Romance Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Cassunzel Short Stories ❯ Everlasting Secrets ( Chapter 18 )

It had been eerily silent ever since they were able to escape from Gothel. Rapunzel hadn't said a word and frankly, it was starting to worry Cassandra. Neither knew what time it was but they had to guess it was pretty late. Around 12 am, perhaps? Finally, the duo made it to the castle. Cassandra stopped directly in front of the stairs and decided to shoot her shot.

"Hey, uh, Raps... if there's anything that you need to-"

Rapunzel cut her off, already knowing what she was gonna say, as she turned towards her and smiled. A fake smile, Cassandra recognized. "Thanks Cass but I'm fine."

Cassandra looked away, hesitated then hesitantly asked: "...Are you sure?"

Rapunzel's smile turned somber for a second and if Cass was anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed it considering the princess rebounded quite quickly. Unfortunately for her, she was her best friend and knew her like the back of her hand. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"...Well..."

"I-I think I'm just gonna head in tonight, okay?"

"O-Oh, uh, okay.." Rapunzel gave her one last smile before she turned and started to head inside. Cass could tell almost immediately after she turned around, she wrapped her arms around herself and her smile dropped. "See you tomorrow?" 

"Right, yeah, tomorrow..." Rapunzel responded somberly, like she barely even heard her. "Night Cass." 

"Night..." The princess went inside and the door shut behind her before she could finish. "...Raps.." Sighing, Cassandra ran a hand down her face. Something was definitely wrong. Usually, Cass would wait until Rapunzel came to her like she asked Rapunzel to do for her all those years ago. Not that Rapunzel ever really talked about her feelings anyway. I mean, in her defense, Cassandra wasn’t the best at… communicating or talking about feelings all those years ago. But she was better now - stronger - and she could be there for Rapunzel like she has always been for her too. She just wished Rapunzel knew that. With the reaction she saw from the princess during their confrontation with Gothel, so scared, so terrified, so frozen... she realized that there was something bigger being held in the princess's heart. And if Cassandra knew anything about immense pain... she knew that eventually, it will all overflow and come out in the worst way possible. Especially if she goes through it alone. Darkening her eyes in determination, Cassandra decided that she would try everything to help her best friend.

Eugene snored as the sleep mask covered his face. He instinctively pulled his teddy bear closer to his chest as he let out a contented sigh. He didn't slumber for very long though because suddenly, the door burst open. Always ready for a battle, he grabbed the sword that was next to his bed, blindfold still on, and thrusted it only for it to be whipped out of his hand and tossed away.

"It's me, dumbass." Eugene heard a familiar voice. Yawning, he removed his half-fallen sleep mask and glared sleepily at the warrior. “And you need to work on your aim.”

"Cassandra, what have I told you about-"

"Gothel's alive." 

That immediately woke him up as he snapped to a sitting position. "What? H-" 

"Rapunzel and I ran into her when we were out."

Eugene raised an eyebrow. "What were you two doing out so late at night?"

"It doesn't matter," Cassandra responded quickly. Truth be told, they just wanted a night to themselves. Cassandra had only been back nearly a week and they barely had time to catch up. So Cassandra suggested they’d visit the Lost Lagoon, like old times, and Rapunzel readily agreed. Unfortunately, they never made it. “Gothel found a way to extract the powers of the sunstone."

"But the sunstones-"

"Apparently, it isn't. At least not fully. According to Gothel, since Raps was born with it in her body, even though she can't access the powers, it's a part of her. It's quite literally her life source. Something about energy and power and all that crap," Cassandra rolled her eyes and waved her hand nonchalantly. 

Eugene's eyes slowly came to realization. "So removing it would..."

"...Kill her, yes."

Eugene whistled in disbelief. "God, that's a lot to take in." He paused for a second. "...How's blondie?" Eugene knew the nickname didn't fit her anymore but he still used it. It was more nostalgic at this point.

"That's the thing - I don't know!" Cassandra dug her hands in her hair as she started pacing the room. Eugene followed her back and forth with his eyes as he propped himself up on his elbow "She completely shut down on me!"

