Chapter Twelve

"This does not need to end in bloodshed," the Blue Fairy was saying as Henry entered Granny's Diner. His family was already seated in the center with several tables pulled together. Baby Neal had been picked up and was currently snoozing in his car seat between Grandma Snow and Gramps. Robin, who had probably been accepted into the family quicker than Regina had, sat next to her with Roland in her lap, thoroughly distracted by icecream. Emma looked both frustrated and tired, but she waved Henry over to the open seat next to her. At least they weren't going to try to shuffle him off.

"You mean more bloodshed?" David prompted.

Blue made a face like she'd tasted something sour. "Of course. There is no question that they've overstepped many lines in this. The abuse of power and responsibility is severe. Pulling the vault over and opening it here is... Well, we may yet see the dangers that could unleash."

"That really is Neal, isn't it?" Mary Margaret asked. "It's not some trick they're playing?"

"It's really him," Henry said firmly and the lead fairy didn't dare argue with him.

"You don't expect these people just to sit down and have a chat with us, do you?" Emma demanded.

"These are the same clerics that tried to take Henry away," Regina agreed. "Any time that this might have been resolved nicely has passed."

"They want to kill Grandpa Gold," Henry argued. "How can you talk with them about that?"

"You don't know what you're saying, dear," a Blue said softly. "We must come to peaceful terms with them or-"

Regina shifted Roland. "There aren't always peaceful terms to come to."

"But we should try," Mary Margaret argued.

"Snow, they'll be looking for any weakness we present," David pointed out. "And we've already said that we're standing by Gold on this. No matter what he's done in the past, he's family, and he's done a lot to help us. It's our turn to step out on a limb for him."

She nodded slowly, even if her gaze flickered back to Blue. A sigh escaped her. "David's right. Whatever good they may be trying to reach, the won't reach it with Rumplestiltskin's death."

"Is there a way to get rid of his curse without killing him?" Henry ventured.

"If there was, child, we would have long since taken that route," a new voice said and the adults at the table stood so quickly that several chairs fell back.

Emma reached around and pulled Henry back behind her. David took a step in front of all of them with his sword drawn and ready. Tension filled the diner as patrons not involved in the potentially brewing fight scurried out. Ruby came around the bar, her movements slow and dangerous.

Henry recognized one of the two clerics that had appeared so suddenly as the one that had tried to drag him away when they'd lost hold of his dad and grandfather. The other, though, he only recognized from Neal's stories that he'd shared while they waited together for Grandpa Gold to wake in the hospital. He seemed to be their leader, the one that Blue called Magnus, and Henry's father hadn't been exaggerating the level of power that seemed to radiate from the blind cleric. Henry liked to think of himself as brave, but even he wanted to shrink back just a little in the presence of this walking mountain of a man that must have lived for centuries.

"Peace, we have no wish to harm you," Caiden said as his pale gaze swept over Storybrooke's heroes.

"Like hell you don't," Regina growled. "You're not getting anywhere near Henry."

"Henry was merely a means to an end," Magnus stated, his voice rumbling. "One that I don't think we shall need. Surely all of you understand the magnitude of what we've set out to do here. There is a great darkness threatening your town, and we are not it. It is the one that created the curse that brought you here. He has been toying with you like pawns in his game."

"Kind of like you, huh?" Emma growled. "Maybe that's less Gold and more his curse, since you created it."

Well, that caught their attention. Magnus turned what Henry thought was a sightless glare at Blue who did her best not to shrink back. "They needed to know," the fairy managed.

"It was not yours to tell."

"You cannot hope to hide it forever."

Henry glared from his place, feeling his own fears taking a side seat to his need to stand by and protect his family. "We're not going to let you hurt my grandpa."

"You should be grateful, child. A father in exchange for a grandfather is not something you could have done alone."

"You're not taking either one of them."

"Henry," Emma murmured and positioned herself a little more between the cleric and her son.

"He's right," David said firmly. "We're not going to let you anywhere near our family."

"So you'll choose the demon over all else?" Magnus asked, his voice bordering on curiosity.

"He's a bit more than that, I think, but yes."

"And you speak for everyone here? Everyone in the town?"

