Why do I ALWAYS come up with a new story in the middle of 10 other projects? –shrugs-

So yeah, recently discovered the Megapunzel fandom and I have to say that I find it absolutely adorable! Had to give it a try for myself. Hope you guys all like it!

Room for Another

The first time Megamind had toyed around with the idea of the reset button had been after the 163rd time that Metro Man had plopped him off at jail. Things would have been ultimately better if said hero's pod hadn't knocked his own away from the Scott mansion. With their riches and resources, he most definitely would have been Evil Overlord by that point. So by the time that Minion had busted him out a few weeks later, he'd had notes scribbled all down and the skeleton of schematics drawn up. Although through nearly 8 months of research, with the occasional trip back to jail here and there, through all the algorithms and equations, it was concluded that the science for the reset button was impossible. The project was abandoned, but the button and the research were stored away in the Vault along with all the other rejects.

Weeks turned into months, months turned into years. The reset button was far from forgotten; with a brain the size of Megamind's, it was impossible to forget anything, really. So it was simply stored away in the back of his memory, sometimes teasing him, but for the most part, promptly ignored. If he had to be perfectly honest with himself, he loved the elaborate Game he and Wayne Scott aka Metro Man had set up for themselves. Even though Megamind never actually won any of their fights or achieved his goal of becoming Evil Overlord; even though he'd become very very acquainted with the Metro City Prison for the Criminal Gifted and just about every employee therein, he loved his career. There was very little that could make him give up the villainous lifestyle he had chosen.

And so the button sat in the vault, gathering dust and remaining purposeless. Until one rainy September day, when the world stopped; when life as he knew it was thrown into a dark shadow.

"Sir, I have to remain adamant that this…" Minion hesitated. "Well, it just seems like a really bad idea."

"Yes!" Megamind yelled over the sound of his blowtorch. "This is a wickedly bad idea for the greater good of humanity!"

When the button had been saved from the dust and decay and the schematics reviewed, he had realized that the technology might not have been exactly impossible, just difficult to come by. It needed an extremely stable environment to work 100% safely. Hence the safe-room he was just about to finish constructing. It had taken nearly another 6 months to redesign his first crude prototype of the button and a further 4 to finish this safe-room. But no matter; if this worked (which it most definitely would, as his equations this time had been flawless) then the amount of time it had taken would be inconsequential. This time tomorrow, things would be back to the way they should be.

"No…Sir, I have to say that even from an evil perspective…this is just plain bad."

Megamind switched off the blowtorch and a hopeful smile crept upon his face. Finished. He pulled his goggles off and removed the showercap from his flawless bald head. "We're finished, Minion!" he exclaimed. "It's finally ready!"

"Sir, are you even listening to me?" Minion sighed. "I really think you shouldn't go through with this."

"What are you talking about?" Megamind handed the blowtorch and goggles to a nearby brainbot and clambered down the ladder. "You know that if anyone could pull this off, Minion, it would be me."

The safe-room was egg-shaped on the exterior and blindingly pure white on the interior. It was reinforced with padded walls so that no outside sounds could interfere and given missile proof protection, just to be safe. One never knew when the witless wonder Metro Man might get lucky and find the evil lair. Missile proof metals and glasses happened to be some of the materials he had a harder time punching through, though it was unlikely he'd even be looking for the lair. Megamind had been devoting most of his time to this project, so Metro Man hadn't exactly been active either. Not since…well, then.

"I don't doubt you there, sir." Minion conceded. "It's just…" he sighed, fiddling his surprisingly dexterous metal fingers. "This is a little like playing God to me, sir. It seems so wrong."

Megamind brushed past him, grabbing the necessary equipment he would need. "It's not 'playing God', Minion." He said. "All I'm doing is setting things back to the way they were supposed to be. I don't even care about rewriting my entire past anymore." He strapped on his holowatch, holstered his De-Gun. The night before, he had packed together a small satchel with a spare outfit and three days rations of food. He didn't know how long he was going to be gone, or how long his mission would take, but he suspected that it wouldn't be long.

Early into his revisions, he realized the problem with the first prototype had been that he'd been expecting the change of reality to be instantaneous and that the button would do all the work. The original design, had it been possible, would've been more like skipping through different dimensions, which according to David Tennant and Billie Piper, was very much impossible. (Many a late-night Doctor Who marathon had helped greatly in his redesigns.) For it to actually work correctly, it had to act as more of a time-traveling device; it had to be more of a flux-capacitor rather than a reset. If he wanted his present to change, he had to go into the past and do it himself.

Minion sighed. Once his ward made his mind, it took a miracle of spectacular proportions to change it. He placed his hands on Megamind's spiked shoulders, straightened out the high gothic collar, and smoothed the creases in his cape. "Just…promise me you'll be careful."

