Belle had been sat at her brother's bedside so long that her legs had grown numb; the sort of numb where she could still wiggle her toes, but everything below the knee had gone alarmingly cold as if she'd been sitting in snow. Belle hadn't complained though, nor had her papa who sat on the other side of the bed. The two hadn't really conversed in the few hours since Rumple had left the room, just sat in an oddly comfortable silence and watched Lorrimer get the first real sleep he'd had in all his life.

However, just when Belle could take the lack of blood to her legs no longer, Lorrimer roused from his slumber with a groan. His blue eyes fluttered open and Belle was quick to brush his dark hair out of his face as she awkwardly pushed up onto her feet.

"Lorrimer? Lad, are you all right?" Their father asked somewhere between concern and delight. "Say something."

"Belle's back?"

Those words drifting from his sleepy lips had her grin wide. Lorrimer might have been sheltered from the world, and nobody knew how much Gaston had made known to him, but the boy wasn't stupid in the slightest and had to have known something was seriously wrong at the castle.

"Yes, Lorrimer, I'm right here. I'm home." She bent to kiss his forehead while Maurice squeezed his only son's hand tight. "How do you feel?"

"… Good." Lorrimer seemed more surprised by that than his sister or father. Some days had always been better than others for him, but he'd not felt this good since long before his mother had died. "Really good. My head and chest don't hurt."

"That's wonderful news!" Maurice beamed. "Don't try to get up though, you're still weak."

Lorrimer didn't need telling twice; he might not have felt the debilitating fever or pain caused by his mana imbalance, but his small frame had suffered in a way only sleep could cure. It only took a few moments of Belle carding her fingers through brunet hair for Lorrimer to drop off again; Rumple had said the boy would sleep for many hours and Belle had no wish to refuse him that chance to recuperate.

"I hope Rumple can get some rest now as well. He worked so hard to save Lorrimer." Belle mused aloud.

Maurice raised an eyebrow before his head; sitting by his son's bed had allowed him to almost forget about the Dark One entirely. Rumpelstiltskin, a man both beast and savior, and Maurice's mind didn't quite know how to process that. Rumple she called him, not the Dark One, demon lord, beast or even monster, just a nickname as though he were any normal man. Belle had firmly set her heart on this mythic terror and, since she was as stubborn as Colette had been, Belle was unlikely to abruptly change her mind. Then there was that Valkyrie, the one Belle had told him was to be Rumple's secondary wife. Some nobles had been known to form harems of women as a display of power rather than to ensure their bloodline didn't die out, and Maurice wouldn't stand by while his daughter became the Dark One's trophy. When it came to a beast as powerful as the Dark One, no fair maiden was safe. What if he decided he liked collecting princesses and took Demelza Van Winchell and Emmeline Sunringham into his clutches on a whim? What if he didn't stop until he had the most beautiful woman from each species in his collection? Who knew what a demon lord was truly capable of?

"You honestly love that beast, don't you." It wasn't quite phrased as a question, more like he'd said the quiet bit out loud.

Blue eyes tilted upward to meet her father's. "Yes, Papa, very much. Also, I'd thank you not to call him a beast. His name is Rumpelstiltskin and I shall be his wife."

"No, I f-"

"Papa, if the words 'I forbid it' leave your lips, I shall not be pleased." She told him firmly; as strong-willed as her mother for sure. "No one decides my fate but me. I am Avonlea's Princess and I have duties, I know that, but I love him. Rumple will be my husband or no man shall. I know you had decided on Duke Nichol and he would have made a good match, but … I don't love him – I haven't even met him. Rumple is the Dark One and that is frightening, I understand, but he isn't a bad person. You married Mama despite her being an elf, despite half your advisors being against it, because you loved her. You married her even though there were those who used it to question your ability to rule." She sat back in her chair. "I only wish to marry for love as well. Besides, was it not Mama who insisted we were all to think for ourselves and form our own opinions about someone by their actions, rather than following what the Church said without any evidence?" Damn her for inheriting Colette's ability to make everything sound so reasonable and straightforward. Maurice opened his mouth but Belle wasn't done. "Maybe it is time we give him a chance as a kingdom. Maybe it is time for Dreymyr to take steps forward based on what we learn rather than letting assumption keep us in place. Rumple has earned the support of Chief Commander Aalto, the Grand Mage, House Xaver and two royal families since he was summoned here. Now he's somehow formed a truce with the dragons of legend, so why should Avonlea and the du Marchands not add ourselves to the list?"

