Thank you: Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape, Alexander Ripley, FortunesFavour, Stargate533, Monica Kyler, PrincessTiannah, gnomelock, Pomc, Littletartine, Grace5231973, thedoctorsgirl42, imaginationtrain, Akira079, maizeblue7, StalkingRory, Christinesoperaghost, AliceLacie, vanillaface, AshRedDragon, jjxox8d.

I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 44- Day 38 – True Love Kiss

"Wake up! Rumpelstiltskin, wake up!"

Brown eyes opened shot followed by a deep gasp. Rumpelstiltskin sat up sweating and panting. It had been her. It had been his little sister's voice. And she sounded urgent. He blinked several times, his breathing slowly calming down. He recognized the room as the one he would wake up after a night of spinning. He blinked again and took one last deep breath. I'm still alive.

He was supporting his weight with his arms, which were shaking. He still could sense her. He knew for sure Angie was in this room. His eyes searched for her desperately. Her presence had never been this strong and still, he could not see her.

"Angie?" He asked with a meek voice. There was of course no answer. There was never an answer. And so, the ghost of his sister slowly faded away leaving him in tears and with an empty heart. After all these years, it still felt like she died yesterday. The pain never ceased to exist. The only difference was he had learned to live with it, just like he had endured the throbbing of his damaged leg for many years.

Rumpelstiltskin looked around. This time the Huntsman wasn't in the room to cheer him up, but he had left a tray with food. With trembling fingers, the spinner ate almost too voraciously, his body imploring for some food. He was almost finished when a white butterfly flew in his direction and landed on the board of his plate. Rumpelstiltskin stared curiously at the little insect flying away after a while. He automatically followed it with his eyes. The white butterfly flew towards the door and landed on the door knuckle. The spinner frowned, having the strange feeling the insect was trying to communicate with him. But then he shook his head, thinking it was ridiculous. He had been too surrounded by magic and now he was seeing it everywhere. To his surprise, the butterfly flew again, this time to him and landed on his hand. Rumpelstiltskin watched it open and close its fragile wings several times, before it flew again to the door. This time the spinner followed it hastily. He was sure the insect was trying to tell him something.

He opened the door and to his surprise, no guard was to be seen near it. Actually, as he slowly followed the little white dot, there was nobody to be found in the castle's corridors. Something surely must have happened, but he wasn't going to try to find out. His instinct told him he had to follow the butterfly, which flew away faster and faster. It came by a stone stairway and flew upwards. Rumpelstiltskin had the urge to give up when he saw how high these stairs went. Fortunately, his leg was better otherwise he would never had accepted the insect's challenge. He climbed fast, taking sometimes two steps at the time. He was panting of exhaustion when he reached the top, bending slightly with his hands resting on his legs. Then the white butterfly flew just on front of his nose and flattered its wings opposite a large wooden door.

Rumpelstiltskin opened it, needing to use the weight of his body for it was quite heavy. The butterfly entered the division and disappeared in the shadows. The spinner took a moment to adjust his eyes to the darkness. The scarce light that entered through a window denounced it would be night quite soon. He saw the butterfly flying past it and he came closer. It was when he noticed a white statue standing opposite the window. His heart started beating faster, as the stone's color became very familiar to him. He came closer, so he could see the face of the victim, which was illuminated by the day's last sunrays. He suppressed a scream of agony and his limbs almost gave away. On front of him stood Belle, transformed into a statue of alabaster, staring back at him with an alarmed expression.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no!" He weakly muttered as he approached the cursed princess. He could feel already the hot tears escape his eyes. With trembling fingers, he cupped her cold face on his hands. He looked at her heartbroken and a sob was released.

"I am so sorry!"

He watched to his sadness the shadows slowly engulf her. Shaking from head to toes, he closed his eyes, letting the tears cascade freely and pressed his lips on her cold ones. He separated himself from her with a painful sob and looked at Belle with a lost expression. The sun light slowly vanished and her face was now only illuminated by the fire of the torches. He blinked several times. Small dust particles were clearing off her face. Belle gasped for air and Rumpelstiltskin watched marveled as the powder slowly vanished downwards until she was completely flesh and blood again. He took some hesitant steps towards her, like he was afraid Belle would disappear and pressed his fingers around her arm.

"You're alive!" His voice was a whisper of surprise, a new happiness playing in his eyes. Belle stared confused at him. The last things he saw was Gaston dying and Maleficent blowing some kind of magical powder to her face. Suddenly it was Rumpelstiltskin standing opposite her, with tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" She still couldn't quite believe it was him, even less understand how he appeared out of nothing. The spinner smiled widely and nodded. Belle felt a lump in her throat and said the one thing she had wanted to tell him for so long. "I love you!" At this, both came closer and engulfed themselves in a tight embrace, never feeling happier before.

"Yes, yes. And I love you." Belle smiled at the confession and held him closer. She needed to feel him, to breathe him. She had missed him for too long.

"I'm sorry! I was unfair. I should have told you before, I wanted to but…" Rumpelstiltskin put a finger on her lips to softly silence her.

"Shhh. We were both fools. But we are together again." He whispered, his love irradiating in his voice, eyes and smile.

"Promise me we'll stay together." It felt like a plea. It was a plea. Rumpelstiltskin looked pained at her.

"I promise."

