HELLO EVERYBODY! I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT PUTTING AN AUTHOR'S NOTE IN THE PROLOGUE. TO BE HONEST, I SORT OF FORGOT ABOUT IT, LOL. BUT HERE'S ONE FOR THIS CHAPTER, AND I WON'T FORGET ABOUT THE OTHERS FOLLOWING THIS.

THIS IS A CROSSOVER BETWEEN WRECK-IT-RALPH AND TANGLED (OBVIOUSLY) BUT I ALSO PLAN ON INCLUDING CHARACTERS FROM BRAVE AND PERHAPS OTHER DISNEY MOVIES. (WE WILL HAVE TO SEE) THE SETTING IS MEDIEVAL TIMES, SO THERE ARE A LOT OF KINGDOMS, NO VIDEO GAMES. THE IDEA FOR THIS STORY CAME TO ME ONLY A WEEK AGO AFTER WATCHING A VIDEO ON YOUTUBE WITH VANELLOPE AND GOTHEL, AND I REALLY WANTED TO DO IT. SO IT STARTED FORMING, AND NOW HERE IT IS! I CAN'T GUARANTEE A LOT OF QUICK UPDATES, BUT I'LL DO WHAT I CAN. I REALLY HOPE THE READERS ENJOY IT; I ENCOURAGE EVERYBODY WHO READS IT TO REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. I LOVE FEEDBACK, SO LONG AS IT'S KINDLY WRITTEN. (NO FLAMES!)

SO WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, I WILL GIVE YOU THE DISCLAIMER (I DON'T OWN WRECK IT RALPH, TANGLED, OR ANY OTHER DISNEY MOVIES I MAY BRING INTO THIS TALE) AND WISH YOU HAPPY READING WITH ANOTHER ENCOURAGEMENT TO REVIEW. THANK YOU!

Chapter 1

11 years later…

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY PUNZIE!"

Penny G. bounded to her sister's bed and pounced on top of her. Normally she enjoyed sleeping in until at least noon, but now she bubbled with more energy than she normally did the other 364 days in the year, despite the fact it was six in the morning. As she landed and rolled on top of the birthday girl, her grin only widened when said girl let out a loud groan and pulled her blankets overtop of her head, desperately trying to block out Penny. Penny would have none of this, yanking the blankets away and tossing them off the side of the bed to the floor. "Punzie, get up!"

"Is this any way to treat a birthday girl?" was the grumbled response, but Penny knew her sister wasn't really cross with her. As much as she tried sometimes, Punzie could never get angry at her little sister for very long. Instead, Penny expected a major non-stop tickling session and maybe a noogie or two but she didn't have a problem with those types of punishments.

Mere minutes had passed, but already Penny was running out of patience, rocking back and forth so hard that the bed was moving as well. She had a long list of things she wanted to do with her sister, and if they didn't get started, they wouldn't get all of them done by the time the day was done. She decided to try enticing Punzie with Thing Number One. "Aw, come on Birthday Brat. How am I supposed to give you your birthday present if you don't get up?"

The comment had the desired effect. In a blink of her eyes, she saw Punzie upright, running her hands through her hair to get rid of any bed-head. The motion seemed pointless to Penny, as she could not remember a time when she'd seen her sister's hair get even the tiniest bit frizzy. It was sleek, and always seemed to glow as though her sister's personality irradiated it, unlike Penny's coarse locks, which never ceased to remind her of old tires.

After demanding that Punzie close her eyes and pinkie promise not to open them until ordered, Penny dove under her own bed and start throwing random junk that had called the place home out in her search for the gift. Punzie sat cross-legged on top of her covers, now wide awake and feeling playful. "It's not a can of Boyfriend Repellent, is it?"

"Oh please," Penny scoffed, pulling her head out and shooting Punzie an exasperated glance reserved only for retorts, both playful and not. "You and I both know that you don't need anything like that when I'm around."

Crawling under the bed again, she continued to throw sarcastic comments back at her sister while continuing her search. Finally her hand wrapped around something it recognized, just as Punzie asked, "Well, could it be a half dragon, half dog?"

