SET YOURSELF FREE: tangled

with every hurricane, there is a rainbow

"Eugene!"

"Rapunzel..."

He was weak. Weaker than he'd ever been. Blood dripped from his stomach onto the tower floor. He wouldn't be able to make it.

"Let me heal him! Please!"

"No, Rapunzel," he begged. He couldn't let her be taken away again.

Tears poured down the girl's face. She couldn't get to him. Her mother-no, kidnapper-wouldn't let her go. He was going to die there, forced to watch Rapunzel screaming and sobbing.

"You were my new dream..."

-

The princess shot up with a start.

The man groaned next to her, "Hm...?" Although they had separate rooms (for now), the two did get into the habit of sleeping in the same bed.

Rapunzel didn't notice his eyes opening. She was breathing hard, sweat dripping down her forehead. It was a dream. It wasn't real-well, it had been real, but not all of it-and she was safe inside the castle.

"Sunshine!" Eugene called out again after she had not answered the first few times.

"Y-Yes!" The now-brunette girl turned her head to him. He wasn't hurt, he wasn't bleeding anywhere, he was just fine.

"Are you...okay, Rapunzel?" His voice softened.

She nodded, "Yeah, just some crazy dreams," she chuckled nonchalantly. It was just the occasional nightmare, it happened to everybody.

-

The dreams kept getting worse. More deaths. More gory deaths. Gothel's face haunted her mind. It had been years. Nearly four whole years, and Rapunzel had a happily ever after. Shouldn't all these memories mean nothing to her?

Well, apparently they meant a lot. She kept waking up. She kept worrying Eugene. She kept brushing it off. He couldn't take it. He knew something was off, and he wanted to help.

So, he arranged a date. The two rode Max and Fidella until they came to a beautiful field. It was full of flowers, trees, bushes...it was a perfect place for the nature-loving Rapunzel.

"Oh, Eugene, this is amazing!" She exclaimed as she hopped off Fidella's back.

He smiled, "I knew you'd love it."

"I do," she said as birds flew from tree to tree.

Eugene sighed. He knew he needed to say it, he just didn't know how. "Rapunzel...I wanted to talk to you about something."

She turned to her fiancé. "Yes?"

He gently took her small hand in his. "Rapunzel, I know something's been bothering you. I'm not sure what it is, but I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Oh." She squeezes his hand, "Yeah. Yeah, I guess...something has been bothering me." She absentmindedly put a hand to her hair. It was much easier to take care of than seventy feet of blonde hair. But, for some reason, it felt much harder. And maybe that's what was bothering her. Maybe it was because she was so used to long hair that she couldn't imagine anything else. Maybe it was because she wasn't able to paint the tall walls of her room anymore. Maybe it was because all of her adventures are over.

She was hoping it was one of the latter, even though that didn't exactly explain the dreams.

"I'm not sure why exactly, but I've been having these nightmares. Well, I guess you already know about those," she mumbled. She paused for a moment, half-expecting him to scold her. It was weird how she still had those old habits. "I keep dreaming of being back in the tower. I keep dreaming of Gothel, and just being stuck there."

"And..?"

She took a deep breath. She still hadn't come to terms that maybe, just maybe, the short, brown hair caused her to remember that day. The day after her birthday, the day after the best day of her life.

The day he died.

She needed to tell him.

"I keep dreaming of you. More specifically, about what happened. You know, the," she paused and put a hand to her stomach, the exact place where he had been stabbed.

"Oh."

There was silence. The memories overwhelmed both of them. The pain was unbearable - for both of them.

Then again, that day wasn't just horrible.

"Sunshine," Eugene put an arm around her, "that day was...a lot. For both of us. I'd be lying if I said I haven't had a few nightmares about it."

"You have?"

He nodded, "I'm just really good at hiding it...wait, I don't think that's a good thing."

She giggled. Making her smile was the best thing in the world.

"Anyways, What I'm trying to say is you're not alone. Rapunzel, I love you. You're the best thing to happen to me. And that day - it was bad. Definitely bad, but it was also, well, great. I mean, you got home, you met your family," he had a grin on his face, "we realized how much we love each other."

Rapunzel looked into his eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I love you too. Thank you, Eugene."

As the birds chirped, flowers bloomed, and leaves swayed, the two shared a kiss.

* 836 words (June 20, 2020)