Chapter Twenty-one
"Where am I?" Snow White asked after she had opened her eyes and looked around. She stood up when she looked at the barren landscape and the dead grass was scattered in all directions. She saw a few dead trees and the ice cold wind blew through her hair, making her shiver. She started walking while the dry ground crunched under her feet and she wrapped her arms around her chest. Looking up, she saw the dark sky filled with black clouds and red lightning flared behind the clouds. Large cracks made zig-zig patterns over the ground as she kept walking and shivered. She kept walking as she walked by dead trees and large cracks in the ground and wondered where Rumplestiltskin and the others were. Suddenly she was in a lush forest as the dim sunlight sparkled through the leaves and the leaf litter crunched under her feet. "It can't be."
She kept walking when she heard a familiar giggle and walked faster.
"Will you stop that?" a familiar voice asked as Snow White hid behind the tree then peeked out to see who was talking.
"I just find it funny that you thought you were better than me when it comes to magic," Rumplestiltskin said, waving his right hand up and grinned. He was wearing a copper color silk shirt, a brown leather vest, brown leather trousers and brown leather boots that laced up the front. Standing next to him was Cora and she was dressed in a dark blue, long sleeve gown, black heels and a gold chain with a dark blue gem pendant was around her neck.
"I am," Cora said.
"No, you're not," he said, glaring at her.
"Wait," she said while looking around then waved her hand and the tree Snow White was standing behind vanished. "Well, it appears we're being spy on."
Rumplestiltskin walked to Snow White when he fold his arms over his chest and titled his head to one side. Snow White noticed how thick the golden scales were and how more lizard-like his eyes looked and she pressed her lips together.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I am Snow White," Snow said and he noticed the look in her eyes.
"Do I frighten you, Dearie?" he asked.
"No," she said then looked at Cora. "She does."
"Why?" he asked, looking at Cora.
"You have no idea how dangerous she is."
"Enlighten me," he said, making a small bow.
"You are right when you said she lies. She uses lies to get her way and will manipulate anyone into doing whatever she wants. If that doesn't work then she tortures them with magic," Snow White said and Cora growled.
"How dare you," she shouted then looked at Rumplestiltskin. "She's lying. I would never use magic in that way."
"Tell that to Regina!" Snow challenged.
"Leave my daughter out of this!"
"Which one?!" she growled.
"I only have one daughter!"
"Then Zelena lied when she said you were her mother," Snow said and Cora's face went pure white.
"I don't…."
"Stop," Snow sighed. "Just stop the lies."
"Who is this Zelena?" Rumplestiltskin asked, looking from one to the other.
"She is the daughter she had before Regina. She left Zelena out in the elements then went and married Regina's father."
"Is this true?" he asked and Cora glared at Snow White then sighed.
"Yes," Cora said.
"Is she mine?" he asked and Snow White saw the look on his face.
"Does it matter?" Cora asked and red light flashed in his eyes.
"Tell me!" he demanded while walking closer then stopped when Snow White came between them. "Get out of my way."
"Look, I know you deserve an answer, but she isn't going to tell you," Snow said and he sighed, knowing she was right. "Let me ask you something. Say your son…"
"His name is Baelfire."
"Say Baelfire came to you and said he had saved the only child of…."
Snow White knew she had to change the story slightly as she sighed and half closed her eyes.
"The child belongs to the Queen. She is grateful and offers to marry him."
"That sounds lovely," he said, but she shook her head.
"What if he was in love with one of your maids? They had been secretly seeing each other and he confides in the Queen's child that he loves the maid and they were running off to get married."
"Are you saying she is his true love?"
"Yes. Now, say you see the child and you have a feeling she knows something. Something the child promised not to tell. Would you manipulate the child to learn the secret?"
"I might."
"What would you do when you go to stop them? Baelfire begs you to let them go because the maid is his true love and he is hers. Would you kill the maid?"
"Would I kill my son's true love so he'd marry the Queen?"
"Yes."
"No," he said, scrunching up his nose.
"Then you would let them go even though the Queen would be furious?"
"Of course I would," he said. "True love is more important."
"Even more important than power?" she asked and he frowned.
"Well, not my power," he said then giggled.
"Ask her about Regina and Daniel."
"Who is Daniel?"
"He was Regina's true love," she said then glared at Cora. "He was also the stable boy. She didn't want Regina to have anything to do with him. Regina had saved my life and my father asked her to marry him. I had found out about her and Daniel and promised not to tell, but Cora manipulated me into telling her about them. Afterwards, she went and killed Daniel so Regina would marry my father."
"She really did that?" he asked and placed a hand on Snow White's shoulder.
