The Big Four

Chapter 10

“M-Mother?” Rapunzel looks absolutely ecstatic and upset at the same time. “How did you get escape?”
Her mother just shakes her head and collapses to the ground. Two more people appear behind her.
One is presumably her dad. He has short, grey hair curling close to his head. His eyes are a green-gold, like Rapunzel’s. The next is like a super-aged version of Mother Gothel, with pure white hair, lots of wrinkles, and a haggard, evil twist of a smile on her face.
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Did you really think you could get away?”

---

I wake up, again in Hiccup’s arms. I shove the hint of annoyance away. It’s not exactly his fault that he has to come to my rescue. I’m just annoyed that it’s happening so often. This stupid weakness is so unfair.
“Let us go.” Hiccup is somehow holding me in one arm and brandishing a sword in the other.
My mother has an angry, queenly look on her face. “Put down your weapon!”
“No.”
She throws her hands in frustration. “We should’ve known this would happen! Stupid princess, caught up by a dashing Viking… Should’ve gotten rid of her when we had the chance.”
I feel like someone just hit me in the gut. My breath punches out in one giant exhale. Hiccup takes a few deep breaths. I can almost feel the fury emanating off of him.
“What?” I can barely manage the word; I have to wonder if she can even hear it.
She hesitates, as if just noticing that I’m awake. “Nothing, darling.”
I take a deep breath and try to speak. “Gotten… rid of me?”
Mother purses her lips. “You were adopted. Someone left you on our doorstep. You looked enough like us, and I’d recently had a miscarriage. We figured that you could save us from scandal and possibly marry a rich prince someday.”
I’m vaguely aware of a tear streaming down my cheek. I feel a sudden rage - at my own weakness, my parent’s betrayal, and the stupid Haunteds that we still have to go take care of.

---

My parents. Mother Gothel.
My worst nightmare.
“Come closer, darling.”
I take a deep breath, but I don’t move.
She scowls. “Very well then.”
Suddenly, Jack is flying, and not of his own will. His staff harmlessly hits the ground beside me.
He smashes into a rock wall before collapsing to the ground, on the verge of unconsciousness.
“I’m going to give you a choice, dearest.” I swallow. She’s never given me any choice before; ever.
“Who will you kill? Your parents? Or your.. boyfriend?”
I almost pass out right then and there. I feel Mother Gothel sending some sort of magic my way, forcing me to stay awake.
“You’ll kill one or the other. Or I will kill both.”

---

Merida’s breathing grows more steady as she drifts back into unconsciousness.
Now to get out of here. My plan probably won’t even work, but I had to try something.
“Hey, Wind!”
Nothing. Of course. What was I thinking?
Here. What do you need?
The voice echoes in my head, so strange I almost shout.
Calm down. Lemme guess-- need to hitch a ride to Jack and the other girl?
Yes.
You can’t exactly hear someone nod, but it felt like I could. Suddenly we were soaring. I quickly sheathed my sword, not wanting to drop it.

---

No. I can’t do this.
“You have ten seconds.”
Why? This is sick. I want to retch.
“Ten…”
My vision starts to blur from desperate tears, but I rub them away. I need to get out of this.
“Nine…”
A desperate plan takes form in my head. I can’t believe that I’m even considering it, but…

---

My vision is blurred with red and black. I can hear Mother Gothel counting down.
“Eight…”
Rapunzel runs towards me.
No. She can’t be. She…
I realize that I don’t know her at all. These are her parents; I’m just someone she met a few days ago. No contest.
She leans down. She’s so close, our noses are touching. I can’t move; I can’t breathe.
“I love you,” she whispers. Quietly, quickly. With something almost sad in her voice. What is her plan?
Then she kisses me. It only lasts for a moment, but it’s one I know that I’ll never forget.
She leans back, tears glistening in her eyes.
She pulls all of her hair together around in front of her.
I faintly register her mother screaming, but all I can really see is the girl in front of me.
She cuts her hair. It turns brown and her eyes go lifeless as she collapses.
Mother Gothel lets out a shriek of horror. Her face turns ghostly pale; her features wrinkle and harden even more; her hair falls out. She withers away to dust, blowing away in the wind.
Rapunzel’s parents are leaning over Rapunzel, crying. She’s unconscious on the ground.
“What… what happened?”
Rapunzel’s mother sobs. “She… She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“When she cut her hair, she…” She chokes on her tears. “She died.”
The words are barely audible, but they immediately send me flying back.
“No.”
I’m not sure whether or not I actually said the word aloud; I feel incapable of moving, much less speaking, right now.
It can’t be. She died…
To save me. To save her parents.
Right there, I cry. I haven’t truly cried in three hundred years; all of the heartache and pain and hurt of all that time gushes out in one single, heart rending scream.