Chapter 10: New Dreams
As always, thanks so much to the ones who left a lovely review for the last chapter. Your encouraging words never fail to make me smile.
Now, I know I said the events of the tv series wouldn't be much taken into account in this story, however I just couldn't resist adding a certain character. I was actually going to use an OC for a similar purpose, which was hinted at in chapter 5 when Rapunzel and Eugene visit a seamstress, but this character was right there for me to use... I figured why not? So, congratulations to the reviewer who correctly guessed who this new appearing character was!
Now without further ado, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
I thought heaven can't help me now
Nothing lasts forever
But this is gonna take me down
He's so tall and handsome as hell
He's so bad but he does it so well
I can see the end as it begins
My one condition is
Say you'll remember me
Standing in a nice dress staring at the sunset babe
Red lips and rosy cheeks
Say you'll see me again even if it's just in your
Wildest dreams
~Wildest Dreams
"Well, well, well, look what the wind blew in."
It was a voice Eugene thought, had hoped, he would never hear again. Because you see, as it had been stated before, Eugene had a penchant for making mistake after mistake, but the biggest one of them was now conveniently standing right behind him. He felt his insides chill.
He turned around with all the hesitance of a man about to face his certain doom. "Stalyan?"
"Rider."
The woman in question seemed completely unimpressed, perfectly sculpted eyebrow quirked in a sardonic expression and hands resting over her hips. She looked just as he remembered her; beautifully lethal. And Eugene really didn't know how to make the ground swallow him whole, so he opted for a foolishly airy greeting.
"Hey! Long time no see..."
"Indeed, it's been a while."
He could practically feel Rapunzel's questioning eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. His mind was reeling trying to understand how on earth he had managed to run into Stalyan of all people, and so he was finding it hard to connect his brain with his mouth.
"Wh-what are you... I-I mean, how- how did you...?"
Stalyan was quick to cut him off mid-stammer. "Oh, I would've recognized that traitorous face of yours anywhere, even with the mask on." She gave him a cheery smile that was nothing but icy. "Isn't it a very small world?"
"What are you doing here?" Was his blunt reply, wanting to cut to the chase already.
"I'm here to tend to some business." She shrugged nonchalantly, clearly not intent on giving any details. "You?"
"Same." Eugene almost fidgeted, suddenly feeling the need to conceal Rapunzel from Stalyan's calculating eyes as they gave the blonde princess a thorough once-over. Stalyan's lips lifted into a derisive sneer.
"I can see..."
He answered that with a noncommittal sound at the back of his throat that came out between a grunt and a mocking laugh. "How have you been?"
He regretted the question as soon as it came out.
"Oh! You mean since you left so graciously? Just peachy." Stalyan's eyes flashed, her lips curling, and the already tense atmosphere turned ice-cold.
"You know it's funny," she cocked her hip to one side, arms crossed over her chest as she walked closer to him. "I once swore to myself if I ever saw you again I would break some bones."
Eugene suppressed the urge to step back at her scathing tone. "Fair, fair, we're talking about my bones here, right?
He could see Rapunzel shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye. Stalyan continued unfazed.
"But, with time comes perspective and you know what? I realized you're not even worth half my time."
He didn't know whether to feel relieved or mildly offended. "Ah... that's... good to know."
Perhaps if karma hadn't been waiting for some years to strike him, the conversation would have ended at that, and Stalyan would've let bygones be bygones and left on her merry way, letting him stew in his own regrets. Fate, however, was a cruel, unrelenting thing.
He watched with no little trepidation as Stalyan's eyes drifted over Rapunzel, face breaking into a mockingly sweet smile. "Does your new friend know about your backstabbing ways?"
The comment felt like a backhanded slap that had been long coming.
"I...uh-"
"You know speaking of backstabbing, it's such a coincidence that I stumbled upon you just now!" Stalyan interrupted with an eerily cheerful tone. "I ran into the Stabbingtons a few days ago, you remember the Stabbingtons right?"
Her words made Eugene's blood run cold, and all trace of awkwardness vanished from his mind in an instant.
"How did you know about them?" He demanded.
"Word has been getting around in Corona, about you trying oh so desperately to make your way here." She shrugged one shoulder, a cold glint in her eyes. "You have been rather sloppy haven't you? You managed to piss off a few men on your way out of the kingdom."
His mind flashed with the memories of a disgruntled Gustav at the inn, and a rather peeved Angus and the letters of transit after he pretty much coerced both of them into giving him what he wanted. Turns out his actions were apparently coming to bite him in the ass one by one.
Stalyan seemed all too happy to relish in his misery.
"Anyway, turns out the Stabbingtons have been so eagerly looking for you." She waved her hand in a careless gesture, and Eugene could see the hint of self-satisfaction in her cold stare. "I'm sure they'll be glad to know you're safe and sound here in Cygnus."
Before he even had time to reply to that, she waved them both goodbye, swiftly turning on her heels with a curt smirk.
"I'll make sure to give them your regards!"
It took Eugene only just a stunned moment before he was trailing after her in a hurried pace, leaving a dumbfounded Rapunzel behind.
"No-wait, Stalyan wait!"
Somewhere in the back of his mind Eugene knew he deserved it, he deserved every single piece of crap life deemed fair to hurl his way. He had been a selfish bastard for the better part of the last decade, and if this was the way fate was making him pay for it, well then he should just deal with it.
But, as is the case with most humans when faced with the irreparable consequences of their actions, his mind was running a mile per hour trying to find a good justifiable reason why he'd done what he had done. Some excuse to make him sound like less of a jerk.
He supposed it could be said he had been rather young, just fresh out of his teens really, when he'd met Stalyan. He'd been nothing more than a young impressionable guy with a bravado as high as his jumped-up dreams of grandeur. And Stalyan had been just as self-absorbed as him, the young spitfire daughter of a self-declared baron who was really not much more than a rather wealthy conman.
Stalyan had been what his younger self deemed as close as a kindred spirit as he would ever find; cunning and witty, with a special kind of enthralling charm that would be characteristic of a cobra hypnotizing its prey before the deathly strike. And Flynn Rider hadn't exactly been her prey. More like, he had been the first one not to fall for her sly tricks and alluring smiles.
When they found themselves reluctantly paired up with a common goal in a particularly hefty mission, and after a heated back and forth of witty comebacks and slightly flirty remarks, they discovered quite against their will that they did make a good team, despite their many initial efforts to shake the other off and run away with the stolen fortune.
They worked well together, their cunning skills blended to get the best outcome of any situation, and with her quick strategical thinking and his sharp mind they soon became a force to be reckoned with when it came to dangerous and complicated heists.
They became partners in crime, and later on partners in bed. Of course it helped that Stalyan was quite attractive and it would be a lie if he said he didn't have a thing for brunettes. He had been quite comfortable with their tumultuous relationship, she added a spark of fire to his adventure-filled life, and well, he'd always had a knack of playing with fire. So really, he hadn't thought anything wrong would come out of occasionally sharing his bed with her, they had been as serious as a pair of bandits on the run could afford to be.
Would he have called her his girlfriend once upon a time? Perhaps. But he had never pretended to feel something he didn't feel for her. Flynn had been a selfish projection of everything Eugene had wanted to be, and Flynn hadn't had time for love. So no, he had never loved Stalyan, nor did he ever pretend to. He'd thought she knew this well enough, and perhaps she did. That probably didn't erase the sting of his betrayal.
If he was honest, the last weeks of their relationship had been nothing but a whirlwind that he still had trouble wrapping his mind around. Stalyan's father, a cruel intimidating man, had found out about his daughter's lover and the inappropriate nature of their pseudo-romance. When it came down to it, Flynn had had no intention of formally courting Stalyan in a traditional way, and the Baron had been well aware of it. And the imposing man had been adamant to not let his daughter continue a relationship of that nature outside the bounds of marriage.
