Chapter Thirty—"Toward the Sun"

Zelena crumbled to the ground as soon as Bae pulled Excalibur out of her, limp and unmoving. He half expected her to melt away into a green puddle, but her body remained solid, pale and unmoving, quietly breathing her last. She looked surprisingly young, and almost innocent, without the green skin and maddened expression, but Bae couldn't afford to feel guilty. This woman had terrorized the Enchanted Forest since before Regina had brought most of them back from Storybrooke, had conquered countless kingdoms and enslaved tens of thousands of people. Even if she'd only been a tool of the Black Fairy, she'd done plenty of terrible deeds, and Regina had offered her a chance to change. Word of her refusal had reached the Dark Castle only days before, and they had chosen to begin their final offensive when Snow had forwarded the message to David.

"At least you didn't say something about your beautiful wickedness," Bae said to the corpse.

"Huh?" Mulan asked, making him jump. He hadn't known that she'd reached his side, but Mulan had—because the battle was suddenly quiet while the creatures milled around aimlessly, obviously trying to decide if they wanted to continue fighting, and if so, who to attack.

"Sorry. Movie reference."

"If you'd just tell me—"

"I really don't know how to explain what a movie is, Mulan," Bae replied. "You could ask Leroy—oh, damn. I'm sorry."

The stricken expression on Mulan's face made his heart sink even further than his own verbal slip did. No one knew what had actually happened to Grumpy; Mulan had seen an unidentified fae take him away, but like all the others who'd been stolen away, no one knew where he'd been taken. Bae knew that Mulan had a vague hope that they'd find Grumpy inside the Witch's castle when they searched it, but he was pretty sure that the fae were hiding somewhere else. Somewhere humans couldn't reach.

"I know," Mulan said quietly, squaring her shoulders and putting on a brave face. "Let's finish this off, shall we? How do we get these creatures to go away?"

"That's a really good question." Sooner or later, some of the dark creatures scattered around the battlefield would decide that eating the humans was a good idea, even if the Witch wasn't there to control them. The battle itself was dying down; Bae could see the front lines from where they were standing, and although there were a few pockets of fighting, at the moment everything seemed calmer. But he knew that wouldn't last. Suddenly, he grinned. "Let's ask Belle."

Mulan had always been quick on the uptake. "You think she and Emma got the Janus Stone?"

"Must have, if the Witch had to control her beasts the hard way. Let's go find David and grab his tablet."

Blackness receded rapidly. Despite her earlier conviction that she was fading out, Regina found that, much to her own surprise, she was still breathing. And that the Black Fairy hadn't sent another crushing wave of magic in her direction, either. The Evil Queen hadn't been able to block the last four attacks, or even able to endure them. Her legs had finally gone out from under her when the third one hit, and the last had been the one she was sure would kill her. Of course, she'd always been stubborn, so Regina had grabbed ahold of her own magic and held on tight, using it to shield her vital organs in a last desperate bid for survival. That must have been why she survived that fourth attack—but where was the fifth one, the one where the Black Fairy blasted through her defenses and destroyed her forever?

Perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps it was time for the Evil Queen to give in—but no. It wasn't. The only thing she regretted about her past actions was where they'd hurt Henry. Other than that, she was who she was. Regina had made her choices, and she'd long since decided to live with them and be who she'd become. Besides, being nicer wouldn't have helped her against the Black Fairy, and it wouldn't now, either—

She needed to get up, but even trying to lift her head made the world spin and her vision threaten to go black again. Everything hurt, and Regina couldn't bite back a groan of pain. She wasn't even sure that she could move her fingers at this point, but someone was talking—

Oh. The annoying blue insect had arrived. Joy.

"…know I will not let you take the boy, Danns," Regina's least favorite fairy was saying. Fight or not, she still despised the Blue Fairy more than she did the Black. At least the Black Fairy was honest enough to try to kill her. The Blue Fairy was far trickier, and wanted to steal her son's heart.

