#enough to make a deal with Rumpelstiltskin and steal a baby

[warpedpuppeteer]

GTFO I just know they didn't just fucking use Bisexual Lighting for this !! 😭😭😭

🫡

[thornfield13713]

24 and 54 rumbelle

Ooh, nice one! Let's see...

So, first thing, True Love and soulmates are two different things. Sometimes they go together, sometimes they don't. There's an expectation they'll go together, but that doesn't always work out for people, and the vast majority of people never get to test whether theirs is True Love or not. True Love is built. Soulmates are born. The second thing is, Belle is centuries younger than Rumpelstiltskin, and her mark does not appear on him until she is born. He went through most of his life unmarked, which is generally considered to be a sign of divine rejection.

It is, therefore, a bit of a shock when the name sears itself onto his arm. A bit of searching soon uncovers who it belongs to: a newborn baby girl in a small court, far away from Rumpelstiltskin and mostly out of the way of his plans. He looks once, sees once, and then immediately resolves to turn away and not look again. He has seen plenty of soul-matches go terribly wrong, and he can't afford a soulmate, anyway. He once swore to love nothing but Bae and his plan to reunite with his son, and he intends to keep his word.

Belle, unfortunately, does not have that choice. From the moment she grows large enough that the name can be read, her fate is known. Sir Maurice is horrified - his newborn daughter, pledged from birth to the Dark One himself? It must be a curse - on the family, on her...and there is only one way to expiate it. Belle, in this universe, grows up much more confined. She is brought up under a strict regimen of prayer, fasting, cleansing, access to only the most moral and acceptable of materials. Anything to purge the stain of what is written on her arm. She is also raised with the certainty that there must be something wrong in her, something sinful, or else why would she have been marked out for such a terrible fate?

Belle is still Belle, of course - strong-willed, longing for adventure, bookish...or at least, she would be bookish if she were allowed access to books beyond the devotional materials of the Rheul Gorm. Which, in this world, she definitely wasn't. Giving her scope to imagine or read about the evils of the world would, it was believed, only worsen the corruption in her. She tries to rebel, and to get around her keepers in small ways. She steals and hides books where she can, she tries to argue when things don't make sense to her, she tries...so hard...to reach for something outside the grey pious misery that has been her life since she was very small. But it's a lot of pressure, and she's only a small girl, and it's hard to hold onto courage in the face of a regime like that. As a result, Belle as an adult is...quieter. A lot more self-contained. She's painfully used to cruelty in the name of righteousness, and it's...hard not to feel that there must be something deeply wrong with her.

And then the Ogre Wars come to Avonlea. And Sir Maurice summons the Dark One to aid them. And Belle- has to deal with the fact that the people who have spent her whole life punishing her for being born with the name 'Rumpelstiltskin' on her arm are willing to summon that same entity to save their lives and actively make a deal with him when she had no part in her own situation. For his part, Rumpelstiltskin almost doesn't come. Lady Belle of Avonlea would be grown by now, he knows. Old enough to be a temptation. Possibly married or betrothed - almost certainly, he thinks, to head off the risks of that soulmark - but still with his name on her wrist, just as hers is on his. But...he's curious. What sort of woman do the Fates think is the match to his soul?

Belle isn't supposed to be in the war room, but she is. She makes the same bargain as she does in canon, but this time, she's the one who suggests she leave with Rumpel. He must want her, right? She has his name. And better for her to pay the price than anyone else. She is already tainted, after all. It can be no greater stain on her soul than she already has to hand herself over. And Rumpel- has legitimately no idea what to do with this situation and agrees mostly out of sheer bewilderment.

Things are...different...at the Dark Castle. At least partially because Rumpel is- he has no idea what to do with Belle in a very different way from the canon. She's got his name on her wrist, she is his soulmate, and that's- he was brought up to believe that mattered. His aunts had each other's names, and he grew up listening to their stories about finding each other. So, he's not going to throw her in the dungeon, but he's still going to keep her at arm's length - for a good long while, Belle has no idea what she's there for.

They don't start talking until he catches her hiding in his library, trying to hide that she's been reading the books. And then, by inches, the whole story starts to come out and they begin growing closer. There is no rescue attempt, this time. Gaston was never engaged to Belle, because no aristocrat wants to be bound to a cursed woman. And Belle sees a lot more of herself in Rumpelstiltskin's deep conviction that he is unloveable, that there is something fundamentally wrong with him that nothing will ever cleanse. It is just how she has always felt from childhood, after all. But as they get to know each other...well, maybe nobody else could love them, but...they two, both monstrous creatures outcast by the gods...perhaps they are a match in this, too.

They run into issues, however, when their first kiss leads to his curse nearly breaking, and him pushing her away. Belle- doesn't understand. Maybe this was why she was bound to him, why she had to endure a lifetime of purification by pain and denial to be made holy enough to free the Dark One from his curse. Why would he seek to deny that? They fight about it, viciously, and in the middle of the fight, Rumpel lets loose the truth: he needs to be the Dark One to find his son. Suddenly, everything changes.

Their relationship resumes. In secret, of course - Rumpelstiltskin has many enemies, and all of them would seek to use his soulmate against him. Especially as Belle's 'curse' was not kept quite as secret as her father would have liked. Regina is definitely going to come sniffing around, among others. There is, however, a solution to this: the story goes out. Belle of Avonlea is dead, sacrificed to the Dark One in the name of his own power. And, to make the matter more certain, Belle is given an amulet to render her invisible to anyone but Rumpel so long as she wears it, leading to the rumour that Rumpelstiltksin's castle is maintained by ghosts.

Unfortunately, with that route closed to her, Regina seeks out another means of leverage against Rumpelstiltskin: she cannot herself petition the Blue Fairy to move against him, but Belle's grieving father certainly can.

[megsironthrone]

Meg's Game of Tales: Tale 11

*Familiar characters are NOT mine! The original story of "Rumpelstiltskin" was written by The Brothers Grimm.*

Warnings: Rumpelstiltskin AU, angst, magic, deceit.

Pairings: Petyr Baelish x fem!reader, fem!reader x unnamed prince

The Miller's Daughter. That was all you were to the people in the village nearest to the castle. Your name didn't matter to them. The only thing that mattered was that you made the flour deliveries. You could say you hated your life. But then, it happened. The delivery your father had been waiting for. The first delivery to the castle. The king was finally giving your father a chance. If only you had known the fate that was about to befall you.

See, you didn't know that the prince had a habit of trying to sneak away through the kitchens to avoid his princely duties for a few hours. It was during one of those times that you, quite literally, ran into said prince. As soon as you made contact with the solid mass of human being, your heart sank. One of your bags of flour busted open and the others fell to the floor in a heap of white powder. All your hard work…destroyed.

"Watch where you're going!" you snapped, not even bothering to look up at the offender. "I beg your pardon?! How dare you speak to me that way!" Your head snapped up and you froze as a curse tried to escape your lips. You stood to your full height quickly and curtsied before dusting the flour from your skirts. "Forgive me for snapping, my prince." He arched a brow. "And what of my clothing? You’ve gotten flour all over them!"

"No. You did. I couldn't see around the bags of flour. You should have been paying attention." The prince looked positively gob smacked that you once again had spoken to him the way you did. Only this time, it wasn't the prince who called you out.

"You are speaking to the crowned prince, girl! You could be thrown in the dungeon for such insubordination." You glanced around the prince to see the king and two guards standing in the kitchens. It was clear the king had come down to stop the prince from leaving but had walked in on your interaction instead.

"You would throw me in the dungeon for your son's mistake, Your Majesty? I was simply trying to deliver the flour and I did apologize for my tone," you explained, doing your best to keep your tone from sharpening once again. It didn't help. The king looked furious. "The flour you were supposed to deliver is now all over the floor, you , and my son! You have failed." You wanted to cry. Your father was counting on the commission from the castle since the last miller the castle used had recently died. Your family needed this.

"Please, Your Majesty. My father had nothing to do with this. Please give him another chance." The king crossed his arms over his chest. "He should have taught you better. My answer is no and, should you continue to argue, I will throw you and your father in the dungeon." He beckoned his son to follow him and turned away. "WAIT! Please. Let me prove to you that this will be different. I can give you money. To replace the prince's clothing! I-I can give you enough money to provide for your kingdom for years to come."

The king looked back at you and laughed. "Girl, I am king. I have more gold than you will ever see in your lifetime." You shook your head. "That isn't true. I-I make gold!" You don't know why you said it. You simply said the only thing you could possibly think of that might be able to save you.

"Impossible." You licked your lips as your eyes scanned the room to find a pile of straw in the corner. "It's true. I can spin straw into gold." A boisterous laugh escaped the king's mouth. His entire body shook in merriment. "If you can do that, I'd let you marry the prince." You straightened your back and looked him directly in the eye.

"I can. I will prove it to you." The king stopped laughing and pondered for a moment. "Very well. I will have a room prepared in the tower with straw and a spinning wheel. If, by tomorrow morning, you have spun all the straw into gold as you claim you can, you shall have the prince's hand and your father will never want for anything. Do we have a deal?" You gave him a curtsy. "We do, Your Majesty."

As soon as the royals were out of sight, you nearly ran back to your cart, hopping over the now useless bags of flour, and leaned against it. You were in so much trouble. How in the world were you EVER going to spin straw into gold?! You felt stupid and scared. Your overactive imagination and your willingness to save your father had gotten you into a situation you were certain was going to be the death of you.

That evening, you were shut up in a room in the tower and the door was locked behind you. A spinning wheel sat in the center of the room and a stack of straw was piled high next to it, reaching into the corner of the room. The weight of your lie hit your heart and your shoulders slumped. Obviously your lie was an impossibility. Still, you had to do something while you waited, so you decided to spin the straw. It wouldn't be gold, but at least you'd have something to do with your hands while you waited for your inevitable death.

"Seems you're in a spot of trouble," a voice suddenly said. You jumped nearly a foot off the stool. Your eyes scanned the room to find a man (at least he looked like a man) standing in the corner. "W-Who are you?" He gave you a little smirk. "My name is of no importance. What is important is that I can assist you with your little…dilemma."

You scoffed a bit. "No one can help me. It is impossible to spin straw into gold." His smirk grew, but you saw that no emotion reached his green-grey eyes. "For you, perhaps." You rolled your eyes. "Sure. Now, if you don't mind, I have my death to prepare for and I'd appreciate it if you left."

Instead of leaving, the man slowly approached you. "Aren't you even the least bit curious?" You were done with his questions and games, so you moved off the stool and gestured for him to have a seat. A sort of "put your money where your mouth is" challenge. He took the stool and began to spin. Before your eyes, the yellow straw turned into gold. Your jaw hit the floor.

"How did you do that?!" He chuckled. "Magic. Now, I have a deal for you. I will spin all this straw into gold for you. You'll marry the prince, live happily ever after, blah, blah, blah." Your brows furrowed. "And what's in it for you? You don't seem like the type to do something for nothing." Another chuckle. "You are correct. Your first born child."

"I'm sorry?" you asked, certain you'd misheard. "That is my price. You will give me your first born child." You blinked at him surprised. He stared at you passively for a moment, but there was a slight tic of his lip that showed that he was getting irritated with every second you hesitated. "It isn't a difficult decision. It is life or death, my dear." He was right and you knew that, so you agreed. He immediately got to work spinning gold from all that straw. By the time dawn came, there was not a single ounce of straw left. The man gave you another smirk before disappearing in the darkness as the door opened.

*time skip*

You ended up marrying the prince, as was agreed and a few months later, you brought a little girl into the world. You had all but forgotten about the little man who had saved your life. At least, until one night in your daughter's nursery. You had decided against governess and wet nurses for the time being since your husband wasn't king yet so you didn't have many queenly duties. So when your daughter cried in the night, you got up and walked into the room adjacent to yours to tend to her.

This time, however, when you walked into the room, the shadow of someone almost made you scream. "Now, now, my dear, is that any way to greet the one who saved your life?" You didn't relax, but you didn't scream either. The man turned and you were met the green-grey eyes of the one who spun straw into gold. He held your baby in his arms.

"Why are you here?" He gave you a look. "Surely you haven't forgotten. I'm here to collect my payment. Magic comes at a price, you know." You froze in fear. If he took your child, your husband would know what had happened. That you had lied. "Please, don't. Don't do this. I will give you anything else." He chuckled, his expression twisting into something dark and foreboding. "We made a deal, my dear. I upheld my end of the bargain. Now it's your turn."

You felt tears welling up in your eyes. He regarded your face for a moment before a twisted smile formed on his lips. "However, if you can figure out my name, I will return your child to you." Your heart sank. How were you supposed to figure out the name of this little demon? "How long do I have?" He gave you the time limit of a week before disappearing again.

You spent six days trying to figure things out. Six days of trying to find a clue or two as to his name. Or even where to find him. Finally, your overheard gossip from some of the villagers that brought supplies to the castle. A location. It was all you had, but it was better than nothing and you were running out of time. You kept your down as you made your way to the location and peered in the window. Sure enough, there was the man along with your daughter and someone else.

"This is what you've been up to, Littlefinger?" the other voice asked, "Truly cunning. Stealing an infant." You felt yourself smile. You knew his name now. Without waiting another moment, you burst through the door, surprising the two people. "Littlefinger! That is your name!"

His face fell before contorting in anger. "You cheated." You arched a brow. "Did I, Littlefinger? You never specified how I needed to learn your name. Only that I learn it. I did. Now give me back my baby!" He shook his head. "No." You put your hands on your hips and glared. "A deal is a deal. That is my child and you will give her back this minute, Lit-" he cried out, trying to stop you, but you continued on, "-tlefinger!" Without warning, the little man before you turned to dust. You jumped back.

"What just happened?" Littlefinger's companion smiled. "You said his name three times. His curse was that he could perform great feats of magic but if anyone he has made a deal with says his name three times, he would be destroyed. Now, take your daughter and go, Your Highness." You didn't wait another second.

When you made it back to the castle, you took your daughter to her nursery, made certain the window was locked and sat down with the girl. You rocked with her. You grinned to yourself. Life was wonderful. Littlefinger was gone. You had your prince and your daughter back. No one else would ever know anything about what had happened.

