So Much More

By Lina Muro

Summary: AU, Dark One!Belle, Rumbelle. "The curse of the Dark One is a strange one. It doesn't change you. Not as much as you'd want to believe. It takes your strongest traits, your desires, and warps them...draws them to the surface and forces back the rest of the things that made you human. It's nice to be brave. But when you stop feeling fear…after a while you don't feel anything else either."

Disclaimer: I don't own Once.

Chapter One: Wake Up

This was a nightmare.

The Spinner thought he had known nightmares in the past. It was a nightmare to be on that battlefield, smelling of ogre and terror. It was a nightmare to be called the village coward when his wife had found out how he escaped the battle. It was a nightmare when his wife's eyes faded of love and she took to drinking at the tavern every night, only to disappear into the lair of a pirate. It was a nightmare hobbling home to tell his son that his mother was dead.

But they all paled in comparison to this.

Rumplestiltskin sat in his darkened hovel, staring into the flickering shadows cast by the dying fireplace. He was lost. Everything was lost.

The day before, the Duke and his soldiers had come to collect more children from the village. They had lowered the war age again. Rumplestiltskin watched as a young girl was torn from her family, her mother shrieking in grief. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. He was too engrossed with the horrible implications.

Baelfire had just turned fourteen.

Years ago, Rumplestiltskin had escaped death to be able to return to his son. He had fled from his own enlistment to be able to hold his son, to change his diapers, to watch his first steps, to love him. He had been labeled the town coward, was hated by his neighbors, and abandoned by his wife. But he had his son, and that was all that mattered.

Only now, Baelfire was in danger of being dragged off, thrust in front of an army of blood thirsty ogres, half trained, meant only to slow the horrors down as they tore through the Frontlands. After everything, Baelfire's blood would paint the grass. Almost like he had never existed.

And the spinner could think of nothing that he could do to stop it. They had tried fleeing only to be caught, humiliated, and returned. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, and with it, despair crept further and further into Rumple's mind.

"Papa?"

Rumplestiltskin couldn't bring himself to turn and face his son. He couldn't wipe the horror and misery from his face. Was this it? The last time he would see his son? Rumple felt a small hand on his shoulder, and Baelfire made his way around his father. The spinner found himself looking into his own eyes, mirrored in a younger face. Bae had his mother's hair, curled close to his head, and her delicate, pretty feature. But he had his father's eyes, and that alone comforted Rumple. The young boy had knelt before his father, putting one hand on his knee.

"Papa, it will be okay."

Rumplestiltskin gave him a watery smile. "I can't do anything, son," he whispered. "I'd trade anything to save you from this. My life, my spinning wheel, the sheep, this house….but it won't be enough."

"Papa," Bae said. "I can fight. I don't need to run away."

The poor, desperate man couldn't bring himself to tell his son that he didn't understand what he would be walking into. To stand on that battlefield, looking at the towering, ten-foot ogres, hearing death all around you, crying, desperate men and frightened horses….no child should endure that. But before he could do more than contemplate the words to warn his son, he heard in the distance the hoofbeats of horses.

The time had come.

"Bae," Rumple said, "If I asked you to run, would you do it?"

"They'd kill you."

"Yes."

"No, Papa. I won't run."

Bae was a brave boy. Too brave. Rumple took his son into his arms. He imagined this would be the last time he held his boy. His heart was breaking. Already, he was crumbling to dust. He could still feel the weight of Bae in his arms the first time he'd held him, a newborn babe, barely a day old. And now he was a half-grown boy, and the spinner still wasn't ready to let him go.

The knock on the door was loud, but neither of the occupants moved. They were stealing what time they could.

"I love you, Baelfire." Rumple started to cry.

"I love you too, Papa," Bae choked out.

The door was thrown open, the Duke's knight, clad in his black armor entered the room. "Time to go, boy," he sneered, grabbing Bae by the back of his shirt and pulling him from his father. Baelfire spun around, jerking away from the man's grasp.

"I can walk on my own," he snapped.

