Chapter 42—"A Puzzle to the Rest of Us"

Zelena hated needing anyone for anything. It was utterly demeaning. A true queen wouldn't need to depend upon anyone else for anything, which was why she'd had her guards kidnap the old Seer once she learned there was one nearby. Of course, there was the slight wrinkle when her guards brought back a woman instead of the man she expected. Looking at the young woman made Zelena sneer. She was beautiful, certainly, but painted up like she was trying to impress people. Her white-blonde hair contrasted mightily with her olive skin, and her eyes were eerie, almost red.

"You look like a prostitute. What good is a prostitute when I need a Seer?" Zelena rolled her eyes, determined to look past the girl's off-putting appearance. "My men were looking for Tiresias, not a two-bit harlot."

"I am Tiresias." The young woman glared right back. "And I am a seer."

"Prove it."

Tiresias snorted. "Why should I do that?"

"If you don't, I'll kill you." Zelena gave Tiresias her best smile. "Because then you're not useful to me."

"And what do I get if I'm useful?"

"You get to live. And if you cooperate, you might have a nicer life than the one you had in whatever gutter my guards pulled you out of."

"It wasn't a gutter," Tiresias muttered, but her hands still came up after a moment, sweeping through the air. Her eyes went blank as she began to speak: "A Savior will be born. The old is renewed but different, and new Savior will be born before the year ends…"

That made Zelena frown. The new year had just passed, however, which meant she had plenty of time before some 'Savior' came along to wreck her plans. The Savior will only be a baby, anyway. What harm can a baby do to me? The idea hit her like a bolt of lightning.

"Tell me about this Savior." Zelena stepped close to the bars of Tiresias' cell, leaning forward eagerly. "Will it be a child of True Love?"

Tiresias grimaced, her eyes going blank again. "The Savior…the Savior will be a child of a princess turned outlaw and—"

"Brilliant!" Zelena didn't care if she'd cut off the rest of what Tiresias was going to say; she could kill two birds with one stone! This prophesied Savior was clearly the son or daughter of her stupid little stepdaughter and her nauseatingly true prince. Zelena had hoped to use Snow's child for her spell, because losing her child would destroy Snow utterly. There's no better revenge than that! She felt her chest swell up with pride and excitement.

Then reality crashed in, and Zelena scowled. "You said the child wasn't even born yet?"

"Not conceived." Tiresias shook her head, her eyes returning to their normal color. "But will be. She will be."

"She." Zelena licked her lips. Snow was going to have a daughter, a daughter who Zelena would make certain never knew her parents. Oh, that was delicious. She would visit the same fate on Snow's daughter as someone had visited on her!

And while she did so, Zelena would save her own mother from death. Waving a hand, she gestured for the guards to move Tiresias into a nicer cell, perhaps the one with the big bed up in the tower. Zelena kept her promises, and she knew she'd need more information from her new pet seer. The downside, of course, was that she would have to wait to cast her spell; if Snow's baby hadn't been conceived, that meant Zelena would have to wait at least nine months to save her mother.

It will be worth it, she promised herself. In the meantime, Zelena would plan everything to perfection. Mother will understand, she knew. And she'll be so proud when I bring her back!


"Papa?" A hand grabbed his arm when they appeared in the great hall, and Rumplestiltskin turned to face his son. Bae was here with him, in his own home. The thought was enough to make his heart stop with delight.

"Yes, Bae?" Rumplestiltskin felt a smile tugging at his lips, even though his mother had brought the other boy, Madam Faustina, and a fairy along to his castle.

Belle can deal with them. She's good with people.

"Did I, um, hear right and the Black Fairy is your mom?" Bae made a face. "And…Peter Pan's your dad?"

Rumplestiltskin swallowed. "Unfortunately, yes. There is…much to explain."

Bae snorted. "You can say that again."

"And how exactly am I 'unfortunate', Rumple?" Predictably, Fiona turned to face them, now standing next to the mystery fairy and not far from a lost-looking Madam Faustina. "I did think we were past that."

"I didn't mean you, Mother."

"Ah, well, yes, the fact that I married Malcolm in my young and foolish days did turn out to be rather unfortunate." Fiona shrugged. "Still, it gave me you, and he's been dealt with, so I suppose we've come out ahead."

Rumplestiltskin felt himself flush; he was used to his mother, and treasured her for who she was, but listening to her say such things still made him feel strangely warm. Particularly now that the darkness wasn't around to drive him away from love.

