A/N: Episode 4x18 was on last night. Robin's comment about thieving for yourself means you're a thief, but thieving for others means you're a hero really hit me as the theme between heroes and villains throughout the entire OUAT story. E&A have used this idea over and over. It's why Snow and David are heroes even though they sometimes do bad things (I mean sometimes they are truly cruel in their thoughtlessness – think of when Regina stops the curse at the wishing well and the 'heroes' walk away from her like she's just some deadfall in the forest) and Rumplestiltskin et al remain villains even though they sometimes do good things (stopping 2 ogre wars should be enough to redeem him a bit!). It's the motivations behind their actions that determine if they qualify for hero or villain status.

It's an interesting morality question: are you a good person because of your thoughts or because of your actions?

Also, I think I've figured out how everyone is going to get their happy endings. Henry brought Rumplestiltskin to Baelfire in NYC. So by the prophecy, Henry is Rumple's undoing. What better way to undo the Dark One than to become the next Author and write him his happy ending severing his tie to the dagger? And one for Regina while he's at it?

Anyways. Thank you all for reading. And special thanks to those who have faved my story. I really appreciate it.

He didn't know how long he stood there. An hour? Three? A week? Long enough for Belle to pass through his wards for the last time. Long enough that his feet and legs were stiff from staying too long in one position, and the wounds in his hands had scabbed over. Long enough for it to be time to go to bed, and sleep until Regina cast the Curse.

But Rumplestiltskin had left despondency behind long before becoming the Dark One. He buried himself in work, marking the items that needed to be transported to his home in the new Land. He wrote the spells that would protect his castle and the items he would leave behind. He offered up a rather insincere 'good luck' to the interlopers who would invade his castle after the Curse. He used his crystal ball to spy on Snow White, who was hiding in the forest from the Queen's forces.

In fact, it was more than slightly intriguing to find that he was not the only one thwarted in love. Of course, Regina had lost her love years before, and there was that mess with Snow and James. And Abigail and Frederick. But some of their friends were also having issues. Red Riding Hood ate her lover as a midnight snack. Dreamy the dwarf and Nova the fairy were separated by the Blue Fairy. Someone is surely having a laugh at all these broken romances.

And as much as he didn't want reminders of Belle around to distract him, there was a cathartic kind of torture to sit on the chaise in her library, to open the curtains to let the sun shine into the Great Hall every morning. To cradle her cup in his palms.

0-0

Rumplestiltskin gazed into his crystal ball: Snow was running, trying to escape from the Queen's Men. Watching the chase was like being able to see one of the more ridiculous romantic novels being lived out. Not once did she trip over a root or crash into a branch or tree, not even when she was looking behind her. She slid down hillsides and jumped off large boulders, all without losing a single stride. And the soldiers, even though they were men with longer strides, never caught up to her. At least not until the forest ended on a cliff overlooking the ocean. But even then, the farce continued. The soldiers didn't tackle her or try to imprison her with anything but words, hugely ineffectual unless you have magic; they stayed a few feet away giving Snow White the time and space to jump off the cliff. Where she was promptly rescued by a mermaid. The two of them, of course, became good friends right away and made plans to attend a ball that night for which they had neither an invitation nor the appropriate clothing. I think the fairy's charm is a little too obvious, he snorted. She was only supposed to charm Snow and David from any major physical harm, not this larger than life bedtime tale.

Still chuckling over the incongruity of the situation, he made his way to the Great Hall for tea. Belle would have loved to go to that ball. Maybe she is on her way there right now. His stomach churning with regret, he abandoned the tea at the table to sit at his wheel. He fed straw onto the spindle, magic turning it into golden rope. Gaston's gone, so Sir Maurice is probably looking for a new husband for her. And a royal ball is a great way to meet potential suitors. But only as long as they remain potential…. He pictured Belle in a blue ball gown to match her eyes, something shiny and shimmery, smiling and laughing up at her partner as he whirled her through the dance. Oh, Belle….

When Milah had left, he had been angry more at her betrayal than sad at her absence. Same with Cora. But Belle… was different. Was this melancholy for the fact that she hadn't left him voluntarily? That for the very small price of a kiss, she would have stayed with him?

