Chapter 15—"Something That Wasn't There Before"


"Why are there…flowers on my table?" Rumplestiltskin spotted the offending daffodils the day after he'd learned the truth of his destiny, and seized on them for a distraction. Belle was pretending to dust near them, but he knew who the culprit had to be.

Fiona, after all, did not like flowers. Unless she was turning idiots into them, of course. Then his mother liked flowers just fine.

His cheeky maid just shrugged. "I thought they'd look nice."

"But—but this is the Dark Castle." He tried to giggle off-puttingly, but it came off weak and Rumplestiltskin hated himself for it. His heart pounded every time he looked at Belle, but he could not afford to sound like that. He couldn't! I've always been drawn to the light, he realized, and Belle is so light. "People are supposed to be afraid of this place, not lulled into comfort by flowers!"

"Perhaps you can then lull them into a false sense of security?" Belle smiled at him, but it was the way her tongue stuck out slightly from between her teeth that did unfortunate things to him.

"I'm—I don't need—which is to say that I…" Rumplestiltskin found himself stuttering, and then cut the ramble off with an effort. "That's not required!"

"You can get rid of them if you want." Her eyes were a little big and sad, but he was not going to be swayed by that. "I just thought they'd look nice."

The hopeful look on her face killed him, but at least there wasn't anyone else around to witness his humiliation. Or at least not anyone other than the voices in his head. Rumplestiltskin tried to shrug casually. "I'll get used to them, I'm sure."

"Thank you!" Much to his surprise, Belle bounded forward to kiss him on the cheek, and Rumplestiltskin froze like a frightened rabbit.

She had…kissed him? On the cheek? Why had she done that? Why would she ever do anything other than shy away from the beast? However, Belle was already gone, continuing with her 'cleaning', complete with cheerful humming, but all Rumplestiltskin could do was stare, dumbfounded. Of course, Nimue took advantage of his distraction.

Burn the flowers! the first Dark One demanded. Burn her with them! Don't let her be so disrespectful. She'll only take advantage of you.

Better yet, take advantage of her first, Zoso added. You know you want to. Several others murmured in agreement; Rumplestiltskin could feel their lust building rapidly, and it made him shiver in revulsion. Take her. She might not even argue. Do it right there, on the table. That'll take care of the flowers, and then you can—

A hand on his arm cut the voices off like someone had pushed them straight out of his soul. "Are you all right?"

"…wha?" Blinking, Rumplestiltskin found himself staring into Belle's concerned Blue eyes, floundering for mental balance in the sudden silence.

"Are you all right, Rumplestiltskin?" Belle asked gently, squeezing his arm. "You look…tormented."

He swallowed hard. "Yes. I'm fine. Very fine. Of course I'm fine."

"I can tell." Belle's laugh was soft, but somehow, it wasn't mocking. He still pulled away from her, though, and the voices came back in an avalanche of fury.

Destroy her! Take her and burn her and—

"Shut up." Rumplestiltskin hissed the words before he could stop himself, caught in a whirlwind of confusion. The voices had stopped and then started anew, angrier and demanding blood and death and—

"What?" Her voice cut through the shouting like the sharp and clear noise of a bell, sounding hurt and worried. "What did I say?"

"Not you." He spoke too soon, and Rumplestiltskin desperately waved a hand to distract her. "Never mind. I'm talking to myself." Her expression remained a shade wounded, but the apology he knew she deserved stuck in his throat.

You're weak! Nimue's mocking laugh filled his mind. This slip of a girl has you-

Despite her hurt, Belle reached out for him once more, and Nimue was suddenly silent. The transition was startling. "You're talking to Nimue, aren't you? I know that she was the first Dark One, but she's not really gone, is she?"

"Wha—what did you say?" Utterly shocked, Rumplestiltskin actually stumbled. "How did you know that? Who told you—"

He managed to cut himself off, but the damage was done. He'd said too much, and yet somehow, Belle's soft hand remained in place. Had Fiona told her? No, even when he was refusing to speak to her—which he was—his mother wouldn't betray him like that. "No one told me. Blue mentioned Nimue, and I asked who she was, and it wasn't hard to figure out from there. You're a good man, Rumplestiltskin, but there's a darkness festering inside you that just eats at your soul, isn't there?"

"I made my choices." The words came out in a mumble, but he wouldn't lie. I wasn't supposed to be like this. "All magic comes at a price."

