literature

I Will Always Return (Male!RapunzelxReader): Pt. 1

Deviation Actions

Published: Mar 17, 2015

37.6K Views

Literature Text

~Author's Note: Aloha, amigos! Consider this another test preview, I suppose, cause I know how much ya'll love my villains. Now let's test my heroes.~

Birds scatter in an array of cries as you come barreling through the forest, your rapid breathing layered with whimpers and words of desperation for safety, for someone to rescue you, for this to stop. Behind you, a man’s grating voice bellows amidst his heavy footsteps. He’d just wanted your money being a common thief, but you have nothing to offer and so you ran in fear of being killed in exchange. And now that he’s chasing you—has been for the past fifteen minutes—you’re certain that, if he catches you, you’ll become nothing more than a lost corpse deep within the forest.

The thief threatens you in vulgar incoherencies that increase your already desperate speed. You can’t take this for much longer; your lugs burn like acid with every breath and your knees begin to buckle with fatigue, and, to your immense horror, he was starting to close in on you.

You nearly fall into the mossy floor with a cry of fear, but then you spot a drapery of vines against the side of a cliff. The foliage is thick enough between this possible haven and you that there’s a chance the man might not see you slip into it. You hurdle over a small stream and break through the vines expecting to hit stone but, instead, fall flat on your face. Stunned, you look up to see a massive tower in a brightly lit clearing.

They can save me! you think and push yourself back onto your feet in a dead sprint. Overcome with desperation for shelter, you yell out, “Help me! Someone please, help me!”

You soon realize with a deadening chill that there’s no door, only a window that’s hundreds of feet above your head. Every nerve in your body jolts at the sound of the man breaking aside the vines and you spin around to see him lumbering towards you, his lips curled back in bloodthirsty rage.

Oh my god, no, no! You scream at the top of your aching lungs up at the window and pound your fists on the cobblestone wall till they nearly bleed. The man is a matter of feet from you, his sword raised above his head to cut you down. There’s no use screaming, so you clasp your hands to your face with a final cry just as a metallic pang sounds, followed by the hollow collapse of a body. Hesitantly, you peek out from between your fingers at the man lying unconscious right in front of you with a pan lying nearby. What? Who…?

“Are you alright?” a voice calls from the window. You’re rendered shocked for a few seconds before you’re able to collect your nerves and look back up, only to spot the shadowed outline of a person with long hair.

It’s a woman. “Y-yes, thank you so much!” you say.

"There aren't more of them out there, are there...?"

"No, it's safe," you breathe and pick up the pan in disbelief. “Is this yours?”

The person chuckles bashfully and approaches the window till the sunlight spills onto the dazzling smile of a man. You baulk at the sight of his bright, emerald eyes that seem to glisten in the light, but even more so at the long, golden hair that cascades behind his broad shoulders in a leather-bound tail, a few tendrils dancing in the summer breeze like spun gold.

“Yea, I'm sorry I couldn’t warn you that I was going to drop it beforehand, but I didn’t exactly have the time,” he says, sheepish. When you appear in a daze, he frowns. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

You hold the pan to your chest as if suddenly embarrassed. “Y…you’re a man!” you blush. He makes a confused expression. “I mean, thank you for saving me.”

He nods but keeps his guard. "May I ask what you're doing here?" he eyes you.

It's apparent he doesn't necessarily trust you just yet, perhaps for the exact reason he lives in such an obscure location, so you understand his wariness. "I saw the drapery of vines and thought I could hide behind them. I didn't know this was someone's home. Forgive me for intruding," you curtsy slightly.

The smile reappears and he shrugs, sitting on the windowsill. “Don’t worry about it, as long as you’re okay.”

You return the kind gesture and brush a strand of (h/c) behind your ear. “I know this may seem inappropriate to ask, but please, may I come in? I’m just so exhausted from running,” you say as your weight falters.

He recoils into the tower. “I don’t think that’s a good idea…” he mutters.

“Why not?” You frown.

He turns further away till his narrowed eyes are almost invisible. “Mother wouldn’t approve, says outsiders aren’t safe,” he sighs, gaze lowering to the floor.

