The Truth Behind Rapunzel (Gothel)

Chapter 3- The Meeting with an Old 'Aquaintance'

Is Rapunzel safe? I sit up with a jolt. I took her away from Mr. Linley in order to keep her safe, but I may have just put her in even more danger than she would have found herself in had I left her alone. What made me think that taking her would be the best choice? I had thought that since I had powerful magic, I could protect her no matter what.

I struggle against the metal shackles around my wrists. My magic has been suppressed by something more powerful than I would have guessed Vivian could come into the possession of. Speaking of the devil, the door to my cell swings open, and in walks Vivian. Her hair is still the same dark purple as when we were in high school and her eyes have lost none of their malice. I only hope she doesn't know about Rapunzel. I send a silent plea to Rumpelstiltskin: Please don't come here after me. Keep Rapunzel safe with you until I save myself.

"It looks like the tides have changed, Gothel." Vivian sneers.

I find myself suppressing a sigh. I know that I wasn't the nicest to Vivian during our school days, but I had hoped that we could both move on from our constant days of competition. "I'm sorry, Vivian." I tell her, "I know that we didn't get along in school, and I know that a great part of that reason was that I gave no effort on my part. Now that we are adults, could we please talk things over?"

Vivian just lets out a scoff. "Of course you say that, now that you are powerless and I hold you in my clutches. If you truly felt that way, then why wouldn't you have apologized sooner?"

I don't tell her that I simply hadn't thought to do so. "I'm truly sorry." I apologize again, unsure of what else to say.

"Just be quiet." Vivian snaps, "I'm not going to listen to your pleas. They are all lies in an attempt for me to allow you to have your magic again."

I shut my mouth, holding back a bunch of mean words I could use against her. I thought I had moved on from our past, so I will try my best not to fall back into the old pattern of hurt. Maybe she just wants to rough me up a bit before dumping me somewhere on the forest floor. If she does so, I will not exact revenge, but rather move on with the more important things in my life, such as taking care of Rapunzel. I swear, I will be three times more careful around that child! It's unfair for her to get caught up in my own issues.

"I see you have more manners. Even those won't save you from what I'm going to do next. You always used your powers to taunt me, so now I will strip you of them," she informs me.

"It appears that you already have." I comment dryly.

At this, her eyes take an unnatural gleam to them. "Wrong, right now they are simply locked up inside you. When I'm through, they will be gone--- forever."

It's my turn to scoff at her. Everyone knows there is only one powerful artifact that can do that. And that artifact comes with a horrendous price. Even Vivian would be too afraid to attempt to use such a thing, seeing as it strips both the power and ten years of life from the weaker of the two magic users--- regardless of who cast the original spell.

Vivian pulls out a red stone, that looks identical to the one used to strip powers. "You may think I'm crazy now, but soon your powers will be gone."

I see, she wants to scare me a bit before exacting her revenge. She wants me to believe that my powers are gone. It's only when we both enter the black void and are faced by the creature who lives inside of the artifact, that I realize that she is indeed completely off her rocker! One of us is not leaving here with our powers.

"Now which one of you has more power..." the creature muses, "I have to say you both have an impressive amount of power. More than I've ever seen."

Vivian crosses her arms and tries to look confident.

 "What are you doing?!?" I hiss at her.

A tiny flicker of fear crosses her eyes. "I've already told you."

"My head hurts! You are both powerful in such different ways. I can't even compare both of your powers," The creature complains, "That's it, you two must do Rock Paper Scissors!"

"What?" We both exclaim in unison.

"Go on." The creature urges.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." we both call out.

I show my rock, and Vivian shows her scissors. All of the color drains from her face as the creature finishes observing our contest. "I have to say, I'm impressed. Neither of you cheated with magic, even though both of you are powerful enough to have."

We both look from each other to the creature. Neither of us even thought to use our magic for such a trivial game! Vivian begins to shake and I step in front of her and face the creature.

 "I will not allow you to drain her power." I inform him, "Or her life."

The creature blinks at us twice. "What are you talking about? I don't drain power. In fact, it's probably been a century since I've last seen anyone."

Vivian looks as surprised as I feel. 

"As for your lifespan, how would I even affect that?"

"T-t-then what was the rock paper scissors for?" Vivian inquires shakily.

"Obviously it's for who gets to wear the better outfit during the disco dance!" the creature exclaims and claps its hands together.

I'm suddenly dressed in a sparkly, purple gown. It's so poufy that I nearly fall over. I look over at Vivian, she wears a neon green dress that's cut so short that it barely cover her knees. It sparkles even more than my gown. 

"Now dance!" the creature declares and loud music begins blaring around us as the black void is illuminated by a giant disco ball coming down from nowhere.

Vivian and I stand around, mouths wide open. "Dance!" the creature urges again, "Or else I won't return you home."

In my relief, I decide to just do what he says. I begin dancing around like a maniac. I take Vivian's hand and she doesn't resist. Pretty soon we are both dancing around and even singing with the music. "And today I forgave my old grudges, and moved on with my life." we sang in unison.

Finally, the music comes to an end and Vivian and I both plop down, breathing hard. "You were right Gothel, it is time to move on from the past. I'm sorry, I was as much of a jerk towards you as you were towards me." Vivian apologizes.

I smile at her. "It's alright. Together we can step into a new phase of our life. We are already eighteen."

"Yeah," Vivian agrees as the creature approaches us.

"My work is done here," he says mystically and then we find ourselves back in Vivian's dungeon cell.

She unchains me from the wall and we begin to catch up. "What have you been up to?" she asks.

"Well, I've been taking care of my child for the past couple of weeks. I really hope that Rumpelstiltskin has been taking care of her ever since I sent her to him right before being captured by you." I inform her.

Her eyebrows shoot up. "So you two finally became a couple? I'm surprised I didn't hear about your wedding."

I feel my cheeks flush bright red. "No! It's not like that." I quickly correct her and then explain all about Mr.Linley and Rapunzel.

Vivian rolls her eyes and lets out a deep sigh. "Well, then you two are hopeless. I am definitely not interfering. Speaking of which, shouldn't you go find out if Rapunzel is okay? I know as well as you that Rumpelstiltskin has a habit of getting himself into precarious situations. Was he really the only one you could send Rapunzel to?"

I feel quite a bit of my former anxiety returning. How could I have even waited this long to go find Rapunzel? "I really need to go! Pay us a visit sometime. I know you have enough power to locate me."