It was happening, it was really happening. Even Rumpel confirmed it. Belle was pregnant with a baby. Rumpel's baby. Her baby. She placed her hand on her stomach. She felt a smile creep over. She began picturing her and Rumpel with their baby growing up together, playing together. It warmed Belle's heart, she was falling in love with a child that didn't fully exist yet.
Rumpel wasn't as thrilled but he didn't tell Belle. On one hand he was worried about being a father again but there was something else. Something that Doc couldn't detect, only he could.
He surveyed the new scene before him. Snow was thrilled hugging an shocked but excited Belle and Doc congratulated her. Rumpel didn't want to damper the excitement. Earlier he had placed his hand on Belle's stomach, to really see if he could detect another life growing in her, and he definitely felt it. A tiny beating heart, but there was something off about this heart. He could sense that it was full of darkness. The same darkness that plagued his heart when he became the dark one. Could the magic of the dark on be passed on? Rumpel had never heard of this happening because it never has before. That thing in Belle defiantly had magic and it was dark. Rumpel wasn't sure if he should be worrying about it just as he wasn't sure he should tell Belle.
"But is it normal to be feeling sharp stabs of pain? And to feel it move?" Belle asked of Doc. Suddenly the excitement died down, and Rumpel who was off in the corner thinking was now snapped back to Belle.
"What?" Snow asked her face getting darker, "you felt pain? You're not supposed to."
"What kind of pain?" Doc asked now getting worried.
"I'm not sure I felt it for only second, it was like I was being stabbed by something and then I felt it move," Belle explained. Seeing the darkening look in Snow and Doc's face now filled her with insecurity and fear.
"You're baby is only the size of a raisin, you shouldn't feel it move," Doc said looking at her stomach, she was showing absolutely no signs of pregnancy.
"You're not supposed to feel any pain either," Snow said confused, "Why would you-"
"Because that thing in her has magic..." Rumpel said now seeing a ticking time bomb growing in his wife, "dark magic."
Belle felt her heart jump to her throat. Dark magic... She didn't even consider that Rumpel could pass that on to her.
From outside the door there was hustling and the door slammed open it was Baelfire, Emma and Charming. They all looked panicked.
"What's going on?" Baelfire asked looking from his father to Belle.
"She's pregnant," Snow said sitting close to Belle holding her.
"That's it! That's got to be it!" Emma said looking towards Belle.
"What's it?" Belle asked, she was beginning to panic but not for her sake.
"King Midas, we spoke with him briefly but he doesn't want to talk to us, he left," Emma stated.
"Why?" Snow asked.
"Because of what the prophet told him," Baelfire continued, "they brought the prophet here to show her to us. Midas took us to her to talk to her. She said that a dark one was going to destroy everything. We thought it was Rumpelstiltskin that she was talking about...but it wasn't."
"Then what is it?" Snow questioned.
"It's that thing inside Belle," Rumpel stated growing darker, "I felt it. I can sense it, it has dark magic, that's why you were feeling pain Belle. It's using magic in you but it doesn't know how to use it or control it and it's heart. I can see it, it's dark... just like mine."
"No it's not!" Snow proclaimed standing up, "it's just a baby! Babies aren't born evil."
"Well to be fair this is Rumpelstiltskin's baby, no offense!" Charming began to explain, "Rumpel you have proven yourself to be a good man and I trust you with my life, but you can't deny who you are and I know you understand that, but that baby. What if you passed on your darkness to it and now it doesn't know how to control it?"
"Then when it's born Rumpel can teach it! Rumpel and Belle can raise the baby to be good," Snow tried to defend.
"There's a slight problem with that dearie," Rumpel began.
"Actually there's two problems," Baelfire also added on. The room was now silent, Baelfire prompted his father to go first.
"I can tell that that thing is using magic inside of her. It's only going to grow stronger, the stronger it gets the more power it will gain. A child in the womb takes energy from its mother to grow, but it's already stronger than Belle and unpredictable. The stronger it gets the more magic it will use and eventually it will kill her," Rumpel said darkly. He looked at Belle knowing that he would be willing to do anything to save her...anything.
