Chapter 20

The Girl in the Tower

While the Keyblade wielders and their companions were rescuing the soldiers from the Heartless, Flynn Rider and Maximus had indeed survived the fall with barely a scratch. As the white horse sniffed around for the thief's trail like a bloodhound, Flynn had managed to hide behind a rock while his pursuer went by. When he was sure the horse was gone, Flynn snuck away, creeping through a tunnel concealed by a curtain of ivy. He soon came across a wide clearing enclosed on all other sides by a cliff. Some trees and bushes were strewn about, and a thin waterfall descended down the cliff wall toward the rear of the space, leading into a winding stream when the water hit the ground.

What drew Flynn's attention was the tower in the center of the clearing. It appeared to stand about one hundred feet tall. Much of the wall was covered in moss. A conical purple roof sat on top of the top floor, which appeared wider than the rest of the tower's height and was almost entirely cylindrical, albeit with an alcove jutting out of the side. In the front of the tower, halfway up the height of the top floor, was a window large enough for a person to walk through if the fact that it was seventy feet above the ground did not deter them.

Flynn approached the tower and walked around the circumference, only to find no other apparent entrance. When he had looped back around to the front, he looked up at the window and smirked. That should be safe enough until the guards give up and go home, he thought.

He pulled two arrows, which he had kept with him for the purpose of scaling walls, out of his belt satchel. Jabbing the heads of the arrows into the joints between bricks, Flynn climbed up the wall of the tower. When he reached the window, he grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself in. He closed the wooden double doors behind him.

Opposite from the window, there was a white marble fireplace with a set of red curtains above it. On the right side there was a stairway that went up to a balcony that led into a door flanked by some more curtains. Beneath the balcony there was another door. Under the stairwell there were shelves with pots, cups and plates, and in front there was a dinner table, a chair with a red backing and seat, and a kitchen table. To the left of the window, there was a mirror stand and a blue-painted closet. Beyond that, there was another window. Every inch of the walls was covered in beautiful paintings.

Finally sure that nobody would find him, Flynn breathed a sigh of relief. "Alone at last," he muttered to himself, unslinging the satchel from his shoulder and opening it to admire his latest steal.

CLANG!

The intruder fell forward, unconscious. A young woman stood behind him, a cast iron frying pan held above her head defensively and a scared expression on her face. She let out a high-pitched squeal and ran back to hide behind a mannequin torso.

The girl wore a purple dress with pink accents. The skirt of her dress extended all the way to her ankles, stopping high enough to show her bare feet. She had fair skin, large green eyes, brown eyelashes and eyebrows, light freckles around her nose, and a small overbite in her front two teeth. Most noticeably, she had seventy feet of golden hair growing from her head, the long strands bunched together so that there was not a single split end, and the hair gathered together like a long, thick rope.

The girl rolled the mannequin as she inched closer to the intruder to get a better look. Stepping out from behind the mannequin, she lowered herself down toward the man, tapping him on the back of the head with her frying pan to see if he would respond. When he did not stir, she shared a glance with her pet chameleon, a palm-sized reptile who stood on the floor a few feet away. The chameleon shrugged. The girl used the handle of the frying pan to tilt the man's head and push some bangs out of his face. When she got a good enough look at his face, she stared in awe, admiring the handsome spectacle.

Then he opened his eye, and Rapunzel went right back to being scared. She gasped and hit him with her frying pan, knocking him right back out.

Realizing that she had an unconscious stranger, who may have been like one of the dangerous men that her mother had warned her about for her entire life, Rapunzel quickly hid the man in her closet and held the doors shut by pinning a green chair up to the handles.

"Okay, okay, okay. I've got a person in my closet. I've got a person… in my closet," she muttered to herself nervously. She looked at herself in the mirror as she realized the flipside of what she just did. "I've got a person in my closet!" she repeated, this time proudly. "Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Mother?" she bragged, flourishing her frying pan and chuckling. "Tell that to my frying pan—" She cut herself off when she tried to spin the pan in her hand but accidentally hit herself in the eye. She recoiled from the hit and rubbed the pain away.

