Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a rough day.

Well, really it had been a rough year. But today was particularly bad. It was a day that started like any other. Eugene had woken up in his same drab quarters, opened his curtains to the same grey skies. He had his same bland, cardboard oats. He wore his same plain, restricting robes, donned his heavy, overpowering crown and made his way through the dark foreboding corridors to the dark, foreboding throne room.

Work was not boring by any means. There were deadlines his kingdom were struggling to meet, finances collapsing, meetings with noblemen yelling and complaining, politics with other important figures. And yet if you asked him, he wouldn’t remember any of it. He was under a heavy cloud that day. Just like everyday. The voices were drowned out. He didn’t hear the endless appointments that Hector ran by him. He didn’t hear the probably genuine advice Adira gave. He didn’t hear the deals and decisions and decrees that he agreed to sign to. And he didn’t hear any of the whispers of how he wasn’t good enough and a failure and nothing compared to his father. He didn’t hear them scoff as they foretold how he would run the dark kingdom into the ground at the rate he was going.

Well, he almost didn’t hear them.

And now here he was. Walking away from his castle after a drawn out day. The cloak tied around his neck a burden that he couldn’t be bothered to loosen. Let it strangle him. He didn’t care. Work wasn’t the first thing in his mind anyway.

Was he thinking of her? Of course he was. He had dedicated his life to her. But now the hole she had left behind threatened to swallow him whole. Knowing where she would be right now brought him such misery that his senses were numb. Everything was numb.

With any senses he still had functioning he mounted his prized horse and rode into the evening. Long and far he travelled. He couldn’t have told you if he had been riding for minutes or months. But he knew when he finally reached it.

The celebration.

A young woman is waving to a crowd of cheering people, her gorgeous bouncing brunette locks sheltered with a long lace veil. Her slender figure in a gentle, white dress. She is stunning. Laughing and smiling as she moves towards a decorated carriage. Her arm locked around another man’s arm. Just as she turns to enter her honeymoon cart her eyes meet the solemn man who watches her from across the street. Her smile fades.

Eugene just looks back at her. Watching. No. Waiting. Waiting for her to change her mind.

Watching as she doesn’t.

Once the carriage rolls away and the crowd cheer and celebrates the new couple, Eugene realises something. Something dark and empty and draining and almost shocking if he wasn’t already so detached from his own self. He realises what he wants to do next.

So he walks.

And walks.

He shrugs off his cloak, not watching to see where it falls.

He pulls off his coat, his gloves, his rings and doesn’t bother to catch as they fall in a scattered trail behind him.

He passes his horse. Shining and groomed. Thoroughbred especially for the young King of a kingdom. Eugene reaches above his own head where his crown sat. Taking it off he holds it in front of him for a moment. Is he reconsidering? No. He just thinks about what a shame it is that the horse will be left here alone. But oh well. Anyone that does take the animal in will have a good reward. He places the heavy gold and encrusted royal ornament in the horse’s saddle bag. Someone else can have it.

With a pat of it’s mane, he leaves the horse there and carries on.

And soon he is at the train station. It’s an old falling apart place like most establishments in his kingdom. He walks straight through to the platform To see there is an old steam-engine approaching. With individual rickety carriages and open gaping doorways to enter and exit through.

He gets on it.

Trains like these get a lot of tourist attention. The whole concept of the railway was very new and innovative and people travelled far and wide to see the new futuristic way of travel. The carriage he steps onto has several small crowds of foreign visitors. Usually he would guess where they were from but he barely notices. He just scans for any spared seats. One, he sees is beside has a woman trying to console a crying baby on it. Nope. Another empty seat is occupied by the de-shoed feet of a large and unclean looking man. No. And then he spots, in the middle of the carriage, two empty seats facing each other across a little table. He goes to take his place on one of the seats and looks out at the miserable rain as it spat across the fingerprinted window glass.

He didn’t even notice when the train took off. Though he stared out the window he saw nothing. Like he was staring at the air in front of him. Or not even that. He didn’t notice when it stopped at its next station. And he almost didn’t notice when it started to take off again. If it wasn’t for the noise.

‘Stop the train!!!! Stop! I need to get on!!’ A young woman’s voice calls out from somewhere outside.

A young man with a hook for a leg peers out of the window, ‘oh no, she's about to miss the train!’

Several people scramble to the windows to see the commotion. A few young men dash to the end of the carriage to one of the open doorways. The train is slow taking off so it’s easy for her to quickly jump on. Or it should have been.

A young man who reaches his hand out to help her on, is surprised to find he is handed a large bag of luggage.

The girl chasing the train, it turns out, has an obscene amount of belongings to load onto the train before she can get on herself. Several kind station staff help as they try throw her items one by one through the open train doorways.

A woman on the train calls out through the window, ‘Hop on the train, honey! Before it gets too fast! Forget all your things!’

‘No! I can make it! Keep loading my stuff on!’ The girls voice sings out. It’s a musical laugh of a shout that showed how entertaining she was finding her own predicament.

The carriage dwellers watch in bemusement as several bizarre items of luggage arrive onto the train.

The girl’s voice can be heard, ‘Keep going!’ She pants to her helpers. ‘Quick! The train is getting faster!’ Her melodious laugh can be heard as two large painted portraits are passed through the train carriage doors.

The man with the hook foot calls out to her, ‘Hurry up! Get on here! Aaaargghh!’ He falls back as a giant, plush, man-sized chameleon toy is thrown onto him.

A group of tourist children laugh at the bizarre the scene.

‘Ahhhhhh I’m going to make it! I’m going to make it!!’ The girl’s voice sounds from the door.

Several men lean out, holding out their arms to help her. Everyone on the carriage is cheering her on, leaning out of the windows to watch as she dashes alongside the train.

Everyone except for one. Eugene is so lost in his own thoughts that he barely registers the whole occurrence. He doesn’t even glance over to the sound of cheers and whoops when, at last, the young woman makes it on to the train.

The sound of her musical laughter fills the carriage. She chuckles through the struggled attempts to catch her breath as the passengers pat her on the back. ‘Now that! That was close!’ She wipes her brow, ‘you know what? I have NEVER missed a train in my life! Ever!’ She looks up to the imaginary sky and calls out, ‘Thank you!! Whoever out there saved me from my record being broken!’ She laughs as she smooths down the purple skirts of her simple delicate, silk dress.

She then turns to a drunk old bearded man, who had helped pull her onto the train, ‘hahaha you can let go of my hand!’ She laughs, ‘I’m not that attractive!’

But she was. She had huge green eyes, full of excitement and joy and fun and laughter and youth and freedom and every joyous thing ever. She was petite, but her energy filled the room and made everyone around her smile. And her hair, it looked like she had cut it herself. It was short, a rich brown beautiful mess that haphazardly stuck out in several directions.

She looks down at her other hand to study her ticket before moving through the long carriage. Without her needing to ask, several young men eagerly help carry her mountain of belongings behind her as she chatters away, to seemingly everyone she passes. They all listen. Entranced by her youthful and energetic presence.

‘I love travelling in this train! It feels like a real journey! An adventure! My parents are not too keen on them! Trains that is! Especially my dad! He always wants me to travel in our private carriage so I am safe and protected! Because you know how it is, I’m a girl and I’m small and travelling alone across the seven kingdoms! But I tell them, so what if I’m a girl! So many girls travel alone! And I’ve always said that life is in the journey! Not the destination! What’s the point in taking a quick ride home on a boring carriage all by myself when I can ride in style and meet lovely new people like all of you on a good fancy train like this! Honestly, I have to travel back and forth a lot! So, it might as well be fun!! You could say that trains are my second home… hmm can I see your ticket?’

Silence.

‘Um excuse me! I’m so sorry to bother you! Can I see your ticket?’ She asks again to no reply.

‘Helloooooo! I’m taking to you!!’

Eugene had drowned her voice out the moment she had jumped onto the train and wouldn’t have registered her at all if it wasn’t for the sudden slender hand that appearded in front of his face, waving erratically.

He suddenly jerks a bit and looks up, confused and lost, at the young woman before him.

‘This is my seat! A113? See, it says so on my ticket!’ She waves a little paper for him to see, ‘Can I see your ticket?’

He fumbles and silently gets up to move to the seat facing opposite.

‘Thank you!’ She says cheerfully as she sits down.

The young men place all her belongings in various overhead compartments, catch a glimpse of her before slowly returning back to their seats.

She carries on talking, now looking at Eugene who just stares at the table between them, losing himself to his own grey mind again.

The girl doesn’t realise his lack of interest.

‘I sit on other people’s seats all the time! It’s an easy mistake to make! Actually, I never used to book seats! I don’t really mind where I sit! Usually I’d just settle down wherever there was room! But recently I have gotten sensible and have started booking seats! They’ve made trains so affordable now that they fill up so easily! I have a long journey and the last thing I need is having to stand half the way. Especially on a night train! That said there’s usually someone really nice who gives me their seat to sit on. It’s weird because usually it’s young men! Isn’t that odd! I wonder what they all have in common that makes them so chivalrous! Maybe it’s just that they are young and fit and don’t mind standing? But that doesn’t make sense because I am very young and quite fit but you won’t see me opting to stand on an overnight train ride!’

An hour passes.

‘I mean I don’t know about you but I like crowds! I don’t understand why people don’t! What are crowds anyway! They are just made up of people like you and me! There’s no reason to be afraid of them! And the more people that are around, the more people there are to meet!’

Another hour passes.

‘I’ve got to say that Corona is the best though, isn’t it!? Have you been? I know people think it’s super touristy but you can’t beat the atmosphere there! I love it! My family has been there for generations! Everyone has a family! And so do I! Mines so fun! I miss them so so much when I am away!’

Another hour passes.

‘Hostel, hostel, hostel! It was so fun! The lady that took care of us was scary at first. Really grumpy, never smiling, but soon she warmed to us! In her own way. I even gave her ear-muffs on her birthday! Since she hated loud noises! She must be related to this lady I know back in Corona!'

Was this girl really still talking? Had she even taken a break in the last few hours? Eugene’s eyes had stared on the scratched window looking out to the dreary darkness. His mind floating in a dense solemn cloud that barely registered the girl’s chattering.

He didn’t know what triggered it but suddenly he knows it's time. His jaw sets and he gets up to walk away.

‘Hey! What happened!? Where are you going!?’ She calls after him.

He doesn’t reply.

It was late now. Most people on the train had fallen asleep, against windows or other people’s shoulders. He walks past everyone to the far end of the carriage.

He stands by the door.

The cold night air rushes in. he shuts his eyes. The cool bite of the winds. The dark emptiness of the night. The violent ruffling of his clothes. The aggressive chug chug chug on the tracks. He lets himself feel it all. One last time.

Then he looks down. There is another track running along the one this train was on. He observes the speed of the ground rushing past them. It’s too slow. It’s not enough. He would just get bruised. Of course, he picked the slow train.

Then he hears it. A sharp bell rings out, he turns to see another train approaching the neighbouring track. Coming from the opposite direction. Newer and faster with masses of steam rising in its wake.

That will do.

He straightens up, ready as the light of the oncoming train shines brightly unto to his face, he closes his eyes, he holds his breath, he loosens his grip and then-

‘GET BACK!’

Chapter Text

Eugene turns around.

Shocked. Shaken. He feels the other train whizz by behind him at full speed. The train he should have been under... He sees the girl with the wide, green eyes and short brown hair as she reaches at his collar to pull him away from the open doorway. She is talking at him. Rapid and frantic. He can’t hear her over the sound of the train rattling violently across the tracks behind him. He doesn’t say anything. He just watches her. He can feel his frozen tears streaked across his face. Had he been crying?

She pauses and squints slightly, concerned, ‘C- can you not hear? Are you deaf!? Can you not talk?!’

He doesn’t say anything. He just watches her.

‘Or are you just really shy?’ She crosses her arms, ‘Or maybe you are just really rude! Who knows! I’ve asked you three times now and you haven’t said a word!’

‘Ticket please.’ They are joined by a man in an official red uniform and a smart cap.

The young woman nods, ‘let me get it out.' before fumbling with a small purse hanging across her shoulder.

The man turns to Eugene, ‘ticket please, Sir?’

Eugene just looks at him. He is numb. He can’t talk. The shock of what had just happened threatening to tear him apart. What was he about to do? What would have happened if he had done it?

‘Sir?’ The ticket man moves past him, ‘Sir, it’s not safe to stand near these openings.’ He moves past Eugene to hang a chain across the open doorway, mumbling about how they really needed to install doors.

Meanwhile the young lady turns to Eugene and speaks slowly and deliberately as she mimes a rectangle in front of his face. ‘T I C K E T! H e w a n t s t o s e e y o u r t i c k e t!’ She continues with her big obvious gestures half-whispering, ‘w h e r e i s i t?? T i c k e-‘

‘I don’t have a ticket,’ Eugene mumbles to the ground.

Her soft eyes widen slightly. Like she hadn't expected him to speak. Was that the first thing he had said to her? He didn’t even know. He was completely out of it. He is still so startled that he doesn’t notice when they return to their seats and the girl chats away to the ticket man.

‘The thing is,’ the girl continues in a gentle voice, ‘his plan was really last minute. It was an emergency! He didn’t get the time to buy a ticket. He would have missed his train! So, he just quickly got on. But the train isn’t that full anyway, is it? You could just write up a ticket for him now, can’t you? Please Sir!’

The ticket man had been looking down at a piece of paper in his hands, looking like he is counting something. The girl nudges him and he looks up at her.

‘Sir, are you convinced yet? Or do I need to keep talking?’

The ticket man gives a long bored sigh and then turns to Eugene. ‘Where do you need a Ticket to?’

Eugene had not been listening. He was just staring out at the pitch black night. The night that had almost engulfed him. The night that should have taken over his soul and left him-

‘Oi!’ The ticket man snaps his fingers in front of Eugene’s face, getting his attention. ‘Where’d you need a ticket to?’

Eugene, is still hazed, ‘w-where is this train going?’

‘What?’ The ticket man frowns, unimpressed.

The young girl with them is taken aback too but covers it up and nods quickly, ‘you mean... the last stop right? You are going to the last stop! Corona! Same as me!’

The ticket man turns to her, unconvinced.

She gives the man a sad smile that anyone could believe was real, ‘Sir, I guess I’ll have to tell you, he is going through a really tough time right now. Something really really bad happened to him recently… Don’t ask. Just- just please...’ she point down at the pen in the ticket man’s hands, ‘one way to Corona.’

The ticket man, like most she came across, warmed to her nature and gentle smile. He breaks into a grin back at her and writes up the ticket. He takes the money that Eugene eventually fumbled out, and leaves them.

Once the man had moved into the next carriage, Rapunzel starts giggling like a child who got away with stealing from a candy shop. ‘Woah! Look at you, boss! Travelling without a ticket! Now that. Is. Brave!’ She leans in a bit, ‘what’s your deal anyway? Are you on herbs?!’

He glances at her, silently, solemnly, before looking down at the table again.

Her voice softens, ‘Look, if you have a problem you can tell me. All of my friends tell me their problems! And I always tell them how to fix them! I’m that kind of person! A problem solver! My dad asks for my help all the time when he is trying to solve people’s problems! Whatever the issue is, it’s never too hard that I can’t fix it! And I like seeing people happy anyway! What’s the point of having sad people around you and not doing anything about it! Anyway, what’s your problem!? Come on tell me! What’s the problem? Don’t be shy! You can tell me! What’s wrong? What’s the problem? Wha-‘

‘YOU! You’re my problem! You just keep talking and talking and talking and you don’t stop! Can’t you tell I am not interested in talking to you! I just want to be alone! I don’t care if you are going to Corona or Vardaros, to stay in a hostel or a brothel, I just don’t care alright!? Just please, please! Leave. Me. Alone!’

She flinches at his sudden loud outburst.

There’s a long silence between them. He starts to feel guilty. He opens his mouth to apologise before she interrupts.

‘The brothel part wasn’t nice.’ She says sternly.

He aggressively continues to avoid eye contact as he whispers, ‘yeah... yeah I’m sorr-‘

‘It’s okay! I get it!’ She surprisingly smiles at him, ‘Clearly you are upset about something, and now you are taking all that negative energy and letting it out on me! And then started talking lots of rubbish! But it’s okay, I don’t mind! You didn’t upset me! Actually,’ she crosses her legs eagerly. Practically bouncing in her seat. ‘Nothing upsets me nowadays! You wanna know why? Because I’m getting married!’ She shows him some jazz hands and laughs gleefully.

He just looks at her, dumbfounded.

‘And you know what!?’ She whispers, ‘I’m eloping! Eeekkk! How exciting is that! My boyfriend isn’t well off so my parents won’t agree. But I thought, hey ho! No one can do anything once I’m married! I’ll just fall at my parents’ feet and beg them to forgive me! And I’m sure they will! You know, I have always wanted to elope! Ever since I was a kid! I love the idea of just escaping and running off somewhere with someone you love! How romantic is that! I’ve just been waiting for me to finish my education and for his bookstore to get set up....’

She continues off on her vocal rampage again. Eugene just watches as she keep on going. Is she even breathing? He stays silent and annoyed at this overexcited, hyper, aggravating woman who wouldn’t shut up.

Who knows how long passes. With him frowning at the situation he was in while she chatted away. Eventually the night got late, she rested her head on her folded arms over the table. Drifting off to sleep, her voice a slow murmur, ‘aand.. and that’s why I.. why I don’t like wearing shoes... anymoreee...’

Eugene raises an eyebrow. Wow. She doesn’t even stop talking when she’s asleep. He couldn’t deal with it for much longer. He hears the brakes of the train start to come into play and, grateful for the chance to escape, silently gets up and walks away.

He thought he had moved swiftly but as he walked past, he brushes against her elbow, causing the young lady to slowly drift awake.

‘Hey’ she mumbles, ‘whereyougoinnn?’

When he doesn’t reply she groggily opens an eye to see that he was nowhere to be seen.

That perks her up. ‘Where has he gone now!?’ The girl ponders aloud as she gets out of her seat and makes her way across the carriage.

The train had been stationary at its current stop. She gets to a doorway and leans out to look at the platform. She shivers. Having since changed into her favourite blue night dress, something she always did on long overnight train rides, was not doing much to protect her from the cool evening breezes.

Looking across the dark platform she sees the silhouette of her quiet sad stranger, dragging his feet away from the train in the glow of a single golden lamplight.

Then the bell rings.

And the train starts to chug.

The girl gasps before shouting into the night, ‘hey! Hey hero! You are going to miss the train hurry up! Hey!! The train is setting off!’

He keeps walking.

She panics and quickly jumps off the train, ‘heyy!! The train! It’s going!’

Nothing.

She walks along with the train. It’s slow enough that she could easily go to him and then both of them make it back before it left again. She can make it!

She starts to dash in his direction to a bench facing away from the platform that he had made it to.

She was still convinced that his hearing must be awful for him not to hear the train leaving and her calling for him. Although he had seemed like a bit of a daydreamer. He must be too busy with whatever his sad thoughts were.

She runs up to him and taps his shoulder. ‘Hey! The train! It’s going! Come on!!’

She hears him give a frustrated sigh as he waves her off.

She looks back at the train. It’s getting faster.

‘You’re going to miss it! Let’s go!’

Nothing.

She turns back to see the train had picked up a worrying pace. She looks back at him, still unfazed by her, ‘UGH! I give up!’ She exclaims before ditching him and running back towards the leaving steam engine.

Now, it’s going too fast.

‘Someone stop the train!’ She yells as she sprints to reach one of the open doors. She races alongside it. Scrambling to grab a railing. Almost reaching it when-

BANG!

She crashes into a woman carrying a basket of roses. The woman’s merchandise falls across the platform, as does the young girl who scrambles to get up again and continue her chase.

Just as she tries to set off however, the woman she had crashed into grabs her arm, ‘Look at what you did! You ruined all my flowers! That’s my weeks wages gone! What do I do now! You better be paying for this!’

The young girl desperately rips her arm away, ‘I’m so so sorry!!’ She calls as she runs away to follow the leaving train.

It’s even faster now. She sprints. She can make it! It’s not too far! She conjures all her last breath to reach it! She stretches her arms forward to grab onto something. Anything. Using all her power and energy and stamina to reach it. Running and racing and chasing until...

The platform ends.

She missed it.

She missed the train.

She watches in disbelief as the train happily chugs away without her. Off into the distance.

What now?

She looks around her. Trying to make sense of what had just happened. The platform is dark and empty apart from the angry woman picking her roses from the floor.

And a young, sad man who guiltily steps onto the platform into her view.

She marches up to him. ‘You! You weirdo! What’s wrong with you! I missed my train because of you!’ She rages, pulling at her short strands of hair in frustration, ‘all my stuff! Everything is gone! And I am stuck here in my nightie and barefoot in God knows what station and what platform! What am I going to do now!?’ She yells.

Eugene did feel guilty. Honestly. It was the first feeling he had felt like other than… emptiness in a long time so it stung sharp. As much as he couldn't stand the young woman and her constant yapping, it was unfortunate for her to be stuck without any of her belongings in the middle of the night.

That said, he couldn’t really be blamed for this could he?

He frowns at her and leans in, expecting her to move away but instead she just reciprocates his glare.

‘Did I tell you to get off the train? It's not my fault you can’t keep to your own business.’

‘Oh!’ The girl fumes, ‘so it’s all my fault! How dare you! I try to help you and instead of thanking me, you’re giving me attitude!’

Eugene puts his hand on his hips. ‘Okay. Thank you.’ Deadpan. ‘Thank you for helping me. Now will you leave me alone, please!’

‘Leave you alone? No no no, you aren’t getting away that easy! I missed my train because of you and now you have to get me back home safe and sound AND with all my stuff! Okay?!’

She glares at him, not a tear in her eye as she prods his chest, ‘You. Will. Get. Me. Home! I’m not leaving you alone till you do!’

Eugene straightens up and crosses his arms.

There’s a moments silence between them. She can’t read his expression.

And then he sprints away.

The girl watches as he spins to run away from her and up the stone steps off the platform. Heading out of the station.

‘Hey!!! Y- you can’t leave me! You can’t just run off like that!’ She calls before chasing after him. ‘I’m not letting you get away from me!’

She chases him up the stairs, across the station entrance, out the station, she almost loses him, when she sees him standing by a waggon parked by the side of a dusty road. He's talking to the person at the reigns.

‘Hey! Stop!’ She calls out.

Eugene turns to where she is and gestures for her to follow, ‘Hurry up! Do you want to catch that train or not?’

Wait. He’s helping her? She can’t help but laugh in confusion as she follows him and soon then both clamber into the strange vehicle.

Inside the cart is dark. There are deep rich curtains falling across the walls. Weird artefacts scattered across the space. Eugene chooses to believe that those can’t be real bones hanging there. And at the centre of the space is a small table with a glass ball at the centre of it. And by the ball sits... a monkey? In a turban?

There is a small window through which they can see their driver. It's an eccentric looking woman with long dark hair with a red sash tied over it. She wears clunky Jewellery and bright makeup.

Eugene can’t help but roll his eyes. He hated fortune tellers. The brown-haired girl he was with, however, is much more enthralled with the waggon's interior as she eagerly goes to pat the fly-away eyed primate.

The cart sets off. And with every slow clip clop of the horse’s hooves, the young couple of travellers can’t help but frown at the snail pace they are going at.

The girl leans towards the window to where the woman lazily tugs at the reigns. ‘What are you doing? Go faster! We can’t catch a train like this!’

‘Madame Candardist will only go the speed the monkey says I should go. And today monkey says slow and steady wins the race.'

The girl turns to Eugene, ‘She’s mad! She’s actually mad!’

Eugene raises an eyebrow. She was one to talk.

But she wasn’t wrong about that fact that they would never get to the next station in time at this rate.

Eugene sighs before turning to the shrewd woman. ‘Stop the cart.’

‘What?’ She glances back at him.

‘Stop the cart.’

The woman shrugs as she pulls the reigns, bringing them to a halt. Eugene calmly gets up and exits the cart.

‘What are you doing?? Couldn’t you hold it in!’ The young girl calls out to him.

Eugene doesn’t reply. Slamming the cart door shut he marches around to the front where Madame Candardist sits. Without warning, he slides next to her and tries to push her across, ‘Move.’ He says forcefully enough that even the monkey jumps.

‘What are you doing you disgraceful boy!?’

‘Move up! Now.’ Eugene shoves and squeezes himself into the driver seat before snatching the reigns from her.

And with a fast flick of his wrists, they speed off.

They rush, practically flying down the bumpy roads. The green eyed girl giggles with glee like it was a ride. Madame curses at them as she clutches her seat for dear life. The monkey in the back screams erratically as the objects in the cart fly around the small space. And Eugene, for the first time in a long long time can’t help but smile. Now this is fun!

Madame Candardist was not having fun, ‘Stoopppp! We're all gonna die! You’re going to hit something!!’ Seh grabs Eugene's shoulder and shakes him aggressively.

The girl in the back leans her head out of the small window and leans in between where Eugene and the fortune teller sat. ‘Don’t distract him!’

‘He’s going to kill us!’

‘No, he isn’t! You don’t know him! He isn’t just an ordinary man! I mean just look at him!’ She sings out as the horse races down a sharp turn and more ornaments fling everywhere.

After almost half an hour of speeding, finally, they are at the next station. Both Eugene and the young girl barely wait for the waggon to stop before jumping out and racing into the little empty station. The woman angrily calls after them, ‘you didn’t pay me!’

Eugene and the girl ignore the woman’s cries and sprint in until they get to the platform to see... the train. Her train. Standing there. Waiting.

They made it!

They both laugh as they pause to catch their breaths.

She turns to Eugene, chortling through her heavy pants. He clutches at his side and slowly breathes in and out, ‘There... There’s your train. Now please! Stop trying to help me. I’m fine on my own-‘

‘Hey! You need to pay me!’ Madame Candardist had caught up to them and grabbed Eugene’s arm. Her hair was flying in a hundred directions. Miraculously she looked more eccentric than before! One of her earrings had fallen out and she had probably lost one of the 50 scarfs she had draped over her. And she did not look pleased.

‘Okayyy. Give me a minute’ He mumbles as he pulls out a small pouch from the satchel hanging across his body and starts to rifle through it.

He feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns to where the young girl who was still catching trying to her breath. It’s the first time he notices that she’s quite pretty.

She is gesturing for a drink. ‘Money, I- I need- I’ll pay you ba-‘

He hands her a few silver coins and she thanks him before moving to a drinks stand.

The girl slams coins in front of a tall broad red-haired man. ‘Water please!’

He passes her a cup. She immediately grabs it and takes a long sip. ‘Aaah! That’s better! People think lemonade is the most refreshing drink ever, but I never liked it! Nothing beats good cold water!’ Another sip, ‘Wow I needed that! How much is it anyway?’

‘Eight silver coins.’ His low voice grumbles.

The girl freezes, ‘What? Eight? For water? Where did you import it from? Atlantis!? Don’t lie! What’s the actual price?’

The man frowns at her, ‘That is the price.’

‘That’s a rip off! You are taking advantage of thirsty travellers! I manage the water pricing for the whole of Corona! I know how much it should cost! I’m giving you two silver coins for it and no more! That's still more than enough to give you a profit and you know it! Geez!’ She takes a long sip of her drink, maintaining her determined eye contact with him.

He glares back at her. And then he seems to notice something behind her. A slow smile appears on his face. It's sickeningly menacing. She is taken aback. Is he trying to scare her? Threaten her?

And that’s when she realises. Somewhere behind her is a chug chug chugchugchug...

She whips her head around to see the train leaving the station. ‘No!’ She wails.

And once again she is chasing a leaving train.

This time there is no one to try to help. No one to bump into. Surely, she’d make it!

‘Stop the train! Please!’ She’s calls into the night. Panting. Racing. Reaching.

But once again, the train leaves before she can even get close to it.

She watches in disbelief as the smoke from the engine rises into the distance. Further and further away.

She feels tears fall down her face.

She turns. The guy. Where was he? The guy who helped her. She didn't even know his name. Not that it mattered. He wasn't here anymore. No one was. It’s just a dark, lonely, isolated, abandoned platform.

She’s afraid.

The girl wanders around the station. It’s quite small. Old. Almost abandoned with its rotting wooden pillars and falling planks. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

She can’t help but sigh with relief when she finds an office with a light glowing inside. She enters to find a jolly looking round man with a large moustache and rosy cheeks sitting behind a desk.

‘Oh! Hello dear! How can I help?’

The girl sits down opposite him and pours her heart out. Explaining her whole situation.

He nods along to her tale and sighs at the end of it. ‘Well the next station that train stops at is Vardaros. All I can do is write a letter to the Vardaros station. We have a good pigeon system between here and there. They can take all your belongings and keep them safe for you. But as for what to do with you… now I’m afraid I can’t help. The next train will be tomorrow evening. You’re stuck for the night.’

The girl hugs herself. ‘Well... Can I stay in here, at least? Until the next train for Corona comes?’

The man gives her a sympathetic smile, ‘Don’t worry! I’m here for you! Now, do you have any family you need to inform? We can send a pigeon to them too.’

The girl smiles, ‘That would be amazing! Can you send a pigeon for the castle?’

The man pauses, ‘Castle?’

‘Yes that’s where I live.’

‘Oh are you a staff member or…’ he pauses. And then squints at her. ‘Wait. You're not the Princess, are you?’

The girl blushes, ‘Yeah that’s me.’

Suddenly the man’s entire demeanour changes. His warm smile vanishes. He abruptly stands up. His voice colder. ‘Well, I’m going home now. I have to shut this office.’
The girl panics, ‘B- but where do I go now?’

‘It’s your fault. Who told you to get off the train anyway?’

She looks at him in disbelief. He had seemed like he would be sweet and kind to her. She peers at his name badge, ‘instead of judging me, Monty, maybe you could give me some sort of help!’

He gets up. ‘I have work to do little lady. I'll send your letters off for you but that's it. You’ll have to work out where to go yourself. Good luck. It’s not safe for a young girl to be out all alone like this.’

He moves towards the door and gestures for her to leave.

She hesitates. Surely he wasn’t serious? Surely he would reconsider.

But as he stands there waiting she realises her false hope and she walks out, dragging her feet and heading to sit on a bench facing the cold and empty rails.

The candle in Monty’s office is blown out as he locks the door and leaves the station. She hears him muttering something about ‘blasted new young Coronian blood, as he leaves.

Was that why he treated her badly? He hated people from Corona?

It’s even darker now. And quieter. And lonelier.

That is until she feels someone sit beside her.

She looks up excitedly, but it wasn’t the person she had hoped for. Instead, the man who had sold her the water sat beside her. Behind him was a very, very similar man. They must be twins. The only differentiating factor was a long scar across his brother’s cheek. They smile at her and she immediately feels uneasy.

‘What do we have here, brother?’ The scarred one mocks.

‘The poor little girl missed her train.’ The other sneers leaning in close to her. She stands her ground. Back straight. Looking straight ahead. Trying to seem unaffected. Keeping brave.

‘Oh how sad! And now she is here all alone.’

‘Yes she is. It’s a good thing we are here to help her, brother.’

‘Oh yeah, you’re right. We can’t just leave her here all alone.’

‘Exactly. Why don’t you come back home with us, sweetheart. Out of the cold.’

‘And you know what else brother?’

‘What?’

‘She said she manages the water pricing in Corona.’

They smirk, ‘Ah but isn’t that the princess’s job?’

‘Yes, I believe it is. So I guess that must make her-‘

She immediately jumps up and steps away from them. She aggressively points a finger, ‘Hey! You stay away from me!’ She musters her most threatening glare.

‘Or what!?’ One of them laughs, ‘you gonna hit me? With your delicate royal hands?’

The brother places a hand on his twins shoulder. ‘Go on. Let her hit you, she’ll feel better! And it’s the only way you’ll ever get her to voluntarily touch you.’

The young green eyed girl glares more, ‘Back off! Don’t come near me!’

And with that she storms away, marching to leave the station and find somewhere else to go. She collects all her courage not to just run out of there. She didn’t want them to think she was scared. She was just angry, of course…

She hears the steady footsteps of the twins follow her. She hears their whispers mock her. Chuckling under their breaths about how she has nowhere to go.

At the entrance to the station she sees the waggon still there with Madame Candardist counting silver coins in her palm. Thank goodness!

‘Hey! It’s me! Madame Candardist!’ She calls out as she makes her way towards the cart, practically skipping with joy.

However, the oddball fortune teller jumps upon seeing her and quickly picks up the reigns to lead the horse and cart away. Glaring as she went.

‘Wait no!’ The girl calls out behind her.

But soon the waggon is out of sight. Much faster, she notes, than she had been driving it before.

The girl looks around. It is a pretty desolate place. There is a clump of slums across from the station. And there’s not many people around. She turns to the station. The two red haired brothers are watching her at the entrance. Waiting with twisted grins.

She looks around for somewhere else to go. She wonders towards a lane. There she sees a group of women standing around. She sighs with relief. And goes towards them. Safety! At last. She approaches them and notices the way they all look her up and down. Sure she was just wearing a thin silk nightdress but they didn’t need to be so rude!

None of the women seem keen to talk to her. They continue to eye her curiously, judgementally.

Just as she gets there, a young man with tied back long hair and a sharp grin grabs her arm.

‘Hey!’ She yanks herself away.

The man smiles at her, ‘you new?’ He looks her up and down too. But this wasn’t in judgement. It was something else. The way he looked at her made her want to hide. ‘Come on then.’

She frowns. Did she know this guy? She looks around at the women around her and then notices how they are dressed and laughs nervously as it clicks, ‘Oooohhh!! Right! No no! I’m not one of those!’ She tries to explain.

The young man looks bored. ‘You’re not what? Okay, look.’ He doesn’t wait for her response, ‘I’ll pay 75 silver coins for the whole night. Let’s go.’

She backs away. ‘Oh. Um. No. I’m not…’ She quickly turns on herself and speed walks away.

The man follows her, ‘hey what your problem? Come back! I’ll pay 80 then! 90!'

She keeps going. Until she sees the twins coming in the other direction. She looks back. The man is still following her, swinging a glass bottle in his hand. Oh no. Where does she go now? What can she do?

She notices a side alley and quickly makes her way down it. It's dark and narrow and was probably not the best direction to head in with three terrifying men following her but what choice did she have? Suddenly all her father's warnings run across her mind. She prays for that the alley won't be a dead end. Prays for some sort of saving grace. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that she is walking towards an opening.

And that’s when she sees a joyous sight.

In the smoky dark of the night, illuminated solely by the emerging moonlight, was the figure of a familiar man kicking stones as he wandered, aimlessly.

She grins. Thank goodness! She sprints up to him. Grabs him by the shoulder. Spins him round to see it’s actually him. And oh how pleased she is to see those familiar sad brown eyes. Although now they are shocked brown eyes looking down at her in disbelief. She doesn't care. His long nose and cute goatee are the best most wonderful things she has seen in the whole world and she can’t help her joy as she launches forward and hugs him tightly.

‘Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!’

He pulls her away from him to look at her. The confusion on his face is evident. ‘Y- y-ou... you missed the train AGAIN?’

She can only grin back sheepishly.

He looks behind her. ‘And who are they?’

She turns to follow his gaze. Three men stand at a distance. The grey one who had just grabbed her and the two broad brothers. As they watch her with someone else they awkwardly turn and scamper away.

She laughs and simply holds her hand out for him, ‘Hi! My name is Rapunzel!’

He sighs before taking her hand and shaking it. ‘Flynn. Flynn Rider.’

Chapter Text

Eugene had stopped thinking ahead a long time ago. But he hadn’t exactly been living in the moment either. More just surviving until he didn’t want to any longer. When his day had started he had no inkling of an idea that he would have left his kingdom on a whim, almost ended it all, and would end up wandering the dark plains of an empty field with a ridiculously bubbly girl in the middle of the night.

And yet here he was.

Rapunzel had made it clear that she was not going to let him out of her sight until he got her home safely. To be honest, he didn't trust her to get back on her own anyway. She had insisted that they should find a place to stay for the night, (even though it would be morning very soon) and travel to Vardaros to get her belongings before he took her right to her front door in Corona.

Unfortunately, finding a place to stay was proving difficult. The station they had been at was in the middle of an incredibly dodgy sort of village. And with those scary ginger twins eager on Rapunzels tail, she wasn’t particularly keen on staying in the area. One nice enough woman in the bleak crowd had told them there was a large, well, established inn a few miles out into the fields so they decided to head there.

So here he was, trekking through a field in the endless dark, holding a small lantern as their only sort of light, with a girl who would not stop talking.

He didn’t know why he was going along with her. Honestly he just realised that she wouldn’t leave him alone. Also he did feel slightly guilty for her ending up in this predicament. And, though he dared not admit it to himself, he was starting to grow... well not fond of her but certainly bemused.

‘... I mean isn’t this crazy! Who could have imagined that I’d end up walking in the middle of nowhere with a complete stranger in the moonlight! I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure but this is wayyy more than I expected I’d get! Isn't this fun?!'

Eugene rolls his eyes, ‘You’re really enjoying yourself aren’t you?’ He watches as she grins and she skips alongside him and he can’t help but give a weak, exhausted chuckle, ‘it’s like we are going on a picnic.’

‘Aren’t you enjoying it!? It’s so exciting! Like being on a mission to find the hidden inn! Not knowing what will be in store for us!’

‘You’re insane.’ He mumbles his reply, ‘Someone needs to put you in a museum. There should be a ticket just to look at you.’

She moves to stand in front of him, blocking his path as she puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow at him. ‘And what about you? Where do we put you? Mr Mystery who never talks, never replies, hangs out of train doorways and drives carts like a maniac!’

He forces a smile at the ground because there was something difficult about meeting her eyes. He doesn’t respond.

‘Anyway you never told me what your problem was! What is it?’ She hops beside him again, moments away from brushing against his arm, ‘clearly something is bothering you! you can tell me! What has got you so down!?’

Yeah. She was annoying. He didn't get her apparent need to get involved in other people's lives. So what if he had a problem? What did it have to do with her? He had spent so logn never having anyone to talk to abut his feelings that he was convinced that it wasn't necessary.

She must have noticesd that he had stopped smiling.

‘Ok fine. Go back to being quiet Mr Mystery! That's fine! You know, this reminds me of when I was hanging with Ariel. First time I met her she didn’t say a word! I had to do all the talking! Of course, that wasn’t her fault. She had a condition or a curse on her or something! They wrote a book about her and everything though! You've probably read it. Everyone has. I got it as soon as it was published! I love reading! A good story is an adventure in itself! Do you like reading? Do you have a favourite book? I know that’s a hard question! I could never pick just one! But I guess a few do come to mind! What about you?’

Nothing.

‘Come on that’s not a secret! You could at least tell me that! you must like Flynn Rider, right? The book character?’ He glances at her hesitantly, ‘Well your parents must have loved the books if they named you after him!’

Eugene stops walking. Rapunzel seemed worries she had said something wrong but then she follows his gaze and in the near distance they see a building.

They gape at the towering structure with spikes and turrets and angles. It was so peculiarly shaped. They were even more surprised to see, close up, that in fact the entire house was made of shells.

It was magnificent.

They make their way closer and Eugene knocks on the heavy doors. There is no answer. The couple glance at each other. Rapunzel shrugs and then gently nudges at the door. It swings open to reveal a kind of lobby, lit by a warm fireplace. Reading a book in a large armchair beside the gentle glow is a wiry man with smooth white hair on his head and a slick dark moustache upon his long face.

The man looks up to see Rapunzel and Eugene hovering by the door.

‘Ah guests! Welcome! Welcome!’ He puts down his book and walks towards them with open arms, ‘please come in! My home is your home!’ He has a very heavy French accent.

Eugene glances around. The place seemed pretty empty. Completely empty. ‘Uhh is this the inn?’ He asks cautiously.

The man gives a slick grin. ‘Ah did the people in station village tell you that? Well no, this is my house. Not an inn. But I have many, many rooms so I often allow weary travellers to relax here!’ His eyes dart between Eugene and Rapunzel. He gives a sly grin, ‘I also happily host those looking to...’ he eyes Rapunzel's revealing attire, ‘enjoy for a while.’ He give Eugene a wink that makes him shudder. ‘Welcome to the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow!’

Rapunzel laughs, ‘Hold up! So.. the house of today?’ The man momentarily frowns at her so she quickly straightens up to give him her most winning smile. ‘Thank you so much, Sir!’

‘But of course, mademoiselle!’ He takes her hand and kisses it. She giggles shyly.

Eugene isn’t impressed by the whole exchange but says nothing.

‘My name is Monsieur Matthews! And if you need anything then you are welcome to ask! Food, drinks,’ he gives another wink. ‘Toys. Accessories. Et cetera. Now how long will you be staying here?’

Eugene sighs, knowing exactly what the man was implying. He reaches into his satchel. ‘How much do you charge for a day?’

‘For your convenience, I charge by the hour.’ Matthews looks Rapunzel up and down again. Eugene instinctively moves to stand in front of her.

‘Hey!’ She complains. He ignores her.

‘Well, we need it for a day.’ He insists. His voice remaining as low and monotone and calm as always.

Rapunzel peeks out to the side of him. ‘No we don’t! We only need it for a few hours and then we’ll be done!’

Matthews smirks.

Eugene internally groans. Clearly Rapunzel had not caught on to the type of establishment they were in. Boy was this girl sheltered.

‘Let me handle this.’ Eugene mutters at her before turning back to Matthews, ‘How much for a day?’

Once again Rapunzel interrupts, this time moving in front of Eugene, ‘No no, don’t listen to him. We will pay by the hour!’

‘Rapunzel!’ Eugene can’t help but feel uncomfortable. Was she not picking up in what the creep was insinuating?

Rapunzel innocently pulls Eugene closer to her, ‘Look we need that wallet of yours to get us to Corona! Don’t waste it. We only need to be here a few hours! Why pay for a whole day!?’

Eugene rubs his forehead and sighs. Rapunzel takes his pause as permission to continue. She grins. ‘So what do you think? Three hours? That should be enough, right?’

He looks at her but doesn’t say anything. He’s exhausted. Frustrated. And maybe ever so slightly amused by her naivety.

‘Okay, okay. Four hours just to be on the safe side!’ She ponders.

Eugene can’t help but smile at her. She’s really innocent isn’t she. He turns back to Matthews, ignoring the man's smirk. ‘How much for four hours then?’

Matthews brings out some books for signatures while Eugene counts his coins. Rapunzel meanwhile skips around the lobby admiring the shining smooth pearly interior. Examining the different types of shells probably. It seemed like something she would know about.

‘Hey!’ Matthew hisses. Eugene looks up from his purse to meet the man's sly gaze. ‘Where’d you find her? I have seen most of the night girls from the village already, when men bring them here for the night. But she is a new one.’

Eugene had, at this point, given up completely and decides to play along. Why not? It would be nice to be more like his old self again. Or at least pretend to be the carefree Casanova he used to be with no concerns and no morals and always happy. ‘Picked her up on the train.’ He leans his elbow onto the desk between him and the other man and whispers, ‘Pretty, isn’t she?’

Matthews blows a mock chefs kiss, ‘she is a beauty. I envy the four hours you have ahead of you.’

Eugene rolls his eyes to himself as he takes his change and room key and moves away. Are people still this cheap? Honestly, when he was a teen he remembered men being this low. Heck he was one of them. You’d think they would grow out of it though. Then again having to move around royal and high ranking circles in the last few years had really helped him grow up. If you were to find a positive spin to put on it.

When Eugene arrives at the door, it is already open. Rapunzel is sitting in the bed cross legged. In her hand she holds a frying pan firmly across her chest. Where did she get that? She eyes him, suspiciously, as he comes in. She doesn’t have her normal care free smile. And she hold her nose in the air as if to exude a certain level of confidence she had never previously demonstrated.

‘You okay there?’ Eugene mumbles as he shuts the door and moves to slump into a nearby chair facing the bed.

Rapunzel narrows her eyes at him, ‘what were you and Mr Matthews whispering about?’

Eugene shrugs. ‘Nothing, why?’ He keeps his voice uninterested, bored. Did she hear them?

Rapunzel stays silent, watching him with definite suspicion, ‘I know karate, you know.’

He raises an eyebrow at her. Apparently she had heard them then.

Rapunzel keeps her posture upright and her tone serious, ‘I just thought you should know. I can do karate. I’m a brown belt.’

Eugene slouches back in the soft plush seat. ‘And why are you telling me this?’

She shrugs, swinging the frying pan skilfully on her finger. ‘I just thought you should know. I know I look like a dainty, delicate little girl. But I am a really good fighter! I could knock you out with one blow of this.’

Eugene can’t help but rolls his eyes and let out a tired laugh, ‘Oh I get it!’ He sits up and leans in ‘You are worried that I’m going to.. what? Hurt you? Assault you? Ra-‘

'I- I never sad that!' She grips the frying pan with both hands a little tighter.

‘Hmm but you were thinking it, weren’t you?’

‘I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea! I hugged you back at the station. I said I was gonna stay with you till I got home. I said we should find a place for the night. I don’t want you thinking I’m one of... those girls.’

Eugene crosses his arms, ‘Well I didn’t think that.’

‘I know. I’m just making sure!’

‘Okay I get it. I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry.’

‘Even if you were, you wouldn’t be able to! I’d smack you so hard it’d make your ancestors dizzy!’

Eugene gets up, he feels heat rise to his face. God she was irritating. ‘Okay! I got it! Man, it’s like you want to provoke me!’

‘What no I don’t!’ She retorts.

‘Then what’s the problem?’

‘Nothing! I just know what guys like you can be like! I’m not an idiot! But you should know there is only one man for me! And we will be eloping soon!’ She giggles. And with the ringing of her melodious laugh his frustration immediately diminishes. As does hers apparently. She is already back to her normal jolly self, happy in the thought of her apparent beloved. She couldn't hide her excitement if she tried. ‘He is the only man for me!’

‘Yeah, well you should know I am a one woman man too, okay!’ He mutters, defensively under his breath.

Where did that come from? He hopes she didn’t pay attention and was busy reminiscing about her beau but sadly she eagerly jumps up to hop in front of him, ‘Ahhh I knew it! A guy as handsome as you can't be single! Tell me more! What’s she like?! What’s her name?! Where did you meet? Wait! Are you married!?’

He sighs. That weight on his shoulders suddenly reappears. The dark cloud over his head hovers above him once more. He pulls out a rolled up piece of parchment from his pocket. ‘Stalyan. This is a portrait of her.’

Rapunzel excitedly snatches it away and opens it up to look at it. ‘Uh... This is a wanted poster.’

‘I never said she was perfect. Well, she was. She just used to have to steal sometimes to get by...’

Rapunzel nods sympathetically and looks down to study the sketch eagerly. ‘Well she is beautiful! You are a lucky guy!’ She elbows him cheekily.

‘Not really.’ He takes the parchment and starts rolling it back up.

‘Why?’ He looks up from his hands to her concerned face. Her tone had changed so much with that one word. So kind and soothing it could probably melt anyone’s problems away. Before he can reply she puts a hand on his shoulder, ‘oh I see! So this is your big secret! You got dumped!’

He doesn’t doubt she is feeling bad for him but the fact that she can’t hide her excitement of finally figuring him out was was pretty poorly timed. But kind of amusing too.

‘She left me for someone else. Married him today.’

Rapunzel gasps and immediately leans forward to snatch the parchment from his hands. ‘Right. Well, you want to feel better? Burn it!’

‘What?!’

‘Burn it! Her picture! You’ll feel so much better, I promise!’

‘No! Come on, that’s just childish!’ He frowns.

‘Do it!’ She bounces on the balls of her feet as she pulls at his sleeve like kid who really, really wants a toy. ‘Didn’t I tell you, I know how to solve everyone’s problems! This will help!’

‘’I don’t know...’ He whines.

‘Please! Just try it!’ Her huge green eyes plead up at him. Almost hypnotic in the way they shine.

He groans his resignation and he goes towards one of the lanterns in the room, opens the little glass frame. and pokes a corner of the parchment into the candle flame.

He holds out the parchment between him and Rapunzel so they can both silently watch as the little flame grows and slowly slides down to consume the page.

Once it has almost reached his fingers Rapunzel nods to him, ‘Now go to the toilet and drop it down the hole!’

‘What?’ He laughs

‘Go do it! Drop her from your life! The same way she dropped you! It’ll make you feel great!’

Eugene shakes his head and gives in. He leaves through a side door to where the attached outhouse was. He went inside. He looked at the parchment for the last time, watching as Stalyan's face was being engulfed by the flame. And then he dropped it down the hole. He looked down. It was not a pretty sight. But watching the burning parchment float deep down into the murky gross darkness until it was out of sight was... kind of satisfying.

Part of him couldn’t believe he had done it. That picture was once his most prized possession. The drawing of the woman he had loved the most. And now he had destroyed and discarded it with his own bare hands… the same way she had discarded him. Good riddance.

He makes his way back to the room where Rapunzel is bouncing eagerly. ‘So?’ She leans in.

He looks at her. Her eager face. He wide, anticipating, bright eyes. He finds himself giving her a small smile. ‘You know what? Your childish little plan... it actually made me feel better!’ He laughs. He’s surprised himself.

And she laughs with him, punching the air in delight. ‘See I told you! Now keep your chin up! You can do so much better than her anyway! You’re handsome and kind! You’ll find a better girl in no time!’

He looks away from her. ‘Thanks...’

‘I mean it!’ She grins, ‘Look, I’m a girl, aren't I!?’

He glances at her cheeky expression before quickly returning his gaze to the safe solid flooring again, ‘yeah?’

‘Exactly, and obviously I am dedicated to my true love and so I’m not interested in you. At. All. But imagine if I wasn’t getting married soon! And we had this whole adventure! I could have fallen for you! Just imagine!’ Her eyes are wide and excited like she just figured out how the mechanisms of time and space worked.

She really was something. It’s like she lived in a completely different world to everyone else. A world that was perfect and joyous. Where everyone’s dreams came true and all endings were happy. And she was so completely herself. Unbothered by how weird or strange she may come across to others. And weirdly that very confidence just made all her strangeness all the more wonderful to witness.

Eugene crosses his arms and leans against a nearby wall. ‘You really like yourself, don’t you?’ He smirks.

She giggles and gives a little spin. ‘Yes! I am my favourite!’

He nods and smiles at his feet.

‘What’s wrong now?’

His forced smile probably wasn’t as convincing as he thought it was.

‘Nothing.’ He doesn’t look up, ‘I just wish I was like that.’

Rapunzel’s laughs, ‘Well! Being like me? That is hard!’ Then her voice changes, it becomes softer and so sweet and genuine, ‘but finding a better girl? I can guarantee that you will!’

He gives her a grin and shrugs mockingly. ‘Alright then. You’ll have to help me find that better someone then.’

She gives a cheeky giggle. ‘Okay! Mission accepted! You get me home! I’ll find a girl for you! And we’ll part as unlikely friends! Now first tell me this!’ She gestures to herself. ‘What do you think of me?’

He laughs awkwardly. ‘W- what..?’

‘Come on!’ Gives gives a slow spin. ‘Tell me what you think of me!’

‘What kind of question is that?’

‘Come onnnnn! Tell me!’ She teases.

THUD THUD THUD

The door shakes on its hinges with each pound. The couple look at each other, confused and worried.

Eugene gestures for her to stay back and he opens the door to see Matthews strutting down the hall banging all the other doors too.

‘Quick everyone out! The authorities are here!’

Eugene jogs over to him, ‘Matthews, what’s happening?’

The French man shakes his head. ‘Some men from the station snitched on me! Told the local guards that I house men with prostitutes like yourself! Everyone has to come out the front door now.’

Eugene pauses. If anyone found out he was staying at a dodgy inn with a young girl it would be a nightmare for his reputation. He had spent so long trying to move on from his troubled past. To show people he was better. Changed. The last thing he needed was to be walking out of here with a pretty young girl in a little blue nightdress. His kingdom didn’t need another reason to doubt him and his worth! Then he smiles. Because when was the last time he cared about his future?

He turns to Matthews, ‘I can't get caught. Is there another way out?’

The French man scoffs. ‘You think I wouldn’t run if there was more than one exit!’

Eugene slaps his hands onto the silver haired blokes shoulders, ignoring the several half-dressed couples making their way begrudgingly towards the front door, ‘Look I will pay you double if you hide the two of us until the authorities leave.’

Matthews smiles at this and immediately ushers Eugene around a corner to a bookcase, upon which lie several shell ornaments. He twists one giant pearl and the whole case moves to reveal a secret passageway. ‘Take the girl up that staircase. There are several rooms up there you can hide in.’

Eugene grins. ‘Thank you!’ And with that he runs back to his room, where Rapunzel had been waiting anxiously.

‘What’s going on?’ She asks.

He holds his hand out for her, ‘Let’s go! We have to hide!’

He is smiling. He’s excited. She smiles back. Maybe she had been right. This is an adventure, after all! She quickly takes his hand and soon the two of them race alongside each other to the bookcase, up a twisted staircase, and into a dimly lit corridor with several doors and a grand mirror at the end.

Chapter Text

‘Where should we go?’ Rapunzel whispers, gripping his arm tightly.

Her voice shakes. It’s not fear. It’s thrill. Eugene can’t help but find it slightly intoxicating. He used to be like that. Enjoying every adventure that he came across. Living life to the full. But so much had happened and so much had changed him. His favourite version of him disappeared. And he had let it happen. But there was something very stimulating about being with Rapunzel. Somehow it took more effort to stay gloomy and closed off than it took to just run with her madness.

Before them are four cockle shell-shaped doors. One red, one purple, one yellow, and one normal looking door which was white with little pink flowers painted over it. At the end of the corridor is a large, shining, oval mirror.

‘Let’s try here.’ He moves towards the closest door. The purple one.

They slip inside to find a brightly lit room.

There doesn’t seem to be a source of light and yet the whole place glows and the climbing green-yellow walls shine. Scattered everywhere are mountainous piles of so many different and fun and exciting and hundreds and thousands of… toys.

‘Oh my gosh!’ Rapunzel squeals as she jumps up and down and starts dashing around the room. ‘Look at all of these! I wonder if this is some kind of nursery! Or a lost and found! Or play area for children!’

Eugene flicks at a nearby stuffed bear’s nose, thinking back to the couples that had been dragged half naked out of the building just minutes earlier. ‘I don’t think many kids stay here, Rapunzel.’

She hops onto a rocking horse and giggles as she swings back and forth, ‘I always wanted one of these! Which is weird considering I have a real horse now! So why would I need a fake one? But then again, Max isn’t allowed in my room so having one of these would have been fun! Like a rocking chair for young people! Forwards and backwards and forwards and backwards...’ she closes her eyes to fully enjoy the motion.

Eugene raises an eyebrow. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was a fully grown adult.

Rapunzel grins as she goes to jump on a little trampoline, ‘Isn’t this crazy?! Whoever all this belongs to is one lucky kid!’

‘One lucky, spoiled kid.’ Eugene frowns as he watches her head bop up and down and up and down.

‘Oh Flynn! There’s nothing wrong with indulging a kid every now and then!’

Eugene opens his mouth to point out how that line of thinking is a slippery slope but by then Rapunzel has already skipped away to explore what other exciting toys she could find.

There’s an impressive collection of all sorts of games and balls and teddies and tin-men and building blocks and ‘oh look! A spinning top! I love these! My friend, Cass has one just like this!’ She goes over to pick it up and put it on the floor in an empty space. She is just about to reach to press the top to spin it when she probably noticed Eugene admiring something he had just found. It’s small and has a peculiar blueish glow to it.

Eugene frowns down at it. It’s a sort of die. With many more than six sides. He turns it in his hand to see what number it goes up to but strangely it just seems to have various symbols on it instead. Symbols that change every few seconds.

He has never seen anything like it.

‘Woah!’ Rapunzel has now joined him to see what he had been examining, ‘I think that’s an infinity die! I’ve read about them!’

‘A what?’

‘Infinity dice! They have an infinite number of sides. It’s pretty self-explanatory, Flynn.’

He raises a sceptical brow, ‘A die can’t have infinite sides. What does that even mean?’

‘It means you can roll anything!’ Her eyes widen in excitement, ‘If we rolled it, anything could happen. Our faces could melt into jelly. The world could turn into an egg. Or we could just roll an eight. Who knows!’

Eugene scoffs. ‘Sounds like something from one of your storybooks. Dice can’t make people faces melt. Look.’

‘Wait no!’

Rapunzel jumps as Eugene flicks his wrist and allows the die to tumble onto the floor. It rolls and spins and turns and trips until eventually it settles into its place. Rapunzel immediately cowers.

But nothing happens.

‘See.’ Eugene states smugly.

‘What did you roll?’ Rapunzel crosses her arms nervously.

Eugene casually makes his way over to where the die had landed and peers at the top face.

‘Uh looks like a horse, or a donkey? Some kind of mule, maybe? I don’t know.’

‘I wonder what that will do?’ Rapunzel ponders.

‘It’s not going to do anything.’

Seconds later he is proven wrong.

PFFFFTTT

They hear a loud snort behind them. Eugene whizzes around and freezes at the sight before him. Rapunzel also spins but instead of being afraid she immediately gasps in joy as she races towards the majestic white animal that had just appeared in the place of the rocking horse.

‘MAX!!!!!!! You’re here! I was just thinking of you!’ Rapunzel goes to wrap her arms around his thick neck. ‘Now we only need Pascal and Cass and then the whole gang would be together again! Oh, I am so happy to see you!’

‘Uh... I don’t think he feels the same way, Rapunzel.’ Eugene hisses, still frozen in place.

‘What? Of course he-’ Rapunzel pulls away and that’s when she realises what Eugene had been seeing. The horse was stanced, ready to charge. His eyes raging. His mane almost floating in anticipation of his attack.

Rapunzel hesitantly takes a step back, ‘Max? What’s wrong?’

Eugene glances towards their exit. They’d have to get past the simmering animal to get to it.

He slowly creeps towards Rapunzel, keeping his eyes on the horse at all times. Holding a hand out as if to keep it calm ‘I don’t think that’s your Max.’ He says carefully.

Rapunzel scoffs, but doesn’t stop slowing backing away from it, ‘of course it’s really him! He’s just angry or...’

The horse whines aggressively.

Soon Eugene and Rapunzel are side by side. The horse’s eyes locked on them, it’s targets. They watch in horror as his eyes start to glow, bright and menacing. They grab each-others hands as he starts to scrape his front hoof against the ground. They hold their breaths as his mane and tail suddenly burst into lapping golden flames.

Eugene leans slightly closer to her, ‘does he usually do that?’ He whispers.

Rapunzel shakes her head. Her eyes wide.
Eugene let’s out a long slow breath, ‘On three we run to the door.’

Rapunzel nods.

‘One.’ He whispers.

They both take a step to the side slowly.

‘Two.’ She states.

Rapunzel gives his hand a squeeze.

‘THREE!’ They shout.

And then they sprint!

Dashing around the side of the room. Dodging the various toys scattered across the expansive space. Not daring to look back at the sound of aggressive galloping hooves becoming louder and louder and closer and closer.

They cross the room. They are almost at the door. It is just paces away! But then they see their path is covered by scattered tiny building bricks across the floor. Eugene scans the room as they continue to run, ‘okay, if we go to the left we can cut back round to the door!’

‘What?! No! Just keep going straight!’ Rapunzel pants.

‘But you’re barefoot!’

Rapunzel looks to grin at him, ‘so’s the horse!’
And before he can comprehend what she had just said, she lets go over his hand and he watches in amazement as she practically dances through the messy floor. Prancing across on her tiptoes as she expertly, elegantly makes her way across without stepping on any of them.

She gets to the door and turns back to him, ‘Don’t stop! Keep going!’

Eugene laughs in disbelief before thanking the heavens above for his thick soles shoes as he bounds through the tiny bricks, senseless to their sharp edges. Waving his arms around to catch himself as he slips and slides clumsily through the mess. For good measure he reaches out towards a box he passes and knocks it over so that it spills a mass of spiky little figurines in his wake.

Soon he has stumbled his way back to Rapunzel’s side and they rush through the door. As Eugene turns to slam it he sees the demon horse jumping in pain and wailing it’s neighs as it steps over the little pointed toys, still trying to get to them.

Eugene shuts the door and both he and Rapunzel sink to the floor. The girl beside him laughing as she catches her breath.

‘Yeah okay. That was definitely not Max!’

Eugene can’t help but laugh with her. It’s the heartiest laugh he had probably let out in the longest time, ‘I don’t know, that pretty much how I remember him!’

He pauses. Realising what he had just said.

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

Rapunzel sits up onto her knees. ‘No! It is something! You know Max?’

‘Well I wouldn’t say I ‘’know him’’ know him.’ Eugene murmurs quickly, ‘It’s not like we’ve go out for pancakes on the weekend or anything. Our paths may have just crossed in the past...’

Rapunzel frowns, ‘but Max is part of the guards for Corona... he barely leaves the kingdom.’

‘I never said I hadn’t been to Corona.’

‘Yes you- oh wait! No, you didn’t! You just didn’t reply to me!’ She shakes her head, ‘Wow I forgot how boring you were a few hours ago! At least you actually reply to me now!’

Eugene is just glad that she has moved on from his back story. That wasn’t something he wanted to go into. He listens to her babble about how great Max is for a while before they both go to try another door. This time the red one.

They peer inside to see a dark long room. Inside are several open cages and kennels. Upon the light from the corridor flooding into the room they see three pairs of eyes, glowing in the dark, staring at them.

BARK BARK BARK

‘Argh!’ He jumps.

‘Dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs!’ Rapunzel quickly shuts the door.

‘Okay I have had enough of scary animals today!’ Eugene exclaims.

He turns to where he expects to see Rapunzel but instead he finds she has already gone towards the yellow door and is peaking inside. She is still. Her shoulders slack.

‘You okay over there?’ Eugene asks.

‘Come look.’ She whispers.

Eugene stands behind her and gasps as he sees what she is looking at.

The door leads to the same corridor they were apparently standing in. Except there were people in it. Not just anyone. He was there. In a dark blue, rather dashing-looking jacket. And Rapunzel was there too. She wasn’t in her little nightie and instead wore some kind of purple multi-layer travelling dress. Though that was hardly the most eye-catching thing about her, for this Rapunzel had the longest most golden hair he had ever seen. With them is the short bearded man that had helped Rapunzel onto the train earlier that day. He looked just as drunk and smelly as before. And there was an armoured woman with short dark hair and a scowling unfriendly face and there’s also... Lance?

Rapunzel whispers excitedly, ‘That girl there, that’s Cass! The friend I told you about! Aaaand I don’t know that guy…’

‘That’s Lance.’ Eugene says quietly. ‘He’s my friend. Or he was.’

‘Look at my hair! It’s beautiful!’ She whispers.

Eugene glances down at his Rapunzel, seemingly mesmerised by her alternative self.

‘Yeah it’s impressive.’ He feels her weight shift beside him, and he casually adds, ‘But I don’t know… personally I’ve always had a thing for brunettes.’

She looks up at him to give him a small smile.

‘Still no way out.’

The two of them turn towards the voice. It’s the other Eugene. The happier, cleaner looking one. He turns to the blonde-haired Rapunzel, ‘and it’s gonna take us forever to check this whole place!’

The golden girl sighs, ‘Ugh, well, I guess we'll just have to stay here another night.’ She reaches to take Eugene’s hands, ‘Today was really tough... But you know, even though we didn't always agree on everything, I think our differing approaches ended up being complementary in a weird way!’

The Eugene laughs with her, ‘Blondie, I completely agree!’ His voice is soft and gentle and so full of... love, ‘...And if we ever do decide to have kids, assertiveness, compassion...’

‘And a whole lot of love!’ Blonde Rapunzel finishes. Biting her lip shyly.

Just then Lance sprints past the two apparent lovebirds, ‘Tag you’re it!’

Cassandra chases after him, ‘You do not know who you're messing with!’ She calls out.

Blonde Rapunzel cups her hand over her mouth, ‘Hey, hey, hey, no running in the house!’

She gives her Eugene a little wink.

He chuckles and wraps an arm around her, ‘Hey! Go easy on them.’

And they walk side by side, looking into each other’s eyes, out of sight.

Eugene and Rapunzel, the real ones, watching this whole scene from the yellow shell doorway before glancing at each other awkwardly.

Eugene instinctively steps away from her and she gives a nervous laugh as she shuts the door. ‘Well that was weird!’

‘Very weird.’ Eugene nods. ‘Clearly some sort of hallucinogenic mind trick making a false scene.’

She smirks, ‘Not an alternate dimension then?’

‘No chance.’

She laughs and gives him a cheeky wink, ‘well that’s a shame because it looks like we make a cute couple! Don’t you think?’

Is she trying to make him feel even more awkward than he already felt? If she is, then it’s working.

She happy skips to the last door. ‘One left! Should we see what’s in here!’

He shakes his head. ‘I feel like the safest place to wait is this corridor.’

‘But don’t you want to know what’s behind the other door? Aren’t you curious!’

‘Nope.’

Rapunzel shrugs. She was clearly disappointed. But Eugene preferred her disappointment to another scare.

She goes to the end of the corridor and gently slumps to the ground. Sitting with her back against the wall under the grand mounted mirror.

