Two Years Ago

Rapunzel spent countless hours in classes learning the difference between a Nazun and a Nazoon (two completely different alien species), and all the planets within the galaxy and all the ins and outs of time travel. She learned about every type of alien race – which wasn't that hard to remember since she had good memorization skills from her time locked in her tower. With nothing better to do, she tended to memorize things a lot. She was a fast learner and quickly leapt to the front of her class.

She even beat out Cass who had been studying with the Society for years.

"You've been here for less than a year and already you know more than me," Cass said.

"Tell me more about yourself," Rapunzel prompted.

"I had a mother," she told Rapunzel one day inside Rapunzel's bedroom. When Rapunzel was showed to her new bedroom, she almost couldn't believe it. It was smaller than her room back in the tower but she could leave. She had freedom for the first time in her life.

"What happened to her?" Rapunzel asked.

Cass sighed, pulling her legs beneath her. "One day, she was just gone. I never knew what happened to her. The Society found me and brought me in. I'm convinced someone took her away from me. There's no way my mother would have abandoned me."

"My parents didn't abandon me. I was kidnapped," Rapunzel explained. "By a…" She shut her mouth. She didn't want to talk about Gothel in this place. Gothel didn't belong here. Rapunzel was looking forward to her new future. There was no use in looking back.

"That's horrible. I can't even imagine."

Rapunzel placed her hand on Cass's arm. "What was your mother like?"

"I look a lot like her. She used to sing to me." A small smile passed Cass's lips. "Until one day she was gone. Her name was Gothel."

All the air was sucked out of Rapunzel's body. Cass couldn't have said what she thought she just said. There was no way… but. Rapunzel looked at Cass closer. The dark hair, the piercing eyes, the grin that was always just the tiniest bit uneasy.

Cass really did look like Gothel.

Rapunzel was frozen. She should have told Cass in that moment that the woman who had kidnapped her was Gothel but maybe there were different Gothels. Maybe this was an entire coincidence. It didn't matter though. Rapunzel knew deep down.

Cass was Gothel's daughter.

She didn't know why Gothel left Cass to only kidnap Rapunzel and raise her locked in a tower. Rapunzel had never even heard of Cass until she showed up that day… that day she killed Gothel.

Cass's own mother was lying dead just a few feet away, hidden by bushes, and Cass didn't even know it. Rapunzel had killed Gothel. It was self-defense but there was no way she could tell Cass this.

So, Rapunzel stayed quiet.

She didn't want to lose the one friend she had since joining the Society and studying at the Academy.

Rapunzel didn't know at that time that keeping Gothel a secret from Cass would matter.

But it would matter greatly. It would lead to the destruction of their friendship. It would lead to Cass trying to kill Rapunzel and it would eventually lead to Cass's death.

All because Gothel had hurt both young women. But she was dead, so she didn't have to answer to her crimes.

Both Rapunzel and Cass had to.

Rapunzel stayed quiet for the entire year she knew Cass, before Cass would find out the truth and leave the Society, only to show back up to try to end it all. She died before she could.

So, in the end Cass ended up joining Gothel wherever people went after they died.

And Rapunzel still had to live with the guilt of it.


Ohio, 1986

The mall was brightly lit and decorated with neon colors and blinding lights whenever it got the chance. Eugene thought he was going to be nauseous. All the people who passed by were dressed hideously. From hair scrunchies, to crimped hair, to leg warmers, to sweaters with every color under the sun.

Eugene had never visited the 1980s on any of his travels and now he knew exactly why. It was just too much.

He was a man who liked the simple things in life. Money, his alone time, and more money. The 1980s was like being slapped in the face with… everything. Especially at a mall where every teenager seemed to be just lounging around and doing nothing.

He himself was rocking a double denim look, from his denim jacket to his jeans. He looked good, he knew. A lot of the women who walked by threw him appreciative glances but there was only one woman who would do it for him.

Rapunzel looked cute in her pink t-shirt and long brown skirt and brown boots. She went for understated '80s look and he was grateful. If he had to walk around with Rapunzel wearing a scrunchie, headband, and legwarmers, he thought he'd might die a little inside.

"So, the mall," he said, placing his hands on his waist. "What are we doing here exactly?"

"The scroll said the next clue could be found in a place where hormonal teenagers resided. So a mall was the first place my mind went to. You know, I've never actually been to a mall before." She bounced on her feet. It was cute. "There's so many things I want to see and do."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. This is a mall in Cleveland, Ohio in 1986. There's not going to be a whole ton to do."

