The fact that he had Belle at the castle wasn't exactly a secret, but it wasn't exactly well known either. Her father, the court, probably most of her puny little Kingdom knew that he had her. However, closer to home, there were a few. Robin of Locksley, for one, knew that she was here. But even if dear Robin risked all to come back here and save her, he doubted that he would tie her up and force her to make a magical ransom message for him. For one thing, while Robin of Locksley, or Hood, or whatever name he decided to go by these days, had some kind of magic that changed his face during the time he was here, he knew that he wasn't innately magical. How he'd gotten that magic was a mystery and there was a lot he wouldn't put passed that thief. But kidnapping his maid, tying her up, sending a magical message via black bird, and asking for the Gauntlet seemed a stretch for that man.

However, there was one woman he'd recently wronged who did know that he had a maid, who wouldn't bat an eye at tying a helpless woman up, had the ability and create magical messages, and perhaps most damning of all used black birds to send messages.

Regina.

He didn't know how she knew about the Gauntlet. Of course, he had yet to check on Camelot to see how all that had turned out, perhaps she was close with someone there who managed to get a message to her or perhaps…

He shivered. For a brief second, his heart stopped beating.

Perhaps she'd tortured Belle for the information.

In the message she'd been tied up, but otherwise hadn't looked hurt. Of course, that didn't matter. Messages like that were used by extracting images from an individual's mind. If Belle had a black eye and didn't know it, then it wouldn't show in the message. If her lip was split, her head cut open, any and all manner of gruesome pictures came to mind and left his mouth feeling dry.

Demon's Bluff at mid-night. That wasn't going to happen. Not with Regina. She should know better. He didn't give in to idle threats and he wasn't going to allow her to have the upper hand, not by a long shot. He wasn't going to leave Belle out there for hours, stranded, cold, and potentially hurt. Whatever she'd done to her, he could undo, but he had to have her by his side first! It was getting dark, and there was no time to waste.

He found Regina too easily. The woman had no idea how to conceal her magic even if she tried, not to mention she seemed all too quickly to forget who had taught her everything she knew. And when he was seething the way he felt he was, finding her was all too simple. Belle had been right last night, he wouldn't kill her because there were a few he needed for the future to reach Baelfire. If Regina wasn't one of them, he'd have killed her on sight.

In the end, he found his pupil in a rather odd position. He'd expected she'd be waiting for him, at her castle prepared for him to show up. She wasn't. He took himself to her and instead found himself in a place that was familiar, but not to Regina. In was the outskirts of a small farm. There was Regina, just ahead of him, and there standing across from her, holding a crossbow, was a woman he hadn't seen in decades, not with his own two eyes at least. Granny. Oh, he'd spied on her in one way or another over the years, watching mostly because she and her granddaughter were known to give shelter to Snow White every now and then. As far as he was aware Regina had never caught the girl lurking so clearly right under her nose…until now.

He stared at the old woman, she looked at him over Regina's shoulder, obviously aware he was there and recognized him easily enough. Regina, it seemed, hadn't felt him drift in. There was a snap from her, something he didn't recognize. And then he watched her from behind as she cast aside a couple of sticks. An arrow. The old woman was holding a crossbow. Or at least she was until Regina used her magic to fling it away.

"The bandit Snow White, where is she?!" she demanded.

Not today. Regina couldn't take something from him, and then not expect to feel the same kind of loss he felt. With a wave of his hand, Granny was gone, sitting back in her home with a protection spell placed around it.

"What?!" Regina blanched.

"Oops!"

Regina turned, a sneer on her face that could curdle the blood of any lesser demon, but he barely felt a twitch. Not when there was a raven sitting right next to her like some kind of precious little bodyguard! She'd been making deals with devils that weren't him. The child had to learn her place.

"I'm in no mood for games," she snarled.

He held the witch's gift up to show her. "I got your message," he stated, tossing it at her feet. "And there will be no deal. Return my maid Belle, or I'll turn you into a pot of stew!" And to his shock and surprise…he meant it. In that moment, he did, at least. There was a hissing from the Seer that he could do no such thing for she was the one he needed, but for that one brief second, for the role she played in all of this, he knew he would have forgotten himself and done it if she refused. And he assumed that was what she was about to do. Suddenly a smile broke over the face of the Evil Queen.