Eugene walks around in circles for a while, scrapping his feet. When would Matthews come back and say the coast was clear? What if the local guards took him away and he doesn’t come back. Should they risk leaving now? Should they wait until morning? There’s no windows or clocks here, how would they even know when it’s morning!? He should have thought this through. This was a bad plan. This is bad. Very, very bad. This is really bad…

That’s when he catches his own stressed eyes in the mirror.

Huh.

He walks up to it. Somewhere in his peripheral vision Rapunzel is fiddling with the ribbons on her night dress, chatting away to him. Whoops. He hadn’t been listening. He still isn’t.

He is too struck by his reflection. He is facing the mirror. Very closely. Looking at himself. It’s shocking. It was like looking at a stranger. When was the last time he had seen his face? Really seen it? He had avoided looking at his reflection for over a year now. Which was really unlike the normal him. He used to be so obsessed with his looks. His complexion. His face. His hair. His nose. But when Stalyan left him and his father passed away, he had stopped caring. Left it all. All the pride and confidence in himself and his appearance vanished. All that self love gone. He had belly-flopped into a gloomy existence. And having just seen an alternative him, a youthful, handsome, radiant version of him, it only made his actual self even more horrifying to confront. There are deep heavy dark circles under his eyes. His hair is unkempt and unclean. His complexion is grey and lifeless. And are those wrinkles starting to come through?! ‘What’s happened to me?’ He reaches to touch the face of his reflection.

‘What do you mean? What’s wrong?’

He looks down by his feet at where Rapunzel is sitting. She looked up at him with a concerned earnest.

‘It’s nothin- AARRGHHHHH!’ He turns to see his hand disappearing into the mirror. He watches as his own reflection has apparently come to life and is grabbing his wrist to pull him in.

Rapunzel jumps up, horrified, ‘Evil reflections! There’s evil reflection people in the mirror!’

‘Yes, I see that!’ He yells back. His whole arm was in by now. ‘Stay back! If you touch it, you might get pulled in too!’

Sure enough, Rapunzel’s reflection was also not mimicking her either. Instead it had its arms crossed as if waiting for the opportunity to attack her own doppelgänger.

Rapunzel opts for grabbing Eugene's free arm, digging her bare heels into the ground and pulling with all her might. She was surprisingly stronger than she looked and it certainly slows down Eugene’s descent into the mirror. It's not enough though. Soon half his body is on the other side. He cranes his neck to try and avoid his face being swallowed in to. He feels the mirror engulf up towards his face. It felt just like going underwater. If the water wasn’t wet.

Rapunzel struggles as she heaves with all her forces. Clawing at his arm for grip.

Eugene watches her hopelessly as his face disappears into the mirror, leaving only his one arm on the real side. With Rapunzel’s grip still strong and determined to hold onto it. He turns to see his own reflection grinning widely as he keeps his hands tightly around Eugene’s aching wrist.

‘Come on, Fitzherbert! What’s with the fight to live all of a sudden?’ The reflection sneers, ‘You were ready to end it all just a few hours ago. You were tired of your life. Well guess what! I’m tired of mine too! So how about you let me out. Give me a go at living your life. Someone might as well enjoy it if you aren’t going to.’

Eugene is dumbfounded. ‘Is- Is it just my reflection that’s evil or are you all like this!?’

‘We’re all like this.’ Mirror Rapunzel sneers.

Real Eugene frowns, ‘If anything, I’d like that other door Eugene to take over! The happy me! The one that’s handsome, suave, confident, charming-‘

‘OKAY we get it! You have a crush on yourself. Get over it!’ Mirror Rapunzel scowls.

He missed his Rapunzel.

Mirror Eugene gives him a wicked grin, ‘That other version of you doesn’t exist! All that’s left is me and you! Both miserable and ruined and defeated. Your happiness died with your old life, with your father, with your ex. You won’t be happy ever again.’

Eugene’s voice stays calm and confident, ‘Says who?’ With that he stamps with all his might on Mirror Eugene’s foot.

‘Argh!’ He lets go of Eugene to clutch his leg, hopping and cursing as Eugene is suddenly pulled back through into the corridor again by Rapunzel’s strong tug. The sudden change in momentum causes them both to fall into the floor. Eugene rolls to the side swiftly to avoid any kind of awkward situation where he might land on top of her.

Rapunzel immediately sits up and turns to him. ‘Are you, okay?!’

Eugene rubs his sore wrists. ‘I’ve been worse.’

‘Hey! Get back here!’

Eugene and Rapunzel turn to see Mirror Eugene aggressively banging on the mirror surface. Glaring ferociously at the two of them.

His eyes turned red and gleaming with rage.

Beside him and equally peeved, Mirror Rapunzel is banging on the surface too. The mirror shakes with every fist that hits it.

Eugene and Rapunzel take one look at each other and immediately get up to race through the final door to get away.

Once again, they are met by a blindingly bright room. A stark contrast to the dimly lit corridor they had just run in from. Eugene immediately slams the little white painted door behind them. And turns to see Rapunzel staring at the room before them with her jaw dropped.

‘You okay?’

She keeps staring forwards. ‘It’s the tower…’

Eugene follows her gaze. Sure, it was towering all right. They were in a pretty spacious room with walls covered left, right and centre with endless swirls of colours and flowers and figures and shapes. It’s beautiful. The whole place is round with a high pillared ceiling. There’s a small staircase leading to a curtained extension to the room on an indoor balcony. There’s a small kitchen. A table with a game of chess set up. There’s pottery and candles everywhere. The room is spotless and shining clean.

Eugene glances back at the girl beside him who is still astonished. ‘Uh... so is this when you tell me we have transported to your childhood bedroom or something?’

Rapunzel gulps and doesn’t reply. Wait... was he right?

She slowly wanders around the room. Strokes the strings of a guitar she passes, flicks through the three books on the shelf.

Eugene feels uneasy. And not just because he had never seen her go so long without talking. What was this place? Why were all these rooms associated them. Or at least, definitely with Rapunzel. He could just tell all the swirls of painted flowers and dancing girls across the walls were her work. It all screamed her.

This whole thing just felt creepy.

‘Rapunzel. We should go. There’s something very weird going on here. I don’t think we're safe.’ He runs his fingers through his hair as he starts calculating their options, ‘Maybe we can sneak out of this place without getting caught. I want to get as far away from this inn and that dodgy village as possible! We don’t need to wait for Mathews. I say we go back down the staircase we came from and check if the way is clear. Then, if it is, we can go back to our room. That outhouse was made of wood. We could easily use one of these kitchen knives here to break down the wooden walls and escape through the back. Hmm yeah that might work…’

The green-eyed girl watches him cautiously before slowly replying. ‘Yeah. Yeah okay.’

He ignores the strange look she is giving him and turns to open the door. When BANG.

Darkness.

Eugene opens his eyes. It takes a moment to adjust to the bright light. He sees an angelic figure hovering over him. A gentle halo of the brightness of the room silhouettes her. And he shifts to realise he is lying on the cold tiled floor.

‘Wh- what? What’s happening?’ He blinks until he has a clearer image. Standing over him is Rapunzel. And she is clutching a heavy item in her hand, ‘D- did you try to knock me out with a frying pan!?’

‘I didn’t just try. I did.’ She points out.

‘Ah. Shit that hurts.’ He rubs the back of his head. ‘What is it with you and violent attacks with kitchen utensils!? Actually no. Scratch that. I don’t want to know. What I want to know is WHY are trying to kill me!?’

Rapunzel cringes, ‘I’m sorry! I panicked! I- I thought for a moment you might be the mirror person!’

‘What? Why? How?’ He whines.

‘You were talking so much! And you sounded so confident and articulate.’ She exclaims. ‘It was so unlike you! Usually you just move around being sad and quiet and unbothered. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you say more than two sentences at a time and there you were coming up with this whole thought-out plan! It’s amazing actually! Not your plan. How little you talk usually! I don’t know how you manage to communicate with so few words! I feel like sometimes I’m talking for ages trying to get my point across! I definitely wouldn’t call myself articulate! But I guess I’m good in other ways! No one has ever really complained about how I talk! Oh well... apart from you on the train earlier but that was more just because you were sad about your girlfriend...’

Eugene sits up and continues to rub his head as he interrupts her rambling. ‘You were holding my arm the whole time I was being dragged into the mirror.’

Rapunzel shrugs. To be fair she looks apologetic. ‘I don’t know the mechanism of real world to mirror transmission, do I? Maybe you mind swapped or something!’

‘Mind swapped? Man, you need to change whatever books you’re reading.’ He groans as he moves to stand, ‘I hope you don’t still think I might be a mirror monster?’

‘No.’ She holds her frying pan up to her face to hide her smile, ‘You look like your usual grumpy and angry self now.’

‘I wonder why.’

Eugene acts annoyed. But really, he can’t help but notice she is right. He had been talking a bit more than usual. He didn’t remember the last time his mind whirred like that. Plotting a scheme. A get away. But he decided it’s not the thing to psychoanalyse now and instead he heads out to the corridor and Rapunzel follows. They make their way down staircase they came from to find that the bookcase leading to the rest of the house was closed again. They push and shove to no avail. They were trapped.

Eugene huffs. ‘This is terrible for fire safety.’

Rapunzel suddenly perks up, ‘Oh I have an idea! Come on!’ She races back up the stairs and Eugene begrudgingly follows suit. There was no way out up there and he wasn’t in the mood for another misadventure with one of those damn doors. He chases after her as she runs straight back through the white door with the pink flowers and back into the room. When they get there, she goes to look out the window and gestures for him to join her, ‘look!’

He leans beside her to peer out at the view.

They are very, very high up. So literally a tower then? And, for some reason it is very, very bright and sunny for the middle of the night. Before them are lush green meadows. The sound of a nearby waterfall. The whole tower is enclosed in a sort of hidden little rock valley.

‘Yeah nice view.’ He says uninterested.

Rapunzel points to a cave at the end of the meadow, ‘that might be a way out!’

Eugene frowns, ‘What makes you think so?’

‘Well what if this white door is a portal to my old home! If that’s the case, then that passageway leads straight to a forest not far from Corona!’ She points to a small cave opening in the rock face surrounding the high building. Eugene scans the area for a moment.

‘No. You’re wrong...’ Eugene realises.

‘How so?’

He points at the sky. ‘Look. Do you see that shimmering? This isn’t really the outdoors! That isn’t a real sky! This is still inside the house of yesterday’s tomorrow.’

Rapunzel follows his focus and squints at the sky. Indeed, when peering closely it is not a big blue expanse but a huge dome made from the same shell material as the rest of the house.

‘Wow! I didn’t see that!’

‘Well it makes sense. It’s daylight out here but it can’t be later than 3am by now. Even in Corona. It should still be dark.’

She elbows him ‘Hey! You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?’

He ignores the compliment, ‘You might be right though. That little passageway between those rocks might still be a way out. Not to Corona but at least out of this wacky place.’

‘Hmm should we go down then?’

He looks over the edge, ‘It’s a long way to the ground. Let me climb down first and see if there’s actually a way out.’

‘But Flynn...’

He passes his satchel to her and in a swift motion he throws his legs over the window and immediately starts working his way down the tower. Grabbing each rough stone with all his grip. He dares not look down at how far he has to fall as he makes his way expertly down the wall.

‘Flynn!’ He hears her call him from above.

‘Wait a minute!’ He needs to focus. A few years back physical activity like this would have been no problem. Second nature. He didn’t even break a sweat at a little danger. But sitting on a throne for a year had certainly taken the steam out of him. He was worried that he might not still carry the dexterity and skill he once did.

But as he makes his way down the tower. Huffing and puffing and concentrating on every placement of his feet, every grip of his hands, he can’t help but feel a thrill. Because he’s still got it, baby! And it isn’t long before he is safely on the grass at the bottom of the tower.

He lets out a breath of relief mentally patting himself on the back and turns to see where the tunnel leads to see-

‘Hey Flynn!’

Rapunzel is standing there opposite him, holding his satchel to her chest and giggling at his confusion.

‘Flynn, that was so impressive! Do you do rock climbing often? You look like you really knew what you were doing! I’d love to try that! Maybe you can teach me sometime! You’ve inspired me now! I never thought it was a very important skill before but look at that! Who knows what skills you need on an adventu-‘

‘How did you-?’ Eugene interrupts.

‘Oh yeah! Right! There’s a secret staircase,’

Eugene jaw drops. He feels slightly betrayed, ‘And you didn’t think to tell me?!’

Rapunzel laughs, ‘I would have told you if you listened! But you just hopped right on over and started climbing down! And you looked like you were having fun so I just thought, whatever! You looked like you knew what you’re doing! Anyway, I took the stairs but let’s be honest you had the more fun experience of the two! You have your whole life to go down some boring stairs! But scaling walls! Now that is exciting!’

Eugene just shakes his head in complete and utter disbelief, ‘you’re something else, aren’t you.’

With that they both head across the meadow and toward the small exit to the rock pit.

Rapunzel skips happily and hums a merry tune as Eugene strolls, amused at her carefree nature, beside her.

They enter the little cave that ends with a blanket of leaves. Eugene tentatively moves the green curtain to the side to peek beyond. And sure enough before them it is no longer a bright sunny day in a forest but the dark night in the empty fields that they had trekked earlier. It was a way out of the house of yesterday’s tomorrow. And it looked like no one was around to catch them!

‘Brilliant! Let’s get out of here.’ Eugene turns back and is surprised to see the back of Rapunzel’s brown head as she quietly looks back at the tower in the nearby distance.
‘Uh... you okay?’

For a moment she is completely still before whipping her head around and giving him a characteristically huge grin, ‘Yes! Let’s go!’

She eagerly pushes through the veins and out into the dark cool fresh air. ‘So what’s the plan now, Mr Plan Maker? It should be morning soon!’

Eugene shrugs, ‘If we keep walking this way we should get to a main road. We can see if anyone is travelling by who can help us out.’

‘Okay!’

They walk for a while without talking. Well. Eugene wasn’t talking. Rapunzel was singing away at a tune she was excited to share with Eugene. She claimed that it would be ‘his kind’ of music. It definitely wasn’t. But Rapunzel’s voice was pretty and sweet and it therefore made for bearable listening. Enjoyable listening even.

The night sky slowly starts to shift into a deep blue as the morning slinks into being. By the time they reach the road it is completely deserted. The couple opt to sit to the side on the grass and wait until a passer-by could give them some assistance.

Rapunzel crosses her legs under her as she focuses on creating a crown of sorts with some flowers she had picked on their way. Eugene just watches her for a while before tentatively bringing something up something that had been on his mind for a while now, ‘Uh- you know- you know back in the room- Uh- you were asking what I thought of you? Why were you asking?’ He feels awkward asking, but the curiosity was getting to him.

Rapunzel immediately lights up and springs to her feet. ‘Oh yes! I forgot! So, what do you think!’ She gives him another twirl, her nightdress lifting riskily higher up her slender legs. ‘You like me right!? Cute? Pretty? Charming? Fun?’

Well there was no denying it. She was beautiful. She was radiant! Even in the dark nght she shone like she was bathed in sunlight. Her green eyes sparkled with life and she was constantly bouncing with joy. You couldn't help but find her remarkable.

Eugene laughs weakly, ‘Uh yeah...’

‘Yeah!?’

‘Yes.’ He shrugs. It’s not like he disliked her.

Rapunzel squeals and kneels beside him, ‘Then you will love my friend Cassandra! She is just like me!’

‘Your angry looking friend from that hallucinating door?’ Eugene is not convinced.

‘Okay she is a bit different. But you’ve seen her! She is stunning, isn’t she?! She has the whole dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin look going on! Very glam! And she has a heart of gold just like yours truly! I guess she is a little less chatty than me. And less upbeat. A little more sarcastic. Sometimes cynical... But who does that remind you of, ayyy?’ She nudges him, ‘She’s a toned down, baddass warrior version of me! You both would be perfect together!’ She leans in to start whispering to him, even though there was no one nearby to hear, ‘I’m going to be eloping really soon! I say you and Cass should run away with me and my love and then the four of us can live somewhere far away! It’ll be so fun! We can do couple-y things together! What’d you think?’

It sounded dreadful. But he plays along, pretending to consider her offer, ‘hmmm... yeah it sounds good. But-’

‘But?’

He smirks playfully, ‘But what if you and I just elope? Look, it’s the most convenient option.’ He points out, very matter of fact, ‘All we need to do is not go back to Corona and we’ve basically already started.’

Rapunzel scrunches her nose. She’s confused. Or maybe frustrated. Or even annoyed. Whichever it is, it’s adorable.

‘Flynn! I get it! I know I’m fun! And we are having fun right now and all! But if you marry Cass and run away with us then you’ll get to see me half the time too!’

Eugene fakes a pout. ‘But what if I want to see you all the time?’

Rapunzel groans. ‘You’ll get to have Cass all the time! And then you and I can hang out half the time too on top of that!’

‘Oh I see!’ Eugene nods slowly, trying to control his grin, ‘so this is some kind of bargain deal?’

Rapunzel smirks and holds out her hands like she is envisioning some writing across the air between them, ‘Buy one, get one half price!’

He snorts. ‘Yeah makes sense... but if we get married then the deal should still be valid the other way around, no?’

Rapunzel punches his shoulder. ‘Hey! I’m trying to set you up with my friend and you’re flirting with me, instead! That’s so rude!’

Eugene chuckles and leans back to lie on the cool grass. ‘Okay, okay sorry! I’ll stop. What I want to know is: do you always talk nonsense like this or is today a special occasion?’

Rapunzel throws herself onto the grass too. Lying a several paces away from him. ‘No, I always talk nonsense! What about you?’ She grins.

Eugene turns his head to look at her, ‘Nah not usually.’ He pauses. ‘Actually, I used to... I used to talk a lot. But I haven’t in a while...’ He hides his pain with a forced light-hearted chuckle, ‘Thing is I never found someone like you to talk nonsense with.’

Rapunzel smiles, ‘Well just you wait! When we get to Corona, I’ll introduce you to Cass and you’ll be set for life! She already has lots of practice listening to me all the time!’

He smirks back at her, ‘Okay, sure.’

Just then they hear the sound of clip clopping against the dusty road. Sitting up, they see a jolly looking man with a horse and a cart full of mountains of hay.

Rapunzel gives Eugene a relieved smile, ‘I think we found our ride!’

Chapter Text

‘Ah I could get used to this!’ Eugene tells no one as he lies shirtless on the deck of a cargo ship under the bright midday sun. He couldn’t tell you the last time he had allowed himself to tan properly. And boy, did seeing that pasty creepy reflection of himself yesterday really give him the motivation to start working on his usual sun kissed glow again.

Rapunzel was somewhere chatting away to the ship’s captain, probably to learn about navigation on the sea. She seemed like quite a keen learner. Honestly, Eugene had no idea where she got the energy. He just felt like relaxing now.

After all, They had had a busy morning.

After hitching a ride on the back of a hay cart (and both of them catching up on some much-needed sleep on the blanket of dried grass), they arrived at a small seaside town. The place was bustling in the early hours of the morning with ship workers starting their day by loading and unloading their boats.

Eugene and Rapunzel first went to a clothing shop and bought several new items to wear. The young girl was not keen on spending another moment longer in her thin exposing nightdress and Eugene was finding his royal-wear trousers quite restricting and annoyingly itchy. Rapunzel chose to wear a green two-piece outfit today and he refused to admit out loud how good she looked in this particular summer look. Meanwhile, Eugene opted for wearing a much more comfortable open collared plain white shirt and loose fitted dark trousers. Rapunzel was, of course, not shy at all in expressing how the look suited him.

They then decided to go get breakfast. And enjoyed some pancakes with fresh fruits and thick sticky syrup. Their first meal since they had met. Crazy! The two of them barely spoke to each other as they scoffed down their food in mere seconds. Getting several helpings until they were too full to move. Eugene was impressed to see how Rapunzel appetite exceeded his own. Although, she was an annoyingly slow eater, playing with her food by making faces out of the contents of her plate and creating funny voices for each of her characters before scooping up forkfuls of her creations into her mouth. When he pointed out that this was a bit sadistic she brushed him off saying it was fun and that he should try. So, when on their third helping of breakfast they did a little competition to make each other’s faces with the fruit and pancakes at their disposal. Rapunzel’s Eugene was definitely the winner. He pointed out that her creation of him was more accurate than many of the portraits he had had done in the past. Eugene’s plate was less impressive, but Rapunzel appreciates his use of the maple syrup to create her choppy locks of hair.

They both finished their meal with full bellies and very sticky fingers.

And finally, they headed to the docks in the hope of finding someone travelling in the direction they were headed. There was only one ship heading in the direction of Vardaros. It was a fruit transport ship that travelled between various port towns and a lonely island which grew the rare and exotic type of fruit that the ship man would deliver.

They reached a snag however when the captain refused to let them travel with him unless they paid a price even higher than what Eugene’s deep and plentiful wallet could afford.

Rapunzel was ready to turn somewhere else but somehow, out of nowhere, Eugene had managed to produce a bag of gold from behind his back and present it to the captain.

Later when she asked where he had acquired the extra gold from, he admits to her that while in conversation with the old captain he managed to skilfully swipe the bag from the captains own belongings and then present it as a payment. And the clueless captain was none the wiser. Rapunzel tells him off for tricking the kind man and Eugene promises to add a few extra coins to the captains supply before they left.

Yet, despite disapproving of Eugene’s action, he could tell that she was in awe at how he managed to do it without the captain or even her noticing! Right under their noses! One thing that doesn’t escape her notice, however, is the pride in Eugene’s voice as he explains how he did it. She points out the gleam in his eye as he explains his little trick. She was pleased to see him be more expressive and exciting about something. Even if it was for a ‘naughty reason.’

And that’s how they ended up on a beautiful empty ship on course to a random little island somewhere across the vast ocean.

This felt like travelling in style. Just them on a huge empty deck under the bright summer sun. Eugene closed his eyes and enjoyed the sound of tumbling waves hit the bow and felt the gentle salty winds breeze over his face.

‘Flynn look!’

Eugene opens one eye to see Rapunzel had seemingly been chased away by the captain and was now standing right at the nose of the ship, leaning on the rails and pointing down into the water.

‘Look I think there’s a whale over there!’

Eugene closes his eyes again, ‘how exciting.’

He imagined she probably stuck her tongue out at him in response to his sarcasm.

The captains voice booms from where he stood at the wheel, ‘Don’t go to close to the edge, miss! You don’t want to be falling in!’

Eugene heard Rapunzel scoff, ‘don’t worry! I have great balance!’ He turns his head to see that she has now climbed up two of the bars of the railing and is holding her hands out; whether to enjoy the feeling of the wind rush around her, or to feel freer, or to prove her point, he doesn’t know. What he does know is that this probably isn’t a good idea.

He groans at himself for caring as he gets up, swiftly pulls his shirt back over his head and from his comfortable spot, makes his way over to her.

‘Flynn! Come up here! It feels like flying!’

Eugene puts his hands on his hips, ‘it’ll feel like falling if you don’t come down soon.’

‘Oh, don’t mother me! I’m fine! I’m FLYINGGGGGG!!!!’ She laughs into the salty spray around then, ‘this is so fun! Best day ever!’ She turns her head back slightly to look at him as she shouts over the sound of the loud sea, ‘I’ve always wanted to do this! But whenever I’ve been on a boat I’ve been with my parents and had to be all sensible! Plus, my dad is so paranoid that he doesn’t let me anywhere near the edge of the ship anyway! I’ve never had the chance to get so close before!’

‘You can be close without climbing up on there.’ He points out.

Rapunzel rolls her eyes at him and starts to complain about how boring he is when suddenly the ship pitches and she is flung forwards, head first, screaming, panicking, failing, into the crashing waves. She disappeared into the depths below. Eugene races to the edge to see where she fell. But they were at the front of the ship so she would have been hit by the vessel’s heavy body. If it didn’t kill her she would certainly be unconscious. Floating somewhere, almost lifelessly in the lapping waves, the greens of her skirt being the last thing to be seen disappearing into the dark depths. And Eugene. stands there helplessly. Searching through blurry tears. Blaming himself. Thinking about how it was all his fault. How none of this would have happened if she hadn’t chased him off the train. She would have been safe at home. She didn’t deserve to die out at sea. She didn’t deserve for her body to vanish from existence, never to be seen again by her loved ones. She didn’t deserve for her last moments to have been spent with a petty criminal who cared about no one, not even himself. She didn’t deserve to drown. So, he dives in after her. The best case would be to find her. The worst case would be that he went down with her.

Or at least that would have happened if Eugene hadn’t been there to quickly grab her waist and yank her back safely onto the ship’s deck before she could hurtle into the sea.

It was fine. They were fine. He takes a second to ignore the fearful vision that had flashed across his mind in those milliseconds. He steadies himself before looking down at the girl in his arms.

Eugene expects that the near-death experience would have shaken her. He had been there just the day before. Stilled and humbled in the aftermath of almost jumping from that train. He looks down at the small figure clutching him, her dishevelled hair, her wrinkled skirts and... her laugh?

‘Oh my gosh! That was so close! Good thing you have quick reflexes!’ She playfully punches his arm.

Eugene raises an eyebrow, ‘does- does anything scare you?!’

‘Not anymore!’ She grins.

Well, that was ominous. But Eugene doesn’t have the chance to think much more of it as at that moment the island they were headed to comes into view.

He had to admit it was beautiful. The rolling hills and thick green foliage and fine golden beaches and... some leaves running on the beaches...

As they pull into the island Rapunzel and Eugene gape at the sight of a crowd of small colourful leaves with limbs and faces running to welcome the ship.

The captain walks past the two of them to drop the anchor, ‘Ah those little things are the Lorbs. They’re friendly don’t worry.’

Apparently this was all the reassurance Rapunzel needed as she immediately hops off the ship to meet her new friends, ‘Hi! I’m Rapunzel! It’s so nice to meet you all! My friend, Flynn, and I are travelling on this ship headed for Vardaros! I have to say it’s so exciting to be here! You have such a beautiful home!’

Eugene rolls his eyes as he watches Rapunzel instantly become besties with the little leafy people. They take to her quickly. Talking away with the squeaky voices as they welcome her to their island. Eugene uses the time to quickly sneak those extra coins in the captain’s cabin. He was a man of his word after all.

On his way back to Rapunzel he comes across the captain who warmly pats Eugene on the shoulder, ‘it’s going to take a few hours to load the ship with all the fruit. Why don’t you and your girl go and explore the island meanwhile.’

Eugene knew he preferred the idea of seeing the island to manual labour but out of curtesy asks, ‘are you sure you don’t need our help loading the ship, Cap?’

The man shakes his head, ‘No you both enjoy your honeymoon!’

Eugene is pleased to get this response, because it’s not like they were travelling on the ship for free and therefore chooses to ignore the old man’s confusion about the nature of his and Rapunzel’s relationship and happily hops off the ship and joins his apparent fiancé on the beach.

She grabs his arm, ‘Alfons says there’s this cave with their ancient artwork in it! Let’s go see it!’

Eugene raises an eyebrow, ‘we are on a beautiful beachy island on a hot sunny day and you want to go to natures equivalent of a museum?’

‘Pleeeeeaaaaaase!’ She tugs again giving him her biggest greenest rounded eyes.

He sighs, ‘lead the way.’

She squeals with glee and immediately starts skipping in the direction, he can only assume, she was told to head in.

As they trekked through the dense jungle floor Rapunzel excitedly points out the botanical names of all the plants they pass. Marvelling at how most she had only ever seen as illustrations in books.

Eugene was starting to realise how intelligent and clearly well read she was. It was weird how the day before she had seemed like an air-headed child who endlessly rambled the inner workings of her foggy mind. But since then she had proven to be smart, brave, a leader… who just happened to never stop talking. Sure, she could be reckless and at immature at times, he put it down to an obviously sheltered upbringing, but she really was an incredible girl.

‘...Flynn! Earth to Flynn, Hello!!’ He realises that she had been trying to get his attention.

‘Yeah sorry what?’

She shakes her head as if exasperated by him before pointing out a small cave within the bushes and trees. ‘I think that’s the cave Alfons was talking about!’

Sure enough they enter the right structure to see the walls decorated with colours and shapes, telling the stories of the Lorb’s folklore and history. Eugene can’t help but feel like he is seeing something very intimate and personal. What was it about art that always felt like you were looking into the artist’s soul. He had had a similar feeling back in that mad inn when he saw Rapunzel’s art sprawled across the inner walls of the tower room. He didn’t let himself admit it then. But he saw something familiar in her doodles. Sure, they were bright and joyous and friendly and warm and busy and loud. But somehow, with every solitary flower and every golden girl, he saw a sense of loneliness. It was strange to think that such a social and energetic girl could ever be lonely. But it was there. Painted on her walls. Her alone. It was a feeling he knew all too well.

‘Woah look at all this! It’s beautiful! I love seeing people’s artwork! I thought drawing on walls was just something children and I did! I thought I was weird, but it turns out so many people do it! Even leaf people! I love how earthy the colours are! Don’t you!? It feels so tribal! I mean, look at all this! And woah! Look! That looks exactly like Pascal!’

He follows her gaze to see that indeed a giant sketch of a green animal with a sun on its belly and a crown on his head sits grandly on the stone surface. ‘Your frog?’

‘Chameleon.’

‘Gesundheit’

Rapunzel scoffs and continues her train of thought, ‘I wonder if there are other chameleons here! There must be if they are drawing such big and majestic paintings of them! Though I haven’t seen any! And none of the plants here are the kind chameleons would eat! I don’t know how well they would survive out here! Although we’ve only seen one small part of this island! Maybe there’s a whole chameleon colony somewhere! That would be soo cool! Or maybe we just aren’t seeing any because they are so good at camouflaging against their background! Of course! Why didn’t I think of that first! I can be so silly sometimes honestly!’

Could she? In only a day Eugene felt so used to her attitude and behaviours already. What he used to find annoying was becoming more endearing. She was a romantic. And it clearly clouded most of her thoughts and actions. But she was no air head.

After Rapunzel has thoroughly examined all the artwork, (too thoroughly if you asked Eugene) they decide to leave the cave and head back to the beach. Eugene had pointed out that since they did what she wanted this time they’d do what he wanted. And lying in the warm sand was next on the agenda.

But getting back was tricky.

Eugene passively listens to the continuous stream of consciousness that left her mouth as they continue deeper into the jungle, now with eyes keenly scanning their environment for potential reptiles and unfortunately not for their way back.

They were definitely lost.

Rapunzel scratches her head, ‘we can’t be that far off! I’m sure the beach was in this direction! I remember seeing that tree over there at some point on the way to the cave! ...Unless this is a different stripy tree! But No, I’m pretty sure it’s the same one because I thought the stripe looked a lot like my friend Varian’s hair! Although maybe this is a special species of tree! So, all of them have striped bark and it’s not a special odd one out tree that can be used as a marker or-‘

‘Okay I have no idea what’s you are going on about and frankly, I don’t care, but we have not been here before.’

Rapunzel raises an amused eyebrow at his confidence.

He holds his hands up, ‘okay don’t believe me If you don’t want to! But I happen to be really good at getting around in the wilderness!’

Rapunzel seems like she is going to give an unconvinced response but instead in that moment her eyes catch sight of a small object hidden in the bushes beside them.

‘Oooh what is this?’ Rapunzel reaches down between the twigs and leaves to pick up what looks like a small carved statue.

‘Maybe it’s some local idol or something.’ Eugene offers but he realises that she isn’t listening to him. Instead, the girl’s head whips up as she looks at something in the near distance. She gasps before running excitedly to... hug a tree.

This was weird. Even for her. To make matter worse she starts talking to the definitely inanimate plant.

‘Oh, I can’t believe you’re here! I’ve missed you so so so much!’ She squeals, ‘you have to meet my friend, Flynn!’ She eagerly turns to him and apparently expects a reaction from him.

‘Uh...’ he doesn’t know what to say. How does one talk to a tree? He had barely spoken to people in the last year.

‘Flynn! This is him! The one I was telling you about! My boyfriend! He came here to find me!’ She turns back to the tree, ‘this is Flynn Rider! He has been helping me get back home after I missed my train! Which was his fault really but it’s okay we’ve moved past that now-‘

‘There’s no one there, Rapunzel’ he interrupts. He can hear the mild panic in his own voice.

She pauses before frowning at him, ‘you- you can’t see him?’ She turns to her tree, ‘why can’t he see you!?’

She seems to be in deep conversation with the tree and Eugene just continues to watch her weird interactions wondering if maybe she ate some kind of dodgy berry or if the leaf people cast a spell or-

‘Ohhhhh maybe you need to hold this thingy to see him!’ She exclaims as she gently throws the little wooden carved figure over to him. he expertly catches it with one outreached hand and looks at the tree hoping to see a man standing there rather than have to accept that his travelling companion had completely lost the plot.

But instead, he sees someone else appear in the middle distance. A woman. Not just any woman. The woman that had haunted his most wonderful dreams and treaded through his darkest nightmares. She talks to him. Soothes him. Reassures him. And it’s a stun to his core. His first reaction? Shock. But then he is happy. He fills with a warmth. It’s a happiness he had not felt in a long time! She was here! She was here for him! But how? How could she be here?

And that’s when he realises it can’t be true. She can’t be here. She isn’t here. And he throws the statue to the floor, watching as her image vanished before his eyes.

Rapunzel dives to catch it. ‘Hey! Don’t break it!’

Then she sees his expression. And immediately forgets about the magic wooden carving, leaving it to hide amongst the shrubbery it had fallen into. Eugene stands still, with tears in his eyes. ‘Flynn, what’s wrong? What did you see?’

Eugene immediately wipes his eyes and forces a nonchalant demeanour, ‘oh... yeah I just saw Stalyan. No big deal.’ He turns to walk away, ‘you chat with your imaginary beau, I’ll go for a walk.’ He turns to get away. Far away. Far from that blasted idol and it’s tortuous magic. He wanted to be away from any manipulative spells for once! He just wanted to be alone.

But can anyone really be alone when they have Rapunzel in their life? He is followed by the sound of gentle pattering feet as she elegantly comes up beside him.

He notices her empty hands, ‘where’s the statue?’

‘I left it there. You’re right. It’s not the real him. I’ll see him soon anyway! I don’t need a fake version of him!’ She then reaches to place a flower petal hand to his shoulder, ‘are you alright though?’

He shrugs her off, ‘yeah I’m fine.’

She doesn’t believe him. He knew he wasn’t doing well at being convincing but luckily Rapunzel takes the hint not to push him further. They keep walking through the jungle as Rapunzel tries to cheer him up by chatting away about the different breeds of trees were around them. He listens along. Something as boring as types of fungi could become fascinating when told from her lips.

Eventually they end up reaching an interesting sort of lagoon within a cave. They find a place to sit. It’s on the edge of a cliff overlooking the deep blue crystal clear waters below. It’s a bit of a height. It feels intimate and secret and special.

It could have been a wonderful place to sit in silence and in wonder of its calm beauty.

Of course, things don’t stay quiet for long with Rapunzel around.

‘Soooooo...’ she starts counting on her fingers, ‘you are amazing at climbing, getting out of places, planning, swiping things... am I missing anything? There’s probably more! But That’s one interesting skill set! Makes me wonder where you’d acquire such interests…’

Eugene side glances at her. ‘Sorry, I don’t do backstory.’ He was already annoyed that he had warmed enough to her to admit being rejected by Stalyan. He wasn’t interested in her knowing how he had pretty much been rejected by life too. He had some form of reputation to uphold! Even if it was a broken one.

‘Oh go on! Where did you learn all these things? You have the makings of a master criminal!’ She laughs

‘You’re not far off.’ Shit why did he say that.

‘What?’ There’s some nervousness behind her faltering smile.

He sighs.

The best way to avoid sharing, is to share a fragment of the truth. The parts that hurts you the least. When you hide behind half truths people think that’s all there is and don’t probe for more - for what you are really hiding. It was a trick he had used his whole life. ‘well if you want to know, I used to have to steal to survive. I’ll save you the whole sob story of poor young me growing up in an orphanage. I left that place early on and had to steal to eat. Then I figured out I was good at it so I stole to survive.’

Rapunzel gasps, ‘WAIT! Flynn Rider! I knew the name was familiar!’ she snaps her fingers. Uh oh. ‘I thought it was the book, but I completely forgot that there was a real Flynn Rider wanted in Corona! How could I forget!? You’re him! Wait wait wait! So you are the one that stole m- you stole the Lost Princess’s crown?’

Shit. When she didn’t react to his name at their first introduction he had assumed that she hadn’t heard of him. But it looked like there was no hiding now. Eugene cringes, ‘Uh yeah...’

Rapunzel, to his surprise, grins at this realisation, ‘So that’s why you know Max! He must have chased you!’

‘Yeah and I have a damaged disc to remember him by.’

‘But you returned it didn’t you?’

‘My disc?’

‘The crown.’

Eugene hadn’t thought about that crown in a long time. It was meant to be his ticket to a better life, but then his life changed all by itself.

He shrugs, ‘yeah I got it sent back to the castle. Anyway, by then the lost Princess returned. So, I thought hey she can have her tiara. Didn’t look that good on me anyway.’

Rapunzel smirks at him. He tries to avoid looking her right in the eye. There’s a strange precision to the way she was watching him. So analytical. So curious. ‘So did you steal it because it was worth a lot?’

‘What you think I stole it for the fun of it?’

She gives him a slanted smile, ‘when you tricked the captain by swiping that bag of coins, you looked proud of yourself.’

‘Because I got us a great deal!’

She rolls her eyes. ‘You think stealing is fun, don’t you? I can tell.’

He realises there’s no escaping her acute senses. ‘I thought it would be a fun challenge. Turns out Corona guards are ridiculously inept, by the way. So, it ended up being quite easy. Someone should really get them into order.’
Rapunzel laughs at this. He hopes he might have distracted her by insulting her precious hometown’s policing force but instead she waits for him to continue.

‘And sure, I mainly stole it for the price. I would have sold the crown and gotten myself an island like this one! Tanned and rested and alone and surrounded by enormous piles of money!’ He grins at the thought. Not of his dream. But of the man he once was with ambitions so grand and extravagant. He missed those times with those dreams.

She laughs, ‘what would you do with so much money on an empty island like this one!?’

He rolls his eyes, ‘that’s not the point! The point is to be well off and alone.’

‘You were well off and alone when we met. But you didn’t seem particularly happy.’

Silence.

He didn’t like how accurately she was assessing him. Who was she? His therapist? He didn’t need her psychoanalysis! He didn’t need to answer any of these personal questions! So… why couldn’t he stop himself from talking? ‘Yeah I haven’t been. I've felt something missing from my life nowadays. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s freedom. I used to be free to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. To travel the world! To use my wits! Maybe my lifestyle wasn’t the most moral and proper, but it was fun! I was living un loco adventure!’

Rapunzel shoves his shoulder, ‘Flynn! You’re talking like you’re dead! You’re still alive! Go have adventures! Go travel! Do what you want to do! You have your whole life ahead of you!’

He shakes his head, ‘No I can’t. Not any more.’

She had no idea.

Except she did. She probably understood exactly what it felt like to lack freedom. To be held back. ‘I get it.’ She says quietly.

Eugene wasn’t one to not notice her changes in demeaner. Not that this was difficult considering her usually non-serious bubbly energy. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah.’ She looks down at the waters far below them. Looks at the splashing waters for a gentle minute before straightening and eagerly twisting her position so she faces him properly. ‘Okay. I’m going to tell you something but you cannot. Tell. Anyone! Okay?’

‘Yeah sure.’

‘Promise?’

He rolls his eyes. ‘Don’t worry, sunshine, I don’t exactly have a multitude of people to tell.’

She takes a long deep breath before leaning in to whisper as fast as she can, ‘I’m the Lost princess of Corona!’

She leans away in anticipation of his reaction. Looking at him like he was an explosive about to set off.

He throws his head back and bursts out laughing.

The echoes of his chuckles bounce off the rocky surfaces around them. Rapunzel just frowns as she watches her new friend in hysterics.

‘What?’ What’s so funny!?’ She looks confused and almost panicked and it just makes him laugh more.

He wipes his tears, ‘I’m not an idiot! I knew that already!’

‘You did?’

‘You didn’t exactly hide it very well.’

Rapunzel pauses. The silence sobers him as he forces himself to snuff out his sniggering. ‘You- you knew I was the Princess? You knew the whole time?!’

‘Yeah.’

‘How?’

He grins. ‘Well your name was enough. How many people do you think are called Rapunzel? Also that version of you through that door with the long blonde hair. That was your magic hair right? From the super flower or whatever. Also the fact that your grew up in a tower… Everyone knows the story... It’s been pretty obvious. I knew from the train, honestly.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything!?’ She exclaims.

He shrugs and avoids eye contact with her. ‘Cuz I get it. You don’t want people to know who you are. Being Royal can make you a valued target. I used to be a thief! I know how it all works!’

A small smile dawns upon her tiny lips. ‘And here I was thinking I was being really slick!’ She gently shoved him, ‘You’re even smarter than I am!’

‘I doubt that.’

Rapunzel sighs, ‘you probably think I’m really strange don’t you! Wondering around hiding my actual identity.’

He gives her a genuine smile, more genuine than she probably realised. ‘Not that strange.’

The two of them sit for a moment enjoying the happy satisfied silence between them.

Rapunzel swings her legs and looks down at the deep blue water of the lagoon several feet below the cliff they were sat upon. She cheerfully decides to change the subject, ‘Soooooo... have you ever jumped into a lagoon before?’

Wait. Eugene’s eyes widen and he turns to her in dread as he watches her expression light up. He knew that face! ‘Uh- Uh- I think we should start heading back.’ He twists quickly to get up, desperately to get away from her but she grabs his collar and forces him to stay put.

‘Have you?’

Eugene looks intensely into her ecstatic green eyes, ‘Have I ever told you that I think you need psychiatric help? Because I should have! You need to consult a physician.’

‘Come on it’ll be fun!’ She giggles as she grabs his hand.

‘No! No no no no!!’ He panics.

She ignores him. Looks down. Lets out a loud and exhilarated, ‘Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!’ Before jumping off the cliff edge, into the water.

Dragging him into their fall with her.

They crash into the crystal depths. Rapunzel laughs manically as Eugene splutters to the surface coughing and cursing and immediately retaliating by splashing water at her. She does it back and soon they are both playing like children in a pool, screaming and ducking and laughing and kicking as they mess around in the cool exotic waters.

Who knows how much time has passed by the time they both emerge from the waters to start heading back to the ship.

Eugene shakes his head at her as they both shiver through their heavy, soaked, clinging clothing. ‘You seriously need help!’

Chapter Text

‘You are going to love Vardaros! It’s a beautiful city!’

‘You sound jolly!’ The girls laughs, ‘you SURE you aren’t the mirror Flynn?’

The man rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat, ‘I just really like Vardaros! I have great memories there. Really missed the place.’

Rapunzel proceeds chatting away with him, often carelessly losing focus on the busy road ahead.

Since leaving the ferry boat, Rapunzel had felt guilty about how they had underpaid the captain. So she offered to take his supplies to Vardaros for him while he made his next journey. Since the captain had already been paid for the month’s load he was happy to accept this offer.

Eugene, however, had not agreed to this offer but warmed to the idea when he realised that taking all the crates of fruit to the city meant they could use one of the captain’s horse and carts. Much easier than walking there. He wasn’t very impressed by the captain trusting his supplies with two young strangers but Eugene decided not to point this out.

Using the borrowed cart, they loaded the supply off the boat, said their good-byes to the captain, promised the safe transport of his fruit, and headed off for Vardaros.

They sat side by side and talked away in the early evening sun. Rapunzel had ‘shot-gunned’ the driving seat and expertly held the reigns to guide the horse while Eugene provided the correct directions, munching on one of the produce they had promised not to take from. Well Rapunzel had. He didn’t promise a thing.
It had been a relaxing and enjoyable journey and the lack of magic dice and scary statues was a real treat.

‘... And another advantage of studying in Pincosta is how close the Spire is! Whenever I need references or something new to study for a project I go visit the Keeper of the Spire and he always has the most amazing magical objects to show me! He is brilliant! I could listen to his lectures for hours! You know who I can’t listen to for long though? His assistant! Argh she can be SO annoying!’

‘I didn’t think you were capable of finding anyone annoying.’ He points out.

‘Oh, usually I don’t! But she is very, very annoying! Honestly, Flynn I’m super patient and even I find her hard to handle! If you met her you would lose your mind!’

It wasn’t long before they had arrived at their destination.

And it was just as wonderful as Eugene remembered!

The grand wooden structures and floating beams and gentle afternoon fog that crept across the bustling streets. The city had its own rustic vibrance and it was wonderful. Rapunzel in particular was mesmerised. She bounced in her seat as she excitedly pointed out the things that caught her eye.

‘Just a heads up, the people here aren’t as happy go lucky as the people of Corona. So, you might want to tone down a bit.’ Eugene advises.

Rapunzel isn’t impressed, ‘Why would I change myself for anyone! If they are so miserable I’m sure they’ll appreciate a smiling face!’ To prove her point she turns to a passer-by and enthusiastically waves at her, ‘Hello! Good afternoon! I hope you’re having a wonderful day!’

The young woman in dark pigtails barely utters a displeased groan in reply.

Rapunzel ignores Eugene’s triumphant snort and tries waving at another figure. This time it’s a man in a long dark cloak standing by the side of the road and watching them pass.

‘Hi! How are you?!’ She cheers to him.

The hooded figure does not acknowledge her greeting either and just remains standing there silently.

Eugene sniggers, ‘See. Trust me I know Vardaros well.’

‘Nah he couldn’t see me with that hood covering his face!’

‘Excuses, excuses.’ Eugene’s voice sings out to her.

Rapunzel shrugs, ‘you were quiet and moody when we met but you warmed to me eventually!’ She elbows his side with a cheeky grin. He just shakes his head at her antics. If it wasn’t for her being so clearly obsessed with this mysterious beau of hers he would have thought she was flirting with him. But she wasn’t. This was just how she is.

They find the main market where the fruit needed to be delivered. Sure enough, a tall, towering, slender man graciously took the supplies off their hands, thanked them for their contribution to the trade and offered them payment.

Eugene was happy to accept the money. But Rapunzel refuses, pointing out that they had not gone out of their way and indeed having the cart had made their journey faster.

As Rapunzel chats away with the admittedly very patient old man, Eugene notices that across the street the hooded figure they had seen earlier was standing there. Still. Silent. Watching them. It was making him feel uncomfortable.

Then again that’s the city for you. Always a few dodgy oddballs to be wary of.

He chooses to ignore this and instead follows Rapunzel as she chats away with the other people in the market and eagerly spends his money on some local trinkets.

‘I’ll pay you back I promise! I just really want to get this for Cass! She loves knives! And this one is so pretty! It’s perfect for her! Hey when we set you two up you can give it to her as a gift! Yes perfect!’

Eugene ignores her last comment, ‘Oh so you won’t take money from other people but love spending mine?’

‘Well I won’t be seeing most of the people we meet while travelling again! But you and me are friends now! I can pay you back whenever!’ She gives him a heart-warming smile, ‘Oooh and oh can I have another few coins Flynn! I want to get that cute little teacup for Pascal! Aww he’d love it! It’s perfect for our little weekend tea parties!’

Eugene tosses her his money pouch. It didn’t bother him how much she spent really or even if he’d ever get it back. It was clearly making her happy and he enjoyed being the one to help that happen. Maybe the whole hype of helping others actually had some substance to it. Go figure. All he knew was right now he felt good and warm. There was something infectious in her smile. Something so contagious in her laughs. He couldn’t believe he had ever found it annoying really.

She points out to him that he seems to be the type to enjoy acquiring money more than spending it. True. It was definitely in his nature to get money out of any situation. But being a miserable monarch for a few years had drained any desire for superficial spending.
That’s when, again, lost in his thoughts his eye catches the cloaked figure standing in the nearby distance, still seemingly watching them. Seemingly following them.

Eugene puts his hands on Rapunzel’s shoulders and subtly, quietly states to her keen ear, ‘I think we should go.’

Rapunzel turns to him ready to complain but instantly recognises the seriousness of his expression. She follows his gaze to see the figure and immediately understands the situation. With a quick nod, both of them swiftly merge into the crowd in an attempt to lose their pursuer.

Rapunzel mutters under her breath. Eugene doesn’t quite catch it, but it was something about how annoying it was being royalty.
He couldn’t agree more.

They head towards a small street. Weaving in and out of alleyways. They turn a corner. The figure is there! They quickly turn back on themselves and try to find another route. He appears in their path again. Their brisk footsteps speed up until they are running, trying to get away.

Soon they reach an alley full of large ceramic artifacts.

‘Quick the vase!’ Eugene points to Rapunzel and she quickly heads towards it.

Maybe while she hid he could lure the stalker away. Vardaros had a strong history with crime. He should know. He used to be part of the furniture. But if anyone recognised that she was the Princess of Corona then it was very likely they might want to kidnap her for ransom or mug her or even worse.

Just then the cloaked figure enters the alley and almost glides towards Eugene with his silent steps.

Eugene feigns a brave face, ‘What do you want?’

The figure reaches to pull back his hood. His face is revealed. Eugene’s jaw drops. The man gives him a winning smile and stretches out his arms, ‘buddy! I’ve-‘

He collapses to the floor.

Eugene watches as a triumphant Rapunzel, stands behind the fallen figure with one of the heavy pots in her hands having just smashed the back of the man’s head.

Eugene can’t help feeling a little impressed, ‘I meant to hide behind the vase, but I guess that worked too.’

Rapunzel looks down at the man lying unconscious on the floor, the close look is enough to make her gasp, ‘wait! I’ve seen him before! At the inn! Through that door! Is that...?’

‘Yes.’ Eugene sighs, ‘Princess meet Lance Strongbow.’

Rapunzel had a lot of questions. Eugene explains how this was his childhood friend from the orphanage and how the two of them were partners in crime all through their teen and early adult years.

While Eugene recounts his relationship with Lance, the broad man begins to gain consciousness and the three of them (Rapunzel and Eugene supporting each arm of the now very dizzy man) head towards a small cafe to chat over some cups of Vardaros Brown Tea.

Lance grins as their table is served, ‘I always wondered why they call it brown tea! I mean All tea is brown, isn’t it?!’

Rapunzel laughs, ‘maybe it’s a named after someone! Someone called Mr Brown invented it!’

‘Or if either of you had nostrils you’d know it’s just hot chocolate and they are just trying to be quirky.’ Eugene points out, rolling his eyes as he leans grumpily on his hand watching Rapunzel and Lance hit it off.

‘Anyway Lance! You were saying?’ She eagerly prompts,

‘Ah yes! So there I was, Princess... Angry warlord to my left, ferocious dire wolves to my right, gold coins in my hand, and where's my faithful partner, Flynn Rider? Turns out this warlord had these twin daughters who were--

‘Who were on vacation far, far away!’ Eugene interrupts. Rapunzel seemed to think he was a nice, decent guy. Why mess that up?

But Rapunzel just smirks is his direction ‘Oh, come on, Flynn! ‘I may have grown up in a tower, but give me a little credit.’

Lance nods along, ‘yeah Flynn! Don’t undermine the princess! She isn’t stupid!’

No she wasn’t. Eugene knew that.

Rapunzel turns back to his old friend, ‘so you two go way back! That’s so sweet! Just like me and Pascal!’

Lance gives her his most winning smile. One Eugene knew very well. It was a very practiced smile. Eugene was probably the only person in the world that could tell that it wasn’t necessarily genuine. ‘Yeah. We looked out for each other when no one else would. In fact, you can say we're the closest thing either of us ever had to a family.’

Rapunzel rests her chin in her cupped little hands, ‘Aw, you guys!’

‘Yeah we were the best of buddies!’ Lance’s expression then morphs. ‘That is until He went from my pal Flynn to Mr big short Pri- OW!’

Eugene interrupts as Pance recovers from the kick in the shins he had just sent him. ‘So Lance, I guess you’ve been in prison since I last saw you?’

Lance isn’t put off by his friend’s deadpan delivery. ‘Mostly, yes. But you know, right now, I'm not thinkin' about where I've been. I'm thinking about where I'm headed!’

Rapunzel cheers, ‘Ha-ha, yes! That's the attitude!’

‘And right now, I'm headed to the bathroom.’
Lance sings as he stands up and head away.
Rapunzel snorts to herself, ‘Oh... Still, the attitude!’ She turns eagerly to Eugene, ‘I love Lance! He’s so charming! How amazing is this! The two of you reunited at last! It’s so sweet! I ship both of you! Not in the romantic way of course! (Unless there’s something you haven’t told me! Which you should before I set you up with Cass!) But in a bromance kind of way! You know what I mean! So adorable!’

Eugene’s scepticism aside, Yeah, it was nice seeing Lance again. They went way back. They had been each other’s main support system for so long. So, what is he wasn’t the straightest arrow in the quiver? Deep down Lance was a good guy.

Eugene stands up too. ‘I think I’m going to visit la toilette as well. I’ll be right back.’

As he walks away he hears Rapunzel’s voice call out from behind him, ‘I know when I’m not wanted! You two can go and catch up! I’ll go get my things from the station!’

He turns to watch as she gives him an excitable wave before skipping off in the other direction. He smiles as he watches her disappear around the corner and then continues on his way, quickening his pace.

Eugene catches Lance just as he exits the water closet. He grabs his collar, drags him into a little hidden passage, out of view from any onlookers, and pushed him up against the wall, ‘Okay, Lance, what are you up to?’ He sneers.

Lance laughs nervously, ‘Up to? Me? You think I would come all the way here following you-- Uh, see-- It w-- Okay, I need help with a job!’

‘You want me to what?!’ Eugene hisses, ‘Lance! You know I don’t do that anymore!’

‘Uh the Princess just said you’d stole money from a ship’s captain.’

‘To give it back to him! That man didn’t lose anything! In fact! He got free labour from us!’ Eugene stops himself and lets out a long sigh to pace himself, ‘Look. Lance. I’m sorry. You know how things are. I have responsibilities now. I can’t steal whatever I want like we used to!’

Lance scoffs, ‘please! You don’t care about that Dark Kingdom! And they don’t care much about you!’

Eugene is about to point out that he wasn’t talking about the Dark Kingdom. But why get into all that?

‘Also why don’t you want her to know you’re King Eugene? Huh? What up with that?’ Lance grins like this line of questioning was meant to lead to something juicy.

Eugene fumbles for an answer. ‘You know. I want her to just know my as me and not my dumb title. I haven’t had
Someone just know the real me in a long time.’

‘And yet you don’t even tell her your real name.’ Lance points out.

Eugene didn’t know how to respond to that.
Lance was right. And why wouldn’t he be? He knew Eugene better than anyone.

Lance also knew all about Eugene’s plight. Having been forced to return to rule a Kingdom he never even knew he was an heir to. Lance knew better than anyone how much Eugene had hated it. Sure, it was exciting at first. Suddenly going from the streets to royalty. Lance and Stalyan were very pleased to find out that they had a friend in such a high position of power. And Eugene was pleased too. Living the lavish life in a big castle. His younger self could have only dreamed of such a life.

Until he found out the nature of his job. He wasn’t really ruling a kingdom. He just had to watch as people who were more experienced did it for him. And no one trusted him. Naturally, his criminal past meant he had limited access to the kingdom’s treasury. His job was to sit there all day. Do what his advisors told him to do. Sign what they told him to sign. He made no decisions.
The initial fun of his newfound wealth died quickly. They gave him a budget to spend freely. And boy did he spend it. But he soon learned that spending pocket money he hadn’t worked to get (or stole to get. Stealing is hard work after all!) was fruitless. There was only so many things you could buy and not use before it became a dull habit. Turns out money didn’t really bring happiness. Who would have thought!

Eventually, in an attempt to entertain himself, he began spending his money on the most outrageous things in an attempt to get a reaction out of the others working at the palace. He thought the giant lion headed entrance would be the last straw for Adira. But it turns out it was the 100 piece royal orchestra of only cymbal players that did it. After that there was always someone watching to see where he put his money. And it was made certain that none of his wealth would go to his mate who was still an active criminal, nor his girlfriend who was the daughter of a notorious underworld boss.

When Lance realised he couldn’t benefit from his friend’s new position he consequently skipped town to carry on a carefree life of crime.

A life of crime isn’t so bad when you are good at it. It’s certainly fun.

Eugene had grown to hate the Dark Kingdom. He was just a face. A figure. A title. It was boring. And eventually Stalyan got bored of his endless restrictions and dull day to day businesses and left to find someone better.

Eugene had been aching to get back to his old life. Weirdly he found himself missing being Flynn Rider. He felt like that was more closer to the real him than King Eugene Fitzherbert of the Dark a kingdom.

And now Lance was proposing a new job. This was a perfect opportunity. His old partner in crime right here in front of him. Handing his old fun life to him on a silver platter! But something else was stopping him from accepting his friend’s request.

Lance takes the silence between them as permission to continue his pitch, ‘Flynn, buddy! It’s a quick, victimless job! As we established I’ve spent some time in the clink. While there, I shared a cell with this guy. His name was Calvin. Or was it Clarence? Somethin' like that. But I called him "Oldie," see, on account of-‘

‘He's old. I got it.’

Lance grins, ‘Yeah! So old Oldie tells me about this job he pulled way back when. He hid the loot in this big crate in the Vardaros storage vaults and was gonna get it back when the heat cooled off. But it never did. So, it just sat there, forgotten, for years.’ Lance tells the story with an air of dramatics and flair that brings Eugene back to their days telling each other stories in the orphanage. ‘Now, Oldie's gonna be in jail for the rest of his natural life. So, he tells me, "You should get it for yourself."’

Eugene gives his friend a few slow. Sarcastic claps. ‘Great story.’

Lance gives him his infamous puppy dog eyes, ‘I'm serious. It's just sitting there. And I need your help to go get it! I don't need a thief. I need a friend. Come on, Flynn! You got your big break! Help me get mine!’

Eugene groans. He doesn’t know when he became such a softie. ‘Okay. Fine. I’ll help. But let’s make it quick.’

Eugene wasn’t a thief anymore. Not because he had grown a moral conscience of any sort or because someone had shown him ‘the light’ but because he wasn’t allowed to. Since being dragged into the throne of the dark kingdom, he constantly had someone breathing down his neck. Stealing was out of the question because if he got caught it would ruin the royal image. If his criminal activity became known it could cause a nightmare for political and public relations. In fact, the brotherhood worked hard to ensure no one knew of their new King’s past. Going as far as to remove all the wanted poster that had ever been made of him and burning them. Erasing his legacy as best they could from the public. The way they did it was sneaky as well. It started off with feeding false information about Flynn Rider to the artists who painted his wanted posters. Nothing pissed off Eugene more than coming across another drawing of his face where they didn’t get his nose right because of a magic whisper appearing that he had a massive honker. He bet it was Hector that spread that rumour. Stupid Hector. Soon it wasn’t just his nose. His eyes became blue and small. His facial hair became big and bushy. The spelling of his name changed. Flynn to Finn to Fran.
Slowly and carefully over time to Brotherhood ensured that any scarce poster he came across now was unrecognisable.

A stain on the legacy he had worked so hard to make. Flynn Rider was no longer a dashing rogue that made off with your gold in the night. He was a frail man that resembled Santa Clause more called Florian Rosemary.

Yes. He had stopped stealing, but Eugene was still a thief at heart. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for Lance to convince him. Maybe that why it was fun doing it!

They wondered casually through the crowded market towards a large secure looking structure, they scaled the walls to find a back entrance, heavily guarded.

It was an easy problem. Eugene threw a few coins in one direction to distract the guards while Lance used his expert sleight of hand to snatch the keys from one guard’s belt.

They quickly Slip into the dark passageway behind the door. Creeping through the twisted tunnels, occasionally having to duck out of sight from an oncoming guard. Before finally arriving at a towering room full of endless... junk.

Just piles and mountains of boxes and crates and waste and random items. A junkyard of forgotten items and precious storage lit by some flickering candles dotted around the room’s walls. ‘This is it!’ Lance excitedly proclaims, ‘the Vardaros vaults. Home to peoples most important possessions to be protected by the tightest security system in the seven kingdoms! And it took us two seconds to break in!’ Lance flexes a bicep.

‘Looks like the creepiest lost and found in the seven kingdoms.’ Eugene mutters. ‘And that includes the creepy room with toys that came to life I was in yesterday.’

Lance slaps him on the back, ‘I missed having you around buddy! Thieving is much duller when you go solo.’

‘And what are we thieving today?’

‘It should be here somewhere...’ Lance mutters as the two of them tiptoe quietly around the whole establishment.

Most objects were stored in boxes or crates. Sealed from the curious eye. But the odd exposed object would catch Eugene’s interest. There was a grand old piano in one corner, a whole set of expensive looking China crockery in a neat piles on a tall shelf, there was even the odd coffin here and there. And the bow tying the whole room together were the net of cobwebs hanging from every dusty item.
Eventually Lance stops and excitedly points at their haul.

In a neat pile, not covered by time and age like the rest of the items in the room, are several boxes. And cases. And paintings.

Eugene raises an eyebrow, ‘I thought you said it was just one crate? I hope there’s piles of gold in those suitcases because this honestly doesn’t look like the most expensive haul you could take from here.’

Lance grins as he moves to pick up one of the crates, ‘it’s worth more than you think. Trust me!’

Eugene just shrugs and turns to lift one of the frames. He peers through the darkness at the piece of work. He swore that he recognised that art style. Maybe it was a Giovanni.

It was only when he lifted the painting and saw what was behind it when he realised the true worth of the items they were taking. Behind the painting was a very large, green, stuffed plushie Chameleon.

Eugene immediately recognises it and turns to grabs Lances collar, ‘these are Rapunzel’s things!’ He hisses. He recalled the other night on the train as all her items were thrown onto the departing train. Her belongings must have been stored here for her to collect.

Lance shrugs, ‘finder’s keepers.’

Eugene just scoffs in disbelief, ‘what do you even want them for? It’s not like she is carrying around jewels and crowns! That suitcase is probably just her dresses and hats!’

‘Aaand she is the old lost princess of Corona. Her personal belongings probably sell for a lot!’

Eugene groans, ‘I cannot believe it! Come on Lance! She only told you who she was because she trusted you as my friend! And even you aren’t low enough to sell a young girl’s personal things!’

‘Times are hard buddy. You’d know if you weren’t lounging around in that big castle of yours all the time.’ Lance glares back.

‘Look Lance, there more expensive stuff in here you can take! I’ll help! Just leave her things alone.’

Lance raises an eyebrow, ‘and leave her things for you? You mean?’

‘What?’

‘Come on! I know you! You aren’t this Good Samaritan that helps young ladies get home. You’re either doing all this to steal from her or you are just playing some kind of long game to get into her-‘

‘Flynn? Lance?’

The two men turn around to see a perplexed Rapunzel standing before them with a Guard by her side.

Eugene reads her face as it says it all. Telling him that she had heard their conversation. At least some of it anyway. There was doubt in her eyes as she clearly searched his for an answer in his.

Eugene swiftly hides the keys they had stolen behind his back, ‘Nothing! We are doing nothing!’

Rapunzel just waits silently.

Lance takes a step forward, ‘What he means is we thought we’d get your stuff for you so you could enjoy your sightseeing Princess!’

‘Yesss that is exactly what we are doing! What else could we be doing down here?!’ Eugene adds awkwardly. Wow when did he become this bad at lying?

The guard opens his mouth, probably ready to argue that there was no way they could have come down here without his knowledge. But before he can, Rapunzel’s face immediately lights up and she steps forward, ‘Oh! That’s so sweet of you two! Thank you!’

Eugene and Lance can barely contain themselves letting out sighs of relief. She bought it.

Rapunzel turns to the guard, ‘I have these two to help with the heavy lifting! You don’t have to stay, George!’

The guard frowns at Eugene and Lance before turning to whisper much too loudly in Rapunzel’s ear, ‘I don’t trust them your highness.’

Rapunzel pats him on the shoulder. ‘It’s okay! They are my friends! You can go! No need to prolong past your shift for me! Go be with your family! And I hope your wife has a wonderful birthday! I’m sure she’ll love your gift!’

Trust her to know a stranger’s life story from a brief encounter.

The guard wishes her a warm farewell and heads off around the corner, giving the two boys a glare before he disappears out of sight. The moment he is gone Rapunzel’s smiles vanishes and she aggressively turns to them, ‘okay what are you two really up to?!’

Eugene looks into her piercing eyes. There’s no tricking her is there? ‘The truth is-‘

‘The truth princess,’ Lance quickly interrupts, ‘Is that Flynn here was hoping to surprise you! Bring all your things!’

Eugene groans. ‘Lance. Just stop.’

‘Ah that’s my good old pal! Always the modest guy! I wish I could take some credit, but it was all lover boy’s idea here!’

‘Lover boy?’ Eugene snaps.

‘Uh lover boy?’ Rapunzel repeats awkwardly.

‘Yes good old Flynn was always a big one for a romantic gesture!’

‘Lance…’

‘Uh...’ Rapunzel shuffles her feet.

‘I must say I’m personally very happy to see he has finally found someone so wonderful Princess! He just told me himself how he had finally found the love of his life!’

‘LANCE!’ He snaps and throws the set of keys at in his childhood companion. Lance easily dodges it and starts to complain about how dangerous the action was while Eugene yells back for causing problems and...

‘Uh... I- I’m going to get my stuff loaded onto the carriage...’ Rapunzel grabs a painting in one arm and a box in another and rapidly patters away from them.

