A/N: I think I've been bitten by the AU bug. I blame Robin4 personally, but hopefully I'll write well enough she won't mind the blame. This starts up just after last weeks' episode (3x16) and will diverge from there. You have been warned.

The Price to be Paid

Chapter One.

He'd grown used to the smell fairly quickly. He thought he had, anyway, but his arrival back in the outskirts of Storybrooke had been a jumble of voices, thoughts, and desperation hidden under the guise of madness. Clear thoughts had been a rarity and never fully formed. He must have had a plan when he'd reached out to save his son, but now he couldn't grasp it. Whatever he'd been planning, whatever goal he'd desperately set to ensure his safety had been lost to the madness.

Now the voices were quiet. Bae was gone, both from his mind and from his life. Zelena had made a point to remind him that his life's work was done, not because he'd completed it, but because his son was dead. Rumplestiltskin curled up into the corner of the cage, another deep sob welling within him. The cellar smelled like death and in that moment he wondered if he could find a way to follow Baelfire. It would keep the precious few he still cared about safe from him.

The cellar door creaked open and bits of light fell in. It didn't help the smell. In fact, her presence made it worse. Her footsteps sounded slowly down each step, the small heel connecting with the old, rotting wood in a way that sent spikes of pain shooting through his skull. She had the dagger. She always had the dagger.

"Good morning, Rumple. Sleep well?" Zelena asked, though her tone proved she knew better. It was that same sugary-sweet voice that she used that made him want to rip her throat out. Instead of answering, he shot her the cruelest look he could muster from his place on floor of her cage and she continued to smile. "I suppose not. You don't sleep at all much anymore, do you? The nightmares keeping you awake?"

"Go away," he rasped.

She moved forward, a bowl of that mush she liked to call food in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "But I brought you breakfast," she answered cheerily and knelt to put it down at the small opening in the bottom.

Rumple pulled his knees up to his chest, doing everything he could to ignore her. After a moment, he could hear that damn pout in her voice. "Your curse won't let you starve, Rumple."

Despite the pain set deep in his chest, Rumplestiltskin chucked. He unfolded himself and stood very slowly, her gaze fixated on him as he did and he met it. The sudden eye contact was making her uncomfortable. Good. He wrapped long fingers around the bars, something that had always made his captors in the Enchanted Forest strangely uneasy, like he would melt through them and leave them in pieces. He pressed his face right up against the cage, never breaking eye contact with her. "You may hold my dagger, Zelena, but when I get it back - and I will get it back - there'll be no stopping me. No matter how hard you fight, you'll never beat me, dearie. You're not nearly as good as you tell yourself you are."

Her smile returned. "Oh, Rumple, for all your foresight you just don't see." She wrenched the cage door open and the knife was in his face, pushing him back against the far side. His hands were raised in defense, but it would do little good should she decide to use it. "I've already won. I have you, and I can use you however I please. And I do please." She leaned close and he pulled back as best he could. She'd had a terrible, twisted fascination with him when she'd been young and it had only gotten worse with time.

"On your knees, Dark One," Zelena breathed and Rumple hit hard. "Now be a good little pet and stay. And if that pretty little Belle if yours tried to come down here again you're to kill her. Slowly."

Rumple couldn't bring himself from his knees again even as she left. He remained, body refusing to obey his own orders as the curse bent it to its new master's will. He grit his teeth, fighting it, pulling against it, and after the struggle had washed out of him he relented.

It's futile.

She could control his body and she could control his magic, but she had no dominion over his thoughts. It was his one solace, so at least he had a chance to push away the image that her lest order had left him with and plan.

Belle had known the moment that she'd admitted that she loved him that the road would not be easy. Rumplestiltskin was a deeply layered man that hid behind ever-shifting masks, and just when she thought she had figured something out about him, another layer revealed itself and she had to reevaluate. Most of the time that kept things interesting - not that life with with Rumple was ever dull - but she had been so certain this time that their love could shatter the hold that witch had on him. It had been strong enough in the beginning to break his curse, if he'd let it, and once they'd been reunited it had only grown.

