Chapter 5: Fitzherberty Healing Secrets
As they continued to make their way through the manky and dusty cobwebs, Rapunzel paid no heed to their environment. Eugene, however, finally felt a distinct unease for the first time, since, well….since just before Gothel had stabbed him.
He could not bide by it...and found himself readying the cast iron fry pan in a defensive posture as they wound their way down the indoor tower spiral. The skeevy feeling caused Eugene to whirl around behind him, since he certainly felt as if they were being watched. And he hadn't remained a successful career thief as long as he had by ignoring his instincts.
"We'll talk more in detail once we get outta here," Eugene ushered Rapunzel to go faster. Rather than question him, she followed his lead until they were out of the spiral staircase chamber, out of the chamber door (closing it behind them) and finally on the opposite side of the base of the tower in the bright cheerful sunlight. He had begun feeling better immediately.
Now with the couple's clothing shown in stark relief, they could both better see the remaining evidence they carried of the aftermath concerning what had taken place within the past hour. Eugene's clothing - and even Rapunzel's - were covered in patches and smears of dried blood. It was less noticeable on Rapunzel's pink and purple dress….but patches of her partial handprints were left behind nonetheless. And neither Eugene nor Rapunzel had realized until then that Gothel had managed to run Eugene clean through….for there was evidence of an exit wound that neither Rapunzel nor Eugene had seen. On the back of Eugene's doublet and his trousers was another smaller dried stream and more patches of blood...leading from another separate jagged crimson tear through the back of his shirt and doublet.
Before either Rapunzel, Eugene, or Pascal could say much of anything, Maximus, who had been drinking at the spring, turned around and cantered up to them.
Rapunzel's jaw dropped as she demanded of Eugene, "Don't tell me Maximus is the one who helped you escape!?" And Eugene self-consciously rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and grinned in spite of himself. "He's the main one, yeah."
And the closer Max got to them, the more alarmed the horse became. Before long, he was snuffling around the bloodstains on Rapunzel….and at last figuring she was all right, went over to Eugene. The couple tried to explain that even Eugene was okay now too. However, the adamant horse would not stop nudging and pestering Eugene until Rapunzel was compelled to take the frying pan from Eugene's hands before he accidentally dropped it and Maximus had effectively made the young man strip to the waist for his personal equine inspection in spite of all the vehement protesting.
"Why Max, I never knew you cared," Eugene jabbed at him playfully, a wan smirk on his face as he folded his arms over his bare chest. The horse gave him a withering death-glare and continued to circle Eugene, nonetheless scrutinizing him even more closely. Rapunzel quipped, "He's just making sure he didn't go to all the trouble of rescuing you for nothing."
"You're not 'nothing', though," Eugene protested. "Oh….really?" Rapunzel replied pleasantly. "So what am I, then?" Rapunzel flirted, her eyelashes batting up at him. Eugene slowly drew in lungfuls of air before replying, "Only…. everything," he exhaled the last word with breathless sincerity. And the princess blushed in the sunlight as Eugene stood closer to her, lacing their fingers together. She felt a heady rush as the scent of Eugene's bare skin tickled her everywhere from the inside out.
Apparently, Maximus was still unfinished with his inspection. He nudged Eugene again, causing the couple to break apart as the young man huffed with annoyance.
Now it was Rapunzel's turn to smirk. She pointedly rejoined with, "Well, Maximus - you're not wrong. We look like we just came from a murder scene….because….well, because….we have," she said softly. "And you've correctly deduced it was Eugene's." She reached out for her beloved's hand again. Somewhat chastened, Eugene's smirk fell as he looked at the ground. He glanced sideways at Rapunzel after a beat, only seeing her peripherally through downcast hooded eyes. Yet he reached back and took her offered hand regardless. Max was clearly curious as to why Rapunzel's hair had changed and she struggled to explain.
"I was just - you see those swirling-light sparkles on Eugene's skin? That's from magic - the same magic that turned my hair blonde. The same magic from my blonde hair saved him after he was fatally stabbed by Gothel…. Max, you AND Eugene saved me….from Gothel….she was...an….an evil witch posing as my mother. She was holding me prisoner." Pascal nodded in affirmation. Max's eyes grew wide with apparent shock and fright. Murder!? Being held prisoner?! his look of alarm seemed to say.
"Which reminds me…." said Eugene, who was extremely eager to change the subject. He picked up his satchel, shirt, and doublet, and walked past Max to the water's edge with Rapunzel in tow.
