*Eugene sits at a small table inside an interrogation room, alone, his wrists in handcuffs. He’s livid, banging his fists down on the table over and over, yelling at the mirrored window, where he knows the guards are watching*
Eugene: Hey! HEY! I know you’re out there, you bastards! Is this entertaining for you? Huh?? You enjoy watching me suffer?? Well, congratulations! The Eugene Fitzherbert News Channel is officially ON! I know you can see me!
Guard 1: *looking in at him from outside the room, speaking to his colleague* We’ve gotta seriously do something about this guy. He’s out of control. He’s been banging around like that for the last half hour, yelling and screaming. I’m surprised his wife is even still alive.
Guard 2: Eehh, I don’t know. Flynn Rider may have a history of being locked up, but I highly doubt he’s capable of abuse. It doesn’t match his character. He’s a thief, not a psychopath.
Guard 1: You don’t think he’s abusing Rapunzel.
Guard 2: It doesn’t fit. We saw Princess Rapunzel. She didn’t seem fazed or even injured. She was pretty hell-bent on us taking her in with Rider so she didn’t have to stay at the cottage alone. She’s a stubborn one, but definitely loyal.
Guard 1: It could be a trick. A way to lead us off the beaten path. Usually, abused spouses cover up their treatment by either going along with the abuser out of fear, or defending them at every chance they get. Classic defense mechanism.
Guard 2: We won’t know until we get questions out of both of them. Princess Rapunzel is in the room next door, and she appears just as upset as Rider.
Guard 2: Angry, that part is clear. Also, she seems completely clueless. Neither of them appear to know what’s going on at the moment. At least the princess will be easier to question. Rider, on the other hand… The man’s got a temper worse than a wildfire.
Guard 1: If you’re questioning the princess, be sure to keep it stress-free. Goodness knows how much she’s already endured with that baby inside her. *He carries a folder in his hand and unlocks the door to Eugene’s room*
Eugene: *standing up abruptly as soon as the guard walks in, hissing at him* Well, at least you show SOME decency to make an appearance! I’ve been sitting in this lousy cell for a dang eternity! What am I even doing here? Where’s Rapunzel?
Eugene: Not until you tell me where my wife is! What are you doing to her?? Is she okay?? She’s freaking PREGNANT, for crying out loud! If you’re stressing her out and my child gets hurt because of it, it’s gonna be on your head! Where. Is. Rapunzel??
Guard 1: Rapunzel is fine. My partner is talking to her in the room next door, and don’t worry. I told him to keep the conversation as stress-free as possible. Your baby will be fine. Now sit. Down.
*He speaks in a low, domineering growl, and Eugene immediately sits. His eyes blaze, the full fire in them completely centered on the guard. He rattles his handcuffs*
Eugene: Why am I here? Why are both of us here? You just came bursting into our cottage and dragged me out in these ridiculous handcuffs for no reason, so I want to know why I’m in here! I should be at home with my wife and preparing for our child’s arrival, because that’s what NORMAL PARENTS would do! This is a huge waste of both our time! And I demand to see my wife!
Guard 1: As I said, your wife is fine. I saw her earlier. She’s just as angry as you are, it seems.
Eugene: Good! She should be! Because I sure as hell am pissed off!
Guard 1: You want to know why you’re here, Rider?
*The guard places his folder on the table and opens it, carefully removing a collection of photographs from it and placing each one separately, face up, in the middle of the table so Eugene can get a good look at them. There are various shots of him and Rapunzel dining at the outdoor cafe, Rapunzel hungrily scarfing down several giant heaping plates of food, some closeup shots of a wrist with a red handprint on it, and a few more of a bare backside with a bunch of ugly purple bruises and red welts all over it*
Guard 1: Take a good long look at it, Rider. Then tell me why YOU think you’re here.
Eugene: What am I looking at? *The guard pushes the images towards him, and he starts in shock, his eyes going wide* Wait. That looks like—!
Guard 1: The cafe? Where you and your wife dined out recently? Yeah. It is. Look closely at the details. This one. Princess Rapunzel stuffing her face with large amounts of food. This one. This is a close-up shot of her wrist. That there? That’s YOUR handprint. This one. Princess Rapunzel again, with a black eye. You want to explain all this, Rider? I don’t know about you, but these pictures look to me like you’re abusing your wife, plain and simple. It also looks like you’re not allowing her to eat regularly, with the way she’s apparently inhaling five platters of food at a time. This is more than enough to cause concern.
