Chapter 24

Rescuing the Rogue

"There. It never happened," Mother Gothel stated as she pulled the last flower out of Rapunzel's now-unbraided hair. They were once again in the tower, and were seated on Rapunzel's bed, the girl looking despondent. Gothel's hair was once again completely black, free of gray strands, and her skin was flawless. Gothel had made Rapunzel sing the healing incantation to restore her youth as soon as they had returned.

Gothel stood up and started to exit the bedroom. "Now, wash up for dinner. I'm making hazelnut soup," she said in a singsong voice. She stopped when Rapunzel did not respond, still lost in her own self-pity. "I really did try, Rapunzel. I tried to warn you what was out there. The world is dark, and selfish, and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it." She closed the curtains, leaving Rapunzel alone.

Rapunzel sat silently, reflecting on how all of her hopes of a wonderful world, great friends, and being with Eugene were dashed painfully. She unfolded her crumpled-up handkerchief and stared somberly at the sun design. Pascal did what he could to comfort her. She let herself fall backward onto her bed and let out a sigh.

She stared up at her paintings on the walls and ceiling. But as she gazed at her artwork, she noticed miniscule details that she had hardly considered beforehand. She looked at the symbol on the handkerchief again, then back at her paintings.

Hidden within many of the designs, she saw that she had painted in the exact shape of the kingdom's sun crest. And this was not just a rare coincidence; no, there were dozens in her room alone. As she recognized them, they appeared to glow in her mind's eye, as she compared the seven-pointed curved star on the handkerchief to the seven-pointed curved stars hidden all over her bedroom.

As she came to this realization, a memory bubbled to the surface.

The shape of the sun crest hanging above her head at the lowest point of a mobile that hung over an infant's crib. She looked over to her right and saw a bearded man and a woman with long brown hair.

She saw the same man and woman depicted in the mosaic in the town square.

She saw her reflection, putting the crown on her head. It fit perfectly.

Rapunzel lost her footing. She stumbled backward, knocking over the stool and disrupting the mirror at her vanity table. She used the table to support herself as she caught her breath. She could not believe what she had just seen. What she had just found out about herself.

In a cell in the prison, Eugene paced back and forth, trying in vain to think of a plan. He knew he had to get back to Rapunzel, but he had no idea how. He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard the cell door open.

"Let's get this over with, Rider," the captain of the guard said. He was flanked by two other guards.

"Where are we going?" Eugene asked.

In response the captain just stared at him without a change in expression. This was enough for Eugene to understand. "Oh," he said, bringing his hand up to his neck. Things were not looking good for him.

Pretty soon, the guards were walking him down a hallway, one flanked by a row of cells. Eugene's gaze was unfocused, as he was resigning himself to his execution. He could only hope that Rapunzel was alright.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Stabbington Brothers sitting in one of the cells. At the sight of them, he was overcome by anger. He shoved one of the guards into a cell door and headbutted the other, then hopped over the manacle cuffing his hands so that they were in front of him rather than behind. He reached into the cell, grabbed the elder brother by the shirt and pulled him against the bars.

"How did you know about her? Tell me, now!" he shouted in rage.

"It wasn't us! It was the old lady," the prisoner admitted, eyes filled with fear.

"Old lady…" Eugene realized what was going on. But before he could do anything, the guards grabbed onto him and tried to restrain him.

"Wait! No!" he protested. "You don't understand. She's in trouble!"

"Rapunzel?" Gothel called from downstairs, curious about the racket. "Rapunzel, what's going on up there? Are you all right?"

Rapunzel stepped out of her room, staring at nothing. "I'm the lost princess," she said to herself under her breath.

Gothel rolled her eyes. "Please speak up, Rapunzel. You know how I hate the mumbling."

"I am the lost princess. Aren't I?"

Gothel could only stare in shock.

Rapunzel's gaze turned onto Gothel, anger bubbling inside her. "Did I mumble, Mother? Or should I even call you that?"

The woman regained her composure and tried to dismiss her claims. "Oh, Rapunzel! Do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" She moved in for a hug, but Rapunzel was having none of it.

"It was you! It was all you!"

Gothel began to glare at her sternly. "Everything I did was to protect you," she claimed.

Angrily, Rapunzel shoved her way past Gothel. "I've spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power."

"Rapunzel!"

"When I should have been hiding from YOU!"

"Where will you go? He won't be there for you."