"Two royal families?"

Not the part Belle had thought her papa would focus on, but still she nodded. "Yes, the Umbras are aware of the Dark One's return and Prince Horatio seems more keen on forming an alliance with him than anything else."

All these powerful people won over by a demon lord? Had some horrid spell been used like had been used on him? No. No, Maurice doubted that very much. As one who'd been bespelled, he had found himself in an excellent position to recognize it in others, and Belle was certainly her normal self. Colette had indeed pushed him to think for himself and never act just on the word of another. It had made him a better ruler and, since his girl was wise beyond her years, Lorrimer had been cured and the dragon threat had been neutralized with almost comical speed, Maurice decided to do as his late wife would have wanted and form his own conclusion.

"Very well, Belle. You win."

Belle reached across Lorrimer for her papa's hand. "I don't want to win, Papa, I just want to marry the man I love. I'm not saying the two of you need to be best friends, I'll settle for civil."

Maurice breathed out a laugh as he squeezed Belle's hand. "Civil might be all I'm capable of."

Her papa wasn't a bad man, he'd always understood Belle's desire to marry for love and had tried to choose the very best husband he could for her. Duke Nichol was only seven years older than her, enjoyed the outdoors, reading and his love for archery gave him an appreciation for tamers. Maurice honestly had thought him the best fit for Belle since they'd shared interests and temperament, but Lancaster, his former chamberlain, would have been more preferable than the literal Dark One.

"Civil is good enough." She confirmed. "You needn't worry about Phria or hierarchy in regards to Avonlea's bloodline. Besides, we already have three children."

"What?!" Maurice's voice was deep and stunned.

His daughter was only a month away from being nineteen, or had he been under that evil curse longer than he'd thought? Belle only smiled at his alarm though and again leaned back in her chair.

"Rumple has a son named Baelfire, he's wonderful and very smart. I know I'll never be his mama but I think he's come to accept my and Phria's love for his father. Then there is Amicia, she's an elf we found on the Limestone. She was – the Sons of Rael were going to sacrifice her." Maurice paled; the Sons of Rael still existed? No, he'd deal with that later. "She's Lorrimer's age and we just couldn't leave her. The first time she called me mama was one of the best days of my life. Then there is Valdis. She's a little hard to explain without causing a panic, but she's a lovely little girl. She calls me Mama Belle but I think she's closer to Phria. We're a found family I suppose you could say. I'd like to have my own child one day, but I adore all three of them. Rumple saved all of us, saved us from death, loneliness and slavery."

Quiet took over again then. Maurice needed to process and Belle had turned her attention back to her brother. Belle was right, he needed to see who Rumpelstiltskin was rather than just hearing Dark One and assuming the worst. It was the Drazvans who'd turned the Dark One into a boogeyman after all. Still, the other three demon lords had left nothing but destruction in their wakes.

~X~

When the final ward blocking Viren from Shiryu's cell broke, the man rushed to the bars where he found his boy bound by more chains than he could count which kept him mostly pinned to the cold floor. Shiryu hardly even looked up when his father spewed forth flames turning the bars to liquid, he was just too dehydrated and weak as he'd hardly been fed since he'd been captured. With a hole in the bars, Viren shot inside as Phria and Rumple came to a stop outside hoping the heat dissipated quickly.

"Shiryu?! Shiryu, look at me."

