I'm back, who missed me!?
I know, I know what your ALL thinking... What the hell is she on? Well I'll tell you dear readers, I'm on sleep deprivation, and I'm starting to submit to it so I'm... gonna really quickly... post this... before I... go to sleep!
Made it! *slump!* I'm so tired... ~ Enjoy...
Rapunzel slowly opened her tear-glued eyes, noticing that she wasn't in her warm, comfortable bed that she owned at the castle. Instead she was in laying in a patch of bouncy, green moss that was beside a rather big bush that she had awoken next to.
She also noticed that she wasn't in one of her silk gowns that she had grown accustomed too. Instead she was in one of her everyday dresses and a heavy warm dark cloak that slipped smoothly over her shoulders.
'What happened to me?'
Slowly getting up from her mossy bed, she looked around at her surroundings, eyes squinting slightly at the bright morning sunlight that was beaming through the trees.
'Where Am I?'
She closed her eyes, trying to think of what happened and why she awoke next to a bush. Her brows furrowed in concentration, trying to retrace her steps from the night before.
Oh!
Suddenly some of it all came back to her. She remembered being on a horse, she was running from someone, she just couldn't see who. She saw a white blur.
Maximus?
Thinking back to her on the horse, she remembered the animal getting scared. She had let go of the reins for one split second and she was flying! Then there was pain, pain in the head that was starting to throb harder and harder the more she kept on thinking about it.
"Ow…" She whispered to herself, quickly clutching her head with her hand, trying in vain, to lessen the pain and the impending headache that she was not looking forward too.
Still confused but glad that she knew something; she set forward through the woods, putting her hood up over her head which created a shadow over her face. She didn't want to run into thugs or thieves who might think that kidnapping the Princess was going to get them a big pay check.
Walking through the woods at snails pace, she observed the forest for any clues on how to get back to Corona.
But everything looked the same.
Something nagged a bit from her memory, her foggy vision of the night before recalled that it had been raining heavily. But that isn't right…
She bent down to the ground, wiping her hand against the spiky, dry grass. She got back up, touching the bark on the tree that was standing tall next to her. It was also dry.
"What the…?"
A twig snapped behind her, making her jump and pick up a thick, heavy branch that was right next to her feet. She regretted not grabbing her frying pan when she had run away. Why did she run away?
Lifting the branch high in the air, she waited, feet spread apart, eyes searching frantically around her, waiting for someone to jump out and try to tackle her.
'Let them try' She thought fiercely.
What she didn't expect was for someone to grab her shoulders from behind.
Acting on pure instinct, Rapunzel swung the tree branch in a full circle, using all her strength and power so she could knock out her target.
But that never happened.
Instead she was knocked over the head, which was now the second time in a row. Thankfully it didn't knock her out, but it did add to her now thudding headache, making the Princess very annoyed.
She was about to get up and give this person a piece of her mind, but she froze when she looked up at the persons face. 'That was unexpected…'
Standing before her was a very old lady. She wore a simple blue dress, a black belt around her waist and a rich deep brown cape. Wispy white hair blew freely around her aged face, almost like they were dancing. Her skin was pale, but not a sickly pale, more like a healthy glow pale, with a rosy pink tint.
If she had passed her in the street, Rapunzel wouldn't have not given her a second glance.
She looked like a normal old woman who had lived a long happy life. The only thing that really surprised her about the woman was her vibrant turquoise orbs. They shone brilliantly with wisdom and knowledge, also laced with kindness.
Rapunzel shook her head, coming out of her daze and suddenly remembered that this lady very nearly knocked her out not five minutes ago. Getting up swiftly from the ground, she grabbed the big branch and stepped into her defense pose again. Old lady or not, she still hit her, with quite some strength.
"Who are you?" She demanded in her princess voice, meaning business.
The old woman chuckled softly, her wrinkly delicate hand covering her mouth quickly to muffle them. "Don't be scared, dear. I'm not going to hurt you, why don't you put that branch down so we can talk?"
Rapunzel snorted, "Do you really think I would put this down, especially since you wacked me over the head just now? No, I don't think so lady" she said, gripping her weapon tightly in her hands.
