Evermore ~ Rumplestiltskin

Chapter Forty-Seven

PRESENT DAY.
Rumple's POV.

I am in the storm cellar once again. Zelena hands me a handsome black coat. "What do you want me to do with this?" I asked.

"What do you think?" she replied. "Wear it. I've got Regina's heart, Charming's courage, and right in here, ready to be plucked, your lovely brains," she said as she tried to touch my temple. I backed away. "We've got everything we need. It's a good time to celebrate, don't you think?" she asked.

In a sullen tone, I say, "You don't have everything."

"The baby will come," she replied. "Now, let's get you dressed."

The only person in the world allowed to dress me was Liana. "I'm not your doll," I spat.

"Aren't you?" she questioned. "I'm not using the dagger, but I could. A certain baby could be here at any minute, so I'm going to give you a choice on how you want to live out the rest of this time. One choice is, screaming in agony. The other is much more pleasant. Choose well, doll."

I gritted my teeth as I watched Zelena leave the Storm Cellar.

I eyed the jacket again. It was only a small price to pay to escape.

+++

Instead of inside the storm cellar, I was brought into the farmhouse. I could smell dinner cooking as Zelena approached me. "You should have a woman dress you more often." I glared at her. "Please do have a seat."

I move towards the table. "I wonder how much civility I'll be asked to endure before this evenings true purpose is revealed."

Zelena chuckled. "Relax. You know I'm not one for subtlety."

"Well, how lucky for me," I replied.

"Play coy if you like," she said, as she poured me a glass of red wine. "But we both know it wasn't a dagger that brought you into my kitchen."

Well, it is exactly that reason that brought me here, just not in that way.
She has to have the dagger around here somewhere.

"Well, coercion can take many forms, my dear, but I can assure you, I'm not here for the boiled peas." The timer dings.

"No, you're here for my secret, aren't you?" she questioned. "Hmm? Why a heart? Why courage? Why a brain? Why this particular baby?" She smiled.

"And more to the point," I started. "Why is it of any interest to me?"

Zelena puts the food on the table. "Because, my secret will reunite you with your long lost son."

My heart pounded in my chest as I furrowed my eyebrows. "My son is not lost. He's dead. You watched him die."

"This isn't idle cruelty. I promise you, he's alive and waiting for you to find him."

I continued to furrow my eyebrows. What was this nonsense? Bae died. He died in my arms. "Find him where?" I asked. 

"Not where, love, when. I'm going to change the past," she stated.

I tried my hardest not to laugh. "No. Time travel spells have been written since the dawn of the dark arts but never cast. It's against the fundamental laws of magic."

Zelena chuckled. "Magic doesn't fail. People fail. Laws only exist until they're broken by someone... superior."

I looked her in the eyes. "You," I said. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Zelena chuckled again. "You deciphered the laws of time travel?"
I leaned in closer to her.

"When that baby is born," started Zelena. "I am going back to claim the life that I deserve, and there's no reason that you can't come with me."

This seems all too real. None of the dark one's ever succeeded with time travel, but then this little red headed witch does?

Then reality hit me. She's saying that I can go back in time with her to find my boy, and make up for lost time.

"To find my boy," I said out loud. Zelena smiled at me. "Perhaps never give him up."

                               +++

"Thank you," I stated.

"For what?" she asked.

"For showing me something I should have seen long ago. It's never easy for a man to admit he's wrong. But I wronged you and hurt us both." I poured more wine into each of our glasses.

"Those mistakes can't haunt us," she continued. "Not anymore. Soon, history will be wiped clean. She chuckled.

"Until then," I started. "A gentleman always makes amends for his feelings." I caress her cheek gently. She looks at me surprised.

I hated what I was about to do. It felt so wrong. I felt like I was betraying Liana. But I had to do it if I wanted to be released from her control. So I leaned down, and began to kiss the crook of her right neck. Zelena began to pant, and breath heavily as I moved down to her breasts. I kissed and licked her until I moved my lips up to hers. And as I did so, I tried to feel for my dagger.

I found it. It was in her boot.

She then realized what I was doing, and pushed me off her. I was close too close. She then froze me with a spell. I could no longer move. "Sorry love, afraid not," she said.

"Never on the first date, eh, dearie?" I questioned.

"You just wanted the knife," Zelena exhaled sharply. "I hope you enjoyed the taste, because you just squandered your only chance to have your son!"

She used the dagger on me, pushing me backwards again. "My son gave his life so I could stop you," I told her, gritting my teeth. At first I wanted to believe I could go back and time and get my son, but I knew there was going to be a steep price to pay. And I knew it was not the right thing to do. It's not what he would have wanted. "And I can see only one way to honor that sacrifice," I spat. "And that's by killing you."

"Celebrations over," she stated. "Back to your cage doll," she said, using the dagger on me again, pushing me towards the door. I had no choice. I had to go back to the storm cellar. I was so close, so close to getting out and stopping her. But it didn't happen. There had to be another way.