The wand was hidden inside Rumple's coat. After Gideon cheerfully told him Blue's story about the Fiona, he felt even more angered, for his mother had took him from his destiny and in some twisted way, she was the only blamed for all the bad roads his life took. But now she wasn't going to be able to any more damage, because he was going to this. He had gone to the entryway with the only purpose to kill his own mother, however now her powers were strangling Baelfire and he was frozen with fear.
"Neal!" Princess Emma's voice came from outside the castle, as she slammed her fists against the barrier, looking furiously at Fiona. "If you don't release him, I swear that I'm going to kill you".
Baelfire's face was starting to get a little blue because of his lack of oxygen and seeing that he was writhing desperately and in fact, dying right in front of his eyes, Rumplestiltskin took the wand off his coat and pointed it at his mother, causing her to gasp at sight of it.
"That's my - " she started.
"Aye." He agreed in his most impish voice. "Release the boy. Now!"
"Release the boy? Did you think that that would be so simple?" Fiona questioned with a laugh, her hand still tightly closed in a fist. "You're a dealer and clever than that. I want the wand in exchange for Baelfire's life."
"No, Rumple, you can't give her the wand!" Regina screamed from behind the barrier, as she desperately tried to pull it down again, using her powers in an attempt to at least open a passage that could allow someone to enter in there and help the imp, but it didn't work.
Him, however, wasn't paying a lot of attention to her, because everything he could see was his son suffocating without air as he lifted the wand in Fiona's direction, but not pointing it threatening at her, just offering the fairy exactly what she wanted.
"Won't you use it against my family?" He asked, mistrustfully.
"Of course not!" Fiona guaranteed, taking a step in his direction.
"Then take it."
As a victory smile appeared in the Black Fairy's lips, the three women outside the castle started to expect the worse, because if Rumplestiltskin give her the wand, then she would be even powerful than she was now and not only in family would be fated to live under her control forever, but they were pretty sure that Fiona would finish her perfect day by getting to the gardens and killing all of them. She was crazy enough to make a spell that essentially used children as ingredients, so there was no doubt she wouldn't bother about ending some stupid adults' lives.
"What the hell are you doing?" Regina yelled again at the Dark One, but he didn't even look at her.
In a moment, Fiona release Neal from her grip, in the other one, the imp hand made a subtle movement with his wrist and the young man appeared near the blonde princess in the stairs as the barrier glowed with a gold light, being reinforced by a new spell that impeded the Black Fairy from getting out of the castle. Regina heard a gasp behind her and saw that Belle, her maid and the children had been transported outside too.
"Neal!" Emma rushed to kneel by his side as he coughed repeatedly. "Oh, gods, are you alright?"
"What have you done?" The former Evil Queen shouted out at the imp.
From behind her came Belle, the long stripes of auburn hair, floating as she run to the doors. "Rumple!"
Glancing at her standing so worried there, blue eyes shining with fear, a grey gown moulding her perfect delicate body and hair falling around her shoulders, he knew that whatever might happen now didn't matter that much as long as she was safe and could take care of their family. The spell he had casted in the castle could only be pulled down by his own magic and not even his death would be strong enough to break it, so if Fiona defeated him, she would be condemned to be locked there for the whole eternity.
His eyes stayed in Belle for a while more, silently asking her for forgiveness because there was only two ways of ending this and in none of them he would be the hero she deserved. Then, he looked back at his mother, gripping harder at the wand and smiling wickedly when he saw the surprise stamped in her face.
"Now, it's you and me, mother." Rumplestiltskin said. "Like it should have been from the beginning."
The black wave of her powers hit him, shoving him down the entryway before he had the chance of casting his own magic to protect himself, retaliating the attack and making an explosion of coloured light illuminate the space between them. Beneath his feet, the ground shook violently with the impact of the little battle, the screams of his loved one's reaching him from outside, echoing in his ears. They fought like they were enemies, not mother and son.
"I did all of this for you!" Fiona screamed.
"No." The imp grumbled, giving up on that pointless power clash and pointing the wand at her. "You did it for yourself."
A small flourish of his hand was all that it took, to make her start to become dust, disintegrating while every present people watched. In one moment, the fearful Black Fairy was standing there as a threat, but in the other one everything that remained of her was a pile of ashes. The wand fell from his hands and the castle was freed from her spells.
It didn't take long before he felt another body collide against his and all he could do was to clutch her, smelling her perfume and hiding his face in the warm curve of her neck.
"Belle - " his voice came as a contained sob.
"You are a hero, Rumplestiltskin." She assured him, stroking his back frenetically, her breath coming fast and difficult. "You faced your mother and you saved our family."
