Quasimodo swung from tree to tree with Rose holding on to him for dear life. The town now knew she was the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One. They thought she was a witch. They thought she was evil. They wanted to kill her. He wouldn't let that happen. She had been kind to him. She treated him as a person. She wasn't afraid of him or his master. She stood up to Frollo. Quasimodo could never muster up the courage to do so. Once they were far enough, he climbed higher up a large tree and rested. Moments later, he saw the townspeople run right under them and kept going. Quasi sighed in relief. They didn't see them. He tried to take Rose from his back, but she clung tightly to him.
"It's okay. They're gone. You're safe." She loosened her grip enough for him to remove her from his back and set her on a sturdy branch. She held on to the trunk of the tree to make sure she didn't fall. Quasi could see that she was still shaken up and frightened and she had every right to be. He decided to try and take her mind off of things. There were now so many questions he wanted to ask her. He started with the big one. "So, you're the Dark One's daughter?"
"Yeah." He could see she was still a bit distant, so he pushed on.
"Does that mean he's married? Is your mother his wife?"
"No. It's...a long story." He gave her a gentle smile.
"Well, we have plenty of time. Why don't you tell me?" She returned a smile.
"It all started when I was a baby..."
Rumple and Belle were back at the Dark Castle. Rumple transported them there by magic and wasted no time. The second he was there, he went straight to his tower. Belle followed him. She knew he was angry with her. It was her idea to bring Rose to the fair. He was against it from the beginning and she pushed him. Now, his daughter was being hunted down by the townspeople. When he reached his tower, he immediately started to rummage through his cabinets and drawers in search of something important. As Belle entered the tower, she saw him tearing the place apart.
"Rumple? Rumple, what are you doing?!" He ignored her and continued to search. Before Belle could ask again, he found the item he was searching for. It was a small vial with a clear liquid inside. He then headed out of the tower and down the stairs. Belle hurriedly followed him. "What is that?"
"A locator potion." She followed him to the Great Hall. He waved his hand and Rose's blanket appeared on the table.
"You can find Rose."
"Yes! That is what a locator potion is for, dearie!" She would usually be irritated by him snapping at her, but this time she let it go. His daughter was missing and he was in a panic. She was out there being chased by angry townspeople. She was probably scared out of her mind.
"How does it work?" He uncorked the vial.
"I pour it on something of hers and it will lead me to her." He dumped the contents of the bottle on the rose blanket. It glowed and started to float up. It floated towards the door. He started to follow it, with Belle right behind him. He turned and stopped her. "Oh no, no, dearie. You're staying here."
"What? I want to help find her."
"I believe you've done enough for today. You will stay here while I find my daughter."
"Our daughter, Rumple. We are both her parents and we are both to love and protect her! And I want to help find her and bring her home!"
"Had we never left in the first place, we wouldn't be in this predicament, now would we? I kept her here in secret so this wouldn't happen! I did that for her protection! Soon, the entire realm will know of her existence and she will now forever be in danger because she is my daughter!"
"I didn't know she would blurt out to entire town she was your daughter! No one could have seen that coming! And I won't apologize for trying to be a good mother!"
"Well, perhaps you need to try harder, dearie, because you're shaping up to be a pretty bad one!" She gasped and her eyes widened in shock. He was too angry to notice the hurt in her eyes. He turned and continued to follow Rose's blanket. She heard the door open and slam close. She didn't move from her spot. He called her a bad mother. She could admit she wasn't the best mother in the world. She barely knew anything about being a mother. She was learning from taking care of Rose. She would never think of herself as a bad mother and she knew Rose wouldn't either. Why would he say such a hurtful thing? Even his anger and worry wasn't an excuse. She wouldn't let him get away with that one.
"...and that's when we came to the fair." Rose had told Quasimodo her whole life story, or at least what she knew of it. She told him about everything from her life with Rumple to Belle becoming her mother to the situation with her birth mother. He listened intently and hung onto every word. He still couldn't understand it. He had always heard stories of the Dark One. He was a ruthless deal maker, an evil sorcerer, a heartless imp. How could someone like that raise a child like Rose? Even though she wasn't his biological daughter, he still raised her and taught her and took care of her. Perhaps he was never the Dark One around her. He was who she saw him as; her father. He was the man that loved her and protected her. He was the man that cared for her and did anything for her. He was all she had.
"Wow. That's amazing. I never would've guessed that the Dark One would be that kind of father. I never would've guessed he was a father. And he's kept you locked away in that castle your whole life?" She nodded.
"Yeah. He said he was protecting me. I know from what now."
"Yeah. And since you have magic, that was even more of a reason to keep you hidden, huh?" Rose looked at her hands.
"I didn't know I had magic. I see Papa use it, but I never could." Quasi was confused.
"So, you've never used magic before today?" She shook her head.
"No." He looked to her locket.
"What about your locket? It was glowing when you healed me." Rose looked at her locket and lifted the pink heart in her hand.
"Papa gave it to me today. I was my present."
"Well, it must have magic in it." Rose thought for a moment, then gasped.
"It does! Papa said it had True Love in it! He said if I love, the magic will be strong!"
"So, as long as you love someone, you'll have magic?"
"I don't know. I can ask Papa when I go home." She looked below her, then back to Quasi. "When can I go home?"
"Well, I think the townspeople are gone. We can head down now and I can take you home. We'll have to be careful in case anyone finds us." He picked her up and placed her on his back again. She held on to him by his neck. He carefully made his way down the tree. Halfway down, he took one last look to make sure no one was around. When he was sure the coast was clear, he climbed the rest of the way down. When they reached the ground, he picked Rose up and placed her on the ground. Since they didn't know exactly where to go, they headed back the way they came towards the fair. Rose took Quasi's hand in her own as they walked. He looked down at her and she smiled at him.
