Rumplestiltskin: *closes his eyes with a pained look* enthusiastic isn’t exactly the word that comes to mind. Gideon was nine, old enough to start having festering secrets.
Belle: *teases* He gets the brooding from you.
Rumplestiltskin: I’d made sure that he knew all about Bae and I’d never …
Belle: *lays a gentle hand on his arm* Gideon felt like he was replacement, like he was second best. Bae wasn’t around to compete with but another child … *shakes her head* it was a difficult couple of months but we talked a lot.
Rumplestiltskin: *nods* by the time Nadia was born Gideon wanted to be a good big brother and he is, Nadia adores him.
You do realize that now I want a fic about fake!Belle’s second pregnancy, right? Pweeeeeeease?
I have to be honest I’m really not feeling this idea right now. It’s the kind of idea that I put on my list. Then if I get another prompt that works perfectly with it, then I’ll use it and write both because it’ll have the twist/hook/whatever it’s called, that means I have to write it.
Right now, I sort of feel like it’s a nice idea but I’m not attached to it, if that makes sense? So for the time being I’m going to say no, but I’ll also say never say never because I might write something on these lines one day. I just don’t have the spark to do it at the moment. Thank you though very much for your nice comments. I really do appreciate it 🙂
It’s hard to say at this point whether The Black Fairy is involved because we don’t know much about her or what she wants. Then again this is a wish!World AU so I could literally say anything and that would also be fine.
The main question really is why did The Black Fairy show up when she did? Was it purely for Gideon? Or was it because of something else? I rather like my theory that Neverland is part of The Black Fairy’s domain. Time works differently there, and Rumple never sensed that Bae was there – just like Gideon was beyond reach of his powers while in the Dark Realm.
It was said that The Black Fairy took children but why? What did she do with them? Could she perhaps have looking for something in particular – like Pan searched for Henry – and that when the children disappointed they wound up abandoned on Neverland forming the Lost Boys? Who better than her one-time lover to rule over part of her domain? Maybe they even made a deal.
Anyway, none of this speculation is answering your question sorry 🙂
Time runs differently in The Dark Realm/Neverland and it’s easy, even for The Black Fairy, to lose track of how much time has passed in the rest of the world. When Bae made it back from Neverland Rumple did nothing. Whether it was because he was too scared to face his father, or because Belle talked him out of it, or a little of both I’m not sure. However, Rumple did eventually make the trip because of his daughter Nadia.
Nadia has Belle’s wonder of the world, her innocent belief meant that the shadow came for her one night. In the morning she had fantastic stories of her adventure and Rumple was terrified. The shadow had breached the Dark Castle defenses, it had taken his daughter. So filled with rage Rumple went to Neverland, killed Pan, practically leveled the place and took all The Lost Boys back to the Enchanted Forest. Just like he once brought the children home from the ogre war.
Just over a year later The Black Fairy started roaming the realm again. She’d been awakened by the loss of Neverland’s magic – by the loss of Pan and the loss of the easy access to children that he granted her. My headcanon until the show says otherwise is that The Black Fairy is looking for a “dark heir”, a right-hand, to rule at her side and one day take over her domain. Although I suppose fairies are immortal (though not invulnerable), so maybe it’s more just a powerful sidekick she wants. I don’t know. Anyway, she can either sense the magic, or she decides to check in on the Dark One, or she could tell who had wrecked Neverland and went to see why Rumple had done it etc. No matter what she winds up sensing teenage Gideon’s potential and she tries to snatch him – he could be the one.
Unfortunately a teenager who has had some training from Rumple, is far harder to grab than a baby. Not to mention both Gideon and Nadia were instructed to scream for Rumple the second they were in danger, and so Gideon blasts The Black Fairy back once, summons his dad and then they put the smackdown on her together.
I do quite like the theory that The Black Fairy and the Blue Fairy are the same, sort of a Jekyll and Hyde situation, so whether The Black Fairy can be killed or not depends on whether she was the original. I’m thinking that she probably wouldn’t be, so she can’t die if this theory is real. However, she could be captured, locked up in some magic device – maybe even Pandora’s Box – and no matter what she ceases to trouble them anymore.
This is a verse where Rumple and Belle and their family get a happy ending. Aside Bae’s unfortunate early death 🙁 but he married and loved Emma, and had Henry, so I guess that’s something.
I LOVED IT!!!
I mean, teen!Gideon is one of my fav new things in this fandom, and him entertaining a much younger sister made me grin so much. Honestly, it reminded me of myself and my older cousin, with the ten year difference.
