Chapter Eleven

He was not in his own bed. Belle was curled up with him, but they were not in their room in their own home. Rumplestiltskin blinked several times, clearing the sleep from his eyes and he felt her stir against him a little in her dozing state. He glanced over to see Henry leaned in with Bae, quietly discussing something or the other. It took them a moment to feel his gaze on them, but they looked over together and Bae instantly made a grab for his hand. "Hey, Papa. How're you feeling?"

"Like I want to go home," he replied raspily and felt his son squeeze his fingers. A smile perked his lips despite the lingering pain and exhaustion. "Glad it wasn't a dream though, if it brings you back."

Bae cracked a smile. "Good to be back. I missed you guys."

Rumplestiltskin cleared his throat, willing himself under control. "I missed you too, son."

A soft knock was the only warning before the door was pushed open and David stuck his head in. He looked ready to speak before his gaze fell on Rumplestiltskin and he froze, guilt etched into his features. He stood there for a moment and didn't seem capable if movement until Henry stood. "Hey, Gramps. Mom said you'd be bringing some of my clothes by."

His grandson's voice seemed to startle him out of his thoughts and he blinked. "Hey, Henry. I did. Right here." His eyes never left Rumplestiltskin even when he held up the travel bag for the teen to take, and it was making the Dark One uncomfortable. Emma was nowhere in sight and he wasn't sure if the spell would be entirely shattered without Bae in their grasps. He also wasn't certain he wanted to rely on that hope.

Bae rose at his side and he thought the distrust must have been plastered across his face for his son to react in such a way and he hated himself for such visible weakness. David saw it too and he shrank back a little. "Gold, listen, I don't know how to begin to apologize. I can't even explain what happened. I don't understand it."

"It was a spell, nothing more," Rumplestiltskin answered roughly.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot more to me. I thought you'd killed my daughter and I..." He paused, looking very much like he was trying to grab ahold of his fleeing reality. "I don't know how it all got so confused," he finished in a rush.

Dark eyes narrowed and their owner decided he'd prefer the prince out of his hospital room more than he'd like to handle the situation currently. It was still too close, and this time the pain was lingering. His magic had done quite a bit to put him back together, but it had left him drained and still in no small amount of discomfort. If something went wrong and Magnus' spell snapped back into play, he would be next to useless and trapped in a small room with monitors attached to slow him down. "A spell," he repeated, shifting against his pillows to sit up a bit better and winced as he did. "A nasty one with painful consequences, but many often do."

Instead if taking that and leaving, David entered the room fully and Rumplestiltskin tried to resist the urge to flee the bed. Belle had woken by this point and squeezed his hand and she finally shifted to sit with him, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed so that she could quickly stand if she should need to. "Thank you, David," she said gently. "This has been difficult for everyone. Perhaps we should wait until Rumple's on his feet to regroup for this? A day or two now that they don't have Bae shouldn't-"

"I believe you're underestimating them, Belle," a prim voice that Rumplestiltskin knew well said and the Blue Fairy entered the room, followed closely by Snow White and her daughter. "I'm afraid this can't wait." Regina entered as well with Robin at her side, though she hardly looked interested in standing with the fairy. Instead, she moved over to where Henry was still seated on the other side of his grandfather's bed. The hospital room was getting very crowded very quickly.

"Well, by all means, feel free to just barge in all at once," the Dark One snapped, hiding his discomfort beneath the barbs and he saw his former student roll her eyes, but she wisely declined to say anything.

Bae shifted closer, almost protectively, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with Regina's proximity. He was wearing a glare that Rumple hadn't seen even lobbed in his direction on their worst days. His son looked ready to kill if just the wrong thing was said and that look was aimed so fully at the lead fairy that she was visibly uncomfortable under it.

"We're all waiting for what you know, Blue," Bae said tightly, and even Belle seemed a little startled by his tone.

