With the door's opening came a gust of cold but dusty air that had Belle's nose wrinkle as chestnut curls fluttered around her. This wasn't a place people wished to visit. Frankly, beyond the Valkyries doing their rounds and bringing occasional meals, Akula Prison's bottom level likely never saw a single person. This was a forgotten place, a place most wished didn't exist and the prisoner along with it. A home for silence and spiders. Gretchen instinctively drew her sword then gestured for Rumple and the Grand Mage to head inside. Her expression said it all: enter at your own risk. For a few moments they all simply stood there staring at the open doorway leading to sinister darkness, but Grace had been alone too long already and that knowledge soon had the group moving forward. They ascended the stone steps with Rumple and Demeer at their head and finally slipped inside the cell.

Inside was dark, dank and coated in squid ink, air cold and musty. A place of Death: he who conquered all in the end. While the door may have been somewhat ornate, the cell itself certainly wasn't. No, just a crude space chiselled out of the rock with no windows nor light of any kind. Like someone had simply installed a door over a cave entrance, that was what Ravavena's cell looked like. A tragic, hopeless place designed to leave someone to rot in. Dead or in this hell hole, that had been the fate of the other demon lords; suddenly Rumple thought he'd done rather well for himself.

As Rumple's eyes adjusted to the light he spotted a pale mass slumped against the far wall. Ravavena: the Little Disaster. The elf wore only a tattered gray dress, rags really, and her blonde hair was a tangled mess down to her knees. Gray eyes were shielded by one hand and squinted almost entirely shut as she did her best to adapt to the sudden burst of light inside her cell. He couldn't be certain how long since she'd last seen sunlight. Slender, flat-chested and dirty was Ravavena, nothing like one would expect a powerful demon lord to appear. Belle fought the instinct to rush to her and offer assistance – she'd been reminded of little Amicia back at the Osgar Hall Caverns. How the mighty had fallen. The elf had been reduced to little more than a caged animal now.

Ravavena seemed confused at first, nobody ever came to visit after all, but once her eyes had adjusted and her mind had managed to focus on what was happening, she launched backward in fear. Dark magic radiated off of Rumple in thick waves threatening to drown her. She may have been a demon lord, but she was nothing compared to this practically omnipotent being.

"Hello, dearie." He greeted in that sing-song voice of his.

Ravavena swallowed audibly. "You're the True Demon Lord."

Rumple had intended to simply grab the woman and dump her in a new cell at the Dark Castle until they were ready to use her to power the portal, but then something strange happened; Ravavena shifted to kneel before him with her head lowered in a bow. This caught everybody else by surprise as well.

"Dearie, look at me."

Cautiously she obeyed, her filthy blonde hair hid much of her face but not those gray eyes. Eyes were the window to the soul, that was the old saying and Rumple had always found it surprisingly apt. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd been expecting from a fellow demon lord, but it wasn't what he saw before him. Those eyes were filled with so much guilt and self-hatred, loneliness and sorrow. Rumple could relate far too well. He knew how consuming dark magic could be, knew how it twisted and turned even the most innocent of intentions to vicious evil. This woman was like him, she might not have been angelic before her fall, but she'd probably not been a bad person. Had the Dark Curse still clung to him, he'd likely not have cared for the pain in Ravavena's eyes – delighted in it maybe - but the Darkness whispered no longer and so he crouched down before her. Jefferson's mouth opened to hurry things along but Phria's hand on his shoulder silenced him.

"You didn't intend for any of this to happen when you started playing with the dark, did you, dearie?" Rumple's head fell to one side while Gretchen scoffed as though talking to the inmates was an idiotic thing to do. "Let me guess: you were a scared and lonely little elf that found she had a talent for something no one else did. Instead of that making you interesting, it made you scary and more alone." Tears began to well up in Ravavena's gray eyes. "It was too late though, the abyss had dug it's claws in and rather than filling that hole of loneliness and isolation with people, you found you could plug it with power. You craved more and more and more until it was all you thought about, all you could think about. It was the only thing that staved off the pain. And when you realized all that it was much too late to turn back."

Tears streamed down Ravavena's dirty face as her shoulders started to shake. When she finally managed to express words they were hardly whispered.

"You understand." She marveled. "I couldn't stop."

Rumple hummed while the others simply watched on amazed there was a demon lord crying and on her knees before them.

