A World Without Magic had no magic, but at the same time, it wasn't devoid of magic. It had belief and miracles. That meant that magic did exist, just in a smaller, weaker form. He'd grown up around magic, had it around all his life, he was the son of the Black Fairy and Peter Pan, magic ran in his veins, he couldn't imagine living in a world without it. At least he couldn't imagine living in a world without magic but with his memories. If this Curse worked as he thought it would, then there would be a little magic, small amounts that would sustain the Curse, keep them from aging once time had stopped, keep their memories at bay. But one day the Curse would break. One day he'd want magic again because he knew that once the Curse broke, they would not return to this place. A World Without Magic where belief and miracles existed…he was hoping that his brew from True Love might be powerful enough to create a canyon where a crack was. True Love could break any curse…what greater curse was there than a curse of no magic?

But he was getting a bit ahead of himself. And as for how to maintain power before he had his memories back...he'd find a way to stack the odds in his favor. It would require a conversation with Regina, but that could come any time and now wasn't right. Not only was the Seer telling him that, but so was his gut. He'd been watching her since he'd dragged himself out of his stupor of grief. Whatever she'd tried to orchestrate with the mermaid she'd mentioned before had already come to pass, now she was acting so completely unhinged he knew there was no use talking to until the madness passed. And by "madness" he meant obsession.

A blind witch had stolen an apple from the Evil Queen. He couldn't imagine why, this particular blind witch had a taste for foods that appeared particularly unhealthy. Nevertheless, Regina was running around, trying to get the apple back. Her conquest proved she'd turned nearly as heartless as her mother. She kept sending children into the witch's house to retrieve the apple for her. So far, none had come out. He didn't expect the pair she was playing with now to live either, a brother and sister who belonged to a woodcutter who'd left them alone with a compass to guide them home. They'd been easy prey for Regina. When he returned, he forced himself to look away because he didn't see the point of her desire for such a simple thing. And anyway, though he did have a need to speak with the woman, he didn't have time to do it now.

The Seer urged him onward, telling him he didn't even have time to stop anywhere before he met Snow White. She wanted him desperately to get to her and only her. And what she wanted him to bring, she whispered that over and over again in his ear. It was an experiment he'd been working on, a bottle laced with a few ingredients that had the ability to produce something special, something unique. He wanted to know what Snow needed it for, he wanted the Seer to justify giving up such a precious bit of magic. In the Steam Realm the Seer had mentioned that she needed to forget so that she would remember, but she wasn't giving up any more than that. He needed to speak to Snow White. He needed to sort out what the Seer wanted him to know.

He put the bottle in a bag that he tied around his waist, then closed his eyes. He thought of the lake he'd seen, the dock and the boat…

And he was there.

He was sitting in the boat, and she was looking for him. The Seer had said that she was looking for him in her vision and now, as he sat comfortably in her boat, he could see her looking over her shoulder and down the dock for him. Her face shrouded in her cloak, fiddling with the rope on the boat, she doesn't react to his appearance. It was disappointing. He would have thought that a woman on the run would not have allowed herself to be caught by surprise.

"How much for this?" he asked politely, his legs crossed and his back straight, trying to make her feel uneasy and uncomfortable in his presence.

She glanced at him, automatically suspicious before looking up the dock. Funny. Did she expect to see someone? Or was her mind trying to work out how he'd gotten there? Did she even know who he was?

"Excuse me?" she whispered.

"Your boat," he clarified without hesitation. "Exquisite craftsmanship."

"It's not for sale," she grumbled, continuing to tie it up.

"Of course it is, dearie! No one comes to see me without a deal in mind." Her boat tied properly, she immediately shot to her feet at his words. "So you're Rumpelstiltskin?"

Ah…so she did know who he was, she just hadn't known. He stood up, using magic to stabilize himself against the rocking boat.

"Indeed, I am," he confirmed before stepping out of the boat and taking a step closer to her. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. Wow…" he laid his hands over her cheeks and looked upon her face with his own two eyes and no cauldron or mirror between them for the first time. Well now…this was the first time they were meeting face to face. What an odd feeling, to have been waiting for her since before she was born, to have played such an integral part in her childhood and all of her life so far and yet this was the first time he actually found himself face to face with the child. Before Belle, it might have been enough to excite him, he might even have thought her a great beauty. Now it just meant he was one step closer to Baelfire, and as far as beauty went well...

"You really are the fairest of them all, aren't you?"

She swallowed hard, and he let go but didn't take a step away from her. He wanted her unsettled just not as much as she had been.

"What can I do for you?"

"I need a cure," she explained in a small but forceful voice.

"What ails you, child?"

"A broken heart."

"Ah. The most painful of afflictions." He kept a smile on his face, he was proud of that, but even as he spoke he was aware of how a sharp pain, like a lightning bolt, suddenly coursed through his own heart. It was still too soon after Belle to be talking of such things. But he hadn't much choice. He had to do this deal. "Well, I'm afraid if you want me to make him love you," he proclaimed, stepping around her, "no can do. And nothing can."

"Oh, no. That's not the problem," she cried out. "We can't be together."

"Well, that...I can help you with."

Forgetting Potion…the voices cried out fearfully. They wanted to keep him from his son from that world where there was no magic and the scales might not be tipped in their favore. For that reason alone the thought that he might succeed in bringing Snow and her Charming Prince together was terrifying to them. But to the Seer, it was something different, and she whispered into his head the answer, the key to what he needed. It was the experimental potion bottle she'd wanted him to bring from his tower.

