Here's Chapter 3 for all of my readers! I really hope that you guys like it; I haven't gotten much feedback, so I don't know what you think so far. I am imploring you, PLEASE leave me a review! I want to know!

As usual, I don't own Wreck It Ralph, Tangled, or any other Disney movies and characters that will appear in this story later. Now please enjoy!

Chapter 3

Mother,

I know by the time you read this you'll be in a panic because you'll see that we're long gone. I also know that you told us for years we weren't allowed to go outside. I want you to know that I wouldn't do this if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Penny's got a lot of ambitions Mother, and I couldn't stand staying home always wondering what was happening to her. I don't want you to worry; I promise I'll take good care of Penny.

I'm not sure if we're ever going to see you again, so I'll tell you again that I love you. It may not seem like it, but I really do. (I think Penny does too, but she didn't want to write anything.) I hope you enjoy the rest of your life. I think we're going to.

All my love,

Punzie (and Penny too, even though she won't admit it)

The note had been left on Punzie's pillow right before the sisters started off. Penny had scoffed when Punzie had insisted on writing it, stating she didn't want Gothel to have ANY idea where she'd disappeared to. When Punzie suggested she write a few words of farewell, her response had been, "The only thing I want to tell that booger-faced witch is good riddance."

Punzie hadn't included that.

It had been extremely hard not to whisper, "I'm sorry," under her breath as they'd crept past Gothel's closed bedroom door. They tread as lightly as they could on the stone and wood floor, but each step felt heavy. Prayers that there weren't any loose boards eager to give them up ran like a mantra in their heads. Pillowcases slung over their shoulders like female Saint Nicks, they had remained arched on the tips of their toes as they located a lantern and then headed to the door.

As soon as they were on the opposite side of it, they'd taken off running in slippered feet that had never known the need for shoes. The tower stood in the center of a clearing entirely circled by thick forest. It was taller than even the biggest trees, allowing the girls to look past the forest from the window. But trees were all that could be seen, so that was where they had to start.

The softness of the grass underfoot was remarkable, reminding Punzie of her favorite comforter. Every step made her feel like it was trying to pull her feet down to rest, but would not allow herself to be tempted anymore. She continued to move so the clippings didn't have time to grip her tightly. Hearty laughter ahead suggested Penny was running for the sheer joy of it. It propelled her steps, bringing her farther ahead. She didn't appear to slow down until she reached a small opening in the wall of forest. Trailing ahead on the ground was a thin stretch of path that the girls had often watched their mother walk down. As the only path used, the trod on grass was jaundiced and dead. The same footprints covered every inch, some even partly covering others. Some sections of the path were so well used all of the grass had been ripped away leaving nothing but dry dirt and roots.

When Punzie had caught up, she took the moment to strike a match and light the lantern. The unnatural light from the flame illuminated Penny's face. When she grinned mischievously, she reminded Punzie of the stories she'd read about demons, and was unable to repress an entire body shudder.

"Whatsa matter Punzie?" Feigned innocence turned the words into a song Penny had no guilt in singing. "You're not scared already, are you?"

"Of course not. But stay on the road and don't go too far ahead. We don't know what could be lurking in these woods."

Penny rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something more. But after receiving a disproving look from Punzie, her lips sealed. A silent command was given, and she obeyed with shoulders slouched.

Penny took the lead again with her head held high. Each step was a long, confident stride that Punzie found herself unwilling to match. It was incredible how much darker it became when there were trees blocking the moonlight above, and she was grateful for their lantern. She held it in front as a beacon to guide the way, and that allowed her to watch her elated sibling as she skipped. It was worth envying that Penny did not look as nervous as Punzie thought she should have been. Her head swivelled in all directions, eyes no doubt feasting on everything they lay on. Each tree got noticed as though they were all completely different treasures, and every time she heard an owl hoot or a rustle in a bush, giggles slipped easily from her lips.

The longer they walked without issue, the more Punzie's fear started getting left behind and she found she was beginning to enjoy herself as well. She marvelled at the tiny mushrooms and flowers that grew and bloomed in the tranquil darkness.

She was just about to comment on how nature could be so intelligent to make hundreds of unique species, when she suddenly crashed into Penny, who had stopped while she was lost in her admiring. Before Punzie could ask what was wrong, Penny shushed her and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Penny never whispered. This was cause enough for Punzie to stop walking. She felt like a mother deer with a fawn as she stood still as a stone and listened. All of her energy was concentrated into her ears picking up every little noise.

Eventually a choir of wild singing and raucous laughter was detected up ahead. In the dark it was difficult to differentiate whether it was coming from on the path, or somewhere in the woods. It frightened her, as if those responsible were happy for all the wrong reasons. However, she had to stay calm, otherwise Penny would know something was wrong and get scared. Closing her eyes to block everything out, she focussed on inhaling and exhaling deeply using only her nose. When she was certain she was in control, she looked at Penny again and whispered with what she hoped sounded like certainty. "It'll be okay. We'll just stay quiet and keep on the path. Stay close to me."

