[center][img=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/Signatures/240x160OriginalRumpelstiltskin.gif?t=1407701691][img=http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/Male%20Characters/Rumpel.gif?t=1406852255][/center] [i]Many, many years ago... It had been eight months since Rumpelstiltskin left home to join the Ogre's War, though six of those months he spent in training, learning for the first time how to wield a weapon as well as many other survival techniques taught in basic training. The last two months that Rumpelstiltskin had spent at the main camp, however, proved to be quite simple if you didn't count the impeding cold of the unrelenting snow fall. Still though, Rumpelstiltskin remained in high spirits as this war would change his fate forever, and no one would believe him to be a coward like his father any longer. One particular morning, as Rumpelstiltskin was making his rounds in the camp garbed in the king's signature armor of thick black studded armor with accented chain mail around the neck and joints and a thick wool cape to help against the cold, a guard captain stepped out of his tent and called out to him as he passed by. "Soldier!" Rumpelstiltskin turned as the guard captain sheathed his sword and looked around him to make sure the guard captain wasn't addressing someone else. "Me?" He asked when no one else seemed to be in the immediate area. The Guard Captain didn't hesitate as he walked towards Rumpelstiltskin and closed the distance between them. "I'm needed at the front." He explained and gestured over to a crate beside the tent that was covered in a thick square of canvas. "Guard this crate with your life." The Guard Captain said incredibly seriously. "Wh-whats under there?" Rumpelstiltskin couldn't help but to ask. "A prisoner who can help us turn the tide against the Ogres. Careful, it's a tricky beast." "Yes-sir!" Rumpelstiltskin nodded both to signal that he understood the Guard Captain's warning as well as understanding his assignment. The Guard Captain nodded back to Rumpelstiltskin and headed off to where he was needed, and Rumpelstiltskin crossed over to the covered crate in which he was to guard until someone came to relieve him. He watched the life in the small camp before him in an effort to pass the time, observing the blacksmiths grinding and molding new weapons and refining armor, and watched the various soldiers, like himself, who were busy with preparatory tasks to ensure the camp's safety. These were the sights and sounds familiar to the man, the sights and sounds he had grown accustomed to over the last eight months and strangely began to feel comfort in, again thinking about how this war would change his life for the better forever. What he wasn't prepared for, however, was a child's voice calling out to him from behind. "Rumpelstiltskin!" The voice seemed to echo in an eerie manner. Rumpelstiltskin quickly looked around his immediate surroundings, however when he found no one near him, nor anyone reacting to the strange voice, he felt his heart begin to beat just a little bit faster. His eyes settled on the covered up crate and hesitated as he approached it. With a quick movement, he tossed the front flap of the canvas up and over the cage and peered inside, immediately spotting a small child with a wild head of red hair. "You're a child..." Rumpelstiltskin observed out loud, recalling that the Guard Captain had called this child a prisoner earlier. The child looked up slowly at Rumpelstiltskin and he was forced a couple steps backwards as the child's face was unlike any he had ever seen. The area in which her eyes should have been looked to have been sewn shut with thick, black lace that crossed over her nose to each eye, and then up her forehead at an angle and disappearing beneath her hair-covered scalp. The child simply stuck her hand out of the wooden bars of her cage and pointed to a small bucket of water on the ground, kept cold by the snow beneath it. "Please, I haven't had a sip in days..." The child pleaded. "How do you know my name?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, not even bothering with her request. "I'm a seer." The child said plainly and stuck her other hand out of the bars and opened up her hands, facing her palms outwards towards Rumpelstiltskin. He swallowed hard and took yet another step back as Rumpelstiltskin saw an eye in the center in each of her palms, each strikingly blue and full of lashes and...blinking, as an ordinary eye would do. "I see all." The child went on to explain. "No no no no no that's-that's not possible. You must have overheard someone speaking." Rumpelstiltskin said, more rationalizing with himself of what he was seeing and how she knew his name. "Rumpelstiltskin, son of a coward. Raised by spinsters. Scared of ending up just like his father." The child withdrew her hands back into the cage. "Did I overhear THAT? I told you...I see all; even what has yet to pass." "You mean the future? You can see the future?