With a snap of his fingers he covered himself in his cloak and moved toward the door. There wasn't time to waste, the thief already had enough of a head start and that man, much like his maid, had enough determination in him that he could be impossibly far by now if he really wanted to be. But he was determined to; determined to get that wand back, determined to kill the thief for good, determined to get his pretty little maid to learn her lesson so that she might think twice about defying him in the future. Using his magic, he summoned forth a carriage and a couple of horses to pull it, not unlike what he'd used to fetch the Princess. He didn't regret his decision to bring her along, but at the same time, he recognized it would probably be easier to leave her behind. For starters, he'd be able to travel by magic on his own which would be more helpful in finding the thief, but not as satisfying.

Although, if he went on his own, he wouldn't have to deal with her time-wasting!

While he'd taken to leave the castle at a quick pace, she'd fallen behind, dragging her feet like it would save her friend. Unlikely.

He reached forward, pulled the door of the carriage open, and made a motion for her to get in. Instead, she just stood there at the threshold of his castle. She crossed her arms over herself and looked with her wide eyes at the carriage and then the property around her. It was as if she expected the thief to be hiding in the front lawn.

"Come dearie!" he shrieked, drawing her gaze back to him. "You've given the thief enough of a head start already."

He hadn't known it was possible, but her gaze narrowed in his direction. He nearly shivered as he felt her anger wash over him. He'd had to become the Dark One to master a look like that, but in his experience women appeared to have that gaze built in. Still, angry stare aside, she stood up tall and let out a huff as she made her way down to him.

"You do know this is madness, don't you?" she growled at him, refusing the helping hand he offered and choosing to climb up inside on her own.

He used his magic to be sure that the front door closed and locked, they couldn't have another thief getting in, then turned to get in opposite her.

"You'd be surprised how often justice is mistaken for madness," he commented as he closed the door and settled in.

"Or madness for justice."

He tried not to roll his eyes at the Princess. Trained to be a Queen and negotiate trade deals, wars, and diplomacy…sometimes it showed. And he would have none of it.

"Make yourself comfortable, dearie, we've got a long journey ahead of us."

And then he shut her out. He closed his eyes as the horses began to pull them and focused on the sway of the carriage, the clip-clop of hooves, the breeze that came in and out of the carriage. He tried to engage the Seer, tried to get a hint from her about where the man was going or where they would meet. Only one face came to mind. It was the Sheriff from Nottingham, the one he'd seen taunting Robin Hood in his vision. Nottingham. He was going to make it that far? That was days away how was he going to-

"Easy to say when you at least have the courtesy of a jacket."

Her words were muttered, spoken so softly he knew that she thought he couldn't hear them. But he did. He opened his eyes and could tell that she was surprised just by the breath she drew and the way she straightened her shoulders. Bare shoulders. There was a breeze coming through the carriage, to him it was nice, but she was right, he was wearing a cloak. And he was the Dark One! He used magic constantly to help his body temperature, to warm him when he was cold and chill him when he was hot. She didn't have those considerations. He wasn't about to loan her his magic, he wasn't even sure how he would manage something like that. But the girl hadn't changed dresses since she'd come to live with him. She still wore an off the shoulder dress that exposed her chest and shoulders and arms to the elements. She wouldn't freeze in what she was wearing, especially once they were off the mountain, but he also wasn't about to deal with her muttering complaints every five minutes or constantly rubbing her arms when he was trying to concentrate. This was a simple problem with a simple solution. And, now that he thought about it, it might come in handy.

"That is an excellent point!" he stated. With a whirl of his hand, he summoned forth a long thick cloak and some warm leather gloves to cover her. When the smoke cleared and he saw her, he hated himself for not thinking of doing it sooner. Now her chest wasn't staring so tauntingly at him.

She gasped and looked herself over with shock, but he could almost immediately see her body shudder in relief from the cold. He could see how conflicted the poor girl was. She wanted so badly to come up with some kind of snappy retort. But she was comfortable, his magic had made her warm. And she was so soft that he knew she couldn't be upset with him for it if she tried.

"Thank you," she muttered in a huff, sitting back in her seat and looking out the window. Ah yes, it was hard to think of a person as a beast when they did something so kind. But just how kind was it?

"Oh, don't thank me quite yet, dearie," he added quickly. "The fastener on your cloak is as much for me as it is for you." Her hands suddenly smoothed down over the material on front as her eyes gazed down at the fastener he'd mentioned. Why she was looking was silly, of course. What made it so special wasn't written on it. The magic was deeper. "That fastener has a tracking spell on it, dearie. Try to run away on our little outing, and I will always know where to find you!"

Just as her brow furrowed and her jaw dropped open, and he expected her to complain, he closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the seat as he focused once more on the Seer. But once more the only face that came to mind was the Sheriff of Nottingham dressed in black and surrounded by green. And a feeling from the Seer. Intense hate? Anger? What was that supposed to mean? He had no quarrel with the Sheriff. He took a breath, cleared his mind, tried to picture the thief once more, and suddenly the vision that he'd been provoking came through. But it wasn't what he thought it would be.

A cane coming down on the Sheriff dressed in odd clothes on a strange black road with white lines. He was cowing beside something metallic he'd never seen before.

"A car," the Seer whispered.

He was confused. He needed information on the thief, why was the Sheriff what the Seer showed him?

