A/N: Yay! A Heartbreak Cure chapter on a Saturday again! I must be getting the hang of things because right now I'm on Chapter 34 and it's almost 5600 words (and I'm not exactly done, so, uh, may have to split it. But that's good, because then I'd be just another chapter ahead of schedule! Hah!). The train is moving again,folks. I'm pumped.

Moedernaaier: I'm so glad you liked meeting Yui's mom. Writing Masayo is fun because she's a gem and just exudes Hinata/Yui (and episode 10) vibes, which makes me happy. And thanks for the well wishes! ZainR: It's been fun writing the Battlefront again, that's for sure! Naoi and Yui are an oddly amusing dynamic to explore. So happy you liked their interactions :D (Thanks to both of you for the reviews; I'm pleased the appearance of the book went over well!)

Probably important to mention by now that with Once Upon A Time showing up in book form, there will be *spoilers* for more details of the show than just the potion arc. Just a fair warning.

Enjoy!


[Chapter 31]: Close to Home


"There you guys are," Hinata said when Ayato and Yui joined the group in Ms. Kitamura's kitchen. He squinted at them suspiciously. "What were you two up to? Your mom says you were showing him a book."

The Battlefront had gathered around a table for the most part, having been treated to a variety of pastries and other sweet things Ayato had gotten a whiff of when he first got here. Although they'd had lunch at the udon place, Matsushita the Fifth took to dessert with vigor. Beside him, Kanade contentedly nibbled at what looked to be karukan while Otonashi poured her some tea. Hinata and Shiina stood by the stove, looking like they'd been in the middle of a conversation with Ms. Kitamura, and Yuri was sitting next to Fujimaki holding what looked like a framed photo.

She glanced up from it, and what had once been a faint trace of a smile wavered when she noticed him standing there.

Ayato swallowed, averting his gaze. But that was too ungodlike for his tastes, so he met her eyes defiantly with a challenge. Their staring contest lasted all of ten seconds before she pretended to be heavily interested in the photo again.

"It's Rumpelstiltskin research," said Yui, shrugging as if it needed no further explanation. They'd left the book in her room anyway. "What did we miss?"

"Hideki and Shiina were just sharing a few good stories I've never heard before." Ms. Kitamura beamed at her daughter as she joined them by Hinata's side. "I still can't believe you never told me Eri Shiina was an old friend of yours."

"Oh, yeah, they go way back!" Matsushita the Fifth said cheerfully through a mouthful of sweets.

Ms. Kitamura didn't know why the rest of the room was either snorting or suppressing a smile, but she smiled fondly at Shiina.

"It's funny how life works," she said, turning to serve her daughter some sponge cakes. "Shiina, your grandparents used to look after me when I was younger. Did you know that?"

Shiina raised her eyebrows, but then softly shook her head.

"They watched over Hinata's mom too." Ms. Kitamura smirked at Hinata. "Did I tell you she used to pull my hair?"

"Sounds more like her every time you say it," Hinata said amiably, making her laugh.

"Shiina's father was already out of the house, but her grandparents still wanted kids to take care of." She looked to Shiina then, almost appraisingly. "Before they took you in and raised you, they were helping me through some tough times. Then I got older and became busy with Yui, but I remember they used to tell me and Hinata's mother we were welcome at their house anytime."

It was a rare sight, but Shiina seemed to blush at her words.

"Well, Hinata and Yui are always welcome at mine," she said, humbly staring at the ground.

The couple in question shared a quiet grin, either amused by Shiina's uncharacteristic blush or exchanging a marriage telepathy conversation of some sort. Now that Ayato wasn't in a marriage, he didn't trust any of those. Especially from Hinata and Yui.

Whatever evil those two were scheming together, it got interrupted by the telephone. Ms. Kitamura excused herself and told them to continue making themselves at home, then disappeared down the hall.

Yui breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, she's gone – let's talk Battlefront stuff!"

"No," Fujimaki said, snatching the frame out of Yuri's hand and waving it around. "Let's talk baby pictures!"

The picture in question was of Ms. Kitamura in her mid-twenties hugging a chubby-cheeked child who was swimming in a band t-shirt. It didn't last long in Fujimaki's possession before Kanade let out an excited little coo of joy and grabbed it from him. Her eyes began to shimmer; apparently baby Yui was precious to the point of making the stoic little angel emotional.

