Chapter Sixty-One—"A Long Road"

The Blue Fairy looked surprisingly small without magic. The day after she nearly died, the former head fairy stood between Cyan and Sage, still looking worn and run down. It had taken most of Rumplestiltskin's skills to heal her, and then Blue had fallen into something approaching a coma while Tink absorbed her new powers. Tink had followed suit immediately, passing out without warning and power like she'd never even dreamed of filled her. Neither moved for the better part of the day, and Tink had barely awakened in time to see Blue off. She wasn't sure if Blue wanted her there—and she was quite certain that Cyan hated her more than ever—but Tink felt she should be present to see her off. Even if she hadn't had Blue's powers thrust upon her, Tink would have been here. She might have been a rebel and might have disagreed with many of Blue's choices, but that did not mean she didn't respect her.

She felt…different. More awake. More, well, everything. It was like the world was suddenly in color rather than black and white, with every contrast greater and every color more brilliant. The world suddenly more complete than before, even though Tink hadn't ever realized she was missing anything.

"Please…let me know if you need anything," she said slowly. Awkwardly. Tink hadn't asked for this, and Blue hadn't said why she chose her.

"Thank you, Tinker Bell," Blue said solemnly, her voice still tired. "But I doubt you will see me again."

"Where will you go?"

"You need not worry about me," was the reply, and then Blue turned to look at Cyan, her gaze pausing briefly on Rumplestiltskin. "I am ready."

Cyan and Sage each took her by an arm, and without a further word, the Blue Fairy vanished from Tinker Bell's life. Once, Tink would have given almost anything to say a final goodbye to the condescending senior fairy, but now she wasn't so sure. Blue had refused to give her any answers at all; she hadn't told her why she'd suddenly had to hand over her power or die…and she wouldn't say why Tink had suddenly had to inherit that power, either. Once they'd both woken up, Blue had been particularly uncommunicative. No matter how many questions Tink had asked, or how delicately she'd tried to phrase things, Blue hadn't volunteered a thing. And now she was gone, just like that, and Tink never expected to see her again.

Yet if there was one thing she knew, Tink was certain that she would not have been Blue's first choice to inherit the vast power of the head fairy. An original power. I'm an original power. The very thought was enough to take her breath away. But Tink couldn't afford to dwell on that right now. First, she needed answers. If Blue hadn't wanted her, and Blue wasn't responsible…that only left one person.

Sighing, Tink turned to look at Rumplestiltskin, who had stood uncharacteristically silent during the entire farewell. "How much of this is your doing?"

"Pretty much all of it." He shrugged. "Though not the part about magic killing her. Blue did that to herself."

By the time Tink had arrived, things had been too far along to ask many questions; Blue had been fading fast and Rumplestiltskin, of all people, had been preparing to save her life. Tink had little choice but to go along with things at the time, even if she was quite certain that the wily old trickster was up to something. Now, however, she could throw him a hard look and ask: "Blue did what to herself, exactly?"

She wasn't asking out of idle curiosity, after all. If some sort of magic could kill the most powerful of all fairies…well, Tink rather needed to know what it was, now.

"One of the interesting things about being an original power is that your actions can affect the very nature of magic," the human replied. "There is a reason, after all, why so many magic users make deals. Magic considers such agreements a binding contract, and magic will hold you to them. Blue broke the deal she and I made and tried to take Henry's heart."

His dark eyes were unreadable; Tink imagined that Rumplestiltskin was far from unsatisfied with Blue's near death, but he wasn't gloating, which came as something of a surprise. Tink took a deep breath, turning the concept over in her mind, remembering—and listening to her instincts, which were suddenly a lot more helpful where magical theory was concerned. I'm going to need to read a lot of books, she thought with a mental groan. I wonder if Belle has anything I can borrow. Tink didn't know the first thing about being an original power, and Blue was obviously unwilling to tell her anything. That meant she was out of fairies she could ask for advice, because it wasn't like she turn to the Black Fairy. Not if she wanted to survive the experience.

"She bargained for her life when she made that deal," Tink remembered, speaking slowly. "So the magic killed her?"

