Henry was having the nightmares again. The burning place that was positively terrifying.

Finally he had enough and told his mother...who promptly dragged him to Gold.

"It's a side effect of the sleeping curse. When awakened from their slumber, occasionally victims will travel to a netherworld. And I can assure you, it's quite real," said Gold.

"So the fire..."

"Isn't some figment of your imagination," said Gold firmly.

Lal did not look happy.

"How do we control this?"

"I can give him something that would allow him some form of control over his dreams," said Gold, already pulling out a kit. "Once you have control over it, the fear should stop and the nightmares will eventually fade away."

"This fire...what happens if he gets too close to it?"

"Fire burns, dearie. You should know that," said Gold condescendingly.

Lal had an unhappy look on her face.

"Not if he had something to act as a shield against it," said Lal.

Henry looked at his mother.

"I really, really didn't want to do this until you were thirteen. Especially not until we got back from Italy, since they have a way of sensing it's presence," said Lal. "I'm going to teach you how to activate your Dying Will Flames. It's not really spoken of since most people figure this out pretty quick, but having Active Flames does provide some measure of protection from fire. The amount of protection depends on the purity and power behind it, but at the very least it would mitigate some of the heat."

Henry perked up at that.

"You mean I can be like you and dad?"

"Just so we're clear, we are going to train your ass off after this."

"Don't you already?" asked Henry, tilting his head.

"Don't be a smartass," snarked Lal.

"What's this about Italy?"

"I was planning a family vacation after the curse broke...right up until I found out I was pregnant. If we can get these stupid pacifiers off us permanently I can give your bookworm a crash course on the language so she can properly enjoy the sights," said Lal. "It was mostly for a family bonding experience, and magic only knows how much fun could be had watching the idiots in the Cosa Nostra handle your deals."

Gold smirked.

"Sounds like it would be fun."

Lal's smirk was almost as evil as his.

"Considering it's the place I've been getting most of my 'minions' as you've called them, you're almost certain to enjoy it."

Gold perked up at that.

"And since you unlocked what was left of Regina there would be an easy way for us to get what we both want and keep Henry."

"And what's that?"

"In the underworld, Skies are considered 'royalty' to the point that they can create their own 'courts' and still rule territory. However there are enforcers that keep the rival courts from simply slaughtering each other outright or revealing magic to the civilians. Now, the second people figure out you're Flame Active, they're going to try to drag you into a family or use Belle as collateral...unless you are already part of one with enough strong players to keep the bigger fish from bothering you. They'll just assume anything you're doing is to add power to the family you're part of."

"You said that the orange fire was that of a 'sky'. Which means you want to be in charge."

"Hardly. I just want them to think I am so they'll leave us alone and won't try to drag us into someone else's turf," said Lal dismissively. "But if you claim you're with us, then you and Belle can have a nice merry vacation while gaining power in the underworld so long as you don't piss off the enforcers doing it. She gets protection, I get something close to a friendly alliance with you for as long as our truce over Henry holds, and we all get to laugh when Cora figures out where we are and ends up arrested."

"How can you be so certain that is what will happen?" asked Gold.

"She's a manipulative bitch, but her methods are pretty much predictable. And I'm giving you an edge that she won't have...namely a list of things not to do in order to keep the enforcers, who are called the Vindice, from coming after you. Considering popular opinion is that they're undead, I highly doubt that heart magic would work on them in the first place... that and their Flames don't work like normal ones do, so the odds of magic effecting them like it should are debatable at best. If they can keep several generations of people used to killing for a living into behaving with something close to order, then odds are they can handle Cora. They are strictly neutral and have never taken sides with anyone and I doubt that she could bribe them of anything they'd consider of worth since she has very limited knowledge of this world," said Lal smugly.

Gold looked at her oddly.

"How certain are you that these creatures can't be bought?"

"Let me put it this way, if I had to deal with you pissed off and in the mood to send something nasty after me like a wraith, or them trying to arrest me, I'd rather deal with you," deadpanned Lal without hesitation. "Besides, I've seen them before and I'm fairly certain they've once held the same curse that I have now. If I'm right, then I have the feeling they'll be very interested in learning that there may be a way to remove it permanently."

Henry couldn't help the yawn he let out...the nightmares were really messing with his sleep schedule and he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in over two weeks. He was starting to look like a panda at this rate.

It was a very odd moment when Belle walked into the shop and found her beau talking to Skull about a subject she had never considered.

What made a coward, a coward.

She had known that Rumple was a bit of a coward at heart, something that had always gnawed at him inside since it cost him his son.