Rapunzel quickly realized that Eugene's "betrayal" was another sham. "What did you do to him?"

"That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes," Gothel declared without empathy or remorse.

Rapunzel gasped. "No…"

"Now, now. It's all right," she said in a soft voice. "Listen to me. All of this is as it should be."

She went to pat Rapunzel on the head, but Rapunzel grabbed her wrist. "No! You were wrong about the world." Her grip tightened, and Gothel struggled to try to escape. "And you were wrong about me! And I will never let you use my hair again!"

Dark fire flared up from the bangle around Gothel's wrist, which she had neglected to remove upon returning. With the extra strength, she broke free from Rapunzel's death grip, but stumbled backward. She knocked her mirror over, shattering it. Rapunzel gave her one last defiant look before turning to walk away.

"You want me to be the bad guy?" Gothel muttered to herself, holding in her anger. "Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."

Eugene continued to struggle against the guards, who had to put all of their strength into holding him still to get him to stop. He fell into despair, as he realized that he would not be able to save Rapunzel. His despair turned to confusion when he saw a small object sitting in an alcove in the wall. It appeared to be… a ceramic unicorn?

Suddenly, the door in front of them slammed shut. The other doors closed, permitting no other exit. The keyhole on the door in front of them flashed a white glow, and the guards realized that it had been locked.

"What's this?" the captain shouted in annoyance. He started banging on the door. "Open up!"

A slot at eye level on the door slid open, and the captain saw Shorty.

"What's the password?" he asked before quickly closing the slot.

"What?" the captain asked in confusion.

The slot slid open again. "Nope." Shorty closed the slot again.

"Open this door!"

"Not even close."

"You have three seconds!"

This time, Donald opened the slot and made a funny face. "Try again!" he slammed the slot shut and froze it shut with Blizzard.

"One!" A hook reached down from the ceiling and grabbed the guard on Eugene's left, lifting him into the air. "Two!" The side door opened and a large hand pulled the other guard, who was staring dumbfounded at the abduction of his friend, inside by the face, then the door shut again.

The captain turned to see what the commotion was, and realized that the thief was all alone. The door flashed white and was unlocked, and then it was opened. Attila, the baker thug, appeared and hit the captain on the head with the frying pan, knocking him out.

Eugene grinned. He never thought he would be glad to see any of the pub thugs. The door on the opposite end of the hall was smashed open, and four guards came running at them. Vladimir opened the side door and allowed Eugene and Attila to pass through.

The guards pursued them, but were stopped when they saw Ulf, the mime, performing an act right in front of them. First, he acted like he was inside of a box, then he glanced down the hall to the right. The guards followed his gaze, and screamed when they saw Goofy charging straight for them. The dog-knight plowed right through them, knocking them out in one go.

Eugene and Attila exited into a courtyard, but saw dozens of guards coming from the other direction. Hook-Hand picked Eugene up and put him next to him.

"Head down." Eugene followed his instruction. "Arms in. Knees apart." Eugene did a double take after the "knees apart" instruction, then realized that he was standing on a cart that was imbalanced and tilted down like a seesaw. Vladimir jumped from the upper level and landed on the raised section, launching Eugene into the air and over the wall.

Eugene screamed in terror as he flew, flipping three-hundred-and-sixty degrees about his side axis. He only stopped screaming when he landed, then realized that he was sitting perfectly in Maximus' saddle.

"Max, you brought them here?" he asked in wonder.

Riku climbed up onto the patrol wall with them. "We all did," he explained. "Though Sora, Kairi and Donald scouted the place out and secured extra horses. And actually, Maximus did most of the work in recruiting those guys."

"How did he do that?" Eugene asked.

Maximus pushed the pub door open, getting the attention of the thugs.

"Eugene's in trouble!" Mickey told them, stepping out from behind the horse.

"Who's Eugene?" Big Nose asked. Goofy scratched his head in confusion. Riku facepalmed when he remembered that they only knew him by his criminal pseudonym.

Ulf approached the group curiously. Maximus stared at him seriously and snorted. Ulf posed as if to gasp, though he still did not make a sound. He turned to address the rest of the thugs and performed a series of gestures that left Riku, Mickey and Goofy confused.

"Flynn's been arrested?!" Hook-Hand gasped.

"Set up to fall by Rapunzel's wicked stepmother?" Big Nose continued.

"At this rate, he'll be hanged by noon. We have to save him!" Vladimir finished.

Riku's jaw dropped.

