"You're different now," Bae commented from his seat, his skinned knee bleeding as he cleaned it. "You see it, don't you? You hurt people all the time."

Hurt people all the time? Was that really what it was? He thought he was being clever, that he was teaching lessons, and sparing them stupidity. But was this curse doing something else? Was he really hurting people? How could Baelfire think that after all the good he'd done? It was good. He was in control! Wasn't he?

"I created a truce in the Ogres War, Bae. I walked into the field of battle, and I made it stop. I led the children home. Surely, a man who's saved a thousand lives-"

"Is done!" Bae interrupted. "A man who's saved a thousand lives can be done with it. You can stop doing things."

Be done? Stop doing magic? Spinning gold and making deals, creating a name and persona for himself…could he really be done? When there was so much to do, so many advantages to living this way, could he ever put it all aside?

Tending to Bae's skin, he uncorked the bottle of green liquid to help it heal faster and was about to push a bit of his own magic into it, but didn't. He let it pour a bit over the wound on Bae's leg, and his son let out a howl he hardly heard. He marveled at the liquid before him, at the magic that the liquid held without his magic involved at all. With his magic Bae would heal, he could be healed in a flash, but with this, he would heal too. Maybe not in a second, but he'd be whole again.

Was Baelfire right? Could he be done? Was he different? Was it Baelfire who didn't understand the call of the magic inside of him, or was he the only one who saw it clearly? From where he stood, he could see no wrongdoing, and he knew from previous Dark Ones this was frequently the case. Many closest to the Dark One couldn't see it the way they did. But to go back to the way he was…to be human again and accept the magic around him in the world, to not have a hand in effecting it anymore…

"I don't know if I can give it up, Bae. I don't know if I'm strong enough without it," he reasoned, ignoring the voices in his head hissing at him to shut the hell up! Power. It was seductive. It made everything he was experiencing with Baelfire possible. It made their life better; at least he thought it did! And if he were to lose that power and go back to being a Spinner, remove the protection spells he'd cast on this house against Pan…how could he even consider such a thing. "I need more power so I can protect you."

"I wouldn't need protecting if you didn't have power!" Baelfire shouted at him.

He wouldn't need protecting if he didn't have power. Yes…yes, he was right. This…all this had happened because he'd been the Dark One. He'd been separated from Baelfire because he'd been the Dark One, and Bae had tried to protect himself. If he could just give it up, commit himself to working with his son, the one person he trusted, they might stand a chance at living the rest of their life out in peace. Bae would get married. He'd have grandchildren. He'd be able to see them every day and teach them how to spin. Their future would be so much more normal, so much brighter without magic in it! They'd be together. He couldn't let what lay in their future come to pass.

"You're right, Bae," he muttered, feeling suddenly strong.

Baelfire perked up. His eyes twinkled with hopefulness as he watched him. "I am?"

"Yes. You're right," he answered, sitting down beside him on the table. "This power that I have; it's only going to lead to death, to destruction, and it'll tear us apart. You're all I have left, son, and I don't want that. I don't want us to be apart."

"Papa, neither do I!" he sighed happily.

"Then let's fix it, Bae, you and me! We'll search the lands, all the realms if we have to, for a way to be free of this, to get me human again! Whatever it takes."

Suddenly Baelfire launched himself into his arms and held onto him tight. "I love you, Papa!" he murmured into his cloak.

"I love you too, son," he choked out, holding him even tighter. "For you…I'll do anything."

It was a nice fantasy, thinking that he might have given into Baelfire's requests if he could have seen what was coming, but it was also entirely untrue. That was what fantasies were. Lies. Things wished for. Because the truth was that he knew he'd changed. He'd changed from who he was all those years ago to who he was now. Even if he'd had the Seer in his head back then instead of just the Dark Ones, he wouldn't have given up his power. He'd have probably locked Bae in a tower, done everything in his power to keep him in this world. And he still would have failed. Somehow Bae would have escaped; somehow, he'd have gone. The future wasn't always set in stone, but he knew that somethings were simply fated to happen. That was one of them.

So was this.

