Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My name is Flynn Rider. 

But that’s not important right now; this is a story about the Avatar. Who-slash-what is the Avatar, you ask? Why is this all being explained to me by a handsome, world famous thief of all people? Don’t worry, we’ll get to all that. But for now, let’s start at the beginning. 

Not too long ago, the world was at peace—all four kingdoms living together in harmony. There’s the kingdom of Water to the east, Earth to the north, Fire to the west, and Air to the south. Sounds nice right? Well it was, until the day the Water Kingdom, known to some as the Dark Kingdom, got ahold of this nifty little jewel called the Moonstone. It corrupted the king and caused these black rocks to sprout up out of the ground, making the land unable to support life. 

The Avatar, who I mentioned earlier, probably could have stopped the Dark Kingdom from spiralling out of control. See, the Avatar is the only person who can bend all four elements, and it was his job to keep balance between the kingdoms. Only thing is, when the world needed him most, he vanished. 

Eighteen years have passed and these black rocks have been popping up all over the place. They used to stay within the bounds of the Dark Kingdom, but now they’re everywhere—and I mean everywhere. Earth Kingdom, Fire Kingdom, Air Kingdom, and all the area in between.

Some people think that the Avatar will show up any day now to stop the rocks and save us all. Some think he died and was never reborn. What do I think? Well, I like a good heroic tale as much as the next guy… but I know better than to count on someone else to save me.

🜁 🜄 🜃 🜂

Nearly eighteen years ago, in the Fire Kingdom of Corona, in the dead of night, a baby was stolen from her cradle, from her parents, and from her destiny. She was searched for and searched for, but no one could find her, and so the entire kingdom mourned the loss of this child. Even if she wasn’t dead, she was lost from those who love her. 

The woman who stole the child didn’t care about her, not really. She only cared for the power the girl possessed. A power passed down from mother to child, the byproduct of a miracle. This power gave the girl the ability to heal, to change, to turn back time itself. Using this child—this power—for herself, the woman was able to stay young and beautiful and powerful.

And what a dangerous combination that was.

🜁 🜄 🜃 🜂

It had been nearly eighteen years since the day a particularly special baby was kidnapped in Corona. Flynn Rider didn’t realize this. He actually never really thought about the kid—she was nearly an adult now—except for once a year when the kingdom put on a fancy firebending display in memorial of her. And since he wouldn’t be reminded of her for another day or so, he didn’t recognize that he stood directly above the scene of the kidnapping. What he did do was close his eyes, throw his arms out, and take a deep, relaxed breath. It was, however, forced unevenly right back out of him as a large hand grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the edge of the roof.

“Don’t do nothin’ to get yourself killed ‘til after we take the crown,” said the brawny man who pulled him back. Another man stood behind that one, nearly identical, save for the eyepatch, the way his hair was parted, and the lack of ridiculously large sideburns. 

“A guy can’t take a moment to admire the view?” Flynn asked and gestured behind him to what was essentially the entire kingdom. From his viewpoint on top of the castle roof, he could see people wandering around the marketplace, ships docking at the harbor, trees on the mainland blurring the horizon, not to mention the endless deep blue sky, reaching out over all of them.

“Not with all these guards walking about,” Sideburns replied gruffly.

“Fine,” Flynn said, with what could almost be considered a pout. “But when I get my share of the riches, I’m going to buy my own castle. And I’ll sit on top of it for as long as I like.”

🜁 🜄 🜃 🜂

A few miles away, in a tower, in a clearing, in the middle of a forest, Rapunzel was playing Für Elise. Not on a piano, like one would typically expect it to be played. No, she played it on the windchimes. She had around twenty strings of them strung up all around her room—which together, added to all the notes found on a piano and then some. Most of the chimes were nowhere near her window, where the outside breeze could reach them. That wasn’t a problem, however, seeing as Rapunzel could create her own windflow. She manipulated and twisted it so the windcatcher would lead the striker to hit the tube with the correct note at just the right time. 

Rapunzel bowed to a nonexistent standing ovation as her song finished. She gathered up her sheet music—she didn’t really need it since she had played each song enough times to commit them to memory—and put it away on a shelf. She looked around the room for Pascal, and found him by the fireplace. The little chameleon-gator was sitting in the little chameleon-gator-sized elevator she’d made for him. He didn’t really need Rapunzel’s contraptions to move around, having toes that could grab on well to almost anything, but they were fun to ride in. And since Rapunzel had all sorts of airbending gadgets all over the tower, Mother never wondered why she had a chameleon-gator-sized elevator. Or a chameleon-gator-sized ferris wheel. Or a chameleon-gator-sized airglider.

Rapunzel pushed a small gust of wind through the mechanism, activating the lift. She walked over to the mantle and scooped up her friend. “Mother will be coming soon, Pascal,” she said to him. “Do you think I should bring up the lights? I’ll be eighteen. Do you think she’ll let me go?”

He nodded his head encouragingly.

“Oh, but what if she says no? What if she says yes? I’ve never been outside this tower.”

She paused and took Pascal’s opinions on the matter into consideration.

“You’re right. I do want to go see the lights more than anything else in the world. It’s been my dream ever since I can remember.

“Rapunzel!” A voice called from the bottom of the tower and echoed around as Rapunzel dropped all the wind she was holding throughout the room. “Let down your hair!”

“Oh! That’s her,” Rapunzel said, setting Pascal down. “I’ll do it. I’m gonna ask her.”

Pascal gave her a supportive smile then climbed up the wall and shifted his coloring to blend into the surroundings. Rapunzel went over to the window and threw her seventy-foot-long blond hair over the hook at the top, letting the rest fall down to the ground beneath the tower. Mother gathered up enough hair to hold on to and signalled for Rapunzel to pull her up. She climbed through the window and made a dramatic show of removing her cloak, then sauntered over to Rapunzel.

