3. Kingdom of Lanterns (Continuation) Chapter 7 In the woods, I watched as Rapunzel wound her hair around Eugene's hand. "So... You're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand" he said sarcastically. Rapunzel tightened her hair a little, causing him to wince in pain. "Sorry" she said apologetically. "Just... Don't freak out." She closed her eyes and inhaled. 'Flower gleam and glow' as she sang, her hair began to glow once more. 'Let your power shine' Eugene and I stared as gleams of glowing light trailed down her hair. 'Make the clock reverse, bring back was once was mine.' Pascal stared at us and pointed to his own hand, indicating us to watch carefully. 'Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates' design.' I glanced at the locks of hair that was tied around my arm and watched it glow. The light mesmerized me greatly. My eyes followed the trail of illuminating light as it reached the hair that was tied around Eugene's hand. 'Save what has been lost.' Eugene stared at Rapunzel wide eyed and I could see he was breathing heavily. 'Bring back was once mine.' We both looked at Pascal who nodded proudly. 'What once was mine.' When she stopped singing, the glowing ceased. I reached over my shoulder and removed the makeshift cast and sling. "Huh" I said with admiration as I began to move my arm freely. No more pain! Eugene gasped and removed the hair from his hand. He then let out a whimper when he saw that his wound was gone. His breathing started to get heavier and a scream was building. He opened his mouth to scream. "Don't freak out Eugene!" Rapunzel said hurriedly. Eugene continued to stare at his now cured hand with his mouth hanging open, with strangled gasps escaping. "I'm not freaking out" he said, clearly freaked out. "I think Chandler is freaking out." I stared at him oddly as he continued his panicked rant. "I'm just interested in your hair and the magical qualities it possess, how long has it been doing that exactly?" "Forever, I guess" she answered. "When I was a baby, my mother told me that people tried to cut it and that they wanted to take it for themselves." She brushed back her hair and showed us a single lock of brown hair. "And once its cut, it loses not only its golden color, but its powers as well?" I guessed. "Yes" she said. "How did you know?" "It's a technique I have. "I can deduce intimate details about an individual." I decided to hide the fact that I'm a detective as well as my badge from them. "That's a marvelous gift you have there, Rapunzel" I said. "Protect it with all your might... In fact, if you want, Eugene and I will gladly help you protect the magic in your hair. Consider us as your personal bodyguards while you're out here." "Thanks Chandler" she said softly. I smiled and laughed nervously. Rapunzel glanced at Eugene and smiled. "So... Eugene Fitzherbert huh?" She asked. "Yeah well..." He said. "Can you use your technique about him?" Rapunzel asked me. "I could but I don't want to" I said. "I don't deduce the sob stories and troubled pasts. I leave those alone" I explained to her. "Can you tell us about yourself, Eugene?" Rapunzel asked. "Sure. But I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert, because its kind of a bit of a downer." Rapunzel scooted closer to him as I sat on the grass, away from the fire. "There was a book I used to read every night to all the younger kids: The Tales of Flynnagan Rider. Swashbuckling rogue, richest man alive, and not bad with the ladies either. Not that he'd ever brag about it." "Was he a thief too?" Rapunzel asked. "Actually... He wasn't" he said a little sadly. "He had enough money to do anything he wanted to do. And he could even go anywhere he wanted to go." He glanced down sorrowfully. "And as for me... A kid with nothing, I don't know." Rapunzel chuckled. Eugene turned to us. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone about this. It'll probably ruin my whole reputation." "Ah. We wouldn't want that" Rapunzel said. "A fake reputation is all a man has" he said. As I got up to stretch, I noticed the looks the two were giving each other. I'm sensing a relationship building. Eugene glanced at the fire and cleared his throat. "Well, I think that Chandler and I should go and find more wood for the fire" he said. "Now wait just a minute" I said. "I called myself Cale because I didn't want to be picked on with..." "Actually" Rapunzel said, cutting me off. I turned to her wide eyed. "Is it ok with you if I call you by your real name?" She asked. "What, Cale?" I asked trying to escape from this. After all, I've been using 'Cale' for so long, I feel like its my official name. "No" she said with a laugh. "I meant calling you 'Chandler'. I like it, and it suits you." "Well to be honest, you're the first one other than my family to ever call me by that name" I said. "And thank you. For not picking on me because of my name." I walked a little deeper into the woods to find more wood for the fire. Before Eugene could follow, Rapunzel got his attention. "Hey" she said. He turned to her. "For the record... I like your real name much better than Flynn Rider." "Well..." He said, feeling touched. "Then you'd be the first. But thank you." He