A/N: So this is one of those "what-if" scenarios, meaning that it will have some similarities to the actual Tangled, but will be, of course, different in many other ways. Hope you like it.

Obligatory disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of the movie Tangled, its characters, storyline, or anything related to it.

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This is a story of a girl named Rapunzel, and it starts with the sun.

So, once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell to the earth. From this union of sun and earth grew a magical golden flower, with the power to heal the sick and injured. Unfortunately, however, it did not go unnoticed. Well, it would have been fortunate if it had been noticed by kind-hearted people who wanted to use its power to help the needy…but it wasn't. Instead, it was a sorceress by the name of Mother Gothel who saw it. Thanks to her practice of magic, she was able to use the flower's power, but she only used it for herself, to restore her lost youth. For many years she hoarded this power, invoking it with a special song, and though centuries passed, she remained young and beautiful. And all the while, she kept the flower hidden, so no one else would know of it.

But, one day, the queen of the nearby kingdom of Corona fell seriously ill. This was grave news to the king and all of the citizens, for not only was the queen well-loved by all, but she was pregnant. So the king refused to let her succumb to her illness, and issued a search for anything that could cure the queen. However, for many days, nothing turned up. The queen grew more and more ill, and the king more and more worried.

Only the magic flower could save the queen, but the greedy Mother Gothel refused to share its power. However, one night, after she had finished singing to it and restored her youth, she heard voices, and realized that the searchers were drawing near. She quickly made her escape, but in her haste, failed to properly hide the golden flower. And so, when Julius, the captain of the royal guard, arrived in the area, he beheld a beautiful, shining, golden flower. Upon seeing it, he could not help but gaze in wonder; the flower was known of, but he had hardly expected to come across something so rare. Yet he did not question his luck, and immediately had it brought to the queen. The flower was made into a potion for the queen, and cured her illness, much to the delight of everyone in the kingdom.

Well, everyone except Mother Gothel. She was furious that the flower had been taken away, but was determined to not let her opportunity for immortality slip away so easily.

Soon after the queen was cured, she gave birth to a baby girl, whom the king and queen named Rapunzel. She had beautiful golden hair, the same color as the magical flower. And the king and queen could not be happier.

But it was in this child that Mother Gothel saw her chance. The flower's power could not have vanished; it must have been transferred. And since the queen was pregnant at the time of consuming the flower, there was only one logical place for that power to go: into her child.

So Mother Gothel decided to sneak into the castle and investigate the newborn princess's capabilities. And things would have gone horribly for the king, queen, and princess if it hadn't been for Captain Julius's four-year-old son, Marcus…

Marcus's eyes opened, wide with fear from the nightmare he had just woken up from. Looking up from his bed, he noticed it was still dark outside, and shivered. That certainly didn't help his fears. He couldn't remember exactly what the nightmare was, but he did recall a cloaked figure, moving in the darkness…

He let out a whimper of fright and got out of bed, intending to go to his father for comfort. But then, he stopped. "No," he said aloud. "Daddy wouldn't be afraid of this, and I won't either!" He looked around defiantly, as if expecting the figure from his dreams to suddenly appear in his room at that moment and try to frighten him. "I'm not scared," he said, the words giving him some comfort. And, as if to prove it, he took a blanket off his bed, tied it around his neck, and picked up his toy sword, then began prancing around the room. "I can't get scared if I'm gonna be cap'n one day!"

He then proceeded to clash blades with imaginary enemies, seeing in his mind's eye their scared faces, rather than his own. He smiled as he pictured himself victorious over the bad people who threatened Corona…just like what his father did.

Then, he found himself up against their most powerful warrior. He ducked, slashed, and twirled as he fought an epic battle, his enemy slowly weakening. Finally, he ducked around his imaginary villain, spun around, raised his sword for the final blow…

…and dropped it to the floor, stunned by what was in front of him.

A figure in a dark cloak was standing by his window. He couldn't see the face, but he could still see that someone was there. That someone may not have been paying attention to him at the moment, but he was still frozen stiff with terror. Then, before his eyes, the figure put a hand on the wall next to the window and hoisted itself up. Somehow, it was climbing the walls of the castle.

Very slowly, Marcus inched himself backward. Then, when the figure's torso was out of sight, and had no way of seeing him anymore, he broke into a run.

Captain Julius never expected to get much sleep. Between being the captain of the guard in charge of keeping the castle safe and the only parent of a four-year-old, rest had become more of a privilege than a right. But he accepted it. It was part of his duty to his kingdom…and his son.

Still, it didn't stop him being annoyed when he found himself being shaken awake in some dark hour of night. "Daddy!"

He groaned softly. "Yes, Marcus?"

"Daddy, there's…there's…"

Julius opened his eyes. "It's okay, Marcus. Did you have another nightmare?"

