Returning to the castle was a lot harder than Eugene had expected. When he saw the guards he couldn't help but wonder how many of them knew about this whole slavery situation. Eugene didn't really get along with all of the guards, but he considered some of them, like Stan and Pete, friends, or at least acquaintances. He thought they were decent guys, but how decent could they be if they went along with this slavery thing?

When Eugene passed by the throne room, where a royal council was being held, he heard the king's voice and it took everything in him to not storm in there and confront the man. The plan right now was just to find and help Varian and the rest of Quirin's family, which hopefully included Eugene's own father. After that, they could look into doing more.

Eugene clenched his fist and rubbed the back of his hand. He'd been hiding the mark his whole life, and nobody seemed to care at all, but now that he knew what could happen if his mark was discovered he was paranoid that his glove was just going to fly off.

He and Lance walked quickly past the throne room. They didn't engage with any attempts at conversation that the guards made. They just made their way straight to Rapunzel's room. Eugene didn't know whether he hoped that she was there so he could talk to her right away, or if he wanted her to be somewhere else so he could sit down in her quiet room and plan out what he was going to do or say from here.

Eugene felt relieved when he heard Rapunzel's voice, but he felt a chill when he heard Cassandra's voice too. He should have been prepared for this, because Rapunzel and Cassandra spent almost all their time together.

"Do you think she knows?" Eugene muttered to Lance as they lingered outside the door. Lance gave him an alarmed look.

"Who, Rapunzel? No way." Lance said. Eugene shook his head.

"Cass." Eugene said. "We know her dad knows, and she's always been obsessed with being a guard."

Lance's alarmed look became one that was equal parts concern and pity. "You really think she'd go along with that?"

"I don't know." Eugene said, and that bothered him a lot. He always said that Cassandra was cold and heartless, but surely even she wouldn't be okay with the enslavement of children. Although, she'd never had a problem with the imprisonment of children, and Cass had to know just how cruel the dungeons could be.

Lance nudged his arm. "Look, forget about it. We're here to talk to Rapunzel. We can tackle this whole Cassandra thing later, if you want."

Eugene took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, okay." He slapped his best mask on and opened the door, letting himself in.

"Hey, Sunshine, how's my favorite person?" Eugene said as he strutted into the room. He pointedly ignored Cass' eye roll and annoyed scoff. Lance was right, he wasn't here for her. Eugene walked up to Rapunzel, who immediately stopped what she was talking about. She absolutely beamed at him, and Eugene felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Rapunzel was always able to cheer him up.

"Eugene, you're back!" Rapunzel clung to him, and he held her just as tightly. "Are you okay?" Rapunzel pulled back to look Eugene in the eyes. "Lance said you needed space because you were overwhelmed, and you look more overwhelmed than you were before." She put a hand on his cheek, cupping it. Eugene closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

"That's what I came here for." Eugene said. "There's…there's something I need to talk to you about…alone."

Rapunzel gave him a sympathetic smile before turning to Cass. "Can we have some privacy, please?"

Cass looked like she was about to argue, but Lance jumped in and pulled her out, coming up with some excuse that Eugene didn't really pay attention to. He just appreciated the help. He owed Lance so much.

"What's going on?" Rapunzel asked when they were alone.

"I learned some things." Eugene said. "About my family."

"Your family?" Rapunzel said breathlessly. She pulled Eugene to her bed so they could sit. "What do you mean?"

"My dad might still be alive." Eugene said quietly. "And he might be in trouble."

Rapunzel squeezed his hand. "Is there something I can do?"

"Right now I just need your support." Eugene said. "I-I found an old family friend. He's going to go help my dad, and I was planning on going with him."

"I can go with you." Rapunzel said.

"No." Eugene said quickly. "You can't. I can't tell you why, but you can't come."

An unimpressed look flashed in Rapunzel's eyes. "It's not because it's too dangerous or something, is it?"

"No, nothing like that." Eugene said. It probably would be dangerous, but considering who Rapunzel was she was probably the last person in the kingdom who was in danger. "This family friend just doesn't feel comfortable with the Coronan Royal family."

Rapunzel looked aghast, like she couldn't comprehend the possibility that somebody might hate the royal family on principle. "Why not?"

"That's what I can't talk about." Eugene said. "I want to tell you, and I swear someday I will, but I can't do it now. I just need you to trust me."

Rapunzel didn't look completely satisfied with that answer, but her eyes were full of sympathy. "I will always trust you, Eugene. If you say this is something you need to do, then I support you, and I'll be right here if you need me."

Eugene sighed. He kissed Rapunzel's forehead. "I love you so much." He ran a hand through her hair, brushing it behind her ear. "I don't know how long this will take, but I'll check in when I can."

