Chapter 21—"Curse the Fading of the Light"


Belle said farewell to Fiona and headed out, unsure if the Black Fairy would try to talk her out of this. Belle thought she detected sadness in Fiona's eyes, but it was hard to tell. Fiona simply nodded stiffly and wished her well; nothing was said about how Fiona had asked her to help her save her son from the darkness, or of how Belle was now seemingly giving up on that. Rumplestiltskin avoided her like the plague after keeping his promise to give her everything she could possibly need, and that left her feeling…well, not uneasy, but rather sad. Unlike Rumplestiltskin, Belle knew that she'd be back—but she also did know that he was right. He hadn't quite said it in so many words, but a deal was no foundation upon which to build a relationship. When Belle returned, it would be of her own volition, with no strings attached.

But she would miss him. She would miss Fiona, too, even if Rumple's mother merely rolled her eyes when Belle said so. She'd even miss the Dark Castle, which had seemed foreboding and dark at first, only to become a place of hope and hominess. It's not forever, she told herself, refusing to look back more than once. Her plan was to spend a few months seeing the world, finding adventure and maybe helping a few people. Then she would return, not to her father, but to the "monster" whom Belle knew had a kinder heart than many so-called "good" men in her homelands. Belle never doubted that her feelings were real, but she wasn't foolish enough to refuse the opportunity to get her bearings before diving in. Once, she might have been, but Belle had learned a lot in her time at the Dark Castle.

She hadn't seen Rumplestiltskin in the window watching her leave. Otherwise, Belle might have lost the courage to go.

Since she didn't, she kept walking, looking for adventure.


She was gone.

That fact should have made Rumplestiltskin feel better. The voices in his head certainly thought so; the other Dark Ones were actually congratulating him on sending her away. Now that she was gone, they actually sounded relieved to see the back of Belle, relieved to hear the howling emptiness in Rumplestiltskin's heart. Had he been in a better frame of mind, Rumplestiltskin would have realized that there was something important hidden in their ill-concealed relief, but he wasn't really thinking that straight. No, he was too busy missing her.

When Belle had first come to the castle, he had never expected to have feelings for her. And then when he had started to care for her, Rumplestiltskin had not once imagined that she might actually make him want to change. Yet he was a better man for having loved Belle, even though he'd lost her. Perhaps some of him was even human again, just a little. She'd left a mark on Rumplestiltskin like he'd never believed anyone could, and a part of Belle's goodness and light would always be with him. I let her go, he thought, staring out of his tower window, staring blankly at the mountains beyond the Dark Castle. For once in my life, I did the right thing.

Zoso said something about love being pointless, about how he'd missed his chance to bed a young and pretty thing while she was willing. Rumplestiltskin barely heard him; for once, he could almost block out the voices. Even Nimue sneering didn't matter. The darkness clawing at his mind seemed less cutting, even though that would never last.

Yet the darkness had gone silent when Belle touched him, too. The lightest touch of her hand was enough to free him from its taunting voices. With her, Rumplestiltskin had truly felt like the best version of himself…and that was why he'd let her go. He would never forget Belle, could never forget her, but he couldn't chain her to a monster like him.

He would miss her forever, but nothing could be done about that. Weeks passed, and he helped a pseudo prince find love, erased a princess' memories only for her to find them again, and did a dozen deals that meant nothing to him. Each took him one step closer to finding Baelfire, yet Rumplestiltskin found little joy in continuing on his ages old quest. In time, he supposed that he could focus once more, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. Not yet.


"Can I ask you something?" Snow peered at him curiously, and David felt his heart do a nervous flip.

This love he felt for her was absolutely staggering. They'd already weathered so much together—imprisonment, erased memories, fights with trolls and fleeing from his (supposed) kingly father. David wasn't nervous about what Snow would ask him, not really. She already knew his heart, and he knew hers. He still wasn't sure how she'd managed to convince Robin Hood to help rescue him from King George's dungeons, but now David found himself sleeping in the famous outlaw's camp, on the run from the man who had promised to make him a prince. He didn't care about power and never had, but he was a little concerned about how she'd react when Snow realized that everything she thought he was was a lie.

