Woo! New fan-fiction! Hello, everyone! Phew, who thought I was off the grid? Well, I'm back and now you all get read another crummy old, feel fest Tangled fan-fiction. ;) Try to enjoy it and don't forget to leave a comment.

Chapter 1

Rapunzel skipped down the corridors of the palace, Pascal swaying on her head. Eugene was a few steps behind. She was happy, humming to herself. Eugene was happy too, just watching her be happy. She turned around and started walking backwards, so she could talk to Eugene.

"So, do you have any suggestions for activities today?"

Eugene shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you decide?"

"I always decide," Rapunzel said, sticking her tongue out in jest.

"Just think of it as practice for when you rule."

"When we rule," Rapunzel corrected. "I don't want to sit on any fancy seat if you're not right by me."

Eugene smiled at his princess' sweetness, but he knew the best he would get when she became queen was prince consort. He barely even held the title of 'Sir Fitzherbert', and he'd only gotten it because he found the lost princess and had married her.

Rapunzel was still walking backwards and Eugene was starting to get nervous about it.

"Blondie, will you turn around and walk proper? You're going to trip or something."

"But I like walking backwards. It's fun, and I'm not going to trip or anything."

"Will you just make your husband happy and turn around so he's not a nervous wreck anymore?"

"Oh, fine." Just as she put her foot out to spin herself, a door in the hall opened and out stepped the king and queen.

"Oh, good morning, Mother, Father." Rapunzel waved. Her foot was still out to spin around, but she was still moving backwards. She teetered to her left, just at the top of a flight of stairs. She didn't have the time to right herself.

"Rapunzel!"

Eugene bolted down the hall to her, managing to get her just as she started down the stairs. He went with. Eugene cradled her against the fall, taking the bumps and hits of the granite staircase. His head knocked a corner and stars flashed across the closed lids of his eyes. His grip on his wife faltered and the two flopped down the rest of the way to the landing. Eugene didn't move.

Rapunzel moaned in his arms and sat up. His arms fell from their protective hold and dropped on the floor. Rapunzel looked at him, concerned.

"Eugene?" He didn't stir. His head was bent to one side, his face obscured. Rapunzel pushed him on his back.

Her parents were at the head of the stairs.

"Rapunzel, Eugene, are you alright?"

But Rapunzel did not hear her mother's question. She only saw that Eugene still had not opened his eyes.

"Eugene? Eugene?"

Pascal, who had held on for dear life on the trip down, crawled down Rapunzel's arm and on to Eugene's chest. He peered at his face, poked it with his tail, then slapped it. He even tried sticking his tongue in Eugene's ear, but that didn't wake him up like it usually did.

"Oh, Eugene, please, please open your eyes."

He moaned and Rapunzel gave a little sigh. At least he was alive.

The king and queen hurried down the stairs, just as a few servants and guards arrived, having heard Rapunzel's panicked voice.

"Your majesties, what's wrong?" They saw Eugene lying on the stair landing in Rapunzel's arms.

"Eugene has fallen down the stairs and has been knocked unconscious," said the king to his men. "Carry him to his room and send for the royal physician."

Rapunzel was still not aware of her surroundings, so when the guards knelt beside her to pick Eugene up, she jumped. Her mother patted her shoulder.

"It's alright, dear, they're just taking him to his rooms to be looked at by the doctor."

"Doctor? You think Eugene was badly injured?"

"No, darling. I'm sure he has a very large goose egg forming right now, but I'm sure he'll be fine."

Rapunzel let the men carry her husband (something she knew he would be furious about if he found out he'd been carried) and followed them to the room she shared with Eugene, her parents just steps behind her.

She was trying to let her mother's words comfort her, but she had a horrible feeling of dread that Eugene was not entirely alright.