Of fairy-tales and ceramic unicorns

This is supposed to be a small series of shots, both Eugene – and Rapunzel centric, starting with the scene from the movie.
I hope you will comment and enjoy.
And in case one could be confused about what is writing in italics, they are Eugene's thoughts.

Rapunzel and Flynn visit a library in the kingdom's capital city.

"Eugene! Eugene, look at this!" the blonde girl ran back and forth between the shelves. Her head would appear behind the various pieces of furniture, only to disappear again a second later in her frenzied pursuit of the new and exciting discoveries that the Grand City Library had to offer. They had already looked at the maps of the kingdom in that specific section of the building, and had now moved on to the works of fiction.

Eugene couldn't help but smile softly at her antics, but a piercing stare from the female librarian told him that it was only a matter of moments before they would be kicked out unless he put a damper on Rapunzel's loud exclamations of joy for every new stack of books she encountered.

He approached the bookcase she was situated behind, reached out and grabbed her arm gently while placing a finger over her lips, which were moving with hectic activity. She silenced in the midst of a "Oh, this (she was holding a heavy, blue bound book in her embrace) is about unicorns and - "
With a voice considerably lowered she finished the sentence "And other fa.. Fables." She pronounced the last word with a little difficulty. He raised a questioning eyebrow, and then both, not at all prepared for her asking whatever a fable was.
"Um.. It is like a fairytale, you know" Or well, it wasn't quite like a fairytale, but he wanted to make it less complicated for her to understand.
She looked at him, her big green eyes full of utter confusion and her head tilted slightly. Wait. She doesn't know what a fairytale is he thought. His shock must have shoved on his facial features, cause she pouted in annoyance. He could imagine how frustrating it must be for her always to be presented before words that seemed so easy to everyone else, but which she had no idea what meant, all because of a stupid, overprotective mother. "Don't look like that" Eugene said, and lead her to sit in a cozy, burgundy colored armchair. He knelt before her.

"Your mother never told you any fairy-tales?"

She shook her head hesitantly. He decided on a logical approach on this.
"Then how do you know what a unicorn is?"

"Vladimar at the Snugly Duckling showed me some of the figures from his collection. Magic horses" she explained, smiling proudly, and extending her right arm before her, trying to imitate the horn of a unicorn. He chuckled. "I see. Or I do now, I was way to busy at that time, you know, with all the swords being pointed at me" He made a face of pretend indignation, which succeeded in making her laugh. "Okay, all jokes aside. Want me to explain what fairy-tales are?"

She nodded again, this time more energetic, and frowned in concentration. He was sure that if she had had a pad she would have been taking notes vigorously.
"A fairytale is a short story. Or at least it is often, I have read a few quite long, but they're mostly of a limited length. They feature usually folklore and stuff, with a bunch of magic creatures, but also humans on quests". I'm not that good at this explaining stuff, huh?
"Is there a princess?" Rapunzel asked. She smiled now. A smile more radiant than sunshine. It took his breath away and made something, perhaps butterflies, flutter around in his chest and – no, what was he thinking? Stop

"Tons of princesses!" he made a gesture with both his hands to show the amount of princesses between them, "And princes, queens, kings and knights."

"And what are those quests like?"
"Well, mostly it's the men of the stories that are on quests, really"

She pursed her lips, looking gravely insulted. "Why? Aren't women good enough to leave for adventures?"
"Nonono! Of course they are!" he attempted an evasive action, "They just.. Yeah. Aren't all as tough as you, Blondie. They have to get rescued from dragons and evil kings all the time. Thank God you don't need anyone for that job, huh?"
He ruffled up the blonde hair on her scalp with a good-nature smile. Rapunzel gave a slight huff at that comment, but seemed satisfied with the answer. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, she watching the librarian darting in and out between the shadows of the shelves, Eugene gazing thoughtfully at the young woman beside him. Then she asked, without looking at him "Do you know any fairy-tales, Eugene?"
For a moment he raked his brain for what to say. He had memorized and could re-tell countless of fables, poems and tales, but for some reason a part of him kept insisting that he couldn't just pick a story at random. He had to find one that fit her. One that would spark her interest, make her whole face light up with attention directed solely at his words, and most important of all, one that would make her smile that special smile. The one that seemed to make everything else pale in comparison. And suddenly, he knew. There was one that was nothing short of perfect for her.

"I've got one. It is actually based on actual events, that took place in this very city"

"But shouldn't it be fictional? Is it then a fairytale?"

