A/N: Let the angst begin! So, I left the last chapter on a positive note, but this is where we start getting a bit darker. I decided to split this chapter up a bit, which means I've got a bit of the next written. Hopefully this will be a two-chapter kind of week (hopefully). Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Rumpelstiltskin opened his eyes to find himself, once again, in the small white room. There were no defining features or remarkable attributes to explain exactly what the room was or where it was located. Only white walls and a small window far above his head which allowed light to filter in. The only light in the room came from the window, giving the room a dingy feeling. No matter how many times the imp found himself here, the room always felt as if it were collapsing around him.
But this time he wasn't alone. In the corner sat a familiar looking dark-haired boy. Though the child kept his head down, buried into his knees, something about the figure tugged at Rumpelstiltskin's mind. This child was important.
A noise from behind him, alerted the imp that the new child wasn't the only other person present. As he whirled around a very familiar face met his. Yet this face wasn't that of the apprentice he knew. The man in front of him had Ches's messy hair and distinct grey eyes, but he was aged some five or so years. Lines of hardship ran across Cheshire's face in a manner that made the boy almost unrecognizable. A dark hunted look lingered from the now cold grey eyes. A familiar stranger stood before him now. Completely different, but somehow the same.
A manic smile drew across the boy's lips as Rumpelstiltskin met his unflinching gaze. Darkness seeped from his apprentice in a manner that made even the Dark One shiver. Before the imp could take a step forward to acknowledge the young man, before he could even ask how this was possible, a flash of silver dashed across his vision.
Pain burst from his chest as the Dark One looked down in time to watch his apprentice run him through with a nasty looking blade. Stumbling backwards, Rumpelstiltskin grasped the blade in attempt to pull it from his stomach. However, his strength was fading too fast. Already he'd fallen to his knees, lost in the pain of being betrayed by yet another person he thought he could trust.
The boy in question never lost that wide grin that transformed his face into something truly terrifying. As his consciousness began fading Rumpelstiltskin chanced a look back to the unknown boy in the corner. Warm brown eyes met his briefly before everything went dark.
**
Rumpelstiltskin awoke with a gasp from yet another nightmare of the white room. His heart pounding away in his chest, the imp quickly assessed his chest and midsection. No sword sticking out of his gut, no blood to speak of, it had just been a dream.
But then why had it felt so real?
Throwing back the bedsheets, Rumpelstiltskin jumped out of bed and began frantically pacing the room. He briefly noted that he was drenched in a cold sweat before a flick of his wrist donned him in his best silks and leather.
What could these dreams mean. It was no coincidence that he'd had the same one night after night without fail. But until now, it felt like just another dream. At first, he'd rationalized it as his minds way of dealing with the clerics torture. And anything was better than those nightmares. But this time it felt real.
This dream had all the makings of one of his visions. He'd yet to manage gaining full control of that power and visions still tended to dance through his dreams from time to time. Weaving in among the false images to plant nuggets of truth. The visions always felt more solid, more sturdy, than a dream. They had a tangency to them that dreams so often lacked. Yet, if that were true what had he just seen?
He'd never been able to see his apprentice's future before now, so what could have changed? What if nothing had changed and he was just being paranoid?
Or what if this is the boy the Seer spoke of? one of the former dark ones whispered.
Rumpelstiltskin shook his head of such absurd thoughts. Ches was hardly a boy. And yet...
Undoing isn't such a nice idea, now is it spinner? Zoso taunted. I thought we'd just kill him and be done with it.
"No," came the sturdy reply. Shocking himself as he shouted out to the room. He was years away from the Dark Curse. Cheshire certainly wouldn't be a boy by then.
It never specified that he would still be a boy when you got your son, the traitorous voice of the coward reminded him.
Have to pay attention to the loopholes, Nimue added.
Ches was interested in helping him finish his work...
"No," he said louder and more forcefully this time.
