He didn't know what to feel. He didn't know what to think. When he'd gotten Jekyll to take the serum again before going out, he'd been interested and hopeful. He'd informed Hyde that Jekyll had brought him back because he was pleased, he'd gotten him something that he couldn't for himself. Now he was rewarding him by giving him time to do as he pleased.

"Now, if only he could figure out what to do about Mary…" he remarked sullenly.

"Mary…the one he loves."

"Oh, yes…funny thing about love. It can all too easily become a weakness, a danger to your other half, and you, of course."

"How could she ever be a danger to me-to him?" he corrected quickly.

"Well, love is weakness. The good doctor is intelligent. He has the ability to make that serum that makes you live, to heal countless men who are suffering in that clinic he works in with his experiments! But you think he'll want to pursue his work if he has Mary around? Surely not!" he scoffed. "They'll spend their free time in one another's arms, enjoying the finer things in life before children come about and of course once children come into the world, he'll have even less time to let you come into the world. In fact, he'll probably forget about his work altogether."

Hyde thought about that one. He could see it in the way his eyes roamed from him to the floor in front of him and the way he lifted his hands and looked at them like he'd never seen them before. Trap set and baited…now it was time to play.

"Oh, but how foolish of me, your time is limited until the serum wears off! And listen to me blathering about!" He waved his hand and dressed him in another fine outfit as he had last night. "Go, have fun, explore the night! After all, with that girl around, we can't tell just how many of them you'll have left, can we? No…"

A moment later, Hyde left his quarters, but he wasn't alone, not like he thought he was. He'd followed the boy to watch what might happen as he sought out Mary. He expected it would be like last night, that he would be able to intimidate her, push her away, scare her so much that she might run into the arms of some handsome young doctor daddy would approve of. Instead, his stomach had turned as he watched Hyde confront her.

They talked. She smiled and stepped around him while he circled, the pair of them doing a careful dance until she took a step closer and soon enough he was smiling as well. He couldn't believe what he'd seen. They were courting. He knew what it looked like, but it was only by seeing it from afar that realized the motions were all too familiar.

Courting…was that what they'd been doing all these months, he and Belle? Had they been courting like that? Well, maybe not exactly like that, but the smiles, the small touches, the companionship…it was uncomfortably familiar and yet…uncomfortably unfamiliar at the same time.

When he saw them kiss, he was ready to hit something out of rage and envy. Did Hyde know how long he'd wanted to do just that? How long he'd wanted so badly to pull his Belle into his own arms and kiss her just like he was doing with Mary, how long he'd fought that part of himself?!

When she snuck him into her apartments, and he heard their pulses increase exponentially, he was so jealous he was nearly ready to give up and go home. It wasn't just because Hyde, in two encounters, was suddenly living a fantasy he'd been too afraid to claim for himself for months. It was also because it signaled a failed experiment. Jekyll loved Mary, in taking the serum, he'd hoped that Hyde would not, and yet it appeared the attraction had not faded. It had remained. That was no good for him. Nothing could ever come from that, not for him. He could take the serum and try and purge Belle from his thoughts…it wouldn't work.

He'd left them alone. He knew well enough what a man and a woman, kissing and groping alone in a room with elevated heartrates meant. He didn't need to see it for himself, and unless Mary inherited a terrible habit from her father, he imagined they didn't want to be watched. He spent the night walking the streets of this realm, wandering about, trying not to think about how he'd promised Belle a book, and then, morning came, and with it, news that had him shaking.

He felt numb. He felt…he didn't know what he felt. Joy? Fear? He couldn't choose between the two.

Mary was dead.

He'd turned his attention away for two seconds, let them have their fun, and by this afternoon, word of Mary's death had spread all around town. No…Mary's murder. He nearly had a panic attack. Hyde…he'd killed her? The last he'd seen of them, he was certain they were about to fall into bed. Had he been wrong about what happened last night? Had he been courting Mary only to take advantage of her and murder her? Was that how he had planned to get her out of his life? That was very bad news for him. If he had murdered her, it suggested that the serum had worked, but it still meant he couldn't use it. He wouldn't. He'd hoped that this serum of Jekyll's might be able to help him with Belle. He'd hoped it might be able to help him live with Belle and without the distraction she was. He'd hoped that the serum might help him stop thinking of her, stop craving her, stop wanting her attention and to make her happy. Or else he'd hoped it might give him the ability to finally dismiss her. But he didn't want her dead. He didn't want to kill her and the thought that he might have a hand in stopping her life…he couldn't do it. He wouldn't.

He had to know what had happened, what, exactly, had gone wrong and for that, he had to find Jekyll or Hyde… Fortunately for someone new to the idea of murder, especially one that was gossiped about as this one was, he knew where to look first. To his surprise, the being he saw in Jekyll's lab wasn't the doctor, but his counterpart. It was Hyde. He was packing a few things away in a small chest as all scared first-time killers did, he was preparing to run.