"Not if Camelot gets to her first..." Baelfire confessed, "King Midas saw Belle with Rumpel down stairs, that's why he wouldn't come near us. The prophet that they brought here, she said it was starting, that it wasn't Rumpel with the power it was his baby. Now that Camelot knows who Belle is, they're preparing to come after her."
"Camelot is really going to come storming into out kingdom and kill a pregnant woman?" Snow asked horrified.
"They're driven by fear! They think that Belle's baby is the anit-christ. Midas even said he's willing to do anything to stop Rumpel's kid," Emma said.
A silent tension feel in the room with everyone. No one knew what to say.
"So it's the kid or Camelot," Emma finally piped up, "one or the other is going to get to Belle."
"Over my dead body," Rumpel stated. He went to Belle grabbing her arm and pulled her out of the room. He held onto obscenely tight rushing fast back to where all the carriages where. They took the empty hallways of the castle so they wouldn't run into anyone. They made it out to the court yard where all the carriages were kept and Belle heard a scream that she knew all to well.
Off in the darkest corner with a single torch for light, was the prophet that King Midas had brought in a cage. It was the old woman from Belle's dreams, just as she had remembered.
"You! You! You're in grave danger," the old woman said pointer to her stomach, "it's going to kill you."
"No!" Belle screamed at her.
"It's already written I can see it! Your child is going to burn everything to the ground just as it's father did in years past!" she stated.
Rumpel grabbed Belle again and dragged her away from the old woman.
"Rumpel! Rumpel wait!" Belle said breaking away from his grip.
"Don't Belle! I'm not letting you do this! We need to get that thing out of you!" Rumpel yelled at her.
"No it's a baby! It's our baby!" Belle tried to say to him.
Rumpel went to her putting her hands on her shoulders holding her tightly, "No it's not! It's a monster like me! It will kill you Belle!"
"No it won't!" Belle cried out.
"Belle!" Rumpel screamed at her again this time throwing her a nearby carriage getting close to her face, "I can't let you do this! I'm not going to lose you again..."
"You don't have to," Belle said with tears streaming down her face.
"You don't know that," Rumpel said with tears threatening to fall from him as well, "I've seen what this magic can do. Especially in the hands of someone that doesn't know how to use it...Belle, I can't lose you. If I do I know I'll fall back into the monster that I know is inside of me."
"You're not a monster Rumpel," Belle said placing a hand on his face, "even when I first met you I saw past all that. Just as I can see past what this baby is. It's more than that."
"Regardless of what it is Belle, it's going to kill you," Rumpel said now letting the tears fall, "I won't let you."
"No it won't. I can do this Rumpel," Belle tried to confide.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"Because I have faith in our baby...just like how I've always had faith in you Rumpel," Belle whispered.
"Belle...I cant... I-" Rumpel tried to say.
"Yes we can... I know we can," Belle stated.
They returned to their carriage and began to head home in silence. Belle kept placing her hand over her stomach hoping to feel it. She wish Rumpel would say something, but he was at a loss of words. He was scared for Belle's life, that thing was going to kill her he was sure of that. They had also created new enemies, Camelot. He was sure that Camelot would spread the word about Belle. They had to get out of here.
Their carriage came to a rough stop, Rumpel grabbed onto Belle to keep her from falling.
"What was that?" Belle asked, she peered out the window. There was a large glowing coming from the streets.
"Stay here," Rumpel stated and exited the carriage. His heart sank when he saw the scene before him.
Their home was in flames, burning quickly. Someone had to have started the fire, many of the towns people were scrambling throwing buckets of water onto their house.
Rumpel had a quicker solution, with a wave of his hands, using his magic he made the flames disappeared. The towns people rejoiced with joy and made way to praise him. However Rumpel's fears for Belle were only growing, he made his way past the towns people to the carriage and told the driver to take them back to the palace.
"What is it?" Belle asked when he entered the carriage.
"We can't go back to our house," Rumpel stated coldly.
"Why?"
"They know Belle," Rumpel said feeling the sorrow over whelmed him. He felt like his house wasn't the only thing burning to the ground. He told her that their house had been consumed by the fire.
Belle's heart began to race. The other kingdoms, they really were out to get her. Despite the fact that she trusted Rumpel, he didn't care for the baby the same way she did. Who was going to protect the baby if Rumpel wouldn't?