"Wonder who that reminds me of..." Eugene mumbled which earned himself a glare. He put up his hands in defense. "All I'm saying is that when it comes to being emotionally unstable, you two are pretty close in the way you deal with things. You both shut down. Although, in different ways, you two are stubborn as all hell when it comes to talking about emotionally disturbing feelings."

"Ugh, it doesn't matter," Cassandra quickly changed the subject which made Eugene shake his head in exasperation. She only proved his point. "The point is - I think there's something deeper that she hasn't told anyone about her time in the tower. Was there anything that she... ever mentioned to you when you first met? Or anytime after?"

Eugene shrugged. "No, not really. After she returned to Corona, it was like her time in the tower never even happened. She's never talked about anything that seemed... too much. I mean, it was clear that Gothel was emotionally degrading and a pathological liar but other than that, Rapunzel never mentioned anything else. If you really think that there's something deeper that she hasn't told me, then maybe she just wants to leave it in the past." 

"You don't understand Eugene," Cassandra turned towards him. 

"You didn't see how she reacted. She looked so scared... I had never seen her be so scared before. I mean, she was shaking and she was just... frozen. I don't even think she heard me when I told her to run. If I wasn't able to recover when I did, she could have been killed. It just wasn't her.”

"There's bound to be a lot of things she hasn't told us. I mean, you knew Rapunzel when she first came here, she was as innocent as a puppy. I always thought that it was because she was hidden from the world her whole life. Maybe it was a mindset. Rapunzel has always been the type to... pretend like nothing happened and move forward like she's completely fine. Maybe she picked up those traits in the tower and continued to tell herself it was normal. She was just a kid, afterall. She didn’t know any better."

Cassandra walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. Eugene moved over slightly and turned towards her. "Then what do we do? If she won't talk to us..." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know Eugene, I have a bad feeling about this. I'm worried about her. I've never seen her act that way before... not even when I had the moonstone."

Eugene sighed. "Because that was different." Cassandra turned her head towards him and gave him a confused expression. 

"Rapunzel wasn't scared of you, Cass, if that's what you're getting at." Cassandra looked away. Ah, so he was right. 

"She sure seemed scared," Cassandra mumbled. 

"She was." Again, Cassandra snapped her head towards him with an even more confused expression. 

"Alright, Fitzherbert, you better start making sense or-"

"Cass, she wasn't scared of you. She was scared she was gonna lose you. It's different. She was too busy fighting to get you back to be able to worry about anything else."

"...How did she react after I took the moonstone? You know, when I left?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know but she pressed on anyway.

"Exactly how she is now. She just shut down, smiled and pretended like everything was fine. She tried to convince everyone she was okay but I think she was more trying to convince herself. She continued day-to-day life like nothing ever happened." Eugene paused. He didn't want to make Cass any more guilty than he knew she already felt, but she asked, and he was gonna give her the full truth. "...But we could all tell that she was most certainly not okay. Or at least, I could. She appeared all sunshiney and smiley but when she was alone, or when she thought she was alone, her facade fell rather quickly. I'd never seen her more upset after I forced her to authorize Project Obsidian. I followed her and she completely broke down the second she was alone."

Cassandra snapped her head towards him at that. "Wait - you forced her to authorize Project Obsidian?"

Eugene looked away from Cassandra's eye contact and looked down in shame. "Yeah," He nodded. "I told Varian to make it behind her back. And when she finally found out about it, she wanted it destroyed immediately. But... I was scared. It was a moment of cowardness, if I'm being honest. I was scared that, in the end, someone was gonna get hurt."

"By 'someone' you mean Rapunzel."

"...Yeah." Eugene confirmed and sighed. "I didn't know what was gonna happen. You had already done things that I thought... you would never do. You know I would never want to hurt you Cass, but it was getting out of hand. It was clear that Zhan Tiri and the moonstone were both controlling and manipulating you but..."

