"So," Rapunzel asked, "I take it your watch is a time machine of sorts?"
They were walking through the woods towards the town. As soon as the sun went down, they headed off. The cover of darkness was their friend. Or, Flynn hoped it would be.
He glanced down at his watch. "It is. But it can be used by only one person. Two people can't time travel with it."
"You sound sad about that."
"Well, I encountered some tough times when it would have been very convenient to be able to time travel with another person. It would have solved everything." He thought back to the Palace of Versailles. Rapunzel's death. If he could have just gotten her to her tower in time, she would have been fine. And now Rapunzel told him that he couldn't even go back and change that. He was too involved. There really was no way to save her.
And knowing that was even harder now than it was when he first met her. Back then, he wasn't in love. Now, he couldn't imagine not having her in his life.
"I get that," she said, stepping past a low-hanging branch. "There have been times I wish I could snap my fingers and my tower would appear. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. I have to work around my tower. It doesn't work for me."
He shook his head. "It's still crazy to me that you talk about your tower like it's a sentient being."
"In a way, it is." She shook her head next. "And it's crazy to me to be talking to a man I just met once before who knows everything I know."
"Well, not everything. You still know more about the universe and all the different alien species within it than I do. You're still better at helping than I am."
"You helped me. You saved my life today." She nudged him. His body constricted at the touch. He was desperate to pull her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her but this Rapunzel didn't know him like that, so he couldn't scare her. "I would say that makes you good at helping people."
"I'll take the complim-," he stopped talking as a branch hit him square in the face. "Damnit. Not my nose. How does it look?"
Her eyes searched his face before she quickly looked away, a blush on her cheeks. He could just make it out in the moonlight. "You look good. I mean, your nose looks good. I mean…" She sighed, giving him a smile. "You know what I mean."
It was amusing to him how shy she was around him. Even though this Rapunzel was just as brave and smart as the other Rapunzels he knew, she wasn't quite as confident. She still had some growing to do.
Growing, he realized, she would do with him. It was because of their relationship that she would become even more bold and brave than ever. It was also because of their relationship that he'd become a better person. More kind and less selfish. They weren't one without the other at this point.
But there would come a time he'd have to continue on without her and that day was coming very soon. Even though he hated being in Salem in 1692, he dreaded time traveling again because once he did, that would be the last time he'd ever see Rapunzel, while for her, it would be the start of the journey she'd go on with him.
God, this was all fucking depressing.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he smiled back at her. "I know what you mean. And you look good too, by the way."
She ducked her head, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're a charmer, Eugene Fitzherbert."
"You make me that way."
"I somehow doubt that. Something tells me you're used to a woman's attention."
He winked. "What gave me away?"
"Oh, I don't know. Just all of… this." She waved her hand in his direction.
He glanced down at his Puritan get-up. "What… this?" He pointed at his silly jacket. "Or do you me this absurd hat?" He took off his god-awful black hat and waved it at her. "Or maybe these freaking stockings." He stuck his leg out, giving it a wiggle.
She laughed. "Ok. Maybe not that outfit. But you have a confidence about you. I'm assuming you've had girlfriends before." She stepped over a log, not looking at him.
He knew he could answer her comment in a joking way or a serious way. The old him would have gone for the joke in a heartbeat. But he was a changed man now.
"I have," he told her. "But none since I've met you. It's only you now, Rapunzel."
Her breath hitched as she stopped walking and turned to face him. Her eyes were wide and full of vulnerability.
"And it will probably only ever be you," he said. "I can't imagine my life without you." But he would have to.
"How can you make me feel so much and yet, I've only just met you once before?"
He took her hand. "Because I've spent what feels like a lifetime with you." He chuckled, shaking his head.
"What is it?"
"You said something similar to me when I first met you. It's come full circle for me."
She squeezed his hand. "I wish I could comfort you but I don't even know what my future holds to know what to say."
"I know. And you don't need to comfort me. Just being together is good enough for me." He cleared his throat and pulled his hand away. It was getting to be too much being so close to her and yet unable to kiss her. "We should probably get going. Nazura wont be happy with us if we don't get that cane back."
