Chapter Text
The first time Eugene saw the moonstone, he felt sick to his stomach. Edmund was talking, telling him about the fall of the Dark Kingdom, about hurt and death and loss, but Eugene hadn't been able to quite believe him before entering this room. Before feeling for himself the raw power it emitted, with nothing of the warmth Rapunzel carried with her. Suddenly, the empty space where the King's arm should be seemed much more ominous - and the little smile the Queen bore in her portrait much more haunted.
His parents, apparently. His life, ripped away from him before he could even remember it, all because of the moonstone. Not that he wished it to be any different - maybe being an orphan wasn't fun but he would do it all over again if it led him to Rapunzel - but everything in the castle showed the danger of the moonstone.
And yet, even if he made the mistake to doubt her, Eugene knew this was Rapunzel's destiny. As much as he wanted her safe, she deserved to be free - she deserved everything, but liberty above all, because she had given enough the first eighteen years of her life.
So here he was, feeling sick once again as the blue glow from the moonstone clashed with his sunshine.
Rapunzel was talking to Cassandra but he couldn't listen, because he couldn't focus on anything else but trying to stay where he was. His instinct was screaming at him to take Rapunzel and Cassandra under his arms and run, far away from destinies and murderous stones. Cassandra would probably kill him for it, and Rapunzel would be disappointed which would kill him all the same, but they would all be safe.
Until the black rocks invaded Corona again in search of Rapunzel. He sighed, heart thumping louder and louder, until he saw Rapunzel getting closer and taking his hand gently.
He smiled, but it mustn't have been as convincing as he wished it to be, because there was a lot of concern in these green eyes. Thankfully, she didn't ask, because if he had to try to explain, he would probably cry right then and there, and he had a really ugly crying face.
"This is it Rapunzel," he said quietly, not having the heart to call her by a nickname, "now go get your destiny."
And please, his heart begged, please let it be a destiny in which you get to come back to me.
"I love you" she answered and he felt numb all over again, because it sounded like a goodbye - or maybe he was reading too much into into it, projecting his own fears onto her, but he didn't want this to be the last thing Rapunzel told him.
He was selfish, always had been, and almost didn't let go of her. He only hoped he didn't regret not holding onto her.
And maybe it was because he was an anxious mess that he felt hyper aware of Cassandra getting closer to Rapunzel. One hesitant step first, that he didn't question because he also wanted to get closer and protect Rapunzel - of all people, Cass was the one who wanted to protect the princess as much as himself.
But she took a second step, and a third, eyes cold staring straight through Rapunzel, toward the stone. Heart in his throat, he saw her extend a hand and, as quickly as he could, he took hold of her left arm and pulled her firmly toward him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, startled by the coldness in her eyes.
He didn't have the time to wonder much more what had gotten into her because they were both interrupted by Rapunzel's screaming.
"Rapunzel!" he yelled, letting Cassandra go without a thought as he rushed toward her.
Her hair was still burning bright above her head, but she was surrounded by blue strands of energy, enveloping her and hurting her. She was floating above the the ground and Eugene couldn't get to her because of the sheer energy she emitted.
"Blondie!" he tried again, pushing against an invisible barrier with all his might - but she kept screaming, the pain in her voice tearing his heart apart.
She couldn't hear him, she couldn't speak and, as she tried to tear herself from the pain, she finished on her knees, facing him. The moonstone was in her right hand, but she didn't seem to be able to let it go, and her face was contorted in pain.
Eugene yelled for her again as her light seemed to be drained from her, her hair falling around her as the blue was taking over and hurting her. Eugene pushed, and pushed, tears that he hadn't even noticed staining his cheeks, and suddenly he felt someone helping him, pushing behind him against the energy.
Whatever Cassandra had been trying to do, her panicked yells told him she was as scared as him. They pushed together and he inched just a little bit closer, so slow, too slow, as Rapunzel was seemingly losing her voice. Her right hand had blue tendrils wrapped over it, burning it and Eugene felt unbearably angry.
He wouldn't let this kill her. She deserved to live and laugh and paint and explore and be the best Queen Corona had ever seen, she deserved so much and no destiny could take that from her - he wouldn't let it.
The energy pushed back and, if he felt Pascal and Cassandra leave forcefully his side, he didn't budge, eyes only on Rapunzel's palling face.
