18 November 2022
Fridays have generally been pretty good for me when it comes to writing during Nanowrimo. Even though I didn’t get as much as I had the week before, there’s still a lot I got done.
As you will see, I initially planned on having Gothel burst out of the Tower while they’re still there. Then I remembered that the capital is a week journey or more away, especially given Aurora’s health issues, and it didn’t feel realistic for them to keep dodging a dragon for that long. So I changed it to where Aurora wounds Gothel (with the Tower’s help… or such was the plan, at least), and it’s only later, when they’ve nearly arrived, that Gothel snaps and busts out her dragon form.
Of course, now I’ve changed things where they’re not even going to the capital, necessarily, but another village a day or two away. I haven’t decided how I’m going to change things because of that; no matter what happens, Aurora still wounds Gothel, but I might change it back so she bursts out right as they leave. That’s all business for after Nanowrimo, though.
Also, on the clip with Maleficent… I’d initially planned on that happening before her first duel with Aurora. And then somehow, in the short span of writing it, I forgot that, and started acting like it was after that duel, but before their next confrontation. And while I portray the Tower as female here, when I considered options - in particular the idea that the Tower might sacrifice themselves in someway for Aurora, whether to get her out of the frozen time state or to save her parents - I decided it would be better to have it be a male parental figure, this time. Hannah already represented the sacrifice of mothers, and I wanted to show that’s not a gender exclusive.
Aurora burst through the doorway onto the stairs. “Reception room, please!”
The stairs began moving up like an escalator, and the Tower created various walls and doors behind her to block Gothel’s way. Aurora took a second to catch her breath, then she began to head up the moving staircase.
Behind her, Gothel’s screams and shouts grew more and more bestial. Just as Aurora reached the reception room, Gothel screamed, “Shut the windows!”
Aurora groaned when the window sealed itself shut. She took only a split second to consider her options before she darted back up the stairs for her painting studio.
Every step Gothel took now shook the entire Tower. Aurora prayed desperately that the secret entrance Isaac had used was still there; when she saw the doorway in the back, she heaved a sigh of relief. Once she made it through the door, the stairs had been converted to a steep slide, and without a second thought Aurora hurled herself down it.
Gothel’s voice roared down the passage after her. “Even the Tower… The Tower’s helping her… She’s stolen the Tower from me!”
There was a great crash, and the walls around Aurora started to collapse. She screamed, but a moment later the Tower dumped her outside at the bottom. When she looked back, though, she was shocked to see a dragon had burst out of the top of the Tower.
When animals had started running out of the Tower, Phillip was confused. Then he recognized little Fenrir and scooped the puppy up; maybe Aurora had decided to let them loose, since she wouldn’t be coming back to the Tower?
A moment later, the Tower began to shake, and piles of books and things started coming out. Phillip hurried to pack as many of them as would fit onto the horses; in particular, he made a point to grab all of the King Arthur series.
Then he watched in fear and amazement as a massive dragon with dark blue scales burst from the top of the Tower, sending stone flying everywhere, a moment before Aurora rolled out of the base of it.
She seemed as stunned by the dragon as Phillip was, and one stone came within inches of crashing into her. Phillip snapped out of it and grabbed her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here!”
Aurora nodded and the two mounted their horses. Unfortunately, the dragon noticed them and they narrowly avoided a spurt of flame as they fled into the forest.
(After Aurora’s duel with Maleficent, while she’s stuck in broken time.)
Aurora sank to her knees at the sight. This was her fault, wasn’t it? After she’d wounded Gothel. The dam finally broke, and tears flowed down her cheeks. She’d deserved getting trapped like this. Everyone would have been better off if she’d never been born.
“Don’t cry, little one.”
Aurora gasped and spun around. A tall woman in a slender silver dress stood there, hands clasped in front of her. She had dirty-blonde hair, pulled back in a bun. Aurora had never seen the woman before, but something about her seemed so familiar. “Who are you?”
The woman’s smile turned a little impish. “You don’t recognize me?”
Aurora shook her head. The woman chuckled. “I can’t exactly blame you.” She gestured to the rubble all around them. “This was me.”
“You… wait.” Aurora’s eyes widened. “The Tower?”
“That’s right.”
“I… You’re alive!? I mean, I always knew you were somewhat alive, but not like this. Alive alive.”
Tower chuckled. “In a manner of speaking, I suppose.”
“How…” Aurora slumped back. After a moment, she asked, “Do you have a name?”
Tower shrugged. “It’s been so long. Tower works well enough for me.”
Aurora ran her fingers through her hair, still trying to process everything. The Tower looked behind her. “I see you finally had your hair cut. Properly, I mean, not just hacked off the way your brother did when you first left.”
“Yeah… yeah.” A small blush colored Aurora’s cheeks. “I guess it must have been pretty tiring, hauling all that hair around everywhere?”
“I was a tower. I can’t say I had any muscles that would get tired.”
That got a chuckle out of Aurora, but then she frowned. “What were you before? I mean, I assume you weren’t always a tower, were you?”
