Chapter Forty-Two—"Ulterior Motives"

Finally, the Black Fairy lifted the spell, standing calmly and waiting for Rumplestiltskin to stop screaming. Several moments had to pass before he could even control his breathing; his chest was heaving and dark magic was still dancing through his body, making his limbs spasm and fireworks flash across his vision. Her magic still held him to the chair while the bronze bands kept Rumplestiltskin isolated from his own power. Try though he did—and he desperately reached for his own magic as the Black Fairy tormented him, acting on instinct when coherent thought failed—Rumplestiltskin could not summon his powers. He could do nothing, nothing but wait and suffer and hope she'd let this end soon. It was devastatingly like his experiences as her prisoner, terrifyingly similar to the worst year of his life.

He hated being helpless. It made him angry and it made him afraid, made him remember the weak spinner he'd been before becoming the Dark One, the man who couldn't even protect his son. And now she wanted to make him helpless again, but in a different way—she wanted to take away his very ability to choose for himself, to make him into a slave and a creature of darkness. Her magic raced through him still, anchoring itself to his soul much like his curse once had, holding Rumplestiltskin still and making him vulnerable. Defenseless. Weak. Contain yourself! Anger was the only thing that could banish the fear, so he embraced that instead of his terror, just enough to give himself strength.

Blinking a few times finally made his vision clear, and Danns' a'Bhàis came into focus, her head cocked curiously as she watched him. Merlin's memories—clawing their way closer to the forefront of Rumplestiltskin's mind as tremors shook his body—told him that she chose the oddest moments to be patient. Unfortunately, the year he'd spent in her hands had been one of those times, as were the thirty she'd spent shaping Merlin to her will. Now she seemed to be exercising the same meticulous patience while she waited for Rumplestiltskin to give in to her.

"Have you had enough?" she asked congenially, using the same kind of tone someone else might use to discuss the weather.

"I did before you started at that," Rumplestiltskin rasped, again testing the magic that held him to the chair with no avail. He could move his fingers, his toes, his head, and his neck, but nothing else. His heart was starting to beat faster and faster, fear rising rapidly—Do the brave thing. He swallowed hard.

"Then perhaps you'll contemplate being more cooperative," Danns replied, seating herself once again, folding her hands gracefully in her lap. "You can fight me, Rumplestiltskin, but you know that doing so will get you nowhere. I assume you have gained Merlin's memories as well as his powers? Else you'd not have been able to play this part so well."

"You can blame yourself for shaking them loose." He would have shrugged had he been able, but he still couldn't move. Every nerve in his body was still aching. "If you hadn't tried to force the curse back into me, I'd have never remembered at all."

"Remembered?" She leapt on the word even though he'd not meant to use it; remembered had slipped out in reference to experiences that were not his own. The pain had to have caused that error. Without his magic to keep them apart, his memories and Merlin's threatened to merge again, and a smile made Danns' face glow.

Rumplestiltskin couldn't keep the sneer off his own face, didn't want to stop his anger from giving him strength. "Don't get too hopeful, dearie. Your precious curse preserved memories from all of my predecessors. The oldest ones only came through after you started your work on me."

"How fascinating." Her eyebrows rose, and Danns studied him again. "You are fascinating indeed."

"I'm glad to know I meet with your approval," he retorted dryly, and she laughed.

"More than that." Again, her hand came up to touch his face, and although Rumplestiltskin tried to pull away from her, he could not move far enough. "Why limit yourself when you could be extraordinary? You are now an original power, Rumplestiltskin. You are the first human to possess that power in over fifteen hundred years. Will you waste it in years of torment when you know I will win in the end?"

"But I don't know that." Rumplestiltskin met Danns' eyes squarely. "And neither do you. Because your curse can't get in if I don't let it. We both know that. Merlin had to let it in, and so would have I, even if I had no magic at all." He smiled viciously. "All magic comes at a price, after all, and that one has to be embraced."

"Do you really think you have thirty years of fighting in you?" she countered. "A century? More? I will wait however long it takes, and you, Rumplestiltskin, are no Merlin."

Ruthlessly shoving aside his fears, Rumplestiltskin snarled: "And yet I have plenty of reasons to fight you."

"Your family," the Black Fairy replied with a smile. Was that respect in her eyes, or fury? It was damnably hard to tell. "Your son and your grandson. Of course." Her pale face tightened ominously. "And yet it would be so simple for me to slay them, should you misbehave."

