Note that this fan fic is based on ideas that were shared between me and another so I cannot take full credit for certain story points. I could not resist writing this out.
I should add that this fic WILL have blood in it (especially in the later chapters) and if you've seen Tangled, you might know what to expect but… well, I won't spoil anything.
Chapter one: Once upon a time
This is the story of how I died.
Yeah, I know–spoiler alert–but I die in this story. But to be honest, it isn't exactly just my story–I mean, if you stick around to listen, I'll explain. It all begins with two rainbows.
Two rainbows crashed together after a great storm and caused a piece to fall off, land on the ground below, and grow a flower. Yeah it's strange but it actually happened–so this flower had all the colors of the rainbow on each of its seven petals and none knew of its existence for quite sometime.
Meanwhile, a kingdom close by started up and grew bigger over time. Piqua was not just any kingdom–it was known to be supportive of all creative and imaginative minds, rivaled only by a pretty good education offered to the children of the kingdom. It was a happy, safe place, where families would move to in hopes for the best and for their kids to have a good childhood.
Unfortunately the much beloved Queen Grace had fallen ill to the point there was nothing anyone could do–not even the alchemists or magic folk–and she was pregnant with her first child.
A heavily pregnant blonde haired woman who was resting in her bed was pale and feverish as she tried to stay awake to listen to what one of the magic folk had to tell her while holding up an illustration of a flower. "We've tried everything, but nothing works." The woman apologized. "This would have to be an absolute last resort. The only problem is that there is only one of it's kind and if it indeed exists, we cannot be able to help others with it, nor be able to access the powers of creation it can grant to others."
Grace struggled to look at her husband who looked as if he barely had enough sleep from the stress of the situation. "If all else fails," Grace panted "You will save my child."
"I don't know if this ailment effects the child too. Or what the flower could do to them if–"
"I don't care... as long as my child is saved... I will not fear death."
With time running short, the kingdom could only turn to a fairytale as their only hope to save the queen they loved and respected very much. Everyone worked together to try to find the legendary flower. Unfortunately...
In the dark of the night a hooded figure moved some fake bushes out of the way to reveal a basket which she upturned to reveal a flower that resembled a lily with seven different petals–each taking on a different color. A wrinkled hand pulled her hood away to reveal an incredibly withered looking face that would make tree bark look young and pretty in comparison. She began to sing in a deep, raspy voice and reached a hand out to the flower.
"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine." The flower did exactly that, with each petal taking on a lovely jewel tone. "Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fates, design," Gradually the woman's hands and face began to smooth out and once stringy white hair began to fill out and take on a strange blue color. "Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine, what once was mine." Her voice was less raspy, but it was still deep and not pleasant to listen to–a startled cat or a croaking frog would have sounded more melodic.
Yeah, I agree with you, person whose actually writing this story. Now see that old lady that did that magic trick? That's Tara Ribble. Get it? Tara Ribble. Terrible? Anyway, Ribble was a witch who found the flower and discovered how to use it through singing, but instead of sharing it, she used it's powers for herself, even if she'd lose out on making a lot of money and she used it to make her stay young and alive for a lot of years. She got so addicted to it that it began to mess with her mind over the years–maybe she was a nice person at one point, but I don't know. She had no intention of sharing its powers to the queen or the powers of creation because creative people were annoying and a waste of life to her, but especially because they could think of things no one else could. In her mind, only she could be the most powerful in the kingdom, but I guess she was just jealous or something like that.
"Whose there?!"
Ribble cursed and tried to put the basket back over the flower, but when she made a mad dash out of the area, she accidentally knocked the basket over. It wouldn't have worked anyway, for the flower still glowed for a few more seconds.
A man dressed in royal uniform rushed to the sound of the strange singing, but instead he found the last thing he could have expected as the glow of the flower began to fade. "Holy–HEY!" He hollered. "Someone get a shovel, I think I found it!"
Within moments, he and the others began to dig up the flower.
The next day a young woman brought out a plate of freshly baked cookies for a group of children. "Here you go!" She set them down next to a book on a wooden bench. "It'll be awhile before they cool off." She brushed her dark hair out of her face to reveal both her stunning blue eyes and a pleasant face that had a sprinkle of freckles upon it. She had a larger figure than most women, but it was well kept and added to her natural beauty.
"Oh I can't wait!" One girl hungrily eyed the cookies. "You always make the best treats when you watch over us!"
"Continue the story please?!" A boy begged her. "Pretty please, Miss Edith?"
