Hey! I just finished editing this chapter and I decided to publish it today. I know I said that I would try to update faster, so I'm really sorry to anyone who was waiting to read this chapter. I finished writing this chapter pretty quickly, but editing took a really long time, and my personal life kind of got in the way.

Also, I looked at the stats the last time I updated and I was completely blown away. It means so much to me that people are actually taking the time to read my story. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Warning: Slight cursing

Disclaimer: I still don't own Tangled

Pascal hopped out of her bag and scurried down to check if the man was still alive. He squeaked, indicating that he still had a heartbeat. Rapunzel let out a small sigh of relief before crouching down to pick Pascal up. He jumped up onto her outstretched hand, but instead of going back to his place in her bag, he took his rightful place on her shoulder, making himself comfortable.

She pushed the man's arm with her foot, flipping him from laying on his stomach to his back. A chestnut brown lock of hair lay over his eyes, covering most of his face. Using the end of her frying pan, she flicked off the piece of chestnut brown hair covering his face. Something was intriguing about him. She couldn't help but stare for a few seconds at the way his chiseled features gleamed in the light, and-

Rapunzel quickly shook herself out of her trance. This was the man who had broken into her home and had stolen her crown. Her curiosity was replaced by disdain. Rapunzel tried to find a way to like everyone, but this person who lay in front of her was unconscious and had still managed to earn her distaste.

However, the man looked strangely familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen him before.

"Does he look familiar to you, Pascal?" Rapunzel asked him. Pascal stared intensely at him for a second before shaking his head no.

Her focus soon changed when she caught a glint from the corner of her eye. A brown satchel with her crown slipping out of it lay a couple of feet away from the man, on the floor.

Rapunzel picked up her crown and looked around for somewhere to hide it. He'd regain consciousness soon and the crown would be the first thing he looked for. At last, her eyes rested on the perfect hiding spot. The door leading into the kitchen from inside the palace was higher than the floor, so a few steps were leading down from it. Rapunzel noticed that the top of the second step had a gap in between it and the base.

Curiously, she crouched down, lifted the top of the step to reveal the hollow inside. Rapunzel brushed away the dust and cobwebs and gently put her crown inside. She placed the lid back on and brushed her hands together, getting rid of any excess dust on them.

Rapunzel stood up and turned around, looking down at the unconscious body. It was time to face the real question. How could she prevent him from escaping?

Perhaps she could stuff him in the broom closet. She flung open the closet door, revealing the inside. It was small, holding a few brooms and dusters, but it would do. Rapunzel placed her hands on her hips and let out a sigh before grabbing the man by his feet and dragging him into the closet. However, she soon realized that he didn't fit. No matter how many times she shoved him inside, he always ended up falling out. At last, she gave up as the body dropped to the floor once more. This time, though, he landed splat on his face. Rapunzel winced.

Rapunzel looked across the room and her eyes landed on a teal-colored chair. "That will do," she muttered to herself.

After dragging the chair across the kitchen, Rapunzel lifted the unconscious man with her hair and placed him on the seat. Rapunzel glanced around the room for a rope or something similar to tie the thief down but found nothing to her avail. At last, she reluctantly settled on her hair. It was strong and she had more than enough to still be able to move around once she tied him down.

Rapunzel grabbed a lock of her hair curling around her feet and wrapped it around the thief, binding him to the chair. After one last tug, she secured her hair in place. As she walked away, Rapunzel stumbled on the thief's brown satchel that lay on the wood floor, her foot tangled in the strap.

When she managed to get loose, Rapunzel noticed a sheet of parchment poking out of the satchel. Rapunzel picked it, curiosity etched into her face. She flipped it over to see a wanted poster peering back at her.

"Flynn Rider," she said, reading out loud the name on the wanted poster. Rapunzel knew who he was, of course. It would be hard not to know the most wanted thief in all of Corona. He was the Captain of the guard's favorite topic of interest. He'd spend days ranting about this "Flynn Rider" and how he was a "no good, lying, dirty scumbag."

The more she stared at the picture on the wanted poster, the more familiar he seemed. At last, she looked up at the man in front of her. He had an uncanny resemblance to the man in the picture, besides the nose. The man in the wanted poster had an unusually large nose which looked like it had awkwardly been placed on his face while the man she had tied up had an average size one that seemed to blend in perfectly fine into his face.

