Once Upon a Time
The boy that Zoso sat across from wasn't his first choice in who he wanted to handle this sudden Dagian wanting to return to her husband problem but he was going to to have to do.
Anyone else on this side of the Enchanted Forest would traumatize the woman beyond any future use. He couldn't afford that. She might be useful in the future to him and he didn't want a bunch of psychopathic pirates to ruin that for him
The man he sat across from…or more like the boy…was arrogant. That was a nice way of putting it. When he was approached and Killian Jones had figured out who he was and he'd averted his gaze out of a slight intimidation. But now that Jones realized he wasn't there to hurt him, he stared back at Zoso with the same bold intensity that he had shown everyone else.
"I'm not much for the idea of having a woman on my ship," Jones said and drank from the cup, "Well…I might enjoy her company but my men think its bad luck to have a woman on board. They're quite superstitious.'
Zoso fought the urge to kill him right there, "I'm offering you more money than you've ever seen to take care of this woman."
"To care for or…," he grinned lewdly, "To care for."
Frankly, Zoso wouldn't care what the pirated did to her under normal circumstances, but if he was going to use her then she couldn't be tied down to any man or children that might come out of said union.
The reason he picked Jones was because Jones wouldn't touch her unless she returned his favor. Most pirates here took women willing or not and then threw them away when they were bored. And while Jones did mostly the same thing, at least he viewed his woman of the week (If that long) as a challenge if she refused him. He viewed it as a chase and a conquest.
But he also knew that Dagian wouldn't give in to him. She was far too hung up on what honor she had left to even think about letting the pirate have her. She hadn't been with her true love Filib because of the uniform he wore, a bloodthirsty pirate was even less likely for any comfort she might need.
The pirate drank from his pint and set it down, "I take your silence to mean that I'm not to have her then."
"I think it would be the best for all parties that you keep your hands to yourself if she doesn't ask for it."
And even if she does, keep your hands to yourself.
Gods knew where he'd been.
Jones looked at him thoughtfully, "She's going to have to pull her own weight on the crew then."
"I don't care if she works," Zoso snapped, growing irritated with the boy, "Just that you keep her intact, not traumatimzed, and on your ship."
"You're asking a lot, keeping a woman not to be traumatized on a pirate ship," Jones challenged, "I am a man of some honor, but I am no magician."
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Zoso growled, "Because when she steps off that boat, the Dark One will make sure that you'll regret being born."
Zoso watched the blood drain from his face and he left in a cloud of purple smoke. He'd just cursed the boy. In the small chance that Killian Jones DID live long enough to meet the dark version of Rumpelstiltskin then he was most likely going to be tortured for his part in this.
There would be no winning for Killian Jones.
And Zoso couldn't really say he felt sympathy for him.
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When Rumpelstiltskin heard someone pounding on his door, the sun hadn't even broken over the horizon yet.
And he was quite certain that he'd gotten Bae settled down finally. The boy had been ill from the changing temperature and he had a cough that wasn't fading. Rumpelstiltskin had heated up the cabin and water to try and get some steam but he wasn't sure if it had worked or not.
He had just spent the night praying that the gods wouldn't take his son away. What did he have left then? What did he have to live for if his son was dead?
The pounding at the door snapped him out of his thoughts and he sat up, his heart started to race. What if it was the recruiters? What if they were going to take him away again? They had said that since no one was there to care for the boy and he was now crippled, that they'd leave him alone even though he deserted but…what if they had changed their minds?
His legs were shaking when he pulled himself to a standing position and he leaned heavily on his walking stick to get to the door. The cold wasn't just affecting his son. He was still having trouble with his hip and knee and some days he could barely walk on it. It was a constant fear he had that his leg was going to give out while he was holding his son.
The door felt heavier than it normally did when he opened it. He was almost scared to look up but when he did he felt his blood drain away from his face when he saw the recruiter.
The light from a nearby torch flickered briefly and he saw that it was Dagian's recruiter.
The man's shoulders were hunched over with exhaustion and he was panting as if he'd run here. There was a horse over by the trough that he could see was also shaking.
By right Rumpelstiltskin should hate the man. Even though he was certain that nothing had happened between the two while Rumpelstiltskin was away at war, the idea of this man seeing his wife and taking an interest in her was something that had always left a bad taste in his mouth. However, he knew that Filib wasn't the reason Dagian had left. It was his own failure to keep her safe and secure. He had known that she'd been the victim of verbal abuse because of what he'd done. She was guilty by associating with him, but she'd managed to hold her head high.
