An early afternoon breeze caused Repunzel's short brown hair to tickle the back of her neck tenderly. She smiled at how beautiful the morning had been. She just got done watering the flowers in her garden outside and was beginning to feel as cheery as ever. She sat up and giggled, only to notice she was still in her morning dress. She sighed as she set the water bucket down and ran back inside and up to her room where she saw Eugene sitting on her bed.
"Oh!" She jumped back only to come forward to hug her boyfriend. "Eugene! You scared me!" she giggled in his warm chest then fell silent in his warm embrace. This hug was different. And it gave her the feeling like something special was going to occur today. She began to laugh again and wrapped her arms around his small waist to lift him up just slightly. Even though she wasn't as strong as he was, she was just happy enough to get him on his toes.
He began to laugh with her. "-Punzel what are you doing!" He staggered. Almost falling, he took Rapunzel by the waist and lifted her so her body lay against him. She moved her arms to fall around his neck. His body was just perfect enough to support hers against his. They both continued to chuckle together. Eugene pushed his nose against Rapunzel's and sat her on the bed. "What put you in the good mood?" He sat beside her and smiled.
"Oh. I'm just in a good mood! I feel today is just going to be….a great day!"
"You say that everyday!" Eugene let his head fall into Repunzle's shoulder and laughed. Repunzle hugged his head and stroked his chin whiskers.
"No! I mean today is different! ... really different!" She lifted his head and humorously dropped it on the bed. He choked in the blankets. Her scent instantly filled his nose immediately arousing him. He loved her scent. So clean, so different, so perfect. He hummed silently.
"Maybe it will be a good day." He trailed off by bringing his lips to hers. Forgetting the very moment they were in, he brought his hand up to her smooth face and freely felt it. With his other hand, he stroked her hair and gently played with each smooth strand. He placed simple, small pecks on her mouth and took her face in his hands. She smiled at him.
"Love you, Eugene!" breaking the silence, she removed herself from his hands and hugged him tightly. Eugene put his face in her neck.
"Love you too, Rapunzel." He held her for a moment, and then jumped up from the bed. "Now…I want you to get dressed. He walked to her dress closet.
"Dressed?" She was confused as she watched him open her closet door to rummage through all her beautiful dresses.
"Yes…uhh…hmm…mhmm…" He adored every dress he saw. Some he had never seen her wear. "Aaah…this one!" He pulled out a lovely afternoon gown that was a simple blue.
"Ugh but Eugene…that one's so…plain." She gave the dress an ugly glare. It stared back it her shining from the light that came into the window.
"You've never even worn this dress before, have you?" Eugene sighed as he held up the dress to her. "This will look beautiful on you." He took her hand and pushed her into the changing room. "I'll be waiting." Eugene said humorously. He shut the door as Rapunzel gave him a funny smirk. Rapunzel really didn't want to put the dress on, but if Eugene insisted that it would look nice she decided to give it a try. Eugene waited impatiently wondering why it took woman so long to get dressed. Rapunzel looked at herself in the mirror. The dress hugged her waist tight and shown her entire back all the way down to the middle. She caught herself admiring how she looked. Tender, calm, and thin. "You ok in there?" Eugene's voice caused Rapunzel to jump.
"Uh…yeah?" She opened the door and shyly stepped out. Eugene stared at her.
"Aww!" He humorously ran up to her and hugged her. "You look so cute!" He snuggled his face into her cheek.
"Gah! No Eugene….really. Does it look ok?" She looked into his eyes shyly.
"Of course!" He smiled and whispered, "You look beautiful." They shared smiles for awhile until Eugene broke the silence. "But you'll look even prettier tonight!" He ran out of the room and hid outside the door. Rapunzel saw his eyes peep around the corner.
"Wha-?" Rapunzel was once again, very confused. "Eugene…What's going on tonight?" She began to walk slowly toward him.
"Shh! Close your eyes and count to ten!" He hid behind the door.
"But Eugene…?" She tried to peer around the corner. When she didn't hear a reply, she hesitantly shut her eyes and began counting. "One…two…three…four…" She kept her eyes shut and lazily flung herself onto her bed. She heard Eugene's running footsteps trail off down the hallway. "Seven…eight…nine…" She opened her eyes. "Ten." Rapunzel turned around and noticed Eugene had shut her door while she wasn't looking. She opened the door and looked both ways down the hallway, but saw no one. She stepped out and felt a crinkle of paper under her feet. She looked down and saw a piece of paper that said 'GO TO THE GARDEN' She looked up and smiled. "Flynn Rider…" She didn't know what he was doing, but it was mischievous. She decided to go to the garden to find her mother in overalls working on the garden.
"Good afternoon, Dear!" The queen stood up to hug her daughter.
"Mother, Eugene is acting really weird…" She looked down not knowing how to explain.
"Oh he's a bit cheery today-"
"So you saw him?" Rapunzel interrupted. "Do you know where he went?" She held her hands together hoping the queen would know why Eugene was acting this way. Her mother just smiled.