(a/n: I hope you like it! Tags for Game of Tales are still open!)

[deals-and-the-chipped-cup]

Of Curses Broken and Breaking

@aldahi-rp

“Why?” Henry asked. He had read the story of the seer and knew that Rumpelstiltskin had the seer’s sight. But that didn’t make it okay to steal babies. Whatever purpose he had for Cinderella’s baby could probably be fulfilled while letting Cinderella keep her baby.

“Villains take babies” Henry said.

“Sometimes antiheroes do things that look worse than they really are” Rose said. “But when you get to the end of the story you find out it wasn’t as bad as you thought.”

Henry opened his mouth to argue the point but Emma turned and said “Hey, Kid, I said to stay in the car. C"Mon we gotta go, this baby’s coming!”

Henry hurried to get back into the yellow bug while Emma helped a moaning and frantic Ashley into the passenger seat.

Henry watched Rose and Gold out the window with hurt and betrayed sort of eyes.

Rumple watched Henry get back into Emma’s yellow bug. He hadn’t gotten a chance to explain why he needed to do this, but Henry would see soon enough that he wasn’t going to be taking Ashley’s baby. And it would be easier to explain everything later, when Emma wasn’t around, and didn’t have a chance of overhearing them.

When Emma’s car starting moving, heading towards the hospital, Rumple started his car, and pulled away from the side of the road to follow them.

“Everything’s going according to plan now,” he said.

Henry might not be happy with him. But Emma had found Ashley, and was taking her to the hospital. Now that she was involved, she would want to stop him from taking the baby, and he could make the deal that he needed to make.

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: A Jungle Fairy Tale

AU-gust Day Thirty: Magic AU Fandom: Once Upon A Time/Lost Pairing: Rumpelstiltskin x Claire Littleton

Rated: T

Summary: The survivors of Oceanic 815 discover that they are not alone on the island, and that its native inhabitants are… odd, to say the least.

Note: I’m not quite sure how much this counts as a magic AU since OUAT is in its nature a magical canon universe and Lost certainly has some supernatural and fantasy elements. But this idea’s been floating around in my mind for a couple of years now, so I thought I might as well dust it off here.

A Jungle Fairy Tale

The survivors of Oceanic 815 first realised that they were definitely not alone on the island on their first night, listening to the roar of something pounding through the jungle and seeing the trees shaking. Luckily, whatever it was decided that it was going to go in the opposite direction to the beach, and they never got a glimpse of whatever strange creature could have caused so much noise and destruction.

They first met the other inhabitants of the island the following afternoon. Claire hadn’t realised that anything had happened until she heard a commotion at the treeline at the edge of the beach, and everyone racing over in that direction. Carrying the extra weight as she was, it took her a while longer than everyone else to get over there and see what all the fuss was about, and she was very tempted to just stay exactly where she was and let someone else report back. Still, from all the raised voices, it sounded like something important was happening, so she heaved herself off the sand and made her way across to the source of all the excitement.

She had to double take when she saw it.

There was a man sitting casually in the upper branches of one of the trees, calmly gazing down at the gathered survivors. At least, Claire had to assume that he was a man. His skin was a greenish grey colour with a slight sparkling sheen to it, as if he was coated in a layer of gold dust, and his eyes were wide and an unnaturally yellow-grey. He seemed completely at ease in the tree and not at all worried by the fact that Sayid was holding the axe he’d been using to chop firewood, and Sawyer was pointing the marshal’s gun at him. In fact, when he saw the gun, he just tutted, waggling one clawed finger at Sawyer.

“Honestly. Humans. Always the same since the dawn of time. You accidentally find somewhere new and immediately start pointing weapons at the locals.” He tsked again. “It’s really not a good first impression, dearie.”

“Who the hell are you?” Sawyer asked. His brow was furrowed as if he couldn’t quite believe the evidence of his own eyes, and it appeared to be a common sentiment among all the people gathered under the tree.

“Ah, names have power, dearie, but since it looks like we’re all going to have to get along until your rescue arrives, if it arrives, I will be charitable for now. You may call me Rumpelstiltskin. Welcome to my home. Please put the gun down or I may be forced to do something drastic, and believe me, I do not require firearms to do it.”

“Rumpelstiltskin?” Beside Claire, Shannon scoffed. “As in that little imp from the fairy tales who steals babies?”

Claire looked down at her belly, worried for the first time since she’d seen the strange man.

“I did not steal them!” Rumpelstiltskin leaned at little further out of the tree, ignoring Sayid and Sawyer, and pointed an accusatory finger at Shannon. He seemed more enraged about her comment than he had done about being threatened in the first place. “I received them in fair deals that mothers then cried foul on because they didn’t understand what they were getting into, so eager were they for the untold riches I could provide!”

Shannon threw her hands up in defence and took a couple of steps back. “Ok…”

“Sawyer, maybe you ought to put the gun down.” Jack, as ever the voice of reason, came forward to the front of the group.

“Are you crazy, Doc?” Sawyer jabbed a finger towards Rumpelstiltskin. “Because he definitely is!”

“I am.” Rumpelstiltskin nodded calmly. “Spend a few years here with only Mal for company and you’ll all be a little…” He swirled a finger next to his temple. “Which is why we need to get you off this island as soon as possible. Can’t have you going bananas. The only bananas we want here are the kind that grow in the trees.”

“How long have you been here?” Sayid had since put down the axe and was looking at Rumpelstiltskin with more curiosity than fear.

Rumpelstiltskin counted on his fingers, holding up three.

“Three years?”

“No.” He seemed a little offended by the suggestion. “Three centuries, dearie.”

“All right, we’ve got a crazy guy who looks like someone had an intimate encounter with a crocodile and who is apparently over three hundred years old.” Sawyer shook his head in disbelief. “I’m not the only one hearing this, right?”

There was a general murmur of consensus among the survivors and Sawyer finally lowered the gun.

“All right. I’ll play along. How do you propose we get off this island, then?”

“Well, if I knew how to get off, don’t you think I would have done it two-hundred and ninety-nine odd years ago?” Rumpelstiltskin gave Sawyer a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. “Still, there’s what, fifty of you, and there’s only been me and Mal for so long, so I’m sure that fifty heads are better than two. Although, having seen some of you, I’m not so sure.”

“Hey!”

“Sawyer, leave it.” Jack stepped forward, unofficial spokesperson for the group. “Is there anyone else on the island?”

“Apart from me and Mal? I think there’s a man in a bunker somewhere, but he might have blown his brains out by now.”

“What about that thing in the jungle last night?” Kate asked. “It was loud enough; you must have heard it.”

“Oh, that’s Mal, no need to worry about her. She doesn’t realise how big she is sometimes.” Rumpelstiltskin waved the concern away airily.

“How big is she?”

“Well, she’s a dragon, dearie, so she’s rather large at times.”

“A dragon? Ok, that’s it, this is just ridiculous now.” Sawyer threw his hands up in defeat and left the group, taking with him a great deal of the tension. Although Rumpelstiltskin had seemed at ease before, he visibly relaxed now that Sawyer was gone.

“What do you mean, ‘rather large at times’?”

Claire couldn’t help thinking that Kate was focussing on the wrong things here, but since they’d already accepted the existence of Rumpelstiltskin, they might as well accept the existence of a dragon as well.

“She’s not in her dragon shape all the time, obviously.”

There was silence for a moment, until Rumpelstiltskin suddenly clapped his hands together, startling the gathered survivors.

“Well, that was a lovely introduction. You know me, I know you, welcome to the magical island where, yes, dragons do exist. Please think twice before pointing weapons in my direction and please don’t worry about Mal, she’s harmless. I’m sure our paths will cross again before you leave, please pick up all litter, please be aware that those little orange berries are extremely poisonous, and otherwise make yourselves at home but don’t abuse our hospitality.”

He raised one hand, about to snap his fingers, but then he paused, cocking his head on one side and staring straight at Claire. She took a step back under the force of his gaze, and Shannon and Kate stepped in closer to her protectively.

“Are you sure you should have been flying, dearie?” he asked softly. “You look about ready to drop.”

“I…” Claire put her hands on her belly. “The doctor said it was fine,” she said.

“Well, just keep him safe in there, all right?”

With that, he vanished in a fingersnap, as if he’d never been there at all, leaving the survivors all looking at each other, trying to work out if that had really just happened or if they’d all had a mass hallucination.

With impeccable timing, Claire felt a little kick against her palm, and she gasped.

“Claire? You ok, hun?”

She nodded. “He moved. First time since the crash.”

She didn’t know why she suddenly thought he was a boy. Maybe because Rumpelstiltskin had seemed so sure. All the same, he was now definitely a boy in her mind. She looked back up at the tree branch where Rumpelstiltskin had sat. She’d been unnerved when he’d taken a sudden interest in her, but she hadn’t been scared. He’d seemed genuinely concerned for her and the baby.

Claire shook herself and moved away with the dissipating crowd.

Only time would tell.

X

The next few days passed mostly without incident, and Claire was almost beginning to think that she had dreamed the encounter with Rumpelstiltskin, if it wasn’t for everyone casting wary glances at the tree line now and again.

It was night-time when she saw him again. Sayid and Jack were keeping watch by the bonfire, and Claire couldn’t sleep. Now that Baby had started moving again, it felt like he was moving all the time. Especially whenever she was trying to get some rest. There was no use in even attempting to sleep yet, so she sat up in her little tent, looking around.

He was standing under the tree they’d first seen him in, watching the camp. There was nothing nefarious in his gaze. If anything, it was protective, fatherly. She wondered if he’d kept watch over them before and they just hadn’t noticed.

Presently there was a little rustle in the trees, and someone joined him, a woman with the tips of horns peeping out of her mess of curly blonde hair. She must have been the mysterious Mal. At least they hadn’t had any dragon-related incidents since that first night.

Claire watched them for a few minutes, until Rumpelstiltskin looked straight at her and waved. She ducked back inside her tent in embarrassment, before curiosity overcame her and she stepped out, picking her way across the sand towards them.

“Hello again, dearie. How are you and the little one?”

Claire nodded. “All right. He’s keeping me up.”

Mal gave a soft laugh. “Yes, they do. It’s only going to get worse, I’m afraid.”

“Do you have children?”

“I had a daughter.” Mal sighed, and Claire decided that the past tense was enough not to press the point.

“Glad to hear you’re both doing well. Hopefully, you’ll be nice and safe and snug somewhere on terra firma when the time comes.”

“Yeah.” Claire sighed. She hadn’t wanted to resign herself to having the baby on the island yet, but the longer it took for rescue to find them, the more it seemed like she was going to have to do just that. “Hopefully.” She paused, the question that had been hanging at the back of her mind for the last few days now sitting on the tip of her tongue. “Why are you so concerned for me and the baby?” she asked. “I mean, I’m not going to accuse you of wanting to steal him, but…” She sighed. “Did you know I was going to give him up for adoption?”

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head. “I don’t know things. But I suspect them. I have a certain degree of foresight which gives me a certain degree of insight.” He gave a long, heavy sigh, and with that sigh, Claire could well believe that he was over three hundred years old, and the weight of all those centuries was bearing down on him now. “We don’t get new life on this island,” he said. “It’s part of the curse that brought us here. We’re static, and we’re very old. He’s something new.” He nodded towards her belly. “He’s a brand new soul, and as such we will do all we can to protect him.”

There was a fierceness in his words, and in that moment, Claire knew that he meant it, and that he and Mal, for all their strangeness, could be trusted. Whether he would help them off the island or not, she knew that they were at least safe with him.

“You should try and sleep,” Mal said. “You need as much as you can get, even if it’s only a catnap.”

Claire nodded and began to make her way back to her tent. Mal and Rumpelstiltskin were still there in the shadows when she glanced back over her shoulder.

X

“She’s too young for you.”

“Mal, I’m three hundred and fifty-two years old. Everyone is too young for me except you. And we established a couple of centuries ago that we’re good friends, but we definitely do not like each other in that way.”

“You know what I mean.”

They were watching Claire retreating down the beach.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed. “I know. But there’s something about her. She’s their heart, although they don’t know it yet. She’s special, Mal, surely you can see it too.”

“Rumpel, she’s a human who’s about to have a baby and who desperately needs to get off this island and you’re an Immortal who’s been banished here and can’t leave it. It’ll never work. But yes, I will admit that she is lovely. Inside and out.”

“Do you think you could… you know.”

Mal rolled her eyes but nonetheless acquiesced, bringing her hands up to her mouth. Her eyes flashed reptilian gold for a moment as she blew a puff of smoke into her palms, forming it into a ball. Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers, encasing the ball in a soft lilac glow.

“Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

“It’s not for me, Mal. It’s for Claire.”

Mal just raised an eyebrow and moved back into the trees away from the survivors’ camp. Rumpelstiltskin snapped his fingers, rematerialising outside Claire’s little tent. She startled when she saw him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. This is from me and Mal.” He held out the lilac ball and Claire took it.

“It’s warm. Sorry, that’s stupid, of course you know it’s warm.”

“It’s dragon smoke,” he explained. “It’ll warm and cool as you need it to, and it should ease the pain and make you more comfortable. Like Mal said, you need your sleep.”

Gingerly, Claire put the ball behind her back, almost immediately giving a sigh of relief.

“Oh, that feels great. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

He made to vanish away, but Claire’s voice stopped him.

“Wait, Rumpelstiltskin.”

“Yes, Claire?”

“Will you stay a while?”

“If you would like.”

Claire nodded, patting the blanket beside her, and Rumpelstiltskin sat down.

“No one really talks to me,” she said. “It’s like I’m this ticking time bomb waiting to go off. They’re all polite about it, but they’re all thinking the same thing. What happens when the baby’s on the outside?” She sighed. “You’re the only one who seems to see past that and look me in the eye. You’re not worried about what’ll happen when the baby’s here. You’re more concerned with making sure we’re both ok right now.”

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. “It just makes sense, that’s all.”

They fell into silence for a while.

“Earlier, you said that you and Mal were under a curse that had brought you here.”

“Yes. I wasn’t quite sure you’d believe that.”

“Well, I’ve learned to believe in fairy tale characters and dragons over the last few days, so why not believe in magic and curses too? Hurley thinks he’s cursed, it’s not too far-fetched.”

