True to his word, Rumplestiltskin vowed that he would do nothing else until he found a way to get his precious son back. Listening to local gossip gave him a spark of hope. There was man named William Smee who was said to be able to obtain hard to find objects...for a price. He could certainly pay that. He had more gold than he could ever spend in a lifetime and that should suffice. Smee conducted most of his business in taverns and Rumple sent word out that he was looking for a specific item...a magic bean hoping Smee would take the bait and be willing to deliver. There had to be more beans. If they weren't in the Forest, they were either in Oz or Wonderland. Finally word got back to him that Smee was willing to meet with him. He went down to the tavern and waited patiently for the man to approach him.

"It really is you. The Dark One, in the flesh. Or whatever that is," Smee said.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to meet me. You better hope I agree it's worth..my..time." Rumple said menacingly, expecting his tone to send a message to this wharf rat that he was not a person to trifle with...if he wanted to live to see the next day that was.

"I've heard you've been looking for something, and as luck would have it, I'm a man who trades in hard-to-find objects. Like a bean. A magic bean that can transport you between worlds." He said the last part in a whisper so that the others around them wouldn't hear. A magic bean fetched a pretty penny in the Forest but no one could pay the price the Dark One could.

"I've been told they no longer exist in this land."

"Not in this land, no. But the ships that dock here often return from far off lands with treasures they don't always understand. "

"And yet you do." Rumple said, ready to throttle the braggart.

"It's my job, as is knowing the rumors of who might pay the highest price for said treasures."

"And what rumors could they be?" Rumple inquired curiously.

"That you were once a great coward but that you became The Dark One to overcome that and protect a...a son who you lost despite all..."

Rumple was furious. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his greatest failure as a father and unfortunately, despite how backwards it was, rumors did travel fast in the Forest and everyone now knew what he'd done thanks to that damned fairy. When he saw her again he was going to enjoy tearing her wings from her body and watching her crash to the ground. He waved his hand and the man fell silent. "It's not nice to spread rumors," he chastised. "A bean! Where is it?"

"I don't have it. But I can get it. I..I swear. You haven't heard my price."

"I spin straw into gold. Price shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh, I don't want money. I want eternal life."

And so does every other fool but we're all not fortunate enough to get it and the price can be too high, Rumple thought bitterly and laughed mirthlessly. "Only The Dark One has life eternal. Tell you what, my son. What I can do, what about youth? Spin the clock back till you're a little boy again," he tempted.

"Close enough. Deal."

"But remember, you fail to deliver, I spin the clock forward and turn you into dust."

"Thank you. Thank you."

A young woman approached with a cup of beer on her tray. "You sure you don't want anything?"

"Where's my scurvy crew?" he heard an all too familiar voice boom out and looked up to see the wife stealing pirate himself in the pub.

"Ah! Here we be, Cap'n!" his crew members called out.

"Where's my beer?" Jones was asking his crew and one of them handed him a mug.

"You know, I suddenly find myself quite thirsty." Rumple told the server. She set a mug in front of him.

"Cheers." Killian clinked glasses with his crew member while Rumple watched.

Rumple took a long swig and rubbed his hands together, giggling. It was time to deliver a long overdue punishment for depriving his son of a mother and him of a wife. They may have had a chance had she not met that damned pirate.

It seemed that Jones and his band of rats were in the tavern half the night and could've cleaned the place out of alcohol. Fortunately for Rumple being the Dark One made him immune to the dreaded hangover. He'd had quite a few beers himself and wasn;t feeling tipsy at all, just eager to have his fun once the pirate left the tavern. Finally they all stood up, paid their tab and started walking down the alley. Rumple conjured a begger's cup in his hand and brushed past Jones to provoke him into a confrontation.

"Hey, you! Stop. Even gutter rats have more manners than you just displayed," Jones scolded.

"No, I'm so sorry, Sir." Rumple said in a deep voice

"Ah. I was wrong. Not a rat at all. More..." Jones leaned forward and hit the cup causing the coins to spill to the ground. He kneeled down to pick them up as Jones continued his taunts. "more like a crocodile. What's your name, crocodile?" Jones asked, kicking him with his foot.

Showtime! Rumple threw off his cloak and giggled.

"You. I remember you," Jones said.

Oh, of course you do. But I'm not that poor lame spinner you terrified before, now am I?