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, suddenly finding himself growing interested and taking a couple steps towards the prisoner. "Indeed I can...including YOURS." She acknowledged. "No no no no no, I-I won't indulge this...DARK magic!" Rumpelstiltskin said, practically spitting the word out like a poison in his mouth and waving off the girl, about ready to cover the cage back up with the canvas. "Even if what I see concerns your wife, Milah?" Rumpelstiltskin paused and put the canvas back up on the top of the cage. "What? Has something happened to her?" He asked, obvious worry in his voice. "Give me water." The child seer demanded. Rumpelstiltskin hesitated, if what this girl said was true, then something bad may have happened to his wife, and he would never know...but the price of knowing...was it worth it? He swallowed hard again and went to the bucket of water, filling up the cup that was inside with the cool drink and handed it to the seer between the wooden bars of her cage. "Here, slake your thirst witch, and speak of what you know of my wife!" He demanded, occasionally glancing around him to ensure no one had saw him giving the prisoner water. The seer drank the water eagerly, however when she was finished she extended her palm out towards Rumpelstiltskin once more, letting her eye 'see' into him. "She is already with child." The seer said almost instantly. Rumpelstiltskin's face began to glow, a wide smile spreading across his healthy looking face and his light brown eyes growing wet with happiness. "I'm to be a father?" He asked, overcome with joy of the news. "Your wife will bear you a daughter. But your actions on the battlefield tomorrow will leave her fatherless." The seer went on. "I'm gonna die? No no no no, y-y-you must tell me how I can stop that happening!" He stammered. "You can't." The seer replied bluntly. Rumpelstiltskin's face grimaced. "Then I'm done helping you!" He seethed through his clenched teeth and took the water cup back from the child. "For now. Someday you'll help me again." "I bet Milah isn't even pregnant. You just said that so I would give you water. And now you're trying to trick me into deserting!" He hissed, once again convincing himself to keep his mind clear of this...dark magic. He knew that nothing ever good came from dark magic, let alone being able to know your own future, and therefore he dismissed the entire thing. "You shall see...tomorrow. When you see the army ride cows into battle, you WILL KNOW I speak the truth!" The seer said withdrawing her hand back into the cage. "Cows?" Rumpelstiltskin tried not to laugh. "And who's going to man the catapults? Milkmaids?" He teased and dropped the cup back into the water bucket. "I've had enough of your fiendish lies!" "There is no escaping it!" The seer warned him. "You will have a daughter, and your actions WILL leave her fatherless." Rumpelstiltskin shook his head and dragged down the canvas over the front of the cage to cover the prisoner inside once more. [center]*[/center] Many hours had passed since Rumpelstiltskin had spoken with the seer, and it was well into the night. Word had traveled around the camp quickly that their unit would be marching into battle within a few short hours which seemed to ease his mind of the seer's words, if just a bit. Cows? She said they would be riding into battle on cows! And yet, they were told they would be marching. He wanted to laugh at his brief moment of believing the seer, at his own stupidity, however something in his gut kept him from doing so. The camp sounds of blacksmiths refining weapons and armor and the dull roar of soldiers talking amongst themselves no longer brought the comfort he used to have, and instead, the sounds were a constant reminder that it was quite possible...he could die. Having been relieved hours ago from watching over the crate, Rumpelstiltskin walked around the camp, keeping his hand at his hip where his sword was sheathed, feeling it's weight growing heavier and heavier with each step. There was a sudden bustle and a small group of soldiers entered the camp, some limping and bracing themselves against walking sticks, and others being carried on stretchers as they no longer had legs to even walk on anymore. "Lucky bastards." A voice from behind Rumpelstiltskin sounded. Rumpelstiltskin turned to see a fellow soldier looking on at the wounded as well, a soldier that Rumpelstiltskin had grown to know over the past few months as they had been recruited at the same time. "Well...I think they'd beg to differ..." Rumpelstiltskin said trying to make light of the situation, but it wasn't helping the growing knot in his stomach. "They're not dead...but they can't fight, which means...they get sent home; that's the only way out of here alive. When the Ogre's rip you limb from limb...pray that they're quick." The soldier explained. Rumpelstiltskin opened his mouth to speak, to protest, however the Guard Captain emerged from his tent and gathered the attention of all the soldiers in the camp. "Fortune favors us!" He began jovially. "Fresh supplies have arrived from The Duke! Today we will not be marching into battle; we will be riding!" "Riding?" Rumpelstiltskin felt his heart jump up into his throat. "Riding what?" He practically demanded the Guard Captain. "What kind of question is that? A horse of course!" The Guard Captain replied after raising an eyebrow, letting Rumpelstiltskin exhale in relief. "Now, grab