Okey-dokey, next chapter! I meant to upload this sooner, but I got busy with some writing workshop and barely had time to work on this. :-}

OMG, I was really hyper when I wrote this chapter. Why? Because I went to this party and we started watching Tangled AND I HAD TO LEAVE JUST WHEN THE FIRST LANTERNS APPEARED! IT WAS INJUSTICE I TELL YOU!

Ah, well. At least I've got my handy-dandy FF account and I can vent by writing about Punzi and Flynn. :D

Reviews make my day! Don't forget to tell me how to improve, too! :D

O*O*O

The Dark Plague came to Corona three months after my return. With its unexpected attacks, deadly unpredictability, and inevitable aura, it had no trouble catching innocent lives off guard. After the first month, six people had already died. The next month, ten. The one after, nearly seventeen.

I was fully aware of the Dark Plague creeping through the kingdom, but at the time, I had been too boggled down with lessons, meetings, and even more lessons to pay attention to the steady decrease in Corona's population. It was only when Sir Dark Plague attacked the most beloved person in my life that I realized what heartbreak, and what suffering, must have been going through my kingdom.

It was also when I realized that something had to be done.

Our story begins on a mild summer morning in the palace. If I remember correctly, the whole thing began in the middle of my dance lesson…

O*O*O

"Your Highness? Where are your shoes?"

I paused mid-twirl, my skirts ballooning out before swishing around my ankles and finally settling, covering my bare toes.

"Shoes?" I asked in my most innocent voice, inwardly bracing myself for the same lecture I'd heard at least a thousand times since I took up my position as princess.

Madame Edith had a pained expression on her face as she crossed the ballroom with impossibly tiny steps. She took my arm gently, but her voice was firm as she guided me to a pair of ivory chairs. "I think we should have another one of our little chats, don't you, Princess?"

Madame Edith is my dance instructor. She's beautiful, with her golden ringlets always piled up atop her head and her ruby red lips, but she's impossibly strict. She won't tolerate any step too big or any pirouette not perfectly balanced. She sighs whenever I add playful leaps to a waltz and when I skip wearing shoes.

Like now.

I sat down in the chair. The back was intricately carved with lovely flowers and bluebirds, but the carvings dug painfully into my shoulders. Madame Edith sat beside me, folding her hands in her lap and pursing her lips.

"You know perfectly well, Princess, that all proper young ladies wear shoes wherever they go, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Why, when I was a lass of four years, my mother trained me to walk with grace by fitting me with a pair of high heels. It was not…"

I allowed my eyes to wander around the ballroom, because when Madame Edith got started on her tales of the past, she often kept going until the sun went down. There were no escape routes in sight, and I sighed. As the minutes ticked by, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. The fancy ball gown I always wore for dancing was much too tight around the waist, making it difficult to breathe. My cropped brown hair kept falling into my face, and strands of it were plastered to my forehead with perspiration.

"Hey."

I started.

"Rapunzel." The voice was soft but recognizable, and I twisted around in my chair to see the most wonderful person in my life, Eugene Fitzherbert.

He grinned at me from a doorway, casually leaning against a marble pillar as though he'd been doing it for years. "What do you say we get out of here?" he mouthed.

I swallowed my giggles and turned to Madame Edith, who was still droning on about what a proper, sweet, obedient young lady she had been when she was my age.

"…as most people know. Those shoes were the finest I had ever worn. Scarlet red, they were, with tall heels and satin ribbons. It was my first time waltzing in them, but I kept my wits about me and managed to perform as well as any –"

I stood up, and my chair was pushed back with a loud scraping sound. "If you'll excuse me, Madame Edith, I have a lovesick swain to take care of." Eugene made a sound of indignation as I swept a low curtsy in my horrified dance instructor's direction. "I might be gone for some time, but please do not trouble yourself and come looking for me."

"Yes, yes, of course," Madame Edith said weakly, while at the same time shooting poison darts at Eugene with her eyes. (The palace staff still isn't used to him hanging around.)She managed a tight smile through her distress, however, and I smiled back before making a mad dash for the exit. I managed to hold in my giggles until Eugene and I were safely out in the courtyard.

O*O*O

"So, what sort of fascinating little speech was Madame Pish-Posh throwing at you this time?" Eugene asked, sliding his arm around my waist as we sat on the stone rim of a courtyard fountain.

I swatted his arm. "It's Madame Edith, and be nice, Eugene," I scolded lightly. Then I sighed, looking down at my bare toes peeking out from under the voluminous skirts of my gown. "I got caught without shoes."

"Again," Eugene seconded.

"Again." I sighed. "But I can live without shoes. I lived without shoes for eighteen years! I explored a forest, braved a pub full of thugs, and led an entire kingdom in a dance – all without shoes! Plus, I like my toes." I wiggled my feet around. "They feel cramped inside those awful heels."