"The food court!" she exclaimed, pointing in its direction. "We should get something to eat. I am a little hungry."

"The food court it is." He looked around as they walked towards it. "You know, this does beat having to find a minotaur in an underground cave and fight for our lives. If the next clue is in this mall, then it shouldn't be that hard to find." He shrugged. "This is going to be easy."

A teenaged girl walking with her group of friends bumped into him right at that moment and the smoothie in her hand spilled all over his white shirt.

"I spoke too soon," he muttered.

She gasped. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." One of her friends handed her a paper napkin and she started patting his chest.

"It's ok," he said, grabbing the napkin from her. "Just watch where you're going next time."

The girl looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "I'm Tiffany. You know, I could help you pay back the shirt. You could spend time with me and my friends." The group of them – of which there was four – were all looking at Eugene with eager expressions.

"Not gonna happen, girls," he said, making them all frown and pout. Even before he met Rapunzel, he never flirted with teenage girls. He wasn't a creep.

Rapunzel stood beside him. "He'll be fine. He's handled a lot worse than a dirty shirt."

Tiffany gave Rapunzel the stink eye before motioning for her friends to leave.

"Well, that was a fun way to start the day," Eugene muttered, taking his jacket off. He had on a simple white t-shirt underneath. "Great. It looks like Pepto Bismol threw up on my shirt."

"Come on. Let's go buy you a new one." Rapunzel linked her arm through his.

They walked away from the food court and headed towards the clothing stores. They were almost at a men's clothing store when two men in the walkway ran right into Rapunzel, knocking her to the ground. The men were fighting with each other and didn't even see her.

"Hey!" Eugene shouted, bending down to help Rapunzel back up. "Watch where you're going."

The two men continued to punch each other and grapple with one another, not paying anyone else any attention. A security guard came running over and broke up the fight.

"You'll pay for kissing my girlfriend, asshole!" one of the guys shouted as he was carted away by the security guard.

The other man shook his head and rubbed his bleeding lip. "You're the asshole, asshole."

People steered clear as he walked in the opposite direction.

Rapunzel's eyes were wide. "Is the mall normally like this? Because if so, it's thrilling."

Eugene put his arm around her shoulders. "Not normally but I guess today is a busy day."

They headed into the store and Eugene found another white t-shirt, bought it, then went to the changing room to slip it on. There was a crack in the mirror of the changing room. They really needed to fix that.

He joined Rapunzel and they left the store. "So, what now? Still want that snack?"

"I do."

They walked back to the food court. There were tons of different options from a burger place to a pizza place to an Asian place to a… whatever that grey stuff was that looked disgusting. Eugene shuddered and backed away from that food stall. The man behind the counter grunted and gave him a suggestive nod. Eugene shuddered again.

He found Rapunzel looking at the pizza place.

"I've never had pizza," she said.

"Then pizza it is."

They settled into their seats at a sticky table – why did the tables always have to be sticky? – with their pizzas. A meat lovers for him and a vegetarian style for her.

Sitting across from Rapunzel, it dawned on Eugene. This was their first official date. They had traveled the world and galaxy together but they had never just sat down and ate food together like this before.

It only made him love her more.

She was about to take a bite of her pizza when a little boy bumped into her chair and sent her pizza falling to the ground. The kid pointed at the pizza, then at Rapunzel's face, and then laughed.

"You little shit," a man growled, walking over and grabbing the boy's arm. "You made that lady drop her pizza. Pick it up."

The boy immediately began crying.

"It's ok," Rapunzel said. "It's just a piece of pizza. I can get another."

The man huffed and dragged his boy, kicking and screaming, away.

Eugene shook his head. "And this is why I don't like going to malls. I just remembered."

She sighed. "It's ok. Maybe we should just go find the next piece of the puzzle. We can't spend forever here, pretending we're not on a serious mission."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Even though she said the words, her face didn't look sure at all. She looked disappointed.

He rubbed her arm as they stood up. "We can get pizza another time."

"Deal."

They walked hand-in-hand through the mall, figuring out where the next clue could be.

"A place where hormonal teenagers will be," Eugene murmured looking around. "That could be anywhere."

Rapunzel squinted at something in the distance. "Or it's right there." She nodded.

Eugene turned to look and what he saw made him both laugh and shake his head in disbelief.

It was a workout studio with large glass mirrors that showed the inside of a workout class. Women were lined up within the studio, all wearing skin-tight leotards in vibrant colors. A group of young men, probably between the ages of 14 to 16, were not so subtly staring through the windows at the women working out. The boys practically had their tongues hanging out.