"That's right," Yui said proudly. She wagged a finger in Fujimaki's face. "Don't even try to embarrass me. I've always been cute."

"And you've always been a groupie," Matsushita the Fifth said, peeking over Kanade's shoulder.

"What can I say? I was born with GlDeMo in my soul! Hey, speaking of which…"

The bet tradition resumed. Otonashi threw in a guess for TK, joking that since they'd just found Matsushita the Fifth maybe his dance master couldn't be far behind. Hinata bet on Ooyama again, seconded by Fujimaki. But Yui flashed a fanged little smile, partially directed at him, and confidently picked Iwasawa.

"Seconded," said Ayato.

The rest of their friends exchanged skeptical glances. Poor fools, actually doubting his investment when they had no idea how smart it was.

"Are you sure about that, Yui?" said Otonashi, forehead crinkling in thought. "It might not happen right away."

"Stop doubting my GlDeMo radar!" Yui whined.

"And what are you doing, being so hopeful for Iwasawa?" Yuri's harsh tone was directed at Ayato. When he turned to her with a frown, she was glaring at him again. "When we have her live performances, you're out. We won't need you anymore."

"Yurippe…" Hinata warned, and Yuri whipped around at him with wide eyes like he'd committed treason worthy of a beheading.

Once his own shock had worn off, Ayato shook his head.

"Nakamura, I won't be going anywhere," he said, walking over to her side of the table. She made a move to stand up in defense, but he cornered her first. "Unlike you, I don't run away from pain and wallow in it. I look it straight in the eye." Leaning in close enough to notice all her hues of green, his lips parted into a frisky smirk. "Sometimes, I happen to like the challenge."

Mouth drawn in a thin line, Yuri reddened angrily. "I'm your leader."

"I'm your God."

Hinata, Matsushita the Fifth, and Otonashi were clearly wary as to where this was going, but it was Fujimaki who broke in for them.

"You hear that, Naoi?" he said with a laugh, and both Ayato and Yuri finally broke eye contact. "She just admitted that she's your leader. When Yurippe recruits, she doesn't kick people out. They know too much."

Yuri scowled down at the table.

"Fine, whatever," she said, and threw Ayato a cool look. "I'm betting on Noda. If you stick around, I hope he irritates you."

Gritting his teeth, Ayato looked away so she wouldn't notice him fuming silently. She wouldn't win that bet, but it was enough to drive him up the wall that she'd thought to mention him again. And he was even more frustrated with himself for feeling that way. It was enough that she could still make him jealous… but over the moron who Hinata said actually scalped himself once? How pathetic could he get?

That petty woman. How would she feel if, hypothetically, he had bet on Hisakawa?

But the key word there was feel. What did she feel anymore? This was higher than her usual level of pettiness. Maybe Yui's Snow White story was accurate, and the potion had changed Yuri more drastically than he thought.

The very idea left a sick, heavy feeling in his chest… then a flare of anger. Drinking that potion, doing this to herself? She might as well have paid a shadow monster to consume her entire soul. The Yuri he knew, the one he lo— the one he married – never would have sacrificed a part of herself without a fight.

But she paid that price. To forget him.

How the hell had he ever been worth that?

Shiina and Matsushita the Fifth placed their bets (on Noda and Takeyama, respectively). Kanade opted not to put money on it but figured they'd find Yusa before they found Iwasawa. The air cleared, and Yui was sighing at the table about GlDeMo again, a forlorn but hopeful little fangirl.

"Has Ryou heard any news about Iwasawa?" Yui asked, the ribbons of her twintails threatening to droop. "Anything at all?"

"Nope." Yuri was rather deadpan about it. "Not that I know of. In our last conversation, she didn't really come up."

Her gaze flicked critically to Ayato.

"Listen, I don't know what you said to her. But don't talk to her that way," she said with a stern edge to her tone. "Be mad at me all you like, just leave her out of this."

Ayato scoffed. "You didn't."

Yuri growled lowly, but he wasn't deterred. If Ryou hadn't interfered, Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't have given her a way out. Yuri would have been strong enough to get over him, even if she didn't believe it at first. He wouldn't go easy on Ryou for enabling weakness.

