Chapter 22—"Through the Darkness and the Shadows"


"I want to go back in time." Zelena announced the words with a flourish, and they were certainly enough to get Rumplestiltskin to actually pay attention to his pupil. He'd come to her—he didn't want her in his castle, not if he could help it—but he'd admittedly been paying little attention to whatever revenge Zelena was prattling on about between lessons.

He snorted out a giggle. "No can do, dearie. Magic can't change the past."

"That's what you think. I've found a spell that can do it." She was proud of herself, but when Rumplestiltskin peered at her, he couldn't detect a lie. Zelena was serious, and that made him sit up straight.

"Show me." For once, the queen didn't act offended to be gestured over by a mere sorcerer; Zelena rushed to him, book in hands.

"Look. If I can get the required ingredients, it can be done." Her grin made her look younger and far more innocent, but Rumplestiltskin barely noticed. His eyes were too busy flying over the pages.

"This would take more power than you have." He glanced at her suspiciously, but Zelena merely folded her hands, looking innocent.

"That's why you're going to help me."

"Oh ho ho, am I?" Rumplestiltskin rose to meet her eyes, hating the way she was taller than him. Usually he could intimidate Zelena, but whatever bit of serene confidence she'd gained seemed to armor her against his normal methods. "Why do you want to go back into the past, anyway?"

Zelena drew herself up. "I want to save my mother, of course."

"Is that so?" Rumplestiltskin managed to keep all emotions off of his face, but it was hard. Zelena didn't know how Cora had died; she only knew that her mother had been sick and died in her sleep. Zelena didn't know that Fiona had killed her, or that Rumplestiltskin had been his mother's accomplice, and he had no intention of ever letting that secret out. Fiona was the only other person who knew what had happened, and his mother wasn't about to tell, either. Obviously.

"Of course I do! What kind of daughter do you take me for?" Zelena huffed, annoyed. "I've even figured out how to do it without changing too much. I'll rescue her at the point of her death, and bring her forward. Then she'll be grateful to me, and I'll have a mother here to appreciate my power."

My, wasn't that interesting? Zelena didn't want to change her past; she only wanted to rescue Cora. And Cora would be delighted to find that her daughter was a powerful sorceress and queen, too; Rumplestiltskin didn't doubt that. Seeing her daughter in power would make his old lover happier than anything other than being a queen herself. It was almost a pity that Rumplestiltskin would never allow that to happen. Not with the way she wanted to take my dagger.

"What kind doesn't matter if you can't do the spell yourself." He wagged a finger at her as he sang the words, glad that Zelena had shown her cards so early. He needed her to cast the Dark Curse, not go digging in his past.

And he was not going to even contemplate the idea of Cora casting the curse. It would work, but she would be a monster with that much power, and he couldn't risk that.

"I know you want to find your son." Zelena met his eyes calmly. "If you help me, we can get him, too."

"I know where he is," Rumplestiltskin spat. Kill her now, Zoso taunted him. Then go find your precious maid and cast the curse yourself.

Shut up! He would never hurt Belle. Never.

"Then that's even easier, isn't it?"

He glared at her, already sick of her self-satisfied smirk. "I don't need time travel to fix my mistakes."

"Think of how easy it would be, Rumple." Zelena stepped forward, and she tried to put a hand on his arm, but he evaded that easily. "You could go make everything right—"

"All magic comes at a price, dearie," he snapped viciously. "Playing with the past will have a steep one."

"One I'm willing to pay." She glared, jutting her chin into the air. "You will, too, in time. You'll see."

Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes and carried on with her scheduled lesson, but that didn't keep a ball of dread from gnawing away at in the pit of his stomach. He absolutely would not help Zelena cast her spell, but what if someone else did? Cora coming back was not what he needed, not when the curse was closing in and all he needed was for the lovebirds to push Zelena just far enough and for the Savior to be born. Things were coming to a head, and Zelena mucking about with time travel in the middle of his preparations could only make things more uncertain.

So kill her and use her sister, Zoso suggested, snorting at the irony of it all. Or sleep with her and distract her. Get some decent use out of that rusty libido of yours.

Oh, do be quiet. Rumplestiltskin almost groaned aloud. The best escape you could engineer was suicide. You're hardly one to talk about intricate plans! He'd realized long ago that Zoso had a base kind of cunning to him, but little real intelligence. Most of his predecessors had simply focused on how much damage and destruction they could cause, but Rumplestiltskin was driven. He would find his son, and then he would fight to be the father Baelfire wanted him to be. That would be enough. It would have to be.

