Child of the Moon.

~Chapter Seventeen~

Eugene raced through Xavier's sanctuary, nearly running over several men and women.

"Rapunzel!" he called desperately. "Blondie, where are you?!"

Eugene suddenly ran straight into Xavier. He fell backwards, but the blacksmith remained upright. He leaned down and offered the former thief a hand.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Xavier asked.

"I need to find Rapunzel!" Eugene replied hastily, starting to run off again. "It's Hector! He's left!"

"The princess just went to my workshop not five minutes ago."

Eugene thanked the blacksmith before sprinting back to the workshop he'd just left. He ripped open the door and found Rapunzel wearing thick gloves and hammering what looked to be a frying pan.

Eugene ran over and grabbed her by the shoulders, startling her and making her drop the hot frying pan. The former thief narrowly missed the searing metal.

"Blondie!" Eugene began urgently. "We have to gather everyone up and leave now!"

"Why?! Eugene, what's wrong?!"

"It's Hector! He didn't know about what happened to Quirin. He's the angriest I've seen him since the Great Tree! I mean, the guy threw a knife at my head!"

"Where is he?!"

"That's just it! He left! He left to go 'save' Varian! We have to go rescue him; he's going to get himself killed!"

"Eugene..." - Rapunzel turned away from him and hesitated a moment before continuing. - "I'll go. And I mean alone."

"What?! No!"

Eugene gripped his girlfriend's shoulders. She tried to pull away from him, but he kept a firm hold on her.

"Blondie, you can't do this alone!" Eugene insisted. "Hector's a millennia old warrior, and I'd wager even he can't hold them all off, especially with Varian's alchemy and your parents being brainwashed. They could send the whole army of Corona on him! You can't take them by yourself! We'll get Xavier and everyone else here to help. There must be at least fifty people down here! With the right strategy we could-"

"No, Eugene! I have to go alone! Varian wants an army, he wants an enemy! We can't save him if he thinks we're the bad guys! He's angry with me. I am the one who betrayed him, so I am the one he needs to talk to. Me and me alone. This is my mess to clean up. I can't risk the rest of you!"

"Rapunzel, please! Just let me help you! We can do this together. Just, please, let me go talk to Xavier and see what kind of backup we can get. Please."

The princess hesitated, her eyes on the ground, but she finally forced a smile on her face and told Eugene to go get the others. He sighed in relief and kissed Rapunzel affectionately before releasing her. He once again started to run through the halls of the sanctuary. Rapunzel watched him go and waited until he was long gone before dropping her painful smile.

She looked down at the frying pan she had been working on. It was just about finished and would be perfectly functional. The princess picked the frying pan up and carried it over to a table where several cups and tubes of paint were stored. She took a medium sized paintbrush in her hand and dipped it in a brilliant yellow paint. She quickly but carefully painted an intricate sun with purple details on the surface of the frying pan. Once the paint was mostly dried, she hastily found a hooded cloak. She made her way back to the exit of the sanctuary.

Rapunzel hesitated at the door. She looked back and knew that Eugene would be coming back in minutes if not seconds. If she was going to move she had to right then and there.