A Brief Flicker of Light - Part Two

The festival was going to be fantastic, the woman had been telling her. By the next night, their little town expected to see people from far and wide. They were very excited about it. As she spoke, Belle couldn't ignore the strange feeling that tugged at her. It was like a warning, though of what she couldn't be sure. She glanced around then, looking for Rumplestiltskin and found the place where she had left him to be empty. The feeling started to grow into something like panic rising within her and her gaze swept widely. He was nowhere to be seen, but he shouldn't have gone far even if he'd found a place to sit rather than just lean as he had been.

"Excuse me," she murmured, ducking through the crowds to get closer to where she'd left him. She didn't want to call his name out for fear of alerting whoever was after him. What if they'd found him? Would he have called to her? It wasn't like she could do anything and they both knew it. Self defence hadn't exactly been part of her courtly upbringing. She put back a reminder for herself to have him teach her at least some basic sword techniques when they got home. When they got home, she reminded herself, trying to settle down her increasingly jumbled nerves.

"Miss, are you alright?" an elderly gentleman asked kindly.

"I'm… I'm looking for someone. My friend." Her voice sounded halted and silly, even to her own ears. She'd never once called Rumplestiltskin her friend to another soul, barely even to herself and she wasn't sure of it then. She forced herself to recall that human face rather than the one that he wore all the other days that she'd known him. "He's about so tall, dark eyes, dark hair with a bit of grey in it and it's down to his shoulders. He was wearing a traveling cloak over-"

"Yes, I do believe I saw him leave with a younger man just a few minutes ago. Did he have a bit of a limp on him."

"Yes! Who did he leave with? Where did they go?"

"I couldn't say I recognized them, not with all the new faces with the festival. They did go that way, though, heading towards the edge of town not too long ago. Not much out that way save farm. Might have been heading past it and out of town, though they'll miss the festivities if they do that."

"Thank you," Belle managed, cutting him off before he could dive into what all the festivities could include. A strange man was with Rumple. It was likely the sorcerer that had cast the spell that had taken magic away from the town. She took off running in the direction that the man had indicated. She'd have to come up with a plan when she got there, but she did know that she couldn't leave him there to fend for himself. She wouldn't leave him behind.

The man that had coerced him into following him was a good deal younger than Rumple had been when he'd taken on his curse. Young, fit, and whole, unlike the poor spinner from the Frontlands. Everyone there had been old before their time with malnutrition and injuries from the wars. Rumplestiltskin had been no different, really, even if he'd outlived his neighbors by a good three hundred years or so. His human form had never been very strong in and of itself. He was small and wiry and once he'd shattered his ankle he couldn't even rely on being quick on his feet.

The blow connected hard, sending him to his knees immediately. An ache spread through his shoulders from where it had come down between the shoulderblades and he startled to pull himself back up - something entirely unheard of so many years ago, but centuries as the Dark One did tend to make one rather attached to their pride - but a boot pushed down hard with his back and shoved him the rest of the way into the dirt. It slammed into his ribs next, sending him rolling until he was laid out flat, nose buried in dirt and hay. They were in a barn of some sort, unused for some time by the smell of it, but no one had bothered to clean it out well. It seemed less important when he found himself tumbling again, that same boot connecting hard into his other side.

"Get up," the man growled and Rumplestiltskin could only cough, finding it very difficult to breathe. He'd had his share of beatings before, but this man seemed to know just how hard to hit. Most of the ones he'd received as the town coward had been sloppy and uneducated blows, but his attacker now knew what he was doing. He knew when he'd said it that getting up would be near to impossible until he was able to find his breath.

So he reached down, grabbed the back of Rumple's cloak, and hauled him up. "I said get up," he growled and tossed the smaller man so that he landed hard against the wall.

Rumple winced. "Let's get this over with," he coughed out. "What… do you want?"

"You really don't know me, do you?" he asked as he crouched down in front of where the Dark One was slouched against the wall. Behind him the door opened and a younger man entered.

"Have you asked him yet, Brother?"

"Getting there," Rumple's attacker answered easily and turned his attention back to the elder man. "Look hard at me, Rumplestiltskin. Very hard. I know you've been called to a lot of deals over your tenure as a walking demon, but I have faith that you'll be able to pull the memory forward. It would have been about ten years ago and a woman called to you. She was desperate -"

"They're all desperate that call me," Rumple growled out and received a hit hard enough to his face that it snapped his neck around and for a moment he saw flashes of light from the blow.

