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Her mother's yell echoes for what feels like forever. Some part of her brain whispers that she should call her Gothel, because she was never her mother, but that only makes her eyes sting with tears of pain and fear and anger. The window she had spent her childhood looking out appears dim and frightening now, and she wonders what she would see, if she looked down this time. She wonder what mother- Gothel- she wonders if she's-
Eugene, her mind screams, shaking her from her thoughts. "Eugene," she repeats out loud, turning towards him quickly, and her blood freezes when she sees him lying prone and motionless on the ground.
She doesn't think as she hosts him up in her lap - she can't think beyond the terror gripping her. Eugene is too limp, too heavy, and her ears are buzzing too loudly for her to hear herself repeat "no" over and over again, as if she can say it enough for him to listen.
His cheek is still warm when she touches it lightly, unsure of what she can even do. When Eugene coughs, the sound feeble and pained, her relief tastes like poison. He's hurt, and she can't- she can't- His head lolls to the side again, and she feels like she can't breathe.
"Look at me," she pleads, intimately aware that she's the only thing keeping his head up, that he doesn't seem able to even open his eyes. "Look at me Eugene," she repeats, "I'm right here." She brushes his hair away with her trembling hands and trembling voice, hoping he can hear her, that she can comfort him just as much he did her before he… Before he cut her hair, and doomed himself for her.
He doesn't open his eyes. Rapunzel feels like she's dying along with him, because that's the only thing that could explain the terrible pain building up in her chest.
"Don't go, stay with me Eugene," she begs him, before begging the universe to listen to her one last time.
She takes his hand in hers, ignores how cold and unresponsive it is, brings it to her hair and sings. She sings, and hopes against hope that everything will be alright, that her gift will answer to her like it did all her life. It has never been as important as today. She's falling apart at the second line, because she knows it's not working. When she sang the incantation, the warmth always built from within her, before her hair started to glow but now... Now she's cold. Empty. She keeps going against the sobs that violently try to escape, keeps going despite her hope abandoning her - but Eugene whispers her name, and she stops for him. Of course she does.
His eyes are open now, but she can see how hard he's struggling to keep it that way. He does it for her, and she knows that. Knows that once again, he's fighting his own pain and fear to be with her, to reassure her. His hand has slipped from her hair to her face, and though she's still the only thing keeping it raised, Eugene's fingers twitch as he tries to cup her cheek. Her eyes are welling up, burning with an emotion she can't admit yet, but she blinks the tears out as best as she can to look at him.
He seems tired. He seems scared. He's obviously in pain, his face too pale when she remembers it glowing warmly under the light of the lanterns.
"You were my new dream," he breathes out, and it feels like the world is crashing down around her, because her heart bursts with love and terror and sorrow, all at the same time. She wonders if this is grief. Wonders if there's anything she can do to fix this.
"And you were mine," she whispers, because that's the only thing she can say. She hopes he understands everything she's trying to tell him here; hopes he knows that the lanterns suddenly pale in comparison to the joy and love he makes her feel, and that she's never felt as strongly about anything before. She holds his hand as tightly as she dares, deathly afraid of hurting him.
Eugene smiles. Rapunzel's heart is bleeding, even if no one can see it.
He opens his mouth, trying to say something else, but a deep, rattling cough interrupts him, and he grows even paler. She didn't think it was possible. His expression twists with the pain, and Rapunzel is hit by the weight of her own inability to help him. What is she, now that she's not useful? What does her dearly desired freedom mean, faced with the loss of the man she already loves so deeply?
Eugene's hand feels heavier than her hair ever was, when she carefully lays it next to him. His breathing is laboured, and she can hear his lungs straining against the shock settling over his body. Her hands hover above his wound, and her first thought is that she should try to finish her song, that maybe- maybe-
She can't bet Eugene's survival on her hope, she understands with a start. It's as if time resumes its course, and suddenly she realises that Eugene is still alive, still fighting and she needs to do something. She can't spend that precious time wallowing. She takes another look at his wound, trying to think about what she can do now that she doesn't have any magic left. His gasps of pain break her heart a little more, and she knows she needs to think quickly.