“Oh, Rapunzel!” Mother said, petting the golden hair on the sides of her face. “It must be such a chore to do that everyday.”

“It’s nothing, Mother,” Rapunzel lied.

“Then I don’t see why it takes so long. Ha ha! I’m only teasing you.” Mother unpacked her basket, setting fruits, vegetables, cheese, and embroidery thread on the table.

Rapunzel looked away and mumbled, “I could do it faster if you let me use my airbending when you’re here.”

“Speak up, dear,” Mother said without even a glance at her. “You know how I feel about mumbling.”

“Sorry, Mother. It’s nothing,” Rapunzel said and joined Mother by the table. She saw the entire contents of the basket scattered across the table. And Mother had a mean frown on her face. 

“Where are the carrots?” Mother asked herself aloud. “I was sure I bought some. Now I’ll have to go back to the market.” 

“Why don’t I sing for you? Before you go,” Rapunzel offered, trying to get her mother back into a somewhat decent mood. There was no way she could talk to Mother about the lights when she was already upset. And Rapunzel was afraid that if she didn’t ask her now, she’d never gather up enough courage to try again.

“Alright,” Mother agreed and dropped herself down onto a chair from the table, turned out toward the room. Rapunzel ran to grab a hairbrush and knelt on the floor in front of her. 

As Mother began to brush her hair, Rapunzel sang, soft but strongly, 

“Flower gleam and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine

“Heal what has been hurt

Change the fates’ design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

“What once was mine”

The grey in Mother’s hair darkened back into an inky black. The wrinkles on her face smoothed out as her skin stretched back to a youthful, glowing complexion. The color in her eyes seemed to deepen, something wicked fading into the depths.

Rapunzel turned around to face Mother and said, “So my birthday’s tomorrow and I’m going to be eighteen and that’s a pretty big deal right? I mean, it’s not everyday that-”

Mother interrupted with an exasperated sigh. “Get to the point, Rapunzel.”

Rapunzel took a deep breath then blurted out, “I want to go to see the glowing lights.”

“You want to see the... what, the stars?” Mother asked with an eyebrow arched. 

“No,” Rapunzel said, running over to the wall where she’d painted the lights, “there’s these lights that appear in the sky. And it happens every year on my birthday! So I thought maybe this year you could take me to go see them.”

Mother scoffed, “You know you can’t go outside. What have I told you about the world out there?”

“It’s too dangerous,” Rapunzel said to the floor.

“And?”

“If I go outside the firebenders could find me and burn my hair. But-”

“Firebenders are nothing to laugh at, Rapunzel. They’re dangerous. And they’re everywhere. They don’t call Corona the Fire Kingdom for nothing, you know.”

Rapunzel did what she could to try and calm herself. It was never good to cry in front of Mother. “I just thought…” she began, not knowing how to finish the sentiment in a way that would matter to Mother.

Mother approached Rapunzel and combed the hair away from her eyes with her fingers. “Rapunzel,” she said, “you know these rules are only to keep you safe.”

“Yes, mother,” Rapunzel said, leaning, as much as she could, into the touch.

“Oh, I just don’t know what I would do if anything were to happen to you!” Mother cried.

Rapunzel slotted a weak smile onto her face. “Don’t worry, Mother,” she said. “Nothing will happen to me. As long as I stay here, I’ll be safe.”

Soon after, Mother was descending the tower, on her way back to the market. Rapunzel scooped up Pascal and set him on her shoulder with a sigh. She gathered the ingredients that Mother didn’t forget to buy to take to the kitchen to start the stew. And try and think of a new way to convince Mother to take her to see the lights. She paused that task, however, when she noticed the fire in the fireplace going down. It could get chilly at night, a colder temperature seeping out of the stream below and into her tower. So Rapunzel picked up a couple logs and set them on the fire. 

Back to her original task, she began peeling a potato. Over the years, she’d had much practice peeling, chopping, and cooking. It was an almost mindless task to her. Which worked out well, because her mind was preoccupied daydreaming about the lights. She imagined what it would be like to see them in person. How much more brilliant would they be? Would they give off warmth like the sun did when it shone in her window? A few minutes later, however, after glancing at the fireplace, and then looking back immediately with her full attention this time, Rapunzel dropped whatever vegetable it was she’d been holding. 

“Do you see that?” she asked Pascal.

Pascal nodded in disbelief, but Rapunzel was too busy staring ahead of her to notice his response.

There were tiny fireballs rising out of the fireplace, entering, just barely, into the body of the room before fizzling out of existence. They spun and shone gracefully, casting a warm light over the whole corner of the room. The display looked just like a miniature version of the yearly lights Rapunzel was so fond of.

“How is it doing that?” Rapunzel pondered aloud. She moved closer to the fireplace and knelt down. The lights all made room for her. They continued to swirl around, but none came near enough to be dangerous to her. Rapunzel held out her hand. The lights came to her and levitated above her palm. She focused, and the lights merged together to create a whirling fireball the size of an apple. “I think I’m doing that,” she said in awe.

Pascal chirped at Rapunzel.

“You’re right,” she said, “I… I’m a firebender. I didn’t know people can bend more than one element.”

Pascal chirped again as the fire wavered before them.

“Right. Focus while I’m holding fire,” she paused as the thought sank in. “I’m holding fire! Do you know what this means, Pascal? If I can bend fire, I can learn to protect myself from other firebenders. I can go outside! I can’t wait to tell mother!”

Rapunzel looked to Pascal and saw a chameleon-gator-sized ball of anxiety. She sheepishly set him down with the hand that wasn’t controlling the fire. “I should probably practice controlling fire a bit before mother comes back.”

Pascal nodded in assent.

