Chapter 2: Heir of the Crocodile
Being alive for over three hundred years old meant that Rumpelstiltskin wasn't really ever surprised anymore. Okay, there were some exceptions. First Belle, and now Harry.
He had another son. A son he didn't even know existed and who, by the way his relatives were acting, probably wasn't treated the best.
He should've known about Harry, the boy's magic was strong. There was no way that Cora could've backed out of their deal, despite what she thought. But nope, he didn't even know about the young boy who was currently was sleeping in the bed near him, in one of the more expensive private rooms at Storybrooke General, and he probably wouldn't (ironically) if it hadn't been for Cora giving him that blood globe.
Oh, Cora. She would be dealt with for giving away his boy soon enough. But now he had to concentrate on his child, who had almost died a couple of nights ago (would've died) had Rumple not been there.
He looked at Harry, now that he had removed the glamour that someone had inadequately applied (seriously, what mortal wizard thought that he couldn't see through their spells?) it was quite obvious he was his son and Cora's.
The boy hadn't seen himself yet; since he had been unconscious in the days that Gold had known him. But he looked vastly different than he did than when he was brought in with those poor glamour charms. It would take a bit of an adjustment, Gold thought. There was a part of him that almost left those spells there, but given the extent of the injuries, Gold had no choice but to remove them.
As well as those nasty blocks on his son's magic.
Whoever did that—and Gold had a good idea that it was his ex—was going to pay.
He hadn't seen Cora since she had given him the blood globe. Cora probably thought he was on the other side of the world right now, looking for Bae. And while Gold still had ever intent of finding his oldest, he had a slight change of priorities right now. He had to make sure Harry was okay, and given the state that he was in when he came to Storybrooke General, it was going to be a while before he could begin his quest to find Bae. Especially with Cora being somewhere in town.
Yeah, he wasn't going to let that woman anywhere near Harry. She had made her bed long ago giving him away like that.
When Gold had first seen that the blood globe was pointing to the hospital, he had hoped beyond hope that Bae was there. He remembered rushing to the E.R., wondering where his son was, when the only people he saw were the Dursleys.
Of course, he didn't exactly know what was going on at the time because Cora had somehow managed to hide his son's existence from him.
That evil minx. He really needed to think about what exactly he was going to do to her. The wraith that he sent after Regina just seemed like too good of a fate for Cora. Perhaps, he should send her to his father's land and let her deal with that brat.
He couldn't do that, not even to Cora. But there had to be something he could do.
He just remembered how broken Harry had looked in the emergency room. That incompetent oaf, better known as Whale, seemed aghast at what to do and was talking to the Dursleys about their options, which included some experimental surgery.
Of course, with Whale there was always some experimental surgery. Even before the curse broken and he knew that he was Frankenstein, he always wanted to do something radical.
Thank God, Gold could just zap himself well if he ever got injured. Which was why Whale was probably flabbergasted when he saw Gold standing there in the ER.
"Mr. Gold," He greeted warily. "I didn't think there was a board meeting today?"
Oh, yes, Regina saw fit to make him a member of the hospital board before the curse. And apparently, it was the status quo after the curse.
Gold just sneered at him, "There's not. I'm here for other business."
"Is it about—" He stared at the Dursleys. It didn't take a genius to know that they were an odd sight in town where no new people ever came in.
Gold just rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"
Of course, he wasn't going to tell him the real reason that he was there, that the blood globe had alerted him that a descendent of his, one of his heirs, was in the building. But there was no Bae or anyone who resembled Bae in sight—since for all Gold knew his son could be the same age as him now or older.
Whale sighed, "Right now's really not the time, Gold. The boy's in serious condition.
"Yes, for Jenny Craig maybe. But he looks none the worse for wear." Gold said, looking at the obese blonde boy.
The woman heard that remark and gasped in outrage. Whale sighed as he walked closer to where Gold was standing so that they could have a more private conversation.
"I'm not talking about that boy," Whale corrected. "I'm talking about the one in the other room. He might not make it Gold. His blood, it's…it's different."
"There's a boy in the other room?" Gold perked up. Maybe that was his Bae. "Can I see him?"
"You know I can't do that, you're not family."
It might not have worked on Whale like it did on Regina, but with a dirty look and one 'please' he managed to get into the boy's room.
And that's when he noticed the glamour. Gold was shocked; these were supposed to be mundanes. Normal people from the land without magic, but it was as clear as day that the boy had some sort of spell on his features. Gold rolled his eyes; such spells didn't work on him since he was the Dark One. But it was still interesting, even though the boy wasn't Bae.
Of course, Harry's face was full of abrasions from the accident, but it was still obvious that he was his and Cora's.
His hair was the same rich chocolate brown that Cora had, but with a slight crimp to it that Rumple had in the Enchanted Forest. His mouth was pure Cora, as was his chin and shape of the eyes. But the rest, that was all Gold. He looked remarkably like Gold; it was unsettling that he couldn't recognize his own blood from the very first glance.