She remembers that, when she had been drawing in the public place, a little girl had fallen, and hurt her knee. Rapunzel had touched her hair worriedly, because she had felt guilty that she couldn't help, and Eugene, who had immediately noticed, had assured her that people healed naturally. "Sure, magic is quicker," he had added jokingly, "but doctors have learned to do without it for a while now."
Doctors. She needs to find help.
Her mind is muddled, going through every of her possibilities, though the first one she rejects outright is leaving Eugene alone and hurt while she seeks help. She might be faster by herself, but if he- if he's alone when- she refuses to leave him. There's only one thing left to do, and it's taking him with her to the Kingdom - her Kingdom. She may not know much about Corona, or royalty, but she knows being the Lost Princess will mean that they'll help her.
Most importantly, that they'll help Eugene.
Looking around, she gets up quickly to grab the closest tool she finds, brushing off the tears from her eyes. She would cry later; for now, she raises her hammer and strikes as hard as she can on the chain of the manacles. Her wrists are still burning from her time being bound; she had fought, of course she had, panic and horror in her throat because it was her mother and nothing made sense anymore, but she hadn’t managed to get free. She finds a sick comfort in striking the metal over and over again now, muscles hurting and arms trembling from the adrenaline.
The chain finally breaks. Rapunzel is shivering, but she can't stop to think about it. She pats Eugene's face as tenderly as possible, and he opens his eyes to a slit - but he doesn't seem able to meet her gaze. His skin is cold and clammy, and Rapunzel feels like crying, but she doesn't have the time for that.
"This is going to hurt," she whispers, loud in the silence of her broken childhood home. "I'm sorry."
His lips twitch, but he doesn't answer - she'll probably never know what he was trying to say. She takes one of his arms and passes it around her shoulders, this motion enough to make him whimper in pain. She repeats how sorry she is, again as she makes him sit up and he cries out, again as she gets them both standing in one swift movement, again as she sees a tear slips through his tightly closed eyes.
And again. And again. And again, because Eugene can't even hold himself up, and she feels his blood flowing under the palm of her hand, and he's hurt, terribly hurt, and it's all her fault. Now look what you've down Rapunzel, she thinks bitterly as each step of the staircase she had only discovered today feels like torture. The soft moans of pain coming from Eugene are preferable to his silence, but it's a terrible kind of preference. It means that he's alive, and that he's suffering, all because she was too gullible, too naive to see beyond her mother's lies.
She stumbles, nearly makes them fall, and the wrenched noise coming from Eugene is enough to make her dissolve in excuses and void reassurances, but it's not enough. It won't be enough until she saves him - but this thought is enough to spur her into motion again.
She's breathing heavily for the last steps, and Eugene is too, for different reasons. She doesn't feel like she'll be able to survive the abominable fear within her heart, not when she can hear how laboured and pained his breaths are. If he dies-
Maximus meets her at the base of the tower, looking scared. He startles when he sees Eugene barely hanging onto her shoulder, blood starting to stain the top of his trousers, and nothing of the confident thief he had spent these last years chasing. Rapunzel takes another step, and Maximus comes closer quickly, kneeling to make it easier for her and Eugene to climb.
She helps Eugene sit down first, before moving his right leg on the other side of the saddle. She sees as he clumsily tries to help, but he's too weak, and immediately starts to fall sideways - she keeps him sitting up as best as she can, and apologises again when a too sudden move makes him cry out softly. There's not enough apologies in the world to make this better. She sits down behind him, letting him rest against her chest, his hair tickling her neck as his head lolls on her shoulder. She holds him tightly, and tries to ignore the blood on her hands, and her dress, and Max's usually stark white coat.
She hears a squeak, and turns to see Pascal climbing next to her, looking sad and worried. Just like that, her guilt grows even bigger, because she nearly forgot her best friend in her panic; but Pascal pats her hand gently, settles on her thigh, and she knows she can't focus on that right now.
