[u][b][center]Collaboration between Me as Heather Jekyll, and YoshiSkittlez as Rumpelstiltskin and Mushu[/center][/b][/u] [center]*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~[/center] Heather got up early (much to her relief), and she got to work cleaning the castle of the dust, and cooking breakfast. As she cleaned and cooked, she couldn't help but recall the events from yesterday and last night. There was clearly more to that mentor of hers, just like there was more to Hyde, but of course, she doubted that she would ever find out. As she finished cooking breakfast, which consisted of eggs, fruit, and english muffins, she heard pounding on the door. She hurried to the door and opened it. "Where is he? Where is that twisted little Imp? I'm going to kill him!" The short woman pushed her way into the castle and past Heather, and although the woman only came up to Heather's shoulders, she held more anger in her body than was probably possible for such a small woman. Heather stumbled a bit when the short woman pushed her way in. She was a bit surprised by the strength the small woman seemed to possess despite her height. Heather was nervous at what would happen, considering that this woman wanted to kill Rumpelstiltskin. She said to her patiently and politely, "I'll go get Rumpelstiltskin, just wait here, alright?" She then walked upstairs and headed for Rumpelstiltskin's room and knocked on the door, following his instructions from last night. However, when she knocked and he didn't answer, she slightly growled in frustration. Why would he tell her to get him from his room, if he wasn't planning on being there? She went to look for him, and soon she found him in the library. She knocked on the closed door, peeking through the other door that was left slightly open. Rumpelstiltskin stood before a small table that had been conjured up in the middle of the room. He was already dressed and bathed for the morning, as if he had been up for hours, and oddly enough smelt of the salty sea air; just a bit. The surface of the table was completely covered in vials, jars of ingredients, copper and glass tubes and a small book in the corner opened up to a specific page. He was in the process of dipping the rose he had gathered the previous night into a golden, bubbling liquid. He paused for a moment, hearing a knock at the door, but then proceeded to dip the flower into the hot contents. "Yes, yes what is it?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, keeping his eyes on the golden liquid, sounding somewhat annoyed at the break in silence that he had grown so used to over the years. He reached over to pick up a bloodied rose thorn and began to squeeze it over the golden liquid. By the magic in his hand, the dried blood from the rose thorn turned liquid once more and he managed two drops of blood in the vial before the thorn shriveled up into nothing. Heather answered Rumpelstiltskin after clearing her throat once, "Your visitor that you mentioned last night, she's here. She's in the lobby," Rumpelstiltskin didn't even so much as budge to acknowledge Heather's words, his interest intent on the brewing concoction in front of him. Silent moments ticked by before he waved his hand over the sarkening, bubbling golden liquid and from the small vial the rose began to emerge, coated completely in gold. He held it in the air with magic for a bit, letting the excess gold drip off of the flower before he began to twist his wrist and fingers, bending the rose to take the shape and form of a simple, golden hair pin for a woman. Heather wondered if Rumpelstiltskin had heard her the first time, but she didn't say anything as she watched him coat a rose in gold, and then turn it into a hair pin. She was curious about how this was done. This phenomenon looked as though it came about by the laws of Chemistry. But she was sure if she were to say anything about it, he would just say that it was by magic. Rumpelstiltskin then reached out to grab the golden rose and then stuffed it into his red leather vest pocket on the inside before turning to Heather. "She's late." He grumbled, pushing past Heather rather abruptly as if it were Heather's fault, and decended down the stairs to greet his guest. Heather snapped out of her thoughts when he pocketed the hairpin and turned towards her. She heard his grumble and stepped out of the way when he went towards her and went past her. She wanted to grumble about how he made it sound like the visitor's tardiness was her fault. But