Three Weeks Later

Eugene paced the hallway, stopping every once in a while to look out a large window. They'd said that they'd be back sometime that afternoon, and the sun was starting to set. Yet he couldn't see any sign of them, or anything signaling their approach…

A laugh behind him made him turn, and he saw Marcus walking up to him. The captain was in his usual outfit, sans the cape—he had given it up after Gothel had torn it, claiming that he didn't need it anymore. Apparently, that was a big deal, or at least, Rapunzel had reacted like it was. "You've always loved that cape, though," she had said.

Marcus had scratched his head. "Yeah, but…it gave me kind of a big head. I liked feeling important while wearing it. I figured that I could use a humility check."

"But…didn't you tell me once that it reminded you of your father?"

"It did, a little." He had smiled at Tara, who had been present at the time. "But I don't need a cape to remember him by."

And so, no red cloth billowed out from behind the captain as he approached Eugene. "What's so funny?" asked the ex-thief.

Marcus kept his grin. "You're like a kid, waiting for them to get back."

"Hey, it's all very well and good for you. Your girlfriend hasn't been away for a week."

Marcus's smile grew almost wistful. "No, she hasn't."

Oddly enough, Eugene felt a sense of happiness for the young captain; the two had become quite good friends since the incident in the tower. And Eugene had seen Marcus with his girlfriend (Rapunzel had insisted on the two couples double-dating a number of times, which had actually worked out pretty well), and there was no doubt in his mind that Marcus was very happy with her.

The captain continued. "But you can't deny that this was a good opportunity for Rapunzel."

"I'm not. Hey, I'm glad that she went. I'll just be gladder when she gets back."

Marcus leaned against the wall. "It will be nice to see her again. And the king and queen. I won't have to do so much worrying about whether or not anyone is gonna want to take advantage of their absence."

Now it was Eugene's turn to smile. "Sure sounds like the great Captain Marcus."

"Hey, you wanna try shouldering the duties of captain for a week, be my guest." Marcus paused. "On second thought, I take that back. I think having you in the captain's uniform would just make things worse."

"What, I haven't reformed enough for you yet?"

"There's a difference between that and you being capable of doing what I do."

"You're just afraid I'd do it so much better."

Marcus snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. You wouldn't last half a day."

"Hey, you don't know what skills I've picked up during my many years."

"No…and I don't think I want to."

"Oh, but I could tell you stories. See, there was this one time when—"

Marcus cut him off, evidently not eager to hear Eugene's tale of thievery. "Aren't you supposed to be waiting for Rapunzel to get back?"

"Eh, I think I have time. So, anyways…"

"But isn't that the carriage right there?"

Eugene spun around, looking out the window eagerly—but saw nothing. Turning back to Marcus, he saw that the captain was wearing a smug smile, and scowled. "That wasn't nice."

"Had to get you to shut up somehow."

"Yeah? Well, just for that, I'm gonna make sure to tell you this whole story, with all the details."

Marcus straightened up. "Go ahead if you want to look like you're tagging along with me. I've got things to do."

Eugene hesitated. It might be worth it to keep after Marcus…after all, a lot of people in the castle had gotten to know him, and he was on pretty good terms with most. Still, parading around a story about one of his heists may bring up some less-than-pleasant thoughts among some of the people…

Out of habit, he turned to the window again…and his heart leapt as he saw what looked like the beginning of the royal escort. He leaned slightly further out and squinted. Yep, that was Maximus, all right. The horse and the ex-thief now got along pretty well, so Eugene had to fight back the urge to wave—Maximus probably wouldn't see him, anyway.

Standing up, he smiled and began to head towards the stables. "They're back," he said.

"Really?" said Marcus. He started toward the window—but stopped. "Wait. You're just trying to get me back, aren't you?"

"No, I'm serious. Go ahead, look for yourself."

He smiled as he walked away, both because he knew Marcus would be kept there for a while, torn with the indecision—but, more importantly, he was about to see Rapunzel again. After a second, though, the captain jogged up to walk alongside him. "So, you believe me?" Eugene asked.

Marcus kept his expression noncommittal. "Not necessarily. I just happen to have some business to attend to in the stables. I thought now might be a good time."

"Right. Well, if that's the case, you won't mind it if I get there before you."

He quickened his pace—and Marcus matched it. "It wouldn't hurt to get there as soon as I can."

"I guess not."

Eugene began to walk faster, and Marcus copied his increase in speed—then went even faster himself. Grinning, the ex-thief started to jog, outstripping the captain—until Marcus went into a jog himself. Soon, the pair was in a full-out race, dashing as fast as they could to the stables, passing a few bewildered nobles along the way.

Eugene noticed that Marcus was starting to wear down, and guessed that the armor was slowing him down a bit. Plus, he had had more experience than the captain with running. And he felt fine, full of stamina. So, when the stables came into view, he put on a final burst of speed and shot through the doors, only slowing down when the outside was in view. Panting, but with his grin still on his face, he turned to see Marcus just catching up to him, his breath slightly heavier. "Beat you," he said.

Marcus looked up. "Oh…we were racing? Because…I totally…wasn't going…as fast as I could."

Eugene nodded. "Uh-huh. You think…you can go again?"

Marcus drew himself up. "Of course. I just…see how tired…you are…and it wouldn't…be fair…to race you…in your condition."

"Sounds like you're…just making excuses."

"Yeah…you wish."

They stood there, grinning like a pair of idiots, before someone else joined them. "I didn't know you two were in the habit of racing."

It was Marcus's girlfriend, Tara. Upon seeing her, Marcus quickly adopted an air of mock haughtiness. "Racing? Oh, that wasn't a race. He'd have been way behind me if it was."

Eugene snorted. "Yeah, right. You know, Tara, I don't think Marcus will need dinner tonight; he's eaten enough of my dust already."