“Yes, Mal and I are cursed. For my part it was the entirely wrongful baby-stealing reputation. Mal’s is roughly the same, although she did actually steal one; an eye for an eye to replace her own stolen child.” He sighed. “They always went to good homes. For every set of careless parents who dealt their child away to me without realising what they had done and trying to renege on a fair contract, there was another set of parents who would do anything to have a babe of their own – even make a deal with me. It all worked out very well for the little ones in the end, and even despite my current exile, I don’t regret any of it.”

“You just wanted the best for the children.”

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, and Claire smiled.

“Thank you for looking out for mine. Even though you knew I was going to give him up.”

“You were doing what was best for him. If you didn’t think that you would be able to care for him, then making a deal to give him up to someone who could was the right thing to do. That’s not something to be ashamed of. It shows more sense and maturity than most of the people I dealt with.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now if I can’t get off the island. I never thought I’d actually be a mother.”

“You have more help than you know. Everyone will band together for you, as much as they might be avoiding you now. Responsibility, once it’s there, will change things. And you know that you can always call on me and Mal if you need us. We’ve lived here for so long and gone so mad that we really don’t want it to happen to anyone else, so we’ll do what we can to help.”

“Thank you.” She reached across, taking Rumpelstiltskin’s hand and squeezing. He startled for a moment before squeezing back tentatively.

“You know, I’m looking out for you, too,” he said eventually. “Not just the little one. You’re a remarkable person in your own right, you know.”

Claire looked away, her cheeks colouring in the firelight.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll leave you to get some rest now. But just call if you need me. Names have power, after all.”

Claire nodded.

“Rumpelstiltskin?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for everything.”

She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek before lying down again and readjusting the ball of smoke behind her back; within a minute she was sleeping peacefully.

Rumpelstiltskin vanished back to his home in the trees, touching the place on his cheek where Claire had kissed him. Let Mal be cynical. He wouldn’t have got this far and survived this long without hope, and he was going to keep that hope till the end.

X

The ball of dragon smoke was still just the right temperature when Claire woke, and she smiled, stowing it in her luggage for when she next needed it. She cast her mind back over the previous night, and her discussion with Rumpelstiltskin. As strange as it seemed to be developing feelings for the man, she couldn’t deny that the feelings were definitely developing. It would be strange, of course it would – she was human and he was whatever he was, and he was cursed to spend his eternity on this island whereas she was very much determined to get off it.

But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have hope that maybe something more could come of their tentative friendship, after all.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One:  The Dark Curse

Chapter 35:  A Few Favorite Things

He supposed it would do no harm to admit it, but it was a carefully guarded secret all the same. He loved being summoned by royals. Perhaps this stemmed from those older times when he felt like no one was more responsible for his situation like those who were above him, oppressing him and forcing him to live in a way that was beneath humanity as well as him. He liked knowing that they were suddenly the ones in debt to him, bowing and begging and pleading with him to answer their heart's greatest desire. He had the power and he reveled in it, even when they didn't know exactly what they were face to face with.

"You're the Dark One?" King George questioned, keeping his distance by the fire.

He smiled. "One would assume…" he commented motioning to indicate his body as proof. He did love being summoned by royals but this one in particular brought him glee in a way he didn't know it could. King George, the man he'd seen at the party when he'd first met Cora, the time had finally come for him to call on him and he had a feeling that he knew exactly what he was going to ask for. And he would be quite happy to provide it. The False Prince was, after all, a key figure in his plans. This meant that it was imperative that he keep the King just as happy as he was. "Your Majesty," he flung out his arms wide and bowed low to the ground. "Rumpelstiltskin, at your service!"

"That's fine," he dismissed. "I didn't summon you here for pleasantries. I asked you here for a reason."

"Most do." He stood up tall again but continued to glare at King as he moved so formally about the room. Back straight, hands clasped behind him. A perfectly well put together gentlemen, everything a king should be! If it weren't for the fact that he turned his back on him so often. He had confidence in himself; he'd give him that. But his walking meant fear and unease, and turning around meant he dealt with it as a child who thought that if they simply kept their eyes closed, the monsters they feared lived under their beds would think they were asleep and leave them in peace. At his heart, he was an ignorant man.

"I'm not about to waste time. I'm going to get right down to the matter at hand."

"Ah, a trait I wish so many of my clients shared!"

"I need a baby," he stated simply, ignoring his final comments and turning to face him so that his foot stomped in place with the finality of his request.

"A baby!" he laughed giddily. He loved it when a prophecy came together the way it should. But still, it would be fun to twist knives into the heart of this royal and to see just how honest he would be. "Most King's would simply use their Queen's to fulfill such a request. Did your father never take you aside and tell you about that?" he teased as he threw an arm up and began to recite: "The Birds and the Bees? The Eel and the Cave? The Man and the Woman?"

"Are you quite finished?" he interrupted. Oh, now he was a lucky one. He needed him, and so he was one of the few who would not snap his neck for such a comment, but that didn't mean it made him want to help out of anything more than an urge to get back to Baelfire. "Such crudeness. Of course, I know how babies are made; that's why you are here. The Queen and I, we can't have children…Annie she…"

"Doesn't want a child?!" he toyed. If he hadn't interrupted, he might have admitted to him that he knew exactly why his dear Annie would never have a baby. Now he was just content to play with the man. "Well, now I'm doubting your skills at sealing the deal. That seems like something that a King should address before the wedding."

"Of course she wants a baby, you vile creature!" he shouted. "She wants a child more than anything but…"

"Oh! Let me guess!" he begged enthusiastically circling the man. Finally, he came up on his shoulder just so he could whisper in his ear, "Curse."

King George stiffened as he hadn't been before. It was visible and surprising. That straight posture was how he looked relaxed? What an uncomfortable life.

"By her sister," George admitted. "A foul woman who was jealous that I chose Annie and not her. She didn't tell me until after the wedding."

"Ruthless sister," he commented, flopping down into the chair by the fire and putting his feet up on the ottoman.

"Clearly. At first I…I didn't believe it, I would never have assumed her sister capable, but after all these years, I've come to see that it must be true."

"Now that's a sister who would make a good partner." He summoned an apple from nearby and took a bite with a hearty and unnerving crunch. For as formal as he was he could see the King longed to scream at him as he had before. But he was winding down to his ultimate deal, now he was on his best behavior as he prepared to ask for what he wanted.

"The curse…it was something that was drunk, are you familiar with it."

"Well, of course," he muttered, hoping the poor lad felt stupid for asking. "'Twas a former Dark One who invented the Curse of Infertility." Nimue as a matter of fact. She been a very…sexual being, in her time. But she'd had the good sense to be sure she wouldn't reproduce. A blessing on the world, as far as he was concerned. The spell was so simple any witch of even the mildest magic could do it. And once it was added to a drink just one sip would do the job. And a very good job it did. Odd…since Nimue, no Dark One had ever had a child…perhaps that was something that could be passed down through the curse. He hadn't even thought of that before he and Cora made their deal. Maybe it was lucky she hadn't taken it.

"So, you must know if it has a cure!"

He smiled as he tossed the rest of the apple into the fire. "None that is readily known." There were a few suspicions on how it could be cured, but there were no easy answers. Most of those involved gruesome sacrifices no person who ever wanted a child would be able to accomplish or healing waters that almost always had guardians. Better infertile than dead.

"That's absurd!" George sneered. "The Dark One who invented it didn't make note of how to reverse the spell?"

"Afraid not."

"Ridiculous! What kind of being does such a thing?"

He rose to his feet again, feeling, for the first time in nearly one hundred years, the voice on Nimue laughing in his skull. "Well, it was meant to be permanent," he explained with obvious gentility as if he was explaining something as simple as why the sun came up in the morning to a toddler. "Knowing how to reverse the spell kind of defeats the purpose of placing it…"

A rogue muscle twitched in his jaw. "Annie always said it never mattered, but…it matters."

"But of course!" he declared. To a woman it may matter differently than a man and to a pair of royals it would matter differently than it would for peasants. Everything mattered. The trick was knowing why. "Without a Prince of your own who shall ever inherit the Kingdom? Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you have a cousin! Weak, little man; short, pale, balding…"

There went that muscle again; twitch, twitch, twitching away at the suggestion. Yes, suddenly, he understood the significance of that rope he'd seen that was tied from Queen Eva's womb to his head. That was all this was bound to be for him, a matter of the mind, not the heart. As a father, it pained him to know such a child would grow up with a man such as this, but as the Dark One, it comforted him to know the child would be fed, clothed, and well cared for and loved by all others. False Prince or not, he'd be a Prince, and that came with benefits.

"Tell you what…" he muttered as he began circling. "I've got a solution to your little problem…"

"A cure? We'll try anything!"

"Oh, no, no, no, certainly not! But you know, there is more than one way to have a baby, dearie." He stopped spinning and finally came to rest right in front of George, prepared to do business the proper way. Only the poor King looked nothing but confused. "Oh, well, perhaps I should say there is more than one way to 'acquire' a baby."

He brows suddenly furrowed together. "You mean steal one?"

"Steal?! No, no, no, of course not! I'm no Black Fairy! I'm not a monster! I am simply a man of deals and trades; one thing, for another."

"So…you would make a deal, convince a family to turn over their own baby…I'm not looking for a child, Rumpelstiltskin, I need a newborn, someone to raise and bring up without any knowledge of his true origins."

He gave a small bow of acknowledgment. "And so you shall have it. I do agree with you. Children with memories would make for a very risky deal in this case."

"But who would do such a thing, who would hand over their own flesh and blood for mere trinkets?"

Ah…the minds of the royal. They had all the intelligence in the world, but none of the understanding of the world. "Anyone will do anything when you're desperate enough," he admitted. "Leave the details to me. You'll have the child you seek…"

And the one that he needed him to have.

"About the payment…"

"So glad you mentioned it!" he cried suddenly excited once more. "For if you are summoning me, you must know, all magic does come with a price! And it's always such an ignoble thing to have to bring it up myself."

"I understand the cost. I also think that I have an idea of what will suffice. But it will be a fair amount of time until it can be prepared."

He narrowed his eyes. No payment? "Well, it would be a fair amount of time before I could procure a child, then," he challenged.

The King didn't bat an eye. "So we're in agreement then?"

He was almost speechless. They hadn't actually come to an agreement. He never agreed to anything without knowing what exactly he'd be getting in return, but…he could see the King wanted to keep it secret, perhaps on the off chance he couldn't get what he needed. And this wasn't like an ordinary deal. This was a deal for Bae. He knew whatever it was would work in the end and get him one step closer to seeing his son. Whatever he offered would be fine, but he couldn't let him know that. Allow one royal some leeway, and suddenly they'd all want it.

"So much mystery…" he commented, tapping his fingers together as he stared. "I don't ordinarily agree to a deal without knowing the reward-"

"I'll make it worth your while," George pressed. As he thought…the King didn't want to tell him. Well then, in that case, he'd take the price out in trade, after all it wasn't just an ordinary baby that he needed to procure but the right baby. He had a feeling he knew where to look but also had a feeling that now wasn't the time. If time was the key, then so be it.

"You've intrigued me, Sir. You have…" as he stepped forward he moved his fingers at the side of his head, a useless motion to him but magical enough that it allowed him to focus, to pick out the Seer's voice, to think about the child, and to find the number associated with it. Three.

"Three years!" he declared.

The King's eyes went wide, and while he was able to contain his shock enough that he didn't drop his jaw like a dog, his mouth did open a bit.

"Three years! That's absurd! That's-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" he replied, waving a finger in front of him. "I could always make it four." A gamble. His heart raced as he offered it, knowing that four years wasn't right. It was a sign of his nerves that he began to think of ways, loopholes to get around that all the while hoping the King would be silent on the matter. He was. "We all have our burdens, your wife's is infertility, mine is my own, and yours is time. We'll call it interest on whatever it is you owe me."

The King narrowed his gaze and straightened once more. The muscle in his jaw twitched. He was a very unhappy king, indeed. But if he could wait over a hundred years to see Baelfire, then he could wait three years for an heir.

"You better be as good as they say you are, Dark One."

He smiled. "Better, Dearie, much better. You have three years until I return with your child. Be sure to have everything ready or else…well…you are not the only couple desperate to have a child."

"What'll I tell my wife? The Kingdom?"

He let out a giddy laugh. He loved details that weren't his concern. "What you will…I'm sure you'll come up with something!"

"You won't help me?"

"I'm already helping you! Helping you lie to your wife isn't part of our bargain!" At that, he swept into a long, extended bow. "Three years, Your Majesty!"

Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

[hookedonapirate]

The Princess and Her Sultan

Summary: Crown princess Emma of Misthaven is second in line to the throne, her brother Leopold ll being the first, but her parents see her with a future as a great ruler. King Rumplestiltskin of neighboring land, strikes a deal with King David, promising to uphold the peace between the kingdoms if Emma marries Prince Baelfire. With the promise of his daughter becoming future queen of the Dark Kingdom, David accepts reluctantly.

Before her wedding day, the princess is kidnapped and taken overseas. She is sold as a slave to a palace where Crown Prince Killian of Neverland ascends his father’s throne and is sworn in as Sultan. Meanwhile, Killian’s mother pressures him to sire a prince and presents him with gifts for his birthday, one of them including a blonde princess from Misthaven. Dazzled by Emma’s charm, intelligence and beauty, he summons her to his bedchambers every night and eventually finds himself casting aside his harem and centuries of tradition.  

A/N: Your responses for the prologue have amazed and overwhelmed me, it was so unexpected to me! Thank you all so much!

Here is the first chapter. Trigger warnings include assault and a non-consensual kiss, but not between captain swan. They have yet to meet, and this will be a bit of a slow burn, but I hope to make it worth the wait. With that said, if you’re of a fan of Baelfire, this may not be a fic for you, unless you don’t mind some Baelfire/Neal bashing.

Thank you @ilovemesomekillianjones for your wonderful beta skills and @gingerchangeling for all of your suggestions and feedback! This story wouldn’t be the same without these lovely ladies.