Maximus stands up again, and he takes off, going more quickly than Rapunzel ever went in her life. She has never ridden a horse before, but there's no joy to be found in the wind whipping through her hair and the scenery racing past her - she doesn't even notice these things. She's too busy listening to Eugene's raspy breathing, muttering comforting words that she's not sure he can hear, and praying, praying for everything to be alright.
She wants to believe in their happy ending. She wants to believe that unfairness has an end, that there is a kindness in the world that her mother had never seen, and that she deserves it. Rapunzel is tired of sacrifices.
She holds Eugene in her arms, and knows that she can neither wait nor give up on this new dream. She thinks about the future; thinks about it as much as she can when it feels like it's slipping through her fingers; and she knows that no matter what, she wants Eugene to be a part of it. She's certain already that the feeling blooming in her heart is love, that Eugene makes her feel seen and loved, and she doesn't want to go back to an existence without him. In three days, he gave her more than she had ever expected from life; he gave her comfort, and friendship, and trust. He gave her confidence, and pushed her to see that her life didn't have to stop at the lanterns, that she deserved more than what she had. He gave her the courage to stand up for herself, to reclaim the freedom that was taken from her so long ago.
And he gave her his life, too, or tried to, and now her only wish is to give it back. So she keeps Eugene nestled against her, and begs Maximus to go faster, knowing that he can't. Max still tries.
There's an irony in her place of birth being so close to her prison, but Rapunzel doesn't notice it, too busy panicking because she thought Eugene had stopped breathing. One hand under his neck, she seeks his heartbeat, and tries not to tremble when she finds it weak and uneven.
But Eugene is still breathing. It's an obvious struggle, but he does it. "It's gonna be okay," she whispers again, adjusting her grip on him. She can't let him fall. She won't let him die. "I'll save you. I promise."
Eugene doesn't answer. She knew he wouldn't, but it hurts nonetheless, because Eugene loves to talk, and tell dramatic stories, and laugh. She wants him to be able to do it again. She wants him to talk to her again, selfishly perhaps. She wants him to tell another stupid joke, and feel a smile so big on her face that it hurts her cheeks. She wants him to look at her again like she holds the universe in her eyes, she wants- she wants-
Maximus enters the kingdom at full speed, and she hears startled screams all around her as they rush through the streets.
"Halt!" someone yells, and Rapunzel sees the golden armours of the guards from the corner of her eyes, catching the sunlight as they run to corner them. Maximus is smarter than them, however, and manages to escape their strategy easily enough.
"It's Rider!" she hears too, the surge of protectiveness and anger within her another incentive to keep going, if she even needed one. She won't let anyone hurt Eugene more.
The horse's jumps and sharp turns save their lives, but make the travel rough, and Eugene's grunts of pain feel way louder and accusatory to Rapunzel than the chaos going on around them. Her hands are trembling. Her dress clings to her left leg because of the blood that Eugene is still losing, and the sensation is enough to make her want to cry, but she can't. Not now.
Maximus comes to a stop in front of the castle's doors, and what feels like hundreds of soldiers point arrows and spears at them. Rapunzel knows she can't be afraid.
"Rider! You!" a man shouts, and she recognises him as the one who ordered the soldiers around earlier. Their Captain? He's red with anger as he looks at them. "Both of you get down from this horse, you're under arrest!"
"I need help," Rapunzel says loudly, hating the tremors she can hear in her own voice. "He's hurt, and he needs a doctor."
The Captain pauses, his eyes not leaving Eugene, before a surprised smile appears on his face. "Well, at least he's gonna be easier to arrest that way. He's condemned to death anyway."
Eugene moans. She was holding him too tight. She breathes out an apology, and hopes he can't hear how furious she is. Still on Maximus, she towers above all these men, and feels the way her short hair moves with the wind as she raises herself up even more.
"You're going to let us through, and get us a doctor," Rapunzel orders harshly, "because I am the Lost Princess."
