Disclaimer: I only own this plot, though I would love to own Tangled.

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Chapter Four

Edith's second birthday was three days after Eugene turned six, and both children were very excited. Eugene because it meant more cake for him, and Edith because for some reason her big brother was happy about something, and that instantly made her happy. She was still too young to understand what birthdays really were, so she didn't know that she was supposed to be excited about presents and cake and stuff. Eugene, however, had celebrated six birthdays by now, so he knew everything there was to know about how they were supposed to be anticipated for weeks in advance.

"Mrs. Miller's gonna make a cake and then we're gonna open presents!" he explained to Edith, who didn't really seem to be paying attention to exactly what he was saying. "It'll be fun, Edith," Eugene insisted.

All Edith did was giggle a little and reach over to pat his face playfully. She was a smart little kid, but there were still some things that she didn't quite get. Rolling his eyes a little, Eugene flopped onto his stomach on the grass, his now very-battered copy of The Tales of Flynnigan Rider in front of him. The binding was cracked and some of the pages were loose, but there was no way Eugene was going to replace it. When Mrs. Miller suggested getting him a new copy for his birthday, he had said no. This was his book, and he didn't want to replace it anytime soon.

"Story?" Edith asked curiously, plopping down on the ground next to him, her big blue eyes filled with anticipation. She loved it when Eugene read to her, even if she didn't quite follow most of the story. Usually, it was just the two of them reading together, but sometimes the other kids who were too young to read would crowd around them to listen in. Both Edith and Eugene preferred when it was just the two of them, but that didn't mean Eugene refused to read to the other kids.

"Sure, Edith," Eugene said with a grin.

While he had only recently learned how to read for himself, Eugene was confident enough in his knowledge of the story that he only rarely stumbled. And even when he did, none of the younger kids taunted him about it, because they themselves couldn't read anything at all. To the little kids, at least, he was someone to be held in awe and not someone to tease or make fun of.

Mrs. Miller found them a little later, now surrounded by at least five other children, who were all listening to Eugene raptly, as though afraid to move or even speak for fear of breaking the spell. Smiling a little to herself, Mrs. Miller went back into the house to let the children finish their story before she called them to lunch. After all, it was Edith's birthday, so Mrs. Miller would let the little girl enjoy today as much as possible.

Eugene didn't finish the entire book in that one sitting, as it was too thick for him to do that, but he did manage to stop at a wonderful cliff hanger before he closed the book. Groans of disappointment came from all the children listening to the story, but Eugene just grinned at them all. There would be plenty of time for more reading after Edith's birthday celebration.

Mrs. Miller went out of her way to ensure that each child's birthday was something for them to look forward to, rather than just another day. Even the older boys and girls who were nearly old enough to leave the orphanage to find work or to get married would have their own special day set aside on their birthday. Of course, Mrs. Miller would have preferred to give more attention to Edith and Eugene's birthdays, but to do so would be asking for trouble from the other children, who would no doubt see her favoritism as another excuse to dislike Eugene and Edith. The last thing Mrs. Miller wanted was to make life more difficult for her grandson and his half-sister.

With all the other children following after him, Eugene led Edith along to the house where the real birthday celebration would take place.

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Rapunzel looked up in mild protest when Eugene paused, as though he was simply going to stop right there. "What did you do on Edith's birthday?" she pressed, hoping to get him to continue.

"Honestly…I don't really remember any of our birthdays that well," Eugene admitted sheepishly. "A lot of the days at the orphanage began blending together the longer I was away from it."

Pondering this for a moment, Rapunzel slowly nodded before once more resting her head on his shoulder. "What other things happened, then? When did you run away from the orphanage?"

Eugene winced slightly at that question and sighed a little. "I ran away…two years after Edith's second birthday. Not on her birthday, of course, but not long after."

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Eugene hated his life. He had decided that some months ago, but it had never been more true than it was at this moment. Those stupid old ladies and all their gossip…he'd learned to ignore them most of the time, but for some reason he hadn't done that today. Why had he listened to them?

Because they had been telling the truth. He knew the answer, but even thinking it made Eugene want to hide in a hole and never come out again.

The old gossips had been talking about him, as they usually did, when he walked past. They didn't even bother lowering their voices as eight-year-old Eugene walked by, which only served to make him feel even madder.

"There he goes, the little Fitzherbert boy."

"Yes…do you think he'll ever be taken in by his father?"

