Rapunzel Goes Home (platinum edition)

Author's Introduction: I'm updating this with better grammar and some corrections.

I really love Tangled, but Disney, as usual, skips right to the happy ending without dealing with all the steps the princess would have to go through to get there.

What happened between the time Gothel announced she was the bad guy and Eugene finding Rapunzel in chains?

What kind of person was the girl Eugene thought he was rescuing? The clues he had were not pointing at the Lost Princess.

What happened between Rapunzel and Eugene kissing in the tower and meeting her parents, the king and queen, at the balcony?

A guard came and gave the King and Queen a nod. What did that mean? There was some kind of test the princess had to pass. That would mean that there had been other girls claiming to be the Lost Princess. What did that do to the King and Queen?

Rapunzel couldn't be the princess' real name.

What effect did the kidnapping have on the kingdom and her family?

Then there was another gap from there to the big party, but how did Eugene and the PubThugs end up not in prison?

How does someone kept in a tower, raised by just one other person, and a chameleon handle becoming a princess? How does she deal with her whole life being up-ended?

How does a kingdom handle having their princess return after all these years?

Rapunzel just wanted to see the floating lights, and all of the sudden she is a princess. How does she handle having lived her whole life inside a lie? What kinds of effects will Gothel's manipulations have on her? How does she feel about Gothel's death?

Then there's Gothel. How can you steal a baby yet care for her enough to give her a beautiful bedroom, teach her to never break promises, actually teach her prisoner to read (this is huge), share a ritual of love and yet love the hair more then the girl? Why, on earth, did Gothel teach Rapunzel not to break promises? Why is the hair so important to Gothel?

Rapunzel's going home story really starts when she realizes whom she really is and the lies are exposed to the light of day.

Let us begin.

Once upon a time, a young woman learned who she really was...

- Rapunzel Goes Home (platinum edition)

- Chapter 001

~ Gothel Victorious

Gothel finishes removing the flowers from Rapunzel's hair.

"I really did try, Rapunzel. I tried to warn you what was out there. The world is dark and selfish and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it." Gothel knew that all too well. She pulled the curtains to Rapunzel's room closed.

She turned away from Rapunzel's room, picked up the basket of flowers and started down the stairs. 'The world might be terrible,' she thought, 'but the tower was good and safe, for Rapunzel and herself. They had scoffed at her, even her own family, but she just waited like she always did, looking out over the sea.'

Poor Rapunzel had had her heart broken by a man. Gothel was sad about that. Her own heart waited on a man. Jonathan would be back, someday. She just had to wait for him, she had promised, and she does not break her promises. It was time for Rapunzel to know her story. Rapunzel was old enough to hear her story now; they shared something special, almost like a mother and daughter should. She would tell her story to Rapunzel over her birthday dinner. Well, breakfast, since it was morning.

Gothel crossed the tile floor to the window. She really liked the tower. She didn't know how it came to be here, and it was oddly designed in places, but it was a wonderful place to be safe, free and happy.

She had panicked at the thought of someone finding Rapunzel when that stupid palace horse jumped out at her.

And someone had! The notorious Flynn Rider had stolen her Flower.

She had almost lost it completely, her Flower was gone, but finding that satchel in the hidey-hole under that stair had been the greatest luck, almost like the universe wanted her to get her Flower back.

After recovering from the shock of finding the Crown of the Lost Princess, under the stairs leading to that person's room, she had grabbed the dagger and set off to the rescue of her Flower again. She knew that Rapunzel would have no way to connect who she was to that crown, but it had been terrifying, none the less.

She knew all about Flynn Rider from that ballad of his, that always seemed to be playing at the taverns. The song said that he had even penetrated a heavily guarded manor to seduce the daughter of an overprotective baron. Getting into the tower must have been an irresistible temptation to him. Finding poor, defenseless Rapunzel at the top must have seemed like quite the bonus. She would have fallen to his wiles so easily. He must have hidden that crown under the stairs, then seduced Rapunzel to leave the tower, so he could leave her lost and alone somewhere, so he could use the tower as a hideout.

She had to track them down and rescue her Flower, and she did, she was able to track those boots of Flynn Rider's to the Snuggly Duckling.

How dare he take her there!

She had almost fainted at the sight of her Flower surrounded by all those knives, swords and axes; someone could have cut her hair. Admittedly, she had thought of taking Rapunzel there in case she every really wanted to leave the tower. That place was surely terrifying enough to scare her back to the tower.

She had wanted to just kill Flynn Rider, rescue her Flower and take Rapunzel home to the tower, when those brothers had come out of the secret passage. Again, luck was with her and they gave her the clues she needed to turn them against Flynn Rider, using them as muscle to do the work that needed to be done.

The plan had changed so many times, but her goal had always been clear, to get Rapunzel back to the Tower where the hair would be safe.

It had taken all of her self-control not to faint when the brothers explained why they were all wet. They told her that the dam had broken and everyone, including Rapunzel, had been swept away in it. The power of the hair died if the hair was cut, she had to assume the power would too if Rapunzel died.

She and the brothers had followed the river, desperately searching for Rapunzel and lo, Rapunzel had signaled them herself, using the hair in the darkness, not even all that far away. Sweet relief had flooded her clenched stomach as she saw the glow reflecting over of the boulder and trees, like she was calling for Mother, but she didn't want to go home.

"Flynn Rider had stolen her Flower's heart. She had had an adventure," thought Gothel sarcastically. "She had just gone to a lousy, broken-down, old pub, for goodness sake!"

Somehow, her Flower had charmed all those ruffians in minutes. She was so proud of her little girl for that, but then she got away. Gothel wondered if she should do something about those thugs, she tapped her lips. "They saw the hair, but didn't know what it could do. Two-dozen thugs would be difficult to deal with ...maybe a fire."

They had followed them through the kingdom and when they went out on the little boat, she knew it was her chance. They had gone to the beach and waited. She sent those thugs to signal Flynn Rider and it had worked.

It had been terrifying to watch them threaten her Flower, but they were distracted enough so she could knock them out. You didn't live as long as she had, and not learn a few tricks about human anatomy.

It had all worked out better then Gothel had hoped. Flynn Rider was in the hands of the palace guard with the crown in his hand, the brothers were knocked out and someone on a white horse was coming their way; so she didn't even need to tell the guards about them directly and they were well known enough to be taken and hung immediately. Everyone who knew about the power of the Flower would be dead today, and she and her Flower would be safely back in the tower.

She had successfully rescued her Flower again!

Gothel threw the flowers out the window, where they fluttered down to the ground fifty feet below, and put the basket under the cloaks by the window. Humming about how mother knows best, she went over to the kitchen area to begin gathering the ingredients for the hazelnut soup.

Gothel was just opening the bag of hazelnuts, when a loud crash came from Rapunzel's room.

- End of Chapter 001

Author's Note: Gothel and the Stabbington brothers had to have been close to river and our heroes. There were only two minutes from the time when Rapunzel started the song and Gothel revealing herself. So they could only have been about 500 yards away, at best. The hair glowed quite a bit more brightly and differently than the campfire.