CHAPTER ELEVEN: INTERROGATION
What if Emma doesn't find Mary Margaret?
Mr. Gold raised his eyebrow at her. "You don't have any faith in our saviour?"
She shook her head. It's not that, but... What if she ends up crossing the border?
"Then let's hope that she doesn't."
Rosalie huffed. Why did he have to be so infuriating?
"Sometimes, it's good just to be patient and wait for everything to fall into place."
She sighed. It almost feels as if he can see the future.
Will you tell me a story? I'm bored.
He sighed and told her to sit back down. She complied and pulled her blanket to her chin with a large grin on her face.
"Shortly before I became the Dark One, Bae and I found young woman outside our house. She had screamed herself silly and ripped her vocal cords. Wasn't very smart, was it?" His voice held a tinge of amusement and she knew he was talking about her. She had seen this in her memories.
"The soldiers came into our town to recruit new members - young boys and men. They were going to take Bae away from me, so I sought out the Dark One." She remember this part from the last time he had told her his story. "After I killed him, I was able to gain his magic and restore her voice. She stayed with me even after Baelfire..." He paused. "Even after Baelfire was ripped from me, so I taught her magic."
Magic? Did she know magic?
She looked at her hands and shook them experimentally. Of course there would be nothing. Not only did magic not exist in Storybrooke, she also had no idea what she was doing.
Was I good at magic?
"Let's just say you were my favourite student."
She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Maybe that's why Mr. Gold was also was kind to her. She wished that she could actually remembered what happened.
"Go sleep, your arraignment is early tomorrow."
She snuggled into her pillow and sighed. At least she had something good to keep her mind off what might happen tomorrow.
"Papa, please stop using magic!" Baelfire had seen the change in his father. Even though the man still tended to stay away from human contact, he was not afraid to show the people who taunted them what he was capable of. Rumpelstiltskin dove deeper and deeper into the darker side of magic and it was scaring Baelfire.
The only good thing that had come from the change was that she had gotten her voice back and little cuts and bruises were easily healed, but even that he was tired of. He just wanted his father to be like he was before. It didn't even matter if he was a coward anymore. A coward was better than what he had become.
"I'm scared," Baelfire told her, one day, while they were out in the woods gathering ingredients for Rumpelstiltskin.
The platinum blonde turned to him. "What's wrong? Do you want to go back home?"
"No!" he quickly exclaimed. "I mean... I'm afraid of the Dark One. It feels as if he's not even papa anymore."
She turned to him. "I know it's a lot to take in, but everything that he had done, he had done it for you. He was deemed a coward because he didn't want to die and leave you. He went in search of the Dark One because he didn't want you to die in the war."
"But I would rather go to war than be a coward!" Baelfire began to run off.
"'Bae!" She quickly took off after him, afraid that he was going to hurt himself. "Bae, stop! Be reasonable!"
Suddenly, her world began to spin and she stumbled against a tree trunk. A burst of pain pulsed through her head. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep her eyes on the boy, but he had already disappeared through the trees.
What was happening to her? She had been in the Enchanted Forest for several months and she hadn't felt this pain since... Since she had been with him. Hadn't the volatile power stabilised? Why was it reacting, again?
Through the haze of pain, she could hear Baelfire calling out to her.
As she fell, she felt a pair of arms catch her.
"Hold on to me, Bae."
The boy immediately obeyed his father as he continued to stare at the girl with wide eyes. "What's wrong with her, papa?"
Rumpelstiltskin quickly teleported them back home and laid her in bed. He hovered his hand above her chest, trying to sense what was wrong with her. "She has magic that doesn't belong to her."
Baelfire stared at him in shock. "B-But... She's never showed any signs that she knew magic."
"Doesn't mean that she doesn't have or know it, Bae."
"Are you going to help her?"
"I can try, Bae, but as you know... All magic comes with a price." He had tried to keep his magic usage to a minimum around his son, but the power was so intoxicating.
Of course, Baelfire knew that. That was why he absolutely hated it. It was what made his father the way he was, but... she was dying and he didn't want her to die. "Please, can you help her?"
Rumpelstiltskin sighed. "I'll see what I can do." He hovered his hand over her heart and began to concentrate. He had no delusions that he'd be able to remove it. The magic was nothing he had felt before and it had completely spread throughout her body. The most he could do was probably to focus it into one spot - somewhere that wouldn't harm her.