A heavy silence follows her declaration. For the first time, the Captain stops glaring at Eugene and looks at her, truly looks at her. She sees the mirth in his eyes slowly turns into awe, as shock, horror and a multitude of emotions play on his face. Rapunzel wonders if she looks like the mother she had seen on the mosaic, royal and graceful as she held her baby, strength shining in her delicate features; she wonders if she looks like the father at her side, eyes hard as he watched over those he loved, ready to protect them at any cost.
She knows that her eyes are as green as they were back then.
Chatters erupt among the soldiers, hiding the noise from the Captain's sword hitting the ground. His voice, however, cuts through the crowd easily.
"Lower your weapons."
"What-" "Cap!" "But-"
"I gave you an order!" Rapunzel feels like her entire body is buzzing with anxiety. The weapons are lowered. "Maximus, get them to the infirmary."
Just like that, they are moving again, the guards letting them go through the door. Rapunzel hears the Captain order someone to go find the King and Queen, but she's too focused on Eugene to care right now. She doesn't notice the beautifully decorated hallways, or the flock of guards following a horse inside the castle. She hears Eugene's raspy breathing, and feels how limp and heavy he is against her, and there's nothing else but these sensations in this moment.
They arrive in front of a door and nurses start piling out, assessing the situation in one glance and giving out instructions harshly. When guards try to help her lower Eugene, Rapunzel's first instinct is to fight them; fight to protect him while he can't, like he did for her before. Panic is choking her, but she comes to her senses, and lets them take him, as hard as it is. Quickly enough, Eugene is carried to a bed, and a woman is trying to ask her questions, but Rapunzel rushes past her mindlessly.
She's not going to leave Eugene alone. She thinks she says that out loud, because people look at her worriedly, before going back to their organised chaos. They force her to stay back a few feet from Eugene, and the distance feels like a physical strain.
There are too many people moving and talking around her, so she focuses on Eugene's face, the glimpses she gets of it, and ignores the way her stomach twists with fear. They're taking off his jacket, and the patch of bright red on his white undershirt makes her want to puke.
"-kay?"
"Huh?" Rapunzel startles, meeting a young woman's concerned face.
"Are you okay?" She points at the blood on her hands and on her dress. Rapunzel feels herself shake, and wishes the courage she had found in herself earlier hadn't faded away so easily. She feels young, and very stupid, suddenly.
"It's his," she chokes out, and that's enough to garner a look of pity and compassion - but she's already looking back at Eugene. She wants to hold his hand. Wants him to know that she's here, that she got help, that everything is going to be alright. She wants to believe that too, that soon she'll feel the steady and sure beat of his heart on his wrist, his breathing calm and peaceful.
She tries to take a step towards him, dizzy and terrified, but someone stops her. She's numb as she recognizes the Captain, his eyes disbelieving and, now, full of a certain softness as he watches her. It's a far cry from the hatred he had shown earlier.
"Rider needs space, your Highness."
"Eugene," she corrects, harsher than she intended, "his name is Eugene." And I'm Rapunzel, she doesn't add, still reeling from the title. She's convinced him fully, somehow, that she was telling the truth, but she still has trouble believing it herself.
"Eugene," the Captain repeats, but doesn't seem to care all that much - he's too focused on her this time.
"He- he saved my life. I just want him to know that… that I'm here," she stutters. It’s woefully inadequate to describe what Eugene did for her, but she’s not sure if that’s something she can truly explain. Every word feels lacking.
"Where... We searched for you," the Captain says fervently, as if he's scared she doesn't believe him. She doesn't care much about that, right now. "Everywhere, every year, we sent soldiers to find you. I swear-"
"It's okay," she mumbles, before cringing and repeating it louder. Her eyes keep straying to Eugene's prone form, hidden away by the medics around him, and the more she's away, the more terrified she feels. "I just want… I just want Eugene to be fine. Then I'll be fine."