she didn't say anything and instead headed downstairs as well. Mushu, against her better judgment, had waited down in the lobby for Rumpelstiltskin, and when the Imp had begun to descend down the stairs, her cold eyes narrowed even more, abandoning her half-interested investigation of one of the candelabras which had been recently cleaned of its dust and cobwebs. “Careful dearie, bad things tend to happen when we touch what isn’t ours…” Rumpelstiltskin chided with a giggle as he crossed over to Mushu, seeming to not even notice the cold glares he was receiving from the small woman. “And bad things tend to happen when I’m [i]lied[/i] to!” Mushu responded hotly, making Rumpelstiltskin stop in his tracks about ten feet away from her. “Lied to? I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean-” Rumpelstiltskin replied innocently. “[i]THE GIRL[/i]!” Mushu yelled out, this time moving her own feet to cross the distance between herself and The Dark One. “She’s cursed…a beast! You never said [i]ANYTHING[/i] about protecting a wild animal! I nearly died last night keeping the village from skinning her alive!” She continued to holler out, her face just inches from Rumpelstiltskin’s now as she yelled at him. Rumpelstiltskin took a theatrical step backwards and waved his hand in front of his nose. “And I suppose you couldn’t have brushed your teeth before you came here?” He teased with a crooked smile. Mushu looked less than amused. She jabbed her finger into Rumpelstiltskin’s chest and narrowed her dark brown eyes once more. Heather at first listened to what was happening, but after the visitor shouted, she figured she should get out of there. Besides...she was sure he was going to say something along the lines of him being hungry anyways, judging from what she had seen so far when it came to his behavior. “Listen here [i]IMP[/i]…if I’m going to go on playing ‘guardian’ for this girl of yours, I want my pay tripled.” Mushu demanded hotly. Again, Rumpelstiltskin took a step backwards and adjusted his red leather vest, brushing his chest where Mushu had jabbed her finger at him. He rolled his neck a bit, loosening up the muscles before turning to walk in the direction of the main hall, following after Heather. “What-where are you going? [i]RUMPELSTILTSKIN[/i]!” Mushu cried out. Rumpelstiltskin turned to face her, his hands outward and shrugged innocently. “I’m hungry.” He said matter-of-factly, his face confused as to why that wasn't obvious, and then turned to walk under the threshold of the grand room. A muscle in Mushu’s jaw twitched as she had no choice but to follow him. Heather brought out three dishes of the breakfast she made to the table, the third dish was for the visitor. She had set them at the table and she sat down silently. Rumpelstiltskin had already taken his usual seat at the head of the table, seemingly in a good mood despite his visitor wanting his head on a silver platter. He hummed quietly to himself, watching Mushu approaching him out of the corner of his eye with an amused smirk and reached for an apple that had been brought to him on one of the plates. He leaned back in his chair and took a bite while Mushu rested the palms of her hands on the table at his side, still glaring at him and waiting for him to speak. Moments went by, and when he said nothing and instead chewed on the apple, Mushu cried out in annoyance, "What the [i]hell[/i] is your problem?" She demanded. Her arm, as quick as a viper, shot out and grabbed the apple from Rumpelstiltskin's grasp and in her anger, chucked the fruit halfway across the room where it hit the wooden floor and rolled louder than an apple should have sounded when rolling. Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes softly and brought his hands together, seeming to be in deep thought about something before he casually extended his hand and Mushu's tiny body went flying across the room by magic, landing harshly next to the apple. Heather watched Mushu carefully, silently hoping that she wouldn't pick a fight with the imp. Of course, her hopes were dashed when Mushu took the apple from Rumpelstiltskin and threw it across the room. “Me? Oh, I don’t have a problem. Not a care in the world!” Rumpelstiltskin sing-songed as he stood up from his chair and walked to where he had sent Mushu flying. “You, however, now have a problem dearie…and that problem is, how are you planning on getting out of here [i]alive[/i]?” Rumpelstiltskin reached the small woman and pressed the bottom of his boot onto her head, ever so slightly applying more and more pressure until the brave warrior started to grimace in pain. Mushu however, through her gritted teeth, managed a reply. "We...have...a...