Once he'd been watching in the shadows when someone came up and spit in her face. He should've stood up for her, he should've forced the man to apologize but he knew that he never would've been able to do it. And he couldn't face Dagian's shame when she would inevitably help him out of the dirt and into the house to clean him up.
So he said nothing and watched his wife suffer.
Perhaps she was right to leave him. He was a coward. He'd been too scared to leave because they would've used that excuse to recruit him again. Or the nearby villagers would've heard his name and killed him because he hadn't stayed to fight on the battlefields. The only reason they hadn't done so in this village was because he had managed to help bring in a harvest that autumn that got them by. They would've starved without him.
He didn't even remember doing a lot of the work. He remembered pain. A lot of pain because his leg never healed properly and he remembered not talking for hours to days at a time. He remembered his wife sitting dutifully next to him at the spinning wheel. Giving him enough space so that he didn't have to talk about it until he was ready but close enough to comfort him form what he saw when he needed it.
Much like he had done for her when he'd found her after the Ogre's slaughtered her family.
Filib's stature was burdened, but he seemed to grow more weighted when he looked behind Rumpelstiltskin, "I was praying the entire time that she would be here."
She hadn't been here in a year.
Rumpelstiltskin should've slammed the door in his face. It was his right. This man had fancied his wife. He had come into Rumpelstiltskin's home multiple times while he was away.
But Filib had also made sure the village functioned as well. He brought food to them when the men and women were away. He made sure Dagian functioned and Baelfire grew strong.
He had tried to take his wife but he also ensured the birth of his son.
And he really looked like he needed to get inside.
Wordlessly Rumpelstiltskin opened the door and let him in.
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"They didn't tell me where the ship was headed or who was captain of it," Filib told him when Rumpelstiltskin served him a cup of warm tea, "All I was told was that there was a scuffle at the market and pirates were involved."
"You think they took Dagian?" Rumpelstiltskin asked. He knew it was going to be too good to be true. His wife…she had been willing to come home. To make it right.
Would he take her back?
The idea to refuse her almost sounded pleasing. Why should he let her back home after she realized that living out there by herself was too hard? Was he supposed to be something to fall back on for her whenever she wanted to come back? Would he be that gullible and weak to allow her back near their son after what she pulled?
Taking her back may seem like the wrong message, but he desperately wanted her back as well. Even after her leaving, he still had hoped she would return. He wanted them to be a family. She had remained by his side through so much, and he would find a way to reward her for it. He'd make her happy…he'd find a way. He'd leave if she wanted to. He'd pack the baby and all that he could carry and he'd leave with her…
If she'd been here….
"I don't know," Filib said, "I don't know what they would want with her, she's not young enough for what most pirates desire-."
The blunt way he said it made the blood drain from Rumpelstiltskin's face. His wife might be…
"What are we going to do?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.
Filib looked at him, "If I found her…if I found out that pirates had her and she just didn't run off when the scuffle started and gotten lost…if I brought her home, would you take her back? Would you at least forgive her?"
"Yes," Came Rumpelstiltskin automatic response. He didn't answer which one he'd said yes to. IT was too good to be true. He wanted to make sure that she was at least sorry for what she'd done and wasn't trying to find a way to live slightly easier. He doubted she would pull that though.
"Alright," Filib stood, "I have a friend that has a small navy waiting for me, I'm going to set sail and make inquiries."
"I want to go with you," Rumpelstiltskin said.
Filib looked at him, "If you didn't have your son, I would allow it but the seas are no place for a baby."
And no place for a cripple either. But Filib hadn't said that.
"When I'm certain that she's safe," he said, "I'll bring her home. I'm going east, so if she manages to find her way here and I was wrong about the pirates then you can send a message to me on any of the main coastal towns."
Filib thanked him for the tea and stood to leave.
"Have you done anything with my wife?" Rumpelstiltskin asked before he opened the door. He was surprised that he found the courage to do so but the question had come out before he could think.
Filib turned, "Would it affect your forgiving her or letting her back home if we had?"
"No," Rumpelstiltskin said but he wasn't sure if he meant it, "But I'd like to know anyway."
Filib hesitated and looked as if he were searching for the right thing to say, "She never let me touch her. She loves you too much."
The answer stunned Rumpelstiltskin and he was only barely aware of the door opening and closing.
He looked down at the cradle next to the table. He'd moved Bae's bed next to his. The boy had settled back down into a fitful sleep when Rumpelstiltskin had thrown another log on the fire.
Baelfire's mother would be coming back home.
Rumpelstiltskin fell on his knees beside his boy's cradle and thanked whatever gods had heard his prayers.
He was going to see his wife again.
