Rumpelstiltskin, if you've done your job right, your memories of the last few days are gone. Do not try to get them back, do not attempt to remember. You have taken them away for a reason, and not even that reason should be known to you. The following are a list of things you'll need to know in regard to your missing memories.
1) The downstairs will need to be cleaned up. You moved the couch and the table downstairs for Belle.
2) Regina will likely be angry the next time you see her. If she doesn't already know that Snow White has eluded her capture, and in this case, her execution, again, she will soon enough.
3) Snow White and Prince Charming have met and are well on their way to True Love. They'll need watching for a time to make sure everything goes as it should, but for now, the time is coming nearer for the Swan to be born and the curse to be cast. You are one step closer to your son.
4) Concerning Belle, you must immediately-
He'd found the letter sitting on his desk next to a bottle of ink and a quill that looked as though it had been hastily dropped before he could finish writing. The ink was still wet, indicating it hadn't been written long ago. Of course, if the letter was to be believed, the last instruction to himself would suggest that he, or whoever had written it, hadn't finished writing. Whoever had written it...he would have loved to discover it was a trick of some kind, that someone was trying trap him or get him to do something he'd regret. Then, he would be free to pursue what had happened that led up to finding that letter. Unfortunately, over the next several days, he saw evidence that the letter certainly was genuine. To begin with, the letter wasn't signed, but it was written in his own hand. It bore no traces of magic, and whoever had left it had access to his tower. Those signs alone pointed to himself as the letter's author.
Furthermore, the Great Room downstairs bore traces of the "cleaning" that was mentioned as "necessary" under item number one. The last time he'd seen it his wheel and a mirror had decorated it, now the couch that Belle had moved in her first few weeks as well as a small table with magical supplies, including his crystal ball, decorated it. Why? He didn't know. The letter hadn't stated, only that it had been for Belle. She showed no interest in starting a conversation around strangers or any odd incidents that had happened in the last few days, forcing him to assume that no one else had been in the castle to know about the Great Room change of arrangement.
After inspecting the Great Room and correcting the furniture, he also checked in on Regina, Snow, and David. David and Snow seemed no different than the last time he'd glimpsed them though perhaps a little more…weary? Distracted? He'd found David in Midas' castle looking out the window of his tower to the woods, and he'd found Snow in a tavern, sitting by the window, doing the exact same thing. There was no indication that they'd met, but there was also no indication that he'd see anything different. He'd needed them to meet; that didn't mean they had to be joined at the hip or writing love letters to one another after one meeting.
Instead, for confirmation, he'd gone to the only other clue that the letter had given him: Regina. Oh, angry she was. It appeared that in the last few days Snow had indeed eluded her capture along with some other prisoners. He listened as she paced back and forth in her room, the skirts of her black dress swishing and swaying with every turning stride. She'd thought she finally had her, been closer than she'd ever thought she was! She'd kidnapped a woman from the forest, one who knew where she was hiding but refused to tell her. She'd sent her back to the castle to be executed when she didn't talk along with three others. She'd attended the engagement ball for Prince James and Princess Abigail at Midas' castle, a pleasantry and expectation for royalty. While she'd been there, she'd received word that Snow was in the castle and sent her guards, but some woman, a princess she claimed though she could find no proof of that, helped her escaped. She'd taken the woman prisoner and put her on her own little death row as well, hoping she might talk. But it wasn't necessary. The next night Snow White broken into her tower and tried to use Black Fairy Dust on her. But of course, she wasn't surprised, she'd used her magic to steer clear of the dust and had her guards take her prisoner. She'd had them build a pyre right then and there so that she didn't escape, and she'd slept like a baby for all of one night thinking that Danial was finally avenged. But when the next morning came, she received word that two of her prisoners had escaped. And worse, that afternoon she was visited by some trolls that wanted reward money, they'd seen Snow White, attacked her and Prince James that very morning on the Troll bridge. She'd used her genie in the mirror to see that her enemy was alive and well and realized how she'd escaped into the night.
Talking to Regina answered nearly all his questions, even assured him that the False Prince and Princess had met. What it didn't do was explain the last line of his letter, the unfinished sentence.
