A/N: Uh, hi! Luckily had most of this ready to go since soon after I had uploaded ch2. Nothing much else I guess. Enjoy!
Standing In Front Of You
Chapter 3
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They carefully made their way down the narrow pathways leading down the short cliff face. Rapunzel followed Eugene, but as obvious as the destination had become, he somehow looked confused himself.
"I…uhhh…" Eugene's nose scrunched up as he stared at the strange formations.
Rapunzel crouched beside a large protruding pointy black rock, etched with shimmering blue lines, but none of it looking the least bit natural. "They're beautiful… What are they?" She held her hand out but was wary of actually touching them.
"These, uh, rocks? Weren't here last year when I first came to Corona."
"What?" she chuckled. "Well, are you sure this is the same cliff you meant-"
"Yeah," he pointed to the very edge of the cliff, where the largest cluster of rocks were sprouted up around a pillar monument. "I'd heard the story about, uh, your mom, growing up, so on my way to Corona, I came to see it… But none of these weird rocks were here." He held a hand out as well, but was even less sure of touching them than she was.
Rapunzel wandered over to the monument and wiped the dust and pollen off the inscription. "Wow…"
"Yeah, uh," he gestured to it then rubbed his neck. "I just thought it might be interesting to see where, uh, it all started I guess." Behind her, he eyed his worrisome moonlit reflection in the rocks, sending a foreign shudder through him. For once he had to tear his eyes away, spooked at how disturbing it felt, for some reason he could not pinpoint.
As Rapunzel got closer to the rocks, though, they began to glow blue.
The light caught Eugene's eye. "Uh, B-Blondie?!"
With the enticing blue glow, now she just had to know what the story was with these rocks. Blue should mean it was not hot, and running her hand through glowing blue algae had never felt like anything but water. She reached out to touch one -
An explosion of cyan blue light shot out from the point, blowing them both back as they screamed, sending shockwaves out to the horizon all around.
Rapunzel sat up and rubbed her head, but still saw light. And it was not blue. She pulled a lock of her hair as far away from her face as she could to see it. It was glowing gold. "Uh, Eug-" Suddenly she screamed again as a rock shot right out of the ground towards her and she dove toward him.
His legs had been knocked out behind him, landing him on his stomach, but leaned up on his elbows now, staring at that golden lock in sheer horror. No- no no no no no! The old lady's screams came back to him, at the same time he frantically took stock of his own condition.
Another rock shot up from near the monument, and they could feel the ground rumbling below them.
In a split second, he had her wrist in a deathgrip and was running back up the path.
Behind, and below them now, more rocks shot up one right after another as they seemed to be traveling themselves, following them.
"What-?!" she gasped, desperately trying to run as fast as he was pulling her.
"Run now, ask later!" He kept his grip locked on her wrist. "Faster!"
They were staying ahead of the rocks, but they just kept coming. Through a winding trail back around some trees, they then stayed straight on, leaving the road and dipping into a grove. Glares suddenly shone out from Rapunzel, freaking them both out more as they panted hard and adrenaline peaked, but they did not look back nor slow down.
As they exited the grove, they lept off the hill again, landing back in the grass like last time. Although this time they made sure to land on their feet to keep running.
Oh my- no- it can't be! Rapunzel could suddenly feel the familiar drag on her head behind her.
Eugene was too terrified to look back, but noticed she had begun lagging. "C'mon, Blondie!"
"Eugene," she whined, and tugged back on his arm.
"What," he finally, reluctantly turned around. HAIR. "GO!" Swiftly switching gears, not even attempting to process it, he urged her to run ahead of him as he fell back a pace. "Oh you gotta be kidding me," he groaned. "Don't slow down!" As he carefully ran just behind her, he grabbed for it and began raveling the hair up into his arms to cut the drag. That better just be a stitch in my side 'cause I can't remember the last time I had to run this fast for this long - well actually I can and - shutup shutup shutup!
"Uh, the bridge?!"
"Just GO!" He fell back a couple extra paces to spread their weight out. Wait - It's the other side - Okay. - It's the other side. - It's just a stitch. It's just a stitch! As they dashed across the dilapidated bridge, he was not paying attention to how heavy his footing had gotten.
Rapunzel made it across the last big gap, but where she had leapt off from, crumbled away. Eugene had no chance to correct his jump. Safe on the ground, she turned around to check on him-
"Rapuhh-!" he cried out as he saw his outreached arm was not going to reach the ledge.
She gasped, and, natural instinct returning, grabbed her hair with both hands, wrapped a bit around her ankle, and stomped down on it.
