A purple clouded released them into the dining hall. Belle looked around once the smoke cleared. Everything was the same yet different somehow. Looking at the large mahogany dining table, Belle recalled the story that Rumple promised to tell her but never did. She then turned her gaze to his spinning wheel. It was in the exact same state that she remembered it being in except now it was surrounded by empty broken liquor bottles. Belle looked at Rumple with concern.

"I tried to forget," he said simply. "Your room is exactly the way you left it. If you would like to clean up or change clothes, your dresses should be where you left them last. I'll be up shortly with tea, and then I will let you rest. I think it will be most beneficial for you to sleep in an actual bed."

Belle smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

Belle made her way to her room on the second floor. Apparently Rumpelstiltskin had not bothered to clean or touch anything at all during her absence. The stairs were in need of a good sweeping and every surface that she had passed had a fine layer of dust. Her bedroom door was still creaked open a smidge, exactly the way she remembered leaving it on her last day here. Upon opening her door, she found her bad still unmade, dresses strewn about on top, her dresser drawers slightly open and her closet open wide. Everything the same.

Belle found a suitable warm night gown and went to the wash room across the hall from her room. She found a wash cloth and a hair brush. She washed her face, arms, and legs, and then worked out the knots in her chestnut curls. She returned to her room afterwards, where Rumple was waiting for her with her tea.

He had placed the tray on the small table in the corner. He already had poured her a cup. Extra sugar and little milk. She picked up her cup and noticed the small chip on the rim. At this, Belle smiled.

"I thought you would appreciate that," Rumple said, slightly laughing.

"I do. Thank you," she relied. Belle tossed the dresses from her bed and into her closet so she could sit down with her tea.

"I'll leave you to it then. If you need anything, just call," he said before walking towards the door.

Rumpelstiltskin was just a few paces down the hall before Belle had said anything.

"Rumple?" she called, "Could you please, um, stay with me tonight?" she asked, slightly nervous.

He paused and turned back towards her room. "If you wish so."

Belle let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks."

"It's not matter."

She patted the other side of the bed. "Come. Sit down. I believe you owe me a story."

"Yes, I believe I do," he remembered. He moved to the opposite side of her bed and sat down beside her; laying back and propped up against the pillows just as she.

"Now, tell me about your son," she said once he was settled. She took another sip of tea.

He cleared his throat. "His name was Baelfire. A brilliant boy, a better man at fourteen than I could ever be. His mother left us when he was about six years old. Apparently she could no longer to stay with a coward. Before Bae was born, I was called to the front for the Ogre Wars. I thought it was an opportunity to finally redeem myself. My father had also been branded a coward and that's all people ever thought of when they saw me. Anyways, I left for the camp and begun training. A few months had passed and another soldier asked me to look after this cart. He said there was a beast inside the covered cage. I lifted the ratty, old cover and there was a child, a girl, with sewn shut eyes and eyes on her hands. She was a seer; someone who could see the future. She told me my wife, Milah, was with child. She told me that my actions on the battlefield would leave my child fatherless. I was terrified. I didn't want my boy to grow up without a father the same way I did. So I panicked. I took an axe to my knee. After I had healed a bit, I hobbled home. By then, my son was already born. My wife was ashamed with me. She would rather I had died on the battlefield than return home. A few years later, she left with a pirate."

There was a short spell of silence between them.

"That's awful," she said quietly.

"Yes, and the worst part was that I thought I loved her. I suppose I was wrong. The only thing that I hated more than her leaving me was her leaving Bae. She left without even giving him a second thought. By the time he was a teenager, the Ogre Wars were still being fought. They were still forcing people to enlist and they ensured that they would because they had control of the most powerful being in all the lands: the Dark One. They had his dagger. Whoever had possession of the dagger could force the Dark One to do anything that they pleased. Bae was coming of age. He was about to turn fourteen and on his birthday, they were going to draft him into the war. So many countless children had lost their lives in that war. A beggar told me of the Dark One and his capabilities. He told me if I had the dagger, then I could control him, and if I killed him with it, then I could take his powers. I stole the dagger and summoned the Dark One. He baited me, telling me that Bae wasn't even my child, that I was a coward. I stabbed with that dagger and removed the hood from his face. It was the beggar. He said that his life was a burden, that it was now my burden. My name appeared on that dagger. I was now the Dark One. The first thing I did was stop the soldiers from taking my boy to war. They were dragging him out of our house as I arrived. Then I ended the war and took the children home. After that, power corrupted me. I ended hurting or killing anybody who caused anything close to harm to Bae. And he hated it. He wanted his papa back. He asked me that if he could find a way for me to get rid of these powers and not be killed, if I would do it. I promised him yes. He talked to the Blue Fairy. She gave him the last magic bean in existence. A bean that could take us to a world without magic. We went into the woods and he threw the beam down. A vortex, a portal of some sort appeared on the ground. It was terrifying but Bae didn't care. I told him that it was a trick, that I couldn't do it, and that it would kill us. Bae slipped and i was being pulled into the portal. I grabbed his arm. He yelled at me, saying that I was coward. I'm not sure if one of us let go, or if he slipped but he fell in and then was gone. I've spent almost three hundred years looking for him."

Belle blinked a few tears out of her eyes. "And that's why you need magic. To find your son."

Rumple nodded. "And I'm close Belle, so close."

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, but my this time, she was already drifting off to sleep, dreaming about a boy with dark hair and brown eyes.

A/N Well hello there! Thanks for reading. Special thanks to all who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed. Let me know what you think:)