"Ahhh!" All of a sudden, Rapunzel released a guttural scream, startling not just the birds from their nests but also Henry.
"Rapunzel? Rapunzel!" Instantly, Henry pulled Boy to a stop before jumping off the saddle just before Rapunzel's body unconsciously fell to the side, catching her in his arms before she met the ground.
"Rapunzel? Are you okay?" He nudged her slightly. Yet she remained still, her lips quivering and eyelids turning wet. Her entire face was turning red, and sweat was forming on her forehead.
While holding her, he could feel a familiar shiver on her body. Not the kind when you're cold but when you're in deep internal pain.
"I-It hurts…Henry…Help me…" Rapunzel sobbed, her face contorting into something akin to being burned alive from the inside out.
'What the hell is going on here!?' Henry gulped his saliva hard, placing his hand towards her chest, right between her breasts before closing his eyes.
He sent a sliver of his magic inside her, enough to feel her insides and detect any anomalies, it's not exactly a magic spell but a certain application when practicing Healing Magic. It was Master Pabbie who taught him this obvious.
What it does is simple. Once his magic seeps inside her, it'll serve as a sort of magical x-ray, scanning not just her physical body but also her Magic Hymn.
Every living being has a Magic Hymn inside them, not the kind that can be sensed from magic spells and objects, but some sort of magical organ that cannot be seen or touched yet it exists to receive the signal of Magic Hymn around them.
In layman's terms, when facing a magic spell or anything magical in particular, Henry could detect its Magic Hymn which would allow him to determine what kind of Magic it is through the patterns, just like what Master Elias taught him on his first day. As for how it detects them, that's where the Magic Hymn organ plays its part.
Henry's breath hitched as soon as the moment his magic entered Rapunzel's body. Her entire physical body is breaking down, not the literal kind but it's as if her organs were failing. Her heartbeat was slowing down, the same could be said of her blood flow. Her lungs, on the other hand, were not performing their usual function; they were failing to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. Last but not least, her liver was no longer detoxifying her blood. Toxins were literally building up inside her body!
Looking up to her pale face and closed eyelids, Henry knew he had to do something.
Raising his hand, he instantly cast a spell to counter, the Detoxify spell. Like its name, it detoxifies the body, magically eliminating the toxins inside her body.
"This is not enough…" He murmured to himself, although it prevented her from further making a mess of her insides, her organs were still failing, which still contributes to the destruction of her entire body. Even with the Detoxify spell, something or somewhere was causing Rapunzel's body to constantly fail which caused a deadlock.
The Detoxify spell was bringing her health back to an acceptable level but the organ failures were tugging it back down. The only good thing out of this was that she's no longer in constant pain as a Pain Reliever spell was being applied to her to alleviate the pain.
Then, as if realizing something, he pressed on her, "Rapunzel! You need to sing the song! Heal yourself!"
Facing Henry's urging, despite having her eyes closed, Rapunzel tried to open her mouth, "F-Flower, gleam, and gl—cough! cough!—L-Let your power sh—cough! cough! cough!"
No matter how hard she sang, nothing was happening. No glowing of hair nor anything magical happening, she was still in pain.
"This can't go on." Maintaining the spell on her, Henry slipped his hand under her knees and the other behind her shoulders before carrying her back to the saddle with ease.
"Back to Lioncrest, Boy!" He snapped the reins on the horse. Boy didn't need to be asked twice nor did her question what was happening, he instantly bolted forward without a tinge of hesitation.
He needs to bring her back to Lioncrest Kingdom, only Master Elias might be able to do something to help her.
"H-Henry…" Rapunzel's croaky voice snapped him out of his focus.
"Rapunzel! Rapunzel talk to me, what's happening to you?" Henry gently pulled her head close to his body, "I'll find help for you, understand?"
Rapunzel's lips thinned, she finally opened her eyes albeit slightly—her pupils focused on Henry's face, "I—I'm hearing mother's voice. She's whispering…"
His blood instantly went cold at those words, he immediately knew who she was talking about.
'If this is Mother Gothel's work…Then it's because of me? My intervention forced her hand to resort to other means to get her back…' Guilt immediately started to eat Henry from the inside. Countless questions and what-ifs were blowing through his mind.