"Going somewhere?" Hyde looked up at him with sad, scared eyes that made it difficult to believe he was the monster inside of Jekyll; seemed more like the man than the monster. "Just when things have gotten interesting. News of what you've done to that poor girl has spread like wildfire throughout the city. We really let the animal out of the cage with you, didn't we?"

"I didn't kill Mary!" he screamed at him, sounding more like a damsel in distress than a giant beast. But distress was a key component to a first murder. It could be scary for the perpetrator. And since Mary was dead and he'd seen Hyde with her last night and now he was here this morning…

"You're gonna have to do better than that," he laughed, putting two and two together.

"You have to believe me," he cried, advancing on him. "It was Jekyll!"

"Such passionate defense!"

"I could never," he spat, his back and chest spasming like a child who couldn't catch their breath when they cried. Like a child who was genuinely upset. "Not to Mary."

He felt what little hope he'd had fall. Hyde hadn't killed her, but Jekyll had? Because Hyde couldn't. Because…

"You loved her."

"Very much."

Fuck.

One stupid little emotion he couldn't seem to outrun had now caught up with Hyde too! And now…now he had no choice in what happened with Belle! One failed experiment had sealed her fate! And he, surely, would not be given the benefit of spending a night with her as Hyde had spent with his paramour. Did he not know just how much he'd been depending on him?!

"How can you be so weak?!" he growled angrily. He flung his arm out and used his magic to grasp the man about the neck so hard he fell to his knees in an instant. He'd failed him. His brilliant plan, his hopes, his dreams, all depended upon him going to Mary and telling her never to come near him or the doctor again! He hadn't planned on the doctor's love for her invading the darker half, he hadn't planned on that darker half sleeping with her and then falling in love with her himself, and he certainly hadn't planned on the doctor being so angry he killed the woman! Love was foolishness!

"Now all of this is failure...complete and utter failure. My experiment has been a waste. I should end your miserable life right now! But..."

He released him. Finally able to breathe again, Hyde fell back onto the floor, paler than usual, which was an accomplishment with his tone. He could kill him, he was an experienced killer thanks to his darker half and did it all the time without blathering about like an idiot. But there were punishments worse than death. If he had to go home and figure out a way to send the person he loved far away from him and learn to live with that…then he should learn to live with it too. In a few hours, Hyde would dissolve into Jekyll, the single potion he'd crafted would come to an end, and Hyde would disappear inside him never to return. And Jekyll…he'd live forever with the knowledge that he'd killed the love of his life. It seemed like a fair trade all around!

"Your fate is worse than death. You shall have to share a life with the weakness inside you." But only so long as Jekyll lived. Only so long as no one hunted him down and persecuted him for this murder. He had an idea, one that would assure Jekyll got away and had to live with this for as long as he would have to, in a land where time stopped. It too was a Land he had access to thanks to Jefferson. But it, unlike the others, wasn't a one-time thing. It was almost too easy.

"What is this all about? Why did you do this?" Hyde cried out, writhing on the floor his face still red.

"My reasons are just that…mine."

A bang on the door, authorities, forced him to act. In a flash, he grabbed Hyde off the floor and took the small chest into which he'd placed Mary's necklace. He used the remaining bit of Jefferson's blue formula to take Hyde back with him through the portal and back into his Tower. Just as the man began to sputter and scream at the sudden change of realm he let him go. He didn't help him. He didn't explain to him what had just happened, especially when it was about to happen again. He reached into the bag Jefferson gave him, pulled out the Key to the Land of Untold Stories, summoned the door in a flash, and opened it. Hyde continued to scream, to cry out "no!" as he opened the door and used his strength to deposit him in front of it.

"Please!" he begged on his knees, his hands clasped together in front of him as if he were praying. Tears…Hyde had tears. And Jekyll had killed Mary. Which one was the beast and which one was the man? It was impossible to tell. And either way, it didn't matter. It couldn't help him. "Please don't do this. Kill me instead!"

He shoved the small chest he'd taken with the necklace inside of it into Hyde's hands. "Good day to you, sir."

With one booted foot, he gave a half-hearted kick, but it was all he needed to send Jekyll and Hyde tumbling into the portal to live long lives with the knowledge of what had happened. And he-

"Rumpelstiltskin…"

He waved his hand in front of the door and banished it from his sight, but most importantly her sight. By the time she reached the top of the steps, he'd pocketed the Key. "Oh! Your back. You weren't gone as long as you said you'd be, is everything alright?" she inquired delicately. "I thought I heard screams."

"Everything is fine, Belle," he answered darkly. "I'll be along to dinner in a few moments."

After a pause, she left. He stifled a cry of anguish. The serum was a failure.

He knew what there was left to do about her.

Hey-o! You made it through Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Again, I did what I could with this chapter. The hardest part was getting the pair to the Land of Untold Stories since we never saw that part.

Thank you Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I really am happy you've found these chapters to be satisfactory given what I started with. Up next...well...up next we're going to get to the remaining 1x12 scenes, which means we're going to get a Rumbelle high; probably the biggest Rumbelle high of their time in the Dark Castle. But of course that high also brings about the Rumbelle low. Ready? Then let's move on. Peace and Happy Reading!