#gideon x roderick | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imgilmoregirl · 7 years

Text

The Dark Children (Chapter 4)

AO3 Link

It took Rumple and Belle five exhaustive days to decide that there was definitely nothing helpful on the Dark Realm, so they should go home and see how they could work from there. Mr. Cogsworth helped carrying the chests with their belongings to the archive where the imp was going to open a portal to their land, while Agathe finished carefully packing some important parchments inside a wooden box.

“We will need to call the fairies and report that we haven’t found any clue.” Belle said, taking one last look around the place to assure that everything was just the way she wished.

Those had been awful days for her, worried thoughts keeping the lady up until late hours of the night, unable to sleep even with her husband’s protective arms wrapped firmly around her waist as he breathed heavy in his sleep. She just kept her eyes closed and tried to remain as still as she could, not to wake him and disturb Rumplestiltskin with her extreme concern.

“I don’t like that.” He said.

“Yeah, I though you wouldn’t,” she said, letting a small smile pass through her lips, “but somebody is stealing from us and we need to do something.”

“I’ll open a portal directly to Regina’s place.” Rumple informed. “I want to know if she is aware of something strange happening around.”

“Out of Henry’s wife being kidnaped, the fairies’ orders being stolen, Rose predicting the death of a king and… Should I go on?”

“No. That’s enough.” He rolled his eyes offering his arm for her to take as he got his mother’s wand from inside his traveling cloak, opening the portal with a swift movement of his wrist. “There is definitely something bad happening.”

Mr. Cogswoth pushed the chests through it and waved for them as his said king and queen walked on its direction to appear in the Sherwood Castle followed by their maid. They materialized in one of the large hallways where a boy was just coming from one of the many doors, he got startled at the sight of them, his face going a shade paler.

“Oh, hey, Mr. Rum - ” he swallowed. “I mean, Dark One.” Roland tried to fix it. “I mean, my lord.”

Behind them, Agathe laughed.

The imp’s eyebrows narrowed. “What the hell is wrong with you today, boy?”

“Nothing!” Roland hurried to say, his cheeks getting a little flushed. “Did you come to see my parents?”

A smile stretched in Belle’s lips as she thought about Roland’s reason to be blushing. Her daughter. His interest on Rose wasn’t new for her, as she had always notice the subtle exchange of glances between them whenever they were around each other and she thought that it was really cute, because they were long-time friends and Roland was a really good boy.

“Aye.” Rumplestiltskin answered.

“Alright,” Regina’s son said. “Follow me.”

Gripping at her husband’s arm, Belle started to walk while Roland lead their way through the corridors.

“He is acting weird.” The imp whispered at her.

“You’re the father of the girl he likes.” Belle shrugged.

“What?” He asked a little too loudly.

Roland looked at them over his shoulder but the lady just waved a hand for him, assuring that they were fine, before rubbing her husband’s arm with a laugh coming from her throat.

“We don’t want to scare him, Rumple.” She said in a whisper. “But everybody knows he likes Rose.”

His eyes were wide and wild, glancing at Roland’s back like his eyes could be shooting daggers at him. She couldn’t believe that he had never noticed something happening between them, but he saw Rose as a helpless child and the fact that she constantly needed their comfort only collaborated to make it hard for him to understand that she was growing up.

“He can’t be with my baby girl.” Rumple said behind clenched teeth.

Belle raised an eyebrow. “Sixteen-year-old baby girl?”

“I’ll make sure that Regina and her thief keep him very far away from her.”

She had always loved how overprotective her husband was with their children, but sometimes he just took it to an extreme level, he barely let those children breath without his consent and even though she knew that his concern, was due to everything they faced in the past, plus the fact that he had a lot of enemies that could want to hurt them, she still wanted them to enjoy their own lives.

“Stop it, now!” The lady reprimanded. “You can’t and you won’t interfere in her life.”

He was about to give her an answer, when the boy in front of them suddenly stopped walking as they had reached the double-doors that lead to Regina’s main hall.

“Milord, milady be welcome to Sherwood Castle.” Roland said a little nervously, probably noticing Rumple’s deadly gaze on him. “I shall leave you alone with my parents now.”

“Wait.” The imp stopped him with a hand on his arm and all the colour left Roland’s face, before Rumple could point at the girl that was still quietly following them. “Take the maid with you.”

“Alright.” Roland nodded, visibly relieved. “Come on, Agathe.”

Shooking her head, Belle looked at Rumple with disapproval in her eyes, because she knew that as much as he wanted to get rid of Agathe, he also wanted to scare the poor boy a bit. Apparently, the day Belle gave him a daughter he took the mission of keeping every single man away from her. Poor Colette didn’t know what expected her when she reached her eldest sister’s age.

The butlers opened the doors for them and the couple entered the hall, where Regina and Robin were having a tense conversation, both facing each other with serious expressions, but whatever they were discussing ended with their arrival as the former Evil Queen – who was now Queen of Sherwood – turned around to look at her guests, with a sarcastic smile growing slow in her lips.

“Why do I have the honour to receive the Dark One and the Dark Lady in my house?”

“Hello, Regina.” Belle greeted hugging her and Robin while Rumple just kept watching in place, refusing to do the same. “It’s good to see you.”

“I could say the same, if I wasn’t for the fact that you two, look like trouble. What is the matter?”

Robin raised an eyebrow for her, looking even more distressed. “Won’t you even serve wine for them?”

“Do you want wine?” Regina asked, snorting.

“No, thank you.” Belle replied.

“See.” The Queen said, as if she was proving her point and wining a fight. “Let’s get to the important things now.”

Gesticulating to a couple of armchairs that were set near the fireplace, she invited them to take a seat as Rumplestiltskin started narrate the events that took them there, starting with Blue’s report of an order that haven’t been delivered to how everything seemed perfectly normal at the Dark Realm, even when it clearly wasn’t. Belle had felt completely useless, making those infinite searches on the archive, in fail attempts of finding the tiniest clue to their ghostly dealer, but whoever he or she was, it was a very clever person that knew how to not leave any tracks behind.

Her fear of another evil being chasing her family like the Black Fairy did all those years ago, mixed with her anguish and frustration around herself for not being able to conceive another child, left Belle over the edge of misery and she just wanted to go home and be back to her routine, so she would have something to fill her thoughts. Stay there facing Regina and Robin’s tormented faces wasn’t helping in getting her to feel better, because she knew that they had their own problems and were also going through a hard moment with the disappearance of Henry’s wife and now his constant absence as he searched for her.

“So, you’re telling me that someone is stealing from you?” The dark-haired woman indagated with a laugh. “That’s impressive.”

“That sounds like a threat, don’t you think?” Rumplestiltskin replied, still impassive.

“Yeah, I do.”

The doors opened again and a young lady with dark eyes and an even darker hair passed through them, her red gown making her look older than she was, as she walked towards her parents.

“Mom, Roland said we had guests.” Veronica said before her glance fell to the couple sat right in front of Regina and Robin. “Oh, hey, aunt Belle! Hey, Mr. Rum.”

A frown took the imp’s face. He always disliked that silly nickname the children had for him, since when they were younger they couldn’t manage to speak his whole name. “Mr. Rum, doesn’t really fits me, dearie.”

“Sorry.” Ronnie muttered, pointing back at the doors. "I'll join Roland upstairs."

"Go on, darling." Robin said, kissing the top of her head and then, letting the girl take her way out of the hall.

What a funny thing to think, that Belle had been the one to introduce the thief, to the woman who was now his wife and the mother of his children. If Regina never asked for shelter at the Dark Castle on that particular bad night, she might have never ended there.

"So, what exactly do you expect me to do?" The Queen asked.

Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "Just keep an eye on things and inform me if you see something out of the normal."

"We don't even know what is normal anymore, mate." Robin chuckled.

"You understood me." The imp rolled his eyes, standing up and holding out a hand for Belle to take and stand too. "Now I think it's time to go."

Regina’s eyebrow lifted up with surprise, because Rumple liked to bother her as much as she bothered him with her visits and sometimes he would just appear there with his whole family and claim some of her chambers as theirs, saying that the children needed playmates and they were staying for a couple of days.

"So quickly?" She questioned.

"We are tired.” Belle explained. “There were rough days on the Dark Realm."

"Well, I hope you make a good trip." The Queen answered with a soft smile.

But before Belle could think about thanking her, they materialized on the entryway of their own castle with Agathe and their baggage right before them. A frown formed on the lady’s face.

"Do you know the meaning of trip?"

"Oh, don't pretend that you're not just as relieved as I am to be home." Rumplestiltskin teased.

Well, as much as she hated when he transported them around the realm with magic, she had to admit that she was really glad to be there too and curling on her bed seemed to be a really tempting thing to do right now. Maybe here, on her own home, she could get to rest a little bit.

"Actually, I feel like I could sleep for a whole eternity."

And she would, if she had the chance, but those things got to second place ever since she became a mother, because Colette came running from the hallway that lead to the left tower, and threw her arms around Belle, jumping to be caught from the floor.

"Mama, you're back!" She said, happily.

"No sleep for now, sweetheart." Rumple whispered at her, a grin passing through his lips as he reached to get their daughter from the mother’s arms.

"Hey, little girl, did you miss me?"

"A lot!" Colette replied. "Rosie played dolls with me and Lucy."

"That's great, sweetie." Belle answered, smoothing her curled brown hair.

The tall figure that was their butler, came from the same place their daughter had, probably looking for her, since somebody was already trying to keep the children on their sights around there. A shame that Chip and Colette were always too fast for most of them.

"Master, milady, you're back!"

"Say another obvious thing, Mr. Dove." Rumplestiltskin rolled his eyes. "I hope it won't take longer until dinner. I'm hungry."

"You are sounding very bitter lately."

He shrugged. "I have reasons to."

Colette’s fingers played with the stripes of his hair as a strange look filled Agathe’s face while she watched them, Belle never saw it there before, but it almost resembled hate, what she thought to be strange, since they were always friendly to her, nothing else – at least, not her and the children, Rumple might be a little cruel with his words sometimes, but he never did anything to really bother her. The lady, however didn’t give much attention to that, as Agathe disappeared in the hallway that led to the dungeons.

"Papa, can you spin with me?"

"Yeah, let’s go, Lette."

Belle watched them leave with Mr. Dove following father and daughter, but all she could do was stand still at the entryway, her traveling cloak still heavy and warm around her shoulders, the black gloves still covering her cold hands.

"Milady."

Turning around, she saw her most beloved maid and opened her arms, asking for the maternal hug, only her and Belle’s deceased mother could ever give.

"Oh, Mrs. Potts I've missed you and I'm really in need to cry on your shoulder right now."

"Come on,” the redhead chubby woman said. “We can talk while I cook."

"Papa! I'm so glad that you're back!"

Rumple was spinning with Colette sat on his lap, her little hands running through the wheel as he turned the straw into gold for her entertainment, those bright blue eyes she had inherit from her mother shinning with the excitement of seeing the magic happening right in front of her eyes. Nobody was around, even though he could say that his family was spread around the big castle, too busy with their own matters to notice that the master and lady of this house had come back, but Rose sensitive as she was, appeared just some moments after he sat by the wheel with her youngest sister.

The girl had a giant smile on her face as she bent, to press a kiss on his cheek before taking a seat by his side, leaning her head on his shoulder as he kept spinning.

"How are your visions, Rosebud?” He asked full of concern. “Are they bothering you a lot?"

She denied with a wave of her head. "I only had one dream since you left and it was the very same from the last time. A King in his bed, dying while I sit there by his side and he looks at me with rage." Inhaling deeply, Rose stared transfixed at the windows, like she was lost on the maze of her own mind. "I can't see his face yet."

"Oh, sweetheart!" Rumplestiltskin mumbled, stopping his work to turn at her, one of his hands coming up to stroke her cheek.

"Maybe he is a bad King, Rosie." Colette pondered. "So, his death won't be that horrible."

Rose’s lips tightened in a thin line under her little sister’s watch. She worried a lot about the people who she dreamed of, because even when she had no idea of who they were, she still felt pity for them. Having tragic fates traced, was awful thing and she felt really bad for being the one to see it all, but there was one thing that had been truly disturbing her this time: Rose was in that place, for some reason, she was with the king while he died.

"I don't understand why I am there with him." She told her father.

That didn’t make any sense for Rumplestiltskin, but he knew that the details of her visions were generally blurry and confusing, so it was provable that it wasn’t exactly what was happening.

"Maybe you're not,” he said in an attempt to give her some comfort. “Maybe in your dreams you're just in another person's place."

"I hope so." Rose shrunk, then looked around. "Where is mama?"

"Probably gossiping with the maids."

Raising just eyebrow his daughter gave him a mistrustful glance. "She is not the kind of lady who does gossips."

Clever girl, that one, he thought to himself. Rumple didn’t want to tell her that Belle wasn’t exactly fine since they arrived the Dark Realm, too worried with everything, but the last five days had already been troubled for the couple, and he didn’t need his children to get concerned about all those problems with them.

"That's just a way of saying that she needed somebody to talk about life."

"She could have talked to me."

