Disclaimer: Disney owns it all.
Author's Note: The following contains content that could be considered sacrilegious. If that makes you uncomfortable, I'd advise not reading any further.
Gothel's back was to Rapunzel when the girl silently stepped into the kitchen. "Mother?" She piped up hesitatingly after a moment, clutching the book she was holding to her chest.
"Yes, my flower?" Gothel responded mildly, not turning around to look at her and instead continuing to focus her attention on the pot of hazelnut soup she was making.
Rapunzel bit down on her lower lip, her gaze darting about the room as she fought with herself whether or not to actually ask the question. When she finally did, it came out in an incomprehensible mumble.
This caused the older woman to roll her blue eyes, curtly remarking, "Rapunzel, really how many times must we talk about the mumbling? Speak up."
"Why are you so afraid of dying?"
Gothel's lithe form immediately stiffened, the hand holding the wooden spoon hovering, frozen in midair a few inches above the pot of boiling soup. "What?"
Rapunzel had been waiting for a response with a baited breath and her heart immediately sunk. This had been a mistake, but there was no going back now. "It's just that," she began after finally releasing her breath, "heaven seems so nice. Everyone's happy, content, nothing bad can happen there…"
"Where on earth did you get that idea?" Gothel demanded, turning around to look at her daughter now, her jaw set, her pretty mouth set in a thin line.
"From in here," Rapunzel responded, hesitating a moment before holding out the book in her hands: a copy of the Bible that had somehow gotten mixed up in the books Gothel had brought back from town. "It was with the other books."
Ice blue eyes narrowed as she reached out to snatch the book out of Rapunzel's hands. "It's all lies, Rapunzel," she said shortly. "There is no such thing as eternal paradise or an afterlife. The life we're living now is the only one we'll ever have. Make no mistake in believing otherwise."
Rapunzel dropped her gaze to the floor, awkwardly shuffling her bare feet. "But the book says-" she began, only to be cut off by Gothel throwing the Bible across the room.
"Do you want me dead?" Gothel demanded cuttingly. "Is that what this is all about? You want to be free of me? Am I really that bad, Rapunzel?"
"No!" She gasped sharply with a vehement shake of her head as she looked up again. "No, Mother, of course not! I never meant to-"
Gothel's tone was flat, broking no argument as she responded, "Then never broach this subject again. Do you understand me?"
The girl sighed inwardly, bowing her head again, and only murmured, "Yes, Mother."
"Good," Gothel said, relaxing a little. "Now go to your room until dinner is ready."
Rapunzel could only nod and wordlessly left the room, feeling utterly defeated.
It wasn't until the girl had disappeared into her bedroom, closing the door behind her, that Gothel crossed the room to pick up the Bible from where she had thrown it. Starting to flip through it, she began to tear out every single page that said anything about heaven or Eden. In the end, the only material left pertaining to the afterlife was related to Hell. A tiny smirk playing on her lips, she moved to place the book back on the shelf before going back to her cooking.