"Always nice to make an impression. Where are my manners? We haven't been properly introduced. Rumplestiltskin, or as others know me, The Dark One," he announced and bowed, enjoying seeing the terrified look on the pirate's face. "Oh! I see my reputation precedes me," he said excitedly watching the crew members scatter like rats.

"It does," Jones replied, unable to hide his own fear.

"Good! That's gonna save us time during the question and answer portion of our game."

"What is it you want to know?"

"How's Milah, of course?" Rumple inquired.

"Who?"

"Only too happy to, uh, dig out the memory, but it gets really messy."

"She's dead. Died a long time ago. What is it you want."

Rumple froze for a moment, scolding himself for not being strong enough to fight for her. Perhaps she would have been willing to try again after all.

"We didn't get a chance to finish our duel," Rumple reminded the pirate. Jones got ready to draw his sword when Rumple raised his finger, making the pirate's hand pause "Ah! Not now. Tomorrow at dawn," he said with a flourish. "I am not a cruel man. Get your affairs in order. Also, you can spend tonight knowing it'll be your last," he added as he approached, pointing his finger at the man's chest and giggling. "Maybe I am cruel. And don't think about trying to escape, because I will find you, and I will gut your entire crew lika the fish," he finished in an Italian accent although he didn't understand why he used it when he wasn't from the other side and the place called Italy. Still, it had the desired effect.

"Fine. Dawn. Tommorrow." the pirate said bravely.

"See you then," Rumple laughed and vanished.

The next morning at dawn Rumple situated himself on an archway and waited for the pirate to return to the alley. When he finally spotted him, he tossed an old, rusted looking sword onto the ground. "Pick it up, dearie, and let's begin."

"There's no need," Jones said confidently and reached for his own sword and to his horror it was not in its scabbard. When he turned around, Rumple held the prized sword in his hand.

"Sorry, but killing a man with his own sword was just too delicious to pass up. Hmm?" he asked, crossing blades with the pirate with a skill that matched his perfectly. Ah, the perks of being the Dark One. "Ships that pass in the night. Well, at least one ship. "He threw him into a stack of barrels thinking that would be the end of it but the pirate wasn't giving up yet. No matter, he would just keep at it until the man tired out. Seeing his opportunity, Rumple struck, reliving the pirate of his sword and stepping on it as the pirate tried to pick it up and pressed the tip of his sword at the pirate's throat.

"Go on. I'm ready for the sword," Jones challenged.

"No. Do you know what it's like to have your wife stolen from you? To feel powerless to stop it? It feels like having your heart ripped from your chest. Actually, let me show you," Rumple hissed and plunged his hand into the pirate's chest.

"Stop!" a hauntingly familliar female voice cried out and Rumple turned to see his wife garbed as a pirate.

"Milah," he gasped and pulled his hand out the pirate's chest. "Milah. How?" he demanded.

"Milah, you have to run," Jones pleaded, glancing over at Milah.

No. I'm not leaving without you." she said firmly.

"Oh, how sweet. It appears there's more to this tale than I know. Tell it to me, Milah!" Rumple commanded.

"Please don't hurt him. I can explain," she begged."

"Tick-tock, dearie. Tick-tock!"

"That first night, when Killian and his crew came into the tavern, he told stories about the places he'd been, and I fell in love with him."

Oh, did you? Rumple thought bitterly. So you left our son for this bloody pirate? In his anger, Rumple thrust the blade of the sword into the pirate's side.

"I didn't mean for it to turn out this way. I didn't know how to tell you the truth. I'm sorry."

"And so here we are. You've come to save the life of your true love, the pirate. I didn't realize the power of true love before. It is impressive. I'd hate to break it up. Actually, no. I'd love to," he said, plunging the sword in deeper.

"Wait. I have something you want."

"Well, I find that very difficult to believe." Still he was curious and decided not to kill the pirate...for now. He removed the sword, stunned when he saw Smee's hat in her hand. "Where did you get that?"

"You know who I took it from. I may not know what The Dark One wants with a magic bean, but I have it."

"Oh, I feel a proposal coming on."

"The magic bean in exchange for our lives. Deal?"

"I wanna see it first."

She led them all back to the pirate's ship, the Jolly Roger, barking out orders as she helped Jones onto the deck.

"And get me that prisoner from below deck along with the booty he carried. Now!"

"Bring up the prisoner!"