disappeared through the woods, following me. After walking quite a distance, but not particularly a long one, he saw my hunched over figure. "I got a question" Eugene said as he saw me rise up with a pile of firewood. "Do any of your friends know about your real name?" He asked as he too gathered wood. "Nope. Just my family, including relatives, myself, you, and Rapunzel." I said, turning to him. I tucked the wood I've gotten under my arm. "How long have you held the name 'Eugene Fitzherbert'?" "Not that long actually" he said. "Once I started reading about Flynnagan, it was then I decided to change my name." He picked up another stick and placed it on the stack he was carrying. "I think we got enough" Eugene said. "Lets head back over to Blondie." We headed back over to where we camped. I was unaware that 3 and two Shadowers were watching from behind some trees. "So!" Eugene called out as we neared Rapunzel. "Can I ask you something?" Rapunzel turned to us. "Is there by any chance that I'm going to get super strength in my hand? Because" he started to laugh "I'm not going to lie." He stopped laughing and quickly became serious. "That would be stupendous." I noticed a worried look on her face and also looked like she was in some kind of trance. "Hey, are you all right?" I asked. Rapunzel snapped herself out of it and smiled. "Oh. Sorry, yes. I just got lost in thought." I dumped the wood into the fire and sat on the log. "Well... Fire's good, and my work here is done." I got up and stretched. "Wait, what do you mean?" Eugene asked. "I'm calling it a day. Tired after all I've been through" I yawned. "Goodnight." I walked over to one side and laid on the grass. I then began to snore quietly. Chapter 8 The next morning, while I was sleeping soundly, a loud scream jolted me awake. I quickly sat up and saw Maximus starting to drag Eugene by his boot. "Oh hell no" I said, quickly getting to my feet. I charged at the two and dove to grab Eugene's hands but landed face down on the grass and groaned in pain. I glanced up and saw Rapunzel run past me. I got to my feet and watched as Rapunzel and Maximus Tug if Warring with Eugene. I was about to run and help Rapunzel, but quickly stopped when she yanked Eugene out of the horse's grasp. She had yanked him so hard, that two things happened. One, his boot was sill between the horse's teeth, and he crashed into me. "I'm going to kill that horse" I muttered. I got to my feet and charged at Maximus. But the horse charged at me, and knocked me aside to get to Eugene. I cannot believe what I saw next. She was taming the stallion like he was a dog. "Oh come on" I said. "Are you serious?" I almost lost it when I saw Pascal do the same thing. "No, no, no, this can't be happening" I said to myself as I approached them. "Now sit..." Rapunzel said. I watched mouth agape when Maximus started to sit but stopped midway. "Sit" she said firmly. The horse then sat on his haunches. "What?" Eugene asked in surprise. He was as shocked as I was. "Now drop the boot" she ordered. The horse only stared at her stubbornly. "Drop it" she said firmly again. Maximus spat the boot out. While Rapunzel cooed I rolled my eyes and turned around. It embarrassed me greatly that a young girl tamed a horse. I glanced back at the pair and saw the horse act like a dog. "Oh come on, he's a bad horse" Eugene complained. I approached the horse but he glared at me. "Look..." I glanced at his collar. "Maximus, today is Rapunzel's birthday and its a big day for her. So how about we make a deal?" I asked. The horse cocked his head but continued to stare at me distrustfully. "Ok, I'm taking this look as an agreement. "So I suggest that you don't arrest him just yet because he and I? We are her ticket to get to the floating lanterns. So, after today, when everything goes smoothly, you can chase him around until he's arrested, and you can continue knocking me over until you get tired of it. What do you say?" The horse thought about it and raised his right fore hoof up. I grasped it with my right hand and we shook. "I knew you'd see it my way" I said with a smile. "You got to be kidding me" Eugene said with his arms crossed. "Saved your ass" I said to him as I walked away. "C'mon Rapunzel. You got a big day ahead of you" I said as Pascal jumped off Rapunzel and climbed up on my shoulder. I didn't realize how close we were to the kingdom. After trekking through the woods for a few minutes, the five of us reached a bridge. Unable to contain her excitement, Rapunzel ran ahead of us and squealed with delight. "Glad we got her out of the tower" Eugene said with a smile as we crossed the bridge with her. I didn't answer him because I was staring at another badly drawn picture of Eugene on the side of the bridge. The thief groaned and peeled off the poster. He crumpled the picture and turned around, only to face Maximus glaring at him. Eugene threw the paper at me and crossed his arms. I picked up the paper and stuffed it into the horse's mouth. "Now how about we just dropped this and..." I was cut off when Maximus spat the poster at me. In fact, he spat it so hard, that when the poster hit me in the face, it looked like the badly drawn picture of Eugene's face was my own. Both