Rated: Explicit

AO3 l FF.N I Prologue 

Chapter 1

Emma’s emerald green eyes glitter in the sun, long golden hair flowing behind her as she rides a horse with her brother and their guards.

Over the years, she had transformed from an adorable young girl to an elegant young woman. Her cheekbones are high and prominent, she has fair, ivory skin, and her beauty is only increasing with every day. Emma is growing into a fine young woman who’s loved by all of her people. She is growing too quickly for King David’s liking. He looks at her and sees the small baby he’d held in his arms merely fifteen years ago.

Emma is wise beyond her years, well behaved and proper, with a serious demeanor while her brother is a rambunctious young boy who can never stay still. King David smiles as he watches the two of them riding off from the stables, Leo asking her to slow down so he can catch up. He knows that over time, Leopold will take after his sister and will be competent and mature enough to make a great king.

While the prince and princess are gone, Snow and David receive a letter from King Rumplestiltskin. They are both surprised to learn that Rumple wishes to visit with their family and discuss the betrothal of his eldest son, Baelfire, and their daughter.

David is not sure how he feels about the idea, and honestly, he’s a bit perturbed and shocked King Rumplestiltskin would even propose this. He has no reason to find an ally in Misthaven.

Rumplestiltskin is a powerful king of unconquerable lands, but even the vastness of the Dark Kingdom over which he rules, is nothing in comparison with his pride. He was once a sweet, orphaned miller growing up in poor living conditions, but that all changed when he was taken in by a very powerful king who died of the plague years later. Rumor has it, however, that Rumplestiltskin had played a key role in the predecessor’s death, for he is very cunning and good at making the people bend to his will. It is believed and spoken across the lands that he has been possessed by a demon, because how else could an amiable young man turn into such a vile creature? The rumors eventually gave him his moniker, the Dark One, and once he had taken the throne, he was feared by all in the Dark Kingdom, which had only increased his power over time. So, he did not need the security of David’s friendship or an alliance with Misthaven, which leaves David mystified by Rumplestiltskin’s letter, and also skeptical.

Uniting the two kingdoms will certainly avert a war between them and undoubtedly make them a great superpower, there’s no denying it, but Emma has never even met the neighboring prince. David had made a promise to her she would only marry for love, not obligation. But if he refuses the wishes of Rumpelstiltskin, David fears he will incur the wrath of the Dark One.

~*~

The sound of galloping hooves along the dirt-covered forest floor gives Emma a rush as she grips the reins tightly in her fists. She loves riding in the Enchanted Forest; she enjoys leaving the castle for a short time, feeling the wind in her hair and the thrill of racing through the woods with her brother by her side. It relaxes and calms her like nothing else, and when they occasionally ride on the shore of the beach, with the view of the sea and the taste of the salt water on her tongue, she longs to see what is beyond. She has read and heard many stories, and her studies of politics, public affairs and history have taught her what goes on in the world, but her father forbids her from venturing out into it. He’s so protective, wanting to keep her from harm’s way in any manner he can. And while she loves him dearly and abides by him, she wishes for just one day, she could be normal. Not a Princess. She can’t even fathom what that would be like.

Emma and Leo head home before twilight, returning their horses to the stables.

Upon entering the throne room in high spirits and laughing with her brother, she witnesses the change in her father’s face compared to when she and her brother had left. Both parents look distraught. Had Emma and Leo been away too long for their liking?

“I’m sorry Mother and Father, we lost track of time.”

David sighs deeply, concern etched in his features as he approaches his daughter. “Your timeliness or lack thereof is not what worries us, you have returned home before your curfew.”

Emma’s brows furrow. “Then what is it?”

He pulls out a letter and opens it up, reading it aloud.

~*~

On the sixth of the midwinter month, the feast day that celebrates gift giving, Emma is sitting up straight in her chair and glaring at Baelfire with those luminous green eyes. David had seen the seventeen-year-old prince and his younger half-brother, Gideon’s, gaping mouths and wide eyes as they had drooled at the mere sight of her from the moment they’d entered the throne room and saw Princess Emma. With a glance at Baelfire, David sees him return her devil stare with that of a dangerous smirk. The king’s stomach churns at the way the Prince drinks in her figure. She is only fifteen and already men and boys alike can’t keep their eyes off of her. She steals the hearts of all knights and noblemen who look at her. Of course, impeccable Emma isn’t aware what those looks mean, nor the intentions behind them, but David can see right through them.

She turns away from Prince Baelfire and responds to Queen Belle when asked a question, no longer paying attention to the prince as he continues to admire her beauty. She is not happy about the circumstances, but she understands the importance of her betrothal to Baelfire and had agreed to meet him. Her parents want to give her the chance to get to know the prince before the wedding so Emma has a chance to grow fond of Baelfire.

King David however, does not like the looks of him. The prince has an unfavorable reputation. He’s heard stories of Prince Baelfire gambling and drinking at the tavern and spending his nights with sordid women. David has a bad taste in his mouth at the mere thought of Baelfire putting his paws on the beloved Princess of Misthaven.

The prince may have his work cut out for him, though, as she obviously does not reciprocate any feelings he expresses for her.

When King David dismisses everyone from the hall, he moves swiftly to his quarters with King Rumplestiltskin following behind him, leaving their queens to chat among themselves.

“How old is Princess Emma?” the Dark One asks him after David settles in his chair, quickly getting down to business.

“She is fifteen.”

“And she is not betrothed yet?”

“No, she is not.”

King Rumplestiltskin nods and appears to be in thoughtful contemplation. “My son is quite taken by your daughter, and not to be blamed. She is of great beauty and intelligence, and as I had spoken in my letter, I’d like to arrange a betrothal,” he says.

David has a feeling the statement is not a request, but more of a demand. David eyes him warily, not wanting to refuse him, but he has to think of his daughter at the same time. “With all due respect, Prince Baelfire has quite the reputation, does he not?”

“He does.” The king slowly paces in front of David, a troubled expression on his face. “And that is what worries me. Baelfire is first in line for the throne, but I’m afraid he will not uphold my legacy when I’m gone. He has often been caught at the tavern drinking and doting with lowlife peasants. He is impudent and doesn’t take his crown seriously. I’m afraid he may not be suitable or habile enough to take the throne and uphold the reputation of the kingdom. It appears Princess Emma, however, is properly groomed for the throne, I believe she will have great influence on Baelfire and can turn him into a prince who will make me proud.” He stops and turns to meet David’s eye. “If your daughter were to marry my son, she will be an outstanding ruler and queen one day.”

“She will be, but what other interest is to be gained from marrying your son if she does not love him?”

“There has been peace between our lands, and if your highness agrees to the betrothal of Prince Bae and Princess Emma, I can guarantee peace for the foreseeable future.” Rumple’s lips curl up into a menacing smirk. “If you deny my request, I will be your worst enemy,” he says with a patronizing grin, his eyes daring the other king to refute him.

King David stands, seething with anger. “You threaten me in my own castle?” The audacity! He’s tempted to retrieve his father’s sword from above the mantel behind him.

Rumple shows no remorse. “If you don’t accept my proposal, your castle and your kingdom will ultimately be mine, I’ll make sure of that,” he promises, standing so close, King David can smell his strong breath, the unpleasant stench passing through David’s flaring nostrils.

As insulted as he feels, David does not want to wage a war against the powerful king.

~*~

“But David, we made a promise to Emma,” Snow shrieks when David reveals Rumplestiltskin’s deal. She storms out to the balcony, looking out over the sea, and he follows behind her. An unseasonably warm breeze sweeps over them as they decide the fate of their daughter—of their kingdom.

David comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around his wife, but she doesn’t melt into him like she normally does. “We did when she was a baby, but if we agree to the marriage, our kingdom will be secured,” he coos in a soothing voice, caressing her arms over the sleeves of her nightgown.

Snow White turns around in his hold and looks up him, her eyes full of worry and concern for their daughter. “But, is this really the best choice? Rumplestiltskin said it himself, Baelfire is not fit for our princess. She is too special to be given away to some rogue who will only seek another’s company after the marriage is consummated.”

David cringes at the idea; he doesn’t wish this kind of future for his daughter. “Perhaps we can give him a chance. He’s still young. This arrangement may change him. We can announce the betrothal, but the wedding doesn’t have to take place immediately. Rumplestiltskin has promised to give us time. Emma is not to marry until her eighteenth birthday.”

“And what if Baelfire doesn’t change? What if Emma doesn’t grow to love him? If we break off the betrothal, Rumplestiltskin will never tolerate such an affront.”

David sighs, knowing she’s right. “Then we have to hope Emma will love him. We can let them spend time together before the wedding.” He caresses his wife’s cheek to calm her nerves, and she finally succumbs, letting her eyes fall shut at his touch. “What if we left it up to our daughter to do the right thing? If after their time together, she chooses not to marry Baelfire, then we’ll suffer the consequences. We’ll do it for Emma.”

Snow nods and opens her eyes. “Emma is wise enough to make the right decision, for herself and for the kingdom.”

David smiles and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Yes, she is. It will all work out, my dear, I just know it.”

They discuss Rumple’s proposal with Emma and, at first, she is not happy and argues with her parents regarding the issue. Emma is very skeptical about the Prince’s character and potential to run a kingdom. She and Baelfire do not even have the same interests, which she had discovered immediately upon meeting him, but eventually, she caves. Knowing it’s best for her kingdom, she agrees to the betrothal for her parents and for her brother’s future as king of Misthaven.

With her parent’s trust in Emma’s hands, a treaty of peace is signed between King David of Mishaven and King Rumplestiltskin of the Dark Kingdom. The Dark One also agrees to wait until Emma’s eighteen birthday for the marriage, for her parents feel she is too young to wed and her body is not ready to bear children.

The news of the agreement travels quickly, and while some are excited for the union of the kingdoms, there is one person in particular who is greatly angered by this. Lady Maleficent slams her fist on the table, full of rage. It was supposed to have been her daughter to marry the prince! Lily was supposed to be Queen of the Dark Kingdom; Maleficent has waited years for this. Their children had been betrothed at birth, and in her eyes, the betrothal is still valid. Forbye, she has been a loyal countess and friend to the king and now he has arranged the betrothal between his son and a Misthavian?! Well, she will see about that. There cannot be a marriage if the princess isn’t present at the wedding. Her scowl quickly transforms into a devilish look at the thought, and she calls on one of her henchmen. Both kingdoms will pay for its treachery against her.

~*~

“Sister, for heaven’s sake, can’t you hurry up?” Leo asks impatiently as she sits on her bed cross-legged in her riding leathers, weaving her long, golden hair into a braid. “You’ve kept Bae waiting for nearly an hour.”

“Let him wait.”

“But, Em—” he starts to whine before she cuts him off.

“Patience, Leo, or you will not be allowed to ride with us.”

Leopold climbs up on the bed, next to Emma, giving her his best pout. “Why must you choose him over me anyway?”

She looks over him under long, dark lashes as her eyes widen in surprise. “What do you mean? You’re my brother, I would never choose anyone over you.”

“But you spend all of your time with Baelfire instead of me,” he sulks sadly, looking down to avoid her gaze.

Emma’s heart breaks at her brother’s words and the look on his face. She has spent a lot of time with the prince now that she is betrothed to him. “Oh, dear brother, that’s not true. You are always welcome to come with us, you know that, but it’s my duty to spend time with Prince Baelfire. He and I are betrothed.”

“But you do not love him, do you?” her brother questions.

She silently condemns Leo for his perceptive mind; he’s becoming too much like her. “Not yet, but eventually,” she assures him. “I shall grow to love him and become queen of his kingdom, but no matter what happens, you will always be my little brother, got it?”

“Promise?”

Emma laughs and drops a kiss to the crown of his head before ruffling a hand through his curly, brown hair. “Promise. Now, let’s go riding, shall we?”

A big smile lights up his face and he jumps off the bed, racing for the door. “I’ll beat you to the stables!”

Emma launches from the bed and runs after her brother, both giggling through the halls of the castle and getting scolded by the guards and servants along the way.

~*~

The next day, Emma challenges Baelfire to a game of chess. She loves chess and knows if the man she is to marry does not have the same affection for the game, then she will never love him. Although it is not really a game to her, it’s a passion, for it challenges her mind, unlike most people she encounters, and it’s very therapeutic. Her late uncle, whom she’d never met also had a love for the game, and there is a chess piece, a white knight, David had swiped after James was taken from his village and killed by slavers. David had carried it with him so he could carry a piece of his brother wherever he went. He had passed it on to Emma once he discovered her love for chess; she was merely five years old at the time.

When she presents the game to Baelfire, however, judging by the puzzled look on his face, she realizes she may have her work cut out for her if she is to teach chess to him.

“What is this game you speak of?”

It turns out the prince has never heard of chess, nor played it, so Emma takes him to her chess board and tries to explain the game of strategy to him, but he becomes more and more confused and eventually grows frustrated.  

“This game is pointless!” he shouts angrily and throws one of the pieces to the floor, causing it to break in two as he tips the chessboard over, letting it crash on top of the fallen chess pieces.

Emma’s eyes widen as she kneels to the floor to pick the two halves of her favorite chess piece. “You broke the white knight!”

“Who cares? It’s just a stupid game piece,” he scoffs.

“This was my uncle’s! It’s all I had left of him!” she cries out furiously, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You’re a pig!” She dashes away and runs up to her room, but he follows behind her.

“Princess, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Please forgive me, Your Majesty,” he pleads with her. “I was intimidated because you are smart and beautiful, how can I ever live up to your expectations?”

She whirls around to see if he’s telling her the truth, but the insincerity is written all over his face. He may be as dumb as a brick, but he is cunning, she’ll give him that. He grabs her hand and pulls her to a secluded part of the hall, away from the eyes of her guards, pressing her against the wall.

“You have my heart Ems, and I fear I will disappoint you as a husband,” he claims softly and lifts a hand to caress her tear-stained cheek.

Emma stiffens and moves her head away from his touch. “Do not refer to me as such,” she snaps.

This angers Baelfire, and she can see his eyes brewing with rage as he grabs her arms.

“Unhand me this instant, you brute!” she cries out.

