[Apologies for the short notice. But I'd like to announce that there is a public poll regarding the name of the Federation available to everyone in my p*atreon page. It's public so even if you're not a member, you're free to vote!]
——————————
Rapunzel ran towards the window after recovering, watching her false mother fall to her death, turning into ash right before slamming onto the ground.
"Mother…" She murmured under her breath, looking solemn for she had killed someone for the first time, albeit indirectly. Suddenly, she remembered something.
"Henry!" Turning around, her worry turned into disbelief.
Henry was standing in front of her, his face no longer bearing the expression of pain, instead, he looked fine, as if a poison-laced dagger hadn't recently stabbed him. However, what truly caught her by surprise was the small golden tiara with various embedded gemstones resting on Henry's fingers.
"I suppose this is yours, Princess…" Hearing his words, Rapunzel gaped as she unconsciously approached him, reaching out for the tiara before slowly placing it above her head.
She looked to her side, staring straight at herself through the mirror—she looked stunning, the tiara made her look like a princess out of a fairy tale book. She tilted her head cutely as her lips curved into a soft smile.
She opened her mouth to speak, "I look so—" before getting interrupted by Henry.
"Beautiful? Yes you are, Princess…" Henry approached her from behind, he too staring at Rapunzel through the mirror.
Now that he was in the picture, Rapunzel couldn't help but find themselves appealing, they looked like a King and a Queen when standing close together like this.
Realizing her thoughts, Rapunzel's cheeks gained a tint of redness, feeling embarrassed from seeing Henry in that sort of way.
After a brief silence between them, Rapunzel finally spoke, "You knew all along?"
"…Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me at the beginning when we first met? Why do you have to go through all that trouble instead of telling me the truth?" She was asking a genuine question, not a hint of blame nor condemn could be found from her tone.
"Because I want you to find out the truth yourself. Would you have believed me if I told you that your mother kidnapped you as an infant? That she sees you not as her daughter but as a valuable treasure to keep her youth forever?"
Rapunzel's lips thinned, he had a point. If it were back before all the mess that just happened today, she might've mistaken him for a lying fool.
"Rapunzel, you are the lost princess of Corona Kingdom, the daughter of the King and Queen who never stopped believing that you'll come back in their arms someday." Henry reached out to her, softly settling his palm on her shoulder, "I made a promise to your father that I'll find you and help you find your way back…"
"They never stopped believing?" Rapunzel turned around to face him straight into his eyes, "Even until now? When years have already passed?"
Henry simply nodded his head, no amount of words would be enough to describe it. So he decided to let her own words sink in instead.
"Then why now? Why not before? When I was a child? Why do I have to wait 17 years before finding out the truth?"
"…I don't have an answer to that, Rapunzel. Perhaps because it's fate? Or maybe something else entirely?" Henry doesn't blame her one bit. Rapunzel had the right to ask those questions. The only problem was that they would go unanswered.
"Well…If it's fate that did this. Then I'm just glad it's all over now…" Rapunzel discreetly tried to hide the disappointment in her tone, not towards Henry for being unable to answer her question that should've satisfied her, but because of her lack of action. She wondered what would have happened if she had decided to escape sooner than yesterday, maybe if she had done so a few years back, it wouldn't have been fate that had to pull the strings to give her a happy ending.
"Are you ready to go back now? It's time to leave…" Facing Henry's words, Rapunzel shook her head, "Give me a few minutes, is that okay?"
Albeit curious, Henry nodded his head, "Of course, take your time. Just tell me when you're ready." With that being said, he walked towards the open window and sat.
Rapunzel then went on to roam around the room, finding herself lost in staring at the room she had been living in for 17 years straight. This is where she spent her entire life, and now she was about to leave it all behind.
It's natural for her to feel an attachment to the place, even if it was filled with memories that had now turned into painful ones. The laughs, the cuddles, and everything that she happily had with Mother Gothel in this very same room now hurt her. It was all fake, a fake smile, fake warmth hugs, all of it.
"Goodbye…room. I guess." Rapunzel then closed her eyes, unmoving for a brief moment before opening them again but this time, there was a determined look on her face.
She turned around and nodded at Henry, "I'm ready, let's leave."
Henry stood from the window nook, "I thought you were gonna insist on staying. Not like I'm going to stop you though."
She nodded, "I was thinking also thinking of it at first but I guess it's better for me to leave my past entirely. It would make it easier for me to move on and face my future."
"Didn't expect you to be this wise considering your age and you've been isolated without any other contact aside from the witch."
Rapunzel blushed slightly, trying to wave his compliments off, "I-I just like reading books, I guess that's where most of my knowledge comes from."
She continued, "Say, I'm curious how did you survive getting stabbed in the back? I don't see any wounds aside from the hole in your shirt."
"Of course, it's magic."
"I wonder if I could also do that."
"Please tell me you're not going to attempt stabbing yourself?"
"Of course not! Do I look like an idiot?
"Well…"
"Well what?"
"Nothing."
———
King Frederic of the Corona Kingdom sat in a redwood chair as he watched his wife tend to her garden as usual every morning.