Even if there would forever be a Belle-sized hole in his heart, his son would have to be enough.


Creeping into the dungeon was easy when you'd grown up in the castle and all of your father's retainers were still in place. Gaston had replaced people a few key positions with his cronies, but most of the guards were still men whom Belle had known since childhood. Being a troublesome and curious girl, she'd wandered everywhere, including dungeons where proper young ladies were not supposed to be. So, she knew her way around and knew the guards who were supposed to keep her out, which meant she and Mulan easily found her father's cell.

"Papa?" Belle tried to keep her voice down; the guards she knew wouldn't rat them out, but there was no telling if one of Gaston's hangers-on would show up.

"Belle?" Maurice had been in the back of the cell, but her arrival made him stumble forward, blinking in the light of the lantern Mulan held. "What are you doing here?"

"We've come to get you out and then free our people." Reaching through the bars, Belle squeezed his hand. "This is Mulan. She's a friend."

"You can't be here, sweeting. Gaston is—"

"I'm not afraid of Gaston." Belle squared her shoulders, looking around for a way to open the door. No one had dared give her the keys, but she'd read a book on lock picking, and Belle was eager to test out her new skills. "He's nothing but a big bully."

"He's a bully with powerful allies, Belle." Maurice looked almost panicked with worry. "There's a witch and more guards than you think."

That made Mulan go for her sword. "Guards where?"

"Right here." But the voice that answered was Gaston's, and Belle whirled around, taking in her former fiancé's smug and gloating expression. His smile was greedy. "I've been waiting for you, Belle."

"Good. Then you can let my father out. Now." There was nothing in Gaston's expression that indicated he'd listen to her, but Belle figured that she had nothing to lose. Some of the guards behind him were loyal to her family, and they might help her.

Gaston's laugh put an end to that hope, however. "Of course I will. Right after you marry me. It wouldn't do to have my father-in-law imprisoned, now, would it?"

"Marry you?" Belle spat the words before she could stop herself. "After you've locked up my father? You've got to be joking."

"Belle, sweeting, please—" Maurice's desperate whisper was cut off by Gaston stepping forward as if to take her arm, only for Mulan to get in the way.

"Touch her and I'll cut your hand off." Mulan's eyes were cold and intent. "Don't think I can't."

Gaston's smile only grew, which made Belle's heart sink. "I'd never hurt my bride-to-be. In fact, I'd be more than willing to have LeFou here escort her to her chambers. They've been made ready for her."

Belle felt her eyes narrow. "Made ready so that I can't get out of them again?"

"I care for your safety. Is there any harm in that? We wouldn't want the Dark One stealing you away again, after all."

She wanted to throttle him, but Belle could tell when the odds were against her. Even her old family guards looked well and truly cowed by Gaston—either that, or paid off. Only LeFou looked a little guilty, and Belle knew that wouldn't last long. Not unless she could somehow build upon the unease she saw in LeFou's eyes. LeFou had always been Gaston's loyal lackey, but Gaston treated him terribly half the time.

But if she'd learned anything in the Dark Castle, it was when to withdraw and fight another day. Every inch of her railed against the idea of letting Gaston think he'd won, but Belle had to play this smart. If she didn't, her father would suffer for it. I won't let anyone else be hurt because of my mistakes, she thought, remembering the baby ogre who she had tried so hard to help. Belle still wasn't sure if she'd contributed to the war by letting the young ogre go or if Gaston's actions had caused it, but she wasn't about to be so reckless again. Not with so much at stake.

"Fine. I'll go to my rooms." She squared her shoulders, glaring at Gaston as coldly as she could. "But Mulan stays with me."

"Oh, by all means." Gaston laughed heartily. "I couldn't imagine a better bodyguard for you—at least I won't have to worry about a woman defiling my beloved!"

Mulan's snort was quiet, and it took everything Belle had not to laugh out loud. Instead, she followed LeFou in silence, with her friend right by her side. They'd have to do something, and Belle thought she knew what.


"She needs a push." Her son was scowling, and Fiona had no doubt that the voices inside him were grumbling constantly. Rumplestiltskin had been both touchy and incredibly focused on the curse ever since Belle left, and Fiona could see him throwing all of the love he had left in him towards finding Baelfire.

