First of all, a moment of silence for Flynn Rider on his last day at Disney World. :(

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Thanks… Okay, guys. I promise things are going to start getting more dramatic and fast-paced and things will start making more sense. Just bare with me a little while longer, and it will be worth your while, I promise. Here is a much anticipated scene, I think… Not gonna say anything more! Enjoy chapter seven, Escaping.

Added seriously as about to post: I just found a little lizard in my yard, and named him Pascal! . That is all. . Back to original programming…

Disclaimer: I don't even own the energy to say I don't own Tangled. *passes out from exhaustion*

Chapter Seven

Escaping

He sat in the dark shadows that hid the area just beside the cell's door frame. Completely bathed in darkness, the guards ignored his cell for the most part, some occasionally searching the room briefly before walking off again. If these guards couldn't tell that he was right there inches from them, then this escape should be easy.

He leaned his ear closer to the bars as he heard a group of soldiers walking down the hallway and chatting amongst themselves.

"Come on, boys, the lanterns are about to go up," voiced one of the guards. Sounded like the captain, maybe one of the other ones that was up there in the ranking.

A few cheers and whoops sounded as the group drew closer to his cell.

"Remember, men, the Princess and the rest of the royals are of top priority tonight. Wherever they are, we better be right behind them. No one is ever going to steal our Princess away again."

He chuckled at the thought. If only they knew. If only… But that wasn't for now. That would come in good time, but he had to escape first. He closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of the guards as they passed his cell, daring to peek a single blue eye open as he heard the clanking of their armor fade with the clunking of their heavy boots. He waited one, five, ten minutes to make sure that he heard nothing more than the sounds coming from the other prisoners. He opened his eyes and rose from his position next to the door. With a quick scan of the cells around and across from him, he moved to stand in front of the cell door, taking a short moment to collect his thoughts in preparation for his escape.

In one swift movement, he had begun to kick various places on the door, at the lock, the handle, the hinges. It was all a matter of knowing the door's weak spots, and then using them to his advantage. After a few repeated kicks to the various weak spots, the door began to creak as it moved to collapse into the cell. He swiftly sidestepped to his previous location as the door came crashing down with a loud, metallic clang that resonated in the quiet prison. He hid in the shadows for a few seconds, waiting to make sure that no guards would come running at the wake of the crash.

Nothing. Nothing but the sound of prisoners around him as they begged him to get them out and take them with him. He ignored them as he stepped out into the hallway, keeping to the shadows against the stone wall. He kept walking, past cell after cell as he slowly made his way to the back entrance of the prison. If he had had his lucky pocket watch, he would have checked the time to see how long he had until the guards would most likely show up. Well, the pocket watch wasn't his per se, but the rich lord had been more than willing to trade it rather than his life. Most men quivered at his feet when they came across him.

He was pulled from his thoughts as he drew near to the back entrance. It wasn't very grand. In fact, he figured no one even knew of it except for the guards, maybe the royals, as well. He had been lucky to hear the soldiers conversing about it one day, giving him enough information as to how to get to it. He carefully scanned his surroundings to make sure that no one had yet seen him, and that he was in fact alone in the hallway. He was. How could he not be?

He quietly moved to sweep open the door noiselessly, but was brought to a halt as he heard noises coming from the other side of the door.

"Okay, okay. Get in and check to make sure none of the prisoners have escaped. You can do this, it's nothing. Come on, man up."

Blast! It was a guard. But from the sound of it, he was a newbie, fresh into the force. It would be too easy, like taking candy from a little baby. He moved to the side of the door, back against the wall as he waited for the guard to enter the hallway from the outdoors. He needn't wait long, for no sooner had he stopped moving did the door swing open, letting a cool, summer breeze into the stuffy prison. The guard took slow, tentative steps inside, almost as if he were still trying to convince himself that he could do this.

In this moment of doubt, he decided to pounce, leaping and latching onto the guard from behind, a tight grip on his neck. The guard began to struggle, and much to the dismay of the black-haired man, was actually standing fair ground. Realizing he had to rethink, he eyed the sheathed sword on the guard's belt. The guard followed his gaze and an immediate tug of war began with the sword, each man trying to claim it as his own.

The sword jerked back and forth with varying strengths, but after a few minutes, it became clear that the guard was losing his advantage and beginning to tire. Seeing this, the man directed a swift kick into the abdomen of the guard, causing him to stagger backwards and release his grip on the sword, leaving it in the hands of the former prisoner.

The guard watched with wide eyes as the man walked casually to him, dragging the sword against the stone walls, creating a sharp screeching sound. He stopped and towered over the guard sprawled out on the floor, who was clutching his stomach as the man stooped down to his level, icy blue eyes locked onto a pair of scared grey ones.

