#rumple raising bae

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I'm back home for the holidays and I was playing with my cousin (the most adorable toddler ever) and I think I want more fics about characthers taking care of babies. It's cute, soft and makes me smile.

[cinebration]

Too Slow For Me (Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader) [One-shot]

Premise: Of all the bars in all the world, Jake had to walk into yours.

Tagged: @abaker74, @ahopelessromanticwritersworld, @the-romanian-is-bae, @b-bradshaw, @alldaysdreamers, @bat-luna-cat, @solo2leo, @lucy-sky

Warnings: none

Gif Source: topgundaily

When you were hired to work as a bartender for Penny Benjamin at her bar, you thought nothing of it. The Jake Seresin you knew, while an up-and-coming hotshot flyboy, would never make it to TOPGUN, not with his mouth and his inability to play well with others. Working in the bar would be safe, you were sure of it.

Until a year later when Jake walked through the door.

A shock of surprise blasted through you when you recognized his face across the room, heard the familiar sound of his voice. Like suddenly being doused in cold water, you shivered and felt your heartrate skyrocket.

There was nowhere to hide. As the only bartender on duty, you were obligated to stay behind the bar. You couldn’t run even as Jake crossed the room and headed directly to you.

Trying to quell the mounting panic in your chest, your skin suddenly unbearably itchy as sweat broke out beneath your armpits, you forced yourself to stay calm.

He stopped at the bar and leaned his forearms against it. “Two beers.”

He flashed a pearly white smile.

You felt as though you’d been punched in the stomach. Nodding jerkily, you faced away from him to find two beers and pop off their tops, your face burning.

He didn’t remember you.

You handed him the beers and wordlessly took the money he slapped down onto the countertop, everything within you screaming as you fought back the hot tears pushing insistently at the back of your eyes.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said, winking. “What’s your name?”

You quietly gave it to him. A faint crease rumpled his smooth brow.

“Don’t I—”

“Can I get two beers and a boilermaker?” another patron asked, raising their voice over Jake’s.

“Sure thing,” you answered with false cheer, scurrying away with relief to fetch the man’s drinks.

As Jake walked away to join his buddies, he glanced back over his shoulder as though to catch your eye, but you studiously avoided his gaze. Bitterness and pain flooded you as you kicked yourself for being stupid enough to think that working in a bar that catered to Navy pilots wouldn’t make you cross paths with him again.

Maybe, you realized, you had wanted to this happen. Maybe you had wanted the chance…

~~

When you first met Jake, he was fresh out of flight school and hadn’t earned his call sign yet. You hadn’t recognized that his confidence was arrogance and his ego was outsized even for an Navy pilot. You couldn’t see past the charm, his grin, and the mischievous green eyes.

You never expected Jake to even look at you. He seemed to like girls faster than the jets he flew, and you were decidedly not one of them. As you once half-heartedly joked with your mother, you were invisible, particularly to anyone who looked even half as handsome as Jake.

So when he approached you one night, teeth gleaming and eyes glittering in the soft lighting of the bar, cozied up to you, and invited you out to dinner, you could hardly believe your luck. You pinched yourself more than once through the night, so surreal it all felt.

He took you to a middle-grade Italian restaurant that was better than getting pizza and beer but not very extravagant. You didn’t mind, preferring the food to the heavier, richer foods of high-end restaurants. The conversation was stimulating, Jake’s charisma out in full force and the banter crisp and light-hearted. You had never quite so clicked with anyone as you did with Jake that night.

As the evening wound to a close, you were excited to see him again. Before you could say as much, he leaned in toward your ear and whispered, “Why don’t we get out of here?”

Your heart plummeted. Swallowing thickly, you pulled away and muttered, “I’m not…I don’t think so.”

He frowned. “Why not? I thought we were getting along great.”

“We were—are. But…not on a first date.”

He stared at you, the glimmer in his eyes fading. Shaking his head, he exhaled heavily. “You’re too slow for me, sweetheart.”

And he left you standing there, cheeks burning and your stomach roiling.

You hadn’t eaten Italian since.

~~

The night crawled. You exerted all of your energy trying to avoid looking in Jake’s direction or focusing on his voice as he crowed with his friends over winning shots at the dartboard or the pool table. You served drinks and faked smiles at everyone else that came up to the counter.

When the evening waned into the early morning hours, all that remained were Jake and his friends. You could hear the individual tick of the second hand of the clock over their laughter and raised voices, itching for it to be two a.m. so you could kick them out.

“Last call,” you finally yelled with relief.

Jake immediately sauntered over. You wanted to kick your own teeth out.

“Last round of beers for us,” he said, leaning against the counter.

Nodding, you counted heads and proceeded to collect the beer bottles.

“Don’t I know you?”

You froze, your heart thumping painfully in your chest. “No,” you answered. You popped open the first beer.

“Nah, I definitely know you”

You tried to pop off the caps faster, working furiously to hand them to him.

“Wait a minute…” He leaned forward, scrutinizing your face as you handed gave him the last of the beers.

“That’ll be thirty dollars.”

“You’re that girl. Italian dinner, no after party.”

Your cheeks burned. Ducking your head, you tapped the bar. “Thirty dollars.”

“Where’re the beers?” one of his friends called. “Hurry up, man!”

“How’ve you been?” Jake asked, frowning slightly as he dug around for his wallet.

“Why would you care?” you muttered, snatching the money from his hand. You scurried away from him to the opposite side of the room, hiding behind chores.

The group left before you had to kick them out at two. Relief made you slump into a chair with your head in your hands, your stomach slowly relaxing and releasing the knot it had been holding for hours. Somehow, Jake remembering you—or rather, how he had remembered you—was worse than him not recognizing you at first.

You took your time wiping down the tables and booths, stacking the chairs atop them so you could run a quick vacuum over the floor. The chores helped relax you, though bitter sadness lingered tartly in your mouth.

You locked up, debating how to tell Penny that you were quitting, and strode across the sand to the parking lot—where Jake and his friends had set up a stunt course with orange traffic cones, daring each other to do better as they screeched through the obstacle course. Cones went flying as each one clipped corners too hard or fumbled gear changes, the clutch grinding like a creature in the throws of pain.

You hesitated as you watched them, as you watched Jake laughing at his friends’ failures. Leaning against your car, you watched waited for his turn.

Climbing into the car, he revved the engine like he knew what he was doing and took off, burning rubber on the asphalt as he navigated the course. He clipped one cone, then two, before spinning out as a third snagged in the wheel-well.

Everyone laughed and talked shit as Jake climbed out of the car with a sheepish grin on his face. He shrugged it off and said, “Nobody can make this course, man.”

You pushed off your car, tossed your purse into it, and strode across the asphalt to Jake. He sobered as you approached, wariness diminishing the humor in his expression. You held out a hand for the keys.

“I wanna try,” you said.

A quiet ooooo rippled through the group.

“No offense,” he began.

You tore the keys from his hand.

“Uh, knock yourself out, I guess.”

“No way,” someone else said, shaking his head as you passed him to the car. “What’s a civilian gonna do? Total our car!”

You slipped into the driver’s seat and adjusted it before slamming the door shut, blocking out the naysaying crowd’s voices. Inhaling deeply, you glanced at the obstacle course, committing it to memory.

How’s this for fast? you thought savagely.

Kicking the car into gear, you shot forward into the opening of the track. With practiced hands, you shifted seamlessly through gears, the clutch almost purring with relief at not grinding. Coming up to the first pinched turn, you tore around it easily, the rear bumper of the car missing a cone by mere centimeters.

The thrill of the speed rushed through you, making the crowd and the circumstances drop away. You tore around the next turn, looked ahead to see that two scattered cones were a threat to your wheels.

Without hesitation, you slammed on the brakes, sending the car into a slide. Yanking the gear shift into reverse, you pivoted the car into another 180, sliding through both cones and whipping around to finish the last leg of the course.

You streaked through the other side, not a single cone touched in your wake.

Cheers thundered in the silence of the night as you killed the engine and exited the car.