"I don't think so, darling.” He said with a small laugh. “Not everything you can share with a child."

Thinking that he might be talking about husband and wife matters Rose shooked her head, immediately backing away from wanting to talk with her mother, because this wasn’t a thing she was willing to hear about.

"Alright, I understood, we should change the subject."

However, they didn’t have the time, because Gideon, Chip, Neal and Emma came from the tower that led to the library, distracted while talking to each other, until they laid eyes on the imp.

"Your little snake!” Gideon pointed at Rose. “They came back and you didn't even tell us."

"How are you, my boys?"

Placing Colette on the floor, the imp stood up to hug his sons. "How are you, my boys?"

"Pretty good." Neal answered with a side-smile. "They didn't disobey me if that's what you want to know."

Both Gideon and Rose laughed, exchanging a glance that only the two of them knew what meant. Belle opened the kitchen's door, getting out of there to see the family reunion that was happening in the dining hall.

"Hey!" She said, looking at the ones she hasn’t had the chance to meet yet. "I'll change before dinner."

"Are you alright, mother?" Gideon answered intercepting her way to the staircase, his thumb stroking her temples. "You look downcast."

"I'm fine." Belle guaranteed with a smile, before pulling away from him to walk towards her chambers.

Rose narrowed her eyes, taking this attitude as an evidence that something was wrong, so she followed her mother through the corridors walking fast to reach Belle before she locked the door of her chambers.

"You lie as bad as me." Rose said, leaning against the doorframe to prevent her from closing it. "What is happening, mama?"

Belle made an inviting gesture to Rose to get inside the room. "There is a lot in my mind, sweetie, just that."

"I don't believe you."

"It's the truth." Belle insisted, entering the closet to take one of her gowns from there.

Back when Rose was a child, her best memories came from sneaking inside her parents’ chambers to take a look at her mother's gorgeous clothes and shoes. She used to walk around the closet, when no one was seeing and take the dresses, trying to fit them in herself as much as she was definitely too little for that. Belle found her there, a lot of times and she never reprehended the girl, only laughed, with a lovely look on her face.

"Well, then you shouldn't let problems take the best of you." Rose advised, taking a seat in one of the armchairs.

Lost in thoughts, Belle stopped behind her, pulling her hair up and down in different forma with a nostalgic sigh. "I used to think that I was playing dolls with you in the past. Dressing, hair-styling, just like a child with a new toy. And now you look all grown and gorgeous."

The tone in her voice was sorrowful and made Rose feel worried again. Belle was a joy person and if there was something great enough to make her sound so sore, then it was definitely bad and worth attention.

"Tell me what is the matter." She insisted.

"You have a lot to worry alone, Rosie." Belle said. "I won't take my problems to you."

Remembering about her brief conversation with her father earlier, Rose tried to think about something her mother wouldn't like to discuss with her, but she only found one subject and as much as she didn't like the idea of talking about her parents’ relationship, she would anything if it would make her mother feel better.

"Is it anything between you and papa?"

"No! We are fine." Belle assured. "The matter is a darkness different from the one I love."

"And we should get concerned about it?" Rose asked, biting at her lip.

"I don't know."

In the next morning, Rose woke up from one of those incredible good nights of sleep, totally out of any kind of dreams. Rested and happy, she dressed herself seeing that the snow outside was starting to melt, it was a beautiful sign that the winter was getting to an ending. She went downstairs, the amazing smell of bread being baked coming from the kitchen in the still silent castle, she was driven there by this, hoping to get something of the breakfast before the maids put everything on the table.

Opening the door with magic, as it was weirdly locked with a spell, the girl jumped at the sight of Gideon almost smashing Roderick against the counter as the two of them kissed roughly, hands traveling around each other's body and hair.

"Dear gods, put a sign on the door next time!" Rose exclaimed, making them pull away with red faces.

"The door is locked for a reason, sister." Gideon answered, impassively.

"This is the kitchen, Gideon, not your room, anyone can enter here. It could have been father and if it was you would have a lot to explain."

Now, he had admit that she was right, Gideon couldn't even imagine how bad it would have been if Rumplestiltskin entered there while he kissed his boyfriend. There was a reason why he was keeping this secret from his parents for so long and it was his fear of what their reaction might be, as they expected Gideon to get married to a highborn lady and give them lots of grandchildren, just like any parents would expect their son to do. Crashing their dreams was something he wasn't willing to make so soon, even though he knew that his mother had no problem with people's choice of lovers, since her friend Ruby lived with another lady and Belle herself had broken all the rules when she fell for his father, a man that was considered a monster all around the realms.

That just didn't stop him from feeling afraid when it come of himself.

"Sorry for that, little beauty." Roderick said, before pointing at the provisions Gideon had taken for him when the maids left the kitchen to start cleaning the castle's many rooms before serving the breakfast. "We just came here to pick some food, actually."

"Yeah, and you easily get distracted." Rose rolled her eyes.

Grabbing basket that contained the food, Gideon pushed it to Roderick's arms.

"Here, take it, Rod. The winter won't last but your family needs to eat."

"Thank you, Gid." He smiled, brushing his lips against the other boy's.

Roderick had just pulled away when the door was opened by Mrs. Potts, who was gladly too busy looking down at the duster in her hands to notice the closeness between the boys.

"Agathe have you - " she started, lifting her eyes to the three of them, looking at Roderick completely puzzled. "Who are you?"

"Mrs. Potts!" Gideon almost choked with his own words, without knowing what to do or what to say.

"I am - " Roderick swallowed. "I - "

"He is my boyfriend." Rose said holding the dark-haired boy's hand on hers.

"Your what?" Mrs. Potts and Gideon questioned at the same time.

"My boyfriend, Roderick. Please, please Mrs. Potts, don't tell my parents about that just now, I want to properly introduce him, but not just yet." Rose explained. "He is going home now."

The frown on the chubby woman's face told them that telling their parents about the visitor was exactly what she wanted to do in that moment. "He better be."

Waving her hand, Rose made Roderick disappear in a golden cloud of smoke as Gideon rushed to the dining hall, not wanting the maid to question him about anything or he might end up telling her his secret.

"Liar!" Mrs. Potts accused, pointing a finger at Rose.

"I'm not a liar, why would I be?"

"Your cheeks are red. You're lying, and I will find out what about!"

Rose shooked her head, walking out of the kitchen before she could say another obvious lie in an attempt to help her brother. Her family was already waiting for the breakfast at the dining table, except for Belle that was getting a letter from a bird and opening it to read.

"Look at this!" She said, much more cheerfully than she had been last night. "Prince Neal is inviting the two of you to his birthday party!"

"Prince Neal?" Gideon laughed. "No, thank you."

"You were friends!" Belle protested.

"When he was a cool kid, not a smug idiot."

She didn't agree with her brother completely in that matter. Yes, maybe Neal was really smug, but he was a royal and those things affected the way that he chose to act, but he wasn't an idiot all the time, with Rose he was a decent young man.

"Well, you are going, he is the brother of your sister-in-law." Their father said, what really surprised her, because he wasn't exactly a fan of those events. "And you can use the occasion to try to find a lady you like. Chose anyone you want, I'll make sure I'll offer her a deal she can't deny."

There it was, Rose thought, he had an interest in sending his children there. Poor Gideon, her excuse for Mrs. Potts wasn't going to last that much if he wanted to remain a single man, free to meet his beloved Roderick whenever he wanted.

"Father, I don't want to get married, and are you really suggesting that I would need a deal to do so?" Gideon pretended to be offended.

"No, I was simply easing your life."

"Really helpful." The boy mumbled, folding his arms against his chest. "I don't want to go."

"You will and you'll take care of your sister. She only dances with you and the ones you allow her to."

"This must be a joke!" Rose exclaimed. "Papa, I'm not a child."

"Yeah, Rumple, you're overreacting. She can dance with whoever she wants." Belle said. "And Gideon can keep an eye on the girls without you interfering on that."

By her side, her brother snorted. "Nightmare."

"Oh, no I know what a nightmare is and this brother, looks worse for both of us."

But, whatever the stupid birthday of Prince Neal could bring, it seemed that neither of them could get rid of it.

#rumbelle fic #writing #mine #rumplestiltskin #belle french #gideon gold #gideon x roderick #rose x roland #oc #rose gold #The Dark Children #fanfiction #ao3 #rumbelle #ouat

2 notes · View notes

imgilmoregirl · 7 years

Text

The Dark Children (Chapter 7)

AO3 Link

This chapter was revised by my new amazing beta @ethereal-wishes

The sun was shining bright while a bunch of carriages lined in front of Snow White’s castle, preparing to take the guests home, left from last night’s party. Rose was waiting for her brother and butler to appear in sight again, calling her to go home, struggling with the feeling of her eyes almost closing, but a full night's sleep was rare for her.

Roland had already left for Sherwood alongside his sister, Veronica. He stopped at her chambers beforehand, just to see how she was doing, and she took the opportunity to apologize to him, both for scaring the poor boy with her screams and for the rude way her brother and his boyfriend had expelled him from there. Rose sat by his side and confessed how her dreams affected her, something she never before had the courage to tell him. The boy didn’t know what to say, but that he was sorry and would always stand by her side when she needed him, then he left, giving her one last kiss goodbye.

Gideon sent Roderick home. And that was another subject she briefly discussed with Roland, not saying much, but just asking her boyfriend not to mention anything about the dark-haired young man, whom was accompanying her brother when they entered her chambers the night prior. Roland promised he wouldn’t tell anyone about it, and didn’t question why she was making that request, even though, the look in his eyes told her he knew why.

Now, lost in her own thoughts, all she could do was close her cloak’s pin to make sure it wouldn’t fall from her shoulders. People were walking around there, saying their goodbyes to some friends, looking for maids or charioteers, making a lot of noise as they spoke loudly, so Rose only payed attention to the young woman that was walking towards her, because she was walking straight towards her.

“Drizella, hi!” The girl said happily, taking her mother’s old advice to not be rude with anyone, no matter how much that person deserved to be threated coldly. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I am as much a part of this family as you are," she replied in that same arrogant tone, the one she'd used ever since they'd met at Henry and her stepsister, Cinderella's, wedding. “I heard that you refused Prince Neal’s proposal last night. I was just wondering what kind of crazy reason you had to say no."

“Well, it isn't what I wanted," Rose shrugged. “How is your mother? I guess she should be feeling devastated with your stepsister's disappearance.”

“Oh, she is totally concerned." Drizella's eyes sharpened at her retort.

Trying not to chuckle at her words, Rose simply rolled her eyes, because everybody knew how much Lady Tremaine and her daughters disliked Cinderella. They'd were full of jealously when she'd married Henry, who was the heir to two thrones, deriving from the most powerful family in the realm. Rose sighed in relief at the sight of the next carriage stopping in front of the gates.

“Rose, it is time to go.” Gideon said, jumping from the carriage, leaving the door open for her.

“You’re taking the Queen’s road?” Drizella questioned when she began to walk away.

“Yeah, it’s the safest one,” Rose answered. “Good to see you," she nodded curtly, turning to face the carriage.

Allowing Gideon to help her inside, she settled on the plush seat, searching for the book she had left there for the long travel, as her brother accommodated himself right in front of her, the carriage started moving.

“I don’t like that girl,” she complained, opening the book on her lap, searching for the page she'd dogeared.

“You’re not the only one, sis.” Gideon assured her. “Drizella looks like a problem.”

Inhaling deeply, she looked up at him, the urge of apologizing filling her chest, because she was too grateful to have her brother standing by her, whenever she needed him. Their family had always been fiercely loyal to one another, and she knew he would always be there for her. “Listen, I’m sorry for last night, I’ve ruined your plans, haven't I?"

“No. I enjoyed myself immensely. Roderick knows that I stop everything I’m doing when I hear you screaming," Gideon said, placing a hand on her knee, giving her one of his kindest smiles. “He worries about you too.”

“I like him. He makes you happy," Rose replied, and it couldn’t have been truer. She liked Roderick a lot, thought that he was funny and gentle, but the greatest reason she liked him was because he was what Gideon needed, and she only wished that he could feel the same way about Roland.

“Now, can we please talk about you not scaring my boyfriend and just being glad that he makes me happy?” Rose pleaded.

Pulling his hand away from her, he leaned back in his seat. “I’m sorry, but it isn't going to happen as long as I keep finding him sharing the same bed as you."

“We were fully dressed, Gideon!” She rolled her eyes.

“I’m not hearing you.”

“Child!” Rose accused.

“Snake.” Gideon comeback.

He fell asleep when the sky showed a beautiful mix of colours, and a lull took place in the carriage. Rose concentrated on reading her book, the low noise of the horses’ steps filling the air with a comforting sound. Gideon felt thankful for getting some rest as his eyes closed, and when he opened them again, it was because he felt an annoying tremor in his shoulders.

Blinking, the boy tried to focus on the shadow of his sister’s silhouette, barely visible in the darkened carriage.

“Gideon,” she whispered in a frightened tone.

“Nightmare?” He asked, rubbing his eyes drowsily.

“No," Rose said, “we stopped.”

“What? Stopped? Why?” Gideon demanded.

