A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing you awsome people. Note, this chapter is a tad longer. You've been warned :)
~8~8~
Nestled obscurely in the deep shaded glades that encompassed Storybrooke, with their thick coppices and extensive brambly undergrowth, Guy Stone arrived home in a fine humor.
The once well tended hunting lodge he'd kept in season lay in pitiful disarray. Drained beer bottles scattered across leafy lawn, if the small gray patches and sparse sprigs of wilting grass could be called such, along with crumpled wrappers and other filth not bothered to be neatly discarded.
Stone whistled happily to himself as he marched up the leaf strewn gravel leading to his home; feeling more alive than he had in months. A spring deviously flourished in his step for his unscrupulous actions. Finally, after brooding and losing himself in dour repose, he at last succeeded in making Anna's and Gold's life difficult and miserable!
Unlocking his cabin, the former deputy nearly did a jig of malevolent glee as he crossed inside the dank lodge. To see the look on Anna's face was all worth the months tending his surly lust for vengeance into an inferno. None could cross Guy Stone and not receive due pain, he preened cockily to himself.
Whatever Regina planned to do with her, he at least was content with the hand he played.
The inside of his wrecked home was nearly impossible to see without light. With a flick of his hand he fumbled on a switch, abruptly to be met with sharp fangs.
A hulking, gray dog, more akin to a wolf in the eyes of the stunned Stone, leapt upon him savagely. Slavering fangs clamped over his burly, muscular arm and sank to the bone, piercing his skin as easily as a hot knife did butter. Claws, like fine damask daggers ripped into his camouflage clothing shredding the tough fibers with a frightening ease to find the tender flesh beneath.
The beast's eyes were a crazed gray flecked with scarlet unlike anything the shocked Stone had ever witnessed before. There was almost a murderer staring at him in place of a rabid hound.
A cry of surprise and agony erupted the former deputy's lips. The bulk of the dog made him keen over hard upon his back to the littered, dusty floor. Tears sprang to his eyes as he tried in vain to maneuver the dog from biting and digging into his flesh. With every move or jolt only made the canine claw or snap deeper into his flesh.
Whilst he fought a losing battle with the foaming hound, a figure suddenly shadowed over him like the shade of death itself.
Rumpelstiltskin stared down callously at the vulnerable hunter without his guns or strength. His jaw set tightly without a hint of pity for the profusely bleeding moron being mauled.
"You thought I wouldn't recognize your voice on the phone?" He cocked his head slightly to the right, his eyes icy slivers of glinting hate. "You didn't think I would come for you, Stone?"
"C-call the dog…off!" Guy pleaded pathetically in panic and torment.
Gold whistled once and nudged his head to the side, making the dog obey. The enraged hound dutifully, if not reluctantly dislodged his jagged flashing fangs and claws from the miserable mass of flesh, but did not wander far.
Blood dripped steadily from the hounds maw, making the beast seem more of the wolf than the dog as he slunk into a corner, his eyes never once leaving his prey.
A cry of pain tumbled pathetically from Guy's lips as blood bubbled far too freely from his wounds. His uninjured hand clamped about the dribbling bite marks scored on his arm. Warm blood dribbled through his fingers to stain his torn clothing as he writhed miserably. Somewhere, the dog's claws had dug into something vital sending wracking pain shuddering through his form.
"Where is she, Stone?" The Dark One demanded through clenched teeth. He seemed to loom over the burly Guy as vultures did a dying animal awaiting their last breath. "Tell me and your end will not be filled with torment. I won't lay a hand on you."
Spittle foamed at the edges of Stone's blood flecked mouth. His eyes were wide with terror as he shook his head, never once taking his gaze off Gold. He gulped once, the pain temporarily forgotten compared to the icy wrath in the Dark One's eyes. "I didn't do anything to her, I swear! I never laid a hand on her! Regina told me to make you think I was hitting her! I was a little rough with her, but I'd never lay my hands on your wife!"
"Where is she?" Gold ground out again through his gritted teeth, his patient and calm waning swiftly like sand shifting through fingers. A devious air took him thrall, transforming him into something the dull lout thought he recalled from a long time ago.
