You're A Gift - ROTBTD Secret Santa 2015
oH MY GOODNESS I am a despicable human being. This is my ROTBTD Secret Santa gift to @anastasia-airy, and yes this is two weeks late because I was overseas. Thank you for being so patient and I hope this makes up for the wait!!!! This was actually pretty hard, and I was trying to think of a very special and thoughtful gift in this story. And I was so relieved when I thought of it, but I didn’t write it in full because goodness me this is already pretty long. Also, I think I totally failed in trying to make this steampunk as per request.
The view from the top of the Tower was breathtaking.
Below her, the city stretched out in all directions, a vast shadowy spread of towers and rooftops and bridges and domes and chimneys. From those large shafts came steady billows of smoke that ought to have made an ominous picture against the slowly darkening sky. Yet, populating this dusky canvas was a multitude of lights - from candlelit rooms and street lamps and festive lights and floating airships, twinkling across the city through the winter fog.
She watched as her breath came out in a little cloud and vanished completely.
Rapunzel sighed from her perch at the attic window.
Her gaze dropped to the little contraption in her hands.
It was a gold, shiny cylinder small enough to sit comfortably in her palm. Along its length was a flat white surface decorated with gold, green, and blue diamond shapes. Each of its two circular ends held an ensemble of interconnected gears sitting below a protective layer of glass with a little button in the corner over the first cog.
It brought back vague memories of a brief conversation with a white-haired stranger, of stopped tears, of the fleeting touch of cold fingers, of a voice that rang with laughter, of a gift, of a time long ago.
“If there ever comes a time when you really need anything, use this, and I will come find you.”
Absent-mindedly, she held up the contraption, toying with it in her hands, elbows propped up against her raised knees. The gold gleamed in the moonlight, a light joining the city’s sparks. She looked out again at the world outside, a dance locked away from her.
“Well, Pascal,” she glanced at her robotic chameleon, which had made its way onto her lap, “there’s no time like the present.”
She held it up to her face and squinted at the gears in the nightlight. “How do you work this thing anyway?”
A click sounded as she unintentionally pressed the little button. Eyes wide, she watched as the first cog began moving, triggering the rest of the gears. But that was all it did.
And then, through the fog, a great, looming shape emerged slowly.
She nearly fell off the sill in surprise - it took her a while to realise it was an airship. Though it wasn’t the largest she had seen, it was still impressive, appearing as if it was constructed for a lean build.
Then, as it passed a short distance before the Tower, something leapt off the side of the ship, towards her. She screamed.
“Rapunzel?” Came her mother’s voice, shrill even with the heaviness of sleep.
The figure, who had landed lightly on the windowsill next to her, pressed his finger onto her lips. “Shh,” he whispered, “don’t let her find us out.”
Through the darkness, a glint of silvery white hair in the moonlight.
“Nothing, Mother! Just tripped over myself!”
Some incoherent grumbling downstairs. And then the house was quiet again.
“You scared me!” She hissed.
“Good to see you again too, princess,” he grinned at her. “It’s been quite a while.”
“How did this thing tell you where to find me?” She asked, looking curiously at the gold cylinder.
He shifted backwards till his back leaned against the window frame, facing her. “Magic,” he said simply, an impish smile on his face. He dangled one leg over the edge, propping an elbow up on his other raised knee. “So what’s wrong, princess?”
Instantly a languidness passed over her face. “I’m tired of being stuck here, away from the world,” she sighed. “Especially on Christmas. Everything looks so beautiful, but out of my reach.”
He tilted his head at her, wearing a serious expression. “And what would you like me to do?”
She raised her eyes to meet his.
“Take me away from here. Out into the world.” Her voice was just a fraction short of pleading. “…Please.”
“Of course,” he nodded, eyes soft as they remained locked on hers. “Anything for you.”
