[center][img= http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/240x160StorybrookeRegina.gif?t=1407788618][img= http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/Malfoys_one_and_only_girl/240x160StorybrookeGold.gif?t=1407788619][/center]

"Gold?"

Regina shut the door to the pawnshop behind her, the little bell tinkling for the second time (the first being when it had opened) but Regina paused at the entry; confused as to why the pawnbroker wasn't standing behind the counter awaiting her arrival as usual. Her black eyebrows knitted together as she took a couple tentative steps into the shop, not bothering to look around at the various nick-knacks that she often liked to pick up and examine from time to time (if only just getting a somewhat annoyed expression from Mr. Gold himself).

"Gold!" Regina called again, heading towards the curtain that led into the back room. Over the years she had spent in Storybrooke, and through all the times she had been inside Mr. Gold's pawnshop, not once did Regina take it upon herself to go into the back room without Mr. Gold at least knowing about it, since permission was just a bit below her. Still, when she heard no answer, she pulled open the curtain and stepped into the back room, a small pulse of adrenaline flowing through her blood at the chance that the pawnbroker have only stepped outside for just a moment and caught her where she didn't belong.

That wouldn't be the case.

Regina found the owner of the pawnshop with his head down on top of an old wooden desk, resting on his right arm and turned to the side, sitting in what she could only assume was the matching chair to go with the set. The smell of alcohol reached her nose immediately, and realized that a bottle of what used to be some sort of booze had been knocked over onto the table, staining both the wood and the sleeve of Mr. Gold's dark blue dress shirt.

His suit jacket had been tossed to the floor, unwanted and forgotten, his cane leaning up against the desk just within arms reach. His hair was matted with sweat, sticking to portions of his face and neck while others tangled and splayed out in various areas. His eyes were closed, the age of his face increasing as dark shadows folded neatly into his creases giving him a very tired look, despite his being unconscious.

What Regina found most odd about the scene, however, was not the drunken, passed out, run down, pathetic heap she saw before her, but the tiny teacup held loosely in his left hand, cradled towards his face with the chip in the rim pointing outwards for Regina to see clear as day; and was able to identify it.

What Regina didn't know, however, is that Mr. Gold wasn't unconscious; just hovering between the areas of awake and dreaming. He was lost in his own thoughts, confusing reality with memories...thinking of the past and bringing them here...a happier time when a common girl gave him reason to smile, to want to be a better man, to want to change.

He could still see the way she smiled at him, the way her cheeks flushed the most brilliant shade of pink and the way her amber eyes squinted when she laughed. He could hear her voice, nagging at him in a way no one else dared to. Her eyes, so beautiful, so full of life and unafraid whenever she looked upon him as he spun at the spinning wheel and made light conversation. He could hear her singing, her voice so angelic and haunting it made the corner of his eye grow wet and made the hairs on his arms stand up on end underneath his alcohol-soaked sleeve where the bottle had tipped over. And if even for a moment, he could hear her calling out to him.

[i]Gold? Gold![/i]

He wanted to correct her, tell her that was no longer his name and that he would always be Rumpelstiltskin to her, but his lips wouldn't move, too exhausted to even try.

He could feel her hovering over him, but he knew this couldn't be true. He had watched her die, and so it [i]must[/i] have been her spirit looking over him; and it [i]must[/i] have been her spirit that he felt reaching out to gently touch his hair to soothe his aching heart, letting him know that she was there with him, always.

A quiet sneer came over Regina's face as she reached out to take the cup from Mr. Gold's grasp and looked it over.

"If only she could see you know Rumpel, I doubt she'd be impressed."

Mr. Gold's brown eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw was the teacup in the claws of Regina, The Evil Queen...the murderer. With a beastly snarl, Mr. Gold sprung up out of the chair, the movement so sudden that the wooden chair toppled over onto the floor behind him but he didn't notice as his hand had wrapped itself around Regina's lithe neck and his laid his opposite arm horizontal to her chest, pushing her up against the wall with his teeth bared and eyes afire.