Rapunzel smiled wider than she'd ever remembered having smiled before. “Oh, she’ll be so proud of me!”

Chapter Text

Flynn Rider was running for his life. This really wasn’t that unusual given his line of work. Thievery involved a lot of cardio. What was unusual was the dragon-horse that was chasing him. Flynn had never seen a dragon-horse with so much… shall we say, personality. This dragon-horse was determined to catch Flynn no matter what it would take. He’d never admit it, but Flynn was actually pretty impressed by the beast. Most human guards didn’t even take their job that seriously. 

Flynn pondered all this as he swerved through the hundreds of trees in the forest, around bushes, through ivy, almost tripping once or twice, but he managed to stay on his feet. It may very well have been better for him to fall, though, because his current position made his left side a great target for one of the guard’s arrows. The tip of it sped across his arm, slashing the skin open. Flynn faltered at the shock of it, but he kept running.

He rounded a corner, having lost his pursuers for a moment, and quickly dove behind a curtain of ivy. He stood still, hiding in the shadows, holding his breath. He heard footsteps moving closer, closer, and hoofsteps moving closer. And closer. And then they all walked right on past him. Flynn leaned back against the wall behind him, except there wasn’t a wall behind him, so he stumbled a bit then turned around and faced a great clearing. He stood in awe of the natural beauty of it for a second, before he registered the fact that the tower standing before him would be the perfect place to hide for a while. Just until the royal guard cleared out and he could make a proper escape.

Flynn approached the structure and circled it, looking for a door. Or a window. Some way for him to enter. He stepped back and looked up. And looked higher. The good news was that he found the window. The bad news? It was at the very top of the very tall tower. He let his breath out in an awed whistle as he weighed his options. He could, of course, forget about the tower, leave the clearing, and be on his way. His way, however, would likely have him crossing paths with the guards again. Or he could try to scale the side of the tower all the way up to the window, with no safety measures to prevent an accidental slip-and-fall. Well, if anyone could climb a tower with their bare hands it was Flynn Rider.

Halfway to the top, Flynn Rider regretted the decision he had made. Not enough to give up and climb back down, but his wounded arm wasn’t too thrilled about helping in the effort to raise his whole body up the tower. The pain was manageable, but there seemed to be more blood than there was before. He should have done something about the wound before he started climbing.

Finally reaching the window’s ledge, he pulled himself up and into the tower. Flynn didn’t see a vaguely woman-shaped shadow approaching behind him. He rolled his shoulder and let out a soft groan at the pain which had dulled from a sharp ache to a more dull throb. He didn’t see the shadow hesitate. He didn’t see that despite this, the shadow still kept the vaguely frying pan-shaped bit of appendage at the ready. Flynn unbuttoned his vest and shirt enough to slide them down just far enough to assess the damage. The cut was pretty small, considering how much it hurt, but it was also deeper that he would have liked. 

Flynn did not put the proper consideration into what he did next. If he had, he would have perhaps, washed out the wound in the stream he’d seen below the tower. He’d have, perhaps, looked around the tower for some medical supplies. What he did instead was panic. He saw the blood and felt the pain and despite his choice of career, he actually didn’t get injured that often. At least not in the open-wound kind of way. So he panicked and summoned a flame in his palm and used it to cauterize the wound. Which, of course, caused the girl behind him to panic and knock him out with her frying pan.

Rapunzel gingerly approached the unconscious man who lay on her floor. Pascal verbally disagreed with this action and mimed firebending.

“I saw. He’s a firebender.”

Rapunzel kept her frying pan close and rolled the man over. He didn’t wake up, so she knelt down and started rooting through his satchel. There were various odds and ends thrown haplessly about the bag, but the thing that caught her eye was a shiny gold circlet adorned with a few even shinier jewels. She’d never seen anything like it. Rapunzel turned it over in her hands, and over again, and she moved to stand in front of her full body mirror and raised the tiara to her head. She turned a bit, admiring how it sat, seemingly weightless atop her golden hair, as if it were the singular place in all the world the tiara was meant to be. 

“Rapunzel! I’m back,” Rapunzel startled and spun around to face the window where Mother’s voice had called from below. She’d known Mother would be back soon, but not this soon . Rapunzel panicked and quickly looked around the room for a place to hide the strange firebender man. She’d tell Mother, of course, but she’d have to wait for the right moment.

“Rapunzel? It’s me. Let down your hair!” Mother called, the patience audibly dissolving out of her more and more with each word.

“I’m coming, Mother!” Rapunzel called back as she flailed about, trying to awkwardly shove the unconscious man into her closet. Once she finally got him situated, she ran toward the window, but stopped in her tracks as she spotted herself in the mirror as she passed it. She ripped the tiara off her head, shoved it back in the satchel, threw the satchel in a chest, and finally made it to the window. She threw her hair down and pulled Mother up. 

“Sorry for the wait, Mother!” Rapunzel said with a smile which was much too big for the rest of her face. “I was in the kitchen cutting vegetables.”

Mother set down the carrots and removed her cloak and raised an eyebrow at the forced cheer on Rapunzel was displaying. She chose to ignore it for now and said to Rapunzel, “Yes, well, now I can take over with the cooking.”

But Rapunzel reached out and halted Mother with a hand on her arm. She dropped it immediately as Mother turned back to her. “I just,” she said, “I wanted to talk to you first.”

Mother sighed dramatically, but acquiesced. “Very well. What is it?”

Rapunzel began excitedly, “So remember what I said earlier about the lights?”

“I thought we already discussed this, Rapunzel.”

“We did, but what you said about the firebenders? I think I know a way to protect myself from them. I can-”

Mother let out a snort. “Protect yourself? Ha!”