Musical laughter answered the stubborn statement. "And have you grown the courage to face me, sister? To defeat me once and for all, without hiding behind the Heart of the Truest Believer? I think not."

"I will do what must be done to wipe you and your evil from the face of our world."

"It's never been about good and evil, Reul, and you have always known that," the Black Fairy retorted, her voice low and reasonable—even in her half-dead state, Regina could recognize someone playing for their audience. The Black Fairy clearly didn't care what her sister thought of her, but she cared about what the people in the courtyard thought. Or wanted to manipulate them, anyway. "We are two sides of the same coin, you and I, neither fully good nor fully evil."

Slowly, Regina was able to turn her head without her vision graying out too much. The Black Fairy stood only a few feet away from her prone form—that must be why Snow had such a death grip on Henry, otherwise he would have probably been by Regina's side, a thought that warmed her erratically-beating heart—with the Blue Fairy facing her from closer to Snow. Blue was big, too, human sized and furious looking. Both crackled with power, and if the Black Fairy was tired at all from her fight with Regina, it didn't show. Her wispy silk dress was still immaculate, and she didn't have a hair out of place. Regina, on the other hand, felt like she'd been run over by a Mack truck. She was surprised there weren't tire tracks across her chest.

"I will stop you," the Blue Fairy repeated stubbornly, making the other fairy laugh.

"With what? That boy?" She shook her head derisively. "You'll not fool me twice the same way, so I defy you to try and get the Heart of the Truest Believer into my chest. And I will remind you, sister, who had to save whom the last time you got in a fight."

Those words made the Blue Fairy turn an interesting shade of purple, and Regina wanted to laugh. At least it was nice to know that the fairy who had half-killed her was the more dangerous of the two. That had to count for something.

"Much has changed while you have been in exile," the Blue Fairy countered, her tone lofty and superior once more, as if she hadn't a doubt in the world. "The world is not what it was."

"Oh, I know," was the immediate response. "And it's going to be so much more fun."

The ground trembled slightly before Blue got a hold of her temper; Regina tried to bite back a whimper and failed. The numbness born of having absorbed too much magic was fading, leaving her in more and more pain. She'd thought she hurt before, but now every breath burned, and Regina wasn't sure she could feel her limbs. Were her fingers wiggling when she told them to? There was no way to tell, and her vision was starting to go black at the edges again. Desperately, exhaustedly, she reached for magic, hoping to sustain herself, but the well was empty. The bottom was dry. Everything hurt.

"But—" the Black Fairy continued before Blue could find a response. "I will leave you now. Not out of fear of you, dear sister, but out of respect for the old friend whose castle this is. I am sure we will see one another soon."

She vanished in a cloud of fairy dust and silver smoke, leaving Regina to cough painfully when some of the dust made its way into her lungs. She saw stars, and her stomach heaved madly, the magic reacting horribly with her own dried out and exhausted powers. By the time her vision cleared, Robin was crouching by her head. When had he come outside?

"Mom!" Henry cried, also rushing over to her. Regina tried to smile for him and failed, groaning as Robin carefully pulled her head into his lap.

"Regina?" the outlaw asked quietly, and she forced her eyes to focus on him with an effort. His face was jumping up and down erratically. "Are you all right, love?"

"I'll be fine," she tried to snap, but the words came out as more of a whimper. She needed to be strong for Henry, but she could barely feel it when her boy took her hand. Another moment of blackness swept over her, and by the time she was able to focus again, Snow was there, too.

Aren't we just a happy family? The moment that thought crossed her mind, Regina knew she had to be loopy. Otherwise she'd never have thought of Snow as family. Not ever.

Robin, however, was having none of her lies, and he looked away from her, the concern on his face fading into anger. It took Regina a confused second before she could follow his gaze, only to find he was glaring at the Blue Fairy. "You have to heal her," the outlaw said in a tone that booked no argument.

"Have to? Young man, I am—"

"Supposed to be one of the good guys," Robin cut her off harshly. "Prove it."