He took one step. Then another. He thinks he screamed her name again, but he couldn't hear anything above the crackle of power the moonstone and the sundrop were transpiring. He couldn't see anything but the blue glow in her hand, everything else wrapped in white. Just one more step. One more step, and she'll be safe.
Please, let her be safe.
He lunged toward her hand and ripped the stone from her with as much power as he could muster. There was a lull of silence, as if time had stopped, then he was thrown a few meters back as Rapunzel collapsed.
In his hand, the moonstone pulsed with power and it burnt - not like a fire burnt but he had no other words to describe this sensation. It was as if his whole body was resisting it, like an instantaneous fever, and he was losing, he knew he was but he couldn't bring himself to regret it. He only wanted to check on Rapunzel.
Since he couldn't fight the stone's power, he let it wash over him, hoping that it would rush things up. Suddenly, the burning disappeared, leaving him cold and numb as he was floating above the ground, feeling the stone taking over. His side, the one where Rapunzel healed him, stinged a little, but the moonstone covered it quickly and the pain faded away.
The stone was still in his hand, but it pulled toward his chest, and he let himself do it, seeing no use in fighting it. There was a final pulse of energy and, suddenly, it was over.
Eugene fell to his knees, disoriented, and thought that it was all very anticlimactic.
Then, he remembered Rapunzel, and got to his feet quickly, swaying a little as his head spun.
Rapunzel was still unconscious and, at some point during his… transformation, Pascal and Cassandra had gone to her side. However, they were both gawking at him, mouths open and eyes unblinking. He would have teased them if not for the absolute terror he felt.
"Rapunzel?!" he tried to yell, voice hoarse as he quickly went towards them.
That seemed to snap Cassandra out of whatever it was, because she got up and stopped him.
"Cass-" he growled
"Wait! Eugene, she's fine, but you need to wait!"
"Fine?!" he yelled, feeling unbalanced, because Rapunzel was his whole world and she was hurt and he needed to see her. "Cass, let me through or I swear-"
She pushed against him, still firm, and always brave, because he could already feel how much stronger the stone made him and that didn't make her back down.
"You have the moonstone Eugene," she enunciated carefully, "and when Raps touched it, she was left screaming in pain. You can't touch her until we know what we're dealing with."
And, as easy as that, Eugene deflated and felt how so very small. He looked at his hand, and the strange new outfit he was wearing. Pascal chirped, and pointed to his hair, so Eugene pulled a wick down and saw that it was as blue as the moonstone.
"Jesus" he breathed out, taking an unsteady step back. "Holy shit, I- I-"
Which was the moment Lance chose to open the door, start a cheesy line before screaming shrilly at what he saw. And now Adira was here, surveying the scene with a stony expression, and Eugene felt he was choking up because it was all wrong, all so wrong, and Rapunzel still hadn't woken up and he was the moonstone-
Black rocks erupted from the ground around him, making Cassandra jump back to protect Rapunzel and him fall on his ass like and idiot. For a second, he watched them without understanding why they were here. Then, his brain rebooted, and he crawled back a little, as if he could escape the stone stuck above his heart.
"No, no, no," he mumbled, another rock surging out. "Shit I'm sorry, I can't- I don't-"
Two other black rocks, pointing straight at him, appeared. At least, it wasn't attacking Rapunzel, he thought faintly, feeling like he was going crazy.
"Fishskin!" Adira apparead above his shoulder, cutting through the rocks which were getting closer to him. "The moonstone reacts to your emotions so please, try to calm down!"
He laughed a little hysterically, because he hadn't realised how out of sort his breathing was, and tried to slow that down first. Which meant that he closed his eyes and thought of Rapunzel's eyes, and smile, and laugh and felt marginally better.
"Is Rapunzel okay?" he managed to ask, his voice very quiet, but Cassandra heard it.
"She's only unconscious" she answered, still tense, her sword ready to be brandished if a new rock appeared. "Her pulse is okay, her breathing is okay, she just needs to wake up."
"And her right hand?" he continued, remembering the unnatural glow of the moonstone clashing with the sundrop.
After a moment of silence, Cassandra took hold of her own hand and said: "It's badly burnt. But it can heal."
And a dead Rapunzel can't, Eugene knew, so he could accept this, as long as Rapunzel was alive and happy.
