Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, Rapunzel, or Tangled.
In this story, Adam isn't a transgender, he was born a boy. Declan and Fiona aren't twins. Also, the ages are a bit different. All in all, this is an alternate universe.
Eli: Seventeen.
Clare: Fifteen, almost sixteen.
Adam: Seventeen.
Fiona: Seventeen.
Eli's P.O.V.
Shit, it was almost time! I was running a bit in front of Fitz and Owen with Adam, we'd stolen a book from the royal palace about a week ago. I know what you're thinking, "It's just a book, what's the big deal?" Well, my friend, it's not just any book, it's the most expensive book in all the lands. Each page is made of thin gold, so delicate it'd break if you tugged a bit. The covers, they're made of solid gold, I could knock out someone with them. Inside, there are portraits of a baby, she's actually pretty cute (not that I'd ever admit it to anyone), she has curly, dark brown hair and a very sweet, beautiful face. Each page had a different image of the baby girl; she's actually the lost princess. No one's seen her in about a decade and a half. It's said that the princess was playing outside when someone kidnapped her.
Anyways, Fitz and Owen are these two dumb brothers who invited Adam and I to tag along on their little "journey" to the castle. We agreed, but secretly planned on keeping it for ourselves after ditching Fitz and Owen. Our hideout was close, and about a week's journey to the royal castle. The knights had been off our tails for a while, but they picked up on us again, and we had to run.
Adam and I had been best friends since we were little, when we were three we were put in an orphanage, me because my parents died, and him because his parents abandoned him. We were inseparable and when we were nine we got adopted by a nice old couple. We were happy with them for a few years, but when we turned fourteen they died of natural causes. We refused to go back to the orphanage and ran from the law, we still are actually and are seventeen now. I guess eventually the crimes got worse; we began stealing food, and then just plain stealing. We have a little hideout in the woods, a cave with all our money and possessions. Adam has to be the only person in the entire world that I trust completely.
"Adam!" I snapped quietly.
"Huh?" He looked over at me with a confused expression.
"It's time," I said, indicating it was time to break away from Fitz and Owen.
He nodded and I grabbed his hand, we were in front of a cliff, which was coming to an end and jumped.
"Hey! Where do you two think you're going?" Yelled Fitz.
I had to stop myself from snickering. Truth is, our hideout was a giant hole in the cliff, we had a rope that opened the doors, which were cleverly hidden by a large branch. Under our cave was another rope, which we held onto and climbed up to reach our home. A mile under the cliff was a river which we often bathed in.
I could hear the two dumb criminals conversing about our disappearing act, I was tempted to burst out laughing but refrained. As Adam and I entered our cave, I threw the bag with the book onto the cough and took a seat on my bed. Most of the time we weren't here, we were out in the world exploring new places.
I looked over at the unruly mop of brown hair on Adam's head, which was damp and matted with sweat.
"You alright?" I pondered.
"Yeah, I've just been thinking a lot lately…" He trailed off.
"Uh oh, that's not a good sign," I snickered.
"No. Honestly, Eli, have you ever thought of giving up this life and settling down?" The conversation took a turn for the serious.
"Well, no. Not really. Why would you want to give up all this? We're living life in the now and we're carefree. Why ruin that with a family? Why would you want to be tied down?"
"Because, that's just it! We're constantly on the run, we don't know what meal is going to be our last and I still haven't fallen in love yet," Adam said.
"Isn't that what we love about this, though? The constant thrill of everything and when we're running, hiding, never knowing if we'll get caught or not? I thought that's what we loved!" I fought back.
Adam sighed, "Whatever, I'm going for a bath."
Adam had been disappearing for weeks at a time, now. It was becoming a regular thing and I was worrying that he might even leave me one day. I slowly began thinking about our conversation and smiled knowing I'd won but even a while after he'd left, I was still thinking of what he'd said and my mind was slowly starting to turn around.
"It wouldn't be horrible to have a few little Eli's running around," I thought and smiled before shaking the thought from my head.
That can't happen! Who would want to marry me? I'm a monster.
Over a week later…
Clare's P.O.V.
I jumped out of bed with a smile on my face and quickly woke up Fiona, I'd been planning this week step by step for ages now, it's the week I'll finally escape. You see, Mother Desiree had kidnapped me ages ago, and used me for my hair. She gave me Fiona to keep me company everyday since I'd been complaining about being lonely. She's been the only friend I've ever had. In exactly three days, I'll be out of this castle.