Run.

She'd felt the stir around them that had nothing to do with True Love and it had frightened her. In that moment she had realized, truly realized, that if Zelena had ordered it his hands would have been around her throat without hesitation, and she'd run from him.

Belle sniffed, reaching across the cluttered table that he'd tinkered at endlessly during the terribly brief time of peace that they'd had between the chaos. Her fingers latched onto the chipped tea cup and she felt tears sting her eyes. If she'd been braver, maybe should could have helped him. If she hadn't listened to his own desperate plea she would have held on and kissed him. It might have shattered the hold. It could have shattered the hold. She should have tried. It would have been better than the way she'd fled from him, taking the stairs two at a time and flinging herself into Tink's arms like a child. It had killed her to find him screaming that terrible woman's message as if he were just a tool she could deliver it by.

Rumple's expression had been so tortured on Main Street, though. Their eyes had met only briefly there and she'd seen the pain. It had worked its way into her, deep and sharp at first, but left a numbness in its wake that might eat her alive if she let it. He hadn't looked at her again, not until just before he'd flashed out of sight at the end of the sisters' battle and he had looked like he wanted to say something to her, to reach out to her, but he couldn't. She'd given him orders that he couldn't work around.

The sound of the bell announcing someone's arrival at the front startled her and she set the cup down carefully. Pull it together, she coached herself as she stood, dabbing at her eyes and blinking away the tears that hadn't quite fallen. He wasn't dead. It wasn't over yet.

No one had called out yet or simply walked into the back, so Belle didn't think it was Emma or David there to ask for help in research of some kind or another. She would have preferred that it was so that she'd have something to focus her mind on rather than sinking deeper than she already was. She'd done her own, of course, finding the majority of Rumple's library having come with them as it had the first time and that terrible book that had explained all about the Vault of the Dark One sat on the work table. She hadn't touched it again since the day that Baelfire had died, but she couldn't quite bring herself to put it away either.

Belle was greeted by an empty shop as she pushed back the curtain that separated the front from the office. It was quiet, the mid-morning light filtering in through the windows and the door, the sign flipped to open and no one waiting to be helped. An unease took hold and her clear eyes darted from one corner to the other. Zelena had stopped by before when the younger woman hadn't known who she was, but she wouldn't be caught unaware again.

The nervousness dissipated almost immediately as Henry stepped out from behind a cabinet and Belle breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, Henry."

"Hey," he greeted back. "Belle, right?"

The first real smile in days touched her lips. "That's right."

"You were at my dad's funeral. I didn't know you worked here. Did you know him?"

"Your dad?" The smile was gone again and Belle felt the numbness spreading once more. "A bit," she murmured after a moment.

"Everyone seems to have known him here, at least a little," Henry said, his voice turning sad at the end. "Except me."

"Well, I may not have known him well enough to give you too much insight, but Mr Gold did."

"Really? Is he the owner of this shop? I haven't met him yet."

"He's been… away," Belle answered carefully.

"Is he coming back?"

"I certainly hope so. He had…" Her voice trailed off as she rounded the counter, eyes searching the higher shelves for the item that had suddenly struck her as being important. Rumple would want Henry to have it, if he were here. He'd have wanted the teen to have any link possible back to his father. To family. "There it is," Belle announced a she pulled a waiting stool over to the wall and climbed. She had to tip up on her toes, even in her heels, to reach the shelf.

Henry approached slowly, dark eyes that were so like Bae's which had been so like Rumple's locked on the leather ball in Belle's hands. She eased herself off the stool and handed it to him with a friendly smile. He took it, fingers moving over the aged leather, feeling at the stitches there and finally he looked up, waiting for an explanation. "From what Mr Gold has told me, this was your father's when he was young."

"Looks a lot older than that."

"I believe it is." She watched him turn it over in his hands and her phone buzzed in her pocket and she motioned that she'd be right back. Henry continued to study Bae's kickball as Belle made her way into the back, flipping the phone open. "Hey, Emma."

