Work Text:
Der Erlkönig
Summary: When the spinner falls, the Erlking rises. And nothing will stand in the way of his quest to find and reclaim his son. But is the spinner truly gone for good?
Prompt: @Anonymous: Rumpel becomes an Erlking after losing Bae, he goes around stealing (searching) for Bae, until he finds a brown haired, blue eyed woman who is taking care of his son, even though she can barely afford to feed herself?, @Anonymous: Erlking!Gold Belle is super sick, and her father is desperately trying to bring her to the nearest doctor, going through the forest to save time. Belle sees Gold, tries not to be swayed by his honeyed words and hold out for her fathers sake- even telling her father who she sees, but is brushed off. What then?
Erlking. Elfking. Child stealer. Goblin. Monster. Shadow. Demon.
Many names. Many stories.
One origin.
Once, Rumpelstiltskin had been a man; a useless, cowardly little creature that cringed in the shadows and boot prints of others, fearful of all but the air that he breathed. The only thing that made his life worth living was his son, the light of his life. Baelfire.
And then, thanks to his own cowardice, he lost his boy. Not even ten years old, and he lost him.
With nothing to keep him grounded he fell to the monsters in the shadows, the same sort of beasts that had claimed his father’s soul. That his father had given his soul to. They were glad to take another of his bloodline.
Rumpelstiltskin fell - body, heart, and soul twisted and mangled beyond recognition.
The Erlking rose. Born of death, darkness, and yearning, he constantly craved something he could not find, but always sought.
Children were his primary target, forever and always. The shadows whispered to him to take, to kill, and to bind them in pain and death. To steal the breath and soul from each tiny body
However, for all that the spinner had been weak, he would never harm a child and that was one of few things that stuck with the Erlking.
He never stopped looking for his boy, searching the lost boys and unwanted children of the world. Homeless urchins vanished into the night. Abused servant and slave lads disappeared without a trace. Abandoned orphans vanished from the alleys and ditches where they’d been left for dead.
They slept when he took them and awoke on the steps of churches, orphanages, and shelters without ever seeing his face. Some of them remembered a shadowy cloaked figure and honeyed words tempting them away, or a soothing voice coaxing them into dreamless sleep.
It was a never-ending task. There were more unwanted and orphaned children than there were hours in the night, which was the Erlking’s time to hunt.
Occasionally, he toyed with adults that happened to wander into his path. Unlucky souls that were lost so thoroughly that they stumbled into his domain. The restraint he showed with the children was not reflected in his treatment of adults. If they fell for his coaxing words and followed him into the shadows, they never came out.
It was the ones who ignored his tricks and fled that spread tales of his existence, though few adults truly believed. Every now and then he followed them unseen and watched as they were rebuffed by their fellows. Sometimes, the Erlking found some amusement in watching them, other times it was an unwanted interruption.
However, the adults were never his target, just happenstance and an outlet for his frustration. Because, as a month turned into two months, then six, then a year, the Erlking’s frustration grew and the emptiness inside of him demanded to be filled. He never considered harming his young targets, but adults were a different matter – he started to seek them out, to play with them like a spider with a fly.
More of them escaped, but the stories about him grew darker and nastier. Fear spread – townspeople began to avoid the forest after dark, especially on full moons and at the witching hour. He prowled like a predator, endlessly searching.
Until, one night, two desperate souls entered his forest. An older man and his adult daughter perched precariously in a rickety cart being pulled by an old horse. They had the air of former nobility fallen on hard times – well-made clothes grown ragged from ill use, newly-bought possessions that were obviously second (or third or fourth) hand, and enough pride and hard-headedness to keep them from listening to their neighbors about the danger of their trek.
The Erlking followed them, silently at first, watching the rickety cart bump and rattle down the old road and the nag pulling it slow down more and more. Then he began to whisper… quiet chuckles and indecipherable sighs that would raise the hair on any human’s head…but easily blend in with the whispering wind.
