A/N: Robin: Holy mother of all slash, Batman! She's writing a story and there's no male characters in it, except for us! And we're not even actually in the story!
Batman: You're right Robin. That's it. There's nothing that even I can do...
Me: Be quiet both of you. *turns to the readers* Ok now that that's over...this is indeed a (mostly) male free fanfic! I know, it's a first for me, don't be too shocked though. I wanna try and expand my writing abilities and this'll open it up to a whole new readership audience. So, any input/ideas/concerns/criticisms will be gladly accepted and taken into consideration, like always. As I'm trying to expand my writing abilities, this is also the first crossover that I've ever written. Also, I don't fully remember where the staircase came out in Rapunzel's room so I believe that tidbit isn't quite right. If you know, then please let me know so I can fix it. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled, Rapunzel or Pascal. Likewise I don't own Aurora/Briar Rose, or Sleeping Beauty. Both are property of Disney. Like half of everything else in the world.
Rapunzel stood at the window looking out over the trees. The sky was bright and the air fresh. The same as it was everyday. She sighed and looked at her only friend, Pascal. "Do you think Mother will finally let me go out into the world?"
He made a few squeaking noises giving his answer.
She looked at him sternly, "You know its not nice to call her names."
He rolled his eyes and then stopped and darted onto the sill of the window. An unknown voice came from below.
"I've lived in these woods my whole life, how did I get lost...and where did this tower come from?"
Rapunzel ducked down and peeked out the window staying low so that she wouldn't be seen. "Who is that?"
He gave her a look saying, "How should I know?"
She looked down again at the source of the voice. Below on the ground she'd never touched before stood a tall, thin blonde girl. She couldn't make out much about the woman but she knew that she must be very beautiful because of how she carried herself. Her Mother walked the same way after Rapunzel sang to her.
"Oh look, there's a doorway here." the girl spoke and a few birds chirped in response.
Rapunzel looked at Pascal, confusion showing in her eyes. "A door?" she whispered. "Since when is there a door?"
Pascal shrugged his shoulders.
A sound came from behind the bookcase. Rapunzel shoved the bookcase out of the way, an amazing feat since it was twice her size and filled with books. Behind it stood a door she'd never known was there. She grabbed the frying pan from the counter top took a deep breath as the door opened.
"I wonder what's in here..." The girl leaned around the door and spotted Rapunzel. "Oh hello." she said, pushing the door open, obviously excited now.
"Stay back!" Rapunzel told her, holding the frying pan threateningly.
"Don't worry!" The girl held her hands out in front of her. "I'm not going to hurt you." She chuckled a little. "I can't believe I've finally met someone else."
Rapunzel lowered the pan and looked at her, a mixture of confusion and curiosity showing on her face. "What do you mean?"
The girl smiled at her. "I've never met anyone else, outside of the women that raised me."
Rapunzel smiled back. "You know something? I've never met anyone other than my Mother." she looked at the girl and set the frying pan down causing Pascal to make a squeak in worry. "I'm Rapunzel."
The girl smiled. "I'm Briar Rose."
"How did you get in here?" Rapunzel asked her curiously.
Briar Rose motioned behind her down the stairs. "There was a door at the base of the tower, slightly blocked off by some bricks and vines. I have a knack for finding hidden doorways though. Comes from living with women who squirrel everything away in whatever nook and cranny they can find." she chuckled, some long ago memory from her childhood flashing to the front of her mind.
"So how did you find the tower? Mother told me it was hidden." Rapunzel drew closer to the girl staring at her eyes. Before Briar Rose could answer her, she continued. "You have the most beautiful eyes." She gasped and put her hand over her mouth, face flushing with embarrassment and took a step back, nearly falling over her hair.
A light blush spread over Briar Rose's face at the compliment. "Thank you." She had been so preoccupied with the girl in front of her that she hadn't even noticed the train of blonde hair strung around the room. "Oh my. You're hair is so long." Seeing part of it hanging from the ceiling right near her, she reached her hand out to touch it and thinking twice before doing so, looked over at Rapunzel.
She smiled shyly and told her, "Go ahead."
Her hand wove in between the strands of the silky locks. "I've never felt anything so soft before. How long is it?"
"About 70 feet. Mother said she didn't ever want me to cut my hair, so I never have."
"Where is your mother?" she asked curiously.
"Away at the moment. My birthday is coming up in a few days and she's out getting the supplies for new paints. I love painting. Let me show you something." Excitedly, she made her way over and around her hair to the tall curtain along the wall. Moving it to the side a beautiful painting of the night sky appeared. Lights floated all along the sky in a line making their way down to the horizon.
"That's amazing. Did you paint that?"
"Mhmm. I don't have much else to do during the day." her voice took on a sad note as she continued. "I've never left this tower so I have all day to do whatever I wish." She stared at the nighttime mural in longing as her voice became wistful. "There's one thing I wish Mother would give me more than anything in the world."
"What's that?" Briar Rose asked curiously staring at the girl.
"To see those lights. Every year they appear in the night sky on my birthday and I've always had this feeling like they were connected to me somehow. Mother's never told me anything about them though. She's always told me that they were just stars, but I've done a ton of stargazing and all of these," she made a gesture with her hand to the curving-S of lights, "they only appear that one night every year."
Briar Rose watched Rapunzel in fascination. Her face held pure longing as she stared at the mural. A thought occurred to her. "Rapunzel?"
Snapping out of her daydream she looked at the other woman. "Yes?"
"What if we went to see them? Together?"
She sighed before responding, "I couldn't leave without getting Mother's permission."
Briar Rose sighed in frustration. "You said your birthday was coming up soon right?" Rapunzel nodded. "How old are you going to be?"
"18." she told her.
"Then see! You're going to be an adult. Are you going to listen to your mother for the rest of your life, or are you going to take charge of it?"
Rapunzel glanced back over at the mural and sighed. Pascal climbed onto her shoulder and squeaked. She looked over at Briar Rose and nodded, her face resolute. "You and Pascal are both right. It's time I took charge of my own life and I followed what my heart tells me to do. Let's go."
She grabbed the frying pan back up and walked over to the doorway behind the bookcase. She started to take a step forward and then stopped herself, turning back to face Briar Rose, who was right behind her, a crestfallen look on her face. "I can't do this."
Briar Rose and Pascal both sighed. This was going to be a long journey.