"Take all the time you need." Rapunzel said. She sounded pained, but also excited. "Your dad might be alive. That's huge!"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it." Eugene said. "I don't think I'll actually believe that my dad's alive until I get him out of danger." And the others as well, of course, especially Varian, but the kid was still a sore spot for Rapunzel. Mentioning him would make this conversation much harder than it needed to be right now. Baby steps. If Eugene was going to have Rapunzel's complete support he had to ease her into the idea that her parents, or at least her father, may not be as good as she liked to think.

"Will you be okay?" Rapunzel asked. "I don't like the thought of you dealing with all of this on your own."

"I'm not going to be alone." Eugene allowed himself a small smile. "Lance is coming with me. He wouldn't dream of me running off without him."

Rapunzel smiled, and it was just a little bit strained. She looked genuinely happy for him, but she was also worried and maybe a little bit disappointed about not being able to go with him.

"Everything's going to be fine." Rapunzel said. "I just know you're going to find your dad."

"I sure hope so." Eugene said. He glanced towards the windows. "I should probably get packing. Quir…I mean, my family friend is only going to wait so long before he leaves without us." If Rapunzel noticed the slip-up, she said nothing about it. She took Eugene's hand and rubbed gentle circles on the back of his hand before she let go and stood up. "I can help you."

Eugene appreciated her so much. He stood up and let Rapunzel pull him up. He was ready to head to his room, but Rapunzel let go of his hand and started looking for something around her room. Eugene waited patiently for her until she came back to his side, a notebook in her hands. Eugene recognized the notebook as one that she had fallen in love with when they were out and exploring, and she'd gotten it for herself, even though she had enough sketchbooks and journals to last for a long time.

Rapunzel held the notebook out to Eugene. "I want you to take this with you. I know it's not really your thing, but I know you have a lot on your mind, and I've found that writing things out sometimes can help."

Eugene reluctantly took the notebook, looking at the cover. It had a simplistic but very elegant design of a phoenix rising up from ashes. Eugene brushed his hand over the design. "A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Rapunzel said. "I can always get a new notebook. I want you to have this one." Eugene still wasn't sure, but he knew that when she made up her mind about something she stubbornly stuck to it.

"Okay." Eugene said. Rapunzel smiled, taking his hand again. The two of them made their way towards his room, talking quietly to each other as they went and started packing. Later Eugene couldn't say exactly what they talked about, but that didn't really matter. They talked about nothing and absolutely everything. The topic wasn't important. What Eugene loved about it was that she was there. They were just enjoying each other's company.

Eugene could have stayed there for hours, but they didn't have a lot of time to spare. He let himself have as much as he could, and they had a simple dinner together in his room. After that Eugene couldn't put it off anymore. He needed to meet up with Lance, grab some last minute tools and possibly weapons, and then get to the gate at the kingdom borders by midnight, which would take a few hours.

"Be careful out there." Rapunzel said.

"I'll do my best." Eugene said. He was throwing himself headfirst into a dangerous situation, but he had no intention of dying on this adventure. "I love you so much, sunshine. No matter what happens don't forget that."

"Never." Rapunzel swore. "I love you too, and always will." Eugene didn't doubt that. This slavery business may complicate things for their families, but just between the two of them their relationship was just as strong as it ever was.

Rapunzel stayed by Eugene's side as he grabbed his travel bag and set out to find Lance. It wasn't hard to find him. Eugene had known Lance for long enough to know that when he was stressed he could probably be found in the kitchen. He was, in fact, there, still distracting Cass, who looked seconds away from throttling him.

"You ready to go, Lance?" Eugene asked.

"Just about." Lance said. "I thought we could use some snacks for the trip." It was the kind of thing that Eugene himself would never have thought of until he was already hungry. Eugene was much more used to getting out quickly and winging it. Lance's plans weren't usually very thorough, and they especially weren't carefully thought-out, but they were still plans.

Rapunzel escorted them to the castle entrance. She would have loved to go further, but her over-protective father wouldn't let her step foot outside the castle without the guards at least being aware of it, and the last thing Eugene needed right now was attention from the guards. Rapunzel and Eugene shared one final hug before they were off.

They probably left earlier than they needed to, but Eugene wanted to be sure to reach the rendezvous before midnight. Quirin wasn't going to be waiting even one extra minute for them, and Eugene wasn't going to take the chance that the man was going to leave without them.

Eugene and Lance traveled in practiced quiet, partially because they were both caught up in their own thoughts, and partially because they knew from personal experience how dangerous the night roads could be. The best way to avoid drawing the wrong attention to themselves was to keep one hand on their weapons, the other on their bags, and their eyes on the road. Hopefully amateur bandits and thieves hiding in the trees would let them pass by because they clearly weren't easy targets.

The trip passed uneventfully, and they got to the gate out of the kingdom with time to spare. Quirin was already there waiting for them, like Eugene had expected him to be. He looked distracted, staring blankly at the moon above them, a look of longing in his eyes. As Eugene and Lance approached though Quirin gave them his attention.

"You came." Quirin said. He sounded shocked.

"Of course." Eugene said. "I said we'd come, and I meant it."

