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When Edmund got to Corona, or more precisely the castle, he was excited to spend time with his son and the family Eugene built around himself for the first time in weeks. Rebuilding the Dark Kingdom was a time-consuming endeavor and, even if they sent each other letters regularly, Edmund missed his son. For now, Adira was taking care of things, and Hector was annoying her about it, so it would be more or less alright.
What he hadn't expected was to find the castle in an uproar, guards running everywhere and looking very stressed out. Usually, when Edmund visited his son, Eugene would come and greet him as soon as he got here, but he didn't make an appearance - neither did any of his friends. Unsettled, Edmund stopped one of the guard that he recognised as Stan. The man glanced at him, paled as he recognised him and squeaked his name fearfully.
"What is going on?" Edmund asked, trying to not sound threatening because he didn't want the guard to faint on him - it had happened once and Eugene laughed about it for weeks.
"We- uh, we kinda… LostTheCaptainWhenWeWereSupposedToTakeCareOfHim," Stan mumbled in one go, looking purple at the edges. He took a step back and ran away again, throwing that they needed to "find him before the Princess decided to kill them," which must be an exaggeration because Rapunzel was the most forgiving woman Edmund knew.
Then, his brain catched up to the first sentence, and he frowned because how could they lose his son? Why would they be in charge of taking care of him?
Officially worried, Edmund hesitated, thinking about his options (outloud, as always). On one hand, he could try to go to the throne room and find informations about what was happening; on the other, Eugene was probably not there if he was lost, so Edmund could go and try to find him himself. Edmund was a man of action; he went with the later, and wracked his brain to think of a place where Eugene would hide. More precisely, somewhere he wouldn't usually hide, but would still think of, since he apparently didn't want anyone to find him.
Pushing open the door of one of the multiple attics in the Castle, Edmund felt quite silly to only find silence and dusty untouched objects. Eugene had told him once that he couldn't believe how many things went unused in the castle, and that he liked to search through them sometimes. Edmund himself, in his youth, was quite the collector, and once started a beatles collection, to his parents' ever growing despair and-
A giggle interrupted his thought.
Edmund startled, eyes going immediately to the corner from which it came. There were boxes, that made enough shadows that he nearly didn't see the little shadow hiding between - shadow that was way too small to be his son, but Edmund wasn't sure what kind of opponent would hide in the attic only to give away his position with a laugh.
Another giggle.
"You're talking aloud," a little voice said, obviously belonging to a kid.
"Hello?" Edmund called, getting closer to the shadow but unable to squeeze himself enough to go to the kid. "What are you doing here little one?"
"I'm hiding," the boy whispered, sounding sad, "they don't like me much here."
Edmund frowned, both because he tried to think of a little boy that frequented the castle, and because he was pretty sure that no one in this castle was able to dislike anyone, especially not a little kid. And if anyone did, he was sure that both his son's and Rapunzel's glares would be enough to discourage these kind of thoughts. He wasn't sure what made the kid think that, though and he was not that used to children overall, but his mind left the search for his son, focusing instead on getting the kid out of the attic to help him. Eugene would understand.
"Well, I am sure this is not true," Edmund announced wisely, "I quite like you myself."
"You don't know me."
"That's true, but you were amused by my habit of talking aloud, instead of being mean about it. That tells me you are a nice young boy, so I decided that I like you."
"Oh," the kid breathed, and Edmund heard shifting. "I like you too," the boy said quietly and, to the King's joy, he got out of under the boxes.
Edmund's first thought was that they boy needed a good clean up, his brown hair dirtied by the ambient dust. Then, the kid raised his head, and there were no thought at all as he felt all the air leave his lungs.
He would know his son's eyes anywhere.
"I'm Eugene," the boy announced with a shy smile, as he got close enough for Edmund to help him over the different objects lingering on the ground, the gesture automatic. He was so small.
"Hello Eugene," Edmund choked. "Ah- hum, how- how old are you?"
"Five!" The kid grinned.
Edmund thought back on Stan's words and, even while he still had no idea on what exactly had happened, he could now understand the worry that Rapunzel would kill them - who lost a five year old? Who dared lose his son? This was a pretty recent development, considering that Eugene sent him a letter four days ago, and they not only managed to lose him but also made him think that they didn't like him?
"Are you mad?" Eugene asked, shuffling back a little, and Edmund startled, before putting the gentlest smile he could on his face. He hadn't dealt with kids in quite some times, but this wasn't any child - it was Eugene.
"No, of course not," he assured. "I was just wondering why you thought that the people of the castle didn't like you."
Eugene lowered his eyes, blushing brightly, and Edmund didn't know what to feel as he discovered that his son had been quite shy as a child. It wasn't surprising, per say, it even fitted well with what Eugene told him about his childhood - but it was something else to see it with his own eyes.
"You can tell me, Eugene," Edmund pressed gently, a hand going hesitantly to his son's hair.
Big and hopeful brown eyes met his and, for a moment, Edmund could only think of his late wife - they had met when they were only children, and he could see her in every of Eugene's features. Except that, where she had been confident, Eugene was scared, and for the umpteenth time, Edmund felt ashamed. He had abandoned, for good reasons of course, but he had abandoned his son - and now, he could see how much heartache Eugene went through, only five but already wary of adults.
