The following day, the four started on their trek to the Vault of the Dark One itself. It took most of the day, but they had each other for company, and the views of the snowy landscape around them were lovely to look at. Unfortunately, it was coming to the evening when they approached their destination, and the sky was becoming darker and cloudier.

"You know," Belle said, breaking a few minutes' silence, "ever since it happened, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Rumple's sacrifice. I mean, how he died to save everybody in Storybrooke."

"You know that wasn't it," Baelfire said. "He died to save us. His family. His friends."

"At least he died a hero," Clara said.

"Were you surprised he had it in him?" Baelfire asked.

"Of course not," Belle answered. "Were you?"

"I don't know. I mean, my papa was never the most selfless guy. I know he wished he hadn't let me go through that portal. I know how sorry he was, but now that I have a son, I can't imagine ever doing what he did."

"He regretted what happened between you," the Professor said. "All of it. He wanted to make it up to you. To be that person you always wanted him to be. And to live up to my father. But, he was also willing to do anything to get back to you. To reunite with you."

"That's one thing about him I can relate to. Cause I would do anything to get back to Henry."

"It's getting colder," Belle said as they got to a more extensive clearing, covered by a thick new layer of snow. "Look," Belle pointed.

They stepped past the trees and into the middle of the empty clearing.

Baelfire looked around. "Come on. Let's get what we came here for. Let's get my father," he said as he planted the wooden stick lit on fire into the ground. He went over to the tree stump and placed the candelabra of Lumiere on it before lighting the three candles to awaken him.

The face of Lumiere looked over the snow-covered ground. "You found it. Thank heavens."

"Now what?" Baelfire asked.

"Head to the centre of the clearing. Under the ice and snow, you shall find the entryway to the vault."

The Professor turned and headed to the centre of the clearing and knelt. He brushed away the snow till he came to a metal cover - shaped like a utility hole. The Professor brushed away until he had uncovered the whole lid to the vault. Different symbols covered the top of the vault.

Neal knelt beside the Time Lord, and he took out the key to the vault. "The key must go in the middle," he mused, then turned around to Lumiere. "You sure about this?"

"I spent 200 years in Rumplestiltskin's library, witnessing more dark magic and sorcery than any living creature has ever seen," Lumiere said.

The Professor got up and looked at the candle. "It's a trap," he said. "Lumiere's been playing us. Rumple hasn't been the Dark One for 200 years. He is 200 years old. He's been the Dark One, for what? One hundred fifty years, I think it has been."

"And Rumple built that library for me not long before the curse," Belle said as she approached the stump. "It's been there barely 30 years."

"Who are you?" the Professor asked. "Really."

"Unless you want to spend the rest of eternity under a snowdrift, you better start talking," Neal added.

"I am who I appear to be," Lumiere said. "Only it wasn't Rumplestiltskin who turned me into this wretched form. Instead, it was the Wicked Witch of the West."

"The Wicked Witch?" Clara repeated. "She's been the one telling you to lead us here? She wants Rumple alive, doesn't she?"

"She does. She wants all of you to bring back the Dark One to control him with his dagger."

The Professor looked at Lumiere in shock. "We need to leave this place. Now," he said.

"Wait," Baelfire said. "It means we can bring him back. Does it matter who got us here?"

"Rumple didn't sacrifice his life for good to return to be a slave for evil," Belle said.

"The Wicked Witch may have booby-trapped the vault," the Professor said. "If she's led us this far, who knows what she has installed for us."

"My father is the king of loopholes," Baelfire said as he started to take off his gloves. "I'm sure he'll figure out a way to deal with her."

"What if he can't?" the Professor asked. "We are bringing back the most powerful practitioner of magic here. The price is going to be steep. You could die. It's like … A life for a life."

"We'll find another way to bring him back," Belle said.

"What if there is no other way?" Baelfire asked, then turned to the vault. "I can't waste any more time. I don't care about the price. I need to get back." He walked over to the vault and sat down in front of it. He then let his fingers thumb over the top of the key.

"That's what your father told himself when he forged the curse," Belle said, "that condemned countless people to misery! Don't make the same mistake he made."

But Baelfire wasn't listening. He had already made up his mind. He positioned the key over the keyhole before pushing it in. The centre glowed bright orange when he did, heating the vault's door and melting the ice away from it. But it didn't just heat the door. It also warmed the key, which made Baelfire yell in pain, and he dropped the key. He fell over backwards, his burned palm touching the snow with a hiss. He looked at the mark he had gotten. A triangle. A triangle that had burned into his skin.

He looked behind him at the sound of gears clicking and turning into place. The door to the vault of the Dark One was active. It moved down, and a murky, black, gooey liquid bubbled up and over it. Filling the vault as if it was a pool. The black liquid began to rise, forming a figure in its middle.

Everyone stared at it, and Clara grabbed the Professor's hand – holding onto it tightly.

