As the search for Ruby and Neal begins, The Dark One shows the wolf just how much he knows. Belle may be full of regret, but she still doesn't want her friend killed.
Sherwood
Robin opened his eyes, finding himself lying on the ground, out in the open glade. Taking a moment to orientate, he sat up, spotting Little John, also on the ground a little further away, shaking his head.
"What the bloody hell?"
"ROBIN? ARE YOU OKAY?" Yelled a voice from the opposite direction, as Alan-a-Dale slid down a rope, onto the forest floor. "You went down like a bloody stone!"
"What happened, Alan?" He stood, feeling groggy, remembering who he'd been kneeling close to. "Where's Ruby? She was here just now."
"The Dark One took her! All shiny gold faced he was, too!" He looked across at John, who was also now on his feet. "The big un' over there was shinning down that rope, and I guess he spotted him, like he did you? Knocked him out cold, he did! Magic, I guess?"
"Probably. But Gold? That's not like him any more. You sure?"
"Saw it with me own eyes, god's honest truth! But it weren't Gold, like Belle's Gold. This was more like that one who nearly killed Rolly with your arrow, years ago? He was all scaley all over his face. And his hair was weird! Pretty sure he didn't see me thank god, otherwise I'd have fallen straight out me tree, like the big fella? He came stormin' out from over there, walked over to Rubes, said something to her, then both of them disappeared into thin air!"
"Sounds like the Dark One, all right. I don't know what's happened, but I'm pretty sure it's not good. Looks like Ruby's in trouble."
Robin needed to think quick. Who could handle the Dark One now? Regina? She wasn't an option. She wasn't even in Storybrooke. David? But why would he help, after what Ruby had done to his own marriage. The fairies? Or the only one, apart from Snow, with whom the she-wolf was close.
"We need to speak to Belle! She's probably the one one to talk sense into him. Then Blue."
Storybrooke Library
Belle had been almost catatonic for the last hour, sat at the little table in the flat above the library, staring at a family photo. Taken shortly after their son had been returned to them after Fiona's demise, it showed Gideon cradled in her arms, Rumple's hands on her shoulders as he gazed down in wonder at the two most precious things in his life. It looked like any other loving family scene. A blissful memory of a finally reunited family.
A family she'd ruined everything.
But as she stepped over to lift up the frame from the sideboard, tenderly stroking the surface with her finger, the phone rang again. As it had four times already, while she ignored all of them. But this time, it was accompanied by a text, in capitals:
URGENT!
That was ten minutes ago. When Robin had told her about Ruby, and The Dark One capturing her, knocking them out, in the process.
Was Ruby already dead?
Pacing around the room, she gathered her thoughts. She knew Rumple wouldn't physically harm her for what she'd done, because of the vow he'd made. It was as good as unbreakable to a Dark One, and she had to keep reminding herself she was dealing with the demon, not her husband. But Ruby? She was an easy target. A way to hurt her. Belle knew what she'd done was wrong, and understood why'd he'd want nothing more to do with her. But that didn't justify killing another human being, surely? Or keeping her away from Gideon?
Flustered, she tried to figure out what to do next. Where to go first? Who could help, when two of the strongest magic practitioners were out of Storybrooke? Then she slowly began to realise there was something she could do. There was something in the shop that could stop him killing anyone who got in his way, at least until Rumple was able to control his darker half.
It was the only option left!
Earlier…
When the Dark One had confronted Ruby Lucas in her human form, in the forest an hour ago, she seemed resigned to her fate. It was almost as if she welcomed it.
"Just get on with it and kill me, Dark One!" Ruby's eyes were listless, her shoulders hunched. "I know I deserve it. Just make it quick."
"Why would I do that, dearie? The sensuous pleasure of inflicting a slow, agonising death is something I've been deprived of in recent years. You'll die when I'm good and ready. You do understand why I'm about to kill you, don't you?"
She nodded. "I destroyed the best marriage in all the realms. I broke up two true loves, both of them my friends. And broke Dorothy's heart at the same time. Just get on with it?"
"How very interesting…" He rubbed his chin, his interest piqued as he considered her answer. "So now you've come to regret what you did? Why the change?"
"I don't even understand it myself..." She lowered her head, unable to look him in the eye. "This morning I woke up, and everything seemed different. Like I went to bed a completely different person? Yesterday, the only thing that mattered to me was Snow. I can't even begin to explain it. But today I woke up, and found everything was a lie. And I realised I've betrayed the one woman I really love."
