Epilogue:
"True love stories never have endings."
~ Richard Bach
The next couple of days were for recuperation.
Archie Hopper was glad to have Ruby back and had worried incessantly about her since he was left behind to guard Henry and made sure the boy wouldn't go running off after his grandfather. Story has it that they hadn't left his small home since she came back from the fight. Granny would stop by occasionally and check on her.
James came back to his grandson in one piece, though he did have a few more bruises and cuts than what Henry had remembered. He stayed with Henry for the next couple of days, but still took his usual beat around the town in his truck. If anything else, it showed the people that everything was still all right and he was still there. Another evil thwarted and he still survived.
Baelfire had settled into a small house down the block from his father's Victorian home. It had belonged to the gym teacher, once a knight, Frederick. He had found his lady love, Abigail and had moved into the house that she had once shared with 'David'. Baelfire kept in contact with his father, but was his own person. He had volunteered to be the next deputy and helped James on his beats around the town and the smaller concerns.
Belle and Rumplestiltskin had shut themselves away in the old Victorian home, with the exception of short visits from Baelfire. Belle was concerned that he had drained himself and wasn't sure if he was going to disappear or turn to dust now that the curse had left him. He reassured her that he wasn't going anywhere for a long time. They both kept up with his magic studies because they were sure, Chernabog or not, there were many more enemies that would love to challenge the once powerful Dark One; especially now that the dagger was out of the picture.
On the third day Belle managed to go back to the library and began to shift through the charred remains of the front half of the library, "It just had to be the first editions…"
"I thought that I would find you here," Rumplestiltskin came through what was left of the front doors, his gold tipped cane holding his weight. He walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug from behind her, "We will get this together again, and I will replace all the books without a problem."
She only sighed and nodded with a whisper of, "On opening day, too…"
He chuckled and leaned back so that she could turn toward him. He leaned most of his weight on his good leg and held out his hands toward her. He raised his eyebrows and gestured around the room to ask her permission. She looked at his outreached hands and the charred remains of what was left of her work.
She sighed and smiled happily at him, "Okay."
She put her hands in his and a swirl of his master of dark magic and her little experience of light spread from their hands to the floor and walls. The magic surrounded them and it pulsed between a dark gold and blue. She giggled and the blue shone brighter at her laughter. After the shelves were righted, the children section was in one piece and the books rebound and soothed of burns the lights faded. She looked around and found the library that she had put together with her two hands.
Belle looked back at Rumplestiltskin and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you."
"Couldn't have done it without you, my love," he kissed her back on her lips and smiled warmly.
"Got tired of spinning? More gold to know what to do with?" Belle asked as he wrapped a hand in one of hers and she turned to lock the library up for the day. She would try another reopening in the next few days.
"I am surprised that the talent stayed with me," he chuckled and thought back to the surprise he received when he tried spinning again and the same gold thread came out as the product. He began to walk down the sidewalk with cane in one hand and Belle's hand in the other, "Charming is having a small meeting in ten minutes at the diner."
"Doesn't he usually do town speeches in City Hall?" Belle asked and wrapped her arm around his instead of just keeping her hand in his. She did it in a roundabout way of helping him keep his balance without letting him know how much she could feel him leaning on his cane.
"This isn't about the town," Rumplestiltskin explained and kissed the top of her head.
"Papa!" Baelfire waved from down the street. He caught up with them as they waited. He came up and hugged Belle in greeting and then his father, "Heading to the diner as well?"
"Yup," Belle took her place again at Rumplestiltskin's side.
When they arrived Ruby and Archie sat close to one another in a booth and looked over at the door when they entered. Ruby smiled at Belle and immediately got up to scoop the woman in a hug before bringing her over to the same booth. Rumplestiltskin chuckled at Belle's expressions and nodded toward Archie in greeting. Archie nodded back and gestured for him and Baelfire to join them as Ruby went to grab drinks.
A few moments later James walked through the door with Henry leading the way, the title less blue book he had borrowed from the library in his hands. The two Charmings pulled up a small table and two chairs to sit with the rest of them.
"So, what exactly is this meeting for, James?" Belle asked before she sipped on her iced tea.
"Henry?" James looked to his grandson and Henry nodded.
"I think I may have found something," Henry said and opened the book to the middle. There was a large picture once again of Emma and Snow, passing from one land to the other as if walking through a doorway. He pointed to the incantation next to the picture and read off what the spell should do, "It is a passageway that took precedence once the lack of magic beans made many magicians search for a new way of travel. It is one of the only ways known to travel between worlds."
