A/N: Just a warning, this chapter is going to involve Piper's Siren instinct, which will lead to carnage and massacre. So if that's not something you want to read, stop reading after the scene that ends 'None of them had dropped their weapons.' When the dialogue resumes near the end, there isn't too much there that relates to the events in detail if you want to resume reading ;)

~8~

The Frontlands

Rumpelstiltskin looked up from where he was grumbling to himself in his dungeon, so lost in his mutterings that he had begun to clean the knives and other instruments he'd used to torture his latest victims without even realizing it. He hadn't meant to, he knew that Piper rather enjoyed cleaning up his torture devices, while she hadn't been a fan of her true name while growing up, she seemed to delight in making puns about blood and the color of red roses while she cleaned it off of various things for him. He hadn't told her that he'd taken to using more material means of punishing people who crossed him instead of magical ways just because of that. Ever since he'd learned her name, the color red, in all its many forms, had taken on a new meaning, he'd gained a new appreciation for it. He suspected she had noticed though but she said nothing, allowing him to enjoy his methods to his heart's delight.

And speaking of his heart's delight, she was standing in the doorway of the room, leaning against the frame, her arms crossed as she watched him with a raised brow and amused expression, "Someone is in a foul mood."

He barked a laugh at her assessment. He was the Dark One, everyone just assumed his mood could be nothing but foul and dark and bitter, yet she was always able to see through his rampant emotions, to when he was truly bothered. It had startled him, the first time it happened, he had made the mistake of treating her like Belle near the beginning, despite knowing the two had very different temperaments and limits to the things they could accept about him. He had raged at her, yelled and shouted and tried to intimidate her, for no real reason, for no big reason, just gone off on her. She'd stood there, a blank, almost bored expression on her face as though she were completely unperturbed by his outburst, and then continued to TELL him what was going to happen next, with such a firmness in her voice, that he'd been the one stunned into submission and falling into place.

He'd never made the mistake of trying to intimidate her again. And truly, looking back, he should have known better. She had survived years alone, building her reputation, avoiding the Evil Queen who was the only person she feared but only in the sense of what the woman could do with her that would harm Snow White, not for any genuine care for herself. She had not been impressed with him upon their first meeting, had not batted an eye at being confined to a cell, and had made a deal binding herself to him without hesitation or desperation which was new to him. He should have expected she wouldn't be affected by his shouts or threats. She'd merely told him that he would sit down, spin his gold till he sorted himself, and she was going to sweep the front foyer, before she turned to do that.

Perhaps it had been the veiled threat in her voice, the tone that implied he would do as she said or else he would suffer for it, but a tone that also wasn't threatening at the same time. He'd suspected, as he sat down to spin his gold, that she'd used her magic on him, but he hadn't noticed anything of the sort.

He shook himself from his thoughts when Piper pushed off the doorway and came to his side, taking one of the clean knives from him and tsked, "You know, you should allow one or two of these to remain as they are."

"Oh?" he blinked, seeing her pick up the last one he'd needed to wipe off.

She nodded, turning it this way and that, "To see a blade already coated in blood would likely chill your next client," she remarked, so easily that he found himself smirking for how her mind worked, for how much her soul reflected his own, "And, perhaps, a dirty blade would create even more torment once it is cut into the flesh than a clean one would."

He giggled at the thought, all too aware of the many, many illnesses that could come about from dirty blades and other weapons, "Interesting."

"That way," she turned, shifting her hand to hold the knife out to him so he could take it from the hilt, "Should they…escape," she smirked, reminding him of the rather fun hunt they'd had for Robin Hood, "They would still continue to suffer even though they have fled your hold."

"You have a point," he nodded, taking the blade and setting it down as it was.

"Now," she tilted her head up to him, "What has brought about your foul mood?"

"Who says I'm in a foul mood?" he countered, though there was a faint quirk to his lips, he loved that she could tell, that she knew him so well, he loved hearing her explain how she knew things about him, the things she noticed that he sometimes did not realize he'd given away.

She merely gestured to the side, to the state of the room and the body hanging by its wrists from chains on the wall over in the corner, "You are not usually one for evisceration," she remarked.

Indeed he wasn't. There was something so crude about gutting a person, there was no finesse to it, but plain butchery.

