FIRST FIVE ASKS GET A KISS || ACCEPTING !!
“And here we are--exactly where I said we would be.” Gold’s hands are out and at shoulder height, palms towards Cinderella and her lover, but not in a show of peace. He stalks towards them in slow, measured strides, the strut of a man who’s won and knows he has.
Christopher moves to protect his love-- o f c o u r s e he does--and Gold stops with a condescending smile twisting his thin lips upwards. “Is that any way to treat the man who found you your happy ending?”
A flick of the wrist--and Christopher goes flying back, slamming into the wall with a heart-wrenching thud.
She watches him fly.And then she watches H I M approach.
But the Dark One does...nothing.Well, that’s not quite true. The Dark One flexes his fingers and Cinderella feels her bones turn to stone, her arms and legs cement, stuck in place like a statue. It’s not literal, but it does stop her. (Not her quick breathing, not her erratically beating heart, but what defense she would have mustered against him she no longer can.) The Dark One lays a surprisingly gentle palm over her stomach and apart from the knots it ties itself in, nothing happens. And then the Dark One smirks, as if to himself, and leans forward. He leaves a kiss on her cheek.
It burns its way into her soul like poison, to have him touch her this way.
“Congratulations, dearie. And right on schedule, too.”
Gold draws away then with his sickening smirk and for the briefest moment, frozen and afraid, Cinderella watches the dangerous spark of magic behind his eyes, the only hint left of the monster he was beneath his calm facade.
“I’ll see you again in nine months. Try not to upset the expectant mother.”
It doesn’t matter when he disappears in a puff of smoke, when Cinderella can move her limbs again and goes to cradle her flat stomach in shock, when she feels Christopher’s hand on her back.Her world has already been shattered.