“Un-fucking-believable!” someone shrieked. “Did you see that!?”

The only woman in the group was grinning, a “Niceeeee” hissing past her lips.

Jake trotted up to you. “That was—”

You tossed the keys at his chest. He had to scoop them off the asphalt as you strode across the parking lot to your car.

“Hey, wait a minute.” He hurried to your side. “I want to talk to you.”

“What for?”

He blinked. “I want to buy you a drink, catch up.”

You stopped abruptly, adrenaline still flooding your veins. You stared him directly, the first time you had been able to meet his eye all night. He took a step back under the force of your gaze.

“Why?”

“Because…you’re interesting.”

“I was always interesting, dipshit. You just didn’t stick around to find out,” you snarled.

You took off to your car, leaving him standing there. He tried to catch up, but you were too fast for him.

[chipedteacupchat]

Rumplestiltskin is such a compelling and relevant character and here is why...

His story is about how abandonment, childhood trauma, and labels can affect a person throughout their entire life.

In season 6, we learn that Rumplestiltskin came from what appears to be a normal family, with a mother and father who seemed to love him. However, after a prophecy about Rumple's future, his mother overreacts and gets banished (the only person in his family who truly loved him is now gone). As a result, Rumple’s father blames him, holding this infant accountable for something he could never control. He punishes and mocks Rumple by giving him a name people would laugh at and later tricks Rumple into believing he loved him, only to abandon him in pursuit of eternal youth in Neverland.

Rumple now has to live under the label of his father's cowardice but he is not willing to accept that label yet (notice how I say yet).

Years later, he's married to a woman who seems to love him, and despite his past, he appears unaffected. When called to war, he sees it as a chance to prove he’s different from his father. But a seer warns him that going to battle will leave his unborn son without a father. Realizing he can’t be the hero he imagined, Rumple injures himself to avoid fighting and embraces the label of coward, fearing he might abandon his son like his father did to him. His wife is so ashamed that she lets him raise their son alone, telling him she wishes he were dead before leaving him and their child and so yet another person abandoned him.

A few years later, Bae is old enough to fight because the age limit for the Ogre’s War has been lowered, and they want to force him into battle.

(at this point Bae is the only person left who hasn’t abandoned Rumple and still loves him.)

Rumple has always felt powerless, watching terrible things happen that he couldn’t control. Determined to take control, he steals the Dark One’s dagger, kills him, and lets the darkness bind to his soul to protect his son (in doing so getting the features of a monster).

Stuff goes down as you guys know but then the Blue fairy (the same woman who banished his mother all those years ago)

gives Bae a magic bean to escape. But Rumple doesn’t want to leave because, for the first time, he has magic to control his life and protect himself. Bae convinces him to go through the portal, but at the last moment, Rumple gets scared of losing his power and lets go of Bae’s hand, abandoning his son—the one thing he swore he’d never do. Now, the only person who loved him is gone, and Rumple immediately regrets it, dedicating the rest of his life to finding him.

Because of Rumple's new appearance and magic, people start to give Rumplestiltskin a new label a monster/beast, this label goes hand in hand with Rumple's past trauma and convinces him no one can love him and this Idea about himself is proven further after Cora chooses power over loving him.

Overtime Rumple accepts all his labels as the truth and starts to create a persona around them.

The most interesting part about Rumple's character in my opinion is how he is the foil to Emma Swan. Think about it, both have been abandoned and both have been given labels they have embraced, the only difference is Emma has a great support system while Rumple only has Belle and while Emma's parents regret abandoning her, Rumple's parents wish they did it 20 times worse.

So yeah he definitely has imposter syndrome: In relationships, individuals with imposter syndrome often harbor the belief that they are not good enough for their partner. They constantly worry that their flaws and insecurities will be discovered, leading to their partner leaving them.

If you know someone like this, in real life,

just hug them and tell them they are loved 💖

(sorry this is long and mostly the ramble of a tired person)

[cattapz037]

So y’all know know the episode where Snow and Charming find a unicorn so they can see Emma’s future and are given different visions well I have a theory as to why.

David had a good vision of Emma because he truly believed that she would grow up to be good, no doubt whatsoever.

Snow had a bad vision of Emma becoming evil because she didn’t believe that she would grow up to be good. She had doubts. And since she had these doubts she would do whatever she could to keep Emma from becoming evil but her efforts would have failed and Emma would turn evil (if the curse was never cast and she got to raise her)

Why would Snow raising Emma in a way to unsure she wouldn’t be evil make her grow up to be evil you may ask? Two reasons.

One: If a person learns something happens in the future no matter what path they take to keep that something from happening it will probably happen anyways. Rumplestiltskin is a very good example, he broke his foot so Bae wouldn’t become fatherless only for him to become fatherless went Rumple gave him up for his dagger.

Two: Since Snow truly believed Emma could be evil she would do whatever she could to prevent it and eventually Emma would pick up on her mother’s sentiment and this would lead her to turn evil. For example in the episode where Regina disguises herself as a woman named Wilma Snow keep saying that she believes Regina could be a good person and they could be a family again. Hearing her words Regina decides to change her mind about killing Snow and being a family with her but when Snow finds out who she really is and then turns on her, telling her that she will never be good Regina reverts back to her old self. One person’s actions can influence another’s, so Snow treating her daughter as potential evil would eventually push her down that dark path like it did with Regina

[ouatsnark]

Found this on Pinterest:

Peter: abandons Rumple

Rumple: abandons Bae

Snowing: puts Emma in a tree

Emma: gives Henry up

Regina: Kept Henry despite knowing the fact he was the savior's son and made sure she was able to raise him right.

(insert photo that says 'so put that in your pipe and smoke it)

They said she was the best parent...

(I know it's bullshit.

AND I'd send the photo but I don't wanna deal with the Regina Stans).

Honestly, Snowing had no choice.

Emma had no choice.

Parents giving their kids up for adoption because they can't raise them/know they're better off with someone else does not make them bad people or parents.

Honestly the ones who claim anti-adoption when you point this out make me roll my eyes.

What's really anti-adoption is when you CLAIM no one should be able to adopt or, I don't know, when you say an adoptee is ungrateful because they call out abuse.

Also jokes on anyone who tries to claim I'M anti adoptee because I'm literally adopted.

I'd love to correct them because their simple little list there leaves a lot out of complex situations so they can pretend their opinion is a good one. The truth is:

Peter abandoned Rumple cause he was selfish

Rumple abandoned Neal because he was a selfish coward

David & Snow put Emma in a tree to save her from Regina & free an entire kingdom from a curse

Teenage Emma gave up Henry so he'd have his best chance at a happy, normal, life that she knew she couldn't give him

Regina adopts a child to love her and brings him to her cursed town where she puts her curse and her happiness above his welfare. She's selfish and abusive.

Emma comes back for Henry because she finds out that he didn't get his best chance and needs her and leaves her life behind to help him.

So they can put that in their pipe and smoke it.

I am not sure if the Evil Regals realize this or not or they just don't care but they come off sounding anti-birth parent or judgemental of people going through hard times when they spout off about Emma giving up Henry. Giving up a child to a better life can be a selfless act of love. I'd encourage them to YouTube stories of people reuniting with their biological parents. It's not always a choice the parent wants to make but they make it for the betterment of the child.

And none of us have ever claimed that no one should be able to adopt. None of us have ever said that adoptive parents aren't real parents. They are.

Regina, however, is a fictional character that illegally procured a child that she abused. The Evil Regals need to get over this. It's just a fact.

And you can speak on one specific individual/character without it being a blanketed statement. It's like that meme going around:

Statement: "I love pancakes" Response: "You hate waffles? You're evil!" Like, no, it just means I refuse to say that a specific fictional character that raped, murdered and tortured an entire kingdom and abused the child she illegally adopted is fit to be a parent.

[sentenceme-leni]

Day 62. Saturday. Minimum 6 sentences

---

The electric hum of Regina's tantrum still permeated the living room. There were no visible marks, as her magic was still too weak to form one of her signature fireballs, but Belle had no doubt that Regina would eventually recover her power.