"Well now, as far as you and the princess are concerned, you were both poisoned. By accident, it would appear, not that it matters now. You were poisoned by breathing in a failed potion, blended over five years ago. Blended by a now dead witch, who wanted the means to bend others to her will; namely The Saviour and The Arendelle queen. But in a strange sort of way, it worked far better than she could have ever imagined! For me, at least. I saw it all."
"Potion? I don't understand. What witch? Zelena?"
"Ingrid. The Ice Queen. In fact, I'm feeling rather generous, so I'll humour you..." he gave a high pitched giggle. "So much nicer to drag out your suffering, don't you think?"
A moment later, they apparated from view, seen by a single former outlaw, hidden in nearby branches.
The Gold Mansion
After teleporting them back to his study, The Dark One now held Ruby in the very same chair, in the same magical grip, that he'd held Belle.
Replacing the hair-and-blood soiled tray he'd used earlier, with the one he'd shown Dorothy Gale, he quickly brought forth his magic on the dreamcatcher, to show the she-wolf her first liaison with Snow White for many years, in that little hidden cottage in the forest, two weeks earlier. He showed how she'd picked up the broken jar in the sink, both women sniffing it. Then the transformation, as they kissed and wrestled each other onto the bed. He fast-forwarded to the point where they started to have sex. And for Ruby, thank god, he paused it. She was mortified.
"So that's why we did what we did? That green stuff made us fall in love?"
"No potion can do that, magical or otherwise. It merely exaggerated hidden yearnings that were there already, between you and the princess. You were in an intimate relationship with her before the prince first appeared on the scene, were you not?" She didnt answer, looking away awkwardly. "Just as I thought. However, judging by your reaction earlier, the effects of Ingrid's potion seem to be only temporary. Oddly enough, we watched much the same thing happen to the Saviour and the Queen. I wonder if either of them is having regrets? Perhaps one of them has tried to take her own life, like your lover? Perhaps Regina succeeded? She always was very good with poisons."
"So what we did couldn't have been helped?" Was that a glimmer of hope he could detect in her eyes. "You said you saw everything? All that time we spent together over the last two weeks? Surely, if we showed this to Dorothy and Charming, they'd understand?"
"I'm ahead of you, dearie. Your wife sat in that very chair and watched this yesterday, the prince beside her. They saw everything that happened between you and the princess. Every intimacy. In fact, she insisted! Charming wasn't so keen, but he still stayed and watched regardless, while my grandson waited outside. Something about it being bad enough seeing his two married mothers together, poor fellow! We also saw that part where you both discussed your current, rather disappointing apparently, intimate relationships with your married partners, in a very unflattering light. I was most offended."
Ruby winced. It was bad enough what she'd done to Dorothy; but knowing she'd also heard her talk about their sex life with Snow, somehow made it even worse.
"But if they realise we couldn't have helped ourselves? That we were being controlled?"
"Forgiveness, for you in particular, Ruby Lucas, may come a little late."
"For me? What do you mean?"
"I'm surprised you haven't asked yourself why I, The Dark One, would go to all the trouble of bringing you back here? After all it's not like it's my marriage that you wrecked, is it?"
Her mouth dried, as she saw the look on his face change.
"However, leaving the little matter of you and Snow White to one side, there's another coupling I found far more relevant to me. Can you guess which sapphic pair I'm about to show you this time?"
Gold's Antiques
The moment she reached the shop, Belle locked the door behind her, before running into the dining room and pulling back the red patterned carpet that covered what she hoped and prayed still lay underneath. Seeing the wooden trap door with the brass ring, she lifted and turned the little latch, relieved to find that, as he'd promised, the sealing magical trap covering it would only submit to her, his wife and love. Not for the first time this week, she felt ashamed, knowing what she was about to do. Something she'd vowed never to do again, knowing how much it had hurt him the first time.
But there was a bigger issue. Namely, stopping the Dark One from committing murder. If it wasn't too late?
She gasped when she saw the oil cloth inside, wrapped tightly around what she was looking for. Reaching in and collecting it, she closed the little trap door, before standing, flicking the carpet back in position with her foot. Unwinding the oil cloth carefully, the dagger's blade finally came into view as she held it up to the light, its black and silver lettering gleaming.
It's now or never!
"DARK ONE? I SUMMON THEE!"
Meanwhile…
Things had just gone from bad to worse for Ruby.
