A/N: Forget Hookfoot. Keep the Cassunzel. Add the Lancene. ...Eugence? Lanceugene? Whatever. Make it poly!

& The Decay Spell did exactly what we all said it should have…

WARNING: ...so because of that, Eugene is on homemade opiate painkillers. Don't try that at home! As far as portraying the experience, I do only know what I was on for my wisdom teeth, which does not produce the same "high," but with an extra google search, it's probably close enough. So look out for mood swings.

A Midsummer's New Dream

Rapunzel: Day One rewrite

"'EnD tHiS dEsTiNy?!'" Eugene yelled, holding the scroll up to a contrite Rapunzel and pointing at it. He sat on the ground, propped up against a log at their new campsite. He had not redonned any of his weapons or shoulder guard, but wore his blue jacket open. Beneath that, though, he wore only bandages. Beneath the thickest part of the bandages, was some quick stitch work from Lance. "'BREAK these EARTHLY- CHAINS?!'"

Rapunzel freaked out, waving her hands out toward him. "Don't read any more! I- I don't know if someone else can activate it!"

He turned his glare from her back down to the passage to finish reading silently.

She shrunk back in on herself, hanging on her hair to the side.

"First two words…" he grumbled. "Are you kidding me- that's literally the exact opposite! Ya know I couldn't hear you from way up there, and I was a little busy getting crushed, but I thought it was just from the giant evil tree root, not THIS magically opening back up outta nowhere. Ya know I've kinda liked NOT having my spirit free to wander around without my body!"

Resting from a new training session and snack respectively, Cassandra and Lance stayed about 10 feet away back beside the caravan. Maximus had found it earlier that morning and they managed to salvage it, but it badly needed repair. The two friends kept looking busy, inspecting the damage, but obviously listened intently.

"Eugene, I am, so sor-"

"I know you're sorry," he snapped bitterly. "Now you're sorry. I know you didn't mean for this to happen, but Rapunzel," he growled her name out uncharacteristically before pausing to take a few breaths, as deep as he could for how his torso was wrapped. "I shouldn't have to remind you, that the only chain binding me to this Earth, is YOU!"

"I kn-"

"'Destiny' could be anything, but you said you KNEW what this did?!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You DID have a choice," he said in a more-unnerving quiet reprimand, before losing it at top volume again. "You almost KILLED me all because you didn't wanna listen to Cassandra?!"

Cassandra was taken aback at the correct pronunciation of her name.

Rapunzel slowly began to step back away from him, as he watched and let her.

He lowered his volume but kept his tone tight. "I've trusted you with my life, Sunshine. But unlike everyone else, I also literally don't have a choice in the matter, not about this."

"I know, I know," she mumbled.

"And I may have been joking about all the weird stuff this weekend, but," his throat hitched, "THIS is something I never thought I'd have to worry about from you. You know what could happen." He rubbed his forehead to keep his emotions inside his eyelids, but kept staring straight ahead into the dead campfire ring.

"I do know," Rapunzel pressed her clasped hands to her chest in earnest. "Eugene, of course I remember, and you know I would do anything to stop that from happening. I- I made a mistake, but I would never let the same thing happen to you."

"But you did," he said more calmly. "This was a BIG mistake, Blondie. And-" he sighed and nodded, "Of course I forgive you, but I'm still mad at you."

"Euge-"

"Here." He shoved the scroll back toward her. "Take this back before I tear it up."

She quickly snatched it back as he almost let it go before she had a hold of it. "D-do you need anything?"

He rubbed his whole face, then pinched from his eyes to his nose. "More poppy seed tea."

"Alright," she whispered meekly, turning to go.

"Wait," he snapped again, throwing his arm down in a huff, before motioning her back. "Come here." His newly defeated tone hoped to break the tension.

She stepped back to his side, hands clasped in front of herself.

He looked up to her, but motioned again, pointing more directly down towards himself on the ground. "Come here."

With an apologetic sigh, she dropped to her knees, but hesitated leaning in.

He reached for her though, and pulled her in for a quick kiss. Just as quickly, he released her, and looked away, his eyes still angry. "I love you," he grouched.

She paused, shocked, and a little confused. Her eyes searched him for explanation as she sadly stood back up. "I… love you too…"

"But just get me that tea and then leave me alone, please."

"Y-you got it," she nodded, trying to force a chipperness, then scurried away. She only glanced sad eyes up to Lance as she walked between him and Cassandra, carefully re-entering the lopsided caravan.