"Is loneliness the price you have to pay?" Her voice was still so soft and gentle that it almost broke him. "Must you do this alone? I can't imagine how hard it is to fight back those voices on your own. Can't you accept help?"

Rumplestiltskin just stared, unable to form words. After all she had just learned, how did she ask that? Yet the compassion in Belle's eyes was unmistakable; she was a direct woman and not given to lying. But he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Belle cared about him. She'd said that she wanted to be his friend, and yet this…this was too much. This was dizzying. How could she possibly accept him for what he was? Even his mother wanted him to be different, or at least he thought she did. Before yesterday, he'd thought his mother accepted him for who he was, but Fiona was the Black Fairy. Darkness didn't faze her, and even then, it had taken him long enough to accept her love. Yet Belle was not Fiona. Belle was sweetness and light, courage and gentleness. Fiona all sharp edges and embittered passions gone wrong, someone as stained by darkness as he was. Fiona understood bad choices; she'd abandoned him just like he'd abandoned Bae. Belle had only ever made the right ones.

"Rumple?"

A few weeks ago, he would have snapped at her not to use that nickname, the one he'd discarded centuries ago and now only reserved only for those close to him. But now the name of his old innocence, his softer and kinder self—Weaker! his own self-hated reminded him—sounded beautiful on her lips.

Except he still didn't know what to say to her. To any of this.

"I—I have things to do." His hands flapped uselessly as he spoke the words, and then like the coward he was, Rumplestiltskin fled.

Teleporting himself to his work room, however, didn't take away the feeling of her hand on his arm or her lips on his scaly cheek.


By the time two days had passed since the Blue Fairy's visit, Belle was tired of playing peacemaker. Rumplestiltskin remained skittish, Fiona remained depressed, and they were both driving her crazy. Rumplestiltskin was avoiding his mother, which made Fiona heave long-suffering sighs and watch him with sad brown eyes. In turn, Rumplestiltskin snuck glances at his mother when she wasn't looking, his expression hurt and longing all at the same time. Belle wanted to smash their heads together, but only an idiot would try that with two of the most powerful magical beings in the realm. So, since she had a lick of sense in her head, she went for the slightly-less-difficult one of the pair: the Black Fairy.

Not that anyone outside her situation would ever consider the Black Fairy easy to deal with, but at least Fiona wasn't battling a curse that seemed to make her determined to believe no one could care for her. The more time Belle spent around Rumplestiltskin, the more damaged she realized he was, and she didn't think he was up to taking the first step.

That left Fiona, who was almost as dramatic as her son, but less broken.

"You can't leave things like this." Belle spoke up as they both read through various books on curses and breaking them. "You have to talk to him."

"He's made it abundantly clear that he doesn't want to talk to me. But I'm patient. I'll wait out this little snit."

"It's not a snit!" Belle couldn't believe her ears, because she was pretty sure that Fiona knew better. But Fiona clearly didn't take rejection any better than her son, because now she was overreacting. "He's angry with you because he thinks you believe he isn't good enough as he is, that you want him to be something else."

"Of course I do!" Fiona twisted to glare at her. "I want to save him from that horrible curse, you silly girl. I thought you understood that!"

"That's not the point." How could such a smart woman—fairy?—be so dense? Belle wanted to scream in frustration. "The point is that he thinks he isn't good enough for you, that you love him less because he's not what he was supposed to be."

Those words finally hit home; Belle watched Fiona blanch. "That's ridiculous."

"Then tell him that. He's depressed because he thinks you think less of him, and your opinion matters to him."

"He should know that already."

Belle crossed her arms, biting back a groan. "Aren't you the one who is always telling me how that curse messes with his mind? Can't it be doing that now?"

"I hate you when you're right." Fiona's glare was back. "You're absolutely insufferable."

Belle couldn't help snorting out a laugh. It was unladylike, and her old governess would have lectured her, but being a lady hardly mattered here in the Dark Castle. "You're one to talk."

Fiona's growl promised murder, but at this point, Belle knew that she was safe.


The Jolly Roger was gone. Forever, apparently; Pan wouldn't talk about it, but rumor said that Hook had made some sort of deal with Pan, had gotten him something he wanted, and had somehow won his crew their freedom from Neverland. Bae hadn't believed it when he'd heard the news, but the ship had stayed gone much longer than usual, and he found himself angrier than he should have been. Part of him hated Hook for not offering him a ride out of this hellhole, and the rest of him was just angry that the Lost Boys' favorite target for their 'games' was gone. Without the pirates around for Pan to play with, he turned to the other Lost Boys for entertainment, and Bae had found himself right in the crosshairs.