"Rumple," came a sleepy call from Ches's usual spot by the fire. It was enough to make the Dark One jump from his skin. He hadn't realized that the boy was present.
"Sorry kid," he whispered in the most soothing tone he could manage. "Go, go back to sleep, its late yet."
A sleepy nod was his only reply as his apprentice drifted off once more. The imp teleported himself to his tower. He needed time to think.
The boy couldn't be his undoing. Not this one. He wanted to get to Bae as soon as possible, that much was certain. But what if the cost of such a venture was to darken the boy who helped remind Rumpelstiltskin of the man he'd once been?
The dream could mean something else entirely. Perhaps it was a warning. A warning that taking Ches down the path to dark magic would only lead to the boy's corruption and the Dark Ones destruction. Perhaps it was a guilty conscience. Whatever it was, there was one clear meaning. He needed to put some distance between he and the boy as soon as possible.
By lunchtime Ches noted that Rumpelstiltskin was decidedly distracted today. The imp could barely keep ahold of thought outside of basic instruction needed to perform the spell Cheshire was expected to create. His mentor consistently trailed off mid-sentence or stopped instruction entirely in favor of pacing the room. Several times throughout the day, Ches caught the Dark One nattering about to himself. An occurrence that, in itself, wasn't that unusual. However, it seemed far more frequent today.
"Are you okay?" Ches finally asked as the imp trailed off mid-sentence once again.
Reptilian eyes snapped over to Ches's face. Locking onto his gaze with such intensity that Ches couldn't help but look away. "'Course I am," Rumpelstiltskin replied even as his brow furrowed as some thought chased its way into his mind. "Why do ask?"
The apprentice gave a minute shrug before answering. "I don't know. You just seem… distracted."
"Distracted," the imp drew out the word as he meditated on what seemed to be a hundred different thoughts. With a shake of his head to dispel his mind's wanderings, the Dark One gave his apprentice a contemplative look. "Perhaps I am a bit distracted today." At an encouraging nod from his apprentice, Rumpelstiltskin continued, "It might be best if we conclude the lesson for today. I have a list of things I need from town. Up for a walk?"
Ches never got a chance to answer. The sound of the main doors bursting open echoed towards them, despite being in the far tower. A quick glance exchanged between master and apprentice conveyed equal portions of shock and anger at this latest intrusion. Before Cheshire could more than contemplate running to the door, smoke clouded his vision. He felt his feet leave the floor only to be quickly replaced solidly on the hard marble of the entrance hall.
Standing in the doorway, looking similar to the avenging angels Ches had heard of growing up, stood a beautiful but familiar blonde woman. The woman looked far more disheveled than the last time Cheshire had seen her, and yet she was still ridiculously composed. Maleficent's hair hung limply around her face exposing a rather nasty gash along her jawline. Her immaculate purple dress was shabbier than normal, with cuts and tears evident in the fabric, and yet it still framed her perfectly. In fact, the only things truly out of the ordinary concerning the sorceress's appearance was a large raven that perched on her shoulder.
"Maleficent dear," came Rumpelstiltskin's voice from beside Ches. His tone was playful, but there was an odd note of danger which crept into the end of his greeting. "You really should knock before simply barging into a man's castle.
"I have a dilemma Dark One. One I think you can help me with," came the ex-fairy's reply without pretense.
"What sort of dilemma?" Ches could tell from the imp's reply that he was intrigued by Maleficen'ts impromptu appearance at his castle.
The bold woman sauntered forward until the center table was all that separated her from the two inhabitants of the Dark Castle. Once there she offered her finger to the odd bird on her shoulder. The strange creature leapt from it's perch without issue. The raven barely flinched as she moved to sit it on the table for the Dark One's observation. It was a curious creature indeed.
"I assume it has something to do with your feathery friend here?" the imp asked as he moved forward to examine the strange creature.
"You assume correctly," was the only reply.
