The prince carefully made his way to the tower, taking care in the darkness as he slowly made his way through the brambles and thorns surrounding the massive stone structure.

According to the stories, none of the others had made it this far. What was left of their corpses being found in the field that bordered the witch's home months after their quest had begun.

Every eligible man across the land wanted to be the one to accomplish the quest, to rescue the maiden with the beautiful, lilting voice from the tower. She was said to be the most beautiful woman in all the land, and the King himself had decreed that anyone who saves her would be awarded enough riches to last a lifetime.

No man had succeeded, until now.

If his father knew he was here, only minutes away from freeing the mysterious maiden, he would surely be disowned. Everyone claimed the mission too dangerous for even the most highly trained of the royal family to attempt, much less the forgotten youngest son.

Yet here he was, the only one to make it past the witch alive, the first to successfully kill the wretched creature and approach the tower.

The witch had tried to stop him, spinning lies in an attempt to instill fear and doubt in his mind. It had tried to convince him that to free the maiden meant freeing an unspeakable evil.

He had silenced it's pleading lies when he removed it's head from it's shoulders.

He opened the sack he had slung over his shoulders, pulling out the tools he had crafted to aid the next, and possibly the most difficult portion of the quest. Many long nights had been spent in the palace forge, testing and reworking the metal to help him successfully scale the outside of the tower.

He prepared his tools, strapping the ensemble together and stepping up to the tower. The tower stood nearly twenty feet higher than the wall he had tested the equipment on at the castle, but he was confident in his strength and the integrity of his craftsmanship.

He began the climb, each stone he clung to carryinging him closer to the opening at the top of the structure.

He reached the window, hauling himself over the ledge and rolling into the darkened room.

He pushed himself to his feet, dusting his shirt off and scanning the dimly lit room.

His eyes landed on a figure standing in the corner, mostly hidden by the shadows. Even in the low lighting, he could see the beauty that radiated off the girl before him.

Her hair glinted in the soft lighting, her eyes watching him with a bright curiosity that sent a flash of uncertainty through his mind.

She was stunning, but there was something wrong with the way she watched him, without a hint of fear in her eyes, despite his unannounced entrance.

"Don't be afraid-"

"Why would I be afraid?" Her voice filtered through the space between them, giving off an air of bored innocence, unsettling him further.

"What's your name?"

"Rapunzel. What's yours?"

"My name is Darius. How long have you been up here, Rapunzel?" She shrugged, playing with the massive braid that was hanging over her shoulder, drawing his attention to the mountain of braided hair covering the floor.

"Are you a knight?" There was a softness in her words, making it feel as though he were talking to a child. He smiled at her, stepping closer to the beautiful woman timidly.

"No, I'm no knight. I am a prince, my father is the king." Her head tilted slightly, and a strange smile crossed her face at his words.

"I've never had a prince before." Darius froze, his chest tightening at her words.

"I-I- what do you mean?" The girl stepped into the light, the beauty of her face nearly distracting him from the unnerving glint in her eyes.

"Mother has sent me so many knights lately, gets boring after a while though." Darius stepped back, stumbling over a section of hair that was lying behind his feet. "They're so predictable, unoriginal, and far too muscular to properly enjoy."

Darius felt his foot catch on something, flailing his arms as he crashed to the floor.

The sound of crunching filled the air as he fell, startling him as he gasped in pain. Something sharp pressed against his spine. He reached behind his back, grabbing the item that was poking him and pulling it out from under him.

He glanced at the object in his hand, his mind spinning for a moment before he registered what it was.

He was holding a human bone.

The bone clattered to the floor as he scrambled to get away, his vision clouding over with a panicked fog. A soft, lilting laugh reached his ears moments before light flooded the room, revealing the maiden still standing over him.

She was thin, pale, and still strikingly beautiful, though as he took in her image, horror and disgust soon overtook rational thought.

Her hair was perfect and golden, flowing down over her shoulders and twisted into a massive braid that covered most of the floor.

As he scanned the length of the braid, he felt his stomach churn and chest tighten as he registered the multiple changes of colour and texture along the braid.

He recognized the frizzy black hair of one of the knights that had been on his guard as a child. He recognized the long orange-red of the boy who had grown up in the neighbouring town. He fought to breathe as he watched the maiden's lips stretch into an unpleasant smile.

"You have lovely hair, so soft looking and long," the prince felt a wave of nausea crash over him as he caught sight of the bits of skin and blood caught in the hair, "it's going to look so pretty for mother when she returns."

"The- the witch, she was your mother?" Rapunzel nodded, smiling brightly and swinging her arms around in a loop around her torso. She looked like a child talking to her friends about something she loved.

He had killed the only thing keeping her in the tower.

"Mother likes brown hair, she says it's her favourite colour." The maiden turned, making her way across the small room to a small table. The prince took the opportunity to glance around, hoping to find a weapon.

He just barely contained a scream of terror when his eyes found the piles of skulls cluttering the room.

"Mother is going to be so happy when she gets home tonight, she always likes it when I make dinner." The panic dissipated instantly at those words, he was a prince, last in line to rule the kingdom, and he would be damned if his death would come from being eaten by a young maiden in a tower.

He slid a hand into his satchel, silently pulling out the blade he had used to dispatch the witch a few hours earlier. He stumbled to his feet, catching himself on a stool before straightening.

The maiden turned, her smile fading slightly as she noticed the blade in his hand. There was a trace of amused disappointment in her eyes, as though he had done something predictable.

"You won't win. They never do. No one can beat me, mother assured that-"

"Your mother is dead. I killed her before climbing the tower." A flicker of rage passed her face before disappearing again, fading into another blank smile.

She moved faster than he thought she would, lunging at him with a nearly inhuman snarl. He tried to escape, stepping to the side, his foot catching on a section of hair and sending him stumbling to the side.

She latched onto his back, clawing at him and screeching as he tried to fight her off.

They crashed around the room, knocking the skulls of her victims around and getting tangled in the extreme length of her hair.

Darius found himself behind her, a long section of greying hair wrapped around his hands.

He worked fast, tightening the length of hair and wrapping it around her neck, cutting off her air supply.

She fought hard, struggling to free herself from his grasp.

It took longer than he thought, several minutes passing before she finally fell still, the last hint of life leaving her thin frame.

The damsel was dead. His kingdom was saved from a horror no one knew existed. No one would believe his tale.

Before he fled the tower, he used his blade to remove the head of the maiden, throwing the extreme length of hair out the window and making his escape.