(Y/n) rowed the boat onto the shoreline and stepped out, pushing the boat closer into the sand. She grabbed the satchel and looked to Rapunzel.
"I'm so sorry. But everything is fine. There's... just something I have to take care of."
Rapunzel looked unsure at the bag before nervously grinning at (Y/n).
"...Okay..."
The girl smiled back. "I'll be right back."
She then turned and quickly walked away.
Pascal crawled onto Rapunzel's shoulder.
"It's all right, Pascal," he said, talking more to himself than the reptile.
Meanwhile, (Y/n) hopped over a log and through some boulders when she came across Sideburns, who was sharping a brand.
"Ahh, there you are! I've been searching everywhere for you guys. Since we got separated. Hey, the sideburns are coming in nice, huh? You gotta be excited about that."
(Y/n) grinned.
The man gave her the side-eye before she awkwardly coughed.
"Ahem. Anyhow, just wanted to say, I shouldn't have split."
She tossed the satchel over to him before backing away.
"The crown is all yours. I'll miss you, but I think it's for the... best." She stumbled, bumping into Eyepatch.
Sideburns then stood up. "Holding out on us again, aye Ryder?"
"What?" (Y/n) frowned.
Sideburns walked toward the girl, essentially closing her in.
"We heard you found something. Something much more valuable than a crown. We want him, instead."
(Y/n)'s eyes widened in fear.
"No..."
Meanwhile, Rapunzel stood by the boat, leaning against it with doubt as he looked into the fog.
A figure walked toward him in the distance.
He sighed in relief. "I was starting to think you ran off with the crown and left me."
He squinted at the figure then frowned.
(Y/n) was not that tall or buff...
The one shadow split into two.
He frowned as he stood straight up.
He remembered the two men from the dam.
"She did," said Sideburns.
Rapunzel glared. "What? No... She wouldn't."
Sideburns pointed out to the lake. "See for yourself."
Rapunzel glared the two men down before moving closer to the water.
"(Y/n)?"
There, in a larger boat headed back to the kingdom, the thief sailed farther away.
"(Y/n)!"
He cried out.
Sideburns shook his head.
"Fairtrade. A crown, for the boy with the magic hair." He said, swiping his hand across Rapunzel's head.
Said boy's eyes widened.
(Y/n) told them about his hair?
How... How could she?!
"How much do you think someone will pay to stay young and healthy forever?" Sideburns mocked before opening a bag.
Rapunzel glared at them before kicking Eyepatch in the shin and running.
"No, stay back!"
He jumped over a log, but the end of his hair got stuck.
"NO! NO!"
"Ugh!"
"What the—"
"..."
"..."
"Rapunzel!?"
Rapunzel paused.
"Mother?"
He quickly untangled his hair from the log and ran back.
Gothel stood over the thugs with a thick branch in her hands.
She dropped it immediately.
"Oh, my precious boy!"
"Mom!"
He ran over to her and buried his face in her hair.
Gothel inspected his hair before turning him to her.
"Are you all right?! Are you hurt?!"
Rapunzel jerked back and looked down at Gothel.
"How did you—"
"I was so worried about you dear! So I followed you. And I saw them attack you!" She hugged him again before taking his hand.
"Let's go! Let's go before they come to!"
She said urging him as she quickly scurried off.
He pulled away a bit before turning back to the lake.
The boat was now farther in the lake, but he could still see her on it.
Rapunzel stared at the boat as the hot tears welled in his wide eyes.
This... this is what his mother was talking about.
How could she just leave him like that?
...How could he leave his own mother like that?
This is exactly how she felt when he left, wasn't it?
He turned around to find his mother holding a green lantern.
He looked at her, lost and broken from pain of betrayal.
Gothel placed the lantern down and opened her arms for a welcoming hug.
He slowly walked over to her and hugged her. His legs grew weak from betrayal and he slowly kneeled before her.
"You were right, mother... You were right about everything." He whispered.
Mother Gothel sighed and gently rubbed his head. "I know darling. I know."
She leaned down and grabbed the lantern before she helped Rapunzel up and guided him away.
Meanwhile, the boat came to the guards' shore. They pointed down at it.
"Look! The crown!"
(Y/n) slowly woke back up, her hands and back bonded to the mast and the wheel.
"Mmm... Rapunzel...?" She looked up and noticed her binds. The memories from a few hours ago caught up to her and she panicked.
"RAPUNZEL!?"
"(F/n) Rider!"
She looked up to see the guards approaching the boat.
She tried to free herself, but it was no use.
Maximus noticed the commotion and walked over.
There, he found (Y/n) struggling against the guards and screaming.
"Wait, guys! Wait, WAIT! RAPUNZEL!? RAPUNZEL!" Maximus looked back at the forest side.
Rapunzel was in trouble.
—
(Y/n) paced back and forth in her cell, unable to sleep. Her mind and attention only focused on whether or not Rapunzel was safe.
She grabbed at the window and looked out, as if she'd see the boy standing there, alive and safe.
"Oh... look what you've done to me, Blondie. Please be safe..."
However, the door opened to reveal the Captain of the Guard. He glared down at the girl.
"Let's get this over with, Rider."
"Where are we going?"
The men behind the Captain looked at each other while the Captain glared harder.
"Oh..." She said, gently rubbing her neck.
Back in the tower, Gothel undid the reminder of the corn rolls and smoothed Rapunzel's hair out.
