(Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay, A warm welcome to my new readers! I'll be updating way more often. Enjoy the chapter!)

Arianna yawned embarrassingly loudly, causing Rapunzel to giggle. "You should sleep, Mother."

Arianna blushed. "I suppose so."

"Yes, sleep." Rapunzel replied.

Rapunzel snuggled further into her mother, taking in Arianna's warmth. "I love you." She mumbled.

Arianna's heart soared. "I love you too."

Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother had chosen not to go the Gothel route…..if she only knew she knew, if only Rapunzel had the guts to tell her everything that had occurred in those eighteen brutal years when she locked in the tower. In time, in time.

For now, the most important thing was that her mother, her proper mother was looking after herself and resting.

Rapunzel wrapped her arms around Arianna. "Get some rest. You'll need it if you want to take care of Idunn. You have to take care of yourself first. I can tell you miss her. A lot."

Arianna wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes, yes. More than anything in the world."

Rapunzel leaned into her mother, her eyes closing slowly. "I love you."

Arianna smiled, her eyes slowly closing. "And I love you too."

The rise and fall of Rapunzel's chest against her own was enough to calm Arianna. She longed to cuddle with Idunn but being with Rapunzel still helped.

Arianna sighed, falling into a deep sleep.

"My darling…. My darling?"

Arianna blinked, the bright morning sunlight making contact with her eyes. She opened her eyes to stare at her husband, who was holding a breakfast tray. It had a hot cup of strawberry tea, and a plate of steaming porridge.

"Breakfast?" Frederic offered.

Arianna face creased into a smile. "Aww Fred! You shouldn't have!"

Frederic smiled. "Anything for my brave, gorgeous wife."

Arianna looked around the room.

"Where did Rapunzel go?" She asked, curiously.

"She said she needed to go to the infirmary." Frederic replied, setting the tray down on a bedside table.

"WHAT?! Is she okay?!" Arianna gasped, already assuming the worst possible situation.

"Well, she said was fine…" Frederic responded.

With her worried mother mode kicking in, Arianna raced behind the changing screen to change into her dress and put her jewellery back on.

She hitched up the edge of her dress and raced off to the infirmary. She burst through the infirmary doors, not knowing what to expect. Was her sweet child hurt? Sick? Had the baby come far too early?

She paused as she heard her daughter talking in a gentle, delicate voice from the sixth cubicle. She listened harder, trying to make out what she was saying.

"Hey….Aunt Idunn…I hope you're doing okay in there…" Rapunzel held onto Idunn's hand and intertwined their fingers. She brought Idunn's limp hand to her own steadily beating heart.

"I really miss you. A lot. You're so special…I haven't known you for long, but you've helped me so much in just a short time." Rapunzel gently put her aunt's hand back down onto the bed.

She slowly leaned forward in her chair towards Idunn and gently laid her head on her aunt's chest.

Ka-Thunk. Ka-Thunk thunk thunk. Ka-thunk….Thunk.

Rapunzel gently stroked her aunt's brown hair, running her fingers through it.

"I know you're really not in the best of places right now…" Rapunzel paused, Idunn's wonky heart echoing in her ear.

"But you know…you're really brave….and really needed here. I need you. My baby needs you. I need your guidance and wisdom, especially with raising my baby."

"My mother, your sister, she needs you. Your absence….it's having such an awful effect on her. It pains me to seen her that. I've never seen anyone in so much emotional pain."

Rapunzel fought back tears, her eyes stinging, her own her heart racing.

"I know you miss your husband…and this sounds horribly selfish, but I can't let you join him. I can't do this baby thing without you. I'm sure your daughters want to see you again."

"Their letters are enough evidence of that. I want to know more about my cousins, especially about Elsa… and her powers." Her voice lowered at the mention of Elsa's powers.

Rapunzel lifted her head, tears now streaming down her delicate cheeks. "I can't lose you!" She cried out.

Breathing rapidly, she wrapped her hair around Idunn's chest in a desperate attempt to cure her aunt. Sweet and gentle singing went out the window as she rapidly sung through the healing incantation.

"Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse-"

At the front of the infirmary, still observing the situation, Arianna gasped and ran over to pull Rapunzel's hair off Idunn's chest.

"RAPUNZEL! NO!"

Rapunzel looked up, bewildered and slightly shocked at her mother's sudden entrance. Wouldn't her mother want her sister healed?

"Mum?! What are you doing?!"

Arianna inhaled sharply. This wasn't going to be easy. "Rapunzel." She said gently, yet still firmly.

"Your powers are not going to help here. She's been sedated. Sometimes medicine and magic don't mix.

Rapunzel's face creased into one of confusion.

"You literally asked me to help when Aunt Idunn came in!" Rapunzel replied, hurt seeping in her voice.

"Rapunzel…that's different. We had no other choice. We were out of ideas and she was dying, not sedated."

Rapunzel fought back tears. "This isn't fair! I have powers of healing! Just let me!"

Arianna put a hand on her shoulder. "Rapunzel, no." She replied gently, hoping Rapunzel would understand the difficult message.

For the first time in forever, anger grew inside Rapunzel. "No! I can do it! You're being ridiculous, Mum!"

Arianna gasped, shocked at her daughter's sudden anger. She held her daughter back by the shoulders.

"I'm just saying this because I love you! ….and want to protect you and my sister! I can't lose either of you." Tears stung Arianna's eyes.

The last person Arianna wanted to fight with was her beloved daughter. The one who she had longed for for eighteen long years.

"Because you love me….BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME?! Gothel's familiar words echoed in Rapunzel's ears. They stung her mind like a bee. Unfamiliar rage rose within her.

"DON'T YOU START! I JUST WANT MY AUNT BACK!" Rapunzel yelled at her now startled mother before storming out of the infirmary, tears streaming down her face.

"Rapunzel wait!" Arianna gasped, holding her hand out to grab her, but she was too late. She could hear Rapunzel now sobbing down the hallway.

Arianna slumped down into a nearby chair, feeling completed defeated and useless.

She reached out and held tightly onto Idunn's limp hand for at least some sort of comfort, buried her face in her own hands and just sobbed her eyes out.

Arianna's freshly applied mascara messily ran down her cheeks as she sobbed into her sister's shoulder.

She looked more like a demon than a queen. Her sobs echoed around the infirmary, drowning out the beeping sounds from the machines attached to Idunn.

"Keep fighting….keep fighting DAMMIT! I can't lose you! I would never forgive myself if you died!" Mournful frustration overcame Arianna as she attempted to compose herself.

Soon, panic overcame Arianna as she cradled Idunn's head with shaking hands. How she wished Idunn would just open her eyes! What she would give to just speak to her again…..and that none of this had ever happened.

Arianna planted a small kiss on her sister's forehead. She slowly leaned forward in her chair towards Idunn and gently laid her head on her sister's chest, just as Rapunzel had done before.

Ka-Thunk. Ka-Thunk thunk thunk. Ka-thunk….Thunk.

The irregular sound of Idunn's heartbeat was strangely comforting to Arianna. Despite the wonky heartbeat, it still reassured Arianna that Idunn wasn't gone.

There still was hope. Hope that Idunn would come back, and most importantly, she would be there for the ones that needed her most.

(That's it for this chapter! Thanks for reading! Also, side note, I was switching between Rapunzel calling Arianna 'Mother and Mum' because I also realised that she calls Arianna 'Mum' in Tangled the Series (tv series). So, I used it to mix things up a little)