It starts with a question.
Rapunzel knows it's coming, so she shouldn't be surprised when she's called into the throne room one day after her return home. She's been too vague, hiding behind cheerful smiles instead of sitting down for a serious discussion.
What's there to discuss? She tries to ask herself. It's over now. I can move on.
The king- her father- sits with his crowned head high even as his fingers knit together anxiously. Beside him, The Queen looks at her with kind, sad eyes.
"You called for me." Rapunzel asks, taking comfort in the soft weight of Pascal on her shoulder. Eugene is waiting for her behind the door, and she takes comfort in that too. (He isn't allowed in the throne room yet, as per the king's request.)
The King nods, smiles tight. "Yes." He fidgets a moment. "There's just a question we need to ask you,"
Her hands shouldn't be shaking but they are. She shouldn't be nervous but she is, desperately trying not to show it. Whatever it is, you can answer it. You got this.
"It's for the safety of you and the kingdom that I have to ask…"
Safety of the kingdom. The kingdom is the safest place she's ever been.
The king glances at his wife and she takes over.
"You don't have to give us details if you don't want to," She soothes, as Rapunzel is surprised at how calm and understanding she sounds.
"Right," The king- Dad- continues. "We just need to know if, the woman who took you,"
It shouldn't make her stomach twist as much as it does. It shouldn't make her heart ache as much as it does when he asks it.
"...Is she still a threat?"
The walls are caving in on her, smothering her. Her head is suddenly too light on her shoulders and she hears mother scream.
"No," Rapunzel states, shocked at how strong her voice sounds. Pascal lays a small hand on her face. "No, she's not a threat."
She's said it now. It's a fact, it's true, Gothel is dead…
And yet Rapunzel's heart keeps racing. Her throat still tightens.
Gothel is dead...
So why can't she believe it?
It continues with dreams. Nightmare's really.
She's trapped and the walls are closing in on her. There's blood on the floor, blood on her hands. Someone is screaming. It's mother's at first, until it slowly molds into her own and she's waking up in a cold sweat.
The guard on watch is terrified, hand reaching for the weapon on his belt. His frantic eyes scan the room and Rapunzel takes a moment to remember where she is.
"I'm okay," She calls sheepishly. Pascal crawls down the banister to reach her and Rapunzel holds on tight as he wraps his body around her finger. "Just a nightmare."
The guard still looks worried, but less so, but calls the queen in anyway.
She's there in a heartbeat, wrapping her arms around Rapunzel and asking if she's alright.
"I'm alright," Rapunzel repeats, shoulder's tense. Arianna's hands are soft as they hold her instead of the rough hands Rapunzel is used to. They touch her face gently instead of stroking her hair.
Arianna offers to stay with her, which Rapunzel politely declines. She's okay. Really it was nothing. But Arianna sees right through her. She isn't leaving.
Where Gothel would have continued to sleep, Arianna stays up, holding Rapunzel's hand in her own.
It's strange. Gothel hated it when Rapunzel hugged her, And here Arianna is, afraid of letting go.
It takes a while for Rapunzel to fall back asleep, but finally does, knowing that Arianna will be there for her when she wakes.
It ends with another question, and a grave.
Rapunzel slips up one day, she calls Gothel 'mother.'
As soon as the words leave her mouth she's apologizing and berating herself.
She wasn't your mother, your mother is standing right in front of you. Why did you call her mother?
Arianna freezes, face tight.
"I'm sorry!" Rapunzel shouts, quick to amend her mistake. "I didn't mean to say that, I know she isn't- wasn't my mother I don't know why I keep-" Arianna cuts her off.
"You don't have to apologize, Rapunzel," She says, laying a comforting hand on Rapunzel's shoulder, and the sudden weight helps ground her back in reality. Arianna takes a breath. "It's how you saw her, how she made you see her. You never have to apologize for what that woman did."
Rapunzel knows this. She knows this. But it doesn't seem to make her feel any better.
It's been nearly a month since she returned, she shouldn't still be slipping up like this. Usually she can push it all to the back of her mind and forget that it ever happened but sometimes it just sneaks up on her like this- one stupid word and she's back in that tower, like she never left.
"I don't know why I keep thinking about her." Rapunzel mumbles, more to herself than to Arianna.
Arianna doesn't push. She puts a gentle hand on Rapunzel's cheek, frown etched deep into her face.
"Because you loved her." She says, so matter-of-fact that Rapunzel's head aches.
"I don't love her. She was horrible to me. She wouldn't even let me go outside. I h- I hate her." And it's true. She does hate Gothel.
Arianna's eyes are glistening and she sets down another hard truth.
"But you did love her." She states sadly. "Regardless of how you feel now, at one point in your life you loved her and thought of her as a mother. And that is not your fault."
Rapunzel is so stunned that she can't even try to deny it this time. Her legs shake and she reaches to tug at her short hair.
"I'm sorry." She says again, because she knows Arianna is right. Arianna brushes it off,again telling her not to apologize.
She pulls Rapunzel into a hug and when they get tired of standing they sink into the soft grass of the garden.
It takes a while for either of them to speak, but Arianna is the one to break the silence.
She asks Rapunzel a question, and it's one she never expected to hear.
"Would you like to give her a grave?"
Rapunzel looks up in surprise, questions written all over her face. One stands out amongst the others.
"Why?"
Arianna is patient, voice low and kind. "Because I know you loved her, and I know you were never given a proper chance to say goodbye."
Rapunzel shakes her head, ears ringing. She tries to speak but no words come.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Arianna continues. "I know there wouldn't be… anything to bury. I just think it might help you come to terms with it. Find some closure."
Rapunzel mulls it over and Arianna gives her time, as much as she needs.
Two weeks later Rapunzel stands above a small gravestone in a secluded part of the forest. Eugene stands next to her, hand squeezing her own. Pascal sits on her shoulder and behind them her parents watch on silently.
No words are exchanged throughout the whole process, but as soon as the name is set in stone Rapunzel immediately feels some weight lift off her chest. The walls don't feel so closed in and her hands don't shake as much.
She still gets nightmares, but they are far less frequent, and her mom is always there for her when she wakes up.