The Captain grimaces, and she remembers dizzily that he hates Eugene. Or maybe he thinks Eugene won’t be fine? Before he can try to say anything, however, a nurse starts yelling that there are too many people here, and asks everyone who isn't necessary to leave. Rapunzel's head is swimming, her feeling both overwhelming and muted, and she's trying to come up with an argument to be allowed to stay - but, before she says anything, the Captain intervenes in her favour, and as easy as that, they move her around and sit her on a chair next to Eugene's bed. He has blood on his lips, and her eyes are glued to this speck of red against his too pale skin.
Time is moving too fast and too slowly. She blinks, and suddenly she has a blanket over her shoulders, and she feels Pascal holding her hand under it, hiding so he doesn't scare anyone. Her other hand is holding Eugene's though. It's the same hand that she healed, not even one two days ago. The same hand that cut her hair, and set her free at the same time it condemned him.
His wound is now bandaged. Her eyes go to it, and she sees that it's starting to bleed through anyway, his chest rising and falling achingly slowly.
"Miss?"
"Rapunzel," she says, noticing that there are way less people around Eugene now. There's still a guard at the door, and the same young woman from earlier is looking at her again, a kind smile on her face. “Is he… How is he?”
The woman bites her lips. That’s not a good sign. Rapunzel thinks distantly that she can still count on her fingers the number of people she talked to directly in her life, and she wonders if it’s why nothing seems to make sense. Her head hurt, like it sometimes does after a good, long cry, but she hasn’t spilled a tear since she saw Eugene abandon her - though now, she knows he didn’t want to.
Will she be able to ask him what happened? Will she be able to talk to him ever again?
The nurse is talking to her, but the buzzing in Rapunzel’s ears blocks most of it out. Her voice is nice, low and soothing, talking to her like she talked to hurt animals that sometimes ended up in her tower. The nurse’s hands are cold against hers, but she helps her wash off the blood with a wet towel, and Rapunzel is frantic to get it off, letting go of Eugene’s hand for a few minutes that feel like years. The other woman tries to get a look at the chaffing on her wrists, but Rapunzel doesn't let her, instead taking Eugene's hand again, because she wants him to know she’s here. She hopes he’s not scared. He doesn’t look conscious of much right now, but there are lines of pain around his eyes, and his mouth is twisted, and she’s… She’s worried. Terrified. She doesn't even notice the nurse leaving her side; she isn't aware of anything but Eugene.
Rapunzel did everything she could, but it doesn't feel like enough. So she watches over him, and silently swears to protect him, to never let anything else happen to him if only he can wake up for her this one time.
“Please,” she whispers, leaning towards Eugene, blind to the odd looks she was getting from the people in the room. “Just do this last thing for me, and I’ll never ask anything again, I promise.”
It’s the kind of promises that Gothel would have liked. But Eugene, she remembers, fought for her happiness, and sacrificed- tried to sacrifice everything for her freedom. Gently, Rapunzel pushes his hair from his eyes, and tries to come up with better words, a better promise that Eugene would want to listen to. And she knows it’s not money, not an island, not her crown that Eugene wants; it’s not her hair either, not her devotion, not her obedience and loyalty. He's not Gothel. He's not Flynn Rider. He's sweet, selfless, courageous Eugene Fitzherbert, and she loves him.
“I don’t think I can be happy without you,” she admits to him, and to herself.
She was scared to even think about it, this possible “after Eugene” that she can barely conceive. She still is. There’s no after that seems worthwhile, and her own words make it all the more obvious to her. But she’s still holding his hand, and he’s still breathing, despite it all, and she’s certain that, more than anything, Eugene wants her happiness.
So she promises him that there’s nothing that could make her as happy as his survival, and hopes that it will be enough. It has to be.
Doctors and nurses keep coming in and out of the room. They check on Eugene, and refuse to meet her eyes as they leave again, looking more worried than before. Rapunzel tries not to care. She wants to ignore everything but Eugene; wants to forget about the guard still standing here, as if Eugene was ready to spring up and flee the crown; wants to forget about the murmurs surrounding her, and the word "princess" people keep muttering. There were more people in the city, but Rapunzel has never felt as crowded as now.