"Do you know something more than you told us yesterday?" Belle asked softly, but it almost sounded like a prompt rather than a question. Rumplestiltskin logged that back to ask her about later.

"Yes," the fairy answered in a strained voice. "Baelfire is already partially aware and I promised him everything I know to better help you fight your enemy." She looked to Snow, Charming, and Emma. "As I always have in the past."

Snow nodded in her way, fully accepting. "Of course, Blue. Please, these people have hurt us all. We can't protect ourselves if we don't know what we're up against."

Hurt them all, Rumplestiltskin thought with a little bitterness working its way in. Funny, he, Henry, and Bae seemed to have taken the brunt of it, and if Henry hadn't been used in it he wasn't sure that the others would have given a damn that he was.

The fairy glanced warily towards Baelfire and nodded. "Of course. Rumplestiltskin, how much do you know about the origins of your curse?"

The Dark One in questioned blinked and felt all eyes turn to him. He'd searched for information on its origins before so that he would be as aware of its limitations as possible, but precious little was known about it. Not that that was overly surprising. The curse bred paranoia and encouraged secrets. He would have gathered any written information about his own curse if he'd wanted to study it or not, just to keep it out of others' hands.

"Rumple?" Belle murmured his name and her clear blue eyes were focused on him, a little worried that he hadn't responded yet.

He cleared his throat and tried to straighten his shoulder back against the pillows, but the movement pulled at injuries and he sucked in a breath that shook more than he would have liked. "Most of it is myth. Curses that stretch back as far as the Dark One's Curse tend to be lost to that sort. It's not like predecessors leave you with a great deal of knowledge."

Blue nodded slowly and he didn't like the look of superiority that flashed across her face. "There's a reason for that, though most Dark Ones have not been quite as… curious as you've proven to be."

His lips twitched at the edges. "Well, my dear, I do believe you are the only person I've ever heard to make the search for knowledge sound quite that distasteful."

Belle made a small sound at his side that was likely a cut off giggle and he heard Bae snort his own laugh. A glance at his grandson showed Henry was grinning at the quip as well and he knew where his trust lay in the room.

The fairy wasn't quite as amused as his family was. She frowned as if she had something to be offended over. "Many, many years ago - centuries before any of your were born - a set of clerics came together with a common goal of ridding our world of some of the darkest magics known to ever exist. These were curses that had rotted men's souls within moments of their casting and had turned entire kingdoms to dust. They were of the mind that our world could not sustain these sorts of magic and that they must be done away with."

"And I'm sure you were right there with them," Regina asked hotly from her place and Rumplestiltskin watched the fairy's reaction as she spoke carefully.

"They did come to me with a wish to rid the world of darkness. The fairies, of course, were willing to help in any way that did not endanger the Enchanted Forest. Perhaps if Magnus had come to me with their final decision, I might have been able to warn them away from such foolish endeavours, but he did not."

"Just how old is this Magnus?" Belle asked curiously, but her husband spoke before Blue could answer.

"Instead of covering your own ass, Blue, let's get on with it shall we?"

The fairy bristled at the tone. "They created a vault to hold the darkness, but when they finished collecting the scrolls and the potions and the darkness and threw it in…"

Images of the Vault of the Dark One danced across Rumplestiltskin's memory and he tried not the shudder visibly. The oozing black depths and the searing pain that was the only existence known within it had been terrible. There were few things that could push him into returning, but with his family now reunited and together, he was quite certain that he would fight his own end and return to it with more fervor than ever before.

"The darkness brewed until it created the curse that is now known as the Dark One's Curse. The curse slipped through a weak point in the vault and took hold of one poor soul traveling through the woods. It didn't take long for Magnus to come to me and together we discovered what happened. He vowed to do away with the curse by killing the man - a sacrifice that while the fairies cannot condone, was deemed necessary - and sent his second, Julius, after the cursed man to free him of it. The cleric took with him an ancient and powerful dagger."

"The Kris Dagger," Rumplestiltskin said softly, and by the expression the fairy wore he knew he was right.