"Oh…well…" Suddenly she let out an uncharacteristic laugh and clapped her hands. "This just became fun! The Great and Powerful Dark One's up in arms…because someone took his maid?!"

"Coy never suited you, dearie," he whispered, taking a step closer. "I know what you did! I saw that raven of yours!"

As if on cue the bloody bird turned and let out an annoying caw.

A caw...his stomach suddenly tightened as he remembered, the bird he'd heard, it's call was much higher than that. But...

"My Raven?" Regina questioned, glancing over at the creature before looking back at him. "Darling, I don't use ravens. I use crows."

Crows…not ravens but…but he was certain! He was positive what he'd seen had been a raven. A raven with a sand dollar. He took a step back as he realized…

Why would Regina use a sand dollar for the message? She was nowhere near the sea. But there was someone he knew of that did use ravens. And she was friends with someone who would use a sand dollar as a message. And they were both friends with someone who might be able to convince a shapeshifter pup to enter forbidden ground. But...how had they gotten past his defenses? And after all this time...why?!

"And you…" Regina continued, "don't usually make stupid mistakes."

He stood up a little taller at her accusation. A raven and a sand dollar from a trio he hadn't seen in years versus a crow from a woman he'd trained and recently sent through hell…he'd hardly call that a stupid mistake. And Regina…she was friends with one of those trio, highly held her in high esteem as a matter of fact, so much that he knew she'd gotten the idea of using crows for messages from the woman who used ravens for messages.

"Which means something's got under your skin…Ah!" Regina gasped, stepping forward as her eyes widened with surprise. "You're emotional over this Belle!"

Enough with this!

"If you're lying-"

But she let out a squeal before he could continue and shouted, "you like this girl!"

"I own her!" he roared. "Nobody takes what's mine!" Nobody took what was his to make a deal for something else that was his. That was his move! His play! The woman had taken far more than Belle from him and he wouldn't stand for it! And heaven help her if he found out Regina had anything to do with this! He still hadn't figured out how those beasts would have known he had the girl or the Gauntlet. He wasn't willing to dismiss her quite her. "You're quite lucky it wasn't you," he growled in Regina's direction. "But do not give me any further reason to unleash my wrath because it won't be pretty."

"Pretty..." she echoed. Regina took a step closer with a smile he wanted to whip off her face. "Pretty like…Belle?" she questioned before letting loose another laugh that didn't become her. Sometimes he forgot just how much of a child she could be. Oh, how desperately did he want to remind her who the teacher was in this relationship!

He took a step back and had to steady his breath. She was making him angry, and he needed that anger for what was to come as the sun began to set. He was left with little choice now about where to go and how he'd have to get his maid back. He wasn't in the mood for debating such things to defending obvious truths. He could have, if he so desired, written a book about how Belle's beauty compared to Regina's or even Cora's, but there was no time! And either way, he didn't care.

"Don't test me."

"I'm not testing you!" she exclaimed, waving a hand in the air to dismiss him. "For once, I'm giving you a bit of advice. Be careful with that…shriveled dark heart of yours. Love is weakness…didn't you know that?" she questioned before letting a smile spread over her face once more.

Yes. Yes, he did know that, because it was her bloody mother that had taught him all about that! But there was no need to debate this further. She could taunt him and make as many childish assumptions as she wanted, but the truth was that love, or any other emotion, had nothing to do with it. This was a matter of pride and nothing else.

"Well…look who's talking," he sneered. "Be sure to remember that when you cozy up tonight with your own little wolf pet!"

He stayed long enough to see the smile vanish from her face before returning to his castle.


It's short, I know, but the deleted scene was short and I didn't feel that it was a scene that needed "framed" as I call it. That is, there wasn't much that I felt needed added to the beginning or the end of it. Still, short as it is I made sure to give you a few little gems. You bet he could write books about Belle's beauty!

Thank you MissAmande, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I truly am sorry this chapter is short but I know that after this you have some really awesome, really juicy Rumbelle chapters coming up next! Peace and Happy Reading!