Golden Angel

Part 2

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" came the call from the bottom of the tower.
Rapunzel gasped, pulling out of James' arms.
"What is it?" he asked.
"That was my mother calling. Didn't you hear it?" she asked.
"Tell her to come back later." he replied with a smirk as he pulled her back into his arms and tried to kiss her. But she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away. "I can't do that, you know I can't."
"Rapunzel!" Regina called again.
"Just a second!" Rapunzel called back. Then she turned back to James. "You have to go."
"But-"
"Now!"
"How? She'll see me!"
"Stand still." Rapunzel told him. Then she raised her hands.
"What are you doing?" James asked.
"Sending you home."
James looked confused, then he realized. "You can use magic?"
"Yeah, my mother taught me." Then she waved her hands at him and he was enveloped in pink smoke. When the smoke cleared, he was gone. Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to go to the window. She turned just in time to see Regina standing in front if the window, purple smoke dissipating around her.
"Mother!" Rapunzel gasped.
"What were you doing?" Regina asked.
"I was, uh. . . Nothing." Rapunzel replied, clasping her hands behind her back.
Regina placed her hands on her hips. "Really? Because that smoke didn't look like 'nothing'." She raised an eyebrow at her daughter.
She saw that? Shoot! "Oh, that! I was just practicing my magic. Gotta keep my skills strong, you know?" Rapunzel laughed nervously.
One look at her mother's face told her that she wasn't convinced. "I know you've been seeing that prince." she said.
Rapunzel's eyes widened and her hand dropped to her sides. "How do you know that?"
Regina walked over to Rapunzel's vanity, her heels clicking across the floor. "Mirrors have more than one use. You should know that. After all, it was one of the first things I taught you."
I never even thought to cover up my mirrors! "You were spying on me?"
"Good thing, too." Regina walked over to Rapunzel and placed a hand on her cheek. "What if he decided to take you away?"
Suddenly angry at her mother, Rapunzel smacked Regina's hand away. "So what if he did? It'd be better than being stuck here all the time. And you had no right to just look in on me without me knowing!"
"No right?" Regina's face reddened. "I am your mother, and I have every right to 'look in' on you whenever I want! And I forbid you from seeing that prince ever again."
"What? You can't do that! I love him, Mother!"
Regina laughed, but she also remembered saying almost the exact same thing to her mother before she killed Daniel. "You love him?" Regina asked incredulously.
"Yes, very much so. And you can't keep me from seeing him. You won't!"
Suddenly, a pair of long bladed scissors appeared in Regina's hand, and she started towards Rapunzel.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Rapunzel asked, slowly backing away. Regina started walking faster.
"What are you doing?" repeated Rapunzel frantically. She turned to run, but ran into her bed and fell onto it, facedown. Before she could push herself up, Regina leapt on top of her, holding her down. She felt her hair being tugged. "Mother, stop!" Rapunzel screamed. But Regina didn't stop. She pulled Rapunzel's hair taught, so hard that it lifted her head off of the mattress. She opened the scissors and placed Rapunzel's beautiful golden hair between the blades. Rapunzel heard a snip, and watched as a chunk of her hair floated to the ground.
"Stop! Please!" Rapunzel pleaded. Regina said nothing as more of her hair fell onto the floor and mattress around her. She squirmed and screamed, trying to free herself, but it was no use.
"Shut up!" Regina shouted to be heard over Rapunzel's crying. "You betrayed my trust! You deserve this!" Her voice cracked on the last word as a tear slipped down her cheek. She had never wanted to be harsh to her daughter, and she was hating every second of it. But she couldn't stop. Finally, she cut the last hunk of hair, causing Rapunzel's head to fall back to the mattress. As Regina climbed off of her, she waved her hand at the
cut-off hair and it disappeared.
Rapunzel stood up and touched her hair. What once dragged along on the floor behind her now didn't even reach below her ears.
"Why?" Rapunzel whispered.
"That was a warning. The next time you disobey me, I will not be as forgiving." Before Rapunzel could say anything in response, Regina disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Rapunzel clenched her fists and stomped her foot, letting out a short scream.

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The next day, James went to the tower to visit Rapunzel. When he got to the base of the tower, he saw a crumpled up piece of paper laying in the lush, green grass. He bent down and picked it up. After unfolding it, he began to read.
"My dearest James,
you are probably wondering why you found this beneath my window. It is because my mother found out about us and forbade me from seeing you. She even cut off my hair to help ensure it. Sure, I could use magic to bring you up here, but she'd find out. Turns out she's almost always watching me. But the thought of never seeing you again kills me! I want to be with you so badly that it hurts me to be away from you. I love you, James! If we want to be together, my mother would have to be out of the picture. Permanently. So what I'm saying is this: if you love me, too, and want me to be free, you must kill her. I want you to kill my mother. And when you have done it, bring me her head so that I'll know for sure that she's dead. Then we can finally be together without living in fear of her.
I'll be waiting here for you, dearest James!
Yours forever,
Rapunzel"
James folded the letter and looked up at the window. Kill Regina? he wondered. She must really be mad to want her mother dead. She had always told him how much she loved Regina. But he would do anything for her, especially if it meant he could be with her forever. So he placed the letter in his pocket and walked back into the forest, determined to kill the queen.