"What?" Asked Eugene holding Rapunzel's hand. "What can we do to save her?" He asked Cassandra.
"Well, I don't know if it will work."
"What is it, Cassandra?"
In response, Cassandra left for a minute to hand Rapunzel's son back to a mid-wife. She also grabbed her knapsack. When she returned, she returned with the knapsack and took something out of it. It was an apple. She held it up.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Eugene replied.
"No Fitzherbert! It's not for eating! I mean, I think we may be able to save her with this apple."
"An apple? You're going to save her with an apple?"
"It's not just an apple Fitzherbert. It's an item I brought back from my quest. It's a poisonous enchanted apple."
"What? Poisonous? How in the world is that supposed to help?"
Cassandra explained. "As you know, I found out I am Mother Gothel's daughter. It was part of why Rapunzel and I had a fall out and I betrayed her once, before we finally reconciled." She cringed with the memory of the betrayal, especially now. "Since my mother was a villain, I got to be curious about villains, specifically their vast knowledge of magic, including my mother. As you also know, Mother Gothel was one of the first to know about the golden healing flower. It made me wonder how many other villains were the first forerunners of new magic and how many other enchanted artifacts there were in the world. What if someone could collect these artifacts, especially the evil ones, and find the antidote for each one, rendering them powerless, or at least curtailing their potency before they caused any damage?
I visited the spire, the remote tower that holds the bulk of such artifacts, and asked Calliope, the keeper's assistant there, if any such antidotes were made. She told me, in her unique way, " Cassandra paused to roll her eyes. Her and Eugene had both met Calliope and knew she could be a handful. She continued, "That her and the keeper only concerned themselves with preserving and keeping the objects of magic away from others so their power would not be abused. It had been that way for centuries. No such antidotes were ever made. To do so would require the study of each artifact to understand how to make an antidote, a potentially deadly task, with no guarantee of success. They would not let me handle or take any of the artifacts. When I told them I would go out into the world and acquire my own, they laughed.
They said that would be an even more perilous task. I would likely have to face villains and collect their dark magic from them, one way or another. Yet that is what Adira and I did. We weren't finished travelling and collecting items. However, we did collect this apple. It was first created by an evil queen. This apple is a copy actually, made from an enchantment in her spell book, thought to be lost to time."
She held up the apple. She gave it to Eugene so he could get a better look at it. The problem was, she placed it in his left hand. It was his only free hand, since he was still carrying his daughter in his right arm. With his left arm injured, he didn't get the greatest grip on it and accidentally dropped it on the floor. "You dropped it?" Cassandra exclaimed, scrambling to pick up.
"Well, you put it in my injured hand!"
"Your hand isn't injured, your arm is!"
"Nuance!" Fired back Eugene.
"Look just give me your daughter, you hold the apple, and I will explain the rest."
Cassandra took the baby carefully, and Eugene took the apple, looking at it intrigued but confused. "This apple puts anyone who takes even one bite, into an eternal sleep." Cassandra continued.
"Eternal sleep? That doesn't sound like a good alternative Cassandra!"
"No, but if it does put her into eternal sleep, there is already an antidote to this apple. Well sort of...the antidote to the original apple was love's first kiss."
"First kiss? What between me and Rapunzel? Cassandra, I'm sorry that ship has sailed!"
"Shush Fitzherbet! I am still talking here! Adira and I tried to see if we could get the copy to be any less potent, in case someone tried to use this against someone again. Yet we couldn't make much progress to make more antidotes to the apple. The only thing we were able to do so far with the copy is make the antidote include true love's kiss as well. At least that's what the spell book said."
"True love's kiss? Cassandra, Rapunzel hasn't taken a bite of this apple. They could barely get her to eat anything these last few weeks! How does this help her? We're kind of running out of time here!"
"We could try feeding it to her."
"Cassandra! Are you out of your mind? Why would we do that? Eternal sleep, unless she's kissed. She's dying! She needs something to heal her."
"My thought is, if she is able to eat this apple, it will put her under its spell and change her state to one of eternal sleep. Maybe being in eternal sleep will itself heal her of illness. You can't be in sleep eternally if you are dying right? Then if I am correct, true love's kiss is supposed to completely heal the apple's victim. If you kiss her, maybe it will fully heal her of the eternal sleep and the illness will still be gone." Eugene thought about that for a moment.