Rumple teleported a large trough he'd used for Svad on their trip to the fountain he'd spotted in the courtyard of the castle, then again into the cell so Shiryu could drink while they worked on getting him free of the chains.

"Father?"

"Yes, son, I am here." Viren's black eyes turned to Rumple. "Thank you for getting him water, Dark One."

Rumple didn't respond, just lifted one of the heavy chains so he could take a look at the magic circle etched into them. Blood locked, Tvon had used blood magic and Viren had eaten his body, so there wasn't any blood left to use. Most assumed that meant the spell could never be undone, Zelena certainly would have, but Rumple had a few tricks up his sleeves. One didn't spend as long as the Dark One as he had and not have a few hacks to show for it.

Phria rested a hand on Rumple's shoulder before he went back to work, just a little reminder that she was there and proud of all his efforts. It warmed his cold heart to know Phria had such faith in him, was proud of the better man he was trying to be.

As Shiryu drank slowly, dragon and demon lord deciphered a way if breaking his chains and Phria stood guard. Frankly, she felt a little useless since she couldn't help, but it was what it was. The scent of burnt mental lingered in the air as pools of iron cooled on the stone floor. While most of the dungeon's cells had straw in them, Shiryu's had been stripped clean of any for some reason. Had they assumed he'd use it to start a fire?

"Could he not have used fire to break free?" Phria asked herself more than anyone else, yet Viren answered.

"Shiryu cannot breathe fire. He is one of the Intercardinal Dragon and, as such, bound to an aberrant magic type. His is acid."

Phria's eyebrows shot up while Rumple continued to work. All in Dreymyr knew each element had a cardinal dragon, but she'd never once heard of intercardinal ones.

"An acid dragon? They are a real thing?" Viren nodded curtly. "So he breathes acids and toxic clouds instead of fire?" That question earned her another nod.

The white-haired pantherian was taken aback. Had the Church known all this and suppressed it, or had the mortal races truly lost so much knowledge to history? Acid magic was the aberrant magic of fire and water, used to create different types of acids and corrosive substances in liquid or gaseous form. Phria couldn't use it, but one of her Valkyries named Josephine could and it had always seemed like a deadly power. Though she knew it was favored by thieves for burning through padlocks, there were some acid spells which could be used to form protective barriers useful for those travelling volcanic areas or taking on teratects. Regardless, this dragon could have liquidized them if he'd wanted, yet Tvon had just teleported onto his back and stolen him away without a care in the world.

As she tried to take in what she'd just learned about dragons and their relationship with both nature and magic, Phria really looked at Shiryu. He was about the size of a dragonling, certainly a young dragon, and covered in beautiful violet scales. Though most probably never got close enough to notice them, Shiryu looked a lot like his father, complete with sharp horns and claws. Poor thing hardly fit inside his cell, his tail had been coiled around him and squashed inside until Viren had melted the bars. Some had claimed dragons violent creatures, but standing there watching Shiryu lap up the water, Phria only thought him innocent and in need of protecting.

"Father?" Shiryu began after several moments of quenching his thirsty. "Where am I? Who was that evil mage and who are these people? The demon smells powerful."

Viren nodded. "He is, son. This is Rumpelstiltskin the Dark One and his betrothed, the Valkyrie known as Phria Federlord. They allowed me to rescue you. Do not fear Tvon, he is dead now, he shall never harm you again."

Dragons seemed to be the only ones not instantly panicked when they learned there was a demon lord in their midst; frankly it was refreshing.

"Where is Mother?"

That was the first time Viren had looked anything but imposing; instead of a stoic expression, his face turned apologetic.

"She has still not returned, Shiryu. We knew her trip would not be a short one." Phria hadn't been able to help herself, she'd just asked who Shiryu's mother was as though it were a normal conversation one would have in a tavern. "Nynio is my mate."

Phria lifted an a white eyebrow. "The water dragon is his mother?"

To be honest, as a product of fire and water, a water dragon being his mother was the only logical answer, but she'd not expected her to be the water dragon.

