All right, I want you all to imagine something. Imagine I put an audio of the Inspector Gadget theme song only instead of Inspector Gadget it goes "duh duh duh duh dut duh cha-apter seven. Cause that's what I imagined in my head when I wrote this. (This weird I'm-tired-again author's note, not the actual chapter)

As always, thank you for returning to read the next chapter in the not quite dramatic tale of how I think Rapunzel and Jack met coughcoughandfellinlovecough I'm sorry, I had to cough there. I have a slight cold you see.

blueacrylicpaint: Why thank you. I need to stop reading applause as applesauce cause then I end up disappointed that we don't have any.

FrozenLanterns: I love Gothel and Pitch, especially as partners. They're two of the most well done villains, in my opinion. So, villain OTP:) One of these chapters I'm going to explain why Gothel killed Jack. But that chapter is not this chapter. This chapter I'm just going to make everything all the more complicated.

Guest: Oh Pitch. He's the reason we can't have nice things:)

I've got my Mother's love, I thought. I shouldn't ask for more. I've got so many things that I should be thankful for.

My mind refused to shut off, partially from fear of another heart stopping nightmare, partially because all I wanted was to go back in time and accept Jack's offer. Leaving the tower and seeing the world has never been more appealing.

But I've got almost everything.

...except a door..

Stop it! I scolded myself. It's best if you just stay in.

With a sigh, the small independent Rapunzel that lived somewhere in my mind replied, But when will my life begin?

All I needed was some warm milk, then maybe I'd be able to fall asleep. Mother had said she'd bring me some...does it really take ten minutes?

Carefully, I climbed down the staircase to see if she needed help or something.

Mother was sitting by the window, staring out in silence. It wasn't sad silence though, or thoughtful silence. It was tense silence, angry silence. I wondered what was wrong.

"Mother? Are you okay?" I asked.

She didn't look at me, but I could see that her eyes were glowing silver.

Do my eyes glow when I'm upset?

"Mother?"

When she looked at me, all I saw was hate, "How could you Rapunzel?"

"How could I what?" I asked.

"You let HIM visit you every day! For A YEAR! You let him bring you things," she stood and flung two of Jack's books at me, a small dusty lavender and a small faded royal blue.

I stared at them, those were the two books I couldn't bring myself to read: Raiponce and Jokul Frosti.

I didn't reply.

"Don't you realize what you've done?! Pitch thinks I didn't hide you well enough! He's going to kill both of us!"

My heart stopped, "What?"

"Because of you I'm all out of chances! After today I'm gone. And if he doesn't kill you then he will make your life complete hell!"

I backed away from her. I've never seen her this raw. Her eyes were filled with tears, and I could see the complete panic beneath her anger. It was terrifying to see my mother, who was normally so composed and elegant, practically ripping her hair out.

"There's only one thing I can do," she muttered. "I'm sorry it's coming to this, Rapunzel. I'm so sorry," everything she said scared me even more. I had never seen my mother cry.

She moved to stand by the window, in a position where you wouldn't see her until you were already in the tower. In her hand, I saw something flash.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not fully understanding what was about to happen.

"It's the only way."

When I glanced out the window, I saw something I was not expecting. Jack, with his eyes wide with fear. When he saw me, he visibly relaxed.

All at once, everything clicked into place, "Jack! Go! Don't come in!"

He furrowed his eyebrows, but my warnings didn't stop him from ducking into the tower, "Thank God you're okay, I though that-"

"Jack!" I screamed as Mother shoved the knife into his side. He froze, then crumpled to his knees as she pulled it back out, "No!"

Curling into the fetal position, he clutched his wound and gasped from pain every few moments.

My wild eyed Mother stepped over him to grab me and pull me towards the back of the tower, towards the 'secret' bunker. Once she had threatened to make me live in there if I asked to leave the tower again...I didn't think she'd ever go through with the threat!

"Mother! Don't do this!" I cried, feeling tears prick at my own eyes. I don't care what "Pitch" was planning on doing to make my life hell, in my mind hell is that bunker, especially if I had to live with the fact Jack had been killed.

As I tried to fight Mother, I noticed my hair was close to Jack, maybe close enough to heal him.

Frantically, I began to sing, "Flower gleam and glow let your powers shine-MMF!"

She clamped her hand over my mouth before I could sing another verse or my hair could even start to glow.

Jack was coughing and writhing on the floor, like there was more to the wound than just a deep cut. He began to shiver and scream in fear, "Stop it! STOP IT!"

What did she do to him?

I bit down on her hand and it shocked her enough that I managed to escape.

