Rapunzel ran as fast as she could through the kingdom, clutching the hem of her dress as the ruffles became tattered from the stone path below. Her hair, once long and luscious, now frizzed with the speed she ran, and her braids were slipping from their pinned place. Her shoes, the ones she had planned on wearing to the masquerade ball, caused her feet to ache with every step she took.

None of these things mattered to her at the present moment. One thought only consumed her consciousness as she drew nearer to the castle: What has Gothel done to the Prince?

~*~*~*~

Gothel smiled underneath her mask. Everything was going her way, and to think Rapunzel dared stop her. She could hear the son of Fredricks call Rapunzel's name, and he followed her quickly.

"Rapunzel, wait!"

Gothel led the boy to the maze, ensuring he saw her round each corner. Once she had reached the centre, she stopped, a wicked smile gracing her face.

"Ah, the masked lady finally stops!" Stefan let out a breath from running.

Now it was time. Slipping off her mask, the previous locks of Rapunzel fell to the ground.

"Don't I please you, Prince Stefan?" she turned slowly, her grin growing wider with each expression of confusion appearing on Stefan's face.

"I don't understand," he whispered, " I thought you were..."

"Rapunzel?" Gothel laughed, "I gathered that. Unfortunately, she won't be able to make it, lots to reflect on. "

Stefan looked concerned; what a pity. "Her hair. Who are you?"

Gothel circled him like a lion to a gazelle, her fingers twitching as her magic rushed to their tips.

"Who am I?" she cackled a deranged laugh, " Fredrick has failed you, my Prince."

She opened her mouth to continue, but a rustle from behind the maze wall caught her attention.

"Who goes there!" she called to the hedge.

The rustling stopped, and Gothel turned away, catching Stefan escaping from the maze.

"Not so fast, Stefan!" She shot a spell in his direction, but he slid around the corner, allowing the magic to scorch the wall behind him.

Gothel quickly followed him, casting curse after curse as each one deflected by walls and silverware lining the castle halls. This time she had him cornered.

"Say hello to mummy for me," Gothel taunted, sending a curse at his chest.

Stefan scampered to a nearby dinner cart, gripping a silver tray as a shield. The curse deflected off the tray, returning to Gothel's hand as she reabsorbed her magic.

"You Princes are, all the same, running away from the battle," she growled, throwing a ball of fire at the suit of armour next to him," No bells ringing? What about Rothbart? Is it all making sense!"

"You're a monster!" Stefan shouted, wielding a sword.

"Only the best, darling!"

~*~*~*~

Upon reaching the castle, Rapunzel gasped when she saw soldiers in shining armour flood the main gate and guests scrambling out of the ballroom. She rushed forward, dodging partygoers, broken banners and stone statutes. Rapunzel could hear her skirt tearing as it caught in a broken gargoyle, but she didn't care, yanking the fabric free.

She could listen to Stefan's voice in the distance, along with a cackle that could only belong to Gothel. With her right foot mere millimetres away from the threshold, Rapunzel felt a wave of relief wash over her, though soon, one of the royal guards crushed her like the ruble that surrounded her.

"Miss, it is not safe here! Please return to the village with the others," he commanded, grabbing her forearm.

"But I must get through! The Prince is in danger!" Rapunzel pleaded, whipping her head around to hear Stefan roar his younger siblings' names.

"We are under siege from King Wilhelm's knights; you must leave! Now!" The guard continued to bring her away, but calls from his fellow soldier left him to shunt Rapunzel on the path she had just run before returning to battle.

Once she was sure the knight was distracted, Rapunzel darted back to the main entrance, slipping through silver armour. She prayed to the stars above that the Prince was alright, that Gothel hadn't reached him yet. Glancing left and right, she ran towards his voice, halting on occasion as the attacking knights infiltrated the castle.

~*~*~*~

Gothel had him this time. His pesky siblings stood no match for her; all it took was one spell to render them unconscious.

"Cease while you can, Stefan. No guards are coming to save you." Gothel followed him down a dimly lit corridor, though soon he was out of sight.

Huffing, she marched onwards, casting an occasional curse when a glimpse of his body shot around a corner. Rounding another corner herself, Gothel was about to taunt the Prince further when knights of a different emblem dashed towards what she could assume was the ballroom. She halted behind a torch holder to get a better glimpse of their coat of arms. Whipping around, Gothel's breath hitched, her neck touching the end of Stefan's aimed sword. She waited for him to make the fatal move, but no such thing occurred. He wasn't going to kill her.

"Cat got your tongue?" she prodded, gently freeing her hand from behind her back as her whole body pressed against the stone interior of the castle.

"I could kill you right now!" Stefan growled, reaffirming the statement within himself more than Gothel.