"It has all the right stuff to be a fairytale. Now hush. Here goes" he breathed softly out, and then started on his tale. He recalled all the details perfectly, which pleased him greatly. If there was one feature of his that Eugene had always been proud of it would be his impeccable memory.
"There once was a king and a queen. They were a very happy couple, and had everything they could possibly wish for. Perfect health, endless richness ("Endless?" "Quiet, Blondie" "Sorry.."), and most essential of all, the biggest love for each other you could possibly imagine. But they had no children, even though they were young and none of them had ever been touched by any illness worth mentioning. They both were ever so sad, and thus, because the people of the kingdom loved the royal couple so, a quiet sorrow caught everyone at the heart and caused them to grieve as well"
"That's horrible, Eugene. Please, you must tell me another story." Rapunzel pleaded, and she looked as if she felt sadness for the king and queen, whom she didn't even know, as well. He comforted her with a reassuring "It will get better. I promise. One day, it was officially announced that the queen was surely with child. And an unmatchable joy ran through the streets, and there was singing and dancing and eating and feasting from dawn to nightfall, and everyone were equal, maybe not in rank, but in state of happiness. Nine months passed. But then the good fortune did as well."
"What happened, what happened?" the blonde girl interrupted, her voice thick with worry. A solemn atmosphere fell over Eugene, and his forehead furrowed slightly. "The queen became very, very sick. She couldn't stand from her bed, and none of the known cures were any good. Carrying the baby had taking a massive toll on her, and all the doctors predicted that neither she nor the child would make it through the birth alive. But the king still believed. Day in and day out, when he wasn't at his wife's side, he would research the books on medication and alternate cures in the royal library. He was untiring in his pursuit, and he would neither sleep, eat or drink unless he was forced to or couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

Then one day, he stumbled upon something. That was when he had turned upside down the entire library. The Golden Flower, said to be able to heal every disease. The queen just had to consume an extract from it, then she would regain her strength. A hunt was started. Everyone, men as well as women, helped with the searching. There were launched big expeditions to the far ends of the country."
Rapunzel stared at him, mouth slightly open and eyes big as teacups and as beautifully green as fresh leaves in spring and – stop right there, Mr. .

"And at last, they finally found the flower, on a deserted island in the most faraway part of the kingdom. And it was golden like.. Like your hair, Blondie, and had a far sweeter smell than any other flower. It was everything it had been cracked up to be." he made a joyous gesture with his arms, as to really describe the perfection of their find, "The flower extract was brought to the queen's chamber. She drank from it, with her servants and her king standing around the bed eagerly awaiting the presumed effect to take place. And it did. Color returned once again to the queen's cheeks, her eyes became as lively and lovely as ever, and she could stand up and walk and talk with no obstacle at all. And soon, a healthy, royal baby girl was born"

"She was? Eugene, that's wonderful!" Rapunzel laughed in animated delight, "It was a magic flower after all, then"
"Yes, it was. And things were quite good for some time, until.. Until..- " He stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly insecure. He regarded her from the corner of his eyes. She looked so happy that the king and queen's dream finally had come true. Who was he to rip this happiness away from her with a sad, though truthful ending? He couldn't possibly do that. Why in the world hadn't he thought this through? He should have told her the story of the real Flynn Rider, while that at least was a (partly) innocent one, but admittedly he had been afraid that he would mix it up with his own childhood tale, caused by all the sentimental value.
"Until what?" Rapunzel asked curiously.
"Uh.. yeah.."

She placed a hand carefully upon his upper arm and studied his troubled expression with a concerned one of her own. "Eugene, what's the matter?"
"It's just, you know.." he could not do this. Thankfully, an opportunity to get out of the library and this situation presented itself in form of the quickly increasing red and orange colors in the sky that indicated sunset, "It's too late! I mean, it's getting late. You wanna see the lanterns, right?" Please prove easy to distract, please prove easy to distract, pleas-

"Yes!", she nodded eagerly, "I do! Is it now, does it start now?"
Thank God
"There's about an hour til it gets dark, and one more 'til it starts. We've gotta get going, 'cause I have an idea as to how we'll get to see the lights from a better perspective than anyone else"
He stood up from his position on the floor and gently took the blue book about unicorns, which Rapunzel hadn't returned to it's place, to put it on the small table besides the chair. He then grabbed her hand and led her towards the massive set of double doors that was the building's exit. But just as they reached the door and Eugene had his hand hovering above the polished handle, Rapunzel tugged at his sleeve and insisted "But you will tell me the rest of the fairytale, right? About the king and the queen and the little princess? Promise?"
He was silent for a moment, then pressed down the handle and smiled at her. As they stepped out into the fresh air and golden sunset, he leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "Promise, Princess"
My Princess sounds even better and – stop.