Crouching on the stream bank, Eugene set down his satchel and doublet and quickly threw his shirt into the water. He was anxious to get the blood stains out of it, if he could, while they were still relatively fresh. His leather doublet was gonna take a bit more delicate work. So engrossed in this particular activity was he that Eugene wasn't paying any attention to Rapunzel as she got a running start and leapt right into the middle of the pond in front of him. Her wake sloshed ashore and splashed him a bit.
"I realized my dress needed a good cleaning too!" Rapunzel called back to him as he laughed openly at her antics. Now that's more like it! Eugene thought to himself with a smile. "This is certainly a welcome yet far less traumatic refresher from the day before yesterday!", Eugene called out with a renewed grin, as he sat back on the bank and took off his boots. Although he was certain of the little waterfall and pond not being nearly deep enough to handle a cannonball from him, that didn't mean he wasn't earnestly preparing to join Rapunzel. "Ow, ow, ouch!" suddenly cried the girl as she held up her hands in front of her.
Eugene glanced up sharply toward Rapunzel and where she was standing. She was hissing again at the pain from the welts around her wrists. Or at least that's what Eugene had assumed until Rapunzel reached up one hand to her shorn off hair…..and got a dazed far-off look in her eyes, clearly seeing past her injured wrists and into the depths of the high-waist-deep water surrounding her. Abandoning his belongings on the bank, Eugene cautiously slid from the water's edge into the center of the pond. He was grateful; the rocks further out from the bank had worn smooth with time and weren't sharp against his feet.
Unexpectedly, Rapunzel's face crumpled and she was sniffling when Eugene was halfway out to her, and she was clearly trying to stop herself crying again. Yet by the time he reached her, two large tears had nonetheless formed and slid down her stream-soaked cheeks.
"Do the abrasions still hurt you terribly?" Eugene asked softly.
He noted how startled she was by his abrupt nearness. It seemed that as Eugene approached, the princess had instead slid into a world entirely her own. Rapunzel finally seemed to realize Eugene had asked her a question as she looked up at him blankly, shook herself after a few seconds, and nearly took his offered hand. She quickly shook her head "no" to his earlier question...only to wind up nodding "yes" and burst into full crying once again. She covered her face with her hands. Eugene was perceptive enough to realize that these tears likely had nothing to do with him, that she'd somehow triggered some type of dreadful memory. Rapunzel, who just moments ago appeared the paragon of youthful exuberance, was now pale and shaky as Eugene carefully touched her elbow and said, "I'm right here, okay?" He oh-so-tentatively shifted position around the young woman so he was standing behind her, "I'm gonna just…..wrap my arms around yours, all right?"
Eugene carefully enveloped Rapunzel within his embrace, slowly folding her forearms in front of her in such a configuration that neither abraded wrist was touching the other. "You can say anything that's on your mind," he whispered, his hot breath tickling her right ear. The young woman briefly forgot herself and for a blessed moment, abandoned the reasons for her tears and leaned heavily into Eugene's warmth. He felt Rapunzel lightly rest her right heel on top of his right foot under water. Suddenly, Eugene felt compelled to ask a certain question.
"When was it that Gothel stopped giving you any shoes?" Ever since he learned Rapunzel had been kept a virtual prisoner, he'd assumed the old hag had either never given the young girl shoes at all or that Gothel had stopped giving her any once Rapunzel had reached a certain age, in order to prevent the girl from escaping. Then Eugene felt Rapunzel stiffen in his arms and an uncomfortable silence loomed before she answered with a question of her own: "Where on earth did you get the idea that Gothel ever gave me shoes?"
She said it with awe and a hint of pique. "I-I-I dunno," Eugene bit his lip and sucked in a self-conscious breath through his teeth, "let's see here….I just know that….when someone gets thrown in prison, one of the first things they usually do is take the prisoner's street clothes and especially shoes in order to, ah, deter escaping." Eugene tried to explain as delicately as possible without seeming insensitive. "So I naturally assumed - that selfish woman - had done the same type of thing with you." He paused briefly, waiting for Rapunzel to reply. When nothing was forthcoming Eugene asked, "Was I terribly wrong about Gothel? Did I say something awful?"
"No," the princess said so softly that Eugene nearly missed it. "It's just that...I didn't….even recall the….incident….until you asked me about it just now. But no….you're not incorrect about Gothel. One time when I was still quite young, she had been gone for so long that I had run out of water. From the time I was tiny, I knew she would get more water from the stream behind the tower; that's why the pulley system was originally set up outside the window - so she wouldn't have to carry the heavy buckets or pitchers all the way up and down the staircases."