Edith chuckled as she sat down and opened the book. "So where was I? Oh yes–soon the Beast realized that his behavior was making Beauty miserable and alone, which was something he understood all too well. Although she accepted her father's punishment on his behalf–which was something the beast didn't anticipate–it had been a huge price to pay for her. The Beast began to visit her more often, but this time he made sure to try to be kinder and softer with Beauty and he spoke with her to ease her own loneliness. Over time, Beauty began to see that although the Beast had indeed possessed a horrible temper and was terribly ugly, he was also awkward, yet considerate and surprisingly knowledgeable about many things that she herself happened to enjoy, such as reading."
The children were paying close attention, but neither they nor Edith noticed three figures glaring from the second floor of the house as they fussed over their hair. They were dressed in gaudy clothing and too much makeup, which only made their facial features (such as their huge eyes and thick lips) unappealing to look at. They saw a man getting close to the house and they did not like the way he stared in awe at their youngest sister (who was far more modestly dressed in comparison) when he was close enough to see her face. Jealousy blackened their hearts and they sneered down at the oblivious young woman.
On the other hand, a couple also watched Edith and her little group from the first floor of the house through their living room window. The woman looked like an older version of Edith and had her blue eyes while her husband had the misfortune to look like an amphibian with huge eyes and odd misshapen face (like his older three daughters). Yet it was clear by the smiles on their faces and that they were holding hands that they were happy and content with each other and took pride in their youngest daughter for watching over those children while staying on task with her work. They hoped that one day she would be reading to children of her own, but for now they wanted her to take her time until she was ready.
"For despite the Beast's temper and ugliness, Beauty could see that under those rough and jagged layers was a lonely soul with the heart of a kind prince who wanted to treat her as if she were like a princess but also saw her as an equal." Edith sensed her parents looking at her and she turned to wave at them with a smile, which made her already pleasant features look radiant in the daylight.
It would be nice to one day find romance of her own–her parents found happiness despite their many differences. Their love had taught her that it was important to look beyond the surface of others and try to see the good, much like this particular fairy-tale she read to the children.
"Hey did you hear the good news?" A friend of the man watching Edith rushed up to him. "They actually found the flower! They'll actually try to use it on the queen!"
Yeah, we will be getting back to this lady in a minute. She's going to be important pretty soon. Anyway, one magician turned the flower into a potion, which the Queen drank. She completely recovered as if she'd never been sick a day in her life and a month later her firstborn came into the world.
It seemed like the queen getting sick nearly a year ago was only a bad nightmare. Now there was a nursery filled with all sorts of toys and a painting and many watercolors upon one wall, along with a woman with a head of fluffy looking blonde hair and someone very special to her in the crib in the room.
Inside the crib was a small, smiling infant who giggled as he looked up at his mother who smiled at him. "Hello Harold." She smiled as she tapped at the green hat on his head before picking him up. "Whose my little boy?" She gently cooed and when he let out a huge smile, she couldn't help but smile back and repeatedly kiss his cheeks. She thanked the higher powers that they both survived and that she was able to see her son. "Happy first birthday."
Moments later in the front of the castle courtyard, she stood by her husband who held a green paper lantern that was already lit and upon it was the kingdom's crest–a sun with each flame a different color as if it were creating rainbows instead of fire. The queen smiled at the king and then smiled at her son, who reached out towards the lantern with a delighted open mouthed smile. She gave the infant one moment before she and her husband lifted the lantern up into the sky. Soon everyone standing in the courtyard with them also lifted their glowing lanterns into the air with each one being a different color and some even had children's drawings on them. Many citizens were in awe at the sight of so many lanterns rising in the sky, and especially all the young children.
No one noticed the heavily cloaked figure in the shadows scowling at the royal family.
It seemed like it would be a wonderful time of peace. Only the bitterest of hearts wouldn't have been happy–which was the case with someone in particular, but he's not going to be important just yet–and everyone was happy for the royal family.
Sadly this was not to be, because Ribble was pretty mad about the loss of her flower and without it she was aging into an old crone. It took her awhile, but soon she had an idea as to where the flower's magic went.
That evening, Grace took the hat off her son and frowned at the sight of his hair. For some reason, every strand was a different color–almost every one of the seven colors of the flower that saved both their lives. "I hope one of the magical folk can explain this." She sighed and kissed her sleeping son's cheek before tucking him into the crib and covered him with a red blanket with black polka dots on it–a gift from a fortune teller who said that he might like it and he certainly was drawn to the playful pattern. "Here's your favorite blanket." She smiled. "I'll be back in a few moments to read to you." She then left the room and closed the door behind her.