Worse yet, Fiona wasn't done adjusting said curse, which meant Rumplestiltskin was still determined to put power over all their fates into the hands of that conceited little witch. Fiona hated to admit that she was having a hard time recalling how she'd balanced out the various prices the first time around, and Blue had cleverly destroyed or hidden the original documents. It was almost like Blue wanted the curse to be cast—but that wasn't the issue at the moment, was it?

Her poor boy was clearly out of hope that Belle would come back, and truth be told, Fiona was really starting to wonder . She had expected Belle to return by now, yet they'd seen neither hide nor hair of the damn girl. Tink had told her that Belle had been seen in King Stefan's kingdom, having apparently helped find the sleeping princess' True Love. Maleficent was reportedly wroth over how that had upset her revenge, but so long as Maleficent didn't go after Belle, Fiona didn't care what annoyed the 'Mistress of All Evil'. She hadn't heard of Belle leaving Stefan's lands yet, but Fiona was contemplating interfering once she did.

After all, someone had to find out of the girl still had feelings for Rumplestiltskin. Heavens knew that her son was not going to do so himself, and Morgan needed to know if her plans had gone awry. If they had, well, she had best figure out how to restore her own version of the Dark curse, because every other avenue of freeing her son had failed. Perhaps if I gather enough dark fairy dust…

Still, Rumplestiltskin's grumbled complaint was new. "Why?" Fiona tried not to roll her eyes. "What has that obnoxious brat of a witch done now?"

"She's working on time travel." Rumplestiltskin spat the words out like they tasted foul. "Even worse, she's found something that might work."

"She has?" Now Fiona was actually paying attention. No one had ever managed that, before, or at least not managed to find a survivable spell. Fiona had watched one or two smash themselves into goo over the years, and as entertaining as that was, it was also pointless.

"Yes. An ancient spell from Oz. It has…inconvenient ingredients, but nothing impossible." Rumplestiltskin's voice dropped, losing any pretense at giddy high-pitched humor. "She wants to rescue Cora from death."

"Oh, dear." Fiona sat back in her own chair, her mind racing. Unfortunately, that trick might just work. It would also leave both the present unaffected and royally screw over their plans. Cora might not know who fed her the squid ink that immobilized her and left her in a death-like sleep, but she'd figure it out fast enough.

Rumplestiltskin just snarled in wordless agreement, and Fiona hissed out a breath. Yes, this was dangerously inconvenient. The last thing they needed was that woman on a revenge-fueled rampage. If Cora took it into her head to control Rumplestiltskin and succeeded, the curse would never be cast. Because then I'll kill her, and end up offing Zelena while I'm at it. Rumplestiltskin might not mourn either one, but he does want the curse cast to find Baelfire. And if I can't find another way to get him to the Land Without Magic, he'll never forgive me if I kill his curse caster. There was no winning here. Not if Cora came back.

"We'll manage, Rumple," she said after a moment, watching her son see-saw between rage and worry. "One way or another. We will find your son." She couldn't deny him that. No matter how much she liked keeping her son to herself, Fiona knew the pain of being separated from her son far too well.

"Sometimes I wonder why you help me at all." His whisper was ragged, and the eyes that turned on Fiona were suddenly wide and lost.

Immediately, Fiona got up and walked over to her son, placing a hand on his arm. She knew where this was coming from: again, he had fallen in love, and again, Rumplestiltskin had lost the one he loved. His self-esteem had never been high, and the confidence he had in his magic greatly outweighed his confidence in his own person. I started this, she thought brokenly. I was the first to abandon him, and I only wish I was the last.

But at least she was here now.

"Because I am your mother," Fiona said softly. "We are family. I love you, and I will always help you."

Rumplestiltskin could have pointed out that she hadn't always been there, that she'd left him alone as surely as anyone else had. But he didn't. Fiona just watched his eyes close briefly, so she squeezed his shoulder once more, her touch gentle. He needed her, and Fiona would be damned if she failed him again.


They'd landed outside Port Mystic, which had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Port Mystic had been a busy port town in Bae's time, but nowadays it was smaller and much more run down. Their only healer had also died a few months earlier, which offered a big opportunity to the three newcomers. Tiger Lily might not have had magic any longer, but she knew her herbs and salves. She immediately stepped forward to help with the sickness ravaging the village, and found herself with a job when her cures worked. The mayor handed over the old healer's house (she'd died without any family to inherit it), and Tiger Lily and her two "apprentices" moved right in.

