Chapter Twenty:
AN: What! What the hell is this?
Two years later. This can't possibly be a new chapter.
And yet it is, and I don't know where it came from.
Two years I've been gone from Fanfiction and suddenly here I am with an unworthy chapter. But I need to finish this, because it's wrong to leave something incomplete if you have the power to finish it. The chapters might be subpar, but the story will come together woven by threads of words that are somewhat coherent and perhaps gripping.
So, in case anyone's still out there and curious, here is chapter twenty of Destinies Entwined.
Eugene could not decide what had possessed Max, but was willing to place a hearty wager on a benevolent spirit with a soft spot for the long-suffering princess. In any case, Max carried the weight of the three, his hooves pounding with a driving urgency. Though burdened by them, he had cross the ice caps without much difficulty, and had brought them back from the edge of disaster, back to green pastures and warmer weather where relief flooded the wearied travellers.
Nighttime drew on them, but Max persisted on, guided by Vincent. They rode in silence, Rapunzel sleeping, securely ensconced between the two men, her hair almost entirely white. She trembled slightly, muttering softly. Eugene tried to wake her, but she would not stir.
"Better to let her rest. At this rate, we should be at our destination by mid-morning," Vincent said, his voice betraying some hint of concern.
Eugene accepted his logic, though it did little to settle the slight panic in his chest. "If she's suffering through a nightmare..." He didn't bother finishing his statement as Rapunzel's movements ceased, her body falling into a more relaxed position, her breathing a regular pace.
The sky was clear above them, the moon bright and round, the stars alert and brilliant. Eugene watched the above scene as Max went on. How many days left now? He could not think of it. One. Two. They would make it, though. They had to make it. He assured himself that they would, his eyes suddenly feeling heavy.
"Tired, Rider?"
Eugene shook his head, lifting it as he only then realized that it had begun to droop. He blinked quickly, trying to rid himself of any sense of fatigue. "No," he stated firmly, addressing Vincent's back. How had he known? "I'm fine."
"It's not a crime." Vincent twisted his head back, catching Eugene in his peripherals. "It's been a difficult journey."
"You must be tired too, then."
Vincent shrugged. "I have a good amount of experience with late nights."
"So do I," Eugene determined. "But fatigue cares not for men with experience, nor men with pride."
Vincent chortled softly. "I am tired," he admitted quietly.
Eugene grinned to himself, doing his best to conceal his pleasure from Vincent. It was not that he was deriving some great happiness in the face of Vincent's weariness. No, his happiness was from what he could now perceive as a changed relationship between himself and the head guard. Beyond assuring Rapunzel's survival, this change would be the greatest achievement of their mission. "We can take turns resting."
"No," Vincent asserted. "I have the strangest feeling that you will play a most important role in the deliverance of the princess. You should be the one to rest."
Eugene felt somewhat assured of the same concept, and the logic of needing his wits about himself when their destination was reached was irrefutable. Patting Vincent appreciatively on the back, Eugene allowed a yawn to pass through his lips. "Much obliged. Give me forty winks. It's all I need."
"Indeed."
Closing his eyes, it did not take long for Max's rhythmic movement to lull him into sleep. It was a dreamless rest, a miracle perhaps. The same, could not be said about Rapunzel.
y
Gothel stood over her, brandishing a dagger stained with blood. Behind her, Eugene lay limp in a pool of blood, his throat slit.
"He won't be disturbing us any longer."
"What have you done?" Rapunzel shouted through tears, her heart feeling as if it was being torn into fragments. "Why are you doing this?"
Gothel's face was contorted in a mixture of emotions. At once rage, love and desire, it conveyed a conflict within her person. "I wanted forever. I wanted to live. I needed you, and then I loved you. I have always loved you."
"This is not love," Rapunzel accused her, her body trembling under the storm of devastating loss. "You've deluded yourself into believing that you can love someone other than yourself. But you can't, and I'm not your daughter. I'm your slave."
Gothel's expression faltered to surprise, and then rose again in renewed rage. "And if you had run away with him, you would have become his slave. You're safer with me, for I need you. His want, his lust would have destroyed you." She grabbed Rapunzel by the arm, and roughly threw her towards Eugene's already cold corpse.
His blood stained her hands, her dress. She stared at the body, horrified, the need to retch building up in her stomach. "He loved me," she whispered more for her own sake, then for Gothel's.
"There's no such thing as love. I manipulated you, yes. At least I will admit to it. Why did he take you away from me? So that he could get back his precious treasure? He manipulated you. And you manipulated him right back. Love? Huh! It is as you said, my little flower: we are all deluded into believing that we love. But we never really love anyone but ourselves, and those we cling to, we cling to only so that they might do something for us."
"No," Rapunzel stammered, turning to look at the woman she had always called mother. "That isn't true. That isn't true. That isn't true."
"Rapunzel."
Eugene's voice broke through. She looked to the corpse. It was still, unmoving. He was dead. But his voice.
"Rapunzel!"
