Rumpelstiltskin's Reign-An FTRS and RAR AU

Part 4-The Rescuers

Heath jumped slightly as Devin spun around in the middle of their sixth corridor, a nervous expression on her face. Her arms fluttered restlessly at her sides as she looked up at him. He forced a smile onto his face. "What is this about?" he whispered.

She looked to the left, then the right, as if she was searching for an assassin concealed in the palace walls. Devin returned her gaze to Heath; her expression so determined it made Heath's charisma falter. "I think we should go after Gilly's friends."

Heath stared at her open-mouthed for a moment before regaining his composure. He crossed his arms and glared at her. "Like hell you do, Devin."

She clenched her tiny hands into fists at her sides. "Did you see how distraught they were? What if it was you, or me-"

"You just want to do this so you can prove your heroics. Again."

She punched him. Hard. It was foreign to him that this was Devin. Sweet, gentle, suddenly forceful Devin. That Gilly certainly was a bad influence. "Heath! This isn't about me."

"No." he said. "I'm not letting you dart into the line of fire for no other reason then you're bored."

"Heath! I am not having this debate with you. For Grimm's sake, we sound like Jax and Gilly."

"Yeah! You're right, we do!" he snapped. "Jax is a good boyfriend. He's preventing his girl from being an idiot. Since when do you have a hero complex? When I do things like this for you, it's because I know you do them because they're right. You've never done something because you want to prove crap about yourself and look good in front of some cobbler's daughter! Devin, you are a freaking princess! What do you have to prove?"

"I have nothing to prove! You're right!" Blush crept onto Devin's cheeks and her body trembled with the force of her yelling. Heath stepped back. "You said you let me do things because you know they're right! Well, they're right!"

Heath twisted around and started walking back toward the group. He hated seeing her so hurt, but he was the one who'd hurt her. "Whatever."

It was a few moments before she spoke again. "I'm going," she said softly, her anger vanishing, "with or without you."

He faced her, taking her in. Her blotchy red face, her bruised hands. Her mud-smudged shoes. Heath sighed. "I don't know what you think-"

"Hey." Heath raised his eyebrows. Gilly, her face wet with tears, hair sticking to her cheeks, stood in the hallway, a confident expression on her bloodshot eyes. "I heard you talking." she smirked a little. "Bold of you to assume you could go without me."

Devin's eyes sparkled a little.

"Damn," Heath groaned, "now there are two of you."

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Kayla blinked sleepily, slowly coming to. She awoke drowsily, as if she'd been hungover, or drunk. As she surveyed where she was, she felt something absent from her back. My wings are missing, she thought, how funny. A bubble of a laugh escaped her. She sat unattended in a big room with dim lighting. A large black cauldron sat in the center of the floor, filled with a smooth, thick green liquid that bubbled and frothed like a heated pot. A small blue flame that appeared unattached to anything blossomed underneath it. 

Kayla stared with awe at the bubbling pot. Her fingers ached to touch it-to submerge her fingers in the solution. Something told her it would feel marvelous-warm and therapeutic. She barely noticed her movements as she stepped closer and closer to the mixture, her fingers buzzing with the need to feel it.