He doesn’t abide by her request and instead forces her to him, pressing his mouth to hers and ravaging her lips. Emma’s eyes widen in horror, and she tries to push him away, but to no avail; he is much stronger than she. Strengthening his grip around her with one arm, he fondles her breast with the other hand and plunders her mouth with his tongue, reveling in her taste and perfection. The intrusion is far from welcomed.

Emma bites his tongue hard enough to draw blood and wrenches her body away from Baelfire. She raises a hand to his face, slapping him hard. He cries out in pain and slips his finger into his mouth, drawing it over his tongue where she’d injured him, and the blood seeps around his fingertip as he touches his cheek with his other hand.

Glaring at the princess who dared harm him, he grins unexpectedly. “You are a vixen.”

Fury burns under her skin. “We may have an arranged marriage, but you will not lay your hands or lips on me without my permission! And if you try to again, I can guarantee you will never be able to again, as I will cut off your tongue and both hands with my grandfather’s sword!”

He appears to be challenged and further roused by her fierceness, his eyes lighting up with mischief.

Fear races through her and she scurries away, rounding a corner and running directly into a solid form. Looking up, she sees her newly hired guard, Graham Humbert who eyes her in concern.

“Is everything alright, Your Highness?”

“I’m fine,” Emma pants. “Please do not allow anyone in my chambers after me,” she commands, looking behind her to make sure Baelfire isn’t chasing after her.

“Very well.”

Emma heads for her room and furiously slams the door behind her. She vows to herself she will never love Baelfire, though it has nothing to do with his disdain for chess, how he had broken her favorite chess piece or how she no longer has anything left of her Uncle James. No, the loathing she feels for Baelfire supersedes that. She is a princess, not a prized possession to be touched or ravished when he pleases, nor will she ever be.

She cannot breathe a word to her parents though. If they find out, they will certainly break the contract with Rumplestiltskin, as they would never agree to a marriage between their daughter and a man who would put his hands on Emma without her consent. But first, David would cut off Baelfire’s hands and tongue himself, and have them delivered to Rumplestiltskin’s doorstep. Then the Dark One will assuredly make them all pay for their disloyalty and betrayal against him. While Snow and David would gladly risk their lives for their children, Emma does not wish to put them or Misthaven in danger.

~*~

Prince Killian sits up in his bed, staring blankly into space. “You may take your leave,” he commands coldly, his face showing no emotion.

“Yes, my lord.” The maiden slips out of the prince’s bed and quickly dresses into the white gown she’d entered with, her head down as she backs away towards the door her knuckles gently tapping on the surface. When it opens, she’s escorted to the women’s quarters, leaving Prince Killian to his thoughts.

He remains in bed, his heart emptier than it has ever been. Jasmine had given herself to him willingly as they always do, but he curses himself for summoning her in the first place. She has long ebony hair, a lovely caramel skin tone and a sweet face—her physical beauty is why he had called upon her for the evening—but she is not Milah.

Killian sighs deeply and closes his eyes. He has grown tired of the customs of his people, but he must abide by them. He has a great responsibility on his shoulders, as his father is Sultan and Killian his heir. It will only be a matter of time before he is left with his father’s role and is further pressured to sire a prince.

But without his lost love, what is left? Only a darkened heart and a deep ache for her and their unborn child who’d never had a chance to breathe in the Neverland air. Since their tragic deaths, Killian has refused to find another woman to bear his prince. He refuses to bed a concubine until they’ve taken a potion which makes them sterile, for the thought of history repeating itself is just too much to bear.

He tries to sleep but is restless, so he gets out of bed and slips into a wool robe and leather slippers before opening the door and calling a slave to bring him his most trusted advisor and confidant. This man was once a slave, but Killian had spent part of his childhood with him and has grown to see him as part of the family—as a second brother. Liam was his blood and Killian has longed for him since he’d died in battle, but this other man is also someone who has been by his side through all the treachery and despair in Killian’s life.

He walks out onto the terrace of his private garden where he breathes in the cool air and studies the sea, the night sky glittered with stars and a silvery moon reflecting off the water. It’s very calming and peaceful.

“My lord, I thought you had gone to rest.”

The sound of the man’s voice causes Killian to whirl around, and he sees the blue-eyed falconer entering the terrace, his hands joined together in front of him.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

The other man’s face clouds with concern. “What weighs on your mind, my lord?”

“It’s nothing, I think some time away from the palace is overdue. Perhaps a hunting trip is in our near future.”

“Of course. Anything you wish,” he answers compliantly.

The trip will help Killian clear his mind while escaping the everyday monotony of his life in the palace. He strides across the terrace and takes a seat in a chair, using the light of the fire from the mounted torches to aide his sight. There is one other thing that always makes him feel better. “Care for a game?”

His friend quickly makes his way over, sitting across from the prince. Between them is a chess board where all the pieces stand, ready to be played. They have a mutual love for the game and play every opportunity they can afford.

“Always.” James Nolan of Misthaven grins as he ponders his first move. “You need not ask twice, my lord.”

Here is the tag list, including everyone who has asked to be tagged, but if I missed you, please let me know:

@teamhook @onceuponaprincessworld @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @hollyethecurious @snowbellewells @ultraluckycatnd @kmomof4 @darkcolinodonorgasm @lovepurplepumpkins @kiwistreetswan @therooksshiningknight @deathbycaptainswan @tiganasummertree @superchocovian @emeraldwitches 

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 1x02 “The Thing You Love Most” Review

1x01 Review

Well this episode definitely gives us a lot of information about how Regina enacted the curse and shows us the burgeoning feud between Regina and Emma.

Synopsis:

Regina does what it takes to get Emma out of Storybrooke and away from Henry.  She manipulates Archie to give Emma Henry’s therapy files and then has Graham arrest Emma for stealing them.  Emma retaliates by chopping down part of Regina’s prized apple tree.  Henry and Emma get Operation Cobra underway.  In the Enchanted Forest, Regina visits her old friend Maleficent to get the Dark Curse.  After not getting the curse to work, she discovers that she needs to use the heart of what she loves most to enact it.

Opening: We see the Enchanted Forest with a unicorn running through it.

New Characters:

Magic Mirror/Sidney: As the Magic Mirror he seems to only want to please Regina and seems to be his own entity, not just a mirror that talks to Regina. He can travel to different mirrors and isn’t just trapped in one as seen in the hallway scene. As Sidney, he has the same aim to please. He runs the Storybrooke Daily Mirror and seems to revel in the fact that he’s helping Regina bring Emma down. At this point, he doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose rather than doing whatever Regina tells him to do.

Maleficent: While we see just a little of her (and no counterpart in Storybrooke), what we do see is that she and Regina are basically frenemies. She traded Regina a sleeping curse for the Dark Curse (what Regina used for the apple most likely). What Maleficent was going to do with the Dark Curse is not answered in this episode, although, from the way she talks about it, it seems that she just wanted to prevent Regina from using it. She tells Regina that it will leave an emptiness in her that she’ll never be able to fill. We also see that she is capable of love and can get past her own grudges as she protects her pet unicorn from Regina’s attack.

Character Observations:

Gold/Rumpelstiltskin: He definitely is awake after hearing Emma’s name in the Pilot. From the beginning of the episode you can see Gold’s confusion. Even if it’s for a brief moment, when he’s crossing the street in the beginning he almost seems bewildered about what is going on around him. It’s subtle, but it’s there. Later on when Gold visits Regina after the apple tree debacle, it is completely obvious that he is awake, and Regina suspects as well. First he offers to help Regina get rid of Emma and when Regina says she’s not in the habit of making deals with him anymore, he questions what deal that was. We learn Gold ‘procured’ Henry for Regina. You can see it in Regina’s face throughout their conversation that she’s figuring out that he is not cursed anymore. She implies that he knows more than he is saying and asks Gold straight out who Emma Swan is. Gold says she’s exactly who Regina thinks she is, hinting that she is the Savior. And then he says please, which was the one favor he asked of her before she cast the curse. As Rumpelstiltskin, we find that he is a master manipulator as well. He originally gave Regina the Dark Curse, although for what purpose has not been revealed. We can see that Rumpelstiltskin does not do anything without gaining something from it.

Emma: She has a lot of walls up. When she gets the hot cocoa with cinnamon she automatically assumes it’s from Graham and under no uncertain terms tells him she is not there to flirt. Turns out the cocoa was from Henry. Oops! Emma visits Dr. Hopper for info on Henry, something that makes no sense. Even when she walks in there she says she’s knows Dr. Hopper can’t give her any info on Henry. So why go and see him?  Because Regina somehow planted it in her head?  I would never think of trying to pry the info out of my kid’s shrink was a good idea. But, it’s a good thing for Emma that this therapist doesn’t care about those pesky doctor/patient confidentiality laws, because he offers them to Emma no problem. This is after he tells her that the fairy tales are Henry’s way of communicating things he wouldn’t be able to otherwise, which I think is good enough info without having to look at Henry’s files. Emma gets arrested, because Dr. Hopper said she stole the files and Emma doesn’t even seem that upset about it. I know she’s a tough woman, but she pretty much just complains to Graham about Regina setting her up. More walls?  Not letting anyone get too close to her feelings? But at least she gets some of her badassery back when Mary Margaret bails her out of jail. Taking a chainsaw to Regina’s prized apple tree shows exactly what kind of woman Regina is dealing with. Someone who is not scared of her or willing to put up with her tricks. Except that she does. Because Emma still finds the need to smooth things over with Regina for Henry’s sake, and instead of just talking things out over the phone, she gets setup by Regina for Henry to hear that Emma thinks his fairy tale curse theory is crazy. Which, as a 10-year-old boy, means he thinks Emma thinks he’s crazy. Emma decides to leave (there go those walls again). She thinks she’s making too much of a mess with Henry, but luckily, Mary Margaret convinces her otherwise and Emma and Henry make nice. Emma assures Henry that she was just telling Regina what she wanted to hear just like they’d discussed for Operation Cobra.

Mary Margaret: While we don’t have a lot of Mary Margaret we do see her helping out Emma and Henry quite a lot. She mentions to Emma that Henry thinks she’s Snow White. She also mentions that Regina has been mayor ‘as long as she can remember’. We find out she also likes hot cocoa with cinnamon, just like Emma and Henry, and she bails Emma out of jail when she’s arrested for stealing Henry’s therapy files. Mary Margaret definitely seems the motherly type. She seems to mother both Emma and Henry a lot.

Regina/Evil Queen: I have so much to say about her. Regina knows she is losing control in Storybrooke. She can already see the changes that are happening, the clock ringing being the biggest one. Her grasp on Storybrooke is waning and the only way she can hope it will go back to ‘normal’ is by getting Emma out of her town. Unfortunately, Regina doesn’t know who she is dealing with. Emma is not cursed and does not know her as the Evil Queen so she has no reason to back down. No matter how Regina plays it, naughty or nice, Emma is not backing down and Regina doesn’t know how to deal with that. That is why she goes with manipulation. She manipulates Emma into going to Archie to see Henry’s files; she manipulates Archie into giving Emma the files; she manipulates Graham into believing everything she says; she manipulates Granny into making sure Emma doesn’t have a place to stay anymore; she manipulates Henry by trying to tell him Emma is a conwoman, and then she manipulates Emma into making Henry believe she thinks he’s crazy! The only person she can’t manipulate is Gold, and the expression she makes when she pretty much realizes he is awake is pure awesomeness. Just someone else she can’t control anymore.

Now, how Regina, as the Evil Queen, enacted the curse should have been a good story, except it just shows how she doesn’t think in the long-term, just the short-term. She wants to punish  Snow and she wants to do it now no matter who she hurts. Throughout all her staging and monologuing, she has her faithful butler by her side who we later discover is her father. So many questions about why he goes along with what Regina does. The fact that she still calls him daddy speaks volumes about their relationship. He has obviously spoiled her, but I don’t think it is his actions that have made her who she is. Eventually, she reveals she has to kill the thing she loves the most. Until he is revealed as her father, it seems Regina doesn’t love anything (or, at least according to the conversation with Maleficent, the only thing she ever loved died because of something Snow did). This is the first time we ever see Regina vulnerable. She is absolutely torn up about what to do in this scene and it is beautiful. All we’ve seen of Regina is how hateful and spiteful and manipulative she is, and this scene shows she actually has vulnerability, compassion, and love. Somehow, her father has stood by her, through all the horrible things she’s done, and you think for a split second that he has gotten through to his baby girl and convinced her to find her happiness elsewhere. Unfortunately, that short-term goal planning of hers gets in the way and she kills the one person who loves and cherishes her. Even though we knew she cast the curse, it was still a shock to see her rip out her father’s heart to do it. Lana Parilla is brilliant in this moment. You almost feel sorry for her when she throws his heart into the fire to start the curse.

Henry Sr.: Regina’s father, who we think is a butler until the final scene. Their relationship is heartbreaking (both literally and figuratively). He obviously cares for his little girl a great deal and continues to go along with what she does because he... loves her?  Wants to protect her?  Feels she needs an ally? Doesn’t want her to be alone?  All of the above?  I’m not sure what it is, but their relationship shines on screen. His palpable sigh of relief when he thinks Regina will take his advice and go somewhere else to try and be happy is heartwarming until she says she can’t be happy there and he immediately goes rigid knowing what’s going to happen.

Henry: Again, he’s being played as the narrator for most of this. He once again explains the curse to Emma (and the audience). We get a little more detail this time, but essentially, just explaining everything again. We also see how easily he can be manipulated by Regina when it’s not from Regina. Getting Emma to say Henry’s crazy affects him much more than whatever Regina says to him. He’s desperate for Emma’s approval and for her to believe him.

Questions: How much older is Regina than Snow? Maleficent comments that Snow is around the same age Regina was when she was supposed to get married. Last episode I speculated that Snow and Emma are supposed to be around the same age, which also seemed weird, because 28 seems a little old to be getting married in the Enchanted Forest. But it makes sense based on the friendship Emma and Mary Margaret are forming. Maleficent says, supposed to get married, which makes me think that whomever she loved and was supposed to marry died before that happened and happened before Regina married Snow’s father. In real life Lana Parilla is only a year older than Ginnfer Goodwin. So what is the age difference?  Right now, ages are not making sense. Maybe we’ll learn more about this later.