Baelfire watched as her hair colour began to change. It started from the root and slowly moving down to the ends. The silvery platinum blonde hair was beginning to bleed gold.
Once it was done, Rumpelstiltskin shuddered and sat down. It had taken more out of him than he thought it would.
They heard a groan coming from the girl and waited to see if she was alright. "Rumpel? Bae?" She blinked blearily at them. "What happened?" She sat up and shook her limps. "I feel... lighter..."
"I managed to keep your magic dormant - all of it." Rumpelstiltskin looked contemplatively at her. "It seems that the magic is neither from this world nor yours."
She nodded her head. "I... obtained it by accident." She twisted the bracelet around her wrist. "It's been killing me since then, but at one point, something was able to stabilise the energy. When I ended up here, it must've disrupted the balance, again. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble."
After a minute, she tried to summon her energy into a ball in her hand, but nothing appeared. She frowned and concentrated harder.
"It seems that the price of containing that magic was to remove all of your control over it," Rumpelstiltskin explained when he noticed that she was trying to use magic.
Baelfire launched himself at her and hugged her tightly. "I'm just glad that you're okay. It doesn't matter if we never have magic, again."
Rosalie was abruptly woken up by Emma who had found Mary Margaret. The brunette couldn't stop apologising to the sheriff, but Emma was only glad that she had found her in time.
Once Mary Margaret was back inside the cell, Emma had bid her goodnight and finally went home.
"Rosalie?" the blonde heard Mary Margaret whisper to her. "Are you awake?"
Rosalie sighed and waved her hand through the bar. She was actually hoping to go back to sleep because if she's awake, she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about what would happen in just a couple of hours.
"I should've listened to you." Mary Margaret started. "I should've known that Regina would do something like this. I just don't understand why she's doing this to me. What have I ever done to her? And what about you? You just arrived in town."
Rosalie clamped her head between her pillow. Mary Margaret was usually a very loveable person, but at the moment, Rosalie just wanted to sleep.
"Rosalie?"
The blonde ignored her.
"Rosalie?"
Eventually, Mary Margaret fell silent and Rosalie was finally able to drift back off to sleep. Unfortunately, the mayor arrived as the clock struck eight.
Regina walked in with a shocked expression on her face and Rosalie was glad that she was awake to see it.
"Madam Mayor." Rosalie could hear the smugness on Mary Margaret's voice as she greeted Regina.
"Good morning," the mayor mumbled back.
Promptly, Mr. Gold entered the room. "Excuse me, but my clients are not having any visitors."
"Of course, not," Regina snarled. Somehow her plan had been foiled.
"I'll see you out." He smiled back at her.
Rosalie and Mary Margaret watched the two power houses leave. Neither of them knew what they talked about, but as the afternoon arrived, Mr. Gold had decided that a pretrial interview may be a good idea. Emma was obviously against it. The interview could leave too many loopholes for error.
"The D.A. merely wishes to ask Ms. Blanchard a few questions," he told her.
"She's done answering questions," Emma argued. "And why are we kissing up to the D.A.? Why aren't we going against Regina? She's the one who's setting them both up. One of them - might I add - is you ward."
For once, Rosalie completely agreed with Emma. Why was he suddenly so complacent with that woman's conditions?
"And what proof do we have of that, Sheriff? Just because you found the mayor's skeleton key in the cells, doesn't mean we can prove she put it there."
"So, what's your plan?" Emma asked him with a frown. She didn't like it when he was right, especially in this case when her friends were being framed for murder.
"I believe our best chance of winning this case is to employ our most valuable asset," Mr. Gold replied with a smirk on his face.
"What's that?" Mary Margaret inquired from her cell. Rosalie had the same question. Was he finally going to bring out some secret weapon?
"Well, that's you, dear. Ms. Blanchard, you are a sweet, kind elementary school teacher and you, dearie." His eyes fixed on Rosalie's confused look. "You are mute and have been well-mannered since you got here, except - of course - for that one day, but there was a diner full of people who witnessed the reconciliation."
"That's how you're going to get her acquitted?" Emma gave him an incredulous look. "By using their personality?"
"Perception is everything, Ms. Swan - not just in the courtroom, but in life," Mr. Gold told her. "As such, I'm sure you can imagine how the jury would perceive them - if they agreed to cooperate with the District Attorney. These things engender trust. It shows the jury she's at least trying."
Even though I haven't technically done anything wrong, the town's perception of me is completely askew. Rosalie knew that Mr. Gold was aware of her reputation. Why would he even think that her personality would help her in court?