"It tried to," Rumplestiltskin corrected her with another shrug. "I was able to stop that."

"At the price of her magic." She felt her eyes narrow suspiciously, but the answer was flippant:

"All magic comes at a price."

"Yeah, but was that one your choice or hers?" Tink pressed, knowing that the man could dance around damn near anything and needing to pin him down with a direct question.

Something twinkled in those damnably intelligent eyes. "What do you think, dearie?"

Tink scowled. "I think you've never liked Blue."

"Neither did you."

"I didn't want her dead," she shot back. "You threatened to kill her not that long ago."

He'd had reason, of course. Several of them, even. Frankly, Tink had been surprised when Rumplestiltskin hadn't killed Blue after she'd hit him with a sleeping curse. But Rumplestiltskin saw the future. Did he know this would happen, or had he just been playing a longer game? That, of course, was a question that she knew he would never answer, so Tink didn't bother asking. She just scowled harder at him, feeling angry and overwhelmed all at once.

"Why me?" she demanded. "Was I part of your price, too?"

"Because you'll be no one's puppet," Rumplestiltskin addressed the concern Tink had dared not voice. She hadn't asked for this, but Tink wasn't going to do anything less than her best, and she'd be damned if she'd do it at the behest of someone else. Her life was her own, and her decisions were, too.

"Even yours?" Tink shot back.

Her brashness made him smile. "Particularly mine. If I wanted your job, dear, I would have just let Ruel Ghorm die. Some original power has to do it, and that's certainly not going to be me."

"Gee, thanks. It's great to know I got the job because you're too afraid of responsibility to want it," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I have no interest in playing the 'original good'," Rumplestiltskin answered with a laugh. "You're far better suited to it than I."

"And I'm not likely to rip Henry's heart out, either," Tink continued for him, getting to the meat of the matter.

Because that was what it came down to, wasn't it? Left to her own devices, Blue would probably have picked Cyan, and that would have been a disaster. Rumplestiltskin probably would have killed Cyan, who was even more narrow minded than Blue had been, and that would have created an unfathomable rift between him and the rest of the fairies. What was it that he threatened to do after that sleeping curse? To keep killing fairies until the power transferred to someone more reasonable, Tink remembered with a grimace. Apparently she had always been the end goal there, although she wasn't feeling particularly reasonable at the moment.

Humans are unpredictable, emotional, and territorial, Blue had said during Tink's earliest fairy training. You must learn to ignore their petty concerns and focus on the greater good. Tink had never agreed with that, which was why she had tried so hard to help Regina. Fairies were supposed to help people, even if Blue seemed to have lost sight of that over the years. However she'd gotten it, Tink now had the ability to fix everything that had always infuriated her about her sisters' conduct, what they focused on, and how they viewed the world. She certainly wasn't going to thank Rumplestiltskin for dumping this power down upon her, but she wasn't going to hide from it, either. Even if she had inherited it in the middle of a war.

"I never thought you were," Rumplestiltskin replied to her comment, and if there was the barest hint of a threat in his soft voice, Tink shrugged it off. She'd worked with the former Dark One long enough to know what kind of man he was, and she knew what lengths he'd go to in order to protect his family. Besides, Tink liked Henry, and he was Regina's son, too. Regina would always be one of her closest friends, no matter how awkward that friendship would get thanks to her new position, and no one was going to hurt Regina's son while Tink was the senior fairy.

"Good," she said brightly, blatantly ignoring the threat with a smile. Rumplestiltskin was smart; he'd get the message. But then she let her tone turn serious. "So. What are we going to do about the Black Fairy?"

"Are you sure you want to get mixed into this?" he asked, sounding curious.

"I don't think you gave me much of choice," Tink said bluntly. "I'm an original power now, right? Same as her?"

"Somewhat lacking in experience, but yes."

The turned to face him, looking the famous deal maker straight in the eye. "Then that's my price. You want my help, you teach me how to deal with this. I'll decide what I think is right, but I don't think that either of us has the time to waste with me figuring this out as we go along."

