Margery helped. He had never considered her more than an acquaintance before Milah had gone, but now that she was he considered her the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had. She was the only one he felt comfortable talking to. He'd never intended to tell anyone what happened to Milah, and much to his surprise no one knew. All anyone at the docks had seen was Rumpelstiltskin board the boat and then be carried off by sailors. There were stories, of course, there always would be. Everyone talked about Milah's disappearance in the days that followed, some of them even suggested that Milah had a part in it, that she'd planned to be captured so that she could escape. Some were so close to the truth he would have thought they were there, others, like Captain Jones asking for an outrageous sum of money were less than reliable. But that didn't stop one of Milah's brothers from coming after him as he strolled back to his house after a day of selling in the town square. The punch to the face had been bond crunching, the one that landed in his gut knocked his wind out, but it was the moment he stepped on his foot, the bad one, that had him howling in pain. He'd had him by the hair and smacked him against the ear, making his head ring out in pain so that whatever words he was spewing out of his mouth were impossible to hear. He'd been reeling back again when a rock hit his brother-in-law across the jaw and he saw Margery appear, red in the face with anger. The words were lost to him, his vision was blurry, and blood was pouring out of his nose and into the dirt beneath him, but he could see the angry way her fists sat on her hips, the gestures and pointing she did before the brother, he didn't even know his name, finally ran off. She found his cane, forced it back into his hands, helped him up, and took him back to her home. The boys were out playing together in the field, and as Margery had tended to him that was when it all came pouring out. He told her everything, the fighting, the arguments, he told her about what happened on Rolf's last night and how he'd escaped his fate, he told her what happened on the ship, and how he'd lied to Baelfire. To his shock and surprise, she understood. In fact, she understood a bit too well.

She said that if she was in the same position she probably would have done the same things he had. This was an awful war, it had to be every man for himself against creatures like that. Apparently, the night before Rolf had left she'd begged him to run into the woods with her and escape, but he wouldn't, he'd been too proud. And as for what he'd told Baelfire she claimed she would have done the same thing as well. Her reasoning though, wasn't what he expected.

"Milah got what was coming to her, Rumpelstiltskin."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, furry building up inside of him at such a suggestion. "She was selling wool!"

"But going to that tavern night after night after night, cavorting with those pirates! I watched her when she was taken, she didn't scream or put up much of a fight. Eventually, she was bound to attract the attention of their sort, and she made herself an easy target by not crying out for help when they took her."

He shook his head. That was no better than those who claimed she had planned to be taken. Yes, he agreed that she'd attracted the wrong attention at the pubs but if she'd been terrified when they'd taken her that was all the reason he needed for why she hadn't screamed. "That doesn't mean she deserves to be out there now, being used like that."

"No, but sometimes people get what's coming to them…" she insisted leaning forward. "They were together you know," she whispered with wide eyes. "Rolf and Milah…they never stopped seeing each other, even after they were both married."

The only thing that surprised him about her accusation was that he wasn't surprised. "They were?"

"You didn't know?"

"No!" he exclaimed, thought about it a time or two, suspected it in the beginning, but as time had gone on…no, he hadn't known it, not for sure, not as a fact. But she did. Who else had known?! "Did the entire town know?!"

"It wasn't a well-kept secret," she explained with a shrug and a smirk. How she could manage to be so...so blase about it...she must have known for such a long time. "I thought it might stop, when I married Rolf, but…a woman knows when her husband comes home smelling of sex and another woman. And those claw marks she left on his back…

"You know…I felt almost free when he didn't come back from the war. Sometimes people do get what they deserve, Rumpelstiltskin, it just took Milah a little while longer to get there than Rolf."

Sometimes people got what they deserved…perhaps that was why it seemed the Ogre War had suddenly caught up with him. Perhaps he was finally getting what he deserved. In the year after Milah had gone, the fighting seemed to be constantly moving closer. It had gone from being so far away he didn't even know the places the war was being fought to happening practically right next door. Week after week he listened as he took the yarn to town to be sold, and panicked over how close it was getting. First, it was a two-week ride away, then ten days, then five, and now four. The rumor was the army was running out of steam, losing career soldiers and good generals every day. They'd lowered the age to fight twice, first from twenty to eighteen, now it was down to sixteen. The village began to change. He began to see more and more soldiers in the town. They didn't know him, and none of the faces were familiar to him either, but he still kept his head down around them and tried hard to avoid coming face to face with them altogether. They couldn't do anything to him if they knew who he was, it was just about embarrassment, plain and simple. It was like looking at what he'd once hoped his own future would bring, the future that Milah had dreamt of after he'd come home disgraced.