"You think? But what if it doesn't heal her of anything at all? Isn't that a possibility?"
"That's why I said I didn't know if it would work."
"I don't know." Worried Eugene. "What if she's locked in sleep forever Cassandra? That doesn't sound good."
Cassandra laid a hand on Eugene's arm. "She's already dying Eugene. And Fitzherbert the risk with this apple for most, is that they might not know true love, or who their true love is. You and Rapunzel have that."
"Thanks Cassandra." He knew once upon a time, she hadn't liked him for Rapunzel, or for anybody. They had come a long way as friends. He spoke.
"Well, I have to admit, I've got nothing else, and we're running out of time. How are we supposed to feed this to her though? I don't think she is in any state to eat this. Even one bite."
"Maybe we could mash it up? Do you think she might be able to drink still?" Cassandra asked.
Eugene remembered the heat exhaustion episode from months earlier. The doctor said that patients could still drink in a semi-conscious state. He didn't know if his wife had enough strength for even that though. However, he was going to bet on Rapunzel's spirit. It sounded like she only had to drink a little, if one bite of an apple would do the trick.
"We have to try." He told Cassandra.
Cassandra exited the room for a moment to give Rapunzel's daughter to the same midwife who was taking care of her son. She came back in, grabbed the apple from Eugene, found a nearby bowl, put the apple in the bowl and drew her sword. She took her sword and turned it upside down with the blunt heavy handle facing the apple. She raised the sword and prepared to smash it up when Eugene said, "Wait!" She stopped the handle dead inches away from the fruit and looked impatiently at Eugene.
"If we smash it up, will it lose its power?"
"Again, Fitzherbert I don't really know. No real precedent for this. Are we doing this or not?"
Eugene nodded. "Ok."
She proceeded to hack away and smash the apple into bits. Eventually it turned into a liquefied lumpy substance.
"You ready?" She asked him.
"To intentionally poison my wife, because she's already dying, and I think this poison may stop her illness and put her under an evil spell instead, that I can then, heal her from with a kiss?"
Cassandra gave him a look like it was now or never.
"Sure! Why not?"
"Here I will prop her up and you feed her the liquefied apple."
Eugene took a big swallow. He was freaking out a little. What if she choked on this? But from Cassandra's look she was done with questions from him, and they really didn't have any more time. Even though his wife's breathing was shallow, he could tell she was still fighting a little. Every once in a while, she'd take a bigger breath as if she was refusing to give up just yet. She was still so pale now however, the rosiness from delivery had vanished. He brushed the hair from her face.
Cassandra titled her up gently and he tilted the bowl up to her partially open lips. He poured the substance in, just a little bit for now. It was enough, that he thought might have potency. He prayed on bated breath to see if she would swallow. She did! It was with an effort, and her breath was even more ragged afterward as if it was the last thing she had strength to do. Then in a few moments her breath stopped. "Cassandra!" He looked up. He felt like his heart stopped.
"Don't worry Eugene, I think it's the enchantment. Look at her."
He did. Rapunzel looked frozen in her beauty through time. She was no longer pale but looked as if she was only asleep. Her lips were closed. She looked restive and peaceful. Still, to see Rapunzel that way was a shock to him. He wiped a tear from his eye and leaned down to give her a kiss. He realized it might be the last kiss he might ever give her. He had to make it count, a kiss of true love. He hesitated just for a moment, not because he didn't truly love her with his whole being, but because he didn't know if he was truly worth her. Was he really the true love she was supposed to have? His past faults were partially responsible for bringing trouble on her kingdom. He only hesitated for a split second though. It didn't matter. He loved her. If nothing else, he would kiss her good-bye.
Rapunzel went toward the light, and she saw him. It was Eugene! She was going to meet him here in the afterlife. But then Eugene changed into her mother, Queen Arianna, into Cassandra, into Adira, into her father, King Frederick. The form continued to change, shifting into all the people she loved and had loved her in her life. What could it mean? They couldn't all be here with her. And it was one form, turning into many people. Then sometimes it even transformed into herself. She asked the only question she could grasp. "Who are you?"
"I am the wisdom your heart knows, but your mind doesn't." The multitude answered her.
"What?" She looked around her now that she was in the light. There was a long river before her and a bridge that crossed over it. It led to a beautiful, forested garden and beyond that she couldn't tell, but something told her it was magnificent.
"Rapunzel you are being given the choice to go back to your life or not." The voice or voices told her.