"No, I don't think we do," he murmured, and was that a newfound respect Tink saw in Rumplestiltskin's eyes? She just squared her shoulders and waited until he finally said, lips curling into a satisfied smile: "We have a deal."

"Good," Tink said again. "Then where do we start?"

Of course, she didn't expect learning to be an original power to be easy. From what Tink knew of Rumplestiltskin's own journey on that front, it had been complicated, fraught with errors, and downright dangerous at times. But she didn't have time to stumble through that mess, and they both knew it. So Tink paid careful attention to what Rumplestiltskin taught her, and read the books he and Belle both gave her, even if she really hated reading. While the Black Fairy was able to control the Dark One—something Rumplestiltskin indicated they would be hard pressed to wrest away from her—Tink knew that their only chance of survival was to stand together. Two original powers more than balanced out one who controlled the Dark One, so Tink worked her hardest to get caught up.

And if the other fairies didn't quite know what to do with their new leader, who shouted down an obnoxious attempt by Cyan to take over and insisted they work with human sorcerers instead of around them, well, they got used to her. Within a week, Tink had assigned several powerful fairies to care for each kingdom, and sent a half dozen younger fairies along with each. She encouraged them all to learn other types of magic than just fairy magic, too; knowing that had saved her life more than once fighting the fae, and she had every intention of losing as few fairies as possible. There was no avoiding the fact that some of them would die, particularly with the Dark One hunting them, but by sending them out in groups Tink managed to markedly decrease the death toll. Slowly, a true alliance between humanity and the fairies began, and all the while, Tink continued to learn.

It would be a long road, she knew, but one that would benefit them all in the long run.

It was inevitable, of course, that Danns would send the Dark One after Henry's heart. Aware of the power vacuum amongst the fairies, but not yet aware of how Tinker Bell had adroitly stepped up to fill Blue's place, she was certainly clever enough to act while her enemies were distracted. But her enemies were far from stupid, either, and they all knew that the Black Fairy would want Henry's heart as insurance if nothing else. Worst case, Rumplestiltskin knew that she would be quite happy to put it inside him once she realized that her sister was no longer a threat, thus restoring the 'balance' she and Blue had favored by getting the pesky original human power out of the way. Danns wasn't just going to decide she didn't want the Heart of the Truest Believer on her own, after all. No, he had to force that decision. Or remove her from the equation entirely.

So he and Regina set the situation up between them, leaving Bae and Emma out of the process because neither one would appreciate having Henry risked this way. Henry, of course, was quick to volunteer to help; the lad was brave and hated hiding. Regina didn't know what Rumplestiltskin was planning besides a chance to flatten his predecessor-cum-successor, but she didn't need to know. None of his allies would particularly appreciate Rumplestiltskin's actual strategy, and he knew his family would like it even less. But it was necessary, so when he proposed to Henry and Regina that the two of them help draw Zoso out so that he could stop the new Dark One, Rumplestiltskin kept the details to a minimum. He wasn't above pointing out that no one knew better how to deal with a Dark One than he did, and that, at least, Regina took at face value. He had a pretty good idea that Regina knew he was holding back, but they had known one another too long to ask. Regina might not like Rumplestiltskin's methods, but she knew he would get the job done.

By the time Zoso appeared—interrupting a morning riding lesson that had strayed just a bit too far from the castle's defenses—Rumplestiltskin was well hidden, taking advantage of the weaknesses he knew were inherent in that curse's powers. He had to keep his distance—even while only able to draw upon the elemental demon within the curse, Zoso was extremely powerful—but Rumplestiltskin was able to see everything, so long as he augmented his vision with a little magic.

Henry's horse dropped dead without warning, bleeding from the nostrils and eyes in a flagrant display of brutal power that Rumplestiltskin found extremely distasteful. He didn't really feel sorry for the horse, but killing it had been entirely unnecessary, a waste of power that served no actual purpose. Shows of power were well and good, but there were a thousand things Zoso could have chosen to do, all of which would have taken him less effort than exploding that poor horse's brains. Thankfully, Henry had the reflexes of a cat—something he'd definitely inherited from the maternal side of his family—and managed to jump free before the collapsing horse could fall on him.

