"...Gold." she replies in a nauseated way.
She looks away from the blond goddess and examines Gold bottom to top. He is in an iron pressed black suit that consist of a dark red under shirt completed with a tie of the same hue. He looks seductively inviting…
'… Seductively inviting? What am I thinking?… Ah, how 'bout just cause he is like that on the outside doesn't mean he is like that on the inside?… Ya that will work. That is a good enough excuse not to think to into to it.'
Mr. Gold sighs outwardly.
'Of course she is flirting with her.' He muses.
Cat helps Emma straighten up and pulls her in close.
"This isn't over," She says in a way that is a bit harsh but smothering at the same time and makes Emma question her sexuality for a split second, just a split second.
"Oh look. Its the grumpy old man from the neighborhood, here to come and take the to away from the sweet and innocent children and ruin the fun. What do you want?" She retorts in a polite voice, though you could clearly hear the annoyance.
"Sweet and innocent, You? I highly disregard that."
She scowls, he smirks.
"What do you want?" she asks again but with more dangerous edge to it.
Then, remembering his reason being here, his smirk widens.
"Ah dear, have you forgotten?" She gives him a look. "Of course you have."
She takes a breath to retort but Gold ignores it and interrupts.
"I'm here to collect rent." he informs
"Oh I bet. You're just here cause you're lonely and want company but no one likes you so you're using rent as an excuse. You actually really like me don't you?"
He could say something back but he doesn't want to be here all day.
When he doesn't answer she takes it as a cue to continue with a mischievous gleam in her eye, "Besides it is still rent day so as long as I get it in while it is still October 17 than I'm still good."
'I know that look. She is up to something.'
"Very well," and with that accompanied with the thump of his cane against the tiled floor, and a ding-a-ling of the shop bell, he leaves.
"Oh Catherine, I grabbed your precious backpack for you," Tom says as he peeks around the corner.
'Damn that woman! What is that little vixen up to?' He ponders as he makes his rounds, collecting rent across the town. He directs his direction of movement to Granny's Diner and a rather, unpleasant memory floats to his train of thought. It was about when the infuriating child spread a rumor that Granny and him were having a hidden affair.
'Honestly I'm not that old, she is just an immature brat.'
He also remembers how she deeply apologized to Granny, but not him. As if it was an insult to her that there was an assumed attraction to him. She even paid that month's rent as confiscation.
'Is it really that insulting?' He feels and odd sting in the feels, (AN: hehe this is what I call my feelings), at the notion. He isn't sure as to why, but he is confident that he isn't gonna want to know, so he brushes it off.
He walks into the diner. They already know why he is here, but to be polite and not anger him Ruby asks, "What can I get for you today Mr. Gold?" though he can sense the nervous edge to her voice.
"I'll just have the rent today," after all, what other reason would he be wasting his precious time on by being here? He notices that they don't seem as anxious as they usually do when he takes all their money, which doesn't really sit right with him. Though he can still see a a flicker when their facade wavers a tad.
'Still got the magic touch, (AN: HA see what I did there?!… Anyways…)."
He walks up and see The Jar on the counter.
In an exasperating sigh he says "Oh, I see. So I'm assuming you have more than enough."
Ruby empties The Jar, which holds about half of what they need, yeah Catherine swears that much, and take the rest out of the register. She wearily hands him the money, as if he is going to bite her. Little does she know, she is probably more likely to bite.
He takes the money and leaves, not bothering with doing the polite thing with thanking her. He has had a long day, what with dealing with Catherine, and he can't wait to just hurry and get home. He also knows that the insolent wench isn't finished yet and he figures he should gather the energy and patience he knows he will need to deal with what ever shenanigans she will attempt to pull later.
Mr. Gold just spends that day at his shop, enjoying his peace and quiet while working on some antique. After all, no one really comes here, considering that everyone is afraid of him.
'Catherine isn't.'
Cut scene to Catherine:
"Achoo." (AN: Bonus points to those who get that reference ^v^).
Though he will never admit it out loud, he finds their banters refreshing, even if she is insufferable. If Cat's reaction to him says anything, than he believes she feels the same. Why else would she continue to pick fights with him? They need each other. The whole town sees them as higher beings. In very opposite ways yes for they highly fear him and highly respect her, but still. It wasn't always like that. They used to fear her too he remembers, before the curse.
CUE FLASH BACK-
SHLING. That was the sound of a blade ripping through flesh and bone.
THUMP. That was the sound of a bodiless head falling to the ground.