Before he knew it, he had been shackled to a betrothal he had never desired. He never even proposed to Stalyan, much less confessed to feelings of wanting to spend the rest of his life with her when it couldn't be farther from the truth. No, the Baron had made the arrangement, not willing to accept a no for an answer and threatening his life if Flynn so much as refused to honor his daughter.
He was a fan of ignoring a problem until it eventually disappeared. And so, like the absolute idiot he had been back then, he'd decided that the best way to fix the enormous issue was to run away from it. After all, that was what he did best; he ran away from the orphanage, he ran away from his first job, he ran away from the people who had wanted to lend a helping hand, he ran away from the law, and eventually he ran away from his forced engagement.
Not wanting to risk being caught, he forewent a proper goodbye to Stalyan and disappeared the night before the scheduled wedding, never to be seen again. He had been so sure it was his only option, and so certain that it was for the best. Stalyan and him hadn't been meant to be, they were just two ships passing in the night, sharing many a night together and countless dangerous adventures before the fire eventually burned out.
And he had been quite sure that he would never see her again.
However, destiny had a funny way of working, he thought wryly as he pushed his way past masked people, trying to follow a quickly disappearing Stalyan through the crowded Main Square.
He caught up to her right before she disappeared down an even more packed street, stumbling over his own feet and stopping before her, making her halt in her step. "Stalyan, wait! Just hear me out for a second."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Give me one good reason why I should hear anything you have to say."
Eugene winced, before he blurted out a long overdue apology. "I'm sorry, okay? I was an asshole, I know, and I am so sorry."
This seemed to stun her into silence for just a moment. And then a frown was back on her face. "Sorry? You think sorry is enough for what you did?"
"Look, I can explain-"
"What's there to explain? You left me at the altar!"
He took a step back at her almost murderous look. He had been used to icy stares and cold indifference when it came to a pissed off Stalyan, but he had to admit her blazing fury was something new. And as he was bound to do when he was feeling out of his depth he started rambling like an idiot.
"Did I-Did I do that? Is that how... it went down? Because that's not how I remember it but hey, you know, it was quite some time ago, who's to say who did what that day, I mean..." He trailed off with a nervous chuckle as her eyes narrowed with a furious glint, and he knew he was one word away from being slapped.
"Look, I really am sorry Stalyan." Eugene let out a heavy sigh. "Like I said, I was a jerk and I shouldn't have left the way I did. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I had to tell you anyway."
Stalyan regarded him for a moment with a contemplative look, as if trying to gauge his sincerity. And then a snide smirk curled her lips. "Bullshit."
"...Excuse me?"
"Bullshit, that's not why you're here." She rested a hand over her hip. "What, you expect me to believe all of a sudden you're capable of feeling any remorse? What do you really want?"
"Look, for the record I'm being honest, I really am sorry-"
"What do you really want?" She repeated through gritted teeth, making sure to stress every word.
Eugene's last remnants of confidence deflated. "Just... please, for old times' sake, would you consider not telling the Stabbingtons you saw me here?"
Stalyan raised an impressed eyebrow, her mouth opening in a disbelieving sneer. "That should be the least you deserve, Rider." She scoffed.
"I know, I know! You're right, I deserve it. But..." Eugene trailed off, not sure how to explain how Rapunzel didn't deserve it.
Stalyan seemed to realize it either way, as a look of understanding dawned on her. "Your little friend?"
He locked eyes with her, neither confirming nor denying her assessment, she didn't seem to need it though. The cold glint was back in her eyes in an instant.
"You're doing all this for another woman?" A derisive laugh escaped her lips. "You really got some nerve buddy."
"Look it's not what you think, she's a friend and I-"
"Oh please!" Stalyan cut him off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I saw the way you look at her, like she hung the moon and stars, all dopey and in love."
"God, I'm not in love!" Eugene exclaimed, his voice an octave higher than usual.
"Uh-huh." She raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "You certainly never looked at me that way."
There was an uncomfortable silence in which Eugene considered apologizing for the tenth time. He finally heaved a defeated breath.
"Look, you have every right to want me dead... or severely harmed, or possibly maimed..." He listed, which were the outcomes he would certainly face if the Stabbingtons ever found him again. "But just give me a few days before you tell on me, okay? If they find me they'll kill me, but if they find her... I..."
Stalyan remained silent for a moment, her eyes boring into him, face completely impassive. Eugene was sure he would not convince her, however much he tried. And then she spoke again, her voice strained.
"Well, looks like the infamous Flynn Rider does have a heart after all." She curled her lip. "Does she know what she's getting into?"
"Uh, what are you talking about?"
She sighed, as she stepped closer to him.
"You know, we could've been great together. We could've had it all Flynn, partners in crime, partners in life." She lifted her hand and pressed it against his cheek in an almost tender gesture, then her fingers curled into a tightly bound fist and Eugene thought for a moment he would receive the fairly deserved strike he had half-expected to come his way all this time. But then her fingers relaxed and she stepped away with a detached look in her blue eyes.
"You can put up an act with her all you want, but that won't change who you are." The corner of her lip lifted into a sardonic smirk. "Deep down you know, you will always be a worthless thief."
"And thieves belong together, you'll come to realize." She was back to the cold, sly Stalyan he had known in an instant, all lethal wittiness and calculated moves.
She tilted her head with a flutter of her hair, and her next words cut deeper than whatever physical thing she could've done to punish him for his past actions. "Does she deserve that, Rider? Does she deserve the worthless bastard that you are?"
He was left speechless after that, and she seemed to consider it a small triumph.
"Now, I'd love to keep arguing with you, but I actually do have business to tend to." Stalyan turned away with a graceful wave of her hand, hips swinging with every step she took away from him.
"Oh! And one more thing, for old times' sake," She added as an afterthought as she turned back to face him one last time, echoing his words with a mocking smile. "The Stabbingtons are already here in the kingdom, so I'd keep an eye out if I were you."
And with that she disappeared into the ever growing crowd, leaving him breathless and unsettled.
Rapunzel would be lying if she said she wasn't considerably put off by Eugene's odd behavior for the better part of the day. He was a disconcerting amalgamation of mixed signals, shifting between cool indifference and tender glances with enough frequency to give her whiplash.
She kept wondering if perhaps it had been something she'd done or said that had caused that spontaneous rift between them, if something beyond her comprehension had happened between the night before and that same morning. Eugene had seemed sufficiently good-humored and carefree just the day before, if a bit more subdued and restrained in his interaction with her since their conversation in the campfire. What could have possibly changed in the span of a few hours then?
A flitting thought caused Rapunzel's stomach to knot. What if Eugene just did not like her quite as much as she had thought? She thought they could be called friends already, good friends even. But perhaps she had read too much into his gentler behavior. After all, he had treated her with cool indifference the first days of their acquaintance. Maybe she had been too forward and he was just drawing some boundaries.
But then, why would she sometimes catch him looking at her with that soft gleam in his eyes? Had she imagined that too?
Rapunzel tried to tell herself her barely masked disappointment with his attitude toward her stemmed from a purely platonic desire to have his friendship and her almost pathological need to please people. She did, after all, have some trouble accepting that sometimes people might just not like her for no apparent reason without it necessarily being her fault. Eugene could very well be one of them, perhaps he just found her slightly irritating from time to time and spending every single waking moment with her was getting on his nerves.
She could learn to accept that, she thought. She could give him his space and accept the moments of friendship he was willing to give until they went their separate ways. After all, that was all that she sought.
However, the sudden pang she felt in her heart as she watched Eugene disappear between the crowd of people frantically following the young woman they had encountered exposed the blatant lies she had been telling herself.
