It began at the end.
Rapunzel tried to bite back the panic rising in her throat, clutching Eugene's vest, strands of hair caught between her fingers. His breath was shaking as his fingers brushed her cheek. "You were my new dream," he whispered.
"And you were mine," she answered. What else was there to say? In the hours of pain since Mother had brought her back to the tower, Rapunzel had imagined thousands of possibilities for the future. Escaping the tower, exploring the world, and even finding her true family…she had envisioned every scene with Eugene by her side. She could not imagine leaving the tower without him, and suddenly he had reappeared; but just as quickly, she was alone.
His hand fell from her face and his face, already pale, turned ashen. His brown eyes disappeared behind heavy lids and something in his body changed, something in the weight of him beneath her hands. She hadn't realized how his muscles had been straining—toward what?—until they weren't any longer. His body was nothing but weight, and she knew. Although she'd never seen it, had only read brief snippets, she knew. He was gone.
She could not describe what she was feeling at that moment, as fear, desperation, and grief fought for precedence. Tears fell in hot tracks down her cheeks. The strands of long, brown hair tangled between her fingers felt familiar and foreign all at once, as if her hair had once been as living as the man before her, and was now just as dead. How many times had she taken the hair to an injury, singing the words, never understanding the consequences of wounds when they could not be healed? The song rose unbidden to her lips and she sang, choking out the words as though they still had power.
The moments dragged on as she cried, and she knew her tears were falling but couldn't care. Why couldn't she have healed him? Why would he cut her hair before being healed? Why did he make the choice between the two?
And then, heat blossomed underneath her palm as it tried fruitlessly to staunch the bleeding through his vest. And light. Golden light flowing, like water, curling through the air, and Rapunzel fell back, watching as it lit up the wound on Eugene's torso. What on earth? She had never seen anything like it. The light flew up into the shape of a sun, a flower, the emblem of Corona, and then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it dissipated around the room.
There was a tiny breath and Rapunzel's heart almost stopped in anticipation. Tiny splotches of pink colored Eugene's cheekbones. Wasn't he ashen pale before? Could it be?
His eyes fluttered open. Her heart missed a beat.
"Eugene?"
His voice answered, soft but strong. "Rapunzel?"
"Eugene!" Joy bubbled up, plowing over the grief in her chest, and he was alive. Without thinking she threw herself over him, falling farther than she had meant to, but his hand was there to catch her. It was a strong and sure as it had always been and he buried his face in her shoulder for a brief moment.
"Did I ever tell you I have a thing for brunettes?"
Rapunzel could not believe what she was seeing; his eyes meeting hers and the small smile on his lips. His lips. She suppressed a giggle and instead planted her lips on his. He stiffened and then almost immediately relaxed, holding her close, kissing her over and over.
And for a moment everything felt perfect.
But it was only a moment.