"You're right," she said, blinking rapidly. "Let's go get that cane."
Rapunzel was a mix of emotions as they reached the edge of the woods. She wanted to know what Eugene was thinking and yet it also scared her. He knew so much about their relationship and she knew nothing. It felt unfair.
But if what Eugene said was true – that when he had met her, she knew all about him – then he must have felt it was unfair to him too.
They were both in the same predicament and there was no way out.
Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she stared out into the small town of Salem. "We need to find Stoughton's house but I'm not sure which one it is."
Eugene pointed at a very large house – the largest one in town. "That one might be a good place to start."
"Good idea. We need to keep as out of sight as possible."
"One step ahead of you, Blondie." He marched with confidence towards the big house. Rapunzel admired the way he took charge. It was a very attractive trait, she admitted to herself.
The nice thing about it being 1692 was that there were no street-lamps. The only light out was the moon. No torches were lit.
"This is eerie," Eugene whispered as they hugged the back of a house, keeping their eyes open for other people. "It's like a ghost town at night."
"Well, no one wants to be out at this time. They might get accused of being a witch bathing in the moonlight. Conversing with the devil."
"You know, if I didn't know that someone would get accused for exactly that reason, I'd find your joke funny."
She gently swatted his arm. "It wasn't a joke." She looked at her hand on his arm and quickly pulled it away. There was an ease she felt with Eugene right off the bat that made it easy for her to forget that she didn't really know him. Not yet, anyway.
He stared down at her for a moment, his eyes soft. She stared back. The look he was giving her said so much and yet, she didn't know exactly what.
A man's shout made them both jerk away from each other.
Looking around the side of the house, Rapunzel spotted a man lying on his back in the mud. He was groaning.
"Is he hurt?" she whispered.
"Looks more drunk to me."
"Maybe we should see if he's ok."
He grabbed her arm. "Blondie, no. You could get thrown in jail again and put back on the gallows tomorrow. We're here to help Nazura, not drunk idiots."
"You're right. It's just hard for me to not help people."
"I know. But not everyone deserves your help."
She turned to him. "How do you know?"
He gave her a look. That's right. He knew her. He also clearly knew things she'd be going through in her future – things he couldn't tell her now.
"Let's find Stoughton," she said, changing the subject, "and get Nazura her essence back."
They stuck to the shadows as they made their way to the big house. Once there, they looked around to make sure no one was watching them before turning the doorknob and opening the door.
Eugene whistled. "Man, being a burglar back in the day sure was easy. No one locked their doors."
They tip-toed inside.
The house was decorated in mostly wood. Wood walls. Wood furniture. It was very spacious with one room leading off into a dining room and the other one leading into a parlor room.
Eugene winced when his foot touched a creaky floorboard. They both held still.
Nothing happened.
Sneaking into the parlor room, they searched for the cane but it was nowhere to be seen. Next, they checked the dining room. Once again – nothing.
Rapunzel turned to Eugene when she saw someone standing in the dining room doorway. It was a young, black woman wearing a maid's uniform of sorts. Her eyes widened when she saw them.
Eugene and Rapunzel shared a glance before Rapunzel stepped forward, both hands raised. "Please don't scream," she whispered. "We're not here to hurt anyone. We're just here to take something that… belongs to us. That's all."
The woman stared at them a second longer before turning around and running away.
Eugene sighed and ran after her. He grabbed the woman around the waist and pressed his hand against her mouth so she couldn't scream. She tried struggling.
Rapunzel sprinted over. "Please, we're not here to hurt you. My friend will let you go but you have to promise not to scream or run. Can you do that?"
She eyed the two of them before she slowly nodded.
Eugene let her go. She jerked away from him, straightening her bonnet.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Rapunzel. This is Eugene."
Her eyes widened again. "You were the girl who escaped today into the woods. The men who came back said you were dead. That they killed you."
"Well, they're liars," Eugene said. "They're all paranoid dumbasses. I wouldn't believe a word they say."
"Dumb…asses?"
Rapunzel shot Eugene a look, which made him shrug, before she turned back to the other woman. "What's your name?"
"Mercy," she said.
"Ok, Mercy. Who lives here?"