Dizzy though she was, Regina could see the Blue Fairy glaring, and she had to admit that it was nice to have someone fighting for her. Make that two someones—Henry spoke up before the Blue Fairy could find a way to dismiss Robin.

"You always claim you're on the right side," Henry said bluntly. "But you left my mom to fight the Black Fairy because you've been too cowardly to stick your neck out. That's not right."

"If you ever want us to trust you again, Blue, you need to help us now," Snow put in, her voice soft. Was that her holding Regina's other hand? The world really had changed.

"Your Majesty, I…"

"Please." Only Snow could look so regal and noble while she pleaded with someone, but Regina's stepdaughter regularly pulled off a quiet dignity that Regina had never possessed. "Regina needs your help. Now."

There was steel behind the softly spoken last word that even Regina couldn't miss, not even in the muddled state her mind was in. She was starting to fade again, however, and almost missed whatever Robin put in, though she could tell from the tone that it wasn't nearly as polite as Henry or Snow were being. Bless the man, he was worried for her, and the rush of warmth and love that ran through her lent Regina strength.

"…still have squid ink-tipped arrows," Robin finished fiercely.

"There's no need for that," Blue finally said. "I will help."

A wand came up as the fairy knelt near Regina, and suddenly blue magic flickered entirely too close to her face. But then everything went warm, and when she faded out this time, it was in a soft and comfortable manner. The last thing Regina was aware of was Robin stroking her forehead tenderly while Snow and Henry held her hands.

"So, why would your True Love potion be less effective than someone else's?" Ruby asked Belle in an undertone.

"I'd expect it's somehow tainted by the whole Dark One business," Hook put in boldly, and then glanced a little guiltily at Belle. "No offense, love."

Rumplestiltskin found it interesting, though unsurprising, that the pirate chose to address his comments to Belle rather than him; he and Hook had declared a truce of sorts, but they still didn't make a practice of sharing civil conversations. But he only snorted when Belle turned an innocent smile on the pirate, her hand still warm in his own:

"No, it's less effective on you because Rumple still doesn't like you. I'm much more forgiving than he is, but I do understand."

Rumplestiltskin hid a smile by turning his head to kiss Belle's hair. He would probably never forget that Hook had called for Milah in his nightmares, undoubtedly warning her to run from him. Even when Rumplestiltskin had been the Dark One, he'd more or less regretted the uncontrollable fit of rage in which he'd murdered his wife…but now it dug in particularly deeply. Milah had been his first love, and he'd clung desperately to their failing relationship for years before she'd run away with Hook and broken his heart. In the intervening years, he'd clung to that heartbreak and fury without ever letting himself think of the obvious: Milah might have lied to him, but she had loved Hook. And Hook had loved her. Perhaps it was time to put the hatred aside.

"If my having been the Dark One was going to taint an act of True Love, dearie, we wouldn't be here now," Rumplestiltskin replied instead of rising to the bait Hook had offered. Once, he wouldn't have been able to resist such temptation; the darkness in him would have demanded he at least say something cutting. But with his curse broken…

Hook grimaced slightly, clearly catching the reference to Rumplestiltskin's self-sacrifice in Storybrooke. But it was Emma who saved the day, asking:

"Speaking of you not being the Dark One and all, can you fix Ruby's arm?"

Next to him, Belle went rigid. "How could I forget?" she blanched. "Ruby got bit."

"By a flying monkey?" Rumplestiltskin asked, glad to turn his mind to a problem he could fix.

"Yeah." The wolf-girl grimaced. "I already shed enough during wolf's time. I'd hate to start molting, too."

Uneasy laughter rippled around the group, but Rumplestiltskin was able to smile easily.

"I don't think that will be a problem." He lifted his free hand—the one not intertwined with Belle's fingers—and a blue glow enveloped Ruby's bandaged left arm. The young woman jumped as his magic swept over her, knitting up the bite, removing the stained bandage, and then repairing her torn sleeve. Rumplestiltskin healed her swollen and cut up face, too, along with her bleeding side, just for good measure. Hook had inadvertently done a number on her, and she was Belle's friend.

