Chapter 1

I sat there on my porch overlooking the starry night sky. A cool breeze enveloped me along with the faint rustles of the nearby rose tree. Gosh, what a life I've been given. It's been two months since I met Rapunzel, since I first laid my eyes on her beauty. Two months since I've fallen in love.

The wind began to pick up and I checked my watch to notice it was half past eleven. Nowadays, I never stayed up this late but something was keeping me up. Maybe it was my thoughts, or the sound of Lance snoring away on the other side of the room. I knew it was best that I head off to bed soon but that breeze just felt way too good.

So I sat there, thinking about everything that's happened in these two months. Moving into the castle, reuniting with Lance, turning a 180 and becoming a completely different person. Man, how life's changed. Flynn Rider was gone, the man who developed a reputation of being the most skilled thief in all of the 7 kingdoms. In his place rose someone new. Not really, but you get the point. That man is Eugene Fitzherbert, my birth name.

The cool breeze continued on, and the scent of the nearby flowers was one to die for. I checked my watch once again, now clocking in at 11:45. Hesitantly, I made the right decision to go off to bed.

I walked back into the warm, welcoming room that I've called home for the past two months. Now accompanied by Lance who showed up out of nowhere just a few weeks ago. I knew why, even though he never formally told me it was probably because someone got on his trail again. It did take a lot of convincing for him to stay, but eventually Rapunzel gave in and went to her parents to get the final approval. Just like that, I had my best friend back in my life again.

I unbuttoned my shirt, one of the many I own in the same color variation of green. My favorite one, but I have been feeling for a while now that it may be time to shake things up. The soft feeling of that cotton rolling off my skin as I lifted my shirt up, something I never got sick of. I flung it to the side of the room where the wastebasket sat and took a seat on my bed. I let out a yawn, as I was exhausted. My day was spent touring the local shops with Rapunzel, something she always wanted to get around to doing but hadn't been able to yet because of her ongoing Princess training. I've heard and seen many crazy things before in all my journeys, but I never knew that they actually made classes to train people for this sort of stuff.

Nevertheless, she seemed to enjoy it and that's all that matters. That's all that ever will matter, her happiness.

I couldn't help but start thinking about her now, as I laid down in my ever so comfortable bed. Her face, that warm smile, that cute giggle she lets out whenever I make one of my corny jokes. God, she's perfect.

I rubbed an itch on the lower side of my body, daydreaming about spending more time with her. Our time together has been limited, mostly because of all the duties she now has being a princess and all that. Sometimes I think about what life may have been if she wasn't actually royalty. Would I have taken her to see the world, go on epic journeys of all proportions, spend the rest of our lives together exploring? It's not something I'd be opposed to, but this life of royalty was something else. That's for sure.

Soon before I knew it, my eyelids began to feel heavier. I was drifting off to sleep, but I was still thinking about her.

And then, my eyes closed.

"Rapunzel.." I said softly, one hand against her cheek and one on her side.

"Rapunzel, I love you so, so, so much. You are my everything, you are my world. I want you to be a part of my life forever and always. I want you by my side, I want to support you in your times of need and be there for you." The passion I had was too much, and I felt like going and going..

"Eugene…" she said softly. I felt her hand now grasping my cheek too. I held in the urge of letting out the goofiest and silliest smile ever, because that's just how she made me feel.

"I love you too," she said, gently. I looked deep in her eyes, lost in those beautiful little green-tainted orbs. They were the most beautiful pair of eyes I had ever seen.

Without thinking, I dropped to one knee and reached back into my satchel. I heard her let out a faint gasp as I pulled out a diamond encrusted little box, opening it to reveal the most beautiful ring a man could ever afford.

"Sunshine, will you do the honor of letting me be your husband?" I said to her. I kept my eyes gazed upon hers as her face turned to that of love, compassion.

But then that expression changed. Suddenly the heavenly scenery all around turned dark, the trees lost their leaves to the ground and they all tilted downward. A slight rain had begun.

What is this, I thought. "What's going on?"

The wind picked up, and I turned my eyes back to hers only to see a cold, distasteful look upon her face.

"You really think I would marry the likes of you!?" she said loudly, in an effort to speak up against the wind.

"Wha-what?" My heart dropped, and I felt my grasp on the ring case loosen with a small little noise as it hit the ground.

She began to smile, but this wasn't her smile. This was a face I had never seen before… a face of evil, a face with intention to hurt. And it was directed my way.

"Sunshine," I said, fighting now against the rain that had begun to fall faster. "Rapunzel, what's going on?" I rose to my feet to meet her gaze, and I couldn't believe the look she had in her eyes.

I grew restless as she just stood there, staring at me. The wind picked up, started to fly by even faster. The rain was pouring now and I could barely see her face. I didn't know what to say, this perfect moment had changed in the blink of an eye. What had happened? What did I do? My heart began to pace.