"No," Eugene said, looking at Rapunzel.

She laughed. "Why not? They look hormonal."

"They look more than hormonal. They look like dweebs who've never even seen a woman in person before. Their practically drooling. Look!" One of the boys actually had a little bit of spit leave his open mouth. Eugene turned to Rapunzel with smug gratification. "See?"

"So what? If the clue is in that exercise class, then we need to go in there."

"I doubt the next clue to where your parents may be located is in a 1980's mall in Cleveland, Ohio, in a jazzercise class."

She shrugged. "Well, we wont know unless we see for ourselves."

"Oh no. I am not wearing a leotard. And I am not doing jazzercise."


He ended up doing jazzercise.

And he hated every second of it.

"I look ridiculous," he growled to Rapunzel as they stood in the workout studio in bright neon workout clothes. "This can't be what the scroll was talking about."

"Maybe not. But we won't know unless we try."

He looked her up and down. "Of course you look good in your leotard. I just look stupid."

"It's ok, Eugene." She placed her hand on his arm, which made him feel a fraction better. "This is only temporary. Once we find out where to go next, we can leave."

"Or once we find out this was a waste of time, we can leave."

She smiled. "Agreed."

A middle-aged woman glanced over at him. "I'm impressed a man is doing this. I was never able to get my husband to join me."

"Neither was I," said another woman.

"Men," said one more, shaking her head.

Eugene felt all their eyes on him and he just wanted to die a little inside.

Thankfully, the instructor entered the studio at that moment. "How is every one doing today?" she said in a cheerful voice. Her blonde hair was frizzy and pulled up into a ponytail with a scrunchie. Her face was full of makeup, which Eugene thought was strange since she was teaching a workout class. Who wears makeup to work out?

"Who's ready to tone those booties and bellies?" she asked. All the other woman in the class clapped and cheered. Even Rapunzel joined in.

God help him, Eugene thought.

"My name is Jennifer and let's get started!" Her eyes flashed to Eugene's. "And it seems we have a man joining us today. Let's give him a round of applause for being so brave to come here."

The entire class full of women turned to him and cheered him on.

He wanted to die. Eugene had never wanted to die before but in that moment, he wanted to. He wasn't even ashamed to feel that way.

Jennifer turned on the music and began to teach the class, making all the women turn back to her, which Eugene was grateful for.

He was barely listening as Jennifer droned on and on about tightening the core and activating the butt. It was only when she said something different that made him tune back in.

"And remember, ladies, if you want to work out at home, I made a mean cassette tape full of my favorite songs. You can pick one up before you leave." There wasn't anything particularly astounding about what she said but it was more how she said it. Her eyes kept flicking to him and Rapunzel as she spoke.

"And if you're looking for a new cassette tape, you can always try Radio Shack."

He frowned. What was Jennifer going on about?

Rapunzel gasped beside him. He glanced at her and shrugged.

"We need to go to Radio Shack," she whispered. "I think Jennifer just gave us our next clue."

"A cassette tape?"

"Remember, the Society likes to hide clues throughout history in different medians. In Egypt, it was a book. In Greece, it was a scroll. But in the 1980s…"

"It's a cassette tape," he said slowly. "So, what are we doing here? Let's go."

"Shouldn't we finish the workout?"

"Blondie."

"Ok. Coming." They turned to leave the studio when a woman entered it with such gusto and force, Eugene had to take a step back.

The woman wasn't dressed like she was from the 1980s. She was wearing a green cloak and had a sword at her hip. Her dark hair just barely reached her shoulders.

Rapunzel stumbled to a halt.

When the woman looked at them, Eugene knew why Rapunzel looked like she had seen a ghost.

That was because Cassandra was standing in the workout studio. The Cassandra who they thought had died. The Cassandra who hated them both.

"I'm not wasting any more time," she growled.

Her face formed a scowl as she ran for Rapunzel. In Rapunzel's shock, she wasn't moving. Eugene ran to knock Rapunzel out of the way but he was too late. Cass thrusted her sword forward and jammed it right into Rapunzel's body.

Rapunzel crumpled to the ground as blood quickly spilled out of her.

The women in the studio screamed and ran away. The only thing Eugene could do was kneel beside Rapunzel in shock. She wasn't moving. Her eyes were open and unblinking. When he pressed his fingers to her neck, he found that she had no pulse.

He whirled around towards Cass. "You killed her."