[i]deal[/i]!" Heather felt nauseous as she watched Rumpelstiltskin send the woman flying by magic and then started pressing his boot against the woman's head, threatening to crush it. Heather stood up, knowing that she couldn't just stand by and watch as Rumpelstiltskin tried to kill that woman. That act would be just as evil as anything that Evelyn would do. She spoke up, trying to reason with him, "Rumpelstiltskin, stop! If you kill her, then she can't go through with her part of whatever deal you two made with each other," Rumpelstiltskin heard Heather's voice, though it was far, far away and barely audible. Still though, the nature of a woman's pleading voice caught his attention and brough him to look at his apprentice, however, it wasn't Heather Jekyll that was standing there trying to reason him, but Belle. ------------------------------------------- [i]Four months ago... Rumpelstiltskin barged himself into the dungeon where he had been keeping his newest servant and found the woman sobbing uncontrollably on the stone floor, padded by only a simple, thin blanket. “When you so [b]eagerly[/b] agreed to come and work for me, I assumed that you wouldn’t miss your family [b]quite[/b] so much.” Belle quickly pulled herself up and off of the floor to face her master. “I made my sacrifice for them; of course I miss them you beast!” “Yes, yes, of course…but the crying…must…stop! Night after night! It’s making it very difficult for me to spin! You know…I-I do my best thinking then!” Belle tried to wipe away the still falling tears in an effort to stop her crying, fearful of what The Dark One might do to her if she didn’t. Rumpelstiltskin looked upon her face and sighed. He held out his hand and a puff of dark purple smoke encircled around it and suddenly, a rather lavish white pillow appeared in his hand. “Here…perhaps this will help?” He asked genuinely, offering it to her. “For me?” Belle asked, questioning his motives. “Not quite so [u]beastly[/u] now am I?” He snapped and threw the pillow at her harshly which Belle managed to catch. She turned to set the extravagant pillow on her poor excuse for a bed and then turned back to Rumpelstiltskin. “Thank you. Maybe now, I can actually get some sleep…” She said sincerely and wiping away the last of her slowly drying tears. “No no no no, it’s not to help you sleep dearie, it’s to help muffle the cries so I can get back to work!” Rumpelstiltskin jabbed at her, not at all wanting her to mistake his intentions. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass came from upstairs and Belle and Rumpelstiltskin both looked towards the staircase that would lead them upstairs. If they were both down here…then who was up there? Rumpelstiltskin hurriedly bounded up the stairs with Belle quickly following behind him. Being the first one up the stairs and into the Grand Hall, Rumpelstiltskin found a hooded man reaching for one of the magical wands Rumpelstiltskin had out on display. “Are you sure you want to do this dearie?” Rumpelstiltskin asked, making the hooded man stop what he was doing and turn to look at him. The hooded man was also holding fast onto a bow of superior craftsmanship with a quiver of arrows strapped to his back. Belle eventually made it to Rumpelstiltskin’s side as the man lowered his hood to reveal his stubble-covered face and cheeky grin. He proceeded to take the wand from the holder and slowly approached the Imp and girl. “Pretty sure…” The man replied, keeping his grin all the while. “If you don’t know how to use that wand…it can do [u]nasty[/u] things to you.” Rumpelstiltskin said, almost sounding like he was trying to warn the thief. The thief stopped walking and looked upon the wand in his hand before sliding it back into the quiver on his back and grabbed an arrow in its place. “Well then, I’ll stick to what I know works…” He said and nocked the arrow to the bow, pointing it directly at Rumpelstiltskin. “You know what this arrow can do to you…” The thief warned. Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand in a non-caring manner. “It has to hit me first.” And with a blink of an eye, Rumpelstiltskin was gone. Both Belle and the thief looked about the room in sheer amazement, looking for the Imp who had materialized a few moments later on the opposite corner of the room. The thief re-aimed his bow and laughed lightly. “Shouldn’t be a problem…” He said taking a few steps towards Rumpelstiltskin’s new location. “An arrow fired from this bow always finds its target.” He paused to let out a happy sigh. “Ah, don’t you just [b]love[/b] magic?” The thief smiled and let lose the arrow. Rumpelstiltskin only smiled and vanished once more before the arrow could find his chest and appeared not two feet away from the thief himself. The arrow, however, in its flight, curved it’s direction and found its way to Rumpelstiltskin’s chest where his heart was, forcing the Imp to stagger backwards a few steps. Belle let out a soft gasp and picked up the ends of her dress, attempting to run to him. “I know I do.” The thief responded to his own question and headed towards the doors to leave. However, the thief only got a few feet in before Rumpelstiltskin let out a laugh. “As. Do. I!” Rumpelstiltskin pulled the arrow from his chest, the head of the arrow not even covered in a single drop of blood, nor was there any entry wound on his chest where the arrow had pierced him. The arrow vanished in his hand in a puff of purple smoke and the Imp laughed once more reading the utterly shocked face of the thief in front of him. “But don’t you know? All magic comes with a price! And in your case…that’s me!” Rumpelstiltskin’s grin split open to reveal his blackening teeth, cackling with thoughts of what he was going to do with his new prisoner. Hours later, the sound of tormented screaming from the dungeons could be heard upstairs in the Great Hall where Belle was busy sweeping up the glass from where the thief had broken into the castle. Rumpelstiltskin hadn’t even heard her sigh as he emerged from the dungeons, taking off the blood stained leather gloves he wore and tossed them onto the wooden table in the room. “I’m gonna need another apron.” He said to Belle, untying a bloodstained blacksmith’s apron he wore around his middle. Belle coughed once to find her voice. “Uh, They’re uh…they’re on the line…drying…it’ll be some time…” “Ah fine, fine, get to cleaning this one as well…” Rumpelstiltskin said tossing the apron onto the table next to the rubber gloves. “I’ll be back later.” He said heading towards the doors to the exit. “All this…because he tried to steal a magic wand?” Belle demanded, unable to hold her tongue any longer. “No, because he tried to steal from [b]ME[/b]! The Dark One! You try that you get skinned alive! Everyone knows that!” “Actually…no, they don’t…” Belle corrected him, making Rumpelstiltskin take a moment to think that over. “Well they will once they discover the body.” He corrected himself with an unsettling grin and proceeded out the doors in which he locked up magically in case Belle tried to leave in his absence. It wasn’t until later that evening that Rumpelstiltskin returned to the castle. As instructed, Belle had cleaned his aprons and he adorned one of the clean ones while procuring a rather large hunting knife and used a whet-stone to sharpen the edge. He could feel Belle’s eyes on his back as he did, pretending to read from a book in her lap, and so he decided to break the silence. “I’ll try not to be too loud. Can’t promise the same courtesy…from our prisoner…” Rumpelstiltskin smirked and took the sharpened knife down into the dungeon. A cry of surprise echoed up from the dungeons, startling Belle, though it wasn’t the cry that startled her, but the fact that Rumpelstiltskin charged back up the stairs into the room to approach Belle in sheer anger. “Where is he?” Rumpelstiltskin demanded approaching the supposedly reading girl. “Gone. I let him go.” Belle said calmly. “WHAT? He was a thief!” “Which doesn’t give you the right to kill him.” Belle retorted, bringing her eyes up from her book to look at Rumpelstiltskin. “It gives me every right!” Rumpelstiltskin hollered. Belle’s face remained unchanged, firm. “Ah let me guess! You think he’s a hero…stealing from me for some noble cause. YOU READ TOO MANY BOOKS DEARIE!” Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand, making the book in Belle’s lap disappear in a puff of purple smoke. “There…maybe that will stop filling your head with poisonous thoughts!” “I didn’t free him because of what I read in my books. I saw good in him. That man only wanted to escape with his life!” Belle objected. “Oh is that what you thought? Our thief escaped with MORE than his life!” Rumpelstiltskin gestured towards the pedestal that held the wand, only the display was empty; the wand had been stolen once more. “You were tricked, you foolish, GULLIBLE GIRL!” “There-there must be an explanation! We, we don’t know why he needed that wand.” Belle stammered. She had no idea that the thief had made off with the wand after she had let him go. “He took the wand because he WANTED MAGIC! People who steal magic never have good intentions!” Rumpelstiltskin made his way over to the table and threw the knife he had been holding down harshly. “No! NO! You can’t tell what’s in a person’s heart until you TRULY know them!” Belle said, quickly following after him. “Oh we’ll see what’s in his heart alright, when I shoot an ARROW straight through it.” Rumpelstiltskin said, pretending to shoot a bow and arrow. “ And because I am a SHOWMAN-“ Rumpelstiltskin outstretched his arm, a bow materializing in his hand soon after. “- it’ll be with HIS BOW. And because this is YOUR FAULT, you get to come with me and watch and KNOW as the blood dr-r-r-rips from his carcass. It’ll be you and your RAGS to WIPE IT UP!” Rumpelstiltskin had Belle sit in his carriage opposite of him, however his eyes were not on her but on the scenery around them as his tracking skills were being put to the test. After many silent minutes, Rumpelstiltskin spoke. “We’re losing track of him. This forest is too [b]thick[/b]!” He said eerily calmly. “Maybe we should return home?” Belle suggested with a gentle shrug, hoping that they had indeed lost track of the thief. “What? And let the thief escape? What would people think if I spared the life of someone who stole from me?” “That there’s actually a [b]man[/b] hiding behind the beast?” Belle countered with a slight jab. “There isn’t.” Rumpelstiltskin replied immediately. “Then why didn’t you kill me when I had freed the prisoner?” “Well I would have…but uh, good help these days is really hard to find.” “I think that you are [b]not[/b] as dark as you want people to believe. I think that deep down, there’s love in your heart. And for something [b]more[/b] than power.” Rumpelstiltskin paused and let his eyes lower a bit. “Your right…there [b]is[/b] something I love…” He said softly and leaned in towards Belle, causing her to lean in closer to him as he was about to reveal a deep secret about himself. “MY THINGS!” Rumpelstiltskin shouted out, quickly catching Belle off guard, but honestly, she shouldn’t have expected anything more from him. Rumpelstiltskin held up a hand, somehow signaling the coachman-less carriage to stop. “You really are as dark as people say.” Belle replied bitterly. “Darker dearie, MUCH darker…” The carriage came to a stop and Rumpelstiltskin stepped out, approaching the small caravan that had blocked their path onwards. A man atop of a horse slipped down from his mount and walked over to Rumpelstiltskin, obviously drunk off of his rocker which made Rumpelstiltskin wrinkle up his nose at the foul smell. “What are you doing in my woods?” The drunk man demanded. “Pardon the intrusion Sheriff, uh, I’m lookin for a thief!” Rumpelstiltskin said, putting on the fake persona of a common villager. “He attacked me with this bow-“ Rumpelstiltskin gestured towards the weapon in his hand. “-I-I traced him as far as these woods and then he vanished!” The Sheriff took a good look at the bow, taking it in his own hand for a moment and nodded. "Yes I know exactly who your after. But I also know who you are...Rumpelstiltskin..." "My reputation precedes me, excellent!" The Imp said sounding rather pleased and dropping the facade. "Yes as does your pensionate for making deals. I'll tell you where you can find your theif...if you give me something in return." The Sheriff smirked, pulling a flask from his hip and took a long swig of the alcohol inside. Rumpelstiltskin wiggled his fingers. "What do you want?" He asked, unable to resist the idea of making a deal. "A night with your wench!" The Sheriff said pointing over Rumpelstiltskin's shoulder at Belle, who had followed him out of the carraige to see what the commotion was about. Rumpelstiltskin paused, looked over to Belle who remained straight-faced, and then back to the Sheriff. "Ah...she's not for sale..." Rumpelstiltskin said firmly. The Sheriff laughed. "You can't part with her for say...an hour?" He tried. Rumpelstiltskin only stared at the Sheriff. "Twenty minutes?" The Sheriff tried again. Rumpelstiltskin put his hand to his head. "Let me think..." He started, and then waved his hand. A trail of black smoke coming from the Sheriff's mouth to Rumpelstiltskin's outstretched hand became visable, and