Flynn swallowed. He really hadn't believed Rapunzel when she'd hinted that her mother was violent. He thought her mother would be angry, and he knew she'd make Rapunzel's life miserable and possibly kick Flynn out of the tower before he was healed and he'd die that way, but he'd never thought she'd pull a knife on him.

Then again, looking at their burning surroundings, she probably had reason to be ticked.

He tried to turn his head to look at her, but the knife bit into his throat, her free hand clawing into the back of his jacket, poised to yank him back into place as if that could hold him still.

"Gothel, right? I'm afraid I'm not making the best first impression here," he said.

"You're certainly not."

"Maybe if you let me turn around we can have a civilized conversation."

"I doubt that."

She had a point. She wasn't very civil.

"You know, you're not making a great impression either."

She scoffed, a snort that sounded more musical than it should have.

"We should start over. I think we could really get along." Lies. "We have some common interests. Common goals."

She stiffened. "Such as?"

"Keeping Rapunzel alive."

He could practically feel her fury, like she was sizzling in her own skin, the knife trembling against his throat. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything."

She paused, letting the words sink in, and she took a deep shaking breath that added to the slight trembling of her words. "What did you do to her?"

Flynn set his jaw and glared at the empty space before him. "She's been poisoned by a chameleon."

She gasped and for a moment he thought she might scream and slit his throat right then.

"You've killed her!"

"No!" Except, yes, in a way-

"You brought these men here!"

"They brought themselves. That's what all the horses are for."

"They're here for you. And they can have you!"

"See," he said, trying desperately to calm her, trying not to let his own guilt get the better of him. "Common goals. I'm on my way to turn myself in."

She made a sneering noise as if she didn't believe him.

"Look, I turn myself in. In return for my surrender, a doctor goes up and fixes Rapunzel. The empire gets their battery back. I get executed in front of a firing squad. And you and Rapunzel go back to your messed up lives in your tower. Everybody wins." Except for him. And Rapunzel.

"I will NOT let anyone else touch her!" It only then seemed to occur to her that he might have touched Rapunzel. He could feel her anger boil up to a new level, and he knew he had to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible and pretend he hadn't picked up on her meaning. It wouldn't help his state of mind to remember anyway.

"If you don't let a doctor near her, she'll die. And soon."

Gothel trembled in rage, then ripped the knife from his throat, shoving him away. Stumbling, he caught himself on a tent and turned slowly to face her, rubbing his neck, where there was now a freely bleeding nick against his Adam's apple.

He hadn't actually seen Rapunzel's mother before. He'd expected her to be older. He'd expected her to look a bit like Rapunzel.

She stood, staring at the ground, her eyes darting back and forth as if she could read a solution scrawled in the dirt. She gripped at her hair, looking crazed as she still held the knife in one hand far too close to her eye.

Flynn straightened and cleared his throat.

"I know you want to keep her safe," he said slowly. "I do too. She's a good kid. And I know people will take advantage of her. But she needs help and you have to let me go get it for her. Just don't tell them about the hair and they won't know. It's not like they'd guess something like that."

Shocked eyes snapped to his face and she visibly jerked away from him.

"You-"

He had only a moment to register the change, from threatening him with a knife to something actually dangerous. He only had a moment to realize he'd said the wrong thing.

Her face contorted, looking wild and violent and monstrous. "You!"

She flew forward, slashing the knife at his face. And he ducked, jerking to side, throwing himself back to avoid a second and third swipe.

"Whoa!"

She kept coming, swinging and slashing and crying out with a sound between a snarl and a hiss. He bashed into the side of the tent, stumbling when the fabric gave beneath his weight instead of helping him to right his balance. He swerved the other direction, blocking stupidly with his forearm and earning himself a slice through his sleeve. He kept retreating. Back and back and back.

He was unarmed and she was crazy and his side was screaming as loudly as his attacker. He was too surprised to grab at an advantage, and he couldn't even think of an advantage to snatch.

What the hell? How did he get into a knife fight with this girl's mom?

Another swipe, another dodge. She was holding the knife strangely, backhanded, which shouldn't have worked for her, but definitely did.

He bumped into a cart, which shuddered and rolled backward, dislodging a few boxes, their contents spilling onto the ground and catching beneath his boots. He ducked, the cart slipping out from behind him as it rolled and his body found itself in a oddly controlled fall, his arms braced to either side, his legs giving out beneath him. With a dull thunk, the knife embedded into a wooden crate where his face was a moment before. Gothel screamed in surprise and tugged on the knife, which held tight.

Seizing his chance, Flynn slipped to the side, circling around the struggling woman, bracing himself to fight again.

Which was stupid. He should run. Since when did he stay and fight?

She ripped the knife free with a shower of splinters and spun to face him, her cloak swirling around her, her hair flying. Her breath came in deep, angry pants, and she snarled at him, readying her knife once more.

