The Fountain of Youth

Having lost everything, the rapidly aging woman ran around the forest in a desperate attempt to find the one thing left that would make her young again. After her "daughter" had discovered the truth about their relationship, Gothel was left to her own devices once again, with no idea what to do. Rapunzel had made it so that Gothel could never use her again, and while that was the right thing to do, Gothel was terrified of dying, hence why she was looking for a myth. But then again, the sundrop was also supposed to be a myth. Hearing footsteps, Gothel hid in a bush, hoping to evade the approaching guards looking for the woman who kidnapped the princess. As the footsteps began to grow quieter, Gothel let out a small sigh of relief and turned around to see what she was looking for: the Fountain of Youth.

Getting ahead of herself, Gothel paid no attention to the aging of her body and how rapidly it was increasing, as she ran to the fountain and tried to drink from the water. Ignoring the inscription on the neck of the fountain, which clearly said to drink from a goblet, Gothel tried to use her hands to pick up some of the water. When she touched it, however, the water evaporated, and the fountain disappeared before her eyes. Having no idea what to do after that, Gothel quickly turned to ash, as she was at least a couple hundred years old.

Perhaps if she had been a bit more patient and read the inscriptions along the fountain, she would have known what she'd been doing wrong all her life. Perhaps she'd have realized that greed won't get you anywhere, except the one place you never wanted to be, that is.