She nodded. "It was not tied to the curse then. Julius drove the dagger into the the cursed man's heart and he did fall, but none of us could have known what to expect next. Magnus and I were both close enough to see the curse reach out, using the power of the ancient dagger to build its strength and take hold. The change was absolute. He had been such a kind soul, but the anger and the darkness overtook him and the corruption of his soul made itself outwardly visible. With it, his powers grew and he laid waste to half the kingdoms in existence at the time. Thousands of people died. The clerics and the fairies each lost a number to him as well, though no magic could bring him down and keep him there. It was many years before a powerful sorcerer gained control of the Kris Dagger and discovered that he could control the Dark One whose name was written there and many years still until someone killed Julius with it and the powers were passed on."

The room had fallen silent as the Blue Fair explained the history behind Rumplestiltskin's curse and Snow White made a small sound even as Emma crossed her arms. "So you're saying that the bastard that's been trying to use us to kill Gold is the same one that started this whole mess?"

"Magnus feels responsible," Blue tried, but the savior cut her off.

"That could be because he is," she snapped.

"If they created the vault, that's why they could pull me from it, isn't it?" Bae asked softly and Blue's lips thinned as she nodded.

"Yes, though he would have had to sacrifice one or more of his own people in exchange. As your father has surely taught you, all magic has a price associated with it. Much blood has been shed in their attempts to right their wrongs. I fear… they may have gone too far this time."

"So what? You were trying to kill him when you gave me the bean to go to this world?" Bae demanded. "You were going to use me to kill him then and they were trying to use me to kill him now. It doesn't seem like you're a lot different."

"I merely meant to send the Dark One's Curse to a place it could not be accessed," the fairy defended herself.

"Please," Snow cut in. "We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves. Magnus is, of course, in the wrong here. He's used us to attack Rumplestiltskin and-"

"And what, dearie?" the sorcerer in question asked softly, his voice quiet but even. "I can hardly believe you're suddenly jumping to my defence."

"You're family," she argued. "Of course we are."

"Funny how that didn't seem to matter with Zelena." The words left his lips before he gave himself permission to let them, his control slipping and some of the pain made its way into them.

The princess looked offended, but it was her husband that reached a hand out to quiet her before she managed to say something foolish. "He's right," David murmured and his eyes met the dark ones of the man he'd nearly killed. "You're right. We've called you family when it's convenient, but you are family, even when we don't always agree. Family stands by each other, no matter what. If you'll let us, we'll stand by you now."

Rumplestiltskin met his uncertain gaze and felt Belle reach over to take his hand. "Rumple, we stand a better chance when we work together," she said sensibly.

He loosed a breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding and nodded. "We do," he answered, his voice trembling just a little. He didn't want to work with these people that had left him to rot not once, but twice in Zelena's cage. The ones that had only wanted to free him to save themsleves, and who seemed to think that calling him family would be enough. There was something in David's eyes, though, that chipped away at his resolve to hate them. These damnable heroes that were so certain of their inherent rightness in every situation… At least one of them knew he'd been wrong this time. "I know we do."

Charming nodded and stepped forward, his hand reaching out. "I'm sorry," he said unsteadily. "I know that doesn't begin to cover it, but I hope it's a start."

"As I said earlier: it was a spell," Rumplestiltskin murmured, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Maybe not just," the prince answered, "and that's where I was wrong."

"Rumple," Belle urged so softly that he wasn't sure if she'd actually spoken or if he just knew her that well. He felt her gaze on him and he frowned, shifting and reaching his own hand out.

David's expression lighted considerably as he took it as if they were old friends. It didn't mean that things would change immediately, or even that they would trust him after this was all said and done, but he didn't really need them to. Just this once, they were willing to come to his aid instead of demanding something of him, and that was a strange enough turn to leave him without any clever quip or snarky retort. He merely nodded as Charming took a step back.