So hearing him talk openly about his actions with someone who dressed and acted so outlandishly was a bit of a surprise. Though not as much as the way he seemed to relax around Skull to the point there wasn't even a hint of his usual snark and Dark One persona.

Belle was openly fascinated and the men didn't mind her listening in while drinking tea...Rumple still had her favorite chipped cup.

"So you're the one who talked to Henry about the situation in the Enchanted Forest and how having magic was a good thing."

"Neal is an idiot, but then again he was raised with a peasant's education through no fault of yours and he only ever saw magic used against commoners. The fact he became a thief isn't entirely surprising, in retrospect, but he needs to face the fact that actions have consequences," said Skull dismissively. "I will admit he's gotten a bit better... Emma's at least talking to him about Henry now, though she's still pissed he agreed with August into leaving her instead of offering to help break the stupid curse."

August, or rather Pinocchio had been the one to convince Neal into leaving Emma and turning her in. He had either been unaware or didn't give a damn that they had had a physical relationship and that there might be a chance she was pregnant when she was arrested.

While it had worked out in the long run, there were so many ways it could have gone badly. It was fortunate that magic had a habit of drawing like to like...in this case Lal's desire for companionship beyond a dog had lead to her adopting the grandson of Snow White and the Dark One. Two people Lal had a personal connection with on more than one level, even if it wasn't a good one.

"How is he?"

"He apparently had a run in with your dad and spent a lot of time with Hook and the Lost Boys," said Skull bluntly. He wasn't going to sugar coat it. "That didn't help his dislike of magic, by the way, but at least he's starting to come round about the reason why you were so reluctant to give it up."

Belle paid intense interest now, not that the two cared.

"What exactly happened?" she asked, since it was clear they were tolerating her presence.

Rumple winced. Skull, who had gotten the general story from the book and the rest of the details from Neal (or his side anyway), elaborated so his friend didn't have to.

"The long and short of it was that Gold refused to give up magic and Neal apparently had the bright idea to flee to a world he knew jack about because he didn't like the fact that his dad had become the Dark One. He never once gave two thoughts about why his father did something so risky or why he refused to follow like anyone with common freaking sense would."

Belle looked at him. Skull gave her his undivided attention as he explained why Rumple had been smart about staying in a place he was already familiar with rather than go to a world he knew nothing about like a damn idiot.

"Let's start with the simple parts. Gold has very little if any experience fighting normally, since he fled from a battle that was certain to get him killed and leave his wife a widow and his son without a father. There's also the fact that he injured himself in doing so, though why he hasn't fixed that already considering he has the power to do it I have no idea, which leaves him even more vulnerable without something to defend himself with. The Enchanted Forest from what I've heard was full of a lot of different villains who wouldn't hesitate to use his son as collateral against him unless he was a bigger, badder bastard than they were...like Cora for instance. Now since he was used to relying on his natural ability to use magic to defend himself and his son, how exactly do you think he'd fair in a world where the magical saturation is too low to feasibly use it without leaving him exhausted and vulnerable? Never mind being completely in the dark about the political and world situation with the various possible governments who would want to experiment on him because he's not from their world?"

Belle winced as she thought of the potential implications of that scenario. When he put it like that, staying put where you already knew how things worked was far more sensible, especially considering the time frame.

"Why did he leave then?" asked Belle.

"He was a teenager at the time. Teens do stupid shit without thinking all the time," said Skull dismissively. "Add into his unease regarding magic and the fact his father had suddenly become one of the most dangerous people in the realm, and it's only obvious that he'd look for a way to equalize the situation to something a bit closer to the way things were when he actually felt comfortable around his father."

Skull paused to drink his tea, before continuing.

"The problem is that teenagers rarely think things through, so now he's resentful for the fact that his father clearly used his store of common sense to stay, rather than follow him. If anything I have to give Gold credit for caring about his son so much that he kept looking for him even after so many years have passed without a second thought. I couldn't count the number of dads would have given up entirely or disowned their kid over something as stupid as the idiot becoming a runaway after an argument."

Belle was fascinated, and it had become much easier to view Rumple's behavior with tolerance, rather than disapproval when hearing about the reasoning behind it from a sensible point of view.

And really, she could relate to Skull's comment about Rumple caring about his son so much he kept looking even without any real idea where to find him, when her own father had disowned her for not wanting to marry that fool Gaston and falling for the Dark One instead.

He was still furious about that, and would have sent her over the town lines if one of Regina's friends hadn't heard her scream for help. Fon was odd, but a nice man.