Bae had been nervous about going to the Enchanted Forest, but things didn't really seem much different than he'd remembered. After a few weeks, he started cautiously asking questions, and found that the apprentice blacksmith was the best one to go to for news. Clank wasn't the sharpest person Bae had ever met, but he was a good person, and Bae kind of liked him. Clank was a little oblivious, though, and Bae was really glad for that. He probably wouldn't have asked so many questions if he was talking to someone likely to put the pieces together and figure out that Bae, Beans, and Tiger Lily were definitely not familiar with the town or the times, but Clank had yet to even act a little suspicious.

"So, um, what happened to the ogres?" Bae had been burning to ask that question since the beginning; his papa had won the war, but Bae knew better than most that the ogres would keep coming back.

Clank just shrugged, his mouth half full of a piece of bread. "Gone. Came to the Marchlands about a year back, but they're all gone now. Dark One did it."

"The Dark One?" Bae felt his heart stutter a little; he wasn't sure if he wanted to know about his father or not, but he knew that whoever the Dark One was, it probably wasn't him. Tiger Lily had been able to look at the town's books, and that told Bae that it had been a few hundred years since he'd last been in the Enchanted Forest.

"'S what they say. Bobble told me 'bout it."

Bae knew that Bobble was the blacksmith's other—and sharper—apprentice, but he really didn't want to deal with the thousand questions Bobble would ask. "Did he say the Dark One's name?"

"Course not! You think Bobble's stupid?"

"Right. Sorry." So much for that idea; Bae let out a breath and changed the subject. He wasn't sure why he was asking, anyway. There was no way that his father had lasted so long as the Dark One, and even if Rumplestiltskin had, Bae wasn't sure he wanted to ever see him again.

He still had nightmares about dropping through that portal alone.


"Where are your father's people?" Mulan asked in an undertone as soon as soon as they were away from Gaston and his toadies.

Belle glanced around cautiously. LeFou led them through the corridors of the castle Belle had grown up in, and there were enough guards following them to keep them from doing anything reckless, but she didn't think any of them were really paying attention. Still, she kept her voice quiet. "They're here. They're helping Gaston."

"Why?"

"I wish I knew." Belle let out an angry breath. She was not going to do something stupid…but talking to LeFou couldn't hurt, could it? "LeFou?"

Much to her surprise, Gaston's friend stopped, turning to look at her, quirking a nervous smile. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not that simple."

"Not as simple as betrayal?" Mulan's voice was a growl.

"People are scared." LeFou shrugged. "Gaston has allied with the Wicked Queen. He was on his way to find you, to confront that beast that took you, when he ran into her. And she offered to help him take your father's lands instead."

"Zelena?" Belle couldn't help gaping. She knew Zelena didn't like her, but the witch couldn't have gone after her father because of that, could she?

Except Zelena was that petty, and she knew it.

"Yes. Her." LeFou shuddered. "Gaston thinks she'll marry him, and that he'll become a king."

"Marry her? He just said I had to marry him!" Belle couldn't keep her jaw from dropping, and a quick glance to her left indicated Mulan looked just as shocked.

"Nah, he's not really interested in marrying you, or at least not for long." LeFou grimaced. "Gaston…well, he has a plan. And he says that he'll get your marriage annulled after a week so that he can keep your father's lands."

"On what grounds?" Belle had heard of such things happening before, of women left bereft because their former husband had gotten some helpful cleric or another to declare their marriage invalid—and yet left said husband with the lands the lady had inherited. But she'd never imagined it could happen to her, even with an oaf like Gaston.

Then again, I was considering marrying him before the ogres overran his lands. Rumplestiltskin might have ended the war, but that doesn't restore Gaston's lands or his people. His castle was destroyed, and all of the peasants fled to places like here, Belle realized. The end of the war had left her father one of the most powerful nobles in the region. Sir Maurice might only be a landed knight, but his lands were vast and his people were happy. They were working hard to recover from the war, whereas Gaston probably hadn't bothered to lift a finger to help his people, or to rebuild. Instead, he wants to steal mine! Belle was not going to let that happen.

LeFou gave her a sympathetic look that was all too sincere. "Because the Dark One defiled you, of course."

"He didn't!"

"It doesn't matter," Mulan cut in even as LeFou shook his head disbelievingly. "Everyone will believe he did, and that's enough."

