Author Note: This was probably one of the most fun parts to write out of any other scene in the movie so far. The 'I've Got A Dream' song is absolutely one of my favorites from the movie as well as one of my favorite group songs of any Disney feature. It's just so catchy—I love it! haha! :D
Soli Deo Gloria
Disclaimer: Disney owns Tangled, its story, and its characters.
"What did the old hag do?" Thomas asked.
Eugene frowned, "Thomas, what would your mother say if she heard such language?"
"But you called the housekeeper Madam Lilith that after she fussed at you for your muddy boots, and Mom was right there."
He opened his mouth to respond, thought better of it, and instead said, "I know, and your mother gave me a stern reprimand for saying that. Anyway, back to the story. Gothel had found the reason for Rapunzel's disappearance, and was determined to find her flower at all costs. She took the satchel with her, hoping to use it as leverage to get Rapunzel back, and set off into the surrounding trees.
"Meanwhile, out on the forest path, Flynn led Rapunzel to a clearing. Before them lay an enormous tree, its great roots the size of hillocks and its large expanse of leaves provided a canopy of several yards. Leaning against the tree was a wide building. Its foundations seemed to have been altered by the tree's growth, and it remained in a permanently bowed shape as though someone had pushed in from either side. It was an old building, sheltered in the crook of one of the tree's great branches as if the gigantic plant were embracing it. A small sign swung from a pole some distance from the establishment, announcing it to be none other than the 'Snuggly Duckling'."
"First bunnies and now ducklings? Dad, what kind of story is this?" Thomas demanded, pouting unhappily.
"It's a very interesting one, now shush. So sauntering up to the sign, Flynn said, 'Ah, the Snuggly Duckling. Don't worry, very quaint place—perfect for you. Don't want you "scaring" and giving up on this whole endeavor, now do we?' Rapunzel, hugging her frying pan tight against herself, admitted nervously, 'Well, I do like ducklings.' The thief smiled and emitted a rather embarrassingly girlish and yet also completely sarcastic 'Yay!'"
Eugene's daughters laughed while Thomas let out a low sigh.
His father continued speaking, trotting forward, "Flynn put his arm around Rapunzel and marched boldly up to the building's door. A few horses grunted at them as Flynn glanced down at the girl beside him. 'You know, Blondie, if you want to turn back now, you can.' Rapunzel shook her head, 'No thank you, Mr. Rider. I'm sure I can handle it.' He shrugged, 'Suit yourself' and with one strong hit, Flynn slammed the door wide open and hollered, 'Garcon! Your finest table please!'
"Rapunzel peered inside, probably expecting to see the bright, lacy décor of a pretty tearoom. What she did see, however, was anything but that. The Snuggly Duckling was dark, gloomy, and full of people that more resembled Vikings rather than parlor maids. Rapunzel immediately held out her frying pan, trembling as Flynn set his hands on her shoulders and began to shove her into the midst of the sinister eyes."
Eugene raised his shoulders, "There were men as huge as boulders—with pretty much the same coloring and friendliness of said rocks. There were thugs garbed in hairy tunics and clutching at their tankards of muddy-ale. Ruffians—those dreaded creatures—lounged in the shadows, turning their big, ugly unshaven faces towards the newcomers. One man had rats crawling all over his shoulders and head; another man polished the brass hook he had in place of a hand; yet another was stirring something in a pot over an open flame, something that looked creepily like," Eugene glanced around before hissing, "-snakes."
"Snakes!" Ginger exclaimed, aghast.
"Snakes!" Thomas repeated enthusiastically, punching his fist in the air.
"But that's not all. See, each of these men had several weapons on his person. Some bore long swords—others, cruel, jagged daggers. A few hefted heavy clubs in their hands while their fellows tugged at the axes strapped across their broad backs. Flynn, unconcerned by these shows of hostility, continued to push Rapunzel forward. 'You smell that?' he asked, grinning madly. 'Take a deep breath through the nose, really let that seep in. What are you getting? Because to me, that's part man smell and the other part is really bad man smell. I don't know why, but overall it just smells like the color brown. Your thoughts?'
"Suddenly, Rapunzel jerked away from him as one of the thugs, a rather fat man with a helmet, grabbed her trailing hair. The girl began to pull it along with her as she skipped backwards, leaving the man to watch as it passed on and on between his large hands. 'That's a looot of hair.' He declared, looking up at Flynn. Ever the clever snarker, Flynn responded, 'She's growing it out. Why, is that blood in your mustache? Goldie, look at this! Look at all the blood in his mustache! Good sir, that is a lot of blood!'
