I sincerely apologize for not finishing this fanfic up sooner despite what I said in the last chapter. After getting hung up on other fanfics and other writing projects, I kept putting this one off. But as promised, I will try to wrap things up as soon as possible. Hope you guys enjoy the last few chapters that will be coming out!

Chapter 29: The Tear Heals

After she was brought home by Mother Gothel, Rapunzel decided to isolate herself altogether. She cut off ties with Quasimodo, even though she was initially reluctant to do it, and continued her online classes into the Fall Semester. But no matter what she did, her mind kept drifting back to Flynn Rider.

"Flynn Rider is not even his real name," Rapunzel said to herself.

She was cleaning the tower while Gothel had left to go grocery shopping. Her hair was bunched up among the rafters so it wouldn't get dirty from the dust she was sweeping.

"His real name is Eugene Fitzherbert, which is kind of cute in an embarrassing way…." Rapunzel felt warmness in her cheeks, and quickly shook her head. "But the point is that he lied to you! He was nothing more than a lowly thief who was trying to take advantage of my naïveté to help him get away with a heinous crime."

Despite Rapunzel's biting words, she felt tears forming in her eyes. The chameleon Pascal, who was perched on her shoulder this whole time, seemed to sense Rapunzel wasn't happy and rubbed his tiny head against the side of her jaw.

"Thanks, Pascal," Rapunzel said. "Maybe I should take a break."

Putting down the broom, Rapunzel did some stretches and acrobatic rope swings with her hair. She swung up to the very top of the tower, which she had never done before, and found a small alcove connected to stairs that were hidden by a large bookshelf. Rapunzel reached into the alcove and pulled out a pile of documents, which included adoption papers with her name on them and a newspaper article titled 'Miracle Baby Kidnapped by Wicked Witch.'

On the front page of the article was a picture of a golden-haired baby being held by the same couple that was on the mural in town next to a police sketch of an old woman. Rapunzel guessed the old woman was the witch described in the article, but her features were quite familiar. And to Rapunzel's surprise, the jeweled crown Flynn stole was also inside the alcove.

"What is this doing here?" Rapunzel wondered. "Gothel said she returned the crown to the proper authorities."

Rapunzel inspected the crown more carefully until she found an inscription under the band.

To our dearest daughter Rapunzel,

Wherever you may be, we hope that you are safe. If you wish to return to us, this crown will be given to you as a belated birthday present from us.

From your loving parents,

Frederic and Arianna Corona

"Let down your hair, Rapunzel!" said a familiar voice. "I'm back!"

"Coming, Mother," Rapunzel responded in an irritated tone.

Taking the crown and documents with her, she flipped down to the floor of the tower and went up to the window. But when she looked down at the base of the tower, she saw Flynn and the white horse Maximus.

"Hey," Flynn said sheepishly. "Sorry I pretended to be your mother just now, but I didn't think you would talk to me if I just called you myself."

"Well, you assumed right," Rapunzel frowned. "Now go away!"

"Could you please hear me out, though?" Flynn insisted.

"No! You lied to me, and used me to get this crown for the Stabbington Brothers, right?" Rapunzel held up the crown, causing Flynn's eyes to widen.

"Yes, I admit to doing those things," Flynn said after some hesitation. "But you have to understand! I only stole that crown because the Stabbington Brothers threatened to kill me. Now what are you doing with the crown?"

"I found it in a secret alcove, along with some documents that make me question my identity," Rapunzel said, then she questioned why she was saying this stuff out loud. "Not that it's any of your business."

"It is my business," Flynn argued. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be talking to me. Could I maybe come up and take a look at these documents, just to give you a second opinion?"

Nervously, Rapunzel put the documents and crown down on the kitchen table. Then she grabbed the frying pan and held it up. "No tricks?"

"No tricks," Flynn answered, showing his hands were empty.

So Rapunzel lowered her hair and allowed Flynn to climb up the tower. Once inside the tower room, he looked at the documents while Rapunzel hovered over him with the frying pan in hand.

"Your adoption papers are forged," Flynn said after he finished looking through the documents.

"How do you know that?" Rapunzel asked.

"I've forged some documents before for money, so I know the signs of forgery quite well," Flynn answered. "For instance, the signature from the adoption agent looks a little shaky, like someone was trying to copy the agent's signature. Whereas if the signature was done by the real agent, it would look a lot smoother because they've written that signature dozens of times before. Also, the paper has a slight sheen, meaning it was magically conjured. Because magic tends to leave traces wherever it's used, which can be faint or strong depending on the spell that was cast."

"That's very interesting," said an elderly female voice. "Hands up, Eugene!"

Rapunzel turned around and saw Gothel emerge from the shadows pointing a gun at Flynn from behind, causing him to raise his hands.