Normally, Megamind would've told his friend to stop being such a mother hen, but this wasn't like the other times. Despite the fact that they were sure the button would work, there was the slight uncertainty that it might not; at least, not in the way he intended and who knows how disastrous that could turn out to be. Looking into Minion's eyes, he could see the sincere apprehension the fish was experiencing.

"Alright." He said. "I promise."

This was it. He was going to reset their reality. He was going to make things right again. He stepped through the first door of the safe-room and stood in the cabin between the doors so that it could sterilize him. He then stepped through the second door and into the safe-room. In the middle of the room rested the reset button, resting on a slim pedestal. He looked back through the doors' circular widows, much like the one in his high security cell at the prison, to look back at Minion. He gave the fish a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up to tell him that everything was going to be fine.

He turned back to the button. Its siren song called to him. Press me, it called. The world will be perfect again.

Without another moment's hesitation, he crossed the distance between him and the pedestal and picked the button up. It was round and red, inset into a silver frame. On the top, it read "reset" and was circled in white. In no way had he copied the exterior design from the Staples "easy" button. Not a chance.

He pressed down on the button and the world around him changed into a mass of swirling colors and sounds. He felt a tug forward, as if someone had fastened a hook behind his navel, and he was gone.

"This is it!" Rapunzel was giddy as she finished cleaning up her paints. "This is a very big day, Pascal! I'm going to ask her."

Her chameleon friend smiled and chirped his support as he climbed up onto Rapunzel's outstretched arm. From the time she had been 10 years old, she had been yearning to see the floating lights that appeared every year only on her birthday. And not from a tower window miles away; no, she wanted to see them up close. On her "mother's" orders, she'd never dared leave her tower before, but now that her 18th birthday was tomorrow, perhaps Mother would finally realize that she was mature enough to experience the outside world.

As if on cue, she heard her mother's soprano call out in a sing-song voice, "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"

Her heart skipped a beat in excitement. She grinned down at Pascal, who was now resting upon her shoulder. "It's time!"

Pascal puffed his frail little chest out, telling her to be brave and confident. Rapunzel giggled and then gently removed him from her shoulder. He grabbed onto the wall behind her and quickly changed his scaly body's color to the same shade of midnight blue she had painted earlier. "Don't let her see you," she told him as she drew the curtains over the newest artwork.

"Rapunzel!" Gothel called again. "I'm not getting any younger down here!"

"Coming, Mother!" She quickly crossed the room to the window/doorway. She grabbed her train of 70-foot long, golden hair, slung it over a hook that was nailed above the window, and threw the curtain of hair down. Gothel took hold of the end of it and fashioned a loop to stick her foot through. As soon as she was secured, Rapunzel began tugging on her own hair, pulling her mother up into the tower. As soon as she was close enough, Gothel scooted onto the window ledge and climbed in. "Oh, Rapunzel!" She cooed. Rapunzel pulled the last of her hair free from the hook. "How you manage to do that every single day without fail! It looks absolutely exhausting, darling." She brushed her hand over Rapunzel's face in tender love.

"Oh," Rapunzel chuckled nervously. "It's nothing, really."

"Then I don't know why it takes so long." Gothel admonished her, tapping her nose. Rapunzel's smile fell until her mother cackled. "I'm just teasing, dear." She moved past her towards the full length mirror.

"Oooo-kay," Rapunzel followed after her as Gothel tossed aside her cloak. The elder woman began primping at her hair and pulling at her face, checking for any blemish or wrinkle. "So, Mother," Rapunzel continued, "As you know, tomorrow is a very bid da-"

"Rapunzel, look in that mirror," Gothel cut her off and brought her close next to her. "You know what I see? I see a strong, confidant, beautiful young lady." Rapunzel's green eyes brightened up and a small smile began to creep back onto her face. There was a short pause before Gothel spoke up again. "Oh, look! You're here too!" She cackled again as the smile once again fell from Rapunzel's face. "I'm just teasing, stop taking everything so seriously!" Gothel began her self-inspections anew.

"So Mother, as I was saying, tomorrow is-"

"Rapunzel," Gothel cut her off again. "Mother's feeling a bit run down. Would you sing for me, dear? Then we'll talk."

"Oh, right!" Immediately, Rapunzel ran off and set everything up as fast as she could. First the chair, then the stool. She practically shoved the brush into her mother's hand, and then actually did shove her down into the seat when Gothel didn't move fast enough for her liking. Quickly, she grabbed a large pile of her hair and deposited it into Gothel's lap.

"Flower-gleam-and-glow-let-your-power-shine-make-the-clock-reverse-bring-back-what-once-was-mine,"

"Wait, Rapunzel!" Quickly the golden head began to glow and traveled rather fast down the rest of the length. Rapunzel obviously didn't hear her as she continued her speed-song.

"Heal-what-has-been-hurt-change-the-fate's-design-save-what-has-been-lost-bring-back-what-once-was-mine!"

