94A/N: For those who thought Chapter 24 is a fake ending.
Chapter 25
Six years later...
A five year old boy was made standing in front of a long mirror by his mother. She was smoothing and tidying up the ruffles at his neck. And then, a chamber maid held out a hat for her.
"Do you want a hat to cover the prince's head, Your Highness?" The chamber maid asked the mother of the lime green-eyed boy.
The woman referred as 'Your Highness' by the chambermaid pondered this and demurred.
"It's not too sunny out there," she said, "besides, Prince Flynnegan loves to show around his bald head to the grounds men. They will probably call him 'Baldie'."
"Where are we going, Momma?" Prince Flyneggan asked his mother as he rubbed his own newly shorn head.
"We are going to the cemetery," his mother answered with a sigh.
"What is a cemetery?"
"That is the place where dead people are buried."
"What are we going to do there?"
"We are going to visit one of the graves."
"Graves?"
"Oh, I forgot that this is your first time going there. Your father won't let you go to the cemetery until you're old enough to know the story that changed our lives. The story of how you got your name."
"Momma, what are 'graves'?"
"Graves are little places where dead people are buried."
"Why do we visit them graves?"
"Because we want to remember what the dead had done for us. And we want to tell them that we love them."
"Can they hear us?"
"No. Not really. But I don't know, Flynn. Not for sure," the young woman said. She paused and finally continued.
"Truthfully, it doesn't matter if they hear us or not. The most important thing is that we tell ourselves that we loved them. And we are going to love them forever, even when they are no longer with us," she said and stopped because she felt something agonizing had risen in her throat.
"Come on, we mustn't waste anymore time. The carriage is waiting," she said, inhaling deeply and holding her son's shoulders. Prince Flynnegan ran ahead of his mother, who was too slow for his liking. The long corridor seemed lonely except for the occasional guards. Suddenly, the young mother saw her father the King emerged from the conference room. The moment he set his eyes on his daughter, he walked towards her.
"Where are you going on the morning of your son's birthday, Rapunzel?"
"We're going to the Weeping Fields."
"The cemetery?"
The young mother, Princess Rapunzel nodded without a word.
"And you're not going to wait for your husband?" The King asked further, one eyebrow lifted.
"Oh Father, you know how he hates the cemetery. He hates everything about it. You know that he still can't get over the incident and me naming our firstborn Flynnegan," Rapunzel explained begrudgingly. King Basilius was surprised by this show of temper. He decided to just humour his daughter and one of her moods.
"Yes, I understand. I understand how he feels about the whole Flynn Rider thing. That is very hard to top, no matter what one does."
"I just wish that he accepts who he is," Rapunzel continued with her melancholy complaints. Her father, who decided to give the man, Rapunzel's poor suffering husband some credit.
" But he is a good man, Rapunzel. A good husband and a good father."
"But you wish he is just someone else?" The Queen who had emerged from the conference room later than her husband, but had gotten the gist of the conversation, chipped in.
"No, Mother. I wish that he could just be happy. Be truly happy for what he has now and what he is. And not dwell on my past," Rapunzel said as she almost broke into tears. Shocked at her own acute sensitivity, Rapunzel sucked in her breath and smiled regretfully at her parents.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know what have gotten over me. Maybe it's just the thought of going to the cemetery, to remember it all over again."
"We understand your feelings. Do you want us to come with you to the Weeping Fields?" The Queen offered her company.
"No, mother. I need to go through this on my own," Rapunzel declined determinedly.
"Be safe then. Do not be too hard on yourself, dear," the Queen said as she pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her.
"I will try," Rapunzel sobbed.
The King and Queen watched their daughter walked to the castle lobby and boarded a carriage with their grandson. Six guards on horseback accompanied the carriage to the Weeping Fields.
"She is suffering, Annalise," King Basilius said to his queen.
"This could only mean one thing," Queen Annalise said.
"We must tell the Prince Consort the truth. We both know what the cause of this suffering is. He must accept the truth and be her strength even if he is not prepared for it."
"If he returned in time for the annual visit. He's not very good with the cemetery thing."
"He better get used to it, now that Rapunzel is introducing the grave to Prince Flynnegan."
"Flynnegan!" The King sighed at the mention of that illustrious name.
" By the way, did you notice that our grandson is bald?"
"Yes."
"The irony is killing me."
"Be patient, my Lord. This is only just the beginning," Queen Annalise held his husband's strong arm tightly and leaned her head on his shoulder.
On the road to the Weeping Fields, Rapunzel was crying freely. Strangely, Flynnegan did not bother to ask. It was as if he was used to her mother's magnificent crying these past few days. The panorama which consisted of ancient trees lining up a melancholy shady road, and finally into the field scattered with more gnarled ancient trees and the greying sky in late summer did not help to cheer Rapunzel's countenance. When they arrived at the cemetery, hand in hand, mother and son approached a waist tall stone marker made of black granite. It was plain, but polished. But Rapunzel did not know how long the sheen will last. Twenty years? Fifty years? A hundred years? But she knew the sadness will, even further. A thousand years maybe.
"Here, Flynn. Take these flowers and put them on the stone base," Rapunzel said as she held out a basket of flowers to Prince Flynnegan.
"OK, momma."
Little Prince Flynnegan began putting the flowers gently on the stone base, one by one. The flowers, made of many kinds, were put into a random pattern.
"Like the lanterns on a black sky," Rapunzel said dreamily.
"Like white and yellow flowers on black stone," she continued. In mere minutes, Flynn had finished with the flowers and he started to fidget.
"Flynn, will you wait for me? I want to stay awhile," Rapunzel said and sat on the grass next to the stone markers.
"But, I've got no more flowers," Little Flynn moaned.
"You can get more. There are a lot around the cemetery," Rapunzel said. Little Prince Flynn ran away from his mother yelling 'yay'! Rapunzel's face twisted painfully at the yelling. She was suddenly brought back to a past so elusively sweet yet at the same time, painfully bitter. She was not worried of her little prince's safety, though. The guards were everywhere outside the cemetery gates. That was just protocol. They were truly safe, since that fateful night six years ago. Thanks to Eugene.
"Oh Eugene, I missed you so much. You've been gone for so long!" Rapunzel whispered. Her hand delicately touched the surface of the stone base.
"If only I could change the past," Rapunzel whispered some more, tears running down her face.
"And make you stay here with me."
"Momma! Momma!"
Rapunzel turned around when she heard Prince Flynnegan yelling.
"Daddy's here! Daddy's home!"
"Is he now?" Rapunzel smiled bitterly and she wiped the tears on her face. She sucked in the blocking in her nose and throat and forced a smile.
Here he comes. Her long suffering husband. Just because she never could forget Flynn Rider.