A/N: It may be slow going, but I am indeed writing for this! I've gotten three or four different comments asking for more and don't worry, I am writing more. Not sure of course when there'll be more but I think I know how I want this to go and who'll be where in the story. As always, read, review and I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled or Sleeping Beauty. They're both property of Disney. Like half of everything else in the world.

It took a few hours of convincing and a lot of backtracking up the stairs, but eventually Briar Rose managed to get Rapunzel down to the bottom of the staircase. Rapunzel stepped out onto the grass for the first time in her life, blades of the soft green plants pushing their way between her toes.

The shorter blonde stood there for several moments just moving and sliding her feet over the ground. "I..." she started to say before stopping. She leaned down ran her hand across the grass, feeling the blades tickle gently across her palm and wrist. "I never realized how...soft the ground would feel."

"Well believe me, it may be soft now, but it's not when you fall on your backside." Briar Rose told her knowingly.

Rapunzel laughed lightly. "Well I'm not very accident prone so I think I should be ok."

Pascal squeaked at this and rolled his eyes to which Rapunzel glared at him. "That was one time! Besides, Mother had moved my hair and I had just woken up."

Briar Rose's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "I need to hear this story."

Rapunzel blushed pale pink and said in a quiet voice. "I was 12 and Mother had come home early in the morning. I didn't know there was a doorway there. As far as I knew the only way in or out was through the window." At the puzzled look Briar Rose gave her, she amended before continuing, "I would throw my hair out the window and pull my Mother up and through it. Anyway though, she came home very early that day, well before dawn, which is usually when I wake up, and she called up to me to pull her up which is what woke me to begin with. So I fumbled through it and she let me go back to sleep for a little while. When I finally did get up for the day I was still a little groggy as I'd started to get sick a few days before. I stood up from the bed and apparently Mother had moved my hair around while I was sleeping so it wasn't in her way as she moved about the tower and since I didn't know this I ended up tripping over a small bundle of my hair. I actually knocked a side table with some candles over and one of them ended up catching the curtain on fire. Mother was not very happy about that at all."

Briar Rose had covered her smirk with her hand but by the end had to struggle not to laugh. Pascal meanwhile was squeaking in a way that could only mean he was laughing.

"Oh shush you." Rapunzel told him quietly. She looked at the girl next to you. "So, anyway, on to a different subject. What about you? Why were you even wandering about in the woods?"

"Well, you see, today is actually my birthday." Briar Rose told her, blushing slightly.

"Oh, happy birthday!" Rapunzel exclaimed, a smile broadening her face. "How old are you?"

Briar Rose ducked her head to the side as she replied. "Well, I'm actually younger than you are. I'm 16."

Rapunzel's eyes widened slightly. "Oh. I'd have never guessed. You're so tall and elegant and beautiful." She quickly covered her mouth, a deep blush creeping across her face. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Briar Rose chuckled lightly, her own face turning red as she replied gently, "You know you're rather adorable yourself when you blush."

The two continued to walk in silence for several more minutes before either had the nerve to talk again.

Briar Rose's voice rang out into the relatively empty forest. "Anyway though, I was out collecting berries, because my Godmother's asked me to. I was daydreaming and got lost in the woods when I came across your tower."

"Oh, I see." Rapunzel answered her. "Do you think we should find your home before we set off to find the lights?"

Briar Rose stopped and tilted her head to one side while she thought about it. "I suppose we should. Just so I can tell Flora, Fauna and Merryweather where I'm going so they don't worry about me."

"Well then, we should get going! These three, they raised you right?" Rapunzel asked, continuing before Briar Rose could even respond. "You shouldn't make them worry about you."

"What about you leaving without letting your Mother know?" Briar Rose counteracted.

"I'm an adult. That's different." Rapunzel answered straightening the loop of hair around her arm.

Briar Rose and Pascal both rolled their eyes in unison. "Alright then, let's get going." she told the older girl as they set back off into the woods.

~X~

Meanwhile...

"Huh. I wonder why there's a tower here in the middle of nowhere." a deep voice asked no one in particular. "Oh well. Perfect place to hide for a little while. Maybe take a nap. Now if only I had a way up there..."

Flynn tapped his hand against the side of his bag in thought as he moved around the base of the tower examining it. After he'd circled the base twice he finally noticed the doorway and proceeded up the staircase.

~X~

Also elsewhere...

"Diablo, come here my pet." a silky voice called in the darkness. The raven flew to his mistresses side and landed lightly on her staff.

Reaching up to stroke the bird, Maleficent spoke again. "It has been sixteen years. My revenge will be fulfilled by tonight. I need you to go find her. Go find the Princess Aurora."

The bird gave a loud caw before flying off to complete his mistresses task.