“No, but Mother,” Rapunzel continued, holding her hand out and feeling warmth spread over her palm, “I know how I can see the lights. I can-”

“Enough, Rapunzel!” Mother yelled, “You are not leaving this tower. Ever!”

Before a single spark could appear, Rapunzel dropped her hand back down to her side. Her palm no longer held a comforting warmth. It was now closer to the icy, chilling, dread that settled into her gut.

Mother sighed again, and it almost seemed kind this time. “Now I’m the bad guy. See, Rapunzel? What happens when you spend too much time with your head full of stars?”

Rapunzel quickly changed her strategy. “I was just going to say, I could paint them. The stars. On the ceiling maybe. Then I don’t have to go outside. I just need some of that white paint you brought me before. Made from the shells? I was hoping maybe that could be my birthday present instead of…”  She gestured to the window. Mother took the hint. After all, a bit of paint was a small price to pay in exchange for Rapunzel’s continued captivity.

“That’s a three day trip,” Mother said slowly, “Will you be okay here, alone for so long?”

“Yes, Mother,” Rapunzel said, moving closer to Mother, who reached out and held her. “I have everything I need in my tower. And I know I’m safe here.”

Mother stepped back and reached for her cloak, then spotted the carrots. “I could leave now and make it to the next town over by nightfall, but the stew...”

“I can take care of it,” Rapunzel assured her. “And I’ll pack you some food you can take on your trip.” She went to the kitchen and replaced the carrots in Mother’s basket with enough food for three days.

Mother took the basket and pet Rapunzel’s hair with her other hand. “Alright, Rapunzel,” she said, “I’ll be back in three days time.”

Mother pulled up the hood of her cloak and let Rapunzel lower her out the window.

Rapunzel watched until the image of Mother faded into the trees surrounding the clearing, at which point she let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Her thoughts drifted back to the man hidden in her closet; a new problem to solve, perhaps, but if she played her cards right… a possibility. 

She now had three days.

Chapter Text

Flynn Rider slowly eased back into consciousness. The first thing he noticed was that he was tied up. He couldn’t move enough to manipulate himself out of his bonds. Escape options were very limited. 

The second thing he noticed was the hair. The stuff was everywhere. It was what was being used to tie him up. And it was… attached? To someone? He squinted, trying to make out the shape standing in the shadows.

Rider cleared his throat. “Hello?” he called.

“Resistance is futile,” the shadow called back softly.

“What?” Rider asked himself more than his captor. It seemed as though this was going to be one of those kind of days.

“Don’t try to escape,” Rapunzel said, stepping into the light, brandishing her frying pan. “Just tell me who you are and why you’re here. And then, maybe, I’ll let you go.”

Rider was struck speechless for a moment at the sight of her. “Okay,” Rider said, “well…” He tilted his head down, and when he looked at her again, it was with a roguish smile and a tilt of an eyebrow that he thought made him look more attractive. It didn’t have the desired effect, as Rapunzel looked more confused than charmed as he introduced himself, but he continued with the rest of the act anyway. “Call me Flynn. Flynn Rider. And may I just say it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss..?”

Rapunzel hesitated, but gave him her name.

“Rapunzel, huh? Beautiful,” Rider said in a way that made it unclear whether he was referring to the name or the person. “I- wait, where is my satchel?” His eyes darted around the room, trying to spot it.

“I’ve hidden it,” Rapunzel said, with a smile that, on anyone else would denote smugness. But she couldn’t pull off the expression and ended up looking something more akin to endearing.

“Alright, Rapunzel,” Rider said, and, despite his circumstances, he was still in a good mood. He’d been in situations like this before, of course, but never like this . There was something just inherently non-threatening about Rapunzel. But Rider had learned to never underestimate a woman, and he’d learned it the hard way. “You clearly have the upper hand here. So what do you want?”

Rapunzel raised her pan threateningly in front of her, as if it were a knife. “First I want you to tell me why you came here! Is it my hair you want? I know you’re a firebender. I saw. Don’t try to lie to me.”

Rider raised his fingers, the only part of his hands he could really move with the golden hair wrapped around his wrists, in what was meant as a placating gesture. “You’re right. I’m a firebender. I came here from Corona. I was being chased, I saw your tower, I climbed. Simple as that.” Rapunzel still looked skeptical, so he went on, “And I certainly don’t want your… hair?”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“W-what do you mean ‘why not’? What use could I possibly have for your hair?” Rapunzel actually looked upset at that. “I mean,” Flynn spluttered, “it’s very lovely. Very… yellow.”

Rapunzel smiled a little. “Thanks,” she said, and tucked a bit of it behind her ear.

Flynn couldn’t help smiling too. “So what do you want, really? Assuming the interrogation’s over of course. Something I can do for you in exchange for my satchel?”

Rapunzel nodded and finally lowered her pan. “Once a year there’s a bunch of floating lights that rise into the sky, and it will happen again in a couple days.”

“You mean the memorial thing they do for the princess?”

Her eyes lit up. “Tell me about that.”

Rider’s smile melted into a frown. Even someone living here in the middle of the forest should know about the princess’s birthday festival. It was probably the biggest event in the whole kingdom. But he explained it to her anyway. Anything to get that crown back. “The princess was kidnapped like eighteen years or so ago,” he said, “and the kingdom does this big firebending display every year on her birthday to remember her. Everyone creates a little fireball and sends it up into the sky. Non-benders use lanterns.”

“I knew they weren’t stars,” Rapunzel said to herself and turned away from Rider. Then she said something else, too softly for him to make it out. It seemed like she was carrying out a whole conversation on her own. Then she turned a bit and Rider saw some sort of lizard sitting on her shoulder. He didn’t know how to feel about that.

“So, Flynn Rider, here’s the deal,” Rapunzel said, turning back to him. “Take me to the light festival and I’ll give you back your satchel and everything inside.”

