Arabelle and Flynn had wandered near the boats as well.

"Shall we, Princess?" Flynn asked.

"A boat ride with you?" Arabelle asked. "I suppose we can do that."

"After you, Princess," Flynn said, pointing to the nearest boat.

Once they were situated in the boat, Flynn grabbed the oars and pushed off. Reaching down, he grabbed a sack and tossed it to Max, who was waiting on the dock. As the sack landed, apples spilled out. Max nickered and looked at Flynn expectantly.

"What?" Flynn asked. "I paid for them." Max nickered again and bent his head to pick up an apple. Satisfied that Max was going to eat them, Flynn decided he wanted the last word. "Well, MOST of them."

With that comment, Flynn rowed out to the center of the lake to await the release of the lanterns, not waiting for a reaction from Max.

Glancing across the lake, Flynn saw Eugene and Rapunzel, silently wondering what was going on.


"Where are you taking me?" Rapunzel asked Eugene as he rowed out in the boat, Eugene setting Pascal down gently on a knob at the stern of the boat.

"Well, the best day of your life. So, I figured you should have a good seat. To watch the lantern ceremony." With that, Eugene resumed rowing. Soon they made it to the middle of the lake along with most of the village residents and were looking up to the sky.

Rapunzel sighed, causing Eugene to look at her questioningly.

"Are you ok, Blondie?" he asked.

"I'm actually terrified. I have been looking out that window in my tower for my whole life. Dreaming about what it would feel like when I finally got to see the lanterns. I'm worried that it won't be everything I dreamed it would be. I'm worried I will be disappointed."

"Of course it will be everything you dreamed of, Blondie." Eugene said, attempting to comfort her.

"Ok but what if it IS everything I dreamed it would be? Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Well that's not a bad thing. That's when you reach the good part. You get to go find a new dream."

It was then that the first of the lanterns had been released by the king and queen. One by one the rest of the lanterns were released, lighting up the night sky. Even surrounded by people, Eugene and Rapunzel felt like they were alone while gazing into each other's eyes. Soon Eugene opened a small bag at his feet and gave a few small flowers to Rapunzel so she could place them on the lake surface. A few minutes later, Rapunzel got up and opened her satchel.

"I have something for you. I should have given it to you before, but I was scared. I was worried you would leave as soon as I gave it back."

Rapunzel handed Eugene the crown. Once again gazing into each other's eyes, Eugene leaned in for a kiss. Right before the kiss landed, Eugene looked up, noticing the Stabbingtons on the shore, not far away. Eugene froze. Instead of kissing her, Eugene rowed the boat to the nearby shore, away from the other party goers. Pulling the boat onto shore, Eugene looked back at Rapunzel, noticing her questioning glance.

"I'm sorry, Blondie. But I need to do something. Everything is ok. I just have to take care of something."

"Uh, um, ok," Rapunzel said in a shaky voice.

"It's ok. Promise. I will be right back." Eugene reassured her before taking the satchel containing the crown. Turning around and walking out of sight.

Rapunzel sighed again, looking at Pascal, who had just scampered up her arm and sat down on her shoulder. "It's ok, Pascal. He'll be back. I trust him." Rapunzel reassured Pascal and herself at the same time.

Not long after leaving Rapunzel, Eugene had almost reached the clearing where the Stabbingtons had stopped. Before entering the clearing, Eugene reached out to Flynn.

I have the crown, Flynn. Rapunzel gave it to me. Should we give it to the Stabbingtons now? Maybe if we give it to them, they will leave us alone. We can get the girls to safety.

That's a good idea, but I don't think it would work, at least not for long. They would just come up with something else to make us help them with. They would never have enough.

Ok, so what do I do now? I am near where they stopped on shore. I saw them while Rapunzel and I were in the boat, watching the lanterns. I looked up and they were just there.

Before Flynn could answer, Eugene was spotted by one of the Stabbingtons, interrupting the conversation with his brother.

"So there you are," Eugene announced. "I have been looking for you guys everywhere." Attempting to deflect any tension, he decided to change the subject. "So those sideburns are coming in well. You have to be happy about that." Getting no response to this, he decided to just say it. "I just wanted to tell you I shouldn't have run off without you. Here is the crown. It's all yours." Eugene tossed the satchel on the ground near the rock one of them was sitting on.

"I'll just be on my way. Nice working with you both." Eugene turned to leave.

"Not so fast Rider. We don't want the crown anymore. We want something much more valuable than the crown. We want HER instead." The twins advanced towards Eugene.