Henry looked back towards the kitchen where those that hadn't been able to get out the door had gathered. His family might stand by Grandpa Gold now, but the others in the town were just as weary of him there as they were in the Enchanted Forest. There was no guarantee that they would back their prince in this.

"We'll follow David and Snow," Ruby said with her arms crossed and her dark eyes fixed without fear. "Till the end, if it comes to that."

"Very well," the cleric answered ominously and then they were both gone in a swirl of smoke, leaving the diner in the silence that followed.

"Well, at least the lines are drawn," Robin murmured, pulling Roland up and into his arms and breaking the silence.

Henry looked around and resolve was the best description of what he saw. It was amazing how they'd come from so many different places, from so many different angles, but they'd fight together now. It was a long-time coming.

"Someone should get over to Gold's room and fill him in," David said.

"He went home," Henry informed him.

"Or the house," David corrected and glanced at Emma. "Neal's probably over there..."

Henry was certain his mother went a little pale.

"Or not?" Grandma Snow murmured.

"I'll go," Henry said without missing a beat. "Let me grab some food."

Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure if something was wrong or if he was just being paranoid. Bae had gone very quiet between the hospital and arriving at the three-story, pink house with his papa and Belle, and he didn't know why. Bae's anger didn't seem directed at him, but he could never be certain. He studied his son carefully as they entered the house, Belle releasing his arm only to check the text that came through on her phone.

Bae's gaze swept across the front hall, taking in the house that he'd never actually stepped foot in. Belle had managed to keep it in something akin to order since she'd moved in, never quite allowing Rumplestiltskin to indulge in what he was certain was at least organized chaos, though his wife might have disagreed with the organized part. When the curse had delivered him to Storybrooke it had at least given him things to keep his hands busy, if not his mind. Gold had been bored beyond reason for his twenty-eight years of existence. He'd toyed with people here and there, setting up deals that never really came to fruition until after Emma Swan had arrived and Mr Gold was neatly tucked away, only to be brought out again if Rumplestiltskin needed a facade to throw Regina off his trail. He'd kept busy with his tinkering and his restoration projects that were never quite complete. Those half completed projects were still strewn all over the house, but Belle had found homes for them in shelves and cabinets all around. She'd never asked to throw any out, as Rumple still found himself tinkering when life slowed down. Not that it ever did.

"Quite a place you have, Papa," his son murmured at last and Rumplestiltskin took a step towards him. It had been such a rush of pain and then the chaos with the hospital and then Blue's forced help that standing in his own home with his son there with him seemed rather surreal.

When he didn't respond, Bae turned to look at him and Rumplestiltskin was certain he must have been wearing every feeling splattered across his face in that moment because his son moved forward. "Hey? You okay?"

The words startled him out if his thoughts and Rumplestiltskin tried to regain control of himself. It took only half a moment for him to realize that his control didn't matter as much as Bae being right there and he wrapped his arms around his neck. Bae returned the embrace immediately, and they held into each other as if they shared the fear that the other might simply vanish without warning.

"I'm not going anywhere, Papa," Bae promised in his ear, his voice trembling, and Rumplestiltskin tightened his grip, pulling a strained chuckle from his son. Bae finally pulled back and his papa saw that he wasn't the only one on the verge of a breakdown. He had no idea what all they'd put his boy through, but he was certain that when he found out it would only strengthen his resolve to wipe out each and every one of them. Perhaps he wouldn't bother finding the resolve.

"I know," he said at last. "I know, Bae. I just never... I thought I'd lost you for good."

"Not this time," Bae answered with a small smile.

"Henry is on his way over," Belle announced as she shrugged her coat off. "He says he has news."

"No telling what those idiots have come up with just over lunch," Rumplestiltskin grumbled.

"Rumple," his wife admonished and he shrugged.

"There's a reason I was so very involved in both the setting up and the breaking of the Dark Curse. Left to themselves they would have botched the whole damn thing."

Bae snorted and Rumplestiltskin felt a smirk take hold. There would have been a day that his son would have joined Belle in the so-assumed higher ground, but he understood his papa's reasons better now than ever before. Along with that though - because nothing came without a price to balance it - Rumplestiltskin knew the pain Bae had felt through his life. It reached deeper than he could have ever expressed, and he saw a fraction of that in his son's gaze now as the laughter faded and he took to looking around the house again.

