Tangled A Different Sort of Eternity

My eyes teared up as I adjusted to the brightness from waking up. How long had I been out? Last thing I remember was my wedding with Eugene. Eugene. Eugene! Where was he?

As I took in my surroundings, I noticed a skinny old man napping besides me. He had a familiar air about him. Did I know him from somewhere? Surely not, I've been cooped up in a tower for about 90 percent of my life. I don't know many people. For some reason, I felt too weak to even sit up. Maybe it was the alchohol I had last night. I might have had a drop too much.

Suddenly, the old man jerked awake, shouting "Blondie! No!" Wait! Blondie was what Eugene called me. No one else called me that. Who was this man? As he looked around, he saw me awake and rubbed his eyes, then looked again, as if to confirm I wasn't a illusion.

"Blondie, Rapunzel…You're awake. You're finally awake!" The poor man looked like he could die from relief.

"Who are you?" I asked hesitantly. This man seemed so familiar, and yet so strange.

"I'm Eugene. You don't remember me?" The man looked at me earnestly, with a tinge of worry.

No way was this Eugene. He must be crazy. Then it dawned on me. He was crazy. He probably escaped from the mental institute and broke into the castle. I'd always felt they put the two buildings too close together but does anyone listen? No.

"No way. You can't be. You're so…" I winced, not wanting to say 'old'.

"..old. I know. Rapunzel, don't freak out but you've been in a coma for 45 years." The old man croaked.

No. No. I looked at my hands. They were still smooth. I touched my cheek. Still smooth. Yep. This man was crazy.

"No, I'm still young. You're crazy, mister. Now go away before I call for the Captain of the Guards." Maybe authority would scare him away. An over-enthusiastic horse would do it too. Maximus was the best at his job.

"Maximus? He's dead. He died 10 years ago."

This man was seriously deranged. Gathering my strength, I got out of the bed and looked around. This wasn't the castle. It was the tower.

"Why am I here? Why did you take me back here? Who are you, really?" I was getting scared.

"Like I said, Blondie…" He started.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" No one but Eugene was allowed to call me that.

"Rapunzel, you've been in a coma for decades. Feel the back of your head."

What? I gingerly reached back to touch my head, only to feel hair. I turned around, to see a long winding trail of golden hair trailing behind me. My hair, it's grown back. The sheer horror of the situation hit me. Was I really out for that long? No, I had to check. I ran to the trapdoor and flipped it open, and ran down the stairs. I could hear the old man trying to stop me.

"Blondie! Don't go!"

Ignoring him, I raced down the stairs and towards Corona. I had to see. I sprinted as fast as I could, my long hair making a mud trail behind me. I ran and ran and ran, until I reached the edge of the forest, where a horrendous sight greeted me.

Where the kingdom once stood, there was a burning wreck. There was nothing left. The buildings had collapsed. The streets were strewn with debris. The bridge was destroyed. I fell to my knees.

How? How did this happen? I was only out for one day. Two tops. I couldn't possibly have been out for… 45 years.

I heard the rustling of grass being disturbed. Turning around, I saw the old man hobbling towards me. His eyes were filled with sadness. Greyish-blue sadness.

"How did I get in a coma?" I asked. The last thing I'd remembered was Eugene kissing me at the ceremony.

"You don't remember? You fell down the stairs when you got drunk at the wedding ball. The doctors couldn't predict when you would wake up. I waited every day by your side for you, but you never woke up." The old man (Eugene?) sighed.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember the wedding ball. I recalled Eugene convincing me to try a sip of wine, then everything after that was fuzzy.

"What about this?" I pointed at my skin. "How come I'm so young and you're so old?"

"For some reason, the sun's magic was still in you, keeping you young." The man explained. "Don't ask me how that happened. I still remember cutting your hair. " He sighed again "You probably remember it better than I do."

"What about Mother and Father and Pascal? Are they all.." They couldn't be.

"Dead? Yes. I'm the only one left." He let out a hacking cough.

"The kingdom…"

"It was attacked a few years back. Overwhelmed and utterly destroyed. The invader only spared me. He said watching me suffer was worse than death. He left you alive because he couldn't kill you. Because of the magic."

So it was true. I wasted a whole life with my family just because I took a bit of alcohol.

"Isn't there a way to fix it?" Surely there was some fancy wizard or enchantress that could reverse time? Or something?

"Blondie, you have to face it. I can't imagine how terrible it must feel for you, last thing you remember being the happiest night of your life, and now you're…" He gazed at the fallen kingdom of Corona "…here. And now, I have to make it worse."

Make it worse? How on earth could he make it any more worse？My life, gone like that. My family, which I never knew, gone. Pascal, my lifelong friend, dead. Whatever Eugene was about to say couldn't be any worse than, oh no. Don't tell me.

"I have heart cancer. The doctors from the villages I visited all told me I had about a year to live. That was five years ago. I managed to hold out, just so I could see you once more. And now, I have to go, my time is up." As he said that, I could feel the soul stripped from his voice. He was going all right, leaving me all alone, in this cruel world. All alone.

As he fell to the ground, I grabbed his hands, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Eugene, don't go. Please, you can't leave me here. Eugene, please, I can't live like this. Please Eugene." I sobbed, pleading for him not to go, watching the life ebb from his body.

His last words were, "I'll wait for you, Blondie. I promise…" And then he was gone.

**I'm debating whether to keep it a one-shot or continue it. Because it is so similar to Eternity, I don't want to do them both. So now, I have three options.**

**Keep this a one-shot and continue Eternity**

**Continue this and stop Eternity permemently.**

**Keep the two going, though it'll be very difficult.**

**What do you guys think? Please tell me in the reviews.**


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Tangled, Hurt-Comfort, Tragedy