We do not own 'Frozen' or any of its characters.

"Frozen Again: 'Love Never Ends"

Act VIII

Chapter 1

"There's More within You"

This is the story of the day my heart stopped.

Twice.


The skies above the mainland of Eastern Europe, Corona, Prussia

A pondering Flynn Rider had been flying nonstop for hours on end atop a millennia or two old Magic Carpet that once belonged to another lucky in love thief named Aladdin who had beat the odds and stolen the heart of another beautiful Princess.

Oh God, please let me be that lucky tonight…

As Carpet zips through the empty Corona downtown street, a pensive Eugene Fitzherbert gives a sigh of relief. The wily thief had reached down to the local newsstand of his hometown Corona village square to lift the morning's latest copy of the Corona Gazette that old Gerhardt, like clockwork, had just put on his outdoor kiosk minutes ago on this early predawn morn.

"It'd be splashed all over the papers if Rapunzel had…" His heart caught in his throat with that sinking feeling butterflying all over his stomach for endless sky miles, the master thief's catlike eyes in the darkness had scanned the black and white pages like a mad speed reader.

"Your wife is a strong lady, Storbror." Prince Hans had been reassuring his big brother for hours now after Eugene was startlingly driven to bouts of deafening silence during the two men's airborne voyage onboard swift Carpet. Hans was there to luckily give aerial direction to Corona during the older man's more fretful, contemplative moments.

The anxious husband was grateful to read an article in the news how the local pastor had reported in the most recent edition, that the country's precious perky Princess had been featured for lighting the fourth Advent candle even in her confinement just this last Sunday.

The Danish Prince, though he had twelve other older brothers—the majority of which had a multitude of children and wives to have survived innumerable births over the years— felt Eugene's anxiety for his bride's first pregnancy deeply. Perhaps that was because, as an outcast pariah, Hans never held such fondness for any of his older brothers or their wives he was ostracized by, previous to the recent reconciliation in Egeskov palace.

Or maybe it was more due to the fact that the redheaded Dane had realized, in between, that his aloof, clever, calculating manipulative demeanor was incongruous with the warm and caring palpitations of love which Elsa of Arendelle instilled in his now opened heart that genuinely cared for all his brethren.

Hans himself considered Princess Rapunzel a dear friend, more akin to the true sister he never had. That sentiment was coupled with the fact the curious young man himself wanted to greet his closest brother's new children in good health, with the chance to witness God's miracle of birth outside of books or the horse stable. Yet the cautious, responsible leader in him insisted he must not endanger this blessed event.

Not with the debauched Djvælen Troll trapped inside that phenomenal Genie's mystic lamp that seemed to weigh more heavily in the leather pouch Hans had been conservatively utilizing his waning ice magic abilities to keep deep frosted the closer they came to the peaceful country of Corona.

"As not to incur any misfortune of this wicked Devil Trollden to befall your growing family, Storbror, Carpet and I will drop you off at safe distance from the courtyard. With your kind permission, I will borrow your Carpet and return him as soon as possible, once I drive this monstrosity to the captivity prescribed in the South Pole and am assured he will not escape ever again. Please give the Princess my heartfelt solicitudes of full health to her and your babies and well wishes for a happy Christmas to spend together as a family. God bless you all, my dear brother. I hope you will hear word of my connubial bliss soon, and we can meet again on more sanguine terms for us both." Hans begins to make his lofty farewell and direct Carpet down as he calmly explains his concerns to the pursed lipped, brow creased Flynn Rider who was not about to let his favorite little brother off scot-free.

"Yeah, sure, mi Carpet es su Carpet, Kid. But if I don't bring you in to say hello to my Sunshine Liebling up there, she will undoubtedly scream bloody murder at—"

But that's just when an unexpected shrill screech indeed penetrates the midnight darkness of the wee hours, followed by several men's raised voices and a consequential foreboding thud coming from the balcony level above.

As if on cue, her familiar voice, her golden throat filled with terror, stops a petrified Eugene's heart beating in his chest, stone-cold.

Without another thought, Hans silently urges Carpet to fly straight up at incredible speed to the location of the source.

"Rapunzel!"

The frightened out of his mind thief stumbles at all haste across the balcony into the darkened, strange smelling of something weird smoked, stifling bedroom. Eugene clumsily bounds straight into the suite of rooms he normally shared with that certain bubbly precious Princess who had changed his sorry life to something different and beautiful and new, these seven and a half years ago.

Only to find his precious bride lying on her left side upon her special 'delivery bed' that stood in place of their normal Queen sized furnishing.

Princess Rapunzel was beneath a chaotic multitude of blankets and pillows, bags of melting ice cubes, shaving brushes, and bizarre tubs of lard. There were also pots of boiling water, plates of burning sage, a bowl of creepy crawly leeches and oyster shells inexplicably gathered on the table.

Among the collage of sharp bloodletting tools, forceps and various sized surgeon's knives, were an assortment of gory injection needles strewn across the end table and floor.

Not to mention the angry old royal physician who was laying limp limbed contorted on the ground with his vicious blood-letting razor tool still clutched in his skeletal hand.

The gaunt and bony, pallid long faced, gray haired old man was aghast at being shoved back by some low class dark muscle man, backed up by those irksome proprietors of the repugnant 'Leave You in Stitches' small-town clinic.

"I am warning you. I will no longer suffer such uncouth brutality from you ruffians! I have tolerated your plebeian and ill mannered attempts at medicine and uneducated artless techniques – merely at the Princess' behest – for long enough! As the King's appointed Royal doctor, I have overseen far more imperial births than either of you common Neanderthals. And as for this scalawag boy inventor who once threatened our kingdom, I would not trust him with a lab rat, never mind our precious Princess and the future successor to the Crown, for all the modern science in birthing procedures he proclaims to have studied." The indignant Royal doctor with the haughty Germanic accent stands to his feet with the help of his equally ghoulish looking midwife nurse, brushing off his long, dark apron with his incensed skeletal fingers that point at Bruiser, Killer and Varian accusingly.

"Herr Struive Vectis has been the premier Doctor to all Royal families across Germany for decades, Herr Bruiser! You do not tell him how to run his practice, you untidy tavern thugs!" With a poke to Bruiser's messy chest, the old midwife Nurse Krankenschmeister was up in arms.

Queen Arianna, Rapunzel's mother, had hired her to be a live-in nurse in the final month of her daughter's first pregnancy, and she had unequivocally fulfilled her duty to the letter, without ever breaking a smile.

Frau Krankenschmeister – who came at Old Mrs. Crowley's insistence and offer of her medical nurse dedicated sister-in-law - was an exacting, intractable, real sergeant major when it came to directing her ladies through the birthing process. But Arianna found Krankenschmeister's strict and severe adherence to authoritarian rules for diet, rest and visits somehow soothingly helpful nonetheless, during her own hard pregnancy over a quarter century ago.

The now much older (and much grumpier) sourpuss woman took special umbrage against Bruiser and Killer's unorthodox methods. She had grumbled and glowered at all the interfering, inexperienced with childbirth 'general practitioners' who mostly fixed up broken bones and patched black eyes of those lesser classed citizens who visited their lowly establishment at the Snuggly Duckling.

"Nevertheless, though I hold great esteem for my learned octogenarian senior physician, I have done extensive research into the rationale behind modern childbirth versus the traditional primitive procedural modus operandi. Through these new methods, I have found the mortality percentage rate much diminished beyond those classical measures." Running a wiry hand through his thick spiky black hair that had a striking teal streak in the center of it, the perceptive young man adjusts his orange tinted scientific goggles.

Many times in the course of the past few weeks, Varian Gutenberg, the resident scientific inventor of Corona, had come to visit his good friend Rapunzel in her missing handmaiden Cassandra's place.

Finding Dr. Vectis' outdated methods archaic to say the least, the forward thinking genius boy had sought out and employed Bruiser the pub thug's more hands-on, general remedial knowledge. The big guy generously shared everything he knew with Varian in many deep discussions of modern technique when the curious, worried man of science decided to become involved, just in case he was needed to answer some reference fact for his oft-ailing Princess Rapunzel in her best friend Cassandra's absence.

After much study, Varian found himself surprisingly eloquent when his expertise in the scientific field turned to dabbling in medicine with the help of Bruiser and his buddy Killer in their new chosen profession to 'heal not steal life'.

"There are more modern methods to relieve the pain beyond Stone Age bloodletting, which only instead promotes general physical weakness, and therefore the patient's chance of survival." The slight framed, dark-haired boy genius, just out of his gangly teens, excelled at creating automatons and mixing chemical potions like an expert. But this human birth process was a new field for him entirely.