"Well, well, seems like you finally found the family you could never have with me," Rumple observed while Milah took the bean from Smee and held it up for Rumple to inspect.

"You asked to see it, and now you have," Jones said after she threw it to him and he caught it in his hand.

"Do we have a deal? Can we go our separate ways?" Milah asked.

"Do you mean, do I forgive you? Can I move on? Perhaps. Perhaps. I can see you are truly in love," he said the last bit with a touch of sarcasm.

"Thank you."

"Just one question."

"What do you want to know?"

How could you leave Bae?" he hissed. "Do you know what it was like walking home that night..."

"Rumple..."

"...knowing I had to tell our son..."

"Please."

"...that his mother was dead?"

"I was wrong to lie to you. I was the coward. I knew that."

"You left him! You abandoned him!" Rumple shouted. Just like my father, just like my mother!

"And there's not a day that goes by that I don't feel sorry for that."

"Sorry isn't enough! You let him go."

"I let my misery cloud my judgment."

"Why were you so miserable?"

"Because I never loved you," she sneered. Now in a blind rage, Rumple thrust his hand into her chest and pulled out her heart.

"Milah!" Jones cried attempting to reach her. Rumple threw him against the mast and secured him there with rope. "No!" The pirate snatched a hook off the deck and cut through his bonds, falling on his knees at Milah's side. She looked up at him.

"I love you," she whispered to him.

Those three words were like daggers in Rumple's heart. His hand tightened around the organ he held in his hand, squeezing until it was nothing more than dust.

"No. You may be more powerful now, demon, but you're no less a coward," Jones cried in grief.

"I'll have what I came for now."

"You'll have to kill me first."

"Ah-ah! I'm afraid that's not in the cards for you, sonny boy," Rumple sliced off his hand that held the bean at the wrist. The pirate collapsed with pain. " I want you alive because I want you to suffer like I did." He turned to walk away but the pirate rushed forward and stabbed him with a hook. "Killing me is gonna take a lot more than that, dearie."

"Even demons can be killed. I will find a way!" the pirate vowed.

"Well, good luck living long enough," Rumple said as he vanished.

When he returned home with his prize, he smiled at the drawing he made of Bae on the table. "Soon Bae...I'll be with you again and I won't let go again. I promise." He pried apart the fingers of the severed hand angry to find it empty. "No. He tricked me! Follow the Lady...Follow the Damned Lady!" he howled, knocking the table over and sending everything on it crashing to the floor. He picked up the picture of Bae and cradled it. "I'm sorry Bae...but I will not stop looking!"

Months later he stood in front of the house he once shared with his son, using his magic to make it disappear. It stopped being a home to him the night Bae disappeared. He would find a new home...the palace he once offered to give his son and would prepare a room for the boy, the grandest room possible.

Small fragments of Zozo's memories led him to a castle high up in the mountains. The Duke attacked the palace years ago and stole the prized dagger, thus gaining control of the Dark One. One of the areas that attracted Rumple's attention was the library. Fortunately he knew how to read. Many people in his old village hadn't but Moira and Tatiana took the time to teach him how to both read and write and he did both well. Now it seemed that he also acquired knowledge of other languages. Most of the books in Zozo's library were Ozian, written in the ancient Ozian picture language. That didn't surprise him since Zozo was Ozian. Still Ozian magic was the most powerful magic in all the realms. He spent days and nights in that library perusing the old texts, finally coming upon something that showed promise. He reached into his chest and pulled out his own heart. While every other heart he held was red, his was blackened from his misdeeds as the Dark One.

The heart division spell, considered one of the most powerful forms of Ozian magic allowed a person to remove their own heart and divide its essence, allowing pieces of it to be shared with those they held dear for strength and to locate each other across time and distance. Rumple waved his hand over the blackened organ, chanting the words that would activate the spell. When he looked down, his heart was still intact.

"I'm a fool," he said sadly and returned it to his chest, wishing that it hadn't been true that a heart plagued by darkness could not be divided, yet it was. He still had all the time in the world and he would not give up until he was with his son again.

Years passed and still he was no closer to finding a solution to his dilemma. He held a small ceremony celebrating his son's birthday every year by lighting a candle, holding his son's shawl in his hand. He still had the rest of Bae's clothing, preserved by his magic. He finally decided to seek out the Seer who caused all the trouble.