"A few of us are over at Granny's and are talking over plans about getting Gold's dagger back. You in?"

"Stealing it back?"

"Well, that's the only way we keep Zelena from using him to kill us all."

"Yes. Yes, of course. I'm for anything that helps us get Rumple back."

"Hey, Belle? What's this?" Henry called from the front.

"Was that Henry?" Emma demanded from the other end of the line and Belle suddenly felt like she was somehow responsible for helping the teen break away from Granny's without an escort. He didn't know how dangerous it was to be wandering around the streets of Storybrooke. Zelena likely wouldn't care about his age. If she knew that he was Bae's son or - heaven help them - ever found out that he had once been Regina's adopted son, she'd be after him faster than any of them could blink. Emma had a right to sound worried.

"It is. He stopped by the shop. Where are you meeting? I'll make sure he gets back to Granny's safely before I go."

Emma told her that they'd be at the diner anyway and Belle clicked the phone shut, grabbing for her jacket and the keys that were pocketed there. "What's what, Henry?" she asked as she shuffled some books that she was hoping would be useful into a bag and walked into the front of the shop, shrugging the coat around her shoulders.

The teen held up a brown book with gold lettering. Once Upon a Time the title read and Belle felt her breath catch. She'd heard so much chatter about the book that had started Henry on his quest to begin with but had never actually seen it for herself. It looked a bit tattered, like the curse had hardly been kind to it, but there was something in the way he held it with such care that made Belle wonder if he knew its importance somewhere behind all of the false memories and confusion. He looked a bit more like the boy that had loved to drop by the library when he got off of school in the afternoon a couple times a week and see if it was open yet.

"Do you like fairy tales?" she asked after a moment.

Suddenly the wide-eyed little boy was thirteen again and he shrugged. "I guess I used to when I was little."

"I'll tell you a secret about books, Henry," Belle said as she zipped up her jacket. "We never outgrow the best ones. "Why don't you take it with you, along with your dad's old ball. I know you don't remember… I know that you never knew him, but maybe it'll help."

"A book about -" Henry flipped it open, leafing through the pages - "Snow White and Prince Charming is going to help me get to know my dad?"

"Well, maybe not them specifically, but I'm sure you'll find something in there that helps you relate. You'd be surprised."

"Okay, I'll give it a try," the teen answered with another shrug, but Belle could see the excitement in his dark eyes. It was building and through the cracks she could see the Henry that Storybrooke knew so well.

They'd argued back and forth for an hour or more before Emma had been the one to put her foot down and say that they were calling Belle. Regardless of the length of time Regina had known Rumplestiltskin, Belle knew him in ways that the Dark One's former pupil never could have. Gold trusted Belle. He sometimes chose to work somewhat with, but mostly diagonal to Regina, and only if his mood was right. The fact that the two sorcerers hadn't done each other in long before he'd gotten her to cast the curse was beyond Emma. Funny enough, though, the dark haired mayor had been pleased to find out that he was still alive.

The door to Granny's diner chimed and Emma leaned back in her chair so that she had a clear view of Belle entering in with Henry. At least that stupid witch hadn't taken a shot at her son yet. Let Regina try to convince her to stay on the sidelines if that happened. There'd be two angry mothers at Zelena's throat, even if Henry only knew of one.

The kid in question shot his mom an innocent grin. "So, there are some great shops-"

"Save it. Part of the deal about coming along was that you get all your homework done."

"It's done."

"It's barely eleven."

Henry shrugged. "You were out and I couldn't sleep. I got an early start. What are you guys doing? Can I help?"

Emma felt dread welling up in her. She knew this would start sooner or later. She could only keep him cooped up for so long. "Actually, I was going to see if you wouldn't mind staying over with Mary Margaret. David and I need to get some stuff done today and-"

"Is it going to be dangerous?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you said you're looking for the people responsible for killing my dad. That's not exactly… Well, people that jump bail are crazy, murderers are a whole lot worse."