"Magistrate Stoughton."
Rapunzel felt both relieved that they had chosen the right house and also very creeped out knowing she was standing in the house of the man who was responsible for so many people dying of a crime they didn't commit.
"We're truly not here to hurt anyone," she said. "We just need to get Stoughton's cane. That's all and then we'll be gone."
"Where does he keep it?" Eugene asked.
Mercy looked between them with a frown on her face. "Why should I trust you? You're a witch."
Rapunzel knew what she had to do. She grabbed her compact mirror from a pocket in her dress and held it up for Mercy to see. "Who am I?"
Mercy's eyes glazed over for a second before she looked at Rapunzel with awe on her face. "You're Magistrate Stoughton's daughter."
Well, that worked in her favor. "Yes, I am. So, I belong here."
"But if you're his daughter, then why haven't I ever seen you here before? And why did he try hanging you earlier today?"
"I just came in from a trip to England. I've been gone for years. And as for why he tried to kill me… well, the people in this town aren't thinking straight. People are turning against each other, including family members. I just need to get Stout-," she stopped, correcting herself. "My father's cane. Where is it?"
Mercy pointed up the stairs. "He sleeps with it. He says it brings him good luck. Between you and me, there's a power to it that seems… otherworldly. I don't understand but magic of any kind terrifies me. I don't want to be accused of being a witch."
"You won't be. We'll just take the cane and then we'll be gone. My father doesn't have to know."
"All right. But I'd be careful up there. You wouldn't want to find yourself in the wrong room."
Eugene frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"
Marcy shook her head. "I can't say more."
"What do you think she meant?" he asked as they walked up the stairs, leaving Mercy in the dining room.
"I'm not sure."
"How come you didn't use your mirror on Stoughton when you were first captured?"
"I did. But he only saw me as a witch so it didn't help me at all." She shook her own head. "You even know about my mirror. You really do know everything."
They reached the stop of the stairs and looked down the hallway. Rapunzel felt like she was in a horror movie, just waiting for the monster to pop out at any moment.
They opened the first door on their right and it so happened to be Stoughton's room. He was asleep in his bed with a woman next to him – his wife presumably.
And there was the cane – wrapped snuggly between his arms.
Looking at the cane more closely, Rapunzel could sense that there was a sense of power about it, almost like it was faintly glowing.
"How are we going to grab it without waking him up?" Rapunzel whispered.
"Leave that to me," Eugene whispered back.
He tip-toed into the room. Rapunzel held her breath, as if somehow that would help the situation.
Eugene looked around the room for a moment before heading away from the bed and towards a dresser pressed against the wall. On top of the dresser laid a rifle. Eugene glanced at her over his shoulder, waggled his eyebrows, and grabbed the gun. For a second, she was scared he was going to shoot Stoughton and the woman but Eugene only walked back over to the bed and grabbed the cane, gently pulling it out of Stoughton's arms.
Quickly, he replaced the cane with the rifle. Stoughton snuggled it, not waking up once.
Eugene snuck back over to her, carrying the cane in his hands.
She wanted to celebrate but knew that would have to wait for later.
Turning around, she stepped out of the room.
And stepped right on the loudest, creakiest floorboard in existence.
They both stopped walking.
And then, to Rapunzel's horror, she heard, "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"
Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Stoughton had awoke.
And he had the rifle pointed right at them.
"Who's idea was it to give him a gun?" Flynn muttered.
"Yours," Rapunzel said pointedly.
"Oh, yeah. It was a good idea at the time."
Stoughton looked at them over the barrel of the gun. "You! I was told you two were killed in the woods."
Flynn shrugged. "Sorry, buddy. Can't keep us down." He slammed the door shut and told Rapunzel to run.
She gasped when a gunshot went off and blasted through the door.
They took off down the hallway towards the stairs when Flynn heard what sounded like a woman screaming.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Someone needs our help." Rapunzel turned around and began running back down the hallway.
"Wrong way, Blondie. We're supposed to be running away from the crazy religious guy with a rifle. Not towards him."
Rapunzel wasn't listening. Of course she wasn't. When someone needed her help, Rapunzel was always there.
