"A dream, eh? You know…I too once had a dream…" Hook stared at the sky for a good short while before suddenly turning around to face Rapunzel, earning a startled yelp from the lass.
"Aye!~ I'm malicious, mean, and scary!" He raised his hook near his face and started to sing, while Henry sighed in defeat and slightly tugged Rapunzel to hide on his side.
The man with a hook continued his surprisingly good singing, "My sneer could curdle dairy!~" His face sneered, "And violence-wise, my hands are not the cleanest~"
"But despite my evil look~
And my temper, and my hook!~"
His posture came to a slight slowdown before pulling off the red curtains, revealing a piano under a spotlight, he sat on the chair and started playing a well-tuned rhythm, "I've always yearned to be a concert pianist!"
As the Hook not only sang but also dragged everyone into it, Henry wanted to grab Rapunzel's arm and lead her away from here.
However, seeing her jolly expression and how she's swaying her body to match the song, he knew there was no way to get out of this except to endure.
'Well, not like it's a loss. This is her first time being outside and she should be happy about everything she'll encounter.' He glanced at Rapunzel's smiling side profile, 'Cause she deserved it all…'
All of a sudden, Henry noticed that one of the ruffians was about to come towards him and drag him. Alarms instantly rang inside Henry's head as he realized what was about to happen.
Before anyone could drag him into their whimsical theatre play, Henry raised his index finger and a single blue flame erupted that stopped everyone in their tracks.
"I'm not singing about my dreams. Is that clear?" He gave them an eerie smile.
They all nodded their heads in unison while Rapunzel gasped at the sight of his magic. She wanted to ask more about it, her curiosity towards the flames almost getting the best of her.
Unfortunately for her, the ruffians turned to her when Henry firmly told them off.
"Well, how about you lil lass? You said earlier that you've got a dream?"
A smile bloomed on Rapunzel's face, forgetting about her curiosity towards Henry's magical display. Before anyone could react, she jumped onto a table and continued where the song was left off.
"I've got a dream!~"
"She's got a dream!"
"I've got a dream!~"
"She's got a dream!"
"I just wanna see the floating lanterns gleam!"
She held her hands together close to her cheek, "And with every passing hour. I'm so glad I left my tower!"
"Like all you lovely folks I've got a dream!"
While listening to her sing, Henry suddenly remembered something and immediately looked out at the window, only to sigh in relief after seeing that Mother Gothel hadn't caught wind of Rapunzel's missing case.
It seems like his interruption, along with Flynn's lack of presence in Rapunzel's life has shifted the timeline for a bit. Which is both a relief and a problem. The former because Henry still has some time to prepare to expose Rapunzel's real past. While the latter is because Henry would no longer be able to track what Mother Gothel would do.
No doubt about it that her original plans from the film wouldn't see the light of the day this time. One of the major reasons is that a particular pair of twin thugs was imprisoned in Lioncrest.
'Thankfully, she doesn't possess anything that would prove troublesome to me.'
After standing still for an agonizing three whole minutes, the entire tavern finally turned into silence after the song was finished.
Rapunzel breathed heavily and with Henry's help, she got down from the table she's been standing on, "Thank you." She chirped at him, unknowingly fluttering her eyelids at him.
"You're welcome, Princess," Henry murmured in reply.
"Why'd you call me Princess?" Rapunzel tilted her head sideways.
"I'll tell you about it later. For now, let's leave this place." With that being said, Henry grabbed her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers before walking towards the exit.
"Hold on a second." Hook's voice interrupted him from behind, "You haven't told us about your dream yet, pretty face."
Henry turned around and stared at Hook's face, "Didn't I just tell you that I wo—"
"You told us that you won't sing about your dreams. We're not asking you to sing it, we're just asking you to tell us, normally." Hook flashed him a triumphant grin, eager to rub it on his face of how he outsmarted his wording.
"…" Henry was speechless yet couldn't really deny him. Perhaps he could've worded it better earlier.
But still, now that Hook asked him about it, Henry fell into a contemplation. What is his dream exactly?
Was it to get rich? But he already got it. To be written in the annals of history? He already did, with his reputation and all the things he introduced to this world, not to mention he's soon going to become a King.
The first Magician King in the history of the entire continent no less.
'What is my dream?' He couldn't help but ponder to himself while staring down at his open palm.
Everyone was staring at him—waiting for his answer.
'What does a man who already has everything, who can have everything, dream for?'
Henry gulped and opened his mouth to speak, "I…actually don't know. I don't know what to dream for when I already have everything…"
Everyone stared at him in surprise, obviously not expecting his answer. While his words might come off as something arrogant, they can tell he doesn't mean it that way.
After a moment of silence, Hook finally spoke with a shrug of his shoulders, "Well that's lame." Just as everyone was about to let it sit with that, Rapunzel suddenly spoke.
"You're wrong." She stared directly into Henry's eyes, "It's not that you don't have a dream because you have everything. It's because you haven't found what you don't have yet that you can dream of."
Henry's lips thinned at first before curving into a smile, "….You're right. I haven't found it yet. Thank you."
'Hopefully, there'll be a chance to find it in the future.' He thought to himself as his eyes landed on the happy Rapunzel, 'But for now, I'll help the others realize their dreams first before I find mine.'
This time, when they resumed their pace, every ruffian paved the way for them, looking like how Moses once parted the Red Sea.
