From a hot air balloon in the sky, Eugene gazed down at the kingdom below. If his life had went differently, it would have been his home.

The Dark Kingdom. Though the spiky perimeter was gone, the obsidian spires and surrounding mountains still cast the realm in shadow.

It had a been a few months since Rapunzel saved Corona from Zhan Tiri. By doing so, she had rid the world of the Sundrop and Moonstone's powers for good. When she spoke the incantation for the last time, her power had healed the land, freeing them of the black rocks once and for all. His father, King Edmund, had returned home after the final battle to rebuild this kingdom. Edmund had reported in his frequent letters that the spikes had vanished here as well, but Eugene had a hard time imagining it. Until now.

Eugene felt guilty for leaving Corona. After all, they were in the midst of reconstruction and he was the Captain of the Guard. He couldn't just leave his duties. But Rapunzel had sensed his pull here shortly after their engagement, and as always, she helped him realize the fears he'd been burying inside.

It was undeniable he was over the moon. They were finally engaged! She was his fiance. He savored the word and bathed in the warmth it brought him. She was the light of his life, his own ray of sunshine. But after fulfilling their dream, a new question had awakened within him.

Could he be everything she needed if he was still so unsure about himself?

There were so many answers he needed. So many questions he never realized he had. Coming to the Dark Kingdom, meeting his father, and learning about his lineage had left him feeling unsure. He'd spent many nights since their engagement longing for his father's letters to arrive (which took three times longer than usual since the man insisted on using Hamuel as their carrier bird). There was so much lost time he wanted to make up with his dad, and so much he wanted to discover about himself.

So much, that Rapunzel had finally kicked him out.

"It's just for one week," she had announced as she packed his bags. "And I've already lined everything up with your father. He' expecting you, Genie!"

He winced at her newest attempt at a nickname. She mouthed a sheepish "sorry" in response.

"You deserve this break," she continued. She pressed down on the overly stuffed suitcase and snapped it shut. "It will be good for you."

Eugene sat on the edge of his bed, running a hand through his hair. He felt like a mess. He was unable to sleep, his mind constantly wondered, and worst of all his usually perfect hair looked awful. The last few weeks had been especially hard. With the rebuilding, stately duties that came with being engaged to a princess, and the increase in crime, his resources had been spread thin.

Captain. Fiance. Lost prince.

He felt pulled in so many directions, but his mind could only focus on one.

"You need to go back," Rapunzel said. She sat beside him and placed her hand in his. "I know what it like to feel a calling in your heart. You've got to follow it, or you'll always feel incomplete."

"But I can't just leave, Sunshine. I'm Captain of the Guard. My place is here, supporting you," he protested, looking up at her. As always, her kind eyes tore down his insecurities. "What if I don't like what I find? What if this changes who I am?"

"Eugene Fitzherbert. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever change who you are in here." She laid a hand lightly over his heart. "Your family's history, the life you could have lived, none of it can change who you are today. I promise."

Eugene laughed softy and stole a quick kiss. "Of course you know." Rapunzel did so well as a princess that he often forgot that, until two years ago, she had lived alone in a tower. If anyone understood what it was like to have your life flipped upside down in one night, it was her.

"Plus et en vous," she whispered back as she pressed her forehead against his. "There is more in you, Eugene. But only you decide what that means. No one else."

Her words echoed in his mind as he lowered the hot air balloon down to the rocky ground. Rapunzel and her parents did not need help with the stately duties, and Max was more than capable keeping the guard and crime in check. And lastly, Rapunzel had insisted he go.

He had to do this, no matter how much it scared him. He had to learn about his family and ancestral home.

And it was only for one week.

Down below, growing larger by the second, his father stood waving a bear sized hand. Seeing the smile on his face put any lingering worries in Eugene's mind to ease.

As the balloon settled on the ground, his father ran up and grabbed him a crushing hug.

"Son!" he bellowed and squeezed even tighter.

"Dad," Eugene wheezed as he did his best to hug the beastly man back. "Bones...crushed!"

"Ah, sorry," his father replied as he released the much smaller man. He rubbed the back of his trunk sized neck sheepishly.

"Hey, I missed you too," Eugene said warmly.

Their tender moment was interrupted by a broken caw. Hamuel, his father's birdbrained crow, flapped nonsensically above them and landed in Eugene's hair.

Eugene screamed as he attempted to untangle the dumb animal from his brown locks. His father stood by laughing. "Yes, I missed you as well," he lied. "Now, shoo!"

They took about a half hour to deflate and store the hot air balloon before heading towards the decrepit palace.

