Rumplestilskin giggles as he trots around the grounds to face me. I stay frozen in place, unsure of what to do or say.

He looks me over, his golden eyes sweeping across me with a toothy smirk planted on his face.

I shutter as the moonlight spills over him, revealing his oily complexion, claw-like fingernails, and grotesque outfit. Nothing about him seems safe or reassuring. He's anything but a father-figure. I wonder why my mother even fell for him in the first place.

"Y-you are... You're..." I stutter, pausing on my failing words. Should I tell him right now he's my father, or wait and lead up to that point?

He misinterprets my hesitation. "Rumplestilskin!" He broads, bowing gallantly. His playful eyes are never taken off mine. He giggles again, a small, high pitched noise that I don't think I will ever get used to. "And what might I do for you, Miss Evangeline?"

A crow caws somewhere in the distance, taking flight into the dead night. I feel myself jump a little, my knees buckling as though expecting danger. I furrow my brow nervously. "How do you know my name?" I ask. I consider the possibility that he might already know about his lost daughter.

He shapes his hands in front of his face, posing dramatically as he states proudly, "I am the Dark One, dearie! I know more than you can ever dream of knowing!" He laughs once again, sending shivers down my spine. The night suddenly seems colder.

He presses his hands together in front of his chest, the burning torches behind him shadowing the contours of his face. Though it's incredibly dark out, I can almost make out a couple features of his face that I relate to. It makes me wonder if he's always looked so sullen and in serious need of some face cream, or some moment in his life led up to it. Was he always the Dark One? Did he somehow earn that position after my mother's death? It hardly seems plausible that the Dark One would run away from the ogre wars when he's got so much power to stop it.

I shuffle from foot to foot as an owl hoots in the distance. Rumplestilskin waits patiently with an expectant expression. I'm annoyed by the dead silence. A noise, any noise at all, wouldn't make me feel so vulnerable to be in his presence. But the night remains perfectly still.

"I need to tell you something." I inform him, instantly feeling like an idiot for my poor choice of wording. I resist the urge to smack the palm of my hand against my forehead in sheer embarrassment.

Rumplestilskin's eyebrows raise in amusement. "Everybody has something to tell me, dearie."

"Right." I sigh. I suddenly don't have the nerve to tell him the whole truth.

He smirks slightly, delicately picking dark yellow flower from one of the surrounding bushes. He holds it between his thumb and forefinger, examining it closely. "Is this about your pregnant friend?" He twists the flower around, forwards and backwards. "I have had many people come to me about that." He smiles sinisterly. "I'm not letting up on the deal."

I bravely take a step forward. "Why do you want her baby? Do you not have kids of your own?"

He pauses, the flower falling to his feet. He gazes at me, his expression unreadable. I remind myself to hold my ground, to not show him how scared I'm feeling.

"I had a son." He informs me, voice growing grotesquely solemner.

"But you lost him." I add on. His head jerks up as it hits him that it wasn't a question, but a well known fact. "You lost him over your obsession with power."

"Yes." His thickly laced accent stands out more, melting into the freezing night. His eyebrows knit together as he moves closer to me. We're roughly the same height, but up close he's more intimidating. I make the mistake of backing away from him, introducing him to the fear I've been building up. Sharp thorns prick into my skin from the rosebush I'm practically standing in. "How do you know that?" He's suspicious now, knows I'm up to something.

I know now is the right moment to tell him the truth. Now is the time to speak up and admit I'm his daughter.

But I can't.

Something inside me twists with pain at the thought of letting him in on the truth. He's just too dark, too demented, too lost in his own, cruel world. I don't want to have to be exposed to that.

Everything I had thought before about wanting him to know the truth fades. After seeing him myself, I'm influenced to keep this secret to myself.

This entire trip was for nothing.

Rumplestilskin frowns at my hesitation, obviously still wanting an explanation. I blurt out that first thing that comes to my mind.

"The Blue Fairy told me."

He scowls, eyes narrowed in disgust. His look is so disturbing, I have to turn away. I fix my gaze on the rosebush, pretending to be fascinated by a bustling, scarlet flower.

Before either of us can say another word, there is a rustling further down the gardens. We both turn our heads, watching as Ella cautiously scurries down the twisted trail. My heart sinks as Rumplestilskin grins deviously.

He faces me once more, his pitched voice high again as he utters quietly, "If that's all, I have a deal to discuss." He picks his way around the thorny bushes, his feet not creating a single sound.

I press my lips together in a grim line as I watch him weave his way towards Ella. Did I do the right thing not telling him? Should I have at least told him Ella's deal is a trap?

I crouch down among the roses, watching out from the spiny, thin branches wrapping around the bush. Somehow, it feels wrong to just leave the two of them alone. I need to see how this plan pans out.

"Well, well, well!" I hear him cheer from somewhere I'm unable to see.

Ella turns toward the sound of his voice, her hands moving from caressing her stomach to hugging the cloak tighter around her shoulders. She slowly makes her way towards him, her face masked with determination.

I inch to the right, peering through more crooked leaves till I'm able to see both.

"You're starting to show." Rumplestilskin has pulled out some kind of tiny, silver flask. He takes a calming drink from it as Ella paces forward. "A little bird told me you want to speak."

"Yes." Ella's soft tone clashes majorly with his rough one. She removes the hood of her cloak, revealing her eloquent blonde hair. She holds her head up high as she states, "I'd like to alter the bargain."

He hisses, smirking. "That's not what I do."