"She knows she had her role in this." Ayato feigned moderate surprise, tilting his head at her in confusion. "And what do you care about hurt feelings? It's not like you have the capacity to consider those anymore."

Yuri narrowed her eyes at him. "You're an ass."

"You're an NPC."

It had slipped so coolly off the tongue, he didn't expect her to react the way she did.

The insult took a few seconds to set in, but then it took. Her face paled a few shades whiter than Kanade's hair, and she opened her mouth but not a single word came out. She closed it abruptly with a clench of her jaw, jumped up from the table, and pushed blindly past Ayato on her way out the back door.

Her empty seat remained; Ayato felt like an ass.

"You idiot," Hinata drawled with a sigh.

Ayato glared at him in response, then looked away so he wouldn't read his thoughts. Right, that too.

Otonashi's disappointed stare wasn't helping much either. "You know, you're making it harder and harder for me to keep you here."

"I know we mentioned that Yurippe doesn't kick people out," Matsushita the Fifth said nervously, scratching his head. He was new to the drama. "But there's a first time for everything."

"Go out there and apologize," Fujimaki said, standing up, and there was an unspoken or I'll make you in the way he cracked his knuckles.

As expected, they were taking sides. He stole her seat and refused to look up at any of them.

"What, you trust me alone with her?" Ayato gave a bitter laugh, slouching under the cover of his cap. "Aren't you worried I might hypnotize her into kissing me?"

Yui's intrigued voice dipped in with, "Does that you mean you want to kiss her?"

Ayato rolled his eyes. "I'm not going out there."

"I'll go talk to her," Kanade said, and got up from the table. Otonashi squeezed her hand as she left him, and she squeezed back like a silent "I love you." The sweet tenderness of it made Ayato sick. Did they have to broadcast their healthy marriage every second? He and Otonashi had talked about this…

What a good friend she was, to check on Yuri like that. To go be the shoulder she probably didn't even have the tears to cry on.

When the door closed behind her, the group dropped their dewy-eyed "Kanade is a true angel" expressions and turned their attention back to him. This time, most weren't as critical as they were… inspecting. And he wasn't sure which version irritated him more.

"All right, for crying out loud." Hinata dragged his hands down his face in frustration, leaning against the counter between Yui and Shiina. He looked weary and as done with this situation as he was. "Naoi, you're the one with your memories intact. Can't you just sort out your feelings for her already?"

"There's nothing to sort out!" Ayato snapped. It tasted like a lie, coppery and conflicting on his tongue, but he was tired. "I don't—"

"So far today," Hinata said, counting on his fingers, "you've flirted with her, tried to kiss her—"

"I did not!"

"—when you talked about liking a challenge, yes you did—"

"You totally did," Yui agreed, and leaned over to elbow an only slightly attentive Shiina. "He totally did. Remember the day we found you? It was just like that."

These three had the nerve to talk about his love life? He had half a mind to—

"—as I was saying. You've flirted, tried to kiss her, I saw your face when she brought up Noda, but now you've called her an NPC." Hinata sat down next to him in Kanade's unoccupied seat, and Ayato shifted, a little unnerved by the proximity. "Look. I could deal with the teasing, because that's how you always treated her in the Afterlife."

Ayato shifted again, unease gnawing at his gut.

"But you've been taking it too far ever since you found out." Despite Ayato's attempts to block him out underneath his cap, Hinata somehow managed to lock eyes with him. "You're way too much like Yurippe, you know. Being this much of an ass just means you feel something and you're trying not to."

"I must really love you, then," Ayato said, silently wondering what to hypnotize him into.

Hinata grinned. "The only thing more obvious than that is your weak attempt to change the subject."

Rolling his eyes, Ayato looked to Otonashi for help, but the latter had a slight smile on his face like this was actually amusing to him. Ugh, he forgot – Otonashi liked when they were getting along.

"All we're saying is, get your act together," said Fujimaki. "You're not fooling any of us except yourself with the attitude. But tone it down, because we actually do want you around."

It startled him to hear that, but nobody seemed to dispute it. Lifting his head and his cap, he eyed his surroundings skeptically. A devilish cat-girl, a ninja, and four protective big brothers. A joke. He was living a joke.