That left him seeking out Tiger Lily more and more, because as far as Bae knew, Pan never went to her cave. Pan obviously hated her, but Tiger Lily seemed to have something going on that made him leave her alone. Bae wasn't sure what kind magical trick let her pull that off, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Still, he couldn't hide in Tiger Lily's cave too often, because then the Lost Boys would figure out where he was. So, he headed out yet again, hoping that his cave would be empty and there wouldn't be any Lost Boys lurking around outside. Things had gotten a little better since Rufio's death, but Felix had stepped up as Pan's new favorite, and he was almost as bad. But he's not as good at tracking, so at least I can avoid him better, Bae told himself, kicking a coconut out of the way as he walked.

"Feeling down, Baelfire?" The voice came from above him, and Bae stumbled to a stop. Eyes wide, he stared up at where Pan was perched in a tree, and he felt his hands tighten into fists as the demon child of Neverland hopped down. "That's such a shame. I hate it when my Lost Boys are unhappy. Neverland is supposed to be a fun place!"

Bae snorted. "Don't lie to me. You love it when we're unhappy, except for your favorites."

"My 'favorites' understand how Neverland is supposed to work. There are no rules here, and no adults. We get to play all the time, and the more brutal the games are, the better." Pan grinned. "You could be one of those favorites, Baelfire. We miss having you dance around the fire with us."

"All the dancing got old, and my feet started to hurt." He rolled his eyes, not willing to give Pan the pleasure of seeing how wary of him he was. Bae was wary, though, because he wasn't an idiot. Not many Lost Boys actually died, and the magic inherent in this horrible little island meant most wounds healed pretty fast, but that didn't mean that Pan wasn't fond of dishing out pain.

"You liked it well enough in the beginning." Pan actually looked like he was trying to convince Bae to come back into the fold, but Bae wasn't going to be fooled. Not this time. "You heard my music when no one else did—you're practically one of the original Lost Boys. C'mon. Come back to the fire, and we'll have some chocolate cake after dinner."

For a moment, Bae hesitated. He didn't want anything to do with Pan, but playing along would make things better, wouldn't it? Avoiding the Lost Boys made him a target, and Bae was really sick of being chased and having stones thrown at him. At best. Rufio's games were much worse! He didn't actually have to like their stupid games to pretend he did, after all. Even if he felt more grown up by the day—and felt this place was stupid—drawing attention to himself wasn't smart. Escaping would probably be easier if they weren't chasing him all the time, too. Bae only had half of a plan for that, but being in Pan's good graces would make everything easier.

"No hard feelings?" he asked cautiously. "No price to pay?"

"Of course not!" Pan grinned. "We miss you, Bae. We're your family."

No, you aren't, he didn't say. I had a family, and even at its worst, it was better than you. He was still angry at his father, still convinced that his real father had been eaten by the Dark One and was gone forever, but that didn't mean that things hadn't been good, once. Or that he didn't miss the life that was so much better than he'd thought at the time.

"All right. I'll come back." Bae shrugged, lying as best he could. "I guess I kind of miss it, too."

"There's a lad!" Pan slapped him on the shoulder, and Bae managed not to flinch. "Let's go back to the others and celebrate our reunion!"

Swallowing back bile, Bae grinned and went along with it. I'm going to get out of this place if it's the last thing I do, he promised himself. Whatever my papa became, he's not coming for me, so it's up to me. I'm going to save myself, and then never, ever, look back.


Rumplestiltskin still wasn't sure how to cope with the fate he was supposed to have had. Even after two days to think about it—and avoid his mother—his head was still spinning. He had been meant to be the Savior. It still didn't make sense. He'd been no one and nothing before he'd taken power for himself, and Rumplestiltskin just didn't know how to feel about the fact that he'd once been meant to be something. The thought made him feel strange, lost and powerful all at the same time. It left his stomach doing wild dances, made him unbelievably nauseous, and deposited a strange taste in his mouth that Rumplestiltskin couldn't define.

"Will you not run away from me this time?"

Fiona's voice made him jump; Rumplestiltskin had been in his tower, blessedly alone. Belle had been the one bright spot in his last few days, inexplicably there when he needed someone and so very kind. In contrast, his mother had clearly been waiting for Rumplestiltskin to talk to her, which he'd refused to do out of spite.

He summoned up his most unpleasant laugh. "Only if you give me a reason not to, Mommy."

