| OC x OC |
| Once Upon A Time |
| Light and Dark Series book 5 |
| Pre-season 1 - Post season 4 |
Rachel Woods is a baker in a town called Storybrooke, it was a normal town that followed the same routine day in and day out. Nothing ever seemed to...
WAKING UP IN another cold sweat Rapunzel tried to remind herself she wasn't in the tower anymore and as her breathing once again returned to normal as she looked around the room, her eyes darting around the room looking at the pale pink walls and the murals that seemed to cover every inch of the spacious room, paintings smattered up on the walls
"Rapunzel love are you okay?" Her fiancé Eugene Fitzherbert asked as he sat up next to her, gently touching her upper arm and bringing Rapunzel to flinch away before she realised who was touching her and sighed softly leaning back into his touch and Eugene wrapped his arms around her "You going to talk to me now or later?"
"I-I was back in the tower, it was awful I had to watch you die. She held my face and wouldn't let go until every drop of blood had drained from your body and then she made me check that you were actually dead. You were, she knew and so did I she was just enjoying torturing me I suppose"
Eugene looked at his fiancé with tired and concerned eyes, it was obvious that Rapunzel was still terrified of the dream she had as her heart was beating so fast in her chest it was like a baby bird trying to take flight for the first time. Her eyes darted around the room and guilt layered her body like a second skin, she didn't know why she felt guilty, it wasn't real. It was just a dream and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen as her heart plummeted into her stomach, making her feel sick
"But I'm not dead love. I'm right here, I'm always going to be here for you and see that ring that means that I made a promise to you and this promise I don't intend to break as I am a thief and I've already stolen your heart"
"That you have. How did I get so lucky?"
"Oh it only took me climbing up a seventy-foot tower and you knocking me unconscious to know I was going to be yours forever"
"Uh-Uh you are a smooth talker Eugene"
"Only for you my love" Eugene smirked before his concern took place again "You alright now?"
Rapunzel didn't feel alright, her insides crowed and twisted like little worms that wriggled around in her stomach. Why did she feel like this? Is this how everyone in her kingdom felt? Like they were going to throw up if they said one thing that could be taken out of context, or how she felt like she would make herself as small as possible if someone was going to shout out her, but that was what she felt like most days when she was locked in the tower staring at the four walls around her like if she stared hard enough they would somehow shapeshift into grassy plains for as far as the eye can see, so she supposed in a way she was alright and so she nodded her head
Eugene didn't look convinced and Rapunzel didn't blame him: She could still feel the heat on her cheeks and even though her heart wasn't beating as fast as before she could still feel it slamming hard and fast on her ribcage and her stomach was sinking like a stone
She twisted and turned off the light beside her that was sat on a grand nightstand and in the dark, she traced the carvings on the wood. It was so smooth and elegantly crafted which left the blonde feeling a little bit uneasy, she didn't know why she was a princess. A princess was supposed to feel joy, and wonder, they were supposed to worry about how to run a kingdom not whether they belonged in their own bed at night when the hours seemed longest and the shadows seemed to haunt the twenty-one-year-old
Eugene probably knew to leave Rapunzel alone for now, having done this enough times now for it to become some sort of strange routine for them. To have Rapunzel wake up from various different dreams and nightmares about her time in the tower and they were always different but the really bad ones had Eugene die before she could save in
Closing her eyes Rapunzel tried to drift back off to sleep and Eugene wrapped a strong arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest and she snuggled deeper into his chest, liking the way his too-long curls seemed to tickle her cheeks. It had been slightly annoying at first but now she finds herself unable to sleep if she didn't feel the sensation when slipping into the world of dreams
Eugene had been a constant since she got out of the tower
Everything was spinning and changing too fast for Rapunzel to keep up most days, with new faces that she was expected to know. Royal duties that fell on her shoulders to be carried out and an enormous amount
But Eugene had always been there to take care of her, keep her calm and make her smile. He was her saviour when her world got dark, he was her light in the darkness and that was more than enough for Rapunzel.
She knew she was lucky to have found Eugene.
...Or Eugene to find her
Whatever way around it was, they were lucky to have each other and Rapunzel knew she wouldn't trade what she had with Eugene for anything for he had helped her find her life again. One that didn't involve her being stuck in a tower, afraid to ask her mother -- no not mother, she had parents -- to go anywhere
With those thoughts, she drifted back to sleep
* * * * *
The Kingdom of Corona. Before First Curse
Some part of her would always think that the tower was her home, despite the immense guilt she would feel any time she had those thoughts. The thing was though Rapunzel couldn't help it because it had been her home for twenty-one years despite everyone reassuring her that it wasn't her true home
She knew that and yet some part of her won't let go
Rapunzel didn't know how much longer she could deal with the nightmares and the constant feeling that she was somebody else in a body that she didn't want and a life she didn't deserve -- one that she was just thrown into and expected to carry the weight of the Kingdom
It was exhausting
She was exhausted.
The blonde princess didn't know how much more she could take until she snapped completely. Broken into a thousand jagged pieces and left beyond repair, she needed to sort this out. Rapunzel couldn't just wait until she broke into a thousand pieces until she began to put herself together again
She was already exhausted and pretending to be something she wasn't was just so incredibly draining. She wasn't a princess, she wasn't supposed to rule over an entire kingdom and yet that is what she must do. That was what was expected to do
Yet nightmares of her time in the tower plagued her like a shadow
"I-I was back in the tower, it was awful I had to watch you die. She held my face and wouldn't let go until every drop of blood had drained from your body and then she made me check that you were actually dead. You were, she knew and so did I she was just enjoying torturing me I suppose"
Last night's description of her nightmare hit her like a freight train and she felt like a battering ram had hit her square in the stomach letting all the air escape her lungs. It came back in a rush when she realised she only had to do one thing in order to heal
With her thoughts threatening to drown her, Rapunzel realised with a quiet certainty what she must do to at least give her heart a little peace.
Rapunzel had to go back to the tower
It wouldn't fix everything, but it would be a start
* * * * * a/n: pre season one chapters will be shorter but this is to just give you background information on how everyone would react to the curse and how the other kingdoms are dealing with it
