If Any Would Avenge
Chapter 29:
Temptation


Centuries Ago: Enchanted Forest

Isobelle opened her mouth, ready to accept the deal but then shut it. Chewing on her lips she mulled over the offer, hesitant to accept. Beside her Rumplestiltskin stood just an inch or so away, his eyes flitting from her to the chest impatiently. It was enough to send a chill racing up Isobelle's spine and her stomach to tighten in apprehension; she knew little about the funny looking man beside her, but she sensed danger from him. "I...I'm sorry, but I can't make that deal. I…."

"Why the hell not?" Rumplestiltskin seethed, backing away from Isobelle as the urge to strangle her and simply take the chest surged through him. An urge he had to resist. Not from any qualms about killing her, but because he wouldn't be able to use the chest. Ever. Not even if he stopped being the Dark One. Whoever had enchanted it had done so in a way that prevented those who harmed its owner from using it or any object summoned by it. "What if I make it a yearly payment to last as long as your kingdom?" He offered, searching the knight's face for any sign that she would take the deal. His lips twitched and his jaw clenched seeing the woman shaking her head. "I don't…I offer your kingdom untold riches and yet you turn it down? I didn't think such avarice would run through the veins of a knight so beloved by her people."

"That's not it." Isobelle blurted and grabbed Rumplestiltskin's arm when he lifted it to whisk himself away. Seeing the desperation in the beauty's eyes, his murderous anger calmed down, replaced by a sense of victory. "I...I can't accept the gold. It's generous, but I can't…."

"Why can't you, dearie?" Rumplestiltskin asked curious, his anger dimmed enough that its presence was only evident by an odd twitch of his fingers.

Biting on her bottom lip, Isobelle stared into the Dark One's eyes, unafraid. "What good is gold when war looms so closely at the kingdom's gates?" She muttered and took out a brooch from a pouch tied around her neck. A brilliant blue diamond cut into the shape of a rose and set in a silver fitting, the brooch glittered beneath the rays of sunlight peeking through the trees. Rumplestiltskin's eyes widened seeing it, recognizing it on sight.

"That's the Blue Rose, an heirloom of the Legrand family. Crafted by elves, its gem is said to actually be the heart of the last Fairy Queen. It…." Rumplestiltskin sucked in a breath, his knowledge of the brooch coming from both legends he heard as a child and the whispers of the past Dark Ones in his head. Though fairy magic didn't mix well with his brand of magic, the last true Fairy Queen was said to have used pure and primordial magic - neither light nor dark. If he harnessed its power….

"Yes. It belongs to Lady Legrand. Unfortunately the chest...summoned it." Isobelle continued, oblivious to the greedy look Rumplestiltskin gave the brooch. "The Legrand's are old friends with the monarchs of all the kingdoms surrounding my kingdom. If they learned I have this. Worse, if they learn how I got this, it'd mean war. War and utter annihilation for my kingdom."

Rumplestiltskin fidgeted, struggling to hold back his excitement at being so close to attaining such a treasure. It almost made him forget why he'd approached Isobelle in the first place - so she could summon something that would help him find his son Baelfire. He glowered at the voices of the previous Dark Ones in his head, each echoing and prodding him to make a deal for the brooch rather than an object to aid in finding his son. Ignoring them, he gritted his teeth and returned his attention to Isobelle. "So, rather than gold, you want what? Aid that will win you this potential war and wipe out your enemies?"

"Gods, no." Isobelle exclaimed, taken aback by the suggestion and winning a look of surprise from Rumplestiltskin. "No. I simply want you to return this to the Legrands. Without...without them ever finding out I had it. Or how it was taken in the first place."

Listening to the knight's request, Rumplestiltskin remained quiet for a moment, bemused by such a simple request. Especially when he compared it to what he would get in return. "Dearie...it's a deal. Hee, hee, hee."

000000000000000000000000


Storybrooke: Present

"Do I have to repeat myself? Hand over your granddaughter now." The gunman growled and stepped further into the room, his gun pointed directly at David. His wizened face scowling.