"Please, dear. I'm sorry for that back there. I can honestly say that I'm sincerely sorry; you just made me act out in defense. You sure can swing fast, but not fast enough, huh?"
The elder's lips quirked to the side, finding the situation funny. But Rapunzel didn't find it funny.
"You nearly knocked me out!"
The older woman raised her eyebrows at the princess, "You nearly knocked me out."
"Well what was I supposed to do?" The princess said in exasperation, arms flying in the air, forgetting the weapon for a moment, "There I am, minding my own business, when, BAM! Somebody's hand is on my shoulder! Tell me how would you react?" She didn't let the woman answer and carried on with her rant.
The old woman watched the Princess in amusement as she waved her arms around to make her point. Her thin lips were quirked to the side again, waiting for Rapunzel to finish.
When Rapunzel finally stopped ranting, she was flushed from shouting. She realized that the older woman was smirking slightly at her tantrum and decided to calm down. She wanted to know why a woman like her was in the woods on her own. When she asked this to the woman, she replied with a smug "Why are you on your own in the woods?" which made Rapunzel huff in frustration.
But the older woman ignored this and carried on, "As for your earlier question on who I was, I'm Raina. Raina Willowtrea, it's a pleasure to meet you, your Highness" she said as she bowed low in front of the princess.
"How did you know I was the Princess?" Rapunzel asked warily, gripping her weapon once more.
Raina chuckled lightly at the princess's slight defense, "My dear, I think it's well-known that the princess of Corona is a near exact replica of the dear Queen. And of course the authority in your voice could only come from a royal."
Rapunzel was impressed; this woman must have met a royal family or two to recognize the tone. The older woman held out her hand slowly, trying not to startle the Princess.
"Truce?"
Rapunzel was wary as she took her hand and shook it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman shouted out an "Okay then, let's get started!" and let go of her hand, nearly making the poor girl fall to the ground.
"Get started on what?" she question with a confused tone, dusting herself off. But Raina wasn't listening.
"Hmm… need to get some transport… that'll be easy I guess I could make us some… have to tell her about the spell…. Oh! Gotta go find that Flynn Rider…" she trailed off, mumbling quietly to herself, not realizing that the Princess could hear her.
"Wait! What was that about Flynn Rider?" Rapunzel could have sworn that she heard that name come out of her mouth.
"Oh! Princess! I'm sorry, I have a habit of mumbling, excuse me." She bowed to her and continued, "Yes, I did say Flynn Rider, he's one of the people who can help break the spell"
"Wait a minuet, did you just say spell, and what do you mean he can help break it?"
"Why the spell that was made last night. The argument that you had with Eugene Fitzherbert, don't you remember? I was told that you had wished you had never met him, is that correct, dear?"
Suddenly it all came back to her like a strike of lightning. She gasped as the events of the argument flashed in front of her eyes. She had been painting, a mural of the night Eugene and her nearly kissed. She had nearly finished but Eugene had barged in and had shouted at her, told her she should grow up. She had shouted back at him and had run away on horse back, was thrown into the bush, blacking out as the last thing she saw was Eugene on Max, running the opposite way.
She came back to the present, eyes blinking frantically as she gathered together all this new information.
Eugene had shouted at her. He had called her childish. Then he had chased after her when she ran way. What did that mean? Did it mean he was sorry? Did that mean he didn't mean it?
Did that mean he was still out there looking for her? She shuddered to think.
"Princess?"
"What did the spell do?"
"Excuse me?"
"I said what did the spell do? Cause the only thing that's different for me is waking up in the forest, oh and also feeling even more confused as to how and why you know of this supposed spell." The Princess's voice grew higher as she spoke, getting more frustrated by the minute.
Raina quickly grabbed the young woman's shoulders, trying to settle her down.
"Listen, I know this is kind of confusing, your head hurts, you don't have a clue where you are and an old lady is coming at you with talk of spells, but just listen and try to stay calm as I tell you what has happened and what you have to do. Is that clear?" Raina asked, voice serious as her ocean eyes scanned the young woman's face for any panicked expressions.
Rapunzel, stunned at Raina suddenly serious tone, nodded her head, agreeing that she would listen without interruption.