Nonetheless, after all sweet Princess Rapunzel had done to befriend the headstrong inventor and bring the wayward boy back to the side of right when he sunk pretty low and turned down the wrong path, Varian would put his hand at anything to help his dear Princess make it through her toughest battle yet.

"What are you saying, boy?! Are you questioning my years of honed medical knowledge? I have never been so disrespected and insulted in my entire career in medicine! And by such cretins and rabble claiming 'higher learning knowledge'—which they know nothing about! I have long been practicing medicine on women before you were unfortunately even born, you odious child! Get out of my way! I am the official Palace Royal Surgeon, and I will not be thwarted by you or the likes of your cohorts, even if it takes several needles of sedatives to put you out of my way and your misery!" The malicious doctor shows his anachronistic true colors with his verbally and physically poison dipped needles aimed at the younger man.

Dr. Vectis lashes out at being challenged by this mad scientist and the pub thugs standing between him and 'treating' the weak and feeble Princess of Prussia with his usual bloodletting operation to 'relieve the birth canal pressure' since her contractions began, hours ago.

"Hey, I'm not altogether sure what that word 'odious' means precisely, but it sounds pretty bad, especially considering my pal Varian smells just fine. And there's no way we're letting this old pile of bones get at our sweet 'Punzie again with those sharpie gravedigger tools of his. Varian, you want us to eject this jerk once and for all, so you can get to real work on helping our gal pal out? He's really getting on my nerves! I'm just itchin' to see how much of a real man is hiding behind those deep, dark vampire pockets full of voodoo needles and razor-sharp knives, when he doesn't have a vulnerable damsel in distress at the mercy of his repulsive clutches. C'mon, boys! You know that's what Eugene would do if he were here!" Big Lance Strongbow, Eugene's oldest childhood friend and fellow orphan-turned-thief-turned-upright citizen had shoved the evil-eyed physician away from a dazed Rapunzel's bedside.

Talkative charmer Lance was never one to shy away from rubbing somebody the wrong way, and Eugene had kinda left his best buddy in charge of watching over his pregnant mate while he was gone.

"Am I right or am I right, Eugene?" In the darkened bed chamber, Lance didn't actually recognize his fellow thief's arrival, so preoccupied was he with attending his best friend's pregnant wife, but he was so accustomed to chattering, his mouth runs on auto-pilot.

"Oh, right. One man show." The dark-skinned ex-con checks himself in a mumble for bringing up the tender subject of his best buddy – the pregnant lady's hubby – who was still MIA absent.

At the Princess' own request and Pascal's beckon, Lance had patiently stood by in the shadows as Rapunzel's bodyguard of sorts, when the poor young mother-to-be had been for hours at the medieval mercy of this spooky quack. At Lance's heads-up, concerned Varian had brought Bruiser and Killer in too, and soon a heated discussion of proper procedural birth technique of science, versus traditional methods, versus natural practices for birthing ensued.

The dispute went on so long that a delirious Rapunzel no longer was able to perceive the arguments of her opinionated friends and her royal doctor in her now populated lying-in chambers.

As Pascal was at her bedpost fanning her, caught up in the discussion maelstrom, Rapunzel just wanted the intense pain to end.

"Eugene?" Somehow through the noisy quarrelsome melee, though no one else noticed, the woozy young woman in pain sensed her husband was near.

Her pretty brow was soaked with sweat after hours of pushing and pushing, her brown hair dampened flat, the deep bags under her eyes worn and drawn after the torturous ten hours thus far spent in her first stage of childbirth labor.

But to Eugene Horace Pryzemyslid, Rapunzel of Corona never looked more stunning.

"Thanks for having my back, fellas, while I was away on another vital, life or death, save-the-world mission. Now you heard my friends, Count Dracula. Stay away from my wife!" Tapping on his decrepit old shoulder, Eugene waits for Dr. Vectis to turn to face him. Then the virile, young father-to-be squarely delivers to the grisly old witch doctor holding some ghoulish sharp instrument over a terrified Rapunzel a quick left hook punch that knocks out his chattering false teeth.

"Now, beat it, Dr. Doom, before I get really mad!" The look on his face quite dark and threatening was a change from his normal blasé teasing mode, as Eugene takes the stance in front of Rapunzel beside Varian.

"If I may escort Your Eminence to the door?" Sarcastic Lance joins Bruiser and Killer in happily 'escorting' by his coat shoulders the skin and bones doctor and his sniveling Nurse Krankenschmeister the Snuggly duckling fellas had cornered from administering any of their further bloodthirsty process on Rapunzel. The nasty old pinched-face crab was still holding the sharpened scalpel and tray full of needles and bloodletting leeches at the ready to use again on the Princess, even as the boys giddily eject the crotchety nurse from the royal Princess' bedroom under protest too.

"Whoo! Now I know whose likeness they put up on the skull and crossbones poison bottles!" Eugene lets out a low whistle with the snide comment, returning to his normal humor that his wife, after spending this last month in anxious agony without him, was only too glad to hear.

"Eugene? Is that really you?" Rapunzel weakly holds her hand out towards the fantasized oasis of her handsome husband, her emerald eyes fluttering at him. She felt just about to faint after her loudest scream had rejected another go of bloodletting and needles she despised, but just the sight of her lover was keeping her awake.

"Here, allow me to check." Killer uses one of the clean sharp needles he had been sterilizing which had been knocked to the floor in the kerfuffle between Lance and Varian and the old practitioner Dr. Vectis to give a poke to Eugene's backside to verify the thief's corporeal presence.

"Owwie!" While still rubbing his own sore knuckles that unfortunately connected with the old geezer's wooden chompers, Eugene goes through a spate of emotions at the gaunt pub thug who dared stab his tight backside with a pointed needle.

The growling, good-looking ex-thief's eyes instantly slit in to glance behind him in anger, as the reactive man was ready to hit the roof at the unexpected prick in his—

"Yep. It's the genuine article, Princess." Gleaming white grinning teeth of the dark-haired former felon were the pearliest things in the darkened room before Killer slips out the crack in the door behind his partner. His teeth and the shiny metal forceps Varian had knocked away from the more experienced older doctor's hands after Dr. Vectis had approached a petrified Rapunzel with the archaic torture tool. The young scientist strongly believed forceps were way too harsh and rudimentary to yank out either of the slow to arrive twin neonates.

"I knew it, Pascal! He came home! I told you my Eugene would come to me in time…Ergh!" In the throes of deep labor pain, a shivering Princess Rapunzel was rambling with joy and relief combined that her beloved mate had returned home to her, just in the nick of time. Her chameleon friend, constantly wiping her perspiring brow and wet dark hair back with a cool cloth, turns a shade of joyous pink with a thumbs-up to Flynn.

"That's right, Liebling. Your handsome hero is here now." Smirking away his own terrified fears, Eugene falls to his knees at his precious wife's bedside, leaning in close to her strained, perspiring face.

"You okay, Rapunzel?! What have these clods been doing to my sweet Brownie girl? Don't you worry, now. Your handsome hubby's here. Our babes will be just fine." Eugene's changed tone was surprisingly tender and soft as the anxious father-to-be strokes her cheek tenderly.

"Oh, Eugene! Eugene…Thank God…thank God. I knew you would get back in time… We've been been praying… irk… urgh… Eek! Yes! You can come now, my babies. Daddy's here… Owww…!" Rapunzel's usually vibrant green eyes were all dilated and whirling in her head, cloudy and unfocused as she whimpers. But her hands that had been holding tight to something plush tied tight the bedpost for the expectant mother to tug on in her extreme pain moments, passes over her full, pulsating stomach on her way to grip her husband's large hand in exchange.

At his kneeled peripheral vision, Eugene's brow quirks strangely at the cloth figure that had been arm-tied positioned at her bed's headboard. The poor, stretched out item was still clutched in Rapunzel's one hand, her nails dug into its soft backside so deep, it was hard to extricate them.

"Looks like I've been here with you all the while. Du bist mein herz, Liebste (you are my heart, my love)." Eugene dramatically touches his wildly pounding heart and leans in to kiss Rapunzel's dry lips that were itching to let out another breathtaking scream.

So instead of the pain filled wail, the Princess of Corona manages a small wisp of a smile for the first time in her long and protracted going into labor ordeal. For her Eugene's real, strong warm hand gave her something tangible to hold onto that she badly needed.

