There is an enchanted rose (who was once a man) that sits in a blue, glassware vase on the Dark One's long, cherry wood dining table. This table rests in the great hall of the Dark Castle (and if the sorcerer's tower is the mind of his home, then the hall is most certainly the heart). This particular rose has held its place of honour (humiliation) for fifteen and a half turns of the moon (not very long for a human, but he is no longer quite that any more) and has been present for every conversation (spoken or not), every deal (and dance), every mishap (or fall) that has taken place in the heart of the dark home since that time.
Flowers cannot see or taste or speak, but they can hear and they can feel (and they can listen and they can think). The rose (for he no longer considers himself a man, doesn't know if he'd change back if he had the choice) holds all the secrets that he's gathered in his metamorphosis (his disgrace) close to his core and ponders them when no one is around to be a distraction (a lesson).
In the early days of his unique imprisonment (personal purgatory), he was outraged; he screamed and cursed, believing the imp could hear him, that he would change him back. (How dare the cretin do this to a man of his magnificence?) As the days and weeks passed, as he realized that this form was how he was going to spend the rest of his days, he began to listen as Belle (the woman who was supposed to be his) cleaned and cooked and (stiltedly) conversed with the wretch holding her captive for her peoples' lives. She was (has always been) unafraid of the Spinner and the Spinner seemed to hold no ill will against her, despite his morbid quips and mercurial temper.
As deals come and go (and they each grow more comfortable with the other), the rose has a breakthrough. He realizes Belle (for all her terrible circumstances) is happy, content- not the fake cheery tones and the pretense of submission of before (things he did not know existed then). He has learned that Belle, the girl he was to marry (and did not try to learn a single thing about), is brilliant. The rose did not comprehend in his old life that a woman could be so clever and cunning (smart, yes, but not truly intelligent, not like a man). The imp's preens and gives satisfied noises toward his caregiver's brains (does not sound surprised by it at all).
The rose experiences Belle's curiosity, passion, and love for debate right alongside the Dark One. There are misadventures, accidents, verbal wars (he is amazed by her bravery at fighting the cradle robber after he gets over his terror of the imp's retribution), and magically-enhanced pillow fights and tag (the rose ceased his fear of the Spinner's retaliation when this is how the balance was re-established). There are board games and potion experiments and quietly reading books together and discussions in front if the fire that go long into the night. The longer Belle and the rose are there, the longer the talks become until it is a regular occurrence to hear by the breathing that Belle has fallen asleep at her Master's side whileRumpelstiltskin (for he is not the Dark One during this, closer to man than monster) sits awake, watching her, guarding her sleep from nightmares.
The rose wonders how it is that he sees more as a flower than he ever did as a lord. How a dangerous beast could make a headstrong maid feel more like a princess than a dashing, young lord could make a beautiful noble's daughter experience. The man who was once Gaston would have tried to sweep her off her feet, but the imp is there to catch her when she falls. The rose contemplates (as neither the girl nor the beast change, but instead seem to reflect the best in the other) how a monster could know so much about love.
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There is a rose (who was once a man) that sits in the heart of the Dark One's castle. He has never been revealed to the housekeeper (Keeper of House and Heart) and his enchanter seems to have deleted the rose's existence from memory. He is the Secret Keeper of the castle, gathering information and storing it and keeping it to himself. Many important and powerful people make their way into these foreboding halls and the Keeper has secrets belonging to all of them. To a certain few, this castle is not only a fortress, but a shelter (and he will protect their secrets until the day his petals wilt and his stem rots).
The rose (Secret Keeper) knows that the Hatter considers the Master his friend (no matter how hard or how often he may deny it) and considers the Keeper (Lady) of the House to be the most amazing woman he has ever met and that he hides random items around the hall (and presumably the rest of the castle) when he thinks the Master and his Lady are not looking.
Queen Regina hates to dance, but loves to dance with Belle (wildly and without restraint); her favourite tune is a fast, airy piece and not at all what the masses would assume the Evil Queen enjoys. The Secret Keeper of the most evil (lonely) in the land knows the Queen would turn the day to night or alter the leaves purple or make it rain milk instead of water, if Belle desired it, and eviscerate anyone who made Belle upset and decorate their house with their entrails.
The rose (who once was a man to be wed to a woman) hides away in his memory bank the fact that Belle could not stand to be in her own home the last many years of her childhood, cringes when he remembers that she thinks herself sold to a man she didn't know by her father who didn't care (remembers that he was so keen- eager, even- to buy her) and is so ashamed that he knows she is more loved here by these degenerate (desperate) hearts than she was by her own people (and he saw it, he knows it's true). He will spend the rest of his days harbouring the sacred pieces of those she loves most (who love her most) in repayment for his arrogance (and the limiting, suffocating future she would have led because of it).
The rose (the Keeper of Secrets for a few shattered souls) protects the knowledge of the Dark One's son (hides it deep away so no one can use it against the one who changed his form), keeps to himself that there is an oh-so-sensitive heart locked behind the Master's snark and scaly skin, knows that love is the driving force behind the sorcerer's actions, understands that, if something were to happen to his Lady, the Master of this castle would rip entire worlds to pieces.
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There is a rose (who was once a man) that sits in the heart of the Dark One's castle. If another were to ask if the rose wished revenge on the one who enchanted him, he would answer them with a firm "no" (for how could he wish harm on those who love so, so intensely, feel isolation so, so acutely, and hurt so, so profoundly).
There is a rose (who was once a man) that sits in the heart of the Dark One's castle. If another were to ask the rose if he wanted to be returned to his original form, he would also tell them "no" (for he will take the him he is as a rose over the him he was as a man every time).
There is a rose (who was once a man) that sits in the heart of the Dark One's castle. Over time, he has gone from loathing the creature who made him this way to being one of his staunchest defenders (a silent guardian of the powerful and lost and broken).
There is an enchanted rose (who was once a man) that sits in the heart of the Dark One's castle. He has become the Secret Keeper of the Shattered Ones (and no one will take his duty from him).