It wasn't a Forgetting Potion, not exactly, it was merely a variation on one. What he needed wasn't Forgetting Potion, something that would well and truly erase memories, but rather a Forgetful Potion that was very specifically targeted to take certain memories and...lock them away for a bit. Like making a potion of True Love he had a theory he could guide this one to help her forget only one thing in particular…Charming. But only for a while! He didn't want the girl to forget Charming entirely. But he needed them to have some sort of love story, some reason to chase one another. This could indeed be it.

The bottle had been laced with certain ingredients to make it easier to create when the time came so that all he needed to do was add a bit of water and something to direct it and it would be done. Of course, this was all unproven magic. Making it specific to the girl, specific to her love in particular was a bit, well, experimental. But he trusted the Seer. He trusted what he'd been working on. Could he lock away her love for him only to be pulled out again at the right time? He did believe so. With a bit of her hair, he believed he could direct the potion as it needed to be, and perhaps have some left over for a little experiment of his own. This would, after all, make an excellent test of his theory for the Potion of True Love…

From within his pouch he pulled forth the small vial and dunked it in the waters before them. When he pulled it out, he judged the amount for himself. Seeing it was good, he applied his magic, heated the water, accelerated the mixing of the contents within, Snow let out a small noise as it turned cloudy. Nearly finished.

"That'll do it?" Snow asked.

"Not yet. No two loves are exactly alike. We must make this…personal!" Without warning he yanked a stray bit of hair from her head and added a bit of it to the solution. Blood would have been better, but, in theory, anything with her essence on it would work. Hair wasn't ideal, but he was hopeful it would be fine. Before it was a Forgetful Potion. Now, if he'd done his job right, it was a potion that would help her forget David and David alone. At least for now. It was something of a curse she was asking for and as Belle had so painfully pointed out…all curses could be broken.

"So, if I drink that, I'll no longer love him."

He corked the bottle as he stared at her. "The next time you see the object of your grief, you won't even remember who he is."

She took a step back. "Won't remember him?"

"Love is the most powerful magic. The cure must be…extreme."

She hesitated. "'Extreme' sounds like an understatement."

Smart girl. Perhaps too smart.

"Don't doubt yourself now, dearie!" he taunted. This was right. He had the feeling from the Seer that all was going right! He needed her to take it! He needed to scare her enough to want to take it. "Love makes us sick, haunts our dreams, destroys our days. Love has killed more than any disease. This cure is a gift."

He offered it to her, the remains of her hair still in his hand, all he'd need for his True Love concoction. T'was no gift, just an opportunity for him to make something that had never been made before.

Still, Snow looked at him suspiciously. "What's your price?"

Very clever girl.

"These'll do," he dismissed, holding up the hair in his hand.

"What do you need of my hair?" she questioned warily.

"What do you need of it now it's been plucked from your head?" he laughed, his gaze on her unbreaking. "Do we have a deal?"

For such a smart girl, she thought about it only for a second before reaching out and wordlessly taking the vial from him and holding it close to her chest.

He saw Snow White she was hiding behind a tree as Regina's carriage rolled by, Robin's bow was in her hand, an arrow pulled back. Suddenly there was David, diving in front of an arrow. And then there was a kiss. True Love's Kiss could break any curse…

Snow never broke her stare with him as she moved, and he was careful not to break his own, even through the vision the Seer had just given him. There weren't many people who could look him in the eye without flinching. It was impressive. Probably something she'd been taught in preparation for becoming a Queen one day. But against him, it was still just a tactic.

"I thought so. Drink it in good health, Snow White…" And with that, he turned and walked off the dock, far enough that the fog would make him seem to disappear.

Here's the thing, this section is probably my least favorite section. Not because I'm not a Snowing person (they're not my favorite couple but they're hardly my least. They can be quite adorable at times and I happen to love Ginny and Josh so that's really not it), but rather because this section was not built for a Rumple fanfiction. It's not so obvious in this chapter as it will be in later chapters, but Regina, Snow, and David, those are really the three main characters in this section, they do all the action, they interact with each other all the time, and even though Rumple is certainly part of their story he's not really front and center. To make things worse, even though the three characters interact with each other, the interactions are often brief. Each character really has their own thing going on and often times things are happening at similar times. So, what does that mean? It means a lot of these chapters require lots of set up. It means a lot of these chapters require summarization to fill the reader in on what is going on in another character's life (example: had to fill you in on the Regina, Hansel, and Gretal thing, trust me, it's not important for this fiction but it is in season one). And for Rumple it also means a lot of creative watching; watching through mirrors, the crystal ball, water, reflections, it's a lot! The result is chapters that are super complex, but (spoiler alert) also sort of boring because sometimes Rumple is literally just sitting there watching something happen. And don't get me wrong, because it's not really all bad, I just feel like I would be doing you an injustice if I didn't warn you a bit.

Thank you Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and Alarda for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm happy my American Werewolf was received fairly well and that you saw the purpose of him being there! The purpose of Hansel and Gretel in this chapter won't be ultimately revealed until the season one fiction, as I said above, but just trust me on this, it's totally necessary. So in a way this chapter serves as a setup chapter in multiple ways. I'm so happy I waited to write this fiction until after the series was over. I feel like it would have driven me crazy if I hadn't. Hopefully, now that we're getting down to the end of it, you'll agree with that decision. Peace and Happy Reading!