After Henry had woken up from his dream and informed Charming and Regina that Emma and company were fighting against a woman named Cora. Regina took action.
Both adults left to find Rumplestiltskin for help. Meanwhile, Rose stayed behind to watch over the boy. Henry finished getting dressed and found Rose in the kitchen. Recognizing the ingredients she had laid out on the table, then hearing a ding alarm from the oven. Making it clear to him what she was trying to make. Again…
"Oh no. Are you trying to make to make a souffle again?" He asked her. Rose playfully glared back at the boy and put on her oven mitts.
"Yes I am. But this time, I will get it right. This time I'll be souffle girl!" She excitedly said as she pulled out the pan from the oven. But one look at the now burned up black color souffle told her that she failed… again. Henry peeked to see and patted her back.
"It's okay, Rose. Not every girl can cook."
She narrowed her eyes at him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The adults, including the kids, met up at Gold's shop. Regina was tucking Henry on the bed that Gold had in the backroom.
"So Corra, she's very powerful." Henry guessed out loud. He knows that of this person was just some person, she would be easy to handle alone. But if the Evil Queen, the Dark One, and Prince Charming are joining forces, then that must mean something.
"More like super crazy. No one is more powerful than papa." Rose told him. Rumple smiled to himself when hearing her say that.
"I think" she mumbled to herself, but her father did catch that.
"Are you doubting me, your father? The Dark One?" He asked her, slight sad. Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes at her papa for being dramatic. But it helped to clear things up for Henry.
"I am not doubting your power. I am just concerned that one day you may meet your match." She explained.
"I'm sure with my mother's and your father's way of magic, they can be very similar" Regina commented. Regina knew her mother's magic so well, and Rumple was both their teachers.
"Papa did teach her magic." Rose agreed. She remembered her father's insane long term plan that included on teaching Cora magic. Gold was not fond of watching the two women talking about him and his magic.
"I can and I will outsmart her." He defended. Regina was the one rolling her eyes with a smirk.
"Debatable."
Charming ignored the feud between the two and focused in making sure that Henry was ready for his trip back in the dark room with fire. Even if Charming disagreed with Henry returning to that place, deep inside he knew there was no choice. It was the only way to communicate with the others to save Snow and Emma.
Henry had fallen asleep from a riddle that Rumple told him to give them. But all too soon, Henry had woken up with fear in his eyes. He had woken up too soon. Even they knew that there was no way that the message got through so quickly. Something had gone wrong.
And something did. Causing Henry to get burned on the hand again. Fortunately, Gold was able to heal him fast.
"If someone is being forced to wake up from that world, there would be risks. My guess is, someone woke Aurora before her soul was ready to return. The violence of that act tore her away and injured Henry. We're lucky it wasn't worse." Gold explained.
"So I just need to rest and then go back." Henry decided. To his shock, David and Regina both immediately objected to his idea.
"There's no way you're going back there. We'd be monsters if we did that." David furiously said. Yes, he wanted his family back. BUt he did not want to take chances of losing Henry, his grandson, too.
"Careful with your tone, Charming. I understand your concern, but I know Cora. Without our help, Snow and Emma will soon be dead." Rumple reminded him. They had no choice but to send someone back.
"If Aurora is gone, how will our message get through? No one will be there to receive it." Regina asked of their new problem.
"What about Snow White?" Rose asked. The three were so focused on eachother and Henry that they had completely forgotten that Rose was with them. She was sitting alone by the table with a book in her hands.
"Snow?" Charming asked. Trying to connect to the reason why the teeanager brougt his wife up
"Your her husband. Did you forget that she fell into a sleeping curse too?"
"Rose, that's a big assumption" Regina said. But the prince smiled with hope in his eyes.
"No, she's right! Snow has been there before. If she knows what happened to Aurora, then she'll volunteer to get the message. I know she'll find a way." The man happily said.
"And I'll be there waiting." He added. Both Regina and Rose did their best to hide their laughter at him. CHarming didn't understand why they were acting like that.
"What? I've faced so much already! How bad could it be?"
"It's not as simple as that, Prince." Rose mentioned after closing her book and getting closer to them to discuss more on the plan.
"My daughter is right. You can not get there because you have not been under a sleeping curse." Rumple added.
"And even if you do, you would have no idea what to do or where to go. You have no knowledge about this world." Rose explained to him.
"Oh! And you do?" Charming yelled at the girl. He wasn't happy to see this girl acting wiser than him. Rose wasn't pleased with his attitude.
"Yes, I do. Which is why I will be under the curse" She decided. now it was Rumple who objected the idea, even Regina couldn't hide her worried face.
"Absolutely not, Rosemary! I will not let you do this!" Her father stated.
"You and I both know that I am capable of navigating through it. And besides, the only other person in this room that knows it better than me, is you. But we both know that you can not get there, even if you wanted to."
Rumplestiltskin might be the Dark One, but even his magic has limits or restrictions. Because he became so powerful with magic, he can not sleep at all. Dark one's never sleep. It's a price he learned to live with.
"Rose, even if you do this- who will wake you up? As far as I know, you aren't in love with anyone." Regina stepped in saying to the girl she raised.
"Falling in a sleeping curse does not have to be broken by someone your in love with. It can also be broken by the love you have for someone, like family." Regina laughed.
"I doubt the Dark One loves you enough to break the curse."
"Hey!" Gold moved over between Rose and Regina. "Watch it, dearie. You of all people should know how far I will go to protect my daughter." He glared at the witch. The Evil Queen remained quiet. one last look at her then Rumple put his attention back towards his only daughter.