"Okay I'll start from the beginning. As you know my name is Raina Willowtrea, I was sent here to help you fix the problem or as I call it, spell so you can get back to your own time and not wreck things up while you try to do so. I'm kind of like your guardian, someone who tells you the rules and points you in the right direction. If you fail to listen to my advice and direction, you will not get back to your own time, forever trapped in the past, regretting your mistakes." She paused for breath and raised her white eyebrow at the princess, waiting of the outbreak of questions that she saw brewing in her curious eyes. She gestured for her to ask away.
"What do you mean, my own time?" Rapunzel said, not wasting any time asking, "Are you saying that this spell sent me back in time?"
"Yes, it did, dear."
"But… but why?"
"Princess, you wished that you had never met Eugene Fitzherbert. By saying this, the spell took you back in time, a few days before he had met you. But only this time, because of the wish, he is less likely, if not at all going to find you when he goes on his heist to steal your crown that is right now still sitting in the palace, waiting for its owner."
"But he has to find me! The princess protested, finally getting what this woman was saying, "If he doesn't meet me, we'll never go see the lanterns, we'll never meet the thugs at the Snuggly Duckling…" she paused from her outburst, realization hitting her right in the chest, "… we'll never fall in love" she whispered, eyes tearing up, arms hugging herself, the thought to hurtful to even think of. "I'll never meet my real parents…"
Raina watched as the young princess held herself, her heart breaking a little at her fearful green eyes. She was going to help this girl no matter what and that was a promise, swear on her life, or what life there was left.
Rapunzel gathered herself enough to continue her questions, knowing that there was more.
"What else is there to know?" she choked out.
"Well… as you may have figured out, Flynn Rider is probably in or near the kingdom, thinking of a brilliant 'quick get rich schemes'. Oh and there's also two of you." She paused as she saw the princess's confused expression, "There is you, the princess from your time, and the Rapunzel who is eighteen years old and still stuck in the tower, dreaming of floating lights."
"So let me get this straight, I have to basically find a way to get Flynn Rider to my 18-year-old self and make sure that there isn't any obstacles?"
"Nearly Princess, you also have to make sure that you don't show your face to anyone. And I especially mean Flynn. If he sees your face and hair as it is now and you succeed in breaking the spell, he will successfully cut your hair, making your eighteen year old self look exactly like you. He will immediately recognize your face which will cause all sorts of nasty problems which will make our work much more complicated for us to fix. Got it?"
Rapunzel nodded her head quickly, eyes wide at all of this information. It was all so weird, she was in the past. That meant that her past self was out there somewhere, still blonde and clueless, under Gothel's watchful eye…
Oh god…
Gothel was still alive, she thought numbly to herself. Gothel, who had kidnapped her from her real family, raised her and nearly killed the most important person that she loved. She was out there, breathing and walking freely, probably manipulating her past self, telling her ridiculous lies about the outside world.
"Rapunzel? You still with me, dear? "
Raina's voice broke Rapunzel's reverie. She shook her head to clear it a few times and turned to Raina, one more question still lingering in her mind.
"Why must you be the one to guide me? How do you know of all this stuff?"
Raina paused at the question, lips quirking to the side again. She had been waiting for this one.
"Well you see dear, I'm not really your average old woman. I am informed on this talk of spells and wishes because it's my life's work. I have trained with magic many times, since it's my job."
"So you're a… witch?" Rapunzel said hesitantly, voice unsure.
"Well yes… but I'm a Senior Witch" Raina said proudly, but Rapunzel didn't understand why.
Noticing that the young Princess was confused, she explained,
"You see, dear, Senior Witches are women who have, let's just say, trained and worked with magic at a very young age. But that doesn't mean thatall of the young ones get through to Senior. They have to be able to endure the early years which are very tough and not very pleasant either," She shivered a little.
'Probably remembering the unpleasant stuff that she had to go through.' Rapunzel mused in her head.
The Witch continued, "Anyway, as for the ones who make it through the hard part, they get to do more challenging magic, magic that is very advanced and very dangerous if not used properly."
"Is there… a lot of… your kind?"