She had been ousted from the mayor's post, just as she had once been exiled from her kingdom. She had lost the love of a sweet boy, albeit a son rather than a lover, and she blamed Snow White for it.

History was repeating itself, and Belle felt sick at the thought of being witness to it.

"She hasn't changed at all," she whispered as she sat heavily on the couch. Decades of victory hadn't placated Regina's bitterness. Raising a son hadn't sparked any lasting kindness in her. "She will destroy this town before she gives up."

"They are keeping her son away," Rumpelstiltskin reminded her as he waved the few pieces that had fallen off back into place. "I would have leveled a few towns if anyone had dared take Bae. Commend her restraint, sweetheart," he added with a rueful smirk. "I do."

Belle closed her eyes.

Twenty-eight years as the mayor's best friend had left her true self struggling to remember that Regina felt absolutely no remorse, no matter how many she harmed.

In the Enchanted Forest, she had learned that lesson the hard way.

Hopefully, sweet little Henry wouldn't have to go through the same.

"Don't compare yourself to her, Rumple," she told him. "You can be just as bullheaded and destructive, sure. But you wouldn't drag your Bae from people he loved, and who loved him."

Rumpelstiltskin turned to her, mouth open though only silence hovered between them for a long moment. She saw the question in his eyes before he finally whispered it: "Wouldn't I?"

Belle extended a hand to him, pulling him next to her when he took it. "You wanted me to return to my father," she recounted. "You let Hood return to his family. You arranged it so Ana could be free of her contract."

"That's different," he scoffed. "None of you were my kid."

"You love him the most in all the worlds," Belle told him as she squeezed his hand comfortingly. "I don't believe you could do less for him than for any of us."

"If he doesn't want to see me..." he started haltingly. "I fear what I would do, Belle."

They would cross that bridge when they got to it.

"You will act like a true parent and give him space. If only because you've seen what happens when someone acts like a spoiled child clinging to their favorite toy." Belle took a deep breath. "You are a better parent than Regina. Never doubt that."

"Henry will forgive her, you know."

Belle nodded. That boy had too much love in his heart, and a large part of it was directed to his mother. Of course he would forgive Regina, should she ever grow up enough to apologize.

Having never met Baelfire, she couldn't promise the same to Rumpelstiltskin.

She did anyway.

"Children always forgive the ones who love them," she said. "Always."

Someone had to have faith.

The End

01/06/24

[darklybound]

☁️ wip you want to write but haven't started yet

🍬 a song for your favourite character

🍓 worst thing you've done to your characters

🌞 favourite character from current wip

🐥 here's some writing motivation!

☁️ wip you want to write but haven't started yet

Okay, I have a plot bunny that I want to work on after I finish the current fic I'm writing. I'm thinking of a Dark Castle AU where Bae doesn't go to the land without magic and Rumple is trying to raise him the best he can while being the Dark One, but he needs help...which is why he deals for Belle to be his Nanny XD

🍬 a song for your favourite character Answered here!

🍓 worst thing you've done to your characters Answered here!

🌞 favourite character from current wip

Current WIP is a Rumbelle short fic so, gotta say Rumple on this one!

🐥 here's some writing motivation!

Thank you! Honestly not sure if this ask is to give me motivation or for me to write something to give some! xD Either way, I'll share something that I use to help me stay motivated. Writing is an art form. It's a creative process; as such, everyone's results will be different. And, everyone writes/creates at their own pace. Try to remember that just because you may be slower, your writing style may be different, or your fics may be longer/shorter than others, that doesn't change their quality or what they mean to you. They are an expression of you, and even if no one else reads them, they are something you created and you should take pride in that. I try to write for myself, as an expression of myself, and keeping that in mind helps keep me writing. (but like also don't be afraid to take breaks! Burnout is so so real, and you can stop if you're not feeling it anymore. It's your art so you have control over it.)

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles--2x16 The Miller’s Daughter

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my   rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump   start the muse again.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a   “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.   Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an   emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as   soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.  

Word Count: 425​​​​​​​

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22) 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And so it came down to this.  Rumple supposed it was inevitable; he supposed the only way the Dark One ever went out was with violence.

What surprised him was his lack of fear. He’d spent a lifetime–several lifetimes in fact–as a coward, so desperate to hold onto his power that he’d do anything, anything to keep it, but now, with the dreamshade surging through his heart, zapping his strength and his will to live, he was just…tired, ready to have it over with.

He didn’t suppose he’d enjoy the afterlife that awaited him.  After all, he’d done more unforgivable things during his tenure as Dark One than he could count.  But he couldn’t worry himself about that now.  He was just So. Damn. Tired.

“A vision told me about you; told me this day would come, but it didn’t tell me everything;” Rumple said, looking up at Cora, standing over him with the dagger in hand, “didn’t tell me what I really wanted to know.” 

Cora sat on the bed beside him, looking at him with something akin to tenderness, if the emotion was even possible for her.  “And what’s that?”

“Did you ever love me?” he asked softly.

He’d loved her; truly he had–not in the way he loved Belle, to be sure, but he supposed he didn’t deserve the love of a woman as pure and good as Belle.  Someone who was so corrupted by her own ambition and inflated sense of self worth as Cora was probably more what he deserved.

Cora’s face softened even more, and she reached an impossibly gentle, gloved hand to caress his face and swipe the damp hair from his forehead.  “Why do you think I had to rip my own heart out?  You were my weakness; you were the only man I truly loved.”

And with that, she stood, raising the dagger high above her head, preparing to plunge it into his chest.

Rumple watched dispassionately, making peace with the inevitable.  He’d made one last play, manipulating Mary Margaret to use the candle to save his life, and he knew he’d convinced her to do it.

But it appeared help wasn’t coming soon enough.  

His last play had failed, and all that was left was to be grateful he’d been able to make his peace with his son and his true love.  It wasn’t enough, but he supposed it was more than he deserved.

He took a breath, waiting for the inevitable, as he endeavored to make his last thoughts thoughts of them.

Belle.

Bae.

                                                                                           NEXT CHAPTER-->

[rumbelleshowdown]

Author: Sonnenblume

Prompts: Every day. Monster, fear, cold sweat. Celebrity.

Group: B

-

Rags to Riches

All of the rags-to-riches stories Rumpelstiltskin had ever heard had happy endings, their heroes and heroines envied for the riches and prestige they acquired. 

Rumplestiltskin’s own rags-to-riches story thus far hadn’t gone that way at all.  

The rags part of his tale was about as rags as rags could get. A lame spinner, raising his son alone after his wife left him for a pirate. Whose boy- his world, was soon to be drafted into the same war that crippled his father. Until-

A miracle. 

Rumpelstiltskin had been spinning, pouring his every emotion into his work when lo and behold- 

The wool between his fingers turned to gold. 

In most stories this would be the part where everything turns around for the better. 

But that sort of thing never happened to Rumpelstiltskin. 

Within a day of bribing the soldiers to allow their escape, those very same soldiers returned to snatch him off of the road. They threw Baelfire to the ground, tossed Rumple across a horse, and rode off. Leaving his son behind.

Now Rumple was an oddity - the Duke’s thing that filled his treasury with more gold than he could ever spend. Every day like a prized canary, he was placed in an ornate cage to be ogled by the lords and ladies who came from far and wide to watch him spin. 

“Why, he could spin for kings someday!” His aunties had been so proud when he’d shown talent at the wheel as a boy. If they could see him now, he doubted they’d think the life of a celebrity to be so flattering. 

Days dragged on into weeks, every day filled with spinning, taunting, and wolfing down whatever meager “reward” the Duke determined he’d earned. 

Until one day, Rumpelstiltskin got sick.

His head began to throb. 

Mucus filled his chest and airways. 

He began to sweat and shiver. 

Then his cage began to close in on him and the world came out of focus. His audience became a pack of wheezing asses and the Duke transformed into a nightmarish hog-like monster! 