"What?" She tried to go back, but again it seemed like her way was blocked. There was no way around it. She remembered in her previous dream she had been able to awake because she had the power of her hair within her dream. "How can I go back?" She pled frustrated. "I have no strength left, no power! I have failed my friends, my family, my kingdom!" She remembered Eugene's death. "I failed my husband!"
"Ah but you have forgotten about the biggest weapon in your arsenal. Not physical strength, or magical power, but love." It was Cassandra facing her, telling her this now.
"Love?"
"Yes, faith, hope and love!" Queen Arianna was now telling her. "They are all tied together!"
Her father, King Frederick was now talking to her. "Rapunzel you think you have failed our kingdom, but it was your ideas and love that brought everyone together at the beginning to help each other out. You bring people together with faith in the strength of love. You help them heal with the power of compassion, and the hope that forgiveness brings. You blame yourself for not figuring out who started the fire at Varian's fields in time. Yet who helped you figure out that what damaged the crops was a fire started by Wolfgang in the first place?"
"Varian, the servants, and Friedborg. "
"Yes!" Dream Varian was now speaking to her. "You listened to the servants and Friedborg's testimony even when others were dismissive. And try this on for size, would I, Varian be even able use my brains and capabilities to help save Corona if you hadn't forgiven me and believed in me even after my betrayal? Would I even have fields of crops ready for Corona if you hadn't done this? Or would I be still languishing in a jail cell, or worse?"
What Varian said was the truth about their past. Rapunzel had put it behind her, but Varian had once betrayed her and her kingdom. He betrayed her only because she broke her promise to free his father, Quirin from the encasement of amber. She hadn't known how to help at the time. Varian later redeemed himself, she forgave him, and eventually found the power necessary to free his father. "Varian, you wouldn't have betrayed me if I hadn't broken my promise to free your father!" She defended him.
"A promise you later fulfilled!" Varian was still speaking to her.
"If you hadn't forgiven me and fulfilled your promise, would you have had the idea about using the amber to help preserve crops for your kingdom?"
"I was too late with that too!" Rapunzel answered, a silent tear running down her face. "Not one, but two battles happened! And I didn't figure out where Wolfgang might have been hiding until it was too late!" To her knowledge, Wolfgang had never been found, and the lies about his death still stood.
"Let's talk about that." It was Eugene, speaking to her now. "Whew, there's a lot to break down here."
She smiled, it seemed even in her mind he still had that breezy way of talking. "First of all, whose idea was it that Wolfgang might be hiding at the Humphert's manor in the first place?"
"I think it was Lance?" She gauged.
"Right!" The person switched to Lance. She was going to have to get used to speaking to different people at random.
"I suggested where Wolfgang was hiding and volunteered to try to go find Wolfgang."
"Well sort of. Eugene kind of requested Lance do it." The person had switched to Eugene again. It seemed Lance and Eugene bickered back and forth even in her dream. The vision switched right back to Lance.
"Look, the point is, would have I, Lance tried to go find Wolfgang if you hadn't also forgiven me and gave me a chance to go straight? I was a thief from Eugene's past too you know. When I first came into your life, I looked like I was going to try to influence Eugene to go back to thieving and lying. Yet you gave me a second chance and I became a great asset to you and your kingdom! I became a father to two orphan former thieves, who you also accepted despite their criminal pasts and strange powers."
Rapunzel smiled, but she couldn't help pointing out something. "But we failed to retrieve Wolfgang. That's partially why the first battle happened. I didn't help Eugene at all with that."
"Really you didn't? You sure about that?" Cassandra was now challenging her.
"Rapunzel you also forgave me and believed in me after I betrayed you in the worst of ways. So I was there to give Eugene the advice to strategize battle plans a little better than the failures he had in the past."
"And!" King Edmund appeared before her now. "You also forgave me after I almost killed Eugene and fought against the rest of you, before I knew who you were, when you first came the Dark Kingdom. You encouraged my son, Eugene to patch up his relationship with me, even though I had abandoned him. You encouraged me to rebuild my kingdom. You were understanding about my reluctance to travel and proposed the second wedding. You gave me the heart to be there at the first battle and train my son. Your visit to the Dark Kingdom for your second wedding gave you the knowledge of my engineer's genius building skills. It was what helped us construct the ditches of the first battle so well. That helped us win the battle!"
