"We enjoy warmth because we have been cold.
We appreciate light because we have been in darkness.
By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sadness."
-David Weatherford
The Dark One had not slept. His eyes remained focused on Belle, his hand gently stroking her side. His mind kept flashing to earlier- to the unbridled passion, the loss of control...the little bit of darkness he'd seen in her eyes. He was captivated- there was no other way to say it. She intrigued him. Enthralled him.
He found himself falling in love with her, and the idea...terrified him.
He'd had his chances at love and happiness, only to discard them. Bae...his biggest regret. Not going with him. Breaking his deal.
Love wasn't meant for him. Not anymore. He'd accepted his fate as being alone. His happy ending was never to be found.
He sighed deeply as he noticed the silver glow emanating from Belle. The glow was no longer as worrisome to him as it once was. Instead, Rumplestiltskin began to wonder what more he could do to make her glow like that. The wispy silver snaked its way around his arm, like a vine curling around a trellis. He knew it would evaporate from him shortly; the light rejected him, yet pushed its limits continuously. Although it wouldn't last, it fascinated him.
His brows furrowed in surprise as the glow snaked further up his arm, now reaching his shoulder and slowly spreading to his chest.
He closed his eyes in comfort, feeling such peace- a deep sense of peace he'd forgotten long ago.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the lightly dissipate and smirked.
"Tease," he said to the fading light.
Rumplestiltskin turned back to Belle, her body still encased in silver. He kissed her shoulder and left her room. Someone had summoned him.
Jiminy shifted slightly when he heard noise from outside the tent. His eyes adjusted and he saw that it was daybreak. He felt Red's hair in his face and smiled. She moved closer to him, her sleeping body still wanting to feel him holding her.
"Love?" Jiminy whispered.
"Hmm?" Red mumbled sleepily.
"It's daybreak."
Red snuggled closer to him, a small smile playing on her lips. "So I wasn't dreaming last night?"
"Perhaps..." Jiminy whispered mysteriously into her ear as he rose.
Red whimpered unhappily as he moved from the cot, wishing they coud spend the rest of the day in each other's arms.
Still, she rose and walked out with him, holding his hand. The morning air was cool as the members of the camp began their day. Red kissed Jiminy before she returned to her tent, remembering the information The Huntsman had left.
The old woman who talked to Jiminy about taking Red away for a while smiled at the both of them, grateful that they had realized their feelings for each other.
Red entered her tent and saw a satchel next to her cot. She sat down and opened it, growing more and more concerned when she read the contents.
The Queen was planning something horrible.
"How kind of you to join me, Dark One. It's never polite to keep a lady waiting," Regina said as she sat down.
"I was unaware that there was a lady waiting, Your Majesty."
Rumplestiltskin sat across from Regina, curious as to what she wanted this time. And how he could have it to his advantage.
Regina shot him a dark look before composing herself.
"Do you happen to know where I can find a Pain-Eater, dear Rumplestiltskin?"
Momentarily, the Dark One's insides froze. His face remained stony.
"Hmm. Well, as far as I'm aware, no magic can bring back the dead."
"I highly doubt Pierduta was the last remaining Pain-Eater."
"And your point?"
"Cast a spell. Find a Pain-Eater."
Rumplestiltskin snorted.
"One can not find what doesn't exist, Your Majesty," he replied, now seeing where he had made a mistake. He'd given Regina a glamoured copy of the tome he had given to Belle. He carefully left parts out of it in the glamoured copy, not wanting Regina to have any more power. He cursed himself, damned himself for giving her the book.
"Well, from what I've been reading of Pain-Eaters, from my mother's books...they're not to be trusted," Regina spoke, pouring herself a cup of tea.
"And how is that, I wonder?"
"Apparently, in my mother's tomes...there was a mistranslation. No wonder we no longer use the old language. Durere Mâncător is a mistranslation. The correct term for so called "Pain-Eaters" is Putere Mâncător- Power-Eaters. Of course, it's entrirely possible some old fool romanticized the idea, but still. I noticed some things in the book you gave me were missing. So, I went to my mother's books. And things added up. Hm. Can you imagine? One indivudal with all that power. And the people think we're monsters. Hah! But the glow that they radiate is perhaps the most frightening. It's almost like a leech, stealing all the power, stealing all the dreams of another. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Rumplestiltskin sat still.
"And are we to the main point of this conversation, dearie? I have other deals to make," he said.
"Just find one. We'll negotiate later. After you find one."
Rumplestiltskin arrived at the Dark Castle, feeling unsure and doubtful.
He heard Belle singing as she did her work. The darkness in him began to rise.
Regina had planted the seeds of doubt in his mind. How long would it take form them to bloom?