‘Nailed it!’ Lance grins as her tiny footstools echo away.

‘LANCE! You idiot! Why did you say all that!?’ Eugene shoves him.

‘Come on! What little lady doesn’t want to hear romantic talk?! It worked didn’t it! Now she’s all coy thinking about how much you love her instead of thinking about why we were here! You’re welcome! I don’t know how you have managed without your trusted wingman around!’ He gives a small bow.

‘No, no, Lance! Oh, damn it! Just go! I need to fix all this!’ He pivots to chase after his new friend.

‘Rapunzel let me explain!’

She stops in her tracks and faces him. He sees she has tears in her eyes just on the verge of flooding down her pink cheeks.

‘Flynn... You know that you’re a-‘

‘Friend! I know! I know we are just friends! I’m glad we are friends!’ He takes a step towards her. ‘Rapunzel, Lance was... confused about the nature of our relationship. I don’t see you in any other way. Promise!’

She looks down. ‘Oh... well now I feel embarrassed-‘

‘Trust me I’m more embarrassed!’

‘-for you.’ She finishes.

Eugene is lost for words.

‘Flynn, I was going to say ‘you know you’re not fooling me!’ It was obvious you wanted to steal my things!’ Her waterworks kick in. It’s strange seeing her cry. ‘I can’t believe I trusted you! You knew I was a Princess! You invited your old crime buddy to come here and steal from me! I don’t know how much you were planning on making by stealing my dresses and sketchbooks though! Unless you were going to kidnap me too or something!’

Eugene shakes his head violently, ‘No, I’d never! I mean I couldn’t- not to you- I-' he stops and hangs his head, ‘Lance thought that the Princess of Corona’s valuables might be worth something.’

Rapunzel sighs, ‘I can’t expect much from Lance, but I thought you’d be better Flynn! You said you didn’t steal anymore!’

Just then Eugene’s broad deep-voiced old childhood friend sheepishly makes his way towards them, ‘Princess, let me explain-‘

‘NO! No no no!’ Eugene exclaims, ‘you’ve said enough Lance.’ He turns to Rapunzel, ‘don’t listen to him!’

‘It’s all my fault.’

Eugene pauses in pleasant surprise, crossing his arms, ‘but hey what do I know...’

Lance continues, ‘Princess, I lied to Flynn. He didn’t know we were taking your things. He was only trying to help a friend or... or someone he thought was his friend.’

Rapunzel just gapes at the two of them, ‘Well, I am very disappointed in both of you!’

It felt like when they would be told off as kids in the orphanage. Both men look at their feet in shame as the woman before them scolds them for their actions. She is never rude or loud. Just firm. And somehow it just makes them feel more guilty.

After she has finished berating them the three of them make a few rounds carrying all her items out of the Vaults and loading the into a grand royal Corona carriage that had apparently been sent by her Parents to bring their daughter home.

Eugene made sure to keep an eye on Lance to make sure he didn’t run off with any of Rapunzel’s things. To his credit, he didn’t. Though there was no denying that Lance definitely had a few new possessions in his pocket from curtesy of the vault’s other exhibits.

Once everything is safely stored in the carriage Rapunzel turns to give Lance a big hug. The man is surprised but can’t help squeeze her back lovingly.

‘Lance you’re a great guy! Please turn over a new leaf! Stealing is wrong! If you ever need a good job come to Corona and I’ll help you get one!’

‘I have some unfinished business to take care of right now but maybe one day, Princess!’

Lance gives her a smile in return. Eugene had known his friend a long time. He knew that smile was a real one.

Rapunzel climbs into the carriage. She leaves the door open behind her and leans over to look at where Eugene was standing, ‘you coming?’

Eugene is caught off guard. ‘Oh- well I don’t think you need me now! You have your- what she called? Infidelity-‘

‘Fidella.’

‘Whatever. You have her and-‘

‘Flynn, remember what I said.’ She gives him a small smile, ‘I’m not letting you out if my sight until I’m home safe and sound! You still owe that to me.’

He grins back. Glad for her forgiveness.

Eugene goes over to Lance to share their farewells. Despite the trouble he caused, Lance really was like a brother for him after all. ‘Lance buddy. I don’t know what made you tell the truth back there. But thanks.’

Lance murmurs in his buddy’s ear as he gathers his friend into a tight hug, ‘I like her. She’s brought a change in you. I swear I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen that light in your eyes. You look more like yourself again with her. I’d say running away from the Dark Kingdom with her was a good call!’ he pulls away, ‘Also I owed you. I left you alone in that boring Drab Kingdom of yours. No offence.’

Eugene chuckles, ‘I never blamed you. I’d escape if I could.’

‘Is that not what you’re doing now?’ Lance smirks, ‘I’ll see you soon, your majesty!’ He give him a dramatic bow before backing away into another street.

It isn’t long before Eugene and Rapunzel are on their way out of Vardaros. Sitting in silence. Eugene faces away from her, looking out through the small window to watch the last signs of the sun sink from the sky.

Rapunzel opens her mouth to start a conversation a few times but stops herself. Her face is hard to read. And he probably just seemed lost in another world.

It feel like a century passes before he starts the conversation. He takes a deep breath and closing his eyes. ‘Have you heard of King Edmund?’

‘Of the Dark Kingdom, right? Yeah why?’

‘I’m his son.’

Silence. Eugene turns to look at her to find that Rapunzel’s jaw had dropped. He decided to just keep looking out of the window to avoid seeing the look of betrayal or shock or whatever she was expressing right now.

He feels her lean towards him, ‘You’re the Dark Prince! I mean King! You’re the King of the Dark Kingdom!’

He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. ‘Yeah... it’s not as dramatic as it sounds, honestly.’

But Rapunzel is still too shell-shocked to appreciate his weak attempt at humour, ‘You! You’re him! The one who’s father killed his wife and ditched his son and-' she stops herself.

He doesn’t reply. Rapunzel immediately holds her hands to cover her mouth.

‘I’m so sorry! I don’t think before I talk! That’s just what I heard when the story was going around. People are stupid and mean! I shouldn't have said that! I’m sorry Flynn.’

‘Eugene.’ He cringes at the sound of it.

‘Huh?’

‘My real name. My name is Eugene Fitzherbert.’

‘Eugene Fitzherbert.’ She repeats it slowly and softly, like she is trying out the sound of it on her lips. 'Of course... King Eugene of the Dark kingdom...'

‘Unfortunate name, I know.’

Rapunzel tugs her legs up onto the seat so they are crossed under her. She looks like a child listening to a fairytale. ‘So you’re not Flynn Rider the orphaned thief? You were just pretending to be him?’

‘Nope I am him too.’

‘I’m confused.’

‘I don’t blame you.’ He lets himself laugh under his breath. ‘Do you know about the Moonstone?’

Rapunzel scoffs, ‘I’m from Corona! Of course, I do! The destructive counterpart of the sun drop flower that was kept in the Dark Kingdom and guarded by the royal family. It was destroyed recently apparently and took half of the Kingdom with it-‘ She pauses. Worried she would say something that caused him pain.

‘It’s okay. It’s true.’ He gives her a very forced and heavy half smile. ‘The moonstone had been a burden for generations of rulers. My father wanted to destroy it once and for all so that the Kingdom could prosper. Made it his life’s work to do so. But when one of his attempts to stop it killed my mother. He panicked and sent everyone away. Including me.’

‘But surely he wouldn’t just send you to an orphanage? There would have been someone to take care of you, right?’ Rapunzel asks. Her voice is gentle and careful.

‘Yeah I’d like to know the answer to that too. Never got one. I left with some castle maids but ended up in an orphanage with no clue of who I was. I mean I was a baby. How many babies know who they are? They just sleep and cry and poop don’t they…’

Rapunzel leans in, ‘So how did the moonstone end up getting destroyed?’

Eugene rubs his forehead, ‘So King Edmund, my ‘dad,’ he got really sick last year. I was the only heir so they hunted me down and brought me back. Since he was dying anyway, he wanted to take the moonstone with him. And that’s what he did. They killed each other. He achieved his life’s purpose so big whoop for him.’ He can hear the bitterness dripping from his own tongue, ‘And he left me with the job of rebuilding the broken Kingdom and trust me that place is no Corona.’

‘That sounds like so much responsibility.’ She places a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

Eugene sniggers, ‘Nah not really. I don’t know the first thing about ruling a kingdom. So, I just do what I’m told. I don’t really have much say. They don’t trust me. Who could blame them? If I could have, I’d have grabbed all the kingdom’s money and split it with Lance and Stalyan. I don’t know why I stay there. It’s an awful place. Barely gets any sunlight. Absolute nightmare for my skin!’

Rapunzel isn’t distracted by his attempts to seem light-hearted. She sees through his façade. She sees the torn broken man before her. ‘At least you got to spend some time with your father?’ She tries.

‘Barely. It was about a year ago when he found out he was dying and he was too sick to give me the old royal pointers before I had to take over full time. And he was weird anyway. Spent most of his time talking to himself.’

‘Oh this is all so awful. I’m so sorry.’ She shifts towards him and tentatively places a petal touch of her fingers to his shoulder. It’s comforting. And her eyes more so with their genuinely kind glow.

‘You don’t need to apologise.’

‘I know, but I’m sorry you went through all that.’

‘Yeah it was a tough blow.’ He lets the words tumble out of him. It had been a long time coming. ‘At first, Stalyan and Lance were thrilled to know a ‘king’. But with my tight regulations and me being stuck in a dying kingdom they got bored pretty quickly. Lance left to continue travelling and stealing across the world and Stalyan found someone new – that was the last straw for me…’

‘No wonder you were so sad when we met. I’m so sorry.’

He grits his teeth, ‘You don’t need to apologise. My father does. Or he did. He practically killed my mother. He abandoned me. He knew where I was, and he left me to fend for myself for all those years. Left me alone in the world. He never bothered getting in touch until he was desperate. When he needed me. He was a selfish, cruel-‘

‘Eugene!’ She calls his speech to a halt with her fingers gently hovering on his lips. Her voice is quiet but sting. And hearing her say his name. His real name. He couldn’t tell how he felt about it. ‘Don’t talk about him like that! I’m sure he loved you. And loved your mother! What happened to her was an accident. And with you, he sent you away to protect you!’

‘Well, I didn’t want protecting I wanted a parent. I was a kid who wanted to be loved. Not ditched.’ He mutters. He was used to complain to Stalyan. She would fuel his fire. Encourage his thoughts. Validate his feelings. It felt odd how Rapunzel was so different. If Stalyan was a flame to his fire then Rapunzel was the cool water that calmed his burning rage. But then again, why was he comparing them?

‘Eugene, love is strange. Sometimes someone loves you but doesn’t know how to show it! Like my Mother!’

‘The one that kidnapped you? Rapunzel, I’d bet my left kidney on the fact she didn’t actually love you.’ He mutters.

Rapunzel’s eye twitches but she decides to ignore him. ‘Sometimes you love someone so much that you have to part with them. Even if it crushes you! Because it’s what is best for them! He did it out of love! I’m sure he did.’

‘Yeah.. I know. I just- I just don’t see the point of a love like that.’ He can hear his own voice break and he hates himself for it. He wasn’t the type to get vulnerable.

Rapunzel reaches to cup his face in her tiny palm, ‘There isn’t a point to love! All you can do is be guided by love and hope that things will work out in the end because of it!’

Eugene smiles down at her. He can’t say he agrees but he appreciates her kindness. ‘Okay, okay. Let’s stop talking about this.’ he takes her hand and gently guides it off his face. ‘No point in ruining a good road trip.’

Eugene closes the blind of the carriage window to the ending day and turns on the lantern hanging from the ceiling to illuminate them better.

As he does this Rapunzel gives him a cheeky grin, ‘So what do I call you now? Flynn or Eugene?’

He shrugs.

‘Well, what name do you prefer?’

‘Flynn. No question.’

She pouts, ‘Aw really? For the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much better than Flynn Rider!’

He gives her a small smile, ‘Well you’d be the first. But thank you.’

‘Hey!’ She exclaims like she just had an idea. He hopes the idea isn’t ‘Flugene.’ Luckily it’s something else, ‘So... turns out you are the ruler of a Kingdom too! Please marry Cass! Then all four of us can run off together and live in your castle and be set for life!’

He laughs and shakes his head. ‘No way! Your castle is much better! The four of us can stay there!’

‘Yay! So you agree to us running away together! You can’t take it back now! It’s a done deal! I can’t wait for you to meet Cass!’

He rolls his eyes and they both laugh together.

Chapter Text

‘And.’

‘Then.’

‘They.’

‘Decided.’

‘That.’

‘They.’

‘Should.’

‘Kiss!’

‘What? That makes no sense!’ Eugene guffaws.

‘Of course it does! They have been through so much together! There is definitely something building between them!’

‘Please! Madame Buttface LaPuta could never love Morris the Slimy carriage keeper! He literally ate fried toenails in front of her! If that’s not a turn off I don’t know what is.’

Rapunzel rolls her eyes, ‘you’re the one that said toenails when you could have said chicken!’

‘Yes because your contributions made so much sense! Miss let’s-make-them-see-the-lanterns-when-it-was-already-established-that-they-lived-under-water! What is your obsession with lanterns!?’

‘Maybe in the story they have magic lantern festivals under the sea!’ Rapunzel responds, ‘Anyway Eugene, it’s a game! It doesn’t matter how good the story is! That’s what makes it funny!’

Eugene leans back into his seat opposite her and grins, ‘I just think a story should have continuity.’

Rapunzel throws her hands in mock defeat. ‘Alright, I’m sorry I don’t tell stories as well as you do!’

‘Damn straight! No one does!’

‘Honestly though Eugene, she says sincerely, ‘I’d want you to narrate of my life story! You have such a way with words!’ She beams at him, leaning in excitedly, ‘I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the story you told me two days ago with that pauper and the magic lamp!’

‘Well,’ he shrugs, ‘I used to tell stories to the other kids in the orphanage. Had a lot of practice.’

‘You should write a book! A children’s book! I’d read it!’

Eugene smirks, ‘Do I look like I have the patience to sit down and write anything?’

‘Well, what if you tell stories and I write them down for you!’

‘Wow! The Princess of Corona: my secretary! Sounds like a bit of a downgrade for you.’ He smriks.

‘Nah! It would be worth it! As long as you promised to write a book on MY love story! It would make an amazing book! A princess in a tower! A dashing hero who saves her!’

‘Sounds dramatic.’

Rapunzel lets out a long sigh. ‘If you tell it, it would sound even more amazing than it already is! And better you than Bastion! He doesn’t seem the type that would be good at story telling. Going by his letters at least… He is isn’t really one for making an effort in writing!’

‘Bastion?’ He doesn’t know why he asks when he could guess the answer already.

‘Oh! Did I never tell you his name? Silly me! Bastion is my boyfriend! The love of my life! The one I’m meant to be with! The one I’m going to run away with!’

Eugene doesn’t really have much to say to that. Bastion was just about a sensible enough name that he could neither find a way to mock it nor reason to compliment it. So, he just nods and then proceeds to look out of the carriage window.

It was a seven-day journey to Corona. And finding a way to pass the time in their confined space had proven tough.

Rapunzel was keen on games to pass the time. Not normal travelling games like ‘I spy’ but games that involved dares and moving around. However, after ending up with a stubbed toe and a bruised shin from the last game she had suggested, Eugene decided that talking was the only activity allowed from now on.
Rapunzel agreed on the condition that this involved hearing his tales from his days as Flynn Rider.

Coming up with adventures from his past and twisting them into the shape of an epic tale was a long forgotten past time of his. And Rapunzel was a great listener. She oohed and aahed at all the right points. Eagerly hanging on his every word as he described his most daring heists.

She remarked on many occasions that he was an exceptional storyteller and could easily make a career out of it. Eugene had never considered it before. But it sounded like too much work.

‘But it’s a talent! You just need to channel it into something worthwhile!’

‘Ah that reminds me did I ever tell you about the time I swam the Ingvar channel?’

After five days of being stuck together in those small confines, apart from the odd break to stretch their legs or have a quick picnic, they moved towards story telling games. They played a game where the other person would have to guess what came next in the story. Rapunzel was remarkably terrible at spotting a plot twist coming. Even when Eugene made sure to lay several obvious clues pointing that way in his tales. Her excuse was that growing up in the tower everything was always the same and predictable day in, day out.

They played a game where they’d give the other person a name, place and object and the other had to make a story out of it. Eugene was proud of his story which involved a sword fight with a horse with a frying pan by a dam. Rapunzel found it ridiculous that he thought he would be the one to win the fight.

And finally, they had played the one word at a time story game. Eugene endlessly trying to find sense in Rapunzel’s random whimsical inputs.

It had been fun. And the hours and days in that small vehicle, which should have felt like forever, passed like mere moments racing away from them.

Rapunzel cannot contain her excitement as their journey reaches its end and the carriage finally draws to a close in the palace courtyard.

It’s the late evening when they arrive. And it’s quiet and empty apart from one young boy seemingly waiting for them at the castle’s heavy doors.

‘She’s here!’ The young teenager cheers from the top of the entrance staircase.

Rapunzel leans out of the carriage window and waves at him so aggressively that the whole vehicle rocks, ‘VARIAN!! Hi!’

The oddball with the blue stripe in his hair waves back bouncing giddily, ‘I’ll get your parents! Don’t move!’ he dashes away, practically skipping as he went.

Rapunzel turns back to Eugene beaming, ‘that’s who I was telling you about! The one I met at the science fair! He is really fun! A little dangerous but mostly so fun!’

Eugene just gives a half-hearted smile in reply.

‘So! What’s the plan?!’ She asks as she collects the personal items she had thrown around the carriage.

He shrugs, ‘I guess I’ll see.’

Rapunzel’s head shoots up from the floor where she was searching for a missing pencil, ‘Aren’t you going to come inside-‘

‘No no no.’ Eugene interrupts quietly, ‘you go ahead.’

‘But-‘ she frowns, ‘where are you going to go?’

‘I- Uh-‘ tough question, ‘I’ll be alright Rapunzel.’

Before he can turn to exit the carriage and head away she grabs his hand, ‘no. I’m not just going to let you go like this. You’re coming inside with me.’

Eugene is about to argue when the castle door opens, and a crowd of people eagerly make their way down the staircase towards them.

Rapunzel hisses quickly, ‘okay look. Everyone is here now so don’t go creating a scene in front of them. Come inside and stay for a while. I have something I need to talk to you about first and then you can go.’

Any disagreement he might have had died before reaching his lips as she hops out the carriage and immediately goes to hug the tall slender woman he knew could only be the Queen of Corona.

Amongst the welcome committee there is several women in blue maid dresses. The boy - Varian - was there looking very pleased to be part of everything. A grumpy looking tiny old woman stood to the side. She didn’t look too happy to see Rapunzel but seemed to reciprocate the tight hug the young princess gave her regardless. And there were two goofy looking guards. Damn it. He recognised them from when he stole the crown. Hopefully they wouldn’t recognise him.

That’s when he makes eye contact with the Queen. The woman gave him a gentle smile and gestures for him to come out of hiding from inside the carriage and join them as they all make their way into the towering building.

Apart from the polite hellos he received, everyone was too busy fussing over Rapunzel and asking her how her journey to worry about him. He hung slightly behind the group, happy to not be involved in all the faffing. But the young alchemist turns and notices him walking in silence and seems to think this is an invitation to come and join him.

It was not. But oh well. This might as well happen.

Varian goes onto his tiptoes to whisper into Eugene’s ear, ‘you’re Flynn Rider aren’t you?’

Eugene’s would have frozen in his spot if he wasn’t so determined to act normal and low key in front of Rapunzel’s entire family and staff.

Varian continues, ‘oh do worry I won’t tell anyone! I would never! I am your biggest fan!’ He nervously starts wiping one of his already clean goggles on the corner of his dirty apron.

Weird.

Eugene doesn’t know how to react. He is honestly surprised. The Brotherhood had worked so hard to erase any trace of his image as Flynn Rider. No one recognised him like they used to in the good old days. That was the beauty of skewed propaganda.

He realises Varian never stopped talking. No wonder he and Rapunzel were friends.

‘... and maybe then I can show you my collection! I have a copy of all your posters from the last 8 years! I’m still working on your earlier years! Those are much harder to get by since they started changing you face! By the way, did you start that? Genius! Now everyone is convinced that you are a red head with a big nose!’

Eugene is surprised Rapunzel’s innocent looking child friend is so mesmerised by someone as low as him. What kind of child idolises a thief!?

‘... and I have read all the books of your adventures!’

Ah that’s why. He thought the dashing fictional adventurer Flynn Rider was real. The hero. Poor kid is going to be gutted when he finds out it was just a character whose name he stole.

But then Eugene realises that revealing himself to this young clearly excitable teenager is probably not the best idea. If the kid liked him why change that? At least he knew he had one certain ally in this place apart from Rapunzel. And after the brotherhood had ruined his reputation it was nice to know there was at least one kid out there who appreciated the legacy of Flynn Rider. Even if it was a slightly inaccurate version.

‘Hey now! Flynn Rider. Nice to be met!’ he winks.

Before Varian can fanboy anymore, the group enter a grand room with two tall and rather comfortable looking thrones stood.

Beside the thrones stands a tall uniformed man with an impressive moustache and a firm face.

Eugene recognises this as the man who, alongside Max, chased him out of Corona several years ago. . The captain of the Guard.

Uh oh!

Surely he would recognise him!

Though at that moment all eyes were on Rapunzel so the Captain didn’t seem to notice the thief hiding behind the crowd.

On one of the thrones sits another strong looking man with a thick neat beard and sharp brown eyes. On his head is sat a majestic crown.

‘Dad!’ Rapunzel rushes over to him. He stands up to greet her and the two give each other a tight hug.

‘Rapunzel I was so worried!’ He pulls away from her to look at her face, ‘See this is why I don’t want you travelling on public transport! You would have been home nice and safe if you would just travel in our carriages.’

The queen pats her husband’s shoulder, ‘she is home safe and sound that is all that matters now.’

‘Dad I was fine I promise! It was fun! I had Eugene!‘ she turns to where Eugene stood.

Damn it Rapunzel! Why did she need to draw attention to him?

He gulps and takes a small step forward. Sweating profusely under the sharp gaze
of the King and the Captains eyes.

‘And who is this?’ The royal man bellows. The warmth of the voice that had just greeted his daughter was a long gone memory. Replaced instead with a cold and formal tone.

Rapunzel hugs the Kings arm, ‘he’s my friend dad!’

‘What kind of friend?’ He looks Eugene up and down.

Rapunzel groans, ‘Dad! It’s not like that! Don’t worry!’

‘Like what?’ His voice is stern.

‘Like... what you are implying! He is just my friend, friend!’

‘Then why did you bring him home with you?’

The queens nods for the rest of the entourage that had welcomed Rapunzel to leave and Eugene watched in awe as they all silently flood out of the room. He wishes he could disappear with them. Varian gives him a quick thumbs up before he leaves. He hopes that it was a ‘don’t worry it’ll be okay’ thumbs up because honestly Eugene could already feel the noose around his neck.

Rapunzel continues, ‘Dad it’s actually him that brought me home! We both met on the train! And would you believe it! I missed my train at this random station! In the middle of the night! And if it wasn’t for him I would have been all alone in the dark! But he was there! And he helped me get home safely!’

The King clears his throat, ‘in my old age, it only takes one glance for me to know what is going on between a girl and a boy.’

The queen scoffs, ‘please Fredric. Don’t embarrass them!’

Eugene decided then that the Queen was his favourite.

‘What’s your name boy?’ The King’s voice booms.

Eugene decided then that the King was terrifying.

He takes a step forward, ‘Uh- Eugene.’

‘Eugene what?’

‘Eugene Fitzherbert, your majesty.’ Of all the situations Rapunzel had gotten him into this had to be the worst.

‘What do you do Mr Fitzherbert?’

Eugene hesitates. What did he do? Seasoned Thief was definitely off the table. He could feel the Captain’s sharp gaze boring into him. Eugene had managed to avoid eye contact so far but who knew how long to would take for the truth to out. Maybe he should just tell them he was Flynn Rider. But no he still had a death sentence on him in this Kingdom.

He really didn’t want to mention his title or the Dark Kingdom either. If it was out that the Dark Prince was in Corona, the brotherhood would hunt him down and drag him back there in a heartbeat. What else could he say he did? He was just a depressed guy that rescued fair maiden’s in his spare time. Oh, sure the King would love that. Although, it’s not like he rescued Rapunzel. He kind of just accompanied her on her travels. And only because she forced him to. Hey that could work...

‘I’m a traveller, sir.’

‘A traveller?’

Wait that’s not a job is it? Flynnigan Rider from his childhood books used to travel the world and little Eugene thought that was a job. It should be. ‘Oh I mean I’m a writer. I travel and write about places. For uh- documentation and story telling purposes.

‘Have you come to Corona before?’ The Captain asks slowly.

Eugene braces himself and looks the man in the eye. The Captain certainly hadn’t recognised him yet but looked like he was trying to.

‘Uh- yes or course! Which traveller would not attend the lantern festival at least once in their life...’

The King nods, ‘Come here.’

Oh no.

Eugene gulps and takes the few steps to come closer to where the King stood. The towering man then grabbed him by the shoulders. His grip tight and crushing. Eugene panicked. Oh no. He knows who I am! He is going to hang me for stealing Rapunzel’s crown! This is it. This is the end. And for what? He didn’t need to come in here! He could have dropped Rapunzel at her door and gotten far away from all this!

‘Thank you.’

‘Huh.’ Eugene is bewildered. He looks into the eyes of the old man before him and for the first time sees a familiar kindness hidden behind those stern wrinkles.

‘You helped our daughter come home safe and sound. We are in you debt my boy. You will stay here in our castle as our guest for one week so that we can repay you for what you have done for us!’

Eugene, Rapunzel and, he could swear even the Queen, sigh with relief.

From that moment on things were coming up roses. No one seemed to recognise him as Flynn Rider. Only Varian knew and he didn’t seem like he would be telling anyone.

After their introduction, the King and Queen took Rapunzel away with them to help her unpack.

Eugene made the mistake of mentioning how he had not eaten dinner that day and was immediately rushed to the palace kitchens for feeding by, he swears, half the establishment’s staff! He found himself surrounded by kitchen workers and maids and a few guards and a bunch of thugs and of course, Varian, all eager to feed him as a reward for helping their princess. Wow! Rapunzel must really be popular.

‘Please have the cake as well Mr. Fitzherbert!’ One of the cooks, a strange almost scary guy with a large steel helmet said.

‘Thank you but I am so stuffed.’ Eugene wasn’t being polite. They had practically force fed him enough food to feed an army! All this gratitude was going to make his stomach explode!

Just then a maid with dark pig tales and an.. interesting face places another helping of stew on his plate.

‘Oh honestly no I can’t-‘

One of the guards whose name he learnt was Stan leans in, ‘but you haven’t even had the pasta yet!’

Eugene shakes his head, ‘you are all too kind but honestly-‘

‘You deserve it! You saved our princess!’ The guard called Pete exclaimed.

‘I swear I’ve learnt my lesson! From now on I won’t save any more princesses!’ Eugene exclaims while everyone around him laughs wholeheartedly.

Wow living in the palace in Corona was so different to the Dark Kingdom. If only they were as friendly and welcoming over there. He might have enjoyed it.

Just then Rapunzel peers into the room, ‘everything okay?’ She calls to him cheerfully.

‘Rapunzel help me! Help me!’ He calls back.

Everyone laughs again and he receives a chummy slap on the back from Varian.

Rapunzel laughs too and is about to reply when the Queen walks in.

‘Sweetheart, sorry could I borrow you a minute? I need to tell you something.’

‘Yes mum!’ Rapunzel says. Before she leaves with her mother she quickly turns around, ‘Attila! What are you doing? You haven’t even given him your famous cupcakes yet!’

‘Oh yes! How could I forget!’

‘Damn it, Rapunzel!’ Eugene calls out after her. Half laughing through the pain in his belly.

Truth be told, Eugene could swear he had eaten more that evening than he probably had eaten in his whole life put together. If hospitality could kill you then Corona was a death sentence!

Speaking of death sentences. Eugene found it remarkable that inside a royal building he could be surrounded by so many convicts.

‘Oi Hookfoot.’ Eugene calls through a mouth full of frosting, ‘how on Earth are you lot allowed in the castle like this?’

Hookfoot shrugs, ‘we are friends with the Princess.’

A towering man, named Vlad, joins the conversation. ‘Her say is important. She says we can come and go as we please, so we do!’

Eugene raises an eyebrow, ‘but most of you guys are criminals. No judgement. But surely the King and Queen wouldn’t want you here.’

A guy called ‘Bruiser’ replies, ‘we helped Rapunzel when she needed it. That was enough to earn the King and Queen’s blessing and get us off the hang list.’

Eugene finds this interesting. In the Dark Kingdom, they had no choice in letting him in, but they were very against Lance and Stalyan being part of his entourage. Things may have been different if he had been allowed to keep them around.

After his hearty dinner, two young girls asked if he wanted to play hide and seek with them. Since he had no idea where Rapunzel was he thought he might as well agree to pass the time. He didn’t know who the two girls were - they didn’t seem to be royalty or staff - nor did they ever tell him their names but boy did they play a mean game of hide and seek. He found Angry (he called her that because of how mad she got when she realised he wasn’t dumb enough to get pick-pocketed by her) quite easily. He told her that if she wanted to get better at the game then she needed to pick somewhere less obvious than inside the fountain. But Red (the name he gave the other girl on account of her bright hair) was much harder to find. Turns out the girl had a knack for climbing and was peacefully sitting on one of the beams up in the ceiling. He was incredibly impressed.

While in the middle of round five of their game Eugene bumps into the King. He panics for a moment. After all, it was probably not common place for guest of the castle to be hiding inside of a giant ornamental vase.

But the King seems unfazed by this as he asks Eugene to walk with him.

Eugene guesses that being the father of a girl like Rapunzel definitely numbed him to wacky behaviour.

‘I thought I would talk to you tonight. We have guests coming tomorrow and I may become too busy.’

‘Who’s coming?’ He didn’t particularly care, but it seemed the best way to direct the small talk.

‘The Saporians. I’m sure as a traveller you are aware of them.’

‘Uh- Sure.’ Eugene lies.

The King smiles. Clearly he picked up on the hesitation. ‘It’s not on any maps, don’t worry Son. It only exists in the heart of those that loath that Saporia and Old Corona combined into one state.’

‘So Saproians hate Corona?’ Eugene loved a good old tale of rivalry.

‘They have wanted to take over us for years.’
‘Inviting them sounds risky then.’

‘It is. But sometimes to help your Kingdom you need to make bold steps.

‘And having the Saproians on your side will help?’

‘People on the outside are the ones that rebel. When you include them and give them importance, they tend to fall in line.’

‘Fall in line, after years of hatred?’

The King gives a slight nod, ‘Sometimes friendship is born in adversity.’

‘Like me and Rapunzel.’ Eugene says absentmindedly.

The King pauses, ‘what do you mean?’

‘Oh Uh- you know... I don’t think I’d warm to anyone as bubbly as her under any other circumstances. But because I was stuck with her through a problem she had to grow on me otherwise I would have gone mad!’

‘Are you calling my daughter annoying?’ The King asks quietly. Sinisterly.

Shoot. Eugene panics for a moment but then the King starts laughing and jovially pats his back.

‘Ahah got you! Don’t worry Son! I know Rapunzel well! She can be free spirited!’

Eugene gives an embarrassed smile, ‘that’s a good word for her.’

‘You don’t find her exasperating now though I hope?’

Eugene grins, ‘No. Now the same things that used to annoy me, I quite like. I like that she is so chatty. And carefree. And funny. And kind. And...’ he stops himself since the King’s smile had faded.

The king clears his throat. ‘Mr Fitzherbert. Tomorrow is an important day for us. We could be bringing an end to the rivalry between Corona and the Saporian separatists. But to do that I need Rapunzel by my side. As you noted yourself, she has an endearingly personality which will be key to winning them over. I need her focussed. Undistracted.’

Undistracted? Eugene frowned. Was he a distraction? Did the King not want him near Rapunzel tomorrow? Or did the King not want to Saporians to think him and Rapunzel were close? Why would that matter? It’s not like he knew he was Flynn Rider! Wait did he know? No of course not! Maybe Rapunzel was a good negotiator and he didn’t want her ditching to mess around with Eugene. Or maybe he didn’t want Eugene to be nearby when this friendship was being formed. After all what did Eugene know about politics really. He might mess things up.

‘I was thinking of visiting the Kingdom tomorrow.’ Eugene says slowly.

The King nods approvingly, ‘that sounds like a good plan.’ And with that he wishes Eugene a good night and walks away.

Well, that was interesting…

After wandering around for a while, aimlessly through the endless corridors, Varian finds Eugene to show him to his sleeping quarters.

‘Varian I’m telling you my stomach is going to explode!’ Eugene groans as he clutches his side.

Varian sniggers, ‘just you wait for breakfast tomorrow!’

‘Argh!’ Eugene moans.

They are making their way down a long, empty, candlelit corridor when they come across Rapunzel.

She practically bounds towards them before sliding to a stop on her tiny bare feet.

‘Varian! Go check if the guest bedroom is ready and unlocked for him.’ She says quickly.

Pointing down the corridor for him to leave.
It was an obvious attempt to get rid of him and Eugene felt bad for the kid but apparently Varian was too oblivious to pick up on this and with an enthusiastic, ‘okay!’ He patters away.

As soon as the bouncy scientist disappears around the corner, Rapunzel grabs Eugene by the collar and pulls him behind a tall pillar, pushing him against it so they are both out of sight of the rest of the corridor. It all happens so fast. So swift. She presses him into it to fit into the small space. Their faces are
moments away from each other.
Eugene holds his breath. Watching her big beautiful eyes glow softly in the dim candlelight. They are so big. So green.
In that moment there should have been a silence between them. A hesitant, awkward moment. One of them should have leaned in. Closed the gap. God knows it was a long time coming.

But ever the surprise, Rapunzel immediately launches into a panicked hushed speech.
‘Eugene! There’s a big problem!’ Rapunzel hisses.

He groans, ‘what’s happened now?’ He tries to keep his voice down.

‘You know how I told you that no one here knows about Bastion-‘

‘Raps?’

Rapunzel and Eugene turn to see a tall slender woman in a maid dress with flowing headdress upon her dark curly hair and a stern sharp face glaring at them. She is holding a small knife up in the air as if ready to attack him.
Eugene jumps back a bit. Rapunzel however is unfazed and excitedly goes to grab the woman’s hand and pull her to join the apparent club they had formed behind the pillar.

‘Cass! Perfect timing!’ She gestures to Eugene, ‘this is Eugene Fitzherbert!’ She then then gives Eugene a dramatic wink, ‘and Eugene, THIS is Cassandra!’

Eugene looks as the woman glares daggers into him while still holding aloft a literal dagger.

Upon seeing that Rapunzel is okay she returns the blade to a hidden belt in her dress. Did all the maids carry those around? The woman looked Eugene up and down like he was trouble. This was the same looks guards gave him whenever he was captured as Flynn Rider. It was the look people gave him whenever he said the wrong thing as the King of the Dark Kingdom. He hated that look. The judgement.
Just one look at Cassandra and he could tell. Yeah this thing was definitely not going to work out.

Rapunzel is oblivious to the lack of chemistry between them and carries on with an excited giggle at Cassandra, ‘your two should run away together and get married!’

Cassandra takes a step back and pulls a disgusted face that just offends Eugene even more. What did she need to make that face for?! He was super attractive! She’d be lucky to have him!

‘Rapunzel, do you ever think before you talk?’ Cassandra complains sternly. Okay and he didn’t like how she talked to Rapunzel. Another mark lost in her favour. ‘And what were you two up to behind here anyway?’ She narrows her eyes at them.

So, she is the suspicious type? Another minus point. Although, he couldn’t blame her. An attractive young couple pressed close to each other in a secret corner in a dark corridor. He’d think they were… up to something fun too. If he didn't know better.

‘Oooooh look at you!’ Rapunzel teases. ‘So possessive! You feeling jealous already? Don’t worry! We weren’t doing anything! He is a one woman man! He’ll be completely faithful to you!’

By then Varian reappears and calls out from the end of the corridor, ‘the room was ready!’

Rapunzel shouts out to him in reply, ‘then take him there already! What are you making him stand here in the dark for?’ She laughs light-heartedly.

Poor Varian. Eugene was glad to see him though. He'd take any opportunity to get away from this scary lady that was apparently Rapunzel’s friend. But just a few steps into getting out of there, Rapunzel grabs his arm.

‘Wait one sec!’ Rapunzel swivels to face Cassandra, ‘hey close your eyes and don’t listen, it’s a secret!’ Of course, Cassandra does nothing of the sort and watches as Rapunzel turns back around to lean into Eugene and whisper, ‘there’s a small rowboat by the docks on the other side of Corona. Meet me there at the crack of dawn tomorrow.’

‘Why?’ He whispers.

‘Bye!’ She says to him loudly. She then cheerfully steps away from both of them and with a wave and enthusiastic, ‘Good night guys!’ She skips away humming a merry tune as she went.

When she is gone Eugene cautiously looks over at Cassandra, who is silently glowering at him still. He laughs nervously and circles a finger near his head jokingly, as if to indicate that Rapunzel was a little crazy. This just earns him a more ferocious glare and he squeaks a quick ‘okay bye,’ before speed-walking away to where he hoped Varian was.

One thing was for sure. There was very little chance of him running away with Cassandra.

Chapter Text

‘Argh!’ Eugene wakes up to a slimy feeling shoot into his ear.

He jerks to see a small scaly animal right beside his head sticking it’s long tongue into his ear.

‘Arghhh!’ He jumps back again, but goes too far and falls backwards off the bed onto the cold hard floor.

‘Arghhhhhhhh!’ He exclaims one more time, rubbing his poor tailbone.

With a tiny pattering, the creature comes to peer over the side of the bed. Sniggering at him.

Eugene scowls. ‘I take it you’re Pascal? You’re aren’t the little angel she painted you as.’

The cheeky little frog gives him an affirmative nod. Eugene is almost proud of himself for being able to communicate with it. Although he could just be going insane.

‘So is there a reason you woke me up or do you just make a habit out of licking peacefully sleeping peoples’ eardrums?’

Pascal rolls his big round eyes and points his tail towards the window.

Eugene looks over and sees the golden beams of the early sunrise peaking from behind the heavy velvet curtains.

‘Oh. I have to meet Rapunzel…’

Pascal nods.

‘did she have to pick such an ungodly hour?’ he yawns.

Pascal gives him a small squeak which Eugene decides meant that he should get up and go already.

‘Okay, okay.’ He manages to get her himself into a standing position and finds a pair of trousers to slip into before glancing down at where the creature patiently waited. ‘you coming?’ He asks.

Pascal nods and somehow Eugene knows to reach his hand out to the little thing and let it sit in his palm, telling him where to go and they head to the Princess.

It’s a beautiful morning in Corona. The place felt like something out of a fairy tale. As he strolled through the town towards the docks he enjoyed the quiet calmness of the day Him and Pascal were serenaded on their walk by the early rising birds that sang as the swooped across the peaceful sky.

Very few people were awake and those who were, offered him a cheerful ‘good morning!’ as he passed. The flowers in the windowsills were lush and neat and the smell of the bakeries making their day’s supplies was sweet and mouth-watering. Eugene takes a quick detour to get some breakfast.

Eugene was glad Pascal was their to guide him because there was no way he could have made it through that maze of houses and twists and turns to little private dock alone. But eventually they get to their desired destination.
On the water in a small wooden boat by the bay sat a young girl, silhouetted against the glow of the morning sun which set fire to the colours around her.

She looks up and waves upon seeing him eagerly. He smiles and makes his way over.
‘I see you’ve finally met Pascal!’ She beams.

‘I assumed you sent him to get me.’ He carefully climbs into the boat to sit opposite her and watches as Pascal leaps from his hand to rest comfortably on Rapunzel’s shoulder.

‘I did! I saw the way you slept in the carriage ride here! I was worried you wouldn’t wake up before noon’

‘No, I remembered.’ He lied as he pulled out two cupcakes and offers one to her.

‘Oh thank you!’ she gleams, immediately popping the little glazed cherry on top into her mouth.

He follows suit, moving the paper out of the way to take a bite into his sweet morning snack. ‘Have you been waiting long?’

‘Nope I just got here!’ She smiles, ‘it’s nice out here isn’t it! So peaceful! I don’t get why people don’t like waking up early! Morning is the best time of day!’

Eugene rolls his eyes. ‘Did you wake me up this early just to chat?’

She groans, ‘I wish! But no, there’s a big problem!’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Andrew is coming!’

Eugene sighs. ‘And now who the hell is Andrew?’

Pascal pulls a face that tells Eugene that we are not meant to like the guy.

‘Andrew. He is from Saporia. Or what used to be Saporia. Son of a Lord. Very important. He is actually a friend of mine. We have written to each other a few times and he even visited a few years back and we got on really well. He is coming back with his family today and get this! He is coming to ask me to marry him! And I have to agree!’

‘Wait what?’ Eugene shakes his head. ‘What do you mean ‘have to agree?’ Is no one going to ask what you want?’

Rapunzel gives him a sheepish looks, ‘There's a twist to the tale.’

Of course. ‘Go on.’

‘Andrew and I have been unofficially engaged since we were babies. It was meant to be a political move to help make Corona stronger and end the separatist movement. My parents planned on letting Andrew and me meet throughout our childhoods and get to know each other. But obviously I got kidnapped for 18 years and only got to meet him a few times in the last few years! My parents asked me what I thought of him recently and I said I really liked him! Because I did! He is super smart and he’s not bad looking either. But that doesn’t mean I want to marry him! And last night I just found out that there has been this huge misunderstanding and they thought I agreed to the engagement and they have invited him over to seal the deal!’ She gasps for air.

Woah. She really said all that in one breath? She must be panicked. Pascal gives her a sympathetic nuzzle.

So that’s why the King was so tense last night. He didn’t just invite this group of separatists for a political deal. It was a marriage contract! No wonder he didn’t want Rapunzel’s very, very handsome male friend around!

But Eugene doesn’t get it. ‘What’s the big deal? Just tell your parents it was a misunderstanding. Okay your dad is scary but your mum seems nice enough. They aren’t going to force you to marry someone you don’t want to.’

Rapunzel clutches at her short strands of shiny brown hair. ‘It’s not that simple! His whole clan is coming with him! Most of them are Separatists! If I say no now, they could storm the castle! Cause havoc! Start a war!’

Her exclamation causes the boat to wobble side to side precariously. Pascal has to grip tight to her clothes to stop himself from flying off her dramatically flailing arms.

Eugene holds her shoulders to steady her, ‘okay Sunshine, you are totally exaggerating.’

Her eyes widen, ‘Eugene you have no idea what Saporian separatists can be like! If I say no they won’t be pleased.’

‘So, what are you going to do?’

She gives him a wide, excited, toothy grin. ‘I’m going to run away of course!’

Eugene slaps a palm to his face, ‘what is it with you and running away!? Don’t even think about it! Running away is a really cheap thing to do, I’m telling you.’ She seems unfazed by his warning. ‘Anyway, there are so many risks with running away! Think of all the problems you could cause.’ He wags his finger at her like she’s a child that needs to be told not to steal from the cookie jar.

‘Eugene, I have painstakingly read every line of my Kingdom’s laws. My marriage as Princess must be decided by the royal council. Sure, my parents and I are a part of it, but we only make up three votes! And they are all keen on this relationship!’

‘There must be a loop hole?’

‘There is! While I was kidnapped the law was adjusted to state that: ‘’the Princess upon return must marry whom the council sees fit as is the norm for the Princess of the Kingdom, UNLESS she is already found to be wed upon her return! In which case her groom should be trained to become a suitable spouse for a reigning monarch.’’ They aren’t above forcing me to get married but they would never make me have a divorce! All I have to do is go missing again for a while and get married! They can’t do anything, and my parents won’t be under any pressure to fight the council!’

‘But running away shouldn’t be the answer.’ Eugene states.

‘But what else can I do? Worst case scenario is that I have to give up being Princess! I'll do that! I love my parents and my Kingdom but I can't live without Bastion! I have to run away! It’s my only option!’ She flops her arms in defeat.

‘There are tons of options!’

‘Like what?’

‘Like- like just tell your parents about your boyfriend- what’s his name? Bastion!’

‘No! Even if they agree, the council would never let it happen! I have to marry royalty or nobility! Anyway, if I tell mum and dad about my secret boyfriend they’ll just emotionally blackmail me and then I’ll have to marry Andrew! Nope. Baaaaad option!’

‘They don’t seem like the emotionally blackmailing type Rapunzel. But okay if you can’t talk to your parents. Then you’ll have to forget about Bastion and marry Andy.’

Rapunzel just looks at him with an unimpressed sneer, ‘next option.’

‘Just don’t get married to anyone!’ He shrugs.

‘Next option.’

‘Set up Andrew and Cassandra.’

Rapunzel scoffs, ‘next.’

‘Prove to the royal council that Andrew is impotent and would have trouble producing heirs.’

Rapunzel rolls her eyes and laughs, ‘he’s not impotent. Next.’

‘Okay- wait.’ He smirks at her, ‘how do you know he’s not impotent?’

She sniggers and playfully pushes his shoulder, ‘I can just tell!’

He laughs, ‘what does that mean?! Are you sure you and him never-‘

‘Next!’

He chuckles, ‘But have you ever seen Andrew with someone else?’

‘Next.’

‘Has anyone ever told you that he is-‘

‘Next.’

‘Alright, alright! Do we know for certain that he’s straight?’

‘Next.’

‘All I’m saying is maybe we could get a rumour started that-‘

‘Next!’

They never reach a conclusion. But their joking around seems to help Rapunzel calm down and feel more at ease. Eugene is glad for that at least.

They continue laughing away as the sun rose into the sky and the world around them began to come alive. They could have stayed there for hours more if Cassandra hadn’t ran up to them and panicked that Rapunzel was not dressed yet to meet their guests. In less than a heartbeat Cass had dragged the girl back up to the castle. Eugene takes his time heading back, making sure to buy some more pastries as he does.

When Eugene got back to his room there was a wiry, man with a large sharp nose and oiled back hair in his room.

‘Hello Mr Fitzherbert.’ He says in the most snooty voice Eugene had ever heard from a Coronian.

‘Uh, hi?’

‘I am Nigel, Royal Advisor to the King.’

Ah so he was Rapunzel’s dad’s Adira. Interesting.

The man continues, his nose up in the air, ‘I took the liberty of having some formal wear sent to your room and they should be pressed and hanging in your closet already.’

‘Oh thanks.’ Eugene goes to check the closet in which, indeed, was a creaseless, frilly, dumb looking suit.

‘I also came to inform you that the Queen wishes to speak with you before the lunch. I advise you see her as soon as you are changed.’

Uh oh. Why did the Queen want him? It must be something about Rapunzel.

‘Is there anything else you need, Sir?’ Nigel asks respectfully.

Eugene leans against the wall, ‘I have a question.’

‘Which is?’

‘Isn’t bringing clothes for the castle’s guest a bit below your pay grade? I mean shouldn't you be planning ruling strategies with the King or something?’

Nigel raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him. ‘my duty is to help the crown and make sure the castle runs smoothly. Not that my role is of any significance to you.’

And with that he leaves.

Eugene shrugs to himself. He thought Hector was a moody advisor! Well. Hector had only been Eugene’s advisor for a month before they had a petty row over Eugene calling him a 'crazy rhino man.' The argument lasted days and eventually led to Eugene firing him on the spot.

Not his most glamourous moment as ruler he'd admit.

The whole thing didn’t go down well at all.

Adira replaced Hector automatically as next in command and kept an even tighter leash on Eugene. And Hector was furious. He had made Eugene’s life a living hell after that. He was pretty sure Hector was the one that put the idea of leaving into Lance and Stalyan’s heads. Or maybe he was just scapegoating.

Regardless, Hector was just plain rude.

This Nigel guy didn’t seem like a bundle of joy either. Must just be part of the job requirements. To apply one must have good organisational skills and be arrogant and tiresome.

Eugene doesn’t think more of it and puts on his new uncomfortable suit before heading out in search of the Queen.

The castle was buzzing with excitement. A giant banquet was to be held that afternoon to welcome the Saporians. Everyone was busy preparing for the occasion. Decorations and flags were hung. Dinner sets neatly placed. Flower arrangements made.

He ran into Stan and Pete and asked them if they wanted to skip this whole affair and go to town with him. But it turned out they were busy with learning the security arrangements for the next few days. Seemed like they were going to be busy. He thought he might find those two little girls again, Red and Angry. They had said something the night before about trying to undo as many people’s shoelaces as they could. That sounded fun. But they were nowhere to be found. Although he did later notice his boots had been unbuckled. Boy, did he like those two.

In his wandering he happens upon Rapunzel’s mother. Ever the elegant woman, she glided through the halls in her proper mauve dress, saying her orders to the busy castle staff.
When she sees Eugene she gives him a warm smile, ‘Mr Fitzherbert! Thank you for meeting me.’

Eugene cautiously follows her down a few corridors, wondering what she wants. Will this be about Rapunzel’s proposal?

‘Eugene, Rapunzel and I had a word last night.’
Uh oh it seems like it is. ‘…and she told me about how much you did for her during your travels.’

Oh no, now he is going to have to explain that they are just friends. This’ll be awkward.

‘And of course, we wish to repay you in full.’

Ah.

‘Oh that isn’t necessary...’ he starts, flustered at the unexpected deviation of topic but ultimately pleased that he wasn’t about to be grilled on his relationship with the Queen’s daughter.

The Queen gives a light laugh, ‘Rapunzel told me exactly how much you spent on her! There is no chance we can let you go without paying you back! It’s the least we can do.’

She pulls out an ancient looking key and goes to unlock a towering heavy door before them.
Entering the room, Eugene pretends to marvel at the sight before him. The endlessly long room lined with endless rows of endless shelves holding endless safes. He pretends because he had, of course, seen the inside of Palace treasury in his thieving days.

The queen goes to take a seat at a large table in the centre of the room, opens a few massive folders and pulls out a quill to start working out some maths.

Eugene hovers beside her awkwardly, Don’t you have someone to do all this stuff for you? Admin? Keeper of the treasury? Something like that?’

The Queen glances up at him, ‘yes we do. But the King and I like to keep an eye on the finances ourselves as well.’

‘Huh.’ Eugene absentmindedly plays with a paper holder, ‘can’t trust the help?’

The Queen looks slightly alarmed at his statement. ‘No! We trust all our staff! It’s just important for us to know exactly where our money is going, how it is distributed, which transactions are made etc. That way we can make more informed decisions for the Kingdom without relying on someone to have to explain our financial status to us at every stage.'

It made sense.

Him and the Queen are there for a while as she works out which safes can accommodate the amount they owed him. He was surprised at the amount he had let Rapunzel spend. And was further surprised when he ended up being handed much more gold than he had lost. The Queen was either poor at counting or decided he deserved a little extra on the side.

They leave the impressive room together and she goes to lock it.

‘Those bags should be safe in your room. I have to go and help with the arrangements for our guests today. I’m sure you have heard about the lunch.’

‘Yeah Rapunzel told me.’

The Queen pauses. She studies his eyes. ‘Is she- she isn’t upset by all this is she?’

‘Oh- Uh- I- um...’ he didn’t want to rat Rapunzel out. But the woman before him seemed so kind. So understanding! Surely she would stop all this if she knew Rapunzel wasn’t happy with it!

‘Truth be told Eugene, I can’t say I am particularly thrilled about all this either. But the royal council have demanded it at this point. We even sent her to Pincosta to study to delay it a year while we tried to implement a change to the law. But they aren’t budging. And now even the King has convinced himself that this marriage will be best. Of course, this is for her benefit. We don’t want her to be stuck managing a war one day when we can resolve all this tension now. And Andrew is a good boy. We have known him his whole life. He was brought up well. And he cares for her...’

That’s when Eugene realises the Queen is helpless too. She doesn’t have the power to stop all this now. So why worry her.

‘Rapunzel and I were joking around this morning and she seemed fine to me.’ He tries to maintain a nonchalant tone.

The Queen looks relieved, ‘I'm glad to hear that.’

He feels bad for lying to her.

‘Thank you Eugene, I’ll see you at the lunch later then’

‘Actually, I was planning on going out for the day.’ Eugene says casually.

The Queens frowns at him for a moment before seemingly realising something and sighing, ‘did the King ask you to stay away? That won’t be necessary. In fact, Rapunzel should have a good friend like you with her today. I’d be very grateful if you could support her and keep her out of trouble. She has a knack for mischief that we can’t afford today! I don’t know where she gets it!’ The Queen gives him a uncharacteristic but still ever so charming wink before leaving him alone in front of the treasury.

Did the Queen’s wishes overrule the King’s? Should he stay or go? Eugene decides that hanging around might be a good choice. Like the Queen said, Rapunzel might need someone to help ground her. She had seemed stressed this morning.

Plus, the food looked like it was going to be good.

After parting ways with the Queen, he manages to find Varian who was more than happy to take Eugene under his wing. Sure, he giggled a little too excessively every time Eugene opened his mouth to speak but other than that he was a good kid.

‘I’ve been helping Cass with her royal duties! You can help too if you want!’

Eugene crosses his arms, ‘I’d rather not.’

‘Aww come on!’ Varian punches him in the arm, ‘things will go much faster if Team Awesome works together!’

‘Team Awesome?’ He raises an eyebrow at the young boy.

‘Yeah that’s our name! You know! Cuz’ we are both so awesome!’

‘Well I can’t argue with that logic.’ Eugene shrugs, ‘also Varian why are you always here? Not that I don’t like having you around, but didn’t you say you’re from Old Corona?’

Varian gives him a buck toothed grin, ‘oh my dad had to leave town. He got a letter last week telling him he had to go and help out somewhere. He never told me the details but I don’t like being home alone. The King and Queen said I could stay here till he is back! They are so great!’

Varian’s little story is interrupted when Cassandra storms towards them.

‘Right, I don’t have time for arguments but you two need to go help the kitchen staff move all the dishes to the banquet hall. They are running behind.’

‘I’d rather-‘ Eugene starts.

‘We’ll get right on it!’ Varian says a little too eagerly.

‘Good.’ She states before sharply turning to head towards the laundry quarters.

The cheek! He was a guest here! He shouldn’t have to do work! But there was something about the jolly productivity of the castle staff that made you just want to join in. So, he did.
Eugene discovered he had a new talent that day. Which was stealing food from the intricately arranged platters and rearranging them to make it look like it was still full despite half the rolls being in his digestive tract. Was he taking advantage of the situation? Sure. But it was immature of anyone to think that two growing men like him and Varian could carry these giant silverware plates of posh finger food without tasting some of it for themselves.
It wasn’t long before the parade of Saporians began to make their way into the hall. The King and Queen were at the door welcoming each person who made their way in. There were several important figures of Corona there too to greet the guests and apparently some of Rapunzel’s relatives including a few much older and very boring cousins and uncles and aunts. Suffice to say a lot of people were in the room.

The Saporians were very different from the people of Corona that was for sure. Eugene didn’t want to generalise, but they all seemed a bit... unruly and aggressive. One of them had already broken on of the vases in the corner and most of them seemed cranky and ready to start a fight.

Eugene heads towards the dessert table at the back of the hall to place his last piece of manual labour - a giant bowl of trifle - onto the table. He was just setting it down when Rapunzel walks in.

She looked lovely. Her choppy chestnut hair had been smoothed down a bit and held in place by a crown he knew all too well. She wore a decorated white, pink and gold dinner dress that perfectly fitted her small frame and gently glided across the floor to perfectly hide, he assumed, her bare feet.

She looked like a Princess.

She gave him a sly grin from the other end of the room before whistling coolly with her hands behind her back as she casually made her way over to him, chatting to whomever she passed so as not to draw attention to where she was headed.

Eugene panicked for a moment. Why was she coming over? Surely she should be greeting the guests at the door with her parents? Wasn’t that normal host protocol? What would all the guests think if she was chatting in the back with a random guy instead of mingling with her future in-laws?!

Soon Rapunzel has managed to aimlessly make her way to standing beside Eugene. Still a few feet away from him to seem like she was assessing the profiteroles tray, but close enough for him to catch her mischievous whispers.

‘Look at them all! So excited! Poor things don’t know I’ll be running away from here really soon!’ She sings under her breath.

Eugene keeps his voice low as he pretends to rearrange the tiny spoons, ‘Look Rapunzel. Don’t get too close to me. We don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.’

Rapunzel apparently finds this funny and responds by skidding over to him and aggressively grabbing his blazer to pull him up against her, ‘so what? It’s not like I want to get married here!’

Eugene freaks out, imagining the King’s wrath as he tries to escape her grasp. She keeps a firm hold, leaning dangerous close to him as he claws to get away, ‘And what about all these Separatists who would come over here and thrash me!’

Rapunzel leans in even closer to him, ‘I’m sure you can handle them for my sake, sweetheart!’

They both struggle against each other. Despite himself Eugene finds himself catching her contagious smile and stifles his laughter as he forces a straight face.

‘Let go what are you doing!?’ He laughs as he finally manages to rip himself from her hold.

She tries to grab him again but he jumps a step back.

‘But this will work!’ She hisses gleefully, there’s a terrifyingly enticing spark in her eye. ‘Get them thinking we have something going on between us to stop this marriage! This is the right option!’

‘Stay away from me, you hear?’ Eugene points a warning finger at her, before quickly turning around to get away and subsequently bumping straight into a very suspicious looking Cassandra.

The raven-haired woman raises an eyebrow as here eyes dart back and forth between the two guilty looking parties.

Eugene can hear Rapunzel giggling behind him as he gives Cassandra a quick forced smile before getting away as fast as he could to where Stan and Pete were standing guard.

He hopes to spend most of this event talking to the people he has already met. He would stick with Varian but the boy was busy showing off some nerdy science knowledge with a bunch of guests that were probably into that stuff. None of Rapunzel’s ruffian friends were at the dinner. He wasn’t particularly surprised. And Cassandra was the last person he wanted to hang with.

Unfortunately, because Stan and Pete were technically on duty, they weren’t meant to be talking about who had the best facial hair (for some reason Pete thought he was a contender in this) and the three of them receive a scolding from the Captain of the Guard.

Eugene had to find some other way to entertain himself.

That’s when he notices Rapunzel being introduced to a young man that he assumed must be Andrew.

‘Hello! How are you?’ Rapunzel asks the guy cheerfully.

‘I’m doing well, Princess.’ His voice is smooth, calm, low. ‘It’s been quite a while hasn’t it?’

‘Yes over a year now! Crazy!’ Rapunzel replies.

‘Handsome isn’t he?’ An unemotional voice states.

Eugene sees that Cassandra had appeared beside him, also eavesdropping on Rapunzel’s conversation.

Eugene scoffs, ‘Please! The guy has a man bun! Talk about trying too hard! And what’s with the full beard? Everyone knows it’s all about the goatee nowadays.’ He hates how high his voice got when he got defensive.

‘Someone’s jealous.’ Cassandra smirks.

‘Me? J- Jealous?’ Eugene exclaims, ‘that guy isn’t anywhere close to my league! I’m way more captivating.’

‘Wow! That’s not narcissistic at all!’ Cassandra mutters.

Soon the volume of the whole room has lessened as everyone tries to listen in on the conversation between Rapunzel and Andrew.

‘Yes it is fun, Princess! And also has the added benefit of being completely powered by wind and fire. I don’t use modes of transportation that exploit animals.’

‘Oh well I ride Max all the time! But he enjoys when we go riding together so-’ Rapunzel turns to suddenly realise the whole room is watching them, ‘you can all talk too! No one is being punished here!’ she states to the nosey crowd.

Everyone gives a hearty chuckle at her comment. Except the King who just looks a bit nervous until the Queen gives him a reassuring pat.

The King then notices Eugene watching the exchange. He does not look impressed to see Eugene there but the Queen notices this and whispers something in his ear that seems to calm the old man down. The Queen smiles at Eugene from the distance and beckons for him to join them.

Uh oh.

Eugene gulps as he drags his feet towards the Royal couple who were getting ready to sit at the head of the long dining table with three of the Saporian guests.

Eugene hesitates. Was he meant to sit down here? With the king and queen of the Kingdom?

His confusion must have been apparent and the Queen gives him a warm smile and says gently in his ear, ‘you are just as much a guest here as anyone else. In fact, after what you did for our daughter, You are the most important guest here. Just don’t tell the Saporians.’ With another warm regal smile she gestures towards his seat, between her and a very elderly lady.

The King clears his throat. ‘Let me introduce you all to our guest, Mr Eugene Fitzherbert. He is a writer and explorer.’ The guests nod politely. ‘And Eugene. This is Andrew’s mother and father and his grandmother.’

Eugene looks at the trio. Andrew was the spitting image of his father. The man also sported an impressive full beard, scattered elegantly with silver hairs. He had a stern, unimpressed expression that matched the King’s. Beside him was a short, very muscular woman. She would have been intimidating if it wasn’t for her bubbly looking face and profusely rosy cheeks. And the grandmother beside him. Well, she looked like an angry hunched-over skeleton. She sported a grand collection of heavy gold jewellery that he was surprised her frail neck could hold up.

Eugene say as his hellos and soon the group becomes bigger as Rapunzel and Andrew make their way over and sit side by side, across the table from him.

Eugene honestly doesn’t know why he was there. He felt like he was intruding on a personal engagement between two families. He was an outsider. He should be at the table with all the extras.

He didn’t feel like an outcast for long once Andrew’s father directs the conversation towards him, ‘what do you write, Mr Fitzherbert?’

‘Oh I Uh-‘

‘He writes about his travels.’ Rapunzel says eagerly.

Eugene is grateful for her.

‘Yeah he is actually a really good storyteller! You should listen to some of his stories!’ She continues giving him a cheeky look.

He was now less grateful for her.

Andrew’s mother cups her hands, ‘oh I do love a good story! Go on! Tell us one!’

‘Oh, she is just joking! I’m not really that good!’ Eugene stammers.

‘What!? I’m not joking!’ Rapunzel then pouts and makes a grand gesture of showing them all. ‘See! Does it look like I’m joking?’

‘Go on little man.’ The Grandmother croaks.

‘Uh- I don’t know-‘

The Queen smiles, ‘Eugene you don’t have to-‘

‘Eugene.’ The King bellows. The rest of them pause to listen to the commanding man at the head of the table. ‘Don’t be shy. Come on now, son.’

‘Go on Eugene.’ Rapunzel gives him a little wink.

‘Yes please Eugene.’ Andrew says. Eugene doesn’t know why this guy felt the need to butt in. ‘I’m somewhat of a bibliophile myself so I might be a bit hard to impress but I’m sure you could come up with something interesting enough to pass the time.’

That pretentious little... nope. Eugene wasn’t going to let that guy bother him. He clears his throat. ‘Uh okay. This is the story of how I-‘

‘Ahhhh!’

They all turn their head to see a very excited Varian a few seats down the long table.

‘Eugene is about to tell us a story about one of his adventures!’ the boy squeals, ‘Speak up so we can hear too!’

Wait what? Eugene barely signed up for telling Rapunzel, her parents and her potential husband’s family a story and now he had to tell half the table?
Rapunzel grins, ‘Oh that’s a good idea! She gets up and taps her glass. Everyone on the ceaselessly long table hushes their conversations to listen to the young princess.

‘Everyone my very, very dear and close companion Eugene is going to be entertaining us with the story of how we met!’

There are several oohs and aahs from the table, mainly from the Coronians. The Saporian’s just watch him, indifferent.

Rapunzel sits down and gives him a smirk. What was she playing at? Did she think this was going to help stop this marriage from happening? How was him telling the story of their short time together meant to stop all this? It’s not like anything happened between them. They were just travel buddies. Who... spent a night alone together in a dodgy inn where they saw a vision of an alternative universe of them as a couple. And slept outside in a field by the side of the road together. And jumped into a lagoon and went swimming until their clothes were practically transparent and stuck to their bodies as they pretended not to notice. And they had a cart ride together into the most romantic city in the seven kingdoms. And they spent the last week in a small carriage curled up in the same enclosed space for the entire duration of the trip.

Okay yeah. He knew everything between them was platonic. And she knew everything between them was platonic. But everyone else might have other ideas. One thing Eugene knew about being a royal was that standard for what was considered appropriate behaviour was super high. And Rapunzel wasn’t exactly a conventional princess. Maybe these up their arse Saporian’s would be disgusted by her unbecoming behaviour and turn her down themselves. Was that her plan? What would the King and Queen think of their adventures? They were under the impression the two of them had an easy trip to Vardaros. The King would probably have his neck if he knew even half the details of what had happened on their trip. The occasional dangers they had gotten into. And the Queen would probably be less nice to him. And no. Nope. Sorry Rapunzel. But he wasn’t going to play her game.

Eugene silently prays for himself as he stood up and took centre stage to entertain the crowd. The whole time thinking: No really, what was he doing here? How did he end up becoming the entertainment at the Royal banquet tying two families together while in cahoots with the bride-to-be to stop the engagement taking place!?

‘Hello ladies and gentlemen. I am Eugene Fitzherbert. Unfortunate name I know.’