Here, I'll explain my life, I have seventy feet of magical hair, which Desiree uses to keep her body young. I used to be normal until I was six years old. I then reminisced to the day that started the rest of my life.
My parents were robbed and killed when I was six, and I'd been living on the streets for a few weeks before running into an elderly woman laying in the street. I'd saved her and found out she was dying, I took her back to her house where I took care of her for a month. When she passed away she put all her healing powers into my hair. I couldn't cut my hair, or it'd lose it's powers and it grew each time I used it.
Then, Desiree found me, she found out of my powers (God knows how) and used me to make her young again, when I met her, she was a frail old woman, so fragile you could break her bones with two hands. She taught me of how to activate the powers, and used them on a regular basis. I have no idea how old she must be now.
Fiona was found on the streets as well and Desiree took her to me, since I'd been complaining about being alone for a while now. I was alone, everyday the only company I had was talking to myself in the mirror. It turns out that Desiree's story for Fiona was another lie.
Fiona, this is an understatement by the way, is devastatingly gorgeous. The older she grew, the less cute and more radiant she became. Fiona made me a bit jealous in some ways. She's allowed to leave and go out in public, while I had to stay cooped up in a tower, there's only one entrance in the whole building, a single window. Fiona would leave and come back everyday, bringing food, climbing up and down my hair. To this day, I still have no clue why she didn't just stay out there forever. When I first met Fiona she was very resistant and scared. She told me how she was royalty, but she could never find her way back home. She found out that we were so far away it'd take over a week to get there. Before even getting there, Desiree would find out about it and probably go after her or punish me, so we decided it wasn't a good idea to go there. As the years passed by, Fiona gradually let go of the idea of ever seeing her family again, it broke my heart that it was almost my fault that she was stuck here. Fiona thought that by now, they'd forgotten about her, and she had no family anymore, besides me. Fiona insisted that she loved me and she'd stay anywhere, if only for me. She was my only friend, my best friend, my sister.
Desiree would visit us once a week, for some youth rejuvenating, and to check if we'd escaped yet. She would visit us in three days, and right after, we'd leave. It would also be my sixteenth birthday. Fiona turned seventeen a few months ago.
I actually felt quite bad for Fiona, she had to spend her whole life with me and me alone, she couldn't go out and get married, I was just holding her back. She was so beautiful, any man would fall for her, but she couldn't even date.
I was broken out of my thoughts by Fiona's strong but delicate voice, "Good morning, Clare! Did you sleep well?"
I smiled at her, "Yes, thanks Fiona. I'm going to go make us some breakfast, eggs today?" I asked.
She gave me a curt nod, "Yep, like every morning."
I gathered my clothes and headed downstairs to make our food, we would usually take turns cooking. For example one day I'd make breakfast, she'd make lunch and I'd make dinner, and the next day she'd make breakfast and dinner and I'd make lunch. Today was my turn.
I thought it was time to finally inform Fiona of my plan, I hadn't told her yet but I'd been busy plotting.
"Fiona, do you ever feel like we're so trapped? Have you ever wanted to just… leave this tower and never come back?" I asked her hopefully.
"Well I can leave, but you can't and this tower is so quaint and nice, I actually kind of like it."
"What? I know you're allowed to leave, but you have to always come back because of Desiree. Wouldn't you love to just live alone with me in a little cottage or something?" I asked.
She seemed to ponder it for a while, "Hmm, that would be nice. But, how would we support ourselves? Neither of us have a husband and we have no money. How would we live?"
"What about your parent's?" I asked.
"They won't know me anymore. I'm not the princess anymore, they probably had more children," She frowned.
"Fiona, that can't be true! They're your family! They have to love you."
"They don't have to love anyone. Besides, the world isn't always going to be friendly,"
She had a point, but I wasn't willing to give up yet, "We could plant fruit and vegetables! And we could sell that, or we could be like a hospital and I could use my hair to heal people!"
"You really want to abuse your powers? Use it on so many people?" She questioned.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Okay I guess I should just go out and say it, we're escaping this tower, we've been trapped for my whole life and I'm sick of it, Desiree is using me and that's why I'm even alive right now!"
"No, Clare you're alive because that nice old witch saved you from the streets. Don't forget that. But, I'm not the one who's trapped in this tower, I can't be selfish! I'm coming with you," She agreed and I smiled.
"Thanks Fiona, you don't know how much that means to me," My smile got bigger.
Fiona's face then turned to a look of disgust. She sniffed the air, "Clare, what's burning?"
