What was he thinking? Was he insane? Going crazy?! If his behavior was any indication, then yes, obviously!

He'd given her a bedroom! A fucking bedroom! Why had he given her a bedroom?! He should have been trying to figure a way to get away from her, the last thing he needed was for her to be closer! All he could think when he returned from arguing with Samuel, yet another stupid and pointless thing he'd done, was that it had seemed like a good idea at the time. Until he entered his own bedroom, the one space he'd been using as a retreat from her and realized that he could hear her heartbeat, he could smell her hair, and that was when it dawned on him that she was right down the hall, asleep in a bedroom probably in nothing but a shift! All it would take was a good fire to see right through it and-

He was an idiot! It was exactly thoughts like that which drove him to try and figure out something to do with her and yet, now that he was in his room, he realized that he'd had the perfect opportunity, his pride just hadn't allowed him to see it until it was too late. He didn't want to release her to the world for fear of the dangers out in it. But, if he'd taken Samuel up on his offer, he would have been assured that she had some kind of protection! And yet…

He couldn't bear the thought of it. He wasn't confident that he wouldn't be able to let her go, not in a trade like she was just some common object, and not like...that! He would never have been able to just give her to someone like her friend had been. Frankly, he wasn't sure that after what transpired, the complete details of which were still elusive to him, she would have gone with the boy. And now he was here, alone in his room, his head filled with thoughts of her as she slept down the hall in her new bedroom. She was only a stone's throw from where he sat now. Moran.

Fortunately for him, he had work to be done, quite a bit more of it than he'd planned on thanks to Belle. Up in the tower, he was confronted with not one item but two that he was intrigued by; the book from the boy, and the legendary Pandora's box. Which one he needed to deal with first, was obvious.

He had several items in his collection that could potentially be harmful to him. They were purposefully spread out in different areas all over the castle, hidden in different ways with different magic as a precaution. Individually, each of these objects were strong on their own and quite dangerous to him, the last thing he wanted was for someone to break in like Robin Hood had and gain access to all of them at once. As it was now, someone might find something, they might break through one of his spells, he might gain access to a single item, but spread out as they were it was highly unlikely anyone besides himself would ever possess all of them. His tower held the Curse as well as his mother's wand and the others in his collection...the Room-Without-Doors already had its fair share of artifacts, not the least of which was the true Queen of Arendelle. Downstairs Beowulf's sword sat inconspiculously. It was clear to him now that Pandora's box needed to join the other items in their concealment. The question was how and where…

He had an idea.

Downstairs in Belle's kitchen, there was a small cabinet, one that she used to house the simple china they used for breakfast, dinner, and of course, teatime. Teatime…oh, he had the best idea he'd ever had.

He used his magic to form a hole in the stone floor just in front of the cabinet. He concealed the hole in wood, added some hinges and a circular ring that he attached to the door to easily pull the door on the ground up to open it and push it down to shut it. He cast spells over the hideaway, spells that concealed the magic that the box gave off, magic that dampened the call of the Dark Magic. Then he set the box into the freshly made refuge and closed the new lid over it. Obviously, he couldn't leave it like that. The way it was Belle would come down first thing in the morning, find it, and open it herself. He didn't know what had transpired between her and Samuel, if she knew what the box was or how to operate it. He trusted her not to use it on him, but he didn't trust anyone else that might break in and find it. He had to conceal it. A simple glamor linked to a lock and key would do the job. And he knew exactly what he wanted that key to be.

He opened the cabinet. There was their tea set. Not just their tea set, but the tea set. It was the tea set that he'd once traded the life of a cheating husband for because the Seer said that it was going to be important one day. Now he knew how it would be important. He found that teacup, the same one he'd held all those years ago, the one which just so happened to have the chip in it, thanks to Belle. He was rather grateful for that now. It would make it easy to identify in the future.

He set the chipped cup upon one of the matching saucers; he set the key into the lock. It was a simple spell, one that connected that lock and that key to the hiding spot, when the time was right, he slipped his hand into the cabinet removed the cup from the saucer, and watched as the door vanished from sight. An easy but tricky glamour, for only if someone had both the lock and the key would the door open for them. And no one, not even Belle, was going to find that lock.

He used his potion and blood to mark the saucer, the teacup, and then the entire damn cabinet, just to make sure that all of it came with him in the Curse. He pocketed the saucer before he closed the cabinet door, wondering if Belle would notice that a piece was missing from the collection. Probably, but with it hidden in his tower it was unlikely she'd find it.

Pandora's box hidden away and sunrise still hours away, he was excited to return to his tower, hide the saucer, and then pick up the book he'd been longing to read. He sat by his fire, channeling Belle as he paged through the book. There was no indication which realm it might have come from, but it was clear that it wasn't from this world simply because it was about this world.

It was impressive, because he'd taken it off of a little boy he'd expected the book to be filled with children's stories, but it read like a manual on the Enchanted Forest. It held information on the Kingdom, stories about legends, warnings, even a bit about the role Fairies and dwarves played in society. He was on the fence as to whether or not the author had ever been to the Enchanted Forest, reason being that somethings he wrote about were quite accurate, like the bit about dwarves being born from eggs and fairies being related to the stars. However, the section on him, the Dark One, was less than accurate.