“I don’t know. Things are too quiet, I’m afraid," she whimpered.

He was still feeling a bit numb and unwilling to close his eyes again. Gideon took a look outside the window, stretching to see that their butler wasn’t on his seat, commanding the horses. It certainly explained why they weren’t moving, and he couldn’t blame the poor man for wanting some rest. They'd been traveling the whole day.

“Mr. Dove must have stopped for some silly reason. Go back to sleep," Gideon coerced.

Rose was about to agree and curl upon the plush seat, but a loud bang outside the carriage made her jump. “Whoa, what was that?”

Gideon wasn’t afraid as she was, but he knew that there were thieves on these roads, even in the safest parts, and, for not knowing who was inside the carriage, they could easily end up as a snail beneath their papa's boot, for trying to rob his children.

“Stay inside," he commanded, shooting a serious glance at Rose, opening the door, peering out warily.

“Mr. Dove?” Gideon called, glancing around. “Mr. Dove, where are you?”

“Master, don’t come any closer!” Dove's voice boomed throughout the foliage.

Turning around, Gideon saw their butler being held in the air by an invisible force, one he knew very well. Magic. A tall tan man came from behind the butler, walking very slowly, a smirk playing upon his lips.

“Hello, boy," it greeted him darkly.

“Who are you?” Gideon questioned.

Mr. Dove started to choke under the man’s amused gaze. “Just someone who needs to send your father a message. Tell him that his days as the Dark One are nearly over."

“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” Gideon answered, ready to attack.

Opening his hand in front of his body, Gideon created a fireball, throwing it in the man’s direction. He easily dodged it, brandishing his sword, stalking towards Gideon. Using his powers, Gideon tried to defend himself, but the man was too powerful, his magical abilities brought Gideon to his knees. Gideon tried to reach for his dagger, but his assailant stopped him, plunging his sword through his abdomen. Gideon writhed in pain as the main mercilessly twisted his blade.

“Gideon!” Rose cried, rushing towards him.

“Not so soon, dear.” A woman's voice resounded somewhere in the distance.

None of them saw who she was. Gideon couldn’t move with the Immense pain which was coursing through him. Rose's back was turned, and she didn't see the blast of oncoming magic which sent her spiraling into a tree. She fainted upon impact.

The woman smiled wickedly and used her magic to make Dove and Gideon fall into a deep slumber, then she looked up at her accomplice, offering him her hand, allowing him take them away. The carriage remained on the road. Gideon, Dove, and Rose laid motionless beside the carriage.

It didn’t take long for a retinue to walk there, bringing a King and his knights. When he saw the other carriage blocking the way, he told his men to move it, so they could pass. However, as his men went to remove the carriage, they saw an unconscious girl. One of the knights gently picked her up, taking her to show the king.

The King took a log attentive look at her face, surprised at how much she resembled someone he once knew, so he decided to take her with them, and the retinue proceeded.

Later that night, Rumplestiltskin’s butler opened his eyes, momentarily feeling dizzy and confused before everything became clear in his mind.

“Master Gideon!” Mr. Dove called, reaching for him, after trying to find Rose and failing. “Master, you’re hurt!”

Gideon slowly opened his eyes, pressing his hand to his bleeding abdomen, where the sword pierced him.

“Dove - ” he tried to sit up--the only thing he could do was groan in pain and take a deep breath.

"Rose?" Gideon queried helplessly.

“She disappeared. I looked everywhere, but now we need to take you home. You're bleeding profusely," Dove warned.

Shaking his head, Gideon refused. Dove couldn’t just think that he would head back to the Dark Castle and leave his little sister behind. They needed to find her.

“My sister,” Gideon said with difficulty.

“I’ll go after her when you’re safe, but please use your magic to take us to the Dark Castle now. You won’t help her by dying," Dove pleaded.

Blood gushed from his wound. He needed to find Rose, but he couldn't even consider it in his current condition. He reluctantly waved his hand, a golden cloud of smoke whisking them back to the castle.

They appeared in the great hall, and Mr. Dove immediately started screaming. “Master! Milady! We need help!”

“Mr. Dove, what - ” Belle halted mid-sentence, upon seeing her firstborn laying helplessly on the floor. Her heart plummeted in her chest, the color draining from her face as she rushed towards him. She knelt beside him, pulling his head into her lap.

“My son!” Belle sobbed. “Rumplestiltskin! Help!”

“Mama... ” Gideon whispered, trying to think of something to say which would calm her, her whole body trembling as she baptized him with her tears.

“It’s alright, my boy, you’ll be alright," Belle crooned, touching his brow tenderly.

Mrs. Potts hurried into the room, upon hearing the commotion and the Lady of the Dark Castle's sobs. “Milady?”

“We need herbs and clean cloths and - ” Belle cried, “he is losing a lot of blood. Hurry!”

Gripping at his mother's hand with his bloody fingers, Gideon tried to open his mouth to say that they should stop worrying about him, and start looking for his sister, however the the immense loss of blood caused him to faint. Another sob tore from Belle's throat as her son fainted.

Her heart was pounding furiously in her chest, fear festering inside of her. Belle couldn't lose him; she wouldn't survive if she had to watch her son die.

“Sweetheart, I - ” Rumplestiltskin halting himself at the sight of his wife cradling their injured son in his arms. “Gideon? Oh, no. What happened?”

“We were attacked on the road." Mr. Dove explained. "A man and a woman with powerful magic.”

The imp looked around, immediately noticing his missing daughter. “Where is Rose?”

“Disappeared.” The butler mumbled, diverting his glance to the floor.

Rose, Belle thought, trembling even more. Her son was dying and only the gods knew what could be happening with her girl at that moment. Why was this happening to them? Wasn’t it terrible enough that she seemed unable to conceive another child, or that her precious daughter had to endure those horrible visions? Haven’t they already suffered enough?

“Disappeared?" Her husband repeated harshly, glaring at Mr. Dove. "I sent you there to protect our children! My son is severely wounded, and my daughter has vanished!" Rumplestiltskin snarled vehemently at the butler, tempted to turn him into a snail and crush him underneath his boot.

“Stop!" Belle screamed despairingly. "Rumple, please, we need to take our son to a comfortable place and heal him.”

He finally seemed to come to his senses, directing his attention to Gideon. He fell to his knees in front of her, taking his son's hand and kissing his knuckles.

“Mama, what is happening?” Chip asked, traipsing into the great hall with Agathe and Colette trailing behind him.

“Agathe, take the children away!” Belle demanded.

But it wasn't needed because in the next second, Rumplestiltskin's magic transported them to Gideon's chambers. Belle laid on the bed with their boy, as the imp stood by their side, passing his fingers above the cut on his abdomen, his magic healing the wound and leaving only a small scar.

“He will be fine.” Rumple whispered, waving his hand to change Gideon's soiled clothing.

“He is pale," Belle replied, tears still streaming down her face.

“I’ll prepare some potions," he vowed, “then I’ll concoct a tracking spell to look for our daughter.”

Lifting her gaze to him, Belle never appeared more vulnerable. She was clutching their son as if he were a child again, and he noted her body trembling with fear.

“If something happens to any of them - ” she muttered.

Rumplestiltskin touched her face ardently, bending to press a tender kiss to her cheek. “It won’t, my love. I promise you.”

With that, he left Gideon's chambers, leaving Belle to cry and hold her boy. “Mama is here, darling, and I won’t leave you.”

“Do you think he is going to die?” Agathe asked the housemaid, leaning against the egress.

“Master Gideon?” She snorted. “Of course not, girl! Go mind your own business and take some time to pray to the gods for milady Rose’s safety.”

The blonde maid scoffed, but said nothing, turning her back and disappearing into the hallway. It took some time, but Mrs. Potts found the bottle of wine she'd stowed away for a day like today. She mused over offering it to her lady as a gesture of comfort. Mr. Dove rounded the corner, wearing a somber expression. There was a reason why Rumplestiltskin chose him as their butler: Dove was a big, intimidating, man. He looked wrecked.

“It’s my fault," Dove lamented.

Mrs. Potts opened her arms to him. Dove had to sit on a chair to hug her, because she was too petite for him to properly embrace.

“No, Dove, it’s not," she reassured him, stroking his neck gently. "There was nothing you could've done to stop it."

“But what if milady Rose is dead?” The butler questioned. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself. She is just a child.”

“Listen!" Mrs. Potts said, pulling his face away from her and forcing him to look into her eyes. "She will be fine. Master wouldn't ever allow anything bad happen to his girl.”

“I’m sorry for that," he sniffled.

“I know," she said, pulling away from him and grabbing the basket she left on the counter. "I need to attend to Lady Belle."

Dove nodded, standing up. "Sure, you go on."

Squeezing his hand one last time, she left the kitchen, seeing Chip chase Colette around the dining hall, making her giggle, completely ignorant of the fact that their family was in a bad situation, right now. The maid was about to take the stairs to the right tower when Rumplestiltskin materialized in front of her.

"Mrs. Potts?"

"Yes, master?"

"Take this to your lady," he said, placing some closed tubes inside her basket. "Gideon shall take one of these, every night until he heals internally." The imp instructed. "I'm going after my daughter, now."

"Good luck," Mrs Potts remarked, refraining from embracing him as she had Dove.

All he did was to nod and let his glance fall to another thing he had been holding, a purple scarf that belonged to Rose. He was worried like never before. Mrs. Potts only ever recounted seeing such a devastated look upon his face one other time, and it was the day Lady Belle suffered a miscarriage. Rumplestiltskin, the great Dark One, was about to break down. However, he wasn't going to give in to weakness. No. He was going to fight like he always did. So, he let the purple smoke make him vanish away, and the maid returned to her duties, going straight to Gideon's chambers and knocking on the door.

"Milady, may I come in?" Mrs. Potts asked, finding Belle sitting on the bed by her son's side. "I brought some herbs and master sent you the potions he promised. He left to find Rose."

"Of course, come here," The lady answered, sniffing and wiping the tears from her eyes.

Leaving the basket on the nightstand, Mrs. Potts took a seat on the edge of the bed. "How is he doing?"

"I don't know, he didn't wake up." Belle's lower lip trembled. "Mr. Potts, why is this happening to me?"

"Oh, milady. I don’t know, but I'm truly sorry!"

"Is it because I was ungrateful about not being able to have another child?" Belle asked, caressing Gideon's hair. "Now, am I cursed to lose the ones I already have?"

"No! Milady, he will be fine." Mrs. Potts reassured her. "Your son is a strong boy and master will find your girl and bring her back home."

"What if she is harmed?" Belle queried, her mind filling with trepidation.

"She won't be. She'll be returned to us safely." The maid said, stretching out her arm to hold Belle's hand. "And you and the Master will have more children. I just know it!" Mrs. Potts affirmed.

"Thank you," she whispered, still crying, "for being my friend."

"Mama - " Gideon remarked weakly.

Belle's face lit up hopefully upon hearing his voice, and fresh tears fell from her eyes as she pressed quick kisses to her son's cheeks and forehead.

"Oh, sweet boy, I'm here," Belle crooned

"Where is Rose?" Gideon asked hurriedly.

"I don't know, darling. Your father is looking for her right now," his mother replied, biting her lip worriedly.

"I'm sorry, mama," he said, and in his deep brown eyes, Mrs. Potts could see the guilt he was feeling. "I should have protected her."

"It's alright," Belle whispered.

"No," Gideon insisted, "I was weak."

The maid shook her head. "Master, you were hurt. It is not your fault."

"I was supposed to be her hero. She always said that I was her hero," he mumbled.

"And you are," Belle stated. "Gideon, you are the most handsome hero in these lands and when your sister comes back, she'll tell you the same."

The very first thing Rose felt when she woke up was a terrible ache in her head. She touched her forehead, however it wasn't the feeling of the open cut against her fingers which made her gasp, but the fact she realised she wasn't in the woods anymore. She was inside a warm room, laying in a bed while two guards watched her. With some effort, she sat up, gazing at them puzzlingly.

“Where am I?” Rose questioned. “Where is my brother?”

Sharing a glance, one of them nodded to the other, before saying: “I’ll tell the king that you've awakened."

The King? This clearly wasn't Snow and David's castle, since the walls were yellow, not white or blue like they were there. This place was completely new to her and didn't look like any other castle she had been in before. The wooden furniture looked old and shabby, nothing like the pieces you could find in a wealthy noble's home. Her cloak was missing, and she was wearing a long sleeved, pink dress that she didn't recognise.

“Where is my brother?” She shouted at the remaining guard.

The door burst open and, a whole retinue entered the room, led by a chubby, tall man, that looked too pale and seemed to be sickly. And she knew who he in fact was, because he was the king she had dreamed of - The man was fated to die.

“You’re awake, that’s good," he said to her. “Me and my men found you on our way home. You were laying unconscious on the road. I’m Maurice, King of Avonlea, and you’re in my castle.”

Rose felt as if her heart would stop. She was in Avonlea, her mother's place of birth, and the man right in front of her was her grandfather, the man who'd spread rumours all around the Enchanted Forest about his own daughter giving herself willingly to a monster, calling her a whore and her children bastards. Rose felt speechless. She needed to get out of here.