Who created the Dark Curse? Rumpelstiltskin implied in the Pilot that Regina had created the curse. He told Snow and Charming “Regina has created a powerful curse”, but in this episode Maleficent says that neither she nor Regina created the curse. She says “Whoever created that monstrosity makes us look positively...moral.”  Regina later says that Rumplestiltskin gave her the curse, so where did he get?  Or did he create it?

Where were all the creatures with the darkest souls the second time Regina cast the curse with her father’s heart?

Mary Margaret says that Regina’s been the mayor for as long as she can remember, but Regina told Emma that she just became the mayor recently, or at least since adopting Henry (as part of the reason Henry was in therapy), so which is it?

Where did Emma get a chainsaw to chop down Regina’s apple tree?  Did Mary Margaret randomly have one?  Did she rent it from a hardware store?  Did Regina have one just laying around or in a gardening shed? Loved that scene, but seriously have no idea where she would’ve got that from.

Why is Emma getting kicked out of Granny’s for being a felon?  She’s only been arrested. There was no trial and no actual jail time.

Why would Regina put a boot on Emma’s car if she wants her to leave?  Seems a little counterproductive.

If no one can leave Storybrooke (according to Henry), how did Gold ‘procure’ Henry for Regina?  How would he have contacts outside of Storybrooke to even get a child? And for that matter, how do they get anything in Storybrooke?  Is that part of the curse to just have an endless amount of supplies so they are basically self-sustaining?

And how did Henry get to Boston last episode to find Emma?  I’m assuming no buses are in Storybrooke that would go outside of it.  Did he go to the townline and hitch a ride to a bus depot?

Why is Jiminy Cricket cursed as a regular person? Does that mean there are other animal characters around cursed as regular people?

Observations:

Regina’s office is covered in black and white forest wallpaper.

Granny’s Diner has woodsy wallpaper.

Regina’s apples are not Honeycrisps, they are obviously Red Delicious. Honeycrisps are a man made crossbreed of apples that weren’t even on the market until 1991.

The Sleeping Beauty plot has already happened according to Regina, so apparently Maleficent was not killed like she was in the Disney version.

Regina was in love once and it’s supposedly Snow’s fault that he is dead.

Emma now knows that Mary Margaret is supposedly her mother, since she is Snow White according to Henry.

The gnome that laughed at Regina during the failure of the dark curse casting is now her garden gnome.

Regina can turn herself into a mouse.

Emma likes hot cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon. So do Henry and Mary Margaret.

Timeline Issues:

There is a major issue with the timeline that drove me nuts in this episode. This episode basically implies that it took Regina possibly two days to get the curse going, which, as we saw in the Pilot, took at least nine months. Case in point: Regina’s outfits. She is in the same outfit that she crashed Snow and Charming’s wedding in for most of this episode. She’s wearing it when she goes to get the curse from Maleficent, and Maleficent even mentions that it’s Snow and Charming’s wedding night. Regina is still wearing said outfit when she tries to cast the curse with those with the darkest souls and it doesn’t work. Still wearing the same outfit when she goes to visit Rumpelstiltskin in his prison, and still in the same outfit when she talks to her father and rips out his heart. We next see Regina in the outfit she wore in the Pilot when the curse was cast. She is throwing her father’s heart into the fire to enact the curse, although, the curse doesn’t seem to happen right away as she has time to visit his grave, which is when we find out his name was Henry and that’s who her son is named after. We know, based on the fact that Snow wasn’t pregnant at the wedding, that there had to be at least nine months between Regina’s threat and when she actually cast the curse. So big glaring error going on here. I highly doubt that Regina wore the same outfit for almost nine months and then changed it just to cast the curse.

Once Upon a Time Firsts:

Emma and Regina’s feud

Regina’s magic mirror

Love is weakness

Regina blaming Snow for ruining her life

Hot cocoa with cinnamon

Operation Cobra

Someone in Storybrooke saying that’s it’s been that way for ‘as long as they can remember’.

Someone getting their heart taken.

Names:

Archie’s last name is Hopper, which is appropriate since he was Jiminy Cricket in the EF.

This was a very good episode.  It’s great seeing Regina’s control slowly slipping away and the lengths she’ll go to try and get it back.  It’s also great to see Gold coming into his own.  Not that we say much of his cursed personality, but it seems that Regina not only has Emma to contend with, but Gold as well.

Well this episode definitely gives us a lot of information about how Regina enacted the curse and shows us the burgeoning feud between Regina and Emma.

As usual feedback is welcome.  Please let me know your thoughts about anything: the episode, the characters, the formatting, etc.

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite@justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff@mariakov81

[angstbotfic]

Fic: Her One True Love’s a Sailing Ship Ch19

Read at AO3

Regina took just a moment to wince before turning around to face him. She had known a confrontation with Rumpelstiltskin was inevitable, but she had really hoped Emma would get a moment with her son before they had to do it.

“Regina,” the imp said, seemingly taken aback. “That, I did not see coming. Foresight is so tricky that way, isn’t it?”

His giggle grated on her, and she knew her smile was mostly a baring of teeth.

Before she could speak, he went on, “But I do see why you’re here. You think that if you steal him and break the deal, you can defeat Snow White. Clever, clever. But not nearly clever enough. What can you be thinking, trying to steal from me?”

“He’s not a possession,” Neal said suddenly, drawing Rumpelstiltskin’s attention.

The man waved his hand irritably. “Of course not, but-”

“And you don’t legitimately have him in the first place,” Emma cut in.

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. “How do you figure that, dearie?”

“Snow had no right to him to bargain him to you,” Regina said, wanting to draw his attention off of the others. If he figured out who they were-

The little man laughed. “Don’t be foolish. As queen, Snow has sovereign right over every person in her kingdom. You know that perfectly well.”

"Why are you always like this?!” Neal broke in. “It’s all technicalities and contracts with you. Why can't you just be decent and caring for once?" Regina could hear the echoes of old pain in his tone even as she silently cursed him for revealing that he knew so much.

“Who are you that you think you can talk to me that way?” the imp snarled, and Regina felt a prickle of power along her skin.

“Your son,” Neal growled. “Remember, the one you broke a deal with to keep your power?”

That brought Rumpelstiltskin up short. “Bae?” he asked, sounding more like a human man than Regina had ever heard him.

“Not anymore. Not since you abandoned me. I chose a new name, Neal. On my own. I was alone because of you.” Neal was really working himself up now, and Regina was at a loss for how to calm him. “And I’ll be damned if I let you ruin the life of another little boy for your- your schemes!” he finished.

“Can you guys stop talking about me like I’m not here?” the boy in question broke in. Regina felt herself smile a bit at his boldness. Emma’s son indeed.  

“Henry,” Belle said, shaking her head warningly.

“He’s right,” Rumpelstiltskin said abruptly. “It matters a great deal that he’s here. He was meant to be here.”

“What are you talking about?” Emma demanded.

Rumpelstiltskin giggled again. “I foresaw it. The grandchild of Snow White would lead me to my son, who was no longer in the Land Without Magic but had come back to our realm. So, I made him the condition of stopping Regina from sending us there and waited. And here you are.” He opened his arms toward Neal and grinned widely.

Suddenly hearing how it all fit together made Regina’s head spin. Rumple had set her up to cast the curse for his own purposes, the same purposes that led him to betray her in order to stop the curse. And it was part and parcel of Snow stealing Emma’s baby. The both of them were pawns in a grand scheme and connected on a deeper level than she had ever imagined. She was lost for words for a moment, just staring at him. Then she felt Emma’s hand on her arm, warm and solid, and turned to meet her eyes. Emma looked as rocked as she felt, and Regina took a deep breath, because finding out how they had ended up here didn’t help any of them get out.

But Rumpelstiltskin was paying no attention to anyone but Neal. “And now we can be a family again!”

“Like Hell we can,” Neal growled.

“Wait, Snow White is my grandmother?!” Henry put in.  

Everything was spiraling out of control and Regina’s mind worked furiously, trying to think about how to get Henry, get away from Rumple, not get any of them killed.

“You told me I didn’t have a family!” Henry accused.

“You stole my son to get to your own?!” Emma said in the same moment, and oh no, oh no, this was so bad. Everyone was talking entirely too much, and didn’t they know how the imp would use it against them?

“Your son?” Of course Henry would notice that immediately, and he got up and moved toward Emma now, stepping into the middle of the room, and that was going to be a problem if fire started flying.

“Yes,” Emma said simply, taking half a step forward and then stopping, unsure.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Rumpelstiltskin chided. “Hands off the merchandise. I traded for him fair and square.”

“I forbid it, Papa,” Neal said, voice quiet but cold as he stepped between his father and his son. “You will let him go.”

“Bae,” the imp said, a hint of pleading in his tone. “It’s just business.”

“He’s my son!” Neal shouted.

“Your son? I thought I was her son.”

“Someone needs to tell this kid where babies come from,” Victor said, not quite quietly.

“I know where babies come from,” Henry scoffed. “But Snow White’s daughter had a baby with Rumpelstiltskin’s son? That’s kind of hard to understand.”

“Your son?” the imp repeated, his eyes wide and locked on Neal.

Regina realized that he was truly caught off guard for the first time since they had encountered him. Quickly, she made eye contact with Marian and Merlin, who were farthest into the room. A tiny motion of her head was all she could make without drawing attention, but they gave her tiny nods back and started edging around to flank their enemy.

Their enemy, of course, immediately noticed and froze the two of them with a wave of his arm. “Honestly, Regina, why would you think that would work?”

“Papa!” Neal broke in. “Yes, he’s my son. And you will let him go,” he added firmly. “I will stay here as a hostage in his place if you insist. But let him go.”

“You wouldn’t be a hostage,” Rumpelstiltskin insisted, defensive. Then he added, sounding genuinely regretful, “But I’m afraid I can’t do that, Bae.”

“It’s Neal!”

“Neal, then,” he corrected, almost meekly, and Regina was awed to see how his son brought out the man within. Was this what Belle had seen in him, too?

“And why the hell not?!”

“Because my protection is the only thing keeping him alive.”

“What?!” Regina scoffed. “What kind of monster would want to kill a little boy?”

“That would be me,” came a voice behind them. They all whirled. Peter Pan was lounging on the chair Henry had vacated.

[oneshotsandheadcanons]

MASTERLIST!!!

I finally made a masterlist, and I’m hoping this is clear enough for you guys to find the right stuff :)

And gives you an idea of who/what I write for, but I will write for more, so don’t be afraid to ask

 One Shots

Wrestling

Aleister Black

Interview

Feelings

Alexa Bliss

Showing Off

Jealous

Jealous Part 2

I’m The Boss

Confession

Big Cass

Secret Santa

Love/Hate Relationship

Big E

Shut Up And Kiss Me

Bo Dallas

Sacrifice

Braun Strowman

Can I Have Your Number?&Let Me Do That

Secret Admirer

Chad Gable/Shorty G

One-Sided

Broken Elevator (Part 2 to One-Sided)

Together Forever (Part 3 to One-Sided)

Friends With Benefits

Storylines

Chuck Taylor

Competition

Dash Wilder/Cash Wheeler

Why Are You In Your Underwear?

Wedding Day

Accident

Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley

This Isn’t Funny

I Can’t Believe You’re Not Gonna Be Home For Christmas

Last Christmas, You Broke My Heart, But I’m Still Not Over You

We’re Just Friends

Apology (Sequel to We’re Just Friends)

Drew Gulak

Teasing

Enzo Amore

Because I’m In Love With You, And It Fucking Sucks

Are You Gonna Help, Or Stand There, Dancing Like A Fool

I’m Just A Daisy

One Night Stand

Elias

You’re Perfect Just How You Are

You’re Hot

Now, I’m Suddenly Important To You?

Mistletoe

Friends with Benefits

Fandango

Friends With Benefits

Finn Balor

Move In With Me?

I Got This

I’m Getting Married

Christmas Proposal

Jack Gallagher

The Good Guy

Stitches

Terrible Mistake

James Drake

Best Friends

Shopping ‘Mishap’

Jeff Hardy

Y/N Is In Hospital&Don’t Die On Me

Can I Buy You A Drink?

Don’t You Dare.

I Wanna Kiss You So Bad

Jey Uso

We’re Just Friends

John Cena

You’re Sick (Male Reader)

Kenny Omega

I Hate You&I Love You

I Guess I’m Just Tired

Are They Mine?

She’s Innocent

Does He Know About The Baby?

Pole Night

A Bet Gone Wrong

All I Have 

Truth or Dare

Mark Andrews

Bringing Back Memories

MJF

Promo

Mustafa Ali

Halloween

Natalya

Stop Taking Selfies

Neville/PAC

I Can’t Stand Him

You Belong With Me

He’s Not Worth It

You Bought Me A Present? I Thought You Hated Me

Nikki Bella

She Doesn’t Matter

Noam Dar

Experiment

Arrested

Orange Cassidy

Notice Me

Insecurities 

Not-So Perfect Night

Pregnant

Suit Shopping

Dreaming

Paige

Lap Dance

Pete Dunne

What’s Going On With You?

Sami Zayn

Zombies Aren’t Scary&Netflix and Chill

Step-Daddy

Day Off (Male Reader)

Sammy Guevara

Feelings

Seth Rollins

I Could Punch You Right Now (Male Reader)

The Fiend (Male Reader)

Sheamus

Lifeline

Shinsuke Nakamura

Being Somebody I’m Not

Tenille Dashwood

Are You Jealous?

Tony Nese

It Was A Joke

Trent Beretta

Moving In

Trent Seven

Put Some Damn Clothes On&Put That Damn Phone Down, And Pay Attention To Me

Tyler Breeze

Video Game Romance

Back to NXT

Velveteen Dream

Rivalry

If You Can’t Sleep

Xavier Woods

Tell Me How You Really Feel&How Did You Find Out

Christmas Movie Marathon

Matching Costumes

I Need You To Pretend To Be My Boyfriend For The Family Christmas Party

Liquid Courage

Surprise

Flirting

Admissions

Once Upon A Time

Mad Hatter/Jefferson

Let Me Do That (Sub!)