Rumpelstiltskin grimaces in distaste as he sees the blood everywhere and a soul begging for mercy.
"Do you really have use a method that makes a such a huge mess?" He questions a creature whom wheres a black robe with the hood pulled over as to hide the creature's face. It holds a black saith that looks as if green leaf vines are crawling up it. The blade, once so shiny you could see the reflection of the fearful victims as they fall to the power, is now dirtied and covered in blood.
"And they call me evil."
"Hey, this is my job. Besides this man was a murder and rapist. He deserves to rot in hell," the creature replies. Only it isn't a creature. As she pulls her hood down, you can see her full head of green hair, even the streaks of black in them and the fur cover ears that rest on top. Her eyes that seem to hold the secrets of the universe in their black, vertical slits surrounded by a yellowy-green, which they do. They pale skin that makes her look as if she is dead, which is partly true. The deep red lips that look as if she had been drinking blood… Don't worry, that part isn't true.
You see as the soul is dragged back to the afterlife.
"Yes but it seems you took a particular joy this time," the imp says with one of his infamous giggles.
"Well, I have a particular dislike for men like that. Anyway, why have you come to see me?"
"Can't I visit a friend without a reasoning?"
"Yes you can, except you have no friends." she counters which is followed with a scowl.
"Neither do you."
"Yes but I'm The Grim Reaper. Its kinda hard to befriend someone like me. For all you know I will devour your soul just for the fun of it."
"You and I both know that you wouldn't do something like that, contrary to the popular belief, Lily."
There is a slightly awkward silence that follows until Lily breaks it with a cough.
"Ehem, anyway what do you want?"
"I want to know if a specific person is dead."
"Can't you go visit them and see for yourself?"
"No, they are not in this world." He looks down dejectedly as understanding crosses her face.
"Oh, alright whats in it for me?"
"The satisfaction of making a lonely man happy?" he attempts, which is just met with a raised eyebrow.
*sigh*
"Very well, what do you wan-"
"I want to live here!" she exclaims excitedly before he could finish.
"Eh-… What?!"
"I haven't spent a lot of time here since before the war in Hyrule. (AN: bonus points to those who know what this is from… I couldn't think of anything else -_-)."
"Why can't you just come and live here? Why do you need me?"
"Well I have know idea about how people live. And humans are so fragile that I'm afraid that I will any that come in contact with me. Plus the higher ups Hyrulians will get mad and throw a fit if I'm there alone, so this will save me from the torture."
"Alright then its a deal." He whips out a very long contract. He holds out a pen that she takes with clawed hand and signs her name with a flourish of her hand and a sway of her tail.
"Now," she holds up her hands and a vision of her beautiful kingdom comes to view. It doesn't take long to figure out the answer to the elephant in the room.
"Well I have some bad news," he looks up and feels his heartbeat quicken, and not in the good way.
"I'm afraid I have no idea where your son is," He takes a sigh of relief and glares at her
"How is that bad news?"
"Well, it means you will have to continue looking for him."
"If you saw him then that would be that he is dead and I would never get hm back."
"If he was dead then all I would have to do is bring him back. While you may not be able to revive the dead, I can."
That was about 150 years into being the Dark One, though they knew each other longer than that. 'Everyone feared her, even more so than me. Though no one really understood what they were fearing. Everyone is afraid of death, but not everyone knew her.' Mr. Gold thought, 'Ironic how even in this world we still banter with each other. Not all the magic in the world can seem to keep us from each other.' That particular thought, for some reason, put a soft smile on his face.
They know they need each other. They're both immortal, and in a world that is continuously changing, they never do. They have both watched the world die and birthed repeatably, though Cat has more so than Gold. They are the only stability in each others lives.
Mr. Gold spends the day mulling about in his shop and gets in his car to go home. He gets to the house and grabs his keys to unlock the door and goes inside. While taking off his coat he checks the time on his expensive, antique, old grandfather clock and sees that it is 8:30. Catherine still hasn't paid her rent.
'She probably forgot' He smirks at the picture in his mind of him evicting her and her face that reads "Oh, crap," as wins this round.
'All that child ever does is sleep, she is bound to already be out of it by now.' Still, there is nagging feeling that she is up to something. He decides to just brush it off and go to bed. Boy what a mistake that was.
AN: So this is a longer one. For those of you who don't know the references:
Catherine randomly sneezed and in japan they have a belief that when you randomly sneeze that means that someone is talking about you.
The other one is Hyrule is from The Legends of Zelda. Even though it should be called Legends of Link… -_-