"Then why haven't you?"

Gothel had him.

"Just like your father, a coward!"

"Why are you so vengeful? What has my father done to you to earn such hatred!" Stefan put just enough pressure on the handle of his sword to draw a speck of blood from her neck.

"He murdered my father! He left me orphaned! You do not know the pain, the sheer pain that runs so deep it causes your bones to seize upon witnessing Fredrick ram a sword through my father's neck as you wish to do to me. So go own, do what Fredrick couldn't himself!"

Just as she was about to cast a curse, a fresh set of soldiers began to sprint in their direction. She could hear Fredrick's pathetic call for guards ricocheting through the castle. Stefan yielded his sword, pulling the torch from the wall and throwing it on the ground behind him as he dashed towards his father. The arsonist set the floor alight, throwing Gothel back to the ground as the flames blocked the remaining corridor.

"As if a meek blaze could halt my wrath," Gothel grimaced, and with a flick of her wrist, the wall of flames slipt down the middle.

She strode through the gap, smirking as the nearing knights were blocked as the path closed up. For good measure, she created a gust of wind, spreading the fire down the hallway. The soldier's cry only added to her pleasure, their armour weak against a blaze of anger.

The noise grew louder, voices more audible. Gothel sought out Stefan once again, following the loud exultations of battle. She stopped short of the arch to the ballroom when she could make out the voices as clear as day.

"Stefan, behind you!"

So the Prince was preoccupied with battle. Now was her golden opportunity. Immerging from the archway, Gothel made quick work of the knights, each hand movement sending them flying like geese into the rubble.

"Surrender!" One shouted to Stefan.

Gothel was getting rather annoyed with these knights. With her palms together, her magic threw their swords away. The remaining men halted their fighting, and how Gothel loved an audience.

"I demand you halt right where you are, woman!" King Fredrick demanded, picking up a stray sword and aiming it at her.

Gothel laughed," Don't take it so personally, your majesty; you'll have your turn. Stefan and I have unfinished business to attend to in the meantime."

She set a blazing ring of fire to separate the king and his son, ready for her final attack. She almost drowned out Fredricks's pleas until a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Daniel," she whispered, her emotions showing for a fraction of a second before her mask resurfaced.

She cast Stefan aside with a flick of her wrist, dissipating the flaming ring.

"So again, we meet at a ball," Gothel announced, catching Wilhelm's attention.

"Odile, is that you? What are you doing here?" He turned to face her.

"I came to clean up some loose ends."

Stefan interrogated Wilhelm, "You know her? Who is she?"

He nodded in affirmation," I knew her once, long ago. We were close friends, as I recall."

Gothel's blood boiled as she inched closer to Daniel, "Friends? Friends?! You loved me! Loved me far before Oddette arrived! Don't deny it!"

"No, Odile, I never loved you," Wilhelm spoke honestly, hoping to reason with her.

"And so you shall pay once again!"

She blasts King Wilhelm on the ground to the ground, along with the knights that ran to his rescue.

"Pay again? What are you talking about?" He asked.

"You set a price upon my father's head and sold him to the highest bidder!" Gothel screeched, pointing a hand at Fredrick.

"He tried to kill Odette- and me!" Daniel got back to his feet.

Another blast sent him to the ground and crashed into the fireplace moulding.

"Only because you were supposed to marry me! Not the wretched outsider! Let me ask you, Frederick," Gothel growled," You hate this man. Why?"

"He attacked my kingdom without cause!"

"You stole my daughter!" Wilhelm countered.

King Frederick sighed, exacerbating," No, for the thousandth time, I never stole her!

"I did."

Wilhelm looked up at Gothel in disbelief," What?"

She smirked," She would've been my daughter if you had married me, Daniel! I took what was rightfully mine."

Wilhelm lunged at her," You took Rapunzel?! Tell me, you monster! Where is she, Odile?

Before he could do so, Gothel blasted him to the ground for a third time, conjuring up a curse in her palm.

"Why does it matter?" she cackled with insanity, "You'll never see her again!"

Bracing himself for the fatal blow, Daniel wept sheepishly. Wielding his sword once again, Stefan blocked the curse, sending it back to Gothel. Before she could counter the attack, the spell flung her into the wall behind her. Stefan rushed over to Wilhelm, wrapping his arm around his back as a temporary brace.

"I've seen her!" Stefan confided to the injured king.

Wilhelm rushed to answer, but Gothel was having none of it. Slouching up from the ground, she scowled at the lone trickle of blood slowly descending from her hairline, forcefully wiping it away.

"Now, do you realise what a fool you were, Wilhelm?" Gothel clenched her teeth, "You could've had so much... You should've married me! I've been reasonable up until now, don't test my patience."