Stone breathed heavily, his barrel chest rising like a forge bellow. "I don't know! Regina had me pull off that fake hitting stunt in a shed by the wharf. I left her there with a sack over her head and someone else came to get her I think. That's all I know!"
Of course, Gold raged inwardly. Regina was a sly, clever snake with the heart of a demon. Never would she allow such a weak minded buffoon such as Guy Stone anywhere near her real tactics so his puny mind could sully her plots with his infectious idiocy.
She hid her tracks well and doubly so knowing with exactly whom she was dealing with and how dangerous a rope she walked. Trying to find Belle would be akin to finding his way out of a labyrinth blindfolded.
"If you left anything out…." He let the dire threat hang tenuously. Any scrap of information could be a vital key to locating his love. Regina so loved her games of cunning and wit even in the direst of circumstance. She might have left a trail even a small one for him to trace.
For a moment the former deputy searched his limited mind with as much intellect as he could summon, his eyes wild with bumbling his slow thoughts. "There was one more thing. She said she was taking your wife to an insane asylum out of town where she could recover from your brainwashing her. She has to be long gone now, so please I truly don't know anything else."
Gold looked down icily upon the bleeding bulk of muscles and strength bleed like a stuck pig at his feet. He was telling the truth, he knew by reading the dunces face; there was nothing new to learn.
"Thank you for your time, Stone." The dark fiend remarked oddly polite as though just closing a profitable business deal. Turning his back from the wounded Guy, he began to limp for the door all the while avoiding the pools of glossy blood with an expert skill and grace.
"So…so you're not going to kill me?" Guy breathed sharply in first vast disbelief than relief. He had been so certain his life was about to end at the vengeful hands of the monster Gold.
"Oh no, Mr. Stone, I gave you my word; I'm not going to lay a hand upon you." He walked out the door, leaving a crack in big enough for an animal to pass. "My friend Bandit on the other hand…he's protective of his mistress." With that he disappeared from the doorway almost as though he had never been.
Terror seized the brute in frigid, horrifying claws slashing his very being. Growls like low pealing thunder emanated from his left, drawing ever near to his ear.
The hairs upon the back of his corded neck danced upon end, sending thrills of fright winding through his body and freezing his nerves. Wordlessly, the hunter turned his head vapidly where the noise hailed almost as though an invisible hand moved him upon will.
Bandit's bloodied fangs glinted from behind pried back lips stained a sickly vermilion with gore. His hackles were low like a wolf about to set upon its prey and his eyes sat ghastly riveted with murder in their human like depths towards the former deputy.
One last cry of petrified fear erupted sharply from Gaston's mouth as the wolfhound snapped his jaws about the hunters jugular with a vice crushing hold.
Blood spurted like a morbid fount from Stone's neck. His artery's burst opened letting a torrent of blood spill from his madly twitching form. In one bite, Bandit crushed his windpipe under the snapping fangs, silencing him forever after.
~8~8~
Where could she be! Gold slammed open the door to his shop with a barbaric force. The bell atop the door broke from its perch tumbling at his feet; rolling back and forth wildly.
Much too concerned to note the break, he kicked the item to the side and swiftly hobbled over to the counter with as much speed as his maimed limb would allow.
An insane asylum? He repeated the words of Guy Stone over and over in his mind. What riddle did Regina set before him to taunt his frustration and rouse worry? No one could leave the town and there was not an insane asylum in all of Storybrooke.
His long, wiry talons gripped his skull angrily, trying to make himself think harder. What was her game, what did she…?
"Gold!" Emma Swann's voice rang like a bell of hope through his shop.
"We need your help, Rumpel." Regina joined in urgently, her steps right behind the sturdy thuds of the sheriff.
The Dark One nary even attempted to hide his anger and disgust. His features twisted furiously towards the witch. "Help from me? After you kidnapped my wife and child!"
"Henry is sick." Emma stood face to face with the magical monster. Worry laced her lined face, making her seem older, like an anxiously parent. "He ate the apple turnover meant for me, and now, he's…"
"Dying, Miss Swann." Gold concluded icily. The fact that Emma now knew of the curse seemed of little consequence without his Belle. He turned to the harpy who lingered behind the savior like some vile shade. "I told you, all magic comes with a price, did I not."