Rumplestiltskin awoke in a cold sweat, in a part of the castle he’d never seen before. His body was sore, but the bed was comfortable and he was cold- so cold. 

He rose to move nearer to the fire, but gentle hands guided him back down. “You must be still, Rumpelstiltskin,” said a voice. “Your body and heart have grown weary as to allow a great sickness to overtake you.” 

And a vision entered his sight - a blue eyed beauty that would surely put even the goddess Aphrodite to shame. 

“A craftsman and a flatterer, Rumpelstiltskin. Do your talents know no bounds?” 

She giggled, her voice rolling off her tongue in the accent of a foreigner. 

He then realized that in his feverish state, he must have mumbled at least some of that out loud. 

A cool cloth was pressed to his forehead. “Your fever is high. You are an endurer. You must’ve been sick for days before you passed out in the middle of the Duke’s court.” She procured a bowl of warm broth and returned to his side, feeding him a spoonful at a time. “You worked yourself nearly to death. Why for a man who cages you and steals the spoils of your gift as his own?” 

Quietly, Rumplestiltskin gasped out, “Bae…” 

His son. His beautiful, brave Baelfire. Out there all alone. If anything happened to his boy, he would truly become dust. He had to find him! 

“I see,” she said, dipping the spoon in the broth once more, “A father seeks to return to his son. There’s more to your story than being able to spin straw into gold, Rumplestiltskin. And you know, I have always been fond of a good story…” 

She said it so thoughtfully. But… When had he said Bae was his son?

She shivered and tightened her shawl around herself. “The Duke’s castle is much too cold. It’s a surprise that his entire court isn’t as chilled to the bone as you.”

Wordlessly, Rumpelstiltskin tugged a blanket off of himself and held it out to her with a trembling fist. 

Foreigners didn’t take well to the harsh Frontland winter. It wouldn’t do for one as kind and beautiful as her to freeze. Better him to suffer winter’s bite than she. 

What a pathetic sight I must be, he thought. Quivering and wheezing yet still offering what little he had to give. 

But she smiled as she took the blanket, then took his hand in hers. 

“You’re so kind,” she said reverently, “even when you’re suffering, and the world has been so cruel to you.” She planted a kiss upon his knuckles, as a knight may a maiden, then looked up at him with a coy smirk. “You know I had come here tonight to test you,” she whispered, leaning in. “But you’re making it very hard.”

… Maybe the fever was addling his brains, but Rumplestiltskin was confused.

She placed his arm back on his chest and tucked the blanket back around him. Then she reached into her pocket and procured a small bottle. 

“Take this,” she said as she uncorked it. “You’ll sleep deeply this night. And come morning, you shall be well.” 

Whatever it was, the taste of it was terrible. But he was too weak and weary to complain.

“Rest well Rumpelstiltskin,” said the beauty as the welcome haze of sleep overtook him. “And tomorrow… you will be free.”

When Rumpelstiltskin awoke come morning, he had to wonder if she had been some feverish fantasy. A different physician was at his bedside and according to the servants, none other had seen to him. 

Not that he had much time to ask around. The moment the Duke learned of his returned health, Rumpelstiltskin was seized by his men and returned to the wheel within the cage. 

“I don’t give a damn what a miracle it is,” Sir Hordor scoffed as Rumpelstiltskin scrambled to get started. “It’s women’s work. Makes you wonder doesn’t it, men?” He licked his lips. “What else old Spindleshanks can do as well as a woman?” 

A shiver ran through him as the soldiers laughed. 

But suddenly the laughter disappeared. And a stunned silence fell over the court.

For the soldiers had been engulfed in indigo smoke. And when it cleared the men were gone, and in each of their places was a single rose. 

Footsteps echoed across the chamber. Delicate clawed fingers plucked what had been Hordor from the floor. Rumple’s eyes followed the rose as the lady lifted it and- 

It was her. Dressed in leather and silk. Skin shining gold. Rumpelstiltskin knew her at once, for who she truly was. 

The Dark One. 

She smiled at him, just as she had before, and held the rose through the bars. “There,” she said, “not so frightening in the end, now is he?” 

Not daring to be rude, Rumple was trembling as he bowed his head and took the token. “My Lady,” he thanked her quietly. 

“Dark One!” The Duke bellowed. “You have no place nor business here! Begone, she-witch!” 

“My business is not with the likes of you,” she scoffed, dress sweeping across the floor as she turned. “I found quite the desperate soul upon the road - a boy. As courageous as he was poor. I made a deal with him: that once reunited, he and his Papa may serve me. If only I am a good mistress and return his stolen father to him from the cruel Duke of the Frontlands!”

“Get out. Leave!” The Duke shouted. 

“-And so!” 

With a flourish she turned, and the cage burst into hundreds of golden butterflies.

With a bow, the Dark One offered him her hand. “- I have come to keep my word. If you will have me, Rumplestiltskin.” 

“SPINNER! YOU CANNOT GO WITH THIS… BEAST!” The Duke bellowed.

The spinner mustered his courage and stood from the stool, his weight upon his good leg. “You are the only monster here,” Rumplestiltskin replied.

He tried to go to her, but his ankle gave way and he tumbled into her arms. 

“F-forgive me, My Lady,” he stuttered, blood rushing to his face. “My ankle- without my walking stick I-” 

But she merely giggled, picked him up under his thighs, and hoisted him over her shoulder as a knight may a maiden. 

“M-My Lady!” He stammered. 

“Fret not Rumpelstiltskin, your boy shall soon return your stick. And until then I am plenty strong to carry you!” 

Strangely, though he couldn’t help but be aware of the way their bodies were touching, Rumplestiltskin wasn’t opposed to his current position. He wasn’t afraid nor embarrassed. He felt… safe. 

“And the rest of you!” She declared, “When the stories spread - and I’m sure they shall, let them be of the love between a son and his father!” 

And she whisked him away, into the tearful embrace of his son, to their happily ever after. 

-

[curious-kittens-ocs]

1 and 5 for Aspen, please? ^^

Turns out I made this longer than it should have been... or it needed to be this long because I love Avira/Aspen so much. Either way I'm dong a cut here. (There is a gif at the end :P )

I really love the ask thank you so much!

Where was your oc born?

Avira was an accident with Milah and Rumpelstiltskin, she was born in the small cottage they shared soon after the two of them married, in the Enchanted Forest. it was a difficult birth for Milah. The two of them didn't know if Avira would survive the night, turns out she's a fighter.

Describe your oc’s parents.

Milah expected more of her life than to be the wife of a spinster so she was often neglectful of Avira at the start. She realized later as she raised Avira that they shared Milah's love of stories and the idea of exploring the world. A good mother, taught her a lot. She always helped in whatever Avira wanted to achieve. Rumpelstiltskin was in awe of both Milah and Avira when she was born. Of course he expected a son, to carry his lineage on. But the first time he laid eyes on her small delicate face he was smitten. He would do anything for her. The same could be said for their son, Baelfire. He's a doting father and doesn't want her to be hurt by the hardships of the world.

What was your oc’s childhood like? 

Often she found herself hanging onto her mother's dress. Watching everything she would do, hearing every word said. She wanted her mother's attention and often felt like she was ignored. When Rumple left for war she didn't understand it and felt sadden that he chose to leave home to fight. Milah then told her that she was going to have a younger sibling and so a lot of the house work became hers to do. When her brother Baelfire was born she often was stuck watching Bae while Milah would leave home, to who knows where.

Describe one of your oc’s favorite childhood memories.

She loved dancing with Bae by the bonfire that happened when holiday's took place. It was a key moment where she felt like she could be a kid, instead of a acting mother. Another great moment is when Bae and her found some leather and made each other matching bracelets. Their father, the dark one by now, spun a thing of straw to gold and interwove the golden chain through the two strips of leather braided together. It is Avira's prize possession. The bracelet - their family.

Describe one of your oc’s least favorite childhood memories.

