Notes: So this is going to be a rare next-day update. I think I might be able to swing three a week, with the way the writing speed has been progressing on this one, so that'll start next week. Until then, enjoy an extra chapter before the weekend :D

Chapter Two.

He had just dropped. There was no warning that she had seen. One moment Rumple had been embracing his son, the joy of a long-ago promise fulfilled between them and then his shoulders had tensed very briefly before he'd simply dropped. Thankfully Baelfire had been right there and had caught him before he fell fully to the ground, easing his father to the grass.

Belle could hear her father and the other nobles she'd been brought through with murmuring behind them - oh, this would make such spectacular gossip, she thought unhappily, and Rumple would hate every moment of it - as she fell to her knees next to her love, careless of her beautiful dress and the dirt that would likely ruin it. His brows were knit tightly together as if he were in pain and his entire body was tense. He pulled in shallow, gasping breaths and as she reached forward, hand against his cheek, she felt the muscles in his face twitching beneath her palm, his eyes fluttering wildly as if he were fighting some terrible nightmare. "I don't understand…"

"Me neither," Bae answered as he knelt with her, brushing back his papa's hair.

"Is he okay?"

Belle and Bae both turned, half forgetting that Henry was still there. The boy's father offered an attempt at a smile. "He's tough, Henry," he promised. "I'm sure he'll be-"

"What the hell was that?" Regina's voice filled their ears and her adopted son sprinted to cross the space between them, taking her by the hand and almost dragging her over to where the others were.

"Grandpa Gold kissed Belle and I think it broke his curse, but then he passed out," he explained in a rushed manner. "Mom, can you help him?"

Regina looked shocked as she stared at her former mentor's still form, lying on his back on the hillside. "Of all the stupid…" she grumbled, pulling her son into a side hug and cutting off her irritation for his sake. "It's okay, Henry."

"Can you help him?"

The Evil Queen's lips thinned as she joined them, sending the nobles scurrying that much further back. She risked a glance in Belle's direction and the blue eyed woman met her gaze bravely. "So you finally broke his curse. He usually has better timing for things."

"It wasn't exactly planned," Belle snapped, worry barely hidden under the irritation she felt for the woman that had kept her a prisoner for thirty years.

"No, it was impulsive. He should have been thinking about the fact that Pan hasn't been dealt with in full and that he just did away with our hope of stripping him of his magic," the elder woman bit back.

"Can't you do it?" Henry asked, the sound of reason that diffused the quickly escalating tempers between his adopted mother and his grandpa's girlfriend.

Regina's expression softened. "It's a very complicated spell, Henry, if he was referring to the one that I think he was. With all my power, I don't have the knowledge it would take to perform it."

"What about you and Emma together?"

"Not likely," came the rasping reply from the man who had been expected to cast it. Belle felt her heart leap as Rumplestiltskin cracked open one dark eye - brown, not the strange amber-gold of his cursed appearance - and winced. He still appeared to be in a great deal of pain, and when he shifted, his hand went to his head. A low moan escaped him, half muddling his words. "You and Miss Swan's most valiant effort to cast it would only free him on the Enchanted Forest."

"Then you really do have terrible timing, don't you? You couldn't wait a day?"

"No," he answered roughly.

Belle cringed at the expression that crossed his face as he forced himself into a sitting position. Her hands went immediately to him, helping to support his weight. Rumple, for his part, seemed determined. "Did breaking your curse cause you to pass out like that?" she asked softly, gaining his attention.

"Not directly. My curse has taken care of handling my visions since the day I took them on. I didn't have anything in place - or even think to - to keep them sorted. It was a bit... overwhelming."

Regina perked at this. "Didn't have anything in place?" She watched him curiously as he quirked an eyebrow at her. "You still have magic."

"Three hundred years of study was bound to have produced something of use."

"Magic without the curse," Bae murmured. "Did you know?"

His papa shrugged. "I didn't See that I would, if that's what you mean. I didn't know anything for sure."

"But you can still cast the spell on Pan?" Regina pressed.

"I should be able to."