This earns him a scattered chuckle from around the room.

‘I actually will not be telling you the story of how I met my BUDDY, Princess Rapunzel.’ He made sure to emphasise the friend part. ‘It’s a boring story of hitchhiking across the kingdoms that would put you to sleep I assure you.’

He glances over at Rapunzel to see she is scrunching up her nose in annoyance at him.

Ha! Two can play at this game Sunshine!

‘This is a story about a swashbuckling adventuring rogue! Yours truly.’ He gives a confident bow.

Varian gives an enthusiastic whoop which he appreciates.

‘And about the beautiful maiden he saves!’

There’s a few awwws from his audience.

‘So, who is the maiden? Your girlfriend?’ A little boy taunts.

There’s a few chuckles.

‘Luckily for all of you ladies here today, I am very VERY single.’ He gives one random middle aged woman a wink. She practically falls off her chair.

Man, he forgot how charming he could be!

‘This maiden was the most beautiful in the land! With eyes so big you could see the entire world of her mind through them. Her hair, lustrous and rich and voluminous and even though it was short it-‘

‘So basically exactly like me!’ Rapunzel cheers.

Everyone enthusiastically agrees.

Eugene and her share a glance. She gives him her: ‘I gotcha! I’m gonna make sure this story ruins this event’ face.

And so he gives her his: ‘I’m not going to let you do that!’ face back.

He clears his throat. ‘Ah. No no no. Actually, more like....’ he quickly darts his eyes around the room for inspiration, ‘like Cassandra!’

Everyone in the room follows his gaze until the entire focus is on the unsuspecting lady-in-waiting who freezes in her spot mid serving drinks, startled by the sudden attention drawn to her.

Looking back and forth nervously at all the faces studying her, she immediately snaps her head towards Eugene and gives him her: ‘just you wait till we are alone. I’m going to kill you, Fitzherbert!’ face.

Maybe it was just spending the morning with Pascal but we had definitely gotten good at reading expressions.

He made a mental note of avoiding Cassandra from now on. But it was worth it. Anything to draw attention away from any association between him and Rapunzel.

And so, he continued his story. It was one he had told many, many times before. In fact this particular story originated from his days in the orphanage. When they ran out of Flynnigan Rider books to read, young child Eugene would make up his own tales with the character to tell the other kids. He had a knack for making up stories. Part of his portfolio as an extraordinary thief and criminal. And when he adopted the persona of Flynn Rider then he was able to tell those same stories as if they were his actual tales.

He told them all one of his favourite made up stories. A story of Far-off places and daring sword fights and magic spells and a prince in disguise. A story of a man. A hero. Absolutely not a thief. Who travelled far and wide and met many people along the way. Including, yes, young maidens in need of his heroic gestures.
And the audience loved it. They hung on his every word. They cried when he wanted them to cry and laughed when he wanted them to laugh. Honestly, it was a great crowd. He didn’t see why Rapunzel wouldn’t want to marry into this lot.

That’s when he focussed on Rapunzel again. She had made a few attempts to sabotage his story by insisting that the main two romantic leads were just like her and him. However he managed to sway from every attempt she made and it seemed like no one caught on. Eventually she just gave up and listened to the story with everyone else. Looking at her now, she is just smiling at him in a way he can’t read. She just seems… content.

‘And that, my good friends, is the end. Thank you.’

Everyone cheers and claps and whoops. Varian is on the verge of tears with excitement. A bunch of rowdy kids start chanting: ‘sequel, sequel!’

When Eugene re-joins his seat at the table he has apparently earned everyone’s respect. The King gives him a big uncharacteristically friendly squeeze of his shoulder. The Queen, poised as ever, compliments his showmanship. Andrew’s mother looks like she wants to give him a massive sloppy kiss. His grandmother gives him a crooked toothless grin. And even Andrew’s quiet father gives him a nod of approval.

For a moment Eugene is worried he might end up being married off to Andrew.

Luckily, this was unlikely because at that moment Andrew asks Rapunzel if she would like to join him on a walk through the garden.
Rapunzel hesitantly agrees and the two of them leave.

Eugene takes the opportunity to actually get to his meal. He maintains polite conversation with those around him and feels less awkward around the King and Queen now as they shower him with praise.

After he has eaten, a bunch of girls with bright red hair run up to him and ask if he can teach them to shoot arrows like in his story. He agrees because why not? And soon him and a group of sisters are in the shade of the trees in the palace gardens, fashioning bows and arrows out of twigs and vines.

Varian joins them and provides invaluable input by using his big brain to design more efficient bow and arrows that are almost always guaranteed to hit their target. ‘Thanks to the power of SCIENCE!’ He exclaims dramatically.

Soon the young girls have to go home and just Eugene and Varian remain to mess around flicking twigs at each other. Both of them are completely oblivious to a young couple heading towards them.

…

Rapunzel was barely listening to Andrew as he attempted to maintain the conversation. Her eyes were too busy scanning the gardens for a way out of her predicament.

‘... and that’s why I don’t think it’s enough to leave it to be people to decide. To make a difference you would have to implement veganism by law.’

‘Uh huh.’ Rapunzel mumbles automatically.

‘Of course, I’ll never be King. But as a Prince consort I would be there to support you as Queen in making decisions like these.’

‘Yeah sure...’

‘You know, I’m not like other men in that sense. I know better than to let a woman’s success give me insecurity. I think men should support women.’

‘Wow how progressive.’ Rapunzel offers, still racking her brain for an exit.

‘Yes I know. Part of that comes from being so well read. If I could have one dream it would be to make sure every child in the world has a book so they can read it and maybe one day even become as erudite as me.’

‘Nice nice....’ that’s when Rapunzel finds what she was looking for. Her way out. Half hidden behind some trees. She sees Eugene.

‘What can I say, I’m just that-‘

‘Sorry Andrew!’ Rapunzel exclaims, ‘just wait here, I’ll be right back!’

Before he can give his confused reply, Rapunzel hikes up her skirts and runs away until she is behind the tree with the two young men.

‘Varian. My dad’s calling you.’ She says quickly.

The boy jumps to his feet, ‘the King wants to talk to me! Maybe he finally wants to approve my underground hot water system!’

Poor kid. Eugene thought. Always getting sent away. Falling for it every time.

Rapunzel grabs Eugene by the shoulders and almost violently shoves him out of the shade of the trees and into full view of the path going through the garden.

‘Rapunzel could you stop with all the man handling-‘ he starts, jokingly.

‘Is he coming?’ Rapunzel hisses

‘Who?’

‘Andrew! Is he coming?’

Eugene looks over her shoulder to see that indeed a very confused looking Andrew was watching them from a distance, hesitantly making his way towards them.

‘Yeah he’s coming...’ Eugene says in a low, nervous voice.

‘Is he looking at us?’

Eugene already knew the answer so instead he focusses on Rapunzel to see the playful gleam in her eye and the cunning smile set on her face.

‘Rapunzel…’ He warns, ‘You get away from me right n-‘

But before he can finish Rapunzel leans forward and gives him a dramatic, loud kiss on the cheek.

Eugene freezes. Arms stiff at his sides.
Rapunzel wraps her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder and pulling him into her. He tries to push her away but, as always, her grip is tight.

Eugene quickly moves her flying strands of hair away from his face and calls out to the bewildered man marching towards them. ‘Andrew! Don’t believe any of this! She’s acting! She’s making it all up!’

Rapunzel then pulls away and turns so she is standing shoulder to shoulder with Eugene, facing Andrew. He hands fly to cover her mouth.

‘Oh no! Andrew!’ Rapunzel exclaims. Eugene internally groans. She was putting on a that fake baby voice when you want someone to think you are lying.

‘Andrew let me explain.’ Eugene says firmly.

‘Oh yes Eugene tell him!’ Her voice is girly and uncharacteristically ditsy. ‘Tell him that there nothing going on between us!’

‘Don’t listen to her, she’s-‘

‘Andrew I swear!’ She putting on an infuriating voice, like a child acting terribly in the town play, ‘I swear Eugene and I are just friends! Aren’t we honey?- oh I mean buddy!’

Andrew just stands there silently glaring at them both. Eugene wonders why setting the man up with Cass was one of the bad options. They seemed perfect for each other.

Rapunzel continues with her charade, ‘Eugene and I are strangers! We only just met on a train! It’s not like we already knew each other in Pincosta! Tell him Eugene! Tell him how nothing was going on between us in Pincosta either!’

Before the mess of a conversation can progress further Varian returns, ‘uh Princess Rapunzel. Your dad said he wasn’t calling me...’

‘He’s lying! Here I’ll come with you.’ And she grabs Varian’s hand and runs off into the castle with him.

Leaving Eugene with a very angry Andrew.
The Saporian man is ready to storm off but Eugene calls for him to wait. Andrew stops.

‘Mate, I swear. She was just making all that up.’

‘I have eyes, Fitzherbert.’ He snarls.

Eugene waves his hands defensively, ‘She wanted you to see us together like that.’

‘Why? Why the hell would she want me to see that?’ He spits.

Eugene hesitates. ‘Y- You should probably talk to her about it.’ He says gently, ‘I mean you guys have known each other a while…’

Andrew scoffs, ‘Look. It’s not like I’m dying to marry that sociopath either.’

‘Watch it.’ Eugene was surprised at how instinctual his defence of Rapunzel was.

‘…But if you think you can take being King of Corona away from me then you have another thing coming.’ Andrew growls before marching away from where Eugene stood speechless.
This was a side to Andrew he didn’t know existed. He wasn’t just this ultra-peaceful-hippie- pretentious-art-house hipster. He was a power-hungry social climber. Wow. Rapunzel was really dodging a bullet here.

Eugene makes his way back into the palace to look for Rapunzel. When he does locate her she is in what looks like a very deep conversation with the King and Varian in the throne room. Eugene hovers by the door for a moment before deciding that interrupting the King was the last thing he wanted to do.
Rapunzel notices him hovering by the door and gives with a cheeky wink.

Does she think this is all funny?

Well yeah. It kind of was.

He smirks, shaking his head at her and goes to find something to occupy him.

The rest of the day wasn’t that eventful for him. Andrew had apparently not told anyone about the exchange in the garden and so the festivities were carrying on as usual. As the sun sank behind the horizon, the King invited all the castles guests to his comfy parlour for some post-dinner games and activities. (Some of the younger ones in the room kept suggesting a game of grab-the-gopher. Eugene didn’t know what the game was but he assumed it was some kind of naughty innuendo. It’s not like the game would involve actual gophers after all!)

Interestingly, there are two people missing from the parlour that evening. Andrew and Rapunzel. A few light jokes are made about how hopefully the two of them are behaving themselves. The King does not find this funny. And honestly, neither did Eugene.

Andrew’s parents clear the air by informing everyone that their son had a headache and needed a lie down. And the Queen, being the wonderful woman she was, requested a hot bowl of remedial soup be sent to his room.
No one seemed concerned about Rapunzel being missing which struck him as odd.
However, upon asking about this the King gives a hearty chuckle, ‘Ah as long as her little friend Pascal is missing too, you can be sure they are together painting a wall somewhere!’

After an aggressive game of charades Eugene heads off to his guest chambers to sleep.

The beds were nice in Corona. He had slept rough most of his life and so comfort never mattered to him really. Even when he became the King of the Dark Kingdom, the cold hard beds there didn’t bother him either. But now he knew what comfort felt like and he was never going back from this! This was sleeping like a King! The sheet were crisp and clean and the duvets thick and fluffy and the bed so soft and welcoming. He felt like he was curling up on a... not to be stereotypical... but it really did feel like a cloud.

Eugene’s gentle descent into slumber (and his pillow) is however rudely interrupted when he hears his window clatter open.

He shoots up to see a dark cloaked figure has climbed through his window. He looks around for a weapon to fight with, grabbing the candelabra on his bedside ready to duel.

Then his eyes adjust to the darkness, he hears that familiar sweet giggling he had grown to adore and he realises who the small figure before him was.

‘Rapunzel! What are you doing?’ He hisses into the silent night air.

She sniggers, ‘shhhh!’

‘What are you doing, now?’ He complains in an exasperated whisper.

‘Congratulations! You ruined everything!’ She exclaims in a hushed tone as she flops onto the big bed to sit facing him. ‘My plan was going brilliantly but then you had to go and talk to Andrew and now he wants to talk to me privately! Well, that’s not happening, no sir! I’m out of here!’

‘What? Where are you going?’ He rubs his eyes as he tried to keep up with her.

‘What do you mean where? I’m running away of course!’ She grins.

Eugene groans, ‘not this again. Rapunzel. Don’t you do that.’ He musters his most stern concerned friend face he can manage.

His eyes finally adjust enough to make out her expression. Softly glowing beneath the gentle moonlight. Her face is one of exhilaration. Excitement. Not a bone of dread in her whole body.

‘Oh I’m doing it. Look, why delay the inevitable! The sooner I leave the sooner I can get married and come back!’ She laughs and leans closer to him, ‘don’t worry. Everything is planned out! I just came to say bye to you!’

He sits up even straighter. ‘Wait. You’re leaving now? As in, right now?’

‘Yes!’ She rests a hand on his shoulder, ‘look you just relax here for a few days. Everyone will take care of you. And then you can just leave whenever you want to!’

‘Wait a minute.’ He shakes his head. ‘You’re leaving and I just stay here?’

‘Yeah!’

‘No! Are you insane?! What if Andrew says something about what he saw?! You’ll be gone and I’ll be here ready for everyone to beat me up to a pulp. And that’s only if you sad hasn’t have me hanged before that!’

‘Great!’ Rapunzel grins. Did she not hear him? ‘Then you should come with me!’

‘No way.’ He says in a low voice. ‘If we both disappear together then everyone will definitely think that we ran off together.’

‘So what?’ She snickers, ‘why do you care what they think?’

‘Because-‘ he pauses. Wait. It’s not like he was going to be seeing any of these people again. ‘You’re right. Why should I care...’

‘You coming?’

He shrugs. ‘Sure, let’s go.’

It’s a good thing she had him there because Eugene was well experienced in sneaking out of places unnoticed. The two of them tiptoed through the maze of corridors, swiftly avoiding any patrolling guards. Hiding behind suits of armour when the Captain of the Guard passed by and squeezing into dark corridors whenever they heard footsteps nearby.

Eugene whispers as quiet as he can to Rapunzel as they creep out of the kitchen, after having stolen some supplies, ‘where’s Pascal? Isn’t he going to come with you?’
Rapunzel shakes her head, ‘Pascal is staying here to do damage control when I’m gone. Making sure everyone knows I am safe and sound. He is like my little runaway note!’

Well, it sounds like she has thought things through at least. The last thing he wanted was to be blamed for her kidnapping.

In no time at all the two of them have managed to sneak out of the castle and are quickly dashing through the courtyard out of the establishments’ walls.

However, as they go something catches the corner of Eugene’s eye. He grabs Rapunzel’s arm for her to stop.

‘Hey Rapunzel, did you tell Cassandra we were running away?’

‘No. Why?’ she frowns.

Eugene turns and Rapunzel follows suit to where he had noticed Cassandra standing to the side, watching them go.

The woman takes a few steps forwards, ‘Rapunzel? What are you two doing?’

Rapunzel backs away with every step her friend took closer to them, ‘Cass! I need to go now! But I’ll be back in a few days! Please don’t tell anyone you saw us!’

The woman’s sharp furious eyes dart to Eugene.

Then she raises her voice, ‘MAX!!’

Oh no.

Rapunzel curses at her friend under her breath as she grabs Eugene’s hand to sprint away.
Eugene mutters his own complaints of Cassandra under his breath. Snitches get stitches in his book.

As they pass the palace gates Eugene huffs, ‘so what’s the plan? Where are we going?’

Behind them lights were starting to turn on inside the castle. Everyone was waking up ready to catch them.

Rapunzel pants alongside him, ‘we have a few options. Either we can see if there are any carts going out of town and jump on them or we could try and sneak onto one of the boats or maybe there’s a train and-‘

Eugene stops in his tracks and looks at her incredulously. ‘That’s your plan!? Maybe there’s a train!? That’s not a plan!! Shit, Rapunzel!’

‘Well I didn’t know Cass was going to see us!’

‘Yeah and now she is probably getting the whole royal guard to chase after us!’

He grabs Rapunzel’s hand and pulls her in the direction they had just come from.

‘No, I’m not going back!’

‘Shush! Just come with me!’

She resists his pull, ‘please! I’m not going back there!’

He stops to stand over her, ‘I’m in charge of the escape now. Just do what I say.’

Giving up, Rapunzel let’s him drag her. However, they do not go back into the castle. Instead, Eugene leads her as they scale the walls of the palace and climb over it round the back and in a hop skip and a jump he has managed to get them both onto the roof of the building. Out of sight of the guards they can now hear stampeding out of the very awake palace.

As soon as they have crouched in their spot Eugene turns to her proudly, ‘they are going to search all over the Kingdom for you. The one place they won’t think to look is where you just ran away from.’

Rapunzel looks impressed.

‘We can hide here until they’ve given up searching, or at least when the rush dies down. Maybe early in the morning we can get out of here and make it to the docks.’

Rapunzel grins at him, ‘did you plan to run away with Stalyan too?’

‘I’m a thief remember? This is kind of my thing.’

‘Right! I forgot!’

‘How do you go and forget something like that?’

She shrugs, ‘In my mind you are just: my friend, Eugene.’

He is simultaneously touched and hurt.

They crouch to peak over the turret walls to see the scene of the palace grounds where everyone was on edge and lively. There were guards storming out in organised groups spreading into the streets of Corona. The Captain of the Guards shouting orders and even Cass joining the search team upon a very speedy Max.

Eventually the King and Queen appear at the castle entrance. Their facial expressions can’t be seen from so high up but they hear the Kings livid voice surging across the grounds. ‘I told you all! But no one believed me! I told you There was something going on between them!’

The Queen looks like she is trying to calm him down but the guy was on a roll.

'I swear if I find one scratch on my daughter, that man will be hanged!'

Eugene gulps and decides to distract himself, ‘so where is your boyfriend meeting you?’

‘Arendelle.’ She says firmly.

Eugene pauses. ‘Wait.... He isn’t coming here to get you?’

Rapunzel laughs nervously, ‘Actually, I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to send him a letter!’

Eugene collapses onto his backside and looks at her in complete defeat, ‘Rapunzel. Please. Please don’t tell me that this guy doesn’t even know you are running away from your home and family for him!’

The girl just shrugs in reply. Completely unbothered. Completely nonchalant.

Eugene is at a loss for words. They were risking their necks. Heck forget him, she was risking so much and yet looked so relaxed and even happy at their predicament. He couldn’t believe the woman he saw before him.

His voice is soft. He doesn’t hide the fact that he is worried for her, ‘Rapunzel, what are you doing? Why are you playing with your life like this?’

‘Because that’s my favourite game! Life!’ She is jolly and clearly oblivious to his worry.
He just shakes his head in disbelief and slumps back against a pillar.

‘What are you doing Rapunzel? Man, I thought I had a lot of problems... Now how am I meant to get out of this problem?' He thinks out loud.

Rapunzel tries to keep things light and gently teases him, ‘You are so selfish! Only thinking about yourself! What about me?!’

He knows she is just joking but he isn’t in the mood to play along with her. Not this time.

‘What about you? This is your life! These are your problems! What am I doing here? The risk of getting out of here is on my back! The entire royal guard is out for my blood! Your dad is out for my neck! And for what!? I don’t even get the girl!’ He throws his arms out and almost hits her in the face in the process.

After dodging his flamboyant movements, she rolls her eyes, ‘I told you to run away with Cass!’

He looks at her. She gives him that mischievous smile she always carried. It finally gets to him and he finds himself trying to push down his own grin, ‘you think this is funny?’

She laughs in response.

That’s when they hear the Captain’s voice down below, ‘I swear when I get my hands on Fitzherbert that will be the last day he breathes! Taking our Princess! Who does he think he is?!’

Eugene finds himself shaking.

Rapunzel reaches out to hold his arm, ‘Don’t worry Eugene! Everything will be alright.’

He turns to look at her, ‘you’re consoling me? I just need to catch one train and I’ll be out of here! What about you? Rapunzel, the way you are handling your life... you aren’t always going to run into people like me! What if something happened to you on that night when you missed the train? What if something happens to you now? You’re going to get yourself into a lot of problems if you carry on like this! Do you realise that? Life isn’t all fun and games! Sometimes you have to be serious! Sensible!'

She watches him for a moment before settling down next to him pressed against his side and saying softly, ‘You used to be really serious and sensible. But did that help you? You’re ended up stuck in this problem too.’

He doesn’t know how to counter that.

She continues. ‘No one knows what their future has in store! We can’t control everything! I just do what my heart tells me to do! Tomorrow, I don’t want to blame anyone else for what happens to me! I don’t want to be stuck in a loop of: ''it’s all their fault'' or ''you’re the reason my life went wrong!’’ So no matter what happens to me in the future, I’ll know it’s a result of my own actions! My own decisions! And-’

She reaches to grab something in front of her that wasn't there. He wonders if she used to find comfort in fiddling with her long, now gone, hair.

'You know what, Eugene. My entire childhood was controlled by someone else. For the first time in my life, I dictate my own path. I plan to live a life guided by love and hope that everything works out in the end because of it! And as long as my life is a result of my choices, I'm okay with that. No matter how things turn out. For better or worse. As long as I can choose, I'll be happy!'

Her features are illuminated in the darkness around them. She practically glows her own kind of light. He watches her in awe. It’s like for the first time ever he actually understands how her crazy mind works. And he sees it in her eyes, in the corners of her mouth. She is right. She really is happy. Thoroughly happy. Even in a stressful situation. Even with her future undetermined. She is still, underneath all the other emotions, always happy.

It’s wonderful.

She waits for him to say something. When he doesn’t, she laughs nervously beneath his fixated gaze. ‘Sorry that was a bit of a lecture wasn’t it?’

He grins and shakes his head.

Rapunzel rotates her body so she can face him better, reaching out to hold his hands in hers, ‘These moments we are spending together right now. These are great times! Just you wait! In the future both of us will look back on tonight and laugh about it!’

He is still too mesmerised to reply.

After several hours of waiting, the panic going on downstairs finally dies down. Everyone had returned into the castle and just a few guards are tasked to patrol the area or continue searching far and wider.

Realising this was probably their best window for escape, Eugene and Rapunzel swiftly climb down from the rooftops and sneak their way past any guards, weaving in and out of the backstreets of the Kingdom to get to docks and board the first ship headed for Arendelle. They are just a few steps away from boarding a ship when Rapunzel stops in her tracks. In the middle of the dock she turns and looks back up at the grand castle seated at the top of the island hill of Corona.

Without taking her eyes off it, she says in a solemn voice, ‘I’ll be back really soon. As soon as I’m married I’ll come back and fall at their feet. They’ll be angry. Disappointed. But they’ll forgive me. They have to.’

Eugene notices the ship staff begin to prepare to set sail. ‘Let’s go Rapunzel.’

She turns back to him, ‘Eugene, am I doing the right thing?’

It seemed like the whole situation had finally dawned on her. Or maybe something he had said had gotten to her. She is searching his eyes. He feels her ache for comfort. For validation. And despite being the greatest liar in all the lands, he can only find himself being honest with her. ‘No.’

Her face falls but he gives her a reassuring smile and takes a step closer to her.

‘No you aren’t. But it’s like you said before: all you can do is be guided by love and hope that things will work out in the end because of it.’

She looks surprised that he remembered.

He continues in a low voice, ‘Rapunzel. I never really talked to my dad before he died. I was so angry at him for everything. But now, for the first time I understand why he did what he did. He sent me away because he loved me. And sometimes when you love someone, you need to make difficult decisions. Decisions that feel wrong but are somehow right. Whether it’s sending you child away...’ he gestures towards himself, ‘or leaving your home and family for them...’ he gestures to her, ‘or having to accept that...’ He stops himself before he says something he’d regret and instead gives her an encouraging grin, ‘If you could teach a grouchy cynic like me to understand all that, then one day your parents, maybe even that council, will understand too.’

His words cheer her up and in seconds she has rushed forward to wrap him in a big hug. She squeezes him closely, gratefully, and he hugs her back, closely, gratefully. Enjoying the moment between them before he pulls away and grabs her hand.

‘Ready?'

She nods.

And the two of them sneak onto the ship ready to head to Rapunzel’s true love.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel was always in a great mood.

Since Eugene had met her she had been a bundle of joy. A chatterbox. So young at heart with her silly games and random jokes. So, determined to cheer up everyone around her. Her nature was so endearing. Her excitement so captivating.

But right now, she was probably more elated, more ecstatic, more exhilarated than he had ever seen her before.

Rapunzel was practically bouncing off the walls of their tiny cabin on the ship headed for Arendelle. She had a grin so wide his own face hurt from looking at her. She sang. She laughed. She danced. (She tried to get him to dance. That wasn’t going to happen, but he appreciated the effort).

Sneaking onto the boat had been easy. Rapunzel kept her face covered by the hood of her cloak and Eugene pulled out some of his well-practiced smooth talking to get them a last-minute ticket onboard.

Unlike their last sea travel together, this was a passenger boat and a luxurious one at that. This meant that there were many, many people on board; any of whom could have recognised Rapunzel. So, in order to continue undetected, they decided the best thing to do would be to hide in one of the cabins, out of sight, until the ship arrived at its destination the next day.

A few hours into their trip, Eugene goes to the lunch buffet bar, sneakily filling his pockets with hundreds of bread rolls and snacks to bring back to the cabin for a hungry Rapunzel.

The girl eagerly hops onto a sturdy desk and munches on her croissant. ‘This is the story of how I... met Bastion!’ She enthusiastically exclaims through a full mouth, throwing her pastry carrying hands in the air.

‘Hey that’s how I start stories!’ Eugene complains mockingly as he lies back on the rickety cabin bed.

‘I’m going to try and tell a story the way you do!’

He chuckles. ‘Okay, go on then.’ He closes his eyes to listen.

‘This is the story of how I met the love of my life!’

‘Nice start.’

‘Thank you!’ she clucks, ‘Well, as you know, I was kidnapped at birth blah, blah, everyone knows it, we can skip that bit.’

‘Ooh poor follow up. Don’t skip the back story! That’s the important bit.’ He shakes his head.

But she was right. Everyone knew the story of the lost princess of Corona. It was a tale so fantastical it should have been fiction. The young princess born of the magic of the healing sun flower, stolen in the dead of night by a cruel woman and raised alone in a tower for 18 years. Forced to grow out her magic hair to be used for her captor’s selfish needs.

‘By the way…’ He rolls onto his side and leans on his bent arm, ‘is it true that your hair was 50 feet long?’

Rapunzel is swinging her legs off the desk, ‘At its longest it was 76.35 feet.’

‘Woah!’ He thinks of all his old heists that would have benefitted from a rope like that at hand. Although climbing that would probably hurt like hell.

‘Anyway, I was locked in a tower, yadda, yadda, my only friend was Pascal, et cetera, et cetera, Mother used to use my hair to come and go from the tower and to stay young too... You know all this, I’m assuming.’

‘I didn’t know you still call her mother.’

Rapunzel shrugs, ‘she raised me.’

Eugene knew a kid in denial when he saw one. Curtesy of growing up in an orphanage.

‘Then one day, the day before my 18th birthday a stranger arrives in my tower. He is tall and broad and gorgeous and charming and-'

‘I never came to your tower, did I?’

She rolls her eyes and reaches to try and kick him from where she was sat. This results in her slipping and falling onto the floor onto her rear. They both howl with laughter.

‘Unlike you…’ she rubs her bottom and returns to her seat, ‘he was blond! And he was much, much, much taller than you. Much bigger! He towered over me! Pun intended.’

‘Nice.’

‘And he had the most wonderfully kind face.’ She stares into space, her expression gentle and full of love, ‘So soft and charming. He was the most handsome man I had ever met in my whole life.’

‘Well at that point, the only man.’ Eugene points out.

‘True...’ she admits. ‘But even to this day, having met tons of other people, he still is!’

‘Ouch!’ Eugene holds a hand to his chest, mimicking pain.

She laughs and continues, ‘Don’t worry Eugene you’re a close third!’

‘THIRD?!’

‘Well Pascal is second. I think he is a very good-looking little fellow.’ She says fondly.

‘Wow. Behind the frog. You are really out to hurt me today aren’t you?’ He sighs.

Rapunzel chuckles and persists with her story, ‘I was scared of him when we first met! Bastion that is. Not Pascal! When Bastion came into the room, I panicked and knocked him out with my frying pan!’

‘You managed to knock out a grown man with one hit? Impressive.’

She lights up at the sincere praise, ‘I thought so too! In fact, I hoped that if I could show Mother that I could fight a guy like that, then she would see I was ready to leave the tower!’

‘I’m guessing she didn’t agree.’

‘I never even got to asking her! When she came back we… it was a small argument... And I just realised she would never agree to let me go. If I wanted to leave, I’d have to do it without her knowing.’

Eugene notices a hesitation to her smile. She looked like she actually felt guilty. He couldn’t have that. ‘Well, you were 18 years old! A little rebellion, a little adventure. That's good, healthy even!’

She gives him one of those smiles. Those almost shy, sweet smiles that she sometimes gave that swallowed his heart whole.

‘Anyway, I managed to convince Mother to leave on a three-day trip and then I went to the closet to wake up Bastion.’

‘Wait, wait, wait... Since when was he in the closet?’

She giggles, ‘When he was unconscious I hid him in there to surprise Mother when she came back!’

Eugene snorts, trying to imagine how the woman would have reacted to Rapunzel theatrically revealing the body of a grown man in her armoire. Even a normal mother would lose her mind!

‘Okay so then she leaves, and you wake Bastion up?’

‘Yes! Well, Pascal wakes him up-'

‘Let me guess: he did the tongue-in-ear thing? I have been meaning to tell you that that is répugnante. Tell him to throw water on a guy, like a human!’

‘But he isn’t human!’

‘... point taken. Continue.’

Rapunzel rolls her eyes at him, ‘Anyway, he wakes up and I ask him about the floating lights I see every year on my birthday! He tells me that they are actually lanterns! And then-'

BANG BANG BANG

Rapunzel and Eugene heads both whip towards the sound of the aggressive knocking on their cabin’s locked door.

‘Who is it?’ Eugene calls out nervously.

A muffled voice replies through the wood, ‘Sorry to disturb you sir, we have received message from Corona to search the ship and check all passengers. The Princess has gone missing.’

Rapunzel doesn’t hesitate, ‘We aren’t decent right now, so could you come back later?’

Eugene hopes he isn’t blushing.

‘Oh- uh…’ The ship staff behind the door stammers apprehensively for a minute. ‘Uh sorry ma’am! Sure… I have to check the room though… its protocol… uh I- I’ll come back in a few minutes…’

Rapunzel speaks up before Eugene can accept, ‘Give him some credit! Come back in half an hour at least!’

‘oh wow- uh yeah sorry…. Um okay-‘ The voice babbles for a moment before they hear footsteps walk away.

Eugene knew for a fact that he was blushing now. Damn it. He musters the nerve to make eye contact with his friend to find that she seems unfazed by the situation.

Actually, unfazed isn’t the right word. Because there it was. That gleam of mischief that shone through her forest eyes. Excitement for another misadventure.

The floor outside their room is creaking in a rhythmic manner. Periodically becoming distant and louder then quieter and clearer.
Eugene groans and leans into Rapunzel’s ear, carrying his words on a near-silent breath, ‘they’re keeping an eye on our door. We can’t sneak out.’

Rapunzel scrunches her nose the way she always did when she was thinking. It’s an adorable face really. She then goes towards the small bed, standing on it and shifting her weight back and forth, curiously. With each movement there is a gentle squeaking of the old bed panels. Rapunzel’s face lights up at this and she starts lightly springing up and down on the balls of her feet.

The old bed groans loudly with every movement she makes.

Eugene watches her in amusement for a moment. This didn’t really seem like the best time to jumping on the bed like kids. But when she gestured for him to join her he couldn’t refuse.

Soon both of them are holding hands and stifling their laughter as they bounce on the rasping piece of furniture.

They hear the sound of someone sniggering outside of the room.

Rapunzel leans forward, almost bumping into his nose a few times in the process, to whisper, ‘Now it sounds like we really are up to something indecent in here! Plus, this bed is so noisy we can talk, and they won’t be able to hear us!’

He wondered if she knew how incredible she was.

‘Eugene, you’re the expert! What’s the plan?’

Eugene glances around the room, ‘either we make you unrecognisable or we find another way out of here.’

‘The only way out is the window.’ she notes.

He leaves her to keep jumping on the bed and maintain their alibi while he goes to inspect this potential route. It was small, but so was she. Rapunzel could easily squeeze through it. And he had definitely made it through tighter spots before. Figuratively and literally.

He opens the window and is met with a sudden wave of icy, salt air hitting his face. He braces himself for the chilly northern winds and sticks his head out to evaluate the situation.

Just below the window on the exterior of the ship was a small ledge. They could stand on it easily. But where would they go after that? If they were close enough to Arendelle they could always take a lifeboat and row the rest of the way themselves. But it was still a day’s journey and the waters in these parts were treacherous. They wouldn’t last too long.

He looks to the side and noticed another open window, three cabins down. There is a sleek arm reaching out into the cool winds. Playfully dancing their hand to feel the breeze brush across their fingers. The hand sported a ring he recognised all too well.

That was it. That was their way out.

Eugene rushes back to join Rapunzel on the bed. Murmuring over the creaking, he leans in, ‘I have a plan. Do you trust me?’

‘Yes!’ She beams without hesitation.

‘Okay. First issue, we need to keep this noisy bed creaking going without us here. Just in case.’

‘Leave it to me!’ She whispers back and she elegantly hops off the bed leaving him to continue the endless timber squeaking.

The young princess gets to work collecting items from around the room. He watches as she somehow finds a rope and a few random objects and skilfully ties them together in a complicated system involving every corner of the room from the bed frame panels to the shelves to the fan spinning at the top of the room.

He had no idea how she did it. But somehow her complicated contraption was able to periodically drop and rise a heavy lamp onto and off the bed automatically, causing it to creak steadily without human intervention.
She looked proud of herself. And heck. He was proud of her too. Apart from his shoulders getting stuck (resulting in a lot of heaving and pushing from Rapunzel which just added to the illusion they were presenting to whoever was guarding their door), he is able to get onto the ledge quite easily. Once there, he assesses the solidity of the ledge and once satisfied, he carefully assists Rapunzel as she follows him onto the exterior of the ship. They are both left holding tightly onto the conveniently placed ridges on the side of the vessel as they carefully sidestep along the ledge. They keep their bodies flushed as close to the ship’s body as they can and clutch tightly as the waves and winds threaten to throw them off.

If there were two people in the seven kingdoms perfect for this predicament it was definitely the ex-thief, perfected in the art of escape, and the princess with the strong grip and climbing skills that growing up with long hair provided. Eugene couldn’t help thinking what a brilliant team they both made. What a shame the world wouldn’t be getting many more Rapunzel and Eugene adventures.

They pass two windows, being careful to duck so as not to be seen through them, before arriving at the open one that Eugene had been aiming for. He peeks in and his suspicion is confirmed. Yep. It was her.

He looks over at Rapunzel, ‘after you, Sunshine.’

No questions asked, Rapunzel steps her foot onto his outstretched hand and uses his leverage to propel though the cabin window.

‘Hey what the hell!?’ A voice inside the room exclaims.

‘I am so sorry!’ Rapunzel starts as she picks herself off the floor she had fallen onto. ‘We will explain every-‘ Rapunzel stops when she looks up and sees the woman in front of her. ‘Wait. Aren’t you…?’

Eugene sticks his head through the window, gripping to the frame tightly while the rest of him still remained outside of the ships body. ‘Rapunzel, meet Stalyan.’

Eugene can’t see Rapunzel’s face from where he was hanging but she is rigid. He imagines she is fixated on the person standing before her.

Stalyan’s keen eyes dart from where his head was perched, to the young princess.

‘Wow Rider. You replaced me quickly.’ She says smoothly, looking Rapunzel up and down.

Rapunzel crosses her arms, her voice surprisingly cool and sultry, ‘He realised he deserved an upgrade.’

Was Rapunzel really going to pretend she was his girlfriend just to piss off his ex? This is why he- …this is why he appreciated her.

Stalyan scoffs, ‘and the Princess of Corona no less? Not bad, Flynn.’

Eugene rolls his eyes, ‘Okay Stalyan, you owe me one, so here’s your time to make up for it. They’re looking for her-’

‘Yeah I know. They searched my room already.’ She gives Rapunzel an annoyed scowl.

Eugene continues, ‘I need you to come back to our cabin and show your face to the ship staff. Once they search our room and don’t find her they’ll stop looking.’

Rapunzel moves over to the window to lean close to his face, ‘Can we trust her though, Eugene?’

Stalyan snorts, ‘you’re going by that name now? Seriously?’

He ignores her and focusses on Rapunzel’s concerned expression, ‘I’ll keep an eye on her.’

This makes Stalyan angrier for some reason. He finds this ridiculous. It’s not like she didn’t know she was a dicey ally.

‘And what do I get out of this?’ She snarls.

Eugene doesn’t miss a beat, ‘I don’t tell the captain of the ship that you are holding 2000 stolen gold coins from the Corona royal treasury under that loose floorboard.’

The two women gape at him.

He continues, ‘And if you rat us out, Rapunzel will make sure she takes all that loot back with her. Since she knows where it is now.’

Rapunzel takes her cue and goes to the floorboard he had eyed. Indeed, it was easy to remove and underneath were several large pouches.

There’s a momentary awkward silence.

Stalyan narrows her eyes at him. ‘Fine. I could use some fresh air anyway.’ And without much reluctance she steps past Rapunzel and expertly slips out of the window onto the ledge with him. She looks back into the room where Rapunzel stood. ‘I’ve counted exactly what I have so don’t think you can take any of it!’

Rapunzel is clearly not impressed by this comment. ‘Okay I have two things to say about that.’ She holds up this number of fingers haughtily, ignoring Stalyan’s condescending scoff. ‘One. I don’t steal, so don’t worry. Two. Even if I did take any it’s my money in the first place! Not yours!’

Stalyan rolls her eyes, ‘Ugh didn’t think you were into the whole goody-two-shoes sycophantic schoolgirl type, but you do you Flynn.’

Eugene squeezes his fists tightly as he struggles to maintain his patience. Then he leans towards the window to give Rapunzel a reassuring nod, ‘I’ll be right back.’

The way she was watching him was weird. She looked confused, or maybe amused, and somehow impressed… He made a note to ask her about what she was thinking later.

The way back to the other cabin was much faster. Largely because he was spending less time concerned about if the person by his side was alright. Was he a bad person for that? …Nah!

Stalyan and him climb into his cabin and she looks around at the messy room with the odd arrangement of ropes crossing in all directions, moving back and forth around the room as the lamp presses into the centre of the creaky bed.

‘Looks like goody-two-shoes is into some kinky stuff. Lucky you.’ Stalyan states with a deadpan delivery.

Eugene holds a finger to his lips and points to the door.

Stalyan rolls her eyes, ‘I’m not being that loud. Relax.’

He scowls at her. He wouldn’t put it past her to jeopardise his plan even at the risk of losing her recent steal. Eugene just has to hope for the best from her. An exercise in futility usually.

He tiptoes around the room and starts to tidy away Rapunzel’s invention. He feels bad to take apart her work but explaining it away to whoever was going to check the room would be difficult. Even for a skilled liar like him.

‘What are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn’t you be dying of boredom in the Dark Kingdom.’ She notably doesn’t help him tidy the room and instead leans against the wall watching him at work.

‘It’s none of your business, Stalyan.’ He spits back.

‘Woah tiger. No need for all that hostility.’

‘Well, you dumped me to elope with someone, so sorry If I don’t want to hold hands and sing a love ballad.’

She smirks, ‘Aww. Still not over me? Wait till your rebound finds out.’

He glares at her.

‘Relax I won’t tell her. Poor kid already has enough heartbreak coming for her when she figures out you are using her for… well whatever you are using her for.’

‘I’m not using her for anything.’ He says quietly.

‘Please. She’s a Princess. Don’t act like you aren’t going to get ransom for her. Or wait does she still have magic powers! I bet she’d fetch for even more quid then! The Flynn I know would-'

Eugene gets up from where he was untying a rope from the bed leg and marches up to Stalyan until he is up in her face. Startled by his sudden approach, she flinches away from him.

‘The Flynn you know?’ He sneers quietly, ‘Please. I’ve changed!’

‘It’s been a week.’

‘It’s been a whole other lifetime for me, Stalyan. While you have been stealing as usual, here by yourself might I add, I have become a healthier person. Because I met Rapunzel. And just having spent a few days with her makes me the luckiest person in the world. In fact, thank you. Thank you for leaving me, Stalyan. Because it took you leaving for me to find out that I deserved better. And that I am better.’

Stalyan’s eyes dart across his face. She lets out a long, slow breath as he steps away from her.

Then she gives him a lop-sided smile and holds two fingers in the air. ‘Okay, I have two things to say to that.’

He didn’t appreciate her mocking Rapunzel and fumes silently as he watches her go to grab a pitcher of water from the desk.

To his surprise her expression changes though. Her smile suddenly becomes more genuine. He hadn’t seen that smile since they were kids. And her voice becomes low and solemn. ‘One. I am not by myself. My husband is up on the deck. I just came to lie down for a bit because, as you know, I get seasick. And that stash. Well, unlike you and your girlfriend I don’t have a castle to fall back on. That’s my last big steal and then me and my husband are going to build a home for ourselves. A new life.’ She shrugs, ‘You never know. I might even get a normal job like he does. We’ll see.’

Looks like she had changed too.

He sighs. ‘Sorry Stalyan…’

She goes over to pat him on the shoulder with an uncharacteristically sympathetic face, ‘you and I... we kind of sucked didn’t we? Especially together. Thinking we were this big dramatic romantic couple going on crazy adventures, when in the end it turns out that it was all just kid stuff. Puppy love. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t give you much warning when I got married. Falling in love, real love, it was just so…. Swift and effortless. And healthy. Not like when the two of us just fed off each other’s bad habits and criminal lifestyle. He makes me want to change. And I swear that loot in my cabin is the last thing I will ever steal. Because he makes me want to be the girl that works hard and plays fair. I want to say, ‘one day you’ll understand’ but... It sounds like you already do.’

He doesn’t want to admit what she was referring to out loud. Not explicitly.

Fortunately, he can change the topic upon watching in confusion as Stalyan pours some of the water from the pitcher into her cupped hand. ‘What are you doing?’

‘They already met me when they came into my cabin, stupid. Luckily, men are idiots and they probably won’t recognise me if I change my hair and take off my eyeshadow off.’

He watches as she splashes the water onto her face and starts rubbing away.

‘…you’re willingly helping?’

She shrugs in reply, ‘I assume you and Princess Peach bought time by pretending you were in the middle of having sex?’ she eyes the bed.

He looks at the floor.

‘Well, I guess I should go for a bedhead then.’ She proceeds to ruffle her hair excessively till it flies in all directions.

He compliments her for looking like a complete lunatic once she is ready and they both share a chuckle.

‘I had a second thing to say by the way, remember? Two. I’m glad to see that you are happy, Flynn. You were soooooo dreary back in the Dark Kingdom. This is the side of you I missed!’ She punches him in the arm. ‘The fun you. If you’ve found a girl that makes you want to be this version of yourself. Then that’s pretty cool.’

‘I’m happy for you too, Stalyan.’

And just like that another weight was lifted from his chest. Standing there opposite him was no longer the callous ex that left him and almost drove him to ending his life in grief. Before him stood his friend. Someone he had spent his adolescence with. They had grown up fighting to survive side by side. They had even once loved each other. And now they had outgrown each other. And that was okay.

Also, she was right. With her make-up off she looked very different. With the room tidied they both nod to each other and go to open the door.

A strong-looking sailor boy, who was hovering near the end of the corridor, makes his way over to them.

‘Uh- yes sorry to uh- disturb you.’

Stalyan immediately falls into character and throws an arm over Eugene’s shoulder. ‘I have to say this is terrible service! What is the point of a honeymoon with no privacy?!’

Ah Eugene recognised that accent! It was one of their old favourite personas to play. The posh fancy couple who were ready to sue the company at any moment. It worked wonders on scaring staff in a commercial setting. A real classic Stalyan and Flynn technique.

‘Uh- Sorry ma’am. I just need to quickly look around the room and tick that I have seen both of your faces and then we will have searched the whole ship.’

Eugene raises an eyebrow at the bumbling kid, and puts on his own pompous voice, ‘Well make it quick, boy.’

‘Uh-yes sorry…’ He shuffles into the room and begins searching under the bed and inside the small wardrobe and any other hiding places that could have existed in the small room.

Once he was satisfied no one else was there, he backs out into the corridor, ‘sorry Sir, Ma’am. We didn’t even think she would be on the ship. But we received orders for thorough searches. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.’

Stalyan scoffs in her upper-class accent, ‘Well if you let us we will! I hope we will receive some kind of compensation for this inconvenience! Do you know how long it takes to lace up this bodice once it’s been undone?’

The sailor gulps and backs away. ‘I’ll have complimentary dinner served to your cabin as compensation for the trouble ma’am!’

And with that he scurries off.

Eugene and Stalyan shut the door of the cabin and, by force of habit, give each other a high five. Though they would deny that this ever happened.

He grins at her, ‘You always end up getting free food when you play Madame Poshness.’

‘Shame it’s getting sent to this room.’ She smirks.

He rolls his eyes. ‘I’ll bring it over to you later. Me and Rapunzel have enough food here. And it’ll save you the effort of intercepting it from getting to our room to have for yourself anyway.’ He knew her too well.

‘You know you love me.’ She teases.

‘Do I know that?’ He smirks. Yes. Yes he did. There’d always be a part of him that loved Stalyan. She was his first love. His partner. His friend. But his heart had moved on, so swiftly and effortlessly.

She pats him on the back, ‘Let’s get you reunited with your Princess then.’

Before long, Stalyan returns to her cabin and Rapunzel climbs back to theirs. He tells her everything that had happened. Well not everything. Not every word exchanged between him and Stalyan. After all, Rapunzel didn’t need to know how much he liked her. It would just go to her head! Can’t have that!

‘So how did you know about her stash in the floorboards?’ Rapunzel asks excitedly.

‘I probably shouldn’t admit this…’

‘Go on it’ll be our secret!’ She giggles.

‘Well, when I was in the treasury with your mum I saw one of the files said that 2000 coins had been stolen recently from the Corona vaults. Stalyan and I broke into there a few years back by coming in through the roof. No one else know how to infiltrate the place. And leaving on the early morning ships out of Corona. Lance and I invented that move. So, it made sense that it would be her. Oh, and the loose floorboards in that cabin were just obvious.’

She shakes her head at him, ‘You really are something Eugene! I’m just glad that you’re okay.’

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

She gasps in disbelief, ‘Because you literally just ran into the woman that broke your heart!’

He shrugs, ‘I can think of worse people to run into.’

‘Like?’

‘Max. NO contest. Top of the list.'

Rapunzel shoves him with a small, amused huff.

‘Your dad is a close second.’

‘What why?’ she whines, ‘my dad is a big sweetheart!’

‘Yeah a big sweetheart who wants me hanged. Do me a favour and abolish the death sentence when you are Queen, Goldie. We don’t deserve to die because we are poor. Gotta’ eat to live, gotta’ steal to eat.’ he shrugs.

‘I will, promise!’ she nods, ‘If I am still allowed to be Princess after all this.’ Her bright face fades into a moment of sorrow.

It was the first time he had seen her realise what her actions could mean. The council could easily decide she wasn’t fit to be a ruler after this runaway incident. Any other day Eugene would encourage her to reflect on this fact. But… she had been so happy! And anything that damped her mood brought him physical pain. So, he tries to distract her from her thoughts instead.

‘Cass is also high up on the list too, by the way. No offence. I know you are friends, and I will never. Ever. Understand why, but she was definitely out for my blood!’

Rapunzel giggles and immediately lights up, ‘okay so setting up you and Cass was a bad idea! Sorry! But now I’ve met Stalyan I know your type! My next matchmaking effort will be the one for you! I can feel it!’

‘And what exactly do you think my type is?’

The girl shifts onto her knees, bobbing in her eagerness as she counts on her fingers, ‘Well Brunette, of course! We established that a while ago. And pretty! She needs to look good with you! And intelligent. And confident. I know you found my ‘constant talking’ annoying, but I don’t think you’d like a quiet girl either! You need someone at least somewhat chatty! And witty too! Stalyan was coming at us with all those one-liners! And you laugh at my jokes too! You need a girl that’ll make you laugh! And someone adventurous of course! You don’t want someone boring do you? You’d need someone more carefree! Someone you could sneak out of the Dark Kingdom with to go on random and fun adventures! Hopefully adventures that don’t involve stealing though! And someone kind…’

‘Hold up. I was with you so far. But you thought Stalyan was kind?’

Rapunzel gives a sheepish expression, ‘Okay no. She actually seemed a bit mean. And honestly I think you can do wayyy better!’

‘You think?’

‘Yes! I mean I’m sure she is a great partner in crime and all that! But the requirements for a life partner are different! I want you to be with someone kind. You’ve been so kind to me! You deserve that too!’

‘Wow… thanks Rapunzel.’ He is honestly touched that she, or anyone really, would care so much for him.

The rest of the day is easy going. Dinner is sent to their room. And after keeping some dessert for themselves, Eugene delivers the rest of the tray of food a few doors down to where Stalyan and her husband were staying.

Apparently Eugene was the type of guy that kept his promises now. Who knew!

As the sun sets on the horizon of the infinite ocean, the young Princess of Corona and King of the Dark Kingdom sit side by side on the bed, eating their mousses as Rapunzel continues her story.

‘So, once I learned what the lanterns were! I just wanted to see them even more! And since I had sent mother away, Bastion said he would take me!’

‘Sounds romantic.’

‘It was! First, we went for lunch at the Snuggly Duckling.’

‘I know that place. Honestly, it’s not somewhere I’d take a girl I liked. It’s more of a place to scare a girl off when the date is going badly.’

‘What! No way! It was so fun! The guys in there were scary at first but once we were sharing our dreams with each other, we became friends for life!’

‘Cute.’

‘Then we spent time in the Kingdom! That was so exciting! I had never been around so many people before! We had snacks, I went to the library while he went and bought me a new dress, and we both danced together in the square! It was so fun! Best day ever!’

There’s a spark in her eyes as she describes the other activities she got up to that day in more detail. He can tell how much that first day out of the tower had meant to her. Like that day was the day her life truly began.

‘And then finally evening arrives and we head to the square to watch the lanterns and-'

‘Stop right there.’ He interrupts.

‘What?’

‘Is Bastion not from Corona?’

She gives him a surprised look, ‘No he isn’t. How did you know?’

He leans back. ‘Because only a tourist would think the square is a good place to see the lanterns from. Rookie move.’

‘It was too a good place!’ She huffs a shiny strand of her velvety brown hair out of her face, ‘it was beautiful!’

‘Please! Bumping elbows with everyone else in the crowd, having to strain your neck, seeing it all from underneath. Rubbish! Now I’m not from Corona but I have been there enough times to know that the best spot to see the lanterns would be-'

‘Hey! Hey! I don’t care! It was perfect just the way it was!’ She huffs.

He holds his hand up, ‘okay, okay. If you say so.’

‘Anyway, that was our first date! It was magical! We kissed under the lights of a thousand lanterns and danced into the night.’

‘Kissing on a first date. He sounds like a fast mover…’ Eugene mumbles.

She smiles, ‘if you think that’s fast you should hear what else we got up to that night!’

He shakes his head in alarm, ‘I don’t think I do!’

Rapunzel yawns, ‘it’s okay. When it’s true love, nothing is too fast!’

Before he can respond further she flops onto the bed and curls up into the smallest, cutest ball.

He chuckles to himself and goes to blow out the candles in the room.

He didn’t want to be the creep that watched her sleep. And sharing the bed wasn’t an option. He was a thief not a perv. So instead, he leaves the room and lets her dream of the exciting day she had ahead of her.

Eugene heads out onto the deck of the ship. The stars are all out that night. Scattered over him. He marvels at the sight of the twinkling lights in the inky blackness.

Sleeping under the stars didn’t sound like a bad idea.

As he looked up at them, he wondered what a young Rapunzel thought when she looked at the stars every night. Sure, he was a poor kid, but he was free. He had had the world at his disposal, and he travelled to every corner of it. Her whole world was made up of just a small room and an expansive sky outside her window. No wonder her dreams lay in that one day a year when the sky did something special. Something that felt like it was just for her.

He lay there on the deck staring up at the darkness above him, wondering about something she had told him that evening. She had said that seeing the floating lights had been her dream.

He wondered what his dream was. Well no. He knew what his dream was. A quiet voice at the back of his head, in the depths of his heart, knew what his dream was.

But he was going to have to find a new one.

He didn’t sleep a wink that night.

Chapter Text

‘After that first date he would come and visit me in my tower as regularly as he could! Sometimes I would go out with him somewhere and sometimes we would stay in the tower and hang out!’ He hears from behind the curtain where Rapunzel was changing.

Since arriving in Arendelle, Rapunzel had had her heart set on buying a local dress to wear before reuniting with her boyfriend. Any other day, two hours of sitting on the hard couch watching someone try dress after dress after dress would have sounded like torture to Eugene.

But he was cherishing every second he could get.

Ever the multitasker, Rapunzel continued her story so he wouldn’t feel too bored sitting there as she struggled to decide which outfit to get.

‘He liked staying in the tower more. And I loved being with him, don’t get me wrong! The nights when he stayed over while mother was away were-‘

‘I don’t need to hear about that.’ Eugene intersects.

She gives a big girly sigh from where she was dressing, ‘...they were great! But my favourite dates were the ones when we went out! Exploring the world. Seeing new things. They were the best days of my life!’

Eugene waits before prompting her to continue ‘.... until?’

He hears a struggle from behind the curtain for a moment before she replies. ‘Until one day he came and told me that he had to go to back to Arendelle to support his family for a while. He asked me to wait for him. Said in a few years he could come back to Corona and we could be together at last! And now finally the time has come!’

She comes out in an orange dress.

‘... that’s it?’ He asks, unimpressed.

‘Is it not nice?’ She sighs as she spins in front of a mirror.

Honestly it wasn’t. It’s complicated and layered and hideous by all accounts.

She looked stunning.

‘The dress is... fine. I meant: is that the end of your story?’

Rapunzel scrunches her nose at her reflection before disappearing behind the curtain again, ‘I guess?’

Eugene scoffs, ‘That was a boring story! There were no stakes! You never got caught by your fake mother?’

Rapunzel comes out in another outfit. It’s a sky-blue sundress that ends just by her knees. Eugene wonders how the King would feel about her wearing such un-princessy wear. It wasn’t like a royal to show so much skin.

She looked beautiful.

‘Nope! We had a system! When mother was in the tower I would leave a flowerpot on the windowsill so he knew not to come!' She watched the reflection of her legs in the mirror, 'Hmmm I think this dress is too summery!’

‘Well it is Summer.’ He notes.

‘I know, but he lives up in the mountains, so it will probably be cold!’

Eugene stops slouching, ‘I thought he lived in Arendelle?’

‘No he is just outside, in a small village. We’ll need to get a ride there. I’ve checked the maps! It’s too far to walk! Even for two adventurers like us!’ She giggles as she picks a bright green warmer looking dress off the rack and disappears to try it on.

‘Oh... okay.’ He wondered if their time together being elongated was someone answering his subconscious prayers. ‘Back to your story... you and Bastion had the flowerpot system and as a result were never caught?’

‘Nope!’

‘you never even got close to being caught? No close calls?’

‘Nope! We were really careful!’

‘And he didn’t even find out you were the Princess while he was there? None of that angst happened?’

‘No sir! I found out just after he left. Had to tell him in a letter!’

‘Please tell me one of you had a near death experience or something at some point!’

‘Why would you say that!?’ Her disembodied voice exclaims.

He raises an eyebrow, ‘Rapunzel, you really hyped this guy up. I thought he did something heroic or dashing or something to win your heart! But all he did was creep up the tower to see you like a horny teen sneaking into the girls dorms of a finishing school!’

‘Hey!’ She whines. She comes out again in the new dress and spins for him. She looks gorgeous once again, green was definitely her colour, but that’s a given.

‘Sorry Rapunzel, but there was no drama. No action! You want me to narrate your love story? You just snuck out on a few dates. And it sounds like they were subpar at best. Our road trip was more eventful.’

Rapunzel grins, ‘it’s been fun hasn’t it? you should write about our adventure then!’

‘I mean, I never agreed to writing anything.’

She rolls her eyes before focussing back on her reflection. ‘I don’t know Eugene…’ she sighs, ‘none of these dresses seem like the one.’

‘What exactly are we looking for?’

She rushes over to the couch to flop beside him, ‘Imagine it.’ She holds her hands out as she sets the scene, ‘I run down the snowy mountain. The love of my life seeing me for the first time in three years! Him running up to meet me halfway! Me jumping into his arms! After all that waiting and yearning and aching, we finally meet in a passionate embrace! You get the drift. It has to be a show stopping dress! Something that will take his breath away!’

He wants to tell her that every dress was a showstopper when she wore it. He wants to tell her that no man who loved her would care what she wore. He wanted to tell her that honestly all the dresses she had tried looked the same to him because he was too lost in her eyes to notice anything else.

But what he does say is, ‘hmm sounds like a red dress situation. Why haven’t you tried any of the red dresses?’

She shrugs, ‘I don’t really wear red…’

‘Why not? I bet you’d look great in it!’

‘Really!?’ She lights up for a moment but then immediately retreats into self-doubt, ‘No it’s such a mature colour. I can’t pull it off!’

He could bet who put that idea in her head.

‘I have two things to say to that.’ He states. This earns him a giggle, ‘One, you are a grown woman. You can wear whatever you want. Two, you have green eyes Sunshine! Green and red is a stellar combination!’

‘That’s a Christmas combination.’ She points out.

‘And you’ll be making his Christmas come early this year!’

She bites her rosy pink lip, ‘hmmm okay! I’ll try one.’

She skips off and grabs a bunch of red dresses from the shelves and vanishes behind the changing booth.

He had noticed that there was something about the way she walked. He had heard of a spring in ones step but now he realised what that actually was. Rapunzel walked like she skipping on the softest bounciest ground. Like gravity could barely hold her down. And now that she was so excited, she was prancing higher than ever. Like on a cloud.

‘You know,’ Eugene calls out, ‘you never struck me as the type of person to dress for someone else.’

He hears her musical sigh from behind the curtain, ‘That’s just what being in love is like! You want to do everything for the other person! All their wants become your wants! You’ll see one day!’

That day had come sooner for him than she was aware.

She comes out from the curtain to show him the dress. It certainly was a showstopper. It consisted of a white bloused top with long bellowing sleeves over which was fitted a tightly hugging black corset bodice. And flowing underneath was a long bellowing red velvety skirt.

It was simple. And elegant. And perfect.

And she was perfect.

She spun around to show him the dress and it felt like it was all happening in slow motion. The way the skirt dances in circles with her, the way she laughed in pleased surprise at her own reflection, the way her heartbreakingly beautiful face searches for his approval.

He had to shake himself out of a trance to talk to her, ‘That’s the one.’

She blushes, ‘I think so too! Do you think he will like it?’

He maintains a nonchalant tone. ‘He would be crazy not to!’

‘Awww that’s so sweet!’ She smiles back gratefully before racing off to pay for her new purchase.

In her new outfit and with her friend, Eugene, by her side, the young Princess galloped through Arendelle as they searched for a ride up into the mountains.

Everyone they came across fell in love with the girl who danced through the crowds. somehow making friends with everyone she spoke to. Anyone they met was eager to help them out. And apart from a few blushing girls eyeing him, he knew it was Rapunzel's charm that enabled this.

Luckily, finding the ride they needed didn’t take too long. After asking around they were directed to head towards a corner of the market where a young man was unloading large cubes of ice from his haul. His wide nose was pink from the gentle chill and he had soft brown eyes and a goofy laidback smile. He seemed like a friendly guy.

‘Bastion? Yeah I think I know him. He lives in one of the ice-harvester mountain villages. I’m headed in that direction now. I can give you two a ride most of the way but part of it you’ll have to do by foot. My sleigh isn’t built for that descent, right Sven?’

‘It sure ain’t!’ His reindeer replied.

Eugene and Rapunzel eye each other nervously. Not because his reindeer could speak. That might have been less strange. But instead because the man thought it was necessary to put on a strange slurred voice on behalf of his animal friend.

Eugene is ready to find someone else but Rapunzel gives him a ‘I’ve seen worse’ shrug and goes to shake the man's hand, 'thank you so much..?'

'Kristoff.' he smiles.

'Thank you Kristoff!'

Rapunzel and Eugene are squeezed either side of the odd Ice man on his sleigh as they head out of the Kingdom.

Rapunzel and Kristoff engage in a deep conversation about animal friendships for most of the journey. Apparently the poor guy was orphaned with Sven as his constant companion. Rapunzel related to this as she told him about how she had a similar experience growing up with Pascal.

Eugene watched silently as the two of them bonded. Or rather, he watched Rapunzel. The way her eyes lit up whenever she mentioned Pascal. You could see the love she had for the little guy on written all over her. Maybe Bastion was the only man on the planet that could compete with her love for her childhood friend.

He wondered if his face gave his emotions away the same way hers did. Hopefully not.

And there was also the way her face fell when their guide talked of his childhood. Raised in a community of rock trolls and never really knowing how to interact with other humans as a result. She had so much empathy inside her. He saw her heart break for the guy. Eugene wondered if anyone could see how his own heart was currently breaking.

‘Wait!’ Kristoff pauses, ‘A girl from Corona with a chameleon sidekick? This isn’t when you tell me you’re that lost Princess, is it?

Eugene tenses. Uh oh. Had the news come out here that she was missing? What if this guy told someone? Or worse, what if he overcharged them for the ride now?!

Rapunzel glances at Eugene and gives him a reassuring look. That one look and all his fear melted away. If she trusted this guy then he could too.

‘Please don’t tell anyone you saw us! I was being made to marry someone I didn’t want to!’

‘Oh no!’ the guy gasps, ‘That’s terrible! Don’t worry! Your secret is safe with me and Sven!’

‘Yeah he doesn’t have any friends to tell anyway!’ ‘Sven’ replies.

‘Oi!’ Kristoff retorts.

Eugene scoffs at the interaction between Kristoff and essentially himself and in return receives a sharp disapproving glare from Rapunzel. He silently apologises to her and decides to distract from it. ‘That reminds me,’ Eugene starts, ‘You never told me. How did you find out you were the Princess, Goldie?’

Her momentary disapproval melts away and she glows at the topic, ‘Actually I found out the day Bastion left Corona! I went to wave bye to him as he left on the ship to Arendelle. It was part of this big contract of ships between the kingdoms, so the King and Queen came down to the docks to send the fleet off. I was standing there minding my own business waving with the rest of the crowd when suddenly I get practically tackled by mum!’ She laughs at the memory. ‘She had noticed me in the crowd and immediately knew who I was!

‘Must have been an emotional day.’ The man driving the sleigh comments.

‘I thought I was being attacked by a crazy ruffian!’ She chuckles. ‘Then I got taken to the Palace and there I learn that she was my real mum and that I was the lost Princess,’ she shrugs, ‘and I’ve been there with my parents ever since!’

‘And what happened to your... old Mother?’ Eugene asks cautiously.

Rapunzel face falls slightly and Eugene immediately hates himself for being the cause of it, ‘I don’t know. Dad says that she must have skipped town when she heard I had been found by my real parents. But I don’t believe she’d just leave me. She loved me. Kind of. In her own way.’

Eugene shifts in his seat. Somehow he isn’t convinced. Kristoff glances at him too. He knows they are both thinking the same thing.

But Eugene decides not to ponder on it, ‘so you moved to the palace had a haircut and the rest was history I guess?’

‘Oh my gosh! The day I cut my hair!’ Rapunzel giggles. ‘That. Was. Intense! One day I just woke up and knew I wanted to cut it and I was sooo worried that my parents would be mad!’

‘Why would they be mad?' Kristoff frowns.

‘Because it was magic hair! It was a gift! It made me special!’

‘Now now. It goes without saying but you don’t need-‘ Eugene leads.

‘I don’t need my hair to be special yeah yeah, I’ve heard that line before Eugene!’ She smirks. Her face is so expressive. A character in its own. ‘But it was an important asset. Imagine being a ruler of a kingdom with magical
abilities! That’s a lot of power!’

‘Nah sounds scary.’ Kristoff shakes his head.

Rapunzel seems humoured by his response, ‘It’s definitely an asset! I was worried my parents would be upset that I gave it up.’

‘And were they mad?’ The Ice man asks.

She shakes her head. ‘Nope! Not even a bit!’

Eugene sighs ‘I’m noticing a pattern of you thinking your parents will get mad when they really wouldn’t. I mean even with the whole Andrew thing-‘

‘Eugene, you’ve known my dad for two minutes! He can get super angry! Especially when it comes to me and my safety!’

He shrugs, ‘fair enough. But luckily I’m this case, no mad dad?’

‘He said they wanted whatever made me happy. So I cut it as short as I could. I always keep it short now! And I do it myself! I just feel like I have to be the one to do it, you know?’

