Archive of Our Own ^beta

Regina is holding the gun to her temple, un-shed tears glistening in her dark eyes.

Mr. Gold is standing in front of her, his lips curved in a deceptively stoic smile," Do you remember the dragons, Regina?"

Regina stares up at him and shakes her head. She is lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, unable to do anything except what Rumpelstiltskin has told her to do.

Do not speak, do not move, please. Good, now, please put this gun to your head, and wait until I tell you to pull the trigger, dearie.

Gold sighs," I thought so. Such a pity, I guess I'll have to remind you then."

He clears his throat," Once Upon a Time..."

~~

Rumpelstiltskin did not usually make deals with children, but Regina Mills was a special case.

He had been very close to her mother...a witch who had formerly been the only daughter of a poor and greedy miller.

He hated her mother, and would seize any opportunity to make her life miserable.

Tricking the witch's daughter into making bad deals was merely a small payback.

When he first met Regina, she was seven years old.

She had been dressed in pink, all the way down to her riding boots. And she had been waiting for him on a hill adjacent to her house.

Rumpelstiltskin appeared behind her, grinning," And what can I do for you, dearie?"

Regina jumped, obviously shocked at his sudden appearance," You're here!"

" I have only a moment, so do not waste my time. What is it you want, Miss Mills?"

Rumpelstiltskin crossed his arms over his chest, menacingly, as he waited for her response.

Regina was hasty with her reply," A dragon killed one of our horses the other day...I-I want to avenge her death."

Rumpelstiltskin's mouth hung open slightly," You want to kill a dragon because it ate your little pony?"

Regina glowered up at the Dark One," She was a horse, not a pony."

Rumpelstiltskin had found himself remembering why he didn't make deals with children in that moment.

" What does it matter? It is a ridiculous thing to want."

Regina stood up in a huff," I'll be willing to pay you!"

He bared his teeth at her," And what do you expect to pay me with? Surely, you know that gold is worthless to me."

Regina stared down at her boots," Anything. Name your price."

Rumpelstiltskin followed her gaze, until his eyes landed on her new riding boots," What a pretty pair of boots you have, Regina. Are they new?"

Her eyes grew wide," Yes. Mother made them for me..."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled," That makes them even more precious. I'll take them."

"What?" She squeaked," But-"

"That is my price. Take it or leave it, dearie."

Rumpelstiltskin stuck his hand out, excited to strike the new deal.

Regina pursed her lips," We have a deal."

She placed her hand in his...and they were gone.

~~

Regina's hand is shaking with exhaustion.

The gun's weight is too much for her to hold much longer, but she cannot let go.

Gold pauses in his story, but does not allow her to put the gun down.

Instead, he only asks," Do you remember now, dearie?"

The mayor grits her teeth and says nothing.

He smiles, all teeth," Then I guess I'll have to finish the story for you."

~~
As soon as they had reached their destination, Regina crinkled her nose," It smells terrible."

Rumpelstiltskin cackled," That is the smell of dragons, dearie. It is the smell of power."

"It smells like death," Regina snapped, holding her nose.

"Actually, I believe what you are smelling is sulfur...but I could see how you could confuse it for death."

The two walked on, crawling over misshapen stones and burned foliage until they had finally reached a clearing.

There were four dragons in the open area. Two appeared to be too young to even fly, they were hunkered close to the ground, crowding around the third dragon.

It was a beautiful creature- easily as big as a house, with glistening pink scales.

Rumpelstiltskin had never seen such a magnificent beast.

And it was injured.

From what he could tell, one of its wings had been ripped from its body...leaving a bloody gash down the length of the dragon's body.

Regina stared at the creature in horror," What happened to it?"

"It looks like someone stole one of its wings," Rumpelstiltskin explained, then he pointed to the huge black dragon that was hovering above the injured beast," and that is probably her mate."

"That's the monster that killed my horse," Regina said, quietly.

Rumpelstiltskin tore his gaze from the dragons long enough to glance at Regina's face.

Her dark eyes were glistening with un-shed tears, but she said nothing.

He turned his gaze back to the scene at hand.

The black dragon was circling around the injured one, rings of smoke billowing from its nostrils.

Down on the ground, the two smaller dragons were making tiny sounds of grief. The pink dragon, the mother, was going to die.

"R-rumpelstiltskin, I take it back, you can't kill the black dragon! The others will die without him!"

"No one breaks a deal with me, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin warned her. Though, he didn't want to have to kill the Black Dragon...he would.

A deal was a deal, no matter what the cost.

"You can still have the boots!" Regina cried," Just please don't kill the dragon. Please!"

Her pitiful pleading made Rumpelstiltskin ground his teeth together," Fine. Give me those wretched boots and I'll take you home, and we can forget this ever happened."

Regina unlaced her pink boots and handed them to the imp.

He studied the shiny material for a moment, his brow puckered.

Finally, he turned to Regina," Where did you say you got these boots?"

Regina appeared to freeze," Um- my mother made them for me."

The day seemed to grow darker the longer he held the boots," No wonder the black dragon killed your horse.A dragon always protects its mate."

"What do you mean?" The little girl demanded, stomping her bare foot on the crooked rocks.

"This boot was made from the hide of a dragon, dearie. A pink dragon."

~~

Finally, the tears were slipping from Regina's eyes.

"Do you remember the dragons now?" Gold asks, his hands tightening on his cane.

Regina only nods. She can do nothing else.

" Then you must realize, that a dragon always protects its mate. And I am the worst kind of monster...I am hundreds of times worse than that black dragon, and you hurt my Belle. You trapped her...you stole her wings, per say."

At this point, all of Regina's limbs are shaking with anxiety. She knows what comes next.

"And this time, you'll lose much more than a little horse."

There is a slight pause. Gold stares into Regina's fearful eyes, and she stares into his unfathomable ones...for just a second he imagines the little girl dressed in pink, all the way down to her boots.

For just a second, Rumpelstiltskin thinks he recognizes the little girl who pleaded for the black dragon's life...

But only for a second.

"Please, pull the trigger."

~~