Chapter Four: The Road Home
Making their way through the entrance of Corona, Rapunzel felt just as excited as she had their first visit, though still anxious.
Eugene decided that it would be less conspicuous if they walked Maximus through the town rather than ride him through the streets. Leading the way to the palace, Maximus guided them on as Rapunzel slowed down every so often to see shops' windows or townspeople passing. Feeling a tugging on her hand, she looked up to see Eugene's smiling face from under his cloak.
"You can go outside and play later," he smirked, as she blushed embarrassedly. "Right now, we gotta get you home."
"Sorry," she shrugged, hurrying up to his side, holding onto his hand tighter. "It's just all so… amazing."
"You know what else is amazing?" He grinned at her from under his cloak. "Me not getting arrested."
She was about to retort when a loud call of, "IT'S HIM!" rang, causing her stop. Eugene tried to act casual, pulling Rapunzel behind him, who had become nearly dead weight. Beside him, Maximus had sped up, recognizing the voice to be one of the guards.
"Wait!" the voice rang again, to no reply.
From the strength of Rapunzel's grip, he could tell she was on the brink of freaking out. He wanted to whisper to her that it would be all right, to just ignore it, but that would bring attention to them. Still pulling her along, he wished he could bat his eyes at her in Morse code, or speak telepathy – anything to erase that terrified expression.
"Hey!" the guard huffed, running to their side, stopping them in their tracks. Instinctively, Eugene stepped in front of Rapunzel, her grip on his hand almost painful.
"It is you, Maximus!" the guard breathed heavily, as he made eye contact with the horse. "After you helped Rider escape, we had thought you were gone forever! You're on your way back to the palace, yes?"
Sending Eugene a quick glance that assured him that this guard was not a threat, Maximus nodded politely before trotting off. Warily, Eugene followed suit; however, the guard stepped in front of them, stopping them again.
"Oh, not so fast." The guard frowned, the lightness in his voice gone. "You're in very serious trouble for assisting Rider in his escape. The Captain will want to see you immediately."
Rapunzel felt her heart jump into her throat. The Captain was the last person they should see, unless Eugene was interested in being hanged. Her panic intensified as Eugene's hand slipped away from hers as he left her side. Shaking out his sleeves and pulling the cloak further over his face, he walked in front of the guard with large, flamboyant steps
"Oh, zee guard of Corona, oui?" Eugene gushed in a terrible accent as his three traveling companions and royal guard looked at him as if he went completely insane. "Lovely! Just zee official for zee job, oui?"
"Um… oui," the guard answered before immediately shaking his head. "I mean, yes!"
"Fantastic!" He laughed, throwing his arm across the guard's shoulder. "For you sees, I simple traveler from foreign land. It très far, no bother questioning vhere. Vhile in zee forest, I come across horse and sees him, 'ow you say, dump man over cliff!"
"What?" the guard asked, looking up at Maximus. "You dumped Rider off a cliff?"
"Oui!" Eugene answered as Maximus nodded slowly. "I go to sees vhy vhen suddenly a sickly girl is found!"
Pointing to Rapunzel, everyone at once looked at the pixie cut girl. Swallowing hard, she nodded as well.
"Zee girl is ill," he announced eagerly, as the group continued to stare.
"Ill, you say?"
"Oui, très ill!"
"Um… she seems fine."
"Non!" Eugene exclaimed, turning the guard to face him "Zee girl seems fine, then faints!"
"What? She doesn't look like she's about to fai—"
There was a loud thump heard, as everyone went back to staring at Rapunzel's now fallen form.
"See! Zee woman 'as fainted!"
"Oh my goodness!" the guard gasped, hurrying to Rapunzel's side to gather her up. "Is she all right?"
"Zee mystery." He shrugged, his face still hidden under the cloak. "Zee horse show palace 'ave good treatment for zee girl!"
"Oh, absolutely!" the guard nodded, picking Rapunzel's tiny form.
As she hung like dead weight in his arms, she quickly opened her eyes to meet Eugene's. He smirked. If it weren't for the fact she was supposed to be passed out, she would have grinned back. She liked that they made a good team.
