Hey! Here's another chapter! I literally just finished this because my life is extremely busy. But on the plus side, today is my mom's birthday and I might see Tangled again on Saturday! Woohoo!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tangled or Beauty and the Beast (there are two extremely tiny references that aren't really references at all, but still...). I wish I owned Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert...

Please review! It literally makes my day! Nearly three dozen of you have this on your alert and more are reading, so I know you're there! Haha but seriously. I've been so proud of all of you so far! Please make me even happier! :) Enjoy the newest chapter!

Chapter II – Hostage

Rapunzel gasped sharply, and raised the frying pan. She prepared herself to hit the strange man with it, but he held up his hands and said, "Hey, hey, don't hit me with that! I'm not going to hurt you!" She started walking toward him as he continued, "I'm just here because I, uh, needed someplace to stay for the night. Yeah…There was, uh, a pack of wolves and, uh…"

He never got to finish his thought because Rapunzel hit him over the head with the frying pan. He was knocked to the floor, unconscious. She pulled him up into a chair and tied him up with her hair. Staying a considerable distance from him, she watched him, waiting for him to come to and trying to decide what to do with him.

"I know, Pascal," she said. "I really should have stayed downstairs, but you know I couldn't! It was too dark and there was nothing down there! And now I don't even know what to do because there's a person in my tower…" Realization hit her. "Pascal, there's a person in my tower! There's a person in my tower! And his name isn't Mother!" Pascal looked at her with a confused expression. "True, we don't even know his name…" Rapunzel looked over and saw the man's satchel. She looked in it and saw a beautiful tiara and a crumbled up and slightly ripped sheet of paper.

Rapunzel walked over to the large mirror. She placed the tiara on her head. She stared at her reflection. The tiara looked like it belonged on her head…like it was meant to be there…like it was hers. But of course, it was not. Rapunzel was no princess. She was simply a girl who had lived in a tower her whole life and had never stepped outside until this morning.

She reluctantly placed the tiara back in the satchel and looked at the piece of paper. It was a drawing of a man, with the title: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: FLYNN RIDER, THIEF. So that was his name. "Flynn Rider," she said to herself. He was wanted for stealing something! "Oh, Pascal, what if he came to rob our tower! He's a thief! What should we do? I don't think he took anything yet…Maybe we should just leave him tied up…Though I do want to talk to him…Could you wake him up?"

Pascal rolled his eyes and climbed up onto Flynn Rider's shoulder. While he was carefully trying to poke Flynn Rider with his tail, Rapunzel stashed the satchel in an empty pot. The poking was unsuccessful, so Pascal finally just stuck his tongue in the man's ear.

Flynn Rider jerked awake and cried out. "Ah!" He looked down and saw that he was completely bound to a chair. And there was a lizard on his shoulder. Flynn shrugged the gecko off and looked around. There was no sign of his mysterious captor.

But then he looked into the shadows of the room. A tiny bare foot stepped out, followed by another, and then an entire person. She had extremely long blonde hair that Flynn realized was the rope used to tie him up. He couldn't tell if he was impressed or disgusted.

"I know why you're here, Flynn Rider," the girl said. "If that's even your real name. Who are you really and how did you find me?"

Flynn cleared his throat and said smoothly in a falsely suave voice, "I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say…Hi. How ya doin'?" She stared at him blankly. He sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." Flynn looked down and put on his famously epic look—the smolder. He looked up at her.

Rapunzel looked at the odd look on the man's face. What a freak! She was too confused to ask.

He sighed again. "Alright blondie—"

She interrupted him, "Rapunzel."

"Gesundheit," he said. "Anyway, why do you have me tied up? If you don't mind, I'll just collect my belongings and be on my way! Where…where…oh…oh no…where is my satchel?"

Proudly, Rapunzel said, "I've hidden it. Somewhere you'll never find it!"

Flynn Rider looked around a little. "It's in that pot, isn't it?"

Rapunzel pouted and hit him over the head with the frying pan, rendering him unconscious again.

After Rapunzel re-hid the satchel, Flynn was awakened by another ear-licking. "Gah!" he exclaimed. "Does he have to do that?"

Rapunzel ignored him. "I've hidden your satchel where you'll never find it! Now, something brought you here…Fate…Destiny…"

"A horse," Flynn said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I just want you to know," she continued, "you're never going to get your hands on my hair…well, more than you are now."

"I'm not here for your hair!" he exclaimed.

"You're…you're not?" she asked.

"No! I just want to get out of your hair…literally! Who are you? Frankly, I'm too scared to ask about the frog."