Cheshire peered closely as his master looked over the bird. It was a beautiful creature. Rare in its docility as it was, that was perhaps the least stunning feature of the raven. Its feathers were pure black, almost to the point that they shone, reflecting the colors around them to create a macabre rainbow. Its eyes were just as extraordinary. Dark as any other part of the bird though they were, they held a light of intelligence and something about them was exceedingly familiar.
The raven let out a squawk of indignation as Rumpelstiltskin ran his hands over its wings. Whether it was the bird's odd behavior, its strangely human eyes, the droll-like squawk, or a combination of everything at once; Ches finally grasped what had happened.
"Deval?" the boy queried hesitantly.
A shake of the wings and answering caw, confirmed the boy's suspicions. Rumpelstiltskin shot his apprentice an appraising glance that was full of pride. Under any other circumstances Ches would have been glowing at such a look from his mentor, however he couldn't help feeling anything but sick.
"Correct you are my boy," Rumpelstiltskin's voice was far too cheery for the occasion.
"Can you help him?" Maleficent asked ignoring the exchange between sorcerer and apprentice.
"There's nothing I can do my dear," the imp intoned casually as he continued looking over the abnormally large and exceedingly magical raven in front of him. "Your lover is gone."
"I don't accept that oh mighty and powerful Dark One," the sorceress snapped harshly. "You've all that power now put it to good use."
"No," Rumpelstiltskin replied.
Maleficent stood still in her shock for a long moment. "After everything, your answer is just, no. Simple as that. All that I've done for you, the debt you owe me, and you can't find the time for a simple transformation spell."
A dark look crossed his master's face. "I owe you nothing dearie, so let's not insinuate that I'm refusing a debt."
"I helped your apprentice when you asked and then helped rescue your sorry ass from the bloody Holy Order. You owe me." Righteous vindication shone from the woman as she railed against the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms.
"And both of those debts have been paid in full. Now remove yourself and your problems from my home," Rumpelstiltskin added the last with a note of finality as he spun on his heel and walked back to his apprentice's side.
Despite his despair at Deval's condition, Cheshire dared not utter a word. If Rumpelstiltskin refused this, there had to be a good reason. He tried to convey all his sorrow and his understanding into a look as he managed to lock eyes with the ex-fairy who'd helped him so many times.
A light gleaned from Maleficent's eye as her gaze met Ches's, "The boy owes me a favor."
Desperation reeled from the woman, but Cheshire could tell that Rumpelstiltskin wasn't prepared to make this deal. At least not until the ex-fairy brought his apprentice into the mix. Head bowed, and eyes closed the Dark One took a deep breath and heaved out a sigh casting a searching glance at Cheshire. The boy met his look with a meek shrug.
***
To say it had been a rough morning was an understatement. The voices in his head had yet to give him a modicum of peace and nothing could shut them up. Not focusing on the Dark Curse, not spinning, not teaching his apprentice, nothing. Ever since his nightmare from last night, Rumpelstiltskin had been ill at ease.
The boy looked abashed at Maleficent's decision to pull him into this mess. Ches was uncomfortable in the face of Maleficent's grief, that much was for certain. But he was certainly unhappy at the woman for outing his apparent debt. Rage filtered through Rumpelstiltskin. He'd explained the dangers of such promises to the boy repeatedly and yet his warnings had fallen on deaf ears. But he couldn't leave his apprentice indebted to the ex-fairy.
The price demanded by this magic would be unbearably high. It would be better for the ex-fairy to mourn her love and move on. Sighing once more the imp asked his next question without turning back to the woman. "What was that dear?"
"Your apprentice owes me a favor," Maleficent repeated enunciating each syllable and word. "To rescue you he promised me a favor in return for my help. Now you wouldn't want your little minion in my debt, would you?" Self-assuredness had replaced desperation in a heartbeat. The infuriating woman knew she had won. A smug smile crossed her lips as Rumpelstiltskin turned back to her. "If you help me now, I'll consider the boy's debt paid. Now then. Do. We. Have. A. Deal?"
