Rapunzel sat in her tower. Waiting. Just waiting. Tonight was her 18th birthday. The sun was setting just over the horizon, the sky going from a bright blue to a deep jade.

Any minute now... She thought to herself.

Every year on her birthday the floating lights flew up from above the palace walls. Every birthday without fail. It was her dream to go see the lights for herself; right up close. But her mother would never allow it. She was only allowed to stay within the walls of her tower. She had never even felt the grass beneath her feet (which were always bare).

Just then, the sun sank behind the palace completely. Rapunzel sat on the edge of her windowsill, anticipating the remarkable floating lights. The sky was a dark purple now, and she saw the first light begin to flicker and glow. Rapunzel squealed with joy, "YES! WooHoo!"

Her long, long blonde hair fluttered across her shoulders in the cool summer breeze.

The large single light flew high above the palace now, far above the trees in the forest, a single light all by itself.

A moment passed, Rapunzel's eyes were tearing up at the beauty of it, and one by one, millions of lights were sent up to the sky. Like a billion fireflies in the night sky they flew.

At that moment, Rapunzel wished dearly for someone to share it with. Her mother was the only other human being she had ever known. She needed a friend...

She was crying now, not only because the sight outside her window was too much, but because she was lonely. Not even her mother was with her often enough. Rapunzel needed to be hugged, and she needed someone to talk to other than Pasquel.

Sometimes, she saw people in the forest. Real people! The road on horses all dressed up in palace uniforms. Her mother told her that men were mean and scary, with pointy teeth.

Well, she didn't know about the pointy teeth, or if they were friendly, but they didn't seem too scary. From a distance, at least, the palace men looked...lonely. All stiff in their movements, never really speaking to one another. Just as alone as she was, almost.

The lights still flooded the sky, and more and more tears were rolling down her pale cheeks.

And then…

Rapunzel heard a sound so loud and unexpected, she nearly fell out of the tower. It was like a sonic boom. There was a flash of blue and gold light right before a huge ship came flying out of no where! It fell from the sky and crashed just outside the palace, and not too far off from Rapunzel's tower.

She jumped at the impact. Trees twice as tall as her tower crunched beneath the weight of the ship. Forest critters scurried away from the structure.

"How in the world did a ship get in the sky?!" Rapunzel gaped.

Dirt and trees flew up into the air as the ship came to a complete halt. Rapunzel looked on wide eyed as the ship burst into flames. Smoke rose from the inner forest and she could hear the crackling and popping of the wood.

Out of the ship flew a.. a...Para-sail? It was a flying para-sail! And there was a man on it; he was tall and from what she could tell from the distance,handsome, with longish brown hair, part of it pulled back into a braid. He was traveling very fast and coming straight for Rapunzel's tower window.

She screamed and ducked down at the last second as the boy came crashing through her window on the impossible device.

BANG!

The room was destroyed. Papers fluttered in the air before settling back onto the floor and paint buckets were spilled everywhere. Bookshelves had fallen and pages had been torn. And among it all lay the unconscious boy. His board wedged into the wall.

Rapunzel squealed and hid behind her rocking chair. Then, after grabbing a frying pan, slowly approached the strange boy sprawled across her floor.

She poked him once or twice to make sure he was actually unconscious. He was still breathing...But Rapunzel wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing...depending on what he was really doing in her tower.

Her mother always told her that men had sharp pointy teeth so she lifted his upper lip to check...nope.

"He must not be a man then." she thought. "Mother would never lie to me...Would she?"

All of a sudden the boys eyes flew open and he looked around frightened. He jumped to his feet and stared at the strange girl in front of him. Rapunzel shrieked and the boy put a finger to his lips to quiet her

"Woah there, girl! Easy!" He exclaimed trying to calm her.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Wha-what is that..thing you flew in on? Why did you come?" Rapunzel stuttered.

"I don't know, I crashed! It's not exactly my fault, either. My name is Jim Hawkins." He outstretched his hand for her to shake. Rapunzel flinched away and gripped the frying pan tighter.

"I'm not going to hurt you, look," he lifted his arms above his head. "No weapons. What's your name?" He asked.

"You're here for my hair aren't you!" she accused.

"No! What? Why would I want your hair?" He laughed.

Rapunzel glared at Jim With a raised brow. He studied her long golden locks and followed them around the room. Up the wall and around the banister and draped over the window and twirled across the floor until it ended at the strange girls feet.

"Right. Um...people could weave it into golden thread?" Jim made a guess as to why someone would want to take her hair. Rapunzel brought her palm to her forehead and sighed, lowering the frying pan.

"Well, if you're not here for my hair then why would you fly into my window? And what's With the ship in the sky?" she asked.

"I told you! I crashed. I didn't wreck my board on purpose. And that ship? That would be a pirate ship that fell through the time vortex."

"The what now?" Rapunzel tilted her head and squinted her eyes.

"ah...never mind. Look, the men on that ship are going to take over that kingdom any second now." he gestured towards the palace. "And-" he froze, gazing at the floating lights. "What the..." Jim shook his head. "never mind. C'mon! we gotta get going!"

He grabbed Rapunzel's hand and leaped out onto the windowsill. "Wait! Hey!" she protested.

"Look," Jim explained. "if you want to live, come with me. if you would like to spend the rest of your life as a concubine for the bloody crew then feel free to stay!"

Rapunzel cocked her head at him again, "concubine?"

Jim flinched, "please don't make me explain what that is to you." he blushed.

"Look, you're pretty," he blushed deeper. "and the crew will take advantage of that."

Rapunzel blushed at being called pretty. And because she realized the meaning behind his words.

"Well… Okay, fine! Just… Don't drop me or… I'm not afraid to use this!" Rapunzel lifted the frying pan above her head.

"Alright, I promise, we have to GO!" Jim grabbed his board as Rapunzel gathered up as much of her hair as she could. Jim edged the futuristic object to the edge of the window and steadied her on it.

"Hold on." he ordered. and she clung to the metal shaft with all her might.

"Mother, please forgive me…" she whispered.