Chapter Two

'Shouldn't we be pillaging his shop or ransacking his home?' asked an irritated Captain Hook.

This was exactly why women should stick to their pretty little games of stirring up trouble, and leave the swashbuckling to the men. Never send a queen - or worse, two queens - to do a pirate's job.

'That would be the obvious choice, yes,' replied Regina, equally exasperated with her childish adventurer of a companion as he was with her. 'But Gold wouldn't risk crossing the town line and losing his memory without entrusting the dagger's location to someone.'

'Belle.'

'My guess is she hid it in one of her beloved books.'

'Impressive, Regina,' Cora smiled, genuinely proud of her daughter's cunning.

'Thank you, Mother.'

Regina positively glowed, feeling almost loved, for the first time in months. Her smile only grew wider when she noticed the thinly folded piece of paper neatly slotted between two books, in the place her magic had indicated was most recently visited by Storybrooke's keen librarian. Her fingers itched with anticipation as she reached out to retrieve the paper and hand it to her mother, who unfolded it slowly.

'What's this?'

'Ah yes,' Hook smiled knowingly. 'Crude. To the untrained eye, a child's scribbles, but to a pirate... it's a map.'

Peering in through a crack in the door, Belle French matched their smug smiles with one of her own. A satisfied spring in her step, she set off for Mr Gold's home, hugging a stack of books close to her chest. In the middle of the pile, a false jacket concealing its identity from prying eyes, was the accomplice to her plan. She gave the stack a tight squeeze, thanking Providence for Clandestine Cartography: A Beginner's Guide to Pirate Mapping.

Deciding to allow Hook and his wicked women to haunt the library undisturbed, Belle set about cleaning the house - old habits die hard, and she needed all the distraction she could get. A sudden sound startled her, and she whipped around to seek its source, wielding her pink feather-duster like a sword. She chuckled at her jumpiness as realisation dawned, and she dug through her handbag to answer the phone. But anxiety hit in a wave when she read Emma's name on the caller ID.

'Hello?'

'Belle.'

Not Emma's voice, but Rumple's.

'Rumple!' She sat down on the sofa, nervously clutching a royal blue cushion. 'Is everything okay?'

'Relax, Belle, everything's fine. I'm just calling, as requested, to let you know that we've arrived safely in New York.'

'Oh, good.' Belle let out the breath she'd been holding. She'd hated the idea of Rumple flying. Planes terrified her. She didn't understand how people in this world could trust them. They just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. 'How was the flight?'

Rumple considered for a moment.

'The security procedures were an absolute nightmare... But the peanuts were outstanding.'

Belle couldn't bring herself to laugh at his quip; her concern was too great. He did a good job of keeping the tremor out of his voice, but Belle knew he was scared. He'd been working towards this day for more years than he could count. He'd put everything he had into this, his one chance to reconnect with his son, to mend what he had broken. If he failed... after all of this... it would destroy him. Now, more than ever, he needed courage. And she was the only one who could give it to him. Hugging the cushion to her chest, she desperately wished she could be there with him; there was so much she could tell him with one touch... Words were so much harder. A long silence passed between them. It was Rumple who broke it.

'Have you had any trouble from... anyone?' he asked, still somewhat awkward about discussing Cora with Belle.

'No.' Belle smiled. 'Anyone and her two companions are busy chasing geese.'

'I knew I could count on you, Belle,' said Rumple softly, glad that he could focus on Bae while knowing that his secret was safe with the one person he could completely trust.

Tears pricked Belle's eyes at the warmth of his voice. She drew her knees up and hugged the pillow tighter.

'I miss you,' she told him, her tone almost conciliatory, her words an offering.

She could just about hear his one-sided smile.

'It's only been six hours, Belle.'

'So? Don't you miss me?'

'Of course I do.' And his smile faded as he realised just how much he did miss her. How much he relied on her for strength.

'I don't think I can do this without you,' he confessed, his voice small.

'You can,' Belle promised him. 'Just... do the brave thing, and-'

'Bravery will follow?'

'Right,' she smiled; she had taught him well.

As Regina thrust her shovel into the earth for the thousandth time that day, her right heel sunk into the ground - for the thousandth time that day. She certainly hadn't anticipated this grubby little treasure hunt when she'd dressed that morning. Grunting in frustration, she reached down, tore the shoe from her foot and hurled it at an unsuspecting tree.

'It's no use, Mother,' she blurted. 'Your pretty little pirate friend must have misread the map.'

'No,' replied Cora evenly, after a pause. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she realised what had happened.