Losing Baelfire. She had already lost her mother to 'death'. But knowing her father chose power over Bae broke her. It is a key point in their relationship. She was going to go with Bae, the two of them had agreed on it. When Avira went to jump her father used magic to blast her away from the bean portal. Their Avira finds something within herself and when they return home she figures out she has magic and sends the dining table across the cottage at her father. Running away later that night.

[kelyon]

Dark Mistress 32: Unification

Happy ever after, Or: Bae gets kissed a lot

Mood music for the beginning of the chapter

Read on AO3

All Baelfire knew was light. 

Everything was a white and gold rainbow, a shifting mass of colors that grew and spread in every direction. It was brighter than the half-moon in the sky, brighter than the lying twinkles of the Blue Star. It was brighter than any fire he had ever seen, brighter than daylight on the sea in summer. It was like the sun had burst in front of him, but there was no pain, no burning. It didn’t even hurt to look at. Baelfire stared into the swells of light, and he felt all the goodness in the world. 

Belle was in the middle of it. The light had pulled her out of his embrace and buoyed her up into the air. She lay back into the swirling, gold-bright glow, as limp and relaxed as she would be floating in a mill pond.

He was able to tear his eyes away from the light just long enough to see that Papa was staring at it too. He held Gideon under his cloak and gaped up at Belle. His eyes were wide, shining with the magic reflected in them. 

Above them, Belle’s body began to move. Her arms and legs shifted in the currents of brightness. Tendrils of glowing gold wrapped around the curls of her hair. The light cradled her face. It moved over her body, glowing through her cloak and her dress. Her eyes stayed closed, but she smiled at the supernatural touch. Baelfire wondered if the light was as soft and as warm as it looked.

He squinted, tried to get a better look at what was happening. With all the light around her, Belle seemed to be changing. The colors of her were different. Her white skin glowed from within so it looked soft pink, with none of that snake-skin texture. Her lips weren’t black anymore. Her hair had taken on the light that had surrounded it, so now it was brown with hints of gold. When she opened her eyes, they weren’t the Dark One’s eyes. They were normal, human eyes, white and blue. 

Shining with tears. 

It was all over so fast. After a few heartbeats, the light began to fade away. Baelfire understood that it was being absorbed into Belle, like dye into wool. She took in the glow until all of it was gone. Then she sank to the ground and landed gracefully on her feet, still wearing the boots Papa had bought for her when she had first come to live with them. 

None of them spoke or moved in the clearing. The light was gone but Belle was still changed. For a long moment, all she could do was stare at her hands. They were small and dainty, pale but not white. Her claws were gone. She clenched one hand into a fist, then unclenched it and wiggled her fingers. 

Slowly, she raised her eyes to Baelfire. She looked the way she had on the day Yahn and Tabat had come to the farm, when she had disguised herself with magic. Only now did Baelfire realize: That hadn’t been a new face. It was her old one. This was what Belle looked like without magic. This was who she used to be, who she really was.

“Bae.” Her voice was the same, gentle and low, heavy with emotion. “I love you too.”

She was weeping. She was smiling. She stood with her arms open and all Baelfire could do was embrace her again. He hugged her so fiercely he lifted her off her feet. He spun her around in his joy. She was alive! She was free! She wasn’t cursed anymore! No one would ever try to hurt her again!

She was all light now. He loved her so much. 

When they stopped spinning, Papa was beside them. He had Gideon in one arm and the other reached out to Belle. Tentatively, he took her hand. He rubbed his thumb over her skin. Without a word, Baelfire took Gideon from his father’s arms. His parents needed a moment together.

Papa’s eyes moved up Belle’s body. He drank her in slowly, as though he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing and touching. He rubbed one of her curls between his fingers with the same motion he used on yarn. He held her jaw in his hand and she leaned into his touch.

“Oh, Rumple,” she murmured. 

“Belle,” he breathed. “It’s you.”

Her blue eyes shone as she smiled at him. “It is me!”

“It is a miracle!” He drew her into his arms and embraced her like Baelfire had. Then he kissed her on her mouth, long and deep and lingering.

It was a little embarrassing to watch, if Baelfire was being honest. He wasn’t used to seeing passion like that, even from them. He had no memories of his father and mother ever exchanging affection. Since Belle had come to live at the farm, the two of them had managed to keep their hugs and kisses chaste when he was around. This kiss was so unchaste Baelfire wondered if he should turn away, head home with Gideon so they could be alone together. 

But it didn’t disgust him. He understood--or at least, he was willing to understand. In a few years, he would be a married man, he had to understand these things. At least it was nice to see that romance wasn’t always mutual shyness and uncertainty. Sometimes you could fit with a person, with your body as well as with your heart and your mind. Hopefully, he and Morraine would be able to kiss the way those two were. Hopefully, they would kiss like that often. 

Belle was the first to remember that Baelfire was standing nearby, making a very careful examination of his shoes. She broke Papa’s kiss, though she quickly replaced it with a smaller one of her own, like a consolation. Holding him by the hand, she came over to Baelfire and Gideon.

“You marvelous boy!”

She hugged him, hugged them both. Then Papa joined in and they were all together, all a family.

“How did it happen?” Baelfire asked. “What did I do?”

“It was True Love’s Kiss, of course!”

The Blue Star swooped around the circle of the clearing, trailing her magic behind her. At the sight of her, they all gripped onto each other. Baelfire clutched Gideon, and Papa pulled Belle and Baelfire close. As the Blue Star got closer to them, Baelfire noticed how her gaze scanned over the ground. 

“She’s looking for the dagger,” Belle whispered as they huddled together. “She won’t find it, it doesn’t exist anymore. That gnat needs to leave us alone.”

Belle broke away from the group. Hands on her hips, she stood between her family and the roving Blue Star. She had no magic, nothing about her was terrifying anymore, but she was just as ferocious as ever.

“You,” she growled up at the buzzing ball of sparkles. “I thought I got rid of you.” 

The Blue Star gave a dignified, throaty chuckle. “Not half so neatly as I got rid of the Dark One.”

Baelfire looked up. He made sure Papa had Gideon, then went to stand by Belle. “Wait,” he said to the Blue Star. “Was this your real plan, all along?” 

“All along? Not at all.” Her smile was that of a cat that had gorged itself on cream. “But it worked. I knew I was right about your heart, Baelfire. You are pure! You are a hero. You broke the curse with your love!”

He brushed off her praise like so much glittering dust. “If I had done what you asked, Belle and Gideon would be dead, and I’d be cursed forever.”

“Mmm-hm!” She nodded, sparking with pride. “And that would have lessened the Dark One’s taint well enough. But this is so much better! You defeated the curse, Baelfire. You destroyed the Dark One for all time!”

“This won’t stop evil from happening,” Belle said sternly. “Just because dark magic doesn’t have a living vessel anymore, that won’t keep it from existing.”

The Blue Star scoffed. “That doesn’t matter. The realm of darkness is now a kingdom without a queen. Everything is scattered, and all the petty magics will run and hide to their dark corners like the vermin they are. Rats to be caught and killed, one by one, until they’re gone forever.”

“Yes, that works so well against actual rats,” Belle muttered. Then she looked up at the Blue Star again. “Whatever your holy quest, keep us out of it. Myself and my family have had enough of magic, dark or light. Leave us now and never come back!”

She sniffed and looked down her tiny nose at them. “I was going to give you all gifts in return for the service you’ve done for us. But if you’re going to be rude and ungrateful, then I’ll be on my way.”

“That’s all we want,” Baelfire said. Right now the thought of a gift from that creature was enough to turn his stomach.

“Farewell, then, little humans.” She waved her arm over them like a queen. “I hope for your sakes you never need a magical favor, because you won’t get it from me!”

She floated up into the sky and became a star again. An insignificant pinprick in a world of darkness that was quickly giving way to the true light of dawn. 

Baelfire turned to look at Belle. It was so strange to see her like this, to see her look normal. She was biting her lower lip and it shocked him to see her with human teeth. How had he done this? What had he done to transform her so completely? Just love her? It seemed too easy. 