The door opens. There’s a gasp, that Rapunzel nearly misses, so focused as she is on ignoring everything but Eugene. But she still hears it, and curiosity makes her look up.
When she raises her head, she meets eyes that are as green as hers.
She sees, from the corner of her eyes, a nurse curtsying before leaving the room quickly. The guard leaves too, without anyone having to ask him to. But Rapunzel barely notices it - her eyes are glued on the people who just entered the room; on the woman taking an unsteady step forward, looking exactly like her, and on the tall man behind her, his face a mixture of awe and shock.
The Queen and the King.
Her mom and her dad.
Something uncurls in her chest, and as she gets up slowly, still holding Eugene’s hand, she knows this… This feels right. This feels like the key to understanding a mystery she didn’t even know was there, feels like looking into a mirror and finally seeing in her appearance something that resembles home.
Rapunzel doesn't know who took the last step, but suddenly, her- her mom is holding her tightly in her arms, and she melts. Her mom is... She’s warm. She smells like flowers, somehow. And then Rapunzel’s dad is here, a steady and strong presence enveloping her, and it’s better than all the hugs Gothel ever gave her.
She doesn't know them, but she can sense how genuine their love is in the teary laughs from her father, and the contained shaking from her mom. And deep down, she wonders if she can finally fall apart here, secure in the idea that there will be someone to pick up her pieces.
Her hand still hasn't left Eugene's. They're all standing awkwardly next to his bed, and she knows she can't let herself cry now, not yet, not when he still needs her to be strong for him. Her mom’s hand trails down from her shoulder, before hovering above Rapunzel and Eugene’s linked ones, and she’s the first one to look up from the hug so she can watch Eugene. Her eyes crease with concern, and Rapunzel lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, because they don’t seem to hate Eugene. She won’t have to defend him from their words, won’t have to hear their disappointment in her choice of friends, won’t have to fight to heal h- for them to try to heal him.
“Is this…”
“Eugene,” Rapunzel interrupts softly, before biting her lips. “I- He’s the one who… saved me.”
“And we will do anything in our power to save his life, sweetheart,” her dad says, his voice low and warm. He still has tears in his eyes when he cups her cheek softly, as if he’s scared to touch her. “Is… Is your name…?”
“I’m Rapunzel,” she answers, suddenly wondering if that’s another thing Gothel took from her, another part of her identity that was lost all those years.
She’s reassured by her mom’s warm expression. “That’s the name we choose for you. After the flower that saved your life, and mine,” she smiles, brushing Rapunzel’s hair away from her eyes. “I missed you so much.”
Rapunzel isn’t sure what to say to that. She didn’t miss them, not really, because she didn’t know there was anyone she could miss - but she had been missing them, in a way. She can’t really explain. They don’t look like they expect an explanation, anyway.
They tell her their names, Frederic and Arianna. She’s not sure if they would be okay with her calling them that - Gothel absolutely hated being called anything but mother. Thankfully, she’s saved the awkward question by a little squeak from under the blanket.
Pascal pokes his head out. The queen gasps, and Rapunzel is already preparing her excuses, ready to beg mother to let her keep him because she doesn’t think she can survive without Pascal or without Eugene and she can’t-
“Aww,” her mom smiles, booping Pascal’s head. “And who’s that little guy?”
Eugene’s hand is still heavy in her own, but for an instant, Rapunzel feels lighter. She explains who Pascal is, and wishes that there was a soft and joking voice next to her arguing that he was a frog, not a chameleon.
But Eugene stays unconscious, and despite being surrounded by new people that love her, Rapunzel feels lonely.
The night is cold.
Rapunzel still has the blanket they gave her earlier, but she's shivering despite it. Everything is silent, except for her breathing and Eugene's, though his is so quiet she has to strain to hear it.
"This night will be tough," the doctors had said to her parents, when they thought she was too far away and distracted to listen. "There's a chance that Mr. Fitzherbert won't make it."