Eugene: *banging his fists down again* Are you freaking serious right now?? Someone was SPYING on us?? I don’t BELIEVE this! *annoyed* I. Would. NEVER. And I repeat. NEVER. Hurt Rapunzel! I have NEVER touched a hair on her head in my LIFE! I don’t know who took those pictures or where they came from, but it’s LIES! All of it! I have NEVER abused my wife! Or starved her! That picture? The one of her eating? She’s PREGNANT! She’s literally eating for TWO PEOPLE! There is a freaking BABY inside of her, dammit! MY child! It is NOT because I’ve been holding her prisoner and starving her! I want to know who sent you these pictures and why they’re spreading lies about me! You are taking all of this ENTIRELY out of context!
Guard 1: Then what about this one? Her bruised wrist? The black eye? How about the full body shots with the welts? Care to explain those? I tell you, Rider, this is not looking good for you. Maybe you aren’t starving her, but evidence doesn’t lie.
Eugene: Okay, yes, I may have grabbed her wrist, but that was only because I was pulling her out of a baby store after being humiliated publicly on TikTok by one of the salespeople! I was embarrassed and didn’t want to stay in there any longer, so I grabbed Rapunzel and we left. I didn’t mean anything by it! I had no idea I was gripping her that tightly; otherwise I wouldn’t have! It was not intentional in any way! I was accused of cheating on Rapunzel on social media, and it humiliated the heck out of me! I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible! I was not trying to hurt her at all!
Guard 1: And the marks on her eye and skin? These here?
Eugene: I have NO idea where those came from! I am not at all responsible for any of that! Rapunzel with a black eye? That wasn’t me! Someone took a picture and probably Photoshopped that on her! I would never hit her ANYWHERE on her body! That’s all fake! Someone is setting me up! Don’t you see?? This isn’t the first time I’ve been framed! Someone out there is trying to make me look like the bad guy so that Rapunzel will divorce me!
Guard 1: Why would someone want Rapunzel to divorce you, Rider?
Eugene: BECAUSE THEY’RE OBSESSIVELY IN LOVE WITH HER! *He lets out a shaking breath and buries his face in his cuffed hands, running them through his hair* They’re jealous of me, all right? They hate me. They hate me because I apparently ‘stole’ Rapunzel away from them and kept her for myself! *He puts air quotes around the word “stole”* I mean: I’m a thief, right? That’s what I do. Steal. Flynnegan Rider, the rogue bandit, sweeping the innocent princess off her feet. That’s apparently all I am to you people.
*In the room next to Eugene’s, Rapunzel sits across from another guard, her wrists still in the cuffs. Her very pregnant belly nearly touches the underside of the table, and her long golden hair spreads over the back of her chair and on to the floor. The look she gives the guard is one of pure disgust*
Guard 2: Are you comfortable, Princess?
Rapunzel: *hissing* You’ve got a lot of nerve to ask me that! Not after what you did to my husband! Where is Eugene?
Guard 2: He’s next door being questioned. Same as you. My goal here is to take care of you, first and foremost. You and your unborn child deserve the utmost comfort.
Rapunzel: It’s Eugene’s child, too. And I could care less about your fake sympathy. I don’t need it. What I NEED is to be at home, with EUGENE! Let us go!
Guard 2: YOU are free to go at any time, Princess. It’s your husband we are concerned about. You could have stayed at the cottage, but you forced us to handcuff you and drag you down here. You ordered me to arrest you, and I don’t back down from an order.
Rapunzel: I ORDERED you to arrest me because you arrested my HUSBAND, with no cause whatsoever! I was NOT going to sit at home while HE was down HERE! Whatever you heard or saw, it’s probably not true!
Guard 2: Is it? Then what about these? *He starts laying out a set of pictures identical to the ones his partner had shown Eugene, and she stands up in anger and shock*
Rapunzel: What the heck?? How did you get those??
