Darelle

21

In the shelter of the cottage, Rumpel sat in his chair behind his desk as he read book when his body picked a heavy force that almost suffocate him.

He gasped at the magic that overtook his own, one that was a spellbound reminder of who he was. And what he truly was.

His eyes turned to the things made invisible and saw a long flowing gold dust of magic. His long legs took him out of his home, past the gardens, to the palace as he followed a long trail of golden magic that swirled in air below his feet.

Several different thoughts wrapped around him as he feel the familiar, but it couldn't be. He couldn't be right. Darelle couldn't be in trouble or harm's way, could she?

In record time, Rumpel was about to burst through the seams of the door, where the magic trail led to.

Without thinking he pushed the door opened and when he did, his eyes settled in the room, where an old woman stood by Darelle, who giggled at the sight of him.

Breathless, he walked into the room, he realized was the fitting place the princess had spoken of with high regard.

"Hey, Rumpel. This is Snow, my seamstress." Darelle said, as her hands patted her lower body that was covered in a fitted white dress that was loose at the knee.

His greedy eyes took in the sight of the lovely white material on her body. But he had no time to ogle her body, be tempted by the way her breast spilled from the tightness of the dress corset or the slight way her shoulder was revealed that had his hand itching to pull it down.

"Is that so?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, from what he saw they were finished with everything as the woman had her basket in hand.

"Let me escort her off to the gate, then." he said, his eyes still on the old woman, who gave him the sweetest smile that irked him. It took his every will, not ruin Darelle' day in his anger.

"Is that so?" The old woman chuckled as she began hitting her chest bone. "She just told me to visit you for my dyspepsia."

Acknowledgement grated his core as he surveyed the wicker basket of threads and needles for anything more harmful or bewitched as Darelle had gone to change her outfit to something more comfortable.

Then a stomach growled from the mix causing he and the old lady to turn to Darelle, who had returned and blushed at her embarrassing moment.

"I had to put off eating for a while. I should ask the chef to make brunch for me." she said.

"Go ahead." Rumpel said and sent an assuring smile along her way before she skidded off to the hall.

"What a nice girl." The old woman commented.

He turned his head to the woman. "Where were we? Checking your woman aliment." he extended his hand to the exit.

"Ah, yes." The woman said, as she followed his lead.

The fae doctor started off to the cottage, with the woman nearly as fast as him.

Immediately they reached, he closed the door and turned to see a pale white man with feminine attributes in place of the woman.

The man's lovely and pale skin was to be considered albino with the length of his silver hair now grown to his back.

Rumpel's face morphed into a one of bitterness. "Oh, what. a pleasant surprise. You heard I was here, and showed up. And you want me to act surprised like I couldn't smell you." he spat.

"What? " The man deadpanned. "Not even a greeting or a single hug for your long, lost brother?" The man asked.

The doctor stepped up to his most hated kin. "You mean the brother who killed our parents and ran away, leaving me behind. You promised and you didn't even take me?" his eyes darkened at his kin. "Is it long or lost you speak of, brother?"

The man laughed. "I didn't mean to. Never did. It was a hasty retreat and I didn't mean it, and I didn't kill our parents. We did."

Rumpel darkly narrowed his eyes on his brother. He didn't need the goddamned remainder of how he struck their father's heart to gold or how his brother had stopped their mother from ending him there and then by killing her. He had relived the memories almost every day. "I don't need to be reminded, Halon. You left me."

His brother lowered his head in shame and regret. "I never left you."

The doctor didn't buy it. "Liar." he spat out at the pretentious act.

Lifting his head up, Halon gazed into his eyes and gave him a half-grin. "I didn't. I went to get us some food and when I came back. You were gone, Rum."

The doctor backed away from his brother, despite the fact his heart yearned to be in Halon's arms again. Then his heart hardened at the memory and the feelings he dealt with over the years, being alone, knowing his brother relieved himself of him. "You left me!"

"Believe me, I never did. While I was in the forest, I saw some of the forest guards and hid as they sought us. When I led them away from your direction. Believe me, brother. I never did."

"You lying bastard, I . . . heard the voices. They came for me but you weren't there. I had to go into the mist alone."

A sad smile appeared on his elder brother's face. "Rum, we weren't already in the mist." he said. "Grandmother warned us of it, fearing we would have to abandon everything and paint our future, didn't she?"

Her grandmother's word blew into his ears. Sometimes the mist's fills with things, show us things to prevent us from leaving a world we know of. Only the pure in heart . . .

Rumpel clutched his chest as it tightened as everything hit him all at once. The mist, the voices, the desolation.

Realization forced itself on Rumpel as he remembered he woke up to see no one in the white air. When he heard the voice of several people searching and looking for him before he dashed into the heavy mist.

Tears filled his eyes as he remembered how he sat there in the mist, wondering why his brother left him . . . when he was the one who truly did.

"I did." he lifted his eyes from the floor to his brother as emotions coursing through him. He wasn't a burden after all that needed to be rid of, or replaced. He was special and loved.

"Don't blame yourself for something you had no control of. I never should've left in the first place. I shouldn't." Halon put his hand in her shirt and spoke. "I came back to the place we slept and found this at the edge of the mist." he then lifted a chain that the doctor remembered to be their family heirloom.

The mist, or fog was the barrier that separated the fairy world from the humans. It also held the humans from entering the fairyland, but also what used to ensure no fae leave to do mayhem amongst the humans.

Rumpel recalled how it had sapped energy and life out of him as he journeyed for days before reaching the human realm. Then how he had hurt first humans he had ever met.

"It can't affect all." he said the words of his grandmother who told them of times when the humans could slip in without knowing and times they couldn't, too.

"Only the meek in heart shall pass through the gates." Halon completed their late grandmother's word, showing he too had her in his soul.

Choking slence filled the air as the doctor wondered what to do and how to apologize for accusing his . . . when his eyes found his brother's. His brother eyes glistened with tears.

"I'm sorry." Rumpel said for the first time in his life among the humans. "I'm sorry."

And Halon crashed into his arms and embraced him, allowing to breathe a familiar scent once more. "All is forgotten. I promise I will never to leave you alone ever again. Even for a moment."

The doctor pulled back, laughing at his brother's words. "Shut up." he begged. "I'm not sharing my wife with you."

Halon joined him in the laughter before they both settled for a second hug. "Then I promise not to leave you until your wife whisk you off."

"Better." Rumpel replied, yielding the deeper meaning of family while his brother held him.

He closed his eyes to see a boy standing in front of him, but this time the boy wasn't sitting and crying, but he had a crooked smile that gave way to breathtaking grin. He watched the boy disappear into dust and spread around the white space they were in. And he was not scared. He was free for the first time.