Feeling this way was worse than his identity crisis. At least back then he was blissfully ignorant and starting anew. Now he was constantly in the state that the concert had left him in, his mind lashing out and swirling with uncertainty. It was as if things were the way they were for the tumultuous two days they stayed together before she moved out. He had no idea what she was thinking. He had no idea what to think or how to act around her. And he craved her, desperately, but didn't dare act on it.

"I can't promise anything," Ayato said, crossing his arms. "I'm still… very angry about what was said last Saturday."

Shiina made a small considering noise. "Angry at her, or yourself?"

Both, a voice clarified at the back of his mind, and he glared at the soft-spoken ninja for it.

"It's a fight," said Hinata, sounding gratingly like a relationship counselor. "Yui and I fight all the time! It doesn't mean we don't still love each other."

"That's different," Ayato insisted. This wasn't something he and Yuri could solve by wrestling each other into submission.

"Is it?" Fujimaki was digging into the sponge cakes, eyes still casually trained on Ayato. It made this feel distinctly like an interrogation. "When Yurippe gave you permission to hypnotize her last week, I saw a look in your eyes that doesn't just go away after an argument. Today you stared at her the same way when she was listening to 'My Song.'" When Ayato opened his mouth to speak, Fujimaki waved it away dismissively. "Don't deny it. I was sitting right next to her, it was kind of creepy."

"What do you want me to say?" Ayato rubbed his temples. "Admitting what you all want me to admit doesn't do me any good. It doesn't matter what I feel for her. What she did…"

"She shouldn't have," Otonashi admitted, drawing his gaze. "She knew about your past and what it would mean to you, or else she wouldn't have left. But she should have known meeting again was inevitable."

Under any other circumstances, Ayato would have appreciated the validation just a little bit more.

"What she did…" he repeated, more to himself than to the others. "It's irreversible. True love has to go both ways, and she doesn't love me. She doesn't even know me."

"She was getting to know you just fine before," said Hinata, reaching across the table for some karukan. "You guys are just making it hell for each other now."

Ayato remained silent. Hinata's commentary sounding like words of wisdom must be a side effect of his Yuri-induced descent into madness. He'd come to Kyuuya this evening as God and now he was surrounded by hopeless romantic idiots trying to give him heart-to-hearts.

They were right, though he was loathe to admit it out loud. Regardless of the ambivalent feelings he had for her, the stability of Operation Battlefront Reunion and his role in it were at stake. Thinking about what she did made him want to beat his head against the wall – still, call it the masochist in him, but he didn't want to stop seeing her. He didn't want to drive her away again.

Fury was still clawing at his chest, and she damn well deserved to know it, but they were a part of each other's lives whether they liked it or not.

The back door swung open, revealing a serene-looking Kanade as she stepped into the house. Calmly she moved aside and held the door, allowing Yuri to rejoin the group in the kitchen as well. Ayato studied her face for half a second before she caught his gaze and held it as if by knifepoint.

For a moment she eyed him tentatively, as she did in the student council room when he was covering for Otonashi. The room was silent. He could feel seven other pairs of eyes watching him, watching her. He didn't appreciate it; he was tense enough.

Finally, Yuri gave a curt nod.

"Stick around," she said, firm yet quieter than expected, "but try being less of an ass."

Releasing an unconsciously held breath, he covered it up with a begrudging sigh and returned the nod. "I'll do my best, leader," he said regally, earning a suspicious eyebrow raise, "but I can't make any promises when it comes to my genetics. Seeing as I'm a chip off the old block."

Yuri pursed her lips into a fine line.

"Are you the devil's spawn or are you God?" she said crisply. "Act like it."

As his daring smirk slowly dissolved, he followed her movements with his eyes until she paused next to him, waiting for her spot back. He stood, taking his sweet time, but before he was ready to give it up, he turned to face her. It seemed Yuri was even less of a friend to personal space than she was to patience; their mouths were only a few breaths apart, and Ayato was keenly aware of this even as she held his stare. She was challenging him – as boldly as if she were the one with hypnosis.

He broke the connection first, stepping aside so she could sit, and leaned against the counter behind her. Purposefully ignoring the giddy glances Yui was sending his way.

That hadn't been much of an apology, and his was barely a truce, but for now it was as good as either of them were going to get.