Walking Away

Rumpelstiltskin/Mr Gold

Making Deals

Shut Up and Kiss Me

Baelfire/Neal Cassidy

Feelings

Brownies

Drunk

I Have No Sympathy For You

Did I Ever Have A Chance?

Stories

Marvel

Tom Holland/Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Did You Steal My Hoodie?

I’ll Always Remember You

Chris Hemsworth/Thor

Truth Or Dare (Male Reader)

Sons Of Anarchy

Jax Teller

This Is To Protect You

Man-Child

He’s MY Old Man

Attention

Kidnapped

Juice

He’d Have More If She’d Tell Him

Happy Lowman

I Lost Our Baby

Chibs Telford

Christmas

iZombie

Ravi Chakrabarti

I’m Doing This Because I Love Him

Shadowhunters

Jace Herondale

A Warlock’s Spell

Teen Wolf

Lydia Martin

Leave Her Alone

Harry Potter

Percy Weasley

Dream

Battle Of Hogwarts

Pay Attention to Me

Ron Weasley

Feelings

Draco Malfoy

Picnic in the Park

Gilmore Girls

Jess Mariano

Jealousy

Meeting the Family

Uninvited Guests

Bracebridge Dinner

Finn

Yale Alumni Party

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Family

Halloween (Sequel to Family)

Secrets

Expensive Taste

Forgiveness

Nightmares

Sacrifices

Announcement (Sequel to Sacrifices)

Announcement (Alternate Ending)

Bank Heist

He’s Back

68 Kill

Chip Taylor

Happy Ever After

Now You See Me

Jack Wilder

Showing Him Off (Male Reader)

Helping Hand

The Santa Clause

Bernard the Elf

Arguments

Jealousy

I Want You Back

Second Chance, Maybe?

Umbrella Academy

Klaus Hargreeves

Saving Each Other

Lost and Found

Can’t Help Falling in Love

Riverdale

Malachi

Jealous

Glee

Rory Flanagan

Helping Rachel

Duet Partners

Headcanons

Sons Of Anarchy

Jax Teller

Being Jax’s Girlfriend

Having a Crush

Jealous

Making It Up To You

Self-Defense Lesson

Juice

Jealous

Chibs Telford

Wedding Night

Wrestling

Alexa Bliss

Dating Jealous Alexa

Dating Alexa Bliss

Becky Lynch

Dating Her

Billie Kay

Your First Time (Dom!)

Dash Wilder

Dating & Sex

Drew Gulak

Dating

Elias

Shopping

Jeff Hardy

Jealous

Kenny Omega

Hiding Feelings For Kenny Omega

Noam Dar

Dating

Sami Zayn

Taking Your Virginity

Once Upon A Time

Mad Hatter/Jefferson

Being Jefferson’s Girlfriend

Gilmore Girls

Jess Mariano

Asking You To Marry Him

Dating Jess Mariano

Jealous Jess Mariano

Pregnant And Married

Moving To The City

Shadowhunters

Magnus Bane 

Polyamorous (Also under Alec Lightwood)

Alec Lightwood 

Polyamorous (Also under Magnus Bane)

Texts

Wrestling

Alexa Bliss

Accidental Text

Enzo Amore

Wrong Person

Kenny Omega

Five Months Pregnant

Mark Andrews

Late Night Visit

The Hardyz

Returning at Mania

Sons Of Anarchy

Chibs

Accidentally Telling Him Your Feelings

Juice

Saving Someone’s Life

Whatsapps

Wrestling

Finn Balor

Exactly, How Drunk Are You?&How? How Could You Do This To Me?

[tomeandflickcorner]

OUAT Episode Analysis- Ill-Boding Patterns

Probably not a very good idea to expect this to be a very long analysis.  But this episode actually made Nasty Habits and The Bear and the Bow look good by comparison.  For the record, if any die-hard Rumple fans want to read this, please proceed with caution.  While I don’t necessarily bash him in this one, I do seriously question his logic/reasoning in some places.

So let’s talk about the flashback portion first.  Its right after Rumple became the Dark One, and he pops up in the middle of an Ogre War battle to pretty much disintegrate the ogres.  Although, I do question his claim that he killed ‘all of them.’  If he killed ‘all’ of the ogres, wouldn’t that mean they would have been extinct, and they wouldn’t have been around during the age of Regina, Snow, Charming, Belle, etc? But maybe he just meant all the ogres on the battlefield.  Either way, we’re also introduced to Beowulf in this scene, as he’s among the men who were on the battlefield.  We also see him wielding the fated sword; the one with the red pommel stone.   It apparently was forged with Light Magic, and that the person wielding it was sure to become a hero.  Anyway, sometime later, everyone is at the tavern, singing praises to DO Rumple for having saved them from the ogres.  But then Beowulf comes in, announcing to everyone that DO Rumple killed the ogres with Dark Magic, exposing him as the Dark One.  The weird thing is, the people in the tavern seem genuinely surprised by this reveal.  Why?  I mean, these people have been living alongside Spinner Rumpelstiltskin for years now.  They must have noticed his self-imposed limp is gone, and that he’s now a walking disco ball, right?  What did they think caused the obvious changes?  Really, why was this such a big shock to everyone in the tavern?  

Regardless, time goes on, but now Boy Baelfire is being bullied because his father is the Dark One.   Which is rather idiotic, if you ask me. I mean, they KNOW his father is the Dark One.  It’s like picking on the offspring of a crime lord, or someone in the Mafia.  It’s just something you don’t do.  Because it’s gonna get you killed.  Obviously, Rumple’s not happy about his kid getting picked on, and decides to have a ‘talk’ with the parents of the boys who are bullying him, despite Boy Baelfire begging him not to make it worse.  Out of nowhere, some villages arrive, saying this creature called the Grundel attacked and abducted some of the men in the village. They say Beowolf went off after the monster, but he hasn’t returned, leaving them worried.  Remembering how DO Rumple vanquished the ogres, they want him to go and stop the Grundel as well.  

So they go off to find the Grundel, but DO Rumple’s going on about how he’s not going to use magic because he promised Boy Baelfire he wouldn’t use it anymore.  Which begs the question of how he planned to deal with the Grundel, as DO Rumple didn’t really have any manner of weapon other than his magic. But the even bigger question is why he had Boy Baelfire come with him.  Considering how much he claimed he wanted his son safe from the ogres, why would he bring him along on this dangerous monster hunt?  In any event, on the way, Boy Baelfire finds out that DO Rumple brought his dagger with him, because he didn’t want to risk anyone finding it.  After brief exchange in which Boy Baelfire compares the dagger to his father’s old crutch, DO Rumple entrusts the dagger to his son.  They eventually find the cave where the Grundel lives.  But then it turns out the whole thing was all just a trick set up by Beowulf to frame DO Rumple for the deaths of the men taken from the village.  Because Beowulf wants everyone to see DO Rumple as a monster.  He even manages to wrestle the dagger away from Boy Baelfire in order to Dagger Command DO Rumple to remain with the bodies of his ‘victims,’ so the villagers could see the ‘proof’ with their own eyes.  But when Beowulf starts to go back to the village, Boy Baelfire manages to get the dagger back from him.  And, after some stuff happens, he realizes that no one in the village will believe DO Rumple was framed for the deaths of those men.  So, he ends up Dagger Commanding Rumple to kill Beowulf before he could reach the village.

Okay, so at first, I was all ‘what is this?’  Now, I am not a fan of Neal by any stretch of the imagination, but I did always like Boy Baelfire.  And….wasn’t he always completely against Rumple using his magic?  So I was wondering how they were going to explain away his sudden hypocritical attitude.  But then DO Rumple, seeing his son was planning to continue using the dagger to keep the other kids from bullying him, slips a memory potion into Boy Baelfire’s tea, making him forget everything that happened after they left the cave.  So now, Boy Baelfire believes his father killed Beowulf of his own accord and reacts poorly.  So, fine, that little inconsistency is dealt with.  But now it’s like they’re trying to paint Rumple as a good father who willingly let Boy Baelfire have the wrong idea in order to keep his son from being consumed by darkness.  I don’t know.  That just feels like ‘too little, too late’ to me. Besides, if DO Rumpelstiltskin was this against seeing his son’s heart become corrupted, you’d think he’d have been able to actually go with him through the bean portal instead of displaying a reluctance to give up his power.  So there’s a little part of me that wonders if DO Rumple wiped Boy Baelfire’s memory because he just didn’t like the idea of someone, even his kid, controlling him via the dagger, and that it wasn’t solely out of concern for his son’s soul. Then again, I could be wrong.

On the other hand, the fact that Boy Baelfire was capable of actually wanting to use his father’s status as the Dark One to his advantage does kinda make it easier to connect him with Neal. All this time, I was stumped how such a likable, noble kid like Baelfire grew up to be a colossal d-bag like Neal. But, according to this flashback, the trait of being willing to use unsavory methods to get what he wants was a part of his character all along.  The memory potion DO Rumple spiked his tea with just threw a metaphorical rug over it.

Come to think of it, however, this does bring up a tiny issue.  WAAAAYYY back in S1, when August was trying to masquerade as an Adult Baelfire, Gold decides that August can’t possibly be his son because his son would never try to control him with the dagger.  But again, as this episode shows, Baelfire/Neal was capable of such a thing.  But I can understand how A&E would have forgotten that bit.  After all, that episode aired about 6 years ago.  It’s highly doubtful they go back over 6 seasons worth of material when writing episodes.  The confusing OUAT timeline is proof of that.

Finally, there was that one final detail about this flashback.  At one point (I think it was during the final confrontation with Beowulf, when DO Rumple and Boy Baelfire were realizing no one would doubt Beowulf’s claims against Rumpelstiltskin), Rumple is all ‘it’s okay, because we can just move somewhere else!’  Oh, really, Rumpy-Rumps?  NOW you’re willing to move to another village?  After refusing to even consider moving when Milah was miserable and practically begging for a fresh start somewhere else, you’re able to agree to the prospect, now?  You hear that?  That’s the sound of me throwing a random object across the room in aggravated frustration.

Moving on to the present day, Gideon is still plotting to kill Emma, thinking that doing so will enable him to absorb her Savior powers or something.  Again, I fail to understand how he got that idea, but hopefully they’ll explain in a future episode.  Maybe when he finally figures out that he’s way off base.  But Gold finds him stealing the broken sword hilt from the Sheriff’s Station and magically knocks him out.  He takes Gideon to the clock tower (which seems to have been fixed off camera) and they go on for a bit about Gideon’s dumb plan.  At one point, I did feel bad for him.  He explains how, while growing up in the Dark Realm, the copy of Her Handsome Hero that Belle gave him as a baby had been a huge comfort to him.  Until the Black Fairy caught him reading it and did this whole twisted scheme to break his spirit.  Essentially, she gave him a chance to stop her from beating some other kid, but Young Gideon found he couldn’t bring himself to do anything.  Gideon now feels he acted like a coward, and now he needs to become a hero to redeem himself.  But I say he’s being too hard on himself.  When this incident occurred, Gideon was still a little boy.  Even if he decided to step out of his cell, there was nothing he could have done to stop the Black Fairy from hurting that other kid.  To label him a coward for that is nothing short of victim blaming.  For crying out loud, people.  Young Gideon was a little boy growing up in an abusive environment. He should not be blamed for being unable to fight back against his abuser.  Anyone who says otherwise is a depraved jerk.  Regardless, Gideon’s got it in his head that the only way he can become a hero and defeat the Black Fairy is by killing Emma.  Because he’s somehow convinced that doing so will enable him to absorb her Savior Powers.  Gold, instead of doing the logical thing by pointing out that Gideon could simply ask Emma to help train him in the ways of Light Magic so he’d become strong enough to defeat the Black Fairy on his own, decides to help Gideon repair the Fated Sword. Apparently, it can only be repaired with Shady Blue’s blood.  Because she was the one who forged it?  I didn’t quite follow that part.  Regardless, because Gideon taking Blue’s blood to repair the sword would cause his heart to become darkened, Gold volunteers to take Blue’s blood himself so Gideon wouldn’t have to soil his hands or whatever.  Which is stupid.  It’s like hiring a hit man to kill someone.  Even though it’s not your hand that pulled the trigger, the dead person’s death is still on you.  How is this any different?  I am asking.  And again, it doesn’t explain how Gideon thinks he’ll achieve instant hero status by killing Emma.  But Gold doesn’t seem to be thinking that far ahead.  Not that he’d give a bat’s behind if Emma died, of course.  He’s already proven that he wouldn’t hesitate to trick Emma into suicide in order to regain the power of the Dark One.  So he’s probably not going to really care if Gideon kills Emma.  The weird thing is that Belle seems to be going along with all of this, or at least buys the warped logic that Gideon will be unscathed by the darkness if Gold performs his dirty work for him.  I just don’t know with Belle anymore.  I get that this is her son and all, but he’s planning to kill someone who isn’t supposed to be an enemy because his mind is off on some bizarre tangent.  Not to mention the person Gideon plans to kill is the True Love of one of Belle’s friends.  (Are Belle and Killian still friends?  It’s unclear.)  I really don’t know what to think of Belle right now.

Meanwhile, we get a subplot with Robin Clone.  It turns out the fancy box he swiped from Regina’s vault contains potions he plans to use at the town line in order to get out of Storybrooke.  If you remember back to the start of the season, Evil Queenie put a barrier wall around the whole town to stop Snow and Charming from escaping when the heart-controlled Count of Monte Crisco was on the loose. And because that barrier is still up, no one can leave Storybrooke.  But Robin Clone plans to try with the potions he stole from Regina and even convinces Zelena to come along, while making it known he has no intention of claiming parental rights to Baby Robyn.  When they attempt to bring down the barrier, they’re intercepted by Regina.  They have a bit of back and forth with Robin Clone stating he doesn’t want to live in Storybrooke, as he’ll always feel like he’s living in Robin Prime’s shadow.  In the end, Regina decides to let them go.  But the potions fail to bring down the barrier, so Regina promises she will search every book in her possession to find a way to remove the barrier so Robin Clone can start over elsewhere.  Later on, we get a scene with Regina and Zelena, in which Regina actually acknowledges how pointless her scheme to split herself off from her ‘dark side’ was.  She even seems to accept that she did the stuff Evil Queen did, finally stopping her tendency to treat Evil Queen as a separate entity.  (Whether or not she lets this revelation stick this time around has yet to be seen.) Regina then comes up with a new theory about Robin Clone.  She now feels that he was a test to see if she could move on with her life.  A test she feels she failed.  But just when I was starting to become invested in Regina’s plotline again, Regina and Zelena discover Queen Cobra has gotten out of her cage.  Turns out Queen Cobra tracked down Robin Clone and somehow was able to turn back into a human.  I couldn’t quite follow how it happened, to be honest.  Queen Cobra just bites Robin Clone, and she’s suddenly back to being a human.  However it happened, it now looks like Evil Queen and Robin Clone, who I now liken to a male Lacey, are going to team up and become the dark version of Outlaw Queen.

