Ever After

Chapter Seven

I woke up in a dark room. I tried moving around but only collided my head with a wooden door. I felt around me and in the enclosed space there was only enough room for me to squeeze and a bunch of dresses to hang. Apparently I wasn't in a room, I was in a closet.

I barged open the door and heard a girl scream. I saw Rapunzel on a bed brushing her extremely long hair. She dropped her brush and I reached for my dagger but it wasn't there. Neither were my sword, bow, or arrows.

"Where is my stuff?" I asked.

"Calm down. They're right here." She said getting up and pulling a tile from the ground to reveal and storage area where all my weapons were. I walked towards my stuff, but Rapunzel stood in my way.

"I wanna make a deal." She said. And without any patience, I grabbed her wrist and flipped her behind me onto the ground. I crouched down and picked up my stuff, ignoring her groaning on the ground.

"I'll pass." I said as I headed for the door. If I was worried about her telling anyone, I would have killed her. But who was she going to tell? She seemed basically trapped up here.

"If you leave I'll tell my aunts who you are. Ashes." She said. That stopped me. Looks like she could tell someone.

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"Maybe a little bit." She put her index finger above her thumb to sign "a little bit"

"You wouldn't"

"Try me." She said boldly still on the ground. I turned around.

"What do you want?" She got up and walked up to me.

"I want you to be my guide out of here." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"Do I look like a tour guide to you?" I said sarcastically to her.

"If you get me out of here and take me to see the kingdom, then I'll keep my mouth shut. And no one will know about you. Deal?" She said holding out her hand. I was reluctant to agree, but if I left and she told one of her aunts, then the soldiers looking for me will know where I am and cut me off from leaving the kingdom before I could reach the border.

"Fine. It's a deal." I said coldly. She smiled and jumped in excitement. She ran out the door of the room and down the stairs. I stayed in her room for a moment. I looked around her room, and I saw a bunch of drawings and designs on the walls. I felt the painting with my hand and traced some of the designs. I stopped when I noticed a strange symbol. It seemed familiar. Really familiar.

I pulled out my necklace I still wore, and held it up to the bigger scale painting. It was identical to the one on my necklace. Why would Rapunzel's wall have the same symbol as the one on my mother's necklace?

"Ashes!" Rapunzel called. If she said it any louder I wouldn't have to worry about anyone finding out where I am, because they'd already know. I walked out the room, leaving the symbol in the room.

Rapunzel was on the window, her hair hung over a hook like a pulley. She saw me and jumped out holding her hair. I ran to the window and leaned over it, watching her fall like sliding down a pole. She stopped just before her feet reached the ground. And hesitated before planting her bare feet on the grass.

I saw her take in all of the Earth, laying down and taking fist fulls of grass and dirt like a child. Her hair was still on the hook and I didn't feel like going down by my daggers.

"Coming down!" I shouted to Rapunzel. I walked back to get a running start and ran to the window doing a dive and grabbing onto Rapunzel's hair and sliding down faster than Rapunzel did. She was holding on to her hair to make sure the force wasn't uneven. Otherwise I would have fallen and she would be sent upwards back to the top of the tower. Once I was close enough to the ground I let go and tumbled to the ground, doing a somersault and getting up without a scratch.

Rapunzel ran across the ground, skipping in ponds, and picking up flowers then throwing them in the air. All the while her hair slowly came down from the hook and settled onto the ground. When she was done with the area around her tower she ran to the tunnel and hurriedly ran out of her prison.

I followed her and nearly tripped over her hair numerous times. I was still in the tunnel when her trial of hair stopped moving in the tunnel, showing that she got to the end and stopped running.

I climbed out of the tunnel into the light and saw Rapunzel with her arms spread out and the sun shining on her.

"If you start singing I'm gonna throw up." I say.

"I can't believe I just did this. I can't believe I did this!" She said happily ignoring me. She held her smile up with her hands on her cheeks, while running around feeling everything. The trees, the grass, the flowers, the dirt, the bushes. Everything. "Oh my god what if Aunt Flora, Fauna, and Merrywhether come back and they realize I'm gone." I was starting to get ticked off again. "Well then again they won't be back for another five days. But what if they're early. They'll kill me!" Great now she's talking to herself.

"Oooh what's what?" She said walking over to a nearby bush and kneeling in front of it. Suddenly she jumped back. "There's something in there. It had giant red eyes!" I sighed exasperated. I walked over to where she was pointing and backing away from scared. She held onto my shoulders and held her frying pan ahead as if whatever was there would be scared of a kitchen tool.

Then a white bunny popped out of the bush, staring at us. Rapunzel screamed but relaxed when she realized it was a harmless bunny.

"Careful. It's fuzziness could cuddle you to death." I said mockingly serious. She got off my back and continued to walk around still talking to herself while enjoying the outdoors.

"Look Blondie, I know you are feeling very mixed emotions about leaving your poor aunts, who are probably going to be very worried about you," I started. Trying to make her feel guilty so she'll go back. "So why don't we just take you back to your tower and forget all this ever happened." I said pushing her back to the tunnel.

"No! I am doing this. And you will be my guide!" She said turning sideways out of my grasp and pointing her finger to the ground as if to make a point. Her hair was now all sprawled on the ground, and surprisingly it didn't pick up any forest filth. No dirt, grass, twigs, or animal remnants were laying in her hair.

"Ugh fine! Let's just get this over with." I said turning around and walking away from the tunnel. She followed me and we started walking towards the kingdom where I am one of the most wanted criminals. Great.