Final chapter!

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Chapter 70: Happily Ever After

It had been a long day. A pleasant day. A day where all the past lies, treacheries and pains were buried away. A day where new understandings, new bonds and new love were born. Snow and Regina spent practically the whole day together, chatting for endless hours. They talked about Regina's wrongs in the past. About their secret wish for love, family and union.

It was, for Regina, a day for the healing of the soul. A day that represented a new start. During diner, Snow White presented Regina to her family and friends as the Guest of Honor, the young princess eager to compensate the lost years. But the Queen could see the disapproving and suspicious looks that some people gave her. Yet they had allowed and tolerated her presence, a token of their love and respect for Snow White.

Even so, Regina could understand them. She could not blame them for being cautious. It had been a radical change in her heart and even she had to get used to her new self. Or was it her old self? She understood the guarded hostility and knew within time, she would win their trust. She truly wanted to redeem herself. She had secretly wished for it before, but this time she had the full support of Snow White. And some other unexpected characters. She smiled at the thought. Not a smirk or a grin, but a real smile. A warm and sincere one. A smile coming from her heart.

Later that evening, Regina wandered alone in the courtyard where not so many hours ago, she almost lost her life. She walked to the pole, the spot where she lived her change of heart. Where she asked for forgiveness and received it.

"When the Seer told me the key for the destruction of Maleficent and Regina's downfall, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I expected a death, it's all rather disappointing." Regina startled as a high-pitched male voice was heard behind of her. Fear, anger and disgust took hold of her. If this person thought he could ruin her life, her choices, he was wrong. She turned around, looking dignified and unafraid."

"What is it you want, Zozo?" Regina asked with a racing heart.

"What do I want? Why do people always think I want something?" Zozo mockingly said. "I came here to congratulate you. I applaud for your accomplishment. It's not every day that an evil soul gains the courage to admit its flaws, regret them sincerely and beg for forgiveness. It's nice to see you still have a heart." The Dark One spoke eloquently and Regina stared at him in surprise. "I also came here to warn you. You stay out of my way. Especially from a certain dagger." The menace was all present in his voice, his eyes shrunk and mean. "You try and trick me again and I will make you watch me torture your little princess to death before I kill you."

"Do not worry, Dark One. I'm retiring from magic. From Dark Magic." Regina said confident. She knew it would be a hard thing to do. She knew she was addicted to magic and would have her moments of weakness. But she and Snow had already spoken about it and she had the princess' full support. Zozo snorted amused, clearly not believing her words, knowing as well as she did, that she very much loved magic.

"Well, I must admit I'm glad things turned out like this." The Dark One chose to let the matter fall. Should she ever bother him with anything, he had easy solutions. After all, she had weaknesses now. Her heart stood in the way. As it always did. "You always were my favorite pupil." And with these words he courteously bowed before disappearing in a puff of scarlet smoke. Regina remained a while at the courtyard, the Dark One's words still echoing her mind and wondering to what extent they were true. One thing she knew for sure. She didn't intend to play dangerous games with him anymore.

"So, I heard you and the wolf-girl had a date…How did it go?" Rumpelstitlskin mischievously asked his best friend while they sat on one of the castle's walls, staring at the surrounding beautiful landscape.

"It went well. Was fun." Bram said with a smile. "The girl actually eats more than me!"

"And…did you?" Curiosity was all present in the spinner's voice.

"No. She's very insecure. Maybe even shy. We didn't even kiss. I wanted to, but I had the feeling she wasn't ready yet." Bram confessed.

"Well, well. Who would expect? There seems to be a gentleman hidden somewhere under that pile of roughness."

"Very funny, spinner!"

"Oh, no, no, no. My Lord. I'm a prince now!" He teased with a flamboyant gesture and both man laughed hard, like they always did when they were together. "But seriously, now. I think you're doing well in taking a step at the time."

"Yeah. I have the feeling she really likes me, but I think her fears keep her back."

"That's why you have to give her time. And space. She'll learn to trust you. And she'll learn to trust herself again…What about the kids?"

"Hansel and Gretel? Ah, they love her. She's really sweet to them. And playful."

"Oh, there you are! I've been searching for you everywhere!" Both men turned to see Belle walking towards them, dressed in a beautiful golden gown.

"What's the occasion?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, thinking this was the most magnificent dress she owned.

"Do I need an occasion to dress myself up? I happen to like to look pretty." She teased her husband.

"Oh, dearie. You need absolutely nothing on to look pretty." He teased back. Bram hit him on the back of his head, making him release a yell of surprised, while Belle covered her mouth to hide a giggle.

