Chapter 24
Rapunzel reached the bottom of the stairs. There she found a labyrinth of many walls made of dark wood. Much like the place of the last challenge, this labyrinth was lit by everlasting touches. It was impossible to say how many rooms and hallways existed there. Stranger than that were the things that littered the floor; kimonos and samurai swords laid near straw hats. What their purpose was, she didn't know. There wasn't anyone else down there to use them. Many of the walls had transparent pieces of glass; though they were placed over the dark wood, so they didn't actually display the next room over.
Rapunzel may have been in a labyrinth, but she wasn't going to get lost. The walls and floors had arrows that could direct her back to the exit and what she needed to find was directly ahead of her. Rapunzel passed branching hallways, stepping over kimonos and came to a podium with a handprint at the top. A hand print much like the one she touched to open the door earlier. On the wall behind the podium was written the instructions for the challenge. And over the instructions was transparent glass.
Rapunzel read the instruction out loud. "Once you are prepared, place your hand on the hand print. Once the challenge begins, you will be shown the person of your hatred which you will be require to forgive. To succeed, you will need to achieve forgiveness while avoiding death from the osakoburis." Rapunzel furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what an osakoburi was. "If you harm an osakoburi, you will fail the challenge and will be denied another attempt. If you use magic powers during the challenge, you will fail the challenge and will be denied another attempt. If you wish to give up, place your hand on the hand print a second time, but know that you will be denied another attempt."
Having read the whole thing, Rapunzel looked at the podium and smugly said, "Sounds easy enough. You just forgive someone before the osakoburis get to you."
Rapunzel place her hand on the hand print which changed from white to blue. Losing its transparency, the glass began to become a window into a vision from the past. An image slowly began to take shape in the glass on all the walls; including the one over the instructions. Rapunzel proudly put her hands on her hips and said, "This will be no problem. I'm forgiving. I could forgive anyone." And then the image in glass became clear. "Except for her!" Rapunzel said, filled with dread.
In the glass, Rapunzel saw the person she despised more than anyone else. Rapunzel saw the woman in the glass with a child. The woman in the glass said coldly, "Rapunzel, how many times must I tell you, the outside world is far too dangerous for someone like you."
"Not Gothel!" Rapunzel cried. "How do you expect me to forgive her?! She stole the first nineteen years of my life. She kidnapped me from my parents and locked me away in a tower, telling me never to talk with anyone else. How can I forgive THAT?!"
Rapunzel looked around, but didn't see anyone coming. "At least I have some time here. I don't see any monsters coooooo-" She lost her sentence when she saw what was happening. The hats on the floor started hovering on their own. Then the hats flew over the kimonos which animated as if someone invisible where wearing them. Then the samurai swords moved into position near the ends of their sleeves. That answered two questions at once; why is there all this stuff on the ground? And what's an osakoburi?
Thankfully they didn't seem to notice her yet. Which was strange because she was talking just a moment ago. She wanted to believe that they couldn't hear, but it was also likely that their senses hadn't fully prepared themselves until they were fully animated. Either way, she needed to get away from there. Rapunzel quietly moved to the nearest hallway, still unsure if they could hear. As Rapunzel walked down the hall, she saw through the glass, visions of Gothel saying, "Rapunzel, you were supposed to clean the fireplace an hour ago."
The Child-Rapunzel said, "Sorry, mommy. I was busy with other chores on the list."
"You know, Rapunzel, it's very naughty to be lazy," said in a mockingly singsong voice.
"I wasn't lazy!" Rapunzel thought furiously. "That list was longer than my arm! She should've been impressed that I EVER completed it!"
Rapunzel heard something strange coming from area she just left. It sounded something like the wind hissing. And since they were underground, she guessed that this was the sound of the osakoburis. Rapunzel ran for another hallway. "STOP!" she thought when she heard more of that same noise from around the corner. She couldn't go back the way she came, and she couldn't go down that hallway. Her only remaining option was an open door to a room with no other exists. She bolted inside and almost closed the door. "Bad idea. Even if they can't hear the door, they might know it was open last time they checked." Instead of closing it, Rapunzel hid behind the open door which had a window near the top. Inside that room was a bed, a closet, and chest, but no way out.