Rapunzel was anxious, it had been a while since Eugene had left her on the shore near the boat they had used to watch the lantern ceremony. She looked up and seeing a figure coming towards her in the shadows, breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was beginning to think you ran off with the crown and left me behind." Rapunzel said.

The shadow continued coming closer and then became two. All of the sudden Rapunzel was looking straight at the Stabbington brothers. Rapunzel gulped.

"He did," the first brother stated with an evil grin.

"Uh, I don't believe you. No, he wouldn't do that." Rapunzel responded.

"Oh yeah? See for yourself," he said, gesturing to a boat in the middle of the water. Rapunzel looked trying to get a closer look. After concentrating for a few minutes, she was able to make out Eugene with his hands wrapped around the wheel of the boat.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel shouted. Unfortunately, she got no response and the boat continued on its way away from her. The talkative Stabbington brother walked around Rapunzel. Placing his hand behind her head.

"It was a fair trade. The crown for the girl with the magic hair." Looking at his brother, he continued. "How much do you think someone would pay to stay young and healthy forever?" At this, he took a burlap sack out of his pocket and held it out.

Rapunzel didn't wait for one of them to grab her. Instead she turned and bolted, running as fast as she could to get away from them, holding up her skirts to keep them out of the way as she went.

She didn't get far before her hair got caught on a fallen log. When she finally managed to free it, she glanced up and saw Mother Gothel brandishing a heavy stick and the Stabbingtons knocked out cold on the ground. Gothel dropped the stick.

"Oh my precious girl."

"M-m-mother?" Rapunzel asked, running towards her and leaning in for a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around Gothel.

"Rapunzel, my darling. Are you ok? What happened? Did someone hurt you? That thief?" Gothel asked.

"How did you…" Rapunzel started to ask but was cut off as Gothel continued.

"I was so worried about you. So I followed you and I saw those two awful men attack you. We should go before they wake up."

"You were right about Eugene. He was just using me to get the crown. And then when he left, I was chased by those men who wanted to use my hair. I'm sorry. Can we just go home?"

"Of course, my dear. Come on."

Rapunzel took a moment to glance back at the palace in the distance with the lanterns floating around the night sky. Then, Gothel led Rapunzel back to the tower.


Meanwhile, Arabelle and Flynn had also gone out onto the lake to view the lantern ceremony. Arabelle wasn't sure how she felt, seeing the lantern ceremony her parents had started for her sister after she had been kidnapped. For the first time, she realized it didn't have to just be about the 'lost' princess, and maybe, it was really a celebration of both their lives, hers AND her sister's.

Arabelle looked over at Flynn. With the lanterns silently floating by, she moved closer to him, almost in a trance, leaning towards Flynn as if to kiss him. Before they got close enough to kiss, there was a loud bump as something hit the dock directly in front of the guards stationed at the palace gates. Startled, Flynn and Arabelle glanced up guiltily.

"What was that?" she asked him, worriedly.

"I'm not sure. I'm gonna go check it out. Stay here, Princess. Do NOT follow me. I mean it."

"You can't tell me what to do, Flynn." Arabelle all but stamped her foot in frustration.

Ignoring her temper tantrum, Flynn turned and took off to get a closer look at the commotion in front of the gates. It did not take him long to realize that Eugene had been tied to the wheel of a boat along with the crown and sent directly to the dock. Guards, obviously thinking that they had finally captured the elusive Flynn Rider, were quick to untie him from the boat. Once he was free from the boat, they dragged him, unconscious, towards the dungeons.

Flynn, scared and angry that Eugene had been captured, kept trying to reach his brother. Instead of reaching him, it was like there was a void, a hole where his brother should have been. Frustrated, Flynn decided to return to Arabelle and fill her in on what had happened. After telling Arabelle the story, he collapsed, unsure how to help Eugene get free.

"Flynn, pull it together. I will go talk to my parents, maybe you can track the Stabbingtons down and find out what happened. I thought Eugene was just going to return the crown to them, to keep them from having any hard feelings."

"Yeah, you're right, Arabelle. I just can't reach Eugene. Normally I can reach him, but it's like there's a void in my head where he should be. I can't get any response. I don't think he's dead. I'm sure I would know if he was, but he could be hurt and unconscious." Flynn was panicking.

"Come on, you go see if you can find the Stabbingtons, since they were the last ones to talk to Eugene before he wound up tied to that boat. While you do that, I will go talk to my parents. I'm sure they won't want Eugene to be in jail any more than you do. We can meet back at the palace gates in a couple hours, OK?" Arabelle did the best she could to calm him down, knowing he must be rattled if he wasn't calling her Princess in that condescending voice of his.

"Yeah, ok. Let's go."