Gerda counts the rapunzels in her garden again, "One, two, three, ... fifteen." One is definitely missing. Who dares to steal from her? Ursula is all the way under the deep seas, Regina is still cursed in the dancing red shoes, and Rumpelstiltskin is too depressed to do anything at all. Besides, they won't be as tasteless as to steal only one rapunzel. Her garden has other plants that are much more impressive. Unless… it's the humans living next to her...but it can't be… can it?
For all of that day, Gerda watched over her garden on top of the roof in the form of a crow. When evening comes, Gerda notices a furtive figure appears in her rapunzel patch.
"How dare are you!" emerges Gerda as she transforms back into human form again. Black smoke lingers around her as she continues to shout in rage, "A mere human! How dare are you to steal from me!"
The man jumps in shock before his knees give away. "Please spare me," he cries, his body trembles in fear, "M-my wife is pregnant , and s-she saw y-your rapunzels, she said that she can't live another day on this earth without eating it. Please have mercy!"
Gerda's anger dimmers. He has a good reason for his action; but, these rapunzels are special. She infused them with a small amount demonic powers as an experiment to see if they will turn into monster plant minions. Disappointedly, the rapunzels grew to look just like normal rapunzels. She is unsure of the consequence of it being consumed by a human. However, she is very curious about the result, and the human did took it without her consent.
"Very well," replys Gerda after a moment of prolonged silence, "I will spare you in exchange for the baby that you wife is pregnant with. "
"I...but…" stutters the man.
Gerda glares at him, "I will treat her like she is my own and you can have the rest of these rapunzels. Now begone!"
The man looks at Gerda in fear and finally scrambles away with a rapunzel cradled in his arms.
Seven months passed and true to her words, Gerda appears in the couple's house on the night of the child's birth.
"The baby will be named Rapunzel, " says Gerda to the sleeping couple as she takes the baby away.
The next day, all traces of the old witch and the baby girl are gone. The space where her house used to be reduced to a piece of wasteland flourished with wild flowers and weeds overnight. The only evidences for happenstance of the previous events are the lingered pain of childbirth and the neatly stack of baby clothes in the closet.