What if he just left fate as it is? Let Flynn do the saving for her? What went through his mind that made him think he was better at helping her case?
"Mother…wants me to go back…S-She's telling me that only she—cough! cough!—can help me…"
Henry gulped a mouthful of saliva. Without hesitation, he pulled the reins back, forcing Boy to skid to a halt, "Master?"
"Boy, go back to the Kingdom on your own!"
Leaving just those words behind, blue flames suddenly burst from the soles of Henry's feet, instantly propelling both himself and Rapunzel who was in his arms, up in the air.
A resounding explosion echoed in the skies as Henry's figure blurred and disappeared from the naked eye.
Although bringing Rapunzel to Master Elias was the most plausible decision to make right now, not only was the tower the closest to their location compared to Lioncrest Kingdom that are thousands of miles away from them but Henry's guts were telling him that it would be better to bring Rapunzel back to the tower and settle things there with Mother Gothel.
"Just hold on for a bit, Rapunzel. We're getting closer." Henry murmured to himself, pushing his flames to their limits, their size and the force intensified ten times.
Henry could hear the near-deafening explosions behind him.
———
Meanwhile, Mother Gothel stood in the middle of Rapunzel's room, holding a silver goblet filled with wine in her hand. Her face looked wrinkly compared to yesterday, it's as if she just aged ten years in a single day.
From time to time, she whispered a chant under her breath, renewing the dark curse she placed on her Rapunzel.
"You should be here any moment now, my dear Rapunzel…" She murmured, twirling the goblet of wine in her hand.
The curse was of course not enough to kill her but it sure is enough to cause her tremendous pain the longer the curse stays. She also whispered something directly into her ears through her magical means.
Now the magician who's with her should be smart enough to determine the best solution to help Rapunzel.
As for how she knew Rapunzel was with a magician? It's simple, she just asked one of the ruffians in the tavern with a lovely dagger pointed directly at his large nose before the old man spilled everything after slightly sobering up.
She then heard everything that is needed to hear, how Rapunzel first wandered into the tavern all by herself before a mysterious noble-looking man appeared and threatened them all with a single spark of blue flames on his hand.
Hearing about the blue flames instantly rang bells inside her mind. Only a rare few magicians are capable of unleashing such intensity of flames with ease.
"An Expert Magician. Didn't think I'd witness one at such a young age…" She murmured under her breath before clicking her tongue, "But I wonder, what made someone of such stature take interest in my Rapunzel?"
The worst possible reason came to her mind, "Could it be…He figured out that Rapunzel is not a normal person? Or did the King hire a capable Magician to search for her?"
Her previous calm composure started to strain as her overthinking started to overwhelm her emotions. She placed the goblet on a nearby table before clenching her fists.
"I'll kill him once he gets here. No one gets in my way to endless youth."
Suddenly, her ears picked up a sound of crackling outside, the unmistakable sound of flaring flames.
Her lips turned into a curved smile as she grabbed her dagger and hid behind a curtain. From the gap of the curtain, she watched as a man descended inside, the flames on his boots spewing sporadically before stopping the moment his feet were a few inches from the wooden floorboards.
Gothel watched as the man scanned his eyes around the empty area, the familiar figure of Rapunzel covered with a cloak rested on his arms—she could recognize her golden hair from a distance, the only difference was that her hair was arranged into a single large braid decorated with flower ornaments.
'The curse I afflicted on her should make her unconscious from the pain. I'll make this quick and kill this man. Once she wakes up, I'll just tell her left her in my care…' Once the decision was made, she slowly pushed the curtains out of her way, sneakily making her way towards the back of the man.
When she was a few steps away, she raised the dagger up in the air, the metal blade of the dagger was laced with a strong poison that could even take down a bear.
She brought it down and the tip of the blade instantly met the man's left shoulder, she pushed the dagger and embedded it further into his flesh.
Puchi!
"Gah!" The man cried out in pain, falling on the ground along with Rapunzel who rolled to the side, away from the two of them.
When the man turned around revealing his surprised and pained expression, "What are you doing!?" He cried out to her, holding his shoulder as he winced in pain.
