Rapunzel tilted her head to the side as she watched her little sister in the mirror in her room. It used to be a struggle just to get the mirror to show her something close by, but now it was easy, and oh how fun it was to watch as her little sister got everything Rapunzel desired. Got both of her parents, at least until her mother died of some tragic disease. Got her mother's jewels after her mother's funeral, got to work on the farm with her father. Sister was lucky, even if she didn't think that.

Rapunzel pulled up a chair, because Father was leaving his daughter alone at the mill to visit the king. Rapunzel smiled as she watched Father hug Sister, and she followed as Father started down the path to the king's court. Father was riding in a small cart that Rapunzel knew wasn't meant to transport people great distances, but Father was using it for that anyways.

Rapunzel pulled herself away from her mirror, and grabbed a brush on her table. She began to brush out her long hair, noticing more of the long blonde strands turning brown from her magic use. She started to braid her hair as she rocked back and forth, muttering a spell under her breath that would take down the magical barrier around her tower. Rapunzel looked up at the mirror, and she watched as Sister braided her hair before she headed off to her room.

It was nighttime. Rapunzel tore herself away from her mirror, and trudged over to her bed, her chains clanking loudly behind her.

She would have to resume watching over Father and Sister in the morning.

Father was at the king's palace. Rapunzel had never seen the king's palace in person before, she had never even left her small tower, but she could tell from all of the guards with golden emblems that he was at the Golden Palace. Rapunzel didn't know why Father had decided to visit the Golden Palace, because she knew of all of the wicked evils that lived inside the Golden Palace.

The Golden Palace housed the king of gold, a king that was rumored to be ruthless and greedy. It was told that he would take gold from his people, and he had an army of warlocks at his beck and call to make him gold whenever he wished.

Father started to speak, and Rapunzel had to concentrate to hear what he was saying, so she only managed to catch the last bit of his sentence, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold."

Rapunzel started to laugh, loud and high pitched.

"Spin straw into gold? Why that is preposterous Fatherkins, Sister dearest can hardly spin straw into straw," Rapunzel said to herself as her laughs died down to small giggles. Rapunzel watched as the King's mouth opened slightly, and then a wicked grin spread across his face. Rapunzel didn't need to strain her magic to confirm that the King had told Father that he would need to bring this girl to the palace.

Father nodded meekly to the King, and then he headed off to his lowly mill right away. Rapunzel watched as Father held his head high, and walked out of the palace with everyone's eyes on him. Rapunzel started to giggle, unable to control herself.

"Why, if I could spin straw into gold, maybe I'd be released from this dreadful tower," Rapunzel told herself. "Treated like one of the King's prized ponies." Rapunzel nodded her head, agreeing with herself. "Not sure if I would want to be a prized pony. Maybe a prized zebra instead." Rapunzel laughed at the thought of turning into a golden zebra.

The next day, Rapunzel watched Father walk up to Sister, and Rapunzel watched as another strand of her hair turned brown as she strained her magic to listen.

"You will be coming with me to the King's palace, where you will spin straw into gold for him," Father told Sister, and Sister's face fell. Sister was crying all of the way to the cart that Father had taken to the palace, and then she refused to say another word to her father as she was taken into the Golden Palace.

Sister knelt before the King, and the King took her to a small room in his vast palace. The King opened the door of the room, and Rapunzel saw that it was filled to the brim with straw, golden and new.

The King was mean, Rapunzel decided as she watched the King throw Sister into the small room full of straw. She saw the death threat on his lips, but she didn't want to listen until Sister was alone in her room.

"Oh please, would anybody come and help me? I'll do anything!" Sister wailed, and Rapunzel felt a smile play on her lips. She would just have to project herself through the mirror, but to do that, Sister would have to help to pull her through all of the way.

"I could help you," Rapunzel said, looking at Mother's necklace around Sister's neck. "Touch the mirror." Sister stood up, as if she was unsure if the voice that she had heard was real.

Sister carefully placed her hand on the mirror, and Rapunzel smiled. She started to mutter a spell under her breath, and she watched as the mirror started to ripple as if it were water. She took Sister's hand, and used it to pull herself through the mirror and into the small room.

"What will you give me if I spin all of this straw into gold?" Rapunzel asked Sister right away. Sister looked around for something she could give Rapunzel, and she started to fiddle with her necklace.

"My mother's necklace," Sister responded, and Rapunzel nodded her head as she took the necklace off of Sister's neck. Rapunzel started to spin, spin, spin the straw into gold. And once she was done, she walked back through the mirror.

Rapunzel played with the necklace in her fingers, admiring the red rubies that were encased in gold, and she figured that it was probably worth more than the whole mill that Sister and Father lived at. Rapunzel stopped looking at the necklace, and moved to add it to her collection of things on top of her desk. But her chains burned hot and bright, and the pain caused her pass out right on the floor.

As Rapunzel awoke, she noticed that Sister was begging for her help again, pressing her hand up to the mirror and pleading for Rapunzel to come back. Rapunzel smiled to herself, muttered the spell underneath her breath, stepped through the mirror and asked, "What will you give me if I spin all of this straw into gold?"