He hadn't even figured out how to explain to her that they were on their way to find his mother; Snow had insisted on coming when he said he needed to make sure someone else was safe from George's wrath, and he just didn't know how to approach this subject. How do you tell the woman you loved that you weren't a prince, particularly when she was a princess? (And a rightful queen, but there was a small problem of Queen Zelena's magic in the way of that one.) So, he swallowed, hoping—as always—that whatever she wanted to know wasn't going to require him to come up with an explanation for things he didn't want to lie about.

David put on his best smile. "Of course you can."

"How is it that you're the same man who was fawning all over Zelena just a few months ago? I remember watching you with her a few times—from a distance, anyway—and you were so…different."

"Oh." David gulped. He supposed that this was bound to come up; King George had mentioned that his brother had been romantically involved with Queen Zelena, although George had just advised him to steer clear of the queen. He hadn't, however, indicated how David should deal with the other issues arising from that relationship. "I, uh, guess you could say that I'm not the same man."

Snow laughed lightly. "A blind woman could see that."

"No, I mean I'm actually not the same man. Literally." Now that he was talking, David figured he might as well go for broke. What was the worst that could happen? He couldn't stomach the idea of Snow thinking that he was like his brother had been. He would rather her turn away from him for being naught but a shepherd in a prince's clothing.

"What are you saying?" She took a half step back, and David felt his heart clench.

"James was my twin brother." David swallowed hard. "King George adopted him when he was a baby, and I never knew him. But he came for me when James was killed fighting some monster for King Midas. And I became James."

Snow's eyes were huge. "You're actually a different person?"

"One hundred percent." While he was being honest, David decided to say everything. "I wasn't raised as a prince, though. I was raised on a farm."

Now was the moment she'd walk away from him, assuming she was going to. But David didn't think she would. Most princesses would reject a shepherd out of hand, but Snow wasn't a normal princess. And he trusted in their love. David believed in her, and always would.

Still, he didn't expect a laugh to bubble out of her. "That's good. I think." Snow shook her head wryly. "Or at least it's better than falling in love with the man who my stepmother was flirting with."

"You can say that again. In fact, you can keep her far away from me. I'd rather kiss a frog."

"How about an exiled princess instead?" Her smile turned soft.

"I think I can manage that."


So far, Tiger Lily had managed to keep them hidden for two days. Bae hadn't dared leave, however, even though his plan had been to head back to the Lost Boys. He could only hope that Pan and the others assumed he was hiding in his cave again, because if they didn't, they'd figure out where he was in a hurry. Felix had visited Tiger Lily more than once, though, which meant he definitely suspected that Beans was hiding there. He might think we both are, and if he does, I'm screwed. The problem with Neverland was that the island just wasn't that big, and how in the world were they supposed to stay hidden forever?

"Pan was here." Tiger Lily's voice drifted into the small hole Bae and Beans hid in; it was covered by vegetation and Felix hadn't come far enough into the cave to look there, but it sure was cramped. Beans seemed right at home, but Bae was starting to go stir crazy. The fact that that Beans had random visions every few hours really didn't help, and killed off most of their better conversations.

Bae felt his breath catch and struggled to keep his voice level. "Is he gone?"

"For now." Her frown was grim. "We've got to find somewhere else for the two of you to hide. I can do a few tricks with Neverland's magic, but nothing that will stand up to Pan."

"Like where?" Bae had thought of everywhere already. Cannibal Cove was just as dangerous as Pan; there were things there that would happily eat them. Skull Rock was Pan's favorite retreat, so hiding there would be an exercise in stupidity. Pixie Hollow was said to be haunted, and it was too small to hide in, anyway. The Maze of Regrets and Crocodile Creek were the Lost Boys' usual haunts, so they were out, too. That left jungle and more jungle, and Neverland just wasn't big enough to hide for long.

"I have a Bean."

Bae rolled his eyes; Beans had said something like that in the midst of one of his recent visions. "Don't you mean you are a bean?" Earlier, he'd asked the other boy how he'd ended up with that name, and the only response he'd gotten had been 'Dangerous Beans'. Bae didn't get it.

