SET YOURSELF FREE: tangled

sana, sana, colita de rana

HAPPY NEW DREAM TENTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 💕💖💕💞💖💕 according to wikipedia at least. i don't really know. it feels like its still 2020 or 2021,, how is it 2022 thats so weird
god i remember when tea first came out and i was so excited adghhgf ,, if only tangled were frozen and had a bunch more spin-off shorts, that would've been so cool aa
anywaysss rapunzel doesn't have healing powers anymore so i'm gonna make her go through hell. aka being sick for the very first time in her life. because she was around absolutely NO ONE for 18 years so of course her immune system is going to be weak
i kind of maybe possibly forgot this was supposed to be a sick fic and made it more angstier than i intended haha ,,, it was originally just gonna be new dream hurt/comfort and fluff but. yeah

trigger warning for minor mentions of needles, but only two sentences

—

Rapunzel woke up and immediately regretted it. She shut her eyes tight, trying to block out the burning light shining through from her huge window, but the darkness only made her feel dizzy. It was as if she had lost all sense of self and was now floating in an endless, swirling space. She cracked an eye open, trying to fend off the void and manage to go on with her day like normal (or, as normal as it can get when you're a princess...that was still weird to her). This was not a great start to the day.

Eventually (had it been seconds or hours?), she managed to sit up, this time using her sore arms to block the window from sight. She focused on a bare spot on the wall, waiting for the room to stop spinning.

It didn't.

Now she was starting to panic. What was happening? Was she dying? Was this a side effect of not having magical hair anymore? She never should've left that stupid tower, God, she was so stupid, what was wrong with her—

"Woah. Um. Princess, are you feeling alright?"

Rapunzel slowly moved her gaze from the wall to her door, where her new lady-in-waiting, Cassandra, stood. It took a moment to process the question, to which she replied, "Yeah, yeah, of course, I just—" a wave of horribleness hit her. She keeled over onto a pillow and curled into herself, shuddering violently and resisting the urge to explode (or whatever it was her stomach wanted to do). "U-um. Actually, I don't know. Is this n-normal?"

Cassandra walked toward her and placed her cold hand on Rapunzel's forehead. She shied away from the touch, as if any outside stimulus would destroy her. Cassandra worriedly retracted her hand, "You're burning up. I'll go alert the others."

"Huh? But what do I—"

She had already left. Rapunzel kept her arms over her head, scrunching up in...well, not pain, exactly, more like a never-ending feeling of uncomfortableness. At least Pascal was there to keep her company in the meantime.

—

Today she learned that doctors made her nervous.

The Royal Physician, as he was called, was nothing but a very kind man, but Rapunzel couldn't help but feel wary around him. He kept poking her with various instruments she had never seen before, and it was all too confusing, especially in her feverish state. She struggled to explain how and why she had never been sick before, never gotten hurt before, never been anything but healthy. Eventually, he left to get medicine and remedies. She was relieved, especially as he put the strange needles into his case. (Eugene, who was sitting right next to her bed, was also kind of squirming from those.)

When the doctor returned, she hesitantly drank a strange-tasting concoction that would supposedly make her fever go down. A handmaiden placed a wet towel on her forehead as she leaned back in bed, barely listening to the doctor as he said to 'rest for a while' and that she'd 'be better in a few days.'

Everyone left, and Rapunzel could finally breathe easy. Eugene, though, was still trapped by her tight grip on his hand. He chuckled softly, "Never been sick before, huh, Blondie?"

She hummed, "Nope. And if it's this bad every time, I never wanna get sick again," she let out a groan.

"Well, it happens to the best of us. Sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's manageable," he shrugged and rubbed small circles on the back of her hand.

Rapunzel didn't respond. She had a far-off look on her face, her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. Eugene leaned over and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, "Hey. You okay?"

"What am I going to do?"

"Like the doc said, rest and—"

"No, not that," she met his eyes and attempted to sit up. She pushed herself up and leaned against the bed frame. Her wooziness had lessened, and the room wasn't constantly spinning anymore. "All my life, I've been able to make everything better in a matter of minutes. And now I just feel so- so useless and weak and—"

"Rapunzel, hey," he leaned forward, taking both of her hands before they could go searching for hair that wasn't there. "Look, I'm really sorry. At the time, it just seemed like the only option—"

"No! No, no, no, Eugene, I'm not upset with you. I'm happy you did what you did. I'm happy that she can't use me anymore, and that I'm safe, and I have people who actually love me," Rapunzel took a congested breath through the nose before coughing a bit.

Anxiety attacks were practically a daily occurrence, but she had specifically avoided thinking about this topic. And now that she was, it was terrifying her. Nevermind her own health, what about Eugene? Pascal? Her parents? She could never save them.

And yet, she doesn't regret anything. Eugene cutting her hair was the best thing to ever happen to her. After spending her entire life isolated from the rest of the world, she was finally free from the woman who called herself her 'Mother' (which just made everything more confusing. Was it wrong to say she still faintly loved her? Even though she knew Gothel was horrible to her? Whatever, that was a thought for another day).

Eugene pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Rapunzel opened her eyes to realize the whole world was watery and blurry. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, muttering an apology under her breath.

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

She didn't even realize she was zoning out. That seemed to be what she did — detach herself from the world around her and retreat into her mind. She shook her head, trying to get rid of her muddled thoughts. She focused on Eugene in front of her again.

"It's hard. I know. And it may be tough for me, but I can't even imagine how it must be on you," he sat on the edge of the bed, Rapunzel immediately pushing herself toward him.

"You're having a hard time adjusting too? I thought you were doing fine."

Eugene shrugged, putting a gentle arm around Rapunzel and pulling her into his chest, "What can I say? Flynn Rider is an amazing actor."

That got a small chuckle from her (and a little nudge in the rib). Her tears were drying, but crying had given her yet another headache. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes.

"I can't promise you'll feel better tomorrow. Or next week. Or ever, really. But," he pulled back and gently lifted Rapunzel's head. She stared at him, her large green eyes finally seeming a bit brighter than before. "I'll be here. That's not too bad, right?"

A soft smile appeared on her lips, and he took that as a victory. She cradled his face, rubbing her thumb along his cheekbone, before leaning in for a tender kiss.

They pulled apart, and Eugene took the chance to cover her in her blankets. "Now get some sleep," he licked his lips and furrowed his eyebrows. "Dammit, you better not have gotten me sick."

"Aw, but then we can be sick together," Rapunzel snuggled into her pillow.

"Trust me; you do not want to see sick Eugene. Sick Flynn, on the other hand—"

She shut him up with another kiss. He gladly returned the gesture.

"Okay, so maybe being sick together wouldn't be so bad."

—

don't ask where pascal was because i do not know ❤️ he was there for one scene and disappeared. oops

* 1266 words (January 12, 2022)