A/N: I would have updated sooner but I'm proper stressed because my NEW washing machine has just broken. It's filling up with water like the old one was so not only can I not do any washing I've realised that there was nothing wrong with my old washer after all, and that it's the pipes that are the problem, and I could have saved myself a hundred quid. Safe to say I'm not frickin' best pleased. That's my mini-rant over.

Chapter Seventeen

Preparing For The Descent

'Ow! Hey, will you watch it!'

Ashley turned her head and glowered at Rapunzel, but the princess only grabbed her head and turned it to its original position.

'It's not my fault that your hair is riddled with knots.' She snorted, once again running the wide brush through Ashley's wet red hair. It caught on a few more knots, making Ashley hiss in pain. 'Don't you ever brush your hair?'

'I'll have you know,' Ashley replied irritably. 'That I've had a bit of a rough month.'

Rapunzel exhaled through her nostrils. 'Fair enough.' She said uninterestedly. 'Are you sure you just want to wear those… trousers? I have lots of skirts…'

'I don't think trekking through the Dark Woods will be much fun in a skirt.' Ashley replied. She glanced at her watch, and then remembered that she wasn't even wearing one and sighed heavily. 'How long have I been here?'

'About an hour.' Rapunzel smiled, and then went on to attack a knot in the back of Ashley's hair.

A pang of irritation rushed through Ashley. For the past hour she had put up with the princesses incessant whinings and yammerings about her perfect day and how it was now ruined by the arrival of some ignorant girl. The ignorant girl had allowed Rapunzel to wash her hair and fuss over her nails and try and get her to dress like a princess but now… Now it was getting ridiculous. Now she really needed to go. Ashley turned and snatched the brush from Rapunzel and hurled it across the room.

'Right, that's it.' She fumed, whirling around on the surprised princess. 'I can't be arsed with this anymore. I have to get going, okay? Arnie's probably left by now.'

Rapunzel looked at her for a moment, and then planted her hands on her slender hips. 'Well there's no need to throw a tantrum about it. You could have just said.'

Ashley stared at her for a moment, silently seething and wondering how high pitched the princess would go if she set her hair on fire. She decided that thought was a bit psycho and pushed it away, although it still lingered at the back of her mind. 'Right then.' She glanced around. 'Where's the door out of this place?'

Rapunzel looked at her in bewilderment. 'Door?'

'You know, the wooden thing with the handle on it. You push it and you enter another room. Some of them lead outside, or to stairs, which is the kind of door we're looking for right now.'

'Don't be sarcastic.'

'I'm surprised you even know what sarcasm is. So where is it?'

Rapunzel blinked. 'There's no doors.'

Ashley blinked back at her. 'What do you mean there's no doors? Of course there are doors. How the hell did you get in?'

Rapunzel scratched her head. 'This is a tower.'

'Well done, Columbo.'

'They seal up as soon as the princess is inside,' Rapunzel explained. 'Don't you think that if there was a door I would have just walked out of it?'

Ashley eyed her. 'I don't know, you are a bit dense.'

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes. 'The only way out is back through the window. That's why I need rescuing. A good hero arrives with a plan.'

Ashley glanced to the window thoughtfully, and then back at Rapunzel. 'So… We have to climb back down?'

Rapunzel crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. 'A good hero arrives with a plan.' She repeated.

'Yeah, yeah I heard you the first time.' Ashley wandered to the window and peered out. The air was chilly and it made her shiver. The fact her hair was wet didn't help matters much. She had forgotten how far down it was and her stomach lurched a little. She turned back to Rapunzel nervously. 'Don't you have a ladder or something?'

Rapunzel only glowered back at her in annoyance.

'Right, okay.' Ashley tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully and stared down at the floor. 'Okay… no doors, no ladder. Christ this is like those mental riddle things. The Doctor would have an answer right away.'

Rapunzel's mouth dropped open. 'What did you just say?'

Ashley glanced back up at her. 'Hmm? Oh, those weird questions. You know, like, um… There's a man lying dead in a field and he has an unopened package beside him and there's no one around for miles in either direction, how did he die? You know, that kind of thing.'

'No! The name!' Rapunzel cried. 'Who did you say?'

Ashley looked at her for a moment, and then remembered the Doctor mentioning Rapunzel when they had first landed. He hadn't said anymore about it, but it had sparked Ashley's interest. Ashley smirked. 'The Doctor. You know him?'

Rapunzel's hands shot up to either side of her face and she let out a squeal. 'Yes I know the Doctor!' she almost screamed. 'I know that… that self-centred, arrogant, stupid haired… idiot!'

