For one moment, everything was perfect. For one precious second, his hands were on her, and hers were on him. For just one breath, they were moving closer. Oh, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her onto his lap and kiss her again and again until dawn; until he knew every curve of her body as intimately as he'd dreamed!

And then reality flared to life again. He became aware of the voices in his head screaming at him even as they grew faint, and as the darkness around them crept into his vision, there was a pain in his ankle that was growing ever more prevalent.

He felt human.

She made him feel human.

Any curse could be broken.

True Love's Kiss was the key. It could even break…

"Who told you that?!" he roared, flying away from her so quickly the stool beneath him must have flown half way across the room.

It took less than a second for him to grab hold of the magic within him and pull it closer, wrap it over him so tightly that the pain in his ankle vanished and her pale skin and wide, white eyes shone against the darkness. She was scared. But he couldn't bring himself to care. He was scared too. He was scared for what had nearly just happened. All his work, the future, everything he'd been striving for had nearly been stripped from him in that moment! And now he wanted to retreat. The voices in his head returned with a vengeance confirming what he suspected had happened. And he was terrified.

"Any curse can be broken." She hadn't gotten that from one of her books, not a line like that. Someone had told her. Who?! Who would tell her such a thing?! Who would so boldly send a child to attempt this and risk their death all at the same time!

"Who knows that?!"

"I-I don't know…"" she stuttered, looking down at her hands. "She-she-uh-she…"

"She…"

Was the person who had sent her here bold? Or just a heartless sow looking to get back at him! He'd always known that she would, ever since he'd kept that spell on her for too long! And he'd told her about Belle himself. She would be heartless enough to play this prank to ruin this thing! Bitch!

"You. Evil. Soul!" he growled, turning his back on her and looking to the mirror with the blanket covering it. What had she suggested earlier, that she kept the mirror covered because he thought he was ugly? If only. He'd kept the mirror covered to keep Regina out! To keep that ever-present genie in the mirror from looking into his life and his workshop! But now, he had words. He had more than a few words to say to her, and he didn't care if she wasn't there and her mirror received them instead! Underneath his terror, he felt rage! He felt anger! After all he'd done for her, after all he'd given her, this was how she repaid him! She truly was an Evil Queen. Probably even more wicked than that sister of hers! Without her, everything would have been fine! Maybe even better than fine! But now she'd put the idea in Belle's head, and she wasn't the type of woman to ignore it! Did she even realize what she'd done?!

"This was you!" he screamed into the mirror when he pulled the heavy blanket off of it. Scaly skin, small pupils, greasy hair. He was still the Dark One. It hadn't worked. Or else it had and he'd managed to stop it. "You turned her against me! You think you can make me weak?! You think you can defeat me?!"

"Who-who are you talking to?" Belle asked timidly behind him.

"The Queen!" he answered, spinning back around to face her. She was still pale, her hands clutched in front of her wringing nervously even her heart was racing, and this time it wasn't anything to do hormones. It was fear. She'd never been scared of him before! All was ruined. For them both. Damn Regina to hell for this! "Your friend, the Queen!"

"The-the Queen?" she stuttered.

Oh no. No, he wasn't about to fall again for batted lashes or adorable stutters. She wasn't born a maid she was born a princess! Did she honestly expect him to believe that she didn't know who the Evil Queen was?! Or think he'd believe that she was innocent in all of this?! She'd come back here on a mission, to kiss him, to break the curse on him, to kill the beast inside. She probably thought it made her a hero, but she had no idea what she'd nearly done how much she'd nearly risked!

"I don't…"

"I knew this was a trick!" he interrupted creeping closer to her. "I knew you could never care for me."

She balked at his words, looking as though they were incredulous lies when that was all they ever could be. Someone like her love him? It wasn't possible. He'd been a fool for thinking it and her denial only made it true.

"Oh yeah…you're working for her. Or is this all you? Is this you being the hero and killing the beast?"

She shook her head and took a step closer. "It was working-"

"Shut up!"

"This means it's true love!"

"Shut the hell up!"

"Why won't you believe me?!" she cried, begged, reaching out to him, but he ignored her grasp and instead grabbed her by her arms and pulled her so tight he'd bruise her and didn't care. Not after this. He couldn't care. Not ever again! She'd nearly lost him his son!

"Because no one, no one, can ever, ever love me!" he screamed in her face so that she wouldn't miss a single word, so that the point might be driven home, so that she might fall out of whatever fantasy she had of the pair of him and maybe he would too! Of course, if he wanted to make her hate him and strip her of whatever it was that had been coursing in her blood…

He let go of one arm and tugged at the other, pulling her along behind him, forcing her to go along despite her child-like shuffling and the way she tried to fight him off. He pulled her downstairs, along hallways, all the way back to her dungeon cell, the place that she'd first occupied when she arrived and had up until a few weeks ago. He opened the door and tossed her in so carelessly she landed on her hands and knees. He could smell blood, something that had scraped and deep inside of him something stirred in his soul, something like what he'd felt sitting with her a few moments ago when she supposedly had broken the curse.

He couldn't let such feelings and emotions get to him. Not ever again. So he sneered at her form huddled there in shock on the floor, then turned around, slammed the door shut behind him, and locked the door.

Well...we made it through. From that Rumbelle High to the Rumbelle Low. I honestly can't say that this chapter was easy or difficult to write. If I recall it was a matter of just sitting down one day and resolving to get it down on paper. When reading this chapter, it always helps me to remember that he certainly does regret his actions here later on. Just after they are married there's a chapter in Moments where he apologizes and tells her that he regrets nearly everything from their time together in the castle and I believe this is at the top of the list. (At least it certainly will be when I get to Rumples side of that.)

Thank you Alarda, Grace5231973, and Jennifer Baratta, for leaving me reviews on the last chapter. I know this chapter is short, and the next chapter is about this size. I did consider combining the two for a time, but at the end of the day I realized they were two very distinct chapters with two very distinct feelings and points to each. So I hope you'll hang in there with me. I'd love to tell you it gets better, but...well...yeah... Peace and Happy Reading.