He nodded, running his hands down her back. Rumplestiltskin pulled away to see her, admiring the way some tears of happiness were plucking at her eyes and a soft smile appeared in her pinkish lips.
"Yeah, but it's not over yet." The imp said, looking at their friends who were staring stunned at them. "I think that I have a little trip to make to the Dark Realm before I can sit down and feel relieved."
"I'm going with you." Zelena immediately popped. "I need to get Robin."
"So am I." Belle whispered, squeezing his hand.
Baelfire who had been standing too close to Princess Emma, with an arm wrapped around her waist smiled at him, looking proud of his father's acts for the first time in too long. Rumplestiltskin looked down at his lover, with a question burning in his mouth.
"But what about the children?" He inquired.
"I guess Mrs. Potts can handle them and Ruby doesn't look like she is willing to let go of Rose so soon."
Indeed, the wolf girl was holding their baby close to her chest, cradling her like she was a precious doll. Rose seemed to be liking all the attention, because she kept giggling at her whenever Ruby made a silly childish voice and enlaced her small baby fingers on the dark stripes of the lady's hair.
"I'm definitely not." Ruby assured. "My goddaughter is the sweetest thing in this world and I'm intending to spend some hours here just spoiling her, so you can go if you want to."
Belle laughed, smiling at her and kissing both her children's forehead before returning to Rumple, who was ready to go on their last quest.
"Are you coming, Regina?" Zelena asked.
"I guess I am." The former Evil Queen shrugged, giving a disgusted look at the blonde princess who had her gaze fixed in Neal's. "It looks like Emma needs a moment alone with her thief."
She rolled her dark eyes at the two of them and tried to ignore that sight while Rumple used the wand to open the portal, gesticulating for them to pass through it. The sisters went first followed by the couple and they appeared in some kind of giant cavern, that was badly illuminated by some torches that were hanging on the walls.
"Whoa," Zelena muttered. "I guess there is a reason why this place is called the Dark Realm."
A silhouette came from one of the rocky corridors, a young blonde girl that looked around fourteen or fifteen years old, all dressed in black, with dark circles under her eyes that made a creepy contrast with her too pale skin. She looked tired and mistreated.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked.
By his side, Belle grabbed Rumple's arm, analysing her with curious eyes as Regina's mouth fell open and the dark-haired woman inquired: "Who are you?"
"My name is Agathe. I'm lady Fiona's maid."
"Well, lady Fiona is dead." The imp informed. "I'm her son, Rumplestiltskin, this is my lady Belle and these are some friends of ours, Regina and Zelena."
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." Agathe answered in an emotionless voice, as if she had spent so many time in this horrible place that she wasn't capable of feeling anything anymore. "I guess this realm is yours now."
He hasn't thought about it, but she was right, because children inhered the parent's possessions when they died and, even though he had been the one to kill his mother, that didn't change it. However, Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure if he wanted this place. Actually, he was, he didn't want it, everything he wished was to get away from there as soon as possible.
"We are looking for a baby." Zelena advanced even before he could process the information at all. "Little redhead, blue-eyed girl named Robin, that must've been brought here recently."
"The demigod one?" Agathe questioned to what the witch nodded. "She is in a special place. Follow me."
She led them through the corridors and what was just dark rocky walls at the beginning, became cells. Each of them were guarded by a maid like her, that circulated between the baskets that were set in square shaped rocks, with little legs and arms agitating out of them, in some the heads were visible as the children played.
"This are - " Belle started, mesmerized.
"Babies." He finished. "A lot of them."
Agathe looked at them over her shoulder, saying: "The children are in another floor and the teenagers and adults usually stay near the mines."
That was madness. Pure madness. Not that he didn't knew about his mother's creepy hobbies, but seeing it by himself made things seem even worst. He had made deals for children before, but all he ever did was to take them from parents that were desperate enough to exchange them for something else, to a new home, where they were certainly wanted.
"Do you know the name of each one of them?" He asked. "Their backstory or something like that?"
"Not exactly," Agathe replied. "But we do have records in the archive."
"Good. We are freeing them."
Surprise passed through her eyes. "Freeing them?"
His first reflection was to roll his eyes at her, but when he looked down at his own lady and saw how proud of his decision Belle looked, the imp didn't even bother to do that. Her approval was the best thing he could expect to receive right now and he bent to press a kiss to her temple.
"I'm the owner of this place now, dearie, you said that yourself and I want to free everyone. And we should start with sending the children home."
"Alright then, master. I'll prepare everything for you." A flicker of hope shinned in her eyes and something that resembled a smile made her lips curve. They took another tunnel and found themselves in a hallway with tiniest cells. Agathe stopped in front of one of them and took a bunch of keys from her belt, opening the gates. "Here we are."
