Defeating Darkness (Rumbelle's Daughter)

Fishing

"Rumple," Belle called from deep in the library "I think I found something."

Rumplestiltskin set down the book he was reading and went to his wife. Ruby was watching Jane, Gideon, and Neil (Snow's son) so that Belle, Snow, Charming, and himself could focus on defeating this new darkness.

Rumple set a hand on his wife's shoulder and placed a kiss on her head. Belle smiled and lifted her head to kiss him back. In a never ending storm, at least they had each other to hold onto.

"The book?" Rumple smiled.

"Oh! Yes, um, you see -" Belle had to take a second to recollect her thoughts. "Oh - yes. This is an account of a boy from an ancient fishing village. He wanted magic in order to heal his family who was near death."

"In that town was a cave filled with fairy dust; so, the boy went to get the dust thinking it would be powerful enough to save them. Many people warned him not to go since the cave was told to be guarded by a strong and wicked enchantress. Ignoring the advice of others, just before sunrise one day he went ahead anyway."

"When the boy reached the cave the enchantress greeted him. She had been watching him and knew what he wanted to do. She told him that in order to receive magic from the black fairy dust he had to have it poured in his heart. But in exchange for this power, he had to give up his life at sunset."

"He agreed believing it would be the only way to save his family. The enchantress opened a small hole in his heart and poured the dust in. He immediately was in great pain, but thanked the fairy for helping him and ran back to his town. He reached his family just before noon."

"As soon as he got there, he healed his family. The whole town rejoiced. But then he told his parents what he had done in order to save them and they were in great distress. Fortunately, a man with magic happened to be passing through town shortly thereafter. They begged him for help and he agreed since he was moved by the sacrifice of the boy."

"In an attempt to save him, the man took the boy's heart and reopened the hole. He tried his best to remove the dust from the heart with his magic, but was unable to. Defeated, the man gave the boy's heart to the parents."

"It was just before sunset and the parents were heartbroken. They shed many tears and the tears fell on the boy's heart." Belle looked into Rumple's eyes, "then the fairy dust poured out of the hole in his heart - just like it did for Rumbella!"

Rumple nodded and she went to continue but was struggling. "Rumple," her lip quivered and she looked into his eyes again, "the boy's story doesn't have a happy ending." A tear started to roll down Belle's cheek.

"Don't worry, Belle. You've done a great job finding this! We'll be able to save our daughter." He gave her a weak smile, "What does the rest say?"

"When the enchantress heard that the boy didn't pay the price, she was enraged. She went to the town and warned if the boy wasn't burned alive that the darkness would come back inside him and the boy would kill the entire village. No one listened to her."

"One day the boy went fishing with a net - trying to help with his family's fishing business. When he was in the water at about waist deep, he was pulled under. The whole village searched for the boy, but no one could find him. All the villagers went home at sunset."

"The next day the whole village couldn't be found. It had been burned to the ground and the boy's heart was at the town's center with a pointed smile drawn around it in the ashes."

"It says this was all recorded by the man with magic who had passed through the town." Belle grimaced at the ghastly scene. "Rumple, what are we going to do?"

"First, we're going to tell the Charmings about this tale. Second, we're going to make sure that our Rumby doesn't go in the water - from what we've seen and from this tale the black fairy dust stays beneath the water. So, if she doesn't go in then there shouldn't be any worry. I'll stay here and make the best protection spell I can for Rumby's heart. You must attend the surprise ball that will be held tonight aboard Hook's ship and keep a careful eye on our daughter." Rumple embraced his wife and she returned the embrace "it'll all be okay, dearie."

Little did they know a guest to the library had just heard everything they said. And they weren't planning on letting the whole town die on the account of one girl.