The Dark One had just shown her, via the dreamcatcher on the wall only a few feet away, the very first time she'd had ever sex with Belle, the wife of the man sitting down at her, in vivid colour! And he'd been watching it along with her. She'd been magically silenced throughout, held firmly in the chair, with her head pushed up, forced to watch the pair on the screen. He'd even played the drunk conversations they'd had, before and after, as the lovers finally settled, now laying back, naked, on his wife's bed.
And that's where he paused it.
"I think you've seen enough…" He spun his chair around to face her, the dark, scaley golden-green of his skin glistening, and his impenetrable huge eyes leaving her in no doubt of his intentions. "As I told Belle, there are another thirty-three such occasions over the last three years, when you decided to enjoy each other's delights, despite you both being married. Unfortunately for the spinner, we sat through them all. I confess, even I felt sympathy for the wife you so blatantly cuckolded. Or I believe the term, in your case, is 'cuckqueaned'?"
Ruby couldn't lower her head, as it was being held upright by magic. So she closed her eyes, resigned, ready for the inevitable.
"It appears, like Belle and my first wife Milah, that you don't hold your marriage vows sacred? In which case…" He suddenly stopped talking, mid-sentence, his head twitching to one side, sensing something. A tingling? An alarm? Then he realised what it was. One of his hidden chambers had been broken into at the shop!
The Dagger?
"Excuse me one moment, Mrs. Lucas?" He gave her an evil grin. "Don't worry – I'll be back!"
He teleported from her sight.
Belle raised the dagger in front of her, gripping the ancient handle tightly, knowing the harder she squeezed, the stronger the result.
"DARK ONE? I SUMMON THEE!"
She had to call it out twice more, before the gust of warm air and dark grey mist swirled, leaving her husband standing in front of her. But as the mist disappeared, instead of looking nervous and shifty whenever he saw someone holding the only means of controlling him, the man before her seemed unusually calm. He cupped his hands in front of himself, head tilting, as though he was trying to consider what he now saw.
"Belle?"
She gripped the handle tighter, trying desperately to hide her emotions.
"Dark One, I need to speak to my husband! I need to speak to the real Rumple inside you. And I need to speak to him now!"
"You're speaking to him. The spinner and I are as one now. All thanks to you."
"That can't be true! I know he's inside you! Let him talk to me!"
"You still don't understand, do you? Every one of my hosts tries to fight me, but they eventually give up in the end, or get killed. I'm too powerful, you see? But your spinner fought me constantly, more than any other host I've ever occupied! And the reason he managed to gain a balance between us was due to you, Belle. You, and the love he never had with his first shrew of a wife. Belle the innocent. You're the beauty to his beast. The mother to his child. But your treachery finally broke his spirit. He's mine now."
"I refuse to believe that!" She raised the dagger in front of him. "Is Ruby dead? Have you killed her?"
He arched a brow, tilting his head with quizzical look. He didn't seem in the least bit anxious. Normally by now, he'd be panicking when anybody held his dagger tightly. This wasn't right?
"Not yet, no. She's still very much alive, and in my study. We've been watching your stories on the dreamcatcher."
And she was fairly sure she knew which one? "Take me to her! Now!"
"Well…if you insist."
The dark grey mist appeared momentarily, teleporting them from sight.
~oOo~
Seconds later, they apparated into Rumple's study, Belle quickly reorienting herself, before spotting her friend sitting in a chair opposite the dreamcatcher, flinching at the sudden appearance of the pair.
"Ruby? What are you-" Realising she could only move her head and eyes, she guessed what'd happened. "Rumple, let her go!" But he seemed unduly calm, not reacting instantly, So she raised the dagger once again, holding it directly in front of him, squeezing it.
"Dark One, release her!"
He raised his hand slightly, twisting it.
Ruby instantly jumped up from the chair, moving to get over to her friend, almost using her as a shield from the malevolent force.
"I'm okay, Belle. I'm fine."
Belle was thinking on her feet. If she let go of the Dark One Dagger now, he'd remove it from sight immediately, putting them back in mortal danger. There was only one option.
"Dark One, take us to the town line! Now!"
The moment he'd left Snow's treatment room, David had called Dorothy, to check whether his son had returned to the farm after disappearing. He cursed himself for not talking to Neal directly about what had happened to his mother. Instead, he'd left it to Dorothy to hold him back at the farm, and await news. That was unfair to both of them. He'd also wished he'd followed Merlin's suggestion that the boy should know he had strong magic potential inside him, like his sister, that could come out under extreme stress. He deserved to know, remembering Emma's struggle with her powers when they first appeared. But Snow had insisted that, as magic usually came with bad results, they should wait till he was a little older.