Rapunzel was left in a perplexed state of speechlessness as the crowd dissipated from the center of the Main Square and the people around her prepared for the next festivity. She stood on the same spot, feeling ridiculous and fidgety while she waited for Eugene to come back, and as the minutes progressed that small twinge in her heart turned into a tiny speck of irritation.
Everything had happened so quickly. One minute she had been dancing along with the masked couples surrounding her, her heartbeat pounding to the rhythm of the music, feeling free and content, and the next it was all gone. She would've been happy to stay that way, even without the feel of Eugene's firm arms wrapping around her as they ended up together after the music faded away. And the intensity of his gaze made her feel like he had actively sought her company, as if he had been chasing her through the ever growing crowd of spinning couples just to end up precisely there with her, a moment away from getting to dance together.
But she had been so startled by his sudden closeness and the flutter of her heart and his countless mixed signals that she pulled away first, feeling overwhelmed and like she was overstepping all at once.
And then Eugene had been the one stunned, stumbling over his own words, face blanching as if he had seen a ghost as he turned to face the woman interrupting them.
The woman in question piqued Rapunzel's curiosity, of course. It wasn't just her astute blue eyes that made her shift self-consciously. She was all sharp angles, with her high cheekbones and slender frame, her long legs making her tower almost a head taller than Rapunzel, and her hourglass figure reminded Rapunzel why she almost always felt inadequately petite and plain when compared to other women. And she had the unique ability to make Eugene's eloquence falter with just a single glance.
If Eugene's attitude towards herself had been confusing, his reaction to seeing the brunette had been ten times more baffling and Rapunzel was dying to know why. It was clear there was some shared history between them, but the nature of it was still unclear to her. The only thing she was certain of was that the woman seemed to harbor some deep seethed dislike for Eugene given by the icy glares she shot his way. But there was something hidden there too, something much more raw than mere dislike.
As the minutes ticked by without a sign of Eugene coming back, her bewilderment and slight dejection turned to something altogether different, some new feeling she hadn't had the displeasure of having felt before rearing it's ugly head from the pit of her stomach.
Rapunzel watched with unfocused disinterest as the people around her chattered as they walked by in a blur of activity, everyone in their own little bubble of merriment. The sun was already starting to set and the busy streets washed with warm shades of golden, the sun rays taking on their unique quality of the evening hours. Some stalls were starting to display the elaborate candles that would be sold for the night festivities. But the would-be picturesque scene felt somehow devoid of any meaning to Rapunzel at the moment, she felt oddly disconnected.
Pascal chirped his clear curiosity from the place perched upon her shoulder and she quirked an inquisitive eyebrow in return.
"Yes, he's taking a bit too long isn't he? I wonder what he's doing."
Another squeak. She sighed.
"No, I don't think he left. Maybe he just has a lot to talk about with... whoever that was..." her reply felt empty in her lips and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes scanning the bustling Main Square.
"What was her name, again? Stalyn... Stallien?" Rapunzel frowned, that ugly feeling resurfacing in a blazing fire in the pit of her stomach. "What kind of name is that anyway? Who names their daughter Stallion? What's her sister's name? Bronco?"
She expected a conspiratorial snigger from Pascal. What she got was a somewhat teasing chirp she knew the meaning of quite well.
"Jealous! I'm not jealous, why would I be jealous." And she really wasn't, she just felt slightly irked that's all. Pascal shot her a disbelieving look and her brow furrowed. "You're jealous!"
Okay, this was clearly going nowhere. She was starting to get antsy and Eugene was still nowhere to be seen. What could be taking him so long?
"Maybe we should go looking for him." Rapunzel suggested, to which Pascal answered with a shrug.
She decided to take that as encouragement, and with a decisive nod to herself she walked forward, her feet carrying her toward the direction she had seen Eugene disappear, shouldering her way through the busy street in an attempt to seek the runaway pair.
It took her a few minutes to find them, but once she did the sight of them made her stop dead in her tracks.
Rapunzel stood a good distance away, watching with acute interest as the brunette woman took a few steps closer to a seemingly spellbound Eugene. She stopped just a breath away from him, and Rapunzel felt her heart falter as she watched with a sick feeling akin to despondency as she set her hand over his cheek in an almost intimate gesture.
Eugene stood frozen on the spot, back rigid and poised as if he was prepared to flee at any second. He didn't push her away though, nor did he give any indication that the other woman's action was unwelcome. He kept looking at her with an odd expression, stricken and unsettled, as if she was a particularly troublesome ghost from his past he would rather not deal with.
Stallion -or whatever her name was- stood there for just a moment, before she stepped away with an unreadable expression, and Rapunzel wasn't quite sure whether to feel relieved or confused when the brunette woman did nothing more than exchange a few words with Eugene and turn on her heels, disappearing once more into the busy street ahead with an enticing swing in her step.
Eugene for his part seemed too dazed to move a muscle, he stood on the same spot watching her disappear before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. His tense shoulders sagged as he turned around to walk the other way, and his eyes widened as he locked his gaze with a dumbfounded Rapunzel.
She wasn't sure what to make of this situation to be perfectly honest.
"Hey." Eugene muttered once he caught up to where she stood, and a tense silence settled between them as Rapunzel started to walk up the steep street back toward the Main Square they had left, her mind reeling.
After a few minutes of continued silence, she understood he wasn't about to tell her anything on his own volition. Her intense curiosity however was too much for her to keep quiet.
"So..." she tried as her eyes wandered toward anything that wasn't him, trying to convey a casual disinterest she did not feel. "What was that all about?"
Eugene heaved a deep sigh. "It's a long story."
"I think we have enough time." She tried again, feeling just slightly pushy. She pursed her lips, trying to suppress a grimace as she continued. "Was she another one of yourlady friends?"
A feeling of dejavú washed within her at the question. She was well aware of what that particular term meant, she had asked him that before with a different woman. The encounter had seemed different that time though, less intense. She wondered if it was just her change of perception and felt foolish for even asking. A part of her dreaded the answer.
"Not quite."
Eugene didn't elaborate further, but somehow his words didn't make her any less disturbed.
"Then...?" Rapunzel was pushing it, she knew. Once he would've shut her out by now, tired of her incessant curiosity and not willing to share a bit of his backstory to her. Now he just seemed... contrite.
"She's kind of... she's kind of my ex..." He fumbled for words and Rapunzel willed her heart not to stutter. "...fiancée..."
She failed. Her heart didn't just stutter, it almost jumped out of her chest.
"What?" She stumbled over her own feet whirling to face him, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Ex-fia- you were engaged?!"
"Something like that." Eugene winced.
"What do you mean something like that? Either you were or you weren't!" She was marginally aware of the almost hysterical edge to her voice.
"It was something more like a forced thing." He replied, his tone clipped, lips quirking in a wry smirk as he looked at her sideways. "Bet you thought you were the only one to know what it feels like to be involved in an arranged betrothal, uh?"
Eugene was clearly trying to make light of the situation, and if she was honest he was failing miserably. Meanwhile she was having trouble wrapping her head around the idea of it all. When had he been engaged, why had it been forced, how did he get out of it? All these question were swimming in her jumbled mind and not one of them made sense to her.
"But then... what happened?"
"Well..." Eugene shrugged with clearly feigned nonchalance, eyes averted. "I was kind of an ass, and she was kind of a snake..." For a moment he locked eyes with her, a contemplative glint in his intense gaze. Then he let out a heavy breath. "It would have never worked out."
A part of Rapunzel thought something in his apparently blasé explanation didn't quite add up. Eugene had looked at the young brunette with something akin to regret in his eyes, underneath all the evident astonishment at seeing her again of course. And suddenly the way she had looked at him made sense to Rapunzel. It was the look of a woman spurned. Had she felt something for him, even if the engagement had been arranged? And more importantly, did he ever return those feelings? Had he... loved her at some point and that was why he looked regretful?
