Chapter 14: Heart of darkness
Snow White was at the dwarfs' house cleaning and humming. A bluebird flew in through the window. Snow extended her hand and once the bird perched itself there, she set it on the table. Her soft look turned to one of rage and tried to kill the bird. At that moment Grumpy entered and asked Snow what she was doing.
After Grumpy convinced her to have dinner with the rest, Snow saw it was an ambush to talk about her behavior. But she wasn't listening, not to the dwarfs and not to the cricket that tried to appeal to her conscience.
"That, helped me forget whatever, or whomever, I needed to forget. And I am clearly better off for it. That potion was the solution, not the problem. The problem is that I'm living here in a house full of dwarves instead of in my palace, with my father and sister, as a princess. But I can't do that anymore, can I? Because he was murdered. Murdered, by the same woman who sent a Huntsman to kill me."
"I was hoping that Jiminy and us would be enough to snap you out of this, but I'm glad I tracked her down." He turned to the door. "You can come in now."
The door opened and Rose Red entered the house. She had heard her sister's speech and wasn't happy about it. She looked at Snow with a frown.
"White…" Snow looked at her sister with wide eyes. "I understand you being angry at Regina for what she has done, but your friends are not to blame."
"Your sister is right, Snow." Said Jiminy trying to make the woman understand. "Your anger towards the Queen is understandable. It's just not fair to take it out on your friends."
Snow was thinking about her sister's words, but then an angry look came over her face.
"What would you know?" She turned to her little sister in fury. "You were never there. You left us all the time. Regina is after me, not you. But you are right. I should be taking it out on her."
At that, Jiminy quickly tried to dissuade Snow from the idea of vengeance, but before he could get too far, Snow trapped him under a glass container. She told the dwarfs that they could stop complaining, picked up her things and a pickaxe and left saying she was going to kill the Queen. The dwarfs looked at Rose with wide eyes. The young woman sighed and went to follow her sister.
"White!" She called out. "Wait for a moment and think about what you are going to do."
Snow turned to her sister with a glare.
"I know perfectly well what I am going to do. I'm going to kill the Queen and end this once and for all."
"Revenge won't bring dad back. Killing Regina will only serve to lose yourself forever." Snow scoffed. "I've killed people White."
At that the older sister stopped and looked at her with wide eyes. She could have never imagined that her baby sister would be capable of killing anything. Rose sighed.
"The first time I killed someone, it was in self-defense. And I threw up right afterwards. I wasn't able to eat for days. I'm telling you White; once you kill someone you are never the same."
Snow looked at her sister up and down with a frown on her face.
"Have you ever killed someone not in self-defense?" Rose sighed, closed her eyes and nodded. "And yet, you are still the same Red. I think I'm going to be fine."
Snow turned and started to walk away from her sister. Rose frowned and tried one last thing.
"If you are not going to listen to my words, then listen to mom's."
Snow stopped for a moment, shook her head and kept going. But for some reason, she had tears in her eyes. She didn't want to admit it, but she had heard Rose's words and some doubt was starting to form. She knew that her mother would be ashamed of her, but she truly believed the only thing left for her was to end Regina's life.
Rose was in front of Mr. Gold's shop. She took a deep breath and entered. At the sound of the bell, the man raised his head and smiled at the woman.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, darling?"
She smiled sheepishly.
"I actually came to ask for help." At that Mr. Gold raised an eyebrow. "It's about Mary-Margaret. You represented yourself when you were on trial for attacking, and almost killing, Moe French and got away free."
Mr. Gold chuckled. He thought that everyone had forgotten about that, but his little firebird always had a good memory.
"That I did. I work with contracts and deals. I wouldn't have profits if I didn't know the law." Rose opened her mouth, but he raised a hand to stop her.
"I will offer my help to Miss Blanchard." A grin appeared on Rose's face. "But, I expect something in return."
"That's fair." Said Rose nodding her head. "What do you want in exchange?"
Mr. Gold smiled.
Mr. Gold and Rose arrived at the station just in time to hear Emma tell Mary-Margaret to consider hiring a lawyer.
"An excellent idea." Said Mr. Gold, bringing to them the attention of the two women.
After a little while of Emma arguing Mr. Gold's help, Rose had enough.
"Emma. Mr. Gold is the only lawyer in town that will be willing to take a case like this. Just accept it."
Emma looked at her friend with an open mouth and wide eyes.
"His help always comes at a price. What is it this time? You want another favor?"
"No, don't worry. The price has already been settled with Rose."
At that the other women looked at her with a questioning glance.
"Rose, I appreciate you trying to help, but I can pay for his fees myself." Mary-Margaret said with a soft smile.
"Don't worry. In exchange for Mr. Gold helping you, I just have to go on a date with him." Said Rose with a grin.
"What?" Exclaimed Emma. "No way! No deal! I'll pay for the fees. Hell, I'll even agree to owing you another favor"
Rose glared at Emma.
"I'm a big girl, Emma. It's just a date. It's not like he is going to kidnap me and keep me prisoner in his castle."
Emma was about to comment further when Mary-Margaret interrupted her.
"Emma, enough. Please leave." Emma looked smugly at Mr. Gold. "Not him, Emma. You. He's right. I need help. And you need to do your job, or else I'm screwed. So, just please – do your job the best you can, and you'll prove me innocent. Until you do, I need some practical help."
Emma was surprised at her friend, but understood what shew as saying.
"And I agree with Rose. She is old enough to make her decisions. And it is just a date."
Emma huffed and frowned, but left. Once she was gone, Mary-Margaret asked Mr. Gold the real reason for his help.
