AN: Hi guys! I finished this chapter! Yay! Some of you guys had questions so I thought I should just put the answers here.

Does Rapunzel know about the magical qualities of her hair?

At the moment, no. While she does know that there is a reason her parents never let her cut it, she hasn't been able to figure out why. However, she will find out later on in the story.

Isn't Gothel getting executed just for abusing Rapunzel a bit harsh?

There's a bunch of other things that Gothel did that will get revealed later on in the story, which is why she got executed. IAlso, since this was a really long time ago, it was considered treason to the king and queen since they trusted her to be their daughter's handmaiden.

I hope that clears everything up. Feel free to review/P.M. me if you have any other questions you wanna ask! Anyways, enjoy the story! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled or any of the characters except for my OC

The morning when her parents had to leave for Lizon couldn't have come slower. Rapunzel had a...plan if you could call it that, but she had not the slightest idea if it was going to work. It was worth a shot, though, if it meant she was one step closer to finding her sister.

Cassandra burst into her room, swinging her doors open with an unnecessary amount of force. "Rise and shine, Raps," she said, walking over to the sleeping princess.

Rapunzel had met Cass a few years back when she was 16 and Cassandra was 18. She had been assigned to be Rapunzel's new handmaiden after her old one had been transferred to the kitchen, leaving the spot open. At first, they didn't quite get along, but 4 years later, they had grown to be the best of friends. Well, if you didn't count her and Pascal.

She groggily rubbed her eyes and sat up. She stretched and let out a yawn, before looking over to her handmaiden, who looked like she'd been awake for hours. Cassandra grabbed Pascal from where he was sleeping on her pillow and tossed him to her in an attempt to get Rapunzel up and going faster. Pascal woke up with a start, his eyes bulging out with fear and his legs flailing. Rapunzel managed to catch him right before he hit the ground. The chameleon scurried up her arm and hid in his friend's hair. She took him and set him back on her pillow.

"Cass!" she scolded.

"Right, sorry, no throwing the chameleon," she said, repeating Rapunzel's words. "Forgot,"

"What time is it?" Rapunzel asked her.

"6:30. Your mother sent me to wake you up. If you wanna be up in time to say goodbye, you should probably get out of bed," she said, holding out a hand so she could get up. Rapunzel grabbed her hand and pulled herself out of bed. Cassandra made way for the door to leave, but Rapunzel stopped her just as she was about to.

"Can you stay? I need some help untangling this rat's nest," she said with a laugh, gesturing towards her hair. "Also, I want to talk to you about something," Rapunzel said, her tone more serious.

Cassandra looked at her for a second before responding. "Okay, sure. I don't have much to do today, so I have time to spare," she said, taking a seat on Rapunzel's bed. After Rapunzel finished brushing her teeth and changing, they sat down in front of the mirror to tackle her hair.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Cass asked, focused on ripping through a particularly large tangle.

"Remember how I told you about those nightmares I was having?" Rapunzel responded, looking over to her best friend.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago. The one's about your friend Eugene, right? But you said that they'd stopped," Cassandra said. "Wait, are you still having them?" she asked, her face turning concerned.

"No-well yes. They stopped but I had one two nights ago," she stammered. "I write and paint every night in the diary you gave me as you said to. Once I started doing that, the nightmares stopped, but then it came back a few days ago. This one was different though. I had two different nightmares instead of one,"

"What was the other one?" Cass asked her, working through another tangle

"Gothel was in it. She wanted me to sing for her. I know it was a dream, but it all felt so...real,"

"Well, good thing it was a dream. And even better that she's dead,"

"That's not what I meant," she said, turning to face her friend. "I think this is some kind of sign. She's still alive, Cass and I think there's some kind of connection between her and my sister,"

She had expected Cassandra to act like she was crazy, or at the very least, question her idea, but she did the complete opposite.

"Okay. I believe you," she said

"Just like that? You don't think I'm crazy?" Rapunzel asked in astonishment.

"No, of course not. I don't think you're crazy," Cassandra reassured her. "But what do you mean there's a connection. Actually, how do you know if she's even alive?"

"Well yesterday, I was going through the execution records, and I found Gothel's," she said, walking towards her nightstand, opening her drawer. "She was scheduled to be executed the same day Dahlia was taken," she said, rummaging through her drawer and pulling out Gothel's execution record. "But it doesn't say when she was executed. I looked at the other files, and they all have the exact time the person getting killed was executed, except for Gothel," she explained. "Cass, I think she escaped and took her,"

She considered it for a second before responding. "That's a little far-fetched, don't you think? Maybe someone just forgot to write down the time of her death," Cass told her.

