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Eugene felt the wind whipping around him as he bounced up and down on the galloping horse’s back, both he and the steed intent on making it to their destination as fast as they possibly could. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, all he knew was that he had to see Rapunzel again and make sure she was safe. He now knew that he loved her, and he had to protect her. He had been worrying about her ever since he got locked up in his jail cell, especially since he had learned about an old lady who knew about Rapunzel and her magic hair, and who was intent on capturing Rapunzel by any means. Take the lady and add on the fact that Rapunzel had been locked up and hidden for her whole life. Her birthday being on the same day as the lost princess. Her golden yellow hair. It was all starting to fit together in his head, and Eugene knew that, no matter what else happened, he had to get back to Rapunzel to tell her who she was. And that he loved her.
When he had been knocked out, tied to a boat, and sent to be arrested by his two old ruffian buddies, he knew what it must’ve looked like to Rapunzel. It seemed he had run away as soon as he had gotten the stolen crown back. It seemed he had been insincere the whole time, and was only nice to her to get the crown back. He couldn’t live with himself if Rapunzel thought that - he needed her to know that she had caused him to change for the better.
Now he was speeding his way to Rapunzel’s tower. After confronting the two guys who Eugene thought had taken Rapunzel in prison, he figured that Rapunzel had somehow managed to get away. He figured that she must’ve felt betrayed and scared for her life. So, the only place that he thought of where to look for her was her tower. The place where they first met. A place that she thought was one of safety and comfort for her. But Eugene was beginning to think that it actually was her prison- and that old lady was her warden.
Eugene and the horse burst through the curtain of vines that hid the entrance to the clearing where the tower was. He leapt off the horse even before he stopped moving.
“Rapunzel!” He called up to the top of the castle. If she was up there, he hoped she would at least let down her hair for him to climb up and let him explain himself. “Rapunzel, let down your hair!” If she didn’t let down her hair, it meant one of three things: she wasn’t here, she didn’t want to see him, or she was in trouble up there with the old lady. After a second of no response, Eugene couldn’t wait any longer and started grabbing and scaling the wall of the tower. Sure it was dangerous to climb up completely unsupported, but he had done it before and he could do it again. Then he heard the sound of shutters opening and he looked up. A thick, long, golden, beautiful stream of hair was thrown out the top of the tower. Eugene smiled and grabbed onto the hair, determinedly pulling himself up. When he reached the top, he grabbed onto the thick wooden window ledge and started climbing into the room.
“Rapunzel, I thought I’d never see you again,” he breathed, catching his breath. He heard a muffled alarming voice and looked up. It took a second for him to process what he saw and he gasped. Rapunzel was there, but she gagged and chained to the opposite wall, straining against her bonds and attempting to warn Eugene through the gag. Who had done this to her, was it the old lady? Where was he now? He stood there for a moment while his thoughts raced, but that one moment of vulnerability was his downfall.
A sudden sharp pain came from his right abdomen as a short sharp blade stabbed him from behind him. In all his travels and adventures as an orphan and a thief he had gotten plenty of scrapes and injuries. None of those had come close to the pain he felt in that moment. He felt the blade pulled from his back, his blood beginning to soak into his jacket and shirt. He grunted and fell to a knee, then fell all the way to the floor, moaning. It was so painful; he felt like his side was on fire. He couldn’t think, he could barely breathe. It hurt to breathe. How long would he last? He tried in vain to blur out the pain by focusing on his goal to protect Rapunzel. How had he already failed so badly? He had gotten reckless in his rush to get to her.
Whatever was happening in the room faded to the edges of his mind, and he vaguely felt someone step over his body. He heard noises that sounded like talking and muffled yells, but he couldn’t be sure over the sound of rushing blood in his ears. He grabbed onto his wound to attempt to somehow stop the bleeding or the pain- so much pain. He could barely move without making the pain spike even higher. He couldn’t think clearly. Then he heard Rapunzel's voice, so beautifully sweet to his ears.
“If you let me save him, I will go with you.” Her voice was soft and amazing, it helped to focus his mind. He then realized what Rapunzel had said. She was going to sacrifice her own life to save his.