"This woman was desperate because her husband was ill. He was dying. He was a top general in King George's army. His name was Nathaniel. Hers was Eliza."

The names triggered the memory and Rumplestiltskin could see them as if it had just happened. The woman had called to him in the dead of night, tear-streaked face lit only by a terribly low candle and she'd begun wailing again when he'd appeared. She'd been terrified. Terrified of him, of the idea of losing her husband, and of leaving her two boys without a father. Likely she'd grown up on stories about the Dark One and that he snatched children from their cribs or some such nonesense that passed around certain parts of the kingdoms, and he had truly been her last resort. She'd called too late. George's general's fate had been written and his breath was leaving him quicker than he could pull it in. The price was too high for either of them to be willing to pay, and Rumplestiltskin hadn't blamed them for it. He certainly wouldn't have paid it.

"Yes yes," he managed before next hit landed. "I remember them now. Wouldn't your mother be proud that you'd cornered a helpless man in a village to take out… What? What exactly do you blame me for, again?"

"You're hardly helpless, Dark One," the elder brother sniffed. "You murdered our father."

"Murdered?" Rumplestiltskin echoed. "Hardly."

The blows rained down then, connecting hard with his face, his ribs, and when he curled up on one side with his hands up to protect his face from another blow, that hard-soled boot came crashing down on his ankle. Rumple let out a howl of pain that bounced off the walls and he felt himself nearly slip under the waters of unconsciousness.

"No you don't," his attacker hissed and suddenly Rumplestiltskin found himself drenched in ice-cold water, fully awake and conscious. They'd done that to him from time to time while he waited for his sentencing on if he'd be considered as a deserter or not. He curled a bit further into himself, the memories stirring dangerously along with the pain.

"Theo, we may have a problem," the younger brother called in.

"Now now, Alexander," Theo growled back, nudging Rumple with the steel toe of his boot. "Yes, Dark One, you murdered our father. Mother called you and she would have paid your price-"

"She called too late," he wheezed. "The price was too high. Sometimes I can't control that. Your father…" He stopped, painfully focusing on breathing for a moment. "Your father was too far gone."

"Theo!" Alexander called again and this time the elder brother whirled around, giving Rumple just enough of a view past him to see Belle being held. The younger brother didn't seem to know quite what to do with her, holding her tight enough so that she couldn't squirm away but loose enough not to harm her. "She followed us."

"I told you to take care of her, Alex."

"I'm not going to hurt an innocent girl."

"She's with him. She's far from innocent."

"That's not what we discuss, Theo. He's responsible, he pays. That's that."

"I hate to break up your dream cloud theory, dearie, but I'm not responsible for your father's death," Rumple coughed out on the ground. He looked up, making eye contact with Theo. "There are prices to everything. Magic is no exception. The price to save your father would have been an equal exchange. A life for a life, and that life must have been tied to his by blood. You or your brother would have had to die for him to live."

"You could have changed it."

"Sometimes there's no changing the price." When he was fairly certain that Theo wasn't going to physically lash out again at him, he eased himself up, feeling bones make noises that they shouldn't. He pushed down the nauseating feeling as his ribs shifted in the wrong direction and he glanced back at Alexander. The younger man looked less inclined to do any harm to Belle, even if she looked like she was more inclined to slam a foot down on his to have him release her. Rumplestiltskin pulled in as deep of a breath as he dared, turning his dark eyes back to Theo. "What you should be asking, dearie, is what price will you have to pay for this little adventure you and your brother have gone on? You're no sorcerer. Who set you up with this spell, hmm?"

"Where we got it is our concern."

"Indeed. Did that person tell you the price?"

"What price?" Alexander asked, sounding a bit nervous.

"Shut up," Theo hissed at Rumple, his gaze flickering back to his brother briefly. "He's just trying to spook us. He doesn't have magic. He's nothing."

"You're right. I'm no threat to you, but that doesn't mean that I'm lying. What did I just say, Theo? All magic comes with a price. You cast it, you pay it."

"Don't say my name."

