So this is the next chapter, everyone! I know that many of the details are similar/the same as the movie. But I just can't possibly change some of these scenes, as they're so vital to the storyline and so well-written and executed in the movie, but I've tried to put my spin on them so that they aren't exact carbon copies. As always, I'm totally open to what you all have to say!

Rapunzel sat at the edge of the dock, her feet dangling over the edge, just above the water. The sound of footsteps approaching did not faze her as she continued to stare out at the harbor, her expression one of deep thought and overwhelming sadness.

"Fancy seeing you here, Love," Hook said as Rapunzel looked up at him standing over her, the same familiar smirk on his face as the moment they'd first met.

"Are you here to kill me or just to hold me as leverage so that you can kill Rumplestiltskin?" she asked, exhaustion apparent in her voice.

"Neither, unfortunately, though both ideas crossed my mind at one point in time. How much do you know?" he asked, unsurprised that she was so intuitive.

"I know that you said you had a dream once, and you said 'her.' And I know that it is your goal in life to kill him. So he must have had something to do with the loss of someone you loved," she explained as Hook looked out at the water without answering. "Well, killing me wouldn't do any good, anyway. Rumplestiltskin is incapable of loving anyone…least of all someone who he would steal from her real family. I just had something that he wanted." Her hands tightened into fists.

Hook paused for a moment, as if taking in what she had said, before his head snapped back down to look at her.

"You said he stole you from your…real…family?" he asked, choking out the last words.

"He kidnapped me at birth," Rapunzel explained without looking up at him. Suddenly, Hook turned on his heels and started running towards town. "Hey, where are you going? What's wrong?" she called after him, but he didn't reply, leaving Rapunzel sitting on the dock alone with more questions than answers.

Rapunzel practically skipped through the dark cave as Flynn shuffled along behind her, torch in hand and an expression on his face of utter indifference. Every few seconds, he cast his glance up at Rapunzel until finally, she looked back at him.

"So, Flynn…" she began, leaning in close to him with a smile. "Where are you from?"

"Sorry, Blondie, I don't do back-story, but yours seems like a tale worth telling. Here's my first question though: if it's your dream to see these lanterns, why haven't you gone before now?"

She stopped in her tracks, kicking nervously at several loose rocks on the cave floor.

"Oh. Well, uh…" she hesitated, but before she could say anything further, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. As they turned to look back from where they'd come, they discovered that the guards were barreling towards them.

"Flynn," Rapunzel said, ever-increasing anxiety in her voice. "Flynn!"

Suddenly, Flynn grabbed Rapunzel's hand and pulled her in the opposite direction, the pair breaking out into a run and Rapunzel's hair flying out behind her like the never-ending tail of a kite. As they started to slow, their energy draining, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. However, just before they reached it, a large pile of boulders fell on either side of them, trapping them in a small enclosure.

"What happened?" Rapunzel asked, panicked, as Flynn cried out in pain. When Rapunzel's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see that one of the rocks had fallen on Flynn's foot, crushing it beneath the immense weight. He was sitting on the ground, his back against the rock wall around them and his hands tightened into fists. His face was twisted with pain, his eyes pinched tightly closed.

Rapunzel knelt down next to him, placing both of her hands on the boulder and managing to roll it off of his foot slowly as he let out a sharp cry before clamping his teeth down so hard on his lip that several drops of blood fell onto his shirt. She quickly rose to her feet again and began struggling to shift the rocks around them. When they didn't budge, she slammed her frying pan into the rock wall as hard as she could without success.

"It's no use," Flynn said softly, his hand reaching up and tugging at her arm weakly. "I can't see anything. No cracks, no light. We're trapped."

Rapunzel stopped, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the ground, what limited view she had going blurry with tears.

"This is all my fault," she said between soft sobs. "He was right, I couldn't handle this. I'm so sorry for bringing you into this, Flynn." She buried her head in her hands. After a moment, she felt Flynn's hand reach out and slide a stray strand of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"Eugene," he muttered. Rapunzel wiped her eyes and looked over at him, his face so white that he was practically glowing in the near pitch-black darkness surrounding them.

"What?"

"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. If these are my last moments, someone might as well know." He shrugged with a weak attempt at a smile despite all of the pain that she knew he was in at that moment. Rapunzel tried to return his smile, tears still gleaming in her eyes.

"I have magic hair that glows," she admitted, feeling a sudden rush of relief that she'd never known in her entire life. To be able to admit her secret to someone who wasn't her father…regardless of how he would react to the news, just having the ability to say the words was a feeling unlike any other.

"What?" Flynn asked, his face draining of two more shades of color.

But Rapunzel didn't reply, as she was struck with a dawning realization of exactly what she'd just said. She closed her eyes tightly, focusing hard and hoping that her plan would work and knowing that it was her last chance…their last chance. Suddenly, her hair began to glow, the light starting at the roots and traveling down to the tips. Flynn, witnessing the magic first-hand, opened his mouth in shock, realizing in that moment what Rumplestiltskin meant when he said that gold was not the only treasure that shined. When the entire area was filled with light, Rapunzel started to search the wall for any signs of loose rocks or cracks. Flynn quickly joined her from his place on the ground, managing to locate several loose rocks and slowly, carefully pushing them out towards the edge of the cave just as the magic began to dwindle and the cave suddenly faded back to black.