We are back! It's been shorter than I originally expected because more of these recent chapters haven't needed much, at-least now what I've seen. But, I have made my edits to all the previous chapters, and a lot has changed early on.

1. The only big things that have changed lie in the 'Ballroom Dance' five-part saga, beginning with Eugene's meltdown. His discussion with Frederic has been re-written and made far more dramatic. 'Inner Trials' after that is mostly the same except for an added scene with Maximus, the few one-shots after are mostly the same as well. In 'Halloween', I added some extra stuff with Cassandra during her little spot, she and Eugene have a tiny little talk/introduction. I wanted to do this because I have plans on hopefully making her more of a main character in future chapters. 'Chains of Her Sorrows' is mostly the same as well, and that's where we are now.

2. My suggestion for those interested: re-read the Ballroom dance saga, Inner Trials part 7, Halloween part 4.

3. I'm going to be trying to care more for my writing from now on, so updates may be a bit slower.

4. As always, my apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes that fall through this final cut. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 31 - Healing The Wound

Type: Direct continuation from last chapter, part of the 'Chains of her Sorrows' storyline.

Description: Rapunzel is dangerously weak. Eugene tends to her wounds and they share a few moments together.

Eugene held Rapunzel close to him as a way to share body warmth. He was so elated, so ecstatic to see her safe and sound like this, even if she was so obviously coming down with something. Just the fact that she's alive is all that matters to him now, and he's going to do everything in his damn power to keep it this way for as long as he may live.

Rapunzel snuggled up close to him and let out a breath that tickled his bare neck. She felt so small, so fragile to him, and he was afraid that one subtle movement might cause her to break in half.

He had to move though when he heard her father's screams coming from outside the door. "Rapunzel! Daughter, are you alright!?"

The banging persisted and lingered on and Eugene sighed, "I'll be back."

He gently pried her fingers away from his vest and moved her back to rest up against the wall, but she fearfully shook her head multiple times in hope, trying and fighting with all the strength she had left to stay close to him. "N-no...pl-please…"

"Shhh," He cupped her cheek with one hand and placed another soft kiss on her lips as he made sure she was steady and comfortable in her position. Her body relaxed almost instantly at the sensation of his lips grazing up against hers. She whimpered and looked on the verge of tears after he pulled away and the sight absolutely killed him, but both of her parents deserve to know that she is okay now.

I.. I can't believe it..

She's really okay.

"I'm going to be right back." Rapunzel pouted her lips and slowly lifted her right hand, grabbing his left before intertwining her slim fingers in between his rather large ones.

"Pl-please... Eu-Eugene.." A few tears strolled down her face and her eyes crinkled up like they always do when she's on the verge of relentless crying.

Eugene turned his head away and sighed, once again cursing inwardly at himself for being so stupid and so naive. Rapunzel needs him to stay with her more than she's ever needed him before, so he turned his head back and bit his now swollen lip as he thought of a genius way to keep her close and give her parents the information they needed to know at the exact same time.

"I have an idea. It's not a good one, and honestly, the only reason I'm considering this right now is because I don't want to see you cry again," he chuckled. A small smile rose on her face and she tilted her head ever so slowly to the side. "This may hurt, but I'm going to lift you up. Is that alright with you?"

Rapunzel slowly nodded and lifted her arms, extending them towards him as if she wanted another hug.

Eugene let out another laugh. "That's my girl," he nuzzled her hair with his palm and adjusted her, turning her to the side before leaning down and swooping his right hand under the arch of her legs, and his left one to her upper back. She let out a soft gasp at the sensation of suddenly being pulled into the air, and even managed a faint giggle which caused him to grin ear to ear.

Though, his mood changed when he looked at the floor. Her foot was still bleeding, and it was continuing to drip small dark red, watery blood droplets onto the floor.

Rapunzel noticed his nervous look and whispered, "The...glass.."

Eugene turned his head sharply to her with furrowed brows, "The glass?"

"I...I stepped...on the glass…"

He looked back down to the small mess of blood on the floor, "I see."