I stared confused for a second, but remembered the eggs. The eggs! I quickly ran towards the stove and put out the fire but I was a little too late, our eggs were burnt to a crisp.
"Fiona, I'm sorry but our eggs got burnt. They were our last two," I grimaced.
She laughed, "It's alright, Clare, I'll just go out to town and buy some more. You can wait here and read a book, I won't be too long."
Fiona left the room and put on her coat. I sighed and looped my hair around the hook that was outside of the only window in our entire tower. Fiona came back, slipping on her green flats and bid me farewell. She grabbed my hair and slid down, down to the lush, soft green grass that I'd never set foot on before.
I sighed as I watched Fiona disappear into the trees, she was beautiful, and so was the world. I craved the universe beyond the castle's gray brick walls. I longed to dip my head into the sea water and crawl in the messy mud. I'd been dreaming about it my whole life, just being anywhere but here. I took a deep breath of the sweet air and bathed in the sunlight before abruptly closing the windows and turning around. Rip off the bandage.
I then grabbed the current book I was reading and sat down in a big comfy armchair with a lit candle on the table next to me. I was surrounded by darkness, it was a regular thing for me to never look outside, it was too depressing to look at all the beauty I'd never experience, until now. I was excited for leaving, I'm sure we'd be long gone by the time she visited us next.
I locked away my thoughts of liberation and freedom and engrossed myself in my book. I snuggled into the chair and quietly awaited Fiona's return.
Adam's P.O.V.
I'd finally reached my destination, a small, quaint town by the ocean. I came here to get away from everything, to be a regular guy, not an escaped orphan who steals things from the government with his equally naughty, delinquent friend.
"Hey!" I greeted Drew, the owner of a pub, and my very good friend.
"Adam! How have you been?" He questioned.
"I've been okay, same old Eli…" I said in a daze.
"Yeah, well you know, if you ever need help, you know where to come," Drew said with a smile.
"Thanks, but no thanks. Eli is my brother, he's my family."
"I get it," He nodded understandingly, "Hey, I've got to get back to work. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
I nodded and walked out of the big bar. I met Drew about a year ago, he's almost twenty-one and is the most clean-cut guy I know. He's got ladies fawning all over him, but he's devoted to his wife, Alli. She's got dark skin and people discriminate her for it, but you can't help who you fall in love with, I guess.
I walked towards the marketplace and thought about what Eli had said. Ever since I started coming here and seeing Drew with Ali, I'd been craving some love, someone to focus my romantic fantasies and feelings on. I imagined a beautiful girl with equally beautiful hair, pretty ringlets that fell perfectly and a sweet dainty face. I imagined loving her and spoiling her and treating her the best way possible. I knew my fantasy would never become reality because I'm just so plain and skinny and not handsome at all. No sane girl would ever willfully marry someone like me.
"Ah!" I heard a high pitched yelp as my body collided with a small girl.
"Woah!" I exclaimed as I helped steady the girl.
I examined her and she was, by far the most gorgeous girl I'd ever laid my eyes on. She had stunning blue eyes and a radiant smile that melted my heart. I gazed at her as my hands got sweaty, I suddenly felt very hot and some places in my body were getting over-excited. She was the image of perfection; she looked like she belonged to royalty. The way she carried herself, she looked so confident and out of everyone's league. Her hair was in perfect waves, a dark brown color. She had a very slim figure but was round in all the right places.
I thought to myself, is she the one I've been waiting my whole life for? No! Not possible! She's too good for me, she would never go for a lowly thief when she could have any man in all the lands. I'll probably never even see her again! Oh gosh, what am I thinking? I haven't even talked to the girl yet. Love at first sight doesn't exist.
I extended my slim hand and introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Adam."
She looked at it and smiled, "I'm Fiona," she said as she shook my hand.
Her skin was soft and supple; it was so smooth and flawless, just like the rest of her.
How did you like it? It's based on the movie, Tangled which is based on Rapunzel. This story has some major differences. The reason I chose this was because when Clare got her hair cut short, it reminded me a lot of Rapunzel. So anyways, tell me if I should continue this or not. I really like this idea and this is Eclare, even though I haven't written any of it yet. It will come in a chapter or two. I had so much fun writing this, I hope you guys like it as much as I do. Please, review and alert and favorite! I'll really appreciate it. I wanted to do something different since no one did any Eclare stories involving fairy tales. I thought it was a good idea. So give me some reviews and flames and I'll try to update soon!