"Have you done something to the place?" Eugene said. He gave a whoop that echoed through surrounding mountains. "It's so much more open than before!"

"As I said in my letters," his father explained, "The black rocks disintegrated here as well. The kingdom was built around their protrusions, so as you can see-," he stuck an arm out in front of Eugene, who realized with a gasp he a was right above a crumbling edge, "the castle is not holding up well."

Eugene hadn't been able to tell when he first arrived, but it was true. The castle had crumbled to ruins. Though the rocks were incredibly dangerous, the Dark Kingdom had been built on them. When they vanished, so did all the buildings' foundations and supports.

"Dad, I'm so sorry-,"

"Oh, don't worry about it, son," the king said dismissively. "Of course the palace was my ancestral home, and its going to take years to rebuild anything close to what it used to be-,"

"Dad," Eugene sighed, "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Speaking your thoughts out loud."

His father's face turned red. "Oh, I um, you see," he stammered and then continued with a cough, "I am still working on that tick of mine. Adira and Hector's presence has helped, but..."

"Don't worry about it, dad," Eugene said warmly. He placed a hand way up on his father's shoulder. "But what I am worried about," he added hesitantly, "is where we are staying. Because I don't plan on spending the week...in there." He pointed at the crumbling castle just as another large piece, that looked like it was once a regal hallway, broke off. It crashed with a resounding echo. Black dust puffed under its weight.

"Never fear," his father reassured him. "We have a camp set up down in the untouched parts of the valley. A town used to be nestled in there. Fortunately, quite a few of places went untouched by the spikes."

Together, they mounted his father's horse, Domino, and descended into the valley. The destruction was difficult for Eugene to behold. When he had first joined Rapunzel here on their quest, he had written off the decay and darkness as just another creepy challenge they would have to face. But this time around, he saw this place as his lost home. A place where his people and family had suffered. The place that killed his mother.

The Dark Kingdom had suffered under the Moonstone far more than any other. Scanning the ruins he saw crumbled buildings, layers of ash and debris, and in some spots pale white bones. It was a kingdom of suffering, a realm that sacrificed itself to keep the world safe from the Moonstone's power.

His only consolation was that there had been no inhabitants left to experience the fallout of the rocks. A grim comfort that was.

Arriving at the camp, which was comprised half of tents and old cottages, Eugene saw a familiar face. He still wouldn't exactly call it a friendly one.

"Adira!" he called, "Long time no kick to the head!"

"Will you ever let that go?" the tall warrior asked. "I was under a spell." Though she rolled her eyes, a smile played across her half painted face. "It's good to see you again, Fishskin."

"Fishskin?" King Edmund asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It means I'm the glue that holds everyone together," Eugene explained with a self-important wink.

"Among other things," Adira added, her eyes twinkling.

"This doesn't seem like a respectful way to address your prince," the king muttered, stroking his mustache and turning away slightly. "Though, is he still technically this kingdom's prince? He is marrying into Coronan Royalty, but his bloodline's here. Does this mean our kingdom's are united? I'll have to consult Frederick about this."

Eugene looked uncertainly from his father to Adira, but she just shook her head. A respectful expression was on her face. Clearly, there was an unspoken rule to ignore the king when he was accidentally voicing his thoughts. If he wanted something to be known, he would make it so.

"How are things holding up in Corona?" Adira asked, gesturing towards a rickety set of chairs and tables under one of the lean-to-tarps. They headed towards the shanty with King Edmund following a ways behind. He was still muttering to himself.

"It's going well, the rebuilding that is," Eugene said as he took a seat. Adira grabbed a boiling pot and poured the two some tea. "Cassandra and Zhan Tiri did a lot of damage, but thankfully no one was hurt. Buildings can always be repaired."

"So, what is not so well, then?" she asked. She narrowed her eyes and took a seat.

Of course she would catch his hesitation. Not wanting to elaborate, Eugene stalled by taking a sip of tea. He immediately regretted it. The water was boiling.

Adira ignored his suffering and asked her question again.

"It's been difficult to keep the crime under control," he admitted around a burnt tongue. "The walls are broken and people are without homes, so the guard has been spread very thin. My men are working double shifts everyday, with twice as many patrols. They are worn out, so criminals keep slipping through the cracks. And the ones we do catch are just piling up in the cells since the king and queen too busy to hold court right now. I don't think I'm the captain they need." He stared at his reflection in the cup, embarrassed by his rambling.

"You're not a bad captain, Fishskin." Adira said, taking a slow sip of her own boiling tea. She didn't even flinch. "You're new to the job, and all of Corona is going through a change. There are going to bumps along the way. And the fact that you are actually being reflective for once shows me that you are exactly what the country needs. You've grown into a true leader." She took another long sip from her cup, eyes closed and content.

