Author's Note: This story is a 'what if' continuation. I hope that you can find merit, even in the short first chapter. With help from Inali Grimalkin I came up with this premise. Please review.


Chapter One: Powerless

Tears can't save anyone. Though you may hope they would, at the moment you most need their magic, the love of your heart lays bleeding in your arms. As he breathes his last breath, you can feel your own heart collapsing in on itself.

She couldn't heal him. Why had she been able to heal all the wounds up until the one time that she needed it the most? That's right, it was him. He had cut her hair and freed her from the bonds that Mother had over her. Sadly, the cost was greater than the reward.

Rapunzel rubbed her face in Eugene's motionless chest, smudging her tears over her lashes. Tears were useless, so why shed them at all? She reached up and wiped her eyes with a hand, staring tragically down at her love. She pulled her arm out from under him. She knew that to sit here like a torn heroine and waste away over his corpse was pointless. She would grieve, maybe never stop grieving, but she would not give up the life that he had staked his on.

She leaned and kissed his dry lips, before standing, and turning away. She walked away and didn't look back. She would get her friendly thugs to gather him and lay him to rest; for she barely had the strength to keep herself on her feet.