Flynn stared at Rapunzel.

She was alive.

Her clothes were modern – a purple crop-top and high waisted jeans. It was a good look on her, he noticed. Before, when they first met, she had been wearing a long, 1770s servant dress that didn't really show off the curves of her body.

He shook that from his head. Why was he thinking about her body? She was alive – that's what mattered.

"Rapunzel," he breathed out as she turned to him.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him. "Eugene."

Without thinking, he pulled her into a hug. Rapunzel let out a little grunt from the impact but then she hugged him back.

"Someone's happy to see me," she said, standing back. "I missed you too."

"You're-," he stopped. Alive. But if she was alive… then what did that mean? He remembered her telling him that she couldn't reveal much about his future. He figured he couldn't do the same. If Rapunzel was alive right now, that meant this was a slightly younger version than the one he met in Versailles. One who hadn't died. Yet.

She told him that they were going in opposite directions. That they were running out of time.

He couldn't tell Rapunzel that she just died in his arms. That could cause chaos to the future, as she liked to say.

"I'm confused," he said instead.

"Ok. What are you confused about?" The sincerity in her eyes spoke to her feelings for him. This was a Rapunzel who still cared for him deeply.

"I'm not normally one to admit that I don't know something but… what's going on? Between us?"

There was a flash of pain in her eyes that tore at his heart. "You haven't known me long, have you?"

"I can't say, can I?"

She made a noise at the back of her throat. "No, I guess you can't. But you know me, which is a good sign. We're not at the end yet."

The end. The image of Rapunzel dying in his arms only hours ago cemented itself in his brain.

"Let's go somewhere to talk," she said. She eyed him over. "Nice clothes."

Shit. He was still in his 1770s get up. "My apartment," he blurted out. "I need to change anyway."

A soft smile played across her lips. "Sounds like a plan."

They were silent on the walk to the subway. Rapunzel seemed lost in her thoughts and Flynn didn't want to bother her. He was desperate for more answers. Like how exactly she was alive right now but he knew he couldn't ask that. He could never ask her that. He figured telling someone when they were going to die went against the rules of time travel.

On the subway, Flynn remained standing, holding onto a pole. Rapunzel was right next to him and she smelled like vanilla and flowers. His last memory of her was blood and smoke. This was much better.

She bumped into him as the subway swayed to one side. She glanced up at him with a smile and there was such an ease about her with him that he didn't get to see before. She kept her body close to him, almost like they were boyfriend and girlfriend. When they were in Versailles, he hadn't known her so she kept her distance. But this Rapunzel still knew him and he knew her. Had this Rapunzel already spent a lifetime with him? Judging by the way she was acting around him, he figured so.

But they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend for him. Not yet anyway. Would they be someday? Normally, he'd panic at the idea of being in a long-term committed relationship but with Rapunzel… there was something so right about her.

Even still, he pulled away from her slightly. She noticed. The small smile of her lips slipped slightly. He wasn't ready for them to be in a relationship even if that was how it was for her. He just saw her die. He was still processing.

"Nice clothes," a boy said from the seat near him. He looked like a typical jock. God, Flynn hated those types. He was more of a smoke-behind-the-bleachers kind of kid in high school. He barely did his homework and couldn't wait to get out. That's when he started thieving.

The teen boy smirked as Flynn turned to look at him.

"Did you hear me?" the boy asked. "I said 'nice clothes.'" Of course, the way he said it wasn't kind the way Rapunzel had said it.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Flynn asked him. "Because if you are, it's not working. You need more gravitas to be funny. You need to be more clever. Like I could said 'nice shirt. Where did you get it? From your grandma's attic?'" The boy frowned, looking down at his oversized sweater underneath his letterman jacket.

"See?" Flynn continued. "That's more clever. So, if you can't even be funny when giving me an insult, kid…" He shook his head. "What do they say? When you got nothing nice to say, keep your fucking mouth shut."

The boy gaped at him before grabbing earbuds and stuffing them in his ears as he sat in his seat with his arms crossed and brooded.

