I'm so sorry this chapter took so long!

Axel, "Yeah, get your ass in gear, man!"

I got it memorized, red! Now get on with it!

Axel, "gamePsycho11 doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney or Square Enix."

Chapter 9: Kingdom of Corona Part IV:
Returning Home

Rapunzel laid in her bed, holding a purple cloth with a yellow sun on it against her chest.

She was still hurting from Eugene leaving her.

She looked up at one of the paintings on her ceiling, and...she noticed something...

There was a sun symbol...the same symbol on the purple handkerchief that Eugene bought for her. And then she started to notice several others on the walls.

They were all the same symbol.

That's when she began to see something else...a baby in her crib...when she put on the tiara.

Then, she gasped in shock, knocking over her nightstand. That's when the realization had finally hit her...SHE was the lost princess.

"Rapunzel?" Mother Gothel called from downstairs. "What's going on up there?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donald used a Water spell on Sora and Kairi, finally waking them up.

"AAH!" they both screamed as they sat up.

"Thank god!" Riku exclaimed. "Only took till morning!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mother Gothel went up the stairs as Rapunzel came out of her room, looking shocked.

"I'm the lost princess..." she muttered.

"Oh, please speak up, Rapunzel," Gothel scoffed. "You know how I hate the mumbling."

"I am the lost princess, aren't I?" Rapunzel questioned, louder.

Gothel's eyes widened, and the look on her face clearly said, "Oh shit".

"Did I mumble, mother?" Rapunzel glared at her. "Or should I even call you that?"

'Damn, she's figured it out...!' thought Gothel, but she tried to play innocent. "Oh, Rapunzel, do you even hear yourself? Why on earth would you ask such a ridiculous question?" She walked up to her and opened her arms for a hug.

But Rapunzel wasn't buying it, so she pushed her away,
"It was you! It was all YOU...!"

Gothel then took on a dark glare.

"Everything I did was to protect you," she hissed, which caused Rapunzel to scowl in disgust before she pushed her aside. "Rapunzel!"

"I spent my ENTIRE LIFE hiding from people who would use me for my power," she started as she walked down the stairs.

"Rapunzel!" Gothel called to her.

"When I should have been hiding from YOU!" Rapunzel shouted.

"Where will you go?" Gothel questioned. "He won't be there for you!"

"What did you do to him?" Rapunzel growled.

"That criminal, is to be hanged for his crimes," Gothel responded, calmly.

Rapunzel gasped in horror at that.

"No...!" she whispered while Gothel stood beside.

"Now, now, it's all right," she said. "Listen to me. All of this is as it should be." She attempted to pat Rapunzel on the head...but then she grabbed her by the wrist.

"No!" Rapunzel shouted. "You were wrong about the world. And you were wrong about me! And I will NEVER let you use my hair, again!"

Gothel wrenched her hand out of Rapunzel's grasp, but in doing so, she accidentally knocked over the mirror, shattering it.

Rapunzel glared at her before turning away, walking towards the window.

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

She walked after the girl, her face turning darker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eugene was now riding Maximus across the bridge that led into town, heading for the forest.

Along the way, they made their way over to the off-worlders.

"Look! It's Eugene and Maximus!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Eugene, stop!" Riku called as he waved to them.

"Can't, Rapunzel's in trouble!" Eugene replied, as he and Maximus galloped past them.

"We know, go on ahead!" Kairi called. "We'll catch up!"

"I was gonna ask him if we could get a ride!" Riku said.

"How was ONE horse supposed to carry all TEN of us?" Axel questioned him.

Riku opened his mouth to retort, but realized he was right,
"Touché..."

"I've got a special bone to pick with that witch," Kairi said, changing into her Angel Form, then flew off.

"Whoa!" Donald gasped.

"Amazing!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Since when could she do that?!" Yuffie questioned.

"Tell you later!" Sora said, running after her.

"Wait!" Aqua stopped him, then she and Terra summoned their Keyblade Gliders. "This will definitely be faster."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eugene and Max arrived at the tower, where he hopped off the horse and ran over to the base of it.

"Rapunzel?" he called. "Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Soon, Rapunzel's hair came falling down from the tower, which Eugene began to climb up while using the hair like a rope.

"Rapunzel!" he called as he climbed through the window...only to find that Rapunzel was tied to her bed, her mouth covered with a gag. She let out muffled screams, trying to warn him...but before Eugene knew it, he was stabbed in the stomach from behind by Gothel!

"AGH!" he cried in pain as he fell to the floor.

Rapunzel screamed his name against the gag.

"Oh, now look what you've done, Rapunzel," Gothel taunted, stepping over him. "But don't worry, our secret will die with him."

But then, Gothel was pushed hard against a wall, causing her to drop her knife! The mysterious attacker then pinned her against the wall, holding a strange weapon against her throat!