Eugene had wondered about that ever since the first time he'd seen it….but now everything just clicked. Apparently, his questioning had triggered something else for Rapunzel too.
"I had been without water for nearly 3 days. I was only 8 years old at the time. I….I lowered the smallest bucket down to the ground with the rope. And I put on my shoes and went down the dark winding staircase….terrified the whole time that G-Gothel would find out…..but m-m-my thirst….was m-more powerful th-than my fear." Rapunzel's heartbeat and breathing sped up as she recalled this repressed memory for the first time in ten years. Eugene felt her lean against him and he reassured her by giving her a little squeeze to let her know she was always safe in his arms.
"And I….surprisingly and without incident, I...made it out to the spring and back into the tower with the precious bucket of fresh water after I drank my fill at the pond. I was so surprised that nothing had happened to me as I was outside…..and I had begun to think that just maybe….Gothel might not discover what I'd done." Then Rapunzel scoffed bitterly. "Two days later, when she finally arrived home, I'm not sure how….but she-she f-found out…." Eugene felt Rapunzel holding her breath. Whatever was coming next, she truly didn't want to share it. He massaged her shoulders and upper arms with a light touch, trying to be as calming a presence as possible.
"I tried explaining how very thirsty I'd been," Rapunzel murmured, "but she didn't care. So then she….she dr-dragged me out t-to-to the sp-spring by this ear," the princess indicated her left ear. 'If you're so thirsty,' Gothel said with saccharine sweetness, 'you really should drink up.'" Rapunzel turned around in Eugene's arms and looked up into his eyes for the first time since she started this story. And she continued, plain as day, without stuttering, "We knelt on the bank and she grabbed my hair and violently shoved my entire head under the water." Her nostrils flared and lips trembled as she held Eugene's gaze. His eyes opened wide with horror...but the story would get worse. Rapunzel continued, "Over and over and over again, she'd plunge my head back underwater, she kept telling me I really should 'drink up and forget'; she was forcing me to forget that I'd ever left the tower, even though I only did it very briefly, just once, to save my own life." Rapunzel laid her head against Eugene's chest and finished, "Next thing I remember, I woke up on my bed and Gothel was gone. At the time, I had chalked everything up to a particularly bad nightmare. Which….means….she was successful at making me forget everything."
"I-I'm so sorry, Rapunzel," whispered Eugene. She looked up into his eyes. Just when he thought he'd no longer be surprised by the depth of Gothel's cruelty, somehow the young man had been proven wrong with every new thing he discovered. Eugene reflexively circled his arms all the way around Rapunzel's waist for a time. "Nobody should have to endure that kind of torture."
Her gaze dropped and she fell numbly, face-first against Eugene's chest. After a moment the princess turned her head to the side, drew herself in and Eugene rubbed his hands up and down her arms in comfort. The stony-faced princess mumbled as she pressed her cheek against Eugene's sternum, "That's still not all, though….she set my best shoes on fire….while I was still wearing them. And I had to hurry up, remove them, and throw them into the fireplace. She forced me to throw every other pair of shoes into the fire I had until that point, even if they were worn out, no longer fit, and were merely being kept for sentimental reasons. Of course, she banned me from ever getting more shoes again. I didn't even remember why. Or even that it happened at all. Until now."
"That's...just...horrific, Rapunzel!" Eugene could take no more and swept her up with his left arm, circling most of her body as he cradled her neck and head up against his left shoulder. "No wonder you've blocked all this out," he intimated. "This is too traumatic for one small child to remember." He had certainly dealt with more than his fair share of terrifying experiences at the orphanage. Yet as a teen and now as an adult….he basically ate foolhardy misadventures for breakfast….and felt he had pretty much invited whatever rotten thing that happened to him as of late.
Rapunzel was not like that. She didn't deserve or merit any of this barbarism. Yet Gothel had always told Rapunzel it was clientele like those at Snuggly Duckling that held the 'unsavory types' who were the most dangerous for her. By some accident of magic, the princess happened to be born with mystical healing hair, the simultaneous gift and curse born of her dying mother, after the queen had absorbed the healing powers of the Sundrop flower during labor.
Suddenly, Eugene could feel Rapunzel silently weeping against his shoulder. She was trying not to cry again but he told her, "Sweetheart...you don't have to hold all of that in any more. I'm here for you." That's when the floodgates opened. Huge sobs wracked the princess's small form, as the repressed living nightmares of 10 years prior poured out of her at long last.