He thought on it for a second. It wasn’t too long a trip. It should be easy, even, so long as he could avoid the guards. “Alright,” he agreed, “it’s a deal.”

❂

An hour later, after preparing for the trip, the terrifying ordeal of leaving one’s tower for the first time, and the conflicting emotions borne from such excitement, Flynn Rider and Rapunzel were finally on the road headed toward Corona.

“Not judging, but are you sure it was a good idea bringing the carp-frog?” Rider asked with a weary glance at Pascal. Pascal scowled and made a gesture that could be interpreted as either rude or threatening. Rider couldn’t quite tell which the little beast was aiming for.

“Pascal is a chameleon-gator,” Rapunzel corrected with a pat atop Pascal’s head, which calmed him back to a less outright hostile (but still protective) mood. A few steps later, she asked, “How much longer until we get to this place?”

Rider smirked to himself. “Oh, the Snuggly Duckling’s just up ahead. Don’t you worry - I’m sure you’ll love it.” His smirk morphed into a real smile as he looked at Rapunzel. She was happy, excited, lovely. He only hoped he’d made the right choice in bringing her out here.

Chapter Text

The first thing Rapunzel noticed when Rider threw open the door of the tavern was the ambience. Well, if she were being honest, the first thing she noticed was the smell . But she was trying to be polite about it. The Snuggly Duckling wasn’t so bad, she supposed, if you ignored the rancid, musky, sour odor.

Rider pulled her through the crowd as he mingled, weaving around the wildest, toughest looking thugs Rapunzel had ever seen. Nevermind that she’d never seen any kind of thugs before. She felt an unsettling in her gut, noticing that the whole room had turned its attention on her and especially on Rider. She heard bits and pieces of the murmering around them.

“That’s him...” 

“...from the poster...”

“...reward money…”

“... Flynn Rider...”

“Flynn Rider?” The entire establishment suddenly stilled and quieted as a figure in the back stood up. The click—click—click of her heels echoed off the walls as she sauntered forward.

Rider, turning away from whatever thug he was currently chatting up, finally noticed her and the easy smile that had been sitting so perfectly across his face a second ago was now gone without a trace. “Stalyan?” he asked, unable to disguise the shock in his voice, “What are you doing here?”

Stalyan marched right up to him, disregarding his personal space, and not even sparing a single glance at Rapunzel, she leaned in menacingly—as menacing as a pretty girl in a dingy tavern full of thugs could (which was surprisingly menacing)—and said, “I challenge you to an Agni-Kai.”

“Not in here, you don’t,” the barkeep spoke up, his voice the very definition of unquestionable authority. He gestured with his heavily muscled arm and pointed to a series of signs behind the counter which read ‘No Bending’ ‘No Agni-Kais Within 150 200 300 ft of the Tavern’ ‘Violators Will Be DEALT WITH at Management’s Discretion’. “The challenge is voided,” he stated, crossing his thick, well-defined arms. “You wanna do this, you two go outside.”

Stalyan scowled. “Fine. We’ll go outside.” She grabbed Rider by the sleeve of his shirt and drug him out the door.

“If you can’t see the gong, you’re too close,” the barkeep called after them and went back to wiping down the counter.

Rapunzel ran out the door as soon as she could—the other patrons had already begun to exit and gather around to watch the spectacle. Rapunzel wriggled her way through to the front of the crowd, where Stalyan and Rider stood face to face. “Wait, wait, stop!” Rapunzel cried, rushing forward. “You can’t do this. He’s helping me. I have to see the floating lights.”

Stalyan finally turned to look at Rapunzel with a sneer. “How sweet. I don’t care.” She turned back to Rider. “Flynn Rider, I challenge you to an Agni-Kai.”

“But…” Rapunzel said as she managed to insert herself between the two of them yet again. “Haven’t you ever had a dream?”

Stalyan scoffed. “Of course I did. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Flynn is taking me to the capital to see the lights. Every year, I’ve watched them from my window, and finally, I’ve gotten the chance to go see them in person. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. It’s my dream.”

“So? Find someone else to take you to the city. If you back off and let me do this, I’ll take you there myself.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Rapunzel said slowly as she tried to gauge Stalyan’s motivation for such generosity in the midst of her otherwise negative emotions, “But Flynn and I made a deal. And besides that, we’re friends.”

“Are you now?” Stalyan looked positively amused to hear that.

“Stalyan…” Rider warned.

“Rider and I used to be friends,” she began, not unkindly, “In fact, we were more than friends. But this fool,” she said, harsher now, addressing not only Rapunzel, but the entire crowd as well, “dishonored me. He left me alone at the altar without a word and if I hadn’t tracked him down, I’m sure I wouldn’t have ever seen him again.”

“You did what?” Rapunzel asked him, scandalized.

Rider stared through his boots. “It’s complicated,” he said, and didn’t explain himself further.

Staylan stood again in front of Rapunzel as she addressed her. “That was my dream. To marry him. But now, all I want is to win my honor back.” Stalyan pulled off her jacket to reveal an athletic white sleeveless top. If Rapunzel focused enough, she could just make out the clear outline of the muscles that moved beneath her arms.

“I understand you must feel very upset and betrayed,” Rapunzel told Stalyan as she was handed the jacket and jerked back to the issue at hand, “But don’t you think this is the kind of thing that would be better by talking things out? You don’t need to fight.”

Stalyan looked at Rapunzel, perplexed. “I don’t blame him for leaving,” she said. “It was a quick engagement. In hindsight, we probably wouldn’t have made it as a couple. But the fact of the matter is, my reputation has been tarnished by him, and this is the only way to take back my dignity and my honor.”

