Chapter 2

David hadn't even stop the truck yet but Belle was already opening the passenger door and getting out. Snow was immediately by her side across the town line. Emma with Henry and Killian arrived shortly using Emma's own car. Regina had first headed to get the Apprentice's scroll so they could all return and she arrived last.

"Rumple!" shouted Belle but there was no sign of the man anywhere.

"He couldn't have gotten far," said Killian, trying to sound reassuring but Belle just continued shouting her husband's name. Emma had instructed them to head out in pairs, except her who would look on her own. Henry set out with Belle, David with Killian and Regina with Snow.

The ground was still a bit damp due to the rain the previous night but there was no sign of Gold anywhere. Emma shook her head, maybe he had managed to pull over a car but then she shook that thought immediately out of her head. Nobody would drive all the way out here. The magi protecting the town would make sure of that. The blade being blank meant that something bad had happened to Rumplestiltskin. If he had manage to flag down a car by walking to the outside of the town's magical protection, Emma didn't dare think what had happened to her son's grandfather.

"Over here!" came the shout from Henry a few meters ahead and Emma and the rest all scurried over to where the teen was. He and Belle were standing on the edge of the road, the start of the grounds of the forest. A familiar silk tie was wrapped around a low branch of the tree and Belle was gently caressing it with her hand.

"It's his," whispered Belle, tears already streaming down her face.

"He could have placed it there to mark where he had started," reasoned David, surveying the area. "I'm guessing he had his limp back and was trying to look for anything that could help him walk."

Belle could only nod, as her heart skipped a beat again. Rumple had his limp back and he didn't have his cane or anything that could help him walk and keep his balance...that was her fault...again.

David walked further on into the forest and Henry made to follow him but Regina grabbed his arm. "Easy, Henry. The ground is slippery…"

"I'll be fine mom," said Henry with a smile and they all treated carefully into the forest. David and Killian leading ahead. They continued the search in silence until Killian decided to push his luck and slowly go further into the forest, David following his lead. There was particular downhill slope in the grounds they were walking on and the two men decided to search there.

Once they were on more even ground, a level lower than where the others were, Killian's heart sank to his surprise. Sure he didn't have any kind feelings for the Crocodile...but seeing the dagger blank and now actually having evidence that something bad did happen to the man...Killian didn't feel like he'd won or anything. In honesty, he actually felt bad.

He knelt down and picked up the handkerchief that was still damp due to the rain but pretty much stained with dried blood.

He heard David walk towards him and the prince immediately stopped when Killian raised the piece of cloth.

"Did you find something?" Came the question from Emma somehwere above them. Killian turned to David who shook his head in disbelief. Killian straightened up and showed Emma what he had in his only functioning hand.

"Not good news."

Belle's choked sobbed was something Killian wish he would never hear again but given the current situation they were in, he would be hearing it for quite some time. Emma, Snow, Regina and Henry's expression all mirrored each other. The look of both disbelief and loss weighing down on them all.

"No," came the whisper as Belle tried to join Killian and David on the lower part of the forest. It was Emma's quick reflexes that managed to stop the smaller woman in her tracks. "Emma, he may be bleeding somewhere further into the forest or…"

"Belle…" began Snow, trying to keep her voice calm.

"He's still alive out there," said Belle, her voice strong as though she herself believed it to be true. "I won't stop until-"

"Until what?" asked Emma gently, this time grabbing both of Belle's arms in reassurance. "I think it'd be better if it's just David, Killian and I who continue the search."

"What? Why?" asked Belle in distress. "It'd be faster with more people-"

"Trust me Belle," said Emma. "I don't think you'd want to see him...whatever the state he is in."

Belle tried to calm herself but just couldn't as her legs stopped supporting her and Emma took on both of their weights. Everything was hitting her. The dagger was blank. There were only two options what state Rumplestiltskin could be. It was either they find a lifeless body...or a man filled with nothing but Darkness.

And it was all her fault.