Cass was breathing heavy. For just a moment, she had a look of regret on her face before her expression went blank. "She had it coming. She needed to die. The Society was after her. They were going to kill her anyway. Maybe now I can bring them her body and get access to the Society's headquarters and bring it to the ground."

"You killed her!" he shouted, jumping up.

But he was too late.

Cass thrusted her sword right through his chest. The only thing he could do was stagger back and fall to his knees.

He watched as Cass stood over Rapunzel's body. That was the last thing he saw before he died.


His eyes blinked open. He squinted against the afternoon sun as he stood before the mall in Cleveland, Ohio, 1986. Rapunzel was beside him, asking him if he was ready to go inside.

They entered the mall to only be confronted by a sea of neon colors.

He glanced down at himself and saw that he was in a denim jacket and jeans. For some strange reason, he thought he was just in a brightly neon colored leotard.

But… that wouldn't make any sense.

He shook that from his head. Rapunzel was wearing a pink-shirt and long brown skirt.

"So, the mall," he said, placing his hands on his waist. "What are we doing here exactly?"

"The scroll said the next clue could be found in a place where hormonal teenagers resided. So a mall was the first place my mind went to. You know, I've never actually been to a mall before." She bounced on her feet. It was cute. "There's so many things I want to see and do."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. This is a mall in Cleveland, Ohio in 1986. There's not going to be a whole ton to do."

"The food court!" she exclaimed, pointing in its direction. "We should get something to eat. I am a little hungry."

"The food court it is." He looked around as they walked towards it. "You know, this does beat having to find a minotaur in an underground cave and fight for our lives. If the next clue l is in this mall, then it shouldn't be that hard to find." He shrugged. "This is going to be easy."

A teenaged girl walking with her group of friends bumped into him right at that moment and the smoothie in her hand spilled all over his white shirt.

"I spoke too soon," he muttered. The moment he said it a memory hit him. Of another time when a teenage girl spilled a smoothie on his shirt.

But… no. That had never happened to him before. Sure, Eugene did tend to forget most interactions he had with women after they were done but he was pretty positive no teenage girl had ever spilled a smoothie on him before.

The girl gasped. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." One of her friends handed her a paper napkin and she started patting his chest.

"It's ok," he said, grabbing the napkin from her. "Just watch where you're going next time." He looked at the napkin. Why did that feel so… familiar?

The girl looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "I'm Tiffany. You know, I could help you pay back the shirt. You could spend time with me and my friends." The group of them – of which there was four – were all looking at Eugene with eager expressions.

"Not gonna happen, girls," he said, making them all frown and pout. Even before he met Rapunzel, he never flirted with teenage girls. He wasn't a creep.

Rapunzel stood beside him. "He'll be fine. He's handled a lot worse than a dirty shirt."

Tiffany gave Rapunzel the stink eye before motioning for her friends to leave.

"Well, that was a fun way to start the day," Eugene muttered, taking his jacket off. He had on a simple white t-shirt underneath. "Great. It looks like Pepto Bismol threw up on my shirt." The moment those words passed his mouth, he felt like he had been smacked in the face with Deja-vu.

He stumbled back.

Rapunzel frowned. "Are you ok?"

After a moment, he shook his head. "Just a strong case of Deja-vu. It's nothing."

"Funny. I was having Deja-vu too." She shrugged. "Come on. Let's go buy you a new one." Rapunzel linked her arm through his.

They walked away from the food court and headed towards the clothing stores. They were almost at a men's clothing store when two men in the walkway ran right into Rapunzel, knocking her to the ground. The men were fighting with each other and didn't even see her.

Eugene felt like he had seen that happen before but he knew that wasn't possible. Rapunzel and he had never been to a mall together before. That incident could never have happened.

"Hey!" he shouted, bending down to help Rapunzel back up. "Watch where you're going."

The two men continued to punch each other and grapple with one another, not paying anyone else any attention. A security guard came running over and broke up the fight.

"You'll pay for kissing my girlfriend, asshole!" one of the guys shouted as he was carted away by the security guard.

The other man shook his head and rubbed his bleeding lip. "You're the asshole, asshole."

People steered clear as he walked in the opposite direction.

Rapunzel's eyes were wide. "Is the mall normally like this? Because if so, it's thrilling."

"Yeah…" he said slowly. "It does seem especially thrilling."

"Why do you sound strange?"

"Do you not feel like you… already experienced that?"

She frowned. "It did feel familiar but I've been knocked down by a lot of people before. But I know what you mean. I keep having Deja-vu."

"Me too."

After a moment, Eugene put his arm around her shoulders. "Anyway. Let's go get me that new shirt."