Why couldn't he get a vision of the thief? He didn't give up easily, not by any stretch of the imagination. He tried. And tried and tried and tried. For what felt like hours he tried to get a vision of the man…but couldn't. He wanted his crystal ball. He wanted a hint other than Nottingham so he didn't have to go so far! Nottingham was nearly as far as Regina's Kingdom. It would take them days to get there. Days in this carriage alone with Belle. But summoning that crystal ball and giving her a hint about such a precious valuable he had in his possession…how was it that he'd gone so long doing things so well and now that she was around he'd never had so many regrets in his life?! Perhaps getting rid of her after all this was the best thing he could do. But until then, she could do her best to do her part.

"He's difficult to find," he muttered a few hours later, finally opening his eyes. "The wand could be doing that." Perhaps that was why it was so difficult. Perhaps the wand was protecting itself from him. There was something that could potentially help him break through that magic.

"Then maybe we shouldn't bother to go after him," she responded with her eyebrows up expectantly. Spoiled girl.

"Not necessary," he smiled back. "Finding him just requires a bit more information…from you!" he pointed with a high laugh that made her squirm a bit.

"Me?"

"You had a conversation with him," he stated with a grin even as he watched her own face fall. She knew what he was talking about. He could tell that just by the look on her face. How nice it was to finally have the truth all out in the open between the two of them!

"You knew?!" she muttered with shock and disgust.

"Well, of course, I knew!" he blanched. "It is my castle! Nothing happens in it without my knowledge!" he bluffed. It had been a complete accident that he'd heard the pair of them talking. But she didn't need to know that. She needed to think that he was watching her constantly. Perhaps that would curb her behavior, even if she was sent away when they returned. "Now…" he sat forward and waved her to come closer, a request she did not abide by. "Tell me the name of the thief."

Something was wrong. The moment that he'd made his request, her face began to morph and change from disgust and indignity, to happiness. A grin was slow to spread over her face as she relaxed. She leaned forward, just as he'd initially wanted her to.

"He didn't give me one," she stated clearly before sitting back in her seat with a proud smile like she'd just beaten him in a game.

He hadn't felt his stomach turn over at a piece of news in a long time. But it did now. For a moment, he just sat there. Anger rolled through him, paralyzing his muscles, forcing him to clench his jaw together painfully. She hadn't known his name, and yet she'd let him go?!

"That's a lie," he hissed through a clenched jaw, though he could see the truth of it in her eyes. How could she be so stupid?! How could he have been so stupid?

"It's not," she answered with her haughty smile in place.

"It can't be," he argued. "You spoke-"

"As he ate dinner, yes, we spoke," she inserted quickly. "But he told me nothing of importance. No name, no home, no reason for wanting your wand." Lies! All of it! How could she not ask or be just as curious as he was?! "It's not a lie!" she spat out as he opened his mouth again.

It wasn't a lie. He wanted her to be lying to him so badly. But he knew that it wasn't. She hadn't gotten anything. No important information whatsoever. No name, no place of origin, no motive! And she'd just…let him go?! What the hell was wrong with her? How could she be so smart, so well educated, and yet so stupid?!

He sat back in his seat and tried to calm down. He could feel magic spark between his fingers. He wanted to destroy something. He wanted the satisfaction of watching something whole splinter and break in a powerful explosion that would shake her to the core and make her see his anger and her stupidity all at once. He wanted to watch her shiver and grow fearful and wipe that arrogant, conceited smile off her pretty face! He wanted these days to Nottingham to feel just as long for her as they were going to feel for him.

"Is-is that why you brought me with you?" she asked with a curious gleam in her eye. "Because you thought I'd help you catch him after I'd set him free?"

"You are here because you set him free!" he shouted at her. He felt his knuckles pop as his hand made a fist. The last person in the world he wanted to speak with right now was his maid. "Of course, I'd hoped you'd learned something useful…but it's no matter. A name is something easy enough to collect-if I need it. For now…I can track the wand's magic, that should lead us straight to the thief."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you cared more for the thief than getting your wand back," she stated. He ignored her and instead turned to look out the window and imagined each tree they passed exploding just as he'd wanted it to.

When they got back, he was definitely going to get rid of her.


So this is why I had to spend an entire chapter just having Rumple overhear Belle's conversation with Robin. Actually this is why I spent an entire chapter having him overhear only part of Belle's conversation with Robin. This is a chapter that appears in Moments and because Moments and Chronicles are meant to complement each other it had to show up just so that this scene should show up. Honestly, this is just one more reason I waited until the series was over to write Rumple's side of the story, because keeping track of all this after it was over was crazy all on its own. I can't imagine doing this while the series was still in progress.

Big thank you to Jennifer Baratta and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I know everything in this section is sort of shorter but I'm hoping that what needs to be conveyed in each chapter comes through. This one is about average, but it also had the job of answering the question of "why couldn't Rumple find the wand". Because frankly, the weirdest thing about this episode was that all-powerful Rumple couldn't just poof himself to where the thief was. Or...like he does the the Gauntlet later, he doesn't just poof the wand back to him. So I decided to use a bunch of reasons all rolled into one. The Seer won't give him a vision, the power of the wand is not letting him keep track, fairy magic doesn't mix well with his magic, he hadn't been able to detect Robin on his grounds, and then, of course, we don't know that the spell that cloaks Robin doesn't have its own magic that might keep him from it. So, it was complicated but I'm confident I threw enough possibilities in there that I made it work. (And of course, in a later chapter, I'll be explaining why Rumple was able to so easily get the Gauntlet back too.) Peace and Happy Reading!