The day following the fateful events at Black Rock Tower, Eugene lay back on his bed, arm thrown over his head, contemplating everything that had transpired the day before. He had once again found himself gut-wrenchingly helpless against a powered-up Cassandra. His efforts to thwart her had been so ineffectual that it was embarrassing.

"So, my friend, what exactly did happen yesterday at the Tower?" asked Lance. He had just barged into Eugene's room uninvited, per usual, but Eugene was used to it by now.

"Lance…..it was the most intense thing….ever…." Eugene's voice trailed off as he fell into reverie.

"...and?" Lance prompted. Eugene still failed to answer for several more seconds.

"Have you ever seen an angel before?" Eugene suddenly blurted, propping himself on one elbow and facing Lance, who was now seated across from Eugene on his own bed.

"Come again?" replied Lance skeptically, as both eyebrows reached the vaulted ceiling. While he hadn't known how Eugene would reply, he definitely hadn't been expecting this. His incredulity was showing clearly on his face.

"I know, I know," Eugene acknowledged with impatience, "this is strange as hell. And...not like me at all. But…...just run with it for now, and please...think deep. Have you ever seen an angel before?" Eugene implored. Lance's first inclination was to keep messing with Eugene's head because he had rarely seen Eugene so serious….

"You mean besides those hottie twins who looked so glorious, they were as a gift from the heavens themse -" Lance pontificated melodramatically. A well-aimed pillow smashed right into Lance's open mouth, interrupting him. "-ooooffff!" he exclaimed, falling over onto the pillows of his own bed.

"Shut up, Lance," said an eye-rolling Eugene. "You know what I mean."

"Point taken," mumbled Lance, from beneath the projected pillow. "Yeah, I….I do know," replied Lance. "And I….well, I…" Lance popped back upward, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, "...yes. Yes, I have," confessed Lance at last, avoiding looking at Eugene's eyes. "Many times." Eugene's eyes grew wide.

"You have?!" demanded Eugene. "You jerk!" he exclaimed, again chucking a pillow at Lance. "How come you've never told me before?" Lance caught the pillow easily this time as it was badly aimed. He threw Eugene a wry look and answered with another question.

"Would you have believed me if I had?" asked Lance pointedly.

"Well….no," Eugene admitted, "I would've scoffed and dismissed you. And…..for that, Lance….I'm sorry. Very sorry." And again, Eugene lapsed into silence for a time, thinking to himself.

"Why?" urged Lance. "What was it that you saw yesterday?"

"Well…..Rapunzel told me that near the beginning of her confrontation with Cassandra that Cass had tried to goad Rapunzel into fighting her. And Rapunzel had apparently been successful in not fighting back, despite several close-calls and instances in which Cass could've successfully maimed or even killed her."

"Whoa…." Lance said with rapt awe. "But…..but why wouldn't Rapunzel want to fight back?"

"Because Cassandra was going to use it as an excuse to unleash the full fury of the black rocks upon her," Eugene replied grimly. "Remember the whole kidnapping Varian to tell her the 3rd incantation for full power over the black rocks thing?"

"Oh yeah," said Lance, now properly abashed.

"Rapunzel was doing everything she could to avoid provocation, avoid giving Cass the excuse to unleash her own version of black rocks hell. And Rapunzel absolutely would have been successful with her avoidance of giving Cassandra an excuse, if not for one tiny little thing…." and Eugene's voice trailed off.

"That Blue-Haired Psycho started throwing you around in front of Rapunzel, didn't she?" Lance said knowingly. "I bet you wish you would've stayed out of the Tower throne room now." And he chucked Eugene's pillows back at him.

"No, she didn't start 'throwing me around'," Eugene said with indignance, expertly catching the pillows from midair. "But….but she might've….commanded the black rocks to….surround my body up to my shoulders," he went on, his voice lowering, "and to start squeezing the life out of me," he mumbled softly. "And….I wasn't even in the room when their confrontation started," protested Eugene, "since I had left the main Tower to rescue Varian, Remember?"

"So…..I don't get it," Lance said, bewildered. "What on earth did you do?"

Eugene continued, "Cass had blocked me from getting back inside to even try assisting Rapunzel. And although Varian had luckily deciphered the final incantation, neither one of us had figured out how to get him out of that crystal cage, much less how to get back inside the tower and I wasn't about to leave the poor kid out on that limb alone," Eugene shook his head. "Turns out I needn't have worried. Within a few minutes, the crystal arm got pulled back into the Tower by itself. Rapunzel said that's when Cass decided to start using me to goad Rapunzel into fighting back," explained Eugene glumly.

"What happened after that?" demanded Lance.