"Let's just say, I'm invested in your future." He said with a smile and a quick look towards Rose.
Mary-Margaret noticed the look and smiled. She would have never imagined that Mr. Gold would pay attention to anyone. But Rose was different to the people in Storybrooke. She had been the only one apart from Emma that had stood up to him. She had even punched him on their first meeting.
She remembered Rose saying that she liked a man that could offer her a mental challenge, and Mr. Gold sure was able to do that. She had also seen the two of them walking around the fair on Miners Day. She might not trust Mr. Gold completely, but she was sure that he wouldn't hurt Rose.
Rose Red arrived at the Dark Castle after her conversation with Snow and was greeted by Rumpelstiltskin.
"For your face, I would say that the chat with your sister didn't go too well."
Rose glared at him, huffed and went to the sitting room. She sat herself down on one of the comfy chairs in front of the fireplace.
"It's like she isn't my sister anymore." She said in a defeated tone.
Rumple sat in the arm of her chair and looked down at her.
"But, of course she isn't. The potion took love out of her. And you may be powerful, darling. But love is the most powerful magic in the world." He said playing with a lock of her red hair.
"If love is the most powerful magic, then it can break the effects of the potion. I know that David is looking for her. Their true love will be enough to bring her back. Right?" She looked at him expectantly.
"Exactly. But it may be a little more complicated. True love is harder to prove when one of the people involved doesn't have love in them. Think, darling, what is your dear sister going to do now?"
"Well, she knows Regina has magic, so sooner or later she is going to come here asking for help." The Dark One nodded his head. "If she tries to infiltrate the palace she will be killed, so she will have to do it while Regina is on the move. That way it will give David more time to find her."
"Very good" He laughed.
"I know you'll take some hair from David, but what will you ask of Snow?" She asked looking at him in wonder.
"There's nothing I want from her at the moment." He looked at her with a grin. "Maybe you and I can come to an agreement."
With those words, he bent down to capture her lips with his.
Rose Red had heard her sister's whistle and went to find her. She saw her with a bleeding lip looking off into the distance.
"White?" She asked tentatively.
Snow turned to her sister and started crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She said hugging her tightly. "I was so horrible to everyone, and now Charming has been captured."
Rose hugged her sister back and patted her back.
"Don't worry, White. We'll figure it out. But first of all, you have some apologies to make."
Snow nodded, and the two sisters made their way to the nearest village to buy an apology gift. After getting the mug, they went to the dwarfs' house. Rose stood by the door while Snow apologized to the dwarfs. The dwarfs told Snow that she wasn't going o be freeing Charming alone.
"Let's show that King what Snow White and seven dwarves can really do!" Said Grumpy while the rest nodded their heads.
"Am I invisible?" Asked Rose with a huff.
"Nah. But everyone already knows that you shouldn't mess with Rose Red." Said Grumpy with a grin.
"You got that right!" Said Rose laughing. "But I think we can recruit someone else."
She said looking at her sister with a smile. Snow returned it and nodded.
"After all, Reds stick together."
Rose went with Emma to bring Mary-Margaret her breakfast. Rose smiled softly at her friend behind bars. Mary-Margaret took the bag and the coffee; she smiled sadly at Rose and sat on the cot.
Emma told her what she had found out about the heart and that she believed that Regina was behind framing her. Emma asked her to believe in her, that she was going to prove her innocence.
Emma left, but Rose stayed behind. She looked at Mary-Margaret with a frown.
"We do believe you M&M. Please don't do anything reckless."
Mary-Margaret was about to deny it, but Rose shook her head and left. Mary-Margaret looked at the key in her hand and was debating on what to do. She wanted to trust that her friends would find the proves needed to save her, but she knew that If Regina was behind this, then there was no escape.
Rose caught up with Emma while she has heading to Mr. Gold's shop. Emma was going to ask Mr. Gold for help against Regina. She told him that much. Emma had only been able to defeat Regina with Mr. Gold's help. He agreed to help after Emma said that she would go as far as it took and more. At that Rose frowned.
Emma left and Rose stayed behind to speak with Mr. Gold.
"I appreciate you helping Emma with Mary-Margaret. But, don't involve them in anything dangerous please." She said looking at him with concerned eyes.
"Don't worry, darling. Our deal is for me to help Miss Blanchard, and that means proving her innocence." He said with a smirk.
"I didn't know that a date with me was so valuable." Teased Rose with a grin.
"Oh, believe me. It's more valuable than that. I always get the best end of the deal."
They looked at each other intensely for a while, until Mr. Gold cleared his throat and looked at the lamp on the table.
"We can make arrangements for our date, after all this mess with Miss Blanchard is solved."
"I can't wait." Said Rose with a big smile.
Rumpelstiltskin took a hair from David's cloak and put it in a vial with one of Snow White's hair. He saw how the two hairs started to glow and wrap around each other. He smiled and put the vial in the empty spot with the heart symbol.
Then he approached the corner of the room and waved his hand, revealing a small hidden door. He opened it and took out another vial with two glowing hairs wrapped around each other. One brown and the other dark red.
AN: I've never made one of these, so here is my first try.
I got two reviews so far. The first one saying how much they liked the story, and that made me really happy. The second, also saying how they pictured Belle and Rumple to still have some kind of relationship. To that I have to say, we haven't seen the last of Rumple and Belle, in the Enchanted Forest or in Storybrooke.
If you have any questions, doubts, guesses or even suggestion, I'm always happy to hear from you.
Thanks for taking some time to read my story :)