"Where did you come from?" Rapunzel demanded, gripping the frying pan handle till her knuckles turned white.

"Through a hidden entrance," Gothel said, standing aside to reveal a trap door underneath the room's old rug. "I don't use it too often because it's hard on my aching hips, as I prefer to use your hair to get up the tower instead."

"And when did you get back?"

"I only pretended to leave, because I figured Eugene might come back here once he realized the crown wasn't returned. So I kept the crown as bait to lure him."

"But why go through all that trouble?" Flynn asked. "I didn't come here for the crown."

"Oh?" Gothel was surprised. "Then why did you come here?"

"To talk to Rapunzel," Flynn said. "Honest!"

Gothel chuckled. "As sweet as that sounds, I really don't care why you came here. Because either way, I'm going to kill you."

Then Gothel pulled the trigger and Flynn fell onto the floor bleeding from the gut.

"No!" Rapunzel dropped the frying pan and ran over to Flynn. But Gothel held her back by pulling on her hair.

"As for you, little flower, you're coming with me to a place where no one will ever find us! Not even your real parents," Gothel declared.

"So I really was kidnapped as a baby, to keep yourself from growing old because I had the magic flower you coveted inside of me," Rapunzel realized. "Is that right, Gothel?"

For a moment, Gothel seemed taken aback by Rapunzel's bitterness. Though a moment later, she retained her cold stare. "If your parents didn't take the magic flower for themselves, I wouldn't have resorted to kidnapping to get what I wanted. Now let's go."

"Wait!" Rapunzel said, dragging her feet. "If you let me heal Eugene, I will go with you."

"Don't, Rapunzel," Flynn said, coughing up blood. "I'm not worth saving."

"That's not true," Rapunzel objected. "You're the first true friend I've had, and maybe something more."

Gothel frowned and tugged on Rapunzel's hair more.

"Just heal this boy and say your goodbyes," Gothel ordered. "We don't have much time."

Then Gothel let go of Rapunzel's hair, allowing Rapunzel to kneel beside Flynn. She gathered up her hair and placed it all over his body.

"So your hair has…magic powers, I take it," Flynn murmured.

"Yes," Rapunzel nodded. "It can mend wounds and reverse the aging process. But if my hair gets cut, the magic will be lost."

Briefly, Rapunzel lifted her hair to show a small brunette strand next to her right ear. Then she closed her eyes and began singing the healing song. While this was happening, she felt Flynn's hand wrap around her hair at the base of her neck. She heard something being pulled out of some kind of fabric, followed by a snip and Gothel's gasp. Rapunzel opened her eyes immediately and saw her hair had been cut by Flynn, who was holding a pocket knife next to his hoodie pocket.

Her hair, though, was rapidly turning from gold to brunette in color. Gothel had a horrified look on her face as she was desperately trying to collect as much of Rapunzel's golden hair as she could. Yet no matter how much hair she gathered, it all turned brunette.

"What have you done?" Gothel screamed, looking down at her hands.

To Rapunzel's surprise, Gothel was now rapidly aging from a middle-aged woman into a much older one. Gothel couldn't stand to look at herself and hid her face with her cloak. She ran toward the trap door, but Pascal got in the way causing Gothel to trip and fall out the window. Rapunzel got up and looked down, only to see a pile of crumbled bones underneath Gothel's cloak. Heartbroken, Rapunzel turned away from the window and knelt beside Flynn again.

"Why did you do it, Eugene?" Rapunzel asked, shifting her hands through her now short brunette hair. "I told you my weakness so that you would cut my hair after I healed you, not before!"

"Guess I'm just a fool," Flynn joked. "But I don't mind being a fool for someone as…beautiful…and brave…as you…."

As Flynn closed his eyes, his breathing stopped. Rapunzel desperately repeated the song, unsure if it would still work without her hair. But nothing seemed to happen, causing Rapunzel to cry onto Flynn's face. One of the tears disappeared through Flynn's cheek, and his body suddenly glowed with golden energy shaped like stems swirling around it. From his gut emerged a glowing white flower, which made the blood dissipate along with the wound. Then just as quickly, the white flower vanished along with the stems.

Rapunzel could hardly believe what just happened, and was rendered speechless. As she was trying to process everything, Flynn's eyes fluttered open as he reached out to touch her cheek.

"Am I still dead?" Flynn asked.

"No, you're back," Rapunzel said, holding Flynn's hand under hers. "I think my tears worked as a substitute for my hair when I tried to heal you."

"Well, that's…handy," Flynn said as he used his other hand to sit himself up. "Did I ever tell you I have a thing for brunettes?"

Giggling, Rapunzel hugged Flynn tightly.

End of Chapter 29