After saying goodbye to Ms. Kitamura, the group went back to Shiina's for more Battlefront schemes and reminiscing. Yui brought her guitar, and Matsushita the Fifth attempted some TK-taught dance moves while Yuri and Shiina laughingly reminded everyone of their short GlDeMo music career. ("At least you got to work with Iwasawa!" Yui sniffed.)

But Matsushita had to duck out by late evening and continue his journey home, which to Ayato marked the end of the mission. Other than Hinata and Yui, who had plans to spend the night in Kyuuya, the group gradually dispersed after that. Fujimaki was still on the search for a roommate back in Mizuzaka, and Kanade had a doctor's appointment of some sort so Otonashi wanted to get her home to Shibuya and rest up for it.

Yuri was one of the last people to head out. Yui, evil as she was, had made an excuse about Shiina wanting to show her a cat video and tried to leave them alone together. But Yuri had shot her a look of panicked disdain, so Ayato mercifully tipped his cap to her and left without a word. Her eyes were bearing down on his back before he shut the door behind him, as if she was trying to discern whether or not she'd just been mocked and slighted. Sarcastic or not, she could take it as she liked. He wasn't interested in awkward silences and frosty stares.

Now he was home in Mizuzaka a little after midnight, the spell of the Battlefront reunion worn off as he rested on the couch. And no, he hadn't forgotten the book. Yui had seen fit to remind him of it the moment he mentioned getting ready to leave. Lying on the coffee table next to the remote, the gold lettering glinted at him under the light.

Once Upon A Time.

It rubbed at his curiosity, he'd admit that much. Almost everything powerful he'd gained or learned in this life had come from a book. Save for his memories, but that had originated from Iwasawa's song – the Battlefront's "own real Afterlife magic," as Yui had called it earlier today during another one of her concert rants.

Ayato was no fool. If the same things that were happening to him had occurred in this storybook – if the Rumpelstiltskin he'd met matched the illustrations – he would gain nothing from skepticism. Investigating was the one thing that ever got him somewhere.

His mind made, he reached out and took the book into his arms. What page had he mentally bookmarked? It had slipped his mind after a long day, but Yui did spend some time in a particular section. He opened it to the early middle and turned a few pages until an image of Rumpelstiltskin caught his attention. The man was smirking despite being held at sword-point. It wasn't precisely what he was looking for, but the word "potion" in the text stopped him from going any further back.


"Rumpelstiltskin!" Charming bellowed, bursting through the doors to the Dark One's castle. He strode into the foyer and found it suspiciously bare. "Show yourself!"

"Still dressing like a prince, I see," said a voice from behind. He turned to find the man he was looking for, standing at the open doors with a sly smile. "Even though you ran away from the life I gave you. How's that for gratitude?"

The brave prince refused to be intimidated as the imp approached, circling the table like a shark. "You gave me a prison sentence."

"One that you have now skirted," Rumpelstiltskin warned, waving a gnarled finger. "Careful, dearie. King George is a vengeful man."

"I'm here about Snow. Rumor has it she's after the Queen and she came to you for help."

"Yes, indeed." Rumple's smile grew wider.

Charming unsheathed his sword and drew on him, earning a gleeful gasp as the imp jumped back. "What did you do to her?"

Rumpelstiltskin giggled malevolently.

"What did I do to her?" he repeated. "You mean, what did you do to her?" His expression darkened, and he walked right into the blade as if calling the gallant prince's bluff. "You caused her pain. Without that pain, she never would have taken my potion to forget about you. That's what changed her."

"Undo the potion," said Charming. "All magic can be broken."

"Oh yes," Rumpelstiltskin cooed. "With 'twoo wuv'."


Ayato scowled; the rest delved into the great awakening power of true love's kiss, so he would waste no more time on that. But then, there was that one part at the beginning…

"Even though you ran away from the life I gave you."

Something told him he would require context.

He ventured back quite a few pages until he found what he was looking for – the beginnings of a different tale, with an illustration of Rumpelstiltskin hovering over an elderly king's shoulder. King George, it seemed, and going by the title, he was about to make a deal.


The kingdom was filled with mourning after Prince James' death, but no one felt the loss as deeply as King George.

His son's body lay on an altar so that those who loved the prince might pay their respects. The despondent king lingered over his broken body for a very long time, until the guards came to take him away.