Gothel swiftly took a few strokes at the hair before it made a whoosh! And her body was healed back into its youthful beauty with a snap of the fingers. The sensation she got from her rejuvenations had always had a sort of tingling feeling to it, but this time as it had been rushed, it almost stung. Rapunzel practically jumped into her lap and almost touched noses with her.

"So Mother, earlier you didn't exactly respond, so I'm just going to say it, tomorrow is my birthday!" She exclaimed, latching onto Gothel's arm. "Ta-da!"

"No no no," Gothel replied, removing her arm from the girl's grip. "I distinctly remember: your birthday was last year."

"Well," Rapunzel giggled, twiddling her thumbs. "That's the funny thing about birthdays; it's kind of an annual thing!" With no response coming from her mother, she sighed and sat back onto the stool. "Mother, I'm turning 18 and what I really want this year…" she grabbed at a strand of her hair and started to play with it as she mumbling. "Actually, what I've wanted for quite a few birthdays,"

Gothel scoffed. "Oh, Rapunzel, enough with the mumbling! You know how I hate it." She held up her hand and mimicked mouth movement, "Blah, blah blah, blah blah, it's very annoying! I'm just teasing you, honey!" She grabbed at Rapunzel's cheeks and started talking down to her as if she were still 3. "I wove you so much!" Giving Rapunzel's cheek one last pat, Gothel stood up from her chair and entered the kitchen, prepared to start making an early brunch.

Rapunzel's slumped. She heard a soft chirping behind her and turned. Pascal was partially hidden behind the table leg and waved his claw, motioning for her to get on with it. Rapunzel groaned, grabbing at her hair. She was so tempted to pull at it. Finally she blurted out, "I want to see the floating lights!"

Gothel paused. "What?"

Rapunzel clambered up to the mural she had painted earlier and pulled aside the curtain. The mural revealed a scene were several bright lights were floating above the forest and Rapunzel herself sat upon a tree top, watching the glowing lights. "Well, I was hoping you could take me to see the floating lights."

"Oh," Gothel nodded in understanding. "You mean the stars."

"That's the thing;" Rapunzel took her hair and whipped it up towards a small window in the roof, opening it so Gothel could see the star charts she'd made. "I've charted stars and they're always constant. But these, they appear every year on my birthday, and only on my birthday. And…I just can't help but feel as if they're meant for me."

A brief shadow of fright alighted Gothel's eyes, which Rapunzel would have caught if she hadn't been paying more attention to her painting. But as quickly as it came, it was gone and Gothel chuckled. "You want to go outside?"

"Well…"Rapunzel paused. "Yes."

Gothel came up to the fire place and motioned for her to come down from the mantle. "Rapunzel, you know why we stay up in this tower." Rapunzel dropped back down to the floor.

"Yes, I know, but-"

"That's right; to keep you safe, dear." Gothel ran a hand through Rapunzel's golden locks. "I knew that one day soon, you'd want to leave the nest, but not just yet, darling."

"But why can't I go outside, Mother? Just this once?"

"Rapunzel, there are plenty of cruel people out there who would take advantage of you. Someone could try to cut your hair and sell it!"

"Well yes, but I was thinking-"

"And who knows what else could happen! There's ruffians and thugs out there! Men with pointy teeth! Poison Ivy, quicksand, cannibals, snakes! For all you know, you could catch the Plague out there! And look at you!" Gothel gestured at Rapunzel's appearance. "You're underdressed, you're immature, and you're incredibly clumsy! You think you could survive out there? Please! They'd practically swallow you whole!"

"But, Mother!"

"Rapunzel, I have raised you since you were a baby. I only changed, bathed, and nursed you for most of your life! All I ask in return is that you stay up here where it's safe! Is that too much to ask?"

Rapunzel looked up into her mother's eyes. Her expression was firm; she was treading on dangerous grounds and if she pushed any further, her mother would be very cross. She looked back at her mural and sighed. "No. You're right, Mother."

Gothel smiled and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. She then turned back to her brunch preparations. "I love you very much, dear."

Rapunzel smiled weakly. "I love you more."

"I love you most."

Half an hour later after they were both fed, Gothel left again to go gather together ingredients for their dinner. Rapunzel climbed the stairs up to her room, Pascal once again perched on her shoulder. He chirped sadly.

"I know," Rapunzel said, playing with her hair as she sat down at her vanity table. She moved it around, holding it up into something that resembled the skeleton of a coif. "But, you know how she is, Pascal. I would've gotten in trouble if I said much more."

Pascal nodded in sympathy. Rapunzel sighed again and let go of her hair. She rested her head in her arms. Why couldn't her mother, just for once, listen to her?

Suddenly, she heard a crash downstairs. Her head snapped up, her eyes wide in shock.

"Oh, my GIANT blue head!"

So, there you go. Chapter 1.

As always, I do not own either Megamind or Tangled. They belong to Dreamworks and Disney, in that order.

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