"Chameleon. If you're not here for my hair," Rapunzel said carefully, "then why are you here?"

"I was…uh…running away…and I was, uh, attacked by, uh, wolves…uh, yeah. Let's go with that. Now, if you'll just give me my satchel, I'll be on my—"

"Oh, no," Rapunzel said, looking out the window.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My mother. I'm not supposed to be up here. If I'm ever going to let Mother let me go to see the lights, I need to always listen to her! And I'm pretty sure you don't want those guards coming up here either."

"What?" he repeated. "Get me out of here! Listen, I have a plan!"

"What is it?" Rapunzel asked, quickly unraveling her hair from around his body because she had to get down to the base of the tower.

"Alright, you and I will make our escape. We'll go downstairs—hopefully the guards won't realize I've been up here and they'll leave. Would you say your mother will do anything to get you back?"

"Of course!" Rapunzel said.

"Okay, well you're going to come with me, as a…uh…a piece of…insurance that I get out of the kingdom safely. If you're with me, no guards are going to touch me if I…uh…put you in front of me…yeah. When I get to the border, you can go on your merry way to see whatever lights you're talking about."

"The lights that float in the sky every year on my birthday—tomorrow!"

"Oh, the lanterns for the lost princess! What a coincidence that you two have the same birthday!"

"The lost princess…" Rapunzel mumbled to herself. She snapped back into reality. "So what are you saying? That I'm going to be your hostage?"

"Well, that's an ugly way to put it…" Rapunzel glared at him. "Karma stinks, doesn't it? I was your hostage and now…well…anyway, let's get going."

He was finally untied, and they were heading toward the hole in the floor.

"What is making me go with you? You would hurt me," Rapunzel said.

"Do you want to leave the tower or what?"

"Good point," she said.

"I'm going to need my satchel," Flynn said. "I won't be coming back here."

Rapunzel groaned. Her only leverage was gone. Well… "No. Your satchel is my only guarantee that you won't harm me. You'll take me to the lights, and then we'll come back and I'll take you to the border. Deal?"

"Seems like a lot of walking to me…" Rapunzel's glare cut him off. Flynn sighed and rolled his eyes. "Deal," he groaned. They briefly shook hands.

Rapunzel wondered if he felt that brief emotion that she felt when their hands touched.

"He should be up there!" Gothel's voice cried. The two heard people climbing the tower.

"We have to hurry!" Rapunzel hissed. They quickly scrambled down the hole. Rapunzel pulled the tile back over the entrance, trapping them in darkness. She still didn't trust Flynn Rider enough to let him know that her hair was magical. They quickly sat in darkness until they started pulling stones out of the entry way, flooding the cave with light.

Rapunzel stuck her head out. They could see no one. The two quickly ran to the shadows and started creeping out of the meadow. Gothel was commanding the guards from the ground. Every back was facing them—no faces.

"We're almost out!" Rapunzel said ecstatically, excited to be leaving her tower.

"Not quite," Flynn answered. A guard heard them and turned around.

"Hey!" the guard shouted. All the others turned around.

"Damn," Flynn hissed. Rapunzel looked taken aback at his choice of language. Flynn quickly drew his dagger and placed it at Rapunzel's throat, holding her hands captive behind her back. Rapunzel gasped. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I won't hurt you. This is all for show, just so we can get out of here alive."

The guards ran toward them.

"Stop!" Flynn shouted, causing Rapunzel to wince because his mouth was right next to her ear. "Come any closer and I'll slit her throat!"

Everyone froze. Gothel was glaring daggers at Flynn. If looks could kill, he'd be dead ten times over. Flynn started backing up slowly. Soon they were right at the stone passage's edge.

"Don't you dare follow us! She'll come back in one piece if you do as I say!" Flynn whispered, "On three, run as fast as you can out the passage and to the left. Climb the nearest tree as high as you can and don't be seen. One…two…three!"

And the two took off running, causing the guards to follow, but Flynn and Rapunzel had the lead. They ran to the left of the ivy and climbed a tree. Rapunzel began to slip, but Flynn grabbed her hand and pulled her up. They pulled her hair up as fast as they could—not an easy feat.

But surprisingly, this was effective. The guards and Gothel had spread out, and no eyes looked up. After an hour or so of searching, they reconvened and headed back toward the castle, unhappy to tell the King and Queen that Rider was still missing and he had now kidnapped a young woman.

Rapunzel and Flynn were both relieved and amazed. They were safe for the time being.