Misfit Trials

Chapter 47

When asked about letting her out of the tower, Mother Gothel tried to play it off, distracting Rapunzel with gifts, stories, and new foods.

"Look at the new paints I've bought you."

"I stopped at the bakery that you love on the way here. I've got breads, sticky buns, and some cookies."

"Rapunzel, I have to tell you the funniest story about this little girl who was following a mother duck and her ducklings down the street."

Those tricks worked for a while. And then Rapunzel stopped asking.

It was too late when she figured out what Rapunzel was up to.

—

"Rapunzel!" Mother Gothel called, walking up to the tower. "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" It's a joke between Rapunzel and her "mother." The thick straw that was used to weave the rope for the swing that Mother Gothel rides on to ride up to the down is the exact same color as Rapunzel's hair.

They often joke that it was born from the rapunzel flower, just like Rapunzel was.

It takes a long time before the rope swing is thrown over the balcony window to pull Mother Gothel up. Rapunzel's face follows over the side of the balcony. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair is mussed. What was happening with her?

"Sorry, Mother! I was still sleeping," Rapunzel calls down.

At 11:00?

Mother Gothel wondered if she was sick. It was rare that Rapunzel got sick, but not impossible.

"Back up, my love," Mother Gothel called to Rapunzel. "I'll use my powers to pull me up."

But Rapunzel had already started to use her magick to pull Mother Gothel's swing up. But instead of her normal steady, fast pace. Instead, the ride is slow and jerky. Like Rapunzel was distracted. Maybe she really didn't feel good.

Mother Gothel used her magick to take over the swing's trip up the tower and she arrives just in time to see Rapunzel close her closet door.

"Hello, love. Are you ok? You're not sick are you?" Mother Gothel asks, walking over to Rapunzel and putting her hand on Rapunzel's forehead. "No fever. But you're flushed. Go on and lay down."

"I'm fine, Mama. I promise," Rapunzel said, trying to calm her mother.

"Then why are you still sleeping this late into the day? And why is your face so flushed?" Mother Gothel frantically checks over her daughter, finding no reason for Rapunzel's appearance.

And then a noise comes from the closet.

Mother Gothel stills, her eyes immediately going to the closet door. Magick fills her hands as she waits to see if another sound comes from the closet.

Rapunzel tried to distract Mother Gothel. "Oh, I guess something just fell in there. I didn't put things away very well last night. I knew that I was going to have to fix that."

Mother Gothel's eyes moved to Rapunzel and she knew. Rapunzel had placed someone in there on purpose.

Quickly, before Rapunzel can react, Mother Gothel sends a blast of magick to Rapunzel, immobilizing her to the wall. "What did you do?!"

"I was lonely - " Rapunzel begins

"You know that it isn't safe!" Mother Gothel screams. Flinging a hand out towards the closet door, the magick she throws causes the closet's door to fling open.

Inside the closet stood a man that Mother Gothel had never seen before. And uncharacteristically, Mother Gothel curses. "Who in the fuck is that and why is he here? How - how did he get up here?"

"Mama, he's just a guy that I met - " Rapunzel tries to explain but Mother Gothel interrupts her.

"How ?! How did you meet him? You live in a tower that you cannot leave!" Mother Gothel can't stop screaming.

"He-he saw you come into the tower when he got lost one time and then called up and ...things just kind of snowballed from there, I guess you could say," Rapunzel says.

"You are never to see this man again, do you understand?" Mother Gothel demands.

"Ma'am, I have to tell you, I love your daughter - " the man begins.

"You don't even know what she is capable of! You don't know the destruction she could bring onto this world!" Mother Gothel insists, before waving her hand in the air. "It doesn't matter. You're going to forget everything that happened and leave this place."

Gathering her magick, Mother Gothel shot her powers directly at the man, wiping his memory and sending him back two villages over. It's an explosion of magick that nearly depletes her stores of magick within her, but it's done.

What Mother Gothel failed to take into account was that it would not only weaken her hold on Rapunzel against the wall, but also the forcefield around the tower. That weakness was enough for Rapunzel to break free.