[A/N: I wrote this as a small drabble on my Flynn Rider roleplay blog and decided to post it here too. Please don't flame.]
His name was Eugene to her.
He didn't have to be Flynn Rider for her eyes to look at him in admiration, and in a way it had been like that from the start. From the moment her large green eyes stared at him, he knew this one wasn't going to be like the rest. Cheesy? Cliche? Of course it was, because he'd never felt that way before, never cared enough to put someone before what he had always wanted. His dream. It wasn't of islands, castles and money. It was a dream of her, a dream of them. Though now he had realised, it was all too late, now he had finally seen the light, his own light in the darkness, it had already been blown out.
The guards opened the door to the cell, and he looked to them with a questioning gaze, they hadn't visited his cell since he had been thrown in there. Tricked by the Stabbington brothers and for all he knew, she could be dead, or even worse, stuck with the pair forever. That thought didn't seem worth thinking about, his mind would only take him to much darker scenarios than he could mentally take. Forcing the thoughts from his mind the guards finally answered him and it hit him what was about to happen, why he wasn't locked up with anyone else. He was to be killed straight away. Hanging just didn't seem a fitting end, though no one would ever think so either.
Being brought to his feet his mind wandered to the tale, the tale of Flynnigan Rider and the fact that the only want Eugene could imagine him being killed, was fighting for a beautiful woman. He had fallen into a trap, one that could have been avoided by ease if only he hadn't been so stupid all that time.
The guards escorted him out the cell right away, and walked him down a wider set hall that his own cell had been on. It was there that he saw the brothers, those who had deceived him and his face became a glare. Struggling out of the guards arms with ease he grabbed the closest brother, holding them tightly.
"What did you do with her? Where is she?" he roared out, his anger getting the better of him for that brief moment. If they were there then where was Rapunzel? Perhaps someone in the castle had her, she could actually be safe. Though those hopes were soon taken away as something hit him, hard. The woman who had trapped her away, the woman who 'loved' her, had tricked them all and finally had her back, she was with her mother. Surely he should have been glad, but something ate away at him inside, something told him that this wasn't a time to rejoice.
Roughly, he was ripped away from the bars of their cell. A sympathetic look being sent his way from both brothers as Eugene tried to fight the guards off, but three guards against him proved to not be the best of odds and soon he was being held in a more tightened grip. They continued along the hall like that, his eyes looking out the window and he swallowed hard. He could see the rope, hanging there, waiting for him and he made one final struggle to get out of their grip before the door before them opened. He needed to be saved, he needed to save her. But the only sound that could be heard were the guards boots on the floor as they walked him outside.
"I'm sorry…" His words came out as something more like a choked whisper than anything else, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he was walked up the the steps. It shouldn't have ended that way, it wasn't ever supposed to end that way. He was Flynn Rider, he was a hero. No. He was Eugene Fitzherbert. A delusional man who believed in the stories he should have left behind as a child, a man whose dream brought him to her and a man who had finally found what he had been looking for all along. "Rapunzel."
With a push he turned to impatient guards, all of them waiting for him to clamber up the few steps. That was his only chance to look around, to get his last look at Corona freely, but another push caused him to turn back away again. Slowly and hesitantly he stepped up, reaching the rope that was forced around his neck and tightened. The pat on his back not comforting, but more mocking than anything else.
"Flynn Rider, you are to be hanged by the neck until death. A penalty for stealing the crown belonging to the lost princess of Corona, along with a long line of thefts ranging over many years." His eyes didn't look to the man who spoke, they just stared forward, concentrating on a point in the distance to stop any unwanted emotional response. "Any last words."
With a sigh he closed his eyes, he wished his luck to Rapunzel wherever she was at that moment, hoped that she was well, that she would live a happy life and find a new dream. I love you. It was true, and as his eyes opened again he realised that perhaps he had felt that way much longer than he first anticipated. Finally, a small smile slipped across his lips and as he heard the handle creak, the handle that would open the boards below him, that would kill him instantly he took in a deep breath.
"My name isn't Flynn Rider, it's Eugene, Eugene Fitzherbert."
It didn't hurt, it was over before he could even think about hearing the boards open, but it wasn't over soon enough to stop a single tear making it's way down his face. He was strong, he was brave and he had been all along, but it took once chance meeting, a few days of laughter, of smiles and of hope to make him see that. He didn't need to be Flynn Rider anymore.
He was happy, finally, as himself.