"I think you'll want to." She responds without pause. She gazes fondly at her round stomach. "I'm having twins."

I squeak in surprise, instantly covering my mouth with my hand. Neither of them acknowledge me. I doubt they even heard, thankfully.

The Dark One tosses his flask, and it soars towards my bush. The aroma of whiskey floods my nostrils. "Is that so?" He asks, heading her way. He suddenly prances, laughing giddily, hands outstretched for his stomach. "Let's have a look." He rests his hands on her stomach, grunting with satisfaction.

I fake gag - father or not, I wouldn't want him coming anywhere near me like that.

"And you, what?" He continues, unfazed. "Give up both?"

An owl hoots somewhere in the distance. I crawl forward, craning my neck to get a better view of Ella. I barely catch her faint nod. She's now starting to show tiny traces of fear.

"Why is that, I wonder?" He presses his hands together, and though his back is facing me, I can almost see the smug grin crawling across his face.

"My husband, he's..." Ella starts, pacing around him with despair. The frost on the grass crunches beneath her feet. "He's having a hard time. Our kingdom is poor, we're losing money, our crops are dying." She passes by me, close enough for me to reach out and touch her trailing blue cloak. I fold my hand underneath me to keep from doing so. "We can't support ourselves or our people." She twists slowly, gazing back at him intently.

"And you would trade your other child for..." He waves his hands in the air, gesturing for the right word. "Comfort?"

Ella snorts with amusement. "I can always have more children." There is such a finality of her tone, I have to remind myself it's all part of the plan. She would never disown two of her offspring. "But I can't make crops grow where the soil is dead."

A paper rustles, filling the night with noise. I noticed Ella unraveling a faded, browning scrolls. She boldly structs back to Rumplestilskin, opening it to give him full view of the wording. "In exchange for our other child," She pauses, all hints of fear gone. She sways to the left, choosing her sentence carefully. "You will see to it that out land is once again fertile." Quieter, she adds, "I think it's more than fair."

"Yes!" Rumplestilskin blurts out before she's murmured the last word.

I can see Ella's brows merge closer to her eyes, the torch light reflecting off them.

"Yes, yes. It is." He bends over, examining the contract closely. "If what you say is true..." "It is." Ella interrupts him this time, almost gleefully. She watches him as he rests his hands on his knees, oblivious to the oncoming trick. "And all you have to do," She flips something out from behind the paper. It rustles in protest. "is sign on the dotted line."

The object she's offering him is a thick, red quill. It glimmers in the moonlight, the textures of the feathers so clear and bright, it's visible from my hiding spot.

My heart sinks dramatically. This is the part of the deal Leslie had told me about. I know it isn't an ordinary quill, but an enchanted one that can hold someone as powerful as the Dark One prisoner. Feelings of dread wash over me. Maybe I should have warned him after all.

Rumplestilskin stays bent over, face morphing into content at the sight of the pen. He flings himself upward, plucking it greedily from Ella's small fingers. "What a lovely quill!" He enunciates his words, and suspicion boils in my blood. "Wherever did you get it?"

"It's from our castle."

He steps forward, the quill raised towards Ella's face. "You know, the only way to stop me, is through magic." He floats the quill in front of her face, but she doesn't flinch.

She shakes her head, and for a second I catch a little smile, but it disappears as fast as it came. "I'm not trying to stop you."

"Of course you're not. Because as we all know," He gesture gallantly, pointing at the black sky. "All magic comes with a price!"

I shudder. Something about that sentence chills me and makes my blood run cold. "He knows." I whisper to myself, afraid but curious for the oncoming events. I realize that I'm not sure anymore whose side I'm on.

He continues with theatrical facial expressions. "And if you were to use it to, say... Imprison me?" The quill is pointed in her direction. He slides it delicately under her chin, muttering, "Then your debt to me would only grow. And we wouldn't what that, now, would we?" He shows no sign of fear whatsoever. Just enjoyment.

Ella forcefully twists her head away. Once the quill isn't tickling her skin, she faces him again, whispering so gently I have to inch forward and strain my ears to hear what she has to say. "Just sign the contract, please."

He also talks with a hushed voice. I wonder if he's doing it on purpose, just to annoy me. "You sure you're happy with this new arrangement?"

Ella holds the contract up as indication to sign it as a response.

Rumplestilskin giggles again, prying it from her fingers and turning his back to me once again. I shift to the right, angling around the thorns to watch him.

"Then so it shall be." He says.

I huff out a breath of pity as the tip of the quill drags along the paper. It takes a while, considering his name is so long, but finally he lifts the quill up, and instantly a blue light shimmers into view. I watch in horror as it surrounds him, freezing him with his arms outstretched. A sickening, scraping-like noise crowds my ears as the magic takes its effect.

Ella bunches up her dress in her fists, breath growing rapidly. She spins around fearfully, her now panicked voice screaming for her husband. "Thomas!"

"No one breaks deals with me, dearie." Rumplestilskin says through clenched teeth, just before the sounds of hooves and mens shouting fills the night.

I watch as Thomas and his loyal guards pull into the gardens on two carriages.

Rumplestilskin doesn't care to acknowledge him. "No one. No matter where you are, no matter what land you find yourself in, I assure you... I will have your baby."

I gulp at the blackness of his voice. For once, I'm ashamed to call him my father. I was so blinded by my hunger for a real parent I didn't pay attention to just how sick and twisted this man really is.

I close my eyes, listening to the sounds of Thomas's guards overtaking him. "You deserve to suffer." I mutter, backing out of my hiding place.