"You only resort to such when you are in a bitter disposition," she continued, "Now, what has brought it about?"

He sighed, "I have a potential deal in the works," he remarked.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, "You are…reluctant to take it?"

"It's not that," he shook his head, "It's the location it would take place," he huffed, "It is a village I am not keen to return to."

"Which one?"

"Mine," he told her, "The village I lived in as Rumpelstiltskin the Man, before I was the Dark One."

Piper did not ask him more about it, about why he did not care for such a place. She knew enough from small things he had let slip, from things she had surmised from his tales of his son, and other truths he told her in full. She knew how he'd come to be the Dark One, how he lost his son, who Milah was. She knew the tale of what occurred between the two, even if he hadn't gone into detail about what others beyond Milah thought of him, she knew enough to guess. He had been seen as a coward, as that damned pirate had called him, as the soldiers who threatened Bae had done. He had been an outcast among his village, of that she was sure, much like she had been in her kingdom though for vastly different reasons. He had no love for the people there, or should she say their descendants as she doubted any of those original villagers were alive after 300 years. But their descendants might be.

It was enough of a bad memory to the man before her that, even now, with new people, with 300 years between them, he did not want to return there, even for a deal.

"Then do not go," she said simply, "If the deal is not worth the effort, I see no reason to spend the magic."

He eyed her a moment, "You wouldn't think it cowardly of me, not to face them?"

She smirked, "Considering you could decimate them with the snap of your fingers, I hardly think you a coward."

He grinned more at that, how she did not see fear as being what kept him from going, but offered him another excuse.

"If my kingdom were still there," she added, "I would not wish to return."

"Oh?" he blinked, startled.

She took a breath, "Beyond my parents and the occasional visit from Snow, I hold no fond memories of it, of the people. Why should I return to a place that holds no fondness? When I could be elsewhere and content."

He looked down as she took his hands in her last words, his grin softening, "And you are content with me?"

"More than," she promised, squeezing his hands lightly.

He took a breath, "It does sound like it could be a worthwhile deal," he remarked after a moment, "And the thought of holding something over them, of hearing them out, of being able to help, and refusing due to their ancestors' treatment? It holds a very large appeal."

Piper chuckled darkly, she had done so a few times before, with villages and people who insulted her before she had even agreed to help them, though they seemed to think she would regardless of their treatment. To go and inform them you could solve their problems in an instant, free them of what plagued them...and then walk away and leave them to suffer was very appealing indeed. The outrage the followed, when the people were shocked that someone would refuse to help them in their hour of need, to remind them she was no hero with a soft heart but the Pied Piper who would do as she pleased…that was always exquisite.

People thought everyone else who could help would help, that all others in the world were as good as the heroes. She was not a hero, and she had never been one, nor would she ever be. She was the Pied Piper, half-dark creature, half-Siren, and partner of the Dark One. It did not fall any more into the realm of villainy than that.

"Then go," she shrugged simply, "And make them pay for it."

He grinned darkly at her words.

~8~

Piper hummed lightly to herself as she cleaned Rumpelstiltskin's spinning wheel, setting it up so there was more straw and everything was working as it should, that any creaky parts were oiled and that the cushion he sat on on his stool had been stuffed a bit more. You would never think to hear a Dark One complain of a sore bottom but it happened, especially the nights his mind couldn't be calmed by her presence beside him and she would wake to find he'd spun through the night, standing with stiff legs and sore backside. He had thought her mad when she'd created a very poorly made cushion for the stool. Sewing had never been one of her strong points nor would it ever be, and it looked more like a bag with one end sewn shut, but it did the job and he continued to use it.

She had just stood, her hands on her hips, to look down at her work, when she suddenly nearly jostled forward, her hand immediately flying to her heart as it felt like someone had squeezed it painfully…but no ne was there and no one had access to her heart.

She had felt this pain only once before, when Snow White had been poisoned by the Evil Queen, had nearly died, she had felt that bond with her cousin sharpen to a pain in her heart and bolted awake, panting and shaking.

She ran through the castle, to the room she shared with Rumpelstiltskin, and grabbed the small mirror he had given her, enchanted to let her see her cousin…Snow was fine, she was walking through the woods with her Charming prince, the Dwarves around her, unharmed.

…which meant there was but one other person her heart could have pained for.