"I've been expecting you," she said.

"Then you know exactly why I came here."

"What I foretold during the ogres war has finally come to pass."

"Well, in a manner of speaking. I, uh, hobbled myself on the battlefield, was branded a coward. My wife ran away and left me. Then my son was called to the front. Oh! Then I became the Dark One... Then Bae left me. So, yes, my actions of the battlefield left my son fatherless. But... it would've been nice to know about all that pesky detail."

"Knowing would not have made a difference. You still would have been powerless to escape your fate."

Rumple giggled. Just... like... you." He reached out with his magic and started strangling her. " Now you know exactly why I came here."

"You want to find your son."

"Indeed," he said and released her.

"You will... find him."

"How? And this time don't leave out a single detail," he said angrily.

"It will not be an easy path. It will take many years... and require a curse. A curse... powerful enough to rip everyone from this land."

"Yes, yes, there's more. I know it. Tell me."

"You will not cast the curse. Someone else will. And you will not break the curse. Someone else... will."

"Tell me!"

"I don't know. Even my powers have limits."

"Ah-ah-ah. Not good enough, dearie," he said and started choking her again.

"If you want to see the path you must take, there is only one way." She held her hands out to him. "Take this burden from me."

"Mm-mm gladly." He took her hands in his and she began screaming as the power transferred from her to him. "I can't... see... anything. It's too much. It's nothing but a jumble," he mumbled.

"The future is a puzzle with many pieces to be sorted. In time, you will learn to separate what can be from what will be." She cried out again when he released her and she fell to the ground.

"This is why you wanted to give me your power—To free yourself from this torment."

"In time, you will work it all out." He started to walk away. "Wait. As gratitude, I offer you one piece of the puzzle. You will be reunited with your son, and it will come in a most unexpected way."

"How?"

"A boy... a young boy will lead you to him. But beware, Rumplestiltskin, for that boy is more than he appears. He will lead you to what you seek. But there will be a price. The boy... will be your undoing. The darkest of curses by a Strogoff be taken...and a sacrifice in the name of love by the last Strogoff the curse shall be broken." she whispered and fainted.

"So this boy is the last Strogoff. Then I'll just have to kill him."

He walked out of the forest with hope renewed. So it would have to be a curse after all. Now all he needed to do was find someone to cast it.

Time passed by, quickly for others, slowly for the man in the castle atop snow covered mountains known as the Dark One, for every year that passed was another without his precious Bae. Yet every year, on his birthday Rumple would go to his library, set out the shaw he made for the boy, a shaw he wore almost every day out on a table and light a small candle.

"Two hundred years Bae...but for you, where you are...it could be only five...or ten...Time moves differently in this land without magic."

You coward! You promised! Don't break our deal!

"I didn't want to Bae...but how could I protect you there...without magic? There are probably far worse dangers in that world than this one, no, I know there are. Becoming the Dark One, taking all this power. I didn't do it for myself. It was for you...it was always for you!" he sobbed. "And I failed you...but I'll make it right. I'll find a way."

He still concentrated on finding a way to be reunited with his son while answering the calls of the desperate souls all across the realm. Zozo had been right about one thing, the Forest was full of them, himself included, and most of the time their demands were far less honorable than his. Nothing angered him more than those who summoned him to relieve them of the burden of another mouth to feed. Although he and Bae barely had enough money he always found ways to keep his son fed, clothed and housed even before he was the Dark One. As the years went on he was noticing that some of people of the Enchanted Forest were starting to become shiftless and lazy, more willing to take the easy way out now that they knew all they had to do was summon the Dark One to make things better. Oh, he did...but his price was not pleasant. As for the children surrendered to him in exchange, he kept them at the Dark Castle until his visions told him in which new home they belonged.

One night while he was at his spinning wheel, once again pondering the issue of how to find his own child, he was given a vision of a young woman at King Xavier's ball, a simple miller's daughter who boasted she could spin straw into gold...yet there was something more to her. He concentrated harder and had his answer. Her child...it would be her child, her daughter that would unite him with his...if she lived past tomorrow. She now stood in a tower room looking out the window...ready to dive into the waters below to escape...only she'd be dead. No, he couldn't let that happen.

He appeared in the tower room behind her, giggling with a piece of straw in his hand. "That's never gonna work. I mean, you'll escape but you'll be dead. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?" he asked a bit flirtatiously. She was a pretty one.

