There wasn't a lick of blood anywhere. Evanora Hailwell's limp body simply fell to the willow table with a thud, blade slipping noiselessly out from her heart. Behind her stood a familiar, curly-haired figure, eyeing the seer's impaled figure with an amused look in her storm-grey eyes. Rapunzel and Flynn were long out of their seats by the time they finally lifted to take in her new company, (a company that refused to include Jack, of course).

"Flower," Dame Gothel's voice melted quite abruptly as she locked eyes with an understandably horrified-looking Rapunzel. "You have no idea of the dangers I went through to find you."

But Rapunzel's gaze was glued to Evanora's body in a way that made Jack want to take her away from the scene immediately. He had seen death before, and those memories were some he strongly wished he could unsee. But the dead did not deserve to be forgotten so easily either, despite his wishes to forget. There was hesitance in Rapunzel now—to avoid her mother or run to attempt to heal Evanora from her fatal wound. But she seemed to understand just as he did that, even if she could bring someone back from the dead, she'd need all of her energy to do so. And Jack could still see the hints of exhaustion hidden deep within the layers of her soul, tiring the edges of her bright eyes and adding the smallest of slouches to her shoulders.

Gothel sheathed her bloodless blade, opening her arms wide in welcome. "Oh, Flower, how I've missed you. Come to me—Mother will protect you."

"Why did you poison Zacharia Rettersonne?" Rapunzel's voice was so hard it shook.

Jack noticed her mother's spine straighten through her inhale, though it was only a minimal change in her demeanour. She was trying hard to make it seem as if she wasn't on high alert. Breaths passed in silence until, finally, she lowered her empty arms. "Did they fool you? Oh, Rapunzel, I thought I'd raised you far better than that. These people are sick and waiting for the perfect opportunity to snatch you away! A healthy girl like you makes the utmost meal." When Rapunzel did not reply, she continue with an exasperated sigh. "The Rettersonne's were the ones who created the plague in their attempts to take you away from me! Why do you think I was forced to build our tower so far away? It was to protect you from their hungered grasp."

It was only when Rapunzel glanced down in her indecision that Jack spotted the flicker of victory shining bright through Gothel's eyes. It vanished almost completely again as she continued in her attempts to lure Rapunzel to her side.

After she'd just murdered a woman.

Jack had to fight an urge to scoff at the absurdity of it all. If anyone in this tree-house was naive, it was her.

"Rapunzel," Jack tried softly, shifting forward on his toes. He could easily get them both out of here in a matter of seconds, but only if he had her consent to fly her away. And Flynn... Jack didn't know how he would get him out, too. Could he outrun a raging witch? He seemed capable enough.

"You—" Rapunzel worried at her wrists. Had she even heard Jack say her name? "Why would you—She's dead, Mother! The only thing she was guilty of was attempting to give me the answers—"

"Answers I could have given you if only you'd asked. Why would you ever think this stranger wouldn't lie to you, Rapunzel? I told you you were far too naive for the harshness of the world, and what do you do? You go out anyway, completely unprepared!"

Rapunzel frowned. "Believing in the good of others doesn't make one naive."

A scowl sharpened Gothel's features. Her growing irritation was evident in every line. "Oh," she drawled, "what a buoyant phrase. Would you like to write it down?"

Vulnerable hurt flashed over Rapunzel's face. Jack took a step closer to her, feeling a squeeze in his chest at the sight of her pain. This was not how this meeting was supposed to play out. Evanora's death was on his hands for not insisting more on their leaving for North's Workshop.

"Let's go," Jack said, waving her toward the ladder. He could feel a buzzing tension growing in the air, and Jack didn't really feel like being here when it erupted. Especially not when the lady doing the erupting was carrying a sharp blade at her hip.

Though Rapunzel took a step back, Gothel did not move an inch. But her face—the attempted kind demeanour she'd been showing Rapunzel was slowly fading into something born of spite and anger. An emotion quite capable of seer—or spirit—homicide. Jack tried not to look at the body at the thought. He'd learned to differentiate good and evil well enough during Pitch's near reign decades back and, though slightly creepy as seers usually were, Evanora Hailwell had seemed alright to him.

Alright to the point of being a saint in comparison to the energy Dame Gothel brought about.

"I'm sorry," Rapunzel said now, moving at arms length of Jack. "For a lot of things, I am. But we have other priorities to get to. Goodbye, mother."

She had just turned around, Jack in tow, when Gothel's voice rang out again. Worry made it wobble unevenly; Jack had a feeling this, of everything wasn't completely faked. "They've gotten to you," she whispered. "They've truly gotten to you. Rapunzel, there is no one here but us. Your priorities are not we, they are you. And there is no one standing beside you."