"Perhaps you should go look for him" She began to walk off.
"But mother I-" Rapunzel trailed off ignoring her mothers leave. She hopelessly looked down and found the watering can that her mother had forgotten to put away. Rapunzel picked it up to set back on the garden shelf. Just as she was about to set it back down, she noticed that floating in the water was a piece of cardboard. Rapunzel poured the water out and read the small piece of cardboard. 'GO TO THE GENERAL STORE'. Repunzle felt no need to go into the town. But she was determined where these notes were taking her. So she followed the path out down the long narrow road to downtown. Citizens greeted her politely and waved.
"Good afternoon, Princess!" "A flower for you, Princess," "Good day, Princess," "Where might you be going this afternoon?"
"Oh…just heading to the general store." Repunzle smiled and waved at all her people. Music played in the square. She was tempted to dance, but her mind was set on other things.
She opened the door to the store where the shop keeper waited at the desk for someone to come buy something.
"Oh! Good day, Madam!" He bowed his head.
"Afternoon." She walked through the isles impatiently trying to find the next note.
"May I help you find something, Princess?" The shop keeper asked as he was polishing a glass cup
"Umm….Has Eugene been in here?" She walked back up to the desk.
"Rider? Hmm…he might have been. I get so many costumers…" His tone was sarcastic.
"Was he? I mean…pardon me. May I look behind the counter?"
"For what need, may I ask, Princess?" He gestured her to look behind the counter. She looked in every cranny but found nothing.
"Hmm…nothing." She went back to the other side of the counter. The shop keeper smiled.
"We got a new shipment of parsnips in today, Madam. You know how much the townsfolk love your soup."
"I like it more than everyone else!" Rapunzel laughed and suddenly came to a conclusion. "The food!" She ran around to the storage to a box that said parsnips. She looked in the box to find what she was looking for. 'GO TO THE TOWN SQUARE.' "Right outside? Rapunzel looked outside puzzled. She had no choice but to go see. "Thank you, Sir!"
"Come back anytime!" They both waved good bye as Repunzle shut the door.
She looked around to see everyone doing their normal thing. As people passed her, they bowed their heads and continued walking. She came across the chalk mural of the town's sun symbol that she made 3 years ago on her birthday. She heard music play and just insisted she HAD to take a break. She began dancing and pulling in citizens that walked by. She jumped around with the children, polkaed with the woman, and waltzed with the men. And in one of the pockets of the men, she swore she saw a slip of paper. After the dance was over she tried seeking him out; a red head with freckles and a small nose. She found him sitting near the bread stand.
"Princess" He stood to greet her and bowed in front of her.
"Pardon me sir but…may I ask what's in your pocket?" She pointed to the slip of paper in his leather vest.
"Oh, this? I…found it." He smiled at Repunzle. "Maybe it will be of use to you…?" He handed it over and she snatched it from him.
"Oh! Thank you, thank you!" She hugged him and ran off to find the nearest bench. Before unfolding the paper, she looked up at the clock tower to check the time. 4:00 p.m. It was getting late. She unfolded the paper. It said, 'THE SNUGGLY DUCKLING.' She giggled at the name. How could a tavern for Vikings and ruffians have such a cute name? She decided to set out to the path in the forest to the place where she had met most of her friends.
As she was walking there, she was reminded of the time when Eugene had introduced to her the Snuggly Duckling.
*flashback*
"Are you hungry? I know a great place for lunch!"
"Where?"
"Don't worry! You'll know it when you smell it…"
"It should be around her somewhere…ah! There it is. The Snuggly Duckling. It's a very acquainted place PERFECT for you."
"Well…I do like ducklings."
"Yay!" Rapunzel vividly remembered the cheerful smile Eugene gave her.
*flashback end*
Rapunzel giggled at the memory of how funny Eugene was when she first met him.
Rapunzel came to the door of the tavern and opened it. Immediately, all of her Viking friends greeted her with loud laughter and smiles. She heard the piano parts of the hook viking play silently as every man quieted down to enjoy a drink.
"Anything for you Rapunzel?" The bartender asked.
"No thank you I'm trying to find Eugene."
"Eugene…" The large man with the crazy hair asked.
"Flynn." Rapunzel corrected herself. The Vikings here only know Eugene by Flynn Rider. She laughed to herself "Did he leave anything here?"
"Maybe…maybe not." The Rat man explained. Suddenly a phone rang and the bartender bent over to answer it.
"Hello?...yes..ride-oh! Yes, sir. Yes she's here…" He didn't realize his whispers could be heard from all throughout the tavern. "Yes sir will do… For how long? Promise sir, yes-yep-nono…yeah! No problem sir! Right on it!" He hung up the phone and turned around intensely.
"Was that Flynn?" Rapunzel asked. The bartender looked at her suspiciously.