Finally, we get the tiny scrap of Captain Swan that was featured in the episode.  I have to say, while I knew going into the episode that it was going to be a Rumple centric, I was still disappointed by the lack of attention giving to them. And no, it’s not just my shipper bias talking.  Emma is the show’s main character.  So what’s with her only appearing in this episode for two minutes?  She at least had a bigger role in ‘Nasty Habits’ and ‘The Bear and the Bow.’  Anyway, Killian is in an emotional turmoil after finding out that he was the one responsible for the death of Charming’s father. He spends the majority of the episode at Granny’s, downing multiple shots of rum in an attempt to come to terms with it.  Even so, I like that his first instinct was to go to Archie for guidance, but he had to make do with rum because Archie wasn’t in his office.  When Archie runs into him at Granny’s, Killian admits that, while he knows he could take the secret to his grave, he wants to tell Emma about what he’d learned, even if it meant losing her forever.  Because he genuinely believes this will be the thing that makes Emma change her mind about their relationship.  After a full day of drinking and filling himself up with liquid courage, Killian finally returns home with the intention of telling Emma the truth.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t get the chance.  When he returns home, he’s met with a warm welcome from Emma, who reveals she stumbled across the ring.  She apologizes for ruining the surprise, but invites him to ask her anyway, telling him that her answer will be ‘yes.’ Caught up in the moment, seeing Emma so willing for this to happen, Killian complies by getting down on one knee, proposing on the spot.

Obviously, I have mixed feelings about this.  I am thrilled to see Emma and Killian officially engaged.  And the actual proposal, while not the most flamboyant, was simple and to the point.  Which is probably what Emma prefers.  Not to mention how huge it is for Emma, the woman who once had walls higher than Mt. Everest and stated that she never committed to anything more than one night stands, to actually ask Killian to propose when she learns that was his intention.  At the same time, it does stink that the proposal happened before Killian could admit his role in Robert’s death.  But I don’t fault him for not telling Emma before proposing. Because he came to the house with the sole intention of coming clean.  But Emma pretty much backed him into a corner when she revealed she found the ring he bought for her.  As Killian said in ‘Street Rats,’ he wants Emma to have nothing less than her heart’s desire.  Of course he wouldn’t want to let her down and dash her hopes when he sees her that eager for him to propose.  And you know he’s not going to keep silent for much longer.  I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t spill in the next episode.  I just hope Evil Queen doesn’t beat him to it, seeing as how she’s back.  If she even knows, that is.  It’s unknown at the moment, but the fact that she was the one who made Charming aware that his father’s death wasn’t an accident does make one question what she was trying to accomplish by telling him that.

(Click here to read more Episode Analyses)

[angstbotfic]

Revised: Her One True Love’s a Sailing Ship Ch11

Read at AO3

“What?!” Regina spat, looking at Emma, and Neal, and back at Red again.

“Didn’t you ever wonder how Snow defeated you?” Red taunted.

“The Imp did it for her, obviously. Though,” she admitted, “I don’t know what she had to offer in trade.”

“The condition was Emma’s first born.”  

They all gasped, and Regina turned immediately to Emma, but Neal was the first one to speak.

“My son?”

“Not your son,” Emma snapped. “I carried him for 9 months. I did all the work and suffered all the pain.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Neal said, holding up his hands, and Regina appreciated that he conceded the point immediately. “But I still want to help, to rescue him from this- Imp- person.”

“Rumpelstiltskin,” Regina explained, since that’s who he would likely have heard of.

“What?! My- my father?” Neal jumped to his feet and started pacing.

“Your father?!” Regina demanded, on her feet now too. The man who had corrupted and then betrayed her was the father of one of her most trusted crew members?

“Yes. God. What- I-” Neal sputtered. “I’ve been hiding from him for- well- ever since I came back to this realm- I don’t know,” he gestured irritably, “ten years before joining up with your crew or so. Whatever, it’s why I changed my name.” He turned back to Red. “And now you’re telling me he has my son? Or-” he corrected, “Emma’s son that I fathered?”

“Wait,” Emma broke in. “Let me get this straight. My son was the price for my mother to defeat Regina, before I was even born, let alone him, and the person he was traded to is his- grandfather?”

“The family dimensions are news to me,” Red said. “But yes, the price of the magic was your first born, and so once you had one he was forfeit. But you’ve come back for him, and if you rescue him-” she trailed off.

“The deal would be broken,” Regina finished.

Red nodded. “And then Snow could be defeated. And all magical people could live freely again.”

Emma wheeled on Regina. “Wait a minute. You said the other day that my mother must have had to give up my first born. Did you know?”

“No-” Regina said, horrified, having completely forgotten she said it until just now. “No-no. Absolutely not. Taking firstborns as payment is just something I had heard about him doing. Please believe me,” she added, suddenly afraid of what this would mean for their budding relationship.

“I do,” Emma murmured, stepping close. Her hand twitched like she didn’t quite know if she could touch Regina, and Regina reached out and squeezed her shoulder. Emma nodded.

“So how do we rescue him?” Neal asked.

They turned to him, surprised. “You said you’ve been hiding from The Dark One for decades,” Regina said.

“I’ve been avoiding him for centuries, actually,” he said ruefully.

“You look great for your age,” Marian put in teasingly.

He snorted. “You know time flows differently between realms.” Then he went on, more serious. “Nothing could induce me to go near my father. Except my son.” He looked at Emma, his eyes almost pleading for her not to deny this now.

Emma nodded, and turned back to Red. “So where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

**

“Emma, talk to me,” Regina said quietly. They could only spare a few moments from setting up camp, but the princess had been pensive ever since their conversation with Red, riding silently through the twilight until Regina had called a halt just before it became too dark to see, and she didn’t want to leave her to her thoughts any longer.

But Emma didn’t answer, instead continuing to clear the ground of rocks and sticks so that they could pitch the tent. It had become her nightly task, but the single-minded focus was new.

“Em?” Regina asked again, cursing the little quaver in her voice. “I’m sorry,” she added.

That startled Emma into looking at her for the first time. “Why are you sorry?”

“I wanted revenge on your mother, and you paid the price,” she said simply.

Emma laughed humorlessly. “Or maybe my mother is legitimately evil and we both paid the price.”

“It’s fair to be upset,” Regina coaxed. She needed to get her out of this numbness. “You’ve had a lot of unpleasant surprises lately.”

“It’s not that surprising, sadly. I knew my mother controlled my life. I just thought it only meant she would marry me off eventually, no matter what I did or didn’t want. And I didn’t know she dealt in children, but it seems just like her now that I know about it.” She looked at Regina again, actually seeing her this time. “And now that I know who Neal is related to, it all ties together. I think we were all meant to meet and go confront this mysterious Rumplestiltskin person.”

Time for another revelation. She had hoped to be able to put it off so that it wasn’t so much at once. “Not so mysterious to me. He was my mentor.”

“He was?”

“Yes. Rumpelstiltskin was the one who first taught me magic—which I set out to learn to get revenge on your mother. That’s a piece of this story that I still can’t make sense of. Why stop me after making it possible for me to cast the curse?” She sighed. “I suspect we’ll find out soon enough.”

“In that case, I think we were definitely all meant to meet.”

“Maybe,” Regina allowed, wondering suddenly if Emma felt like what had happened between them wasn’t her choice any more than the rest of it. The idea hurt more than she wanted to admit.

“If I have to go on some wild quest, at least I have you,” Emma said, and her smile felt, in that moment, like a profound gift.

**

Emma stared at her in disbelief. “A dragon.”

Regina nodded.

“When were you planning to mention that this old friend we’re going to see is a dragon?” Emma looked across the campfire at Marian and Neal, clearly realizing they had both known.

“Maybe I should have said something earlier,” she conceded. It wasn’t as if she had been hiding it while they had been traveling for the past few days. They were nearly back to the port now, so there had certainly been plenty of time. It just seemed so routine to all of them to be seeking aid from supernatural creatures that it hadn’t crossed her mind to bring it up. “But it wouldn’t change the fact that she’s the only choice.”

Emma’s brow furrowed. “My son is being held by an incredibly powerful magical being, and you want to go see-”

“Another incredibly powerful magical being,” she broke in before the princess could work herself up. She really should have realized that with Snow’s magic paranoia this would bother Emma. “She’s the only one I know who might know where The Dark One would be keeping your son.”

“I just- You’re friends with a dragon?” Emma was clearly still skeptical.

Marian snorted. “Very good friends.”

Regina sighed. This really wasn’t the time to get into that, but now she had to. “She’s the one I told you about.”

“Your lover was a dragon?”

“She also takes human form,” Regina felt like she needed to explain.

Emma’s brow furrowed, but she nodded, then asked, “And you think she would help?”

“I can’t imagine she would be thrilled with what your mother has been doing. And,” she gave a small smile, “she does have a soft spot for me. Answering questions is not much to ask.”

**

“It’s okay,” Regina murmured, pressing close to Emma’s side. She seemed like she was about to jump out of her skin as they passed through the entryway of the castle.

“We’re walking into a dragon’s lair!” the princess hissed back.

“Well yes,” she conceded, “but she’s also my friend. It will be fine.”

Then came a booming voice, seemingly from the very air around them. “You always were a bold one, Regina.” Regina gave a little amused snort. If she was bold, Mal had a penchant for the dramatic. “I still remember you walking in here when you were just a baby queen,” the voice went on. “Like you were going apple-picking rather than taking your life in your hands by poking a dragon. And now you still act like you have every right to walk on in to my castle when you haven’t bothered to call in thirty years.”

“Twenty-five,” she protested, carefully keeping her tone light.

Maleficent chuckled and materialized before them. “It’s good to see you.” She stepped forward and enfolded Regina in a long, tight hug. When she finally stepped back, she nodded to Marian and Neal, then looked at Emma. “Who is this you’ve brought?”

“This is Princess Emma.”

A little bit of smoke trickled out of Maleficent’s nostrils as she gave an unimpressed snort. “Oh, so you’ve brought me a virgin princess as a peace offering to smooth things over, have you?”

“Uh, no-” Emma said, blushing.

“And actually, that’s why we’re here,” Regina explained.

“Because she’s not a virgin? You know there’s no magic for that. You can fake it, but-”

“Because someone has taken her son,” Regina cut in. “Someone we both know well. I was hoping you might be able to tell us where to find him.”

Maleficent took a step back in surprise. “There’s only one person I know who deals in children, and he is not someone to antagonize.”

“Not antagonize, exactly,” Regina temporized.

“Quick job,” Neal put in. “We get in and out, steal the kid back. He doesn’t even have to know we were there until he notices the boy is gone.”

“The last guy who tried to steal something from the Dark One was flayed alive.”

“Really?” Emma squeaked.

“Yes,” the dragon said with an airy gesture, “some asshole named Robin Hood.”

“Poor guy,” Emma murmured.

“Not really,” Marian muttered darkly. Regina knew the story well. He had been her husband once, but when she miscarried even after he had stolen from the Dark One to save the baby he had blamed her. It had been what drove her to take off on her own—and led her to Regina’s crew.

“Regardless,” Maleficent went on, “while I’m quite a bit harder to flay than a mere human, I suspect Rumpelstiltskin could manage.”

“He doesn’t have to know you were involved,” Regina wheedled. “All we need is for you to tell us where to find him.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Aside from my undying gratitude?” Regina teased. “How does dethroning Snow White sound?”

**

“Oh Regina, you are in so much trouble,” Maleficent chuckled.

Startled, Regina whipped her head back from watching Emma leave. The princess was off to bed, leaving her to catch up with her old friend in the study.

“What do you mean?” she asked, not quite casually.

Maleficent laughed. “You can’t lie to me, little queen. You are utterly enamored of that girl.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted feebly. She should be used to the dragon’s ways by now, and yet she wasn’t. Perhaps she was just out of practice.

Maleficent cocked her head to the side. “I can’t decide if it’s sadder if you think you can pretend, or if you genuinely believe it. By your own admission you’ve known her only a few weeks, and in that time,  you’ve given up on ransoming her for her weight in gold and now you’re off on a wild wizard chase to find her son.”

“She lost her son because of me.”

“The dreaded captain of the Jolly Roger, Pirate Queen of the High Seas, known in whispers as The Evil Queen, Destroyer of Navies would not take on the guilt of some random crime,” Maleficent teased.

“It’s not a random crime. She paid the price for something I did, Mal. I can’t not help her.” She paused for a moment, thinking about what Emma had said about being destined to go on this adventure together.

“What?” the dragon prodded, not teasing now.

“Don’t laugh, because it’s not romantic twaddle, but I feel like there’s a reason we have been connected for- her entire life, really. At her birth, her son was promised as the price to stop my curse, a price paid to Rumpelstiltskin, who turns out to be the father of the man who would not father that child for nearly twenty years, during which time he became one of my most trusted advisers? It’s all too-” she paused, looking for the word. “Too connected. It has to mean something.”

She expected Maleficent to laugh, despite having asked her not to, but looked up to see her looking at her thoughtfully. “That is quite a lot of coincidence, and with Rumpelstiltskin involved may be no coincidence at all. There was always that story that he was seeking something in all his deals. Some sort of magic even he did not have. I had thought it was the curse he found for you, but when he stopped it at the last moment I decided it had only been a rumor.”

“And now?”

“And now I’m not so sure. Do be careful, little queen. The kinds of magics beyond the power even of Rumpelstiltskin are likely to be dangerous indeed.”