While she was doing this, she noticed the open satchel reflected in the mirror. She reached into it and took out a gold band studded with small pearls, rubies and sapphires. There were three teardrop-shaped diamond insets on the front. Curious as to what it was for, she put it around her arm, but it was far too big. She then peered through the diamonds at the chameleon, but her pet shook his head. She then put the band upon her head. The crown fit perfectly on her head, and she certainly looked regal, but the chameleon still was not sure.

Just then, she heard a shout of "Rapunzel!" from outside of the tower. Rapunzel quickly hid the crown and the satchel in a pot and ran over to open the window.

"Let down your hair," the woman's voice continued in a sing-song tone.

"One moment, Mother," Rapunzel replied. She threw her hair over a hook hanging out over the window and let the rest of it fall down to the woman's level.

"I've got a big surprise," the woman shouted upward as she grabbed hold of the hair.

"I do too," Rapunzel said, walking backward as she pulled on her end of the hair.

"I bet my surprise is bigger," the woman teased as she ascended the tower.

"I really doubt it," the girl muttered to herself.

By then, Rapunzel had pulled the woman all the way up to the window. The woman let go of the hair and sat down on the ledge. Mother Gothel, a woman who appeared to be in her early- to mid-forties, had flawless, smooth skin that appeared to be a shade of pale ivory, and had prominent cheekbones. She had gray eyes and brown eye shadow. Her curly black hair was thick and glossy and fell past her shoulders, while three curls hung over her forehead. Her fingernails were a dark brownish-gray. She was a tall, slender woman with a curvaceous figure. She wore a flattering crimson dress with elbow-length sleeves, gold trim, and a matching sash with a gold buckle. She also wore brown, buckled shoes and she had on a hooded black cloak. She carried a wicker basket on her right arm.

"I brought back parsnips. I'm going to make hazelnut soup for dinner. Your favorite. Surprise!" Gothel said with a cheerful tone and a theatrical flair.

"Well, Mother, there's something I wanted to tell you, so—" Rapunzel began, or at least tried to. Earlier that morning, she had asked her Mother to take her to the outside world for her birthday the next day so they could watch the festival where lanterns were sent to float through the sky, something which happened every year on the night of her birthday. However, Gothel rejected her wish and, to deter her further, sang another one of her lectures about how the outside world was full of dangers such as wild animals, deadly nature traps and most of all cruel people, and reassured her that she was safer in the tower with her. But since she had "handled herself" against an intruder, Rapunzel thought she could change her Mother's mind.

"Oh, Rapunzel, you know I hate leaving you after a fight, especially when I've done absolutely nothing wrong," Gothel interrupted her as she removed her cloak and hung it up on a hook on the wall.

"Okay, I've been thinking a lot about what you said earlier—"

"I hope you're not still talking about the stars," Gothel said dryly while taking the parsnips out of her basket.

"Floating lights," Rapunzel corrected her. "And yes. I'm leading up to that—"

"Because I really thought we dropped the issue, sweetheart."

"No, Mother," Rapunzel said in exasperation, "I'm just saying you think I'm not strong enough to handle myself out there—"

"Oh, darling, I know you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there," Gothel cut her off while giving her a smarmy glare.

"But if you just—"

"Rapunzel, we're done talking about this."

Rapunzel started reaching for the green chair to remove it and open the door, intending to show her Mother her captive. "Trust me! I know what I'm—"

"Rapunzel. Rapunzel! Enough of the lights, Rapunzel! You are not leaving this tower! Ever!" Gothel shouted angrily.

Rapunzel stopped cold. Defeated, she retracted her hand, leaving the chair in its place.

Gothel slumped into the dinner chair and tiredly leaned her head into her hand. "Oh, great. Now I'm the bad guy," she groaned.

Rapunzel glanced at the painting above the fireplace, one that depicted her sitting on a hill watching the floating lights in the sky, which she had only finished painting that morning. She closed her eyes dejectedly, realizing that her Mother was not going to allow her dream to come true.

"All I was going to say, Mother, is that…" she began weakly, then as she trailed off an idea came to her mind, "I know what I want for my birthday now."

"And what is that?" Gothel asked bitterly.

