Chapter Sixty-Two—"Brave New World"
"So," Rumplestiltskin said as he and Zoso teleported into the fae lands that Danns still used as her base of operations, finding themselves deep in an emerald green forest. "Your pet obliviously failed to take my grandson's heart, nor did he manage to entice me into killing him and taking on your darling curse once more. And I decided to pay you a visit."
They'd appeared right in front of her, just as Rumplestiltskin had expected they would. Zoso, of course, would want to drop him in close, right where the Black Fairy could destroy him immediately, but if Rumplestiltskin played his cards right, a fight would not be in the offing. He'd prepared for this, anyway. For her part, Danns showed no surprise to see him; she simply extended her arms at waist level, power swirling around her, ready to strike. The Black Fairy smiled, hazel eyes shining.
"Rumplestiltskin. I was not expecting you so soon."
"I bet you weren't." He smiled wolfishly. "But I'm not here to fight, dear, so there's no need to get worked up. I'm just here to talk."
Her eyebrows went up. "Oh, are you now?"
"Somehow, I doubt that surprises you. Unless, of course, you care to have another world-altering battle, Danns?"
That starburst had been a warning. They could try that again, could try to destroy one another and possibly take the world down with them…or they could come to a different accommodation. Much though the siren song of vengeance still burned within him, Rumplestiltskin knew that the later was a better option, and Danns clearly did, too. Otherwise, she would never have walked away after that last battle of theirs'. Given that she's been doing this a lot longer than I, that's hardly a surprise. Still, her smile faltered slightly, and her eyes narrowed.
"I'm still deciding," the Black Fairy answered his question, clearly not enjoying the fact that the human understood the stakes as well as she did.
Suddenly, Rumplestiltskin felt the power build from behind him, sensed Zoso trying to break out of the trap that still held him and attack the impertinent human who dared to annoy the Black Fairy so. Oh, Zoso didn't like his new mistress at all, but he was canny enough to garner favor from her by attacking Rumplestiltskin, particularly when she seemed so displeased. But the trap held, and Rumplestiltskin turned a nasty smile on his one-time torturer:
"Do tell your pet to stay out of this, will you?"
"And here I thought you would be more charitable towards a Dark One than that," she purred, clearly caring little for Zoso's plight. "What have you done to him?"
She could see well enough the magic he'd woven around Zoso, and could also break it easily enough, so Rumplestiltskin just shrugged. "I've never felt particularly charitable towards fools."
"Enough, Zoso," Danns said without even looking at her Dark One. But his struggles ceased immediately, even though she did not have the dagger in her hand. She was the Black Fairy. She did not need to hold the dagger, and that thought was enough to send a chill down Rumplestiltskin's spine that he tried to hide. Being controlled, body and soul, by that woman would be terrifying. "What did you want to talk about? Or did you simply wish to put yourself back in my hands again? Did you miss me?"
"Hardly," he snorted. "But obviously, we need to have a chat, lest we destroy the world between us."
"What care do I have for the world?" Now it was her turn to shrug.
"You can't exactly rule something you've destroyed," he countered, and watched her face quirk into a smile again.
"Then submit to the curse, and the world will be safe."
Rumplestiltskin laughed. "I don't think so, dearie. I've something better in mind."
"That was so awesome!" Henry gushed as he and Regina sat down for lunch, and she felt a smile tug at her lips even though the mother in her really didn't like the fact that her nearly-fourteen year old thought battles between dark sorcerers were 'cool' as opposed to terrifying.
"Sweetie, even if it was interesting to watch, you need to remember that getting tangled up in stuff like that is dangerous," she reminded him.
Henry's smile, of course, never wavered. How had she managed to raise such an optimistic child? Henry was the very center of Regina's world, but part of her would never understand this boy who had such a strong hold on her heart. Regina supposed that came from the way her originally good heart had been darkened by her own actions; simple optimism and faith in others were hard for her, now, even when she tried to be better. And she was better, in so many ways; she was fighting on the side of the angels and doing the right thing. Regina finally felt worthy of Henry's love, even if she didn't always understand him.
"I knew you and Grandpa Gold would protect me, just like you said you would," her boy replied sunnily.
"Protect you from what, bud?" Baelfire asked as he and Emma walked in together. Part of Regina still balked at sharing her son with those two—she had raised him when they couldn't be bothered—but most of her had accepted Henry's birth parents as part of his life. Henry had love enough for all of them, but it was thinking on that which made Regina miss the giant sinkhole of trouble her son's answer opened up beneath them.
