Rapunzel was hiding away in the library again, engrossed in her book and completely negligent to the outside world, so much so that she failed to realise how late at night it was.

The rest of the castle, aside from a few hand-maids and servants, had gone to sleep, but Rapunzel was lost in the smooth caress of the words of literature on the pages before her to consider even pausing for a night. She continued to hang over every word, and her lost intimacy meant that she did not even hear the slender footsteps padding softly over the hard floor.

"Rapunzel..." Annalynne whispered in the dark night air, and Rapunzel jumped from the sudden sound of the voice that she had been far from expecting to hear given the late time of night.

"Oh, gosh!" She exclaimed, clutching her chest as her heart started to beat rapidly. She then laughed, humoured by the events. "Annalynne, you scared me half to death! Why are you up this late?"

Annalynne smiled with delicacy. "I was going to ask you the same thing." She walked forwards in the gloom lit only delicately by the small candle that Rapunzel had by her side to aid to her reading, and then she sat down in front of her sister, crossing her legs awkwardly in the tightly enclosed space. "I went to your room, and Eugene told me that you were probably to be down here. I wanted to talk to you."

Rapunzel closed the book and leaned in towards her sister. "Is everything all right?" She said, with a frown curving her brows.

"I don't know." Annalynne confessed, though there was a cautiousness in her voice as though she hindered herself from saying to much, and the exact same time as not wanting to say too little. "It's to do with Victor."

"You say that as if you are worried, though when you saw him I have never seen you more happy."

"I am happy to see him, and I am more happy to have him so close." Annalynne said, her expression fazing out slightly as she walked into a daydream with herself and her old love. "It is just that I am rather worried for him."

"He is in trouble?"

Annalynne paused as she tried to confer with herself the best way to explain her situation without exposing her own faults. "To a degree, yes, I believe he is in trouble."

Rapunzel's voice softened to an even quieter mutter. "Serious trouble?"

"It's hard for me to say, since I have not spoken with him much since we were called away to discuss matters with papa."

"Perhaps you should speak with him."

"Papa?"

"No, Victor." Rapunzel advised. "Perhaps, if you did speak with him, then you would understand why you feel as though he is in trouble. He should be able to explain himself to you."

"I don't want to push any pressure onto him, though." Annalynne said quickly, thinking more for the fact that if she did ask him about his 'great-aunt', then it would be obvious that she was in a similar form of trouble to what he was involved with, and she would rather her own sinful affairs be kept out of the light. "Perhaps he becomes insulted if I ask such questions, and then I lose him again."

"I highly doubt that you would lose him. He came looking for you, after all! He's the one who wanted to find you, so it seems unlikely that he would be so willing as to let you go."

"I suppose you are right." Annalynne admitted, bowing her head.

"Are you worried that he might find out?"

Annalynne's head snapped back up so sharply it looked as though it perhaps would snap off her own body. Her eyes widened despite her best efforts to calm herself. "F-find out?" She whispered.

Rapunzel smiled for a different reason, thinking Annalynne's reaction to be embarrassment than problematic. "That you have loved him for long."

Annalynne felt relief flood through her like a balloon delicately releasing air. Her face softened, and her beating heart started to calm itself. "Oh..." She flushed. "Is it obvious?"

Rapunzel beamed. "I think I was the only one who noticed."

"How?"

"Because he makes you happy. And it was the same way that Eugene makes me feel."

Annalynne smiled coyly. "He does make me happy, and he has for as long as I can recall, but he has never felt the same way."

Rapunzel took Annalynne's hand. "Give it time and he will realise."

"Everything just seems to change so quickly, I barely have enough time to adjust. It still feels like a dream that he is here, and he is here for me."

"How do you know each other, then?"

"Oh, we were only young when we first met. I must have been just five, he seven. My 'mother' and his were close friends, having been working together in the fishing market, and so we were often taken to the work to help out when we could do at least a little bit of work together. And since we were in each other's company every day, we kind of just grew on each other, and soon we became very close. In fact, most of the time we were inseparable, and I went pretty much everywhere with him."

"When did you realise that you were in love with him?" Rapunzel asked cautiously but full of interest. Annalynne paused, and Rapunzel misunderstood the silence. "Oh, Annalynne, I did not mean to pry. Don't- don't answer it!" She giggled and pushed her hair back behind her ear, and again it slipped back out automatically.

"No," Annalynne said, and suddenly she smiled brightly. "I like talking about it, like this, with you. It's just so hard to recall a time when I did not, but I think when I really accepted the fact that I loved him was when I was about sixteen. I don't even know how - I just remember him swimming in the lake where we often played together during the summer months, and him trying to coax me into the water despite the fact that my mother had told me not to get wet that day. And he kept making me laugh, through these exaggerated means of trying to get my to obey him - and then he climbed out of the lake and chased me, and when he caught me it was then I sort of though 'Gosh, I love this. I love him'."

Rapunzel was watching in complete and utter wonder, her eyes blazed as he imaged the scene playing out, and she fell in love with her sister's story instantly.

"Sooo... since then?"

"Since then I have accepted it." Annalynne shrugged, and grinned teasingly. "And we all know about how you and Eugene came to be."

Rapunzel laughed. "True. He won't shut up about his 'valiant rescue' all the time, will he?"

"I love to hear it, it amuses me that he is so proud of you."

Rapunzel smiled. "And one day, I am certain that Victor will be the same with you. And if he isn't, then he is a fool, especially since he has such a wonderful woman who already loves him."

"I feel like a fool for letting myself get so easily attached, and so easily broken."

"Ah, but that's love, isn't it? To attach yourself until your two hearts become one." Rapunzel grinned and stood up swiftly with a stretch and a yawn. "Perhaps we should get to bed, it is rather late."

"Yes." Annalynne stood up took and Rapunzel took her arm in hers.

"I do think you should speak to Victor, no matter what. If you are worried about him, then let him know that, and let him see that you are willing to care for him in such a matter."

Annalynne nodded delicately. "I suppose so." She said slowly. "I shall speak to him tomorrow, if I get a moment alone with him."