Rapunzel never thought her lungs could ever burn as much as they were in that moment as she tried desperately to push through the pain and keeping running through the forest that was bathed in midnight's darkness. Rocks and thorns cut into her feet and legs, leaving a stinging sensation, but the teen knew that thanks to this retched gift of hers, the wounds would automatically heal without her worrying or any traces of the wounds.

She then saw the opening, the moonlight shining, showing her the exit to the dark forest. Rapunzel collapsed by the river that stood by the exit, her hot blood rushing in her ears.

She had done it. She had escaped the tower.

She could hardly believe she had done it. After years of watching Gothel preform magic, her eyes had allowed her to see the flow of magic and the graceful movements and it had taken her a couple of times, but she had been able to work enough magic to finally break the spell on her chains. Sure she knew Gothel would come looking for her when she returned to the tower in the morning. But she was out of the dark forest, where her mother's power was most powerful, so she would enjoy her freedom, at least for a few minutes.

Rapunzel crawled over to the river on her hands and knees and gazed into the river. She cringed slightly at the person that was staring back at her. Her skin was so sickly pale from lack of sunlight that the purple bags under her eyes from many sleepless nights made her look as she was a walking corpse. Not of mention her short, jagged pieces of brunette hair were entirely unkempt and greasy from her the fact that her weekly bath had been about five days ago.

She reached into the river and splashed a handful of the cool water onto her face, a sigh of relief escaping her as she felt the dirt and grime running off her face and the cool breeze of the night blowing on the fresh skin that was underneath. She then took some of the cool water and rubbed it on her wrists and ankles, the magical chains had really dug into her skin over the years. She wondered if the purple and red color of them would ever truly fade away back into the pale color they had once been so many years before.

'Pale like the moon' Rapunzel said to herself as she gazed up at the full moon that hung in the sparkling sky, bringing a slight glow to everything around her, it had been so long since she had seen it.

"And I'll finally be able to see the sun in the morning" Rapunzel voice squeaked roughly against the inside of her throat from being under used so much, it would take her awhile to get used to it again. The brunette then kissed the sun she had tattooed into her skin herself, one of the only things that had kept her going.

A cold breeze painfully nipped Rapunzel's scars that covered her body as she pulled the cloak she had hastily grabbed in escape tighter around her body since all she had beside it was a brown thread worn dress.

Rapunzel could never fully understand how she had fully deserved the painful punishment that her mother had started inflicting on her since she was about thirteen.

True, it had been a hasty decision on hers to cut her magic hair, but she had done it for a better future for both herself and her mother. With no magic hair, her mother and she would be able to not hide a live freely without the fear of ruffians and thugs after them. But when her mother came back to the tower that evening to see her long blonde hair gone, she snapped into something dark and violent as her mother beat her, giving her a black eye, breaking her hand, and internal bruising.

She honestly believed that if her mother would have killed her if it hadn't been for the fact that when Rapunzel began singing in her broken state and her blood began glowing; the magic was in her blood. Though things didn't go back to normal, overall Rapunzel's plummeted into ultimate darkness.

Suddenly the cracking of a stick broke through the evening air. Rapunzel immediately froze.

'No, no, no!" Rapunzel thought to herself as her heart rate began to speed up, 'I just escaped, I can't already be facing danger!'

A low predatory growl then pierced the air; Rapunzel slowly inched her way into the shallow river, all she had to do was cross the river and—

The brunette's thoughts of escaping where ceased though as something roughly pushed her onto the grass, painfully straddling her waist and pinning her arms above her head

Rapunzel knew that there was a high possibility that she would run into a ruffin and thugs out here, but anything in the outside world couldn't have been as worse as sitting in her tower.

She never expected a monster like this.

Though it's human body type was tall and lanky, it's dragon features were making Rapunzel tremble in fear. Two powerful wings jutted out from his back and were spread out, making him look even bigger than he already was. Black scaly appendages spouted out of the top of his head and the side of his face and had black scales in patches all over it's body. It's glowing, intense green eyes were boring into hers so much, just this stare was making her stomach twist in such tight knots; she had to look away from them.

One the beast's hand then roamed down between the valley of her breasts, her stomach and her leg, his claws leaving goose bumps everywhere he touched. One claw then nicked her skin causing Rapunzel to cry out in shock.

She watched in disgust as the creature brought the bloody claw to his mouth and sucked her blood from it. A malevolent smile broke across the creature face, a row of sharp fangs gleaming down at her.

A forked tongue then slid over the beast's sharp fangs and slowly licked Rapunzel's cheek, leaving a thick trail of saliva.

Rapunzel whimpered in fear as she tried to squirm out of the creatures grip even though she knew it was hopeless.

"Please don't…" Rapunzel managed to whisper out, oh how she didn't want to die. "…you're not like this…" the beast suddenly stopped licking her and leaned away from her

The brunette dared to open an eye to see the monster's glowing at her quizzically. Rapunzel swallowed her as she turned her face so she was directly facing him.