The first thing that registered in Rumplestiltskin's head was that he was still alive. He felt a bit sore but was still faring better than he had anticipated when he had slipped in the forest.

You could say that was the second thing that registered in his head...that he was no longer in the forest. It appeared that he was laying down on a bed. First thought he had would have been the hospital but it didn't smell like that and it was too quiet. Usually hospitals had the sounds of medical instruments and the chatter of doctors and nurses. No, wherever it was, it wasn't the hospital.

Maybe he could try opening his eyes and finally get some answers. But the tiredness he felt overcame the curiosity and he found himself falling back to the arms of sleep as he faintly heard someone call his name and the faint buzz of some sort of device.

The Doctor sighed as the sonic told him that Rumple had fallen back to sleep, more due to the exhaustion his body was feeling rather than his already healed head wound.

Regeneration took loads of energy for a time lord, more so the Doctor would guess for a human being...well sort of human being. By his guess, Rumple would be asleep for maybe another day or so. The Doctor sighed and turned to head for the console room, not surprised to see Clara there looking worried and not in her room as the Doctor already told her to get some sleep of her own.

"Maybe it's time we get you home," said the Doctor, as he pressed a few buttons but before he could push down the final lever, Clara stopped him.

"I'm not going anywhere until Rum wakes up," said Clara in her bossiest tone that the Doctor has ever heard her go.

"He won't be waking up soon, Clara," reasoned the Doctor. "The spare regeneration energy the TARDIS had stored healed him alright but it also took a lot of energy from his own body to do so. Not to mention the things I did in his head to stop his curse from coming out."

"But we're in the Land Without Magic," began Clara.

"The place where you live is in the Land Without Magic," clarified the Doctor. "United States of America, United Kingdom, Hawaii...all those are in the Land Without Magic, yes, but right now we're in the Time Vortex. Magic isn't as amazing as you would think. It's still has a scientific explanation. Magic is basically energy, Clara. Earth," he motioned for Clara to study the screen. "Isn't at it's prime yet in harnessing all the energy it has. That is why for the people of the Enchanted Forest, they call this realm, the Land Without Magic."

"But Rum managed to bring magic to that town right?" asked Clara.

"He used a potion if I remember correctly," said the Doctor. "Still not the natural thing if you think about it so it can be a little unstable. It's like giving someone something before they're ready to handle it. Like giving a small plant buckets of water that is meant for a tree."

Clara raised an eyebrow at his comparison but the Doctor pushed on. "Rumple's a brilliant sorcerer. When he was younger, I knew he had magic but he never learned to harness it until he took on that bloody curse. I think he can harness his magic anywhere as long as the energy is already there."

"Wait, back up...are you're telling me that magic actually exists everywhere?" asked Clara in disbelief.

"Like I said," exasperated the Doctor. "If you listened, magic is energy. Ergo it is everywhere...it's just not that harnessed to its full capacity everywhere. Someone like Rum, or even the TARDIS, will be able to access it if the energy has already been harnessed in the first place."

"So how did you stop the curse from coming out?" asked Clara, turning back to the Doctor.

"I haven't really confirmed it," admitted the Doctor. "We'll have to wait for Rum to wake up before I can confirm that I have done so. Basically the curse was in his head, like an alternate personality if you will...well just block those out with some neuro telepathic science-y time lord things and you're all set!" He said arms and hands demonstrating in a way that Clara loved about any incarnation of the Doctor.

"I don't think 'neuro telepathic science-y time lord things' is really a thing Doctor," said Clara with a small smile as the Doctor's confident demeanor fell and he glared at her.

"I'll have you know it is a thing. Time Lords have this thing called a neural block," explained the Doctor. "It's usually used for wiping memory but I modified it and with the same principle, silenced the little imp running around our Rum's head. Granted it would have been more powerful if I actually had a neural block device from Gallifrey, so I had to redirect some of Rum's energy to help in holding the block."

