Disclaimer: I only own this plot, though I would love to own Tangled.

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Chapter Six

Eugene had thought that he had gotten out of finishing the story quite effectively with dinner as a distraction, but he hadn't counted on just how stubborn Rapunzel could be. He was aware of her stubbornness, of course, he simply hadn't accounted for it in this instance. So, when he found Rapunzel perched on their bed, eyes shining and grinning like a fool, it took him a moment to figure out why she was so pleased.

"What happened after I was kidnapped?" she asked.

It took Eugene a moment to realize exactly what she meant by the question. Then he groaned mentally and silently cursed the day he had ever promised to tell her about his past. Joining her on the bed, he sighed a little as he settled comfortably against the headboard. He was vaguely aware of Pascal on top of the headboard, but the frog wasn't bothering him, so Eugene didn't pay much attention to his scaly almost-friend.

"Well…I began doing more thieving, to be honest," he admitted a little sheepishly, glancing at Rapunzel as though looking for some judgmental look on her face. There was none, and he continued his story. "I started to get really serious about being a thief about a year after I ran away from the orphanage, when I was nine."

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Eugene stood idly leaning against the wall behind him, smirking slightly as he watched the citizens of the city rush around, leading their busy lives. He had remained in Mrs. Elliot's boarding house for another five months after the disappearance of the Princess, until her boarding house had been closed down. Now he lived wherever he could, but after a few months of this lifestyle, Eugene was becoming quite used to being homeless. What kept him going from day to day was the hope that someday he would be as rich as his hero, Flynnigan Rider, and be able to leave this life behind.

Perhaps he'd find himself an island where he would never be bothered by anyone again. That idea had some merit to it. Especially since that meant he could also find a place for him to take Edith. Somewhere she would be safe from all the people who had ever called her the daughter of a filthy whore. Frowning a little at that thought, Eugene pushed himself away from the wall. Across the town square from him was the mosaic that he had spent so many hours admiring in his time here. Now it no longer simply showed the king and queen, but in the queen's arms there was a beautiful baby girl with long golden hair and huge green eyes. Eugene had never seen the Princess in real life, but he had still become very familiar with the face of the little girl. A part of him still wondered if the little Princess was alive somewhere, but he pushed that thought aside. If he was going to eat tonight, he had to focus.

Glancing around him at the various people moving past him, Eugene couldn't help but grin as he spotted a rather well-off merchant who was walking around with a distracted look on his face. His absent-mindedness would cost him his pocket money at the least. Slipping through the crowd with practiced ease, Eugene fell into step behind the merchant, his eyes fixed on the bag of money tied to the man's belt.

While he was not a perfect thief yet, Eugene had spent the last several months becoming passable and even good at it. And with such a prime target as the one before him, how could he resist the temptation? Grinning to himself in triumph, Eugene reached forward and gently, oh so gently, lifted the purse of money enough that he could untie the strings that kept it attached to the merchant's belt. That done, he quickly pocketed the money and began walking casually away. Hopefully…no one had seen him…

"Stop! Thief!"

…Well, damn.

It seemed that Eugene had not been as careful as he had thought. Without thinking, he broke into a run and began weaving his way through the crowds, the sound of booted feet running behind him growing closer the thicker the crowd became. Cursing silently, Eugene tried to duck into an alley to escape the guards that were closing in on him, but that failed miserably as he felt a strong hand grabbing the collar of his shirt. With a slight choking sound as the shirt collar dug into the front of his neck, Eugene was pulled back away from the alley and turned around so that he was facing the guard holding him.

Eugene had to say that, compared to all the other guards he had seen, this one was particularly ugly looking. The man had to be somewhere in his early twenties, and was already growing what would probably someday be a fine mustache. There was a long pause as the two of them stared at one another, and then Eugene flashed the guard his best smile.

"Is there a problem, sir?" he asked with all the innocence he could muster.

"I think you know exactly what sort of a problem there is," the guard growled, obviously not at all fooled by Eugene's grin. Eugene silently cursed this fact.

"Why…I don't know, sir," he said, still keeping his voice innocent. "Did someone do something wrong?"

The guard continued to glower down at Eugene, and the boy felt his confidence starting to waver ever so slightly, but he continued to stare at the older man with wide, innocent eyes, praying that the guard would release him. Unfortunately, the guard did not seem eager to do so, as he kept his grip on Eugene's shirt collar firm and unrelenting. This was starting to get uncomfortable when the guard spoke again.

"Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Eugene asked, his confused tone only partly feigned.

"The money you stole from that man!"

This guard had an incredibly short temper, Eugene noted with a slight smirk to himself. He hastily rearranged his features into a guileless stare before the guard could notice the smile and began looking around, as though to locate the money.