She didn't want an answer to that, and so she settled for commenting on something else.
"She seemed pretty pissed with you."
"Eh, she had a right to be." If it was possible Eugene looked even more guilty as he lifted one shoulder in a simple shrug.
"Why?"
"I... may or may not have left her at the altar." His mouth twisted in a wince and she couldn't hold back a gasp.
"Eugene!"
Even Pascal squeaked in surprise, eyes wider than usual. Eugene seemed intent on avoiding her questioning gaze.
"Like I said, I was a bit of an asshole."
It took a moment for Rapunzel to gather her wits after that confession. She tried to understand his motives, and wondered if she would've done the same had she been in his place. She thought of her own impending future engagement, and she couldn't be sure that, given the chance, she wouldn't run for the hills to escape an unwanted marriage.
There was only one thing nagging her, though.
"But why wouldn't you just tell her how you felt about the whole thing?" Rapunzel voiced her thoughts with no little curiosity. "Why were you even forced to marry her in the first place?"
"It's complicated." Eugene's shoulders slumped. Around them the people were starting to gather at the sidewalks, clearing the narrow streets and the center of the Main Square. They both followed the moving crowd mindlessly.
"How complicated?" Rapunzel stumbled slightly as someone pushed past her, Eugene instinctively reaching a hand out to steady her, both blind to the swarm of people growing restless and impatient as the streets cleared to make way for something she couldn't pay enough attention to decipher. "Did she have feelings for you? Did you...?"
She couldn't quite finish that thought as the crowd around them exploded in excited exclamations, interrupting her.
"Look, there they are!" Someone pointed and Rapunzel whirled her head towards the direction everyone was looking at, standing on tiptoes and trying to see through the gaps in the throng of people blocking her line of view.
In the distance, down the main street leading to the town square she could make out the outline of a large caravan. Or rather, several of them.
"Must be the guests of the King and Queen's annual ball." Eugene commented beside her, his arm brushing against hers as the shifting crowd pushed them closer together.
As the carriages drew nearer, Rapunzel could see the lavishness of the moving vehicles, all pulled by a set of well-kept horses and followed by a horde of footmen and servants riding their own horse. Each individual group could be distinguished by their specific banners, all proudly displaying their house's coat of arms.
It was quite clear they were indeed the important guests who were invited to the King and Queen's highly extravagant ball, as the caravans slowly rode past them and towards the first gates that would lead them to the palace's courtyard. All the opulence and lush however were nothing particularly new to Rapunzel, she was far more charmed by the quaint customs and festivities of the townspeople than the extravagant elegance of the nobles passing by.
Eugene seemed to be of a different mind, though.
"You should be up there with them." He muttered almost absentmindedly, his brown eyes fixed on the carriages gathering at the palace's gates, a far-off look on his face. "You should be with all the lords and ladies and important nobles in those grand carriages, a guest to the real masquerade ball. You belong in that life."
Rapunzel would've taken offense in that comment had his tone been different. But instead of being dismissive of her like they once would've been, his words were coated with a hint of melancholy that left her confused.
She wasn't one to dwell on sad things, so she tried to cheer up the conversation a little.
"I have a feeling that all the luxury and elegance would take the fun out of it." She said with a teasing smile, bumping her shoulder against his in a playful gesture. "I mean look at them! That doesn't look comfortable at all."
She could faintly make out a few people coming out of the carriages once inside the palace's courtyard, their outfits so outrageously exuberant it looked almost ridiculous.
Eugene's lips quirked up in a small smile as she continued, "Honestly, I would much rather spend my day celebrating here."
The words 'with you' died in her throat before they could make the mistake of escaping her lips. She had a feeling Eugene wouldn't much care for that particular insight.
Her change of tone in their conversation seemed to have worked though, as Eugene was back to his usual teasing self.
"Oh, I don't know, Blondie." His smile turned mischievous as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I think it would be a great opportunity for you to meet the future Prince Consort of Corona, don't you think?"
Rapunzel was left momentarily speechless, sure that the expression on her face must be comically astounded if Eugene's soft chuckle was anything to go by.
"I could not think of a more daunting prospect."
"Maybe the prince is not as stuck-up as he looks like." Eugene shrugged, his words dripping with amusement. "Course, he's not as handsome as some dashing rogue that I know of, but then again not everyone can be graced with superhuman good-looks, so we're gonna let that slide. All in all he doesn't look quite that bad."
Rapunzel rolled her eyes, not able to fight a smile. "You seem oddly interested, maybeyou would like to meet him instead."
"Me? Why me?" Eugene replied, his voice shaking with a restrained laugh.
"I don't know. You look like you would enjoy being a prince consort."
She wasn't fully aware of the implication behind her words until he raised a teasing eyebrow, smirk growing into Cheshire cat proportions.
"That sounded an awful lot like a proposition, Blondie." She felt her cheeks heat up as he looked at her with unmasked amusement. "Are you making a pass at me or something?"
"N-No! That's not-"
"Very bold of you I must say. And quite scandalous! You're gonna make me blush and let me tell you, I don't blush easily." Despite his words, Eugene looked anything but flustered. She could tell he was enjoying teasing her, as was now his wont.
"You know that's not what I meant!" Rapunzel shoved him playfully, her cheeks still warm with embarrassment, but it only served to make him laugh.
"Hmm, pity." His smile softened into something more genuine, his laughter dying as his eyes took on a rather intense gleam, and she was left puzzled and flushed by his last statement.
The kingdom of Cygnus had an ancient tradition for their summer solstice festival, the most beloved among the townspeople.
On the longest day of the year, as the sun finally disappeared beyond the horizon to make way for twilight, right in that state between daylight and darkness where the faint light of the twinkling stars could be barely visible in the darkening sky, the townsfolk would light a special candle. This candle, would symbolize the hopes and wishes for the prosperous time to come, the desire for health and flourishing during the warmer months ahead before the bitterness of winter settled once more at the end of the year.
Rapunzel found this tradition absolutely enchanting.
Eugene had suggested they take the best spot available to witness the lighting-candles ceremony. At first she hadn't quite understood the point of him insisting on walking further up the streets towards the highest part of town, right next to the imposing palace at the top of the steepest hill. After all, they could take part on the ceremony at any point in town. Every villager was ready to light their very own candle, vendors all over the streets selling the traditional items like hot bread, from the richest parts of town all the way down to the docks at the bottom of the jagged hills that made up the kingdom.
The spot they had taken was a little more secluded than what she had expected; a little clearing in a park that was clearly meant for the wealthiest citizens of the kingdom, given the fact that it was located practically right next to the palace's gardens. The rest of the townspeople favored the busier streets near the Main Square, as the music and merchant stalls were prominent there, plus the wealthier class that could afford to frequent these parts of town were evidently celebrating as guests to the Royal Masquerade Ball taking place within the palace. Thus, the park was relatively empty and quiet, making the atmosphere around them feel comfortably intimate.
And the view, well the view really took Rapunzel's breath away.
She could see the entire town from their spot so high up the biggest cliff, every single street and decorated rooftop, all the way down to the harbor where the imposing docked vessels rocked gently with the growing tide. And to her left, she could see the back of the jagged cliffs, where the rocky ground was so steep it couldn't be habitable, and the unrestrained waves crashed thunderously against the rocks at the bottom of the bay, the resulting sea foam turning a murky color as the sunset turned the water a darker shade of indigo. Behind them the forest where they had spent a night camping extended over the horizon for miles and miles, a lush spread of green contrasting with the high rocky formations that protruded at random spots around the kingdom.
The landscape was so breathtakingly beautiful, Rapunzel wished she could paint it right away, and immortalize it in a canvass before her memory failed her and she forgot every nuanced detail her eyes could set upon.