"I…I…know this isn't you!" Rapunzel stuttered out, she had no idea why she was saying this. But she had felt the same dark magic aura that her Mother had, it was radiating off this creature, it was possible that he was just the victim of a witch just as she was. Either way she had caught this things attention, she prayed that some hidden natural instincts would help her get out of this situation as she continued talking. "E…even though you look like a monster, you still have human qualities to you…I…I guess that means we're still the same…"

Rapunzel then saw some blood on the side of the creature's mouth; it might have been her blood that the monster had licked of her. She wondered if her blood could have its healing power without all the extra potion ingredients that her mother would add to the pint she collected every month from Rapunzel's body.

Rapunzel gently closed her eyes and began singing, "Flower gleam and glow, let your powers shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design, save what has been lost; bring back what once was mine. What once was mine"

When she finished her lullaby, she looked to see if it had any effect on him. The blood droplet was shining gold as the creature's expression was now slack-jawed. She watched as the creature's slit pupil, intense green colored eyes transformed into a pair of forest green human eyes.

The creature blinked his new set of eyes rapidly and shook his head with a groan, "Wh…where am I?" The creature said in a human voice. His eyes then focused and he realized that he was pinning down a terrified and confused teenage girl.

"Oh no, no! Not again!" The guy exclaimed as he leapt off of the brunette and flew back a couple of feet from her, his eyes shining with pure terror, "Pl…Please tell me it didn't hurt you?"

Rapunzel couldn't answer him though, she was still so confused on how this creature had suddenly transformed from a rapid animal into a scared human

"Did it hurt you!?" He asked more forcefully and Rapunzel quickly shook her head, "Good…"

"I curse the gods themselves!" The guy than yelled out in frustration as he slammed his clawed hands onto the ground, "I swear I'll rip that witch's throat with the horrid fangs she gave me!" He sunk his sharp claws into the sides of his forehead, causing blood to pour from the wounds

"Stop it!" Rapunzel cried out, but when he looked at her, she cringed back a little

The guy than jumped to his feet and briskly walked over Rapunzel, who started to back away as fast as she could. He reached down and Rapunzel shielded herself with her arms, but the creature reached under her armpits and lifted her up. The creature gently set Rapunzel on her feet and awkwardly began straightening out her cloak and dusting dirt off of her.

"Ok listen to these instructions and do exactly as I tell you" "Run as far away from here as you can, don't go in a straight line, kinda swerve every now and then. Stay away from a river or lake for about two days; it likes fish…besides humans. I'll it eat a raw squirrel or something so the blood and entrails gets rid of your scent. Did you get all that?"

Rapunzel nodded slowly to answer to the teen, but there was also feel sorry for this guy. The instructions had he had told her felt rehearsed as if he was expecting this or it had happened before. And as she watched him as he walked away, she couldn't help but feel as if she couldn't just leave him alone. Rapunzel guessed she always tried to see the best in people, like how she still believed her mother loved year and how she missed her now even with everything she had done to her in the past.

"What happened to you!?" Rapunzel called after the guy

"Nothing you need to much detail about" The guy said as he continued to walk, "Let's just say I didn't want to be dictated by a billion ton lizard and a hairless guy who has wanted me dead since I was eleven at home. And running away from home hasn't gone so smoothly"

Rapunzel could feel her breathe hitch in her throat, he was a run away from a terrible home, just as her. She had said they were the same as a way to reach some humane part of him, but she had no idea they were this similar.

"Please let me come with you!" Rapunzel shouted

The teen stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder to her with an expression that said he thought she was crazy, which she probably was being right now. After about a minute of silence, the guy then sighed, "You don't get me…you wouldn't understand my pain"

"Maybe I don't understand your pain" Rapunzel immediately exclaimed back, "But I've certainly suffered my own" Rapunzel turned around so her back to him and shakily reached for the strings of her cloak and let it drop to the ground.

She could only manage his expression, seeing her deep scars that decorated her body. Each holding the painful memory of that cursed blade cutting into her skin every month for the past four years, how she was punished to never be able to heal these scars from the dark magic that the blade had been laced with.

"As I said" Rapunzel began, "I have my own pain I've had to suffer through" More silence followed, Rapunzel feared that he had silently left without her even noticing

"I…I have a kid with me" Rapunzel turned around to the guy, he still wasn't looking her in the eyes, but at least he had his body facing her now, "He's sick and weak and I would love more than anything if there was someone to watch and care for him while I hunted"

"Yes, I can would love to help out this boy " Rapunzel answered quickly, something most people wouldn't find smart or making a hasty decisions, but the thought of her finally being able to use her powers to help someone in her own decision made her almost feel the slightest bit giddy. "What's his name?"

"Toothless" The boy replied, "…And I'm Hiccup"

Rapunzel couldn't help as a small smile appeared on her face from the sound of the unusual names, "I'm Rapunzel"

Hiccup simply gave her a crooked smile, and then he looked to the sky, "We must move, I don't have as good as cover during the day and Toothless is probably getting scared"

Rapunzel nodded her head as she grabbed her cloak and jogged to catch up with guy. She kept a distance between them as she walked a few paces behind him, still not fully understanding why she decided to join this mysterious and complex creature and his kid.

Maybe one day though he would open up to her and tell her his story; of how someone with such kind green eyes became has the body of a beast. And one day she would tell him her story too.

But for now she would enjoy the comfort of two broken strangers finally finding someone to help carry their sorrows and scars together.