He paced from one end of his little cell to the other, hair dishelved, sure not much good for famous Flynn Rider, letting his mind to wonder from one point to another.

The great clock chimed five- only an hour to sunrise.

The last sunrise, probably he wouldn't live to see another morning.

But one thing Flynn wanted to ask himself- was he really afraid?

Looking into the depth of his mind, he really never wanted to admit the fear. Flynn Rider shouldn't be afraid. It wasn't that he escaped death so many times- in the pub, in the cave. Looking into his past his struggle with death began since was born, his mother disposed him in a trash can to get rid of the illegal child, when he was only four, the starving orphan, only in bones & skin, basking under the hot sun, begging for a loaf of bread. He was almost dead from weeks of starvation until the kind mistress from Corona orphanage found him & took him in. Then when he was almost beaten to death by angry crowd at the age of eleven for stealing an apple. Sure it was a tiny crime, almost ignorable yet his life started here. From that day the old, frightened Eugene died & Flynn Rider was born.

Death was his old friend, he couldn't ignore him.

At last he decided to gaze up at the starry sky, next to the tiny window of the castle where the candle was still burning.

Rapunzel!

He couldn't ignore she changed his world in a single day. She showed him the other side of the moon, pulling back the one Eugene Fitzherbert from his endless slumber, she let him to be h loved, made him to feel someone worthy in the face of the earth.

But what he had done to her?

He led her to the dangerous paths, throwing her to the cruel reality, made her a wanted criminal, took her home. Yes, when he couldn't give her a true home then he had no right to take the false one from her. But he did. He failed her; he led her to the doom.

The more he thought the uncomfortable movements in his stomach leading the dinner right upto his thoat as much he tried to swallow it. He was afraid. Not the death but the guilt, the fear of leaving the world as hated Flynn Rider. He was afraid of losing her, drowned in guilt.

At last Flynn sank into the cold ground, hiding his face behind his hand. Warm tears found their way to the cold floor between his fingers. But what could these tears do? There was no one to hear him.

Yet he wanted a chance, not a life only few hours. He wanted to walk back to the royalty, tell the truth about the girl. He wanted to throw away the blindfold they were wearing, show them the light. But it wasn't possible anymore, he knew. He had to die, Rapunzel had to leave this kingdom, spend rest of her life as captive to a half insane woman. Fate had decided for them.

Anger coursed through his vein- why fate was always so unkind to him, to her? When two unlucky people wanted to be together then the whole world was determined to pull them away. Flynn stared down to his white sleeve, half torn turning at the verge of grey.

The grey light began forming a square share upon the wall. A song was playing in his brain repeatedly.

"Are you, are you

Coming to the tree

Where they strung up a man they say murdered three.

Strange things did happen here

No stranger would it be

If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."

No, he couldn't let this happen. He had to try before his final moment come. When no one going to listen to his voice then he would tell them in another language.

A drawing.

He grabbed the torn corner of the sleeve & pulled to, so that the piece of cloth separated from it's remnant to the shirt. But what about the paint?

His eyes caught a small piece of stone lying at his feet. He bent and his fingers curled around the sharp tapered end of the tiny stone. Lines off pain riddled his handsome face as the stone dipped into his tanned skin.

Flynn sealed his lips from letting the scream to escape. He had to hurry. The grey light was turning into white. He had not much time to waste.

He stared at the small pool of blood forming upon his waist. With a sudden burst of emotion, Flynn scurried over to the rug on the floor, dipping his trembling fingers into the bloody pool. He let out every single emotion he had in that very moment. Sure he wasn't much of an artist yet he had much faith upon himself. He won first prize in a painting contest in the orphanage, sure talents hadn't dried in these few years. He painted in a way that he had never painted before, channeling his focus into the bold strokes & lines. In the painting he let loose the feelings of anger at the unfairness of Rapunzel's banishment; her true identity; the unexpressed anger to the blindfolded royalties…

Just the moment the rhythmic steps of the booted feet stopped near his cell, the prison door was opened with a metallic rattle.

"Let's get it over with, Rider." The captain's voice echoed.

()()()

She was standing before the giant mirror on the wall, the grey light of the dawn casted a mystic pattern upon her tiny face, the rosy cheeks, the sunny hair. Her green eyes were staring at the girl staring back at her from the mirror- red rimmed her giant orbs accompanied the bags under her eyes, the dried tears painted her puffy cheeks.

Who was she? She wondered.

"You are Rapunzel!" a deep manly voice spoke. Startled, she turned her eyes back to the reflection upon the mirror.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel whispered.

The young man reached for her, hugging her tight. He moved her hair to one shoulder. She freeze. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What for?" She reached for him. But Eugene only smirked sadly "Possibly you don't need to know."

She tilted her head to gaze into his gorgeous amber eyes, he reached for her lips until she felt a sensation she had almost forgotten, warm and impossibly light. She didn't know she was holding her breath, but at his touch she let it out.

She closed her eyes and told herself this wasn't not happening. It was just a dream. She opened her eyes and Eugene's head rested on her shoulder.

In the mirror, they looked like a happy couple. But they weren't, if they tried, they weren't.

Rapunzel tilted her head to look in his eyes again.

But he was gone. He was never there, never was.

"No," She choked out. The emptiness was unbearable. She looked at the mirror; they were happy couple once again.

It was too much. She couldn't process it. She threw the hair brush and aimed it to the mirror. It shuttered into pieces.

"Flower!" Gothel rushed near the fallen girl, cradled her crying face in her palms.

