She saw it first but only because Snow's back was to the windows when it first appeared. The moment she started staring Snow turned around and also looked dumbfounded at what she was seeing. A light, white and hot on the street before them. It was like lightning, only white and far more prolonged than a mere flash. She moved around the table, drawn like a moth to the flame by what she saw. When she finally got to the window her jaw dropped in horror and confusion. She'd desperately wanted to know what was going on outside but much to her surprise it didn't seem to be going on "outside". The light was blinding, and she couldn't find a source other than a general direction. Up. It was coming from the clocktower!
"What is that?" Snow asked softly behind her. She honestly didn't have a response. What were the chances that Gideon and Emma and Rumple were up in that clocktower? This couldn't be something else coming to Storybrooke; they had their hands full with Gideon! Another attack at a time like this would be devastating.
"Rumpelstiltskin?! Rumpelstiltskin, get over here and tell me what this is?" Snow shouted in her silence.
The name broke her stare only for a second, only long enough for her to realize that they would be caught the moment Rumple didn't appear.
But then it stopped. The light it was gone. The street was quiet and dark, lit now only by the streetlights that had been dwarfed only a second ago. What had they just witnessed? She wasn't sure, but she knew that whether or not Snow found out she had to tell Rumple, she had to tell him now.
"Where are you going? What are you doing? What-"
"I'm calling Rumple," she explained quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone who might be upstairs.
Snow followed her back into the back room to grab her bag and cell phone but now she looked wildly around. "Calling him? What's going on here? Where is Rumpelstiltskin?" she demanded looking around.
"I'm calling him now; he needs to know-"
"Where is he now?!" she interrupted.
She didn't even think as she took a breath and dialed the phone. "He's tracking Gideon through Emma."
Snow's eyes widened as her hand dove predictably into her pocket to retrieve her own phone, no doubt to call Emma. Frankly, she didn't care if she did right now. At least she'd get his attention! She was already busy dialing again since he hadn't picked up the first call. That was suspicious.
"Anything?" she asked Snow going back into the main room.
"No," she snapped. "I don't understand. This isn't like her to ignore calls. And how exactly did Gold get out of here without me knowing about it? And what was that light?"
She opened her mouth to tell her that she had no answers, but it wasn't necessary, a moment later her own phone began to ring.
"It's Rumple!" she exclaimed. "Rumple, what happened, did you find-"
"Can you bring Snow White to the Sorcerer's House? The place we went to after we were married, do you remember that?" he interrupted.
"Of course but-"
"Quickly, Belle."
She glanced over at Snow who was listening intently to the conversation that she was having with him.
"He wants us to go to the Sorcerer's Mansion, it's uh...it's this place where we went after-"
"I know what the Sorcerer's Mansion is, but..." Snow was quiet for a few seconds, and appeared to be considering her words for reasons she didn't understand until she shook her head. "No," she finally stated shaking her head. "Not until Emma has told me it's okay."
Frustrated, she turned back to the phone. "Rumple, did you hear that?"
But she knew he had. Not only because there was talking on the other end, but because a few seconds later her phone rang. Emma told her the same thing that Rumple had and only a few minutes later she and Snow White were on the road sharing a very quiet ride through Storybrooke, to the place that she had taken Rumple after they'd been married for their "honeymoon". She maintained a calm demeanor, but inside her heart felt as though it was going to explode out of her chest at any moment. He'd promised he'd find Gideon. He'd promised that he'd talk to him. She hadn't seen her son for over a week, was this the day that all turned around? Was her boy with her husband? Had it worked? Would she finally be able to speak with him.
The house was not as she remembered and she struggled to hold on to that happy feeling that she'd felt before in the car as she looked at it. The doors, even the windows were covered with something white, like thread or cotton. If she didn't know any better she would have thought the owner of the mansion was playing some kind of Halloween prank, imitating a spider web. Snow stared at it in confusion as well. They made their way up to what was once the main door and Snow was the first to put her hands into it and pull it away so that they could enter, but-
"Oh!" she gasped when she realized it stuck to her hands and wouldn't come off. It was only after they found a rough branch that they were able to scrape most of it away, though when she closed and opened her hand she could still hear the sound of skin sticking together.
"What is all this?" she questioned turning her nose up at the door.
"I don't know, but I know how I'm going to find out." Without further invitation, she pushed open the front door and made her way into the house only to find that it wasn't just the exterior walls that were covered with the stuff, but the halls, the lights, the entryways, the banisters. The strange web-like substance was on everything. But it wasn't the only thing in the house. She could hear voices; Emma for certain, talking to Rumple she assumed though the voice was muffled by the thick webs.
"Emma?!" Snow called out. The girl responded and so little by little the pair of them traveled through whatever openings and crevices they could find in the thresholds, making their way toward their family while doing their best to avoid being covered with the stuff again. They should have kept that stick; it would have been useful.
"Are you okay?!" Snow finally shrieked ahead of her, moving quickly through the small opening she was currently about to make her way through. Her heart raced as she followed after her and looked around but she didn't see Gideon, only Emma. And Rumple. The two of them standing a fair distance from each other.