Flynn grumbled and followed after her.
Stoughton's door opened up and he came running out, waving his rifle around. Flynn didn't hesitate. He barreled into Stoughton and grabbed the gun, pointing it towards the ceiling. It went off, lodging a small hole in the wall.
Ripping the gun out of Stoughton's hands, Flynn used the end of it to hit the guy in the head. Stoughton stumbled back and fell to the floor.
His wife ran out of the room, trying to attack him, so Flynn had to hit her in the head too. She joined Stoughton on the floor. Both were alive, just passed out.
Flynn caught up to Rapunzel, who had her ear pressed to a door. "I got both the cane and the gun. Hope you're proud of me because I sure am."
"Eugene, shush. There's someone crying in here." She tried the doorknob but it was locked.
"Let me get that. Have any bobby pins?"
She handed him one from her hair and he got to work picking the lock. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Uh… I'll tell you next time." He pushed the door open and what he saw made his blood run cold.
A young woman was chained to the wall. Her hair was a mess and her face was dirty, like she hadn't had a bath in weeks. She stared at them with wide eyes before she started screaming for help.
Rapunzel ran inside the room to the woman. "What's your name?"
"Sarah," she whispered.
"Ok, Sarah. We're going to get you out of here." She nodded at Flynn to help. Together, they got the chains off Sarah. She slumped to the floor.
Rapunzel kneeled before her. "What happened?"
"He brought me here. He said I was a witch and I needed to pay for my crimes. But he didn't want me to die. He wanted to… to play with me."
Flynn shivered at Sarah's words. He could only assume what she meant by play but it couldn't be good.
"Where's your house? We'll take you there."
Sarah shook her head. "I was brought here on a boat. I don't have a home." She grabbed Rapunzel's arms. "There's another girl here as well. He's hurt her. I've heard her screaming every night for help."
Rapunzel exchanged a look with Flynn. "Ok. We'll get her. Stay here. We'll be back."
They rushed out of the room and down the hall.
"Not what I was expecting when I came here to steal a cane for a tree," Flynn said.
"Neither was I. That poor woman."
They unlocked the next door and found another girl, this one brown-skinned, chained to the wall. They helped her down too.
She fell to the floor and began crying.
"What's your name?" Rapunzel asked.
"Enola," she whispered.
"Where do you live?"
She shook her head. "Not here. My people live far away. They stole me and brought me here."
"I'm so sorry, Enola. We'll help you get back to your people, ok?" Rapunzel turned to Flynn and said in a lower voice, "These women need our help. They were kidnapped and brought here for Stoughton to torture. We need to get them back home somehow."
"What about Nazura? She'll die if we don't get her this cane back."
"I know. I can take the women in my tower. Get them back home. But first, we need to get them out of Salem."
"It was hard enough getting into Salem just the two of us. But now we have an entire group with us," he said.
"My tower is in the woods. We can give Nazura the cane along the way. She'll be safe, then we can take the women to safety."
Flynn nodded towards the window in the hallway. "The sun is starting to come back up. We need to move now before the entire town starts waking up."
They walked Enola into the hallway, then motioned for Sarah to join them.
Rapunzel turned to the two women. "I'm going to get you back home. You have to trust me. We need to make it to the woods before the other townsfolk see you."
Sarah jerked back. "The woods are a dangerous place. Witches live in the woods."
"Right now, it's the only safe place. Stoughton will wake back up and then he'll hurt you all over again. We need to move now."
They moved downstairs and ran into Mercy.
"I heard screaming…" she trailed off. "I knew that Magistrate Stoughton was up to no good but…"
"You didn't know?" Rapunzel asked.
Mercy shook her head. "He kept it from me. He never let me go into those rooms. He said he'd kill me if I did."
"Come with us. We're all leaving. You don't have to be a maid to a monster like Stoughton."
Mercy hesitated before shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I can't go."
Rapunzel nodded and gave Mercy one last look before ushering the other woman out of the house.
"We need to get to the woods as fast as possible," Flynn said to the women. "Keep your heads down and walk fast."
They began the trek through the town.
