A/N: First fanfic FTW! Anyways, Tangled is an awesome movie, and doing more research on it I am fascinated with all the previous versions that were in consideration. So, I decided to combine two of them. The one where Rapunzel and her prince turned into a squirrel and basset hound respectively and were replaced with two modern day teens named Claire and Vince (bonus points to Disney for planning on naming the two this,) and the darker, version that I believe that was being planned when Glen Keane was directing.
BTW, I don't own Tangled or Disney. BUT, I DO own a computer that I just watched the new footage of Tangled Ever After of. I'm now seeing Beauty and the Beast 3D...
Prologue
Once upon a time, there lived a young poor peasant couple who was expecting a baby. After many, many months of trying, they could finally craddle their son or daughter in their arms. They could raise the child as their very own, teaching him or her everything about the world.
But they couldn't celebrate just quite yet.
The young woman's pregnancy was slowly making her ill and weak. His wife slowly dying, the man promised the woman that he couldn't let her die. There just had to be a way to cure the woman he loved.
A short walk away from the couple's house, there lived a middle-aged witch named Gothel. The villagers feared her. She was told to be more powerful than anyother witch that lived nearby, but unlike the other witches who used their powers for themselves and hid away from everyone else, Gothel used her powers to manipulate anyone who came her way. She could easily turn a prince into a frog if she wanted to. Or a king into a dragon. Or a dragon into an ant. She wouldn't care less.
Still, Gothel could also just as easily heal the sick and injured. You would just have to make sure to never anger her. Some legends told that Gothel would rather kill than heal.
The peasant man still stood in front of her dark, massive house. He couldn't be afraid of a witch who was double his age. He was doing it for his wife.
The man nervously jogged up to Gothel's front door and knocked. No answer. Again. No answer.
The man was angry yet glad at the same time. He didn't have to confront that horrible woman. Yet, he still had to do something. He was just about to leave when he saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye.
He looked around, only to find a tiny garden situated at the side of Gothel's mansion. The garden was filled with lettuce. Not just any lettuce, but golden lettuce.
The man had to be seeing things.
But yet, something lured him towards that lettuce. It just gave him a hope that he'd at least be able to feed his wife a decent meal. He anxiously looked back and forth, and took the lettuce.
That night, he prepared a delicious salad for his wife. The wife was pleased, and devoured the lettuce in a few minutes. The salad was delicious, unlike anything she had ever tasted. Soon after, the woman drifted to sleep. As soon as she woke up, her illness was instantly cured. The peasant woman felt better than ever. But horrible greed overcame her. She demanded that her husband would get more of the lettuce. She swore that she wouldn't live without it.
Weeks passed, and everyday the man would run over to the witches house and grab more and more golden lettuce. Everyday he'd make a salad, and everyday his wife would devour it quicker and quicker. It quickly became a habit-until one day...
The man ran over to the Gothel's house and noticed that there wasn't any lettuce left. He had stolen all of it. A sudden wave of guilt washed over him. He was just leaving to tell his wife when the witch appeared in a burst of gold light right in front of him.
The man fell onto the ground in surprise. The woman wasn't ugly or scary, actually quite attractive, but the knowlage of what she could do to him made him quiver in fear. He could defend himself, but he couldn't bother. He was too scared.
"Who dares trespass into my garden?" The witch yelled. Her voice sounded raspy and loud, somewhat unpleasant.
"I-I-my wife..." The man couldn't complete his sentence, in fear of what was to come.
Gothel sneered, "I don't give a care about your wife! You trespass into my garden-" she looked up in horror, "-and steal my gold rapunzel! Do you know what that stuff is compatible of doing?"
The man just shook his head.
"It's enchanted. It heals the injured, cures the sick. It's extremely addicting though. If you start eating it, you can never stop. Otherwise, you're doomed." She narrowed her eyes at the man, "And you ate all of it!"
"Um-er, actually my wife did. She's expecting baby very soon, and I pray-"
"Wait? A baby?" The witch smirked.
The man gulped and slowly nodded.
"Listen, I'll let you and your pretty little wife go too. In return, you give me your baby."
"WHAT! What would you use a baby for?"
"I have my reasons."
The man thought this over. His life against an unborn baby whom he didn't even know was a boy or a girl. Even so, the witch would get a hold of his wife and if she were to kill her the baby wouldn't survive either. It was extremely obvious, "Deal."
And with that, he shook Gothel's hand and walked the opposite direction. The witch warned him before going inside, "and don't try to run away. I have the power to locate you. Remember that." The man hadn't even considered running away.