"Now you're just making stuff up." Penny triumphantly army-crawled out of the tight spot, and stood up, giving herself a vigorous shake to remove the dust bunnies before jumping up beside Punzie and placing the gift in her open hands. "Okay, you can look now."

Punzie obeyed, and as soon as her eyes lay on the masterpiece in her hands, she teared up. "Oh Penny."

Penny may not have been as artistic as her older sister, but she had put in many late nights to put together something that would make any other twelve-year-old proud. It was made of paper like a card, but flat, instead of folded. Penny had taken an extra-large piece out of her sister's sketch pad, and on it, she had painted the two of them doing activities they had read about in the books they liked to read together. It wasn't a Michelangelo original, but at least one could tell who was who. The writing in the top corner was a general salutation, but on the bottom of the page, she had hand-written, "One day we'll have our own adventures together."

Punzie looked like she could barely breathe. "Penny," she finally gasped out. "This is wonderful. Thank you."

Penny looked down at her own hands, which she'd subconsciously started rubbing together without realizing it. "You're welcome. I'm glad you like it."

"Like it? It's incredible! How did you manage to get this put together without me seeing it?"

Penny let out a laugh and shuffled a bit on the bed. "A lot of late nights and the few hours in the day you left for the singing lessons with Mother."

"Is that what you were up to when I left? And to think I always thought you spent that time sulking on your bed wishing you could join. I still can't believe Mother told you that you were free to stop if you wanted."

"You break one glass with a high-pitched note and instantly you're forbidden from singing again." Penny shrugged nonchalantly, and then continued. "Doesn't matter though. In my opinion, she did me a favor. I hated those lessons."

"You used my colors incredibly," Punzie mused, no longer interested in talking about singing. Her art-loving eyes had called her attention back to the present and now danced from spot to spot on the page, absorbing every single detail of the picture. "The yellow you used for my hair really compliments the colors of the dress, especially the purple." Suddenly she hesitated and her eyes broke away to meet Penny's. However, at some point when she was talking, Penny had turned on the bed, a wall in front of her face instead of her sister, making looking into her eyes impossible. "But…I thought I was out of lavender paint?"

Penny's eyes darted to Punzie, but then back again. They focussed quite intensely on her bare feet as though she expected them to do something incredible. All of her energy from earlier seemed to have been burned off, leaving just the shell of the little bullet behind. When she finally spoke, her words came out slow, and with hesitance, something she was not very experienced with. "You are."

"But…If that's the case, then what did you use to get this shade?"

"Err…" A sheepish grin inked its way onto Penny's face, and she started rubbing her hands together as though she was washing them under water only she could see. She still wouldn't look at Punzie when she asked, "You know those purple flowers on the bush we can see from the window?"

"Penny!" Punzie's jaw dropped. She was clearly shocked again, but this time it wasn't a good kind of shock. "You know Mother doesn't allow us outside! It's dangerous!"

Punzie and Penny resided in a tower located in a clearing surrounded by miles of dark pine forest. It was comfy, with a shared bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom at the very top, allowing them to do everything together. However, it was still four walls, a door locked from the outside, and an unbreakable glass window covered by a mother's spell. All of this was supposedly to keep the girls safe, but as a result, they were trapped in a pretty small space together, with absolutely no knowledge of what lay outside of their prison home.

Now Penny shrugged again, trying not to let her sister's disappointment shame her. She would not apologize for what she had done, no sir. Just thinking about it now, how glorious it had been to run around feeling cool moonlight on her face and thick grass on her feet, made her yearn to do it again. It was fun inside the castle, but after twelve years of waking up to the same old surroundings, she was getting bored. One can only read the same books, play the same board games, and put together the same puzzles so many times before one desires to try new things. Outside, with much more freedom and space to roam, she had discovered her true passion. "If she doesn't want us outside, she shouldn't make it so hard to pick the tower door's lock. Besides, she goes outside all the time, and nothing ever happens to her. So why can't we? I mean, come on Punzie, I didn't die out there."