'It's alright, mother." Rapunzel breathed, her one hand was curled around the broken mirror shred. The jagged edge dug deep into her smooth palms and let the blood flow. Before Gothel could notice the cut, she quickly wrapped the purple flag of Corona around the gash.

The guards were knocking the door. Gothel walked to open it. Rapunzel knew it was time.

The grey sky began turning into white. They had to leave. Mother had wrapped a cloak around her; the hood was weighting her long hair. The two women followed the guard silently out of the castle.

For once more Rapunzel glanced at the castle over her shoulder, letting a sigh to escape. There she was leaving her everything, her love.

'I know how you feel, flower." Gothel weighted her daughter on her shoulder, helping her to walk. Two of them crossed the town square. Rapunzel remained silent. Warm tears found their ways along her cheeks.

And suddenly she stopped.

"Flower, what happened?" Gothel walked near Rapunzel, hugging her close.

Her daughter stood there silent, unmoving, her eyes were still fixed upon the broken shred.

"Rapunzel!" Now Gothel was annoyed literally. She stepped beside Rapunzel & pressed her shoulder, making her to look into her eyes "We've a long way to go."

'Where we'll go?" Rapunzel spoke, her eyes peering through the faint morning light. Gothel gasped at the unnatural look in her emerald orbs.

"What?" her voice trembled.
"Why should I leave my home?" Rapunzel whispered. The mirror shred was reflecting the picture of the baby princess, engraved behind her.

()()()()

Walking down the long corridor, leading to the public square, the Queen tried avoiding the room. The door was now wide open, only to declare the endless emptiness inside. Taking a deep breath, she tried to hold back the sigh from escape.

"They are gone, Anne." The queen startled with a gentle pressure on her shoulder.

"I know." She whispered, wiping the tear at the corner of her sleeve. As the old king gazed down to his middle aged wife, the shining tear at the corner of her emerald orbs couldn't escape his keen royal eyes. The dark lines underlined her beautiful face; she was hardly the graceful queen a few days ago.

"I know how you feel." The king lowered his head, heavy with guilt "But Lady Gothel's evidences were more reasonable than our claim."

A pair of soft hands traced the king's grieving face, wiping away the single tear glittering at the corner of his wrinkled eyes. "I know you are a man of law, Rupert." The queen whispered. The king raised his guilty eyes so that his blue orbs met her green. They knew their hearts. But laws always ruled over human emotion.

A drum was rolling outside.

It was time.

The royal couple walked out of the shadows to take their places in their thrones. It waslike all the other times -villagers lined the curb, all wrapped in shawls and cloaks for protection against cold morning air, eagerly waiting for the condemned criminal to come. Queen Anne glanced over her shoulder, her husband was wearing a casual look, but it was always hard for her to attend all these things especially when it involved- Flynn Rider.

The crowd cheered as the prisoner was brought into the clearing, the guards seemed indifferent as they shoved him through the door, so hard he stumbled forward, even not swan any ability to resist, his bleeding hand painted his path. The cheering of the crowd went wild as Flynn Rider stepped into the clearing. His arms were bound into a painful position behind his back, his feet were bare, and Queen Anne's eyes caught his face for once- that young man looked anxious.

And their eyes met.

In a blink of an eye the prisoner stirred. He shoved two guards holding him to the ground, eyes wild with desperation, rushed to the stage where the royal couple were seated. A wild cry rose behind him. The guards formed a circle around the royal couple to protect them.

"Stay put, Anne." The king whispered. Rider began shoving people, surprisingly managed to get his arms in front, trying to say something. "Arrest him." The captain yelled with desperation, the guards moved with the fear of losing Rider from their fingers again.

Rider wasn't lucky this time. He wasn't much fast with his shackled legs, as the guards caught again, began dragging him towards the gallows.

"Your majesty!" He screamed.

The queen tried to concentrate upon the prisoner's face; he wanted to say something but from the wild cry of the crowd merged with his mutterings. She hadn't interacted with him much, but from all she heard from Rapunzel about him, she couldn't really picture him as the wanted criminal who fooled the guards all those years. She had never bothered to talk with him in the darkness of the prison but under the sun suddenly she began to feel an urge to listen to him

"Rupert!" The queen clutched the king's arms, "I think Rider wants to say something to us."

The king turned his eyes to see his wife; she hadn't grown up all those years. "We're not allowed to talk with the condemned prisoner, Anne." He patted her arm gently.

The queen sighed turning her eyes towards the unlucky prisoner, now taken by the guards. His sad eyes locked into hers once again. They weren't sad but full of anger.

The queen cringed at his look. Why that Rider hated her so much?

A blast of blew, carrying a small white rug, settling at her feet. She glanced at her husband who sank into the throne, exchanging some words with the captain about the execution. Shakily she picked up the rug.

The prisoner was leading to the gallows. The crowd was wild with excitement about the death of Flynn Rider. The coroner checked his watch- three minutes to go.

And she had three minutes to open the rug letter. Her shaky finger unfolded the small rug.

A face, painted with dried blood was looking back to her.

The banished girl in the crown.

And she was strangely identical to the lost princess.

REVIEWS? FAVORITES? FOLLOWS?

I'm not particularly happy with this chapter. It's written in a hurry, so it feels choppy. What do you think?

The song "The hanging tree" is from Suzanne Collins' "Mockingjay" the last book of "Hunger games" trilogy. I'm currently obsessed with the series, even writing fanfics on it. If you're a fan of "The Hunger games" then check out my story for it "Becoming Mockingjay". You'll not be disappointed.

Now REVIEW if you want to get the update.