Bearing a cold expression, Mother Gothel approached the fallen man, "Took you long enough to arrive with my daughter." She raised the bloodied dagger and pointed it at him, "Tell me, what are your intentions with her, you also seek her powers don't you? You want to use her too?"
She chuckled evilly, "Well too bad for you, you're late. She's already mine and will serve me and my youth for eternity." She crouched and stared directly into the man's eyes, "It's unfortunate, such a capable magician at a young age, and yet you're going to fall into my hands all because you tried to take what's mine."
Finally, the man spoke with a fear-laced tone, "W-Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Coincidentally, the sunlight from outside the window touched his face, highlighting the scared expression on his face.
Which made Gothel smile in glee, "I almost forgot how satisfying it was to kill youngsters like you. Back then, I hadn't discovered the flower yet and had to resort to killing children to restore my youth with dark magic. I was once a witch that the old mothers sang to their children at night."
"It's unfortunate I had to abandon all of it for Rapunzel's sake. And I won't risk anything that would let her get away from me, not after everything I've done—taking her away from her real parents when she was still a mere babe."
"You kidnapped her?"
Gothel scoffed at that, "Don't describe it in such a vulgar word. I did what was necessary, I just took what was mine!"
All of a sudden, Gothel noticed something unusual. The poison should've taken effect by now, even a strong man would die from the poison in under 10 seconds. And yet, a few minutes had passed and the boy was still on the ground, breathing and looking just fine, even his face looked healthy like nothing was happening to him.
That's when his lips turned into a slight curve that she finally realized that something was wrong. And she was right as the familiar voice of her daughter rang behind her.
"H-How could you?"
When she turned around in a flash, the blood on her face drained the moment she saw Rapunzel's eyes staring back at her in fear and disbelief.
"Rapunzel? You were awake all this time?" She nervously asked, hoping she had just recently woken up and didn't hear everything from the start.
"…I've been awake from the moment Henry brought me here…" Rapunzel shakily stood from the ground, her slightly pale face glaring at her slightly, "Is it true? Everything you just said?"
"Did you kidnap me from my real parents? Did you really do all those things you just said?"
With a nervous gulp, she tried to approach Rapunzel, stretching her arms towards her, "C-Come now, Rapunzel. You know Mother would never do that. I was just scaring the boy—"
"LIAR!"
Mother Gothel instantly took a step back, staring at Rapunzel in disbelief as the girl's braided hair started to glow in a golden intensity that she had never seen before.
Rapunzel's pale face suddenly regained color, her shaky legs turned steady and her eyes now gained a golden hue, especially on her pupils.
Something inside Mother Gothel's mind snapped, more specifically the link of the dark curse she placed upon Rapunzel was broken.
"No." Another realization settled in on her. She was feeling weak! Extremely weak. Her legs were turning into jelly while her silky smooth hands were suddenly turning wrinkly.
"No! No!" She quickly tried to cover her face, staggering towards the nearest mirror, and what she saw made her lose all will.
Her face has turned even more wrinkly than before, her hair has turned white and there was even a sign of white blindness in the pupils of her eyes.
"No! This can't be! What have you done!? Ah! Rapunzel!" With an angry shriek, she launched herself at Rapunzel, the latter widening her eyes in surprise.
Before she could think, her body instinctively jumped to the side. The moment she moved away, the first thing that Gothel saw was the wide-open window with the sunlight blinding her.
She could no longer stop herself, her momentum was already at its peak. Even Rapunzel, who recovered after jumping aside found her mouth gaping at the scene.
Amidst the eyes of Rapunzel and Henry, the old witch that has tormented and trapped the lost Princess of Corona Kingdom, met her fate.
She fell.
———————————
[Honestly, I wanted to make Gothel a great villain for MC but I feel like it would be a bit unrealistic and unnecessarily stretch out the Tangled arc. So I decided to balance it out by making her a surprisingly capable villain instead.]
[Tell me your thoughts about this arc. Need feedback for further improvements and so on.]
[Also, just a heads up that the next few chapters will focus on post-tangled arc with a small mix of Lioncrest Kingdom matters, before venturing into the next arc which some of you might not yet know of, it'll be Maleficent, the movie one with Angelina Jolie.]