And now, having heard his mother was ill in hospital and his sister disappeared, his emotions got the better of him, his magic came in, and he'd disappeared into thin air. But where to?
After calling Acting Sheriff Hank Morgan to ask him to let the deputies know to keep an eye out for the boy, he was about to call the very man whose name now appeared on the incoming call.
"Robin?"
"David? Have you seen Belle? We have a problem."
"I…why…no. Why do you ask?"
"I need to find her. It's Gold. I think he's about to harm Ruby Lucas!"
Robin told him what he'd seen. That the Dark One, looking more like his old self, had knocked several of them unconscious and apparently captured a terrified Ruby, spiriting her away.
To David, the wolf was the very last person he wanted to help right now!
"I'll call Blue. Maybe she can track them down. But I need to find my son!"
Meanwhile…
The Dark One, having teleported all three of them at Belle's command, now stood at the side of the road, looked at the 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign a few yards ahead. The town border, where once he crossed the line, his powers would count for nothing.
"You're not serious?" He looked across at Belle, who still held up the dagger to control him. "Again?"
"You're hardly giving me a choice, Rumple! I know what I did was wrong, and I'll be regretting it for the rest of my life. But I can't have you killing Ruby, or keeping me from my son!"
"Are you sure your son would even want to look at you after he finds out you betrayed his father?" He sneered at the second woman, who wouldn't even lift up her eyes to face him. "And with that lycanthropic whore, of all people?"
"It wasn't like that, it just...happened!"
"Wasn't it? I saw with my own eyes, Belle! Thirty-four times over three years? And that, despite after all your fine, noble words over the years, about my being good, fighting my darkness, being truthful and hurting no one? Where has it got me? And yet, even after your sordid adultery, discovered only by a curse of fate, you'd now send the spinner, the victim of your treachery, over the town line to be defenceless, depriving him yet again? Without any means to provide for himself?"
"If it means you can't hurt others, then yes! But if you could just promise me; make some sort of deal with me, never to hurt Ruby, I can stop this! You once made a deal with Zelena not to kill her, and she's the one who killed Neal! That was so much worse than this!"
"Don't mention that vile woman's name to me! I'd rend the flesh from her bones if I were able. And I have no intention of making any such agreement with you."
She was shaken by how unduly calm he seemed, despite what was about to happen. She frowned, closing her eyes, sighing. "Then you leave me with no choice. Dark One, I command you to step over the town line!"
But instead of obeying immediately, he just tilted his head, studying her. "May I at least be allowed to take my car? Clothes? Money? My walking stick? Or would you leave me penniless, lying crippled in the gutter again? Like you did last time."
Belle felt thoroughly ashamed, knowing that this had only come about because of her own weakness. And yet it was Rumple, albeit under The Dark One's control, who was being punished.
"Take whatever you need. But not Gideon!"
"Very well…" He closed his eyes, raising both arms into the air theatrically, before lowering them again. "This may take a minute or two…"
As they stood, a car magically disapparated close to them on the tarmac, with several large cases also sitting on the back seat. "That should be enough."
But something was wrong? Instead of the large black Audi he'd bought last year, there stood a cream Mini convertible, standing in the middle of the road.
"That's my car! Why don't you take yours? It's bigger."
"Because I'm not the one leaving, dearie." There was that annoying grin again.
As he spoke, there was a sudden rush of air behind them. And looking back, Ruby could see that out of the pale blue mist, the Blue Fairy had appeared. Alongside Silvermist and…David Nolan?
"What do you mean, not leaving?" She gripped the dagger even tighter. "I ordered you to cross! Rumple, just get in the goddam car? I command you!"
The annoying smile became even wider. "Ah, well, here's the thing, dearie. I'm afraid you don't command me. Not anymore." As he spoke, he opened his own right hand, and after a swirl of grey mist evaporated, he appeared to be holding something long, shiny, black and silver.
A second Dark One Dagger?
"You know Belle, ever since that last time you made me cross the line, I've never fully trusted you with the ability to control me. I wanted to, don't get me wrong! But since then, I've always harboured caution. Your feeble-minded spinner tried fighting me on the matter, but as you can see, that was ultimately futile." As he caressed the blade with his other hand, the one Belle was holding began disintegrate, turning to dust in her fingers. "So I created two copies, and set alerts should either be discovered and used." He smiled, triumphantly. "Now, where were we? Oh yes…" He turned his attention to Ruby, who was already frozen in fear, expecting the worst. "As for you…"
Ruby suddenly felt an invisible force lift her clean off her feet, hovering several inches off the ground, suspended by the neck, and beginning to choke.
