The New Dream

The war with the Humpherts was effectively over. Yet another war still carried on. The battle for Rapunzel's life wasn't over. She fought it every step of the way, but in the end she was exhausted. The doctor watched her fight with a grim outlook. She was determined to meet her twins though, illness or no illness, she wanted them to see this world. Eugene ran up the stairs to the palace to go meet his wife. Halfway up he was met with the cry of baby. His heart skipped a beat. He quickened his steps. He had galloped through the forest, through the plaza and leaped hurriedly off Maximus to get here. He was out breath on the topflight and saw a mass of servants and his father in the hall as he got there. They announced his arrival.

"Am I too late?" He gulped. "Has she had both twins?"

The queen appeared, holding an infant.

"Just in time." The queen said, "Welcome back Eugene." Tears were in her eyes. "She just had this little one." She told him. "Meet your daughter. She's healthy and strong."

He gazed upon the tiny face. Little blue eyes looked up at him. They're shape and gaze were so familiar, Eugene could just tell, as his daughter grew, they would change into her mother's green eyes he knew so well. He laughed in joyful disbelief to see it. He saw a little blond hair at the top and wondered at that a little. She was beautiful, precious, still a little red from birth. Like protecting a rare gemstone, he wanted to take care of her with all his being. He thought 'Ruby.'

"Rapunzel, maybe we should name her Ruby!" He called to his wife. He was still outside the room. He wanted to get to her to share with her in this moment. As he began to move to enter her room, the queen tried to give Eugene the little girl so that he could hold her, but he winced as he tried to move his arm. In all the excitement he had almost forgotten he'd injured it. "You're injured?" The queen realized. She ordered the servants to dress the wound. Eugene ignored them. The overwhelming feelings of awe he had just felt when he saw his daughter he wanted to share with Rapunzel. He tried to enter the room again. "Rapunzel? Rapunzel?"

"Eugene, wait. There's something you should know. Rapunzel's..." Queen Arianna looked like she was about to say one thing and then switched to another. "Rapunzel's not done delivering. She's about to have another twin."

"That's great! I haven't missed it!" He turned to rush into the room. A firm hand held his shoulder back. He turned around to face King Edmund. The king's arm was healing, but not enough to go out to battle with them today. The king's brown eyes beheld his own as he looked him straight in the eye.

"She's dying son." His father said. It didn't seem to register with his son at first, so he had to repeat himself. "Rapunzel's dying."

"No."

"Yes, son the doctor said she is mustering just enough energy to deliver her children, but she's too ill to survive. The only thing keeping her alive seems to be sheer will power."

"Will power?" Eugene choked out a laugh, as tears fled his face. "That sounds like her." What was he saying? He wouldn't believe this.

"No, not Rapunzel."

Nothing would stop him from entering the room. As he did, he heard another baby's cry. Eugene saw King Frederick in the room turned with his back to him, facing a wall. The baby's cry caused the king to turn around. His eyes were a mix of joy and brimmed red with tears. Eugene looked at Rapunzel. She didn't look like she was dying. Her face was flushed with rosy cheeks, like they had just come back from an adventure together.

As he drew near to her, her lovely eyes were closed, and no smile drew around her beautiful lips, as they were partially parted. She was breathing but slowly and softly, as if she was gently fading. "Rapunzel?" He called to her. He took his gloves off. He swept her short brown hair from her face with his fingers and graced her cheek with his hand. "Rapunzel?" Pascal slowly scampered from her bedside to Eugene's hand, looking up at him mournfully. He put the lizard on his shoulder and pulled up a chair to sit by her. "We have to believe she'll pull out of it frog." The chameleon nodded slowly.

"You have a son as well!" A midwife told Eugene. By now the servants would not be pushed back from tending to his arm. Despite his protests, they took his Captain's jacket off, cleaned and dressed the wound, putting his arm in bandages. They gave him his daughter to carry in his right arm. She was so tiny; she could fit right in the crook of his arm. He felt she was so sturdy and strong for an infant. When his son was ready for him to hold as well, he didn't think he would be able to hold him in his left.

"A little gimpy?" A low female voice asked him. He turned. "Cassandra!" He exclaimed, surprised to see her for the second time today. "You're back."

"Yeah, Adira came back and took care of the rest of the stragglers." She related half frowning, half impressed. "I had Henry and the guards take care of everything else."

Cassandra had been apprised of Rapunzel's situation. She was just as heartbroken. She struggled not to fall apart, but she didn't do mushy well, so instead she looked for something to do. She turned to Eugene. "Need help holding the boy?"