"Rapunzel, still running backwards, bumped into the hard back of a ruffian seated at the bar. With a rumbling growl he turned to glare at her and Rapunzel stepped away, still waving around her frying pan. Flynn Rider walked up to her, muttering, 'Hey, you don't look so good, Blondie. Maybe we should go home, call it a day. You'd probably be better off-,' he put an arm around her shoulders and steered her back towards the door, murmuring, '-this is a five-star joint after all and if you can't handle this place, well, maybe you should be back in your tower.'"
Eugene abruptly pounded his fist on the side of the bookshelf, shaking some of its contents out onto the floor and causing his children to jump at the noise. "Then, right before them, the door banged shut. Rapunzel jumped behind Flynn, looking over his shoulder as the largest man in the place leered at them. 'Is this you?' He asked, indicating the wanted poster under his long fingers.
"Flynn frowned, 'Hmmm, a little less on the nose and maybe-.' Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind as one of the thugs cried, 'He's mine! I could use the reward money!' Almost just as quickly, another man snatched Flynn away and said, 'No! He's mine!' Then another seized Flynn by one arm while his companion took his other arm. Soon Flynn was in a maze of sweaty hands, arms, legs and a great deal of bad breath as each brute tried to grab him for the reward the king had so thoughtfully placed on his head."
Thomas beamed, jumping up and down, "Flynn beats them up, doesn't he?"
"Well, actually, Rapunzel started swinging her frying pan left and right, bashing it against the heads and shoulders of the thugs. 'Let go of my guide!' She shouted, trying to regain her traveling companion. One of the thugs, Hook-hand was his name-."
"What did he look like?" Ginger asked, interrupting her father.
Eugene frowned uncertainly, "Um, he had a hook for a hand and—he looked a lot like Uncle Albert."
"He has a hook too! Weird!"
He grinned slightly, "Yeah—weird. Okay, so Hook-hand reared back his fist, preparing to forever hurt Flynn's chances at winning 'Kingdom's Best Nose Award'. Rapunzel, giving up on her frying pan, instead looped her hair around one of the branches that had broken through the building's roof, and heaved. There was an ear-shattering 'BAM!' as the heavy beam struck against Hook-hand's neck. Slowly, he and his companions turned around to see the strange girl with the ludicrously long hair.
"Practically desperate now, Rapunzel said, 'Okay, I don't know where I am, and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I've been dreaming about them my entire life! Find your humanity! Haven't any of you ever had a dream?' Hook-hand withdrew a brutal-looking axe from his sheath as the biggest thug named Vladimir-."
"Like Uncle Vlad?"
Eugene rubbed his eyes, responding impatiently, "Yeah—yeah, like Uncle Vlad—anyway-."
"Weird!"
"So, Vladimir-."
"Uncle Albert and Uncle Vlad in the same story!" Thomas grinned at his sisters.
Eugene frowned, "Now Thomas-."
"I know!"
"Ginger-."
Thomas raised his hands, "Wait till we tell them! Annie, do you think-?"
"KIDS!"
They turned to look at their father, confused by the frustration in his voice. Eugene took a deep breath, "All right, do you want me to finish the story or not?"
"Finish." The royal children mumbled.
"Okay then." Eugene smiled, "So Hook-hand withdrew his axe and Vladimir hung Flynn up on a coat hook to keep him out of the way. With apprehension, our thief watched as Hook-hand approached Rapunzel, backing her up to the counter. She flattened herself against the bar, breathing fast and gazing up through her wide, green eyes at the frightening man leaning over her. Hook-hand raised his axe and then, his sneer turning into an expression of truest regret, pronounced in his deep voice: 'I had a dream, once.'"
"Wait—what?"
"Thomas, he said no more interruptions!" Annabelle scolded her brother, who immediately stuck his tongue out at her.
"What was his dream, Daddy?" Ginger asked.
Eugene smiled and took a seat next to her, answering, "He wanted to be a concert pianist—just like Uncle Albert is. He wanted to play Mozart and 'tickle the ivories till they gleamed.' He wanted to 'be called deadly, for his killer show-tune medley' because, 'way deep down inside, he had a dream!' Then another ruffian, who had this really big nose-.
"Like Uncle-?"
"Yes, like Uncle Ralph! Okay, so this guy started singing about his dream. He wanted to find true love, of all things! Ugly as he was—he even had extra toes—he yearned to find a 'special little lady' to row down the stream with. And, before you knew it, the whole tavern was singing about their respective dreams. Thor wanted to be a florist—Gunther did interior design. One guy liked mime and the other baked cupcakes that were absolutely amazing—though not as good as your mother's. They even had a bloke who wanted to do little puppet shows! It was, to be perfectly honest, nuts!