She finally looked at her attacker, and was shocked to find a young teenage girl with short red hair, violet-blue eyes that were very angry at the moment, wearing a pink, black and white outfit, and a silver pearl/bead necklace.

In other words; a very pissed off Kairi!

"Guess again, bitch!" she shouted.

"Who are you?!" Gothel questioned.

"Kairi?!" Rapunzel asked in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

"Making this old bitch pay!" Kairi responded. "Help Eugene!"

Rapunzel then noticed, the chain she was tied to was cut,
'Kairi must've cut it!'

She pulled out of her chains and the gag, then rushed over to Eugene.

"Eugene, it'll be okay!" she said as she put her hair on the wound.

"N...no, Rapunzel...!" Eugene groaned. "I can't let you do this..."

"And I can't let you die..." Rapunzel told him.

"But...if you...do this...then you...will die," Eugene managed to say.

Kairi gasped silently as she glanced back at Rapunzel and Eugene.

Gothel attempted to struggle, but Kairi held firm,
"Don't even think about it."

"It's going to be okay," Rapunzel said.

Eugene reached out to caress her face,
"Rapunzel...wait..."

"What?" Rapunzel asked...only for Eugene to slice off her hair with a shard of glass!

"What in the-?!" Kairi questioned in shock.

"NO!" Gothel cried in horror while Rapunzel's hair started to turn brown, which she desperately picked up, in a futile attempt to preserve it. "NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

That's when Kairi saw something horrifying: Gothel began to turn into an old woman!

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Gothel yelled out, again.

"That's right, what you always feared is finally happening!" Kairi taunted her. "Karma's a bitch!"

Gothel screamed as she looked at her reflection in the broken mirror before she pulled her hood over her eyes in shame, stumbling back toward the window, and out of the corner of her eye, Kairi saw Pascal.

"Pascal!" Kairi exclaimed as she grabbed the hair. "Get ready, okay?!"

Pascal nodded before he grabbed the other end of the hair.

"Pull!" Kairi shouted before they both tugged, together, making their hair go taut and causing Gothel to trip and fall out the window!

The rest of the heroes arrived, just in time to see her fall.

But what they didn't know was that Marluxia was nearby.

"Hm, what a shame," he muttered. "Here's your chance at revenge."

He snapped his fingers, creating a spark of darkness.

Suddenly, something emerged from Gothel's cloak: a gigantic Heartless that looked a bit like the tower with four arms, yellow swirly eyes, and poison ivy growing out of its head.

Gothel had become a Heartless: the Grim Guardianess.

Everyone summoned their weapons, then Kairi jumped out the window of the tower to join them.

"Kairi, what happened up there?!" asked Sora.

"Eugene got stabbed!" Kairi said. "I don't know if he's gonna make it!"

"What do you mean?!" asked Donald.

"Questions later!" Riku shouted. "RUN!"

Soon, exploding apples started falling from the sky!

Sora jumped at the giant Heartless, but got knock back by some shadow birds.

Luckily, he used his Aerial Recovery move to gain some ground.

Axel launched a massive fireball at the Heartless, then Donald and Aqua added Thunder and Blizzard to it to make it more powerful.

The Combo Attack hit the Grim Guardianess, dead center, but it wasn't done just yet. It coiled itself around the tower and summoned a wall of thorns from the ground!

Yuffie threw her big shuriken, which circled around her, slicing through the thorns.

But then another wall popped up from the ground.

Terra and Aqua sliced through them, but they kept coming.

"Mickey, you're the most agile of us!" Aqua exclaimed. "When you see a window, go for it, and knock her off the tower!"

"Good idea!" The mouse king agreed.

Soon, he started to run while the others dealt with the thorns and the exploding apples. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Grim Guardianess released some sort of powder that made everyone sneeze!

Except Terra, since he was just a suit of armor without a nose.

Mickey cast a Water spell and splashed himself in the face, clearing out the powder.

Terra turned his keyblade into a crossbow, then kept shooting away the walls of thorns till the mouse king got to the tower.

Once Mickey got to the top, he just started mercilessly whaling on the Grim Guardianess, knocking it off the tower!

This caused the walls of thorns to stop coming.

"Donald! Meteor! Now!" shouted Sora.

"Right!" Donald exclaimed as he held up his wand, summoning a giant meteor shower!

Axel and Aqua joined in, jumping high into the air.

Aqua summoned some more meteors, covered in ice, and Axel spun his two keyblades in his hands, turning them into giant fire disks!

They made the meteors rain down, followed by the two flaming disks, dealing massive damage to the giant Heartless, and the disks sliced it to pieces, finishing it off!

"NOOOOO!" The Grim Guardianess screamed, in a warped voice that sounded like Mother Gothel, before exploding in a cluster of plants, fire and darkness. A dark purple heart floated away from the explosion and faded away.

"Go to hell," Kairi muttered.

That's when she remembered: Rapunzel and Eugene were still in the tower.

"Guys!" she cried. "Rapunzel and Eugene!"

