Okay. So I know it's been a few days, but seriously, I have a job, college, and a social life to work around, and all that was seriously interrupted today by a 24 hour flu bug. Ugh.

It sucked, but here you go. :) Lots of time to lounge around and think about it! :D

Also, I know some people pointed out that a lot of Flynn's history was left out in his trial, but don't worry. I wanted to work that into this chapter when a very pissed off Rapunzel demands answers, and that you shall get very soon! Just read on! :D

CHAPTER SONG: "Life After You" by Daughtry

Disclaimer: Maybe if I hit a few producers with my frying pan, I can own this movie...or a night in jail...either way...

Hangman's Noose

A "Tangled" fanfiction

by doodlegirll

...oOo...

What happened next came as a blur.

No sooner had the words left the short man's mouth that guards swarmed the area, grabbing Flynn by the shoulders and arms, yanking his hand from Rapunzel's as she gave an indignant cry of protest. The words echoed in his head, and his heart dropped to his stomach.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go...

Dumbstruck, he didn't even try to struggle as they wrestled at his arms behind his back and shackled his wrists. He cast a look at Rapunzel, who had stepped back, her face red with emotion.

"Stop it!" She yelled, going at the guard nearest to her, trying to pull him away from Flynn. "Let him go!"

The guard merely pushed her to the side as they began to drag Flynn from the room.

Rapunzel wasn't having it. Much as she had back at the Snuggly Duckling when the thugs had been fighting over Flynn just a few short weeks ago, she ran up behind one of the guards and began to beat him on the back with her fists, as she found herself frying pan-less at this particular time.

"Rapunzel!" The King rushed over to his daughter, pulling her away from the guard, who had turned to face his attacker, completely confused but unhurt by the young girl's blows. Rapunzel fought against her father's grasp as the guards dragged Flynn from the room, trying desperately to follow him to wherever they were taking him. She saw him glance over his shoulder at her as they turned the corner, and he was gone.

"NO!" She screamed. "Eugene! NO!"

"Rapunzel, sweetheart, calm down." The Queen said in a soft voice, coming up next to the King, trying to get through to her distraught daughter. "Everything's going to be okay."

Rapunzel spun around. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, her big green eyes filled with grief.

"Daddy, don't let them take him!" She pleaded with the King. "Please, you have to do something!"

"Rapunzel, what's done is done." The King whispered. "Nothing that has happened here can be changed."

"B-but you're the king!" She said. "Surely your word presides over all!"

The King shook his head.

"Not always, dearest." He said. "Not in this case. Flynn was a civilian's case."

"The criminal had to be put away," the short man said, coming up to the royal family. "His punishment fits his crimes."

Rapunzel had never felt the urge to slap someone across the face as she did in that moment, looking down at the man who was just slightly shorter than she was. But she did now, and she clenched her hands into fists in an attempt to control herself.

"What crimes?" She cried. "Tell me! Because you most certainly didn't during this trial! I've read the books, the laws. I know how the judicial system works! Just what exactly has he done? What has he done to deserve to die?"

The short man was obviously not used to being yelled at by royalty, and especially not by a headstrong young princess. He straightened up and cleared his throat, trying to make himself appear taller; however, the girl's glare was enough to make even the tallest tree feel like a tiny ant.

"He was a thief, Princess." He said. "He's stolen countless times over the years! He once stole an entire bag of money which caused a merchant and his family to sink into poverty, where his wife died and he was left with three small children to care for! He's stolen and blamed others. He's stolen horses, which is a crime punishable by death no matter the rest of your history! Once he broke into a store and got away with countless priceless pieces of artwork, and what he did with them, we'll never know! Not to mention he's stolen from you yourself, Princess. He stole your crown!"

"You mean this thing?" Rapunzel grabbed the sparkling article from atop her brown hair. "Then here! Take it back!" She threw the tiara onto the floor, where it skittered across the marble, undamaged. "I don't want it!"

The Queen gently stooped to pick it up.