They headed into the store and Eugene found another white t-shirt, bought it, then went to the changing room to slip it on. There was a crack in the mirror of the changing room. They really needed to fix that.

He stopped before leaving. That crack in the mirror… God, why did it feel so familiar, like he had just seen it? It was just Deja-vu. He pushed the feeling aside.

He joined Rapunzel and they left the store. "So, what now? Still want that snack?"

"I do."

They walked back to the food court. There were tons of different options from a burger place to a pizza place to an Asian place to a… whatever that grey stuff was that looked disgusting. Eugene shuddered and backed away from that food stall. The man behind the counter grunted and gave him a suggestive nod. Eugene shuddered again, then stopped. He was sure that man had given him a suggestive nod before. That didn't make sense though.

He found Rapunzel looking at the pizza place.

"I've never had pizza," she said.

"Then pizza it is."

They settled into their seats at a sticky table – why did the tables always have to be sticky? – with their pizzas. A meat lovers for him and a vegetarian style for her.

Sitting across from Rapunzel, it dawned on Eugene. This was their first official date. They had traveled the world and galaxy together but they had never just sat down and ate food together like this before.

It only made him love her more.

She was about to take a bite of her pizza when a little boy bumped into her chair and sent her pizza falling to the ground. The kid pointed at the pizza, then at Rapunzel's face, and then laughed. Eugene could only watch in confusion as a man walked over and grabbed the boy's arm, muttering, "You little shit." Eugene found himself mouthing the words at the same time.

But how could he have known that man would say that?"

"You made that lady drop her pizza," the dad said. "Pick it up."

The boy immediately began crying.

"It's ok," Rapunzel said. "It's just a piece of pizza. I can get another."

The man huffed and dragged his boy, kicking and screaming, away.

Eugene had a quip on hand to say – something about why he didn't like going to malls – but he stopped himself when he saw the troubled look on Rapunzel's face. "Are you all right? We can get you another piece."

"It's not the pizza." She let out a rough sigh. "It was like I had experienced that before. It was… strange."

"Right? I've been feeling that way ever since we entered the mall."

"Same."

They shared a look but neither said anything.

She sighed. "It's ok. Maybe we should just go find the next piece of the puzzle. We can't spend forever here, pretending we're not on a serious mission."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Even though she said the words, her face didn't look sure at all. She looked disappointed.

He rubbed her arm as they stood up. "We can get pizza another time."

"Deal. But… it's not the pizza I'm worried about."

They walked hand-in-hand through the mall, figuring out where the next clue could be.

"A place where hormonal teenagers will be," Eugene murmured looking around. "That could be anywhere."

Rapunzel squinted at something in the distance. "Or it's right there." She nodded.

Eugene turned to look and what he saw made him both laugh and shake his head in disbelief.

It was a workout studio with large glass mirrors that showed the inside of a workout class. Women were lined up within the studio, all wearing skin-tight leotards in vibrant colors. A group of young men, probably between the ages of 14 to 16, were not so subtly staring through the windows at the women working out. The boys practically had their tongues hanging out.

"No," Eugene said, looking at Rapunzel.

She laughed. "Why not? They look hormonal."

"They look more than hormonal. They look like dweebs who've never even seen a woman in person before. They're practically drooling. Look!" One of the boys actually had a little bit of spit leave his open mouth. Eugene turned to Rapunzel with smug gratification. "See?"

"So what? If the clue is in that exercise class, then we need to go in there."

"I doubt the next clue to where your parents may be located is in a 1980's mall in Cleveland, Ohio, in a jazzercise class."

She shrugged. "Well, we won't know unless we see for ourselves."

"Oh no. I am not wearing a leotard. And I am not doing jazzercise."

The moment he stepped foot into the workout studio after Rapunzel made him, he knew something was… off. He could have sworn he had already stepped foot in there.

They joined the class, despite his objections and waited for the instructor.

A middle-aged woman glanced over at him. "I'm impressed a man is doing this. I was never able to get my husband to join me."

"Neither was I," said another woman.

"Men," said one more, shaking her head.

Eugene felt all their eyes on him and he just wanted to die a little inside.

He also felt that same strange Deja-Vu, like he had already experienced all of this before.

Thankfully, the instructor entered the studio at that moment. "How is every one doing today?" she said in a cheerful voice. Her blonde hair was frizzy and pulled up into a ponytail with a scrunchie. Her face was full of makeup, which Eugene thought was strange since she was teaching a workout class. Who wears makeup to work out?

