Chapter 0.5—Present Time
Rapunzel waited by her window everyday on her birthday ever since. Waited for a flash of a beautiful boy with a glowing lantern tattoo to appear on her birthday. Rapunzel had mauled it over and over again in her mind, she knew for a fact that it couldn't be some coincidence that someone broke in on her birthday. It had taken her the next three years to figure out just why she wanted this boy to come back and break in. As if wanting someone to come back and steal something from you was a logical thing. Rapunzel reached for her collarbone and touched the empty crevice—missing the feel of her talisman against her skin. It was to protect her, her mother gave it to her when she was very little, and she'd never taken it off since. In fact, she'd only parted with it after the break-in and she'd always wondered why of all things, that was what he took. In some ways, she realized her mother was right; there were a lot of bad people in the world. Yet, why didn't that boy seem…bad?
Rapunzel envisions that glowing, almost luminescent;tattoo in her head, all she could think about was how intriguing it was. She admitted it—the boy intrigued her. He was a beacon of light shining into her prison. Though she loved her mom for protecting her and keeping her in a safe bubble where only the good things in the world could reach her, Rapunzel was growing much too old to be kept in. I mean, she was twenty-one after all, with only a small chameleon as her primary company. It wasn't exactly normal. Rapunzel understood that people might want to use her for her hair, but she knew that as long as no one found out, she wouldn't be in danger. Besides, how easy was it to find out that her hair had healing powers when she sang? Not that easy…at all. Thankfully, her mother was slowly letting her go out mostly due to the fact that Rapunzel didn't tell her mother about the whole breaking in deal. It was a pretty mundane life, but Rapunzel tried to be thankful for it by painting with bright colors full of life, and singing for her mother.
Rapunzel found the boy's beanie and held it close to her. She smelt coconuts and earthen dirt—like the grass when she first went outside. She wondered just exactly what he looked like, whether his hair was brown or black or blonde like hers, if he had blue eyes or maybe brown.
Pascal gave her a look that could pretty much only translate to 'are you kidding me?' Rapunzel gazed at him with wide eyes before hastily dropping the beanie to the bottom of her bed.
"What? I was just…curious." Rapunzel gives a sheepish response before crossing her arms over her chest and giving Pascal a pointed look. He just continues staring at her before rolling her eyes.
"Hey, be nice. It's my birthday." Rapunzel gives Pascal another look but he just pokes his tongue out at her. She returns a cheeky grin and laugh and Pascal runs up her arm.
"What do you think he looks like, Pascal?" Rapunzel crashes back down onto her bed, heart fluttering at the thought of this mysterious figure. "Do you think he has brown hair? Or blue eyes? Oh! What about that lantern tattoo?" Pascal just rolls his eyes and pokes his tongue out again, because really, this has been her millionth time asking and what can Pascal answer with—really?
"Okay, okay, I'll stop!" Rapunzel giggles when Pascal changes his camouflage to fit her flowery pajamas. But even though Rapunzel shut her mouth for a moment, Pascal could tell in her distant expression that she was off dreaming and fantasizing again.
One question ran through both of their minds: will he come back tonight?
…
Flynn pulled his hood back from his head, his beanie almost coming off completely. He adjusted it and made sure the damn thing stayed in place before shoving his hands in his pockets and biting his snakebite. The faint glow of lights and the hushed whispers brought his attention back to the task at hand.
He felt the talisman on his neck with caution, pulling it down extra low to keep it out of sight. Flynn couldn't really explain it but it grew to be more and more a part of him each day. He tried to sell it off at first, he thought he could make some quick cash with the magic he'd found. He soon realized that nothing weird happened, his hair didn't change and no magical genies appeared, but the people he tried to sell it to didn't have to know that. Yet they all turned him away, without even knowing this information, deciding they had no use for a pointless talisman...and Flynn's reputation didn't exactly help with him trying to sell a 'magical talisman'. Sure, when he was into robbing and stealing, all the sellers wanted to buy from him because he was one of the best producers around, but very few people would buy something claimed to be 'magical'. Flynn did need the money though, to pay off copious amounts of debt that his past life left behind, and he still hadn't managed to pay it all off.
The Stabbington brothers were 'pleasant' as always—greeting Flynn with glinting knives that they always found joy in sharpening. When Flynn gazed at them in the eye with an easy going smile, he felt so much uncertainty ravel inside of him. Not only were they the shadiest characters on the street, but no one could tell the difference between the two of them, or even knew each of their names. They were the type of characters that knew what they wanted and got what they wanted. It made him uneasy that no one actually knew where they were from, or how long they had been around for. These guys were ghosts. Flynn should have known better than to get involved with them, even worse that he had a debt to repay them.
"Hey guys." Flynn lets out a half-hearted chuckle, expecting nothing less than trouble. The Stabbington brothers had called him a few days ago, arranging a meeting. Flynn was worried at first, probably still is, but duty calls and he knew better than to try to run from the brothers. He scratched the back of his head and then hastily dropped his arm.
"We didn't call you for the small talk, Rider. We want the talisman." They paused from sharpening their knives and gave Flynn an expecting look. Flynn's eyes widen and he avoids their gaze.
"Ah, yeah, no. You were right about that crummy old thing. Why would you need that? Haha, it's pretty useless anyways. Like you said, it isn't magic whatsoever." Flynn lazily leans on the nearby building of the narrow alleyway and tries to give them his most charming smile. But, of course, it was completely ineffective against the two towering men.
"We'll cut to the chase, Rider. Word's been going around about a girl with magic hair. Seems that you weren't talking out of your ass the first time around." When the brother gives his undivided attention to Flynn, he grins—all shark teeth and danger. Flynn just decides to keep quiet.
"We want the girl. And if we can't get her, we move on to the next best thing." The brother with the eye-patch glares holes into Flynn, before his eyes trail to the necklace wound tightly around Rider's neck.
"I can get you the girl." Flynn blurts. He doesn't know exactly where it comes from, but an unhealthy attachment to his talisman (or more like, the girl's talisman) forces him to pull through.
It's only then that the brothers show Flynn some actual interest. They give a curious look to each other, almost as if they were speaking to each other telepathically. Flynn shuffles in his spot, biting his snakebite haphazardly and constantly scolding himself in his head for making what would probably be the best mistake of his life—not that he knows that now. Now, he's imagining his own grave, and how far he's dug it for himself. Making impossible deals with the Stabbington brothers was certain death, and Flynn knows that no matter where he ran, it wouldn't be far enough. But he is the great Flynn Rider, he's resourceful, so he gives himself a week to come up with a great plan to escape their clutches.
"We're giving you a week, Rider."
And there's that plan going down the drain. Flynn can almost hear his hopes being flushed down a toilet.
"Pretty generous of us if you ask me."
Flynn gives a cold hard look to the wall next to him, "Yeah, totally generous."
Sorry for the late (and rather short) update, as you can see, it's chapter 0.5 so it's still just an introduction. But the good news: I figured out my shit. This story now has a plan and it's apparently a lot more complicated than I originally expected it to be. Expect a late update to make it worth your time reading. Thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews. Special thanks to Nutella, I don't know, you kicked my ass into gear so thanks!