"Yes," she said. She knew Rumplestiltskin had found out why Regina was so bent on destroying her, but this Rumplestiltskin was before she was even born and he glared at Cora.
"I do not tolerate anyone who harms a child," he said and Cora sneered at him. "In fact, it makes me rather…grumpy."
"What are you going to do about it?" Cora asked with a cold tone to her voice.
"This," Rumplestiltskin said then waved his hand and Cora vanished in a puff of purple smoke. Giggling, he looked at Snow White and titled his head to one side. "Are you alright?"
"I don't know where my friends are," she sighed and he tapped his finger against his lips while looking around.
"Is that them?" he asked, pointing to Bae, Belle, Little Rumple and Rumple coming closer and Snow White smiled.
"Yes," she said as the other stopped near her and Little Rumple held tightly onto Bae's hand
"It's alright," Bae said, looked down at Little Rumple. "He won't hurt you."
"He's right, Dearie," Rumplestiltskin said, holding his hand out and Little Rumple rubbed his fingers over the gold scales then grinned. Snow White looked at Rumple as he softly smiled at her and held onto the wooden staff.
"Have you seen Emma or Henry?" Belle asked.
"No," Snow said with a shake of her head.
"Then let's go look for them," Rumplestiltskin said.
"Which way should we go?" Rumple asked.
"We've been heading north so I think we should keep going," Bae said while Rumplestiltskin held his hand out to Snow White and she took his hand, wrapping their fingers together. They moved by the trees as he swung her hand back and forth and Snow White smiled.
"Great," Emma sighed after she had opened her eyes and looked around. She stood up when she looked at the barren landscape and the dead grass was scattered in all directions. She saw a few dead trees and the ice cold wind blew through her hair, making her shiver. She started walking while the dry ground crunched under her feet and she wrapped her arms around her chest. Looking up, she saw the dark sky filled with black clouds and red lightning flared behind the clouds. Large cracks made zig-zig patterns over the ground as she kept walking and shivered. "Rumplestiltskin, can you hear me?!"
Her voice echoed around her as Emma sighed then stopped and leaned against a rock. She looked at the dark sky when she growled and balled her hands into fists.
"Where are you?" she shouted and the thunder roared around her.
"Are you looking for me, Dearie?" a familiar voice asked as she walked around the rock and saw Rumplestiltskin sitting on a flat top rock. He was wearing a black shirt with shiny black scales and frayed cuffs and the shirt was open at the top. Rumplestiltskin was also wearing a silver/gray scaled vest that was closed by griffon head or eagle head claps. The black leather coat had large cuffs with large silver buttons and the high collar draped over his shoulders and down the front of the coat in a large crocodile scale pattern. Black leather gloves covered his hands and the last thing he wore was a black leather pirate boots and the black leather pirate boots came up to the top of his knees. The golden scales sparkled while he tilted his head to one side and she saw the sadness in his lizard eyes. Walking closer, she sat next to him then placed her hand on top of his left hand and he wrapped their fingers together. A few feet in front of them a mangled body was lying on the ground and Emma looked at the green skin and strawberry blonde hair.
"Is that…Zelena?" she asked with concern in her voice and he pressed his lips together, looking up at the dark sky.
"Yes, I had fun doing that."
"You should have seen what Belle did to her."
"What did she do?" he asked with a shocked looked on his face.
"She beat the crap out of her," she said and he giggled.
"Good for her. Well, it's not a good thing. Wish I had seen it," he said then looked at her. "Are you alright, Dearie?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not. I feel like my world has been torn apart and put back together wrong. One minute I'm living a perfectly normal life then I find out that I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. I go from living in a small apartment in Boston to sharing an apartment with a woman who is my mother, but is young enough to be my sister to living in the Enchanted Forest. I find out I can do magic and am inside the head of a very powerful wizard."
"I'm more than a wizard, Dearie. I am the Dark One," he said, waving his hands up.
"No, you're Rumplestiltskin."
"What's the difference?"
"I'm not sure. All I know is you're not as dark as I was told."
"I'm darker….much darker," he whispered and she gave him a puzzled look. "Though, to be honest, I am tired of being everyone's scapegoat. My father used me as a scapegoat when things didn't go right. My wife used me as a scapegoat as an excuse for leaving. The Blue Fairy made me a scapegoat for why Bae left. The list goes on and on. The only one who never made me a scapegoat was Belle and it is only a matter of time before she does."
"You don't really believe that."
"Yes, I do," he sighed and lowered his head. Lifting his chin up, she looked into his eyes and slightly smiled. "It's alright. I'm used to being alone."
"So am I. The thing you have to remember is you're not alone."