She could feel Regina's gaze locked on her and it occurred to her for the umpteenth time since coming back to Storybrooke just how many times she'd broken her promise to Henry about not keeping anything from him. It shouldn't matter that he didn't remember the promise, not really. The lies did come easier with each one though. "It probably won't be that bad."

"Sure," he said in a tone that didn't even hide that he didn't believe her.

"What'd you find at Mr Gold's shop?" Mary Margaret asked as she stood slowly and Emma followed her gaze to see something in Henry's hands that she hadn't seen in over a year now.

"Just a book. And a ball that Belle says was my dad's, but that's in my bag."

"Will you show me, while your mom and the others are busy?"

"It's just a book of fairy tales…"

"I love fairy tales."

Emma had to work to keep her face straight. There was something a little overwhelming about her mother sometimes, especially if the person on the other end of the gushing didn't know where her over-the-top optimism came from. It had been all she could do to fend her off when she'd found out that the current plan was to take Henry home to New York after all this was said and done. The utter anguish that had washed over her had been terrible. "But… we're you're home," she'd told her and Emma hadn't had a response.

Henry agreed hesitantly to Mary Margaret's chipper offer and they moved to another table, allowing Belle to slip into Mary Margaret's seat and empty her bag of books onto the table. Regina quirked an eyebrow. "That's suppose to get us somewhere?" she asked.

"Rumple's told me a bit about how the dagger works, but in the last few days I've been looking it over. I was up all last night after I found these three," Belle answered without flinching, pointing to the three books that were titled in some language Emma didn't recognize. "I couldn't believe that anything's control could be so absolute, but it seems to be as close to it as it can be from everything I've found." She flipped through the pages and the writing remained scrawled in the rune-like lettering that Belle seemed to have no trouble reading. "The Dark One's Curse dates back centuries and there are no recorded instances of it being broken by anything other than death. As long as a person is under that curse, he or she must do what the owner of the dagger wills, no matter what."

"You could kiss him and break the curse," David offered, his voice entirely sensible as if he'd told someone to take an Asprin for a headache.

Belle's shoulders sagged a little even as Robin was the one to answer. "We'd have to get her close enough, and while he might not hurt her on his own, if Zelena saw her…"

"Point taken," Emma cut in. "Let's get back to the original plan: taking back the dagger. If we've got it then Zelena can't control him. If Zelena can't control him Regina and she can have a fair fight."

"She never seems to have it out of her hand, even when he's not with her," David mused.

"That's because she can summon Rumple at will and he has to come, no matter what. It's a bit like a genie being called by his master, but the only way that the wish ends is when the person no longer holds the dagger."

"No wonder he was so weird about giving up its location," Emma murmured.

Belle flipped open another book. "The dagger can be taken, just not by the Dark One himself. It must be given to them if it's been taken out of their possession."

"We haven't decided we're giving Rumplestiltskin his dagger back after all of this," David cut in. "With it we could-"

"What? Control him? That's exactly what Zelena's doing now and did you see him last night?"

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with Bookworm on this, but the dagger needs to go back to Rumple if we get it," Regina agreed.

"When we get it."

"So it can be nicked, right?" Robin asked from his place, taking a sip of the coffee in front of him. "I might have a few skills in that particular department. Do we know where she keeps it? Or herself?"

"I… might be able to help with finding her," Belle offered. "But I'll need Regina or Emma's help."

"How's that?"

"When I lived in the Dark Castle with Rumple I used to watch him brew potions and the sort. Sometimes he'd explain what he was doing and what the potions were meant to do. One particular one that I saw him come up with let you find an object. There has to be a spell cast along with it, but I know that he has the potion itself in the shop. If one of you could-"

"I know what you're talking about," Regina answered. "I can do it, if you've got something that will link to the dagger."

"I do," Belle said softly. "I have the wrappings he used to keep it in."

The former Evil Queen nodded approvingly. "That will most certainly do."

TBC

Notes: In the next chapter, our band of heroes, former villains, and everything in-between chase after Rumplestiltskin's dagger in hopes of rescuing him... ish. Find out who gets it and where that will lead them. All the while, Rumple is making plans of his own...