Rapunzel shook her head. "Getting into verbal spars with teenage boys. Not your finest hour."

"I'm not in the mood," he grumbled.

Rapunzel's eyebrows knitted together. "How come?"

He met her eyes and saw how big and green they were. He wanted to tell her everything and yet… he couldn't tell her anything. Fucking time travel, man.

"I can't tell you," he said.

Understanding dawned in her eyes. "Something in my future?"

"Yes."

"How is my future self?"

He blew out a rough breath. "You know I really can't tell you, Blondie."

"I know." She nudged him. "I was just testing you."

They got off the subway and walked the rest of the way to Flynn's apartment.

"It's not exactly the Ritz," he said, taking her into a shabby building and up a flight of rickety stairs. "I got it right out of high school and I haven't moved since." He unlocked his door and let her inside.

She looked around the apartment. It was small and cramped but it was clean. Flynn didn't have much in the way of a family so there were no pictures anywhere. Nothing except a simple blue couch and a tiny kitchen all in one space. Further into the room was a bed. The bathroom was the only other room in the apartment.

"I've never seen this before," she said.

"You haven't?"

"You sound so surprised," she said, taking a seat on the couch.

"It's just… I know you said we've spent time together in my future so… huh." He scratched the back of his neck. "You've spent a lot of time with me and I've never shown you my apartment? What kind of shitty boyfriend behavior is that?"

"Well, we were busy time traveling." She patted the spot next to her. "So, you think of yourself as my boyfriend? We're at the stage?"

He cleared his throat and remained standing. "Uh… not quite. I'm still getting to know you."

"Ok." She tried to hide the disappointment on her face but Flynn knew how to read her better now and caught it.

He pointed towards his bed. "I'm gonna change."

"I'll wait right here."

He hurried towards his closet and pulled out a blue shirt, black pants and tan combat boots on. He tossed the CD he got from that weird girl Connie in Times Square onto his desk. When he came back to Rapunzel after changing, he saw her staring down at her hands.

"You ok?" he asked, sitting beside her on the couch. It was a little strange to be sitting so causally with her after everything they'd been through together. Or, well, everything he went through with her. She hadn't gone through with it yet.

"No, I'm fine. It's just… weird." She pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. It just made her look cuter. "I've known you for a while now and every time I see you, I can tell that you know me less and less. It's hard to process sometimes."

"So, is that what's going on between us? The more you know me, the less I know you?"

"Yeah. And the more you know me, the less I know you," she explains. "When I first met you, it was like you knew everything about me. And in time, I learned that you did."

He huffed. "I think I'm learning that now."

She squinted at him. "So, this is still really early on for you."

"It is." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Man, this is hard. We can't even share things with each other because it could fuck the world up."

"I know. That's the pain with time travel. It's a fickle-,"

"Thing," he finished for her. "So, does this mean the next time I time travel, you'll be a version of you that knows me less?"

"In a way, yes. I'll technically be younger but only by days or weeks or months so don't worry. I met you when I was twenty, so nothing weird will happen."

He chuckled. "Thank god for that." He stared right into her eyes. "I take it then that I was pretty much the age I am when you first met me?"

"Yeah. So, at least we don't need to worry about each of us dying of old age when the other one is still young."

He tensed at her words. Flynn did not want to talk about anyone dying at a time like this. "Or either of us reverting to children," he said to break the tension.

She laughed and it was like light and air and beauty all rolled into one. "Good point. But it does make me sad knowing that one day, you won't know who I am."

Flynn held still. He couldn't reveal any of that to her.

"I'm not sure how much time together we have left," she mused.

"Assuming by the way you're talking about us," Flynn said, "I still have a lot of time left with you."

"Yes. Assuming you don't do something to screw it up."

"Like what?"

"Like try to change either of our pasts or futures."

He blew out a rough breath. "I know. I know I'm not allowed to change anything."

She sighed, dropping her head back on the couch. "This is hard. We can't really talk about it." She sat up suddenly. "So, let's talk about other things." She looked around his apartment again. "This is really where you live. I was expecting something more… cozy."