"Rummy," she breathed, her other hand leaping to her neck where she wore the small vial of powder he had given her that would instantly transport her to his side and yanked it off, smashing it on the ground and disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

~8~

She appeared with a gasp and a stumble, the ground beneath her uneven compared to the stone she had been standing upon, to find herself at the edge of a village. Something was well and truly wrong, not only because the powder had not brought her right to Rumpelstiltskin's side, but she could also hear a yelling from within the center of the village. She had heard such a sound before, the handful of times she had been set upon by a town or people, run out before she returned for her vengeance. It was the cries of angry men, furious women, children even, joining in because their parents were so incensed.

Perhaps it was part of the magic of the powder, to not take her to him if she too would be in danger.

She cared not though, gave it no other consideration as she strode past the edge of the first small houses and into the village, following the sounds of the shouting and the angry cries, the vile words being spat out. She slowed only when she came so near that she could begin to see the villagers, all gathered in the center of the town. She moved to the side of one of the houses, pressing against it for a moment to peer around the side of it, needing to be cautious. If something had happened, she needed to see it, to know how many people she would need to use her magic to subdue.

The sight she saw was not one she ever thought she would come across, not after knowing Rumpelstiltskin.

The Dark One was being shoved to his knees, his hands bound before him, a…collar of some sort, like a large wagon wheel with a smaller circle in the middle, about the size of a neck, the spokes removed and replaced with sharp pieces of metal, so that any move or jostling would force the neck to be punctured, not that it could truly harm him, they were not his Dagger…but the sight alone…

The expression on his face, frozen, a faint shimmering all along his body bearing the tell-tale signs of squid ink in use, keeping him paralyzed and at the mercy of the mob.

The people around him were throwing things, rotten food and dried manure clumps and rocks at him. The men were kicking him as he was dragged along by the collar, others trying to kill him with what weapons they could muster, as though they thought their mere pitchforks able to do any damage. The children were spitting on him, they were the ones throwing the manure.

One man rushed in front of the crowd, an actual sword in hand, and shoved it through Rumpelstiltskin's chest…

The world went eerily quiet to Piper, her vision blackening on the edges so the only thing she could see was the crowd. Her heart, which had been beating painfully in her chest began to slow, its thumping in her ear taking the place of the crowd's yells. It was almost as though things slowed down, as though she were watching the crowd as they moved through water, they slowed, but her eyes darting from them did not, taking everything in. The world began to grow pale as well, the night darker, but the people before her almost shining with a pale light, illuminating them in her vision.

There was a hissing noise, like a feral cat warning others not to dare touch them…and she realized it was HER.

It was the same noise she'd thought she'd imagined when her mother had attacked those who harmed her father, a warning sound meant to tell those around her to back away. Back then she had thought her mother hunting, thought her retribution fascinating, had wondered if she might one day love someone so much that her instinct as a Siren would rise up. She felt it now, she felt the anger, the cold desire to crush those who dared touch him, she felt the loathing settle in her bones at the sight before her. All she could think about was those pathetic excuses for human beings, treating HER MATE the way they were, trying to harm him, trying to kill him. It was only by the grace of his Dagger that he was not. But it did not erase what she saw, what they intended and desired.

They were attacking her mate.

It almost felt as though she were in a dream as she moved from beyond the house she'd pressed against, stepping aside and into view of the people though they took no notice of her.

She was humming, she realized belatedly as she approached them, a tune…she truly could not place ever having heard before but it resonated within her that she should know it, that she DID know it, even if she knew not how.

Slowly, as her filtered vision revealed, the people seemed to begin to notice her, to quiet, even, as she came nearer. She could see them, vaguely, as the ones on the edges turned to look at her, lowering their weapons, their shouting fading, as they started to step back, giving her a path further into the mob. They were on the edge of her vision, not her focus, for that was Rumpelstiltskin.

The crowd parted further, the shouts and jeers falling quiet as people fell away, all staring at her, some curious, others wary, none sure who she as or why she was there or what she would do but…unable to react, to attack, to pull her away, their limbs felt heavy, their minds slow, leaving them only able to watch, subdued, as she reached Rumpelstiltskin and sank to her knees before him.

Piper tilted her head as she observed the Dark One, while his face was frozen, his eyes were expressive, looking at her with alarm and fear FOR her, warning, a pleading with her to go, to get away, to not be caught by the ire of the men and women surrounding them on all sides.