"Yes, dearie, dark magic is addictive and thoroughly corrupting. It traps you in its web. Magic always comes with a price." He gestured to the cell walls coated in squid ink and dust. "You hate it in here, but you think it is a deserving punishment, correct?" Ravavena nodded. "I hadn't intended on dealing today, but I recognize something kindred in you. I have a better way you could be punished, make amends, whatever your pretty little head wants to call it. I need your well of dark magic to open a portal to another realm. I had been going to just use you but, if you let me use you as a battery willingly, I shall grant you a deal. What would you like in exchange?"

"You can't make deals with the Little Disaster!" Gretchen growled drawing everybody's attention. "She deserves nothing unless it's death. We don't make deals with demon lords!"

Rumple hardly spared the warden a glance. "I am one, dearie, and I can make deals with whom I choose."

Ravavena simply looked at Rumple a while with teary but assessing eyes. Even she'd thought the Dark One a myth but there he was crouched before her dressed in dragonling leather. Lesser dark magic leaked from the one in the odd hat and the man with the goatee could have only been the Grand Mage judging by how he was dressed and the immense levels of magic he possessed. How had the True Demon Lord managed to assemble such an unusual group of people to visit her?

He was correct of course, she hated her cell but knew she deserved such a fate. After what she'd done, rotting away in a dark hole seemed a fairly light punishment. Halinox slaughtered and burnt to ash, Ivosanch drowned by the Shay-El Ta, a spell so powerful even its inverter had feared it. Yes, caged up and forgotten like the beast she was had been a remarkably lenient penance.

"… I don't want to be imprisoned."

"Out of the question!" Gretchen shouted. "She led the ogres, she killed-"

Phria fixed Gretchen with a stern glare. "You will be silent, Havelock. You are here to open the door, not to provide your opinion. Kindly do not speak again."

Gretchen's face contorted as she fought the urge to snap something cruel back, probably about Phria's marriage to the Dark One. "Yes, Captain Federlord."

"She is right though, Rumpelstiltskin," began Demeer after he'd cleared his throat. "Ravavena has killed a lot of people."

"Probably far less than I have."

Belle crouched down beside her husband then to look between him and the dishevelled elf on the mucky ground. She'd always tried not to judge a book by its cover just as her mother had taught her, but Ravavena's crimes were well documented and extensive. Yes, people deserved a second chance, but hands couldn't be washed of sins quite so easily.

"Rumple, I tend to agree with Demeer. We may use up most of her dark magic but nothing says Ravavena won't do something horrific again. You know better than anyone how enticing dark magic is, how blinding."

"Enslave me!" The elf suddenly demanded, her face caked in tears. Abruptly the cell went so very quiet as all stared. "Enslave me to you. I will be your servant forever and help you open that portal you spoke of. I will still be shackled and bound, just don't let me be locked up in the dark again."

"That's actually a good compromise." Phria hummed. "She's out of this nightmare and you can keep her under control."

Why did everybody in Dreymyr seem to think slapping an enslavement collar on someone would solve their problems? Looking at all the chaos and danger Belle's collar had put her in, Rumple wasn't inclined to put himself back in the same situation but with a demon lord this time.

Rumple's unique eyes turned to his white-haired wife. "I believe I told Belle I had no desire to keep women as captives."

"She wouldn't be a captive," Belle told him drawing his eyes back to her. "You'd just have a leash you could pull on if she went too far. A safety net. I won't pretend to be an advocate of the enslavement ritual but Ravavena is willing and, ultimately, she is a criminal in need of a sentence."

Suddenly Rumple regretted his moment of weakness in offering the deal, he might have made a mistake. He sighed deeply. Over the last few months he'd been toying with the enslavement ritual trying to edit certain bits with quite some success. When a glance to Demeer didn't yield any objections he sighed once more then looked at his fellow demon lord.

"You sure you want this? There's no changing it afterwards, dearie."

She nodded. "I'm sure. Very sure. Please, my Lord, I know I deserve to be in here but I can't do it anymore."

Sitting alone in the darkness for years on end was one thing, but doing it with dark magic's corruption whispering its incessant insults was quite another. That was maddening, horrific and could only result in the birth of an even blacker soul. When he'd trained the Valkyries after arriving in Bichelberger for the first time, Phria had mentioned Ravavena had been defeated long before any of them had been born. She'd been in that cell longer than anybody but Rumple could comprehend.

"Just hurry up and do it already." Jefferson urged. He was so close to getting back to Grace. So close.

