Chapter Thirty-Three—"Ocean of Darkness"
Squid ink, it turned out, only held the demon for about an hour. Right at the fifty-eight minute mark (Emma's watch was still working, thank you very much), it started twitching, and by minute fifty-nine, it had tried to launch a fireball at her. So Neal shot it again, and together they watched the demon go still.
By that point, most of the wounded had been dealt with and the burning carts had been extinguished. Mulan and a few others were still trying to chase down all the horses and soldiers the demon had frightened off, but the army was more or less in one piece again after the initial confusion. David was up and around, and though looking at her father made Emma's heart clench in her chest, he seemed to be okay. She kept waiting for the healing she'd done for him to fall apart at any moment, but apparently Regina had been right. Magic was emotion, and even though Emma had never even thought about trying to heal someone before, let alone studied how, she'd felt strongly enough, been desperate enough, to save her father's life.
Having done so was more than a little terrifying, but Emma had decided to learn magic, so she supposed that she ought to get used to the feeling.
"So. What can we do with this thing?" David asked, approaching where she and Neal stood over the demon, staring at its now-still form.
"Well, cutting its head off doesn't work," Neal volunteered. "We tried that already. Twice." Her boyfriend—if that's what he was again—shrugged. "Here's Excalibur, by the way. It's not much use against this bugger."
"Damn," her father said quietly, and Emma nodded in agreement.
"I don't really know how to kill something with magic, either, and I'm not sure that figuring it out on something that can survive Excalibur is a good idea," she said hesitantly. But she made a promise to herself to study harder even as the words came out—Regina was right. Refusing to learn magic was like voluntarily blinding herself in one eye. It was stupid.
"Yeah, probably not a good idea," Neal agreed.
"How much more squid ink do you have?" David asked next.
"About enough to get us halfway through the night, assuming it works for an hour every time. So, in other words: not nearly enough."
"And we have no way to move this…thing," Emma added. "Even if we knew what to do with it. And we can't just stay here on the road."
"So, you're saying we should probably call this one in," the king said, reaching for the tablet he kept in a pouch on his belt. But his hand hit empty air. "Emma. Did you fix the tablet when you fixed my clothes?"
Her heart sank. "Um. No?"
She hadn't even consciously managed to repair David's clothes, though Emma was glad she had. The burns had been bad, and all over the place. If she hadn't, her father would be walking around showing off body parts that only her mother should ever see. Emma might have physically been her parents' age, but she really wasn't interested in seeing David Nolan that way, not ever. So her magic had seen fit to help her out and mend his clothes in addition to his body…but apparently that didn't cover the things that had been on his belt. After looking around for several moments, David did find the pouch near where he'd been lying on the ground earlier, and it was burned to a crisp.
"I could try to fix it…?" she offered hesitantly, having no idea how.
"Can you fix the magic on it even if you repair it?" Neal asked, and Emma cringed. It wasn't his fault—it was a logical question—but now she felt even worse.
"Maybe?"
She started to reach for the charred piece of chalkboard—where did they get chalkboard in the Enchanted Forest, anyway?—but then David's hand abruptly dropped, leaving Emma grasping at thin air. "I'm an idiot," her father said, looking like he wanted so smack himself in the forehead. "There's a much easier way to go about this. Assuming he's listening. Rumplestiltskin."
Emma stared at David in confusion, and could see that Neal felt the same from where he stood at her side. They exchanged a glance, and finally Neal spoke up:
"You know that's only a legend, and besides, I'm not sure if it applies now that he's not the Dark One."
"It always worked before," David replied.
"What always worked?" Emma asked, puzzled. "You mean that you expect Gold to hear you when you call his name like that?"
David shrugged. "Why do you think no one wanted to use his name in Storybrooke?"
"Maybe because it's an unpronounceable mouthful?"
"Well, that's hardly polite," a familiar voice suddenly said from behind her, making Emma whirl around. Her father, of course, grinned. Damn him.
Damn them both. Gold—Rumplestiltskin, Emma reminded herself, finally appreciating the difference between the two—looked entirely too self-satisfied.
