"No…my ending shall not be a happy one," he muttered, pushing himself away from the table, away from Belle, and away from the candle he'd doused just after lighting it because she'd interrupted him. He needed to spin. He needed to do something other than what he was doing. He needed her to take her roses and go so that he could work. Whether he had one minute or one decade with Baelfire after he found him, it would be worth all of this just to look into his son's eyes as he died.

"Well, you know, I, uh…I always thought the idea of a happy ending was greatly exaggerated," Belle muttered behind him.

Her words stopped him. They took his breath away because they were unexpectedly comforting. Comfort…he hadn't let himself feel comfort in ages but now, with her around, with Baelfire celebrating his birthday so far away he may as well be on another planet, he wanted that comfort from her. He didn't deserve it, but he wanted it.

"What do you mean?" he asked, turning to find her watching him. He took a step closer to her. In this cold tower, her heat was like a beacon drawing him in. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been warm.

"I've never understood why people call them 'happy endings,'" she explained. "Happy or not, an ending is final. It's the end. How could an ending ever be happy? It's the story, the journey taken, that's always far more interesting, far happier than any ending I've ever heard of."

He didn't know what to say to that. A beautiful woman, a good woman, who hated the idea of happy endings? The idea was preposterous, even for a woman who was unlike any other he'd ever met. Who didn't want a happy ending? Perhaps someone who had never had to worry about having one?

He shook his head at her naivety, even as she felt like she was far wiser than he'd ever be. "You read too many books." He dismissed her idea but found himself taking a step closer to where she was, where he wanted to be so desperately. "Don't leave," he wanted to scream. "Stay. Stay where you are forever. Let me stay in your light. My darkness is only a shadow next to you."

"Do you need anything?" she asked kindly as if sensing his desires. He had no doubt she actually could. "Tea? Dinner?"

"Company," he spat out before he could send her away. "Yours," he added, watching her reaction carefully.

She offered the same unassuming and understanding smile that she always did.

"I'm here to listen for as long as you need me to," she whispered, reaching across between them she ran her fingers through his hair. It was comforting. He found himself leaning into her touch, yearning suddenly for more of it.

"I made a choice once Belle…a choice that separated me from my son. It's my own fault."

"Can you fix it?"

"I'm trying," he admitted sadly, reaching up to cover her hand with his own because he didn't want her to pull away. He liked touching her. "I've been trying for over a century. It's all I wanted for decades, until…"

"Until…"

He glanced up at her and searched her eyes. She knew. She always knew. She felt the same things that he felt, whether he wanted to admit them or not. And he wanted to admit them. If he did, then maybe things would turn out differently.

"Until you came along," he confessed softly, reaching up to put his hand on her neck. She didn't shudder or wince at his touch. That always amazed him. "And suddenly, I don't just want something else; I want something more; someone more."

Her heart quickened. He could feel it in the pulse at her neck. She licked her lips, swallowed a little, and took a step closer. "Maybe…maybe that someone wants you just as much…" she whispered back as her other hand found its way to his chest.

"I hope."

And then they both closed the distance between them, and he caught her up in a kiss that threatened to knock him off his feet. It was the smartest thing he ever could have done…

But he hadn't done it. Instead, he'd kicked her out of his tower that night, he'd never confessed anything to her, he'd never kissed her, never held her, never felt the way her skin laid against his own…and now he never would.

The feeling of someone in his castle forced his eyes open and out of the daydreaming he'd been doing. He'd taken to doing that a lot since he arrived in his cell. After all, it wasn't like there was much more to do. He'd been here for perhaps a month. The items he'd stashed were right where he'd left them, but they were the only thing he had besides rancid food with worms in it they gave him. He was suddenly never more thankful for the fact that he didn't have to eat. With his magic dampened and the voices quieter, he did manage to doze a bit, but not in the little cot they'd provided for him. When he'd first arrived, he'd found a quiet alcove in the top of his cell, a place where the bars that held him here would recede if ever they were opened. It was a tiny place, but he liked hiding in it. It helped him to feel like he wasn't a caged animal at a place the Seer said was called a "zoo."

With nothing to do, he mostly spent his days there, daydreaming, thinking back on times in his life he wished he could have done something different. Belle and Baelfire came to him frequently, but others invaded as well. A man who lived as long as he had lived tended to collect regrets. But as the feeling of his castle being invaded reached into his bones and alerted him to something he could do nothing about, shutting his castle up was not one of those regrets. He'd planned for this, he reminded himself. He'd put a blood spell on everything he wanted and used Heart Magic to keep them out of the most sacred of places. No matter what people took from him, if it was important, it would come back. Though he did worry the few times he'd felt the Blue Fairy there. He couldn't possibly imagine what she was looking for? The Black Fairy's Wand, probably. He hoped it was all hidden well enough, it had magic on it, but the Blue Fairy would know how to counteract it if she wished. But he supposed, at this point, he'd find out on the other side.