Even Jack halted at that. If Gothel knew enough to eject him through spell, she must be capable of seeing him, no? And if not, Flynn's own presence was hard enough to disprove. Despite how abnormally silent he'd been for the past ten minutes, stick close behind Rapunzel, she couldn't actually be pretending his existence wasn't real. He'd seen children create far better tactics than that in seconds.

"It's the plague," Gothel continued. "It's gotten to your head, too."

Rapunzel stiffened, her back turned to the witch. "There is no plague. You lied to me, mother. All my life, you lied. Have you ever felt even a hint of regret at that?"

"That's what they make you believe," Gothel tried. "That's what the plague does to you, don't you understand?"

"Don't you?" Rapunzel spun on her heel, gaze flicking down to Evanora, then back up again. "I'm not going back to that tower, not anymore. Not with you."

"Rapunzel." The name was a warning. Solid, and true. "Come here this instant!"

"No!"

A growl. "Rider."

Jack had been too focused on watching Gothel's movements to react in time. By the time he spun, Flynn Rider's hands were already wrapped tightly around Rapunzel's small body, trapping her as she flailed wildly for freedom.

Jack focused on those hands and summoned a ring of cold around them, except... When the wick of his power bit against the air, it flickered back out almost immediately. Died away as if it had never even appeared in the first place. Horror filled Jack, though he could feel the magic in his veins. He tried again, this time with Twinetender as a pointer, only for the same thing to happen. Over and over, with grunts and stomps and all—yet nothing came forth.

"I-I can't use my powers." The words jerked out of Jack.

Alarm flared through Rapunzel's gaze, sending him rushing with guilt. Then she calmed all at once, closing her eyes as Jack's insides went haywire. Memories of him powerless in a snowy crevice, Twinetender split in two at his side, came back to him in an uncomfortable rush. From the strained look on her face, Jack assumed Rapunzel was trying to call forth whatever powers she could muster. When that didn't work, she began to sing. Jack saw Flynn flinch in surprise as the glow creeped through her hair, but his hold on her held true.

Anger at his own stupidity rustled through Jack. He knew they never should have come here, never should have trusted that the guy wasn't walking along with his own treacherous agenda. He been too silent ever since they climbed up this ladder. Jack was old enough that he should have known better, been on higher alert. But he couldn't help the fact that stress wasn't fun.

A smile crept over Gothel's lips as she drank in Rapunzel's fruitless attempts... Then Jack's too.

"What's wrong, winter boy?" She drawled with narrowed eyes, "Unable to save yourself without your precious moon's aid? Pitiful. Come now, Rider. No use in wasting our precious time any more. It is of the essence." The chuckle that slipped through her lips was ominous, to say the least, and hinting at some deeper joke she alone knew well.

Tendrils of shadows had begun to appear and disappear in the air around her as she spoke. Was Pitch here too? Surely Gothel, a mere human, hadn't figured out how to wield magic like that herself?

There was a second-long hesitance in Flynn's step before he finally started around the table, pushing Rapunzel along with him.

"Why?" Rapunzel cried. But Gothel was the one who answered. "If only you'd listened the first time I asked you to come see me, Rapunzel. Then he wouldn't have had to do this at all."

Jack landed lightly onto the table. He'd only go through Flynn if he attempted to make contact, so instead he leapt down toward Rapunzel in cold fury—just as black energy shot toward him like a wave, gripping his shoulders tight until his back was pinned flat against a smooth, wooden wall.

Jack's legs flailed uselessly as his mind fought hard against the wall blocking his magic. Gothel gripped Rapunzel's wrist, struggling to pull her out of Flynn's hold and into hers. The shadows around her grew thicker by the breath. "Hold my shoulder," she told Flynn. He did as he was told.

A blanket of depthless black suddenly swept up behind the trio. Gothel attempted to flick Pascal from his stone grip in Rapunzel's hair, only to receive a tongue in the ear in return. Her grip loosened, and Jack called Rapunzel's name. She fumbled, shifting, nearly weaving herself away to freedom. Could she outrun this?

Jack's foot connected with something beneath him. He hooked it neatly around what felt like a handle and sent it hurling forward—right into Flynn Rider's knee.

It all happened so quick.

His hand shot off of Gothel to curl around his new injury, just as a familiar set of yellow eyes appeared behind them, meeting Jack's enraged gaze. Rapunzel came loose. Jack grunted, struggling against the shining black dreamsand as she broke into a sprint. But just before the shadows finished curling around the small group like a sheet, Gothel's reaching hand brushed against Rapunzel's skin.

He watched helplessly as the darkness swallowed her whole.

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If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts! :)

This chapter still isn't my favourite, even through the rewrite, but it's leading up to bigger things! Thank you so much for sticking with me for the ride. 

Did Flynn's betrayal surprise you? What do you think his motivation was?

*Edited, (February 1st, 2021).