She sighed and brought her hand to her head, "I'm.. I'm sorry..I should've.."

"Rapunzel, shut up."

Her eyes widened. "No, no, no no no, that was wrong. But, I did mean - UGH." Why do I always have to make things awkward? Am I just destined to be like this for the rest of my days? Flynn Rider never was awkward-

"O-okay, I-I'll shu-"

"No! Ugh. Rapunzel," Eugene sighed, "What I meant was, is that you need to stop blaming yourself. It isn't your fault that you're feeling this way! You've been through so much throughout your short life that many people can't even fathom!"

"I-I know," she bit her lip and snuggled up into his chest. She still felt horrible, she still felt as if she did not deserve him, but her body was too weak, too cold, and there was something very alluring about curling up into a ball and having his arms wrapped around her entire form. This wasn't that, but it was as close as she was going to get for the time being.

Eugene held Rapunzel close to him and made his way out of her bathroom, carefully stepping over the stray pieces of glass that laid on the floor. He leaned in forward towards her door, "Your majesty?"

"Eugene!?" Arianna quickly yelled back, "Is Rapunzel alright? Is she safe? We have the doctor here if she needs attention-"

"I'm fine, Mama," Rapunzel replied in a whisper, but Arianna did not appear to hear.

"She's fine, your majesty," Eugene blurted a tad louder, "just a little cut on her foot. Nothing crazy."

He heard the gasp from all the way behind the door and rolled his eyes. He then felt small paws climb around his skin as Pascal scurried under his shirt. The frog eventually rose up next to Rapunzel, nuzzling up next to her cheek. She smiled a soft smile at her friend's presence and lifted a finger to rub his little head in the way she knew he liked.

"She's…" Eugene swallowed and raised his voice, "She's very weak, Ma'am. She's in my arms as we speak-"

"Eugene," Frederic butted in, "are you able to move the dresser after you put her down to rest?"

He could, of course, but he didn't want to. And he felt absolutely horrible for thinking that way, for wanting to keep Rapunzel away from her worried sick parents who also ruled the kingdom and could reinstate his original punishment for the crown heist and all other crimes he's committed in his entire livelihood whenever they ever so desired to do so.

Right as he was about to open his mouth to tell them he'd move it as soon as possible out of pure fear for what they may do to him if he doesn't, he was interrupted by Rapunzel's soft and soothing voice. "Papa, he needs to tend to my cut before he does anything!" She then pulled her arm in towards her mouth and coughed hard into it.

Eugene's lips pursed together when he remembered how weak she really was before turning back to the door, awaiting the King's next words.

"Very well, sweet girl. Dr. Henry will give you instructions through this door, Eugene, for how you can tend to her wound." There was a silent pause for a moment and the King said next in a lower and more somber voice, "please take care of her, son."

"You have my word, your majesty." He grinned down to her and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers, causing her to giggle ever so silently. "She's in good hands."

Eugene walked over to her bed and went to lean over and drop her down, but she shook her head and kept holding on. "Hey,"

"N-no," she shook her head with scrunched up eyes.

"Hey, Punz. Look at me, c'mon." She slowly opened one eye and Eugene chuckled at how adorable she looked when she did that, with the scrunched nose and everything. "You're cute, too cute. I've gotta thank your Mother some day for bringing you into this world."

Rapunzel shook her head with a more pleading face on, "No, please, not now-"

"Yes now. You're so damn gorgeous, girl. Like, on a scale from 1-10, you're a fifteen. And I've wanted to take you to bed ever since the moment I first laid my eyes on you."

Rapunzel looked up to him in confusion before the sudden realization of what he meant by his words hit her. She blushed and tilted her head away to hide her newfound embarrassed expression, biting her lip.

"And I promise you, when this is all over, I'm going to do that. I don't care about these customs and traditions, what not to do before...marriage." Even though we'll hopefully be engaged by then... "I'm going to give you my everything; my entire body, my soul, my whole being will be yours.. and you will be free to do whatever shall you please with it." He winked at her and Rapunzel suddenly felt very warm and very hot. If this was his attempt to make her feel better, then hot tamale, is it working!