She heard two groups of osakoburis meeting in the hall. They made their hissing sound together until must of them moved on while one stayed behind. Then the hissing sound got closer. That one osakoburi entered the room. Rapunzel briefly saw the hat floating over the kimono through the door's window. She pulled her head back, trying not to be seen the same way. Rapunzel thought, "The rules say I can't harm them, so if I get caught, it's over. And the rules also said I can't use magic, so if they catch me, I can't use my hair to protect myself; so, again, it would be over." The osakoburi didn't have hands, but it was somehow able to open the closet just as if it did. "If he's smart enough to check the closet, he's probably smart enough to check behind the door. I have to get out of here." Rapunzel moved slowly. She peeked out from behind the door and saw the osakoburi lowering itself to check under the bed. Rapunzel stepped softly as she moved toward the exit. Seeing that no one was under the bed, the osakoburi lifted itself back up and started turning around. "No! No! No!" Rapunzel thought, her heart ringing and shivering. She bolted the rest of the way out of the room, hoping she wasn't seen. She needed to keep moving; the only question was "Which way is the least dangerous?" Rapunzel couldn't hear any hissing except for the sounds coming from the room she was trying to get away from, so she desperately resorted to randomness.
As Rapunzel wondered through the halls, pieces of glass kept haunting her by showing more memories. "I love you, Rapunzel," Gothel lied.
"I love you more."
"I love you most."
"Did she always sound so fake?" Rapunzel wondered. "I can't tell if I was blocking out the fakeness before or if I'm just looking for it now." Rapunzel shook her head. "AH! Focus, Rapunzel! You're supposed to be forgiving!" Rapunzel quietly sighed. "But should I even forgive someone who didn't asked for forgiveness? Gothel never regretted what she did to me up until the day she died. How can this challenge ask me to forgive someone who went her entire life without repenting for anything?"
Rapunzel turned the corner and saw an osakoburi blocking her way. Thankfully, it was facing the other way. Rapunzel wanted to turn around, but she could hear more coming from the way she came. In front of the osakoburi blocking her, there were two paths. She needed a way to make the osakoburi go one way while she goes the other. Rapunzel readied her frying pan. If her plan didn't work, not only would she be caught, but she would be without her weapon. Rapunzel waited until the osakoburi faced to the left so it wouldn't see her next action. Rapunzel threw her frying pan into the right hallway, immediately grabbing its attention. Rapunzel hurried into the path that the osakoburi turned its back on.
Rapunzel tried to think of some redeeming qualities that Gothel had incase that might help. "I've found the good in so many people who seemed like ruffians at first glance. There must be something nice about her that I can remember." But Rapunzel knew full well that Gothel put on a motherly façade to keep Rapunzel from leaving. Which meant that every nice thing Gothel had ever done for her could be written off as part of her act. "Who am I kidding? She didn't have redeeming quali- NO! NNNNNNO! Everyone has good inside them! EVERYONE!" Rapunzel thought right before something with terrible timing was shown.
"Enough with the lights, Rapunzel! You are not leaving this tower . . . ! EVER!" Then, Rapunzel was shown the memory of Gothel stabbing Eugene.
"Except for her!" Rapunzel grit her teeth as she stared hatefully at the image of Gothel. "I HATE HER! I'll NEVER forgive what she did!" Rapunzel looked at the arrows leading back to the entrance. If she followed them, she'd be able to find the challenge's off switch.
But instead of following the arrows, Rapunzel realizing, if she didn't finish this, she'd be putting the task on someone else in her party. "If Phillip tried, he'd probably see Aurora, and that would be REALLY bad timing. I've always been more forgiving than Eugene, so if I can't do this, neither can he. And why did we bring the grumpiest of all fairies with us to the Challenge of Forgiveness?" Rapunzel face palmed briefly, but then she brightened up with a realization. "Merida! Merida told me she doesn't hold a grudge against the bear that almost killed her. And it's not like Merida ever had someone like Gothel." Rapunzel continued toward the exit while she thought, "I still can't believe the challenge wants me to forgive Gothel of all people. No one ever hurt me the way she did." Rapunzel stopped dead in her tracks. "No one ever hurt me the way she did," Rapunzel repeated in her mind. That sentence reminded her of conversation she once had with Elsa.
One year ago.
"Are you sure you two are going to be okay?" Rapunzel asked.
"We'll be fine. Anna and I don't stay mad at each other for long; not anymore, at least."
"Anna said some pretty harsh things to you, though."
"Siblings do that sometime," Elsa explained. "I'll apologize next time I see her."
"Yoooouu will apologize. Anna was the one who freaked out. I mean, I understand that she's been under a lot of stress lately, but still."
Elsa was taken aback. "When did Anna say she was under a lot of stress lately?" Elsa asked concernedly.