"Buh….b-but…..I-I'm useless to y-you now," she wailed. "I c-can't even h-heal myself any mo-ore," hiccoughed the princess. Rapunzel reached up a hand and repeatedly tugged wildly at her newly shorn ends. Dismayed, Eugene reached out and held Rapunzel's clutched fist within his own hand. "Did you know that….you don't have to put up with her hurting you any more? In fact, I can teach you ways to heal yourself just a little faster. No, it's not the same...but it is a little Fitzherberty secret of mine," Eugene said with a shy smile. Rapunzel still didn't say anything but rather quieted her weeping and slumped heavily against Eugene. He took that as a signal to reach down, sling one arm behind her knees under the water and the other arm beneath her shoulders behind her back and bridal-carry his princess all the way to the dry bank of the little stream. With Max's assistance, Eugene was able to get Rapunzel upon the bank without any issues. She sat down in a little clearing of a thicket of tall grass and reeds; her feet still dangling in the water, she stared absently into its rippling surface again.
Eugene hurriedly retrieved some items from his satchel; he got the saucer, the healing salt, the tallow, and the tea towel. He tore the tea towel into several small strips of fabric about 3-4 inches wide. Then he broke off a small reed that had been growing on the stream bank. Part of the healing salt was poured in the center of the saucer and Eugene took the reed, gently filled it with spring water, and piped that small amount of water over the healing salt so it would partially dissolve into a grainy poultice. The next step was to pipe equal amounts of the poultice onto two towel strips. Although the princess still looked rather sullen and despondent, Eugene thought he could see hope and fear behind that expression.
"Please - hold out your wrist," Eugene instructed, demonstrating to her as he stood in the water directly in front of her seated position. She obediently presented her right wrist to him and he proceeded to tie one poultice-infused towel strip around Rapunzel's wrist. Eugene repeated the action with the princess's other wrist. The young man held his breath and waited for his version of healing magic to work its spell.
Within a minute or two, sure enough, Rapunzel held out both wrists in front of her again, this time staring down at them in awe. Her gaze flitted up to him and back to her wrists a few times before she said wonderingly, "Something's….happening…..and I thought salt would sting, but it's doing just the opposite. It's actually pulling the pain and burning feelings right out of the wounds! This really is 'healing' salt!" she exclaimed.
Instantly Eugene's half-smile sprang up, knowing that in some tiny way, he could begin returning the favor to Rapunzel. Those healing salts had been quite old but he hadn't known that until the bottle was uncorked. As such, he wasn't certain if they would either work as quickly as he hoped or if they simply wouldn't work at all. Yet they had performed beautifully and with just the right results he'd been hoping for….
"A mere 10 or 12 more minutes of that and you'll be nearly as good as new," Eugene reassured her. He clasped her hands in his own and planted a kiss across the knuckles of each hand. Drawing in a deep breath, he continued, once more attempting to coax her out of the emotional shadows.
"Rapunzel, you are so much more than a woman who once had magical hair. You-oh, but...where do I start? You-you are kind and brilliant, selfless and charming, with a fantastic sense of humor! You're strong, capable, multi-talented….and tireless, and athletic, and compassionate, and….and practically fearless. And we already make such a great team!" Eugene paused and drew a little closer, saying, "Yet best of all…. you're also...my love, my light, my new dream….my very reason (the literal reason!) I'm still standing in front of you right now." He cupped her chin in his hand, "You're the reason I get a second chance to get things right in the end." He didn't continue explaining that although he fervently wished to be with her more than he'd ever wished for anything, Eugene wasn't all that certain he would even be alive 24 hours from now. But since it was the right thing to do, the young man would voluntarily turn himself in after safely escorting Rapunzel back to Corona.
Out of the blue, the couple was rudely interrupted by fighting noises. Pascal and Maximus had apparently decided to entertain themselves by rummaging around in Eugene's opened satchel. Maximus was trying to recover the crown from within the satchel and Pascal was squawking an alert, desperate to attract their attention. Eugene whispered a quick, "Sorry" to Rapunzel, vaulted himself up over the stream bank, and snatched the crown out of Maximus's maw.
"Ah, ah, ah, Max. You shouldn't steal what doesn't belong to you, you know," admonished Eugene, waggling his finger at the now fully indignant horse. "Someone would think you'd been raised in a barn or something," Eugene deadpanned as Rapunzel nearly choked from trying to stifle her giggling. Maximus was about to give the reformed thief a rather large piece of his equine mind when Eugene sauntered back over to Rapunzel, who was now kneeling in their direction, her feet fully drawn up out of the water. "I almost forgot to tell you, Max - Rapunzel?" asked the young man as he handed the crown to its rightful owner.