Everything was silent once again. Behind Cassandra's legs, when Eugene sat up properly, he could see Rapunzel's chest raising up and down with her breathing, which was more comforting than anything else. He refused to met anyone else eyes, so he put his head in his hand tiredly.
"Soooo" Lance tried, coughing a little to clear his voice, "anyone here want to explain? Because Eugene, you know that I love you like a brother, but blue hair does not suit you. And let's not talk about the blue goatee because that is just weird man!"
Eugene snorted wetly in his hands, not really sure what he could answer to that.
"Why did you stop the Sundrop from achieving her destiny?" Adira asked instead.
"Are you serious-" Cassandra started shouting, overlapped by Eugene getting on his feet, blood boiling as he yelled "It hurt her!"
Black rocks surged up once again, but he didn't care this time.
"You never said- She was screaming in pain! The moonstone was draining her!" Every of his sentences were punctuated by the black rocks, and blue energy surrounded the moonstone on his chest as he was advancing toward Adira. "What if it killed her? What then?! I don't care about your supposed destinies if it means-"
"Eugene?"
She sounded confused, and weak, and it took all the breath out of Eugene's lungs at once. He turned on his heels toward Rapunzel and there she was, trying to push herself up and gasping at the pain from her arm. He wanted to go to her, and help her, but Cassandra's warning was still echoing in his head. Instead, he watched as Cass gingerly helped her up, whispering something to her - probably about being careful - as Pascal took his spot on her shoulder.
She swayed a little, cradling her arm to her middle, before lifting her eyes to him. They widened immediately, and she whispered his name again, and he could hear in perfect clarity the doubt in the question she couldn't ask.
"Sunshine" he croaked out, the black rocks retreating immediately. He could hear Edmund saying something to Adira behind him, but he couldn't care less - the only thing important was the pain in the green eyes he loved so much.
"Did you- Did you take the moonstone?" Rapunzel asked, her voice wavering, full of an emotion he couldn't name.
"I-" he couldn't seem to be able to talk. What should he say, exactly? I couldn't bear to see you hurt? I was terrified that you would die? You were screaming and that hurt me more than dying did? All good explanations, probably, but no words seemed to be able to get out of his mouth. "... Yes. Yes, I took the moonstone."
"Why?"
"Raps" Cassandra interrupted, surprisingly, "it was killing you."
"But- I have to do this" Rapunzel protested, looking more fragile than he had ever seen her, even when she was not eighteen yet and meeting a man for the first time. She looked unsure and sad and still so pale, and Eugene wanted to hug her before remembering sharply that he couldn't do it under any circumstances.
"Eugene" she tried again, "I have to do this, you have to give me the moonstone."
Before he could try to conceal how much he was against this idea, the rocks answered for him and erupted again all around him, making Rapunzel jump. Guiltily, he tried to will them back under ground, but he could sense them resisting him, feeding on his emotions, not his desires.
"I'm sorry" he quickly said, taking a step back. "God, Rapunzel I'm sorry I just-" more black rocks, as his thin control of himself disappeared. "I can't- You were in pain and I-"
"Eugene!"
The power of the moonstone was getting away from him again as more rocks grew all around the room. Automatically, his hands rested on the stone above his chest, wanting both to pull it out and hide it where Rapunzel couldn't find. He was panicking, again, but he didn't feel right, his body didn't feel right and everything around him was numb-
"Eugene!" Rapunzel cried out again, much too close this time, and he opened the eyes he didn't remember closing to see her stand him right in front of him.
His eyes flicked down, toward the red skin on her arm, before coming back up to her eyes. He didn't dare breath, afraid that it would - he would - hurt her again.
"Eugene, it's okay, I'm here" she smiled at him, no doubt in her eyes this time. "I'm fine" she assured him again, seeing that it had the most effect on him. "We'll solve this together, alright?"
"Yeah" he breathed out unsteadily, wishing with fervour that he could hug her. But he didn't want to risk her only because he selfishly needed her, so he stayed still.
It was Edmund who broke the silence after that. "I think that, anyway, if the princess wants to do anything about the moonstone, she will need to be healed and well-rested first."
Everyone else agreed quietly while Rapunzel glanced at her own arm, grimacing at the pain for a second before wiping it from her face. But Eugene saw it. And he couldn't even hold her hand. She took a step back to look at the gloomy group still near the door.
"What about Eugene? What if the moonstone hurts him?"