"Rosemary, think this over. It's too dangerous and you could get hurt. Or worse." This is, afterall, going to be her first time in this netherworld. But Rose gave her father a confident smile.
"Then when I do wake up, do what every father does. Take care of me."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rumple and Regina were preparing the potion. Both of them felt conflicted about letting Rose go through this alone, but they knew she was right. Henry was helping the girl to get settled on the bed. Just hours ago, it was Rose who was making sure he was okay. Now it was his turn.
"Are you sure you can do this? I don't want you to get hurt like I did."
"Pain is a part of life." She said. She notice his frown. "But it makes us stronger. Remember Henry, I'm the Dark One's daughter. I can handle anything." she told him, making him smile.
"Really?" He teased. To him, she sounded too confident.
"I handled him." She pointed at her father. That same man was placing some of the potion on a needle from the spinning wheel for her to poke.
"And if for some reason you are taking longer than you should, I'm waking you up." Her father decided. Leaving her no choice on the matter.
"Yes, papa." She whined. He kept repeating that for the past few minutes. It was getting annoying.
Henry placed the necklace on her, instructing her that it will keep her safe and hugging her one last time.
David questioned if Rose would even be able to find the room of fire. Rumple, had explained that she would not. This would be her first trip there, meaning that she will be in another location. After the first visit, then the room of fire becomes the regular place to go. Gold was still unhappy of the future his daughter will now have from this curse.
"But how will she know how to get there?" Charming would stop asking questions. He was still doubting that a teenager with no magic can take care of herself. Rumple was clearing getting bothered by the prince.
"My daughter is good at solving puzzles." He bitterly said. Not hiding his angry mood. Charming ignored it, and continued to shake his head to disagree.
"No offense, Gold. But she is just a teenager."
"Thanks for the comfort." Rose grumbled. She really wanted him to shut up.
"Oh for crying out loud! David, we can believe in Rose. She is a bright young LADY. I'm certain Gold has taught her a lot." Regina stepped in. Even when ROse was cursed, she was still smart. Regina didn't have any doubt that Rumplestiltskin did his best to give Rose a proper education, but also knowledge to fight for herself.
"Learned from the best." Rose gleefully said and looked up at her papa. Rumple was touched by her words. He could only hope that all that learning was worth it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rose opened her eyes in a room of darkness. It felt cold and just a bit of light was coming from the fire sticks, hanging on the walls. She had to remind herself who she was and where she was.
She remembered reading about all the different worlds one can travel when asleep from a cure or spell. But if you forget what's happening and let fear take over, you begin to forget yourself and become mad.
After taking some deep breaths, Rose immediately took a fire stick. To help guide her through the pitch-black area. Rose had to admit, the things you read in books are beyond different in reality. The air around her was getting chillier. And the room seemed endless. She even started to hear whispers sounding louder and scarier.
It was getting harder to remain calm. Mirrors magically appeared all around her. She didn't realize she ended up in another place. She shook her head to re-focus. She looked at every mirror to see if she could find some sort of crack on it to break through.
She saw from her reflection, that the necklace was glowing a bright blue color. She took it off and moved it around to see if it would change, which it did. It grew brighter and brighter, and started to feel warmer in one particular direction. Meaning that the fire was close. She headed towards that path, but instantly dropped the object after feeling a piece of the metal, burning her hand. she was near.
it continued glowing when it hit the floor. She reached her hand to touch the floor, but she didn't have to touch it. She could already feel the strong heat underneath her.
She was just above the room of fire.
She used the fire stick to smash the floor. After a few tries, she managed to to shatter it like glass. She fell down, landing on the new location. The room was definitely the opposite of the first one she was in. Brighter and hotter with fire everywhere.
She knew she made it when she finally saw Snow White.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"She's taking too long." Rumple said with worry to himself, never taking his eyes off his sleeping daughter. No one said a word, but their minds they sadly agreed. Rumple was not going to wait any longer.
"I'm waking her up." But Charming held a grip on the old man's arm.
"No! We don't know if she made contact with Snow yet." Gold ripped his arm from him. Angry with him.
"I won't waste another moment!"
"Her arm!" Henry's voice shouted, gaining the men's attention. He rolled up Rose's right arm, revealing more burns. Henry couldn't understand why. The necklace is suppose to be keeping her safe from harm. But he noticed that the necklace around her neck wasn't glowing anymore. In fact, it was cracked.
"Something happened." Gold took action and gently kissed Rose's forehead. They waited to see a reaction. For a moment, her eyes looked like they wanted to open, but stopped. Staying closed. Regina glared at him.
"I told you your love isn't enough!" Gold ignored both Regina and Charming's yelling. He placed his head on top of Rose's. Using his magic to see what was going on. He pulled away and opened his eyes, now knowing the truth behind his daughter staying asleep.
"It did work." He confirmed to them. His love for his daughter was strong, but he sensed a strong force was blocking her from getting through.
"Then why isn't she waking up!" Regina desperately shouted.
"Something is taking her away."
Rose found Snow and quickly gave the woman the message to find some ink that was in her father's cell at the castle. Using it should help them to stop Cora. Snow was not fond to see that Rose was now cursed, and worried that the young girl wouldn't be able to wake up. Rose explained her plan and believed that she would return. After Snow disappeared, Rose felt proud for doing her part.
Now all she needed to do was wait for her papa to bring her back.
In a flash, a burst of fire flew up. Losing her balance, she fell backwards. Hitting her head hard from the floor. Knocking her out, and breaking the necklace.
Sleeping in the NetherWorld is the worst thing that could happen.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThanks for reading!What did you think?