Work Text:
The Threat of Love
by Pirate Turner
Affection could be deadly. Rumpelstiltskin knew that more than any one else. He reflected as he gazed down at the chipped cup he held so reverently. He was no stranger to the fear and hatred with which he was now, and had been for centuries, faced. No one, not even himself, had ever thought he could be loved.
No one, that was, until his sweet and beautiful Belle. Somehow, she had managed to love him as he had secretly loved her, but her love had threatened to strip away not only his darkness but also his powers. A single, sweet kiss from his lady love upon his unworthy hide had started to return the heat and feeling to his ugly, dark face. Rumpelstiltskin had known immediately that his curse was starting to lift and had panicked, hurting both her and himself in the process, for he had known his power would be taken if ever he was returned to the mere, mortal shell of the man he'd once been.
Rumpelstiltskin stared at the chip in his cup as he sat calmly and patiently in the cage he had made for himself. He sat alone in the jail cell in which he'd allowed himself to be thrust. Sheriff Swan thought she had him where she could control him now, but he had made certain that none could ever control him. No one would ever have power over him again, but that security had cost him his heart.
He turned the cup around, thinking of Belle and the loss he'd suffered. He'd never needed a heart until her, and now he'd lost that opportunity of having her wonderful love fill his heart which had not felt anything for years until Belle's soft and sweet ways had slipped pass his protective boundaries. She'd told him he'd regret denying their love. He'd thought her wrong, because he knew he wasn't supposed to have a heart any longer. There was still something in his unbeating chest even now, however, for he could never hurt as he does now if he was as heartless as he'd been told.
He kept staring at the cup she'd broken, quietly examining the chip in his life and wondering, if even in today's modern world, he could ever allow himself to choose the love for which he ached over the power he needed if ever he got the miracle of a second chance with his own, true love again.
The End