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This is our last chance , Belle thought as she leaned forward to meet his lips. This is ou r last chance. God, I hope he means it this time .
He didn't move and, for a moment, Belle feared he was going to change his mind. He had chosen power over her so many times before she wouldn't even be surprised. Her instinct was to kiss him quickly, before he could think it over too much; but instead, she stopped halfway to his mouth and waited. It was his decision whether or not to break her heart.
Finally, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, asking her to go through with it and take that final step he was still too scared to take. To strip him of his powers and magic and cruelty and turn him into a better man.
With a sigh, she kissed him.
She knew the curse was gone long before he stopped for breath and pleaded against her lips, “Kiss me again. It's working.”
*
“Are you ready?”
Belle took a deep breath.
They laid him back on the cot, and he looked so peaceful in his sleep. This calmness alone was already so unlike him. That wasn't how her husband slept. Rumpelstiltskin was restless, he kicked and turned, he mumbled words under his breath. He woke up screaming to nightmares and refused to fall asleep again. But now he was breathing steadily, she couldn't even see his eyes moving under his eyelids.
It was still her husband's face. Yet, nothing like her husband.
She wasn't ready.
She would never be ready.
David came in, saving her from giving Regina an answer.
“Leroy's gone,” he announced, placing Mr. Gold's cane close to the cot.
“What did you tell him?” Regina asked.
“That Emma hit him with a spell by accident and he got confused.”
“Why does it have to be me that hit him with a spell?” Emma asked, taking offense.
Her father grimaced. “Well-”
“I only missed once!”
“Would you rather I told him Regina did it?” David said. “The last thing we need right now is the town thinking we're about to have another wizard war.”
“Can we get this over with?” Belle asked, quietly.
David and Emma looked at her. She immediately brushed away the tears from her eyes, trying to look determined. They had suggested more than once that she shouldn't be here for this, but she had refused to leave the room.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” Emma asked, making Regina snort with impatience. “No one will think less of you if you leave.”
“It has to be me,” Belle said. “I'm still his wife.”
It was a stubborn argument. Right now, she was nothing to him but a stranger. He even seemed to perceive her as a threat. At first, she had hoped looking at her would stir some memories, maybe even result in a little miracle, but that hope was dying by the hour.
“I'm fine,” Belle lied. “Truly.” She turned to Regina. “You go ahead.”
Regina didn't waste time asking if she was sure before snapping her fingers.
Rumpelstiltskin opened his eyes. First, he seemed to be lost. Then, his eyes grew wider and he turned his face to the four other people in the room.
Belle tried, “Please, we just need to talk to-”
He sat up in bed so fast it was clear he was going to try for the door again.
Regina stepped up and gave him a flick of her wrist before Belle could even think of an argument that would keep him still. There was a purple glow for a second. When it cleared, Rumpelstiltskin couldn't move.
“There,” she said, very satisfied. “See? He's not hurt, and now he's listening.”
Belle looked at her as if she was ready to list all the ways she was damaging her husband physically and psychologically in alphabetical order, but instead stepped closer to the bed.
“I am very, very sorry, we just don't want you to run away,” she said. “You could hurt yourself.”
She paused, but when he didn't reply, she turned to Regina with a very undecided “Uhmm...” as if she wasn't sure what she could ask for. Words could result in more babbling and screaming, too many movements could result in him throwing things. Regina decided for herself and snapped her fingers. Rumpelstiltskin's eyes blinked immediately.
“Blink once for yes and twice for no,” Regina said, her voice as far as possible from Belle's kindness. “Do you understand?”
His chest heaved under the spell, and his eyes had grown to the size of saucers. But slowly, the eyelids lowered once.
“See? He's got it.”
Belle huffed and glared back at the witch, but held her tongue.
Emma whispered, “Try to look less like you're enjoying yourself and more like you're trying to be helpful.”
This time, Regina was sensitive enough to whisper back. “I think I'm allowed to do both.”
“As I was saying,” Belle continued, “we are very sorry. We just want to talk, that is all. When I'm done she'll undo the spell and you can be free again.”
Something dark passed behind his eyes and Belle found herself leaning closer, looking into them, trying to decipher whatever it was that made him so scared. David said, “Belle,” in a warning voice, but she ignored him. She sat down on the cot and Rumpelstiltskin seemed ready to fight the spell and throw himself against the wall again. Instead, he sought refuge behind his eyelids. Belle scooted back immediately but didn't get up.
She couldn't repress a painful note from making its way into her voice when she asked, “Are you afraid of me?”
His eyes opened slowly to look at her for a second, before they looked down. The question seemed to confuse him, as if the answer couldn't have been more obvious – blink – and her sadness made no sense to him.
“Are you afraid that I am going to let her leave you like this forever?”
Blink.
No hesitation.
“I won't,” she said, firmly. His eyes kept avoiding hers. She insisted. “I won't!”
Emma said, “Regina, maybe you should...” And eyed the door.
“Seriously?”
“Yes!” Belle cut in. “Seriously.”
Regina rolled her eyes, but left the room. David went after her, saying, “I'll keep an eye on her for you, buddy.”
Rumpelstiltskin didn't seem to notice that David was actually talking to him.
Belle said, “I will be as brief as I can. Once I am done, you will have many questions and we will answer all of them. But I need you to listen to me and I need you to know that everything I'm saying is true.”
He didn't blink, jut stared at her with helpless eyes.
“You are not in the Enchanted Forest anymore. I think that much is clear to you. A long time ago, a curse-”
“Uh, Belle,” Emma said, softly. Belle turned. “I think you better start with some introductions.”