“Was the Blue Star right?” he asked Belle. “Is there something special about me, that I could break your curse?”

Belle’s eyebrows furrowed, but she smiled at him. “Of course there’s something special about you, Bae. You’re you! You’re the only one who could make this family work, so you loving me meant I was really a part of it.”

“What--”

“You know your father loves me. And I love Gideon with my whole heart. But if either of them broke the curse, a part of you would always think I was a monster.”

“Oh is that it?” Papa came up to join them, holding Gideon. “Because we loved you as you were, there was no need for you to change?”

“I think so.” Belle wrapped one arm around Papa, and held Baelfire’s hand with the other. “You’re so besotted, and Gideon is so young, it’s like the two of you didn’t have a choice but to accept me.”

“And I did,” Baelfire said softly. “I had a choice.”

“You make us a family, son.” Papa put his hand on his shoulder. “More than we would be without you.”

“And that broke Belle’s curse.” He looked at her. “Being a mother made you human?”

“Being your mother,” she clarified. “It wasn’t just caring for a baby, but loving someone who didn’t love me back at first. It’s rather a thankless task, but I needed to do it. I needed someone who couldn’t accept the darkness but who still loved me. You, Bae, you didn’t love me as a monster, you loved me in spite of it. When you chose to love me, it meant that me was all you thought I was. And then, well…” 

She lifted her arm to indicate her new body. Then she put her hand on his other shoulder, next to Papa’s. She looked into his eyes.

“Every part of me that is Belle and not the Dark One, that’s what you love, Bae. For a hundred years, that’s all I’ve wanted to be. And now it’s all I am. Everything else is gone.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, my beautiful boy.”

Wordless, overcome, Baelfire spread his arms to hug all of them at once. At last, they were all really together as a family--his father, his brother, and the mother he had always needed. 

****

A few weeks later, it was spring. Market days in town became busier as the roads cleared and farmers came in for supplies. With the warmer weather, Belle and Gideon took to coming along and helping to sell. Gideon was especially good at drawing crowds of young girls, who wanted to hold him and pinch his cheeks and make him laugh--and since they were there, they might as well buy a spool of yarn or two. Papa joked that if he had known a baby was so good for business, he would have had another one years ago. 

Belle got along well with people in the village. Even if some of them were downright nosy with questions of who she was and where she came from and what in the name of all the gods was a pretty lady like her doing with Rumpelstiltskin? She laughed them off cheerfully, told some half-truths about being from a faraway kingdom that was lost to the Ogre War. She never said which Ogre War, and Baelfire didn’t blame her. He’d learned by now that telling everything to everyone was just asking for trouble. Town gossips didn’t need to know the real story, not about Belle or Gideon or anything that had happened to his family in the past two years. 

There was only one person who didn’t know everything, and needed to. 

When a couple became engaged to each other, it was law that an announcement be made three times in a public place. It was tradition for the announcement to happen in front of the temple on a market day, first by the groom’s father, then by the bride’s, and then by the groom himself. Papa had declared the match back in the fall, after the terms of the betrothal were settled. Apparently Yahn had made a big show of announcing it at the solstice celebration inside the temple--though the occasion was dampened a bit by the fact that Baelfire’s family didn’t make a practice of joining the village in seasonal rites and they weren’t present at the time. 

Today, it would be his turn. Belle and Tabat had it all arranged. Before the day ended, he would make the final announcement of intention. Then his family would go to Morraine’s house for a feast, the first official joining of the households. Yahn had set a hog aside and kept it fat through the winter, just for this occasion. It had been slowly roasting all day in their back yard. Baelfire could swear he’d been catching whiffs of the smell in the marketplace, every time the wind changed. 

But first, he had to see if all those preparations would be for naught.  

He came up to his parents. Papa was sitting in the shade of the awning they’d set up. He had Gideon perched on his knee and was twirling a feather in front of his face to get him to grab it. Gideon reached out his chubby arms and opened and closed his hands while babbling his determination. Baelfire couldn’t believe how much his brother had grown already. It seemed every day he was doing something new. He was still so small, but always so much bigger than he had been the day before.

Belle was in front of the old barrow, showing a woman the embroidery she had added to a linen handkerchief. Knowing Belle, the customer would walk away with either the handkerchief or a few spools of embroidery thread. It had been two years since the war ended, and people were ready to start adding color and decoration to things, either on their own or by paying someone else. Belle had a skill that made ordinary objects beautiful, and customers saw the value in that. Papa enjoyed the challenge of spinning thread fine enough to meet the task.  

They were doing well. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Baelfire wasn’t worried about how much money his family had. They had a future, all of them. 

He wiped his hands on his breeches and cleared his throat before he spoke. “Would anyone mind if I walked around the market for a bit?”

“Of course not!” Belle slipped him the coin she had just taken from the departing customer. He knew without asking that it was his to spend however he wanted.

“Tell Morraine we said hello,” Papa grinned.

Baelfire swallowed. He was more nervous than he had been in a long time. “Um, yeah,” he said. “I will.”

**** 

He found Morraine by the town well, laughing and chatting with some other girls. All of them were pretty, but Morraine drew his eye like a beacon. Her golden hair was braided up and covered by a kerchief, but he knew how it would fall down her shoulders in waves when it was loose. The curved line of her neck meeting her shoulder made his fingers itch for charcoal. He wanted to draw that beauty, keep it forever.  She clutched an empty ewer to her chest as she talked, her brown eyes flashing bright. 

And her smile. Her perfect triangle smile. None of the other girls had a smile like that. No other boy in town got to see it the way he did. Soon, he would get to make Morraine smile every day for the rest of his life. She was his bride. She was his future. She was everything. 

Or would be. 

If she didn’t hate him after he told her the truth. 

It would be scandalous for him to walk up to her in the middle of the village square and ask her to go somewhere private. Even though they were promised--especially because they were promised. They weren’t children anymore. A courting couple didn’t have the innocent excuse of doing chores together as a way of spending time alone.

So he stood on the fringes of the square and waited to catch her eye. It was a tricky thing to stand out enough that she would see him, but not so much that her friends or any busybodies would make a fuss about him staring at her. 

He knew when she saw him, because she looked away at once. Then her gaze found him again, and she tried not to smile. Baelfire nodded at a nearby alley, then began to walk toward it. Looking back would only make him look suspicious, so he kept his eyes forward. He trusted Morraine. She would follow him.

The alley was empty and cleaner than most. A beam of afternoon sunlight splashed across one of the walls. None of the buildings on either side had windows that faced this way, so no one emptied slop buckets here. It’d be harder for anyone to listen in on them too. 

Baelfire tried leaning against one wall and then the other, not comfortable in any position. If he had something to do with his hands, that might have calmed his nerves a little. If he had a drop spindle right now he could make a whole skein of yarn in ten minutes. 

Moraine didn’t keep him waiting ten minutes. She appeared at the mouth of the alley, holding her ewer in both hands. 

“It’s a good thing I know you’re a respectful boy, Baelfire.” She smiled at him with a gleam in her eyes. “Or I might think you had wicked intentions.”

Baelfire gulped. Gods, he wished he had wicked intentions. They would be easier to handle than the noble intentions he was wrestling with. 

“Is that heavy?” he blurted out, He held his hand out to her water jug. “Do you want me to hold it?”

“How sweet you are!” She smiled and handed it to him. 

Full of water, the big ewer was heavy. But the weight steadied him, and this was certainly something to do with his hands. Besides, that was the whole point of being with someone, wasn’t it? To help carry their burdens?

He hoped Morraine would be able to carry the burden he was about to share with her. 

“There--” His voice came out as a squeak. Moraine giggled, but only because it was funny. Baelfire swallowed, licked his lips, and started again. “There’s something I have to talk to you about, before I make the announcement later.”

She cocked her head at him. “Yes?”

“It’s…” He took a breath. “It’s sort of a secret. A family secret. I want you to know now. That way, if it makes a difference, well…” He trailed off, took a deeper breath. “Then you won’t have to marry me if you don’t want to.”