"I know Cass, but just trust me. Besides, it's the only lead I have, might as well follow up on it,"

"Alright, so what are you gonna do about it?"

"What?"

"The whole Gothel having your sister thing. What are you gonna do?" Cass asked.

"I'm gonna find my sister. If Gothel has her, who knows what she's gone through," Rapunzel responded.

She considered her statement for a second "Alright, I'm in," she said. "How can I help?" she asked, standing up, finished with her friend's hair.

"Whatever you can do. But mostly, I need you to cover for me," Rapunzel responded, standing up and admiring her hair in the mirror. "I'm going to look around in Dahlia's old room and then Gothel's and see if I can find anything. Make sure no one knows I'm in there," she said. "If any suspects I'm leaving the palace, they'll tell my parents right away,"

"Okay," Cassandra replied. "Whatever you need,"

She rushed down the stairs to the courtyard to say goodbye to her parents before they left, her mind was racing. Rapunzel took a deep breath before opening the palace doors and stepping outside. She blinked a few times, adjusting to the brightness.

Rapunzel had never really been allowed to go outside. Ever since Dahlia was taken, her parents made sure to keep her under surveillance at all times. She was never allowed to go outside except into the courtyard, but there were always guards nearby. Even though her parents paid little attention to her, they made sure she was safe, which Rapunzel had learned to appreciate. However, she did think they were a tad bit overprotective sometimes.

Being locked inside the palace for so long, she had found many things to occupy herself with, most of them done with Pascal. But if there was one thing she loved, it was painting.

The walls of her room were filled with art. Paintings of her and Pascal playing chess and Cass holding a stance with her sword and in armor were only a few of the things that covered her walls. Some of the paintings overlapped on each other, but Rapunzel had saved a mediocre sized spot in the middle of her room for something special. She wasn't sure what, but Rapunzel knew that when it happened, she would know.

"Rapunzel!" her dad's booming voice said with a smile, interrupting her deep thoughts.

"Hey dad," she smiled back. Rapunzel never saw her father often. He was either locked up in his study or he was doing his work.

"Where's the necklace I gave you?" her mother asked as she approached her.

"Oh, sorry, I must have left it in my room," Rapunzel answered.

"No worries. Please, just…try to wear it as much as possible," she told her daughter.

"Ok," Rapunzel responded, wondering why it was so important to her mother.

The king looked down at his watch. "Oh dear, look at the time!" he exclaimed to his family. "We must get going, Rapunzel," He awkwardly tried to give his daughter a side-hug which ended up turning into a pat on the back, after which her mother did the same. That was weird. Her parents never gave her hugs. The king stepped into the carriage and grabbed his wife's hand, helping her on, too, before closing the door.

As she watched as the carriage traveled off into the distance, Rapunzel didn't notice Pascal scurrying up behind her. He let out an annoyed squeak and she turned around, startled.

"Oh, Pascal!" she sighed in relief. "You scared me!" she told him. "I'm sorry for leaving you in my room. You were sleeping and I didn't wanna disturb you," she responded to his squeak. Pascal studied her face for a second, trying to see if she was lying. Rapunzel guessed he thought she wasn't when he let out a sound of forgiveness and scurried up her arm, taking his place on her shoulder.

After going back inside the palace, she started on her way to Dahlia's old room. She crept through the hallways, careful not to make a sound. If the servants suspected she was doing something she shouldn't be, her parents would be notified immediately. They'd come back home and her grand plan would come to an end.

She looked around to see if anyone was around before ducking into her sister's old room. She quietly shut the door behind her, careful not to make any noise. Dahlia's room hadn't been touched since she was taken, which worked to Rapunzel's advantage. After briefly being checked by the guards, her father gave the order for the room to not be touched. The guards had no clue why, but Rapunzel suspected that her father didn't want to tarnish the last thing he had left of his stolen daughter.

Her was exactly how Rapunzel remembered it, with its pastel purple walls covered with the sun that was Corona's royal seal and tan, wooden furniture. Her crib was overturned, just like it was the unfortunate day Rapunzel had stumbled into here, only to find her newborn sister gone.

Rapunzel searched and searched the room, desperate to find anything that would tell her the whereabouts of her sister, only to come up with nothing. Just as she was about to leave, she saw something that made her stop. Rapunzel crouched down to get a closer look. A single strand of long, shiny, and curly black hair lay right under the fallen crib, peeking out from the side. It was covered in dust like it had been there for a while. And it looked exactly like Gothel's.