Eyes ablaze with wroth she countered proudly. "Henry shouldn't have to pay."
"No, you should, twice over for your treachery." He snarled hatefully, his sneer laced with loathing. "And now you come seeking my advice and wisdom on how to relieve the curse."
Emma interjected before Regina could utter a word. "Look, my sons life is in danger, I need to know how to fix this."
"You won't know anything until I get what I want." He replied, yet kept his eyes pinioned directly upon Regina. "Where is my wife?"
"His wife, Anna?" Swann pivoted to the witch in confusion. Just what meddlesome acts had Regina been delving into?
Regina regally ignored the surprised Emma as though she were once more in her queenly station and the bounty hunter no more than a serf. For a moment indecision caught in her teal eyes. If her whereabouts where brought to light, there was no halting Gold from assuming his revenge and continuing whatever plot he had been nursing for countless years. Her reign would end, the curse sundered, and her life in peril from an awakened folk.
Gold growled fiercely, his hand curling in a vice over his cane. "Tell me, majesty, or your son dies."
"Mr. Gold…Rumpel-whatever-your-name-is, his life is slipping away as we speak." Emma pleaded, her fastidious façade of stone crumbling to the foundation. "Every second counts for him, please, tell us how to cure him. I'm begging you."
For a moment, the beast was struck with pity; pity he never knew as the Dark One. Belle had rocked Henry as a child, they had watched him grow and now his mother pleaded for his life.
Though Belle was somewhere captured by his foe, she, he knew instinctively, would have wanted Henry to be saved. Yet how could he allow such, when half his heart was stashed away by the vile witch?
Despite what the fetid darkness in his form which whispered to be unyielding and merciless, the hardened carapace that blacked his heart began to soften. Even in pain, even with the malicious evil roiling inside, the love and compassion Belle always bestowed upon him came surging to life for a moment, shattering the foulness.
"True love, Miss Swann." The fiend haltingly relinquished the vital information. "It's the only magic that transcends all realms, and luckily I happened to have bottled some." Dipping under the counter he produced a long, dusty sword case and explained to the surprised. "Long ago I commissioned your father to place such a precious item in a place even I would be hard pressed to secure it once more; the belly of a dragon, Maleficent by name."
Startled by the revelation, Emma blinked numbly as the Dark One pried open the case with a long, cringing creak. A sword glimmered in the same care and sheen it once held a life time ago.
She stammered, uncertain of his words. "A dragon…where did you manage to hide a dragon?"
"The only place no one ever goes." Gold replied with a wan smile. "Under the library." Closing the case swiftly he shoved the box towards her. "Now you must go, hurry."
Regina took a step forward utterly confused. Rumpelstiltskin never gave such information away with out a cost, and to add with his loved ones in dire peril. "Why are you doing this?" She inquired, her brow furrowing suspiciously. Did he so badly desire to see her thwarted?
The magical monster looked away. Darkness gnawed and scolded him for such rash actions and giving into the weakness of his soul brightened by his love. "Belle would have wanted me to." He whispered hollowly. "She would have said it was the right thing to do."
"Thank you." Emma nodded gratefully as she scooped the box up under one arm. Her hair flew behind her like a flaxen banner as she quickly raced out of his shop, the press of time upon her heels.
In that instance, Gold and Regina stared intently at one another. For the first time since they'd met there was no hate, no malice, simply the soul of Regina and Rumpelstiltskin bared and raw. In a short amount of time control was snatched from one hand to the next, and yet when he had the upper hand he tossed his advantage at her feet out of love and remembrance for his wife.
"Boiler room of the hospital, third door from the entrance." The Madame Mayor announced suddenly her voice cold. "With what you did I could have made you my slave, Rumpelstiltskin. Holding your wife and child at my mercy you would have bowed to my every demand, but I won't. I hope this makes us even."
Without further explanation for why she had freely given up such a valuable pawn for her gain, the harpy departed quickly after Emma Swann.
The hospital! Gold nearly crowed in exuberant delight; his love was safe at the hospital! Snatching up his cane he began to depart, and yet halted as darkness begin to seep like poison back into his mind. The darkness reared back with all its sinister glory clashing with the good that wished to flourish in him.