"I'll kill you!"

"Lady, death threats really don't work on me."

This only enraged her further, and she was after him again. He dodged more easily now. She was crazed and that gave her strength and an unpredictability that made her dangerous, but this was new to her and her moves were avoidable. He retreated back step by step, dodge by dodge. It occurred to him that he was wasting time. It occurred to him that she was leaving an obvious opening and he could easily aim a kick to her chest and bring this mess to an end.

She deserved it, the witch. But Rapunzel's disapproval of such an action stopped him.

"You there! What are you doing?"

Flynn didn't bother to look over his shoulder to face the shout. He needed all his attention on not getting sliced to ribbons. And, given his luck, if he turned around, it'd turn out the soldiers were shouting at some other fool who'd gotten himself in a knife fight.

He only heard the running footsteps as they passed right by him and a horde of soldiers appeared from the smoke, bursting into existence just an arm's length away. Someone grabbed his arm. Gothel screamed. Flynn was shoved and pinned and turned about until he lost all sense of direction. He could see only darkness and smoke and the muffled flicker of movement from the corner of his eye. The shuffling of boots and grunts of struggle rolled just beneath the sharp reality of his breath and the discomfort of his arm twisted behind his back.

He was spun again to face a frowning guard whose face was striped with soot and sweat, and the scene before him took shape again. Two guards held Gothel, who still struggled, lashing out and snapping as if she could take someone's face off with her teeth. Another guard held her knife, inspecting it quizzically.

The soldier in front of him barked out a question and Flynn's attention snapped back to his face. "What the hell's happening here?"

Flynn straightened as much as he could, tugging his disheveled jacket back into place. The soldier stepped back enough to let him, eyeing him warily. The man wasn't restraining him after all, but more like holding him up since he was stumbling and dizzy and his arm was actually bleeding pretty badly now that he could look at it.

And this was the moment of truth. What he'd set out to do. But now the coward in him hesitated. It now took every ounce of courage and stupidity to start talking.

"I'm Flynn Rider. I'm here to turn myself in and hand over the battery, but I have demands. You need to take me to whoever's in charge right now."

The soldier blinked at him. The guards holding Gothel went still to stare at him. Even Gothel looked shocked. In the stillness, the roar of the fires sounded subdued, as if they were listening, as if they were granting him space to have his words heard, as if now that he'd turned himself in, they could fade, their purpose complete.

"You're...My God."

Gothel surged, pulling herself free from the men holding her, who in their distraction had loosened their grip. They stared at her now like they'd had enough today and couldn't possibly process more or deal with anyone's snarling mother. One reached for her again, without the conviction to do much, but moving because deep down he knew he was expected to do so.

Before he could touch her, Gothel shot one last burning glare at Flynn, and twisted away, disappearing into the darkness with a swirl of her cape, the smoke curling back over her path, reclaiming the space in which she had stood.

"Who was that? Don't just stand there. After her."

The soldiers rushed off into the dark, but they all knew it was useless. The guard in front of him turned back and the hand holding him steady by the shoulder seemed to realize what it was doing and shoved him back against a tent, the motion emphasizing his repeated question. "Who was that?"

The shove was entirely unnecessary if you asked Flynn. His side screamed again and he turned his cringe into a frown of irritation. "She lives here."

"Ah. Your accomplice."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "Yeah. My accomplice who wants to stab me repeatedly and shriek at me."

The soldier shrugged. "I imagine that most people want to do that to you, accomplice or not."

"Nice."

"Or maybe she's mad you're turning in the battery. Where is it? Hand it over."

"I don't have it on me."

The soldier's eyes narrowed.

"Look, you want it? Then take me to your general. Let's go. Chop chop."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"The greatest trick. First I turn myself in. Then you execute me. Ta dah! You'll all be amazed by how quickly I bleed to death. It'll be like magic. You'll be very impressed."

The soldier narrowed his eyes and shoved Flynn again. "You turn yourself in, then your accomplice runs off with the battery when everyone's distracted."

Flynn stared at him a second, unsure how to proceed with someone so annoyingly obstinate. "Would it help clear things up if I told you she's my crazy lady friend's mom?"

"No."

"Hmm. Well. Then I guess you have a choice. Drag me in and take me to your general and claim the glory of being the man who finally caught Flynn Rider, or throw me loose and let me go free because this is clearly a cunning trap and you're clearly too smart to fall for it."

The soldier thought about this a moment, then pulled his rifle down from his shoulder to aim it at Flynn's chest. After a moment he nudged the barrel against Flynn's shoulder, getting him to raise his hands in surrender and turn. Then with the gun pressing between his shoulder blades, they marched through the valley and away from the fire.

"Don't try anything funny."

"You sure? Then you're missing out. I'm a riot." But as he put one foot in front of the other and the smoke gradually cleared, Flynn swallowed and noted that nothing about this was funny.