Eugene urged Maximus faster and faster through the forest, the wind stinging his eyes and face. His heart was pounding against his chest, and his arms and legs were shaking with fear. His head was hazy and only one thought ran through his mind: please let her be okay. Together he and Maximus rode through the trees and into the clearing where the vine curtain hung. They sped through it and Rapunzel's tower was in sight. When they'd ridden close enough, Eugene threw himself from the horses' back and ran to the foot of the tower, shouting for Rapunzel to throw down her hair, hoping with every inch of his being that he wasn't too late. There was no reply. In sheer panic and desperation, Eugene began to climb the walls. Just as he'd started to climb however, a long river of golden hair came cascading from the window and his heart jolted with the feeling of euphoria when he saw it.

Eugene pulled himself up and began to climb Rapunzel's hair, his arms still weak from his earlier panic. He hoped that his weight tugging on her hair wasn't hurting her, and so in spite of feeling drained, he pulled himself up as fast as he could.

Once reaching the window, he jumped through it. "Rapunzel! I thought I'd never see you again." But the smile on his face quickly vanished as he looked up to see her gagged and bound in chains. Cold dread washed through him. She was struggling against the chains and obviously trying to shout something at him, but before he could move towards her, he felt the cold metal of the dagger slide into him. A sharp stinging pain exploded in his gut, causing him to fall to the floor and clutch at where the dagger had struck, a dull throbbing ached around his whole body as he gasped for breath. He felt the wet blood ooze between his fingers as he heard Rapunzel's muffled voice again. He whispered her name, hoping she would come to him "Rapunzel..."

"Rapunzel, really." Gothel's voice rang out in the tower as the chains clattered chinked. "Enough already! Stop fighting me!"

"No!" shouted Rapunzel. "I won't stop for every minute of the rest of my life, I will fight. I will never stop trying to get away from you!" Her breathing was heavy and her voice was panicked. Eugene looked up, seeing Gothel tower over her, an enraged expression on her aging face. "But," Continued Rapunzel, "if you let me save him, I will go with you."

"No!" gasped Eugene "No, Rapunzel!" He tried to pull his way to her, but his strength was fading rapidly. The room was beginning to spin and he could feel the dampness of his blood soaked tunic on his hand.

Rapunzel's voice rang out in his ears again. "I'll never run. I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him, and you and I will be together, forever, just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise. Just like you want." Eugene could hear the desperation in her voice. "Just let me heal him."

Gothel considered Rapunzel for a moment, then smirked at her. "As you wish, dear." she said, a cold smile creeping its way onto her face.

She unlocked the chains from Rapunzel's wrists and marched over to Eugene. "Get up." She demanded. Eugene tried to push himself up, but fell back to the floor with a groan, the pain in his gut erupting again.

Gothel sighed, snaked her arms under his armpits and dragged him backwards. Eugene yelled out in pain as the sudden movement ripped the dagger wound open further. Gothel dropped him against a pillar and fastened the chain, which once bound Rapunzel, to his left wrist. "In case you get any idea about following us." She sneered.

Eugene's eyes were fading in and out of focus, noises in his ear sounding more and more muffled, and the pain from the wound was subsiding, which relieved and worried him at the same time.

"Eugene!" It was Rapunzel's voice from beside him. He reached out to touch her and she pulled back the hand covering his wound and gasped. "Oh. I'm so sorry. Everything is gonna be ok though."

"No, Rapunzel." Eugene's voice was strained. He tried his best to cover the wound back up and push her hands away; he had to stop her from healing him. He had to let her live. Just then, a light shone in his eyes, at first he thought he had faded into the next life, but a slight repositioning of his head told him otherwise. It was then that he noticed the shattered mirror behind her.

"I promise. You have to trust me." Her voice was reassuring, but still sounded troubled.

"No."

"Come on, just breathe."

"I can't let you do this." He said. It was becoming harder to talk, harder to breathe.

Rapunzel looked at him then. Her brilliant emerald eyes full of worry, "And I can't let you die." She whispered.

"But...if you do this...then you...will die." Eugene knew there was no way to convince her not to heal him, so with his right hand he felt around the floor for a fragment of the shattered mirror; its pieces were scattered everywhere.

"Shh" said Rapunzel, "Hey. It's gonna be alright." She tried to smile at him, and pulled his hand away from his wound once more.

Finally, his hand felt the ragged edge of the mirror and he clasped it tight. "Rapunzel...wait." With every last ounce of strength he possessed, Eugene pushed himself towards her, brushing his left hand gently across her face. He looked into her eyes and knew that he would forever regret not kissing her now, but then, in one swift movement, he clasped her hair and tore at it as hard as her could with the mirror fragment. Just as he'd hoped, the hair came away in his hand, and so he gave into exhaustion and slumped against the pillar once more, hair and mirror fragment falling to the floor.

"Eugene!" gasped Rapunzel. She grabbed at her hair; now short and brown. He smiled slightly, he always thought that she would suit it better that way.

"No!" shrieked Gothel, desperately clutching Rapunzel's fallen hair to her chest; which had also turned brown. "What have you done?"

She continued to shriek and scream as the power of the magic was undone, and Eugene slowly closed his eyes; they were becoming too heavy to keep open. He heard the fading muffled sounds of the old lady screaming and then silence. Suddenly, Rapunzel was by his side again, repeating his name. She grabbed his hand and buried it in her short brown hair.

"Flower gleam and glow," she choked through her tears "let your power shine..."

"Rapunzel..." said Eugene weakly. He could feel himself starting to slip away and forced his eyes open to look at her face one last time.

"Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine."

"Rapunzel!" It was useless, he thought – he'd already destroyed the magic of her hair. He was going to die. He had to tell her how he felt before it was too late.

"What?" she asked, her eyes filled with tears.

"You were my new dream."

She strained to hold back a sob and smiled at him, a beautiful mournful smile – the last thing he would ever see. "And you were mine too" she said.

Eugene tried to smile then. She felt the same as he did, his heart felt like it could soar. It was then he realised that his brief two days with her meant more to him than anything else that had happened in his life. He was glad that she was now free to live the lie she deserved. Eugene's eyelids proved too heavy once more, and his body suddenly felt cold against the warmth of Rapunzel's. He relaxed in her arms and let out a sigh. Suddenly everything was silent and dark and Rapunzel's touch was gone.

He was dead.