It took Penny a second to nod, and Punzie took that as the right moment to grab hold of her hand. Penny didn't even complain as they started creeping down the path again.

The source of the noise soon became visible. Ahead of them, several feet to the left of the path, there was another clearing, significantly smaller than the one the tower was located in. In the center of it, a campfire blazed, sending sparks up the sky that burned out before reaching it. Surrounding the warm blaze were a troop of five men dressed in rags that barely concealed the ramshackle armor underneath. Some were sitting on logs and stumps, while others lounged on the grass, looking like they would have trouble getting up again. All were drinking out of tall glass bottles, and a collection of others littered the ground around them.

"Do you think they're friendly?" Penny whispered, and Punzie's grip on her hand tightened.

"I don't know Penny."

Both seemed to hold their breath as they continued walking past, and Punzie found familiar prayers ringing in her head for the second time that night. "Please don't hear us, please don't hear us, please don't—"

"Well! Just what do we have here?"

Punzie felt like she'd been covered in ice. She felt Penny's second hand grabbing onto her and willed herself not to panic. Slowly breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, she spun themselves around. A polite smile of acknowledgement was forced upon her face, and she struggled to speak normally.

"Good evening gentlemen," she called over, trying to sound as prim as she could. "Lovely night, isn't it?"

"Not as lovely as what I'm looking at right now, Sunshine." The heftiest out of all the men called out. His words came out slurred and slow, and Punzie continued to freeze. In their state, she wasn't sure if the other men could understand what had been said. Nevertheless, they all erupted in harder laughter that caused a nearby bird to take flight and sleep elsewhere. Punzie wished she could go with that bird.

The man who had spoken got up off his stump, and Punzie realized he wasn't just thick and muscular: he was tall. From where he stood it was easy to see he towered over the girls just like the trees. He started to approach, and before his feet even touched the path, she could smell the alcohol on him. But there was something darker than wine there as well. The woods could not mask the stench of blood on his breath.

"Well, what are two beautiful ladies such as yourself doing out so late at night?" Standing directly in front of them, he sounded slimy, like a worm. His friends trailed slowly behind him, making Punzie wonder if perhaps he was their leader. She tried to continue standing tall to look fearless in front of them, but when his hand came up to lift some strands of her hair sitting on her shoulder, her body intuitively cringed away.

"We just thought we'd take a stroll. But we're going home now."

Her body started to twist as she turned, more than ready to get going and leave the filthy men with their roaming eyes and slippery sneers behind. But before she could get her feet working, the leader had dropped her hair and had his hand on her shoulder. His grip wasn't tight, but it was enough to prevent her from going.

"There aren't any homes for miles, and it's so late. Come over here, get yourselves warmed up."

His words were friendly enough, and the fire he was gesturing to still looked hot and inviting. But his tone sounded just a little too tempting, and the dark chuckles that could be heard behind him kept her remembering why she was uncomfortable. "Oh, no thank you. We're fine."

Again she turned to leave, but suddenly the grip on her shoulder became painfully tight and she dropped her makeshift bag. This time she did not tell her body to turn, the action was forced. She was pulled so close to the man's face their noses were almost touching, and she could see his black eyes were really just a very dark brown. Now the smell was so bad that if her brain wasn't making her so alert, she would have passed out.

The sneer in front of her widened, and just by doing so became much more sinister. "Oh Sunshine. I'm afraid you don't understand. That wasn't an invitation. That was an order."

Punzie was ripped away from Penny before she could even start screaming. Even when her throat was working again, her captor didn't even try to silence her, and that was enough for her to know in her state, that nobody would hear them. He ignored her terrified screams, but every time she saw his face, his grin was just a bit wider, and his eyes shone with a bit more greed. He was enjoying every minute of this.

Thrown to the ground on her back, Punzie continued to fight, but she may as well have been swatting at flies. Her arms were pinned up above her head and tied together at the wrists, and her legs were just as immobilized because she was instantly kneeled upon. Through the pain, she tried screaming for Penny. Twisting her head to where she'd last seen her sister, she was horrified to see the other men pouncing on top of her, and some of them were brandishing weapons that she hadn't seen before then. Her pillowcase had been ripped away from her and tossed by one of the men. Its contents lay spilt in the grass, forgotten. In all of the commotion, she couldn't see Penny, and at first she feared that her sister was unconscious, or worse. But then she heard another high-pitched scream, followed by fragments of sentences. Caught words like, "….pigs…scratch your eyes out…get your filthy hands off or I'll…" told Punzie that she was still fighting.