She wished this moment to be etched into her mind forever. Her, sitting upon a patch of soft grass, looking over the foreign kingdom as the very last rays of sunlight glinted over her skin and the crisp marine breeze brushed past her hair, Eugene and Pascal sitting comfortably by her side, and all was well with the world.
Rapunzel took a deep breath, savoring in the moment, eyes closed, and suddenly an acute feeling of melancholy overwhelmed her. She felt time passing her by, as if she was looking from the outside and some part of her knew that it was never going to get better than this, she knew that a Rapunzel from the future would look back on these quiet and perfect moments and relish in only the memory of a past wholesome feeling that she would never experience again.
She felt nostalgic for a time that had not quite passed her yet. A very bizarre experience indeed.
"Hey, you okay?" Eugene's soft inquire shook her out of her gloomy thoughts.
"It's just..." Rapunzel sighed, not sure how to voice her worries. "I've spent my entire life looking out the window, wondering what it would be like to explore the world beyond Corona and the palace."
She paused for just a second gathering her thoughts, unaware of the soft look in Eugene's eyes as he waited for her to elaborate. "And everything has been much more than I expected it to be, more exciting and terrifying all at once and I just... what if this is it? What if I never get to experience life this way again?"
There was a moment of silence before Eugene answered. "You will, though. It will just be a different experience."
Rapunzel could feel her lips lift into a bittersweet smile, a soft breath escaping her as her eyes finally set on him. "I've been dreaming about this for so long... after all of this is over... what do I do then?"
Eugene's smile was soft when he looked at her, the softest she had seen so far. "Well that's the good part I guess," his shoulders lifted in a small shrug, eyes drifting towards the horizon beyond them before setting back on her. "You get to go find a new dream."
A new dream. The prospect seemed to her hopeful and daunting at the same time. For so long her only wish had been to be free, she hadn't stopped to consider what it would be like when she finally fulfilled it.
Rapunzel was momentarily distracted by the spot of glowing light she spied out of the corner of her eyes. She turned her head to look better, and the sight was sure something to behold.
Below them the streets were slowly lighting up as the townsfolk began to light their candles, setting them carefully over the corner of the sidewalks. The whole kingdom illuminated little by little, glowing in the setting darkness with the soft golden fire of the candles, basking the streets in a warm yellow light. It reminded Rapunzel so much of Corona's own tradition, of the floating lanterns back home, so similar and yet so different. In Corona the floating lanterns illuminated the whole sky, and floated away with the hopes and dreams of the people. A tradition set for their princess. In Cygnus, the candles stayed firmly upon the ground, the townsfolk impressing their wishes and dreams into them and igniting them in hopes that they would see their fervent desires come to life, lighting up the streets.
She thought neither tradition was better or worse than the other, just different and similar in oh so many ways.
A faint sigh escaped her lips as she contemplated the scene before her with a content smile. This was exactly what she had dreamed all her life, to experience a different life and different cultures and traditions and new lands. All those years looking out her window had led to this exact moment in which she could experience for an instant what it would be like to be free to explore the world.
In that moment it was all so clear, she was exactly where she was meant to be. And as the entire kingdom illuminated with twinkling candles she thought she couldn't be happier. Everything was perfect, and warm, and real, and bright.
It was already dark by the time every single street could be seen glowing golden, and Rapunzel shifted her enthralled gaze back towards Eugene when a distinct glint caught her eye.
He had apparently bought two candles, one for each of them, and had now lit them while she was too busy being fascinated by the scenery below her. His smile was sweet and genuine, and there was something in his gaze that made her insides melt. He shrugged with apparent nonchalance as he extended one hand toward her. "You bought us the masks, I thought it could only be fair that I buy the candles."
"Here," he handed her one of the candles, an intricate design crafted upon the wax. Their fingers accidentally brushed as she took it in her hand, and she was quite sure the tingling warmth that spread from her fingers to the rest of her arm had nothing to do with the fire igniting the candle.
"In honor of one dream come true." Eugene lifted his own candle, tilting his head and nodding towards her own. "You can now make a new wish."
Rapunzel supposed it was fitting that the whole ceremony was precisely for that, making new wishes and dreams and expecting them to come true during the summer months. She had now fulfilled her long-awaited dream, but what would be her new one?
"Oh I almost forgot. I got something else for you." Rapunzel was still a little bit too astonished for words, but she watched with entranced curiosity as Eugene rummaged through the pocked of his pants and promptly took out what looked like a small necklace.
He extended his open palm to her, showing her a small pendant. The pendant she had been looking at the day before at the market square, with the sun and the moon intertwined into one. It really would have been impossible for Rapunzel to contain the gasp that escaped her even if she'd tried.
"Eugene..."
"I saw you looking at it yesterday, and... well, take it as a thank you gift for saving my life more than once during the last couple of days."
His tone was light, almost casual, but the gesture was so far from being unimportant that she was sure her mind would never recover from his thousand confusing signals.
"Thank you!" Rapunzel took the pendant from his extended hand, a soft smile forever plastered on her face as she carefully clasped it around her neck. And really, she was so tired of fighting a losing battle. Her heart would be the winner and her mind was ready to accept defeat.
As her eyes locked with Eugene's warm gaze it was as if a thick cloud of fog had lifted and she was suddenly seeing everything with new-acquired clarity. She could no longer deny what her heart wanted the most.
Rapunzel set her candle upon the ground, like the rest of the candles all around the kingdom, and with it she cemented her new hope. All her life she had wished for freedom, now, she would dream for happiness.
And her heart was quite sure that happiness lay by Eugene's side.
But of course it was so very like her to want what she could not have. She contemplated the flickering light of the candles around the kingdom with a soft, sad smile. Silly, naive Rapunzel, trading one impossible dream for another equally unlikely. She would just have to settle for what she could have, and what she could have was limited freedom for just a few more days, and Eugene's merely friendly company until the day they would inevitably part ways.
She just wished he would remember her by.
Rapunzel's morose thoughts however, faded away as soon as she felt Eugene's warm hand wrapping around hers. She was so astounded by his sudden affectionate gesture that she could do nothing but stare wide-eyed at their clasped hands in silent wonder.
It was not that it was the first time he had held her hand, but the last time their fingers had been interlocked they had been too busy trying not to drown for her to really appreciate the action.
This time was different though, oh so very different. Her wide eyes drifted towards him, trying to gauge his intentions, trying to see in his gaze her own feelings reflected. Eugene looked at her as if he was seeing her clearly for the first time, expression firm, but eyes so soft she could melt in his intense stare.
And Rapunzel felt herself smiling in elated relief. For the first time she was almost sure that he wanted her the way she wanted him, that he liked her in a way that could be deeper, more meaningful than what she had initially expected. The world itself seemed to have shifted with that unexpected realization.
Eugene shifted closer to her, his other hand softly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, fingers caressing her skin in a feather-light touch, so sweet and so warm, her eyes fluttered trying to savor it. He rested his hand in the back of her neck, moving ever so slowly closer and closer, his eyes locked with hers and then focused on her parted lips.
He gently pulled her closer, hand still firmly set in the back of her neck. He was like a magnetic force, it was impossible for her to resist it. And if he kissed her, like she was so certain he would, it would be the height of all the inappropriate things she had ever done, and yet she wouldn't move a finger to stop him.
Eugene was now so close to her she could feel the warmth of his breath caressing her cheeks, his nose almost brushing hers, and Rapunzel's eyes fluttered close in anticipation, waiting with baited breath for the feel of his lips brushing softly against hers, something she hadn't realized she had been waiting for for such a long time until now.
But the kiss never came.
Rapunzel opened her eyes. Eugene was still close, but his eyes were no longer focused on her. He was looking over her shoulder toward something she could not see, but whatever it was it had left him unsettled and deeply perturbed, a frown set upon his forehead.