Zelena rushed inside, recognizing Robin in the only basket that was there and grabbing the child. "My baby girl!"
"Mama!" Robin answered, cheerfully.
Regina otherwise, was walking down the hall, looking through an opened wall that gave a good view from the people working in the mines. She made a gesture, calling Rumple and Belle to join her and see how much people were there.
"Oh, you will have a lot of work to do here."
And, damn it, she was right, the imp thought, they were going to have a lot to do from now on, but he wasn't going to complain, not when they had finally reached the safety they needed, because this all was a small insignificant thing to do and he would gratefully spend his days fixing the Dark Realm if it was to erase the bad his mother had done. Because in the end, Rumplestiltskin was not a great villain as he always thought himself to be.
The sunlight entered the library through the large windows, clearing the place and illuminating Rumplestiltskin's face as he worked in a desk, analysing one of his contracts when the sound of steps echoed behind him and Belle's hand came to massage his shoulder and the other one waved a folded piece of paper in front of his eyes.
It had been almost two months after Fiona died and they had found their way to mends things while they worked in freeing the Dark Realm. As much as most of the people in there had celebrated the fact that the Black Fairy was now dead and couldn't cause them any more harm, most of the adults and the teenagers didn't have families to come back to or any condition of starting a new life in their respective realms. It was Belle's idea to offer them to stay there, but no more as slaves, but as free people that should work in the mines in exchange for a payment.
With their acceptance, however, the Dark Realm that seemed to be something Rumplestiltskin would soon forget, became a business for him. The fairies showed interest in buying the magic the mines were producing and he got a whole bunch of people now calling him Dark King. A hypocrite thing in his opinion, but all that he cared about now was the fact that he had his family back and they were safe.
"Blue sent me a letter." The lady informed, rubbing her fingers at his scalp and earning a satisfied sound from him. "She said that the last child was returned to its parents today."
Grabbing her by the waist, Rumple sat her in his lap, kissing Belle's cheek. "Good to hear that, I couldn't bear you writing for the fairies anymore."
"Old complaining Rumple is back." Belle giggled.
"Yeah, he is." He said, smoothing her hair before he lifted her, placing his lady back on her feet and stood up. "But now, sweetheart, I have a surprise for you."
Curiosity filled Belle's eyes like he already expected that it would, she was too anxious and hungry for any kind of information. It was clear in the way her eyes shinned.
"What is it?"
"I'm not spoiling." Rumplestiltskin laughed. "Close your eyes."
As Belle obeyed and slammed her eyes shut, he walked to the cabinet near the shelves and took the ring he had been hiding for days, from inside his locked safe box, putting it on his pocket and returning things to their places as he heard her mumbling behind him.
"Alright, I'm nervous, we have been together for years now and there is no much that could surprise me, so I think you will have to be really creative if you want me to - "
"Look at me." Rumplestiltskin interrupted.
"Oh." Belle whispered, when she opened her eyes to see him kneeled right in front of her.
"You are right, sweetheart. We have been together for years, but I've never got myself to propose to you." He grabbed her hand in his rubbing his thick fingers at the softness of her pale skin. "Belle, former princess of Avonlea, light of my days, I can't even begin to explain how happy you make me and I will never be able to repay everything you gave me until now. Your love and faith in me made me better and I would be honoured if you accepted to be my wife." Making a pause, Rumplestiltskin took the white gold ring with a big diamond in the centre of it from its hidden place in his waistcoat's pocket and showed it for her. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes!" She said, happily as he slid the ring to her finger and rose from the floor, picking her up in his arms, making Belle giggle as their lips met multiple times. "Yes! Always yes!"
His smile couldn't be bigger as he imagined her in a beautiful white gown, knowing now that he should have done this, ages ago before surrendering to his desire and taking her virtue or at least, when they discovered that she was pregnant for the first time, but as a big bastard as he was, he hadn't found the courage to do so until now. Maybe, Rumplestiltskin, concluded, he was just afraid that she would say no.
"Then I think you should start to think about the dress, because I'm going to give you the wedding you deserve, one that princesses from all the realms will be jealous about and you can invite whoever you want."
"Even the fairies?"
"Ok, maybe not everyone you want."
"I'll finally be your wife." Belle said in wonder.
All Rumplestiltskin could do was to nod and capture her lips in his again, but this time in a deep hungry kiss, that took all of the air off their lungs, making the couple have to pull back, their foreheads touching while they seek for oxygen.
"And I'll finally be your husband." Rumple concluded.