"Is that it?" Ruby asked, lifting her arm to stare at the now-intact sleeve with wide eyes. "I won't turn into a monkey?"

He smiled slightly. "I shouldn't think that would be a problem. Generally speaking, the human body can only play host to one dark creature at a time. Your original, uh, condition would have taken precedence, anyway, but I did remove the monkey's venom. Just in case."

"At what price?"

A chuckle escaped before he could contain it, but at least the laugh disguised the fact that Rumplestiltskin hadn't even thought about demanding a price for healing her. That realization made something inside him twist uncomfortably. "This one's on the house."

"Thanks," Ruby replied with a glance at Belle, who just nodded to reassure her friend. Emma, however, eyed him suspiciously.

"Regina's finally pounded this magic thing into me," she said dubiously. "And now I know that you've never said that 'all magic comes with a price' crap for fun. So, who are you doing to dump the cost of this one on?"

"You know just enough to be dangerous, Miss Swan," Rumplestiltskin replied with a smile that tried to hide his own unease. But Belle squeezed his hand, and it was time for a little more uncomfortable honesty. He wasn't the Dark One any longer, and couldn't afford to act like it. "My magic comes with a price you cannot pay. Or that you already have, as the case may be."

Perhaps things would be different when the war ended, when the nature of magic itself was not so in flux. But this power he'd inherited still demanded that Rumplestiltskin live up to the role it remembered Merlin filling: the peacekeeper, the original power, the lonely sorcerer on the hilltop who did the right thing. Rumplestiltskin was no Merlin to be comfortable with watching his magic work without consciously counting and balancing the cost, but the scales of power remained undisturbed when he'd healed Ruby.

"I don't—" Emma started to say, but was interrupted by a sudden vibration from the pouch on her right hip. She pulled the tablet out, read it, and scowled. "Damn. David says the Witch's army is going crazy, and he wants to know if we can bring the Janus Stone there."

"All you had to do was ask." At least that was magic that did not leave left him conflicted. Rumplestiltskin raised a hand, twitched his fingers, and power pulled.

"Will she be all right?" Henry asked Snow quietly, looking so young and lost. Snow squeezed his shoulders again, standing behind him as they watched the Blue Fairy bend over Regina. They'd moved the Evil Queen into the great hall of the castle after the Black Fairy had finally left—Robin had insisted upon carrying her—and now they all gathered around, watching helplessly.

"I'm sure she will," Snow replied, sounding much more optimistic than she felt.

"Blue knows what she's doing," Tinker Bell spoke up, smiling down at Henry. "She really is the best at this."

Henry scowled. "I'd rather have Grandpa Gold fix her, and I bet Mom would, too."

"Henry!" But Snow barely held back an unladylike snort of laughter. I bet Regina would prefer to have Rumplestiltskin heal her, she thought with amusement that faded when she looked at her stepmother's bloodless face. She'd never expected to be so worried about Regina. They really had come a long way since the days when they'd gone to war over a kingdom and Snow had regretted stopping her execution.

"What? It's true," her grandson (or adopted stepbrother; wasn't that odd?) insisted, and Snow could only smile sadly at him.

"Regina's strong," she said softly but fiercely. "She didn't fight so hard to die now."

They arrived in a swirl of golden smoke. Rumplestiltskin had always enjoyed leaving people guessing while choosing the colors of his magic in the past, and not being the Dark One gave him no reason to change that habit. Most people got stuck in a single color, but he'd never appreciated being so limited or so predictable, which meant he'd explored a virtual rainbow of magic over the centuries. Now even more was at his fingertips, and he'd decided that he rather enjoyed the symmetry of using the color associated with the name Regina's curse had given him. Gold was a color that was neither pure light nor toxic darkness, just as he split the difference between the two types of magic. It fit.