With lingering hesitation, Rumple and Demeer prepared everything for the enslavement ritual while the others watch on; Phria and Belle with curiosity, Jefferson with agitation and Gretchen with absolute disgust. Neutralizing the squid ink so any magic could actually be cast had taken almost ten minutes in and of itself. Demeer made impressively quick work of drawing the intricate magic circle on the floor of the cell while Rumple applied the small edits to the enslavement ritual he'd been working on. When the time came, Rumple cut his fingertip open with one claw and had Ravavena sup on a few drops of his blood as the spell took hold. Then, with little fuss or ado, an enslavement collar settled around her throat just like the one Belle had worn; silver with green gems and totally irremovable.

"It's lighter than I expected." The messy elf mused after a moment as her fingers reached up to brush the cold metal.

"Clean yourself up, dearie, you're a mess."

For the first time since they'd entered the cell, Ravavena stood up straight. She rolled her shoulders and acknowledged the order.

"Yes, Master." With magic that looked almost like a sparkling waterfall, Ravavena cleaned and changed from rags to a black leather jumpsuit with flowing black skirt, the shoulders ended in points and were detailed subtly with gold. "The hair can go."

Before anyone could even think of questioning her meaning, Ravavena had summoned a pair of sturdy scissors and begun cutting thick sections of hair from her head. Remnants cascaded to the dusty ground forgotten revealing her dramatically pointed ears for the first time in who even knew how long.

"Well, that's certainly a costume change." Demeer muttered to himself quietly.

Once more the elf bowed, though this time she looked far more put together and embodied an almost regal quality. Her face visible and her outfit mildly reminded Rumple of Regina on one of her less dramatic days.

"I am yours, Master. Loyal and sound, I pledge myself to the True Demon Lord. I shall serve you as best as I am able."

An oath didn't matter, with that collar around her neck a vow really made no difference whatsoever. However, all present supposed it made things feel a little more official. That and this was her way of showing gratitude, she may have become his slave, but at least she'd be out of the darkness. Amusing maybe that the Dark One had come offering sunshine.

Rumple huffed. "I'll make this an order, dearie: Don't call me master."

The collar's green jewels glowed much as Belle's had and got a swift nod from the elf. "Yes, my Lord."

Gretchen was outraged, she'd never seen such reckless abandon in all her life. The whole thing totally disgusted her to the point she felt genuinely sick. Every inch of her wanted to draw her sword and take both demon lords' heads, but her duty was to the Valkyries and Mages Guild. Captain Federlord and the Grand Mage were allowing it all to unfold. Had none of them stopped to think what would happen if two demon lords aligned? She'd heard people talking about how the Dark One wasn't like the legends – he was certainly shorter than imagined – but Gretchen thought most of what she'd just seen was blatant disregard for common logic rather than the Dark One simply being 'not a monster' as she'd heard said so many times. Repeating something didn't make it true. The warden was only drawn out of her internal grumblings when Demeer addressed her. He gave the usual speech thanking her for her assistance and apologizing for the inconvenience caused to her and the Valkyrie guards. It was the sort of reusable speech where one could simply insert a new name and location each time they used it. Sure he made the whole thing sound sincere but it was much too rehearsed. As for Phria, she said very little to Gretchen but that was to be expected of a Valkyrie captain.

With Ravavena now eternally bound to Rumple, he magicked them all back to the Arcane University where Demeer inspected Ravavena's collar to ensure everything was just as it should be. Rumple of course set out some ground rules as strict orders just in case she got any ideas. She wasn't to harm anybody unless they'd attacked her first and wasn't to provoke that attack as a loophole, wasn't to attempt tampering with her collar or leave until Rumple returned for her. Having covered his bases, Rumple returned Belle and Phria to the Dark Castle. While both had wanted to help with the portal, there wasn't all that much they could do and, if everything backfired, Rumple didn't want them getting caught up in the blast. Another reason for returning home was to make sure distance restrictions had been totally obliterated from the enslavement collar he'd worked on. He adored and loved Belle with all his heart so having her so close constantly hadn't been terrible, but he had no love for Ravavena.

~X~

Renner had known the moment Rumple and his queens returned to the castle and made quick work of greeting them and reporting about their new guards. The women had arrived some time ago and Belle had issued them all rooms since the castle had enough chambers to house just about everybody in Basilica, but they'd grown restless and eager to take up their new duties; Valkyries, even former ones, weren't the sort to sit idle.

"You should speak to them before you return to Bichelberger, Rumple." Said Belle softly. "They need to be addressed by their lord and officially be given their orders."

"Belle's right, Rumple. I may be the one they wished to follow, but I am aligned with the Demon Lord's Domain and thus you are their king."