"Now that's our trooper girl! Didn't I say she just needed a good incentive to smile, Ari? The right man – even the wrong one for that matter – can do wonders for a girl's physical condition." The Queen of Corona's youngest sister, Princess Wilhelmina, had come for the Christmas holidays. The tall, long brown ponytailed, spirited woman also joined the Royal family of Prussia's great distress at news that her niece Rapunzel's already difficult pregnancy had worsened drastically these last couple days.

Worldly Willow gives a flirtatious smirk to the dark Caribbean named Job, who had gone to fetch the King and Queen during the kerfuffle. The strong silent type, redeemed pirate had been quietly in the background watching over his delicate little Princess friend in her difficult plight without her husband which may prove fatal to both fragile mother and child(ren).

At least according to that old stick in the mud Royal physician/accocheur who insisted his old tried-and-true methods were for the best with sharp tools of force and bloodletting.

"Eugene!" Queen Arianna calls, joyful to catch sight of her son-in-law. The tired-eyed older woman was just on her way back to the birthing room from comforting her worried husband down the hall.

The Queen races in and squeezes her sister's hands in the dark room that was purposely left dim by the old-fashioned, traditional doctor.

Aunt Willow was the original rebel without a cause herself and outspoken suffragette ahead of her time, so, even though they were strangely all males, Wilhelmina was glad her older sister's little girl was surrounded by good friends. They were more forward thinking in scientific research and modern techniques other than some of their past ancestors' arcane birth ritual that often resulted in the mother's or child's – or both – deaths.

Willow shares a nod with the local inventor/scientist friend of Rapunzel's who had devotedly been standing in for the absent ladies maid/ best friend/ personal bodyguard, Captain Lady Cassandra, for Rapunzel these last few weeks. The concerned young man – who was a pretty deft hand at keeping Rapunzel occupied with her painting and writings, not to mention the tidying up, washing clothes and stitching up torn plush dolls - had himself learned from experts about everything modern in pregnancy techniques in his off-time.

Varian had been instructing his friends Rapunzel and Cassandra on the psychoprophylactic method of natural birthing exercises these past few months, and was even more versed in it by the pregnant princess' cautionary late term.

But even the scientist in him had read that academic studies showed that the healthiest babies were born to a young mother whose mate – the child's father – was both present and supportive.

Speaking of fathers, King Friedrich had been pacing all night in the Throne Room, upon hearing his beloved baby girl was in another life-and-death struggle moment when it came to bringing a new child into the world. Now without any remainder of hope for the mystical Rapunculus petals to help his little flower-girl born of it with her own difficult childbirth this time, the taciturn King of Corona knew not what to do.

At least he was not alone in his paternal pacing. King Edmund of Bohemia had returned from his extended stay in Denmark's Southern Isles with his brother-in-law, King Christian, and all his nephews and grandnieces, almost week ago. The Dark Kingdom ruler would not miss his first and only grandchild's birth, even if he was having a grand time annoying – eh, bonding –with his beautiful Queen Auguste's favorite brother.

At constantly pestering King Edmund's anxious behest, even King Friedrich could no longer keep himself from peering into his beloved child's delivery birth room at her earsplitting – and heartbreaking – scream earlier that echoed through the castle, no matter how many times that unspeakable doctor instructed them not to come and 'cause complications' for his 'frail patient'.

"Horace! You have returned from your ill-timed mission to retrieve your youngest cousin from the Far East where he had been ostracized from his future bride by his future Father-in-law!" In his inimitable way of bluntly blurting out everything on his mind, King Edmund wraps Eugene up in a big bear hug before depositing the weirded out thief back to his daughter-in-law's bedside.

"Thank God you're here, son." King Friedrich never would have believed he could become so excessively fond of his roguish son-in-law, to the point that the criminal thief may have rubbed off more on the once stoic monarch than the other way around.

At Edmund's urging, Friedrich had summarily disobeyed the snobbish Royal doctor this night, though, after the skull and crossbones practitioner had tried to waylay the King by way of lodging a complaint to the Corona guardsmen in the palace courtyard.

However, eavesdropping Stan and Pete had skeptically explained to the two Kings about how Dr. Vectis had made an attempt to defame those disrespectful 'uncivilized rabble' upstairs and cause nuisance for the monarch's pregnant daughter.

The instantly vexed, glowering King of the Dark Kingdom had swiftly produced his long broadsword, causing the officious, mean, aged Royal Physician of Corona to immediately back off from his spiteful rantings and highhanded insults and complaints of Rapunzel's friends.

King Friedrich had shocked old Dr. Vectis by siding with his 'strange' brother-in-law and 'the rabble' in stead of the self-important royal doctor. And that was seconded when the eerily silent ladies' maid Freborg had piped up on their behalf as the usually silent maid had quietly accompanied Job to fetch the Queen and her sister.

He recognized that his girl loved and trusted Prince Eugene Horace above and beyond question these past seven years since this former criminal felon brought their precious missing Princess Rapunzel home to them. The fatherly King, after a few bumps and bruises over the years getting to know the slick young man, had learned to trust the relationship between the young couple more since those first, less convivial early days with the abrasive thief.

The older pair of men, both their own great love for their Queens who bore them children never abated, saw that this special child needed her mate, too, at this critical juncture where the fruit of their love was about to come to fruition.

"I wouldn't miss my kids' debut performance for the world, Granddads." Eugene squeezes Rapunzel's hand that suddenly digs her short fingernails into his palm in a shared painful agony he silently endures.

King Friedrich grimaces at seeing Rapunzel in such pain. Seeing flashbacks of twenty-five years ago, witnessing Eugene standing in his shoes now, the monarch of Prussia holds a large hand over his palpitating with hypertension chest.

Touching his son-in-law's shoulder, Friedrich turns to his wife with the memory of this terrible, stressful occurrence.

Understanding a husband and father's anxiety for the first time on equal terms, Eugene meets the worried King of Prussia's eyes as Queen Arianna leads her emotional husband and a wild-eyed Edmund too back out to a nearby sitting room in the suite. The wise mother knew it would be best to spare her heart-weary older man from this strenuous hour, and keep him out of the way of this new team of doctors, as well as not wishing to have an uptight King Edmund and his ready sword too close for comfort in the already anxious room.

"I trust your methods are sound, Varian?" The strong, accountable woman gives the okay to the young man to take charge of the childbirth after old, dreadful Dr. Vectis – whom she personally never warmed up to since he came highly recommended in her crucial time then - had been escorted outside the gates by Bruiser and Killer and the rest of the Snuggly Ducklings, alongside the guardsmen, King Edmund's threatening glare following.

"I have comprehensively cross-referenced with my colleagues at University on the subject of most advantageous natural procedure for both mother and child, Your Majesty." Varian responds directly to the Queen and mother whom he had once kidnapped and threatened in his heady younger days in search of a remedy for his endangered father, Quirin.

But Arianna had finally come to terms that it was far more blessed to forgive with sweetness than hold grudges that kept your heart sour.

"Then, please, I beg you to do all you can for our Rapunzel. I know you are a true friend. She is so precious to all of us." Queen Arianna says with a merciful smile and understanding calm nod to the boy. She pauses to give one last maternal pet to her only daughter's creased forehead before joining her husband to wait in the sitting room.

"When the contractions come next time, push as hard as you can, Princess." The black and teal streaked spiky haired alchemist, bolstered by the Queen's supportive forbearance, takes control of the chaotic situation.

Varian, maybe more than anyone, wished to help the Princess of Corona survive the ordeal as some atonement for his past misdeeds, particularly since he was the one who unwittingly destroyed what remained of the original Rapunculous flower, and whatever healing it may have had left.

After all Rapunzel and her family had done for him in that terrible episode with those ebony crystal obelisks popping up all over their lands, Varian had come to truly befriend and care for this amazing young woman. Though he had been but an impetuous petulant child then, impatient to find a cure for his Dad, even willing to sink to extremes, Varian had come to his senses just in time.

He was smart enough to recognize that it was due to this special girl named Rapunzel and her light of kindness and unwavering friendship and love that brought him out of that rancorous bitterness.

With every fiber of his being, Varian now pledged himself to never let Rapunzel down in her moment of crisis because she came through for him in the end.

Stand up and be a man now.

On top of their friendship, the learned young scientist had been anxious to be considered an adult, for an unrequited love towards the Princess' striking handmaiden/ capable Captain of the Guard. He had proposed to train together with Cassandra Schmidt to prepare her Raps for the frightening, mysterious childbirth process as friends, just in case all went haywire and he and Cass were the only ones available in the storm.