"May I see that, Henry?" Rumplestiltskin reached for the book and Henry nodded enthusiastically.
"This can't be, you looked over everything to find a way between two worlds," Belle said and noticed that the book must have been from their old world if it talked of magic beans.
"I looked in all dark arts, love. Curses mostly," he reminded her and then pointed to the incantation, "This can only be done by those with the mastery of whole and pure magic."
Henry smiled and jumped a little in his seat, "We just need a spark of magic."
"We can get Snow and Emma back?" Ruby asked not even trying to mask the excitement in her voice.
"Theoretically speaking," Rumplestiltskin said and looked down at the book.
"Can we do it, Rum?" Belle asked and kept looking at the book. She heard about the Princess Snow White and her great deeds even as a young princess, "I know we are far from a 'master' of whole magic."
After a few moments of going over the spell Rumplestiltskin leaned back into the plush seats of the booth and gave a minute nod, "I think we can. Only one way to know for sure."
He stood from the booth and he could see the hope in James's eyes brighten immensely.
"Please don't get your hopes up, Charming," Rumplestiltskin reminded him as he limped toward the opposite wall, "This is a trial run. We aren't even sure if it will work."
"Theoretically," James reminded him.
Belle put a hand on James's shoulder as she passed him and stood next to Rumplestiltskin. She took his hand and looked at him in the eyes, "Do we both need to say this one?"
"Leave that to me, dearest," he said and closed his eyes. She followed suit and kept her light strong for him to borrow from.
Rumplestiltskin began to chant the incantation and then put one of his hands on the wall, partially for support and the other to make the portal. A small circle of light began to grow from his hand and then dropped to the floor where I grew straight up until it was the size of a doorway. It swirled in the colors of dark gold and light blue, now recognizable as Belle's light and his power.
"I really hope that isn't permanent," Red frowned, "Granny's going to have a cow."
Rumplestiltskin and Belle stepped away carefully and Belle kept her arms around him since his cane was left at the booth. As they stepped away a new picture began to show. James and Red peeked in and smiled. They could see their old home. The Enchanted Forest.
"I don't know about you, Red, but I wouldn't mind this being a permanent fixture," James said and then noticed movement on the other side. Then voices began to break through.
James stood up and walked toward the portal. There on the other side the voices grew stronger and his wife appeared as she turned around a tree. They both froze and Snow shook her head.
"Charming," she whispered and ran toward him. He stepped back as she crashed into him and nearly threw him to the floor. Her bow and weaponry clacked together as she settled against her husband. She leaned back and held his face in her hands, "You found us!"
"I always do," he smiled and kissed her.
Another woman walked through the portal and looked at the diner in awe, "I can't believe it."
"Emma!" Henry yelled and ran from his chair and straight into Emma's legs. She hugged him close and kissed the top of his head. She could feel the tears coming on, but pushed them back. Henry smiled and hugged his mother tighter, "I have missed you so much!"
"Me too, me too," she hugged him back and then looked up to see a whole audience watching the reunion, "What's going on, everybody?"
Snow stood back from Charming and was immediately mowed over by Ruby.
"Snow! Thank Gods!" she hugged her best friend and if she was in wolf form, she would have been wagging her tail.
"Hey Red," Snow chuckled and hugged her best friend back.
The portal flicked a little as two new faces came through and looked at the new surroundings. The woman with dark hair looked at the new faces and noticed how Snow and Emma reacted to them and assumed that they were with friends. Or at least allies. The woman with light brown hair stuck to the other woman's side and her wide eyed stare took in what she could.
"What magic is this?" Mulan asked and gained everyone's attention.
Belle smiled and looked at Rumplestiltskin with a grin. He nodded and pushed her toward them. Belle held out a hand toward the ladies, "Just regular, everyday magic… You are in for quite a shock. Believe me."
The portal then began to shutter and the medium doorway quickly closed on itself.
James looked toward Rumplestiltskin, "Will that happen every time?"
"As I said, this was a trial run," he explained as Belle sat the other two women down in chairs and then took her spot next to him in the booth. He held her hand as she took another sip of her iced tea, "We will have to explore the spell more thoroughly and see if we can get it to last longer, if not a place we can set it up permanently."
