Disclaimer: I only own this plot, though I would love to own Tangled.

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Chapter Seven

The next morning, Flynn was startled out of his sleep by a large nose being pressed to his cheek. Sitting up with a cry of surprise, Flynn stared at the culprit in silent confusion for a moment before his mind processed what-and who-it was.

"Max?" he asked with a shake of his head to help him wake up more fully. "What the hell? Why are you this far from the castle?"

It wasn't until after he had voiced these questions that Flynn realized just how stupid it was to talk to a horse. Horses couldn't talk, after all. Rolling his eyes at himself in exasperation, Flynn stood up slowly, once more working out a series of kinks in his back. No matter how stupid it was to verbally question a horse, that didn't mean that his questions were stupid themselves. He was still confused about why Max was out here. Turning to meet the horse's eyes, Flynn sighed heavily.

"What is it?" he demanded finally.

All Max did in response was snort and paw the ground before turning so that his back was facing Flynn.

"I am not riding you to the castle," Flynn said firmly. "I'm already sore all over. It's better if I just walk, thanks."

Max's eyes narrowed and the horse turned to ram his forehead into Flynn's chest, forcing the former thief onto the ground.

"If I ride in on you of all horses, I'll give everyone a heart attack!" Flynn snapped with a glare. "I don't think Blondie would really appreciate that, do you?"

The horse seemed to accept this was a good point, but still motioned at his back for Flynn to mount him.

"I told you already, I'm not riding you!" Flynn snapped. "Stupid horse."

That seemed to touch a nerve, as Max snorted dangerously and shoved his face forward until his eyes were mere centimeters away from Flynn's face. Blinking a little in alarm at this new position, Flynn leaned back so that there was more space between them.

"What? You think that I enjoy riding you?" he muttered. "I won't ride you into the city, and that's that."

But Max didn't move away, instead still leaning forward. That was when an idea occurred to Flynn.

"You don't want me to ride you the whole way, do you?" he asked. The horse nodded, a look of exasperation on its face. How a horse could look exasperated, Flynn had no idea, but this one sure did. "All right…I'll admit, that idea has some…merit to it…"

Max snorted again, his breath causing Flynn's hair to fly away from his forehead.

"Okay, it has a lot of merit!" Flynn conceded, looking very crestfallen. "I'll ride you until we're a mile out. But before I see Goldie, I need a place to stay…"

The horse snorted again, as though he had an idea. That was stupid, of course. Horses didn't get ideas. Still…Max had gotten the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling together to break him out of prison. Maybe he should trust the horse on this.

It sounded bad even when Flynn was just thinking it. This was going to go really well. He could tell.

Rising to his feet with some effort, Flynn pulled himself into Max's saddle-once more wondering what the horse was doing all the way out here, saddled and bridled, without anyone else around-and nudged the horse forward.

"Be gentle with me," he muttered as the horse started off at a brisk trot.

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The journey to the city was very slow, as the horse seemed to take Flynn's request to be gentle very literally. Again, Flynn reminded himself that it was a horse that couldn't understand what was said to it, but he didn't voice this. He didn't want to be thrown off of Max's back, after all. Still, the effort was appreciated by Flynn. He hadn't been lying when he mentioned how sore he was. Spending two nights on the ground wasn't something that was kind to your muscles, after all.

He was still even more sore when he dismounted Max, which made him swear rather fluently as he rubbed the small of his back. That really hurt. Glaring at the horse as though that would get rid of his pain, Flynn sighed heavily.

"How close are we?" he asked, not really expecting an answer, though he saw Max shrug out of the corner of his eye. "Great. I think I won't go in until tomorrow morning," he added, eying the horizon and the setting sun. "You'll be able to find me, right?"

Max snorted and rolled his eyes as if to say, 'Oh, please. I've found you more than once already.'

"Duly noted," Flynn conceded. "See you tomorrow."

Slapping Max's side in a friendly gesture, Flynn sank to the ground with an exhausted sigh and closed his eyes, not even bothering to pull out his cloak.

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The next morning dawned bright and clear, but that wasn't what woke Flynn up. He was vaguely aware of something large looming over him, as he was in a state of half-sleep, but it was the soft whuff of air into his face that woke him up, blinking. With a cry of shock, he jerked away from Max's nose and hit the back of his head against the trunk of the tree behind him. Swearing fluently, Flynn reached up to rub his head and gave the horse a dark look.

"Don't you know how to wake a person up without scaring them to death?" he demanded irritably.

Max whinnied a laugh and stepped back, snorting at his joke. Flynn glared more at the horse as he stood up, brushing dirt and loose leaves off of his clothes. That horse was really getting on his nerves, Flynn decided.

"What is it now?" he demanded with a sigh.

The horse only motioned for Flynn to climb on his back and pawed at the ground impatiently. Rolling his eyes in resignation, Flynn clambered on top of the horse and muttered a few choice words to describe the horse.

"This better be worth giving me a heart attack," he muttered under his breath.

Flynn was only slightly thankful that Max couldn't answer him. Though he was very tempted to know why on earth Max was out here in the middle of nowhere, looking for him of all people. No one but Granny knew that he was still alive! How did Max…unless…had Granny sent the horse?

If she had, then Flynn was going to have a few words with the little old lady when he found her again. What was it with old women and meddling? Honestly? Was it like a compulsion with them? If it was, then it was one damned annoying compulsion that he was really starting to dislike.

Thankfully, it wasn't a long ride to the city limits. Flynn was already far too sore to want to ride Max for more than a short time. He had only been on the horse for a minute, and already his back was screaming in protest.

"Where are we going, anyway?" he demanded, leaning forward so that he could see at least part of Max's face.

The horse didn't respond-of course-but Flynn couldn't help feeling like Max was giving him a very…smug look. What possible reason would the horse have to look smug, anyway? This was getting very annoying. Very, very annoying, and Flynn was about to start saying just this when Max pulled up very sharply, almost sending Flynn flying over his head.

"What was that for?" Flynn snapped. He got an answer once he looked up. It seemed that they were just outside the city wall. Sliding off of the horse's back, Flynn put a hand on top of Max's neck with a sigh. "Where now?" he asked.

Max snorted again and moved forward until Flynn's hand was caught on his saddle. Taking the hint, Flynn tightened his grip on the saddle horn and followed the horse as Max led him along towards the walls of the city. This wasn't going to be easy, was it, Flynn thought to himself as he tried to keep up with the horse.

To his surprise, Flynn felt much better than he had when he first started this trip. By all rights, he should be even more exhausted than when he started. Not to mention weaker. But right now…he felt stronger. Weird.

Flynn was so caught up in his thoughts about his condition that he almost didn't notice when Max came to a stop beside him. Looking up in surprise, Flynn saw that they were not inside of the walls like he had thought they would be, but they were outside of them, in front of a cottage.

Wait…what?

"What the hell?" Flynn cried as Granny appeared in front of him.

"Took you long enough to get here," she said with a glare, motioning Flynn into the cottage. "Get yourself in here."