„I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid there isn't much we can do to help him. It would be best to say goodbye as long as you can."

Rapunzel stared at the physician in silence for one moment while she realized what his words, spoken with a calm sympathy and a sad face, meant. She searched for something in his dark eyes, for a sign that he lied, but she found nothing. He was serious. She swallowed hard and looked at him with a pleading expression. Her childlike green eyes shimmered wet.

"Please, help him", she asked him insistently. It couldn't be true that he would die now, after everything they had been through together. She couldn't let that happen. But the response of the young doctor was a cautious head shaking and a sympathizing glance.

"We gave him a blood transfusion set, but his wound is too bad. Maybe he has internal injuries. There is only an off-chance that he makes it."

Rapunzel didn't want to give up hope, but she nodded. The physician led her to the room he had just left, opened the door, let her enter and closed the door again to let the young women share some moments with his dying patient. Rapunzel let her eyes wander around the room. White walls, a grey floor, a device in which cables were plugged in. She heard beeps that filled the room in regular intervals. Her eyes finally stopped at the bed on the left wall of the rectangular room. She swallowed and could almost feel her heart breaking in her chest.

Rapunzel could see at first glance that the man she had learned to know and love during the past two days was in an incredibly bad condition. He was almost paler than the bed sheet under him and breathed very shallow and slow. He didn't even turn his head when she entered the room. He seemed to be even worse than he were one and a half hours earlier.

Suddenly, she saw everything that happened again before her inner eyes like it did the whole past hour. It was like a terrible movie you aren't allowed to switch out. She saw again how Eugene climbed through the window. Desperately she had tried to warn him of Gothel who stood behind the curtain with her gun in her hand, ready to shoot, but it was too late. He wasn't able to understand her because of the gag and she had to watch helplessly how Gothel shot and how the bullets dug deep into Eugene's body. Still the shots echoed in her head. She had propped against the shackles and still she hadn't been able to help her love when he fell to the ground with a pained face, clutching his bleeding side.

In fast forward she watched again how Eugene and she looked into each other's eyes after Gothel agreed to make a deal that bound her to her fake mother for the rest of her life. But so she would have been able to save Eugene and that was worth it. He had tried to convince her not to heal him. He wanted her to be free and to live her life. But she couldn't let him die. She didn't care if she was imprisoned for the rest of her life. His life was more important to her than her own freedom.

But he didn't want her to sacrifice herself. Instead, he cut her long blonde hair so she could be free. Only short brown tresses were left of her former golden hair. Without a chance to influence that process, she had to watch how Gothel turned old quickly and fell out the window. The scream the old woman let out in that moment would probably haunt her forever.

And then she had seen Eugene lying in front of her, pale and weak and with a weary expression in his warm brown eyes. Silently, he had formed words with his lips. She had understood what he wanted without him speaking. He wanted her to call the ambulance. She did, with a trembling voice and tears in her eyes. The whole time she had held him in her arms and prayed that he held on. He did, but now it seemed as if he were about to lose the fight.

Rapunzel began to realize the whole situation again and went towards him with hasty steps. Tears began to form in her eyes when she knelt down at his side and looked into his face. Automatically she ran her hand through his soft dark brown hair, until she finally stopped at the back of his head. She put her other hand on his chalky white cheek. He could feel her touch and his eyes opened a little. He couldn't open them completely, he was already too weak.

"Rapunzel." Eugene's voice was barely more than a breath, but the faint hint of a smile showed her that he was glad to see her. She sobbed.

"I'm here." Single tears ran down her cheeks and landed on the bed silently. She had already lost a person she loved today. Now she was about to lose the second. Eugene noticed her tears and lifted one of his hands weakly. He gently stroked her tears from her face.

"Hey, don't cry." She had to read this sentence from her lips more than she heard it, but she didn't care. She sobbed even more.

"I'm so sorry", she managed to say with a lump in her throat. Her voice sounded strange with all the tears in her eyes and the sobs in her throat. But that didn't stop her from talking to him. It was possibly the last time "This is all my fault. If only I had ...if I..." She couldn't continue to speak. Eugene kept trying to fight her flow of tears. He felt weaker than ever before, but he struggled to stay awake.

"No, it isn't your fault. After all, it was" he was interrupted by a weak cough that made Rapunzels heart hurt. "It was my own decision to cut your hair." He wanted to tell her so many things, especially three almost magic words, but he hadn't enough breath left. Rapunzel looked at him through her veil of tears.

"Why did you do that? I want you to live!"

"Because I love you and I would do it again. You were my new dream, Rapunzel." Eugene felt that he wasn't able to withstand the blackness any longer and what he said was something she should know and never forget. He saw Rapunzel smiling through her tears and sobs.

"And you were mine" she replied half happy, half sad. He loved her! She was happy that he returned her feelings, but the past tense made her painfully aware again that she was about to lose him forever. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly. He squeezed back as firmly as he could, but he was so weak that she barely felt it. Following a sudden impulse, she bent down to him and put her lips on his feather-light. Taken by surprise, he wasn't able to do something for a brief moment, but then he returned her kiss gently. It wasn't a very passionate or intense kiss, but it was very loving and sweet. It was Rapunzel who separated their lips after some time. She leaned her forehead against his.

"I love you, Eugene. Please don't leave me."

"I won't. I will be with you forever, no matter what happens."

"Please stay" Rapunzel cried helplessly. Eugene tried to smile, but he didn't succeed. He had to say something to distract her. He knew that it would not ease her pain, but she had done so much for him when she said she loved him.

"Did I ever tell you I have a thing for brunettes? You're beautiful." He couldn't see her clearly because his vision gradually blurred, but he knew that she was.

Normally, Rapunzel would have giggled now, but with him dying in her arms it wasn't possible. So she just shook her head and looked into his eyes.

"You were my new dream, never forget" Eugene whispered again. These were his last words. After a brief moment when their eyes had met once again and their gazes held each other's for a second, his eyes closed. His breathing faltered and eventually stopped completely. Rapunzel sobbed endlessly sad when a non-stopping beep filled the room. The creeks on her cheeks turned to rivers while she held him close to her.

"And you were mine."