I wish! I-I mean, not that anything would go wrong for Rapunzel or her pregnancy, o-or her twins! Just…if Cass and I could work so closely together, spend time relying on each other on something so important…she might get to…like…me a little better…

Can't let the light of ours named Princess Rapunzel ever go out! Varian pushes himself and his distracted nerves away to look Rapunzel straight in the eye.

"I'm going to get you through this, Princess. You and both your babies. Do you trust me?" Varian had changed so much for the better from that angry loner of an adolescent teenaged boy. He had now become a promising young man of twenty-one, and would do anything to help his friend who had taught him so much about life which science alone could never fully explain.

"Of course I trust you, Varian! You're one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world. And the smartest person I know! You can do anything you set your mind to do. But it hurts so bad… I don't know if I can do this…" Princess Rapunzel at first starts out in her compassionate sweet way of thinking of others first. But the overwhelming hurt she was currently feeling erodes that fine sentiment into self-doubt as the Corona Crown Princess looks into Varian's eyes, full of earnest trepidation.

Oh Cassie, I wish you were here with me now to steady my hand! Trying to seem self-confident and still composed, Varian truly missed the guardswoman's tough - yet deep down tender - control of every situation that gave the whiz kid some stabilization in life.

I will give my all for our dear friends in your place, Cassie… But since you're not here, I guess I'll have to do this with some of that Divine assistance Rapunzel's always talking about. Then maybe I can make you proud. And you might finally deem to love me, as I've always loved you, if I succeed in proving myself a man in your fantastically stunning eyes…

"Eugene! Help me! I can't take it anymore!" The never confident cocoa brown haired Princess suddenly bursts out in tears of pure fear and self-doubt as she bites her lip until it was pale and bloodless. Her panicking husband's face sinks as Eugene hugs Rapunzel's pleading head to his pounding chest with fearstruck eyes.

Rapunzel's eyes flutter closed, her breath growing fainter, sending everyone's face around the room to go into some state of panic, each unsure what to do to help her.

Except the one vigilantly watching through the balcony terrace shadows.

"She mustn't lose consciousness, Storbror, or the dire situation could grow demonstratively grave." Prince Hans, unable to simply abandon his dear brother and 'sister' Rapunzel behind with the uncertainty of her condition at risk, steps in from the balcony entrance where Carpet had deposited him. The intellectual Prince of the Southern Isles fluently puts in his two cents and offers to Eugene a bottle of smelling salts he extracts deftly from Dr. Bruiser's left open medical kit.

"Hey! C'mon, Sunshine! Stay awake, Darlin';'!" A wild-eyed Eugene urges his wife, placing the uncapped inhalant bottle beneath her cute little nose, shaking her cold shoulders and rubbing her hands and kissing them to his lips with all the arousing warmth he could muster.

Varian turns and softly instructs Rapunzel's helpful Aunt Willow to prepare her niece's blouse and constricting under vest that the midwife had tightly fitted her with, to be loosed with the help of quiet, obliging maid, Freborg.

"And get rid of that foolish petticoat!" More practical than orthodox conventional, levelheaded Varian gives directions for Rapunzel's petticoat, hereby left on for conservative modesty's sake - so no eye contact whatever occur between the doctor and patient – to be completely removed.

"Agreed. It will simply hinder the newborn from relating to his mother if the Princess does not see her bairn. Contemporary studies articulate it is important a new mother makes that essential visual bond with the fruit of her loins." Scholarly Prince Hans states in full Biblical concurrence too with the younger man in the tan and blue-grey overalls.

"Yes! Thank you! I've been saying that for weeks!" A grateful to be justified Varian then gives Hans a pair of big blue eyes pleading to join him in taking the place of the delivery nurse and birthing doctor. Hans wordlessly nods and removes his white silk gloves he always donned as Varian pulls off his usual thick blacksmith gloves. Both, going by Louis Pasteur's new methods of antiseptic, anaerobic sterilization of their nimble hands with the soap and boiled water the original nurse had prepared for Dr. Vectis earlier at Varian's insistence.

"How long has this been going on?" Hans whispers to Varian while the young scientist was using Joseph Lister's carbolic acid treatment for cleaning the medical instruments again as not to incur bacterium in the chilly cold room where one could almost see his breath on this winter early morn. At Willow's unspoken request, Job wordlessly goes to start a fire in a nearby fireplace after helping her silently whisk away the remainder of the older doctor's scalpel, knives and forceps as well as every other bloodletting tool.

The intelligent Prince of the Southern Isles recognized the younger man to be educated and calm, with good reason and scientific knowledge. Varian was ingeniously mixing some chemical compounds of basic substances to use as a dry cleansing salve to sterilize some towels and bedclothes areas rather than normally wet and scrub them with ammonia, soap and water that would take far too long to dry.

"There have been far too many hours of unnecessary pain for her to endure with that old doctor who wouldn't listen to reason and allow me to employ scientifically proven natural ways to induce labor. I have, to a great extent, with my good friend, Cassandra, visited and studied the methods thereof from obstetricians at Halle, Königsberg, Kiel and Jena Universities." Alchemist divulges all his time and research to the only other person in the room whom Varian instinctively felt he could converse with scientifically.

"From many female anatomy research books imported from medical scientists more knowledgeable than I in this field, together we gained much instruction on the nature of the body's reproductive organs to be ready to perform the delivery, if an emergency, such as this, arose for our Princess Rapunzel." Varian begins to speak low to Hans so only the redhead could hear his tense warning words while the dark-haired young lad finishes preparing the birthing area at the bottom of the delivery bed.

"Say, what kind of smutty stuff have you and Cass been pouring over in those thick books of yours? No wonder you two have become pretty tight of late, if that's your type of reading material." A pricked up ear Eugene didn't know if he was going to laugh at or slap Varian for intimating those delicate feminine mysteries concerning his little wife's body that only he was allowed to know about so publicly.

Nor did the once loner thief expect to be so intimately partaking of the birth process where usual men in this day and age were expected to stay aloof in another room, for decency's sake.

In that light, Freborg shoos the other men away to tend the fireplace while the women change the delirious princess' under clothing into something less formal and more accessible as Varian and Hans begin to discuss the best, least invasive, labor inducement after the woman's currently over ten hour tribulation.

Fortunately, Rapunzel's body in question – perhaps due to her beloved's arrival, and despite all the noisy raucous arguments and upheaval in this cold room that had stunted the second phase of labor – suddenly begins her final contractions naturally.

"Oh, good. Now that she's begun again, and the Princess' husband is finally present to support her, even without having Cassandra here, we can presume to attempt it now since you have agreed to assist me in this delivery, sir. But in the more modern and rational Lithotomy position, rather than utilize the basic, favored older Sims. The forceps utilization to force contractions by pressurized thrusts to the internal womb when, after long, protracted hours, labor must be induced is quite barbaric." A scientist at heart, though still a young man in his head, babbling Varian found it far easier to speak openly, on equal medical terms he had recently gleaned to the Danish Prince who was more his age. This quiet, rational man seemed to possess an intellectual inclination, and a profound composure and faith that the younger man acknowledged immediately.

"Yes, I agree the more natural knees up position, with deep breathing, muscle contractions and gravity should aid the birth process more than any harsh tools of incision or force. God created the female body giving birth to be a wondrous path, meant to produce beauty and reward her after the endured pain, to hold the honored title of 'Mother' – nurturing giver of life. 'Children are a blessing from the Lord; the fruit of the womb a reward'(Psalms 127:3). It is good to see you again, Princess Rapunzel."

Smooth Hans graduates from technical conversation to Varian, to speaking terms of encouragement and suave greeting as he approaches the delivery bed, punctuated by a gentlemanly bow to the woman lying upon it, along with his attractive smile down to Rapunzel as he finishes his inspiring speech.

"Wow. So this is that refined, much sought after Vise Admiral Prince Hans of the South-ern Isles that Raps sent you and Cass down south to bring back to marry that sexy Icy Queenie of Arendelle, eh? Mmm-mmm! No wonder, he's just like the Snuggly boys said! This good-lookin', smart fella with a silver tongue must really be not bad with the ladies! How is he related to you again, Eugene?" An irreverent Lance nudges the expectant father at his wife's bedside with a friendly, snidely teasing elbow that Eugene did not find so funny at the pensive moment.