No one was out yet but Flynn knew it wouldn't be long. This was an old town. People rose early to work in the fields or some shit. Honestly, Flynn didn't really know what people did back in Salem, 1692 other than accuse people of witchcraft.
"Pretty girls," a man's voice came through the early morning fog.
They all stopped.
Flynn groaned when he saw the drunk man from earlier. He was stumbling towards them, muttering about pretty girls and witches.
Sarah and Enola hugged each other as Rapunzel and Eugene stood in front of them.
"I got this," Flynn said, hurrying over to the man. "Woah there, buddy. Shouldn't you be off to the tavern or… something? I think it's that way." He pointed in the opposite direction of the women.
The man looked back. "Oh, is it? I just wanted to talk to the pretty girls." He shoved Flynn out of the way and lumbered towards Sarah and Enola.
Rapunzel blocked his path and pushed him back. "Just go lay down somewhere and get some rest. Sound like a good idea?"
He squinted at Rapunzel. "Weren't you that woman accused of witchcraft? You escaped into the woods." He stepped back and raised his voice. "Witch! I've encountered a witch! Someone help me!
Doors began opening up with people poking their heads out.
Flynn grabbed Rapunzel's arm. "Time to go."
"Not so fast," the drunk man slurred, trying to grab onto Rapunzel's dress.
Rapunzel gasped and kicked the man in the stomach. He fell face first in the mud.
"Witch," he groaned. "Someone get the witch."
It wasn't bad enough that people were starting to come out and see what the commotion was. What made it extra bad was the fact that Stoughton's front door opened up and he came running outside, screaming about how a witch attacked him in his own home.
People began murmuring and throwing glares in the direction of Rapunzel, Flynn, and the other girls.
Within seconds, they were surrounded by people, poking and prodding them.
Sarah and Enola whimpered and began to cry.
"Don't touch them!" Rapunzel shouted at a man who kept shoving the two women around. He then turned his eyes onto Rapunzel and pushed her back so hard, she fell to the ground.
"Hey!" Flynn growled. Before he knew it, he was punching the man in the face. The crowd grew more restless and closed in on them.
Turning to Rapunzel, he helped her back up and held her in his arms as the crowd screamed accusations of witchcraft.
"It's their fault I'm drunk," slurred the drunk man. "They forced me to drink using their powers."
"What are we going to do?" Rapunzel whispered to Flynn.
"This isn't my first time dealing with a mob of people that I had to escape from. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy."
"Eugene, not helping."
"Right. Uh…" He thought about what he could do… and then he remembered he had a freaking rifle in his hand. He held it up. "You think this will work?"
"We can't kill these people," she hissed.
"I'm not saying we should. I'm just saying we scare them a little." He pointed the rifle towards the sky and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was loud in the quiet morning.
Everyone went quiet and quickly backed away.
Stoughton came striding towards them. "Don't be scared. Seize these heathens. They broke into my home and stole my gun and cane. What for? Well, only to cause harm to people. That's the only explanation. Grab them!"
No one stepped forward.
Flynn kept his gun pointed at the mob. "We're just going to be leaving now. Rapunzel, take the other women and run for the woods. Get Nazura her cane back." He handed it to her.
"What about you?"
"I'll do what I do best. Cause a distraction." He winked and gently pushed her away.
She stared at him like she didn't want to go and it tore at his heart not to tell her how much she meant to him but there was no time. He motioned for her to leave.
Rapunzel grabbed Sarah and Enola's hands and together, they ran for the woods.
Flynn kept firing off gunshots into the air to keep the people back.
…well, that was until he ran out of bullets.
When the click of the empty barrel filled his ears, Flynn knew he was in trouble.
So, he did what any self-respecting man in danger would do: he threw the gun right at Stoughton's face and ran for the woods after Rapunzel.
To his delight, Stoughton fell on his ass and passed out again but the rest of the crowd wasn't too happy.
With an angry mob of people on his tail, he put on a burst of speed and ran into the woods.
"Where are we going?" Enola asked.
"This way," Rapunzel said, leading them in the direction of her tower. She parked in deep in the woods so no one could get at it. Sarah and Enola took precedent over Nazura right now. Rapunzel was determined to help these poor women who had been victimized by an abusive man. She knew what it was like to be treated terribly by Gothel. Because of that, her mission in life was to help people and so far, she'd done a horrible job at it. If she couldn't save these girls, then what could she do?
