Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed

Chapter 04:

The Wished Realm's Enchanted Forest: A Year Earlier:

The tower, dusty and filled with cobwebs, was silent. It was evident that even the owners of the cobwebs had scurried off, abandoning the place.

Nothing moved. Not even the pair of dark eyes staring across the room. Moments passed without change, without sound, and those eyes just continued to stare. One could assume time had stopped upon taking in the scene, so still everything was. So silent.

A silence ended by the sharp clink of a cup shattering on the stone floor.

"No." Rumplestiltskin staggered forward, his gaze locked on the bones lying on the floor. Human bones, kept loosely bound by the tattered remains of a dress. He shook his head, not wanting to believe what it meant. "...No..."

He knelt beside the skeleton and reached out to the skull with shaking fingers; even as he touched the skull, he could picture her exactly as he'd last seen her.

Beautiful.

Kind.

Alive.

"No!" He shouted, the inhuman yowl filling the tower. Pain. Regret. Anger. Rage. What he felt was impossible to describe in a single word. He just howled out in unintelligible rage, and shot fire balls at the walls and bed. Everything in that sparse tower cell he torched and blasted apart; the only things spared was Belle's skeleton and the section of wall where she had marked off each day of her captivity.

Growling and cursing, he readied a fireball for that wall, wanting nothing more than to eradicate them. He faltered though, eyeing those marks.

"Belle." He whispered and touched the nearest tally mark. His lips quivered, the next moment he waved his hand and extinguished the smoldering flames filling the rest of the cell. Closing his eyes after counting each tally mark, he reined in his rage with a delicious idea.

He was going to find where the Evil Queen hid and flay her. Slowly. Making sure it would last tenfold as long as Belle's captivity had.

"Heh. Heh." He cackled and magicked himself and Belle's remains out of the wretched tower.

Storybrooke:

Wish-Rumple straightened out the suit he wore, his attire, hair, etc, matching that of his Storybrooke counterpart. The dagger he'd pilfered carefully tucked in an inner pocket of his suit jacket.

"You will not get away with this. Belle will know you're not me." Gold-Rumple growled, wanting nothing more than to wring the other's neck. Yet unable to so long as the other held his dagger. "You're nothing more than a pale imitation. A flimsy wish version of who I was."

Wish-Rumple pursed his lips, his brown eyes narrowed and livid. The quiet anger on his face, shown in his rigid jaw as well as his glare, intensified each second. "...watch it."

"Or what?" Gold-Rumple taunted, latching onto the other's simmering temper. Partly in hope to use the other's anger to take back his dagger, but mostly from frustration.

"Or we'll see what happens when your 'pale imitation' stabs you with your dagger." Wish-Rumple threatened, his glower devoid of even the creepy childish mirth that was his shtick as the Dark One. "It'll be intriguing to see just how much dark magic a dagger - or realm - can hold."

Gold-Rumple hesitated, understanding the danger same as Wish-Rumple. Tethering the magic of every distinct Dark One into the dagger was one thing, but combining the dark magic of two of the same Dark Ones was another. He didn't even know if it was possible. And if it were, he'd much rather be the one stabbing his doppelganger.

"Considering…." Wish-Rumple paused, recalling how the portal to this realm had refused to open while he held his dark one dagger. It was his first clue that perhaps having two fully powered versions of himself in the same realm was likely too much for it to sustain. "Never mind."

"..." Gold-Rumple studied the other Rumple closely, the other's demeanor and thoughts an easy read. "...your dagger, where is it?"

Wish-Rumple simply tittered and shook his head.

"...You left it in your realm." Gold-Rumple hissed, a brief laugh escaping his throat. "You left it...heh, you better have an escape plan figured out, because when I get my dagger back - and I will - I'm coming after you. And we both know you won't win that fight"

"...well, you're right." Wish-Rumple gave a mirthless grin, his eyes filled with vitriol. He leered at the other and took out the dark one dagger. "You're right, you will get this dagger back...if you remain here." He laughed, noting the speck of fear disguised as hatred lighting up in the other's eyes as he raised the dagger. "I command you to go to my realm by whatever means necessary, but without alerting anyone."

Gold-Rumple scowled, his glare piercing and his fingers itching to throw a few fireballs at the other. With a flourish of his hand, he teleported away to do as commanded, unable to do otherwise. Once he was alone, Wish-Rumple dropped his smirk and turned to investigate the shop once more, this time more thoroughly.

"...now where is it…." He grumbled, slipping the dagger into his suit's inner pocket without another thought. Though the shop was filled with various magical artifacts, many with potent enchantments, he merely glanced and shrugged at each. His attention so focused on his task, he ignored the clinking of the shop bell as the front door opened. "It should be here…."

"...Rumple?" Belle called out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor as she headed towards the back. Despite still feeling tired, she couldn't ignore the gnawing feeling in her gut that something wasn't right. Thus after dropping off Gideon at daycare, she'd headed to find her husband. "What is it you needed to check in the shop? Perhaps I could help."

Wish-Rumple froze, hearing that voice. That kind, beautiful voice he hadn't heard in decades. It took all his willpower to not break his facade right then and embrace her desperately, like a starved beast.