"It's hard to say, it depends on the family, dear. Say if you had a grandmother who had learned the magic arts, or even your mother, this would give you the option to try and be a witch. But it isn't for everyone, dear."
"What if one of the witches told someone who didn't come from a Witch's family tree? Would you kill them both?" The young princess asked calmly. She didn't know why she was taking this so coolly, she guessed that she was just too curious for her own good.
Her question was met with a soft, tinkering laugh. The elder woman looked at Rapunzel with wonder at her calm voice and continued curious questions. "No, of course not dear, we don't kill anyone who knows because, well, no one can know. It's impossible." She paused for breath, watching Rapunzel for any signs of alarm.
She saw none.
You see, the reason why it's impossible is because when young witches start from the beginning they have to sign a kind of contact. A contract that is bonded by their blood."
Rapunzel's eyes grew wide at the blood part, and Raina was quick to explain, "Don't think that it's an animalistic thing to do, dear. The contact only requires a drop, just one."
Rapunzel thought about this for a moment. It did seem to make sense. In a weird sort of way, but still made sense all the same. A thought hit her, "What happens if they broke that contact?"
The Witch's eyes grew wide, trying to think of a way to tell the young woman without alarming her.
Not coming up with anything, she whispered, "Then they would die, dear. It's a bond that is made with their blood; they must know full well that if they break it, they die."
"But… but you told me. Does that mean your going to die?"
"No."
"No?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Dear, I would love to tell you, but we haven't got time, I will probably tell you on the way, but right now we need to find that sneaky Flynn Rider before sunset. And I do believe that he is incredibly hard to find, or so I've heard, so let's get going, shall we?" she said as she motioned towards the main road.
Rapunzel looked warily at the old woman, wanting to know more about theses fascinating witches. But she knew she had to wait. Holding back her questions for the moment, she sighed and followed Raina through the woods, looking with sharp eyes for her Flynn Rider.
Meanwhile, in a time that was not so far from the past, Eugene was driving him self crazy with worry.
It was the morning after the Princess had run away, and she was still missing. But she wasn't just missing, she had completely vanished.
The night before, Eugene and Max had caught up with Rapunzel's horse. Once realizing that she wasn't on it anymore, the man had started to search the surrounding area of the forest. But it had gotten dark and the rain had started to pound even harder on the kingdom, making it impossible to find the princess. He stumbled his way back to the castle with the horses, the King and Queen anxiously awaiting any news of their daughter's whereabouts.
When they saw Eugene alone, the Queen collapsed and the doctor was called right away. The King had looked sorrowfully out to the woods that surrounded his kingdom. When he turned to Eugene, he ordered kindly to the distressed young man to get some rest. Because the next day was going to be hectic, looking for the now, once again, lost Princess.
Eugene was up at sunrise with the guards the next day, looking through every inch of the woods for the princess. He had checked all the familiar places. The Snuggly Duckling, the river banks that she loved so much, the campfire that they had stayed at when travelling to the kingdom and as a last resort, he checked the tower.
But she wasn't in any of these places. The thugs had not seen the princess but said they would help look, the river banks were rushing and gray, holding no trace that she had been there. The campfire had not been touched, the sticks not even smoking, proving that she hadn't been there at all.
And the tower was covered in a thin sheet of dust, undisturbed, no footprints or signs of any life. This left Eugene even more frustrated and worried.
The whole kingdom was searching by the time of late afternoon. Letters were sent from the King himself to other surrounding kingdoms, asking to keep a sharp eye for the girl on the accurately drawn pictures that were sent with the letters.
Eugene and some of the other guards were scouting up and down the trail that was left behind from the chase the night before, hoping to find any clues about the princess's disappearance.
Max had his nose to the ground, trying to pick up her scent like a blood-hound. Eugene was following close behind, looking in the places Max couldn't get through.
Pushing past some bushes and branches he saw some of the guards who were actually quite decent to him. They were trying their best, like the entire kingdom. But it didn't seem like it was going to be enough.
Behind him, Max whinnied urgently to the others. They all turned, hoping he had found her, but were disappointed when they only saw him nudging at a huge thick tree branch.
