Disclaimer: I own none of this. All rights go to Disney and whoever else (if anyone else) owns the rights to Tangled.
The first time I felt like I didn't belong in that tower with my 'mother' Gothel, was when I was 5 and had a dream about a couple who stood watching over me with tender eyes. That morning I had woken up and painted a picture of them behind my mirror, away from Gothel's prying eyes. The following days, the image of their tender eyes and loving smiles had haunted me. I knew I should know them back I had no idea how. I had wondered why they looked at me like that when my 'mother' never did. Many dreams of them continued and it drove me crazy. I never told 'mother' because I knew that it was probably just my imagination. It wasn't until on my 7th birthday, watching the lights float into the sky like the year before that something clicked. I just knew that Gothel wasn't my real mother. It somehow just became clear that the couple in my dreams watching over me were my parents. There loving smiles and tender eyes just convinced me even more. It was from that moment on that I had worked to find a way of escaping from both the Tower and Gothel.
It is now the dead of night, exactly one month since my birthday that I finally put a plan into action. I put my extra long hair in plaits and checked that Gothel was sleeping deeply enough. Once I was reassured by her soft snoring, I made my way to the window. Over the last couple of weeks, I had been making a rope of random things like old bed sheets, pillow cases, and clothes. The idea had come to me through observing Gothel leaving the tower in the same manner except with a proper rope. Gothel always kept the rope hidden in her room and so I made my own. After a few tries, I finally managed to get one end of the rope over the hook and tied it in a loop. I threw the rest of the rope to the ground and took a deep breath. 'Well, here goes nothing,' I thought and, holding onto the rope, I jumped. I made it to the ground in what seemed like seconds and sighed in relief. I looked at the grass, scrunching my toes thinking about how it feels so different to the ground in the tower. I started giggling and ran towards the cave.
I walked for what felt like hours until I came to the edge of some sort of town. I felt so tired and decided to find my parents in the morning. I crawled beneath a bush and fell asleep thinking about how I would find my parents.
I woke up to the sounds of the birds singing in the trees. I crawled out from underneath the bush and found the sun already high up in the sky, indicating that it was nearing midday. 'Oh no,' I thought, 'Gothel's probably already realised I've escaped and is probably looking for me right now.' I quickly ran into the village and searched the faces of the crowd. I finally arrived at what looked like a main street, as many people aligned the road and a procession of important looking people walked towards what looked like a big castle on the hill. I scurried through the crowd, desperately hoping to find the loving couple from my dreams.
I finally reached the front of the crowd and looked upon the first two people of the procession. The woman wore an elegant dress with a gold Tiara while the man wore clothes only befitting for royalty with a bejeweled golden crown. I gasped as I realised they were the couple in my dream, my parents. I didn't hesitate to run towards them and I wrapped my arms around the startled king. I looked up into his eyes and smiled innocently at him, then buried my head in his stomach again.
The Kings POV
Today was the 300th anniversary of the City of Corona and it was the duty of myself and my wife as the Rulers of this city to parade through the town and have a feast in the evening in the castle. As we marched up the street I couldn't help thinking that our daughter should be with us, laughing happily and waving to the crowd. I felt my smiling slipping from my face and it was only the slight squeeze of my hand from Primrose, my wife that kept a smile, plastered on my face. I waved occasionally at the happy and somewhat awed crowd. As we neared the castle however a young girl, maybe 7 years old with plaited blonde hair ran out from the crowd. I was so startled that I just froze when her arms tightly wrapped around my waist and buried her head in my stomach. I looked down in shock as she looked up into my eyes and was startled yet again at how familiar the eyes seemed to me. She smiled and I swear I heard her sigh in contentment as she buried her face into my stomach again. I looked at my wife and saw my shock mirrored on her face. The crowd had gone quiet as soon as the procession had stopped and gazed upon us curiously. I saw my guards move towards me but I stopped them from doing so.
"I will deal with this," I whispered quietly to my head guard and he obeyed loyally. I tenderly grabbed the little girl's arms from around my waist and kneeled down before her. I heard the crowd gasp in surprise. 'I suppose it wasn't every day that they witness their King kneel before anyone,' I thought to myself wryly.
I looked into her now teary eyes and asked kindly, "What is wrong dear child?"
More tears built up in her eyes as she took a little step back and whispered questioningly, "You don't remember me?"
I looked at her in confusion. 'Remember her? Why should I remember her?' he thought to himself. I gazed upon her more intently than before, taking a closer look at her appearance. After a minute I concluded that she did look familiar but he couldn't place it. The longer I looked at her, the stronger feeling of a loving bond grew within me but it still didn't completely click. A disturbance in the silence broke my concentration and I looked up in time to see a women break through the crowd and rush towards them. I felt the girl press her back against me again and looked down to find her gazing frightfully at the woman approaching them. I didn't have enough time to question the look as the women spoke to them.
"I am sorry for my daughters interruption of the parade your Highnesses. She is not well and ran away before I could give her the medicine, forgive me," She spoke in a silky voice.
I hesitated. Something about the woman seemed off to me and the reaction of the small girl made his stomach twist in worry. I pushed my worries aside though and walked forward, effectively forcing the reluctant girl forward.
"No! Don't let her take me away again! She's not my mother! She's an evil witch!" the small child yelled as the lady started walking away with her. She turned towards me with begging eyes and yelled again, "Help Daddy, please! Don't let her take me away! DADDY!" She was crying now but as soon as she yelled 'Daddy' it clicked. I immediately moved towards the lady and the panicking little girl. 'My little girl,' I thought, and ordered the guards to seize the lady. I reached them before the guards and wrapped my arms securely around my baby girl, forcing the lady to release her hold on my angel. I turned and walked towards my wife, my head buried in my little girls hair, continually kissing her head as we both cried in joy. My wife soon joined the hug and we all collapsed to the ground in the hug. The crowd watched on in joy as they witnessed the royal reunion.
Both my wife and I were continually whispering how much we loved and missed her, and how glad we were that she was safe. I felt my little girl finally lift her head and her teary eyes looked at both my wife and I.
"I Love you Mummy and Daddy," she whispered and smiled as she buried her head in the crook of my neck again. My wife and I smiled and both of us stood up. We ordered the procession to continue and we headed up to the Castle, our home. That night the feast was made even grander as usual as we celebrated the return of our beloved daughter Rapunzel, the Princess of Corona. The Celebration continued throughout the week and life and laughter was restored to our previously lonely and depressing palace. Our daughter was our light in the dark and we will forever be thankful for her presence in our lives.
The End
Sorry guys this is just a really short ONE-SHOT that I have been wanting to write for ages. Let me know what you think. I wrote it in like 2 hours so please excuse any mistakes. Thank you for reading though and I hope you did enjoy it. Please, please, please review and let me know what you think.
Stay awesome: D
KnightStrider49