"New paint. The paint made from the white shells you once brought me," Rapunzel answered, the wheels turning in her head.

"Well, that is a very long trip, Rapunzel. Almost three days' time."

"I just thought it was a better idea than the… stars."

Mother Gothel sighed, got up from the chair and approached Rapunzel. "Are you sure you'll be all right on your own?" she asked, putting on a caring tone.

"I know I'm safe as long as I'm here," Rapunzel replied, hugging her. Gothel hugged back, stroking the girl's hair briefly.

Shortly afterward, Rapunzel had helped Gothel pack food into her basket. Gothel donned her cloak once again and took the basket. "I'll be back in three days' time. I love you very much, dear," she reassured the girl.

"I love you more," Rapunzel replied affectionately.

"I love you most." With that, she descended down Rapunzel's hair-pulley system and set off on her three-day trek.

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy pushed their way through the vine curtain and passed through the tunnel until they came into the tower clearing. As they approached, a Dandelion Heartless appeared. It quickly dispersed its seeds and sprouted more Heartless. The group swiftly defeated the foes, but when they turned back to the tower they saw a cloaked woman standing at the base of the structure.

"When did she get there?" Goofy wondered aloud. Kairi then pointed above the woman, and they noticed something with a golden glint retracting into the window.

Riku guided the group away, and they hid behind a tree so that the woman would not see them. When the woman had passed through the tunnel, they stepped out and took another look at the tower.

"You sure that guy went in there?" Mickey asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that the horse went the other way, and if it's that determined to catch him, then he would want to get as far away from it as he could. This is the only direction where he could have gone, and there's nowhere else he could go from here," Sora reasoned.

They approached the tower. Sora tugged on the moss to see if it would hold his weight. "I'm going to take a look inside. If I'm not back in an hour, or if I shout for help or send a flare or something, send reinforcements." He did not wait for a response before he started climbing up the tower by the moss. There were a few points when his friends worried that the moss would not hold and he would fall, but this did not happen.

Sora climbed up to the window and pulled himself in. He looked around to see if anyone was home, and took a few steps in. The first thing he noticed was the large piles of what appeared to be straw or fair hair strewn about the floor, all in what appeared to be a continuous length. The second thing he noticed was the open closet. In front of the closet, Sora saw Flynn Rider, splayed about unconscious.

"Huh?" As soon as he uttered that confused remark, he felt something hard hit him on the head and everything went black.

Sora wearily opened his eyes. Everything was fuzzy, but he could have sworn that he had been on the other side of the room, but now he could see the closed doors of the window. He finally shot awake, and tried to stand himself up, but found that he could not. He looked down at himself. He realized that he was seated in a chair. His forearms and shins were tied down by the stuff that he had seen on the floor, which, feeling it against his skin, he determined to actually be hair.

He looked up to see what was going on, and he saw the thief seated in a green chair in the center of the room, also tied up in the golden hair. There appeared to be a small green chameleon on his left shoulder. The chameleon slapped his face with one of its paws, apparently trying to wake him up, but that had no effect. It did the same with its tail, to no avail. It then decided to shoot its tongue into the man's ear, which caused him to wake up with a start, jolting so hard that the chameleon fell off of his shoulder. He took in his surroundings, terrified, and struggled to escape his bonds, only to fail to do so.

"Is… Is this… hair?" Flynn wondered aloud.

"Struggling… Struggling is pointless," a voice came from up in the rafters. The voice seemed to be that of a young woman, who was trying to sound imposing but only betrayed that she seemed nervous. The two prisoners tried to get a good look at her, but could only see a silhouette hidden in shadows.

Sora and Flynn saw the figure of their captor jump from her perch to the floor as if it was nothing. "I know why you're here," she said. "And… I'm not afraid of you."

"What?" was all Flynn could say in response, having absolutely no idea what was going on. He noticed Sora and looked at him as if hoping he knew what was going on. However, the boy did his best to shrug. They both looked back at the silhouetted figure.