Maximus and Eugene laughed. I clenched my fist and tore the poster off my face. "That's it!" I jumped on the horse and the two of us brawled, bumping into Eugene in the process. The thief then joined the fight. Pascal squealed loudly to get our attention. When we glanced at him, he glared at us and pointed at us menacingly. Eugene, Maximus and I straightened up and glared. As I followed Rapunzel, Eugene elbowed Maximus and the latter shoved him back. By the time I fully crossed the bridge and entered the kingdom, I noticed citizens trampling Rapunzel's hair. I whistled to get Eugene and Maximus' attention. As the two saw me gather a bundle of hair, Eugene ran over and joined me to help Rapunzel pick up her hair. "How are we going to do this?" She asked worriedly. I lightly nudged Eugene and gestured to the side with my face. We saw four young girls braid each other's hair. Eugene whistled to get their attention. "Little help?" I asked as we showed them the hair in our arms. "Well... Big help actually" I corrected myself. The four girls gasped with delight. I scanned across the kingdom and spotted a wide open area. "There" I said. "Wide enough for Rapunzel's hair to spread, and safe to be so no one can step on her hair while it's being braided." While Rapunzel kneeled down to get her hair braided, I was sent to get flowers which I never understood why. When I returned with a basket of flowers, I saw that the four girls were nowhere near finished with Rapunzel's hair. I stood to the side and watched the girls continued to braid her hair. More like braiding and running at the same time if you ask me. I turned my head and saw Eugene duck away from incoming guards. I was unaware that the girls were digging through the basket for the flowers. When I glanced down, I saw that all the flowers were gone, and were now attached to Rapunzel's hair. She gasped in awe and twirled. "Thank you" she said. Her hair was now ten feet long. I placed the basket down and walked over to Eugene. "You like her don't you?" I asked when I saw the way he was looking at her. "Uh no I don't" he quickly said. "Right" I said sarcastically. Maximus leaned over and made a smug face. Eugene glanced at him. When the horse began raising his eyebrows, the thief pushed him away. I don't know what happened later that day, but I somehow found myself separated from the group. Must've been when we were strolling down the market. I stopped by a cart and purchased a medium sized loaf of bread. As I walked further down the market, what I saw next stopped me in my tracks. Across from me was Eugene. My eyes scanned across the area and I saw some musicians and others approaching the circle. But that's not what made me stop walking. What did, was Rapunzel in the middle of the circle dancing. I took a bite out of the loaf of bread as she pulled a small boy into the middle of the dance floor. I approached the circle as she began grabbing people to join. As she grabbed a man, he grabbed me by my vest. I cried out as I was dragged along with him, dropping the bread in the process and joined what appears to be a line of people dancing. Soon the line broke and a boy and a girl were arm in arm with one another. I'm assuming that this is a dancing thing. "Come on" I said with a smile on my face as I spotted Eugene still standing in the sidelines. "No, its ok" Eugene said. "I don't dance." "You little--" before I could persuade him further, a woman hooked her arm around mine, and pulled me to the side. Eugene laughed but quickly stopped when Rapunzel gestured him to join the dance floor. Unaware that Maximus and Pascal were behind him, Eugene shook his head and refused. Maximus glared and shoved him into the dance floor. The thief glared at the horse just as a woman grabbed Eugene and hauled him away. Maximus and Pascal found that amusing. Again, I found myself separated from the group but found a boy selling cloths and flags. It was purple and had a sun emblem on it. I reached into my pants pocket and used magic to create a coin. I was starting to question my limits to this magic thing. I bought the purple cloth and quickly went over to where a group of children drew chalk paintings on the ground. When Eugene and Rapunzel approached me from behind, I was finished drawing and coloring the sun emblem. I sighed with exhaustion and stood up. Rapunzel smiled and picked up two purple chalks and bent down in front of the chalk drawing I had made. Afternoon came, and Rapunzel was putting the finishing touches. Her arms now were covered in purple chalk. She, Eugene, others, and myself glanced down at what she has added to my drawing: People dancing on the edges of the sun, along with a beautiful purplish background with amazing designs. As the afternoon went on, I could clearly see the relationship between Eugene and Rapunzel grow. From dancing, to hiding from the guards with cupcakes in their hands, and hell. When I was in a book store reading a random book, the sight of them reading a book together caught my eye and brought a smile to my face. As soon as this 'Kingdom Dance' ended, I couldn't help but smile when the two ended up together in a waltzing position. The citizens cheered. "To the boats!" A man shouted.