"And here I thought we were getting along better these days," the sorcerer quipped.
"Be nice, Pop," Neal said, but even Emma could tell that he wasn't actually angry with his father.
"I'm on my best behavior," Rumplestiltskin promised, and the twinkle in his eye suddenly reminded Emma very vividly of the man standing beside her. And of Henry. I always knew he'd gotten Neal's sense of humor. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
"Great," she shot back, but not with the ire she once would have summoned up. "Then you can help us deal with this demon…thing."
Fortunately, the sorcerer turned serious when he stepped up next to them, peering down at the demon. In fact, Emma was pretty sure that she saw his eyes widen slightly in surprise, and that, at least, was a victory she always enjoyed experiencing. It was damn hard to surprise Gold, and Emma liked to do it every chance she got.
"You trapped an elemental demon of fire," he said after a moment, running a hand through the air over the demon. "With squid ink."
"Emma froze it first so that it quit dodging," Neal volunteered, and Rumplestiltskin glanced her way.
"Impressive."
"Can you kill it?" David asked. "Even Excalibur can't seem to manage to cut its head off. Or anything, really."
Hanging in the air unspoken between them was the fact that Rumplestiltskin had once explained how Excalibur would cut through any enchantment, how the sword was what they called a secondary power—and Emma now knew just enough magical theory to understand how significant that was. So the sword should have done the trick. Thinking it would kill the demon had undoubtedly been what had made her father rush in like he had, and almost die. But it should have worked. Emma found that more than a little annoying.
"No, Excalibur wouldn't," the slender man murmured, looking distracted.
"Why not?" she demanded.
Blinking, Rumplestiltskin finally looked at the three of them, and as his dark eyes swept over David, Emma got the distinct impression he sensed the magic she'd had to use to save her father. Perhaps that was why he offered an explanation instead of sarcasm: "An elemental demon can only be killed by its opposite," he said, gesturing at the still-infuriated creature. "In this case, an elemental demon of fire can only be killed by air—but the trick is that what can kill them is also what they consume. Only a surfeit of the element can actually kill them."
"Great." Emma wished that explanation made less sense to her. "Can you kill it?"
"Certainly. But I'm not going to." Before they could object, Rumplestiltskin smiled. "Instead, I'm going to trap it, and save it for something special."
Before any of them could object, a small box appeared to the sorcerer's left, and his hands came up together, forming a small golden tornado between them that honed in on the still-frozen demon.
The group of royals and nobles had gathered in the ballroom as if no one would notice. But after watching a few people slip off, glancing over their shoulders and trying too obviously to be stealthy about it, Belle started getting suspicious. When she finally spotted her own father heading into the ballroom in the east wing, she decided to follow.
Unlike those sneaking around, Belle knew the Dark Castle extremely well. She knew that the ballroom had four separate doors, one of which was hidden behind a giant tapestry. So Belle hung a right when Sir Maurice went through the doors on his left, taking the passageway that looked like it should lead away from the ballroom and jogged about fifty feet. Then she took the third door on her left, and followed it down a short hallway until she reached the northern ballroom entrance. No one noticed when she slipped in, and Belle was able to listen to the conversations with impunity while she hid in the shadows. The ballroom really was quite poorly lit, but why waste candles on a room that no one ever entered? It had only been gathering dust since little Graham's christening.
"Queen Snow and King David have obviously become corrupted by the influence of the Evil Queen and the Dark One," Queen Leah told her audience, with King Hubert standing by her side. "They are good people, but they have been misled. They have often referred to the events that took place in Storybrooke as a basis for trusting these proven villains, but those of us who were not there have enough perspective to understand how ridiculous this sounds."
"Please don't assume all of us who were in Storybrooke have fallen into this trap," Sir Maurice spoke up, making Belle's heart sink. "Not all of us have taken leave of our senses."
"Of course not, Sir Maurice. Please forgive my error," Leah replied courteously, and Belle's eyes swept the crowd. There were about two dozen people there, all of them well born—and many of them with faces Belle recognized.