Rumplestiltskin snorted a laugh. "Shouldn't have given it to me, dearie." Once he knew the caster's name, finding the right strings to pull and bring the whole spell crashing down was much easier. As soon as he'd found the names he'd worked it into his methods of looking. His mind was running wild and he could still see the many, many threads that made up their little spell. They were most certainly working alone, but he didn't know for sure who was backing them. Regina might have had her hands in it, or possibly even the Blue Fairy if she thought she'd found a way to destroy the Dark One without creating another. There were only a few powerful enough to manipulate it into working.

"I won't have to worry about that much longer. Unlike you, my brother and I can leave this town." He hauled Rumple up by the front of his cloak and the Dark One didn't see the flash of steel until it was too late. The knife was buried deep into his side. If breathing hard been hard before, it felt near to impossible now. "You can pay the price, Dark One."

Rumplestiltskin felt the world pulse around him as Theo ripped the blade back out and dropped him, his knees giving way immediately. He heard Belle screaming his name and he coughed, tasting blood in the back of his throat. Not good. This was not good. He needed to get her out. They might kill her too and without his powers he was useless. He couldn't protect her from them.

"Rumple?" Belle called out, dropping to the ground next to him. Her hands were on his face and… Was she crying? Why was she crying for him? He couldn't focus. He felt like he was drowning and she seemed so very far away now. The sound of the barn doors slamming shut and a lock falling in place was the last thing he heard before everything blacked out.

Belle hardly noticed as the brothers locked them in. Rumplestiltskin was bleeding and his eyes were rolling back. He coughed, his entire body jerking as he did and she whispered his name again as her hand went to his face, tilting it to the side. Another cough brought blood up with it and tears trickled down her face. He couldn't breathe and she had no idea how to help him. Her first instinct was to try to stop the blood flow, but pressing down against his battered ribs only brought a struggling cry of pain from him before he went far too still.

"Rumple?" she called quietly. "Rumplestiltskin? Wake up. You have to wake up."

His eyes had closed now and he was limp against the dirt. Even the terrible wheezing sound that had accompanied his breathing seemed to have quieted. She stopped, realizing what that meant. "No, no no. You can't die," she whispered, and she wasn't even sure why. Wasn't he her captor? Her jailor? He got a rise out of tormenting her and never let a chance pass to send her into a fit over something or another. He was vile and evil, wasn't he? Cold and calculated. While she wouldn't wish for his death, of course, she couldn't quite understand why the tears were coming as she pushed back grey-streaked hair out of his face and leaned over him, her lips pressed down against his and a prayer going up to anyone or anything that would listen to her. Don't let him die.

Belle startled back as he choked out a cough, sucking in a painful breath and his eyes snapped open, looking at her confused. "You weren't breathing," she whispered through her tears. She didn't know if she was trying to come up with an explanation on why she'd been kissing him or if the terrible thought that he'd almost just slipped away was too much to keep in.

Rumplestiltskin didn't seem to pay it any mind though. "I found it," he rasped.

"Found what?"

"The loose thread."

"To the spell?"

"Yes."

He'd explained to her before that he'd always thought of spells as intricately woven threads, patched together to create something extraordinary. She'd wondered if he'd been overly confident when they arrived that he could unravel anyone's spell, but he must have done it, because even she could feel a sharp pull that felt like a small shock from a lighting storm. She could almost hear the dome overhead shattering and magic rushed through the little village. She turned, watching Rumplestiltskin's expression change. She wanted just a moment more to look at his eyes before they changed, but they flashed gold almost immediately as his curse rushed back into him, filling him up and healing him as it went. His whole body jerked and he pulled in a deep breath. His hair lightened in colour and curled. The gold scales spread out, covering human skin and darkening his nails into claws once more. He was gasping by the end of it, but on his feet only a second later, a terrible, vicious smile on his face and his voice pitched up. "That's better."

"Rumple…stiltskin?" she managed, finding the nickname she'd called him so easily to his human face not matching in her own mind with the monster's mask he now wore.

He turned and his expression softened ever so slightly as he offered her a hand up. "I'm alright now," he assured her. "Nothing's going to harm you."

She wanted to point out that it had been he that had been bleeding out on the dirt floor just moments before, but the words never left her lips as magic swirled around them and suddenly they were standing in the way of Theo and Alexander's grand escape. "Going somewhere, dearies?" Rumplestiltskin chirped causing both men to halt completely in their escape.

"How?" Theo managed, backpedaling.

"I've been putting together and dismantling spells of every sort since before your grandfather's grandfather was born. It was only a matter of time until I found the weakness in it."