"PUT IT DOWN!" He roared, pressing his arm up into her chest tighter, watching Regina's brown eyes grow wide in fright and listening to the choking sounds escaping through her closing windpipe. "[b]PUT IT DOWN NOW![/b]" He shouted once more, closing his hand even tighter around her throat.

It took all the strength Regina had to shakily raise her arm and set the teacup down on the edge of the desk, barely able to reach it from her distance pressed up against the wall.

"G-Gold..." Regina croaked, but realized that it was a waste of air as the beast refused to ease up on his hold until he saw the life starting to drain from her eyes. Only then (and with a forceful shove up into the wall) did he release Regina, accommodating the screaming pain in his right leg from putting so much weight onto it and reached for his cane as Regina slumped to the floor in a trembling heap, her hands immediately going to her throat as if that would soften the lingering pain.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Regina finally managed in between coughs, watching as the pawnbroker picked up the teacup ever so delicately with his cane-free hand to inspect it, ensuring that no damage had come to it. What Regina didn't expect, was the sudden spin of the older man with his cane raised up, meeting the handle of the cane to the side of her face with a loud [i]THWACK[/i]!

"YOU KILLED HER! YOU RIPPED HER HEART OUT, AND YOU KILLED HER!"

The cane was brought back down on Regina, smacking her across her forehead and splitting her eyebrow clean open. Regina tried putting up her arms in defense, but the blows of the cane kept coming. Right, left, down, backhand, forward hand...it was impossible to predict where the cane would be striking next. Bruises immediately began forming on her cheeks, forehead, neck and arms, her eyebrow being the first to draw blood but then soon followed by her lip and nose.
 
"GOLD!" [i]THWACK[/i] "RUMPELSTILTSKIN! LISTEN T-" [i]THWACK[/i] [b]"PLEASE!"[/b]

Regina kept crying out to him, begging for him to stop but each time she opened her mouth to speak, the cane was brought right back down on her and her words were drowned with pain.

"[i]She's gone! She's gone, forever! She's not coming back! And it's YOUR fault!" [b]THWACK![/b] "YOUR FAULT!" [b]THWACK![/b] "YOU BROKE OUR DEAL!" [b]THWACK THWACK THWACK![/b] "IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT![/I]"

[i]Moments ago...[/i]

It was terrifying as she stumbled out of the carriage that seemed to drive itself. She almost fell to the pavement but she regained her balance. She shivered slightly, brown hair a mess, amber eyes looking around at the weird buildings and roadways. She wished she was back in that small, dry, dark room. It was familiar to her, it felt safe. 

She could hear voices. Moving towards them she pushed a small wooden door open, a bell ringing. The room she walked into had an array of objects on display, some even seeming familiar to her. As she gazed around her attention snapped back to the sounds of grunting and beating, moving forward she entered another room as she tightly held onto the deep red cloak that draped her body, a gift from a friend. She was shocked to see two familiar faces but her eyes soon grew confused, brow’s furrowed. She was used to seeing the queen in such odd attire from the few and far in between visits, but…Rumpel…he practically looked human. He was the only constant in her mind.

Although she had a great hate for the evil queen the young brunette rushed forward. Holding her arm up she took a couple blows before she managed to stop the cane from coming down again. She glared into his eyes.

“[b]STOP IT RUMPEL![/b]” She practically yelled at the man, her eyes not shifting from his.

The dark, inflamed eyes landed upon the beauty staying his arm and the cane clattered to the floor in surprise as he jerked his arm away as if the woman's touch carried the plague. His dry mouth hung open in a silent stupor as he took a few unsteady, shaky steps backwards, his bad leg threatening to give out on him but managed to keep himself from falling to the ground when he had backed into the desk and was able to brace his weight with a hand behind him.

The only sound aside from the miscellaneous clocks that ticked in the shop was a sudden cough and sputtering of what Mr. Gold could only assume was Regina's blood coming up her bruised throat, but he didn't even bother with looking down upon the wreckage he had brought her, his tear-filled eyes never leaving the woman who had instead stopped him, and called him by name.

"Belle?"