"Vell, then let's 'urry," Eugene announced, turning on his heel to make his way when he walked directly into someone's chest. Looking up slowly, he saw that it was the Captain of the Royal Guard, his mustache flaring angrily. "Sacrebleu!"
Not missing a beat, the Captain grabbed hold of Eugene by the collar of his cloak, throwing him into the side of a shop, and pinning him to the wall.
"Sir, what are you doing?" the guard yelled as Rapunzel remained still, too scared to move and naive enough to think their cover could still be saved. "That man is just a traveler!"
"Cadet, you are a moron," the Captain grumbled as his grip on Eugene tightened. "This man is Rider."
"No sir, you see Rider was thrown of a cliff by Maximus!"
Sending his subordinate a deadpan expression from over his shoulder, the Captain loosened his grip on Eugene enough to rip the cloak away from his head, revealing his face long enough for the Captain to slam into against an adjacent wall with a crack.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel screamed, jumping out of the guard's arms to scramble to the Captain. Before she could get anywhere close, two more guards had grabbed her, pulling her away from the duo.
"I have to say I'm disappointed in you, Maximus," the Captain frowned, looking up at his former horse as it was taken hold of by several guards. "You were Corona's best horse. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd never believe that you'd help a scumbag like this break out."
Neighing loudly, Maximus bucked and kicked in an attempt to break free of the guard's reigns. Meanwhile Rapunzel tried to pull out of the guards' grip, as Pascal attempted to assist in vain by pulling their coattails.
"Enough!" the Captain yelled, staring at Maximus dead in the eye as the horse stopped, "You've made your choice; fighting now will only worsen your punishment for helping Rider."
As Eugene's face planted into the wall, he felt his stomach sink as he heard Maximus's defeated grunt when he fell into line. He heard the reluctant taps of two bare feet standing on the pavement as Rapunzel was forced to her feet.
It was happening, the worse case scenario. He had broken his promise to Rapunzel, allowing her fears to become reality. He was going to die again, leaving her all alone with not even Max to help her. She would probably be left homeless on the streets, or rotting for life in a palace jail-cell, never having the opportunity to meet her parents.
"Wait," her voice rang out, gaining the attention of everyone but the Captain's. "Captain… could you please let me say something?"
The Captain didn't respond, but he didn't move either.
"What I'm about to say may sound crazy, but you need to understand," she begged from her position on the ground. "Eighteen years ago this kingdom lost its princess, and every year since then they've been setting off floating lanterns into the sky on her birthday to guide her back. I saw these lights every year on my birthday and even though I didn't know about this kingdom or this princess, I knew it was for me, and a few days ago I was finally able to put the pieces together."
"Rapunzel…" Eugene groaned uselessly, his voice muffled by the wall.
"Captain… sir… I'm the lost princess," she said, her eyes as fierce and determined as they were when she first disclosed her discovery to Gothel. Caught off-guard, the man watched as Rapunzel climbed slowly to her feet, facing the Captain head-on. "Eugene… Flynn Rider… brought me back, and I don't think a hero like that should be treated so rudely."
All of his years in the service could not prepare the Captain for this day. He felt his arm tremble, loosening his hold on Eugene, as he stared at the girl. Those eyes, that face… her features alone were as if she were the Queen's own reflection.
While there has always been a multitude of young women claiming to be the lost princess, none had stricken such an uncanny resemblance.
Could it be that after all this time… no; that wasn't his choice to make. It was a far more serious decision.
"Cadet," he grunted, still staring at Rapunzel. "Notify the King and Queen of the situation. I'll lead our… guest to the Lantern Plaza."
"What about Eugene?" she demanded, trying to cover her desperation with forced courage.
"Eugene?"
Rapunzel pointed to the man who was still firmly planted in the wall, his face still smushed from the impact.
"Oh, you mean Rider," the Captain answered, pulling Eugene away and up on his feet. With a loud click, Eugene's wrists were snuggly shackled. "He'll be joining us."
The Captain then barked orders at the rest of the men to return Maximus to his stable. Jumping from the horse's head, Pascal scurried across the cobblestone path, climbing onto Rapunzel's dress before hiding behind her neck. Petting her friend, Rapunzel glanced behind her warily.