Tower shook her head. “No. But whatever I was before is so old, so distant and long ago, that I do not remember much of anything.” She tousled Aurora’s hair. “Not that I care much about that. Taking care of you has been happiness enough.”
That sent a jolt of pride through Aurora, though it soon faded. Auror curled in on herself and leaned against the Tower. “I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure I’m a terrible person.”
Tower frowned and looked down at her. “What makes you say that?”
So Aurora told her the story of everything that had happened since she’d left the first time. Of collapsing on the road, and facing the fact she was born sick. Of meeting her birth parents, and the way they’d sacrificed themselves for her. The way she felt guilty, since she’d never even tried to reach them before, when they’d been searching for her for so long. Of the ideas she’d had with fate-spinning, and the warning after warning both Maleficent and Isaac had given her. The way Isaac and everyone else in the kingdom were in the middle of fighting a dragon. All because of her. And how all of that had ended with her, here, trapped in a moment of time.
“Sometimes, it feels like the world would be better off without me,” she concluded.
(Sometime after Aurora and Maleficent’s duel)
The hedge of thorns wasn’t just to keep Aurora out. No, Maleficent worked best in isolation, and this was the most natural way to her to block out the outside world. Even with Gothel rampaging around as a dragon just outside, Maleficent could focus on what needed to be done.
And she needed to focus; like she’d told Aurora earlier, fate-spinning was delicate work. And she would not let Hannah and her family suffer simply because Maleficent carelessly chose to clip a thread sixteen years ago.
As for what would happen when Hannah woke up… Maleficent would deal with that when the time came. Hopefully that fool girl would find a way back on her own; even Maleficent wasn’t sure she’d be able to save her if she couldn’t.
(Back to the chase in the Tower)
As she ran, Aurora noticed the lengths of her old hair running all along the stairway, and she got an idea. She hurried on to the paint room.
Gothel struggled to keep her emotions under control. Her thought flashed from that witch, the one who stole away her sisters, to Rapunzel. Then she shook her head. No, they were not the same. …Weren’t they?
She called out again, “Rapunzel! Come out, come out, wherever you are. Everything can be alright again! It must. So it’s not the time for games, dear!”
Soon, she arrived at the door to Rapunzel’s paint studio and heaved a sigh of relief. Of course! She was just working on a new project. Everything would be the same, everything would be back to normal. Rapunzel would still be her Rapunzel, not that witchy one.
She opened the door and sniffed; yes, Rapunzel was here. When Gothel stepped into the room, though, something, it felt like a rope or a bundle of string, pulled across the doorway, and Gothel tripped.
Above her, Rapunzel’s voice was firm. “My name is Aurora. My mother gave it to me. And don't you forget it.”
Then something solid struck the side of Gothel’s head, and she fell unconscious.
Gothel awoke back in her bed several days later. The Tower had prepared food for her, but she had no appetite.
“My name is Aurora.”
Gothel flashed back to an image of a baby, and a king and queen. Aurora. Then that witch, from all those years ago, had appeared.
“No! No! Stop!” Gothel clutched her head and tried to shove the memories back down. She didn’t want to remember. She didn’t want to see Johanna, now wrinkly and gap-toothed, giggling like a madwoman. She didn’t want to see the drool dripping form the corner of Agatha’s mouth, or Laura cowering in the corner at the slightest sound.
“My mother gave it to me. And don’t you forget it.”
No. No, that can’t be right. She was Rapunzel’s mother, wasn’t she? Hadn’t she looked after her all these years?
Or had she? Memories started coming again, more recent ones. Times when Rapunzel and the Tower had calmed her down when she had an episode. The way Rapunzel never came to her when she needed help; she went to the Tower. Even when Rapunzel was a babe, when Gothel didn’t know what she needed, it was the Tower that fed her, changed her diapers, taken care of the child.
The Tower. Gothel scowled. It was supposed to do her bidding, and yet with a wave of her hand Rapunzel had summoned doors and walls to bar her way. Then she remembered the boy - Isaac. How had he gotten in? How had he landed safely after Gothel threw him out?
Gothel’s mil-white eyes widened. It was the Tower. The Tower had turned against her; it had chosen Rapunzel over her.
The images of Maleficent and Rapunzel blended together again, and this time Gothel didn’t fight to keep them separate. Everyone betrayed her. Even the Tower. She let out a roar, and began to transform.
(Shortly after leaving the Tower the first time)
“Are we almost there yet, by any chance?”
Isaac and Phillip shared a look, then stared at Rapunzel, incredulous. “You really never have set foot outside your Tower, have you?” said Isaac.
“What? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question,” Rapunzel said, growing defensive. “You two have been going back and forth over the last two weeks, so it can’t be too far.”
“Oh, you mean the inn,” Phillip said. “Then sure, we’re close. It’s only about another hour or so.”
Rapunzel almost stopped in her tracks. Another hour? The inn? And that was considered close?
Isaac glanced at her and sighed. “Look, the castle is about a week away on foot. If we can get you a horse in the village, that’ll cut it down to four days or so.” Then he narrowed his eyes and looked at her. “Except… you’ve never ridden a horse, have you?”
Rapunzel looked away. “So what if I haven’t?”
Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)