He must have felt his papa's gaze on him because he tried for a smile even as Belle moved past them to give them space. Rumplestiltskin echoed the attempt and started past him, motioning for him to follow. "You might as well ask," he stated plainly as he took a heavy seat on the couch and leaned back. Whatever question he had, whatever he needed so badly to express, continued to hang just shy of coming out in the open. Rumple waited a moment to crack an eye back open and saw Bae hesitating where he stood, finding the shoes that someone must have loaned him at the hospital much more interesting than actually meeting his father's gaze. "Baelfire?"

"I don't know what I was expecting," he whispered, his voice soft and hurt. "I mean… I guess I just thought that if I found my way back to her she'd realize I wouldn't leave her again."

"Ah," Rumplestiltskin breathed. "Miss Swan, then."

"Yeah, but I guess I screwed up up, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

Bae snorted a mirthless laugh. "I left her again."

"Bae, you didn't leave her. You sacrificed yourself for her, son. That's… you didn't abandon her. Did she say you did?"

"She didn't have to."

The smile that they'd both tried for became just a little more real for Rumplestiltskin as he stood slowly. Bae started to argue, but he quieted as his papa started to speak. "I'll admit that I hated what you did, Bae. I was frustrated and angry-"

"I know, Papa," Bae breathed, and he really did know how his father had felt just after he'd turned the key to the vault. There'd been no hiding all of that from him once they shared a mind. Everything had been laid bare, but that wasn't quite what Rumplestiltskin meant.

He reached up, the palm of his hand resting on the side of his boy's face and he desperately tried to keep control of his emotions. "I meant because I couldn't save you. I couldn't fix it, even though I told you I would."

"It wasn't your fault, Papa."

"Of course it was, but… But I'm not the only one blaming myself. Emma came in to the shop and asked me if it was her fault. If I blamed her."

Dark brows drew together. "Why would she think so?"

"Because it was her magic."

"That doesn't mean it was her fault. Or yours."

Rumplestiltskin chuckled and leaned in, his forehead touching his son's. "We missed you, Bae. Losing someone you love leaves a hole, you know that, and if you let the darkness fill it, there's no telling what sort of nightmares it'll bring. Those clerics had no idea what they had when they pulled you from that vault. I doubt they expected there to be such a connection even without blood ties, but…" He pulled a steadying breath in and looked the younger man in the eye. "The guilt tied Emma to the center of the dreams as surely as it did me."

"It's not your fault, Papa."

"Nor is it yours. Or Emma's. Zelena took you and she paid the price for it. Give your Miss Swan time. She comes from a line of stubborn."

Bae snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I guess she does. Me too, though."

"Give it time, Bae. True Love only grows stronger the harder you fight. If it came easy, it'd be a weak, worthless little thing, wouldn't it?"

"I guess you're right."

"You guess?" his papa teased and Bae grinned, but any retort he had was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and Henry calling out.

"Dad? Grandpa? I've got lunch!"

"Granny's," Bae grinned. "Definitely didn't have that in the vault."

"You remember it?"

"Don't you?"

"Yes. I just try not to."

Bae started forward and Rumplestiltskin reached out, catching him by the wrist. "How are you feeling?"

"Me? I'm not the one that got run through by David."

"But you are the one that spent time in the Vault of the Dark One," Rumplestiltskin pointed out.

Bae blinked at him. "I'm okay. I think."

"You'll tell me if you aren't, won't you?"

"'Course, Papa."

"Come on, guys," Henry called, poking his head around the corner. "Gramps and I brought lunch over."

Rumplestiltskin stared blankly until his son pulled him along. Charming was in his home. That was irritating.

"Good to see you up and about," the prince greeted from where he and Belle were putting the food out in the table and his unwitting host merely stared.

"They wouldn't let me come over alone after Magnus showed up at the diner, so Gramps came with me," Henry explained and from the look in his eye his paternal grandfather was fairly certain he knew the words would act as a decent distraction.