Now distracted by the wave of sudden inappropriate and steamy thoughts about the handsome young man she had for her boyfriend who was holding and cradling her close, her grip slipped ever so subtilty. She opened her mouth to scream, expecting to fall on her bed in a tangled mess and her whole body to shatter on impact, but her breath got caught in her throat when she felt his grip on her only tighten.

"I've got you. And I'm never going to let you fall."

Rapunzel maneuvered her head from the crook of his shoulder to meet his gaze, and she stared at him wide-eyed in the same way he had now started looking at her. She felt his hot breaths against her face, and slowly...she moved closer...and closer, shutting her eyes as their mouths simultaneously cracked slightly open, their lips connecting with the lust and passion they both held for one another.

Even after all the re-gained strength on her part, she was still very weak from the cold and lack of nutrients in her body, so Eugene did what any sensible and responsible young man would do: he took control of the kiss as he slowly leaned down and rested her on the bed. He kept a hand to her face, cupping her cheek and she copied his actions by doing the exact same thing on her own. He held that position, standing over her as she laid down below him, not caring if the way they were going about this was awkward at all.

Nothing is awkward when it has something to do with her. Especially when this specific something deals with the art of the ever so gentle touch of a woman.

Yeah, Rapunzel's no girl. She's a flat out woman and the thought of that turns him on so damn much.

Rapunzel had moved her free hand to rub his arm, and she loved how strong his muscles felt, the way they tensed up beneath her touch. She could only imagine how they looked when he lifted those heavy crates over his head, carrying them onto all those different ships. It was just minutes earlier when he had lifted and held her close to him without any trouble in the world. He carried her without any issues.

As long as she's with him, she will always be safe and sound.

Eugene wrestled his tongue against hers before needing to lean back for a breath of air, and she looked at him with pleading eyes.

He whispered, "Not now, love. But I promise you...soon." She nodded somberly with a little tremble to her lip, and watched as he stood tall over her before walking back over to the doorway.

"What first, doc?" Eugene called out as he held both his hands to each of his hips when he came to a stop.

"It's extremely irresponsible for- OH!" The doctor let out a faint yelp and Eugene heard his footsteps as they approached the door. "It took you long enough. Go fetch a rag and dampen it with warm water; heck, I suggest filling a whole bowl with the stuff. You're probably going to need it."

Eugene nodded, even though he knew exactly what the doctor was just saying to the two monarchs. He's not mad, though. The old sucker probably hasn't felt the sweet, delicate touch of a young, innocent woman like Rapunzel in 70 or so years.

He walked into the bathroom and ducked down under her sink, grabbing a bowl before filling it halfway with warm water from the sink. He grabbed a rag from her bathtub, washing it off before bringing the two items back out into her bedroom, again walking over the glass.

"You got a broom in here?" He knelt down again and placed the bowl on the ground, dropping the rag into it. Rapunzel turned to him and shook her head. He ran his hand across his cheek, still shaken by how soft his skin felt without the beard. "You should get a broom."

She smiled and blushed a little bit more, staring at him intently as he leaned down and grabbed the rag, wringing most of the heavy water out before bringing it over to her foot and..

Rapunzel pulled her leg back and shrieked at the touch. Eugene immediately turned to her with a look of panic, "You alright?"

She held back a laugh by biting her lip and looked at him eagerly, "Yeah, but be a bit more gentle this time."

He smiled and nodded as he brought the rag back to her foot, only for her to pull it back again, this time failing miserably at holding in her laughter. "You're ticklish there, aren't you?" An evil smirk grew across his face. Rapunzel shook her head in a quick fashion, but she couldn't hide that smirk she was wearing now, not by biting her lip in anticipation like she was attempting to do now.

She definitely is ticklish.

Any other moment, he would've taken her foot in his hands and held it up as he rubbed his fingers all over it, relishing in how she'd be squirming and begging for mercy with tears glistening in her eyes from all the laughter. But he, of course, couldn't do that now, with the scrape, blood; hurt foot and all.