Moments passed before one of the windows opened on its own and a curtain was shoved away to reveal that an incredibly ugly old woman had intruded into the nursery. She headed to the crib and sure enough she saw a sign that her theory was correct–the prince's hair was colored exactly like her prized flower. The child was chewing on the blanket in his sleep, causing a bit of saliva to get on it, and he was oblivious to the stranger.
"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine," To Ribble's wicked delight, the infant's hair began to light up like the flower did, though she was so focused on his head that she failed to see that his saliva was also glowing and infusing a bit of the magic into the blanket. She took out a pair of scissors and reached out to snip off a few red strands. The moment she touched his hair, her hand began to smooth out and she eagerly snipped the stands off.
To her shock, both the strands that had been snipped off and what was left of them on his head changed from a bright red to a dull blonde color and they lost their glow at the exact moment her hand became withered once more.
The witch scowled as she realized what had to be done; without thinking too much on it, she roughly pulled Harold out of his crib. The action startled the child and to her annoyance he let out a loud howl of a cry and he waved his arms in protest.
"HAROLD?!" Grace threw the door open upon hearing her son crying. It was only upon seeing a wizened figure in a dark cloak by an open window that she knew why, but when she saw her son still wrapped up in his blanket and crying in the hag's arms, her fear became something far worse than anything one could ever imagine–something that no one should wish upon another and would be too hard to describe.
"NO!" She shrieked and tried to race after Ribble, but the other woman vanished behind the window and when Grace shoved the curtain away and looked around, there was no trace of her or her son or the figure to took him.
Grace's frantic screams alerted the whole castle as she bursted out of the nursery and raced down the halls. "THEY TOOK HAROLD! THEY TOOK MY BABY!" She howled in frantic despair.
Within minutes, all the knights and members of the Royal Guard went out to seek the young prince in the dead of the night. Unfortunately they would not even find the small red blanket with black dots–without the child it once protected, the harsh wind carried it off into the night air to parts unknown.
Many tried to find Prince Harold. The queen was so desperate that she turned to the magical folk, but many had grown afraid of recent events and left the kingdom out of fear that they would be locked up. Those who stayed tried to use their magic to find the prince, but the nasty witch thought ahead and placed an enchantment upon the place where he was hidden so that none could find him.
Also, remember that woman we saw earlier? Unfortunately her parents passed away some time after the prince was born and her sisters decided to be really nasty to her during that time. The lazy trio were jealous of her for her beauty which drew men to her, and for having their parents' love, though honestly it was because she was nice and hardworking and not obsessed with appearances, unlike those three who wasted everything on themselves. They took away her rightful share of their inheritance and cut her off from everyone else–even the children she adored–and forced her to do all the hard work in the house with a bath only once a week or so, and denied her the chance to see the prince on his first birthday. So yeah, a classic Cinderella situation, but sadly her eventual freedom from that house was only a trade for a nicer prison.
The once pleasant looking house now suffered from a yard overgrown with weeds and the eldest of the three sisters eagerly accepted the bulging sack of money from a heavily disguised Ribble. "Oh I promise she'll be more than willing to do whatever you want from her." She told her.
The other two sisters laughed as they forced Edith out of the house by her arms. The poor girl now wore tattered rags and her hair was now messy and unkept as it covered half of her face. What little that could be seen of her face was now dirtied and her visible eye was almost sunken-in and dull looking.
"Guess you got a fairy godmother after all!" One of the sisters taunted Edith as she clutched only one bag that contained very few personal possessions with hands whose skin was cracked from lack of care. "Now you get to live out those stupid childish fairytales you enjoy so much!"
"Maybe if you're lucky, she'll let you go to a ball at the castle! If she doesn't mind you showing your dumb face there that is!"
All three older sisters laughed as Edith was forcibly pushed towards Ribble, who merely grunted in approval. "All she's good for is housework and watching over kids." Another sister laughed. "We made her do all the housework since our parents kicked the bucket so she's very qualified. You can do whatever you want with her and she'll do it."
Edith didn't even speak up for herself or raise her head. She couldn't believe what was happening–she was being sold off like she was an object to her sisters. How could they treat her like this when their parents died and when she did nothing wrong? Even when she tried to see things differently and tried to talk to them, they still treated her as if she were lower than dirt itself. They took everything from her to the point that even if she could have escaped, she would be without money and be turned out onto the streets no matter where she went. It all didn't make sense anymore and she couldn't even bring herself to cry as she stared at the stone pathway that was being taken over by moss.
Ribble grabbed Edith by the arm and pulled her away from her childhood home which had turned into a prison. Edith didn't fully understand who she was in the company of until she was lead away from any gazing eyes in the depths of the woods and found her sight clouded by a puff of smoke without any warning.