Rumple snarled, he truly hated that word.

"Where are my son and daughters?" He asked Renner in an attempt to shift the conversation but his wives clearly wouldn't let it go so easily.

"They're reading in the throne room with Demiurge, my Lord."

Belle clapped her hands together. "Excellent. We'll go to the children and Renner can have the former Valkyries brought to us. It'll be best for you to meet them in there, more official."

That was how Rumple found himself departing the salon for the throne room with his wives ensuring he couldn't slip away. Of course every ounce of irritation drained from his form the moment his three girls spotted him and came running with smiles on their faces.

"Papa! Are you staying this time?"

"You're back now, right?"

"Will you read to us?"

The three girls spoke over one another to the point he wasn't entirely sure who had said what. He dropped into his throne and kissed their heads in turn with a smile as he let them regale him with stories of their games and the books they'd read.

"Did the other demon lord agree to help with getting Jefferson home?" Bae questioned while he helped Belle tidy up the girls' books from the floor.

Rumple nodded. "Aye, Bae. She's been placed on a sort of tethered release program." That had the boy's brow furrow. "She is willing to help us open the portal and in return she has been placed in my service with an enslavement collar."

"Like that terrible thing on Belle?!"

"It's all right, Bae." Phria soothed as she slipped into her emerald throne. "This one is modified to be quite humane."

Bae thought it over a moment. The idea of slavery appalled him, but a demon lord was a demon lord and having a safeguard was probably for the best.

Belle and Bae moved the books out of the way to clean up the throne room, then Belle seated herself in the sapphire throne while the children lined up neatly in age order doing their best to look like the son and daughters of a powerful ruler; Semiramis cradled Bubble in her arms. Soon enough Renner entered followed by the seven women formerly of the Valkyries. While they wore their wing gear, the prominent cobalt armor was gone and their affiliation along with it. Renner stood off to one side with Demiurge, his hair scruffy as always, while the seven women knelt before their new lord.

"Thank you for agreeing to our request, my Lord." Ariadne said from the middle of the line. "We will serve your kingdom and family to our fullest."

"You'd better. My queens have decided you are worthy of protecting this castle, if you have their faith then I'll accept you here. My rules are simple: You answer directly to Phria, if she is absent then Renner becomes your commander. There won't be any argument about this, dearies. Do you understand?" There was a resound affirmative which Rumple took to be a good sign. "Good, then you are officially recognized as the Dark Castle's Guard."

Phria shuffled forward on her throne to Rumple's right, the color matched her eyes perfectly. "Our time as Valkyries mustn't be forgotten, but it is behind us all now. Avonlea has the Rose Guard, Dorovoth has the Cordillera. The Demon Lord's Domain shall have the Pleiades. Ariadne Eichrodt, Proserpina Viotto, Chrysanthi Aurousseau, Halcyone Vandengrove, Sentia Swayne, Kyveli Ninomae and Theano Cashel, you are the Dark One's Pleiades. Serve him and this realm well." Green eyes flashed to the auburn-haired pantherian who'd been brave enough to come to her room at the Arcane University. "Ariadne, you shall be their captain with Proserpina serving as your deputy."

Ariadne nodded. "As you wish, my Queen. We are honored by your faith in us."

Each woman drew their weapon then and planted them on the ground to make their oath of fealty, loyal words spoken in unison which seemed to please the queens.

"I'm sure you'll settle in very well." Belle told them with a smile before gesturing to the children doing their best to behave; Valdis' wings had pulled in even more than usual, a clear sign she was doing her best to stand stright. "While your primary duties shall be to this castle and surrounding land, should Renner give you an order intended to protect the children regardless of if he's acting as your commander at the time or not, you will obey that order. Yes?" Another resound affirmative sounded. "Wonderful. Then may I introduce you to; Prince Baelfire and princesses Amicia, Semriamis and Valdis."

Rumple raised an eyebrow. 'Princesses? Oh, I'm never going to hear the end of that one.' Bae nor Rumple cared an iota for being nobles let alone royalty, but Belle had been raised with all this etiquette and hierarchy conditioned into her, and what little girl didn't want to be a princess?

"Renner will see to your guard rotation and give you a tour of my castle. Dismissed."

With that the Pleiades departed along with Renner and Demiurge. Renner wasn't a stupid man, he knew he'd just had a load of things Rumple didn't want to do dumped on him. Still, if the girls and Bae were in the throne room with their mothers and father, then they were safe. Azzy would likely be along shortly as well, he never left Belle alone for very long.