"If you're going to be ridiculously stupid, I will just leave." Fiona's glare bounced right off of him; Rumplestiltskin was determined not to care.

He shrugged. "So, go, then." He added a twirling hand wave for good measure. "See if I care."

"Rumplestiltskin, be serious!" She snapped the words at him like he was a naughty child, making him giggle again. "I am trying to apologize to you. Again."

"As you've adroitly pointed out, you've already done that." He snorted. "So, why do it again? Are you hoping for a different reaction this time?"

"I was hoping we could actually talk." Fiona stepped forward, visibly stepping on her pride. Doing so clearly took an effort; she was scowling. "About what I did, and what it means."

Throw her out. Let the Blue Fairy have her, Zoso whispered. Send her back to the Dark Realm, and see what that does to her. Nimue, of course, chimed in, too: It would serve her right to be lonely this time. You don't need her. You don't need anyone.

Except us.

Rumplestiltskin almost opened his mouth to say just that, but then he stopped himself. Why would the Dark Ones suddenly want his mother gone? Generally speaking, they were rather fond of her darkness; they certainly liked her more than they liked Belle! They hadn't pushed so hard against Fiona since the beginning, which meant there had to be a reason for that. His internal passengers were rarely illogical, and everything they whispered or shouted at him was to serve the darkness' purpose. If keeping Fiona around suddenly contravened said purpose…well, that had to be because of what she had told him.

I was supposed to be the Savior. The thought still felt strange, but no longer quite so alien. The Dark Ones hated that; perhaps he might embrace it.

No! What kind of fool was he, to think he could? His fate had been stripped away, and he was the Dark One. That was all he was…wasn't it?

"Rumple?" His mother's voice suddenly came from right next to him, and her hand was warm on his arm. He hadn't let her touch him since that last conversation, and the unexpected contact made him shiver. "Are you all right?"

"Of course I'm not." Despite his best efforts, the honest words slipped out. "I'm—I'm…"

"Confused. Hurt?" Fiona's smile was wry and bitter. "Betrayed?"

Rumplestiltskin's throat threatened to close up as he shook his head. "I told you that I don't care about you stripping away my fate."

"But you're rightly angry with me. I deserve it, but I do want you to know that I don't think less of you. I love you for who you are, not what you are—or what you could have been." She met his eyes, and try though he did, Rumplestiltskin couldn't sense a lie. "I know you don't think yourself deserving of love, my son, but you are. And if you won't let me love you, don't be afraid to let someone else in."

"I, um, er…" Rumplestiltskin trailed off, not sure what to say. She didn't think less of him? She didn't love him less? Breathing was hard, but after a moment, he managed to think. His mother's love was often overpowering, sometimes even suffocating, but he'd never wanted to reject it. Not even now. Finally, he forced out a coherent whisper: "I don't want you to leave."

"Oh." Fiona's mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped it shut. "Oh, that's good."

"I'm still angry." His voice felt very small. He wasn't sure why he was angry; he just was.

"As well you should be. I tore something away from you that no one had a right to take, but I am here now to make things right. Whatever it takes."

Rumplestiltskin scowled in confusion. "What do you mean…make things 'right'?"

"For starters, I will stand by you, no matter what." Leaning in, Fiona kissed him on the forehead, and Rumplestiltskin felt a strange-but-welcome pulse of warmth and love. Then she smiled. "And I'll help you win the heart of the maid you're too obviously 'not' pining for."

"Mother! I'm not—I'm not—"

Fiona laughed. "Oh, of course you are. Don't be silly, my boy. She likes you, too. Have you seen how that girl watches your backside when you're walking around the castle?"

Rumplestiltskin had never felt his face turn so red in all of his centuries of existence.


He'd been watching her strangely all afternoon, but at least Rumplestiltskin was talking to his mother again. That wasn't to say that their relationship was normal, but what was normal for those two? Today, Fiona kept shooting Rumplestiltskin significant looks that hinted at something, which would get him mumble-y and twitchy and make him stutter out things Belle couldn't quite catch. She would have been certain that the two were sharing a joke at her expense if Rumplestiltskin hadn't seemed almost…embarrassed.