"Rumple?" Belle asked, looking at it curiously. She hadn't seen anything like it before. None of them had.

As the form started to take the shape of a body, Baelfire collapsed to the ground, and everyone rushed to him. They were all helping him sit steadily. "Neal! Neal!" Belle exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"A life for a life," the Professor mused. He was right. "He's getting weaker … Rumple … He's getting stronger."

The black liquid of the Darkness seeped away from the figure, leaving Rumplestiltskin – holding his dagger – standing in the middle of the vault. He looked at the group before him, his gaze finding its way to Belle. "Belle?" he whispered. Then his gaze shifted to his son, and he knew something was wrong. "Bae." He rushed over to his son and knelt beside him. "No," he said, pulling him closer.

Behind the trees, a woman appeared. It was the Wicked Witch of the West. "Poor Baelfire," she said, making herself known. "Couldn't learn from his father's mistakes. He wanted so badly to get back to his son. Couldn't see the forest for the trees."

Rumplestiltskin looked at the Wicked Witch. "You did this!" he said, raising his dagger and pointing it angrily at the Witch. "You tricked him!"

"All I did was pass on some vital information," the Wicked Witch said, then glanced over at Lumiere. "With the help from a friend. Then your son did the rest."

"You didn't tell him the price," Rumplestiltskin said.

"Oops. It's a sin of omission, love. Although, I would've thought it was rather obvious. A life for a life."

Rumplestiltskin looked down at his dying son in his arms. "It's gonna be all right, son."

"I doubt that," the Wicked Witch said, then looked at the Professor. "I didn't think I would see you again."

"Likewise," the Professor said. "I thought you would have stayed in Oz."

"But I have unfinished business here," the Wicked Witch told him before catching her gaze on Clara and her baby bump that was beginning to show. "And who's this?"

"Leave her out of it," the Professor demanded.

"Looks like you found love. And it's beginning to show," the Wicked Witch said, slowly approaching them. "A baby Time Lord. Now, that is something quite precious."

"Go," Rumplestiltskin whispered to Belle, Clara, and the Professor. They got up and stood back, leaving Rumplestiltskin holding his son close to his chest. He looked at the Wicked Witch again. "I'm not gonna let him go," he said, supporting Baelfire into an upright position. He tried to teleport with his dagger in one hand and his son in the other. But he couldn't.

The Wicked Witch smirked. "Sorry, Rumple," she said. "You can't hang onto both of them." Rumplestiltskin struggled for a few moments more extended before he relinquished his hold of the dagger, throwing it in front of him.

The Professor watched and ran for it. "No!" he exclaimed, but he was too late. The Wicked Witch had already picked it up.

"Too late," she said at him, then turned her attention back to Rumplestiltskin, who had just used his remaining magic to absorb Baelfire. "I didn't think he had it in him." She looked at him. "You got your son. But you lost yourself."

Rumplestiltskin collapsed to the ground. There were two minds within him now—two people inside one body.

"Rumple?" Belle asked, her voice breaking.

"No," Rumplestiltskin said, looking around in a confused state. "No Rumple. And no room. No room. No Rumple!"

"Enough of this. Your madness is your burden, not mine. It's time to go. But before we do – kill them," the Wicked Witch said. Rumplestiltskin didn't move. He tried to resist the command. He was adamant he would not kill those he cared about.

"Rumple?" Belle asked again. But before they could all do something, Lumiere puffed, producing fiery ropes that entwined the Wicked Witch.

"Hurry!" he called out to them. "I can't keep her for long. Go! Hurry! Please don't make me regret this flash of conscience. Get out of here!"

"You're going to regret this, Candle," the Wicked Witch said, as Clara ran over to Lumiere first and took him in her hand, with both the Professor and Belle following. "I will get my hands on that child of yours, too, Time Lord." But the Professor wasn't listening. Instead, he waved his hand and poofed them away in blue smoke.

They arrived in the dining room of the Dark Castle. The Professor took a breath, turned to face a window, and scratched the tip of his head. He sighed. "The Wicked Witch tricked us," he said. "I should have seen it. I should have known."

Clara walked up beside him and rubbed his arm gently. "You wouldn't have known that it would turn out this way," she told him.

The Professor turned around. "But now, she knows about us. About our child. Zelena … She's up to something. She wants it for something."

Clara looked up at the Professor. "We can stop her, right?" she asked. "We've fought Daleks and Cybermen before. We can stop the Wicked Witch too."

The Professor nodded. "Of course. But we need to be safe. I don't have you to look out for. But our child." He turned to Belle. "We'll lay low for the next few months. Tell the others. Tell my father. Tell them everything."

Belle nodded. "Where will you go?" she asked.

"I don't know. Somewhere. My father should be able to track us in the TARDIS."

Belle nodded and hugged the Professor and Clara. "Be safe, you two," she said before going and heading towards the door.

Clara smiled. "Thanks. You too," she said as they watched Belle leave the Dark Castle.