Soli Deo gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Tangled.

That, was without a doubt, the saddest night of my and Rapunzel's lives. First we had this perfect day, dreams came true, and then came the lies and deceit. Betrayal. Gorilla men. Gothel.

Rapunzel, the poor thing. When we passed the campfire we had burning last night, the embers still slightly glowing, she burst into a fresh set of sobs. Gothel patted her on the shoulder (and nearly hit me on the head) and stooped to pick up the frying pan. We then continued on, without looking back.

We went on the road, for it was hard to see things in the woods at night. Since we were near civilization, we passed the Snuggly Duckling. Rapunzel merely glanced at it and thrust her head back into the warm shoulder of Gothel. I watched the place disappear as we turned that corner.

Those two walked for hours. About five minutes from the tower, at the lily pond with all of its lily pads that Rapunzel liked, Gothel pulled out her pocket watch from her dress and examined it closely in the moonlight. Seeing as it was three in the morning, she sighed and put it away. I was barely awake, and the same was to be said for Rapunzel.

Once we entered the valley, Gothel led Rapunzel, who was nearly sleepwalking, around the tower to a covered door. She pushed away the crumbling stones that were in her way with her foot and carefully helped Rapunzel climb the long, sprawling stairs. Rapunzel was so depressed that she didn't even make a sound when she bumped her head on the rocky ceiling. I hung onto her hair for dear life so that no rocks would fall on my head.

Gothel carefully pushed on a certain area of the ceiling and revealed a hidden doorway. She got out and pulled Rapunzel back into the tower. Rapunzel sleepily walked up to her bedroom and was about to go into it when Gothel called, "Good night, Flower," and when the old woman didn't get a response, she called, "I love you very much dear."

Rapunzel answered emotionlessly, "I love you more."

Gothel smiled at her daughter, "I love you most," and she disappeared into her bedroom.

Rapunzel sighed and then flung herself through the curtains and landed on her bed with a sob. I crawled out from under her braid and watched hopelessly at the weeping girl. I patted her hand gripping the sheets comfortingly, causing her to look at me and wail, "Why did he leave? I trusted him! What were those men talking about? He traded me? I don't believe he would do that, Pascal!" and she started sobbing uncontrollably again.

I watched and sighed and rubbed little circles on her hand until her crying grew quieter and she fell into an unrestful sleep. Realizing that there was nothing I could do, I sighed and laid down next to her, and closed my eyes.


I stirred when I heard a rustling noise coming from the doorway. I sleepily noticed that it was Gothel and then suddenly sat up and bolted out of her way as she sat down in the place where I had slept. I was getting rather rude awakenings lately.

I watched from behind the dresser in Rapunzel's room as Gothel gently shook Rapunzel's arm to try to wake her up. Usually Rapunzel woke up at seven every morning, but due to fatigue, heartbreak and crying, she didn't stir. Gothel then frowned and shook her arm more violently. I felt a frown cross my face as Rapunzel sleepily sat up and wiped her eyes.

"Good morning, dear," Gothel said. Her voice sounded sugary sweet, making me gag as the old lady took Rapunzel's brush from the basket she had brought with her and started brushing the bottom of the hair, the only part that was not flowered.

Gothel sang to herself, as if she was the only living thing in the room, "Flower, gleam, and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine." As Gothel's wrinkles grew fainter and her skin tightened, I saw a solitary tear slip down Rapunzel's face as she gulped, probably suppressing a sob.

"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine," Gothel finished. Her greying curls resumed their normal dark black look and she in turn seemed calmer and more relaxed.

"Now," she said brightly, "let's get this stupid braid out of here," and she started picking out the flowers like they were thorns. I turned red in anger. How dare she call that braid stupid! Those little girls did the job to the best of their ability, and they had had tons of practice. That braid was a thing of perfection, and she calls it stupid? Of all the things in the world, stupid? That braid was what made Rapunzel, well, Rapunzel. She had changed yesterday, and so did her hair. Now Gothel was tearing it apart, just like she was doing to Rapunzel.

A sniffle came from the direction of the teen when Gothel had nearly half of the braid undone. She said in her 'calming' tone, "Oh, dearest, did those mean men scare you?" like she was talking to a little child. "You see, Flower, those were the kind of men I was talking about, those red-haired, huge men," and she smiled to herself as she continued sinisterly, "and that thief." Gothel spat out the word 'thief' like it was a bit of rotten fruit. I gulped as I tried to control my temper.

