Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

"This doesn't seem like a good idea," Jefferson said hesitantly.

Rumpelstiltskin looked back at the hatter and rolled his eyes. "Will you stop worrying? Once I'm done with your hat, you'll be able to come and go between lands as you please no matter how many people are with you."

"Messing with hat can be dangerous. It doesn't like to be tampered with."

The thought of unrestricted travel did sound nice, but Jefferson was still apprehensive. Charming had enlisted Rumpelstiltskin to help fix the broken magic hat to get Emma and Snow back. Jefferson had easily repaired it, and it was now up to Rumpel to enchant it. Ever since magic had come back, Mr. Gold began switching back and forth between his cursed and original form just to mess with people. He was now Mr. Gold minus the cane.

"You act as though the hat's alive." Rumpelstiltskin then proceeded to pour the continents of one of the vials on his table on the top hat. "Everything will be fine. Tell him, Belle."

"I'm not getting involved in this," Belle said quickly. "In fact, I'm getting out of here before something explodes."

Jefferson leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Take me with you."

"I heard that," Rumpel said. "You have to stay here to test out the hat when I finish."

Jefferson hung his head as Belle left giggling. "Have fun, boys. I'll be back later to make sure you're still alive."

With that, Belle left the basement. Rumpel continued fiddling with the hat until a small boom was heard.

"There! All finished." He held of the hat for Jefferson to take. "Go on and test it."

Jefferson stared at the hat for a moment before taking it. Rumpel took a step back as Jefferson spun the hat on the floor. Soon, a vortex formed and both men were shocked to find that the smoke was now black. Jefferson looked up at Rumpel.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"You've done this hundreds of times. Just jump."

The hatter closed his eyes and silently counted down from ten. He reached one, but before he could jump, the hat started to rise off of the ground. Rumpelstiltskin blinked as the hat floated above their heads.

"That's not supposed to happen."

"You think!" Jefferson yelled. "What have you done to my hat?!"

Rumpel shrugged and turned his attention back to the hat. It had stopped rising and was now about seven feet in the air and spinning at a blinding speed. The hat flipped over and two figures fell out. The hat continued to spin and flew out one of the basement window.

"My hat!" Jefferson cried before teleporting after it.

"Come back here!" Rumpel yelled, but Jefferson was gone leaving him to deal with the room's new occupants.

The two people, one male one female, seemed to be fine. The man was pale and very dirty. His suit had black and white stripes, and his blond-white hair needed a good combing. The girl, however, was much cleaner but equally pale. She had on a red cloak that seemed to have a spider web pattern. Rumpel was broken from his trance by a knock on the basement door.

"Rum. Please tell me you're alive down there."

"I'm fine. I'm just not sure if these two are though."

Belle didn't like his response and quickly entered the basement.

"What did you do?!"

Rumpel simply shrugged and prodded the girl with his foot. This seemed to wake her, and she lifted her head off of the man's chest.

"Beej. What happened? BJ, wake up."

The man's eyes slowly opened, and he sat up slowly. "Lyds. Where the hell are we?"

"How am I supposed to know? The last thing I remember is you running another one of your cons that literally blew up in our faces."

"Oh yeah."

The girl picked herself up and finally noticed Rumpel and Belle standing there. Now at full height, Rumpel noticed that she was no older (or taller for that matter) than Belle. "Uh...Hi. I'm Lydia, and that Beetlejuice."

Rumpel blinked. "Beetlejuice? What kind of name is Beetlejuice?"

Beetlejuice stood up. "Hey! Watch the B-words, will ya. Names have power, ya know."

"Believe me, I know. Rumpelstiltskin, at your service, and this is Belle."

Beetlejuice snorted. "Rumpelstiltskin? And you have the nerve to question my name."

Belle and Lydia both giggled. "He's got you there, Rum."

Rumpel glared at Beetlejuice, but his eyes soon widened when he saw that the other man was floating. "What the hell?"

"Beej!" Lydia snapped. Beetlejuice immediately dropped to the ground. "I can explain."

"No need. A floating man is actually kind of normal after living with him." Belle interjected, pointing to Rumpelstiltskin

"Really?"

Belle nudged her husband. "Show them."

Rumpel glared at Belle but did as she asked and turned back into his usual gold-skinned self. Lydia's eyes widen as Rumpelstiltskin stretched. Ever since he brought magic back, Rumpel found that he was more comfortable when he changed back into his original form.

"Much better. I hope it's not too creepy for you, dearie."

Lydia shook her head. "No way. It's cool."

"You're probably the only person other than Belle to think that which means that you're either very weird or completely insane."

"She's both," Beetlejuice said quickly earning him an elbow to the gut. "Ow! I never said it was bad thing, babes."

"Yeah. If I wasn't, I would have been friend with a ghost for ten years."

"A ghost?" Rumpel said slowly. "You expect us to believe that he is a ghost."

"We're both ghosts, but I'm not just any ghost. I am the ghost with the most," Beetlejuice said proudly. "the Neitherworld's most powerful spook."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "You're also its biggest pest."

"At least you two have something in common," Belle said with a small smile.

Rumpel glared at his wife. "I'm not a pest!"

"Sure you're not. You still have wanted posters of yourself."

"You too?" Beetlejuice asked. "I had some, but Lyds wouldn't let me keep them."

Rumpelstiltskin was about to reply when Jefferson teleported back in holding his hat.

"You're lucky it didn't get very far. Who's this?"

"This is Lydia and Beetlejuice," Belle explained. "Your hat brought them here by accident."

"Blame your husband. I told him not to mess with the hat's magic, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Sell out," Rumpel muttered. "It was an accident. I'm sure I can find a way to send them back to wherever they came from."

"That won't be necessary," Lydia said. "Just point us to the biggest mirror you have, and we'll be on our way."

Rumpel snapped his fingers and the large mirror he'd kept covered in his castle appeared. "Will this do?"

"Perfect! Well, it was nice meeting you but we really must be on our way," Beetlejuice said, quickly shaking hands with all three of them. "Me and Lyds were 'scaring up some fun' and would like to get back to it, know what I mean."

Lydia sighed and grabbed him by the tie. "Come on, BJ. Let's get out of here before we nearly get exorcised…again."

"That was an accident, babes. I didn't know the guy was a priest."

Two ghosts walked towards the mirror but ended up walking straight through it as if it wasn't there.

"That's not supposed to happen," Beetlejuice said dumbly. He tried to touch the mirror from the other side, but it went through it again.

"Well, I guess the curse works on ghosts too," Jefferson observed before putting on his hat and leaving.

Lydia watched him go and looked at Belle and Rumpel. "What curse?"

"You're in Storybrooke," Belle explained. "The entire town is cursed so that no one can get in or out."

"What idiot did that?" Beetlejuice asked. Belle glanced at Rumpelstiltskin who did his best to look innocent. "Well, it looks like we have a new place to haunt then. Please tell there's someone in this town that's strong but not too bright. They're the most fun to scare."

"There are plenty of those," Rumpel said quickly. "There's one in particular called James who loves to come bother me. Feel free to scare him as much as you like."

An evil smirk formed of Beetlejuice's face. "Ooh. Is he one of those gallant pretty boys? They always scream like little girls."

"Yes, he is. Could you scare Gaston too? He's been trying to flirt with my wife, and she won't let me harm him anymore."

"Gladly!" Beetlejuice threw his arm around Rumpelstiltskin's shoulder as the two headed up the stairs. "You know, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

In the basement, both Belle and Lydia sighed and shook their heads. "What hell have we unleashed on this town?"

TBC