His heart utterly missed a beat, but fury rose to drown out Rumplestiltskin's fear.

"Harm either one of them, and there is nothing in this world that will stop me from killing you," he said softly, the ferocity of his wrath making him cold, making his voice almost gentle. "As you said, I'm no Merlin. I lack his…scruples.""

Danns laughed. "I have noticed that. Poor Norco paid the price for your temper, I see."

Rumplestiltskin snorted. "Norco paid the price for his own arrogance. And you knew I'd kill him."

"Even Merlin would have been tired of his antics, yes," she shrugged. "Yet I do still miss him. He was ever so loyal—will you take his place?"

"I already told you that I'll not be your slave, and we both know you'll have nothing else," he retorted, his voice still dangerously quiet.

"A willing servant is not a slave, Rumplestiltskin. Far from it." But he sensed no surprise in her answer; no, he was starting to earn Danns' a'Bhàis' respect, whether he wanted it or not. Her hand finally left his face, and she settled back in her chair to study him once more.

"It's close enough."

A heartbeat of silence ticked by, and then Danns nodded thoughtfully. "A partnership, then. Will you accept that?"

"Take these bands off, and then we'll talk," Rumplestiltskin replied, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh, no," she laughed. "Not until you agree."

But there was something in her eyes, and suddenly Rumplestiltskin realized why she'd been playing for time. She'd threatened his family to see how he would react, not because she truly thought it necessary to gain his compliance. No, Danns thought she could gain that without endangering others, knew him well enough to know that he could only fight for so long. She was willing to wait centuries if that's what it took, and they both knew his family would die of old age while neither of them did. But she doesn't know about Belle.

That one thought swept through him like a warm wind. The Black Fairy knew about Baelfire and about Henry, knew he was fighting on the side of Snow White and company to protect his family. But she didn't know about his True Love, didn't know that even if she got the curse in him, so long as Belle was still alive, Belle could break his curse. Because Rumplestiltskin's sacrifice had broken it the first time, there was no reason for the Black Fairy to know that he had a True Love at all, and that was a secret to which he would hold tightly. Danns probably didn't even realize that Belle existed, that his beautiful and brave love had done one better than just own his heart—Belle had helped him hide the dagger in a way that would keep the Black Fairy from ever getting it.

"Or until you have the dagger?" he guessed, and watched the question hit home. Rumplestiltskin had felt her attempt to summon the kris dagger, had felt her failure. His grin was nasty. "Not answering your call, is it?"

"Whatever you have done, it is only a matter of time before the dagger comes to me," Danns snarled.

"Don't hold your breath."

His genius Belle had stumbled upon the solution, the final way to keep the Black Fairy from putting the curse of the Dark One back into him. The curse was in the dagger, and without Circe's dagger, Danns had no way to make Rumplestiltskin the Dark One once more. He'd known that Danns needed the dagger to make the curse work, but it was Belle who had found the answer while reading that ratty old book (the one with terrifyingly many answers when it came to the history of what he was) again. The kris dagger, Belle had pointed out, had been a secondary power in its own right before the Black Fairy used the dagger as the key to her curse. Then it had belonged to Circe, not Danns' a'Bhàis'; the Black Fairy had only taken it after Circe's death. So, the original ownership of the dagger still mattered more than the fae who had claimed it later, and Belle had been able to uncover Circe's final resting place.

Thus, Rumplestiltskin had been able to acquire enough bone fragments belonging to that one of humanity's original powers. Using that, he'd fashioned a box from which even Danns' a'Bhàis' could not summon the dagger, which he had then layered with spells and wards even he could not break. Oh, the box would open for him—Rumplestiltskin as no fool and needed to be able to access the dagger—but short of finding a way to force Rumplestiltskin to open it (and tell her where it was located), Danns could not reach the dagger. No matter how much power she used, it would not answer her call.

Frustration was evident on her face. "What have you done?"

"Preserved my freedom," Rumplestiltskin answered, plucking a bit of magic off the rapid power surrounding her emphatic summoning and storing it away.

"No." Abruptly, the reaching magic stopped and turned towards him, hovering just inches above Rumplestiltskin and building. The enormous strength and breadth of the power took his breath away, and all he could do was watch and wait as the Black Fairy continued, fury lacing into every word: "All you have done is force my hand. I assure you, you will regret that."