4) Concerning Belle, you must immediately-
What?! What did he need to do immediately?! Did she need something? Had she done something? Did she know something?! Why hadn't he finished that line?! He hoped the woman might give him a hint, that when they saw each other she'd be bashful or upset, maybe angry or even remarkably happy! Anything that might give him a hint at what he needed to know! But she was normal. Completely and utterly normal. She delivered his meal to him on time, like always. They ate breakfast in silence. She did her chores, he did his work, they had tea and dinner, a bit of time together in the Great Hall before they went their separate ways and that was it. She asked nothing about the last few days. She didn't pry or distance herself. Her heart rate was normal. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do with her or why there was such urgency.
He wasn't sure what happened over the last few days, why he'd felt a need to give himself a memory potion to wipe it all away, or why he told himself not to explore it. But he knew that if there was one person in this realm he trusted it was himself. Confident that he'd written the letter, he decided to listen to his own remarks and let it all go. Unsettled as he felt about Belle, he had to believe that if the instruction was essential, he would have finished writing it down instead of leaving it blank. And, if it was important, then he had to believe with all his might that the issue would come back again. He just had to wait it out. And in the meantime…he had work to do.
The list of clients that King George had given him for the Golden Fairy-it wasn't her exact whereabouts, but it would have to do. He spent all of one day using his crystal ball, searching out each individual name until he got to one, in particular, that gave him pause.
Ella, an oddity. The Golden Fairy dealt with "clients" that appeared not to need a Fairy Godmother. Her godchildren were rich, upper class, and in most cases royal, but this girl…she was a maid. A real maid, not like the kind Belle was, who was well cared for and got away with everything. This girl dressed in rags, there were cinder marks on her face, sweat beaded on her forehead as she worked in front of the fire cooking dinner, a general look of misery about her. But she was kind. She fed mice what little she had, took care of animals, and talked to the stars. And all the while her golden hair…
Golden hair.
His vision! The original one, the one that he'd had when the Seer had given him the answer to everything! She'd been in it! In fact, now that he thought about it, she'd been in it twice!
"A precious debt from a woman of ash will find the boy of fire…" Those were the Seer's words followed by the face of a woman in rages with golden hair framing a face with soot…her face. She was the woman, the one in rags the one he needed to find Baelfire. And her fairy Godmother…how did she play into this?
Another vision gave him his answer, brief and uninformative as it was.
It was nighttime, he knew because the sky was dark. The woman was outside, she was sweeping when suddenly the golden fairy appeared before her. In her hand was a wand, a wand like he'd seen before in another vision. It was the sixth of the six wands. He watched as before his eyes as the fairy exploded into nothing and left standing in her place…was him.
"Cinderella," the Seer whispered into his head, a new name for the girl of ash, a new piece to the puzzle.
One step after another. Piece by piece. It was all falling into place. It was beginning to happen so fast he could hardly believe that what he'd been working on all this time was finally starting to pass. It was overwhelming. It was almost unbelievable. But he couldn't allow himself to be stopped by it. His memories of the last few days were locked away, he could feel right down to the marrow of his bones that it wasn't time to approach the Golden Fairy yet, and he hadn't a clue what he was supposed to do about Belle. With nothing else to do, he did the only thing he could think to do. He turned his attention back to something attainable, something he should be going after.
He wanted to find the boy from Clopin's latest group of immigrants. He had to get his hands on his book.
I don't know that I'd call this chapter a Filler Chapter because it actually exists for several very important reasons. There are a lot of really important things touched upon here even if it does feel sort of "fillery". This chapter sort of draws a bridge between the 3x21/3x22 stuff and what's coming next. It works to close out our last section but also to introduce us to what's going to be happening for Rumple next. In addition, this has the added bonus of explaining something that was left unexplained in the series. It's not really a big deal, just one of those stupid little things that you notice when you do something like this. It is a "goof" I suppose, technically, but it's not a big one so I've made my peace with the fact that it exists and tried to explain it here. Cinderella...Rumple asks George for the Fairy's location when he brings him David. And yet, we know that by the time he gets to her Snow and David are married and have taken back their Kingdom because we finally saw the ball scene in season six. It's only once you really stop to examine the timeline that you realize that is one hell of a healthy gap of time that he waited to go after the Gold Fairy. So, this chapter seeks to explain that a little bit, because without explanation I just can't see Rumple sitting around with it giving it "time" for no reason. Like I said, not really a big deal, but problematic enough for me that I needed to explain it. How'd I do?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Alarda, Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and Ysabel for your reviews on the last chapter. I was happy to hear you thought that it was satisfactory. I'm really excited about where we're heading next! It's gonna be good! So, if you are ready, let's move forward! Peace and Happy Reading!