She looked peaceful, even humming her favourite tune.
This was one of the rare moments that would make his wife forget about the burden of losing their daughter for a short while. So Frederic tends to clear all of his schedule at this exact point in time just to be with his lovely wife.
The entire moment was near perfect, that is until the doors to the garden behind him were slammed open, one of the Kingdom's knights running straight to him with ragged breathing.
"Breathe son. Take your time and tell me what happened?" Even though the peaceful atmosphere was ruined, Frederic couldn't find it within himself to get mad. There's no reason for a knight of the Kingdom to barge through the doors of the royal garden unless it is an absolute emergency that requires his attention.
After recovering, the knight finally spoke, "T-There's something you need to see, Your Grace. There is a lady outside who is claiming to be your…"
"My what?" Frederic leaned forward, there was a bubbling feeling of hope inside his heart that was on the verge of bursting any moment.
After a brief hesitation, the knight continued with a loud whisper, "—your lost daughter."
The time immediately came to a halt for both the King and Queen.
Even though several people have claimed to be the lost princess in the past but after proving them all as fake who simply wanted to get inside the royal family, and strictly punishing everyone who attempted to do so, the attempts have stopped since then.
Until now.
Frederic remembered the talk he had with Henry, the boy who claimed that his daughter was alive and well, and made a promise that he'd bring her back. His face turned serious as he shot out of the wooden chair, "Bring me to her."
He turned around and saw his wife bearing a hopeful expression, not an ounce of doubt could be seen on her face. No matter how many frauds came to claim their daughter's identity, even if each pained her more than the previous one, she still believed every single one no matter how absurd it sounds.
Truth to be told, even Frederic himself had to admit that it was his wife who had been hurt the most, simply tucking and hiding it under her belief that their daughter would come back someday.
'Perhaps this time, Arianna. Maybe this time your wish will finally come true!'
———
"Nervous?" Standing on the balcony looking over the city of Corona, Henry noticed the fidgeting Rapunzel beside him. She had twirled her unbraided hair for an umpteenth time, clutched her skirt for minutes, and blinked more often than usual. All were obvious indicators when someone feels anxious and nervous.
"D-Do you think they'd still recognize me? What if they think that I'm a fake? What if they don't believe that I'm their true daughter? Henry…I-I don't know what I'll do if that happe—" Before she could further spiral out of nervousness, Henry cut her off.
"Rapunzel. Trust me, once they see you, especially your mother, she will pull you into her arms before you can greet them."
Hearing him speak with such confidence slightly reduced her anxiety. Only for it to come bouncing back when the doors to the balcony were pushed open, striding in were two figures, King Frederic and Queen Arianna.
When they saw Rapunzel, the latter straight back at them. There was silence at first and true to Henry's words, before Rapunzel could utter a word, the woman who looked exactly like her but with auburn hair rushed towards her—pulling the long-lost princess who had finally returned into a hug.
"Rapunzel! My daughter! It's really you!" The woman sobbed entirely, while King Frederic was fighting back to hold his tears, simply walking forward and hugging the two of his most precious loved ones into a bear hug.
Finally, even Rapunzel couldn't hold back her tears and cried, pulling her head deeper into her true mother's hug, "I'm back…"
Watching this scene, Henry slowly turned around, 'This is the part where they would drag me to their family hug. I guess that's my cue to leave—' He wasn't even able to finish his thoughts before a hand quickly pulled him into the hug, squishing him between Rapunzel and her mother.
'Great.' He sighed to himself before surrendering completely to the hug. Not like there's any reason for him to resist.
———
At Master Elias's study, the old man himself was staring outside the window. His hands behind his back and eyes looking directly into the blue skies, "How unfortunate of you, Gothel. Years of experience in dark and curse magic had been lost today. That's progress to end all knowledge of such vile magic I guess. The era of white magic is about to come, and it's all thanks to you, young Henry."
He turned around and went back inside his study room, on his table sat a single paper with various names inscribed.
Some names were larger than the others, while some were crossed out, as if they were eliminated from the list.
Among the list, a certain name stands out.
{Gothel Esther}
Master Elias traced the surface of the paper with his hand, feeling the ink of the inscribed name with his fingers. The moment he slowly dragged his index finger starting from the left side of Gothel's name, a new ink was being written upon in the form of a line—a line that is placed horizontally in the middle of Gothel's full name.
"That's one out. Many more to go." As he murmured under his breath, Master Elias's eyes went upwards, scrolling through the long list of names until he arrived at the very top of the paper where two enlarged words are engraved like a title.
[The Coven]
———————————————
[Now that's what I call a big reveal. So, what do you guys think of it? I'm sure you can all figure out what the reveal at the end is and its role in the entire story. Last but not the least, we finally got to know more about Henry's enigma of a master. At least a portion of his true goal but it's a progress to the story itself.]
[Now some of you might find The Coven a bit familiar so I'll say it now, I took inspiration from another Disney fanfic, unfortunately, the author had taken it down for unknown reasons without finishing the story. So I decided to add it on mine since it was such a good part of the story.]