‘Better you then me.’ Eugene shrugs.

Rapunzel bites her lip, ‘I just realised that this is the first time Bastion will see me with short hair! I hope he likes it!’

‘He will.’ Eugene smiles. It’s not just to make her feel better. He really meant it. He loved her hair. It was as spunky as she was. It bounced and flew in every direction and just embodied the same freeness and aliveness of her.

‘Fingers crossed!’ She does as she says and he notices how petite her hand are. So tiny and elegant. And yet he and his collar knew full well that they packed a strong grip.

Suddenly Rapunzel bounces excitedly, 'Kristoff! Do you know an adventurous and carefree and funny and kind girl I could set up with Eugene?'

'Uh- w- wait what?' Kristoff stammers.

Eugene can't help but chuckle at Kristoff's reaction. It didn't seem like the guy knew anyone who wasn't made of rock or had four legs.

‘Hold on.’ Kristoff exclaims, ‘Are you two not together?’

Rapunzel laughs, ‘Oh no, we’re just friends! It’s a long story! Bastion is my boyfriend! That’s why we are headed there!’

The guy glances between Eugene and Rapunzel, ‘Oh! I just thought… never mind. But…’ He turns to Eugene, ‘what are you doing here?’

‘I’m just going along for the ride, mate.’ Eugene says casually, while leaning back in his seat.

The guy next to him gives him a pitiful pat on the shoulder when Rapunzel isn’t looking.

Before long they are drawing to a halt.
Kristoff points out into the snowy haze ‘you just need to go in that direction. You'll reach a view point and see the valley where the village is. Can’t miss it! It’s steep climb down but it’s nothing you guys can’t handle.’

Rapunzel beams and excitedly hugs him, planting a small kiss on his cheek to say thanks, laughing as he blushes and then immediately skipping in the direction he had guided them towards.

Eugene reaches into his satchel to take out some money for their ride but Kristoff stops him.

‘Are you going to tell her?’ The man asks solemnly.

Eugene narrows his eyes, ‘tell her what?’

Kristoff chuckles, ‘You can fool her. You can't fool me. I was raised by love experts.'

'Sure you were.' Eugene wasn't convinced.

Kristoff takes off his hat to rub his hand through his thick blond hair, 'You literally haven’t taken your eyes off her since I met you guys… so are you going to tell her?’

Eugene gives his new friend a sad smile, ‘And come between her and her true love? She is going to her Prince Charming. The guy that literally saved her from the witch and showed her a whole new world.’

Kristoff shrugs, ‘First love doesn’t necessarily mean true love.’

Eugene forces an unbothered smirk, ‘I’m more of a lover of material wealth. The whole domestic lovey-dovey stuff is boring.’

‘Eugene! Hurry up!’ Rapunzel calls from far out into the white powdery expanse.

‘Coming!’ He shouts back to her.

Kristoff just shakes his head at him, 'Well, good luck.'

'Thanks man.'

And with that, Kristoff and Sven carry on on their journey.

Eugene marches through the thick snow towards Rapunzel.

The world around her seemed to bend to her whim. The suns shone as brilliantly as her excitement. The snow sparkled like the love in her eyes. The sky as bright as her endless smile. It was like the universe was celebrating with her!

When he gets to where she stood she is eagerly looking down into a valley, pointing and jumping up and down. ‘That must be the village! Look at the lights! It’s so cute!’

They carry on making her way through the mountain top. He watches her as she strides a few steps ahead of him. He lets himself take her in. He lets himself try and learn the curve of her nose and every outplayed strand of her hair and every contour of her glowing skin. If this was their last adventure together. Their last moments together. If he was going to have to spend the rest of his life without her, well, he deserved to at least relish in the time he had with her now.

And the weird part was that he didn’t even feel sad. When Stalyan left him it had broken his heart. It had ruined him. But the way he felt about Rapunzel. It was different. To see her happy brought him such peace that he couldn’t even dare bring himself to feel sorry for his own predicament. He could only rejoice with her.

And when they finally reached the peak Kristoff had spoken of... it was just downhill from there.

Rapunzel hops, barely containing her exhilaration as she pulls at Eugene’s sleeve. ‘I see him! That’s him down there! In the red hat! Do you see?!’ She starts waving her whole arm dramatically. ‘Bastion! Bastion! It’s me!’ Her tuneful voice echoes like music into the silence around them. Her voice was so gentle. So sweet and pure. Every syllable that left her lips touched Eugene’s heart.

‘Ah he is looking the other way!’ She sighs, the smile plastered across her face threatened to become even wider at her elation to be where she was.

She looks back up at Eugene, her big eyes bright and keen, 'Lets go!’ She lets go of his arm and starts to take a few tumbling steps down the hill.

He watches as she looses her balance, her heels sinking into the thick snow, laughing at herself with every cautious wobble she made.

She was so giddy. So elated. So free.

She must have sensed that he wasn’t laughing at her clumsiness with her and she glances back to see him still standing a few steps behind her.

He wasn't following her.

She looks up at where he was stood.

‘Goodbye Rapunzel.’

He was still. Limp. Numb. But he forced himself to smile for her.

‘A- Aren’t you coming?’ Even in her confusion she can’t stop herself from grinning. She was so happy. So full of life and excitement.

‘Don’t ever change.’ He says softly.

She continues to look back at him, perplexed. ‘At least come and meet him!’

He takes a few steps towards her. Closing the space between them till they are standing face to face. He fights the tears forming in his eyes.

‘Rapunzel...’ he whispers, taking in her face.

Trying to capture her in his mind forever.

Soaking in how her eyes searched his.

Hanging on to every heavy breath she took.

Counting every freckle sprinkled across her nose.

And then he steps backwards.

‘Take care of yourself, Sunshine.’

And then before he can stop himself, he turns around and walks away.

And as he walks away he smiles. Because no. He wasn’t sad. Why would he be? His friend was finally going to reunite with her true love. Her knight in shining armour.

He doesn’t see the confused Rapunzel watch him go. He doesn’t see her momentary hesitation as she almost goes after him. Before just shaking her head, amused by her friend and his weird goodbye, before continuing to keenly skip down the hill.

After a few seconds he glances behind him.

His last memory of Rapunzel was the sound of her excited feet scampering through the crunching snow, calling her lover's name, waving her arms in the air, her shining chestnut hair dancing behind her, her red skirts floating in her wake. He watched as she went further and further away from him. To finally greet her happily ever after.

While he walked away from his.

Chapter Text

Two weeks since parting from Rapunzel:

Eugene takes a deep breath.

Adira polishes her sword beside him. He knew it was something she did absentmindedly when she was stressed. Although it was also something she did when she was happy.

…She was hard to read honestly.

‘I don’t know how you are about to fix this, Fish-Skin, but good luck.’

He rolls his eyes. She claimed the nickname was a compliment, but he wasn’t buying it. Unfortunately, his intense moisturising regime had not yet convinced her to change his name to Glowing-Greek-God-Skin yet, but he was working on it.

Beside him also stood two other members of the brotherhood.

Hector was still pissed at Eugene for demoting him from the chief royal advisor. Right now, he was acting like he couldn’t care less what Eugene was about to do or say. Of course, that was far from the truth. Eugene knew how well Hector cared about the Dark Kingdom. He just didn’t care much for Eugene.

And then there was Quirin.

Actually, he didn’t really know how to read Quirin that well. While Adira and Hector he had known for about a year now, he had never met Quirin before. The guy had retired from the Dark Kingdom to raise a family years before Eugene had arrived, but had returned the previous week to help the other two members of the brotherhood pick up after Eugene’s sudden disappearance.

The guy seemed nice. He had a fatherly way about him.

Differences aside, what each of the brotherhood had in common was their current
state of nervousness. On their toes ready to clean up after whatever mess Eugene was about to make.

Maybe he should have run his big speech by them first but it was too late for that, so he gives them a confident grin, keeps his head high and pushes open the door to walk into the next room.

Awaiting him is the largest, grandest, roundest, table imaginable, around which sat all the most important figures in the Dark Kingdom. All the council members. All his father’s key advisers. All the administrative heads. Basically, all the people who had been running the Kingdom in the last year while Eugene caused nuisances for them.

Everyone stands up as he enters the room. It’s not out of any personal respect they might have for him. It was a formality. A begrudged necessity. Needless to say, this group weren’t his biggest fans.

Eugene proudly makes his way to his throne and tries to ignore the glares he was receiving.

‘Good Morning everyone!’ He says cheerfully.

No one replies.

‘I said: Good morning everyone!’ He repeats louder.

A few unimpressed ‘good morning your majesty’’s are murmured around the group.

‘Very cheerful today aren’t we?’ Eugene jokes, ‘But seriously, you guys aren’t going collectively beat me up in a minute, are you?’

There are a few surprised noises around the room as they watched the confident and uncharacteristically cheerful man before them.

Eugene continues in his suave tone, ‘Because trust me, I know I deserve it! I know you are all very, very angry with me. You’re frustrated that I just up and left without any warning, without telling anyone where I was going. Completely MIA. Absolutely AWOL. The Kingdom was in a bad enough state already and on top of that having to deal with me and my personal problems… I can’t blame you for hating me!’ he gives a dramatic over-exaggerated sigh placing a hand to his heart, ‘I also know there is a lot of talk going on about me. About how I will never be able to live up to my father, how the Kingdom on the verge of falling at my hands, about how my girlfriend married another guy and I ran away in grief et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. ALL FALSE!’ He slams his hands on the table to accentuate his point and chuckles at the startled reactions. ‘That’s what you were expecting me to say, right?’ He crosses his arms smugly, ‘Well, turns out all those false rumours are actually very true.’

Everyone is gaping at him. Confused. Unnerved. Intrigued.

The three members of the brotherhood standing at the end of the room glance at each other nervously.

He continues, ‘So the Dark Kingdom isn’t doing great, is it?’

Silence.

‘Come on! Talk to me! It’s so boring when no one talks to me!’ He starts the walk around the table casually, kicking his legs with each step. Revelling in the sea of eyes locked onto him. He scans the room, ‘George! Georgie boy! You tell me! How’s the Kingdom doing?’

The old war hero stares daggers back at the young King. ‘Not well.’ He stays in a low growl.

‘Exactly! Not the most detailed summary, but close enough! George is completely correct. All our plans to build the kingdom have failed! The population hates us! And it’s not even that big a population is it? What’s our population, Erica?’

The stern woman raises an eyebrow, ‘close to 800 people.’

‘Exactly! That’s nothing! Did you know Corona has a population of 6000 people? And all of them are happy! We can’t even keep a handful of people in a good mood! And you know why?’

‘Because our King is inept.’ A small crooked council member croaks.

There’s a few sniggers around the room. He wasn’t discouraged. Nothing could get Eugene down from the high he was on.

He shakes his head at the person who had made the comment, ‘because our economy is a falling apart! Our currency isn’t even worth wiping your ass with, Elias!’

Adira snorts and tries to cover it with a cough.

‘In summary, it’s all a complete disaster, and we are completely doomed, and have hit rock bottom, and everything is utterly awful, and C’est horrible.’ He grins like a fool at his own enthusiasm. ‘But guess what? The only way to go from here is up!’

Everyone watches him curiously as he rolls on the balls of his feet, bouncing in excitement.

He allows himself to become more sincere, ‘You know when you really really want something, you can achieve it! My dad managed to defeat the moonstone! Something that hundreds of generations of my ancestors failed to do! He did it because he dedicated his life to it. The reason this Kingdom fell after my dad is because it lacked a leader who cared enough. But this time, for the first time, I really want to do well! I want to help build this Kingdom! I want to face every problem head on! I want to complete every incomplete plan! I want to take this Kingdom and make it something even better than dad could have ever imagined!’

Eugene pauses. He has everyone’s attention. They all watch him in awe. He couldn’t blame them. He was pretty incredible after all.

‘I know that you all loved King Edmund a lot. He is out there somewhere, looking down on us... So I say let’s show him!’ He shakes his fist optimistically. ‘Let’s show him ‘hey man, you can rest in peace up there because we are doing just fine without you! And we will build a Kingdom that dad would be proud of! What do you guys say?!’

He is met with a polite round of applause. It wasn’t the dramatic roar of immediate support he imagined he would get. The approval is cautious and polite. But it was a good start. He knew he would win their hearts eventually. The best part was that he sees something in the eyes of the leaders of the Dark Kingdom that he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Hope.

Eugene is over the moon when he leaves the room. Several people commend him on his way out for his confidence and showmanship. Someone says how finally he sounded just like his father’s son. There are whispers wondering where all this passion had come from.

Adira catches up to him as he proudly marches through the castle, ‘you did well in there.’ She was never one to deviate from her normal calm tone but even he can hear the pride in her censored voice.

‘Thanks.’ He keeps walking at his fast pace as they talk, ‘Now let’s not waste time. There’s a lot to do. Firstly, who manages the Kingdom’s finances?’

‘That would be Kaspar.’

‘Right. Arrange a meeting with him for this evening. I want to learn exactly what the financial strategies are for this Kingdom. The way our economy is, we could do with switching things up a bit.’

‘Okay.’

‘And is our Kingdom satisfaction still low?’

Adira nods, ‘most of our labour workers are striking. It has delayed a lot of the rebuilding.’

‘Fine. We need to incentivise the workers. Let’s have an audience with them in the coming weeks to hear their concerns and see if we can meet them.’

‘Sure, I’ll get on that for you.’

‘And what else.... I’m scared of someone... who am I scared of? …Hector! Is he still threatening to reveal my identity as Flynn Rider to everyone?’

Adira rolls her eyes, ‘not on my watch. Don’t worry about that.’

Eugene laughs, ‘I’ll talk to him. I’m sure we can reach an agreement he will be satisfied with!’

Adira reaches to stop him, ‘Hey Eugene.’ He stops in his tracks and turns to listen to her. She raises a suspicious eyebrow at him. A smile dawning on her face, ‘What’s happened to you? You were in Arendelle weren’t you? Did some trolls cast a spell on you?’

Eugene chuckles, ‘Yes that’s exactly it.’

Adira shakes her head at him, ‘It must be something. You’re doing more work in one day than you’ve done in the last year. If you keep at it you might actually become a decent ruler. What’s wrong with you?’

‘Oh my gosh! What is wrong with me!?’ Eugene exclaims suddenly. ‘How could I forget!?’

‘What?’ Adira looks mildly alarmed.

‘The most important thing!’

‘…The council report?’

‘I’ve got to go!’ He pats her shoulder and dashes off down the castle corridor.

Without looking back, he runs through the dark castle to his study and wastes no time immediately sitting down with a parchment and quill in front of him.

And he starts writing.

‘This is the story of how I died....’

No. He scribbles it out and starts again.

‘This is the story of how I almost died. Don’t worry. This is actually a very fun story. And the truth is, it isn’t even mine. This is the story of a girl, named Rapunzel. And it starts with a train...’

***

One Month since parting from Rapunzel:

Kaspar frowns, ‘Are you sure your majesty? It’s a big task.’

Eugene grins, ‘But if we are going to be reprinting all the coins to have my gorgeous face on it anyway, we might as well use the opportunity to change the currency completely to end this inflation!’

‘Well do you have a design in mind for this new currency at least?’ The old man asks.

Eugene thinks for a moment. He knew the perfect person to design a coin but she wasn’t here. So, what was his next best option? Who would be just as creative? He jumps up in his seat as the idea hits him, ‘Hey! How about we hold a Kingdom competition! All the children in the Kingdom can send in their designs for how they think the new coins of the Dark Kingdom should look and we pick a winner! That way the citizens are involved and excited for it! Yes! I love it! Great idea me!’ He pats himself on the back.

Kaspar chuckles nervously as he wipes this tiny glasses with eh corner of his blazer. ‘Alright. I’ll get a team together to work on promoting that.’

Eugene shakes his hand enthusiastically, ‘Fantastic! You are a star Kaspar you know that! And working with you the last few weeks has been hilarious! You’re a funny guy! We need to get you out of this dreary room more! In fact. I think this whole treasury could do with some remodelling! It’s basically your office so I’ll leave that to you. If you want to paint the walls neon pink and hang flowers go for it! Or if you are a more electric blue and lightning bolts type of guy then go to town with it!’

Kaspar looks back at him bewildered, ‘uh Thank you your majesty...?’

Eugene gives him a wink before standing up, ‘right I better head off to that meeting with the labour workers now! See you Kaspo!’

He wishes there was a more manly word for it, but Eugene basically prances everywhere he went now. He speedily races towards the Great Hall for the meeting, cheerfully waving and saying hello to anyone he passed.

He reaches the tall doors to where the meeting was to be held. He takes a deep breath. Readying himself for facing the hostile crowd. This had to go well. He had to get them on his side or the Kingdom was going to be in a lot of trouble. He was nervous.

But that’s when he notices someone standing next to him. He glances to the side and he sees her.

She stands there smiling her gorgeous radiant smile at him. Her short chocolate hair as windswept and out of place as always. Her emerald eyes shining their usual mischief. She gently spins her red skirt side to side as she waits for him.

He just grins back and holds his hand. She takes it and with a comforting nod she gestures for him to go into the room.

Hand in hand they walk into the Grand hall.

There is a huge audience. All the workers and builders are sat waiting for him. Upon seeing their King they all launch into their complaints. Shouting over each other to get their points across. They are furious.

‘We aren’t getting paid enough for all this work!’

‘Why should I build other people’s houses when I don’t even have a good house for myself!?’

‘We’ve stuck with this Kingdom longer than you’ve been alive! You can’t just turn up and tell us what to do!’

Eugene stands in front of them all. They were really angry. How was he going to fix this? He wanted to run. But then her hand gives his a reassuring squeeze. He turns to face her. She smirks and raises an eyebrow as if to say: ‘you gonna let this lot scare you? We’ve faced worse!’

She was right. He could do this! He laughs and turns to face her before pulling her into him.

Holding her close, Eugene and Rapunzel dance around the room.

The crowd of workers shout their concerns, hurling fruit and screaming abuse.

Eugene and Rapunzel dance around the room.

Upon being told to calm down and speak in a more orderly fashion, the crowd quiet down and begin to voice their opinions in a more systematic and sensible manner.

Eugene and Rapunzel dance around the room.

The crowd receive the responses they needed to hear and start nod approvingly. Warming up to the considerate man before them.

Eugene and Rapunzel dance around the room.

Finally satisfied with the terms the whole crowd cheers their new King.

And Eugene and Rapunzel just dance around the room.

The meeting was a success. Everyone greets Eugene pleasantly as they leave to return to their homes.

Leaving him alone in the grand room.

Because of course, Rapunzel wasn’t really there. But whenever Eugene had a big task at hand, she got him through it. Her reassurance. Her guidance. Her advice. Her example. It was her memory that got him through everything.

She wasn’t a distraction. Far from it. His focus was always on the task at hand. His mouth delivering the perfect motivational speech. His hands signing the right papers. His mind solving all the problems. And all this was only possible because all the while his heart was always dancing around the room with Rapunzel.

Even though she wasn’t there, he felt her with him in her absence. He felt her spirit within him. Now he always knew how to make people happy. As if all his words had become her words. He saw the world differently now. As if now his eyes had become her eyes. He had been transformed by his love for her. By the impression she had left on him. And it had made him the best version of himself.

After the meeting, Quirin finds him to congratulate him on his negotiation skills.

‘You did well, Eugene. Everyone seems much more satisfied.’

‘Thanks Quirin.’ Eugene shrugs smugly, ‘what can I say? I’m a charmer!’

The man chuckles, ‘I’m glad to be leaving the Kingdom in such capable hands.’

Eugene pouts, ‘aww can’t you hang around longer?’

The man shakes his head, ‘I have a village and to return to. Not to mention an adolescent son. Can’t leave that boy alone too long by himself.’

Eugene pats the man’s arm, ‘ah teenagers! The worst!’

He didn’t know much about Quirin’s son. Just that he often got into trouble. Sounded like the kinda kid Eugene would want to hang with to be honest.

‘Anyway Eugene.’ The man says, ‘I will always be available by letter if you need anything from me. Hopefully you will be fine though. I have high hopes for you boy.’

‘as you should!’ Eugene says.

The man shakes his head, ‘Oh and one last thing Eugene.’

‘Hit me.’

‘Adira has compiled a list of possible applicants for the Captain of the royal guards. It looks like George is our best choice.’

Eugene scoffs, ‘George? The war veteran? That guy needs a hip replacement and early retirement. Not a promotion!’

‘Well, he has the most experience.’

‘AT fighting in wars! I’m not starting wars! I just need someone to buckle down on criminal activity and protect the castle.’ Eugene points, his nose in the air.

Quirin narrows his eyes, ‘Some experience is better than none.’

Eugene frowns, ‘there must be a better option...’

Rapunzel appears in the ugly gorgeous orange dress she had once tried on, dancing in twirls around him and Quirin before leaning in to whisper a crystal breath into Eugene’s ear.

‘That’s it!’ Eugene lights up and grabs the paper from Quirin’s grip to write on, ‘I have just the man for the job! Quirin do me a favour and hunt down this person.’

Quirin eyes the name, ‘uh... are you sure?’

‘I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.’ Eugene says solemnly.

‘...okay.’ And with that the man pats Eugene’s shoulder and heads away.

That night Eugene finds himself writing into the night.

Writing about every little adventure he encountered everyday. Every little wonderful moment that kept him feeling happy and alive amongst the stress and business of running a Kingdom. Writing to remind himself that he was not only satisfied in his place and his role, but he was happy.

It was his therapy.

***

Two months since parting from Rapunzel:

Hector and Eugene had never gotten on well.

But recently they had clashed a lot. Hector wasn’t really the type of guy that enjoyed change. Whereas Eugene had made change his whole brand as King of the Dark Kingdom.

They find themselves sitting across from each other in Eugene’s study. Glaring holes into each other.

‘Hector. You cannot deny that things have been going well.’ Eugene says smugly as he counts on his fingers, ‘The Kingdom is almost half way through rebuilding. Our new currency will be used mainstream throughout the land in the coming months and will cause a dramatic change in the state of the economy. The morale in the castle has boosted considerably...’

‘yeah it has! You tell him Eugene!’ Rapunzel appears beside him. She is there poised on the edge of the desk in her gold and pink dinner dress. Cheering him on in the back of his mind throughout the meeting.

Hector frowns, ‘Your father, the King, had a plan for the Kingdom and you have disregarded it. You are inexperienced and this lucky streak you are on right now can only last so long.’

Rapunzel pouts, ‘Ugh! This guy needs to chill! Don’t listen to him, you’ve been doing amazing!’

Eugene shrugs at Hector, ‘You complain a lot Hector! Relax dude! Take a chill pill!’ Eugene leans back in his seat and throws his feet onto the desk, making Hector glower at him even more. ‘We both know this is just about you wanting you old role back as the head Royal adviser! But I’m not going to kick out Adira just because you want me to!’

The Rapunzel in his daydream nods as he speaks before adding, ‘aww Eugene give Hector something! It’s like my dad always says! The friendly enemy just needs to be included and given importance and they fall right into line!’

Eugene hands a form to Hector to sign, ‘how would you like to be the head of communication for the Kingdom?’

‘The head of what?’ He isn’t impressed.

Eugene shrugs, ‘you have rhinos don’t you?’

Hector is surprised by the apparent change in subject, ‘uh... yes.’

‘So, you are good with animals?’

Hector raises an eyebrow.

Eugene swings his legs off the desk and eagerly leans in. ‘Well, the Dark Kingdom has rubbish communication channels with other Kingdoms. I really want an improved network.’

‘Okay...’

‘Dad had loads of crows that he never bothered training. I mean you’ve seen Hamuel! That guy can’t even fly in a straight line!’

A smile tugs at Hector thin lips, ‘I’ve seen that crow flying upside down, stuck in a boot.’

‘Yes! Last week, right?!’ Eugene laughs.

‘Yes!’

‘That was my boot! I had to walk around the Kingdom to overlook the progress of the houses construction with one shoe!’

Eugene chuckles and Hector miraculously joins in.

It encourages Eugene to continue, ‘Can I task you with training the crows to become an efficient messaging system? No Kingdom has one! Everyone just has their own personal birds. But imagine a whole organised avian postal system! Delivering to anyone anywhere! It’s a big task but you are just the guy to do it.’

Hector hesitates, scanning the contract in front of him.

Eugene slides the paper close to the wiry man. ‘Think about it. Having control of all the communication of the Kingdom. It’s a lot of power. And responsibility. And It will put us back on the map.’

Hector grabs a quill to sign, ‘fine. I’ll train them.’

Eugene stands up and stretches his arms out, ‘there we go! All solved! Now how about a reconciliation hug!’

Hector looks him up and down in disgust and refuses.

They part ways from the study that day, not as friends, but certainly no longer nemeses.

Rapunzel congratulates Eugene on handling the situation so well.

Later that night he finds himself engrossed in his writing. He didn’t think he’d ever publish a book or anything like that. Sometimes he thought about sending what he came up with to Rapunzel. She was the one that encouraged the habit after all and she was right, writing had become an outlet for him. Sometimes he wrote about his adventures with her. Sometimes he just wrote about his day. Sometimes he wrote mini stories to share with the children who gathered to meet him whenever he visited the kingdom.

As he wrote, Rapunzel was sat opposite him in her blue nightie, hugging her legs as she excitedly chatted away into the night. He listens to every word attentively.

***

Three months since parting from Rapunzel:

‘How was your trip?’ Adira asks as she helps Eugene unload his suitcases from the carriage and into the castle.

‘Great! Did you know Koto is known for its amazing ceramics! I brought back pots for everyone! Even you! You’ll like yours Adira. It’s tall enough to hold that sword you’re so obsessed with!’ Eugene says enthusiastically.

Hectors comes to join them, ‘I still don’t see why you went yourself. You had responsibilities here. You could have sent anyone to negotiate a trade deal.’

Eugene rolls his eyes. ‘Hector! I’m not a hermit like you! I can’t stay cooped up in one place for too long! I need to travel! Have some adventures! See some sights! And you all seem to be fine right? Anything dramatic happen while I was gone?’

Adira whips out a list, ‘the entire main square has been completed; the first round of coins of the new currency have been created and are ready to be launched tomorrow; the comms crows are successfully managing internal communications within the Kingdom but still need time to master message delivery externally; and Lance Strongbow has proven to have taken the role of Captain of the Guard well thus far.’

Eugene grins, ‘and you all were worried! I told you Lance was the guy for the job! Now that he has proven it’s possible, I want to work towards launching that programme we discussed before I left.’

‘That rehabilitation thing?’ Hector asks cautiously.

‘It’s too late to back out!’ Eugene points at the two of them, ‘you both already agreed to it! No take backs!’

By now the three of them had made their way to a comfortable corner of the castle with large armchairs surrounding the crackling fireplace.

Eugene slumps into his seat, exhausted from his long journey back home.

Adira hesitates, ‘Eugene. It’s an honourable idea... but Lance is one thing... we can’t just invite criminals into the Kingdom in the hope they will change. It’s...’

‘It’s stupid.’ Hector finishes.

Eugene groans at them, ‘you two need to relax! I’m a criminal remember! And I’m ruling the place!’

‘Yes but the public doesn’t know that.’ Adira points out.

‘Buddy, you’re back!’ Lance interrupts with a jolly cheer as he strolls into the room.

Eugene gets up to meet his friend in a big hug.

‘Lance, my man! How’s castle life treating you?’

Lance grins, ‘this place has the best dinners! I’m telling you! Chef made this new lasagna recipe yesterday and it was to die for!’

Eugene laughs and gestures for his childhood friend to sit with them on one of the plush sofas.

Adira and Hector shake their heads at each other.

No one had been in favour of Lance being invited to the Dark Kingdom for a job. But Eugene put his foot down. The role of the Captain of the royal guard was to protect the sovereign. And Eugene couldn’t think of anyone in the world who would more sincerely have his back than Lance. Also there was no one better to train the guards in the art of catching criminals than the best criminal in all the lands! Second to Eugene of course.

There had been fear that Lance would abuse his power, steal from their resources, cause an issue. However, Eugene knew his friend well. An offer of a lifetime of free catering in return for his services was all the incentive Lance needed to make an honourable man of himself.
Having seen how nicely Lance could adjust to a role of responsibility and put his thieving days behind him, and also knowing how Rapunzel had helped him change too, it had inspired Eugene to dedicate his life to encouraging those in a life of crime to change their ways.

‘Obviously I’m not welcoming murderers and paedophiles! Just thieves! People only steal for two reasons: to survive or because they enjoy it.’ Eugene states.

Lance grins, ‘or like Eugene and I, a combination of both!’

‘But if we employ them, they won’t need to steal to survive because they will be provided for and they won’t steal out of fun because we will channel their skills into something productive!’

‘And legal!’ Lance chips in.

‘And legal.’ Eugene nods.

Adira and Hector eye each other again.

Rapunzel appears into Eugene’s peripheral sight, in a sky-blue knee-high dress, perching on the arm of his chair and smiling down at him, ‘don’t give up! You’ve almost convinced them!’

Eugene continues, ‘If it means I need to tell my subjects who I used to be then I’ll do it!’

Hector frowns. ‘That will backfire tremendously.

Eugene grins, ‘it’s worth the risk. I’m not going to forget where I come from! I’m not a stuck up fancy pampered prince! I was a kid, hungry and alone-‘

‘Don’t forget Lance!’ Rapunzel quips.

‘alone, apart from Lance, and sometimes Stalyan, on the streets. I only became a thief because no one gave me the chance or the opportunity to be something better! And now I’m in a position where I can give that chance to other people down on their luck.’

Lance nods enthusiastically, ‘and if it works, it’ll be great for PR.’

Adira sighs, ‘okay fine. Let’s say you have... I don’t know… ‘Jo the thief’ working as a new palace gardener and-‘

‘Oh no I wouldn’t invite Jo here.’

‘... wait there’s actually a Jo the thief? I was just making that up.’ Adira frowns.

‘No, it was a joke.’ Eugene grins.

‘... Right. Anyway, say we invite him but he continues to steal from us? Then what?’

Eugene shrugs, ‘they are going to relapse. You have to give them a few chances! We can ask the guards to stay active and keep an eye on them.’

Hector raises an eyebrow, ‘and when they exhaust their second chances? Then what?’

‘Then they will have to go to trial and answer for their crimes.’

Adira raises and eyebrow, ‘and if they are found guilty?’

Hector waves an arm dismissively, ‘they get hanged of course.’

‘No!’ Lance and Eugene exclaim in unison.

Eugene clears his throat at seeing a Hector’s disappointment. Man was that guy bloodthirsty. ‘No. Imprisonment only.’

Adira crosses her arms, ‘what if they’re good at escaping like you two?’

Eugene grins, ‘well then they’ll get an award because Lance designed our security systems and I’ve tested them. If I can’t break out of them, then no one can!’

Rapunzel smirks, ‘well someone’s very confident!’

The discussion ran well into the night. But Eugene stood his ground, grateful for Lance’s
support. And after much debate, Adira and Hector tentatively agree to his idea.

That very evening Eugene wrote letters to all the thieves he had met throughout his life. The ones with golden hearts. The ones capable of turning a new leaf. The ones desperately in need of a helping hand. To invite them all to be part of his new Kingdom.

He is just sending off the last letter when there is a knock at the door.

‘Come in.’

Lance’s head pops around the corner, ‘you busy?’

Eugene gestures for Lance to join him as he returns to his desk to organise some paperwork.

‘Good evening.’ Lance says grandiosely as he slides into the room. He makes his way over to an empty chair and bows towards it, ‘and good evening to you too, Princess!’

Eugene groans, not looking up from his papers, ‘I knew I’d regret telling you about that.’

Lance smirks, ‘I’m just trying to be polite to your imaginary girlfriend! Now where is she so I know not to sit on her!’

Eugene glances up at his annoyingly pleased friend. ‘Sit where you want.’

Lance collapses into a seat by the crackling fireplace and sighs, ‘really though Buddy, you need to see a doctor. Hallucinating isn’t normal. No matter how obsessed with a girl you are.’

‘It’s not hallucinating! It’s... something else.’ Eugene mumbles.

‘You tell yourself that, Eugene.’ Lance shrugs and slinks further down into the seat, 'If you miss her so much then send her a letter.'

'Nah. She is probably busy living her joyous newlywed life. I'm sure her parents have forgiven her and she is back in Corona surrounded by everyone she loves right now.

'But not by everyone that loves her.' Lance mumbles.

Eugene sighs. ‘I just... I can’t get her out of my head. And I sort of don’t want to. It’s not like I’m not happy. I am. I’m content. And even though a part of me is aching so much to be with her, I could live my life quite comfortably by just living the way she taught me to live, you know?'

Eugene turns to see his friend had long since fallen asleep by the fire. The King chuckles to himself and find a blanket to wrap over his childhood buddy before calling it a night himself.

***

Six months since parting from Rapunzel:

The Dark Kingdom could have used some rebranding, as the dreary name associated with the once barren drab landscape was no longer fitting.

With the Moonstone gone and an enthusiastic and passionate leader in charge, the Kingdom had flourished.

The Streets were alive and bustling. People sang songs throughout the day. the castle was always hosting events. The trading was proficient. For the first time in centuries, the Dark Kingdom was the place to be, with even tourists coming to marvel at the city that had risen from the ashes in a matter of months.

As neighbouring Kingdoms began to hear of this old forgotten place rising in status and wealth, Import and export began between the Dark Kingdom and other places. It turns out that the quality of rock in the Dark Kingdom was unlike any other. Their tools were sought from all over the seven kingdoms.

The new currency of the Dark Kingdom was finally released and being used widespread across the Kingdom. The coins had been designed by a young boy in the outer edges of the Kingdom. Eugene had publicly awarded the child with a badge of honour for his contribution to his Kingdom and made sure, in his speech, to proudly compliment the young kid for getting his nose right when many grown up artist before him had failed. That line had earned a good laugh.

Eugene had also made sure to get a small sack of gold coins sent to Quirin. Fortunately, the Dark Kingdom’s first-of-its-kind worldwide crow postal service meant this was an easy delivery to make. After all, he could post a letter to someone on the other side of the globe within a week with their efficient system. Animal breeders from far and wide visited to learn the training techniques used at the Dark Kingdom to make such a successful system with solely birds.

Then there was also the pick-up pick-pocketers programme (unofficially named by Lance). A programme designed to provide refuge and support for wanted thieves and in return expected productivity and supplied good employment.

It had been a controversial decision. But one that had paid off.

So much so that a day was spent to celebrate the rehabilitated criminals who were now upstanding citizens and had served the Kingdom in helping it grow and develop even faster. That day, people gathered in tens of thousands to hear the speech Eugene gave. The first King to have a kingdom with no hanging punishment for petty crooks was a pretty bug deal. A radical and modern King, and one that was incredibly handsome and apparently single, that people from far and wide travelled just to catch a glimpse of.

‘…Today, 15% of our workforce is made of ex-criminals!’

Everyone cheers.

‘And do you all know how much crime we have had since?’

‘0%!’ A child yells.

‘None!’ Shouts a young woman.

‘No crimes!’ A man contributes.

‘That’s right!’ Eugene grins down at the excited crowd, ‘we have proven to the rest of the world that people can change for the better if only given a helping hand!’

Everyone applauds and whoop and cheer.

Eugene’s cheeks hurt from his endless grin, ‘This is a place for second chances. If someone with a history as messy as mine can become a worthy King then anyone can be an asset to our society! All people need is a little encouragement and inspiration to become a great person. Everyone is welcome to rebuild themselves here!’

Everyone cheers once again.

Eugene glances to the back of the crowd. Where he sees Rapunzel standing in her two-piece green outfit. Crossing her arms and watching the whole speech. Cheering the loudest and clapping the hardest just for him.

After the event, news spread far and wide of the kind King Eugene Fitzherbert of the dark Kingdom. The ex-thief Flynn Rider, now a benevolent and gracious ruler. The man who created something rare and beautiful out of all that adversity.

***

Nine months since parting from Rapunzel:

His day has started as any other.

Eugene woke up with a smile on his face as he anticipated the day he had ahead of him. After months of gruelling effort, they were finally inaugurating the completely rebuilt Kingdom!

The streets were paved, the houses painted, the fountains flowing, the markets and shops fully providing, the guards trained, the constitution formed. The Kingdom was up and running and on the maps.

The dark past of the Dark Kingdom was no more! In a record time he had done years of work in a matter of months and the morale was at an all time high. His subjects loved him, his staff respected him. Eugene couldn’t be happier.

Until that afternoon.

Adira and Hector walk with him as they tell him the plans for security at his speech in the next few hours.

‘...Even then,’ Adira points out, ‘you need to have another bodyguard beside Lance.’

Hector rolls his eyes, ‘your friend isn’t reliable. He will run to the food table and abandon post in a millisecond.’

Eugene scoffs, ‘please! Lance has my back-‘

Before he can continue a pair of hands grabs his neck.

In the panic Eugene doesn’t see anything but black spots as struggles to breathe.

Adira and Hector launch into fighting the large man who had just attacked him.

‘You thought you’d get away, Fitzherbert! You thought you’d be able to hide from us??’

Recovering and sputtering for air Eugene looks up and realises who had tackled him.

It was Corona’s captain of the guard.

And to the side, waiting silently, stood the King.

Eugene turns to calm down his advisors, ‘guys, it’s okay, hold on!’

By this point Adira and Hector are holding the Captain back as the man struggles to launch himself at Eugene again.

His eyes are a burning rage.

The King apathetically watching.

Eugene looks at the two men, ‘W- hello you majesty… Captain… is everything- W- what- How can I help you?’

The Captain roars a reply that brings an ice cold horror to Eugene’s heart.

‘Where is she??? WHERE IS RAPUNZEL?!’

Chapter Text

‘Bring her here right now!’

The Captain never stopped screaming at him.

He screamed at him as Eugene sends Adira and Hector to leave. He screamed at him as Lance joined them to back up Eugene. He screamed as they were ushered into a private room. He screamed as Eugene had water brought for them. He screamed and screamed and screamed and barely gave Eugene the chance to get a word in.

Rapunzel isn’t here-‘

‘Oh really?’ The Captain scoffs, ‘then where is she?!’

‘Didn’t Pascal tell you-’

‘Oh, so an animal that can’t talk is your alibi!? That’s convenient!’

‘Captain she isn’t here, she-’

‘We have had enough of your lies, Rider!’ The Captain growls, ‘yeah that’s right, we know who you really are, thief! Don’t think your status here will protect you! I’ll get you hanged if it’s the last thing I do!’

‘Captain I-‘

‘We don’t trust a word that leaves your filthy, despicable mouth Rider! You met her on the train did you?! Andrew told us what he saw in the gardens! And my daughter saw you two running away together hand in hand! And now you’re saying the princess isn’t here! Do we look like idiots to you!?’

Well... The Captain certainly didn’t look sane right now, that was for sure. And then there was, of course, the King who had not said a word and instead continued to study Eugene’s face closely. Somehow this was even more frightening than if he had been shrieking like the captain.

Eugene sighs, ‘Please, just let me explain!’

‘Go get her! We aren’t listening till you call one of your idiot criminal guards to bring her here, right now!’ The Captain interrupts once again.

‘Gentlemen!’ Lance tries to join in the conversation, wanting to help his friend, ‘I know what you must be thinking right now, but Rapunzel isn’t with us.’

Finally, the King shows signs of life. He leans forward in his seat and reaches to hold Eugene’s hands with a crushing grip.

Eugene looks into the man’s eyes. He expects to see anger. Disgust. Disappointment. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t see the strong King in his eyes, but the worried father. The man who had suffered the trauma of losing his daughter for 18 years only to have lost her again.

‘Eugene, son. We know you both left together.’ His voice is low and paced, ‘and now you’re saying she isn’t with you? Tell me the truth… has- has something happened to her? Is she no longer with us-‘ his voice breaks.

Eugene immediately squeezes the King’s hands, ‘No! Of course not, your majesty-’

‘She never goes so long without writing to us. She couldn’t keep quiet for nine seconds let alone nine months...’ the King doesn’t fight the tears that tumble down his aged cheeks.

Eugene pours his heart into reassuring the man in front of him, ‘Rapunzel is completely fine! I promise you she is.’

The Captain takes his opportunity to start yelling sarcastically again, ‘oh! Really now? But how could you know that?! She’s not here!’

Eugene barely stops himself from an irritated glower at the hysterical man, ‘I just know.’

‘But you are admitting that she’s with you?’ The feral man snaps back.

Eugene is about to try and explain again when the King tightens his grip on Eugene’s hand once more.

‘Son, she is with you, isn’t she?’

Eugene is surprised by the King’s question. Surprised by the way the old man searches for hope and relief from Eugene’s word. Eugene realises that, for whatever reason, the King trusted him. Trusted him with his beloved daughter. Or maybe it wasn’t trust. Maybe it was just desperation. The King would rather anything, even his daughter running off with the notorious Flynn Rider, to her being alone and dead in a ditch somewhere.

Eugene realised that he couldn’t guarantee Rapunzel’s wellbeing to the King if he told the truth. And the man sitting before him was starving for any kind of reassurance.

So, he lies.

‘Yes.’ He says softly, avoiding eye contact with the two Coronians, ‘yes, she is with me.’

‘Ah ha!’ The Captain declares accusingly, ‘so the truth finally comes out! Go get her then!’

‘I can’t do that.’ Eugene says firmly.

‘Why?!’ The Captain roars.

‘Uhhhh because she isn’t in the Dark Kingdom.’ Lance helps.

‘But she has been with you, hasn’t she?’ The King asks Eugene.

Eugene sighs, ‘she is away right now, but I’ll bring her back to Corona.’

The Captain scoffs, ‘oh and we should just believe you?’

Eugene ignores the Captain and focusses on the intense eye contact between him and the King. He knows Rapunzel‘s father can sense his sincerity.

‘Your majesty, I promise, I will bring her home.’

‘When?’ The King asks gently.

‘I just need ten days.’

‘We aren’t going anywhere!’ The Captain yells but his words go unheard.

The King nods to Eugene, ‘fine.’

‘Don’t buy into his games, your majesty!’ The Captain cries.

The King continues to look into Eugene’s eyes, ‘she’s okay isn’t she?’

‘Yes she is.’

‘Okay. Ten days. We will be waiting.’

Somehow the collected King is able to calm the Captain into agreeing to leave with him.

Eugene stands on the highest balcony of his palace, watching as the grand Coronian carriage makes its way out of his Kingdom in the distance

He is numb. He can’t feel. He can’t think. He can’t breathe.

‘Buddy?’ Lance asks gently as he joins Eugene.

‘Why wouldn’t she have gone home by now Lance? It doesn’t make sense...’ Eugene ponders out loud as he looks at the tiny carriage making it’s way down the winding roads leaving the Kingdom.

‘Those hallucinations of yours...’ Lance ponders cautiously, ‘what if they are real. What if they are her ghost-‘

‘Don’t. You. Dare.’ Lance halts at Eugene’s aggressive reaction. ‘Don’t you dare even suggest...’ Eugene hangs his head onto the railing of the balcony.

Eugene was meant to do a speech in a few mere hours. He was meant to lead his Kingdom through a week of celebration. This was his shining moment. Months of effort and sweat and tears all coming together in the final victory. He had been waiting for this day for so, so long.

But none of that crossed his mind.

Trusting Lance, Hector and Adira with taking care of his Kingdom, Eugene was packed and ready to fly to Arendelle by balloon within the hour.

***
Eugene looks down upon the Dark Kingdom as he rises into the bright skies. It was all beautiful.

Looking at the fruits of his labour brought him strength. He turns to his travelling companion, the dopey crow who was somehow standing on its head within the basket of their vehicle.

‘I’m going to think positive, Hamuel. There are loads of very logical and completely non-sinister reasons for Rapunzel not going home in nine months.’

Hamuel shrieks in reply.

Eugene chuckles gently, ‘Maybe the weather has been too rough to travel the seas between Corona and Arendelle.’ Eugene points out, ‘Maybe there’s been no boats. Maybe that village got too snowed in to even make it to Arendelle let alone Corona…’

Eugene continues listing the whole way there. With each speculation he felt better. There were so many reasons she would be completely fine!

They flew over mountain ranges and rivers and lakes and forests and deserts and worlds and worlds of beauty and wonder. Each second became brighter, each moment he felt happier as he neared closer to her.

He couldn’t help but grin to himself, thinking of their reunion. She will be so pleased to see him! And he was dying to see her. He spent every instant wondering how their reunion would play out. Would they hug? Would she be just as excited as he was? Would she grab his hand give him an immediate tour of her new home as she chatted away endlessly in her beautiful rambles.

And what would Bastion be like? Would he be jealous of Rapunzel’s very handsome male friend? He couldn’t blame the guy. This new Dark Kingdom uniform definitely made him look even better than normal. But nah! Rapunzel’s lover would know what she was like. He’d know that she adored only her husband. Bastion would be a lovestruck puppy that followed his wife around the house and was determined to make all her dreams come true. He’d welcome Eugene with open arms and say that any friend of Rapunzel’s was a friend of his.

Eugene looks out at the sunset, allowing Hamuel to climb across his shoulders. ‘Maybe she sent a letter home, but it got lost on the way. And she took the silence as a sign that they had rejected her and didn’t bother contacting her parents ever again’

Hamuel tries to nibble Eugene’s hair in reply.

Eugene didn’t sleep that night. He was excited to see how Rapunzel had settled into her new married life. Excited to see her living her dream. Even if he wasn’t in the story.

After a day and a half of travelling he arrived in Arendelle on an early spring morning.

He parked and deflated his balloon behind the inn he would be staying at, checked in, unloaded his belongings and left Hamuel to rest in the hotel room before dressing into something warmer and heading off.

He hopped a ride with someone up the mountains. It wasn’t Kristoff; this guy was much less friendly. Eugene didn’t mind this so much. He was preoccupied by his own thoughts and anticipation anyway. Still adding to his list in his mind.

Maybe she had become pregnant and wasn’t fit to travel.

Maybe the village had fallen in love with her so much that they refused to let her leave so soon after meeting them.

Maybe she had been so caught up in her honeymoon phase with Bastion that she had completely lost track of time…

In just a few short hours he was making his way down into the valley to where Bastion’s small village sat.

It was a lovely, homely place. Even in the harsh snowy landscape, the village was warm and alight. The stock wooden cottages were painted in bright swirling flowers. It wasn’t in her usual art-style but Eugene could guess this was Rapunzel’s doing.

He asks around for Bastion’s whereabouts. Everyone in the village was wary of him. He didn’t blame them. It looked like a tight-knit community and they were probably not used to visitors.

He was eventually directed to a grand hut in the centre of the community which was supposedly Bastion’s place of work.

Eugene takes a slow steady breath before pushing past the slightly ajar front door.

The central room was massive. The giant timber structure glowing in the light of a colossal intense fireplace. In one corner was endless bookshelves full of stories. Rapunzel must love reading in that corner. And hanging from the ceiling is a wonderful candle chandelier. He could imagine her trying to swing from it. It seemed like this guy was loaded. Eugene was glad as he and his wallet knew that Rapunzel tended towards spending a lot!

In the middle of the room stood a desk upon which a broad, blonde man was hunched over some paperwork.

‘Bastion?’ Eugene strides up to the man confidently with his most open and friendly smile.

The tall guy glances up to see the stranger entering his office and rises from his seat as Eugene approaches. ‘...uh yeah?’

He was exactly like Rapunzel’s doting description of him. He had a large, strong build and soft features. His brown eyes glowed under the light of the fireplace and held a sharp keenness to them. Bastion was a handsome man.

Still not as handsome as Eugene though, of course!

‘Hi!’ He reaches out to shake Bastion’s hand, ‘Eugene.’

Rapunzel’s lover has a blank expression as he hesitantly shakes Eugene’s hand and politely gestures for him to take a seat opposite the desk.

Eugene realises Bastion had not recognised him yet. That’s okay. Some people just aren’t good at remembering names. ‘Eugene Fitzherbert. We haven’t met but I’m sure you’ve heard all about me! I’ve heard a lot about you too! From the same source, of course!’ Eugene says lightly. He really wanted to be friends with Rapunzel’s husband. If she loved him then he could too.

Bastion repeats slowly, ‘Eugene Fitzherbert...?’ Before his eyebrows shoot up, ‘oh! Eugene Fitzherbert!’

Ah finally. The guy remembered him! A bit slow wasn’t he? Eugene grins, ‘yes exactly!’

Bastion stares at him with semi awe. Eugene is pleased. Clearly Rapunzel had painted him well in her stories to her boyfriend.

‘uh- what can- what could I do for you?’ He seems nervous.

That’s okay. Eugene was too.

Eugene decides to sombre up and get straight to the point. ‘Actually, Rapunzel’s family are really worried about her. She said that once you both got married she’d go straight back home but I guess that plans changed, or life must have gotten in the way, or something and-‘

Just then Eugene hears the door swing open behind him. He turns eagerly, hoping it would be Rapunzel but it’s just some other young woman who smiles politely and makes her way to the other end of the office stacking books. Probably a colleague of Bastions. Eugene turns back to face the man sitting across from him only to see that he still had a look of bewilderment.

‘Sorry, who are you talking about?’ Bastion frowns.

Eugene didn’t see where the confusion would be. ‘What?’

‘Who said that once... once we both got married...?’

Eugene is taken aback. ‘Rapunzel.’ He says slowly and clearly. Was this guy hard of hearing or something? Even if he was, hadn’t he heard of working things out from context?

Bastion’s eyes narrow, ‘Rapunzel? Sorry which Rapunzel are you talking about?’

Eugene can barely believe what he was hearing. ‘Dude, how many Rapunzel’s do you know?’

Bastion slowly sits up straighter in his chair. His face turns cold as he says in a crystal clear callous voice, ‘I don’t know any Rapunzels.’

Chapter Text

‘How could you, Bastion?’

Eugene’s day had gone very downhill since his conversation with Bastion has started. The Arendellian had reacted oddly to Eugene’s mention of Rapunzel initially. It was not until Bastion had ushered him into a corner of the property that he cleared Eugene’s confusion with a long and detailed tale.

And boy was his blood boiling.

‘Look, your Majesty,’ Bastion leans back in his chair, looking annoyingly nonchalant at the whole situation, ‘don’t go and make me feel guilty. I didn’t tell her to run away from home.’

‘Why would she leave everyone she knew for you if you both weren’t serious?’

‘Because she’s crazy!’ Bastion flings his arms in an amused exasperation. ‘You’ve met her! You know what she’s like! She isn’t practical. She thinks this is a world of her... I don’t know... her nonsensical dreams!’

‘And you proved that the world of her dreams can’t exist. Because it has people like you in it.’ Eugene sneers.

‘What do you want me to do? Dump my fiancé for her? Is that a nicer thing to do?’ Bastion quips back. Meeting Eugene’s glare with equal intensity. ‘You’re acting like I promised to marry her and then dumped her. Rapunzel was the one obsessed with getting married, not me! Always going on about how our curtains would be pink and our house would have a blue door and-’

‘But you let her think that, didn’t you? You didn’t think to tell her you were engaged-‘

‘Hey. Don’t make me the bad guy!’ Bastion warns, ‘I liked Rapunzel. Really, I did... but I can’t break this engagement. Especially for her of all people!’

Every word that Bastion said tore at Eugene’s patience. Was this really Rapunzel’s love? Her knight in shining armour? Eugene could no longer see the dashing, sweet man Bastion had appeared to be at a first impression. Now all Eugene saw was a vile, slimy character that was due for a frying pan to the face.

‘If you liked her...’ Eugene says in a low, steady growl. ‘..if you cared for her… heck if you had any sense of morality, you would have been honest with her.’ Eugene grips his fists tighter. They were already numb.

Bastion crosses his arms. It is clear that his patience was also wearing thin. ‘You’re an important man. A King. I respect that. But this is my personal life. I don’t need to explain myself to you.’

Eugene finally loses all composure. He reaches across the desk to snatch Bastions shirt aggressively.

‘How could you do this to her?!’ She hasn’t been home in nine months! No one knows where she is! Or how she is! Or what state she is in! And it’s all because of you!’

Bastion is surprisingly unthreatened by Eugene’s outburst. Eyeing him with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. He definitely isn’t pleased. Equally as strong, he shoves Eugene away and straightens out his shirt with a tired grumble. ‘I told her to go home. But she’s the one that had to stay and keep pestering me. Even when she used to send all those Goddamn letters from troll land, I actually bothered replying and told her to go home. It’s not my fault if she didn’t.’

‘Screw you.’ Eugene spits and he is about to turn to stalk away when Bastion calls after him.

‘Hey! What I don’t understand is why you are so interested in all this. The king of convict kingdom coming all the way out here to find a random chick.’ Bastion smirks, ‘What’s going on between you and her?’

A better Eugene wouldn’t have graced that comment with a response. But this was a hysterically furious Eugene who had never loathed anyone more in his life. So he looked over his shoulder, narrows his eyes and in a deep loathing growl states: ‘I’d tell you about what was ‘’going on” between Rapunzel and me. But a cheap guy like you wouldn’t understand.’

‘What did you call me?!’

‘Cheap. Lowly. Scum of the Earth.’ He spits. ‘In fact, Rapunzel deserves everything she got for being stupid enough for falling in love with someone like you.’ Eugene snarls before storming out of there to the sound of Bastions abusive retorts being yelled after him.

Eugene’s anger drives him out of the building, across the village and up the steep hill within minutes.

He couldn’t believe it! How could anyone do that to someone? Let alone Rapunzel! Especially when she had loved that idiot so much!

At the pace he was going he could have probably marched all the way back to the Dark Kingdom by nightfall.

But he stops.

He is standing at the peak of the hill. At the same place he had last seen Rapunzel. He remembers how excited she was as she ran down that very slope. Taking joyous leaps towards the village where her lover was.

He wonders how she felt.

How she felt when she finally made it down there and ran up to Bastion and threw her arms around him... only for him to shove her off. How she felt when she poured her heart out to him. Telling him how she left her life behind to start a new one with him. How she felt when he told her off. Scolded her for being so childish and thinking that their childhood fling actually amounted to anything. How she felt when he told her that he wasn’t interested in marrying someone so irresponsible and naive and foolish as her. That he had had an actual lover that whole time he was messing around with Rapunzel. How she felt when he told her that her naivety had just made her an easy target for a good time when he was feeling bored and lonely, far from home.

Eugene wondered how she reacted.

Did she just stand there in complete and utter shock? Did she let her tears fall down her cheeks? Did she get angry and yell back at him and pour out all her feelings and love to him? How did she react when he shoved her away? How did she cope as she spent the next few weeks going back to him again and again, trying to persuade him to change his mind. Begging him to return the immense love she had for him. How did she cope when he continuously turned her down? When he scoffed at her emotional words. When he rolled his eyes and said that she meant nothing to him. How he never even bothered reading half of the longwinded letters she had sent him over the years and only ever replied occasionally as a joke when him and his mates were drunk and bored.

How did she support herself when one day she approached him in front of his fiancé and he panicked? How did she feel when he reacted by violently shoving her into the street so as to protect his own reputation as a decent man. Calling her a liar and a witch and a crazy person who he barely knew. A stalker. A psychopath. How did she feel when the whole village sided with the man they thought they knew and narrowed their eyes at her as she made her way out of town. Humiliating her. Mocking her. Scorning her.

How did she walk all those miles? Trudging endlessly through the snow caked mountains for days with no water or food? Was she in pain? Was she screaming for help? Or was she so numb that she no longer cared where she went? Was she so shattered that she no longer cared if her toes went black and her stomach screamed for food and her life left her body?

How did she feel when Kristoff found her wandering aimlessly in the icy wilderness and took her to his family in the forest valley for recovery? Was she grateful to have been helped? Did she even care?

How did she bring herself to keep writing those endless letters to Bastion, still trying to sway him to change his mind? Did the rock trolls try to convince her to move on? Did they try and convince her to go back home? Why didn’t she? Didn’t she feel homesick? Lonely? How was she?

Where was she?

Bastion’s only lead had been the Valley of Living Rock. The last place she was known to have been. The land where the infamous and mysterious rock trolls resided. So that was where he headed.

The icy mountain winds bit at his skin. He didn’t feel it. He was fuelled by his burning rage at Bastion. His mind occupied with wondering how Rapunzel had been. His heart aching and praying that she was at least safe. He was pushed by his desperation to find her and hug her and tell her that it was okay and that she could do way better... the same way she used to tell him.

It was a day’s walk when he arrived at Valley of the Living Rock. It was a densely wooded place. Intensely green for such a cold environment. With moss coating the world around him, from the tall trees to the round rocks. The tight foliage offering a slightly warmer atmosphere when compared to the harshly icy landscape of the surrounding areas.

It was beautiful.

Eugene made his way through the valley until he comes across a small clearing, alive with hundreds of trolls going about their lives.

Anyone else would have been shocked at the scene. The magical creautres living their peculiar lives. Few had seen them. Many searched and searched but would never find them. But this was Eugene. And he was arriving with he purest of intentions. To help his friend. And the magic of the forest must have known what was in his heart and guided him to his destination with ease…

That and the fact that Eugene had made the mistake of trying to steal from these guys when he was a teen with Lance.

(Fun fact: rock trolls are not above throwing their heavy bodies at your toes during a fight. Suffice to say, Eugene and Lance had come away from the attempted heist with several bruises and only one measly crystal that only bought them two days worth of food.)

Eugene stays hidden behind the trees outlining the clearing, watching the rock trolls go about their day, his eyes scanning the community for a young princess who stood out from the crowd.

When suddenly he feels a tug at his trouser.

He looks down to see a young troll child looking up at him with curious eyes.

‘Who are you?’ The little one asks.

Eugene smiles down at the kid. He knew how trolls aged. This thing was probably twice his age. But boy was it still the cutest little rock kid ever. ‘I’m Rapunzel’s friend.’

The child’s eyes light up, ‘you are!?’ The child expression carried the same love that anyone who met Rapunzel possessed. Especially kids. All kids adored Rapunzel.

He nods and the kid excitedly bounces on its little stone feet, making a slight thudding noise against the soft muddy ground. ‘She is collecting wood for a fire somewhere in the woods! You can come sit next to me while we wait for her!’

Eugene wasn’t too keen on entering the troll’s habitat just yet. The last thing he needed was to be recognised as Flynn Rider. They wouldn’t exactly be pleased to see him and it might be hard to help Rapunzel if he was busy being attacked by the magical victims of his thieving youth.

‘You go ahead. I’ll go look for her.’

‘Okay!’ The child sings, ‘I think she went in that direction!’ The small rock fingers point into the deep woods.

Eugene says his thanks and heads in that direction.

He was an expert of navigating the great outdoors. A few snagged bush branches here, a few shuffled leaves there and within the hour he had tracked her footsteps right to...

In a thick green cape, in the light of a single beam of sunlight that had found its way through the trees, stood a young woman as she picked up some fallen sticks to add to the pile gathered in her slender arms.

Eugene was about to run up to her. To call for her. To wrap her in a giant friendly hug.

But then she turns around and he sees her face.

And it’s not her.

Well… it was. It was definitely Rapunzel. But it wasn’t HER.

Her skin was grey, her eyes lifeless, her body weak, her energy diminished.

He took a few steps closer to her as she made her way towards him, her gaze fixed on the ground before her feet as she trudged her way back towards the troll village.

He watches as she get closer to him.

Closer.

Closer.

And then she walks right past him.

Eugene is left watching in shock as she trudges along away from him.

She didn’t see him.

Even though he had stepped into the lights, even though she had brushed right past his shoulder.

She didn’t see him.

Eugene’s heart drop into the depths of his stomach.

This wasn’t the Rapunzel he had known. The Rapunzel he knew skipped with every step she took. The Rapunzel he knew took in every inch of the world around her as she marvelled at its beauty. The Rapunzel he knew always had a song in her heart and a smile on her lips.

But this Rapunzel… Who was so lost in her grieving mind that she didn’t even notice someone, a friend, standing right in front of her. Whose feet dragged along the floor, carrying herself as if she held the weight of the world inside her, and yet seemed so empty. A ghost. A shell. This was a Rapunzel he couldn’t bring himself to approach. Because he knew that whatever she would say would break his heart. He couldn’t bear to hear her voice broken and heavy. Not just yet.

So, he follows her from a distance as she drags through her day - blind to the world around her that she once found so beautiful. He watches as she returns to the clearing where all the trolls were busy with their activities and silently starts a fire in the centre of the clearing. Her face void of any expression. Any emotion. He watches as she spends time babysitting some of the younger trolls and teaching them to write. She is attentive and gentle with them. But the Rapunzel he remembered would have been a joyous teacher. Hugging every student when they got a question right or heck even if they got one wrong. But now she was succumbed to polite affirmative nods and a monotone delivery of knowledge. He watches her from a distance for quite a while as she goes through her dull routine. He waits for any hint of the girl he had known. One smile. One gleam in her eye. One sing song under her breath. One thing. Anything.

But there’s nothing.

He couldn’t have told you if he stood there for minutes or hours. He was only awoken from his nightmarish trance when she disappears from view. Apparently to take a shower by a nearby waterfall. Eugene decides to use this time to build the courage to talk to her. Starting by stepping into the clearing and facing the trolls. He parts ways with his hiding spot at the edge of the clearing and enters the trolls’ domain. As he does, all the trolls quietly stop their activities and make their way to crowd around his legs.

To his surprise none of them are shocked to see him there. They just look at him curiously. Cautiously.

One bubbly female troll approaches him. ‘Flynn Rider! We were wondering when you’d come out of the shadows! It’s nice to see you again! You’ve gone and grown up on us!’

Eugene can’t help but be amused at the trolls friendly tone. ‘You remember me?’

‘Of course, I do! You are your friend were just adorable! Cuties! I hope you aren’t back to take anything else from us!’ She playfully wags a thick solid finger at him.

He smiles, ‘I came to see Rapunzel.’

The troll’s eyes widen. There are whispers around the crowd. ‘you know Rapunzel?’

‘Yeah…’ Eugene nervously rubs the back of his neck, ‘She hasn’t mentioned me?’

Another troll joins in. An elderly one who everyone else seems to respect. The one that must be in charge. ‘Rapunzel hasn’t told us anything about herself. Kristoff brought her here months ago after he found her freezing alone in the mountains.’

Another troll joins in, ‘once we helped her recover to her full health she just asked to stay with us. We all love her but none of us know the reason for her sadness. And we don’t read the minds of those unwilling to share.’

The small child troll he had met earlier jumps up, ‘you’re her friend! Maybe you can cheer her up!’

The trolls murmur in agreement.

The female troll speaks up again, ‘it’s nice she has a friend for her. She doesn’t seem to want us to know what’s wrong. But maybe she will talk to you!’

Eugene nods, ‘I hope so.’ He feels immediately better knowing Rapunzel had such caring company in recent times. It was a massive weight of his chest. She had been safe. She had been cared for. Now all she needed was a friend. Which reminds him… ‘Where’s Kristoff?’

The oldest troll replies, ‘This time of year he works on the other side of the mountains. He left after dropping Rapunzel here. He won’t be back for another month.’

Eugene sighs. It’s a shame the rock trolls probably didn’t know enough to help Rapunzel. At least Kristoff had known she was the Princess of Corona. He could have helped her or at least encouraged her to go back home. Or contacted her family to let them know she was alright.

But none of that mattered now. All that mattered was that her was here and he was going to take her home.

The trolls direct Eugene to a little corner of the clearing where a well-built hut was established. This was clearly Rapunzel’s little personal cabin. The only building there. It made sense. It’s not like trolls made of rock needed houses.

He waits outside the small cabin, sitting on the doorstep as he anticipates her return. Trying not to think about how sinister it was to see a place Rapunzel had lived not decorated with bright painted flowers and swirls.

Eventually, Eugene notices the rock trolls move away from where he sat. He looks up and sees Rapunzel was finally making her way towards him, as the sun sets through the dense trees.

She sees him sitting there and a small smile dawns on her face. It was the first smile he had seen her give since coming back. He is relieved that at least this means she is happy to see him. Even if the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. It meant something at least.

He stands up to face her as she comes to him. Her hair heavy and dripping over her shoulders, framing her thinned face.

‘Eugene? What a surprise! What are you doing here?’

Eugene pauses. She’s forcing normalcy. Her voice was bright and friendly and it broke his heart because he knew it was forced. It made him sad that she felt like she couldn’t share her pain with him. That she felt the need to hide it. She was trying to act like her usual self. Like everything was fine. But he knew her well enough by now to recognise how different her voice was. It was strained and raspy like her throat had been torn from endless nights of wailing tears. And her eyes... they look so tired. So completely exhausted.

He acts normal too, much better than she was, and crosses his arms with a shrug. ‘Oh, you know, I was in the area and heard you were out here. I thought I’d just pop over and say hi… so how are you?’

‘Good!’ She says too quickly. Her forced smile on the verge of faltering.

‘Yeah?’

‘Y- yeah!’

‘Great.’ He nods, ‘and how’s everyone else?’

‘Everyone is great!’

There’s a momentary silence between them. An awkwardness. She must have felt it too. Must have felt the falseness in their conversation.

She really wasn’t going to tell him? Eugene couldn’t do this. He couldn’t pretend to be normal. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t know. Not while his heart was breaking for her. He drops his act and lets out a low, drained sigh.

‘You really hurt me, Rapunzel.’

Her smile fades.