"I doubt—" The power crashed down before Rumplestiltskin could finish the sentence, power and pain and unraveling—

Time spiraled backwards within his body, racing back to the point where his own magic, the then-unfamiliar power, had ripped out and healed him, saving Rumplestiltskin when he had no idea he could save himself. Danns' magic found that point and pushed, carving it out and away from everything else until that moment in time stood alone and isolated. Then and only then did the spell attack, picking apart the healing that had been accomplished by brute strength and power alone. Her spell found the right thread and pulled while Rumplestiltskin watched helplessly, his magic still chained away from his reach. Had he been able to adequately heal himself, to do so with skill instead of power, the disassembly of the healing would never have been possible, but Rumplestiltskin had never bothered to go back and redo the process. Instead, he'd let his magic have its way.

And now he paid the price. Bones re-broke. Wounds re-opened. And familiar agony tore through his body as he threw his head back and screamed.

Regina was in Wonderland, and Rumplestiltskin was missing. The fae, of course, knew that the sorcerer who had inherited Merlin's powers was out of the way, and although Norco and Titania were both dead (at his hands, no less), plenty of powerful fae remained. And while the Black Fairy was distracted by her newest project—stubborn and hard-headed as he was, Rumplestiltskin took up plenty of her time—the other fae took advantage of the situation. Vidia immediately headed to visit King Francis and remind him of where his allegiance should lie; a well-placed threat towards his pregnant daughter-in-law made the king surprisingly tractable, particularly with his eldest son and heir outside the kingdom. Nuckelavee, however, chose to start terrorizing towns and hunting fairies. He would have successfully trapped Tinker Bell if the fae's newest member had not snuck a timely warning to her, and even then he managed to kill the Orange, Magenta, and Yellow Fairies in the span of two days.

Maleficent did nothing to stop him, of course. She was sufficiently cold blooded to watch fairies die, and besides, those three were not particularly huge loses to the world as a whole. Nor did she fail to take part in the massacre at Courierre, either. Maleficent had killed plenty of innocents in her life, and she knew that this was a test. If she hesitated for even a moment, Nuckelavee would kill her, so Maleficent killed with as much relish as the others and embraced her darker urges all over again.

Being bad was easier than being good, she'd found out centuries earlier. At least now she was doing it for a reason, acting, ironically, for the greater good, as her nauseating former mentor would have called it. But Blue still didn't have the stomach to do what had to be done, whereas Maleficent did. And she would. Without blinking, without flinching, and without shying away from necessity.

She did manage, however, to send a note to Tink. Someone had to.

Tink delivered news of Rumplestiltskin's capture just hours before Snow, Belle, Ruby, and Grumpy returned to the Charmings' castle. By then, six days had passed since Norco's trap had been sprung, and Bae had no idea what was happening to his father. Throat tight, he headed out to greet the returning rescue party along with everyone else, standing with Emma, Henry, and David. He tried not to pace while they waited in the crowded courtyard—apparently everyone who was anyone wanted to greet their queen, probably just to remind themselves of how important they were—but not showing how worried he was turned out to be very hard.

There had been a time, not too long ago, when Bae would have been far less concerned. Once, he would have shrugged and assumed that his father was indestructible, too good at self-preservation to worry over. Yet that had been before Rumplestiltskin had almost killed himself to save those he loved. Before Rumplestiltskin had broken his own curse…and become so much more like the man he had been before becoming the Dark One. Oh, neither of them were what they'd been before—Bae certainly wasn't a starry-eyed innocent kid after his centuries in Neverland—but their relationship had mended. And now Bae found himself worrying over the fate of his again-human father, remembering the few hints Rumplestiltskin had let slip concerning how the Black Fairy had treated him last time, and the couple of more gruesome details Belle had occasionally volunteered.

Clearly, Belle's mind worked along the same lines, because she looked haggard and worn when she dismounted from a light chestnut mare. Had she slept at all since it had happened? The dark circles under her blue eyes hinted that she hadn't. Looking at her made Bae swallow hard; she knew much more than she did, and if Belle was this worried…

"Hey," he said, stepping forward to greet her as David, Henry, and Emma surrounded Snow with smiles. He hadn't told Henry yet that his grandfather was a prisoner, again. Bae wasn't sure how to do that, not when Henry was as happy as he'd been lately.

"Hi," Belle replied softly. A groom took the horse's reins from her, and Belle looked around blankly, obviously not wanting to be there and a little bit lost.

Technically, she wasn't a member of Bae's family, and he knew that there were some at this court who would frown to see a lowborn knight embracing a lord's daughter, but Bae didn't care. So he wrapped his arms around the woman who would be his stepmother as soon as his father managed to ask her, and felt Belle shudder against him. She had friends here, but no real family—no one except Bae. And he wouldn't let her face this alone.