"Uhm... is everything alright?"
"Uh?" He suddenly seemed so faraway for all the wrong reasons and she turned her head following his distant gaze. Beyond the clearing they were in and towards the entrance of the well-kept park lurked a pair of burly figures, obscured by the light fog setting over the greenery, but still visible in the dark. Eugene's evident concern sent a chill down her spine.
"Who are they?"
Eugene's hand was still clasped in hers, and his fingers tightened protectively as he tugged her to her feet, the short-lived romantic moment evidently ruined now. "They don't like me."
She was about to ask more when he pulled her further into the depths of the park, hiding within the shadow of a few large trees. "We should really leave, like right now."
The urgency in his voice was enough to worry Rapunzel, and their previous moment was successful pushed to the back of her mind.
They left their burning candles in the darkness behind, new dreams now forgotten.
There was a large fence at the edge of the small park that marked the limit between the well-kept greenery and the wilderness of the forest at the outskirts of the town. Eugene had swiftly led her through it, and before she knew it they had ventured into the depths of the dark woods, making their way through the think underbrush without any apparent destination.
After Rapunzel's disorientation with the whole situation faded slightly, she deemed it important to ask what Eugene's outlandish plan was this time.
"Where are we going exactly?" She stumbled slightly as a root tangled between her feet. Eugene, however, wasn't giving any signs that he would stop soon.
"I don't know, away from the village, at least for now. Somewhere safe" He didn't turn to look at her, too focused scanning their dark surroundings to notice her skeptical expression.
"And the forest is a better place?"
"Well, the forest doesn't have the Stabbingtons lurking in the corners."
A twig snapped between their feet and Pascal released a quizzical chirp.
"Who?" She echoed the little reptile's question, but Eugene payed them no mind. He seemed oddly distracted.
"I had hoped Stalyan was bluffing..." he muttered to himself, ignoring her evident confusion.
"Stalyan...? Okay I don't understand what is going on?"
He sighed, and she didn't know if his exasperated tone was directed at her or the situation at large. "Those two... they kinda want me severely harmed, possibly dead, but I'm not quite sure on that last one."
"What?! Why?"
She wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Eugene ran a hand through his hair, clearly agitated.
"They want the crown, I took the crown and now I don't have it and they are here looking for me. That about sums it up."
"Oh..." Well, that certainly seemed like a good enough explanation for a very unsolvable problem. The crown was miles away, hidden in a tower in the middle of nowhere back in Corona. And those two men seemed menacing enough to make Eugene jittery and anxious. Their prospects certainly didn't seem too bright at the moment.
"What are we going to do now, wander aimlessly through the forest at night?"
Eugene shrugged. "Beats running into the Stabbingtons."
Rapunzel wasn't sure she liked that particular plan.
"I don't think that- look!" She gasped as something caught her attention enough to stop. Through the thick foliage of the woods she could make out what seemed to be the faint lights of a small cottage. Relief washed through her in an instant. "We could ask for shelter."
Eugene raised a skeptical eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "You know, a quaint little cottage appearing randomly in the middle of the forest at night does not bode well to me."
Rapunzel was of a mind that a cottage, under any circumstances, was far better than the daunting darkness of the unknown forest. And so, she ignored Eugene's protests and walked closer to it, the path clearing as they neared the small house. Upon closer inspection, she could see the outline of a rickety wooden sign.
She narrowed her eyes as she tried to read the inscription painted over the old chipped wood, eyes narrowed as she focused.
"The Snuggly Duckling... tavern. It's a tavern!" She exchanged a hopeful smile with Pascal.
"Oh well that's certainly better." Eugene's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Better than spending the night walking aimlessly through the woods." Rapunzel shrugged, taking one step forward, mind already made up. "Plus, I do like ducklings."
"Yay!"
She did not much appreciate Eugene's sardonic remark, but she ignored it in favor of decidedly approaching the cozy-looking cottage, Eugene following reluctantly behind her. An enormous tree stood tilting over the place, looking like it had overgrown so much it was now a part of the pub. The lights were on and the faint buzz coming from the inside made it clear that the tavern was within working hours, despite the festivities taking part in town.
Her hand firmly clutched the door handle, ready to enter, when Eugene's voice interrupted her. "You sure this is a good idea?"
Rapunzel shrugged. "How bad could it be?"
And with that she pushed the heavy door open and stepped in with uncouth confidence.
Turns out, it could be very bad indeed.
As soon as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit tavern she gasped, swallowing a startled cry. The people inside could really not be described as anything other than thugs. All of them; large and grisly, their sinister eyes carefully inspecting the newcomers with morbid interest.
Pascal squeaked in dismay and promptly hid behind her hair. She wished she could do the same.
"Well, that name was certainly misleading." Eugene muttered behind her, his voice strained.
Rapunzel's back straightened in a stiff pose, ready to bolt through the door at any sign of danger. "We should probably leave."
"We are already here, it would only look suspicious." Eugene rested a slightly comforting hand over her tense shoulder, pressing gently to urge her forward. "Just try to blend in."
She turned just enough to look at him through the corner of her eyes, willing herself to relax. Of course, the master of blending in and adjusting to the situation had no trouble changing his taut expression to a confident smirk in a second. "Garçon, your finest table please!"
However, no one seemed to be fooled this time. The atmosphere in the overcrowded pub only appeared to tense further, none of the menacing-looking thugs moving a muscle to accommodate them. Rapunzel could feel her heart beating frantically in her chest, sure that everyone around her could hear it.
"I don't think the blending in is working." She whispered, and yelped a second later as she felt someone tugging at the end of her braid.
"It's a long hair." One rather short but equally intimidating man commented with unnatural interest. She felt her stomach knot.
"She's letting it grow." Eugene swatted away the thug's hand with a frown.
Rapunzel's eyes only widened as she inspected the man more closely, fists clenching wishing for the feel of her trusty frying pan. "Oh, he's got blood on his mustache."
"You know, on second thought you're probably right. We should leave." Eugene grasped her arm, tugging firmly towards the entrance of the tavern and shouldering his way past the ever closer gang of thugs.
Right before he could get through the exit, however, the door closed with a definitive thud. Rapunzel jumped slightly at the sudden noise, short of hiding herself behind Eugene's protective frame, his arms slightly outstretched to shield her from the men closely surrounding them.
"Is this you?" One of them asked, voice gruff, a meaty hand obscuring what appeared to be a wanted poster nailed to the back of the door.
Eugene reached hesitantly, removing a single large finger and revealing the face depicted in the poster. His face fell.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me. How did that even get here?!"
"Flynn Rider in person, uh?" The thug with a hook for hand moved forward with a menacing glint in his eyes. "A pair of redhead twins have been looking for you. I hear there's a hefty prize on your head."
"Well, not that I know of, at least not here."
Before they could make a single move, the larger man grabbed Eugene's collar, sharp hook tilting his head in a threatening gesture. "Greno, bring them here! That reward will buy me a new hook."
"What about me, I also want the money." Another even larger man grabbed Eugene, almost lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
Before she knew it they were engulfed by a swarm of angry thugs, all of them tugging at Eugene, fighting over him like a bunch of starved dogs fighting over a piece of meat.
"Hey, stop!" Oh where was her frying pan when she needed it. She had no weapons to defend them, not a single object to use in her favor. Her frantic eyes scanned the place for something sturdy enough to swat the thugs with, coming up short.
"Gentlemen, we could negotiate this-" Eugene's voice was muffled as a large fist closed over his face.
"Stop! Let him go!" Rapunzel panicked, tiny fists hitting the burly backs of the men blocking her from reaching Eugene. The thugs didn't even seem to feel her futile blows.
"Not the nose, not the nose, not the nose...!" She could hear Eugene's agitated voice.
