One day, Violet woke up to the golden rays of the sun peeking just slightly through the dark blue curtains. She opened one eye, slowly, dragging her body, she sat glumly in bed. She rubbed the drowsiness and looked around, getting the sense that she was no longer part of her world full of warmth and a feeling of welcome. Across from her, she noticed that her roommate has left, his bed made, and no trace of him left behind. Violet frowned slightly, as she crawled out of her cozy nest of blankets, and headed for the bathroom.
"I guess work is more important than friendship," she sighed, opening the door that revealed a rather large bathroom. There, in the center of the room, sat a grand bathtub, big enough to fit a king! It had a base of white marble, and gold brimming, even the faucets were gold. Also, there was a shower in a corner with glass walls, and marble stone floorings; lining the walls were beautiful sinks, white marble as well, with matching mirrors. "Damn, it's no wonder Rumpel has great hospitality towards his guests." Violet commented with dripping sarcasm.
After she has done her preparations, she set out just as her stomach growled. 'First, let's find the kitchen because I'm starving!' she nodded. A fragment from last night flashed before her eyes, and she remembered that unfaithful door, revealing that unfaithful man, and how she felt towards him, causing her to shudder in horror. What purpose did Merlin served here, now that she thought about it? However, while being consumed in her own thoughts, her face collided with an oncoming opening door.
Violet did a double take, and found herself staring at a pair of dark, blue eyes. The color of the deepest depths of the ocean, she noted. "Oh, Piper," she muttered, rubbing her sore forehead. He panicked at that little mark on her head, and sought for his flute that were on his legs. But Violet was quicker, therefore she waved her hands dismissively, claiming that she was alright. Nonetheless, Piper pieced together his flute, before wetting his lips, and played.
"Don't tell me you're wandering around again." He chided. She shrugged. He was half-right. Her stomach gurgled again, and patted it slightly, signaling him what exactly what that meant. "The kitchen is down the hall and two doors to the left." He nodded.
"Ah, thanks," she passed him, while thinking out loud. "After that I must seek Rumpelstiltskin and demand answers." The Piper kicked the door shut and side-stepped in front of her, halting her momentarily. "Did I say that out loud?" she asked, mainly to herself, as her face tinged pink.
"I can escort you to him after breakfast," he ignored her little slip, "but you would need to wait because that's when he has his morning bath." He offered, though he regarded her ill expression greatly, yet he empathized with her, as he recalled one morning he heard the witches sending Mr. Stiltskin secret codes, and vice versa. The twosome both shuddered at the mere thought.
"Right, well, lead the way," she grimaced, desperately trying to get that kind of picture out of her head. Violet followed the Piper, though smirking to herself regarding of his tale, but kept it a secret so that would not upset him. The duo marched to the kitchen, yet the moment she stepped through the threshold, she was thrust into another repressed memory. That particular scent went way back to the age of five, where little Violet stared in awe as her mother cooked something nice within a large black cauldron. She has forgotten what her mother's words were, but after tasting the dish, it brought some tears to her eyes, as Violet stood at the door.
Piper watched her with curiosity. A few questions popped in his head, but he knew that it would be rude to just ask her straight up. So, he took a seat at the table, waiting for her head to come back to earth. When she did, he already grabbed an apple from a fruit bowl, breaking the red skin with his teeth, he munched in silence.
Violet smeared away her tears, when she realized that they already cascaded down her cheeks. She smiled sheepishly, and hurried to the counters, figuring what was there to eat. She could whip something up, but it has been awhile since she last touched a kitchen utensil. So instead, she went old-school. Finally, she sat in her place at the table with a bowl of cornflakes with cool, fresh milk. Violet was surprised to even notice a box of cornflakes in the food storage.
He smiled at her, a smile worth saying, 'welcome back' but she might have taken it a different way. After she slurped her last droplets of milk, she wiped herself clean and saw the fruit bowl. It was that moment then that the Piper saw her acting strangely with her hand outstretched, and her eyes staring intently at a banana. He didn't understand the concept, maybe she wanted the fruit, perhaps, and picked it up before handing it to her. What he didn't expect was the look of downcast, she took it and placed it on the table.
"Figures," she sighed. "Knowing that I am utterly powerless, I can't even levitate a piece of fruit." She threw her hands into the air in a dramatic act. The words 'powerless' and 'levitate' perked Piper's ears. He cleaned his mouth thoroughly before setting his flute to his lips.
"The reason you can't perform such tasks like that is because of Rumpelstiltskin's witches, for they have cast a barrier around the castle, encasing it for whoever wishes to use magic, cannot. Unless you have the authorities to do such things are the people that stand with him will grant you permission." The Piper informed. He observed her reactions, as she abruptly stood.
"That devious little snit!" Violet spat. "It's no wonder that I couldn't perform that hex." She grumbled deeply to herself, nibbling on her thumbnail to the point it almost bled. Sensing her caution, he gathered his courage and calmly asked.
"May I ask, what are you?"
Violet stopped destroying her thumb and looked at him slowly. She released a sigh, and sat back down, attempting to soothe her anger. "I'm a sorceress, but…" she couldn't finish her sentence because she figured that if he found out about her origins, he probably would treat her differently.
"But?" he pressed on.
"Nothing, just a sorceress," she shook her head, refusing to let any other information to slip. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously for a moment, hoping to crack open that thick shell of hers to open slightly. However, he trusted her words, for now, he stood up. Violet followed his lead, and they both left the kitchen in silence.