"Should? That doesn't exactly instill confidence, Rumple."

He tensed under Belle's hands and turned a glare on Regina that could have rivaled anything that he'd given as the Dark One. "Do you mind giving me half a moment to get my bearings? I just-" He stopped abruptly and Belle thought he'd pass out again with the way his eyes began to roll back and his eyelids drooped dangerously. He clung to consciousness though and pushed whatever he was fighting back, reaching out for her hand and she instantly took his. A soft sound that might have been a sigh escaped him. "Yes, should. I won't risk casting it without my protections in place. If something like that -" he motioned, apparently meaning the fact that he'd nearly slipped back under the waters of unconsciousness - "were to happen in the middle it could be disastrous. We'll take the box to my castle-"

"Hate to break it to you, Papa, but your castle's in ruins," Bae cut in.

Rumple grimaced at this and started to shift, easing himself slowly to his feet. Belle stood with him and Bae followed, both ready to catch him if he started listing too dangerously in one direction or the other. He seemed sturdy enough for the moment, though they'd thought he was coming around just fine a few moments before when he'd been snapping back at Regina.

"Snow and her prince were discussing arrangements with the two that we nearly landed on," the Evil Queen murmured, most of the bite leaving her voice as she took in just how worn her former mentor looked. "Let's see where we stand, shall we?"

"Camping with the Charmings all over again?" Rumplestiltskin sneered. "Sure you're ready for that?"

"Rumple," Belle murmured, her hand resting on his arm. "Regina's right. Let's see where it leads us. Pan is trapped, right? There's no reason he should be let loose before you have time to find your new limits."

His eyes met hers and she pressed back the urge to tip up on her toes and kiss him again. There'd be time for that. There'd be plenty of time for that, but for now, they needed to find out exactly where they stood.

It was like every blow he'd ever taken over his many years as the Dark One had left a small ache in his body and each one was now compounding on the one before it. By the time they'd returned to the main group that he and Bae had arrived with he was doing his best not to lean against his son. The looks he received were a bit delayed, as most of those that they had returned to had become very accustomed to his human face during the nearly thirty years that they'd spent together in Storybrooke. It was Emma - finally looking like she was getting around better in her layers - that noticed first. "You're back to normal."

Rumplestiltskin felt several pairs of eyes on him suddenly and he didn't like it. He'd played with the idea of casting a glamour over himself to wear at least an illusion of his cursed self for others to see, just until he knew exactly what his plan going forward was, but had found very quickly that his magic - his magic, not his curse's magic, and wasn't that a strange concept? - was far more limited than it had been and he had to consciously push it towards what he needed it to do. Now, it was almost entirely focused on building the mental blocks he needed to keep his visions in place. Those had not been directly linked to his curse, but he hadn't had any notion just how much his curse had taken care of that for him. Without it, he'd felt like a man drowning in the pieces of the future that had come crashing in around him. He'd have to make sense of them, he knew, because some had seemed rather important. He couldn't see faces in many, but there was an overall feel of dread connected to the scattered puzzle pieces.

"Grandpa kissed Belle and broke his curse!" Henry announced, nearly bouncing in excitement. Rumple must have shot him a look because it curbed instantly, barely contained under a cap. "Was I not supposed to say anything?"

Rumple pulled in a deep breath, reaching out and he ruffled the boy's hair. This seemed to relieve some of the tension and he felt a fond sort of smile tug at his lips. Bae's boy. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it for so many years. "Well, might not want to announce it to the world just yet," he offered softly. "I've managed to find myself plenty of enemies over the centuries."

"It's broken? Entirely?" Snow managed, her green eyes wide.

The former Dark One quirked an eyebrow up and felt Belle tighten her grip at his side. She seemed worried that he'd topple at any moment, and truth be told he hadn't given her any reason to believe differently. Even with his magic working furiously to counter the visions, sort them, and keep them manageable, there was nothing to say that they wouldn't simply burst through all at once as they had when he was speaking with Regina earlier.

"So what's the plan?" Bae asked, coming up on his left side. "We do have a plan, right?"