The imp calculated the cost of such a promise into the price of the upcoming magic for a long moment. The price would still be heavy, horribly so, but even a slight shift in the price couldn't hurt. Nodding to himself and the sorceress, Rumpelstiltskin walked back to the oddly well-behaved raven.
"We have a deal," the man whispered.
Once again, he ran his hands over the bird and felt the individual strands of the magic woven around the former cleric. "The price of this magic is a high one and not something you or I can push aside," he warned Maleficent. "This is very potent light magic and any solution my magic can provide won't be a permanent one."
Understanding and despair warred for dominance around the ex-fairy. She'd have discovered the powerful magic surrounding her lover and knew that Rumpelstiltskin spoke the truth. But it was Deval. The only person in the world who had ever understood her. He knew that the woman would believe that she had to try. "What's the cost?"
"I can transform him, but it won't be permanent. He will have a day at most before he becomes a bird once more. We can repeat the transformation once a year or so, any more than that and he wouldn't survive the process. But..." and here was the catch of it all. "Each transformation will shorten his life. So, the choices are a shorter life transforming every so often or an abnormally long life as the newest member of the avian species. Your decision my dear."
Rumpelstiltskin explained the deal in a flippant manner hoping against hope that the woman would see reason. Cut your losses dearie he thought as he fixed the sorceress with a piercing glare.
"That's all you can offer?" Maleficent asked, desperation creeping back into her voice.
"That's the best I can do."
"They discovered that he helped you," the ex-fairy admitted in a quiet voice. "I tried to help and made everything so much worse. Blue found us out. She cursed him for loving me." Tears leapt into the woman's eyes as she looked down at her former lover.
Damn it Rumpelstiltskin cursed internally. He may not owe Maleficent anything but if what she said was true, it appeared that he did owe Deval. "Perhaps with time I could create a way for the two of you to speak, but even that's a long shot. This is exceedingly light magic."
"What would you do?"
"I'm afraid I'm the wrong person to ask my dear," the imp replied in a softer tone than he was accustomed to.
"There's no one you care enough about that you'd do whatever it took to see them? Even if it's just for a day?" Maleficent's voice was thick with grief, but the woman refused to let her tears fall.
Her words struck a chord in Rumpelstiltskin. He didn't miss the significant glance she threw his apprentice, but the Dark One knew himself to well to believe that he would pay such a high cost for anyone who wasn't his son. For Bae. He'd do anything for Bae.
"I'll do what I can."
Focusing his mind on the task at hand, the Dark One pulled on the bottomless ocean of power that his curse provided. As he pulled at the various threads that wove the spell into being, Rumpelstiltskin thought about a dark-haired boy with ruffled hair and bright eyes. Centering his emotions around thoughts of his boy allowed the imp to pour something a bit lighter into the disassembly of the spell. It wasn't much, but maybe it would give the ex-fairy more time with her lost love.
The voices of his curse screamed at the use of magic lighter than what it was so accustomed to. There would be a price to pay for this later, but with memories of Baelfire running through his mind Rumpelstiltskin couldn't find it in him to care.
Power flowed from the imp's hands and the raven let out a squawk of distress at the pressure building around it. Minutes passed as the Dark One focused on the magic. A loud pop echoed through the room and where a moment ago sat a handsome raven there now sat a confused looking man.
"Deval!" Maleficent screeched flinging herself into the man's arms.
Rumpelstiltskin allowed the reunited lovers a brief moment before interrupting. "You have your cleric back, now leave," the imp commanded.
"Thank you-" Maleficent began as she pulled away from Deval.
"No thank yous. Consider yourself even with my apprentice and take your former bird elsewhere. You have little more than a day before he takes flight once more," a coldness filled Rumpelstiltskin as he dismissed the ex-fairy and the former cleric. The memories of his son were clearer than they had been in months. The fact that he'd forgotten the exact manner in which the boy's eyes crinkled when he smiled, brought grief crashing down around the spinner.