"No." Scowling, Beans dug deep into a pocket, rooting around until he found what he was looking for. Slowly, Beans extended his hand, finally opening his palm to reveal a small, glowing bean.

Bae's jaw dropped open.

"Is that…is that a magic bean?" Even Tiger Lily looked shocked, although of course she'd know what a magic bean looked like; she'd been a fairy. So much for the one Reul Ghorm gave me being the last, huh? Bae thought bitterly. But he'd already realized that Tiger Lily was different from Reul Ghorm. A lot different.

"Of course it is." Beans shot them both an amused look. "They do call me 'Beans'."

"Is that your actual name?" Bae had to ask.

"Not telling."

"It doesn't matter." Tiger Lily straightened. "What matters is that the two of you can escape."

"Both of us?" Bae hadn't thought about that; his last experience with a portal hadn't exactly been a good one, but if it meant leaving Neverland…

"You saved my life." For once, Beans looked like he was all there, not distracted at all. "I'm not leaving you to Pan. He'll kill you for sure."

"He won't." Bae shrugged. "If he wanted to, he'd have done it years ago. Or centuries." He couldn't keep track of how long it had been, but Bae knew that if Pan wanted to kill him, he'd had plenty of opportunities.

Beans' eyes went glassy for a moment. "He needs you for the Truest—"

"There's no time for that!" Tiger Lily grabbed Beans by the arm and shook him. "One of my tripwires just went off. They're coming back. You two need to go."

"Pan won't leave you alone anymore if he knows you helped us." Bae fought to keep his voice level, forcing aside the burning urge to ask what the hell Beans was talking about. Felix had mentioned some 'Truest Believer', but Bae had no idea what that was. And it didn't really matter right now.

Tiger Lily looked uncertain, but Beans nodded emphatically. "He'll come. He'll come and he'll come and he's here."

Shouts echoed in from the cave's entrance almost on cue. Felix's was the loudest. "They're in the back!"

"Throw the bean!" Tiger Lily seemed to make up her mind, but it was Bae she looked at even as Beans tossed the magic bean down to create a swirling vortex of color. "Where are we going?"

For a moment, he was tempted to say the Land Without Magic, but what was the point? Pan's shadow could find them there, and for all the Darlings had been kind to him, it wasn't really a very nice world. Bae had skills that he could sell in the Enchanted Forest, and Tiger Lily had been a fairy there, but in the Land Without Magic, they'd probably just starve. Particularly Beans. If his visions happen there, someone will lock him up…or worse. Besides, the Darlings had to be long dead. The only reasons he had to go to that world were long gone.

"The Enchanted Forest." Grabbing both of their hands, Bae jumped before he could change his mind. Tiger Lily gasped, and Beans muttered something, but they were falling and falling and the shouting was fading away.

The unlikely trio landed in a heap in a field Bae didn't know, but no Lost Boys came after them.


"You've been staring at that rose for the better part of three weeks." Fiona hoped that her dry statement might snap Rumplestiltskin out of his reverie—that he'd at least deny acting like a lovesick puppy dog!—but her son only shrugged. He was miserable, and not even trying to hide it. A bad sign if I've ever seen one.

"It doesn't matter." The way his voice deepened with loneliness told her otherwise; Rumplestiltskin sounded heartbreakingly human, and Fiona both loved and hated that. She had hoped that loving Belle might put him back on the path towards the light—but not like this!

"Of course it does, you silly boy." She didn't try to sound less affectionate; snapping at him hadn't worked over the last few weeks, so there was no reason to think it would start now. "You love her. That's why you let her go."

Fiona hadn't broached this topic since Belle had left, or at least not successfully. Every time she'd tried, Rumplestiltskin had shut her down or teleported away, trying to keep himself busy by helping Regina's princess friend find True Love. Snow White and Prince 'Charming' were doing well, however, so he didn't have a project to lose himself in. Fiona suspected that was why Rumplestiltskin was now staring at that single red rose instead of admiring his work in creating the world's first True Love potion. Shewas still impressed by the latter, but she was also worried for her son.