"There." She said, standing and making her way to the door. "It never happened. Now, wash up for dinner. I'm making hazelnut soup." She tempted, however, sighed at Rapunzel's downcast expression.
"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." Gothel said, closing the boy's curtains behind her.
Rapunzel remained quiet as his mother walked out. He opened his cupped hands to reveal the purple flag from the party.
Pascal sadly squeaked as he laid his head against Rapunzel's lap.
The boy leaned back onto his bed, the flag over his heart as he sighed sadly.
He looked up at his ceiling, looking over each of the paintings he's made over the years.
...
Wait...
Rapunzel slightly frowned before opening the flag and raising it to his eyes.
He compared the drawing of the sun to a particular painting above him.
He slowly sat back up and stared at the picture.
Almost as if it glowed, the same sun symbol shined.
He looked to another part of the ceiling and found the same symbol.
The was another one!
And another!
And another!
Soon his whole room almost seemed to shine with the sun symbols everywhere.
A very, very buried memory of his childhood flashed in his mind as he looked up at the blurry figures of two people.
He thought about the memorial of the king and queen and how they seemed to fit those blurry figures just right.
He thought of the baby in their arms and how he had placed that crown on his head.
He came back to reality and the realization of who he really was crashed into his very being.
So much so to where he stumbled back and broke a pot on the ground.
—
At the prison, (Y/n) was begin escorted with her cuffed hands behind her back by two guards down the hall.
She depressingly allowed them to take her.
What was the point?
Rapunzel was probably dead.
She might as well join him.
If only she hadn't given the crown back to the—
She frowned at the sight of the Stabbington Brothers in a cell.
Wait...
Did that mean Rapunzel was alive?
Did they even get to him?!
Wait a minute...
(Y/n) sneered before roughly shoulder-shoving the guard on her left, then head budding the guard on her right.
She jumped over her cuffed hands, then quickly ran over to her ex-partners' cell and yanking Sideburns into the bars.
"How did you know about him?! Tell me, now!" She shouted in anger.
Sideburns shook his head, afraid. "I-It wasn't us! It was the old lady!"
(Y/n) frowned in confusion.
"Old lady?"
Who the heck was the old lady?!
Who else would know about Rapunzel's hair?!
It was only her, now the Stabbington Brothers, and—
🎶 Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine🎶
His mother.
It all made sense now!
(Y/n) gasped in realization before another set of guards pulled her away from the cell.
"Wait, no, wait! Please, You don't understand, He's in trouble. Wait!"
—
Gothel heard the crash and started up the stairs.
"Rapunzel? Rapunzel, what's going on up there?"
The boy began to breathe heavily as he heard the woman's voice, bringing up yet another horrible realization.
"Are you all right?"
Gothel asked as Rapunzel opened the curtains to his room.
Mumbling, he says his discovery out loud. "I'm the lost prince..."
Mother Gothel rolled her eyes.
"Please, speak up, Rapunzel. You know how I hate the mumbling—"
"I am the lost Prince. Aren't I?" He spoke up firmly, glaring at Gothel, whose eyes widened at his discovery.
Rapunzel stood up dangerously high as his piercing green eyes stayed on Gothel.
"Did I mumble, Mother?... Or should I even call you that?" He snared.
Gothel stayed frozen for a moment before she scoffed and quickly came up the stairs.
"Rapunzel, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question—"
She came to hug him, but he roughly pushed her away.
"It was you! It was all, you."
Gothel's mood suddenly became very hostile.
"Everything I did, was to protect you."
She spoke as if she were talking to the flower.
Rapunzel growled before he pushed her aside and sped walked down the stairs, Gothel following.
"Rapunzel!—"
"I spent my entire life!— Hiding from people who would use me for my power..."
"Rapunzel!"
He slowly turned.
"...when I should have been hiding... from you."
Gothel glared at the boy. "Where will you go? She won't be there for you."
(Y/n) fought desperately against the strength of the guards.
She had to get out of there!
Rapunzel was in trouble!
SHE was in trouble!
"What did you do to her?!"
(Y/n) was pushed down, when she saw the window of her fate— literally.
"That criminal... is to be hung for her crimes."
In the distance, a platform sat lonely, a rope with a noose at the end of it.
It wouldn't be so lonely soon...
Rapunzel's eyes widened as he ran his fingers through his hair in shock. "No!"
Gothel immediately came in front of him and tried to calm him down.
"Now, now. It's all right. Listen to me. All of this is as it should be." She said, lifting a hand to pat his head.
However, Rapunzel immediately stopped her and held her wrist tightly in his hand.
"NO!"
He stood tall over the woman and kept her still as she struggled to get away from him.
"You were wrong about the world. And you were wrong about me. And I will never let you use my hair, again!" He shouted.
Gothel had finally yanked her arm free.
But as she stumbled backward to gain her footing, she accidentally knocked her precious mirror over, making it fall to the ground and break.
(Author's Note: Yeaaaaaah~ Thats right stank lady! You bout to get bad lucked!)
She looked at Rapunzel with shock as he huffed at her and walked toward the exit door on the floor.
However, Gothel did not take her flower back just so that it could be taken away from her again.
"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad, guy."
—
Author's Note: I would like it to be known that I do not own anything related to Disney, any of it characters, or the original plot line. I've basically copied and pasted the story structure.