AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fairytale story is loosely based off several characters from the hit soap One Life to Live.

Also, I'd like to note that I do not own ABC's One Life to Live or the characters and I will NOT be receiving any payment whatsoever for writing this story. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.

~*Marty-Punzel: Chapter Two*~

Six lonely years had passed when one day Todd was walking through the woods near Llanview and came upon the very tower where Marty was hidden. As he drew near he heard a voice singing so sweetly that it stopped him in his tracks. Did he not know that song... and that voice? It was Marty-Punzel in her loneliness who was trying to pass the time in her dreary prison by singing the angelic song she had often sang to Todd.

Todd approached the tower as he continued to hear the beautiful singing. His heart was pounding as he searched for the door to the tower but found there was none. Even though Marty-Punzel was on his mind, he returned home, missing her ever so much. With each passing day, he would return to the tower, hoping to hear that heartfelt singing once again... yet he never did.

One day, however, as he stood concealed behind a tree, he saw his evil witch of a mother approach the tall tower and stand directly beneath it. To his great surprise, the old witch called out, "Marty-Punzel, Marty-Punzel, let down your long curls."

From the window at the top of the tower, Todd saw Marty-Punzel let down her long blond curls as Irene began to climb to the top. Todd said to himself, *If that is the ladder, I shall climb it.*

And the next day, as soon as the sun went down, Todd appeared at the tower. "Ohhh Marty-Punzel, Marty-Punzel, let down your long curls!" Todd exclaimed.

Marty-Punzel let down her long curls just as she always did for the witch, but this time it was Todd who climbed to the top. Marty-Punzel was greatly terrifed when she realized it was a man who had climbed into the window, but then she realized that it was Todd, her childhood friend. "Todd?" she said with a gasp as she gazed at him in surprise.

"Yes, it is me," Todd told her with a smile. "Thank God I have finally found where my evil bitch of a mother has stashed you!"

"Todd, I have missed you!" Marty-Punzel exclaimed as she threw herself into his arms and hugging him ethusiastically.

Todd returned the hug, holding Marty-Punzel close in his arms. "I heard you singing when I was walking in the woods, and that is how I found you again," Todd stated. "You are so beautiful, and I have missed you sooo very much."

"Marty-Punzel, would you be my wife?" Todd asked her.

"Yes!" Marty-Punzel agreed happily. "I would leave here with you willingly and become your bride, but alas, I cannot! I have no idea how I shall ever get out of here..."

"When next I come, I shall bring silken ropes. You may weave them together to create a ladder. When it is ready, you can climb down, and we'll run away together... far, far away from the wicked witch," Todd responded.

Marty-Punzel was very pleased with Todd's idea. She drifted into his arms and softly kissed him upon the lips. "Hurry back, my beloved," she said to him as she gazed into his gorgeous hazel eyes.

"I shall return to you every evening," Todd promised as they both knew that Irene made her appearances during the daytime hours.

Many days passed and Marty-Punzel worked and worked on the ladder she was forming to escape the dreary tower. Every night Todd would come to her, holding her in his arms and making sweet, passionate love to her. The old witch never knew of this, until the one day Marty-Punzel accidently blurted out, "Hideous old witch, how it is that you always climb up here so slowly, while your son is up here in my arms in only a moment?"

"You wicked little slut!" screamed Irene. "What's this I hear? I thought I had hidden you FAR away from my son, but you have betrayed me!" In her anger, she seized Marty-Punzel by her long blond curls and slapped her harshly. The old witch grabbed a pair of long silver scissors and began hacking away until all of Marty-Punzel's beautiful curls had fallen upon the floor.

"You'll never see my son again!" the old witch threatened as she cast a wicked spell, sending Marty-Punzel to a cottage far across the forest.

That very same day, evil Irene picked up the severed curls from the floor, weaving them together to make a long blond curtain for her son to climb. And when Todd arrived that night at the tower and called out, "Marty-Punzel, Marty-Punzel, let down your long curls!" the old witch complied.

Once Todd had climbed up, he realized it was not his dearest Marty-Punzel there within the tower room, but the wicked old witch who was his mother. She gazed at him with evil glittering eyes. "Where is Marty-Punzel?" Todd asked urgently. "What have you done with her?"

"I killed the horrible, little slut!" Irene lied. "Your sweet little bird sings no more!"

Todd was beside himself with grief, and in his agony, he lept from the tower. He narrowly escaped with his life for he had fallen upon a thicket of thorns. Sadly, the thorns had all but destroyed his eye sight. Todd wandered around in the woods, barely able to see. "Marty-Punzel," he cried out mournfully.

For several years, Todd wandered around in misery, eating nothing but roots and wild berries, until he came upon a small cottage deep in the forest. Weak and weary, he walked up to the door and knocked upon it.

A moment later, a woman answered. It was his own beloved, Marty-Punzel whom had lived in the cottage the past few years with her twin children, a son and a daughter. When Marty-Punzel saw Todd, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried happy tears. "Ohhh Todd, it is you!" she exclaimed.

When her tears touched his nearly unseeing eyes, they became clear once again. For the first time since his accident, Todd had regained his vision. "Marty-Punzel, I would have searched the ends of the earth for you. Nothing and no one can stop true love. It appears my mother's evil only delayed it for a little while," Todd said as he gazed into her Marty-Punzel's amazing dark-blue eyes.

Marty-Punzel introduced Todd to their beautiful twin children. "Todd, this is your son, David and your daughter, Samantha. I named them after my parents," Marty told him proudly.

Todd was pleased as he hugged his son and daughter, now five years old. The children received their father with great joy and together, Todd, Marty-Punzel, and their children lived happily ever after in the little cottage in the forest.

THE END