"My mother's wedding band," Sister responded, and Rapunzel nodded her head as she took the gold ring from Sister dearest. She started to spin again, noticing that this room was larger than the one Sister was in yesterday. Sister did nothing but watch Rapunzel, for Rapuzel could feel Sister's gaze on her back. Rapunzel did not want to talk to Sister, and so instead looked at all of the gold that was piling up at her feet.

Rapunzel spun late into the night, and then felt herself pulled back into the tower by the spell that surrounded the tower. Rapunzel fled through the only mirror in the room, and arrived safely in her tower as the King came by to check on Sister's work. Rapunzel forced herself to stay awake and ignore the burning heat from her chains as she watched the King pull Sister to another room, this one the largest by far, and Rapunzel heard him tell her that, "If you manage to spin all of this straw into gold by the morning, you shall become my wife, if not, you shall die." Rapunzel started to laugh to herself again, how silly it was that the King wanted to marry Sister dearest. Rapunzel looked into the King's thoughts, and she saw that it was all just a ploy to get more money, which made Rapunzel giggle to herself.

"This or that, there's no winning in this game," Rapunzel said, giggling madly as she watched Sister step into the new room. The King slammed the door, and Sister was all alone. This time however, she was not crying when she placed her hand on the mirror and called out for the mysterious woman with long hair to come and save her.

Rapunzel stepped through her mirror once more to ask Sister dearest, "What will you give me if I spin all of this straw into gold?" Sister shook her head sadly and said,

"I have nothing left to give you." Rapunzel furrowed her eyebrows, and then she clapped her hands together.

"Your first born," Rapunzel said, giggling slightly. "When you are the queenie, promise to give me your firstborn child." Sister looked at Rapunzel, and nodded her head in agreement after a moment.

And so Rapunzel spun the straw into gold, giggling the whole time, for she would finally have someone to keep her company in her lonely tower.

After all of the straw was spun into gold, Rapunzel left Sister to herself in the room that was now full of gold, and retired to her tower. Sister soon married the King, and so Rapunzel waited, and waited, and waited for Sister dearest to have a child to keep her company. Rapunzel noticed more and more strands of her long blonde hair were turning brown, and she knew that if she wasn't careful, soon all of her hair would turn brown and she would run out of magic forever, and the curse that was placed on her would become complete, and she would be stuck in her tower forever.

Sister soon gave birth to a child, a little girl, and Rapunzel smiled as she watched Sister hold her newborn baby. Rapunzel pulled against her chains, and she knew that if she wanted to take the child from Sister she would have to get rid of the chains that kept her in her tower. She summoned her magic from within, and burned the chains off of her arms. She walked up to the mirror, reveling in the freeness of her wrists, and pulled herself through the mirror, bundling up her long hair with her.

"Now, give me what you promised," Rapunzel said to Sister as she stepped towards Sister, looking at the small child in Sister dearest's arms.

Sister started to cry, and offered Rapunzel all of the kingdom's riches. Rapunzel giggled at the offer, and shook her head. But then Sister kept crying, loudly, disturbing the baby.

"I will give you three days, if by then in that time you learn my name you may keep your child," Rapunzel told Sister, and Sister gave Rapunzel a grateful look. Rapunzel stepped back through the mirror, confident that Sister would not be able to find out her name.

The next day Rapunzel walked into Sister's room, and sat patiently as Sister guessed many names. But after each one Rapunzel would tell her sister gleefully, "That is not my name."

The day after, Sister's names were more elaborate, spanning from odd to normal, and every name in between. But after each one Rapunzel would giggle and say, "That is not my name."

Rapunzel returned to her tower, where she heard Gothel call her name out, and she walked to the edge of the tower, pulling against her chains as her warden called for her to throw out her hair to her.

"Rapunzel Stiltskin, let down your hair to me!" Gothel called up, and Rapunzel threw her long hair down to her warden, who, instead of climbing up her hair, left, limping slightly as she did.

Rapunzel awoke on the third day with a smile on her face, walking through the mirror to see Sister dearest, and she smiled as she saw the baby in Sister's arms.

"And so what is my name?" Rapunzel asked Sister, shuffling on her feet as Sister guessed wrong name after wrong name. And after each Rapunzel said, "That is not my name."

"Then perhaps your name is Rapunzel Stiltskin," Sister said, and Rapunzel's eyes flashed with fury.

"The devil told you that! The devil told you that!" Rapunzel shouted, stomping her feet.

Sister sat on her throne, watching as Rapunzel's long hair turned brown completely, in complete and total shock.

Rapunzel saw her chains materialize onto her wrists, and she felt the chains start to pull her back, back, back to her tower. Rapunzel pulled against the chains, trying to claw her way towards freedom, until the mirror fell down upon her, and she was never seen again.

AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:

So, this is my entry for the Rewind the Classics contest, so feel free to let me know what you guys think. Also, this is a retelling of Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin, so I don't own those stories, but I do own the changes that I made to them to create this, if that makes sense.