Author's Note: Just because I use songs from 'The Greatest Showman' doesn't mean I'm promoting the movie. P. T. Barnum was an awful person in real life. He was really racist and ableist and the movie sugarcoats the abuse that the performers faced in his show.
Quirin was sitting in the wheatfield. He saw Rapunzel come out of his house crying. He rushed up to her. "Princess, is your mom okay?" His voice shook with fear. Arianna could have just taken her final breath in his house. Rapunzel wiped her tears with her fingertips, leaving behind the redness of her cheeks.
"We had to… sedate her… she was in so much pain. But, she's going to make it. It's just the antibodies from two decades ago and the Sundrop are taking a while to kick in." She explained, voice breaking
"I'm so sorry." He told her, feeling bad for the incident that happened two decades ago. It wasn't his fault. But he couldn't help but feel bad when looked back, especially since he knew that if the night had gone differently, Arianna and Rapunzel wouldn't be with them today. He turned around to look at Ulla, Varian, Natalia, Catalina, Kiera, Cassandra, Eugene, Alnardo, the thugs and the rest of his community.
"I saw the sun begin to dim"
Quirin quietly sang as he remembered standing in front of Frederic and Cassandra holding the Demanitus scroll and threatening them.
"And felt that winter wind blow cold"
He remembered going home and collapsing to his knees, crying.
"A man learns who is there for him
When the glitter fades and the walls won't hold"
He remembered seeing black rocks pop out of the ground and destroying the main township.
"'Cause from then, rubble
What remains
Can only be what's true"
He remembered picking Natalia up and running.
"If all was lost
There's more I gained
'Cause it led me back…
To you"
He smiled at Rapunzel.
"From now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights"
He looked at the pink and purple sunset.
"From now on
What's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight
Tonight"
He looked at the white, rising stars.
"Let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on
From now on"
He turned around to look at his community.
"I drank champagne with kings and queens
The politicians praised my name"
He remembered toasting Edmund and Emilia at their coronanation.
"But those are someone else's dreams
The pitfalls of the man I became"
He remembered standing in front of Frederic and holding the Demanitus scroll, panicking.
"For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more"
He looked at Edmund.
"But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for"
He remembered going into the woods with a small, glowing, green lantern at dusk and mumbling: "That stupid scroll tells me what will happen if I take the Sundrop but doesn't tell me where it is.".
"And from now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights"
He remembered sitting on the brown, wooden dock that overlooked the ocean at the lantern festival.
"From now on
What's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight
It starts tonight!"
He looked at Natalia and smiled, making her giggled.
"And let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart"
He looked at the moon and stretched his arms.
"From now on
From now on
From now on
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!"
The people around him began to spin and clap.
"From now on!"
He sang.
"And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!
And we will come back home
And we will come back home"
He took Ulla and began to waltz.
"Yes!"
He cried.
"Home, again!
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!"
Eugene took Rapunzel and began to waltz.
"From now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights!
From now on!
What's waited 'til tomorrow starts tonight!"
Quirin went over to Natalia and stroked her hair. She giggled.
"It starts tonight!
Let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart"
He picked up Varian and spun. Varian giggled.
"From now on
From now on
From now on
And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!"
The people around him spun and clapped.
"And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again!"
He and Rapunzel ran towards the mansion.
"And we will come back home
And we will come back home
Home, again"
Varian, Natalia, Catalina and Kiera sat on bails of hay drinking root beer.
Rapunzel and Quirin quietly opened the door of the grey, stone room where Arianna lay comatose, skin pale and sweating and shivering in the white bed, bundled in white blankets. Frederic held her hand, fingers intertwined with her's, holding back tears. Suddenly, her skin turned back to its normal, tan hue and she drew a breath. She opened her green eyes.
"From now on
From now on
Home, again, ooh, ooh
From now on
From now on
Home, again"
They sang. Frederic hugged her. Rapunzel and Quirin joined them. "What happened to Gothel?" Arianna questioned.
"Uhh…" Her friends started.
THE END