"I get it," Cassandra responded, cutting him off as she looked down. He turned to look towards her. "You were just looking out for her and the kingdom. I can respect and understand that.  I don't even know what I was capable of... and I was becoming more 'corrupted' and 'deranged' by the second. And with the plans I made with Zhan Tiri... it could have ended very, very badly." Cassandra hugged herself as a pained grimace covered her face. "...And I would have never been able to forgive myself if I… proceeded. The thing that scares me the most is the fact that I don’t know if I would have cared in the end… At least, I wouldn’t have at first.. "

Eugene's eyes softened as the warrior sniffed and quickly wiped the building tears away from her eyes. She still avoided his eye contact. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to snap her head up and look at him. "You were hurting, Cass. And besides, you did the right thing in the end. No one got hurt other than Zhan Tiri - focus on that instead of focusing on the 'plans' you had. Because at the end of the day, they were just plans."

"Eugene, I left her to die in a cave full of poison with no way out. I also nearly impaled her. And let’s not forget the fact that I used you as bait."

“But you didn’t hurt me,” Eugene then looked downward. "But, yeah… she told me about that." He then looked back up. "But you were tricked and with the way it looked, it seemed pretty bad."

"Wait, how do you know I was-"

"Rapunzel told me." Eugene confirmed. 

"How did she-"

"Because Rapunzel knew she didn’t put the mirror in her bag and there was no way that it just ‘fell’ into it. It was clear that all Zhan Tiri wanted to do was tear you two apart. She needed someone to wield the moonstone and you were the only one she could... manipulate because you were already hurting and your friendship at the time was… fragile. She wanted you two to pin against each other, hopefully tear each other apart then steal the stones from you when you least expected it. Or when one or both of you was dead."

Cassandra suddenly chuckled. "But she didn't take into account that Rapunzel doesn't have an evil bone in her body."

"Not against you anyway," Eugene smiled. Cassandra looked at him in confusion. "She nearly attacked a citizen for talking bad about you."

Cassandra blinked. Once. Twice. "She did what now?"

Eugene chuckled. "Oh, yeah. I had never seen her so mad before. I swear, she would have killed the guy if I hadn't held her back. You should've seen his face. He was not expecting the sunshiney, usually sweet princess to nearly outright attack him. Actually, you should have seen a lot of the citizens' faces. It would have been funny if I wasn’t worried that Rapunzel was gonna commit murder."

Cassandra couldn't help but laugh. "I can't even imagine Rapunzel attacking an innocent civilian for just saying something."

Eugene smiled. "Usually she wouldn't. But when it comes to you, I'm pretty sure she'd run someone through if they messed with you."

"Pfft, as if! Rapunzel doesn't even have that in her."

Eugene shook his head with a smile. "You'd be surprised." Then his smile turned sweet. "She’s very protective over you, especially after everything that happened with the moonstone. She loves you a lot Cass, she'd do literally anything for you."

Cassandra couldn't stop the love-sick smile even if she tried as she played with the friendship bracelet that was tied on her uniform. "...And I'd do anything for her." Eugene couldn't help but smile at the expression on the warrior's face. She didn't often show her soft side to anyone other than Rapunzel so the small moments that she did, Eugene cherished it. But Cassandra must have realized quickly that she was showing 'weakness', as she would say, and quickly got to her feet, blushing lightly. 

"W-Well, uh, I should probably go. And... thanks for the information."

Eugene nodded and got to his feet as well. "I wish I could tell you more but unfortunately, she can be even more stubborn than you can be and she has outrightly refused to talk about anything from that period of time."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Oh, trust me, I know." She slowly made her way to the door before she turned around and gave Eugene one of her sweeter, unique smiles. "Thanks. Really. I really appreciate... everything you told me."

Eugene nodded and smiled. "Anytime, Cass. My door's always open." Cassandra gave him one last smile before she left the room.

Cassandra walked down the hall as she made her way to Rapunzel's room. If Eugene didn't have any information, no one was going too except maybe her mom. And Cass wasn’t about to go wake the queen from her slumber, she was pretty sure the king still had it out for her. Not that she really blamed him anyway. She did try to kill his still recently found daughter that was missing for 18 years and destroyed his kingdom. 