Mr. Gold smiled at her. "Do you plan on saying anything wrong?"
She frowned and shook her head.
"Then I don't think you have anything to be worried about, dearie."
Rosalie couldn't understand his logic, at all. Yes, Mary Margaret was an overall very kind teacher, but Rosalie? The town thought of her as a prostitute and she was new in this town. Why would they trust her?
"Believe in me, Rosalie."
She looked into his eyes and nodded. If he was sure, then she shouldn't doubt him. He always kept his promises, didn't he?
Where did she hear that from? She didn't quite recall him saying that to her. Perhaps it was something from the past - in the Enchanted Forest?
"I'm going to do it." Mary Margaret gave him a determined look. "I'm going to talk to the D.A."
"Are you sure?" Emma was worried that whatever Gold planned. Rosalie may be a different story because that man had some sick interest in her, but why would he help Mary Margaret?
Mary Margaret nodded. "Mr. Gold's right. I know I have nothing to hide, but no one else does. I need to let people see me for who I am."
Just as she finished talking, Regina walked in with the D.A.
"Excellent decision," the D.A. told them. "My name is Spencer. I'm the District Attorney. Shall we begin?"
Both the accused nodded. Here goes nothing...
When they entered the interrogation room, Mary Margaret agreed to go first. Rosalie was standing outside with Emma and Regina, peering through the room with worry that should could not suppress.
Rosalie was glad that Mary Margaret seemed composed as she answered to Spencer's questions, but as the interview continued, she could tell that Spencer wasn't playing fair. He didn't allow her to answer the questions completely and he bulldozed through the questions with such conviction that Mary Margaret began to lose her composure. Already, Mr. Gold had attempted to stop the interview, but he knew that he had already lost control of it.
"I don't have anything to hide," Mary Margaret told the D.A.
"Then what is your answer? You wanted Kathryn gone, didn't you?" Rosalie couldn't see his face at this moment, but she could imagine that that was what the Devil would look like.
"No." Mary Margaret was on the verge of screaming.
The blonde prayed that the teacher could use the patience that she had accrued from dealing with young children. From the corner of her eye, she could see Regina already smirking.
"Even after she tried to keep you and David apart?" Spencer urged on. "After she slapped you in public? After she made you a pariah in your own town?"
Mary Margaret stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "Yes, of course I wanted her gone." Rosalie's eyes widened. "She was the only thing keeping us apart. So, yeah, I wanted her gone. Is that what you want to hear?" After the burst of frustration left her, she immediately knew that she had said something wrong. She had as good as confessed to the murder.
Mr. Gold shook his head as the two of them left the room.
"I'm sorry, Emma," Mary Margaret whispered with her head in her hands.
"I guess it's your turn, now, Rosalie," Regina said to the golden blonde with a victorious smirk on her face.
Rosalie clenched her notepad and pen tightly as she took in a few deep breaths. As long as she kept calm, she should be alright. Her advantage was that she had seen what Spencer was like and since she had to write all her answers, he didn't have as much control over what she said.
When she was sitting in the room, Mr. Gold turned to her. "I believe in you, dearie."
She gave him a small smile in return.
Once the camera and tape recorder was turned on, the interrogation started.
"Miss... Rosalie, after the former sheriff - Graham Humbert - was seen at Granny's with Mrs. Nolan, you had slapped her and stormed off. Is that correct?"
Rosalie nodded.
"If you would please write all your answers down."
Yes.
"Afterwards, you spent many days away from society. Were you thinking about how Mrs. Nolan had done you wrong."
Rosalie began to furiously write, but he had already continued on. Perhaps being mute in this situation wasn't as advantageous as she thought. She didn't have enough time to refute all his statements.
"That must've been more than enough time to plot your revenge because you wanted her to hurt as much as you were."
"You don't have to answer that," Mr. Gold immediately said as he glared at Spencer.
Rosalie stayed motionless.
Spencer glared back at Mr. Gold, but moved on to his next attempt. "The shovel was found with your fingerprints. Did you use it to kill her and bury her body while Ms. Blanchard hid the heart?"
No. Rosalie made sure to at least give him that much before he could take away her opportunity to defend herself. The shovel is not mine. I have never seen it and I did not kill Kathryn. She was my friend.
Spencer raised his eyebrow at her. "Fingerprints don't lie, Ms. Rosalie, and it's okay to be angry at Mrs. Nolan. It is understandable, but that anger must've motivated you to take drastic measures, didn't it?"