"Yeah, I'll never look at Spider-man again the same way, but I'm fine," Emma commented once Snow reached her.
"Rumple," she muttered stepping up to him hopefully. He could still be here. In the bathroom or in another room…he could. "Where's our boy?"
His face bore no trace of the excitement she knew it would have if everything was as okay as she'd dared to hope it might be. And the silence that passed between the pair of them, then between all four of them as each pair stood their ground on opposite sides of the room spoke for itself. Something had gone wrong here.
"Gideon led Emma to the creature, then left her to die."
Her heart sank at the words, and her stomach plummeted as if each phrase was a blow to her soul with an iron fist. He'd left Emma to die? After asking for help?! She turned back to look the girl over and couldn't believe it. She looked fine! Not a mark on her! Gideon couldn't have!
"I thought you were helping him?!" Snow snarled looking not at Emma but rather at Rumple with a fire in her eyes like she'd never seen before in her life. No. That was a lie. She had seen that look before, only a handful of times but not on Snow or anyone else she knew. It had been in her own eyes every time Rumple had threatened Gideon while he was still safe within her. Snow was angry. Angrier than she'd ever seen her before.
"I was," Emma responded in a low irritated growl. "Dark One Junior had different plans. He played me."
"He came to you for help though!" she yelled at her, unable to contain her anger at their attitude much longer! Everyone earned grace from them it seemed except for her son.
"Belle, I know you want to believe the best in him, but it's like you said. Evil is not born it is made, and that is exactly what the Black Fairy did to him!"
"Careful with your accusations Miss Swan," Rumple muttered stepping forward when she couldn't form words. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How often had she babysat Neal for them? How many dresses had she made Snow White to hide her pregnancy in the Enchanted Forest? How many times had she helped them fight spells and curses?! Suddenly all of that was nothing as they were plotting her son's wickedness?! This was the line drawn now? Did she really expect her to side with them and allow them to kill her son?! "May I remind you, I saved your life tonight."
"Because your son tried to kill me, again!"
"He needs help!" Rumple insisted as she tried to swallow what had happened. Gideon set a trap and left Emma for dead to save the children. Rumple saved her to save Gideon. They wanted him dead just because he'd attacked Emma? "You're a hero Miss Swan, Gideon is my son."
"You can't keep cleaning up his messes, Gold! He needs to take responsibility for his actions!" Emma shouted back.
"Are you threatening my child?" Rumple questioned, a hint of threat clear in his own voice at the accusation.
"I don't have a choice. He's tried to kill me twice I'm not going to give him a third chance!"
That was the most ridiculous thing that she'd ever heard. As if Gideon was the only threat to this town, as if Gideon was the only one who had ever threatened her life! What about Regina? She'd tried to kill Emma when she'd first arrived, Rumple had told her that long ago. Was she taking responsibility for those actions with her life? Or Zelena?! She had attacked them, cursed them all, kidnapped Neal, and tortured Rumple! Yet now she was now living with Robin on the outskirts of town in peace with everything she'd ever wanted! How was that fair?! How was any of this fair?! She could see Snow White's anger, she understood it, but how could she, how dare she, think they would just stand aside and let them kill their child to save her own child, especially when Gideon was not the true cancer here. He was merely a symptom of the true cancer. He could be healed!
"If you cross my son, I will do what I must to stop you," Rumple vowed, taking a step forward without hesitation. She wished she could do the same. She thought the same, she was on his side in that vow, for once, but she hated this because she knew, deep down, they were not acting like themselves. They were good people, and she could understand their perspective, but it was just so unlike them. It seemed selfish, and perhaps even stubborn. They had all faced evil after evil after evil and she knew that it was tiring but to take it out on her son...
She could play that game if necessary and she would if Gideon required it. But she didn't understand why he was any different than Zelena and Regina, why they were unwilling to help.
"We didn't start this fight!" Snow White shouted back at him, as if that was the great secret to justify all of this. Her logic was the same. They hadn't started the fight with Zelena either…this wasn't justice.
"Let's go home," Snow finally declared without looking at Emma. The pair of them had their gaze locked on Rumple, obviously seeing him as more of the threat than her.
Then they departed without a further word or glance in her direction.
Yuck. Sorry, this is just one of those scenes that didn't translate well in the end. Pretty straightforward but certainly one of my weaker chapters. You have my apologies.
Thank you, Grace5231973, Fox24, and Paintbrush123 for your comments on the last chapter. Lots of interesting thoughts on that chapter as well. I am sorry, by the way that I cut this chapter off here. I had thought about putting it with the next chapter, but in the end I decided to separate them. Again, it goes back to what I said in an earlier chapter. This is a Rumbelle vs. Mom and Daughter chapter. I didn't want it to be a Rumbelle vs. Mom and Daughter chapter and Rumbelle chapter. Hopefully, you'll think it's a good choice once you've read the next chapter. Peace and Happy Reading!