Rapunzel was staggered that Elsa didn't know. "Anna told me earlier today that she's been feeling down because of all the protests in Arendelle."
"Protests?! Anna told me that everything was going just fine in . . . I will ask her about that later. And yes; I will apologize to her. I've already forgiven Anna; how could I not after everything she forgave me for? No one ever hurt Anna the way I did."
Rapunzel thought that sentence strange. Elsa and Anna were close sisters. She couldn't imagine that Elsa could have put her through that much. "Really? No one? Not even that maniac who tricked Anna into getting engaged to him and tried to kill you both?"
"Hans never would have been able to do any of that if I hadn't made Anna so desperate for love. That whole fiasco was my fault."
Rapunzel had never thought about it that way.
Elsa continued, "A long time ago, I asked Anna to tell me about how she felt when I stayed in my room away from her, never telling her why. She told me that she assumed . . ." Elsa started getting a little chocked up. "She assumed that our parents didn't love her the way they loved me and that they didn't want Anna to distract me from the advanced tutoring they didn't want to waste on her. She felt like our parents didn't have any interest in her. All because I wouldn't tell her the real reason; I didn't trust her enough to tell her about my powers. And she said that when our parents died, one of the hardest parts was thinking she never got the chance to make them love her as much as they loved me. She tried to convince herself that she was being silly, that our parents did love her. . . . But then she would knock on my door . . . and I wouldn't answer. And would go right back to thinking she nothing. Anna told me she thought she was unlovable . . . because of me. And yet, no matter how many times I pushed her away, accidentally hurt her, and told her to . . ." The shame made it hard for her to keep talking. "and told her to 'leave', she just kept reaching out to me."
Rapunzel was practically paralyzed by the confession. Anna was able to forgive all that? Suddenly, the scuffle Anna and Elsa had earlier didn't seem so threatening. For a moment, Rapunzel thought about two of her friends who had been her enemies for a time. Neither of the ever made Rapunzel feel like she was unlovable and certainly not for years. "You have a really good sister, Elsa."
"Thank you."
"And so does Anna."
Elsa snickered. "Yes. She does now. Now, I'll never turn my back on her ever again."
Rapunzel kept still in the hallway, aware that it would have been wiser to keep moving. She knew there could be more osakoburis on their way, but she couldn't help but stop and feel something. Rapunzel thought. "They sent the wrong person in here. Anna could've done this easy. I've been acting like I'm some wise sage with all the answers and an expert on forgiveness. But here I am, about to give up on a Challenge of Forgiveness that Anna would have completed in fifteen seconds."
Rapunzel could hear the hissing coming from every hallway. She looked around, but there weren't any rooms. The osakoburis were closing in on her and there was no place to hide. Rapunzel thought, "I have to finish this now. But I'm so angry. I'm so angry at Gothel and she doesn't deserve to be forgiven." Rapunzel took a deep breath as she began to think of it a different way. "I'm so angry. And really, that anger doesn't really do me any favors. Maybe Gothel doesn't deserve to be forgiven, but maybe I deserve to not be so angry." Rapunzel released her breath and felt a calming sense of peace settle in.
The hissing noises ceased. Along with hissing's end came the clattered of swords.
"Did I do it?" Rapunzel thought. She ran through the halls, finding collapsed kimonos, fallen hats, and dropped swords on the floor. It was over.
Rapunzel smiled triumphantly as she raced back to where the beginning of the challenge. Near the podium, she saw it floating there, the light shining on the piece of the Undoing Relic. It looked almost exactly like the last; half of a pyramid's shape with the holes on the various sides. Rapunzel reached out and claimed the prize she had earned. "I did it!" Rapunzel cheered out loud.
Where the instructions used to be, a new message appeared. Rapunzel read out loud, "Now that you have completed the challenge, know that you never truly in mortal danger while performing it. The blades of the osakoburis would only have caused you to fall asleep and reawaken outside the challenge's doors." Rapunzel certainly happed that was true. If not, then what kind of maniacs were they getting their relic from?
She walked toward the exit, blissfully eyeing the second piece cradled in her hand. "Two down and three to go."
Author's Note: Wait . . . At chapter 24 we have only achieved two down and THREE TO GO!? AAAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHAHAHHAAAAAAAH!
Okay, oaky. I'm going to try to get to the remaining challenges a little faster than I historically have. When I wrote chapter 5 I think I originally wrote that there were nine challenges instead of five. (AAAAAAA-) I'm so glad I changed my mind and changed it to five before I posted it.
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