“No!-,” he groaned, then grunted. Pain sprouted out as he exerted the effort to speak. Ignore it, he told himself. Stop her-- save her. He couldn’t let her do this. “No, Rapunzel-,” he strained to look at her from his position on the floor on the other end of the room. She couldn’t do this; he couldn’t let her. He couldn’t live with himself if he did. His life wasn’t worth hers. He was a lousy criminal who had too big of an ego, and she- she was perfect, innocent, intelligent. And so selfless.
“I promise, just like you want,” he heard Rapunzel plead to her captor, “Just let me heal him.” She enunciated every word in that last sentence. She was determined and she wouldn’t let him die. Eugene’s heart twisted. They were both willing to sacrifice themselves to save the other. Whoever it was Rapunzel was talking to seemed to relent to the promise, and Eugene weakly opened his eyes once more to see a pair of black boots enter his vision. Rough, wrinkled hands grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him backwards. Sudden blinding pain burst through his whole body and he cried out. His vision spotted with black and red dots, and he felt himself beginning to pass out. So much pain. Too much. But he had to hold on. He had to stop Rapunzel from her promise. He couldn’t let her live like this for the rest of her life.
He felt himself be propped up against a thick post, and those same wrinkled hands grabbed his right arm. His arm was pulled up and Eugene felt cool metal as the old lady enclosed a shackle around his wrist. “In case you get any ideas about following us,” the old lady explained in a low tone. He squinted up at her, wanting to see who the villain was. She was an old, evil looking lady and Eugene knew just by looking at her face that she would feel moral indifference if he died or not. She was callous and ruthless, and Eugene knew that he couldn’t allow Rapunzel to spend the rest of her life with only this old hag as company. She dropped his arm and it fell right onto his wound. He squeezed his eyes shut as pain exploded through him again. He started coughing and knew that he was dying. He felt so weak, he felt so much pain that he imagined the wound was starting to go numb. He tried to push himself up into more of a sitting position and he grunted with the effort that it took. He felt new soft hands on his cheek and heard Rapunzel’s voice right next to him.
“Eugene!” Her voice was so sweet. He grunted and slipped down towards the floor a bit, gasping at the pain that spiked from the wound being bent. He breathed deeply and tried to focus his breathing to distract him from the overwhelming pain. He grabbed his side with his right hand. Rapunzel’s hand touched his and moved it aside. She saw the wound and gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Everything is going to be okay, though.” She was speaking fast, and his pain-bogged kind could barely keep up. She began to gather a clump of her hair and pull it towards his wound.
“No, Rapunzel-,” he interjected in protest, staining to ignore how much it hurt to talk. He bright his hands up in an attempt to push Rapunzel’s hands away. If she healed him, she would follow her strong sense of morals and follow through on her promise. He knew she would no matter how hard her life would become.
“I promise,” Rapunzel continued, still pulling at her own hair and gathering it. “You have to trust me-.”
“No-”
“Come on. Just breathe.”
“I can’t let you do this,” he managed, looking up into her beautiful face and large eyes.
“And I can’t let you die,” she replied, looking back into his own eyes, tears welling up in hers.
“But if you do then you-,” he paused to take a breath, “-will die.” Why did it hurt so much, why couldn’t she see, why why-. His mind started to feel light, like he was going to float upwards.
“Hey!” She whispered to him, “it’s gonna be alright.” They both looked at each other for one last moment. Rapunzel held a firm, sad confidence in her eyes and Eugene knew that he couldn’t convince her to stop. He would have to take physical action to stop her, and he knew what he had to do. He knew what would rebuff the old lady’s desires. He hoped that Rapunzel would forgive him one day, but this would be saving her from a life in dark captivity. Rapunzel closed her eyes and opened her mouth to start singing the song that would begin the healing process.
