Twisted: A Rapunzel Story

Velma's Past, Part 1

Velma sat Rapunzel down on her bed (she had been in her own bed since she was six and could be separate from her mother). It was time to explain everything.

"'Zel, know all the magic I've taught you?" she asked the girl. Rapunzel nodded her platinum blonde-covered head in eagerness. "Well, I had to learn it from someone, too, don't you think?" Again, she nodded her head in confirmation. "My mother taught me when I was your age." Her eyes and tone darkened. "But I didn't see her for long after that."

Rapunzel looked confused. She cocked her head slightly and glanced at her mother quizzically. "Why not, Mother? Am I not going to see you when I get older?" She now looked worried.

Velma grabbed her child's thin, soft hands, as pale as her own. "Do not fret, I will never allow myself to get in harm's way unless it's protecting you." She paused, thinking of the right way to introduce this concept to her. "Do you remember Whiskers, the cat we had?"

"Of course, Mother! He was so fluffy... But he died a month ago." Now Rapunzel was teary eyed.

"Us humans are living things too. That means that eventually, we die." Rapunzel's eyes got wider and a tear leaked out. Velma raised one hand up to her face and wiped it off of her cheek. "It's true, but humans live a lot longer than cats. Unless something kills us like disease or starvation or extreme thirst, we can live to be a hundred years old!"

"Okay Mother! I'll make sure to always eat and drink when I can so I don't die young!" Rapunzel sat up straight and her eyes were clear again.

Velma smiled at this. "Good, 'Zel! I don't want to die young either, so I'll eat and drink right along with you!"

Rapunzel again looked confused. "So... what exactly does this have to do with your family and my dad?"

"Well, back when I was just a little older than you, a dark witch coven, the Vixens, attacked my family because we are what they call a white witch coven. In this very tower, they killed my family. They were the most powerful witches I have ever seen."

"Oh no! Was your dad a witch too?"

"No, only girls can be witches because we are gentle enough to handle delicate magic."

"But Mother, why did they kill your father if he wasn't even a witch?"

Velma saddened. "The Vixens have no mercy. He was with my family, so he had to be killed as well. I remember it as if it were yesterday..."

/////

It was a cloudy day up above the tower. That didn't stop Velma and her brother Augustus from being outside.

Velma was practicing her cartwheels on the wide green expanse of lawn in front of the tower. Augustus was tutoring her on how to do them right.

When she flew through the air, her legs were all over the place. Spread apart, one frontward and the other backward, they messed up her trajectory and made her fall, face-down.

"No, no, no... You 'ave to keep your legs togezher."

Velma was further out from the tower than her brother was. The tower was to her right. Augustus was slightly in front and then to the right of her at his starting point. He was facing her left, with the forest to his right.

"Vatch dis, leettle sister. Zen you vill do a cartvheel correctly."

Augustus stepped backwards, right foot further back than his left. He leaned forward with his hands in the air, catapulting himself onto them with his legs perfectly parallel.

When his legs were halfway through their arc, Velma hear almost an inhuman, high-pitched screech.

Simultaneously, she saw his blue sweater between his shoulder blades shrivel, turn black, and disappear. Velma could remember seeing the now yellowed grass with tips of charcoal-colored black through the tunnel of red blood, burnt flesh and mangled skin.

Augustus finished his final, perfect cartwheel by being flung by momentum onto the ground. He hit the earthy floor with a muffled THUMP, bounced back up a centimeter or two, and fell forward onto his stomach-side of his body.

The shock hit Velma like a ton of bricks. She looked from her brother's fallen body to the patch of grass that had burned in front of him. There was a leg in front of the patch of grass, with a deep purple heeled shoe (nearly black in color) and deathly pale skin.

As Velma quickly flashed her eyes up to the face belonging to the leg, she took in the goddess-like beauty of her brother's killer, Amara of the Vixens.

/////

A/N

So I've decided to split this into two parts. I've been working on this since I last updated (10 days ago), but I'm not really a slow typer or anything, just all the thoughts in my head had to organize. I'll be updating more on the weekend than weekdays (because DUH, homework!). I'm gonna update all my stories (hopefully) this weekend, especially since it's a three day weekend.

NekoCharm98746 out! Thanks for reading! <3<3<3