There you go, addicts! (And yes, Emi Nicole Jackson 12, I'm talking about you :P) WARNING: there's a LOT of drama in this one.
Chapter 4
My POV
I immediately paused the movie. And then, things got really messed up.
"What is going on?" Rapunzel yelled towards me and her voice cracked. "What is all this?" she asked and a sob escaped her throat.
Elsa gasped with her hand over her mouth. She realized that the poor girl had no idea those where her parents.
Eugene got up and put his hands protectively around her. "Is that true?" he demanded with eyes filled with worry.
"Oh my…" Anna whispered.
The King and the Queen almost run across the room but I raised my hand making them stop a couple of meters before their daughter. Thankfully they understood and made no further efforts to come closer.
"Rapunzel… please, just… calm down." I told her and tears started running down her cheeks.
"No! Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" she shouted. She was now crying uncontrollably. "I-I demand you explain to m-me what is g-going on!"
"Okay, okay! It's okay, I will. Just…" with my hands I made her sit back on her seat, and Eugene immediately started rubbing the back of her palm.
When she calmed a bit, she looked in my eyes and I took a deep breath.
"Rapunzel… what is shown on the screen is the truth and only the truth." I said softly, looking at her apologetically. "Your mother… is not your real mother. That Queen is, Queen Primrose. And that was your father, King Thomas."
She started sobbing again. "N-no! That can't be… M-my mother s-she-"she swallowed. "You are lying! You have to be lying…"
"Honey… I'm afraid I'm not. Your mother has been lying to you about this. And not only this."
Queen Primrose started crying as well, and Rapunzel turned to look at her. The Queen gave her a sad smile. And that was when she realized who she was, and who the man standing next to her was. She sobbed again and turned to look at me.
"I…I'm adopted?" she cried. "Why didn't s-she ever tell me? She should have told me!" Eugene placed his arm around her again, and softly rubbed her shoulder. "She didn't tell me about her age, she didn't tell me about the flower, she didn't…" she suddenly stopped crying and looked at me with terror. "The flower… she adopted me because of the flower! That was all she wanted!" A heartbreaking sob came from deep down her throat, followed by many others.
"Rapunzel… she didn't adopt you, she… she kidnapped you." I told her.
"W-what? What?! Oh… oh my… no-" she was now sobbing violently and the tears formed rushing streams on her cheeks. She curled up and leaned over Eugene's chest, who didn't hesitate to hold her tight as she continued crying harder than I had ever thought was possible.
And so did the royal couple. The King made then a sound of resignation and walked passed his wife.
"Thomas, don't-"
He turned to look at her. "I can't! I can't just stand here and watch."
He reached Rapunzel's seat and kneeled down next to the embraced couple. He placed his hand on his daughters shoulder and she opened her eyes. Still crying, she could not but only gaze at him through the thick tears.
"My girl, my sweet, sweet girl…" he mumbled and cupped her cheek in his palm. He shook his head. "I can't tell you how… how…" Queen Primrose came and kneeled right beside her husband, and caressed softly Rapunzel's curled up knee. A sad smile formed on the King's lips as he spoke. "I know you don't even know us and that we are total strangers to you. And that right now you probably don't even want us to exist, not along tell you this but… You have no idea how much you mean to us. Your moth… my… my wife and I have loved you with all of our hearts since the second you were born. You were everything to us. Everything. And when you were taken from us… Our whole world ceased to exist and we were nothing but a shell of the person we once were. Because we were there when she… when she took you from us. We were sleeping in our bed, right next to your crib. And if we had only locked the door…" he said with a sob.
The Queen shoved away her tears before she spoke. "After that…there was no new beginning. No second chance. You had turned to us and we weren't there. You were gone. If we had locked the door, if we had heard you cry… if we had woken up, none of these would have happened. It's as blunt as that."
"Rapunzel, our dearest child…" King Thomas mumbled. "We can't tell you how… how incredibly sorry we are. And how unconditionally we love you. If there is anything we can do to make you feel any better… Anything… then let us know, okay? Will you please do that?" he begged her. "We are here for you."
Rapunzel, who had eventually stopped crying, slowly released herself from Eugene's embrace and sniffed. She looked at the King, her father, and then at the Queen. Her mother. She bit her lower lip hesitating for a second, but then she opened her arms, inviting. The couple took no second thought before they rushed forward and sealed their long lost daughter into a warm, loving hug.
I sighed, relieved. And so did Eugene. But then I heard soft sobs coming from the left. And it was Anna. The poor girl, I had completely forgotten about her! Her parents had just died, and this was obviously too much for her to handle.
"Excuse me…" I said as I walked passed the pile of cuddled people on the floor to Anna's seat.
"Uh… um… Are you okay?" I heard Kristoff ask awkwardly.
"I-I... uh… not r-really." She mumbled.
Elsa was looking at her, and I could see that she was suffering herself. She wanted to comfort her sister, to mourn with her over their parents' death, but was struggling to conceal, to control herself, to put on a show in order to keep her secret well hidden. To not feel.
"Anna…" I sighed and went over to hug her. She returned the hug immediately. "I j-just miss them s-s-so much!" she cried.
"I know, honey." I whispered. "I know."
While hugging Anna, I raised one hand towards Elsa. She stiffened, but made no move. She then looked at me and shook her head. I rolled my eyes at her a stared at my hand, practically commanding her to take it. She hesitated. Of course she would. But eventually she raised a shivering hand and softly touched mine. I smiled over Anna's shoulder, and squeezed. She smiled back.