“Flynn?” Rapunzel prompted him to add something to the conversation. He looked at her, but hesitated, as if unsure what to say, or perhaps, how to say it. He opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately cut off.

“She challenged you to an Agni-Kai,” called one of the gathered thugs who had all been watching with rapt attention as this drama played out. “You have to fight!”

Rider closed his mouth, allowing whatever was previously on his tongue remain unsaid. Instead, he said, “He’s right, Blondie. Once the challenge is issued, there’s no going back. Except…” Rider turned to face his ex, “An Agni-Kai can only be fought between two firebenders. Stalyan here is an earthbender.”

Rapunzel was confused by that statement. Hadn’t she just discovered that it was possible for people to bend more than one element? Unless Stalyan had never learned firebending. Maybe it was a cultural thing, she thought, that people focused on whatever element was seen as important to their family. Since Mother wasn’t a bender, and never seemed all too happy with the concept, Rapunzel had never been able to ask her such questions.

“Not a problem.” Stalyan said and picked a staff that had been leaning conveniently against a nearby tree. She held it out in front of her, parallel to the ground. “Can one of you boys give me a light?” she called over her shoulder. After a moment’s hesitation, a couple thugs stepped forward and with a whoosh of fire on each side of her, Stalyan’s staff was lit, both ends holding a manageable blaze of fire. She spun it around expertly, and Rapunzel was completely awed, even though she was sure she probably should have been more frightened than impressed at the display.

“Is that allowed?” asked a big nosed thug standing on the other side of the crowd, behind Rider. The man next to him simply shrugged his shoulders.

Rider, accepting his fate and the inability to escape it, took off his vest and shirt, as is ritual in a fire duel. He tossed them to a random thug behind him. Rapunzel retreated back to the edge of the semicircle of spectators. She turned to a nice looking thug—relatively speaking—who stood near her and asked, “So how does this Agni-Kai thing work, exactly?”

“You never seen one before?” he asked, more sincerely than Rapunzel expected. She shook her head. “Well,” he said, gesturing with the hook that sat where his hand should have been, “an Agni-Kai is a traditional fire duel. Usually someone insults the other in some way and then they get challenged to a duel for the chance to restore their honor.”

Rapunzel quirked an eyebrow. “And a person’s honor is more important than civility?” 

“Yes!” called three separate thugs who were eavesdropping.

“It’s not about civility,” Hookhand explained, “In fact, it’d probably be considered rude to refuse the challenge.”

Rapunzel took a minute to let that idea settle into her mind. “So what are the rules?” she asked as a very widely set thug with a long-horned helmet hit a well-worn gong that hung from a low branch of a nearby tree, signalling the start of the duel.

“Whoever gets burned first loses,” answered a creepy little man peeking out from behind a broader thug than himself.

“Oh. I guess that’s not too bad,” Rapunzel said. She could easily heal a small burn.

“Completely harmless,” said a different thug. “And if your friend’s lucky he’ll get a manly scar like mine.” He gestured to a wrinkly red scar that started just below his cheekbone and wrapped itself down past his jaw, over his neck, and around his collarbone. Rapunzel blanched. Were these duels really so feral?

“You didn’t get that from no fire duel,” scoffed a thug who was currently stitching closed the hole in the top of the sleeve of Rider’s shirt. “You tripped and fell face first into the fire pit.”

 “Well you didn’t have to tell that to the little lady,” the scarred thug pouted.

“These things are simple, really,” slurred a short, greyed old man. “I’ve never lost a single one.”

“You’ve never fought in an Agni-Kai, Shorty,” said a big-nosed thug. “You’re not even a bender.”

“That’s what I said!” cried Shorty. “Never lost a one.”

Hookhand pulled Rapunzel back to his side with what was surely meant to be a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry,” he said, “They’re both skilled fighters. They’ll be fine.”

As Rapunzel set the entirety of her focus back on the duel, she found his assessment to be accurate. Rider controlled his fire as easily as if it were a part of him, which, in a way, was true. It extended effortlessly from his fists, and every so often, from his feet. It grew and contracted—just the slightest bit—as he breathed. Everywhere he jumped, turned, and ducked to, his fire was always right there, beside him, thoroughly in tune.

Stalyan on the other hand, despite not being a firebender, controlled her firestaff perfectly. The fire obviously didn’t have the connection to her that it did for Rider, but she made up for it with her technical skill with the weapon. She clearly had years of training with a staff; each time she spun it, it ended up right where she wanted it to. Swiftly. Precisely. Rapunzel didn’t know much about bending—and even less about fighting—but from what she saw between the two of them, the match could go either way. But considering Stalyan seemed much more invested in the outcome of the duel… 

“This is really important to Stalyan,” Rapunzel considered aloud. “Flynn has to understand that. Why doesn’t he just let her win?”

The surrounding thugs all turned to her in shock—although the wiry one, who had somehow come into current possession of Rider’s shirt, continued embroidering flowers along the cuffs of it—before the outrage set in and they all began quarrelling.

“Then it wouldn’t really count as a win!”

“Rider’s honor is also at stake here!”

“If you’re not giving your best effort in the duel, it’s an insult to Agni himself!”

“I get it. Thanks,” Rapunzel said, thinking that for perhaps the wildest element of the four, firebenders sure were committed to these age-old rules. They—firebenders—sure were fiery, just not in the way she expected.

Over the course of the past few minutes, Rider and Stalyan had been drifting closer and closer to the nearby river as they fought. Rapunzel almost called out to them to watch out, then wondered, maybe, if it was part of one of their strategies. And besides, she still hadn’t really decided yet who she was rooting for. Of course she wanted to cheer on her friend—at least, that’s what she hoped Flynn was. Rapunzel hadn’t ever had any friends before, other than Pascal, and so didn’t have much precedent. 

