Mother Gothel was reading a recipe for zanzarella when the explosion occurred. It came from far ahead of her tower, and when she threw her book to the ground and stumbled towards the wide window on the tower's face, she gasped.
Smoke billowed from the kingdom of Corona into the night sky, smothering the stars in their beds. The moon stood no chance either, twinkling but faltering as sulfur and ash choked it. Gothel bit her lip as she watched and began to pace. Then, another strange sight assailed her.
Deep from the bowels of Corona Castle bloomed a thousand paper lanterns, floating defiantly through the sky in a final act of compassion towards its dying citizens. As their skins with purple flowers blazed gold, they lifted upon the night's currents and braved out the smoke's dark grip, looking hopeful against whatever revolution was laying waste to their home. But a great shadow loomed at their backs, larger than any Gothel had seen in her life. Across the apex of the canyon concealing her tower stretched a set of enormous, torn grey wings that beat the night like the thundering of thousands of turning leather pages. The sound was deafening even from this distance. Soon the creature attached to the wings came into view, a behemoth with a massive body and squashed head. Its size appeared to be nearly that of the whole kingdom. From beneath what looked like the line that parted its lips glowed two chained tusks that rumbled as their owner called into the night. With a deep breath the line parting the creature's mouth opened. Then, a blaze of flame seared from its body and caught the blooming lanterns, incinerating them almost upon contact. Their burning forms traipsed the sky for a mere second before they fell. The glow from the fire consuming the city grew clear against the beast's belly. The wings lowered behind the canyon peaks. Then, the world shook, and the echoes of the cries of humanity were stilled. Soon the strange beast would storm upon the castle of the king and queen. The solemn, raven-haired princess would burst into flame and disappear like dust on the wind. Gothel found it a pity. Her circle of flowers was wilting, and the dark princess might have saved it altogether.
Suddenly, Gothel gripped her hand to her chest and raised her head. The flame headed princess.
"Jack, you fool," she hissed, pacing the floor and glancing to her folded cloak as it passed through her periphery. Dismissing it, she continued walking forward. In the kitchen Honey Lemon was washing up dishes and setting them away. As she finished her job she stepped over the feet of the shadowed chair at the room's rear and tiptoed to Gothel's side, asking the woman what was wrong. In reply Gothel set the back of her right hand against her temple with a groan, shaking her head as she thrust her hip to the side.
"I am just in an exceptionally tight spot, my dear," she murmured, kissing Honey Lemon on the cheek as she smoothed the girl's golden hair behind her ears. In return Honey Lemon stared at the orange glow outside of the tower, and Gothel drew the girl towards her with a pitying click of the tongue. Lovely green eyes looked upon her and smiled, causing Gothel to stroke their owner's cheeks.
"I am so happy with you," murmured the dark headed sorceress. "You have done everything I asked of you. You just were not strong enough to stop Rapunzel from murdering her sister."
From the darkened corner behind there drew a whimper. When Gothel heard it, her nostrils flared and drew her towards the despair's scent. Rapunzel's soft golden hair glowed through the shadows, concealing her downturned head. Her hands lay clasped in her lap, and she sat hunched over the room's single chair.
"As for this one," hissed Gothel, bending close to Rapunzel's ear, "I will encourage Drago Bludvist to destroy her." Then, straightening out, she snapped her fingers and turned back to Honey Lemon, herding the older girl towards her bedroom in rapturous song.
"Come now, my darling," she cried as she pushed Honey Lemon up the stairs on the tower room's left wall. "You must be well rested for our visitor. Our special benefactor said he would announce his coming, and he certainly has!" With one final boot, Honey Lemon was thrown into her bedroom and the door shut behind her. At first Gothel clapped her hands together and made her way down the stairs once more. Then, she lurched back to Honey Lemon's bedroom door and extracted a key from her pocket, turning it in the keyhole until she heard a click. Instead of putting the key back in her robes, she waved it for Rapunzel to see, winking as she descended the stairs and passed to the kitchen. As she leaned against the counter she set the keys to her side and rubbed her eyes, pondering what she would do next. In reply, the sky thundered with another mighty roar from the godlike dragon assailing Corona.
"I have run out of time," she gasped, flying to the window and flinging her cloak over her back. "I must find Jack. I must find Jack and tell him to bring the girl." Then, with the snap of her hand, she rose into the air and crumpled like a sheet of black paper, snapping into flame and hovering through the window and across the canyon side.