"He did what?" Bae demanded. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, for now," David answered. "They weren't happy that Blue told us about the curse's origins."

"I'd imagine not," Rumplestiltskin murmured as he took a seat at the table facing the man that had attacked him. Spell or not, he was a wary man by nature.

"Everyone's going to stand together against them," Henry announced. "They think they've got us beat because they have magic, but they have no idea what they're in for!"

Bae chuckled and pulled his son into a sideways hug. "We'll come out of this even stronger," he promised.

"I know. Then we can finally be a family. All of us."

Rumplestiltskin offered his grandson his best impression of a smile when he turned a hopeful gaze on him. If anyone could bring their crazy, patchwork family together, it was this boy, and if there was one thing he was certain of it was that they would need to stand together to defeat this enemy.

David was well aware that he wasn't really welcome there. Even after Henry's intervention, Gold made it clear enough. He didn't say anything directly - or really at all - but there was something in the way that he kept a wary eye on him that set the prince on edge as much as the sorcerer seemed to be.

It wasn't like he'd jumped up and volunteered. Emma should have been the one to go, but there was something strange going on there. He would have thought Neal's return would have brought a smile to her face, but his daughter did like to hide behind walls. It would take time, but they seemed to make each other happy when they were actually together. He thought so, anyway, but they'd been separated more than they were together, so it was hard to tell. Not that the same couldn't be said of he and Snow.

Belle stood to take care of the dishes and had to tell Gold to stay seated as she did. The glare kept him there, even if it were unhappily so. Neal moved to help, leaving David and Gold at the table with their shared grandson who found something that needed putting away almost instantly. Rumplestiltskin offered a half hearted glare in the traitorous teen's direction that hardly seemed to have any bite behind it. The look pulled a chuckle from the shepherd-prince who raised his hands in mock surrender as soon as the sorcerer turned to look at him. "Sorry. It's just if someone had told me before the curse that there'd be someone - much less a kid - that could get away with anything with you, I would have thought they were crazy."

A soft snort escaped the shopkeeper. "Bae was much the same as a boy. I'd have given him anything in my power."

David watched the elder man careful, uncertain of what he should even ask. Mr Gold had been a notoriously private man in Storybrooke, and Rumplestiltskin was no different. He played everything close, letting few anywhere near, and likely even Belle was still pulling back layers. "Were you...under your curse when Neal was born?" he asked carefully at last.

Gold quirked an eyebrow. "No," he answered after a moment. "I took it for him."

The prince blinked, surprised at the openness of the statement. He didn't dare say or ask more, but let Gold think on whatever distant memory had caught a hold of him. When he was certain that he wasn't going to speak again, his curiosity got the better of him. "It doesn't seem like something you'd do for your child."

And of course that was the wrong thing to say. "And shoving your newborn into a cupboard is?" the Dark One bit out.

David loosed a breath and did everything he could not to immediately snap back. The look he was on the receiving end of was not aggressive, per se, but more on the defensive side of things, as if Gold half expected him to draw his sword and start another round. "I suppose we make the best decisions we can to give them their best chance, don't we?"

"I suppose we do," came the guarded response.

Sometimes good and sometimes bad decisions. It wasn't lost on David that he'd made some very poor decisions - some that his daughter didn't know about - but he did his best to learn from those. He did what he could for his children and would, in the end, sacrifice anything for them, even to the point of helping to cast the darkest curse ever written. Well, perhaps he and Rumplestiltskin weren't so different after all.

Another sigh escaped him as his blue eyes flickered over to find the other man purposefully avoiding the gaze. Magnus had called him a demon, but all David saw sitting at the kitchen table was a man very worn down by the most recent of many terrible events that had made up his life. There were probably many more than any of the others knew or would even want to know about. It was easy to forget that there was a man under the curse when he hid so well behind biting words and a terrible temper. "I'm sorry. For what happened."

"You've already apologised."

"But I'm not sure you believe me. I know... I need you to know that we're on your side. We're family, and Henry and Neal are right. We'll be stronger together."

The sorcerer watched the prince carefully before the tension in his shoulders eased just little. Had David not been hoping for it, he'd never have noticed. "Henry is usually right about such things," he murmured at last. "The boy has an intuition like few others."