Yes. One-sided tickling wars were a thing. /for the record, he’ll still tickle me thirty years later. lol)
Curious Rumple made me smile. I do love to think that his imprisonment was a farce, and I especially love the thought that this – your story – is a real world. with real people whose consciousness is just not in the driver’s seat.
I was happy to hear that he and Bae had reconciled at last, and I thought it made sense that Rumple (subconsciously?) had waited to have more children until he’d made peace with the first.
And awww, of course he’d wish for a world where Bae was happy. Aw.
Beautiful story!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 I’m relieved that you felt that Gideon and Nadia were realistic – and thank you for the anecdote – my experience with kids is limited so I’m never sure if I’m getting it right. Yeah well Rumple once promised to not love anything or anyone until he found Bae. He broke that by loving Belle but his life was still very much on hold.
Well if it isn’t a real world then there are no stakes. Fake people don’t matter, plus I liked the idea that genie magic had limitations. Heh I think I wrote both of these wish!world oneshots out of spite. I like to think of ways to twist it to make for a Rumbelle happy ending 🙂 Thank for your lovely comment!
Rumple never taught me the sleeping curse specifically but I had helped him with various potions before, so I knew my way around his workroom and what books to look in for the instructions.
Truthfully I was more afraid not to do it. Something had obviously gone dreadfully wrong and I had no idea how long I would be trapped in the Dark Castle alone. Rumple blames himself for that but it wasn’t his fault, we both agreed to the stronger wards. I was afraid of the isolation, I was afraid if I didn’t find a way to “stop time” then I wouldn’t be around when Rumple returned.
The one thing I wasn’t afraid of was never waking up. I knew that one day Rumple would return, and I knew that he would wake me. It could have been a thousand years but I knew it would happen because Rumple can only be killed by the dagger. He was always going to return one day.
*laughs* or were you really asking whether I doubted our true love? No I never doubted that, I could never doubt that.
Aw, this is perfect! I love the bit of identity crisis wish!Rumple has, but he’s right. Just because other people say he isn’t real, doesn’t mean anything at all.
Now this is a scenario where I can believe Belle would choose a sleeping potion. Whee! Thanks for that. 🙂
Wonderful, wonderful, can’t wait to see what these two make of themselves in this world. 🙂
I read a fic once, it was actually a Harry Potter fic in which Harry had crossed realities and one line stuck with me. it’s from a Stranger in the Promised Land, which was never finished, a real shame because it was really good.
“The world is what you make of it. I could argue that you aren’t real and aren’t worth my time and help, or I could decide that you are a good person in very harsh circumstances who might need help.”
In this particular wish!world AU I kinda looked at it like that. From Regina and Emma’s perspective, nobody is real, so whether they are or not is immaterial to us because we see things through the lens of the main characters. They aren’t real to Emma and Regina so they aren’t real. However, to the actual wish!world inhabitants they have all the memories and thoughts and feelings of a real person. They are real, even if as I said in the fic “If
it was the blink of an eye of a wish, didn’t make their lives any less.”
I don’t know if that makes sense. It’s all about point of view I guess. Yup I liked the symmetry of Belle choosing a sleeping curse but for very different reasons. I’m so glad you enjoyed the fic! Thank you so much for such a wonderful comment 🙂
Well dearie it’s our kiss, our true love and it’s not a decision either of us would make alone. It’s not about letting Belle break my curse, why that makes me sound like the beast that needs to be vanquished! True love means true acceptance dearie, and there would be no possibility of true loves kiss if Belle didn’t love all of me, just as I love every part of her.
Our true loves kiss doesn’t break the curse because neither of us wish it. At first I needed my powers to find Bae, and then after he was found Belle and I discussed it. We’d been together for over ten years at that point, we were happy – we still are, and so there seemed little point. I have many enemies, and they wouldn’t stop just because I was rendered powerless.
I have had a number of desperate souls beg me for immortality, I wonder whether they have any idea of what a curse it would become.
My curse will break one day because I have no wish to live without Belle, and neither of us have any wish to outlive our children. Belle will age naturally and when the time comes, our true love will break the curse of the Dark One.
Rumple had gone away for deals before but the longest had been three weeks, and it was only that long because something had gone wrong. He came home then half-naked, soaking wet and very grumpy. This time, after a week I had a bad feeling, after two weeks it turned into a sinking feeling. By the time it had been three weeks I knew, I knew but there was nothing I could do.
I waited two months, spending far too much time staring out of the castle windows, hoping against hope to see him appear in a cloud of magic. It was obvious that whatever was keeping him was blocking his powers, he would never have left me otherwise, not for that long. It was also obvious that there was no easy way out for him, it had been two months which meant it could wind up being forever. The sleeping curse was the only choice I had.