Her dad (the word still felt new in her mind, because she never had a dad before, and never thought she would) had asked quietly about Eugene's odds, and she didn't hear the doctors' response, but their faces were answer enough.
She hates the hopelessness that's growing within her. She hates that she can't be strong enough to ignore the crushing panic and fear that Eugene is going to die.
She doesn't want to grieve him.
When her parents told her that she had a bedroom for the night, and that she needed to get some sleep, she said that she wanted to stay here. When they assured her that Eugene wouldn't be alone, she asked if she could be the one who looked after him, if they could be left alone. Her parents couldn't refuse her anything. (Some part of her mind whispers that it's because they think Eugene will die, and don't want to keep her away. Rapunzel is too tired to fight it.)
Her chair is close enough to the bed that she can rest her head on the pillow easily, but she's too scared of falling asleep to do it. She hadn't slept the night before already, instead walking all night with her heart in her throat and her mother- Gothel at her side as they made their way back to the tower. The exhaustion is making her jittery now, but if she closes her eyes and Eugene dies, she will never forgive herself.
Eugene coughs. It sounds like he's breathing broken glass, and Rapunzel can only stroke his cheek gently, trying to bring him comfort in the middle of this pain. She's not sure it means much, but just in case it does, she'll do it.
"It's gonna be okay," she says softly. "No matter what, Eugene, you'll be fine."
She realises halfway that this sounds like a goodbye. But Eugene is hurting, face pale and pinched as sweat makes his hair stick to his forehead. Eugene is hurting, and earlier she told him that he needed to wake up so she could be happy, but if he can't- if he dies, thinking that he was disappointing her, that he was responsible for her sadness, Rapunzel would never forgive herself.
So this is a goodbye, maybe. She doesn't want it to be.
"Thank you," she breathes, bringing her face close enough that her nose nearly touches his.
The moonlight is the only thing illuminating the room, and it's oddly reminiscent of their time in the flooding cave, the darkness revealing their softness and vulnerabilities. Eugene Fitzherbert, he had told her, a shy and awkward smile on his lips - but a genuine smile, which shone brighter than her hair ever did, and gave her the faith to keep going.
"Thank you, for everything," she repeats, her heart and her voice breaking as one. Her lips tremble. Eugene's breathing sounds slower, more difficult as time goes on. "Thank you for breaking into my tower," she laughs wetly, "and for making me meet all these wonderful people. Thank you for taking me to the lanterns and- and thank you for making me see how much more life had to offer."
Thank you for saving me, she can't bring herself to say, because she has never wished for anything more than for Eugene to have been a little bit more selfish. He should have saved himself, her mind keeps screaming, with an accusatory and angry tone she barely recognises. (“You should have saved him,” it yells even louder. Rapunzel squashes the self-hatred, knowing that it will come back with a vengeance later.)
She puts her hand above his heart softly, and feels the slow and jerky inhales of his lungs, and knows that she failed. She failed, and she lied, because she didn't save him, and he's going to- he...
Eugene is going to die.
The tears she had managed to keep at bay until now flood her eyes. She sniffles quietly, and wonders if she made a difference at all, if all of this... if it helped Eugene, or only helped her. She wonders if that was her being selfish again, hurting those she loves because she wanted more of life than what it could give her.
But she can't regret fighting for Eugene. She knows he would have fought for her too, that he wouldn't be angry with her for wanting to be free, or to save his life.
"Thank you for being my new dream," she whispers, because she doesn't think she can voice the affection and hope and love he gave her in another way. Eugene had found exactly the right words, as he always seemed to do.
She might have dreamt it, but a smile seems to appear at the corner of his lips, tiny and fleeting before she can truly look at it. Eugene sighs, a little louder than before. She's close enough to see his face relaxing unnaturally. Close enough to hear that there's nothing to hear anymore. Close enough to feel when his chest doesn't rise up as it should.
Just like that, Eugene is dead.
