12 days. It had been 12 days since Rumpelstiltskin had woken up and found Belle gone from their bed. 12 days since a locator spell had shown that his son was also missing from Lawrence. And he had so nearly torn apart the Dark Castle in a rage, in fact there were rooms now sealed away to hide the destruction he had brought down on the furniture. It was only the knowledge that many others were also missing, and the belief many seemed to have that this was the actions of the Seal and thus would end soon, that had calmed him enough to focus on those still in Lawrence. Namely his grandson, and Henry's mother and sister, who were, in their way, also family to Rumpelstiltskin.
But when the television had started showing those images, he had so very nearly lost his mind all over again. For hours he sat, grimly staring at the screen, flipping between the two channels. Belle, trapped in Neverland, with that demon. Bae, tormented by horrors in a place designed so very much to kill.
He would destroy everything that had hurt his family. He would summon every ounce of Dark Magic he possessed, take on heaven and hell, and make the world burn if he had to, if that was what it took, he would...
Apparently he would be tapped on the knee by a toddler.
Had anyone else touched him, he would have reacted with fury, darkness. But that little voice, and those big eyes looking up at him. The Dark One found himself melting a little bit.
"Quite alright," his tone was quiet as he directed his response to Emma as she approached, and he bent down, helping Aislinn up onto his lap, since she seemed so determined to capture his attention so utterly. Though he did hesitate. The images on the screen were not suitable for a child, and yet he could not quite bring himself to be the one to turn them off.
"Is there anything I can get for you?" It didn't hurt to be polite, or so he suspected.