Cassandra watched her with slitted eyes, then wandered over to join Eugene against the log. Lance watched her, frowning, but turned to head into the caravan.

"Princess?" Lance ventured to her turned back.

Rapunzel abruptly sniffled and wiped her face before facing him, a big bright smile plastered on, and eyes that pinched but looked right through him. "Oh, Lance! Ah, what's the matter?"

He took a deep breath and sighed. "You know he's not himself right now."

Startled, she dropped the act. "I- I know…" But then her face screwed up again. "And it's all my fault…"

He walked over to her and pulled her into a hug, that she eagerly dove into.

"I could've killed him!" she cried into his chest, muffled. "I almost undid everything he's ever done for me!"

"Hey now, I know, this is a big issue between you two now, but he'll recover. He'll be okay. And he loves you. Trust me, he knew the dangers of this trip, and accepted it-"

She picked her head up suddenly. "His life is not an 'acceptable' loss!"

"I know! I know, I'm not sayin' it is! He will be fine, and you know he'll never stop loving you."

"But will he ever trust me again…?"

"He still trusts you to make him that tea that's gonna leave him drugged into a stupor until he heals enough. Too much, and that could kill him- too little and he'd be screaming in pain again."

She sighed uneasily. "Don't remind me…" Her voice choked up again, "One mistake, and-"

"You'll do it just fine- you know what you're doing with this stuff. And I trust you to take care of him." He rubbed her back and released her. They both turned back to the table where she had everything out and prepped.

She poured from a teapot into a teacup; there was just enough left for that one cup. She shakily put the pot down, and crumpled into her hands with her elbows on the table. "That's the last of it… And we're out of poppies…"

Eugene watched Cassandra sit down, ready for his own earful about how he had just yelled at their precious princess. "I'm really NOT in the mood to fight you, too." Unfortunately he could not cross his arms in a huff without hurting himself.

"I'm not here to fight," she said nonchalantly.

He perked up at her. "Your hand still hasn't healed either?"

She shook her head. "I still don't have any feeling in it…"

"Do you wanna talk about it? I mean with me, I know you told her-"

She shrugged. "Not much to talk about. She heard you scream and her mind was made up, like she had to do the whole thing on her own."

Eugene sighed. "I'm sorry, Cass. I know I didn't even say anything about staying the night in there or not, 'cause I want her to be confident in her decisions. I just didn't think it was a big deal."

She simply raised her brow at him.

"She should have listened to you- I should have listened to you before, then maybe she would've listened to me, and maybe..." He slammed a fist down against the rough bark of the log, thankful for it diverting some of the pain. "She wants our advice but then completely disregards it sometimes. At random times."

"Welcome to my world," she deadpanned.

Eugene glared at her, but then sighed, trying to keep his breathing steady. "The spear thing- she was just scared for me. Still, she should've thought about what she was actually doing." He continued just groaning, and writhed where he sat. "That other dose is wearing off; can you go see what's keeping her?"

"Sure thing." She stood up. "Still no new bleeding?"

He shook his head. "No, no, not since it first stopped." He pulled his jacket panel aside, to show the fresh bandages were still stark white. "Lookin' good. Stitches looked good this morning when we changed them. It must not have opened up all the way, 'cause it doesn't feel as deep, but," he sighed and groaned.

"Alright," she nodded and turned to head back to the caravan, only to see Rapunzel on her way back, cup in hand, but looking even more distressed than before. "Raps?"

Rapunzel cringed. "This is the last of the tea, a-and, we're out of poppies…"

Eugene made a low shrieking sound, but reached for what she did at least hold. "Just gimme. Give it a few minutes, and I'll go with you to find more."

Rapunzel handed it to him, as he nearly swiped it out of her hand, but she was taken aback more by his plan. "You?!"

Cassandra interjected as well, "Fitzherbert, you should rest. And that stuff makes you dizzy, too. You shouldn't be-"

He downed it, gagged something awful, then snapped back at both of them. "This stuff lasts anywhere from 8 hours to a day. If it takes that long to find it, I want to be there to take that next dose before the pain gets bad again." He pointed to Rapunzel. "And you know how to make it."

"I'm coming, too," Cassandra chimed in again.

Eugene nodded at her, then stared Rapunzel down, daring her to try to pull rank again.

Rapunzel merely looked away from both of them. "It's about 8 right now, so we have until 4pm at the earliest." While they waited for the opiates to take effect for him, she scooped Pascal up to whisper to him. "Would you mind staying here? I really need to smooth things over with just the three of us."

