Sorry it took so long. I've been busy and was on vacation and set up a new story (Bambi)...I can just repeat it: I'M SORRY!

„It's been a long time, Rider," said one of the red-headed brothers maliciously as he looked into Rapunzel's and Eugene's scared faces. Eugene tried to shove Rapunzel behind him so he could protect her better, but she refused to move.

The four of them were all alone. The streets of Corona were so far away that no one would hear them if they called for help. And the cemetery that surrounded them didn't help to make the situation less tensed.

Rapunzel was afraid and angry at the same time. How could those ruffians even dare to destroy another emotional moment! While she and Eugene were on their way back to the kingdom after Gothel's death, he had told her about how they had framed him. She would never ever forgive them for what they had done to him. "What do you want from us?" she asked.

"Revenge," the brothers answered . Really, one of them added, though, as the other one never seemed to talk. "Revenge on Rider."

Eugene clenched his fists. He knew it wasn't the right moment, but why did they call him Rider? Everyone knew his name was Fitzherbert, for heaven's sake!

But there was something else that disturbed him. "Why to you seek revenge?" he hissed with an angry expression on his face. "I already lost my life because you framed me! What else do you want? Leave us alone!" All he wanted was a long, peaceful life with Rapunzel; what was so hard to understand about that?

"All this is your fault! If you hadn't let us down, none of this would have happened! All of us would be rich now!" they answered immediately. Eugene couldn't believe what he had heard.

"If you would have taken the crown when I gave it to you, you would be rich men and Rapunzel and I could live a peaceful life. But no, you had to trick me and threaten my fiancee's life," he said with increasing anger. It was their fault, not his.

The Stabbingtons grinned evilly. "Nice you mention it again. We still want her hair-"

"Which isn't magical anymore," Eugene and Rapunzel interrupted them at the same time. They had expected their enemies would say that, even though anyone could see that Rapunzel's hair had changed a lot.

"You're lying."

"No. Gothel surely told you that her blonde hair mustn't be cut. Well, I cut it the very next day after you tricked me. You are too late. There's nothing you can get here, so get lost." Eugene crossed his arms, tilted his head and looked at his enemies with a smug grin. He didn't show that he was just as afraid as Rapunzel.

But the blank faces of their enemies told them that they clearly didn't intend to leave. They had risked too much to get to this point. Eugene's heart sank like a stone. Rapunzel looked at him and raised an eyebrow. ´Did you really think that would work?, she seemed to ask silently.

Eugene answered her silent question with a shrug.

He sighed in despair. "So what do you want? Her hair isn't magical andyou've had your revenge. And that aside…isn't it kinda the wrong place for an argument? This is a cemetery, after all." Maybe he would be able to convince them. But again, the Stabbingtons were stubborn.

"We don't care."

"I thought not," Eugene remarked dryly.

"And to answer your question," the talkative brother began, "She's much more than just a girl with magical hair…She's the princess." Greedily, the criminals stared at Rapunzel's crown.

Rapunzel swallowed nervously. In this moment, she really wished to be the peasant girl that she used to be before Eugene entered her life. Princesses seemingly had nothing but problems.

"And how does that help you?" she asked. She knew the answer, but she didn't want to believe this was really happening to her.

"Because we will get ransom money for you, princess."

"Over my dead body!" Now, Eugene placed himself before Rapunzel and didn't let her step beside him. Suddenly, his glance was murderous, his muscles tensed, his eyes narrowed. Those guys would never get Rapunzel. To do that, they would have to kill him first. He wasn't as afraid of dying as most people were. He had been dead once, after all.

"Don't you dare lay one finger on her, or else I will tear you into pieces!" he growled. His mind was searching desperately for a way to get out of this. But it was Rapunzel who had the idea that helped them. But before she could do anything, the Stabbington brothers clearly showed that they'd had enough.

"Over your dead body? That's possible."

They raised their swords, ready to finish him off. It seemed as if they wanted to get rid of him, first.

"I know what I do! Guards!" Rapunzel suddenly cried at the top of her lungs. Of course, no guard was to be seen anywhere around. Eugene promised himself to fire those amateurs as soon as Rapunzel was queen.

But the Stabbingtons had no idea that Rapunzel was using a simple trick to get away. Frantically, they looked around. Rapunzel grabbed Eugene's arm and dragged him away. He was surprised, but followed her.

She headed to a little chapel which stood near the edge of the cemetery. Eugene understood and ran faster, their hearts were racing. They ran around the building and pressed themselves against the cool wall.

"What should we do now?" Rapunzel whispered. Eugene shrugged and listened to the sound of loud steps which the brothers caused. Of course the brothers had already noticed that they had tricked them.

"We have to get away from here!" Rapunzel said urgently. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if they got caught.

Eugene nodded. "I know," he whispered, still listening to the steps of their pursuers . It didn't sound as if they were anywhere close, but that could change quickly. "But how can we get away without being seen? They're closer to the gate than we are."

Rapunzel looked around the corner for a second. Eugene was right, his hearing hadn't tricked him. If they left their hiding spot now, they would be doomed.

"Rider, Princess, come out! You don't have a chance, anyway!"

Eugene frantically looked around, even dared to sneak around the corner of the chapel. The walls around the cemetery were too high to climb over or even try to do so.

He knew there was only one possibility. And Rapunzel knew so, too. He went back to her and - at the same time - they looked into each others faces and said: "I'll distract them." Both of their serious expressions turned into surprise.

If the situation wasn't that dangerous, they would have laughed. But then they simply stared at each other, torn between determination and pleading.