"Ha. Ha, funny, Lance. I thought you left, Kid." Deadpan Eugene comically simpers and rolls his eyes at how his Lillebror - everybody liked better! - always managed to impress and show him up, even to his supposed best friend. Nonetheless, Eugene was secretly glad capable Hans was here to add some sanity to the madness in this nuthouse.

"Hans… You're here… Did you get back to Elsa yet? Have you seen her? Did Uncle Agnarr relent to your marriage yet?" Amid her own pain-and-suffering, struggling to keep conscious as her weary head continually flopped back down to her pillow, compassionate Rapunzel still found a place in her overwhelmed heart to recall her brother-in-law's own romantic tryst with her cousin in the North. Learning that being selfless was an imperative trait in a true friend, Princess Rapunzel had sent her Eugene away in the midst of her own trials to assist the reunion of her friends, for she desperately wanted for them to have a happily ever ending, too.

"Yes, Princess, thanks to you and all your concern. For her birthday in less than a week's time, my Elsa and I plan to rendezvous, owing in large part to your willing benevolence to send me your husband, who significantly aided to make miracles possible. My Storbror is an altruistic, selfless man to have almost missed this irretrievable moment to help me be there for my love when she needed me most. So, now that Eugene is here for you, I can safely attest you both deserve all the Lord's blessings that I'm sure He will shower upon you now in your moment of need." Hans approaches Rapunzel's bedside, taking Eugene's position of squeezing her sweaty, restless palms in his grateful, slim ones.

"'Altruistic' and 'selfless'? Not two words I'd have thought applied to our favorite resident thief." Incredulous Lance elbows Job in the gut at the praise his once needy and greedy, orphaned buddy was now getting. Eugene was too preoccupied to give his scoffing 'friend' more than a dirty look.

"Now you must very calmly and serenely only focus on yourself and try extremely hard, as I know a strong brave woman such as yourself can, to bring forth those wonderful miracles the Lord has placed inside of your womb, Rapunzel,as they are ready to come out to see the world, full of your shared love."

Glad the Danish Prince was there to be the motivational speaker the alchemist decidedly was not, Varian smiles.

He relocates Eugene to bodily squeeze in at the top of the bed. He had read through much sanative medical research that it was best to place the father behind the mother-to-be, so her head, was upon his lap, close enough to hear the beats of his heart for her. Her wracked with pain shoulders and writhing hands and stretched arms, reaching for something to hold tight to in her suffering, were there best situated for her trusted husband to stabilize the distressed, weak woman about to bring his offspring into the world.

"Eugene! They're coming!" Doing just that, a hyperventilating Rapunzel squeals out in agonized joy when the intervals of her contractions become undeniable.

"Oh, no! They're coming!"

As Varian and Hans, in composed and collected unison take their positions at the base of the bed that had been quickly prepared for this urgent moment, Lance Strongbow, adds his own panicked echo in a shrill, high pitched shriek.

"Ack! Kiera and Catalina better never do this to me when they grow up! The old ticker couldn't take it!" Referencing his once Angry and Red adopted daughters, Arnwaldo Schnitz gets a whack on the back of his head from Willow. Rapunzel's dynamic Aunt had been running back and forth between rooms, trying to calm her older sister anxiously waiting just outside the door in the connected sitting room.

There, Queen Arianna had been torn between her loved ones in the conjoined rooms, but chose to trust in her daughter and all those lovely friends. All the while she consoled her overwrought King whose poorly heart condition was not unencumbered by this harrowing event.

"Squeak!" Rapunzel grips her own husband's stubbly chin and neck that was tilted so close to her face so fiercely that it was almost as stretched and misshapen as the now bursting open plush 'voodoo doll' Cassandra had stitched together mimicking Eugene. Rapunzel had been strangling it for the previous ten hours, as plushie Eugene had been tied to the bedpost for the expectant Mama to pull and squeeze the life out with each birth pang of pain.

Whose sick idea was that? Eugene's overanxious mind still allowed his narcissistic thoughts to wander in this terrible moment with some modicum of levity.

A white as a sheet Pascal turns his wobbly webbed paws up innocently when an emotive faced Eugene catches sight of the now demented looking, stuffing knocked out of him plush doll version of himself.

"I'm right here, Liebling. Go ahead and squeeze the stuffing out of the real thing. I daresay I probably deserve it." Trying to gain her lilting chuckle, and succeeding, Eugene whispers all the right words in his gal's ear. He tenderly grips all of Rapunzel's flailing fingers tightly in his large ones, placing them around his forearm as the young husband caresses his wife's sweaty forehead softly with his lips.

"Yep. All your fault, man." That little macho barb was the last straw for motormouth Lance, as Aunt Willow had a 'don't mess with me anymore' expression on her face and stern finger pointing to the exit door, which Mr. Strongbow almost happily complies to leave the tense area.

"The contractions are starting again to be only seconds apart." Varian reports succinctly, causing another uproar from Lance who was just about out the door.

"Only seconds apart! Eek!"

Out! Aunt Wilhelmina threateningly mouths the edict and chases the mischievous thieving pal out with a slam, not allowing any of the eager Snuggly Duckling boys and excited guards gathered in the Corona Palace Hall to peek in.

"AHHH!" Hyperventilating in pain, Rapunzel's high-pitched scream ringing throughout the palace was heartbreaking to those who loved her – which was nearly everyone in her country of Corona that the brave young heroine had saved time and time again.

"Just breathe, Princess. Breathe normally. And push as hard as you can between each breath. Everything will be fine because you were born to be strong. Stronger than anyone ever expected." Calm in the sea tossed storm, like every proper ship's cautious captain should be, Vise Admiral Westergaard gently, but firmly, steers Rapunzel's frantic tempest.

"Come on, Rapunzel! Breathe in the fresh breeze on a soft summer morn, just like we practiced, and the babes will be born. You've got this." The man of science invokes a little awkward poetry to try to inspire the artistic princess who had been delving in her writing skills of late. Varian calmly instructs his friend best as he could with a crooked smile down at her.

"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.'" - John 16:21

Prince Hans quotes the Good Book as he smoothly reallocates the young woman's arm that had been suffocating and choking her husband, who was just silently bearing it.

With googly eyes rolling around in his skull, Eugene had been tolerantly perched at the bed behind his pregnant wife, her agonized head, sweating bullets, placed upon his lap for stabilization as her time was drawing imminently near.

The Princess with the wind in her hair hears her reliable friend's Biblical reassurance as Hans begins to brotherly share the applicable verse, soothing away her pain with his golden voice that urges Rapunzel to softly let her fear go under the hope of God's protection.

Rapunzel hears Hans' prayerful eloquence, feels the tender touch of her lover's close embrace all around her, and sees a light with the sun blessed embers of the Rapunculus flower glowing in her blood faintly stream through the door under her softly humming mother's supportive beaming smile and song.

"'Watch by the sick, enrich the poor
With blessings from Thy boundless store;
Be every mourner's sleep tonight,
Like infants' slumbers, pure and right.'"

The Queen of Prussia begins to sing, with her sister chiming in the needed harmony, her husband and brother-in-law's deep baritones as backup to the religious hymn asking for blessings from where the group had been standing together in a tender embrace in the doorway. The Queen's sister and King Edmund had been hanging behind the Royal Corona couple as the older generation nervously peeked in the connecting door to let in some much needed light, and a mother's loving song in too.

And under that light and love and soulful supplication, the first of the two miracles that had been growing within Princess Rapunzel's womb emerges, thankfully headfirst.

"It's a girl!" Dr. Varian joyously announces to everyone – particularly the Caribbean friend named Job, who was beaming his white teeth in the darkness from ear to ear in delight at the first girl child promised to be named after his dear, deceased, beloved Muma.

The alchemist holds the baby high up in the air after cutting its umbilical cord, separating the infant from her Mama with the pair of scissors Hans had sterilized at the ready.

The young alchemist was extremely happy about being the one privileged - and trusted - to bring the firstborn child of Princess Rapunzel and Prince Consort Eugene Horace of Corona into the world.

"And she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Princess." Never considering his intellectual self a sentimentalist, Varian's own eyes were filled with emotion as he gazes at the Creator's miracle of a newborn babe for the first time.

"Thank you, Varian…Thank you, Hans, for bringing my…Anxelin…into the world…" Rapunzel murmurs deliriously, recalling the pledged namesake of their firstborn girl as she watches in awe alongside Eugene, how perfect and real a baby she was. The first time parents' mouths were struck silent as Varian and Hans quickly clean out the baby's mouth of any superfluous liquids and gently wipe her little wobbly, naked body down with the cleaned towels, finally laying the babe in some new, white swaddling sheets that Willow and Freborg had set out on the table nearby.

