CHAPTER ONE | A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, OR DARK ONE
"Hey, stop!" A middle-aged man yelled, earning the attention from all the other people around him who stopped doing their daily routines and looked at him. "Thief! He stole my Gold!"
The few people around him gasped dramatically and started looking around, their eyes filling with terror when they saw the hooded figure quickly running away from them. A few buff men immediately came in action and started running after the thief.
The thief noticed and started running towards the darker parts of the woods, the part where nobody was allowed to come. It was rumored to have all kinds of dangerous laying around in it. They didn't know what was in there, but every single time somebody went in there, they would not return.
One man stopped running, which caused the other three men to bump into him. Mouth agape, as they stared at the dark woods. None of them went in there, and nobody in the village could blame them. Those woods would make even the most fearless of men frightened.
"What are you doing?" The man who just had been robbed said in anger and stomped over to the four men. His hands were resting on his hips, not bothering to hide his anger. "He stole my gold, get him."
One of the men spoke up, shaking his head as he did so and said, "We are not going in there. You know what they say about these woods."
Another one started to participate in the conversation, "And it was your gold that was stolen, sir. So why don't you do something about it?"
The man shook his head and gulped.
"And besides, the thief is already as good as dead." One of the villagers said to the crowd. There were a couple of hums in agreement before everybody started to mind their own business again.
The robbed man sighed in defeat and started walking back to his house, thinking about how he was going to tell this to his wife.
******
Naomi chuckled as she looked at the large pouch that was in her hand, today was a good day. She managed to grab some eatable berries from the forest, an expensive necklace from some rich woman and now this extremely large pouch full of gold.
Her mischievous smirk widened when she realized that the four men weren't running after her anymore. She slowed down her pace when she arrived at a small clearing in the so called dangerous woods.
A small cottage was seen through the dark trees, her cottage. She pulled down the hood that was covering her face from sight and walked to the cottage. Putting her newfound treasures on the table and hung her cloak on a small coat rack that was placed in the corner.
Naomi ate one of the berries before counting the gold, it was more than expected so, maybe she was finally able to buy a whole bread instead of a small piece of it. She smiled a small smile and placed it back on the wooden table, her attention was caught by the necklace she stole from the lady.
"Hmm," She hummed when she looked at the necklace in her hand. It was most definitely the catch of the day. The necklace was made of real gold, that was for sure. But what caught her eye was the giant sapphire in the middle of it. "Well, aren't you a looker?"
"Nice thing you got there, dearie."
The voice startled Naomi which caused her to almost drop the necklace but she was able to catch it with the other hand before it dropped to the ground, she placed it back on the table and unsheathed her sword from its holder and immediately pointed it towards the creature in front of her.
"I know you," She said and looked at the man with a glare. "You're him, aren't you? The Dark One?"
"Oh, Indeed I am." Rumplestiltskin said and did his infamous hand thingy before he slowly started walking closer to the teenage looking girl, she was no older than seventeen. "And I know who you are, Naomi J-"
Rumple didn't get very far because the girl had him against the wall in seconds. Her sword was pressed against his neck, and he chuckled when he saw that she was already cutting the skin open as he saw a few drops of blood flowing from his neck.
"Do not say that name," She practically growled and pressed the sword against his neck, "That is not my name. That is simply the name of a traitorous bastard."
Rumple would've laughed if he could, she really had no limits. Perfect.
Naomi released the grip on his neck and pushed him against the wall before taking a step back, sheathing her sword again and looked at him before saying, "My name's Naomi. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Very well, then." He said with a devious smile before healing his throat, wincing a bit from the pain which causes Naomi to smirk. Rumple however, frowned a bit when he noticed that the wound took a lot longer to heal. "But you need not to worry, I am simply here to offer you a deal."
"Thanks, but no thanks." She said, her attention away from Rumple and back on the necklace.
"And what would you say if I had information about your father?"
This time, Naomi did drop the necklace.
Luckily, it was on the table so it didn't break into pieces. Her head snapped towards Rumple who was smirking like there was no tomorrow, he knew that that was a sensitive topic for her. And he wanted something from her, she just needed one little push and she'd make the deal with him.
She walked over to him and big steps and stopped when she was right in front of him, saying, "What do you know about my father?"
"Well, I know that he's in town for starters." Rumple said and chuckled evilly. Naomi unsheathed her sword, again. "Now, now, dearie. Put the sword away, no need for violence."
"Tell me more," She said with a determined glint in her eyes, he smirked. He had her where he wanted to have her.
"It doesn't work that way, dearie." He said and looked down at the sword, seeing his own reflection in it. "But, I am willing to offer you a deal. I'll tell you the current location of your father, if-" He continued and looked at the sword once more. "You give me that sword."
"Not going to happen," Naomi said immediately. The sword was the only thing she had from her father, and no matter how much she hated the man. He was still her father. "You're not getting it."
Rumple smirked, he already expected this reaction. He had two ways of dealing with it, threatening or convincing. He wasn't that good at convincing so he started out with threatening.
But then he was confronted with his next problem, how do you threaten someone who has lost all?
His eyes fell on her newly collected treasures and magically teleported himself in front of them, his eyes widening when he saw Naomi teleporting herself as well. He wanted to punch himself when he remembered.
"Of course. How could I forget, you've got the magic from your mother and the treachery from your father." He taunted her, smiling when he saw her anger.
"Look, I am not interested. So if you could leave, that'd be nice." She let out an aggravated sigh and pointed at the door. But Rumple wasn't giving up that soon and decided to move on the his second option; convincing.
"Oh, come on." Rumple smirked and walked up behind her. "Why does that sword matter when you can actually reunite yourself with your father? I'm sure you have loads of questions for him. Like, Why did you abandon me, or why wasn't I good enough? Or why did you trade me for a sh-"
"Enough!" Naomi screamed at him. "I never want to see that man again, he abandoned me when I was twelve, I raised myself since then. I don't need him!"