"That's not possible."

"Whoever sent you on this little adventure didn't tell you everything, did they? Left you holding the price too." Rumplestiltskin tilted his head in almost a curious fashion and as if on cue, Theo's knees gave out from under him.

Belle peeked around her employer, eyes wide as she saw the blood trickling from Theo's nose and he was sprawled out on the ground, body trembling under some great, unseen pressure. Alexander, who seemed unaffected by whatever was happening, was at his brother's side, calling his name, but Theo seemed unable to answer.

"What did you do to him?" Alexander demanded, easing his brother into his arms and cradling him so that the tremors that shook his body did cause him to slam his skull against the ground.

"Your brother wanted to cast a spell, this is the price. Did you think sectioning off an entire town from magic was going to be easy?"

"But what's happening to him?"

"The curse he cast is rebounded on him. It will kill him. Rip him apart from the inside out."

Belle grabbed his sleeve suddenly, her eyes wide and frightened and the contact - something that had been almost constant in the last hours that they'd been there - startled him. "Can't you save him?"

"Save him?" the Dark One sputtered. "This is what happens when amateurs play with powerful magic, dearie. This is the price of their own foolishness. No, the price must be paid."

"Then I'll take his place," Alexander pressed, standing. "You can do that, can't you? You can switch who pays the price."

Rumplestiltskin watched him, studying him carefully with a look that Belle had seen many times before when he was reaching deep into his own reservoir of magic to find exactly what the limits of the situation were. "No," he said after a moment.

"No…? You can't switch it? Aren't you supposed to be some all-powerful sorcerer?"

The Dark One moved so that he was standing directly in front of the younger man, the dying brother at Alexander's feet. "It's not that I can't, it's that I won't. He cast the curse. He pays the price. It doesn't help him that he just tried to kill me. Foolish, really."

"You bastard!" Alexander wailed, slamming his fist into Rumplestiltskin, but the smaller man didn't even budge at the blow. "What does it matter to you which lives and which dies for it?"

"It matters because you still have your uses," he answered and turned, one hand waving in the air as he spoke. "For that, I need you alive."

Tears were streaming down Belle's face as magic swirled around them, leaving Alexander to hold his dying brother in his arms and when the smoke cleared, she and Rumplestiltskin were back in the Dark Castle. "Well let's not do that again, shall we?" he sing-songed lightly.

She felt a sudden rush of rage hit her. He'd just murdered that boy. He could have found a way around it, she knew he could have found a way around it, but he'd chosen not to. Instead, he'd forced the younger to watch the elder die like some sort of evil monster that got his kicks out of other people's suffering. Belle didn't know that she'd balled her fists up until they bounced harmlessly off his chest and she was screaming through her own tears. "You killed him!" she cried. "You killed him and you could have saved him! You are a monster!"

He didn't move to stop her, just let her beat on him until she'd wasted what was left of her energy in the emotional outpour and her legs gave way beneath her. Rumplestiltskin caught her though, his face a blank mask of neither irritation or comfort. He simply acted and eased her over into his chair at the long table. Belle buried her face in her hands, her elbows propped on her knees, and she couldn't tell how long she cried. At some point the Dark One left, returned, and finally moved to his spinning wheel at the far side of the room. Her sobs had quieted finally, and only an occasional sniff accompanied the squeaky spinning wheel in the otherwise silent room. Belle pulled in a shaky breath, sat up, and turned to look at him.

"If you're quite done, the foyer is in desperate need of mopping," he said without looking at her.

She didn't want to mop, she wanted to talk about this. She wanted to talk about the fact that she'd seen what he really looked like beneath his curse, that she knew there was a man there, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. She wanted him to tell her that it had all been a ruse, and that after they'd disappeared, he'd decided that Theo and Alexander had learned their lesson about dabbling in magic and they'd both gotten up and gone home to their mother who was surely worried sick for them. She wanted to look into those dark eyes that couldn't hide things quite as well as the gold ones and ask him if he even knew that she'd kissed him while he lay dying on the dirt floor of an old, abandoned barn, and to try to find something in her that could explain why she'd done it and why she'd felt so very, very deeply when she had.

But they wouldn't have that conversation. The creaking wheel told her that. It was his only solace and she… she was just his servant. A payment for a deal. He was not a man - maybe not quite the monster everyone thought, but not a man - and she could not love him.

