The Best Tea Cup is Chipped Book 1

Barely Even Friends

Rumplestiltskin was VERY rarely caught unawares. With the combination of his power of foresight and a healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) dose of paranoia it was exceptionally difficult surprise him. But the blasted fairies had managed it.

He'd been summoned to an obscure village on the outskirts of King George's kingdom supposedly to help some farmers who were doing poorly under the ruthless king's regime. Never one to ever fully shake his roots Rumplestiltkin usually was more than willing to help out peasants for a far less steep price than the one he exacted from nobles.

He'd teleported to the appointed spot and nearly straight into a net of fairy magic. It stung him like a thousand needles.

In front of him floated four fairies. On red, one yellow, one purple, and one orange. Luckily, he'd missed the center of their magic and was thus able to rip a hole in the shimmering silver net that covered him. However, this did give the fairies time to get in a shot at him the spell ripping through his clothes and cutting deep into his chest.

"Really dearies did you think trying to capture the Dark One was a good idea?" he snarled sending a wave of darkness that pushed all four fairies back despite the shield that they had erected.

"Once we have captured you Blue will reward us for ridding the realms of such a great evil," answered the yellow fairy as she sent a jet of light from her wand that he swiftly blocked.

"Oh yes, I'm sure the sanctimonious bug clearly did a number on you lot. Such a shame you won't live to tell her the tale of your failure." answered Rumple who had been blocking their magic while focusing on what remained of the magical net they had created to trap him.

He was rebuilding and corrupting it with his dark magic. These were obviously minor fairies for the magic itself was easy to twist. However, he was starting to have difficulty focusing, clearly a result of the deep gash in his chest which must have been magical in nature.

"Good always triumphs over evil!" piped up the purple fairy and Rumplestiltskin sneered.

"Not today dearies." with a flick of his wrist he cast the completed net over the fairies trapping them. Normally he would have drawn out their suffering for having dared to try and harm him but he was swiftly having more difficulty concentrating so instead he sent jets of black light at each of them and one by one they exploded in a shower of colored sparks.

Rumple raised his hand and disappeared in his usual pillar of crimson smoke. His fatigue must have been more serious than he first realized because instead of appearing in the privacy of his tower, Belle was forbidden from entering without him being in there, he appeared in the great hall.

To top his embarrassment off Belle was in the room. She cried out as he stumbled slightly, using the table to steady himself.

"Rumplestiltskin!" she exclaimed tossing aside her feather duster and running to grab his arm to help him.

"What happened?" she asked and oddly enough he thought he actually detected concern in her tone.

"I need to get to my tower," he answered as sharply as he could manage. Anymore magic would just weaken him more quickly. Ever the practical one Belle shook her head.

"There's no way you'll be able to get up all those stairs even with my help."

"Oh, so I suppose I should just bleed out dearie," he snapped. Belle shook her head.

"No, you should sit down by the fire here and tell me what I need to get you from the tower. Unless you actually DO fancy bleeding out trying to climb up seven sets of stairs," she added this last bit sharply.