"I like holding hands. I always hold Papa's hand when I walk with him." He simply nodded, not knowing how else to respond. As they continued to walk, Rose kept up conversation with questions for him. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"What's your story? I told you mine. What's yours?" Quasi hated recalling his past. It was just a reminder of how bad his life was. And he knew his future wouldn't me any better.
"I...uh...My story isn't as happy as yours. Mine is a bit...darker. I don't think you want to know about it."
"Yeah I do. Tell me, but just leave out the bad parts." He scoffed at her.
"All of it is the bad part. I just...I can't tell you." Her face slightly fell. She imagined his life was a very sad one. She felt there was a lot of pain and sorrow.
"Well, can I tell you our story?" His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Our story?"
"Yeah. Our story." He couldn't understand what she meant or how she was going to tell his story when she knew nothing of him. He was curious.
"Okay. Tell me our story."
"Once upon a time, there was a princess and a pleasant..."
"You mean a peasant?"
"Sure. The princess's papa was a king that everyone thought was evil and mean. The princess knew the king was really nice and loved her a lot. The king wanted to protect the princess, so he kept her in the castle and never let her leave. No one knew there was a princess and he wanted it that way. The princess was happy, but she didn't have any friends. The king didn't let her leave, so she never made one."
"Oh. That's sad."
"Shh! I'm telling a story!" He chuckled.
"I'm sorry. Go on."
"Thank you. Now, the pleasant. He wasn't like other people because he was different. He looked different and people called him a scary monster. He had a papa that everyone thought was nice, but was really mean. He hurt the pleasant a lot. The pleasant didn't have any friends because people were scared of him. All he ever wanted was a friend."
"Yeah. A friend would be nice." She glared up at him. He couldn't help but chuckle at her sour expression. "I'm sorry for the interruption, your highness. Please continue."
"Where was I? Oh, yeah. So, one day, the king took the princess to a fair for her birthday. She was happy to get to leave the castle. The pleasant didn't like the fair because he was in the fair. People came to make fun of him and call him mean names. He was in his tent when the princess came in. He was scared she would be mean to him too, but she was nice to him. And she knew he was nice too. Before the pleasant got to know her name, his mean papa came him and made her leave. The man hurt the pleasant really bad. Then, the pleasant went on stage and people made fun of him again." He stopped her again.
"I think I know the rest of this. Can I tell it?" She smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. What happened next?"
"The princess didn't like that people were being mean to the peasant and she knew she had to stop it. She went up on the stage and made it stop. When the peasant's papa tried to stop her, she stood up to him. In the process, she accidentally revealed that she was the mean king's daughter. Enraged, the people wanted to kill her. The peasant helped the princess escape the angry village and they got really far away. While the peasant took the princess back home, they both realized that they had finally made a friend. Though they were a very unlikely pair, they still excepted each other and made each other happy." Rose smiled up at him.
"And they lived happily ever after. The end."
"I think that is the best story I've ever heard."
"Me too." Quasi suddenly stopped when he heard a faint noise in the distance. It sounded like footsteps. They were coming closer to them.
"Someone's coming." She tensed up and squeezed his hand.
"What do we do?" He noticed some large bushes near them.
"Come. We'll hide here." He brought her over to the bushes and they hid behind them. They heard the footsteps approach even closer to them. They stayed as quiet as they could. They suddenly saw a shadow approach them and was puzzled by it. The shadow didn't appear to be human nor animal. As it got closer, it appeared to be a blanket. There a figure followed the floating blanket. They didn't make any sudden moves. The blanket then started to approach them. They kept their heads down. The blanket was then hovering above Rose's head. She looked up and recognized the design that she had seen since she was a baby.
"Hey. That's my blanket."
"Rose?" She knew that voice anywhere. She looked through the bush and saw the familiar green-gold skin and scruffy hair. She jumped from behind the bush and ran to the man.
"Papa!" Rumple picked up and hugged his small daughter.
"Rose! My darling flower! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She pulled away from the hug and looked into his large reptilian eyes that she had grown accustom to.
"I'm okay, Papa. Quasi helped me." Quasi emerged from behind the bush with Rose's blanket in his hand. Despite what Rose had told him about Rumple, he was still the Dark One and meant to be feared. Rumple could practically feel his fear. His expression softened.
"Many thanks, hunchback. You saved my daughter's life."
"Of course. She helped me. It's only right that I return the favor." He handed Rose her blanket and she took it.
"Thank you, Quasi." He smiled at her.
"I should be thanking you. Without you, I would probably be stuck with Frollo at the fair." Rumple would've been more than happy to inform him that the cleric was dead, but he didn't want to speak of it in front of Rose.
"What will you do now, hunchback? Surely you won't return to the fair."
"Of course not. I...I'm not sure what to do. That fair is all I've ever known." Rumple felt a tinge of pity for the man. He had been used and abused for years. People saw him as a monster because of his physical appearance. Rumple could relate. He cleared his throat.
"Perhaps you can stay in my castle until you figure out what to do." Rose's face lit up. She would love for someone else to be in the castle with them. Quasi was unsure.
"I...I don't know. I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience."
"Come on, Quasi. It'll be fun! Please?" Quasi find that he couldn't resist her innocent emerald eyes and smiled.
"What kind of pleasant would I be if I didn't obey my princess?" She laughed. Rumple was confused by the exchange, but knew better than to question his daughter. Knowing her, there was an odd story behind it that she would tell him later. Quasimodo followed the Dark One and his daughter back to the Dark Castle.