Author's Note: A Legend of Korra version of Rapunzel, centered around Tangled enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Legend of Korra characters or the "Tangled" plot.
Prologue:
Seventeen years ago, a tragedy struck the Southern Water Tribe: their newborn princess was stolen. The King and Queen searched the entire world for her, but to avail. The entire tribe was devastated. In traditional mourning style they waterbend a rainstorm every year on her birthday all over the world lasting from the time she was placed in her crib that night to the time her absence was discovered. The entirety of the United Republic mourned with the depressed King and Queen.
Far away in an isolated swamp, a woman named Hama cradling a bundle wrapped in blue fur trudged through the murky water with an evil grin. The old lady had been waiting for this day for nine months, and now she was to be a bender like the rest of her family. Avatar Aang could take bending away, so why couldn't the new Avatar give it to someone? This was her scheme as she made her way toward the tower she had paid to be constructed for her. No one would ever find her, and when she was positive that she had permanent bending, she'd kill the Avatar.
"Korra, darling, wake up; breakfast is ready!"
Ice blue eyes opened, blinking away the darkness that sleep had left over. Said owner of eyes sat up, yawning and stretching her well toned muscled arms. Before getting out of bed, she braided her long brown hair so that it just brushed the backs of her ankles instead of dragging twenty yards on the ground behind her.
Dressing herself in her favorite Water Tribe outfit, the dark-skinned teen practically flew downstairs at the smell of crisp seal jerky waiting in the kitchen. Once she entered the room, an equally dark-skinned woman turned with a frying pan in her hands and smiled.
"Good morning, dear," the older woman greeted.
"Good morning, mother," was the drowsy answer.
"Do you know what day it is?"
"No," Korra said with a confused frown then thought for a moment. "Wait, it's my sixteenth birthday!"
Hama laughed as the excited teen threw her arms around her neck with glee, being careful to avoid the hot pan. The happy family calmed down and ate Korra's favorite breakfast with exuberance while chatting about the plan for the special day.
"First, I'm going to find your favorite flowers and gather them in a bouquet for the new vase I bought for you. Then, I'm going to ride to the town and get what I need to make your favorite dinner. After that, I'm going to teach you a very special dance that every Water Tribe performs on her sixteenth birthday. How does that sound?"
Korra smiled halfheartedly, and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Great, but—"
"Wonderful! I'll go right now so the flowers will be fresh all day!"
"Mother, I—"
"Come, come, dear, you can't expect me to get to the ground by just jumping can you?"
"Mother!" Korra shouted. Hama had already been half out the window before stopping and turning with a questioning glance.
"Actually…I wanted to do something else today."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"I want to dance in the rain. Just once, I want to go outside for a few minutes and feel what it's like. I mean, it's what a bunch of girls do in the books."
Hama stood slowly, approaching with a frown. As her shadow loomed over her daughter, she placed her hands firmly on her shoulders.
"Korra, I've told you a thousand times that it's far too dangerous to go outside, especially in the swamp. No one knows what's out here," said the parent with an even tone.
"Then why do we live in such a dangerous place?" Korra shouted, her fiery temper kicking in.
"Because, you're safe from the rest of the world here with me. As the Avatar, you are deemed a worldwide enemy because of what your predecessor has done by forcefully uniting all the nations with the threat that he would use his power to punish us even after death. Not only that, but people want you for your powers. After all, you're the only being in the world that can bend all four elements."
Korra looked down, "I know."
Her mother lifted her chin, "why is dancing in the rain so special?"
"Well, it rains at a certain time for a certain amount of hours every year on my birthday. I figured it meant something special, like it was a kind of present to me from nature because I love the rain."
Hama smiled, brushing back her daughter's seemingly endless long brunette hair.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I love you far too much to let you risk your life out there."
"But mother, don't you risk your life every time you go out?" She asked matter-of-factly with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course, but I'm at less of a chance of getting killed because I'm not a wanted enemy and I know my ways around the swamp. Now, why don't you paint me a new picture in my room? The old one's getting kind of boring," Hama said as she retraced her steps back to the window.
"All right, be careful. I love you mother," Korra said as she undid her braid, shook it out, and draped it over the hook outside the window. Hama blew her a kiss and slid gracefully down the soft chocolate waterfall to the ground.
After watching her mother go, the Avatar sighed as she retracted her hair and braided it once more. Well, I'd better get started on my daily chores, she thought.
Quickly, Korra became immersed in her everyday routine of cleaning up the kitchen with waterbending after breakfast, lighting the tower with firebending, rearrange the furniture with earthbending, dusting and sweeping with airbending, and finally making her and Hama's beds. During this process, she's become used to singing and humming the songs her mother had taught her to have more fun. Her fire ferret, Pabu, usually awoke around this time to remind her to give him breakfast leftovers. As if on cue, a scarlet blur flashed before her eyes and she felt a furry creature scale her body to wrap around her shoulders.
"Morning, Pabu. Hungry?" Korra asked chuckling. She placed the bowl she had filled with the scraps on the ground for him, and he jumped down to shove his furry face in it. Korra laughed again, continuing with her chores and seeing her favorite song at the top of her lungs. Little did she know that her singing this day would unleash a chain of events that would change her life forever.