At this he crushed his lips on hers, desperate to feel her close to him. Belle put her arms gently around him and welcomed the felling she desired for so long. He departed his lips from her, just to look at her eyes. Another soft kiss followed and another. After a while Belle could feel by the pressing of his lips, he wanted to enter her mouth and she allowed his tongue willingly. Belle was never kissed like this before. They kissed for a long while, relishing the feeling of warmth, of their tastes, of their love. They had to depart again to catch some air. Their eyes met for a fraction of seconds, all the love imprinted in them. Belle rested her head softly on Rumpelstilstin's shoulder and they remained like this for a little while.

"Belle, who did this to you?" Rumpelstilstkin broke their idyllic silence. He was suddenly reminded of the place they were in.

"Maleficent." Belle told with a shiver. "She said only true love kiss could save me."She said lovingly, but frowned when his smile faltered quite quickly.

"We have to get out of here." He sounded urgent. "This is Queen Regina's castle." Belle stared confused at him. First, why was she in Regina's castle? Second, how did Rumpelstilskin get here?

"What? How?"

"There will be time for this. There will be time for everything. But first, we have to get out of here. Come." He took her hand on his and walked to the door. Belle gasped when she saw him walking perfectly well.

"Rumpel! Your leg!"

"Oh yes, that. It was the Queen. She healed me. But she's mad as a March hare." He spoke almost casually, never stopping his pace. A bad feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach. Maleficent and Regina were on this together. There had to be more to this story than only the invasion of Armithil. And then there was the fact he couldn't encounter a single guard in the castle (not that he wanted to).

"But how did you get here?" Belle asked, still too confused and frustrated with the many questions that were burning in her head. Not to mention now that Rumpelstiltskin's leg was better, he had become quite fast.

"The Queen was travelling through Kriemont and cursed everybody in it." He turned around to face Belle. "She used the same curse Maleficent used on you. She turned everybody into stone." He restarted their descent and once they reached the ground level he started strolling along the corridors, dragging a more and more confused Belle behind him. "She made me spin straw into gold for three nights. Last night was the third, so the curse must have been lifted. We need to get to Kriemont as fast as possible."

"Wait!"

"No, there's not time."

"No, Rumpelstiltskin, wait!" The spinner halted and looked at Belle in a mix of bewilderment and worry. "I remember…the old man. In Dixterren. The one who bought all your wool."

"Oh yeah. That weird old man. Yes, I remember him. What about him?"

"You don't remember? He said he would bet you could turn straw into gold!" Rumplestiltskin stared perplexed at Belle as the memory returned.

"Gods. That's true… Must be coincidence. Come on. We should hurry." Rumpelstiltskin was starting to worry more and more. It was like picking fragments of information and he wasn't being able to see the whole picture.

"How can you be so sure it's coincidence? Don't you think it's strange?" Rumpelstiltskin halted again and faced Belle.

"Yes. I think it's very strange. But right now we are in danger! I don't think you are in Regina's castle for nothing. It was probably to make sure the curse wouldn't be lifted. Now that the curse is broken, it means, whatever plans Maleficent and Regina had, they are ruined. And if Regina is true to her words, my son and my family and everybody else in Kriemont were freed from the curse this morning. And if she finds out I broke your curse and ruined her and Maleficent's plans, I'm afraid they'll do more than just kill me! I cannot put anybody's life in jeopardy. Especially yours and Bae's. So please, just hurry up!"

Belle's eyes widened at Rumpelstiltskin's train of thoughts and this time obeyed fully. They ran as fast as they could along the empty corridors, only illuminated by torches. Suddenly they halted with a gasp. There were two guards lying on the floor, probably dead. Footsteps were heard behind the corner. Spinner and princess held their breaths. A guard appeared with a bow and arrow pointed at them but quickly put them down.

"It's you!" Rumpelstiltskin managed to say.

"Gods, what…how…nevermind!" The Huntsman looked shocked at Belle. How in hell was her curse lifted and how had the spinner found her? "You must flee. I just let a prisoner escape, so you must get yourselves out of here as quickly as possible. Go that direction and you'll reach the courtyard. After that, run to the forest. I'll cover up for you."

"Thank you Huntsman. For everything." Rumpelstiltskin said.

"My pleasure. Just make sure this war comes to an end." He gestured to Belle. The Huntsman watched them run as fast as they could. He himself, made sure he reached the first floor before they would cross the courtyard. Any guard in that area who threatened their escape was killed by a skilled arrow.

Rumpelstiltskin and Belle ran under the castle's open port and entered the forest. The spinner only stopped shortly to search for the Blue star. Once he found it and had the needed orientation, he restarted their run. They ran and ran for what seemed an eternity, a new adrenaline burning in their veins. At a certain point Belle begged to stop, feeling her chest wanting to explode. Rumpelstiltskin consented, feeling himself quite worn out too. He embraced Belle, holding her close to his chest, listening as her fastened breathing became more regular. Belle rested he head softly on his chest. She could hear his heart pumping too fast. She knew he was desperate to reach his home. Desperate to find out if Baelfire was safe.

"Is it still far?" She asked.

"It's some kilometers. If we are fast, we might reach the village just before dawn."

"Then we should be going." Belle said decisively. Rumpelstiltskin smiled and nodded, placing a gentle kiss on her head. He took her hand again and, with the guidance of the torch's light, they made their way to Kriemont.

There you go! You may sleep in peace tonight. Rumbelle is back.

Please review :)