"I like girls." Eugene states with a weak smile up to his Father and the King and Queen and a nearby glowing Job too as he strokes Rapunzel's exhausted cheek and congratulates her strenuous effort thus far with a wet kiss to her forehead.

"Yeah. Our first child…our girl named 'Anxelin', Brownie. And she's a brunette at that. Did I ever tell you I have a thing for brunettes?" A shellshocked Eugene incoherently whispers in signature relief with another kiss to his wife's forehead. He runs a hand along his just as emotionally drained mate's exhausted cheek and drenched locks, pleased that their new child had similarly colored, sparse tufts of chocolate hair, too.

The delivery pro then hands the cleaned and checked over infant to a helpful Aunt Wilhelmina as Grandpa Edmund peered over her shoulder at the newborn babe who held a definite resemblance to his beloved Gussy.

"Never thought I'd be holding one of these, did you, Ari?" Undomesticated Princess Willow chuckles nervously at the dark brown haired fuzz on the baby who seemed to be smiling up at her, obviously fascinated by the bejeweled golden medallion of Egyptian treasure around the woman's neck.

"Beware, Your Majesties. I think this one's gonna to be just like her daddy. Already she likes gold sparkly things that don't belong to her." Lance garners Eugene's smirk at the snarky comment of tiny Anxelin's wee grabby fingers around her great aunt's necklace pendant.

"Are you forecasting my granddaughter will partake in nefarious dealings in the future, good man?" Edmund still didn't get the whole idea of teasing sarcasm yet, as Lance shrugs to Eugene of irking his strange father.

"Look, Dad! Someone finally got my nose right. Just look at that beauty on that little gal! You really are quite the artiste, Madame Fitzherbert." With tears in his eyes, Eugene gives Rapunzel's shoulders a playful squeeze at his vanity's running gag as he points to Anxelin's nose to distract his literal father who rarely got a tongue-in-cheek joke.

"Oh yes you are, little Anxy! You're going to steal every man's heart someday, just like your other Auntie Iduna." Having a tough time claiming back her necklace pendant from the surprisingly strong small but clingy digits, Willow teases the curious child of the disreputable man her niece brought into the clan. The baby, her exotic shaped eyes opened wide, had that same secret mystery behind her little smile that brought Willow and Arianna's dear middle sister to mind. But really Wilhelmina was trying to get her doleful, drawn-faced older sister's mind off the traumatic moment for her, only half-accomplished.

In Eugene's warmth, Queen Arianna remembered her own, harrowing experience of the birth delivery process, and would have almost lost her life and her child's over a quarter of a century ago, if not for the inextinguishable love of her man whose sheer determination drove the nation to the magic Sundrop flower's discovery.

As King Edmund reaches out his big hands, Rapunzel's mother was glad her youngest sister was there to take charge of the newborn. Though overjoyed for her first grandbaby's successful birth, Arianna was increasingly more anxious as the seconds tick by. That was because the fragile, precious life of her one and only baby girl was still currently struggling to become a mother for the second time herself.

But what if my Rapunzel, after all that pushing that quack Royal doctor kept pressing her to try for over ten hours, has been too stretched out by the first child? What if, after those torturous ten hours, she is unable to generate strong enough contractions for the second? What if my baby grows too ill – or even worse, dies – before she gets the chance to be a mother, as I was robbed of partaking in my own baby's precious infancy? A part of me died back then…What if…Nnngh-nngh! Get hold of yourself, Arianna! Rapunzel will be fine! Remember what you yourself said to her: 'Plus est en vous.' 'There is more in you'. Life is an adventure that you write your own story to. Take heed of your own advice, you worrywart old woman!

"Can you see the other twin?" Cool as a cucumber on the outside as she dares herself to be calm, the wrinkle lines creasing Queen Arianna's forehead were increased exponentially when a breathless, gulping Varian comes up from visually exploring the birth canal's heavily contracted womb.

"Her twin is in….breach position. It's as if something…strange…is wrapped around it and it's too…tangled…to progress! I don't know if it'll make it…Not unless we cut through…" Having amber-hued flashbacks of the mystical crystals surrounding this enchanted Princess he'd witnessed too many times in his young life before, Varian was still beyond alarmed as he glances down at the surgeon's cutlery he, as an experimental scientist, was well versed with.

But this wasn't one of his botanical experiments, and Varian's awakened compassionate humanity was more in fear for his friend as the panicked man apprehensively views this odd anomaly. All of his study and research and talks with experts about the normal birth process had never encountered anything like this, now plainly found within his good friend, Princess Rapunzel's womb.

"What?! No!" Petrified at those terrible words, weak from the bloodletting of Dr. Vectis earlier, a weeping, emotional Rapunzel was beyond the point of sentience or being clear-headed. She faints in Eugene's arms at the amount of torturous hurting her pain-wracked body had already gone through, just to hear the dreaded news one of her children was to be stillborn.

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!"

"No no no no! Not again! Rapunzel! Listen to me! This baby will make it too! And so will you! Our story does not end here!" When no amount of shaking or calling seemed to affect the dispirited young woman, whose pulse was so weak and her breath so shallow she seemed dead to the world, it was Eugene's turn to panic, his heart on his sleeve.

His distraught wife's breath had become so hoarse and shallow from all the strain of painful effort to deliver her second baby, just the thought of losing the child before ever holding it in her arms was too much for Rapunzel to bear.

The amazing young woman could be tough and strong about so many things — brave and courageous and daring to dream on many adventures. But the thought of this loss was just too terribly upsetting for this special lost Princess who had promised her unborn babies she would to handle. Even though the first baby survived, each time Rapunzel looked at her solitary child, the lonely twin's eyes would always remind her Mama that Anxelin was meant to have a forever friend in life, a perfect sister like her cousins, Elsa and Anna, meant to each other.

Just the thought of that immense disappointment makes a hysterical Rapunzel start to fade from consciousness at all the trauma.

"Hey! No bailing out on me, Woman! This baby needs her Mama! I need you to stick around! Remember: 'If you die…I die!' We've got so many more happily ever afters to live for, Brownie! All of those years of new dreams we're gonna be making together into our old age you promised me!" There were unashamed tears in Flynn Rider's normally nonchalant, unaffected eyes as he shakes his wife's shoulders slumped against him with such passion that his great love was evident to all.

Eugene looks up desperately from face to face, finding sympathy and similar devastation, even in Varian's panicky gaze that drives the thief almost mad with dread. That is, until he sees the drive within certain pair of determined green eyes he was glad to see not giving up.

Not by a longshot.

God, I love that you made green eyes…

"Varian! You must listen to me carefully. While I very tentatively hold the first baby's placenta out of the way, you must physically go in to turn the second baby in between contractions until the child is headfirst in the birth canal." As if he too had studied a course in female anatomical parturition, cool, collected Prince Hans steps up to lend his aid to the obviously mentally distressed young scientist.

"But how?! There seems to be a great amount of… Oh no." Trying to be clinically proficient, young Varian had just about separated his affection for his patient from his curative quantifiable detachment when he spies something his steeled nerves never thought they would see again.

"What is it?" Hans whispers, not wanting to alarm either stressed out new parent again, as he too must set aside his attachment to his cousin and dear friend, Rapunzel, and peer down inside her cervical dilated womb to whatever distressed the science nerd.

"…Flaxen hair?" Hans murmurs quizzically, recalling the rumor, some quarter century past retold, of the lost princess of Corona, a witch in a tower, a handsome jewel thief and an amazing length of seventy feet of magic, golden, healing hair…

"This baby is going to be born with a lot of blonde hair! Unfortunately, it's tangled up with her own umbilical cord!" Both men's curiosities were piqued by this interesting factoid as Varian too remembers how Rapunzel's magical golden blonde tresses connected them all, way before the black crystal rock and amber enigma which had besieged the land of Corona had been solved.

Unable to think of any scientific method beyond daring sharp knife butchery, like the sweet Princess and her unborn child were some freak experiment that would no doubt prove fatal, Varian looks helplessly at the astute redheaded Prince whose head was bent close to his, for advice and counsel in this moment of need.

Prince Hans' eyes seem to glaze over into himself, as he responds quietly, in this time of dilemma in the soft, tender words of a heartfelt hymn:

"Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise…'"

"Rapunzel, listen to me. You must sing for this gifted child's enchanted hair to react." Hans speaks the urgent words to the delirious woman, but Rapunzel, near unconscious, could not hear.

