Chapter 10

Eugene woke with a start. He heard the clanking of the guards' armor right outside his door as they walked by. He looked outside his window, and by judging how high the moon was he could tell it was well after midnight. He took his pocket watch off the nightstand to confirm his prediction; it was 1:30 am. 'Shit,' he thought. He was supposed to have met up with the captain by now. Eugene rubbed his eyes but as he moved his shoulder he remember that he had dislocated it not even 24 hours earlier. He groaned and grabbed his shoulder. How was he supposed to do anything that involved stealth without the use of his left shoulder? He was left handed as well, so it was going to make everything twice as hard. Eugene took a few deep breaths as the pain subsided. He was going to have to suck it up; besides he has been through worse pain, he told himself.

Eugene slowly go out of bed, his shirt was still on the floor from the day before when Rapunzel helped take it off of him. He slowly slipped it on, and buttoned it up half way, slipped his boots on, and made sure he had his lock picking tools with him. Despite what the doctor said, he kept the sling off; it was going to be more of a hassle than anything else. He opened his door and looked down the hall. There wasn't really anyone around; that wasn't a surprise. He started making his way down the hall and out toward the courtyard where the king's office was. Making sure that there was no one in sight, Eugene carefully stuck to the shadows. This was a rare occasion when Eugene was glad that the guards weren't around actually doing their job, otherwise it would make his job a lot harder. He got up to the front door of the company building. It was locked. He closed his eyes for a minute before getting down on one knee and reaching for his picks. Having to move his shoulder and muscle through the pain was harder than he anticipated. Luckily the lock was easy enough to open. He got up, still with the picks in hand, opened the door, and went in. Quietly shutting the door behind him, he made his eyes adjust to the darkness around him. He forgot; no light at night. He couldn't risk lighting a torch and chance someone seeing him. His eyes adjusted well enough to see the path that led to the stairs toward the king's office. His heart pounded in his ears as he made his way up. He prayed that no one was up there, especially the king, but at the same time hoped he was for the simple fact that he could turn right around and go back. He was terrified to find out what was in that book. After what the captain had told him earlier that day, he was now absolutely sure that whatever was in that book, definitely had to do with Rapunzel's kidnapping, and he was afraid to know just how deep the king really was. He made it up the steps and sure enough, there was no one there. He walked up to the door and jiggled the handle, once again, locked. Eugene cursed under his breath. Again he got down on his knee and picked the lock, biting back a groan. He exhaled grabbing his shoulder, and waited for the pain to recede. He got up, opened the door, and walked it. The office was dark as well, apart from for the window that was letting in the moonlight. He walked up to the desk and saw the oil lamp siting there. He quickly looked through all the drawers until he found a small box of matches. Eugene was about to strike it when he decided to close the curtains first. He tried to close them all the way but they were heavy and using only one arm was not cutting it. It was going to have to work for now. He struck the match and lit the lamp making sure the light was low

Eugene turned to find the same picture frame he once saw King Daniel removed to find a safe hidden in the wall. Eugene moved the picture and placed it on the desk. It was a combination lock. He stared at it for a moment. The good thing was he only need one hand to do this, the bad thing was they tended to take longer to crack open. He got up close. Eugene put his ear up close to the lock as he turned it to hear the clicks. It took him a few tries, but he managed to crack it open. He slowly opened the safe. Once inside, he saw it. The black book he had been trying to get his hands on for weeks, and now it is here for him to take and pop open the front page. But now that it is here, he was sure if he wanted to. His hands were shaking, and his heart was pounding, but he needed to make a move before it was too late. He took the book out. The captain said he had wanted to see it, but decided to look it over to see for himself. He closed the safe and replaced the picture. Eugene brought it over to the desk and brought the oil lamp closer so he could read it better. He sat down and flipped open the front cover. There, on the first page was the Declaration of War that fell out. He read it; it was from a kingdom he had never heard before. It said the reason for the declaration was for owning money, a large sum of money. But Eugene didn't ever remember the king borrowing money, unless…..Eugene looked at the date. It was for exactly twenty-two years ago. Eugene kept that in the back of his mind and pressed on. There was a bunch of loose paper, what looked like to be letters. One in specific caught his eye. It had a familiar name on it, Gothel. The name repeated in his head over and over. He read the letter over as quickly as his eyes would move. He came upon one sentence that made his blood turn cold.

You know the deal, my daughter in return for the flower to save my wife.

Wait, what! He bargained his unborn child to save his wife?! Well he couldn't really blame him for that completely, but there had to be better way than to trade his daughter's life for his wife's. He pressed on to find out more information. As Eugene rustled through the old papers, he noticed one that had something very large and red one it. He froze for a second staring at it. It was the same red cross he had seen, on Gregor's ring, and now on Rapunzel's tower. He was about to look more through the papers until suddenly, he heard someone walking toward the door. Eugene held his breath, then quickly put everything back into the book and was about to put it back into the safe but realized his idiot self already shut it. That's when his foot kicked something on the desk that made a clunk noise. 'Thank you Daniel'. Eugene remembered the broken board on the bottom of the desk. He was able to hide the book inside were the broken panel was, right underneath where all the side drawers were. He was just about to move somewhere to hide when he stood up, and the door suddenly opened. Eugene stood stagnant.

Daniel walked in. He didn't notice Eugene at first. Daniel was…off. He stumbled into the door of his office rather than walked in, and there was a half empty bottle of rum in his hand. When he fell into the bookcase next to the door he looked up and saw Eugene standing there. Daniel eyes were red. Eugene couldn't tell if that was because of the rum, crying, or both. They locked on each other's gazes for a moment, and then Daniel spoke.