Then all of a sudden, Edith found herself inside a completely unfamiliar room and the air was filled with the sound of a crying infant. "First off!" Ribble barked as she let go of Edith and then pointed to the child in a battered looking crib. "You're going to take care of that child! I'm not changing him or putting him to sleep! From now on you're serving me and I'll tell you more when he finally shuts up!" She then stormed out of the room and shut the door before Edith could say anything or ask a question.
Was I sold off to a witch? Bewildered by how fast everything was going, Edith stared off into space for a few moments before checking on the infant. She was startled to see that his hair was multi-colored, but she realized he was in great distress and she quickly set her bag aside.
"Shh, shh, shh!" Edith picked him up and tried to gently rock him. "Hey it's alright, I have you." The poor child was miserable and Edith could quickly tell by a few clues that he was in a desperate need to change his diapers. Fortunately the strange woman had the sense to get some in the otherwise empty room with one window and when the process was done, the boy was happily content and smiled at Edith before touching her face with his tiny hands as if to thank her. It was the first gesture of any sort of kindness or love she had felt in a long time and she couldn't help but release her tears as she hugged the child and sank to the floor.
Away from everyone else was a tower and in this tower was where Ribble hid Harold, along with the girl she forced to take care of him was well as the tower itself and every chore she could throw at her.
She didn't just take Harold for the sake of the power to heal–she knew that with the powers of creation, he could bring joy to others if he discovered them, including young children which she didn't like at all. He might even encourage other children to be creative to the point that maybe one day someone would overpower her, which she especially did not want.
Though of course as you saw a few scenes ago, a bit of those powers went into something, but that won't be important until later.
"Save what has been lost." A now four year old Harold sang as his hair glowed and Ribble absorbed its healing powers by holding the strands. "Bring back what once was mine, what once was mine."
Once Ribble felt herself a few centuries younger, she let go off the child's hair. "Alright, now go." She ordered and the small boy dashed out of her room, along with a long trail of curly–almost poofy looking–rainbow colored hair. It wasn't until he was gone that she shut the door and sighed. "Until I can figure out how to get the magic from him, I'll have to deal with the brat for a little longer." It honestly annoyed her and while she was thankful she had another to do the dirty work associated with children, it only meant one more person to be cautious of. One day she could get rid of them both.
"Edith!" Harold raced to Edith's room where the woman was working on knitting some socks for them on her bed while one of her books rested beside her. Her room was not as lavish as Ribble's, and though most of her possessions were old, worn, or cracked, it was much more well lived in and had more color–such as the quilt that Edith made for herself–which made it more inviting. "I'm done! I want to hear more of the story!"
Edith smiled at Harold as he closed the door behind him and climbed up beside her as she set the knitting aside to pick up the book. While she looked a bit more healthier than when in the company of her sisters, her confinement had done nothing to heal her broken soul and in some ways prolonged her suffering. It was only Harold who was the true light of her life now–the only thing that kept her going throughout the years.
Edith wrapped an arm around him as she resumed the story. "'Stop foul beast!' Don Quixote cried as he took up his lance and charged at the windmill. 'My lord, tis only a windmill!' Sancho cried, but his master paid no heed and with a vigorous cry, the old knight made his steed gallop to the windmill with lance out and ready. 'I shall smite thee!'"
Harold giggled at the image of the delusional hero in Edith's storybook. He concentrated on the image and his hair glowed–suddenly there was an illusion of the hero and the windmill between them and the door, though they looked much more like as if a child had drawn them out. It was still pretty impressive.
"You think one day I'll get to meet a real hero like Don Quixote or Robin Hood?" Harold asked and the illusion quickly faded and his hair stopped glowing.
"I hope so." Edith sighed as she tried to not think of their situation–she didn't want to explain it to him and risk destroying his hope as well as what little remained of her own. "It would be nice to have one come for us someday."
Years had passed and the broken hearted Queen had it so that those lanterns would be sent into the night sky on Harold's birthday so that one day he could return to her. She sent them up to let them know that she would never stop looking.
Some weeks later, Edith quietly snuck with Harold out to the main room of the tower where they silently, yet carefully opened the biggest window of the room to reveal the forbidden outside world. In the far distance they could see what almost looked like little colorful dots glowing in the night sky–it was a sight that happened only on the night of Harold's birthday and it was always his favorite part of that day.
