Disclaimer: Our statuses as a non-owners of Once Upon a Time have not changed since our last update. :P
~Chapter III~
"A matter concerning your son."
Rumplestiltskin froze. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Of all the words she could have thrown at him, she chose the very ones he had been least expecting. For a moment he considered banishing her from his front step with a burst of the magic he had managed to tame. She would not be able to put up much resistance; he could tell from the weak hum of her aura that she had not regained her full powers, yet. He quickly took in her appearance: her face was so pale her brown eyes seemed like two dark holes in her skull, her hands twisting in the hem of her coat, her clothes wrinkled...
The Blue Fairy looked positively shaken, and Rumplestiltskin did not think it was due to his presence.
With the uncomfortable sensation of a pit opening in his gut, he nodded, opening the door enough so that she could slip inside the Victorian home. Once she was inside and the door relocked, Rumplestiltskin busied himself again with his rucksack, if only to distract his hands, which had begun to shake slightly.
"What do you know of him?" Rumplestiltskin asked, his voice raspier than he had expected.
He heard the Blue Fairy inhale a deep breath before answering, "He isn't here."
Rumplestiltskin's rucksack fell to the floor. He heard Belle gasp, but it sounded miles away. That pit in his stomach seemed to have widened to consume half of his heart, so that for a moment he could only stare ahead, paralyzed. Swallowing hard, trying to regain even a semblance of his usual aloof demeanor, he retrieved the rucksack from the floor and turned to face the pixie.
"What do you mean 'he isn't here?' Where is he?" Rumplestiltskin asked, his voice cool but his hands clutching into fists, the knuckles shining white.
"Neverland."
Rumplestiltskin stared at the Blue Fairy for a long moment, before releasing a single, loud note of a mirthless laugh.
"That's impossible. I've read of Neverland; it is a land of magic. There are fairies there. You said the portal would take us to a land without magic." Rumplestiltskin glared at the fairy, his lips twisted into a dark smirk at her weak attempt to trick him.
"Neverland was a land without magic when your son made his wish. I sent the fairies after, to watch over him."
"You sent magic to Neverland, knowing that my curse would transport us to a land without magic?" Rumplestiltskin gritted through clenched teeth.
"Your son needed protection; he was completely alone, in a strange land—"
"You lied." Rumplestiltskin snarled.
"I did what I felt was right at the time." The Blue Fairy responded austerely.
Rumplestiltskin shook his head at her words; he slammed his rucksack on the table, making both the Blue Fairy and Belle jump slightly.
"Tell me, do you not tire of these fiendish tricks?" He hissed angrily, his gaze intense enough to burn.
"I would not have deemed these methods necessary if you had not abandoned your son in the first place!"
Rumplestiltskin flinched as though the Blue Fairy had struck him. Silence fell over the room, and the age-old adversaries looked away from each other. The Blue Fairy watched as Rumplestiltskin leaned against the back of a sofa. He rubbed a hand over his eyes.
"Why reveal this now, after so many years?" It was Belle who broke the silence, approaching Rumplestiltskin to lay a gentle hand on his back. She trained her gaze on the Blue Fairy, her blue eyes neither accusatory nor forgiving.
The Blue Fairy inhaled deeply, wishing her next words were not true.
"I...made a mistake. I did not intend to keep the boy's location secret for so long; I only wanted to wait until Rumplestiltskin had changed, until he was ready to be the father Baelfire needed. But then things started to spiral out of control; the Dark One and the Evil Queen were growing evermore powerful and the danger of the Curse being enacted became a reality."
The Blue Fairy's eyes darted from the pair, begging them to understand that she truly meant no ill. "We do not have much time. Rumplestiltskin, your son is in danger."
Rumplestiltskin's head snapped up, his gaze intense. The little color in his face seemed to vanish. "What do you mean? From what—"
"I do not know from what or whom, only that it is grave and we must act now." The Blue Fairy answered.
Without another word, Rumplestiltskin grabbed the two rucksacks they had packed, handing one to Belle and hoisting his own over his back.
"How do we get there, to Neverland?" Belle asked, tightening the straps of her bag around her shoulders.
"There is a way, but I will need another fairy's magic to help. We'll need to go to the convent."
After taking one last glance about the room to ensure they were not forgetting something, and tucking a long piece of cloth which Belle knew held his dagger in his breast pocket, Rumplestiltskin turned to face the Blue Fairy.
"If this is a trick, I will mount your wings on my wall."
The Blue Fairy ignored his threat, her features twisting as another frigid wave of dread washed over her. They did not have much time.
They walked down the town's deserted streets in silence. Most of the streetlights were unlit, with some of them flickering faintly; the magic Rumplestiltskin had brought to the land seemed at odds with electricity. The Blue Fairy could not say she did not appreciate the added cover of darkness, however. It would not bode well to be interrupted when they had such precious little time to waste. Nevertheless, she looked about frequently at their surroundings, seeking out any potential followers or eavesdroppers. Rumplestiltskin seemed to be doing the same thing as he walked with his arm around the shoulders of the young woman at his side.
As they approached the fairies' humble abode, she could feel Rumplestiltskin trying to draw more magic from the surrounding air. A part of him still expected an ambush. Sighing lightly, the Blue Fairy unlocked the front door, looking back to ensure once again that they were not being followed.
A few solitary candles lit the convent's narrow front hallway. The place was silent save for a soft dripping noise from the leaky faucet in the kitchen, the one Rumplestiltskin had refused to have fixed when he was just their irritable landlord. Discarding her coat on an old worn armchair, the Blue Fairy turned to face the pair. Rumplestiltskin's eyes were scanning the walls; given his infamous enmity toward the Queen, the Blue Fairy guessed he was searching for any uncovered mirrors.
"If you'd like, there are some donated clothes...You can find something more comfortable?" she suggested, her eyes taking in Belle's borrowed outfit. She reached a hand out toward the young woman, who nodded gratefully.
"Belle is not leaving my side," Rumplestiltskin gritted, his eyes glaring at the Blue Fairy suspiciously.
"It's all right, Rum. I'll just be in the other room," Belle said quietly, giving his hand a comforting squeeze before following the Blue Fairy into an adjoining room.
A moment later the Blue Fairy returned, a steely look in her eyes. "There is another matter I need to discuss with you."
Rumplestiltskin stared intently but did not say anything, allowing her to continue.
"Neverland has an even more delicate balance of natural laws than this land. I will not have you disrupt it with magic," the Blue Fairy cautioned, her tone austere.
"I am not leaving here without it."
The Blue Fairy took a deep, calming breath before continuing. "I did not say you could not bring magic, Rumplestiltskin. Your curse is strong enough that it will persist in either world, even if I do not want it to. You will maintain the little magic you have managed to harness here. But, you will not use it."
"Not happening," Rumplestiltskin clipped; the chance that they would come across obstacles in this new land that would require magic to overcome was great, and he was not keen on harming their odds when his son's life was at stake.
The Blue Fairy sighed; she had truly hoped it would not come down to this.
"How about a deal, then?"
A/N: Ooh, doth mine eyes detect a slight cliffhanger? Also, just so you know, we do not think the Blue Fairy is a bad person. We just think that when doing what (the Blue Fairy believes) is right conflicts with the preservation of others' happiness, she chooses the former.
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