Chapter Twelve: All the Difference

Rumpelstiltskin stood up, still with that gaze of longing and hurt, and he pointed to Regina. Ruby growled, and he touched her fur, praying that Bae wouldn't hurt too much more for this.

The wolf felt a serge of new energy rush through her. Anything she'd sustained during battle: wounds, bruises, gashes, all of it was gone. As she brushed her tongue against her teeth, she felt her canines sharpen, sending a few drops of blood from when they hit her tongue. The magic healed that too. His magic, it would recirculate into Ruby, or so he made it that way. He didn't use the magic then, she would be...and only to heal. Gold stroked her fur only once, sending her immediately after Regina. Grumpy and Charming ran after Regina as she fled into the forest. Emma glanced at Gold, who simply nodded. She set her weapon and took off after her father, the dwarf, and the wolf. Rumpelstiltskin fled in the other direction.

"Magic huh?" Doc asked, quickly looking over the boy. "Do you know the spell?" He looked back at Belle, but she shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry," she replied. "I don't even know what book it comes from."

Doc forced a smile, knowing she was doing all she possibly could to help this boy. Belle told Doc the boy's name but nothing more, wanting the secret of Rumpelstiltskin's son to remain so unless he wished otherwise, or he just didn't care anymore.

"Test him," Doc said then as he looked at Bae.

"For what?" a doctor asked, staring at the dwarf quizzically.

"Anything. Everything," Doc commanded. "Take his blood, take a hair follicle I don't care. We have to find out what's in his system. However you people do it these days, but without moving him into a different room and putting anything into his body. Don't want to interrupt what's already inside, now do we?"

"Yes Sir," they replied in unison. Doc analyzed what they each did, taking needles and drawing Bae's blood, putting him on oxygen, the works for him.

The doctors ran out of the room with all the samples they needed from the boy to test him for as much as possible in quick time. A silence issued among them as the doctors left. The room felt empty, just Doc and Belle were inside. Snow watched from the glass, thinking about Henry. Almost the exact same happened to him! And now, whoever this boy was, his magic was tied to Rumpelstiltskin's...and that made her lose hope for the boy.

Gold would never give up his magic, not for anything. It gave him too much power, too much leverage over others. His ruthlessness seemed to never end, so why should it stop now?

Doc checked for a pulse, finding his breath very shallow, but his heart still faintly beating, though Doc didn't know for how much longer. Belle stood over him, touching his soft hair that felt extremely hot. Reeling back a little, she warned Doc, who merely passed this on as nothing.

"That'll keep the kids busy...Belle, many spells have heat effects on the victim," he informed her. "It's really no much to go on, much less a cure."

She sighed, pulling up a chair, setting herself down and staring at Bae. The heart rate monitor suddenly dropped from 52 to 45, causing Belle to jump at the slower sound. Doc glanced up at it.

"He must've used more magic..." Doc said, making Belle's eyes swell up with tears. How could he do this to his own son? His decisions angered her, but there was nothing she could do.

"It's killing him..." Belle obviously stated, though she was just beginning to accept the truth. Bae was slowly dying. More of his heart rate dropped, now it was down to 37. Doc saw the look in Belle's eyes, and he was compelled to ask...

"Is he yours?" Doc asked, causing her to look up suddenly. She shook her head, looking back down to the floor, and in that moment, Belle found that she wished otherwise. Doc was slightly confound at Belle's emotion; however, he wasn't one to press her on the matter.

Instead, Doc began to press on Bae's chest, not knowing what else to do and his heart rate was dropping.

"Hey Doc," Bashful said, walking in cautiously. "W-w-w-would this h-h-help any?"

In that dwarf's hands was a old medicine book! Doc ran and took it at once, thanking Bashful for it, wondering where he got it. The dwarf said he found it in one of the old shelves inside the house.

Doc set it on his lap as he sat down. Belle peered over his shoulder, seeing that the book was in an old language, perhaps Latin.

"You can read that?" Belle asked. "It's certainly isn't English."

"Old English? No, it is not that, it's Latin my dear," Doc said, reading as fast as he could through the pages, matching what little they knew about Bae's condition. "Grab a piece of paper and tare it up into smaller piece will you please?"

Belle did as he requested, and whenever Doc needed one, he held out his hand.

"What's happening?" the voice of the imp came as he turned the corner into Bae's room, practically sliding across the floor. "Bae!" He came to the bedside at once, grasping the side with a fierce force. Doc glanced up, making sure he didn't do anything reckless.

Belle stood up straight and walking over to Rumpel, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right, Doc is doing everything he can," Belle said. Rumpel turned to the dwarf, who was flipping through the book as fast as he could translate.

"Well?" he asked, and Doc looked up. "what's wrong with him?"

"If I knew, I'd be doing something," Doc said, a little annoyed, glancing back at the book. "What do you care anyway?"

Mr. Gold looked to Belle, the sense of knowing reflecting within his eyes only she could recognize. Perhaps it was the right time to tell them all. Bae's heart rate dropped once more, causing Gold's eyes to widen.

"I didn't even use magic!" he exclaimed.

"Did you put any healing spells on anyone? Because if you did, then that will hurt him," Doc said.

"It's no longer mine if the magic flows through someone else!" Rumpelstiltskin shot back, but Doc merely shook his head.

"You enacted it."

"It's hers now!"

"You gave her a healing spell in which your magic is completely transferred? No longer connected to you?" Doc asked, obviously skeptical.

"Yes!"

"That's impossible!"

Gold came closer to Doc, giving him an eye filled with emptiness and hatred.

"I'm the Dark One, nothing is impossible for me. Now get to work!" Rumpel commanded ominously.

Belle stepped in.

"This isn't helping," she said as she pulled Rumpel away from Doc by the wrist so he could focus.

"Fine," Doc said, standing. He gave the book to Rumpelstiltskin. "You read this. The boy has a high temperature, heart rate decreasing, and is still not ready for anything stronger than a drop of Siegbarste Gift."

Doc went over to the child, pressing on his chest multiple times as Rumpelstiltskin glanced through the pages, hating having to do this the long way. Magic could be so useful. If Bae's eyes were open right now, he'd be begging him never to use magic again. Not that Rumpel blamed him by any means, this was literally killing him. This entire time, the Evil Queen let him kill his own son, and all she had to do was rile him up.

"You know, Rumpel," Doc said, taking a break from pressing. "Why do you honestly care so much? You never cared about anyone else, all of a sudden a boy is going to die because of your magic...you did that all the time, what makes this one any different?"

Now Doc was either picking the fight or sincerely curious, Belle couldn't tell, but Mr. Gold decided not to fight back. Not when Bae was in that hospital bed, and Doc was only trying everything he could to help. He tried to look for any other signs indicating the type of spell Regina had used.

"Because...he's my son...he's my only son."