"Rapunzel?" Mother hadn't been in the room when she'd walked in, so Rapunzel had taken right to bed. She hadn't bothered snuffing out the lantern, knowing that she would be back in a matter of minutes, no more.

She'd been correct.

"Yes, Mother?" There was a quiver in Rapunzel's voice that she couldn't keep away. She tried hard not to let her mind flash back to Jack Frost, but to no avail. He'd abandoned her without so much as a goodbye. Run away with the wind. She'd never thought he, of everyone, would be capable of doing such a thing. She'd never even gotten the chance to tell him why she had even pleaded for his aid in the first place. Now, she regretted being so hesitant about it in the first place, for a sick feeling bloomed in the pit of her stomach as she heard the door shut behind Mother.

"I've been pacing the hall for the past half hour," Mother admitted as she made her way to the bed. Despite the fear hovering around her like a suffocating shell, Rapunzel automatically shifted back on the mattress to make room for Mother to sit by her feet.

"I just have this nagging feeling that…" Mother continued, voice trailing off along with her gaze. It flicked left and right in deep thought, focus set on nothing in particular, until she suddenly met Rapunzel's gaze. "Rapunzel, you wouldn't keep anything from me, now, would you?"

The beat of Rapunzel's heart stilled a breath.

"When I came in here earlier, I was certain I heard you speaking to someone. But, that wouldn't make much sense, would it?"

Rapunzel forced laughter out of her lips. She hoped it sounded convincing enough. "Oh!" She said, trying her best to hiccup a small laugh. "You know me—I was probably just talking to myself like I usually do!"

Mother's eyes were hard when she frowned. "You know, we really have to discuss that, too. I don't want you wasting words on yourself when you could simply come talk to me, and you're far too old for imaginary friends." Mother slid her hands over Rapunzel's wrists, a gesture that should have been soothing. Rapunzel dared not move. "You would tell me if anything was wrong, would you?"

Pain bit at Rapunzel's wrists. "You know I would, Mother." Her voice was awfully strained, even to her own ears. Mother's hands were like ropes digging deep into soft skin.

"You wouldn't lie to me about anything, would you?"

"Never." Rapunzel breathed.

A satisfied smile curled over Mother's lips. "Good. Because it would shatter my heart, knowing that my own, beautiful daughter doesn't trust me enough to tell me anything less than truths. And after all I've done for you! What a nightmare it would be."

When Rapunzel uttered no other word, Mother sighed and strolled to the other side of the bed, taking her pressured grip with her.

Rapunzel slid back into the comforts of her mother's thin blankets, breathing in the smell of warm wild-berries. She curled onto her side to gaze at Mother, pulling her wrists up to rest near her face. When she was younger, with powers far less controlled, she remembered watching as bruises slowly speckled over sun-kissed skin. Now, however, she could almost see the magic flowing through her veins as it worked away to heal her damage.

There would be no sign of Mothers' touch come sunrise.

.·:* *:·.

Rapunzel awoke in the middle of the night to a set of yellow eyes directed right on her. She shot up into a sitting position in time to catch sight of a looming, dark figure standing in the corner of the room. It sunk to the floor in less than a single second, melting like the pure shadow it was, only to reappear at the foot of Mother's bed a moment later.

Rapunzel's chest pulsed heavily with the pressing fear she'd grown to associate with him. As she stared motionless, she kept expecting him to leave as he always did, without neither a word nor wave of acknowledgement, but something was different tonight. Her suspicions were further proven when he lifted a sharp chin to her and spoke for the first time since she was but six years old.

"The time has come," his voice was like pure silk—deep, smooth, and awfully mesmerizing. She'd forgotten what it had sounded like throughout the years of silent watching. She expected him to say more, continue his sentence with an explanation as to what it meant, but he kept quiet.

Rapunzel pursed her lips. "For what?" She pressed, voice soft.

The shadow smiled at her, but Rapunzel felt nothing genuine inside of it. "For you to know your full potential. Ever wondered where that power of yours came from? It wasn't just a coincidental miracle, if that's what you're think. Frankly, there's no such thing."

She sat up straighter in bed. She had indeed wondered about that very thing—multiple times. Ever since the Book of Guardians appeared upon her bed, she'd wondered whether it would explain to her how she'd been blessed with the power to heal, but no mention of it, of her, appeared regardless of how many pages her small fingers had turned. She had asked Mother whether there were any others like her after she'd been done with it for the first time, and she'd answered no, you're as special as can be, Flower. But that couldn't have been true. Not when there were the Guardians sitting right there on the pages she kept tucked away.

They had the story she never had. They had a reason for what they were. They were chosen for their actions. But what about her? What had she done to deserve such blessings?

"A dark evil rose when you were born, as you're already aware," the shadow that was Kozmotis Pitchiner continued. "It infected everything and everyone. Turned them into silver-tongued monsters. But, you—your powers can help bring them back."

Your powers can help bring them back. The magical words rang in Rapunzel's ears like a never-ending bell. Could she really? The most she knew her powers could do was immortalize and heal physical wounds. How could that save someone who'd been infected from the inside out? Whose soul had long since rotten away? Still, she found herself shifting to sit on her heels and leaning forward.

"How?" She whispered.

Kozmotis Pitchiner seemed to float as he moved to the side of the bed. Rapunzel's eyes stayed glued to his presence. "There's a land far away from here, where the plague never reached. North. With castles. Dragons. People. We would start there, if you're willing to join my side." He reached out a grey hand for Rapunzel to take, but her own stayed firmly rooted in her lap. She glanced at Mother's still-sleeping form. Something tickled at the back of her brain, but she couldn't make out what.

The shadow seemed to spot her indecision. Slowly, she retracted his hand, stepping back a few paces. "Very well. I'll return tomorrow night for your final choice," he promised, the curl of a smirk hinting at his dark lips. "I do hope you make the right one. After all… The world's entire fate depends on your shoulders, Flower. No big deal."