“My guard said that you were asking for your brother. Was he with you?" Maurice asked. “We only saw you and the empty carriage, but I can send my men back to look for him.”

A small laugh left her mouth as she slipped off the bed, standing to her feet. “No, thank you, your Majesty. I think I’ll just be on my way now."

“Not so fast," The King intercepted her, holding her arm. “Describe your brother and we will look for him.”

Her breath was caught in her throat as she remembered the long conversations she had with her mother through the years, where she told Rose how much she always felt locked away in Avonlea, unable to make her own decisions, having her father to guide her life. Belle used to say that in the moment she made that deal with Rumplestiltskin, she freed herself from a future she never wanted to have. It appeared that the King hadn't changed a bit.

“Oh, I can’t describe him, sir, because if I do so, you’ll send your men to kill him, not to rescue him," she returned.

“And why would I? Is he some kind of monster that I would fear?” Maurice inquired.

Another laugh attempted to leave her, because he didn't know how much he was right, at least in his own point of view. Gideon had Rumplestiltskin's skin, and the moment Maurice saw him, he would know whose child he was.

“Please, let me go home, Rose begged. "My parents will be worried.”

“I want you stay longer," Maurice objected.

Narrowing her eyes, she asked: “Why?”

“You remind me of someone," he disclosed.

Belle. She reminded him of her mother. Everybody always said how much they favored. Rose was Belle's child in every way, only inheriting a few of her father's features: his thinner noise, and brown eyes.

“Listen, King Maurice, whoever you think that I resemble, I’m not her and I need to go home," she said, impassively. “I beg you to release me.”

Ignoring her pleas, the king looked at his men, commanding: “Take her to comfortable chambers and lock the door."

Gasping, she wrenched her arm away from him, throwing the guards and butlers that came at her against the wall.

“A witch!” One of them screamed.

“No, not a witch. The Dark One's daughter.” Rose said, ready to use her powers to vanish away, but she felt something gripping at her wrist and before she could react, a black cuff was placed around it.

She tried to use her magic, but it didn't work. She felt soldiers grabbing her from behind, dragging her away.

#rumbelle fic #mine #rumplestiltskin #belle french #gideon gold #oc #rose gold #gideon x roderick #rose x roland #writing #ethereal-wishes beta #ao3 #fanfic #rumbelle #The Dark Children #dark castle au

1 note · View note

imgilmoregirl · 7 years

Text

The Dark Children (Chapter 3)

AO3 Link

After a great family dinner, the day prior, Rumple and Belle had left the castle through a portal that morning, taking Agathe with them and leaving their children to the care of the imp’s eldest son. When breakfast was over and Rose ended the second argument between Chip and Colette, about her and Lucy not being able to play swords with him, sending the children to separated towers, she dragged Gideon to her chambers, so they could talk alone, without anyone hearing their secrets.

“So, what’s your plan, big genius?” Rose asked after closing the door behind them. “Neal and Emma will never in a million years let us go anywhere.”

Gideon shrugged like it was obvious. “I’ll cast a spell.”

“Simply like that?” She rolled her eyes, folding her arms and glancing at him full of doubts that it was really going to work. “You’ll just cast a spell?”

Making his black cloak appear with magic, Gideon passed the fabric around his shoulders, closing the pin that held it in place as he said: “Yeah, Neal don’t understand much about magic and I doubt Emma would pay enough attention to notice the trick of the delude spell.” He explained. “It works very easy. When someone opens the door, fake realistic images of us will appear here.”

There was a knock on the door and Gideon entered the closet as Rose opened it, to reveal Princess Emma, who was wearing a pale grey gown and had a sweet smile on her face.

“Rose, hey, I was thinking if you could help me find some good books at the library.”

Just like a fish out of the water, Rose opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, without knowing how to decline her brother's wife request gently. She gripped at the door's knob, making a painful expression and curling herself a little.

“I’m not feeling very well right now.”

“Oh," Emma muttered "do you want me to ask Mrs. Potts to check on you?”

“No, no! It’s just some, you know, women matters.” Rose answered with pinkish cheeks. “I’m going to spend some time in bed, my mother says it helps.”

Emma nodded, taking a step back to the hallway. “Of course. If you need something, just call me.”

“Right." The girl replied, already closing the door again. "Good luck with the books.”

When she turned back to her room, her brother was walking out of the closet, laughing a little. “Women matters?” Gideon chuckled.

“Our plan would be ruined if she dragged me to the library.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

As if she didn't know that already. It was rare the times where Rose tried to lie to her parents or their maids but it never really worked, she was just lucky now, because Emma didn't know her enough to see how nervous she was by saying something to trick someone.

“Can you go on with the freaking spell?” She asked.

Gideon took a parchment from his cloak's pocket, starting to read the words from it while Rose pulled on her own cape. A soft golden glow took the chambers, the magic doing its work.

“Done.” Gideon said. “We just need to be back by diner time, or we will have problems.”

With that, he vanished them from their castle, using his powers to make them appear in the middle of a village, that was also being punished by the bad weather, snow covering the roofs of the houses and establishments. She braced herself, trying to get warm as she looked up to her brother, with a question on the tip of her tongue.

“Who are we looking for?”

“Lady Heart.” Gideon answered.

“Lady Heart?" Rose raised an eyebrow. "What kind of name is that?”

“Ask her, not me.”

“That sounds fake.”

“Our mother is the Dark Lady. Those things don’t have to make sense.”

Rose was about to start a discussion, because she wasn't going to trust someone with such a fake name to take her visions away, but Gideon grabbed her arm and started to drag her through the village. She was desperate, of course, but she had learned from her father that desperate souls are the ones who makes the most dangerous deals. And people all around the realms could be fool enough to sell their whole lives in moments of despair, but not Rumplestiltskin's daughter, she was clever than that.

Her hood kept up, hiding her face all the time, exactly like her brother's, and they moved around like cloaked ghosts, until they found a small wooden house, which's door was cracked open.

“Excuse me?” Gideon called, entering the place, with Rose right behind him.

A rather old woman, all dressed in black with brown eyes and chestnut hair tied in an undone bun came from another room, looking at them with genuine surprise.

“Whoa, I wasn’t expecting to see a new Dark One so soon.” Lady Heart said. “So, Rumplestiltskin finally got killed.”

Typical. For the ones who didn't know her family, the only one who could have the appearance of a Dark One, was him. Gideon and Colette were always a surprise to every people who met them, while Rose and Chip barely were noticed.

“I’m afraid I am not the Dark One, milady, just his son.” Her brother answered, stretching a hand for the lady to take. “Gideon, very nice to meet you. This is my sister, Rose.”

“He had children." Lady Heart said, in a tone of wonder. "Almost unbelievable, but I bet he got you two from a deal, with some desperate soul.”

Another typical thing. Rose had heard those reactions so many times while growing up, that she was starting to think that her life was becoming a cliché.

“Actually, he is married now, and has another two children.”

“Well, there is crazy women all around the realms. But what brings you here?”

This time, Gideon exchanged a long glance with her before he proceeded, silently asking for her permission to speak and her last consent, so they could go on with this. Rose just nodded, even though she was still unsure about that woman.

“My sister is a seer and is having some trouble with her gifts. We wish to know a way to stop it.”

“Stop the visions?” Lady Heart laughed. “This is impossible.”

“Magic can do pretty amazing things, I’m sure it could help us a bit.” Gideon insisted.

Walking around the small room, the lady tipped a finger to her chin, as if she was deeply thinking about that, considering if they were worth any information or not. When she stopped and looked back at them, she had a smile on her lips that creepily reminded her of Zelena's wicked smirk, when she had some evil plan in her mind.

“There is a very rare book of spells that I’ve heard about long ago, but I believe that a lady called Maleficent has it right now. Your answer can be there.”

Gideon nodded. “Aye, thank you.”

He was about to take Rose out of the house, but the questions in her head were too loud to be ignored, so she kept standing where she was, staring mistrustfully at Lady Heart.

“Can I ask you one more question, milady?” The girl asked.

“Yes, sure.”

“How do you know my father?”

The smirk on her lips only got wider, her eyes shining a little with the realisation that Rumplestiltskin's girl was a clever one, and hadn't left that one pass. Gideon looked between the two of them, trying to understand why his sister was asking her this, when probably every living person knew their father.

“Long ago, I made a deal with him.” Lady Heart told them. “But at this point I believe everyone did.”

“I think you’re right. So, talking as a dealer’s daughter, what is your price for the information you gave us?”

“Today? Nothing." The woman said. "But someday I can need some information from you two.”

“Well, we always pay our debts.” Gideon smiled at her. “Again, thank you, milady.”

Brother and sister left the house, side by side, walking around the village and observing the commoners working even with the cool weather, most of them wearing clothes that seemed too thin for such a terrible time of the year. Rose was freezing inside her bulky cloak and warm velvet dress, so she couldn’t begin to imagine what those people were going through.

“She is creepy.” Rose said to Gideon as they walked. “I don’t trust her.”

His mind however was working in a total different direction as hers. “Do you think we can find Maleficent before the sundown?”

“No way, and I’ve risked myself enough for a day. There is always the chance that this Lady Heart could be lying to us. We should go back home, Gid.”

“Alright, but can we stop at Roderick’s first?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Priorities, brother.”

“This is a major priority.”

Placing both her hands on her own hips, she stopped right in front of him with a frown on her face. She felt that it was really unfair that Gideon got to make his secret boyfriend appear on his chambers every single night while she played the part of the good lady and stayed apart from her own.

“I haven’t seen Roland since this snow covered the forest in white, I think you can wait until it is night and he appears in your chambers.” A smirk passed through her lips, a new thought forming on her mind. “What gives me a brilliant idea of how I must end up my day.”

“You are not bringing that archer to your chambers.”

The first thing that she wanted to say, was that Roland wasn’t just an archer, but also a great sorcerer trained by his mother the former Evil Queen, however she knew that Gideon didn’t give a damn about it.

“Why not?” She asked, instead.

“Because you’re a lady.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything other than talk!” Rose defended herself, but then had to bit her lip to contain a little smile. “Well, maybe kiss.”

“No.” Her brother insisted.

“Gideon, you’re not my father.” The girl bounced, already prepared to leave and write a letter for her sweetheart. “Let’s go home.”

Belle walked inside the archive with Agathe right behind her. They hadn’t stopped for a minute since their arrival at the Dark Realm, unpacking, talking with some of their servants and the people they left in care of things there, while they spent their time at their own realm. Mr. Cogsworth, a tall, thin, dark-haired man with green eyes, was one of their most important helpers, that ruled the mines most of the time.

"The archive is exactly the way you left the last time, my Queen." He informed, pointing at the shelves that Belle organized with such dedication during their last trip.

Rumplestiltskin had immediately went pay a visit to the miners, both to see if the work was being done the way it should and to confirm that their conditions remained perfectly good and no one was being mistreated like they were during Fiona’s reign.

"Thank you, Mr. Cogsworth.” Belle smiled “And what about the workers, are they doing well? Receiving everything they should?"

"Of course, my Queen."

She wasn’t exactly used to that title, but ever since she and her husband took control of the Dark Realm, they became their king and queen and no one could change the vision their subjects had about them, but at least, she always thought, they were loved and respected by their people, not anything else. The miners didn’t fear Rumple like everyone in their realm did, they were grateful for all he did for them and were only frightened of his power.

"Alright, I need to check some things here first, but then I'll join your King and make a visit to them."

"As you wish,” the servant replied. “I'll be waiting outside to take you there."

He left the women alone, closing the door of the archive behind him as Belle started to walk between the shelves, looking for the registers her husband had asked her for.

"Mr. Cogsworth likes you." Agathe said in a teasing tone, following her lady some steps behind.

Belle shrugged. "He is a good man, I like him too."

"Not like this, milady.” She chuckled. “He likes you like a husband should like a wife."

Lifting an eyebrow, Belle felt the need to laugh too, because that prospect was so absurd that she didn’t even know why her maid was paying attention at this. Mr. Cogsworth wasn’t an ugly man, in fact, she thought that most ladies she knew would find him very attractive, but not her. Belle’s heart and soul could only see one man and he had all those amazing green-gold scales along his body.

"Oh, Agathe, I'm already very well married. I won't pay attention to this."

Biting at her lip, the maid passed her fingers through the parchments kept in the shelves, before lifting a hand to straight her blonde hair. "How did you know that master was the right man for you?"

"I don't know exactly how, but everything about him always enchanted me, even the dark parts that anyone else appreciated.” Belle answered in a melancholic way, remembering about the beautiful start of her relationship with her husband. “Rumplestiltskin became my everything very quickly."

"I've heard on the nearest village to the castle that he only married you because you got pregnant."

"Silly rumours.” She shrugged, finally reaching the parchment she had been looking for. “You were present the day we wed and I already had two children by that time, not to count the poor little baby we lost."

It was truth that the loss of that child still got her mourning sometimes, even it had been happening around fifteen years ago, she would always think about it, because for Belle she had always had five children, not four, she just never got to know one of them.

