Disclaimer: I don't own the Once Upon a Time universe.

Characters: Aurora
Rating: K+
Summary: This is the moment of Aurora's greatest desperation.
Prompt: #028 "Top Five (Characters)" for The Aviary
Word Count: 526

Frayed Edges

Aurora tells Mulan she just needs a minute to herself, to breath. Just one minute. When Mulan acquiesces, she starts to walk away from the village—no, not a village, a refugee camp. She follows an overgrown path to the remnants of the castle.

Carefully, she picks her way through the debris of her home, following a winding and crumbling staircase up the tallest tower. Her parents had kept there once, to protect her from the Sleeping Curse. It's where she met him. If she closes her eyes, she can hear his laugh.

So she closes them, reminds herself why she's doing this.

"Rumpelstiltskin," she whispers. It comes out far too weak and wavering.

Frowning, she takes a deep breath to center herself. Aurora thinks of her parents, regal and commanding. She channels them, straightens her back, and opens her eyes.

She tries again: "Rumpelstiltskin!"

For a long moment, Aurora is quiet. Waiting for the familiar crackle of magic in the air. He will come; he always comes for the desperate.

He'd come to her once. She turned him down. Maybe that's why Rumpelstiltskin won't come this time.

"I'm ready to make that deal," she says. Aurora wasn't desperate enough, then. But she's desperate now. The perfect target for him.

Again, nothing happened. A cold breeze blew through the window, stirring the tattered curtains. Aurora shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, turning in place to look around the room. There was nothing out of place. Everything was exactly as she had left it before the Sleeping Curse had taken hold of her.

"What do you want from me?" she demands. "Just name your price and I will pay it. Anything at all."

Frustrated by the lack of the answer, she tugs at her hair. It's still half pinned up, but it feels torn and tattered. All of her feels torn and tattered.

"Name your price, you bloody coward!" she screams. "My first born, my castle, my heart… I swear, I'll pay it."

Tears prickle at the corner of Aurora's eyes. Frustrated, she wipes them away with one violent motion. She can't afford to be weak, not now. This is something that she absolutely needs to do.

"Come out here! Face me!"

Several unbearably long and silent moments pass. And still there's nothing.

The first few rays of the pale dawn start to stream through the window. Aurora keeps to the shadows for a minute longer. She can't be in the light for this. Can't bring herself to see his face, to see how far she's fallen, how far the world's fallen, since she's been awake.

This is her last shot, then. There were no more chances. "Please," she murmurs. "Just take it, whatever you want. It's yours, Rumpelstiltskin. Give them back their home."

Frowning, she wraps her arms tightly around herself and makes her way back. Tears still clung to the corners of her eyes, but she blinks them back. They need her now. Aurora's not sure what she can do for them. This was her was her only trick and it fell hopelessly short. But she has to try. She's all they have left.