Pascal happily chirped and saluted her, drawing out a slight smile of hope.

Rapunzel fetched Eugene's Bowie knife and, ironically, the dagger that had caused that wound a year and a half ago. With the dagger in his boot, and the Bowie knife in his breast pocket, he buttoned up his jacket. His sword was left behind, since he would most likely only injure himself further if he tried to even draw it. She eventually helped haul him to his feet, as carefully as can be.

"Lance," Eugene called over to see them off. "You sure you're alright staying with Shorty?"

"Heh," he crossed his arms, "I think I'll enjoy the peace and quiet."

Eugene made a bemused face at him. "I mean, this is West Rabbit Woods-"

"That you're all heading into on foot; I'll be more than happy to babysit the caravan here."

"It's the spide-"

"SH-SH-SH! Don't SAY it!"

"Ah huh," Eugene humored him, as he felt Rapunzel chuckle at his side, drawing a soft smile from him. "Let's get going, Sunshine. And Lance, that means you'll get to be on the lookout for highwaymen. Stay safe, Buddy."

"Pteh."

Eugene's over-dilated eyes stared straight into space as he leaned on Rapunzel while they walked. Cassandra walked on her other side. The pain had subsided by the time they left, but now the side effects were taking over instead.

"You're reeeally sure you're okay?" Rapunzel asked him, though it was the first time she had asked since they left.

"For the zillionth time," he whirled the insult off. "Yes. I'm fine. But the… the things for sentence talk… are hard rightn. Sooo PLEASE-" he suddenly dropped to a whisper, "no more talky."

"You mean, 'words?'"

"Ehh-eh! That's more talky."

Rapunzel stifled a smirk. "Well, um, then, Cass! How are you doing over there?"

Automatically she replied, "I'm fine."

Rapunzel cringed. "Are you sure? How's your-"

"I said 'I'm fine!'"

Rapunzel cringed worse.

A long awkward silence took over.

"Oh, words," Eugene suddenly said.

"What?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"I dunno," he deadpanned, but suddenly looked around confused. "Where are we going?"

Rapunzel took a deep breath and explained for the third time, "There's a village on the map not far from here. So!" she tried to sound leader-like again, "We're going to see if they have any more medicine for you."

He nodded, but still periodically stared at her like he was trying to simply keep his mind grounded.

They quickly came upon the destroyed village that had been obliterated by the black rocks.

Cassandra stepped up first. "We should also be on the hunt for supplies to help patch the wagon up. Besides, not doing anyone any good around here."

"Alright!" Rapunzel tried to sound cheerful while taking charge herself. "We've gotta see if we can find any kind of helpful supplies around here, and fast."

Eugene groaned. "You do that. I'm just gonna…" He hobbled to the nearest broken crate he could find, and slid to the ground to rest against it.

"Oooh!" Rapunzel immediately became distracted by a broken down cart with lots of drawers and cabinets, all haphazardly hanging out. "An apothecary cart!"

"Ahah!" Eugene called right over. "Jackpot! Right off the bat. Nice goin' Sunshine."

Rapunzel grinned shyly at this glimpse of his usual kindness. "Let's see, there's all kinds of tonics and powders and potions…"

"Potions?" Cassandra questioned. "Raps, come on. None of this junk is gonna work. This is snake oil stuff that only promises to regrow hair, or make you lose weight. It's all a scam."

Suddenly Rapunzel had made a pile of snow appear on one of the shelves, sparking childlike giggles from her and Eugene.

"Huh, touché," Cassandra conceded. "But I don't think we have any purpose for a small pile of snow."

Eugene shrugged. "I might. Not right now, but ice might be a good backup. Or I know, you could just use your ice cold hands!"

Cassandra cringed. "I am not touching your stomach."

Eugene finally could not keep his snickering hidden and clapped his hands. "I'm kidding!"

She smirked and rolled her eyes.

"A glare should be enough."

Finally Cassandra cracked into a tiny scoffing laugh. She continued looking through the cart.

Rapunzel watched their friendly bickering wistfully; they were only bonding now because she had hurt both of them.

Cassandra looked down at a book she had just picked up. "'Wand of Oblivium,' hm... 'Erases what you wish to forget.'"

Rapunzel saw her opportunity. "Ooh, a memory wand!" She snatched up the wand. "I wonder if it works?" She put it down, only to pick it up again. "Ooh, a memory wand! I wonder if it works?"

Eugene perked up, alarmed more easily than usual under the influence. "Blondie?!" he cried out with a cracked voice.

