hello, all! this is a story i hope to complete someday. this is based on a roleplay between ktlindee and i years and years ago. we loved the story and i want to rewrite it to the best of my ability and as much as i can remember. it's an awesome story and i would love to share it with the tangled fandom.

disclaimer: don't own tangled. or the series. god, i love the series.

Walk Away

Chapter 1

"I can't believe you're alive."

"I can't believe I'm alive, Blondie."

Disbelief shined so brightly in her eyes as the two of them sat up at the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the destruction around them. They fell into each other over and over again, only speaking when they parted to catch their breath. Afraid at any moment, either of them might wake up and this wouldn't be anymore than a dream. She would still be trapped, and he would still be imprisoned.

A gentle hacking noise came from across the room, and only she caught wind of it. He was too busy working on the skin of her neck with his lips to even notice, but frowned when she pulled away and stood up, seeking out the source of the sound.

"What is it-"

"Pascal!" she cried out, stumbling across the room to the chameleon on the ground. He hacked and coughed up what looked like blood from across the room. Eugene moved forward to get up, but the cold bite of the metal chain locked around his wrist reminded him he wasn't going anywhere.

She bent down and took the chameleon into her hands as gently as she could, holding him up to her face to get a closer look as he struggled to catch his breath. She looked around frantically, trying to find something to help him with, even though she had no idea how to help him. Without thinking, she shifted him into one hand and held him close to her chest as her other hand reached behind her to grab the air where her hair once was.

Realization hit her hard, and he swore could feel the heartbreak shatter the silence in the room.

She dropped to her knees, careful not to hurt Pascal, and held him as close to her as she could as she broke down into a loud fit of sobs. Sobbing for the pain of her only friend. Sobbing for the loss of the one thing that could save him. The only thing, she was brainwashed into thinking, she was good for.

Guilt washed over Eugene and he swore that this hurt more than the knife that had stabbed his side did. He wanted to take back time and fix this. Dammit, why had he gotten her into this mess in the first place. He should've seen the signs - her being hidden from the world and lied to. He should've kissed her on that boat and never looked back. He should've whisked her away and kept her as close as he could. Instead, he brought this giant weight onto her shoulders. She went from the best night of her life to knowing everything she's ever known was a lie.

He looked around, trying to find something to pick the lock on his wrist with. Finding a skinny, sharp piece of glass by his foot, he managed to jam it in the lock enough to get it opened before the piece shattered. Rubbing his wrist, he got to his feet and carefully stepped around the debris on the ground over to where she was a heap of dress on the floor.

"Let me look at him," he said quietly, brushing her hair behind her ear as she looked up at him. She gently held Pascal up, and Eugene took him into his blood-stained hands. He didn't know the first thing about diagnosing a medical condition within a chameleon, but the look on her face and the desperation in her voice, and not to mention he was starting to like the little guy, he had to become a veterinarian. And, by the way he was breathing, fast.

He set him in the window ledge so that he could see easier with the light. He had a big wound across the side of his stomach and his entire body shook when he took a breath. Eugene poked and prodded around to see what hurt and what didn't.

"Did you get thrown?" Shake.

"Kicked?" Nod-nod. "Jesus. Don't tell Blondie."

Rapunzel, on the other hand, had left the dark room and was pacing up in her room. She needed to escape to something that was still hers, and that hadn't hurt her. The familiar walls and the ability to be away from the glass, dust, and giant strand of hair in the main room kept her sitting on her bed with the flag of the kingdom, her kingdom, in her hands. She was the Lost Princess. A princess! Princesses lived in giant castles and wore fancy dresses and shoes and had balls and parties and parents-

Parents. Real parents. People who she looked like. People she belonged to. People she was stolen from.

She was the Lost Princess of Corona. The same princess who had just kissed the most wanted man in Corona.

She stood up and began to pace. Back and forth. Back and forth. She didn't know anybody. She didn't have anybody to go to. All she had was Pascal, who didn't break any rules, and Eugene, who has broken all the rules. If she went back to Corona, she couldn't leave him behind. He had saved her. She didn't exactly understand the feelings she had towards him, but she knew that she couldn't let him go. She didn't want him to go.

But she couldn't drag Eugene to the castle! They'd lock him up and he'd be gone. And who says they would believe her?

But the family she'd have waiting. The desire to meet her real mother and father bloomed so deep in her stomach that part of her wanted to jump out the tower window and run to Corona as fast as she could. But the thought of leaving on her own, and without Eugene, kept her at bay.

"Blondie?" She heard his voice and his footsteps coming up the stairs. She jumped, turning to stuff the flag under the pillow. He couldn't know. He'd take her back there himself and leave her. She couldn't lose him.

He rounded the corner, and her heart fluttered when she saw Pascal wrapped up in bandages, sleeping soundly in his hands.

"He's beaten up," Eugene said quietly. "But he's okay."

She rushed over to him and ran her finger along his tiny back, her eyebrows raised in a worried fashion. Not being able to heal him was weighing on her and she felt utterly helpless.

"Thank you, Eugene," she looked up at him. The fact that he was here, in front of her, was enough to send her into tears again.

"Hey, hey," he said, moving to set Pascal on a pillow before taking her into his arms and holding her as close as he could. "It's all over. It's okay. We're okay. I'm okay."

Heavy sobs shook her tiny frame as her mind filled with thoughts of life, love, and the kingdom that was waiting for her that she would never know.

let me know what you think! thanks so much! - lazf