"You called, dearie?" he asked as Charming jumped slightly.

"Actually, I did," another voice answered, and Rumplestiltskin couldn't help smiling as he turned to face his son. Interestingly enough, Baelfire held Excalibur in his hands, but that was a question for another time. "I take it you got the Stone?"

"Now whatever gives you that idea?" Rumplestiltskin couldn't resist teasing Bae a little, and wasn't that extraordinary? Not too long before Regina's reversal of her curse had destroyed Storybrooke, Rumplestiltskin could never have imagined that his relationship with his son could be so far repaired. In some ways, they were much like they'd been, so very many years ago, before he'd taken on his old curse. They were both different—so different—but the underlying love was the same.

"Probably because you're really bad at failure," his son retorted.

"Hey now," Emma put in with a grin. "Give credit where it's due. Your dad just showed up in time to save Hook's life. We did the stone theft-ing."

"Saving Hook's life? Are you okay, Pop?" Bae shot his way immediately.

His own smile turned lopsided. "Probably not."

Even Hook chuckled at that quip, and the others laughed, too. David, however, interjected as Emma moved over to Bae's side, looking at Rumplestiltskin's son in a way that Rumplestiltskin had never seen her look at any man. Oh, dear… Had he missed that development?

"So, joking aside, can we do something about this mess of creatures? They're mostly milling around right now, but every now and then one of the ogres decides it's time to start eating people, and that tends to get messy," the king put in.

"Sorry." Emma looked embarrassed for a moment, and then a frown took over her expression. "So, I'm going to guess that the Witch ran away again?"

"Not exactly," Bae answered her, wearing a lopsided smile that Rumplestiltskin knew too well—and one that made his eyes flick to Excalibur. Sure enough, there was blood on the blade.

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" Hook demanded before Rumplestiltskin could start laughing.

Oh, Zelena. For all your posturing about power and your grand revenge, you never expected to be killed by someone who's never had any interest in magic, did you? His old student would have hated such an inglorious end with every fiber of her being, but it was somehow fitting.

Bae shrugged. "Ding dong the Witch is dead?"

Emma, Belle, and David both snorted out laughter, and even Rumplestiltskin smiled at the quip. Hook looked confused—he was the only one with no memories from the Land Without Magic—but he at least shrugged with relief. After a moment, Bae continued:

"Turns out that you were right, Pop. Excalibur did the job nicely." He offered the sword back to David, who hesitated for a moment before taking it. "Thanks for the load, David."

The king smiled. "Any time. Now—about those creatures. I assume that we can stop them now that the Witch is dead?"

"Good idea," Emma said, and then turned to the brunette to Rumplestiltskin's right. "Do you know how to work that thing?"

"I know in theory, but…" As she spoke, Belle pulled the Janus Stone out of her pocket, cupping the glowing red gem in her hands. Rumplestiltskin had felt its presence all along, though now that he saw the stone for the very first time, he realized that it was far smaller than he'd expected. "Rumple?"

Rumplestiltskin almost reached out to take the stone as invited, but stopped himself. He'd always been a bit of a magpie where magical objects were concerned—and he had no intention of doing anything foolish like throwing the Janus Stone away—but that didn't mean that he had to control this one personally. Not right now. So he gave Belle a reassuring smile. "Go ahead."

"Me?"

"Why not?"

"I'm no magic user," Belle objected. "I'm just…me."

"What you are," he leaned in close to say softly, "is extraordinary. And you're one of the strongest people I've met in my long and colorful life. You don't need magic to control the Janus Stone, Belle. Just willpower. And you have that to spare."

Shining blue eyes looked up at him, and Rumplestiltskin knew he'd done the right thing. "What do I do?"

"Just focus on the Stone." Rumplestiltskin stepped behind her as Belle looked down to do just that, touching her elbows gently. Belle held the glowing gem in both hands, and he just tucked his chin onto her shoulder to watch. "Tell it what you want, and the Stone's magic will do the rest."

