'Happily Ever After'

Written by WickedSong

Summary : He knew that Rapunzel would hate him for it, he knew he'd be denounced as a coward by her after all she hadn't ever learned how to be a Princess and she was doing fine in her new role. Angst ridden short one shot. EugenexRapunzel. AU.

WARNING : May contain traces of spoilers. Also, I regard it as AU because of the end of the film and this not fitting with that.

DISCLAIMER : I do not own Tangled, the story or the characters. This is purely from the brain of a girl who just saw Tangled yesterday and really loved it. I am also very happy just to quickly state that this is my 60th work posted on the site. Most of my stuff is oneshots so that's why I think I have so much but still, number 60 and the first posted in 2011.

Packing the small satchel Eugene took what was his and only his. He took what he needed to survive and that was enough, it had been before. He wouldn't steal this time because he made a promise to never do so again, in order to be prove he had changed.

However he knows that the year between that promise and the present has changed everything.

This wasn't supposed to happen, he lamented as he sat on the bed in the room the King and Queen had only been too generous to give him for returning their daughter, the Princess to them. He and Rapunzel were meant to live 'happily ever after', were they not, after everything that had happened, after all they had been through in those two days they had first met.

He was being stupid before however. Prince and Princesses had 'happily ever after', while a thief, whether the word 'former' was placed in front of that title or not, and a Princess didn't seem to be allocated the same fate.

Eugene banged his fist on the covers of the bed, making no noise and looking down contemplatively, putting his head in his hands. He had been so naive and hopeful to even dare that they could be together forever, that he could step up and prove people wrong, that he was more than Flynn Rider. As the days became weeks and weeks became months until finally it had been a full year since he had met Rapunzel, these thoughts had slowly been replaced by ones that told him Flynn would never be forgotten. He would always be there, a force in their lives, no matter how much he had changed, and the change had been a lot.

Quietly, he opened the door, satchel with him as he walked down the corridors of the palace of Corona. There were guards about but he was able to avoid them easily. He may have changed from Flynn on the inside but he still had the ability to pull off heists, hide from guards and the other things he had picked up from his life before a year ago. He would never try anything like that again of course but the fact he could do it if he wanted was probably the reason many still had distrust towards him.

He managed to make his way out to the palace gardens undetected due to the fact it was the dead of night. No one should or would have been awake, there would be no one to stop him, she wouldn't stop him. This was all for her. He knew that Rapunzel would hate him for it, he knew he'd be denounced as a coward by her after all she hadn't ever learned how to be a Princess and she was doing fine in her new role.

This just wasn't for him though. He had tried and tried but he had an overwhelming feeling of being a burden, of being a temporary source of comfort in the eyes of Rapunzel's parents, someone who she would eventually forget about when her 'real' Prince Charming showed up.

"Goodbye," he said, when he had finally reached the gates of the palace, turning back to stare at the building he had just began to call a home, as if Rapunzel could hear his silent farewell. "Please forgive me."

She would find that famed happily ever after someday and with someone, but he knew, as he turned from the palace forever and made his way through the dimly lit streets of the kingdom of Corona at four in the morning, that it would not be with him, Eugene Fitzherbert.

I live in the UK so this film didn't come out until the 28th of January and so I saw it yesterday (which was the Saturday, the day after it came out) with my friend and a friend of hers. I have been looking forward to this over a year and it didn't let me down. It was cute, charming, romantic, action-packed with parts that gave me goosebumps (lantern scene) and made me have a tear in my eye.

I just really wanted to write for this amazing film as soon as I could and this just popped into my head late last night.

Please don't hate me for the angst, or the sadness, it's what I'm good at :)

WickedSong x