A/N Alright guys, here you go. The final chapter. Thank you so much for everyone who stuck through the story and for the reviews. You made me laugh out loud, reconsider the entire plot, and I had a fabulous time hearing from you all. I sincerely hope you enjoy the final chapter of Constellations

~The Mad Queen

XXX

Isabella French walked cautiously into the antique shop, squinting at the artificial light that brutalized her eyes.

She had spent years in that asylum, with no one for company, and she was unused to the unusual things around her. Her eyes went wide at the sight of a set of puppets hanging precariously from a pin, both looking terrified and angry.

"I'm sorry, dearie, but the shop's closed." The harsh voice rang through the room, and Isabella clutched her head as it reverberated in her skull.

The man before her looked powerful, but she couldn't find it within herself to be afraid.

"I'm sorry." She told him, looking up at him through strings of hair. "Are you Mr. Gold?" she asked, carefully stepping further into the shop.

The man was frozen where he was, it seemed, and was gaping at her with the most bizarre expression she had ever seen.

"I was told to find you." She continued, simply relaying the message that her strange savior had given her. "I was told you'd protect me?" Tension coiled itself in her shoulders and she hesitated to walk closer. She hadn't been cared for by anyone but neglectful nurses in years, and she didn't even know this man. What mess was she walking in to?

And suddenly he was there, closer than any human had been to her in a long, long time. His hands fluttered above her arms, touching her lightly. "You're real." He whispered, almost reverently. "You're alive."

Isabella was thrust into a hug she was not expecting, the man's bulk almost crushing her weakened form. "I'll protect you, of course." He whispered, and Isabella wiggled herself uncomfortably from his grasp.

"Do I know you?" she asked point blank, staring dully into his glowing face.

What looked like a tear graced his cheek, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. "Not yet, dearie." He told her. "But you will." He look her hand and gently, ever so gently, led her out the back door of his shop.

XXX

"Where have you been hiding away, dearie?" the question came as a surprise to her as he led her through the forest. Isabella was struggling to keep up with the man, which amazed her, because she saw the pronounced limp he had when he walked.

"I was told it was an asylum." She answered. "My father put me there when I was 16 or so because I kept running away from home." The man before murmered something under his breath, but Isabella did not hear.

"Who are you?" she asked him. He paused in his gait for a moment. "How do I know you?" Isabella continued, trying to come closer.

"We were friends of a sorts, dearie." Mr. Gold told her, refusing to turn around. "I told you all sorts of stories that you seemed to love, and you kept me company when I was most lonely."

"What kind of stories?" Isabella asked. She thought she saw a sad grin come on to the man's face. "Stories about the stars." He answered.

"I told you about Aquila, Zeus's pet eagle, and about Draco, the mighty dragon." He continued, his gaze becoming dreamy. "You told me the stories you knew as well, little ones about Cancer the crab and Castor and Pollux, the twins." A mighty sadness contorted his voice.

"The last story I told you, dearie, was about Bacchus and Ariadne." He told her. "Do you remember any of it?"

Isabelle shook her head, and Mr. Gold sighed, and started to walk on.

"I hope you remember it someday, dearie." He told her as they went. "It had a special meaning to me then, just as it does now."

XXX

The memories hit Isabella with a force she had never known as they continued through the forest together. Ehat had begun as a mild headache had erupted into a full blown migraine, and she could barely walk for the pain of it all.

And then, it hit her.

Everything, all at once, in the sharpest detail she had ever imagined. It was a sheer miracle she managed to stay on her feet from the force of all her thoughts returning to her at once.

She stumbled and landed on the cool ground before her, ground she seemed to be looking at for the first time.

"Are you alright, dearie?" Belle lay frozen on the ground, her eyes wide with shock.

She was with Rumpelstiltskin.

The man she had loved.

The man who had forsaken her.

The man whose name should have been written in stars all the way down her back.

A bright warmth erupted near her chest, and she felt like she could fly.

