Welcome back, AIONFanNCRM (I thought you were still mad at me...sigh, but then, you're back, yay!) Faith Rivens – Thank you for reviewing even though it's a short chapter. There are a lot of characters blacking out, so I kind of stop each time a character blacked out (Keep making those vids, now that the DVD is coming out. I freaking love them. Your song choices are awesome). PampleMousse70, WickedSong, An Unknown Foreign Beauty – please keep supporting this fic. I am glad I have really dedicated reviewers.

The Pier

"Rapunzel!"

She was his first thought when Eugene woke with a gasp. He shot up from lying position and scrambled on the seat of a car. He did not know exactly what hit him. It could be a taser or a stun gun. He did not know how long he lost consciousness but he knew he lost it completely. He did not have the time to look at his watch when he was cornered by the Stabbingtons. But from the digital clock display in the Stabbingtons' car he could see that it was fifty minutes after twelve. He wasn't out for too long, he could only guess.

He quickly assessed his situation. He found the Satbbingtons had left the car key in the ignition, meaning that they were planning to take care of him as soon possible. Eugene started the engine and drove the car away from its secluded hide-out to the entrance of the park. The guards were at work. There was no sign of the Stabbingtons or Rapunzel. But they were not there. Everything seemed in order except for him and his desperate search for Rapunzel. Eugene tried hard to figure what had happened. The amusement park was as quiet as a grave. Everyone has left. They must have taken her into another vehicle. He remembered what they said.

They were taking her to the Pier.

It was a wild goose chase. Or like searching for a needle in a haystack, not to say that he had ever chased a goose or searched for needles in a stack of hay. The Pier was a huge place. And she could be anywhere. But he had a car, which reason it being abandoned was never clear to him. He did not have the time to investigate all the options for that to happen. He did not have the resources or the counsel to form proper logical reasoning. In his mind, he was bent on finding Rapunzel. He did not know what he was getting into. He was expecting that he would have to face the Stabbingtons and explain to them that he has got the manuscript but they were going to have to let her go first.

It took ten minutes for him to drive his way furiously to the Pier. When he reached the place, he kept driving, circling around the place and its many parts. The only dependable light was the zodiacal light that shone from the sky. There were lamplights but they were scattered and solitary, one too far from the other. But his night sight was good. The pier was empty, but some of the structures did create blind spots. Tall beams of metal rose to support the whole structure of the pier from the sand embankment. Eugene saw no one and drove on to the more habitable part of the Pier, where on sunny days people sat around on the platform to feed the seagulls and watch the waves and feel the breeze. He was expecting to see the Stabbingtons, or any sort of vehicle. If he saw any indication of the two thugs, he would be able to hatch his next course of action. But most importantly, he must find Rapunzel first.

Then he saw her. That silhouette was unmistakable. Against the orange skyline, sitting on a bench on the platform. Her back was to the railing that kept her from falling to the wide open sea. Who would have mistaken the outline of her round, symmetrical head? That thin, fragile looking neck and those small shoulders? He drove to the nearest point the tarmac could bring him to her, parked the car, killed the engine and he wouldn't repeat the mistake the Stabbingtons made. He took the car key off the ignition.

He ran towards her.

In the dim light, he could see that it was really her, alone in the darkness, the Stabbingtons not around. She was alone. She must be very angry. She must have thought he had abandoned her. She must have thought what a douche he was. He wanted to prove her wrong. He was happy, straightforwardly, purely happy to see her. He was never truly happy until today. Even more so at this moment.

"Rapunzel! I thought I'll never see you again!" He breathed in pure relief.

And then as he came closer, he saw that she was unmoving and part of her face was covered. Her eyes were wide with fear. She was struggling against something that kept her restrained.

"What?" A question came out in angry gasp. Damn, the Stabbingtons! They were animals! He knelt down to the level of her face and touched her cheek. There were bruises and cuts on her face. Her face was wet with tears. He slid off the scarf from her mouth.

"I'm gonna get you outta here!"

"She's going to kill you! Leave me, Eugene!" Rapunzel screamed once the scarf got off her mouth.

"Hey, relax," he tried laughing even though his insides hurt to see her bruised and battered. The Stabbingtons were going to get it from him, he swore to God.

He started to work on the cruel shoelace tied to her wrists. He could see it had started to cut into her flesh. Suddenly, Rapunzel began to struggle violently. He had only undone the first loop of the insidious knot.

"Eugene! Mother! No! Please!" She screamed as her eyes were directed to something behind him.

At the word 'mother', Eugene turned around and got up from his knees. He saw at her once, a few yards away from him. She must have emerged from behind one of the unmanned hotdog stalls littering this part of the Pier. The first thing he noticed about Rapunzel's mother, the woman was carrying a large handbag, like she was going grocery shopping. The strange medieval get-up and the black cloak was besides the point. Despite his memory of her swinging a craft knife at him, she looked very domestic. She was just a mother who was worried about her daughter and had misunderstood everything that had been going on between him and her daughter. The first time they met, he was a trespasser. So her reaction to his whole existence was understandable.

But now, he had seen the bruises and cuts on Rapunzel's face. And the laces that cut through her wrists and ankles. He had to talk to her. This woman needed help, he thought.

"Ma'am - lady," he began.

"Why are you doing this - "

And then from the large, domestic-looking, harmless handbag, she, Rapunzel's mother, possibly his future mother-in-law, he was even thinking about it at that moment, withdrew a gleaming gun.

"Whoa-" Eugene said and began to step back towards Rapunzel as if to shield her. Before he could move nearer to her, he saw a flash followed by a deafening bang.

Something hit him in the torso and the very thing that hit him exploded inside him. The sensation was colossally shocking. He was surprised he was still standing, but it was only because he had willed himself to do so. He had to be strong for her. Find strength in pain. Find strength in pain, he repeated in his mind, which was sending every distress signal that ever existed in the human nervous system. Involuntarily, his hand moved to his gut.

"Shit," he cursed as he saw the blood on his hand. He was bleeding like a stuck pig. Blood did not come in smudges, but heavy trickle.

"No, Eugene! Eugene!" Rapunzel screamed as she began to heave her herself out of the bench and she fell to the ground. She moved, crawling with tied ankles towards the spot he was standing.

After a second of hopeless reflection on his sordid life, Eugene's knees buckled and he fell. Pain began to hit him like soaring waves of the ocean. He began gasping, breathing in desperation, as if such would lessen the pain. Despite that and everything else, including the shooter who was now walking over his body, as if he was already dead, he was thinking about her.

I am going to die with this girl thinking that I abandoned her. Well done, Fitzherbert. Well done.

She needed me and I left her.

I failed her.