rapunzel ♫ 02

[flowergleam]

Who: flowergleam, forged_anew, and crazy not!zombies
Where: edges of the residential district
Style: I'll follow you!
Status: closed

[It's been a quiet day, mostly uneventful around the edges of Lake Meridian despite the strange snarls and growls of the  that can be heard at night. Rapunzel's returning from a trip into the main part of the city to get more paint, a bag in

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[forged_anew]

Zuko actually came to the lake often to train, a reason he'd mentioned to Rapunzel when they first met that he'd seen her cottage before. He'd been there since morning today as well, but actually had not encountered any of the possessed beings yet. In fact, so far, he'd remained perfectly unaware of them.

Rapunzel was easy to spot from a distance, what with that ridiculously long golden hair. Zuko had just been about to head back to his own apartment when he paused, shirt in one hand, lifting the other to wave-- and then dropping the shirt he'd just been about to put on, frowning suddenly as those shapes seemed to come out of nowhere. And whatever that girl had in her had--was that a cooking pan?--was hardly going to deter them, in Zuko's opinion.

Swearing softly under his breath, he was already running in her direction, closing the distance between them quickly. He hadn't brought his swords today, but he didn't need them.

"Rapunzel!"

[flowergleam]

Rapunzel turned at the sound of her name, dropping her attention from the figures that just weren't quite people to look at Zuko approaching. She called his name back in surprise, but that brief moment looking away was all it took for the things to make their move. She let out an eep as a backhand knocked her forwards, causing her to stumble.

"Hey!!"

She raised the frying pan, glancing once more to Zuko before being forced to keep her attention on the attacking beings, holding the pan in front of her face. "Stop it, why are you attacking?"

She wanted to see if they'd talk to her before she started hitting back; but if it came to it she wasn't going to hold back a few sound whacks over the head. Still, that was assuming she'd be able to land and sound whacks; they were driving her slowly backwards, step by step, even though it was only fists they were using-for the moment.

[forged_anew]

"Rapunzel!" Zuko yelled again, this time in warning-- but it was too late and his expression darkened when he saw her struck, suddenly extremely angry. He wasn't going to wait for answers; if their method was 'attack first, ask later,' his could easily be as well.

"Run," he suggested firmly, much closer now and already summoning fire to his hands, willing it into the shape of two curved swords. For now, because they looked like people, he wouldn't aim to kill, but he did swipe at the legs of the two moving to stop him so he could get to the ones closest to the girl. The fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared once he was closer, so as not to accidentally hurt Rapunzel, and he swung a solid punch at one of her attackers.

[flowergleam]

That frying pan was put to good defensive use as Rapunzel tried to recover from the initial surprise of the attack. Busy protecting herself, she missed the fire that sprang briefly into Zuko's hands, but she did turn to look directly at him as his punch connected with one of the attacking creatures.

"I'm not running away, not unless you're with me!" she told him firmly, eyes narrowed as though offended he might suggest she leave him behind.

He'd succeeded in knocking one back, but there were others to come, turning away from Rapunzel for a moment to focus on the newcomer. As they turned their backs on her, she brought the pan down again and again with a few ringing gongs as it connected-"Leave-him-alone!"

[forged_anew]

Innovative weapon, that pan, but he wasn't about to discredit it when it seemed effective. "I'll be fine," Zuko insisted. "Just-- Watch out!" He cut himself off suddenly, grabbing Rapunzel perhaps a bit roughly by the arm to yank her out of the way of a sword, at the same time as he sent a fireball at her attacker's shoulder. He wasn't aiming to kill, not when he wasn't sure if these were people, but he meant to drive them away and if that took violence, at least he was good at it.

Accepting that Rapunzel wasn't going to leave, mostly because they were now surrounded, Zuko barked out instead, in a voice used to giving military commands, "Back to back! Try not to let them closer than arm's length." Which might be difficult, considering her weapon of choice, but that was what the fire was for. Suddenly, Zuko was holding what appeared to be two whips made entirely of flame, lashing out far to keep driving the things back.

[flowergleam]

Rapunzel had been through strange things in Somarium, things that had made her confused and maybe a little scared, but this was different. There had never been anything that had seemed to have an intention to hurt her, like all the things against which her mother had warned her. She'd reached a point where she'd begun to believe people were so much the opposite of what Gothel had said that now, faced with something like this, left her stunned-but luckily not enough to render her totally unable to move when Zuko barked his orders

[forged_anew]

He didn't have time to look right away. Rapunzel would have to take care of herself for at least another second or two because, currently, Zuko had his hands full deflecting attacks from one of those things wielding a hefty crow bar right at his head. It wasn't until he'd forced his attacker back with some pretty bad burns to his arms that Zuko whirled around, looking for Rapunzel and whatever had made her make that sound.

Zuko didn't know what a gun was either, and so he paid no attention for now to the person holding what appeared to be a small, shiny weapon. He wasn't close enough to be a danger right away, unlike the one Rapunzel was currently beating with her pan. So Zuko moved to help her-- unwittingly stepping right into the line of fire. On the one hand, as the pain crashed against his senses instantly, Zuko realized he'd just blocked whatever projectile had hit him from striking Rapunzel instead.