"Rapunzel, please, just listen to us." She said. She tried to place the tiara back on Rapunzel's head. "Everything is going be alright."

Rapunzel angrily shook her head, closing her eyes tightly, refusing to listen to anything her parents had to say anymore.

"I don't care what he's done in the past! I don't want some stupid crown! I just want him!" She said.

"You majesty, please..." The short man began, but Rapunzel spun around to face him once more, the pure fury on her face enough to ignite fire to life.

"No, you listen to me!" She said, choking with emotion. "That man gave his life for me. His life for me. He saved me from the woman who kidnapped me and hid me away for eighteen years, and brought me back to my real parents! He brought me home to the loving family I never even knew I had, saved me from being used for the rest of my life. He made me realize that this world is so much bigger than I could ever have imagined, and he taught me that there are things worth sacrificing. I love him, and I will fight for the rest of my life if I have to to make sure that people understand who he really is."

With that, she turned on her heel and ran from the room.

...oOo...

Some hours later, the Queen made her way towards her daughter's chambers. After the explosion of emotion in the courtroom, the royal parents had decided it best to allow their daughter a chance to breath. Her life in the past few weeks had been anything but easy: she had escaped her prison, found out she was a lost princess, gone on the adventure of a lifetime…only to have the love of her life yanked out from under her, sent to the gallows. The Queen felt the pain for her child, and she wanted nothing more than to take her in her arms and protect her, protect her from the sheer and utter heartbreak that Eugene's death would surely bring…

The Queen gently knocked on Rapunzel's door.

"Rapunzel?" She whispered against the wood. "Sweetie, are you in there?"

She received no answer. The Queen, suddenly very worried, opened the door and slipped inside.

She found her daughter curled into a small ball on her large bed, the covers rumpled and wrinkled. Rapunzel's face was streaked with dried tears, and in her small fists was a purple piece of fabric – a kingdom flag, the Queen realized. The flag was pressed to Rapunzel's face, her nose buried in the soft cloth, as though it were absorbing her grief. At her side, Pascal had curled up next to her, a sad blue in color. When he saw the Queen approach, he got to his little feet and gave her a mournful look before crawling to sit next to Rapunzel's head.

The Queen felt a sharp pang of hopelessness hit her heart as she looked down at the mess of a girl in front of her. She gently reached out and stroke Rapunzel's hair.

"Rapunzel?" She whispered. "Honey, wake up."

Rapunzel stirred and opened her bright green eyes. She looked up at her mother.

"Mama?" She whispered.

The Queen sat down on the bed next to her daughter, her own eyes filling with tears. Ever since Rapunzel had arrived here, she had not been able to call her 'mother.' That title belonged to one that did not deserve it, to a woman who was not Rapunzel's mother, to a woman who had stolen her and locked her away from the world, who had fed her lies for eighteen long years. The title of 'mother' had forever been tainted, and Rapunzel had explained this to the woman who was her true maternal figure. The Queen had understood, and had told her daughter, weeping in her arms, to take all the time she needed to find the right name for her. And finally, she had.

"Yes, dearest." She whispered. "It's me."

"Mama!" Rapunzel was at the Queen in a second, wrapping her arm around her waist, burying her face in the Queen's shoulder.

The Queen wrapped her arms around the girl, holding her close. She stroked her brown hair, allowed the tears to soak through her. Rapunzel wept, sobs racking through her small body. Every bit of emotion she had ever kept bottled up came out now with full force. And the Queen knew that Rapunzel knew they were the same tears the Queen herself had cried: for Rapunzel's lost childhood, for the transition from ordinary girl in a tower to a princess in a castle, and for Eugene, and the lost future they had dreamt of.

"Sh, Rapunzel, I'm here." The Queen whispered. "I'm here."

"He's going to die, Mama!" Rapunzel heaved. "It doesn't matter what I say! He's going to die!"

The Queen tightened her hold on her child, wishing she could take the pain upon herself, wishing she could spar her daughter from this.

"Sh, darling," the Queen cooed. "It's going to be alright."