Frozen, Punzie was still gaping at her in that appalled way, so Penny tried to excuse her actions again. "Oh come on! It's not like I left the clearing. I didn't even go into the woods. " When even that didn't get a response, Penny grabbed her hands from underneath the picture, now forgotten by both. "Punzie, you don't understand. When I was out there, I could do anything I wanted to. There's absolutely NO limitations. I ran as fast as I wanted without worrying about crashing into or breaking things. I didn't have to stop until I was blue in the face and panting for air, and it was marvellous." She was getting breathless just talking about her experiences. "I want to be able to run. I'm going to get out again at some point, and next time, you should come with me. Consider it another birthday present."

Finally Punzie let out a long sigh. When she spoke, her voice shook, despite her efforts to look cold and emotionless. "Honestly, sometimes it's like I don't even know you."

This was the longest Punzie had ever been angry at Penny for. Normally a quick smile and some reassuring words were enough to make Punzie relent. The fact that it wasn't working now was horrifying, but rather than showing it by recoiling at the harsh words, Penny jabbed her index finger at Punzie's chest and spat out the first words that came to mind. It was both an offense, and a defense. "No, you do know me, and I know you Punzie. Better than you might think."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Punzie, I'm not the only one of us who dreams of what it's like out there." At Penny's accusation, it was Punzie's turn to blush and turn away. That didn't stop Penny from continuing her raging rant. "I see how sucked into the stories you read. I see how you stare out the window when you think I'm asleep. You want to get out of here too, even if only for a little while. So let's do it!"

Punzie opened her mouth, but before anything could come out, the sound of flesh striking wood interrupted her, immediately followed by a new voice, singing its words cheerfully. "Do I hear my little darling up and about?"

Penny rolled her eyes skyward as she and Punzie looked to the voice's location: behind their room's door. The knob wiggled back and forth until a metallic click could be heard. Then the door swung open, revealing their surprise visitor.

"Happy birthday my perfect angel!" In swooped their mother, Gothel, who immediately scooped Punzie up in her arms and enveloped her in a smothering embrace. Penny sat excluded, a sour glare directed at the sight in front of her. The entire scene was a confirmation that the use of the singular form of the word 'darling' was intentional, not something she had misheard. For more than a decade, Punzie's birthday had been fun when Penny and Punzie were together. But as soon as their mother got involved, it became worse than any ordinary day for Penny.

Though she never said it outright, Gothel had never ceased to make it clear to Penny that she was not loved. Whenever it was brought up between the sisters, Punzie would adamantly deny the claim, stating both of them were loved equally. But everything else in Penny's life told her otherwise.

Gothel stepped back, keeping her hands resting on Punzie's shoulders so she could get a good look at her. She clicked her tongue once in admiration. "Oh Punzie," she crooned, "look what a beautiful woman you're growing up to be. Anything you want today, just let me know. I've already got a pot of hazelnut soup on the go for later."

"Thank you Mother," Punzie was smiling again, though Penny noticed it wasn't wide and tooth-bearing like the ones she'd had on earlier, and it didn't reach her eyes. Penny's empty stomach started churning uncomfortably, and bile rose up in her throat. However, she shoved it down with everything she had. She didn't need other emotions that she shouldn't have felt tampering with her bitterness. Of course she hadn't meant to make her sister upset on her birthday. But she shouldn't have felt bad about being honest.

As part of trying to stay firm Penny continued to glare at the affectionate display in front of her. As the seconds ticked by, she heard her mind begin to whisper the nasty words that she found herself thinking every year on Punzie's birthday, and sometimes on other days as well. "I don't know why you bother thanking her, Punzie. The compliments, gifts, and undivided attention never end. Every day is a celebration of you for Gothel."

And then suddenly both women in front of her had turned, and were staring straight at her. The room seemed to darken, and Penny knew before even registering their expressions that her words had not gone unheard. If they had, she would have continued to go unnoticed for the remainder of the day.

Punzie's mouth had dropped open again. Now her eyes were shiny, the first signs that she would start crying soon. Gothel had most likely completely forgotten Penny existed, and was no longer smiling proudly. Her mouth was a hard, straight line, and the way her eyes were narrowed, Penny felt like an icky bug that was about to get squashed.