Morraine’s eyebrows furrowed together. Her brows were a darker shade than her hair, they gave her confusion a strong definition. “My mother already told me that your mother ran away with those pirates and wasn’t really kidnapped.”

He blinked. “What? No, that’s not--”

“Did you not know?” Her eyes went wide. “Baelfire, I am so sorry if--”

“No, no! It’s not about my mother, it’s about Belle!”

It was Morraine’s turn to blink. “Belle?” she asked. “What’s so secret about Belle? Is this about her and your father’s love affair?”

“No, not-- I mean.” He sighed. “Belle used to be under a curse.”

“A curse?” Even in her excitement, Morraine was smart enough to whisper. For most people, magic was rare and mysterious. Even talking about curses was risky. “What kind of curse?”

“A bad one,” Baelfire said. “The worst one, I think. It’s broken now, but… But I thought you should know. Especially if you still want to marry me and live with us.”

Instead of being horrified, Morraine only looked more fascinated. “How did it break? What kind of curse was it?”

“It’s…” Baelfire shifted his weight, adjusted his hold on the ewer. “For a long time,” he said, “this is, for a hundred years, Belle was… the Dark One.”

He said the last words in a whisper. After hearing them, Morraine didn’t speak at all. Her mouth moved, her head tilted, her eyes widened and narrowed by turns as she worked through the news in her mind. 

“The Dark One… is a woman. Everyone knows that. She’s supposed to be beautiful. And she was here. I remember those rumors around my birthday last year, that she was haunting the forest.”

Baelfire nodded. “That was Belle. She was… involved with my father.”

Morraine put her hand to her mouth to cover her laughter. “That was him? Oh, no wonder Rumpelstiltskin is so smitten!”

He had never thought it was a laughing matter, but at least Morraine was taking the discovery better than he had. She kept giggling, a little nervously, but mostly out of amusement.

“Never thought I’d see the Dark One selling yarn and thread in our village marketplace.”

“Well she’s not the Dark One anymore,” Baelfire said. “I told you, the curse is broken.”

“How did that happen?”

He wasn’t sure where to look, at the ground or at her face. He settled for looking at the wall just over her shoulder. “It was True Love’s Kiss,” he said softly. 

“Oh that’s so sweet!” Morraine gushed. “Of course! Your father loves her so much! It makes perfect sense that he--”

“It wasn’t my father,” Baelfire cut her off gently. He looked down, to look into her eyes. “I broke Belle’s curse,” he said. “I love her. So much. Enough to keep her from being the Dark One.”

Morraine took a step away from him. Her smile faded from her face. “Baelfire, what are you telling me?”

He understood at once, and closed the space between them. “No! No, Morraine, sweetheart, I--” He shifted the ewer so he could hold it in one hand, With the other, he reached out and cupped her cheek. “I-I promise, I love Belle as my mother. Nothing else. I love you, and I want to marry you. But I had to let you know about this, in case you didn’t want to be with me after you knew. It’s a family secret, and I wanted you to know before you became my family.”

Her face softened, her eyes were warm with understanding. “Do you really love me?”

He had said that, hadn’t he? And he had meant it. “Yeah,” he said. “Yes, Morraine. I love you.”

She glanced quickly at the mouth of the alley, making sure no one was looking at them. Then she pulled herself up to whisper in his ear. 

“I love you too, Bae.”

Very quickly, she kissed him on the lips. Before he could kiss her back, she stepped away, and took her ewer out of his unresisting grasp.

“I’ll keep Belle’s secret,” she promised. “Even from my own mother. When we get married, I’m going to be a part of your family, just like Belle is now.” Her lips quirked and she smiled her triangle smile. “Can’t have bad blood between me and my mother-in-law!”

****

That night, at the feast, everyone was together at Yahn and Tabat’s house. Baelfire and Morraine sat side by side on a long trestle table, with their fathers next to them, and their mothers after that. All of Morraine’s brothers and sisters ran wild, taking their wooden plates and eating wherever they sat. Her older brother Toma stayed by the roasting hog, basting the meat and turning the spit and cutting off extra slices whenever one of the children asked for more. Morraine’s youngest sibling was over a year old now, toddling around the yard on their own--but always looked after and shooed away from the fire. 

Gideon spent a long time watching the older baby. Baelfire could see his brother puzzling out how someone about as small as he was had figured out that walking thing that all the big people did. He kicked his legs and made little grunts as he considered it. Gideon was so excited by all the other children that he refused to be put in his basket. He was passed along from one end of the trestle table to the other, every adult holding him by turns while they ate.  

After the meal, Papa brought out a glass bottle of real wine. He poured it out, and they each made a toast celebrating the match and wishing all the happiness in the world for Baelfire and Morraine. 

“And what about you?” Tabat asked after Papa had given his toast about how much happiness could be found in a good marriage. “When are you going to make an honest woman of that girl?”

Belle and Papa stared at each other. Both of them looked like the thought of them getting married had never occurred to them. 

Blushing, Papa gave Belle a nervous smile. “I’m yours, Belle. In every way. Would you have me as your husband as well?”

Belle just snorted and shook her head at the absurdity of his question. “Bae? Morraine? Do you mind if we get married before you do?”

Morraine giggled and shook her head. 

“Of course we don’t mind,” Baelfire said. “The sooner the better!”

Sitting at the table, his parents leaned into each other so their bodies were practically one. They kissed, as chastely as they could manage. Tabat called for another toast, to Belle and Rumpelstiltskin. 

While everyone cheered and drank and celebrated, Baelfire held Gideon on his lap. He held his brother close, taking time to drink in this perfect moment, when everyone he loved was together and happy. Without looking at the stars, Baelfire wished that Gideon would know moments like this for the rest of his life. 

“Muh!” Gideon squirmed in Baelfire’s arms. His tiny hands opened and closed as he reached for what he wanted. “Muh! Muh!”

Laughing, Baelfire stood up. “You know I wanted your first word to be ‘Bae,’” he chided his brother. “But here you go, Gid.” He went over to where Belle sat and placed Gideon in her open arms. She held her son and kissed Baelfire on the head. “Here’s Mama.”  

[martianbugsbunny]

Who Makes You See Color (A CaptainCroc Soulmates AU Fic): Chapter 7

Assorted CaptainCrocpots and other miscellaneous friends, Chapter 7 is done! I’m enjoying the heck out of trying to write Rumple’s dialogue, and if you know me, you know I'm just a sucker for romantic whatnot, so navigating that *gestures vaguely* general area is cool too. Tags: @wastingstarsss That’s enough from me, enjoy reading!

Rumple sat spinning in his castle as he waited for the next pawn in his game to come into play. Could he have used that time to visit Killian? Probably. But Rumple had started to soften around him, and he needed his focus sharp if he was going to force the entire realm to move as he desired. He had nothing to spare for daydreaming and sighing.

Still, his hands were growing weary. He wished he could sleep. Since becoming the Dark One, he never got more than two hours a night, if that. It was one of the prices he was paying for his magic.

It would probably be a waste, anyway. After all, he repeated to himself, I must stay alert and ready for the next move I make.

“Rumple?”

He swore internally, his hands stilling on the spindle, as he heard Killian’s voice. What was he doing at Rumple’s home? How had he even known where to find it?

“Look, crocodile, I know it’s been a while since you isolated yourself, but I…I missed you. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Rumple got up from his stool and stretched his shoulders. “Really, dearie?” he asked. He sounded more suspicious than he intended. No, no—he really was suspicious, and to hell with it if Killian knew. He would be able to tell either way, being Rumple’s soulmate and all. Every false beat of Rumple’s heart would ring false in Killian’s chest as well.

Killian sat down on Rumple’s table. How impudent. “I can feel your loneliness, love,” he said. “I’ve grown used to it, and I imagine you like to tell yourself you have, too.”

“When I get my son back this will all be worth it.” Rumple told himself that after every deal he made. He knew they weren’t exactly fair. Even though both sides always got something out of them, Rumple searched out the desperate souls in the Enchanted Forest and he preyed on them like a jackal, tearing at their bones while knowing there was nothing they could do.