"Cozy? Me? Have you met me before?"

A little, teasing smile played on her lips. "As a matter of fact, I have."

"Why cozy?" He turned to face her on the couch to get more comfortable. It was nice just talking to her when nothing crazy was going on.

"Because that's how you make me feel. Warm and…happy," she added in a softer voice.

He was so close to blurting everything out. How he felt confused about how he felt for her. How it didn't feel right not telling her she was going to die whenever she goes to Versailles. How he just wanted to talk to her for hours.

But instead, he said, "My apartment was always just a place to sleep. When I wasn't busy stealing shit, I'd come back here. After I got this" – he pointed at his watch – "and realized I could time travel with this, I never looked back. I haven't been back here in… well, I don't know how long. That's the thing with time travel. It really fucks up your sense of time."

"You were off doing… what? Stealing things for your private island?"

"You know about that?"

She groaned, dropping her head back. "It's all you could talk about. It was… strange. The man I first met, stealing wasn't even a part of his vocabulary. But as I got to know him more and more, I noticed that as I went forward and he went backwards, he began mentioning this private island he wanted to buy with the money he stole. But he also told me that he was done with that."

"When was this exactly?"

"I can't tell you that."

This time, he groaned. "Oh, come on, Blondie. You can give me details but you can't give me details?"

She shrugged. "That's the way it works. I can tell you some things, just not major things. But I can't tell you when they happened. I can't influence you too much." She smiled. "Funny, this was something you instilled in me earlier on when I first met you. I'm beginning to see why."

"Don't tell me this is a chicken and egg kind of thing? You act a certain way because I did but I act that way because you did." He groaned again for good measure. "Because, Blondie, that's just plain confusing."

"That's time travel."

Flynn opened his mouth to say something witty when someone banged on his door. He had no idea who it could be seeing as Flynn didn't really have any friends, except for Lance, who he hadn't seen in a couple of years.

He got up and answered the door.

A short, skinny young man stood before him. Flynn knew exactly who this person was. This person was the one who designed the time travel device Flynn wore on his wrist. The person whom Flynn stole the watch from. This person was glaring at him beyond his black, swooping bangs.

Varian.

Flynn immediately shut the door on Varian. He wasn't ready to deal with the guy whom he stole the time-traveling wrist-watch from.

"Who was that?" Rapunzel asked, walking over.

Flynn shrugged. "Nobody."

Varian pounded on the door. "Flynn, open up. We need to talk. I demand that you give me back my device. Now."

Rapunzel frowned. "What device?"

Flynn covered the watch with his hand. "Nothing."

Varian continued pounding on the door.

"He's not going away," Rapunzel pointed out.

"Yes, I can hear that."

Rapunzel just stared at him, a dubious expression on her face.

"Oh, come on!" Flynn explained, flapping his hands at his sides. "Can't a man not open his door if he doesn't want to?"

"Eugene," Rapunzel said in a stern voice. "Did you steal something from him?"

"I told you to call me Flynn, remember?"

"You did? You've always been ok with me calling you Eugene."

That's right. He only told her when he first met her… which hadn't happened for her yet.

He cleared his throat. "Never mind. I just don't think I'm ready for the world to know my real name yet, ok, Blondie?"

"Ok… Flynn." She sighed as she nodded at the door. "I don't think he's going away anytime soon. You should talk to him."

"Flynn, Flynn, Flynn!" Varian chanted on the other side of the door. "We have to talk. Open up."

With a huff, Flynn opened the door. "What?"

Varian backed away, swiping a hand across his bangs. He was dressed in a simple button down and jeans with a brown apron over his clothes. That was the thing with Varian, Flynn noted – he always wore a damn apron and Flynn never understood why. The little man wasn't baking pies for all he knew. Though, now that he thought about pies, he could go for some…

Flynn came back to the present when Varian started speaking.

"Flynn, I need my device back."

"No." Flynn started to close the door when Varian shot his foot into the frame.