Maybe she wasn't meant to go off on her own and become a time traveler. Maybe she wasn't equipped for any of this.
She had no idea how a man like Eugene, who seemed so brave, could be interested in her when she felt like such a coward at times.
The woods were more densely packed them she remembered. She found herself getting lost.
"Which way?" Sarah asked. "The woods are scaring me. There's something not right about them."
"Um…" For some reason, Rapunzel could not remember which way her tower was. It was like it had been completely stripped from her mind.
When she shook her head to try and clear it, she blinked and when she opened her eyes, she found herself back in Nazura's grotto. Sarah and Enola weren't with her.
"What the…"
Nazura's face formed in the tree. "Ah. You've brought me back my essence. Give it here, human."
Rapunzel did and she watched in both fascination and confusion as the tree absorbed the cane.
Nazura smiled. "I thank you for this."
"Where's Sarah and Enola? They were just beside me. How did I end up here?"
"I brought you here. I could sense that you carried my essence, so I summoned you here."
Rapunzel had read that the Nazun tree people had an incredible amount of power but she couldn't remember exactly what. For some reason, her memory was… foggy.
"So, will you be ok?" she asked.
Nazura laughed. "I will be ok." Her smile turned into a frown in an instant. "But you won't be."
Rapunzel jerked back. "What do you mean?"
"I told you before – I don't like humans. They take and they take and they take. They almost killed me. So for that, I released spores into the air that turned them into paranoid freaks, obsessed with witches."
"What… what do you mean?"
"I'm telling you, human, that I'm the reason these pathetic humans are killing each other. I get a joy out of watching them tear each other apart. It's the least they can do for all the suffering they've caused me and my people."
"You caused the Witch Trials?"
"Now you're catching on. I used their own beliefs against them. They already believed in witches. My spores just brought out the paranoid side in all of them."
Rapunzel felt like she couldn't breathe. She had helped someone who was causing harm to others. And she hadn't even known it. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I wanted someone to know. I want the credit. But now that you do know, I can't let you live. So, I'm going to have to do this."
A ripple went through the air and a gust of wind hit Rapunzel in the back. It shoved her against Nazura. Rapunzel tried to move but realized she was completely stuck to the tree. She could only watch in horror as her body began to sink into the bark.
"What are you doing to me?"
Nazura laughed. It sent chills over Rapunzel's body. "I'm sending you someplace where you'll never escape and then you'll slowly die, all alone, like the pathetic human you are."
"But I tried to help you." Rapunzel's arms and legs were through the tree. She kept her head out, desperately trying to find a way out of this situation.
"I know you did. And you fell for my trap. I hate all humans. If I could do this to all of them, I would. But you will have to do."
"Rapunzel!" It was Eugene's voice. He was running right for her, his eyes wide with fear.
She tried to call out to him but it was too late. Her face melted into the tree and she was gone.
Flynn ran up to Nazura. "What did you do?"
"I sent her someplace she can't get out of. Want to join her?"
"Why did you do that?" He was panting, his hands on his knees.
Nazura rolled her eyes. "I already explained it to the other human. I'm the one making the humans paranoid enough to kill each other because I hate humans."
"But we saved you."
"Your little blonde girlfriend said the same thing and the point is – I don't care. Now, care to join her or spend your time with the mob coming after you?"
Flynn looked over his shoulder. The mob was still chasing him, getting closer. He could either get caught and go to prison and be hanged. Or he could go inside a tree and try to find Rapunzel, that was assuming both of them didn't just die the moment they were inside there.
Either way, it didn't matter.
He already knew his choice.
Nothing was going to separate him from Rapunzel again.
He stood up straighter. "Fine. You want to take me to a place I can never escape from? Then take me."
Nazura chuckled. "You really are a pathetic, stupid human." She forced Flynn against her and began fusing him into the tree.
He ignored Nazura's taunting jabs. He had only one thought as he melded into the tree: I'm coming Rapunzel.
Until Saturday!
