Reunion at Sea

Old Friend

"Maisie, these outfits are so cute!" Rapunzel said excitedly as Pascal showed off his new chameleon-scaled-pattern clothes. "How do you get them to look so perfectly like the pictures I drew?!"

"That's my secret." Maisie said politely.

"Your Majesty," Maximus walked up to her, looking uncomfortable in his new clothes, "if you don't mind, we of the Royal Guard would prefer to just wear our uniforms."

"Oh, of course! But you need casual wear, too!" Rapunzel grinned. "You're not always on duty, Max!"

"Isn't he?" Pascal smirked.

It had been a week since the animals had turned into human forms, and they all seemed to have adjusted well. So well, in fact, that as soon as Hamuel got changed into the "Brotherhood-style" outfit that Maisie had made him, he walked out to go join the others with guarding Varian and Rapunzel hadn't seen him since.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Ruddiger since he got his new clothes, either. He'd said he had someone to see and then left without another word. She hoped he was okay.

--

Ruddiger had to admit, the Saporian Maisie had a lot of talent. The clothes he'd asked him to create for him turned out perfectly and, being here in these clothes, this human body, it was almost like those way-too-many years hadn't happened. But they did happen. This forest wasn't there before, that stream wasn't there, there used to be a town in this spot here but it's been erased by time, far too much time. He ran his gloved fingers across a tree as he passed it and then looked to the side, towards a tunnel. He'd never been to this spot himself, but he knew what it was. He walked over and stepped through the tunnel, shivering a bit at the aura he sensed.

She was here.

He stepped out and looked around, then walked over to look over the ruins of the tower that Gothel had kept Princess Rapunzel in for all of her formative years.

"Are you here, Miss Gothel?" He asked softly, kneeling down to pick up a painting of her, a piece of the wall Rapunzel spent her entire childhood decorating.

"Figures I'd find you snooping around here."

Ruddiger gasped and looked up, then turned to face the speaker as he stood up. "Lucas." He growled.

"Regulus." He walked over to him, his hands clasped behind his back. "What brings you here, hm?"

"I'm confirming a theory." Ruddiger said, eyeing him warily. "And you?"

"Ah, well, I fully intended to just leave her alone but, after you had the Saporians ward the chamber, I have to do some unpleasant things, like bothering a resting woman to get her to rejoin our Mistress's side."

"Don't you think, if Gothel wanted anything to do with Zhan Tiri anymore, she would've been working to free her long before you were unsealed during the blizzard?" Ruddiger raised an eyebrow.

"Hm, perhaps. Or perhaps she was too focused on herself to consider the thought." Lucas walked up close to him and stopped, smiling slyly. "How nostalgic, seeing you in those clothes. You know, you were once her favorite."

"She turned me into a raccoon for wanting to go home." Ruddiger frowned. "Why are you so invested in this, anyway? You've never cared for her beyond her being your employer. As long as you got to keep up your twisted games, you didn't care what she did. So, why did you join her against Demanitus? Why are you doing all this now?"

Lucas chuckled and leaned in closer, making Ruddiger step back. "You still ask too many questions like a child. I've always liked that about you." He playfully patted his cheek. "I want to bring her back so chaos will reign again. That's all. She will create a lawless world and people like me will be free to play however we like. Corona will be reduced to ruins and its citizens will scatter like mice and I am the waiting cat watching them run and licking my lips in anticipation for that first...delicious...bite." He snapped his teeth at him and laughed, stepping back. "Ah, you should see your face! You used to be more fun." He walked past him, his hands clasped behind his back again. "What happened to you, hm? Why did you decide to turn on her for a Kingdom you had nothing to do with? You already destroyed Saporia, what was one more Kingdom? Why was that the final straw?"