I looked to put my hand on her shoulder but she immediately grabbed it, as if she was expecting me to move that way. I let out an audible gasp as she held my wrist tight, too tight. I felt the pulse of my heart increasing ever more.

"Blondie, what are you doing!" I yelled out in desperation, but she still held on. Her eyes locked onto my face.

And then, those cold words.

"I will never marry you, Eugene Fitzherbert."

Her grasp loosened, and right after my wrist was let free I began to fall into a spiral. I felt the wind gush against my face, the coldness of my drenched clothes. My mind was racing, my heart was pacing, I could hear myself let out these god-awful screams as I fell to my doom. What was all this? What did I do? What happened?

Then, I woke up.

I felt the odd and irritating sensation of something wet in my ear. It was familiar, madly familiar. My eyes jolted open and immediately turned to the side to see the mischievous ones of Pascal, as he retracted his tongue.

"Gah!" I yelled, jumping and immediately pulling my hand up to my ear. That wasn't the only wet part of my body, apparently. The cold feeling of sweat dripping down the temple of my forehead lingered.

"Pascal! How many times do I have to tell you to-" Before I could even finish my thought, a familiar sight jumped out at me from under the front of my bed.

"Surprise!" she yelled, jumping on me now and immediately pulling me in for a big hug.

"Wha-what?" I said, my eyes still groggy after being abruptly woken up. I felt her warm embrace as she put her arms around my slightly sweaty chest.

"Rapunzel, wha-"

"I came by to see if you were awake yet, and I heard you rambling on from outside your door" she said ever so softly. Have I ever mentioned how much I love her sweet, gentle voice?

"Rambling?" I said, now wiping my eyes as she lay next to me. I didn't remember talking to anyone.

"I walked in and-" she paused for a moment before finishing her thought. "It looks like you were sleep talking."

"Well, I'll be." I said, now rising to my feet. "I must've had some dream."

"Yeah, some dream." she said, warmingly. Pascal let out a laugh.

I glanced in the mirror above my dresser and saw just how sweaty my forehead had been. I remembered bits and parts of the dream I just had, knew it involved Rapunzel. A few of my recent ones have been like that. Can't get that girl out of my head, apparently.

I turned my gaze towards Lance's bed to see him just resting there, eyes deeply locked into his book he began reading the night before.

"Lance," I said, attempting to catch his attention. "Was I really sleep talking?"

The big man dropped his book slowly, marking the page he had been on and sat up.

"Oh, big time. You were even rustling back and forth, mumbling things. Must've been some dream." He let out one of his famous chuckles that hinted at there being more to the story.

I turned back to Rapunzel. "Blondie, did I do something in my sleep that you both aren't telling me about?" I asked.

A playful smile crept onto her face as she sat up in my bed.

"Oh, not much, you only talked about how much you loved me and all that." She let out one of her signature giggles, as Pascal couldn't help himself but laugh as he sat on her shoulder.

My cheeks began to blush in embarrassment. I knew I had dreamed about her, but actually talking about it in my sleep? Man, was I starting to lose it?

"You're kidding?" I asked, hoping she was.

"The great Flynn Rider went on and on about how much he cares about me, can't lose me," she continued as she counted off on her fingers how many times he had mentioned her in his slumber.

Lance was having such a great time behind all of this, his eyes now fully on the two lovebirds.

"Sunshine, alright that's enough. I get it." I said, as I pulled one of my older shirts over my head.

"It's fine, Eugene," she said warmly. "Because I feel the same way."

My eyes turned to hers, meeting them dead on. God she looked too cute just sitting there in my bed. So innocent, so happy, so beautiful. I walked over to her, sat down on the edge of the bed and caressed her cheek.

"I'm glad you do, too." I said, softly. My eyes fully connected to hers. Pascal on the side had exchanged his mischievous smile for one of compassion, and his color changed to one of a bright red.

"Mehem," Lance said from the other side of the room. "May this man get back to his reading, please?"

I rolled my eyes as Rapunzel let out another laugh, and I got back up to grab my satchel.

"Eugene, come, let's go eat breakfast." She said in that amazing voice of hers. I told her I'd meet her there as I still had some preparing to do with my hair and skin care routine. As she exited the room, I let out a sigh. A sigh of joy.

"She's really turned you into something, huh?" Lance said as he continued to stare at his book.

"Whatcha mean?" I said, questionably.

"Nothing bad." He now dropped the book in his lap. "It's just how good of a man she's made you into. I'm proud of ya." It wasn't often that Lance was so serious like this, and it felt weird. But I didn't question it. I nodded towards my lifelong companion.

Comb in hand, toothbrush in the other, I finally finished getting ready and began my trek into the dining hall.

Editor's note: Hey! I'm new to this site and writing fanfiction in general, so I'm still getting used to how things work. The story here is something I've been working on for a few days now and I already have quite a few chapters completed. If I see some general interest spark up surrounding my piece, then I'll consider posting more of what I have written. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it! P.S: I do not own any of these characters nor any of the locations or themes hinted at during the story. I hope you enjoy!