Gothel then spoke, and her voice was cold and emotionless. "I should not be surprised that you act as though I've never given you anything in your life. You seem to easily forget it is because of me that you even have a life. I'm assuming you haven't even wished your sister a happy birthday, you ingrate."

The insult bounced off Penny and left no mark. Her mother had used that term and worse ones still to describe her since she was an infant, and they had left their scars when she was small. Now she knew how to build up defenses around herself to stay strong and undeterred from her foster mother's words.

"As a matter of fact, I did before you came up. I even gave her a present," Gesturing to the picture that now lay abandoned on the bed, Penny mirrored Gothel's expression. She did not move from her spot on the bed, concentrating on ensuring she was not the one to break the eye contact between the two. She was successful, as Gothel broke it by looking where her index finger was indicating. But Gothel showed no signs of being uncomfortable, instead scoffing as she picked up the picture and held it up to get a better look.

"One day we'll have our own adventures together," she read with a false sweet tone. Her words were followed by laughter that Penny had no problem with believing was taunting. As the picture was lowered again, Gothel's face turned to Penny again. "And just where, pray tell, do you expect to have these adventures?"

Penny's curt response was immediate, already planned before Gothel had even asked that question that would have come eventually. "Outside. You have to let us out eventually."

Gothel leaned her head back and laughed again, a tittering sound that made the hair on the back of Penny's neck flare up. Her hands became balled fists, so tight that through her mounting anger she could feel her nails digging into the skin of her palms. Soon she would draw blood, but she would not feel it, just as she had not felt it the many times before. Instead, she just focussed all of her attention on Gothel, who had stopped laughing. Her expression was no longer light and mocking. Now it was cold and dark again. She spoke slowly and carefully so she could be heard clearly through her gritted teeth, one of the first signs that Gothel was losing her patience. "My dear, I am your mother, and as such, do not have to do anything you say. Rather, it is the opposite, and I say, you are not permitted to leave this tower."

"You are not my mother," Even standing up on the bed Penny was a head smaller than Gothel, but that didn't stop her from speaking. She thought she heard Punzie say something, but with the blood starting to roar in her head, it came out as an indistinguishable murmur that was ignored. As she continued to speak, adrenaline pumped her words out faster and louder. "My mother died of plague in the forest with my father, leaving me to be snatched up by you! And I wish I'd died with them, because that would be more of a life than what you've 'provided' for me! You are nothing but a wicked, evil, witch who swears you took me in out of mercy, but really only did it because you thought you could raise me to be a puppet! You've wanted to manipulate me from the day you got your ugly paws on me, but you've never been able to, and I swear on the souls of my parents that you never will!" She never could keep up a cold and unfeeling attitude for as long as her foster mother, as she still found it impossible not to lower her invisible shield of defense and use her temper to throw vicious attacks like snake bites.

Despite the fact that her rant was causing the breath in her lungs to run out, Penny would have continued to shout out insults had it not been for the duo of voices that interrupted her then. "Penny, stop!" was heard first, and Penny's first thought was that must have been what Punzie had tried to tell her earlier, because now her voice sounded so desperate she must have tried hard to get through to her. Now that it was too late, Gothel was screaming, "SILENCE!" and a second afterwards, the slap came. The sound of flesh striking flesh was heard before the stinging sensation of the strike across her cheek. A stronger woman than she allowed herself to appear, Gothel sent Penny stumbling backwards. Tripping over her feet, she fell off the bed and onto the wooden floor, where the back of her head struck with a heavy cracking sound. Pain exploded in her entire head, and Penny let out a gasp as her vision turned into a red screen in front of her eyes. Much needed oxygen flowed into her lungs, only to be pushed out again as she struggled to catch her breath.

It had been a surprise at the moment it had happened, but afterwards, nothing about the slap was unknown. As a result, it was easy to force herself not to panic, so Penny's breathing gradually slowed down. Once the hyperventilation had died down to a heavy pant, Penny looked up and found she could see once again. Gothel was towering over her, staring down uncaringly again while Punzie cowered from behind. Her hands covered her nose and mouth, but there was nothing to block the sight of Penny from her widened eyes. Eyes the color of the grass Penny had ran in.