"Do not talk like that to her! She's the princess!" Bram reprimanded playfully and Rumpelstiltskin hit him back, in a mixture of playfulness too and some annoyance. They stopped their childish fight when Belle made a sound of clearing her throat.

"What is it, love?" Rumpelstitlskin asked and she smiled with an excited glint in her eyes.

Belle and Rumpelstitskin sat on the cool ground, holding hands, her head resting on his shoulder. They watched the amazing show that only happened occasionally on Fireflyhill. They had sat a long while silent, relishing the company of each other, their gazes marveled with the bright soft lights of thousands of fireflies.

"You remember how we met?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, already knowing the answer.

"I fall down a hill, just like this one, when I was fleeing the castle." Belle said, smiling at the memory. She had been so frightened that night, not knowing what the future reserved for her. And then everything seemed to fall back in its place when father and son came to rescue her. Her two heroes.

"Feels so long ago… Can you believe everything that happened from then to now?"

"Feels like somebody else's lives." Belle said, understanding perfectly what he meant.

"You have no idea how glad I am you fell from that hill!" He said, causing a giggle from Belle. "Just don't make a habit from it." They laughed softly, shared kisses and their gazes returned to the fireflies. Suddenly they heard a rumbling sound by the bushes nearby. Both startled and quickly stood up.

"Oh, I'm sorry…I didn't know you were here…I didn't mean to disturb you." A pretty young woman, wearing a pink dress, shyly revealed herself, looking quite guilty.

"Oh, no need to apologize." Belle dismissed with a sigh of relieve.

"I am meeting somebody here!" The woman suddenly said with great enthusiasm. "Has he arrived already?"

"No, we were the only ones here, at least until you came." The princess answered. The woman looked a bit sad and worried. "But I'm sure he'll be here in no time!" Belle quickly added, sensing the gloom in the other woman's aura. She had barely spoken, when another rustling sound was heard.

"Oh…hey." Rumpelstiltskin and Belle were both amazed to see Grumpy appear from between the trees. The pretty woman quickly made a short run to meet him and held his hands on hers. The dwarf, not used to the womanly touch, looked suddenly very shy, especially because he had a public. "It's a….uh, lovely evening, tonight, hé?" He said a bit too loud and overenthusiastic at the couple staring back at him. They nodded, still looking surprised, confirming his words. "Nova, everything is prepared." He whispered to the woman who beamed at his words.

"This time for real?" The fairy hopefully asked.

"This time we follow our dreams and make them come true." Grumpy said and blushed terribly when Nova cheered happily and kissed him on the nose.

Rumpelstiltskin couldn't resist and released a loud giggle, but received immediately a small reproving hit on his arm from Belle. Unlike her husband, she thought the scene was extremely romantic and beautiful. There was nothing to laugh about. Grumpy and Nova explained them their plan to explore the world together in a small boat and soon they were running together down the hill, while Belle waved them goodbye with tears in the corners of her eyes. She turned around and noticed her husband was in the edge of bursting into laugher.

"Rumpel! It's not funny!"

"Oh, come on! A dwarf and a fairy! I mean…its Grumpy, for the gods sake!" He said, not being able of containing himself anymore and surrendered to a short fit of laugher. Belle stared at him with her hands on her hips trying to look angry, but ended up by giving into his childish humor.

"If you think a dwarf and a fairy is a strange combination, how about a princess and a spinner." Belle wisely said, trying to win her ground back. Rumpelstiltskin smiled pleasured.

"Unexpected, I guess. Inconceivable, perhaps. But, so right." They shared a kiss and watched the fireflies a little longer before returning to the castle, enthralled by the lonely boat sailing under a sky of thousands of little bright lights.

"Do you think they'll write songs about us?" Baelfire asked while they slowly marched back to Armithil. They had paid their farewell to Snow and her friends, but with promises of a reunion in a near future.

"I think they already are." Bram said with a smile. "Songs about the Dragon Slayer. About the Great Battle. And the Evil Queen's regret."

"You think they'll also write about us in history books?" The teenager asked, thrilled by the idea he and his family and friends could be immortalized in pages destined for future generations.

"They'll be writing about us, if they aren't already." Belle answered this time. "And they'll continue writing about us till our last day in this world and beyond."

"Do you think I'll be a brave knight?" Baelfire asked, already picturing himself on a stallion of pure bread, in gallant clothes, holding a large sword on his hand."

"I don't think you'll have a problem with being brave. You did face a bloody dragon, once."Rumpelstiltskin said, the agonizing image of the beast spitting fire at his son still very much alive in his memories." Baelfire smiled a bit apologetically, but happy with the answers.

"When are you having babies?" Gretel suddenly asked, making both Belle and Rumpelstitlskin blush deeply.

