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 Upon a Time.
A/N: So, here's the newest update! And before I upload the next part, I'm going to squish all the little scenes into actual chapters. You won't miss anything, it'll just be a formatting change. I realized it's been so long since I've written consistently, that I have issues connecting scenes into full chapters. And then I realized that while attempting to update every week worked in small bursts, it just doesn't look very clean.
Anyway, enjoy this bit. Officially the end of what will be chapter two.
The next morning they were met with silence when they awakened. Rumplestiltskin stirred first, sitting up to look around, an odd feeling creeping over him. The fire had calmed to bright little embers, and the sun was barely rising on the horizon. He rose quietly to his feet, supporting himself with his stick, and hobbled toward a pitcher of water sitting near the carriage.
He saw her then, The Dark One. She hovered on the edge of the trees, watching him. It dawned on him this was the creeping feeling that had pulled him from sleep. Their gaze met only briefly, and she turned, disappearing into the forest. Rumple sighed, sensing that she wanted him to follow, and he did so.
She didn't go far. He could see her figure hovering in a small clearing, facing away from his approach. Once again her cloak was wrapped around her, the hood drawn. She didn't turn when he neared, and he stood several feet from her, leaning on his stick. In his desperation to protect his son, he hadn't realized how angry her actions had made him. Anger was uncharacteristic, and ugly, and was not an emotion a coward could afford.
"Well?" he barked, somewhat unkindly.
There was tension in her shoulders at his tone, but she did not face him. "Last night…." She began. "It will not happen again."
"Well, let's hope not." Rumplestiltskin felt the unfamiliar anger, and let it drive him. "You promised us protection. Now, I want to find Milah, but not if you're going to attack my son for a little mistake." He walked toward her, moving around her, and he looked under her hood. "If you're going to hold up your end of the deal, that means he needs to be safe from you as well."
He looked into her eyes, not afraid of the anger smoldering there. He knew instantly that no man should talk to the Dark One this way, and that she was repressing the urge to rip his throat out, but he didn't care.
"This is my son," he continued, his tone softer. "He's all I have left in the world. Without him, I am dust. And if I can't do my job as a father and protect him, then I am truly nothing." And if that meant he had to stand up to the Dark One, so be it.
She remained silent until she looked away, and taking it as a dismissal, Rumple limped away from her. As he neared the tree line, her voice stopped him.
"It will not happen again, Rumplestiltskin. You have my word."
Rumple watched her still figure, nodded his head, then made his way back to the clearing where Baelfire slept. He watched his boy sleeping, face peaceful, hair messed over his head, and thanked the gods for his brief moment of…bravery. What more than a father's love could make a man stand up to the Dark One and come out in one piece?
Their journey continued after that. They stopped often, but never for long. Bae no longer rode in the cabin with them, but in the coachman's seat. After three days of silence between them, The Dark One returned from the village she had been visiting with a thick jacket, made of leather. She set it beside Baelfire and left without saying a word. When he eyed it distastefully, Rumple touched his shoulder and shook his head. "It's bad manners to refuse a gift given by a lady," he said sagely, then he winked. Bae grinned ruefully and shook his head, touching the jacket. It was of high quality, and would be quite warm.
Some days, Rumple would watch her as she worked with her maps, and she no longer glared at him for it. The books she had were often in other languages, and when she wasn't mapping, she was more often buried in them.
"Why do you read so much?"
The Dark One's head perked up, surprised. It had been over a week since the spinner had talked to her. The last morning in the clearing he had showed her a very different side of himself, and she hadn't begun to decide how to handle the Spinner if he became demanding on a regular basis. But his question was laced with simple curiosity, based on observation. She had no reason to answer him, but she did anyway.
"It helps me forget," she said quietly. "And I get to pretend for just a moment that I'm in a different world."
It was an earnest answer, and not one that Rumple was quite expecting. The question had just tumbled out of him. "I spin for a similar reason," he replied, and smiled gently at her. To his surprise, she returned it.
And slowly, something began to change between Rumplestiltskin and the Dark One.