Bae, however, was watching his grandmother dubiously. "I met you on Neverland. You didn't mention it then."

"Well, that's because I didn't know you were my grandson." Fiona shrugged expansively. "If I had, I might have saved us all a great deal of trouble, as well as some uncomfortable groveling to a particularly sanctimonious apprentice."

"How could you not know?" Bae was frowning, and Rumplestiltskin opened his mouth to say something, but Fiona got in first.

"Well, Malcolm and I hadn't exactly been on speaking terms for centuries. I was exiled, and then once I realized he'd abandoned your father, I was rather keener on filleting him than on sharing family stories."

"Oh."

Rumplestiltskin finally decided it was time that he resumed control of this situation; if he let his mother ramble on, there was no knowing how long this would take. So, he cleared his throat meaningfully. "Now that we have all the various family relationships straightened out, I think some introductions are in order."

He threw his mother a meaningful glance, wanting to know why another woman who stank of fairy magic was in his castle, but Fiona just smiled widely.

"Oh, this is Tiger Lily. She's your Fairy Godmother."

"My what?"

"His what?" Bae's jaw dropped open as he echoed his father's words.

"And Rumplestiltskin is your father?" Tiger Lily's eyes were fastened on Baelfire, not Rumplestiltskin.

Bae shrugged. "Admitting that your father is the Dark One—or was, I guess—usually isn't a good way to make friends."

Tiger Lily gaped; Rumplestiltskin was still trying to wrap his mind around the concept of having a fairy godmother. Fiona, as usual, filled the silence.

"Speaking of friends, who might this one be?" She gestured at the second boy, who still stuck close by Tiger Lily's side.

"Name's Beans." He glanced worriedly between Fiona and Madam Faustina. "'M not anyone important."

"He's my friend." Bae looked mulishly determined to defend Beans, and seeing his boy so brave made Rumplestiltskin smile.

"Any friend of yours is welcome here for as long as he needs to stay, Bae."

Bae's beaming expression made him go warm inside, made Rumplestiltskin feel like a better person than he had in centuries.

"Thanks, Papa."

"He's a Seer." Madam Faustina entered the conversation, looking both angry and embarrassed. She also looked a little worn around the edges, and Rumplestiltskin could feel the magic that surrounded her working against itself. "One who I, uh, cursed with eternal youth."

Beans shuffled closer to Tiger Lily. "She wanted to kill me for it. Drink it."

"That's not happening." Tiger Lily looked downright fierce when defending a child, and that made Rumplestiltskin wonder if perhaps his fairy godmother was not all terrible. Mother seems to like her, at least.

"It can't." Faustina shrugged uncomfortably. "Bae…Bae got in the way when I removed the curse of youth and beauty. It didn't come back to me. It hit him instead."

"What?" The word tore out of Rumplestiltskin so hard his chest hurt, and he whirled to catch the wide-eyed expression on his son's face.

"I—I was just trying to save Beans." Bae gulped. "I thought it would kill him."

"It would have, if you hadn't interrupted." Rumplestiltskin could see the magic on his son, now that he was looking, could see it playing over him. It made him cold. Cold with grief, cold with worry, and cold with rage. Slowly, he turned to look at Madam Faustina. "Give me one reason why you should leave this castle breathing, dearie."

"Rumple, what's going on?" Of course, Belle chose now to appear, and Rumpelstiltskin swallowed. He was trying to be better, he really was, but this little witch had cursed his son. He wasn't the Dark One now, but Rumplestiltskin could make an exception, couldn't he?

"Not now." Fiona caught her arm gently, shaking her head. Belle stopped, looking concerned but confused

Madam Faustina flinched. "I didn't mean to curse him. Not him—"

"Papa, you can't," Bae cut in urgently. "She's Morraine."

"Who?" Centuries' old memories stirred. "What do you—Morraine?" Rumplestiltskin swung to stare at Madam Faustina, imagining a teenaged girl in her place. Imagining his son's best friend.

He could not believe it.

"Yes." Morraine bit her lip, her face pale but brave. "You look different than the last time I saw you, Rumplestiltskin."

"You know this little twit?" Fiona gaped.

"What happened to you?" Bae demanded before Fiona could say more. For his part, Rumplestiltskin stood dumbly; he could hardly picture how the sweet and brave girl Bae had befriended could become the coldly proper sorceress Rumplestiltskin already knew.