Would ignoring Killian be worth it? Yes, it would, for Bae, but Rumple still wondered if he really had to do it.

“You’re distracting me,” Rumple said. “I can’t have you doing that.”

He walked over to where Killian sat and stared him down. “If I must remove my heart from yours, I will,” he hissed. “Make no mistake.”

Killian nodded. “I know you would, love.” He plied the word deliberately, Rumple was sure, stressing it so it couldn’t be pushed aside. “But after all this time, I don’t think you could tell the halves apart anymore.”

“What do you want, Killian? What deal must I strike for you to leave me alone?”

Killian gave him one of those brash smiles that had so annoyed him, when they first met, his eyebrow raised in a smug way that just dripped confidence. “Kiss me,” he said. Unspoken were the words “I dare you,” but they hung in the air nonetheless.

“I don’t have time for games.”

“What, are you afraid?” Killian asked. His tone became gentler, and he reached over to brush Rumple’s hair out of his face. “Afraid you might have to acknowledge that our being soulmates isn’t some cosmic mistake?”

Rumple wanted to lean into Killian’s touch; to clutch him tightly and never let him go. “I know it’s not a mistake. You’ve helped me manipulate the world so I can cast my curse. Without your help my plans would move too slowly.”

“I don’t mean for Bae’s sake,” Killian said shortly. “I mean for you.”

Rumple couldn’t think of anything without being reminded of Bae. He obsessed over getting back to him. If it wouldn’t lead him to Bae, chances were Rumple discarded it immediately. For as selfish a man as he had been to abandon Bae in the first place, he thought very little of how his deals would affect his life, because it was dedicated to Bae and not to himself.

Killian was the closest he had come to truly thinking of himself in a long time. “I know it’s not a mistake,” Rumple repeated. “But I can’t indulge myself now.”

“Perhaps when we reach the land without magic, then,” Killian said. “I will find you there, crocodile, no matter how long it takes me. And I will love you there.” He took off a ring that he had worn since Rumple had met him and placed it in Rumple’s grey, scaly palm. “Maybe this will help you get back to me,” he said.

Before Killian left, Rumple submitted to his request. It was not a kiss on the forehead, apprehensive and feather-light, as it had been last time they parted. The second their lips met, Rumple knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the next one would be True Love’s Kiss.

And yet he did let Killian go. And the moment he’d closed the door behind Killian, Rumple returned to his spinning wheel. He had come as close as he could to telling Killian his true feelings, and now, it was time to discard all of that. And this time, he would do it completely; he would not allow his thoughts to linger on Killian, and he would not see him again.

Until the land without magic. Rumple would find him there. He would wake up before the curse was broken, of that he was sure, and he would find his pirate. And if he was incredibly lucky, for once, Killian’s heart would know him even when his head did not.

(Despite his resolutions, the left hand now threading straw through the wheel was now wearing a new ring.)

[starwrittenfates]

“ Papa! ”

Though just a wee lad, Baelfire is not scared easily ( years of hearing his mother pick at his Papa, sometimes raising her voice, especially close to the day she left for good, would make him get used to loud sounds and things happening out of blue ).

Yet something about the thunderous sound echoing down the dirt road outside their hut that so unexpectedly, so roughly jolted him out of the warm and cozy dreams his Papa's bedtime stories always bring made him scramble to his father's bed, eyes wide and quickly welling as he crawled under the thin blanket, careful not to accidentally bump his leg into his Papa's bad leg even in his panic.

“ Papa, I'm afraid. ”

And tears spilled down his cheeks.

(for Rumple pre-Dark One from Baelfire <3)

The sounds of his sons shouting awake him, his heart racing with fear and panic to find the source of it. He spots his son running into the room, jumping into the bed with him and clinging onto him for dear life. Wrapping his arms around him, Rumple listens, hearing the thunder outside, soon followed by a crackle of lightning.

"It's alright, Bae. See, son? It's just a storm. You're safe. I won't let anything happen to you," he reassures him. "Would you like to spend the rest of the night here? I'll keep an eye on you."

[storybrooke-and-cinnamon]

“You really don’t want to do that Bae.” Belle replies. “It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Right well. We need to get this show on the road right? I’m Rumple’s maid. And when I agreed to be his maid it wasn’t just to save my kingdom.”

Emma looks over at Belle. Eyebrows raising.

Some glowing gold dust seems to run down her head and body.

“I feel like that worked. Who else is next?” Belle asks.

“I’ll go. Neal. I had a kid. We have a son… his name is Henry. Does this have to be something nobody here knows?” She asks Pan.

When no magic happens to her she sighs.

“I still have feelings for you Neal… You rat bastard.”

The magic covers her.

Wendy sighs. “I love you Peter. Despite what all happened. And I hate you a bit as well. I’m not sure how much of that is from the pregnancy. Im scared for the fate of our child. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I’m afraid of your anger. Afraid that by becoming pregnant you would see me as a woman.” Wendy glows.

“You know I have better things to do than follow a one handed pirate around a Jungle but you don’t hear me complaining.” Emma complains as she follows behind Hook.

Snow sighs.

“Let’s just find Henry and go home.”

“I second that.” Regina adds.

@storybrooke-and-cinnamon

"You're literally complaining right now, princess," Hook rolls his eyes. "And if you have better things to do than follow me, please explain, as I'm the only one here who knows how to navigate this bloody island!"

[sentenceme-leni]

Sunday. Minimum 7 sentences.

---

Bae turned suddenly, fury clinging to every word: "You don't want me anymore."

The coldness in his boy's eyes snapped Rumpelstiltskin out of the nightmare and back to the reality of Storybrooke's quiet night.

He tried to take a deep breath, as countless bad nights had taught him to calm himself. In this world, he didn't run around like a demon off the leash, making deals and losing himself in others' desperation.

Oh, people were desperate enough in Storybrooke, but they were far more wary of showing up at his doorstep. And no wonder. His shop being right in the middle of town where the whole community would witness the attempt to deal with the Dark One.

Pity.

On nights like this, he was tempted to seek them out. Promise them their fondest wishes and step back to witness how they soured the opportunity like the fools they were.

(Like he had been.)

Perhaps he could at least go to his laboratory, try another spell or ten to break the barrier at the edge of town.

(Nothing worked. Nothing. No matter how strong or dark the magic, the line remained ready to swallow their true memories.)

He sat up - just to feel a hand land on his chest and delicately push backwards.

"Not tonight, Rumple," Belle said, voice thick with sleep yet the only command he was likely to obey. "You promised you would rest tonight."

"I can't, sweetheart."

Belle cuddled closer, letting her nightgown ride up as she settled a leg over his, intent on keeping him in place. "Then close your eyes," she whispered as she raised her fingers to touch lightly the arch of his eyebrows. "You need to rest, Rumple."

"I need...."

"I know, darling." Her hand moved into his hair, keeping an even, soothing stroke. "Of course you will find him. Your Baelfire will come home."

Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes. "I played worlds just to get stuck here. It's not fair, Belle."

"You did the impossible. You'll do it again." She hugged him. "And I know that you don't want to make a mistake because you are tired." A kiss on his shoulder hushed his protest. "You are different here, Rumple. You need sleep."

Rumpelstiltskin knew the truth of her words. "I wish it were so easy."

Belle kissed his cheek. "Just lie down with me. After breakfast, I'll help you research. Is that all right?"

He turned to embrace her. "Of course, sweetheart."

For centuries he had worked to get to his son. Now, so close to his goal, Rumpelstiltskin wasn't alone anymore.

Despite his nightmares, his Bae would understand the delay.

Anything else was unthinkable.

The End

14/04/24

[aenslem]

sooo they bring robin back, au robin from a dream... i have one and half season more to see, how soon this show decides to hurt regina more by taking robin away 

aGaIn?

i have a strong feeling that they will somehow use him to make regi suffer more. 

bEcAuSe WhY nOt????