‘You could have told me. You just needed to send me one letter and I would have come.’

She looks down at her feet. Shifting her weight as if every word he said brought her physical discomfort.

‘Go pack your things. We are leaving.’ He states.

She doesn’t move. She doesn’t even look like she is breathing. Her eyes stay fixed to the ground as she finally replies in the quietest whisper. ‘Eugene... just... please go away.’ She pleads.

He was surprised. He knew she would be upset and heartbroken. But he wasn’t expecting her to fight his helping hand. He fights the urge to fall apart. She needed him to be strong. If that meant sucking it up and giving her tough love then that’s what he would do.

‘Look.’ He points a warning finger at her with a stern, almost parental voice, ‘I’m very mad at you right now. Don’t make me angrier. Let’s go.’

Rapunzel glances up at his face momentarily as she says solemnly: ‘This is the life I’ve made for myself. Let me stay in it.’

He groans, ‘okay you can keep all your dumb life philosophies to yourself, okay? I’m not interested. Right now, you are coming with me. No arguments.’

Her tone becomes sour, ‘you can’t force me, Eugene!’

‘Of course I can, Rapunzel!’

This wasn’t going well. He had thought that he would turn up and she’d launch into a big hug. But here she was, barely able to meet his eye. Well.. actually, that wasn’t true as she was glaring daggers at him at that moment. He never thought she’d look at him with such disgust.

Rapunzel clearly tires of their back and forth and tries to walk past him into her cabin. Eugene panics. No. They could end their conversation like this. He instantly grabs her wrist to stop her from going into the cabin.

She struggles against him, ‘dammit Eugene! Let go of me! Let go!’

‘No wait. First listen to me-‘

‘Who do you think you are?’ She yells as she jerks her hand out of his grip and glowers at him through rolling tears, ‘just because all this has happened to me, doesn’t mean it’s a chance to try your luck with me now!’

He tries to hide whatever he was feeling and instead looks at her calmly. He keeps his voice low and steady, although perhaps fails to hide his offence that she thinks he’d take advantage of her like that. ‘Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. And I’m sorry for grabbing you. Now let’s go… please.’

He holds his hand out for her. Tempting her to join him willingly.

She just looks back at it.

‘No...’ She looks at her feet again and murmurs helplessly. Her frustration resolved into helplessness. Her voice strained and wavering. ‘I can’t keep taking favours from you... You’ve done so much for me. I already owe you so much-’

‘I’ve done so much for you?! ME?!’

Rapunzel watches in astonishment as Eugene suddenly bursts.

‘You owe me?! Rapunzel, I’m alive because of you, you fool!’ He yells, as her eyes widen in horror, ‘You see me standing here in front of you right now? This is my second life! The one you gave me! I never knew I had so much potential in me, and never would have known because I would have jumped off a moving train if you didn't stop me! And you didn't even stop there! You then went and fixed me! Do you have any idea how successful I am now?! I rebuilt a kingdom from the ashes, created a new economy, morale is at an all-time high, we have trading deals with six other Kingdoms, I’ve rehabilitated a hundred ex-criminals, Everyone loves me and everything I am is all because of you! In every situation I think to myself ‘what would Rapunzel do?’ And then I do it! You changed my life! And you think you owe me?!’

He stops himself. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t right for him to project his exasperation onto her. All his caring for her was manifesting into a passionate rage. All that had happened to her had set a fire to his soul. But none of it was her fault. She didn’t deserve it to bare the heat of his rage.

So he takes a deep breath to steady himself before continuing, ‘Anyway... Can we go? Or do you want to carry on with all this drama?’

He looks into her rounded eyes. His speech had completely taken her aback. She watches him in complete awe. Like she was seeing him for the first time.

She opens her mouth to talk. Then shuts it. Then frowns. Then opens and shuts her mouth again. Before finally uttering out the words, ‘...okay. I’ll go pack.’

She walks into her cabin and Eugene waits outside as she collects her belongings. Standing there, he grits his teeth to stop himself from breaking down. He was going to be strong. And he was going to help her. He would do everything he could. Because he owed her everything he had.

Chapter Text

It was custom for the palace to host any visiting royalty that may be staying in their Kingdom. So, Eugene was surprised when he receives word that the eldest Princess of Arendelle had refused to let him and Rapunzel stay in their castle. Rude.

Although, rumour has it that no one had seen either of the two princesses of Arendelle in years. Sounded fishy. Eugene had a theory they didn’t even exist and the castle was a hideout for some criminal mastermind. But at least the criminal mastermind was kind enough to upgrade the simple inn room that Eugene had checked into the day before, to a lavish suite.

As Eugene and Rapunzel enter the new place, he looks around in wonder at the grand interior. It felt so nice and homely. All his belongings had already been moved there and neatly arranged. Hamuel was swinging from the immensely decorated chandelier. The suite was already warm with a toasty fire going. The floor to ceiling windows held breath-taking views of the stormy northern seas. The furniture was all massive and spotless, from the long pine writing desk to the featherdown quilted bed. The dining table was already set ready for serving and there was even some complimentary soup and bread rolls waiting for them.

Rapunzel doesn’t seem interested in the beautiful room they had entered though. Her eyes never even left the floor. Eugene gently ushers her to sit at the edge of the large comfortable bed and brings a bowl of the soup on a trolley in front of her. With one shiver from her, he rushes to find a blanket to wrap around her shoulders and adds more wood to the fire.

She sits there solemnly, slowly bringing the warm bowl close to her chest and gradually taking hesitant spoonful’s of the steaming broth.

Once Eugene was done fussing over her, he heads towards the door. ‘Now that you’re settled, you can stay here. I’ll get another room for myself.’

He turns to leave but then a small voice calls after him.

‘You don’t need to do that. There’s so much space here.’

She was right. The room was large enough to accommodate a whole orphanage. He just wanted to give her space. But if she didn’t mind then...

‘Well, if you say so. But you should know,’ he holds his hands up into a fighting stance, ‘I know karate!’

She looks up at him with a faint smile. Somewhere in those lifeless eyes he sees the ghost, the faintest glimmer, of mischief. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.’ She jokes back. Her voice is still tired and slow. But it’s something.

He grins and takes a few steps closer to her, ‘even if you were, you wouldn’t be able to. I’d smack you so hard it’d make your ancestors dizzy!’

His nostalgic call-back tugs at the corners of her mouth. Despite herself, Rapunzel giggles.

It’s not her usual laugh. It isn’t the same melodic humour that brought life to everyone around her. It’s a laugh that is worn and heavy. As if it takes her immense effort to be even slightly joyous. Like her once seamless state of happiness was now a long-gone trait that she had to physically strain herself to reach.

It’s not her laugh. But it’s still a laugh. And he takes it as a triumph.

She continues, ‘That was a crazy night… Do you remember that inn?’

She is trying to be conversational. Trying to please him and though he can see how exhausting she is finding it, he takes this as a win. And damnit he was going to do whatever it took for that forced, polite smile across her face to become the forever limitless one it used to be.

He chuckles and slumps next to her on the bed, ‘ah yes! The House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow!’ He states dramatically holding his hand out in front of them as if the title could appear before them.

She giggles, ‘yeah...’

He leans slightly to the side and knocks his shoulder with hers playfully. ‘By the way, the guy at that place, Matthew was it?’

‘Matthews, I think.’

‘Yeah him... he totally thought that you were a call girl-’

‘What?!’ Rapunzel’s jaw drops, her eyes the size of saucers. ‘A call girl?!’

He chuckles awkwardly, ‘I was gonna call it something more obscene but we are both royalty here so...’

She laughs in disbelief. ‘No way! You can’t be serious? Really?!’

‘Remember I was telling you to let me handle it. But you didn’t listen, because you were: You!’ He looks at her, fondly. ‘Asking for the room for a few hours really didn’t give a great impression! But hey it’s almost a compliment! I’ve never met an ugly- not that I meet any- never mind…’

She continues to smile through her complete disbelief, ‘oh God! I didn’t realise at all! How did I not see that?! I was so naïve!’ Suddenly her voice breaks and her smile becomes more hysterical, ‘I was such an idiot! No wonder all of this has happened to me! No wonder I ended up like this!’ Her face distorts as she grabs at her strands of hair, brings her knees to her chest and proceeds to sob.

He watches her helplessly as she drowns in heavy rolling tears and pained wails.

He doesn’t know what to do. His instinct is to gather her into his arms and hug her till the pain fades. But he is scared that even one touch and she would break like glass.

‘You were right, Eugene. I ended up in a lot of trouble in the end.’ She mumbles through heavy sniffs.

He had never hated himself more, ‘No Rapunzel, I was wrong back then…’

But Rapunzel doesn’t hear him over the sound of her heavy bawling.

Eugene watched as she cried and cried and cried. Not sure what to do and how to help. Deciding that maybe he should just let her cry. Let her get all those pent-up emotions out into the open. He just wordlessly sits beside her and rubs her back as she weeps, until eventually she tires out and asks to go to sleep.

It was a long night. Eugene tossed and turned on the stiff sofa trying to figure out the best plan to help his friend. He couldn’t take her back to Corona like this! Her parents would freak out if they saw their perfect happy daughter in such an awful state. And they would have his head for sure! No... he had to cheer her up a bit more before bringing her back home.

The whole night he barely sleeps a wink. Not sure if the sound of occasional sniffs and sobs were actually coming from where Rapunzel lay, or if the memory of her aching cries was now just doomed to haunt his smitten mind.

The next morning, Eugene wakes up to the strange sound of silence.

This was weird...

Usually when with Rapunzel he would wake up to a pair of bright anticipating eyes that had been up since the crack of dawn.

He glances at the clock.

11.45am

And then he glances at the bed.

She’s asleep.

He decides that yesterday was probably emotionally exhausting for her and that she could use the extra rest. Anyway, the weather wasn’t great today. The skies were murky and dark and the rain fell in heavy pounds. Not the cheer-you-up sort of weather. He could let her sleep a little longer.

But the day goes on and the hours pass and the day becomes grimmer and he becomes more and more anxious as Rapunzel still doesn’t emerge from the duvet.

He could relate to wanting to spend a day in bed. Or even several days in bed. Back in his early days in the Dark Kingdom he would sleep most of the day away if he could help it. Those were his lowest days. When he felt so down that even the thought of messing with Hector or splashing the kingdom’s cash or inventing a ridiculous self-serving new law, couldn’t entice him to get up. He would lie there trying to sleep so he could forget his problems. His heartbreak over Stalyan’s departure. His anger at his father’s poor parenting. His frustration at being cooped up somewhere he didn’t feel he belonged.

But it was weird seeing Rapunzel so still and quiet. It was the late afternoon and she already hadn’t stirred from under the sheets. He decides that he should probably try and coax her into getting up.

He stands a foot away from the bed as he softly calls to her, ‘Rapunzel?’

‘Yes?’ Her voice squeaks back.

Huh. She was already awake then.

‘You thinking of getting up anytime soon?’ He tries to ask casually.

‘It’s too comfy.’ She whispers back from beneath the covers.

He could have chosen to believe her. Chosen to believe that having spent the last few months sleeping on beds of moss that she simply was just enjoying the simple pleasure of a normal human bed.

But something told him that it was just an excuse.

‘Well, the sofa is comfy too. I for one slept like a baby! Why don’t you try it on for size?’

‘I’m alright, thanks.’

‘Well... you haven’t had a solid food in a while, should I order something? We can get pancakes!’ He tempts lightly.

‘No thanks.’

He scrunches his nose, ‘on a diet or something?’

‘I’m not hungry.’

‘Well... do you want to get up and get ready at least?’

‘Not today.’

‘You’re going to spend the whole day in bed?’

‘Yes please.’

‘You don’t want to go out? Get some fresh air. Carpe diem and all that jazz?’

‘Maybe later.’

Eugene pouts, ‘Rapunzel, in my experience when ladies say later, they mean not ever.’

‘Eugene please…’ she murmurs.

‘Work with me Rapunzel, I’m trying here.’ He pleads.

He watches her curl into an even smaller ball, ‘I’m really tired.’

Fortunately, at that moment her stomach betrays her and let’s out a muttering grumble.

He chuckles, ‘I saved some sandwiches from lunch.’

Rapunzel slowly sits up, the duvet falling from her face to reveal her tired, worn down face. She sits there passively as Eugene brings a plate to her, taking a sandwich for himself and sitting opposite her.

As they eat to the sound of the pattering rain outside, with silent tears rolling down her face, Eugene braces himself and starts the conversation.

‘These sandwiches are awful aren’t they?’

She doesn’t reply, continuing with her sluggish chewing.

‘It’s a good thing you didn’t have the cheese ones! They stank like that monkey we met! Remember him?’

She hums slightly in reply.

‘Why didn’t you go back home, Rapunzel?' She pauses. Okay maybe that lead in was too sudden, but the question had been playing on his mind. Eugene tries to joke to ease the tension, ‘I mean, you obviously didn’t stay here for the food!’

Rapunzel gulps down her mouthful. ‘I- just couldn’t...’ she sniffs slightly, ‘all I- all I do is try to think of ways to make him change his mind. Ways to- to make him a- accept me...’ tears tumble down her flushed cheeks as her cries become stronger and heavier, ‘Mother was right! I’m just a sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy girl who no one could ever love!’

Eugene had never wanted to find a random woman he had never met and punch her in the face so badly.

Rapunzel cries, ‘But- but Eugene... Why can’t he love me? I need him to! I- I can’t live- I can’t live without him! I need him to- to... I thought he loved me. I- I loved him with all my heart and I thought- thought he l- loved me too! How could I... how could I be so wrong!? How could I be so naïve!?’

Eugene launches onto his feet. Rapunzel’s weeping upsets him. It agitates him. He paces in front of her. Frustrated. Feeling useless for not being able to help her. Feeling furious at the man that caused her so much heartbreak. Outside a storm was starting to form. The dark sea waves crashed wildly as the clouds sparked and roared.

‘Rapunzel.’ He turns to her and maintains a firm tone, ‘You need to forget about him.’

She turns her head away from him, aggressively. She wouldn’t accept it. He knew she wouldn’t.

He crouches down in front of her and tries to meet her dropped gaze, ‘No matter how much you cry for him he isn’t coming back. If he was going to, he would have done it ages ago. He is contently out there living his life, Rapunzel! He isn’t worth your tears! He isn’t even thinking about you and you’re-‘

‘You met him?’ Rapunzel’s eyes flash in the sudden glare of a lightning flash. ‘You talked to him?!’

‘...Yes.’

‘What did he say?!’

His heart breaks at the sight of the hope that swims in her gaze. The way she was yearning for any sort of confirmation that Bastion still wanted her.

He sighs and takes her hands in his, ‘Rapunzel. The sooner you forget about him the better.’ She snatches her hands away, but he continues, ‘you don’t need him! There’s so many people who love you, Rapunzel! Your parents love you! Your friends from the Snuggly Duckling love you! Pascal loves you! Cassandra loves you! Varian loves you! I love- I love Lance enough to know that you really grew on him too... Everyone just wants to see you home and safe and happy again.’

Tears continue to fall, ‘But I can’t be happy without him... I just need to remind him! Remind him of how we used to be and then-‘

‘Rapunzel, honey.’ Eugene tries to lull her train of thought to a halt. ‘Sunshine, this Bastion chapter in your life has to close. Stop waiting for him. He isn’t coming for you.’ Eugene stands up and let’s his passion consume him, powered by the rage of the angry skies, ‘you need to flush him out of your life! The same way he did to you!’

Eugene starts pacing around the room again. How could he help her? Why couldn’t he just make her happy, the way she did for him!?

Wait that’s it!

‘A portrait!’ He says eagerly. ‘Take out a picture of him and burn it! Burn it and throw it into the gutter where he belongs! YES! You’ll feel so much better afterwards! I can vouch for it!’

Rapunzel just looks at her hands, solemnly, ‘I don’t have a picture.’

‘Shit.’ He continues pacing in front of her. What did Rapunzel like? What did she do well? How else could she express herself? Release the anger...

A lightning bolt flashes across the window.

‘Okay, another idea! Write him a letter! Write him a letter letting out all your feelings! All your frustration! All your anger! Let it all out and we can send it to him through Hamuel! Yes! This is an even better idea! Don’t hold back! Use all the curse words you know and go to town on him!’

‘Eugene. Please.’ She sighs.

‘What? Too childish?’

‘Yes.’ She wasn’t impressed but at least she was looking him in the eye now.

‘But that’s perfect! Be childish! Say what’s on your mind! Let it all out! You’ll feel great!’

He rushes to the other end of the room to a large wooden desk that sat overlooking a window facing the tempestuous seas. He grabs a piece of parchment, quill and an ink pot to excitedly place in front of Rapunzel on the dinner trolley.

She just stares at it.

‘Eugene...’

‘You can do it!’ He grabs the quill and puts it into her hand before standing back to watch her get to work.

She continues to vaguely stare at the page. He can’t tell what she’s thinking. Her face is so blank that he wonders if she was even thinking anything at all.

He moves towards her again, leaning down and reaching to cradle her hand in his before gently guiding the quill across the top of the page.

‘Here. I’ll help you start.’ He shifts her hand to write a very messy: ‘Dear Bastion, I’m writing to tell you...’

He then let’s go of her hand and takes a step back.

The grip of her fingers wrap closer around the quill.

‘What do you want to say Rapunzel?’ He asks.

‘I don’t know...’

‘Say anything.’

She stares intensely at the tip of the quill poised at the page. The only sound around them was the grumbling thunder that screamed through the skies. She grips the quill tighter and tighter till her knuckles go white. She clenches her jaw. ‘A... Arse.... arsehole. I’m writing to tell you that you are an arsehole...’ she thinks aloud on a quite breath.

‘Yes. Yes, that’s good!’ Eugene encourages tenderly.

She starts to slowly write, ‘I’m writing to tell you that you are an arsehole. A scumbag.’

‘Perfect!’

‘You are… the biggest snake I have ever met.’

‘Yes you’ve got it!’ He cheers.

‘You are a despicable slimy bastard!’ Her voice becomes stronger and more passionate with every word. ‘Who do you think you are? You think you’re so great? Some great Casanova? You are just a player and a cheater and a man whore! You will never amount to anything in your life you useless bastard!’

‘Fantastic! Keep going!’

‘What did you think? That you’d reject me and I’d suffer? You’re the one that will suffer, you lumpish doghearted foot-licker!’

‘Creative! I love it!’

Now she was yelling with fiery rage. ‘You cold-hearted jerk! I hope you get stuck in an eternal frozen winter and your toes fall off and your teeth fall out and you go bald!’

‘AHAHAH YES RAPUNZEL!’

‘You are going to spend the rest of your life wishing you didn’t turn me down! You are going to live a lonely existence! All your friends and family will leave you and you will be alone having to put up with what a disgusting, selfish, ugly person you are! You’re the one that will suffer! Not me! I’m the Princess of motherf*cking Corona, you son of a b*tch!!!!’

She drops the quill and breathes heavily, glaring at the ink filled page.

As if by magic the storm calms almost immediately with her. The clouds part and the light of the crescent moon starts to bleed into the room.

Eugene tiptoes over to her.

‘I didn’t mean most of that...’ she whispers. She looked mildly startled at herself.

‘I know you didn’t.’ He takes the parchment from her and carefully rolls it up.

‘I don’t want him to go bald.

‘It’s okay, he won’t.’ He ties the paper to Hamuel’s leg.

‘I don’t want him to suffer in an eternal winter.’

‘That’s not going to happen, don’t worry.’ He goes to the window, opens it, and lets the crow fly out.

‘I was too mean.’ She whispers.

He remains standing by the desk at the other side of the room. Giving her space to process her thoughts. He watches as she continues to heave like she had just ran a mile. He asks cautiously, ‘but do you feel any better?’

Her eyebrows knit together, and she thinks for a moment. Her eyes still on the floor. ‘Yeah...’ she whispers. And then her face breaks into a wide, so very much like her, smile. A smile that reaches her beautiful green eyes in a brilliant shine. ‘I feel... great!’

She stands up and holds her hands to her mouth, stunned at her own breathless words, ‘I can’t believe I did that!’ she exclaims. ‘I can’t believe I did that!’ she gasps. ‘I can’t believe I did that! ‘she cheers, ‘He’s going to be furious!’

Eugene grins like a fool as he watches her.

She looks up at her friend and gives him the most sincere and soft smile she had given since he had found her again, ‘thanks Eugene.’

He beams back fondly, ‘my pleasure, Sunshine.’

There’s a moment as they both smile at each other from across the room. A moment that causes a knot to twist in Eugene’s stomach.

Before he can process the feeling, Rapunzel dashes towards him and throws her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

He isn’t prepared. The momentum of it all causes him to lose his balance and he almost falls back onto desk behind him, using an arm to try and steady himself against the throw of Rapunzel’s sudden weight.

She clings to him snugly, gratefully. Her deep laboured breaths the only sound reaching his ears.

Slowly he recovers from his startle at the sudden embrace and moves to wrap his arms around her tiny frame. Hugging her back.

She grips to him even tighter. Pressing into his chest.

He holds her closer. Burying his face into her silky ruffled hair.

They stay like that for a while. Bathed in the cool moonlight. Serenaded by the pattering rain. Holding onto each other. Clutching to each other desperately as if the other person would disappear if they dared to let go.

Then her hands start to drift.

They slide down his arms. Snaking towards his lower back, finding the hem of his shirt. Her soft hands disappear under his clothing and creep up the firm skin of his back.

His own hand finds its way to her waist. He tugs her hip closer to him until they are completely pressed to each other.

Her head lifts from where it was buried deep in his shoulder. Her face hovering against his skin, the ghost touch of her lips lightly, slowly caressing his neck.

He rubs his hands across her back, his fingers tempting the strings of her dress’s corset.

Her hushed breaths, warm and damp against his skin, climbing as she tilts her head slowly towards his jaw.

He pulls his head back slightly, pressing his forehead to hers.

She leans in a bit, till their noses lightly bump.

He leans in further, till their breaths intertwine.

She leans in more, till their lips shyly touch.

He.... he freezes.

No. No no no no no. This is bad, this is very, very bad, This is really bad. What was he doing!? He couldn’t do this to her! She wasn’t herself! She was hurt. She was lonely. She was desperate for something. A rush. A glance. A touch. Something! And if he gave her that, knowing how he felt and knowing how she felt, then he wasn’t any better than Bastion.

So he pulls back.

Rapunzel’s eyes flutter open. He is captivated. He can’t pull away. They were still close to each other as their arms drop to their sides. Apart and yet not far enough to tear away his yearning to grab her face and close the gap between them forever.

So Rapunzel takes the first step back.

Rapunzel. She’s beautiful. Her green irises shimmer in the white glow around them. He can see the aching, the torment in her own soul. Or maybe it’s just a reflection of the hurtling waves of the sea behind him.

What he does know is how violently that torment stirs in him. And he knows she can see it.

Eugene stands up straighter, clearing his throat.

Rapunzel holds her breath, brushing her fingers nervously though her hair.

‘Right.’ He claps his hand and moves past her in an overcompensating confidence. ‘These things happen. It’s okay. No big deal.’ He is very aware that he sounds like a bumbling idiot but continues regardless. ‘Doesn’t need to mean anything- hey I’m hungry! How was that soup? Should we order more? Nahhh let’s get something else! You haven’t eaten properly and I feel like a big dinner, don’t you? And curtesy of Princess... What’s her name? Ella? Ellis? Elsie? I don’t know something like that! But yeah let’s go crazy! With the food I mean! Oooh and look! The menu has dessert options too! What do you think? Ice cream? No it’s not warm enough for ice cream. Cake! Cake sounds good? What do you think? Oh and Fish! Not with the cake of course! That would be disgusting! We don’t want that! But I mean, Arendelle is known for its fish! We can’t not try some! How about we get some fish and chips and then some cake for dessert. Oh! Or even better! Warm fudgy cake that comes with ice cream! Best of both worlds! That’s sounds great doesn’t it? Brilliant! I’ll order it!’

He is bustling around the room looking for the cord to pull to summon the Inn staff. Almost tripping over a chair leg in his attempt to act normal.

‘And listen. Tomorrow you have to give me a tour of this place! I’ve come to Arendelle before but it’s hard to sightsee when you’re ugly wanted posters are hanging everywhere! Not that I am ugly! Obviously not. Even a blind person could tell you that! I’m irresistible! But that’s not the point! What was the point? Oh yeah! I want to see the touristy places! Apparently they have their own train line here now! A train going through the snowy mountains sounds fun right? We definitely have to try that tomorrow! Sound like a plan?’

Rapunzel hasn’t moved from where he left her by the desk. She watches him awkwardly, her arms crossed around her chest. Hugging herself.

He tries to laugh through her awkwardness. ‘Hey! It’s alright! Don’t be embarrassed! Forget about it! These things happen! I am so used to it! I used to be the greatest lover in all the lands! Everyone wanted a piece of me! In fact, now that I’m king of an up and coming kingdom, I’ve become the most eligible bachelor in the seven kingdoms! Well, I guess eight kingdoms now… But that doesn’t sound as cool does it... cool. Cool. It’s funny how uncool that word get the more you say it, right? Anyway, we were talking about how great I am! I’ll be honest, the ladies are all pretty keen to get a piece of me! Wait did I already say that? I don’t know. Point is... wait till you hear about the first ball I tried to host! Complete disaster! Not to spoil the story but let me tell you the women at that thing attacked me like vultures! One of them stole my sock! Not my shoe! That was still on! The sock! How on earth does someone do that?! Well, actually I know exactly how to do that. I’m a thief! Wanna learn how? Here! I’ll show you with this handkerchief! It’s a useful skill to learn, you know!’

She raises an eyebrow, her amusement slowly overcoming her awkwardness.

He picks up a handkerchief, ‘it’s a old trick, but it is a classic! Magicians use it all the time! Fun fact: all the best thieves know sleight of hand! Hey, if you want, I’ll put on a magic show for you! Dinner and a show! That’s fun isn’t it!? And lucky you! To have such a handsome man be your entertainment for the evening!’

She shakes her head, ‘I’m going to call it a night, Eugene.’

He could have pointed out that she had only just gotten up. He could have pointed out that she hadn’t had a single bite to eat. He could have pointed out that

But he doesn’t. He just watches as she climbs back into bed and disappears into the covers once more. Suddenly, he loses his own appetite and goes to collapse onto the sofa.

He doesn’t sleep a wink that night. He never hears her breaths level out either. His mind circles through all the things that she must be thinking. Was she thinking about the letter they sent Bastion? Did she regret it? Did it only provide temporary relief but would ultimately make her feel worse? Was she thinking about Eugene? Thinking about what a horrible nasty player he was for almost taking advantage of her weakened state? Did she think he was disgusting? Did she want to get as far away from him as possible? Did she wish she never came here with him? Did she hate him now?

Maybe he was being illogical. Paranoid. Emotional. But he can't help the thoughts from keeping him up. He can only hope things are better tomorrow

Chapter Text

The next day, once again, Rapunzel fails to emerge from the sheets.

If Eugene was worried the day before, then boy was he freaking out now. Because before her turmoil felt like Bastion’s fault and hating Bastion was second nature for him at this point. But now it felt like his fault. And hating himself was hard when he was just so gosh darn cute!

No but seriously, Eugene was worried. Even his joking mind couldn’t distract him from the invading paranoia that wondered if she was avoiding him. After what happened last night, things would probably be awkward between them and it killed him thinking about it. He had never regretted anything so much in his life.

He sits up on the sofa and studies the form huddled under the blankets on the bed from afar. A thought crosses his mind that it was just a pile of pillows and she had ran away in the middle of the night to get away from him. He couldn’t blame her... he wasn’t exactly doing great at the whole caretaking thing.

He tries calling out to her but just receives a mumbling reply that she wanted to stay in bed.

Oh no she was avoiding him! He couldn’t keep his hands to himself one time and now he had ruined things between them forever! And he had gone and made her feel even worse! She was so tired of him that she didn’t even want to get up!

He shakes off the intruding thoughts. No, he was just being paranoid. She was fine. She was there, resting and not at all bothered by their momentary... moment from the evening before. Eugene tries to distract his panicking mind by focussing on his mission for the day. He had spent the whole night devising a plan: Operation Cheer Up Rapunzel!

Leaving the princess to her cotton cocoon, Eugene heads out to the town in the early hours of the morning. He visits a whole array of shops and loses himself in the busy markets, collecting all the items he needed for his plan to be a success.

It wasn’t a very convoluted plan by any means. Certainly not the most sophisticated plan that the young ex-thief had devised. He had simply made a mental list of all the useful information he had gathered about her over their time together and was going to use all that knowledge to his advantage.

Once he had collected everything he needed, he goes to the station to get two tickets for a train ride. If there was one thing he knew Rapunzel liked sightseeing. He knew that getting her out and about would do her some good!

The only train that day would be in the late evening. Eugene grumbles to himself. So much for sightseeing. A train journey in the dark of night couldn’t be very exciting. But it seems the station manager heard his thoughts. ‘Sir. The night train is the best one, I assure you. The train takes you to the top of the northern mountains where you can see the Aurora lights dancing across the sky. See them in all their magical wonder! The way the colours manifest in glorious choreography across the twinkling stars and-‘

‘That’s muy interesante’ Eugene interjects. ‘But I don’t do tourist traps.’

The man chuckles and writes out two tickets for him anyway. Eugene pays begrudgingly.

Tickets in hand, along with bags and bags of other miscellaneous items, Eugene makes his way back to the inn and is pleased to see Rapunzel’s head had already left the enclosure of her blankets. She had the covers up to her chest and was leaning back on the bedframe as she petted a tired looking Hamuel who had apparently returned from yesterday’s errand.

‘Hey!’ Eugene says cheerfully. ‘You’re up!’

Rapunzel’s eyes are red and her voice hushed. ‘I had to let Hamuel in.’ She eyes the bags Eugene held in his arms.
He answers her questioning look by tipping the contents onto the bed for his friend to see. ‘Since you wanted to stay in bed, I thought I’d bring some activities to you.’

Rapunzel slowly looks over the assortment of the board games, sketch books, needle kits, paint sets, cake decorations, puzzles and all sorts of toys and games and crafts that Eugene had collected for her.

‘So,’ he says eagerly, hopping onto the opposite side of the bed like a kid, ‘what are we going to do first?’

‘Eugene...’ she sighs, pulling the duvet closer to her chin.

Eugene cringed at himself. Of course, she didn’t want to do anything. What was he thinking!? She looked exhausted. The daylight flooding through the window highlighted all the tired lines on her face. Usually on a sunny day she glowed. But right now there was a grey disinterest written all over her. Her passivity was just as saddening as her usual laughter would be infectious.

Rapunzel continues to slump against the bed frame, rubbing the top of the crows head with a vacant and lifeless expression. She was clearly uninterested in doing anything.

Eugene glances around the bed for inspiration before finding a box of pencils. ‘Alright then. You sit back and do nothing and I’ll draw you!’

She meets his eye. ‘You draw?’

Wait… Was that interest he sensed behind her gloomy expression?

He gives her a dashing grin, ‘Princess, I am a man of many talents.’

Of course, he didn’t draw.

But that doesn’t stop his confidence as he finds the sketchbook and turns to the first page, settles the pencil on the page and starts doodling. Eugene works hard on his work of art. Studying the slope of her button nose. The drop of her slender shoulders. The waves of her brunette hair. The reflections in her empty eyes. He takes in every inch of her. Studying every detail. With every observation he is reminded of how perfect she was. How beautiful she was. With every new part of her he notices he found himself falling even more for her. Even with her swollen eyes and puffy cheeks she looked like an angel from the heavens. He took her in. Every part of her gorgeous, magnificent, lovely face.

And he fails to recreate any of it.

He drops his pencil and groans at his ‘finished’ product, stirring Rapunzel from her solemn trance with his dramatic sigh.

She glances at him curiously. ‘Are you done?’

‘I think so...’ he mumbles, glancing over the mess he had made.

‘Can I see?’ She offers quietly.

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m no doctor, but this will definitely make your depression worse.’

She finally gives him the slight smile he had been waiting for. It’s just the smallest sign of amusement, but for him it was the most joyful sight in the world.

‘I’m sure it’s not that bad.’ She adds kindly.

He hands the sketchbook over to her and watches nervously as her eyes immediately widen at seeing the image before her. She doesn’t say anything. There’s a painful silence as her gaze carefully crawls across the page. Eugene waits patiently for her consensus.

‘I love it.’

He is taken aback. ‘You do?’

‘Yes.’ She looks it over. ‘It’s... abstract.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment!’ Abstract was not at all what he was going for. Making something that looked more like a caricature of her was far from his intention. (As someone who spent years pained with having to see his facial features misrepresented in posters, he was not one to inflict that trauma on another). But Rapunzel thinking he was attempting something surreal didn’t offended him. Far from it. He was ecstatic because she was interacting with him! Engaging with him! This was good!

‘What’s that back blob there?’

Eugene bites his lip as he looks at where she was pointing. ‘That’s meant to be Hamuel.’

‘Oh! Of course. I see it now. That’s his beak.’

‘No, that’s meant to be your hand.’

‘Oh.’ She tries to fight the smile continuing to creep across her own face.

Watching her, he can’t fight his.

‘You made my eyes huge.’ She notices.

‘You have big eyes.’ He tried to defend.

‘I see...’

‘Well yes you do, because you have big eyes.’

She scoffs and leans closer to the page. ‘You drew the right number of freckles. Forty six. Though I don’t know why you’d know that...’

‘I didn’t. Lucky coincidence.’

It wasn’t.

‘Oh and I like how you gave me scoliosis.’

‘Gesundheit.’

She chuckles and rolls her eyes at him.

His jaw aches from grinning so wide. Sure, his drawing was the worst, and he had made her look more like a rock troll than a human. But she seemed genuinely amused. Smiling through her light teases. And he wasn’t letting that smile fade any time soon.

He tries his luck. ‘Soooo... your turn now?’ He waggles the pencil between his fingers for her to be tempted by.

She pauses for a moment and looks up at him. There’s a slight frown on her face as she examines his eyes. He doesn’t know what she is thinking. He can only nervously meet her gaze.

‘Tuppence for your thoughts?’ He tries.

She takes a slow breath and finally, gives him a sad smile, ‘I’ve been thinking about what you said.’

‘Uh oh.’ He chuckles warily.

‘You said that I fixed you.’ She fiddles with the material of the duvet anxiously.

‘Yeah...’

‘I didn’t fix you Eugene.’ She says quietly.

He holds his breath.

‘You were never broken.’ She adds, ‘You were just a bit sad.’

He clutches tighter to the pencil in his hand.

‘I appreciate everything you are trying to do, Eugene. All this stuff. Coming all the way here. Really, I do appreciate it but...’

‘Rapunzel if you don’t want to do any of this then-’

‘Eugene. I just need you to know, that...’ she bites her lower lip, ‘you don’t need to fix me.’

Eugene shifts uncomfortably.

‘I’m not broken.’ She shrugs, ‘I’m just a bit sad.’

There’s a moment as she meets his eyes. He can see the guilt she feels. She thinks she is a burden for him. A charity case. An inconvenience. He didn’t know how to tell her that even the slightest hint of a frown on her face ruined him. How the pain in her heart was felt by his own. That every sorrow she had, was his. She existed in every part of him and he just couldn’t bare to see her in this state. Even a bit of her sadness was too much for him to bear. She thought he was being selfless. But he knew the truth. Her happiness was so linked to his own. He was selfish.

He didn’t know how to tell her, so he just asks, ‘what will make you a bit happy?’

He just watches her infinitely heart-breaking face as it pauses for a moment before breaking into a bright, tearful smile. She reaches to grab the pencil from him, ‘showing you how a real artist works.’

He grins back.

He didn’t know if it was something he did, or if she was just trying to please him or if she had found the energy all on her own. But right now she was happily engrossed in her drawing. It was wonderful seeing her in her element again as she began directing him to pose for a portrait, settling on a pose where he is balancing on one foot with his arms outstretched. She called it a ballerina stance. He preferred to think of it as trying to balance on a thin ledge while running from a heist. As he stood, wobbling and swaying, he watched her draw. The way she bit her lip slightly. The way she narrowed her eyes and stuck her nose closer to the page to sketch the details. The way her hand glided effortlessly across the page. She loses herself in her work. A peacefulness consumed her face. In her own sort of happy place. She was so beautiful. Calm. Almost ethereal.

And when she is done, his jaw drops. And not just because she got his nose right.

Eugene gasps, ‘That... that’s me... sitting down...’

‘Yes it is. I changed my mind halfway through.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me!?’

She gives him a sly wink.

Eugene crosses his arms, ‘So, you made me stand on one foot for one hour for nothing!’

‘15 minutes, don’t be dramatic Eugene.’ She tuts jokingly.

Hamuel apparently gets the joke and cackles with her.

Eugene scrunches his nose, ‘et tu, Birdie?’

There wasn’t a single fibre in his being that was irritated. Her pranks couldn’t make him happier. They were all the normal parts of her. The best parts of her. And if her usual cheekiness was showing through then surely she must be getting better! (Correction: getting happier!)

He goes over to her and takes the drawing to examine it closer. The drawing was of him sleeping, sitting upright, with his mouth half open and head titled awkwardly to the side. He had realised that this must have been a reference to that week they had spent in the carriage from Vardaros to Corona and all those mornings she would wake up before him and wait patiently for him to get up so they could chat the day away.

She must have studied him closely to be able to draw him from memory like that. Did she see something worth remembering in that unconscious, slightly drooling man?

No. He knows that he is reading into it too much. She was an artist for goodness sake! She could probably sketch half of the population of the seven kingdoms perfectly from memory. He wasn’t special.

She reaches over for the paint set dumped onto the bed. ‘It’ll look better in colour, I think.’

He felt over the moon. She was becoming more active. Volunteering to do something and getting into it! He knew she was just trying to play along with him. She was humouring him. And boy did her love her for it. Even in her worst state, she was trying to help him. Wanting to cheer him up too.

He lies on the bed, propped on one arm, and watches her lovingly as she paints away at his picture. Watching in awe at every stroke she made. It was a moment he could have wished to last forever.

Once she was done with painting they moved onto a game of chess. Well, several games
of chess. This time Eugene was in his element. Any successful criminal knew how to plan a few steps ahead and therefore chess was an easy game for him. Though he had to admit, Rapunzel was probably the most impressive player he had ever played.

‘How are you this good when you’ve only ever played, the frog?’ He groans as he muses over the ‘Check!’ she had announced.

‘Pascal is very intelligent! There’s a big brain in his cute green head.’ She hums.

Eugene makes his move. ‘Yeah, big-headed is a good word for him.’

‘Hey!’ She complains before immediately moving her knight. ‘Checkmate.’

‘What?! How?’ Eugene throws his arms in the air and flops his body onto the bed in dramatic defeat. ‘How about twenty three, out of forty five?’

She laughs triumphantly and starts reorganising the pieces again.

Their day continues with little activities. They complete a 1000 piece puzzle together. Eugene teaches Rapunzel how to pick locks. Rapunzel teaches Eugene how to knit. They save Hamuel from choking on a cushion tassel. They rate Eugene’s old pick-up lines. They rate the most absurd myths Rapunzel grew up believing. They decorate a bunch of plain cupcakes. They rank eachothers finished designs. They eat the cupcakes. Rapunzel sews up a loose button on Eugene’s shirt. Eugene accidently stabs himself with one of the needles. Rapunzel teaches Eugene how to do proper first aid. Eugene shows her his most impressive scars from his thieving days. Rapunzel shows him her scars from injuries since losing her magic healing hair. Eugene tries to bring up Corona. Rapunzel steers the conversation away. They order a heavy lunch to the room. They have a burping competition after eating. They try to figure out how to play backgammon without an instructions leaflet. Rapunzel told Eugene the bedtime fairy tales she heard growing up. Eugene told her the actual, must less traumatic, versions of them. They talked about Eugene’s first day in the Dark Kingdom. They talk about Rapunzel’s first day in the palace. They both avoided bringing up Bastion. They discuss favourite songs. Favourite books. They rate the most good-looking members of royalty in all the kingdoms. (Eugene was very disappointed when he wasn’t in Rapunzel’s top three and she had to spend the next few minutes convincing him that this was because he was too good looking for it to be fair for him to be in the running). And as the golden hour of the evening peeked through the windows of their room, Eugene convinces Rapunzel to get up and ready for their touristy train ride. In the best mood she had been in in months, she happily agrees.

The early evening in Arendelle was lovely. The sun was setting in a spectacular burst of orange that flooded the Scandinavian streets. Eugene and Rapunzel walk side by side through the wonderful warm family scene as they make their way to the newly constructed station. Eugene constantly chatting away, telling her the funniest tales of his times as the king of the dark kingdom to keep her occupied and relaxed.

Rapunzel politely listens along. He notices her step didn’t drag as much as it had two days ago. She swayed gently, peacefully as they travelled along the cobbled street. A effortless grin on her lips.

‘...Since then, Kaspar was great and when his jokes aren’t at my expense they are hilarious!’

Just then a bell rings.

Eugene and Rapunzel pause and see that just ahead of them, the mountain train was starting to leave the station, gently starting its chug chug chug chug chugchugchug...

The young couple turn to each other. They were going to miss the train! An unspoken memory of their first night together flashes between their gaze. Broad smiles spreading across their faces. Without a word between them, they take each other’s hands and RUN!

They dash faster than they ever had before. Jumping over ropes, ignoring the station masters shouts, skidding onto the platform, racing closer and closer and closer to the departing train.

People on the platform shout and cheer them on as they race behind the accelerating vehicle. Eugene reaches out and just manages to grab one of the rails of the train’s doors, he pulls himself into the compartment and uses all his strength to drag in Rapunzel after him. She lurches into him and they both lose their balance, falling onto the floor of the train compartment, howling and cackling like maniacs.

The other passengers watch, completely startled, as the young couple catch their breaths and stumble towards some empty seats.

As Eugene collapses into chair facing Rapunzel he notices how her eyes are lit up. Buzzing with a burning flame of exhilaration.

‘You know what?’ She laughs, ‘I’ve been having the same nightmare every night for months! That I’m running after a train! That my train is leaving and I can’t catch it! Every single night!’

‘Well, you’ve finally caught it now.’ Eugene grins. ‘Happy?’

‘Happy!’

And she did sound happy. Like her old self again. So bright and cheerful and perfect and wonderful. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. The olive of her eyes so brilliant and alive once again. Her toothy smile, perfect and full. Her face bright and joyful. In that moment she looked so beautifully like herself. He prayed silently that she would never lose her radiance again.

Her eyebrows knit together as she notices the way he was watching her and a shy smile presents across her face, ‘you… you really like me, don’t you?’

He meets her curious gaze. Her crystal clear, illuminated eyes pulling him in violently. He knew he couldn’t hide it. She could see right through him.

‘I do. I really like you.’ His voice is gentle and sincere. But then he notices her expression slowly change and he immediately tries to become nonchalant with what he hopes looks like a casual shrug. ‘But that’s my problem. Not yours. So, you don’t need to worry about it. Okay?’

She gives him an unsure look.

‘Okayyy?’ He asks teasingly.

He didn’t want things to be weird between them. He didn’t want to make her feel like her friendship wasn’t enough for him. It was plenty more than he thought he deserved already. He doesn’t want to make her feel awkward. So, he grins and playfully reaches to tap her nose, ‘d’accord?’ He chuckles.

She smirks and reaches to return the gesture back at him.

He puts his hands into a karate pose to fight her off.

They both laugh. Their joy echoing into the dark snowy mountains and joining the bright dancing lights in the sky, as the steady train chugged along.

Neither of them had slept the whole night. How could they? Instead, they marvelled at the light show the northern skies had to offer. The station guy had been right; it was worth every coin. It had been a breath-taking sight. And even amongst the crowds of other tourists all with their noses pressed to the windows, it felt like an intimate experience they had shared together. Eugene would remember, more than the dancing skies, sneaking glances at the mesmerised girl and the greens and blues and pinks that were reflected in her shining eyes.

Little did Rapunzel know the love with which he watched her.

Little did Eugene know that when he wasn’t looking, she sneaked glances up at him. Confused by the warm bubbling feeling in her tummy at being by his side.

They arrive back in Arendelle in the early hours of the morning. Rapunzel was in the best mood she had been in since he found her again. She was cracking jokes and teasing him and enjoying their little holiday. As they walked through the streets of Arendelle, with their breakfast pastries at hand, they chatted away jovially about the awful fancies of royal life, struggling to keep their excitable voices down for the town that still slept.

Finally, they make their way back into the inn. Eugene opens the door and gives her a dramatic bow gesturing for her to enter the first. ‘My lady.’

‘Why thank you my good sir!’ She giggles as she steps into the warm inn lobby.

Eugene follows after her, ‘Rapunzel listen, I’m going to check us out. You go up to the room and start packing.’

‘Where are we going?’ She asks excitedly. ‘Oh are we going to the Dark Kingdom!? I’m so excited! I want to see what’s you’ve done with the place! Oh and see Lance again! And meet Adira and Hector!’

‘We need to go to Corona.’ He cuts in solemnly, anticipating the change in her mood. ‘I’ve got a balloon parked out back. We’ll have you back home by dinner.’

Rapunzel’s face falls, ‘Eugene, I can’t go back.’

‘Why not?’ He asks gently.

‘How am I meant to face my parents!? They spent their whole lives waiting for me and looking for me, only for me to go and leave them for someone else! And for who? For a jerk that never even cared about me! I broke their hearts! And after everything they have done for me! They probably hate me now!’

Eugene reaches to take her face into his hands, tenderly wiping the tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘Hey! Hey Rapunzel, they miss you. They just want you to come back home.’

She sniffs, looking up at him with her big doe eyes.

She opens her mouth to speak...

‘Rapunzel?’

Eugene and Rapunzel turn to see that waiting in the lobby for them is a broad, blond haired man, nervously clutching his hat in his anxious hands.

‘Bastion?’ Rapunzel tenses.

The man takes a few steps closer to them.

Eugene’s instinct is to move closer to Rapunzel. To protect her. To hold her.

But he doesn’t. He drops his hands and freezes just like she does. Watching helplessly as Bastion comes towards them.

‘Rapunzel. I messed up.’ Bastion babbles, barely able to meet her eye. ‘I really messed up. I’m so sorry. I got your... letter. And everything you said... All those words... you made me realise... you opened my eyes. Rapunzel please forgive me. I was trying to forget you and I was mean and cruel and I realise that now-’

The Arendellian man’s eyes shift to where Eugene stood.

Eugene holds his breath and takes a step back. ‘I’ll check us out, Rapunzel’ he says quietly.

She frowns at him and he forces himself to nod to her. To encourage her. Before heading to the front desk.

This was the right thing to do. Talking to Stalyan again had brought him closure. Rapunzel needed to end this chapter with Bastion herself.

Only a few paces away, Eugene listens in on their continued conversation.

‘I don’t want to talk to you, Bastion.’ Rapunzel says quietly. Her arms folded across her chest, seeming smaller than he had ever seen her before.

‘Please Rapunzel. I made a mistake! I’m admitting it! I loved you! I was going to come back here and break the engagement with Ayla, but there was just so much pressure from our families and I chickened out! I’ve spent the last nine months pretending I’m really strong and practical... That I could just forget you and move on... but I can’t do it anymore! I want to be with you!’

Eugene continues to listen. A life in the field of thieving made him very sharp at spotting other liars. He waited for a sign. Just one hint that he could grab on to that Bastion was lying. One excuse to go over there, punch him in the face and tell him to leave Rapunzel out of his cruel games. He waits. He waits. He waits. The worst part of him hates how there were no lies to catch. The worst part of him hated that all he could see in Bastion was genuine sincerity.

‘It’s too late Bastion.’ Rapunzel says. ‘You can’t just leave me, lie to me, throw me out, and then abandon me for months, only to come back and say sorry whenever you feel like it! I’ve been alone, crying for you, for ages. And you just turn up when it’s convenient for you!’

He takes her hands into his, ‘I know it’s been hard for you, Honeypot. And I know I put you through a lot of pain. A lot of heartbreak... There’s no excuses. But I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. From now on, all your problems are my problems. All your sadness is my sadness. All your joys will be mine too.’

Rapunzel listens quietly, tears forming in her rounded eyes.

‘I’ll come back to Corona with you. We’ll talk to your parents together. We will convince them to let us marry each other. We’ll fight for each other!’ He brings her hands to his chest, ‘I’ll fix everything, Rapunzel. Everything will be alright! I promise.’

Eugene felt numb. Helpless. He couldn’t listen to it anymore. He heads back to the room, trying to avoid looking at where Rapunzel and Bastion stood, hand in hand, as he poured out his heart to her and she looked back up at him in a mystified daze.

He goes back to the room. He writes a letter to Rapunzel’s mother and father, informing them that they would be back in Corona later that day. He lets Hamuel fly out of the window with the note. He starts packing their belongings. He tidies away the art supplies and icing tubes and chess sets. He throws most of it away. He makes the bed. He wipes down the dining table. He did any job he could find to do. Forcing himself to stay distracted. Restraining himself from falling apart. Letting out slow and steady breaths as he convinced himself to stay strong.

His mind was plagued with endless thoughts. Thoughts of how Rapunzel deserved better. She didn’t deserve someone so unreliable! She deserves... she deserves someone like him. Someone who loved her. Okay maybe Bastion loved her too, but he loved Rapunzel more than Bastion did! Because he would never hurt her! He would never lie to her! He would never cheat her feelings! He would leave the Dark Kingdom in an instant for her! He’d throw it all away to be with her! And he wouldn’t wait nine months to do it! There’s was no one out there who loved her more than he did! He would do anything for her! He would give her the moon on a string! He would give her the world in her palm! He would give her whatever she wanted!

But a small voice echoes in the back of his mind.

What if she doesn’t want you?

Suddenly, he hears the door of the suite swing open and slam shut.

He quickly shakes off his anguish and leans on the nearby bed frame, trying to appear cool and casual as Rapunzel marches towards him.

She is furious. Fuming as she comes right up to him in angry tears.

‘How dare he?!’ She yells, ‘who does he think he is?! I can’t believe this! Why did he need to come back now? Everything was getting better! I was finally doing okay again! He can’t just come back like this! It’s too late! It’s too late! It’s too late...’ she shakes her head.

Eugene reaches out to gently hold her shoulders and guide her to sit down on the edge of the bed. He sits beside her but makes sure to maintain a respectful distance between them. ‘Rapunzel, do you think he’s really sorry? Does he mean it?’

Rapunzel groans, ‘Yes I think he does, but-’

‘Then forgive him.’

Rapunzel’s head shoots in his direction. ‘W- what?’

Eugene blinks quickly to fight any tears that dare to form. He hated every word that left his lips. But he knew that he had to help her. Give the advice that was best for her, even if it ruined him. Her wants mattered more to him than his own.

‘You were the one that taught me that people can change. You helped me change. I’ve helped so many people change. Everyone can learn from their mistakes, Rapunzel.’

‘But-’

‘Sometimes you have to just follow your heart and hope that everything will be alright in the end. Remember? Follow your heart Rapunzel. And everything will be okay.’

‘What are you saying?’ She asks quietly.

He stands up, creating more distance between them as he shoves his hands into his pockets, ‘Rapunzel a few months ago you would have jumped for joy if Bastion said all that to you. I remember the way you used to talk about him. The way you would light up at the sound of his name. He means the world to you! You’re angry now and it’s clouding your judgement. But in a few years’ time, no one will remember these last nine months. You both will have moved past it.’

‘Wow.’ Rapunzel mutters bitterly as her gaze drops to the ground, ‘I never thought you, of all people, would take his side.’

He chuckles under his breath, ‘I’m on your side too. His side and your side are the same. He loves you. And you love him! Yeah he was dumb and made a mistake and you can hold it against him the rest of your life when he doesn’t do the dishes or whatever! But the point is that you and Bastion both love each other. And people who love each other should be together.’

She looks into his eyes. Looking right into his soul. He can feel her searching him. Reading him like a book. Understanding him better than anyone else in the world ever would.

‘But what about you?’ She whispers.

Her cracked voice stabs him in the chest. He shuts his eyes. To shut out her omniscient gaze. To shut in his welling tears.

And then he snaps them open, giving her his most captivating, carefree, casual and ever so completely fake smirk, ‘after you get married,’ he leans in with a cheeky wink, ‘your first affair has to be with me. Then I’ll be happy too!’

She snorts and they both giggle into stitches.

‘Okay! It’s a deal!’ She laughs reaching her hand out for him.

‘Great!’

He reaches to shake her hand. But the moment their skin touches and their eyes meet, their laughs fade. As do their smiles. And all that’s left is the two of them looking into each other’s sad eyes.

‘No Eugene...’ Rapunzel frowns, pulling back her hand and letting it fiddle with the strands of her outgrown hair, ‘this... this doesn’t feel right. This isn’t right.’

He sighs, ‘Trust me, I wish it wasn’t right. But...’ he gives her a shrug.

She watches him.

He shakes his head and forces a brave face as he holds her hand out to her, ‘Come on!’

She hesitates.

‘Come on! Let’s go!’ He coos merrily.

She doesn’t take her eyes off him as she takes his hand and lets him lead her out of
the room and back into the lobby.

Bastion had been sitting by the fire waiting for her.

Eugene and Rapunzel drop each other’s hands and make their way over. Bastion stands up, nervously, as he sees them both approach.

The three of them meet in the centre of the fire lit room.

Rapunzel glances at Eugene and he gives her another encouraging nod and before turning and leaving the two of them alone. Refusing to look back.

He goes back to the suite. Shuts the door. Goes to the window. Looks out at the endlessly turbulent sea.

Rapunzel was raised by a selfish love. A vile woman who loved Rapunzel as a possession she could own. Keeping the young princess locked up for her own personal gain. Rapunzel didn’t deserve any more selfish love. And if Eugene was so consumed by his affection for her that he wouldn’t let her go back to the man she had loved so desperately... then he was just being selfish too. Rapunzel deserved his selfless love. And his selfless love was letting her go. Letting her be a bit happy.

The view out of the window was beautiful. He watches as the waves crash against the kingdom. He watches as the sun rises into the sky. He watches as the people go about their happy lives.

And he cries.

Chapter Text

By all accounts, the ride back to Corona should have been nice. It was a bright and sunny day, the views were spectacular, the air was crisp.

But if Eugene had to describe the trip in one word. That word would be:

Awkward.

Eugene, Rapunzel and Bastion struggled to maintain a friendly conversation for more than 10 minutes at a time and the long silences between those were equally painful. Bastion didn’t seem to vibe with Eugene’s humour and never laughed at any of his jokes. Eugene didn’t think much of Bastion but tried to be friendly for Rapunzel’s sake. Rapunzel, the only potential bridge between them, spent most of the ride ignoring both and looking out wistfully to the horizon. Neither man could fathom what thoughts were running through her seemingly troubled mind.

Upon reaching the sunshine kingdom, flying low above the rooftops of the Bavarian houses, they are met with roaring crowds. People dancing in the street, waving, cheering, singing songs of joy! The roads of Corona were decorated in endless chalk drawings, the streets framed with purple flags. Everyone was dressed up in the brightest of colours and the biggest of smiles. It was a joyous occasion akin to the birthdays they used to hold for Rapunzel. But this was even bigger and better and brighter.

Rapunzel immediately cheers up upon seeing her gleeful subjects. She lovingly waves back to all of them; calling out to them by their names and bouncing on her toes as she leans over the edge of the basket to reply to their excited welcomes.

Bastion looks out at the crowd cautiously, eyeing the decorations with a frown. ‘What’s going on?’

Eugene smiles at the endless faces beaming up at them and the princess whose eyes light up as she laughs and appreciates them. ‘Their lost princess is returning home... again!’

It's the golden hour of the evening by the time they steer the balloon towards the grand courtyard of the palace where a crowd was clears a space for them to land. Every Coronian Eugene had ever met stood there waiting eagerly. Familiar castle staff. The snuggly duckling gangs. The guards. The young sisters. The excitable scientist. The royal advisor. And many more. There were some new faces too. There was a young, pretty woman who looked remarkably similar to the queen, and another crowned Royal with a thin frame, pompous outfit and ridiculous facial hair. And, happiest of all, at the front of the crowd, stood Rapunzel’s parents; clutching onto each other in excitement with tears in their eyes upon seeing their beloved daughter’s face after so long.

Eugene holds a chivalrous hand out to help Rapunzel out of the basket, her feet barely touching the ground before she is attacked into a fierce hug by the Queen.

‘Rapunzel! You’re home!’

The young princess doesn’t have a chance to smile and instead just hugs her mother back, hanging on to the silk cloths with a death-defying grip as she lets her rolling tears soak the material upon mother’s shoulder. The King joins them, wrapping both women in a giant embrace, like a warm protective shelter.

Eugene had already climbed out of the balloon and was left standing awkwardly beside the hugging family.

The Queen opens her eyes, noticing where he stands and offers a hand to him.

Eugene smiles politely and reaches to shake it but before he can, his shoulder is suddenly yanked in another direction and he finds himself face to face with the captain of the guard. He starts praying for his life when to his surprise, the captain’s terrifying face morphs into an unexpected smile. ‘I didn’t think you’d pull through Rider! But by bringing our Princess back, you’ve won our hearts!’ He pats Eugene on the back like they were old friends. Funny, considering Eugene still had the bruises from when the Captain attacked him a few days ago. But he guessed that that was water under the bridge now.

As the Captain continues to thank him for his service to the Kingdom, Eugene glances over to where Rapunzel was being bombarded by hugs and welcomes from familiar friendly faces. Friends, staff, subjects. All fussing over her and wishing her well.

‘You’re so thin! We need to get some food in you!’

‘Ah your hair has grown out! I’ve never seen it this long! Apart from when it was super long, of course!’

‘What interesting clothes! So wintery! Is it that cold in the Dark Kingdom?’

The one she was most excited to see of course was the little green creature that scampered up her arm and nuzzled into her neck as she cuddled him back with a little kiss to his temple.

‘I’ve missed you so much, Pascal!’ She sobs through the first big smile she had given since landing.

‘Raps!’ The dark-haired lady-in-waiting also appears and eagerly hugs her friend. ‘Glad to see you in one piece!’

‘Hey Cass!’ Rapunzel beams back.

She already looked better. Surrounded by her loved ones, she smiled and hugged and laughed and cried and she looked so beautiful. So utterly beautiful...

Eugene’s attention is pulled away from Rapunzel by the bouncy alchemist who eagerly pulls at his sleeve. ‘I am SO excited that you are back! I have so much to tell you! Guess what?! This whole time you knew my dad! That’s how the King found you! I found the gold coins with your face on them that you sent to dad and I was going to keep it a secret but then I had to tell Cassandra because she’s my friend but then she went and told the king… please don’t be mad!’ He cringes at the end of his rambling speech.

‘I’m not mad Varian.’ Eugene playfully rubs the kid’s hair. In reality, he was overwhelmed by the sudden blast of information he had just received. He knew his dad? Why would he know Varian’s dad? That’s so random… Gold coins? The Dark Kingdom’s coins? The only person he sent that money to was... wait! Quirin was Varian’s dad?! Varian was Quirin’s son?!

Varian lets out a dramatic sigh of relief to interrupt Eugene’s slow brain processing. ‘Oh good! By the way, how does you being Prince consort of Corona work with you being the ruling king of another Kingdom? Will you commute?’

Eugene freezes. Prince what now? He glances over at Rapunzel to see that she was already looking back at him, her face equally alarmed having also heard Varian’s words.

Before they can react further, the woman who looked very much like the queen starts jeering, ‘ooooh look at the newlyweds! They can’t take their eyes off each other! Talk about the honeymoon phase!’

Newlyweds? Honeymoon?

‘Aunt Willow-‘ Rapunzel starts to explain but is halted when Red and Angry run over to Eugene, grab his hands and drag him across the space until he is standing shoulder to shoulder with Rapunzel.

‘There!’ Angry nods smugly, ‘now you can both be together like you wanted.

‘How romantic!’ Red sighs gently.

The Queen and the King look so happy they could burst. There are excited murmurs and discussion amongst the crowd about how good the young couple looked together. About how they would have such attractive children. About how they were a match made in heaven.

Oh no, no no. This is bad, this is very, very bad, This is really bad. They all think him and Rapunzel are married?! How? Why?

Eugene and Rapunzel glance at each other awkwardly and both fight to get a word in to explain the situation, but their voices are constantly overpowered by the love and attention they were getting from everyone else. As the crowd’s endless bustle becomes a blur of noise, Eugene remembers that they had another travelling companion. He glances in the direction of the balloon to see a very confused looking Bastion. The blonde man stood awkwardly by the basket. Watching the whole scene unfold helplessly. Invisible to the rest of the crowd as they doted on the princess and her apparent husband. Who was not him.
Hookhand seems to follow Eugene’s gaze and notices the man quietly waiting to the side. He goes over to him and violently throws a friendly arm over his shoulder. ‘Oi! Rider! Is this a friend of yours?’

‘Uh, this is Bastion, he’s-‘ Eugene starts before Big Nose interrupts by going over to Bastion and wrapping another arm across his trembling shoulders.

‘Any friend of the prince consort is a friend of ours! Welcome to Corona! Don’t worry we’ll take good care of you!’

Bastion looks petrified at the idea of the thugs and their offer of hospitality. His startled face would have made Eugene laugh, if he wasn’t already so overwhelmed by the whole situation.

As the crowd ushers Eugene and Rapunzel into the castle (with Bastion being brought in after them), the King wags his finger. ‘Didn’t I tell you all! It only takes one looks at my age to know what’s going on between a girl and a boy. Those two almost had me fooled, but the truth came out in the end!’ It could have sounded threatening if the old man weren’t so clearly overjoyed. He pats Eugene’s arm, ‘tell me boy, whose idea was it to run away?’

‘Uh-‘

‘It was my idea dad.’ Rapunzel speaks up. ‘But-‘

The King laughs loudly, ‘see Arianna! I told you it was Rapunzel’s idea! She’s the troublemaker of the couple.’

Everyone laughs with him.

The Queen sniggers, ‘they remind me so much of us when we were young.’

Just as they make it to the grand entrance doors to the building the Queen’s sister theatrically jumps in front of them to block their path.

‘Hold hands!’ Aunt Willow orders.

‘Wh- what?’ Eugene stammers as Rapunzel blushes.

‘Hold hands! We’ve all heard about how you two ran away from here hand in hand! And now you have to come back here hand in hand! It’s only fair!’

The rest of the crowd starts to cheer this idea on.

Eugene can practically feel the burn of Bastion’s glare from behind him as he and Rapunzel meekly wrap their fingers together.

He shouldn’t have held her hand. Not while everyone was thinking the wrong thing. It just gave the wrong impression. It confirmed their misconception. It would make explaining the truth more awkward. Oh, you aren’t a couple? Then what were you doing being so touchy with our Princess for?

He shouldn’t have held her hand. But he had noticed her expression. She looked small, awkward, nervous; like she wanted to run away and hide from all the commotion. She was suffering. So, he didn’t hesitate as he took her hand instinctually and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It should have been an intimate exchange between the two of them. A private acknowledgement that he had her back. A secret signal that they were in this mess together. But unfortunately, all the eyes of the castle were on them and nothing went amiss. There were many gushes from the crowd. The group of young red headed sisters in particular made sure to tease them incredibly loudly for the casual intimacy.

Amongst the chatter, Eugene could just about make out a low grumble from a very angry Bastion muttering under his breath.

Hand in hand (as demanded), the two of them are ushered straight into the castle throne room where even more people were waiting to celebrate their arrival. Banners with the couple’s name hung from every corner of the room, balloons filled the ceiling, the floor lined tables displaying expensive silverware, and the place smelled fresh with the hundreds of bouquets adorning the place.

In all the bustle Eugene and Rapunzel barely get the chance to speak. Neither to each other, nor to the swarm of loving friends and family. It’s only when a grand one thousand tier cake is wheeled into the room that everyone is distracted enough for Eugene to lean into Rapunzel’s ear and hiss, ‘we have to tell them.’

‘I know, I’m trying-‘

‘Do you want me to?’

‘No, I should be the one to do it. They deserve to hear it from me.’

‘Okay sunshine, As you wish-’

‘Ooooh!’ Stan the guard gushes, ‘the lovebirds are whispering to each other how cute!’

Pete joins in, ‘they are just inseparable! How adorable!’

Everyone awws. Eugene was starting to find the attention exhausting. And Rapunzel didn’t seem to be enjoying it much either. Not that anyone cared to notice.

As the fussing continues and Eugene is force fed mouthful after mouthful of cake, Rapunzel manages to find a moment to pull her mother closer to her. ‘Mum I need to talk to you.’ She whispers solemnly.

To the Queens credit, she recognises the seriousness of the daughter’s tone and nods before calmly guiding Rapunzel to a quieter corner of the room.

Eugene wants to follow after them. Envying their break from the chaos. But he is soon distracted by a furious red-faced Bastion who had just pushed his way through the crowd towards him. Fortunately, everyone was still too busy helping themselves to cake to notice the blonde man aggressively dragging the apparent Prince consort to the side.

‘What the hell is this?’ Bastion growls under his breath.

Eugene holds his hands up defensively. ‘Woah! No need to go loco on me. There’s just been a massive misunderstanding, but Rapunzel is talking to her mum right now. She’ll explain everything.’