Though he knew now of his wife's location how could he rush to her without completing the task he'd schemed for centuries? How could he let all his work go to naught and not avenge the wrongs done him?
What Regina said before she left couldn't have been further from the truth. They were not even, not by a long shot….
~8~8~
"Regina we have a problem." Doctor Whale's voice echoed uncertain over the phone.
The harpy tucked the phone in the crook to her neck, only half listening as she maneuvered the ancient brass control mechanisms that dictated the elevator which plumbed the chasms of Storybrooke.
Emma Swann rode the bulky antique lift, sword gripped in hand to slay the dragon which lurked in the belly of the town.
"What problem?" Asked the harpy in a scowl to mask the panic concerning her son. Where they too late bestow the antidote?
Static crackled over the cell. A woman screamed raggedly, desperately coupled by the soothing words of nurses who ran about in the background. "Annabelle French is having her baby." He announced followed by a quick demand to another nurse. "We can't move our equipment down here. Something's wrong with her, Regina, her or the baby."
"Take her up." She proclaimed in a grunt as she worked the rusted elevator haft. "Gold now knows where she is. He'll be there soon." On a half sardonic chuckle she added. "Maybe Mr. Gold will even thank me for what I did."
"Oh Dearie, I highly doubt that." The Dark One murmured behind her.
Regina swirled around, taken back by the murderous snarl behind her. Thankfully the elevator had just landed upon its rocky end just as his presence was known.
Before she could move, before she could even scream, the fiend moved like lightening incarnate. His cane keened through the air in a pitched whistle as it knocked the phone from Regina's grip.
The cell clacked to the floor in a broken mess, leaving the witch alone without a way to phone for aid.
A vile smirk etched Rumpelstiltskin's face with each limped step forward. Darkness swirling inside savored the fear upon her ghostly features like fine wine. "Now, Regina, I think the time has come for you to pay. You're not needed anymore, Dearie, with Emma who now knows and seeks the magic to cure her son. The curse shall be broken, and the world aright without you slithering about. You've been a valuable, cunning pawn, but now you must die."
"Wait!" She cries desperately and thrust her hands out before her as her back hit the cold brass workings of the decades old elevator. "You're wife Belle! She's gone into labor!"
Taken aback, by the stunning revelation, Gold's eyes narrowed to furtive slits. He tilted his head to the side slightly. "What…."
"That was Whale." She gulped hard, her heart racing at a horses gallop. "He wanted to know should he move her from the boiler room. I said yes because I thought you were on your way."
Belle was in labor? His first instinct was to abandon the dusty, musty library and zoom with all possible haste to the hospital and witness his child being born. And yet, darkness surged through him in a foul tide clinging on desperately to the evil he had nurtured so long as the Dark One.
Dank light glinted from the gold rending beak from his cane he lifted at an angle to swoop down upon the witch and break her skull. His eyes flickered in dark, ruinous delight. "We'll have other children; I won't miss their births once you're a pool of blood and nothing more."
"The birth isn't going well!" Regina shrieked desperately her instincts burning through her blood to stay alive.
Magic spells could not have disarmed the fiend faster. Panic audaciously traced his weathered features as though a douse of icy water had been cast over him. Blood leeched from his face leaving a hollow shell of a man rooted in place by the terrifying revelation.
Seeing him hesitate, she continued. "He said there was a problem. No doubt a complication from Guy's rough handling." Abruptly her fear dissipated as mist to the summer sun. With Gold looking as though his worst nightmare sprang to life she felt strength well inside. "So now you have a choice, Dark One. Do whatever you came here to do or be beside her…."
"That is no choice." He whispered lowly, his walking stick lowering like a banner of defeat. Stark relief shivered through Regina, before he added dangerously. "There will be no hope for your son, for now I desperately need True Love."
There was a chance she could have been lying, but for all his cunning, he was not willing to take such a risk and have her be wrong.
The confusion that flickered upon Regina's face lasted a mere moment before the cane reared again like a striking serpent. Instead of slaying her, the fiend struck her across the face with the flat of his ash would cane laying her low
Limply she tumbled in a hard heap to the dust ridden floor, leaving a worried Rumpelstiltskin hovering over her unconscious form. His lips were a grim, gray line carved from the stone of his face as he stared down coolly upon her lax figure.