Rumpelstiltskin smiled at his son, "You won't even remember her being gone, son."
Something caught the light in the chair and he looked over to see that Filib had left some coins on the arm of the chair where Rumpelstiltskin hadn't seen it.
His father had taught him never to accept charity, but when one was the town coward, one learned to look for help from wherever it came."
It was going to be enough to buy Bae's medicine.
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Present Day
Rumpelstiltskin didn't look up from his plate…in fact he didn't exactly try to eat either. He just kept pushing the chicken and dumplings around with his fork.
He'd lost Belle.
Dagian sat across from him, as silent as ever. He appreciated the silence; Dawn would've insisted they talk about it. Dagian understood him a bit better. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten Dagian's ability to be silent but there for him when he was creating Dawn's personality in the Enchanted Realms.
But then again, Dawn wasn't supposed to be someone that he could lean on.
It'd been a miserable day. If he'd just been honest with her. If he'd just told her about Bae and why he brought magic in…if he'd just done that then they might've prevented all this; everything with her father, to Smee, to the mine cart…to trusting CHARMING of all people…
But he couldn't trust Belle. He still viewed her like he viewed everyone else. Like…if he did trust her about Bae then she'd get what she wanted and she'd try to hurt him or betray him.
Belle wasn't like that, he knew that deep down but that fear still existed. And why shouldn't it? Humans kept trying to betray him for centuries. Even his own wife and found a loophole so that she wouldn't have to be with him those 400 years they lived in the Enchanted Forest.
Belle wasn't like all the others, and he knew that he couldn't treat her like all the others either.
He didn't want to lose her. He loved her. She didn't see him as a monster but a man who was very much in need of someone to understand and love him.
But he had to give her something in return and he hadn't and now he was alone.
And that wasn't even the development in what he'd discovered that he was now dreading.
"Dagian, we need to talk."
She looked up from her meal. She had a flush to her cheeks. He would ask what her happiness was about but he'd received the same news she had.
Lily could come home in a week. He'd been so wrapped up in trying to find Belle that he never heard his phone ringing but when he got around to calling back on the way home; he'd received the exciting news.
And it filled him with dread as well.
If the baby coming home hadn't excited her then Rumpelstiltskin imagined that the hatter who lived on the hill had given her that sparkle in her eye. He'd heard about how they'd walked down the street holding hands. He di9dn't trust the man, he didn't like how it seemed Dagian and he shared a secret that Rumpelstiltskin didn't know about but Rumpelstiltskin wasn't about to tell her who she couldn't and who she could see. He wasn't going to be THAT sort of an ex.
But he'd keep a close eye on Jefferson. Whoever Dagian chose to see was a potential step-father for his daughter and he felt that he should definitely be included in THAT discussion.
He decided to go with the easy one first, "I'm going to tell Belle about Baelfire."
Dagian continued to watch him, "I thought you already had."
He looked down and continued pushing his food around, "Never was the best choice for a partner, was I?"
She sighed, "Rumpelstiltskin-."
He raised his hand, "No...it's…I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have come here, I shouldn't have bothered you but I did come to see you for something important."
She waited and he felt like his throat had become dry of a sudden, "Hook is alive, Dagian."
He watched her face crumble and her eyes filled with tears, "How?!"
"I don't know, I'm leaving the man who's supposed to tell me in the dark for a couple of days until he tells me."
That would've scared Belle. It didn't scare Dagian and Dagian's acceptance of what 'had to be done' worried him sometimes. She had only tried to stop him a few times because she accepted that she could do nothing and even if she could, they were trying to get to Bae anyway, so why not?
They'd corrupted each other.
"He went to Neverland, time never touched him"
"And he's here?" she asked with panic in her voice.
"No," he said, "No, I-I…I don't think so."
Dagian put her head in her hands, "I can't remember what happened and you're telling me that he could be here?"
He watched her nearly go into hyperventilations, "If he were here, then he would've made himself known by now."
"Then where is he?" she demanded.
"I don't know."
She watched him, "Do you think that he could be back home?"
He shrugged; he'd never lied to Dagian. Not really. He'd told her that the Fairy Tale world may or may not exist because the texts always differed. He just hadn't told her that more of those texts said that they could go back than they said that they couldn't.
It wasn't a lie.
"I'll protect you and the baby-," he started. To be honest, if Hook did find a way here, Rumpelstiltskin doubted he'd be as interested in Dagian as he would be killing Rumpelstiltskin.
But still, he didn't want that man near his ex-wife again.
Dagian didn't seem to believe him and stood up in exasperation.
