At Least It's Too Cold To Sing

At the new queen's coronation, Rapunzel tries to amend for whatever losses she may have caused for the Arendellian royal family, and Eugene hopes it isn't with a duet. Series of related short one-shots. Rapunzel/Eugene.

A/N:

Sera: This one is pretty much all mine (I hope you can recognise the differences in our writing styles), but credits to MJ for the idea and editing. Rapunzel/Eugene, but not that fluffy. And yeah, I know Tangled fanfiction is pretty much dead at a complete stop, but the characters are super awesome. You got anything to add, MJ?
MJ: Just get started on the fanfic already.
Sera: Yep, she's fun at parties. Not that there are that many anyway.

Disclaimer:

Sera: All the characters belong to Disney, but this specific plot and writing belongs to me. La fin. But seriously, is all this necessary? I mean, it's fanfiction. Of COURSE it belongs to someone else. This should really come with a disclaimer.

"Mother!" exclaimed Rapunzel, slipping and sliding across the marble floors of the palace while holding a much-disliked pair of heels in her hand. "Okay. So, Eugene told me that I have these cousins who are like a couple years younger than me from the north! Can we invite them to the wedding? I can't believe I have a whole family I don't know about," she said breathlessly in the doorway to the queen, who was thoughtfully considering Rapunzel's request over a desk full of legal papers, which were all for Rapunzel's upcoming wedding."That would be lovely," the Queen of Corona stated. "But Arendelle's royal family has been closed off for years. They might not come."

Rapunzel looked crestfallen. "Oh. Well, thanks anyway."

"We can send them an invitation though," Queen Rosamunde amended. "I'll send an order for one right now."

"That would be great!" proclaimed Rapunzel, and just as quickly as she came, she slid back towards the dressing room, yelling a thanks and leaving many servants baffled in her wake.

Rapunzel barged into the dressing room where everyone would be fit for the upcoming royal wedding, and saw Eugene - who was clad in a simple suit with measurement marks on it - glaring at himself in a full-length bejeweled mirror. He smiled and turned around, seeing a winded Rapunzel waving at him, too choked to speak. She'd obviously ran all the way here. Eugene felt a twinge of pity for the poor girl who couldn't have had any exercise being stuck up in that tower.

"We're inviting the people… from Arendelle," she coughed. "I really hope… my two cousins come. I need to make up for lost time…" Sadness flashed over her face.

"Don't worry, Blondie," Eugene said, trying to seem uplifting, even though he was slightly lost. He pet Rapunzel's head. "I'm sure they'll come."

Rapunzel then seemed to take more notice of what was going on. She gasped. "Is that your wedding suit? You look great! I can't believe it's in less than a month!"

"Me neither," Eugene said quietly. "Seems like yesterday I was an orphan boy trying to make a living."

There was silence for a moment between them two, and then the tailor, who had been poring over silk and a sheet of measurements, coughed. Eugene was relieved. It'd seemed like a duet between the soon-to-be-weds was about to start.

"Sir - Mister - um." He licked his lips, unsure of what to address the soon-to-be-wed man. "Fitzherbert, would you come here for a moment?" He beckoned for Eugene to come over and brandished a sheet of measurements.

"I'll leave you two here for now," said Rapunzel, not wanting to be a disturbance. She smiled, shoved her feet inside the slippers, and made her way to her room, trying not to trip.

For one of the first times in his life, Eugene woke up early. Earlier than his standard, at least. His first instinct was to grab a pillow and shove it over his face to prevent the first rays of sunlight streaming in from the window and groaned. Then he heard a familiar voice.

"Eugene?" said Rapunzel sleepily. Eugene turned around and saw Rapunzel blearily blinking next to him. He freaked out.

"Wait - Blondie - what are you doing here? You know you're not supposed to be here - especially this early. Wait, why are you in bed? Wait - what - why are we -"

Rapunzel grabbed her own pillow and thwacked Eugene's face with it. "Fitzherbert? You in there? I never thought you were this bad in the morning. We're married, remember?"

The new Prince Consort's wide eyes slowly gained a spark of recognition. "Oh." He sank back into the sheets. "I knew that."

"Sure you did," said Rapunzel sleepily, voice muffled by the blankets.

"Mother? Father?" Rapunzel stood tentatively in the doorway in front of her parents. The king and queen smiled at her. "Did my cousins and aunt and uncle come? I don't think I saw them."

The older royals frowned, and the king spoke. "They sent us a letter, saying that Arendelle's king and queen would arrive, but… they weren't there,"

Rapunzel bit her lip. "Did something happen to them at sea?"

Her parents shared a glance. "Perhaps," they said. "They had to cross the North Sea. The almanac said that it would be stormy around the oceans… but we'll have to wait and see, and then again, there would be messengers if something had happened."

"Alright," said the newlywed, not looking too comforted.

"Eugene?"

Eugene brushed the hair out of his face and looked towards his door, which was opened a crack, revealing the queen's face. Rapunzel really is the doppelganger of her, he thought.

"Yes?" he inquired politely. He was still nervous around the royal family, and would probably never cease to be. Then he took notice of the queen's face and groaned.

Rosamunde nodded apologetically. She had that look when they had to bring Rapunzel bad news and needed Eugene to do it, "because she was more comfortable with him".

"What happened?" he asked. This could range between from just Rapunzel - it's raining today and you can't play with Pascal to I'm sorry, but this servant knocked over your canvas while setting up the sheets to Okay I'm really sorry Blondie but your parents forced me to tell you - the gardener's dog died.

The queen spoke, jolting him back to the present. "Remember her family? In Arendelle? My brother, his wife and two children?"