"Blondie-"
"Edmund, Adira," she kept on talking, ignoring him, "what will happen if he keeps it for too long?"
"Princess, believe me when I say that seeing my son bear the moonstone is the realisation of all my worse nightmares" Edmund started, and Eugene was glad he hadn't turned around, because he still wasn't sure about how to look at the father who abandoned him, no matter how good his reasons were. "However, this is not a situation that I actually lived through before. There are speculations but-"
"What are they?" Rapunzel pressed, every bit of the Queen she would one day be.
"Some tales say that the bearer of the moonstone will hear voices and go mad" Adira finished bluntly, before interrupting Rapunzel's worried gasp "however, it seems like even if we get the moonstone out of Fishskin's chest, it will only attach itself to the next person to pull it out. Hearing voices yet?"
It took a second to realise that she was asking him, but Eugene turned toward her and shook his head no.
"Sure? No desire to kill the Sundrop and take over Corona?"
"No" he choked, feeling sick at the idea that he could be manipulated by the stone to want this.
"Good!" Adira smiled, but she was the only one. "So for now, and until he becomes homicidal, Fishskin is the moonstone."
"But-" "What-" "It's dangerous-" "Eugene can't-"
He should probably feel better hearing his friends jump to his defense, but Eugene understood what Adira meant. He wasn't willing to give this burden to any of his friend anyway, and Rapunzel needed to get better.
"Alright" he said loudly, stopping the protests, "let's do this."
"What? Not alright!" Rapunzel cried out, circling him to get in front of him again, her eyes burning like they did every time she protected something she loved. "I can't let you take that risk!"
"It's already done Blondie" he smiled, trying to be reasonable as his hands twitched, yearning to comfort her. "Beside, I know you don't want anyone else to be the moonstone either."
"Yeah but you- I need to-" she was becoming frustrated, her eyes clouding as she realised how stuck they were.
"We'll just have to wait until you're better" he soothed her, "and until we've found a better plan to get rid of this and accomplish your destiny." And make sure you don't die, he didn't say, but swore it to himself all the same.
She sniffed, her eyes downcast. She hated being backed to a wall. Eugene too, of course, but at least, for a while, she wouldn't put her life in danger. He just had to control the rocks sprouting everywhere every time he felt an emotion, and his fear of hurting her, oh and the weird numbness which encompassed his whole body. Ah, and he couldn't touch the love of his life. Easy peasy.
She nodded and, after a while, they were all led outside the castle, the fresh air doing wonders. Before he could even try to speak with her in private, she went to sit with Cass and let her wrap her arm carefully.
He realised that he still didn't know what Cassandra had been trying to do with the moonstone before everything went to hell. But when she heard Rapunzel's screaming, she went to help him get to her, and she protected her from him when he got the moonstone. Whatever it was, he didn't feel like questioning her loyalty when she had more the proved herself here, and so many times before.
They had other problems, anyway. Sitting tiredly against wall, he didn't even jump when Lance appeared beside him, genuine concern on his face.
"You okay?" he asked simply, with none of the exuberance he usually used.
"No" he breathed out harshly, surprised by his own honesty and the wetness growing in his eyes. "I thought- she was screaming and I couldn't get to her and I thought-"
Black rocks erupted on his left and he cursed, raising his knees and dropping his head on them. He jumped when he felt Lance warm hand on his shoulder - he hadn't realised how cold he was.
"Woah, you're cold man" Lance echoed unknowingly, forcing Eugene to raise his head back up so he could feel his temperature on his forehead. "Is that normal? Well, no but- is that the moonstone?"
"I… guess, yeah" Eugene mumbled. "I don't feel especially cold."
He must have looked like a kicked puppy or something, because Lance engulfed him in the biggest hug he could. Which was great, even though he wasn't Rapunzel, because Eugene needed someone to ground him, someone who would stop him from feeling like he was floating away. And he loved Lance, because the guy was his idiot best friend who had almost always been here for him, more that the guy claiming to be his dad ever was.
Eugene wasn't crying, his eyes were just damp anyway. He didn't know what would happen, what he was supposed to do, how he could protect Rapunzel when everything led her to this awful moment, screaming in pain and dying before his own eyes. Yep, still not crying.
He barely had the time to thank Lance for the hug before a hot air balloon coming in their direction distracted everyone.