There were Lady Tremaine and one of her daughters—was that Drizella? Belle remembered them vaguely from some function before Lady Tremaine had married Ella's father, back when they were all girls and a lot more innocent. Near them was the odious Marquis de Limoges, who she knew had put in a bid for her hand both before she'd been engaged to Gaston and again very recently, right before Rumplestiltskin had turned up alive. Next to the disgusting little bald man was Sir Richard LeFou, her father's current favorite to marry her, and although he wasn't as bad as Limoges, he was twice as stupid. LeFou was standing next to her father with that oblivious hanger-oner look he always wore when trying to convince Maurice that he agreed with everything he said.
But those were the minor nobles. The more important people, the royals, were far more interesting—and far more dangerous. Unsurprisingly, Philip and Aurora stood near their respective parents, and Rapunzel stood near them. Belle had expected them to be there, particularly since Rapunzel had been locked up with King Hubert and Queen Leah for months on end and clearly trusted both. Seeing the former King George there hardly made Belle blink, but she hadn't expected Prince Naveen and Tiana, neither of which she knew well. Nor was she expecting a tall man who she thought was Lord Fflewddur Fflam, or the wry sorcerer who Rumplestiltskin had once identified as Lord Soulis. But the two that hurt the most to see were Prince Eric and Ariel, both of whom had arrived just two days earlier and Belle had considered friends.
There were others present, but Belle didn't recognize any of them—and that hardly mattered once Queen Leah started speaking again.
I hadn't expected her to be the ring leader, but given how bumbling Hubert tends to be, I suppose that's not a surprise.
"We must act quickly, or any chance of freedom for our peoples will be lost, as will any chance we have to further expand our territories," Leah continued. "The Evil Queen was weakened in her battle with the Black Fairy, so now is the time to destroy her. If we are able to do so, it is likely that Queen Snow and King David will be able to free themselves of her influence. Then we will be able to overpower the Dark One upon his return."
"Your Majesty, I think you are mistaken on two fronts." Surprisingly, it was Belle's father who spoke up, and she paused to listen to him instead of interrupting like she had planned. "Firstly, I believe my daughter when she says that the Dark One's curse has been broken. Rumplestiltskin is no longer cursed—but I also remember that he is the one who saved us all from the Black Fairy. I think any plan to overpower him would be easily overcome."
Hubert blinked. "Then what would you have us do? Would you have us submit to evil tyranny?"
Leah did not let Maurice reply, which was probably a good thing—Belle recognized the mulish look on her father's face, and the stubborn ache in her heart abruptly eased. Papa's not here to help them. He's here to stop them! Belle's emotions whipped from worried to giddy in the blink of an eye, and she had never been so proud to be Maurice's daughter as she was right then.
"I will not allow this to continue. I will not be dictated to by sorcerers any longer. Moreover, those of us who were not taken by the Evil Queen's curse will not stand to be lorded over by those who went to that town known as Storybrooke. This is our home, and the new borders drawn during the time everyone else was gone will stand, no matter what Queen Snow and King David have said. They were not here; those of us who suffered in their absence will be rewarded for our patience."
That pronouncement was obviously not as popular as the others; although about half the nobles in the room had dodged Regina's curse, not all of them had. And although Belle could tell that no one in the room was happy with the current balance of power, a few of them seemed unready to go against the pair that had successfully led them through the war—or the Evil Queen and the sorcerer who had made that victory a certainty.
"Agreed," George snapped with his typical sneer. "I for one will not stand for Snow and 'Charming's' blatant usurpation of power, or for the vile sorcerers who are pulling their strings."
"Vile sorcerers?" Belle could no longer keep out of this, so she strode out of the shadows to stand at her father's side. She stabbed a finger at George. "You wouldn't be here if not for Rumplestiltskin and Regina. You'd be one of Pan's puppets, or dead."
Wheeling to face the others, she continued: "And as for the rest of you, you were at Prince Graham's Christening. Rumplestiltskin saved you all then, and you still want to call him some evil being? He's not the Dark One any longer. He's changed, and you owe him your lives. And this is how you repay him, by sneaking around his castle, where he's kindly given you shelter, and plotting behind his back? What kind of fools are you?"