With nothing else to do, her eyes swept over the place, and settled over an overgrown root protruding from the roof. She was not strong enough to lift a heavy stool to hit the men with, but she had the ability to snap that large branch over someone's head.
With a determined frown, her hands quickly set to work on untangling her hair from its elaborated braid, and promptly threw a thick bunch of golden locks to snatch around the heavy root. She tugged, and once the branch was held back stout and stiff, she let go, successfully hitting the bald hooked-hand man with a heavy snap.
All movement stopped in a brief moment of shock, which Rapunzel seized.
"Put him down, you hear me!" She willed her voice not to shake under the surprised looks of the thugs surrounding her. "Listen, I-I don't know where I am and I'd probably get lost if I tried to get back to the village, and I need him because he's my guide, and I'm pretty sure I paid a good prize for the service, so you really have no right to take him away, I found him first!"
It all came out of her in a rush, and she barely thought her words through, only focusing on granting them both a bit of time to think of a better escape plan whilst she distracted the angry mob. She missed Eugene's raised brow at the description she gave, and continued on.
"Besides he clearly isn't this Flynn Rider you're looking for, look at the poster, his nose isn't even the same! His name is Eugene Fitzherbert, he comes with me and I am notleaving without him! Find your own guy!"
A tense second passed in complete silence, and then Eugene was promptly hung by the back of his doublet on a peg in a sturdy pillar, like a forgotten and dismissed cloak. The thug with the hook approached her with a threatening look, and despite her best efforts to look brave, she took an intimidated step back.
"Is that so?"
Her back hit the wall behind her, but Rapunzel still jutted her chin out, trying to summon every ounce of courage within her. "I-I'm pretty sure the men you talk about wouldn't like you giving them the wrong guy, would they?"
The thug's face broke into a snide smirk. "And what, pray tell, is a pretty girl like you doing in a tavern like this in the middle of the night?"
"We-we travelled a long way to get here...we are not from around..." Rapunzel's heart jumped to her throat, suddenly regretting her decision to draw attention to herself. "I told you, he is my guide. Do you honestly think someone like Flynn Rider would be leading a random girl through the forest for no reason?"
Honestly, she hadn't been expecting her random excuse would work, but to her utter relief, the thugs in the tavern weren't exactly the brightest of men, and they paused to look at each other with contemplative frowns. Eugene watched from his spot perched on the wall, eyes wide and jaw slack, apparently as surprised as her.
"Very well." The one with the hook hand replied, mouth quirking into a sinister smile. "We are indeed terribly sorry for the confusion, missy."
He looked anything but apologetic as he set a large arm around her shoulder, drawing her away from the wall and toward the bar at the end of the tavern, and Rapunzel instantly stiffened under his touch.
"Please, stay and allow us to apologize."
He let her go after a looming moment, and she released the tense breath she had been holding in a relieved sigh. The buzz of activity resumed around the tavern as if nothing had happened.
She was startled by a firm hand resting over her arm, and relaxed once more when she noticed Eugene had materialized next to her, apparently able to unhang himself from the perch on the wall.
"What on earth were you thinking?!" His hushed words were tainted with slight irritation.
"What?"
"Why would you tell them my real name! I thought that would stay between us. You completely blew my cover!"
Rapunzel narrowed her eyes, trying to whisper without moving her lips as she noticed the hook-handed thug's scrutinizing stare. "What was I supposed to do, you were going to be exchanged for a reward!"
"Oh I don't know, maybe not ruin my carefully constructed reputation."
"I won't have ruined anything if they never figure out you and Flynn are the same person."
Two tankards full to the brim suddenly appeared in front of them, foam slushing with the movement. The hook-hand man promptly shoved them into their startled hands, a mocking smirk plastered on his face.
"Here, have a drink with us and tell us all about where you come from, and what you're doing here." His words were friendly, but his voice conveyed a very real threat.
"I don't trust they are fully convinced of your story." Eugene muttered as they were pushed more than led towards the bar at the far corner of the pub.
Eugene had to admit traveling with Rapunzel meant he was going to experience one surprise after another, and he had come to reluctantly accept that.
He had long been convinced that the bubbly princess could charm almost anyone after a few minutes of knowing them. However, a pub full of menacing-looking thugs wasn't exactly within the list of people he would've expected to fall under her spell.
Eugene had been sure that the thug by the name of Hook Hand -as they would later learn- was not the slightest bit persuaded to believe Rapunzel's hastily thought out story. He had been eyeing them carefully as he hurled question after question at them in what was barely disguised as friendly conversation, obviously trying to gauge the veracity of their tale and looking for any hint of slips in their story.
Rapunzel wasn't a good liar by any means, but turns out she was surprisingly good at masking the truth with innocent smiles and a sweet demeanor, the only sign of nervousness within her being the careful sips she took from her tankard full of ale, masking her grimace at the strong taste with a few blinks and pursed lips, as if she wasn't a refined princess unused to the bitter flavor of the drink. For a moment he had been afraid that they would have to revert to the fake marriage excuse, as they had done back in the ship. He had to admit his mind wasn't quite prepared to hear the words Mr and Mrs Fitzherbert in the same sentence. However Rapunzel hadn't told a single lie.
They came from abroad. No, they weren't related. They had stumbled upon each other by accident and discovered they had the common goal of traveling to Cygnus. Rapunzel was a sheltered girl with a fervent dream to explore the world, and he an adventurous guy just traveling from place to place without the real wish to settle on a single kingdom. She had hired him to be her guide, and for a considerable price he had accepted. All of it a twist of the truth.
Before long, the thugs and her were all smiles and raucous laughter, and Eugene was no longer doubtful that Rapunzel had the particular ability to turn rabid bears into rainbow-spitting bunnies.
And now the once threatening thugs were dancing and singing with a cheerful Rapunzel, all exchanging traditional songs and reminding Eugene of the nights Rapunzel spent singing shanties with the crew of the merchant ship when they were at sea.
He watched with disbelieving eyes as Rapunzel and the thugs sang about dreams and wishes or something or other Eugene wasn't too focused on, too busy inspecting the suspicious sway in Rapunzel's steps. Her cheeks were flushed with color and she seemed just slightly more talkative than usual.
He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong, but there was something distinctly different about her.
Realization dawned on him as soon as he saw her take a thirsty sip of her tankard, no longer completely full. Had she taken more than the single drink Hook Hand had offered her? He felt oddly panicky as he swiftly approached her, wondering when he had turned into such a mother hen.
"Okay! I think that's enough for tonight, Blondie." Eugene gingerly took her drink away right before she took another swig, realizing her tankard was now almost completely empty.
"Oh?" Rapunzel seemed just a little baffled, turning slightly unfocused eyes to look at him with a confused frown. "But I only drank one."
"Yup, and you apparently have the tolerance of a squirrel." He guided her back towards the stool he had previously been sitting on, and suppressed a laugh as she pursed her lips in distaste.
"What's that s'posed to mean?"
Eugene regarded her carefully, trying to determine how intoxicated she was. She was swaying just the slightest bit, and her words slurred in a barely noticeable way.
"You're... not drunk but close enough."
Rapunzel seemed utterly offended by his assessment. "I'm not!"
"You are. You're quite tipsy."
"Oh please, let the girl have her fun. She's perfectly fine." Hook Hand interjected with a mocking smirk. "Ain't you?"
And suddenly Eugene realized what had been the thug's plan all along. Get either of the two drunk enough to slip on the details of their story, and Rapunzel was alarmingly close to being a bit too chatty.
However, she clearly disagreed with that. "I feel fine!"
Her unfocused stare begged to differ.
"Yeah, no, you're not." Eugene led her away from any prying eyes, and whispered only for her to hear, "What happened to keeping your pristine reputation?"
