Inside the noisy tavern, several grown gruff men were drinking, wrestling arms, and dancing around. If someone were to look at them, they would instantly mistake them for bad men.
They're not exactly wrong, but they're not right either. Sure, some people might strike them as bandits or thugs but that is without knowing who they are inside first.
Instantly, the noise was settled down when the entrance door was smashed open, and their familiar friend walked in with a steady stride, while a long golden-haired stranger was followed in with hesitant steps.
"Oi Buckethead! Thought you were gonna take a piss? Don't tell me you got scared hehe~" Among the thugs, one certain drunken old man with a large and reddish nose slurred with a mug in hand.
Instead of answering, Buckethead, or more known to them as Attila Buckethead, suddenly stepped aside, revealing the beautiful golden-haired girl behind him.
Everyone inside the tavern immediately gasps in unison.
"Is it just me or am I seeing a beautiful lady standing right at the entrance of our humble pub? Burp!" The same white-haired short old man from earlier sluggishly made his way towards Rapunzel.
Just as he made it in front of Rapunzel and was about to say something, Buckethead from the side suddenly made his head. In a swift motion, he grabbed a handful of his white beard before yanking him out of the tavern's door.
Buckethead patted both his palms together as the crowd reacted.
"Serves him right I guess."
"That outta sober that old man."
While the thugs laughed at their friend's misery, one certain thug with a hand for a hook stepped forward, squinting his eyes as he bent his body slightly forward.
"So, who are you 'pposed to be, little lass?"
Rapunzel backed away slightly, silently cursing herself for forgetting to bring a weapon with her for self-defense.
"I-I'm Rapunzel. I was…just on my way to someplace. I didn't mean to bother all of you for…whatever you were doing." With a nervous chuckle, Rapunzel took another step back, "I'll just be on my way, don't mind me—"
Thud!
She didn't even manage to reach the door before it was slammed shut. She didn't need to look behind her to know that it was closed, the small gust of air on her back was enough.
The man with a hook gave a charming smile as he welcomed her, "It's been a pretty while since we had a guest. How about you sit in and tell us your story, eh?"
Rapunzel could only gulp, and after looking around and seeing everyone's eyes on her, she nodded her head reluctantly.
'Was mother right all along? Are there really only bad people out in this world?' She couldn't help but start to regret escaping the tower.
She followed the man with a hook and sat in the chair, surrounded by the gruff ruffians, looking at her as if it were their first time seeing a girl.
"Why does she have such long hair?"
"Idiot! Ladies always have longer hair than we do! You must've never seen a woman, didn't you?"
"Shut it! I've seen a woman! My mum's a woman!"
"Your mum? Doesn't she look like a man who has been punched a thousand times?"
"You! How dare you insult my mum like that!"
Just as always, the two of the thugs had a heated discussion. What started as a simple question is about to end in a full-blown brawl.
The man with a hook simply sighed and gestured for one of the men behind the crowd. The man almost looked like an average man among the scary-looking fellas, or at least that's what Rapunzel thought so at first until the man surprisingly stood.
His height instantly engulfed everyone in the tavern. His hulking figure along with his scary monotone face made everyone aside from the two thugs who were on the verge of brawling to stop and stare.
Rapunzel watched as the thugs parted ways for the hulking man to cross over. As he approached through the sea of men, Rapunzel just realized how intimidating the man truly looked.
Not only does he towers everyone with his height but there is something within the man that Rapunzel couldn't fully explain.
When he finally arrived between the two brawling thugs, the latter two instantly stopped in their tracks. When they craned their heads to the side and saw their companion, they forced a strained smile on their faces.
Without delay, the two men who were just on the verge of raining fists upon each other, suddenly pulled themselves into a friendly shoulder hug, "V-Vladimir! How's it going? You know, we were just playing, right?"
The other nodded his head in agreement, their grudge between each other fading amidst the arrival of a bigger and scarier foe.
The hulking man, now known as Vladimir simply snorted and huffed before turning around. He didn't need to do much aside from standing still and looking as intimidating as possible.
"…Well, how about you guys tell me your stories first?" Rapunzel slowly turned her attention to the man with the hook sitting in front of her.
The man simply stared at her, his face slowly inching closer to her before he spoke, "People call me…" He leaned back away from her and slowly brandished his hook hand, "…Hook Hand."
Rapunzel stared at the metallic hook that replaced his left hand, "Is it because of you…" She is pointing at it in question.
"Are you enunciating that I lost my hand and replaced it with this hook, hence why my name is Hook Hand?" Hook asked, grabbing a piece of cloth and using it to wipe the sharp and pointed tip of his hook.
"Uhm…" Rapunzel nervously chuckled instead of answering.
Just as Hook's face starts to look more intimidating than before, his lips suddenly curved into a smile, "Cause you're right." He tossed the piece of cloth to the side before approaching Rapunzel.
The crackling of the bonfire behind him enlarged his shadow that cast over Rapunzel's tiny and petite figure, "It was a very dark night…I was alone…"
"In the woods, I was on my way home after catching my game. Used to be a poacher….until I encountered a bear!"
"A bear?" Not only Rapunzel but even the rest of the ruffians were startled by his story. The former is because this is her first time hearing the story while the rest of the latter is because of an entirely different reason
"Wait a second, you told us when you were drunk that you lost your hand when you were a kid playing with your dad's knif—" Before the snitch could finish his sentence, Hook's hook hand suddenly flashed in front of his face.
"…I…I must've been the one that's drunk that day, haha!"