"What did you tell the princess?" Quirin asked cautiously.

"The truth." Eugene said. "At least, as much as I could afford to tell her. Don't worry, I didn't mention you or Varian, at least by name, and I didn't say a word about my dad being a slave."

Quirin's stern and cautious look softened slightly. "I know it's difficult, Horace, but I assure you it's necessary. The situation is too delicate for the princess to know about it yet."

"I know." Eugene said. "I just don't like keeping secrets from her." Rapunzel's whole life had been a lie. She was still picking up the pieces from what had happened with Gothel. It would break her to learn that she was surrounded by a lie all over again.

Quirin looked pained. "I understand. Trust me. You don't know how much it pained me to have to hide things from my son, but I didn't want Varian to know anything about any of this." Quirin closed his eyes and sighed. "Of course, it's too late for that now."

"At least you don't have to lie to him anymore." Eugene said. He knew how much it had bothered Varian that his father wasn't always honest with him.

Quirin gave a bitter smile. "I have a lot to tell him."

There was a single tired guard watching the gate. Eugene wondered just what this poor sap had done to get stuck with the midnight shift at a gate that was rarely used in the first place. People weren't supposed to enter or leave the kingdom so late without special permission, but as the not quite prince consort, Eugene automatically had that special permission. The guard just had to look at him and he was opening the gate and waving them off.

Once they were outside the kingdom's borders Quirin visibly relaxed. Eugene wondered just how much of Quirin's tenseness had just come from the fact that he was going on with his life in the very kingdom that had enslaved him.

Quirin didn't say where exactly they were going, but Eugene didn't care so much. There were a lot of other things that he was more curious about.

"How did we get away?" Eugene asked. He knew that the king probably knew who Quirin was and where he was from. Since it wasn't a secret, Quirin probably wasn't a runaway slave, but then why had it been so important for Eugene to keep a secret?

Quirin grimaced ever so slightly. "It was twenty years ago. The king himself came to the compound, and that was something he'd never done before. His pregnant wife had gotten very sick, and Frederic knew that Saporia and the Dark Kingdom had more of a connection to magic than Corona could ever dream of. He was desperate, and he came to us with an offer."

Eugene was stunned into silence. He knew this story, or at least he thought he did. The queen had been healed thanks to the sundrop flower, but what did that have to do with Quirin?

"Frederic said that if anybody came forward with a way to heal his wife, they could earn their freedom, no strings attached." Quirin said. "None of us wanted to have anything to do with it, but your father saw an opportunity. Our other siblings, Hector and Adira, knew a tale about a healing flower in Corona. Edmund, your father, convinced me to take this information and accept Frederic's offer."

"Why?" Eugene asked. "Why would my dad want you to do that? Couldn't he have done it himself?"

Quirin let out a low chuckle. "It doesn't matter what Edmund did, the Coronans would never free him. It's one thing to free a knight, and another to let out an enslaved king."

Eugene blinked. "I…I'm sorry, I must have misheard you, did you just say king?"

Quirin gave Eugene an odd look. "Edmund is the king of the Dark Kingdom."

Lance looked at Eugene with wide eyes. "Hang on, does that mean that you're-"

"A prince." Quirin said casually, like it was completely normal to learn that not only was he not an orphan, but he was royalty.

"That…okay, yeah, I'm not going to think about that right now." Eugene said. If anything else happened that he had barely even considered possible in his best dreams and worst nightmares, he would start to think that he really was just dreaming.

"Between me and my siblings, I was the most inconspicuous." Quirin said. A minor distraction was all that was needed for me to sneak two small children out behind my cloaks."

"Two kids?" Eugene frowned slightly.

Quirin nodded. "You, of course, and the young prince of Saporia, Andrew."

It took Eugene a second to put the pieces together. Andrew, the Saporian terrorist. "He…I think Andrew was sent off with Varian"

"I'm not surprised." Quirin said. "Everybody in Old Corona heard about his arrest."

Eugene felt a twisting in his gut. He saw Andrew as a danger, just as he had seen Varian. How many criminals out there were just acting out because they'd finally had enough of Corona's oppression? How many people were out there that he had seen as enemies, only for them to be like heroes from a storybook, fighting back against a system that wronged them?

"Will we be helping Andrew too?" Eugene asked quietly.

"We'll try to help everybody." Quirin said. "But I have to prioritize my son."

"What exactly is the plan anyway?" Lance asked. "We just gonna storm up to the slavers, give them a disappointing glare, and demand they stop being mean? 'Cause something tells me that's not going to work."

Quirin looked like he couldn't decide whether he was annoyed or amused by Lance's comment. "Something like that."

"You mentioned power." Eugene said. "What kind of power are we talking about here?"

"The magical kind." Quirin said. "Our people have protected this power for generations, and now it's time to use that power to protect our people." Quirin smirked ever so slightly. The moon shined down on them, brighter than Eugene was used to seeing. "We're going to use the moonstone."