"Okay, now that we have that out of the way," the prince's brash daughter said, "how do we handle this crazy son of a bitch?"

Emma was avoiding him. There really was no question in his mind about that. As the discussion continued she never quite met his eyes. Even when he was speaking, her gaze would sweep out across the room, always managing to focus in on someone other than him. Bae kept trying to catch it and she seemed to prefer to focus on the blank wall or the tiles on the floor rather than to meet his eyes, and when they finally broke for lunch - and when Belle finally convinced them to let Rumplestiltskin rest - he hadn't even made the decision to follow behind her until he was halfway out the door, Belle offering him an encouraging smile as he passed by her and after the woman that had held his heart for over a decade.

She stopped when he called her name, almost as if his voice had reached out and taken hold of her as surely as a hand might have, and her shoulders tensed. She didn't turn towards him, though, but remained facing down the hall with her eyes fixated on what might have been an escape route if only she had made it that far. He felt his chest clench painfully as he closed the space, wanting nothing more than to have the woman that he'd loved for over a decade simply to turn and look at him. He'd fought for her, and in the end he'd been willing to die for her. He'd come home for her and Henry, and even if she couldn't love him as he loved her, he needed to see her face, to hear her voice. They'd been so in love once that somehow, for everything that they'd been through, surely she could just look at him. If for nothing else, than for Henry's sake they had to manage something of a friendly relationship. "Emma, wait."

"Not right now, Neal," she managed.

He loosed a breath, trying not to let the pain work its way too deeply into his voice. "Listen, I know you don't want to talk to me right now, and I get it, but-"

"It's not that I don't want to," Emma said tightly, turning just a little. "It's that I don't think I can."

He stopped and the pressure seemed to increase. "What do you mean?" he asked. There was something unsettling in her voice that he couldn't quite place, and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know what she meant.

When she did turn towards him her expression made him take a physical step back. Her eyes were guarded, but there was an anger there that seemed to be more a wall to hide behind "You can't keep doing this."

Bae blinked, confusion sweeping through him. "Emma, I-"

"You died. Again." The words felt like a physical blow and he blinked at her. Her careful mask was shattering now, and it revealed the turmoil that she'd been holding deep inside of her. Her eyes flashed and he thought she might hit him. "And you keep coming back. You keep breaking my heart and coming back just when I think I might be able to move on. Just when I've decided that I have to."

He stood frozen in place, her words cutting like a knife and he pulled in a shaky breath. "Emma, I'm so sorry. I keep… I keep coming back for you and Henry. You're my family. My home."

Emma's mask was broken now and tears spilled from her eyes. "You died and you made me kill you," she snarled.

"Is that what you think?" Bae whispered. Like father, like daughter, they'd both blame themselves for things beyond their control. Beyond their very understanding. "Emma, it wasn't your fault-"

"Yeah? Really? Because I'm pretty sure it was my magic that separated you and Gold and that killed you. You can say whatever you want, but it's true." She pulled in a trembling breath and even as he reached forward she batted his hand away. "I just can't do it anymore, Neal. You keep coming back just when I think I've put you behind me. I can't hurt like that anymore and… and I can't hurt you like that. So let's not try this again. It's… safer that way."

He couldn't make himself move as she turned and he saw all the years of hurt he'd managed to lay on her shoulders as she stormed away. His knees felt weak and he leaned up against the white wall of the hallway.

"She's just scared."

Bae turned. "Henry? I thought you had gone with your grandparents to the diner."

His son shrugged. "You and Mom always need a little help. She really is just scared. She pushes people away when she's scared."

"I know," Baelfire breathed and leaned back against the wall, his head thumping lightly against it. "She's just been hurt too much. I can't blame her."

"You could, but you really love her."

"Yeah, I really do."

"She can't use her magic anymore," Henry said softly. "Zelena did something to take it away. She never told me the whole story, but… Well, even when Zelena died it didn't come back."

"Why?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't know, but it never came back. Could it be because she blames herself?"