"I'll have your dinner in after it," she said instead as she stood, forcing her voice to hide at least some of the raging storm behind it. She paused at the door, very briefly, but he made no sound of acknowledgement before she walked away.

He'd hoped that the rush of power that his curse brought back to him would have crushed the fear, but it hadn't. Her cries had almost been too much and he'd had to drown them out. Rumplestiltskin hadn't quite managed to pull himself away entirely to a different part of the castle - not until he knew she'd come back to herself - and when she finally did leave the room the door closing behind her had been deafening.

She would leave him, he was certain of it now. She would leave him alone in this terrible, lonely place and he would remain here without any hope, without any… What? Love? He pushed the thought out, his curse helping with that at least. He couldn't love her. He'd promised Bae. He had no room for anything else but the Dark Curse and its preparations. He was drawing closer and closer every day and he couldn't afford distractions. Perhaps she should leave. Perhaps he should just turn her out and send her home.

Rumple stood, ready to do what he must. For Bae. For his plans. For everything that he needed so desperately, she had to go. He moved towards the door, fully intent on going through with it until the soft sobs met his ears as he opened them, and the Dark One froze. Images flashed through his mind, though he didn't dare believe they were real, of Belle leaned over him, tears filling her clear blue eyes and she was begging for him to stay with her. She was begging for his life. When she could have run, when she could have fled from the life he'd forced her into, she chose to stay and help him. He couldn't turn her out, he rationalized as his feet carried him without command, he had a debt to pay to her first.

He found her in the foyer with a bucket of soapy water and a brush used to scrub where the mop couldn't reach and she was sitting at the base of a pillar, leaned against it and crying again. Rumplestiltskin sighed, steeling himself as he entered. He wasn't even sure when he'd conjured the tray with the steaming tea on it, but somehow, instinctually, he knew it made things better. He hoped it made things better.

Belle turned at the sound of his footsteps and startled, beginning to rise until he shook his head and took a seat on the floor with her, setting the tray down between them. She sniffed, looking at him rather pitifully, before taking the cup. He reached down for the one that she'd chipped on her first day there and almost in unison they took a sip, neither wanting to break the awkward silence between them and broach the subject that loomed there like a terrible beast ready to devour what had become something like a friendship between them over the months. Belle had always been so brave, though, and she peered over the cup after a moment. "I've never seen a man die before," she admitted softly, quickly taking another sip.

"I've seen many die."

"Have you… killed many men before?"

"Some, though I didn't kill this one."

"You didn't save him either."

Rumplestiltskin pulled in a shaky breath, setting his cup back down on the tray and bringing his knees up nearly to his chin. They must have looked quite odd like that, master and servant taking their tea on the marble entrance way to a grand castle. "I'm not a saint, Belle. I'm not a hero like in your books. I don't… swoop in and save people out of the goodness of my heart."

"I know," she whispered brokenly.

"What I told Theo is true: magic comes with a price. While the spell he cast was strong, it was poorly executed. It should have rebounded on them both."

She looked directly at him now, eyes wide and rimmed red. "You stopped it from killing Alexander?"

He nodded, not risking his voice.

"Why?"

"Several reasons," he murmured honestly. "He will… be important someday, in something I'm planning. I don't know the details yet. I don't think he'll play a large role, really, but it does need to be him. That… and he chose not to harm you."

"What do you mean?"

Of course she hadn't known what he meant. Innocent, naive Belle. "Theo wanted you dead."

"Why?"

"He seemed to think it would have some impact on me."

"Would it have?"

He could tell she'd asked the question before thinking it through and her cheeks tinged red now. He offered her a small smile and a tease. "Good help is difficult to find, you know."

Belle laughed at this, reaching out with her foot and nudging his boot with it. "How's your ankle?"

"Oh, it's fine."

"Will you tell me what happened to it?"

"Perhaps someday."

Her smile didn't fade and she reached forward, her hand covering his and he hoped she couldn't hear how hard his heart was hammering against his ribs. "Well, we do have forever."

"Yes," he murmured softly. "Forever."

End.

Notes: So, this story was started on Friday night and I only got a couple of paragraphs out. I probably wrote about 9K of it yesterday though lol. It just kind of took over my life. I'm soooo glad that I'm ahead in writing Whatever it Takes. Otherwise I'd be scrounging to do that today so I could update that tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought :D