"I'll be back in a few hours," Mother Gothel called as Rapunzel lowered her to the grassy floor of the grotto. Rapunzel recalled a time long ago when she'd been allowed to play there. It felt nice, the grass under her feet. There was a creek running through it as well, and splashing in it on a warm summer day like this really hit the spot.

Once Mother was out of her sight, Rapunzel pulled her hair carefully back into the tower, sighing longingly. She wanted badly to be out there, to play in the grass, to feel the water against her face. But she couldn't. She wasn't allowed to leave this place, it wasn't safe out there.

Or, so Mother Gothel said.

"What to do," Rapunzel mumbled to herself, playing with her hair. Now, at eighteen-years-old, Rapunzel had her hair grown out to just over fifty feet long. She didn't bother trying to do anything with it aside from brush it, it took much too long. Then again, she had nothing but time. Once, she had braided it in a beautiful French braid from the top of her head all the way down to the bottom. But a few months later it had already grown several inches, and so the braid pulled cruelly at her hair.

By the time Rapunzel had decided she was going to read, she heard a small voice from down at the bottom of the tower call out, "Rapunzel!"

Rushing to the window, Rapunzel leaned out just a little and looked straight down. A little boy in a dirty long-sleeved shirt and too-big pair of pants stood at the bottom, staring up at her. His face was covered in dirt and soot, his messy chestnut hair poking out from beneath a brown page-boy cap. The sleeves of the shirt and pants were rolled up to his knees and elbows, and a pair of suspenders hung down his legs. "Rapunzel!" he called again, pointing to a bag at his side. "Let me up!"

"Pascal," she gasped in excitement, tossing her hair down for him. With his bag in hand he quickly clambered up the blond locks and tumbled into the tower, adjusting his hat. "Hiya Pascal!" she cried the moment he'd recovered, kneeling in front of him and nearly pushing him over as she leaned in to look curiously into his bag. "What did you bring for me today? Anything interesting? I finished those books you brought last time. And the cake was delicious. Did you bring anything to eat?"

"Come on, get out of there!" Pascal whined, gently moving her away. With a pout, Rapunzel flopped down on her knees, watching him curiously. "Okay, so today I brought you a couple new books," he stated, pulling them out of the bag. She quickly snatched them from him and he almost thought he was going to lose his hand if he wasn't careful.

Rapunzel began flipping through them, pleased with the first one. "It's got pictures in it!" she cried happily, eyeing them in wonder.

Nodding and shifting so he could sit cross-legged on the wooden floor, Pascal answered, "I figured you'd like those. Apparently it's a book about all the places in the world. With maps and pictures of their outfits and things like that." He dug through the bag again and pulled out a plate of carefully wrapped scones. "I brought these to share," he added with a small smile. "Missus Dorothy made them."

"Oh, that was sweet of her," Rapunzel answered with a small smile. She was distracted by the second book. It had no pictures, but it looked to be a romance novel of sorts. She would be reading late into the night now, she already knew that. "Oh! Pascal, I'll make some tea for those scones!" she suddenly cried, noticing that he was going to eat one whole. Getting up, she gave him a wink and called back, "Two sugars and lots of cream, right?" as she ran to the kitchen.

Pascal nodded, pouting and setting the scone down on the plate again. "Yeah, thank you," he answered, flopping back on the floor to stare up at the ceiling. Climbing up her hair took a lot of effort and he was always pretty beat after it, but it was worth it. After Rapunzel was done marveling over her new treasures she was going to continue with his lesson. This was Pascal's favorite part about visiting the strange girl who lived in the tower.

Several years ago, Pascal had run away from town. He was an orphan, a street urchin who survived from thieving and the kindness of others. Every once in a while he got a job, though mostly bad ones like assistants to people or doing things like shoveling coal.

He'd come across the tower completely by accident one day. He was being chased by a few of the police from in town for stealing a lady's purse and several apples. Planning on hiding behind the curtain of vines, Pascal tried to push himself behind them when suddenly he fell through, and found himself in a passageway to the grotto in which the tower resided.

He'd never seen a building so tall before in his life. "Hello?" he called, looking around to see if anyone was there. It didn't look like there was any way in. Then suddenly a braid of golden hair flew down and landed at his feet.

Well, being in a tower with a stranger with an unusually large amount of hair was a lot better than being caught and punished.

So Pascal cautiously climbed the hair, pulling himself up and into the window to look up into the expectant face of Rapunzel. She blinked down at him. At the time she'd only been fifteen. "Oh!" she greeted, looking surprised. "Hello there. I wasn't expecting a little boy. I'm waiting for my mother!" she explained, smiling sweetly at him.

Pascal blinked. "Your mother?" he asked, frowning slightly. "Do I sound like your mother or something?" he asked, wondering if he should be offended or not.

Giggling into her hand, Rapunzel shook her head. "No, I don't think so. But from so far away you did sound a little like a lady." Then her eyes caught sight of the purse in his hands, and she stared in awe for a little while before Pascal noticed.

"… What?" Pascal murmured with a raised eyebrow, putting the purse and apples behind his back. "Look, I got these fair and square, you're just gonna have to climb down yourself if you want one," he stated in an almost scolding tone to her.