Eugene could have hugged her, but the sentiment was ruined by the sound of thundering hooves and howls. He jumped from the table with a curse and whipped out his sword. The hot tea splashed out of the cup and splattered across his white captain's trousers.

"Oh come on!" he groaned, more so at the spreading green stain than his burning thigh.

He turned to find the source of the noise. A giant rhinoceros and two bearcats were standing outside. With them was the crazy-rhino-man himself.

Hector slid off of the rhinoceros's back and ambled into the tent. He plopped his weapons down on the stained table. Adira was quick to grab her cup before it met the same fate as Eugene's.

"The princeling has arrived!" Hector announced, his electric yellow eyes as wild as his hair. Still wrapped in his old leathers and furs, he smelled worse than his mount.

"Great, everyone's here," Eugene said as he did his best to wipe his pantleg clean. "Am I naive to assume we all have separate living quarters this week?" While he knew Hector had only been trying to protect the king and the Moonstone, Eugene still did not consider the man his friend.

"Quit your whining," Hector growled, still slinging weapons from his back. He seemed to have upgraded to an arsenal since Eugene had last seen him.

"Hector, you're back," King Edmund said, pulling out from his deep thoughts.

"Your highness," Hector said, crossing an arm across his chest and dropping to a knee. "I bring reports about the approaching invaders. They are still nearing the boarder-!"

"Hector, thank you!" Edmund interrupted, a little too loudly. "We will talk about this later, in private. I am sure you and your animals are tired, why don't you go water them and get something to eat?"

"Uh, yes, your highness," the warrior replied uncertainly. He looked from the king, to Eugene. He then looked at Adira who quietly shook her head. "Of course."

"What invaders?" Eugene asked, turning to his father.

Edmund scratched the back of his neck and watched as Hector slid the saddle from his rhino and led the animals to their improvised stalls. Eugene clenched his jaw in frustration. His father was about to lie to him.

"They're just some bandits, son," he said. "With the rocks gone and the kingdom being less defensible, we've just been having a few bandit problems. Nothing Hector can't handle, I assure you."

"Father, forgive me, but that didn't sound like a simple group of bandits. Who is threatening your lands?"

"Son, we're in no danger. People have always been after the untold power this realm holds. They're just feeling bolder now. But there's nothing left for them to take, right men?"

He looked to Hector and Adira expectantly. The two warriors seemed too saddened by that statement to agree.

Eugene studied the dusty rock beneath his feat. He looked at the ruined buildings and boarded windows of the ghost town. There was nothing left. No treasures, no fertile lands, no subjects. But this was the home of their ancestors, a place his father and family had guarded for centuries. They had sacrificed too much for it to be overcome with criminals now. Especially since they were trying to rebuild. However, he still didn't believe these invaders were simple bandits.

"Father, we won't let them take the Dark Kingdom from us," Eugene said, a determined spark in his eyes. "It is your dream to rebuild this realm, to make it greater than it ever was before. We will see it through together."

Edmund smiled fondly at his son and clasped Eugene's shoulder in one of his bear sized hands. "Thank you, Eugene." He struggled slightly over the name. It was clear his father still thought of him as Horace. But Eugene was okay with that now. So long as his father didn't address him by that name, Eugene was okay if the king still thought it. Or spoke-thought it.

"But this is not why I invited you here!" he said, gesturing to the realm. "We are here to bond, to teach you about your past, about your...mother. I'm not going to pull you into these little border squabbles."

"You know I'm here to help you, dad," Eugene said. He gave him a concerned smile. "We're family. Your problems are my problems. And I don't know if you realized, but I've got a lot of sway in Corona these days. So if you need some troops to help, just say the word and I can-,"

"Thank you, son, truly," his dad interrupted. "But we will be fine. I promise. Now, how about I give you an adequate tour of the castle!"

Another series of bricks crumbled from the precarious towers in the distance. Eugene gulped.

"We were pressed for time last you were here," his father continued. "I thought we could first start with the library. We kept it underground to protect it from the spikes, so everything is still intact. Books, portraits, histories, you name it..."

Edmund started for the ruined castle, indicating Eugene to follow. He continued to ramble about the various things he would teach him. For the first time in Eugene's life, he was eager to crack open a history book and study art. There was so much culture, an entire people and family, that he never knew he was a part of. If he could find one piece of himself here, he could return to Corona satisfied.

Eugene decided to let the matter concerning the invaders drop for now. This is what he came for, to learn about his family and spend time with his father.