Suddenly the Seer whispered in his head. He had to close his eyes again and concentrate, focus on the voice in order for it to come through loud and clear with the way his magic was weakened here. But after a few moments, her implication was clear. He had to get ready.

A moment later, he heard footsteps down the hall. One of his guards was talking to someone. He heard the door open, and the footsteps grew as the voices silenced. They were coming.

"Rumpelstiltskin! I have a question for you."

He shook his head. The guards here never asked him questions. They all kept away from him, and he'd come to the conclusion they were on strict orders not to talk to him, which meant that he wasn't the one who had a question. It was who was with him. There was a familiar scent in the air. The day to collect on a deal had finally arrived.

"No, you don't," he muttered, leaning over the alcove and gripping the bars so that he could do a controlled summersault back to the ground with the little magic he still possessed. The act always made them shiver a bit. It made him seem inhuman to them, and that pleased him. Anything to make his captors as uncomfortable as possible. "They do."

Right side up, he could see them, two figured beside the guards draped in dark cloaks, their heads lowered so that he couldn't see their faces. But the Seer put a familiar image into his head, a vision he'd had long ago of a visit from two familiar individuals when he'd made a promise that one of them would always tell the truth.

"Snow White and Prince Charming…" he laughed at their pathetic attempt to conceal their identities. They couldn't hide from him…he'd seen both of them and what they would make long before they were born. "You insult me. Step into the light and take off those ridiculous robes."

Brave as they were, they followed his commands, looked up into his eyes, and pulled their hoods back over their faces. Yes…this was the moment that he'd seen coming. They needed to make a deal…and he knew what he wanted. He was ready.

"That's much better."

"We've come to ask you about the…"

"Yes! Yes! I know why you're here!" he cried, interrupting David. He knew he had to make this deal with them, but he couldn't help but glare at David. After putting him in here, he still expected him to help. He'd pay for that later. "You want to know about the Queen's threat."

"Tell us what you know," the Queen demanded greedily.

"Ooh, tense, aren't we?" he commented, observing her. There were circles he could make out under her eyes, eyes which were filled with desperation. Someone hadn't been sleeping well, probably not since she'd dropped a baby down a portal to another world. She was the one who wanted to be here, not David. That was valuable information. "Fear not! For I can ease your mind. But…it's going to cost you something in return."

"No!" David shouted, grabbing her arm. "He's just a waste of time."

"What do you want?" she volunteered, pulling free of David and approaching him.

Perfect.

"Oh…the name of your unborn child?" he suggested as though he hadn't been planning on this moment for years.

"Absolutely not!"

"Deal!" Snow shouted over David.

Shocking…truly shocking…he'd thought it would have been more difficult than that.

"What do you know?" she pressed.

He smiled. Everything. He knew everything and far more than he'd ever tell her. But there was one vital thing she needed to know for all this to work.

"The Queen has created a powerful curse. And it's coming. Soon, you'll all be in a prison. Just like me! Only worse…your prison, all of our prisons, will be time. Time will stop, and we will be trapped, someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love, will be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity while the Queen celebrates, victorious at last! No more happy endings…"

"What can we do?"

He laughed. "We can't do anything."

"Who can?" she corrected, picking up on the only option he'd left her.

He smiled as he reached his hand out from between the bars toward the bulging stomach reaching back for him. His hands outside of the bars, he felt a stir of magic in the air, but it was coming off of the child she concealed in waves. A Savior. A very powerful Savior. His own good work. "That little thing, growing inside your belly…"

He felt a sting across his wrist as David stepped forward and slapped his hand away with his blade. "Next time, I cut it off."

Protective. Good. He was counting on that.

"Tsk tsk…" he clucked at him. "The infant is our only hope," he muttered to David before looking back at Snow. "Get the child to safety!" He stepped up onto the bar of the cell so he could look at her clearly and close his eyes. Using the extra magic he'd just taken, he let the Seer's power flow through him, remembering his original vision and all that had come to pass and all that had not so far. "Get the child to safety, and on its…twenty-eighth birthday, the child will return. The child will find you, and the final battle will begin!" he proclaimed, remembering the laugh his mother had given. His own laugh echoed over the cavern walls making him seem nearly as crazy as they wanted to believe he was. This Curse…it was only just the first part of something grander, something far more sinister at play. He had a theory on what that was, but he didn't care. After he had Baelfire back, it was none of his concern.

