A/N A finale, of sorts, though this isn't the last chapter. Enjoy. Tangled isn't mine.
Everything happened at once. The clock struck twelve. The glass dome shattered. Teresa fell. Lanterns were released all around the kingdom, a sea of gold light. Rapunzel didn't know where to look. There was a single piercing scream, a moment of silence, and then…
Chaos.
People ran for the exits. Tables spilled over. Delicate party food was trampled underfoot. Mothers screamed for their children. Men called for their wives. Pleas for help were lost in the sea of noise. The lanterns drifted over the lake. Rapunzel glimpsed two figures in the masses.
Gothel grabbed Teresa's arm and pulled her towards the balcony. Rapunzel fought and struggled. She kept turning, wondering why her hair wasn't weighing her down. Then she realised and kept going, fighting against the crowd.
She reached the balcony. The last of the people escaped from the hall. All but the King, still on his platform above the ballroom. He seemed so confused. Rapunzel turned away from him, and ran onto the balcony. Gothel had the Queen by her throat.
"Summa, please…" the Queen was whimpering, and there might have been a flash of mercy in Gothel's eyes, but it quickly vanished. She tightened her grip and laughed.
"Poor, shy, little mouse. He never really loved you, did he? He never really cared about you. Poor, innocent Teresa, who destroyed my life and any chance I ever had of happiness. I have waited for this moment, oh yes, the moment where you would pay for what you have done to me. When you are dead, I shall have my flower-"
"No." Rapunzel spoke. Gothel turned. The queen attempted to break free, but Gothel held her throat tightly.
"What do you want, girl?"
"I want you to let my mother go."
"Rapunzel?" Gothel's voice shook, "it cannot be so. You did not, you could not…"
"But I did. I sold it to a barber. A penny for every ten yards. Let. My. Mother. Go."
"Your powers…"
"Gone." Rapunzel twirled a lock of her new brown hair around her finger.
"My daughter…" Teresa choked. Gothel slapped her across the face, silencing her.
"Rapunzel, you must have power." A tear, clearly unwanted, fell down Gothel's face. She wiped it away. "You must…" but as the realisation swept across her face, she began to tremble with rage. She threw Teresa to the ground, knelt beside her and raised her dagger, ready to bring it down. Rapunzel tried to move, but she froze at the expression on Gothel's face.
There was no hatred. No hunger for revenge. Only regret and fear and pity. The dagger shook.
"Summa," Rapunzel poured all her emotion into the name, "stop."
The broken woman looked up at Rapunzel.
"All I ever wanted was to be perfect," she told her. "All I ever asked for was eternity. I never meant for this." she gestured to the lake and the lanterns.
"I know." Rapunzel surprised herself by understanding. The dagger clattered to the ground. Teresa let out a breath. Summa reached out and ran her fingers through Rapunzel's hair.
"No more?" she asked, looking sixteen again in the light of the lanterns.
"No more." Rapunzel agreed.
Summa gave up. And just like that, she was gone. The centuries flickered by on her face, and she melted into dust.
Rapunzel began to sob. Teresa came forward, opening her arms. But Rapunzel turned and fled. Past the King on his forlorn throne. Down the flights of stairs, through the town, through the people. She kept running until she reached the water's edge.
The view took her breath away. She blocked her thoughts and just watched them, and it is impossible to describe the feeling she got, a mix of greatest joy and most terrible grief.
And that was how Eugene found her, a girl with short brown hair, tears on her cheeks, and a fox mask.
"Rapunzel?"
"I don't know anymore." So he wrapped his arms around her and they watched the sky turn gold.
A/N The end is nigh!