"No, it's not!" Rapunzel shook her head against her mother's shoulder. "It's not! Eugene has changed! He's not Flynn Rider anymore! He's not a thief anymore! He doesn't deserve to die!"

"I know." The Queen whispered. "I know."

"And nothing I say or do is going to change it!" Rapunzel sobbed once more. "I feel so useless! When I still had my blonde hair, I could sing away anything painful! Now I'm stuck, and even if I did still have my hair, it wouldn't be enough to save him! No one will listen to me!" She took in gulps of air, struggling for a hold on her emotions. "Eugene is going to die…"

The Queen rested her head atop Rapunzel's, listening to her daughter's breathing slowly even out, her sobs turning into gentle hiccups. Eventually Rapunzel pulled back from her mother.

"I never even got to say goodbye…" She whispered.

The Queen knew she could do nothing to change what the counsel had decided, but she knew she could offer her daughter the chance to come to terms with what was happening. Gently she smoothed down the unruly locks of brunette hair and smiled sadly at her daughter.

"Rapunzel, come with me." She said.

Rapunzel looked confused for a moment, but she quietly stood to her feet. She held out her hand for Pascal, who scampered up her arm onto her shoulder. The young princess followed her mother out of her bedroom and into the hallways.

The Queen led Rapunzel through the brightly lit hallways of the castle. Neither woman said a word.

Before they knew it, the two found themselves walking outside into the warm summer sunshine, towards a smaller, almost colder looking building. Rapunzel noted that it looked almost sad, as if a permanent raincloud hovered above the stone walls. She looked up around her at the unfamiliar walls, wondering where in the world the Queen would be taking her. This was a part of the castle she had not seen as of yet.

Guards positioned on either side of a large wood door – the entrance to wherever it was they found themselves, Rapunzel supposed – stood to attention as the Queen and Princess approached.

"Your majesties," the guards bowed as the royals came closer.

The Queen nodded to them, and they straightened up.

"Take us to Flynn Rider." The Queen commanded.

Rapunzel gasped, looking at her mother. So this was why she had never seen this side of the castle; this was the prison. Behind these walls somewhere was her Eugene.

The guards fidgeted nervously.

"But, your majesty, he's – "

The Queen held up a hand, cutting him off. "I know that he is marked for death, and that prisoners of such status are not permitted visitors," she put an arm around Rapunzel. "But this is a special case."

The guards looked from the Queen to the Princess, who looked back at them, her big green eyes brimmed with hope.

Without a word, one of the guards nodded and opened the door, allowing the Queen and Princess to enter the dark halls of the prison. The Queen kept her arm firmly around Rapunzel's shoulders as they walked through the door, and Rapunzel found herself pressing close to her mother. She looked up at her as they passed through the rowdy halls as prisoners shouted and jeered through barred doors at the guards and the royal mother and daughter. One reached out and grabbed at Rapunzel's ankle, causing the young girl to jump, and she gave a yelp of surprise, spinning around to face the man who had touched her, but all she found was a hand receding back into the shadows of the windowless cell. She shuddered, and quickly turned back to continue on with her mother and the two guards leading them.

The guards led them through the winding halls, and the minutes seemed to stretch on forever as Rapunzel surveyed their surroundings: nearly windowless, the prison was cold, and the walls were damp to the touch. Prisoners grumbled in their cells around them, and the entire place smelled of mildew, urine, and excrement.

This was where they were holding Eugene?

Pascal nuzzled himself close to Rapunzel, looking up at her worriedly. She smiled at him encouragingly.

"It's going to be okay, Pascal." She whispered. "They're going to take us to Eugene."

Before long, the two guards stopped outside thick wooden door with a square of bars just above Rapunzel's eye level. She stood to her tiptoes, trying to peer inside, but the heads of the guards stood in her way.

"You've got a visitor, Rider," one of the guards sneered. He opened the door and stepped back, and the Rapunzel looked at her mother, who smiled sadly and nodded.

Rapunzel smiled back and nodded before she turned and walked through the door.