They traveled at night, and stuck to forested areas as often as possible; there wasn't much else they could do when one of their companions was a wolf whose size rivaled a small mountain.

So it was slow going.

Bigby had hoped to reach the portal in a few months' time, but they had barely covered a quarter of the distance between it and Mist Haven. Snow White had suggested asking the Blue Fairy for assistance, but Bigby knew that Reul Ghorm would refuse.

So long as the Adversary held Little Boy Blue, she was powerless.

By Bigby's reckoning, they were still weeks away from Bretagne. From there, he could carry Snow White and Little Red to Albion, where they could charter a ship to The Colonies in Americana.

That had not been a pleasant conversation.

"I can take you as far as Albion, but no further."

"Why?" Snow White asked.

"The portal you must take resides in Americana, and I can't fit in on a ship full of tiny humans. I couldn't even fit inside a cargo hold."

"But you'll follow us, right?" Red asked. "After we get on the ship, you'll follow after us?"

Bigby snorted. "You expect me to swim from Albion to Americana?"

Red narrowed her eyes. "You promised."

"And I keep my promises. But as long as I am in this form, I can only hinder you. You will charter a ship, and you will sail to Americana. You will travel to The Colonies, and wait for me there."

"And what will you be doing while we're in a new land, alone?" the smaller wolf asked, a small growl escaping her throat.

"Red-"

"Do not 'Red' me, Snow! He promised!" She looked back up at the Big Bad Wolf. "You gave us your word that you would protect us. How can you do that if you're not with us?"

"If you would allow me to speak, little cub," Bigby responded with a growl of his own. "You would know that I do not intend to abandon you.

I will seek a magical who can gift me with the form of a man. But since no light-aligned faerie would ever dare help me, I must seek help from darker quarters; darker quarters that would not hesitate to hand you and your friend to the Adversary if it suited them."

Red was silent for a moment, then, "Oh."

Bigby snorted. "Yes, 'oh.'"

They agreed to his plan eventually. He would seek out a magical being and "convince" it to use its magic to give him human form, and he would then journey to Americana on the next available ship. While he had swum the distance before, that had been without passengers for whom he would have to moderate his pace.

So they would go on ahead, and he would find them once he was human.

They would be able to travel during the day once he was human. They could stay at an inn instead of whatever glen they were in at the time.

That said, it grated that he would lose his current body; he had worked hard to become what he was now. If he'd known they would give him this much trouble, he would never have offered to help Little Red and Snow White.

But Bigby was a creature of habit, and he'd made a habit of keeping his word.

The Dark One generally had no trouble tracking down people he wanted to find. But the Big Bad Wolf was proving to be rather elusive. Rumpelstiltskin had only ever dealt with the creature once, when it was still young and small: he'd traded the North Wind's location for the pup's dormant ability to shapeshift.

They'd both gone their separate ways after that, and Rumpelstiltskin hadn't spared him a second thought.

The dagger, on the other hand, was easy to find but difficult to procure. The curse it carries is commonly found within the European Homelands, and the dagger itself resided in one of its smaller, lesser-known realms.

Unfortunately, the two items existed independently of one another, and he'd needed to adhere to his vision closely if he were to take advantage of this second chance to travel to the Realm Without Magic: he could not afford another setback.

That meant that he would have to procure the blood of a Moonchild, preferably while it was in the throes of its animal self, and anchor the cursed blood to the blade himself.

It had been tedious, and Rumpelstiltskin found himself chuckling at the irony: had he not made that deal with the pup years ago, none of this would have been necessary.

And now, he couldn't even find him! He left no broken ground, no swept foliage or snapped trees to mark his passing; it was as if his presence was gone as quickly as it had been.

A passing wind.

It was moments like these that made him wish that true foresight were among his many talents.

"Still no luck?" the Dark One was brought out of his musings by a soft voice.

"None, love," he replied.

Belle squeezed his shoulder in comfort. "Perhaps you should be looking at the problem differently."

"How do you mean?"

"You've been trying to find a way to track the Big Bad Wolf. But maybe, you could track his companions instead?"

"That…"why didn't I think of that?!"

Belle giggled. "I think you're a little too close to the situation to think to clearly, but it would have come to you eventually, my Rumpel."

The Dark One smiled. He and Belle had finally had their talk. He held no secrets from her now. And she was still here. Begrudging him nothing.

Loving him.

He would strike this deal with the wolf. They would travel together to this new world. He would find his son, and they would be well.

They would be a family.

It had been a difficult journey, but they had made it to Albion. Tomorrow, Snow and Red would book passage on ship bound for The Colonies. Bigby would follow as soon as he was able.

But first, they would rest.

"You're a difficult one to find, young zephyr."

The voice startled Red and Snow White, whose eyes widened in recognition.

Bigby was clam, and inclined his head in greeting. "Beast."

"Wolf!" the Dark One cheerily replied, bowing and flourishing is right hand.

"Why have you come?" Bigby asked.

"I've been trying to find you for weeks, with nothing to show for it." The Dark One smiled. "You are more like your father than you care to admit."

"Answer my question, Beast!" the wolf growled.

"Patience, Dearie, or you won't get your gift!"

"If it's anything like the gift you once gave me," Snow White angrily interjected," then he won't need it!"

"Hush, darling," Rumpelstiltskin crooned, raising a finger to his lips. "The adults are talking."

He returned his attention to Bigby.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, you were difficult to find; nearly impossible to track!" he giggled. "But I fashioned your pup's red cloak, and it was all too easy find its leftover fibers and track it instead of you."

"She's not my cub-"

"As if!" Red snorted.

"Semantics," the Dark One continued, waving away their protests. "Rumor has it that you're looking to make yourself human, wolf.

"I can do that for you." With a wave and a swirl of magic, the dagger appeared in his hands. "This dagger has been laced with the curse of lycanthropy. One touch, blade to blood, will grant you the ability of a Moonchild: from wolf to man to wolf again! All you need do is will it, and the change occurs."

Bigby's eyes narrowed. "You do nothing for free, Beast. What is your price?"

"Passage!" the Dark One crowed. "For myself and one other."

"That's not like you."

"Belle is coming with me."

"Beauty is alive?"

"You are not the only one the Queen has lied to."

Bigby thought for a moment. "…I get to keep this form?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "In addition to your human self, you will, with enough practice, also achieve a form in-between: both man and wolf. But that's it! Nothing else! That particular ability is still mine."

"The ability to shift between man and wolf, in return for passage for Beauty and the Beast to the Realm Without Magic. That's the bargain?"

"It is."

"Done."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled. "Then the deal is struck!"

Henry gasped, more in shock than in pain, as his daughter's hand plunged into his chest; his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Goodbye, Daddy," Regina said tearfully.

Henry Mills crumpled, and the Queen left his cottage with his heart in her hand: she had a curse to cast.

It is a little known fact that the Dark Curse was actually Rumpelstiltskin's creation, not the Evil Queen's. Designed to bring all those it touched to a cursed existence in the Realm Without Magic, it had but one counter: the True Love between the North Kingdom's Prince Charming and the Silver Kingdom's Snow White.

By the time the curse was enacted, Princess Snow was protected, safe in the Woodlands of Fabletown. But Prince Charming was still in the Homelands, fighting his father's wars with what was left of the kingdom's coffers.

And he was taken. Separating Love from Love.

So it came to pass that by sheer happenstance, the Evil Queen accomplished the goal that she could not have done otherwise: she cast a curse that could not be broken.

-The Book of Fables