Rapunzel merely did it again. "Ooh, a memory wand…" She nudged to Cassandra beside her, hopeful. "Did I get you?"

"Very funny," she sighed, hiding a smirk.

Eugene looked on confused, then just leaned back and sighed as well.

"Too bad there's not an 'open-up-to-your-best-friend-about-the-thing-you-guys-are-fighting- about' wand, huh?" Rapunzel shyly glanced back over her shoulder at her.

Eugene rolled his eyes and cringed for her.

Cassandra glared at her, unamused.

Rapunzel realized Eugene might be right about the icing effect, but pressed on with a sigh. "Cass, I know you're mad at me. I know I should have listened to you."

Cassandra's eyes widened, but she still shrugged nonchalantly. "I never said I was upset."

"You don't have to," she whimpered back. "I can just tell…"

"Oh yeah, what makes you so sure you know what I'm feeling?! Besides, I said it was fine!"

"And you keep saying that! But I know it's not!"

"Sunshine," Eugene tried to calmly but sternly interject into the sudden shouting match, "Don't-"

"No!" she cried out. "Cass! We need to talk about what we all know is going on between us!"

Cassandra was taken aback, even more defensive than before. "No there's not-"

Eugene did not notice he pffted his bangs up too loudly, earning his own quick Cass glare dart, which he managed to volley back with his own knowing smirk.

Rapunzel tried to continue with her reasoning. "Eugene and I have talked about this, and you two have talked about this, but Cass! Why won't you talk to me? You know I never meant for either of you to get hurt!"

"Then it's FINE. We're good. There's nothing to talk about. And there's nothing going on between us-"

Eugene opened his mouth and held a finger up, but Rapunzel beat him to it.

"But- but I'm mad at you, too!" she blurted out loudly, sounding so hurt herself. She motioned to Eugene. "YES, I should have realized what that 'reverse' spell could do to Eugene," but then she pointed at Cassandra, "But it is NOT my fault that you touched me! You didn't know what that would do, either!"

"Rapunzel," Eugene suddenly called over harshly, "She couldn't have gotten burned if you didn't start with your nuclear option! Cass has just as much right to be mad about this-"

"I didn't know what would happen!"

"Exactly! So you should have listened to your other advisor here!"

"I do listen to Cass-!"

"No, you don't!"

"Urrrgh… Enough, you two!" Cassandra yelled at them. "I said I don't wanna talk about this anymore, and I certainly don't wanna hear Fitzherbert talking about it for me." She resumed rifling through the cart.

He snapped over at her next. "Well and I'm sorry, but I think this is a lil important!"

She snarked back. "Not as important as finding poppies or some kind of painkillers for you right now, or else you're gonna go nuclear, if you don't pass out first."

"Eugene," Rapunzel tried gently, "She's right- and, I'm sorry, but you're not even completely yourself right now. That medicine is really strong and-"

"I know, Blondie! But I know I'm right, and now is when I'm hurt because of you!"

"And I'm doing everything I can to help you now! I made a mistake, but you know how sorry I am and we still love each other so I know we'll-"

"Yeah yeah we're fine," he rambled but then bit angrily, "But what about Cass?!"

"Well actually, yes, she's right- we need to find more medicine for you, so please, for your sake, will you please just drop it?!"

"No, not until you admit you were wrong for Cass's sake, too, not just mine! This IS your fault, not Cass's."

"No, her hand is NOT my fault! But she won't even talk to me about it!" She held her temples and shook her head. Arguing with two people about something so intricate, while one was being aloof and the other was high on painkillers, was enough to make her own head spin. "We can call a truce now, but we can't just push this aside and forget the whole thing ever happened!"

Cassandra had made it down to searching the bottom drawer of the cart, but finally her stoked anger exploded. "I said, SHUT UP!" As she stood up to abruptly whirl toward them, she bumped her head on a pop-out tray. The wand was bumped off and fell, but she caught it, before she even realized what had fallen. "Ya know I wish you two would just forget about the whole thing!"

They all froze and stared as the wand activated with sparks in a swirling puff of pink and blue smoke.

A/N: Lance will return, btw! Otherwise, what do you think? For me it looks almost like a crack Eugene, but hey, opiates.

Please Review/Comment! Follow me as MiraNova23 on tumblr at .com, for Tangled Fandom Resurrection, messaging, keeping up with what's going on in my life, how the writing's going, my other fanworks, lots of Chuck vs Tangled, and all-around general Disnerdiness.