the front of his thoughts at all times. "The darkest sides of my curse enjoyed teaching Cora," he said after a moment. "She was vengeful and terrible."

Belle sighed and closed the gap between them. He wanted to say more, she could hear it in his voice, but he'd stopped himself. Every conversation they'd had recently about trust came to mind, but she repeated the words to herself as well. She had faith in Rumple and she would continue to have faith in him. He needed her to as much as she did.

A buzzing sound came from inside Rumplestiltskin's pocket and he fished out the cell phone and flipped it open, relief at the end of the conversation about Cora only flashing briefly. "Bae? What's the matter, son?" His brows knit together as Bae spoke to him, his voice muffled and impossible for Belle to completely understand. She didn't need to, though, because Rumple began to speak again. "I'm sorry, but did you say giant? In Storybrooke?"

The librarian's eyes widened and her mind started to pull together everything she knew about giants. They were thought to be extinct until just a few years before the curse swept them all away. A legend had been on its way to forming already when they left and it spoke if one giant: the most terrible of them all. Supposedly he was very jealous of his treasure and had a deep seated disdain for any human that crossed his path.

"What are you doing?"

Belle stopped her search she'd begun and looked over at her love. She hadn't even heard him hang up the phone. "Looking for my shoes."

"What?"

She shot him a withering look. "My shoes. I can hardly come with you to battle a giant barefoot, can I?"

"What makes you think I'm going?" he asked, his voice soft and guarded.

She smiled at him, finding her shoes where she'd kicked them off on the other side of the sofa. "Because it's Bae."

"And why should that mean that you need to go?"

Belle pushed down the irritation the words brought on, clinging to the knowledge that Rumplestiltskin was a tad overprotective of those he loved most. The smile remained and she crossed the space between them. "For all of your cleverness you can be very dull sometimes," she informed him and pressed a kiss to his lips. "You don't have to face anything alone anymore."

If he had his way, those that he loved would never be in danger. There'd been a day when the Dark One always had his way too, but now they were actually in his life and he found himself bending to their wishes and wants more than he ever would have before. He didn't have time to argue with Belle about her safety and he knew that look in her eye as well. If he simply left her behind it would cause more than a small rift. She was a patient woman, but patience only took one so far.

That was why he took her when he transported himself instantly to the place Bae had called him from. He hadn't liked the sound of his voice over the phone, and when he laid eyes on his son, he knew why. The giant he'd spoken of loomed dangerously close to where Bae was knelt on the pavement, the concrete broken all around him and he was staring up. David lay motionless just a few yards away.

"It's an actual giant," Belle breathed. "I've only read about them. They were once thought to be quite gentle creatures unless provoked."

"I'd say this one has been provoked," Rumplestiltskin groused and took a step forward. His magic obeyed even the mere thought he offered up to it and the giant shimmered, frozen even as he was reaching for the injured prince just beyond Bae.

Baelfire turned and made his way unsteadily to his feet. "Papa! You came."

"Of course I did," his father answered testily. "Are you alright?"

"Me? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, though his tone hardly bred confidence.

"I'll check on David," Belle offered softly and Rumple moved to meet his son, even as the giant began to yell.

"You magic users! You think you can use anyone you want to do anything you want! You're the worst of them all. You and that witch and-"

"That's quite enough, thank you," Rumplestiltskin cut him off, his magic slapping against the giant's mouth like a gag. "We'll deal with you later. Bae, what happened, son?"

Baelfire quirked an uncomfortable smile and wiped at his nose. If he'd been meaning to do away with the evidence before his father saw it, he only brought attention to it and the elder man grabbed his hand, inspecting the blood on it and he put a hand on either side of his face, leaning in to study him. Bae stiffened in his grip, but didn't pull away. "He was going to kill David," he said after a moment as his papa's magic moved all around him, exploring and checking for unseen damage. "I had to try something."

"Yes, that does seem to be the motto of the last few days. Let's try something," Rumplestiltskin said flippantly, his voice pitching up in a mocking tone that pulled a frown from his son.

Bae moved from his grasp. "I couldn't just let him die."

"So you decided to try your hand at magic you can't control."

"It's not my fault you haven't taught me anything!"

"Forgive me for fighting for my life the last few days, Baelfire."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Interesting, that's about what you said."

"Enough, both of you," Belle called out from her place. "Could you please handle this when we don't have a giant trapped in place?"

Rumplestiltskin snorted, but didn't argue with her. Instead he turned his gaze up to his frozen captive. "Now what are you doing here?" He waited for a response before remembering that he'd gagged the destructive giant and with a wave of his hand he released him.

"If you think I'm answering any of your-"

"Now now," the Dark One tutted, his gag falling back into place temporarily, "no need to yell. We're all right here, dearie. I'm going to release this in a moment and you are going to behave. That, or I'll make you wish that you'd never sided with Cora."

The giant made a muffled, frustrated sound that finally turned into words. "I never sided with that witch! She brought me here. All I wanted was to live in peace!"

Rumplestiltskin snorted and his son took a steadier step towards him. "Emma knows him, Pop, but we can't get ahold of her."

"Glad you didn't try to use magic to pull her here," his papa groused. "Might have left half of her there."

