Hey! This was inspired by a Reddit challenge where I was tasked with combining Tangled and Greek Mythology. It will definitely be a long fic so stay tuned for more!
As Gothel woke up, all she knew was pain.
She laid there with her eyes closed for a moment, trying to figure out what happened. Then she remembered. There was a man who had been talking to her in the square earlier, introducing himself as Zeus. Of course, over half of the men who traveled into town said the same thing, so she simply ignored it. The man had continued speaking to her, getting more flirty and suggestive as he continued. After a few minutes, she had caught sight of a woman staring at them with rage clear in her eyes. As they made eye contact, the woman practically radiated hatred, and by then, the man had noticed her as well. The man's sudden attitude change to formal and polite at the sight of her had shocked Gothel, and she vaguely remembered saying goodbye before the man quickly moved away. The woman had stared at her for a few seconds longer before slowly turning and following the path the man had left with his hurried retreat.
If the man had been telling the truth and he was Zeus, a god, the king of the gods, had been interested in her. Most horrifically, that meant that the woman staring at them would have been Hera, the queen of the gods. The goddess was known to be wildly jealous of her husband's interest in other women, often choosing to get revenge on those women. Gothel quickly got up to see if anything had been done to her. When she reached the mirror across her bedroom, she could only stare at her reflection in horror.
She was no longer beautiful. Her soft, curly black hair was now scraggly and rough. Her skin was no longer smooth. Instead, her skin was almost snake-like in texture. She looked like a monster. The worst thing though was the cold emptiness she felt in her stomach. Gothel knew she knew, Hera had known what she wanted most and taken it away in a cruel form of "justice."
Thanks to Hera's revenge, Gothel's hopes and chances to have children were no more.
Gothel now kept her hood up whenever in public, avoiding all the inevitable looks of fear, disgust, horror that would occur if they saw her.
One day walking through the darker alleyways of the city, which were filled with the more questionable types of people, Gothel overheard a very interesting conversation between two men.
"It's crazy. Apparently, the flower can turn back time, heal anything. It has magical powers."
"That's insane," the other man scoffed, "a magical flower, of all things. That's what you're saying?"
"Yes! It's true, I've seen it. To activate it, you have to sing a special song." The first man said proudly before pausing as if he realized how odd that claim sounded.
"Oh, now I know you're joking," the second man said in a disbelieving tone.
"I swear I'm not! It's as if Apollo blessed that flower himself!" The man shouted, trying to get his friend to believe him. Gothel wanted to shake the man in an attempt to find the location of the flower. This could turn her back. That flower could make her look human again.
That flower could give her back her ability to have a baby. She could finally have her baby. She could finally be happy.
Two weeks later, Gothel was still trying to gather information on this magical flower, hoping to confirm its existence. As she was going through the same town where she overheard the two men, she overheard another conversation. This conversation was not so joyous for her.
"Queen Hera is expecting a baby! There is going to be a royal baby, an heir or heiress to the throne!" As if to further mock her, the man sharing that news was yelling it across the square, causing people to come out of taverns and stores, whispering to each other.
"How do ya know that?" A man asked, causing nods to break out. After all, how would a single commoner know such a private thing about the Queen?
"It's all over. Word's spreading from the capital. The guards are riding from town to town, sharing it with everyone until they're back in the capital. They're in the next town over right now. If you don't believe me, wait 'til they come here. Then you'll know for yourselves!" As he said that, the sounds of horses stepping on the cobblestone rang out, coming closer and closer. Shortly, the group of guards from the capital was in the square. With a quick clearing of the lead guard's throat, the announcement rang out.
"This is an announcement from the capital! The king and queen are expecting a princess!" The guard shouted, "all citizens of Corona are expected to make the trip to the capital within the next seven months to bring blessings and well wishes to the Queen and unborn princess.
Gothel swiftly left the square, trying to ignore the excited chatter of the people around her. She was not going to the capital to wish the Queen well. If anything, she'd go to wish the queen ill.
As Gothel was about to leave completely, she spotted two guards slightly hidden from plain view of the town. Based on their shifty body language and the fact that one guard was looking around suspiciously as though looking for listeners, Gothel's interest was peaked. She slowly made her way closer to them until she was hidden in the shadows, able to easily hear the two guards' conversation.
"We need to find that flower, Eric," one guard said, leg bouncing nervously.
"I know Alan. The last thing we need right now is the queen fading because she's so sick she can't survive childbirth," the other guard, Eric, muttered. Clearly, he was the more cautious of the two with Alan loudly speaking and Eric himself staying quiet.
"We set out on our search later tonight, Eric. We should at least try to rest up before. You know as well as I do that we won't stop for long between searches," Alan said entreatingly, gesturing toward a nearby tavern that had a sign saying there were rooms available.
"Oh fine, you're right. If we're getting rooms, we should hurry before the other guards have the same idea and they run out," Eric huffed before gesturing for Alan to lead the way to the tavern.
As they walked away and disappeared into the tavern, Gothel stepped out of the shadows. Their conversation was quick, but it confirmed one thing. One very important thing.
The healing flower was real.
The confirmation of the flower's existence created a fire deep within Gothel. The need to find the flower turned into an obsession, every waking moment was spent searching obscure cliffs and mountains in an attempt to beat the royal guards to the flower.
After months of searching, Gothel's attempt came through. She was searching a mountain at night when she spotted a faint glow through the deep bushes around her. Hopeful, she closed the distance between herself and the glow before stopping right before the bush. Tentatively, she peeled it back and laid eyes on the flower.
It was beautiful. The sundrop flower, aptly named when considering Apollo's blessing, glowed with power. Gothel could practically feel the power radiating from it.
As Gothel was about to approach the flower, the glow caught the attention of a guard; just like it did her. She could only watch as the guard quickly uprooted the flower and began to take it away, presumably to the queen in Corona.
As the flower was carried further and further away from her, so was Gothel's hope for healing, her hope to return to normalcy. Before. The flower would save a child, Hera's child. However, that didn't have to be true.
The desire to be called mother by a child, her child had overcome her. It was perfect, she could have her revenge and become a mother. Take her grief and make it someone else's, taking their joy and turning it into her own. If that person was the one who had ruined her, destroyed her? Well, that just made it even better.
Oh yea, that baby would be hers.
There's the beginning. I'm actually super excited with the future of this and how I'm gonna be mixing these two categories together. It'd be really cool if I could get people's thoughts on this so far (and perhaps any suggestions?) so feel free to review!