She contemplated going up to check on her homeland through the magical window just to get away from the pair of them, but Belle decided to curl up by the fire and read a book instead. Neither Rumplestiltskin or Fiona actually expected her to do work these days, and while a part of Belle found that strange, she also found that she'd settled into the routine at the Dark Castle very well. I could have a much worse life, she thought as she watched Fiona fidget curiously. Rumplestiltskin was out in the entrance hall, meeting someone or another, and Fiona clearly didn't know who, either. I could be married to Gaston. Here, Belle could read and learn all she wanted, and she had a purpose. She hadn't really believed Fiona in the beginning when the Black Fairy had asked for her help freeing Rumplestiltskin from the curse of the Dark One, but now Belle understood. Rumplestiltskin had been meant to be a hero, and Belle would help him find that man again.

And perhaps she might find something for herself in the process, too.

Muffled voices came from the outer hall, and Fiona fidgeted more. Biting her lower lip to suppress a giggle, Belle watched the Black Fairy over the top of her book, noticing how Fiona wasno longer even pretending she was trying to read. She looked ready to pop right out of her chair and stride over to the door leading out of the great hall, and the worst part was that Belle was pretty sure that Fiona was only bored, not worried. Sometimes, she makes Rumplestiltskin look sedentary, and he's the one usually prancing around with his hands going every which way!

Finally, Rumplestiltskin returned, carrying a furred cloak and looking very pleased with himself.

"Are we stealing clothes from princes, now?" Fiona got in before Belle could even open her mouth. "And here I thought that your tastes didn't run in that direction."

"Mother!" Was it Belle's imagination, or did Rumplestiltskin turn red? No, he was definitely blushing, and skittering back as if he was greatly offended.

Fiona laughed. "Oh, do forgive me. Now, what's the cloak for, and who is it from? Do tell me you didn't make a deal for that when you could have gotten something much better from a prince."

"I'll have you know that this is exactly what I need." Rumplestiltskin glared. "And the deal is done."

"What did the prince want?" Belle finally managed to get her question in; she was terribly curious about why a prince would make a deal with Rumplestiltskin. Usually, only desperate people—or Queen Zelena—stopped by the castle, so why would a prince need the Dark One's power?

"A way to find his True Love and restore her to herself." Rumplestiltskin's giggle was gleeful as he held up the cloak. "And I received a hair in return."

"A hair?" Belle asked, but it was Fiona who gasped.

"You're trying again? The potion?"

"Yes." He wiggled with glee, putting the cloak down on the table and summoning a magnifying glass. "I'm going to brew True Love!"

"True Love?" Belle was on her feet before she could stop herself, her mind whirling with curiosity. "How can you make a potion that will create something so special? Didn't you say that magic can't make someone fall in love, let alone True Love?"

Much to her surprise, the look Rumplestiltskin threw her when he looked her way was appreciative, not annoyed by her questions. "You are a clever one." He waggled a finger in the air. "And you're right. Magic can't makeanyone fall in love, but bottling power from existing True Love, now that, I can do."

"How?"

"Don't take him too much at his word. It's never been done before." But Fiona was at Belle's side, and looked just as curious as she felt. Together, they watched Rumplestiltskin summon a set of tweezers and pluck a single hair off of the cloak. That went into a small bottle that he pulled out of thin air, joining another hair that was already there—and the two hairs suddenly merged, glowing pink and then purple. Rumplestiltskin squealed in delight, and even Belle could almost feel the magic radiating off of the bottle.

"That's amazing," Belle whispered, stepping forward for a closer look.

"Told you so." Rumplestiltskin's cheeky grin was aimed at his mother.

Fiona, surprisingly, just laughed. "So you did. So you did, indeed."


Of course, the feeling of warmth and victory couldn't last. In Rumplestiltskin's experience, those feelings never, ever did. Not in his life, anyway. Yet he still wasn't expecting the Blue Fairy to summon him the next day; she generally stayed away from the Dark One at all costs—especially him.

He wasn't sure if Blue avoided him because he had once been a peasant who dared ask for her help, or if she did so because he'd once been 'worthy' of having a fairy godmother. Rumplestiltskin hadn't asked his mother anything about his fairy godmother, and there were good reasons for that. Firstly, because he wasn't sure he wanted to know, and secondly, he was afraid that she was as bad as Blue—or that Blue had really been the one who botched everything up. He didn't want any more association with that damned bug than he already had, and if he'd realized it was her summoning him, Rumplestiltskin probably would have ignored her.

Alas, he had not.

"What do you want?" He didn't even try to keep from snarling when he found himself face-to-face with the Blue Fairy; she was floating so primly in the air with her typical holier-than-thou expression on her face, acting like she was worlds better than him.

Once, Rumplestiltskin would have immediately agreed that she was. Now he wasn't so sure.

"Dark One." Blue folded her hands piously. "I wished to speak to you."