Many humans waved the warning sign away as paranoia, to their sore regret. The man was one of them. The woman, to the Erlking’s surprise, was not.
She was huddled in the back of the cart behind the man in the driver’s seat, hunched over on herself, but at the first trace of his voice, her head snapped up. Her bright blue eyes were bloodshot and her face was pale. A harsh rattle echoed in her throat.
Perhaps these two had a good reason for trespassing in his domain.
Not that it mattered.
“Come to me, let me show you…” He hissed, the tones becoming sweet when carried by the breeze.
The woman shuddered and her eyes widened. Not the response he was expecting. This target was special.
Fascinated, he glided forward, keeping pace with their bouncing cart. Just another shadow amongst the trees.
“I can show you that which is hidden, that which you desire…”
For a moment, her eyes clouded over and it looked like she would fall to his spell, but she shook her head rapidly and escaped his clutches.
“Papa, go faster.” She whispered, frightened gaze darting around the trail – empty, as far as she could see despite her screaming instincts.
“Hush, Belle. Rest.” The older man dismissed her over his shoulder. “We’ll be in the next town by dawn. They’ll have medicine for you.”
“We should have waited. This is dangerous.”
He scoffed. “The peasants don’t know what they’re talking about, Belle. The elf king isn’t real.”
The Erlking growled, a low sound that echoed amongst the trees. Wildlife went silent and the horse stopped dead in its tracks.
“Papa, please turn around. Just be safe. For my sake?”
“I know what I’m doing, my girl.” He scowled at the horse, still not bothering to turn around. When a slap of the reins failed to get it going, he snapped out with a crop. With a pained whinny, they were back on their way at a lively trot.
But now the Erlking was not wasting time or having fun – he did not like the man at all.
He strengthened his calls, so that they reached the girl’s ears in full.
“Come to me. Take my hand. I can show you that which is hidden.”
“Papa-!”
“Belle, enough!” He finally snapped.
The Erlking stepped closer, out of the fog, so that the girl could see a shadowy figure on the road behind them which seemed to glide steadily closer, no matter that they had a horse and he was on foot. Blue eyes widened in terror when he reached the back of the cart…and still somehow remained in shadow. Even when he stretched out a hand, all she could see was the movement of his cloak.
“Papa, I can see him!”
“Belle, that is enough!” The man suddenly roared, and in the moment that the girl’s eyes slid away, the Erlking stepped onto the cart, mere feet away from here.
“Come to me.” Though she could not see it, a malicious smirk cut his face. “I will take care of you. I will show you things no human has seen.”
“If you had not given that brat your coat, none of this would have happened!”
To the Erlking’s shock, his target’s ire overwhelmed her fear for a brief moment and she actually glared hotly at her father’s back.
“Baelfire is not a brat, Papa, he’s a child! And he needed it more than I did!”
Baelfire.
The Erlking froze, hand still outstretched to steal away her life.
She’d said Baelfire.
His son.
Moment of rebellion over, the woman’s fear overwhelmed her again and her gaze snapped back to the fell creature at her feet.
He let out a single shuddering breathe, nearly a whimper, and the shadows fell from his body, completely slipping from his control. His true form was revealed – scales, fangs, glowing eyes and all – but for just a moment it blinked away and the image of the spinner he’d once been stood in front of the girl.
His mouth formed a word, though no sound escaped.
“Bae?”
Belle blinked, fear falling away even as his scales melted back into place and the shadows raced to reclaim their creature, pulling him off the cart and back to the road, swiftly vanishing in the distance as the cart sped onwards. She’d seen him, the real him, and she recognized the word he’d mouthed. Those brown eyes were familiar, though she'd seen them in a different face.
Mimicking his actions and hoping he could still see her, she stretched out her hand and said softly:
“Come to me. Let me show you.”
“What was that?” Her father’s voice snapped, but Belle did not respond. Her gaze was fixed on the glowing golden eyes of the Erlking…and she smiled as she realized he was following them.