"Zoso," Henry replied around a mouth full of turkey. "Grandpa needed to trap him, and since we all knew he was coming after me anyway, I said I could help."
"And he let you?" Emma echoed incredulously.
"Yup. Mom kept me safe while Grandpa dealt with Zoso."
"I bet he did," Baelfire put in darkly, and in that moment, his anger reminded Regina very vividly of his father, particularly when he turned those burning eyes on her. "It was Pop's idea, too wasn't it?"
Regina wasn't the type to be bullied, and if Bae had put a little more hostility in his voice, she probably would have responded in kind. But as it was, she wanted to keep the peace for Henry's sake…so she took a deep breath before answering:
"Yes. But Henry is fine, and it was better that we controlled the situation than not. The Black Fairy was bound to send Zoso after Henry, so we made sure that we could stop him when he did."
"But setting up a situation where he'd come after Henry." Bae's flat tone made it anything but a question.
"I'm fine, Dad," Henry interjected, trying to help. Regina wished he wouldn't.
"That's not the point," Emma snapped. "The point is that Rumplestiltskin set this up without telling us."
"Mom—"
"You knew," Emma overrode their son, whirling on Regina. Face set in fury, she demanded: "Why didn't he tell us?"
It was all Regina could do not to roll her eyes, and even then, she barely managed. "I didn't know he hadn't, but I presume it was because you'd react just like this."
Of course, Regina had very carefully not asked if Rumplestiltskin had told his son and daughter-in-law what he had planned. Regina knew Rumple far too well, and she knew he liked to play his cards close. Of course he hadn't told them. Rumple wasn't the type to share easily, and besides, those two would have insisted on coming along and only gotten in Regina's way. Emma was progressing well enough in her studies, but she still wasn't ready to face a full-blown Dark One, and Baelfire was nowhere near close to ready for that. Regina had been hard-pressed to deflect Zoso's attacks, and even she wouldn't have wanted to bring that down upon herself without Rumplestiltskin there to back her up. Or with Henry's birth parents there to get in the way or mess things up.
"You're damn right we would!" Emma burst out, and her husband laying a hand on her arm didn't seem to quell her anger much.
Baelfire, on the other hand, spoke quietly, his voice eerily reminiscent of Rumplestiltskin in his worst temper: "It's not Regina's fault, Emma."
"I think I'm going to punch your father," the Savior growled.
"Be my guest," Bae replied with a sigh, and Regina had to snort. Now that I would like to see!
"It's no one's fault!" Henry cut in forcefully, and again, Regina sometimes wished her beloved son knew when to stop arguing. "I volunteered. I wanted to help, and I'm sick of hiding. Don't blame Grandpa for letting me help."
"Henry, you're just a child—" Emma started, which only made their shared child jump to his feet, slamming his hands down on the table.
"I'm almost fourteen, Mom," he snapped. "And I know what's at stake. I'm old enough to make decisions for myself, you know, even if you don't trust me to."
"It's not that we don't trust you, Henry. It's just that we know how dangerous Zoso is," Bae tried to answer teenage angst with logic, which Regina knew was never a good idea.
"And I don't?" Henry shot back.
"We're still your parents," Emma dug herself in deeper while Regina sat back and stayed out of this. She really didn't want to bail those two out of their own parenting messes. That wasn't her responsibility. "And we just want you to be safe."
"I bet Grandpa didn't ask you because he knew you'd say no. Wouldn't you?"
"Of course we would have!"
"Then you don't trust me," Henry replied bluntly, his face stony and hurt. In the end, it was his wounded expression that made Regina speak up; she so wasn't doing this because she cared about Snow's daughter or Rumple's son.
"Sweetie, it isn't about trust," she said quietly, placing a hand on his arm that made Henry turn to look at her. "The hardest part about being a parent is knowing when to let your child take risks. I know that I struggle with that all the time, not because I don't trust you…but because I'm your mom."
Just like that, Henry's anger seemed to deflate. He asked softly: "Then why did you let me when they're so mad about it?"
"Because I could be there to protect you," Regina replied honestly, squeezing his arm. "We all know you're growing up, Henry. But it's still hard to accept."
"Gramps and Grandma Snow let Mom do whatever she wants," the teen groused rebelliously.