as soon as the black smoke cleared something pink and wet appeared in his hand. The Sheriff tried to scream, however only gurgling, gagging noises came from his throat as his tongue had been taken from him directly. His struggle to make even the simplest of sounds amused Rumpelstiltskin, causing him to giggle like a child. "I propose a new deal...I give you this back, and in return, you tell me EVERYTHING you know about the man I am hunting." The Sheriff tried to gurgle in response, his wide eyes of terror giving away that he hardly understood what was going on. "You ought to be more careful with your posessions!" Rumpelstiltskin teased. "Do you agree to my terms?" The Sheriff gurgled again. "What was that?" The Imp teased once more, causing the Sheriff to practically start crying with the loss of his voice. "Oh I'll take that as a yes then." The black smoke showed up once more, and the tongue returned from Rumpelstiltskin's hand back into the Sheriff's mouth. "Start. Talking." “The thief you’re after…I’ve been chasing him for years! He RUINED me! He stole the woman I love! He-he made me the laughing stock of all of Nottingham!” The sheriff managed to blubber out in his drunken stupor. Rumpelstiltskin remained unmoved by the man’s sob story. “How can I find him?” He asked quickly. “The last I heard, he was hiding in the outs of Sherwood Forest…” “And his name?” Rumpelstiltskin asked, braving to get closer to the drunk Sheriff. “Robin Hood. He goes by Robin Hood.” The Sheriff spat out as disgust plagued his mouth at the very name. It didn’t take too long to find Robin Hood by the Sheriff’s instruction. Sure enough, he was spotted just on the outskirts of Sherewood forest atop of a horse. A separate wagon was being pulled towards Robin with a woman lying in the back looking to be very ill. Robin Hood jumped from his horse, pulled out the stolen wand and approached the woman in the back of the wagon. “That woman…” Belle said once the two of them had exited their carriage and walked to the cliffs edge where they were able to oversee everything. “That must be the one he stole from the Sheriff.” Rumpelstiltskin said setting down the quiver of arrows next to a tree trunk and pulled one out. After all, all he would need was one. Belle watched as Robin Hood approached the woman who went into a sudden coughing fit. “She’s sick!” Belle proclaimed in worry. “She’s going to die!” Rumpelstiltskin nodded simply. “And so is he.” He said raising the bow and notching the arrow. “STOP!” Belle shouted and put her hand on his arm, forcing him to lower the bow. Rumpelstiltskin sighed and felt his eyes roll in annoyance. Belle then watched as Robin Hood hovered the magic wand over the woman. There was a faint sound of wind chimes coming from it as he moved the wand back and forth and her coughing eased to a stop and color returned to her face. “I’m right about him!” Belle said to Rumpelstiltskin happily. “I’m right about why he stole the wand. He did it so he could heal the woman he loves.” “He’s still a thief.” Rumpelstiltskin said simply, unmoved by the situation. “And she would have died if he hadn’t stolen your wand!” “And now HE gets to die! And she can tell ALL of Sherewood Forest what happens when you cross Rumpelstiltskin!” Leaving the conversation to no more objections, Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand and suddenly Belle found her entire bottom half buried in the dirt where her feet had been, unable to move no matter how much she squirmed. “THAT should give you a good view!” Rumpelstiltskin jested and once again pulled the bow string and pointed the arrow at his target. “You don’t have to do this! There’s good in you! I was right about the thief and I am right about you!” Rumpelstiltskin ignored her pleas and steadied his aim, however, the bow began to falter as the now healed woman got up from the wagon to hug Robin Hood, her belly swollen with that of a child. “L-l-look! She’s pregnant!” Belle said, also observing this new bit of information, she would use whatever she could to spare the thief’s life. “You are NOT the kind of man to leave a child fatherless…” Rumpelstiltskin’s face fell as he watched Robin Hood kiss his pregnant lover, watching the happiness overflow from them like a geyser. However, Rumpelstiltskin brought the bow back up and let the arrow fire. “NO!” Belle screamed. The arrow sailed through the air, missing Robin Hood’s ear by a few inches and embedding its head into the wagon where the woman had once been. Startled, Robin