Belle gaped. Yes, she'd expected Rumplestiltskin to want her to be his concubine—or worse—but he'd expected nothing of the sort. The fact that she planned to go back to him had everything to do with the kind of man he was under his curse, not with anything he'd done to her! "But I'm still—I'm still…"

"It doesn't matter." The hand LeFou put on her arm was surprisingly gentle. "The clerics will lie for him. Like everyone else, they're afraid of Queen Zelena. The truth won't help you."

"Zelena won't marry Gaston." Belle knew that much was true; Zelena looked at Rumplestiltskin like she wanted to devour him, and if Rumplestiltskin—or what she thought Rumplestiltskin was—was her type, she wouldn't want Gaston. "She's just using him."

LeFou's snort was bitter. "I wish someone would tell Gaston that."

"You could," Mulan pointed out.

"He'd never believe me. I'm just his squire, someone to laugh at and have polish his boots." He looked sad, but Belle knew LeFou was right. How many times had she heard Gaston berating LeFou? LeFou was worlds smarter than Gaston, yet Gaston constantly called him an idiot and sent him to do the most degrading tasks.

"But our people are in danger. We can't do nothing!" Belle met LeFou's eyes square on, but after a moment, he looked away, seeming ashamed.

"I've tried talking him out of this. He won't listen. And Gaston will doom everyone because of his ambition."

"Then help us. Help us save everyone. Including you." On impulse, Belle reached out to take LeFou's hands, so very aware of the guards behind them. Yet none of those guards had said a word or even tried to interfere. They'd all been her father's men, and that couldn't be an accident, could it?

Maybe LeFou already wanted to help them, and just hadn't yet admitted it to himself.

"And what can a girl who's been away for so long do?" LeFou asked. But he sounded more curious than doubting.

"We can start by getting Sir Maurice out of that prison cell," Mulan pointed out logically. "With their rightful ruler to lead them, the people will fight Gaston and his goons off."

LeFou shook his head sadly. "Gaston keeps his own men guarding your father. Otherwise, someone would have let him out by now. And if he can't lead the attack—"

"Then I will."

Gapin, LeFou stared at her. "You?"

"Yes, me." Belle crossed her arms, her heart pounding. You wanted to be a hero, a voice inside her said, sounding much like her mother. Now prove you're worthy. "I'm not going to stand by while others fight for my home. No one decides my fate but me."

"Are you sure? You're..." LeFou trailed off uncertainly, and then let out a huge sigh. "Oh, hell. No one deserves to be married to Gaston, even if it's just for a little while. I'll help you. But even if we win, we can't fight Zelena. Even if she doesn't come, her armies are huge. And if she does…" He shuddered.

"Let me deal with that." Belle knew how to call Rumplestiltskin, after all, and if that failed, she knew how much Fiona hated Zelena. Making a deal with one or the other of them shouldn't be too hard, particularly since she had no intention of staying away from the Dark Castle. "I know someone with magic enough to help."


Elsewhere, Snow White prepared to go to war. Not against her stepmother, not yet—no, the first war would be fought against King George, who had yet again sent agents to capture the man he still publically maintained was his son. Robin had killed two of them, and David had taken out the third, cementing a growing friendship between the two men. Tink, thankfully with them and not in Zelena's castle, was able to heal the third would-be kidnapper, who was happy to provide them with answers after some prodding, and those answers set Snow on the warpath.

David had never really been attracted by the idea of power, but even a shepherd knew that King George had to be stopped. The man who had tried to kidnap David had told them that George was now in league with Zelena, and they all knew that alliance could not be allowed to stand. Zelena was dangerous enough alone, and the fact that she wanted Snow dead was enough to make David willing to fight her. Now that George was joining his arm to hers, however, the Wicked Queen might very well be unstoppable.

Against that, they had Robin and his Merry Men, a former huntsman who knew too much, a fairy who was spying on Zelena, and a werewolf. The odds were long, but David wasn't about to give up. They would find a way to unite the kingdoms against George and Zelena, no matter what it took.


A/N: Here we go! I think I'm settling on Thursday updates—that hopefully gives me enough time to get my coursework done for the week and then focus on writing.

Stay tuned for Chapter 23—"On Their Own," in which Belle rallies people to overthrow Gaston, Beans has a vision that worries Tiger Lily, Tink meets a pirate, and Fiona goes to the Apprentice for answers.