The tome didn't seem old, chances were that he'd been the Dark One when it was written, but the book never mentioned his name, real or otherwise. The book did mention that he liked to make deals, but the things that the book claimed he did were a combination of childish pranks and bitter revenge-fueled tricks. It described him as a villainous creature with little soul. It described nothing of his curse, nothing of his dagger, nothing of the Dark One's origins. But…

The boy was right. It didn't contain and origin story, but it did contain a conclusion. His heart raced and for once the hum in his head that was caused by the other Dark One's dimmed as he sat forward and read on, devouring the words he saw before him. It wasn't a detailed account, nothing in the book was, but the book was still very clear. There was a cure for his curse.

Get rid of it, one of the Dark Ones warned nervously.

According to the book, it lay in another land but which land it did not give away.

Stop reading and get rid of it.

In this other land, a "guide" would lead the Dark One to a Guardian.

Stop this now!

With a proper wish, the Guardian would take the powers of the Dark One and leave him a human man again.

I said get rid of it!

Nimue's screech had him throwing the book across the room, where it slammed to the floor. His heart was doing more than racing. His stomach was rolling. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he didn't know if he was going to be sick with fear or sick with excitement.

"These things are not for you to consider! They are poison to all of us, not just you. Get rid of it!"

"What are you doing here?" he questioned with a sneer. His fingers slipped inside his boot and pulled forth his dagger. The name written on it was his own. There was no explanation for why Nimue was there. She hadn't stood before him in this tower for more than a century! "I didn't summon you."

"You know why I'm here, Rumple! We only appear when you are filled with doubt! My uninvited presence should tell you just how dangerous that book and the ideas within it are. Listen to me when I tell you…get rid of it! Now!" she hissed. She reached out her hand, and he felt magic fill the room as the book flew up from the place it had landed on the floor and landed in his open hand. He let out a soft "oof" when a corner of it hit his belly.

"Get rid of it," the woman growled, standing suddenly behind him. She put her hands on his shoulders so that he would turn to face the fire. "Destroy it. It's for the best."

Destroy it!

Burn it!

Get rid of it!

Over and over the voices taunted, recognizing the threat he held in his hand. They knew what could happen if he kept it, they knew what would happen if he ever decided to use it. Why would he ever need it? Why would he ever use it? He was happy with his life, he was happy with his curse, so happy it may as well have been a blessing. He'd worked hard to get his hands on poison just as Nimue had told him. But like the box and the sword and the urn it was better he get his hands on it than someone else. Better for him to-

He reeled back, preparing to throw it into the fire when the Seer interrupted with a familiar vision, one he was nearly certain was a fantasy, until now…

It was Belle. A vision of Belle before him wearing unfamiliar white clothes, her face obscured by some kind of hat. And there was a feeling that swelled up inside of him with that image, a feeling of happiness after a long period of sadness, a feeling of completion. His mind raced with thoughts, thoughts of excitement for the future, thoughts of how lucky he was, of how impossible it all felt. In his head was a very specific thought, he was going to make her the happiest woman on the face of the earth. He would protect her and he'd do anything he had to do in order to accomplish that. She made him feel like a man again. He wanted to hold onto that.

When he came out of the vision, he was breathless. He could feel moisture on his cheek that betrayed him. He was crying. The voices were still loud, the Seer had drowned them out for a few moments, but now it wat that image that he carried of the woman sleeping downstairs that was capable of silencing them all. It was powerful. She was powerful. And as he held the book in his hand, he had a feeling that his future, every future, hung on this book.

The voices were upset with him, they screamed and yelled and hollered as they felt his resolve falter. But he hung onto the image of Belle, used his magic to hide the book within the depths of the fireplace mantle, and left it there.

Just in case…

So there you have it. I said I used this section to close out another storyline and this is the one. As it turns out I literally closed them both out in the same chapter. The book is important to season 7. It's not actually seen in season 7, but in Moments Beyond, which would sort of be Rumple's intro to season 7, he brings Belle back to the castle to fetch something important once he's decided to get rid of his curse. It's a book that he hid within his tower fireplace just in case he ever needed it. That book leads him to Arendelle, which leads him to tell Belle about wanting to break the curse, which sets them on their journey. And...ta-da...season 7 now exists.

Thank you for your reviews Alarda and Jennifer Baratta. As always they are greatly appreciated. I'm sorry this chapter isn't terribly exciting. I know it seems like it's filler but it's really not. It's a setup chapter, it just so happens that the things it's setting up (S3A and S7) are quite a ways away. But, without this chapter, finding Pandora's Box and Rumple going back for the book just wouldn't make any sense. Chapters like this really show why this fiction was so complicated to write. I had to do a lot of seeing into the future for it! Like...a lot! But I hope you'll be able to appreciate it for what it brings to the table later, if not now. Good news, the next chapter is a lot more exciting. Peace and Happy Reading.