"And who helped dig out those ditches?"
It was a Coronan citizen from the country speaking to her. She thought she recognized her. She thought her name might be Penelope, surrounding her were her three boys, Paul, Peter and Phillip, if she got their names right. The woman answered her own question.
"We did! And the rest of the country folk! You were understanding about our fear of using the black rock dust to supplement our crops. Instead of getting after us, you slowly convinced us how much it could help! Because of that, you didn't have to ask us to help with the battle, we volunteered! That fall festival you threw was fun too!"
"I know! Wasn't it?" Rapunzel agreed. They were getting off task.
"Don't forget about us!" The Snuggly Ducks appeared before her. "We helped put out the fire, we helped with the first battle, and the second! All because you also gave us a second chance after our sordid pasts!" She laughed in joy and agreement, thanking them, but they disappeared.
Elipta Lundar appeared before her in sequence, following their disappearance.
"The trade deal that you implemented," She started, "transacting crops for money between our two kingdoms, helped both the Dark Kingdom and your kingdom. You came up with that idea because you listened to me about our money problems. In return we told you about Duke Egbert's plans for war early. You were also merciful about us not wanting to fight for you. And your legacy of compassion saved my brother's life. So, we happily lent Varian our resources to help with crop preservation."
"But it wasn't in time to stop the second battle." Rapunzel insisted again. "And Eugene," She bit her lip trembling. "Eugene died! Maybe Varian and townspeople are hurt too!"
"No, you saved his life." Madam Estrada appeared.
Rapunzel thought she was referring to how she was able to get through to Armon Schmidt to get everyone to the mountaintop on time to stop the trap.
Armon Schmidt appeared. "You got through to me because of your faith in me. Even after I screwed up by announcing the fire and causing a mass panic."
Rapunzel also thought about how she was somehow able to push Eugene back, even in her dream state, when Phineas was about to slash his throat. Eugene appeared before her. "You were able to do that, because of our connection. Love finds a way."
"But Eugene you still died! You fell, I saw it!" She cried. She hadn't seen anything else. Not how she made Eugene promise to tell her about his past had broken down Ethel and helped expose Phineas' trap, not how her and Eugene's visit to the cave helped expose the truth to the townspeople. She didn't know how her acceptance and encouragement of Faith's talents, had finally given her courage to use her skills to help save the day. She couldn't have known how her warning to Varian helped him be there on time, or how Wolfgang and Antonio had been freed. She didn't know her letter to Cassandra helped her get there on time to save the townspeople. She didn't see how Maximus rushed to surround the enemy with the Royal Cavalry, and really the only reason he and Eugene worked as a team now was because of her. She didn't even know that they were victorious in the second battle.
"Rapunzel, whether I am dead or alive, you helped me find life the way it was supposed to be lived." Eugene told her. "By following love. Heaven knows you're physically capable and powerful when you're not assaulted by a deadly disease, but love, well it might not be as flashy sometimes, but true love never fails. It always finds a way back to life, whether in this world, or another. Now which world do you choose? Will you choose to go back, or cross that bridge?" He pointed to the bridge that crossed the river to the other side.
Rapunzel thought. She wasn't ready to go across. She wanted to stay, to go back to the people she loved, to fight for them, to live, love and laugh in joy with them. She would miss Eugene terribly, but she wanted to see her children too. She thought with a sad smile that her children would have Eugene within them. She did think that the wisdom was right. Love had brought everyone together. "Love always finds a way." She repeated. "I think I want to go back." Eugene smiled. He grabbed her shoulders gently and leaned into kiss her. "Wait." Rapunzel said. He leaned back confused. "I thought you said that none of you are really you, but you are 'wisdom my heart knows but my mind doesn't'. Wouldn't this be like kissing myself then?"
He screwed up his face and looked at her as if she was being silly. He kissed her with a long, deep, slow and passionate kiss. Love filled her whole being. Not just his love, but the radiant love that had brought everyone together in her kingdom. She felt breath and air go through her, and she woke up.
Her eyes fluttered open to see Eugene staring at her with a look of astonishment, wonder, relief and yes love, on his face. "Eugene?" She asked. Being alive, and seeing him there alive as well, made tears stream down her face. Was he really there? "Eugene, I saw you fall from the cave. I thought you were dead!"