"Some woman become infertile after miscarriage." Agathe mumbled as she sat by a large table and that made Belle look at her over her shoulder with a puzzled expression. "What you clearly didn't and it's a blessing that you can still have babies."

"This conversation is getting awkward, we'd better work."

Turning her attention to the parchment, Belle started to study every single line of it. Some weeks ago, the fairies had brought them the sick news that a part of their lot of magic, simply wasn’t reaching its destiny and never made it to their place, what really had got them concerned and brought Rumple and Belle there to analyse the situation and try to find the person who had been stealing from them.

The parchment she had in hands kept the registers of the last trimester, and if something was wrong it should show, but all the sales seemed incredibly normal, so she started to take older registers, passing the documents to Agathe to take a second check after she did. Belle didn’t know how long it took until the door opened and steps echoed behind them.

"Got distracted?" Rumplestiltskin asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, no!” She tapped a hand on her forehead. “I'm sorry, Rumple, I was so concentrated that I lost the track of the time!"

Pulling a chair to her side, he got a seat, looking down at the same parchment she had uselessly being studying for the last twenty minutes. "Have you found anything yet?"

"No. Agathe and I looked everywhere, but the registers don't show us our ghostly dealer."

His eyes flew to the maid, whose glance were divided between staring at the registers that were set in front of her in the table, and looking at them from the corner of her grey eyes. A nosy irritating thing that he didn’t want to see when he already had so many bad things to think about.

"Get out of here, dearie." Rumplestiltskin demanded, point the door to her.

"But, master - "

"Now!" He yelled, harshly, scaring the girl and making her vanish from the archive as soon as she managed too. Taking a deep breath, he stared at his wife, showing her a troubled face. "This is getting me seriously worried Belle."

"We will find this person, my love."

"Oh, yeah, and when we do I’ll show it that nobody steals from the Dark One, but you don't understand. Someone is taking powerful magic from our mines and we don't know what kind of tricks this person can be preparing, that’s what getting me concerned."

Suddenly seeming to be lost in thoughts, Belle let her hand unconsciously stroke his arm, releasing some tension from his muscles. Her mind was back to the dungeons in the time when the Black Fairy were their greatest threat and she was simply and completely scared for the future of her family.

"Do you remember that Blue told me long ago that the darkness in your mother was going to find another host when you killed her?" She asked Rumple and he nodded. "Do you think the ghostly dealer has something to do with that?"

"I hope not, we already have too many problems to add another to our list. We still have to work on Rose's visions." He said, ponderously, but then a small flicker of light passed through his eyes, a smile forming in his lips as he let a hand touch her flat belly. "And taking about our endless list of unfinished matters, aren't you feeling any change that could tell us that you are expecting another sweet child of ours?"

"No. I'm bleeding. I - " Belle swallowed, pulling away from his touch with eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Rumple."

"There is nothing to be sorry about.” He assured her. “We have a plenty amount of children to take care of already and we can keep trying if you wish, but we don’t need to have another baby."

He said that now, but it was his idea in first place and there had been months of exhaustive attempts that ended in nothing. Not that they really had much time to try making a child these days, as they had to lock themselves in the lab the last time, but even so, it was frustrating her. Belle had problems with that before, when they spent years without any success before Rose came, but now there were another factors that could very well interfere in that, and only made her more disappointed with herself.

Right after they got married, the two of them had agreed that Rumple would keep her young with a spell, so they could live as many years they wished, before they decided to find a way to break his immortality and just grown old together, letting death take them, but something that they had also agreed to was to always have they joy of having children to take care in their castle. That part seemed to have stopped working.

"I'm old." Belle complained.

"You are not old."

"I'm forty!"

"No, my dear, you stopped aging at twenty-five." Rumplestiltskin reminded her. "You're young."

"What if I can never born you another child?"

A frown formed in his face. "Why are you saying that?"

"No reason.” She tried to calm herself, shooking her head in an attempt to vanish the bad thought got in there ever since she had that weird conversation with her maid. “I think something Agathe said earlier just stuck to my head."

"Belle, it's alright." He said, kissing her cheek. "And I don't want you to feel pressed to have another baby. We can relish in having grandchildren, because I bet that if we find Gideon the right lady to marry it won’t take us long to have one or two."

That was another thing that was bothering her. Gideon and Rose were growing up and would soon leave the Dark Castle to live their own lives and that terrified her. Would anyone but them be able to soothe her daughter when she woke up screaming in the middle of the night because of a vision? Would anyone love and accept Gideon as much as she loved and accepted Rumple? Who said that she was ready to be anyone’s grandmother other than Henry’s? And why would that prevent her from having more children? She knew queens that had fourteen babies. Gods forbid she had that much children, but why not just another one?

"I don't." Belle mumbled, standing up. "I just want to be alone for a while, so I'm going to our chambers."

"Sweetheart - "

"I'm fine." She guaranteed.

That was a lie.

Rose finished reading for Chip and tucked Colette and Lucy in bed, making sure they were both comfortable before she went back to her own chambers. It apparently was a habit in their family that the eldest child would take care of the youngest, Neal looked out for them until he got married and left with his wife, Gideon always got her through her visions and Rose read for her siblings some nights, just like their mother did too. Colette was the closest to her than Chip, but that was probably because her little brother thought everything was about knights and dragons.

She sat by the dresser, brushing her hair to make sure that it didn't look a mess of curls, and wishing she had permission to uncover one of the mirrors. Gideon's door had been locked with a spell, ever since the dinner ended and she knew that Roderick was already in there with him, and she was waiting for her loved one to come see her too, as the letter she sent him earlier had asked.

Sherwood Forest wasn't far from there and she could have gone see him if she wasn't afraid of her father somehow finding out and grounding her for the rest of the year. A book of poetry was laid open in front of her and Rose set the hairbrush back to the drawer before getting it on her hands as she stood up, walking towards the bed when a blue cloud of smoke appeared in the corner of the room, bringing Roland with it. She immediately threw her arms around his neck and the boy held her tight, spinning her around.

"You know how much I missed you?" Roland asked, stumbling and falling on the bed with her on top of him.

"No more than I did." Rose claimed. "How is your family? I don't see them for a while too."

"My mom is truly worried about Henry right now. My dad keeps trying to distract her, she doesn't like it and sometimes they argue very badly, but well, they also make amends very loudly what would be horrible for me if I didn't had powers to muffle that sounds." He complained with a disgusted face. "Veronica, however just thinks about buying new gowns. Pretty boring things."

Their families were very close. Rose had played with him ever since she was a small child and loved when his youngest sister Veronica, shortly called Ronnie, brought her dolls and they pretended to be princesses, while their parents talked about deals and spells.

"Normal days, I see." Rose smiled, rolling to her back. "My parents are at the Dark Realm, so Neal and his wife came to take care of us. They brought Lucy and that makes three kids fighting over toys."

"Difficult life." Roland chuckled, cupping her face and leaning to kiss her.

"Mm." She agreed against his lips.

Rose could remember their first kiss like it had happened yesterday, not when she was thirteen. It had been a clumsy, awkward thing a stolen peck of lips when they were visiting Henry’s castle. Her whole face had gotten red and they didn’t talk for days before Roland came to apologize and she said he didn’t need to, because she in fact liked it. Their relationship started that day, even though it was very slow and innocent one, but it had become more accurate along the last year.

"If you married me, we could life in a castle of our own, with no noise family around." Roland proposed when they pulled away from each other.

A grimace took her face, because she hated when he brought that subject up without thinking that they were still just kids. "I like my family."

"Rose."

"Roland."

"I serious." He insisted.

"And I am sixteen.” She said, sitting on the bed. “That's not going to happen."

"Henry married at age of eighteen."

"Because he was in love!"

"So, you are not in love with me?"

Rolling her eyes, she started to think that it was not her best idea to bring him there today, but she missed him like crazy. Roland was not just her boyfriend, but he was her best friend in the world, despite of course of Gideon that was her companion for all the good and bad times. She liked a lot of things about him, starting with his always joyful but serious mood, and the fact that he was the most handsome young man she set her eyes on, with that light brown hair and very dark eyes, that always seemed so gorgeous when he was concentrated in aiming a target with his bow and arrow.

That just didn’t mean she needed to get married anytime soon.

"I am, but when I wed someone, I want to be sure of what I am doing. And everything I'm sure right now, is that I'm too young to think about getting a responsibility like this."

"Alright, I'm sorry, I won't push this anymore.” He said, reaching for her hand and kissing the back of it. “You're important to me and I don't want to lose you."

"Thanks." Rose replied, bending so she could kiss him once more.

"So, when can I at least present myself to your parents as your suitor?"

"Roland, darling if you don't shut up, I'll slap you."

With this threat, he finally got quiet.

#rumbelle fic #mine #writing #rumplestiltskin #belle french #ao3 #gideon gold #rose x roland #gideon x roderick #ouat #once upon a time #fanfiction #rumbelle #who is lady heart?#who is the ghostly dealer?#The Dark Children

2 notes · View notes

imgilmoregirl · 7 years

Text

The Dark Children (Chapter 6)

AO3 Link

Agathe’s eyes were lost on the beautiful landscape that you can see through the large windows of the library as she brushed Colette’s hair. Lady Belle was sat on the other end of the place, trying to teach Chip how to make some maths he was struggling to understand, her voice reaching them in a soft motherly tone that was getting the maid more and more angered at each second. She had been fighting with herself not to cry ever since Mrs. Potts entered the kitchen before the breakfast, saying that their lady was feeling ill and shouldn’t be distressed.

The maid wasn’t a fool, she knew what a morning sickness were and what it meant, so if that was the illness Mrs. Potts was talking about, she would have to use the potions Lady Heart had given to her and she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to. Agathe was desperate, but yet she wasn’t willing to kill a child to get what she wanted.

“You’re hurting me.” Colette said with a groan of pain.

“What?” She asked, blinking at the five-year-old girl, who was staring at her like she was the greatest idiot she had ever seen in her life, looking a lot like her father doing it.

“You’re hurting me with the hairbrush.” The girl bounced. “My head is aching.”

Belle lifted her head, looking up at them when her daughter’s complaining reached her, she dropped the feather she was using to write inside the little bowl of ink and stood up, walking towards them with a preoccupied face.

“Is something wrong here?”

“Mama, can you brush my hair?” Colette asked, taking the hairbrush from the maid’s hands and giving it to her mother. “Agathe doesn’t know how to do this.”

“Come here, darling.” Belle said, holding her hand and glancing a little furious at the blonde woman. “Are you alright, Agathe?”

“Of course I am, milady.”

Usually, Belle didn’t sound so harshly like she just did, so the maid guessed that something should be bothering her. Or maybe, a negative voice whispered on the back of her mind, it is just her hormones playing with her and in the next few months you’ll have to deal with that stupid lady being cruel to you. Use the potions.

“Well then I advise you to take care with the way you treat my children.”

"I'm sorry, milady, but I can guarantee you that I was doing it right,” Agathe defended herself, glancing annoyed at the little girl. “Colette is just a little whining today."

"I am not!"

"Get me some tea, Agathe.” Belle asked, breathing in and praying to all the gods she knew to not lose her nerves. “I'll finish it."

"Of course, milady."

Going back to where Chip was, finishing his maths, she sat on the chair beside him, positioning Colette right in front of her and brushing her dark-brown curls with care, as Agathe left the library. Belle wanted to cry. It had been four days since Gideon and Rose left to the party and since the travel to Snow’s castle took exactly that time, they should be arriving there by now and the party was going to happen that night, but what was bothering her had nothing to do with her older children, but with herself.

Tying Colette’s hair in a ponytail, she turned around to get the parchment from her son’s hand.

"Let me see it, Chip." Belle said, analysing the lesson. "You did it very well, sweetie."

"Can I play now, mama? Please, I've been on these lessons the while afternoon."

"Just because you were having issues with that, but now that you're done I think you can go, but take your sister with you. And be good with her."

"Alright." Chip mumbled taking the little girl’s hand and dragging her out of the library. "Come on, Lette."

Sighing she reclined against the chair, closing her eyes and thinking about making a trip to see Ruby. She needed some rest from her personal problems and her best friend had never failed in cheering her up. Maybe they could disguise and go to some taverns or interesting markets, see what kind of adventure they managed to get, because after all there was a quite long time since she made something really impulsive. Yes, she was definitely going to write to Ruby and leave the castle for a week or so when Gideon and Rose came back.

Belle was grabbing a new parchment when Agathe entered the library again, placing a tray on the table and serving some tea. The lady was distracted, but it was a quick look with the corner of her eyes that prevented her from the fact that Agathe had a small bottle and was about to pour something to her cup.

"What is it on your hand?"

"Oh - " Agathe jumped, looking down as if surprised and a little terrified. "Just a potion. Mrs. Potts said that you were feeling sick this morning."

"Headache. Terrible one, but it's better now, so please don't put anything on my tea." Belle replied, peeved. "When I get sick, my husband gives me the right potions and he would freak out if he saw you in his lab."

"Yeah, you're probably right." The maid, said handing the teacup to her before walking away.