“Rapunzel!” Eugene gasped, “Wait.” She paused and looked at him again, sadness filling her eyes the longer she looked at his dying form. Using the last of his strength, Eugene reached up and pushed Rapunzel’s hair behind her ear. With his other hand he grabbed onto a sharp piece of glass that had come from the shattered mirror in the room. He seized the many strands of Rapunzel’s hair in his fist and thrust the shard of glass through them all, cutting off her hair into short ragged sections and turning it a warm brown. The long golden strands lost their magic and even as the old lady panicked and grabbed what hair she could, the hair all turned a dull shade of brown. He knew that with the magic hair cut it would provide no more healing magic. He would die now, and he accepted that fact. As long as Rapunzel was safe, he could die. He finally stopped striving to stay awake and gave in to the pain. His body went limp and his world went black. He felt the thud of his hand hitting the floor and released the glass shard from his grip. His body felt heavy but his mind started to float upwards, and he thought he saw a pinprick of white light above him in the black void. He vaguely heard high-pitched screaming and knew in his heart that he had won. The old lady was defeated and Rapunzel was safe.
After everything went silent for a couple of moments, Eugene believed that he was fully fading from the living world. He began to wonder what came after life, what happened to the souls of the dead? Then he felt his body get pulled, and it took a few moments for him to realize that he wasn’t fully dead yet. His limbs felt like lead weights and he couldn't move. His mind felt like a balloon, tied by a thin string to his head that could snap at any moment. He heard Rapunzel’s frantic voice over his head. He coughed weakly, and realized he couldn’t even feel the pain from his wound anymore. He wasn’t sure if he was dead or alive. Rapunzel’s voice broke through the fog in his mind. She was crying and had started singing the song that sparked her magic hair’s powers. He knew that it wouldn’t work, he had taken all her magic hair from her.
“Hey-,” Eugene breathed weakly, willing her to stop. Her hair was gone, he was going to die. He had to make her see that. She didn’t stop singing. “Rapunzel!” He tried again, and this time it worked. She stopped singing and sobbed.
“What?” She breathed back to him. He couldn’t open his eyes, but he just barely could see through the crack in his eyelids. Her face was distorted with grief, and yet she still looked like the most beautiful thing in the world to him.
“You were my new dream,” He breathed, knowing she would understand his words telling her he loved her. He felt okay dying. She was going to be okay and she knew he loved her. Rapunzel sobbed.
“And you were mine,” she replied, voice cracking. He smiled weakly, using up the last of his strength. She loved him too. She was perfect.
Eugene let go. The string trying his mind down snapped and his time he really was consumed by dark blackness-- but it was comforting now. The pinprick of light grew bigger and brighter, and he floated up towards it. He heard soft singing, and thought of angels.
Heal what has been hurt…
Change the Fates’ design…
Save what has been lost…
Bring back what once was mine...
Suddenly he felt a small tingle. It was hard to describe since he no longer felt connected to his body. He thought it must’ve been on his cheek. Then, the tingling spread through his whole being and he was tugged, pulled back down, down, away from the white light. He felt grounded again, back in his own body. What was happening? Was he alive? His vision was filled with a golden light, and suddenly he knew. She had somehow found a way to heal him with her golden magic. The pain in his gut was replaced by a warm glow. He felt his body be healed, from the large life-ending stab wound to all the little scrapes and bruises he had gotten from his travels. He had never felt this good. The glow started to fade, and Eugene realized that he was breathing again, and he could feel his closed eyelids. He inhaled and exhaled and realized how he had never before fully appreciated being able to breathe. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Rapunzel’s beautiful, amazed face above him.
“Rapunzel?” He asked, wondering what she had done, how she had saved him. Whatever she did, he was so happy to see her safe, to be with her.
“Eugene?” She gasped. She looked desperately down at him, wondering if he was really okay.
Eugene said the first thing that popped into his head that would assure her that he felt great. “Did I ever tell you I’ve got a thing for brunettes?” He smirked.
Rapunzel gasped, then laughed. “Eugene!” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as she possibly could. He grabbed onto her firmly with his left arm, hugging her back, and used his other arm to push himself upright. Rapunzel leaned back for a second on his lap and looked into his eyes. She laughed again and went straight in for a kiss. After a second of processing the situation, Eugene softened and leaned into the kiss. He would never leave Rapunzel again. He loved her.