yourself a cow! GET READY!" The Guard Captain commanded the troops. "I'm s-s-s-sorry-wha-w-what did ya say?" Rumpelstiltskin stammered upon hearing that one dreadful word. "A cow...the saddles we just got in, made from the finest leather. We call them cows. Grab yours, so at least the ride into doom will be soft one on your backside." The Guard Captain nodded to Rumpelstiltskin and the other soldiers and left them to make preparations, leaving Rumpelstiltskin looking exceptionally pale in the face with his body shaking in terror. The soldier who Rumpelstiltskin was familiar with put an arm on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asked his friend. Rumpelstiltskin nodded his head upon instinct, however his mind was far from easy. "Yes, yes, you go on-I'll catch up..." He assured his friend. The soldier nodded and left Rumpelstiltskin be. As soon as the soldier was gone, Rumpelstiltskin hurried over to the crate where the seer had been earlier. "So it's all true..." Rumpelstiltskin said talking through the canvas that covered the cage. "I'm going to have a daughter...and I'm going to die..." He felt his heart rising and pounding harshly against his chest as he waited for the child inside to answer him, however, no reply came. "ANSWER ME!" Rumpelstilskin yelled and tore the canvas off of the cage, revealing it to be completely empty. A sound of shock came from Rumpelstiltskin, his only glimmer of hope...of finding a way to change his future...was gone. He cried out in frustration and beat his fists upon the empty cage in a wild rage until his eyes caught sight of something lying on a nearby blacksmiths anvil. An iron maul. Rumpelstiltskin stared down the object as if it were a fearsome foe, and felt beads of cold sweat starting to trickle down his neck. He took a few tentative steps towards the maul and grasped it with both of his hands, unable to keep his eyes off of the iron head of the weapon. His hands shook violently as he raised the heavy object until the iron head was straight up in the air. Both terror and grief visibly overcame his face as he looked away from the weapon and with all of his strength, brought the maul down on his right shin. The air was filled with a sickening sound of a bone snapping, as well as the cries and screams coming from the pained Rumpelstiltskin. He fell to the ground in dirt and snow, dropping the maul and clutching his broken leg as he writhed around in the dirt in pain, the dirt sticking to the tears that streamed down his grimaced face as his vocal pain echoed into the cool, winter night's air.[/i] ---------------------------------------- Rumpelstiltskin jerked awake in his bed gasping for breath, his greenish skin coated with a thin layer of sweat. As soon as the present caught up with him, he began to relax, however was unable to shake the memories that continually haunted his dreams. He pulled the top blanket off of him and moved to get off the bed, however his entire lower right leg refused to cooperate with him. He sighed deeply as he ran his hand over his thin shin where the memories pained him even more than the physical pain itself. A small wisp of purple magic emitted from his hand and encircled around his leg and the pain eventually began to subside, but now...now he couldn't get his mind off of it... The baby blanket off to the side of his bed caught his attention as it had the night before and he reached over to bring it into his lap. He thumbed at the name stitched across it lovingly and let out a sigh as he remembered the very moment he returned home from the Ogre's War and back to his wife, Milah. -------------------------------------------- [i]It was nearly spring by the time Rumpelstiltskin spotted his humble little cottage nestled snugly into the mountains, and despite the searing pain that grew with each step he took, Rumpelstiltskin hastened his pace with a new feeling of hope in his heart. Aided only by a crude bandage job to his ankle area with a two sticks on either side serving as a brace for his shin, and a crude walking stick, Rumpelstiltskin limped along, calling out for his wife Milah as soon as he knew his voice would be able to carry into the house where he knew her to be. "Milah! MILAH!" Rumpelstiltskin forced open the front door with his left hand, as his right was occupied with keeping his balance with the walking stick. As soon as the door opened, Rumpelstiltskin spotted his wife standing in the center of the room, holding a tiny infant swaddled up in a simple-sewn blanket. He looked past the look of utter surprise that Milah gave him once she saw who had come through her door, as his soft brown eyes landed immediately on the child. "Rumpel..." Milah said softly in her surprise to find her husband in her home after so many months away. Rumpelstiltskin hobbled himself into the house more, feeling relief that his journey had finally come to an end and that he might finally rest without fear of being attacked during the night. He outstretched his left hand, pointing delicately at the child in his wife's arms. "Whats her name?" He asked, gasping for breath as he willed himself to a wooden chair so that he might rest properly. Milah hesitated for a moment, her eyes looking her husband up and down but more-so resting on his injured leg. "Baelfire." She said at last, unable to hold back a proud smile as she uttered the name. Rumpelstiltskin breathed out heavily, trying to laugh but was too tired to make much of a sound. "A strong name!" He commended happily and fell onto his knees to packed dirt floor by the chair, as his legs refused to carry him a single step further. "It's something she'll need...if she's to live with the shame of being your daughter." Milah replied bluntly as she watched her husband struggle to pull himself off of the floor and into the wooden chair, causing him to be even more winded in the process. "Wh-wha-what are you talking about?