The beginning was similar, simple.
A drop of moonlight fell from the sky, a drop of ink-like shadow, and it fell to the earth, and on that spot grew a plant. It was a weed, and anything that touched it grew withered and old and died. It was the exact opposite of Rapunzel's flower.
A Queen was hale, hearty, and pregnant. She was adored by all- that is, except Mother Gothel, whom she had banished from her lands a long time ago.
Well Mother Gothel took the black weed - with gloves on, of course- and she boiled it up and made a liquid. She then snuck into Queen's chambers and poured a solitary drop into the water beside Her Majesty's bedside.
The Queen died not a day later, a grey crumbling thing that seemed to be made of dust, skin crumbling away - but not before a baby boy was born. He had long, thick dark hair and grey eyes, like moonlight. On the Queen's dying breath she called him Caelan.
Mother Gothel came back for the boy and she stole him away, and locked him in a tower just like Rapunzel's, and thought he might be of use like the girl was.
But his story was different.
Caelan's father, the King, did not mourn his loss. He seemed to think that Caelan had been a demon baby that had killed the Queen and sucked her life's blood out. The people did not quench the lights in the city on his birthday, in hopes that the lost prince would return. They did not want him back. He wasn't even sure when his birthday was and it wasn't like Mother Gothel was a reliable source of information.
Caelan's hair grew as Rapunzel's did, except his was black like ink and was magical in a different way. It was made of shadows, and so moved of its own accord, lashing out and seething, and had its own power; if he wrapped it around a person and sang, they would age rapidly in front of him until they were only wrinkles coating bones. His hair took their lives and it made him feel alive; it was a power that only he had, and it was the most incredible feeling.
He did not help Mother Gothel to become younger like Rapunzel did. In fact, after visiting him, she would grow older faster, as if even breathing the same air as him was poison. She spent as little time with him as possible, only bringing him food and victims and then was gone again, excuses on her lips.
He sat in the center of the room, with his hair spread out of the floor beside him, his eyes closed, waiting.
A thief pulled himself in the the window, and then leaned back against the wall, panting.
Caelan opened his eyes and lashed out a strand of hair and it formed a dagger. He held it a notch from the thief's heart.
"You move, you die. You speak, you die. Understood?"
The thief nodded. He had brown hair, which was tousled, and green eyes, and looked utterly unperturbed by the situation.
Caelan withdrew the hair an inch.
"I want you to leave whatever it is you have stolen here, and be on your way."
The thief tilted his head.
"Yes yes you can speak now."
"Right, pleased to meet you, I'm Todd. Thing is sunshine, I'm not just gonna-"
Caelan whipped a strand of hair across Todd's arm. It went momentarily grey and withered, and then came back to life, slowly.
"Do not speak to me of sunshine," he said viciously.
"Well I haven't seen that before," Todd said, looking at his arm and sounding almost bored. "So can I go now?"
"No."
"Alright grumpy. What would you have me do?" His eyes flickered over Caelan. "Besides the obvious."
Caelan didn't know what he meant by that. He pressed on.
"I want revenge on my father the King, and I want to destroy his kingdom. I want to kill my captor, Mother Gothel, and also capture that bitch Rapunzel."
"Slow down there sugar, that's a long list. The King is your daddy? So you're the demon baby I've heard so much about?"
"Do I look like a demon to you?"
"Well they told me hell would be hot," Todd said and winked. "Now, who's Mother Gothel?"
"She's the one who killed my real mother and locked me in here. She's raised me as her son all along."
"How did you figure that out then?"
Caelan looked down. "It wasn't difficult."
"Hmm. And if I say no to this little arrangement, you're going to age me to death, huh?"
"Yes."
"Then my friend, you have yourself a deal."
Todd stretched out a tanned hand to shake on it, then thought better of it.
"Man I really am gonna have to keep my hands of you, huh."
Caelan did not know how to respond to that.
"So, I bet you're wondering what I stole?"
"No."
"Well it's a funny story. So I was-"
They walked out of the forest that Caelan had spent his entire life looking , he walked and Todd sauntered, chatting amicably about how he stole some jewels. Caelan was uninterested.
"So buttercup, why do you need my help anyways? Seems like you got it all planned out."
Caelan frowned. He wasn't quite sure himself why he had enlisted Todd's help. The boy had no skills to speak of, although lean and yet muscular, could hardly be counted as a warrior.
"No. I know my aims, but I have no plans, no methods in which to achieve them."
"Alright. Stop right here," and Todd plonked himself on the forest floor and rolled until he was lying on his belly.
"I say we deal with MG first, cause she's geographically closest. Now, what time does she normally come in at?"
"Dusk."
"Fine. Let's go back to the tower and wait for her there, and we'll have her dealt with and out of the way."
They waited. Nightfall devoured dusk before they mentioned it.
"It's probably got to do with the other bitch."
Todd looked at him. "Caelan, that's not a very nice thing to call a lady. I thought that you didn't even know this girl anyway."
Caelan felt momentarily abashed, and then his anger surged at being scolded by a common thief. He wrapped his hair around Todd's wrist and yanked it hard, so that he fell forward. The life began to leech out of Todd, but it wouldn't do any lasting damage, just shave off a couple of years, unless Caelan sang.
"Don't presume to order me again", and he let go, causing Todd to lose balance and fall. Caelan breathed heavily for a few moments, the life coursing through his veins like a drug. Todd stood up and looked at Caelan like he was a petulant child. It was infuriating not to be feared as he rightfully should be.
Todd stared at him, and waited, perhaps for an apology, but pressed on when he realised Caelan wouldn't give it.
"If you've been in here all your life, how do you know so much about," and here Todd pointedly looked at Caelan and said with emphasis, "the girl?"
Caelan explained how he hadn't trusted Gothel for years, nor she him. Any day she could go to climb his hair and he might be purposely singing in the tower, unbeknownst to her, and then she would die. So they had a mutual agreement. She spoke to him honestly about Rapunzel, and brought him vagrants, those who wouldn't be missed, so he could leech off them.
In return he didn't kill her. It wasn't a great deal for her, and she often looked at him with distaste. Caelan knew that she longed to kill him, but didn't know how.
"That's pretty intense," Todd admitted when he was done. "Need a drink?"
"I'm not thirsty."
"I mean alcohol," and he produced a bottle of dark brown liquid with flourish from his bag, "I didn't actually steal any Crown Jewels. That's a bit serious. I just nicked some alcohol 'cause I'm not of age yet."
Caelan regarded the liquid curiously, and cautiously agreed to have one glass. They would murder and wreak havoc in the morning, but he reckoned he deserved to get a little drunk. Just this once.