"That's because I'm their age, kid. They can't stop me," Emma snorted with laughter, briefly meeting Regina's eyes. Much to Regina's surprise, there was gratitude there, along with a lot of relief.
"I wish I was your age," Henry grumbled.
"Trust me, bud, you don't," Bae replied with a lopsided smile. "If anyone was in a hurry to grow up, it was me, but there's good parts about being a kid. You'll miss them when you grow up."
"That's what everyone always says, and I think you're kind of stupid," was the emphatic reply, and Regina had to bite back a laugh. Yes, Henry was a teenager and prone to emotional outbursts sometimes, but he was still Henry, and that was what counted. Still, she shouldn't let him get away with calling anyone stupid.
"Henry!" all three of his parents chided him together, and with that, lunch returned to normal.
Not that Rumplestiltskin wasn't going to get an earful from his son when he got back from his applying his "solution" to the Black Fairy problem, but Regina figured he was a big boy. Rumple could handle himself.
Danns cocked her head at him. "Are you going to try some clever way of killing me?" she asked perceptively. "You have the power to come here at any time, despite the safeguards my people put in place. Our battle linked our powers, however temporarily. You didn't need Zoso to bring you here. But you can't turn him against me, no matter how well you know that curse. Was that what you were planning?"
The last guess was accompanied by a dismissive wave of one porcelain-white hand, and Rumplestiltskin didn't like how close to home her conjecture fell. Oh, he'd not thought he could make Zoso kill Danns, but his original intention had been to use the strong connection between the Black Fairy and the curse to sneak in a spell that would at least incapacitate her. Now he was rather glad that he'd discarded that notion; if Danns could guess what he'd intended, that meant the idea was doubly doomed to failure. Apparently his instincts had been right all along. Rumplestiltskin would have to tackle this problem with his mind, not through sheer power.
"Hardly," he replied as if he'd never thought of doing that. "In fact, I came to propose a deal."
"A deal?" Danns perked up, clearly curious despite herself. "And what could you possibly have that I want?"
"The Heart of the Truest Believer," Rumplestiltskin replied bluntly, just to see what she'd say.
"And you are willing to sacrifice your beloved grandson's heart, are you? After fighting so long to keep him safe? I'm disappointed."
"Don't be. I'm offering nothing of the sort. I'm offering peace."
"Peace?" she scoffed. "I'm not interested in peace."
"I think you will be, once you hear me out." A mysterious smile played over his lips, one that had worked a hundred times before. Thousands of years old though Danns' a'Bhàis might be, she was still susceptible to the most basic methods of manipulation: make an offer she couldn't refuse, and she would accept it even if her instincts told her not to. But first Rumplestiltskin had to make her want it.
"And what is that?" the Black Fairy demanded.
"Me," he dropped the bombshell. "Merlin's power, tied to the curse, just as you always wanted."
She shrugged, feigning disinterest. "I already have a Dark One."
Rumplestiltskin leaned in close, his smile sharp and predatory as he met her dangerous hazel eyes. "But I'm the one you want."
"You would offer yourself?" Danns' expression grew hard. "I doubt that. I know you better than that by now, Rumplestiltskin."
"Oh, the offer's conditional, dear," he replied with a flippant shrug that was designed to hide the butterflies rolling in his stomach. "And you'll only get me under a very specific set of circumstances."
"Such as?" He had her attention now; her eyes were a little wider and her breath a bit shorter. Yes, she was interested.
"I want you—and all of your followers, along with anyone who might in any capacity seek or be forced to serve you—to stop going after Henry's heart. You leave that Heart where it belongs, let him live out a normal life. We both know that it'll probably be centuries before another Truest Believer is born, so you'll have your freedom," Rumplestiltskin said. "You can have your war with the fairies. You can even have your pet here." He gestured dismissively at Zoso. "But you stop hunting my grandson's heart."
"In exchange for what?" Danns sounded skeptical, but she knew how the game was played. "I'm hardly going to let my dear sister, or anyone else, take the Heart so that they can control me."
"Of course you're not. And I'll make sure they don't." Rumplestiltskin met her eyes, devoutly grateful that Danns did not yet know how Tink had taken Blue's place. "If I fail in that…then you can have me. Without resistance. I'll kill your pet and you'll have me as the Dark One."
"Willingly?" Danns asked, and it was a loaded enough question that Rumplestiltskin twitched slightly, unable to keep himself from shuddering.
