This vision was nothing like a vision he'd had before. It was different. Alone in his tower, working diligently, it snuck up on him without any kind of provocation. It bent him at the waist, forcing him to grip the table in front of him for support as he let it wash over him. He took it in, analyzing every detail, his mind trying to assess what it all meant.

It wasn't a vision from this world. It was from a distant future, one that took place in the Land Without Magic.

He saw the Savior in front of him, the woman he called the Swan. They were standing in a room together, but her back was to him. Though he recognized her here and now, he knew that where he was then, he did not see her for who she really was. In the room, standing in front of her was the owner of the establishment with her granddaughter; also people he knew but didn't know. It was so clear and precise, and yet it wasn't. It was a vision of contradictions. There was something odd about it all, something strange about the scene he was seeing. When he took the entire thing in, he could see the house and the girl, he could see the people as if they were clear, but when he tried to focus on one thing or another, he could see it was all blurry around the edges, fuzzy. Even though he heard words of some kind, he couldn't make them out. They were muted, like listening to a person talk while he held a pillow over his ears.

And then it lifted. The Swan said something in the vision, and just like that sound came into focus, and so did the scene around him. The fuzziness ended. The owner of the establishment came into focus as she hadn't before, and he recognized her as none other than Granny and her granddaughter Red…though the name Ruby came to mind. And Granny…she made the best burgers in town so long as they had extra pickles…whatever the hell that meant.

He watched in the vision as he said something, and just like that, the feeling of his ears being muffled was gone. He could hear again. But it was too late. What he'd just said, whatever it was…that was the important part! He knew that. He'd said one word, and it was the most important word in the world in that moment as the Swan turned to look at him.

"What a lovely name," he heard himself comment, felt the timbre in his throat and his chest, a voice that was his own, one he hadn't used in a long time, not since he was human. His ankle hurt. There was a cane in his hand to counter, something he'd used since this all began.

"Thanks," the Swan replied in a simple way as they all stared at him unknowingly, still ignorant.

Granny was the first to move, to hand a roll of paper over the counter at him that was nearly as big as his fist. The month's rent. "It's all here," she stated sharply.

"Yes, yes, of course, it is dear," he smiled. It always was all there. But what brought a smile to his face was that he'd seen this moment before. All around him, he could feel the faint crackle of magic, it hovered in the air and just below the surface of everything he saw. He'd made it. And as he looked at the woman before him, he couldn't help but feel a bit triumphant. He was one step closer to Baelfire, across the biggest hurdle. Now all he needed was for the rest of the Curse to break. With her finally in town, it was the beginning of the end.

Now that…that vision was probably the most important vision he'd ever had in his life. If not the most important, then certainly the one that made him want to celebrate the most. It gave him information he hadn't had before, information that he now knew was crucial. When the Curse hit, he was going to allow it to take him. He'd figured that much out for himself. What he didn't know until this moment was that he was going to come out of it, "wake up", earlier than the others and with no magic. It had been there. Magic had been responsible for everything he'd seen, he knew that, but it waited like water behind a dam, waiting to be released. That was very interesting.

Suddenly his list of things to do before the Curse was cast grew larger. In the Land Without Magic…how was he to access magic? How could he get his hands on it and even the playing field in his favor? How could he make a Land Without Magic magical? And how was he to make the arrangements to wake himself up from it early? Before the others? He knew. In the vision, he'd made a point to mention the girl had a lovely name. Before that line, he'd uttered a single word and so had the girl. It was her name. Her name was the key. But he hadn't been able to hear it all because the vision hadn't told him!

"Ah!" he kicked at his table in anger so that it shook below him. His frustration was building, but it wasn't to the point of any more violence than that. A vision that gave him hints but no answers…it could have been worse, he reminded himself. It could have been about Belle. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the woman hadn't been on his mind at all in the vision he'd had. More proof. If what he'd seen of her was a vision and they were to be star-crossed lovers or some nonsense, he would have thought that he would have thought of her immediately after emerging from the Curse. He'd thought of Baelfire. But no Belle. Further proof what he'd seen before was nothing to-

There was nothing to worry about where Belle was concerned because what he had to worry about was outside his castle. There was an intruder—someone with magic enough to get beyond his borders. Great magic. Nothing like the Apprentice's magic, but it was fast-moving. Just before he could transport himself downstairs to the front door, he paused, sensed the magic again, and realized…it was airborne. And headed straight for his tower window as though it knew where to find him.

Fairy.

The devil entered in without giving any kind of warning. In a whirlwind, the Blue Bug flew in through the window, located him, and buzzed bravely up to his face, allowing him to see her features. The Blue Fairy was not in a happy mood.

"Where is it?!" she demanded.

Ordinarily, he might use his magic to kick her out of his tower and enjoy watching the show that would bring, but with her words he only smiled. It was the same triumphant feeling he'd had in his vision. Oh, he couldn't wait to see what that curse would do to her and all her little friends.

"Where is what?"

"The Curse, Rumpelstiltskin!"

"The Curse?!" he blanched with false ignorance. "The Dark Curse?! Well, how am I to know that? You said I'd never find it!"

"Enough!" she shouted at him as though he was one of her little slaves to be commanded about. But he answered to no one, at least no one who didn't hold the dagger in their hands. "Your accomplices turned you in once we tracked them down. When we explained what they'd done, even they acknowledged that it wasn't something to be trifled with."