The South Water Tribe castle guards stood erect, silent, and each had a perfected stony look that would rival even the Gorgons'. Unknown to them, a group of three teenage boys perched on the roof above them waiting for the opportune moment. When the patrol guard was safely out of earshot, each boy reached down and covered their respective guard's mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in a liquid that would knock them unconscious. When each armored man had been gently lowered to the ground to not make a sound, the trio untied themselves from the ropes holding them to the roof and landed on the icy ground without a sound. Immediately they scanned the guards for the key that would unlock the sacred room they so desperately needed to be inside of. Finally, after painstakingly long seconds, one of the boys found the precious item and shoved it into the keyhole.
The door did not open.
Cursing, the one holding the key stepped back for his fellow waterbending accomplice to try. With a few swift movements and snappy observations there was a loud "clang" as the lock slid away and the door opened. Their mental clocks ticked away as the waterbender slipped inside while the other two stood guard.
Inside stood a pedestal, to which a box was sitting on. The odd thing about the room wasn't its sole contents, but the constant rain that seemed to come from nowhere in the ceiling. The ground wasn't wet, either, because the rain seemed to disappear a few inches from ice floor. Cautiously, the boy stepped forward and waterbended the ice box away, revealing a glorious sight: a silver tiara made of a metal that held a watery sheen, decorated with an unfamiliar blue stone and topped with a large white pearl. Shaking his head, the teen grabbed the tiara and shoved it inside a ready bag.
"Tahno, we've got company!" Shouted Mako, the firebender of the group. Tahno, the waterbender, quickly went over the options: go outside and attempt to fight our way out with the most likely chance of getting thrown behind bars, or escape myself with the treasure. Hmm…I like the idea of not going to prison. He waved his hand in an arc over his forehead, and the ceiling opened up for him to jump out of. Without a second glance he ran across the rooftops with expert feet that were used to ice. He ended up at the docks and found their escape boat, jumping into it and propelling himself away with a push of his hand to create a wave. He spun his arm behind him, creating a constant propulsion of the boat like he had been taught in the swamp. The swamp! He thought excitedly, that's where I'll hide out until I know what to do. But I can't go back to my family, there's no way I'm ever seeing their filthy faces again. I'll just find a new place, he decided.
Miles and miles passed as he was farther and farther away from the South Pole when he felt the familiar spiritual pull of his home. He was close now, maybe about a hundred miles from the swamp.
Hours passed, and Tahno was absolutely exhausted. He decided to drift toward the swamp, which he could faintly make out the outline of from where he was. His gaze shifted down to the bag that held the tiara, and he decided to look at it again. The blue stones were a light cerulean hue, and the milky white pearl at the uppermost loop glistened in the sunlight. Entranced, he brought up a hand to rub away a smudge on one of the azure stones and then gently put it back in the bag.
"The lost princess, huh?" He thought aloud.
Rumor was the tiara had been ordered as soon as they found out the baby was a girl. The King and Queen hadn't decided on a name at the time of her birth, so she was simply called "The Lost Princess" to the world. Briefly he imagined the King and Queen's crestfallen faces when they discovered yet another theft that coincidentally had to do with their beloved daughter, but pushed it away before he could feel any guilt. He ran a hand through his wavy hair, smoothing out his bangs. It was going to be a long day.
When Tahno reached shore, he destroyed the boat in case Mako, Bolin, or the Royal Guard would trace his whereabouts. Then, he began his trek through the swamp in search of his new temporary home. Old instincts kicked in, like making sure to go through the trees if possible, never be in water deeper than your knees, and always be aware of every sound. He tuned his ears and listened to the daily swamp life: giant flies buzzing, vines swishing with the occasional breeze, frogs croaking, splashing from various fish and eels, catgators hissing.
He was most definitely home.
Smirking slightly at the familiarity, he began his search. For what seemed like hours, he wandered with keen silver eyes for either an abandoned hut or a nice place to make one from scratch. Or, preferably, a mansion with plumbing and electricity that he was used to. However, he found nothing of the sort and lounged in a tree eating what little food he could gather.
Suddenly, his eyes perked up at an unfamiliar sound. He turned toward it, trying to make out what it was. A female voice, singing. I know the swamp is spiritual and can cause illusions and visions and whatnot, but that's the most random thing I've heard of all day. He finished off his fruit and pocketed the remaining sustenance, determined to see if this singing was real. The skilled waterbender followed the beautiful voice with his well trained ears, and was shocked when he found it coming from a waterfall. Raising an eyebrow, he plunged his hand through it and felt not stone, but air on the other side. Without a second thought for the second time that day, he plunged through the cascade and was shocked at the sight before him.
There in the middle of the swamp was a tall tower, and from the window he could hear the voice he'd been following. He approached the building, looking for a door but didn't find one. That's odd… So, he decided to waterbend himself up using the swamp water (with the mental note to clean himself as soon as possible, who knows that that water contained) through the window. When he straightened up, he was hit was a massive wall of pure pain and blacked out.