"Provided I have your word that my family will be safe, yes," he replied bluntly. None of the aforementioned family would like this, but in order to make a deal, you had to have something the other side wanted. His soul was the best bargaining chip Rumplestiltskin possessed, and if things went according to plan, he would never have to go through with this.
A slow smile blossomed on the Black Fairy's face, and Danns reached out a hand to touch his cheek, stepping in even closer. Rumplestiltskin caught her wrist as he yanked away, her touch bringing back too many memories of pain and terror, and he saw victory spark briefly in her eyes. "It is amazing," she mused softly, "what you will do for love of your family."
"Do we have a deal?" Rumplestiltskin pressed, needing to be away from her, not liking being this close to the woman who had scarred him so badly. But he wouldn't give ground, not yet. He couldn't afford to show that weakness.
Danns studied him for a long moment, cocking her head contemplatively as her hazel eyes seemed to read his very soul. But that was the crux of this proposition: Rumplestiltskin never broke a deal, and he meant every word he had said. Deceive and manipulate though he might, he was always good to his word, and if someone did get the Heart of the Truest Believer and intend to put it in Danns, Rumplestiltskin would keep his promise. With no small amount of terror, but he would keep it.
"Very well," she said slowly. "I will refrain from claiming the Heart. In exchange, if anyone else should take it, you will become mine. Forever."
Rumplestiltskin could feel the magic sliding into place, could feel the power behind the words Danns had spoken and the proposal he had made. They both knew how to manipulate the very nature of magic, and although this agreement was a victory for neither of them, both walked away with what they wanted most. Danns wanted her freedom above all else…and Rumplestiltskin wanted his family to be safe.
"Agreed." The word was clipped; the power clicked into place. There would be no breaking their deal now.
And heaven help me if I fail.
"Are you all right, Rumple?"
Belle had finally found her love up in one of the higher towers of Snow and Charming's castle. His back was to her as he stared blankly out the open window, obviously not seeing the suddenly beautiful day that stretched out before them. The weather was strange; in early afternoon, it had looked likely to storm wildly, but the clouds had suddenly cleared and now there were birds singing everywhere. Belle could feel the subtle difference in the world itself, as if a great weight had been lifted from the Enchanted Forest and life could suddenly go on. She knew in her heart that Rumplestiltskin was responsible for that; Belle had known he was going to deal with the Black Fairy that morning, and although he had been vague as to what he intended to do, he had told her that he was going to make a deal with the Black Fairy to ensure Henry's safety. Whatever he'd proposed, it obviously must have worked. Here he was, safe and sound, and the world seemed just a little bit lighter.
"Rumple?" she asked again, touching his arm and making him jump.
"Belle," he breathed, turning to face her. "I'm sorry. I was…thinking."
"Clearly." Squeezing his arm, Belle smiled up at him, not understanding why he was suddenly melancholy but knowing she could usually cheer that out of him. "I take it things went well?"
"Well enough. She'll not come after Henry's heart again, anyway, and that's what counts. Danns is still alive, but…with Tink on our side, that shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"I'm glad." Belle leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "And you're all right?"
That finally made him smile wanly. "And I'm all right."
"Good. Now, I'm going to guess you haven't eaten, have you?" Belle was terribly curious to know how Rumple had convinced the Black Fairy to stay away from Henry's heart, but she knew that she needed to draw him out of his shell first. Sometimes, her fiancé required careful handling, and this seemed to be one of those days. First, she figured that she would get some food in him—given that it was dinner time, and she was sure he'd skipped lunch—and then she'd work on him a little. He would tell her what it was he'd proposed eventually—and if it was what Belle feared, she understood why Rumplestiltskin might be reluctant to say it. He feared her reaction, but Belle admired his courage too much to be angry with him.
"No. I guess I forgot."
"Typical," she teased him, grabbing his hand. "You can be the most powerful sorcerer in the world, but you'd waste away if I wasn't here to remind you to eat. Come on."
Rumplestiltskin didn't resist when Belle pulled him down the stairs, nor did he argue when she led him towards the family dining room instead of towards their own rooms. Usually, Rumplestiltskin preferred to eat in private—he still wasn't all that good at being social, even if he was trying to be better around family—but Belle was determined to bring him down to the others. She knew that everyone else was already down there, and that they were all worried about Henry. Everyone needed to know that Rumplestiltskin had managed to secure Henry's safety, and it would go much better if he told them tonight instead of leaving them to figure it out like he was wont to do.
