Other Fan Fiction ❯ Confinement of the Stars ❯ Chapter 1: The Mission ( Chapter 1 )

Cassandra silently strolled through the halls of the castle she grew up in. She took a deep breath as she squeezed the letter she received from the king a couple weeks ago. She was surprised to receive the letter. The king refused to hire bounty hunters years prior and she had no idea why he called for her. He wasn’t very explicit, all the letter said was ‘Come back, I have a job for you’ in bright red letters. If he called her, it had to be important. She was a good distance away once she received the letter so she immediately wrote back saying that she would be there in a couple weeks.

From the moment she stepped back in Corona she realized something was wrong. The streets were deserted and empty unlike their usual busy times. She hadn’t seen a guard which was also very strange. But the strangest thing so far was the fact that she hadn’t seen Rapunzel nor any of her other friends. She had been away for four years, Rapunzel would likely be running into her arms by now. Unless she didn’t know she was called here.

Cassandra noticed a guard that she didn’t recognize standing in front of the ballroom doors. Once she was close enough, the guard turned to her. “The king is waiting for you.” All she did was nod as the big doors opened. When she entered the room, the king’s back was turned to her, as he stared out the gigantic window, and his hands were behind his back. Cassandra noted that was the king’s stance whenever something was wrong and he was being serious.

“I’ve been expecting you, Cassandra.” The king spoke without turning to look at her.

“How can I help you sir?”

The king turned to look at her. “I’ve got a job for you.”

No shit. Cassandra thought sarcastically. “And that job is? Tracking down an escaped criminal? Or-”

“No,” The king cut her off gruffly. “I need you to track down the princess.”

Cassandra blinked. Did she hear that right? She blinked again; her eyes blank. “Excuse me, what?” She said after some minutes.

“The princess went missing a few months ago and-”

“Hold on,” Cassandra stopped him, her voice already dripping with anger. “You’re telling me that the princess, your daughter, is missing?And has been for months? How is that even possible?! How did you not-”

The king narrowed his eyes. “Watch your mouth, young lady. You will address your king with respect and-”

Cassandra only narrowed her eyes back. “I’m not a citizen of Corona anymore. So therefore, you’re not my king. So I don’t have to address you with anything other than how I would talk to a normal person.” Cassandra knew she was being rude and snappy, but who could blame her? This man just told her that her best friend was missing.

The king looked like he wanted to throw her into jail right then and there. Cassandra had to hold back a smirk when he huffed and turned away, knowing that she wasn’t a citizen anymore, and he couldn’t do anything to her. “Fine,” The king spoke finally. “Yes, the princess is missing.”

“For how long?”

“Almost four months by now.”

Cassandra nearly choked. “4 months? 4 months?! Are you kidding me? She’s been missing for four months and you’re now just doing something about it?!”

“If you must know,” The king spoke, his voice lacing with venom. “We’ve sent multiple bounty hunters to find her. All came back empty handed. I heard of your skills and besides that one bounty hunter that lives up north, you’re second in line. Besides, I figured if anyone could find her, it’s you.”

“Uh-huh.” Cassandra responded, unmoved by his forced flattery. “Alright, fine, but I need more information first. Last time you saw her, any clues she left behind, stuff like that.”

“The last time I saw her was during the Day of Hearts. She ran off to her room after all the festivities and the next morning, she was gone with no trace.”

Cassandra frowned and crossed her arms. “That doesn’t sound like Rapunzel at all.”

“Well, Rapunzel hasn’t been Rapunzel for quite some time.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Two years ago, she started acting differently.”

“Different how?”

“Distant, for one. She started disappearing here and now and then returned with no explanation. She’s been avoiding her princess duties. The people barely saw her at all during the day and the ones that did, said she was in some kind of hurry. She used to paint some kind of mural or some other art project for the kingdom daily but all of a sudden, it just stopped. She just hasn’t been herself. I’ve been told that she’s actually snapped at some of the citizens.”

“Who the hell told you something like that?”

“Eugene.” The king responded coolly.

“And where is Eugene? If anyone knows what’s going on with her, it’s him.”

“That’s the last thing. Rapunzel dropped him altogether. During the Day of Hearts, before she disappeared, she snapped at him and said they were done. Eugene was, is, heartbroken.”

Cassandra’s eyes were wide. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same girl here?” The king snapped his head towards her and glared at her. Cassandra refused to look away like she would have done many years ago. “Right, okay. Is that all you have? Did she ever say anything about leaving?”

The king thought for a moment before nodding. “She did, some time ago. A couple months before she disappeared. She told me she wanted to leave and go explore the world but I told her that she had responsibilities here.”

“So you forced her to stay here? Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten that she spent 18 years of her life in solitude, isolated away from the world and stripped from her dreams?” Cassandra seethed.

“She needs to learn that she has responsibilities. She’s going to be queen someday, all of her childish nonsense was fine when she first came back home, but now it’s time she starts acting like how a future queen should.”

Cassandra had to keep herself from exploding. Taking deep breaths, she spoke through clenched teeth. “Fine. So you want me to go out there and find her? And what? Drag her home? Why the hell did you call me? Why do you have to make me the bad guy?”

The king narrowed his eyes. “It’s not the first time you’ve turned your back on my daughter. Doing it again should be a piece of cake.”

“Excuse me?!” Cassandra growled. “You-”

“Are you up for the job or not? If not, I can always hire Asako.”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. “No! Are you crazy?! Asako is a ruthless, horrible person!”

“But he’s good at his job. He’ll find Rapunzel and bring her back in a matter of days.”

Cassandra laughed bitterly. “Yeah, if you want Rapunzel bloodied, bruised and starving when she gets here!”

“Then you better take the job, hm?” Cassandra could not believe what she was hearing. Would he seriously send a maniac after Rapunzel just to bring her home? What type of father was he?

“Fine,” Cassandra seethed. “I’ll take the job.”

The king smiled. “Excellent! I promise, you’ll get a hefty reward for-”

“I don’t care about the reward. I’m only doing this to make sure Rapunzel is safe and okay. Guess I’m dragging her back here as well.”

“Great,” The king nodded. “Glad we came to an agreement.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Cassandra muttered before turning around and started to walk away.

“And Cassandra?” The king spoke, his voice low. Cassandra turned to him. “You have a month, tops. And if you’re not back here by then with my daughter, I’m hiring Asako and he’ll finish the job for you.”

Cassandra didn’t have time to respond due to the fact she had the door slammed in her face. Cassandra grumbled and muttered the entire way out of Corona; her fists balled into fists. Reaching Fidella, she mounted her.

“Come on girl, we have a princess to find.”

Before she rode off, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander. She couldn’t get rid of a gut feeling that something about all of this didn’t add up..