The wife was furious with her husband, but in the end she agreed with his decision. A month later, she had given birth to a beautiful, blonde baby girl with large green eyes, just like her mother. But with her birth, the woman died. The man was far to saddened about his loss that he forgot all about the witch. The love of his life was gone, and he had no idea why-until Gothel showed up in the middle of his kitchen.
"So, the baby?" the witch held out her hand towards the man.
"No! You can't take her! Didn't you hear, her mother..."
"I'm aware. I've been aware for about a month now. No one survives after eating that rapunzel. They'll just grow sick again, even more sick than before. Now, our deal. The child please."
The man hugged the poor baby to his chest. He was going to lose everything. All because of lettuce. He unwillingly held out the baby to the witch.
"Perfect. I thought you were going to try getting out of this," she grinned, "One thing you should know about me, I can never break a deal."
And with that, she disappeared into a flash of gold light.
Gothel knew exactly where to go. There was a hidden tower in the middle of the forest several miles away from the Kingdom of Corona that was guarded by a powerful type of magic that made it hidden to anyone who wasn't looking for it. It was the perfect place to hide a baby girl.
Gothel named the baby Rapunzel, based on the lettuce that grew in her garden. She raised the daughter as her very own, teaching her how to walk, talk, read, write and paint. Her hair grew at an extremely fast pase. By the time she was 3 it reached to the floor of the tower. The tiny girl was extremely curious, and she often spent many days gazing outside her window wishing that she could go outside. Whenever she asked though, Gothel would frown and say-
"The outside world is a dangerous place Rapunzel. Everyone takes advantage of each other, and kindness is frowned upon."
Young Rapunzel wasn't really exactly sure what she had meant. Then again, her "mother" was the only person she had ever talked to.
On the night of Rapunzel's eighth birthday, Gothel was just laying her to bed. The problem was, Rapunzel was wide awake. Gothel, having no idea what to do, started singing a lullaby. It wasn't really a lullaby meant to lure a child to sleep though, it was actually a spell she had learned a long time ago. It was often sung to unlock and use the magic in enchanted healing objects, such as the lettuce that once grew in her garden. That way, she didn't have to eat the lettuce to be healed. But Gothel figured that it would work as a lullaby as well.
"Flower, gleam and glow,
Let the power shine,
Make the clock reverse,
Bring back what once was mine,
Heal what has been hurt,
Change the fate's design,
Save what has been lost,
Bring back what once was mine,
What once was mine."
It first started as a faint glow coming from Rapunzel's hair, but then it expanded. Rapunzel's blonde hair was glowing. Actually glowing, like it was being lit up. Both Gothel and Rapunzel numbly stared at the hair.
Gothel at first was extremely confused, but then she realized something. The lettuce. What if the magic from it transferred into the little girl? What if Rapunzel could heal like that rare lettuce? Even if that was the case, something inside of Gothel snapped.
"Rapunzel! This is why you can never leave the tower! This-um-gift must be protected! This rare ability will not be treated well by others." And with that, the witch blew out the candle and left Rapunzel sitting alone on her small bed, staring at her hair.
A gift that must be protected? Rapunzel frowned. Glowing hair seemed more like a curse than a gift.
Rapunzel quickly found out why. One day, Gothel came to the tower with a deep cut on her elbow. Rapunzel didn't question why her mother was injured, but Gothel told her to sit down and sing the lullaby for her. As Rapunzel sang, her hair glowed, and Gothel wrapped the long, blonde hair around her elbow. Once the hair was taken away, the cut was gone and Gothel's elbow looked clearer than ever.
A gift.
As Rapunzel grew older and older, adolesence quickly caught up to her. She seemed to grow older and more mature by the day, and Gothel hated this. The clumsy, naive little girl who tripped over her hair all the time had transformed into a teenager, a young adult. Gothel was aware that Rapunzel wasn't dumb as she looked, and knew that the longer she kept her in the tower the more Rapunzel would want to go outside and the greater a chance of someone finding the girl.
Still, Gothel would never let anyone touch her precious flower, even if it was the last thing she'd do.
A/N: I was originally going to upload 3 chapters right away, but I just finished the first one and thought I would benefit more by uploading 1 chapter at a time. Aaaannnddd, I have no idea how to end these things, so the next chapter should come eventually. Deadlines don't work for me, but it's almost Christmas so I'm busy. About a week? Reviews are encouraged and I'll try to respond.