A/N: Happy New Year! Hope you enjoy the update! and thank you for your reviews as always! (Already have the next fairy tale in mind... sort of.)

GoGo jumped back so suddenly she slammed into the tree trunk, and one of the apples snapped off and fell into her hand. As she clutched it, the burly man stared at her completely dumbfounded. While she wasn't exactly the tallest girl in her village, this man had to be at least twice her size with the ability to snap her in two if he wished. He also had an axe slung over his back, glistening in the sunlight. Hiro nervously switched glances between the two.

All right, she thought. You're all right, GoGo. It's been a long time. Maybe he doesn't even recognize you. Krei had so many workers, after all. She cleared her throat, praying for the best.

"Well... hello," she greeted anxiously. "I'm—"

"GoGo," the man grunted.

Shit.

She faked a laugh. "GoGo? That's a weird name. I've never heard—"

"The whole village thinks you're dead. Even your idiot of an aunt."

Aunt Cass. A surge of shame swept through her. Perhaps she couldn't help what initially happened, but at that moment GoGo realized there had been days when Aunt Cass, the woman who took her in and raised her, had not even entered her mind.

"GoGo?" Hiro whispered anxiously from behind her hair. "What's he talking about? You know him?"

Thankfully the man did not hear nor see Hiro, but he smirked nastily as his eyes bore into the girl's. Then he roared with laughter. "What luck! I come to scout for more hunting grounds and I find something of much more value. Well then, if you'll come with me..."

As he inched towards her, she had less and less time to think. Immediately she threw the apple directly in his eye and made a run for it as he howled, throwing Hiro in her satchel.

"GoGo!" Hiro cried. "What's going on?! Who is he?!"

"Shh!" she shushed frantically, pressing a finger to her lips as she sprinted. "He might catch us!"

"GoGo!" the man screeched distantly.

The panicked girl stopped talking and kept running. If she could just make it to the castle, if she could just make it to the castle...

She skidded in her tracks as an axe spun above her head and struck a tree trunk beside her, missing her only by inches. The man was not far behind her, and sure enough the distraction was enough to make her lose her balance and trip into the leaf-strewn dirt. The satchel slipped off her, Hiro still buried in it.

"GoGo!" he cried.

As she scrambled to get up, a heavy boot stomped on her back and slammed her down again. She had barely enough time to lift her head until a blunt force hit it and everything turned black.

...

Everything was still dark when she awoke again, her wrists had been tied together and a gag tightly wound around her mouth. Whatever space she occupied was incredibly cramped and only a sliver of light filtered in through a tiny hole, and everything shook and trembled. It didn't take long to piece it together—the man had locked her in the box and was taking her back to the village.

At first, the idea of seeing Aunt Cass again gave her some relief. But if they were going this far just to take her, who knew if she'd ever really see her? And why would they go through such lengths to take her? And what about Hiro? Her bag wasn't with her. Had they found him, and if so, what had they done with him?

Stop, she thought. Escape is your priority.

Fortunately for her, Krei's men tended not to be too bright. Otherwise this one would have found cleverer ways to capture her. But still, she couldn't make noise lest he suspect something. She tried yanking her wrists apart from each other, but the rope stubbornly refused to loosen. Then she noticed something funny about it, how it twisted between her wrists. Like a figure eight.

Raising an eyebrow, she pulled harder on one of the sides, but not the other, tightening it. As one side tightened, the other loosened. Elated at the revelation, she kept tugging until the other side loosened enough for one of her hands to slip out. She then untangled the ropes on the other hand and yanked the gag off her mouth.

Success! The question remained as to how she'd get out of the box. She scratched her head, thinking desperately for ideas, until the shaking suddenly stopped. Heart racing, she reached for the gag again, wondering if the man was going to open up the box and check on her. That was when she heard the voices outside.

"What—" the man grunted.

"Where is she?" a familiar voiced bellowed. Very familiar.

No response from the other end. Other voices she recognized very easily frantically cried, "Your Highness!" "Your Highness, please!"

Wasabi! Honey Lemon! The relief was so overwhelming she could have laughed or sobbed, if not for that disturbingly menacing voice. Tadashi. She'd never heard him so angry.

"I'm not asking again," he growled at the clearly shocked kidnapper. "Where. Is. She."

Letting her concerns subside, she banged against the box and screamed. "Hey! I'm in the box, assholes!"

"Milady!" Honey Lemon screeched.

It didn't take long for the box to smash in as she tumbled out, looking back and forth between the wagon, the horse pulling it, the kidnapper, and the giant marshmallow. The sky had darkened, and part of her wondered just how long she'd been in there and how far they'd traveled. Tadashi wasted no time pulling her to her feet and she wrapped her arms around him, shuddering.

"All you all right?" he gasped, checking her body for any signs of harm. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "How the hell did you find me?"

"Hiro escaped and came back to tell me after you—" His eyes fell on her wrists, where scarlet marks dashed across her skin and bits of blood seeped out. "He burned you."

To be honest, she had not even thought about it. But as Tadashi tore his gaze off her and back to the kidnapper, who grabbed the axe in complete confusion.