"We heard enough. We're leaving," David suddenly insisted, turning Snow White and walking her away. In his mind, the Dark Ones cried out, and the Seer hissed at him.

"Hey!" he cried after them. "No! We made a deal! I want her name! We had a deal! I need her name! I want her name!"

"Her?" David blanched over his shoulder at him. "It's a boy."

Girl! the Seer cried at him, casting a familiar image of the blonde-haired Swan in his head again as David walked on. Snow stayed still, absolutely still, and he remembered the day that she'd held the gypsy magic out over her hand and watched the pendulum swing. She knew! He needed that name! Her true name, not a trick. It was the only way his previous debt would be satisfied.

"Missy! Missy…you know I'm right. Tell me, what's her name?" The Queen stayed still for another moment. There was silence in the room as the guard stared at her, and David stared at her, and he stared at her. And then finally she turned.

"Emma," she answered. "Her name is Emma."

He smiled as King and Queen left the chamber with his guard. "Emma…"

He released the bars and laughed hysterically as he collapsed against the back wall of his chamber, the chamber where the parchment and quill and squid ink were stored. Trapped or not, the last pieces were falling into place. Finally! Well…the last pieces for him at least, theirs…that remained to be seen…

"Get the child to safety," he'd warned. How they were supposed to do that…he didn't know. Truly he didn't. And now…sitting in this space, Snow heavily pregnant in front of him and the Curse on the way, he finally knew why. The Seer knew. Whatever they were going to do to protect the child would lead the child away from this world and into the next world but beyond the reaches of the Curse. If he knew about the way to get there, he would have taken that route instead of this one.

Sometimes…sometimes he wondered how much of this was the Seer and how much of it was him. Sometimes he secretly thought that the Seer might have wanted this more than he wanted it. Sometimes he thought that she might have sought him out to be part of this, to make a name for herself, to guide him as the voice in his head. What were the chances she would have met him as a child and not seen? There wasn't one. She'd had more control over this ability than he ever had, but even he knew, when you saw the future, there was no such thing as coincidence. She was a clever little beast. Sometimes he thought that the Seer might have been the greatest Villian of them all.

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, the beginning. There is an idea here in America that when we send a child their room on "timeout," or even when we send a criminal to prison, they are going to use that useless time they have to "think about what they've done." I'm not going to suggest whether or not those beliefs and that system actually works, but I took what's going to happen in these chapters with Rumple from that idea. For the first time in over a century, his magic is muted, the voices are either whispers or silent, and he has nothing to do...except think about what he's done. I didn't want him to think of it necessarily in a bad way because ultimately, this will get him back to his son, so he can't really regret what he's done. But, I loved the idea of having him think back onto individual moments and think, "how could this have played out differently. So, in these chapters, you'll see Rumple, you'll see a familiar scene we've already had, and then you'll see is "what if" scenario. Something will be different or changed from what actually happened. In the original scene we read here, he tells Belle to get out of his tower. Here, he gives in to his urge to ask her to stay and plays out a scenario he wouldn't regret that wouldn't change anything. Not all of these scenes feature Belle or even Bae, though, so stay tuned for some other exciting characters to play a role here. Any guesses?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Grace5231973, Alarda, and Jennifer Baratta, for all the lovely reviews. I was feeling the love. There were some other comments made on AO3 that I think I need to address, though since they caught on to my trick, and it is briefly touched upon in this chapter. In the previous chapter, Rumple seals certain rooms in the castle with heart magic instead of blood magic, and it's stated he does this because he doesn't have Bae's blood, and this way, only someone who loves him can open it again. Some very clever commenters pointed out that, of course, Rumple has Bae's blood; he's his father. This is true. I caught that the first time through writing it, and that's why I added the "only someone who loves him can open it" part. I think Rumple is looking to avoid loopholes and make those rooms as secure as possible. And yes, with blood magic, he could seal them so that only someone in his line could open them. Well, that certainly includes Bae, but it could also include Peter Pan or the Black Fairy, who are still alive and might have access while he's gone. (Remember, when he found the globe with Cora and it showed him Neverland as Bae's location, he automatically thought it found his father instead of his son.) But, I put the "only someone who loves him" part in because subconsciously, I think he wants to know Bae has forgiven him if he comes back around. Whether he's alive or dead, I think Rumple equates "forgiven" with "love," and so in his mind, if Bae comes back and opens it, then that means he's forgiven/loves him. Clear as mud? We're down to the last few chapters, everyone! Hard to believe, right! So let's make these last ones count. Peace and Happy Reading!