So, knowing all that, he latched his free hand onto her ankle and her eyes widened. "You're going to have to do your best to stay still. I need to get this thing cleaned before anything, got that?"

A more serious look on Rapunzel's face grew and she nodded, holding onto the edge of her bed with her right hand, and her covers with her left. She clenched her eyes shut and bit hard down on her lip as Eugene grazed over her skin with the rag, screaming inside her mouth in anticipation, and just as she felt she couldn't hold this position any longer..he pulled it back. She let out the breath she had been holding in and saw him drop the rag back into the bowl.

"See? That wasn't that hard." He leaned over and pecked the top of her foot with his lips, getting up now to walk back over to the door.

Rapunzel bit her lip as she contemplated why he did that. It felt weird, but it was so sudden. She's never heard or known of it to be appropriate to kiss someone's foot.

Maybe he wasn't trying to be appropriate, though?

She kept her eyes locked onto his figure until he disappeared into her bathroom, when she let out a faint little whimper. She heard a much quieter one in response and turned her head to see Pascal resting on her pillow, curled up into a little ball trying to blend in with its purple color.

She sighed, "I'm sorry about today-"

He quickly shook his head ever so slightly and sent her a glare. "Right. No more apologies, need to let them re-fuel."

He nodded and his frown slowly turned upside down.

"Seriously, Pascal….I don't know what came upon me. It's...it's like I wasn't myself.."

Pascal looked up to her somberly as Eugene walked out of the bathroom with a few cotton balls in one hand, and a small glass jar filled with what Rapunzel suspected to be medicine of some kind in the other, kneeling on one knee beside her foot.

"Doc said this is going to probably burn," He placed the jar on the ground, twirled open the lid and dipped a cotton ball into it, grazing its top before extending his free hand to her.

"Just hold on tight and squeeze as hard as you need to. You won't hurt me."

Rapunzel didn't know what to say in response to that, so she only nodded and took hold of his hand as she closed her eyes.

Eugene was right. It burned so very badly, and a scream began to grow in her throat before the sensation finally went away. She opened her eyes and saw him smiling at her before grabbing her heel and rubbing it in a soothing manner, "See? That wasn't that bad. You think I'd ever lie to you?"

She rolled her eyes and smirked, "I can think of many times you've lied to me."

"Really? Name one."

"During our card game that one night in July, you said were out of 6's." She held in a giggle, "But I saw you make the switch. You're really not that slick as you think you are." She licked her bottom lip and smiled widely as she saw him blushing with a faint tint of red now on his cheeks. He lifted his hand to the back of his neck like he always does when he's anxious and chuckled.

"I see. Well, now I know to never play cards with you again."

She playfully pushed him, "The problem isn't me, pal! It's a certain thief who can't bring himself to play by the rules!"

"Oh, sunshine," He brought his palm to his chest and gasped, "You've hurt me."

She hummed in delight and nodded her head left and right, "Just my intention."

Eugene could only smirk in response. He really can't describe how happy he is to see her in such a better mood already. Going into this, he definitely expected something bad, but what he got was far worse. For crying out loud, he thought she was writing suicide notes, and he thought she had slit her wrists right at the moment when the glass shattered onto the floor!

The mere thoughts now sent chills and goosebumps down his back as he gazed warmly at this positive, awesome, beautiful, smart looking woman as she babbled on with her little chameleon pal. How can someone like her ever even think about wanting to do something as horrible as that? She can't-no, she'd never go through with such a plan...but...how does he know that she wasn't thinking about it? Maybe she was planning something, but he had caught her off-guard...before she was..

"Rapunzel," he said more seriously. She turned her head to him. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

She gulped and bit her lip before shaking her head vigorously, a sharp look of fear rising up within her and becoming ever so visible on her face.

Eugene relented, "All right. But it's best you hear this from me before you hear it from them," He pointed his thumb in the direction of the door. "Once I let them in here they're going to probably ask you questions, whether or not you're alright, if you're safe, if you're sick." He raised his hand in the air in a mocking way, pretending to speak with it, flapping it up and down, "Yadda, yadda, yadda-"

"Eugene," she sang, rolling her eyes.