And just like that, they crossed over and left the tavern amidst the watchful eyes of the ruffians, who not long ago were dancing and singing about their dreams with Rapunzel.
———
"Is that a horse!?" As soon as they got outside, Rapunzel's eyes almost popped out of her eye sockets upon seeing the appearance of Henry's horse, Boy.
Well, it's not like it's a shock considering the dark-furred horse was not only wearing the most luxurious saddle ever created in Lioncrest but also donned silver armor that glints under the sunlight.
Boy complained about it a few times but unfortunately, it's not like Henry also wanted him to wear it—it was his mother, the Queen of Lioncrest, who insisted for Boy to wear the best horse armor available in Lioncrest.
Which may or may not have contributed to Boy becoming too exhausted after Henry rushed him to run for hours without rest, on a steep, sharp-turning road.
"Wow…He looks so different from the books…" Rapunzel bolted towards him, startling Boy who was in the middle of munching on some grass.
"Pascal look! It's a horse!" Rapunzel tugged the small chameleon on her shoulder.
Pascal smiled at her and nodded his head, before turning into a glare as soon as he made eye contact with the horse, even going as far as making a gesture of 'I'm watching you.'.
Meanwhile, Henry came up behind Rapunzel, "Wanna ride?" As he spoke, he tugged the leather reins and with a swift movement, he climbed atop the saddle in the smoothest manner possible.
"Woah." Rapunzel's eyes glittered like a child seeing the coolest thing they've ever seen throughout their whole life.
He's not doing this on purpose. Henry just can't help it that everything he does always looks cool to the others. It's just something that comes off as natural to him.
With his help, Rapunzel eagerly climbed on the saddle, falling off a few times and even accidentally grabbing on Boy's tail when she fell. Thankfully, he didn't overreact much.
Why would he, when Henry is a very skilled horse rider?
As for the chameleon, he has long jumped and switched places from Rapunzel's shoulder to Henry's. Finding it more convenient instead of joining Rapunzel in her suffering.
"Are you ready?" Henry asked after watching Rapunzel pull her extremely long golden hair and bundling it in front of her, hugging her arms around it so it wouldn't fall off while Henry's back also served to block in the front.
With a huff and a puff, Rapunzel nodded her head, "I'm ready! Let's go!" She said it by kicking her legs around, hitting the horse armor a few times.
'Yep, she truly doesn't know how to not provoke a horse to kick her out of his back.'
"Hiyah!" With a snap of the reins, Boy finally bolted off, following the stoneroad that leads to Corona Kingdom.
The first step of the plan—find Rapunzel has been secured. Time for the second step.
Unbeknownst to Henry, a few minutes after he left, a hooded figure stepped in front of the Snugglyd Ducklings tavern, her breathing ragged, indicating that she rushed here on foot and without rest.
When the hood was removed, revealing Mother Gothel wearing the look of someone holding down their boiling anger, she stepped forward towards the tavern.
She once had a few encounters with the thugs inside, often paying them a few of her coins for what they call protection services, when rather it was really just to let her pass through them while avoiding bloodshed—especially when she revealed to them that she's just a single mother struggling to make ends meet with her child.
"Huff….Where are you, Rapunzel?" There was something in her tone that set it apart from the content of her words. What others might mistake as a worried mother searching for her daughter, the tone changes the narrative a bit—there was no care or the kind of worry that a mother would have for her child.
No, it was more like someone uttering the name of a person who stole something valuable to her.
———
A few kilometers away, the horse was jogging at a brisk pace. This time, Henry was no longer in a hurry and would rather spend as much time as possible with Rapunzel to get to know her and establish a trust between them.
After a minute of silence, Rapunzel hesitantly asked, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Was that thing he did earlier truly magic?"
Facing her curious and eager gaze, the end of Henry's lips curved into a smirk as he raised his hand and this time, instead of the earlier flame that looked like the size of a candle, it was a full palm-sized pale blue flame.
"I'm something of a magician myself." He replied before dousing the blue flames with a simple flick of his wrist.
"Wow…" Rapunzel stayed silent after the display, showing only a recognition of amazement. Just when Henry was about to ask about it, she finally continued.
"I think…I think I'm a magician too." She sounds unsure about her declaration.
"Really?" Henry faked surprise, wanting to appear more tame and easy to talk to. The key to trust between two people is communication and being open to each other.
Thanks to that, the hesitation slowly faded away as she continued with an eager nod of her head, "That's right! When I sing the song that my mother taught me, my hair glows and I can heal wounds!"
"That sounds awesome! You don't mind showing it to me later, right?" Henry mirrored her energy.
Rapunzel nodded her head at first before confusion filled her face, "Are you…injured perhaps? Maybe we can do it now? As long as you wrap my hair around your wound, I'll sing the song and you'll be healed in no ti—"
"As much as I wanted to see it now but unfortunately not for now, I'm still in good shape. But later, I might get injured, depending on the situation."
"Hmm? But why? Now that you mention it, I'm curious what you're doing and why you want me to come with you? Earlier you said my mother was looking for me. Y-You're not going to bring me back to mother, right?"
"First of all, I made a promise to someone that I would help them find their missing child. Second, you're here with me because I need you, lastly, you still had that dream of seeing the lantern lights, don't you?"
He gave her a warm smile as he continued, "So unless you want to, I'm not bringing you back to your mother until you see the lantern light up close yourself."