Once Upon A Time
The hours passed on and the more Rumpelstiltskin stared at his cursed wife, the more the grief diminished and the anger grew.
He had been good to her. He'd given her a home and shelter from the people that wanted her hurt or dead. He'd let her near their son even though she'd lost her right to him when she abandoned them. He'd allowed himself to become vulnerable around her; he was willing to act like her husband again. He'd taken chance after chance and all the while Dagian dragged her feet and reprimanded him every time he'd killed someone. Well it's not like he did it to people that were innocent; he only did it to those that wronged them, hurt them, or was a threat in some other way. IT's not like he WANTED to kill them, he just didn't understand why Dagian didn't understand that.
And he could understand Dagian's reluctance to trust him after he let Bae go. He hated himself far more than she could ever hate him. He knew he was guilty and he knew it was all his fault and he couldn't look at his wife or talk to her because he was scared that if she looked at him like he looked at himself then he'd try to find a way to get himself killed.
But he was trying to atone for it. He was trying to find a way to get them to that world without magic and Dagian knew that. He promised her that she'd see their son again and he stayed by his vows. Unlike Dagian who broke them almost as soon as she made them.
Filib, the recruiter flashed in his mind and he made a fist in jealousy. Where would she have been if those men had never found her? No doubt she'd have a new family and she'd have forgotten the one that she left behind.
A dark fury took over and he looked at his wife. He would seal the door to her chambers, and he would forget for the time being. As far as he was concerned, she wasn't married to him anymore.
At least not in this world.
But he'd found a curse, or the possibility of one that would erase everyone's memories for a limited time. And he would use it to make his wife pay for breaking one too many vows and abandoning him yet again.
He wouldn't touch her because if he did then he risked forgiving her and falling for her again. He wasn't going to make the same mistake. He would use those 28 years to make her miserable. He would break her.
And then when the curse was over with, and he was satisfied with her humiliation then he'd leave her by herself in that land and he'd find his son.
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Present Day
Dagian couldn't be in this town because she risked Regina finding out that she remembered and Regina might try to use her to hurt Rumpelstiltskin. Dagian knew that.
But she also knew that she couldn't spend another minute in that house without going down the same path that she'd been down twice before.
Dagian knew that she didn't love him. She couldn't say that enough. She'd loved him once before the dark one curse. She was still working out her feelings when he was the dark one. At best, she knew that she cared for him and she was just trying to keep herself from hurt when she told him that their relationship was just one of comfort. At worst, their relationship HAD been just one of comfort and the only reason that it lasted as long as it did was because she had some kind of Stockholm syndrome and her word to Bae that she'd stay as long as he did.
However, Bae was gone and she now had the freedom to leave him. She didn't love him, it was simple as that.
But her alternate personality, the one that DID love him had other ideas. Dawn had memories of a softer side of Gold. Not the false memories, but the actual 28 years. She had memories of Gold comforting her through every migraine (an after effect of the potion), she remembered him holding her hand through every pregnancy test even though he knew the results every time. Dagian could easily say that he'd just played along but there was something sincere in his eyes.
Dagian knew that she'd gone over this in her mind a hundred times. She knew that it would be too easy to go back to him. To give her daughter a father. To give their child two parents instead of one every other weekend. AT least one of their children would have both of them for support.
But she couldn't just stay with him for their daughter. She'd tried that already and it didn't work.
So Dagian was going to leave him. At the very least she was going to move out so that she could untangle the feelings of Dawn and herself towards her husband.
It was over, it was over, it was over. Dagian knew she'd promised her husband that they'd court each other but she wasn't sure if she could go through with it.
Granny kept the front door to the Inn unlocked because there wasn't anything of value there and she trusted everyone here.
Dagian walked right through it and walked up the stairs to her son…no…August's room and banged as hard as she could on the door, "Don't pretend you're not in there you little lying coward, I can hear your terrified breathing from here."
Someone opened the door and she glared towards it until they closed it again. Probably Leroy got so drunk he forgot where he lived again.
Oh the rumor mill was going to be in full force tomorrow.
August opened the door and she could've sworn that he actually looked regretful.
She didn't buy it. Before he could open his mouth, she punched him as hard as she could in the face, shoved him in his room, followed him in, and slammed the door behind her.
"You have one chance," she said and pulled out a gun.