"Papa, they're so big!" Bae exclaimed the first time he saw them. They hadn't come alone, of course. They'd brought cannons and artillery, horses, weapons, and more food than the entire town had seen in a year. So this was what their taxes paid for. "Look at their horses! Papa, I want to fight in the war and ride a horse!"

"No, son!"

"Ouch!"

Baelfire's cry forced him to stop and look down, he'd been holding the boy by the hand and at the sound of Baelfire's excitement, he'd pulled him away from them and closer to his own body with a little too much force. As it was he couldn't believe he was here, again, gathered in the two square with soldiers standing up on the platform telling him that one man from every family must serve in the war. He stood in line with Baelfire now, not because they were signing up, but to give them a small piece of parchment that the army had sent him on his way with, validating that he'd been injured in the army and dismissed from future service. As for Bae, well, they hadn't lowered the age enough to let a 7-year-old fight.

"Wars aren't for you, Baelfire, especially not this one," he muttered kneeling down to pull Baelfire's cloak tighter around him. They were going to catch their death freezing out here.

"Why not?"

"Because they aren't safe son," he admitted looking him in the eye. There was little doubt in his mind that after years of watching this war progress the only side winning it was the Ogre's. Those he saw who went to war rarely came back and he had no reason to believe that would change between now and when Bae became of age. The only good thing that had come from Milah's departure was that he was no longer paying for nightly trips to the tavern and able to save his money. His only hope was that if the war continued when Baelfire came of age they might be afford to run away and make a new life somewhere else. "Stay here, with me. Be a little boy while you still can, eh?"

Bae cast sad eyes to the ground and nodded, but he saw the way they sparkled, as any boys probably would, when they finally made their way up to the front of the line for dismissal, and he saw the horses gathered behind the soldiers.

"You are a spinster."

"That's right."

"And this verifies you've already served and were wounded and unfit to serve again. This is your only son?"

"Y-yes," he stuttered. "M-my wife, the boy's mother, well…s-s-she died about a year ago. He's all I have left."

"And how old is he?"

"I'm 7!" Baelfire exclaimed.

The soldier groaned as he took a look at him. "Still to young to serve…for now."

There was an ominous feeling that accompanied those words "for now". A feeling that told him they didn't mean that he thought they meant.

"F-f-for now? W-what does that mean?"

"When is your birthday boy?"

"Baelfire!" But his son had already shouted it out, and the soldier had smiled as he wrote it down.

"Can I pet your horse?" Baelfire asked when the soldier announced they were done.

"Not today, but if you're lucky, some day you'll have one of your own to ride into battle against the giant monsters."

He'd pulled Baelfire away again, dragged him back to their little house and tried his hardest not to panic as he made dinner, gave it to him, and sent him to bed. He tried not to panic, but he already was. They had his birthday now. He'd heard stories of those who traveled to and from other villages say that soldiers weren't waiting anymore. The moment a boy became of age, they were taken from their homes and sent to war. And soon it wasn't just the boys. Barely a week later they'd had another town square meeting, when it was announced, by decree of the King, that women were now eligible for the King's Army. Now it wasn't just one man from every family required to serve, it was one man and woman from every family. And he'd watched in terror the next morning as Margery's eldest sister volunteered service on behalf of her family. He was certain that she'd never be seen again.

And in the thick of it, an old problem seemed to have arisen again. Boys were being snatched from their beds once more, taken by a mysterious shadow. It was no surprise to him that the boys taken were boys who didn't want to serve in the military and were fearful of it.

Night after night he sat at his kitchen table, head in his hands, thinking about what he could do to help his son, wondering if Milah was still alive, hoping he'd make the right choices. His life had been so different one year ago and even more so ten years ago. He wished his aunts were still around, he felt like he could use not only them but also a hint of their magic, to protect his boy right about now. He wished Mr. Oak was there too. He didn't know if he would have any ability to help, but he felt strongly that if he could, he would take Baelfire away to a place he would be happy and safe from all of-

There was a noise on the table that drew his attention up out of his hands. It was his teacup. Poorly made, it was rocking back and forth on the table, the liquid inside rippling with vibrations. A second later he felt it in the table and chair he sat on himself begin to vibrate. There was a loud noise, something that sounded like thunder only much closer than he'd ever heard thunder sound. He'd never been in an earthshake before, but he'd heard stories and the moment he saw that even his spinning wheel was shaking on the floor that was precisely what he thought was happening until he heard another noise. A high pitched whinny, followed by a neigh, and then a firm "Ya!"

