Romance Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Cassunzel Short Stories ❯ Time Together ( Chapter 4 )

"Are you sure about this, Raps?" Cassandra stood in front of Rapunzel's mirror, clothed in her newly-made warrior outfit that was created by Rapunzel herself as she turned to look at her best friend. Or, as much as she could.

"Of course I am! What are you so worried about?" Rapunzel asked as she stood behind Cassandra fixing her uniform, making sure everything was in place. 

"Oh, I don't know," Cassandra said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's because the LAST time I was in Corona, I destroyed their home AND tried to kill their princess." 

Rapunzel let out an exhausted sigh as she moved to stand in front of Cassandra; a frown toning her pretty features. "Cass, it's gonna be fine. It's been nearly a year. And besides, you left on a good note, right?"

Cassandra sighed and looked to the side to avoid her eye contact. "I don't know, Raps.." 

"Come on, Cass, it'll be fun! We can spend the WHOLE day together, just like old times!" Cassandra still looked unsure, so she pulled out something she knew that would make Cassandra cave. She pouted, pushed her lip out and looked at her with puppy eyes. "Please?"

It took Cassandra a matter of seconds before she caved. "Fine." She sighed and slugged her shoulders. Rapunzel let out an excited squeal and tackled her best friend into a hug.

"I promise, you won't regret it! We're gonna have so much fun together!"

"I really hope so.." Cassandra mumbled. 

"We will!" Rapunzel let go of Cassandra and fixed the collar of her shirt. "There! You look beautiful! Let's go!" Rapunzel grabbed Cassandra's hand before she could respond and all but basically dragged her out the door. Cassandra rolled her eyes, unfazed by her best friend's enthusiasm. 

It didn't take long before the pair were out in the moon-filled night. The people of Corona filled the streets as some were dancing, some singing, some eating, as the people celebrated the newest celebration: The defeat of Zhan Tiri. Rapunzel made it a new celebration to honor the strength the people of Corona had during the last battle. It was huge. Loud music could be heard for miles, the smell of carnival food filled the air and lastly, the beauty of the moon shone down on them all to honor the brave warrior who, in the end, basically gave her life to save Corona. 

Rapunzel looped her arm through Cassandra's as they walked past the crowd of dancing people, passed the food stands and passed the laughing children. People waved to them as they walked back, some even gave Cassandra an admiring smile. But it didn't take long for Cassandra to notice that they were walking AWAY from the party and walking into the forest. 

"Raps, where are you going? The party is-"

"I know." Rapunzel responded with a smile, her eyes never leaving the road in front of them. "There's something I want to show you." As the music grew faint, Cassandra couldn't help but wonder how far this 'thing' Rapunzel wanted to show her was. Rapunzel suddenly stopped after 15 minutes of walking silence and turned to look at Cassandra with a smile. Cassandra gave her a confused look before Rapunzel pulled out a blindfold. 

"Uhm," Cassandra eyed the blindfold suspiciously. "Why-"

"Just trust me." Was all Rapunzel said. Cassandra nodded as the blindfold was placed on her eyes and tied behind her head. As soon as it was on, Rapunzel looped her arm again and started walking forward. Cassandra felt uncomfortable because of the fact she couldn't see anything; which meant her guard was down. But she trusted Rapunzel, so she let her lead her. After another 10 minutes of silent walking, Cassandra began to grow nervous.

"Okay Rapunzel, where are we going?" 

"You'll see," Rapunzel giggled. "We're almost there." Cassandra sighed but otherwise stayed silent. Eventually, Rapunzel stopped to a halt, making Cassandra do so as well. "Alright, you can take off your blindfold!" Rapunzel exclaimed. Cassandra knew her too well to know she was nearly jumping out of her skin in excitement. Slowly, Cassandra removed the blindfold and what she saw was something she did NOT expect. 

Cassandra let out a surprised gasp at the sight that awaited her. She knew the place, of course. It was the hidden lake Rapunzel and she went to years ago. But it was different. The place was filled with yellow and blue roses. Some were mixed together. The water illuminated off of the moon and the place was filled with various different flowers and many other things that just made the place look absolutely breathtaking. 