Clara's eyes widened. "Back up, are you saying you used magic? You're taking this whole looking like a magician to a higher level then." Clara managed without fully breaking down in laughter as the Doctor's glare intensified.

"I redirected it," said the Doctor. "For the safety of everyone on this ship, can we just refer to magic as energy because it is just that, energy. I redirected Rum's "special" energy-" Clara laughed much to the Doctor's glare. "in keeping the block in place. I made sure that his body will maintain it, ergo his supply of his 'special energy'-"

"Magic."

The Doctor glared and Clara just shrugged. "Just say it, I mean if you're going to air quote special energy all the time, I might just hit you. Heck, even Rum might hit you."

"Fine," the Doctor relented. "Rum's magic supply will be decreased because he's using half of it in keeping his mind all to himself."

"And his heart?" asked Clara, remembering the scan that the Doctor did and revealing that their friend's heart was almost pure black. "Any chance it'll turn back to being red?"

"I don't know," admitted the Doctor as he showed Rum's vitals on the screen. "Again, we'll have to ask him that once he wakes up. The regeneration energy managed to strengthen his weakened heart, though. He was close to having a heart attack when we found him. Why I would advise our patient to rest and relax for some time."

Clara turned to him amused. "Sounding like a proper doctor, Doc."

The Doctor groaned as Clara laughed. "I've told you never to call me that. It's annoying."

"Like you aren't?" offered the Clara. "I haven't changed my mind Doctor. I'm staying until he wakes up. So either pick a relaxing planet we can go explore or give me the all-clear to roam around the TARDIS."

"Or sit beside Rum until he wakes up," offered the Doctor. "He did that for you when you were poisoned. He did it for all the companions he helped healed."

"I don't think I'm the person he really wants to see once he wakes up," offered Clara but the change in the Doctor's demeanor didn't go unnoticed. "What is it?"

"Rum would only trust a select few people to keep his dagger," offered the Doctor. "And if he doesn't have it and we found him with nothing but the clothes on his back, outside of Storybrooke...let's just say if we ever run into that woman, we're going to have words."

"You can't really be suggesting that she-"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," hissed the Doctor, his anger bleeding through. "Rum could have died. Is that anyway to treat the person you cared about? We're friends Clara, and I know you would never cast me out just like you know I wouldn't do that to you as well."

"But Rum…" began Clara, suddenly having the overwhelming feeling to wrap her arms around Rum and protect him from anyone who wanted to hurt him. "That's it. We're not leaving him. He wants to be dropped off anywhere, we won't let him. If those people don't care about Rum, well we do. Good riddance to them. We won't let them hurt Rum."

The Doctor smiled and patted Clara on the back. "I was thinking the same thing. Having a male companion would be a good change, especially someone with a long life expectancy as Rum." He turned to her and added as an afterthought. "And especially not bossy."

He had expected the strong slap on his arm but the playful tease was worth it to calm down Clara's nerves. She was worried, that was to be expected, even he was worried. But Rum was going to get through this. If the people in Storybrooke didn't want anything to do with him, well the TARDIS and its travellers wanted everything to do with him.

Regina threw the final ingredients of the tracking potion to the cauldron in haste and anger. No this was not happening. Rumplestiltskin, imp though he was, was not dead. He couldn't be dead. A lot of things have come and gone in her life, but he was the only constant. He would never cease to be an annoying thorn on her side and she wouldn't allow him to stop and just leave her. He couldn't…

But the potion collapsed in itself...meaning one thing. The tracking potion had failed and Rumplestiltskin could not be found.

Maybe it was just that he couldn't be found in this realm. Regina grabbed another book to look for any spell that could transcend through realms. Rumplestiltskin was out there and she was going to find where he was just to knock him over the head with an overlarge book.

"Regina, stop," came the voice of Snow White as Regina threw the useless book hard on the floor and grabbed another spellbook.

"No," came the short reply. "He's out there somewhere and I am going to find him and tell it to his face that he wasn't smart enough to run away from me."

