A/N: Good evening, dear readers, and welcome to another chapter of Heartbreak Cure! It is shorter than the last but I will say it provides a small piece of a puzzle, and I do wonder how many of you will correctly pick up what I'm putting down. Also it's been a very productive break. So this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for HC, and for Shiranai Atsune, ZainR, and Seiram's reviews!

ZainR: To answer your question, scheduling-wise I hope to post Chapter 46 on Dec 14th, 47 on the 21st, and 48 around Christmas or New Years. Short little weekly burst in time for the holidays! And I love that you felt the Baelfire/Morraine NaYuri parallel there. Let's just say that the HC-verse will definitely touch on the protective Naoi theme some more.

Seiram: Oh, you're absolutely right. He's only reaping exactly what he's sowed. With all this banter and teasing and denial, what does he expect? He's not trying with his whole heart. Which almost begs the question... why? (Also love the comparison you noted. Naoi would hate to hear this but he and Rumple are more alike than he knows)

Shiranai Atsune: So glad to have you cheering me on! :D I hope you love this chapter too.

Enjoy!


[Chapter 45]: The Pages


Previously, on Heartbreak Cure...

"In time, you will work it all out," said the weary maiden. Believing her strength, power, and usefulness to have left her, Rumpelstiltskin turned to leave, but she called him back to her. "As gratitude, I offer you one piece of the puzzle. You will be reunited with your son, and it will come in a most unexpected way."

The imp stepped back into the clearing. "How?"

"A boy." Her voice floated out to him in a dying whisper. "A boy will lead you to him."

At last Ayato lost his battle with sleep, and as Once Upon A Time fell from his hands onto the floor beside the bed, it remained open to that very same page. To the very last lines of the chapter.

"But beware, Rumpelstiltskin, for that boy is more than he appears. He will lead you to what you seek, but there will be a price." As Rumpelstiltskin crept ever nearer to her side, the eyes in her open palms began to close. "The boy will be your undoing."

The imp lingered until she had breathed her last, and considered her final prophecy with a bemused frown.

"Then I'll just have to kill him," he said, and went on his way.


Obsession. That was the only word for it.

Ayato would never own up to it out loud, luckily he didn't have to, but in his mind he was ready to defend himself. Because if a creepy crocodile man started taking a particular interest in you and causing trouble in your life, and the book he was in suggested he was a powerful bloodthirsty sorcerer searching for someone who could lead him to his son (someone he would kill swiftly afterwards), you too would want to read the damn thing cover to cover and make absolutely sure he had already found the man for the job.

He didn't mention this to Yui in his texts this week because even she might call him paranoid, but in a situation like this he'd rather play it safe than sorry. Yes, the prophecy said "a boy" would lead him to Baelfire, and at twenty-four Ayato would ideally consider himself out of range. But prophecies could be strange like that. Misleading or nonspecific. He knew in Kimito's eyes he would always be a boy and never a man.

Besides, wouldn't it explain a few things? He couldn't exactly find a way to blame the breakup on Rumpelstiltskin, not without reaching Saki Nanashima levels of conspiracy theory, but it wouldn't be above the imp to use Yuri's heartbreak to his advantage. Thinking that holding Yuri's love ransom (and his wristwatch, for that matter) would lure Ayato into making a deal with him and therefore owing him a favor.

In fact, hadn't he said…?

"If either of you two lovebirds need me, if you change your mind… you know how to find me."

Ayato hadn't understood at the time why on earth he would want to meet him again, but now it was all so clear. Rumpelstiltskin was lying in wait, ready to make some sort of deal.

But here was the thing – thanks to the book, Ayato was one step ahead of him. And old Rumple didn't have anything he wanted, at least not enough to risk his life. He could buy a new watch (such a petty theft). And Yuri… well, she was a lost cause. Like he'd said, he was tired of it, and needn't bother fighting for someone who didn't have an ounce of feelings left for him. Besides, what could Rumpelstiltskin even do about it? Nothing, he'd said so himself.

Still, Ayato read on. For peace of mind – and also because, to be honest, he'd never read fairytales quite like these before.

For instance, it turned out Jiminy Cricket was once a human, but the Blue Fairy turned him into a cricket to escape his wicked tricksy parents and be a guide to a boy he had wronged. And there was the Snow Queen, who accidentally killed one sister and was trapped in a magic urn by the other. Somehow in these stories Rumpelstiltskin always eventually had a hand in things, or at least a cameo. He gave the sisters the enchanted urn, and provided the potion that was meant to do away with Jiminy's parents but instead poisoned Geppetto's. It seemed that Rumpelstiltskin had always been a collector and purveyor of magical charms and objects – particularly dangerous ones.

