Magic's Price

AU Quiet Minds 3:15

Snapegirlkmf

1

Suspended Animation

"Neal!" Emma screamed in horror as the man she loved crumpled to the ground at her feet like a marionette who'd had his strings cut. "Neal, what the hell? What's wrong with you?"

She went to her knees, cradling him in her arms. He was pale as a ghost and his breath was raspy and uneven. "Gold!" she screamed at Rumple, who was staring, frozen, at his son and Emma upon the ground in front of him. "What's wrong with him?"

"It's . . . magic's price, Emma," Gold replied heavily.

"Magic's price? For what?" Emma cried, hugging Neal tightly.

"For . . . for bringing him back," Neal rasped. "But . . . I didn't know . . . Emma . . . it's too late for me . . . I'm dying . . . tell Henry . . . I love him and I'm sorry . . . I never got to be a father to him, like I wanted . . ."

"No . . . Neal, you're going to be okay . . ." Emma whispered, fear and grief clogging her throat. "You can't leave me, dammit! Not again."

"I'm sorry . . . but the magic . . . requires a sacrifice . . ." Neal shuddered as the poisonous black enchantment flowed through him, stealing away his life. "You have to let me go, Emma . . ."

"No!" she howled. "I lost you once. I refuse to do it again!"

"Bae, no . . ." Gold finally snapped out of the shocked trance he was in. "This doesn't have to be . . . Zelena sacrificed you . . .she broke the rules . . ."

Neal's eyes blinked and he focused upon his father, who was kneeling beside him now, clasping his hand. "Papa . . . I understand now . . . you showed me how to sacrifice myself for my family . . ."

"No, Bae. Not like this!" Gold shook his head frantically. "This is wrong. No child should die before their parent . . . for any reason . . . I can fix this . . ."

"Papa . . . just let me go . . . save Henry and protect Emma from her . . . please . . ." Neal felt himself spasm as the dark enchantment began to shut down his organs. He felt an icy cold chill creep through him and he knew soon enough he wouldn't feel anything at all . . .

"I will not!" Rumple hissed. "This . . . is not going to happen! She cheated . . . she broke the rules and by all I am and all the power I wield, she shall pay the price for it! Not you, Bae! Not you!"

"Gold, do something!" Emma sobbed. "We're losing him!"

"Emma, kiss him!Now!" Gold barked. "Before the last breath leaves his body!"

Emma bent and her lips met Neal's icy cold ones. But she ignored the spectral chill and kissed him with everything she had within her. She felt True Love's magic take hold, preventing the deadly enchantment from taking her beloved away.

Meanwhile, Rumple was fighting to remain calm enough to cast a certain spell before the one who controlled him discovered what he was doing. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

His own magic rose within him and covered his son in a fine golden mist. Then he sagged back on his heels. "There! Emma, it's done!"

Emma drew back from Neal, who was still pale as death, but his chest still rose and fell, though very shallowly. "I don't understand. Gold, why isn't he waking up?"

"Because, Emma, we've only temporarily staved off his death," Gold explained softly. "I've suspended it for a time. Until we can get Zelena to pay magic's price for breaking the ancient laws."

"The ancient laws? What do you mean?" Emma sputtered.

"The ancient laws that brought the first Dark One into being," Rumple answered. "Look, I can't explain now. She's coming, I can feel her." he shivered, for as the dagger holder, Zelena had a creepy symbiosis with him, and he could feel her through the dark bond of holder and Dark One. Or mistress and slave, he thought bitterly. "Go, take Neal . . . no . . . wait!" He gestured sharply, and Neal vanished.

"Gold, where is he?" gasped Emma, her blue eyes still shimmering with tears.

"I've sent him somewhere safe for the time being. She mustn't get her hands on him, Emma. He's in my shop basement. Tell Belle . . . what's happened. Warn you parents about Zelena. She is a dark witch of the first order, a powerful enchantress. But this time she's made a mistake. She's trafficked in things she cannot control, and has brought peril to us all."

"Gold, what are you talking about? What peril?"

"The wrath of the gods of night and shadow. Go, Emma! She mustn't find you here! Tell Belle to look in the safe, to find the Booke of Night With Moon, it'll explain what I can't."

"Gold, can't you just . . . magic yourself away?" Emma asked, concerned.

He smiled sadly at her. "It doesn't work like that, dearie. The one who holds the dagger commands the Dark One. And through it she can summon me whenever she wishes. Right now, I'm a liability. But you can defeat her with my Cuff of Nullification. Put it on her and she's an ordinary mortal, unable to access her magic. At least my father did one useful thing in his miserable existence. You'll find it in my shop. Hurry, Emma!"

Emma rose and whispered, "Don't lose hope. We'll get you away from her, Gold."

"In order to do that you'll need to get the dagger from her," he said bluntly.

"We will. Just . . . hang in there, okay?" Emma said. Then she did something she had never done before. She hugged the older man hard. Then she turned and raced off into the trees.

No sooner had the echo of her boots faded then a tall woman with reddish hair wearing a black dress that buttoned all the way up to her neck with a huge emerald cabochon on a chain about her neck strode into view.

"Well, well, Rumple!" she cooed, her voice sending shards of ice through him. "You naughty imp, trying to escape! Did you really think that was possible?" She tisked at him.

"I think a lot of things are possible, Zelena," he hissed, trying not to bow his head before her despite her mental urging in his head. "Including me killing you for what you've done!"

She laughed mockingly. "You can't hurt me, Rumple!" She waved the dagger tauntingly before his nose before making it vanish up her sleeve. "I'm the mistress here now! Go back to your cell, Rumple! Go back and spin! Maybe it'll soothe the madness in your head! Because I need your brain, Dark One!"

"Whatever knowledge you hope to gain shall never be yours," he growled.

"Wrong! I always get what I want, Rumple! Because wicked always wins!" And she laughed, the sound like fingernails down a chalkboard.

Rumple felt himself cringe, forced into subservience by the dagger's magic. "You know, Zelena, someone else used to crow about never failing once. Want to know where he is? In hell, spending eternity being tortured in payment for his arrogance by the dark Powers! Right next to your mother! And someday, little witch, you'll join them!"

"Shut up, Rumple! Back to your cell!" she growled.

The compulsion took hold of him, and he shuffled back to the basement where she had been holding him since casting the curse that returned them all to Storybrooke. He sat down at the wheel and began to spin, feeling himself start to slip back into that twilight state. The madness beckoned.

He watched the wheel spin round and round, twinkling motes of gold glinting through his fingers. Oh, Bae. I'll set this right. I promise. But even as he thought it, despair crept up on him like a black beast and pounced, sinking its phantom talons into his psyche.

And tears trickled down his cheeks as the wheel whirred.