That is, not until the voice of her true love slices through her pain and anguish to prompt her after Hans, while continuing his hymn, gazes meaningfully to his Storbror, not needing to say any further words.

"Sing for me, Rapunzel. And you tell our little one how to Let Down Her Hair." With these special magical words whispered right into his wife' ear, penetrating deep into her jumbled mind, Eugene was able to break through the barrier of intense, personal pain Rapunzel was going through.

Suddenly a sweet, soft voice begins to musically murmur from the Prussian Princess's dry lips. Even after all these hours of torment and terror, she was still able to add her own soft soprano to the holy song full of peace and strength.

And most of all, Love.

"'Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming Love'"

Princess Rapunzel's lyrical soprano was strengthened in chorus by Hans' strong tenor, soon accompanied with Job's deep bass, even Varian's youthful leggero and finally coupled with her own mother's loving contralto with double fatherly bass baritones in the background too, for which a weeping Rapunzel smiles gratefully.

"'Here I raise my Ebenezer'
Here there by Thy great help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home '"

Physically and symbolically letting some more precious light into the dark chamber, Queen Arianna, the original partaker of the golden flower, crosses the room to sing in perfect harmony with her weak voiced daughter. There were tears in her eyes for her beloved girl whom Arianna now prays fervently that she would not lose twice in one lifetime this night.

And with that prayer, the original patient whom the infused water of the special magic Rapunculus flower healed during her own fearful childbirth, causes a scant degree of restorative magic from her grandmother to be harkened by the child yet in Rapunzel's womb.

There within, the baby's tangled blonde locks softly glow by radiant golden magic before Varian and Hans' surprised eyes. Like a flower opening its petals, the strands of golden curls of hair unravel from her and her sororal sister's umbilical cords to free the trapped second twin from Rapunzel's womb.

That small opening gave Varian the chance to do as Hans instructed and gently maneuver the baby to spin almost 360° around.

"Here she comes!" Laughing Varian cries out in unmitigated joy, never imagining he'd again be so touched by what he previously thought was a merely organic event.

"One more great big push, mein liebste." Coaxing his exhausted lover as he tenderly strokes her feverish head, Eugene's amber eyes meet his hopeful wife's.

The worried new Daddy was grateful that second problematic baby, all rosy and ruby red in the face, was quite lively and wriggling as she pops quite naturally from the birth canal.

The proud as a peacock stubbly man was indebted to his capable Lillebror to be there to assist the scientific lad in extricating the more vivacious baby girl who already possessed a copious amount of curly golden blonde hair atop her reddish pink, ruby complexion.

After Varian clears this second child's mouth and nostrils of the excess blood and amniotic fluids, the bright red rosy cheeked baby lets out a happy laugh unlike that of a normal infant wail.

Unable to keep from smiling himself at the babe's contagious grin, Hans cuts the umbilical cord of the second child. He does so quickly, to allow his exhausted sister-in-law the opportunity to conclude her mental and physical exertion with the knowledge she accomplished a woman's finest triumph, and doublefold welcome two more tiny lights of God's precious miracles into this world.

Queen Arianna takes charge of the lively younger girl from a relieved Varian, who plunks down in an armchair nearby with a silly smirk on his face as he looks sappy at the tiny baby number two he had just helped successfully deliver, by some miracle.

Then the Queen of Corona's sister Willow brings her brown fuzz haired fraternal twin, who seemed more of an inward, introspective nature, to their young mother and father as the two Kings in the doorway look on, leaning on one another for strength.

"She looks just like you did when you were born, my darling Rapunzel. Plus est en vous.' I knew there was more within you." Queen Arianna whispers their shared life's motto in awe, having lived this indefinable moment of pure joy before twenty-seven years ago. That's when another vivacious, tiny baby with bouncy blonde curls was handed to she and her husband after a difficult pregnancy that almost ended her life too, all those years ago.

But as every new mother realized after the struggle was all over, Arianna would not exchange a single second of that fleeting blissful joy of the gift of motherhood, even to take away the months of horrendous pain.

"'Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from Him.'" (Psalm 127:3) With a firm shake to his shell shocked brother's hand, Hans quotes the Old Testament, as no other words better expressed his happiness for the couple.

The Queen nods at the well spoken Danish Prince, in full concord with his well-timed Scripture.

Just then, Lance and King Friedrich and King Edmund, who had all been clutching each another in anxious fear at every scream and silence in the melee, come rushing in when Job compassionately opened the door to assuage their uncertainties at Wilhelmina's request.

"Amen." Unable to speak further, the King with tear stained cheeks wraps his large arms back around his Queen's, looking adoringly upon the future of his kingdom in his growing family.

"Horace! Your wife and children live despite arcane, inept and inexperienced doctoring! Well done, Son!" Bluntly stating the obvious, thankful King Edmund goes to his son, giving Eugene an unexpected solid whack on the back.

"Gee, thanks, Dad. How did you know my spine could use a realignment about now?" In a high-pitched groan, Eugene smirks up at his Dad whose eyes were emotionally taking in the happy scene the decades alone man never believed he'd see again.

"My boy has sired not one, but two beautiful children, Hamuel! Friedrich! Our kingdoms both will have an heiress! Each will decide who will someday wish to be Queen of Corona and who will be Queen of the Dark Kingdom - no, our newly rebuilt Unified Kingdom of Sun and Moon Light. You should see the glorious green trees and landscaping your Uncle Crix has already set his impressive architectural and agricultural teams on planting there. I almost don't recognize the place! Ha ha!" Edmund proudly unveils his christening gift to his granddaughters as he announces his plans to rebuild his kingdom with a more optimistic name and look. The older man looks to his raven as Hamuel was finally sanctioned by Pascal to fly through the window to see the new babes too.

"Real catchy title for a kingdom. A little longwinded though. But I like the grass and trees idea more than that barren desolate cliff as a place to live for one of my sweet little girls. We'll talk about that later on, Pops." Eugene gives his crackpot old man's dreams a dismissive, crooked smile before returning all his attention to Rapunzel.

"Brownie, you've given me the greatest presents a lonely man could ask for. A real home, a real family, and a real love — now with these two added bundles of joy to treasure for all our years to come." Drawing her tenderly to his kisses, Eugene showers his girl lying in a pile of exhaustion with his full attention. The two fairytale lovers revel in the overwhelming moment as the enormity of it all sinks in.

In her husband's loving smile and tender stroking, Princess Rapunzel of Corona lets the floodgates open and begins to cry tears of pure joy. She was weak as a kitten, and feeling like she went through the wringer – twice, and right now needed her man's reassurances and love..

Just as her mother before her felt for her, Rapunzel did not regret as single moment now. Not the anxiety nor the mind-boggling pain, as she leans against Eugene with unparalleled relief.

The mere glimpse of her husband's loving eyes spoke volumes to her that he believed she would be a good and loving, generous and sweet, maternal hand to her newborn babes. Not at all like Mother Gothel, the selfish, plotting woman who stole Rapunzel from her real mother when she was a baby, at the same time ditching her own true daughter Cassandra, who was left lonely waiting in the wings.

Though fatigued, Rapunzel smiles sedately to see her parents - her poor, dear parents who lost the chance of bringing up their own baby girl when it was their chance - now looking so excited to enjoy bringing up this new pair of grandchildren.

As Lance and Job draw the curtains from the window Pascal had already unlatched to let the King's pet bird in through, they let the fresh morning sunshine in the rest of the way, at Hans' bequest.

Now, the new parents get their first clear look upon their two fraternal twin children's cute little baby faces in the arms of their great aunt and grandmother.

One wee little baby had her father's enviable tan skin and short brown hair; the other with blonde long curls past her bare feet and rosy red cheeks, and both with amber golden eyes. Comparing the twins, cautious Queen Arianna was carefully instructing her non-baby-ready sister Willow how to properly clean and hold a newborn infant without dropping or shattering it to pieces.

As they watch the frolicsome sisterly squabble over their babies, Rapunzel and Eugene silently make a pledge to one another to never forget to cherish these most precious gifts they would ever give or receive from their mate.

"We did it, Eugene. They're here. Merry Christmas, my mann (husband)…I'm a mother! I'm a mother…" Unutterably relieved, the Princess of Corona leans into her husband's strong chest, reveling in his comforting scent, his heart beat so near that his stubbly chin rubbed against her forehead.

The long and arduous journey of pregnancy – where imaginative Princess Rapunzel had envisioned so many catastrophes and calamities which might have happened to her or her babies that she had sleepless nightmares for this past month or so – was finally over.