I never really thought he could love like that, she realized. Fiona had hoped, had planned, had schemed—but she hadn't thought Rumplestiltskin could actually overcome the darkness enough to let Belle go. She had thought that it would take more overt action on Belle's part. Yet he had, and now she was left with a depressed Dark One who could barely stop himself from moping around the castle.

"I had to." His whisper was so quiet that Fiona could barely hear him. "She deserved better."

"If Belle were here, I think she'd tell you that she gets to decide what she deserves, not you."

Rumplestiltskin snorted bitterly. "But she isn't. That's the point, isn't it?" He swung to face her, his eyes less reptilian than Fiona ever remembered seeing them. Then Fiona noticed that he was also holding that silly chipped cup, clinging to it with clawed fingers that were amazingly gentle. "She's smart enough to know to stay away from monsters."

"You're not a monster, Rumple." Stepping forward, Fiona put a careful hand on his shoulder. He hadn't wanted comfort after Belle left, and had slapped her away more than once, but today he let her squeeze his shoulder lightly. "Particularly not now."

"That's kind of you to say, Mother, but I know what I am." That stupid little giggle came next, but Fiona ignored it. "You can take the man out of the monster, but not the monster out of the man!"

She snorted. "Now you're just being melodramatic. I should know. It runs in the family."

"Is that a surprise?" His manic grin came back as Rumplestiltskin danced away from her, but Fiona saw how carefully he put that chipped cup down. The rose he'd almost given Belle was still in full bloom, too, which meant he'd used magic to preserve it. Sentimental.

"No." Fiona didn't even try not to sigh. Sometimes, how alike she and her son were was a true annoyance; that curse of his magnified his worst traits, most of which he'd inherited from her.

"Then I fail to see what the problem is." The words were a very annoying song, and FIona was having none of it.

"Go and find her then, Rumple. Quit moping about and do something."

That jerked him up short. "What?"

"I said go find Belle. You love her. She loves you. Go find her and tell her." Fiona didn't add before it's too late, but she was pretty sure that her son heard the words, anyway. Besides, she missed the girl. Belle was annoyingly smart and damnably moral, but she'd been an excellent research partner. Not to mention that Belle was the only person who cared about saving Rumplestiltskin aside from Fiona.

"I can't. I won't." He was back to sounding human again, and heartbroken. All this back-and-forth between personas was enough to give Fiona a headache. "The choice is hers."

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic! I'm not suggest you should kidnap the girl, or—heaven forbid!—make another deal for her. Just that you should talk to her. You might be surprised by what she says." Fiona knew that Rumplestiltskin was hopeless in a romantic sense, but even he should have been able to figure this one out. If even she could see it, he should be able to, too.

Much to her surprise, he didn't snap at her, or giggle mockingly. Rumplestiltskin only shook his head. "I let her go. I told her that I would be here…if she ever wanted to return. But if she wants freedom, I will…I will respect that."

Left speechless, Fiona felt her heart and her hopes break in two. All of her plans had been for nothing—yet she hardly cared about that. Right now, she didn't see the mess this had made of her scheme to break Rumplestiltskin's curse. Right now, she only saw her heartbroken son, who had, against all odds, made the right choice. He had found love, and then he had let Belle go. She had never thought Rumplestiltskin could do that; his curse was possessive and unpredictable, and while Fiona knew that her son could love, she hadn't thought he could love selflessly. Not while cursed.

"If I fool myself long enough, I can think that she might walk back in," he whispered, and Fiona abandoned conversation to step forward and hug him.

For a moment, she thought Rumplestiltskin would jerk away. He often did, after all. Yet today he did not, although he did not weep. He would not let himself, Fiona knew, and that was a pity. Weeping would probably do Rumplestiltskin a world of good, certainly more than the destruction he had wrought in the great hall in the hours after Belle had left. However, even Fiona knew better than to suggest it, so she merely held him in silence for as long as Rumplestiltskin would let her.