Bae sighed, offering his son a tired smile. "I don't know about that. All I know is that I really screwed up, even trying to do the right thing."

"You're here now, and I know you won't go anywhere again if you can help it."

"You really do have the Heart of the Truest Believer, don't you, buddy?" he asked, gathering Henry into his arms. The teen didn't protest, but wrapped an arm around his dad's middle in return.

"Our family does a lot of crazy stuff, but we come back in the end. It's kind of what we do, right?"

"Yeah. It kind of is."

"You should be resting, you know."

Rumple shot her a glare, but it was hardly one of his worst and Belle found herself giggling at his efforts. He'd seemed close to dozing when the others had left, but once he was quite sure they were gone he had begun to untangle himself from monitors and pulled the IV out that she had somehow convinced him to keep in until that moment. She supposed she should simply be happy he'd obliged her this long.

"You're laughing at me," he pointed out crossly and it only caused her to laugh more as she stood from her chair and took the three steps it took to stand in front of her husband.

Belle held his hands in her own and then reached one hand up to his face. He needed a shave, she thought offhandedly, but other than that he looked much better than he had. A bit tired and a bit worn, but that was to be expected for a man that had nearly died just a very short time before. She didn't dare let herself dwell on that now, though, as she tipped up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Yes I am," she murmured against them and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Laughing at a dark and powerful sorcerer can be quite dangerous to a person's health, my dear," he murmured softly, his tease playful.

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm married to the same powerful sorcerer and I think he's rather fond of me."

Rumple chuckled and kissed her forehead. "More than fond, I'd say. I do love you."

"And I love you," Belle answered. "There's no way to convince you to stay, is there?"

"I want to go home."

She nodded, knowing when to pick her battles. "It's probably safer there, at any rate."

"Mm. That and there's plenty to be done. This whole event is far from over and I don't trust Reul Ghorm to play one side on this one."

"You think she'll betray us now?"

"I think she'll betray me if she thinks she can keep her pet princess and prince while doing so. The Blue Fairy will do a great many things in the name of the greater good."

Belle pursed her lips together and grabbed her bag from the chair. She turned just in time to see him wobble dangerously and she reached out and steadied him. "Rumple," she said softly, all the pleading she promised herself she wouldn't do somehow making it's way into her voice.

"I won't give them time to finish the job, sweetheart," he murmured and kissed her forehead. "Or let them harm those I love any further."

"We'll fight this together," she promised him.

"Together," he agreed as the door opened behind them.

Bae waved some papers in the air. "Thought I'd save you the trouble of arguing with Whale."

Rumplestiltskin snorted. "There doesn't have to be an argument if I simply walk out."

Belle swatted at him gently. "He's just doing his job."

"Really? Because in his own world his patients were more dead rather than living, though he might try."

"Well that's not creepy at all," Bae grumbled as he handed the paperwork over. "He said to sign the last page and you could go."

Rumple didn't bother to look at the paperwork and his wife lifted an eyebrow as a twitch of his finger sent his name sprawling across the line. He shrugged and she didn't complain. Instead she looped her arm through his and held on tightly as they started for the door. She couldn't hold onto him like this forever, and she most certainly couldn't protect him from everything just as he couldn't protect her from everything, but they could try. Their love was a shield, an extra layer of protection around them that would stand between them and their enemies, and these clerics had proven themselves to be their enemies. Belle didn't care what side they claimed to fight on. If they were incapable of acknowledging that there was a man beneath the curse who was struggling to be better, then they were the ones that had made themselves the enemies. She would never stop fighting for her love, even if it meant facing off with an ancient set of clerics. She didn't care who they thought they were or what side of good that they claimed to fight on. They would not win this fight.

TBC

Notes: Well this was a cray weekend. Updating might be a wee bit off this week and next. Not quite sure yet. I'll do my best to have another chapter up by the end of the week though :)

Next time - The clerics position themselves against the heroes while David and Rumplestiltskin find common ground.