Eugene nodded. The kingdom that had shut its castle's gates to everybody - nobody ever saw the two princesses or their parents. Rapunzel had really wanted them to come to the wedding, but what a government.

"A messenger came. My brother and his wife… they died at sea. Their children stayed at the castle, however."

The prince's eyes widened and then he focused on Rapunzel's mother. She'd said this impassively - not in a bored tone, but quite calmly, and he frowned.

Seeing his expression, Rosamunde shook her head. "I wasn't really that close to my brother. We had… a falling out of sorts, and then he never really spoke with us again. I've never met his daughters."

She cleared her throat. "Tell Rapunzel. Please make sure that she doesn't blame herself."

And then the door closed with a quiet click.

Eugene turned toward the second door - not the one leading into the corridor that the queen had just left, but the one on the right that led to Rapunzel's studio. Rapunzel had specifically requested a room with somewhere she could paint and with many balconies, but her husband was still getting used to the fumes.

He was planning how exactly to tell the princess the news but then noticed the door was opened a crack, and saw a shadow move. Oh no. He sighed and walked over to the door, slowly opening it, revealing a half-finished portrait of Maximus. Rapunzel, clad in a green dress, was huddled against the wall, limp paintbrush in her hand. He sat down next to her.

There was silence except for Rapunzel sniffling once or twice.

"It's all my fault," she said quietly.

"No, it isn't!" Eugene tried to console her.

Rapunzel turned to him. "I asked for the king and queen to come for the wedding… and now two girls who are younger than me are orphans! They lost their parents, because of me! I can't believe… do they know? What would they think if they knew?"

"If they knew, they wouldn't blame you," Eugene consoled. "You had absolutely no idea, and heavens, it was our wedding. You just wanted to see your relatives."

He hugged her, and Rapunzel smiled a little. "We'll go visit them, okay? They'll have a party or coronation sometime. I'm sure they won't mind."

"I think that's the princess!" whispered Rapunzel, pointing to a strawberry blonde who was exiting the gates of Arendelle's castle. Eugene squinted. Was she… singing? Oh, heavens. Well, he should've been used to it by now. Hmph. Blondie had, what, five solos after they came back to the castle. And like, one duet.

Rapunzel noticed too.

"Oh, this is not becoming a duet," he muttered, and carefully steered Rapunzel away from whatever serenade she could come up with by her shoulders.

"But I have all the lyrics and everything," she complained.

"We came here for the coronation of Queen Elsa, remember? Blondie. You promised. No singing for a month."

Rapunzel sighed. "Fine. But I'll apologize to the queen and princess… right?" She turned to her husband.

"Of course. And give our congratulations."

They entered a massive ballroom, bigger than Corona's. "Whoa," they breathed simultaneously.

"There's so much people!" Rapunzel all but squealed. And before she could start greeting everyone and introduce themselves, or even worse - burst in song, he took her hand and led her to the queen. Her hair was platinum blonde, almost white, and her face looked tense. She had bright but cold blue eyes and wore traditional Arendellian attire with a cape, complete with gloves.

"Congratulations, Queen Elsa" said Eugene, bowing. "I am the Prince Consort from Corona. This is Princess Blon - Rapunzel."

Rapunzel's eyes were wide and she seemed to shrink in herself. Eugene nudged her and Rapunzel took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry!" she burst out. "I really, really didn't mean for that to happen - like it was our wedding, and I'd never seen you before, being locked up, well not really locked, but in the tower for so long -"

"She's the lost princess," Eugene clarified.

The queen's face was strained, but then she smiled in recognition. "It's nice to meet you after so long," she said. "My father told me about you two."

"About that," Eugene cleared his throat. "Well - "

"Your parents were travelling to our wedding when they drowned, and I insisted on inviting them," interrupted Rapunzel, wringing her hands. "I am so, so, so sorry…"

Queen Elsa's eyes sparkled. "You sound like Anna when she confesses that she'd stolen all the chocolate," she said. "It's fine, really… I wasn't that close to my parents either. It wasn't your fault."

"But you can't bring back the dead," said Rapunzel, and Eugene sensed that there was much more behind that statement that Rapunzel seemed to let on. Then Eugene coughed.

"Well, not really," continued Rapunzel.

Elsa briefly thought about if her relationship with Anna would've been better if her parents had lived, and then shook her head. "It's okay," she said softly. Then she changed her speech into a more regal tone. "I hope you two enjoy your stay. And Princess Rapunzel?" she asked.

"Yes?" said the princess.

"You should go see my sister, Anna."

Rapunzel smiled. "I will," she said, and exchanged glances with Eugene, nodding, and slipped into the crowd.

"Thanks a whole lot," hissed Eugene to the Arendellian queen. "I bet there are going to be, like, five duets to come." He paused. "Wait. What if Blondie makes me join in? There CAN'T be a trio song."

Despite herself, Elsa snickered. "Good luck."

A/N:

Sera: Well THAT turned out NOTHING like we thought it would. So for this, I took care of the story and humour (well at least I thought it was humour), and MJ helped with little bits of writer's block and grammar.
MJ: And TBH Sera, I don't understand why you called it that.
Sera: Oh, yeah. We were going to write an extra scene when the freeze was over and Eugene and Rapunzel are on the ship, and the title is what Eugene would've said.
MJ: :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
Sera: Yeah, MJ really wants that extra scene. But hey, I thought it was good left at that.
MJ: Aye. Oh well. Anyways, any reviews and favourites would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for your time!
Sera: And also, if you have any suggestions for what we should write next, that would be great. Maybe even the missing scene from this story.
MJ: If so, PLEASE ASK FOR THAT, I really want Sera to write it!
Sera: Yep. We're planning on the next fanfic to be a 50/50 share of work, though. Au revoir!
MJ: Adios!