"Judging from the look on you face, I take it you know some things that you probably shouldn't." Eugene didn't respond. Daniel continued to walk toward a table that had more assortments of liquors. Eugene's gaze never left the king as Daniel made his way for another drink. "Do you want a drink?" Eugene slowly, almost hesitantly shook his head. "Ya know, I told you to just leave it alone. Why couldn't you just leave it… ALONE?!" Daniel's pounded the table which made Eugene jump.

"Daniel, do you have any idea what you have done?"

"I know, I was there!" Daniel was flailing his arms around himself to try to prove his point with a bottle of liquor still in his hand.

"No Daniel, this thing, this…runs so much deeper than what you can see." Eugene's voice started to quiver slightly

"YOU DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!" The king was belligerent.

"I don't think you do." His volume rose.

"What do you know? You train a few men and you think you know everything."

"I know the kind of people you are dealing with!"

"You're a kid, Eugene! You know nothing! Do you have any idea what it is like…" Daniel eyes were watering; there was a sob in his throat that he fought to keep down. "To look at your wife…everyday…for eighteen years…and tell her…that your daughter…your only child…is gone, when in fact…you knew…all along…where…she was. You have no idea…NO IDEA… what that is like!" The tears were now free falling. He couldn't control himself. Daniels emotions were over flowing. "You can't fathom…looking… at your new born child…knowing…that in just…a few hours… you are...no longer… gonna…h…hold… her… and…tell her you love her…and…" His arms came up as if holding an imaginary child to his chest as he sobbed.

"Daniel please, calm down-"

"No! For eighteen years-"

"I know but we can fix this, I can get you out." Eugene started to slowly walk towards the hysterical king. His hands were up slightly showing he was not a threat to the king in a futile attempt to calm him down.

"No…it's too late now-"

"No, it's not you just have to trust me, you have to tell me-", Eugene was nearly in arms-length of Daniel when all of a sudden Daniel lashed out at Eugene with a near empty rum bottle.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Eugene quickly jumped back out of harm's way wide eyed in shock.

Daniel started breathing heavy to get control of his emotions until the sobbing subsided and his head cleared a little. Eugene had never seen Daniel so out of control. It was usually Daniel who kept his emotions in check. Daniel was always the level headed one. Eugene didn't know what to do, so he just stood there and gave Daniel some space to breathe. Once Daniel got his breathing under control, and the sobbing stopped, he leaned against the liquor table. He looked exhausted, and out of breath. Daniel his arm motioning for Eugene to come closer. Eugene hesitated.

"It's ok, come here."

Eugene slowly started making his way back towards Daniel. Daniel embraced Eugene into a hug. Eugene just stood there for a moment, then slowly with his good arm, softly patted the kings back.

"I have always thought of you… as my own son. Because of you, I was able to see my daughter again; even if just for a short while." The last statement threw Eugene off. 'What did that mean?'

"I want to thank you for bringing me my daughter back, and because you brought my daughter back, I want to say I am so sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

Still holding him in a hug, Daniel drew a blade from his robes and stabbed Eugene in the stomach. Eugene choked on a sharp gasp as he felt the blade pierce through him. The pain was white hot, spreading through his middle and eventually to his chest making it difficult to breathe. It felt like a wild fire was inside him. Eugene's body tensed up. His hands stiffened as they surrounded the handle of the blade not knowing what to do. He couldn't think. The only thing he could focus on was the powerful waves of pain that rippled through his body. Once he was no longer able to withstand the pain, his knees buckled, and groaned in pain. But instead of collapsing to the ground, Daniel held him. He slowly lowered the writhing young man to the ground onto his back cradling his head in his hand.

"I'm so sorry, my boy… I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." Tears once again threatened to over flow in Daniels eyes. He kept repeating "I'm so sorry" in Eugene's ear. He stood up, and with one last look, he backed away and headed towards his desk.

Eugene was in pure agony, and confused. The king was no longer in his line of sight, it didn't matter anyways; his vision was failing him. Then he heard a thump on the ground. He couldn't be sure of what it was. His hand move to where the blade was still embedded into his stomach. His hand shook as it moved. The pain was so intense he wanted to cry out. His breath was short and labored. He needed to remove the blade, it would relieve his pain. With a shaky hand, Eugene gripped the handle of the blade. He took as big of breaths as his failing lungs would allow, and he started to pull up. The pain intensified tenfold. He gritted his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut, and dug his heel into the carpeted floor as he fought against the pain. This only made him shake worse, and nearly convulse. He moved his other hand to grip on top of his right to give him more leverage, but the blade wouldn't budge. He just didn't have the strength. It only made him release a strangled cry which threw him into a coughing fit. Eugene let go of the blade exhausted. His left hand fell to his side with a thud. His right hand encircled where the blade met his flesh, but it was lifeless. He slowly turned his head toward the door. It was still open. He slowly tried to reach his left hand out toward the door, however, the pain in his injured shoulder, no matter how insignificant compared to the pain in his middle, still restricted his movement. His labored breathing was slower than it was before. Unconsciousness threatened to take hold of him, but he fought it away. Unfortunately, it was a losing battle for him and the darkness ultimately took over. His eyes fluttered as he fought the heaviness of them, but they eventually rolled back as they closed. The last thoughts that Eugene could remember were of Rapunzel, 'Oh God, no, I can't…leave…Rapun…' His thoughts were no more, only darkness.