"Well, that confirmed my suspicions," she told Pascal. "Gothel kidnapped my sister,"

After running back to her room and getting a small box to store her evidence in, Rapunzel made her way to Gothel's room. She hadn't been in there ever since Gothel had been carted away to be "executed". She always got the chills just walking past that room.

She nervously stepped inside. The room was freezing, unlike the rest of the castle. Rapunzel shivered and closed the door behind her. Rapunzel had barely been to Gothel's room when she was a kid. It was forbidden, but she would always imagine what she had to hide in there. She remembered thinking she had a dragon in there. Seeing her room now, she giggled at the thought.

Gothel's room was completely plain. It had a black bed with blood-red and white covers. There was a nightstand next to the bed and a dresser and desk against walls, both of which were the same shade of black as the bed.

She walked over towards the desk, not sure what was drawing her to it. As she got closer, she got a better look at the desk. It was neat with nothing scattered on the top, except for a leather-bound journal.

Rapunzel picked it up and ran her hand over it. It was stained dark brown and very worn out. She went to open it, but it had a lock. Rapunzel searched the desk drawers for a key, but she only found a hairbrush.

She remembered the brush. Gothel would brush her hair every night and ask Rapunzel to sing for her. She obliged, always too scared to say no. She felt a weird kink on the smooth handle of the brush. She pried at it until it came off.

It was a small, secret compartment.

She flipped through the pages, all of them stiff, indicating that it hadn't been touched in a while. All of the pages were filled with writing. Rapunzel flipped to the last page with writing on it and read it.

Dear Journal,

Today, I plan to take the king and queen's, second daughter. Dahlia, they named her. Ugh, what an awful name! Reeks of sunshine and rainbows. Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. I suspect her hair has the same abilities as their firstborn. However, as much as I would prefer it, I can't take Rapunzel. It would cause too much of a ruckus, taking the heir to the throne. They would stop at nothing to find her. So, I suppose Dahlia will have to do.

Rapunzel searched the next few pages to see if she wrote anything else, but she found nothing.

My hair has...abilities? What kind of abilities could hair even have except for, well, being hair?

She went back to her room, taking the journal with her. Rapunzel crouched beside her bed, looked under, and pulled out her purse. From the outside, it looked like a small, turquoise purse, with teal trim, and a few flowers she had painted on herself, but on the inside, it was pretty big and could fit almost anything she needed. Rapunzel set the purse on her bed and started packing. She was going to find her sister.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she knew that she couldn't stay here, not when she had this many clues as to hear about her sister's whereabouts. Rapunzel picked up Gothel's journal, flipping through it again, making sure she didn't miss anything inside it. She skimmed the writing but found nothing.

Rapunzel let out a sigh and flopped onto her bed. In doing so, the journal slipped out of her hand and plopped on the floor. It took a second for her to realize that there was a piece of paper sticking out from in between two pages. She looked at it curiously before picking up the diary and taking it out. Rapunzel unfolded the piece of paper and smoothed it out before her face lit up in excitement. It was a map.

It was a map of Corona's neighboring kingdom, Lizon. Rapunzel had spent the majority of her life studying maps, seeing how it was the only way she could see the rest of the world. A star marked a spot around the border of Lizon and Corona, in a forest. This was amazon. She finally knew where to find her sister.

She resumed packing, now an upbeat perk in her step. Rapunzel opened her purse and threw in Gothel's journal, the map, the journal Cass gave her, and some money off the top of her nightstand. She slipped on the purse and grabbed Pascal, putting him inside her purse with his head sticking out as he looked around eagerly.

Rapunzel cracked her door open, peaking out to see if anyone was coming. After seeing that the coast was clear, she scurried into Cass's room, which was the opposite of hers, purse in tow.

Cass was laying on her bed, carving a ripe, red apple with her dagger. She peered over as her friend entered her room.

"Well?" she asked. "Did you find anything?"

"I did it!" Rapunzel told her excitedly. "Look!"

She opened her bag and dug through it before taking out her desired items. Rapunzel showed her handmaiden the strand of Gothel's hair, the diary, and the map. Cass picked up and studied each of her findings carefully, looking for any detail Rapunzel might have missed.

"What are you gonna do now?" Cassandra asked her, carefully putting the strand of hair back into its container.

"What do you think, Cass? I'm gonna find her," she responded. "I'm gonna find her and bring her back home,"

Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked it! Sorry, my updates take so long, it's just because I'm always super busy! Anyways, have a nice day, and stay safe (especially during this pandemic)! R&R :)