But, Belle however wasn’t easy that day. "Agathe. Give me the potion."

“What?”

"The potion.” She repeated, stretching her hand. “I'll take it back to its place."

The maid opened her mouth in surprise, not knowing what to do, because she couldn’t just give Belle the stupid abortive potion for two reasons: if Rumplestitskin found out what it was, he would kill her without thinking twice and second, she was going to need it later, since she hadn’t the chance of putting it on the lady’s tea now.

"I actually was thinking if I could use it, since you won't.” Agathe tried to excuse herself. “I’m not feeling great too."

"Ok."

The sound of Rumplestiltskin coming in, made Agathe disappear behind some shelves, pretending to be interested in the books as he took a sit beside his wife, touching her face very gently.

"Feeling better, my love?"

"No." Belle admitted, before adding in a confessional tone: "Rumple, I'm bleeding again."

"Oh, darling.” He whispered hugging her and bringing her face to rest on his chest, stroking her hair repeatedly. “It's alright."

Agathe smiled for the first time on that torturous week. Belle wasn't expecting a child. Thank gods she didn't waste her potion, because it still might yet be needed if she didn't get to her master, before he had the chance of trying impregnating his wife again.

But no matter what happened next, today Agathe was feeling that she had won that game.

Rose didn’t remember about wearing a golden gown before. That was her mother’s colour, her mother’s thing to always appear wearing a dress that looked like it was made with the gold her father spun in his wheel, but Belle had insisted that she should wear that for Neal’s birthday. The gown had been brought to the Dark Castle by one of the most famous seamstresses in all the realms and adjusted perfectly to her body.

She felt pretty that day, with the auburn curls falling free around her shoulder, only some parts of it tied up in small braids that adorned her hair. After her quick meeting with Roland and Ronnie that morning – that unfortunately wasn’t as great as she expected because apparently Queen Snow’s maids were instructed to not leave her alone, what got her missing Mrs. Potts and Agathe – she went to the chambers they gave to her, took a long relaxing bath and started to get ready for the night. Now that she was ready and could look at a full mirror since the royals seemed to know nothing about the power those things could have, she was feeling like she needed her mother to be there and give her some last advice before the party.

Belle was her guidance for everything. Rose spent a lot of her time learning magic from her father and sharing secrets with Gideon, but her mother was her whole model for life. Her reading habits came from the times Belle would take her to the library and talk about the books like they were the most powerful objects in the world, the way she held her head up and smiled fiercely even when other people weren’t being nice to her were learned from the Dark Lady’s own attitude. But there she was alone left to be her own judge, expect that she still had Gideon to lean on, so Rose went out of her chambers, seeing a pair of maids start to follow her again. That was so irritating that she couldn’t even begin to explain.

Not even knocking on the door, she entered the room, slamming it shut behind her to keep the stupid maids outside.

"How do I look like?" Rose asked, pointing at herself.

Gideon slowly turned around, all dressed in black and silver, but with less leather than he used to. His coat was made of a thick fabric and moulded his body perfectly, letting the muscles of his arms in evidence and the silver stripes that rounded his neck and went down until the hem of it giving him a special glow in contrast with his green-gold skin. He stood up from the chair he had been sitting holding out a hand for his sister to take before he spun her around to get a full view of her gown.

"Gorgeous, but you always do."

"Thank you, brother.” Rose grinned. “You don't look bad too."

Ignoring the comment, he waved a hand in the air and made a beautiful necklace appear between his fingers, one that had a golden rose full of rubies encrusted in it and walked towards his sister, stopping behind her to place it around her delicate neck.

"Here. Now you're perfect."

Touching the pendant, she smiled, murmuring a stunned thanks to him. Enlacing her arm on Gideon's she let him take her out of the room, guiding her to the giant ballroom that was set in the middle of Snow's castle. From the top of the stairs that lead to the party, Rose could see how much that place was already crowded, with people talking and dancing. Those balls were usually just a dream for her when she was younger and her parents were invited to events like that, but she was sent to playrooms with the other children. Her father always complained about having to attend any kind of party, but he mother made him go, so Rumplestiltskin just faked smiles and accompanied her.

Rose wasn’t much of a social girl, but she thought that the balls were a great excuse to use fancy dresses, look gorgeous and dance, which was a thing she definitely loved doing. So, as they slowly stepped forward on the staircase, she smiled widely, hearing the butlers play their trumpets before announcing their names, warning all the guests of their presence in the ballroom.

"Gideon and Rose, the Dark Prince and Dark Princess."

"I liked this,” the girl whispered for her brother. “But nobody calls us that."

"In the Dark Realm, they do."

Narrowing her eyes, Rose felt a little betrayed with the fact that Gideon knew their father’s little kingdom but she didn’t. Rumplestiltskin usually made monthly trips to there, checking how the mines and the workers were doing, however he never let her go with him. He took his wife in some occasions because he hated being apart from her; he took their maids and butler to do some work with him in another situations, and of course, he took Gideon there too, since he was his heir – and Baelfire wanted nothing to do with it or anything else, he just wanted his comfortable cabin in the woods to go back to after his longs trips around the realms with Emma -, he needed to learn everything about how to rule and protect it. And she was left aside, feeling like she was just a child, like Chip and Colette, never older enough to discover new things.

"Papa only takes you there, never me." Rose whined.

"Jealous?" Gideon chuckled.

"Angry." She replied, then laid eyes on the young man that was making his way towards then, looking extremely handsome in his dark green coat. "Roland!"

The side-smile that crossed his lips made Rose’s heart skip a beat. He held out a hand for her to take and she hurried to free herself from her brother’s embrace to take it.

"May I have this dance?" Roland asked, both to her and to Gideon that nodded, uncappable of saying denying it when his sister looked so happy.

"Of course." Rose answered, letting the boy take her to the centre of the ballroom, where some couples were spinning around with the sweet melody a group was playing in one of the corners of the hall.

Watching them for a moment, Gideon sighed looking around in an attempt to locate someone he knew, but before he could find anyone a whisper came from the opened double doors that led to the gardens.

"Gid!" He wasn’t sure if he had heard it right the first time, but when he turned around he was sure that he did. "Gideon!"

Roderick was standing there all shy and hesitant, his dark hair straightened on the top of his hair and his black clothes matching the dark-grey coat, somehow enlightening his eyes. Gideon gesticulated for them to go to the gardens where no one would see them and Roderick went out, being followed by him until they were outside and his boyfriend took his hand, leading him through the shrub labyrinth. Bending over, he let their lips brush very softly and slowly, unlike most of their kisses.

"You look handsome, Rod." Gideon said, caressing his neck. "Those clothes fit you."

"Out of the poor commoner clothes for a day, thanks to you."

The outfit he was wearing had been provided by Gideon, that insisted in bringing him there and giving him, some clothes made by his father’s favourite tailor – not that Rumplestiltskin would ever get to know that the said tailor had been payed to make two outfits for this party, not one. Roderick didn’t own anything like that, his family barely had what to eat most days and their salvation had been his relationship with Gideon, who never let them wish for anything, providing for them when Roderick’s parents couldn’t.

Yet, looking down at him under the weak lights that reached them from inside the castle, Rumplestiltskin’s son had no idea how he got so lucky to get Roderick in his life. He had inhered a bit of his father’s issues with self-loathing and even though he tried not to show it to everybody, he was insecure with his appearance, because he knew that there was a reason why people called his father a monster and it wasn’t just because of his reputation as a devilish dealmaker. Belle had secured him many, many times that he was handsome, but he was pretty aware that not everybody thought like her.

"I don't understand why you like me."

"Fool." Roderick whispered, stroking his cheek. "It is me who don't understand why a powerful beautiful sorcerer like you, heir of the Dark One would ever look at a ragged boy like me."

Shooking his head, Gideon attacked his lips, shutting him up as his tongue slip between them making its way to find his. Things always seemed better when Roderick was around, he felt safer, like he could take the world if he wanted to, he just had to wish so. Maybe, he though, before they met, he didn’t have found himself and that was what was missing when he was alone: the right courage to be who he really was.

"I love you, Roderick."

"I love you too." The other boy answered with a sweet smile on his lips. "Now tell me, what do you wealthy kids do?"

Stepping away Gideon shared a grin with him. "We dance, drink, eat all sort of good things and sneak to our rooms with our partners at the end of the party."

"Can't wait for this moment." Roderick assured. "What do we start with?"

"Let's start with the drinks."

Then, they went back to the party.

If there was something that bothered Rose with keeping her relationship with Roland in secret was to have to pretend having no feelings for him when they were around people, so she was really grateful to be dancing with him, because nobody would suspect about anything when it was a ball and everyone was doing it to. She liked being held with such a care by him as they slide around looking into each other’s eyes.

“I can’t believe I’m having the chance of dancing with you in public.” Roland said in a stunned tone.

A small, sweet laugh left her mouth. “I don’t believe we’ve ever danced before.”

“And what a shame, huh? You dance very well.”

The smile that played in her lips were brought by the memories that came up to her mind. Rumplestiltskin and Belle on the dining hall of the Dark Castle, looking incredibly in love as they danced to the same song that always played in those occasions, remembered watching them like this ever since she was a child and remembered the Dark One offering her his hand, leading Rose just like he did her mother, giggling at how clumsy she was at first.

“My parents love dancing, so my father started to teach me when I was very little.” Rose told him. “Sometimes you’ll just walk into the hall and see him and my mother lost into some old tune. I think it’s beautiful.”

“You make it look so.”

Gods, she wanted to lean on and kiss him when he sounded so soft a seemed to be so lost in her eyes, but Rose couldn’t do it, so she kept dancing satisfied to have his arm around her waist. Things were too good to be truth, of course, because they were interrupted on the next moment, be the owner of that pretentious party, Prince Neal.

“Roland! It is good to see you, friend.” The blonde boy said, showing them his charming smile. “I hate to interrupt, but I believe the lady promised me one dance.”

“Hey, Neal, happy birthday.” Roland greeted, pulling away from Rose and passing her hand for him to take, positioning them for the dance. “Don’t tire her too much, because I intend to have a second turn.”

Rose sighed a little frustrated with the fact that her boyfriend was going away, but she couldn’t let a friend down, so she kept smiling to Neal as they started to move exactly like she and Roland were doing a moment ago. What she wasn’t expecting was that behind the smirk on Neal’s lips were a question that was going to make her blush.

“Well that sounded slightly inappropriate don’t you think?”

Wanting more than nothing to roll her eyes and ask the prince what kind of stupid attitude was that, Rose forced herself to only give him a clever answer. “I’d rather have the good sense to think that he was talking strictly about the dance. I’m a lady afterwards and my mother taught me to be sensate.”

“Of course.” Neal nodded. “But as much as I like to be dancing with you, I came here to offer you a deal.”

“Sure, because everything people can thing about doing with Rumplestiltskin’s daughter is talking about deals. So typical.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, Neal continued his speech as if she hadn’t said a thing. “You see Rose, my parents are getting really old, since they don’t use the same dark magic some people do around here, to keep young.”

“And who would be those?” She asked, exaggeratedly pretending to be curious and surprised. “I would be shocked to hear their names.”

Again, he ignored her.

“I shall be crowd next year, when I celebrate my twenty-one birthday, so today I should pick a bride to be the queen by my side. I think you would be the right choice.”

“Yeah?” Rose laughed. “And why out of every beautiful rich princess in this ballroom would you pick me, Neal?”

“Easy. You’re the Dark One’s daughter, a seer that could prevent us from bad times, not to say that you have a strong power and looks fertile.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. So that was what this was about? Neal getting a freaking marriage? And what kind of sick talk was that? Why were women supposed to seat in thrones as a beautiful object, obeying their husbands and giving them heirs? Were Snow and David agreeing with this or they had no idea that their son was choosing her?

“I look fertile?” This time she guffawed. “That’s the most ridiculous thing you could ever have said to me.”

“Your mother gave birth to four babies, and whatever child we might have would inherit you magic, so - ”

“Dear gods, stop talking.” Rose almost begged, rudely pulling away from him, uncappable of keeping dancing with Neal for another second. “The answer is no.”

“Why?” The prince seemed confused, like being rejected was never an option on his mind.

“Why? Neal, you’re talking about me like I am a merchandise and that I am certainly not.” She assured him with that strong, fierce look of Belle’s shining in her eyes. “Listen, I am Rumplestiltskin’s daughter, and you’re an idiot if you I thought I would accept it. Actually, if my father heard your little speech, you would be dead by now. So, no, I won’t be your queen. Go dance with another girl.”

Leaving him staring back at her on the centre of the ballroom, Rose walked away looking for any kind of drinks when she saw her brother and his boyfriend Roderick, flirting and talking near the doors. She went straight to their direction, aware of the frown in her face that Gideon immediately noticed when he locked eyes on her.

“Was Neal bothering you?” He asked.

Grabbing the silver cup that he was holding, Rose drank the wine that still had left in it. “Yeah, he proposed.”

“What?” His eyes got wide. “You accepted?”

“Do I look like a desperate idiot, Gideon?” Rose rolled her eyes. “I have dignity.”

