Rumple was still shaking as he walked with Belle out to the carriage, he just couldn't believe this. He was free, Belle was at his side, he was mortal again. Everything was so much to take in, he had to stop and take deep breaths every once in a while. Belle was an angel, being so patient with him, letting him lean on her since he was getting used to walking with a cane again. They made it to the carriage and his arms just wrapped around her, holding her close and tight against him.

"I…I thought you were dead," he whispered. "Regina, she told me you were dead, that your father tortured you, that you threw yourself from the tower… Gods, Belle, you were in her dungeon the entire time?"

"Rumple…" she sighed softly. "I'm here, I'm alive. And I'm not leaving you again… I didn't immediately become her captive, I… I had my own small adventure."

He looked at her. Her, his Belle, on an adventure, like she had always wanted, he wished he could have seen her. She began to tell him of her time in the dwarf tavern, how she helped a friend and in return he gave her courage to have her own adventure. He listened with a smile as she told him her how she fought the Yaogui and how she helped Mulan and Prince Phillip. And then when she came to the end, with her getting captured, his blood boiled. He should have killed Regina, how dare she lock up his beloved. He took a deep breath and nodded.

"Well you don't have to worry about her anymore," he said. "We're together now, and I'm going to spend every day trying to make you happy."

"I already am happy just to be with you again." she said softly, smiling at him. He smiled back at her and gently pressed a kiss to her lips. He would kiss her every day if he could help it.

That evening they reached his castle, unfortunately when his curse was broken and his magic disappeared, so did the magic that kept the castle going. No more automatic fire in the fireplaces, no more hot and cold water at the turn of the knob, they would have to heat it themselves. And no more barriers around the grounds, to tell him when people were approaching. It was going to be a change for both of them, Rumple had lived with magic for three hundred years and Belle had grown used to the magical hum of the castle. But they could work together and make this work.

She helped him out of the carriage and into the castle. He sank down into his chair at the head of the long table and she took her seat in her usual chair next to him, he had kept it there so he could fool himself into thinking she would be along soon to join him for dinner. But now she was here, really here. He held her hand across the table and smiled softly at her.

"So what now?" he asked softly.

"Now I suppose we have a life together," she said with a slight smile.

"Together…." He nodded. True, he had fantasized about a future with her, married, a few children, together in the castle. And then a realization came crashing down on him.

The curse.

The dark curse that he had given to Regina. The curse that would take them all to the land without magic, wiping their memories for the next twenty eight years. His smile fell and he looked down at the table. He had ruined their future, when he had given the curse to Regina, he had thought Belle was dead, he hadn't had a future to worry about. But now he had Belle back, and no doubt she would hate him when she heard about what was going to happen.

His silence concerned her, and she squeezed his hand.

"Hey… What's wrong?" she asked softly.

He looked up at her and sighed softly.

"I… I'm afraid we aren't going to have much of a future…" he said. "The curse… The curse I mentioned to Regina…." She looked at him, listening intently. "…This curse, it's called the dark curse, it's… It's going to take us all, everyone in this land, to another land, the land without magic. In this land, our memories will be wiped, we will be given new ones, new lives, new pasts, everything will be fake, and we will be stuck in time for the next twenty eight years."

She looked confused and terrified. He didn't blame her, he knew how terrible this was going to be.

"B… But why? Why would Regina do something so terrible?" she asked.

"To get revenge on Snow White," he said. "But… There's more to it than that…. I… I created the curse, and I gave it to her. This land that we're going to… My son is somewhere in that land, that's how I lost him." With great pain, he told her to story of how he lost his son, starting with how and why he became the Dark One, all the way to when he let go of his son in the portal. He bared his soul to her, he no longer had the Dark One hovering over his shoulder and in his mind, telling him what to and what not to tell her. He could be himself again.

When his story was done, he was sure she was going to run, sure she was going to yell at him. But nothing happened. She stayed where she was, listening to everything, her thumb gently rubbing his knuckles. When he looked up at her, her gentle smile was still there, though perhaps a bit more worried about him. He was amazed by her, he really was.

"You're doing this for you son," she said softly. "Though I don't agree with your methods, you've been searching for him for three hundred years, and I know you wouldn't do this if you had any other choice. So I'm going to stay by you, and when this curse is broken, we can search for your son together."

He didn't deserve her, not in the least. She was an absolute, perfect angel and he was nowhere near worthy of her. She smiled at him and she stood.

"It's late, we've had a long day, and we have a lot of healing to do," she said. He nodded and he took her hand.

He hadn't expected her to help him to his bed, he had given her a room of her own not long after she had arrived in the castle, but she was staying with him. This was new. She actually pulled out some nightclothes for him and laid them out for him.

"Would you mind if I wore one of your night shirts?" she asked sweetly, rather… flirtatiously. It was odd for her, but he supposed that being out in a dwarf tavern for a couple months and then being locked away from fresh air and sunlight would change a person. He would have to get used to it, and honestly he rather liked her to be a bit more open, a bit flirtier. He smiled at her as he sat on the bed.

"Ah, no I don't mind," he said. He was unsure of what was going on. Was he… supposed to change infront of her? No, not yet, he wasn't ready for that.

She pulled out a night shirt that was a long enough to cover her and she smiled at him.

"I'll go change in the bathroom, I'll be back out, alright?" she said and she went into the attached bathroom to change.

He smiled softly and he watched her go before he changed into his own night clothes. This was so new, everything was so new. When they were both changed, she snuggled up into bed with him, his heart was pounding. He hadn't shared a bed with anyone in years, save the few times he had dozed off in the couch with her when she had been reading aloud to him. But her arms around him, her heat and weight against him, it relaxed him, reassuring him that she was here, alive next to him. She wasn't dead, she was here.

And he loved her.

In the middle of the night, Belle woke suddenly. She got out of the bed silently, stiffly, as if she was in a trance. She moved down the hallways, through the doors, and to one of the treasure rooms that usually would have been locked if there was still magic running through this place. There, almost on display, was the Dark One's dagger. Now it was blank, now there was no one's soul tied to it.

But it could still cut flesh nicely.

Regina knew this when she had taken Belle's heart a few days ago, and when she had broken into Rumplestiltskin's castle and located the dagger. Now she would get her revenge without creating a new Dark One.

With the magic from the dagger gone, Regina could control Belle to go back to the bedroom with the dagger in her hand. And she couldn't wait to see the look on Rumplestiltskin's face when he woke to see his beloved with a knife, just before she had Belle kill him.

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THREE DAMN YEARS LATER AND I FINALLY POST THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THIS THING, HOLY CRAP IT'S FINALLY DONE.

nobody probably cares about this story anymore, but i still felt like posting this, and with more plot bunnies climbing on board i may turn this into a full story. Wish me luck.

Stay tuned, hugs and loves,

darkonesroses