"Goodbye, my son," said King George, and gave his men a weary nod. Four strong men hoisted the altar on their shoulders and left with the dead.

But some of his men lingered, laden with the burden of an unspoken truth. And so one of the guards approached the king.

"Your Majesty, there is no time to grieve," the guard said. "If Midas learns he is dead, he will find another warrior to slay his dragon. Then we will never see an ounce of his gold."

This dried some of the king's tears. King George liked gold very much, and his kingdom was still in dire need of it. He could not afford many days of mourning for his heir when a bigger problem loomed over his head.

"Yes, yes," said George. "The kingdom must survive."

"So what are we to do?" said his men.

"I have asked for help," the king said knowingly. "It should be here soon."

And then, from behind the king and his guards, came a funny little voice from a funny little man.

"Oh, it's here!" said Rumpelstiltskin, who always came when he was called.

King George turned to the imp, looking grim. "Leave us," he said to his men, and the guards obeyed, and left him alone with his strange visitor.

"So, this is how you treat my gifts?" said Rumpelstiltskin, with a shameless tsk. "You really must be more careful."

"He was not a gift," King George said indignantly. "He was my son."

"A son I gave you."

"In a deal we made." The king followed the imp around the table, feeling quite agitated. "You did me no favors—"

"Yes! Yes, I did," said the imp, turning around. He did not take kindly to disrespect towards his deals. "Shame you and the queen could not conceive a child on your own. My price for that was a pittance. But now that she's gone, I assume that conceiving another heir is out of the question." He chuckled his giddy malevolence, turning his back on the king once more. "Let alone a dragon-slayer."

"Then let's do another deal," said the king, and the imp's ears pricked up, for the man had said the magic word. "Bring him back. I need my son to do this. I'll give you anything."

Rumpelstiltskin faced the king with a big grin. "Anything?" he echoed.

Again, the king looked grim. "What do you want?"

"There's a magic wand I desire," said the imp. "It belongs to a certain fairy godmother who is patron to your family. I want to know her whereabouts."

"Done," said King George. He didn't know what the imp would do to her to get that wand and he didn't care to know. It was a small price coming from Rumpelstiltskin. "Now tell me. How do I bring my son back to slay the dragon?"

Rumpelstiltskin stared at him blankly, as if he were a fool.

"Bring him back?" he repeated. "Oh no, that's out of the question, he's dead. Magic can do much, but not that!"

The king felt quite duped. "But you just said—!"

"Nothing about resurrection!" Rumpelstiltskin chirped.

Suddenly the king felt very foolish. In his moment of desperation, he had dared to trust a trickster. Now he was still lacking a son and a champion as well.

"Then my kingdom is lost," he lamented, and bent over his table in grief. "I am alone."

"Oh dear," clucked the imp, grinning as he danced over to the king. "Oh dearie-dearie-dear. Did I not tell you that I could have your son slay the dragon? And am I not a man of my word?"

The king raised his head in anger. "I thought you said he was gone forever!"

"Oh, that he is! But his brother…"

"His what!" exclaimed the king.

"His twin brother!" Rumpelstiltskin sang, merrily enjoying the king's befuddlement. "Did I not mention there was another?"


Ayato narrowed his eyes. Right. In her little book report earlier today, Yui had mentioned something about twins.

Sure enough, a turn of the page revealed an illustration of a young man standing in a vast green field with a wooden crook in hand. He had the prince's face, but messier hair and threadbare commoner's clothes.

This story was titled The Shepherd.


Far away from the king's castle, on a very small farm in the country, a young shepherd named David was running through the fields of his family's farm rounding off one last rogue little lamb. He lived not in splendor, nor finery, but he laughed with triumph as he chased the bleating creature into its pen and closed the gate behind them.

"Hah!" said the boy in great satisfaction. "Didn't see that coming, did you?"

His mother Ruth, a strong and kindly woman whose hair had grayed from age and wage, waved and called out to her son in greeting as she arrived home.

"Mother!" said David, fastening the gate. "How was the market?"

Ruth gave him a weak smile, approaching cautiously with the sack of meager goods for their supper pressed against her chest. "It was… interesting."

"Interesting?" David echoed with a laugh, and put his shepherd's crook away as he opened the gate for the rogue lamb to join the rest of its flock. "Normally you come back cursing the prices."

