I had to do it. As I sat in the canoe with Rapunzel, my future seemed so straightforward–– get her back to the castle, clear my name with her parents, marry her, and live happily ever after. I would delete my life as Flynn Rider, and people would know me as Eugene Fitzherbert, that really handsome guy who found the lost princess and brought her back to the kingdom.

But then the Stabbington brothers had to show up and ruin everything. They always do that. If they hadn't, Rapunzel would have never returned to the tower, and we would be happy together, always.

So when Maximus rescued me from the palace guards, after those stupid guys got me imprisoned and nearly hanged, I raced to the tower, in hopes of saving Rapunzel. But when I climbed through the window, Rapunzel was kneeling on the floor, chained and gagged, and he so-called mother drove a dagger through me. Yeah, I was about to die. Then Rapunzel started pleading with her "mother" to let her go so she could heal me with her enormous curtain of magical blonde hair. It seemed like a good plan–– have Rapunzel save me, then jump out the window and make our dreams come true–– but then she had to go and promise to never fight her mother again, that the two of them would always be together. I knew that Rapunzel would never break a promise. That wasn't such a good plan, because then Rapunzel would die, instead of me. So basically, if I died, Rapunzel could be free. If Rapunzel healed me, then she would go with Gothel and die.

So I had no choice.

As she was about to sing the song about flowers, the one that would cure me and kill her, I picked up a piece of broken glass that lay on the floor and, under the pretense of being about to kiss her, I cut her hair. Almost her entire head of hair fell off, leaving a small bit of it hanging just above her neck. My last memory is watching the golden hair turn brown before my very eyes. After that, all I could see was a shining light as I floated away.

Now, here I am in Heaven, looking down at a dejected princess with short brown hair, who was riding a white horse to the castle in which she had no idea she was born in until that morning. I will spend the rest of eternity overjoyed that Rapunzel is finally free, but I will always regret that she had to be alone.

Scratch that. She will never be alone. She's got her finally-found parents, for one thing. She has Pascal and Maximus, and not to mention the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling. Plus, she has me. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm dead. But I will always be watching over her, like a guardian angel, my soul forever living in her heart.

After all, I was her new dream–– and she was mine.