Notes: I planned for this to be a heavily Rumple chapter, just like last chapter was centered around Neil. I'm not going to promise a great chapter, as I'm really trying to push past this ep, but I will try to make it through this. Since I don't like this ep much, we shall see how much I follow with it. Neverland is nearly here.
And Straight On Til Morning Part 1
He stared at the the glass in front of him. Its glow haunted him. What was he to do? Sybelle, it seemed, was his mother. How that was possible didn't matter as much as what he was going to do. Rumpelstiltskin wanted nothing to do with his father. It would be better for everyone if Peter Pan never entered their lives. And yet...Sybelle was his mother.
During the curse, before he knew they were related, Sybelle had been warm and kind towards him. She had made Rumpelstiltskin feel like he wasn't so alone in the world. Sure, Bae was missing and Belle was "dead," but Sybelle had eased the pain of their loss.
"Richard, you look upset." Sybelle looked at up from her book with a frown. "Has something happened?"
"Nothing's happened." He lied. Regina had entered his shop hissing about her son's birth mother. He hoped that she would keep the child, even if it would hurt her later. Rumple need her to keep the boy in order to find his son.
"Are you sure?" She asked. She seemed tired.
"I'm sure." He took a seat beside her on the sofa. "Tell me. How are you feeling?"
"I'm tired." Her voice broke. "I close my eyes and...it's awful." She placed a hand on her stomach. "Can...can I read to you?"
"For a little bit." Rumple nodded.
"After I make your dinner." She forced a smile. "I'll make your favorite."
"You don't have. I can-"
"Nonsense." Sybelle cut him off. "You need a proper meal." She ran her fingers through his hair. She could tell that something was weighing heavily on his mind. "You know, you can tell me anything. We're family. I'll support you no matter what. Even if your the evilest man in town." She laughed.
Even after the curse broke, Sybelle had tried to be there for him. Alright, sure she had done some nasty things to him and he to her, but overall she still tried. He knew that he would never try to play nice to someone that chained him to a pound. In fact, he was sure he'd kill anyone who even tried. Could she truly want to be his family? If so, why did she move out? Why did she hide from him?
"There's no point in hiding from me any longer." The dark imp laughed.
'It's not hiding if the person doesn't care to find you." He recalled a blonde haired woman inform him. Her bright green eyes shined with disappointment.
"Are you saying that I haven't been looking?" Rumpelstiltskin sneered at her.
"I am." The woman replied. "If you were, you would have found me sooner. You would have seen past my mask as Regina's Aunt Vivian and seen who I truly was."
"And who is that?" The Dark One didn't like this strange woman. He was glad that she'd be out of his hair soon enough.
"Someone that means to protect you." The green eyed woman declared. "Rumpelstiltskin, I knew your father well. He would not-"
"You know nothing." He shouted. "And how dare you talk down to me. I'm the Dark One. I don't need advice from the likes of you."
"Very well." She shed a single tear. "Such is fate. You to harm and I to watch as you fall. I'm ready. It can't be worse than what was done to me before." She knew she couldn't win against him. She was sick, poisoned by a youth near by.
Worse than what was done to her before? Had their paths crossed before? In what form had they met? No matter. Rumpelstiltskin thought to himself as he cursed the woman to the body of water next to her.
"This will not hold me forever Rumpelstiltskin." She warned as her body was pulled towards the water. "I will find my freedom and come for Regina. If she can not be saved, I will come after you."
"To kill me?" He laughed off. "I'd like to see you try."
"Ha, you acted as though death is the only punishment one can endure." She smirked. Her hair started to change color. She looked like a different person. So, that was what she meant by mask. The Dark One thought to himself. "But there are much worse things than death. Guilt, torture...giving you a heart. There's many ways to cause pain."
Funny. He had forgotten all about that day until just now.
Xxx
"That glass must be important." Lacey noted as she stepped into the room. "You've been looking at it for an hour now."
"It sort of is." Rumple grinned. "I just found out my mother is alive." His lips may have formed a smile, but his heart wasn't in it.
"Sounds like an awful mom." Lacey snorted. "She just let you think she was dead and left you. Better off leaving her to riot."
"Do you think so?" That was so unlike his Belle. Belle would have questioned why Sybelle hadn't been there. Belle would have wanted him to make peace with his family. He missed his Belle.
He imagined that he could have cured her by now, if he had tried. He wondered why Sybelle hadn't come in shouting about how sick he was to have not even treated to cure his girlfriend. It seemed like something she would be against than again, he really didn't know.
The bell rang in the shop. It was a sign that someone had stepped inside his shop. Rumple looked up to find a blonde woman sharply dressed with her hair tied up. She glanced around the shop bored by the items within. The dark imp was unsure who she was. Someone not very important as he couldn't recall her outright.
"May I help you?" He asked as he put away the vial.
"I've come to ask you a question." The woman snapped her green eyes at him. She looked familiar, but he was sure he had never seen her before.
"What kind of question." The Dark One eyed her carefully.
"Did you kill my sister?" She asked as she glared up at him. Her heels made no sounds as she want to stand in front of him. She leaned on the desk between them. It was clear that she didn't trust him.
"Who?"
"That's right." She frowned as she looked at a necklace in the glass. "You don't know my sister very well." She seemed to be speaking to herself.
"It seems I don't." He agreed.
"Did you kill her? Did you kill Sybelle?" She breathed out after a long pause.