She merely smirked, such a dark thing that she could see the emotion in his eyes shift to confusion mixed with curiosity.

She moved to a small belt around her waist, to a small pouch she kept wedged between herself and the fabric at her back, something she had sewn into every piece of clothing she had ever had since she fled her kingdom, as a precaution, for she never knew if it would be needed, easily forgotten about and ignored for it had never been needed…until now.

She moved to cup his face in her hands, and that expression in his eyes changed again as her fingertips brushed his ears, as he felt something settle and spread across them and couldn't move to see what. She knew he would find himself deaf to her continued humming now.

The smirk grew deadly as she pulled back and slowly moved to her feet, her one hand skimming across her boot as she rose, pulling her pipe from it.

Rumpelstiltskin looked up as much as his paralyzed body would allow, to see Piper look down at him, calm and dangerous, before she lifted the pipe to her mouth and began to play a tune he could not hear. He could see past her, to how it began to settle over the crowd, his eyes widening as he saw them all fall under her thrall.

She stepped away then, walking past him, behind him, and he could only watch, trapped, as the crowd began to follow her. He could see no more, could hear nothing, and yet he knew only one thing, one small thing he had noticed that had to be intentional for he had seen Piper use her music to disarm easily in the past...

None of the villagers had dropped their weapons.

~8~

Rumpelstiltskin gasped as the squid ink finally wore off, leaving him falling forward onto his hands, which he quickly magicked himself free of the bindings, banishing the collar around his neck too. He pushed to his knees and his hands flew up to his ears, peeling what Piper had placed there off and looking down at his palms to see it was wax, beeswax, that she had used to plug his ears, to keep her music from affecting him. He moved to his feet, and turned around, almost expecting Piper to be there behind him, only to stare with wide eyes at the absolute carnage he found instead. Half the village was in flames, smoke drifting up into the night, and…there were bodies, already, scattered along the ground, the air full of metallic blood, mixed with other bodily fluids.

He slowly began to walk towards the devastation, taking note of everything he passed, no detail escaping his eye. Things were torn apart, buildings smashed, in ruins, burning. The people in…so many forms of death he couldn't count the various ways they had clearly died. While some seemed to have been run through once, others had multiple wounds. Where one might had been slashed through the gut, nearly turned inside out, others had clearly been torn apart. One was beheaded, the other looking as though it had been covered in hot oil. Some burned, others drowned in pails…it was brutal.

He looked up as he neared the south side of the village, and heard the screams and angry shouts of others, nothing intelligible, no true words spoken but more broken noises that sounded more like wild animals than human beings. He headed towards it, curious to see what the last of the village left alive were doing.

It. Was. Chaos. Pure and utter chaos he stepped into.

The people were nearly feral, attacking each other in a blind rage, beating each other, tearing each other apart. Fires were being set, anything not nailed down was being destroyed, as though the rage couldn't be contained to mere people any longer. Smoke was everywhere, screams were echoing into the night, the sounds of those dying mingling and mixing with the noises…

And then he saw it.

A small platform set up in the back of the village, where the town would gather for matters of law or announcements, just a piece of wood on a stand…with a chair placed on it, Piper sitting on it. She had her arms lightly resting on the arms of the chair, her leg crossed over the other, the pipe resting lightly in one hand as she observed the chaos she had wrought.

He felt the breath leave him at the sight of her, at how the pipe was in hand and not at her mouth, for the pure awe he felt at the fact that her magic had so gripped these people that she didn't even need to play on for them to still be ensnared by it. They were so far gone, so wrapped up in her enchantment, that they were lost to her will.

He stepped forward, past the last of the people, till he was mere feet away from the steps up to the platform, his eyes locked on her.

She looked over at him from surveying the carnage, and smirked.

He sank to his knees at the sight, his heart pounding with anticipation when she stood and began to move slowly down the steps towards him. She reached out and seemed delighted, her smirk softening around the edges, when he did not flinch away from the move but leaned in closer, closing his eyes when her hand touched his hair, running through it to the back of his head and tugging slightly.

He was on his feet in an instant, his hands reaching out, as hers had done, taking her face in his hands and pressing his lips to hers in a desperate kiss.

