AN: Rapunzel is 5. Flynn and his friends are 11 years old. Flynn's point of view.
"Enough with the secrets and tell us already!" Jane impatiently exclaimed.
I had gathered a few of my friends who are from the same orphanage as I am. There was Jane, rebellious and enthusiastic, always looking for an adventure. But right now she was glaring at me. William, the shy boy, who had needed a lot of persuasion to come along, but I needed him because he's strong, and I needed as much help as I could get. And finally Edward, who I just recently met, but I don't know him very well because he always secludes himself in his room with books.
"Alright, alright" I laughed. I waited a second before giving them my explanation. "I found a new and better place to steal from."
"Really"? Jane beamed, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Why did you bring us here to tell us that?" Edward asked, his voice full of skepticism.
I pointed towards the tall and imposing building we would be using, and said: "This place is our next victim."
William, who had calmly been listening to our discussion, instantly changed his expression from tranquil to shock. "But… But that's the Royal Palace!" he blurt out.
I grinned. "Exactly. The royals are the richest people on earth. They can spare a bit of food, don't you think?"
"Wait." Jane said, frowning. "How will we get past the guards?"
William looked at her, panic written all over his face. "What? You can't be serious about going!"
I decided to ignore William. "We need to strike during the day, because at night security is even higher. They know thieves tend to strike at night."
"But during the day, the Royal family is at home, aren't they? They'll quickly realize a couple of kids have broken into their home." Jane stated.
"That's the thing." I explained. "I've been studying their routine for the past few days, and I know exactly what they do during the day; they go to the market in the morning and to the park in the afternoon."
"So why do we have to do this in the morning? Why not wait for them to go to the park. They'll be out longer." Edward inquired.
I smiled; glad that at least two of my associates were willing to go on the mission. "That's precisely why we need to strike now: when they aren't out for very long." I pointed out. "Because the longer they're out, the more protection there will be around their home. Whereas, when they leave for just an hours or two, it's easier to brake in because they don't expect something to happen in such a short amount of time."
Edward nodded in acknowledgement.
William shook his head. "You guys are crazy… Don't you have any respect for the Royal family?"
I was growing impatient. "Don't you get it?" I grabbed his shoulders and shook him, trying to get some sense into that brain of his. "Think about our brothers and sisters back at the orphanage. Those who are too young to fend for themselves! How else do you expect them to eat properly if we don't bring them food? You know as well as I do that the adults only barely give us enough food to survive. We're all slowly starving!" I glared at him one last time before letting him go. "But then again, you wouldn't understand. You've always been the beloved; the attendants always favored you, and gave you more food than the rest of us." I stared back at him coldly.
William looked like he was on the verge of tears. "How dare you say that!" He bawled. "The only reason they like me more is because I actually DO abide by the rules, unlike SOME people I know…" He trailed off, glaring at me. But he didn't have the courage to hold my gaze, so he ended up looking at the ground, his face all flustered.
I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest, looking away. "You're no better than a dog; always trying to please people and looking for praises. And you're a coward too."
"Well, you're ruthless and pretentious and–"
"Guys, we have a job to do! So just shut up and stop bickering like 4 year olds!" Jane interrupted.
Suddenly, at the corner of my eye I saw movement, and I turned to face it. I slowly crept forwards so as to get a better look, keeping a low profile. I saw the King and Queen leaving. "They're leaving guys; now's our chance!" I announced in a hushed voice. I turned towards Edward. "Bring out the rope." I told him. He took it out of his satchel and gave it to Jane. She was the expert on throwing it. She twirled the rope a few times before launching it into the air. The hook easily caught on a nook in the wall. She pulled on it a few times, making sure it was stable. I walked up to her.
"I'll go first." I said, and without waiting for a reply I grabbed onto the rope and started climbing.
When I got to the end of the rope, I heaved myself up with my arms, and swung my legs round to the other side. Before landing, I quickly glanced around; making sure no one was there. The coast was clear, so I signaled to my friends that they could come. I landed on the wooden floor with a small thump. Yet, the moment I landed I heard someone call my name. I jerked my head to face the said person; it was Rapunzel: she was running towards me with her arms outstretched. Before I could react, she wrapped her arms around my hips, embracing me tightly, burying her face. Crap. I thought she had gone with her parents. I didn't expect her to be at home. Then I remembered the events that had happened recently and understanding drove away the surprise of seeing her. Recently, a few angry villagers have been trying to hurt the Royal family every time they went out. So they thought it would be safer to leave her at home.
"Did you come to play with me?" Rapunzel's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She was looking up at me with excited green eyes.
"Who the hell is this little kid?" Jane asked before I could say anything. She walked over towards us.
William gasped, "That's Rapunzel!" He had just finished climbing up the wall and rushed over to us. "I never thought I would meet the princess in person." He crouched down and presented his hand to her. "Hello. I'm William. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Rapunzel just stared back at him blankly.
I looked over my shoulder, making sure everyone was here. Edwards had also climbed up. He was by the wall, gathering the rope and putting it away, back into his satchel.
"Hey kid, let him go. We have a job to do, and you'd better keep out of the way." Jane declared, it came out a bit harsher than she intended. Rapunzel looked up at her with big scared eyes, then she tightened her grip around me and said, "she's scary!" before covering her face into my jacket.
"What?" Jane yelled, anger instantly flaring up. "Say that again, you little twerp!"
"Hey, don't hurt her." I countered, mostly annoyed by the both of them.
Jane rolled her eyes. "What, do you think I'm stupid? Of course I'm not going to hurt her." Then she glanced down at Rapunzel and grinned. "Just… tease her a bit. She needs to learn to toughen up."
"Why does everyone hate me?" William whined. "Even the princess is ignoring me." He stood up and retreated a little way off.