"Come on. It's the only one of its kind. I've been tracking your readings and you've been going on a ton of adventures, I've noticed. You can't keep doing that. It could cause the world to end in chaos!"

"You sound like Blondie," Flynn muttered.

Rapunzel looked at him. "What device is he talking about, Eu-," she stopped. "Flynn?"

Varian eyed Rapunzel warily. "It's nothing," he squeaked.

"She already knows," Flynn told him. "She's a time-traveler too."

Both Rapunzel and Varian's eyes widened for different reasons.

"She's a time traveler?" Varian said softly while Rapunzel turned to Flynn, her arms cross and an unamused expression on her face.

"You stole his time-traveling device?" she asked.

"What?" Flynn tried playing innocent but he could tell Rapunzel wasn't buying it. He sighed. "Fine. Ok, yeah. I did. I'm guilty. Take me away. Lock me up. But I'm not giving it back."

Rapunzel turned away from him. "I can't believe it's not yours." She huffed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's just… all the time we spent together and… I never even knew how you got your watch to begin with."

Guilt punched Flynn in the gut. But he refused to feel guilty about it. "Hey, Blondie." He touched her shoulder and she didn't pull away so he viewed that as progress. "If I never stole this device, then we would have never met. So, wasn't that a good thing?"

She faced him again. Varian was watching this entire encounter with a confused look on his face.

"It's not so much you stole it," she said, "but more that you never told me. There's still new things I'm learning about you."

"Well, isn't that a good thing? That's how relationships work." He paused. Wait. Were they in a relationship? If you asked Rapunzel, he was pretty sure she'd say yes. If you asked him, well… he had no fucking clue. He cleared his throat. "Never mind. You know what I mean."

"True," she said, a sad smile on her face. "But it just reminds me that the reason you never told me these things before was because… you were always going to tell me them now. I was supposed to find out about this now. And it just means I'm one step closer to never knowing you."

Flynn didn't know what to say. He and Rapunzel stared at each other, an intensity in both their eyes.

Until Varian said, "Excuse me," and ruined the moment.

Flynn turned back to the little dweeb. "What?"

"I'd like my device back now, please." He pointed at Flynn's wrist. "So…" He held out his hand.

"Oh, buddy," Flynn said, chuckling, "you're not getting this back."

"Flynn, you stole it," Rapunzel reminded him.

"Yes. I know." Flynn kept his head held high. "But remember, Blondie, if I give this back then all the times you had with me never would have happened."

She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. "True," she said lamely. She turned to Varian with a smile. "Hi, there. I know that Flynn stole your device – and that was wrong – but if you could just let him hold onto it for, say, a few more months, that would be great."

Flynn was impressed. Rapunzel was being selfish right now. That was something he had never seen from her. It made him feel less inadequate around her. She wasn't so perfect either.

Rapunzel continued speaking. "And then Flynn will promise to give it back."

Flynn jerked. "I will?"

"You will," she said.

Ok. So much for being selfish. He still had to do the right thing, dammit. And despite what happened in Versailles, doing the right thing didn't come naturally to him.

Varian scrunched up his face as he considered Rapunzel's request before flatly saying, "No." He held out his hand again. "I want it back now, Flynn."

"What do you even plan on doing with it?" he asked.

"I've always wanted to go back to Medieval times."

"And do what?"

Varian blushed slightly. "And just… it doesn't matter! Just give it back to me."

Flynn leaned against the wall. "I'm not getting out of this one, am I, Blondie?"

"Can you make more?" she asked Varian.

"Not without the original one," Varian seethed.

Rapunzel shrugged. "I mean… you have to give it back, Flynn. It's the right thing to do."

He leaned in closer to her, fully ignoring Varian's glares coming his way. "But, Blondie, if I give this back, then the times you had with me never happened."

She smiled brightly up at him. "I'll always have those times, Flynn. That's the thing with time travel. Some things are set in stone and other things are ever changing. Maybe…" Her smile dimmed. "Maybe your journey doesn't include me. Maybe those times I got to know you, those were for me. If you give Varian your watch back, I won't lose what I already experienced."