And then there was Cora. The miller's daughter. She was the one from the classic Rumpelstiltskin story he'd heard about, though in this version, she asked Rumpelstiltskin to teach her magic, so that she might truly turn straw into gold herself. Cora was a quick learner, as apparently magic came from strong emotions and bloodlust (which she had in buckets), and Rumpelstiltskin fell in love with her for it.

And she claimed to love him too, but she declared her heart a liability and tore it out of her chest so that she might marry the prince as promised and have power over all those who once demeaned her. As Rumpelstiltskin had previously changed their straw-to-gold deal during their love affair so that the contract said she would give him his baby, Cora was able to keep her and Prince Henry's daughter Regina, and raise her to be queen.

Ayato decided very quickly that he did not like this Cora woman. Not for stomping on Rumple's heart, but the way she treated her daughter... it was uncomfortably familiar to him. The woman vied for power and respect – that was her agenda – and she would work through her child to get it, even by despicable means.

Her way was the only way, it didn't matter what Regina wanted. She ignored her pleas to play together, and was critical of everything from her appearance, to her horse-riding style, to the company she kept. In one story, when young Snow White's mother Queen Eva died from a mysterious illness, it was revealed at the end that not only had Cora impersonated the Blue Fairy when Snow came to her in vain for help, but she was the one who had poisoned her.

Yui, positively thrilled on Monday when her "are you reading it yet" message had actually gotten a yes, had been texting him about the book throughout the week wanting to know what he thought. What stories he liked. Which characters he loved or hated.

"What part are you at now?" she'd demand of him.

"The Stable Boy," he'd replied on Tuesday night. "Regina's meeting in secret with Daniel."

"Oh. Don't get attached."

She punctuated this with a few sad crying emoticons, so Ayato rolled his eyes and thanked her for the spoiler. But of course he didn't know what to expect going in. After Regina saved young Snow White off an out-of-control horse, her father the king proposed to Regina and Cora quite literally accepted for her. As she knew her mother did not care that she didn't love the king, Regina begged Daniel to marry and run away with her. Which might've worked if Snow hadn't caught them kissing.

Despite being moved by Regina's explanation of true love to her, and promising not to tell, the young princess eventually confessed the truth of Regina's love for Daniel after Cora fed her some schmaltzy "concerned mother" nonsense. That night, Cora found the forbidden lovers in the stable as they were preparing to run away, pretended to give her blessing, and then tore out Daniel's heart in front of her daughter and crushed it into dust.

At that moment, Ayato was so sickened he had to tear his eyes away from the page. Cora would do that. Someone like her would do that. Years ago, that was something he'd always been afraid of...

And then he caught sight of the wall clock, swore under his breath, threw the book down in frustration, and leapt up from the couch. Because it was Wednesday morning, and he should've left for work ten minutes ago.

From Monday to Tuesday, he'd tried reading during his breaks at work, but his nosy coworkers kept getting far too interested in it for his liking. He didn't want to answer any more questions or risk it getting stolen, so he'd decided to start leaving it at home. He hadn't counted on getting so engrossed in the morning that he lost track of time!

Muttering to himself, he stepped over the book in a hurry, swept up his keys, and dashed out the door to his car. He was never late to work.

Another thing to hate Cora for.


When he returned home later that evening, Ayato closed the door behind him with a long sigh, then padded into the TV room to drop his keys on the coffee table and his body onto the welcoming couch. Letting his black cap fall halfway onto his face, he took a moment to rest his eyes. How was the week only halfway over?

After a few seconds of decompression, he started to look around for the remote, to check on the news and weather. That was when he spotted the book sprawled open on the floor and remembered his hasty exit this morning.

Honestly, he didn't usually treat books like this, but he'd been in a hurry and Cora's latest evil had affected him in a way he didn't want to admit to himself. Hopefully the pages weren't bent too badly. Frowning, Ayato reached down and retrieved the book for inspection.

Hmm. A little crease here and there, not too serious. Nothing he couldn't smooth out before he returned it to Yui. Satisfied, he shifted to a sitting position and moved to rest it on the coffee table.

He heard something when his feet touched the floor. The crinkle of thin paper, knocked askew by his heels.

Glancing down, he cursed in dismay. A couple of pages from the book were sticking out halfway beneath the couch; dropping the book must've knocked them loose. In his defense, they must've been barely hanging on! Wasn't this book fairly old?

Shit. Those excuses probably weren't going to fly with Yui. This was her favorite book after all, but maybe she wouldn't kill him too violently.

Admittedly feeling a little guilty, he pulled out his phone and sent her a text: "That storybook was given to you for free, so is it a crime that I accidentally made a couple of pages fall out?"

