Rapunzel didn't like her song anymore. It used to bring a sense of comfort, like a little insurance that although the outside world was blocked off to her she would never be alone, because Mother would forever be at her side. But there came a point, after she was kidnapped and sold into slavery, that the song became her chains and her hair became her cell. The only key was a pair of scissors, which were always kept out of her grasp like all other sharp objects.
Twice a day Rapunzel sang her song, once at sunrise and once at sunset. Without fail some nameless servant would come into her living courters, take the end of her hair, and shove it through a hole in the wall. This way Rapunzel remained unseen, an anonymous healer. She managed to get one of the servants to speak once; he told her it was to dispel any guilt the Majesties may be feeling over this. Royalty effectively kidnapped Rapunzel, and they had no idea what they were doing to her.
The memory of her kidnapping was starting to blur, even though it was only three days ago. She was trying her hardest to forget about it, and looking at how much she blocked out so far Rapunzel considered herself unsuccessful. The problem was even when she did manage to go without remembering it during the day, her subconscious betrayed her constantly, always bringing the memory into her dreams.
She was waiting for Eugene to come back. Pascal was getting worried, and that wasn't helping Rapunzel's nerves either. She had complete confidence in him, of course, but there was always that little nagging voice in the back of her head, reminding her that sweet Eugene was also reckless Flynn Rider. So, despite her full trust, she could help but let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw his silhouette swagger through the fog.
"I was starting to think you ran off with the crown and left me," Rapunzel joked, waiting for some sarcastic comment back from Eugene about how she should trust him. But that never came. Instead the shadow split into two and both kept growing taller as they came closer. And then two ginger men stepped out of the fog, one with an eye patch and one with sideburns.
"He did," the one with the sideburns said. Rapunzel looked at them in disbelief. Somewhere she remembered them, in the back of her mind she heard Eugene saying, "They don't like me either."
"What? No, he wouldn't," Rapunzel took a confident step forward. The may have not kissed on the boat and she may not be the best person to read the signs given her lack of past experience, but no one could tell her that something wasn't going to happen there.
Both men- brothers, Rapunzel thought- gave off identical smug smiles, "See for yourself," Sideburns said.
He gave a dramatic gesture with his hand, like Mother would do when wanting to show Rapunzel new paints or some exotic present from the outside world. Rapunzel didn't think she would like this present though. She took a step toward the water, and there, just in the distance amongst the remainder of the floating lanterns, was a sailboat floating towards the kingdom. And piloting the boat, though she could not see his face, was the obvious outline of one Eugene Fitzherbert.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel shouted. No reply, maybe he didn't hear, "Eugene!" she shouted again. She was sure that her voice was loud enough, but maybe he just couldn't hear or maybe he got distracted…
"Fair trade," Sideburns started purring. She felt a hand lightly brush against her braid, "a crown for the girl with the magic hair."
Rapunzel turned, making sure to keep her eyes on the brothers at all cost. How could they know that? She told that to Eugene in confidence! But she supposed that was a stupid move on her part, Mother told her all this and Rapunzel just blatantly ignored her! Now she had to deal with the consequences.
"How much do you think someone would pay to stay young and healthy forever?" Sideburns continued, reaching behind him to pull out a sack, a large bag that looked thick and sturdy. They started closing in, and poor inexperienced Rapunzel only knew to run, run away fast and hard. That was what Mother always told her, if someone broke into the tower get out and hide.
"No, please, no," Rapunzel backed up a little and then bolted, just like Mother said. And it wasn't just for Mother this time, but she also knew what would happen if she were caught. She would be sold, used, and captive, once again banned from the outside world.
"No!" Rapunzel yelled as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear though she knew no one would. She ran on the beach, panic flooding her system. Then, mid-stride, her head snapped back and her braid pulled at her scalp. It was caught on something, some unrelenting force. She would have to back track, go towards the kidnappers in order to untangled her bulky braid. Rapunzel couldn't see the brothers because of a rock that she had run around, buts still the knowledge that they were there was enough to keep her tugging, simply wishing that it would come undone on it's own accord. She couldn't bring herself to run towards them, her legs would not obey such a stupid command.
