More time passed for the Gold family and with each passing day Rosalinda grew more and more into a confident young child who's smile could make anyone be capture in pure joy. While there were still a few people in the town that worried without Belle, Rosalinda was doomed to become dark like her father and had even let it slip that Blue might have be right in her wish to prevent that, for the most part the town had to admit Rosalinda was having a good effect on her father.
It was clear he was more understanding and easier to deal with when Rosalinda was nearby if only to keep her from seeing the darkness that lurk within him for as long as possible. Rumpelstiltskin even often had Rosalinda with him when he went to collect rent mostly because since Blue had yet to resurface he didn't trust leaving her unguarded and Thanatos could only become a human for short periods of time so leaving her at his manor wasn't an option.
So reluctantly he would walk the streets of Storybrooke either his daughter walking beside him or him gently carrying her in his arms. He had to admit he lost a lot of his intimidation factor but he didn't care. He was fine with that as long as his daughter was safe and sound.
He had just finished collecting the last of the rent for the day and was about to head back towards his shop so he could finish the needed paperwork and bank statement when he noticed Rosalinda was looking towards the graveyard.
"Rosalinda, princess?" asked Rumpelstiltskin.
"Mommy?" asked Rosalinda in a small quiet voice that Rumpelstiltskin could barely hear.
"What is that sweetheart?" asked Rumpelstiltskin moving closer to his young daughter.
"Can we visit mommy?" asked Rosalinda in a slightly bigger voice but still not very loud.
Rumpelstiltskin looked up towards the graveyard and as much as he wanted to give his daughter everything he hadn't been able to bring himself to go visit Belle's grave since her funeral. It was just too painful, and even with having Rosalinda back, he couldn't bring himself to go there.
"No today Princess," began Rumpelstiltskin. "Papa's too tired after collecting rent. Come on."
Rumpelstiltskin turned to head back towards the shop but he barely took two steps before he heard something completely new from his daughter.
"No," exclaimed Rosalinda. "I wanna see mommy."
"Rosalinda Cassidy Gold," lightly scolded Rumpelstiltskin still in shock since before now Rosalinda had never disobeyed him. "I said not today, now come!"
"NO!" exclaimed Rosalinda moving to head over to the graveyard. "I'm going to see mommy!"
Rumpelstiltskin moved over to Rosalinda and gently gripped her shoulders to stop her from moving but he watched as anger filled his daughter's eyes, however he also knew that he couldn't just give in to her otherwise he would never be able to discipline her. He had to remind her who was in charge otherwise she would become like so many kids he saw that had parents that let them do whatever they wanted.
"Young lady, I will not tell you again," stated Rumpelstiltskin. "Now come along, we can visit your mother another day."
However nothing could prepare Rumpelstiltskin for what happened next. He was prepare for her to have a temper tantrum since with both his and Belle's personality mixed in, he knew she was bound to have a bit of a spitfire in her but he didn't expect for her magic to react with it either. Before he could blink, his daughter screamed no and stomped her feet sending a wave of pure magic out of her and causing him to let go of his daughter. Rumpelstiltskin was so unprepared for the magic that he didn't have a chance to even brace himself and thus was sent flying across the street stopping when his back collided with a park car knocking the wind completely from him and rendering him almost unconscious.
Rosalinda watched as her magic sent her father flying and very quickly her anger vanished from her and deep fear and concern filled her small form, especially when her father laid there.
"Papa?" asked Rosalinda her voice small and filled with fear.
Rumpelstiltskin could hear the fear in his daughter's voice but he was still dazed so as much as he wanted to reassure his daughter he was okay, he couldn't bring himself to move or even speak. He watched as Rosalinda stood there and her fear grew bigger and bigger. He then watched as other townspeople began moving to see what had happen and the whisper begin.
Rosalinda stood there and watched as her father didn't move and could hear the whisper all around her and even a few people who didn't fully know that as a dark one Rumpelstiltskin couldn't be killed by normal means wonder if her father was dead and suddenly all those times that Blue had told her that she was bad and dangerous if she didn't do as she was told came back to her.
Rumpelstiltskin could feel his energy returning and just as he was about to push himself onto his feet, he watched as his daughter's magic reacted again clearly without her really understanding what she was doing and before he could stop her, a rainbow of smoke formed around her making her vanish from sight.
Rumpelstiltskin at that moment no longer cared that his body protested against him moving as quickly as he did as he forced himself to stand on his feet and tried to sense where his daughter's magic had willed her away but to his dismay he saw that he still couldn't track her by the normal means.
Suddenly he turned and saw Thanatos running towards him in his horse form, his dark form shining brightly in the low afternoon sun. He moved until he was standing directly in front of him.
"What happened?" asked Thanatos.
"Her magic," stated Rumpelstiltskin as he quickly told him what had happen and how he couldn't track her. "If Blue or someone…"
"Hey, if you can't track her by normal means I highly doubt they will be able to. We'll find her, it'll just take a little longer and I'll see if I can follow our bond. We'll find her."
With that Thanatos reared up before turning and heading to look for the young girl, while Rumpelstiltskin also did the same. Together the two each began to search the town. Thanatos tried to follow the bond but at first it seemed like it wouldn't stay stable long enough for him to get a good hold of it and he could only assume it was because his young charge was so scared and confused. Finally for what seemed like forever he could feel the faint trail of her magic and he began to follow it and found himself in a park and saw Rosalinda sitting on a bench.
Focusing on his magic he sent a small wave of magic to Rumpelstiltskin to let him know he had found her before making his way over to her. Rosalinda looked up as his hoofs made soft noises of his approach and he watched as she slowly moved over to him. Rosalinda put her face into his large form and lightly began to cry and he lowered his head so he could lightly soothe her.
"I killed papa," muttered Rosalinda in-between her tears. "I am bad and evil."
"Oh Rosalinda," began Thanatos. "You didn't kill him."
"I didn't?" asked Rosalinda pulling back a bit so she could look at him more closely.
"No, you just knocked the wind out of him. He's fine and actually is looking for you right now. He's so worried for you."
"But I hurt him," muttered Rosalinda. "I am bad."
"No, Rosalinda," began Thanatos. "You are young and you have a lot of untapped potential in your magic that its reacts without you knowing what you're doing. It doesn't make you evil. It makes you who you are."
"Papa won't want me anymore."
"Oh princess," came Rumpelstiltskin voice from behind them causing Rosalinda to turned and when she saw him she ran towards him and he quickly capture her into his arms holding her tightly against him. "Nothing could ever make me not want you, even if you throw me into a 1000 park cars I would still want you."
Rosalinda curled herself tighter into her father's embrace, who just held his daughter assuring her over and over again that he was fine and that he wasn't mad. He knew he would have to deal with the fact that his daughter's powers were beginning to show more and more. So with that in mind, he carefully picked up his daughter and headed back to his store.
A/N: Alright my readers this will likely be the final chapter where we will see Rosalinda as a young kid, in the next chapter we will be jumping forward in years and the real plot to the story will be starting.