Alright, so I lied about this chapter being longer. I didn't mean to, it just worked out this way.

I very much appreciate the reviews. I love hearing about what people love about the story and even about the parts that could use some improvement. I don't get paid for this, after all…I am quite broke in fact…but I still love to tweak these stories and to get better and better at doing so. I do the tweaking just for myself most of the time, but I especially love to share the tweaking with others.

That sounds wrong, so I'm going to change the subject.

Please keep reviewing, if you all don't mind. The following and the favoriting is all well and good, but the reviews are really what keep my muse going.

Again, the show isn't mine. Some dialogue borrowed from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," too.

I'm starting to think I should do something with my time that would actually get me paid….but that wouldn't be nearly as fun….

….. ….. …. … ….

Curses, Cups and Courage

Chapter 4

Everything about the grounds of the Dark Castle was more eerie than Belle remembered. She expected Rumplestiltskin's magic barriers to stop her at the gate, where she assumed she would have to plead with the sorcerer for entry so that she could speak with him.

She expected him to mock her there and refuse to let her in, but the gates opened with a slight push. The frozen grounds were silent, which wasn't unusual, but Belle hadn't felt chilled by the silence the way she did then since she had first arrived. She felt even more confused when she found she could easily push the massive front doors open.

She frowned into the darkness of the castle. There were no candles or torches lit at the immediate entrance.

She gathered her courage with effort, but could only whisper into the dark. "Hello?"

There was no answer except the low howl of the wind around one of the towers. Belle left the doors propped open so that she could navigate by moonlight.

Belle approached the doors to the dining hall and gently nudged them open. The large room was lit very dimly with just a few candles that had almost burned out. She pushed the doors open wider and tried to ignore the way their creaking made her heart beat wildly.

The curtains were back up. The place had layers of dust over everything, which told her that the Dark One at least hadn't found a replacement for her. The table was cluttered with silver and knick-knacks that hadn't been put away.

Why hadn't he come to confront her? He always knew when someone came in or out of the castle. Was he avoiding her, hoping that she would get the point and go away on her own?

Her throat felt dry. She swallowed. "Rumplestiltskin?" She listened, but heard nothing. She sighed, stepped further into the room and spoke louder. "Rumplestiltskin?"

The only answer was silence and the slow shift of dust in the air.

She bowed her head with a soft sigh. She listened a moment longer and wondered if she should go wandering the halls of the place she had begun to think of as her home to try and find him. Perhaps he was up in his apothecary, lost in a spell or a potion that could perform another impossible feat that Belle would never know about unless the sorcerer gave in to her curiosity.

Belle realized with her heart breaking over again that those days were over. He was either there and didn't want to see her or he was away and likely wouldn't want her to make herself at home and find her when he returned. Her courage began to wither.

She turned away from the room with a heavy heart. She wasn't sure how she expected the reunion to go, but she didn't expect to be denied one completely. She gently touched the door, ready to walk out of it.

A crack like a whip split the air. Belle turned and pressed her back against the wall. She searched the room for the source of the noise. She noticed a glow that wasn't there before, looked up and gasped when, high in the air, near the ceiling, she saw a light flicker in and out of life, before the air itself split apart into a flashing purple portal.

A figure fell from the portal and landed on the table with a heavy thud and crash as the knickknacks were broken by the impact or knocked onto the floor.

Belle crouched down for cover. She braced herself against the wall with her hands raised to shield her face and head. She peaked through her fingers and watched the portal blink out of existence with another whip-crack sound and flash of light.

Silence returned to the castle and Belle stumbled back to her feet from her crouched position. She looked up to be sure the portal was gone, then stumbled on numb feet towards the table.

The figure on it wasn't moving. He lay face down on the wood, his body half-curled uncomfortably with one arm curled under his chest.

He wasn't moving.

That confused Belle more than anything, because she could tell by the frame of the man, the height, the knee-high boots and leather clothes…she could tell exactly who it was and he had never fallen in her sight before, much less without getting back up.