"They'll take your hair," a thick part of the braid came undone; "Sell it, to anyone who'll pay," another bit fell to the floor; "They'd sell you! You'd be a slave;" the basket grew fuller and fuller as Gothel grabbed fistfuls of the delicate buds and flung them into the basket. "And NO ONE WILL CARE ABOUT YOU!" she almost yelled. When another sniffle came from Rapunzel, Gothel sighed and put on a smile and turned Rapunzel's head to face her. "But I do."

No, you don't care. You don't care about anyone but yourself!

Rapunzel then silently turned her head and Gothel went back to her work. Within minutes, she had taken out nearly all of those precious reminders of that wonderful day.

As she carefully detracted the last blossom, she said slyly, "There! It never happened." She smiled to herself and stood up and grabbed her basket. She strolled to the doorway—thank goodness, I could barely stand her being in here anymore.

"Now, wash up for dinner. I'm making hazelnut soup," Gothel declared, trying to entice the girl with the concoction. I shook my head to myself when Rapunzel didn't respond; she just sat there and stared at her hands.

Gothel sighed in annoyance and said in a phony caring voice, "I really did try, Rapunzel, I tried to warn you of what was out there. The world is dark, and selfish, and cruel. If it finds the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it." Gothel enunciated the last two words carefully, to make them stick in Rapunzel's head. I watched Rapunzel sigh quietly as Gothel sighed and closed the curtains swiftly.

I knew that those words went through one of Rapunzel's ears and out the other. She and I knew now that Gothel wasn't telling the truth, not the whole truth. Sure, there was those scary men that wanted Rapunzel's hair, but what about the Pub Thugs? With their weird yet special dreams who understood Rapunzel enough to help her escape? What about those villagers, who didn't reveal Eugene to the guards and who had welcomed Rapunzel into their society with warm smiles? What about them?

I know not the answers to these questions, nor did I think that I'd get any. Seeing as the poor blonde was almost melting, I crawled back onto the bed and snuggled next to her thin body and looked up at my best friend.

Rapunzel, barely even moving, unfolded her one keepsake that she had carefully hidden away from Gothel's prying eyes. My eyes widened as she revealed that it was the little flag with the sun motif on it that Eugene had gotten her for her birthday.

Her face was sad, to say the least. She had already cried all of her tears, leaving the streaks of salty memories on her freckles. I chirped ever so slightly to capture her attention, and to my surprise, she turned to me.

I thought of what I should do to hold her attention and then turned into a deep blue. It meant two things. It meant I was sad, very sad; it was also the color of the vest that the thief had worn. My eyes looked straight into her eyes, and they said, "I'm so sorry." Rapunzel gave me the slightest resemblance to a smile I had seen her give me in the last twelve hours. She then flopped backward onto the bed and sighed sadly. She held up the flag at arms' length and studied it intently. Her eyes then eased onto her ceiling, and then a curious look came upon her.

I cocked my head to the side as she looked back and forth between the cloth and her paintings. She silently sat up and placed the bit of fabric aside, never turning away from her drawings. I stared at the flag that she had tossed aside and then to the beams. What was she seeing?

She then suddenly stood up, still gazing at the ceiling. By this time I was thoroughly alarmed and jumping down from the bed, I tried to capture her attention. I frantically waved my arms around; when she didn't respond, I chirped hurriedly.

I don't know if my chirping worked, but something made her jump quickly, and she stumbled against the dresser. She clasped the wooden knobs on it as she slowly whispered the four words that would change her and my life forever.

"I'm the lost princess."

I thereon was promptly dumbfounded. What was she saying? She was the lost princess? I slowly withdrew my lip that had dropped to the floor and thought for a moment. Okay, okay, think. The lost princess, from what Max had told me, had blonde hair and yesterday was her birthday; not only was yesterday Rapunzel's birthday, she had a mountain of blonde hair. Those lanterns that went up every year were for the lost princess; Rapunzel seemed to have a connection with those lanterns. The princess was gone for eighteen years; Rapunzel is eighteen-years-old.

I gulped.

Rapunzel was the lost princess.

Upon hearing the commotion Rapunzel made by hurtling herself into the large dresser, I heard Gothel walking slowly up the stairs and calling, "Rapunzel? Rapunzel, what's going on up there? Are you all right?"

Gothel.

I quickly swelled with anger as I exhaled and inhaled deeply. Gothel. She was that old good-for-nothing hag who had stolen away the lost princess, Rapunzel, from the King and Queen. No wonder she was never caring, loving—she never loved Rapunzel! She only loved her hair! Gothel was the kind of selfish, greedy person what Gothel kept warning Rapunzel of every single day, for her whole life! Gothel wanted the hair, she was the one imprisoning her!