Back to the topic at hand - she decided that she was just gonna have to ask her. It might not get her anywhere but it was the only plan she had so she had to try. If anything, she could try to get Rapunzel’s mind off it if she really didn’t want to talk about it. When Cassandra finally made it to her room, she was about to knock but then she realized it was already open. Gently pushing it open, her heart started to race as she realized the princess was nowhere in sight. "Raps?" She asked as she desperately searched around. Then she noticed that the window was open and just like that, she knew exactly where she was. 

She made her way over to the window then pulled herself up to the roof and lone behold, there was Rapunzel sitting there, hugging her knees, staring up at the sky. Cassandra frowned as she pulled herself the rest of the way up and slowly made her way over to the princess. The princess must have heard her but she didn't comment or turn around as Cass took a seat next to her. It was awkward for a couple seconds as Cassandra tried to figure out what to say. "...You okay?" Cass mentally smacked herself. What type of a starter question was that? That was when Cass realized that she had no fucking clue how to have this conversation. 

Rapunzel sighed and let go of her knees then turned her head towards Cass and gave her a small, unconvincing smile. "Really Cass, I'm fine. You should go inside and get some rest."

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and fixed her with a deadpan look. "Sometimes I think you forget who you're talking to. Your 'everything is all fine and perfect and there's nothing wrong' lies don't work on me and you should know that by now."

Rapunzel's smile dropped almost immediately as she looked away and sighed. "I know," Rapunzel responded then shrugged. 

"Worth a shot." She slowly shook her head and looked back towards her. "But I can deal with  it. You don't have to get involved, Cass."

"I know," Cassandra responded before she placed her hand over Rapunzel's and leaned against her. "But you were there for me when I needed you most, why wouldn't I do the same?" 

Rapunzel blushed slightly at the close proximity but she nonetheless leaned against the warrior and laid her head on her shoulder. Cass seemed to take it for what it was and wrapped an arm around the princess, bringing her closer. It was silent for who knows how long as Cass let her gather her thoughts.

Cassandra was starting to think she fell asleep but eventually, she started speaking: "...It just hurts, you know? I know I shouldn't feel that way... I mean, she's not even my real mother."

"...But she did raise you for 18 years," Cassandra commented. 

Rapunzel pulled herself back up to a sitting position and placed both her hands on the roof as she looked out into the distant world. 

“‘Raise' is a strong word. I pretty much raised myself from the time I first learned how to walk and talk. She was rarely ever home. Sometimes she would leave for days, weeks even, sometimes even months. The first time I learned about her little 'adventures' of disappearing for a period of time, I was... I don't know, three?"

"She left a three year old by herself? 

"Yep," Rapunzel confirmed. "I had to learn how to cook rather quickly so I wouldn't starve. Deep down, I knew I should've left sooner, I always felt that there was something... wrong. But I ignored it because I didn't really know any better. I believed her lies of 'her love for me' and I believed her lies regarding all the dangers of the outside world." 

"...Why didn't you leave sooner?"

"She put so much fear into me that I was way too scared to ‘leave the nest’, as she always said. Besides, I knew that I would never survive out there. Not by myself, anyway. So when Eugene showed up... I took the first chance I could. Although, I felt pretty bad about just leaving her without saying anything." Rapunzel looked away. "I was naive to believe that she cared for me at all." 

"You can't hold that against yourself, Raps," Cassandra said sincerely. "You were just a kid. Besides, Gothel was all you knew for pretty much most of your life. You didn't know." Cass paused, a thought occurred to her. And there was no way to sugarcoat it, so she just outrightly asked "...Was she ever abusive?" Cassandra most certainly didn't miss, nor liked, the way Rapunzel tensed. No, she couldn't have... "...Raps?"

"...Physically or mentally?"

"Both."

"Yeah," Rapunzel responded, confirming both of them.

"Wait, she hit you?" 

Rapunzel shrugged. "I guess."

"What do you mean 'you guess'? Rapunzel, that's-"

"I don't know, okay??" Rapunzel didn't miss the quick grimace of pain at the tone in her voice and she immediately regretted accidentally lashing out. "...Sorry." She looked away.

"Hey, you don't need to apologize," Cassandra said sincerely as she placed her hand over hers. "Just.. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"What do you mean?" Rapunzel asked, looking back at her.

"That she abused you. It would have changed a lot of things..."