"Wait a minute!" she called, staring holes into the back of the man's head. He was handsome here, but she could see him again: limping and tired and too crafty for his own good. "It's not too much further, dearie." He called back to her, having turned away from the fallen girl as not to frighten her.

"Rumpelstiltskin." She nearly shouted the name to catch his attention. "Rumpelstiltskin, wait."

Rumpelstiltskin halted immediately, and slowly turned. Belle saw his eyes and nearly fainted; they were filled with something akin to panic at the sight of her.

"I remember." She commented lightly, ignoring the butterflies that had taken over her stomach and left knots in her throat. "Everything." She added, a wry grin coming across her face.

With practiced hands she fished a chain from around her neck and held it up for him to see. "I found this, by the way."

Rumpelstiltskin looked about ready to keel over in shock, and Belle laughed gaily at his conflicted expression. "I love you." She told him, coming to hold him steady.

"Yes," he whispered, lips barely moving as she stood before him. "Yes," he said again. "And I love you too." Joy erupted in Belle's heart as she embraced him, and he nearly fell against her, his breath ragged in her ear.

"My gods, Belle," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for everything." "I know you are." She said kindly, holding him back by the shoulders. "But we'll discuss that later." She kissed him gently on the cheek and took his hand, sitting him down on the forest floor. He peered over his shoulder in a worried manner, but sat and did not move.

Belle kissed him again and he responded, hands moving to clutch her masses of brown hair and to pull her close. She laughed against his lips and pulled away, hand still twining around the necklace she wore.

"I threw that out of the castle window." He murmured, nuzzling into her neck. "How ever did you find it, love?"

"A trader in a desert town." She told him. "I spent a long time in the desert, Rum, longer than I ever would have dreamed." She paused for a moment, a quirk smile on her face. "I got a lot of tattoos while I was there."

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes went wide at the mention. "Now why would you go and do that?" he asked, awestruck.

Belle shrugged. "I felt like I needed the change." Was all she said. "I had them everywhere, done by the best man I could find." She smiled once again.

"You know, if you wanted something all over your body, I could have thought of much better things than silly pictures in ink." Rumpelstiltskin told her, and Belle laughed aloud, cheeks staining a deep rosy color.

"It was all stars, Rum." She told him. "Ariadne and Cancer, and even Hercules. The entire galaxy all over my skin." She stared into the air around them dreamily, before returning her attentions to him.

"Your name was there, too." She said. Gold pulled her close again, kissing her fiercely. "The stars spelled it out all on their own." She whispered, battling with his lips. "Apparently, that was my fate after all."

Silence reigned through the forest for a few minutes longer, and the couple huddled close, Rumpelstiltskin's mouth firmly attached to his beloved's.

"I am never letting you go again, dearie." He told her teasingly, moving a stand of her hair back behind her head. "And no one decides your fate but you, love."

"I'm just incredibly lucky that you chose me."

XXX

There is a story that now resides in the inky blackness of night, originally unknown to all those who read the stars and understood their meaning. A particular star shines brighter than all the rest; it rises with the sun and sets with the moon, traversing the sky like a wandering gypsy with no destination in mind.

The story goes on that a monstrous creature, full of terror and hate and anger, fell in love with a damsel whose heart was set on wandering. He hurt her and betrayed her, but he also taught her. He showed her things she could never have dreamt of, and slowly, slowly, despite all his faults and angers, she began to love him

One night, this monster took his damsel to a cliff not far from his palace, and presented her with a wrapped box, covered in the finest, smallest pearls she had ever seen.

"A simple thing." He waved a hand carelessly. "I thought it might suit your interest."

The girl hesitated before slipping the ribbon off and opening the box. She gasped and lifted the glowing necklace from its place of rest, holding it up and admiring it against a backdrop of shimmering stars.

"It's beautiful." She whispered, returning her gaze to him. The most glorious smile had found its way to her face, and without any hope of denying her, he smiled back.

"Indeed, dearie." He agreed. "There are some things in this world so beautiful, even the stars cannot help but fall for them."