"Okay, not to barge into an already surreal moment…" Emma said with one arm still around her son, "What the Hell is going on here?"
"Sit down," James said and gave her another chair along with Snow, "We got a lot to tell you."
"Then I guess we are sharing stories," Snow said as she took the seat next to him, "Because it is not as we remembered."
Over the next two hours both James and Snow traded information. Snow told him of what happened to the kingdoms when the curse went into effect. She told him of the wardrobe and their home and of Cora, of which they had not heard from since. James told her of the new parameters of the curse and what had happened when darker evil had reached Storybrooke. How the evil was gone, at least for the time being, and that the city was starting to rebuild. He also told her that Regina was gone and Henry scooted closer to Emma as he heard the news again.
Emma held her son close and the pointed to Rumplestiltskin, who now had a comfortable arm around the beautiful woman with the scared cheek, "So… Gold's a good guy now?"
"He saved the whole town by sacrificing himself," James said with a smirk as Rumplestiltskin frowned, "Not to mention he saved Ruby, Belle and I."
"Don't make a saint out of a sinner, dearie," he reminded James, but a small smirk escaped his hold.
Belle didn't say anything, but just settled into his side a little closer with a proud smile on her face.
"Well, first thing is first," James said and clapped his hands together, "We need to find a semi-permanent portal to at least the fairy dust mines. If we can get that going, we could probably find a way to get the light magic working and get us all home and out of this curse."
"And then we will rebuild," Snow said proudly, "Everything."
Later that night, Rumplestiltskin and Belle sat by the fire like they had once done in a castle far away. Rumplestiltskin was propped up on pillows, his back to the arm of the couch. His bad leg hung off to the side, propped up on an ottoman as his other lay against the back of the couch. Belle laid back against him and read one of her books out loud to him. He couldn't care less about the story; it was her voice that he really wanted to hear. One arm wrapped around her waist as the other hand combed through her loose hair. Her voice fluctuated with the different characters of the story as she read it to him and he smiled as she dipped her voice as low as it could go. He chuckled softly as her voice became gravelly over time.
She finished the chapter and closed the book.
"Getting tired, dearest?" he asked.
"A little," she said and rubbed her throat, "It's the villain's voice. It's straining."
"You don't have to do a voice, I love yours just as it is," he reminded her.
"Where's the fun in that?" she reach over him and put the book on the side table. She turned over and nuzzled against his chest.
He paused and took the time to run a hand tenderly up and down her back. He put his cheek to the top of her head and closed his eyes in search of the courage that he held earlier that day.
"Your heart is beating faster than a rabbit," she said and turned her head to look up at him. He opened his eyes to look down at her, "What's wrong? You worried about the portal?"
"No, we will be able to get a solid one for them by tomorrow," he reassured her.
"Then what?" she asked and kept her eyes on his.
"I have something for you," he let out.
"Oh?" her eyebrows rose and there was a hint of mischief behind her eyes, "Anything special?"
"I would say so," he nodded with a small smirk, "Close your eyes."
She lifted a brow as if it were a game played between the two of them and then closed her eyes.
Rumplestiltskin leaned over to where his coat was still hanging on the chair next to them and brought out a small velvet box. He pushed himself up from under her and then opened the box, "Open them."
"Rum…" she gasped as her eyes opened. There in the velvet box was a modest ring. The diamond still stood grand in the center, but was flanked by two yellow diamonds on either side. One of her hands went immediately to her mouth to cover the way it was shamelessly flapping.
He chuckled and pulled her face toward his. He looked her in the eyes, "I love you. Marry me… be my light forever?"
Belle pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him for all she was worth. She pulled back after a few moments with tears in her eyes and nodded furiously, "I will always be your light."
He chortled happily, a tiny bit of the imp she used to know still buried in him, always a part of him. He slipped the ring on her ring finger and kissed her again on the lips and then sprinkled her face with kisses, "I love you. Even though I don't deserve you, you are still here with me. How through everything that I have done could you still love me?"
She cuddled closer to him if possible and stroked her hands through his hair, catching the sparkle of her ring through the strands, "Even through all the things you had done… I love you yet."
THE END
A/N: This is the end dearies, I hope you had a great time reading and enjoying this piece. I seem to have totally devoted my time toward redcricket lately and I hope that some, if not the majority of you, will honor me in taking a look at them. If not, no problem. To each their own. Thank you again for joining me on this ride and I hope to hear from you soon. Until next time, dearies!