Hood hurried the woman away from the wagon and helped her onto the horse where he got on after her and kicked the horse into a run. “What happened?” Belle squeaked, unbelieving of what she had just witnessed. “I missed.” Rumpelstiltskin said with a sneer. He waved his hand once again and Belle found her feet on solid ground once again instead of three feet under. “Get back to the carriage. I’m bored of this forest.” “You’re…you’re not going after him?” Belle questioned, unable to let her feet move just yet. “He’s not worth the effort.” “You spared his life!” Belle observed out loud, braving to take a few steps towards him. “What? I did nothing of the sort.” “That bow has magic in it.” Belle said now standing directly by Rumpelstiltskin’s side. “It never misses its target.” “Well perhaps the magic just simply wore-“ He turned to face Belle, surprised to see her standing so close to him and looking on at him with knowing, kind eyes. “-off…” Belle tried to hide a small smile and took the chance to wrap her arms around Rumpelstiltskin’s neck in a gentle hug. Rumpelstiltskin, too shocked at the physical contact, did not hug her back. Belle eventually eased off of him though and gave him a smile as if to say ‘thank you’ and headed back to the carriage as she had been instructed to do so earlier. When she didn’t hear him coming, she stopped to turn to look at him. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked politely. Finally being able to feel his feet once again, Rumpelstiltskin stooped down to pick up the quiver of arrows and slung it over his shoulder. A slight smirk crossed his face as he then followed Belle back to the carriage to return home.[/i] ----------------------------------------------- Belle's figure slowly melted away leaving Heather Jekyll in her place, though the plea in her eyes matched his memory of Belle's exactly. Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes hard, willing for the memories to stop; to go away. He removed his boot from Mushu's head and took a couple steps backwards from her, his movements seeming somewhat shaky and unsure, however it didn't last long. Heather watched as Rumpelstiltskin looked at her shakily. She could see the familiar look of deep thought in his eyes. After a while of silence, she saw him move his foot off and back away shakily from the small woman. "As it turns out, I still need you alive." Rumpelstiltskin said allowing Mushu to pull herself to her feet. Rumpelstiltskin pulled out the golden rose hair pin he had created earlier and handed it out for Mushu to take. "Here, get Belle to wear this, and you won't have to worry about that monster taking her over again." He said, his voice actually sounding promising for once. Heather watched Rumpelstiltskin give the pin to the woman, and Heather sighed silently in relief. Mushu took the hair pin skeptically and looked it over. It looked to be completely ordinary, however the pressured headache reminded Mushu immediately that she wasn't dealing with anyone that settled for 'ordinary.' "And my gold?" Mushu dared to ask, pocketing the hair pin in a pouch she had tied to her waist. "The same as before, however I do wish to alter our deal. Instead of you coming here for your gold, I will have it sent to your house. Consider that to be in your favor." Mushu raised a questioning eyebrow. "Then, how am I to give you reports?" She asked. "You won't. I don't want to have anything more to do with her. The less I know...the better..." Rumpelstiltskin's head hung slightly, as if a heavy, emotional weight was pulling it down as it was evident in the way he spoke. "Now go, before I change my mind." Mushu bowed respectfully towards Rumpelstiltskin and hurried out of the Great Hall and into the main Foyer where she let herself out, relieved that she would never have to step foot in this castle again. Heather noticed how Rumpelstiltskin's head hung. She could make an educated guess as to what he was thinking. She felt pity for the imp, but she didn't say anything as he dismissed Mushu. As soon as she was gone, Heather sat down at the table again. She was glad that she had managed to do something and save a life. It was something she knew she would never be able to do while Hyde was in control. But even so, that was much in comparison to the number of lives Hyde destroyed. She snapped out of those thoughts, and looked to Rumpelstiltskin in concern. As much as she would like to ask, and possibly console the imp, she knew he wouldn't tell her anything anyways.