"No." Gothel reached out for her with a bony hand, her body disintegrating, her flesh falling from her body, revealing a skeletal structure beneath that was slowly burning to ash.
Rapunzel's scream echoed loud and continued to resound as darkness fell over her, consuming her.
"Rapunzel!"
She woke up, her screams renting the open air. Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her back against a sturdy torso. Humming whispers of comfort attempted to soothe her disturbed mind. She recognized the scene to have been a dream, but could not dispel the lingering horror of the images she had seen. Her awareness was great enough to discern that they were lying on the ground, Eugene holding her with determined kindness. Clinging to the tangibility of his presence, Rapunzel did her utmost to find some sense of calm, but she was haunted still by both Gothel's words and the final sight of her dissolving into ash.
"Princess? Can you hear me?"
Rapunzel looked forward to where Vincent was kneeling a little distance from her. His hands were resting on hers. She swallowed thickly and nodded. Some relief fell into his expression.
"Good. You were dreaming."
She nodded again. "I know," she whispered softly.
Something pressed tenderly into the top of her head. She knew immediately that Eugene had kissed her and a warmth erupted in her core. She snuggled up closer against him.
"I'm sorry," she said, closing her eyes as she accepted the fatigue still plaguing her. Her body was trembling too, though she was not cold.
"Don't," Eugene told her firmly. "Don't be sorry."
"It was Gothel," she continued, her voice a tremor as speaking the truth allowed for her thoughts to fall back on that images that had plagued her.
"Okay," Eugene spoke softly, his hand running through her hair. "Shh. You don't have to speak." His voice and gestures were enough to help her sleepiness in leading her back into a state where she existed between reality and dreams.
"Princess?"
Vincent's steady voice pulled her into the moment, his hand squeezing hers with some firmness. "Are you still tired?"
"Yes," she muttered, her eyelids fluttering closed and then open again.
Eugene shifted her weight, helping her to sit up a bit. "Do you think you can stay awake for a little bit?"
"I can try," she replied, making a vow to herself to endeavour to keep herself awake despite all the forces calling her away.
"Can you stand?"
Rapunzel chose to reply by making an attempt to rise. Using Eugene as a crutch, she managed to stand a little, but found that her legs would not support her, and she sank back down, suffering a small ache. Tears began to shine in her eyes, but she refused to cry and did the best she could to stop it.
Eugene's hold tightened around her and she found herself lifted into the air, secured in his arms. "It's okay. I got you. I always will."
Rapunzel stifled a whimper and placed a sweet kiss against his cheek. Vincent clambered atop Max's back and then helped Eugene to secure her behind him before Eugene came up to sandwich her.
They took off, and not five minutes later, Rapunzel found herself falling asleep once again, unable to keep her eyes open, barely able to do anything.
y
Eugene kept a tight grip on Rapunzel, aware that she had descended into dreams again. His concern was greater than it had been before. She was too weak now, too frail. Sunlight was peaking over the mountains top and with it, another day. He feared that if they did not find the place before the sun rose again tomorrow, it might not be a sunrise to see Rapunzel alive. Vincent knew the same and, after a short while, spoke through the terse silence that they had stumbled heavily into.
"Maximus may be the best horse this side of Corona, but he can only do so much against the elements."
Eugene blinked, contemplative. "I imagine you're trying to say something profound. Your crypticism is unnecessary."
Vincent hesitated, almost criticising Eugene for taking the liberty of creating a new word. "He's carrying too much weight. If we lighten his load, he can get there faster and save her."
"So you're suggesting one of us stay behind." Eugene did not bother to hide his resentment to the plan. He did not care to think of being abandoned to wait in agonizing silence to know if their endeavour had been a success. "I won't volunteer."
"I don't want you to. I'm suggesting I let you continue with her."
Eugene shifted in his seat, wanting to meet Vincent's regard, to know if he was speaking the truth. There was no falsehood that he could detect in the captain's eye. "You trust me?"
"More than I care to, but I do." Sincerity was the only sentiment evident in his reply.
Maximus was still galloping along at a steady pace, though Eugene was able to notice the subtle deceleration in his progress as he eavesdropped on this surprising conversation. The horse would never have imagined it being an occurrence; Eugene felt justified in his own amazement for that very reason.
"You love her," Vincent continued, his tone carrying a heavy weight of remorse that Eugene placed with the event that had originally made them enemies. "I've come to accept the truth of it. And her love for you is stronger than any emotions she holds for me. If I did not believe it was necessary, I would not have even broached the idea. But time will not be kind to us here. If only one of us can continue, it would best be you."
Eugene swallowed thickly, rather moved by this gesture of trust. Words failed him for a moment and, in the pause it allowed, Vincent's face scrunched with suspicion. "Do you not want to?"
"Of course, I want to," Eugene asserted defensively. "I was only searching for the right words to express my gratitude."