What sort of father was he to not recognize his own son?
It was also at that point he noticed that there appeared to be some sort of block on the boy. Now, that was very interesting.
Putting a block on someone's magic was very dangerous and could only be accomplished by someone with a decent amount of power. Gold was interested; why would someone put such a block on the boy and begin to remove it?
That's when he noticed it. His magic, it felt familiar to Gold's. However, that was impossible. There was only one Dark One. But the more he felt the boy's magic, the more he noticed it was slightly different. It was like his, and then like hers as well: Cora's.
And then it all clicked.
He had a child with Cora.
Gold frowned for a moment. How could she have hid this from him? He was the Dark One, the most powerful being in all the realms. Unless, she pulled a Blue Fairy and sent their son to a different realm. But why, and why did she send him alone?
Whale interrupted Gold's thought process, nudging his shoulder slightly. "You need to go. He's in critical."
Gold held out his hand. "I will take care of this."
"You are not a medical trained professional, Gold." Whale began slowly.
"Yes, but as I believe you well know Victor, magic is better than science. Now, I want you to go talk to whoever it is to get this boy in a private room, the nicest one you have. I'll be taking over his care."
"Why?"
"Never you mind," Gold answered cryptically, giving him a look that only the Dark One could give. "Just do as I say."
Whale nodded in defeat and left the room. Gold shook his head as he looked at his child and began to heal him. Thank God he had his magic back. He wouldn't trust Whale to put a bandage on the boy, let alone perform the various surgeries that the child would need if he didn't have the Dark One as a parent.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A voice spoke when he had nearly completed the first round healing. He turned around to see his former pupil and sometimes archenemy and his son's big sister—well, technically little sister though (obviously) Regina was now several years older than the boy laying beside him.
He sighed wearily. "What does it look like I'm doing, Regina?"
"You're healing that boy. The boy from the different town, but why? He didn't make a deal with you, did he?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Gold snapped. "I'm assuming there's a reason why you're here."
"To check on the strangers in town, obviously," replied the Evil Queen. "I got Whale to put the boy's relatives in for observation, so they won't see anything strange. Like, for example, the town miser healing their nephew."
"I am not the town's miser; they hate you just as much as me, if not more."
"I doubt they hate me more than you."
"Oh, really, dearie? Weren't you the one who cursed them for twenty-eight years?"
Regina scowled, "Oh, I'm sure you've done your fair share of misdeeds to tick them off too. Now, what's the deal with the boy? I thought that you would be jumping at the chance to kill them all, not save them.
"Did your mother ever tell me about her relationship with me?" Gold questioned, ignoring the kill comment. He would tear the world apart before he allowed another one of his children to come to harm.
Regina frowned. "Ugh, thankfully no. That is something I do not want to know about. Why are you talking about my mother?"
Gold gestured to Harry. "Look at the boy."
Regina looked at the boy for a moment and then it dawned on her. "Oh, God, Mother. What have you done?"
"My thoughts exactly. You haven't seen Cora, have you?"
"You're not going to kill her, are you?" Regina asked, ignoring the question.
"Regina, she abandoned your brother, my son. If I sent a wraith after you for kidnapping Belle, what do you think I would do to her for something like this?"
"She probably had her reasons," Regina defended, biting her lip. It was obvious that she did not believe her own words.
"Come on, Regina. Would you abandon Henry?"
He struck a nerve. Despite the fact that Regina tried to act like nothing got to her. Henry did get to her. Especially since he was disgustingly Team Charming these days. "No." She snapped. "You know I wouldn't. She left him with those people?"
"I can only assume as much." Gold said with a heavy sigh. "They're that disgusting?"
"Oh, you have no idea. I wouldn't even curse Snow to live with them."
"If they were that bad you would curse Snow to live with them." Gold said.
"I've developed a slight conscience. Those therapy sessions with that bug have done wonders."
"If they have then where's your mother?"
Regina sighed. "She's at the vault. I can talk to her."
"I don't want her knowing. I don't want anyone knowing until I can figure this out."
"What about Belle?"
"Belle of course is the exception, save for you." He glowered at her. "And honestly, I'm not too happy about you knowing."
"I won't do anything," Regina said. She sounded oddly sincere. "I know how it is to grow up with Cora as a mother, and I don't think he's ready to deal with her yet. And I want to know if she abandoned him."
"Well, isn't it obvious? She didn't want to deal with the consequences of her deal. Not that Harry is a consequence; he is a child. A child that should've been raised by his parents, or at least his father."
"Yes, I actually agree with you on that. I don't know what mother was thinking. Wait, I do. She was probably thinking about the crown. That was all she ever thought about."
Gold didn't say anything; instead he looked at the boy. His boy. "There's someone else involved Regina. She didn't do all of this herself."
"What do you mean?" The Evil Queen asked.
"Someone put a poor glamour spell and some blocks on his powers. Someone from this world."