Rapunzel stood up straight and marched to the curtains. She drew them back and, trying to calm herself down, muttered, "I'm the lost princess!"

Gothel nearly turned the color of her dress as she yelled, "Do speak up, Rapunzel, you know how I feel about the mumbling!"

At that sentence, Rapunzel stiffened. Gothel had told her that her whole life, and she was not going to mumble as she said firmly, "I am the lost princess!" Rapunzel's anger was starting to escalate as she straightened and emphasized, "Did I mumble, Mother?" and she thought a second and added, "or should I even call you that?"

I grinned smugly as Gothel's face seemed to drain and pale as she tried to reassure Rapunzel (and herself, I could obviously see) with, "Oh, Rapunzel, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?"

The stunned woman tried to wrap her arms around the girl, but Rapunzel was on fire and she quickly dodged her and challenged, "It was you! It was all you!"

I knew then that Gothel had finally let it sink into her skull that Rapunzel knew. The deep red that I had turned turned even darker as Gothel practically conceded, "Everything that I did was to protect you!" I was so proud of Rapunzel, she didn't flinch for a second. She pushed Gothel out of her way with force I didn't know she possessed and marched down the stairs, leaving Gothel to run after her and call, "Rapunzel!"

Rapunzel didn't even turn around as she yelled angrily, "I've spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power—"

"RAPUNZEL!" Gothel yelled all the louder.

I slowly crept out from where I was hiding in the doorway and held onto the bars in the banister and watched Rapunzel as she continued, "—when I should have been hiding," she turned to stare at Gothel angrily, "from you!" Rapunzel was infuriated, and so was I.

Gothel knew that the game was up, so she tried to make Rapunzel stay in the tower by shouting, "Where will you go? He won't be there for you!" I grimaced as I remembered the thief. Wait, I had to remember him? I thought just a few minutes ago that he was the only thing on Rapunzel's and my minds. Whatever. Wait. Gothel had this plan laid out so carefully, she probably had gotten rid of the thief herself! I felt myself getting even more mad every single second.

Rapunzel, outraged at Gothel, demanded, "What did you do to him?" Her sparkling green eyes that were usually filled with gentleness flashed with fiery as she clenched and unclenched her small hands.

Gothel appeared to be trying to compose herself as she answered calmly, and cruelly, "That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes." Her sickening voice enunciated each crr-sound crisply, as if she was trying to imply to Rapunzel that there was nothing she could do about it.

Rapunzel, who never got riled up or ill-tempered, had burst out into anger, but now she crumpled like the grape between the fingers of Eugene. She pulled away into the shadows as she clutched her hands together and uttered, "No."

"Now, now," Gothel tried to calm the girl as she tried to resume her 'mother' appearance, "listen to me, everything is as it should be." No, what was she talking about? She had kidnapped the princess, lied to her for eighteen years, sentenced the man who got her out of the prison to death, and she was lying to Rapunzel, yet again, about how everything was okay?! I stopped holding onto the bars and punched my hands together. She had gone too far.

Rapunzel apparently thought so too, because when Gothel tried to pat, practically pet her on the head, she reached out and clenched the accusing hand with her own and declared, "NO! You were wrong about the world, and you were wrong about me!" Gothel struggled to make Rapunzel's hand let go, but Rapunzel, for once, was fuming, and was growing more confident with every word.

"And I will never let you use my hair again!" Rapunzel yelled, and let her grip on Gothel's hand grow slack. Gothel wrenched her hand out of the smaller one and backed away in horror, and to add to our luck, into a mirror, causing the shattered pieces to litter the floor.

I did a little dance and kicked the air. You kicked butt, Rapunzel! I eagerly watched Rapunzel to see if she was going to acknowledge me, but instead, she never took her eyes off Gothel. The enlightened girl turned her back and walked to the window and started to pry it open.

I looked over at Gothel and gulped. The woman had straightened up, and a sinister look came over her as her blue eyes turned icy cold.

Her voice took on a threatening tone as she mumbled (ALERT! ALERT! Gothel, kingdom enemy number one, (sorry, Eugene, that title is no longer yours) mumbled!), "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy."

Her expression made me shiver and shrink down to hide in the shadows as Gothel walked calmly over to the kitchen. She looked among the sink and counters and finally grasped a long black handle. I gasped.

The frying pan.