Emma snorted. "Love the confidence."

"Yeah, well, got to believe in something, right?"

Rumplestiltskin did his best to tune out the conversation that followed. There was something about horses and supplies that the royal couple they'd nearly landed on top of would send with them, but that didn't matter. Destroyed or not, he and Belle would return home to the Dark Castle. Bae could come with them, bringing Henry if he could manage to tear the lad away from his two mothers and Rumple could get things sorted as they needed to be. It had been a long time since he'd had the urge to simply be home, but now it was overwhelming. His shop and his three story house in Storybrooke - the closest thing to home he'd had, really, since those months with Belle in the Dark Castle - had been taken from him when Regina destroyed the Dark Curse, but he could recreate it in his own way here. He could make this work.

"Rumple?" Belle's voice broke through his own thoughts and he found himself blinking at her, completely oblivious to what had been asked. He found that her eyes weren't the only ones trained on him now, and he looked around in an uncomfortable manner. "We'll be going with them, won't we?" she pressed, squeezing his hand in her own.

"Going… To Regina's castle?" he asked, the words clumsy and thick coming from his lips.

"Isn't that what we were discussing earlier?" his former student asked. "Get with it, Rumple."

He bit back a sharp reply even as the walls began to quake again in his mind. Images slipped through, and he saw a face that he had not seen in many, many years. She wasn't that angry child of a girl anymore, though by the looks of her it was simply that she was not a child. Her anger and bitterness must have only grown, as it had permanently marred her features, but as the vision zeroed in - tunnel visioned - he could see the smirk she only wore when she thought she'd won. She stood on the balcony of Regina's castle, making claims to the Evil Queens domain.

"Rumple?" Belle's voice cut through again, pulling him back before he lost himself in it, and as he blinked his eyes open he found several pair of various shades watching him curiously.

Rumplestiltskin cleared his throat and turned directly on Regina. "Did you not set up some form of protection around the castle before casting the curse?"

"Of course I did."

"Not enough, apparently. Your castle isn't empty."

"I thought your magic was gone. How would you know that?" Snow asked, and he thought he might have heard a hint of accusation in the princess' voice.

"My curse is gone," he corrected with a hand flittering in the air. "That hardly does away with three centuries' worth of study, m'dear, and my visions are still..." He was going to have to get control of this and fast. He couldn't keep getting sucked into them mid sentence. It just wouldn't do. He forced himself out of it before he fell too deep, taking what he needed and shoving the rest behind hastily built barriers. It was a warning. They were not alone.

"Gold?" Emma called.

"Yes yes," he snapped, dark gaze moving about to try to catch sight of what had set the warning off. He felt Belle stiffen at his side, but he didn't dare reach out to her. There was no reason to announce her importance to him. Especially if their visitor was who he thought it was. A small smile made its way to his lips as the bits if magic he'd let go to search found what he was looking for. "Come on out, dearie. It's not nice to spy on people."

The others looked around, likely thinking he'd finally cracked under everything. Even Bae was reaching for him, a worried look making its way onto his face, but he stopped short at a laugh that echoed around them, shrill and unpleasant, and Rumple didn't miss that Prince Philip and his princess seemed to recognize it and shrank immediately back. There was a whirl of green smoke, theatrical and he would have thought - if he hadn't used it so many times himself - a bit over the top. She appeared, her green skin contrasted by her brightly painted lips that were still parted in a laugh, and her wild red hair that had been piled under a gaudy black hat. "Hello, Rumple," she greeted. "What have you done with yourself?"

It wasn't Rumplestiltskin that answered, though, but Regina. "That's my dress."

The green skinned woman swiveled, her smirk instantly twitching, but somehow she managed to retain it. "Looks better on me, don't you think?" she purred instead. "As does your castle."

The Evil Queen stiffened. "I sealed those wards with Blood Magic. There's no way you could have broken those."

"Oh?" she chirped, glancing back at Rumplestiltskin. "Didn't you tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Regina demanded.