"He'll be okay," Bae told her, willing himself to believe it. "Papa's tough."

He hadn't always been, at least on the surface, but somehow magic had amplified the strength that Bae had always known was at his father's core. And Belle had. Bae knew how she'd helped his father over the years, knew what she meant to Rumplestiltskin.

"Not always as much as he wants people to believe," she whispered into his chest. "I'm worried about him, Bae."

Those soft words made him swallow. Bae didn't know nearly enough about how the Black Fairy had tortured his father last time, but he had read the message Tink had delivered. "Me, too," he admitted, and then pulled back a little. "But there is some news. Tink…well, Tink got word from someone inside the fae's, uh, homeland."

"She did?" Belle asked, looking up at him, and Bae nodded.

"Yeah. She was here just a few hours ago, and gave me this." He extended the folded note to Belle; it was in Tink's handwriting, but Bae had known the green fairy too long to think that the note originated with her.

Rumplestiltskin is in fae territory, the note said, clearly copied from someone else's message. Do not send anyone after him. They will not survive. I will do what I can, but it will not be soon. The Black Fairy holds him.

"It's happening again," Belle whispered, and Bae squeezed with the arm that was still around her. He felt the same emptiness she did, the same gut-wrenching worry, but they had to go on.

Tink had been so adamant that he listen to the note, which was why she'd given it to him, Tink had said to Bae. And he had to trust her. Tink had been one of the few true friends Bae had made in Neverland, and the only one who had come to hate Pan as much as he did. There had been many long years when she had been the only person in all of Neverland that Bae could trust, and she'd helped him hide from his evil grandfather on more than one occasion. Tink had earned Bae's trust, time and again. Despite that, he knew that Belle was going to propose a rescue mission, one he couldn't let her go on. Someone had to keep her safe while his father was gone, and Bae knew that someone was him.

Not that Bae was stupid enough to try to tell Belle he wanted to protect her. He knew her well enough to know how well that wouldn't go over, so instead he took refuge in logic.

"We can't just rush in. Tink said—" he started, only to have Belle cut him off.

"He left this behind. Your father." Now it was her turn to hand Bae a note, although this one was even shorter and on just a scrap of parchment. The handwriting on it was only a little familiar; when Bae had been a child, Rumplestiltskin's handwriting had not been so neat, small, or precise, but Bae still recognized it as his father's.

Belle—I am so sorry that I must allow this to happen. I will see you again, and sooner than you think. I promise. I love you—R.

Well. Wasn't that both annoying and encouraging. His father's ability to see into the future was still one Bae was getting used to—he hadn't had it before Bae had gone through to the Land Without Magic and it hadn't really worked in Storybrooke. In this case, however, at least it appeared to be of some use. Unless, of course, Rumplestiltskin was telling a white lie to make Belle worry less. But he had said that he had to allow that to happen. That meant he was working some sort of angle, and although Bae could have cheerfully strangled his father for doing something like this, he supposed it was better than the alternative.

Working an angle means that Papa thinks he has a way out. That's got to be better than nothing, he thought. Hoped.

"There are times I really want to kill him," Bae told Belle, knowing she'd understand.

The crooked grin he accompanied that remark with finally made her smile wanly. "Yeah. Me, too."

"So. What do you want to do?"

Belle took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, stepping out of Bae's embrace and suddenly looking normal, if tired, once more. She really was amazingly strong, and Bae could see how his father had fallen in love with her. "I'm going back to the Dark Castle," she said firmly. "Because that's where he'll go, and I won't make him face…whatever happens alone."

"I'll go with you," he volunteered without pausing to think. But it was the right thing to do.

"It's a bit of a walk from here," Belle warned him.

"Pssh. I'll get Emma to drop us there," Bae replied with another crooked smile. He wasn't always sure how to define his relationship with Emma, but he knew that she'd help if he asked her to.

"Get Emma to what?" the mother of his child echoed unexpectedly, making Bae jump in surprise. He'd figured that she would be busy with her mother, not approaching with Henry at her side. Emma's sudden appearance made Bae shrug with embarrassment.

"Give us a lift to the Dark Castle?" he asked hopefully, turning the smile on her.

Emma tossed Bae an exasperated look, and then clearly caught sight of the expression on Belle's face. "I'll help," she promised. "My mom told me what happened."