"I don't have any money, sir," he said, holding up his empty hands and feeling grateful that he had managed to stuff the purse under his vest before the guard caught him. Now all he could do was hope that the purse didn't create a bulge underneath his vest, and all would be well.

Apparently not. It seemed that not only did this guard have a nasty temper, but he was also relentless.

"I saw you running off with it, boy, now where is it?"

Eugene decided that he better start bluffing for all he was worth and after the count of three, set his lip at trembling. "I didn't do anything!" he protested, his brown eyes filling with false tears of fear. "I swear! Another boy was running past me…I didn't do it!"

Wow…this guy really wasn't buying anything that Eugene was selling. The guard's face remained impassive as he stared down at Eugene, as though silently daring the boy to try and pull a fast one on him. Sighing in defeat, Eugene reached into his vest and pulled out the purse, dropping it into the guard's hand reluctantly. The sound of coins clinking together did not help make him feel better. That money would have fed him for a long time, and he probably could have still stashed some away somewhere to go towards his private life in the future.

"I thought so," the guard said in satisfaction, looking supremely pleased with himself. "It'll be the prison for you, boy. We don't take kindly to thieves in Corona."

Eugene sighed again and crossed his arms petulantly as the guard steered him along, still gripping the collar of Eugene's shirt tightly. Prison…the word was one that Eugene was very familiar with at this point, and he was a little surprised that the guard was taking a kid there, even after the money was returned. Stupid guards, Eugene thought with a pout.

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Eugene paused once more and glanced down at Rapunzel, who was looking up at him with an eagerness to hear the rest of the story reflected in her eyes. Smiling a little at the lovely Princess in his arms, Eugene sighed and leaned his head back against the headboard as he considered how to continue the story.

"What next?" Rapunzel pressed.

"Uh…well, first, I should warn you about something, Blondie," Eugene said slowly. "Before I met you…there was another girl. I met her on the day when I was first taken to the prison, all those months after Gothel took you."

For a moment, Rapunzel didn't seem to understand, and then her eyes widened in comprehension. Eugene watched with baited breath as she chewed thoughtfully at her lower lip, a look of mild hurt crossing her face. He winced to see that look in her eyes, but he said nothing, simply waiting for her to speak first.

"Was she pretty?"

…Of all the questions Eugene had expected, that had not been on the list. Frowning a little as he tried to remember, Eugene mentally reconstructed a face that only a few years ago he had been more familiar with than anything else. After careful consideration, he looked down at Rapunzel and smiled lovingly.

"Honestly?" he asked before kissing her forehead. "She wasn't half as pretty as you are."

That seemed to make Rapunzel feel better as she smiled softly up at him. "How did you meet her?"

Clearing his throat, Eugene shrugged before he continued. "Well…the prison wasn't as bad as I had been expecting, really…"

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The prison wasn't as bad as Eugene had expected. Oh, sure, the walls were damp and there were still those annoying bars, but a little paint and the place wouldn't look too bad. With the guard still maintaining a death grip on the collar of his shirt, Eugene was propelled forward until his captor reached a cell near the end of the hall. Pushing Eugene into the cell, the guard sneered slightly as he locked the cell before storming off again.

Leaning against the bars that now kept him inside, Eugene sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes upwards until he was looking at the ceiling. He didn't really believe in any sort of higher power, but at this point Eugene was pretty sure that someone up there was having a laugh at his expense.

"So…what're you in here for?"

The voice surprised Eugene so much that he almost jumped a foot in the air, spinning around to face the speaker as he did so. It turned out that the person who had addressed him was a girl. She couldn't be more than eight, though she had a look about her similar to a young woman who had made her living on the streets; jaded and just a little disillusioned. An unusual look for a child so young. Her dark hair was worn in a long braid down her back and pale blue eyes seemed to pierce through Eugene as the girl stared intently at him. She would be pretty one day, with well-defined features and full lips that at this point made her look gaunt with a mouth too big for her face, and there was something about her that made Eugene like her right away, though he couldn't explain why.

"Picking a guy's pocket," he mumbled in answer to her question. "What 'bout you?"

The girl shrugged nonchalantly and managed a slight grin. "I was just minding my own business and some lady's purse just happened to fall into my hands."

That was the thing about her that Eugene had liked; she was cheeky, rather like him. Grinning back at her, Eugene leaned against the stone wall nearest him and looked the girl over once more. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Meira," the girl answered with a shrug. "Don't got a last name. You?"

For a moment, Eugene considered telling her his real name, but he decided against that. Eugene Fitzherbert was a stupid name anyway ("I don't think so!" Rapunzel argued), and she'd probably laugh at him for it if he did tell her. "Flynn," he said with pride. "Flynn Rider."

Meira's eyebrow arched a little as she considered his name and then she grinned broadly, revealing slightly crooked teeth. "I used to listen in when people read that book," she said. "What's your real name?"

