Here it is, folks, the much-anticipated lantern scene. Well...not so sure on the "much-anticipated" bit. But I digress. Part Three, coming right up!

Oh, and I promise, I intended to post this on Wenesday, but homework kept getting in the way. D:

By the way, I apologize that this installment is so long without any breaks in the middle, but it basically is one long scene. So read on, but I hope you either read fast or have time, cause there isn't a good stopping point anywhere in this part. Sorry! Now enjoy.

Rapunzel moved slowly as she packed up her stuff for her sleepover at Alison's. Thankfully her mother had consented rather quickly to letting her stay the night at her friend's house– maybe she'd noticed how upset Rapunzel had been after their fight.

Sometimes she annoyed herself with her internal sarcasm.

Still, although it wasn't necessarily number one on Rapunzel's want-to-do list, she was sure that she and Alison, as always, would find some way to have fun. Alison's mom had been nice enough to clear out all of Alison's brothers and sisters, so there wouldn't be anyone under the age of twelve at the two-person party. Besides, her mother had promised her dinner wherever she wanted to go tomorrow night, and it had been so long since she and her mother had gotten a chance to have some mother-daughter time. She was determined to make the best of this birthday.

She held out her hand to Pascal, who scampered up her arm. "Come on, Pascal," she said. "Let's go to Alison's." Pascal brushed her cheek with his tail sympathetically, and Rapunzel knew she was lucky to have a friend like Pascal.

The drive over to Alison's was quiet, somewhat uncomfortably so. It was obvious that Rapunzel would rather be at the Light Festival, and it was just as obvious that Gothel was not going to move one inch on the issue. Fortunately, Alison didn't live that far from Rapunzel. Once they reached Alison's rather big house– it had to be, to support seven children, two parents, and one grandmother– Rapunzel got out silently.

"Have fun, dear," Gothel said. "I love you."

"I love you more, Mom," Rapunzel said, forcing a smile onto her face.

"I love you most. I'll pick you up around ten tomorrow."

Rapunzel waved a little as her mother drove off, then turned and walked up the front walkway to Alison's front door. She didn't even get a chance to knock before Alison threw the door open.

"Oh, good, you're here!" Alison exclaimed, her short, curled red hair somewhat frizzing out of its bob cut, and Rapunzel was slightly confused at the relief in her friend's voice. "Come on in." She practically yanked Rapunzel's arm off as she pulled her inside.

"Ali, you're acting weird," Rapunzel said. "What is up with you?"

"Oh, nothing. Here, sit down, I need to braid your hair. Hi, Pascal," she said as the chameleon leapt onto her shoulder, gave her a nuzzle, and scampered back onto Rapunzel's shoulder.

"Why?"

"It's a surprise. Sit down." Faced with the full force of her best friend's determination, Rapunzel meekly sat down on the footstool Alison had pointed at.

Alison returned shortly with a brush, a few hair ties, and several hairclips. With these in hand, she set herself to the massive job of braiding Rapunzel's vast amount of hair.

Almost as soon as Alison was done, she ran back to her room and came back with an envelope that had Rapunzel's name written on the front in fancy, curly-cue letters.

"Don't open it yet," Alison insisted. Rapunzel was beginning to get really curious as to why her friend was acting so weird, but since Alison seemed to be waiting for something– or someone– Rapunzel decided to humor her. In the meantime, she was admiring Alison's handiwork. The girl had managed to get Rapunzel's six or seven feet of hair into a four-and-a-half-foot braid that was truly lovely. It had little tiny braids running throughout it, and flowery clips were interspersed all over. But she still had no idea what the heck was going on with her friend's strange behavior.

When the doorbell rang at five o'clock, Alison practically sighed with relief as she strode over to the door and opened it. "I thought you'd never get here," she said to whoever it was.

Rapunzel was shocked when she heard Eugene's voice answer. "I got a little held up," he said as he stepped inside. Rapunzel looked from Alison to Eugene and back. "Would someone care to explain what's going on?" she asked.

"What else?" Alison said. "We're giving you the birthday present you really want. Flynn here will take you to the Light Festival and I'll cover for you until you get back."

Rapunzel looked at the both of them in shock. "But your mom…"

"Is fine with the idea. You know her. She wants you to have a good birthday. If your mom calls, we'll make some excuse for you until you get back after the festival. You'll probably be done by nine, at least. Don't worry about it, hon. Just go."