"Really, sweetheart?" he asked softly as she opened the door.
"It's only family, Rumple," Belle reminded him, giving him the smile that she knew he couldn't say no to.
"Of course," he grumbled, but Belle could see a little less resistance in his eyes than their once would have been.
They walked through the doors together, still hand in hand, and Belle was glad to see that none of the others seemed surprised by Rumplestiltskin's presence. They were all growing used to him, used to this convoluted and large family that they were all a part of. Once, Snow and Charming might have been less happy to share the dinner table with the former Dark One, but now they accepted him as Henry's other grandfather and their own daughter's father-in-law. Emma and Bae marrying seemed to have overcome any lingering awkwardness, and David threw the pair of them a welcoming smile as they walked in.
Rumplestiltskin pulled her chair out for her—oddly enough, he'd always been a gentleman, even in the depths of his former curse—but froze as his son spoke up icily:
"Glad to see you're back, Pop. Thought you might have run off after using Henry as bait."
Twisting in her chair, Belle turned to stare up at Rumplestiltskin, whose wide-eyed expression very much resembled that of a deer caught in the headlights. "Rumple?"
"Dad!" Henry snapped. "I thought we went through this."
"Not now, Henry," Emma shushed her child, and Belle thought she saw Regina sighing out of the corner of her eye as the Charmings sat straight up in alarm.
That interaction, however, seemed to give Rumplestiltskin time to catch his balance, and he quirked a wry smile. "Ah. I see that you heard."
"Heard? I more than heard. You put Henry in danger so that you could pull whatever trick you wanted to pull," Bae snapped. "I thought you'd changed. I thought you said family was important."
Rumplestiltskin's expression had cycled out of controlled and back to shocked, and now he looked stricken. "It is, Bae," he said softly.
"Then how come you put my son in danger without even talking to me?" Belle could hear the hurt in Bae's voice, and she tried to reach across the table to put a hand on his, but he yanked away.
"Bae…" she started.
"No," Bae snapped. "You don't get to defend him. This time he gets to defend himself."
Again, Belle turned to Rumplestiltskin. Knowing what must have thrown him off-kilter like this, she grabbed his hand, squeezing it and hoping to give him strength. No, he shouldn't have endangered Henry, but what he had also done was equally important, and Rumplestiltskin needed to say that. He was particularly vulnerable to attacks from those closest to him, Belle had always understood, and facing such hostility from his beloved son only turned an already unsettling day upside down.
"Henry was never in any danger," Rumplestiltskin started, but from the way Bae scowled, Belle knew it was the wrong tact to take. "If Zoso even—"
"That's not the point," Bae cut his father off harshly. "The point is that you didn't even talk to us. You just went off and did whatever it was you were going to do, dangling Henry in front of the Dark One like some sort of prize to be snapped up. And for what? What did you talk to the Black Fairy about, anyway?"
"And what do you think I was doing, Baelfire?" Rumplestiltskin demanded, and Belle could see his own temper rising to meet the one his son had inherited from him. When wounded, Rumple tended to lash out, because he didn't always know how to deal with someone who could hurt him so badly and it was the only way he knew to protect himself. "Do you suddenly think that I decided to embrace evil once more, that you can't trust me to protect my family?"
"I think we all might need a moment to calm down," Snow cut in hurriedly, trying to play peacemaker, but only making the problem worse. Belle knew that Baelfire loved his father as much as Rumple loved him, but saying that the two of them had issues in the past was like saying water was a little bit wet. She'd thought they moved past this, and they had, but endangering Henry had clearly hit a nerve. They trusted one another, they really did, but it seemed that Bae had inherited his father's paternal overprotectiveness as much as he'd inherited his temper.
"I don't need to calm down. I need to know what my father was doing," Bae snapped at his mother-in-law, coming to his feet to face Rumplestiltskin. "And to answer your question, Papa, I know you and power. I know what it does to you."
Rumplestiltskin reared back as if struck, and Belle could feel the tremor run through him. He yanked his hand from hers as his voice turned sharp and sarcastic, a slight and cold wind whipping up in the room. "Yes, because even in the depths of my former curse, I didn't learnto overcome that. I chose power over family once, and we both paid the price. Have I given you any indication that I would do so again?"