"Really? That's all?" he heard Emma's voice echo, but Rumplestiltskin ignored her, his attention on Belle.

For several long moments, nothing happened. The hodgepodge assortment of magical creatures just kept milling around on the plain, boxed in by the army and sometimes attacking one another at random. Most seemed confused, or at least a little lost, with no coherent force binding them together. The ogres were the worst of the bunch, of course—none of the five Ogre Wars had been caused by someone using the Janus Stone; the ogres had done that themselves—bashing at one another with clubs or targeting random creatures or people just for the fun of it. Ogres weren't very smart, but they were damn dangerous, and there were at least a dozen of them down there.

Then his spine tingled, and Rumplestiltskin felt power sweep out. Her back firmly against his front, Belle trembled slightly, but more from surprise than anything else, and Rumplestiltskin just tightened his hands on her elbows reassuringly. He could feel the magic working with her, for her, and could see the tendrils of glowing red light working their way out from the Stone. None of the others could—Emma should have, but typically, she wasn't looking—but Rumplestiltskin watched as the power of the Janus Stone arched out to cover the creatures Zelena had assembled to fight for her. Small threads of magic spiraled off of the larger tendrils, one heading for each of the creatures…and then, suddenly, there was a flash of blinding red light.

The others yelped and looked away; Rumplestiltskin, having known it was coming, did not, and he was able to watch the old tendrils of magic surrounding Zelena's army disintegrate. The new power, Belle's power, sank in with the flash, and suddenly the ogres stopped fighting with one another. One by one, the creatures stopped aimlessly milling about, waking up from what looked to be a long slumber. Then one by one, they vanished, leaving only a few dozen flying monkeys to stand looking lost and confused.

"Can I free the monkeys?" Belle asked softly, pausing to look up at him. Her eyes were shining.

"Not with the Stone, no. It's never controlled them. That's all Zelena's magic," he replied, and watched her face fall a little. "But I can."

"What did you do?" Bae asked Belle as Rumplestiltskin's right hand came up.

"I told them to go home," she answered simply, and he paused to smile at her. That was such an elegantly simple solution…and one he'd never have thought of. Of course the Stone had taken care of that.

"Home," Charming mused. "That's a powerful motivator."

"Indeed it is," Rumplestiltskin said softly, and felt Belle twist to look up at him as he gathered magic to himself.

He'd spent the odd hour or two studying the spell Zelena had used to turn humans into flying monkeys once they'd discovered it back at King Stefan's castle. Though the castle had been destroyed in that fae's attack—Rumplestiltskin still wished he'd known her name, because he had a few interesting curses in mind for her—he'd been able to recreate the magic work in his mind and deconstruct it in his off time. The same knowledge had aided him in making sure Ruby wouldn't turn into a monkey, but this was the moment he'd been waiting to arrive. The required spell had been stored in the back of his mind, waiting for this day. Now Rumplestiltskin just had to see if he had the power to pull it off.

Power swept up around him, a gentle breeze that grew warmer by the moment. This wasn't dark magic, not his old forte. No, it was something far lighter, far better. Ironically, it was something Merlin would happily have chosen to do, showy execution and all—but if he kept thinking like that, the odd streak of spite inside Rumplestiltskin would probably keep him from casting the spell at all.

Focus. He let out a long breath, felt Belle still leaning against him, felt the tendrils of power his spell had sent out, watching them turn gold then white and then gold again, each reaching for one of the many monkeys standing lonely and confused on the plain. Other tendrils vanished into the air, seeking out monkeys Zelena had left elsewhere. He felt them make contact, felt the spell expanding to reach to all corners of the Enchanted Forest, and then a golden mist rose, seemingly from the ground but really reaching out from the fabric of their world itself. After all, magic was not simply a force that a lucky few could manipulate, not in the Enchanted Forest. Their world bore its name for a reason, and Rumplestiltskin's power was able to reach into the very heart of that magic to deconstruct one of the cruelest individual enchantments he had ever encountered.