"Can I come, too?" Henry asked suddenly, looking between his parents with a grin. "Then we can stay for a bit. Keep Belle company."

Despite everything that had happened, there was still a beautiful innocence in Henry, and Bae saw Belle's smile soften when Henry volunteered. Watching that made Bae exchange a glance with Emma—Henry really was the glue that held their very odd family together, and troublesome though that could be at times, it was also wonderful.

"It sounds good to me," he told his son. "But you need to ask your mother."

"I guess it's better than you wanting to slay dragons," Emma replied drily. "Sure, kid. Go pack."

Not for the first time, Tink realized that she would have preferred to spy on the fae than try to work with her old 'sister' fairies. Maleficent, she decided, had definitely gotten the better end of the deal. She got to voice her ages-old hatred for Blue, and doing so was even part of her cover. Whereas Tink had to try to play nicely with Blue and the others, all because the Grand Alliance needed the fairies' help. And the fairies needed the Grand Alliance (and Rumplestiltskin's much looser group of power-wielders), whether Blue wanted to admit it or not. Her sisters were dying in droves, and while there had once been thousands of fairies—many of which were officially retired and only called upon in hours of great need—their numbers were dwindling. Fast.

So here she was, yet again there to try to make Blue see sense and re-ally with those she had once helped so much. Of course, Blue had always liked Snow, and claimed that she would happily ally with the Queen and her husband provided Snow was willing to 'see reason'…but that meant giving up the one thing that Tink knew Snow would never give. By now, she was fairly certain that Blue knew that Snow wasn't going to give up her own grandson's heart, which meant that the senior fairy was now just being stubborn. Or saving face. Why was it that the more powerful someone got, the more likely they were to make a stand out of pride alone? It made Tink want to scream.

And of course, just when she'd come to talk to Blue, she found the senior most fairy talking to the next most likely fairy to stand on ceremony just because she could. Cyan was almost a lock to say anything to make herself sound better, and of course, she hated Tink. Along with anything that wasn't pure and absolutely fairy. Everything (and everyone) else seemed to be beneath her notice, particularly these days.

"…might be for the best," Cyan was saying. She hadn't seen Tink yet, and although it was rude to eavesdrop, Tink figured she might listen for a moment before interrupting. Perhaps Blue and Cyan would finish talking, and she'd get a chance to speak to Blue without Cyan's annoying presence.

"I agree," Blue nodded. "Now that Rumplestiltskin is out of the way, Snow and David will undoubtedly be more reasonable. Particularly with the Evil Queen out of the way in Wonderland. They'll have no one to turn to but us, now."

"And thus we can bring things back to where they should be," Cyan opinioned, her voice haughty. But Blue didn't reprimand her, which made Tink's heart plummet. Were they really that short sighted?

But of course they were. Blue still thought she had to have Henry's heart to beat the Black Fairy, assuming that whatever plan she had for getting the Heart into the Black Fairy's chest would work and everything would go back to the way it 'should' be. Tink wasn't such a fool, and she really wished that Blue wasn't so narrow minded that she refused to look at her other options. The worst part was that Blue wassmarter than this. But it wasn't the first time Tink had seen someone get so dialed into their own master plan that they refused to contemplate anything going wrong. Blue was clearly suffering from a huge set of blinkers where the current war was concerned, and nothing that had happened seemed able to shake her out of her assumptions. The world has changed, but she's stuck playing the same old game because it's the only game she knows.

"Indeed," Blue agreed. Obviously, she hadn't seen Tink, either, otherwise she never would have gone on: "I know this sounds horrible, but if we are fortunate, my sister will turn Rumplestiltskin into the Dark One once more. Then he will be controllable."

"But controllable by whom?" Cyan sounded understandably shocked.

Tink could hear the grimace in Blue's response. "That is the problem, of course. We would have to simply endure her control over him until we can get the Heart into Danns' chest. After that, we would have to entrust the dagger to someone worthy."

"I can think of several people," Cyan said immediately.

"As can I."

Tinker Bell blinked. Hard. Was Blue actually serious? Tink didn't know Rumplestiltskin all that well, and had hardly known him at all before his curse was broken, but what kind of idiot wanted to wish the world's darkest curse back into a person? Never mind what it would do to Rumplestiltskin—the world plain didn't need a Dark One again. Did Blue really think it was okay just because she'd find someone to control him? Rumplestiltskin was far too wily for that; he'd get the dagger back, and then all hell would break loose. And that didn't even take into account what the Black Fairy might use him for while he was under her control. Cyan seemed to echo a few of her thoughts...but not enough, saying:

"As much as the Dark One is an evil that I wish the world could do without, having Rumplestiltskin as such is certainly preferable to him being an original power," the other fairy remarked.