"Why is Rapunzel alone? Shouldn't there be a guardian or someone who watches over her when her parents are gone?" Edward examined, looking around.
That was a good question. But one I didn't have the answer too. "I don't know, but that makes our job easier." I looked down at Rapunzel and tried to pull her off gently, but she was resisting. I sighed. "Come on, let me go." Rapunzel looked back at me with an expression of hurt. "You didn't come to play with me?" She asked, tears started to form in her eyes.
Suddenly an idea came to mind, and I grinned. "Yes. Yes we did."
"What?" Jane blurt out.
I crouched down to her eye level. "The game is very simple. It's like hide and go seek, except with objects instead of people. We need to find object, like food, and since you know where they are, you'll help us find them. Ok?"
Rapunzel's expression went from hurt, to quizzical, to excited. She bounced up and down a few times. "Ok, ok, ok!"
Out of the corner of my vision I saw Jane roll her eyes. I stood up. "Good." I commented. "Now, lead us to the kitchen and then help us find all the hidden food. It'll be like a treasure hunt."
"I love treasure hunts!" Rapunzel exclaimed. She spun around and rushed onwards. We trotted after her.
"Here's the kitchen!" She announced and instantly started climbing up on the chairs. "I found you!" She declared, talking to the bowl of fruits. The others were already exploring the rest of the kitchen, opening up different drawers and cupboards. Rapunzel instantly came back to me with the bowl of fruits in hands. "Look what I found!"
"That's great." I praised unenthusiastically. "Where do you store the other food, like bread and cheese?" I asked, taking a few fruit from the bowl at the same time and putting them in my satchel.
"There are WAY to many cupboards and drawers. All I keep finding are plates and glasses." Jane complained impatiently.
"Well, all I keep finding are utensils." William countered.
"Bread is up there." Rapunzel pointed up towards a specific cupboard. "I can't reach it though…"
"That's ok, I'll get it." I climbed up on the counter and open the cupboard. Indeed, it was full of bread. I took a few pieces and stuffed them in my satchel. We couldn't take much; we wanted to make it look like nothing happened, that way we would be able to come again. I looked over my shoulder. Rapunzel had put the bowl back on the table (with difficulty) and started exploring the rest of the kitchen. She was obviously enjoying herself, carefully crawling around, as if she were on a spy mission, not wanting to surprise her foes. I sighed and continued to search too. I walked along the counter, opening the cupboards one by one in a repeated motion.
"I found cheese!" William called.
"Well I found wine!" Jane laughed. I turned my head to look at her. She was shaking the bottle over her head like a trophy.
"You seriously want to bring back wine?" William questions, raising an eyebrow.
"Why not?" She joked, then laughed again and put it back where she had found it. I went back to my search. Once I had done all the cupboards and didn't find anything interesting, I jumped back down.
"Can we bring back tools too?" Edward inquired. I went over to him and looked at what he was looking at: knifes. Unpleasant memories rushed back to my mind. There was a lot of bullying back at the orphanage; some kids have even died from it. If we had knifes, we would be able to defend ourselves. I never really liked fighting; I would only do it for self-defense. But if your enemy is stronger than you, then you're glad to have a knife in pocket.
I also know the subject of bullying was something personal for Edward. He would always wear long sleeve shirts and long pants to hide his bruises. In fact, that's how I met Edward: he was being beaten up by the older kids. I had just happened to be passing though when I saw him. He had been lying on the ground, curled up in a ball while a few other boys were kicking him in the ribs. Of course I couldn't let that pass. I ended up rescuing him.
But that is why I understand the need for him to have a weapon.
"Sure." I said. Edward took a knife and put it in his pocket. I did the same. Just in case, I thought. You never know what might happen.
Suddenly (it seemed to come out of nowhere) Rapunzel let out a squeal of delight. "Sugar!" She cried out joyfully. I swung my head around and saw her crouching on the counter, grabbing handfuls of sugar from the jar and stuffing it into her mouth.
"Hey!" I instantly rushed over to her, grabbed her by the waist and set her back down on the floor. "Don't do that again, ok?" I stated sternly. "It's not healthy to eat that much sugar in one go."
She nodded a few times, her mouth still full of sugar. I climbed back on the counter, took the jar of sugar and placed it on top of the cupboards; somewhere Rapunzel would be unable to reach. Then I jumped back down.
"Ok guys, I think it's time for us to leave. They'll be heading back soon."
"Your leaving already?" Rapunzel pouted. "But we were just starting to have fun!" She bawled, tears threatening to resurface. She ran towards me, and clung on to my jacket. "Is it because of me? I promise I'll be good and I won't eat anymore sugar!" She whimpered.
I chuckled and patted her head. "It's not because of you that were leaving. It's just that our mission is over."
"But I don't want you to go…" Rapunzel clung on tighter.
"Don't worry. We'll come back with more missions." I smiled. "But that's only if you don't tell your parents that we came. Because if you do, we won't be able to come play with you again."
"Ok!" She instantly cheered up at the prospect of another mission. "I won't say a word!"
"Promise?" I added.
"Pinky promise!" She presented me her pinky finger, which I took in mine, and we shook on it.
"Rapunzel! We're home!" I heard the queen announce. I gave Rapunzel a quick peek her forehead and dashed off.
We escalated down the wall and ran off as fast as we could in the direction of our home.
AN: I'm probably going to disappoint you, but I'm have trouble with this story, and I don't think I'll manage to finish it. It's getting harder for me to continue; I'm running out of ideas.
It would be nice if you guys (and girls) posted some ideas in your reviews, it would help me greatly! And if I like your ideas, I might write them into the story.
I'm going to need your support, so please leave a review!