"Oh, well that is still the case," said Ruth as she watched him work. "But this time, I had a very interesting talk with the grain merchant."

David looked at her with some puzzlement while he tightened the gate's rope. "Grain? We don't need any grain."

"He has a daughter. She's ready for marriage," said his mother, embarrassed but hopeful. "He thinks the two of you would make a great couple!"

"Mother," David said with a frown. She knew how he felt about arranged marriages, so it was a topic she often graciously avoided.

"I know, I know," said Ruth in guilt. "I hate myself for even bringing it up."

David paused his chores to humor her. "Let me guess. She has a dowry that will save the farm."

"We are running out of options," Ruth reminded him firmly.

"Mother, please," David gently admonished her. "As poor as we are, love is one thing I can afford." He held his mother by her arms and looked her straight in the eyes. "I will find a way to save this farm, but I won't do it by marrying for riches. When I marry, I want it to be because I choose to spend the rest of my life with someone I love."

Ruth looked on her son with fond exasperation. She did not know how she had raised such a dreamer.

"When are you going to learn?" she said sadly. "You can't have everything."

"Or perhaps he can."

And presently, David and Ruth looked toward the front of their shabby cottage to see a coy little man grinning at them. And David saw recognition on his old mother's face as she stared in shock at the man. She had met him before.

For he was Rumpelstiltskin, and many years ago, she had made a terrible deal.

"A twin brother?" David repeated, once she had taken her son aside and confessed to him the horrible truth. Rumpelstiltskin sat on a stump and drank patiently from his flask. "And you gave him to that man?"

"We were poor. Barely surviving," said his mother. She glanced at the imp with regret. "He came along with an offer. One of you, for the farm."

David could not believe his ears. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"The deal forbade us from ever speaking of it. Your father regretted the decision the minute that man took your brother," Ruth said sorrowfully. "He carried the guilt with him to his grave."

"Hate to interrupt this tender moment," said the imp, eyeing Ruth and David's clasped hands. "Time is of the essence."

David told his mother to go wait in the house, and as she left, he approached Rumpelstiltskin with suspicion. "What do you want with me?" he asked the imp.

"Not me, dearie. The king!" said Rumpelstiltskin. "He needs a prince to slay a dragon."

The boy hesitated, and then replied, "I'm not a dragon-slayer."

"Oh, but your brother was," said the imp. "This newfound kinship will be your salvation. Simply play the part. The king's knights will take care of everything else. All you must do is deliver the dragon's head to Midas."

"What's in it for you?" asked the boy.

"What's in it for me is my business. You should be asking, what's in it for you?" Rumpelstiltskin said cheerfully. "You do this, your poor mother – well, the king is going to make sure she never wants for anything ever again! Your farm will be saved, and you, should you survive, you shall come home the conquering hero!" He considered the young man's quiet, stunned silence. "Now, don't tell me you don't want that."

David looked out over the vast greenery of his family's farm. He was just a shepherd, not a dragon-slayer or a prince or a knight, and these were big footprints that his twin brother had left. They would be hard to fill. But if he let this chance slip through his fingers, the farm would surely be lost as well. He told his mother he would find a way to save their livelihood. If he failed his family, if he didn't even try, the fault would all be his.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" said David.

"Oh, everyone has a choice, dearie!" said Rumpelstiltskin. "Just make sure it's the right one."


Ayato slammed the book closed, tossed it aside on the couch, and stood up abruptly, cursing the damned thing as it toppled off the edge. It could stay wherever it landed for all he cared. He was going to bed.

All he'd learned tonight was that, when it came to harassing people, this Rumpelstiltskin had a type.

Or, apparently he was in a goddamn fairytale in another life.


A/N: Pardon the lengthy book-reading part. Nah, actually, that's a lil shameless. I do love my parallels. But ideally this is sort of like the pilot or prototype until I get a better feel for the reading sections. Kinda fun to try to write in a fairytale tone, though!

Until next time!


Preview:

"Are things okay over there?"

"Guess what's different about me!"

"That was a one-time thing!"

"We're still waiting on Yuri."

"Don't call me that."

"It's a prime place to perform."

"You look tired."

"Let's get started!"

[Chapter 32]: Back to the Base.