Mother? You can't hear anyone else moving about the tower. "Is she here now?"

He shakes his head. “No, but she’s told me all about your world, about the terrors in it.”

Your brows furrow. “Like what, exactly?”

Your unexpected interest peaks his own. He holds out a hand and extends a finger for each thing he lists. “Ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes, the Plague,” he counts off. “Also large bugs, men with pointy teeth…” His words fade out with an involuntary shudder, but he then smiles down at you apologetically. “But I must admit—I’m beginning to doubt the world is such a scary place now that I see you.”

The planes of your cheeks flush and you avert your eyes. “No, it’s okay! I understand,” you say, although you really don’t. He seems to tense, however, when you move to take your reluctant leave after a nod.

“Wait!”

You glance back at him. He’s leaning out the window, his golden bangs swooping over his face. Maybe it’s the sun tinging his skin, but it looks like his freckled cheeks are blushing as well. “Do…do you mind if I talk to you?” he asks. “I don’t get to meet people, well… I don’t really get to see people. Especially girls.”

He laughs, but it sounds pained. “Of course!” you smile a little too enthusiastic.

The man perks up as you come back and gracefully sit upon, funny enough, the thief’s lower back—you’ve already figured that you’ll use the pan to knock him out should he come to. The blonde grins and brushes his hair back with a wide hand while he organizes the endless questions in his mind. It begins generic: what’s your home like, how’s the food, the people, the celebrations. His bright eyes glitter with every detailed description that you give, that he absorbs eagerly with a widening smile. You can barely focus at his beautiful intrigue that makes his angled face childlike, although you don’t realize that his intrigue has shifted from your words to your blushing façade.

By the time you finish, he’s beaming in awe, his arms wrapped under his chest on the windowsill. “Wow,” he breathes. “It all sounds so wonderful.”

“It is. I wish you could come with me to see it,” you hint. His smile fades and his head drops.

“I can’t…” he mutters, then notices your own dismay and smirks. “But if I could see the world with anyone, I’d like to see it with you. It seems very beautiful through your eyes.”

You smile softly, the breeze fluttering both his and your (h/l) (h/c) hair among the meadow’s petals. The two of you linger in the peaceful silence. “May I ask your name, fair maiden?” he jeers.

You giggle and smooth the pleat of your skirt. “(Y/n),” you answer.

“(Y/n)”, he repeats. The way it rolls of his tongue sounds like a lullaby. You lock gazes with him and, from his expression, you feel like a regal princess being admired for her infamous, unparalleled beauty. Just when you feel as though your smile couldn’t get any fuller, you tear your eyes away and notice the setting sun.

“Well,” you say and walk backwards only to stumble over the still unconscious thief. Your laugh comes awkward. “I should be…getting home.”

The man in the tower stands and watches warily as you continue to retreat with a wave. Everything in him screams to call after you, to keep you in his sight a few seconds longer. “(Y/n)!” he yells. You immediately spin back towards him. “Will you come back? So I can see you again, I mean.”

He wants me to return? you think, heart swelling with a sudden rush of bliss, though you decide to toy with him instead. "Would your mother approve?" you ask tauntingly.

He gives a strained look and rubs the back of his neck. "Not at all," he laughs. "But... I'm willing to risk it."

You smile. “As am I. As long as you promise to rescue me from another thief. I tend to be a magnet for trouble,” you reply.

He chuckles and runs his hands down his thick, leather-bound column of hair. “I will, without a doubt.” He says it so genuine, so wholehearted that you take your leave before you make a fool of yourself in a flustered display of emotions.

You brush the drapery of vines aside and step into the forest. Dimpling with a grin, you start off towards home, your heart memorizing every step you take.

Link to Part 2!!-->lefantomedancer.deviantart.com…

Artwork by

I really owe the above mentioned artist for unintentionally inspiring me to write this. I knew I wanted to do a genderbent princess (I initially was gonna do Snow White, which is funny cause she's my least favorite), but the drawing convinced me otherwise