"I….well, I - I told Rapunzel not to give into anything that Cassandra told her to," Eugene looked down, "and I….I couldn't say much of anything after that since…..since I couldn't breathe in deeply enough. Not while being squeezed so hard by those rocks." Eugene looked back up at Lance's wide-eyed face with a pained expression. "And…..and…." the look Eugene saw in his friend's eyes combined with the memory of what happened next made him falter. Eugene shivered and took some deep shuddering breaths in effort to calm down. Wrapping his arms about his midsection, Eugene willed himself to continue.

"After Cass...told the rocks to grab me is when Rapunzel finally….retaliated. Although I thought it was best that she not give into what Cass wanted, Rapunzel quite clearly did not feel the same way," a faint smile played across Eugene's features, in spite of himself.

"So she fought for you….?" Lance guessed.

"Oh, Lance," and Eugene shook his head, his own voice filled with reverence, "she did a great deal more than merely fight for me. Rapunzel started with ordering - yes, ordering - Cassandra to release me." Lance was now looking at Eugene with his mouth slightly agape.

"Say what, now?" said Lance. "You're telling me that our sweet as pie Rapunzel ordered her best friend to release you?"

"More than once," Eugene affirmed. "And each time Cass refused, she escalated by creating more and more intricate, dangerous, and horrifying rock formations. And Rapunzel - not only did her hair glow stark white and begin floating around her, Rapunzel's entire countenance glowed with the power of the light. She grew so powerful that all Rapunzel had to do was raise her hands and every single one of those new rock formations would instantly explode into harmless rubble, right then and there. Every wave of rocks, burst like you and I might burst mere soap bubbles. Just like that," and Eugene snapped his fingers. And it...was beyond description, Lance. Beyond comprehension. Near the end, Rapunzel was floating in front of us, in front of Cass, like the Goddess of Light, after repeatedly commanding Cassandra to, 'LET. HIM. GO!'"

"A real, live goddess?" Lance asked, confused. "Seriously?"

"No exaggerations whatsoever," Eugene affirmed with utmost sincerity. "I swear to you. And then Cassandra...became so incensed - more filled with rage than any of us had ever seen, as it became clear that the Sun Drop is quite obviously more powerful than the Moonstone. But something….must have gone….I think something - really bad - and unintentional happened." At that, Eugene's pallor suddenly took on a distinct grey-greenish tone as he'd said the words.

"What do you mean 'bad and unintentional'?" Lance echoed, even more confused.

"Well, I…." Eugene said with frustration, "I'm not exactly certain, myself? What I know is...I thought I…." and Eugene swallowed hard, "...I can swear I felt myself get st-stabbed - like, lit-literally run-th-through - while being crushed by those rocks, not just in one place….but four separate places." And Lance's posture straightened, bolt upright, as he stared hard at Eugene.

"You what?" whispered Lance in shock. "Does Rapunzel know about this?" he demanded.

"No. Absolutely not," Eugene said emphatically, "and I intend to keep it that way. She's been through far too much lately as it is."

Lance shrugged, "Suit yourself," and he put his arms behind his head as he lay back on his own bed. "But Rapunzel's not the only one who's been through a lot lately," Lance mumbled under his breath. Eugene ignored him. "But from what I know of Rapunzel," continued Lance, pretending to buff his fingernails, "she's gonna find out anyway."

"She won't if you keep your big fat mouth shut," Eugene warned, another arm full of pillow raised threateningly. "I still don't know if it was the rocks that...stuck me...or not."

"All right, all right!" Lance held up his hands, "I surrender! Why the secrecy anyway? Don't you think Rapunzel deserves to know if Cassandra actively tried to kill her boyfriend?" Lance got slammed in the face with another throw pillow. "AGH!"

"Don't you dare say that where Rapunzel might hear you!" Eugene hissed.

"Fine. Fine," Lance acquiesced, waving a hand dismissively. "But the next time Cassandra succeeds in murdering you outright in front of your girlfriend, don't come crying to me."

"Why, you-" spluttered Eugene, "-y-you unmitigated asshole!" In one swift motion, Eugene stood up on his bed and catapulted himself directly on top of Lance, who in turn deflected Eugene but Eugene managed to snag the sleeves of Lance's shirt and both men tumbled off Lance's bed onto the stone floor.

"Why must you-" said Eugene through clenched teeth, fighting to gain the upper hand, "-behave like such-" and he rolled out of the way just before Lance could pin him, "-a troll-faced goon?!" A few moments later, Eugene had succeeded in putting Lance in a three-quarter nelson.

"Why is Lance a troll-faced goon?" a woman's voice asked from the doorway.