"Now, look who inherited her father's bluntness?" Rumpelstiltskin teased to conceal part of his unease. "Within time, dearie."

"Will it be a boy or a girl?" Hansel asked, now equally curious.

"A girl." Rumpelstiltskin said decided.

"Oh?" Belle exclaimed, surprised by the quick answer. "And why is that?"

"So she can be a great queen like Lady Aurora was once. Like you will be, one day."

"And if it's a boy?" Belle challenged.

"Well, in that case we'll have to educate him far from you father and his old-fashioned ministers' repressive ideas about women. I won't have a child repeating your grandfather's mistakes." He wisely said.

"In that case, I guess we have a deal." Belle said to her husband's contentment.

And so, family and friends travelled together back to an old crumbled kingdom with the mission and determination of building a new, better and more grandiose realm, where the people's rights were more balanced, where hunger and disease would be banished and everybody would live happy lives.

This is the account of Belle, Rumpelstiltskin and Baelfire. And the story of many, many other great and lesser great names. Noble people with noble hearts, whose lives were intertwined by Fate in order to fulfill a destiny. To give the world and every soul that lives in it the chance for their Happily Ever After.

The End

To all my dearies:

I want to thank everybody that has joined me in this adventure. Reading the weekly reviews and receiving the growing numbers of follows and favorites for this story, truly gave me the needed energy and will to write in a regular basis. I thank you all for your support, especially when I had a temporary inspiration crisis and also for your understanding when I was too busy with work to make time for writing.

When I started this story, it was supposed to have about 30 chapters. But I ended up writing another 40! The original idea was to write an easy love story about Rumpel and Belle, developing from friendship to true love in a war scenario. The story was supposed to end when they would arrive Snowland (there would be no separation). But somewhere in the way (I think around chapter 10) I came up with this much more complicated plot.

That Fate had a plan for them all. After all, "there are no coincidences".

I wanted to picture Rumpel as the insecure man he is, with a pre-established and erroneous image of himself (created by society, his wife and father). He undergoes a self-discovery journey to find his true self. The episodes with the Wolf, the Ogre, the Spinning of Gold and the Dragon are the challenges he has to surpass to realize he's not a coward and see that he is actually a strong-minded man, with great moral principles. In other words, he becomes the (unorthodox) hero. Gaston and Frederick are his antagonists in the sense they represent the traditional medieval type of hero.

As for Belle, I wanted her to be a symbol for women's emancipation. A girl trapped in a man's world, living in a golden cage, unallowed to make her own life choices. But the war forces her to grow up, by facing new, hard and different realities. Rumpel is her guide in her journey to become a self-assured woman and the leader her kingdom needs. Regina is her antagonist, in the way she is the most powerful woman of all kingdoms, but her power relies in oppression, while Belle's (Snow likewise) power is fuelled by love.

Baelfire is in the beginning of the story a typical young teenager, a child with an innocent and idyllic world perception. He is forced to grow up and lose this child's innocence due to the war and is confronted by the cruel side of life and reality. He matures really quickly and becomes his father's anchor, in the same way his father is his. I think Baelfire represents Hope. Despite all horrors he faces, he always remains quite optimistic, still believing the world can a beautiful place.

I definitely had fun in creating my own Bram/woodcutter version, as well as to give more character to Abigail. My favorite self-made fictional character is beyond doubt Charleston, Rumpel's dad. He's just a sweet cranky old man!

Originally, Regina was going to die. Snow was to kill her by accident (in defense or something like that) but it just felt wrong. And then the show gave me an idea. Redemption. In the show, she is my second favorite character, I just couldn't kill her. Rumpel is of course my number one favorite. Belle, the third (sorry, Belle-fans!). But Rumbelle totally rules!

It did cross my mind to make Rumple the Dark one in this story, but it fitted nowhere and the plot would take a completely odd twisted turn, so I dismissed it.

Some of you already asked me before if there will be a sequel. Unfortunately, the answer is no. I am out of ideas for any story continuing this one. I had a lot of fun writing it, but this story is truly finished for me. Yet, I want to leave an open invitation to anybody that may want to take the challenge and write a sequel (or several versions) to this story.

With one condition: you have to let me know, because I'll want to read it!

For now, I'm focusing in my other Rumbelle story "Force of Nature". It's much darker than this one and for those who haven't read it yet, the first chapters might be hard to digest. But I love this story too and, according to reviews, it's getting better. And it will have a sequel, since I'm already on it too. So, if you are bored, try it out.

Oh, one more thing…please post your last review for "Lead me to your Fate." Thank you :)

Yours truly,

DarkTragicAngel