"I like your toes too, Blondie." Eugene pulled me onto his lap, and I snuggled against his shoulder.

"So, what were you supposed to be doing before you came to my rescue?" I asked, poking him. My father, King Jonathan, decided to get Eugene started on lessons fit for a nobleman since he wasn't planning to leave the palace anytime soon. That, and because he hoped – he knew, or so he claimed – Eugene would soon propose to me and would therefore need all the princely training beforehand. Also because I was hoping the council and staff (and hopefully the rest of the kingdom) would start warming up to him if they interacted with Eugene on a daily basis. So far, it hadn't been working.

Eugene looked thoroughly annoyed. "History," he said with obvious disgust. "The life story of King Willard the Third. And before that, his father, Willard the Second. And before that, Willard the First."

I giggled. History has always been Eugene's least favorite subject. "I'm sorry, Eugene," I said.

Eugene dropped a pebble into the fountain and watched the ripples grow. He kept quiet, wearing what I call his among-the-stars look on his face. It usually means he's either daydreaming or that something's bothering him. Judging from the way his eyes clouded the way they always do when he's worried, I could easily guess.

"Eugene?" I asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

His head snapped up, but I saw the emotions portrayed in his amber eyes flicker. "What? No. No, I'm fine, Blondie. Really."

I slid closer to him. "Ha, ha."

The corner of his mouth fluttered, and for a moment, he almost smiled. But then the footfalls of guards echoed on the paved pathways that wove through the gardens, and his smile disappeared.

"Eugene?"

"Well… I don't think…" He broke off, shaking his head. "Actually… never mind. It's nothing. Besides, you don't need to be saddled with my stupid crap."

"What stupid crap?" I asked, weaving my fingers through his. "You know you'll end up telling me sooner or later," I added, trying to bring that smile back.

"It's just that I –" A sudden fit of coughing cut him off.

"Are you all right?" I gazed at him from under a swoop of chocolate brown hair.

"I'm fine, Goldiecakes," he managed once the coughing had subsided. "Don't worry about me or my stupid problems. After all," he said, waggling his eyebrows and shooting me one of his cocky grins, "it's nothing Flynn Rider can't handle, right?"

"Hmm. I don't know. There's a lot Flynn Rider can't handle, like, say, frying pans and chameleon tongues."

Eugene winced. "Ah. Good point."

I leaned against him once more, and together we soaked up the silence and simple beauty of the palace gardens. The sky glowed a brilliant orange, the russet light painting the flowers in shades of golden and red regardless of their original hue. A breeze darted through the grass, making the blades sway lightly in a dance that followed the beat of the crickets' song. Somewhere, a bird twittered as it soared through the clouds, which were now glowing with purple and blue hues as the sky faded from brilliant red to a husky indigo. The sounds of both nature and the palace slowly died down but for the steady march of the nighttime guards.

I stirred slightly in Eugene's arms. Something – I couldn't quite figure what – was not right. As far as I could tell, nothing was wrong with the palace or the surrounding land itself. The night had worked wonders on the everyday clamor and activity of day. I was fairly certain my parents were fine; if I craned my neck, I could see that a light was on in their room, all the way at the top of one of the castle's turrets. And I knew for a fact that my beloved pet chameleon, Pascal, was all right; earlier, before I'd gone to my dance lesson, I'd introduced him to a little Pascal-sized jungle gym made of wood. I'd made it myself (with some help from the royal carpenter), adding plenty of little nooks and crannies, swings and slides. As far as I knew he was still playing with it, which I found utterly adorable.

So pretty much everything should have been all right…

Eugene.

I was still snuggled up against him, so I could hear the faint wheezing sound inside his chest whenever he took a breath. My own breath came in a small gasp – Eugene? Wheezing? That was in no way normal.

Eugene shifted beneath me. "Rapunzel?" he said. "What, may I ask, are you doing?"

I startled, jerking upright. I'd been trying to listen to his breathing through the thick fabric of his vest (which was extremely difficult). Maybe I should have been mortified for worrying so much, but just then I didn't care. Instead, I confronted him.

"You're not all right," I stated, jabbing him lightly in the collarbone. "First you've been all quiet, then you started coughing, and now you're sort of… wheezing whenever you breathe." I gazed at him from under the clumps of hair that fell into my eyes. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

Some odd emotion flitted across his face, one I didn't quite catch. Annoyance, maybe? Anxiety? Or maybe – was it… fear?

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the look vanished, and I was certain I had imagined it when he pulled me close and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"You worry too much, Blondie," he murmured into my hair as he rubbed small circles on my back.

"I do not." My voice was muffled, seeing as my face was pressed into his shoulder.

"Ha."

I relented. "Well, maybe a little." Pulling away slightly so that his arms remained firmly wrapped around my waist, I gazed up at him. Maybe it was just the moonlight, but his skin appeared … whiter than usual.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" I asked softly, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. "You're looking kind of… pale."