Regina strode through the doors from the entrance hall. How did she get through my wards without me knowing? "Flimsy locks!" she giggled. "I have a deal to discuss. A certain…mermaid." She headed to the table and began to make herself a cup of the now cooled tea.

Go away! "I'm not dealing today."

"Are you angry with me?" Regina sounded like a wife pretending not to nag her husband. "What is it this time."

"Your little deception failed," he informed her. "You'll never be more powerful than me. You can keep trying, Dearie, but you're never going to beat me."

"Oh… Is this about that girl I met on the road?" she cooed. "Hm?" The queen snorted gently. "What was her name? Margie? …Verna."

"Belle."

"Right. Well, you can rest assured I had nothing to do with that tragedy."

For the first time since she entered the room, Rumplestiltskin's attention was focused on Regina. He stopped spinning and walked towards the queen. "What tragedy?" he asked as evenly as possible. Regina knew that Belle was important to him; she might suspect, but she couldn't know for certain just how important. And certainly not enough to know that he and Belle shared a True Love.

"You don't know?" The queen made it sound like there was a not very well kept secret, and somehow Rumplestiltskin was left out of the loop. "Well… after she got home… her fiancée had gone missing. And after her stay here… her association with you…. No one would want her, of course. Her father shunned her. Cut her off. Shut her out."

Rumplestiltskin tried, and failed, to erase the hope from his voice. Belle could come back; they could come to some sort of arrangement where they didn't kiss! "So, she needs…a home."

Regina laughed as if Rumplestiltskin had said the most idiotic thing she'd ever heard. "He was cruel to her," she taunted. "He locked her in a tower and sent in clerics to cleanse her soul with scourges and flaying. After a while, she threw herself off the tower." Here the queen paused for the finale, "She died."

No! he screamed in his head. He barely managed to maintain a façade of hostile tranquility. "You're lying," he accused. And he opened his foresight, anxiously looking for Belle's presence in the next day. Nothing. The next five minutes? Nothing. Anything from her future…. Nothing. It was all black, no pictures of any kind. Belle! Oh, gods, no!

The Evil Queen looked rather smug, "Am I?"

He looked frantically through the next hundred years for Belle to show up. Nothing. But Swan, Emma, knew Belle! Knew her from the Land Without Magic! They knew each other, so Belle has to be alive! He paused, thinking of how Swan had altered her parents' timeline…. Maybe she had also done something to his…. Oh, Belle, I'm so sorry! "We're done," he finally whispered, and he walked to the doors, a large hint that Regina needed to use them.

"Fine. I have other calls to make." The queen swiped her finger through the dust on his table as she left her parting shot, "The place is looking dusty, Rumple; you should get a new girl."

Rumplestiltskin raced to his tower, self recriminations pounding through his head. I should have kept her locked in the dungeon. Or told her that I loved her, but I need my power to find my son. Maybe she would have seen what I have to do as necessary? I could have followed her, spied on her. Made sure she was safe. He gazed into his crystal ball searching for Belle. Hoping that Regina had lied, that somehow Belle was still alive and just hidden from his foresight somehow. But the ball remained cloudy. Nothing.

He changed the ball's focus to Maurice, hoping, almost without hope, that the man would have some news of his daughter. That there was just some very powerful magic overpowering Rumplestiltskin's abilities. Maurice was pacing his council room. "She's gone!" he yelled at his advisors. "Belle's gone and she's not coming back. And neither is Gaston. We have to move forward here, not back." Rumplestiltskin turned away.

Belle was gone.

His body turned numb to hide from the pain.

What have I done?

0-0

He came to awareness sometime later; he found himself in the Great Hall with no memory of how he got there, Belle's chipped cup lovingly nestled in his palms. He carried it across the hall, removed the Holy Grail from its pedestal, and reverently placed the cup in its new position of honor. 'Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far beyond rubies… Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness….' The quote echoed up from a long forgotten recess of his mind. It had originally come from a religious text from some other realm. But these few phrases seemed fitting tribute to the beauty who would have tamed a beast.