Chapter 3- Rapunzel.
She was in a white room, completely in her element. She was painting a mural of her scaled best friend, Pascal. The slow, steady footsteps drew her from her painting trance. The girl turned around, her, once long blonde, now short brown shoulder length hair whipped around her.
"Hello Amethyst!" Rapunzel chirped.
"Good morning Princess…" The large woman trailed.
"No, not Princess, Rapunzel."
"Okay Prin- Rapunzel"
"What's the matter Amethyst?" Rapunzel asked, her head tilted to the side. Splotches of green, and yellow paint were spattered on the naïve princess, and her green eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"I…" Amethyst sighed, collecting herself, "I have some bad news… About Eugene."
"Eugene?! What happened? Is he alright?"
"Well.. From what I know, he's fine… it's just… He's gone dear. He left you a note though." The maid said softly, handing the girl the letter. Rapunzel looked at the envelope, tears already dripping down her face. Amethyst walked out of the room, and left the frail princess to herself. Rapunzel tore upen the letter. Quickly un-folding the note, she read it aloud.
"Ra*sniffle* Rapunzel,
I want y-you to know that I- I love you, ant tha-that's why I ha-have to g-go. You ga-gave me my dream, but I-I feel incomplete n-now that I fi-finished my quest. Y-your dream was to s-see the lights. M-my dream was to fa-fallow my heart. And n-now it's le-leading me away f-from you. And I -I can't take you fro-from your people. I-it wouldn't be fair. I-I don't know where m-my dream w-will take me, b-but I know th-that I have t-to go. I-I'll always believe in y-you. G-Goodbye Princess of Corona.
L-love,
Eugene."
The girl fell to her knees, her crumpling to the ground like her bones had dissolved. Sobs racked her body, and she screamed out to the almost empty room. Hours passed, and her sobs became silent, and the tears refused to fall. Rapunzel grabbed her knees, and lay in a tight ball, rocking back and forth. Her mother opened the door slightly, and when she saw that her daughter was no longer crying, she walked in. Striding to the middle of the room, she folded her arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Mom, what do I do? He was my dream."
"You need to find a new dream. Whether it be a boy, an adventure, or both." Rapunzel nodded, drying her face. It was like her heart knew he would leave. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Rapunzel's mother pulled her to her feet. Pascal crawled into a pocket Rapunzel had sewn on every one of her dresses just for him. Pulling the girl, and her chameleon through the halls, she thought.
'I have to tell her. To show her. But I don't want to loose her again. Wait. What am I thinking? She has to. It's her destiny.' as they got closer to their destination, the queen made up her mind. They continued through the castle, and stopped at two, large, wooden double doors that Rapunzel had never seen before. It was adorned with carvings of flower buds, small animals, and elaborate suns. Rapunzel stared at the doors in awe, as she was slowly pulled into the dark room. Her mother stood her in the middle of the room, as she walked around the perimeter, lighting torches under stain glass windows. They licked the air, and grew brighter, illuminating the pictures on the windows hung from the ceiling by invisible string. The windows depicted Rapunzel's story. How her mother almost died. The search for the flower. The elixir, her birth, and her absence. But, something about the window of her as a baby looked different from the one in the throne room, or the ones around town. Instead of her mother and father standing behind her, it was a woman. She had long, flowing hair that looked like liquid gold. Her face serene, and flawless. On her head was a crown of vines, small white flowers budding from within the tangles. The woman was wearing an elegant blue dress. Her arms reaching around the baby princess, like she was about to scoop her into her arms. Around the woman, was pale yellow glass, that made it look like her whole body was glowing.
"Mother…. What- what is this?"
"When I was sick, I started believing in every known faith I could think of. I would pray to any spirit that would help me save you. The day you were born, I saw this woman. She was holding you, like you were hers. She looked at me, just me, and smiled. She touched your forehead, and in a flash of light, she was gone. I asked your father if he had seen her, and he told me he hadn't. I guess he just thought I was seeing things, it's not uncommon after giving birth. But when I held you in my arms, I saw the light in you. And I knew, that she gave you life. She's inside you. And every now and again, I see her. She flashes in your face. I see her smile on your face every time you're outside, especially after the snow melts. I see the look in her eye flash in yours when you play with the children of the town. You're special. You're my daughter, and I'll always love you, but I've been seeing her flash on your face more and more each day, and I feel like something is going to happen. I know, that I'll have to let you go again, very soon." The queen wiped a tear from her eyes and smiled down at her daughter. She reached to a table behind Rapunel, and picked up the only thing that was on it. She put it around her daughters neck. It was a golden sun on a silver chain. In the center of the sun was a canary diamond. Rapunzel grabbed the sun, and played with it.
"So… I'm someone else?" she asked pulling the necklace out to really look at it.
No my dear. You're you, but the woman did leave behind something amazing in you."
"But-" As Rapunzel tried to ask more, a golden light shone down on the girl. Her mother gasped and Rapunzel felt something she thought she would never feel again. She looked down, and squealed. Pooled around her feet was her long, golden hair. She gathered it all up in her arms, and Pascal popped his head out from his pocket. He rolled his eyes, and sunk back into the darkness, and warmth of his little "room". Her mother smiled at her, hugged her, and whispered into her ear,
"This is your new dream." And with that, Rapunzel's feet lifted off the ground. Rapunzel felt like she was being pulled through space, and she felt a tingling sensation all around her body. The last thing she remembered before his mind went blank was her hair glowing in front of her face.