Rapunzel watched her go. Then, the girl's head fell against her chest and she descended into quiet sobs, curling in upon herself as she clutched Astrid's iris close to her heart. In the silence there was the flutter of wings, like a moth suspended in candlelight. When she looked up, she noticed that Gothel had left the lantern outside of the wide window blazing. It glowed like a golden will o' the wisp in its metal cage, dancing around merrily though it lay trapped. As Rapunzel looked upon it her hands clenched into fists, crumpling the iris until its sweet juices stained her fingers. With a cry Rapunzel threw the flower against the ground ahead of her and pressed her fingers to her forehead. In her imagination, she heard the thump of Astrid's body as it skipped from rock to alder beneath the tower base. As her memory shook the leaves of the alder into the river, the beat of leather pages swayed the lantern at the wide window's right side. Soon its flame snuffed out. Now Rapunzel's world was darkness. But when she glanced into the dusk, two glowing peridot eyes greeted her. In shock she stared upon them, and they back at her. The black of their owner's reptilian skin glistened in the moonlight, and as Rapunzel watched the creature move she noticed that a set of wings were attached to its beating shoulders. Between these wings was a boy.
With steps muffled by wooly boots the boy stumbled across the windowsill and into the confines of the tower's main chamber, ducking as he tiptoed forward. Behind him his dragon slunk in as well, keeping close to the chamber's perimeter as it rested its wings. Ahead of it, the boy glanced about in search of something.
"Astrid!" he whispered in excitement, stepping on a teacup and yelping as he tripped over. The sound of a voice over the window ledge carried on the night wind and made the boy sigh in exasperation. "I'm almost done!" he called behind him. His dragon snorted. But the boy continued to step forward.
"Astrid, come out!" he hissed. "Look, I've brought your dragon! Corona's in flames, let's get out of here!"
"Astrid is gone," whispered Rapunzel in reply. Ahead, the boy was dead still. He had not seen her yet. But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, her dark frame made an impression on his mind. The moonlight had returned, and its rays floated through the window to rest against the girl's feet, illuminating them for her intruder to see. He gasped as he stepped near, flinching when the toes moved. But the rest of Rapunzel sat lifelessly in her chair, waiting.
"Where has Astrid gone?" asked the boy. In return Rapunzel chuckled.
"I only wish I knew," she worded, crumpling so close to her heart that her head curled against her chest. "She's gone to the moon, for all I care."
"That's not very nice," muttered the boy in reply. Then, his expression hardened. "Tell me where she is!" he snapped. "If you don't tell me where she is, I'll get angry!" When the girl stared at him in return, he noticed the green glow of her hazel eyes and softened. Behind them rumbled the trill of leather pages as Toothless purred. For a moment the boy stood with pursed lips. When he turned back to the window, Rapunzel lurched forward and opened her mouth wide.
"She is in Arcadia!" she gasped. The boy whipped around in shock as he asked a troubled "why?" In response, Rapunzel grimaced. With a mutter she said that the prince had captured her.
"What a lousy guy!" snapped the boy in return, pacing and nearly tripping over the teacup again. He circled the room in anger before returning to Rapunzel's side. When she looked upon him, he asked her how she knew, and she shrugged. Something gleamed within her green eyes, but before the boy could care he broke her gaze and returned to the window. As he set his leg upon the sill, the dragon slunk to his side. He waved goodbye. Then, as he heaved himself up, Rapunzel cried out to him, asking if he knew the way over the border. He nodded and turned to leave again. Biting her lip, Rapunzel stood, feeling the sharp chain weighing down upon her neck. As it pressed against her throat, she hissed, "Do you love her?" The boy turned and nodded fiercely. In return the girl sighed.
"Perhaps then I should tell you the truth," she tried. Her heart thundered with the chink of the chains when the boy froze in wait. "She was not captured by the Prince of Arcadia," blurted Rapunzel, "but betrothed by the witch, Mother Gothel, to Drago Bludvist."
"Merida was murmuring that name just earlier on," gasped the boy in reply. "He didn't seem like a stand up guy."
"He is a horrific man," interjected Rapunzel. "She must be saved."
"How do we save her?" asked the boy. Rapunzel shrugged. "Where are you going?"
"Arcadia," responded the boy. "We were going to visit the witch on the border. Is this her place?"