"Maurice, why did you bring her here?" Hubert demanded. "She's the Dark One's lover."
"He didn't bring me here. You weren't nearly as subtle as you thought you were when you crept off to this little meeting, and I followed you," Belle retorted, squaring her shoulders proudly. "And yes. I love Rumplestiltskin. He's a good man who stands by his allies, which is more than I can say for the lot of you."
"Remove your daughter, Sir Maurice," Queen Leah commanded imperiously.
"Excuse me? This is my home, not your palace, and I'm not going anywhere, and certainly not by your orders."
"Wait." That was George again, wheeling around to glare at Belle. "We can't let her leave. She'll just tell them our plans."
"And if you harm a hair on her head, the Dark One will filet you," Lord Soulis spoke up abruptly. "This was always an alliance of fools. I will no longer take any part in this."
"You cannot back out now!" Hubert objected.
The sorcerer turned to face the dumpy looking king. "I defy you to force me, Your Majesty. Or did you miss the part where I learned magic from Queen Cora?"
Belle had not known that about Soulis, but at the moment, she was willing to take any ally she could get. Soulis' declaration had clearly made a few people uncomfortable, too; she could see Limoges shifting uneasily, and Ariel looked positively miserable. Belle's friend had a death grip on Eric's arm and was shooting him significant looks that made Eric study his feet. Even Philip and Aurora seemed to be having second thoughts, so she turned to look at the younger royals. Perhaps those of her own generation would listen to her when their elders proved stubborn.
"We have an alliance," she reminded them forcefully. "All of you signed on for this—or your regents did when you were held prisoner." Belle looked at Leah and Hubert while she said the last part, knowing they'd been locked up at the beginning of the war, and that Philip and Aurora had joined the alliance in their steads. "And noneof you complained while the war was being fought. No, you had to wait until the war was won before you became brave. You're pathetic."
"It's not too late to stop this," Maurice spoke up from her side. "You'll all be able to go home soon enough, and then you can ally your kingdoms with whomever you like."
"All you have to do is walk out of this room without breaking the treaty," Belle finished for him.
"And will you fail to tell the Dark One about this little meeting?" Leah demanded, her voice a little shaky.
"He's not the Dark One anymore. And we don't keep secrets from one another." She let her eyes sweep over the assembled royals and nobles, and then turned to her father, feeling closer to Maurice than she had in years. "Shall we, Papa?"
"Indeed we shall," Maurice replied, and they swept towards the main doors together. Maurice pulled them open, and they stepped forward together, not bothering to look back at the mortified and/or terrified fools behind them. Belle was fairly certain that none of the people they'd left behind were stupid enough to try to actually harm either one of them, so she didn't even bother to look at them. She and her father walked out confidently—only to stop cold.
Rumplestiltskin was standing in the doorway with a knowing smile on his face.
Belle felt her father tense beside her, but she couldn't help smiling back. Her father had said his name, after all, and no one knew better than Belle how quickly her True Love could appear once that word was uttered. Had her papa done that on purpose? Belle had to wonder. If so, did that mean that her father had finally accepted the fact that she wasn't giving up Rumplestiltskin, no matter what Maurice said? She'd have to talk to her father about this later, but for now, her eyes were on Rumplestiltskin.
"Quite a speech, sweetheart," Rumplestiltskin said, reaching out to take her hand. Much to Belle's surprise, he planted a soft kiss on the back of it, his brown eyes meeting hers.
Despite her earlier anger, Belle's heart skipped a beat. Rumplestiltskin wasn't one for overt public displays of affection, and although she knew that this one was partially for the benefit of those watching, she could see his love for her shining in his eyes. She knew him well enough to know that this show served a purpose, but Belle trusted him. She would play along.
"Thank you, Rumple," she replied, returning his smile with one of her own and moving to his side. Together, they looked at the now-shocked nobility still standing in the room—not one of which had found any of the other exits and looked desperate for a way to escape Rumplestiltskin.