They arrived at the door with a ridiculously large R emblazoning outside of Rumpel's room. It was a little imitating to look at, but Violet felt her legs turning into jelly, and that her mind was blanking out on her. The things that she wanted to ask him, suddenly vanished, and were nowhere to be seen. She reached out for a knock, but her arm didn't move. She then heard Piper sighing, as he knocked instead. He gave a look of assurance for her.
"I have to get going, see you tonight, that is if you're still awake." He nodded, and lightly patted her shoulder before he left for his job. However, Piper was unaware of Violet reaching out for him in silence. She did not want to face Rumpelstiltskin on her own, especially after his 'morning bath'. Still, she mustered up her courage and knocked hastily in hopes that she didn't had to loiter around any longer.
The door opened, revealing a witch, whose features were quite ghastly and that her warts weren't much of help to her appeal. She wore a purple robe that covered mostly of her body, though, she was clutching the opening to her bare chest, desperately hiding herself. Violet received the message instantly, feeling grossed out, she managed to speak out. "Is Rumpelstiltskin available?" She gulped, straining her attention away from the witch's haughtily body. The witch sneered, and abruptly shut the door in her face. "Rude much?"
The door reopened, instead, someone's else voice rang out. "Come in," that belonged rightly to Rumpel's, and so she held in her breath and treaded inside.
That night, Violet plopped onto her bed, having nothing to do during the day, Violet drawled out a long and dramatic groan. "I'm sooooo bored," she sighed. As if on cue, the door opened exposing the Piper, as he walked in. He saw her lounging about, and rolled his eyes. He set knapsack onto the floor, and began to unpack. Violet immediately sat up, thinking long and hard on what she really wanted to know from him. So, she headed over to him, unable to wait.
"Hey," she started, Piper lifted his gaze and nodded, acknowledging her existence. "Um, I have a favor to ask of you." He stopped for a few seconds, and actually looked at her. "What is out there, like, what is happening outside the castle walls?" She stared intently at him, yearning for such information, that if he answered, she might not hold herself for any longer.
Piper glanced to the window, the lucent moon was high at this point, before looking back at her. He pieced together his flute. "Are you sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?" he asked, knowing that sleep might not be with him yet.
"If I wait, you would be gone and the same process would just repeat." She put out bluntly, tossing her hand dismissively. Violet saw him sigh, and a moment of glee pressured inside her.
"Fine, but you will have to wait, I would need to write some things down. I doubt you would like to listen to my flute all night, huh?" Piper grunted, as he pulled himself off his bedside and walked to the little table and sat down.
After a while, just like he promised, there were a set of note cards waiting to be read. Violet took a seat just as Piper began to start. "As you may already know, there is a war outside; a war between Rumpelstiltskin and the resistance…"
"The resistance?!" Violet gasped, irking Piper to stop and glare at her. She smiled sheepishly, and shut her mouth, ushering him to continue.
"It used to be called the 'ogre resistance', however since they have been recruiting non-fairytale beasts, it's now called what it is today." He informed, when he shuffled some papers that had names scripted on them. "Residing in the resistance are none other than the ogres," Violet paused and thought about Shrek, wondering if he will be joining them. "Cookie," he pointed to the name on the table, "She is the resistance's chief. This, here, is Brogan, he is the next in command, and the leader…"
Violet was too busy connecting the dots in her head, yet she was unknown that there were more ogres like Fiona and Shrek. She did not wait for him to finish his sentence, as she uttered the name, "Fiona," Piper paused, and stared in surprise. His eyes were questioning her of how she knew about the ogress name. "I… used to know her," she said slowly. He nodded nonchalantly, and continued.
"There is a group of women that also lives with them. They are known as the Sirens. Their names are Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella." He pointed to the word, 'the Sirens' and underneath it was a tree of three names. Violet took a moment to study the them, after a few minutes, she looked back up.
"What about Rapunzel?" she gulped, afraid of the results. Piper lowered his flute and stared blankly at the table of names. The ambience between them was beginning to suffocate Violet's breathing. Eventually, he answered her.
"She… died in the war," Violet gaped at him, not expecting that kind of response. Though, inside she was relieved that she didn't need to face her if they ever had the chance. But she did take notice of his solemn tone, as if indicating that they had some history between them. "I didn't take her life, no, somebody else did. But that was a long time ago."
She took a brief look at him, thinking whether she should say something in return or not. "Did you guys, had a thing for each other?" she asked cautiously. Violet knew that she might be stepping over a line here, but she couldn't stop herself from speaking her mind.
He responded rather quickly, as if hiding the truth. "We were friends, that was all." The silence was broken, when he said that this was all she'll know, for now.
"Wait, there has to be more than just them, please, you're not telling me everything!" She begged.
"You'll hear about them later, besides, it's getting late." Violet huffed, and crossed her arms, as he got up from his seat and settled into his bed for the night. "By the way," she listened, "What did you talk about with Rumpelstiltskin?" he wondered. Violet let loose of her anger, her hands falling to her sides, and she looked away.
"I'll tell you later, in the morning maybe." She sighed, and snuggled deep in bed. Her thoughts raced back to the conversation she had with the king, the information he told her was pretty shocking, to her at least. He has told her bluntly that she could only use two abilities, one of them was the power to heal, and the other, well, he hinted that she would find out about that later. So, all in all, she was completely stripped of her original magic. Violet sniffed a sob away, as she buried her face in her pillow.