"They… They're always sad to see me," Eugene mumbled, looking away. "Rapunzel is nice, but she left me with the guards and I heard… I heard her tell one of them that she wanted to find a solution to get me back but-"
Eugene sniffled and Edmund kneeled in front of him, his hand going to his son's cheek without an ounce of hesitation. The boy raised his hand, tears gathering in his eyes despite his obvious effort to keep them in, and he threw himself at Edmund's neck, trying to hug him with his too small arms. Edmund hand went automatically around his son, taking him with him as he got up again, the warm weight settling naturally against him.
"I don't wanna go back to the orphanage," he sniffled again, his voice wobbly as he tightened his grip around Edmund. "Everyone here is so nice, and fun, and- and-"
"Oh, son," Edmund breathed, barely noticing the slip of his tongue, "don't worry, Rapunzel didn't mean it like that."
Eugene shrugged in his arm, still sniffling. His grip didn't relent and, for a second, Edmund let himself think of a world where he didn't try to take the moonstone foolishly - a world where he had these kinds of moments each and every day, with his son in his arms and his wife nearby. But it wasn't meant to be, and he still got to be reunited with Eugene; that was more than he ever hoped for.
"Come on," Edmund announced, his booming voice drawing a laugh from Eugene, "let's go clear this all up with the Princess!"
His son against his chest, Edmund got out of the attic, narrating the whole trip to the throne room with as much dramatics as he could. Thankfully, this kid liked a good story as much as his adult counterpart, and in no time, it wasn't a crying but a laughing kid that Edmund carried.
They found Rapunzel in a hallway, talking frantically to Pascal until she heard Edmund's voice calling her name.
"Edmund! Oh-" she started, before seeing Eugene who was watching her from his perch, "Eugene! I was so worried!" she exclaimed, beaming as she went to him- but that turned into a sad frown as the kid turned away from her. Her eyes darted to Edmund, panicked and hurt.
"Hum, Princess," Edmund coughed, taking his very serious voice and making Eugene giggle. "Eugene here is worried that you would sent him back to the orphanage."
"Oh Eugene, no," she gasped, looking heartbroken at the thought, "I promised I wouldn't!"
"But…" Eugene answered shyly, turning his eyes back to her. "You said that you wanted to bring me back?"
Her gaze softened as Edmund smiled encouragingly. "Oh, that's not what I meant at all," she promised, "I was… uh," Rapunzel stammered, not that good of a liar. "I have another friend whose name is Eugene," she settled on, as close to the truth as she could, "and he disappeared, so I want to bring him back."
"Really?" Eugene asked plainly, the disbelief and sarcasm sounding exactly as it did when he was an adult.
"Ah, I can confirm that the Princess has another friend named Eugene," Edmund intervened, bouncing his son up a little as his arm was assaulted by pins and needles. He wouldn't put him down until he asked, though.
Eugene watched them both carefully, before nodding, and Rapunzel sent Edmund a grateful smile. She'd need to explain the situation to him, but he could understand that Eugene had to be kept out of the loop. There was still one thing, though.
"Who, exactly, was in charge of keeping an eye on Eugene?" Edmund asked innocently - and, going by the look Rapunzel threw him, this particular guard wasn't going to spend a good evening.
It took two more days for them to find a way to turn Eugene back into his real age - and kid Eugene had been very brave, accepting to take the potion needed when they explained it to him, even when it was clear he was scared. It was all the result of an accident with a weird magical artefact, but in the end, Edmund still felt himself tear up as he said goodbye to the little boy. He missed his son, the adult - missed his jokes and their discussions and the trust they shared - but he loved him as a five year old too, and it was hard to deal with these conflicting emotions.
Edmund knocked softly on the Princess' door, pushing it open as he heard a muffled "come in". He found Rapunzel next to Eugene's sleeping form, half sitting up for his sake.
"Still not awake?" Edmund asked.
Rapunzel shook her head morosely, her hand going to play with Eugene's hair. Since he drank that potion four hours ago, he had been unconscious, and they were all worried of the toll this adventure had on his body. Edmund didn't like to see him lying here - not when he could see the parallel to his own wife laying on her deathbed so many years ago, the wound still so fresh in his heart. After some hesitation, Edmund sat down on the side of the bed, and Rapunzel shuffled until she could sit next to him.
"I forgot to thank you for being here," Rapunzel smiled hesitantly, "you really saved us."
"He's my son, of course I'd take care of him." Edmund winced at his own formulation, thinking back to all those years Eugene spent alone - all those years that seemed much more tangible now that he had seen for himself how much Eugene suffered from it. "I mean- I-"
"I get it," Rapunzel comforted him. "You were really good with him," she continued after a beat, "he kept asking after you if you ever dared leave the room."
"Ah," Edmund laughed quietly, "I knew that the way to his heart was Flynnigan Rider's stories, especially since he didn't know them by heart already."
"That may be true, but that wasn't all. He trusted you, Edmund," Rapunzel insisted. The King blushed, trying to come up with an answer, but he didn't have to.
"Ow," a voice behind them groaned, startling them, "If there isn't a good time to justify this headache, I'm suing."
"Eugene!" Rapunzel immediately yelled, snatching him up in a tight hug. Eugene sputtered, his eyes widening when he noticed his father standing behind her, now sure that whatever happened, it probably hadn't involved alcohol.
"Welcome back, son," Edmund boomed, drawing a surprised laugh from Eugene - just like it did when he was a kid. Edmund beamed down at them, and swept them both up in a crushing hug, despite his son's loud protests.
Perhaps he missed out on most of his son's life, but he didn't intend to miss out on more.