Still, she couldn’t believe in how much Neal had been stupid. It seems her brother was right all the time and he had become too presumptuous through the years, she just hadn’t realised that yet.

“You were curious about what happens in those parties?” Gideon asked Roderick. “Well that is it.”

“A smug prince is always selling himself around?” Roderick questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Almost always.” Her brother shrugged.

“Rosie!”

“Oh, gods.” She muttered under her breath, wanting another sip of wine more than anything, because she recognised that voice and as much as she liked the owner of it, she knew when a great big moment of small talk was coming. When Rose turned around the beautiful pale girl dressed in a green gown, was already making her way to them. “Robin, long time no see, redhead.”

Zelena’s daughter hugged her briefly, before she looked up at Rose’s brother, carefully analysing him. “You look good today Rosie. And Gideon, if you want to have a talk in the gardens with me later, I’m free.”

Roderick narrowed his eyes, glancing at his boyfriend. “She is a princess?”

“No and we’d better get something to eat, right?” Gideon said, quickly excusing himself. “See you later, Robin.”

Back when they were children, Robin was one of her favourite persons to play with. She was always at Regina’s castle spending some time with her cousins when Rose and her family made visits so the two of them always end up having good moments together – some that she didn’t like to comment too much, like the time they set fire to Veronica’s chambers – but some that she always liked to remember.

“Your brother is hot.” Robin contemplated, observing Gideon and Roderick walk away in the crowd. “You know, my mom still has a crush on your father.”

“The two things I didn’t need to hear today.” Rose complained.

It wasn’t a secret for anyone that Zelena had a crush on Rumple, but as she got older, Rose started to realise that a lot of women had interest in her father and that her mother wasn’t the only one that thought his peculiar appearance to be attractive. However, she knew no other person would be capable of loving him the way Belle did, accepting his flaws and standing by his side even at his darkest moments.

“The dance is already over?” She heard Roland ask as he approached them, only noticing Robin when his hand was already stroking Rose’s arm. “Hello cousin.”

“Hi, Rol. Where is Ronnie?”

“I think I saw her near the left windows.”

Robin nodded, saying goodbye to them as she went to look after Veronica. Rose wasn’t sure, but she thought that she suspected about them being together, even though none of them had told her anything or acted romantically in front of her. She was just perceptive, she guessed.

“Do you think someone would notice if we leave just now?” Rose asked Roland.

“No.”

Taking his hand on hers, they walked to the gardens were nobody would see them and she used her powers to make them materialize on the chambers the King and the Queen had given her. She thought that it was good to be there, out of everyone’s eyes reach, without all those people faking smiles and talking about amenities nobody was really interested in. It brought her relieve, so when Rose snapped her fingers, changing her golden dress to a simple comfortable nightgown, she was totally sure that balls weren’t her thing.

“A lot better.” The girl breathed out, climbing up the bed.

“You’re not intending to go back there.” Roland pointed out.

“I’m not much of a social person.” Rose shrugged, tapping a hand on the empty space beside her. “Come here.”

Taking off his boots with a wave of magic, Roland laid by her side, looking at her eyes and playing with her hair.

“Roland, why do you like me?”

“What kind of question is that?” He asked.

“Just answer.”

“You’re fascinating.” He said without hesitance. “You’re fearless. You are not scared of facing the world.”

“I knew there was a good reason why I liked you.” Rose smiled, happy to hear the big difference between what Roland thought of her and what Neal did. It almost got her making a decision. Just almost. “I think Queen of Sherwood suits me.”

If Regina heard that, she was going to assure Rose that she wasn’t going to be replaced so soon, but she didn’t care, because the girl didn’t intend in taking that title soon either, she just wanted Roland to know that she was considering it and that he would always be her first choice. She kissed him, clutching against the boy and feeling a wave of excitement settle on her womb as their lips started to work hungrier and their hands travelled between hairs and clothes.

“Rose - ” he groaned, feeling the effects of having her in his arms like this start to show on his body and suddenly sat on the bed, inhaling deeply. “I need to stay away from you.”

Rose tried to not look down, to the place where his desire for her was obvious, because she wasn't ready to face it, even knowing that she wanted him too. She touched his shoulder and looked at his eyes, instead.

“Stay here tonight and just hold me,” the girl asked. “Please.”

Roland thought that she was definitelly crazy, because she was seeing that he was struggling to calm himself and banish the forbidden thoughts that he was having about her right now, from his mind and still she was asking him to stay there. That was unthinkable.

“If someone realises that I am here, they’ll talk bad about you.”

“Oh, they will talk bad about me tomorrow anyway.” Rose chuckled, kissing his cheek. “Stay here.”

And how could he deny her when she sounded so sweet and pleading? Roland laid back against the pillows, bringing her with him, letting Rose lay her head on his shoulder. “Alright.”

She felt his chest rising and falling as he breathed difficultly, but the safe sensation of his arms around her were so perfect that she tried not to think about anything else and very quickly he fell asleep.

Rose was back to the dying king's chambers, seating in a wooden chair by his side, feeling her hands shaken with fear, concern, rage and angst, all at the same time. The pink dress she was wearing, looking nothing like the one's she used to have home. On the bed, the king coughed repeatedly, but kept looking at her with eyes full of disgust, like she was the most horrible thing he had ever laid his eyes on.

“You’re a demon’s spawn. The daughter of a monster.” He almost spitted. “You shouldn’t exist!”

A different agony from everything she had ever felt seemed to smash her heart inside her chest at these words. “So why don’t you tell your men to kill me?”

The next look that crossed his face confused her, because it wasn't the angry one's he had shoot at her since he discovered who she was. It almost seemed to be regret.

“Because you look like her.”

A loud scream left her mouth when Rose's body shook, coming back from the vision and waking her, making her sit on the bed, trembling and crying. She didn't know why but she felt pity for him and this time the vision hadn't even reached his death.

“Rose, what is it?” Roland asked, sitting by her side and rubbing at her back as he yawned.

The door of her chambers was open and Gideon entered there, as if the wind had brought her desperate scream to his ears wherever he was and he just came running there, what probably had in fact happened, since the only thing he was wearing was trousers and a black nightvest. A dark-haired boy followed him inside, wearing pretty much the same thing.

“Oh, sweetie.” Gideon whispered, bringing Rose to his lap, before glancig harshly at the boy by her side. “Get out, Roland.”

“But she - ” he tried to say.

“I told you to get out!” The Dark One's son screamed, sounding exactly like Rumplestiltskin himself. “And I don’t want you sharing the same room my sister does.”

“But we didn’t - ”

“Get out, mate.” The dark-haired boy advised and Roland finally gave up and left the room.

Rose was aware of the conversation happening, but she was still too out of her mind to say anything. Now she knew that whoever that king was, she was going to be there at his dying bed, because it was very clear now, that he was speaking directly at her. A demon's spawn, he called her.

“What was it this time?" Gideon asked softly. "Lucy?”

"No. Just the king" Rose said. "It will happen sooner than I expected."

#rumbelle fic #writing #mine #rumplestiltskin #belle french #gideon gold #oc #rose gold #gideon x roderick #rose x roland #rumbelle #fanfiction #ao3 #The Dark Children

1 note · View note

imgilmoregirl · 7 years

Text

The Dark Children (Chapter 8)

AO3 Link

This chapter was revised by my amazing beta @ethereal-wishes.

Rose looked down through the large windows of the room where she had spent the whole day, locked up as prisoner, being watched by King Maurice's guards while she curled in a chair and tried to think. Now, however she was wondering if she could jump through the window to escape, but it was most certain that she would die from the fall. The girl hoped that Gideon and Mr. Dove had made it out of the woods, for their own sake, since her brother had been severely injured on the attack. She knew the moment Rumplestiltskin heard about her disappearance, he was going to use a tracking spell to find her. Then this annoying thing on her arm that blocked her magic, wouldn't matter anymore, because she would be rescued and her father would take it off her wrist in a swift second. She had tried to alert him earlier by summoning the imp, but something must have been wrong with that place, because he didn't come, and could only be justified by the fact that he probably didn't hear her.

A deep loud sigh left her, as she let her eyes travel around the room. There was a four-poster bed with white sheets in the center and a desk on the side with a whole shelf full of old books behind it. She was more than sure that these chambers had belonged to her mother in the past, and as much as her curiosity wanted to draw her to the books, Rose was too upset to even stand up from her seat. It was utterly ridiculous that she was being held captive in her grandfather's castle. Her hands gripped firmly at the chair's arms when she heard the door being unlocked, but despite what she expected, it wasn't Maurice who showed up, but a man that seemed to be around forty or fifty, with greying hair.

He walked towards her like a lion, wearing a smirk on his lips. "Oh, I certainly got a big prize here."

"Excuse me?" Rose blinked.

Ignoring her, the man palmed his hand on her cheek and she quickly pulled back, leaning against the chair, attempting to evade his advances.

"You really do look a lot like her," he said in a contemplative tone and if the shine is his eyes wasn't so full of cruelty, Rose would say that he was happy to see her.

"Will you please stop mumbling your thoughts and tell me who are you and why you're here?" she shouted back.

An evil grin stretched across his lips. "My name is Keith and once I was known as the Sheriff of Nottingham."

She thought she'd heard that name before, and the story behind it quickly popped in her head. Keith was an important man in the Sherwood Forest, and had a bad past with Roland's father, Robin Hood. Some years after the thief married Regina, the commoners started to come for them in search of help, and the kindness they showed, made them start a rebellion against the cruel king that governed those lands by that time, replacing him and his men, by the couple and Robin's friends. Keith was one that lost his place

"And now you're what? The hangman of Avonlea?" Rose remarked testily.

"You have your father's weakness for making threats, huh?" he smirked.

"What do you want from me?" Rose asked. "Has my sweet grandfather sent you to kill me?" she taunted.

Keith folded his arms against his chest, looking even more pretentious than any royal she'd ever met. There was clearly a reason why the Sherwood commoners wanted to rid themselves of him. Rose thought he was horrible and a man who thought too highly of himself.

"No, he actually wants to keep you alive for now, but he called me because he is ill and wished to make a deal," he resumed.

"A deal?" She chuckled darkly. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Oh, you wish, girl," he answered, wrapping his hand around her neck and pulling her up from the chair, bringing Rose's face near his. Her heartbeat quickened and the air got caught in her throat as his mouth approached her ear. "When he dies, you'll mine."

It was an absurd and she would laugh at his stupidity if it wasn't for the fact that there were two guards watching the scene and none of them seemed willing to stop Keith from doing anything to her. She doubted that they cared irregardless.

"Yours?" Rose questioned in a shaken voice. "Did he really think that he could just sell me like I am, like some slave? My father will come for me and when he does, you better pray the gods have mercy on you."

"Oh, keep talking, doll. This place is barricaded against magic, and Rumplestiltskin will only find you when I decide to let him to," Keith said, clenching his teeth, gripping her neck more tightly, stifling her breathing. "First, we will have some fun for the day he threatened me, and then, we will do it again for the title Regina and her thief dismissed me from."

Fear settled deep within her heart. Had she truly understood what he was saying? She didn't know, but she was sure that she needed to escape from here, because if she spent any other day in Avonlea she might be ruined one way or another. Her summons wasn't reaching her father because this place was protected against magic, and he wouldn't be able to find her so simply. It was up to her to save herself this time.

"I have nothing to do with Regina, so why would you take your revenge by hurting me?" Rose inquired.

"You're her son's girlfriend," Keith shrugged.

Was it possible that she was linked with every single wrong person in this realm? Her body was trembling with fear, because she had never felt so helpless, for her magic had always been her biggest strength and without it, she felt like a coward, longing for nothing more than her parents' protection. Breathing in, she put on her best face, a plan quickly forming in the back of her mind.

"I'm Prince Neal's betrothed!" she blurted out impulsively.

Keith laughed, throwing her back on the chair. "The whole Enchanted Forest knows that this is a lie."

"So, you just came here to gloat?" She inquired. "Did my grandfather agree to any of this?

"Some things are better off left unsaid, doll," he said with another smirk.

"Stop calling me doll!" she growled vehemently.

Turning his back to her and walking towards the door, the former Sheriff of Nottingham gesticulated for the guards to open the door, shouting one last sentence at her: "I hope you enjoy your stay."

Regina's family was reunited in the dining hall, having breakfast and sharing a light conversation about Prince Neal's birthday party when the purple cloud of smoke materialized near the former Evil Queen's seat, bringing an angered Rumplestiltskin with it. The look on his face was full of distress and he was gripping at Rose's scarf, completely tense.

"My tracking spell isn't working," he said, glancing at Regina. "Why?"

Slowly placing her cup on the table, she turned around to face him with one arched eyebrow. "What reason do you have to believe I would know? You're the man who taught me everything I know, yet you come to me for answers."

"I need an answer!" He bellowed, grabbing the regal woman's arm, making Ronnie and Roland stare at him with wide eyes.

"I don't have it," Regina answered in a calm voice.

"Calm down," Robin said, standing up to grip his jacket. "Pull away."