Rapunzel was looping her hair around the hook that was embedded in the ceiling when Gothel, without so much as a word, slammed the metal against her small skull. I screamed loudly as she fell to the floor, unconscious, not uttering a sound at all. I rapidly breathed in and out as Gothel, that horrid woman, dragged the girl over to the fireplace. She then rushed to her bedroom and rustled around. I, as quickly as I could, scampered down the stairs, tripping over my own feet. I crawled to Rapunzel's pale face and tried to open her eyes with my hands in panic.

When I heard Gothel coming back, I ran down her arm and into the fireplace. I shrank back into the dirty coals as Gothel returned with, to my absolute horror and anger, chains she had hidden in her bedroom. She snapped them onto Rapunzel's thin wrists and pulled the ends tight around the fireplace. I shrank even more into the background as she pulled on it to test it out, and when it was tight enough for her, she rummaged through a little dresser and found a white strip of cloth. She smiled cruelly and tied it around Rapunzel's mouth, closing off any way to speak.

She then gathered up her cloak and started up the stairs to Rapunzel's room. I had no idea what she was doing in there, nor did I care. I instantly dashed out of my hiding spot and up onto Rapunzel's face again. I frantically and gently slapped her face, which only made her moan. Desperate, I did the one thing I didn't want to do.

I stuck my tongue in her ear.

Oh, believe you me, I so did not want to do it, but I needed to wake Rapunzel up so we could find means of escape. So, with a heavy and grossed-out heart, I stuck my long tongue into her ear canal. She woke up slowly—well, more slowly than the thief.

"Pascal?" she mumbled as she struggled to sit up. I could barely make out what she was saying through the cloth, and she yelled as loud as she could, "PASCAL!" I appeared before her and she was barely able to make out, "Wha' ha'ened?" I mimicked Eugene by pursing my lips and looking lovey-dovey, the crown by acting like Rapunzel when she first saw the crown, and indicated that she was the lost princess. Her eyes went wide open as she whispered loudly, "Eugene! Tha' cwown! I'e tha' 'ost pwincess!" and then a dark look came over her as she snarled, "Gothel."

As if on cue, Gothel appeared out from behind the curtains and smiled evilly as she glanced at her nails and said, "Hello, dear." I backed into the fireplace as Rapunzel started struggling and yelling frantically as she tried to escape the chains.

"Oh, please, there's no need for that, because I," she smirked, "have the key."

Rapunzel's eyes grew wider and angrier as she calmed down enough to say in a muffled voice, "Wha' you doin'?"

"We'll leaving, Rapunzel, to where you'll be safe and sound, and no one will ever be able to find you again," Gothel smiled sweetly as she descended the stairs and cupped Rapunzel's face in her hands, "cause you're my flower, no one else's." Rapunzel attempted to spit in Gothel's face but only managed to soak the gag, but Gothel took it as an insult (which it was) and yelled, "Don't you EVER do that AGAIN!" and she slapped Rapunzel across her face and walked away.

Rapunzel barely winced when the sharp hand hit her, and she bore no sign of weakness as she struggled all the more against the chains. Gothel kept herself busy as she quickly started filling a basket with food. I crawled onto Rapunzel's chains and started gnawing on them as fast as I could, Rapunzel still working as hard as she could to do the same.

We were so caught up in our work that we all were startled to hear hoofbeats. Gothel straightened in alarm and Rapunzel and I stopped for a moment to watch her. Gothel peered out of the window and gasped and ran to her room, muttering, "That thief!" Rapunzel looked at me excitedly and I squealed with happiness. Eugene had escaped! Oh, yay! He'd save us!

But our hopes were short lived as Gothel dashed out of her room and Rapunzel and I gasped in horror when we saw what was in her hand.

A dagger.

Gothel noticed Rapunzel's alarmed face and scolded, "Look what happened, Rapunzel! He came to save you!" She then drew out her dagger from behind her and examined the blade with deft fingers as she added smugly, "And he shall die for his actions!" Rapunzel screamed in horror and I fell to the chains with a newly kindled fire under my belly.

I stopped, however, when the hoofbeats faded and an all too familiar voice called up, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Gothel smiled at his concerned voice and smugly grasped the long locks of the shrieking girl and tossed them down. Rapunzel screamed and I gasped as I realized that Rapunzel's blonde hair that had saved us in that cave were leading him to his death.

Okay, call me cruel and dark-spirited, but, *looks around suspiciously* I REALLY REALLY ENJOYED TYPING THIS CHAPTER! I never get to write about people when they're mad, and this was the perfect opportunity to do it. Thanks for reading! Review?