Rapunzel launched herself at her friend, hugging her fiercely. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ali!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, thank him. It was all his idea."

Rapunzel smiled widely at Eugene, and that alone made the entire thing worth it, at least for him. "Thank you," she said.

Pascal pattered down Rapunzel's arm, and she held her hand out so that Pascal could properly appraise Eugene. He looked the surprised man up and down, then pointed his tail at Rapunzel and whipped his gaze back to Eugene, clearly conveying his message. That taken care of, he scampered up Eugene's arm to perch on his shoulder and promptly stuck his tongue in Eugene's ear.

"Gyah!" he yelled as Alison and Rapunzel cackled and giggled, respectively.

"He likes you," Rapunzel snickered, unable to contain her laughter.

"He has a funny way of showing it," he said, rubbing his ear as he gingerly placed Pascal back on Rapunzel's shoulder, where the chameleon sat, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Oh," Alison remembered. "You can open the envelope."

Rapunzel did to find three twenties inside. That, coupled with the two her father had sent her, gave her plenty of walking-around money. She looked up at Alison, almost on the verge of tears.

"It's from me and my family," she said. "Just so you can have cash in case there's some crappy souvenir you just have to have."

Rapunzel threw her arms around her friend again, overwhelmed.

"Alright, now get out of here," Alison told her, pushing her towards the door. "You don't want to miss anything, do you?"

"No! Let's go!" Rapunzel grabbed Eugene's wrist and pulled him out. Alison waved after them before closing the front door.

Eugene, taking the lead, led her over to a little beat-up sedan. Rapunzel raised an eyebrow at it.

"Hey, it's my friend Max's," he said defensively. "And he can barely afford this car. Cut a poor college student a break. Besides, it runs better than you might guess. Comes from him being a mechanical engineer."

Rapunzel laughed as she got in the passenger seat. The festival was held by the lake, so it was about a ten minute drive. This, too, was quiet, but definitely not as uncomfortably so as the drive to Alison's house.

When they got to the lake, which was already mostly packed, Rapunzel was so excited she was almost bouncing. This was the day she had been waiting for her whole life, and it was almost here! Eugene couldn't help but smile at her exuberance as he paid for their entrance. Almost as soon as they were in, Rapunzel was darting around here and there, unable to make up her mind as to where to go.

"Is there anything in particular you want to see?" he asked her.

"No– I don't know! Everything is so exciting! I want to do it all at once!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, if you do that, you'll run out of things to do later. How about we get something to eat first?"

"Sure!" They set off towards where there seemed to be a lot of food stands. The nice thing was that the food section was a little like a farmer's market– you could get fruit, vegetables, bread, even fresh milk. There was a pastry cart that Eugene practically had to drag Rapunzel away from– "But I wanted to know how to make that cake!" she protested– although he got them each a warm chocolate chip cookie. Once they had their food, they sat down on a bench to eat, but Rapunzel plowed through her food so fast Eugene wasn't sure how she didn't have a stomachache. When he was finished eating, she pulled him over to a glass stand, where she marveled over the delicate sculptures and tiny necklace charms. After buying a little hummingbird necklace, she then hauled him over to a book stand, another food cart, a cloth stand, and an art booth with seemingly boundless energy.

While she was busy pouring over the paints at the art booth, he bought a little flag from a wandering vendor. It was purple, with a seven-pointed sun stitched onto it. It was the official flag of the town, but had become basically a symbol of the festival. Once Rapunzel had purchased a few paints and brushes, she came happily trotting over. "Whatcha got there?" she asked.

"It's for you," he told her. Trading the flag for her purchases, he watched as she enthusiastically examined the flag, comparing it to the banners strung across the fair.

"Thank you!" she said, tucking it into her bag. "Now I'll always be able to remember this day."

They wandered around the festival, and Rapunzel was content to simply look around at everything. It was all so wonderful that she wasn't sure how she could take it all in.

As they were walking down the wide dirt path that served as the main highway of the festival, they passed a small band of musicians who were playing a tune that almost begged to be danced to. And, sure enough, a pair of children got up and began dancing gleefully– well, more spinning, but it was the spirit of the matter that counted. As others began to join them, Rapunzel looked up at Eugene with shining eyes. "Let's dance!" she said excitedly.