With magic he could save his Belle if he wasn't to late. By all the deities and every scrap of magic left in the world, he prayed he would not be too late!
"Hang on, Belle." He pleaded under his breath. Despite the pain in his knee he paced awaiting the return of Emma with his thoughts on his wife. "Hang on…."
~8~8~
"Mr. Gold, you're just in time." Whale breathed in relief as the fiend marched through the hospital doors.
He didn't look at the doctor whilst he followed the physician through the winding corridors. "My Wife, Whale, what's happening. Has the child be born?"
"The baby is a healthy boy. He's sleeping in the nursery." He reported dourly where pride would usually lace his tones on a successful birth. "Anna, on the other hand…well…the birth has taken its toll."
Gold halted dead in his tracks as if struck. Slowly he turned his head to the nervous doctor, keeping the panic out of his tone. "What do you mean by that?"
"She's sick." His eyes looked away. "I can't explain. It's as though it took all her heart to birth the boy."
On normal circumstances, the Dark One would have been staggered by such news. Indeed, even the foul words caused his heart to clench in terror, but now he had a way to save her.
"Lead on." He bade the doctor, feeling assured in himself. He fingered the warm potion in his suit pocket, taking solace that while his plot was truly not taking the turn he wished, at least he would save his Belle.
The pair entered a small room, dimly lit. A scent of freshness, new life, wafted through the air in a pleasant aroma that melted the Dark One's heat to pulp.
Belle smiled wanly as her eyes fell upon her love. She tried to sit up, but even the action was too much. "Rum." She murmured softly, uncaring of Doctor Whale presence.
Her coppery hair gummed to her wet forehead, telling of the energy and sheer determination she'd held to birth the baby should that price be at the cost of her life itself.
Even without a medical degree, the fiend could see her life ebbing away. She had given her all to bring their son in the world and now her price was upon her.
"Leave us." He numbly ordered Whale who obeyed all too quickly.
Slowly he padded over to his wife, who stared gently at her husband. "He's beautiful." She murmured her eyes aglow. "Our son. He has your eyes and your crooked smile. He'll be as handsome as his papa when he's grown."
"I'll bet." He grinned lovingly to his wife. Forging a chair he sank to his knees by her bedside, taking in her beauty. "I expect we'll both watch him grow into a bright young man." With that he pulled out the vial from his pocket.
Hard had the situation been to procure the vial, after betraying Miss Swann, but finally, he now held the key to save his beloved. True love was magic in the rawest form. With the power he could heal her and let her life flame brightly.
Her eyes somberly fell to the glistening vial of plum hued magic. Regret and fear flashed in her orbs as she flickered her gaze back to her husband stoically. "You can't use that on me."
"This will cure whatever ills you have." He explained eagerly as though she were speaking nonsense. "True Love, the most powerful magic in all the realms. Drink and you will live."
"True Love, the only thing that will break this curse." She rebuffed faintly. "Give the potion to Henry."
Shock stamped the Dark One's features at her request. How could she even say such a thing?
Abruptly, the door swung open allowing Emma Swann to enter, her gun in hand. She could have used the arms, but seeing the pallid Anna, she paused. In a way she looked worse than Henry.
Ignoring the bounty hunter the fiend stared at his wife desperately; not comprehending. "How can you ask that of me, Belle? What of our sons, our life, our happiness?"
"Some times we must think of others." She reminded weakly. Her delicate hand laid upon his as though trying to let him understand.
If her life meant they would never be home and curse never broken so he could search for his son and bring happiness, then her life was forfeit. She would not damn a whole world to a life of misery for her sake.
He stroked her sweat dampened hair softly as he'd often done, his hands trembling with each touch. "No." He quibbled tremulously, not trusting his voice to shatter into racking sob. He pressed the cold vial to her hand desperately. "Take the magic, Belle, the power will heal you."
"Henry…." She protested weakly, barely able to shake her head.
"I don't care about Henry or the curse!" Rum proclaimed fervently but unable to raise his voice. "I care about you, Belle, my heart."