Yet no one would have imagined he would become the Dark One, either? Or whatever it was he'd now become? Centuries ago, they had been simple folk. Rumplestiltskin could hardly hold what she had become against her—yet Morraine had cursed Bae. She had placed a curse upon him that Rumplestiltskin knew would be hard to break, one that would derail Bae's life if Rumplestiltskin couldn't do the job. Had he still been the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin doubted he would have stopped himself from harming her, but he was enough in control of himself now that he could pause and listen.

Morraine glanced sadly at Bae. "It's…it's not a very pretty story."

"I think almost everyone here is pretty used to ugly stories." Bae gave her a half smile and a shrug, moving over to be closer to his old friend. Rumplestiltskin almost objected, but then he resolutely shut his mouth. He wanted to know, too, and Bae was more likely to get answers.

"It started not long after you left." Surprisingly, her eyes went to Rumplestiltskin. "You killed the Duke of the Frontlands, but his nephew took over after you were gone. And he…he took me."

"He what?" Bae sounded offended and like he felt a little guilty, a feeling Rumplestiltskin could easily understand.

I almost killed her when I lost Bae, and then I left. And I never even thought about what might have become of Morraine. As Dark One, he wouldn't have felt guilty, but now that he was human again, Rumplestiltskin thought he deserved at least a little blame on that front. He'd done nothing, and that was a feeling he wasn't sure he liked. I almost miss the lack of guilt. It was…easier.

"I escaped him after a while," Morraine answered, but what she didn't add said volumes. "I called for Reul Ghorm after that, hoping for help, but she didn't even answer. That was when Madam Faustina found me. She said she would help me, but she imprisoned me, instead."

"I remember her." Rumplestiltskin scowled, thinking on Morraine's predecessor. The original Faustina had been venal and cruel, a literal maneater.

Morraine shrugged. "She did kill the new Duke. That was nice. But then she 'gave me' the kind of power she had, without telling me what it was. She wanted someone like her, she said, someone who would help her stay alive. I didn't know what to do after that, because I knew what she did. So I went to Reul Ghorm. This time she came, but she told me that I had to learn to fight for myself." Morraine rolled her eyes. "She said she couldn't help me, that no one could.

"Then I realized that I'd die if I didn't do what Madam Faustina did…so I kept it going. Starting with her. Then I took her name and became Madam Faustina." She swallowed. "And I did what she did."

Everyone was silent; Rumplestiltskin kept his eyes on Bae's face. Bae looked devastated; centuries in Neverland hadn't broken him, but listening to what had happened to his best friend just might have done the trick. Rumplestiltskin felt his heart clench. There was nothing right here, nothing fair or good in what had happened to Morraine. Yes, she had killed many of the years, but hadn't he? And she'd done it for a far better reason than he ever had. Morraine had killed to stay alive.

"What happens if you don't?" Bae broke the silence with a shaking voice. "Do you die?"

Morraine swallowed audibly. "Yes."

"Painfully, I'd imagine." Fiona looked her up and down, her eyes critical. Belle shot her a dirty look, but Rumplestiltskin knew what his mother was doing. "Once you stop absorbing youth, the magic will eat you alive."

"I believe so, yes." Morraine squared her shoulders. "I am not proud of what I have become. I have…just never known what else to do."

"That wasn't a question." Fiona shook her head. "It will. It's easy enough to see if you know how to look."

Morraine grimaced, but it was Bae who gulped. His devastated expression didn't waver; he still looked like his world was ending. How could it not be, though? Bae had finally been reunited with his best friend, only to find that she would die before he had the chance to know her again. Bae glanced at Tiger Lily, his eyes pleading for her to help, but the ex-fairy only shook her head silently. Watching Bae look to someone else for help burned, but Rumplestiltskin knew he'd not yet earned his son's trust, even if Bae was willing to accept his apology. Forgiveness is not trust. He swallowed hard.

"Perhaps…perhaps I can help with that." Rumplestiltskin let out a breath, forcing himself to study Morraine even when Bae wheeled to face him, his eyes wide with hope.

"You can? Really, Papa?"

For you? Anything. He didn't say the words, though; Rumplestiltskin could see that Bae would want him to save Morraine for her own sake. We'll deal with that accidental curse she put on him later, he promised himself. For now, he nodded. "Magic taken on unwillingly does not dig in as deeply as that taken willingly. Assuming you want to give it up"—he glanced at Morraine, who nodded emphatically—"I should be able to remove it."

