Thanks WickedSong for making the effort to leave a review. Welcome back FaithRivens. I have enjoyed your 'Tangled' videos on YouTube and they've been my source of inspiration though I'm not much of a video person. My fav currently is 'I Live To Let You Shine'. PampleMousse70 and An Unknown Foreign Beauty, hopefully you will stay to the end despite knowing everything 'Tangled'.

The Lost Ones (or Gothel Unleashed)

She was already giddy with anticipation. Gothel was too giddy that she couldn't feel her toes. Her mind was too far advancing into the future that was going to take place at the Pier, that she forgot that she had left the sordid manuscript Life After Rachel sitting on the dashboard.

"Why is the manuscript with you, Mother?" Rapunzel asked her as if the manuscript was common knowledge between the two of them.

"I found it," Gothel answered nothing but the truth.

"I must give it back to him."

"Who? The criminal? The very person who released the two thugs on you?" Gothel laughed at Rapunzel as if she had requested for something so ridiculous.

"No, he wouldn't. I don't believe you," Rapunzel said with the tone of someone who suddenly had an epiphany. And Gothel knew why. Rapunzel was holding the photo of her and the boy together on the boat, her eyes far away into the past. Gothel eyed the photo in disgust.

"You wouldn't say that if the two thugs had hurt you. You wouldn't say that if I hadn't managed to save you from him and them."

"I promised him."

Rapunzel extended her hand right under Gothel's nose to take the manuscript. Gothel stopped her, the woman's hand holding her wrist like a vice.

"What do you think you're doing, Rapunzel?" Gothel hissed.

"I'm giving it back to him," Rapunzel retorted with steely determination.

"Where will you go in the dead of the night? He won't be there for you. He left you!"

"I don't care! I will not follow you. And I will find him!" Rapunzel yelled. There was fear in the girl's eyes and Gothel knew it wasn't fear toward her presence in the girl's life. Gothel realized that her 'daughter' no longer feared her 'mother'. Rapunzel no longer feared losing Mother, no longer feared being abandoned, and no longer feared being alone in the world. And all these because of the criminal, trespasser, thief and wanted man, Flynnigan Rider.

Gothel also saw a disruption to her plan of driving to the Pier, where both their destinies lie. How on earth was she going to drive the van to the Pier if Rapunzel was struggling and squirming in the van?

"Give it to me, Mother! I have made a promise!" Rapunzel yelled, fighting against her vice-like grip.

The girl and her promises! What a nuisance!

Gothel let go for a second and Rapunzel snatched the manuscript. In that split second, Gothel had already taken out her gun from her handbag and swung the butt of her 'Dagger' to Rapunzel's face. The contact of metal and meat sounded like a dull thud. Rapunzel recoiled in pain, hand to her face, the manuscript sliding to her legs. After she had just done that, Gothel felt a strange kind of power surging through her body. It was different from after carrying out the manipulations and brainwashing she had done before. She felt so in control, with brilliantly dark energy radiating from her being. Gothel smiled. The mental had just gone physical.

"You just can't let it go, Rapunzel."

Gothel bit her own lips to prepare herself for exertion as another forceful swing of the butt of the gun hit Rapunzel's face and the girl sank into her seat, head lolling to the left. Gothel could only imagine the kind of pain she had inflicted on the girl, one that was blinding and paralyzing but Rapunzel had made her choice. That was it. Do or die. The choice seemed only natural.

"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, I'm the bad guy."

Gothel began to think of a way to secure the girl in the van. She wished she had duct tape in the van but she didn't. She rummaged through Rapunzel's bag and threw the annoying stuff she got out of it. A green chameleon plush toy, a bodice-ripper novel and her chunky sneakers that Rapunzel had borrowed. Gothel took out the shoelaces and tied one around Rapunzel's wrists. She tied it so tight that if the girl struggled she would then cut her wrists with the rope. She did the same to the girl's ankles. Next, Gothel took the scarf Rapunzel was wearing around her neck and pulled it tight around her mouth, so she wouldn't make any noise and distract her during the drive. Finally, she pulled the seatbelt over Rapunzel.

She had the gun ready on the dashboard. She was thinking if Rapunzel would come to and struggle or cause havoc she was going to hit her again. She was going to hit the girl into submission. Again and again.

Now, she breathed, to the Pier.

The Pier of Destiny.