The village burned around them, and he kissed her until he had to let her breathe.

She rested her forehead to his, her eyes closed, breathing heavily from the force of his affections. It was not just from the madness around them. Oh he was…there were parts of him coming alive in his mind and heart he had never thought to exist before at the knowledge of what Piper had done. He had not been in true danger, she held his Dagger so the villagers could not harm him. But he had been trapped, they had tried to humiliate him, attack him, capture and contain him…

Piper had seen him, seen what they were doing, and he knew, he could tell, had seen it in her eyes, that the Siren in her had consumed her. The part of her, that creature part, that was attached to him as her mate, had seen him threatened and reacted, had striven to protect but also take revenge for the slight against him.

He had never before had anyone willing to fight for him, not like this. Milah gave up on him. Cora chose herself over him. Belle 'fought' for the man she wanted him to be but not the man he was. None of them had gone against OTHERS for him. None of them would ever have gone this far for him either.

An entire village burning, the occupants dead or soon to be, the utter devastation she had caused…for HIM.

There had been a moment, when he had brewed True Love using himself and Piper that he had been startled about it, shocked, for while he loved her and she him, to find out they were True Loves was not something he ever thought a Dark One could have…now he knew it was true. There was no one else for him but the woman in his arms, there was no one else who would ever complete him, understand him, stand with him, accept him, the way Piper did.

Standing there as they were, in this moment, he would not be surprised if someone were to prove them soulmates as well, two halves of the same soul for hers was as dark and vicious as his own.

Just imagining what he would do to anyone who dared take her from him…

Piper chuckled under her breath, "You are growling, Rummy," she told him, pulling back to look up at him, her free hand coming up to touch his cheek.

"You did this for me," he murmured, shaking his head slightly, as though he couldn't believe she was real and his. HE had always been the one others came to for help and protection, he was the one people turned to for his power, the one everyone expected to help. HE was the powerful entity, he was the one expected to fight...he had never had someone do this for HIM before. He'd never had anyone protect HIM.

"Sirens are very protective of their mates," she remarked, "I saw my mother once rip a team of bandits to shreds with her bare hands for harming my father. This…" she shook her head slightly, "I am not as strong as her, I could not hunt the same way."

"You did it YOUR way," he reminded her, stroking her cheek with his thumb, "A way she could not."

She let out a breath, closing her eyes a moment, relaxing in his hold, in how he did not pull away in disgust or horror at what she'd done, how he seemed pleased and awed by it. She knew he would not turn away from her for this display, but part of her had lived so long fearing she would do something her own flesh and blood could not accept and striving to be careful not to, that to have this easy acceptance of this all...she could not begin to say how freeing it was, "I could not stop myself," she murmured, sounding as though she were admitting some guilt.

"Did you want to?" he asked, smirking a bit, knowing her well enough to know whatever she felt guilty of, it was not that she had done this or gone so far, not that she hadn't stopped sooner or shouldn't have done so in the first place.

Her eyes shot open, narrowing at him, as though asking how dare he ask such a thing, "I only regret that I was not fully in control," she told him, looking around, though he noticed how she did not let her gaze fall upon the few bodies of children he could see, truly no one had escaped her wrath. She looked back at him, "I would have made their suffering so much worse than this."

He shivered at the dark promise in her words. And, for a brief moment, he thought of what she would do if Regina ever did manage to truly harm or threaten Snow White. For as much as Piper did not want to be bait or leverage to her cousin, if the Evil Queen ever truly harmed Snow White…he had to wonder what Piper would do to the woman. Snow White, while not her mate, was her blood-family, her only family left. She would not take kindly to the Evil Queen's machinations.

"As would I," he murmured, "Had it been you."

She looked at him, darkly pleased by the idea, "Would you?"

He smirked, lowering his hands from her face to her waist to tug her closer, her own arms winding around his neck, "Don't go getting any ideas, dearie," he warned, "I'll not have you captured and tormented just to get a rise of me."

"I would not," she promised him, "I would not wish you to feel what I did now."

He nodded, understanding, she would keep that promise. She had not enjoyed his plight any more than he had, but her instincts had kicked in and it couldn't be helped. Even though he would have been fine, would not have been harmed, it triggered none the less. It would be worse for him, because she COULD be harmed, she could be cut into and bleed, she could be killed and he would be left to suffer for it.