She didn't have much time to watch though, because her head was again jerked to stare up into lustful eyes. Sharp metal was gently pressed against the skin on her neck, but not hard enough for blood to roll down like the tears on her face. She wished she had thought to use the pillowcase as a weapon or had forced her legs to work so she could run away. She was already failing her duty to Penny, and a single night hadn't even gone by.

"Don't you cry, Sunshine," A hand running from her leg up to her thigh turned an anguished scream into a sob that caught in her throat and choked her. "Just keep real still, and we'll go nice and slow. You and that sugar plum are in real good hands."

His words ended with dark laughter, and Punzie closed her eyes as she tried to force down another sob. She didn't know what was going to happen; all she knew was she didn't want to see it. She took a deep breath in…

And suddenly there was the sound of someone sucking in a large mouthful of air, and the pressure on her legs was gone.

Keeping her eyes shut tight, she heard the other men calling out drunkenly, but that was quickly replaced with more gasping, and the sounds of things being thrown and colliding into something hard. She kept her eyes closed as the gasps developed into odd gurgling sounds. At first she thought they were choking on the alcohol they'd consumed, but there was a darker undertone to the sound that told her that wasn't the case at all. Still not wanting to see what was happening, she kept her eyes squeezed shut until the noise all stopped. The eerie silence only lasted a moment though, as Penny's voice was soon hollering hysterically above her. "Punzie! Oh God, Punzie!"

In a matter of seconds, Punzie felt small hands struggling to rip the cord binding her wrists away. Once freed her arm was then wrenched up with all of the strength a small child could use. Lying immobile on the ground, Punzie was dead weight, but gradually she pushed herself up with the force, and once sitting upright, she was tackled and wrapped in a desperate embrace. She didn't need to see to know Penny was quaking. Grabbing onto Penny and pulling her close to her chest, she started caressing her hair. In an attempt to get her mouth working again, she tried to say her name, but before she could get it out, she caught Penny whispering again. Whether it was directed towards her or not Punzie couldn't tell. "Don't look," she kept repeating, and her grip on Punzie grew each time the sentence was finished.

Something was clearly wrong, and not just because of what had happened. To find out what, there was no way around it. She had to open her eyes.

Punzie regretted it the moment her eyes hit the sight in front of her. Every single one of the men in the group was back against a tree. Their own eyes were open, but unblinking. In fact, their entire faces were locked in a permanent expression of shock and fear. Finally Punzie knew why she had heard the odd gargling earlier as well, and wished she hadn't. The men's mouths were open black holes, but the color red stained their bottom lips. It wasn't the burgundy red of wine and alcohol like she wanted it to be; it was too black-red. It looked like it was drying now, but it must have run down their chins and necks as they drowned in it. She could even see it darkening their clothes, but just by looking at them she knew that blood hadn't come from their mouths. It had come from what was preventing their bodies from moving away from the trees.

Each body had been penetrated with something. The weapons were all the same, but she couldn't tell what they were at first glance. The ends sticking out looked like thick rod shaped crystals sticking out of their chests. But there was something off about them. They shimmered and shone, but there was something almost damp about them. It was only when she saw a drop of water form and drip down from it that she realized it was ice.

Someone had thrown ice daggers at them, so forcefully that it had led to the ending of their lives. But where was this person?

She hadn't even realized that she'd started screaming again until the horrific scene before her was blocked by someone new, kneeling in front of the two sisters with her hands up, palms facing them. Lips were moving, but the words were soundless and impossible to understand. Punzie's head was starting to swim as she took in the sight before her.

It was a woman, and everything about her screamed ice. Her big blue eyes were the perfect shade of pure water, and the way they were narrowed at her made Punzie feel as though she was the one being stabbed with the frozen dagger. Her skin was pale, and her hair was white, falling down one shoulder in a French braid that reminded Punzie of a snow drift. Judging by the elegant gown she donned and the attached train that trailed behind her, her hair must have once looked smooth and perfect. Now her bangs fell down and framed her face, and tiny pieces of hair from the braid were sticking out in all directions, as though it had been jostled and tossed around. The accelerated rise and fall of her chest along with everything else normally would have made Punzie think she'd ran to get there. But the only thing she could think about was the fact that this person had somehow murdered five men.

One of the woman's arms extended towards her, and Punzie reacted by slapping it away with another inhumane scream. Instead of hitting the woman's hand, she struck the woman's arm, concealed under a long sleeve. Instead of feeling soft, warm fabric, it was cool, and sleek. It should have felt like silk, but it was too cold, and it was shimmering too much like the murder weapons. As impossible as it should have been, this woman was wearing ice.

Her hand snapped back like a snake after striking, and suddenly Penny was pulled down again as Punzie's eyes rolled back in her head and she fell backwards, her vision black again, this time without her consent.