On the other hand, it hurt. A cry was torn from his lips before he even realized what was happening, blood welling up, spilling

[flowergleam]

Rapunzel wasn't a martial artist like Zuko, but her smashing and whacking technique seemed to be working well enough to keep her alive and mostly unhurt save a few scratches. And while she reacted to the loud bang of the gunshot, she had no idea where to look for the effect of it-until she heard Zuko's shout, eyes widening with a look of horror when turned and saw the blood.

She nearly screamed, forgetting about the attackers and reaching out a hand only to pull back and cover her eyes at the huge fireblast. That seemed to terrify them, for this time they really did pull back, edging even further away from Zuko. They could tell then he was a source of something they could not combat, and luckily none others seemed to have any guns. When the fire faded, Rapunzel raced towards Zuko, catching him and supporting him.

"Oh my goodness." Her voice was breathy, worried. "Are you-hang on, you'll be okay!" She was already grasping with one hand for spools of her hair.

[forged_anew]

The blast faded away, leaving Zuko swaying slightly on his feet and breathing hard. But Rapunzel's sudden panic startled him and he tried to push her off, insisting in a gruff voice even as he tried to stem the blood with his bare hands. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. We need to get out of here in case they decide to come back."

[flowergleam]

Rapunzel let go but refused to move back, making a small "Oh" noise when she brought her hand away and saw the blood. She swallowed and moved in front of Zuko, extending her arms in a protective gesture. She'd dropped her pan when she'd run over to him, but searching for it wasn't an option and neither was letting her lack of it prevent her from doing anything.

"Stay-stay back!" she ordered, doing her best to keep her voice firm and commanding. "You won't-be allowed to hurt anyone any more!"

They were slinking even further, slipping into the shadows. Rapunzel turned back to Zuko, reaching for him once more. "We're not far from home. Don't push yourself..."

[forged_anew]

Oh, good. Zuko was infinitely glad the creatures were retreating, most of them now nursing nasty burns from his outburst. He swayed and didn't refuse help this time, letting Rapunzel support him somewhat and lead him while he was still pressing his hands to the wound because bleeding too much and passing out would probably prove problematic.

"Okay," Zuko mumbled, not bothering to protest anymore.

[flowergleam]

Rapunzel didn't even bother looking at the creatures any longer, her full attention on Zuko. She knew getting inside was the safer plan, but it went against all her instincts not to put him down there and heal him in the open. She kept an arm tight around him, ignoring the hair that spooled behind her until they were at the door of the cottage she shared with Aurora, leading him just inside the threshold before pulling her hair in after them and shutting the door.

Rapunzel lowered herself and Zuko to the floor, shifting to kneel as she gathered armfuls of hair. "You'll be okay in just a minute, I promise."

[forged_anew]

It was hardly the first time he'd been injured, but it never seemed to get much pleasanter, Zuko noted faintly. The wound seemed deep, and he had no idea what he'd been hit with. He could barely move his arm.

Groaning as he lowered himself to the floor with Rapunzel's help, Zuko knelt there with her, cracking open an eye to give her a confused look. "W-what're you - doing--?"

[flowergleam]

"I'm going to heal you."

She took a deep breath as she gathered her hair, arranging it around the wound while being as gentle as she could. There might have been some unavoidable pain as she made sure she completely covered the wounded area (not daring to look to closely at the wound itself), but she did her best. Settled, Rapunzel leaned back a little, resting one hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Just-whatever happens, stay relaxed." She took a deep breath. He was the only other person besides Flynn and her mother who would witness this first hand. Closing her eyes in an attempt to help herself steady, Rapunzel began to sing. From the moment she sang the first note, her hair began to glow from her roots, spreading quickly along seventy feet until the glow crossed over Zuko's wound, then reached the very ends of her hair.

♪ Flower gleam and glow

[forged_anew]

He was still bleeding heavily, and maybe it was lucky that the bullet seemed to have gone completely through-- even though the exit wound was bleeding just as badly. Zuko ground his teeth, trying not to make any sounds of pain, mostly for Rapuzel's sake.

He wasn't completely shocked by her claim that she could heal him, having experienced Katara's healing abilities firsthand, but Rapunzel was not a Waterbender. It was beyond him how she would be able to heal him, and blood was getting all over that golden hair. Black blotches kept skittering across his eyes, so Zuko closed them tightly, panting roughly through his nose. He refused to pass out, despite the way Rapunzel's song--why was she singing, of all things?--kept sounding so far away and choppy.

The glow spread and brightened until he could see it even past his shut eyelids and Zuko managed to open his eyes finally, gasping as he watched her hair shining, felt the pain slowly ebb away. It felt so different from Katara's healing. Eyes wide, he stared up at Rapunzel's face.

[flowergleam]

Luckily Rapunzel had seen a wound of this seriousness once before in May, when Flynn had been similarly wounded, so she was less queasy about the blood than she might have otherwise been. Even if she hadn't been, whether it got all over her hair, hands, and clothes wasn't the focus of her concern; perhaps it was best, too, that she had her eyes closed so that she couldn't see the tension in his face as he held back his groans.

She kept her hand on him and her eyes shut until she finished her last note. While she trusted her hair to work its magic, she still immediately snapped her eyes opened to check on him. Rapunzel pushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear, and her face clearly lit in relief at seeing his staring up at her.

"Zuko!" An outrush of breath. "Do you feel all right now?"