Roni

Chapter Twenty Eight

Not a voice was to be heard in the tiny room on the top floor of the abandoned warehouse. The only noise to resonate is the slow humming of the exhaust fan on the other side of the room. Once the prisoner dropped a bomb on the group, everyone's feet remained glued to the floor with their mouths snapped shut.

"Yes. Yes. Gothel is your mother, well technically I gave birth to you, but she raised you and would love to stake her claim on you. Which is fine by me!" Victoria so casually states without a care in the world to Drizella's feelings...or well...Rapunzel, now.

The young brunette steps around Gothel and strolls confidently up to her wicked birth mother. The moment she is in reach, she lifts her hand and smacks her mother across the face, startling everyone in the room. The harsh skin to skin contact echoes through the small room as Lady Tremaine quickly covers her reddening cheek. The woman's nostrils flare in anger, but she straightens her posture with her nose high in the air. There's just no way she would begin to appear weak now after everything that has occurred.

"How could you?" Rapunzel cries out, but she is determined to hold back her tears, glaring at the woman she thought was her mother. A cruel woman she tried so desperately, every day, to convince she was worthy of her love.

"It was for the best," Victoria simply replies with her emotionless face still held high in smugness.

"Your mother traded you for security," Gothel spits in disgust as her judging eyes roam up and down Victoria's frame.

Rapunzel's eyes never once lose focus from her birth mother, trying to sort out this new information. Victoria takes this opportunity of distraction to wave the wand in the air and successfully transfer Henry's heart out of Gothel's hand and into her own.

Meanwhile, Emma figures this is the perfect opportunity to attempt unfreezing Regina. It is a long shot that she is fully aware of, seeming how powerful everyone claims Gothel to be, but she has to believe that true love will conquer this one. As discreet as she can manage, she waves her hand slowly behind her thigh, focusing all her attention on the love she protects deep within her heart for this woman. Her fingers wiggle the slightest bit as she pleads with her mind to set Regina's body free. She quickly flicks her wrist and peeks over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of Regina winking at her.

Regina, being the control freak that she is, doesn't even move the slightest bit as her body is freed from its invisible locks. The only reason Emma knows her magic worked was by the subtle wink her girlfriend flashed her while those big brown eyes stayed focused on the scene before her.

"Mother, oh I'm sorry, excuse me...Lady Tremaine, please explain to me as to why you traded me!" Rapunzel sternly demands, the fierce glint of hate raging in her eyes.

Emma glances over at Henry to find her son curled up into the fetal position on the long gurney. She wants to run to his side and hold him, like she did so many times before when he was a child and they were trapped inside these situations, but she knows she has to be patient and wait. She can't risk anymore slip ups.

Henry's dark and sleepy eyes are concentrating on hearing the story that Lady Tremaine is about to tell. He truly is an author at heart.

"If you must know," the stepmother huffs in annoyance, taking a step back from Rapunzel's authoritative stance. "Anastasia was two when your father died and I was pregnant with you," her eyes scans over Rapunzel's body like she is a worthless human being, the scum of the Earth. "We were poor living out on the streets with nothing, but the tiny scraps of clothes on our backs. Anastasia and I were starving and there simply wasn't enough food to steal in a day. I found this old woman begging on the streets as well-"