Hello, and welcome to a new fanfic! Recently I've been very obsessed with Frozen, and I love Tangled, too, so I came up with an idea for a Frozen/Tangled crossover (based off the theory that they're cousins). This first chapter is set in Corona, so we begin with Tangled characters! Yay! Anyway, on with the story! (Please excuse any rough writing ^-^)
The palace was in chaos.
As the golden sun first peeked up from beneath the horizon on the first day of June, the whole city of Corona was already awake and fretting as they sat waiting in anticipation in their little houses. Even the birds were down and gloomy; although the sky was clear, they whistled as if there were a heavy storm brewing. Low and dragging were their tunes. Melancholy. Anxious. Full of remorse. How they knew, who knows? They may have just sensed the heavy depression that hung in the early Summer air - or there may have been more to it than even that.
The palace may have been in chaos, but it was the quietest place of all. Maids and pages hurried along the pristine corridors, swarming around in complete silence. It was quite eerie, as if the castle were a clock that was still moving but had stopped ticking. A single maid, laden with a bowl of steaming water and a pile of towels hung over one arm, veered off the general course and scurried up a spiral stairway.
Her slipper-shoes tapped on the marble as she ascended the tower. It took her a while, and she had to stop to catch her breath once, but eventually a large, dark wooden door appeared within her view. The maid sighed in relief and scrambled up the last few steps, breathing heavily and sploshing some water over the edge of the bowl in the process.
The Queen, who had heard the maid's approaching footsteps, pushed open the heavy door slightly and peered out. Here face looked phenomally worn and there were heavy bags drooping underneath her hazel-green eyes. The faint sound of a young child wailing escaped from behind the door and reached the maid's sensitive ears. She frowned and hastily heaved the bowl of water into the Queen's arms.
'Thank you so much,' the Queen murmured quietly, so much so that it was almost just a breath of air. She had been awake all night and consequently her voice was failing her. The maid went to offer her the towels too, and the Queen shook her head. 'No, no, please, we need some extra help. Would you mind bringing it in?'
The maid stood in shock for a second or two and then shook her head. 'I wouldn't mind at all, of course I can bring the towels in!' She tried to act nonchalant, but in actual fact she was overwhelmingly excited by the prospect of seeing the rest of the royalty. The palace staff, each and every one of them, cared an awful lot about their rulers - they were kind, fair and cherished Corona greatly. The maid was so anxious to see the Princess, two Princes and King that she tripped slightly on her way through the doorway.
The room at the top of the tower was light and airy. A huge arched window, which was just slightly ajar, was set snugly into the wall on the opposite side of the room to the door. The walls themselves were originally painted a pristine white, but the Princess Rapunzel had painted and decorated them for her young son with swirling patterns of bright colours, all sorts of different animals and nature, along with she, Prince Eugene and a small bundle of cloth (supposedly the baby) sitting together, underneath a stream of lanterns that were lit every year on Rapunzel's birthday. The room was hexagon-shaped so that the tower looked round from the outside. There was another large wooden door set on the right, which the maid knew led down a short flight of stairs and into Rapunzel and Eugene's room. That way, they were near to their child but not near enough to wake him up if they went to bed later than he did, which was of course often the case.
However, these last few nights they had been sleeping with the little boy, so there was a mattress set on the floor, along with a simple quilt and, well, all the essentials for sleeping. Not that they had actually slept much. The poor Prince Finley had been up all night, every night, either crying, requiring medicine or requiring cuddling. Finley had inherited both his parents' dark brown hair, and Eugene's chestnut-brown eyes. Although he was four years old, he was extremely ill and needed a lot of looking after.
The maid watched as the Queen glided slowly and sadly over to where the boy lay in his little raised bed, surrounded by the other members of the royal family. Eugene was attempting to calm the child as he wailed and hot tears slid down his little tomato-red face. Rapunzel was leaning on her husband's free arm, her face buried in his shoulder as her own heaved with shuddering breaths. The maid couldn't tell whether she was crying or not. The King was sat on a chair beside the bed, his head bowed and one hand messing with his thick grey beard. His other hand was slumped listlessly on his lap, along with his golden crown. The King was extremely tired, the maid thought, but he definitely didn't want to leave his family.