Eugene flushed to the roots of his hair, but he stubbornly kept his mouth closed. Meira noticed this and shrugged again, as though she couldn't care less, which was probably true. She eyed Eugene for a moment and then moved towards the cell door, glancing as far down the corridor as she could before turning to look at him again.

"Wanna get outta here?" she asked.

"How? They have the keys," Eugene pointed out, though he couldn't deny wanting to leave the prison already.

"Easy!" Meira said with a toothy grin. "I've escaped loads of times!"

Against his will, Eugene felt some grudging respect for this odd girl developing. If she had been able to escape, then maybe it wouldn't be too hard to get out of here. "How?" he repeated.

With a look of intense concentration, Meira reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked suspiciously like one of the hairpins Mrs. Miller had used to keep her hair in place. Eugene stared at it for a moment before looking at Meira in obvious confusion. Rolling her eyes a little, the girl knelt down in front of the door to their shared cell and inserted the hairpin in the lock. With keen interest, Eugene leaned forward so he could watch what she was doing. It looked as though she was simply wiggling the pin around without really knowing what she was doing, but in only a few more moments she stood up with a triumphant smirk and calmly pushed the door open.

"I told you," she said smugly as she led Eugene out of the cell.

Eugene didn't bother answering this statement as he followed her through the halls of the prison. It wasn't too hard for two children to keep out of sight of the guards, and soon they were once more on the streets of the city, both grinning like their birthdays had come early. Meira paused after they had left the prison well behind them and glanced around before saluting at Eugene.

"See ya," she said, starting to walk off.

"Where're you going?" Eugene demanded.

Meira paused and turned to look at him, shrugging. "Don't really know," she admitted. "Why?"

Eugene shrugged as well and then glanced around him. "I'm tired of this place. Wanna go find somewhere else to visit?"

A light of interest filled Meira's eyes as she seemed to consider this. After a moment of silence, she nodded and grinned at Eugene. "Sure. Let's go."

They set off without really thinking of where they were going or how they were going to survive, but they didn't really care. At least they weren't near a prison anymore.

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Rapunzel was silent for a moment before she gave Eugene a questioning look. "How long were you and Meira together?" she asked slowly.

"I…don't really know," Eugene fibbed, feeling a little uncomfortable telling Rapunzel about Meira. The last thing he wanted was for Rapunzel to get jealous, and he and Meira had gotten pretty serious when they were older…maybe he should have stopped the story after telling Rapunzel about his "helping" to find the golden flower. That would have been so much easier for him to do rather than re-living certain memories. "A long time," he admitted when Rapunzel gave him a pointed look. "Up until I was about eighteen or so."

"Tell me about when you were older," Rapunzel said eagerly. "What was Meira like then?"

Oh for God's sake, Eugene thought. The last thing he wanted to be talking about with Blondie was his old flames, and he definitely didn't want to be telling her about the most serious of those flames. Still…she was giving him that look he couldn't say no to, and it was starting to wear away at his resolve. Finally he sighed in defeat and gave Rapunzel a slightly irritated look.

"How much older?"

Rapunzel pondered this for a minute or two before she smiled sweetly. "When I was eight," she said confidently. "How old were you then?"

"Uh…about sixteen," Eugene said slowly, not quite sure where she was going with this.

"Then start when I was six and you were fourteen," Rapunzel instructed, still beaming at him as though he made the sun rise in the sky every morning.

"Okay…" Eugene agreed, though he still didn't know why she was going off of what age she had been at the time. Clearing his throat a little, Eugene pondered before continuing.

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Author's Note: Okay, before people start throwing things at me for bringing in an OC that Flynn had a relationship with, I want to offer an explanation. I am a total Rapunzel/Flynn shipper, but there were eighteen years of Flynn's life where he didn't even know who Rapunzel was or that she existed. I figure that as the dashing Flynn Rider, he had at least one or two flings before meeting Rapunzel. With that idea in mind, my muse produced Meira before I could really protest, so here she is. But don't worry! She won't be in the story for too long. Like I said, I am totally in love with the Rapunzel/Flynn pairing and don't want to take away from that.

Also! Before people start pointing out that if Eugene was so familiar with the mosaic in the town square, why didn't he put two and two together upon meeting Rapunzel and figure out she was the Lost Princess, I have an explanation! He was familiar with it, but it's another seventeen years before he meets Rapunzel and returns to the city. That's a long time, and his memory would have gone fuzzy on some details. And do remember, this story is being told by Eugene years and years after the fact, so he's only now putting things together that he wouldn't have when he first met Rapunzel. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Enjoy this newest chapter! REVIEW!

Oh, and Brownie points to anyone who can guess who the guard who arrested Eugene grows up to be in the film!