The tired beauty soothed him with a small lusterless smile of her pale lips. "I want our son to grow up in our true home. I want happiness brought back to our land and her people in their rightful world."
"I'll find some other way." His swore, clutching her hand to his chest. His thumb circled her pulse point upon her wrist, feeling the beat grow weaker and weaker.
Belle's eyes mirrored what he knew deep in the core of his being. There was no other way.
"Be brave, Rum." She whispered faintly as though her soul was being slowly wisped from her body. Her eyes were the bluest they'd ever been, like the last fire of her body shining in the prisms and facets of sapphires.
"I can't." He rasped wretchedly. Tears brimmed his chestnut eyes as he stared upon her lasts breaths. "Not without you."
She was the light of dawn that brought luminance to his soul and made him a different man. How could he live without the very breath that filled his body?
A small laugh falteringly escaped her lips. "You have far more courage than you know." She inhaled a haggard, sharp breath. "I trust you."
Trust, the first thing they had shared and only second to her love. She laid the fate of all upon his head, trusting for the first time in his life not to be selfish. How could he breach such a gift?
Oh but to lose her seemed a fate worse than torture, than death, than…than never seeing his Bae again. To lose Belle was to take his heart out of his chest and crush it beneath his boot.
He whispered solemnly, brushing her knuckles with a kiss, not trusting his voice for a moment. Though the fact broke his heart, he knew his route and the last wish she held upon her lips.
From behind, the Dark One could feel the moist eyes of Emma Swann boring into his back. Desperate and agonizing as he felt, she felt the same over her boy. Right in the other room her son, the key that would unlock the curse lay comatose and fading fast just as his Belle.
"T-take it." He choked lowly, using all his will not to roar in agony.
Unclasping his hand from his love, he held out the glimmering amethyst potion to the curse breaker. Nothing since he had claimed Belle had gone as planned in his schemes, but that's what goodness did when it clashed with evil, he supposed morosely - changed things.
As their hands met to exchange the potion the door to the room swung open in a thunderous wind. Blood dribbled from the left of Regina's face as she stared at the pair, though her eyes were only for the potion; the potion that would save her son, the potion that Mr. Gold held in his hand to save his dying wife.
With the fury of a desperate mother she leapt for the glass vessel containing the only magic powerful enough to bring a life back near the realm of death or sever a curse.
"Regina, stop!" Emma screamed in surprise, but the moment was not to be halted.
The harpy's hand tried to curl over the stopper and yank the glass from the Dark One's grip. In the same moment, Emma tried to snatch the bottle away as Gold pulled the precious fluid near to his chest.
Time seemed to slow as the actions all disastrously collided as one. All watched in numb desperation as the bottle hit the tiled hospital floor.
Crack!
Glass shattered into a thousand brilliantly hued shards letting its contents flow free upon the washed floor. The magic, the last hope, now lay in a vibrant glowing puddle upon the tile.
For a moment all silently stared at the brightly hued liquid.
Their last hope, everyone's last hope, lay no more than a mar under their feet in a pile of glass like spilled milk.
"No…" Emma murmured in disbelief, her eyes holding the glow of purple. "No!" The word shrieked from her mouth desperately.
Careless of the glass the Dark One dabbed his hands in the liquid as though trying to gather the fluid up. How, after everything, their hope was dashed by a fragile bottle and desperation from three desperate people.
"Henry." Regina uttered her sons name in mournful shock. "My son…."
As if on cue, a thunderous herd of footsteps began to race outside the door. Alarms trilled through the air in the next room setting both mothers hearts ablaze. Forgetting Gold, they hurried to the next room, hoping, praying, the end had not come.
It couldn't be, the Dark One thought numbly. Ignoring the shards that stabbed his hands, the fiend desperately tried scooping up the potion only to have the syrupy substance drip through his fingers. So close, so close and now not even breaking the curse was viable!
In every way shape for and fashion he had failed. He failed his wife, his new born, the town, even Henry. His evil, his planning, his corruption, had all come with one disastrous price.
"Belle, I'm so sorry." He stammered at his wits end, still unable to believe what the vastness of the mess. His fingers were slicked with blood and potion as he looked down at the smears of magic. When there was no reply, his head shot up in alarm.