'No,' she repeated. 'Hook's good for exactly two things, and map reading is one of them.'

'Well then why have we got nothing but bottletops and worms to show for the hour we - or should I say I - have spent digging?'

Cora folded her arms across her chest, not quite sure if she was angry or impressed.

'That bookish little bitch tried to trick us.'

Snuggled on the sofa with a half-full tea cup and a half-finished novel, Belle had finally managed to relax. She allowed her mind to be swept away by the story - of a bright-eyed young governess who finds herself in love with her dark, hard-hearted master. Needless to say, Belle could sympathise. If she hadn't been so anxious to turn the page and discover the secret which prevented Mr Rochester from marrying his love, perhaps she would have heard the footsteps, or sensed the presence behind her. As it was, she remained oblivious to her intruder until...

Poof!

The book was gone in a puff of purple smoke.

'Wh...?'

She whipped around to find her poor novel in the clutches of Cora, who was flicking through its pages, an amused smile on her face.

'Jane Eyre? Really, dear? Stories like these give such a pathetic impression of love.'

'What would you know of love?' said Belle evenly, standing to make a lunge for the book, which Cora promptly poofed away.

Cora laughed, slowly shaking her head as she approached Belle, not stopping until their faces were mere centimetres apart. When she spoke, it was in a whisper, as if sharing a precious secret with a confidant.

'Oh, darling,' she said, 'I loved Rumplestiltskin in ways your sweet little mind could not even imagine.'

Belle's stomach twisted as the words sank in, and all she wanted to do was look away from Cora's dark and penetrating eyes. But she forced herself to hold the queen's stare.

'Look,' Belle began, raising her chin slightly in the hope of mirror Cora's near-arrogant confidence, 'I don't know - or care to know - what kind of... relationship you might have had with him. But I do know this...'

She stepped forward, closing the gap between them even more. Proving that she was not afraid.

'He never loved you.'

'You wicked, insolent girl!'

'If he had truly loved you,' Belle continued, enunciating every word, 'Your kiss would have broken his curse. Like mine did.'

Cora clenched her fists.

'Did you ever consider, little Belle, that I didn't want to break his curse? I had no interest in changing him. Unlike you, I didn't try to make him into something he's not. No, I loved every dark and dusty corner of his black, black soul.'

'I don't make him into something he's not! I remind him of who he truly is.'

In a heartbeat, Belle felt the air violently sucked from her lungs, and she heard, rather than felt, her body slam against the wall on the opposite side of the room. She saw Cora's hand raised, and watched as it conjured a garden of thorny vines to entrap her prisoner.

Evidently, the Queen of Hearts had had her fill of the librarian's lessons on life and love.

'Where is the dagger?!' she demanded through clenched teeth.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' said Belle, trying desperately not to struggle against the thorns which tore at her skin.

'Sadly, your talents at lying don't quite match up to your prowess for map-making. Now tell me where it is.'

'If you claim to love him, why do you seek a weapon to murder him?'

'Murder him?' A slow smile spread across Cora's face. 'Oh, no, no, no, child. I'm not going to use the dagger to murder him.'

Belle's brow furrowed in confusion.

'I'm going to use it to control him.'

'Control him?'

'I left Rumple because I had to make a choice between love and power. My love for him was holding me back from reaching my goal. So I chose power over love. And I don't regret it. Not for a second. But now... with this dagger... I can have power over my love, and over his power. Do you see, my dear? I can have everything.'

'So, what? You're planning to keep him captive? Under your control? Like... like a pet?' asked Belle, her voice high with disgust.

'I suppose that's one way to describe it.'

'You can't force somebody to love you. Love isn't about having power over someone.' Belle's voice was suddenly quiet, soft... and she looked at Cora in a new way. 'Oh, Cora. You've never known love, have you?'

It made the queen's blood boil. Does this pathetic little wench dare to pity me?

'Tell me the location of the dagger.'

Belle shook her head.

'I will die before I betray him, Cora.'

'No. But you will die after.'

Cora approached Belle, and placed her hands on either side of the younger woman's head. Belle felt magic pass from Cora's hands, as the queen attempted to access her memories. After a few moments of trying, Cora stepped back.

'A memory protection spell.'

Cora had encountered these before. But she knew ways around them; Rumple had taught her well, after all. The spell would protect memories only as long as the subject wished it to. To access the memory, to find the dagger, the girl's will needed to be broken.

'You're coming with me.'

Belle hoped Cora couldn't hear her heart begin to beat faster as they ascended the steps to the clock tower above the library. Why was she bringing her here? Was it possible that she... ?