Horses. Making his way to the window was difficult, he tripped on the quaking ground, struggling to find his footing but when he finally made it to the window and was able to glance out what met his eyes was a shocking sight. Soldiers, dozens, hundreds, maybe even a thousand of them, all on horseback, charging through their village. It was dark, but he could see that most of them didn't look old enough to shave yet! What were they doing here? Where were they-

"Papa!"

Up in the loft, Baefire looked down at him, his hands over his ears, tears streaming down his eyes.

"Papa, I'm scared!"

This wasn't over. The house was still shaking, they were still charging! It was going to be a while until they were gone!

"It's alright Bae, come down!" When he'd been scared as a child his aunts had always known what to do. They made the world small. They made it warm and tiny and easy to shut all his worries out. He did the same now for his son. When Bae finally climbed down the ladder he took his hand, and the pair of them raced to his bed. As a mug fell from the mantle he climbed in and raised the blankets for his son. He heard his cane roll across the floor as Bae crawled in beside him. Dust fell from the rafters and his heart hammered as he remembered the night his own roof had collapsed. Quickly, he pulled the covers up over their heads. It didn't drown out the noise of what was happening outside, but it created a safe spot, a small private haven of their own making. The fire lit in the hearth was just enough to penetrate the blankets around them with an orange glow that allowed him to see the face of his boy.

His eyes were wet, they were red and swollen and his hands held on tight to the front of his own shirt as he stared at him. He would never know how it was possible for such a young child to have eyes as deep as Baelfire's. There was everything in his eyes. He looked at him with such desperation and expectation, love and adoration, and ease all at the same time and he hadn't even said a word to him yet. He wondered if that was what his own eyes looked like, that first night he'd spent with his aunts after he'd come back from Neverland; fear mingled with utter dependence and confusion.

He reached out and moved his hand over his hair, quickly drying the tears under his eyes with his thumbs. "It's just horses Bae," he whispered. "They'll be gone soon."

"Papa, I'm afraid," he pipped out. His voice was small and high as tears continued to gather in his eyes.

"Ah, don't you worry, son. Everything's gonna be fine."

He spoke with confidence that he hadn't had in a year, not since Milah had gone. In truth, he didn't even know where the words, the strength he'd had to say them or the determination that came from them had come from. But he knew the words he'd spoken were true. And he knew, in the deepest parts of his heart, that Bae knew it too. For scared as his son till looked, he smiled at him, nodded, and then moved forward to bury his face in his chest. He rubbed Bae's back for hours after the noise stopped, for hours after the danger had past and his son had stopped crying and gone back to sleep. He stayed up all night, tired and weak as he felt, by the time the sun began to rise and light their house again there was something burning deep in his chest. The words he'd spoken had comforted Bae, but they'd given him hope he hadn't known he was still capable of.

Nothing was perfect, things were constantly changing. A year ago, Baelfire had a mother and now he had only him. But his son had slept through the night. He had food to eat, clothes on his back, a trade to look forward to. He had money again, no, not a lot of it, but enough that he could take Baelfire away should the War ever require it. He could protect his son. Outside their cabin the world was terrifying, but in there it was safe, he was safe, Baelfire was safe. He had created that. Not Milah or Margery or the soldiers or friends he had. He'd done it. His hands and spinning wheels, his very presence, did that. If he'd been standing he felt like he might have managed to stand a little taller. But as he was all he could do was wrap his arms tighter around his boy, still huddled against his side and squeezed tight before kissing him on his head and closing his own eyes for what might have been an hour or so of sleep before he had to get up again. He wasn't sure where life could take the two of them from this point, but he knew two things just as well as Baelfire did.

His son had nothing to worry about as long as he still drew breath on this earth. Everything was going to be fine.

He liked to think his aunts would be proud.

Well, welcome to the end. I really hope that you enjoyed this story! The next story in the Chronicles of the Dark One is The Chronicles of the Dark One: Descent Into Darkness and you can find it by simply heading over to my profile. It begins just after Milah has left Rumple and Baelfire and ends with Rumple vowing to cast the curse to follow Bae to the Land Without Magic in "The Return". The fiction is currently "in progress" with a 5-day posting schedule.

Of course, if you liked what you read please review! I love getting those wonderful little gems in my inbox and communicating with the people reading on a personal level. And if you want to read more, please check out any of the other fictions in the Chronicles or it's completed companion series The Moments Series. For more information on the Chronicles, Moments Series, upcoming fictions, posting and publishing dates, or a reading order check out my profile for more details. Peace and Happy Reading!