"You can't break me," said the man, an evil smirk washing over his features. He straightened out, and in the time frame of five seconds, the sword in his hands flew through the air in an intricate flourish before it took up residence in the guard on the floor. He gave a dark chuckle as he pulled the blade out, wiping it clean on a handkerchief he took from the guard's pocket. He carelessly tossed it back onto the guard, lying frozen in time on the floor. "Let this be a warning to them all. Don't mess with me." With that, he pushed through the door leading outside of the prison, placed the sword in the empty sheath on his own belt, and took off at a slight sprint, heading down the empty streets of Corona.

Eugene sat with Rapunzel cradled in his arms. Rapunzel had her arms wrapped around her neck, and she was staring at the ring that Eugene had slipped onto her finger as they had sung their duet. It was a simple ring with a single diamond in the center of the band, small, engraved flowers curling up along the silver. It was, in a word, perfect, and she wouldn't trade it for all the gold coins in the whole world. Reluctantly, she pulled back from Eugene, looking at him directly.

"We should go tell my parents," she smiled shyly up at him. "They'll be excited for us."

"Anything you want, Blondie." He shared a smile with Rapunzel as he took the oars from the floor of the boat and began to row back to the dock from where they had come. He carefully maneuvered them side by side to the dock, and quickly jumped out to tether the boat down.

Rapunzel leaned down and held out her palm to Pascal, who had been sitting on a knob that had been hidden from her view for the most of the trip. Had that been a good thing or a bad thing, she couldn't help but wonder. He hopped into her hand, nuzzling her and giving her a chirp of congratulations. "Thank you," she beamed.

"You coming?" called Eugene, holding out a hand for her to take. When they both had their feet on firm ground again, they began to walk to the castle, hand in hand, Rapunzel leaning against his shoulder. They walked in relative silence, still reliving the night's events in their minds.

A loud crash sounded from farther up the road, causing Rapunzel to stop, jerking Eugene with her. "What was that?" She looked up at Eugene, eyes filled with fear.

"I'm sure it was nothing," he declared, though he put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Another crash sounded, jolting Rapunzel again, and a black outline could be seen running their way. The figure didn't appear to be running from anything in particular, but it was certainly running as fast as it could, and in no time, it was only feet away.

Rapunzel had become curious, and had removed Eugene's arms from her waist. She took a few tentative steps toward the runner. "Are you okay, Mister?" she asked, watching the growing shape as it drew nearer. "We won't hurt you."

The outline continued running toward them, and Rapunzel could now see that he had black hair and blue eyes like the ice from an iceberg. Eugene suddenly knew exactly who was coming toward them and he quickly began to run towards Rapunzel.

"Rapunzel, no!" He tried to throw himself between her and the attacker, but was too late.

"Stay back!" cried the shape, and there was a short gleam of moonlight on silver and he continued running.

Nothing could prepare Eugene for the sound he heard next. As the black mass stole away toward the forest surrounding Corona, he heard a devastatingly heart-wrenching cry of pain from Rapunzel, and he flew toward her, catching her as she fell towards the ground. He landed with her halfway in his lap, her head resting against his chest. "Rapunzel?" He took her face in his hands. "Rapunzel, talk to me!" He lightly tapped her cheeks as she blinked up at him, tears welling in her eyes as she became more aware of her surroundings and the sudden pain across her chest and right arm.

"Eugene, I think he… he cut me…" she trailed off and he noticed that her face was slowly draining of all colour. She weakly managed to lift up her right arm against her chest as she had done when she saw the sword coming toward her, and Eugene's world slowed to immediate halt.

She had a long gash along her right arm, and an even worse one on her chest. It appeared that she had tried to protect herself when she had seen the sword coming toward her, but her chest had still taken the brunt of the attack. She was bleeding profusely, so Eugene took off his vest and pressed it against her wounds as best he could, applying all the pressure he could muster.

"Rapunzel. Rapunzel!" With his free hand, he tucked a strand of hair away from her face, dragging his hand down to cup her cheek. "Everything's gonna be okay, I'm gonna get you back to the castle. Can you talk to me?"

The young princess' eyelids opened for a few seconds, and she tried to look up at him, her unspoken words frozen on her as they fluttered shut again, her head falling back from his grip.

"No!" he growled, scooping her up into his arms carefully, trying to keep pressure on her chest whilst he broke into an all-out sprint for the castle. Within moments, he was running up the steps, and into the castle. He saw a servant standing by a door in the foyer. "Go get the physician! Now!" he yelled. His outburst was overheard by the King and Queen, who immediately dropped what they were doing and ran into the hallway, quickly falling in step behind Eugene as he raced to her bedroom.

Once inside, he gently deposited the girl on her bed, reapplying more pressure onto her chest. He searched her face for any sign that she was awake.

"What happened?" demanded the King.

"We were coming back from the lagoon, and we saw this black outline of a person running toward us, and before I could do anything, he yelled out, 'Stay back!' and he swung his sword out at her. I think she tried to block it, but that only made it worse." He gently peeled back his blood-soaked vest to reveal the deep gashes across her arm and chest, that were, much to his dismay, still oozing blood.