"No! It was real! He was really there!"

Julius raised an eyebrow. "Who was really there?"

"Someone outside my window!"

The captain blinked. "What?"

"Someone was outside my window!"

"When?"

"Now!"

"Who?"

"I dunno. Someone in a cloak!"

The captain frowned. "You're sure?"

"Yeah!"

He rose into a sitting position in his bed. "Are they still there?"

"No. He climbed up the walls."

"Climbed up the walls?"

"Yeah! I swear, it really happened!"

Julius thought for a moment. Marcus had been known to make up elaborate stories…but he could usually tell when his four-year-old son was telling him a fictional tale and when he was telling him the truth. Besides, it would be unlike Marcus to wake him up for a made-up story.

So…maybe there really was someone scaling the walls of the castle. It was improbable…but not impossible. He knew his men did a good job guarding the perimeter, but he also knew that no one was perfect, and it was impossible to have an absolutely impenetrable security system. But why would someone be climbing the walls right outside of his son's room? The room directly above Marcus's was…

Realization dawned on the captain of the guards, and he leapt out of bed. "Marcus, stay here, okay?"

"Is everything gonna be all right, Daddy?"

"Everything will be fine. Just stay here until I come back, okay?"

His son looked worried, but nodded.

Moving quickly, Julius grabbed his sword and dashed out of his room, hoping he was not too late.

Mother Gothel stood over the crib, clutching the lock of brown hair and scowling. So, the hair retained the flower's magical healing properties…but only if it was still attached to the princess's head. Therefore, she couldn't just cut the hair off and use it. She would have to take more drastic measures…

She had just begun leaning in towards Rapunzel when the door burst open, and the captain stepped in. "Don't move!" he yelled, sword extended towards her.

Her instinct of self-preservation took over Mother Gothel, and she jumped back from the crib. A second later, she realized what she'd done, and cursed under her breath. With an armed guard looking to protect the princess, and with her in the body of an old woman, she had very little chance of getting to the child again, even with the small amount of magic that she could use. The captain advanced on her, and she backed away. "Who are you," he said, "and what are you doing here?"

Mother Gothel made her decision. Turning her back on him, she rushed out of the open window and went down the wall, back the way she came.

"Hey!" yelled the captain. He ran over to the window and looked down, to see the mysterious figure climbing down the castle walls. He frowned. He had only caught a glimpse of her, but her age had been noticeable, and he had a hard time believing that an old woman could move with such agility.

But there was no time to wonder about such matters. Turning around, he swiftly walked back to the door, pausing to make sure Rapunzel was okay, at the same time that the king and queen arrived. "Julius!" said the king. "What's going on?"

"Someone was in here," said Julius, indicating the open window.

The queen gasped. "Rapunzel…"

"She seems to be fine," said Julius. "I arrived before she could do anything."

"She?" said the king.

"The intruder was a woman." Julius frowned. "I believe. But I must give chase."

The king nodded. "Yes. Find her and find out what she was doing in our daughter's room."

Julius nodded, and raced out of the room as the king and queen ran over to check on Rapunzel.

Unfortunately, the mysterious woman had gotten enough of a head start that she was able to evade the guards' pursuit. Julius later discovered that a couple of them were a bit drowsy, and had a hard time remembering what had happened. Believing them to have been falling asleep at their posts, he rebuked them both sharply, and warned them to not let such a thing happen again.

Fortunately, the princess was unharmed, and Julius found himself treated to the never-ending thanks of the king and queen. "Oh, it's not me you should be thanking," he said. "It's Marcus. He woke me up and told me that he saw someone outside his window. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have known anything about this until…well, until something had happened."

"But you were the one who thought to go to Rapunzel's room," said the queen, holding her child, who was smiling up at the captain. "You cannot deny credit for that."

The king nodded in agreement. "You have served us very well today, Captain Julius. I promise you, this feat will not be forgotten."

Julius gave a light bow. "I am always happy to be of service."

And so, the crisis was averted. Security around the castle was strengthened, and a notice was put out to be on the lookout for a suspicious-looking old woman in a dark cloak. Julius—and Marcus—were honored for their work. And after several weeks of not seeing any sign of her, the inhabitants of the castle began to relax, and believe that the old woman would not come back.

But they underestimated whom they were dealing with. Mother Gothel had been bested, but not vanquished. She was determined to find a way to make the magical flower's power hers once again…even if it took her years to come up with a solution. She had other magic that would sustain her body for a little while. The flower's power—no, the princess's power—would belong to her once more. And next time, no one would stop her.

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A/N: So there's the first chapter. I expect to have the second one up soon.

Also, in case anyone was wondering, Julius is not the name that I gave to the existing captain of the guards character. He is someone entirely different, an original character that I stuck in the Tangled universe and just so happened to change everything.