"I think you just did, yeah." Bae sounded as sad as he did angry, but it was Rumplestiltskin's face that Belle was watching as the blow landed. His son's response made him go stark white, stiff as a board. His carefully blank expression was utterly devastated.
"If that's how you feel, then I won't burden you with my presence."
Belle knew he was going to do it before Rumplestiltskin even turned away, and she jumped to her feet to catch him before he even made it three steps towards the door. Luckily, he was too emotional to think of teleporting, otherwise there was no way she'd have resolved this short of giving them both time. As it was, Belle managed to grab his arm and intercept him, tugging hard until he stopped.
"Rumple," she whispered. "Tell him why you went to see the Black Fairy. Tell him what you did. It'll help him understand."
He looked at her, all pain and confusion and heartbreak. Belle knew what he was thinking, about how he'd nearly died to save his family, how he'd made that sacrifice despite his curse wanting to stop him, and how high of a price he'd paid because he refused to give in afterwards. Rumplestiltskin wasn't a brave man by nature, and he'd tried to be brave for his family, and now he felt like that was being thrown in his face by the son whom he would give up everything for without blinking an eye. Belle slipped her hand into his again, squeezing gently.
"You didn't think I wouldn't guess, did you? I know you, Rumple, and I love you. So does Bae." Belle felt him shake slightly, but the wind in the room seemed to ease as he reined his emotions in. "Trust him. Trust all of us?"
Slowly, Rumplestiltskin let out a breath. "You will never cease to amaze me," he whispered.
"Good." She quirked a smile, her heart still hammering worriedly in her chest, and then tugged him around to face the others even as Bae spoke up again, sounding a little less certain:
"What does she mean, tell me what you did?"
"I had to prove to Danns that she couldn't use Zoso to get Henry," Rumplestiltskin explained, his voice still clipped and his defenses on high. "Otherwise, she would never have agreed to the deal I offered her. It worked. She accepted. The Black Fairy will not attempt to take Henry's heart again. Ever."
"She did?" David burst out, looking both hopeful and shocked at the same time. Snow had the same expression on her face, and even Emma's fury seemed to have dimmed. Regina looked pleased but not terribly surprised, and Henry just looked grateful that everyone had stopped shouting.
"Yes."
Baelfire, however, clearly knew his father too well. "At what price?" he asked cautiously.
"It's of no matter," Rumplestiltskin replied, and Belle glared at him. He ignored her—quite willfully, she was sure—and continued: "Nothing that will harm any of you. Or Henry, of course."
That seemed enough to alleviate most everyone's worries, but not quite.
"Papa, what did you do?" Bae whispered.
"Rumple, please." Belle knew Rumplestiltskin well enough to know that he was going to change the subject, to refuse to tell them and bury the truth as far as he could. He'd twist words, throw up a smoke screen, and do anything to avoid giving a straight answer. But Baelfire needed to hear it…and so did everyone else.
"It's nothing—" he started.
"You offered yourself, didn't you?" Belle cut him off gently, knowing it was true. And he still calls himself a coward. She wished Rumple could see in himself what she saw, instead of looking away from her as if he was angry or ashamed of what he had done.
"You what?" Bae echoed, even as Henry added:
"Grandpa, you can't!"
Rumplestiltskin sighed. "It's nothing quite so dramatic as that. In order to reach an accommodation, both parties each must possess something the other desires. Danns will refrain from taking Henry's heart or letting any of her creatures do the same. In exchange, I will prevent anyone else from doing so, thus preserving her freedom. If I fail, then she gets what she wants."
"Which is you," Emma spoke up when no one else would.
"As the Dark One, yes."
Baelfire came around the table to stand in front of his father, moving like a man who wasn't quite sure if his legs would work through his shock. His brown eyes were bigger than Belle had ever seen them, confused and full of raging emotions. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to stop me," Rumplestiltskin answered simply.
"I—"
"It's what had to be done. Nothing more."
"I'm sorry, Papa," Bae said, his voice very small, and Belle stepped out of the way to allow the two men to embrace.
"I know, son," Rumplestiltskin whispered into his son's hair, and suddenly they were holding tightly to one another. "So am I."
A/N: Next up – the epilogue, in which we get a wedding, the future, and a few random surprises. While you're waiting for the end, please let me know what you think!
Also, if you haven't checked out my new AU, "Freeze on the Stones," please do!