Pascal leaped off her shoulder and onto the poster, landing on the man's nose, covering it. She looked up at the unconscious thief and back down at the wanted poster, her eyes growing with realization. Rapunzel looked over at Pascal and could see that he saw it, too.

"Pascal, we have the most wanted criminal in all of Corona, Flynn Rider, tied up in front of us." The chameleon gasped and fainted for dramatic effect. A plan was creeping its way into her head, an outrageous one indeed, but a plan that just might work if she played her cards right.

"Gah!" Flynn exclaimed as he woke up with a start to a frog sticking its slimy little tongue in his ear. The ghastly-looking creature jumped off as Flynn shook his head. He rubbed the frog saliva in his ear off onto his shoulder, groaning in disgust.

Flynn looked around, wondering where he was. Last he remembered, he was trying to escape with the crown when he had been hit with- was it a frying pan? A frying pan couldn't hurt that much, could it?

He remembered running into a kitchen to escape, and by the looks of it, he was still there. However, for some reason, he was sitting on a chair. Flynn struggled as he tried to stand up. He glanced down and to his surprise, he was bound to the chair by something that wasn't rope.

"Is this…hair?" he wondered out loud in confusion, tracing the glistening, golden locks of hair with his eyes that bound him from their starting place to all around the room.

All the hair led up to the same place, a dark crevice right by the window, pitch-black from the night sky. But who could have this much hair?

"Struggling...struggling is pointless," said a female voice, coming from the dark crevice. Flynn squinted, making out the outline of a person. The figure clambered down and stepped onto the wooden floor, before starting to approach him. "I know why you're here. And I'm not afraid of you,"

He didn't know if he should be scared or confused or both, seeing that he was tied up. Instead of deciding, he settled for trying to scooch away, pulling the chair with him.

At last, the approaching form stepped out into the light. "Why were you stealing my- the crown?" the woman said as she walked towards him, crossing her arms.

Flynn didn't notice her little mishap because he was captivated by the person standing before him. He wasn't sure what it was, but he couldn't take his eyes off her.

Her big, green eyes studied him, filled with curiosity, but slightly glaring at him. Freckles spread over the bridge of her nose and sprinkled out onto her cheeks, her pink lips slightly pursed. Golden blonde hair flowed around her face and down her back, into endless locks that lay messily around the room. Flynn watched with confusion as the frog on the floor scurried up her hair and leaped onto her shoulder, making himself comfortable.

"Why were you stealing the princess's crown?" she demanded, once he didn't respond, putting more emphasis. The frog glared at him, almost as if he were also demanding an answer.

Flynn snapped out of his trance and came back to reality. This woman was obviously the one who'd knocked him out and tied him up to the chair he was forcefully sitting on, seeing that she carried a frying pan in one hand. Not a minute had gone by, and he already didn't like her.

But he had to pretend to be nonchalant. Not doing so could result in her calling the palace guards, something he couldn't risk. So Flynn decided to use his pleasant charm to get out of this unpleasant situation.

He cleared his throat and began. "I know not why I have that crown, nor how I came into this situation," he said, ignoring her question. "But may I just say. Hi. How are you doing?"

Flynn watched as her glare stayed, but a baffled look spread across her face. It wasn't the effect he was going for, but it was better than before, so he kept going. "The name's Rider. Flynn Rider. How's your day going?"

He watched as her confused face went back to glaring at him. "I know who you are, Flynn Rider," she exclaimed, emphasizing his name. "What I want to know is why you were stealing that crown,"

The frog on her shoulder squeaked in agreement, balling one of his hands and punching the palm of his other. He was starting to become afraid of how humanoid the creature was.

"Ah, who am I kidding? I should have known that you know me. Who wouldn't know the finest thief in the entire kingdom?" he boasted, ignoring her question once more, continuing with his tactic of trying to charm her. Of course, it would be easy to just answer her question, but what was the fun in that?

"Is being a thief really something to gloat about?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Answer my question, Flynn Rider. I'm not afraid to use this again," she said firmly, thrusting the frying pan in the direction of his face. He leaned his head back to get away as far as possible from the abnormal weapon.

Flynn sighed. "All right, listen, I didn't want to have to want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder," He quirked up his eyebrows and puckered his lips.

Something was wrong. His "smolder" didn't feel right, and he'd bet that it didn't look right either. He got his affirmation from the woman's perplexed face. "This is kind of an off day for me. This doesn't normally happen."

With a defeated sigh, Flynn gave up on his useless strategy. He wondered why it didn't work on her. It was his go-to strategy when he got caught stealing something, which wasn't often, but it always worked.