"...George…." David seethed, turning around to scowl at his deceased twin's adoptive father and one of his most hated enemies. He bristled seeing the gun and instinctively blocked Sadie's crib with his body. The older man repeated his demand, causing David to scowl. "Not a chance. Now put the gun down or you'll be spending the rest of your life locked up."

"Please. That's not much of a threat considering I have a year, at most, left." George retorted, his words a complete surprise to Gold who quietly watched the scene unfold from his niche, but not to David. The shepherd-prince eyes softened slightly, but otherwise kept glowering at the wizened man. "That's why you took pity on me and released me from that pathetic cell."

"I let you out so you could put your affairs in order and enjoy whatever time you had left not locked up." David said, still shielding Sadie from the older man's view, his heart pounding. He thought of shouting to wake his wife, but hesitated, his gut telling him that George would shoot the second he tried. As for waking his daughter...having been in need of a decent sleep, Emma had taken some medicine to help her sleep and likely would not be easy to waken. "...don't make me regret doing that."

"Believe me, you're not the one I planned to make regret his actions." The former king growled, his eyes livid and face as stoic and immovable as marble. "But that won't stop me putting a bullet in your head. And don't think your wife or daughter will save you. This ring…." He nodded to a silver band, with a brilliant navy blue diamond around, his middle finger. "It's enchanted to muffle any sound its owner doesn't want heard. No one outside this room will hear a thing. Now give me your granddaughter."

"Absolutely not. You'll have to shoot me first." David said, disconcerted by the former king's revelation. His eyes locked on the gun, his limbs tensing as he considered lunging at the older man in an attempt to disarm him. Noticing this shift, George's lips spread into a bemused but cold and weak smile.

"You really think you can get this gun before I fire? You can try, but there's already been two children dying this week, do you really want to risk a third?" He spat, his cold grin growing seeing the growing alarm in his adopted son's twin's eyes. "Or are you 100 percent sure my bullet won't end up hitting your granddaughter?"

"I…." David swallowed, fearful as he considered the possibility. His fear quickly shifted to suspicion and bewilderment, at first without him realizing why. But then he did and he gazed at George, his face holding a peculiar expression. "...two children? I get that whole town knows about Gideon, but only a handful know about Belle's miscarriage...how do you know?"

George gave a short, curt laugh. "Who do you think gave Fortunato the idea to…."

"What?!" Gold hollered from his niche and lunged at George before either man could react, forgetting all about hiding and biding his time to kidnap Sadie. Everything about Nemesis, Sadie, and the deal slipped from his thoughts, replaced by rage and blood-thirst. "You what?! You're the fucking bastard that hired him?"

"Gold?! Why are...how…." David gaped, thrown by the Dark One's sudden appearance; it took a few moments before he snapped out of it and hurried forward to stop Gold from choking George. "Gold! Stop!"

"Stay the fuck out of this!" Snarled Gold to David, his one hand wrapped around George's throat while his other wrenched the gun from the ex-king's grip. "This bastard is mine! I'm going to fucking make him wish for death. Beg for it. You hear me?" He snarled the last bit, addressing George directly. "I'm going to make every last day, hour, and minute you have left hell. You son of a bitch."

"Gold…." David tried to approach, but was repelled by some sort of barrier the Dark One had put up. "Don't. Please. Think about this…."

"Shut up, Charming. There's nothing to think about. This bastard…."

"Might be lying." David said, holding his breath a few moments until Gold paused, loosening his grip around George's throat a tad. Noticing this, David continued. "George is dying. Has been for the better part of a year now, and has about as long left. According to what the medical journals of this realm say, it won't be a gentle or pretty death. George may simply be lying to goad you into killing him."

"...then he's more foolish than any fool that's ever lived." Gold growled, still furious but refraining from crushing George's throat. Though he had little compunction against killing the ex-king, even if his claim of giving Fortunato the idea to attack Belle was just a lie because he had a death wish, Gold had little desire to be so used.