He quickly put the vest back over the wounds, and brought his other hand to brush some hair out of her face. "Rapunzel. Rapunzel, I need you to wake up for me," he whispered fervently. He placed a tender kiss to her forehead, hoping to get her to open her eyes, move her lips, anything to let him know she was still with him. He trailed a finger down the side of her face, noting how pale she looked. "Where's that doctor?" he cried over his shoulder.

He felt something tug at his hands and turned back around to see that Rapunzel had a light hold of his fingers. "Eugene…" she managed to whisper before her body began wracking with whimpers of pain that gradually got louder and grew into heart-wrenching cries as she became more conscious and fully aware of the pain in her body.

Eugene tried to calm her, pressing a finger to her lips. "Sh, sh, sh, I know. I know. The doctor is coming." He tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat. "He's gonna make you feel all better. I-I promise." He tried to wipe away her tears with his thumb.

"E-Eugene, i-it… hu-hurts," she sobbed, pain overwhelming her and she felt that she could just curl up and go to sleep. "Ju-just want t-to s-sleep." She tried to close her eyes, but Eugene wouldn't let her.

"Rapunzel, no, you have to stay awake, so the doctor can help you." His resolve broke and he was crying tears of pain for her suffering. "Just.. hold on a little longer, sweetheart. Can you tell your parents what happened? At the lagoon?" He took her hand in his, gently smoothing over her knuckles with his thumb.

Rapunzel barely lifted her left hand to show her parents the ring on her finger.

"Oh, honey, that's great!" said her mother, who was kneeling by her other side, holding one of Rapunzel's hands in both of hers. Happy tears mixed with the worried ones that had already fallen from her eyes.

"I'm so proud of you." Her father brushed some hair back from her eyes before kissing her lightly on the forehead.

The bedroom door was flung open as a tall, gangly man flew in, black bag in tote.

"Oh, thank goodness!" cried Eugene. "Doc, you have to help her, she's been cut pretty bad."

The doctor moved the vest away from the wounds as he began to inspect them. "These will have to have stitches."

Rapunzel gave another sob, and Eugene leaned up to rest his forehead against hers. "I'll be right here, I promise. Hold my hand?" He slipped his hand into her left one, and she squeezed it as tight as she could, and Eugene couldn't help but notice that that wasn't even a fourth of how strong it normally was.

"Okay, first we are going to give you some of these medicinal herbs to help with pain, and hopefully help your blood to start clotting," explained the doctor. He gave the herbs to Rapunzel, who began to relax, if only slightly. "Ready?"

Rapunzel gave an exhausted nod. She was so tired, if they would just let her sleep… She was cut from her thoughts as a searing pain came from her chest, and she let out a blood-curdling scream. Eugene held her hand tighter, whispering consolations in her ear, but with each movement the doctor made, she only screamed more, her hand shaking violently in his, and each time, Eugene's heart broke a little more, knowing how much pain she was in and knowing that he couldn't make her hurting go away. After a few more stitches, Rapunzel finally gave out from the pain, her chest rising at a slow, somewhat steady pace.

The doctor continued his work quickly, moving from her chest to her arm as fast as he could. "Okay, we've done all we can do. The rest is up to her. But, you should know that she bled a lot more than usual, and I'd like to run a few blood tests to see if we can find any cause."

The King and Queen nodded simultaneously. "Thank you for your services."

The doctor left with his supplies and a sample of blood from Rapunzel, leaving the family of royals to watch their sleeping daughter, whose breathing had gone almost completely back to normal. They had managed to stitch up both her chest and arm, and had been able to carefully wipe away most of the blood that had covered her upper body.

Eugene, during the operation, had lain down on the bed beside her, silently soothing her by stroking her hair or her cheek, trying to comfort her, even though she was far from him, resting in a quiet, deep sleep. He was so scared for her, he couldn't even imagine his life without her, and he was more than afraid to lose her. He couldn't let anything happen to her, and he was furious with himself and the culprit for letting this happen to her. He gently kissed her forehead, then leaned his against it. "I promise I won't ever let something like this happen to you again," he whispered. He swore to the heavens above if he ever saw that man again… He flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the Queen's gentle face giving him a small smile.

"You should get some rest, Mr. Fitzherbert."

"If it's okay with you, I'd like to stay here and keep an eye on her." He moved from the bed to a chair that had been pulled to the side of the bed, keeping his hold on her hand.

"As you wish." She took her husband's hand and they moved to walk out the door. "Good night," she turned and faced him, "Eugene."

Eugene gave a small smile and waved good night as he settled into the chair. It was going to be a long night, but watching her sleep and making sure she was okay would be worth every minute of it.

Review and let me know what you think, as per usual. I don't know if I used that phrase right. I think so… Oh, well, just review, por favor.

EugeneLoverRapunzel