Summary: A Goldilocks rewrite. Goldilocks runs away due to some...bad...treatment. Going to the three bears house could have been one of her worst mistakes, or the best.
Author's Note: Well here it is; the mysterious last test is revealed!! Will Goldilocks pass, or fail and never be able to see her sweet Orson again!?! Read to find out! Okay now that the theatrics are out of the way...
Warning: This chapter is the whole reason why I gave this story a high rating...so yeah...no, I'm not going to tell you what happens; that will spoil it, but I will say that if your mind's in the gutter your right...in a way...
On to the story!
"Take off your mask and you will pass." A voice spoke from somewhere in the gloom. Goldilocks didn't make a move; she had wished so badly that this would not come. She squeezed her eyes willing for her to had heard wrong. Suddenly pain shot through her head as she felt a hand swipe over her cheek.
"What are you doing you fucking whore!?!" Goldilocks froze.
She knew that voice.
She looked up at the woman that haunted so many of her dreams. She wanted to scream and yell, and kill the woman that had birthed her--and hated her. But she didn't do any of the things running through her thoughts; she only sat on the ground, uselessly.
Her mother's hand went up again to strike. Goldilocks only stiffened, trying to cover herself with her arms. Hit after hit assaulted her; somewhere in between her mother had grabbed a stick on the ground, barely even slowing in her strikes. At the end of her strength the woman left Goldilocks, alone and bloodied.
She was so scared. How'd she get there? It was as though she had never escaped her prison. Was everything that had happened just been an illusion? No!
Orson had to be real! He just had to be! Suddenly she remembered the voice speaking to her. She moved her hand and instead of skin, she felt the cold smoothness of her mask. Still that gave her no relief. She knew she would rather face her parents than destroy the fantasy she, herself, had created.
She got off the ground and walked unsteadily into her old home. No! No!! NO!! Her eyes widened as she fell to the ground. She had to get away! He hadn't seen her yet; she could get away! Desperately she started crawling back towards the door, trying her hardest not to make a sound. Goldilocks was doing fine until her leg hit a bucket sitting innocently on the ground.
He turned. She screamed.
Panic seized her and she could no longer feel anything. It was as though her little corner of the world had frozen; if only that were true for her father.
"My poor little Goldilocks," he said rushing towards her. Her mind came back to her when he touched her, but even then she still could not move.
"What happened to you? Someone was jealous of you again, weren't they?" he asked in a voice usually reserved for a lover, "Good thing they didn't touch your magnificent face, my little queen." As he spoke he rubbed his hands along her body, only skimming slightly over her many bruises and cuts. What might have been a comfort for anyone else only left her feeling cold and…dirty.
"Come on, Mr. Riebe has come to visit us. Now you can't leave him waiting can you?" He lifted up Goldilocks and carried her towards his room. She started flailing arms and legs, anything to escape the fate awaiting her in the next room. Her Father's hold only tightened. Even as he removed one of his hands to open the door and greeted the man waiting inside, Goldilocks' struggles still did nothing.
They laid her on the bed, Mr. Riebe holding her arms as her father tore off her shirt. He caressed her bosom while murmuring, "My beauty," over and over again. He slowly pulled her skirt down, letting his fingers stroke over her legs. Then his head dipped between her thighs.
Goldilocks wished she could go back to being numb, or better yet dead. She didn't know when she had stopped struggling, nor did she realize when Mr. Riebe had let go of her arms, to continue where her father had left off. She could only feel sick, broken. How could she had let this happen again; she was supposed to have gotten stronger in the years she had left this house, yet here she was allowing these monsters to-
Her thoughts were interrupted as something hard and warm poked her thigh. Her father was holding himself over her. Years of anger boiled to the surface. She kicked him and shoved Mr. Riebe, and finally ripped her mask off her face.
The illusion disappeared. Instead Goldilocks was staring straight into a mirror. She felt too drained to care; she only dimly wondered when she had started crying. She felt that she could tell Orson, and everyone else, who she was, without wearing her mask. She was tired, but she had won, for now, at least. That's all she really need, for now.
"You have passed." She heard a familiar voice say. Samus was standing above her with an outstretched hand. There was only kindness in his old eyes.
"I have seen much beauty in my life and although you are most likely in the top ten, I have the self-control not to do anything to a mere child." He answered the question that had been on Goldilocks' lips. She took his hand. She sat in the chair as he made his way to his desk.
"You have done a tremendously good job of conquering your fears, and by removing your mask you have proven to us that we can trust you. Now lot me tell you something you might find interesting." He said, some old sadness leaking into his voice. "When this world was formed we originally only allowed creatures with magical attributes here, but when your world started persecuting innocent humans, we started allowing them here as well. Now we permit anyone who needs help to come, barring criminals. That is the category you and Baby Bear fall under."
"Although he came under different circumstances than you." He said before Goldilocks could speak. Orson is human! She thought. He had lied to her. She shook her head, forcing herself to listen to Samus's story. "His name was Theodore and like you, his mother hated him. She blamed him for his father's disappearance and one day she left him in this forest trying to make him disappear too, but instead he wandered into something he shouldn't have." He paused, as if he were allowing the weight of his words to sink in.
"He saw the body of the original, no, real Baby Bear. Father Bear had just found him too, and when he saw the human child walk up, he realized he did not have to tell his wife anything. He had the perfect replacement. With that thought he turned Theodore into Baby Bear. He soon learned how he was expected to act and what to say. The only information he could get out of Father Bear was how to break the curse: true love's kiss." He gave her one last knowing look before he dismissed her.
"Here," Catalyst said holding out Goldilocks' mask. She fit it back on her face, still in a slight daze from the truth about Orson. She left the underground caverns wondering what to say to Orson when she told him what had happened.
"Here is where her real struggle begins. I wonder if she'll pass through this too." Catalyst said with only a passing curiosity.
Goldilocks was blinded as she walked out into the sunlight. She really didn't notice though; her thoughts had her too absorbed. How could Orson have been human the whole time? She had told him so much, thinking he was an animal. Even as she thought it she knew it was wrong. From the moment she had heard him speak she had treated him more like a human than an animal. That's why she had fallen in love with him, and thought he would chose the hatred path. Then she smiled; maybe he would react the same way Samus had! She picked up her speed, determined to tell Orson everything. She ran up the steps of the inn and slammed open their room door.
He wasn't there.
His bed was too clean and no matter how hard she looked, she could find none of his belongings. Dread filled her stomach. She walked back downstairs to hear the innkeeper tell her what she already knew.
Orson had gone, and left her.
Yeah rape...I hope it wasn't too bad...now do you see why I was stalling with this chapter Lonely Zoner?! This has kinda gotten me depressed now...yay...fifth chapter...