"'Thank you' has always worked well in the past," Vincent assured him, pulling Max to a halt then. He slid off the steed without any hesitation, his expression firm. It was all happening too quickly for Eugene to fully process. He recognized the urgent need, though; they had no time to waste on indecisiveness, no time to worry about regret.
Vincent's hand rose. Eugene clasped it in turn. The guard's eyes were firm in their regard. "You mustn't fail."
"I won't." It was a solemn promise, one Eugene feared he had no right to make. In the depth of his heart he knew it was true, that he would do his utmost to secure her safety. But he was not some god that could easily spin the threads of life and destiny. He could not stop time, but he would fight. "I can't."
A solemnity flooded Vincent's gaze. His grip on Eugene's hand tightened. "Try to make it home too."
A number of wisecrack remarks ran through Eugene's mind. He tried to expel one, but found that he could not, his throat constricting every time he did.
Instead, he allowed a tiny nod and half-hearted smile of assurance. Their hands fell apart and then, with a sudden burst of speed, Maximus set off into the breaking dawn.
chaptertwenty
They traveled without end, horse and riders, through the rough terrain, through the scorching sun. It was a stale day, without wind. The air felt hot and cruel, arid and dry. It hung thick over them, like a blanketing shroud that stifled and suffocated the senses.
Eugene wiped a trail of sweat running across his forehead. He was tired and hot, and he was doing naught but riding atop a galloping steed.
He brushed a hand against Maximus' neck, an encouraging stroke. The horse was breathing heavily, his chest heaving. He was suffering in silence, unwilling to stop, sacrificing his own strength to save the princess.
"Do you need to rest, Max? We can stop—"
Max shook his head, whinnying angrily. NO. He would not stop. Adrenaline was his best ally, maintaining his energy level. If he stopped, he would not be able to get up again.
It was past midday when, coming over a small hill, Eugene spied before them a great body of its lake, with at its center…
"The island!" Eugene cried, his voice filled with a great joy that resonated through the open air. Hope billowed in his stomach, pulsating through his body, like rejuvenating blood. It did not bring relief, but it brought a new energy to break the lethargy of the scorching temperature. "We're nearly there."
He gazed down at Rapunzel's sleeping form. She did not stir. He brushed a hand against her form. She shifted, but would not wake.
Pascal, sitting astride her shoulder, gazed at him with wide eyes of fear.
Eugene bestowed him a smile. "She's going to make it, Pascal. I promise."
It was another promise he had no right to make, but it was his belief, and he was in control of that, of doing all he could to see his beliefs manifest into reality. And he would see her saved. He was more certain of that now than he had been before. More certain that they would one day look back on as a story of adventure to entertain the masses.
Max didn't slow in his pace, racing down the hill and across the plain to where the water and land met. The bank was not unlike a sandy beach, pristine and white and untouched. Max stopped then, unable to traverse the water as he was. He did not have to.
A small boat waited on the shore, large enough to fit only two people. Eugene jumped down from Max's back as the horse just barely managed to sink into the sand without fully collapsing.
At the sudden sensation of having come to a stop, Rapunzel finally awoke, her eyes batting open a few times, trying to grab an awareness of her surroundings before finally staring wide-eyed into Eugene's face.
"Have we…?"
He nodded. "We're at the edge." He gestured out.
She followed his finger and swallowed thickly, her eyes shutting for a second, unable to stand the strength of the sun bearing down upon them. "Where's Vincent?"
"He stayed back to give us a better chance. He's fine."
She nodded, then looked to Max, noting the horse's exhausted features. "What happened to Maximus?"
"He had a mission. And he's done his part better than any other could."
Max's ears lifted at the praise bestowed upon him. He lifted his head, his big brown eyes clear in Eugene's. There was gratitude there, along with something else, a firm declaration. Now it's time you did yours.
"I will," Eugene swore solemnly. This was a promise he felt confident in uttering. It was wholly in his control, to do his part. And he would.
Strong arms guided Rapunzel to her feet. She stumbled slightly, but refused any offer he made to lift her.
Together, they walked to the boat. Eugene helped her into it first, then seated himself. It was only then that he realized there were no oars to provide assistance.
"How—?"
The question was answered before it could be fully spoken, the small vessel suddenly casting off without any physical aid.
Magic.
"It makes sense," he muttered out loud. This whole affair was supernatural in nature, not something easily comprehended, easily achieved. There were larger forces at work, ones he could not fully grasp. It worried him to know that he was striving against beings that he could not discern.
He wanted to quash any fear that was within his spirit, but he could not push them aside and, with a growing anxiety, he surveyed the island they were now approaching, fretting the dangers and obstacles that were bound to hinder them on this final leg.
But he would face it all for her. To see her live. Even if he was made to die at the end of it.
AN: And I can hear it already, the angry mob cries of
FILLER! FILLER! FILLER!
Two years and all we get is filler!
I would have posted a better chapter, but I wanted to just get something out there to say I'm alive and intend with all my heart to finish this story. Then I will finish my others.
And then….well, the future is an open book.
Love—it never left,
Faith 3