Travelling with Mulan had been one of the highlights of Belle's life. They'd fought the yaoguai together, revealing a hidden prince who they both then befriended, and then the three of them had travelled together to save Philip's princess. Watching Philip wake Aurora with True Love's Kiss was both breathtaking and amazing, and although Belle was very happy for her new friends, she was also left feeling a bit…empty. Those two were clearly so in love, sharing a deep connection of the sort that Belle had secretly dreamed of finding. Philip and Aurora understood one another, supported one another, and loved one another even when they were arguing. Belle had always told herself that she didn't need romance; she was strong and smart, and she could get by on her own. Yet watching the two lovebirds only made her think of the man whom she had walked away from.

"I think it's time I left," she told Philip, Aurora, and Mulan nearly three months after she'd left the Dark Castle. "Being here has been wonderful, but it's time for me to go back to my own love."

"Gaston?" Mulan arched an eyebrow, looking at her strangely. "I didn't think he'd be your type."

Belle felt her jaw drop. "Gaston? What made you think I was going to find Gaston?"

"There's rumors everywhere about how he was betrothed to you before you were stolen away." Philip shrugged, exchanging a loaded glance with Mulan. "Apparently, he's taken over your father's lands while he is ill, ruling in your name."

"He's what? Where did you hear this?"

"From some passing traders." Mulan looked concerned. "They said that Gaston's own lands were destroyed in the Third Ogre War, so he's now ruling yours."

"And my papa is sick?" Belle's stomach was churning wildly; what had happened while she was gone? How could she have been so selfish as to think nothing could have gone wrong at home while she was gone?

Philip shrugged again. "That's the rumor, anyway. No one seems to know for certain, but Gaston is surely ruling in his place."

Belle felt cold. Cold and guilty and terrible. But she knew what she had to do. Belle was going home, and Rumplestiltskin would just have to wait.


"So, do you think she trusts you?"

Tink started to smile, but the expression died when faced by the outlaw's intensity. Robin was a good man, but she could see that what Little John had told her was true; he'd been gutted by Marian's murder. Zelena, of course, had killed her. Fiona had already pointed Tink in that direction for her own reasons, but Tink had felt rather funny about finding Zelena a lover until she'd stumbled into joining the Merry Men. She'd immediately befriended Regina, Snow, and the others, and she would have been willing to spy on Zelena for them alone. The fact that it neatly coincided with what Fiona wanted was just icing. Now that she knew Robin and Roland, she felt even less guilty. Roland was a sweet little boy who deserved far better than having lost a mother he would barely remember.

"I'm not sure she trusts anyone, to be honest." Tink sighed. "But she seems to be listening to me, anyway. I promised her a lover who would let her rule him, and she's definitely interested in that."

Robin snorted. "You'd best find a power hungry idiot, then. She might be easy on the eyes, but from what I hear, the 'Wicked Queen' is crazier than a box of cats."

"Crazier."

"My heart goes out to you for having to be around her, then."

"I can usually avoid her—wicked witches don't usually have a lot of free time. They're too busy tormenting people." Tink shrugged. "It's her pet 'doctor' who keeps trying to romance me. He's not a bad sort, at least not for someone who assembles bodies out of spare parts, but I am not getting attached." Part of me wants to point him at Fiona, because it would at least be funny, but Victor's too nice for her.

Robin barked out a laugh. "It's rather rich that you're being picky and choosy about morality when you're consorting with outlaws, you know."

"At least you steal from the rich and give to the poor. Frankenstein steals from graveyards to see if he can bring the dead back to life." He also was a little charming, but Tink wasn't going to say that aloud. Zelena clearly viewed Frankenstein as a possession even if the 'doctor' disagreed with that assessment, and Tink was not stupid enough to get in the middle. Besides, Frankenstein's easy comfort around discombobulated arms and legs gave her the creeps.

"So, have you thought about who you're going to point the queen towards as a love interest?" Robin asked the question without any real interest, and Tink didn't blame him. After all, her goal wasn't to help Zelena find redemption via love; Tink would have tried that if she thought it would work, but one look at the Queen's heartless harem told her that just wasn't going to happen.

"I was thinking about your good friend Nottingham. Does he have any tattoos or identifying features I can use when the pixie dust trick falls through? I'm going to have to fake it when she doesn't have an actual soulmate."

"You so sure she doesn't? I hear the Dark One is single."