"Jack!" I rushed to him.

"Rapunzel...just get out...of here..."

"Not without you," I replied, grabbing my hair to place it over the wound. I touched his face, "It's going to be all right."

"No!" Mother shrieked, grabbing my hair and yanking on it. She was a lot stronger than me, so I was pulled back, "Get away from that!" she grabbed onto me, only this time not dragging me back. She almost seemed to be...protecting me.

But she just stabbed Jack! I gave him a panicked look. Just the thought of him dying, right here in front of me, made my blood run cold. Tears started to build in my eyes, I was that scared.

Jack's eyes lit up in fury, practically sparking with the glowing blue, "Let her go!" he said, fumbling to grab his staff.

What exactly is he going to do with that? Cover her in frost?

He forced himself to his feet and swung the staff through the air, only making one small groan as an indication of pain.

Glowing blue electricity shot out of the staff, hitting Mother square in the chest. She went flying backwards, and I stood there in shock.

How had he done that?

Jack looped the crooked part of his staff around my waist, pulling me to him. He winced, but refused to let go.

"Jack...you were stabbed...like a minute ago.." I tried to remind him, but he ignored me and jumped out the window. I closed my eyes, expecting us to fall and hit the ground. But instead, we soared through the air. He almost dropped me, but then he refocused himself and clutched onto me tighter.

"Pull on your hair," he commanded. "Get...just get it out of the tower."

When I looked back, I saw that my hair still reached to the window, even though we were almost as far away from it as you can get.

So I pulled on it until the last few inches fell from the tower, right before Mother could grab at it.

"Rapunzel!" she screamed.

I looked away, I'm a horrible daughter.

"There, that's...the door," he winced, flying straight at the side of a rock.

"Are you sure?!"

"Not at all!"

I closed my eyes again, we were dead. It was guaranteed. Jack was delirious from pain or something, we were going to smash into that rock and...When I opened my eyes, I saw that we were soaring above a forest. We were safe! I couldn't help laughing.

My relief didn't last very long, though.

Jack cried out and dropped me, I landed with a thud on the dirt and he landed beside me. Instead of picking himself up, he simply curled up again.

Okay...okay okay I can handle this.

"Jack, I need you to relax," I said, gently prying his hands away from the wound. I just chose to ignore the fact his blood was silver. It wasn't important right now.

"Ouch!" I yanked my hand away. Why did his blood burn me? That makes no sense at all...

He cried out and grabbed at his side again.

"No! You'll only make it worse," I ignored the searing pain and pulled his hands away so I could put my hair over the wound.

Quickly, but steadily, I sang, "Flower gleam and glow, let your powers shine..."

But when I had finished the song, the wound was still there. He was still crying out in pain.

"No...why didn't it work?!" I cried, trying again, more panicky. "Flowergleamandglowletyourpowersshinemaketheclockr eversebringbackwhatoncewasmine!"

It was still glowing like normal, but it had no effect on Jack.

His cries became weaker and weaker, and he soon grew still in my arms.

"Jack! No!" I felt for a heartbeat, and found it was slow, deathly slow. "Jack!"

Why wasn't my hair working?! Why wasn't he healed?! I can't lose him! Not like this!

I started to cry, singing the song over and over again, hoping it'd work the fourth time...or the seventh time...but it didn't.

"Don't leave me.." I whispered.

(POV Change)

Several voices echoed around in my head. I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, all the echoes overlapped each other so I couldn't really tell what it was saying.

"He's very don't he's very he's don't strong very he's potential very leave let he's leave potential strong me live..." or something along those lines.

Slowly, the pain in my side faded away.

Was I dying? I mean, there was the light.

Looked different than how I imagined though. I expected it to be white, and just like a dot off in the distance. Not a long train of glowy yellow gold.

Slowly, my vision sharpened and I realized that, I wasn't dead! I was in the forest, with Rapunzel.

What. The. Hell?

Rapunzel was singing frantically, tears streaming down her cheeks. Okay, that I part I was only mildly concerned about. But her hair...!

The glowing gold? The long train of gold I had thought was the light? IT WAS HER HAIR!

"WHY IS YOUR HAIR GLOWING?!" I cried.

She froze, then slowly lifted her tearstreaked face to meet my eyes, "...you were dead! Like two seconds ago! WHY AREN'T YOU DEAD?!"

"WHY IS YOUR HAIR GLOWING?!" I repeated.

We both just stared at each other in shock, until I felt a weird tickling sensation where it used to hurt. It was like spiders were knitting their web on my skin, it wasn't pleasant. (I suppose it's better than the impaled kidney feeling...)