"Oh, no, I don't dance," he protested, but she ignored his objection, slipping off her sandals and setting down their things on a bench, leaving Pascal as a guard, before pulling Eugene out into the growing group of dancers.

He had to admit, it was fun– more fun than he'd had in a while. It didn't seem to matter that he, while a very agile person, was not suited for dancing, as she did most of it anyways. The partners in the dance kept shifting, and before he knew it, he was spinning around a tall brunette and Rapunzel was on the other side of the group. As she linked hands with one of the children and pranced in a circle, he couldn't help but smile.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, was having the time of her life. She avoided school dances as much as possible– there, what passed for "dancing" was bordering on sex with clothes on, and it never failed to sicken her. But this…this was real dancing. Somehow she'd ended up with a crowd of people in between her and Eugene, and she kept losing sight of him. As she passed from hand to hand, she saw him heading towards her as well. They both moved to meet each other, but were each intercepted by someone else and pulled away. Rapunzel went with it, enjoying herself too much to be bothered. She was swept up in the dance, and even though she had no idea what the dance was, her feet somehow moved in time to the steps.

She was twirling around, bare feet tapping and pivoting on the ground, when the song came to its end and she suddenly found herself right next to Eugene, his hand on her waist, hers on his shoulder, and their other hands together. Surprised, she took a second to catch her breath before noticing that she was right next to Eugene, so close their noses were only inches apart. She blushed and stepped away a little, though not without a wide, silly grin on her face.

Shouts rang out, and people looked up from what they were doing to see what they were about. The message rippled quickly through the fair, and people began to move closer to the lake.

"What's happening?" Rapunzel asked Eugene as they collected their things and she placed Pascal on her shoulder while slipping on her shoes.

"It's starting to get dark," he replied. "The lanterns will be released pretty soon."

She gave a quiet, involuntary gasp. This was it– the moment she'd been waiting for almost her entire life. It was almost here.

"Where should we go for the best view?" she asked. She looked around wildly for a place to sit.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "I've got it covered. Just follow me."

Even in April, the evenings still came fast and early. As they threaded through the crowd, it was already well into sunset by the time they reached a small dock. A few people were stepping onto boats, and Eugene led Rapunzel over to one.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Well, you've been waiting for this day your whole life, right? I figured you should have a good seat."

Her eyes widened in surprise, then her whole face lit up with joy as she delicately stepped in a small boat, setting down her bag at the front. Pascal scurried off of her shoulder onto the prow of the boat as Eugene pushed them away from the dock and paddled to the center of the lake.

Rapunzel was awed by the beautiful sunset reflected in the water. As ripples turned the lake from glass to waves, the fading day stained the water oranges, pinks, and purples. She knew she'd have to paint this as soon as she got back to Alison's house. At that moment, she felt no shame in breaking her mother's rules– this day, this moment, was entirely worth it.

Eugene was thinking the same thought. Judging by how much fun she'd had that day, he gathered that this would probably be one of Rapunzel's more memorable birthdays, and for the life of him, he couldn't see why her mother wouldn't let her experience this.

As if she was reading his mind, Rapunzel answered the unspoken thought. "My mother means well," she said. "She does what she does to protect me, because she loves me. She just doesn't want to see me hurt, like she was."

"What do you mean?"

"My dad left when I was seven," she told him, looking away and brushing her hair behind her ear. "Everything was fine, then bam– one day he just up and left. That kind of thing leaves a mark on your perception of people."

"So that's why you don't want to be seeing anyone?" he asked, wondering why he was prying so much.

"Uh, not totally. I got screwed over by both of the only boyfriends I've ever had. One dumped me and the other cheated on me and then dumped me. So I'm a little leery of relationships right now."

"Oh," he said, not really sure what to say after that. At least it wasn't him, though.

Rapunzel blew out a long breath. "Anyways, this is kind of a bit of a downer, topic-wise. And there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot."

"Why me?" she asked bluntly. He looked at her with equal parts surprise and confusion. "What?"

"Why choose me?" she pressed. "I'm sure there are lots of older, prettier, more sophisticated girls at college. So why pick a klutzy high school kid who spends most of her time with her nose buried in a sketchpad and her hands covered in paint and graphite?"

"I…" His voice trailed off. He was completely caught off-guard– he had definitely not been ready for this question.