"Well, why do you think I was stealing the crown? I wanted the money. Isn't it obvious?" he exclaimed, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

The plan had been simple. He and the Stabbington brothers would scale up the palace wall and get onto the roof. They'd break off a shingle above the crown room, and Flynn would be hoisted down on a rope. He would snatch the princess's crown and be lifted back up. After that, they'd make a run for it before the guards could notice. They'd make it to the docks and set sail for as far away from Corona they could get.

But what the twins didn't know was that Flynn had been planning to get rid of them. When he was being lowered down, he'd cut a slit in the rope with his knife, while blocking the twin's viewpoint so they couldn't see what he was doing. The weakened rope snapped as he was being lowered down. Falling face flat on the ground hurt like hell, but it was all part of the plan.

Flynn told them that he'd meet them at the South entrance in five minutes. He still remembered the distrustful glare he'd received. Of course, they were right to not trust him because he planned to go out of the servant's entrance and escape on his own. Or at least, he was.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but my crown isn't for sale."

"Hold up. Your crown?" he asked. She let out a tiny gasp as she registered what she'd accidentally told him.

"Sorry, what I meant was the crown," she tried to explain with an unconvincing smile.

"Well, now that I think about it, you do look a lot like the princess. Same blonde hair and green eyes as the baby portrait in the village square," he pondered. "Although the hair's grown about 70 feet," he scoffed. "You're the princess, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" she exclaimed, her face flushing.

"You know, you're a terrible liar, Blondie."

She opened her mouth in surprise at her new nickname before narrowing her eyes at him. "It's Rapunzel."

"Gesundheit," Flynn responded.

Rapunzel put her hands on her hips as she opened her mouth to retaliate. However, before she could do so, she took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm herself down.

"Alright fine, maybe I am the princess of Corona, but what does it matter if I am?" she inquired, raising her eyebrows. Before he could answer, she carried on. "It doesn't matter," she said, waving it off. "What does matter is that I am prepared to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" Flynn asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"Yes, a deal," she huffed, clearly exasperated at him.

"And why would I be interested in this…deal?"

"Because it wouldn't involve me turning you into the guards," she answered. "And I'd give you my crown."

"Wait...oh no. Oh no no no. Where is the crown?" Flynn asked as he searched around with his eyes, panic seeping into his voice. They'd been talking about it for a while, but Flynn had just realized that it was nowhere in sight.

"I've hidden it," Rapunzel said. "Somewhere you'll never find it. At least not without my help."

"Alright, fine. You'd really be willing to give me your crown?" Flynn scoffed, raising his eyebrows in suspicion "Well, now that I think about it, your parents probably bought you everything you could possibly have imagined, so it's hard to imagine that you wouldn't have another one," he muttered bitterly, jealousy seeping into his words. "Still, kinda hard to imagine you'd give your crown to a thief like me."

Flynn didn't know where this sudden burst of anger had come from, or why it'd surfaced now, but he felt it overtake him. He hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh, but he couldn't help but envy her. Crown Princess of Corona, how could life get any better? The giant palace with more rooms that could be counted, endless amounts of servants, and an infinite supply of money. What more could one possibly ask for?

But she had waved off being a princess like it was no big deal like it didn't come with a lifetime of luxury and pleasantries. However, besides the money, he envied that she had a king and queen as her parents. Hell, he envied that she even had parents. After growing up poor and an orphan, he'd seen firsthand how hard it was to survive on your own.

Nevertheless, Flynn still felt bad for his harsh words. Perhaps, he'd dove too deep into the meaning of her words. He cringed as soon as they left his mouth, but it was too late.

As quick as a blink, the frying pan was pressed against his neck, slightly digging into his skin, but not to the point where it hurt. "Do not," Rapunzel uttered, emphasizing each word. "Talk about my parents like that," she said. "And while you're at it, don't assume what I would or wouldn't do."

She glared at him once more. The intensity of her eyes almost made Flynn want to apologize, but his stubbornness prevailed. Instead, he decided on answering with a huff, muttering "Fine," under his breath.

Rapunzel slowly retracted her frying pan, pulling it back to her side again, her glare slightly softening as she retraced to their previous topic. "To answer your question, yes, I'd be willing to give you my crown. I promise," she said. "And as much I hate to admit it, I need your help, and you need mine."

"Remind me again why I need your help?" he questioned, his eyebrows lifting.