"What are you?" he seethed, finding his voice. "A big pillow? You another one of those weird things she's made?"

Tadashi's round eyes flashed bright red. A red glow lit in his body as well, spreading and spreading.

"Tadashi, no!" his younger brother screamed.

"Get away from there!" Wasabi shouted, beckoning GoGo further away from him.

Lost, she staggered over to the rest of the servants as, to her shock, his body engulfed in flames and he roared thunderously. The kidnapper dropped the axe in horror and, as GoGo had, scrambled to get away. He barely had a few seconds before Tadashi leapt and latched onto him as he screamed in agony.

"Tadashi!" GoGo screamed.

"Get away!" Wasabi cried again.

"I'm not leaving him!"

"GoGo, trust me! We have to get back to the castle!" Hiro pleaded.

She hesitated, looking back one last time at the scene unfolding before her. This was not the Tadashi she knew, or had ever known. She turned to the Prince's brother, who begged and pleaded with the utmost desperation.

At last she nodded, and she picked up the servants and ran back to the castle as the screams behind her died.

...

GoGo collapsed to the floor the moment she burst through the palace doors, heaving.

"Oh my goodness! Young miss!" Wasabi gasped, panicked.

"Wasabi! Give her some space!" Honey Lemon chastised.

"Whoa, that was completely fantastic!" Fred shouted. "I mean, completely scary, but absolutely fantastic—"

The two glared at him, unamused. HIro, however, hopped by the girl's faced, breathing heavily.

"GoGo," he whispered. "GoGo, say something."

"What was that?" she croaked, unable to budge. "Why..."

An awkward silence filled the room as the Prince and the servants exchanged nervous glances.

"Was that really Tadashi?" she asked again.

Hiro spoke up first. "Yeah. That was him."

"You know about this? What haven't you people been telling me? Why—"

"What about you?" Hiro interrupted. "Why did that man want you so badly?"

"Your explanation first."

"It's a long story," Wasabi murmured.

"Yeah? Well, I just watched His Highness explode into some... fire thing and attack a man and I already have to deal with this curse knowledge. One of you better start talking!"

"I'll handle this," Honey Lemon said delicately. Then she looked at GoGo somewhat remorsefully, as though ashamed of something. "To be honest... we didn't exactly tell you the whole truth."

"I can see that."

"Will you let us finish?" Hiro snapped, cutting Honey Lemon off. "When the enchantress cursed us, she said she was turning Tadashi into a beast, you know? She said she knew how to get in touch with our deepest fears, and she would curse him to live with exactly that. But he was all big and cuddly for some reason. We didn't get it. It wasn't until within the first week of the curse we talked a bit about our father he..."

Hiro looked away. "I was angry about the curse. I made him angry, so angry that he became... that thing. It was the first time we'd ever seen him like that, and then we realized what the enchantress had been talking about."

"What do you mean? He told me—" GoGo stopped herself, wondering if she was going too far. She swallowed. "I thought he was afraid to take over the kingdom. Or something."

The servants watched on nervously as Hiro continued. "Kind of. He could have handled the kingdom, but our father... our father wasn't the best father. He ignored me a lot. And I used to be mad about it, but he was just mean to Tadashi. More than my brother would like to admit. I guess he wanted the best for the kingdom, but he really screwed him up trying to make him a good King. We weren't allowed to see each other and I remember him just locking him in for a really, really long time. I guess Tadashi was scared to be like him."

"So when he turns into that thing..."

"What we're guessing is that it's a manifestation all the anger he has bottled up," Wasabi said. "All the fury unleashed."

"Exactly the thing he's afraid to become as King," Hiro continued. "I think... he doesn't want that to spill out on anyone when he takes over the kingdom. Having to live strictly with no freedoms... stresses and wears out a person. That's what happened to my father. I didn't realize until I really talked to my brother about it, but I—I think he took out all his stress and anger on Tadashi."

His fear of taking over the kingdom. The reluctance to talk about his father. Oh God, things were making sense and suddenly GoGo couldn't understand the person she once thought she knew anymore.

"When he turns into that thing, we call him Sunfire," Wasabi said.

"Sunfire?"

"Fred comes up with all the nicknames."

"Infinitely cooler than Baymax," Fred said proudly.

After a pause, she turned to Hiro. "What did you say?" was all she could whisper. "What did you say to make him so angry the first time?"

Hiro's eyes filled with shame, and they drifted to the floor where he didn't have to face her. "I told him if he'd stepped up to the plate and sent her away and this wouldn't have happened. I said he wasn't a real King and that was why... why our father was never proud of him."

Everything in her ached.

"There's... one more thing we should show you," Fred added. Despite everyone's glares, he beckoned her.. "What? It's not like there's a point in hiding it anymore."

Everyone followed as Fred hopped to the staircases... the staircases leading to the west wing. She very clearly remembered Tadashi warning her not to go up there on the first day, but she needed to know. There was something important they'd been keeping from her.

