Chapter Text
There were voices around him. So many voices. Some were yelling, barking out orders, while the others stood and whispered. He could hear sobbing. A lot of sobbing.
But he couldn’t get his feet to move. He couldn’t get his eyes to gaze away, and he couldn’t get himself to drop her limp hand from his.
She looked so peaceful. The features of her face were soft and gentle, as if she was just sleeping. That’s all she was doing. Sleeping. She was sleeping.
“Eugene,” he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was large and heavy and he just wanted it to go away. “Eugene. Son. There was nothing they could -”
He heard the Queen choke back a sob as she scurried from the room, her heels tapping against the stone floors. And he felt the hand pull away from his shoulder as the King followed after her.
He wanted the noise to stop. He wanted complete silence. He wanted to hear her heart beating and maybe if everyone else would just shut up for a second, he could hear it and he would know that his entire life hadn’t just fallen apart right before his eyes.
He held her hand up to his lips, pressing kisses to every single knuckle. She loved when he did that. His goatee would tickle her skin and she’d always giggle and smile that beautiful smile. He watched her face, waiting for that smile to reappear. But it didn’t. You couldn’t smile when you were dead.
A sound escaped his throat and he dropped his head, pressing his forehead to hers. She loved when he did this. She always rubbed her tiny nose against his before pressing a kiss to his lips.
But she didn’t stir. She didn’t nuzzle her nose against his. She didn’t kiss him.
“Please kiss me back,” he choked out, moving to press his face into the crook of her neck. “Please don’t go. Rapunzel, please wake up. Please. I can’t do this without you. I love you. Please. Wake up. ”
He heard the shrill cry of a baby, and his heart remembered why they were in this position in the first place. He managed to pull his head up to see a nurse standing there with a bundle in her arms. Part of him didn’t want to see this child; their child. The reason that his wife was lying on a bed without a heartbeat.
She had been so excited. He remembered the day they found out. She bounced off the walls, talking about all the things she’d teach this baby and how loving of a mother she’d be. She’d talk to them every day; explaining her stories and her kingdom and all her favorite things in it. And she’d always tell them how amazing of a father their father was going to be, and since they both had bad childhoods, the two of them would give this child the best childhood of all.
And now she was gone, and he had to figure this out alone. He had no idea how to be a parent! How could you become a parent when you hadn’t had your own to begin with?
But he had to do this. He had to push on for her, because that’s what she would’ve wanted. This was the only piece of Rapunzel he had left.
He stood up and gathered the bundle in his arms, trying to not focus on how he wasn’t holding Rapunzel’s hand anymore. He peered down at the child, quiet now that she was in his arms, gazing back up at him with the biggest green eyes he had ever seen in his entire life.
She looked just like her. It was like he was holding a spitting image of her in his arms. She had soft brown hair, and even had her little nose. Seeing her was like somebody had jump started his heart, and he could feel himself breathing again. He cried, but for a different reason. And he had the most overwhelming feeling to protect this little girl with everything he had. This had become his purpose in life. This little girl, his little girl, had become his purpose. She was his reason to keep going.
"Claire," he whispered, gazing down at her. All the sounds around him went quiet; his heart beat slowed. All he saw was her, and all she saw was him.
"I'll protect you. I promise."