"Who's ready to tone those booties and bellies?" she asked. All the other woman in the class clapped and cheered. Even Rapunzel joined in.

God help him, Eugene thought.

"My name is Jennifer and let's get started!" Her eyes flashed to Eugene's. "And it seems we have a man joining us today. Let's give him a round of applause for being so brave to come here."

The entire class full of women turned to him and cheered him on.

He wanted to die. Eugene had never wanted to die before but in that moment, he wanted to. He wasn't even ashamed to feel that way.

Jennifer turned on the music and began to teach the class, making all the women turn back to her, which Eugene was grateful for.

Normally, he wouldn't care what Jennifer was saying about tightening the core and activating the butt but for some reason, he listened. And then she said something different.

"And remember, ladies, if you want to work out at home, I made a mean cassette tape full of my favorite songs. You can pick one up before you leave." There wasn't anything particularly astounding about what she said but it was more how she said it. Her eyes kept flicking to him and Rapunzel as she spoke.

"And if you're looking for a new cassette tape, you can always try Radio Shack."

He frowned. What was Jennifer going on about?

Rapunzel gasped beside him. He glanced at her and shrugged.

"We need to go to Radio Shack," she whispered. "I think Jennifer just gave us our next clue."

"A cassette tape?"

"Remember, the Society likes to hide clues throughout history in different medians. In Egypt, it was a book. In Greece, it was a scroll. But in the 1980s…"

"It's a cassette tape," he said slowly. "So, what are we doing here? Let's go."

"Shouldn't we finish the workout?"

"Blondie."

"Ok. Coming." They turned to leave the studio when a woman entered it with such gusto and force, Eugene had to take a step back.

The woman wasn't dressed like she was from the 1980s. She was wearing a green cloak and she had a sword at her hip. Her dark hair just barely reached her shoulders.

Rapunzel stumbled to a halt.

When the woman looked at them, Eugene knew why Rapunzel looked like she had seen a ghost.

That was because Cassandra was standing in the workout studio. The Cassandra who they thought had died. The Cassandra who hated them both.

"I'm not wasting any more time," she growled.

Her face formed a scowl as she ran for Rapunzel. In Rapunzel's shock, she wasn't moving. Eugene ran to knock Rapunzel out of the way but he was too late. Cass thrusted her sword forward and jammed it right into Rapunzel's body.

Rapunzel crumpled to the ground as blood quickly spilled out of her.

The women in the studio screamed and ran away. The only thing Eugene could do was kneel beside Rapunzel in shock. She wasn't moving. Her eyes were open and unblinking. When he pressed his fingers to her neck, he found that she had no pulse.

He whirled around towards Cass. "You killed her."

Cass was breathing heavy. For just a moment, she had a look of regret on her face before her expression went blank. "She had it coming. She needed to die. The Society was after her. They were going to kill her anyway. Maybe now I can bring them her body and get access to the Society's headquarters and bring it to the ground."

"You killed her!" he shouted, jumping up.

But he was too late.

Cass thrusted her sword right through his chest. The only thing he could do was stagger back and fall to his knees.

He watched as Cass stood over Rapunzel's body. That was the last thing he saw before he died.


His eyes flashed open and he squinted up at the mall in the afternoon sun. He stumbled back and noticed Rapunzel did the same.

They both turned to each other.

"Why does something feel…"

"Off?" she suggested.

He nodded. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

"That's because I think something is. But I can't put my finger on it."

He nodded at the mall. "Should we enter?"

"For some reason, I don't want to."

Her words sent a chill over his body. "I think we have to though."

"Why do you say that?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

"Normally, I'm the one following a gut feeling and you're trying to talk me out of it," she said.

"There's always a time for something different."

They entered the mall.

"So, the mall," he said, placing his hands on his waist. "What are we doing here exactly?"

"The scroll said the next clue could be found in a place where hormonal teenagers resided. So a mall was the first place my mind went to. You know, I've never actually been to a mall before." She bounced on her feet. It was cute. "There's so many things I want to see and do."

Then she stopped bouncing and a frown formed on her face. "Why do I feel like I've said that before?"

"And why do I feel like I've heard you say that before?"

She shook her head. "Um… we could try the foot court. I am a little hungry."

"The food court it is." He looked around as they walked towards it. "You know, this does beat having to find a minotaur in an underground cave and fight for our lives. If the next clue is in this mall, then it shouldn't be that hard to find." He shrugged. "This is going to be easy."

A teenaged girl walking with her group of friends bumped into him right at that moment and the smoothie in her hand spilled all over his white shirt.