"Well, I'm guessing you planned out your heist well enough to know that the guards patrol each room and hallway every 20 minutes," she explained. "And judging by the time, they'll come patrol here in approximately...7 minutes," Rapunzel told him, glancing at the small clock strung up on the wall behind him.

Flynn felt a pang of fear. He couldn't be caught here, he'd lose everything. His life, his freedom, and most importantly, his reputation. Flynn couldn't even imagine how pathetic it'd be to finally be apprehended while tied up in a chair. Years of flawless plans and impeccable getaways, only for a pitiful end.

"Alright, Blondie, tell me about this deal you had in mind."

"You're Flynn Rider, infamous thief-"

"I prefer swashbuckling rogue," he interrupted.

"Well, I prefer it when you don't interrupt me," Rapunzel answered curtly. smashed"You've been all around the kingdom, haven't you?"

"Yes, and other places," Flynn responded skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "Where are you going with this?"

"I need to find something. Something special. I set out on my own to find it, which is why I saw you through the window, admiring my crown after you stole it."

"Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have stopped," Flynn muttered to himself.

"But after some thinking, I realized that I didn't know the first thing about the outside world. I haven't even seen the outside world," she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

"And why would that be?" Flynn inquired.

"None of your business," Rapunzel said. "Something brought you here, Flynn. Call it what you will, fate, destiny."

"A crown," he responded with a dull look on his face. He let out a small sigh. All this talk about fate and destiny and whatnot was getting tedious. Flynn tended to go with the flow. He didn't wait for life to come to him, he came to life.

"So I have made the decision to trust you," she told him, stepping closer.

Flynn scoffed. "A terrible decision, really," he said, half-jokingly. The last time someone trusted him, he'd double-crossed them and tried to leave with a crown that belonged to a certain princess.

She took another step towards him and put her hand on the back of the chair. Rapunzel tilted the chair forward until it stood only on its front two legs, her arm the only thing keeping him from crashing to the ground. She tilted her neck down until she was staring directly at his eyes. Flynn held his ground, staring back.

"I promised you that I'd give you my crown if you help me. So trust me when I say this, Flynn Rider, I never, ever break a promise," she said firmly. They seemed to have an internal staring contest, with neither of them backing off. At last, Flynn finally caved.

"Alright fine, I'll help you find whatever it is you need to find," he said with a huff, looking away from her big, green eyes that bore straight into him.

"Really?" Rapunzel squealed, clasping her hands in excitement. In doing so, she let go of Flynn's chair, sending him toppling down, right onto his face. "Oops," she squeaked when she saw Flynn's face smushed against the floor.

"I think you broke my smolder," he groaned. Rapunzel crouched to the ground to help him back up. She grabbed the helm of the chair and hoisted him up. Flynn grunted at the pain in his nose.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I guess I just got a little excited. I was sure you were gonna say no."

"Really?" he asked sarcastically. "I mean, it's not like you threatened to turn me in or anything of the sort."

"Exactly," Rapunzel responded. "Now, come on," she said, untying him from her endless locks of hair. "We've got places to be."

After one final tug, he was free from the long locks of golden hair, its length still astounding. Flynn stood up, his legs slightly cramped from sitting in the same position for so long. Before he could speak, a frying pan was hovering inches before his face.

"Just remember, if you try to get out of this deal in any way, I will turn you into the guards," she said, the suspicious glint back in her eyes. "Think twice about what's in it for you. Plus, I have a frying pan, knife, and a chameleon."

He had too much on the line to lose the crown he'd spent years dreaming about. He was going to get it and nothing was going to stop him. "I won't, your majesty," he said mockingly with a fake bow. "I want that crown more than anything," he said, his voice serious again.

Rapunzel glared at him for his ridicule before turning around. "Come on," she said, starting towards the door. "As I said, we've got places to be."

He followed her as she pushed open the door, stepping outside after her. Flynn watched as Rapunzel braided her hair and pulled the hood of her cloak on, the cool night breeze tingling on his skin. "Wait, you have a knife?" he asked.

"Yes, why? Would you have rather I used it on you rather than the frying pan?" she asked simply, striding forward.

Flynn sighed. If this was what she was going to be like the entire way, it was going to be one long trip. What had he gotten himself into?

Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Again, it really means a lot to me that people are reading this. And to anyone who reviewed, thank you. I love it when people give me feedback about my writing. Please remember to review and have an absolutely amazing day!