"Henry!" Regina bolted forward, her worry entirely unfeigned. But she also knew that she needed to be near Henry to protect him—Rumplestiltskin was sure that he'd be able to help with that, but Regina's primary responsibility here was to shield Henry, no matter what it took.

"I'm okay," Henry replied, scrambling to his feet as his mother reached his side. "But Captain is—look out!"

Regina grabbed Henry just in time, and managed to teleport them away just as a boulder-sized fireball scorched the ground right where they'd been standing a moment earlier. The smell of burning flesh from the dead horse assaulted Rumplestiltskin's nostrils, but he ignored that. Regina's seemingly unplanned move was right in accordance with the script they'd worked out, and she brought herself and Henry that much closer to Rumplestiltskin, now less than twenty feet away. Zoso had reached out to stop her from getting far, but it had been Regina who decided where they landed; less powerful than the Dark One she might be, but Regina was certainly more talented than he.

Zoso appeared about the same distance from the pair, and Regina shoved Henry behind herself while she wheeled to face the Dark One. Zoso licked his lips.

"The pretty dark queen. Regina. You'll certainly be worth the trouble."

Regina snorted. "You have no idea how much trouble I'm capable of."

"I'm looking forward to finding out," Zoso replied, his eyes hungry again. They swept over Regina like she was a piece of very appetizing meat, and Rumplestiltskin saw the rage blossoming in her eyes. Regina, however, could take care of herself, and Rumplestiltskin had a trap to finish lying out.

"You've really got issues, you know that?" she retorted, buying him still more time.

Zoso laughed, but then sobered quickly. "Give me the boy, and you can live." His smile was wolfish. "Perhaps you'll even learn to enjoy yourself."

"With you? In your dreams."

Rumplestiltskin smiled to himself, still concealed behind the best method of camouflage—a set of thick trees and bushes that kept Zoso from spotting him. Not that Zoso seemed that careful; Rumplestiltskin couldn't sense him looking around, couldn't see any magic working to ensure that they were alone. Was he really that overconfident? It was hard to believe, but then again, Rumplestiltskin remembered what life in the Frontlands had been like when Zoso was the Dark One. There hadn't been a soul willing to offer him resistance; the only check on his power had been the duke who held the dagger. But Zoso had always easily overcome any of the mere peasants who had even dreamed of resisting him. What need had he for caution?

"I don't mind if you don't," Zoso reassured Regina, stepping forward as a storm of magic gathered around him.

Regina's defenses came up right away, but the resulting punch of magic still slammed her back several steps. It hit Henry, too, although Regina managed to shield him from the worst of it. Because of that, the blow sent her straight to her knees, and Rumplestiltskin could hear her sharp hiss of pain echoing across the grass. Still, her hands came up immediately land Regina's retaliatory attack slammed into Zoso, obviously hitting him harder than he had expected and making the Dark One shake his head dizzily and stumble briefly. But then Zoso's playful expression turned angry, and he raised a hand to point at Regina.

"You will pay for that, bitch."

"Oh, do you not like prey that fights back?" Regina taunted him, grinning as she came to her feet. "I thought you were looking forward to how much trouble I am."

Zoso growled, sounding much like an infuriated wolf, hungry and certain he had his prey cornered. Shaking off the effects of Regina's attack, he stalked forward. Looking at Henry.

"Come here, boy," he rumbled. "My mistress desires your heart, and your heart she shall have."

"No," Henry said, his voice surprisingly unwavering for a boy of not yet fourteen. He was unbelievably strong and amazingly brave, but his eyes still flicked to Rumplestiltskin expectantly. He had stepped out of hiding once Zoso had hit Regina, but the Dark One hadn't noticed him. Instead, Zoso frowned at Henry:

"What are you staring at, boy?" the Dark One demanded.

Henry scowled at him. "I have a name, you know."

"And he's looking at me, dearie," Rumplestiltskin interjected before Zoso could decide to harm Henry, reaching deep within his own magic to begin winding it around Zoso, quietly and subtly, keeping the power levels too low to be noticed but slowly ratcheting up the amount of magic currently under his control.