"I spoke too soon," he muttered, then froze. Staring down at the smoothie stain on his shirt felt very real, like he had experienced it before.

And it wasn't for the first time. And it wasn't even for the second time.

The girl gasped. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." One of her friends handed her a paper napkin and she started patting his chest.

"It's ok," he said, grabbing the napkin from her. "Just watch where you're going next time."

The girl looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. "I'm Tiffany. You know, I could help you pay back the shirt. You could spend time with me and my friends." The group of them – of which there was four – were all looking at Eugene with eager expressions.

"Not gonna happen, girls," he said, making them all frown and pout. Even before he met Rapunzel, he never flirted with teenage girls. He wasn't a creep.

Rapunzel stood beside him. "He'll be fine. He's handled a lot worse than a dirty shirt."

Tiffany gave Rapunzel the stink eye before motioning for her friends to leave.

"Well, that was a fun way to start the day," Eugene muttered, taking his jacket off. He had on a simple white t-shirt underneath. "Great. It looks like Pepto Bismol threw up on my shirt."

She frowned. "Have you made that joke before?"

He looked at her. "Have I?"

She glanced around the mall, like she was searching for something before she shook her head. "Come on. Let's go buy you a new one," she said, nodding at his shirt. After linking her arm through his, they walked away from the food court and headed towards the clothing stores.

They were almost at a men's clothing store when two men in the walkway ran right into Rapunzel. She would have fallen to the ground if not for Eugene catching her.

"Fast reflexes," she said in a breathless voice.

He smiled before frowning. "I… just saw that you were about to fall." He helped her stand upright.

The men were fighting with each other and didn't even see that they had almost made Rapunzel fall over.

"Hey!" Eugene shouted at them. "Watch where you're going."

The two men continued to punch each other and grapple with one another.

Except, one of them looked over at Eugene. "Mind your own fucking business."

Eugene stumbled back. That man had never said that to him before. He was sure of it. The Deja-vu feeling he had been having was no longer. For some reason, that freaked him out even more.

The two men started fighting each other again. A security guard came running over and broke up the fight.

"You'll pay for kissing my girlfriend, asshole!" one of the guys shouted as he was carted away by the security guard.

The other man shook his head and rubbed his bleeding lip. "You're the asshole, asshole."

People steered clear as he walked in the opposite direction.

Rapunzel's eyes were wide. "Is the mall normally like this? Because if so, it's…" she trailed off.

"It's what?" he asked.

"I was going to say 'thrilling' but for some reason, I didn't want to."

"Why not?"

"It just feels like I've said it before."

He put his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go get that new shirt."

They headed into the store and Eugene found another white t-shirt, bought it, then went to the changing room to slip it on. There was a crack in the mirror of the changing room. They really needed to fix that.

He tripped over the bench in the changing room and slammed against the wall.

"Watch it," another man growled from the other changing room.

Eugene ignored him as he looked at the crack in the mirror. He had seen it before. He was sure of it.

After a moment of composing himself, he joined Rapunzel and they left the store. "So, what now? Still want that snack?"

"I… don't really feel like food for some reason."

"So, where do you want to go?"

"Wherever hormonal teenagers will be," she said.

He spread out his arms to encompass the mall. "Take your pick."

Rapunzel squinted at something in the distance. "Maybe that's it." She nodded.

Eugene turned to look and what he saw made him both laugh and shake his head in disbelief.

It was a workout studio with large glass mirrors that showed the inside of a workout class. Women were lined up within the studio, all wearing skin-tight leotards in vibrant colors. A group of young men, probably between the ages of 14 to 16, were not so subtly staring through the windows at the women working out. The boys practically had their tongues hanging out.

"No," Eugene said, looking at Rapunzel.

She laughed. "Why not? They look hormonal."

"They look more than hormonal. They look like dweebs who've never even seen a woman in person before. They're practically-," he stopped.

"What?"

"I was going to say drooling but… I don't know. I just didn't feel like saying it again."

She placed her hand on his arm. "It's ok. Let's just try the class out. If the clue is in there, we need to be there for it."

"I doubt the next clue to where your parents may be located is in a 1980's mall in Cleveland, Ohio, in a jazzercise class."

She shrugged. "Well, we won't know unless we see for ourselves."

"Oh no. I am not wearing a leotard. And I am not doing jazzercise."

The moment he stepped foot into the workout studio after Rapunzel made him, he knew something was… off. He could have sworn he had already stepped foot in there.

And not just one time before either.