She ran the last few steps and nearly fell over the silver pieces on the floor and then the table itself to get to him. She half expected he would turn over and slap her hands away…

She stopped. Her palms hovered unsure over his back. She could see the outline of his face and the slight shimmer of his gray/gold skin.

His eyes were closed, his body motionless in its awkward pose.

"Rumplestiltskin…" She touched his shoulder, let her hand slide slowly across him in a soothing caress before she gripped his leather vest and pulled his limp weight towards her and shifted him onto his back.

His face was a mask of peace, except for the crinkle between his brows and the unruly strands of hair falling onto his face. Her heart clenched. She wanted to gently brush the stray hairs aside, but she looked down instead, and her eyes stopped at his chest. It took almost an entire minute in which every second ticked by slowly in her mind before she realized that the black hilt of a knife stuck out of his chest.

Unable to breathe, Belle parted the lapels of his leather vest and saw his silk shirt soaked through with blood.

She couldn't breathe. All the blood had drained from her face. She felt like she might faint, but she gripped his vest hard and shook him, instead, barely able to croak his name. "Rum…" She shook him harder, but his eyes were still closed, his body still motionless. "Rum…Rum…"

She shook him hard and slapped his face, "Rumplestiltskin!"

He jerked up with a gasp and tried to turn and extend his leg over the table. Belle tried to keep him on the surface with gentle pressure against his shoulders with her hands, but he lurched off the table and she just barely caught him as he fell.

He sunk down towards the ground, and Belle did her best to make sure the trip was slow and gentle while clumsily knocking silver and dishware out of the way so she could lay him flat on his back. She held him by the shoulders until he couldn't sit upright then cradled his head between her hands even after she laid him down.

His eyes rolled up into his head, and he shuddered.

"Rumplestiltskin…" She stayed crouched down next to him and gently touched his face. Her vision blurred as her panic rose. His skin looked much more gray than gold. "Rumplestiltskin, please…"

He opened his dark eyes, squinted, and focused on her as much as he could. His vision was bleary, but he could see her. Her blue eyes shimmered as much as when he had sent her away. A teardrop fell onto his face. Her parted lips were trembling. He didn't want to make her cry anymore.

"Belle…" He reached up hesitantly and gently brushed his clawed fingertips against her cheek. His voice was slurred and strained. His touch left a smear of blood on her skin. He looked bewildered. "You came back…"

His hand dropped limply back down. Belle's expression became one of hardened determination. She tore the bottom of her dress into strips and pressed the cloth down around the dagger jutting from his chest. She could barely look him in the eye. "Of course I came back…I did say forever, didn't I?"

He wrapped his long slender fingers around her wrist. His hand was cold. Her tears made her vision swim even as she tried to focus on keeping the cloth on the wound, even as her mind raced as she tried to think of what to do. She realized that she had never felt his hands cold before. Rumplestiltskin had always had warm and powerful hands.

He gripped her wrist gently. "It's…better…it's better this way…"

Her eyes blazed at him, and she shook his hand off so she could grip his vest and shake him again "No, it most certainly is not better this way!" Her shrill yell echoed off the stone walls, but all her anger faded to a churning nauseous worry in her gut when she watched his eyes roll up and close again.

Belle took a deep, jagged breath. She wiped away her tears with the back of her wrist. She grabbed the hilt of the dagger with resolve, intending to yank it out.

She yelped and tore her hand away from the dagger without removing it from him. It felt as if dozens of tiny needles had repeatedly stabbed her palm. She opened it, and instead of seeing a wound or a burn, she saw a growing patch of shimmering gold/gray skin. Belle stared at it with wide eyes until she heard a groan from Rumplestiltskin. She looked down at him and saw a patch of normal skin on his face, just like when she had kissed him. Her hand tingled painfully and she trembled all over.

"Rum…Rumplestiltskin, please…" Her voice shook. "Tell me what to do…" She looked down at the patch of odd skin on her hand, to the hilt of the dagger, and then to the face of the man she loved. "Please!" she tried hard to not cry in her panic. "Please, tell me what to do!"