Something was going on. Some kind of curse, he suspected. He could feel the static of magic in the air, but it was weak in this cell. Not weak enough to keep the magic from him, but he could feel it better when he stretched his hands outside of the bars of his cell. It was his curse that spared him from it. Weakened as he was, this was one of those immunities he'd kept as the Dark One. There was Light Magic at play. He wouldn't be affected. And he was grateful to be spared when he observed the consequences of it.

Everyone was singing.

He thought it was nothing at first. When he'd first noticed it, he'd heard one of his guards whistling when they delivered food, but then he'd noticed that they were actually singing while they talked. They were singing their conversation, and they were shocked by it, asking questions, wondering why this was happening! And to make matters worse, they'd danced too. They broke into some choreographed number as if they were on stage performing a show for royals somewhere. And then they looked at him, belted out a few lines about how they assumed it was a curse he'd placed on them, and tore out of the room, leaving him alone.

It was times like this that he wished he'd had his crystal ball or his cauldron or a spellbook or hell, he would take Belle's favorite book just to get his mind off of what was around him! When the guards left, and it went quiet again, he was ecstatic to live in his dreams. Until it all went quiet, and he suddenly sensed more magic-Dark Magic.

The door to his cell opened and closed, and he could see someone cross from the door to the opposite wall. They…glittered…sort of. A camouflage spell. One that was either poorly cast or cast by someone who didn't realize they were in a place where magic was dulled.

Regina.

"Show yourself, dearie!" he called out into the empty hall. "The Queen! The Queen, the Queen, the Queen!" he rejoiced as she revealed herself and stepped toward him. He wouldn't show it, but he'd never been so happy to see Cora's daughter. He was dying for something to break up the boredom. A visit from Regina wasn't exactly at the top of his list, but it would have to do.

"It's the Charmings," she drawled. "They cast a spell so everyone breaks into song."

"Mmm…" So that was what was going on. Someone had cast a spell, but he doubted it was the Charmings. They couldn't cast a thing. Though it was something like what they would do. Try and cast a spell that came out cheery instead of effective.

"They plan to use it to stop my curse...the curse you gave me."

"Ah…"

"Which means you're going to tell me how to stop them…now sing!"

Sing…not on his life. But it was adorable that she thought he could or would. He cleared his throat dramatically, then stepped back from the bars, circled in a deceptive step, flourished his arm…and burst into laughter as he grabbed the bars once more.

"Sorry, dearie," he cackled as her eyes widened. "Do you think the Dark One sings? I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty fork. And I didn't choose you to cast my Curse so you could come crying to me at every itty-bitty sign of trouble!" he criticized. He had to. Because she was here for answers which he didn't have, not from here, not with his limited magic and resources. He had to focus her without having all the information. Otherwise, she might catch on.

"Oh, please!" she drawled. "I'm the best student who ever walked through your door."

He smiled, recalling her sister, the sister she knew nothing of. Oh…had he mentioned there had been a choice? Slip of the tongue…

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"And what's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means if you want to prove I chose the right witch, go fix it!"

She left in a huff, which he was pleased with even if he longed for her to stay longer so that she could tell him more about what was going on out there in the world. Instead, he grabbed the blank bit of parchment from its hiding place and looked it over as he lowered himself down to the floor of his cell. There was nothing on it, not yet…but he had every confidence it was coming.

He couldn't know everything, not from here. But he was hopeful that soon he wouldn't have to do either.

This God-awful episode...sorry, I know some people were major fans of it; I just couldn't get behind it. I suppose what I'll always be grateful for is the fact that it didn't have much of an effect on Belle and Rumple, which means I didn't really have to write it. Belle singing a lullaby for Gideon and Rumple watching some guard break into song is about enough of that from me.

Thank you, Jennifer Baratta, Alarda, and Grace5231973, for your reviews on the previous chapter. In this chapter, we have a familiar scene with Baelfire that has a couple of differences to it. Most notably, it ends a little differently than you might remember. And speaking of ending...we're on the last four chapters! We've almost made it! Peace and Happy Reading!