Her reply came almost instantaneously.

"Moron!" she managed to whine via text. "Which ones?!"

Ayato picked them up and studied them. It seemed that he'd knocked out an entire mini-chapter. The illustration on the first page showed Rumpelstiltskin in the darkness of the woods, glaring at the Blue Fairy, who had an odd blackish-purple glow to her. If he hadn't looked close enough to see it, he would've thought it was the scene right after Rumple lost Baelfire. But something about it felt off, different.

"I'll tell you after I read them," he responded.


Cora Mills did not care for the Blue Fairy's gown, this was true. Not the puffiness, nor the color, nor how tight it felt at her bodice.

However, she did like the feeling of power, and dare she say it, a little bit of mischief. And she found she could have quite a lot of it when she took on the appearance of that wretched Blue Fairy.

So one night, not long after the funeral of Queen Eva, it came to pass that Cora was flitting about in the Enchanted Forest with the help of a pair of fairy wings, curious as to what she might learn. Word of when the king would choose a new bride, perhaps, or how steadily more fair and beautiful her daughter Regina had become.

After a time, she came upon a tavern, and thought it would be quite funny if witnesses were to see the pristine Blue Fairy quenching her thirst with ale or wine. Not that anyone would believe them if they told such a tale. Outrageous bar stories from drunken fools. But it was enough to amuse Cora, who magicked open the door and fluttered inside.

The tavern was very nearly empty, she soon found. And it was not hard to see why. In the darkness, a hooded figure glared out at her from his little table in the corner. Amber eyes flashed with predatory hate. The eyes of a crocodile.

Cora tried very hard not to smile. She would know her dear Rumpelstiltskin anywhere, and was certain of the power in her disguise that he could not know her, but the look he was giving her was most intriguing – even dangerous. The imp stood up abruptly, slamming down his drink, and stormed past the fairy in a rage. Unable to contain her curiosity, she gave her wings a flutter and quickly followed him into the night.

When he had staggered for some time into the darkest parts of the forest, Rumpelstiltskin growled and hit his fist against a tree trunk before finally turning around. "What torture is this? Leave me be!"

"What have I done to incur your wrath tonight, Dark One?" Cora asked, taking on an air of graceful innocence.

"You know what you did! You know what day it is!" Rumpelstiltskin snarled at her. Resisting the urge to answer his question literally, Cora merely tilted her head and looked at him in confused sympathy, and he growled at her again like a feral dog. "It marks another year since the day you gave my boy that magic bean. The one that took him away from me. I lost him because of you!"

Cora shook her head. "Dark One, I don't know what you're talking about—"

"DON'T PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME!" the imp roared.

"I never gave your son a magic bean," Cora said gently, relishing in the delicious irony of her words. "Someone else has been taking on my identity."

Rumpelstiltskin hesitated for a moment, just a moment, and then argued more fiercely: "I talked to you right after he fell through the portal." His voice quaked with indignation. "You came when I called!"

Again, Cora shook her head. "Wrong."

The imp's resentful glower grew muddled with bewilderment. With all that knowledge of the future in his head, he had never much liked doubting himself.

"It was still the impostor," she informed him, perfecting the breathless way that fairy talked (with the help of this miserable gown!). She allowed her voice to give a worried tremor. "And what's more… if someone posed as a fairy, if they went to such trouble to give your son a bean and speak to you about it after, then it was with malicious intent."

Rumpelstiltskin looked at her in masked fear. His scaly face had hardened but his eyes glinted with question.

"You are the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin," she reminded him. "There are those out there who resent your power, who would wish you broken. What better way than to deprive you of your child?"

At this, the imp's expression reflected true brokenness, but gave way to disgust and vengeance. "Then they should know," he said threateningly, to no one and everyone, "how far the Dark One would go to get him back."

Cora heard the determination in his tone, and promptly put on her best concerned face. She let her mouth tremble and her eyebrows furrow, and her fingers play with blue fabric, acting quite conflicted and troubled and unsure if she should say something. Just as she wanted, Rumpelstiltskin noticed this right away.

"You're hiding something from me," the imp pressed. "What is it?"

She sighed ever-so-mournfully. "You see… the magic portal beans are quite rare. It would be more possible for someone… if they have the power to impersonate me… to create, with such bitter magic, a fake bean. One that would only summon a faulty portal."

Rumpelstiltskin faltered, and grew increasingly agitated with the 'fairy.' "What do you mean, a faulty portal? Where would it take him?"

"He wouldn't survive." Cora summoned a few croc tears. "I fear you may have truly lost your son, Rumpelstiltskin."