"Yes. Nynio is overseeing an issue with the merfolk and is unlikely to return for some time. She does not know of Shiryu's capture."

Neither Rumple nor Phria envied the anger and worry Nynio would suffer through when she finally did leave the ocean's depths.

Time passed as it always did, without notice for Rumple and like sand slipping through an hourglass into eternity for Viren and Phria. On the outside, removing some chains seemed like a simple task, but for anybody who understood the complexity of blood magic – which was very few since it was dark magic – well, they saw the difficulty Rumple had before himself. Flamboyance and showmanship had died hours ago right around the time he'd broken the ninth ward baring the hallway to Shiryu's cell. Like with any child, patience soon ran dry with the purple dragon and he began to fuss and complain which only slowed things down further. Eventually though, after far more effort and back pain from being hunched over than Rumple had been prepared to expect, the final chain fell loose and Shiryu stood for the first time in who knew how long. He was wobbly for a moment but Viren steadied the boy.

Phria rushed to Rumple's side, the man honestly was exhausted, and cuddled into him as though she'd somehow transfer some of her energy. Rumple appeared to appreciate the sentiment and embraced her while Viren properly reunited with Shiryu.

"You're a hero, Rumple."

He huffed out a laugh. "Think you've lost it, darling. Aye, madder than I am."

Rumple may have teased to side-step the statement, but Phria wouldn't be fooled. The Dark One was a good man no matter what he thought or the Church tried to claim.

"Dark One?" All attention went to Viren to find the man's – or rather dragon's – head lowered in a small but polite bow. "You kept your word and freed my son, I am grateful. Dragons do not trust lightly, but you have earned it and my favor. I would like to extend this pact between you and the Cardinal Dragons. We try to avoid involving ourselves in the problems of the humanoid races when possible but, with Isra being lost to us, dark magic has returned to a wild state. You are no dragon, but you are immortal and a powerful dark magic user. We should be allied."

Rumple thought about it a moment. From what he'd learned from Belle and Ainsworth, cardinal dragons were anchors for magic and kept Dreymyr from chaos. While he saw no immediate use for making a deal with them, he'd not be given the opportunity again and everybody knew it was better to have and not need rather than need and not have.

"Very well, dearie. I'll recognize this pact and everything which goes along with it."

Viren nodded clearly pleased despite his stoic features. "Excellent. I shall inform the others." He offered his hand which Rumple shook once he'd disentangled himself from Phria. "The Cardinal Dragons and the Dark One are now comrades."

With Shiryu freed, Tvon dead and a deal with the Dark One, Viren had no reason to linger at Kalecaster Castle any longer. So, after Rumple had teleported them outside because Shiryu was too weak to take human form and too large to fit through the dungeon hallways, the father and son departed much to St. Claes' pleasure.

In the hours that followed, evening had descended and numerous tasks had been seen to. Messengers had been sent to St. Claes as well as messenger birds to several cities both foreign and domestic, informing of the dragon attack and the Dark One's role in it ending peacefully. Once word from King Artem had reached them that the Church was aware of the True Demon Lord's return, the decision had been made to expose Rumple's presents in an way which appeared both honest and painted him in a good light. Of course everybody had known it would cause panic, but the sooner the public started to grow used to the knowledge, the sooner they could start acknowledging the good Rumple had done and cease viewing him as a boogeyman who'd steal their children, burn their homes and rape their women. Basically, the quicker those who knew who Rumple really was managed show the public, the less chance the Church would have at using the demon lord's return to their advantage. To assist in pushing all of this along, both Gordana and Demeer had openly given their support of Rumple; Demeer had gone so far as to provide him honorary membership to the Mages Guild. Things moved fast but they had to if they were going to foil any ploys the Church had come up with.

While all of that had happened, Phria had forced Rumple into a bed and made him sleep at least for a few hours. He'd grumbled like a child about it but she'd not been swayed. Soon he'd been asleep with Phria tucked against his side.