"Nope. My cousin. He said in a flat tone. "You should stay and help clean up" He smiled gingerly. "It's inspection day! Must keep the place running!" Everyone chuckled.
"Well…I guess I can help clean up. Why not?" Rapunzel grabbed a dusty broom that sat in the corner of the room and began sweeping. Everyone helped with dusty, washing windows, repainting, straightening pictures, and even doing dishes. "I never knew Vikings liked cleaning" Rapunzel laughed.
The short Viking said, "we don't! Whe're just doing this because- gah!" he was punched in the gut by the hook Viking.
"It's good to keep the place clean every couple months" He smiled largely at the princess.
A while passed and the Snuggly Duckling was cleaner than Rapunzel ever thought it would be. She looked outside to see that it was just starting to get dark outside.
She gasped, "Oh my! What time is it!"
"7:00…here…we have this for you. It's for helping us" The bartender smiled and handed her a small slip of paper.
"Oh no I couldn't possibly…" She stopped herself noticing the paper had small writing on it. She took it and looked at it quickly. 'NOW THAT YOU'VE GOTTEN A GOOD LOOK AROUND THE KINGDOM, COME BACK HOME AND IN YOUR ROOM, THERE LIES YOUR NEXT CLUE.'
Rapunzel quickly had one…or all of the Vikings escort her back to the kingdom. She said goodbye to all of them, and ran up through the castle, through the hallways, and into her room. The door remained shut where she left it when she went off on her scavenger hunt. She opened it carefully and peered inside. The room was lit with candles and on her bed laid a beautiful purple, sparkling dress. She knelt down by her bed and touched the dress gently with her hand. "For me?" She lifted the dress off the bed and noticed a tag on it. 'FOR THE WOMAN I LOVE. EUGENE.' Rapunzel buried her head in the dress and took in its fine new scent. She put it on and admired herself in the mirror. The dress had no sleeves, so her shoulders fell bare and smooth. The dress hugged her waist making her body look small and beautiful. The purple brought out her eyes and her brown hair looked nice and simple. She remembered how she looked with her blonde hair…and began to cry a little. She wiped her eyes, put on a little makeup and went into her bathroom. On the mirror it said, 'THE DOCKS, MEET ME THERE. Eugene." She wondered why Eugene would have her dress in a beautiful gown only to go out in the dark to the docks. But she had no choice. She went out the castle and through the town. She noticed nobody was around. Where was everyone? She was kind of scared…but knowing that Eugene was waiting for her at the end made her want to skip with joy.
When she made it to the docks, she found a boat, and the area lit by a single lantern, but no Eugene. She looked around and waited, rubbing her shoulders.
"Hey Beautiful." A voice from behind her spoke in a soft tone. Rapunzel turned around to see Eugene's face turn from a soft happy face, to an overwhelmed one. "Wow…you look…more beautiful than I imagined." He looked her up and down and squeezed his eyes shut. "Sorry!" He laughed out loud. Rapunzel laughed with him and noticed what he was wearing. A black vest with a white top underneath. His pants were black with nice dress shoes.
"So you…bought me this dress." She went closer to him.
"Yes I did. Just for tonight" He took her hand.
"Eugene, what's going on?"
"You'll find out, common." He helped her into the boat and took her out to the middle of the lake. "-Punzel…you really look beautiful…" He looked at her emerald eyes. She remained quiet as she looked up at him. Eugene smiled and took her hand.
"Eugene…"
"Rapunzel…ever since I met you…you always brought a smile on my face. I laughed at everything you did… you made my day, everyday." He pulled her a little closer. "Everyday after I got you back to your parents, I was more determined to stay with you, to be by your side…but as your boyfriend…it made me happy…but didn't cut it. I wanted to experience more with you." Eugene took her face in his palm. Rapunzel remained still and silent. "Babe, you're everything to me. You ARE my everything. And I love you with …I love you with all my heart. And…I want to be with you for the rest of my life…with every passing moment that goes by…I want to spend it being with you…with a family…with us." Eugene closed his eyes and held Rapunzel's hand tighter. Off in the distance a light flew around…then two, then dozens. The invisible boats around them released lanterns. And soon the two were surrounded. "I wanted to make it just like it was on your birthday three years ago…when I fell in love with you…. Rapunzel?"
"Yes?" She was shaking in his hands.
"Will…you marry me?" He smiled at her. Both of their eyes glimmered from the light around them. Rapunzel began to cry and hugged him. They could feel each others hearts beat hard against their chests.
"Yes. Yes! I will, Eugene." She buried her head in Eugene's neck. They both fell silent until Eugene brought Rapunzel back up and kissed her softly.
"Babe…-punzel…?" He touched her bare arms.
"Yes Eugene…" she looked up at him.
"Be with me…forever…? Be my…Rapunzel Fitzherbert…." He closed his eyes and kissed behind her ear.
Rapunzel chuckled and pulled his face back up near hers.
"I do"