The room they led her to was dark, not just from lack of sunlight, but from the dull walls and carpets. Only one source of light, tinted red, shone from a small table in the center. GoGo's eyes squinted as she crept closer for a better look. There was a silver mirror lying facedown, but something else too. Encased in a glass cover was... a rose. A skinny, wilting thing whose petals had mostly fallen out with precious few remaining.

"What is this?" she whispered.

"The enchantress gave it to us after she cursed us," Wasabi said. "We have until the last petal falls to break the curse, otherwise we stay this way forever."

"These bodies are just a reminder," Hiro added. "I turned into the cup she drank the tea from."

"I served the tea," Honey Lemon admitted.

She was only partially paying attention to those two. "So... there is a way to break the curse."

"We—" Wasabi began.

"We've told you our part, so you tell us why that man kidnapped you," Hiro said hastily.

"Fine." GoGo couldn't quite take her eyes off the rose, so she watched it as she told her story. "In our village there was this man, Krei, who came every year for some hunting trip. He owns some factories in bigger cities for a bunch of stuff, like textiles or train parts or whatever you can name. He's been trying to recruit me ever since I moved in with Aunt Cass, when I started making things. But I never thought—"

"How badly could he want you to go as far as to kidnap you?" Honey Lemon asked.

"If I'd known, I would've moved out of town the first chance I got! But I don't. And you're still hiding things from me. You know how to break the curse and you're not telling me."

Everyone averted her gaze.

Frustrated, she grabbed the mirror. "Then at least tell me what this is."

"It's an enchanted mirror."

Her head swiveled to the doorway, where a fat white creature stood. They remained frozen in shock as the Prince waddled his way over to the table, still squeaking.

"Tadashi—" GoGo started.

He ignored her. "We can have some glimpses to the outside world through this mirror, but only through people we've interacted with. So really we could only see what was going on with Abigail without actually leaving. It's good for the rest of the kingdom, I suppose."

"Tadashi, stop." She set a hand on his rubbery arm, and he winced at the sight of her rope burns. "I know the whole Sunfire thing."

"You can't possibly know."

She swallowed. "You're right. I don't know. I don't know what it's like. What I do know is it's not really you. You're not your father."

"GoGo. I've come too close to hurting people when I was in that state. You see that chip in Hiro?"

"Brother, don't," Hiro protested.

Tadashi ignored him. "I did that. And it could have been a lot worse. I almost hurt you today."

"You rescued my sorry ass from that kidnapper!"

"Narrowly."

"Still."

"I—"

"No." She stepped closer and stood on her toes to reach his face, which felt smooth and rubbery. "You are who you are. Maybe you're afraid of who you can become, but it doesn't have to be that way."

"GoGo..."

"You're not your father or Your Majesty or Sunfire. You're an idiot who waddles around with this strange fascination for every tiny thing, who likes inventing and insists on being all brotherly to the little Prince over there all the time. You're Tadashi. And no matter what name you went by you'd still be you and I'd stay by your side."

He caught her hand as if it would make her stay. "Why?"

"Because I—" Her eyes darted to the other servants in the room, whose eyes were brimming. "Because... you're my best friend."

The others groaned rather unsubtly as Fred yelled, "Oh, come on!" GoGo ignored them, but it was enough to snap Tadashi back to reality.

"What about your Aunt Cass?" he whispered.

"W-what?"

He handed her the mirror, and it never pained GoGo to see that blank expression more than now. "Your Aunt. I know you still care about her and you've been away for nearly a year now. I'm sorry I never let you see this before. I just thought it'd be too—" He shook his head and urged her to look.

Hesitantly, she took the mirror.

"Ask it to show her to you."

Her hands trembled. "Show me Aunt Cass."

Immediately the glass glowed until the image warped into someplace familiar. Her room! She felt a pang in her chest as she looked at all papers, tools, and books strewn all over exactly as she had left them. The image shifted, and she inhaled sharply. Sitting at the corner of her bed was Aunt Cass.

GoGo haltingly touched the glass as she watched her aunt trace her fingers along the sheets. The woman then picked up one of the wrinkled papers on the floor—the ones she'd always nagged her ward to clean up because the room looked like a pig sty—and twitched the corner of her lips as she smoothed it out. Something started dripping on the paper, and within seconds tears were running down Aunt Cass's cheeks.

GoGo set the mirror down, unable to watch anymore. How could she have been so selfish?

"I..."

"You won't have to worry about the man who took you anymore. I took care of him." He stepped away. "Go. I'm releasing you."

"Tadashi—"

"It's all right."

She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "I'll see you again," she said in a muffled voice. "I promise."

"Don't keep your aunt waiting," he joked. There was no way to make this situation better.

When at last she pulled away, she turned to the servants. "Thank you for what you've done for me."

"Oh!" Honey Lemon cried as she started to sniffle.

Bidding farewell, the girl headed out the door.

"Your Highness!" Wasabi said. "Why did you—"

"She was only ever here because we trapped her here," Tadashi said firmly, looking back at the rose. "I almost forgot that because... I really thought she was happy here sometimes. But it was still imprisonment. And it was wrong. Her aunt still needs her."

"But why did you just... let her go?" Fred asked.

"Because..." the Prince swallowed. "Because I love her."