Tink shuddered, thinking about how Fiona would react to that. Or how Rumplestiltskin would, for that matter. The tales Blue had told about Rumplestiltskin didn't begin to approach the truth. He'd been the Dark One longer than any other, and he'd mastered magics that his predecessors had only dreamt of. He didn't seem to be as terrible or as much of a threat as Blue claimed—after all, she'd stayed in his castle for a bit, and she'd even befriended Belle, who seemed to be head over heels in love with him—but Fiona was another matter. She made mother bears look disinterested in their cubs' safety, that woman did.

That pixie dust had better not take Zelena to him, she thought darkly. If it does, I am flying away as fast as I can. I am not going to face Fiona if that happens!

"Don't even joke about that." She was not going to tempt fate on that front.

"You think you're wary of him? He strung me up in a dungeon and was going to flay me alive. If his maid hadn't rescued me, I wouldn't be here talking to you." Robin's eyes narrowed as he misconstrued her meaning. Then his scowl turned into a lopsided grin. "But I did manage to steal the wand I needed, so it worked out all right in the end."

"You're crazy." Tink couldn't help laughing, though. Robin was a good man, and a good friend. She hadn't expected to end up here, but he'd taken her in when she had nowhere else to go, and she fit in far better with the Merry Men than she ever had as a fairy.

Outcast or not, however, Tink was still a fairy. So, when she saw Robin and Regina together for the first time an hour later, she could practically smell the magic trying to bind those two together. Neither had really noticed it, at least not yet, but Tink could see it. I don't need pixie dust to put these two together, she realized, biting back her grin. They'll do it all on their own.


"You really liked Aurora, didn't you?" Belle asked Mulan as they crested a hilltop on their way to her home. One more day and they would be there, and Belle could hardly mask her nerves.

"Was I that obvious?" Mulan looked vaguely alarmed, so Belle reached out and squeezed her elbow.

"A little, but only because I've gotten to know you pretty well." A year or so ago, Belle might have been horrified by the idea of one woman loving another, but she'd grown a lot since she left home…and she really did like Mulan. Mulan had become the kind of friend she wished she'd had when she was younger—a woman who wasn't afraid to fight or to get her hands dirty for something she believed in.

"Oh." Mulan bit her lip. "Don't tell her. Please. She's happy."

"I won't," Belle promised. "That's up to you. But I think you should. Walking away from love is rarely the right answer."

The slender woman shrugged, glancing down at the sword on her hip self-consciously. "She'd never want someone like me. I'm too…different. I wear armor instead of dresses, and I know how to use a sword."

Belle couldn't help chuckling. "I know that feeling."

"What?" Mulan snorted. "You're the perfect little lady."

"Thank you, I think." She laughed again, shaking her head. Mulan really didn't know much about the nobility, and it showed. Belle might wear dresses and have good manners, but that hardly made her a 'perfect' little lady. Perfect little ladies don't volunteer to save their people, she thought with a crooked smile. "But I'm not. I read."

That earned her a funny look. "What's wrong with reading?"

"It starts giving women 'ideas'." The quote rolled off her tongue more caustically than Belle wanted it to, and she forced herself to shrug casually. "Apparently, I think too much. Everyone thinks so."

"I don't. If you hadn't read that book, we'd have never found the yaoguai."

"And that's why I like you."

Her smile faded after a moment, though. They were so close, and yet so far away. What would she find when they arrived? Would her father be all right, or would his illness be a bad one? And what in the world was Gaston doing claiming her family lands? Even if Belle had been dead—which she hardly was!—she had cousins who would inherit long before some stranger from a neighboring duchy. Gaston had no right to claim her father's castle, and Belle was going to do whatever it took to save her people from him.


A/N: So, it looks like I'm going to have to go to once a week updates; I'm starting a master's program next week, and I'll probably be a bit busier than I'd like! So, look for Tuesday or Wednesday updates from here on out.

Stay tuned for Chapter 22—"Through the Darkness and the Shadows," in which Zelena has a dangerous plan, Belle sneaks in to see her father, Gaston is ghastly, Rumplestiltskin tries to manage his overly ambitious pupil, and Baelfire learns a little bit about his father.