"We're only a few days from the Castle," The Dark One announced one night as they sat around the fire. The silence when the three of them were together was rarely broken. Rumplestiltskin talked to Baelfire, and Rumplestiltskin talked to the Dark One, but Baelfire would say nothing to the sorceress, and Rumpelstiltskin had begun to suspect Bae was begrudging his father the times he conversed with the dangerous woman.
"That soon?," Rumple responded, scooping soup from a pot hanging over the flames. He handed a wooden bowl across to her.
"Yes," she responded, taking the dish from him. She held it between her hands, but did not eat. "I thought it time we discuss your duties while you're in my care."
"Of course," he said. "It is part of the deal, afterall."
"It's been several months since I've been there, and the Dark Castle will need cleaning." Although she had been warming to Rumple, she spoke formally again, her tone cold. "The boy is not to touch the magical items, and is not to enter my laboratory." She couldn't help but sneer a little. "I expect my meals presented in the dining room. You may take yours in the kitchen." She glanced to Rumple.
He nodded to each demand. They made sense. Although the Dark One had been being friendlier to him, that did not change that he was to be a servant until the deal with Milah was completed. Her look told him that. The Dark One didn't want to have a friend.
On the other hand, Rumple had begun to find himself enjoying her company more and more. She had shown him the maps she was working with, how she was attempting to form a tracking spell for Milah's location.
"It remains that you will not interfere with my deals. If someone comes to call, you will show them in to the dining area, offer them tea, and then inform me of their presence. You will say nothing else to them."
She looked pointedly to Baelfire on this, and Rumple shook his head. About a week earlier, Baelfire had turned a woman away from the carriage, convinced her that she did not want to deal with the Dark One. The sorceress had been furious, yelling at them both. But she did not touch Bae, and Rumple was grateful for that.
"They should know if they're making a mistake," Baelfire muttered under his breath.
The dark tension that had been floating among the group suddenly doubled, and Rumpelstiltskin had to fight back a groan. Baelfire had been so good about not picking a fight, why did he have to start now?
The Dark One was already tensed. "Who's to say that it's a mistake?" she bit back. "You're a child. You don't understand this."
"I may be young," Bae said, rising proudly to his feet. "But at least I know that lying to people is wrong."
The sorceress rose as well, and again Rumple was struck by her small stature, and how large her power made her seem. Baelfire's bravery, which he had always admired was going to get him in trouble.
"I never lie," she snarled. "The truth can be twisted, and fools only hear what they choose to, but I never lie to anyone. I offer a price and they pay it, many gladly. Every who has made a deal with me has reaped what they've sown." She vanished then, suddenly and in a puff of purple smoke.
The clearing was silent for a moment, before Rumplestiltskin let out a throaty chuckle. "Takes a brave man to pick a fight with the Dark One, son."
Baelfire didn't relax. He looked angrily at his father. "Don't laugh. It isn't funny."
"Now, Bae-"
"Don't you 'now Bae' me," the young boy growled. "And don't pretend like you haven't been getting friendly with her either."
"What are you talking about?"
"I can hear you," he continued, sitting down angrily. "In the cabin talking about the maps, and reading, and the time she asked you about sheep shearing. And whether you'd want to try spinning straw into gold."
"I'm not just going to ignore her, son," Rumple said, easing over to Baelfire. "We both know she's agreed to help us."
"She's not helping us, she's using us." The boy looked at his father. "You see that, don't you? She's evil. She comes back every night with more and more of those vials. Don't you even wonder what's in them?"
Rumplestiltskin did wonder, but he also knew better than to ask. "That's not our business."
"Of course not," Bae said bitterly. "None of this is our business. I bet we could find Mama on our own. We don't need her. We don't need magic. Why are we even trusting her?"
Rumple looked away. "Son, she saved my life on that battlefield."
"Because she had to."
"Aye, because it was part of the deal, it seems," Rumple agreed. "But that doesn't change that she saved my life."
Baelfire looked at his father, anger and confusion clouding his face. "You're enjoying being around her," he accused.
"Bae-"
"You are!" Bae rose to his feet once again. "She's the Dark One! She uses dark magic, and she tricks people. Why do you think Mama left? Every time the Dark One uses magic, it turns into a curse. And you're falling for it!" He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring.
