A/N: Sorry this took longer than usual! But here ya go, and I hope you guys like it! Reviews spur me on and make me update a little faster so don't hesitate to leave me one. I'm open to constructive criticism!

Chapter 3

The horse's knees buckled suddenly and Eugene found himself falling off, rather ungracefully, onto the dry, unforgiving ground. Furious, he looked back up at the horse but he saw the anguish painted on the old horse's face. The anger melted away and Eugene let out an empathetic sigh. He got up on his feet and stroked the horse in an effort to be comforting.

"You're in pain, aren't you?" Eugene said sympathetically. "I don't get why the thugs let you come out like this. Were you their only horse?"

No response.

Eugene felt stupid for talking to animal who couldn't even understand English. Then again, Pascal and Maximus seemed perfectly capable. Maybe they were the smarter kind.

The old horse, or Bruce for short, sat down clumsily and brayed painfully.

"You're hungry aren't you?" Still no reply but Eugene took this as a yes. He retrieved two apples from his satchel which he had found on the forest floor. They were heavily bruised but Bruce didn't seem to mind.

Eugene sighed and began to eat for himself. He knew he shouldn't rest for too long as no doubt will Gothel be hurrying to take Rapunzel somewhere secluded and harshly unknown.

Rapunzel.

Her gorgeous blonde locks, those shiny emerald eyes, those cute freckles that adorned her sweet little nose...Eugene hungered to catch a glimpse of her face again. He hungered to stroke and run his hands through the silky, magical hair. He missed her greatly and he hoped she felt the same about him; otherwise, this whole solo expedition of his would be worthless. He would just go up to her and she would turn him away. He tried not to imagine how that would feel.

Eugene felt a tickle against his legs. He looked down to see what was causing the sensation.

"Pascal!" He cried, never before been so happy to see the slimy green chameleon. "What're you doing here? Where's Rapunzel? Is she nearby?"

Much to his despair, Pascal shook his head and turned a miserable blue colour.

"What happened?"

Pascal began to mime out the events that were taken place until this very day. Unfortunately, Eugene was finding it difficult to understand the animal.

"Uh... Rapunzel was...strangled? Oh. No? Erm... Gothel gave her a watermelon? What? Oh right, you didn't mean that... look. This is not gonna work, you're making no sense!" Eugene exclaimed, putting his hands up in defeat. Pascal let out a squeak which was probably his idea of an exasperated sigh. Thus, Eugene began to explain the events that led up to that moment in time and Pascal understood. Speech was more effective than sign language.

"D'you want to come with us?" Eugene asked him. Pascal shrugged, meaning he wouldn't mind either way. Though, Eugene knew he probably did and just did that to make it like he didn't like him. So Eugene scooped him up with his hand and placed him on Bruce's head. Bruce didn't notice.

"C'mon, Brucey! Get up! You've had your rest; it's time to get moving!" Eugene's efforts to make Bruce rides were failing. Pascal chuckled at Eugene's attempts. Eugene glared.

And then a knife flew at Eugene's head.

"Sleep now Rapunzel, we're almost there..." Gothel whispered gently to her 'daughter.' Rapunzel stirred but went back to sleep.

Gothel hurried into the streets of Yegrac which were quiet and dirty. There was a thin fog in the air and rumour was that it never disappeared. She scuttled towards the apothecary where she was good friends with the owner of the shop who was surviving by simply drinking a youth potion. It wasn't as effective as Rapunzel's hair.

Speaking of Rapunzel...

"Mmmmm... what?" she murmured as she stretched. It seemed like Gothel had managed to make her stay asleep for a prolonged period of time. She looked around frantically. She was on the same cart and was in the middle of an unfamiliar forest.

"Pascal?" she called out for her chameleon. She got no reply. She got off the cart and knew she was alone. Where was Gothel? Where was she? Rapunzel hazarded a guess that she and Gothel were in the middle of their journey to their new home. And if this was the case, she was not going.

There was a distinct chill in the air. Rapunzel wrapped her arms around herself to conserve some of her body heat. She walked slowly and cautiously among the tall trees whose summits were too high to see. Her naked feet crunched over the spiky twigs on the ground which made her think that she should've let Eugene buy those shoes for while they were at the capital.

Eugene.

Rapunzel missed him horribly and she felt a pang of heartbreak when she remembered their awful farewell merely a week ago. She wondered where he was now. Probably on his island, rolling about in his money, she guessed. Well, Flynn was anyway; Eugene seemed to be long gone. Another breeze attacked the uncovered skin of Rapunzel's neck and wrists and she shivered, not liking the feeling.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps.

Eyes wide and alert she looked from left to right in search of the person or animal nearby.

"Eugene?" she called out, without realising. And then, someone grabbed her from the waist and held her strong and she struggled.

"The girl with the magic hair..." he breathed into her ear. Her nose scrunched up distastefully as she smelt their breath. It was disgusting.

"Let me go!"

"But what if I want to stay young and healthy forever?"

Her heart stopped.

They knew.

She struggled more.

He held harder.

"You're not getting away so easily, darling." Rapunzel shivered again but not because of the cold. She felt her feet grazing along the ground as she was dragged away to who-knows-where.

"EUGENE!"

"You total bastard!" Eugene roared. A knife was brandished in his hand and his expression was terrifyingly pissed off. His breath were deep and hard and his stance and demeanour gave off the impression that he was about to explode. Gregory Stabbington cowered against the tree, extremely glad his brother was not here to see the state he was in. Being completely chicken and not even fighting back to someone who was shorter and had far less muscle.

"It was meant to hit you on the head!" Gregory said as if that would solve matters.

"That's even worse! How dare you attack your ex-partner in crime? You almost bloody well killed me! And now look what you did!" Eugene pointed to the top of his head.

Pascal, who was quite a distance away and had changed to a more appropriate hue of green, chuckled slightly at Eugene's new hair.

The middle of Eugene's head had been cut right off by the blade of the knife. The hair on the sides of his head remained intact but they made his almost-bald-streak-of-stubble look much worse. It was like the opposite of a Mohawk.

It looked completely daft and hilarious but Eugene nor was Gregory seeing the funny side.

"You will pay."

"For a new wig?"

"Don't make this a joke! Your end has come very much nearer." Gregory, who finally decided to grasp the last little bit of manhood he had left, straightened up and towered over the changed thief.

"You total git! It's not like you've been a goody-two-shoes; you ran off with the crown and sold it to buy some stupid island! You promised to give me and Tobias some of the share! And now you come back and threaten to murder me. I have you know I could break your neck with a little flick."

"Well, that's life isn't it? Brains beat brawn, every single time."

"Oh? Let's test that theory." Gregory said huskily, walking slowly towards Eugene who took a few steps back. One thing he promised himself when he had struck a deal with the Stabbington brothers was to never get in a fight with them.

Look how that turned out.

Thankfully, Pascal came to the rescue and bit Gregory's foot which stalled him a bit as he cried out in pain. In a few seconds flat, Eugene grabbed his bag, snatched Pascal and jumped onto Bruce. Bruce seemed to know when he was truly needed and ran off as soon as Eugene's backside made contact with his back. They ran off into the woods determined to get away from Gregory and towards Yegrac.