"Eugene, you can't do that! I don't wanna lose you again!" Rapunzel badly wanted to be safely at home, but she would gladly risk her freedom to save Eugene's life. She hated being locked in, but she preferred that to a dead Eugene. "They would kill you, but not me."

Eugene tried to smile confidently. "I won't die because they won't get close enough to me. I'm faster than them, believe me. Think about your parents. They waited eighteen lonely years for you. I don't want them to suffer more."

Rapunzel looked at him with sadness evident in her eyes. She didn't hadn't even thought about them in the whole chaos. Her poor parents…they loved her so much. She didn't want them to suffer more, either. But on the other hand, she would endanger Eugene, whom she didn't want to lose…

Eugene noticed that she had no idea what to do. He looked at her with a sympathetic glance, but suddenly his head snapped up. The Stabbington brothers came closer. He put his hands on Rapunzel's shoulders and placed a kiss on her forehead. She looked at him.

"They're coming closer. I'll distract them and you run away. Get the guards, Max, somebody. I'll come after you as soon as I can. Don't worry."

Rapunzel grabbed his arm. "Please don't do that. I'll do it."

Eugene shook his head. "No. You saved my life, now I'll save yours. Wait until they focus on me, and then run."He wanted to get up, but she refused to let go of his arm. Gently, he loosened her grab, held her hand for a moment, and ran away before Rapunzel could do anything about it.

"Eugene," she whispered. Why did he have to get his way again? Firstly in the tower, now here. If they got out of this alive, she would have to talk with him about this attitude.

Full of fear, she watched Eugene running away. The Stabbington brothers soon took notice of his attempt to flee. The drew out their swords and pursued him, just as he had planned.

Rapunzel didn't hesitate too long. She picked up her skirts and started running as fast as she could. Every once in a while, she turned back to make sure Eugene was okay and no one was following her.

Without getting noticed by the Stabbington Brothers, she reached the gate and was soon on the outside of the cemetery. Leaning against the stone wall, she let out the air she'd been holding the whole time. But when she peeked around the corner to see if Eugene was fine, she gasped in horror.

Eugene had been wrong. The brothers had been fast enough to catch up with him. Rapunzel had no idea how they had managed to do so, but she had no time to ponder about that. Torn inwardly, she stood there by the gate, biting her lip. There had to be something she could do! Eugene would die if she didn't help him! But how?

One of the brothers pressed Eugene to the ground with his face down, the other one stood up and looked around. Eugene turned his head to the side to be able to breathe.

The standing one sheathed his sword and pulled a small knife out of his pocket. "You have the choice, princess," he shouted so she could hear him perfectly clear. "Either you come here and your beloved thief will survive this, or you simply run away." He smiled evilly. "In this case, Rider will die."

"Fitzherbert," Eugene mumbled. But then, he got back to what was really important. "Rapunzel, don't! Run away!" he cried as loud as he could. But that wasn't really loud since he could hardly breathe. Rapunzel could hear him, though.

Of course, Rapunzel didn't do what he said. Without hesitating, she went back to the three lonely figures. It was the only thing she could do. But the closer she came, the heavier her feet seemed to get. Eugene's desperate, pleading eyes were more than she could bear. But after he got his way of saving her in the tower, it was her turn now.

The Stabbingtons brothers grinned triumphantly. Sideburns handed Eye-patch the knife and walked over to Rapunzel. She didn't protest when he roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her with him. She was too afraid they would hurt Eugene if she did.

Eye-patch stood up and violently forced Eugene to do so, too, holding the former thief's hands behind his back. But before Eugene could even dare to move, he felt the cold metal of the knife near his throat. Rapunzel gasped.

"But you said you wouldn't kill him," she exclaimed. Eugene rolled his eyes.

"Darling, these two are criminals. Criminals don't play fair."

Rapunzel lowered her head. She should have known that. But she had no intention to give up. There had to be a way to avoid anyone's death.

"Well, I suppose we should first get rid of this witness," Sideburns said and nodded in Eyepatch's directions. Rapunzel thought quickly.

"No! He is my fiancé, my parents would pay ransom for him, too," she cried without thinking about the consequences. Pure despair urged her to act like that. But it worked. Eye-patch loosened his grip around the knife a little and looked at his brother, who in turn looked at Rapunzel.

"She's right. If he is allowed to marry her, her family must have accepted him as a family member. You seem to be lucky, Rider."

Eugene gave Rapunzel a glance that was thankful and desperate at the same time. He was more than thankful that she had saved his life –again!- but she would ruin the whole kingdom just because of him.

Eye-patch lowered the knife. That was the moment Rapunzel had waited for. She raised one of her feet, on which she, as always, wore high heels, and stomped on the foot of her enemy as hard as she could. Sideburns was so surprised and in pain for a moment that he let go of Rapunzel's arm. Eugene had watched her and did the same. Together, the two of them ran away.

But they didn't get to run far away. The Stabbington brothers recovered quickly and followed their ´prey`. Eugene noticed they would catch up to them soon and decided to get in their way so Rapunzel could flee.

But sadly, his chances hadn't increased since their last fight. It didn't take them long to knock Eugene down, no matter how much he tried to beat them. Rapunzel froze in shock when she saw Eugene lying on the ground, motionlessly. Had they killed him?

Their two enemies used the time in which she was frozen to ran over to her and grab her arms. Their grip was so firm that Rapunzel let out a pained scream. But her whole attention was focused on Eugene. They just let him lay there. Did that mean he was really dead?

Just moments later, everything went black.