The spinner paused for a moment, biting his lip before answering. "Baelfire, you know how they always treated me in the village. I didn't have a friend in the world. They called me a coward and they treated me like one," he pleaded with his son. Bae's eyes softened, and his arms slowly slipped to his side. "They're wrong about me. I'm more than that. And maybe everyone has the wrong idea of the Dark One."
Baelfire's glare had returned. "You saw what she did to those soldiers. What she tried to do to me. Why are you defending her?"
"She treats me like I'm human," he burst out in response. " Do you know how long it's been since someone has treated me like I wasn't the dirt under their feet? When the last time I was payed full price for the wool I spin? That I wasn't looked at like some disgusting trash in the gutter? I can't even remember the last time someone sat in the same space as me, much less shared a meal." He was getting heated, emotional and upset.
After a long pause, Baelfire spoke up. "So then, you think she's your friend?" Bae had a difficult time fighting the angry sneer that threatened to creep across his face.
"No, Bae. I'm not that big of fool." Rumple shook his head. "I think we're two lonely people trying to forget for a little while that there's a definition on our head, and it's all we'll ever be to the world."
He stood up, and cast a despairing glance at his son. "I promised we'd stay until we found your mother. And that's it. Until then, what's it hurt to show a little kindness?"
Rumplestiltskin limped off into the darkness of the forest, leaving his son to his thoughts. Moonlight dabbled off the canopy of leaves above him, and he moved through the trees, fighting the tormenting thoughts that ate at him.
He had only been walking a few minutes when the gentle stride of the Dark One fell into step with him. She had just materialized there, he could still smell the ozone scent that magic seemed to inherently carry with it.
For a few moments she was silent, and they walked on into the forest, her tiny steps matching his limping gait well. They didn't have to go far before the trickling of a stream could be heard over their footsteps. Rumple leaned forward against a fallen tree, tilting his head up to look at the rising moon.
"I heard what you said in the clearing," she ventured.
"Oh?"
"I don't need your kindness," she continued. "I'm not some scared little girl."
"No," Rumple said. "I never said you were."
"And I don't care what title the villagers lay on me," she added. "I've been the Dark One for over a century. Whatever they say, it's probably true."
"Certainly," he conceded.
There was a frank honesty floating around Rumplestiltskin that night. She never could quite read him. The ever-present melancholy of the man remained there, but he also seemed almost...like he was humoring her?
"And I don't need friends," she persisted.
He chuckled once. "Oh, everyone needs friends, dearie. You just don't want to admit it."
"It's better to be alone." She joined him in leaning against the tree.
"Maybe," he agreed. "Or maybe you've just handed the wrong people the keys to be able to hurt you." He shrugged, giving her a rough half-smile as he glance down at her. "I don't know your history, and I won't pretend to, Dark One."
"Belle."
Rumple started. "What?"
"My name is Belle." She wasn't looking at him, and no emotion showed on her face. But he smiled anyway. To give a name is a precious gift.
"Well, Belle it is," he agreed. He fell silent, and the pair lingered in the quiet. It was nice, Rumple realized. Peaceful. The natural sounds of forest creatures, the tinkling rush of the stream, and the breathing of a nearby person….it was peace Rumplestiltskin thought he'd never find again. These were the feelings he had lost when he returned to Milah.
His brow furrowed. Milah….
"Is magic inherently evil?" he asked.
Belle laughed softly. "No," she answered. "Very little in this world is evil by default. Evil is the result of vengeance, darkness, and hatred. Magic started out beautiful." She leaned down, her graceful hands digging into the dirt. She straightened up with her grip full of earth, and she began to sift through it, pulling out a small seed and holding it in her palm. "Magic was life in the beginning." The nut in her hand was consumed by a gentle purple glow, and as he watched, it began to sprout. The core split, green roots crawling out. His eyes widened, and he cupped his hands around her, fascinated as it reached up and formed a bud. He looked up, awe etched on his face to see hers masked in indifference. "Magic can quickly become a curse," she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. She cupped the plant, the light faded, and when her palms opened, the plant had crumbled to ash.
"Belle…"
The Dark One shook her head, dark waves of hair falling across her glittering face as she pulled away from him. "Go back to your son, Rumpelstiltskin." She walked away from him, disappearing into the shadow of the trees. "He needs you. I don't."