She moved with him as he stepped into the room, noticing that her father hung back a little, looking a bit lost. Rumplestiltskin's body language reminded Belle vividly of that of a cat stalking its prey, light on his feet and playful, yet ready to pounce in an instant. Sometimes she hated the way he toyed with people, the way he moved them around like chess pieces on a board—but today, Belle knew it was necessary. Someone needed to intimidate these people out of destroying the Grand Alliance, and he really was best suited to that task. So, she hooked her arm through that of her True Love and let him embrace some of the darkness that still stained his soul.
"Lovely gathering, my lords and ladies," Rumplestiltskin drawled, twirling his free hand. Magic leapt around the room, snuffing out candles and plunging the ballroom into darkness—until suddenly a half dozen skylights appeared in the domed ceiling and sunlight streamed in. He quirked a dangerous smile at the royals. "Your Highnesses. So glad you decided to have your little party without me. In my castle."
Meanwhile, Belle didn't miss the panicked look Hubert threw Leah's way, but Aurora's mother ignored her fellow monarch. She kept her eyes on Rumplestiltskin, clearly trying to appear calm and collected, but Belle saw the nervous tick at the corner of her mouth, saw the way her brown eyes were a tad wider than they should have been. The others were starting to shift apprehensively, too. Every eye in the room, save hers, was on Rumplestiltskin, watching him prowl forward with Belle on his arm.
"Nothing to say?" Rumplestiltskin questioned after a full minute of silence, his voice rising in pitch and reminding Belle very vividly of him as the Dark One. "Not a one of you?"
Now Belle could see several of them visibly shaking. Normally, she would have felt pity for these poor, cornered people, but they'd brought it upon themselves. They were a lot of cowards, wanting to wait until the war was over to try to squeeze out every advantage they had, stabbing their allies—the people who had fought and won the war—in the backs in the process. She wasn't even as angry for their stated desire to kill Regina and Rumplestiltskin—Belle knew those two could take care of themselves just fine. But the fact that these so-called nobles were willing to forget every shred of honor they had just for a little personal gain utterly sickened her.
"What a pity," her love continued airily. "And here I was hoping for a legion of good excuses, reasons why you'd betray your allies…and for what? A little personal gain, a few more miles of territory and a few more peasants to oppress?" His voice turned into a sneer. "A pity indeed."
Abruptly, he turned away, and Belle had to take a few quick steps to keep up with him. His right hand snapped out, pointing. "A word, Soulis, if you would."
The other sorcerer jumped. "Of course."
Rumplestiltskin and Belle had almost reached the doors before Queen Leah found her voice.
"And…the rest of us?"
"Do you think I should kill you, dearie?" He stopped, and waited another long moment before turning back to face the crowd. Suddenly, Belle realized that she felt no tension in him, no magic crackling beneath the surface like she did when he was furious. Rumplestiltskin might be playing the part of the deadly evil sorcerer, but he was no more dangerous now than he was under normal circumstances. He was playing with them, not furious. "Well?"
"You would not…" But Leah trailed off, clearly remembering the tales of the many things Rumplestiltskin would do, and knowing that being royalty would not save any of them. Rumplestiltskin had never cared about that.
"Oh, don't tempt me, dear. There's nothing I like less than cowards and traitors," he responded easily, twisting around to face them again. "But I know what you are now. Don't I?"
A soft murmur of fear tore around the room, and it felt like the temperature had dropped a dozen degrees.
"So I don't think I need to kill any of you. You'll behave yourselves." Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "And if you don't—well, I think you all know that I'm only a heartbeat away, don't you? So don't get any ideas."
Once again, Rumplestiltskin started to turn away, but stopped in mid-stride. "Oh, and if any of you threaten my lady again, I'm killing all of you."
A/N: I think I got several requests for Belle to tell some people what she thinks of them, so here it is! Stay tuned for Chapter 34: "Lines Drawn", where Emma and Regina have a chat about magic, Snow and Charming are reunited, and Rumplestiltskin starts pulling strings.
Please let me know what you think!