Rumplestiltskin backed away, taking a long deep breath, trying to calm himself, but it was very hard right now. His daughter was in danger, he knew it deep in his soul and he couldn't reach her, because his damn tracking spell kept failing. He needed to find her, take her home, tuck her into bed just like when she was a child and assure her that she was safe.

"My children were attacked on their way back home," Rumplestiltskin told Regina. "Rose is missing."

Roland immediately felt dragged into the conversation. Truth be told, he was just a little bit afraid of the Dark One when he appeared, storming into the dining hall, screaming at Regina despairingly, but now the boy found himself worried. Gideon and Rose had been attacked on the road, and she had disappeared. Rumplestiltskin's daughter was gone and if he couldn't find her, then Roland was afraid no one could.

"There is clearly a reason why I don't use normal ways of traveling anymore." Regina said, contemplatively. "Magic is safer, and that's why my children are here today."

"Let me see it," Roland said, standing up, daringly grabbing the scarf from the Dark One's hands. Using a tracking spell, he let it flow away through the window. "It's working."

"I'm not dumb, boy." Rumplestiltskin replied harshly. "It works, but only takes me to the road where the carriage was left."

Roland shrugged, unaware of how dangerous it could be. "You said it wasn't working."

"Do you like green?" The Dark One asked, taking a threatening step towards him. "Because I'm thinking about turning you into a big green toad."

"Hey! Get the hell away from him!" Regina yelled, putting herself between them, standing protectively in front of her son. "So, she is not in the road?"

"Obviously not," he remarked stiffly, in an impish tone.

Regina sighed, sharing a quick glance with Veronica before walking to a covered mirror in a corner of the hall.

"Alright, I have no idea what could be happening with this magic, but I know someone that can help us," pulling away the fabric that was covering it, she used her magic to find exactly the person she was looking for, and the mirror showed them a full view of her sister's chambers in Oz. "Zelena!" Regina shouted/

Turning around, the redhead smiled widely. "Hello, sis. Long time, no see."

"I talked with you yesterday," Regina said with a roll of her eyes.

Switching between the dresses in her closet, Zelena seemed to think about it for a brief moment. Rumplestiltskin was getting more nervous as each second passed, wishing they would quit wasting time with the small talk.

"Oh, really? I don't quite remember," Zelena hummed.

"I need your help," Regina demanded, ignoring her sister's silliness. "We're trying to use a tracking spell, but it doesn't lead us to the person we're looking for; it only stops in the last place she was seen."

That arrested Zelena's attention.

"Curious," she muttered. "I'll do some research and call you later."

Throwing a black cloak on the table, she disappeared from their view, causing the imp's blood to boil in his veins. Was she thinking that they were idiots? This was an extremely serious situation and they had no time to waste.

"Research?" He repeated, stupefied. "If I wanted to do any damned research, I would go home and spend some time in Belle's library."

"Look, calm down a bit - " Regina started.

However, Rumple wasn't the only one drowning in concern. Roland was fearing for his girlfriend as much as her father was and all he wished was to find her and to take her somewhere safe.

"No, mom, he is right. Something terrible could be happening to Rose while we discuss this. We need to go after her," the boy said, before looking up at Rumplestiltskin. "I'll go with you, my lord. We shall do this the old way and search the woods."

"You're not going," the dark-haired woman forbade.

"We lost a member of this family this year, and I'm not going to risk losing another" Robin whispered to her, massaging her shoulders. "I'm going."

"You requested my presence?" Rose asked, entering the throne room, followed by the two guards that were designated to keep an eye at her at all times.

King Maurice coughed, looking even more ill than he had on the day prior, the bags under his eyes darker and his skin paler. She knew it wouldn't be long before death reached him, and Rose feared for what it meant for herself.

"Yes," he answered with difficulty, his breathing out hard as if he had just run for hours. "It's difficult to associate you with that monster. You're not like your brother, you look like my daughter."

That was probably the thing that most bothered her in the whole world, people labeling her family, judging without knowing a real thing about their lives. She, Chip, and Bae didn't receive the same looks everyone shot at Gideon and Colette, but it didn't make it less horrible, because for Rose, if you hurt her, you were hurting them too.

"My father is not a monster, nor is my brother," Rose remarked defensively.

It was like she hadn't said a thing. Maurice still analyzed her with cold eyes and his men still seemed to feel repulsed to know that she was the Dark One's daughter. Incredible how a simple bit of knowledge can change everything, because she was pretty sure that if they didn't know who her father was, they would've treated her as any commoner.

"Does she live?" The King questioned. "Belle."

Narrowing her eyebrows, Rose started to play with the hem of the sleeves of her gown. She was dressed like a princess should, in fine satin, adorned with small diamonds that should cost more than most things in that hall – and probably in the whole castle too – since everything seemed to be old and decadent, which probably explained the fact that Avonlea was falling, just like it's King. The throne had no heir but the only daughter that Maurice had disowned.

"Why wouldn't she? My mother is a healthy woman, protected by the most powerful sorcerer of these lands," Rose replied.

"He ruined her," Maurice said, bitterly, "made her a whore."

And there was that sick dirty word again that he insisted on using to define her mother. It angered her to hear it, because Belle was a respectable lady, and the fact that she and Gideon had been born before their parents had gotten married didn't change that, nor made their father a worse man.

"You definitely don't know my mother," Rose snorted. "I'm sorry that you don't, because she is an amazing person and she fiercer than you think. She is nothing like you and she would be disgusted to know that after all this time you're still a close-minded person."

A slap hit her face before she could react, and even though Maurice was severely ill, he was still strong enough to make her lose her balance and almost fall to the floor. Rose touched her stinging cheek, her heart plummeting in her chest under her grandfather's spiteful gaze.

"Little demon's offspring, speaks just like her father. I'll teach him how it feels when you lose a daughter," he hissed vexingly.

"Trading your granddaughter like she is a slave won't change the fact that you and I are still blood," she retorted, eyes burning with tears, "and do what you wish with me, they have three other children at home, one which is a girl, that has the Dark One's skin, your daughter's eyes and was named after your deceased wife."

"Colette," Maurice mumbled, before storming out. "How dare he? How dare she use her mother's name on a child of the darkness!"

The real question was: how could he talk this way about his own grandchild? Rose was shaking with pure anger, because the world was so black in white for this man that he would die without accepting his own family. She could see why some days her mother would just stand near the windows, looking at the landscape, her gaze always distant, grieving over her father's judgment.

"You're going to die, King Maurice. I've seen it many, many times in my visions, a power inherited from this man you curse so much," Rose told him, before adding one last pleading: "Make peace with your daughter before it's too late."

Maurice shook his head. "Belle died the day she chose that beast."

"Then you shall regret it, until your last breath," she dispelled. "Because in your ignorance, you've barred from your life the most precious thing you had, your own daughter. And in your anger, you didn't even mind of asking for my name."

Making a curtsey for him, with all the petulance she had, Rose conjured the sweetest smile she could muster, even though she felt wrecked inside, then she turned around, letting the guards escort her through the double doors, the King's voice halting them.

"Wait," he asked. "What is it?"

"Rose," she simply stated, before disappearing.

Agathe was tired of all the drama surrounding the Dark Castle. She was certainly upset that her master was away, and she had no chance to use the lust potion Lady Heart had given her to get to him. And what aggravated her even more was the fact that she had been designated to babysit Colette the whole day, while Dove got Chip and milady Belle spent all her time by Gideon's side, like he was a child.

The maid thought it all to be absurd, since the boy was almost completely healed, and having to keep an eye on that insolent brat that blinked her perfect blue eyes to everyone and got everything she wanted. Colette followed her around the castle, attentive and clever, asking questions that seemed to be out of the reach of a five-year-old girl, so when Agathe got really tired of her, she climbed up the stairs with her little green-gold hand tucked in hers.

She crossed the hall and knocked on Gideon's door. "Milady, may I come in?"

Belle opened the door very slowly, not wanting it to produce any sound that could wake up her precious boy. Agathe entered the room with Colette jumping excitedly behind her.

"Yeah, just don't make too much noise," the lady said in a whisper, pointing at the bed. "He's sleeping."

"Mama!" Colette exclaimed, stretching her arms and silently asking to be picked up from the floor.

"Hey, baby girl, I thought you would be playing," Belle greeted her cheerfully.

Belle walked towards the armchair where she had been snuggled in and sat with her daughter curled on her lap. Colette laid her head on her mother's shoulder, toying with the ringlets of her hair.

"I want to play dolls, but there is no one to play dolls with me," the little girl complained.

Rolling her eyes, Agathe leaned against the wall. She used to like the younger children, but lately, everything they did bothered her, maybe because she never had stopped to think how annoying they were, or maybe because she was trying to get used to the idea that if Lady Heart's plan succeeded, they would all be dead at some point.

"I brought the soup." From the opened door, came Mrs. Potts, holding a tray with a plate and a spoon, a smile on her lips, until the moment her glance fell to her. "Oh, hey, Agathe. The treasure room needs cleaning, I guess I've said that earlier."

"I was watching Colette," the blonde maid said with a shrug.

"Well there is no need to do it anymore," Mrs. Potts answered, placing the tray on the nightstand. "I'll look after her, now you go."

Huffing, she left the room, slamming the door shut behind her, which made Belle's eyes narrow with annoyance. That maid was really starting to irritate her, and she thought that Rumplestiltskin might be right about her after all.

"What is wrong with her lately?" she asked Mrs. Potts.

"You don't want to know it right now, milady," the chubby maid answered, shaking her head.

All that noise, caused Gideon to wake up, slowly opening his eyes, attempting to sit up. Belle stood up, still holding Colette and sat herself by his side, helping her boy recline himself against the pillows.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Sore," Gideon said with a strangled breath.

"I guess you're supposed to," Belle muttered, caressing his hair, "but you're already seeming to be better than yesterday."

Colette slipped from her lap to sit on Gideon's, making a sound of pain leave him when her elbow hit his abdomen by accident. Belle reached to take her back, but he only waved a hand, assuring her that everything was alright.

"Gid, Agathe said a bad man hurt you," the little girl mumbled.

"Yeah, that is true, wee one," he affirmed.

"That bad man has Rosie?" she asked.

Gideon's lips tightened in a thin line and his brown eyes stared down at his sister for a long moment before he could manage to mutter an answer. "I don't know."

"I want her to be back and play dolls with me," Rose added.

Sensing that it was time for the little girl to stop speaking, and causing her brother to feel even more guilty than he was already feeling, Mrs. Potts walked towards them and offered her hand to Colette.

"Colette, darling let's play in the gardens with Chip," the maid proposed, taking her out of Gideon's chambers and leaving him alone with his mother.

When the door closed behind them, Belle cast him an apologetic look.

"She's been a little whiny lately," Belle explained, before grabbing the tray that was on the nightstand and placing it in front of him. "Mrs. Potts brought you some soup."

"Thank you," Gideon smiled, taking the spoon and drawing the broth to his lips. "It's delicious."

Belle's heart felt a little lighter to be talking to him and his full green-gold colour had come back to him, and he wasn't looking so paler anymore. A part of her mind went back to the day Gideon had been born, and she almost could see that small squealing thing in her arms. Her whole world had changed in that moment she held her son for the first time, and suddenly didn't belong to her anymore, but it was devoted to her child, who now was a man, taking all the risks life offered.

"I'm so glad to see you looking a little stronger. You scared me to death yesterday, Gid," she said, full of motherly concern.

"I am sorry, mama," he said taking her hand and bringing it to his lips so he could press a kiss to the back of it. "I hate to see you so concerned."

"It seems it is my duty to be concerned all the time," she replied with a small chuckle. "It's what a mother does."

Letting her hand fall back to her lap, Gideon kept eating his soup in silence, under his mother's lovely watch. He was lost in a torrent of thoughts, in his own concern over Rose's safety and it took him a while to be able to speak again.

"No word from papa?" he asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Belle shook her head, taking a deeper breath, "but he is not coming home without your sister."

He wasn't sure if he should tell her his next information, but Gideon never liked to keep secrets from his mother. He'd been dating Roderick without her consent and it was one of the most daring things he'd ever done, telling himself each day that he was only waiting for the right moment to reveal it all to her and his father. But as much as Gideon was afraid of telling them about his personal life, he was even more terrified to share something that would change things for their family, however he gathered all the courage he had.

"Mama," Gideon started. "When I was fighting with the man who attacked us, he told me that he was doing it to send a message to father."

"A message?" Belle repeated with a frown.

"Yes, that his days as the Dark One are nearly over."

"Someone is planning to kill him," she concluded with fear shinning in her eyes. "Oh, gods," she spoke clasping her hands over her mouth, panic stricken.

Pulling his tray back to the nightstand, Gideon opened his arms, letting his beautiful, kind mother lay her head against his chest.

"Whoever is planning this will fail," he said. "You'll see."

Belle took a deep breath, finding herself unable to believe him. "Will we ever be safe?"

#rumbelle fic #mine #writing #rumplestiltskin #belle french #gideon gold #ao3 #ethereal-wishes beta #rose x roland #gideon x roderick #fanfic #rumbelle #The Dark Children

0 notes