Nobody's POV
"Okay, is everybody ready?" the person asked when everyone was back at their seats. But there were a few changes. Everyone had scooted over two seats on the left, and the Queen was now sitting on Rapunzel's right, and the King right beside her.
Once everyone nodded the person that was previously sitting on Rapunzel's right sat now between Kristoff and the Chief of the Guard, and the movie started playing again.
A candle lights a lantern.
"To celebrate her birth, the King and Queen launched a flying lantern into the sky."
The Queen is holding baby Rapunzel in her arms and she and the King release the lantern, which flies away.
"Are…They… Seriously?" Rapunzel's eyes widened with excitement as she turned towards her parents. They smiled.
"I always loved lanterns." The Queen admitted as she shrugged.
"I love them too!" Rapunzel confessed. "Gosh, I knew they weren't stars! I mean, I didn't know they were lanterns but... They… they were for me? That's why they are where on my birthday all along?"
"You saw them?" King Thomas asked.
"Of course I did!" she cried. "I've been creeping to the window of my tower for as long as I can remember to see them. My dream had always been to see them in person but mother-" she cleared her throat. "Gothel" she corrected. "Never lets me get out. She says the world is a cruel place with terrible people and… and… Oh, I knew they were meant for me!" she cheered.
"Wait." Queen Primrose couldn't believe her ears. "She never lets you out?"
Rapunzel shook her head.
"As in never?" Eugene asked from her left.
She shook her head again.
"…Never ever?"
She chuckled. "No, Eugene." He made a grimace. "Flynn?" she tried again.
He bit his lip. "You know…" he told her. "I think that Eugene is fine. But for you only." He warned. She smiled. And he lost himself in her large emerald eyes.
A few seconds later (or was it minutes? Hours?) he cleared his throat.
"Well, I should… uh… we-we should probably watch this thing." He stammered pointing at the screen.
"Hey." She said and he turned to look at her again. "For the record, I like Eugene much better than Flynn."
He looked at his hands and grinned. "Well… then you'd be the first. But thank you." he said and looked at her again. And then he noticed the others behind her.
The King's mouth was hanging open. "Flynn? As in… Flynn Rider?"
Eugene's eyes widened. Oh, no! "Um… I-"
The person next to Kristoff growled. "Stop with the spoilers already! You will see everything in a few minutes! Pay attention!"
"For that one moment, everything was perfect."
Camera fades to a nighttime balcony quickly.
"And then that moment ended".
The door creaks open.
"No…" the Queen mattered, but there was nothing she could do. That night would hunt her forever and she now had to live it again.
Gothel comes near the baby and starts singing.
"Flower, gleam and glow,
let your power shine"
The baby's hair starts to glow. Gothel becomes younger.
"Make the clock re..."
Gothel cuts a lock of hair.
"NO!" Rapunzel yelled and raised her hand towards the screen, as if she could stop her. "No…" she mattered again and her hand fell. "She did that?" she asked the person next to Kristoff as her fingers sealed around her little brown lock. The person nodded, and Rapunzel's eyes went wet again. "So what, she's been lying to me about everything? Everything?"
"Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry…" Queen Primrose mattered.
The hair goes brown, Gothel gets old again. She gasps.
Baby Rapunzel cries, the king and queen wake up.
"Gothel broke into the castle, stole the child and just like that...gone"
Gothel sweeps from the balcony with baby Rapunzel.
The King and Queen were now both tearing up.
"Gosh, Rapunzel, we're sorry." Queen Primrose said and her voiced cracked. "We are so, so sorry."
Rapunzel smiled at her. "It's okay, mom." She said quickly. And then a sob escaped the Queen's throat, as her hand cupped Rapunzel's face. And that was when the princess realized she had just called her 'mom'. She never called Gothel like that, only when she was little. And she didn't know why, but she suddenly was happy about that.
"Mom." She repeated smiling and then looked at the King. "Dad." A single tear run down the King's cheek. "You don't have to apologize. The only one to blame here is Gothel. I… I'm glad you're here."
King Thomas leaned to hold his daughter's hand, and the Queen soon joined them.
There's a tower at night, coming closer and closer.
"The Kingdom searched and searched, but they could not find the Princess. For deep within the forest, in a hidden tower, Gothel raised the child as her own."
"...save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine."
We go in through a glowing window to see Gothel brushing Rapunzel's hair in front of a fire. Gothel sighs happily.
"Look at you, you were so cute!" squeaked Anna.
"Gothel had found her new magic flower. But this time she was determined to keep it hidden."
"Why can't I go outside?" little Rapunzel asks.
Anna gasped as she realized how alike she and Rapunzel were. They were both locked up without knowing why. Elsa noticed the similarity as well. In different circumstances, she thought, we would make great friends.
"The outside world is a dangerous place. Filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you're safe."
The king growled.
"Do you understand, flower?"
"Flower." Kristoff snorted. "Of course"
"Yes, Mommy."
"But the walls of that tower could not hide everything." Eugene continues.
Young Rapunzel slips through the tower at night, to the window, she puts her chin on the windowsill and watches the lanterns contentedly.
"Each year on her birthday, the King and Queen released thousands of lanterns into the sky. In hope that one day, their lost Princess, would return".
"And she did!" the Queen cheered and tickled Rapunzel, who giggled happily.