Then there was a grunt and a heavy thud on the rocky shore. Rapunzel heard something swishing through the hair and then a loud smack. The voice that carried after it was Sideburns', she was sure.
"You think you can just do that? Tell us what to do and who she is and then surprise attack us like this? Steal away the treasure and keep it all to yourself?" There were feet on the beach, running quickly, and Mother appeared around the corner rock, black hood blown down and looking older than Rapunzel had ever seen her. She was no longer the fierce Mother who made jokes and went on outdoor expeditions; now Gothel was wrinkled and had more gray hairs than black. Her gray eyes were panicked and her mouth was in a worried frown.
"Mother-" Rapunzel started but was cut off as Gothel grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her back, allowing her braid to fall of the log it was caught on. Rapunzel took the chance to look at the brothers' positions. Eyepatch was on the ground, unconscious. Sideburns was at his side, checking a pulse it seemed, a piece of old drift wood in his hand. He looked up at the mother-daughter duo and gave vicious toothy smile, "I am sick of thieves like you. No better than Flynn Rider and we would all be better without you," and then he stood and started walking, quickly, toward the two.
Gothel didn't even make an attempt to run, instead grabbing Rapunzel by the shoulders and saying, "Run, run and don't look back." Rapunzel was about to protest and then there was a sickening sound of Mother's skull being cracked, the driftwood in the hands of the ginger man much more threatening than in Gothel's fragile fingers.
Gothel fell on the spot, blood pooling out of her frizzy hair and collecting in the gaps of the stones, before overflowing and trickling into the bay. Rapunzel couldn't bring herself to run, instead dropping to her knees and taking her Mother's head into her lap, cradling her body like one would cradle a sulking child. Tears ran down her face, fast and thick, effectively blurring her vision. Blindly she started trying to untie her braid, get just enough loose hair to wrap around Gothel's head. Her mind was so on track that she didn't notice Eyepatch start to stir, or Sideburn throw the driftwood aside.
She started the song, at least. She got to "let your power shine" before the heavy bag flew over her body and caught her by surprise, startling Rapunzel enough to stop her song short despite the importance of it. She was clever though, cleverer than people gave her credit for, and she was brave. Rapunzel kept singing quietly, her hair still aglow, while one of the brothers- Eyepatch, she assumed- attempted to untangled her magic hair from her mother's wound.
They did it quickly too, giving Rapunzel no time to continue. There just wasn't enough hair unbraided to connect her for a long distance healing process.
"Oh no, sweetie. Let's save your magic powers for our paying customers," Rapunzel could practically hear the sneer in Sideburns' voice.
In the bag she had plenty of time to think of what happened. Mother must have been worried and followed Rapunzel, as any concerned mother would. Then, when Rapunzel was in danger, Mother used the element of surprise to knock one of the gingers out. But her surprise only worked on one, allowing the other enough time to brace himself or put up his hand or something, but in the end he must have wrestled the driftwood out of her grasp. It wouldn't have been too hard, big bulging guy like Sideburns versus Gothel was no competition. After all, she wasn't a young woman anymore.
And this was figured out through so many tears that Rapunzel was forgetting what dried eyes felt like. The part of the canvas bag she was trapped in had become wet through. She cried so hard that at one point Sideburns jostled her and barked, "Stop your crying! You're getting my shirt wet!" but that didn't put a damper in her tears. Not even close. Rapunzel cried until she was too dehydrated to cry anymore, so she settled for dry sobs instead. It wasn't just Mother's death causing this, but it was being abandoned by everyone she loved and trusted. Pascal wasn't even on her shoulder anymore, he must have been knocked off when Rapunzel was kidnapped. She was completely and utterly alone, her mother was killed and Rapunzel could only blame herself, Pascal was gone, and Eugene never really cared. For the first time she was wishing that she just left Flynn locked up in that closet.