"You won't hurt him, will you?"
"Come along, then," he answered, ignoring here question as he lead them down the square.
With every step the clang of Eugene's was another blow to her heart. As they walked, every so often he would send her a reassuring smile, hurting her more.
They soon reached the double doors of the palace walls, and quickly Rapunzel realized just how far she was out of her element.
"Alright, miss," the Captain instructed as he marched through the castle so quickly Rapunzel could barely digest their new surroundings. "You will follow me to the Plaza to wait for your meeting with Their Majesties, while my men return Rider to his cell in the gallows."
"Wait," Rapunzel cried, stopping in her tracks. "Can't he stay with me?"
"Absolutely not," the Captain sneered, shaking Eugene like a sack of potatoes. "This man is a felon, and his debt to society is overdue."
She knew what Eugene's debt to society entailed: a noose with his name on it. Her eyes filled with tears as the color drained from her skin. With quivering lips, she begged the Captain to let him stay with her, but he was not having it.
"If I could intervene," Eugene began, cooly ignoring the Captain's growls. "To be honest, I could've escaped from these shackles around five times by now, but I haven't. Why? Because I want to make sure she's okay."
The Captain followed as Eugene motioned to Rapunzel's panicked form. Pursing his lips together, he couldn't deny how frightened the girl looked, and he was surprised by how cooperative his newly returned thief was behaving.
"I know you don't trust me, but I'm asking you to trust her enough to trust me," he said finally, his face slightly bruised from its run-in with the wall. "Just let me stay with her until the King and Queen meet her, then I'm all yours. I give you my word."
The Captain's eyes narrowed as he inspected Eugene, then Rapunzel, then back to Eugene. Slowly, he turned to Rapunzel one more, still in awe by her likeness to the Queen. Shaking his head, he returned to the issue at hand.
"No funny business?"
"None," he promised. "No shenanigans, hoodwinks, hijinks, low jinks, or any kind of jinks at any level."
With a sigh, he reluctantly removed the shackles, freeing his wrist from the unpleasant prison.
"Thanks." He grinned, rubbing his wrists. "I owe ya."
"We'll see about that when I'm tying your noose," the Captain grumbled, turning on his heel to lead them to the Plaza.
Quickly, Rapunzel threw herself in his arms, squeezing him tight as he pet her hair softly. She buried her head in his side as he walked towards the plaza.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice muffed in his vest as she blindly took steps alongside him.
"I'm fine," he assured her, wrapping his arm around her to make sure she didn't trip. "I should be asking you the same thing. That was pretty intense back there, but you were great."
She squeezed him tighter as they entered the Plaza, unknowingly facing the same view her parents had just nights before for her lantern festival. Feeling Eugene tap her shoulder gently, she raised her head to see the view, immediately awestruck by its beauty.
"Wow," she managed, as Pascal peeked out from her hair to squeak a similar response. "Look at all that ocean."
"Yup," he smiled, pointing at the horizon with his free hand "And if you look a little closer, you can see all the boats that carry goods to and from the Kingdom."
"Is it like the boat we were on?" she asked, still fixated on the water in front of them.
"Kinda, only bigger. Some even carry people, you know, for traveling."
"That sounds amazing," she sighed, leaning into him. "It must be wonderful to sail across the ocean."
Eugene smiled, not wanting to ruin her sea-life fantasy by telling her the horrors of hurricanes and scurvy. Kissing the top of her head, he took her hand in his, pointing out other notable landmarks that could be seen from their perch. She listened with wide-eyed interest, smiling and asking him questions, as if suddenly forgetting the severity of their situation
Their time together had always been limited – what started as a two-day field trip had changed into a lifetime aspiration of devotion. He wasn't sure if these were going to be his last moments on earth again, but unlike the last time, he wanted to make sure his last memory was of her smiling, not crying above his body as he bled all over her tower's floor.
The couple was ripped from their moment when as a loud creak of doors flying opened sounded.
Releasing Eugene's hand quickly, Rapunzel turned in surprise, her emerald eyes meeting their long-forgotten match.