"Do not go near her!" gasped Rapunzel. "She captured me when I was a child. She will capture you and make you her slave." Then, without waiting for the boy's reply, Rapunzel lurched forward with a grin, clasping her hands together and bringing them as near to his soft face as she could before her chains tugged her back. "Take me with you," she hissed. "We can go to the prince of Arcadia and bargain with him. Then, we can take his army to Drago Bludvist and crush him. I alone know where the beast lies. I have heard his battle plans a thousand times."
"How do I know you're not lying?" asked the boy in return. Rapunzel laughed breathlessly as she shook her head. Tears blurred her vision. "Astrid was wed to him! I saw him with my own two eyes!"
"Wow," the boy responded after pause. Then, with a nod he turned and sauntered towards his dragon, patting the beast's shoulder so that it stood and lumbered for the window. When Rapunzel did not move from her chair, the boy glanced back at her in confusion and asked why she would not come.
"I am chained here by dark magic," murmured Rapunzel. "Gothel says she got the spells from someone called Pitch Black."
"There's no lock that Toothless can't bust through," responded the boy. With pleading eyes he entreated the dragon. The reptilian rolled its eyes in return and slunk to where Rapunzel stood, nudging the girl out of the way as it examined the chain around her neck. After sniffing her collar and following its links to the wall behind, Toothless shivered and lurched as if he were hacking up a fur ball. As Rapunzel watched in discomfort, the boy came to her side and patted her shoulders.
"You might want to step back," he suggested. As Rapunzel complied, a huge bolt of lightning surged from Toothless's throat and crept along the links of Rapunzel's chains like wildfire, ending at the collar, which snapped in two as the energy surge seared out in all directions. Rapunzel screeched as the collar's two halves flung to either side of the room, but when she grew aware that she was free of confinement, she jumped and howled, stopping in fright at the pounding ensuing at the other end of the room. As the boy walked towards it, Rapunzel called for him to wait. Then, biting her lip, she swept Gothel's key from the kitchen counter and scurried towards Honey Lemon's bedroom door, unlocking it and slipping to the side as Honey Lemon tumbled out against the banister. When the two met eyes, Rapunzel glanced down and gave Honey Lemon the key. In reply, Honey Lemon looked to the center of the chamber, where the boy and his dragon stood frozen with shock.
"Rapunzel," she gasped, glancing around her with wide eyes, "what is going on?"
"We're taking your sister to find Astrid!" piped the boy in response. "We're going to take on Drago Bludvist!"
"But Astrid is..." when Honey Lemon looked into Rapunzel's eyes, she fell silent. Then, as her hand rose up to meet Rapunzel's shoulder, the younger girl gripped her arm tightly.
"Do you want to come along?" Rapunzel murmured. Before Honey Lemon could say no, Rapunzel gripped her hard and stepped forward with a begging glance.
"Rapunzel, there has to be one!" snapped Honey Lemon, breaking from her flower sister and collapsing against the door to her bedroom. "I am afraid of what will happen if we both go."
"They can only catch us," returned Rapunzel. But Honey Lemon chuckled. "I wish..." she started. Then, abandoning it, she turned to Rapunzel with a cold glance and placed the key in her hand. For a moment Rapunzel stared at her sister. Then, nodding, she followed her to her bedroom door and watched as the girl shut herself in. Rapunzel listened as Honey Lemon sat on her bed. When she could stand it no longer, Rapunzel took the key in her hand and turned it in the lock. Then, she moved to the kitchen counter and set the key back in its rightful place. Before the boy could wonder what had just occurred, Rapunzel turned to meet him and smiled.
"Shall we find Astrid?" she breathed. With a grin the boy nodded and held out his hand for her. Rapunzel took it just as Toothless pitched himself over the window ledge. For a moment the dragon swooped through the sky. Then, as Rapunzel took the boy's hand and ran with him over the sill of the window, the purr of leather pages thundered through the night sky. Where Astrid had once tumbled through midair, Rapunzel fell into the embrace of giant black wings that glinted as if formed by black glass. She gasped and clung to the boy as the dragon crept upwards through the sky. As Toothless swept over the foot of the canyon surrounding Gothel's tower, its stones and flowers slowly crept out of Rapunzel's view, until only its purple-shingled peak was visible. Ahead of her lay an ocean of alder and pine. On its horizon glowed the rays of a burning kingdom. Below the waves of its canopies flickered a head of orange flame; trembling as it bobbed over the black furred creature it rode. Woman and bear turned like blood and blade as they flew across the ground beneath the trees, concealed at ever turn by the currents of alder and the sinews of the dragon's dark wings.