ℜ𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔊𝔬𝔩𝔡 (and the legend of the Dark one)

Chapter 4: Brooms and betrayal

Rose put her hand on her face, annoyed but not surprised at Zelena's confession to the townspeople.
The guard, on the other hand, looked outraged that she would take so much pride in admitting it openly.
"Good, that settles it! You are all guilty!" the guard shouted, causing the crowd to erupt with cheers.

The two guards began to tie Zelena's and Rose's hands and feet to the giant wooden stake so forcefully that Rose's hands began to bleed from the rope burn. For an agonizing 17 minutes, the two women hung there while their captors prepared the rest of the execution ceremony.

While the guards were busy, Zelena started to twist her head so it was facing Rose.
"Girl, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
Rose tried to face the other way. That witch must have really lost her marbles if she thought she was going to answer any questions while waiting for her impending doom.
"Surely you can see it's the wrong time, Zelena."
Zelena seemed to ignore Rose's answer, as if she had suddenly become deaf, and just shouted, "Girl!" again.
Rose surrendered and finally asked Zelena what she wanted to know.

Zelena grinned at Rose's answer and continued, "Tell me, what do you know of your dear mother?"
Zelena's grin turned into something that could rival the Cheshire cat's smile.
Rose paused, and her eyes became large blue orbs.
"I know almost nothing about her. My dad never brings her up. The only thing I know is she died."

Zelena began to laugh hysterically.
"That is just too good. He is so much more pathetic than I thought he was."
Rose tilted her head in confusion.
"Who is pathetic?" she demanded.
"Why, your father, Rumplestiltskin, of course. He went and got that maid pregnant. I mean, I knew he was desperate for love, but I didn't know he was that desperate. No wonder she left him."
Zelena's cackling began to catch the attention of the crowd and caused them to step back in fear.

Rose was stunned. Her mother left her father? And never died? And she was his maid?
"How do you know my mother?" Rose demanded.
"Well, back in the day, I would often use my crystal ball to spy on my... ugh, ugly, untalented excuse for a sister. And one day, while she was parading around Rumple's estate, I noticed a filthy, young girl reading in the corner. This girl showed up more and more the more times I would spy on Rumple separately, and once I noticed him surprise her with her own library in the castle. Wow, he really is sad, isn't he?"
Zelena bit her lip, remembering Rose was Rumplestiltskin's daughter.

"Is my mother alive?" Rose waited intensely for Zelena's response.
"Umm, yes, she is! And I saw her 3 years ago, in fact." Zelena began to examine her nails, uninterested in the conversation.
"What, my mother is alive? Where did you see her?" Rose begged.
"Umm, I don't know. She was a peasant girl, I never keep track of where I see peasants."
Rose glared as if she wanted to choke Zelena.
"Please, I need to know."

Zelena's face seemed to smugly twist into a crooked smile as the guards returned with flaming torches in their hands. Then, in a flash, Zelena grabbed Rose's pouch with the fairy dust, doused herself with it, and threw the remaining dust onto the unreachable floor below. "Sorry, Ronda, but I'm wicked, and wicked works alone. Toodles." Zelena turned into a giant Luna moth and shot faster than a bullet towards the sky before turning back into herself and mounting a curved willow branch, broom into the clouds.

Rose felt paralyzed with betrayal,
but once the realisation of her death hit her, water began to gush from her eyes, still fixed on the sky. There was no way out of this now.
"Looks like your little friend abandoned you, oh well that doesn't mean your blood can't be shed tonight" the Captain of the guards yelled in a voice so loud and gruff, Rose screamed and clinged onto the wood of the stake.

"This is what happens to monsters!" He shouted and dropped the tourch onto the wooden stake. The smoke immediately rose up and coiled around Rose, suffocating her and the mix of her tears and the black mist blocked her from the crowd and guards cheering below. what had she even done wrong? How could they think she deserved this?

The flames soon burnt her legs and clawed their way up her body and all she could do was scream.
Suddenly a singular bright purple lightning bolt zapped onto the stage. and once the plum smoke had cleared an image of rumplestiltskin pierced into the audience's brain, he seemed so furious he had gone a little insane. The crowd let out a mixture of screaming and gasping.

Rumple's eyes seemed to hold the the scorching flames of hell. "Dark one!" one of the guards shuddered.
"That's... right...The dark one! but I don't know why your in the slightest suprised. That's my daughter your cooking!" The crowd froze.
"apologies Rumplestiltskin we...we didn't know." Rumple clenched his fist so hard his claws probably pierced his skin.

"You didn't know? Ah, I see, that makes it alright then!" Rumplestiltskin hastily extinguished the flame consuming his daughter.
"Tell me, do any of you know what burning flesh feels like?" The crowd remained silent. "Here, let me show you." His rage, strengthening his Scottish accent, Rumple conjured a bright yellow blaze in his palm, and within seconds, the town was aflame.

Rose could feel herself slipping away until, suddenly, the world went black, and she passed out.

Rose's eyes gradually opened. There was a stabbing pain emanating from her left leg, the likes of which she had never felt before. It was as if someone had stuck hundreds of nails into every corner of her leg and she remembered the burns she had acquired during the execution. She slowly rose to her uneasy feet. The fire was calmly crackling beside her, and she appeared to be in her father's study.
Instantly, Rumplestiltskin flashed in. He looked so worried and agitated, Rose almost questioned whether this man really was her father.

"What were you thinking?" His demeanor quickly shifted to one of fury and disappointment. Rose looked at her boots, not feeling strong enough to meet his amber eyes.
"I... I just wanted to... to be useful." Rose immediately broke down into tears, and Rumple softened his glare, comfortingly stroking her head before holding his hand over the burns on her leg to magically repair the skin.

"Don't worry, Zelena will be dealt with," Rumplestiltskin bitterly muttered beneath his breath.
"Father, can I ask you something?" Rose cut in, finally deciding to ask the question that had been plaguing her mind since she woke up.
"Yes?"
Rose began to fidget with her hands.
"What happened to my mother?" Rose lifted her head to see how her father had taken the question. He seemed empty and haunted, his amber eyes almost displaying the ghost of a tear.

"I just wanted to know because Zelena told me my mother was... alive." Rumplestiltskin jolted forward at her words, unblinking for an unhealthy amount of time.
"That witch may have escaped her execution, but mark my words, she will burn for this." Rage seemed to consume him at the false hope Zelena had planted in his daughter.
"But... but... what if Zelena was right? What if my mother is-"
"No! Stop it. She died." He repeated this over and over to himself. He had only just gotten over her tragic suicide, which he had caused, and he was not about to get thrown back into a river of denial or false hope.

"Zelena also said you lied... that my mother didn't die, she ran away from you." Rose waited for her father's response, hoping the witch was wrong.
"Alright, she did. She ran away from me because... because I am a monster." He squeezed his eyes shut, they were now wet with tears, and Rose stepped back in shock.
"You lied to me then?"
"No, she did die, but I was too weak to tell you how." Rose turned away in disgust from her father. How could he lie to her about her mother?
"Tell me now, how did she die?" Rose shouted. She needed the answer to this question more than anything.