The woman stepped out of the shadows. Both captives could tell that she was a pretty girl in her upper teens with long golden hair, which indeed was the source of the material holding them in place. She was carrying a frying pan, which made Sora wonder if that was the weapon used to knock him out. "Who are you?" she asked, directing her question more toward Flynn, as if Sora was only an afterthought. Clearly, he realized, the man had left more of an impression on her, even if he was unconscious the whole time. Of course, she also might not have realized that he was awake. "And how did you find me?" she continued, brandishing her frying pan.

However, Flynn was a bit too infatuated to answer properly. "A-ha," he muttered.

"Who are you? And how did you find me?" the girl repeated, more forcefully.

Flynn cleared his throat. "I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you. But may I just say…" he began poetically, which Sora found amusing. The man spoke in a suave, confident tone. Then, he gave her a cheesy flirtatious grin. "Hi." He winked an eyebrow enticingly, much to the girl's confusion. "How you doing? The name's Flynn Rider. How's your day going?"

Sora snickered, causing the girl to finally notice that he was awake. She was utterly baffled, but she steeled herself, not wanting to lose focus. "Who else knows my location, Flynn Rider?" she questioned, bringing her frying pan closer to Flynn's face.

"All right, Blondie—" the thief began.

"Rapunzel," she corrected.

"Gesundheit," Flynn quipped. "Here's the deal. I was in a situation, gallivanting through the forest. I came across your tower, and…" He stopped, realizing that something was missing. "Oh, oh no. Where is my satchel?" he asked Rapunzel, worried that he had lost the item he had stolen.

"I've hidden it," Rapunzel retorted smugly, crossing her arms. "Somewhere you'll never find it."

Flynn looked to his right, then to his left. "It's in the pot, isn't it?" he guessed dryly, unimpressed, pointing at the pot as he spoke.

Angrily, Rapunzel hit him on the head with the frying pan, knocking him out once again. She reached into the pot and pulled out the satchel. She glared at Sora, and the boy obligingly closed his eyes. He heard Rapunzel move something made of stone.

"You can open your eyes now," he heard her say moments later. He opened his eyes and saw Rapunzel standing in front of him, her arms crossed, trying to appear intimidating. "And why would you be here?" she asked him.

Sora decided that there would be no harm in being honest. "My name's Sora. I'm actually new around these parts," he explained. "I saw that 'Flynn' guy running past me, being chased by some people, so out of curiosity I followed him. His pursuers lost his trail, but I eventually tailed him here. I'm sorry to intrude."

Rapunzel stared at him for several seconds, considering his words. "You're… not here to hurt me? Or Mother?"

Sora was taken aback by this. "What? Why would I ever do that?" he questioned.

Rapunzel dodged his gaze, somewhat embarrassed. "Mother told me that the outside world is full of dangers, and everything out there would try to hurt me," she explained somberly.

Sora frowned at this. "That's a bit of an over-generalization," he said. "Sure, there are plenty of bad people out there who would be more than happy to exploit and harm others, but there are also a lot of good people. You just have to go out and find the right ones."

He looked around the room and noticed the artwork on the walls. "Did you paint those?" he asked.

"Huh?" Sora cleared up her confusion by having her follow his gaze to the painted walls. "Oh, yeah. I did," she replied, smiling.

"They're really good," he told her.

"You really think so?" she asked him, cheerfully.

"Of course." He then noticed that they covered every inch of the wall. "Wow. You sure did a lot."

"Yeah. Well, I have a lot of time to myself when Mother is out," she said.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "You've never been outside of the tower, have you?"

Rapunzel shook her head. Some of her hair that just reached the floor wiggled slightly. "Mother always warned me that I would never be able to handle myself out there, and I wouldn't survive the dangers of the outside world."

Sora wondered if the girl's "Mother" was actually keeping her prisoner. He certainly had a few questions about her parental judgment. All the same, he felt bad for Rapunzel. She had been isolated from the world around her and all social interaction save for her "Mother". And on top of that, the Mother left her alone for extended periods of time, leaving her in a tower with only so much to do. It was a wonder that the girl did not yet completely go mad.

He was going to continue the conversation when he looked past Rapunzel and back at Flynn. He realized that the chameleon was once again on his shoulder, sticking its tongue into his ear.