The others could see the magic, now, and it was no wonder. Zelena's spell was incredibly powerful and incredibly dark. Anything that morphed a man into a winged creature bound to a sorceress' will had to be potently evil. In this case, the magic had been fueled by Zelena's heartbreak, envy, and rage, and although she was dead, the power of the spell held. Stories aside, the darkest magics were the least likely to fail when their caster died, and the spells binding the flying monkeys were certainly powerful enough to stick for another decade or so before they decayed. Needless to say, none of them could afford to let that happen. Even at his worst, Rumplestiltskin wouldn't have wanted to leave them lying around for the next evil sorcerer to pick up.

The golden mist intensified briefly, clumping around the now-frightened monkeys. Rumplestiltskin could hear their squeals of terror, and several tried to fly away, only to find that the mist made their wings heavier than usual and to fall back to the ground before making it very far. As they did so, a green mist started oozing out of each creature, and one by one, their faces started to change. The monkeys were vacillating between human and primate by the time the two mists met. The green magic seemed to shy away from Rumplestiltskin's power—his hand was still held, rock steady and palm out, in that direction—but the golden mist overtook the green anyway, and the two combined in a blinding flash of blue light.

Rumplestiltskin could follow the lightning-fast transformation, although he knew the others could not. Emma had the power but not the experience to do so, and even Belle had hidden her face in his shoulder when the glow had grown too strong. Several soldiers had dropped to the ground for protection, shouting out oaths to whatever deities they believed might shield them. But it only lasted ten seconds or so, and when the magic passed, there were dozens of humans were monkeys had once been.

"How did you do that?" Emma demanded as Belle squeezed his arm. Her smile, and Bae's, were well worth the sudden tug of tiredness Rumplestiltskin felt dragging him down, and—

Oh. That wasn't exhaustion. That was the price of this magic, dropping on him without warning.

Rumplestiltskin closed his eyes, tuning the others out, even Bae and Belle. This was what he had to be. This was the price. The end of the war wouldn't change it, and there was no going back, now. This was forever, and that was suddenly terrifying. How was he supposed to fill the shoes of a man who had been so much better than Rumplestiltskin had ever dreamed of being? Merlin had once been called pure of heart and true of soul. Rumplestiltskin was neither. He'd never looked at his own heart, but Rumplestiltskin knew it would be black and scarred by what he had done over his three centuries of life. His soul was irrevocably stained by who he had been, so how was he supposed to be this?

Still, the magic demanded it, and this magic owned his soul as thoroughly as the Dark One's curse ever had. Yes, it was a kinder master, but the pull was still there. A voice in the back of his head, almost but never forgotten, whispered that this was right and necessary and even good—but Rumplestiltskin's own moral compass had been abandoned so long ago that those words meant nothing to him. This is what you are.

The sudden pressure made his eyes open, made him scowl. Rage rose to meet the insistent price, fast and strong. What had he once told Belle this was? Darkness and light, in equal measure. That he could be. Not some paragon of goodness. They always failed to live up to their own lofty aspirations in the end. Rumplestiltskin was not such a hypocrite. And he was no dead man's puppet.

I will do this on my terms or not at all, he vowed silently…and after a long moment, he felt the pressure recede.

"Rumple?" Belle asked for the second time. He'd not heard the first. "Are you all right?"

Shaking himself, he turned to look at her, wiping the blank expression off of his face. "I am," he said with a surprisingly easy smile. "Indeed I am."

A/N: Thank you all for the lovely reviews you've been posting! I always love to hear from readers, and every review I get makes my day.

Next up is Chapter 31: "At All Costs", in which the Black Fairy plots her next move, her sister is difficult, Henry is observant, and the dagger wound in Rumplestiltskin's side makes an appearance.

Please do let me know what you think! What do you think of Snow and Regina working as a team, and do you think Emma's going to keep developing her magical talents?