"Oh, shit!" Riku cursed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rapunzel had seen the fight against the giant Heartless, and was still shocked over it.

Once it was finished, she went over to Eugene, who was still barely alive.

"No-no-no-no-no," she said, frantically. "Eugene? Look at me, look at me, I'm right here. Don't go, stay with me."

She grabbed his hand and placed on her now dark brown hair, and tried the song, just as the off-worlders climbed in through the window.

"...Oh, no...!" Sora whispered, sadly.

"Flower gleam and glow," Rapunzel sang, though tried hard not to break down. "Let your...power shine."

"He's not gonna make it...is he?" Riku asked.

"R...Rapunzel..." Eugene whispered, causing Rapunzel to look at him. "You...were my new dream..."

"...And you were mine...!" Rapunzel whispered, tearfully...just as Eugene breathed his last breath.

"No..." Kairi gasped, tears already falling from her eyes. Sora embraced her, shedding a few tears of his own.

Rapunzel, on the verge of tears herself, finished the song,

"Heal what has been hurt...change the fates design...save what has been lost...bring back what once was mine...*sob* What once...was mine..."

As Rapunzel's tears fell, one landed on Eugene's face...and it glowed a familiar golden light.

It immediately faded, but then reappeared in a flower pattern before disappearing again.

Then, a more intense glow illuminated from Eugene's wound, causing everyone to look in confusion and astonishment.

The glow created some streams of light, and formed into the shape of a flower. When the glow eventually faded away, the wound in Eugene's side was gone, and so was the blood.

Rapunzel brushed some of her new short hair behind her ear, and looked at Eugene's face.

He slowly opened his eyes!
"Rapunzel...?"

Everyone gasped happily.

"Eugene...?" Rapunzel questioned, hopefully.

"Did I ever tell you; I've got a thing for brunettes?" Eugene inquired, smirking a bit.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaimed as she embraced him.

"He's alive!" Yuffie cheered.

She hugged Riku tightly, which he happily returned.

Rapunzel pulled away, laughed lightly, then kissed Eugene on the lips.

Kairi giggled as she leaned against Sora, who smiled as he hugged her.

Eugene deepened the kiss.

Aqua was shedding few tears herself, Terra sighed in relief, Axel nodded in approval, Mickey, Donald and Goofy all laughed happily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was now outside, at the base of the tower.

"You know, Rapunzel; I think you look much better with your hair like that," Kairi said.

Rapunzel giggled and ran hands through her hair,

"Thanks Kairi. It's gonna take some getting used to, though."

"At least it'll be easier to maintain," Yuffie added.

"So, Rapunzel, ready to go home?" Sora asked.

"Definitely!" she exclaimed. "But, I'm also nervous."

"You have every right to be nervous," said Riku. "After all, you're meeting your real parents for the very first time."

"Don't worry, we'll be there," Axel assured her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Scene Change~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, the entire group was waiting in front of the doors to the castle, waiting for the king and queen to come out.

Rapunzel gripped her hands nervously, but Eugene put a hand on her shoulder, assuring her it was okay.

The doors opened and everyone turned to see King Frederic and Queen Ariana.

The moment their eyes fell on Rapunzel, they both gaped in disbelief. Neither one of them moved...until Ariana approached Rapunzel and gently put her hands on her face.

Both mother and daughter smiled at each other, nearly in tears, and embraced each other.

Frederic joined in a second later, making it a full family hug.

"Rapunzel certainly takes after he mother," Sora said.

"She does, huh?" Kairi asked.

"Can't imagine how they must have felt," said Aqua. "Being separated from their daughter for 18 years."

Eugene watched, happy for his girl, till Ariana pulled him in to join the hug.

Then, the four of them let off a glow. One the off-worlders were all too familiar with.

Sora summoned his Kingdom Key, as the keyhole appeared above the reunited family. Sora pointed his keyblade at it, and a blue beam shot out of it, going into it. There was the sound of something being locked and a bright flash of light before it disappeared.

"Well, that's one," Kairi smiled. "Guess this means it's time to go."

"You have to leave?" asked Rapunzel.

"Sorry," Sora said. "We've stayed here long enough."

"That guy in the black coat with pink hair is still out there," Riku said. "He's part of a group that we've been after for a while now."

"Good news is, he won't bother you anymore," Terra added.

"But hey, we'll be back to visit," Goofy assured them.

"You'll always be welcome here," Frederic said.

"Be safe out there," Ariana told them.

Rapunzel hugged each off-worlder, tightly,
"I'll miss you guys. Thank you, for everything."

"Give that punk an extra good punch for me," Eugene said.

"Will do!" Donald responded.

"You two stay together," Axel said, looking at Rapunzel and Eugene. "Got that memorized?"

Rapunzel and Eugene both laughed.

So, that's Tangled finished! Sorry if the Grim Guardianess fight seemed short.

Read and review, please!