"Do you, dearie?" Rumple asked her and took one last look at the sword. "Think about my offer, I'll be back before sundown."
"Wait," She said and Rumple smirked in victory. "Let me see it, the deal I mean. T-The contract."
"Yes, yes, sure." He said and made a contract appear in his hand. Naomi grabbed it and looked at him.
"Okay," She said and Rumple felt like the victor however her next statement wiped his smirk of his face. "I'll read the contract and I'll give you my answer by sundown."
"Not exactly what I meant, but fine." Rumple said and walked towards the door. "See you at sundown, dearie."
She mumbled some colorful words before Rumple stepped outside the cottage, his eyes widening when he saw his son, Baelfire sitting on a rock in front of it.
"What are you doing here, Bae? I thought I told you to stay at home." He said to him.
The twelve year old boy stood up and walked towards his father, "I know, father. But I could not help but be curious. Why do you want her sword?"
"Eavesdropping now, are we?" Rumple mumbled and looked at the sun, he'd need to wait at least four hours for her finale answer. "But if you must need to know, that sword is powerful."
"Why?" Baelfire asked.
"Because that sword has the ability to wound any creature, no matter how powerful." He said and felt the wound on his neck, which still wasn't fully healed.
******
This contract declares that if you were to accept, the sword will no longer be your belonging. It will belong to me, Rumplestiltskin, and in return I will give you the information of your father's current whereabouts. If you were to sign this contract, please sign on the line on the bottom.
Naomi sighed, she wanted the information about her father but that sword was her most prized possession, there was no way that she was going to give that up. She looked down at the sword in thought, what if there was a way to have both?
An idea came to mind and she stood up from the wooden chair, she walked to one of the shelves that were hanged upon the wall and grabbed a beautiful red feather and a bit of ink.
And without a second thought, she started writing.
******
"Have you made up your mind, dearie?" Was the first thing Naomi heard from The Dark One as he came walking into her small cottage.
She took a deep breath and nodded before handing him the contract and saying, "You promise to follow this contract?" She asked him.
He rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, yes, now what is your answer?"
"Yes," She whispered softly. "I'll sign the contract."
Rumple laughed excitedly, but you could still hear the mischief in the laugh and grabbed a feather from his jacket. It was already dipped in the ink and he handed it to Naomi.
She took a deep breath and grabbed the feather with shaky hands, Rumple was still holding the contract as she signed it.
"Wonderful, now give me the sword." He said and held his hand out, obviously waiting for the sword.
"No," Naomi said and shook her head. "First, I want the information."
"Fine, he's at some bar called Barry's Tavern but I'd hurry if I were you, he could be leaving as we speak." Rumple told her with an eye roll. "Now, that said. Give me the sword."
Naomi's face, which was full of nerves before, suddenly turned into a dangerous one. She gave Rumple a smirk and looked him straight in the eye, "No. I am not willing to give you the sword."
Rumple started laughing and said, "Very funny. Now give me the sword."
"No," She said again.
A burning anger was fighting its way to the surface and Rumple smashed her against a wall, "No one breaks a deal with me, dearie." He growled in her ear. "Now hand me the sword."
Naomi chuckled evilly and whispered in his ear, "I didn't break the deal." She said. "Look at the contract."
"What?" Rumple mumbled and made the contract appear again.
This contract declares that if you were to accept, the sword will no longer be your belonging. It will belong to me, Rumplestiltskin, and in return I will give you the information of your father's current whereabouts. If you were to sign this contract, please sign on the line on the bottom. However, if you, Naomi, aren't willing to hand over the sword. I will still give you the promised information.
Rumple couldn't believe his eyes, and looked at the bottom of the paper. Naomi's autograph was present, and she was right. She was absolutely right. She didn't break the deal. He was just foolish enough to not notice the small scribbles she added.
For the first time in his newly immortal life, Rumplestiltskin has been tricked.
Tricked by a teenager.
"No, no. This wasn't the deal, dearie." Rumple growled and wrapped his hands over her throat, slowly crushing it. Naomi didn't seem fazed because she teleported herself from his grip.
"It was, you were just foolish." She said and looked at her sword that was still in its holder. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to kick my father's ass. Goodbye, Dark One."
"No, you are not leaving!" He yelled at the girl.
"Try and stop me." She challenged him and opened the front door.
Rumple was panicking, he was the almighty Dark One. If word got out that he had been tricked by a seventeen year old girl, people were going to think that he had lost his touch. They were going to try and trick him as well. He couldn't let that happen.
He started looking for things in his pocket to stop her and froze when he felt it, a magic bean. One that can help you travel between realms. This was one of the last beans left. Was he really going to use it for revenge?
The answer was yes; yes he was.
"Oh, I will." He spoke loudly and threw the magic bean at her feet. Smirking, when he saw her widening eyes. A giant portal appeared and Naomi fell down, but somehow managed to grab her front door that was still open.
Her loud screams were heard by Baelfire, who once again followed his father to the cottage. He stood up from the same rock he previously sat on and ran towards the cottage, managing to stop just before he was send away with the portal as well.
Naomi tried everything in her power to not disappear through the portal, she looked at Baelfire with pleading eyes but he was in such a shock that he couldn't move. And then, her worst fear came true.
Her hand slipped.
Baelfire finally came to his senses but realized that it was too late when he saw the portal close, he looked at his father and said, "Father, what did you do?"
Rumple glared at the ground, which was previously the large portal, and said. "I send her to the place that her bastard of a father feared the most."
Baelfire was getting scared by the evil smirk that was present on his father's face and asked in a whisper, "A-And what's that?"
"Neverland,"