FIVE MONTHS AGO

No windows meant the Stabbington brothers rarely, if ever, get to see any sunlight in their cell. They had lived in complete pitch-black darkness, like rodent pests, drinking from dog-bowls and sleeping on the cold hard floor while mosquitos buzzed away at their ears. It's hard to argue they didn't deserve it, though. After all, stealing the royal crown and threatening to sell the Lost Princess away as a slave? They're lucky they still alive. Nah, they got what was coming to them and they knew it.

Their prison cell was no larger than a closet. Dark, musty, and dank. Better than most accommodations they've lived in. The only sounds they could hear was the steady trickle of water in the distance and the jingle of the warden's keys, who out of some cruel joke, placed it hanging on a wall, just out of reach.

Today, though, there was the sound of leather boots clip-clopping against the stone floor getting louder, and the heavy groan of metallic bars sliding away. Torchlight flooded their cell, revealing the numerous algae patches, murky puddles, and rat companions that they wish they rather not see.

"You've got a visitor," the Warden said, and departed with his routine derogatory spit on the floor.

This would be their first visitor.

Face half-shrouded in darkness, Cutjack glanced up from his corner, and lo and behold, who else had decided to grace them with his presence today but none other than-

He grunted, "Rider."

"You guys look like you haven't changed one bit," Eugene said in an undeservingly friendly tone, stepping into the jail cell.

Cutjack gave him a leer, sizing up the man with hawk eyes. He wore a purple sash around his vest now, the sparrow coat-of-arms damasked atop his jacket signifying his new social status as Prince-Consort. "Well, well," Cutjack said with ill-concealed spite, "Looks like you finally made it." His bulky form slightly slumped against the wall. "At least one of us is living the dream."

"Guess I just struck lucky."

Of course he was referring to the girl. But not everyone could find hidden towers resided by magical lost princesses. The Stabbingtons tried that and got mixed up with an old demon witch.

"Come on," Eugene offered his hand, "If we depart now, we depart as friends."

Cutjack stared at the offered hand, and shoved it away in an expression of abject rejection. He could stand up on his own. Five months of brooding malicious thoughts of revenge, fueling the overwhelming bouts of jealousy, it had drilled the grudge deeper and deeper into his heart, into some dark, unreachable place. And he knew Cyclops would follow suit, if only because his older brother was doing it.

Feeling rejected, Eugene quickly recovered, setting on a stony expression. "Follow me," he led the way with his torch through the dungeon corridors, "Let's get this over with."

When they finally stepped out into the light, it was like their skin was on fire. Five lightless months in the darkest bowels of Corona Kingdom would do that to you. All those childhood days burning ants, now they know how it feels like to be on the other side of the glass.

Standing there, like a blatant monument to all their sins, the imposing tower of the gallows.

Cutjack saw his brother's shackled hands trembling, and without thinking he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. There was a moment when the two brothers simply gazed, but the best form of communication doesn't involve words, it's the platonic bond that only blood can give and twin brothers share, when they know everything the other is going to say before they can even open their mouths. The look in Cutjack's eyes could not conceal his own fear, but there was gratitude, the nostalgia of all their adventures together, and the cold resignation to their fate, that all he could ever ask for was to at least have him by his side in this dark hour. And though they're a complete stranger to mushy feelings, the strength of a brotherhood isn't that sort. It's a tough love.

"I bet I'll survive longer than you will."

Cutjack was physically incapable of laughing, so he simply let out a grunt. "I'll let you know when you win."

"Sure, brother." His eyes turned back to the gallows, "Sure."

They continued their march to the wooden platform. The black, faceless executioner, despite having seen worse and done this a thousand times already, treated the ceremony with a near-sacred solemnness. This was probably the first time the Stabbington brothers were treated with such respect. Ironic.

"Wait. Stop this."

The Stabbington brothers turned round, and saw the Princess of Corona rushing up to them. Rider was not far behind.

"Rapunzel-"

"Please, Eugene. I want to talk to them."

"Taking orders from little girls now, Rider?" Cutjack snickered.

"You," said Rapunzel in a surprisingly commanding voice, "You will listen to me now."

Behind her, Eugene made a face as if to say, 'y'all got served.' They both conceded.

"You tried to kill Eugene once. You wanted to sell me away for my hair," there was a bitter poison laced at the edge of that otherwise balm-like voice, "I hate you, and I think you deserve to be punished." Her gaze broke for the fraction of a second, "But I don't want to have to watch as they kill you."

Cutjack wrung his hands in a Eugene-like manner that only made the whole thought all the more disconcerting.

"Well, you'd be the first."

"Your Highness," said one of the guards, "Your seat is prepared for you."

Rapunzel fidgeted with the rhinestone moires of her dress in an attempt to hide her discomfort; it was her idea of acting normal. "Thank you." She took one last mournful look at the Stabbington brothers before walking off, leaving the executioner to tie the ropes around their necks.

"Eugene . . . I don't like this," she whispered to him as she sat down on her chair, a mere ten feet away from them.

A terrible feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach suggested that he felt the same, but he wordlessly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, offering what little solace he could give. Her heart was thundering, her whole body shivering, even more so than him. This was the day he had been looking forward to. The day the Stabbington brothers finally got what they deserved. He was supposed to enjoy this. So why wasn't he enjoying this?

Was it because every time he looked at the gallows, with the two Stabbington brothers gazing back, he imagined an extra noose there too?

"Any last words, brother?" the executioner said, hands already gripping the lever.

The two Stabbington brothers looked at each other, then to Eugene, and shouted with the intent of a profound final word that would be remembered forever, "Get a shave, Rider. You look awful."

The creak of the wooden lever resounded across the courtyard, and the wooden floor gave way, taking the Stabbington brothers along with it.

That was all Rapunzel could handle. She sprang up from her chair, surprising her parents, Eugene a lot less, who had anticipated this but didn't stop her. Instead he watched as she ran up to the gallows that held two limp and stiff bodies.

Her eyes searched ever so desperately for any light in their eyes. She poked them with one finger. It was cold to the touch. Their bodies oscillated.

Hands clasped over her mouth, Rapunzel found herself staggering a few steps back, then falling down to the ground on her knees. Her sobs was one of the most painful sounds Eugene had ever heard.


Death examined his two new arrivals with a look of complacent indifference before wandering off into the darkness, leaving them to burn in the white flames.

That was when a voice rang out in the emptiness, "Well, I thought he'd never leave."