"What do I do when that happens?" Maleficent queried, wide-eyed with fear.
"Whatever you like my dear. I've already explained the dangers and timeline. I'll see you again in a year. That gives you plenty of time to find something of equal value to trade."
Maleficent left the castle with her lover in a huff of indignation. As he watched the two disappear from his property Rumpelstiltskin felt the Dark One's rage fill him. He'd used light magic to help the witch. He'd used the memory of his son to become something more than the monster, even if just for a moment. And for what? A few hours of bliss before the welp returned to avian form? To fool himself for a second that he could be better?
You're pathetic spinner, the voices whispered. Using memories of the son you failed to help with some sob story. Weak, weak, weak.. The voices repeated such truths and Rumpelstiltskin couldn't shut them out. Such was the price of using light magic.
Turning on his heel the Dark One came face to face with his apprentice. The boy looked sheepish in light of his mistake being discovered. A distant part of Rumpelstiltskin (a portion that belonged to the former spinner and father) urged him that he was in no condition to deal with his apprentice at the moment. Unfortunately, he'd given too much in transforming the cleric. The Dark One was in control at the moment and it was all Rumpelstiltskin could do to keep that darkness from lashing out.
Ches made the mistake of speaking first, "Rumpelstiltskin, I'm sorry. I wasn't-"
"Thinking? There's a shocker," the imp hissed cutting the boy off mid-sentence. "I've explained what happens when you offer someone anything. When you promise a favor to someone like that. She could have asked for anything boy! What if it had been more than just aiding her foolish lover."
"I did it to save you," Cheshire protested, even as the boy dropped his gaze to the floor.
"When you make a deal with someone like her, you seal it with magic. You're bound to a magical contract, not just one of words. Do you understand how dangerous that is?" The Dark One continued as if he hadn't heard his apprentice's defense. He stalked up closer to the teenager as he spoke, implanting himself in Cheshire's comfort zone.
"I, I, I, didn't, I wasn't, I didn't think ab-about…" the boy's words trailed off at the dark glint he found in his mentor's eyes.
"We've already established that you weren't thinking. Don't ever pull something like that again. Am I understood?" The Dark One asked in a tone far harsher than any he'd ever used with the boy before.
Something sinister and hard flickered across Cheshire's face causing the spinner to resurface for a brief moment. "I did it to save you. I'll not apologize for that."
Rumpelstiltskin found himself speechless in the face of such defiance from his mousy little apprentice. While the spinner was proud of the boy's progress, the Dark One became incensed at the child's insolence. The Dark One hadn't liked Bae's rebellious streak either and Rumpelstiltskin had far less control over his curse in the face of his apprentice. His love for Baelfire had been the truest possible and thus protected his boy. His mere fondness for Cheshire left the boy vulnerable to the rage of the monster that currently had possession of the man.
"You'll do as I instruct, or you'll leave," the Dark One growled.
Something in his master's shifting mood must have alerted Ches to the danger he currently faced, because the boy slowly began backing away towards the main doors. Seeing fear jump into his apprentice's eyes brought Rumpelstiltskin back to himself, allowed him to push the Dark One back into its cage.
"Go Ches," the spinner pleaded.
"Go where?" Cheshire asked cautiously.
"Anywhere but here for now. Just go away."
The boy needed no further urging. Rumpelstiltskin watched with growing relief as his apprentice fled from his presence. He'd almost hurt Cheshire in his anger and grief. The boy was becoming more and more of a liability for the Dark One. He'd have to be dealt with, and soon.
A/N: So like I said, a bit of angst. But hopefully good angst. Right? I have added a few chapters to this story, so it will probably end up being even longer than I originally intended. That being said, we are nearing the end! But until then, if you've enjoyed this chapter or just have some strong feelings to express, please feel free to do so in the reviews/comments below. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
