Hey guys – not much to say this time other than enjoy!

Coming to, Rapunzel tried to get her bearings but it was difficult. She seemed to be in some sort of cave, or burrow, but the light was dim so it was hard to tell which. She tried to move her hands, and realised that they were tied behind her with thick rope. The blonde struggled against them, and to her immense relief they loosened an inch. That was all she needed.

Rapunzel pulled her hands free and inspected them as well as she could – due to the lack of skill used to tie her up, there were barely any marks. After checking the rest of her body, she noticed that the only damage was a few cuts and bruises, and her dress was ripped around the bottom. Pleased at the small victory, the teen slipped over to the opening of the 'room' and peered through. The opening lead to a larger space with two other holes, and appeared unoccupied currently. She climbed into the main chamber, and peered through the nearest hole. Storage. Glancing down, she noticed two machete-like swords lying on the floor. They were a little worse for wear, but Rapunzel wasn't feeling picky. She grabbed one and held it in front of herself defensively.

Tip-toeing through to the next chamber, she spotted a way out. The blonde jumped for it, clambering out ungracefully. Then she ran. She had managed to sprint around 30 feet, her hair bunched up in her arms when she felt a tug on her hair. Jolting to a stop, she turned and spotted that some of it had gotten tangled around a branch. Upon closer inspection, the tangle was rather bad.

Sighing, Rapunzel set about untying her hair from the branch when a sudden noise made her scream and jump. "Hello there – how'd you get out then?"

The twins were stood a few feet away with savage grins on their faces as they stared at the trapped teen. Rapunzel froze momentarily and the pair started to stalk towards her. The movement prompted her to start tugging frantically on her hair. She had to get it free and get away!

She waved the machete at them, her hands shaking madly, but they just chuckled and continued advancing. The blonde was feeling more desperate by the second. They just kept on getting closer! The first twin reached her, and Rapunzel lashed out at him, the sword cutting through his outstretched palm harshly, causing him to pull it back and glare. She felt panic setting in, and her hands were shaking too much to get herself free in time. The teen glanced at the brothers. The second was just about to reach her. So she closed her eyes and did the only thing she could think to do.

With a swift swoop of the machete, she cut her hair, and she ran deep into the forest and away from her captors.

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"Eugene!" He turned at the sound of his name only to be grabbed by Arieh and yanked backwards with no small amount of force. The dark-haired man was about to complain when a fist went flying through the air where his head had just been. He blinked and turned just in time to catch a second attack from the brute of a man, twisting and managing to jab a quick punch into his ribs. The twin (he didn't know which one, there's a reason people call them identical…) lunged at him again, attempting to use his weight to take the dark-haired man out.

Glancing around Eugene spotted a hefty-looking branch lying on the floor. He darted in the branch's direction and grabbed the piece of wood, grunting at the weight but persevering. Lugging it above his head, he swung it down into the face of his opponent, grinning with smug pleasure at the thud produced by its collision, along with the noise of the man's nose cracking. He lifted the branch again, noticing that it felt considerably lighter than it had been moments ago – it had snapped in half. Damn. He took a second to kneel and inspect the huge man before him. He was dazed, but he'd be back to fighting in a few minutes.

Eugene stood up and looked around. Arieh was stood to the side with a surprised expression on his face. The other Stabbington Brother was mysteriously absent.

A sudden throbbing pain developed in his knees and cheek as a fist flew out of what seemed like nowhere and collided with the dark haired man. There's the other one! Eugene groaned and stood, spinning around to take aim at the brute. Just as he landed a punch on said man's chin, his feet were swept out from under him. Seems like Stabbington Brother number 1 was back in the game too…

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Arieh stared hopelessly as Eugene was jumped by the Stabbington Brothers simultaneously. He had no clue what to do – being locked in a tower your whole life did that to you. His mind was racing, desperately trying to think of some way that he could help. He refused to be the pathetic one who relied on the muscled, strong, attractive older man to help him. Wait, where'd that co-

No. He needed to help Eugene! Suddenly, a little idea popped into his mind. Hadn't there been an old and neglected sword-type thing in their hideout? The brunet jumped into action, sprinting madly for the entrance to the den and sliding in (like a pro!) through the hole. Once he had landed, he clambered into the chamber storage chamber and looked around for the weapon.

There was a glint out of the corner of his eye, and he whipped his head around to look for the cause. There! He threw his body towards it and clutched the handle, hurrying out of the burrow to try and help Eugene.

Having gotten out of the hideout, Arieh took a moment to work out exactly what was going on. Currently, Eugene was kneeling on top of one of the brothers, whose left eye was starting to go an unpleasant shade of purple. The dark-haired man himself was looking to be the worst off of the group – not surprising seeing as he was being beaten by two giants. His nose was bleeding, and the blood was mixing with that from his split lip. There were cuts and bruises forming on what was visible of his arms too.

The other Stabbington brother was stood above the two, trying to simultaneously remove Eugene from on top of his Brother and knock him out. Without thinking, Arieh sprinted forwards and slashed the sword out against the man that seemed to be double his size. The weapon cut through the brute's shirt and left a long shallow gash in his back – not much, but enough for the man to howl in surprise and pain, and turn to direct his attacks on Arieh.

Instead of running away – something the teen desperately wanted to do now that the giant was glaring down at him – he lashed out again with the sword. This time, the blade missed his opponent by several inches. The red-haired twin grinned smugly, pleased at the others failure. Only Arieh hadn't failed. Well, he had, in that he missed his original target of the criminal stood in front of him. However, the sword instead collided with a piece of wood, knocking it away. This caused the large log it had been supporting to groan and collapse. Right on top of the Stabbington brother. He was out cold.

Arieh called out to Eugene excitedly, "I did it! Eugene! I knocked him out!"

His response was a strained chuckle, "That's great and all, but could you do me a quick favour and pass that machete to me?" Looking around, Arieh's eyes widened as he noticed that the other brother had livened up and gotten out from under Eugene. The pair were now wrestling, getting little punches in at each other every few seconds.

He spotted the sword lying on the ground a few feet away where he had dropped it in relief. He ran towards it, only to get intercepted. The brother who had been fighting with Eugene had broken free upon seeing the smaller man's intentions, and charged towards him.

Arieh was knocked to the ground with the larger man on top, his breath knocked out of him. "Eugene!"

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The raven-haired man was already at the machete when his companion called for him. He grasped the weapon in his left hand (his right was broken from a punch he'd angled wrong) and leapt at the pair. Swinging the blade, he dug it into the waist of their attacker – not enough to kill, not that he's miss him if he did die, but just to slow him down. Eugene then grabbed the other's shoulders and pulled with as much strength as he could. He could feel the broken bones in his hand aching as he hauled the red-head off Arieh, their opponent unable to do much other than groan and clutch at his side.

Eugene dropped the man onto the ground and turned quickly to help Arieh up. Holding him at arm's length, he inspected the younger man for injuries. Finding nothing too serious, a smile of relief flitted across his face as he pulled the brunet into a hug. Warmth welled up inside as Arieh sunk into his arms, and the smile turned into a pleased grin as he clutched him tighter.

The hug lasted for a few minutes, but Arieh didn't seem at all bothered – if anything, he relaxed more as each second went by! However, after 3 minutes had passed, Eugene glanced down only to be reminded of what had just happened. He pulled away and stared at their fallen foes. Only one of them was conscious and he glared at them viciously as he held the gash in his side. Eugene grinned at him, but his eyes were hard and cold.

"Okay, so first thing's first – where's Blondie?"