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, gripping onto his knee tightly in an effort to dull the pain shooting through his leg. "Rumpel is it true?" Rumpelstiltskin attempted to move his attention from nursing his leg to his wife, confusion mixing in with the physical pain he wore on his face. "Is what true?" He breathed out heavily. "Did you injure yourself?" Milah practically demanded, a tinge of sorrow in her voice. "So that you wouldn't have to fight? So that you would be sent home?" "Who told you that?" He snapped. "EVERYONE!" Milah snapped back, holding Baelfire closer to her chest as her voice began to rise. "Rumors travel quickly from the front..." She added on quickly, making sure to make an effort to keep her voice down, however when Rumpelstiltskin didn't answer right away, Milah burst. "Rumpel did you do this to yourself? DID YOU DO THI-" "YES!" Rumpelstiltskin shouted back, though his head was hung low and unable to look into the eyes of his own wife as guilt quickly overtook him. "A seer told me that I was going to die in the battle..." "You did this because a SEER told you to do it?" She hissed through clenched teeth. "She was right about everything else! I left the front to be with you!" He said, extending his hand out to gesture towards her. He choked heavily on his words in an effort to keep the tears at bay. "To be with...Baelfire..." "You left because you were afraid. you became what everyone thought you were...A COWARD-" "Shutup..." "JUST LIKE YOU'RE FATHER!" Rumpelstiltskin bolted out of the chair, unable to stand her words any longer and knocking the chair over in his anger in the process. "I'M NOTHING LIKE MY FATHER! He tried to abandon me! I will never, ever do that to my daughter. That's why I did this-" Rumpelstiltskin gestured heavily towards his leg. "-for HER! All for the girl! To save her from the same fate I suffered; growing up without a father..." He felt his legs beginning to give out on him once more and stooped down awkwardly to pick the chair back up and rested back down on it, shaking his head side to side as Milah continued to argue with him. "You sentence her to a fate much worse; growing up as YOUR daughter..." "Wha, wh-what else could I do?" He asked looking back up at her, his voice and eyes pleading. "You could have FOUGHT, Rumpel. You could have DIED!" Rumpelstiltskin's face immediately fell, even more than the emotions Milah had stirred up in him had already done leaving his mouth open slightly agape. "You don't mean that." He said to her quietly, and then repeated it once more, louder, when she said nothing in return. Milah instead turned her head to look away from him, however she walked with the baby in her arms to Rumpelstiltskin and laid the baby in his arms before grabbing an empty water bucket and left the home without another word. The very moment Baelfire was laid into his arms, Rumpelstiltskin felt his emotions take a complete turn. Suddenly, what Milah said didn't matter anymore. The pain his leg was experiencing was no longer there and the thought of his own future was no longer in his mind. All there was, was Baelfire, his daughter, staring up at him with her gorgeous brown eyes, smiling and gurgling up at him. A soft sound of awe came from his throat as he looked down upon the miracle he had helped to create and found his arms instinctively bouncing the baby up and down ever so gently as he held her close to him. "It's alright Bae..." He cooed, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching into a smile as he met his daughter's stare. Baelfire let out a soft, happy sound and reached her tiny arm up, her hand grabbing onto Rumpelstiltskin's nose. "It's alright...your pappa's here. And I promise, I will never, EVER leave you..."[/i] ---------------------------- Rumpelstiltskin folded the blanket he held in his lap back up delicately and returned it to his nightstand. Now with his leg acting properly with the aid of magic, he got up from his bed and quickly bathed himself, getting dressed in a white poet shirt with a black leather vest over the top and matching black leather pants with black boots that nearly reached his knees. He pulled aside a sheet that had been covering up a full-length mirror in his bedroom and stared right back at the cold eyes his reflection gave back to him and took in a deep breath, taking in his disfigured and ugly appearance. He covered the mirror back up completely and without even so much as letting his new apprentice know his intentions, he was gone in a puff of blood red smoke.