Penny refused to stay down while Gothel was glowering at her, and the reminder of what she wanted was enough of a boost to get her mentally talking herself through standing up again. Reminding herself that none of this was out of the norm for these sorts of occurrences, she ignored her cheek and instead placed a hand on the back of her head. Already a tender but large bump was forming, and when she drew her hand back to investigate, it was covered in sticky red blood.

Before she could get her bearings, Gothel had grabbed her other arm in a vice-like grip and started dragging her towards her own bed. Penny began kicking and wrenching herself left and right. However, Gothel was using her strength to her advantage again, and though she tried not to show it, such fierce movements were causing Penny's head to spin. In the end, she ended up thrown on her bed, where her mother produced a familiar set of shackles and chained her. Penny only took a second to look at them before glaring at Gothel again through her headache.

When Gothel spoke again, her teeth were still gritted. Her words again came out slow, but not out of impatience. Penny knew she was trying to shove all of her anger back in again. "Now, you are to stay here for the entire day. As punishment for your insolence, you shall get nothing to eat. And the next time I see you, I want to hear no more about going outside…from both of you." At this, she looked between the two girls, one who still looked fearful, and the other who was trying to maintain her strong defiance from earlier. "Is that clear?"

Penny said nothing, but Punzie, who was looking down at the floor despite not angering Gothel, muttered, "Yes Mother."

At the sound of her voice, Gothel smiled briefly. "See? Punzie understands my orders." Wrapping her arms around the beloved girl, Gothel fixed her calm stare on Penny. "Why can't you be more like her?"

"Because she's a Momma's girl. You turned her into a weak puppet who will listen to whatever you say, no matter how unreasonable it may be. It may work for her, but I don't want you in charge of my destiny."

Punzie recoiled as though she'd been slapped. Penny watched as more tears rolled down her cheeks and no move was made to wipe them away. Again, Penny made no move to apologize. She knew the truth, and had no problem telling it, even if Punzie was unwilling to accept it or be honest with herself.

"Now, don't listen to her Punzie," Gothel crooned, continuing to hold her close and now stroking her head. "None of what she's saying is true. Don't let her spoil your big day. Come downstairs. I'll fix you up something nice to eat, and then we'll spend the day together and have oodles of fun."

Punzie still was unable to speak, staring at Penny with a hurt expression. She seemed to be waiting for something, but all she got from Penny was a stone-cold glare and silence. So she nodded in agreement to her mother and allowed herself to be led out the door. Penny noticed that Gothel made a note to slam it especially hard before she heard the click of the lock sliding into place. She sat on the bed staring at her hands resting in her lap, one of them chained to the bedpost. The sun must have come up at some point during the argument, but she'd never know when, as big grey clouds covered the sky, keeping the world dark, suitable for the rest of the day. Winds that had pulled the clouds across the sky began beating against the tower, and now that she was alone, Penny could hear them eerily whispering to her as they flew around. "Trapped. Unloved. Worthless." The words became a repeated, never-ending cycle, and though Penny ripped her hands up and tried desperately to block them out, they still slipped through the cracks between her fingers. In her ears they crawled until they finally took root in her brain, where they were ever louder. It was horrific, but bearable until one single word was uttered that broke her: "Controlled."

"No!" The word flew out of her lips in the form of a tortured scream, and in that instant, Penny felt as though her sanity was slipping away. But then the wind stopped its whispering, and everything was silent, as though Penny had frightened it away. Panting again, Penny turned her head to see if anybody was coming up to see if she was okay. She didn't know why she did so though, because as expected, nobody did.

Once confirmed, Penny twisted her chained wrist to inspect the familiar lock on the chain. This only took her a moment, and once she felt she'd looked at it long enough, she reached up into her hair with her unchained hand and pulled out one of the many colorful barrettes she had clipped in her hair. Holding it steady, she inserted the pointed end into the key hole and began jiggling it around with a newfound determination.

She may not have known a lot about different types of locks, but if the tower door was anything to go by, she would be out of the chains by that night, perhaps sooner.

Then she would prove to Gothel that she was the one in control of herself.