Daniel's eyes conveyed a river of emotion, but nothing shone brighter than pity and anger," You don't know what love is, Odile!"

"Then I am finished with you. All of you!" They all would pay for the suffering they caused Gothel, once and for all.

Channelling all her anger, pain, and anguish that flowed through her body into a spell that would end it all, Gothel breath a sigh, lifting her arms above her head as glittering tendrils of fire ruptured from her hands, each with the head of a mighty dragon.

A twisted grin graced her lips as the fire snaked over to the three warriors, all with eyes of shock, fear and repentance.

~*~*~*~

Rapunzel could hear each voice clearer as she sprinted towards the ballroom. Her legs ached with each step, her calves begging for rest, but relief came as she halted behind the final wall separating her and what sounded like a war of words.

"You stole my daughter!"

" No, for the thousandth time, I never stole her!

"I did."

Rapunzel gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. She peeked around the corner to better understand what was happening. The only voice she recognised was Gothel's, but who was this other voice? Her eyes immediately found her Prince, relieving her. However, that was temporary when she saw Gothel and, more importantly, her spell.

Searching around her, Rapunzel promptly found a silver serving tray. Clutching it tight to her stomach, she took a deep breath and ran. Instantaneously she felt the pain that brought tears to her iris', thrown to the ground by the force of Gothel's spell. It didn't matter; she had succeeded and blocked the attack.

The last thing Gothel expected to interfere with her plans was Rapunzel. She couldn't comprehend how she was here, how she was on the floor. Had she taken her rage too far?

Daniel and Stefan wasted no time and rushed over to the young girl. Gothel was at a loss for words, tears threatening to fall due to her damage.

"Rapunzel?" she whispered, slowly making her way over to her.

"Stay away from my daughter!" Daniel grabbed a fallen sword, aiming at Gothel's chest, causing her to back away in fear.

"No! No more!"

They both whipped their heads around to Rapunzel, who rose from the ground, using Stefan's arm as a brace.

"Rapunzel, I didn't mean to; you weren't supposed to get hurt!" Gothel cried though Rapunzel cut her off.

"You kept me locked up because you hated my father?"

Gothel roared, "He deserved to suffer as I did!"

Rapunzel softly said, "No more suffering, Gothel, for anybody."

Gothel scoffed, circling Rapunzel, "You talk of suffering so freely; haven't I suffered? Haven't I suffered enough at the hands of these men? Don't I deserve a happily ever after? I raised you, Rapunzel, your first words, steps- that was all me!"

"And I will be forever grateful for it! But please, Gothel, let them go," she gestured to Stefan, Daniel and Fredrick," They can not heal the hurt you feel."

Looking over her shoulder, Rapunzel gave Stefan a look of reassurance, releasing his arm from her waist. She began to walk forwards to Gothel.

"Rapunzel, what are you doing? She's mad!" Fredrick exclaimed, but Stefan held him back, whispering what Rapunzel had told him just loud enough for him to hear.

"Gothel, I'm sorry I doubted you when all you were trying to do was love me," Rapunzel grasped Gothel's hands in her own as she spoke," I hope it's not too late to give you your happy ending."

"What do you mean?" Gothel's expression was unreadable, giving room in Rapunzel's mind for doubt her plan would work.

"Your family," she elaborated, "Just like you wanted."

"She's right!" Wilhelm added, dropping his sword and joining the duo, "I've made a terrible mistake. It was always you, Odile, and I was a fool not to realise it sooner."

"See? We can all live happily ever after, away from here, just like you wanted!" Rapunzel let a warm smile grace her lips as Gothel seemed to enjoy the idea.

Bringing her in for a hug, Rapunzel set her plan in motion. As not to alert Gothel-Odile as she learnt her real name, she reached for the remains of her paintbrush as delicately as if she was handling the King's Crown. With a few soft flicks of her wrist, a painting of her tower, her prison appeared on the wall behind her. Rapunzel took a deep breath, steadied her mind and readied herself for what she was about to do.

"Do you promise? That I'll get my happy ending?" Odile whispered, rubbing the blunt ends of her daughter's hair, bringing a fresh set of tears to Rapunzel's eyes.

Having felt this puddle on her shoulder, Odile pulled back from Rapunzel, unable to read her eyes. She had begun to speak, but Rapunzel couldn't let her for fear she would change her mind.

"I do, and I'm sorry."

The last thing she recalled from that moment, other than her hero's soft lips and her lost father's warm embrace,  was the look of betrayal in Gothel's eyes before she disappeared, one that would haunt her for the remaining years of her free life. Rapunzel had pushed Odile into the painting, her tower, and her prison.

The great war was over.

*The_Lost_Flower*