Rapunzel looked very put-out. "I just want to see them," she insisted, her lower lip jutting out as she clasped her hands together, watching him. "Please? I've never seen something like that before in my life!"

Pascal was a little surprised at this. "You've never seen a lady's purse before?" he demanded, pulling it back out to present to her. She quickly snatched it and shook her head, beginning to rummage through it excitedly. "Hey, be careful with that!" he cried, nervously. "There's probably valuable stuff in there!"

Disregarding him, Rapunzel pulled out a small pair of glasses, holding them up to her face to look through the lenses. "If this is a lady's purse then why do you have it?" she asked, putting the glasses back and pulling out another item to inspect.

"Because," Pascal began before he realized he didn't want to tell her the reason. "… Because shut up," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her.

Rapunzel giggled a little, handing the purse back. "You're funny," she stated with a smile. "My name is Rapunzel. What's yours?"

"… Pascal," the boy answered, taking the purse back and inspecting her from head to toe. "Why do you have so much hair?" he demanded, frowning a bit as he waited for her answer.

The girl didn't seem very keen on answering. "… Pascal. I like that name," she said instead, smiling and nodding. "It fits you, too. Tell me, Pascal, where are you from? And how did you find me? I've only ever seen Mother. And I've certainly never seen any of those things you just showed me."

Pascal didn't seem to believe this, but he shrugged and replied, "I'm from a village not far from here, just a couple minutes away." He paused, thinking a moment. "You've really never seen this stuff before?" he asked. Rapunzel shook her head furiously. Pascal rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "… Do you know how to read?" he inquired, leaning toward her to wait for her answer.

"Of course I can, silly," Rapunzel answered cheerfully.

This seemed to be just what Pascal wanted to hear. "Then have I got a deal for you."

And so they made a deal with one another. Pascal would bring Rapunzel different things from the outside, and in exchange she would become his tutor. So far, he'd learned to write his alphabet and numbers. He learned a little bit of math and started to read, and by now he was getting into harder, longer books. She even taught him how to paint and draw.

"Here you are," Rapunzel stated, bringing the tea back over and breaking Pascal from his thoughts. He smiled and accepted the steaming cup. "Careful!" she cried, noting how he was about to down the whole drink. "You'll burn yourself," she sighed, patting his head before she sat across from him. "So Pascal, do you have any news for me today?" she asked, blowing on her cup before taking a dainty sip of her tea.

Pascal sloppily blew on his own, unable to hold the cup quite as well as she could. He always felt like he was going to drop the pretty little tea cups that she insisted they drink from when he came to visit. "Oh! The Captain is coming into town tomorrow for his inspection!" Pascal stated, looking over at Rapunzel.

Rapunzel gave him a smile. "Your friend Maximus?" she asked.

Maximus was the captain of the guard from the Royal City. There was a checkpoint in the little village Pascal lived in that he had to check up on once every three months on his rounds. It took a month just to get to the village, it was so far away from the Royal City. Maximus was well known for his amazing kindness and his love of children.

Nodding excitedly, Pascal took a huge bite of his scone before adding with a mouthful of food, "Yeah. I'm real excited, he promised he'd bring me a surprise the next time he comes to visit. It's been a while since he's been here."

"That is exciting," Rapunzel answered, smiling kindly at him. But when Pascal began to smile back, she turned to look out the window, a tired sigh leaving her. "I wish I could meet him," she admitted, softly, not able to tear her eyes away from the window.

Pascal studied her face for a few moments before stating, "You could come meet him if you wanted to."

Sharply, Rapunzel turned her head back to him. "No. I couldn't, Pascal. You know that," she answered, painfully. "I can't leave. Mother… Mother says it isn't safe out there."

"I live out there," Pascal grumbled, frowning a little bit at this response. "Come on, Rapunzel. Just sneak out for the day. He only comes to visit once every three months, if you don't do it this time you'll have to wait a quarter of a year to see him again!"

"You're getting better at fractions I see," Rapunzel chuckled, smiling over at him."

Pascal crossed his arms over his chest. "I mean it. You need to get out of here. Who cares what your mother says? I've gotten along just fine without a mother, so why can't you?"

Rapunzel was about to answer when she noticed the clock. "… Oh dear. You'd better go, Pascal. It's getting late, Mother will be home soon." She quickly grabbed their tea cups and rushed to the kitchen to put them in the sink. "Here, you can have the rest of my scone," she insisted, shoving the rest of hers into his hands before tossing her hair out the window. "Hurry," she hissed.

Sighing, Pascal shoved the scones back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed onto her hair, but before sliding down, he gave her one last look. "You have to come out sometime. She can't keep you locked in here forever." Before Rapunzel could reply, he'd slid down her hair and was running out of the grotto.

Rapunzel sluggishly pulled her hair back inside and moved into the kitchen to wash out the tea cups and saucers. By the time she'd dried and put them away, Mother was home and calling for her to toss her hair down.

All Rapunzel could think about was the captain's visit, and how Pascal wanted her to come into town with him. When she curled up in bed that night, she had made her decision.

She was going to get out. Tomorrow was the day, for sure.