"Rapunzel?" her mother called into her bedroom. Rapunzel was staring out the window, gazing at the glimmering moon over the vast sea. She turned around to her mother, looking worried.

"Come in!" she invited, smiling. Her mother quickly shut the door behind her and approached her. Rapunzel sat on her bed.

"Rapunzel…" her mom started, looking troubled. "You hardly ate any of your food at dinner, and you've been looking awfully sad…are you always like that?" She asked. Rapunzel hesitated to answer.

"No…" she said. "I'm just still getting new to all this change. I've only ever been in one place my whole life and this is just all happening at once." she explained. Her mother smiled and hugged her.

"I love you. And we will always be here for you, instead of that dreaded old woman. No one will want to steal you for your magic any longer." She said. Rapunzel couldn't help but tear up.

"Thank you." Rapunzel said and smiled. She still couldn't quite grasp that she actually had real parents.

"Now, may I suggest you get some sleep? It's getting awfully late and you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow." her mother offered.

"Of course. I'm just really tired….I haven't slept a lot since yesterday." She climbed into her bed, and her mother walked out of her room.

"Good night, my princess!" she called.

"Good night, mother." She answered in return. It wasn't long before Rapunzel's delicate eyes fell into deep slumber, and she had a dream.

She was in a damp, dark cave that was low-cut to the ground, and only about 4 feet high. She'd swear she had probably seen this before…. She looked around and it was just a tad bit more damp. There were slight puddles of water covering the cave, but no oceans or anything.

She didn't really know what she was doing here, but she didn't like it. She was all alone, she didn't know how to get out, she couldn't see a thing and she could possibly die. Rapunzel was worried. From her right side, something was glowing blue. When she looked over, it wasn't any ordinary light. It was bright, shimmering blue dust that formed itself into the shape of a person. Rapunzel tried to put her finger on who - it was about a foot taller than her, sort of a big build, so she figured it was a boy. But then it grew an unforgettable face.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel squealed as she went to hug him, but her hands dissolved right through the dust as it fluttered away. She was confused, so she stood back and the dust formed itself again. Was it really Eugene, lying down next to her? "….Eugene?" she called again.

"I've missed you terribly, Blondie." his unmistakeable voice said. There was no doubt it was anybody else. He shifted and laid on his side, resting his head on his hand so he could gaze at her.

"Is it really you?" Rapunzel questioned, crouching down near him. She squinted her eyes to see if it could be anyone from the Snuggly Duckling, or from the castle, or anyone. It was hard to make out it was him through all the dust.

"Only if you want it to be." he calmly responded. Rapunzel's emotions were in a knot of mass confusion.

"…B-but….h-how are you-"

"Shhshhh. Only if you believe." He shushed, to answer her question. "If you know it's me then it is." Rapunzel took it into consideration that this was a dream, so she accepted him happily.

"Oh, Eugene, it's only been a day, but it's been the longest, most depressing day of my life. Even when I'm with my parents and my friends, in a new place much bigger than the tower I still feel sad! I still feel by myself and my life feels empty without you!" She threw her words out at him. "Everywhere I go, everything reminds me of you, because I love you and I swear I think I'm seeing you in some places…." her words trailed off into mumbling.

"How do you know it's me?" he teased, smiling. Rapunzel liked that, even if he was dead, he was the Flynn Rider she still knew and loved. Well, she loved the Eugene Fitzherbert part more. But still.

"Well…" she started. "I-I just…. It kinda l-looked like you and…. maybe I'm just seeing things." Eugene contradicted her.

"You aren't. Of course you aren't. Aren't you looking at me right now?"

"No!" she shouted, "This is just a dream! You said it's only you if I wanted it to be!"

"Exactly!" he said, vanishing more to her every word.

"…wait!" she said. The dust was flying away. "No, please! Come back, Eugene! I….I don't know what to do…."

She sat in the now growing puddles of water. She folded her arms over her legs and rested her head on her knees.

"I'm alone again." she said, weeping. "Maybe I'm just going crazy…."

"Not if you believe you aren't alone." Eugene's voice said. It came from nowhere, and Rapunzel looked to her right. He wasn't there.

"You're here then?" as soon as her words finished, a flashing blue light came from her other side.

"Only if you believe I'm here." he said once again.

"Will you stop that! And please, stay here!"

"You aren't listening. Do you believe I'm here?"

Rapunzel grunted. She hated all of her life right now.

"As much as I want to…." she didn't finish her sentence, because she knew he would disappear again. "I just don't want to lose you again."

"Then just….just believe in me, Rapunzel!" he shouted. It sounded kind of mean, but it was what he had to do. It was a ghost's job, after all, to haunt the person that cared about them most. He sat over to her right again, this time holding onto her hand. Rapunzel picked up her hand he was holding. As much as she wanted it to look like a real hand, it was just a cheesy combination of smoke and light and dust all at once.

"I will." she calmly accepted. "Please be here for me. I want to see you again, even if it is just here in my dreams."

"How do you know this is just a dream?" he teased again.

"Stop it!" she shouted.

"Stop what?"

"Toying with my emotions!" she angrily said.

"It's my job."

"To do what exactly? Confuse me until the day I die?"

"To have to make you understand that no matter what, I'm never leaving you, in any form or way, dead or alive."

Rapunzel was torn by this. In the good way. He was trying to stay with her? He wasn't doing a very good job. ….Or was he? He was here right now, wasn't he? Her train of thought was interrupted by the mass of water that had now risen up to her neck and was rising even faster. She had to get the words out of her mouth, and fast.

"So that was you, on the balcony?" she tried. He smirked.

"Only if you believe it was me." as much as she hated hearing that, it comforted her.

"You're still my new dream." Rapunzel cried. Eugene, immune to the rising water and its effects, dove in very close to her face.

"And you're still mine." He finished with a light kiss on the forehead, as the shimmering dust finally vanished in a cyclone of wind and water. The water was finally rising up and up to the top and-

Rapunzel woke up.

Next to her bed, on the right, was a large pile of glittery blue dust, spread out all over the one side.