"And then what happens?" Unsurprisingly, it was Belle who asked the question, Belle who always worried for others. "It won't dissipate. Not something that toxic."

"No, it won't." Still, Rumplestiltskin had to shoot her a smile; Belle and her research, as always, knew the way. "But it can be stored."

Belle bit her lip. "Safely?"

"I should think so. I have a few places in mind."

"You can really save her, Papa?" Bae looked almost like he was afraid to hope.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, yes." Rumplestiltskin nodded. "I will need to study the magic a little, first."

Morraine nodded, but Bae spoke up curiously. "How do you still have magic, anyway? You started to say something earlier, but Pan cut you off." Then he glanced at Belle. "And who is she?"

"I'm Belle." Typically, Belle took the bull by the horns and stepped forward bravely. Then she faltered a little. "And I'm, um…well, I used to be your father's maid."

"Maid?" Bae's face twisted up in a scowl. "Still, Papa?"

Belle shot Rumplestiltskin a look as he struggled not to scowl. He had intended to keep the world from knowing he was no longer the Dark One, but the large audience presently in his castle made that rather difficult. Bae could be trusted, certainly, and if Tiger Lily had been his fairy godmother—a concept that he still couldn't wrap his mind around—she could perhaps be counted on to keep her mouth shut. But Morraine was a sorceress, and even if he took her power away, that wasn't going to keep her brain from working. She knew he wasn't the Dark One, and Rumplestiltskin had no idea if she'd keep that to herself. The other boy was Bae's friend, which meant there was no erasing his memory, either.

He was stuck.

"She was." His gesture was a little helpless. "Belle, uh, came here as a part of a deal. She—"

"Really? I thought you were different!"

"I called on him," Belle cut in firmly before Bae could explode. "Ogres were taking over my lands and threatening my people. I offered to go with Rumplestiltskin in exchange for their safety, and he kept his end of the deal. And he never treated me with anything less than respect."

"Well, at least he didn't have to clean you off of his boots," Bae muttered darkly, making Rumplestiltskin cringe.

Fiona, of course, snickered. "Oh, that does sound like a lovely story. Do tell!"

"Mother!" Rumpelstiltskin turned to glare at her just as Tiger Lily and Belle did the same.

"Fiona!"

"What?" Fiona smiled innocently, and Rumplestiltskin wanted to bash his head into the wall.


Not having power was a disgusting feeling.

Malcolm could hardly even stomach the idea. He'd spent the first half hour or so wallowing in self-pity, but then he'd picked himself up off of the ground and decided that something had to be done. Fiona and Rumple thought they could strip him of his power, did they? Well, he would find a way to prove them wrong. The shadow might be gone, and with it his youth and immortality, but magic could make up for that. He just had to find a way to get some.

It was a pity that he'd never taken much of an interest in the Enchanted Forest before now. But he'd had his own realm and had been content with that, at least before his bitch of an ex-wife had decided to take his power away. Just thinking of how much he'd once loved her made Malcolm snarl out loud.

"You'll pay for this, lassie," he muttered, glaring at the trees. "I'll make sure of that."

Fiona would have laughed at him, probably. This new and dark woman she'd become was certainly enticing in ways that the old and innocent Fiona hadn't been, but Malcolm wasn't interested in romance. Romance was for fools. Love in general was for fools. He'd been sucked down that path of self-destruction once, and he was not about to do it again. Malcolm might no longer have been Peter Pan, but he wasn't an idiot. He was going to find a path back to power, no matter what it took.

His best bet was probably that stuck-up witch. He still owed her a favor, of course, but there was nothing that said he couldn't steal a child even without power. He had plenty of practice doing so, and he still had his own not inconsiderable store of wits. He'd be fine, and he'd bide his time. Eventually, he'd have his revenge.

"Are you talking to me, or did getting transformed out of being a teenager make you go crazy?"

Oh. They'd left behind the useless mercenary when they'd left, hadn't they? Feeling foolish, Malcolm made himself turn around lazily, as if he'd always known that he was there. "I am not crazy."

"Could have fooled me, old man." The mercenary shot him a grin, and Malcolm burned for magic to hurt him. That time will come, he promised himself, pasting on a smile.

"Oh, it's just been a long day. I'm sure you know how that is, given that your meal ticket just disappeared with the rest of them."

"Fair point."