"Half of who?" David asked in a slurred voice and Rumple glanced over to see him leaning heavily on Belle, still looking a bit woozy from the attack.

"Nothing, nothing," the Dark One growled and waved his hand.

Magic swirled in blacks and reds, depositing a very startled looking Emma Swan when it cleared. She swayed, unsteady in the new place and looked around. "What the hell?" she demanded, hazel eyes traveling the small group, and just as she looked like she was about to push for an answer from Rumplestiltskin, she spotted the giant. "Anton?"

"Emma!" their very large and destructive visitor cried, the first semi-pleasant expression they'd seen making it onto his features. "These people say they know you. James here-"

"James?" the savior echoed, following where he was pointing with his eyes - Rumplestiltskin hadn't released his holding spell yet - and gawked. "That's not James. That's David. He's… Well, he's my dad."

"He is?" Anton asked.

"Yeah. You mind not destroying our town?"

"If it's your town, it's safe from me."

Rumplestiltskin tilted his head, judging how honest he felt the statement was and finally let his spell drop. He turned his back as Emma - and David, though he moved much more slowly and looked to be in some amount of pain - spoke with Anton. Belle looped her arm through his own and he could tell she was trying to calm him. She knew that the calm expression he wore now was a facade. Beneath it fear and dread battled each other to claw to the top of the piling anxiety that finding his son on his knees with signs of magical strain radiating from him had brought on. She may not have known why the anxiety had built, but she knew it was there.

"Papa," Bae said softly and Rumplestiltskin loosed a breath through his nose.

"What you did was dangerous, Bae."

"I was just trying to hold him. Just like you did."

"Look at the size of him. Bae, you're smarter than that…"

"Rumple," Belle's soft voice reached his ear and she squeezed his arm. "He was trying to help. Don't be cross with him."

"He's not," Baelfire said softly, as if it had suddenly become clear to him. "He's scared."

Rumplestiltskin stiffened. "Bae-"

"It's not a knock, Papa. It's…" He pulled in a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to help. I didn't mean to frighten you."

There was such honesty in his son's voice that he felt his chest tighten. Before he could talk himself out of it he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Baelfire, pulling him close. "I love you, Bae," he whispered roughly and the younger man returned the embrace. "I just want you to be safe, son."

"I know, Papa. I know. I love you too."

Charming cleared his throat off to the side. "So, Gold, I take it we have your help in this?"

Rumplestiltskin snorted. "I fear there's no stopping it now."

Regina stood frozen where she was, her eyes wide. A spell had washed over her, keeping her from moving even a centimeter one way or the other. Her mother had moved faster than she could have ever dreamt of moving. For all Regina's skill, for all of her natural and trained talent, she was nothing compared to Cora. Every step she'd taken against her had been thwarted and every move she'd made that she thought had been in secret had been known. She knew, just as Cora did, that she was beaten.

"This is a turn of events," the Queen of Hearts purred. "To see you two working closely together almost reminds me of your childhood, Snow. Though it never seems to work out well for you, does it sweetheart? Perhaps trusting Eva's daughter was never in your best interest after all."

"Mother, release me," Regina said tightly.

"I really don't think I will," Cora answered with a terrible smile. She moved towards Snow, her hand coming up to the younger woman's face. The princess remained calm, her glare even, and she didn't flinch as Cora took hold of her chin and spoke to her daughter, even though she was facing her step-granddaughter. "I worked so hard to make sure you had the life I didn't, Regina. So very hard. When I married your father, I knew he'd never be king. I would never be queen, but you, dear… You had so much potential." She tilted Snow's head, studying her face carefully. "I killed Eva because I knew Leopold well enough to know he'd search for a new wife. His darling child needed a mother, and who better than my own daughter for that role?"

For the first time since she'd moved towards her, Snow spoke softly, her voice quivering, though Regina didn't know if it were from anger or shock. "You killed my mother?"

Cora smiled cruelly. "I did, and Regina filled that role quite nicely, don't you think?"

"You're a monster," Snow hissed.

"No dear. I'm a mother. I'm willing to do anything for my child. I have, and I will continue, even if she's lost sight of her goal."

Regina focused on the spell surrounding her. Rumple had always taught her that there was no spell cast by human hand that couldn't be unravelled. There was a loose thread, and though she had never been one to take the time to carefully unravel a spell - the Evil Queen had always relied on power over finesse - she struggled to remember the training he'd tried to provide her with now. Carefully, as subtly as she knew how, she worked her way through the holding spell until she found what has looking for. One single string. It was the end of the spell, tucked into the folds and hidden well from plain sight. Only a skilled magic user would have found it and only a truly talented one could take a hold of it.

The first attempt to pull it slipped, and if Cora had been any less distracted by the daughter of her former rival she would have certainly noticed, but her eyes were on Snow and her back was towards her daughter. She always had been caught up in power and it could be used against her. The second try was the one and Regina tugged hard, unravelling the spell and feeling rushed back into her fingers.

Cora spun, feeling her spell shatter, but Regina already had the heart in her hand. She moved faster than her mother would have ever given her credit for and the world seemed to stand still as she shoved her heart back into her chest.

TBC

Next time - Chapter Twenty-One: Between a Truth and a Lie, in which Snow asks questions, Cora discovers Belle, and Rumplestiltskin lets his fears drive his decisions.