"Why, who I am, of course. Rumple, you really shouldn't keep secrets from your favourite student." She did little to hide the spite that coloured her voice at the end. She lifted her nose in the air a bit, looking down on Regina. "No one ever told you, did they? They gave you everything and told you nothing."

"Who the hell is she, Rumple?" Regina growled.

"Cora's first born," Rumplestiltskin answered soberly. He'd hoped never to be the one to have this conversation. Cora certainly wouldn't have, he knew, because she would never admit to her first child. It would have risked too much. "Zelena is Cora's first born."

Zelena flashed a dangerous smile. "Hello, Sis."

"Been away a long time, Zelena. What brings you back to the Enchanted Forest? Oz begin to bore you?"

"Oh, I've been back for quite a while now." He didn't miss the way her eyes flickered over to the royals that had retreated earlier. "It's you that's been away." She frowned, eyes roaming up and down. "This does put a bit of a damper on my plans."

"And what were those?" he asked with an easy smile. She was playing a game and that was something he could keep up with, powers or no. His magic was thoroughly tied up again, keeping those visions put safely back and only allowing anything through if it were desperately necessary. He had no intention of sparking a physical or - in the worst case - magical confrontation with his former student, but he needed to know what she wanted. Her presence in the Enchanted Forest meant nothing good for any of them. She'd always had an unhealthy sort of obsession with him, after all.

She leaned in, unintimidated by his calm. "Oh such plans," she purred silkily, eyes flashing behind him. "I see you found him."

Rumplestiltskin's heart must have stopped in his chest as she circled around him. Bae. Bae was standing just behind him. He crushed the panic - he couldn't show it to her, couldn't let her know just how vulnerable he was at that moment - and turned slowly. His son had straightened his stance, but hadn't stepped away. Baelfire had always been so brave in the face of evil.

"And I see you brought me a present."

"I don't know who you are, lady-"

"Oh, did you think I meant you?"

Magic swirled, green and smokey, and suddenly Pandora's Box appeared in her open palm. Bae's eyes went wide, but before he could jump forward he was thrown back, landing hard and taking several others down with him. Rumplestiltskin didn't think, he only reacted, used to bottomless power at his fingertips and he pulled from it, finding a far shallower pool. The attack he launched at his former pupil was nothing compared to what it should have been - or even what he expected - but it knocked her back, sending her skidding so that her boots kicked up dirt and grass until she stopped. She still held tight to the box and her painted lips quirked. "That the best you've got? Should have chosen power, Rumple. It would have saved you a lot of heartache… and otherwise."

Rumplestiltskin had always had a habit of using a distraction to draw gazes away when he needed to, but he wasn't fond of being used as one. Zelena's magic slammed into him, throwing him across the field and sending him tumbling and skidding, finally landing on his back in the dirt. He pulled himself up almost immediately, but she was gone, with Regina's attack following after and only leaving a divot the size of a kick ball in the grass, a snarl following behind it.

She whirled on him, turning her anger there. "She has the box!"

"I'm well aware that she has the box," Rumple answered, pulling himself all the way to his feet. If he'd thought that he was hurting before, the ache was setting deeper and he had to focus not to sway. He caught the breach in his walls that he'd been trying to construct and there were new cracks throughout them. A deep breath seemed to solidify them just a little and he widened his stance. He didn't have a chance to argue his point though, when his grandson stepped between them.

"Guys! We can't fight. We're on the same side. We've got to work together."

"She has Pan," Snow managed. "If she lets him out…."

"We'll deal with it, just like we always do," Charming answered his wife's stricken acknowledgement. "We won't let her take our home."

"I'm afraid she's already done that," Rumple answered with a glance in his son's direction. Bae wasn't hurt, just a bit thrown off by the magical burst. "She's taken up residence in Regina's castle. That is not your point of destination, not until you've regrouped. Rushing at Zelena without a point of attack is foolish. Best to find somewhere else to go in the meantime."

"Mary Margaret and I've been to their castle, though," Emma said. "It's in ruins."

"She's right," Snow agreed. "We can't go there."