"But I thought this was a world without magic. Isn't that what that idiotic fairy told you?"
"She's an idiot, so who knows."
"I'll see what I can find out."
That conversation had been three days ago, and Regina still hadn't found out anything. Harry still hadn't woken up either. Not that Rumple was that surprised based on how long it took to heal him; he expected a long recovery time. He still wanted to talk to his son, though.
Like Regina promised, she kept pretty much everyone away from him. The only Storybrooke resident who remotely knew what was going on was Belle, and she didn't know everything.
He really didn't think he could tell her until Harry woke up.
He had called her and told her that he wasn't going to be home a lot because something came up. She knew he was searching for his son, so she didn't press. She just didn't know that he had found his son.
A different son than he thought he'd find.
Since becoming the Dark One, Gold had never really felt nervous in his life. But he didn't know how he was going to talk to Harry. He really didn't know much about him, other than the bits and pieces he was able to hear from the boys so called relatives, who seemed not to care one bit that Gold had taken over their supposed nephew's care.
That was going to have to be addressed at some point, but first there was Harry. He needed to wake up. And imagine to Gold's shock when he found the boy's eyes open staring at him.
His eyes, they were just like his. Well, the Dark One's, though with a touch more humanity. But the color, there was no denying it; that bizarre shade like molten gold
Harry seemed a bit off-guard, which made perfect sense and Gold tried his best to be calm—yeah, that was easier said than done. However, he couldn't keep a straight face when he saw the resemblance to Cora when the boy was angry, and when he heard that Harry's mother died for him.
Well maybe his adoptive mother did, but his real mother wouldn't. Rumple knew Cora. Heartless that one was. No, he wouldn't let her near his son, not after what she did to him.
Though he really did wish he would've had a little more tact in dropping the paternity bomb. The way Harry was staring at him, well, the boy looked horrified.
"No," Harry stuttered. "James and Lily Potter were my parents— not you and some lady who abandoned their kid."
"She gave you away," said Gold. "Believe me, if I was there it never would've happened. I didn't even know you existed."
Harry shook his head. "You don't have proof."
"Don't I? When you came to the hospital it was very obvious that someone had put some sort of glamour on you and blocked your magic. Imagine to my surprise when I recognized your magical signature. You are the Dark One's heir. My heir."
"The Dark One?"
"I forgot that this was the supposed 'Land Without Magic.' Long story short, I'm a very powerful sorcerer. You seem to have inherited some of that power. I'm guessing that whoever Cora dumped you with wanted your power."
Harry frowned; obviously this hit a nerve as if something was clicking in his brain. "That's what—"
"That's what?" Rumple asked eagerly, leaning forward..
"It's nothing," Harry quickly corrected himself.
"Oh, it's something." Rumple interjected. "I know that look. You are holding back."
God, did he know that look. That was how Bae looked whenever he was trying to keep something from him. Thinking about Bae pained him; despite finding Harry, he still wanted to see his oldest and make up for what he did.
Harry sighed and shook his head, "No, you're lying."
"Am I? Do you want me to conquer a mirror for you so you can see yourself? Because trust me, you look a bit different."
"Who says you didn't apply any charms on me yourself? You might be a die-hard Harry Potter fan."
Gold started laughing. While it was not the signature giggle of the Dark One, his normal laugh had an unnerving quality about it too. "Harry Potter fan. Seriously?"
Harry shot him a disbelieving look, the same one that he often gave others. "You don't know then?"
"Know about what?" asked Gold. "That I had a son with Cora? No, I didn't. And I have to say I'm not happy that I didn't get to spend the first ten or so years of your life with you."
"I'm eleven." Harry snapped, crossing his arms. "Well, almost twelve."
"No you're not." The boy was way too small to be almost twelve. Even Gold, who wasn't a large man by any means, was bigger than Harry at that age. And Cora, well, she was not a petite woman in height. Just look at Regina who was practically a behemoth in heels, something wasn't right. Gold hoped, for his son's sake, that the boy inherited her height.
"I am. My birthday's July 31st."
July 31st. That would be about right in accordance to when he and Cora last…Dear Lord, he already knew. He saw the magical connection and resemblance was uncanny. He had even done a magical blood test earlier. Harry was his. There was no ifs, ands, or buts, Harry was just going to have to accept the truth.
"Well, then," said Gold. "It looks like I have eleven birthdays to make up. Plus, one more in a couple of weeks."
Harry looked at him up at him, and Gold suddenly saw a lot of Bae in the boy's features. "You're not lying are you?"
"About being your father," Rumple asked. "I'm afraid not."
"So, she gave me up then?"
"Your birth mother, I can only assume so. Your mother, well, she doesn't like me very much."
"So, she gave me up?"
"She was stupid. Harry, I can promise you one thing. I know we've just met, but I promise you that I will never give up on you."
Harry shook his head; it was obvious that he didn't believe Gold, and it broke Gold's heart.