"You mean my son?" Eugene countered. "The boy who is my son?" It seemed she always drew a bit of an edge out of him. In the current circumstances, he actually found it comforting. He relaxed. "Yeah, Cassandra thanks." Cassandra steadied the crook of Eugene's arm at the elbow, while the baby was gently placed in it. It still hurt, but the midwife kept her hands nearby to make sure the baby was secure, and Eugene looked at his son. Baby blue eyes were there too. Though they looked dark around the pupils. Would they darken to brown like his own? He grinned. "I've got a lot to teach you about the smolder boy, among other things." There were a few chuckles about the room. Eugene wanted to stand up and go to his wife. He would not do this alone.

She would share this moment with him. He knew he could not get up with both children in his arms though. "Would you like to hold him?" He abruptly asked Cassandra, leaning his head towards his little son. "Me?" Her eyes widened. She didn't know if she did babies well. Yet this was Rapunzel's baby. Her best friend's child. She would always be her best friend. "Sure!" She smiled. With help, the little boy was transferred over to her arms. As she looked at his face, she could swear he gave her a cheeky grin. "Hey, he smiled at me!" She exclaimed.

"Oh! Uh, newborns can't smile," A midwife explained. "He probably just passed gas."

"Ugh," Cassandra grunted playfully, "The new Fitzherbert is barely a few minutes old and he's already giving me trouble!"

Eugene laughed in spite of himself. He was stepping over to Rapunzel with their daughter still securely wrapped in his right arm.

"Do you see her Rapunzel? This is our daughter. She's strong like you. She'll need you. Our son will need you. Geez, I don't even know what to name him yet. I'll need your help with that! And remember you said you were going to paint that mural in their room? You haven't finished it yet. Rapunzel you know I can't paint! I need you." His voice grew thick and cracked. He looked around the room. "We all need you. Please come back to us."

Her breath grew more ragged and shallower. "What's happening?" He asked alarmed. The doctor rushed over to check her. He shook his head. "I'm sorry son," he said, so out of sorts that he forgot to use Eugene's honorific in public. "She's crashing. There is nothing I can do. It's not her fault. As much as she may want to be here, this disease has taken its toll and she's fought it for months." The doctor paused, pushing up his bifocals and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "The only thing left to do is to make her comfortable."

"No! I won't believe that." Refused Eugene. "There must be something we can do." He understood now why King Frederick took the golden flower to save his wife and daughter, ignoring the warning about how evil might be lurking behind. Desperation poured into him. He would do anything now to save her. He had to. Everyone came to tell the princess their good-byes, even her parents. Feeling that husband and wife needed some privacy, they left the room. Cassandra lingered.

"Maybe there is something we can do to save her." She voiced, though uncertainly.

Rapunzel felt like she was in the cave again. It was long and dark, only she was seeing memories from her whole life flashing before her eyes. She laughed and smiled as she saw the funny moments and triumphs. She steeled herself through the sadder moments. She remembered she had gritted through them all, and the lessons they had taught her. She wanted to get back to her life, but her way was blocked.

The memories kept flooding in. She saw most sadly the pitfalls of the last few months. Without her hair or the power, it held, without even being as physically capable as she had always been, she had been too late to save anything. She had been too late to notice that the Humpherts had manipulated the shop owners into dropping their donations. By now, she had figured out, that had been what happened. She had been too late to find out that Wolfgang had started the fire. She had figured out that Wolfgang was probably hiding deep within the Humphert's manor, but it was too late to stop the first battle from happening. She had not been there to fight alongside her husband within that battle. It was a triumph of hers that she helped solve the crop preservation problem, along with Varian, but they figured it out too late to stop another confrontation with the Humpherts.

Some sort of duel, battle, or trap, whatever it was, happened between Eugene, Corona's forces, Phineas Humphert and his army. She wasn't exactly clear on what had occurred. She warned Varian to stay away to protect himself and to protect Corona's incoming resources, but she had seen him there in the cave, along with the townspeople. And then her husband had fallen, she thought in bitter grief. After he fell, it was likely that Phineas turned on Varian and the townspeople. Who knew if they were safe now? Who knew if the crops and resources Varian was bringing were safe? She wasn't aware of anything else that had happened.

Rapunzel had longed to be a queen, not for the power, but for the expanded ability to serve Corona in everyway she possibly could. However, as a queen it seemed she would be a failure. She had failed to save her people. She cried, sniffling. She knew the Humpherts were all about power and hoarding over it over their people. Look at the damage they had done thus far trying to get the crown. If she could, she would fight until her last breath to help in anyway she could, queen or no queen. She tried the way back again, but it was still blocked.

She thought she heard Eugene's voice. That's right! She wasn't able to go back, but since she thought he died, she thought at least she would be able to meet him again here. She listened for the sound of his voice. It was coming from a blossoming light that seemed to form on her horizon.