Villains

Revelations

Belle finally arrived at his castle. She was nervous, but most importantly, she was angry. He was her husband and that impossible men kept secrets from her. Secrets such as being alive while pretending to be dead.

"Rumple!" She called out for him loud enough to someone on the second floor listen. "Rumple, I know you heard me!" The girl insisted, walking furiously through the great halls.

Rumplestiltikin appeared suddenly, surrounded by his typical reddish colored magic. "Belle, I missed you." He said, smiling.

The girl blinked several times. It was hard to stay angry at him when days before she thought he was dead and now he stood in front of her, breathing.

"Missed me?" Belle mimed his words with a throaty voice, her eyes drinking him in. "Then why didn't you show up? I thought you were dead, Rumple! Dead!" She snapped, her vision getting blurry with unleashed tears.

"Please calm down, I'll explain everything." The Dark One said with a pained expression, taking a step towards her.

The last thing he wanted was to make her cry.

"A couple of hours before I killed Pan, I found a ritual that could stop me from killing myself. It just worked because I used my own dagger to do it." He explained, placing a hand in her shoulder and another one in her now wet cheek, smoothing the tears away.

"Why didn't you show up days ago?" Belle asked impatiently, trying her best to focus on the many questions she had.

"It wasn't safe. It's still dangerous for me to be around you." Rumple confessed, making the girl look at him with a confused expression. "My dagger is missing, Belle. Someone took it." He added, watching his wife's eyes widen in worry. "The ritual weakened me. I was unconscious until very recently. I don't know who took it, but I promise you I will find out." He said firmly with a lint of devilish determination in his tone that Belle wished she had not noticed.

"I'll help you with this." She said as hugged him tightly; there was no way she would let him go now. "Never do that again." She added, burring her face in his neck.

Rumple smiled as he returned the hug, caressing her long hair. "What?" He asked softly.

"Don't ever kill yourself or try to. I do not mind if you are a threat to me, Rumple. I'm staying." The girl said firmly, pushing him gently so she could face him.

"No, you're not. It's too dangerous." The Dark One disagreed, frowning.

"Rumplestiltskin. Stop it, I made up my mind. I'm staying." The girl muttered, tilting her head up to kiss him.

Rumple was more than happy to return the gesture and held her close, like she would suddenly disappear before his eyes. "That's not fair. How can I say no after this?" He teased, earning from Belle a laud honest laugh.

"We have bigger problems to worry about." She commented, wrapping her hands around him for another hug. "Regina is angry at you." She stated.

-- |¥| --

Much to everybody dislike, a small meeting was settled after lunch between Regina, Maleficent, the Charmings and Granny. Robin and Grumpy were also invited. It was clear that there were weird things going on in Enchanted Forest that they knew nothing about.

Therefore, the consul was needed.

Again, they all met in Regina's library, sitting on the big circular table in the center of the room. The queen sat between Maleficent and Granny - the only two people she had a true affection for. Robin opted for staying next to the old woman as well and side by side with Charming. Snow was next to her husband, and Grumpy sat between the princess and Maleficent. He shot the witch disgusted looks along the meeting, but he was so insignificant that Maleficent did not even bother to reply.