'What are we doing here?' Belle finally asked when they reached the top.

'You, my dear, are going to learn a little lesson about love.'

Cora pushed Belle, knocking her onto the floor. She summoned more of the same thorny vines, to tie Belle's wrists to the safety rails.

'You mentioned earlier,' said Cora, pacing casually back and forth, 'that you didn't know what kind of relationship Rumple and I had. Well, I think it's about time you found out.'

She waved her hand over the clock face, and on it appeared an image, somewhat hazy, of a pretty young girl and a familiar dark imp.

'Since you are so reluctant to share your memories with me,' Cora continued venomously, 'I thought I would share some of mine with you. Now, you watch these, Belle, and then you just try to tell me that I have never known love.'

With a flick of the hand, and a puff of smoke, Cora was gone, and the memories on the clock face began to move and speak, just like a film. A private, one-time showing, to break Belle's heart.

And so, captive in the clock tower, Belle watched Cora and Rumple meet.

"And what a marvellous coincidence that spinning straw into gold happens to be something I like to do. It's almost like... like fate."

"Teach me. Don't just do it. Teach me."

"You are a spicy one, aren't you?"

She felt chills run down her spine as the two of them fed eagerly on each other's darkness.

"Once, a man made me kiss his boot in front of my son. Now, in my mind, I go back, and I rip out his throat, and I crunch his veins with my teeth. And that, dearie, is how magic is made."

"Bloodlust."

"I like the phrase."

Bloodlust. There was no better word to describe what she was seeing. Bloodlust manifested in a human relationship.

As Cora and Rumple's 'bloodlust' intensified, Belle closed her eyes against the torment of watching her love touch another. But she couldn't close her ears.

But after a while, everything became softer, and Belle knew that Cora and Rumple had shared something real. It wasn't true love. It was damaged, and it was dark. But it was real.

"I can give you nothing but darkness and isolation."
"And love?"
"Yes. And love."

"You owe me... my child."

And she watched Cora choose power over love.

"Whose heart is in the box?"

And she understood, a little better, why the Queen of Hearts was so broken.

"Mine. I had to. You told me not to let anything stop me until they're on their knees. My heart was stopping me."

And she fitted another piece into the puzzle of Rumple's troubled past.

"You never loved me! Never!"

When Cora returned, she found her prisoner slumped, red-eyed and exhausted against the railing.

'Well?' she asked simply. 'Are you ready to talk?'

Exhausted, Belle only stared at her in silence.

'No? Well, it's a good thing you don't have to.'

Cora stooped down, and knocked once more on the door of Belle's memory, fully expecting it to be ajar.

It was not.

Cora stepped back, perplexed.

'I don't understand. You stupid girl. Weren't you paying attention?' she snapped, her anger rising. 'Didn't you understand? We loved each other so much that I had to rip my heart out to leave him behind!'

'I do understand, Cora. And it broke my heart. But it only strengthened my will to stand by him. Rumple has a dark past. I've always known that. And, Cora, all you are is just another chapter of that dark past. You're just another person who abandoned him. Who thought he wasn't enough. Who made him feel like power and magic were the only things he could rely on. You left him behind, just like every single person he's ever cared about. Except me. I will never-'

Belle's impassioned speech was interrupted by a crisp slap in the face.

'You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know the first thing about us.'

'Cora, you just forced me to watch hours of your memories. I know everything about you and Rumple.'

'Not everything.'

Cora drew a deep breath. She had never expected it to come to this. She had never expected the girl to be so strong. But there was only one way to find her happy ending. She needed the dagger. She needed to break the girl, even if only for a second. And she knew how it was to be done.

Crouching down, she took Belle's face in her hands once more. And she whispered a secret that no one else knew - not even Rumple.

Belle's will didn't break.

But, for a brief flicker of a moment, it cracked.

And that was all it took. With a triumphant smile, Cora lifted her gaze to the hands of the clock.

Groggy and aching, Belle squinted against the morning sun streaming through the clear face of the clock. The thorns in Cora's vines had just about ripped her arms to shreds. She didn't know how long it had been since Cora had made off with the dagger, but the time had been spent in a half-conscious state of remorse and fear.

A single tear dropped into her lap.

She had let Rumple down.

She had let him down.

Commotion on the street below suddenly broke the heavy silence of her sorrow. She craned her neck to see down into the street, where David and another man - a stranger... Baelfire? - were struggling to carry something into the shop.

No, not something. Someone.

Panic rose in Belle's throat and strangled her cry.

'Rumple!'