But then there was Stalyan, who was fighting tooth and nail for herself and her dreams. Rapunzel could understand that. And to be someone who couldn’t actually bend fire, holding her own in a fire duel? It was simply incredible.

Rapunzel watched in awe of them both as Rider kicked fire at Stalyan, Stalyan jumped to dodge it, then rushed toward him, edging him closer toward the river.

Out of nowhere, a whinny sounded just barely in the distance. Rider froze. He’d know that sound anywhere. He looked to the horizon, anticipating the dragon-horse’s arrival. Stalyan faltered for a moment, surprised by Rider’s behavior, and before he could turn back to the fight, she tapped him on the shoulder—the bad one—with the flaming end of her firestaff. He, of course, fell backward into the river with an impressive splash.

There was a moment of calm before the roar of cheers and applause. The thugs raised Stalyan into the air with enthusiasm, parading her around the crowd. Rapunzel didn’t see much of what happened next because she was trying to fish Rider out of the river. It wouldn’t have been much of a problem had it not been for the rain the past few days that raised the water level and strengthened the flow. A few of the thugs noticed the struggle and ran over to help. 

“What can we do?” Hookhand asked.

Rider broke the surface and called back, “Just keep that dragon-horse away from me!”

The group on the riverbank turned around to see a few palace guards and a guard dragon-horse burst onto the scene. 

“Go!” Rapunzel confirmed. “I’ll get him out.”

Various thugs smiled, nodded, and/or wished her good luck. The one in possession of Rider’s shirt tossed it to her before he left (his vest was unaccounted for). Rapunzel pulled it on and fastened a couple buttons so she wouldn’t lose it. Then, with no extra time to spare, Rapunzel threw her hair across the river and hooked it on a tree branch. Rider grabbed the golden lifeline, but the current kept pulling at him. Rapunzel struggled, pulling back at her hair to keep him in place, but the force of it all was too much for the old tree branch. As it broke, Rider was once again pulled forward by the water, this time managing to pull Rapunzel in with him. 

Rapunzel tried to get a hold on her hair to lasso something else, but at this point, it was too wet to be of any use in that regard. At least it would keep them from being separated as they were carried off. Before they were too far away, Rapunzel looked back one last time to the thugs—her friends—and even over the gushing of the water, she somehow heard Shorty challenge the dragon-horse to an Agni-Kai.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel and Flynn were being swept down the river. The sky was clear, the air was warm, overall it would have been an exhilarating—albeit unexpected—adventure on an already exciting day. It would have been, if not for the waterfall they were approaching.

“You’re a bender!” Rapunzel cried, “Do something!”

Rider shot her a look. “I’m a firebender! I can’t bend water!”

Rapunzel returned it with her own look of confused exasperation. “Not at all?”

“The only person who can bend more than one element is the avatar.”

Rapunzel decided this was a conversation best left for a more opportune setting. “Alright,” she said, “What do we do?”

He reached down into the water and when his hand returned to the surface it held a small knife. “You see that log over there?” He nodded to a recently deceased tree laying just on the edge of the river up ahead. “We need to get to it.”

He swam, hard as he could, toward it. Rapunzel didn’t know how to swim—she had, out of necessity, figured out how to stay above water—but that didn’t stop her from also trying to get over to the log.

Rider made it to the log, thrust the knife into the bark, and held on tight as he could—managing to stay in place—as he waited for Rapunzel to catch up. She grabbed onto his waist first, using him as leverage to get her own grip on the log. They both turned to look at each other and smiled before pulling themselves out of the water. Rider immediately collapsed onto his back and caught his breath. Rapunzel fished out the rest of her hair and began the long process of drying it, starting with squeezing out as much water as she could. Pascal popped his head out of the top of Rapunzel’s dress, gasping for air. He crawled back up to his preferred spot on top of her shoulder. Rider finally turned his attention back to Rapunzel and noticed her struggle. He bolted up, reached out a hand toward Rapunzel, then aborted the gesture, instead hustling around the vicinity collecting branches from the ground with the explanation, “I’ll start a fire.”

🜁 🜄 🜃 🜂

Rapunzel and Rider sat in front of the fire, Rapunzel’s hair laid out at a reasonable distance around the heat. She bended air through it to help it dry quicker. Rider was shocked at first, to discover she was an airbender—he shouldn’t have been, considering he’d been in her room and seen all the windchimes and pinwheels—but he thought it suited her. Someone so lighthearted and free (in every aspect but physical, as he’d begun to assume was the case with the tower) would of course have a connection to the wind itself. 

The silence between them was comfortable, especially after all the drama that happened so far that day, but Rapunzel couldn’t stop thinking about something Rider said earlier.

“Flynn?” she asked.

He turned and gave her his full attention. “Yeah?”

“Remember when we were in the river and you said you can’t bend water?”

Rider scrunched his nose in a way she thought he shouldn’t have been able to pull off. It was almost cute. “Because I’m a firebender. You saw the Agni-Kai.” That checked out with most of the evidence she’d acquired so far. Stalyan couldn’t bend fire because she’s an earthbender. Flynn couldn’t bend water because he’s a firebender. But Rapunzel could bend air. And fire. 

“You said the only person who can bend multiple elements is the avatar?” she asked, carefully. As dispassionately as she could manage.

“That’s right,” he said. “Didn’t you have stories of the avatar where you come from?”

She shook her head no.

“Well, around here, he’s become a bit of a folk legend. Not to say he’s not real! He was. It’s just… well, why don’t I tell you the story from the beginning?”

He told her how the world used to be balanced; how the avatar would look out for everyone and make sure it was so. There has always been an avatar, you see. They just change their face every so often. Reincarnation, some called it. The last avatar was a man, a hero. Someone for young orphan boys to look up to. At the spur of the moment, and against his better judgement, he told her that one of those young orphan boys was him. The corners of Rapunzel’s lips raised up from his honesty, and seeing her beautiful smile, Rider knew telling her his secret was the right choice.