The Erlking – or was it Rumpelstiltskin? – kept his distance from the cart, but never lost sight of it. He followed through the night until the humans reached the next village, and stole up next to it silently as the man bustled into an inn – it seemed, despite their foolish and perilous hurry, they could not get in to see the apothecary at this hour.
“Hello?” The girl whispered. She was still shaky and pale, but not quite bad enough to warrant such an endeavor.
The Erlking appeared at the end of the cart in a swirl of shadows, glowing eyes undisguised for once as he stared at her.
“Are you…him?” Her quiet whisper just barely reached his ears and he cocked his head, waiting with some malevolent glee for her to continue – Erlking, monster, goblin…what stories had she heard?
“Are you Bae’s father? Rustl…um…Rumpelt…Ruttle…”
“Rumpelstiltskin.” He corrected, stunned that she had seen the man rather than the monster. That she knew of the man at all.
Though the Erlking did not realize it, his form flickered for a moment, revealing the spinner that he’d been before sliding back into shadow.
Belle nodded once in affirmation and jumped out of the cart, swaying on her feet. She wheezed, but set off gamely away from the inn. When the fae creature did not immediately follow her, she frowned.
“Well, come on. He’ll want to see you – he misses you horribly. I hope you have a good reason for leaving him.”
The Erlking – or perhaps not quite, at the moment – was at her side in an instant and talking more than he had since he’d been human.
“Bae is here? Where? Is he alright?”
“He’s fine.” Belle reassured him as she caught her breath. “Just…give me a moment…”
With a bitten off, impatient sound, the man at her side waved his hand and air whooshed easily into her lungs, so fast that she actually choked and coughed at the shock of being able to breathe again. Healthy color returned to her face at an unnaturally rapid pace and in seconds, she was standing on the street corner as hale and hearty as she’d been as a noblewoman.
“Did you do-?”
“Well?” He snapped. “Now can you show me?”
“…This way.”
She marveled at her health as she led him through the dark streets, barely noticing the dangerous creature at her back. If she had been frightened, perhaps she would have thought better than to stop short of their goal.
“You need to look human.”
“What?”
“You’ll scare him like that. You need to look like you.”
“This is me.” He growled, but her words hit home and after a moment, his eyes slid away and his form wavered, turning back into a man.
“Good.” She murmured in quiet approval, favoring him with a small smile. “He’ll be happy to see you, Rumpelstiltskin.”
“I lost him…”
“And now you’ve found him.” She turned to call through a smudged window, rapping on the glass with one fist. “Baelfire?”
A scuffle and a quiet *chink* sounded before the Erlking could process her words and suddenly a familiar shock of brown hair popped into view through the window.
“Belle! Hi! What are you-? Papa?!”
“Bae?” He choked out, feeling emotions clog his throat. The shadows fled under the strength of the love that roared through him. “My boy? Is that you?”
“Papa!” Baelfire squirmed out of the window and threw himself into his father’s arms, clutching him like he’d never let go. The former spinner let out a strangled sob and leaned down to hug his son as close to him as he could. “Where did you go? Mama tried to take me but I got away and I couldn’t find you!”
“Oh my boy, my boy!”
Without thinking, Rumpelstiltskin kissed his son on the forehead…and the shadows haunting his soul evaporated like smoke.
True Love was the strongest magic in the realms and not even the Erlking could withstand its might.
Rumpelstiltskin’s tearful eyes came up to find Belle standing awkwardly next to them, smiling widely but also obviously uncomfortable to be privy to such a personal moment.
“Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure. I was glad to help Bae find his father.”
“I owe you a great debt.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay…”
“No, I insist.
“I-.”
“You found him, Belle?” Bae piped up.
“I rather think he found me.” She chuckled and Bae grinned.
Without releasing his father, he reached over and wrapped one arm around her, pulling her into their hug to the surprise of both adults.
“Thanks, Belle!”
She stared into the eyes of the former Erlking from mere inches away. Their brown depths still sparkled with some fae fire, but it was no longer dark – it was as light as the love he felt for his son.