The Queen beckoned for the maid to carry the towels over, and she realised she had been stood in a slight trance. She quickly hurried over to the bedside and looked down at Finley's little face. Oh, how she wanted to lift him and hold him tight, console him, stop him from crying any more. Of course, she knew it was impossible. There was only one cure to the illness the young prince had. And that cure had been gone for at least twenty-six years. That cure had been gone since the year Princess Rapunzel had been born.
They all knew that was what was wrong.
They all knew that was why the royals were so distraught.
The illness Prince Finley had was the one that the Queen had been inflicted with those many years before, whilst she was pregnant with her daughter Rapunzel. Nobody had known it could be passed on, down the line of birth, but that appeared to be what had happened. Finley was going to die, and there was nothing anybody could do about it, because the only cure was the legendary golden flower, the single one formed by a single drop of golden sunlight before anyone even knew it was possible. Somewhere, it must still have been inside Rapunzel, but she hadn't been cursed with it herself. And unfortunately it had been passed on to her son. Which didn't seem possible, because they all thought it had been completely eradicated along with the Queen recovering when she had been healed by the flower; but apparently not. How small were the chances of Finley getting that gene? Very, very small. But he got it anyway. There was nothing anyone could do about that.
The Queen took the towel from the top of the pile and dipped the corner in the steaming water, touching it to Finley's head. The maid didn't think that was such a good idea, and when the child yelped a few seconds later her hunch was confirmed. 'Your Majesty,' she piped up quietly, 'I think it would be better if you used cooler water. Young Prince Finley has a fever, yes?'
The Queen sighed and carefully balanced the towel back on to the pile in the maid's arms. 'Yes. Thank you. Would you mind going down to Rapunzel and Eugene's room and using the bathroom there to re-fill the bowl? I would be very grateful.'
The maid nodded back and set the towels down near to the King's feet and picked up the bowl, scurrying across the room like a timid mouse, hastily heaving back the heavy door and escaping into the short staircase. The atmosphere in that room was too morbid and oppressive for her liking, and although she couldn't blame them for being depressed, her own usually-jolly mind couldn't handle it. She liked to think she was the joyful, slightly plump old next-door-neighbour type person that baked apple pies for everyone and kept the whole place cheerful. Although she was anxious, worried, and upset, the whole city being down in the dumps wasn't making anything any more bearable.
Emerging into Rapunzel and Eugene's neat bedroom, the maid glanced around to check that everything was in order (by habit more than because she actually cared at that moment in time) before running into the bathroom. Everything appeared to be tidy in the bedroom anyway. It was very much like Finley's room in there, just more... full. Rapunzel and Eugene had dressers and wardrobes, a huge double bed, shelves everywhere and two bedside tables. However, the walls were still painted with images and bright colours by Rapunzel. The most vivid of all was a painting of she, Eugene, the King and the Queen sitting together, huddled on the main balcony of the palace in the middle of a huge hug. The maid recognised it perfectly; everybody did. It was the day that Rapunzel had returned to Corona and had been reunited with her parents.
The maid thoughtlessly tipped all of the hot water from the bowl down the sink in the queenly bathroom without thinking. She probably should have saved some to make the water a little warm. Oh, well. She could deal with it. She ran the hot tap until it was just slightly warm, ever so very slightly, and then filled the bowl, checking that it wasn't heating up too much. Then she added a splash of cool water to make sure that it was just the right temperature. Finally, she switched the taps off and heaved the bowl back out of the room and up the stairs.
When she got back to Finley's room, she was surprised that Rapunzel appeared to be gone.
'She went to the castle library,' explained the Queen, sensing that the maid was slightly confused. 'I think she said she was going to write to her cousins, although I'm not sure. She kind of mumbled it as she left.'
The maid nodded and stretched out her arms to offer the bowl back to the Queen. Finley seemed to have ceased his crying, but Eugene still stood by him, gently stroking his head and face. He looked up as the maid quietly said, 'Here, your Majesty,' and gave her a small nod of thanks.
After curtseying once, the maid turned and quietly left the room.