Flynn woke up and realized what the chameleon was doing. He jolted, knocking the chameleon off just like before, then rubbed his ear against the shoulder of his vest to try to get the reptile saliva out, muttering "Would you stop that?"

Rapunzel quickly retook her place in front of Flynn, crossing her arms confidently, still holding the frying pan under her arm. "Now it's hidden where you'll never find it," she informed him. "So, what do you want with my hair?" Sora shook his head, realizing that he had not convinced her to shake off that paranoia; she seemed to have warmed up to him, but she was still skeptical of the other intruder. "To cut it?"

"What?!" Flynn gasped.

"Sell it?" Rapunzel guessed again, pointing the frying pan under the man's chin.

"No! Listen, the only thing I want to do with your hair is to get out of it! Literally!"

Rapunzel paused for a beat. "Wait… You don't want my hair?" she asked, confused.

"Why on Earth would I want your hair? Look, I was being chased. I saw a tower. I climbed it. End of story."

"Well, that lines up with what he said." Rapunzel glanced over at Sora briefly.

"Who is that guy?" Flynn asked, exasperated. "Never mind."

"You're telling the truth?" Rapunzel figured she should check.

"Yes!" the man pleaded.

With a squeak, the chameleon crawled out from behind Rapunzel's hair, having apparently been standing on the back of her neck for the whole conversation, and scurried down her arm and up her frying pan until it was at the point that was just a few inches from Flynn's face. It stared intently at him, forcing him to lean his head back and stare, wide-eyed, at the reptilian. After a few seconds, the chameleon looked back at Rapunzel. She drew back and cupped the chameleon in her hands. Making sure she was far enough away from both of her prisoners, she faced away from them and brought her pet close to her face. They started whispering a conversation that neither Flynn nor Sora could make out, Rapunzel using words and the chameleon making squeaking noises. Sora was able to hear her say "Pascal", which he guessed was the reptile's name.

"Okay, Flynn Rider," she began, returning to her conversation with the thief. "I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

"Deal?"

"Look this way." She tugged on her hair, causing the green chair to spin around, though this caused Flynn to lose balance and fall face-first on the floor. In the meantime, Rapunzel had climbed up onto the fireplace mantel and drew the curtains open. Sora glanced at the art, now illuminated by the glow from a skylight window. "Do you know what these are?" she asked Flynn sternly.

"You mean the lantern thing they do for the princess?" he identified, his voice distorted due to having half of his face squashed against the stone tile floor. Sora raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. Princess?

"Lanterns… I knew they weren't stars," she said under her breath. "Well, tomorrow evening," she directed at Flynn, pointing her frying pan at him as she did so, "they will light the night sky with these 'lanterns'. You will act as my guide, take me to these lanterns, and return me home safely. Then, and only then, will I return your satchel to you. That is my deal."

"Yeah," Flynn said, lifting himself up with his hands and pushing himself and the chair onto their side. "No-can-do. Unfortunately, the kingdom and I aren't exactly 'friendly' at the moment, so I won't be taking you anywhere."

Rapunzel and Pascal traded glances. The chameleon made a very human gesture suggesting that she hit Flynn again, but the girl had other ideas. She jumped down and pulled at her hair until Flynn was upright again.

"Call it what you will, Flynn Rider," she began, enunciating his name in a mocking tone. "Fate, destiny—"

"A horse," Flynn quipped in a deadpan tone.

"So, I have made the decision to trust you."

"A horrible decision."

"But trust me when I tell you this," she took on a more serious tone. She then pulled her hair until Flynn was about to fall forward, then leaned her hand against the back of the chair to keep up. She kept her eyes locked with Flynn's. "You can tear this tower apart brick by brick, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel."

"Mm-hmm. Let me just get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home, and you'll give me back my satchel?" the thief clarified.

"Sounds about right," Sora interjected.

"I promise," Rapunzel declared, though Flynn did not seem too convinced. "And when I promise something, I never, ever break that promise. Ever."

Flynn stared at her blankly for another second. "All right, listen. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." He then put on the most over-the-top pleading pout that Sora had ever seen. The boy struggled to hold in his laughter. On Rapunzel's end, the man's blatant attempt at exploiting his attractiveness simply confused her, though she remained focused.

