ℜ𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔊𝔬𝔩𝔡 (and the legend of the Dark one)

Chapter 1: A midnight infant

Violent rain beat down on the roof of the Dark castle and lightning stung low hanging trees like a swarm of angry hornets, outlining the plants with a neon glow.
It was roughly around 11:30 pm and Rumplestiltskin was In the main hall spinning straw into gold, as he usually would late into the night.
However for the last couple of months his spinning sessions had become more desolate and empty, normally he would watch the wheel and feel all his worries and regrets slip away and collect in the bucket below with the golden thread, but since the incident with Belle it felt more like his suffering was collecting in a great tangled heap in his head.

Rumple watched intensely, with his eyes fixed on the dull yellow straw,
as it bled into a rich golden string. Although his mind was replaying the day Belle had left over and over again as if even his own mind wanted to taunt him.
The two had spent the last two days intimately and at first Rumple started to believe that Belle really did care about him genuinely.

One warm evening she leaned in close, until he could smell the sweet scent of her lilac perfume on her pale neck, she kissed him and his curse started to melt away ripping away his mask of defence that protected him from the world of betrayal.
A normal person would be pleased that their ugly disguise no longer cloaked their true self from their lover but Rumplestiltskin was a very different type of person, revealing his raw self had only exposed him to pain in the past and he was not about to fall victim to heartbreak again.

Anxiety clouded Rumple's judgement and he abruptly pulled away from the kiss and let the darkness embed deeper into his soul, a storm of fear
and disbelief swirled in his mind until he had convinced himself she must be tricking him, how could she ever really love him?.

Belle angrily defended her love for him "The kiss worked which means it's true love!"
"Who told you that?" he yelled,
"I don't know, a women I met at the side of the road"
Rumple's metallic eyes widened as he realised who orchestrated this cruel trick and he ran to the dusty mirror in the corner to confront Regina,
who he was sure was observing the catastrophe she created.
"I love you, why won't you believe me?" a mixture of fury and self hatred built up inside of him
"Because no one could ever love me!" Rumple replied displaying just how vulnerable his heart was.

The next day Belle was asked to leave the castle and never return.
Belle looked deep into her employers eyes before leaving "you could have had happiness if you just believed someone could love you!,
you are a coward Rumplestiltskin" trying to seem emotionless he looked into the empty space behind her, but his eyes were visibly holding back tears "that's a lie" he said coldly.
Belle tried to make eye contact revealing to him the warm salty pools of water brewing in her eyes "you just don't think I can love you, but you will regret it forever! and all you will have is an empty heart and a chipped cup" she sniffed as water leaked down her face and she walked away.

That face struck Rumple motionless and he realised that her love for him had only been authentic and genuine from the start and he had let his insecurities get the better of him. He collapsed onto the hard concrete, tears pouring down his muted mossy skin, as Belle walked slowly towards the Castle's black,tall,boney gates until you could only make out her short silhouette and Rumple never saw her again.

The sound of the iron door handle clattering, woke Rumple from his memory. "Flimsy locks" sneered a female voice from behind him, however this was not Belle's light chirpy voice. A tall, thin female figure strode in with a malevolent smile sprawled on her face, clutching a black cloth.
Rumplestiltskin knew immediately it was his vile, ex-student Regina,
"I have a deal to discuss. A certain... mermaid." Regina walked over to a small silver tea set at the other end of the room and began pouring herself a drink.

Expressionlessly Rumple replied "I'm not dealing today."
He looked as if his soul had been removed and all that was left was a cold unfeeling corpse.
Regina began to chuckle and look straight at him,
"is this about the girl I met on the road?" Her mocking tone growing stronger "what was her name? Margie? Verna?" Rumple stopped spinning and glared at the wall seriously "Belle."

Regina began to cackle even louder and Rumple continued to spin,
"Right. Well...
you can rest assured I had nothing to do with that tragedy." Sharpening her glare on Rumple's face as bewilderment spread across him and he stood up from the spinning wheel, facing Regina "what tragedy?".

Regina revelled in the shock her statement had caused "You don't know?" She smirked and stirred her tea, "Well after her stay here, her... association with you, no one would want her, of course.
Her father shunned her. Cut her off, shut her out." Rumple paused in guilt
"So she needs a...home?" Regina walked closer as if she was making her final chess move, about to win the game.

"They were even worse to her when they discovered she was pregnant." Rumplestiltskin dropped the tea he was making, causing a piercing crack on the tiles below, his pupil shrunk in shock and fixed themselves on Regina. "He was so cruel to her. He locked her in a tower and sent in clerics to cleanse her soul with scourges and flaying." The picture of this started to flash in Rumple's mind he closed his eyes, not wanting to hear anymore so that he could pretend she was still working for him, safe in his castle.

Regina's grin stretched unnaturally wide as she cleared her throat
"After a while she threw herself off the tower...she died."
For at least 5 minutes you couldn't hear anything but the storm's howls outside and the clinking of Regina's spoon mixing her tea, like she would a cauldron. Then Regina walked over to the bundle of black cloth on a small cabinet at the side of the room and placed it on the table gently.
"This is all that's left of her."
She replied almost chocking on her tea from snickering.

Rumple's eyes were evidently red and puffy from the tears welling up and he tried to avoid eye contact with Regina, to not reveal how weak he was.
"We, we're done here." His voice quavered as he spoke. Regina's heels harshly tapped on the floor below as she strutted out, while running her finger along the antique wooden table in the centre of the room revealing a thick cake of dust,
"the place is dusty Rumple, you should get a new girl." She flashed a venomous smile and disappeared into the dark hallways towards the exit.

Rumple walked over to a large white cabinet trembling with grief, delicately removing a small china cup with a Persian blue, leaf design painted on the side and a huge dent on the top right. He could feel tears streaming down his cheeks and his throat closing up, he removed a polished golden chalice from it's wooden display and carefully placed the teacup in it's place. Closing his eyes and crying so he didn't have to look at the teacup anymore.

After a couple of minutes Rumplestiltskin stumbled to the table in the centre of the room to examine the mass of black fabric she had left but as he got nearer he noticed something solid and small jab the layer beneath. Rumple agitatedly removed the black material to reveal an infant child sleeping peacefully in the warm fibres of cloth. She was smaller than a usual baby of her age and she had two tiny, pointed ears. Her skin was pale and presented the same olive tint as Rumple's did. Rumple picked her up as if she were a fragile glass vase and gradually wrapped his arms around the swaddled child, until he was hugging her.

He clutched her tighter, softly weeping at the tragedy of the situation. She stirred and her tiny hand gripped his nose, just as his son Bealfire once had many years ago. "You know I once made a promise to someone a lot like you when they were around the same age as you" he choked "I said, I will never, ever leave you and now I want to make that promise to you" he gazed into her teal, wide eyes and could see Belle's face smiling at him.

He sat cradling the child into the early hours of the morning. The rain seemed relentlessly forceful, as it hit the windowsills, leaving a greyish liquid stained on the glass.
The sunrise was hard to make out as the thick, silver storm clouds shielded the sun from carpeting the world in golden light.