"Let's go home, Pip," he offered, also knowing that the amount of energy she'd spent to accomplish this would soon be taking its toll on her, "I think this night has brought enough excitement for the both of us."

"Agreed."

"Though…" he began, trailing off as he looked around.

"What?" she tilted her head, observing him.

"I think you missed a spot," he teased, before turning and throwing a fireball into the air, the two watching as it went over the roofs of the already burning houses to land on those near the entrance of the village, to consume them as well, filling the night with light and smoke, "There."

Piper chuckled beside him, "I am tired, Rummy," she reminded him, it really did take a lot of energy to bend the will of an entire town, and to have it settle so deeply in their minds that it held even after her playing came to an end.

"Then home it is," he turned to her, waving his hand so they could disappear in a swirl of smoke.

All the while, long after they left, the houses burned, and the people met their demise, leaving nothing but charred remains and bodies left to rot where they had fallen until others might stumble upon it and stare in horror at the butchery done to the small village. Rumors would begin to spread soon after, of monsters in the wood, soon replaced by stories of the Evil Queen and how it had to be her doing for no other was as cruel or twisted as to wreak such havoc.

Rumpelstiltskin would find himself having to convince Piper not to go destroy another village just to set the record straight.

She was very particular about receiving credit for her work.

A/N: What Piper did here was unimaginably brutal, which sort of explains the reactions the others had to learning she'd done this by herself. Her rage at seeing her mate harmed was so consuming it amplified her magic and gave her the energy to accomplish all this mayhem. Sort of like when someone you love is in danger, your adrenaline kicks in and you're able to accomplish things you normally couldn't, and once it's over you sort of crash. It's a bit like when she put Storybrooke to sleep, and shows the difference in magics across the realms. Storybrooke brought magic with it, but it's not really a magical place on its own, I feel. So in the town, she can, at most, put every single person to sleep. In the Forest, she could have them massacre each other, there's just so much magic around her and people are more susceptible to it than in our world.

I can say there's a reason why we see most of the carnage from Rumple's point of view and not Piper as she's causing it. Part of it is just his internal thoughts and his reaction to it, I wanted to try and capture the bond that strengthens between them in that moment. For the man abandoned by so many in his life to find a person willing to destroy an entire village and murder anyone in it just to keep him with her. But also...Piper IS in the throes of the instinct for a majority of it, everything is heightened and eclipsed by her desire for revenge against those who harmed her mate. We WILL see how she feels about what she's done after things have settled and time has passed, for her to reflect back, consider things differently or if she'd do it all over again ;)

I can say there is one part of this loss of control that she is a bit sorrowful of, which we'll find out soon, we'll get more of her thoughts on all of this.

I'm sort of curious how Snow White would have reacted if she'd known Piper was Rose in the Forest and heard about this or saw the aftermath O.O

It's sort of funny, in a way. Gold is the Dark One, he's this incredibly powerful being, and so everyone is aware of the threat he poses. He can utilize his magic in many forms and in many ways. But Piper can't, it's her music or her voice, and people just sort of don't realize just how powerful she's grown since she was a child. She CAN do this. She can cause this, and other terrible acts in other towns, and people maybe sort of don't believe it, because when those very large catastrophes occur, not many survive. In this case, Regina sort of took credit for the Frontlands, to Piper's irritation.

They insult her and treat her like a villain, but they have no idea that she legitimately CAN kill them with a single word. That her music can cause this level of devastation and destruction. Half of them probably just think she's all talk, not realizing the only reason she hasn't killed more people is because they were important to her cousin and her cousin was important to her (at one point at least). Or the other half think it wasn't actually her, that she's not that powerful because 'what could a song actually do?' O.O

Maybe a few of them might reconsider insulting her if they'd witnessed this O.O

Some notes on reviews...

Happy Birthday! :D I feel like I half need to apologize that this is the chapter you got on your birthday, an all out massacre, but I hope you had a wonderful day beyond the chapter lol :)

I'm so sorry it took so long to get this story up and going :( Life seemed to hate me for a while and just wanted to be like 'nope!' for a majority of it :/ But things are steady now and I'm working on trying to catch up my stories, so we'll get the rest of this story and the last story next year ;) I hope you enjoy what's to come :)