"Neither are you."
"I know, but I'm not sure if I belong here. All this magic stuff is too much. I just want to go home."
"This is your home."
"No, it's not. Home is where there's running water, electricity, cars, smart phones, pizza…"
"I understand," he said then giggled. "I miss all those things, too. Do you want to know what I miss most?"
"What?"
"I miss my pawnshop," he said, closing his eyes. "I really didn't need it, but it was mine. I also miss my car. I miss…"
"You miss your home," she said and he nodded his head.
"Another reason for them to despise me," he sighed. "It was my fault that we had to come here and Regina lost Henry."
"You didn't do anything. Tinker Bell was going to kill us."
"Yes, but I was the one who kept the curse in my shop."
"You didn't know she was going to use it."
"She wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten rid of Pan."
"He was going to kill Henry."
"I wanted to kill Henry."
"You didn't."
"Now there's Zelena. She has this sick obsession with me and wants to kill Regina. Maybe it would have been better if I just give in and let Zelana…"
"No, it wouldn't. What about Belle? Don't you love her anymore?"
"Of course I do!" he said with a shocked look on his face then sighed. "I'm just tired."
Emma placed her arm around his shoulders as he leaned into her and she gently rubbed his back
"Emma?" Bae shouted as she let go of Rumplestiltskin and stood up. She watched Bae, Little Rumple, Belle, Rumple, Snow White and Rumplestiltskin coming closer then stopped in front of her and they looked at the other Rumplestiltskin. Belle smiled as he stood up then ran to her and swept her into his arms, hugging her.
"Hello," Belle said and he put her down onto her feet.
"Wait, when did this happen?" the other Rumplestiltskin asked, pointing to Belle and Rumplestiltskin.
"It's a long story," Rumplestiltskin said then moved behind Belle, slid his arms around her and pulled her against him. "Let's just say you find your true love."
"Finally," Rumple sighed and smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, Dearie, mind telling us who are you?" the other Rumplestiltskin asked, looking at Emma.
"I'm Emma," Emma said then frowned and looked at Bae. "Who are they?"
"From what I can figure out, this is my father's childhood," he said as he looked at Little Rumple and Rumple frowned.
"Your father…?" he asked then looked shocked. "You're Bae?"
"Yes," Bae sighed and Rumple looked at Belle.
"You said he was called "Neal"."
"It is, but I didn't want to confuse you," Belle said.
"You…you lied to me," he said as she let go of Rumplestiltskin and walked to Rumple.
"Yes, I did, but I didn't lie when I said I love you," she said and hugged him. He held her then placed his head on her shoulder and she gently rubbed his back. "Forgive me?"
"Yes," he said with a small smile and she moved back as he looked at Bae. "Who am I?"
"You are my father's past," Bae said.
"Which means one of us is the monster and the other is the beast," Rumplestiltskin said, pointing from himself to the other Rumplestiltskin.
"It depends on a person's point of view," Snow said and they gave her a confused look. "I never thought either of you were a monster or a beast."
"I never did either," Bae said.
"Well, I thought you were a little creepy," Emma teased and Rumplestiltskin giggled, rolling his eyes.
"Have you seen Henry?" Snow asked, looking around.
"No," Emma said, shaking her head.
"Who is this Henry?" the other Rumplestiltskin asked.
"He's our son," Bae said and Emma nodded her head.
"I'm…a grandfather?!" the other Rumplestiltskin gasped and placed a hand on his chest then giggled.
"Anyway, he's got to be around here somewhere," Emma said.
"Well, seeing we've been traveling this way….," Bae said as he pointed north and Rumplestiltskin frowned while walking to Belle and took her hand.
"If Henry is in that direction then we better hurry," he said.
"What's in that direction?" Snow asked.
"The Dark One," he whispered as he looked at Rumple then at Bae and sighed, knowing that Rumple couldn't walk fast enough to keep up with them. "Bae, do you think you can carry…me?"
"Sure, Papa," Bae said when he walked to Belle then looked to Rumple.
"Are you sure?" Rumple asked, looking down.
"You don't look that heavy," Bae said then knelt down so Rumple could climb onto his back and Rumple placed his arms around Bae's neck after handing Emma his wooden staff. Careful of Rumple's leg, Bae stood up and Rumple softly smiled
"Let's go," Emma said as she started walking and Rumplestiltskin and Belle took the rear. Smiling, he knelt down when Little Rumple jumped onto his back and Rumplestiltskin stood up. He smiled at Belle while Little Rumple giggled then gently wrapped his arms around Rumplestiltskin's shoulders and the thunder rumbled in the dark sky.