Use his grandson as bait though he might, Rumplestiltskin was not going to allow Henry to be hurt. Not while he breathed.

Zoso whirled to face Rumplestiltskin, his eyes widening in surprise. "You again. The cowardly spinner."

"Me again." Rumplestiltskin let his eyebrows dance and gave Zoso a hard-edged smile. "Though I'm afraid that I'm not quite what you remember."

"You were there when she resurrected me," Zoso hissed, and now he advanced on Rumplestiltskin, his posture screaming danger.

"I was." He shrugged. "It wasn't exactly the evening's entertainment I would have chosen, but yes, I was there. And now you're threatening my grandson."

"That worthless boy of yours reproduced?"

The words were designed to sting and were accompanied by a harsh laugh, and Rumplestiltskin felt his temper automatically rise in response. Had he still been under the curse—or centuries' younger and far more vulnerable to manipulation—Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure he would have been able to control himself. He would have done something foolish, just like he'd been goaded into killing Zoso so many years before. Now, however, things were different. No matter how much anger Zoso's dig ignited within him, Rumplestiltskin knew he had the advantage here. No matter what Zoso said, his words were only wind. Rumplestiltskin had far greater power at his disposal than any Dark One had ever dreamed of, and he knew how to use it.

So, he cocked his head at his predecessor and smiled. "Are you trying to provoke me, Zoso?"

"I remember your foolish temper," was the soft response. "And how easily led you were." Zoso stepped forward to stand right in front of Rumplestiltskin, his eyes dark with rage. Meanwhile, Regina pulled Henry further away, but—Damn her!—didn't teleport away like they had planned. "But tell me. How did you escape the curse, spinner? Here I am, the Dark One in all my glory, and you are simply…human."

Zoso pushed a dismissive hand against Rumplestiltskin's chest, probably hoping to shove him off balance. The blow did land, backed by magic as it was; Rumplestiltskin had always been slender, several inches shorter than Zoso and significantly outweighed by the other man. He stumbled back a step but caught himself, watching surprise flicker across Zoso's face. Did he remember Rumplestiltskin's old injury, the way he'd been unable to walk unassisted? Or was he simply that confident? Either way, he did clearly did not expect the sudden surge of magic that raced out of Rumplestiltskin, a half-conscious response to the obvious thread the Dark One posed. Zoso jerked his hand back as if burnt, and Rumplestiltskin chuckled.

"Oh, yes. I am simply human. But I don't lack power, dear, and you're trying to deliver my grandson's heart to my enemy. So"—his hands came up, glowing purple with power—"I'm going to make you regret that."

The spell raced outwards before Zoso could speak, striking him high in the chest and then moving upwards, rearing high into the sky until it came down again, slamming into Zoso's head and hammering him down to his knees. Roaring with fury, Zoso came up fast, sheer darkness erupting out of him and speeding towards Rumplestiltskin. He waved it aside with a flick of his wrist, all the while wondering if such an attack was typical of Zoso. Rumplestiltskin had seen him use brute force over finesse three times now, and maybe that was just the type of Dark One he was. Some of his predecessors had been more talented with magic than others, he knew. In fact, Rumplestiltskin remembered how, in the early days, the voice of his curse would whisper in his mind, would tell him how to use raw power to accomplish his desires. Had Rumplestiltskin not spent centuries studying magic, he would forever have been reliant upon his curse to tell him what to do. Was Zoso still that dependent?

If he is, that means this will be even easier. Rumplestiltskin supposed that thought might be considered overconfident, but he'd danced the dance of death with another original power recently. Comparatively speaking, sparring with the Dark One seemed relatively minor.

"You can't possibly match me, and you know that," Zoso snarled, throwing another wave of power his way, and this one was potent enough that it took Rumplestiltskin rather more power to push it aside, and then a quick tug of the right threads to dismantle the magic when it came back at him again.