Tara giggled, and Marcus frowned. "I was only right behind you."

"So you admit you lost, then?"

"No…I said, it wasn't…"

Stepping in to save her floundering boyfriend, Tara said, "Did you guys see that Rapunzel is almost back?"

A smile split Eugene's face—probably making him look like a kid, like Marcus had said, but he didn't care. "Why do you think we're down here?" He looked out. "I don't see them yet, though…"

"They're still a ways away," said Tara. "It'll take them a little while to get through the village."

Eugene groaned and sat down on a nearby bale of hay. "Oh, come on," said Marcus. "You've waited about a week. What's a few more minutes?"

"He's a big romantic at heart," said Tara, smiling.

"That he is," agreed Marcus. "Though I can't help but notice you didn't get her a welcome-back gift…"

Eugene sat up. "A what?"

"You know, some flowers or something. I'm sure she'd love something like that."

"Wait…that's what people do?"

"Oh, yeah."

The ex-thief stood up. "But…there's only a few minutes before she gets back! Where am I supposed to find flowers?"

"The royal garden has some."

"Yeah, and the gardener doesn't like them being picked."

"Well, if they're for the princess…he might understand."

"Good enough for me," said Eugene, and he ran off, missing the smirk on Marcus's face and the almost reproving look Tara was giving him.

He got back just as the royal escort was returning, a small collection of flowers in his hand. He had only managed to pick a couple before being shouted at, and even though he insisted that they were for Rapunzel, the gardener did not let up on getting him out of there as quickly as possible. So he only had three meager stems to show for his work—but hopefully, Rapunzel wouldn't be too insulted. He had run back to make sure he wouldn't be late, so, for the second time, he entered the stables panting. A few feet away, one of the older stable boys was leading Maximus back into his stall. "Good ta see ya back, Maximus," he said. "Hope ya had a fun time."

The white horse nodded, then saw Eugene looking over at him and smiled in greeting. The ex-thief returned the smile, but realized that if the horses were getting re-situated…that meant that they were back. He looked around. "Is she here yet?"

Tara pointed, and Eugene looked over to see the princess getting down off of the carriage, Marcus standing by to give her a hand. He started forward, calling out, "Out of the way, Mr. Captain. That's my job."

Marcus looked aside at him with an amused glance, then stepped back to allow Eugene to take his place beside Rapunzel—where he was supposed to be. He grinned and offered her his hand. "May I help you down, Your Highness?"

Rapunzel smiled at him, and he forced himself to not throw himself on her. But fortunately, she wasn't exactly keen on waiting for their reunion, either. "Eugene!" she said, and, after taking his hand and descending from the carriage, threw herself into his arms. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too." Feeling the flowers in his hand, he cleared his throat, suddenly feeling sheepish. "Uh…these are for you." He held them out. "Not much, sorry…"

But her face lit up as she took them from him. "Oh, Eugene, that's so sweet! You didn't have to!"

"I didn't?" he said, before she threw her arms around him again and kissed him.

Well, hey, he wasn't gonna complain.

Marcus, meanwhile, was attending to the other passengers. "Did you have a nice trip, Your Majesty?"

The queen nodded. "It was wonderful, thank you, Marcus. But we are glad to be back."

"Especially Rapunzel," said the king. "She loved the Viridian Cliffs, but…well, you could tell where her mind was for most of the trip."

Marcus looked over at the princess, who was eagerly showing Eugene some of the paintings she had done. "I bet I can." His gaze shifted over to Tara, and he smiled. "I can imagine how it would be."

As the king and queen walked back to the castle interior, the former glanced back and smiled. Noticing this, the queen turned around as well, and smiled as well. "They look happy, don't they?"

Her husband nodded. "They do."

Several feet away, Rapunzel was still showing Eugene her artwork—though his eyes were more often on the artist than on the paintings. A few feet away from them, Marcus was making sure everything was in order—though his eyes probably spent more time on Tara than on anything else, who was looking over at him with a warm expression. As soon as he was done, he walked over to her, and they both broke into huge smiles.

"It's always good to see this," said the queen.

"Mm-hm," said the king. "Although…Eugene does seem a bit old for Rapunzel, doesn't he?"

His wife smiled at him. "Oh, people said that about us, too."

"They did?"

"Some." She put an arm around his waist. "And look how well we've turned out."

He nodded, smiling widely. "Look how well, indeed."

Outside, the sun set, casting its orange light on the three couples. It signified the end of a day—but a day with many more to follow.

There, you have my story. That'll be all—wait, why are you all still here? Oh, wait…you want to know if they get married, don't you? Yeah, that's the big question. Well, I like to think that a little ambiguity at the end of a story isn't always a bad thing, and it can be fun for the readers to—

Ow, hey, quit it! Hey, stop, stop! All right, all right, I'll tell you! Geez, readers can be as bad as those castle nobles I wrote about…yeah, they got married. Took a bit of time, and a couple of fights (nothing too major; stop looking so worried), but they got around to it. Yes, both couples. Rapunzel and Eugene, and Marcus and Tara. And…do I really have to say this? Oh, fine. Just for you guys.

And they're living happily ever after.

FIN

(~~~~~~~~~~~)

A/N: And that's the end of Snarled, my imagination of what Tangled might have been like if the captain of the guard and his son had prevented Rapunzel being kidnapped as a baby. Thanks to everyone for the positive reviews, especially The cat with blue eyes, and feel free to continue telling me what you thought, both good and not—I'm always happy to see people enjoying my work, but at the same time, I know this is not a masterpiece, and there could be room for improvement.

Anyways, if you enjoyed this, feel free to check out my other stories, or keep an eye out for any new ones (though I may be too busy to post anything for a little while). In any case, make sure to always keep reading.