He opened his mouth to say something snarky in reply but only a measly breathy laugh came out, before his facial features tensed up and he grew more serious once more. "I'm being serious. You should try your best to be honest with them, but don't force anything out if you're not alright with it. I have my own faint ideas," he bit his lip and sighed, "as to why you're feeling the way you do. But until we can all sit down and talk about it in a more controlled environment where you're comfortable, you don't have to tell them a word if that's what you want."

Rapunzel bit her lip and thought for a moment. She herself didn't really understand what she was thinking, but she does know she has been more on edge these past few weeks. It all...it all started when..

"Why?" Eugene looked up to her and his brow furrowed in response. "Why did you start working at the docks?"

Oh boy.

He tugged at his collar, "Uh, well, you see-"

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, pursing her lips together.

"Well, Rapunzel, I assure you that there's this perfectly good explanation as to why I've been putting myself through hell on earth at those damned docks." He tilted his head and tried to please her with his most charming smile.

She didn't move a muscle.

"It's a perfectly reasonable explanation, a mighty fine one I would say. Man, it'd be a shame having to hide such a wonderful explanation from the world, wouldn't it? I mean, who would willingly work at that place-"

"Eugene." she said sternly.

"Alright!" He waved his hands in the air. "You really want to know why I've been working there? Why I got a job there? Why I've been putting my body through endless amounts of torture!?" She nodded eagerly with widened eyes.

He slumped over and mumbled, "It's because I needed the money,"

"What?"

Eugene threw both hands to each side of his cheeks and spit it out, "It's because I needed the money, alright!" He instantly dropped his head in the little spot in between her two kneecaps and groaned very loudly. Rapunzel turned to Pascal for support, but he looked as confused as she was.

"Why do you need money? Is there something out in town you wanted-"

"Yes! Oh god, yes there was!" He talked into the fabrics of her covers now, his voice a bit muffled.

Rapunzel tsked her tongue against the top of her mouth and tapped her pointer finger to the base of her chin, turning to Pascal, "What do you think he wanted to buy?" Pascal moved his head all around as he nonchalantly explained to her what he was thinking.

"Silly you," she teased, bopping his nose, "they don't sell crowns in the local village-"

"I didn't want a crown!" He threw his head up and pulled at his hair, wincing his eyes shut before prying them open and turning to Pascal. "Why on Earth would you think I want to buy a crown!?"

"Hey!" She pushed him playfully, scolding him, "He's only trying to help!"

"He's not helping!"

Rapunzel grabbed his wrist and pulled him close, meeting him on his own eye level now as he leaned over, practically a few inches away from her face. "You need to tell me why you got that job. Right. Now." Her eyebrows were narrow and her lips were sealed shut together in a frown.

Eugene rolled his eyes and tilted his head to the side, mumlbing to himself, "Your father is going to kill me if he finds out this is how I asked you."

All of a sudden, Rapunzel's heart skipped a beat. She stared at this man she loved so deeply with all her heart as he looked off to the side and bit his lip in fear, releasing her grasp on his wrist unknowingly in the process. Her eyes widened, she asked him innocently in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "There's something...you wanted to ask me?"

Eugene lifted his head ever so slightly and nodded, before sighing and dropping it back down. He said in a raspy voice, "Yes, there is." She watched as he re-adjusted himself on his one knee and felt him take her right hand in both of his hands, relaxing it, rubbing her knuckles ever so tenderly.

He looked at her with a slight pout and a tint of sadness in his eyes, and he sighed again, scrunching his eyes shut as he looked for the inner strength he held within to summon everything he's held deep inside himself and every single word he wanted to say to her right now in this very moment.

He cracked open his eyes and his mouth, wearing a faint smile, with a clear and direct intention to his words, his very next words he would say to her….the one question he had been holding in for months on end.

A/N: I just watched the proposal from the series on YT for the first time, and my heart literally melted. Man, just gonna warn y'all, the proposal I've written is nowhere near as good as that one, but I hope it serves its purpose.

Edit History (MM/DD/YY):

1. 6/12/20