But I will, he wanted to say. He would never get the chance time travel more and get to know Rapunzel unless…

Unless they just stayed here in present day New York together. If she never travels to Versailles, then she never dies there. He could get to know her here.

They could spend that lifetime together that she was talking about.

But was he ready for something like that?

All he knew was that he didn't want to go without her beautiful face smiling up at him.

If he was ready to give up his thieving ways that was. And the chance to ever own his private island, since they were a fuck-ton more expensive today than in the past.

He turned to Varian, still unsure what answer he was going to give…

…when he got hit in the face with something small and black. It stung too. He swatted it away, thinking it was a fly.

But when the little fucker flew back into his face, Flynn realized that it looked like a fly but it was most definitely not a fly. For one thing, it wasn't black but a really dark blue color that appeared black. And second, it sounded like it was a tiny helicopter instead of whatever sounds bugs normally made.

And lastly, it blipped out of existence and back into existence right before his own eyes. Like something from a computer instead of real life.

"What the…?" He jerked away from the thing.

Rapunzel frowned. "Flynn, what is it?"

Varian sighed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "If you think you're going to get out of this one, Flynn, then think again."

"No, there was something there. Like a bug." He pointed to where he had just seen it but it was gone again. He touched the spot on his cheek where it had hit him and his fingers came away with blood.

Rapunzel gasped. "Are you ok?" She leaned in closer to him. "You have a cut on your face."

"I know. Some damn bug gave it to me." He walked into his bathroom to inspect it. His face was just too pretty to get cut up by stupid metallic little bugs. As he leaned in close to the mirror, he saw a tiny little black wire sticking out of his face. "Ugh." He pulled it out and threw it into the sink.

Rapunzel was right behind him. "What is it?"

"That." He pointed at it.

Rapunzel lifted it to inspect it. Varian then appeared in the bathroom's doorway, trying to look too.

"This bathroom," Flynn said, "only has a square foot of about… oh… ten. I mean, the shower is practically on top of the toilet. Definitely not big enough for three people," he added pointedly, staring at Varian.

Varian ignored him, his eyes intent on the little black wire between Rapunzel's fingers. "What is that?" He touched the tip of it and it lit up. He jerked back while Rapunzel looked closer.

"A wire of some kind. I'd have to run it through my database to see if it knows what this thing is. It's not… from this earth."

Flynn straightened. "What do you mean? How can you tell?"

She looked up from the wire and nodded towards the mirror. "Because that thing is clearly not from earth."

When Flynn turned, he saw the tiny metallic bug resting on the side of the mirror. "Shit." He grabbed a comb off the counter and threw it at the bug. It didn't hit the bug and only succeeded in hitting the mirror, where a crack formed in the glass because of it.

"Great," he muttered.

"What is that?" Varian asked, his eyes following the bug as it flew around the cramped bathroom.

"I'm not exactly sure but I don't like it," Rapunzel said. "Who could create something like that?"

Flynn groaned. "Not another alien species. This one better not be evil."

Varian's eyes widened. "Alien species. Those actually exist?"

"You tell me." Flynn held up his watch. "You invented this thing. I've been able to travel to different worlds because of it."

"What?" Varian sputtered. "I never designed it for that. Just time travel to the past or future."

Flynn shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you, buddy. Your device is able to travel to entirely different planets. And not just the ones in our solar system we learned about in school."

Varian looked like he was about to pass out. The metallic bug zipped right towards Varian's face and hit him. Varian jerked back, rubbing his cheek. He also now had a cut there. "What in the world?"

"I need to check this out," Rapunzel said, still holding on to the little wire. She smiled at Flynn. "Have you seen my time machine yet?"

Flynn, Rapunzel, and Varian left the apartment, heading towards…

"You left your time machine in Central Park?" Flynn asked.

Rapunzel shrugged. "Where else would I leave it? It's beautiful there. Lots of trees. The perfect place to hide it."

"What exactly does your time machine look like?"

She gave him a secretive smile. "You'll see."

He shook his head. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"It's not every day you spend months with a person and you can still surprise them."