"Don't worry about that," was all Riku said in reply. Maximus smirked in confirmation.

"Thank you," Eugene said. "No, really. Thank you. I feel this whole time, we've just been misunderstanding one another."

The horse just gave him a snarky stare. Riku checked an imaginary wristwatch.

"Yeah. You're right. We should go."

Maximus charged as three guards came through the door behind them and started firing crossbow bolts. Riku cut the missiles out of the air with his Keyblade. More guards came to try to cut them off, but Maximus simply leapt off of the wall. Riku made a similar jump, bypassing the guards completely. Landing on a roof, the horse and the Keyblade wielder slid off of it and leapt out into the street.

They were quickly joined by three more horses, ridden by Sora and Kairi, Mickey, and Donald and Goofy. Riku pulled himself onto Mickey's horse and took the reins, earning a quick thank-you from Mickey, who was too small to properly hold onto and lead a horse.

"So, here's a question," Eugene opened up. "I know that the old lady is bad news and that she set me up, but I don't quite understand the urgency of the situation. Why would she lie to Rapunzel for all these years and go to such twisted measures to lure her back?"

"It's not like she hasn't done worse," Sora replied.

"What do you mean?" Eugene asked.

"That woman kidnapped her when she was a baby," Sora answered. Eugene's eyes widened, and they would soon go even further. "Rapunzel's the lost princess!"

"Well, then. We need to get to that tower, pronto! Giddy up, Maximus!" Eugene flicked the reins. Maximus neighed and started running faster.

The horses, at their riders' direction, ran out of the city and into the forest, reaching the tower in less than an hour. When the horses had stopped in front of the tower, everyone dismounted.

Eugene ran up to the base of the tower. "Rapunzel? Rapunzel, let down your hair!" he shouted up to the window. He started trying to climb up, but seconds later, he heard the window opening. Rapunzel's long, loose hair fell out and hung down at his level. Not wasting a moment, he grabbed onto the hair and began climbing up.

The others watched Eugene's ascent, though there was an air of uncertainty. "Something's not right," Mickey voiced their concerns.

"You think it's a trap?" Riku asked. Mickey nodded.

"Then we'll split up," Sora said. "Your Majesty, you, Donald and Goofy follow Eugene up. Riku, Kairi and I will try to get inside and go up from the inside. There has to be another way up that the woman used before Rapunzel could pull her up with her hair."

"Then let's move!" Kairi said hurriedly. She, Sora and Riku ran around the circumference of the tower until they found the door which had been previously hidden, while Mickey, Donald and Goofy climbed the wall using the vines.

Sora, Riku and Kairi clambered up the spiral stairs, ascending roughly eight floors' worth of stairs in a few minutes. Kairi stopped when she saw a panel in the wall etched with a strange design. It appeared to be a circle with an X on the inside and several spikes all around the exterior.

Sora and Riku stopped when they noticed Kairi was distracted. "Kairi, come on!" Sora called.

"Sora, Riku, what do you make of this?" Kairi asked, pointing at the design. Her friends joined her and studied the etching. However, they had never seen anything like it.

"Who knows. Its significance might have faded with time, so it might not even matter anymore," Riku said. "We'll worry about it later."

"Right. Sorry." With that, the three of them resumed their ascent. They stopped when the stairway ended and it looked as though there was no way to go from there.

Sora scanned the ceiling and noticed a split in the stone. Realizing that it must have been a trapdoor, he pushed up on it. Just as he suspected, it budged upward slightly. Giving his friends a confident but serious smirk, he pushed upward with all his might, which was certainly more than enough. The stone flew to the ceiling and shattered into pebbles. Realizing what he had done, he cast Reflect, which created an umbrella for the pebbles to bounce off of, though the three of them had to cover their mouths and noses when the dust came down.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, his voice muffled by his hand. When the dust had settled, they grabbed onto the ladder that was hidden by the stone and climbed through the hole. Once they were inside Rapunzel's room, they scanned the area for the girl and the thief, only to gasp in horror.

Rapunzel was chained by the wrists to a support pillar against the wall next to them, her mouth covered by a gag. By the window, Eugene lay unresponsive, and he had a bleeding wound in his chest.

Mother Gothel stood above him, a dagger in her hand. She glared at the newcomers and spoke, pure hatred in her voice.

"You supposed 'Warriors of Light' never learn. No matter. I'll simply have to clean up your mess, Rapunzel."