- Rapunzel Goes Home (platinum edition)

- Chapter 011

~ The Story Continues

Rapunzel continues her story in the testing chamber of being left at the beach.

Rapunzel looked confused. "That was my crown?"

"WHAT!?" The Seneschal's shout was so loud birds roosting on a neighboring tower took flight. He waved off the guard who rushed forward as Mortimer had jumped to his feet, his chair crashing backwards.

Rapunzel began to wish she had her hair to hide in, as the Seneschal paced back and forth in the Testing Chamber like a caged lion.

"Are you kidding me? You've come here claiming to be the Lost Princess and you don't even know about your crown?" said Mortimer, waving his arms. "The Most Valuable Treasure of the kingdom. We've had a squad of guards around it night and day since the day the princess were taken. It was stolen two days ago and found yesterday in the hands of Flynn Rider, who was supposed to have been hanged this morning, but escaped with the help of a mob of thugs who are now awaiting trial in the dungeon," Mortimer growled, his fists on the desk, leaning across to glare at Eugene.

"Oh, please don't hurt them. They're nice guys, really," begged Rapunzel.

"Besides, it was Max who got them to do it, so I could save her. You see, I came to in the boat the Stabbington brothers tied me to not far from where we had left Maximus; I was trying to tell the guards that she was in trouble, but you know how guards are. Max must have heard me and I think he got the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling to break me out, because he had no idea where she was. He knew that I did." Eugene was talking fast. He knew it all depended on Rapunzel convincing the Seneschal that she was the Lost Princess.

Eugene knew he had to fill in gaps that Rapunzel didn't know, but she had his life in her hands, again, and he didn't dare tell her. He desperately wanted to be her knight in shining armor, but wasn't doing a very good job of it. All he could do was hold it together so she could feel his support. The Seneschal was definitely upset at him and all he could do was sweat.

"So maybe you were thinking that returning the Lost Princess would get you and them a pardon?" growled Mortimer at Eugene.

"No. I didn't know," Eugene said simply. "Max didn't know and neither did anyone else, except her 'mother.' None of us knew that she was the Lost Princess. We went to save the girl who stole our hearts."

Mortimer considered the implications of that, his eyes narrowing. "Be that as it may, you may still hang."

"No!" shouted Rapunzel, reaching out to the Seneschal, from the edge of her seat.

Everyone looked at her.

Rapunzel brought her arms back in, holding them close to her body, shielding herself, she wasn't used to this level of attention. "Well, he was, but he isn't any more. Flynn Rider died this morning because Eugene Fitzherbert gave his life to save me. I had promised M...Mother that I would go with her if she would let me save him first. That everything would go back to the way it was. I would stay in the tower and she could use my hair to stay young." Rapunzel was still in a bit of a daze, realizing that she had no other name for Mother, but Mother.

Rapunzel's voice had gotten hollow and flat, her hands were groping her shoulder, feeling for some of her hair to worry. "I promised I would never try to escape or run away and we would be together forever. I never break a promise. And it would have been forever, because my hair can-could heal anything." Her empty hands flop into her lap. She could see the red and black splotches slowly growing on her aching wrists.

"I would give up my freedom and any hope of going Outside ever again just to know that Eugene was alive, somewhere, even if I could never be with him again. I had found someone who liked me and I ...couldn't let him die." Tears where dripping onto her hands that lay limply on her skirts as Eugene slid his chair closer to hers, put both of his arms around her and Pascal tightened his tail around her neck.

The Seneschal stood up straight, picked up the chair and sat down across from them again, his look more gentle. "I think we skipped over some parts in there. He left you at the beach and went to give the crown to the Stabbington Brothers, who were brought in by Maximus and are currently in the prison. You are safe from them. Then what happened?"

Wiping her eyes, Rapunzel pulled herself together, Pascal who was a distressed mauve gave her some nuzzles and told her she was brave.

Rapunzel took a breath and then continued the story. "I waited what seemed like forever and then I saw someone coming out of the fog. I thought it was Eugene, but it was the Stabbington Brothers. They said Flynn had left me. I couldn't believe them, but they showed me that he was sailing away in a boat, I tried calling him, but then they said it was a fair trade, I was traded to them. The crown, for the girl with the magic hair. They had a sack." She shivered.

"I tried to run, but my braid got caught on a branch. Then I heard thumping sounds and then Mother called, she had knocked them out and I went home with her because I felt that I had been betrayed by someone who I thought ...liked me." She glanced at Eugene. She needed reassurance from Eugene, he had left her twice, when she thought he had wanted to stay with her. She wanted to use a strong word then like, but the only one she knew hurt too much to use.

Eugene put his hands up. "Don't look at me, it wasn't my idea. I want to stay with you forever. I was betrayed by them too. But I have to tell you that they don't hit quite as hard as you do with your frying pan. They tied me to that boat and sent me back to the city. I woke up when I hit the dock and I found that I had the crown stuck in my hand. Then the guards took me, I was trying to get them to listen, but you know how guards are." Flynn was trying to lighten things up.

"I kept calling for her, I am guessing that Max heard me and tried to find her, but only found the Stabbington brothers since he brought them in. I spent a restless night trying to figure out how to help her. Then the Captain of the Guard came to take me to be hanged. Somehow, I wasn't exactly surprised by that, though I had expected some kind of trial at least. I gave up then, there wasn't a way out or anyone to listen to me at that point." Eugene shrugged, remembering the despair he had felt at that point. Not because he would die, but that he wouldn't be able to save Rapunzel.

"But then I saw the Stabbington brothers in a cell. I knocked away the guards and grabbed Dirk. I almost dragged him through the bars, I had to know how he had known about her hair. He said that an old woman had told them. The only other person to know about her hair was her mother. I realized that she was in far more danger from her own mother then from any of us." Eugene jerked his thumb at himself.

"Then the guards swarmed me and took me away. Then the next thing I know the guards are disappearing, the Pub Thugs were breaking me out of the dungeon. That didn't make any sense, I know they don't like me that much. One of them had a key to the shackles and then we were running away from the reinforcements. We got to the courtyard where we were surrounded, but then HookHand put me on a cart. The next thing I know I was flying through the air, and landed on Maximus on top of the wall. He had gotten them to come break me out. We ran from more guards and jumped off of the wall and down some roofs and out of town to her tower." Eugene gestured toward the mainland.

"The next part gets really interesting, but I want to know what happened to you after you left the beach." Eugene said turning to Rapunzel.

- End of Chapter 011

Author's Note: Can you feel Rapunzel's concern for Eugene? Is she beginning to suspect that passing this test is really important not just for her but for Eugene?