"Rumpelstiltskin wants me alive."
"Wrong answer," she replied, pulled back on the trigger release.
"I'm dying."
"Don't care."
"I didn't want to hurt you."
"Well see, now that's where you're wrong," she snapped, "Because you did know what you were doing since we met in that supermarket, you did know what you were doing when you claimed to be my lost son and you put even more of a rift between my husband and myself when you told me that as my son you had a right to tell him your identity when you wanted to. You knew what you were doing, and you knew that it would hurt me and you did it anyway and you didn't care. And now that everything's blown up in your face, you want to sit there and claim that you didn't want to hurt me."
"Dagian."
"See, I know you probably don't know much about sleeping curses what with you being…well gods knows who you are but here's the thing; I saw my regrets. I saw every one of them. Everything from failures with my husband, to my failure to be there for him and my son. I saw everything. I saw every moment I missed. Everything Rumpelstiltskin and Bae told me about. I swear I saw it as if I was there. And then I was haunted by watching my son fall into that vortex over and over for centuries. And to make matters worse? It still feels like I just fell asleep maybe yesterday even though I know I've been asleep for centuries so Bae's loss still feels incredibly fresh."
"I'm-"
"And you come in here and you pretend you care about me as a person so you can get close to that bloody dagger, and you claim you're my son. Give me a reason why I shouldn't put a bullet in your head right now."
"Because I might be the only one to get the savior to trust the fact that every fairy tale she's ever heard is real."
"Yeah, well here's the other problem," she said with a vicious smirk, "The only thing I care about is surviving, getting my son back, and protecting my daughter. I don't care about that bloody curse or the blonde that you seem to think will suddenly change her mind and help us all."
"I needed that dagger to survive."
"And I'm supposed to suddenly sympathize with you?"
"I was sort of hoping that you'd realize that you've made mistakes in your life too and let me live."
"Well if you're dying then I guess I could just be putting you out of your misery," she shrugged, "But first I do have to know…who are you?"
She saw him going over the dilemma in his mind and he drew in a breath, "I'm Pinocchio."
She tiled her head, "You're a little wooden boy that turns into a jackass?"
"Interesting wording, but yes."
Oh, now that was utterly disappointing. She was hoping for something a little more spectacular.
"On the contrary, I think it's pretty accurate," she said and lowered the gun.
"You're going to let me live?" he asked, but he didn't seem surprised.
"I changed my mind," she said, "Whatever you're dying from…as long as you suffer, its fine by me. What are you dying from anyway?"
"I'm paying for my mistakes, much like you are."
He pulled his pant leg up and she raised her eyebrow as she saw that his leg was completely made of wood.
"Well," Dagian said with a smirk, "Quite fitting, I think."
"Oh please Dagian," he snapped, "What's the worst thing you've ever done to get what you want? Or escape it?"
"Hm," she mused and put the gun at her wasteband, "I have a better fate in mind for you."
He paled.
"I think I might ask my husband to let me use you for firewood," she said with a smirk, "Or perhaps I'll let him put you in the shop with your arms around those ugly little puppets that Dawn never convinced him to get rid of. Well I haven't quite decided your fate but I think that we'll work something out. How ironic would it be if that's what made him and me closer?"
She opened the door and left.
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Dagian felt the gun pressing against her back as she walked down the stairs of the inn and found her husband waiting for her at the curb.
"Did you kill him?" he asked when she approached. He leaned against the car and she could see that he had all his weight on his good leg.
His face was emotionless but she could see the pain in his eyes.
"No," she said, "I didn't kill him."
"I suspected you didn't have it in you."
"I'm a runner not a killer."
He smiled at her dark humor and then grew serious, "Are you alright?"
"Of course I am," she said and put her hand on her stomach, "He's Pinocchio."
"How do you know he wasn't lying?"
"He showed me his leg. To say he's going green would be an understatement."
"Ah, well I suppose I'll bring his father to the shop and then call him in. Let him know that I'm aware of his identity as well," he looked down and grew serious, "You should have told me."
"I know," she whispered, "I'm sorry."
He held out his hand and she took it, he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. It wasn't intimate, nor did it have a chance to be. Dagian could sense that wall that he'd put up.
She embraced him and he buried his face in her hair.
"I don't think this is going to work," she whispered.
Yes darling," he said, "I think I know."
