A/N: The final stretch! The curse has taken hold.. will Jeremy break it in time?

POV: Jeremy

I wake up outside the building I was just in. It's still standing. I look up at the sky. It looks like the sun's going to set in a few minutes. It's pretty.

Wait. Sunset. And I'm still alive, which means.. I look around me, and there she is. Helen. I run over to her and gather her into my arms. Just like in my nightmare, she's sound asleep. I shake her. Nothing. I shake her harder, calling out her name. No response.

I look over my shoulder at the horizon. The sun is still well above it, but that means I have less than an hour to break Helen's curse before I lose her forever. The girl I've loved since I was a little kid.. my Ellie.. will be dead in less than an hour. If I wasn't so pressed for time, I would break down in tears at the very idea of losing her.

My arm is miraculously not broken, so I scoop Helen up and carry her home, running as fast as I can, bad lungs or not. I get her up to her room, somehow managing to get past all the servants still eagerly rushing to get Helen's party ready before sundown. I lay Helen down on her bed, gathering the blanket she used as a rope and throwing it away. It doesn't look like anyone knows she was ever gone, and that would just be something extra to explain.

I cover Helen up and caress her cheek. She's breathing softly.. but she won't for much longer. The run back here took a good fifteen minutes, since I was carrying her. Now I barely have any time at all.

I take her hand, not knowing what else to do, and hold it up to my cheek, willing her to open her eyes so I can finish telling her that I love her. But she doesn't, and all I can do now is pray. Pray that somehow the curse will miraculously break itself, or I'll suddenly have an epiphany and manage to break it myself.

"I promised your dad that I would protect you, no matter what. I promised.. when I was nine and you were almost eight.. do you remember? We ran off that time, too.. and you were so small, you almost got run over by a carriage, but I grabbed you out of the way.. remember? I didn't think anything of it. But I promised your dad I'd do it again, and again, if I had to.

"Here I am, trying to protect you again, Helen.. but I need your help. You need to let me protect you. I don't know how to break this curse, but I'm going to try. You just have to trust me. I will save you.. but I need your help. You need to want to be saved. Do you?" I ask, not really knowing what I'm saying. I gently pick up her head.

"Helen, do you want to be saved?" I ask, trying to get a response out of her. Her nose twitches. I get a little excited and I ask her again, a little bit louder this time. "Helen, do you want to be saved?" Her nose twitches again.

All of a sudden, I know what to do. I don't know why, I don't know how, but I know I have to kiss her. I gently lift her head closer to mine and close my lips over hers, pouring every ounce of love for her I hold in my heart into the kiss, miraculously knowing that that's exactly what I have to do.

I place Helen's head softly back onto the pillow and look behind me, out the window. Night has fallen. The sun went down. Was I too late?

I get up, rushing over to the window. The sun is long gone, from the looks of things. It must have gone down while I was talking to Helen. I mentally curse my inability to shut up and do what I have to do. I hate myself.. I couldn't stop talking long enough to save Helen's life. And now she's gone forever.

I drop to my knees and cry. It's all I can do. The king and queen run in, probably having noticed that Helen went missing. They see me first and hurry over.

"What happened? Where is she?" King Eugene demands, grabbing me by the shirt. I don't have time to say anything before Queen Rapunzel finds Helen in her bed, sleeping. Or.. well.. dead.

But.. she's not dead. Because she's waking up. I look at her and manage to break free of King Eugene's grip, getting over to her as fast as I can using only my knees, since my legs gave out earlier. She's mumbling something..

"I love you," she says. She opens her eyes and looks right at me, a smile on her face. A second later, her arms are around me and I'm crashing down onto her bed with her. I never realized she was so strong.

"You're okay.." I whisper, barely able to contain myself. I try extra hard, though, since her parents are still in the room. "Oh, Helen.. I was so.. s-so worried.. you.. don't ever do that to me again.." I sob, holding her close to me. An idea appears in my head and I let her go in an instant, running over to King Eugene, whose eyes are wider than Queen Rapunzel's, for a change.

"King Eugene.. no.. Eugene. I request.. no.. demand permission to marry your daughter.. so I can protect her no matter what, for the rest of her life. I love her more than I have ever loved anything in my entire life.. more than I could ever love anyone else. Please.. let me at least ask her," I beg, not exactly sure why I'm being so forceful. I bet I look silly.

Queen Rapunzel stifles a laugh. Yep, I look ridiculous. King Eugene looks me over for a moment, then crosses his arms and gives me that same knowing smirk he gave me yesterday. "If you want to marry her that badly, you'll have to ask her yourself. It's up to her. Good luck, Romeo," the king joked, turning me around and pushing me so I'm face to face with Helen, who got out of bed while I was talking to her dad.

"Helen.." I say quietly, taking her hands in mine. "I never want to lose you again. What I was trying to tell you before.. is.. uh.." Oh, great. The "uh" made an appearance. I shake my head and drop down to one knee, still holding her hands.

"Helen, I'm in love with you.. would youdomethehonorofbeingmywife?" I mumble.

"You're, um.. you're mumbling. I can't hear you. You want to ask me that again?" Helen suggests, kneeling down so we're eye to eye.

Do I want to ask her again? Hell, I'll ask her a thousand times. "Helen. I'm in love with you-" I begin.

"Yes, I've got that part. I love you too. Now, the question?" she prompts, clearly impatient to give me her answer.

"Will you.. please.. marry me?" I finally ask.

She laughs and kisses me, holding me close, before responding "yes."

POV: Narrator

Helen and Jeremy were married not long after that, and they were almost inseparable ever since. They lived out their lives without further interference from the witch Mother Gothel, and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

A/N: I don't know if Mother Gothel is really supposed to be a witch or just a horrible, greedy person.. but here she's a witch. So there. XD