"I think I stopped caring about that some time ago." Rapunzel giggled, waving a dismissive hand. And if a sober Rapunzel wore her heart on her sleeve, a tipsy one had no qualms about voicing her thoughts without a single filter. "I was after all, gonna let you kiss me, wasn't I? And that would've been extremely inappropriate."
"What?!" Eugene almost choked, voice coming out higher than usual.
"That's what you were planning to do right? You were gonna kiss me, back in the park?" She asked, eyes wide and innocent. "Cause if not this conversation would be sohumiliating."
"I-uh..."
Eugene fumbled for words, not quite sure how to answer that question. His mind had been so clouded with mixed feelings, and the sight of Rapunzel looking completely enthralled and happy with the twinkling candles glinting throughout the kingdom had made him feel like he had been an idiot his whole life and that precise moment was exactly where he was meant to be. Of course he had been about to kiss her, and he probably would've, if the threat of the Stabbington brothers hadn't been looming in the corner.
Rapunzel's sweet voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Y'know, it woulda been my first kiss. I've never kissed anyone before." She mused almost to herself, brow adorably furrowed as she tried to focus on her own words. "I should've been terrified but... I wasn't. I was more... expectant."
Her enormous green eyes focused on him, moving ever so closer, and Eugene felt almost mesmerized for a moment.
"You never did though." She whispered.
"Uh?" He felt like a bumbling fool, words suddenly failing him as she stood on unsteady tiptoes, uncomfortably close and yet so far away.
"You never kissed me, even though... I..." her quiet words felt like a soft caress upon his cheek, and if he leaned just a little bit closer he would close the gap between them, kissing her, like he knew she wanted him to, just as much as he wanted it.
But she wasn't completely sober, and her clouded mind didn't know exactly what she was asking. And probably for the first time in his life, Eugene decided to do the right thing, even if it killed him to reject her.
"It's late. We should probably leave." He muttered instead, taking a cautious step back.
"Oh..." his heart squeezed as he watched her face fall, clearly disappointed.
Rapunzel followed wordlessly behind him as he made his way towards the entrance of the crowded pub.
"Leaving so soon?" Eugene could hear Hook Hand's gruff voice calling behind him, the rest of the Snuggly Duckling thugs shouting their protest.
"Yup!"
"Oh, but the fun was just beginning!"
"I do think we've had quite enough fun for today."
Eugene didn't wait for a reply as he swiftly exited the tavern, fearing that they would never leave if they stayed a minute longer.
"Alright Blondie, time for you to sleep it off." Eugene helped a sleepy Rapunzel settle over the mattress as soon as they were inside their room at the Winter Rose Inn, back in town.
The walk back to the village had been a slow one, with him trying to herd an easily distracted Rapunzel as she strayed from the swiftest path, reminding Eugene of the first day they had ventured outside the tower in Corona.
Rapunzel flopped over the bed tiredly, bouncing slightly as she tilted her head in confusion. "Sleep what off?"
"Forget it."
He shook his head with a fond smile as he lifted the covers for Rapunzel to slither in. Once she was comfortably settled, he sat beside her and helped her remove the stray flowers still tangled in her now loose hair, the only thing reminiscent of her once magnificent braid.
As soon as he was finished he took the pillow he had used the night before and moved to stand up, and was surprised at the feel of Rapunzel's hand firmly clutching his arm.
"Nooo, what're you doing?"
"Uhh... taking my pillow."
Rapunzel frowned indignantly, her grasp tightening. "You're not gonna sleep on the floor again! I won't allow it!"
Eugene pressed his lips against a smile. "Um, yes I am."
"No, you're not! You've slept on the floor enough times already. It can't be comfortable, and I don't want you to be uncomfortable." She pouted, eyes impossibly large and pleading. "Stay, please?"
Eugene inwardly cursed her ability to so easily make his resolve crack. However this time he was determined to keep firm on his decision.
"I can't."
Rapunzel's downcast expression made him feel like he had just kicked a puppy. Her green eyes suddenly welled up with tears, lower lip trembling.
Oh god, she was back on her mood swings.
"Am I disgusting?"
Her question caught him off guard and he rushed to comfort her, sitting back next to her and taking her hand in his. "What?! No! Why would you think that?"
Rapunzel sniffled. "Cause you wouldn't kiss me in the park and then you wouldn't kiss me at the Snuggly Duckling and now you don't even want to be near me. And you've been acting strange the whole day!"
He supposed he could be blamed for this particular emotional crisis. Well, him and the single tankard of ale, apparently.
"Blondie, you're not quite sober. Trust me, it has nothing to do with you being disgusting." Eugene sighed.
"Is it because I'm clumsy?"
"No! Rapunzel I don't find you clumsy, or disgusting, okay?" He gently brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, his other hand still holding hers.
Her slightly red eyes turned to look at him, expression uncertain. "You don't?"
"Of course not! You're the brightest, kindest, most amazing girl I've ever met."
"Really?"
"Yes! If anything you're too beautiful and too special." Eugene smiled sadly. "And I... well I'm just..."
He trailed off with a self-deprecating shrug, Stalyan's words now ringing painfully in his ears. 'Does she deserve the worthless bastard that you are?'
No, she didn't. She deserved much better than him.
Rapunzel's soft smile, however, was enough to distract him from his gloomy thoughts.
"I think you're beautiful too." She said, her shoulder bumping his in a playful gesture.
"Well, that's the first time I've ever been called beautiful." Eugene chuckled. "Handsome maybe, but beautiful? That's a new one."
"You are though!" Her answering giggle was quite adorable in his eyes. "And I like your smile, it's quite pretty."
"Is it?" He raised his eyebrows, the aforementioned smile growing in amusement.
"Uh-Huh, and your eyes too..." She slowly rested her head over the mattress, snuggling into the covers, eyelids dropping as if she were moments away from falling asleep. "and you have a cute bellybutton."
That made him pause.
"...Excuse me?"
Rapunzel's eyes snapped wide open again, clearly mortified. "I didn't just say that."
"How... when did you even see my bellybutton." Eugene quirked a questioning eyebrow, watching as Rapunzel's cheeks bloomed with color.
"I'm not supposed to say." She squeaked, partially hiding her face behind the covers, avoiding his eyes. Eugene's lips lifted into a teasing smirk.
"Have you been spying on me, Blondie?"
"N-No! No, no, no, no, I would never!" She paused, before she added almost as an afterthought. "Not on purpose, I swear."
Eugene couldn't hold back an amused laugh. "That's certainly the weirdest compliment I've ever received."
Rapunzel groaned, sound muffled by the covers. "Can we forget that I said that?"
"Not a chance."
She sighed, apparently accepting defeat. A comfortable silence settled between them, and Eugene was almost sure she had already drifted off to sleep, when her groggy voice cut through the stillness of the night.
"Will you stay?"
And she looked so vulnerable, face pressed into the mattress and body curled up into herself, that he didn't have the heart, nor the resolve to reject her again.
Eugene never answered, but he settled next to her, watching silently as her face relaxed and her breath deepened once sleep overcame her.
And as he felt his own eyelids grow heavy he thought that, if he didn't know he would lose her eventually, perhaps he would be brave enough to give her his heart.
*Sigh* So close and yet so far. At least they finally admitted their feelings for each other, now they only need to act on them. Anyway, I have a feeling next chapter is the one you guys have been patiently waiting for, I'm just gonna leave it at that... *looking at the ones who wanted an M rating*
And also, we are so close to hitting a significant milestone for this story, gah! Do you think we can get to 100 reviews before the next update? I'll just say, that would make me so incredibly happy.
I'm very excited to know your opinion on this chapter so please don't hesitate to leave any comments, thoughts, suggestions or predictions in a review. You know that your kind encouragement is what keeps this story afloat and my inspiration to write more. So if you liked it and want more soon please let me know. Until next time!