In the late morning of a spring day, Rapunzel found herself in her bedroom once again, her long, golden hair across her lap as she gently dragged her silver brush through her hair, the end of her locks in a small pile at the bottom of her bed, her legs dangling over the side.
She had been there for a while, slowly dragging her brush through her hair lazily, not noticing she had brushed the same spot of her hair for 10 minutes. From outside, Rapunzel heard a bang, followed by a heavy thud.
"Mommy?" The 6 year old grinned and jumped of her bed, almost slipping as she stepped on her hair and ran clumsily out her room to the stairs.
"Mommy!" Rapunzel grinned and jumped down the steps until reaching the bottom, gripping the metal bars of the railings as she peeked through them at the woman. Her dark red dress damp along with her curly black hair; strands of ugly grey running through it, her pale skin wrinkled and slightly saggy as dark shadows hung underneath her eyes.
"Rapunzel" Gothel said, her voice sore and cranky "I've told you to call me 'Mother'"
The child's eyes dropped to the floor, gingerly dragging her toes lightly against the tiles "I'm sorry, Mother"
Gothel looked down at the child and sighed "I'm not trying to be a bad guy" she stiffly moved towards the fireplace, sitting on one of the chairs near it "I'm tired Rapunzel, Mother had to climb that rope to get up here just for you"
"I'm sorry" repeated Rapunzel, walking over to her Mother slowly.
"Why don't you sing me your song, to make your Mother feel better" a smile crept across Gothel's face, innocent to the 6 year-old.
Rapunzel nodded and sat down in front of Gothel, who pulled out her own brush from her large, brown sack and arched her back forward, griping the handle with her long, bony, wrinkly fingers.
"Go ahead" Gothel said as she began to brush Rapunzel's long hair, her eyes lighting up a little as Rapunzel began to sing.
"Flower gleam and glow
Let your powers shine
Make the clocks reverse
Bring back what once was mind
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fate's design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine"
Gothel breathed in deeply and let her eyes close as she felt the flower's power moving from her hand, up her arm and into her body, her skin disappearing of all wrinkles and marks, turning into clear, almost perfect skin. Her hair turning pitch black and shiny while her grey eyes sparked at the feeling of youth once again.
"Good girl" sighed Gothel as she set the brush down, letting go of the gold locks as they began to fade.
"Thank you Rapunzel, Mother feels so much better" Gothel stood up and grabbed her bag, digging through it's unknown contests before pulling out a small grey pot, dry yellow paint clung to the top and lid of the tin.
Rapunzel blinked and stood up, looking at the tin as Gothel placed it down in front of her, pulling out another tin stained with red paint and placed it down next to the first one.
"What's this?" asked the child, looking up to her guardian with curiosity.
Gothel sighed in slight annoyance as she took eighth and final paint stained tin down by the others "They're paints Rapunzel, I'm going to be gone for a little while and I don't like it when you tell me how bored you were when I come back so I get you theses"
"Oh" Rapunzel looked down at the cans and picked up a tin stained with paint "I love pink!" she smiled as she rolled the tins between her little hands.
"I know" Gothel smiled deviously "That's because Mother loves you" she said while placing three different sized paint brushes down onto of the tins and pulled her bag onto her shoulders before walking towards the window and opening it, the rain still pouring, and turned back to Rapunzel with open arms "Now come say good bye to Mother"
Getting up, the child ran to her Mother and hugged her; Gothel leaned down and whispered as she hug her back "I love you"
"I love you more!" Grinned Rapunzel
Gothel pulled away and look down at the blonde child, running her fingers through the golden locks as her eyes moved from Rapunzel to the top of her hair and leaned forward, pressing her lips against the soft hair and whispered "I love you most" (A/N: Fact: Gothel does this in the movie.)
Gothel stood up, running her fingers through Rapunzel's hair once more before reaching out the window where two ropes hung, hooking her foot in the small noose in one of the ropes that hung from the metal pulley and grabbed the other rope, and slowly lowering herself down.
Rapunzel watched her disappeared over the window pane before standing on her toes, closing the window shut and grin. Turning around and running to where the paints lay, grabbing the pick once again in one hand and the smallest of the paint brushes, which had a thin handle with even thinner hairs.
"What should I paint" muttered Rapunzel to herself as she looked at all the paint tins.
"Yellow red green pink purple blue black white" she said as she named all the tins in order and then gasp, a smile spreading across her rosy cheeks "I can paint anything!"
She ran towards the wall, where a large stop of wall, pulling the stiff lid of and staring down at the baby pink mixture, the light gleaning off the thick paint.
Grinning, Rapunzel readied the brush, pushing it into the paint and pulling it back out, admiring the colour before closing one eye, focusing on one part of the wall and leaned forward, hesitating before gently placed the paint brush against the wall.
Rapunzel can't remember the last time she's had that much fun on her own.