David chuckled. "My mother was like get at times, though with the family that kid has, it could have come from anywhere." He paused as he heard their shared grandson laugh about something in the kitchen with the others. "Henry's happy to have Neal back."

"As am I, though I hear Miss Swan had a less than pleasant reaction."

The younger man grimaced. "Yeah, she didn't seem too eager to come over and face that when Henry said he wanted to come. She's... There's no question Emma has been hurt and hides behind a lot of walls when she feels threatened."

"It's an instinct easily developed with a life such as she has led," Gold murmured. "She'll come around."

"Have you Seen something?" David asked, trying not to sound quite as eager as he thought he might. Henry deserved his father in his life as much as Emma deserved to be happy. If she'd let herself trust him, one man might be able to fill both roles.

Rumplestiltskin chuckled. "Not like you're referring to. I know True Love when I see it though. It's a strong and powerful magic that shines through even the darkest of times. You of all people should know that."

Snow came immediately to mind and David felt his lips stretch into a smile. "I guess True Love has to be fought for, doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does."

"As long as it isn't Hook."

The shopkeeper snorted a laugh, but didn't say anything more. David pulled in a deep breath, feeling at least a bit of the guilt over what happened lifting from him. He would never fully understand this man that sat before him - to be honest, he really wasn't sure he wanted to understand everything - but they could work together, and working with Rumplestiltskin was better for everyone than working against him.

Caiden had studied the Dark One's Curse, its history, and its hosts for more years than he hadn't. He'd been raised with one purpose, and that was to follow in Magnus' footsteps as his father had and his father before him. Generations had been devoted to study and to a determined effort to eradicate this dangerous and dark curse from the worlds, but in all of his studies Caiden had never crossed someone quite like its current host.

Most Dark Ones, from what he had read, if they had had family to begin with had cast them aside for the power of the Kris Dagger. They hadn't gone searching for them after and certainly had found it in their scarred and darkened hearts to love someone they'd never known before. Fear drove people to follow them, from time to time, and from what he knew of Rumplestiltskin, many had sought his help over the years because they'd foolishly thought they could outsmart him in his own deal-making, but for all he had in him Caiden couldn't understand why so many were willing to stand by his side. The girl might be under a spell and his son held tight to his disillusions of a father long-gone, but the others simply didn't make sense.

"They are fools," Magnus said bluntly, his robes brushed the wooden floors of the hall.

Caiden followed him into the large room, barely noticing as the fire leapt to life at his master's call. "Perhaps he has them all under a spell," he offered, though even he knew that would be difficult. The Dark One wouldn't bother to waste magic on that when he'd been so badly injured.

"They call him family." The word left his lips as if it were distasteful.

"They are tied together by the boy. There's never been a Dark One with a family like this."

"No, that shouldn't matter."

The younger man watched his master carefully. There was something unnerving about the way he was speaking, but Caiden reminded himself - and not for the first time - that Magnus had had many more years to dwell on mistakes made. As far as he knew the elder cleric had never faced Rumplestiltskin, but he'd had many other Dark Ones to battle with. This wasn't his first, though he seemed determined that it should be his last. They truly had been presented with an opportunity that they should not waste.

"Perhaps what we need to sway them is to bring the consequences a little closer," Magnus murmured, his sightless gaze on the flames.

Caiden peered in as well, catching wisps of magic swirling, sending embers dancing through the flames until a face appeared. His eyes grew wide as the spell worked its way from Magnus' mind without even requiring spoken words. "Are you certain that is the best choice?" he asked quietly.

"I have lived many centuries, my boy, and in that time I have learned one thing above all else: sacrifices must be made if one means to set wrongs right."

"We have already sacrificed much, Magnus."

"And now they will sacrifice so that this world and ours may be free. They must understand that they cannot choose such darkness without consequence."

The younger cleric felt a chill move through him, despite the flames. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the image of the town's savior in them, but he knew that Magnus had set their course. Emma Swan's fate was sealed now as surely as the Dark One's was.

TBC

Notes:

Next time - Bae and Killian have a chat about a certain shared love, the clerics set their sites on Emma, and Maleficent makes her appearance.