"Undoubtedly. I will deal with my sister. The world is not ready for more than one original power at any one time. I will not tolerate his having Merlin's power any longer than necessary. If he escapes Danns, we must stop him."

"Can you kill him, or must the curse be reintroduced?"

"Original powers can be killed," Blue replied, suddenly serene again. "It is only a matter of knowing how."

Tink had heard enough. For a moment, she thought of just vanishing—it was obvious that Blue wasn't going to be open to reason, which meant her entire mission there was pointless—but then she decided not to. Hearing what Blue had to say would be interesting, if nothing else. And she might learn something from what Blue didn't say, too. So she flew a foot or so into the air and landed nosily, pasting on a smile.

"Hello, Blue," Tink greeted the senior fairy with a somewhat respectful nod, and scowled at her companion. "Cyan."

"Tinker Bell," the elder fairy greeted her, suddenly wearing a maternal smile. "What brings you home?"

"I'm here at Snow's request." Well, she was actually there at David's request, but the two of them did work as a unit, and Blue had always liked Snow better, so it was far smarter to put Snow's name on things. "The Grand Alliance is…faltering. Apparently, the Black Fairy has started making deals with some kings, and blackmailing others, to bring them to her side. Snow and David think it would really help matters if the fairies could come openly onto the side of the Grand Alliance. After all, we all do want the same thing."

Blue sighed. "I do wish we could, Tinker Bell." Had the manipulative fairy ever not called her by her chosen name when she wanted something out of her? When Blue was angry, Tink was 'Green.' But when Blue wanted something… "But I'm afraid it's not that simple. Not yet."

"Not yet?" Tink echoed, pretending she had no idea what Blue was waiting on. The former mother superior only nodded.

"Events are in motion that may well change everything. Soon, we may be free to help Snow and her allies openly."

"Soon isn't going to help the people the fae have captured or killed," Tink replied bluntly. "Or the fairies."

"I know, and I wish it were not the case. However, sacrifices must be made in times of war. You know that."

She felt her scowl deepen. "Better than most."

If Blue understood what Tink was implying, that Blue didn't know jack about war or about personal sacrifice, she gave no sign. She simply nodded and continued:

"Tell Snow not to give up hope. Even the merest belief in victory can be enough to turn the tide of battle. Hope is not lost."

"Not while we're fighting, it isn't, no. It's too bad that you are just hiding here." Tink couldn't help herself. She'd thought better of Blue, had thought that Blue had chosen to help instead of sit here. After all, Blue had saved Regina. Why did she now insist on retreating and trying the same old tactics again?

"You can come home, Green," Cyan put in abruptly, her eyes sharp.

"Not while my friends are in danger, I can't," she shot back.

"Your friends are here."

"No, my friends are out there," Tink replied, flinging a hand out to indicate the rest of the world, the real world. The world Blue had banished her to for trying to help someone lonely find love. Her world. "And I'm not going to abandon them." She looked back at Blue. "Will you not help us?"

"Soon. Soon we will be free to act. Until then, you must tell Snow to remain strong. I know she can."

"Of course." No, she really wasn't going to get anywhere with this conversation, so Tink said her farewells to the other two fairies and headed back towards the Charmings' castle. At least she had learned something useful, even if it wasn't something Blue wanted her to know. Unfortunately, what good that knowledge would do was yet to be determined; Tink had spoken so briefly to Maleficent and knew that the others could not get to where Rumplestiltskin was being held. She also knew that Rumplestiltskin wouldn't want Maleficent breaking her cover just to save him—not when Maleficent was poised to enter the fae's higher ranks. No, they had to do something, but what?

Tink wasn't sure yet, but she did know that she'd rather fight a hopeless battle than sit calmly on her hands and mouth useless platitudes about hope.

A/N: Thank you to everyone for the feedback! Stay tuned for Chapter 43: "The Brave Thing", in which Jafar and Regina finally come to (magical) blows, Rumplestiltskin and the Black Fairy have a heart to heart, and Belle & company return to the Dark Castle

In the meantime, what angle do you think Rumplestiltskin is planning, and how far do you think Blue will go to keep him out of the way if Danns' plan fails? For that matter, who are these "trustworthy" people Blue would give the dagger to?