The princess accepted it and carefully arranged the crown over her short damp hair. Maximus stood rooted and stared wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and slid onto his haunches in total disbelief of what he was seeing. Rapunzel shyly bit her lip under the horse's nonplussed scrutiny. "I'm the lost princess," she explained, as if still half in disbelief herself. "It's why Gothel….did all she did."
Suddenly, Max exploded with a flurry of activity, bowing down on one knee. "Oh no," said Rapunzel, standing up and walking over to Max, "please - there's no need for bowing. I'm still just me." She stroked Max under his chin and encouraged him to stand upright again. It was wholly unexpected, but the horse all but insisted upon knowing where the couple was headed next. "We're going back to Corona, of course," the princess answered him. Max appeared worried and stamped out warnings to Eugene. The horse had clearly expected the couple to run away and be free together - far from Corona.
"So….what, exactly, are you saying, Max?" demanded Eugene. "That you, the strictest law-abiding individual I've ever known, don't expect me to turn myself in, all of a sudden?"
Maximus paused, looking rather helpless, and eventually nodded in confirmation to Eugene's question. Now somewhat awestruck himself, the young man considered Max's answer. It reminded him powerfully of the big moment they almost had earlier that day, when Eugene had been launched via catapult from the courtyard, up over the parapet, and landed unexpectedly upon a certain leather saddle.
"Max…..first of all, I thank you once more for caring about my well-being for what must be the nth time today, despite all our past history." Eugene looked down and sighed long-sufferingly. "However, I just….can't….skip out on this one, my friend. Rapunzel needs me to go with her….has asked me to accompany her. And I'm through with running. The Flynn Rider persona….is no more. I've gotta come clean to Corona's authorities, whomever - or whatever - that might include." And Maximus held Eugene's gaze for what seemed an interminably long time but in reality was probably about 5-10 seconds.
Then the horse's attention was diverted to somewhere beyond Eugene's shoulder, where Max's eyes grew wider and wider until he finally cantered past Eugene and up to Pascal, who was behind the couple and next to the discarded clothing on the stream bank.
Eugene and Rapunzel blinked rapidly in confusion at what happened next. In one smooth motion Maximus ducked his head, snapped up Eugene's leather doublet, completed a half-circle run from one side of the couple to the other, only to zoom past them at a full gallop, the doublet still in his possession. Before anyone could say 'crazy white horse', Max had darted back underneath the hidden low entrance to the secret ravine and disappeared back into the forest beyond.
Now it was Rapunzel's and Eugene's turn to be completely baffled. Eugene reached up a hand and scratched his head asking in confusion, "What….just happened?" He shook himself. "I didn't just imagine that, did I?" he quizzed Rapunzel.
"Y'mean the whack-job horse that stole your doublet and disappeared into the great beyond, with nary an explanation about where he was going, why, or when he would return?"
"Yeah; yeah," confirmed Eugene, still staring after the horse. "That's the one. So I guess you saw it too."
"Yeeeees," Rapunzel replied carefully, turning around to scrutinize Pascal once more. The little lizard blushed and tried hiding from her watchful gaze. "Pascaaaaal," sing-songed Rapunzel, rounding on her green BFF as he stood on Eugene's satchel on the bank, "you wouldn't happen to know where Maximus has gone with the doublet, do you?" The lizard blushed even harder, grinning tightly and unsuccessfully attempted to pass off a casual shrug.
Again, Eugene sighed. "With that horse, who knows what he might be doing? Just when I think I've got him figured out, he up and pulls an abracadabra act like that," the young man snapped his fingers and frustratedly gestured toward the hidden cavern into which Max had vanished just moments before.
Eugene didn't know whether to feel anxious, annoyed, relieved, or perhaps even a little bit more hopeful. Because if anybody alive could run interference with Coronian authorities on the former thief's behalf, at the moment it would definitely be Maximus. The noble steed had already proven himself in spades on that front during the past 2-3 days.
And although Eugene tried to quash it, the persistent ember of hope remained. Rapunzel reached out, took his hand, and rested her face against his bare shoulder. As she stroked his bicep, she subconsciously hummed the healing incantation, and Eugene swore he could feel more golden tingles emanating through him from her point of contact. Perhaps that's what Rapunzel had been trying to explain all along….that the entire morass would finally resolve…..and everything just might work out for the couple to remain together after all. Maybe Eugene just had to believe in himself as a Fitzherbert first and foremost.