Only a faint blip rose now and again from the heart monitor. The little gray dot was barely visible to his eyes.
Slowly, he turned to look at his wife. Her eyes were closed and her face serene just as when she slept curled in his arms.
Emotion hitched in his throat nearly blocking his breath. Forgetting the elixir, forgetting all else, he leaned beside her bed, fearful to speak. "Belle?" He whispered cautiously as he might if she were only napping.
She didn't reply.
"Belle." He swallowed down his grief, hoping and praying she would open her eyes once more. "Belle please don't go; not yet." His tears gave way then as he stared upon her unmoving form. Though her pulse ticked ever so faintly there was not enough, she was asleep and slipping away breath by slower breath. "I never got to say goodbye." He whispered raggedly.
He had never gotten to say he loved her one last time.
Loneliness and desperation washed over him in a breaking storm. The people outside the room jumped as a howl like a wounded beast rang through the level of the hospital.
He wept over her, in huge wracking sobs he'd not known since his boy vanished. Belle, his heart, his soul, his life was wrenched from him. Now, finally, utterly, there was no hope in his heart.
So enthralled in his grief he never noticed the pulse that emanated from the next room. A wave of magic hummed out along the town of Storybrooke in a curse broken from something as simple as a kiss of true love.
Oblivious, Rumpelstiltskin wailed over his beloved nearly in the shaded lands of death. His hot, scalding tears brooked like rain down his cheeks wetting his hands that curled over her own; hands that were slick with the potion of true love.
In that moment magic met magic. The potion, met the raw emotion of true love once more making the powers spring to life. His tears were akin to fire and the fluid dry straw setting a roaring blaze which instantly turned into an inferno.
Warmth curled over the Dark One's hand as he unabashedly wept. Unhinged by the feeling he'd known so long ago, he gazed up mournfully. His eyes widened as he witnessed a thick purple cloud roiling from his hand.
Magic.
Lilac hued smoke billowed from his hand and unto the floor as mist come down from the mountains. The purple vapors crawled to the rest of the glimmering liquid. Catching ablaze, the magic began to spread in rolling waves under foot.
Power blazed through his veins like fire. The force of spells surged through his blood, bringing the damson tinted magic back to his body. Magic that could save his Belle.
Without thinking the Dark One summoned his power back to his beck. Perhaps saving her was not to late; perhaps he could heal her wounds and the trials the birthing had wrought.
The words came unbidden to his mind to heal her. Closing his eyes he forced the power through her knitting and repairing any ill. His magic leeched from his body as he poured his heart and soul into every incantation he recalled. Power erupted form his fingertips, all focused on his love.
Exhaustion weighed upon his scrawny shoulders as the spells faltered from his lips. Magic took it's toll, and yet he would gladly pay a thousand times over for her to live.
Wordlessly, his moist eyes searched her still form silently, begging pleading. Had it been enough, had he done it?
"Belle." He whispered her name cautiously.
She remained still. On the heart monitor only a thin unwavering line rolled dreadfully across the screen.
His heart crumpled with maddening grief as nothing happened. She didn't shift, her pulse did not return. A ragged sob tore from his lips, and then, her eyes opened.
The beeping on the monitor began in a steady, hearty wave, telling the tale of the impossible. From the very brink of death he had brought her back.
"Belle!" He never said her name with so much joy and passion.
Immediately she began to move, her body growing with strength. With little effort she sat up and wrapped her slender arms about his neck. Her breathed whispered happily through her ear as she hugged him tight. "You did it. I knew I could trust you, my love."
"Forgive me." He begged piteously, his heart bursting with emotion as he buried his face in her mane. "Forgive me for not heeding your words, fool that I am."
"All is forgiven, beloved." She laughed gaily. A smile stretched from ear to ear as she clung to him for all she could. "Now, let's introduce you to our son, before the real work begins…."
~8~8~
A/N: Whew, big chapter, I sincerely hope it was worth it. Let me explain a few things, since this is AU, Gold did NOT know a kiss would break the curse and therefore use the potion for anything else. Also, one chapter to go! The last chapter will be the epilogue to this tale, so I hope you all enjoy!