In Storybrooke, Mr. Gold strives to be the man Bae used to love--until Belle is kidnapped to Neverland. If he resumes his Dark One powers to save her, can he control them? In the Enchanted Forest, Emma battles ogres, zombies and her ex to get back h...
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Rumplestiltskin (Mr. Gold): You see, when you take a heart, it becomes enchanted. Stronger than a normal heart. (The Doctor)
Archie stole a glance at Vincent. Now that he'd come to his guilty secret, his mind began shouting out reasons to stop talking. His friend took his hand, assuring him without words that he was safe.
Archie coughed. "S-s-someone offered me help—s-s-someone tricky. And d-d-dangerous." Rumplestiltskin. "He offered me something to—to make sure my parents couldn't—couldn't come after me." A potion. "I knew better, but I accepted." Without asking what the potion would do—I was that desperate to be free.
"Kind of a deal with the devil," Vincent said.
"Yes." Archie swallowed. "But my father—he could always see through me. He—he switched things." Tricked a peasant couple into buying a fairy potion then substituted Rumplestiltskin's. "And a young boy's parents ended up... ended up..."
Vincent clasped his hand. His grip was reassuring. "This help... it was to get your parents convicted and locked up, so they couldn't get to you? But they twisted the evidence, so that an innocent couple was convicted and locked up instead?"
Archie nodded. Locked up—that's an accurate description of Geppetto's mother and father turned into marionettes, their wooden faces carved in horror. "I saw no way to fix things. so I—I hid." Let the Blue Fairy make me a cricket. "But I stayed close to the boy. I couldn't—couldn't actually raise him." Aone-inch bug is useless at cooking supper. "Instead, I was a mentor to him—a friend." And a conscience. "When Marco made—uh—adopted a boy, I—I mentored him, too." Until Geppetto had to send Pinocchio away.
"What I'm hearing," Vincent said softly, "is you put your life on hold while you struggled to make things right."
"I'm—I'm still struggling." But now I'm not the only one trying to make amends. Just that morning, Mr. Gold had informed him, I've replicated the original potion and transformed some beetles into wood. Once I succeed in transforming them back, we'll see. "There's a chance that Marco's parents might—might finally be free. They're going to need... counseling."
"That won't be easy," Vincent said.
"No, it won't." Not when they learn their son is old enough to be their grandfather. Archie sighed.
"Your goal is to open them to the idea a joyous, courageous, rewarding life is still possible."
"That's a tall order." But inspiring. Archie lifted his chin.
"You know what's more effective than 'Do as I say,' don't you? Talking from experience and leading by example."
Archie could hear the smile behind the wise words. When Vincent's fingers touched his cheek, he slowly turned his head. His friend's eyes were as boundless as the sky.