Bastion still isn’t pleased. ‘What’s all this about you two running off hand in hand? When did that happen?!’

‘Oh… Fun story-’

Eugene is about to explain when the crowd catches up to him again. This time a group of castle maids all surrounding him to gush at his features. Which would have stroked his ego if it wasn’t for Cassandra glaring at him menacingly from within the group to ruin the mood.

On the other side of the expansive room the Queen and Rapunzel get a moment to themselves.

‘Alright, Rapunzel.’ The Queens gently squeezes her daughter’s hands as they settle into some chairs. ‘What did you want to tell me?’

‘Mum I- There’s been- Eugene...’ Rapunzel stammers. Struggling to find the way to break the news.

The Queen watches her daughter sympathetically and reaches to cup her cheek. ‘Breathe Rapunzel.’

Rapunzel nods and takes a few slow breaths.

Nigel runs over to join them. ‘Your majesties, the King wants to discuss the arrangements for the celebration.’

‘Give us a minute, please.’ The queen instructs politely. The thin man bows and does so.

Rapunzel is still shaking through her steady breaths.

The queen smiles lovingly at her only child, ‘Rapunzel, just tell me something first, won’t you?’

Rapunzel’s eyebrows knit together, ‘what?’

‘How have you been? Your father and I haven’t slept in nine months! We’ve been so worried about you. You’ve been alright haven’t you?’ She tenderly reaches to lift Rapunzel’s chin so that their eyes meet.

The queen wasn’t blind. She could see how much weight her daughter had lost. The pastiness of her skin. The tired lines around her eyes.

‘You don’t need to worry about me, mum, I’m perfectly fine-’

‘Eugene treats you well, doesn’t he?’

Rapunzel pauses. She instinctually glances to the other side of the room where Eugene was seemingly having a back and forth with Cass and some of the other castle staff.

She watches as he laughs lightly along with them. Completely able to hide his probable anxiety with ease. She watches as the crowd adores him. He gets on with people so well now! It warmed her heart to think of how far he had come. She watches as he glances over in her direction and gives her one of his dazzling, encouraging smiles. One encouraging nod from him and suddenly she is convinced that everything will be okay.

The Queen watches her daughters face carefully, ‘what’s wrong, Rapunzel? Does he not take care of you?’

Rapunzel meets her mother’s eyes once more. Sees the fear in them. The anxious awaiting for her reply. And she responds solemnly, truthfully, ‘Eugene treats me better than anyone in the whole wide world. He takes better care of me than even you and dad could.’

The Queen’s face breaks into a tearful smile and she hugs Rapunzel tightly, bringing her close to her comforting chest. ‘Oh, thank goodness! I’m so glad!’

Before they can part and Rapunzel can tell her mother the reality of their situation, another few members of staff approach them and distract her attention.

Meanwhile, Eugene was busy facing a brutal interrogation on the other side of the room. He is thrown into a chair, surrounded by giggling ladies.

‘We all thought you loved Cassandra!’ A palace maid croons.

Eugene grimaces, ‘let me assure you, I don’t even like her.’

‘The feeling’s mutual, Fitzherbert.’ Cass scowls back.

Another maid leans in, ‘we heard you were planning on running away with Cass!’

‘I heard Rapunzel say it herself! She wanted to set you and Cass up!’ A short handmaiden quips in.

‘Yeah, why’d you go and hurt Cassandra like that Eugene?!’ Another girl teases.

The thought of him and Cassandra doing anything together, heck, even being in the same room as each other, made him want to throw up in his mouth. But he plays along with the ribbing.

Eugene shrugs. ‘It was dark that night. Couldn’t see a thing! I could’ve been running away with the King for all I knew!’

The ladies all laugh with him in the silly way most young woman around him would.

‘You can imagine my surprise when in the morning it turned out to be Rapunzel!’ He adds jokingly. ‘But by that point, there was no going back. So, I had to settle!’

The women continue to giggle with sarcastic cries of ‘oh no!’ And ‘silly you!’

Cassandra rolls her eyes, clearly bothered by the way he enjoyed the attention. ‘By the way, who’s that guy you brought with you?’

‘What?’ Eugene takes a second to realise who they were talking about.

One of the palace maids’ sniggers. ‘Your handsome friend!’

‘Is he Cass’s consolation prize?’ Someone jeers.

‘Oi! Watch it!’ Cass glares at the rest of them.

While they were all caught up in their jokes, Eugene glances over to Rapunzel again and meets her eye, he gestures to her to please talk to her mum and tell her the truth so that he could get out of this giant confusion.

Rapunzel gestures to the small crowd of staff talking to her mother to indicate that she was trying.

He watches as Rapunzel finds an opportunity to pull the Queen away from the bustling room, probably to a quieter room in the castle. Unfortunately, a large crowd follows them. It looked like she would struggle finding a chance to tell her.

Focused on watching them leave, Eugene doesn’t notice that the King approach him, as the crowd of women disperse.

‘Eugene, I want to introduce you to King Trevor of Equis.’

Standing beside the King was the pompous looking man Eugene had noticed in the crowd earlier. It made sense that he wasn’t from here. He certainly stood out with his over-the-top hat and bulbous sleeves and incredibly gelled yellow moustache.

‘It’s a pleasure to be acquainted with the son of the late King Edmund.’ Trevor half bows politely. ‘My condolences.’

‘Uh thanks.’ Eugene shifts awkwardly as his eyes shift between the two kings, ‘Don’t you two have this famous ongoing feud or something?’

The Kings look at each other and burst into laughter.

Rapunzel’s father pats Eugene’s back a little too forcefully, ‘Not anymore, thanks to you, son!’

‘Me?’ Eugene really couldn’t see a correlation.

Trevor twists his moustache. ‘One thing I can’t resist is a good love story. I’m rather a romantic myself! I am currently searching for an appropriate mate for my dearest Trevor Jr!’

‘Mate?’ Eugene asks. It was an odd choice of phrase for what he assumed was his kid’s future bride.

‘Trevor Jr is a seal.’ The King explains. Though Eugene can’t say that the King of Equis matchmaking for his pet seemed less absurd.

‘Yes and Corona has the most beautiful seal population in it’s waters. I have been wanting to search these waters for Trevor Jr’s bride for years! But Fredric,’ he narrows his eyes at the other king, ‘has banned me from entering Corona, stopping my noble pursuit.’

‘But you’re here now?’ Eugene ponders.

King Frederic shrugs, ‘all the ruling royals are expected to attend the royal weddings of other kingdoms. That rule overrides my ban.’

‘And you will be excited to know that I have indeed found a gorgeous suitor for my dearest Trevor Jr!’ The King of Equis giggles gleefully. ‘And to celebrate this wonderful union, I shall extend a hand of friendship to the Kingdom of Corona! Once your wedding has occurred, you will all be invited to the wedding of my dear Trevor Jr as well!’

Eugene couldn’t care less about the romantic endeavours of Trevor’s seal and was much more caught up on the end of that little speech. ‘…Wedding?’

The King of Corona takes a seat beside him and places a welcoming arm over his shoulder. ‘With your permission, we would like to hold a ceremony in a few days’ time for you and my daughter.’

Eugene is taken off guard, ‘you... want to have a wedding?’

Suddenly all the decorations, and guests and the party in the streets makes so much more sense. They weren’t just celebrating Rapunzel’s arrival! They were planning for her wedding!

The King nods, ‘I’m sure it seems foolish for your two, having both been married so many months already. But it’s just for our sakes. We want to see our daughter as a bride. We missed so many of her life milestones. We want to be part of this one.’

Damn. How do you say no to that?

But he had to say no! Because he and Rapunzel weren’t together! Eugene runs through his options. Rapunzel wanted to be the one to tell them and he wasn’t going to take that away from her. But if he said no without a reason he’d sound like a jerk. Maybe he should say yes? But no then he would be leading everyone on actively. Can’t do that...

‘Uh... your majesty...’ Eugene turns to see if Rapunzel was still around to help him out.

‘Son, I know a royal wedding may seem intimidating, but it would make us very happy.’

‘I think I should discuss this with Rapunzel.’ Eugene tries.

The King nods. ‘Yes, we’ll ask her, but I just wanted your approval first.’

Eugene glances around the room again. Rapunzel still wasn’t back. What should he do?

The King frowns, ‘Do we have your approval?’

‘If you could just talk to Rapunzel that would be good-‘

‘So, you agree!’ The King grins.

‘Uh- I- You should ask Rapunzel-‘

But Eugene is cut off by the King eagerly hugging him.
Okay, so apparently he took Eugene’s babbling as a yes. Uh oh. He eagerly shakes the stressed young man’s hand. ‘Thank you, son! It would mean the world to us. I hope you don’t mind, I just knew you’d agree, so I have already sent invitations to your loved ones from the Dark Kingdom! So that they have time to arrive before the Spring Equinox in three days’ time! It’s good luck for a royal couple to marry them as you probably know!’

Eugene did not know.

Trevor claps his hands together, ‘How exciting! A royal wedding! What a wonderful thing!’

The King of Corona and the King of Equis greet each other in an open, excitable hug and continue to plan for the big day together.

‘Ah we must have Trevor Jr as a ring bearer!’

‘I think my daughter would want her chameleon.’ The King intervenes.

‘Nonsense! Trevor Jr would be perfect for the job!’

‘Trevor Jr would take a week to waddle down an aisle.’

Leaving the men to their debate, Eugene tries to sneak his way out of the throne room only to be ambushed by Nigel.

Dammit! He used to be so much better at getting away from places unnoticed!

‘Your highness.’ He bows, ‘I have been sent to inform you that, well in light of your inevitable agreement to partake in a wedding ceremony... I’m sure as a ruling royal you are aware of the sensitivity of royal etiquette regarding certain... endeavours...’

Eugene had never seen in the guy be so inarticulate.

‘Therefore... it would -ahem- be appreciated if you were to... restrain... well, I’m sure we are on the same page.’ He finishes, looking incredibly flustered.

Eugene frowns, ‘Nigel, my man, we aren’t even on the same book.’

The Royal Advisor grows even more red. ‘It’s just, while the King and Queen are rather liberal in this regard, many of the foreign guests have certain traditional expectations of what a royal bride’s company should look like in the lead up to her wedding. It is my job to ensure that Princess Rapunzel’s reputation is kept clean and uncontroversial in front of the Kingdom and beyond. Most of the guests are unaware that you are already wed. And in the lead up to her wedding day, a princess is not expected to be alone with any... male companion... I understand that you are already man and wife but...’

Ah. Eugene suddenly gets it. Though it’s tempting to let Nigel flounder on, he decides to put the poor guy out of his misery. ‘I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom.’ He offers.

Nigel sighs in relief. He had clearly been expecting more resistance. ‘That would be perfect, your highness! It has already been prepared for you!’

Thank goodness for old fashioned royal protocol for giving him a legitimate reason to not sleep in the same room as Rapunzel. If he opted for the guest room of his own accord it would come across as weird to everyone else. Why wouldn’t the couple that had lived together for over a year want to be in the same room now? And if he did end up sleeping in her room, it would be awkward for them. And he didn’t want another reason to antagonise her actual boyfriend.

Speaking of her actual boyfriend, Eugene finds him in the guest bedroom which now had two beds in it.

What? This giant castle didn’t have more than one room to host its guests in?

Bastion stands there facing Eugene as he walks into the room, with just a towel wrapped around his waist and with a damp head of hair, having apparently just taken a bath. Eugene could admit that Bastion was a pretty attractive man. Not more attractive than him, of course. But fairly appealing. If you were into the gentle giant, unmanly blonde type. He could see why a young teenage Rapunzel would be so smitten by him.

Bastion apparently harbours none of his seemingly gentle demeanour at the moment though as he glares at Eugene like he is the dirt on his shoe.

‘This has all been ridiculous!’ Bastion yells at him. ‘Is this both of you getting revenge or something? Humiliating me! Is this some kind of stupid joke?! Acting all lovey dovey in front of her family and making it like I’m no one!’

‘Bastion it’s just a misunderstanding.’ Eugene raises an eyebrow at him. He wasn’t entirely impressed with the way Bastion was raging like a kid who didn’t get the candy he wanted. ‘Rapunzel is talking to the Queen right now, don’t worry.’

Eugene moves to sit on the adjacent bed and kicks off his shoes, Bastion stalks after him aggressively.

‘She should have told everyone straight away! Everyone is caring over you like you’re the son they never had, and they are all forcing me to shower and relax like a random guest!’

‘No need to get jealous. Once they know the truth you’ll get all the attention you want, and I’ll be out of here.’ Eugene says in a deadpan tone as he throws himself onto his bed and closes his eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for this. He wanted to know if Rapunzel was okay. Instead, he was stuck bunking with her beau while he was having a hissy fit.

Bastion only fumes even more at Eugene’s disinterest and roars at him, ‘Where is Rapunzel?!’

Eugene doesn’t open his eyes and just vague waves a hand, ‘I told you, talking to her mother somewhere.’

‘I’m going to talk to her!’

Bastion begins to head to the door, storming out passionately in an aggressive march.

Oh no!

Eugene jumps up and rushes over to him.

‘Don’t cause a scene! You need to calm down.’

‘I’ll take her somewhere private to talk!’ Bastion says in a cocky tone, clearly furious that Eugene didn’t think he was smart enough to handle things properly.

Eugene shakes his head. ‘Bastion. One: you’re practically naked. Two: everyone thinks you’re my friend. It’ll look weird if you take her somewhere private. She’s a princess. There’s certain expectations.’

‘Expectations?’ He spits back.

‘Yes. She isn’t a random girl in the middle of a forest anymore. She’s a princess. There’s protocols to follow.’

‘I don’t care about your dumb rules. I’ll see my girlfriend how and when I want!’

‘They aren’t my rules!’ Eugene groans. ‘Look, even I’m not allowed to be alone with her and they think we’re married. It will look weird if she is having hushed rendezvous with her husband’s stranger friend.’

‘So what?! Who cares if they find it weird? The truth is she is mine! Not yours-‘

‘She’s not anyone’s-‘

‘-and once everyone knows the truth it won’t matter! I’ll tell them all right now!’ He goes to storm out once more, only to once again be stopped by Eugene throwing his weight at the door to keep it shut.

Eugene really wasn’t liking Bastion much. The guy was clearly caught up in whatever jealousy he had towards Eugene getting so much love. He wasn’t thinking about how his impulsive anger might affect Rapunzel. She was already overwhelmed. The last thing she needed was her angry boyfriend, who had already hurt her before, to come charging in and causing a spectacle in front of her staff and guests. Bastion was clearly in the mood to let his anger out on someone. But there was no way that Eugene would let that person be Rapunzel.

Though punching the man was tempting (and boy did Eugene have his reasons to), he instead decides to be civil and tries his best to calm him down through gritted teeth.

‘Bastion please.’ He reaches to put his hands on the Blonde man’s towering shoulders. ‘Let Rapunzel deal with it her way. There are so many guests from other kingdoms here. It will be really embarrassing for the King and Queen if things slip the wrong way.’

Bastion still isn’t calmed but luckily seems to understand Eugene’s point and aggressively throws his towel onto the ground and storms back to his side of the room to get dressed, grumbling bitterly as he struggles into a sleep shirt, ‘All those dumb kids want to play hide and seek with me! Why are there even so many random people here? Is this a palace or a zoo? You think they’d have more class. And why should I play with them? Do I look like a kid? I don’t want to play hide and seek! It’s stupid!’

‘Then don’t.’ Eugene shrugs. He didn’t see why Bastion was taking his anger out on whoever these little kids were (he assumed Red and Angry), but he tries his best to play the role of a supportive friend, ‘You do you, man. Just relax and do what you want. Everything will be fine.’

Bastion’s rage seems to have calmed down slightly. Sensing he wasn’t going to storm out of there, Eugene goes back to lie down on his bed while Bastion falls into his.

Eugene stares up at the ceiling. Thinking about how odd it was that he was roommates with Rapunzel’s lover. Having to keep him in check. Having to be friendly. It was a cruel irony. It was almost funny.

Almost.

Both men lay there in the dark. Both awake. Both acutely aware of the other presence.

Then Bastions voice whispers into the silence, ‘why do they all like you so much?

‘Huh?’

‘They think you ran off with her. They know you are a thief. I don’t see why they’d all be so chummy with you.’

‘I guess because I promised I’d bring her home and then I did. Believe it or not, people like it when you keep a promise.’ Eugene’s replies pointedly. It was a passive aggressive stab at Bastion.

Bastion seems to get the hint and shifts uncomfortably in his bed. ‘Yes, I know.’ He grumbles.

‘Well, your track record doesn’t speak for itself. You broke her heart before. Just because Rapunzel forgives you it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You better spend the rest of your life making it up to her.’

‘I will, alright?.’ He sounds more irritated than sincere which just aggravates Eugene more.

‘And for God’s sake! Cut the anger issues man. She’s going through a lot right now. She doesn’t need you making things worse by lashing out just because your jealous you aren’t getting attention from everyone.’

‘I get it.’ He snaps.

Eugene raises an eyebrow to the ceiling, ‘But enough about that. Tell me about this curse you’re under where you can only say three words at a time. Sounds fascinating.’

‘Goodnight, Fitzherbert.’ He replies in a sneering voice as he aggressively turns the other way.

‘Ah two words! Congratulations! You’ll have a full range of sentence structure variance in no time.’ Eugene replies sarcastically before turning onto his side and closing his eyes in the hope that sleep would interfere with his mind as it wandered what Rapunzel was doing at that moment.

Well, at that very moment, in Rapunzel’s room, the Queen and her finally find a quiet place to settle down and chat.

‘Alright Rapunzel.’ The Queen smiles kindly, ‘what did you want to tell me?’

Rapunzel tries to focus her mind. The early moonlight peeks into the room. It’s quiet and still and peaceful. There were no distractions here. It was just her and her mum. She knew what she needed to say. Just four simple sentences: I’m not with Eugene. He was only helping me get to Bastion. I’m with Bastion. Eugene is just my friend. I’m not with Eugene. He was only helping me get to Bastion. I’m with Bastion. Eugene is just my friend. I’m not with Eugene. He was only helping me get to Bastion. I’m with Bastion. Eugene is just my friend. I’m not with Eugene. He was only helping me get to Bastion. I’m with Bastion. Eugene is just my friend. I’m not with Eugene. He was only helping me get to Bastion. I’m with Bastion. Eugene is just my friend.

She keeps practicing it in her head. That’s it. That’s all she had to say. Short. Snappy. To the point. Just get it out. Just tell her. Just do it. She’ll understand! This is your kind, caring, loving mother. She will help you. There’s no reason not to tell her!

So why? Why couldn’t she get the words out?

‘Mum, I need to tell you that... I’m not with- I mean… everyone is wrong- I mean... all of this... I’m not with- there’s been a...’

Rapunzel watches as once again, worry begins to fill her mother’s expression.

‘Mum I’m fine.’ Rapunzel says quickly, ‘everything is okay... it’s just...’

The Queens leans in. ‘It’s just what?’

Rapunzel pauses.

She can’t think. She feels like a bell is ringing in her head. She swears could hear the chug chug chug chugchugchug of a distant train.

Funny. She’d never heard any noise from Corona station from all the way up in her room before.

Maybe it’s in her head.

‘Mum- Eugene is... he’s... we aren’t...’

‘You aren’t what, dear?’

She can’t do it. The silence of the room screams in Rapunzel’s mind. She can’t think. She can’t breathe. She can’t do it.

She’d overwhelmed by the chug chug chug chugchugchug of the train in her mind. Why was it so loud?! Why is it there?!

She can’t do it. She can’t say it.

She gives up.

Her jaw locks into place, ‘Nothing mum. Everything is fine.’

The Queen knew her daughter well enough to know that there was clearly a problem. All the possibilities run through her mind. Why did she look so tired and weak? Why was she scared to tell her? Was it about Eugene? We’re they not...

‘Rapunzel...’ the Queen says carefully. ‘Your father is a bit old fashioned. He assumed that if you both have been living together so long that you must have married. But I know what the younger generation is like. If you both aren’t married yet then that’s okay. We can keep it between us and you both will be married soon anyway.’ She says warmly.

Rapunzel holds her breath. The Queen takes that as a sign that she is close to the truth.

‘Was that what was bothering you, honey?’

‘no- sort of- not exactly...’ Rapunzel tries but once again trails off helplessly.

The Queen eye's her weak frame. He awkward expression. Her meekness. Suddenly the Queen’s maternal instincts fire up. She gasps.

‘Oh Rapunzel! Are you pregnant!?’

Rapunzel chokes on air, ‘WHAT? NO! No mum! God no! I promise! We have never-‘

The reality of the situation dawns on her. Her parents had no clue. No idea what she had been through these last few months. Her parents really thought she had been happily married with Eugene! They had no idea that she had been wandering alone and in mourning of Bastion’s rejection for the last few months. Deeply depressed. They really thought she was somewhere sleeping with Eugene! Eugene! She hadn’t even kissed properly Eugene! She didn’t even want to! Well, she wouldn’t hate the idea- wait what? No- That’s- What had she just been thinking? She had been thinking about Eugene… Oh right yeah! She hadn’t even kissed Eugene and her parents really thought there was a chance she was pregnant! Ha!

The whole situation was just so ridiculous that Rapunzel can’t help but burst out laughing.

The Queen looks confused at first, but a small smile appears on her face as she watches Rapunzel.

‘What?’ Rapunzel asks.

‘It’s nice to hear you laughing again after so long.’ She strokes her cheek. '

Rapunzel’s gaze falls to her lap. Avoiding eye contact. Once again, overwhelmed with the guilt that her parents were so clueless of her life. ‘Can we talk tomorrow, mum?’

The Queen frowns but chooses to accept her daughters request, ‘Of course. You’ve had a long trip back. You just rest.’

She tenderly tucks Rapunzel in and kisses her on the cheek. The way she always thought she’d get to do with her young daughter growing up. Heartbroken that her child was clearly in pain and felt like she couldn’t share it. But one thing the Queen knew was that Rapunzel needed boundaries. Freedom. Things she never had growing up. And if she didn’t want to talk then that was okay. As a mother, all she could do was make sure she was there for her when she was ready. And so, the Queen silently leaves the room as Rapunzel falls into another nightmare, running after a leaving train.

Chapter Text

The weather the next day was miserable.

The day fluctuated between tolerable rains and viscous stormy spells. It was a good thing the princess had returned home safe and sound the day before! Flying in this kind of weather would have been disastrous!

The princes having returned home the day before was also beneficial as everyone was too distracted and excited planning the wedding to be concerned about a little bad weather. There wasn’t a single moan or complaint from any of the castle staff as they bustled around doing their part in making it the wedding of the century.

The only person not getting in on the action of the day was Eugene. The night before he and Rapunzel had stayed up all night on a train journey to see the northern lights. That and Bastion coming back, having to choose to let Rapunzel go, bringing her and her boyfriend back to Corona, being bombarded with attention because they all though he was her lover etc. etc. etc.

…Suffice to say, it had all been incredibly exhausting. So, in the comfort that Rapunzel was safe and sound in her own bed with her family to take care of her, Eugene slept deeply well into the day.

It was the well past midday when he finally woke up to the empty room. The bed beside him was vacant. Bastion had probably gone to find Rapunzel... Hopefully he hadn’t gotten her into any trouble.

That’s when Eugene notices the time. Wow. He had really been out of it. The window to his room was noisily clattering having swung open against the gushes of wet air. How did he sleep through that?

He gets up, shuts the window, scowls at the grey clouds outside and starts getting dressed hoping that during his slumber things had all been sorted and that Rapunzel had told her parents the truth about their relationship and they were already bonding with Bastion over afternoon scones. Everyone would know that Bastion was not just Eugene’s random friend but in fact Rapunzel’s boyfriend. And that Eugene was just a well-meaning companion who most of the kingdom would never see again.

Eugene heads out of the room in search of Rapunzel, making his way down the long corridors of the castle and being greeted with a curtesy or bow from every member of staff he passed.

Did that mean the truth wasn’t out yet? Well, even if he wasn’t Rapunzel’s boyfriend, he was still technically a King! Naturally they all had to bow to him. That didn’t mean anything.

He bumps into Stan and Pete as they patrol the corridors with buckets to catch the gentle drops from the leaky ceilings.

‘Your friend is hilarious, Fitzherbert!’ Stan pats his shoulder jovially. ‘You should’ve heard the jokes he was telling us this morning.’

‘Oh oh! Have you heard the sandwich one!’ Adds Pete.

As they proceed to tell the most boring and longwinded joke ever, Eugene’s mind wanders. Huh. They were still calling Bastion his friend? Did that mean they didn’t know yet? Although, if he knew Stan and Pete, they weren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. It’s very likely they weren’t up to date on the news yet.

Later on, Eugene bumps into Red and Angry after they cause him to dramatically trip over the laces of his boots that they had sneakily tied together.

‘Your friend, Bastion, taught us that knot!’ Red says proudly. ‘He was helping us tie the flags down tightly in the storm!’

‘Oh.’ Eugene raises an eyebrow as he expertly undoes his laces, ‘well if you really want to tie a real good knot you should do a-‘

‘Ughhh nerd.’ Angry mocks before the two girls run off cackling.

They called Bastion his friend too... Well, while those two were certainly sharp, they were just kids. No one had told them the truth yet. …Or maybe only the royal family knew and they were keeping it low until they could announce the true boyfriend of the princess properly... That would make sense.

Although that theory is proved wrong only moments later when he runs into Nigel and is briefly informed that the King and Queen had gone early in the morning to meet the royal priest for the wedding and were now stranded there until the storm died down again.

‘I will be handling wedding preparation in their absence.’ Nigel states. ‘The Princess has expressed no preference for the handkerchief colours. Do you have an opinion?’ He holds up two identical looking cloths. To an untrained eye that is.

‘Pastel peach clashes with my complexion. Go with the Blush.’ Eugene quips. ‘Speaking of, where is the… uh- blushing bride, Nigel?’

‘She was in the kitchen choosing the cake your highness.’ Nigel nods.

‘And am I allowed to talk to her?’ Eugene raises an eyebrow.

Nigel nods, ‘yes of course, as long as there is company present.’

What an inconvenience. How was he supposed to talk to Rapunzel about why she clearly hadn’t told anyone yet, if they couldn’t have a private conversation!

‘Thanks.’ Eugene starts jogging towards the kitchens as Nigel calls out to him.

‘Oh and thank your friend for the new boots. He was quite right The are much better at keeping my feet warm and dry in this weather!’

Eugene glances back at Nigel’s feet to see indeed he was wearing a pair of Arendellian fur rimmed snow boots. So large and bulky that they comically contrast his slick palace uniform.

As Eugene makes his way through the castle he adds a few things together.

1. Rapunzel probably hadn’t had the chance to tell her parents the truth yet because they were stuck somewhere else.
2. She won’t be able to tell them until they are back. So, it looked like he would have to play along with the wedding planning for the rest of the day.
3. Bastion seems to have calmed down now and had stopped trying to cause a scene. In fact, it seems like he was trying to get everyone to like him. Good for him.

Eugene enters the kitchen to find Atilla stirring away at a large bowl of icing. Around him are some of the pub thugs, finding opportunities to stick their gritty fingers into the bowl.

‘It’s the groom!’ Someone cheers.

Everyone turns to see Eugene at the door and usher him in.

‘Hey everyone! Where’s Rapunzel?’

‘You just missed her.’ Big nose shrugs. ‘Your friend came and asked to talk to her.’

‘Alone?’ Eugene asks. That’s not fair. He couldn’t get alone time with Rapunzel but apparently Bastion could!

‘No, Cassandra was with them.’

Ah. Nice loophole! He could probably talk freely to Rapunzel in front of Cass! She was her friend! Rapunzel must have at least told her the truth by now! He wondered if Pascal counted as company. That would be an even better loophole! He was much less dislikeable.

Before Eugene can process this further Shorty tugs his trouser. ‘Your friend is great!’

‘Yeah I get that a lot.’ Eugene mutters. ‘What did he do for you? Teach you to read?’

‘He got me a new yam.’

‘Of course he did.’ Eugene rolls his eyes.

‘He helped me rearrange the furniture in my room!’ Someone else says.

‘He helped me find my ceramic unicorn!’

‘He helped me pick a tie for the ceremony!’

‘He taught me how to tie a tie for the ceremony!’

Eugene listens as the crowd continues to gush over Bastion. Dumbstruck at how the guy was able to do so much in a matter of hours.

Eugene’s musing is interrupted when a sharp voice rings into the kitchen. ‘Fitzherbert. I need to talk to you. Now.’

The painfully piercing sound comes from a furious looking Casandra who waits at the door with her arms crossed and toe tapping. She doesn’t even wait for him respond. In one Swift movement she grabs his arm with her claw-like hands and drags him aggressively to a quiet corridor to talk. It reminds him of when she had caught him and Rapunzel whispering behind a pillar the last time he was here. What was it with the girls of Corona and slamming him against marble stone in dark corners!?

‘What the hell is your friend up to?’ She hisses.

He wishes everyone would stop calling Bastion ‘his friend.’ He would sooner befriend Cass willingly and she looked like she was out for his blood right now.

Eugene opens his mouth to reply but apparently her question was rhetorical.

‘He’s been going around charming everyone all morning. What’s his game? If you were doing it, it would make sense. You need your in-laws to like you if you want to live here. But what’s his agenda?’

Ah. So Rapunzel hadn’t told Cassandra either. ‘He’s just friendly?’ Eugene tries.

‘Yeah and he’s pretty friendly with Raps too. I turn around for one second and they both disappeared. Last I saw, the two of them were sneaking out of the castle.’

Eugene felt guilty for the pang of jealousy he felt. This was stupid! He should be happy! The two of them finally got a moment together! That’s good! They can talk things through. Work through their problems. It’s not like Rapunzel needed her old friend Eugene anymore. She had Bastion now.

Eugene tries to distract himself by focussing on the scowling woman in front of him instead. Maybe he had been to harsh about her. Yes she gave some sinister vibes. She was cold. Unfriendly. Rude. But he had to give her credit she did seem to genuinely care about Rapunzel and her wellbeing.

To Cassandra’s surprise, he smiles.

‘Cass! Don’t tell me that you are trying to help me!? I’m touched!’

She glowers, ‘I just want to make sure your idiot friend isn’t using Raps.’

Eugene smirks and continues to tease her, ‘just admit it, I’ve grown on you.’

Cass scowls even more, ‘your friend is flirting with your wife and you think now’s a good time to wind me up!’

Eugene shrugs. ‘I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to do what you love.’

Cassandra had clearly expected him to go crazy boyfriend and run out of there to tear Bastion to pieces. Little did she know that he had no right to.

‘Why are you not bothered by this?’ She narrows her eyes at him.

He tries to think. If he were in a relationship with Rapunzel would it bother him that she was with some other guy? No. Rapunzel wasn’t exactly the two-timing, cheating kind. He had seen the way she only had eyes for Bastion. She would never do something that would hurt someone else. Especially someone she was committed to. So he tries to imagine what he would say if he was just told that his wife was sneaking out of the castle with his friend. ‘I trust Rapunzel.’

‘But do you trust Bastion?’

That catches him off guard. He hastily replies by saying that he absolutely did and that there was nothing more to discuss. Cassandra is clearly suspicious of his disinterest. He wonders if she thought he wasn’t caring enough, or if he was just very naïve.

Eugene continues to act casual, ‘But I was looking for Rapunzel anyway, so do you know where they went?’

Cassandra narrows her eyes. ‘In this weather they can’t have gotten far. Although... If she gets caught alone with a random guy two days before her wedding she’ll be in trouble. If she’s smart she won’t still be hanging around the Kingdom.’

Eugene nods. ‘Very helpful Cassandra. That only leaves me the entire rest of the world. Good job.’

She snarls back at him, ‘this is the last time I’m helping you.’ She about to storm off but Eugene scampers into her path.

‘Okay sorry! I’m sorry Cass. I appreciate it. I really do.’ He means it. He knows she didn’t like him for Rapunzel but she clearly had her friends best interests close at heart when she came to talk to Eugene about her concerns about Bastion.

Cassandra rolls her eyes, ‘Raps didn’t have breakfast today. You could try the Snuggly Duckling.’

With that she marches away to probably partake in some of her daily duties as Eugene watched her leave.

Her question floats in his mind. Did he actually trust Bastion? It occurs to Eugene that, while he had been the one to encourage Rapunzel to go back to Bastion, he hadn’t considered Bastion’s intentions. Had he seemed genuinely apologetic when he came to ask for her forgiveness? Yes. But what was he actually apologising for? And why now? Was it the prospect of marrying into royalty? Was it seeing her with Eugene that veered up his male possessive instincts? Suddenly Eugene is bombarded with troublesome theories of all the possible reasons Bastion had chosen to come back to Rapunzel now. And most of them weren’t because he genuinely realised his mistake and wanted to be with her.

What if he had just set Rapunzel up for further heart break?! What if Bastion couldn’t be trusted?! And now he had taken her somewhere and no one knew where!? What if he harmed her!?

He decides that he should try and find Rapunzel. Yes she could take care of herself, but he just wanted to be sure that she was okay. It was more for his own sake than for hers. (Or at least that’s what he told himself.) Following them out of the Kingdom might be a good idea. Rapunzel spending a day away from the castle was actually quite smart. She was avoiding everyone’s questions and comments. Maybe he should do the same.

Eugene makes his way down to the stables. He finds Max. He ‘borrows’ an apple form Max. He gets kicked in the shins by Max. He asks Max for a ride. He gets turned down by Max because of the weather. He wonders why he was able to understand a horse. He pesters Max more. Max eventually gives in. And finally, the two of them dashing out into the downpour.

The streets of Corona were empty. The howling winds and tortuous rains rendering any outdoor pursuits inconceivable. All Eugene can hear is the clattering of the horse’s hooves against the cobbled street; the whistles of the massive waves of air that threaten to push him off; and the pattering of heavy musical droplets on every surface around him.

They ride like the wind, straight through the kingdom, across the bridge, and deep into the forests on the other side. Racing in full speed, barely able to see through the grey mists that lurk across the lands.

He could have rode to the ends of the Earth, but eventually they settle to a stop upon reaching an old rustic pub with a slanted structure and unusual smells.

He hated this place.

Eugene takes Max to a makeshift steed shelter and he heads over to the entrance of the Snuggly Duckling.

He is about to go in when he hears a beautiful sound. The gentle, twinkling ringing of Rapunzel’s laugh. He stops and peaks in through the window. Moving his soaked bangs out from his eyes, he sees them. Rapunzel and Bastion sit in a booth in the corner of the pub. It looked like they had been caught in the heavy rain too, their clothes were soaked through and their hair was limp and dripping. He couldn’t hear their conversation over the sound of the rain thundering against his ear drums. But he could see their expressions. He could see Rapunzel.

She looked happy.

She laughs in a carefree way, tenderly shoving Bastion as he blushes at whatever he had just said to accidentally crack her up. They sit close to each other. Absolutely comfortable in each others presence. Chatting away without a single awkward silence. Bastion looks gentle and open and sincere. Rapunzel gazes up at him with adoration.

It was the first time Eugene had seen Rapunzel and Bastion as a couple. But the way they were interacting seemed to live up to the expectations of the stories Rapunzel used to tell him. Eugene realises that there was a lot more history there then he knew about. Sure, he had seen the ugly patch of their relationship but all couples go through hiccups, don’t they?

Any worries he had about Bastion start to fade. He made Rapunzel happy. Something Eugene wasn’t really great at. He thinks back to Arendelle and how he had to try so hard. He had tried with games and activities and excursions. But it took so much effort to even get a smile from her. And then there was Bastion. Who could get her to laugh freely with just one awkward glance. They were great together. They were happy together. They were meant to be together.

Eugene didn’t need to be here.

Leaving them to it, Eugene goes back to Max.

The horse gives him a questioning look. Somehow Eugene knows he is asking if they were heading back to Corona.

He didn’t feel like going back to the castle. Nor did he want to hang around here. He could use a drink though. And someone to talk to...

So instead he climbs back onto Max’s saddle and points him deeper into the forest, away from the Kingdom, towards Old Corona to meet an old friend.

The village of Old Corona was even more gloomy than Corona was at the moment. The rains were persistently pattering away. Building into heavier and heavier shower. The skies dull and grey, getting darker by the second.

Leaving Max outside Eugene goes to knock on the biggest door in town.

A familiar face welcomes him.

‘Eugene! Your majesty. Good to see you.’ He ushers Eugene into his warm home and directs him to the fire. ‘What are you doing riding around in a storm like this?’ He tuts as he passes him a towel.

Eugene ruffles the soft cloth over his hair. ‘I wanted to catch up!’ He says in a cheerful way. He didn’t want to think about Rapunzel and Bastion right now. He tries to think of a distracting topic of conversation. ‘Soooo... you’re Varian’s dad! È pazzesco!’

Quirin laughs and shakes his head in disbelief. ‘I was very surprised when Varian told me that it had been you who had eloped with the Princess. Especially considering you didn’t bring her to the Dark Kingdom with you. But I suppose it made sense. Having the missing Princess of Corona in the Dark Kingdom at such a crucial point in time of rebuilding may have been problematic. You made a smart choice keeping your marriage on the downlow.’

Oh. So Quirin had bought into the misconception too. He thought that Eugene had indeed run away with Rapunzel. ’Oh- yeah about that-‘

‘No need to explain. I understand.’ Quirin smiles. Eugene smiles back to, amused at how clearly Quirin did not.

The broad man hands Eugene a mug of something sweet and warm. Eugene had wanted something a little more inebriating but his shivering toes couldn’t deny a nice cozy hot chocolate right now.

Quirin takes a seat beside him. ‘I’m proud of you, Eugene. The work you have done at the Dark Kingdom is incredible. You laid such strong foundations that even in your absence I hear it has been thriving.’

‘Thanks Quirin.’ Eugene smiles lifelessly down at his drink.

‘Is something bothering you, son?’

Eugene shakes his head, ‘no it’s nothing... it’s just... it’s nothing.’

Quirin gives a sympathetic look. ‘I’m sure you are struggling with deciding how to progress further. How marrying the Princess will affect your role in the Dark Kingdom.’

Eugene sighs. The problem wasn’t that he was marrying Rapunzel! The problem was that he wasn’t!

Quirin continues. ‘Considering you are both the only child of your parents makes matters delicate. If you ask me, the logical decision would be for Rapunzel to abdicate and come to the Dark Kingdom. After all, you are already the ruling monarch there. While she is only the next in line here and her parents are fit and healthy.’

‘Quirin, Rapunzel and I aren’t-‘

‘And as you know, your father loved the dark Kingdom very much. He would have been proud to see what you have accomplished for it. Eugene, my boy, you are definitely the best leader the Kingdom has ever had and your subjects and colleagues would be devastated if you chose to stay here.’

‘I’m not planning on-‘

‘But you should. You should stay here in Corona.’

‘What?’ Eugene hadn’t expected that.

Quirin gives a warm paternal smile and pats Eugene’s shoulder.

‘Edmund was my closest friend. Let me tell you, there was not a day that went by that he didn’t regret sending you away. He felt obliged to sacrifice his family for his duty. Afterall, he had a crumbling Kingdom to take care of. Hundreds of people. But you have no such obligation. Not after the work you have put in already to make it such a stable society. I cannot replace your father but if he were standing here today, he would tell you to stay here with Rapunzel.’

‘He- he would?’

Quirin continues to nod and grin at him encouragingly. ‘Eugene, when I would to receive letters after you were first brought back to the Kingdom, Adira and Hector would tell me about how useless you were.’

‘Danke schön.’ Eugene mumbles sarcastically.

‘They said you had no direction. No ambitions. All you seemed interested in was doing what you wanted. Like the castle was a prison for you. But when I first met you a few weeks ago, I didn’t meet the man they described. I met a man who was passionate, engaged, determined. Now I know that the reason for this change was meeting Rapunzel. She has brought out the best version of you. And that is the version that came back and led the Kingdom into a new and bright era.’

Eugene stays still. There hear the roar of thunder outside as the storm picks up. He felt bad. Quirin was giving him some heartfelt advice that was ultimately meaningless.

The old man continues, ‘But even now, the Dark Kingdom doesn’t feel like home for you does it?’

‘I don’t feel like anywhere is my home.’ Eugene admits candidly.

‘Maybe home for you is not a place, but a person.’ Quirin suggests gently. His words hitting a painful chord in Eugene’s breaking heart. ‘You have done well to take your job in your stride but it isn’t what you want. So don’t feel obligated to pick to stay the King there just because you feel you have to. None of the people that care for you want that. Your father wouldn’t either. We can figure out something else for the Dark Kingdom. The King and Queen and Corona need their daughter. Corona needs their princess. They won’t be able to bare losing her again. Stay with your new dream and find the content you’ve been searching for your whole life. The home.

It was a touching speech. It almost felt scripted. It had moved Eugene. Even though barely half of it applied to him, he appreciated it. It’s true, though he had enjoyed rebuilding the Dark Kingdom, but he only did it because it was his job to do it. He had found a way to make it a project he could be invested in. But in reality he wanted more. The thought of staying in the Dark Kingdom forever was depressing. He associated it with a childhood that was taken from him. A father he resented. A mother he never knew. He couldn’t stay there forever. Maybe he wasn’t going to be staying here with Rapunzel like Quirin thought, but now he felt less guilty about possibly abdicating. Maybe he could travel the world again! But actually enjoy it instead of running away from one police force to the next! He could explore new places! He could discover new things! He could be alone and free! And apparently Budapest was nice this time of year!

‘Thanks Quirin.’ He says genuinely.

‘Dad! Help!’ Varian’s voice suddenly screeches from the next room.

Eugene and Quirin jump up immediately and run in the direction of the voice to find the alchemist at the back door, struggling to support the weight of an equally drenched and exhausted Bastion.

Bastion collapses in a heap. His eyes are wide in panic, his hair soaked and falling into his face, his shoulders heaving with every gasp.

Eugene immediately falls to his knees in front of Bastion and grabs his shoulders, ‘WHERE IS SHE? WHAT HAPPENED?’

Bastion shakes his head, panting, ‘There’s a cave. Fell in. Trapped. The rain.’ He continues to heave through exhausted breaths ‘The storm caused the cave to fall in on itself. She’s trapped inside. It’s not safe.’

‘The one by the dam?’ Quirin asks quickly, already putting on his cloak.

Bastion shakes his head. ‘No it’s- it’s a mile north from there.’

Eugene’s lack of knowledge of the local geography renders him helpless. If he knew the area better we would be out that door running in Rapunzel’s direction already.

Quirin kneels on the ground beside them and asks in a remarkably composed voice, ‘you said cave... do you mean a tunnel?’

Eugene pulls at his hair in frustrated restlessness.

Bastion nods. ‘The entrance in in a fallen tree. Man made. But the end is bricked up. There’s only one route in and out and now that’s blocked.’

Eugene grows more and more anxious with every second they aren’t moving out the door.

‘I know the one.’ Quirin turns to Varian, ‘go to Xavier and get a map of Hers du Sonne’s tunnels.’

Eugene turns to Varian too. ‘Take Max. It’ll be faster.’

Varian gives a determined nod and sprints out of the door, grabbing a cloak as he leaves to protect himself from the harsh stormy winds.

Quirin swiftly hands Eugene a pickaxe and pulls him and Bastion to their feet.

‘You both go to the Princess and try to get through the blocked tunnel.’ He states. ‘I’ll get some tools in case we need to find a way to the other side of the brick wall and break through. Those tunnels are well connected. There will be some way to get her out.’

Without a moment to think or question further the two of them sprint out of the door, Bastion leads and Eugene can only follow behind uselessly. The rain drums heavily on them. They can barely see through the dark hazy rush of air driving in all directions. Eugene can hear Bastion cursing himself under his breath the whole way there. Eugene couldn’t agree more.

They halt at a large fallen trunk.

Bastion reaches for a barely visible door camouflaged against the tree’s bark and opens it to reveal a narrow dark stairwell leading down into the earth. His eyes immediately widen as he looks down it.

Eugene peers in. It’s deep. But that’s not the problem. The trouble was that the rains had already found it’s way into the opening and the water level inside was slowly rising.

‘This is the entrance.’ Bastion says hurriedly. ‘But there’s no use going down now it’s too flooded. Our best bet is to use that map to find another way in and break through the brick wall on the other side like that guy said.’

Eugene doesn’t hesitate before leaping into the opening and rushing down the slippery steps.

Bastion hysterically calls after him. ‘The cave will collapse any minute! We need to find a stronger entrance.’

‘We don’t even know where another entrance would be.’ Eugene says as he continues down the staircase.

He can barely hear Bastion’s groan with the chucking of heavy rains. ‘But that kid is getting a map and-‘

‘Xavier is in Corona!’ Eugene snaps. ‘Even with Max, Varian won’t be back with a map for another hour. She’ll drown by then.’

‘It’s our only option.’

‘I have this.’ He waves the heavy tool in his hands. ‘I can get her out quickly.’ Eugene continues into the cave.

‘You don’t have a source of light.’

‘I don’t care.’

‘You won’t even be able to get to her!’

‘I have to try!’

‘You won’t-‘

‘Are you coming or not!?’ Eugene yells back up at him.

Now far above where Eugene has reached, Bastion remains at the entrance to the pit with eyes furiously blinking through the wet weather. ‘We won’t be any use to her if we’re both dead.’

Eugene sighs and continues to progress into the cave muttering, ‘if we stand there just waiting then we won’t be any good to her alive. You go find another entrance if you want, I’m going on this way.’

He hears Bastion give an exasperated grumble before running off somewhere else, leaving Eugene to continue to slip and slide down the uneven, earthy staircase.

By the time he reaches the bottom Eugene was already waist-deep in muddy water. With the unnaturally endless rains continuing to seep in it seemed like the level would continue to rise. And quickly at that.

The tunnel wasn’t too deep into the ground at all. But it was a long and narrow and sloped gently deeper and deeper into the Earth. An endless dark tunnel that was dug out neatly into the ground with the occasional wooden beam holding it up and the remains of cobwebbed candle holders lodged into the walls on either side.

Eugene initially had the dull daylight from the entrance to illuminate the tight path he had to take. But as he made his way through the narrow tunnel, his only source of light grows further and further out of sight from a speck of white to a distant memory. Soon he is wading through pitch darkness. He’s almost glad that it’s too dark to be claustrophobic.

As he painstakingly fights the thick sludge that continues to rise as the rain from the storm floods in, he thinks of ways to blame himself. If he wasn’t so lazy he might have met her in the morning and convinced her not to go out in the storm. If he had been there then maybe he could have stopped her and Bastion going out together. Maybe if he had just entered the Snuggly Duckling and interrupted their date they wouldn’t have ventured down here.

Poor Rapunzel was here somewhere. Alone. Afraid. Suddenly Eugene regretted every decision he had ever made that could have led to her being here. He shouldn’t have brought her home to Corona. He shouldn’t have convinced her to go back to Bastion. Heck he shouldn’t have come back for her at all. Even if she wasn’t happy with the trolls. At least she was safe. He should have made sure she got on that train that first night together. If she hadn’t missed it, she would have gone home safe and sound and they would have never become friends and she would have shared her plan to elope with Cass who would have shut it down immediately. He should have just jumped off that damn train while he had the chance. He could find a million reasons to believe that she would have been better off if they had never met. Some friend he turned out to be.

Then again, it wasn’t him that brought her down here. Why would they even endeavour into a tight awkward fragile tunnel in the middle of a storm!? Was Bastion trying to trap her down here?! Or maybe he was trying to trap Eugene! Maybe she wasn’t even down here and he just needed an excuse to get rid of him. But no. He wouldn’t have come pleading to Varian and Quirin like that if she didn’t need help.

That said, he didn’t like Bastion any more than he liked himself right now and was happy to find reason to hate both.

As the water hauntingly creeps up his torso, one hand gripping tightly to the heavy axe as his other waves blindly for any sort of direction, finally, his hand brush a hard structure.

He feels around to see his path is completely blocked by a sort of thick mound. This must be where the cave fell in. The dirt was fresh but the damp environment had already made it dense and plastery. Amongst the pile rubble blocking his path he can feel the broken pieces of the beam that had clearly collapsed and brought the earth down with it.

His head is brushing still the crumbling roof of the cave. The sludge almost at his chest. He had to get through quickly. And amongst the distant echoing sounds of thunder and rain, he hears a gentle sniffing in the other side of the collapsed tunnel.

‘Rapunzel! Rapunzel, can you hear me? Are you okay?’

‘Eu- Eugene?!’ Her tiny voice squeaks back. His heart falls into his stomach at the helpless fear in her tone.

‘I’m here Rapunzel. I’m going to get you out.’

‘Eugene get out of here! You’ll drown!’

He ignores her and starts to hack away at the wall with the axe. The tight space and the thick sludge don’t give him much room for momentum. He can’t even see what he is doing in the darkness. But he continues regardless. meticulously working at the wall for any weak spot he could find to get her out.

After a few minutes of minimal progress he hears Rapunzel sigh heavily.

‘It’s no use.’ She whispers to the sound of his scraping.

Eugene continues to hack away, ‘You try on your side. There’ll be a loose area we can get though.’

Rapunzel’s voice sighs, ‘I’ve been trying for ages but it won’t budge. And all this mud is too thick to move in.’

‘If it’s filling up on your side too?’ He asks, ‘That means there is a gap somewhere in this wall for the water to get through! I’ll find it and-‘

She sighs again, ‘No Eugene. There’s some kind of upwards passage on this side, the rain is coming in from there.’

‘Can you climb out that way?’ He tries. Knowing full well that she would have done this already if she could.

‘It’s barely big enough for Pascal.’ She mumbles.

'What else is around you?' He hurriedly asks, 'There must be something! An opening? A door?'

'Nothing.' She sighs. ' The tunnel probably used to go on to lead somewhere else but it's bricked up here now. I tried all the bricks and there's no budge.'

He pauses. So, the tunnel was filling up on both sides? On his side he had an endless path. Their only way out, but even that was going to be useless with the rising water levels. And on her side she was stuck between a brick wall and a rockslide. She had no way out. If it filled up on her side then she had no chance.

Bastion had been right. The only way out for her would be though the bricked-up wall. From the sound of her voice, he could tell this collapsed part of the tunnel was too big and heavy to get through by himself. Even with the metal in his hands.

‘How high is it on your side?’ He asks quietly.

‘The water? It’s at the neckline of my dress.’

Shit.

‘I hope you’re wearing a very scandalously deep cut dress.’ He jokes woefully.

Despite herself she gives a heavy laugh, ‘I’m afraid not.’

She was running out of time. He couldn’t give up! Eugene continues to attack away at the wall between them like an animal, driven by the determination of his adrenaline. He had to find some sort of weak point! Some way to get to her! Finally, He hears a sound. It sounds like something is moving! That’s good! He couldn’t see what he was doing but clearly something was coming loose! But then suddenly a mass of debris falls right by Eugene’s head. It splashes aggressively around him getting dirt into his eyes and face. Knocking the axe out of his grip. He groans in surprise, trying to rub his eyes with his already filthy hands.

‘Eugene! What was that? What just happened?’

‘I think the roof is falling in.’ He murmurs and he spits dirt from his mouth. He tries to feel around for where the axe fell. Why couldn’t he find it? He shuffles his feet around to see where it had probably suck to the ground. Nothing. Maybe it was under the just fallen debris.

He groans. He had just made things worse, the pile of mud between them had only increased. He was going to bury them alive at this rate! He gives up on finding the axe and tries to carefully paw away at the wall carefully with his bare hands instead.

Rapunzel calls out to him angrily, ‘Eugene! Stop trying to be a hero for once! Get out before the sludge rises too high! It’ll be too thick for you to swim though!’

‘I know!’

‘You can’t help me, Eugene!’

‘I’m not giving up.’

‘Get out of here while you can!’

‘No!’

‘Eugene, I can’t let you do this!’

‘And I can’t let you die!’

The words come out with such passion and aggression that it shocks himself.

Let alone Rapunzel, who seems to fall into a stunned silence before mumbling helplessly. ‘But if you stay here, then you will die.’

He doesn’t reply and instead continues to thrust his elbow into the wall, fighting against the resistance of the sludge that holds most of his body.

There’s still no budge.

He tries clawing desperately at the wall again, pulling at the hardened clay in the hope that he can find a weak spot.

He tries feeling around for any sort of opening he could use to his advantage. All he needed was to make a hole big enough for her tiny frame to crawl through!

‘Just stop Eugene.’ Rapunzel moans at the sound of his attempts. ‘It’s too dark. If I had my hair I could have given us some light but I had to go and cut it off... I’m so sorry Eugene.’ she sobs quietly.

He leans his head against the wall between them. Defeated. Wishing with all his heart that he could bring her close to him and wrap her in his arms to shelter her from their situation. Wishing with all his heart she could hold his hand and convince him things were going to be okay. He was just as scared too.

‘How high is the water on your side?’ She asks quietly.

‘Just up to my chest. You?’

‘At my shoulders.’

This was it. They were both quietly accepting their fate. Letting the dirty swamp around them slowly engulf them. He can hear her trembling breaths. He is pretty sure she can hear his violently thudding heart. What a depressing way to go. Both in the dark. Both isolated.

It couldn’t end like this. Even in their helpless situation, she didn’t deserve to go out in tears. The woman that had been his light! His laughter! His joy! The woman who had taught him to be happy, didn’t deserve to die so abysmally.

Eugene tries to shake off his fear and puts on a light, carefree sounding voice. ‘So how was your date? You know- before the impending doom.’

She chuckles gently. He wonders if she was leaning closer to the wall between them too. ‘It was good, thanks.’ She plays along with an equally forced light expression, ‘Bastion came to find me this morning and said we should go on a date because he could sense I was still upset with him and wanted to remind me how good we used to be.’

‘And he thought cave trekking in the middle of a storm was a good idea for a date?’ Eugene mocks. 'First seeing the lanterns from the main square like an amateur and now this! Sorry Rapunzel but your boyfriend is a terrible romantic.'

He imagines that she rolls her eyes at him. ‘The plan was to visit all the places we went on my first day out of the tower. The stores in Corona, the Snuggly Duckling, the parts of the forest... and this cave. We spent that first night in here. Huddled together. It was really nice and warm and we had a lantern with us so it was really lovely and cozy and private and…' She sighs, 'We didn’t expect it to fill up with water so easily though... it was just puddles when we came in here but the storm must have picked up again… Suddenly that beam just snapped and it all fell in... I got trapped on this side and Bastion on the other and...’ Her voice cracks slightly. She was scared. He wished he could comfort her properly but with this wall between them he was limited to his useless, useless words.

He continues to mask his fear with a jovial tone, ‘a date where you relive your first day together? Sure. That sounds like a cute idea in theory but probably wouldn't work for everyone. Imagine if I took you everywhere we went our first day together! Not exactly ideal date settings. It would just be a noisy gross train ride and then a manic cart ride with a smelly monkey to another dodgy station and then that weird inn with the doorways to hell.’

She laughs more genuinely at that. ‘It wasn’t all that bad! You just need to pick the best bits! Like...’ she hums in thought, ‘oh! Like when we burnt Stalyan’s picture! That was the first time I saw you smile! Burning pictures of your ex’s together! That could be an interesting date!’

He laughs along too, ‘okay, okay, let me try...’ he tries to think back to that day. Something he did much more often than he cared to admit. ‘Oh, there was that door that led to that weird alternate universe! How about a date where you just watch your alternative selves through that door like it’s a movie. With salted popcorn of course.’

‘You mean sweet popcorn.’

‘Fine we could get it mixed.’ He compromises.

Rapunzel giggles and then gives a slight gasp, ‘Oh! And what about that room full of toys! That could be a fun date! Messing around and playing like kids!’

‘Um are you forgetting the magic devil horse in that room?’ Eugene points out.

She laughs, ‘Alright, so maybe that place isn’t the safest! But hey we don't have to stick to the first day! What about fishing village we stopped at the next morning? That was lovely!’

He nods even though she can’t see, ‘They did have a great breakfast place, I'll give you that. Pancakes with a sea view could be a nice date... And the boat ride was pleasant too. When you weren’t trying to fall into the ocean that is.’

She scoffs, ‘I wasn’t trying to fall in! Unlike you, I don’t have a death wish!’

‘Woah! Low blow!’ He grins.

Rapunzel falls silent for a moment before her soft voice returns solemnly. ‘That reminds me... how high is the water for you now?’

What a way to ruin the mood.

‘Almost at my shoulders. You?’

‘At my neck.’

He closes his eyes. It was almost the end. But he keeps talking to keep her smiling. ‘That island was nice. A tropical private getaway kind of place, you know?’

He can hear the tearful smile in her voice as she replies. ‘And you can’t go wrong with Vardaros!’

‘Of course!’ He agrees, blinking back his own waterworks, ‘most romantic city in the world!’

‘Hey! What about Corona?!’ She huffs.

He holds his hand up defensively, knowing full well there was no one to witness it. ‘I’m sorry. After Corona, of course!’

Rapunzel gives a satisfied hum and adds, ‘oh and that carriage ride to Corona was so fun! It was a scenic route!’ Rapunzel adds quickly.

Eugene is confused at the way she rushes through her words but he carries on as normal. ‘Yeah... I didn’t realise how much you enjoyed watching me sleep.’ He teases.

He imagines her blushing, ‘I always woke up hours before you! What else could I do? Anyway, lots of date ideas in the castle!’

‘You are flying through this timeline, Sunshine.’

‘The mud is at my chin.’

‘Oh...’

She was making use of the time they had left. He ignores the tears that roll down his cheek and starts talking faster for her too. ‘Well yeah Corona was nice. I liked everyone. Apart from Cass of course. Oh and Andrew! I forgot about him. By the way, remember you using me to get him to end the engagement? Not cool, Sunshine!’

She gives a coughing laugh, ‘I’m sorry! I don’t think I ever thanked you for playing along!’

‘That’s because I didn’t play along. I ratted you out to him straight away. Told him the whole drama of you running up to me and hugging me was all an act to get him to leave.’

She mock gasps, ‘you snake! How could you!?’

He smiles and continues gently, ‘you did the right thing though. He was a jerk.’ He presses his head against the wall between them. He can just make out her breaths becoming more and more laboured. ‘Are you okay over there?’

‘I- I have to look up to give myself more time. I’ve only got... inches left...’

‘Okay.’ He shuts his eyes and feels the mud making its way up to his neck. ‘Lighting round. Go: Pretending to elope from the Kingdom.’

‘Cabin service on a luxury cruise.’

‘Trying on dresses in Arendelle.’

‘Carriage rides with Kristoff!’

‘Climbing up snowy mountains.’

‘Fighting in the Land of living rock.’

‘Wait I thought we were coming up with date ideas? What’s with the fighting?’ He chuckles with an eyebrow raised to the darkness.

‘Arguing... is healthy...’

He hears her spit. She was probably getting mud in her mouth. It was already making its way closer to his jaw. He goes on his tiptoes and tilts his head back too for more air time.

He speeds up, ‘writing angry letters to ex’s together.’

‘Playing... games and drawing... in bed all day.’ She gasps.

‘Decorating cupcakes.’

‘Walking... through A- Arendelle at...sunset.’

‘Seeing the Northern lights.’

‘Flying... in... hot... air...balloons.’

‘Rapunzel.’

‘Y- Yes?’

‘I love you.’

There.

He said it.

She doesn’t reply. He doesn’t know if it’s because she’s taken aback by his words or if she has already been engulfed by the mud. But as the sludge rises, giving him mere seconds left, he keeps talking. Babbling like a fool for everything he was worth. Hoping she could still hear.

‘I know that you know already. I don’t know how long you’ve known. I don’t even know how long I’ve known. You know what, Sunshine? I was thinking about this the other day. Trying to remember the first moment I knew I loved you. But I just can’t remember! Weird right? Surely that's the kind of thing you remember? Even when I think back to when we first met on the train... It’s like my memory has a rose tinted lens over it. All I can remember is how charming and beautiful and energetic and captivating and perfect you were! Your contagious laugh! Your optimistic energy! It’s like I fell in love with you right at the start. I can’t even remember a time in my life when I wasn’t so completely in love with you. I feel like my life began when I fell in love with you... Rapunzel, I love you. I love you! I can't believe I'm saying it! Pretty sappy isn't it? Don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to keep. I wish I told you sooner though. I didn’t want to say it because I didn’t want to give you more to feel bad about. It didn't feel right to burden you with my feelings. I didn’t want you to think you owed me anything. You have never owed me anything, Rapunzel. You never have and never will. I love you. I love you so much that I don’t care even if you are on the other side of the world with another guy. As long as you are happy, and safe, I’d be the happiest man in the world. I love you so, so much and I’m so glad I got to meet you. I’m so glad I got to know what love actually feels like. I’m so glad you stopped me from jumping off that train. In these last few months, I feel like I lived for the first time in my life. Did I say that already? I’m sorry I didn’t plan this speech. I never thought I’d ever tell you. But it feels so good to. Well, the situation is less than ideal but a man has to make use of the circumstances he has, doesn’t he? Sorry. Probably not a great time for humour. I’ll be serious. Like how I seriously love you. I really do! You gave me so much, Rapunzel. You gave me more than you’ll ever know... More than you ever knew... I love you. I loved you so, so much. And I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you like you saved me... I’m so sorry.’

He sobs heavily, repeating his apologies as the murky waters finally meet the ceiling, engulfing him completely. His eyes are squeezed shut. He holds his nose tightly with his fingers. He knows there’s no point. He would have to take a breath eventually. She was probably already gone. There was no point to trying to hold on. But for some reason he wanted to fight. That was the difference between him when he first met Rapunzel and him now. He wanted to live. He really did. He wanted to do so much more. But the thought of doing it without Rapunzel was too much to bear. So, he lets go of his breath and lets the filthy, thick, awful muddy waters flood into his lungs. It stings. Everything stings so much. He opens his eyes into the darkness and lets it consume him. Everything burns. Everything aches. He feels everything around him collapse in on himself. Endless noise banging against his eardrums. What happened to death being a sweet release? This was painful! This is how it was going to end? Writhing in agonising pain? But then suddenly, he feels the world turn around him. A pressure lifts. The pain fades. His consciousness drifts and the last thing he sees is a blinding light flood his vision. And the last thing he thinks of is her.

Chapter Text

So this was the story of how he died.

It was certainly a little bit of a downer.

It starts with him wanting to die because he felt empty and lost and alone. He was so depressed that he almost jumps off a moving train to get away from the life that tortured him.

And it ends with him willingly accepting death because he was so completely in love. He drowns in a cave as he desperately tried to save the woman he loved.

Maybe it was always his fate to die. Of course, everyone dies eventually. But the luckiest of people get to live long and fulfilling life first. Eugene had teased the line of life and death throughout his life. There was that time he almost got frostbite as a baby left on the doorstep of the orphanage. That time he almost choked on a lollipop he swiped off another kid (talk about instant karma). The time he was almost hanged when he was caught for stealing France’s royal jewels. There was the time a gang of knife welding stall-keepers chased him down the streets of Agrabah after he stole a quick bite to eat. The time he almost ran straight off the top of the Sphinx when being chased by the military of Egypt. The time he almost jumped off a train and was interrupted by a beautiful girl with glowing green eyes. The time he actually did die trying to save her.
The last way to go was his favourite though. He didn’t get to live a long life, but at least he had lived the last year of it knowing what love was. Maybe every possible timeline in his life would lead to him dying young and tragically. But at least he had lived long enough to meet her. Imagine if he hadn’t. Imagine if he had gone his whole life never knowing her.

That’s a depressing thought.

Wait.

Thought?

A thought?

He was thinking?

...

You still get to think after you die! Awesome!

Maybe there was a life after death after all. Maybe to die would be a great adventure! Eugene hopes that at least there was a heaven.

Oh shit.

Would he even get in? Sure, he had been good recently, but his past life of crime had probably hurt his chances of getting on the nice list. Oh… he wasn’t going to heaven, was he?!

We wondered if there was someone he could talk to about that. Maybe he could sweet talk his way to heaven. A little smoulder here, a few smooth words there. Surely he could charm celestial beings too. He was a beautiful man after all.

If he still has his physical form that is...

Or maybe he could just beg. Maybe if he told the angels that there was a girl over there in the good place that he couldn’t live without!

Oh wait. He’s dead.

A girl that he couldn’t die without?

Hmmm... He probably wouldn’t be allowed to visit heaven but maybe the good people had extra perks. Maybe she could visit him down in hell.

But no. He didn’t want that for her. No need for her to see how he would be tortured down there. Man... He hopes it isn’t as bad as the preachers always made it sound. Not too much fire and anguish. He crosses his fingers in hope that he wasn’t in for too much pain.

Wait!

He has fingers! So, he does still have a body! Hopefully, it was just as attractive as it was when he was alive. And hopefully heaven’s beauty standards weren’t too different to Earth’s. Although with all the Godly beings that probably fly around, he may be in for some competition. Or maybe he would be surrounded by the devils and demons for eternity but hey at least he would probably be the most attractive one in the room then.

Although, he had to admit, wherever he was right now didn’t seem too painful. In fact, it was quite soft… Ah! He is lying in a bed! They probably don’t have beds in hell this soft! Maybe he made it to the better place after all!

He wondered what it looked like.

He gently tries to crack open his eyes and is immediately blinded by an endless bright, white light.

Worst case scenario was the light was the glow of the fires of hell. Best case would be that it was the glow from the angelic beings of the heavens.