He put his head in his hands; maybe it was good timing that he lost Belle when he did. The last thing he wanted was for that…man…to come after her too.
Dagian went to stand by the window; Rumpelstiltskin grabbed his cane and pulled himself up. He crossed the room and took her hand, "Ask the hatter to teach you how to protect yourself; I can give you a gun just in case-."
He put his hand on the side of her face; Dagian leaned into the gesture momentarily comforted.
"Please stay here with me tonight," she whispered.
He immediately frowned, "Dagian, I don't think that would be wise"
She opened her eyes and scowled at him, "I don't want anything to happen, Rumpelstiltskin. I just…I don't want to be alone in the house with the nightmares being what they are."
He considered it; he knew that with Belle in town, they were both a lot less willing to give into temptation. Even after the divorce, Dagian had been reluctant to let him even spend the night after the baby came. She feared giving into that unhealthy codependence that she seemed to share.
And here they were again. She was scared and she wanted to feel safe. She just wanted him to be there. She wanted some comfort and she went to seek it with him because she knew he would be there.
Just like he had gone to her for comfort tonight after what happened with Belle. Their dependence was still there…it was just far less of it.
"I'll sleep on the couch," He offered.
Dagian smiled slightly at him and wiped a tear away, "I'll get you a pillow and blankets.
"We can't' get in the habit of this," he told her.
"I know," she told him, "IT's just for tonight."
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Once Upon A Time
When Dagian woke up, she was aware with growing fear that she couldn't see or breathe.
At first she thought that she'd forgotten to light a fire and had worked so hard that she'd fallen asleep at the laundry tub during the night. The ache in her neck and shoulders and back were something that she was used to.
It was only when she tried to move her arms that she remembered what happened and she started struggling.
She heard footsteps in front of her and a black bag was lifted off her head. Dagian drew in her first breath and then closed her eyes as her stomach rolled. It took a few seconds to realize that the floor was moving under her.
What was this?
But that wasn't her main concern, her main concern was that she was in a small closet with a shelf for a bed…if it could even be called that. She saw through the dim light of a dirty lantern that she was tied with her arms behind her back to a column, which was where the ache in her upper body was coming from.
And the same man…pirate, she was still guessing was standing in the doorway with the bag in his hand, watching her for a reaction.
When she didn't give him one, he moved towards her. That got Dagian's heart to racing and her stomach clenched with terror. She pressed herself against the column as closely as she possibly could, "Please…don't hurt me. Please don't…"
He flashed a vicious handsome smile and touched her hair, "What do you think that I'm going to do?"
At his touch, she felt something like a jolt shoot through her spine and she jerked her head away as far as it would go, "Don't TOUCH me," she spat and pulled away.
He seemed amused and held up the cord that she wore around her neck that held her wedding ring. Dagian tensed and paled and just felt all the more exposed as he admired it, "The man that you travelled with isn't your husband. But keep the wedding ring which means that it's sentimental to you, is your husband still alive?"
She looked away, the last thing she wanted to do was give any information about her family away to him.
Her silence seemed to be exactly what he needed for an answer, "Oh, so he is…did you leave you? Perhaps you keep the ring to remind yourself of what you had? Maybe before he took up with another woman perhaps…"
Dagian kept her eyes downcast. She worried that if she looked up then he'd know.
"Oh, perhaps you left him."
She didn't move.
She heard him sigh, as if her refusal to talk about her family was tedious, "Did he love you at least? Or did you love him? Because I have to be honest if you were my wife and I was some farmer I wouldn't let you go to the market by yourself here, love. Don't you know that pirates dock there?"
She felt like she was going to be ill. The floor moved under her and she clenched her eyes shut to avoid what she had of dinner coming up. Hook seemed to notice her discomfort. He tilted her face towards his "You're quite pale. Never been on the sea before, I take it?"
Her mind still felt scrambled, why didn't she guess that she was on a boat? "I suppose my nervous stomach has more to do with my eventual fate more so than whether or not I've gotten my sea legs."
"Well fortunately for you, the man that hired us to keep you here said I can do anything I want with you except for things that would result in you ending up in the family way."
His 'reassurance' somehow made her feel even more ill, as if somehow that was the only thing keeping her safe. But she wouldn't think about that, it was time to ask her own questions, "Who hired you to keep me here?"
"I don't know his name, he wouldn't tell me, but you're important to someone."
"How long am I here?"
"Well, until the payments stop I imagine. Hopefully that won't be for a very long while," He held down and held a canteen to her lips, her throat was dry and aching so she moved towards it. He pulled the canteen from her for an instant, "Do not bite me again."