"Well, since it seems like we've both been abandoned, what say you we strike out together?" Malcolm drew himself up in the friendliest way he knew, digging back in his memory for his days as a con artist. People always trusted a smile. If you looked angry, they wouldn't believe you, but a smile and a cheerful attitude always made the idiots trust you.

"Sure." The mercenary shrugged. "It's not like I have something better to do, and I'm pretty sure Faustina isn't coming back." He held a hand out amicably. "Flynnigan Rider."

He took the hand without mentioning how stupid that name was, his smile firmly in place. "Malcolm."


This was all just crazy, and Bae was pretty sure his grandmother was certifiably insane. She seemed to be a friendly sort of insane, though, which was at least an improvement on his grandfather. I have grandparents. How weird is that? Bae felt like the world was spinning far too quickly, and he just wanted things to stop for a moment so that he could get his feet under him. He had grandparents, his father wasn't the Dark One anymore, Morraine's magic was killing her but maybe not permanently, Tiger Lily had been his papa's fairy godmother, and his father's not-maid was really bold.

Somehow, that last bit seemed pretty important. And at least his papa doing a deal for a maid was sort of normal, at least for Rumplestiltskin. So, he turned to Belle and ignored the way his grandmother giggled over the idea of his father turning people into snails and worse. She's the Black Fairy. Guess that comes with the territory? Bae cleared his throat.

"So, um, you aren't Papa's maid now?" he asked Belle, trying to put things together. "Why are you still here, then?"

"Oh." Belle blushed a little, turning towards his father, who gave her a bizarrely soft smile.

Something weird twisted up in Bae's stomach. Oh, no.

"Belle broke my curse." Rumplestiltskin's answer was accompanied by more of that idiotic smile. "With True Love's Kiss."

Part of Bae wanted to declare how gross that was, but he wasn't a little kid. And he had been in Neverland long enough to appreciate how important that was, too. Even Pan admitted that True Love was powerful, even if it had no place in Neverland. And neither does Pan, now that he's a grownup! That thought cheered Bae up considerably, enough for him to think about the subject at hand without grimacing. "So, you two are, um…?"

"I love your father very much." Belle stepped up to take Rumplestiltskin's hand when Bae's father looked like he couldn't find words. "We're still working on the rest."

Fiona giggled again. "I did tell you that I wanted—"

"Don't you start!" Belle stabbed a finger at Fiona, her expression fierce, and Bae really didn't want to know what his grandmother had been about to say.

"You're incorrigible." Tiger Lily sounded as amused as she did exasperated, though, particularly when Fiona shot her a grin.

Rumplestiltskin just looked like he wanted to sink into the floor, and Bae knew how he felt. It was time to try a friendlier subject.

"So how do you have magic, Papa? If you're not the Dark One, now."

"That's a complicated story, but suffice it to say that the power didn't actually come from being the Dark One—or at least that's not where it originated. The power was corrupted by darkness, as was I, along with all of my predecessors. Belle's kiss was able to strip away the darkness and leave the power behind."

"Only because you were willing to let it go." Belle looked ridiculously proud of Rumplestiltskin, and Bae didn't have to guess why. He remembered how his father had clung to power back in the day. It hadn't been pretty. Then Belle turned to look at him, making Bae blink in surprise. "He won't say it, so I will. Rumplestiltskin's curse was stopping him from finding you, so he gave it up. Even though he thought he wouldn't have magic when he did."

"You…you did, Papa?" Bae swallowed hard, not sure how to find more words as he turned to look at his father, eyes wide and heart pounding.

"Oh, Bae." Rumplestiltskin looked almost ready to cry. "You were never more important to me than my power, and I would have given it up a thousand times to have you back."

Once, Bae had imagined making his father beg for forgiveness. Now, however, he realized that this was enough. Stepping forward, he rocketed into his father's arms, biting his lip hard as Rumplestiltskin hugged him tightly. He'd always known his father loved him, even when he'd wanted to hate Rumplestiltskin, but Bae had needed to hear that.

"I love you, son." Rumplestiltskin's whisper was fierce. "More than the world."

"I love you, too, Papa." He felt like a little boy again, like everything could be all right so long as he had his father. Everything had changed, of course, but for a moment, Bae pretended that he wasn't in some huge castle, didn't have wacked out grandparents, wasn't being watched by a woman who was his father's True Love, and that he was back in the old days when everything had been simple.

Life would never be that way again, but for the first time, Bae thought things might actually turn out all right.