"Regina…" trailed off Snow. "The dagger's blank...we all knew it was a fool-"

"I do not accept that!" shouted Regina as the book she had proved to be useless as well and she tossed it aside to look for something, anything that might be useful at this point. "For all we know, he found a bean or a portal and is in the Enchanted Forest laughing at us for being worried."

"If that were the case then the dagger shouldn't be blank," said Snow gently. "Regina, I know you and Gold-."

"He's not dead, ok?!" exclaimed Regina finally turning to face her step-daughter. "He's not dead. He's just being a smug smart bastard and has found a way to look like he is to get us to stop looking for him and-"

Regina sighed and turned her back against Snow. She wouldn't...she couldn't break down in front of her. Not her, or Belle, or Emma...she couldn't show them how much the insufferable imp had actually meant to her. How Rumplestiltskin did sometimes feel like a father figure in her life, how he had taught her so many things...how she knew she could always count on him to tell her straight what was wrong or what she needed to do.

"He's not dead Snow…" whispered Regina softly. "He can't be."

Snow slowly walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I just lost Robin and now I've just lost the only actual friend I've had…" Regina trailed off and Snow knew she was crying.

"Regina..." began Snow but she couldn't find any words to say to comfort her. She didn't know what she felt about Rumplestiltskin, in all honesty. But she did know that if it wasn't for that man, Snow wouldn't be with her family right now. She owed that man a lot.

They heard someone coming down to Regina's own vault and turned to see David, a grim look on his face. "Emma?"

"Went to Gold's shop," replied David. Henry was there trying to calm and reassure a very distraught Belle. Killian emerged behind the prince. "We decided it was for the best that Killian not be there when Emma told Belle the news."

"Which is?" asked Regina, her voice impatient.

"No trace," came David's reply. "The only last piece of evidence that Gold was in the forest was his tie and that handkerchief." He raised the item of clothing to Regina. "Can you tell if it's his blood or not?"

"We can with any of his wards," replied Regina, taking the blood stained piece of cloth. "He was fond of using blood magic in ways to defend his home and possessions."

"I'm pretty sure it is his," said Killian. "If his trail ends with that," he pointed to the handkerchief on Regina's hands. "I doubt we're going to have anything good to tell Belle." His tone of voice caught everyone by surprise, it sounded like he was actually sorry for the turn of events. Killian sensed their looks and continued.

"I may have hated the Croc-Rumplestitlskin," began Killian. "But Belle doesn't deserve this. She has lost her True Love twice now. I can still remember that day when Pan…"

He trailed off as everyone remembered that fateful day on Main Street. They all thought it was the end. Pan had them frozen in place as the curse worked its way into town but then Rumplestiltskin had showed up and killed his father and himself to save them all.

Did they even honor his sacrifice? Or Belle's and Baelfire's? No, they had brushed it aside and just went back to the Enchanted Forest, dealing with Zelena and the fact that they had left Emma and Henry. But Rumplestiltskin? They didn't give the man any second thought or the people closest to him.

Regina eyed the handkerchief in her hands and sighed. She had lost the oldest friend she had. She had gone through this before but when Rumple killed himself and Pan, there was a lingering hope in the back of her head that told her Rumple was alive. This time, however, she felt nothing but dread. Gold's last location was in the Land Without Magic, there was no way he could have survived if something had happened to him.

Regina's eyes watered as she came to accept the reality of it all. Rumplestiltskin was really truly gone.

Henry didn't stay at the shop when Emma had arrived. He didn't tell his mother where he was going or that he would be leaving the shop. Honestly, he just wanted to get away from there as soon as he saw the look on his biological mother's face.

Everyone had drawn the same conclusion. His grandfather was gone and there's was nothing any of them could do.

With his memories back, Henry could remember what had happened that day on Main Street. They were all frozen in place with Peter Pan boasting that his plan was almost complete. And when the new curse would roll over them, he was going to kill his dad and Belle first because of their special relation to Rumplestitlskin.

