Falling Through Portals

Rumplestiltskin

Chapter 8-

The boy's head drooped back to the floor and passed out.

The Queen Regina's mouth twisted sourly. It was obvious that he wasn't a peasant. The rich dies of his shirt would have been costly. He looked handsome enough. But more than that he must have possessed magic. She had watched with her own eyes as he fell into her room from nowhere.

She really didn't have time to deal with some bratty magician with teleportation powers. There was enough on her plate as it was. Snow White had slipped through her fingers once again. Exhaling sharply, she decided to call the guards. Store him in the dungeons for a while until she wanted to deal with him.

"Good day, Deary," a slimy and familiar voice spoke from behind her.

The Queen whirled on him with a snarl, "Rumplestiltskin."

He made an amused noise and flourished a hand. He was the Dark One, the most powerful and evil man in the entire world. Clad in leather and his own skin that was discolored and marred revealed the beast he truly was. Who else would be the teacher of the Evil Queen?

"Weeks!" Regina roared as she stomped over to him, "You don't come for weeks! And now you just appear!?"

His grey eyes glistened with amusement that hid his cruelty and madness just below the surface.

"I have been, around," he vaguely fluttered his hands in the air. He looked behind her and his eyes narrowed.

Regina looked back and remembered the boy on the floor. Rumplestiltskin moved quickly over to the boy. Regina looked down her nose at him. What was so special about him?

"Who is it?" He asked, extending a hungry finger towards his body.

"Someone with magic," The Queen replied. As she had expected, Rumplestiltskin became even ore interested in the boy. Even if she didn't know who he was, Regina knew a bargaining chip when she saw one. And when she had the better part of a deal with Rumplestiltskin, she took advantage of it. A smile played on her lips as she snapped her fingers and his body disappeared. Rumplestiltskin reached forwards as if he could have stopped the boy from leaving. He turned on her with irritation. "What is he to you?" the Queen bated slyly. She strutted over to her chaise where she draped herself over it dramatically.

There was a hesitation before he looked back at her, "Nothing."

The queen gaped. He didn't know who the boy was.

"You don't know?!" She asked incredulously. Regina laughed, oh this was amusing! "I thought you were the mighty Dark One? Knower of All and Most powerful in all the realms?"

"You are still ignorant!" he said fiercely.

She pursed her lips but waited for his answer.

"That boy," he pointed to the spot where he had been, and walked towards her menacingly, "is not from this realm. You would know that too, if you had studied harder when I taught you Sensory Magic."

Regina looked away. Sensory magic was all about the feeling other magical creatures emanated. Anyone who had magic bore a similar feeling, but the more powerful or unusual the magician the different feeling they gave off. She hadn't felt anything around the boy.

"But you are right about one thing," he held up a bony finger as he leaned over her, "he is important."

Rumplestiltskin turned away from her and examined the room. His eye caught something. Regina followed his gaze to a bag on the floor.

"What is that?" he asked.

Before she could answer, the bag was in Rumplestiltskin's hand. He rifled through the bag, tossing a strange shoe onto the ground along with an orange shirt with lettering from another language.

"What does it say?" Regina stood from her chair and came over to him.

"I have no idea . . ." Rumplestiltskin said. Regina looked at him in surprise. There were only a handful of times that he had ever said he didn't know, and half of those times he had been lying. But something about the confusion on his face made her think he really had no clue.

There were a pair of trousers made of a strange blue material and some socks. Other than that it was empty. He flung the bag to the ground along with the other items.

"Bring him," he hissed at the Queen.

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Percy touched his right temple and yelped from pain. It was bruised. His head had finally said, enough with the passing out. And he agreed.

He was in a medieval dungeon with proper metal bars and everything. It smelled about as bad as Merlin and Arthur when they tried to rescue him. Percy checked his pocket and thankfully found the two stones and Riptide. His relief didn't last long.

There was a sudden flash of light and Percy yelped as he was plucked from the cell and into the same chamber he had fallen into. He stumbled backwards, all of his senses out of whack as his eyes adjusted to the light.

He looked up to see an ugly looking man next to the same beautiful and scary woman from before. Percy looked around at the huge stone chamber and the balcony behind the two people. Pippin's sword returned to his side despite its disappearance in the dungeon. Percy swallowed. Somehow the weight of the sword was not at all comforting.

"Well, Deary, you have come a long way," said the man, he had a peculiar accent that unsettled Percy. His eyes were not human, they reminded him of some animal. A lion? No, maybe a crocodile. . .

"Who are you?" Percy asked.

The woman crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

The man bowed, "The name is, Rumplestiltskin!" He rolled the "R" dramatically. He looked up at Percy slyly. "Who might you be?"

Percy opened his mouth to tell him when he remembered the dwarf's warning. Everything that the dwarf had told him came pouring back into his mind. Not to tell anyone of his identity, and of course his new destiny to "save the universe." even if this whole thing was a joke the gods put together, Percy knew he needed to lie.

"Aang," Percy replied.

The man's face dropped and his amusement was wiped away.

"You better think very hard on your reply, Deary, because lying won't get you anywhere."

Percy reached down for Pippins sword.

The man laughed, "You think you can kill me with a sword!?"

Percy licked his lips and reached into his pocket. He uncapped Riptide and took a stance confidently towards the immortal.

"I am immortal, boy," Rumplestiltskin laughed, "Your sword will not harm me."

"Actually," Percy smiled, "That is exactly why I think this will work."

There was a second of confusion to pass over Rumplestiltskin's face before Percy lunged forward. Percy sliced down into Rumplestiltskin's arm and let Riptide hit his bone before he pulled it out and got back into a defensive stance.

Rumplestiltskin gasped and cried out. He stumbled back and clutched his arm as blood began pouring from his wound.

"Who are you?!" he demanded. The woman was staring at him in surprise but did nothing.

"Someone you'll regret trying to take advantage of," Percy flung out a hand and felt a surprising amount of magical energy around him. There was a tug in his stomach and the ground beneath the woman and Rumplestiltskin crumbled. The woman shrieked as tendrils of water grabbed their legs and pulled them down.

He could feel water everywhere like the air was supercharged with magic and H2O. Percy had never felt high, but he suspected with the amount of energy and power around him, that was how it felt. High and unstoppable. Percy dashed around the new pool in the room and wasted no time as he climbed on top of the railing on the balcony. He stood there and in a decisive move he let gravity yank him down towards the earth.

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