Gently, feeling as if her hands aren't really hers, Rapunzel touches Eugene's cheeks, her thumbs tracing faint circles under his eyes. He's still warm. The night is still cold. And Rapunzel is freezing, her heart like ice into her chest, spreading numbness in her veins with every beat.
"Flower gleam and glow," she sings, without even thinking about it. Maybe she's seeking the warmth the incantation always gave her. Maybe she's not ready to give up yet. She doesn't know. She doesn't know, doesn't think, as she rests her forehead on Eugene's, her eyes blurred by tears.
(Let your power shine)
Rapunzel keeps singing. The words she knows by heart feel different on her tongue.
(Make the clock reverse)
(Bring back what once was mine)
They're bitter.
(Heal what has been hurt)
(Change the fates design)
They're desperate.
(Save what has been lost)
(Bring back what once was mine)
It's a hope she can't help but cling to, even though it's burning her. But the song doesn't answer. The warmth of the sun has disappeared, dying with Eugene, perhaps. It would make sense. He has brought light into her life, of course it would die with him.
"What once was mine," she finishes, thinking of everything they shared, everything they should still get to share together, because Eugene didn't deserve to die like this, not this young, not this painfully, not- not because of her.
Eugene deserved... They deserved a happy ever after.
She can't stop her tears any longer. There's no need to be strong anymore, so she crumbles and sobs over him quietly. The world feels small. Muted. Like it's narrowing around herself.
And then, there's a light.
She opens her eyes in time to see the remnants of a golden flower disappear from Eugene's cheek, colour coming back to his skin. Before she can process that, his wound starts glowing under the bandages, the strands of lights like warm and bright gusts of winds around her. She's breathless, eyes wide with disbelief as they switch between Eugene's face and the flower made of light erupting from his wound.
The light disappears as quickly as it came. There's a beat, a second when Rapunzel isn't quite sure what to expect, and her hands tremble as she tries and fails to push her hair out of her face.
Eugene blinks his eyes open, and whispers her name.
"Eugene?" she asks, because she's scared of believing it's over only to be hurt again, and she can't... she doesn't understand how-
"Did I ever tell you I've got a thing for brunettes?" he smiles, and that's such a Eugene thing to say that relief explodes in her chest all at once, and she scrambles on the bed to hug him, new sobs escaping her. He hugs her back tightly, his head on her shoulder, and he feels here and alive and strong - it's the best thing she has ever felt.
She can't stop holding him, even as she raises her head back up to look at him. She sees the tears in his own eyes, and the shy, happy smile on his lips, and she can't contain the love she holds anymore. She kisses him, and nearly cries when he kisses her back, both desperate and happy and an impossible mixture of other emotions too. He's warm under her. His pulse is fast, but it's because she's kissing him, and nothing else. He shuffles to sit up more correctly, and she hugs him again, whispering his name over and over, scared that it's all a dream.
But this feels real, like nothing has ever felt. The sun is rising slowly, but Rapunzel's sees its light already in the way Eugene's eyes shine when he looks at her.
"You saved me," he whispers, his nose touching hers. She thinks of all the ways she failed to do that, or at least tries to, but he's already cupping her cheek softly, as if he knew exactly where her mind would go. "I don't remember everything but... But I know you saved me. And even before that you- I... You saved me, Rapunzel. Thank you."
"Thank you," she answers with a laugh, tears tracking down her cheeks. This isn’t a goodbye anymore, and the realisation makes her hold on him even tighter, the tears falling faster. "Thank you for saving me too."
She’s not sure if she’s talking about him cutting her hair, or him coming back to her. Maybe it’s about him, making her see that she deserved to be free, that she was so much more than what Gothel wanted of her. Maybe it’s about his smile, shining brighter than the sunlight behind him, making her life brighter too, only by existing.
She hugs him again, as tight as she can, and knows that whatever it is, her statement still holds true. Eugene is her new dream, and she’s his - she may not be sure of what her future holds, but she knows she’ll have Eugene at her side for it.
And there’s nothing that could make her happier.