He turned to face Rapunzel again, wearing a wide smile on his face that was no less scary than his hook, "And you know…I am a very malicious, mean, and scary man. So I valiantly fought the bear, the monstrous animal bit my left hand and I had nothing else to do but to snap its neck with my hand still deep within its mouth."
Meanwhile, Rapunzel's eyes glittered in amazement. She had read about bears from the books her mother would sometimes read to her. She heard they were scary and that only the most courageous men could stand toe to toe with them.
Hook then grabbed a chair, flipped it with the backrest facing the front before sitting, "Well how about you, lil lass. What's your story?"
Rapunzel hesitated for a bit but after contemplating, she opened her mouth, "For me. I have a dre—"
Thud!
The door to the tavern was suddenly slammed open, pushing the two ruffians leaning over it down to the ground.
"Gentlemen. Fine morning we have here." A man crossing between handsome and beautiful entered the room. His face bore emaculate features, stunningly sharp eyebrows, thin lips, and a sharp jaw line, followed by his long golden hair that reached past his ear.
His smell was filled with lavender and other substances that complemented his looks.
His clothing on the other hand didn't fall short of his face. He wears a tight combination of white and gold cloak with the latter color being more dominant than the other. The said cloak didn't also cover his entire body either, it was open and tightly snuggled into his body using a black-plated belt.
Past beneath the cloak was an outfit entirely consisting of black and golden stitch lines—mixed with a sword in a golden scabbard on the left side of his waist, the man's entire appearance immediately screams of strong and royal nobility.
What truly surprised everyone however, was their familiar short white-haired old man whom Attila threw outside earlier.
"Hey everyone…" The old man drunkenly and sluggishly waved his hand.
"…Who are you pretty boy?" Hook frowned, he didn't like it one bit when some stranger held his friend like that.
"My name doesn't matter. I came here looking for someone." Henry scanned his head around the tavern and when his eyes landed on Rapunzel, he resumed his stride towards her, letting go of the old man in the process.
However, before he could take a few more steps, several of the ruffians stepped forward to block his way, their faces looked like they were trying to frighten Henry, probably mistaking him for a fancy noble.
"I'm surprised none of you recognized me. And I'm sure all of you are good people inside, so let me in and we can settle this in a non-violent way.
"Non-violent? You call that non-violent?" Hook stood up abruptly, startling Rapunzel who was sitting beside him.
Seeing Hook pointing at the unconscious old man wearing a weird angel wings prop on his behind while wearing a white diaper, Henry frowned.
"It's all a misunderstanding. You see, I already found him like that when I was outside the tavern. I was afraid he might get sick sleeping on the ground or get bitten by insects, so I brought him in here."
"By dragging him on the ground?" Hook crossed his arms, pressing the matter.
Henry squinted, "Yes. He reeks and I'm a hundred percent sure his body was smudged with his own puke, so I didn't bother to carry him."
The thug behind Hook whispered to his ear, "Hook, I think he's telling the truth. Think about it, how many times have we seen Shorty passed out outside? Even with both of our hands, it's too many to count—"
Before the man could finish his sentence, Hook was already staring directly into his eyes, the hook on his left hand gleaming under the candle's light.
"Oh." Realization dawned upon the man's face and he immediately backed away, hiding behind the plenty of other ruffians.
Hook turned his attention back to the two thugs blocking Henry and gestured for them to go away with his head.
Henry nodded his head in gratitude before making his way up Rapunzel. The latter stared at him in both amazement and mesmerization.
After all, this is her first time going out and her expectations about men were rock bottom after visiting the tavern.
However, here in front of her stood an extremely attractive-looking man staring at her with his sparkling blue eyes. For some reason, she felt like the man came down from the heavens, here in front of her to fulfill her wish.
On the other hand, Henry noticed the way Rapunzel was looking at him whereas a drool was about to fall from her supple lips, he couldn't help but curse his bloody appearance, 'Here goes another damsel falling for my looks. Damn it, why am I born this handsome?!'
"You must be Rapunzel, right?"
Rapunzel quickly snapped out of her trance and wiped the drool on her face in sheer embarrassment. However, to answer Henry's question, she nodded her head.
"Thankfully, I finally found you. Your parents sent me to look after you."
When she heard the word parents, horror immediately filled Rapunzel's eyes, "You mean, mother found out I was outside?" She didn't even register the fact that what Henry referred to was more than a single parent.
Instead of clarifying, Henry just smiled and repeated, "Your parents." That was enough for Rapunzel to stand up and grab his arm.
"I-Is mother angry? She must've been angry at me, right?"
"We'll talk more about this once we get outside, so please come with me, Rapunzel."
Thanks to his looks, Rapunzel was quick to trust him and intertwined her arms around his, instead bringing them close to her chest—not that there's anything to feel on it but Henry still found himself gulping in nervousness.
Just as he turned around to fetch her outside, Hook who had been quiet since suddenly spoke, "Hold on for a moment."
Both Henry and Rapunzel turned around and when they saw Hook slowly walking towards them, Rapunzel couldn't help but recall the man's story about how he got his left hand as a hook and immediately hid behind Henry.
"Earlier before you interrupted us, the lil lass was about to tell us her story." Hook said to Henry before leaning sideways to glance at Rapunzel, "Right?"
Rapunzel noticed that everyone was staring at her, she was indeed about to tell them something but due to Henry's interruption, her words didn't get to see the light of the day.
"Well? We're waiting." Hook spread his arms, prompting the rest of the ruffians to surround them in a circle.
Just as Henry was counting the heads he was about to knock down, Rapunzel suddenly stepped out from behind.
However, when she spoke her first few words, Henry's eyes suddenly widened, "I have a dream…"
'Oh shit.'