"It's not too late! What do we care if people live or if they die? There is still time to make everything that we've worked for happen tonight! Now! Just bring the pirate in and we can have everything! Take charge for once in your cowardly, pathetic life!" Nimue yelled in his ear.
"Belle, we should go!" he urged, reaching out for her hand one more time, though, if he was honest, he wasn't sure if it was him talking, or Nimue. "You've done all you can. They can handle it from here. We need to get you safe."
"That's it?!" Nimue laughed. "That was your idea of 'taking charge?'"
"Just a little more time," Belle begged with sad eyes. "Please."
This time when she pulled her hand free to go check on the monstrosity of an apparatus in the center of the room, he let her.
"That was weak, and you know it," Nimue sneered.
Weak…was that what this was? He wasn't saying that separating himself from the dagger wasn't a goal he still had; he was just coming to terms with the fact that he might have to do it the hard way in order to truly get everything he wanted. Yes, this most certainly would have been easier, and faster, and probably far more satisfying for him, but…was it too lazy?
"No, it's not! That's just what you are telling yourself to justify letting your dick drive your decisions instead of your head!"
Enough.
He tried to push the woman and her words aside. But-
"You can't push me aside, Rumpelstiltskin! No matter what you might think, I live in your head! I am you! The real you, and that is a fate you will never outrun, a voice you will never tune out!"
The door opening interrupted the Original's tirade and suddenly it seemed like all the important players of the last several years stood before him, the Charming family, Regina. The only ones missing from the scene were Hook, who still waited with bated breath outside, and, of course, the sisters from Arendelle.
"The necklace, do you have it?" Belle asked, making a beeline for Emma.
"It's right here," she answered, handing over a blue drawstring pouch.
"Thanks!" Belle breathed before hurrying off with it. As the occupants of the diner held their breath and waited for the manufacturing of the cure to begin, he finally managed to shut Nimue away in his head by focusing on the faces before him. He should have known…after all this time, after all his work with Emma and the Charming Family, relentless in their pursuit of safety and happiness, heroes through and through, why would he ever have thought that a villain had a chance at a happy ending?
A clattering sound drew his attention back to Belle and the Blue Fairy, eyes wide in something akin to horror. He couldn't understand until-
"It's pebbles from the mine!" Mother Superior announced. And as he looked into her outstretched hand, sure enough, a small pile of stones sat there instead of the necklace.
Nimue's laughter began to occupy his mind once more.
"What?!" Emma shrieked.
"Where is it?" Mary Margaret demanded.
"She tricked us so she can use it to keep tracking down her damn sister!" Regina roared, the voice of logic and reason. "I should know better than to trust blondes by now…"
Yes, that would make sense, given that Elsa had been attached to the Charming family's side since her arrival, and now she was nowhere to be found, and the enchanted necklace was missing.
"We have to go back and get it," Emma determined, but he caught Belle glance up at the clock and exchange a sad look with Superior.
"No, it's…it's too late," she stated.
"Too late!" Mary Margaret balked. "Already?!"
"By the time you get back here, yes. Without Anna being here, physically, there's no way to make a counter spell in time," she figured correctly. The clouds were rolling in, and that curse would likely hit within the hour. They would need every minute of that hour to break down the necklace, extract the curse, and create a cure.
Belle's hopes were dashed, it seemed. The mood in the entire room seemed to take a depressing nosedive with the exception of one person no one could see.
Nimue was back at his side again. And now she was beaming.
"Time for a hope speech?" Regain taunted, looking over at Mary Margaret. "Virtues of blind faith?"
"Well, it seems Elsa's blind faith is exactly what's screwing us right now!" Mary Margaret argued in a shrill tone.
"Coming from you, that's just terrifying," Regina replied
"Indeed," Nimue agreed. "But now it seems that you won't be the one responsible for damning the town at all, Rumpelstiltskin. It'll be that princess who is responsible, and you can honestly say you are just doing the right thing for your family. I doubt that scrap of honesty will do much for your black heart."
"Well, I'm not giving up," Emma stated almost predictably. "I know she's down in the mines looking for Anna, I'm gonna go help find her."
"Well then, go because right now, that's our only shot," David sighed.
Emma left the diner at top speed, actually running back down to the library. The optimism that carried her down the road left with her as those who remained in the diner did nothing but stand still and look at each other, the weight of what was coming settling onto all of them.
"I uh…maybe I could leave them a note," Belle suggested sadly, her disappointment breaking his heart again. "Leave everything the way it is. Emma and Elsa, they have Light Magic, if they're so confident they'll find Anna then…they could finish the cure after it's hit. Couldn't they?" she questioned, looking over at the Blue Bug for any kind of hopeful word.
"If they find Anna," Regina corrected, making the rest of the room glare at her. The comment wasn't necessary. Belle was trying to find hope, but she was logical first and foremost. And logic was dictating to her that it was time to accept what was coming.
"And you can use that to get her out of this shop and capture the fairies!" Nimue urged. "Just because their plan failed doesn't mean ours has to. We can still claim this victory in spite of your weakness!"
"No," the fairy answered quietly, ignoring the former queen. "They might be able to, but this…this is delicate work. It doesn't just take Light Magic; it takes skill and precision. She may be the Savior, but her magic is only in its infancy. If she's lucky, she'll get it to work, but if not…"
She didn't need to finish her sentence. He already knew that she was right. Emma might get lucky, but she'd need a teacher, and given the way he suspected this might turn out, it surely wasn't going to be him.
"So…what does that leave us with?" David asked. "Isn't there some other way to break the curse? True Love's Kiss?"
Belle shook her head before he could. "The curse can be reversed by the original caster only or be ended like all other curses if the original caster is destroyed."
"Our future depends on the two women who are magically bonded to the original caster…great," Regina commented sarcastically. Of course, she was right. That was exactly what Ingrid had in mind when doing what she'd done.
"No…" Mary Margaret breathed suddenly. "No, David, this is not our only shot! So long as we have Emma, we have a chance!"
"Mary Margaret, it's-"
"Small! I know! But…David, the last time we didn't trust our daughter, we ended up regretting it. She can do this! I believe in her. And Elsa! She'll get her and convince her to do the right thing. They'll figure it out, they'll destroy the Snow Queen, they will reverse this."
"That's the Snow White I know," Regina commented without heart. He couldn't say he blamed her, even if it was starting to seem like this thing was going to sway in his favor, for them the acknowledgement of reversing the curse meant they had to accept it was going to happen first. And that would be his opening to get Belle out of here.
Mary Margaret nodded in Regina's direction. "But, Regina…in the meantime-"
"We have to be as far away from each other as possible," she finished, already seeing exactly where this was going. This curse was going to tear lovers apart. The damage that could be done when two people who knew they had hatred for each other now or in their past met…that was what would really destroy Storybrooke. Especially when witches and wizards were in play.
"We have to be where we can't harm others, and they can't harm us," Belle pointed out. "All of us."
And so, Rumple, who was certainly in that exit lane for the first time during this tale, gets yanked back onto the road, and whizzes past what is arguably the last exit. Pity.
Thank you, Grace5231973 and Rsbeall12, for your reviews on the last chapter. I did warn you Nimue wasn't done making a nuisance of herself. And man, if these reviews are any indication, she is not making friends with you, the readers. In fairness, in my mind, Nimue is a preserved memory attached to the Dark One Curse, which means she is supposed to be similar to how she was in real life. Knowing what we do of her, even if it is only a little, you didn't expect her to go quietly, now did you? Peace and Happy Reading!