The Haunting Tale

Chapter 13: The Party

Noah and Diana stopped kissing, their foreheads were very close to each other. They couldn't believe it, it was the best kiss ever. Diana gave him a small kiss on his lips and put her arms around his neck.

"I love you..." Diana whispered at his ear.

"I love you, too," Noah whispered back, putting his hands on her waist. They passionately stared at each other again. The two broke out when they heard Ward and Figar sobbing and hugging each other.

"This is the most romantic moment I've ever seen!" Figar sobbed.

"I've promised myself not to cry!" Ward hugged tighter.

"Well I've promised myself to cry!"

Noah and Diana laughed at the two ridiculous objects. They held their hands, escorting all the guests to the dining table. Noah sat between Diana and a young woman with an incredibly long golden hair. She was about the same age as Diana. She had freckles on her nose and big green eyes.

"Happy birthday Noah," she told him. "I'm Rapunzel."

"Nice to meet you," Noah smiled. "I like your hair."

Rapunzel blushed, "Oh thank you. I actually didn't brushed my hair properly today... But thank you, that's very kind of you..." Her voice trailed away as her eyes began focusing on something else. Noah knew she was an anti-social princess. She got trapped inside a tall tower all alone, and that must have been sad.

Diana explained about the dark side of the blonde's story: She never met a prince and she died alone in the tower. Noah was utterly shocked. Then he thought of an idea and smiled. He looked at Diana, she understood what he meant and nodded with a smile. Noah poked at Rapunzel's shoulder, making her startled.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay..."

"May I have this dance?" Noah got off the chair and gave her his hand. Rapunzel's face turned red, she awkwardly chuckled and slowly took his hand. Noah thought that Diana would be enraged or jealous, but she let him do it. Noah still loved Diana, but he wanted to make Rapunzel happy first. He swore he would turn her into a brave woman.

As Rapunzel curtsied, they began to dance. An orchestra was behind them, playing a soft and slow music. Noah recognized them, they were the magical frogs in the well. The old man with cello seemed to recognize him, he winked at him.

As the dance ended, they room was filled with applause.

"I've never felt so comfortable with many people around!" Rapunzel said, this time her voice wasn't awkward anymore. He had fixed her. She thanked him and decided to talk to some friends.

"Rapunzel looks so confident now. How can you do that in 3 minutes while I have to struggle with her for 4 years?" Diana looked impressed as she walked toward Noah.

"I don't know. I just want to help and it happened. Rapunzel was one of my favorite stories, I was so astonished that I got a chance to dance with my idol," Noah admitted. "Hey, I have an idea. I want to greet with everyone in this room. Then, we would go somewhere quiet and alone, together." His blue eyes glinted. Diana grabbed his hand and introduced Noah about her friends.

Noah had met so many famous characters and he couldn't believe it wasn't a dream.

First, he met Allie and Snowy again. Allie was cursed by an evil fairy and she got pricked by a pointy part of a spinning wheel. She didn't know who or how the fairy looked like since it was so long ago. She only remembered something about "I'm sorry" note. The writer of the note was anonymous. Like Rapunzel, she had no prince to kiss and she died of coma.

Snowy was a fourteen-year-old princess with her stepmom, who was an evil queen. Like the story, the queen was obsessed with being beautiful and she always asked her mirror. Then, she was envious of Snowy's beauty, she wanted to kill her. Snowy escaped and ran away from the castle and into the deep forest. She then met a bunch of little fairies who wanted her to eat an apple. She ate it and die. Noah remembered that he was almost went to the fairies' trap before.

Despite being with Diana a lot, Noah was still confused about her backstory.

"For short," she started. "Before I died, I was one of the daughters of a merchant. My father traveled overseas a lot, and he asked me what I wanted. I said I had wanted roses. After a month, my father came back with red roses, and I loved it. Few days later, he killed himself... So I wandered around the forest - I lived near the forest - and I found this castle. I didn't see the owner, but I still went inside. Curious, I guess. And then, I met the servants. Actually they were humans before. Then... I saw You-Know-Who."

"Alex?"

"Snowy!" Allie nudged her.

"Sorry!"

Noah learned that Snowy was sometimes careless, while Allie was over-protective and mature. He could see that when they talked.

Diana continued, "He was charming and crap, and I foolishly fell in love with him. We were kinda happy and we got married. But after that, things turned upside down. We kept arguing and then I saw him as a beast. He was vicious and violent, he abused everyone. But as a wife, I had to be with him forever.

"I was pregnant. Everyone in the castle was happy but him. He ignored me. Then he started to act strange and he kept avoiding me, as if I was harmful. It looked like he believed that the castle was curse or something... so he set the castle on fire... WHILE I AND THE SERVANTS WERE ASLEEP!

"I woke up and found my servants turn into objects... We were in Unholy Forest... Then I hated love... But then you came, Noah... You make my heart beat..."

Noah wanted to cry, but he resisted it, "I will never treat you wrong..."

***************

Forest was staring at Noah's face longingly. He was lifeless, but somehow Forest could felt the warmth in his heart. She knew he could live... until a very cold wind suddenly appeared from nowhere, making her shiver and Noah bled. The sparkling river turned into a thick ice, the flowers and plants were frozen, the ground turned from muddy brown to icy blue. Forest tried to protect Noah, she cradled him and ran out away from the cold.

And then she met the one who caused the whether.

"Elizabeth..."