The small child sighed in delight as he rested his arms on the window sill and wished with all his might that he could get closer to see what they were. Perhaps when he was older, Ribble could let him and Edith see them–if she could leave the tower, so could he. The world couldn't possibly be that dangerous like she always told him. Unfortunately, without the means to get to Ribble's secret route out of the tower, there was seventy feet of stone between him and the ground below.
He heard Edith let out a deep sigh and he turned his head to see that she looked very unhappy for some reason. He closed his eyes and concentrated–imagining up something she might like–and his hair glowed a bit. Seconds later, Edith was surrounded by a ring of pink and red glowing flowers. She was startled by this, but then she relaxed as her hand went to touch one, only for it to pass through. She then looked at Harold and smiled before drawing him into a hug–as long as Harold wanted to see the lights, she had a reason to keep going and hope that they both could be set free.
Every year without finding her son filled the queen with despair and although she was later able to give birth to a daughter who didn't have any of her brother's powers, her husband–who was ready to move on and was angry at how the queen was stuck in the past–left without saying a word. The queen loved her daughter, but she could never forget her son and made sure her daughter was well guarded and protected in the castle so that the tragedy could never repeat again. In fact, it was so easy for her to focus on finding Harold while trying to manage the more important stuff in the kingdom that she began to forget the other children that needed help, and the support for the arts and other activities for fun was running low because of this. It made it easier for the really mean adults to be harsh on the children–the same adults also didn't care that she was still in mourning for her lost son and took advantage of her neglect.
For a long time, it seemed there would be no happiness for everyone in the kingdom, except on rare occasions. There was no symbol of hope–there was no such thing as a fairytale or a hero to inspire anyone, especially for all the children. It was like all the happiness was taken away when the prince vanished. For Harold this was also the case the longer he stayed stuck in that tower with no sign of being allowed to go out.
Every year passed... until...
Harold sighed as he stared out the window–nothing exciting ever happened outside besides the strange lights which would happen again on his upcoming tenth birthday. By this point his hair had grown so long that it was longer than his own body, and he almost wished he could cut it off so it wouldn't be a bother to brush it all out.
He hummed as he looked down to see the green and brown ground several feet below him–if only there was some sort of device to help him get down there! He took a spyglass nearby to try to see if anything changed or if there were nearby animals doing something, but no such luck. He sighed as he lowered the glass–maybe it was too much to ask for, but maybe there was something he could observe to draw later.
Then an unexpected but incredibly joyful, deep and glorious sound shattered the silence.
"TRA-LA-LAAAAA!"
Harold raised his head in alarm to see something flying across the sky in the far distance. He quickly used the spyglass to take a better look at what it was–it looked like a person.
A person was flying in the sky.
A huge bodied person–a man–in what looked like a bright red cape with what looked like black dots and nothing else except for a huge pair of white underpants.
Harold was so stunned that he didn't do anything. He couldn't even make out the man's face (he had never seen a man before) and he kept watching the person flying in their underpants until he flew out of sight.
Harold let the spyglass drop to the floor before he bursted out laughing and fell onto the floor. He laughed so hard he could barely breathe and cried actual tears–he just saw a person flying in the sky in his underwear! He had no clue how, but it was one of the best things that he ever saw in his whole life!
Who was that person? Harold hoped he'd see the strange flying man once again–something about him gave the boy a good feeling, like his life might change for the better.
Little did Harold know was that what he saw in the sky that day would lead to a change of fate for him. Because as weird as this will sound, that strange flying person in the sky in nothing but a cape and underpants would play a part in him finally getting his freedom... and lead me to finding my best friend.
Well... I guess I'm doing this AU after all.
I came up with this idea on tumblr (under my other name tornrose24) because it worked perfectly and when princeasimdiya12 wanted to add to it, it developed into something bigger then I intended and we both had some pretty great ideas. He had the idea of Harold creating illusions with his powers, the kingdom design, and Ribble taking Harold away for the added reason of him possibly bringing joy to other kids and I had the idea of giving him rainbow hair. We also had much fun talking about what Edith's past would have been like until she was finally sent to the tower (and yes, her sisters are supposed to be the aliens from book 3). It would be a huge task to list whose ideas are whose and I'll try my best, but I don't know if I'll be able to cover them all.
Though I did get an idea from the whole 'powers of creation' and 'bringing joy to children' at the last minute... that thing with the saliva might need to be a one time thing, but hey–magic spit would fit into a Pilkey world, wouldn't it?
There won't be any use of the songs from the movie besides that one, other than a possible reference or two–I can't always change the lyrics. Plus while this AU might be a little closer to script compared to the last AU I did for CU, it's still going to have some important changes so that it can be it's own thing.