Guard 2: An anonymous donor sent these to us after expressing concerns that you were being abused at home. Domestic violence is a serious issue, Princess. We don’t turn a blind eye to things happening in our community, and that includes the royal family of Corona. Based on these images, it appears that your Flynn Rider has not fully let go of his criminal background. Here’s you, chowing down on heaps of food like you haven’t eaten in months, signs that he is not keeping you well-fed. Your wrist, where there is a clear view of a handprint, signs that he is hurting you. You again, with your right eye black and blue, another sign that he is hurting you. Beating you, more specifically. Your lower body, back and front, covered in more bruises and red welts. Shall I go on, Princess? Flynn Rider is clearly using you as his personal punching bag. That man’s got a powerful temper, it seems.
Rapunzel: That is not me. *She speaks firmly, pointing at the pictures of the woman’s backside* I have no idea where those pictures came from, but that is not my body! I don’t have any panties that look like that!
Guard 2: What are you saying?
Rapunzel: I’m SAYING that those pictures are fake! These two, and this one. Me with the black eye. Do I LOOK like I have a black eye to you? Huh?? This damn picture is Photoshopped!
Guard 2: No, you definitely don’t have a black eye, Princess, but you do know that appearances can be deceiving. *He hands her a wet cloth from a packet in his jacket*
Guard 2: It’s a wet cloth. To wipe off your makeup.
Rapunzel: What?? I’m not wearing any makeup!
Guard 2: You don’t have to lie in here, Princess. Anything you say is in full confidence. Your husband is in the next room over. He can’t hear you. You can stop pretending and covering for him. You’re safe here. You don’t have to play his puppet or live in fear anymore. Now wipe off your makeup.
Rapunzel: Fine. *She roughly wrinkles the cloth in her hand and runs it over her eye, firmly and noticeably, emphasizing the motion so the guard can see* There. You happy now?
Guard 2: There’s…no black eye.
Rapunzel: Of course there’s no black eye, because there never WAS a black eye! This is my natural face! Eugene has never hit me a day in his life! He’s been nothing but kind, loving, caring and compassionate towards me, and he is going to be the most wonderful dad to our baby! Those are facts!
Guard 2: Okay. Well, then what about these pictures here? The ones at the cafe? Are these Photoshopped as well? What about that hand-shaped bruise on your wrist in this photo? Flynn did that, didn’t he?
Rapunzel: EUGENE grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the store where we were shopping for baby supplies, but it’s not what you think! He had just been filmed for TikTok, WITHOUT HIS CONSENT, mind you, unexpectedly kissing a store worker, and he was so angry and humiliated that the two of us left without buying anything! He didn’t do it on purpose! He feels horrible about hurting me already, and you’re only making it worse for him! You have no right to keep us here! Eugene has been falsely accused of something he didn’t do, plain and simple! He doesn’t abuse me, and he certainly does not starve me! That picture of me at the cafe eating all that food? I was eating so much because this little Baby Fitzherbert here was causing me to overindulge! I’m pregnant, in case you couldn’t tell! I was eating for two. Not because Eugene was starving me! He wouldn’t! At all!
Guard 2: Baby Fitzherbert?
Rapunzel: Yes. Baby Fitzherbert. OUR baby!
*Back in Eugene’s room, the first guard takes a moment to speak again. Eugene’s hands are balled into fists, and his worry about Rapunzel is starting to show on his face*
Guard 1: So this person you speak of. By some deranged, sick and twisted plot, you’re claiming that they are so infatuated with your wife that they’re going out of their way to separate the two of you so they can have the princess all to themselves? That seems a bit over the line, wouldn’t you say? Why would someone deliberately attempt to sabotage your marriage all for the sake of ‘the one that got away,’ in their eyes?
Eugene: How the heck should I know?? Why are there psychopaths in the world? You should be asking the sender of those pictures that question, not me! *Voice tinged with anxiety* God, Rapunzel, what are they doing to you over there??
Guard 1: I’m still not convinced about any of this, Rider. What I don’t understand is your claim that you are NOT abusing your wife, and that these pictures are being taken out of context. If you are really not abusing or starving Princess Rapunzel, then this means that the person who took these photos just gave us false evidence, and lying to authority is a severe crime.
Eugene: I’m telling you the truth! I’m not hurting Rapunzel! I’m being framed! This isn’t the first time he’s done this! I swear: Del Tagglia is deranged! He’s borderline obsessed with Rapunzel! He even went so far as to tell me that I’m not good enough for her and that I’m not a suitable match for her because I’m not up to her standards! Can you believe that??
Eugene: *fuming* Tito! Tito Del Tagglia! The psycho that rules over the Moon Kingdom!