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm not asking them to trifle with it."

"That Curse is Dark!" she spat. "Darker than even you can imagine! You can't cast it!"

"Yes, and you've seen to that, haven't you!" he shouted as his anger finally bubbled over. "Or perhaps you've forgotten! The Curse requires a heart, and it won't be just any heart will it, not for a curse the likes of that. It'll be for something stronger—a sacrifice. The heart of the thing most loved by the caster. I can't cast that Curse because the thing I love most dwells elsewhere! You took him from me!"

"For the last time, we didn't take your son. You drove him away. And I'll say it again as I said it before, I'll sleep easier at night knowing that the power to cast it does not lie with you, but all the same, I will have it back! It needs to be guarded, protected!"

"I'll do no such thing!" he roared. "Unless…"

He cooled as a single thought popped into his head, a thought that all Dark Ones had all the time, he just hadn't thought to use it until now. Just how desperate was she? And how much truth had she told him?

"Unless…" she echoed.

"Unless we make a deal," he dared. Part of him knew before he ever said the words what her answer would be, but he wanted to make sure. He was about to offer her the sweetest opportunity of all, one he was certain she would take if she could. And that was what he wanted to know. Not would she, but could she…

"A magic bean for the Curse?"

The Blue Fairy rolled her eyes and shook her head with obvious irritation. "I've told you before, there are no more magic beans!"

So that was that then. She hadn't wanted to give it to him a hundred years ago under that pretense, and now that he had the biggest bargaining chip available to him, he was sure that if she had them, she would have traded them over. One bean to ensure the happiness of everyone in the realm…she'd have made that deal in a heartbeat. There was little doubt in his mind now…beans were truly off the table. But that didn't mean it was the only option.

"Then find me something to get back to my son," he growled.

"There are no ways!"

"Fine! Then I'll sleep better at night knowing that the last way back to him is safe in my hands. And until you find me a way back, I'll have nothing more to say to you," he dismissed, walking over to a chair he kept by the fireplace. He smiled as he let his feet rest upon the wooden table and wondered, did she realize the Curse lay concealed just behind him? That no matter what she tried, she would never reach, it for it didn't respond to her kind of magic now.

"Perhaps you should have been more careful with your possessions, dearie. Perhaps it's safer with me, especially since you're so certain I haven't the abilities."

"It's not your abilities I doubt, Dark One!" she responded, flittering over. "That Curse can never be cast, Rumpelstiltskin. Whatever you have planned, it may get you back to your son, but it will bring great harm to all around you, rip them apart, sons from their fathers! The desire to see that Curse cast just so you can selfishly have what you want at the realm's expense makes you no better than your own mother!"

The room grew suddenly still and quiet at her pronunciation. Now that was more than just an angry insult. All these years, the Blue Fairy had never not once let on that she knew anything about his mother. But now…

"What does my mother have to do with any of this?" he questioned. He watched her intently, stared at her tiny face for any nervous ticks, any kind of suggestion that she would provide the information he was asking for.

Her steely gaze held. Perhaps that was what gave her away. If that comment was just to make him feel bad, she'd have been able to respond back in the same way she had before. Now she just stared, a secret locked away in her memory she was obviously wholly unwilling to share.

"Do not go down this path, Rumpelstiltskin," she pressed calmly. "Return the Curse to where it was. Do the thing your mother never could."

As she left, he felt his heart jump into his throat and an odd sensation chill his blood as his mind began working. All at once, he remembered the first time he'd held that Curse. There had been Darkness there, Great Dark Magic like he'd never felt before. But underneath the Darkness he'd found something else, something that had surprised him and confounded him all at the same time.

Fairy magic.

This chapter is so freaking important for so many reasons! For one it starts with a vision that points him in the direction of learning Emma's real name. Maybe you've noticed, but up until this moment he hasn't really cared enough about her to want to know her name. Now he has that clue. For another thing, it finally alerts "the other side" (for lack of better term) that Rumple has the Curse and intends to use it. And it's not just the fairies that know and understand, now it's the Queens of Darkness who understand what they've helped him get. So, basically it sets up their (Maleficent's) desire to see it protected. And finally, this will be more obvious in the next chapter, but this chapter sets us up to fill a plothole, one of the biggest plotholes I have for the coming episode. It tells you why Rumple, who has never really cared about his mother or who she is or what she's done, suddenly drops everything in regard to Bae in order to summon her. Seriously, just like the Sorcerer's Hat storyline, I hated it because this story line deviates from everything we know about Rumple. It's a if he wakes up one morning and says "Huh, I know things are starting to come together with the Curse and I'm at a crucial moment, but I'm bored, I think I'll finally summon my mother today." I didn't like it and I didn't understand it. So...when there's something I don't like or understand...I change it. Or explain it. We'll get into it a bit more in the next chapter, but this conversation, what Blue says about his mother, acts as the trigger. It's what sets him off in a big way and sends him on this fool's errand. Now, with the mention of his mother and the Curse, suddenly it's relevant to Rumple and relevant to Bae and that makes it relevant to our story and not so much a random thing.

Thank you Jennifer Baratta and Grace5231973 for your kind reviews on the last chapter and all the chapters for that matter. In the next chapter, we're going to explore what this conversation with the Blue Fairy leads to. We'll get into Rumple's state of mind a little bit more so that we understand what happened in this random-ass episode. Let's get to it then, shall we? Peace and Happy Reading!