He didn't look at his father as he moved out the door, and Rumple was grateful as tears because to slide down his face. He stumbled to the door, his crippled leg slowing him as he grabbed for his crutch.

"Please, sir," he called out, unable to stop himself. "He's just a boy."

"And already he has more backbone then his father," the knight replied. "It'll serve him well."

Rumple reached out, grabbing his cloak. The man spun around, rounding on the peasant. He shoved Rumplestiltskin, kicking his crutch away, while his fellows cackled at the sport. The spinner hit the ground. He tasted the blood in his mouth, felt his leg scream in protest, but he continued to reach forward, begging. "Please. Please not my boy."

"Papa!"

Baelfire jumped into the fray, pushing aside the knight. It became a mess, the knight abusing Rumplestiltskin, Baelfire trying to stop him, a second and third soldier coming to stop the flailing boy. Rumple sustained several kicks to his gut, while one of the knights was sporting a bloody nose. Bae's lip was bloodied, his knuckles bruised from defending his father.

"Enough!"

The voice that ordered them was female, yet it resonated with mysterious power. All the men in the clearing turned to find its source. A small woman stood in a dark crimson cloak, her face shaded by a large hood. The knights shifted uncomfortably, looking to their leader.

. "We're following the Duke's orders," he barked. "So mind your own business, or we'll make you."

"This family is my business," she responded. In his daze, Rumplestiltskin could hear a hint of an accent in her voice, and it pulled at a memory in his hazy mind. "And you'll stop abusing them, or I'll make you stop."

The group of knights chuckled darkly, their leader abandoning the crippled man on the ground and advancing on the woman. "Let's take her," he said, leering. "We'll teach her to mind her manners."

He stopped in front of her, reaching for her. She flicked her wrist, and the man's arm twisted away suddenly before he could even touch her, a sickening sound of snapping bones echoing across the clearing. The man screamed and collapsed, grasping at his now broken limb, twisted at an unnatural angle.

"Who…are…you?" he gasped, his voice distorted with pain, staring at her with horror lining his face.

She laughed then, a high tinkling sound and Rumple finally made the connection. Bae was at his side, working to help him stand, but the spinner could do nothing more than stare at the woman.

She threw back her hood, and the five knights shrank back in horror. Her features may have been beautiful, but it was a terrible beauty. Her skin was a strange color, shimmering, scaled, and shifting between shades of orange, grey, and gold. Brown hair hung to her shoulders. Her lips were a dark red, curled into a cruel smile. But it did not reach her eyes. The burnt orange colored irises and dark, reptilian pupils remained unamused, as if the men before her were not worth the effort of hurting.

From behind Rumplestiltskin, he heard one of the men mutter three words he hadn't heard since childhood. It sent a tremor down his spine.

"The Dark One." There was no mistaking the fear and awe coupled in his tone.

"Very good," she drawled. "Now leave, or I will kill you all."

The knights instantly scampered into action, grabbing their beasts and fleeing at a rate that surprised the spinner. Only one paused to help the broken man, throwing him over the back of a horse and spurring it on before following suite. In just moments, the small yard was empty, save for the strange, exotic woman, the poor spinner, and his son.

Bae hovered near his father still, one arm caught under Rumplestiltskin's elbow to help him up. He stumbled to his feet, but never took his eyes from the woman.

"Bae," he said in a hushed voice. "My crutch, please, son."

The boy cast about for a brief time until he found the gnarled piece of wood and brought it to his father.

"Papa," Bae whispered. "I'm frightened."

"It's alright, son," Rumplestiltskin muttered back, his eyes not leaving the enigmatic woman before him. "I'm not."

I took the image of Belle as the Dark One from a post I found on Tumblr: 25. media. tumblr 2daa424775a20f04d9d96cb87ee70b2f/ tumblr_mhjlp756ZZ1rc6u4co1_

And if that still doesn't work, I googled "Dark One Belle". It's a neat pic. If I did the description well enough, you'll know it when you see it. Ha