Belle froze on the spot. Introductions. She had to introduce herself to her husband.
“Belle?”
“Yes,” she said, turning back to face him. “My name is Belle. I'm...” she tried to find a suitable title for herself. Should she just tell him? He could handle it, couldn't he? It wasn't too soon. She'd explain. He'd understand. Maybe he would remember.
Emma cut in, “I am Emma Swan and I am the Sheriff.”
“That means she reinforces the law in this town. Like a knight,” Belle explained, getting back on track. Rumpel's eyes turned to Emma, alarmed. Belle tried to get his attention back. “The woman who just left is Regina. The only thing you need to know about Regina is that I'm not going to let her hurt you. And the man is called David. You don't have to fear him.”
Introductions didn't seem to set his heart at ease. Now, he had his frightful eyes on Emma.
“We're friends, Rumpelstiltskin,” Belle insisted. “We are not here to cause you harm. But this isn't our land, it can be dangerous for you to walk around without us.”
She stopped to see if her words were making any kind of sense for him. They weren't. He didn't even seem to be paying attention to her, too busy playing terrible scenarios inside his head.
“I am going to let Emma set you free,” Belle said and attention snapped back into his eyes. “But first I need your promise that you are not going to scream.”
Blink.
“And that you are not going to run away.”
Blink.
“We have a lot of things to talk about, so you have to let us talk.”
He started blinking frantically and Belle instinctively reached for his hand. “It's alright.” Despite being frozen, he shivered. She let go of him.
When she felt ready to talk without her voice breaking, she said, “I know you have questions, and it's not going to be easy, but we'll do our best to answer all of them.”
Blink.
Belle looked at Emma, and Emma moved her right hand in a slow motion, much more labored than Regina's. Slowly, he started moving again, first rolling his shoulders back, then pulling back his hands, and finally recoiling back as he did before.
“Are you in any pain?”
“Where is my son?”
Belle sighed. “It is complicated.”
“My Lady, please,” he said, dragging the word, “I need my son, you can't take him from me.”
Emma realized his eyes were filling with tears and found that very disconcerting. She had seen the Dark One cry before, but this was different. He seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. If Neal's death had had such a terrible effect on him when he still had Belle to rely on, what would happen to this little man when he found out his son was gone?
“We are not keeping him from you,” Belle said.
“Where is he?” he asked, clearly not believing a word she had said.
Belle considered the many ways she could answer that question, but decided none would be truthful enough.
She tried, “Why don't you ask me something else for a start?”
“I don't careabout anything else! I just want my son, my Lady!”
“How-how about you tell me what you remember?” Belle asked.
“What?” he replied, creasing his forehead, but not looking any less terrified.
“What is the last thing you remember before you waking up here?”
“You know what I did,” he said, making them frown. “Why else would you have a knight with you?”
“He means the fire in the Duke's castle,” she told Belle. But she had already reached that conclusion herself. She had already read that story many times over the past week, trying to get familiar with a side of her husband that Rumpelstiltskin didn't care to share much, but that would soon become everything there was left of him.
“My Lady-My Knight-My-I-” he stammered, trying to figure out Emma's proper title. According to Henry's book, women didn't get knighted very often and that break in gender norms seemed to confuse him even further. “I can explain, I-I know that-”
“We don't care about the fire,” Belle said, firmly so he would stop talking. “We care about happened after that.”
H e opened his mouth and stammered sounds that made no sense. Belle and Emma waited patiently. The first words that he managed to speak were, “I-I was- I had Bae- We- I was-” and he went quiet again. It took him a few minutes to be able to concentrate and say, “I was in the woods.”
“Do you remember what you were doing there?”
“No,” he answered, quickly.
Emma didn't need a superpower to tell he was lying. She said, “You can tell us, we won't be mad.”
“I don't remember.”
“Were you meeting someone?” Belle pressed, very gentle, but it startled him nonetheless.
His eyes shifted from one side to the otehr, desperately looking for a lie.
Belle continued, “Did that person show up?”
His eyes went still. Very still. As if he was finally concentrating and remembering something he ha d lost. He started rubbing his hands but when he felt the ring on his left finger, he looked down at them stopped what he was doing .
“Rumpelstiltskin?”
“This isn't mine... These... these aren't...”
His eyes traveled up his arms and he held the sleeve of his jacket.
“What am I...?”
“This is what men wear in this land,” Belle told him, but it didn't seem to ease his bewilderment.
“But why am I...? How am I...?”
He gasped.
His hands started shaking. “This is him .”
“Who?” Belle asked.
“The Dark One.”
“Oh, boy,” Emma muttered.
“He sent me here didn't he? He's punishing me.”
Belle's voice turned calm now, and she tried to stir the conversation by asking, “What for?”
“For... for...” he searched his mind. “For trying to control him.”
“Was that all you did?”
“Yes. No. No. I was... I did...”
Words failed him again.
“Take your time,” she said.
He glanced at her, then back at his hands; such strange, clean hands. They didn't resemble his at all. His hands were calloused. His hands were always covered in dirt. And that last night, as far as he could remember, they had been covered in blood.
“I stabbed him,” he whispered.
“And you do remember what the beggar told you, don't you? About what would happen if you killed the Dark One with the dagger?”
He raised his eyes, baffled. “How do you know about the old beggar?”
Belle straightened up her back and said, “I have a tale to tell and I need your to pay attention. It's long and it's complicated, but once I am done everything will make more sense, alright?”
He hesitated, but nodded slowly.