Rapunzel, Lance, Eugene, King Edmond, and shorty all returned to the remains of the carriage that the major of them had lived in for the past year. They silently rummaged through what was left of their belongings. None of them knew what to say after what just happened. They all managed to escape Cassandra, but she still got away. Rapunzel's already red eyes flowed with tears once again when she came across the one peice of jewlery Cass brought along. It was a necklace Rapunzel had givin her shortly after they met each other. it was a silver necklace with one charm in the shape of an owl's claw. Rapunzel set it aside knowing that despite the hurt and betrayal she felt now, she would want to keep it. She hoped that she could use it to convince Cassandra to come back to her. She didn't know why Cassandra took the moonstone, she only knew that this was the second time someone pretended to be close to her only to get something powerful. She wiped away her tears and continued searching through the debris. She lifted up a pile of wood and found a knife lying under it. She picked up the knife and tried to figure out who it belonged to. It wasn't one that gets used very often but it was old. The blade was long and skinny and the handle was twisted and made of brass. She flipped the knife around one more time before dropping it as though it had scorched her. She finally realized why she recognized the knife, it was Gothel's. She remembered carving pumpkins and shaping candles with that knife. She remembered that Gothel taught her how to cut an apple with that knife. She remembered the wound in Eugene's stomach from that knife. Her hand began shaking and she let out an audible sob which caught the attention of her boyfriend. He quickly rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms as she cried on his shoulder. He looked down and immediantly recognized what was causing her distress.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
She pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes, "What is that doing here?"
He avoided her stare out of guilt and embarassment. "I picked it up when we left after destroying the tower. When I saw it, I-I don't know, I guess I just didn't like the idea of anyone else having it."
Rapunzel buried her head in Eugene's shoulder again, and the two stood in silence. The King and Lance watched the scene in confusion as they silently debated who should ask what was happening, or if they should ask at all. Lance eventually decided that he should.
"Hey are you guys ok? What's going on?"
Eugene looked up at his friend and then down back at Rapunzel. "It's nothing," he offered sheepishly, "Just some bad memories."
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Lance asked.
Eugene and Rapunzel finally split apart, but she still never let go of his hand. "Well as you know, just before Rapunzel excaped the tower, I died." Lance nodded his head, but Edmond's eyes shot open in surprise. "Well that's the knife that did it." He nodded towards the knife on the ground.
Lance looked down at the small thing, suddenly much more scared of it than he should've been. This was the forst time he ever really thought about Eugene's death. Sure, he knew it happened, Eugene has mentioned it in passing and even made a joke or two about it. But this is the first time he ever actually pictured his friend being stabbed. It made him sick to his stomach as the image of Eugene with that knife stuck in him was suddenly burned into his mind.
Edmund looked up at his son, eyes still open wide. "I'm sorry, but did I hear you correctly? You died?"
Eugene just nodded his head. "Its a long story I'll have to tell you later." He bent down and picked up the knife, examined it for the first time since he returned to the tower. He walked up to the nearby stream and threw the knife down, letting the water take it away from their lives forever.