Cassandra realized she had been staring, mouth agape, for a good while because Rapunzel started speaking. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Rapunzel smiled as she looked at the beautiful scenery that Cassandra was unable to tear her eyes away from. "They appeared not soon after you left. After the battle with Zhan Tiri, actually. They're unbreakable. And can't die. Varian said that, somehow, the moonstone and sunstone created seeds that were implanted into the ground and well.. made this."

It took a second before Cassandra found her voice as she turned to look at Rapunzel with wide, disbelieving, confused eyes. "W-Why are you showing me this?"

Rapunzel smiled one of those rare smiles; the rare smile that is so full of love and admiration as she turned to look at Cassandra. "I know you still beat yourself up about, well, everything. So I wanted to show you that.. there's some beauty that came out of what happened."

"R-Raps, this is.." Cassandra struggled to find the words she wanted to say. "....Breathtaking. It's.. thank you." Rapunzel gave her a sweet smile before she giggled and grabbed her hand and slowly pulled her towards the middle of the field-like area.

"I know you're not the.. party type. So I thought it could just be us tonight. Everything has been so crazy since you got back and we really haven't had time to catch up."

Cassandra gave her a smile. "I'd love that, Raps." Rapunzel and Cassandra shared a loving smile before Rapunzel's eyes lit up.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Rapunzel pulled a gift box from out of her bag. "I got you something."

Cassandra gave her a confused look. "For me?" She took the box out of her hands. "Why?"

"Call it a.. welcome home gift." 

Cassandra looked at her warily before slowly opening the box. For the second time that night, she gasped in shock. It was the music box Gothel gave her all those years ago. She took the item from out of the box and opened it and the music slowly started. Once the song ended, she looked up at Rapunzel in disbelief. "Y-You fixed it." 

Rapunzel nodded. "It took me a while, but I knew how much it meant to you. It was my fault it broke in the first place. I hope you-" Rapunzel was interrupted by Cassandra suddenly enveloping her into a tight hug. 

"Thank you.." She heard Cassandra whisper into her hair. 

Rapunzel smiled and slowly nodded while wrapping her arms back around the taller girl. "You're welcome, Cass." The two stood there for a couple minutes, in each other's arms, in silence. Cassandra finally let go and put the music box back into the box. She gently placed it on the ground against a tree, along with her sword, shoes and top layer of her outfit until she was dressed in only her undershirt and pants. Rapunzel tilted her head in confusion. "What are you doing?"

Cassandra gave her a playful grin as she took a step towards the girl. Rapunzel let out a gasp, realizing what she had in mind. "Cassandra, don't you dare!" Rapunzel tried to flee but Cassandra let out a laugh and shoved her into the water. Rapunzel let out a surprised squeal but made sure she grabbed onto Cassandra's shirt and pulled her in with her; surprising Cassandra.

After a loud splash, the two swam up to the surface. Cassandra's hair stuck to her face as she gave Rapunzel a fake glare for pulling her in. Not a second later, Rapunzel burst out into laughter, making Cassandra's walls shatter as she followed suit. The two of them splashed each other as they laughed and at some point, Rapunzel tackled Cassandra, making Cassandra go under water. Cassandra, upon reaching the surface again, laughed and did the same to Rapunzel. The two of them played in the water together for what seemed like hours like children on a sunny day.

An hour later, they lay on the shore, side by side, looking up at the beautiful moon-filled sky. Rapunzel slowly moved closer to Cassandra, but tried to make it nonchalant. Cassandra rolled her eyes before surprising Rapunzel by wrapping her arm around the girl and pulling her close into Cassandra's side. Rapunzel smiled and snuggled into Cassandra's side. The closeness made both girls blush deeply but neither could be any happier in that moment.

"Welcome home, Cass." Rapunzel yawned as her eyes started to drift shut due to the warmth of her best friend. 

Cassandra smiled down at Rapunzel, hearing her start to snore softly. She pulled Rapunzel even closer and wrapped the picnic blanket Rapunzel brought for them around them both. Rapunzel snuggled closer and smiled in her sleep. "...It's good to be home.”