"Rumple?" Belle approached and touched his arm, concern for her husband reflected in her eyes. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes." Wish-Rumple turned around, staring down into Belle's face and quietly marveling at her beauty. So unchanged from what he remembered, he smiled at her, especially as her brow knit in thought. He quietly took her hands, glancing at her fingertips and how unblemished they were. Staring at them, he could almost forget what he'd found in that tower. "...everything's fine, now."

"Rumple, what's…." Belle started to say, only to be interrupted by Wish-Rumple pulling her towards him and kissing her. The entire motion smooth and elegant, and with a hunger that sent a chill through her. Though he tried to deepen the kiss she pulled away - her gut, brain, and heart all screaming at her, each for different reasons. She flashed a nervous smile. "What's gotten into you?"

"I…." Wish-Rumple simply gazed down at her, feeling a mix of desperation and longing, yet mixed in was a gnawing dread.

Belle blushed seeing the longing look the other gave her, quietly wondering if that that was why her husband had left so abruptly. She glanced away, feeling self-conscious beneath that gaze, and also strangely violated.

Before either could say anything further, the shop door opened and shut, its little bell clinking.

"Gold." Regina called out as she entered the shop, the door shutting behind her. "There's something I need to ask you about."

Wish-Rumple, not used to the new moniker didn't respond at first, nor made any effort to head to the front of the shop. It wasn't until Belle grimaced and mumbled he should see what Regina needed, slightly annoyed by the interruption but also bemused by her husband ignoring it, that Wish-Rumple caught his gaffe.

"Fine. What is it you need, dearie?" Wish-Rumple said while stepping to the shop counter, his eyes locking on the dark haired mayor. Seeing her, he felt another feeling jab his gut, only this one less positive and more dark. It took reminding quietly himself that this woman wasn't the same Evil Queen from his realm for him to temper his bloodlust.

"There's…." Regina paused, getting a chill from the cold glare the other gave her. Upon seeing Belle step out from the back and say a quick goodbye before heading out, Regina briefly wondered if the cold glare was because she interrupted something. Not desiring to think about it, she tossed aside the thought. "There's a problem that needs fixing."

"Does it have anything to do with why you took down the protection spell around Storybrooke?" Wish-Rumple asked, feigning ignorance along with nonchalance. His lips twitched as Regina explained what Emma had told her - about Deidre and about the dangerous man who'd been with her. "That does seem to be a curious problem." He mumbled after a moment while silently laughing. "But nothing the Savior can't handle, I'd expect."

"Well, Emma is trying to figure out who that man could be, but neither of us know what could be the cause of Deidre's curse. I thought you might know, given your longer experience with dark magic."

Wish-Rumple mulled over Regina's words, curious himself about Deidre's unfortunate luck. Though he had recognized what it was and taken advantage of it to get into Storybrooke, he was curious why the unremarkable young woman was so afflicted.

"I first thought it was a wish backfiring, but why would its effect suddenly strengthen then?" Regina continued, her arms crossed briefly and then dropped to her sides. "Besides, she was in the Land Without Magic, so any magic should've been negated."

"Unless it's not the magic itself, but rather the price." Wish-Rumple replied, a reason occurring to him that would explain Deidre's particular luck.

His eyes darkened a sliver as he thought of his realm's Evil Queen and the maid who'd protested on her behalf. Though the Evil Queen had insisted the maiden was a servant, Wish-Rumple had overheard Audrina claim to be the Evil Queen's daughter. Something that he knew couldn't be true, not biologically. The Evil Queen had made herself barren years ago, to spite her mother.

"That doesn't make sense...how could someone incur the cost of magic without actually using magic?"

"There are a couple ways. One is a Karma Spell or any spell using Stardust. Both are quite potent, and their effects can even cross through realms."

Regina's eyes widened, her lips parted in disbelief. "Who can even cast one of those? Stardust is one of the most difficult magical ingredients to find let alone use and Karma Spells nearly always fail."

"That is something you're going to have to find out yourself, dearie. Until you do that, there's not much I can help with." Wish-Rumple replied coldly, his thoughts once more drifting to the Wish-Evil Queen's maid/daughter Audrina. The young woman had cast a powerful Karma Spell just before he jumped through a portal. It was possible Deidre's luck was connected to that, considering successfully cast Karma spells were rare even across realms.

"How am I supposed to find out that?!"

Wish-Rumple leered at Regina, tempted to offer a deal though he held back. 'If the curse affecting Deidre is connected to Audrina...I can't have Regina or the Savior finding out just yet...not until...'

"I wish I could help you, dearie, but I'm not versed in Karma Spells either. Karma magic and Dark One magic are generally incompatible." He paused, steeling himself against the urge to gesture and titter as he'd usually do. "Karma spells are powered from all the bad- and good-will garnered from every one of the caster's deeds throughout their lifetime. And that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject."

Regina frowned, that answer not one she'd wanted to hear - she'd hoped that Rumple would have had more knowledge on Karma magic.

"Stardust, however, is another matter." Wish-Rumple interjected, drawing Regina's frustrated gaze back to him. "It's a type of Fairy Dust. Extremely rare, but its effects can be reversed by Fairy Magic. If Deidre's curse is caused by Stardust, they'd be able to tell."