Feeling Gold's fingers loosen around his throat and his brain gradually getting over his surprise and temporary lack of blood flow, George listened to the two men. Rolling his eyes before his son even finished speaking, he attempted to speak. It took a few tries, his throat sore from the Dark One strangling him. "I...um...khrh...I'm...not lying." He muttered, scowling defiantly into Gold's face. "I did...uhr...give Fortunato the idea to...stab your wife."

Gold's brown eyes gleamed, filled with vehemence and his fingers twitched with the desire to feel the wizened king's throat snap beneath them. "You…."

"George, why in the world would you hire assassins to murder a child?" David muttered, his gut twisting as he looked at the man who'd raised his twin.

The ex-king cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. "You think that I…? No. I didn't hire Fortunato for that. He and Kidd were already planning to kill the boy and his mother for some...blood price or whatnot Maurice owed." George muttered, breathing in deeply every few words, and fearlessly staring Gold directly in the eye. "I simply paid Fortunato to add a certain...infertility poison...to the blade he used to stab Belle. The same one once used on my wife."

"...what?" David mumbled, flabbergasted. "Why would you…." He collapsed to the floor mid sentence, magically knocked unconscious by Gold with a wave of his hand.

George barely raised an eyebrow seeing the shepherd-prince splayed on the floor, annoyed by the younger man's interruptions nearly as much as the Dark One. "Now that his jabbering is done, we can get on with this. And…." He trailed off, startled by the expression on Gold's face. It was still livid, but also heavily shocked.

"...Maurice? Maurice owed the blood price?" Gold asked George, his brain reeling and his body nearly numbed by indescribable rage. "Belle's father?! Belle's…." Gold muttered, disbelieving it even as George nodded and said 'yes.' So many emotions flooded Gold, whirling as a torrent inside his brain. Anger, shock, betrayal, relief, guilt, fear, horror, dread...it was difficult to articulate which he felt most.

With how helpful Maurice had been the past few days, taking care of a distraught Belle since Gideon's death, Gold had started to view his father-in-law as family rather than an enemy. He'd even allowed him to move into a guest bedroom so Belle would have her father nearby to help while she grieved.

'Well, that certainly explains why Maurice was so terrified when you mentioned killing anyone responsible for Gideon's death.' Mumbled his Dark One subconscious, a bit flippantly. 'It's too bad Fortunato already got to him, torturing Maurice would be really cathartic.' The imp paused, shifting his attention and self towards George. 'Though killing this fool very, very slowly will be just as cathartic.'

Listening to the imp, Gold refocused on George, tightening his fist around the former king's throat and glaring at him. The corners of his mouth twitched. "You have no idea what I have in store for you, dearie." He seethed, squeezing the man's throat when George attempted to speak. "And don't think your dying state will save you. I can easily prolong your life so I can enjoy torturing you for years or even centuries." George's eyes widened, his fearless stare suddenly grown terrified, while Gold simply chuckled. "You never considered that, did you, dearie?"

George simply gaped and moved his lips soundlessly, able to barely breathe but not speak with Gold's hand vised around his throat.

"Let's 'get on to things', as you put it, shall we?" Gold sneered, raising his hand to cast a teleport spell.

'Uh, um.' His Dark One subconscious interrupted, appearing between him and George. 'Forgetting a small something, aren't we?' The imp gestured towards the crib, where Sadie had started whimpering and was close to bawling. 'You are still going to take her, aren't you, dearie? You'll never have a better chance of getting away with it than now.'

Gold turned towards the crib, considering what his subconscious said. It took less than one second for him to understand what the imp meant: for whatever reason, George had come for Sadie, something David would remember upon waking. If he played things right and used a little magic to make the shepherd-prince forget he was here too, Gold could escape suspicion for kidnapping the five-day-old. George would instead get the blame for it.

'Well, dearie?' His subconscious asked, staring expectantly at him while he mulled over his options.


Author's Note: Please read and review. I look forward to reading your reviews, since they cheer me up lots, and lately I've been feeling depressed. December, especially around christmas and new years eve, are not really happy times for me emotionally, and haven't been for years. So reading your reviews really help cheer me up and motivate me. So thank you for reviewing.