A/N: This is my way of dealing with the fact that Once Upon A Time isn't on air right now and that Hulu has my favorite episode on Hulu Plus, which I'm too cheap to pay for. It's not my best work, but I think it's good enough to post. Reviews make me happy and criticism makes me a better author.

Do we even need to be talking about what Rumpelstiltskin and Belle would be doing right now if I owned Once Upon a Time?

Bringing her to Dark Castle had been a bad idea. It should have been obvious right off the bat; what with how the first thing she did as his caretaker was chip a teacup. She was a creature whose destiny was to bring nothing but bad luck to Dark Castle and Rumpelstiltskin should have known it. But he didn't. She was just a silly young girl after all.

He hadn't planned on falling in love with her either. To him, the idea of loving something else after the loss of his son should have been impossible. But she wormed her way into his heart, inch by inch. It was just so easy, so effortless to fall in love with her, the exact opposite of how it had been with his wife all those years ago. But love was weakness and weakness was not something that Rumpelstiltskin could afford. He needed his powers, though he couldn't say anymore if it was because he needed them to get Bae back or because he was so addicted to the feeling of power that he just couldn't give it up.

So in the end, he lost her the same way he lost everyone else that had ever loved him, or at least claimed to love him, through his own cowardice. She had kissed him, more or less handed her heart to him on a platter, and he shut her out. What did she know of love though? She was just a silly girl, young enough to believe that she could love him. He knew she did love him though, she must or the kiss wouldn't have started working. But she shouldn't love him and it was bad luck that she did fall in love with him.

She left, just like he always should have known she would and with her, she took all of her bad luck. No longer would he be plagued by thoughts of her and distracted by her clever conversation and high, lilting laughter. No more cups would be chipped; no more ladders would be fallen off of, not one more kiss would be freely given to the monster.

He did love her though, as foolish as he knew it was. He loved her and when he found that she was dead, because of him and his association with her, something inside of him died that day. Maybe she should have left all of her bad luck at Dark Castle. Maybe then she would still be alive.