"You're her sister? One of the seven?" He eyed her up and down. This was one of his aunts. He could see it now. Their eyes were kind of the same and the way they stood mirrored each other in a way.
"Yes, I am." She swallowed. "Did you? Because I can't...I can't feel her...I can't sense her...and-"
"She went out of town." Rumple informed her. "Off to other land and place far from here."
"I see." Sybelle's sister seemed unhappy. "I didn't realize she had gained that much power. I can't leave yet." She muttered to herself.
"But I am told she will be back."
"Hn, than may I ask for a favor." She did not look at him. She bit the inside of her mouth to will herself to go on. "In exchange, I will owe you."
"What ever you need." A favor from a daughter of Poseidon was well worth whatever she needed.
"Call me when she returns." She handed him a card. "Don't tell her that I came. Just call me."
"Why?" He questioned as he took the small paper.
"You don't know her." The woman repeated. "You don't know her story, but I do. I took something from her. I helped take...Malcolm, I helped take him from her. His death...I helped with that." Malcolm? What had his aunts done to his mother and father? It must have been something bad from the look on this woman's face. "And I want to apologize for it. I want to apologize for what I have done to her, to him" She whispered so softly. He almost didn't hear it. "to you." She quickly snapped her eyes to look at him. "I need to tell her I'm sorry. I need to tell her that I never wanted to hurt her. It was never about her. It had never been about her."
"Than what was it about?" Belle/Lacey piped in. It was clear that the blonde hadn't noticed her before.
"Revenge." The woman stated with a sad smile. "Revenge against a god who pretend to love his daughters." She sneered.
"Really?" Belle/Lacey was in awe. "And how did you come to know this god..." She wanted to know the blonde's name.
"Indy." The woman flashed a dark smile. "And he was my father." With that, the blonde woman pushed herself away from the desk. "If you need me, I'll be at the graveyard. Remember, call me as soon as she returns and don't tell her you saw me. Only then will you have earned your favor." The door chimed to signal that Indy had left.
Interesting, Rumpelstiltskin thought to himself. It seemed that there was a lot behind the mad green eyes of his mother. Malcolm dead as an act of 'revenge against a god who pretend to love his daughters.' How would hurting a mere mortal hurt a god?
"See was something." Lacey frowned.
"That she was." Mr. Gold agreed.
Xxx
Indy, short of Indiana, watched out of the Dark One's store with a heavy heart. She walked gracefully towards a blonde curly haired woman leaning against a wall. She stood up as Indy stepped in front of her.
"Well?" The blonde curly haired woman asked.
"She's not here, but she's not dead." Indy crossed her arms. The woman gave a sigh of relief. "But there is something wrong."
"Wrong?"
"Pacific, my second eldest sister." Indy swallowed. "I see her in that imp. I see her in that boy, the Dark One." She hissed lowly.
"You don't mean...he could be related to us?" Pacific's eyes widened.
"We're monsters." Indy cried out. "We caused this curse. We did this."
"So, how do we fix it?" The woman asked her little sister. "How do we make this better?" Her eyes were dark, clearly focused on this task.
"I don't think we can." Indy frowned. "But we can help her. We can help Sybelle...because helping our littlest sister means hurting our eldest sister." She gave a sly grin. "We'll hurt her for Malcolm, for these people, for that boy." She spat out. "We can do that."
"Hm, I'll think it over." Pacific declared with sad eyes. "Revenge isn't something we've done well so far. I don't want to start another quest without thinking things through."
"Whatever." Indy rolled her eyes. "I'll keep my eyes on this boy. He may be our kin after all."
"Careful." Pacific warned her sister. "The Dark One is known for being wicked."
"So our we." Indiana grinned wider. "So our we. And if he isn't worthy of being kin, we can ensure a new Dark One is made." The other woman chuckled. That sounded like a fun idea. If worse came to worse, they could always do that.
Xxx
The door rang again. Rumple glared at the door. Sure his shop was opened, but that didn't mean he wanted people to come in. The store was now just a set piece, a bit of costume in the dress show that was this curse. He was sure most people knew that. So, why were people continuing to come in?
"What do you want?" The Dark One glared at the dwarf that entered the shop.
"In case you haven't noticed," The grumpy one snapped out as other little men followed him in. "Hell's going on outside and we want our brother to at least remember us as the world ends."
"If I don't remember, can the world not end?" One asked the others.
"You're going to remember." Grumpy shouted. He took something from the shelf. It had been one of their mugs. "That 'sister' of yours sends you this." He slammed a bottle on the table. "It should make her remember too, not that you deserve it."
"My sister?" Rumpelstiltskin frowned as he picked up the bottle. "Sybelle made this for me?"
"Yeah." The angry one huffed out. "Let her know, we kept up our side of things."
"Will do." The Dark One glanced outside. Hell truly was going on outside. It seemed Regina was using the fail safe. That meant it was time to go. "Belle" He quickly corrected himself. "Lacy, we need to go." He shouted out to her.
"Go? Go where?" She asked deeply confused.
"Not important." He informed her. "We just have to go." He rushed to the cupboard to grab their special cup. He paused as he thought about his mother working to cure Belle. It was clear that the woman wanted to give him something that was taken to her, a chance at true love. "Before we go, I have something for you."
"You do?"
"Yes." He breathed in as he turned to look at her. He was going to give Belle the cure. It was time that someone in his family had a true happily ever after. He had no clue what had been taken from him hours before and what he would lose in the future.
He had no idea that within hours he would be headed to Neverland and facing off against his father.
Xxx
