[center][img=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/Male%20Characters/Rumpel.gif?t=1406852255][img=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/Signatures/240x160Regina.gif?t=1407701155][/center] Materializing in front of his castle, Rumpelstiltskin took the first few steps up to the front doors when he slowed to a stop, his mind far from easy. Belle was safe now, and that's all he had ever wanted for her, but he couldn't keep doing this to himself...getting...involved... The Imp took a seat on one of the stone steps and rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking out to the horizon where the forest he had set on fire lay miles ahead. In a way, burning down the forest represented the emotions boiling up in The Dark One's heart, and so...just how he had burnt the forest down to start new, cleansing it of all it's evils...so must he. Belle did not love him, and so he could not keep holding onto her. He had to stop blaming himself for what had happened to her and let her go forever. He had talked her out of loving him easily enough, and now he had to convince himself that he did not love her in return. Had she not turned on him in the first place, she wouldn't have ever become the beast. At least...that's what he kept trying to tell himself... -------------------------------- [i]Two Weeks Ago... Once again, Rumpelstiltskin was left entirely alone in The Dark Castle, doing what he did best to drain the time of day and stood at the spinning wheel, watching numbly as the wheel squeaked and turned. Despite the castle being completely empty aside from the Imp, the area held a solemn quiet haunting even The Dark One Himself. Rumpelstiltskin didn't even so much as budge when he felt a magical presence entering his home, nor did he even stop his spinning when he lock that held the room in which he was spinning's door shut break and shatter as if it had been made of glass. The grand double doors opened and a woman stepped into the room as if she owned the place. "Flimsy locks." The woman half-giggled as she entered the room which finally brought the Imp to look at her. " I have a deal to discuss...a certain...mermaid..." The woman went on, stopping at the table in the center of the room before she reached Rumpelstiltskin. On the table was nothing more than a simple tea set, comprised of a small kettle and two tea cups, all sitting nestled on a silver tray. "I'm not dealing today." Rumpelstiltskin replied, turning his head back to the wheel and away from the woman. To those who were familiar with Rumpelstiltskin's way of speaking, the drastic change in his voice would have alarmed anyone as it held no child-like giggle, no snark...nothing but...normality...and possibly even sadness. The woman began to help herself to the tea left on the table, though stopped when she noticed the change in the Imp's voice. "Are you angry with me?" She asked, holding the tea kettle paused in the air as she was just about to pour it into the cup. "What is it this time?" She asked when the Imp didn't answer and resumed pouring her tea. "Your little deception...[b]failed[/b]." Rumpelstiltskin finally replied and only then did he return his attention to the woman helping herself to his tea. "You'll never be more powerful than me. You can keep trying dearie, but you're never gonna beat me..." The woman met the Imp's gaze and held a knowing smirk, hearing the slow increase in Rumpelstiltskin's blood-lustful voice. She set down the tea cup and kettle back on the table and approached the Imp, her lips curled out in a false pout. "Ohh, is this about that girl I met on the road? Hmmm?" She asked, her voice dripping with mockery. Rumpelstiltskin returned his attention to the spinning wheel before him. The woman let out a cold laugh as she returned to the table and to her cup of tea. "What was her name?" The woman went on, picking up the tea cup and raised it to her lips. "Margie? Verna..." She went on, trying to recall the name on her own. Rumpelstiltskin stopped spinning, if but for a moment. "Belle..." "Right...well, you can rest assured I had nothing to do with that arrangement..." The woman replied almost instantly, conjuring up a silver spoon from thin air and began to stir the tea in her cup around, keeping her back to Rumpelstiltskin to hide the smirk on her lips. Rumpelstiltskin felt his blood freeze over, his heart dropping to his boots... "What arrangement?" He practically demanded, pulling himself away from the spinning wheel to approach the woman at his table.The woman pulled the spoon from her mouth, her eyes wide as she turned to face him, her expression now quite shocked. "You don't know?" She asked, astounded. When Rumpelstiltskin didn't reply, only looking at her coldly, she set the spoon and cup of tea down onto the tray and turned to face him once more. "Well...after she got home...you can only imagine the things she told the villagers about you, but between you and me, they didn't need a whole lot of convincing to hate you even more than they already do; kidnapping that poor girl and what-have-you..." Rumpelstiltskin's dark eyes narrowed, not buying into what the witch before him was saying. He knew Belle, she would never turn on him like that...but he let the woman go on. "The whole village knows about you Rumpel, and they are determined to kill you for what you did to her. I need not remind you that the girl's fiance' is the son of a well-known huntsman...and he knows about the dagger..." The Imp's face let up a bit, his eyes letting-on that now he wasn't so sure if he believed her words or not. "You're lying..." Came his eventual reply, but the uneasiness in his voice made the woman laugh and quirk an eyebrow. "Am I?" She challenged. "But...perhaps not all is lost...you see, the son of the huntsman is fearful that you might try to take her back, and so he arranged an immediate wedding. Rest assured there won't be any angry mobs at your front door until after that's passed. You know how the common folk are with their pitiful celebrations. But...perhaps...if something...tragic were to happen at the wedding..." Rumpelstiltskin pulled himself from whatever dark hole the woman was burying his heart in and shook his head no, pointing a finger at her. "We're done here." He waved his hand, the double doors of the room opening up magically as if to show her the way out and Rumpelstiltskin walked to the doors themselves, stopping at the threshold with an arm gesturing for her to leave. He wasn't going to allow this woman to plant thoughts into his head; he would not be played like a puppet. The woman shrugged and walked towards him slowly. "Fine, I have other house-calls to make." She said with a light chuckle, dragging her finger on the table as she walked towards him and looked upon the dust that gathered upon her finger. "Hmmm...place is looking dusty Rumpel..." She said meeting him at the doorway. "You should get a new girl." The woman smiled and took her leave. Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes hard, waiting until the witch had left his house completely before magically shutting the doors once more. He walked to the table and picked up the cup that the woman hadn't used for her tea and admired the small chip the cup had on the rim. If what Regina had said was true, then Belle was to be married, and then he would be hunted down like an animal. He wasn't sure which of those he felt worse about. Rumpelstiltskin delicately set the chipped cup back down on the tray, his eyes now growing full of anger and determination. "No...no I'm not finished yet..." Rumpelstiltskin said out loud to himself and his dark eyes moved to the small cupboard in the corner of the room in which he kept his most powerful potions...and cracked a smile.[/i] -------------------------------- Rumpelstiltskin pulled himself from his thoughts, his eyes now embedded on the rose he had picked up that he held in his knotted hand and felt the pressure of the bloody thorn and rat tail he had kept away in his pocket. "There's only one more thing I can do for you Belle, and then I'm done...forever...I have to be." Rumpelstiltskin waved his hand and the rose disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.