She watched the journey of emotions that crossed his beastly face, the bared teeth that became a grimace, the distrust that fell to anger, which crumbled into grief. And she turned away from him, lowering her head as if to grieve as well, as she fluttered her wings and flew deeper into the darkness of the woods. Once she was far from sight, her sad expression grew sinister and smug, a look truly unbecoming for the Blue Fairy's features. For she was quite pleased with herself.

With Rumpelstiltskin broken, he would focus on his own child – and keep away from her darling Regina.


Ayato quirked an eyebrow once he had finished the story, and curiously fanned back through the pages of the book until he had reached the part right after Queen Eva's funeral. This chapter had to have taken place sometime after that, but he had no memory of even passing it by. And he didn't think that the pages had been stuck together – they seemed fine and perfectly unstuck now. There was also no page number, nor a noticeable tear in the spine where the pages might've been.

That was strange…

He gave a light shake of his head and rested the extra pages carefully on top of the book, then picked his phone back up and texted Yui. "It's the chapter where Cora impersonates Blue again and tricks Rumpelstiltskin into thinking Baelfire is dead."

Fifteen seconds of typing dots. Then: "what."

Ayato faltered, letting her reaction sit. He squinted at the screen for a moment before clarifying. "When she claims someone gave him a fake bean."

"that NEVER happened."

What, was she calling him a liar? Annoyed, he took a few pictures of the pages with his phone and sent them to her, making sure she could read exactly what he had read. And secretly hoping he wasn't hallucinating all of it.

Approximately three minutes later, Yui was positively losing her mind in her texts, barraging him with nonsensical keysmashes. They took another thirty seconds to become coherent, in which the girl still refused to believe her eyes. Not even when he summarized the key points for her. She called his phone and demanded that he read it again, aloud to her. He rolled his eyes but complied, pausing only when Yui would squeak in confusion or disbelief.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Yui squawked in his ear once he was done. "Rumpelstiltskin spends the rest of the book still trying to enact the curse to find Baelfire! Why would he do that if he thought he was dead?"

"I don't know," Ayato said tiredly, kicking back on the couch with the phone and adjusting his cap. "Maybe he chose not to believe it."

"Oh! Maybe," Yui agreed, and considered for a moment. "Or maybe the real Blue came along and set him straight."

Ayato snorted. "I think he'd find it hard to trust her after that."

"Well, at least we know one thing," Yui said brightly.

"What's that?"

"You have a very nice bedtime story voice. Have you thought about reading to children?"

"Oh, shut up," Ayato said, rolling his eyes.

"No, seriously! You even did Rumpelstiltskin's rasp right—"

He ended the call and set his phone down on the coffee table, then leaned his head back against the armrest with a sigh. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so hasty in hanging up on her; he still had so many questions. If she'd never read those pages before, where did they even come from? Surely she and her mother would've noticed loose extra pages in their favorite storybook. Surely they'd read the whole thing beginning to end? It wasn't like the chapter could've just materialized under his couch out of nowhere!

And the chapter itself… like Yui said, it didn't make sense. If Rumpelstiltskin thought his son was dead, wouldn't he stop searching? Why would he go on with his plans to enact the curse? If it was because he found out the truth, then what was the point of this chapter in the first place?

He'd told Yui reading this book would only give him more questions.

Ayato left it on the table and retreated into the kitchen to start dinner, hoping to clear his mind in the process. But even with the TV on in the background, his thoughts kept coming back to all that he'd read today.

Cora's lie was a cruel one. Not as cruel as killing her daughter's lover right in front of her, but cruel nonetheless. It was further proof of her literal heartlessness. If she'd had any of her heart inside her, any lingering love for Rumpelstiltskin, she would've known not to cross such a line. Not to tell a father that his beloved son had been killed because of him.

Sitting down in front of the dull glow of the television, Ayato picked thoughtfully at the food in his bowl. It was hard not to think of it. It hit him down deep, somewhere he was still trying to pinpoint and make sense of.

Baelfire… he was so young. If he had died, he would've been only fourteen. And he'd lived a harsh life. His mother had abandoned him, his father was a coward and the Dark One, most of the kids his age were afraid of him, and then his father chose power over him, abandoning him to the portal. What a miserable end that would have been to a miserable life.

A kid like that could've been recruited straight into the Battlefront.


Preview:

"You just don't think I can love you."

"Family is everything, my dear."

"I told you to stay inside!"

"You're so ashamed to be vulnerable."

"It never should have happened."

"Mothers can't just sit around watching their children get hurt."

"I didn't know you could be so macho."

"Somebody else can get that."

[Chapter 46]: Love and Other Curses.