"Cora," she answered coldly.

"Not a very pretty name is it? Sounds like something breaking." It was also a derivative of the name Kore, another name that was used to refer to a goddess by the name of Persephone, the queen of the Underworld in this land without magic as he'd learned through his studies of the Ozian texts and one of the original creators of the Enchanted Forest and the realms around it that became known as Nonestica.

"How did you get in here? If you got in, I can get out," she said excitedly.

"If I understand your situation, this is your way out," he said, pointing at the spinning wheel and sitting down. "And what a marvelous coincidence that spinning straw into gold just so happens to be something that I like to do. It's almost like..like fate."

"Nobody can spin straw into anything and no one can make..."

"Oh, well well would you look at that," he said triumphantly, holding out a piece of newly spun golden thread. She took it in her hand and studied it, stunned to see that it was real gold.

"You want to help me?"

He giggled. "I want you to help me. And you will because the future is my gift. Well, in a manner of speaking." By providing me with the person to cast this curse I need, when I do find it.

"What could you possibly get from me?" she demanded.

"Funny you should ask, can you read?" he said and waved his hand, conjuring a contract and handing it to her. She perused it and frowned.

"My firstborn child?"

"She is quite important."

"She?"

"Yes. I see the future. Weren't you listening?" he asked impatiently. "Anyway, I only get my payment if you live past tomorrow."

"You can turn all this straw into gold by morning?"

"And you can parade in front of the royals and demand the hand of the dimwitted prince and have them kneel before you. That's what you want eh, you want them to kneel...I..."

"No."

"What?" he asked, stunned.

"Teach me. Don't just do it. Teach me. Make it part of our deal," she suggested with a smile. Oh, she was by far the most fascinating desperate soul he'd ever encountered. He giggled.

"You are a spicy one, aren't you? Oh well. Rumplestiltskin," he said and bowed.

"What?"

"My name. I do believe you just earned it," he answered, waving his hand and amending the contract to include instruction on how to turn the straw into gold herself then removed a quill from his coat. "Now...let's begin."

She made several attempts only to fail miserably, grumbling with frustration. "It's not happening!" she complained.

"You just need to stop thinking about it," he instructed. "Magic is about emotion. Summon up that moment that made you so angry you would've killed if you could."

"You do that?"

"I do." Most of the time now, anymore.

"What's your moment?" she inquired softly.

He smiled. "Once a man made me kiss his boots in front of my son. Now in my mind, I go back and I rip out his throat and I crunch his veins with my teeth. And that, dearie, is how magic is made."

"Bloodlust," she said softly. He grinned

"I like the phrase." And he was feeling lust all right...not for blood but for her. It had been such a long time since he'd been with a woman who looked at him and didn't see a coward. "Let me help you," he said, asking her to tell him what her moment was and it was similar to his own, being forced to kneel in front of those who thought them her betters. They worked all through the night. Try as she might, the girl simply couldn't make the gold herself.

"They'll kill me!" she cried.

"Maybe not."

"What makes you so confident?"

"The king. You having the ability to spin straw into gold will make him a very rich man. If he's desperate enough perhaps he'll be willing to wait a while longer. Here is what you're going to do..." he said and began instructing her on what she would say and do when the king came for her the following morning. Per Rumple's instructions, the girl was able to gain two more days to complete her task and still producing the gold herself was not easy. Finally Rumple was forced to cast an enchantment spell on the wheel so that it would make the gold for her. On the third day she sat at the wheel before the entire court and spun her way to the prince's hand in marriage though the marriage itself would not take place for another few months. The king wanted to use the riches she'd spun for him to repair the failing kingdom first.

Rumple remained in the shadows by day and at night she came to him to resume her magic lessons. She was not powerful enough to spin straw into gold but she was starting to show promise in other forms of magic. He gave her a book of spells he'd written himself that she could practice casting on her own and reviving his hope that someone could love him again. He believed he felt it when he kissed her yet he dared not make any further advances. Her maidenhead belonged to her husband alone whomever it would be. If she chose him...it would not be much of a life...only darkness and isolation. Finally on the day before the wedding she made her decision. She would leave with him and he amended their contract. She would give him a child, his own...on their wedding day but first...she wanted to punish the king by taking his heart and making him watch while she crushed it.