They joined the class, despite his objections and waited for the instructor.

A middle-aged woman glanced over at him. "I'm impressed a man is doing this."

Before she could finish speaking, Eugene spoke for her. "I know. You were never able to get your husband to join you."

Both Rapunzel and the woman looked at him. Rapunzel with concern and the woman with distrust,

"Why would you say that?" the woman asked before turning away.

Why would he say that? He honestly had no idea why that had come to him.

Thankfully, the instructor entered the studio at that moment. "How is everyone doing today?" she said in a cheerful voice. Her blonde hair was frizzy and pulled up into a ponytail with a scrunchie. Her face was full of makeup, which Eugene thought was strange since she was teaching a workout class. Who wears makeup to work out?

"Who's ready to tone those booties and bellies?" she asked. All the other woman in the class clapped and cheered. Even Rapunzel joined in.

God help him, Eugene thought.

"My name is Jennifer and let's get started!" Her eyes flashed to Eugene's. "And it seems we have a man joining us today. Let's give him a round of applause for being so brave to come here."

Instead of cheering him on, the women looked at him like he was a creep. That felt different.

He wanted to die. Eugene had never wanted to die before but in that moment, he wanted to. He wasn't even ashamed to feel that way.

Jennifer turned on the music and began to teach the class, making all the women turn back to her, which Eugene was grateful for.

Normally, he wouldn't care what Jennifer was saying about tightening the core and activating the butt but for some reason, he listened. And then she said something that really made him listen.

"And remember, ladies, if you want to work out at home, I made a mean cassette tape full of my favorite songs. You can pick one up before you leave." There wasn't anything particularly astounding about what she said but it was more how she said it. Her eyes kept flicking to him and Rapunzel as she spoke.

"And if you're looking for a new cassette tape, you can always try Radio Shack."

He frowned. What was Jennifer going on about?

Rapunzel gasped beside him. He glanced at her and shrugged.

"We need to go to Radio Shack," she whispered. "I think Jennifer just gave us our next clue."

"A cassette tape?"

"Remember, the Society likes to hide clues throughout history in different medians. In Egypt, it was a book. In Greece, it was a scroll. But in the 1980s…"

"It's a cassette tape," he said slowly. "So, what are we doing here? Let's go."

"Shouldn't we finish the workout?"

"Blondie."

"Ok. Coming."

"Leaving so soon?" Jennifer asked, making them both stop.

"Jazzercise," Eugene said, shrugging. "Not for us."

Jennifer eyed them both over. "Well, just a reminder on your way to Radio Shack. Be careful." Then she turned back to the class and got back to talking about booties and abs.

"What the hell was that about?" he whispered.

"I have no idea but I think we need to talk to Jennifer. She knows something. The scroll lead us to this place."

"Well, shouldn't we try Radio Shack first?"

"Good idea."

They changed out of their leotards and back into their normal clothing and hurried away from the workout studio.

Eugene saw Radio Shack just up ahead when a woman stepped into their path. "Uh, excuse us," he said, not really looking at her.

That was, until she spoke. "I'm not wasting anymore time."

Eugene looked at the woman and gasped. It was Cassandra. The Cassandra who they thought had died. The Cassandra who hated them both.

Her face formed a scowl as she ran for Rapunzel. In Rapunzel's shock, she wasn't moving. Eugene ran to knock Rapunzel out of the way but he was too late. Cass thrusted her sword forward and jammed it right into Rapunzel's body.

Rapunzel crumpled to the ground as blood quickly spilled out of her.

The people walking by screamed and ran away. The only thing Eugene could do was kneel beside Rapunzel in shock. She wasn't moving. Her eyes were open and unblinking. When he pressed his fingers to her neck, he found that she had no pulse.

He whirled around towards Cass. "You killed her."

Cass was breathing heavy. For just a moment, she had a look of regret on her face before her expression went blank. "She had it coming. She needed to die. The Society was after her. They were going to kill her anyway. Maybe now I can bring them her body and get access to the Society's headquarters and bring it to the ground."

"You killed her!" he shouted, jumping up.

But he was too late.

Cass thrusted her sword right through his chest. The only thing he could do was stagger back and fall to his knees.

He watched as Cass stood over Rapunzel's body. That was the last thing he saw before he died.


This time, he gasped when his eyes flew open.

He was standing outside the mall again in 1986, wearing his denim jacket and jeans.

But how did he keep ending up here?

He and Rapunzel turned to each other.

"I think we're in a time loop," they both said in unison.


Until Wednesday!