"Oh, now you sound happy about that?"

Rapunzel kept her smile planted on her face. "I'm choosing to be."

Varian looked between them. "What's happening between you two? It's like you're in a relationship and yet… not."

"That's because we are," Flynn said.

"Are what?" Varian asked.

Flynn nodded at him. "Just what I said."

Varian blew out a breath and shook his head. "I stay single for this reason."

They headed to the subway and got onto one of the cars. It was packed with people coming and going on a late Tuesday afternoon.

Varian took the spot by Flynn's side so Rapunzel had no choice but to stand in front of Flynn. She was almost tucked into the crook of his body. He could smell her shampoo as her hair ticked his nose. It was nice.

The thought of them being boyfriend and girlfriend was still something he was getting used to. He wasn't there yet but he also couldn't imagine not having Rapunzel in his life. It was strange.

He could do it. Give Varian his time-traveling watch back and just spend forever with Rapunzel in the present day. Or however long they wanted to be together. She could grow old here and die from natural causes – and not from a bullet to the chest because an alien with a gun-hand shot her.

But that still didn't stop her from going. She had her own time machine. What if he traveled with her? If he did, then there was no way she could end up in the Palace of Versailles, in 1779. Because if he was with her, then he couldn't go somewhere he already was. That was one thing he knew to be true about time travel. Never go to the same place another version of yourself could be. And he knew for a fact, his past self was in 1779 France.

"So, Blondie," he started, ready to ask her… what? All of this? None of this?

She turned to him with a soft smile. "Yeah, Eugene?"

"What did I say about my name?" he said in a teasing voice.

"Well, if you get to call me Blondie then I get to call you Eugene."

"No, because blondie is just a nickname. Eugene is a name I'd rather forget."

She tilted her head. "How come?"

"You mean I haven't told you before?"

She took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I just want to hear you say it again. Or maybe I want to hear it for the first time."

"You're really confusing me, Blondie."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. His skin was on fire in the best way possible. "I aim to please."

Varian looked as them with confusion on his face.

Then Flynn heard the scream.

It was a woman.

He turned to the sound and what he saw made him freeze. On the outside of the subway was hundreds of the metallic bugs. They were somehow managing to keep up with the speed of the subway. A woman was pointing at them and screaming.

"That can't be good," Flynn muttered.

"Nope," Rapunzel responded.

The bugs were getting closer to the doors. Closer and closer they came. And to Flynn's horror, the bugs began to slip through the crack of the doors. He had no clue how that was possible, given the fact that the subway doors were sealed shut when in transit.

But they got through anyway.

And the horde of them were on the train car with them.

"Get down!" Flynn shouted as he grabbed Rapunzel around the waist and dropped to the floor. He rolled slightly under the chairs with Rapunzel pressed against his chest. She buried her head into him.

He shut his eyes and all he could hear was screams, screams, and more screams. He knew that sound would haunt him forever.

And then it all stopped.

The screams, the shouts, the panic of people running around. It was suddenly quiet.

Rapunzel slowly lifted her head and scooted back out.

"Wait," he said, grabbing her arm. "It's not safe."

"People need our help." She stood up.

With a huff, he got up too. So much for being selfish.

What he saw next…

…wasn't as bad as he had been expecting. The bugs were all on the ground, dead presumably since they weren't moving. The people on the car were all alive. Cuts and scrapes covered their faces and arms but everyone looked fine for having an entire horde of metallic bugs come at them.

Varian rushed over to them. "What in the world just happened?"

Rapunzel grabbed his arms. "Are you ok?"

He was covered in the tiny black wires from the bugs. He winced when Rapunzel started picking them out of his face. Flynn couldn't watch it. It was too gross.

Flynn gave the woman standing next to him a relieved smile. "That was something, huh?"

She smiled back. She was middle-aged with a large trench coat on. "Yeah, it was." Just like Varian, she was also covered in the tiny black wires. The entire car full of people were. Only he and Rapunzel came away unscathed. "I'm Sandra," she said.