He went on to tell her how one day, when the king of the Dark Kingdom had found and used the moonstone, when it corrupted him, when it caused all these horrible black rocks to start appearing, the avatar hadn’t been there to stop him. The avatar hadn’t been there to fix the problem. The avatar had just vanished when he was needed the most and hadn’t been seen in eighteen years. 

“What happened to him?” Rapunzel asked.

“No one knows for sure,” Rider said, “Some people think he got fed up with the kingdoms and ran off to live alone in the country. Some people think he was killed.”

“You said if he did die, that he would reincarnate,” Rapunzel pointed out.

“People think he didn’t. It’s been eighteen years, Rapunzel. If he’d come back, even as someone else, he would have shown up by now.”

Rapunzel fidgeted with a strand of her hair. “And you said the only person who can bend more than one element is the avatar?”

“Yes. Multiple times now.”

“You’re sure?”

“Wha?—Of course I’m sure.”

Rapunzel sighed, “Okay.” If that was true—she was sure now it was—she took a deep breath and confessed, “In that case, I’m the avatar.”

Rider sat there for a moment, the smile frozen on his face until he collected himself. “You know what? It’s been a long day. A very eventful day. The adrenaline’s probably all worn off by now so it’s okay that we’re not thinking straight at the moment-”

“You think I’m lying?” Rapunzel asked, affronted.

“No, of course not,” he assured her. “I don’t think you have it in you. But like I said, it’s been a trying day, and trauma can do things to you—trust me, I get it—but Rapunzel, there’s no way you’re the avatar.”

Rapunzel abruptly stood up and used her bending to pick a few leaves off the ground and juggle them.

“You’re an airbender. I know. But there are lots of airbenders out there. It doesn’t make you the avatar.”

She brought one of the leaves in front of his face. “Hold it,” she told him. He reached out and held the leaf upright by the stem between two fingers. Rapunzel dropped the other leaves along with all the air she’d been holding. She took a steadying breath, then turned to the fire. Rider stared, utterly transfixed as a piece of the flame broke off from the main ember and drifted its way over to Rapunzel’s palm. She held it there for a moment, changing it to look like one of the lost princess’s glowing lights, then sent it over toward Rider. It hit the leaf dead center and set it ablaze. 

If he hadn’t been a firebender, Rider would have been burnt. But his instincts kicked in and kept the fire from burning up the part of the stem he was holding. He stared blankly at the remaining wisps of smoke rising from it. He looked back up to Rapunzel, who was doing something to the whole campfire now. Kind of kneading it. Not at all in the same way one kneads bread, but still sort of giving the same impression.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Rider asked in a light, almost mechanical voice.

Rapunzel glanced at him over her shoulder. “Not really,” she replied. “I just found out I could firebend this morning.”

“This morning. Oh. Alright.” He took her by the shoulders and, after making sure the fire settled back how it was supposed to, led her back to the log they’d been sitting on to begin with, before the entire world shifted out from under them, which, not only was it that kind of day, but seeing as he was in the presence of The Avatar, it was entirely possible. 

They sat there on the log, facing each other, Rider holding both Rapunzel’s hands as he looked anywhere but her direction. He had an oddly shaped smile on his face and was rocking back and forth just the slightest bit. “So…” he finally broke the silence, “The avatar, huh? That’s… that’s nifty.”

“Please don’t freak out.”

“Me? Freak out? Why would I freak out? Just because the avatar, who has been missing for eighteen years, suddenly exists in front of me on the same log I’m sitting on?” 

“Flynn? I think you should take a couple of deep breaths,” Rapunzel suggested. He took the deep breaths, of course, because the avatar told him to because the avatar is alive because Rapunzel is the avatar.

He did calm down, eventually. It was only a few minutes he spent spiralling, but an episode like that really skews your sense of time. 

“You’ve shown me air and fire,” Rider said, “What about earth?”

She shrugged her shoulders, jostling Pascal a bit in the process. “I’ve never tried it,” she said. And it was probably best not to experiment at the moment.

“Water?”

Rapunzel opened her mouth to reply to the negative, but thought about the river. “Maybe that’s why I didn't drown?”

Rapunzel sat there, retreating back into her own mind as she pondered the actual consequences of being the avatar. Not only to do with her own life, like the river incident, but all the other people in the kingdoms. Rider said people relied on the avatar, looked up to them. How could Rapunzel live up to their expectations when this was the first time she’d ever even been outside her tower?

Rider noticed Rapunzel’s reflective silence turn broody. He made a decision. “My name’s Eugene,” he said. “My real name. Eugene Fitzherbert. Nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to shake. Rapunzel took it gingerly, and they shook.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” she replied with a tiny, confused smile. “But, why are you telling me this?”

He shrugged it off with a nonchalance that toed the line between authentic and constructed. “It seemed like the right thing to do. I tell you a secret since you told me, well, maybe not a secret, but it was personal and probably hard to get it out there.”

“Yes. But you still didn’t have to-”

He looked deep into her eyes, and his smile now was the most genuine Rapunzel had seen on him since they met. “I wanted to,” he said.

“Alright,” she accepted. “May I call you Eugene, then?”

“Yes. Flynn Rider… was just a fantasy.”

“You can tell me about it,” she said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, “if you like.”

“Well, I told you how I used to look up to the old avatar, but after he disappeared, I felt kind of… betrayed,” he saw Rapunzel frown and sped on, hoping she wasn’t blaming herself for something she personally didn’t do, “Which is dumb—I didn’t even know the guy—but after that I needed a new hero. And I found one in a book. The Tales of Flynnigan Rider .”