Two little miracles of life were now part of their world, so soft and sweet and tiny and needing their mother and father's love. Sitting side by side on the bed now, Rapunzel and Eugene, as new mother and father, each take receipt of one of their respective newborn fraternal twin girls from Queen Arianna and Aunt Wilhelmina as King Friedrich and King Edmund look on, both full of proud tears.

"And you're going to be a stupendous one, Little Mother. If you can teach our Anxelin here not to have an affinity for sparkly things, like you did for her rascally Dad." Eugene chuckles with a nod to Job at the Caribbean ex-pirate's mother namesake. He observes how their firstborn twin's tiny little hand – which paled in comparison to his large one - was content to reach out and play with swiveling the golden wedding band on her Vader's (Father) finger.

— And almost succeeded in getting it off, as the thief struggles to retain his golden wedding band from the petite purloining pilferer he obviously fathered with his filching genes.

"Now, as for this cheeky little gem of a Ruby…" Bewildered as to how a throw-away dreamer like him could have uncovered such pure happiness, Eugene then pets the flaxen blonde curls of their bubbly, bright rosy red cheeked second twin whom Rapunzel was doing her best to hold still from al the happy child's giggling.

"I think this one'll keep her sticky-fingered big sister straight with that infectious smile. Just like you've always been my smile, Sunshine." Eugene proudly hands over the other half of their miracle placing Anxelin to be cradled in the nook of her young Mama's other arm.

Her face all aglow, Rapunzel was pleased as punch that her infants were both healthy and safe and sound. Princess Anxelin and Princess Ruby were sure to be as beautiful and charming, and attractive and smart, as their well-matched parents.

These princesses were to be heralded and applauded throughout all of Prussia, indeed all of Europe as descendents to the Crown of Corona and the Crown of Bohemia's future, too.

And more importantly, they would grow up in the loving bosom of a wonderful family dynamic that neither stolen, kidnapped, and lost Princess Rapunzel; nor discarded, orphaned and unwanted child Eugene Horace Pryzemyslid ever had when they each started out in life.

But unlike most, these special twins had been blessed to be born of parents who felt true love for one another. When Rapunzel touches for the first time each tiny, tiny hand, feeling the soft pinkish warm digits wrap around hers, she begins to cry.

"They're ours, Eugene. They're ours, and both so perfect."

"A brunette and a blonde. The story of our lives together, eh Liebling?" Eugene carefully strokes their quiet firstborn's beautiful nose, looking deep into her little sister's soulful golden amber eyes and insatiable giggle that reflected Rapunzel's immeasurable treasure with something that truly belonged to him at last.

"I love you, Rapunzel." Flynn Rider had finally found all the treasure he ever wanted in the pools of her glistening green eyes full of motherly love for the children he gave her.

"I love you, my Eugene." The Princess of Corona reflects that same, amazing fairytale story of their lives shining warm and real and bright.

The happy couple award grateful smiles and nods to dear Pascal, King Freidrich and Queen Arianna, King Edmund, Aunt Willow and Varian and Job and Lance, even derpy-eyed Hamuel and Freiborg. Bruiser and Killer wave back as the well-meaning thugs reenter the room after they and the other Snuggly Duckling boys had seen the back side of an indignant evil eyed vampire rival Doctor Vectis and his pinched face lackey nurse, Krakenschmeister, out the Corona Palace town square gates with the help of Captain of the Guard Schmidt and his Royal guardsmen, Pete and Stan.

All gathered were eager to see the new babies, even Maximus, and Fidella, who had finally made it back from their long expedition up the continent after the mare had recovered enough from her injury.

The faithful horses had trotted up into Rapunzel and Eugene's apparently free-for-all, third story palace bedroom to see where a twin pair of little miracles had descended like pure sunflower drops from Heaven…

Indeed, as the sun rises over Corona, its rays reflect snowflakes that sparkle as they melt away like a soft kiss to the magical land. The enchanted kingdom was now ready to sleep in rapturous peace with a bright future for its precious lost Princess, who by no coincidence, love found and brought home.

Free at last to be the mother she had never imagined herself to be, Princess Rapunzel knew this was her chance at last to take her place in this world that she, for the first eighteen years of her life, feared would never be able to come out of that tower, waiting for her life to begin.

Together with the handsome man who stole her heart, free-spirited Rapunzel of Corona would now embark on a new adventure called 'motherhood'. With those she loved all around supporting her, the lost Princess would learn more about herself while discovering for certain that her life had truly begun.

The once lonely young woman never felt as alive and liberated and loved as she did now as a new mother lying there with both arms full, holding these two brand-new angels her Eugene had given to her as the greatest gifts of all.

The young mother couldn't wait to show Anxelin and Ruby the big wide world out there waiting for them to run and splash and roll and race, taste and savor the freedom of the sun on their faces, the wind in their hair, and a song in their hearts, full of endless horizons…

'Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Take my ransomed soul away.
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day
…'

Now, I'm truly truly the girl who has everything…Yes, I have everything! And everything's fine…


"Come, Thou Fount of every blessing" - hymn written by Robert Robinson 1758

"Sun of My Soul" – hymn written by John Keble 1820

"The Girl Who Has Everything" – written by Alan Menken & Glenn Slater

'Here I raise my Ebenezer' – The term 'Ebenezer' is contextually interpreted as 'Comfort'. In 1 Samuel 7:12, the prophet refers to a memorial stone that signifies 'Hitherto the Lord will help us' because it reminds God's people how He delivered Israel from danger. The hymn reminds us that God is truly the fount of every blessing. The words 'Here I raise my Ebenezer' express the sincere attitude of gratitude we should have to God Who is our help in time of trouble.


Plus est en vous – 'There's more within you' in French

mein mann – my husband in Germanic Prussian

Liebling – my Darling in Germanic Prussian

liebste - my dearest in Germanic Prussian

'Du bist mein herz' – 'You are my heart" in Germanic Prussian


Welcome to the 4th Book in our 'Frozen Again' Saga, my Frozen friends!

"Frozen Again: 'Love Never Ends'" is the next verse completing our 1 Corinthians 13 verses.

So, wasn't this chapter, a great timing episode full of the new beginning of God's miracle of precious little babies born to the world, the most fitting start of a new Book in our series, or what?

Rapunzel is a brand new Mama! Times two! Congratulations, girl! There certainly was more within you! 2 times the fun for you and Eugene to discover as new parents with your new twins!

Rapunzel and Eugene now have a bigger family, with Hans and Varian (I love bad boys who eventually turn good ;) safely delivering a pair of healthy, miraculous bouncing babies, without the bloodletting and forceps and strange rituals of antiquated medicine for childbirth in those dark days in history! Scary biscuits! (I did a great deal of research into birthing practices of the early-mid 19th century era where new moms with childbed fever deaths and stillborn infants ran rampant due to lack of knowledge of proper sterilization and methods of cleanliness during the difficult birth.)

Good thing we had some forward thinking young medical men on hand following the lead of 'Father of Modern Surgery' Joseph Lister and the incomparable Louis Pasteur who practically steam rolled in modern medical knowledge to save countless lives for generations! Our handsome hero Prince Hans is getting so much experience in the healing surgical field, maybe he should take up medicine! :

With their harrowing near-death prior experience with birth, I felt the King and Queen's anxiety greatly! Arianna's inscription in Rapunzel's journal from the series was the inspiration for this chapter title. I think it says a lot in a few words, with much maternal wisdom to teach, as Rapunzel's relationship with her Mother progressed into a deep bond, though they were strangers.

A Mother's Love is eternal. after all. ^_^

I'd love to hear your reviews on this monumental event for our beloved Eupunzel! It was a populated birth room, but kinda nice having so many dear friends around to show how they care for their dear Princess becoming a Mama for the first time!

So God bless you all, and please follow (and favorite ;) this latest Book 4 in our Frozen Again continuing series, where Eupunzel's happy ending with their new perfect family is just the start. Helsa and Kristanna have so much future joy to experience too as this new novel unfolds , as we travel from Corona back to Arendelle!

Thanks for coming along for this new happy ever after joyride for our beloved Disney fairytale couples!

And remember, as we explore this romantic love story full of new beginnings together, 'There's more within you', too! Thanks for joining "Frozen Again 'Love Never Ends'!

Love, HarukaKou

P.S. May the Lord shine His grace upon the hearts of all those heroes and loved ones who, this day almost two decades ago, touched all of our lives with their strength and courage against insurmountable odds in the face of true evil.

God be with you 'til we meet again.