"So where?"

"Grandpa has a castle, right?" Henry asked, his dark eyes fixated on Rumplestiltskin. "The Dark Castle is what my book called it."

Rumple felt eyes turn on him and the protest bubbled somewhere deep in his chest. He didn't want this crowd - this group of self-proclaimed heroes - mulling around his castle. That was his home. Belle was welcome. Bae was welcome, and maybe even Henry and a couple of others if they really needed to go, but he couldn't imagine - refused to imagine - housing all of these people in his castle, and that's what the Charmings were going to to ask of him. He could see it in Snow White's doe-eyed expression and her husband's ideas coming together of how he could help his people. At Rumplestiltskin's expense with nothing in the way of compensation, of course.

"It's in shambles, but it's still better than what Emma's described as Mary Margaret and David's castle. They're welcome there, right, Pop?"

Bae's gaze was direct and Rumple wasn't sure if his son was pushing or if he'd simply said it and added the request as an afterthought. What was he supposed to do now? Something he was quickly learning was that he could deny his son nothing, just like Belle. When she too turned an imploring look towards him, his shoulders sagged. "I suppose I have little choice in the matter," he grumbled at last.

Snow beamed. "Thank you."

"I'll round up the others. We'll start for the Dark Castle immediately," David agreed.

As they scattered, Belle clutched his hand. "It'll be okay," she promised and he felt Bae's hand come down on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Papa."

"You didn't give me much of a choice, son."

"Yeah, well, it was still the right thing to do. We need to stick together."

Rumple couldn't find it in himself to protest, but felt at least a little comfort as Bae squeezed his shoulder in an affectionate gesture. At least his family was coming home with him, even if they were bringing most of Storybrooke with them.

Zelena appeared reappeared in her sister's castle in a swirl of magic and smoke, a small, blue-green box clutched in one hand. She peered at it curiously, holding it in her open palm. It looked like nothing when compared to some of the great magical pieces that the Enchanted Forest had to offer, but she could feel the power that was wrapped into every symbol, every lock. The jewel on top was dull and barely risked catching the light off of the afternoon sun as she turned it over, studying it.

Since returning to the place of her birth, the so-called Wicked Witch had found many treats left behind by those whisked away by the Curse to End All Curses. She'd managed to get past her former mentor's broken down protection spells and into his castle a couple of times already, searching through his storerooms and taking anything that she thought might be useful. She hadn't found what she'd been looking for, though, and from what she'd seen of him with the others it would have done her little good. She'd never known him outside of his curse, but those dark eyes were strange indeed. It had been the only way she'd recognized the boy-turned-man that he'd been desperate enough to find that he'd manipulated her half-sister into casting his curse for him - something she'd been ready and willing to do herself, no manipulation necessary. If his curse was broken as it did appear at first glance, the Kris Dagger was worthless to her. She would have to find another way to use him, and she knew no other mind would do for her purpose.

This little contraption, though, that she held in her hand was truly curious. If it was what she thought it was it might just hold something that frightened both the precious little heroes and the Dark One all together. Pandora's Box was said to have the ability to house the most dangerous, the most powerful of beings. The locks spun shut and nothing on the inside could make its way out again. She had uses for a box like that, but - perhaps more importantly - she might be able to find a use unseen for the thing kept inside.

Zelena tipped her free hand over it, palm open and facing it, and her magic that had always come so naturally to her worked the power little box open. The mechanisms creaked and the locks spun open, letting loose a red smoke that filtered out, collecting in the form of a boy. He must have been trying to get away when Rumplestiltskin and the others had trapped him, but his blue eyes came to focus very slowly on her and she couldn't decide if her lips wanted to quirk upward or down. "And who are you supposed to be?" she sneered at last, taking in his tattered clothing. He hardly looked a threat.

The boy took one look at her and she couldn't help but feel he was sizing her up for a moment before a smirk pulled at him. "I'm Peter Pan."

TBC

Notes: Next time - A familiar outlaw helps in a fight against flying monkeys while Zelena and Pan discuss an alliance.