He was luckily saved from answering– at least temporarily– by a hush falling over the festival. He and Rapunzel both looked up at the sudden lack of chatter in the background to see the first lantern begin to fly up into the sky. As if on cue– which, if you thought about it, they were– tens more lit up on boats like theirs, on the docks, on the shore of the lake– everywhere they looked, it was suddenly awash with the light of the paper lanterns.

Rapunzel gasped and scrambled for the bow of the boat, nearly pitching it over– and Eugene with it– in her haste. She watched with eyes bigger than dinner plates the first lantern wobble and bounce in the slight breeze that blew through, and as she watched, hundreds more rose into the sky.

She sighed happily. She had waited for years and years and years for this day, and it was everything she had imagined– no, better, much better. She almost choked up, she was so happy, and it was so beautiful. Every year she'd watched the lanterns from her window– or Alison's– but it didn't even come close to comparing with seeing it in person. Even though it was a warmer-than-normal April, her skin rippled and tingled as she got goose bumps, and a shiver ran down her spine. Today was definitely the best day of her life. And it was all thanks to him.

As her thoughts flashed to Eugene, she felt something else behind her, something… warm? Her brow wrinkled a little as she turned around to investigate.

Her mouth dropped into a little O and her eyes widened even further as she saw what the warm thing was. As if by magic, Eugene had somehow conjured up two lanterns for them. He couldn't possibly know that this was what she had wanted to do ever since she first saw the lanterns, could he? It didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that her day was now complete.

She took one of the lanterns in her hand. On it she could see the faint imprint of the seven-pointed star of the festival, but she was surprised, despite for herself, by the warmth. Of course, that was to be expected, but somehow it still took her by surprise. She held it carefully, almost afraid to break it, or something. The awe of the whole day was still sinking in, and she was finding it difficult to believe it could all be happening.

"Are you okay?" she heard Eugene ask her, and she looked up at him. There was a look of pure wonder in her eyes that somehow managed to make his stomach fill with butterflies, an admittedly somewhat unfamiliar feeling for him– few girls, if any, that he'd ever been involved with had ever done to him what Rapunzel so effortlessly could do without even trying, or even realizing.

"Yeah," she said softly, her eyes returning to gaze at the lantern in her hands.

"I've dreamed about this for years," she admitted. "Every year I'd go sit by my window and watch these lanterns float into the sky, wondering how I might feel if I were actually here, getting to release a lantern of my own. Now that I'm here, and now that I get to do it…I don't know. It's a little…overwhelming."

"But in a good way?" he asked.

"Definitely in a good way," she confirmed, and he was relieved that she was enjoying herself. He smiled at her reflexively, admiring her wonderfully simple way of seeing things. She beamed widely back at him, allowing her expression to convey what words could not. Without a word from either, they lifted their lanterns into the sky, watching as they gently twirled around and joined the much larger crowd of floating lights.

Eugene looked at Rapunzel to find her still staring up at the sky, watching the lanterns bob and glide with a beatific smile. The light of the lanterns was reflected in her golden hair, elegantly braided by Alison, and her shining green eyes, making both even more beautiful. Instinctively he reached out and took her hand in his.

She looked at their intertwined hands, a little shocked. Her eyes flicked from their hands to Eugene's face, but, to his relief, she didn't pull away.

"I know you don't want a relationship right now," he said. "But that doesn't change the way I feel. I like you, Rapunzel. A lot. And I guess I'm hoping that maybe you'll give me a chance."

She smiled a little. "Yesterday I might have still said no," she admitted. "But today has been the best day of my life, and it's all because you made it happen. So I think I'll change my answer." She scooted a little closer to him on the boat, and he took his hand from hers to place his arm around her shoulder as they watched the lights together, close together like the lanterns they'd just released.

I also apologize for the bad dialogue at the end there. I'm better at writing descriptive segments than segments with lots of dialogue. It always ends up choppy and kind of awkward.

Again, I'm sorry, but there will be a very big break between now and when I post Part Four. (At least I didn't leave you on a huge cliffy.) I had to scrap my original plan for something better, but while my lame plot problem has been taken care of, I'm now faced with the dilemma of how to actually resolve the plot. Part Four will probably end up being kind of short. Part Five may be too. I may end up combining the two. Who knows? Not me, that's for sure, which is the scary part. ^^;

Anyways, you guys know how much I love those reviews. So send 'em in! I do read them! Really! I love me some reviews! Hint hint! :)

Cheers,

~RAH