Eugene had most of the rest of her hair balled up in his other arm, but waited til the last possible second, to hopefully give her time to brace for his weight. He let it run through his hands, til he finally gripped it tight with both hands and between his knees.
Rapunzel could finally breathe again when she felt his weight drop, though she jerked forward a bit and Max had to grab the cape to help hold her there. "Eugene!" she cried out, her voice cracking, "Climb up!"
"On it!" he called back as he was already clambering up, feet swinging free again.
They could still hear the shots of the rocks breaking through the ground, still approaching the other side of the bridge. Although, that is as far as they seemed to go.
She finally pulled him up over the edge, but did not let go til he was back on his feet, hugging her. Finally, she relaxed in his arms. But they soon separated to properly catch their breaths.
"The rocks grow… I did not see that coming… The rocks actually grow!" He jumped up to grab Max's bridle and shoved them together nose to nose. "Why do the rocks grow?!"
"EUgene!" Rapunzel screeched to snap him out of it. "Do you not see the seventy feet of my-father-is-going-to-kill-US, growing from my head?!"
His attention darted back to the mass of blonde hair about her. "Right, right…" He had to shake his head and keep double blinking, still in disbelief he was actually seeing this. Finally he found her face again, frowning at him. "Whaaat?" he whined, "I'm actually not used to seeing you like this - it was only two days!" As he stepped up to her, though, he roughly brushed it all back on both sides of her head and cupped her face to kiss. "Are you okay?" He still fought to catch his own breath.
"I'm fine," she giggled, also still gasping. "But, uh, your sword? Or knife? Please?"
"Yeah, yeah," he drew his sword. "Do you wanna, or-?"
"You do it- so it looks the same."
"'kay," he gulped. They stood up straight in front of each other, suddenly nervous, as if worried they would play their parts right. This time at least, he did not have to hide the fact he was focused looking at her hair while he gathered it all up in his right hand.
She still watched his face, clear that neither of them were exactly seeing their current outdoor surroundings. Likewise, she kept going over the facts of reality: they were both standing here, outside, alone, safe. "Eugene," she said sweetly, "It's okay. Everything IS okay now."
He blew out a deep breath and brought the sword up, but hesitated, flashing back to those screams he heard the moment after. Suddenly he dropped the sword back to his side. "Wait."
"What?" She looked around. "What is it?"
He bit his lips together. Now that I AM alive and well, I'd like to try to keep it that way! "Blondie," he whined, "I'm sorry, but can we wait - at least til we get back to the castle?"
"Why? It'll be easier to travel withou-"
"In case I need medical attention," he reluctantly snapped, a frightened look in his eye.
She inhaled sharply, her own eyes going wide with alarm and understanding. "Yes," she said faintly then shook her head around to attempt to clear it, "Yes, of course."
"I'm sorry," he strained again, resheathing his sword. "I just- we don't know," he shook his head, unconsciously still massaging the stitch out of his left side. "And none of this makes any sense."
Her eyes snapped to his hand holding his side. "Eugene," she gasped, "Are you-?!" Meanwhile, she unconsciously grabbed a handful of her hair, ready to use it should he need.
"Huh?" He looked to her and realized. "Oh! Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just from running. Been a while."
She looked back to his face, not believing him.
He sighed deeply, and opened his doublet and shirt entirely, showcasing his torso was all smooth, clear, and intact. "See? All good!"
She sighed in relief, "Okay."
"Besides," he looked away while he rebuttoned his shirt and doublet. "It was the other side…"
She nodded, in a daze about the whole situation.
"Alright," Eugene directed, "Well, Sweetie, I'm sorry, but, uh, I think this lil excursion is over."
"Yeah," she gasped in a laugh. "Yeah, let's get back as fast as possible, then we'll take care of this."
They sent the horses back to the stable, then got back into her bedroom the way they had come. It was already a bright morning again.
Eugene drew his sword and stepped up to her again, nervous again. Hair in hand, he held the sword edge up to it, carefully trying to judge where the cut had landed before. A deep breath, bit lip, and he had to focus on her eyes. I trust her to take care of me if this undoes everything… He tightened his grip and moved the sword.
But it merely slid down the length to his other hand.
They both turned confused. He pulled the sword back, inspecting the edge. "What the…"
"Is it not sharp enough?"
"Rapunzel, I cut through all of it with a mirror shard. Of course my sword should be sharp enough."
She gathered up a small section and handed it to him. "Here, try just this."
He looped it around the blade, and tried sawing at it. When they checked again, not one hair had been cut, but his blade was looking duller.
They locked terrified, confused eyes.
He lifted a foot to her chaise, and pulled out his knife from his boot. On an even smaller section, he tried slicing through it as fast and hard as possible. The blade bent.
