This little story has been in my head for awhile. :V Figured I might as well try and get back into FanFiction. To writing it that is.
Gothel, Rapunzel, and anything else mentioned belongs to Disney.
Gothel sometimes liked to think she wasn't a heartless witch. It was when the night was completely silent and small Rapunzel had all but fell into a deep slumber, when she thought like this. She prided herself on her ways, feeling devilishly good after she was able to fool some poor sap.
But whenever she was forced to play with Rapunzel, staring up at her with big blue eyes, Gothel felt a tug at her heart, which she had thought was long gone by now. The babe she had taken all those years ago was a sweet little six year old now, happily painting all over her room. When Gothel had first noticed, she had felt herself become angry, but the pure look of happiness on the girl's face made her stop and go ahead and let her paint.
She also liked to tell herself that it was only because she wanted the girl to trust her, never suspected she was only here to keep her "mother" young. But, now a days, Gothel felt more and more like a mother. She once caught herself worrying about the girl when she was off in the forest. She had shaken her head in a fuss and quickly tried to think of something else.
Still, she found herself telling herself that it was the royals fault, taking her flower. It wasn't being selfish; all she wanted was to stay young and pretty. People looked at her and smiled when she was young, when she's old, all they see is a hag. In even more frequent cases, as she would comb little Rapunzel's hair, she thought to herself how this is better. Now, they wouldn't use or hurt Rapunzel because of her special gift, she was save here with Gothel.
People were greedy, they would have hurt the poor girl, made her big and curious eyes fill up in tears. Gothel told herself that many times. That's why she kidnapped Rapunzel, not because she was an old, ugly hag.
Still, sometimes, she wondered if maybe she could take Rapunzel back and just live out the rest of her days slowly dying. Moments like that scared Gothel, fearing that the she was going soft. Actually seeing the girl as her daughter.
When Rapunzel grew even more curious of the outside, Gothel would panic, thinking that the minute the girl stepped out, guards would come rushing in and arresting Gothel, maybe even kill her. She gave her more paint, distracting her by saying how nice the ceiling would look painted.
Soon, she was begging to just feel the grass, and Gothel was running out of ideas. Rapunzel was growing up too fast now, she had been comforted by Gothel, the woman would think, outside would just hurt like the royals. At least, Gothel told herself that was why.
Sometimes, she would feel evil and terrible and nasty, saying Rapunzel was only still there because of her hair, telling herself all this mother nonsense was just stupid and it was only because Rapunzel would look up with her stupid big blues.
So, why, when Gothel had come home to an empty tower, she not only felt angry, but scared and absolutely felt her heart jerk and feel herself almost cry?
It was because her young potion was gone, that's why. She would tell herself millions of time, but a little voice in the back of her head would always softly say:
Because you actually care for her.
She would deny it millions of times, say she was just scared she was going to get arrested by the guards or something like that. Like she told herself all these years.
It wasn't until she saw Rapunzel's angry and hurt eyes did she realize the reason she didn't want Rapunzel to ever go out was because she was scared Rapunzel would finally realize that Gothel was not her mother.