This is (another) collaboration with Arlewena. This story shouldn't be especially long by our standards, so hopefully we'll be done with it at some point soon! To have a completed multi-chapter story, what a lofty goal.
As guessed, this is a Tangled AU. However, we added a few fun things to it to keep things spicy. Everyone has a backstory. Everyone.
We own neither Hetalia or Tangled.
Prologue
The room had gone unused for many years. Once it might have been a study of some kind, but these days it seemed to have been demoted to an old storage room. It was filled with stacks of books and papers, ink spots and various pens scattered around. Everything was covered in a layer of dust, a little light streaming through the sun-bleached curtain by the small window. The room was in a tucked-away part of the castle, one the inhabitants rarely ever frequented.
On top of a grand wooden desk floated a gently pulsing orb of light. When approached, the dim light brightened, and turned sky blue.
A youthful voice, belonging to a man somewhere in his twenties, maybe, echoed from the orb, "This is a story about a Princess and a Hero."
"Um, Al, I think you're forgetting a few characters…" another voice said, softer, as the orb turned a light violet. "Besides, I don't think most people consider thieves heroes."
The orb turned sky blue again as the first voice replied, "Well, of course thieves can be heroes! Haven't you heard of Robin Hood? I mean, the other characters are kinda important, but not as important as the Princess!"
There was a noise of disgust as the orb turned purple again, "I think I'm going to be sick if you start on about the Princess again."
"Says you. Let's talk about you and her- wait, both of her uncles!" the other voice said in a high-pitched tone, "Seriously, dude. That's freaking weird."
"Look, were you going to tell the story or what?" the quieter voice asked.
There was a pause, and then the blue orb said, "Right, right. So, this story begins with a kingdom, naturally. This kingdom was ruled by two beloved monarchs- Queen Feliciana Vargas, and her King Consort Sir Ludwig Beilschmidt. However, the Vargas family who had long ruled the kingdom had been cursed, years ago. I won't get into that yet, though. Spoilers you know? And this curse? Well, it became a problem in this case when the Queen became pregnant. She grew sick… really sick, to the point the entire kingdom was scared she would die without an heir. The King, Ludwig, grew desperate. He sent the guards, his own brother among them, to search for a miracle." There was an intake of breath, before the same voice continued.
"Though no one knew it at the time, a miracle had been harbored in the kingdom for a very long time. It came in the form of a copper-colored flower, with the ability to heal and rejuvenate. However it was guarded jealously by the only one who had ever found it: Francis Bonnefoy. The flower was the secret to his eternal youth, and he was willing to protect it at almost any cost, including the Queen's life. However, a small group of the men sent by King Ludwig, led by his brother Gilbert Beilschmidt soon located the flower despite the caution of its keeper. Gilbert wasted no time hurrying it back to the Queen."
"So, as hoped, the magic of the flower healed Queen Feliciana, and soon she'd given birth to a healthy baby girl. Her name was Antonia Vargas. She was born with beautiful, curly copper hair, and her eyes were bright green. Like… well, like the grass on a sunny summer morning. Or emeralds."
The orb changed light violet again, "You know, you could have just said green eyes, eh…"
"That wouldn't have done them justice! Uh, where was I? Oh, anyway, she has a few freckles if you really look, and she has the absolute best smile in the entire world- the kind of smile a Princess should have!" in the background a long-suffering sigh could be heard as the voice continued, "She was born with the beauty befitting a Princess of a heroic tale."
"Alfred. Fucking. Jones." the softer voice hissed, the purple seeming to darken at the harsher tone.
The orb turned blue as the louder voice said, "Alright, alright, sheesh. I get it. I'll remember this when we get further in, Mattie. As I was saying. When the Princess was born, the joyful monarchs lit a floating lantern and sent it off into the sky. The entire kingdom rejoiced. However, the happiness wouldn't last." There was a dramatic pause.
"Francis Bonnefoy, driven mad in anger and desperation snuck into the castle one night. He found the young Princess sleeping in her room, and began to sing. The song, well, it awakens the magic lying within the flower, which was now in the Princess. Her copper hair began to glow as the flower once had, turning Bonnefoy young once more. Carefully, he cut a lock of her glowing hair. As soon as he did, the lock of hair lost its glow, turning chocolate brown and losing the magic of the flower. It became clear to Francis what he had to do, but he hesitated. Just long enough to rouse the chameleon sleeping beside the girl in the crib."
"And then Francis Bonnefoy took the Princess, and disappeared without a trace."
The orb turned violet again as the soft voice said, "That was a little dramatic, don't you think?"
The other voice scoffed, "That's just good storytelling, Mattie! Besides, I'm the one telling this part of the story so you can keep your complaints to yourself. So, with their beloved daughter gone, the King and Queen sent their men to search for her, but no one ever managed to find her. She'd been hidden deep within the forest, inside a tower. The lost Princess was raised by Francis Bonnefoy as his own child. Whenever Antonia expressed a wish to leave, Bonnefoy told her of a world filled with horrors and how she would only be safe in the tower. She believed him, but within her heart a wish for adventure survived. This wish became a dream as every year on her birthday, she watched the sky light up from her window. She didn't know what they were, but they were the floating lanterns- the symbol of the kingdom's hope that one day their Princess would return to them. And so, our story begins…"
"... I'm going to go tell the others not to let you tell any of the other parts."
"Mattie! Oh, come on, wait- Hey!"
After a long pause, the story would begin in earnest.
Thank you for your time.