The guards ignored his strange humane actions and continued to search. Eugene however knew that Max was onto something; after all, he was a very smart horse.
Taking big strides to the horse, Eugene lightly touch the branch, or rather tree trunk that was hanging up in the air, just up to his head in height.
Turning to Max, he said impatiently, "What is it?"
The white stallion nudged the tree trunk again.
"Rapunzel touched this trunk?"
Max nodded, and then pointed his snout to the ground, his body lowering as if to see what was underneath on the other side, but was too big to fit. He looked at Eugene and nodded forward, saying that he should go under.
The young man crouched down on his hands and knees, fingers digging into squishy moss and prickly, dead brown grass. He reached the end of the little tunnel of thick branches and came across a few bushes with soft mossy beds.
Scanning the area, he noticed that something or someone had been here. The grass was stepped on and if he looked closely enough, he could see that some of the bushes had been laid upon.
Calling back to Max, he asked, "Is her scent strong around here Max?"
The horse answered back with an affirmative whiney, stomping his hooves on the ground. Eugene nodded, his face thoughtful, "Max, get the guards, we need as many people we can get to scout this area." Max whinnied again, racing away.
Crouching down, Eugene looked intently at the moss-covered ground, feeling, knowing that Rapunzel had been here. His eyes squinted up to the grey, cloudy sky, the weather reflecting his mood.
Scanning above him at the little cage of branches overhead, his expression lost, he whispered softly "Where are you?"
Well, there you have it. I'm going to try and make this brief since I just wrote a big huge author note for this chapter, but something went wrong and now I have to go through the WHOLE story again for mistakes AND write all my shout outs AGAIN! It's pissed me right off!
I'll try to write all what I put before I lost it all, but it might be half-hearted, but don't think I don't appreciate your reviews, I'm just pissed that I have to write this all again.
Okay, description for Raina the Witch. You pronounce it as REY-NAH. She was made on a whim, it was either her or a really lame ghost idea, or Rapunzel just wondering the woods, figuring it out slowly in her head, which would've been boring to write and boring to read...
Raina's name was chosen from a German names list since Corona was loosely based in Germany, (Yeah, I read my daily Disney Wiki bite me!) Raina means 'Advice', 'Decision', 'Protection' and also 'Wise Guardian'
I was kinda scared that I wasn't going to update. Four words. Fifty Shades Of Gray
Let's just say that I got distracted when my Mum came in a got out the book that has been passed down from my family's female side. I kinda swiped it... got into it... and kinda ran away with it, Mum chasing after me, saying it's too young for me to read... (Like its anything more worse than what I've read on Fanfcition!) And then I kinda... you know... locked myself in the bathroom, completely forgetting my laptop.
Then I took it to school which kinda got everyone excited since everyone has heard of this book and wanted to know if the legends were true xD (Porn Book was the most frequent name it was called) Had to hide it alot from the teachers too, which was a bloody nightmare, don't get me started on that!
Also got called a sex addict by my best mate Poppy, (She says she doesn't like those kinda books, but I saw you peaking Poppy, we all saw you! ;)
Okay so I have to be really quick now since my Mum is threatening to turn the internet off, which will make me lose everything, AGAIN! So I only have to time to do one shout out which goes to Poppy, my mate I was talking about just a minute ago. POPPY I LOVE YA, YOU ARE AMAZING SINCE YOUR THE ONLY ONE IN OUR GROUP WHO ACTUALLY TAKES AN INTREST IN TANGLED AND ALSO GIVES ME HELPFUL IDEAS FOR THIS FANFIC, LOVE YA MATE.
Everyone else who reviewed last time, I haven't forgotten you, It's just I haven't got time, cause you know, me Mum's being mean :( I PROMISE that I will do your shout outs in the next chappie, I triple promise!
Anyway, just a little bit more, if anyone has any questions on the witch stuff and plot lines, stuff like that, just ask me through review and I'll answer in my shout outs.
So until the next Sunday Midnight... Or is it MIdnight MondaY?... You know what, I don't care, just stop talking Lucy! *slaps myself in the face*
...
Heh, I need to sleep... comfy bed...