Eugene lifted a hand to his face and shrugged before pulling me into another embrace. "Don't worry, Rapunzel," he whispered into my ear as I hugged him back. "I'm fine."

Till my dying day I will wish I had not believed him.

O*O*O

For eight days he appeared normal. He only had two more of his unexpected coughing spasms, and each time he assured me that he'd just had something caught in his throat. His skin, although still slightly pale, looked better in the daylight than it had by night in the gardens. He joked and laughed and teased me as he always had, and after the fifth day of normality my worries slipped away. In fact, I nearly forgot about the troubled look he'd had in his eyes that day, the faint wheeze that accompanied each breath, the fear that had crossed his face for that brief moment.

And then, ten days after our evening in the gardens, the Dark Plague decided to consume him once and for all.

O*O*O

At first I didn't notice anything was wrong.

Boggled down by lessons, as I always was on almost every other day, I hadn't had the time to catch up with Eugene all morning. Sure, I'd been able to chat a little during the pockets of free time between classes, but it hadn't nearly been enough.

If I had, during those brief meetings with him, paid a little more attention, I would have noticed that his skin was much paler than usual, that his eyes were clouded, that his voice broke on every other word and was slightly hoarse – but I hadn't seen anything of the sort.

What I'd give to be able to go back in time and change that.

But it was only at the worst possible moment that I actually realized what was happening to him, my Eugene.

And from this point onward, my life would be changed forever.

O*O*O

"Mother, have you seen Eugene?"

Queen Isabel looked up from her book. "Hmm?"

"She's looking for Eugene, dearest," King Jonathan informed her before turning to me. "I'm sorry, Petal. We haven't seen him since…" He paused. "Actually, I don't recall seeing him since last night. How is he, Rapunzel? He looked rather pale the last time I saw him."

I almost laughed. "I wish I knew how he was." Then I sighed. "He's been acting different, a little. All I know is that something's bothering him, and he won't tell me what," I confessed.

Mother set her book on the windowsill and touched my shoulder. "Oh, darling. Men are like that sometimes. I remember the time your father started acting fairly strange. He kept hiding from me and barely spoke to me."

"Excuse me, I'm right here," he interrupted.

Mother continued, smiling. "And to top it off, he kept disappearing for hours on end without a trace. I was certain he was seeing someone else, so I confronted him."

"She even had a book at her disposal," my father recalled. "A particularly heavy one at that. I believe it was The Encyclopedia of Medical History."

"And what do you know," my mother went on, ignoring her husband, "all that time, he'd simply been trying to rack up the nerve to propose to me." She laughed. "He asked me then, when I was all ready to attack him with a book, if I would be his bride."

"Old news." My father made a show of flapping his hand about, as though he were shooing away a pesky swarm of flies. "Rapunzel, have you checked Eugene's room? He might be willing to talk to you if you aren't out in the open."

"Oh! I completely forgot about his room!" Feeling rather stupid, I smiled sheepishly at my parents. "Thank you, Mother. You to, Daddy." I tossed the words over my shoulder as I left my parents' room. It occurred to me that if Eugene really was in his room, he had to be doing something important since he'd been in there most of the day.

I headed down the hall. Eugene's quarters were quite a ways down from mine, which I found annoying, but my father hadn't racked up enough nerve to move him to a room closer to mine. Until he did, however, I was forced to walk down five hallways to get to his room.

I rapped lightly against his door, and when there was no response I peeked in through the keyhole. Unfortunately, it didn't give me much of a view.

"Eugene?" I called. No response.

"Eugene," I said again, knocking once more.

Still no answer. Biting my lip, I wondered briefly if he was hiding, or simply didn't want to talk to me.

"Eugene!" I persisted. "Are you all right?"

When once again nobody responded, I gave up and tried the doorknob. To my surprise, it was unlocked, and I opened the door just a crack.

There have been times when I've been scared, as in completely terrified, but the shock and horror and heartbreak I felt at this particular moment makes the other scary moments seem like a walk in the park. This one moment will forever live in my memory as the most heartbreaking ever, right next to the time when Eugene first died to save me.

The first thing I noticed when I peeked inside the room was that the fire was out, and the ashes had settled across the floor, the bed, and the simple furniture of the room. The second thing I noticed was that the curtains were tightly drawn, and the room was dim and musty. But there were no signs of human activity within.

"Eugene?" I whispered. I stepped inside – and my heart stopped at the sight of the young man lying in the middle of the floor, unmoving…

"EUGENE!"

Somewhere I heard footsteps thundering, my parents calling my name over and over. I didn't care. I threw myself onto Eugene's limp form and let the tears flow freely down my cheeks.

O*O*O

Whoa, very long and VERY epic chapter. O.o

Was this one too long? I mean, I meant to make it shorter and the flow isn't very smooth, but what the heck. I promise the next chapter will be better. Criticism is much appreciated. :D

Peace!

Silverbells