He's Not Always A Beast (Rumplestiltskin x Reader)

Chapter 4: Silence

(1564 words) 

Your POV 

I've been cleaning the castle again, for the 40th time. Hey, I've been here for three months now. Though I didn't even think I would live to make it this long in this castle with the Dark One, here we are. Ever since the night that I had told him of that snippet from my past, I haven't said a word. 

It was about three days before I had seen him again, though it was nothing but a gaze he gave me. Without a doubt he had heard what I said, now even the beast of the land looks at me with pity. I continued my days as I cleaned, cooked, wiped the blood, went and fetched straw for his spinning wheel. This was how I would spend my days now, the maid of the Dark One. 

This was the future I had decided for myself, the second I had run into this castle to escape the huntsmen. What was decided the second that I agreed to be his maid since I accepted his deal? Sitting down at the table I put my arms on it before I laid my head on them. I wanted to cry; I really did. Something was keeping me from doing it. I wasn't entirely sure what though, maybe it was because I had no more tears to shed? The fact that I had felt nothing within the last month. 

Putting my chin on the table I stayed there for a moment. Looking at my reflection on the wood, I sighed a little before standing. Pushing the chair back under the table I started to make my way to the next room. After I was finished cleaning, it would be time to make dinner, and I would go to my room until he was finished. Did I not mention that? I stopped eating a week ago. 

I'm not sure if Rumple has noticed or not, but I could care less. If I die that would break our deal, he wouldn't have a maid, but I would be dead. Unless he can bring me back from the cold hands of death, then he wouldn't be able to punish me. If he could bring me back, I wouldn't care if he could punish me. I've started to become the shell of who I once was. The days had started to blur together, every day was the same. Wake up, clean, cook his meals, clean them up, then go to bed, just for it to happen the next day. Then the day after that, and the day after that. 

Getting into the kitchen, I had started to think of what I could make. Deciding on the simple, but filling meat pie, I got to work. Making the filling for the pie while I had started to prepare the crust. Getting everything done, I sighed gently as it was in the oven. I had heard a sound from the dining room, which caught my attention. Glancing at the oven, I turned to go see what the sound was. 

Walking over to the table, there was a single black rose. Picking it up, I noticed a letter under the petals. Grabbing it from the table, I opened it. Seeing the handwriting on the inside, I decided that it had to be Rumple's. He must have been able to perfect it during his eternal days in the Enchanted Forest. 

They say that black roses can symbolize more than just death. Among the symbol of death, they also stand for mystery, the start of a new era, and the loss of mortality.  I thought that since I'm no longer mortal this rose could be my gift to you during the turn of a new era. What do you say, dearie? Do you want to look for the mystery with me? 

- Rumple 

Closing the letter, I looked at the rose for a moment. Stepping to the roses in the vase on the table, I stuck them in the middle. The black one had broken up the look of the white ones. The white ones had stood to symbolize humility and innocence. What was he humiliated of? Was he innocent at all? Or was that part supposed to be about me? 

Hearing the timer on the oven, I made my way back to the kitchen to pull the pie out. Letting it sit on the counter as it cooled, I started to work on some other side dishes. Getting them finished and on the table as Rumple appeared at the head of the table. Sitting at the other end of the table, I had looked at my food before taking a bite. 

"Eating again, are we? Seems you've gotten my letter" He put his hand on the armrest of the chair as he looked at me. 

"How did you?" 

"How did I know? I can see the future, I'm also quite observant since your dress hasn't been fitting the way it was when I first gave it to you. Along with the fact that you haven't been attending dinner." 

He looked at the assortment of food for a moment before his face fell as his eyes rested on the meat pie. I looked at him, I was worried. He had finally started to speak to me again, I didn't want to lose that. I would go mad, but why? I couldn't have found myself starting to enjoy his company, was I? The sound of his voice. 

He blinked whatever his thought was from his mind before he started to eat. There was a bit of silence for a moment before I spoke up. 

"Thank you for the rose," I said as I glanced at him. 

"I suppose you understood what it meant?"

"I did even before you told me in the little note. I also knew what the white ones on the table mean. So, if you'll humor me, what humility have you ever felt?" 

I looked at him before, he vanished, and I frowned. I began to stand and take the plates back to the kitchen to get cleaned before there was a hand on mine. Turning to look at my hand, he was in the chair next to me. 

"Take a seat, dearie. This might take a while," he said. Doing as I was told I looked at him for a moment, he was looking at the roses, finding his words, or his voice. 

"When my son was 14, he was being drafted into the ogre wars, something that I had come back from only to be dubbed a coward. There was a Seer that was at the camp we had for the army. She had told me that my wife, was with a child. Though my son would grow up fatherless since I was to get myself killed the next day, while in battle. So, I did what any man would do, I injured myself. I was sent home, and by then my son was already born. Word had gotten to the village from the front lines, faster than I could hobble home. By then my wife was disappointed, she had told me that she would rather that the father of her son be dead, than to be the village coward. At least then I would have been a hero and not the cripple he grew up knowing." He let his head fall as he looked at his hand for a moment. 

"When my son had been called to the front lines, I begged for the soldiers not to take him, since he was just a boy. The same soldier that I had pleaded, humiliated me in front of my son, by making me kiss his boots. Only for him to kick me over and call me a coward." He looked at me for a moment before he shook his head. 

That giggle had come out again as he smiled. 

"What did you do?" 

"What did I do? That's simple, I became the beast you see before you. I made that soldier kiss my boots, before I snapped his neck, and killed the rest of them that laughed at me." 

I blinked for a moment as I looked at him. He looked back at me for a moment before he sighed gently. "I'll help you get the dishes cleaned, I know you've been working rather hard," he said as he started to stand and grab some dishes. 

I put my hand on his wrist and looked at him, as I gained his attention. Standing up he put the plates down and I stepped over to him. He looked at me as if he was surprised, I would be this close to him. Now I'm not sure what made me do it, but I pulled him into a hug. It took him a minute, but he slowly hugged me back. 

"Thank you for sharing that with me, I can't imagine that it was easy." Standing on my toes I kissed his cheek before I started to help gather dishes, taking them to the kitchen. Once we were finished, he was making his way up the stairs, towards the tower. Catching up with him, I caught his attention. His hand was on the banister to the stairs as he looked down at me. 

"What was the name of your son?" 

"Baelfire."