Eugene tried to wrap his mind around that she was awake talking to him and somehow, someway she had seen him in the cave. But with Rapunzel who knew? "I fell on something soft." He said, and in the next breath. "Rapunzel you're alive!"
"Yes, I am! Aren't I?" They embraced and laughed. The others heard Rapunzel's voice outside the room and came rushing in. They saw Rapunzel alive and well! There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Eugene was ugly crying, but for once he didn't care. "The twins!" Rapunzel exclaimed wanting to see them with all her being.
"That's right! You haven't seen them yet!" They called to the midwife holding the twins to come in. The midwife came in hesitantly. "Is it safe?" She asked. "We heard some arguing and beating outside the door. We weren't sure what you were doing!" Eugene and Cassandra looked at each other. Eugene blurted out "We were finding a way to save Rapunzel! It was a-"
"Shhhh Fitzherbert," she quieted him. "Somethings are better left secret!" She whispered.
"Oh, ok?" He questioned surprised.
"It was an exotic medicine from my travels!" Cassandra smiled, announcing it to everybody. "We had to liquefy it first." It was close enough to the truth.
"Is this it?" The doctor asked. "I am very curious as to what could have healed her!" He had dipped his finger into the apple's liquidated paste and was about to put it in his mouth to taste it. "Nooo!" Eugene and Cassandra shouted at once. The doctor stopped frightened before his finger reached his mouth. "It's just that, er, uh, Rapunzel's built an immunity to this sort of thing. That's why we knew it would work for her!...For everyone else it's poisonous!" Cassandra laughed nervously. "Oh." The doctor said, obviously confused, but quickly wiped his finger off. Cassandra hurriedly put the apple's paste into a canteen, and then into her knapsack, before anyone else could touch it.
Rapunzel looked in askance at Eugene. "I'll fill you in later sunshine." He whispered in her ear. He turned to the midwife and took his daughter in his right arm to pass on to Rapunzel, nodding at her to give their son to Cassandra to hold and give to Rapunzel. "Me again?" Cassandra asked.
"He seems to like you." Eugene teased.
Rapunzel looked at both her children, and then held them. "Oh!" She gasped, brimming with joy when she saw their faces. She was so glad she was alive to see them! She saw the color of her daughter's hair.
"Blonde hair?" She looked up at Eugene to ask. She and Eugene were both natural brunettes. She didn't think she had any more of the Sun Drop's power within her. It must be a fluke. Eugene shook his head.
"I don't understand why Ruby has blonde hair any more than you." He responded.
"Ruby? Is that what you are thinking of calling her?"
"Oh! Yes! If that's ok?" He didn't realize how attached to the name he had already gotten.
"Ruby." She gave herself a moment to dwell on the name. "I love it Eugene! Were you able to think of a name for our son too?"
"Um that would be a negative. I don't have any idea what to name him."
"I have an idea!" King Edmund arose. "Since the lad is the second born, he is the new heir apparent to the Dark Kingdom's throne." He proclaimed. "Should you decide, he should take it." He added.
Rapunzel and Eugene looked at each other. "Wow that's right. That means Ruby will be the heir to Corona, and our son will be heir to the Dark Kingdom." Although, she wouldn't force the crown on either one of them. Who knows where their children's paths would lead them? She looked at King Edmund. "What name were you thinking of though Edmund?"
"Well, our last name and family crest is Moon. So, I am partial to moons. There is a moon called Ferdinand that circles one of the planets. I kind of like that name. And it makes sense, Ferdinand Moon."
"Well Ferdinand Fitzherbert would be a mouthful," Eugene bantered. "But I guess if he decided to take on the Dark Kingdom's throne, he could always to take the name Moon to go with it."
"You mean you like the name?" King Edmund pressed, hopeful.
"Well like isn't the word for it. But it has the continuity of our tradition of horrible names I suppose."
"Eugene!" Rapunzel scolded. "Well, I like it, and I think we should go with it. Ruby, red like the rising sun, for our daughter, and Ferdinand, named after a moon for our son."
Eugene clicked his tongue. "Poor little guy. Maybe I can call him Ferd, or Din for short. I kind of like "Din" actually."
"Well see there you go." Rapunzel soothed.
"By the way dad, what planet is Ferdinand a moon of?"
"Uranus!" King Edmund answered.
Eugene lowered his eyebrows. "Uranus seriously?"
"What?" The king asked, confounded.