"STOP!"
He looked behind him at the interruption, only to find Charming was now near, the Blue Fairy and another annoying moth at his side, clearly having used their limited magic to teleport him.
"PUT HER DOWN, GOLD! YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!"
"Oh, you're quite wrong there, prince." He smirked, twirling his fingers, making the new arrivals stop fast, as though their feet were glued to the ground. "I really do!" He was sore tempted to use his magic to kill them all where they stood. But realising just who he was currently suspending, Charming's reaction intrigued him. "But do humour me? Why should you, of all people, care what I do to the wolf? She soiled your own wife, as well as mine!"
As well? Seeing Belle was being held to the ground as securely as himself, David put two and two together, remembering Dorothy's remarks about Ruby being unfaithful, even before Snow. Belle was the other woman?
"She's acting under the effects of that potion! You know that, you showed me yourself! They're not properly in control of what they're doing, are they?"
"Your wife might have been…" He looked back at Belle, his face now a figure of contempt, only confirming yet again, that the Dark One was in control, not Rumple. "Mine wasn't."
David had to think quick. He may hate Ruby for everything she'd done to his marriage, but that was no reason to actually kill her? Think what it would do to Snow? Probably kill her too. And what about Belle?
"Gold, you told me the Dark One owes me a debt, for helping rescue Gideon two years ago? You said a Dark One always settles his debt when repayment is demanded? So I'm demanding it! Release her, and we're quits. If you don't kill or hurt her, I'll consider it settled."
"Nope, no deals! Not interested! She dies."
Ruby, still suspended, unable to breathe, saw him raise his right hand, his face full of hatred, his eyes blazing. Her death was imminent.
"Rumple!" Belle's voice croaked between her tears. "Rumple, I know you're in there somewhere? Somewhere inside, you need to fight this! Fight the darkness! Please? You can't go back to how you were. Think of Gideon? Think of Baelfire! What would he have thought, his dad killing yet again?"
As they all watched, expecting the worst, the Dark One seemed to visibly shiver. Shake. Muttering something incoherent, as though talking to himself? He seemed to be having some sort of argument under his breath. And Belle somehow knew, that somewhere inside that malevolent force, her Rumple was trying to get out. And the mention of his lost son was the trigger.
"I know I've wronged you, and you'll never forgive me. But Bae wouldn't want you to kill again, would he? He loved you to the very end, and he loved you because you'd changed! You have to fight this, Rumple! You have to fight the urge to kill! And you can! You must!"
Somehow, she must have reached him. Because in that next moment his clawed hand opened and Ruby fell back down to the ground, landing heavily, rolling onto her side as she regained the ability to breathe.
"RUBY!" Belle hollered, her feet now released. She knelt beside the other woman, wrapping an arm around her, whispering something, before looking back up at him as she helped her sit upright, Ruby starting to cough. She barely recognised him.
"Go," the Dark One sneered. "Put her in the car and drive, before I change my mind."
"I can't just leave," she pleaded, shaking her head. "We have a son."
"Correction. You had a son, but you're no longer fit to call yourself a mother."
"But-" However, in that next instant, she felt her entire body being lifted up by some invisible force, picking her up like a rag doll, and thrown a good six feet, before she came crashing down heavily on the grass verge, twisting her ankle in the process, something heavy landing beside her!
It took her a moment to orientate, and Belle now found herself sitting on the opposite side of the town line, Ruby down beside her, looking back at what was now an empty road, with trees either side, and nothing else but a winding lane.
They were on the opposite side of the town line! In the land without magic.
Alone!
"RUMPLE!"
She bellowed again, looking back at empty winding road, as Ruby now stood alongside her, equally bewildered. As she called him again, knowing he would still be able to see and hear her, even though they were invisible to her, a little red Mini slowly rolled into view from where the now-invisible town line stood, crawling to a stop.
"RUMPLE!"
However, unknown to Belle, the Dark One had now teleported from sight, her cries witnessed by David, Blue and Silvermist, who all knew there was nothing they could do to reach her, watching as the librarian slumped to her knees, hands over her face, as the sobbing overwhelmed her.
~oOo~