She wasn't sure when but at some point Rapunzel fell asleep, snuggled close to her hair. She was sore from being huddled inside the canvas bag and was in desperate need of a stretch. Her stomach rumbled uncomfortably and her mouth was so dry that she could barley collect any saliva to dampen her throat. It was dark, though she couldn't be sure if it was still nighttime. The only thing she could make out were voices; one obviously belonging to Sideburns, the other unknown.
Sideburns: "Five million Corona or nothing,"
Unknown: "That seems a bit steep."
Sideburns: "I don't mind just keeping her for my brother and me. We could just live forever and wait until someone does come along to give us more than we are asking now,"
Unknown: "I am already breaking the law enough by giving you your own land and a free ticket out of jail. Asking for five million Corona as well, it is like I am paying you triple what I already am!"
Sideburns: "Actually, you would be paying us five times more. But we have expenses: food, clothing, servants, and luxury items. You know what I mean?"
Unknown: "I can give you the land, the law, and half a million Corona."
Sideburns: "We aren't some black market dealers up for haggling. Either it is five million or we just bide our time."
There was a sigh from Unknown, who then mumbled something Rapunzel could not make out, but there was some nasty laughter from the brothers, and then Rapunzel felt herself moved very violently and dropped hard on some sort of wooden platform. It started moving and she jumped and flipped at nearly every bump they hit, meaning she ended up in a cart of some type. It dawned on her that this was her first time on a cart, but the excitement was overpowered by the sheer terror.
Then, from what could have been from 10 minutes to 10 years later, the sack opened and Rapunzel was momentarily blinded as white light drove itself into her dark bag. Before she could even see someone was grabbing her shoulder and yanking her by the sleeve. She tried to stand, but her legs were so cramped up from the long time that they failed her, causing her to instantly fall over. Luckily there was someone there prepared for this, catching her softly and for a moment there Rapunzel was sure is was Eugene, here to save the day like some prince in shinning armor. But that dream shattered as soon as the person talked. He had a high-pitched tone that would have been comical if not for the situation, "Come on girl, get up! We have to get you in before they awake!" And that was all he said to her.
Rapunzel felt herself lifted unceremoniously up and carried by someone she was sure was not that man with the high pitched voice. It was just hard for her to see anything, though the light was no longer blinding her eyes were still swollen from crying and the whole situation around her seemed to move in colors and blurs.
Until everything stopped, she was dropped on top a bed in a bright yellow room, the door shut, locked, and she was alone. Still she could not take anything in though, everything inside her was moving too fast: her breath, her pulse. And then everything went black.
That was where the memory or dream always ended. Rapunzel later woke when someone jostled her, helped her unbraid her hair and tossed the flowers out the window, and told Rapunzel how that window was far to small for a child to fit through so don't even try. Rapunzel didn't doubt the servant. Then Rapunzel's hair was put through a hole in the bottom corner of the wall, she was instructed to sing, and if she refused her food would be withheld until she did. So Rapunzel sang, her hair glowed, it was taken out of the hole, the servant left, and Rapunzel was locked away in a plain yellow room, no decorations or paintings. Just her large bed, her small window, and the hole in the wall.
Sometimes her dreams gave her variety in her life, the only thing really. Every once in a while Rapunzel would not dream of the beach, but rather she would see her mother bashed on the head and blood would come out. Rapunzel would run towards Gothel, but her hair would tangle around her feet and tie her up, making Rapunzel sit and watch as her mother fell, more and more blood pooling around them, until it was over Rapunzel's head and she drowned.
These were the only two dreams, although once in her latter dream Flynn came, crown hanging off his finger, and say with his sarcastic drawl, "You know, Mother knows best." To which Rapunzel would scream her knowledge and furry at him, before shortly drowning in the sea of red.