Ashley raised her eyebrows. 'Well that sounds about right…'

'He was the last person up here!' Rapunzel went on, storming backwards and forwards. 'He came in, acting all heroic and high and mighty. He said he was sight seeing and that he could never resist a sealed tower! So he said he would rescue me in his big blue box thing… It landed right there!' She pointed dramatically at a spot in the corner that would probably comfortably fit the TARDIS. 'So I told him the rules, that he had to take me back to my kingdom so we could get married, and he said he needed to get something out of his box and the next minute he was gone! The box just vanished!'

Ashley couldn't stop the grin that was spreading on her face. 'Oh he's sneaky. But he had the right idea.'

Rapunzel stamped her foot angrily, causing a small wooden doll to topple off the desk behind her. 'He abandoned me! The day before our wedding!'

'Did he actually agree to any wedding? Because the Doctor doesn't really strike me as the marrying kind…'

'He agreed to it as soon as he agreed to save me! It doesn't count for you though because I'm not marrying a girl.' Rapunzel crossed her arms stubbornly and stuck out her pet lip. She stood there angrily for a moment, and then glanced inquiringly at Ashley. 'It's the Doctor you're going to find, right?'

Ashley nodded, knowing where this was going.

'Well I'm coming with you.' Rapunzel decided. 'I want to give him a piece of my mind.'

Ashley winced. 'Ah, well… you see, I don't think that would be a very good idea. Because… well, it's dangerous. And… I don't want you to.'

Rapunzel glared at her. 'I'm coming whether you like it or not.'

Ashley laughed and shook her head. 'No. You're not.'

'I'll scream.'

'Scream all you want, you're still not comi-'

Rapunzel cut her off with a scream that was shrill enough to smash glass. Ashley cried out and shot her hands to her ears. It felt like her brain was shrivelling up. Her scalp crawled and her eyes felt like they were going to pop out. Rapunzel's face was bright red and her lips were pulled back with her war cry. Ashley raised her hands, trying to protect herself from the sound waves.

'Okay!' she yelled over the racket. 'Okay okay! Just stop it!'

Rapunzel stopped and crossed her arms triumphantly. 'So I'm coming?'

Ashley stung her finger in her ear and wiggled it around, trying to stop the ringing. 'Yes, yes fine. Just don't do that again please.'

'I won't, as long as you don't try to tell me what I can and can't do.'

Ashley sighed, deciding that she had made the biggest mistake of her life by climbing the tower. She opened her mouth to try and talk Rapunzel out of it, but then her eyes fell upon Rapunzel's hair. She stopped, and smiled.

'What?' Rapunzel asked nervously.

'I climbed up your hair to get up here,' Ashley said. 'So we'll just climb it back down.'

Rapunzel frowned. 'What?'

'I'm pretty sure that's how the story goes anyway.' She moved to the dressing table and snatched up a pair of scissors. 'If we just cut the braid off, we can tie it up here and climb down it!'

Rapunzel looked horrified. She gripped onto her hair tightly. 'As if I'm going to let you cut my hair!' she wailed. 'I want a professional to do it!'

'You want to get out of here, don't you?' Ashley said with a smile. 'It'll take a second. Lop it off and we can climb down.' She snipped the scissors twice. 'Snip snip.'

'No.' Rapunzel scowled. 'Think of another way.'

'There is no other way.' Ashley frowned, moving forward. 'Now keep still.'

'No!' Rapunzel wailed, backing away. 'You can't cut my beautiful hair! You can't!'

Ashley picked up the braid that was trailing on the floor, and before Rapunzel could yank it out of her hands, she cut the braid in half. The room fell silent.

'Right then,' Ashley sighed, putting the scissors aside. 'If we just tie it on one of those beams we can climb down and…' She trailed off, looking towards the deathly silent Rapunzel.

The princess's braid only went to her waist now and she was staring down at the rest of it in shock. Her eyes were welling up. Her bottom lip began to quiver. Ashley felt a pang of dread.

'Oh no, no don't-'

'My haaaaaiir!' Rapunzel wailed. 'My beautiful hair!' She burst into loud, uncontrollable sobs.

Ashley stood awkwardly, holding the severed braid in her hands. 'It's okay. It'll grow back.'

Rapunzel stood sobbing. 'You're… so… mean!' she wailed between gasping for air.

'I'm sorry, but it was the only way for us to get down.'

Rapunzel struggled to regain her composure. 'I know… I know.' She sniffed loudly. 'I'm okay.'

Ashley watched her. 'You sure?'

Rapunzel made a dramatic scene out of wiping her eyes. 'Yes, yes I'm fine.'

Ashley nodded. 'Right then.' She moved to the wooden beams and began to tie one end of the braid to it. Once it was tied, she swung on it to test the weight. It held. For now anyway. She turned back to Rapunzel. 'Have you ever climbed before?'

Rapunzel shook her head. 'No.'

Ashley tossed the braid out of the window and watched it fall to the bottom. She sighed heavily. 'Well this is going to be fun then.'