"That's what usually happens when someone summons me, dearie," he snapped. "Get on with it."

Kill her. You know you can, Nimue whispered. We'll help. Dispose of that blue-winged pest and do the world a service. Rumplestiltskin shook the voices off with an effort. He wanted Blue dead, but he wasn't about to open himself up to that much of Nimue's influence. What kind of idiot do you think I am?

Nimue just growled.

"I'm afraid that it falls to me to share a truth with you that your mother has denied you." Blue looked like she was trying valiantly to give him a caring smile, but the effort came out more like a grimace. "And while it grieves me to do so, you deserve the truth."

"Do I?" Rumplestiltskin barked out a laugh. "That's certainly the first time you felt I deserved anything. This must be giving you indigestion."

Blue sighed a long-suffering sigh. "Must you be so difficult?"

"It's in the title, you know." He grinned at her, just to watch her scowl deepen. "Dark One. Not 'Nice' One, or 'Easy' One. Nor even 'Light' One, contrary to what you're about to tell me, hm?"

"She told you?" The words ripped out of Blue in a gasp, and Rumplestiltskin couldn't help a delighted giggle.

"Of course she did, dearie! She is my mother." And he was rather offended on Fiona's behalf that Blue assumed she wouldn't, too. Fiona might have been a lot of things, but she didn't lack courage.

Pity you couldn't inherit that from her, Spinner. But he ignored Zoso's bitter voice. His habitual cowardice wasn't important right now.

"I doubt she told you the entire truth, Rumplestiltskin." Blue squared her shoulders importantly, but all he noticed was that things had to be serious if she was actually using her name. "She might have told you that you were destined to be the Savior, but did she tell you that she took that fate from you? That she deemed her power more important than yours, and so she cut away your destiny all to embrace her darkness?"

"And if she did?" Rumplestiltskin couldn't help how sharp his voice grew; Blue's assumption that his mother had lied to him grated on every nerve he had.

"Then I cannot imagine why she is still welcome in your home." Her expression turned to strained pity. "To learn that your mother had lied to you, just like your father did—"

"Don't compare them." His voice was ice-cold as he cut Blue off. "You exiled my mother, in case you've forgotten. You ensured I'd grow up without her. Or does that not matter, because she dabbled in a bit of darkness?"

"A bit?!" Blue looked aghast. "If you knew what she had tried to do—"

"Something like, casting a curse?" Rumplestiltskin cut her off with a gleeful wiggle that he didn't really feel. Part of him was still sick at the thought; his mother had been willing to tear hundreds of children away from loving parents, all to save him. He didn't doubt her love, and he knew how desperation could turn one towards darkness, but it still made him uneasy. At least my version of the curse will bring families to the Land Without Magic together.

"You're despicable," Blue spat. "You're a monster."

"At least I'm not someone who tried to blackmail a woman into abandoning her family. Is that what 'good' fairies do these days, Reul Ghorm?" He twirled his hands mockingly. "If that's the standard for fairy godmothers, I'm glad I never had to suffer through having one."

"You have no idea what she took from you. And I would feel sorry for you if you were not so terrible."

"I don't need to know that, dearie." Rumplestiltskin didn't want to know, either. In the end, knowing that his mother loved him was enough. Fiona was not the only one who had made mistakes, after all. "But do you know what is obvious? You lack the power to force my mother back into the Dark Realm."

Blue sniffed, clearly offended. "Of course I don't. I simply wanted to give her the chance to do the honorable thing."

"Eh, no you didn't. You wouldn't know 'honor' if it ate you for breakfast. You can't force her back, so you resorted to blackmail." Rumplestiltskin giggled. "And you really don't like the idea of her and I teamed up, do you? Afraid of what we might do together, hm?"

"I'm not going to listen to this any longer. I came to help you, but it is clear that my assistance is not wanted." Blue looked towards the sky and started to fly away, so Rumplestiltskin cheerfully waved her on.

"Bye-bye! Don't let the darkness bite you on the arse on the way out!"

He really hated fairies.


A/N: I'm finally back from vacation! Sorry for the slightly longer delay—work has been a madhouse since I got back, and I've spent my time putting out (figurative) forest fires instead of writing.

Next up is Chapter 16—"Then Somebody Bends," in which Bae tries to be clever, Fiona and Belle plot to free Rumplestiltskin, Blue confronts Tinker Bell, Rumplestiltskin and Belle have a heart-to-heart, and Snow and Regina hatch a plot.