Chapter 17: I've Got a Dream
Warnings: Being Attacked and Alcohol
"I can't believe I did this!" Rapunzel shouted, jumping up and down. "Mother would be so furious." She panicked, pressing her temples. "She doesn't know what would kill her." Rapunzel reassured herself, as she sat on a grey rock in the river, holding a pink water lily. "This would totally kill her!" She cried into a pile of green leaves. "Best day ever!" Rapunzel cried as we swung around a brown oak tree on her golden hair. "I am a despicable human being." She cried, curled up in a grey, stone cave. "I am never going back!" Rapunzel cried as she ran down the hill.
I found Rapunzel curled up in front of a big grey rock. She was crying. I knelt next to her and touched her shoulder. "Hey, hey, it's okay." I cooed. Rapunzel looked up at me with red splotches underneath her eyes. "Now, I am only picking up bits and pieces of your situation, overprotective mother, a cute chameleon.". I tickled the little, green chameleon on her shoulder. He squeaked.
"This is Pascal." Rapunzel explained, picking him up off her shoulder. "Do you think Mother will be upset?".
"Heartbroken in fact, but this is a part of growing up, a little adventure,". I put the back of my hand beside my mouth. "A little rebellion." I whispered. Rapunzel giggled. "But seriously, if your mother doesn't let you go outside that's abuse.". It started raining. "Great, it's raining." I announced, annoyed. "Let's seek shelter.". We got up.
We walked up to a brown, log building with a purple roof. It had a purple, wooden sign with a yellow duck painted on it along with the words 'The Snuggly Duckling' painted in yellow cursive. "I love ducklings!" Rapunzel announced, hugging her black, cast-iron frying pan.
"You should know that this is a pub, know what that is?" I questioned. She nodded. "Good.". I didn't feel like explaining beer and alcohol at the moment.
I kicked open the door. "GARSON, YOUR FINEST TABLE PLEASE." I announced. A bunch of muscular men with tan skin, brown or bald heads, wearing brown, leather muscle shirts looked at us.
"Hey, that's Ari." A muscular man with tan skin, brown sideburns and eyes, wearing a black muscle shirt, brown, bumpy shoulder pads, dark blue armguards, brown shorts, and a silver hook for his right hand announced. He grabbed me. I screamed. "Garson, go get the guards.". A muscular man with tan skin, brown hair and eyes, wearing a blue shirt, and dark brown pants ran out of the pub. "No, I need the money, I'm broke." Another muscular man with tan skin, wearing a black shirt, brown shorts, and a black bucket on his head with three vertical slits going down it near the bottom announced as he grabbed me. The other thugs started grabbing me. Amid the chaos, I could see Rapunzel climb up on a brown wooden loft and lasso her hair around a loose, brown, wooden hanger.
"Find your humanity, hadn't any of you ever had a dream?!" Rapunzel questioned.
"I had a dream, once." The thug with the hook hand announced.
"I'm malicious, mean and scary
My sneer could curdle dairy"
Hook Hand sneered.
"And violence-wise, my hands are not the cleanest"
He looked at his sliver hook.
"But despite my evil look,"
Hook Hand sneered again.
"And my temper and my hook,"
He looked at his sliver hook again.
"I've always yearned to be a concert pianist"
Hook Hand sat down in front of a black piano.
"Can'tcha see me on the stage performin' Mozart?
Tickling the ivories 'til they gleam?
Yep, I'd rather be called deadly"
He played the piano.
"For my killer show-tune medley
Thank you!"
He got up and bowed. The rested of us clapped.
"'Cause way down deep inside
I've got a dream."
He sang.
"He's got a dream!
He's got a dream!"
The other thug sang, bombing their heads up a down.
"See, I ain't as cruel and vicious as I seem!
Though I do like breaking femurs
You can count me with the dreamers
Like everybody else
I've got a dream!"
Hook Hand sang.
"I've got scars and lumps and bruises"
A man with tan skin, wearing a brown fur vest, brown arm guards, and a metal helmet with wings on it sang.
"Plus something here that oozes"
Big Nose pointed to a red spot on his shoulder.