He forces himself through it as he painfully peels back his heavy eyelids. He sees a shadow in the brightness. He blinks and his hazy vision adjusts slowly to see it was a blurry silhouette that patiently watched over him. A beautiful white halo of light glowing around her. He can just make out her slender frame and short hair.

At first he is elated. She’s here! That’s means he must have made it to heaven!

But then a pang of sadness washes over him.

He reaches a tired hand forward to cup her cheek, ‘you didn’t make it either.’ He whispers.

To his surprise she slaps his hand away, ‘Oi! Don’t touch me, Fitzherbert!’

Eugene jumps into a rigid sitting position at the exclamation and blinks profusely until his vision finally settles and he finds himself facing a furious, dark-haired handmaiden.

‘C- Cass!?’

He vaguely starts to look around his environment to make sense of his surroundings and realises that he was sitting in his bed in the castle’s guestroom.

Did that mean...

‘I’m alive!?’

‘Figure that out on your own, did you?’ Cass rolls her eyes. She has her usual sneering tone but fails to hide the obvious relief in her expression.

He murmurs back to her in a habitual scowl. ‘well, seeing you was misleading. Shouldn’t you be guarding the gates of the underworld or something?’

She scoffs and with a strong hand pushes his shoulder down into the bed, forcing him to lie down again. For an apparent nurse she was certainly very violent.

‘Well clearly you’re completely back to normal. And here we didn’t think you were going to make it.’

Eugene rubs his head, ‘Why? What happened?’

‘You died. Then you came back to life.’

Did he hear that right? Maybe he still had muddy water in his ears. Eugene narrows his eyes, ‘oh well yes that clears everything up, thank you.’

Cass sighs and begins to recount the tale properly. ‘I honestly wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. were dead. Proper dead. Not breathing. No heartbeat. Nothing.’

‘Comforting.’

‘And Raps was holding you and crying her eyes out… It was awful to listen to...’ She shudders. ‘Then suddenly out of nowhere all this golden light started flying around the place. It was weird. It was hurtling around you and Raps and once it settled you started breathing again. We are guessing that she must have had some of the sun drop’s power still in her...’

‘Woah...’ Eugene whispers.

‘Yeah. And now the King is obviously going crazy trying to stop the story from reaching too far. Last thing they want is people to know she still has powers. The last time that news got out she was kidnapped.’

‘But she’s okay?’ It was a lot to take in. ‘She’s okay.’ But all Eugene could take away from it was his relief that Rapunzel had made it. ‘She’s okay.’ She’s going to be alright. ‘She’s okay!’ They were both safe. She was safe.

‘I heard you the first time. She’s fine.’ Cass raises an eyebrow at his repetitive mumbling.

She’s okay! Eugene was so elated he could have kissed Cass on the mouth then and there. And that is saying something.

He then asks her how they got him and Rapunzel out and Cass proceeds to tell him of how Bastion, along with Quirin and Varian had managed to recruit half of Corona and had used the old maps to find the other entrance to the tunnels. They had ventured down there and found the bricked-up wall that Rapunzel was behind. They began tearing it brick by brick and pulled her out. Cass tells him how Bastion had worked with his bare hands. Even as they bled profusely, he never stopped digging, using his strong mountaineer muscles, until he got to her and carried her out of there. And once he was sure she was safe and conscious, he went back and led the team to get Eugene out too. But unfortunately, they had to get through that mound of fallen debris to get to him and it took too long. Bastion had tried resuscitating him for over an hour to no success. It was only when he was pronounced dead and Rapunzel rushed over, wrapping him in her arms and weeping and whispering words no one could hear, that she brought him back to life.

Cass shrugs. ‘I gotta admit. I feel bad for judging Bastion. He really pulled through.’

It was surreal to hear. Eugene never thought he would ever be so grateful to Bastion for anything.

‘Where’s Rapunzel?’ Eugene asks, sitting up again.

‘She collapsed.’ Cass grimaces, ‘We brought her back here and put her in bed. She’s fine. She’s just sleeping off whatever herbs they gave her. Since she was out of it, I got instructed to keep an eye on you until you came around again.’

‘Thanks Cass.’

She gives him a rare, genuine smile.

Soon after, Cassandra leaves to inform the rest of the castle that he had recovered. It feels like mere seconds of her absence before the King bursts into the room in the least regal manner Eugene could ever imagine. Without hesitation the man rushes over and hugs him tightly.

‘My son, thank goodness you’re okay.’

‘Your majesty, how’s Rapunzel?’ Eugene croaks through his squashed rib cage.

The King pulls away, ‘The royal physician had to give her some medication to calm her. She should be awake soon.’

Eugene smiles. If she was alright then everything was alright.

‘I’m so glad you are in fine health, my boy. Rapunzel has lost so much in her short life. I fear she wouldn’t have recovered from losing you.’

Eugene bows his head. He wonders if they all knew the truth now. That they were just friends. Surely Bastion must have said something by now.

‘Can I see her?’

The King chuckles, ‘You don’t need to ask permission to see your wife, son.’ He pats Eugene’s back fondly.

Oh. So, she still hadn’t told them. It felt like this secret had been kept for a comically long amount of time now. He and Rapunzel had let this secret last so long that at this point they might as well keep it forever.

The King clears his throat, ‘Eugene, I wanted to ask you. The wedding is all planned for tomorrow and... well under normal circumstances we would never ask you and Rapunzel to undergo a big ceremony after the ordeal you have just faced. Especially when it is only symbolic. But unfortunately, we have since discovered that Rapunzel has some of the magic from the Sun drop still in her. If that news comes out then someone may try to take her away from us again.’ The King visibly shakes. Eugene realises how deep set the paranoia for Rapunzel’s safety was. ‘The Coronians who were present at the rescue have been sworn to secrecy but even then, news has a way of travelling. We were hoping to use the wedding as a way to distract from this. The hype of a royal wedding should distract from other gossip. But of course, if you and Rapunzel do not feel up to it then it’s no worry.’

Eugene considers telling the King the truth. Sure, Rapunzel wanted to be the one to do it but clearly she was struggling to. Maybe he should take the burden off her and do it himself. But no. He couldn’t bring himself to go against her wishes.

Eugene shakes his head, ‘your majesty, I think you should ask Rapunzel.’

The King smiles and nods in a sort of approving manner. He encourages Eugene to rest and with a warm smile he leaves the room.

Eugene’s next guest was the royal physician who examined him a little too thoroughly and made endless excited notes about his findings. Eugene felt less like a patient and more like an experiment. The physician left as quickly as he came, after force-feeding Eugene something green and gross.

Eugene spent the rest of the day in bed, in and out of a medicine induced sleep. He didn’t know why they felt the need to drug him up. He had no pain. And with all his scars weirdly having vanished, he was quite literally better than ever.

All he wanted was to see Rapunzel and make sure she was fine, but apparently she was still sleeping, and he was kept too busy by the endless stream of people coming to visit him. Stan and Pete. Angry and Red. Varian and Quirin. All coming in with flowers and fruits and cakes and wishing him well. Friends he never knew he had.

As the day quickly passes and the sky becomes dark, Eugene’s beloved roommate finally makes an appearance and enters the room to flop onto his own bed.

‘How’re you doing?’ He grumbles, barely glancing in Eugene’s direction.

Eugene turns his heavy head towards him, ‘I never thought I’d say it, but thank you Bastion. Thanks for helping us. For saving her.’

Bastion shrugs, ‘she’s my girlfriend. Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Well, thank you for saving me then.’

‘You’re her best friend.’

‘Actually, the frog is.’

Bastion raises an unimpressed eyebrow. ‘Pascal is a chameleon.’

‘Yeah I know- it’s a-‘ Eugene fades off. It wasn’t a very pressing explanation to share.

Bastion eyes Eugene curiously. As if trying to read him. Before mumbling, ‘She’d never forgive me if I didn’t help you. And anyway, I would have regardless of that. I’m not the monster you think I am.’

Eugene cringes at the quiet bitterness in Bastion’s voice. Eugene was aware that his disliking for Bastion had probably been far from subtle. The man was clearly well aware that he was despised. And now Eugene just felt guilty for it.

Bastion clears his throat and starts to speak in a genuine tone. ‘Look. Eugene. Your majesty. Whatever. I know you don’t like me for Rapunzel-’

‘If it’s any consolation, I don’t like you for anyone.’ Eugene tries to joke.

Bastion scoffs and continues. ‘But I’m not as bad as you think I am. What I did to her... it wasn’t out of wickedness. I just couldn’t face my family and their expectations, so I gave up on my actual feelings. It’s not that I didn’t love Rapunzel. I was just too afraid to act on it. I shouldn’t have lied to her, but it was just a mistake. It’s not like you’ve never made mistakes.’

‘It wasn’t just a mistake. You were cruel to her. I’ve done some crappy things, but I would never hurt her the way you did.’ Eugene whispers.

‘Wouldn’t you?’

Eugene frowns, ‘what the hell does that mean?’

‘Things aren’t as simple as you think Fitzherbert. Life isn’t that simple. You seem to have this whole love conquers all approach-‘

‘I don’t-‘

‘You do. But you need to be realistic. Especially with a girl as idealistic as Rapunzel. Everyone is applauding you basically dying for her. But I’m the one who got her out. Because I stayed level-headed instead of getting hysterical like you. Ask yourself who Rapunzel needs more. Who she needed more in that moment. The guy that jumped in blind or the guy that kept his head.’

Eugene stays quiet.

‘Look, I regret hurting her. If I could go back and do things differently I would. But that one mistake doesn’t erase the good things I’ve done for her. I took her away from that evil witch. Showed her how to start a new life in the outside world. Saved her from drowning. Saved you, her friend, too. I might have done wrong by her once, but I’ve done so much good by her too.’

‘It’s okay.’ Eugene mutters, ‘you don’t need to convince me.’

‘Yes I do!’ Bastion snaps. The sudden rage in his voice causes Eugene to jump slightly. But Bastion seems to immediately regret it and keeps his voice low again. ‘Because if you’re convinced then she will be too. Because for some dumb reason she values your opinion. And for some stupid reason, while you’re here, she won’t make a choice.’

‘Choice?’

‘Between you and me.’

‘Oh! No, it isn’t like that! I don’t- I never asked her- she only wants you- I just-‘ Eugene starts to defend himself.

‘I’m not an idiot. I know you like her. But you wanna talk about cruelty? Cruel is hanging around here making her feel guilty.’

‘...She said that?’ Eugene shrinks.

‘She doesn’t need to. You think you know her because you guys travelling together one time? News flash. Rapunzel makes friends with everyone she meets. Just because she is special for you, it doesn’t mean you’re special for her. But me? I’m special to her. I’m the first man she ever met, and I know her better than anyone. I knew her when she was a scared and isolated girl who hadn’t even seen the world. I knew her when she was burdened by the weight of her hair and her guilt for disobeying the woman who raised her. I knew her when she was still being manipulated by her vile ‘mother.’ I know her better than anyone in this world. And I know that she knows you like her. And I know that she is scared that if she doesn’t let you down easy you’ll fall into your depression again or something. She has too good a heart to be the cause of your heartbreak.’

Bastions words run rampant in Eugene’s mind. He feels sick to his stomach. Was that true? Is that why Rapunzel was struggling to say the truth? She wasn’t ready to hurt him? But it wouldn’t hurt him! He just wants her to be happy! It doesn’t matter who she ends up with, as long as she is happy!

Bastion solemnly continues, ‘Right now the ball is on your court. If you really think she should be with you, then tell her. If you think she should be with me, then leave. Don’t stay here and create a grey area to make things harder for her. Because then you are the one that’s hurting her. Not me.’

Eugene stays silent. What could he say to that?

Eugene rolls over to face away from Bastion. He wants the conversation to end but he hears a frustrating calm voice continue behind him.

‘I know Rapunzel wants to be the one to explain everything to her parents, but this has gone on a little too long, don’t you think? They literally have a wedding planned tomorrow. In the morning, you both need to tell everyone the truth. No more playing around. If you and Rapunzel won’t then I will. Enough is enough.’

As the two men fall into an awkward silence, on the other side of the castle, Rapunzel lay in equal quietness, staring up at the ceiling.

She hadn’t slept all day. But she made sure to quickly shut her eyes every time someone came into her room. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. She wanted to delay any bad news she might be delivered about Eugene’s health. As the day progressed and she heard whispers of how he still hadn’t woken up her heart sank further and further into her chest. She thought she had already suffered the worst hopelessness her heart could handle when Bastion broke her. But nothing could compare to the complete suffering that her current dread brought.

While most of the castle believed her fake slow breathing, there was one man who saw right through her. Somehow, Bastion had managed to sneak past everyone to come into her room. It took him a second to see through her bubble and he immediately rushed to sit beside her so they could talk.

She had thanked him for saving them. He had told her that he would do anything for her. That he was so glad that she was okay. He said all the right things. He doted on her. Comforted her. Held her. They talked about the magic. He was the only person still in her life who had seen her magic hair at work. He was the only one who could appreciate how overwhelmed she was feeling. The trauma it brought back. Well, apart from Pascal of course. Bastion rubbed her back and tried his best to console her as she shook at the memory of the golden lights that flew around her as she held Eugene’s cold, limp body. Now that the magic was back what did that mean for her? A Princess with tears to bring back the dead? People would want to abuse that power. Her father would become paranoid again and restrict her freedom. She was going to be a slave to the magic again.

She voices her fears to Bastion, and he consoles her. He says they could come up with a story. Saying it was the last bit of magic leaving her system. And who knows? Maybe it actually was. He told her again and again that he wouldn’t let anyone hold her back. That he would fight anyone who restricted her freedom. Even if it was her own father.

In those private moments, in his arms, hearing his comforting voice as he stroked the top of her head, she felt like that girl again. The 18-year-old girl who had left the tower with a handsome blonde-haired boy and fallen in love. And he really did feel like that boy again. The one who could do no wrong. The one that had swept her off her feet. Not the one that had broken her heart but the one that had opened up the whole world to her.

So why was it that every time he spoke, his voice was overpowered by the sound of leaving trains in her mind?

Bastion stayed with her most of the day until she felt a bit better. And as night fell, he snuck out back to his own room for bed.

It wasn’t long afterwards that Rapunzel’s parents came in to check on her. Sitting on the edge of the bed and watching her cautiously as she pretends the whole incident of the day before hadn’t completely shaken her to her very core.

They both excitedly inform her that Eugene was alright. He had woken up and been checked over by the physician and was absolutely fit and well. Rapunzel’s response, however, in underwhelming. Rather than jumping for joy like they had expects, she continues to lie there on the bed, looking up with a blank expression.

‘Are you sure, he’s okay?’ She asks quietly. She doesn’t look at either of her parents in the eye. She couldn’t bear to see any dishonesty in them. Any false reassurance.

‘I spoke to him a few hours ago.’ The King reassures, ‘he will be completely fine. Thank goodness. You both are safe and sound. I don’t know what I would have done if-‘ his voice breaks.

‘He’s okay?’ She whispers. Slowly a big absentminded smile grows across her face. ‘He’s okay.’ As her father chokes back his tears and the Queen rubs his back, Rapunzel smiles at the mosaic above her bed. ‘He’s okay.’ It must have looked ridiculous to her parents, but she didn’t care. She was elated. He was alright! ‘He’s okay!’

The Queen tries to hide her confusion as she replies to her daughter’s strange murmurs, ‘Yes. He’s alright, darling.’

The King clears his throat, ‘And we certainly owe Bastion a debt of gratitude for saving your life.’

‘No, you don’t.’

The Queens raises an eyebrow, ‘we don’t?’

Rapunzel freezes. Did she say that out loud?

Rapunzel sits up and hugs her knees to her chest. ‘Oh. It’s just... He was... mean to me once and sort of uh- hurt my feelings...’ Her sentence fades off. If her parents knew the whole truth, they would never end up accepting Bastion. They would probably have him sent straight to the stocks. Strike that. Her dad would send Bastion straight to the rope if he knew what he had done to her. ‘He just- he kind of already owed me and now I guess we are equal because he’s made up for it.’

‘Right. By saving you.’ The King nods.

She shakes her head and whispers, ‘By saving Eugene.’ It wasn’t a very pressing clarification to share. But she couldn’t help it.

The King and Queen smile to each other. An unspoken conversation occurring between their eyes. It always made Rapunzel uneasy when they did that.

‘Well.’ The King says confidently, ‘you may not owe Bastion, but we certainly do. I will have him sent to the throne room tomorrow for a private conversation with us so we can formally thank and reward him.’

Rapunzel sheepishly glances up at her parents. If she didn’t tell them the truth about her relationship with Eugene now, they would definitely find out from Bastion. She didn’t imagine him keeping the secret any longer. Though part of her wanted to give him that burden, she knew her parents would be hurt that it wasn’t her that told them.

Here in the candlelit room, with no one but her parents with her. It was the perfect opportunity to finally tell them the truth.

‘Mum. Dad.’ Rapunzel starts.

‘Yes Rapunzel?’ The King nods as the Queen shifts closer to her.

‘I need to tell you something.’

‘Go on.’ The Queen says gently.

‘It’s about Eugene. I’ve been meaning to tell everyone for a while. The truth is that I- he- it’s just that-‘

Chug chug chug chugchugchug...

Oh no. It was happening again! She couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t get it out. She could only helplessly struggle as she failed to voice the truth to her patiently expectant parents.

The King leans in, ‘you can tell us anything, Rapunzel. Don’t worry.’

The Queens nods reassuringly.

‘It’s about Eugene... it’s just that he- we-‘ she shakes her head. ‘Actually, it’s about Bastion. He’s the- he and I-‘ she tries to power through, but she can’t hear herself think. All she can hear is the chug chug chug chugchugchug of a train somewhere in her mind.

The Queen and King momentarily glance at each other. A silent understanding happens between them and the King encourages the Queen to talk with a nod of his head.

‘Rapunzel.’ The Queen says slowly, ‘we already know. It’s okay.’

They what!?i>

Rapunzel’s eyebrows shoot up. ‘You do?’

The King smiles kindly, ‘we understand why you have been struggling to tell anyone. It’s a complicated and deeply personal issue. You have been so brave dealing with it by yourself so far, dear.’

Rapunzel gapes at them. They had known this whole time!

The Queen continues, ‘We saw Bastion leaving here. And we have been observing his behaviour over the last few days. It’s very clear that he likes you. That’s what is troubling you isn’t it? You are worried about coming between Bastion and Eugene’s friendship.’

Oh.

Not even close.

Why couldn’t she just tell them?! Tell them that they weren’t far off! They just had it the wrong way around! It wasn’t her and Bastion’s friendship on the line! It was hers and Eugene’s!

Rapunzel hangs her head. She gives up on a planned speech and just lets whatever words want to tumble out of her to do so. ‘He’s my friend. I don’t want to hurt him... I know he loves me. I just don’t want to hurt him.’ A tear rolls down her cheek.

The King smiles, ‘oh Rapunzel. I know it goes against your good nature, but it’s not your job to make everyone happy! You love Eugene and he loves you and that’s all that matters! Bastion’s feelings are his problem.’

‘And.’ The Queen adds. ‘Even if he does have a bit of a crush, it won’t affect his friendship with Eugene. Friendships don’t break that easily. Not true friendships.’

Tears continue to roll down Rapunzel’s cheeks.

The King and Queen watch her helplessly. They don’t know how to help her.

The Queen hesitantly reaches for her daughter.

‘Rapunzel, the wedding is technically still on. Are you okay with that?.’ The Queen asks gently. ‘Is it too much?’

Rapunzel doesn’t reply.

‘The wedding is just the thing she needs to take her mind of all this!’ The King tries to sound optimistic. ‘Having a proper wedding ceremony with all her loved ones, marrying the man she loves. Why wouldn’t she want that!’

The Queen doesn’t seem convinced but since Rapunzel does not protest this she just nods along.

The King continues, ‘now the real question we should be asking is when do we celebrate their anniversary! The day they actually got married or the date of this wedding!’

‘The actual marriage of course.’ The Queen responds. ‘Tomorrow is just a ceremony.’

The King shakes his head at the Queen’s logic. ‘But this date it what the Kingdom will remember! It’s what we will remember! The day we saw our beautiful daughter as a bride.’

The Queens smiles. ‘Well then maybe we should celebrate both!’

The King nods excitedly. ‘Both! Both is good!’

Rapunzel could see right through their attempts to distract her. They were trying to be light-hearted to warm her up a bit. They were talking about something they thought she would be excited about. Little did they know this wedding was dreadfully tied in the web of her current dilemma.

Lost in her own thoughts, she doesn’t even notice the conversation end as her parents stand up to leave. Rapunzel gulps. This was her final chance of the night. She could still tell them the truth. All she had to do was correct them and go from there! But as she braces herself to start talking, the train starts to chug chug chug chugchugchug in her head once more.

Oblivious to the noise inside Rapunzel’s head, her parents give her warm, sad smiles.

‘Good night, dear.’ The Queen kisses her forehead.

The King nods, ‘good night Rapunzel.’

They both tuck her in and leave the room.

Rapunzel lies there and feels as Pascal appears beside her head and nuzzles her cheek gently. The poor thing had watched over her the whole day. Heartbroken for his best friend.

‘I keep hearing trains Pascal. I don’t know why. I see them in my nightmares. I hear them in my mind...’

Pascal gives her a reassuring squeak.

‘Sometimes I think it’s just to do with stress. Or because I’m anxious.’ Rapunzel ponders aloud. ‘But I didn’t hear any trains when we were stuck in that cave. And I was really stressed then.’

Pascal shrugs.

‘Weird, right?’ She turns to face him. ‘Although to be fair I don’t remember most of what happened in that cave. It’s all a blur.’

Pascal squeaks again.

‘You’re right. It’s probably better not to remember.’ She sighs.

Pascal yawns.

Rapunzel giggles and stroked the top of his head. ‘It’s okay. You don’t need to stay up with me. Good night Pascal.’

The green chameleon hums gently and curls up on her pillow beside her head as he quickly drifts off into a slumber, leaving Rapunzel to silently stare up at the ceiling. It had been a whole day since she saw Eugene. Everyone had been forcing her to rest. But she didn’t want to! She wanted to see that he was alright for herself. She hadn’t seen him since... Rapunzel blinks away tears. He almost died- He did die. And it was all because of her. She needed to see him.

As the castle slept, Rapunzel slips out of bed and sneaks through the palace towards the main guest room. Her tiptoed steps are silent against the ancient carpets. Her breaths light and fast as she rushes around corners.

She is so eager to see him that she forgets to knock before bursting into the guest room to find Bastion fast asleep on his bed while Eugene stared up at the ceiling on his.

Eugene is startled by Rapunzel’s sudden entry and immediately, clumsily stumbles onto his feet. ‘Sunshine? Everything okay?’

He barely manages to take a few steps towards her before she rushes over to hug him fiercely, burying her face into his torso.

Eugene hesitates for a moment before hugging her back, just as close. Just as tight. Holding on to her to convince himself she was fine too.

‘We’re alive!’ He reminds her with a laugh under his breath.

She pulls away just as quickly as she had come towards him, ‘My tears heal.’ She looks up at him with wide, worried eyes.

He raises an amused eyebrow, ‘So I’ve heard! Never thought I’d say this but I’m glad you’re a crier!’

She shakes her head. She still looks so concerned. So fearful. ‘You’re okay, right?’

He nods.

‘No side effects?’

‘Nope.’

‘No weakness?’

‘Nothing.’

‘So, you are completely better?’

‘Better than ever, Princess! Although I do have a bone to pick with you.’

Her face falls. ‘What?’

‘You somehow erased my favourite scar! Remember the one I got stealing from the cave of wonders?’ He grins, trying to playfully cheer her up.

She rolls her tearful eyes, ‘Knowing you, you’ll find a way to get new ones.’

‘Oh, you can count on it. I’m an unpainted canvas now! Full of potential! And who knows! I might have magic powers too now! Maybe I have super strength! I should try lifting something!’ He picks her up and spins her around. It’s a ploy to get her to cheer up and giggle the way she used to, but she still has that same look of tension and worry as he lowers her to the ground again. ‘Well, that was easy, but you are very light. Maybe I should pick up Bastion.’ They both silent eye the snoring man beside them. It kind of kills the mood. Eugene continues quietly with a shrug. ‘I do hope I have super strength though. It’ll go so well with my natural superhuman good looks.’

Rapunzel scoffs at him. She still hadn’t smiled yet but at least the tension in her shoulder was dissipating. The noise in her head diminishing. He was alright! He was really okay! And even though still having the sun drop’s magic was terrifying, she had never been so grateful for it.

Knowing he was alright; Rapunzel moves on swiftly to the next point of interest. ‘Eugene, we need to talk.’ She rushes to shut the door behind her. The warm glow of the corridor’s candles is blocked out. The room becomes darker. Dimly lit a pale blue by the moonlight that peeked in through the nearby window.

Rapunzel steps to the middle of the room to face him again. Even in the dim light, he can see the anxiety in her wide eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ He asks softly.

‘I was just with my parents.’

On the nearby bed, Bastion stirs, murmuring and he rolls over in his sleep.

‘Oh... So have you told them?’ Eugene asks with a quiet whisper, not wanting to wake up a peacefully snoring Bastion.

‘No!’ Rapunzel eyebrows are knit closely together. She fiddles with the material of her nightgown in frustration, ‘I even had the chance to! They were both there! But I couldn’t get the words out!’

Eugene watches her silently as she waves her arms around, frustrated by her own confusion.

‘I don’t know why I didn’t! I just had a strange feeling in my stomach! I was afraid! Like... like something is going wrong! Like my train is leaving and I can’t catch it!’

Eugene doesn’t reply. He just stares back at her intently. Focussed. Rapunzel realises he was not looking into her eyes but instead he was fixated on something else.

Eugene reaches to steady her shoulders, ‘hold up.’ His frown is fixed on her forehead. It makes her feel self-conscious. She allows him to guide her towards the moonlight cascading through the open window as he studies her with immense concentration.

Rapunzel panics, ‘what?’

‘What’s that?’ He whispers slowly, narrowing his eyes at her head.

Rapunzel quickly reaches for her forehead. Did she injure herself in the cave? She feels her forehead. It didn’t seem like there was anything there. ‘What?!’ She panics. Was her golden hair growing back?!

‘That.’ He points calmly right between her eyebrows. ‘Here, it looks like this.’ He changes his expression to produce a dramatically exaggerated, almost comical frown and gestures to the lines that form between his forced eyebrows. ‘This.’

She scoffs in disbelief.

‘All this tension in your face.’ He clarifies. ‘Why is it there? We are alive, Sunshine! We’re safe! Everything is good! Don’t be stressed! It doesn’t suit you, Rapunzel. Your other face though...’ Still pointing at his own face, he morphs into his cheesiest, widest, most ridiculously charming grin. ‘This face! This suits you much more! You look amazing with this face!’

Despite everything, Rapunzel finds herself laughing at his stupidity and then breaks into her own perfect, cheeky, over the top smile to compete with his.

‘Like this?’ She wiggles her eyebrows at him.

‘Exactly!’ He chuckles, ‘happiness looks good on you, Sunshine!’

She rolls her eyes at him and shoves him playfully.

‘Be happy, Rapunzel. If you’re feeling good then everything else will be good too!’ He gives her an effortlessly, ever so charmingly, heart-melting smile.

And she smiles back up at him. A smile equally as sweet and loving.

They stood, bathed in the gentle white glow of the crescent moon. They don’t realise how close they were standing to each other. She doesn’t notice the way she gazes up at him in adoration. She is astonished at him. She can’t tear her eyes away from the face before her. Glowing blue in the gentle light, his eyes are so bright and loving and expressive and so full of life. With a perfectly charmingly magnificent beauty. After what they had just been through she was expecting at least a somehow shell-shocked, upset, traumatised Eugene. More similar to the man she had met on the train. And here he was cracking dumb jokes and making her laugh. He was nothing like the brooding, serious man she had met over a year ago. The one who hated everything and everyone and couldn’t find a single reason to be happy. He was so different now. So full of energy, so positive, so endearing with his sweet words and endless support. He was...

‘Eugene!’ She gasps as the realisation hits her. ‘You’ve turned into me!’

He doesn’t seem surprised. The way he shrugs shyly in response tells her that this was something he had realised a long time ago.

They both admire each other for a moment. Mesmerised at each other’s presence. Grinning at each other in a secret exchange of relief and friendship.

She can se hundreds of emotions running across his face. Most of them she doesn’t understand. Some of them she understands all too well.

Eugene breaks the silence first when he clears his throat. ‘Um, Rapunzel...’ he whispers in a low croaking voice, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, ‘did you- did you by any chance... hear what I said in the cave?’

Rapunzel bites her lip, ‘Oh. I’m sorry Eugene, I don’t remember most of it. I’ve just blacked that whole experience out, I guess. I remember something about dates? That can’t be right! I don’t know...’ She examines his body language. He seems incredibly nervous. It piques her curiosity. ‘But you can tell me now. I’m listening.’

Eugene blushes. ‘No, no... it wasn’t important.’

‘No, it’s okay! Tell me.’ She smiles encouragingly.

‘Honesty, it’s not a big deal.’ He says unconvincingly.

She frowns. ‘What is it?’

‘I swear it’s no-’

Eugene is saved by the sound of an enthusiastic knock at the door.

‘Rapunzel? You in there, girlie?’ A cheerful female voice calls from the other side of the door.

Uh oh.

‘Eugene.’ Rapunzel hisses quickly before she gets inevitably dragged away, ‘my parents want to talk to Bastion privately tomorrow to thank him.’

‘Great you can tell them the truth together then-’

The knocking continues. ‘I’m going to count to five and then I’m coming in, so get your clothes on!’ The voice teases.

Rapunzel winces at the door and leans closer to Eugene, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t tell them. I need help!’

‘One!’

Eugene glances from the door to Rapunzel, ‘Okay, I’ll come find you tomorrow morning and we can plan something.’

‘Two.’

‘Promise?’

‘Three.’

‘Promise.’

‘FourFIVE!’

Before they can react Rapunzel’s aunt bursts into the room with a cheeky smirk on her face as she eyes the young couple by the window.

‘Ooooh! What’s going on here!’ She sing-songs.

‘Aunt Willow, I just needed to talk to-‘

‘Uh Uh!’ Willows tuts mockingly as she comes over and pulls Rapunzel’s hand. ‘You know the rules! No spending the night together before the wedding! Imagine if your father found out!’ She giggles gleefully.

Eugene immediately falls into his easy ability to act cool and plays along with her, ‘Aww. You can keep a secret for us can’t you, Aunt Willow?’ He flirts.

The Queen’s sister laughs jovially, ‘oh you are a naughty boy! I see why she likes you!’

‘Wassgoingonn?’ The commotion causes Bastion to stir from his slumber. He starts to sit up and rubs his eyes as he slowly adjusts to the scene before him.

Willow’s jaw drops as she gapes at Bastion, ‘Rapunzel! Don’t tell me you two going to do it in front of his friend!’

‘Aunt Willow!’ Rapunzel’s whole face turns scarlet, and she quickly pushes her cackling aunt out of the room quickly. Scowling at Eugene who was busy howling with laughter as they leave.

‘Bye boys!’ Aunt Willow calls before being shoved out of sight.

Eugene finishes chuckling under his breath and goes to shut the door behind them. He could see where Rapunzel got her chaotic energy from.

Bastion sits up and blinks blankly through red eyes, ‘what’s going on?’

Eugene falls back into his own bed and lies without hesitation, ‘Rapunzel came to talk to you, but you were asleep. So, she said she’ll meet you tomorrow morning.

Bastion groans in frustration and falls back onto his pillow. He falls back asleep within seconds.

Maybe it was because Eugene had slept through most of the day. Maybe it was because he was stressed about this whole situation. Maybe it was because he was haunted by Bastion’s speech about him indirectly hurting Rapunzel. Maybe it was just because he had just seen the torment in Rapunzel’s troubled eyes. But Eugene couldn’t find it in him to fall asleep.

He quietly moves to the small window to look up at the night sky. Folding his arms on the windowsill and resting his head as he admired the blue view.

Huh. He had never noticed the view from here before. The guest room was located in one of the smaller towers to the side of the castle. And this particular one faced the main tower. The long, tall structure silhouetted against the starry sky. The profile of Rapunzel’s huge balcony was clear to see. It was nice. It just made her feel a little closer even when he was at the other side of the building.

As he admired the moon that shone in the sky above the dark shadow of her balcony, Eugene’s mind wonders to the next day. Tomorrow was going to be a mess. Since Bastion wasn’t a royal they would probably have to cancel the wedding. Or at least delay it. And there would be a lot of questions. Though, none that Eugene needed to be there for. Rapunzel had Bastion. And any reservations Eugene had about the guy were lifted when he saved them both. He would take care of her. He would give Rapunzel the happiness she craved from him. She was going to be okay.

That’s when his eye catches something moving on the balcony before him. To his surprise he catches sight of her. Rapunzel. She makes her way across the large platform and settled at the end of it, head resting on her arms as she looks out onto the Eastern horizon. Waiting for a sunrise.

It’s too dark and too far away for him to see her expression. All his can see is the silhouette of her side profile as she slumps against the railing, hopelessly. He didn’t need to see her face to know she was troubled.

Maybe the incident in the cave was still upsetting her. Maybe finding out she still has the magic of the sun drop in her frightened her. Or maybe Bastion was right. Maybe Eugene being here was just causing her more stress. Maybe him being here was making her feel guilty about not returning the feelings she must know that he harboured. Maybe he should just leave.

Of course, he couldn’t go without saying goodbye. God knows he didn’t want to be the reason of any more sadness for her.

So, he takes a moment to admire the view once more. The Castles many tall and sleek structures. The young lady perched on the balcony of the tallest tower. The stars sprinkled around her in the inky, spring night. He takes it all in, knowing full well that it would be his last night in Corona.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel had no clue how she ended up in a train station.

The platform extended out for what felt like forever. Just a long straight path ahead of her. The lamps that should have lit the establishment with a warm welcoming glow were all out and still smoking as if they had only just been blown off by the swooping winds around her. Beside her run a line of rusted steel tracks, overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. There’s no one else around. Just her, wondering alone under the pale moonlight, surrounded by a blue mist as she aimlessly wanders down the platform.

There’s a dusty sign nearby. Rapunzel approaches it, using a forearm to brush away the grey to reveal the train times underneath. To her surprise only one train’s time was given and was apparently due to arrive in the next few minutes.

‘You know what, Sunshine?’

Rapunzel jumps. ‘Who said that?!’

She does a full 360ᵒ turn but her surroundings are still eerily empty. The voice sounded so familiar and so nearby. Where had it come from?

She continues to hear it mumbling around her. As if the voice was dancing in the loud winds that rushed through her hair. In some moments it became quiet and indecipherable. But then it would pass against her ears all the more clearer.

‘…Trying to remember the first moment I knew I loved you. But I just can’t remember! Weird right….?’

Rapunzel continues to turn in circles. Where were these words coming from? Who was saying it?

She searches about the empty platform, around walls, behind pillars, through the dusty windows of long abandoned offices. No one.

‘…how charming and beautiful and energetic and captivating and perfect you were! Your contagious laugh! Your…’

‘Show yourself!’ Rapunzel shouts into the void. Maybe it was a ghost! A dead man who haunted this abandoned station. And apparently seemed to like her a lot.

‘…I feel like my life began when I fell in love with you... Rapunzel, I love you. I love you!’

The voice echoes in a loud cheer around her and is joined by the sudden ringing of a bell.

Chug chug chug chugchugchug…

Rapunzel looks to see a train approach the platform at full speed.

Her hair flies in all directions with the gush produced by the arriving train. The winds are deafening and cold.

Finally! People! Someone! Anyone! She wouldn’t be alone! She could leave this creepy place!

But the train doesn’t show signs of slowing. It rushes past her in a continuing blur. She watches in wonder at the grey rackety carriages that speed past. All the carriages seemed empty. All the lights were out. An empty train passing an empty station.

The mumbling voice in the winds around her seems attracted to the ongoing train, suddenly blowing away from her ears and growing quieter and more distant. Though it had frightened her before she felt a sudden, immense loneliness swell inside her as the voice drifted away to become one with the speeding train.

‘Wait! Come back!’ She calls after the voice.

She can only just about hear the voice continue with the sound of the rattling of the passing train

‘It didn't feel right to burden you with my feelings…’

‘Who are you?!’ She calls out into the noisy night.

‘I didn’t want you to think you owed me anything…’

She rushes as close to the speeding train as she could dare to come. ‘What do you mean? Who are you?!’ She calls out once more.

‘You have never owed me anything, Rapunzel. You never have and never will. I love you!’

Finally, the final carriage passes, creating a large vacuum of space in front of Rapunzel that catches her off guard. She stumbles as she loses her balance. Almost falling onto the heated tracks. Finding her footing as she stumbled backwards, away from the tracks, she watches the train as it leaves.

The voice going further and further away as it calls out to her.

‘I love you so, so much and I’m so glad I got to meet you. I’m so glad I got to know what love actually feels like.’

Rapunzel starts to run towards the final carriage of the train as it chugs away from her.

‘Wait! Wait I’m coming! This is my train! I need to get on!’ She calls.

Her hands reach out ahead of her as she runs along the moonlit platform. Sprinting alongside the parting train and it grew further and further from her grasp.

The train’s voice calls out to her. ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you like you saved me... I’m so sorry!’

‘Someone stop the train! Please!’ Rapunzel screams to deaf ears. Running in what felt like slow motion, watching helplessly as the train grew further into the endless blue foggy darkness beyond the haunted station.

‘Sunshine?’

Rapunzel’s eyes flutter open. She blinks against the bright warm light around her and immediately groans at the pain in her neck.

A familiar voice chuckles lightly, ‘Looks like someone had a rough night.’

That voice…

Eugene’s voice beside her clicks into her mind. How had she not realised it in her dream?! It had been Eugene’s voice! It was him all along!

As Rapunzel slowly comes to terms with her new consciousness she realised that she never went back to bed the night before and had fallen asleep, with her head awkwardly resting against the ledge of her balcony.

She sits up and rubs her eyes. It was just a dream. It didn’t mean anything. She was accustomed to such nightmares by now.

‘You were in my dream.’ She mumbles to the man standing beside her with a yawn.

‘Oh yeah? What did I get up to? Something incredibly heroic and charming, I assume?’

Rapunzel is surprised to look up and find that Eugene’s words weren’t accompanied by a handsome wink in her direction. Instead, he stood, leaning his hands on the edge of the balcony and marvelling at the far-off horizon.

In his distraction, Rapunzel observes him. He looked comfortable. Dressed in his own clothes rather than the ones the palace had given him. His hair was immaculately, effortlessly fallen in place as always and his eyes were bright and open. Ready for the day. She noticed he had an intriguing large brown duffle bag that he had thrown over his shoulder.

Then she remembers he had asked her a question. What was he doing in her dream? Her dream…

‘I… I- don’t remember.’ Rapunzel says simply. In a heartbeat her memory of the dream slips through her fingers. She struggles to think of any details she could still recall. ‘Maybe you weren’t in it… I think… It was definitely a nightmare, I remember that.’

‘Oof, trains again?’ He asks sympathetically.
Without taking his eyes off the stunning pink skies, Eugene extends a hand to his side for her to reach for. He easily pulls her off the ground without a glance her way.

By the time she was on her feet she had almost completely forgotten the dream. As always, all she was left with was the haunting chug chug chug chugchugchug of a leaving train.

‘Yeah...’ She sighs as she stands beside him and follows his gaze out to the distant mountains behind which the golden sun was peaking through. ‘All I remember was feeling scared. I was afraid. Like something is going wrong. Like my train is leaving and I can’t catch it.’

The moment she joins his side, Eugene’s weight shifts and he starts heading back towards her bedroom. ‘Feeling better now?’ He calls over his shoulder.

Rapunzel frowns as she watches him. He had been too quick to move away.

‘I’m fine.’ She narrows her eyes at the back of his head. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ He replies casually.

‘You won’t look at me.’ She points out cautiously.

Whatever reaction Eugene had to her words went unseen as she follows him. He clears his throat a little too loudly and Rapunzel already knew a lie was coming as he replies in a forced cheery manner. ‘Well, you know what they say. Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.’

Rapunzel scoffs. He was hiding something. For a seasoned thief, he was pretty bad at hiding things from her. She could read him like a book. She wondered at which point in their friendship they had become so able to understand each other’s body language. He was clearly avoiding her. And she didn’t like it.

She could have pondered what he was really trying to cover up. But instead, other thoughts creep into her mind. A wedding. Eugene had reminded her of the day they had ahead of them. Everyone was expecting a ceremony. Little did they know that she was about to blow everything up by revealing the truth. Things were going to go crazy, and she was dreading it all: explaining Bastion to everyone; facing her parents reaction; seeing how it would affect her friendship with Eugene.

Eugene didn’t seem worried though. Sure, he was a bit… skittish. And for some reason he seemed much more fascinated in her bedroom than usual; clearly distracting himself from looking her way. Rapunzel had to admit that she suddenly missed having him look her in the eye. But Rapunzel represses the feeling and steps into her bedroom. Pascal was still curled up on her pillow fast asleep. She smiles at him and tiptoes past to get to her closet and find a thin silk cloak to cover her nightdress. As she ties the knot at her neck she eyes Eugene. He was still strolling around her room, fiddling with anything he could find to play around with.

‘So, what’s the plan?’ She asks, deciding to ignore his weird behaviour.

He picks up one of the ceramic apples from a table decoration piece and throws it up repeatedly, catching it with his free hand. ‘We go somewhere private, so it’ll be easier to discuss the plan for telling your parents and,’ he shrugs, ‘maybe grab some breakfast from that bakery in town while we’re at it, if you want.’

Rapunzel pauses. ‘You want to go outside?’

Eugene nods slowly as he places the apple back down. ‘If they see us together they’ll separate us straight away to get us dolled up for the ‘big day.’ In my experience it’s hard to make plans with someone when you’re on opposite sides of the building.’

Rapunzel sighs, ‘I can’t leave the castle though.’

‘Why not?’ He continues to move around the room.

‘Dad is tightening security around me until we kill out this sun drop revival story.’

She notices Eugene twitch.

‘So… They’re locking up the Princess that spent her whole life locked up?’ His chilled tone gives her goosebumps.

He looked like he was about to get mad. But like a fleeting moment, the fire fades and he returns to his cheerful self. ‘Well, that rule es muy estúpida. All the more reason to break it! Don’t worry, they’ll never know. I can get us past a little security. That’s kind of my speciality.’ He gives a smug laugh to accentuate his point.

‘If you get caught sneaking me out, you’ll get in trouble.’

Eugene was now at her bookshelf, examining her collection. ‘Impossible, Princess.’ He says with his nose high in the air. ‘I don’t get caught.’

She laughs and goes to grab a brush to quickly sort out her hair.

‘And if you do?’ She teases.

‘Well.’ Eugene shrugs, ‘Your parents happen to adore me, so they won’t be mad.’

‘Hmmm.’ Rapunzel nods even though he wasn’t looking her way to see. In the vanity mirror, she can see Eugene wondering around the room behind her, casually admiring her paintings. She watches him. His restlessness was starting to make her feel a little uneasy. ‘And what if I actually do get kidnapped? Tears that heal? Probably worth a lot.’ She toys. Her tone stayed light and conversational despite the anxiety that was starting to bubble inside her.

Eugene scrunches his nose as he leans into one of the paintings of Pascal on her wall. ‘Okay, we’ll stop at the kitchen on our way out and you can pick out any appliance of your choosing. No one would stand a chance of coming near you if you’re fully armed.’

Rapunzel can’t help but smile at that.

She decided to go with whatever he had planned. Acting weird or not, she trusted him. And soon the two of them are making their way out of Rapunzel’s room and through the castle. The one consolation to Eugene’s odd behaviour that morning was the fact that at least he was talking the same way he always did. Casual. Friendly. Funny. Charming. His tone was unchanged, it was just his gaze that had distanced itself from her. With each moment she felt it’s absence more and more.

As they cross the first few corridors they have hushed conversations about random things like what they wanted for breakfast, who the clumsiest of the royal guard was, the castle’s interior design. But every once in a while, Rapunzel would test the waters by starting more meaningful conversations. And each time Eugene would divert them back to something less personal.

Rapunzel glances at the bag slung over Eugene’s shoulder as it thumps against him gently with every stride.

‘Sooo… what’s the bag for?’

‘Nothing.’ He says nonchalantly.

She sighs under her breath. ‘Oh, you are your secrets-‘

‘Quick!’ Eugene hisses suddenly. In a flash he grabs her shoulders and shifts the both of them behind a pillar.

They end up pressed against each other in the tight space. Eugene still holding her shoulders, gently pushes her into the wall, looking over his shoulder constantly waiting for whoever he had heard to walk past.

Rapunzel hadn’t even heard the footsteps. And if she hadn’t before there was no chance she’d hear them now. Not with the frantic thrashing of her heart in her throat.

They’d been in this position before. Months and months ago. She had pushed him into the corner of a corridor just like this. But she didn’t remember her breath catching that time. She didn’t remember being conscious of every inch of contact between them. She didn’t remember feeling this pull to move even closer. Why did it feel so different this time? She holds her breath and tries not to notice the swooping feeling in her stomach at the sudden close proximity.

Eugene is still intently focused on the corridor behind him. Obviously not affected by the situation the same way that she was.

She is left to study his profile silently in the dusty dark corner. Rapunzel, for a moment, is so entranced that she can’t look away. She is sure he can feel her gazing up at him, silently beckoning him to face her, meet her gaze.

But he doesn’t.

Now, that pissed her off. She wanted to grab his face and… make him tell her what was bothering him.

‘Eugene?’ She whispers.

‘Hmm.’ He hums quietly. Still religiously focussed on watching as Nigel left the nearby office with a stack of papers and heads down the corridor towards her parents room.

‘Eugene I-’

‘He’s gone.’

Just as Nigel had turned the corner, Eugene doesn’t give her time to say anymore and immediately drops his hold of her and starts walking down the corridor.

Rapunzel takes a second to catch her breath.

But she shakes the feelings off once more and skips to catch up to him.

Why wouldn’t he look at her? It was so unlike him.

Although… maybe she should be asking herself why it was bothering her so much.

But thinking about that just further confused her so instead Rapunzel bites back her yearning and tries to strike another conversation.

‘Where are we going?’ Rapunzel asks as they cross a large unoccupied corridor.

‘You’ll see.’

‘Another secret? Come on!’ She whines like a kid. ‘Since when did you stop telling me things?’

‘Maybe it’s a surprise.’ He says flatly, gaze set straight ahead.

‘Okay fine. And let me guess. That bag is part of the surprise too?’

He uncomfortably shifts the bag over his shoulder so it is slightly out of her view.

She pulls at his sleeve slightly. ‘No. Nope. No, no, no! Three secrets is too much! Way past your allowance.’

‘I have an allowance?’ He chuckles, still facing ahead of them.

She nods. ‘Well, as best friends, ideally there would be no secrets between us.’

His smile grows at the ‘best friends’ part.

‘Two secrets, isn’t it?’ He points out. ‘Not three.’

‘Three.’ She counters. ‘And that’s not even counting why you’re acting so strange right now because I’m assuming that’s just a symptom of all the secrets you’re keepng.’

Eugene’s expressions dance between nervousness and being mildly entertained. Sometimes he even looked plain guilty. ‘You asked where we were going and what was in the bag. That’s two things.’

‘And there’s also what you said in the cave.’

Eugene’s breath hitches but any momentary contortion of his face he is able to expertly cover up.

Ha! He hadn’t seen that one coming!

Rapunzel scrunches her nose. He was doing well at hiding whatever he was didn’t want her to know. But she had a feeling she had hit a weak spot.

‘Last night you asked me if I remembered what you said, but I didn’t! And then you refused to tell me!’

‘uh- it’s- forget it! It’s-‘

In his distraction, he almost turns a corner without checking it first. A palace maid would have seen them if it wasn’t for Rapunzel promptly seizing Eugene’s collar and snatching him back out of sight.

They stumble into each other, their eyes almost meeting for a heated second. But Eugene quickly turns his head away before the growing itch in Rapunzel’s insides could be satisfied.

They silently wait for a moment together, Eugene still just as determined to avoid looking at her as she was determined to make him. Once the coast was clear Eugene immediately starts speed walking, trying to avoid Rapunzel’s unwavering interrogation.

Rapunzel pouts, ‘Eugene. Is there a problem? If there is, you can tell me.’

‘No, no of course not!’ He sweats. ‘Of course, there isn’t!’

They reach a grand staircase and begin quickly hurrying down it before someone could catch them. Both of them completely in the open and exposed. And yet Eugene remained ever more closed and secretive.

She huffs as she dashes after him. ‘Come on tell me! What’s the problem? Don’t be shy! You can tell me! What’s wrong?!’

Eugene suddenly halts in his spot and bursts out laughing. Clutching the banister beside him as his head falls back to let out his echoing musical amusement.

Rapunzel scowls. ‘Shhhh! What? What’s so funny!’

He doesn’t turn around to face her. He just stands there a few steps below. Shaking his head slightly to himself, trying to muffle his own chuckles.

‘What?’ Rapunzel repeats, taking a few steps down towards him, cautiously.

She can’t see Eugene’s face but she can hear the warmth of his smiling voice. ‘You were pestering me like that the first night we met.’

Rapunzel pauses. She thinks back to that time. Honestly, she used to talk so much back then that she couldn’t keep track of her own words even if she wanted to. All she remembered was Eugene being so sad and lonely and her biting curiosity as to why anyone could seem that hopeless.

‘So?’ Rapunzel asks. She didn’t see why it was so funny.

Eugene’s head turns slightly. Through his falling bangs she can see the side of his face. He glances at the step where she came to stand beside him as he replies to her. ‘It’s just nice to see you act like yourself again before…’ his voice fades off.

‘Before what?’ She leans in.

Eugene shakes himself off and the momentary softness that had been in is voice is replaced by something more carefree and unaffected. ‘Before all your moping around drove me insane! Seriously ,I thought you’re endless chatting was exhausting! But I’d take that over you being all sad and gloomy any day.’

She knew just as well as he did that he was going to say something else. But who was she to forcefully reveal the many secrets that Eugene Fitzherbert was keeping from her that morning.

‘Well, I’m sorry I’ve been so annoying!’ Rapunzel strops.

Eugene turns his head away to examine the banister beside them, running his hand along the carvings of wood , ‘no, no I don’t mean it like that. You, being you, changed my life! It’s just… I wish you’d help yourself before you help other people. Stop worrying about how other people are feeling all the time.’

A thousand retorts rise to her lips but only silence leaves them.

‘I mean’ Eugene’s head drops as he looks at his feet. ‘you missed that train because you were helping me, a guy you didn’t even know. And now look. You’re still having nightmares about it. Clearly it affected you.’ He coughs slightly and then resumes a more jovial tone, ‘you need to take your own advice more often.’

‘What advice?’

Eugene is the first to start walking again. Taking a few slow steps down the staircase, leaving Rapunzel behind him for a moment. ‘Something about following your heart and all that wishful Rapunzel-esque stuff?’ He says dismissively, waving a hand flippantly in her direction.

Rapunzel narrows her eyes as she watches him. She knew very well that Eugene knew exactly what she had said. She would have to add it to the list of strange behaviours he was exhibiting today.

An awkward silence fell after that. They pass the grand hall, the throne room, the council chambers. Managing to dodge and hide from anyone who could have spotted them.

Rapunzel opens her mouth a hundred times to say something, and a hundred times she closes it helplessly.

Eugene glances over at her every few seconds. His eyes darting away every time, before she could meet them. She could sense the growing guilt inside him. Well, he should feel guilty! Making things awkward for no reason!

Eugene must have read her mind because finally he is the first to break the silence.

‘Anyway!’ Eugene says a little too loudly as he opens a small side door out of the palace to let them both out. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you, is the frog naturally green? Or is that just his favourite colour to be?’

Looks like they were changing topics. Typical Eugene. Rapunzel pauses. She steps into the sunlight of the early day and there was something about the warmth of it that just made her feel lighter. She decied today was not a day to sulk. However the day turned out, disastrous or wonderfully, it was the first day of her entire future! And she wasn’t going to spend this day fretting over Eugene’s bahviour. No matter what transpired that day, she knew he would never stop being her friend. Nothing would need to change between them. So she shakes off her doubts and decides to take his icebreaker. ‘I- I actually I don’t know!’

They continue to chat away as they stroll out of the castle and through Corona’s streets. Never about anything too deep. Just their usual light banter. Eugene laughed along at Rapunzel’s quips and comments and Rapunzel chatted away gleefully. They tell fun anecdotes. They tease each other. He’d tell the odd corny joke. She’s give the odd playful shove. Maybe it was just the beautiful day, but once they were out of the gloomy quiet castle and under the glowing morning sun, the both of them grew happier and happier. They were endlessly alive that dawn. Despite the fact that Eugene still reminded determined to not look her way, he was still just as bright and cheerful as ever. And his optimism was contagious. It made Rapunzel feel better and better about the day to come. She just had a feeling that everything was going to be alright.

The people of Corona who were up early enough to see, watched from their windows as the young royal couple went about their trip. They admired the young princess with her endless energy and fun. They marvelled at the handsome man and how he spoke to her in such loving and gentle tones.

Never had anyone seen such a perfect couple.

Soon Rapunzel and Eugene reach the winding alleys of the edge of town.

‘…And that’s how I realised that it’s just chocolate cake with red colour in it! And that it is absolutely delicious! I wish Mother didn’t hate Red Velvet so much! Then I might have actually got to try it as a kid and-‘

‘We’re here.’ Eugene interrupts.

Rapunzel blinks at the sight ahead of them.

They had arrived at the little dock. One of her favourite quiet places to think in Corona. In the dock was a small rowing boat for two. It was the same place that she and Eugene had met one morning months and months ago. Their little spot.

It should have been a cute call-back. A small surprise! It should have been a lovely and almost romantic revelation. Something that was theirs. Eugene and Rapunzel’s.

But clearly it wasn’t just theirs anymore, as standing beside the boat stood an anxious looking Bastion, waiting for them.

He was dressed up smartly. Handsome. His eyes move between her and Eugene. His weight shifting awkwardly between his feet. Rapunzel sees the two men make unusually meaningful eye contact. Something she wasn’t in on. It was a weird, cold but civil, silent conversation that she couldn’t interpret. But she didn’t like it.

Rapunzel frowns and turns to look up at Eugene as his gaze was kept fixed with Bastion’s.

‘Eugene..?’

He doesn’t reply.

‘Eugene. What’s going on?’

She tugs at his sleeve, his gaze falls, head turning away as he blinks quickly.

‘Look at me, for goodness sake!’

He does.

Their eyes meet and suddenly the ground around her quakes. The world spins. Volcanoes erupt and hurricanes rampage and tsunamis crash and the world comes to an end around her because as soon as their eyes meet she knows. She reads hundreds of emotions in his soft brown eyes that she could never explain but could understand completely.

He looks down at her with a deceitful smile as he blinks away tears.

His eyes gave it all away.

‘You’re leaving.’ Rapunzel whispers. More a statement than a question.

Eugene clutches his bag closer to his shoulder. She glances down at it.

‘It’s my stuff.’ He nods.

Her face falls ‘you’re leaving?’

‘I am.’

‘Now?!’

‘Yes.’

‘No!’ Rapunzel shakes her head aggressively. ‘Not like this! You can’t just leave all of a sudden!’

‘I do, Sunshine.’

Suddenly she hates wishing all morning that he would look her in the eyes. Because she hated the way he was looking into them now. He was looking at her like he couldn’t look away. He was looking at her like he wanted to capture her in his mind forever. He was looking at her like it would be the last time.

No. No no no no this was bad. This was very very bad. This was super bad! This wasn’t a see-you-later goodbye. This wasn’t a we’ll-meet-again goodbye. This was a goodbye goodbye.

She understood why he needed to leave. She knew exactly what was in his heart. She knew that it probably hurt him so much to see her with someone else. She knew everything.

Was it selfish that she wanted to keep him there with her? Even when knowing the torment it brought him?

She reaches to hold his hands in hers. ‘Stay a bit longer Eugene. Please.’

‘I’m not staying this time, Rapunzel.’ He smiles and pulls his hands away before nodding his head towards the deck where Bastion stood. ‘He’s waiting for you. Go on.’

‘Eugene-‘

‘Bye Rapunzel.’ He pats her shoulder in a friendly, painfully platonic way that cruelly disavowed the emotion in his broken voice.

Before she could say something that would stop him Eugene walks away.

Rapunzel watches him leave. She watches as he moves away from her. Why didn’t he look as torn as she felt? The way he strolls with a hand in one pocket, a bag slung over his shoulder and a lazy skip in his step. The way he whistles gently and enjoys the scenery on the Kingdom as he leaves. The way he doesn’t look back. Not once.

He looks content. He looks like he is going to be alright.

She really couldn’t relate.

She shuts her eyes to block out his image. She couldn’t bare to see him leaving. She tells herself she was being stupid. Friends shouldn’t be clingy. Why was she focussing so much on the man walking away instead of the man waiting for her.

Rapunzel forces herself to tear herself away from where Eugene had left her at the sound of Bastion’s beckoning. He had been waiting patiently. She slowly makes her way towards him as he eagerly reaches to hold her hands. She lets him. She’s numb. He gives her a small sympathetic smile and then clears his throat to begin what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech.

‘Okay. Now that he’s finally gone, let’s get to business.’ He says confidently. ‘So, you haven’t told your parents yet? Doesn’t matter! We can tell them together. Right now. I have a plan. All you have to do is follow it and everything will be fine.’

Eugene just left.

‘First off, when your parents call me over for that private talk, you say that you want to join. Don’t take no for an answer. It’s the best chance we have of uninterrupted time with them. It’s the best opportunity to explain the truth. Then all you have to do is tell them that: yes, you are going to have a wedding. But not with Eugene. With me, Bastion.’

Eugene just left.

‘Everyone will be confused. Obviously. But it’s okay. We can handle their questions. We’ll explain it all to them. We will tell them to keep all the arrangements as they are. The wedding will go ahead as planned. Everyone will be just as happy. All we are doing is taking out Eugene. And putting in me. Your actual boyfriend.’

Eugene just left.

‘They’ll understand once you tell them about us. How I was the one that saved you from that tower. How I was the one that showed you the real world. We don’t need to tell them about our recent... hiccup. No need to give my future in-laws a reason to not like me! We’ll keep it positive. And I know there’s the issue of me not being a royal. But I’ve thought of a way around that too. We can tell them I’m a nobleman. It’s not strictly speaking a lie. My grandfather remarried a noblelady. I’m not blood related to her, sure. But no one needs to know that. Anyway, once we are married they won’t be able to do anything. That was your original plan when you wanted to elope wasn’t it? Anyway, then what we will do is...’

Eugene just-

Suddenly a bell starts ringing.

Bastion’s mouth is still moving, his arms waving around. He is saying something but the words don’t reach her ears.

All she can here is a chug chug chug chugchugchug of a train leaving the nearby Corona station.

She sees the very real train trudge along in the corner of her eye. And yet as it grew further and further away, the sound didn’t fade into the distance with it.

She continues to hear that chug chug chug chugchugchug...

All she can feel is that strange feeling. Like she was afraid. Like something was wrong. Like her train was leaving and she couldn’t catch it.

Why did she keep feeling like this? She thinks back to all the nights where she dreamt her train was leaving. Every night for those nine months.

She had always written it off as trauma. A ghost of a memory from when she actually missed her train at the start of this whole adventure. But then why didn’t those nightmares start from that first night with Eugene?

Eugene just left.

She thinks of how she had seen him walking away on that dark platform the first night they met. That image was forever ingrained in her mind. She had never seen someone so sad. The way he slouched. The way he had dragged his feet with each step. He had seemed so helpless. So lifeless. So, she jumped off the carriage and ran after him. She was just trying to help a random stranger get back on the train. She had no idea it would be the start of such a deep friendship. She could have never guessed one decision would change her life so much.

Chug chug chug chugchugchug...

Eugene.

She thinks of the second time she saw him walk away. As she ran away from those men harassing her. She remembers that feeling of relief when she saw Eugene’s profile walking in the foggy distance. The joy at seeing someone she trusted. Even though they had only just met. She had no reason to trust that sad stranger. But there had just been something so genuine in his eyes...

Chug chug chug chugchugchug…

She remembers how she had ran towards him and threw her arms around him and thanked him just for existing. How her racing heart had calmed as she reached him. And how they had finally introduced themselves.

Flynn Rider.

That’s what he had called himself. She had almost forgotten. Honestly, she had associated that name with a different person. Flynn was the sad man she had met. But as he opened up more, became her friend, became fun, he became Eugene.

Chug chug chug chugchugchug…

When she thought about it... the whole journey to Corona with him, she never had nightmares about chasing trains. She never heard that insufferable sound of her train leaving. And when they ran out of the Kingdom hand in hand all the way to Arendelle, she never heard any train either.

Eugene.

She thinks of when she watched him walk away again. As they parted atop that snowy mountain. Although she didn’t really watch him that time. She just looked at him, confused, as he told her to take care of herself and then turned to walk away. She had found it bizarre. She had even considered stopping him. But she had been so excited to rush over to Bastion that she had barely registered Eugene’s departure. She ran down the mountain without a glance back in Eugene’s direction. She wondered how she would have felt if she had known that he wasn’t planning on coming back. If she had known what was about to happen to her. How she would have felt if she turned back and watched him walk away into the stormy ice winds. Knowing what it would feel like to know she was losing her most trusted ally that day.

She wondered if it would have felt similar to how she was feeling right now.

Chug chug chug chugchugchug...

Funny. She started hearing the trains around that time. That very night in fact. That night she had gone to bed in a stranger’s house. Still shellshocked from Bastion’s rejection. She couldn’t believe it! The man she had loved with all her heart and soul and mind! The first man she had ever known! How could he be so cruel?! That night started it all. As she curled up in a cold strange bed all alone and afraid. Wishing she had a friend with her. Someone. Anyone. Dreaming of trains getting away from her.

Then she had that same dream every night for the next nine months until...

Eugene.

When he came and found her in the troll’s habitat. When she came back to that cosy inn with Eugene. When they had almost… She didn’t dream of the trains those nights. She put it down to being in a nice warm bed in a safe place. But that didn’t make make sense either. Because she started hearing train again when they got back to Corona. And where could be warmer and safer than her own home?

Chug chug chug chugchugchug...

What did it mean? Why was she being haunted by the sounds of the train against the rails? Why was she hearing them now? Why was she so tormented by this stupid thing when she should be paying attention to whatever speech Bastion was still rambling out? Why was Eugene’s name running rampant in her mind? All of it haunted her. The image of him leaving just moments earlier still burned into her vision. The way he walked away. The way he steadily got further and further from her. The way she felt when he left. She had felt afraid. Like something was wrong. Like her-

That’s it!

Finally, it hit her!

And without a second thought she turns around and sprints!

‘Wait Rapunzel!’ Bastion’s confused voice calls after her, ‘Are you going to tell them now? Wait for me, we’ll do it together!’

His footsteps follow after her, but she doesn’t pay attention to them. She just runs even faster through the streets of Corona, eyes darting left and right. Ignoring the faces of the concerned citizens that try to approach her.

Voices call out to her. Asking if she was okay.

Bastion is calling for her. Asking her to slow down.

She blocks out everyone and just pushes through the growing crowds that meet her as she looks in all directions. Panicking. Hardly able to breath as she searches.

She speeds straight over to the station and grabs the nearest station worker she could reach.

‘Have you seen Eugene?! Did he get on the train?!’

The confused woman blinks back at her blankly. ‘Wha-who? You don’t mean the King of the Dark Kingdom? Why would he-‘

‘Yes! The train that just left! Was he on it? When’s the next train to the Dark Kingdom!? I need to get on it!’

‘Uh no Princess that was just a cargo train just then. There’s no passenger trains leaving Corona toda-’

Rapunzel doesn’t need to listen anymore. Thank goodness! He was still here somewhere!

She turns to run somewhere else. Bastion huffs heavily as he tries to catch up to her.

‘Rapunzel what’s going on!? We’re gonna be late for meeting your parents! Stop playing around!’

Rapunzel wasn’t interested in anything else, she ignored Bastion and speeds past him back through Corona. Scanning every inch of her surroundings for that familiar face.

Where was he?!

She sprints through the main street up to the central square. She spins around. Eyeing every shop she knew he loved. The library. The bakery. He’s nowhere to be seen.

‘The Princess! That’s the Princess!’

‘Look! The Princess is running around in her nightie!’

‘Is she alright?’

‘Your highness, what’s wrong?’

‘Looks like the Sundrop finally made her lose her mind!’

‘Your highness, you should cover up!’

‘Your highness, are you in trouble?’

‘Princess Rapunzel! Mum look, it’s Princess Rapunzel!’

Voices sound around her. People try to reach out to her.

She tries to look over the maddening sea of heads approaching her. Brushing away the arms that reach out to console her.

She didn’t have time for this! She’d never find him in these crowds!

Rapunzel scans her surroundings for a better idea. Yes! She immediately rushes over into the nearby church.

As she speeds past the pews she hears the voice of the concerned priest, ‘Princess? Can I help you? Oh, I’m not late for the wedding am I!?’