"And all the while, Flynn hung on the wall, rolling his eyes. His plan had completely backfired. Somehow, Rapunzel had managed to get a bar full of violent thugs to sing about dreams. They weren't scaring her away—no, she actually seemed to be having the time of her life! She was smiling and dancing and laughing and-," he swallowed slightly, "-and Flynn couldn't quite understand it. Then, the thugs were asking him what his dream was."
Ginger stared at him, "Did he tell them?"
"At first, no. He refused on the basis that he did not, under any circumstance, sing. But a few pointy weapons thrust in his direction quickly changed his mind, and Flynn hopped onto the counter and began to jig."
"Jig?"
"Yes, Thomas, your hero knows how to jig. The thief hastily launched into a few bars about owning an island all to himself, 'surrounded by enormous piles of money.' He was then seized and thrown about like a ragdoll, with the ruffians tossing him about from hand to hand. Amid all the yelling and floundering, Flynn saw that Rapunzel was singing now. She was eagerly explaining about her dream to 'see the floating lanterns gleam' to raucous cheers from the thugs. He frowned. Why would a girl—who had never seen the outside of her tower before today—only have some dinky lights as her dream? There was a whole world out there and all she wanted was to see a couple of pretty lanterns. It did not make any sense… but then again, Flynn reasoned as he attempted to balance on a rolling barrel, this whole day had been a mixture of tons of things not making sense."
Eugene stood up, "In the meantime, as this glorious pub song about dreams was taking place, Gothel approached the Snuggly Duckling."
Ginger cried, "No!"
"Beat her, Flynn!" Thomas roared enthusiastically. "Beat her with that guy's cupcakes!"
Annabelle rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Thomas, what good are cupcakes going to do against-?"
"Children," Eugene said, "shush. Now, Gothel heard Rapunzel announce her joy about leaving her tower, and the wicked witch knew that already the thief had corrupted her flower." Eugene stopped, smirking, "Oh, would you look at that, I made a rhyme."
"Dad." Annabelle said, frowning.
He cleared his throat, "Right—sorry. Um, so Gothel saw this and then she heard the sound of several people drawing near to the tavern. She hid in the bushes, watching from the leaves as a group of palace soldiers marched towards the building. The troops were following the thug that had been sent to fetch soldiers to arrest Flynn Rider. Along with the soldiers came old Bush-face and his brother Eye-patch man—Flynn's erstwhile accomplices. They had been captured due to our thief's betrayal in the forest, and were none too happy for it.
"Back in the Snuggly Duckling, the thug that had been sent for the reward burst in, shouting 'I found the soldiers!' Directly, his fellows tackled him to the ground and Flynn grabbed Rapunzel by the hand, hiding with her under a table. The palace guard strode into the building, glaring around in the darkness and searching for the thief. The Captain of the Palace Guard barked out orders, 'I know he's here! Find him! Turn this place upside down if you have to!' He pounded on the table to emphasize his point, not knowing that Flynn and Rapunzel were cowering just underneath it.
"Then Hook-hand gestured at the thief and Rapunzel, and secretly led them to a trapdoor behind the counter. As the captain continued to shout orders and his men proceeded to ransack the place, Hook-hand revealed the passage hidden within the Snuggly Duckling. Looking down the tunnel, he said kindly, 'Go—live your dream.' Flynn grinned vaguely, 'I will.' Hook-hand glared at him, remarking, 'Your dream stinks. I was talking to her.' Shrugging, Flynn entered the dark tunnel as Rapunzel thanked Hook-hand 'for everything.' The thief found a lantern hanging on the earthy wall and lit it just as the trapdoor swung shut behind them.
"Turning to Rapunzel, Flynn let out a sigh of relief, 'That was close. Well, I can understand if you don't want to travel with me, Goldie. I mean, after all, I am a wanted man.' Rapunzel smiled, 'I don't mind.' He shook his head, 'I'm never going to get rid of you, will I?' Her smile widened, 'Nope.' With a grudging sigh, Flynn had to admit that the girl was impressive—if bolder than he had expected. Perhaps this trip would not be so painful after all."
Ginger grinned, "He likes her!"
Eugene smiled, "Starting to—he's starting to like her. Anyway, as Flynn and Rapunzel began to walk through the dark tunnel, above in the tavern, interesting things were taking place…"