They agreed to meet in the forest later that night. The hours went by...slowly, increasing his concern when he didn't see her. At last he heard footsteps and she approached with a box in her hands. He turned to her and smiled.

"I was starting to grow concerned."

"Well, here I am."

He placed his hands on her arms and kissed her, sensing a coldness in her that he never had before and backed away. "Something's not right," he said and pointed at her.

"Yes, you're correct," she said, the coldness now in her voice.

"Well, what happened? Couldn't you take the king's heart?" he taunted.

"No I was able to do it. I chose not to."

"Ah."

She reached out and touched his cheek, her touch now as cold as the rest of her. What had she done? "I'm sorry my dear Rumple. I'm not going with you. You see, I have a wedding to go to. My own."

"Who's heart is in the box?" he demanded. Surely she wouldn't have...even he couldn't bring himself to do something so callous.

"Don't make this harder..."

"You lied to me! Whose heart?!"

"Mine."

He backed away again, shocked. Didn't she understand the cost of such an act?

"I had to!" she insisted. "You told me not to let anything stop me until they were on their knees. My heart was stopping me."

"You never loved me," he said angrily. "Never! You're not gonna get away with this. We have a contract. I'll take your baby!" he threatened.

"You changed the contract Rumple. You only get your own child. And any baby I have, it won't be yours." she declared.

"We'll see about that, dearie!" he hissed as he glared at her. "You don't understand the cost of what you've done, do you? Removing your own heart will prevent you from loving anyone...including your own daughter! Is that what you want? Because if you cannot love her, she won't love you in return."

"You're wrong. You're just say these things to make me change my mind."

"No I'm not. You'll see in time. Well, go on then...marry your dimwitted prince and have your baby by him, making the kingdom kneel before you and eventually all the power you seek will be your downfall. Enjoy it while you can," he added before he vanished.

When he returned to his castle he went about searching for anything that reminded him of her and piled it in the ballroom. He conjured a fireball in his hands and tossed it at the pile, watching his hopes once again go up in flames.

No one will ever love me, he thought sadly.

A year later word reached him that Princess Cora had just given birth to a daughter, the news he'd been waiting for. He appeared in Xavier's castle while Cora stood before the throne cradling a newborn in her arms.

"Princess Cora. Tell me, daughter, what is her name?" Xavier asked.

"Her name is Regina. For one day she will be queen!" Cora announced proudly as she held her newborn daughter up high, smiling in triumph as the people bowed to the new princess. Rumple watched from the shadows nodding to himself. Indeed this girl would be queen and do what he needed her to do..as long as Cora wasn't around to interfere. And interfere she would for the girl would have the throne Cora sought most of her life. Carrying her daughter in her arms, Cora retreated to her chambers.

"Such a joyous occasion! " Rumple called out, giggling maniacally as he appeared behind her. Cora spun around, her dark eyes blazing with fury.

"Get out of here!" she hissed, cradling her daughter against her chest protectively "You're not taking my daughter from me."

"That child should've been mine!" he raged. "You betrayed me. You broke our deal!"

"No I didn't, Rumple. You changed the contract." she reminded him again.

"And what do you have now, dearie? A dimwitted prince for a husband, a line of succession you'll never reach the top of unless you plan on eliminating your predecessors and a daughter who is never going to love you because you don't have a heart to love her," he sneered.

"And I suppose you could? Hah!" Cora spat.

"You forget, I do have a child of my own."

"A child you gave up to keep your power, remember?"

"And I've regretted it ever since just as I regret being foolish enough to believe you loved me! Now give me that child."

"Never!" she hissed, conjuring a fireball and throwing it at him. He caught it in his hand and absorbed it while the infant Regina screamed in fear.

"Never play with fire around a child, dearie," he said angrily and focused with his magic, making the child appear in his arms. He gazed down at her angry face. She screamed for a few seconds more then quieted down, looking up at him. "As I said before you were born, dearie, you are very important to me, not for who you are, but what you'll do for me."

"Give her back!" Cora yelled. "You can give her nothing. I can give her a throne!"

"So you've decided to accomplish your goal with bloodshed after all, have you? Better think about it dearie. It'll come with a price. The question is: are you willing to pay it?"

"I want them all on their knees before me."

"You already got that the day she was born," he reminded her.

"It's not enough. I want them on their knees for the rest of their pathetic lives. And there'll come a day when you'll join them Rumplestiltskin," she threatened.