"Flynn," he introduced himself.

Flynn felt relief for about a second until Sandra began to twitch. At first, it started off small. Almost like a muscle spasm. Then she twitched again. And again. Each time was bigger than the last.

"Sandra?" he asked. "Are you…" He reached out for her.

"Uh, Flynn?" Rapunzel said behind him. "Something is happening to Varian."

Flynn touched Sandra's arm – and that proved to be a mistake.

Because right then, Sandra lunged for him. He yelped, jerking back as she tried to take a bite of his arm. "What the fuck? Sandra!"

Rapunzel screamed. Flynn looked over and saw Varian trying to do the same thing to her as Sandra was doing to him. Rapunzel shoved Varian back but he jumped up and tried attacking her again. Her back slammed against one of the poles. Rapunzel cried out in pain. It sounded so much like when she was shot and dying in his arms.

He wasn't going to lose her again.

Not after just getting her back.

Sandra, who was still trying to bite Flynn's arm, went flying back after he kicked her in the stomach. He ran over to Rapunzel and grabbed her hand.

"Come on. We got to move."

"What about Varian?" she asked. Varian was coming at Rapunzel again and Flynn knew he couldn't have that.

"Can't we just leave him here?"

"He's your friend!" Rapunzel shouted.

"You know, he never really was."

She shot him a look he knew well by now. Annoyed and charmed at the same time.

The entire train car of people began to twitch and stand up, a feral look in their eyes, just like Varian and Sandra.

"We have to get off this subway now!" Flynn shouted.

"Knock Varian out. Let's take him to my time machine. There might be something there that can help."

He groaned. "You know, Blondie, life was so much simpler before I met you." He ran at Varian and knocked the younger man to the ground. Varian snarled and tried standing up, but Flynn kicked him in the head. He only felt the teensiest guilty about that.

Varian slumped to the ground, passed out cold.

"Now what?" Flynn asked.

"Pick him up!" Rapunzel was running to the end of the car. The other passengers were already starting to become more savage as they reached out for her.

Flynn grumbled under his breath as he lifted Varian over his shoulders. Thank god Varian was small.

Rapunzel opened the car doors and ran into the next car, Flynn right behind her. The door behind them shut, stopping the savage people from following them.

The only issue was… this next car full of people had been hit by the bugs too.

And they were all running at Flynn and Rapunzel.

Thank god Rapunzel was one step ahead.

She ran to the doors and slammed her hand into the emergency big red button. The subway operator came on the intercom.

"What is your emergency?" he asked in a bored voice.

"You need to stop the subway so we can get off!" Rapunzel shouted.

The operator sighed heavily. "And why would I do that, miss? Stop messing around."

"I need help," Rapunzel said. "Everyone on the train car is going crazy. We're going to get hurt. You need to stop the subway."

"I can't do that. Now, stop messing around and stop hitting the button."

While Rapunzel was busy with the operator, Flynn had to deal with the oncoming onslaught of people.

He felt bad about this but it was his only play.

He threw Varian off him and into the row of people coming right at him. Varian's body slammed into the people, knocking them all onto the ground. Flynn winced. Poor Varian was going to be bruised after that.

Rapunzel turned away from the red button and this time, grabbed the emergency brake valve and pulled.

The train groaned to a slow stop.

Rapunzel began to pry at the doors. "Flynn, help me." He ran over and together, they managed to open the doors.

Before the horde of crazed people could come at him again, Flynn picked Varian back up and jumped off the train, following Rapunzel. He landed on his feet on the tracks but the impact made him drop to his knees and in turn, made Varian hit the ground. Hard. Flynn winced. Varian was really going to be bruised after all of that.

"Come on. Let's go!" Rapunzel shouted.

"Easy for you to say," he grumbled, slipping Varian back over his shoulders. "You're not the one having to carry a very small man."

The passengers started jumping off the car, snarling and screeching.

"Yep. Time to go," he said.

With a strength he didn't know he possessed, Flynn stood back up and ran after Rapunzel, going deeper into the subway tunnel.

Until next Saturday!