"Do you think I can't?" he asked, keeping his voice soft and his smile constant. Rumplestiltskin cocked his head at Zoso, continuing to weave an ever-constricting web around the Dark One. He was almost finished, almost ready to snap everything into place. All he had to do was keep Zoso talking for another minute or two, and then it wouldn't matter where Zoso went or how much power he used to shake off the net Rumplestiltskin had woven around him. Or how much magic Zoso was trying to send in Henry's direction, quietly battling Regina's protections to draw the boy to him when he finally did teleport away.

"I know what I am, and I know what you are. Power or not, you're not the Dark One, spinner, and that means you're weak." Zoso stepped forward once more. "Though I'll admit that I'm curious how you came to be free of the curse."

"I tried to kill myself," Rumplestiltskin answered blunt honestly. "And apparently, when you die to save others with no thought of your own survival, it can save your life. But"—he shrugged again—"our curse wasn't built to withstand a sacrifice borne out of love."

Zoso snorted. "Dark Ones are not meant to love."

"I know."

His first and second webs of magic finished at the same time, and Zoso jerked back as they tightened around him, wide eyes staring at Rumplestiltskin as the curse told him exactly what his opponent had done. The first net was to keep him from successfully attacking anyone, while the second served to provide the equivalent of a tracker that would let Rumplestiltskin follow him, no matter where he teleported to. Zoso twisted wildly, power spewing out of him in a rainbow of sparks. He fought against the invisible cage surrounding him, his magic bouncing off and rebounding on him. Pouring more and more power into his struggle, Zoso's exertion only strengthened the web holding him, and finally the Dark One screamed in fury and pain. He continued to fight against the web for several additional moments before going still, glaring at Rumplestiltskin.

"What do you want?" he snarled.

"Firstly, for you to stop trying to harm my grandson. He'll not be teleporting with you, by the way."

"You can't stop her from taking it. No matter how much power you've gathered, you can't stop her." A slightly queasy look passed over Zoso's face, as if he had tried to fight Danns and now knew better. "She's too powerful."

Rumplestiltskin chuckled. "Just ask her what happened when we last fought. It wasn't pretty."

But that fight had taught Rumplestiltskin something important. It had taught him why Danns had not tried to kill Merlin; instead, she had forced a horrible curse inside him and gave herself the means to control him. Rumplestiltskin had not been able to kill her, and she had not been able to kill him. That meant something—something important. I meant to use him as a means to kill her, to transverse power through the curse, using her connection to it as a means to destroy her, but that won't work, will it? A chill tore down Rumplestiltskin's spine. His plan was doomed to failure, and that burned.

He couldn't kill her. Oh, he could—theoretically, just as she could kill him—but doing so might very well bring down disaster upon the Enchanted Forest. Not that he cared, but he ought to. And he knew instinctively that the kind of disaster killing Danns would herald would not be one that even Rumplestiltskin could withstand unscathed, nor one his family might survive at all. But he wanted to kill her so damn desperately. Try to be better though Rumplestiltskin might, Danns had tortured him for a year (not to mention the odd other time she'd held him where she'd recreated the worst of his injuries), and he wanted revenge. He hated her in ways that he hadn't known he could hate anyone…even if he did understand her far too well. But he couldn't kill her.

Time to move on to plan B, then, he thought with resignation. But then, he'd always half expected to go down that path, anyway. It was the one he knew no one in his very tangled family would like, the one he'd known he'd resort to if push came to shove. It was very much more Rumplestiltskin's style, deal making and manipulation. Epic battles of immense power had never been his forte. No, his secondary plan, the one he'd laid the pieces for already, was far more typical of Rumplestiltskin. So he smiled at Zoso when the Dark One looked at him incredulously.

"In fact, you're about to get that chance. Take me to Danns. Now."

A/N: Thank you yet again for the wonderful reviews! We've got one chapter and an epilogue yet, so stick around for the wild ride that is Chapter 62: "Brave New World", where Rumplestiltskin faces off with the Black Fairy one last time, Emma and Baelfire find out about Rumplestiltskin using Henry as bait, and a deal is struck.

In the meantime, tell me what you think Rumplestiltskin has planned for the Black Fairy!

Also...if you're interested, please check out my new multi-chapter AU, "Freeze on the Stones", in which Cora casts the curse and nothing goes according to plan.