"And let's not even mention my complexion"
He flexed.
"But despite my extra toes"
Big Nose wiggled his multiple toes.
"And my goiter, and my nose"
He pointed to his big nose.
"I really wanna make a love connection
Can't you see me with a special little lady
Rowin' in a rowboat down the stream?"
Big Nose sat down in a sliver, tin can with a short man with a white beard in a white diaper.
"Though I'm one disgusting blighter
I'm a lover, not a fighter,"
He stood up and tied the man to a brown rope and sent him flying around the pub.
"'Cause way down deep inside
I've got a dream
I've got a dream!"
He sang.
"He's got a dream!"
The other thug sang, bombing their heads up a down.
"I've got a dream!"
He sang.
"He's got a dream!"
The other thug sang, bombing their heads up a down.
"And I know one day romance will reign supreme!
Though my face leaves people screaming
There's a child behind it, dreaming"
He sang, putting his hands on his heart.
"Like everybody else
I've got a dream"
He sang.
"Toll would like to quit and be a florist"
A muscular thug arranged flowers in a vase.
"Gunther does interior design"
A thug straightened a picture of a puppy in the corner.
"Ulf is into mime"
A heavy thug with tan skin, white face paint, red lips, black, striped shirt, black overalls with red straps with gold buttons at the end of them mimed.
"Attila's cupcakes are sublime"
The thug with a bucket on this head held out a tray of pink cupcakes.
"Bruiser knits"
A muscular thug was knitting something green.
"Killer sews"
A skinny thug wearing shoulder pads with lots of silver needles on them was stitching a cut on Bruiser's arm.
"Fang does little puppet shows"
Someone was moving a green sock puppet in a yellow, wooden puppet theater.
"And Vladimir collects ceramic unicorns!"
Hook Hand sang. Vladimir held up two ceramic unicorns with white hair and pink manes. He made them kiss.
Hook Hand went over to me. "What about you?" He asked me.
"I'm sorry, me?" I questioned.
"What's your dream?" Big Nose asked me. I just sighed.
"I have dreams, like you -- no, really!
Just much less touchy-feely,
They have nothing to do with talent or money,
To find the lost princess on my own,
So I don't have be a-lone,
And so life can get back to being warm and sunny!"
I sang. Everybody cheered.
"I've got a dream!"
I sang.
"She's got a dream!"
The thugs sang.
"I've got a dream!"
Rapunzel sang.
"She's got a dream!"
The thugs sang.
"I just want to see the floating lanterns gleam!"
She sang. We all cheered.
"And with every passing hour
I'm so glad I left my tower
Like all you lovely folks
I've got a dream!"
Rapunzel sang. I look at the glass window behind me. I thought I saw Gothel snarl. I jumped back. "You okay, Dari?" Hook Hand asked me.
"Yeah, I thought I saw someone in the window." I explained. We looked in the window. There was no one there. Hook Hand shrugged.
"She's got a dream!
They've got a dream!
We've got a dream!
So our diff 'rences ain't really that extreme!
We're one big team...!
Call us brutal--
Sick--"
We all sang.
"Sadistic--"
Hook Hand sang.
"And grotesquely optimistic!"
Big Nose added.
"Cause way down deep inside
We've got a dream!"
The Thugs sang.
"I've got a dream!"
Hook Hand sang.
"I've got a dream!"
Big Nose sang.
"I've got a dream!
I've got a dream!
I've got a dream!"
The thug chorus sang as Attila cartwheeled down the table as the other thugs threw brown, flaming orange torches.
"I've got a dream!"
Rapunzel sang. We all cheered.
"Yes way down deep inside,
I've got a dream!
Yeah!"
We all cheered.
Garson arrived with Cassandra and Eugene. I grabbed Rapunzel and hid under the brown, wooden table. Hook Hand tapped my shoulder. I turned to look at him. He pointed to a brown, open trap door. He gave a glowing, circular lantern with a black, iron frame. "Go live your dreams." He told us.
"Thank you so much." I told him. Rapunzel kissed him. He looked surprised. I just smiled. Rapunzel and I slide into the cave.