Chapter One: The Road Out

It happened too fast for his mind to completely process. One moment he was dead, knocking on heaven's door, and the next he was back in the tower with a cute brunette girl crying over him. He knew it was her, and was instantly reminded of why it was better to be alive.

He would've missed a hell of a kiss if he'd stayed dead.

It was a great moment, an embrace well deserved after their separation, but then the moment ended, and she completely broke down. Her shoulders shook as she sobed hysterically, and threw her arms around his shoulders. He didn't say a word, rubbing her back soothingly, and allowed to her cry on his bloodstained vest. He heard tiny footsteps as Pascal climbed her side, curling himself into her neck in an attempt to comfort her.

She started mumbling something he couldn't make out through her hiccups. All he could hear was "magical hair… baby… princess… lanterns…"

"Hey, take a deep breath," he coaxed, rubbing her shoulders slowly. "Relax; I can't understand a word you're staying."

"Remember… remember when you first came here and I tied you to the chair?"

"Vaguely," he answered. "That whole thing's a bit fuzzy since you knocked me out a few times with a frying pan."

"I told you why I wanted to see the lanterns… because I felt that they were meant for me."

"Right, and we saw them, remember?" he thumbed at the tower's only window. "There was a boat, we sang a song, then we got cut off by me being two-timed and thrown into prison."

"Eugene, I'm serious." She sighed, motioning to tug at her hair, grabbing only air instead. Seeing her hand dangle like that broke his heart, and he quickly took hold of it, motioning for her to continue. Pascal jumped from her shoulder, scurrying off, and quickly returned with the purple flag Eugene had bought her at the festival. Climbing back to her shoulder, he dropped the flag into her lap, where she picked it up gingerly.

"The design on this flag is all over the tower," she explained. "I've been unconsciously painting it for the last eighteen years. My earliest memory was when I was a baby, and this symbol was above me. I wasn't in this tower and my mother wasn't… she wasn't Gothel."

Her hold on his hand tightened, almost anchoring him to the moment, to keep him from freaking out like he did at the campsite. He swallowed heavily, hoping to push his heart back in place. It felt like it was about to beat from his chest.

"I'm… I'm the lost Princess, Eugene," she managed, and instantly he froze.

His brain was swimming, and he had to focus to process everything, but he knew it made sense. Her captivity, her magical hair, her age, the fact that the lantern festival – celebrated on the Princess's birthday – was the same day as her birthday.

He thought back to the dark, smoke-filled pub, days before their heist on the palace. Maps were thrown out in front of them while Flynn Rider marked exits and guard positions.

"The most sought-after crown anyone has ever seen," one of the Stabbingtons had chuckled while attempting to outdrink him. "Rider, this is a job eighteen years in the making."

That old witch had stolen her, and he had stolen her crown.

"I know it sounds crazy," she sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "But I… I know it's the truth."

He looked down at her, and was hit with the ground breaking realization that he had to bring her home

"Eugene?" she said, softly when he hadn't responded. He smiled, running a hand through her newly chopped hair before cradling her face gently in his hand.

"Well, looks like we're going on another road trip."

She smiled, covering his hand with her own.

Eugene decided it would be safer to leave the tower from the newly revealed hatch than to risk scaling the side. Rapunzel agreed, although the knowledge that there had been an exit from her tower right under her feet the entire time infuriated her.

Looking back, she saw what she was leaving behind. Her eyes rested on the seventy feet of abandoned brown locks, and she ran her hand through her hair. The sight made her uncomfortable, like looking at a severed arm after it had been amputated.

Eugene kicked open the hatch, revealing spiraling stairs as well as several cobwebs.

"Yuck," he groaned. "I hate spiders."

He heard a soft giggle and he turned to see Rapunzel smiling at him sadly. Returning the smile, he extended his hand to her. He led them downward, in the darkness, and kept his complaints about spiders and all their legs to a minimum.

"How did you escape?" she asked as they neared the exit.

"With my brute strength and cunning intellect," he grinned smugly, as they exited through the tiny passage. "No dungeon, palace or not, can keep me captured. Yup, the only help I needed was that of—"

"MAXIMUS!"

"Well, yeah, okay; he helped," he continued, before taking a moment to see that Rapunzel had rushed to the horse that was eyeing her suspiciously. "Relax, Max. It's her; she just got a haircut."

Maximus circled Rapunzel slowly, his eyes narrowed as he sniffed the air around her; Pascal pushed the horse's nose away dismissively. Rapunzel didn't mind; instead she rocked back and forth on her feet, with her arms behind her back innocently

"Oh, c'mon, Maximus," she smiled, revealing a shiny apple. "Of course it's me; who else knows how much you love apples and the special spot behind your ears?"

With a loud neigh, he gobbled the apple and was instantly nuzzling her affectionately.

"You saved silly Eugene from prison? Oh, you're such a good boy, Maximus! Yes, you are!" she cooed, scratching his ears happily.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eugene saw the familiar velvet cloak of Gothel littered near the foot of the tower. After taking one last gander at the reunion next to him, he stealthily made his way to Gothel's cloak.

As much as he wanted the burn the thing, he didn't want Rapunzel to notice the garment, knowing full well she would want to bury it in respect for the woman who was once her mother. Sure it was selfish, but he didn't want to feel remorse for such a terrible woman.

He took hold of it roughly, rolling it into a heavy ball, before chucking it into the forest with all his might. Rapunzel was about to meet her real parents, and the memories of Gothel would only bog her down.

"Eugene?" he heard, and quickly turned around the tower to see Rapunzel sitting on Maximus with Pascal resting on her head lazily. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he said earnestly, knowing that the road back to the palace was also the road back to his noose. He hopped on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her steady, but mostly to feel her warmth pressed against his chest.

He had already died once for her that day; what was a second time?

"I'm ready when you are, Princess."