"This is kind of an off-day for me. This doesn't normally happen," Flynn muttered, disappointed. "Fine, I'll take you to see the lanterns," he finally relented.

"Really?" Rapunzel dropped her serious façade and let go of the chair, bringing her hands up beneath her face cheerfully. However, in doing so she dropped the chair, causing Flynn to fall on his face. Rapunzel and Sora winced at this. "Oops."

"You broke my smolder," Flynn whined.

"Say, would you mind if I tag along?" Sora requested. "You could probably use a bodyguard. There are these creatures called Heartless that have been showing up around here recently, and they cause trouble all over the place. Fighting them is kind of my thing, so I could keep you safe from them. Plus, my friends and I would really like to see the kingdom."

"Your friends?" Rapunzel parroted.

"Yeah. They're actually outside on the ground, waiting for me, and…" He realized something. "I said to send someone up if I took more than an hour. How long was I out?"

"About five minutes," the girl replied.

"Oh, good. Plenty of time."

Rapunzel looked at Pascal and thought for a moment. "Sure, come along. The more, the merrier!" she answered his request.

"Yeah, why not?" Flynn added cynically.

"Great! Now that we have that all settled, I have another question. Would you please untie us?" Sora all but shouted.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." Rapunzel got to work unwrapping Sora and Flynn. Since the hair was so long, it took a few minutes but eventually they were free.

Down below, Sora's friends were doing whatever they could to allay their boredom. Goofy was snoozing on the hill. Riku and Kairi were sparring. Donald was patrolling the perimeter of the tower. Mickey was reading a book that he had brought in the event of moments like this.

When Donald finished his current lap around the tower, he stopped and addressed the group. "What's taking him so long?" he asked in exasperation.

"He could have just run into more than we thought he would," Riku suggested. "For all we know, he could be exploring. Regardless, we haven't heard any signs of a struggle, and there's still plenty of time before the point where he told us to check up on him. Just give it time."

"Hey guys!" They looked up and saw Sora standing at the window, waving down at them. Goofy woke up on hearing the greeting and looked up as well. Riku and Kairi laughed, glad to see him no worse for wear.

Sora grabbed onto the moss and started to climb down. When he was thirty feet off of the ground he simply let go and dropped the rest of the way. He went up to talk to his friends.

"Things got a little strange," he admitted. "But, good news! We're going with Flynn and this girl, Rapunzel to see the kingdom."

As he said that, Flynn climbed out of the window and started scaling back down using his arrows.

"Well, we might not be able to meet any high-level authority figures yet, but we can still get the lay of the land," Mickey noted.

"And what's more fun than seeing new sights?" Kairi added.

The discussion was interrupted when they saw an enormous length of golden hair fly out and wrap around the hook above the window. Rapunzel stepped onto the window ledge and grabbed onto the length of her hair that was beyond the hook. She stepped toward the edge, turned back briefly as if hesitating, then leapt off of the ledge, using her hold on the hair to keep her descent safe. She stopped just short of touching the ground and paused for a moment. She looked at the grass uncertainly, still nervous about her decision. Then, gingerly, she lowered one bare foot to the ground. As she felt the grass between her toes, she grew confident and planted her other foot on the ground. Cheerfully, she pulled her hair until it was all off of the hook and on the ground. In the meantime, Flynn climbed back down and was on the ground next to her.

Although they were not entirely sure about the new compatriots whom they had not even met, the party could not help but smile warmly when they saw Rapunzel's innocence as the girl admired the grass, the blowing seeds of a dandelion (the weed this time), the flowing stream, and a bird fluttering nearby.

As they started walking out of the clearing, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy introduced themselves to Rapunzel and Flynn, and vice versa. The adventurers quickly grew fond of the kind and naïve girl, while Flynn remained aloof. Sora had explained what they were doing, why Rapunzel wanted to visit the kingdom, and how Flynn Rider got roped into all of this, though he omitted the part where he got knocked out with a frying pan.

One thing that the six adventurers could agree on: they made the right choice in following the thief into the tower.