The Captain and The Queen
The bells of Corona's bell tower were rung to signify and spread the happy news of birth of the twins. Rapunzel fully recovered, and the last of Lord Phineas Humphert's lies died without a whimper. Vrott was sent away to prison for a very long time, along with Lord Humphert. The lord did not get a special cell. Duke Egbert Lundar was not a Coronan citizen, but he was banished to a faraway country much further away from either Corona or the Dark Kingdom. Rumor was that he married Rebekah Humphert and they had a set of twins of their own. Apparently, having twins ran in the family.
Rapunzel and Eugene found out that King Edmund's warrior Hector did not come to help in Corona's war because he had always been in love with Elipta Lundar, and Egbert was her brother. He would not fight her brother for her sake. They married and Elipta got the wedding at the Dark Kingdom she always wanted. She was a beautiful bride.
The Dark Kingdom was completely rebuilt and was slowly being repopulated. Wolfgang was given a second chance, but he was relocated to the Dark Kingdom. He was trained as a guard there, under the watchful eye of Hector and King Edmund. He vowed to never betray Corona or the Dark Kingdom again.
Antonio the tailor was given back his shop. He had been through enough. He happily tailored for Corona again, although Eugene gave him less work to do, for which he was grateful. The Snuggly Ducks, which Rapunzel had officially named them, and they loved it, became the king's paid special forces. They said the tasks they were called to; they would do for free as adventure seekers, but Rapunzel and everyone agreed it would be better for them to be paid for their work. Everyone one of the Snuggly Duck gang became special forces to the king, except Shorty and Big Nose.
Turns out those two were the other mysterious owners of the Snuggly Duckling besides Lance. That was why they were always hanging around with seemingly nothing to do. Big Nose was still fine with being Red and Angry's occasional babysitter though, at the rare times Lance didn't bring them with him. It was decided that Armon Schmidt, despite his youth would be trained to become the next first lieutenant. He had a brave and earnest heart. They would develop the training to match. It would be understood that he would take over for Eugene whenever Eugene's duties to the royal family superseded his captain's duties.
The shop owners willing and jubilantly donated to local charities, whether it helped their businesses or not. They always tried to stay active in their community to help, and be in the know, instead of relying on rumor. Madam Estrada and Faith surprisingly never told anyone that they learned Ethel was a spy. Rapunzel and her parents decided to retain Ethel as a spy for the palace in case they ever needed one. She had shown some serious skills. Cassandra and Adira returned to their quest after a few weeks. They still had a lot of work to do. They hugged and said a tearful good-bye to Rapunzel and the royal family, especially the smallest new arrivals.
Varian kept on being brilliant Varian. Eventually his farming work was delegated entirely to farm hands so he could continue in his favorite work to discover science and technology that would make Corona better and better. Corona had plenty of food that year and the following years after that. Rapunzel did wind up throwing a fall festival out in Corona's farmlands, which prospered due to the left-over black rock dust. Every year Corona's fall festival got bigger and better.
Rapunzel finally finished her mural in the twins' nursery room. It was a painting of the four of their new family together in a canoe out in the bay, surrounded by lanterns and starlight. In real life, Eugene and Rapunzel gently took their babies out in the canoe at night during a warm spring evening, as soon as the children were big enough to go, rowing only a few feet away from the docks. They let the slow lapping current rock and lull the babies to sleep.
"Lu la lu lay we sing in the day,
Lu lay lu la at night we serenade."
Eugene started naturally singing to them. "What a hauntingly beautiful song!" Rapunzel reckoned. "Where did you get that from? I feel like I have heard it before."
Eugene was stunned. He forgot she never saw the note he wrote to her detailing his childhood. He used the time on the canoe to tell her all about it. He hadn't broken his promise about telling her within the deadline for lack of trying, he explained. There had been a note! She listened intently, hugging him in a firm, loving grip after he had finished. "It's not just my story though," Eugene confessed. "Lance later told me that, you know that gold necklace he always wears, that is so short it almost looks like a choker?"
"Yeah?"
"Apparently it was Missy's."
Lance told him Missy gave it to him in her final moments. Her parents had passed it onto her before they had died. "I loved her Eugene," Lance had told his lifelong friend, when Lance finally relayed his part story to him, "She was like a sister to you, but I loved her." Eugene had never known. Rapunzel took a flower down from her hair and placed it in the water. "To Missy." She said, watching it float away. Rapunzel began to sing the song Eugene had sung, realizing she did know it and some additional lyrics as well. "My mother said she used to sing it to me when I was a baby. She taught me the song again while I was pregnant to pass it on to my children."