It was true that fingerprints didn't lie, but she also knew that she had never so much as touched a shovel, so how could it be? Could they have gotten it from something else that she touched? How easily was it to transfer fingerprints? Who would know something like this?
Then it hit her. When she had visited the newspaper company, they had offered her a cup of tea. Since they were working for Regina, the mayor probably knew exactly what she was doing. Rosalie gritted her teeth.
"Perhaps we should end this," Mr. Gold intercepted. The D.A. was using the same strategy as when he was questioning Mary Margaret. He hoped that Rosalie was less impulsive with her replies.
Rosalie took a deep breath before replying. As I've answered before, Kathryn was my friend. I would never do anything to her. We had made up shortly after the spat. She had to give him as little ammo as she could.
"Was that what you wanted everyone to think? She had tarnished your reputation. The event was what led to the town thinking you were a prostitute."
Kathryn was my friend. It was probably best if she gave the same replies.
Spencer narrowed his eyes when he noticed that she was shutting him down. "Even though you had shut everyone else out, you had still visited Ms. Blanchard every single day when she had been imprisoned. Were the two of you planning some made up story?"
No. Mary Margaret is a wonderful woman who has been framed. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to elaborate, but she didn't like how he was still dragging her into this.
"A likely agreement that the two of you must've had. It's unfortunate that things didn't go as planned, isn't it?"
There was no plotting involved and I am done with this interrogation. Rosalie placed the notepad and pen on the table and looked at him stubbornly.
"You were - "
"Enough," Mr. Gold interrupted him. "My client said that she is done with the interview." As he stood up, Rosalie followed him.
Spencer glared at the notepad. It had not gone as planned. She didn't crack the way he had thought she would. No, after seeing Mary Margaret lose it, she must've learned. If only they had gotten them on separate days.
"You did well, dear," Mr. Gold told her while patting her hand. She smiled back at him, more widely than before.
When Rosalie turned to Mary Margaret, the brunette gave her a weak smile. "You did great."
She smiled back at her and enveloped her into a hug. This was the only support she was able to give the poor woman. Whatever Mr. Gold still had planned better happen soon because this had turned out to be a disaster.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey, guys! I have some bad news that may or may not affect this story. My family is on the verge of crumbling and I might not have the time or energy to actually update. If this happens, I apologise and will try to make it up to you guys, as soon as possible. Right now, I'm concentrating on what I think is better for my family. I'm just feeling so emotionally drained and I was so close to just leaving you guys here without an explanation whether there's going to be an update next week, but I thought I'd owe it you to tell you what might be coming.
Next, I'd love to thank my reviewers. You have been absolutely fantastic. I've never had so many reviews for one chapter and I really feel like I'm doing all of you an injustice by giving this news to you, now.
EllieMarieG: One vote for Rumpel
eva. 16: One vote for Hook
Naruhina1519: One vote for Graham and Hook triangle. I'm still unsure what I'm going to do with Belle at this point.
Jordan Lynn 7: One vote for Rumpel. I've opened up the poll to be one vote per chapter.
marie potter riddle: One vote for Rumpel
SakuraFlame10: One vote for Rumpel and Hook triangle.
Kira The Dead Ninja: One vote for Graham and Hook triangle.
BeautifulResurrection: I also prefer nice Regina and I'm also wondering how Season Four is going to turn out. I'd really love for Regina to finally have her happy ending. It's as if the OUAT writers just aren't satisfied unless they see her upset. Yes, you may vote once per chapter. I designed it this way because I thought it'd be more fair for all of you dedicated readers to have more of a say on this story. One vote for Hook coming.
RainyZ: One vote for Hook. All you Rumpel and Belle fans are really making me second guess what I have planned.
Love interest poll:
1.) Graham = 8
2.) Hook = 6
3.) Peter Pan = 3
4.) Rumpel = 14
5.) Peter and Hook = 1
6.) Graham and Hook = 7
7.) Rumpel and Hook = 3
8.) Rumpel and Pan = 1
9.) Other Permanent Triangle? (I've never/rarely seen a story actually end with the main character having both romantic interests. Since it's a fairy tale, I think I have a little more freedom in terms of morals and laws.)
Reminder: One vote per review per chapter
I apologise again for the uncertainty of the future of this story!
Thank you for your patience and I hope to give you a chapter, soon.
Echo