"Oh, please. The last thing that Lord Herbert wants is a bastard son as his only heir. No…he'll marry some nice young Lady for her money and have one or two brats with her."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Lettie, dear. After all, it's been twelve years since his father died and all but ordered him to marry, and Lord Herbert is still single. Old habits die hard, and all that."

"Old habits or not, he won't be taking in that little boy anytime soon. After all…who would want to admit that little boy was their son? Let alone an illegitimate one."

They were right of course. Why would his father want him? It had been eight years, and Lord Herbert still hadn't made any indication that he wanted either Eugene or Edith. Swallowing harshly at the thought, Eugene balled his hands into fists and felt hot tears of anger burning at his eyes.

Fine. If no one here wanted him, then he wasn't going to stay much longer.

But Mrs. Miller and Edith wanted him around, a small voice in the back of his head reminded him.

Not for long. Edith was already a very pretty little girl of four, and in only ten years, she'd be the town beauty. She wouldn't want her big brother hanging around then, keeping boys away from her and keeping her close by. And Mrs. Miller had other kids to worry about that would take her mind off of Eugene before too long. No…no one wanted him.

With that thought spurring him on, Eugene reached under his bed for the rucksack that was hidden there. It wasn't in the best condition, but it was better than nothing and would hold everything he owned, which wasn't much to begin with. Once he had the bag, Eugene clambered back out from under the bed and began shoving his belongings into it. Clothing went in first, without his even bothering to fold it nicely, and then a few of his personal mementos. He only paused when he picked up his copy of The Tales of Flynnigan Rider. Frowning a little, he glanced towards the door that led to the room where Edith slept. Maybe it would be better if he left the book for her…after all, she loved the story just as much as Eugene did.

Standing up with the book in his hands, Eugene slowly made his way to the other room. None of the other children were in their room yet, thankfully, so Eugene could walk over to Edith's bed without being interrupted. Edith's bed was the one nearest the window, and it was very neatly kept compared to the other beds in the room. Smiling a little at this, Eugene lifted the pillow and tucked the book underneath. He paused for a moment before leaving the room, though, simply looking around, specifically at his sister's bed and the small table beside it where she kept her things. But before he could get really nostalgic about this, Eugene hastily left the room and went back to packing up his things.

It was almost dinner time when he finished packing, and for a moment, Eugene considered just staying for one last meal. His thoughts were interrupted by Edith coming into the room, sniffling as tears ran down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Eugene asked as Edith limped over.

"Fell down," she explained, lifting her skirt to show a scrape on her knee.

"Aw…" Eugene murmured soothingly. "Poor kid…up you go." He picked up Edith and placed her on his bed before he went to the washstand under the window of the room and dipped a rag in water before coming back and kneeling in front of Edith, who was still pouting. "Lemme look at that," he continued, lifting her skirt so that he could get a better look at the scrape. "Ah…that's not so bad," he said with a smile. "I'll just clean this up for you and then you'll be back in business."

Edith only whimpered a little before she watched in interest as her brother began cleaning her knee. Eugene made sure he was gentle, because Edith was the sort of kid who cried if she got bumped too hard. Smiling soothingly at her, Eugene continued to wipe away at the scrape, leaving it clean and bare.

"There we go," he said after a minute. "Now…I'm going to wrap it all up and then we'll read some of Flynnigan Rider. How's that sound?"

Another tear rolled down Edith's round cheek as she sniffled slightly and nodded. That did sound like a very good idea right now.

"I'll be right back to get the bandage," Eugene said with a smile. "You stay right here. Okay, sweetie?"

Edith nodded again and Eugene walked out of the room to get both the bandage and the book. He'd put the book back under the pillow when Edith went down to dinner. When he returned with the bandage and book in hand, he smiled and knelt down once more to wrap the bandage around her knee.

"All better," he said, standing up and kissing her forehead with a smile that was just a little forced. "Okay…where did we last leave off?"

When Mrs. Miller finally called them down to dinner, they had read another two chapters. Smiling a little sadly as Edith hopped off of the bed to go down to dinner, Eugene assured his sister that he would be down in a little bit. Once she was out of the room, Eugene ran back to her bed and tucked the book under the pillow. Before he could start to have second thoughts, he made his way back to where he had stuffed his rucksack and walked over to the window. Pushing it open, he glanced back over his shoulder one last time before climbing through the window and out of the orphanage forever.