Breathing hard in a panic, he turned back to Rapunzel to see her in the same state. "Well the good news is there's no chance of undoing the magic used for me. The bad news is it looks like there's no way of cutting this, either."
She yanked two handfuls down around her face. "HOW can hair be uncuttable?!"
"I don't know, how did it grow seventy feet in under a minute? Why did those rocks glow blue and explode when you just touched them? And then chase us?!"
"I don't know!" she cried back at him.
He immediately forced himself to calm down and smiled with a hand out. "Rhetorical questions."
She sighed, relieved he was not mad with her.
He crossed his arms and held his chin, pacing and thinking a minute. Finally he merely sighed. "Blondie, no matter what, you canNOT tell anyone I took you outside the wall last night. Not even about how this happened. Your dad cannot find out! You can't tell anyone. Especially Cassandra!"
"What?" she gasped, studying his concerned face. "But, she's my best friend-"
"Who wants to get me kicked out!" he hissed with an arm thrown out toward the door.
"Eugene," she sighed and smiled for him, "I trust her! I know you two don't get along, but she wouldn't do that."
"But I don't trust her!" he whined desperately. "And I don't believe she trusts me either!"
"I don't wanna lie to her! Eugene!" She whined out, more than distressed and frustrated, she seemed disappointed in his request. "You've never asked me to lie for you before."
"And believe me, I don't want to. But, at least just, don't say anything then! Blondie! If I get kicked out, this is all over- everything-" He fumbled collecting her hands between them to squeeze hard, his face frantic. "Everything about US. So PLEASE! Don't- don't give her this to use against me!"
"Eugene, Eugene, just, calm down! Nobody is going to kick you out."
"Rapunzel," he croaked out between gritted teeth, "Promise me."
"What?" she gasped.
"Promise me you won't tell her. That you won't tell anyone."
She scoffed and picked up a handful of hair. "And how am I supposed to explain this?!"
"I don't know- just say that, like, you woke up like this. It's magic. Nobody knows how this works. But, My Love," he cupped her cheek as he fell to the deepest distress, "I do know how this will work if anybody finds out it was me who took you over the wall. Your dad will find out, that I put you in danger, and he will not let me anywhere near you ever again. And I do not wanna lose you like that."
She relented and hung her head.
"You're right that I don't have any friends here, besides you. Anyone would still rat me out, even over something I did for you, and then something that wasn't really my fault - I had no idea anything like that was even possible!"
"Alright," she sighed and ran her hands over her hair again, surprised when it was still thick on her shoulders. "Alright."
He watched her, hopefully expectant.
She looked him deep in his worried eyes, and held his cheeks. "Eugene, I promise, I will not tell anyone." She glanced down, but then matched his worry. "I don't wanna lose you, either."
He grinned sadly at that, then pulled her into a hug, but fidgeted awkwardly. "How-" he chuckled, pulling her back away by her shoulders. "How do I do this- over or under or doesn't matter?"
She chuckled back. "For you, it doesn't matter."
His smile finally lit up his whole face. He opted for one arm under, against her back, and the other arm over the hair, his hand cradling the back of her head. "I'll help you with this. Whatever this means, whatever happens, I'm with you."
"I love you," she cooed against his chest. Yes, please! I'm not ready for an engagement, but I still want you to stay!
"I love you, too, Sweetheart."
She pushed off from him, chuckling as she grabbed fistfuls of hair at the sides of her head. "But my coronation is in two hours! So I think proposal talk is definitely off the table for now, at least til we figure this out."
He laughed back, feeling somewhat relieved at that himself. He took her hands to hold between them. "Yeah-"
A knock came at the door.
Both heads darted to stare at the door, hearts suddenly dropped to stomachs again.
He gulped. "Yeah that seems like the least of our worries right now…"
A/N: Just a pre-emptive thought here… Ya know how in The Return of Strongbow, Eugene's all stoic & valiant in that he's like, No, I'm going to take responsibility for this, even if I get banished. Well, in Before Ever After, he does indeed tell Rapunzel to lie to her mom, in the Hide yo' hair, woman! So, even though that was obviously not his fault and he didn't even know what was going on, at this point, he's still willing to lie, within reason I'd assume, in order to keep himself secure there.
Also, here, in my story, he genuinely knows now what basically happened, and knows that they had no clue anything that bad would happen. By his own conscience, he doesn't feel he did anything wrong here, so let's just not bring anyone stricter into the equation, m'kay? She should be free to go past the wall if she wants. If that makes rocks chase her, well, um, that's just not in the normal realm of possibilities!
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