"Lu la lu lay, we sing in the day
Lu lay lu la, at night we serenade
Lu la lu lay, the sun is so bright
But only due to the dark of night
Lu lay lu la, sun and moon shine
Lu la lu lay, Love's their guiding light
Lu lay lu la, twin stars sing so sweet
They know it is love's light they keep
Lu la lu lay, Lu lay lu la, Lu la lu lay."
"Wow that is surprisingly apt." Noted Eugene.
Rapunzel half smiled. She peered into her children's faces. They were sound asleep. "I think its time to row the boat in Captain!" She observed softly. "Hey! Captain! Maybe that is what I will use for your nickname." She looked at his face. "Only on special occasions though, just between us."
"As long as you let me call you queen on occasion, princess, just between us." He looked back at her as he rowed to the dock. "I know you are still a princess, but you will always be my queen." He smiled. She squeezed his hand. He climbed onto the dock. She gave him one twin to carry, and she took the other as she rose also to the dock. Eugene's arm was completely healed now. Pascal was curled up sound asleep in one of the twins' laps. As they were cradled, he now had a habit of doing that, switching from one twin to the other, depending on the night. The twins were still small enough for them to cradle safely in one arm. With their free hands, Rapunzel and Eugene held hands and walked back to the castle. And they lived happily ever after.
A note from Mady Hatter the writer:
-Thank you! To those of you who read all the way through on this journey with me thank you! It is my first completed story (or long one) and I loved writing it! I hope as you read through this adventure it gave you a sense of joy, chaos and fun I feel is like in all 'Tangled' stories! Of course, 'Tangled' is not mine, it's Disney's. I would love some reviews if you could spare a minute to give me a one-liner or so! A few final thoughts…
1) Reviews: I waited to ask for reviews until the end of the story, because the way I wrote the story there are several surprises that don't make as much sense until the end. I wanted everyone to see what I was doing before the *gulp* final judgment. For example, didn't like how Eugene died? Surprise he's not! (Ok so I know you all probably saw that coming, I mean when doesn't that character not almost die or come back to life?). Or didn't like Cassandra didn't have much of a role? Well, she doesn't get as much time in the story, but she gets a big role in the plot! Or don't like how Rapunzel gets sick? Well, it's to show she doesn't have to have power in the traditional sense, to be powerful. Speaking of which…
2) Soapbox Alert: Women are powerful enough on our own, without having to have supernatural power handed to us Disney, thank you very much. And for goodness' sake, we don't need guys dumbed down for us to make us look stronger or smarter! What kind of message is that to young women Disney? We need dumb guys to make us look great? Bah! Stop doing that! We are smart and strong enough on our own without having to put down the other sex. It's like a weird reverse form of chauvinism.
3) Spoiler Alerts: Sorry for no warnings about spoiler alerts if you have not watched the Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure series! I will go back and change that.
4)Formatting: It's my first-time using fanfiction and I didn't really understand the formatting. There are lots of switches between character perspectives in this story. In my original formatting, I put a large gaping space between character perspectives, but it didn't transfer on the site. That had to be confusing…sorry! I might go back and change that.
5) The reason I write: I write everything for the glory of God. I know that's not PC to say anymore. Mainly because Christians give God such a bad rap. I am sick of people saying that, but also sick of it being true. I wish it were different. I imagine what God intended for the Christian community is much like how I think about love in the story. We might be tempted to think Eugene is the hero of the story. After all, he's off fighting fires, battles and duels. Yet Rapunzel's determined love and grace, through both big and small actions, brings it altogether. Which leads me to another point. I believe our small actions of love build something beautiful, even if we can't see it at the time. I feel like God sometimes works like that too. A prevalent hand, writing all our stories. A lot of things don't make sense, but if we look long and hard enough, we can see Him, the invisible force that draws us altogether. Don't ask me how that makes sense for unspeakable tragedies we see in life. I don't have good answers for that. I just know that I haven't finished reading the story. Maybe that's a little deep for a fairy tale, but what are fairy tales for? I think fairy tales represent hope. They show not how things sometimes are, but faith for how they can be. So, I choose faith, I chose hope, and I chose love.
1 Corinthians 13:3 "And now these three remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."