She wondered about that. She didn't remember it unfortunately but that didn't mean she hadn't attacked.
Dagian drank it greedily and coughed when he pulled it away. She studied him for the first time since she got here; he was handsome and from the confidant gleam in his eye meant that he was well aware of the fact.
She decided to try to be civil for now at least. If she was civil then it meant that he might trust her, and if he trusted her then she could escape, "Thank you."
"You'll feel better in a couple of days," he put a bucket in front of her and pulled out a knife.
Dagian doubted that statement.
He cut her ropes free and her shoulders ached when she put her arms at her sides. She wondered how long he'd kept her down here.
"There's a lock on your door," He told her, "It's for your protection, I advise you use it. Your room connects directly with mine but I imagine that some will try to come down here seeing as you're the only woman on the ship."
He watched her shudder before he continued, "The monthly payment they get to keep their hands off you will be ignored by a couple and I have neither the time nor resources to keep you protected constantly. If you want to be untouched on this ship then you're going to have to learn to protect yourself. However, considering one of my men has a broken nose and the other was left behind because he couldn't walk thanks to your struggle in the marketplace…I doubt that'll be a problem."
She wondered if he was warning her to protect herself against him as well, "My room is connected to yours?"
"They believe that I've picked you for myself, which means that you and I may have to share a bed sometimes. Quite a tempting thought but alas I like to believe I'm an honorable man and my agreements are…usually honored."
That wasn't an inviting thought.
He turned on his heel, "Feel free to come on deck when you get your sea legs. While we're at sea you may go out but at the first sign of you running away then you're coming back down here. Don't test me on that dear, the last thing I want to do is rob you completely of your freedoms."
Too late for that.
He opened the door and she saw a much grander room that served as his quarters. It was a stark contrast to the flat cot and threadbare blanket but she supposed that was intentional. It wouldn't matter to her though. She'd slept on worse and she swore to herself right there that she would never share this man's bed.
He hesitated, "I'm getting paid more gold than anyone's ever paid me willingly to keep you locked away on this boat. That apparently makes you important to someone potentially powerful and therefore a possible threat to my crew. I certainly hope you're worth it."
He shut the door and Dagian immediately lost what little food she had in her stomach to the bucket he left her.
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Present Day
Everything from the rocking in the boat to the bile in her mouth felt so real when Dagian awakened that it took her a few seconds to remember which the memory was and which reality was.
Dagian closed her eyes as tightly as she could and turned on the light so that she wasn't blinded.
She didn't want to be in here. That chair that sat empty was too much of a reminder of the waking nightmare and she was terrified that if she closed her eyes and opened them again then she'd return to that nightmare and have that pirate sitting in the chair across from her.
Taunting her.
She threw the comforter back and climbed out of bed. The hardwood floor was cold when her bare feet touched them.
She was just going to go check on Rumpelstiltskin. Seeing him here would settle her down. It was only a dream.
A dream couldn't hurt her.
But he told her that Hook was alive.
She opened the door and the light from her bedroom lamp brightened the hallway. She'd put a couch there for decoration but Rumpelstiltskin had taken it for his bed.
Dagian had thought he'd meant to take the couch the living room but he was worried that she'd hurt herself with the nightmares again and so he'd taken up residence on this one even though it was horribly uncomfortable.
He lifted his head as soon as the light hit him, and he blinked blearily at her, "Dagian? Are you alright?"
She shook her head, "No."
"Memory?"
She nodded and walked over to sit with him. Rumpelstiltskin pulled her back against his chest so that they could share the couch.
He wouldn't ask her to talk about it. He knew that she'd tell him if she thought it was important for him to know.
"Go back to sleep," Rumpelstiltskin told her, "Just try to get some rest."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" she whispered. The door to her room shut a bit when the air conditioner kicked up, only leaving a small sliver of light to illuminate the hall.
"I wish I had," he told her with some hesitation, "But what would it have changed? I was the dark one when I found you again. What good would it have done for you to know that you still wanted me once? You didn't want me by the time we met again, and I think that was what mattered."
She heard the sadness in his voice at the missed opportunities that they both shared. Dagian slipped her hands in his. Dagian wasn't…angry that he hadn't told her. She really sort of understood. But at the same time they were her memories and she wished that they had remained with her.
"What would it have changed?" she asked, "I might have spent years hating myself a little less."
Rumpelstiltskin was silent but he held her. Dagian felt nothing like she'd used to when he held her like this. The spark they used to share was gone but Dagian still felt safe.
And even though it was fitful, Dagian let herself fall asleep in her ex-husband's embrace.