He giggled. "Confident, aren't we? It'll never happen, dearie."

"Give me back my daughter!"

He ignored her and walked around the room cradling the infant princess in his arms. In the back of his mind he thought he should take the child away and give her to another family. Cora would never be a proper mother to the girl, only try to live her dreams through her. He was distracted by his thoughts so much that he hadn't felt something hit him on the back of the neck. He cursed under his breath as his limbs froze. "Where did you get that?" he growled.

"The important thing is that I have it," Cora said with a smile, stepping in front of him and detaching her daughter from his embrace. She waved her hand and the spellbook he'd given her appeared in it. "Quite useful this has turned out to be...it seems that there are quite a few places where Neverland's squid ink can be found. You just have to know where to look."

"Bitch," he hissed. "I should've left you jump off that damned tower."

"Ah, but you didn't. And I told you before: any baby I have won't be yours."

"You may have think you've won, but you haven't. Your daughter will be mine and serve my will eventually and you, dear Cora, will learn the price for breaking your deal with me," he cautioned.

"No, what I will have is everything I wanted," Cora said triumphantly as she left the room with her daughter in her arms.

They never spoke again after that day but gossip traveled in the Enchanted Forest, even to the ears of the Dark One. Cora had forgotten one of the most important lessons he'd taught her, all magic came with a price...and she was paying hers, bit by bit. The first strike was when King Xavier's kingdom was conquered by the forces of her rival Princess Eva. With the help of the fairies they trapped the dark sorceress and banished her, her husband and child to a small cottage far away from her own palace, their lands and titles forfeited to the crown. Cora seethed, vowing one day that she would have her revenge. She would take it in the name of her father-in-law, who in spite of their differences had proved to be a fierce ally until he met his end on the battlefield.

In the meantime Rumple watched, and waited and at last he heard the call he'd been waiting centuries for. It had taken years but he'd had all the time in the world to wait.

"Rumple...shstiltskin, I summon thee," Regina said nervously.

"That's not how you say it dearie, but then...you didn't have to say anything," he said as he appeared on a chaise behind her. He could sense the magic dormant inside of her, magic her mother hadn't dared teach her how to use because she feared the girl's powers would exceed her own. It was a well founded assumption and that would only happen if she allowed him to train her. As long as Cora was around, that would never happen and he now possessed the means to rid himself and the girl of their little problem. He had no use for Wonderland but it would be the perfect place to banish Cora to as only certain portals could travel to that land. Magic hats, looking glasses and a certain rabbit species' holes. On her wedding day Regina presented the gift to her mother. Cora, as if sensing some sort of trap froze her daughter in place, reminding her that she was stuck with her.

Rumple appeared inside the mirror, making a shoving gesture at Regina. It was all she had to do and her problem would be solved...along with his if the girl actually had the courage to do it. He could feel the girl's anger building. She howled with rage and shoved, sending her mother through the portal. The glass shattered.

He decided to wait a bit before he paid Regina another visit. The girl was reluctant to admit it at first but she'd enjoyed having that power and now it was time for him to teach her how to use it. She'd taken the book and the deal was struck. She was now his student.

"Soon Bae, soon." he murmured as he stood in the library at the small shrine he'd made for his boy.

"Bastard!" he heard a familiar voice hiss from a mirror behind him. and turned to see Cora standing in front of a throne in the land known as Wonderland, a crown on her head.

"Well, well it looks you've gotten a throne through bloodshed after all...haven't you?" Rumple asked with a giggle. Cora glared at him through the mirror. "Not the one you wanted but it will have to do, won't it?"

"You gave her the portal that sent me here," she accused. "Why?"

"Because no one breaks a deal with me, dearie. Least of all you. I must find my son and your daughter is the only one who can take me to him...and she will only do that without your interference. And she wanted rid of you. I simply provided her with the means to do so."

"I won't be trapped here forever, Rumple. If she does cast her curse, I'll find a way to escape here and find you in this new land. When I do, your dagger and your power will be mine and I'll have everything I want," she threatened.

"Choose your battles wisely dearie because if you try to fight me again, you won't survive. I'll make certain of it...one way or another," he vowed.

"We'll see," Cora sneered. Rumple threw a tapestry over the mirror and went about covering the rest of them. He would not have Cora or any other mages spying on him again.