But then his grandfather appeared, it didn't go unnoticed that he had the magic blocking cuff on his wrist but he still managed to subdue Pan and eventually…

Henry sighed and looked to the ground as he remembered Belle's sobs once they were free to move again. He was pretty sure that's what was happening in the shop right now, a repeat that he didn't want to be witness to.

He walked...a destination already in mind as the sky darkened and the few drops of rain began to descend. His other grandfather, a man he had known his whole life but never really tried to get to know better was gone. The man died trying to save him. The man tore two worlds apart to get pack to a son he loved more than anything in the world.

It was because of Rumplestiltskin that Henry was alive right now. Heck, it was because of the man that everyone else was alive right now. Everyone hated him and didn't recognize the debt of gratitude they should feel for the Dark One but when he was banished, everyone was happy about it. Not knowing that without the Dark One, they could be in trouble the next time something happens.

The rain was falling harder now as Henry reached the cemetery. He was already soaking when he stood in front of his father's grave.

The day he got his memories back was like a roller coaster ride. First, he was happy to regain his memories. Memories of fun times spent with his other family and the knowledge of having a dad...but then that knowledge paved way to sadness as the dad he only got to know for a brief period passed away...and Henry wasn't even able to spend any time with Neal at all.

The worst part was that Henry spent a good part of the couple of months hating his dad. Hating him for abandoning them, for not being there when the truth was he was trying hard to find his way back to them.

If his father had been here, would they have banished his grandfather? Or would Neal have talked to him first, given Rumplestiltskin a piece of his mind, before demanding the Dark One to explain and Neal would have understood and maybe Rumplestiltskin would begin to trust other people with his problems...and they could have finally been a family…

Those were what ifs now...Henry had now lost any link he had to his father side. Nobody could tell him what Baelfire was like growing up, or how the father and son braved the life of living in the Frontlands, or how Baelfire got the ball that Rumplestiltskin displayed in his shop.

All he had to honor their memory was the stories inside the Once Upon A Time book. And even those weren't enough because they were incomplete.

"I'm sorry, dad," whispered Henry as water droplets tracked down his face, whether they be rain drops or his tears, they flowed like a dam being burst open. Ever since Henry had returned to Storybrooke, ever since his father died, he felt empty. In a way, that void his father's death had left in him was filled when he worked in his grandfather's shop. That wasn't his real intention, but in away...Henry felt he had gotten closer to his father's side of the family with it.

But now...there's was no one left on his father's side to bond with.

Henry hadn't hear his mom make her way towards him but when the rain had stopped falling on him and not anywhere else...he knew.

"Let's get you warmed up, kid," whispered Emma, holding the black umbrella for both of them. Her talk with Belle must have been short...or other people could have come to the rescue and help Belle calm down, because let's face it Emma and Belle were never really friends.

"Archie's with Belle," said Emma, reading Henry expression precisely. "She's...well she's…" She didn't continue and Henry knew her gaze was on the name on the gravestone in front of them.

"They're both gone…" whispered Henry, his eyes not leaving his father's name. "It's not fair. Why can I only have a happy ending with one side of my family? Is it because I have two moms? I have two parents already and that means I can't have my biological dad and grandfather?"

"Henry…" began Emma but she was at a lost for words. Sure she knew that the kid missed his father but it never occurred to her that Henry had somehow had gotten close to Gold as well as he worked in the shop.

"Why does it have to be like this?" pressed Henry further. "Why can only one side of my family be happy? Why can't everyone have their happy endings?"

He finally tore his gaze from his father's grave and with pleading eyes, turned to Emma, tears still falling down his face. "I don't understand why, mom…"

Emma immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulder as the teen wrapped his arms around his mother and cried on her shoulder. In all honesty, Emma didn't have an answer to her son's question. She didn't know how to make her son feel better...all she could do at that point was hug her son as he continued to cry.