As I watched, the wound that had been bleeding rapidly moments ago, shrunk and scabbed over, before it disappeared completely. The only proof I had just been injured was the tear in my hoodie and the crusty silvery blood on my hands.

We were both quiet.

"Does that usually happen?" Rapunzel finally asked. "Do you have your own special healing process?"

I shook my head and rubbed the smooth skin, noticing there was the tiniest scar that seemed to shrink even still, "I heal like humans...it never happens that fast...I don't know I've never been stabbed so maybe I heal faster if it's life threatening?"

Yeah, keep telling yourself that Jack. That makes perfect sense.

She hugged herself and continued to stare at the no longer existing injury.

"Why was your hair glowing?" I asked.

"I...uh..." she nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Why. Was. Your. Hair. Glowing?" I was trying to stay calm, I really was, but the more I thought about her hair glowing the more freaked out I became.

"Your blood is silver!" she argued.

"It doesn't glow!"

"...your eyes do..." she muttered.

"Rapunzel. Just tell me. Please."

She took a deep breath and pushed her hair back again, "I...when I was a little girl I found this flower. And so I put it in my hair and continued on my way...but then I was poisoned by some berries and I died. The flower...it grew from a drop of sunlight. So it healed me, and then the power somehow transferred into me."

Rapunzel was saved by the Sun, like I was saved by the Moon. Wow..

"So now it glows?"

"And it heals people. My mother put me up in the tower, so no one could use me for it. It's kept both of us alive since," she shrugged. The thought of her mother made me furious, but it faded when I saw how upset she looked.

"What do you mean it kept you alive?" I asked. She's only eighteen, why does she need magic to stay alive?

Burying her face in her hands so I almost couldn't understand her, she replied, "I'm threehundredandeighteenyearsold."

I took her hands so she had to look at me, "Say that again."

Sighing, she repeated, "I'm three hundred and eighteen years old. We've...I've been in that tower for at least three centuries. I don't remember the first eighteen years of my life, so...yeah."

"I thought you were mortal..." I half laughed. "I was terrified I'd have to watch you grow old while I stay eighteen forever, this is..."

"...insane," she finished my sentence with a smile.

After a moment, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me? Did you not trust me?"

"No!" she shook her head quickly. "It's just...Mother said if anyone ever found me that I can't tell them anything, or else they'd kidnap me so they can stay young and healthy forever."

I frowned, "But I wouldn't do that. I'd only kidnap you so I can take you to see the lanterns," I added with a smile.

She smiled softly in return.

When I squeezed her hands, she winced and pulled away.

"What's wrong?" I asked, terrified I'd hurt her in some way.

After hesitating, she showed me the pink marks on her hands, "I don't know how it happened...your blood just...it burned me pretty badly."

"Oh my God I'm so sorry!"

"It doesn't matter," she reassured me. After glancing around to make sure no one was near, she wrapped a few strands of hair around her hands and started to sing. Her hair glowed, but I was prepared for it. It was actually beautiful. When the glow faded and she unwrapped her hands, she was fine.

"We should get out of here," I said, realizing Gothel could appear at any moment.

I struggled to my feet and helped her up.

"I don't know if I can make it very far..." she said, rubbing her temple. "I'm drained."

"Then I'll carry you," I offered. But then it hit me how exhausted I was too. "Do you think you could make it to my tree? It's not far."

After a long trudging walk, we made it to the half-but-really-not-cause-there's-more-trees-than- before clearing where my tree grew.

"Is it this one?" she joked, pointing at the tall tree permanently covered in frost.

"How'd you guess?" I smirked.

Instead of climbing like I expected, she simply sat down right on the ground and curled up.

"Okay..the ground works too.." I muttered.

I wasn't about to leave her alone, so I lied down with her. After hesitating, I put my arms around her and pulled her so her back was against my chest.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled, already half asleep.

"I want to make sure you'll still be here when I wake up," I replied. All I could think was that tomorrow I'd wake up and she'd be gone, locked away back in the tower or stolen by Pitch.

She hummed a response, I couldn't tell what she actually said, but I'm assuming it was consent. After a moment, she shifted so her head was nestled against my chest.

Smiling, I wrapped my arms around her tighter. If I decided to ignore the fact I almost died, and that Rapunzel's bond with her mother had probably shattered beyond repair, then everything felt perfect.

Tomorrow, I promised. Tomorrow I'll show you everything about this town. And then as soon as you get bored, we'll go to Scotland. And Germany, and anywhere you want.

You won't miss the tower for a second.