Rapunzel sighed. "...Would you have believed me if I did?" Cassandra opened her mouth to respond then closed it, realizing that Rapunzel had a point. "You were already hurting so much, I wasn't about to tarnish the only good memories you had left of her. Besides, it's not like we had a moment to sit down and talk. Though I would have appreciated a heads-up before you decided to disappear for a couple months." Rapunzel gave her a teasing, sorrowful smile. 

"Then it wouldn't have been a betrayal, would it?" Cassandra teased back. Although talking about those times still brought back bad memories, the two of them could often talk about it and sometimes even joke about it without feeling horrible. Talk about character development. 

Rapunzel smiled softly as she shook her head. "No, I guess not."

Cassandra was about to continue teasing her, because it was one of her favorite things to do (as it was Rapunzel's), but she narrowed her eyes instead. "Stop trying to change the subject." 

Rapunzel's shoulders sagged and her smile fell. "I was hoping that that was gonna work."

"You can't admit something as bad as abuse to me and just expect me to forget about it. Clearly, there's a lot you haven't told anyone." 

"I was kinda hoping you would," Rapunzel shrugged. "It's not like it's the... easiest to talk about."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't," Cassandra responded. "Trust me - I kept a lot of things from the people I cared about for pretty much my whole life." She paused. "...Not that I really had anyone to talk to anyway. But the point is - I kept it in and eventually, it all resurfaced. And you saw how that went. You can't keep going through it alone. It won't solve anything, no matter how invincible you think you are."

Rapunzel let out a weak chuckle. "You're starting to sound a lot like me."

"What can I say? You rubbed off on me."

"...And I can't even argue with it because I know you're right."

"Aren't I always?" Cass teased.

Rapunzel smiled. "Yeah, pretty much." Then her smile fell. 

"Gothel always had to be in control. She was always talking to herself, looking out for herself... The first time it happened.. I was 4 and I was hungry. I told her that but she shooed me away... 20 minutes later, I asked again. That's when I learned rather quickly not to ask her for stuff when she was 'busy'. Which was like 95% of the time.”

"...What did she do?"

"She always carried this... object. It was like a small bat made out of metal. She cornered me and I begged her to stop and I profusely apologized but she didn't listen. She said I needed to be taught a 'lesson' and advanced on me, saying that she didn’t want to do it but I gave her no choice. Then..." Rapunzel paused for a second as memories of that day filled her mind. She heard the screaming, she could even feel the pain, she could hear herself begging, just begging for her mother to stop... to please stop… "...T-Then..." 

With the way her breathing sped up and her eyes filled with fear and panic, Cass could tell that she needed to stop her. "I-I get it, Raps, you don't have to go into detail." 

That seemed to calm the princess down only slightly. "...S-She always said it was my fault. That I led her to do it. That she didn't want to do it but she had to teach me 'discipline'. Her plan worked: after a while, I learned to do what she asked, I never questioned her... I was pretty much groveling at her feet. I blamed myself - I would always ask myself 'what did I do that would lead her to turn to such violence?'. But I never got the answer... because no matter what I did, no matter how 'perfect' I acted... it was never enough." 

The more Rapunzel talked, the more Rapunzel made sense. For the first time since she's known her, Cassandra truly felt that she finally understood the whole Rapunzel. Not Princess Rapunzel - the princess who always seemed 'perfect' and put together. No, Cassandra finally knew Rapunzel. The sides of her no one else got to see or learn. But... the more she talked, the more pissed-off Cassandra became as well. How could someone hurt a child like that with no regrets? Gothel not only mentally abused Rapunzel but also physically abused her. What kind of a human being can hurt someone as sweet and forgiving as Rapunzel? When Cass met Rapunzel, she was pretty much a child at heart. A child just learning about her first steps into the real world. She was curious, always getting into trouble, she wanted to learn and see everything.. From the very beginning, she treated Cass with respect and friendship. She never got mad at her.. Aggravated or frustrated maybe, but never mad. Even when Cassandra was acting like a complete bitch - like during The Challenge of the Brave. She never yelled at her when she messed up... All she did was give her encouraging words and pushed her towards her dreams. She was dangerously naive during that time, yes, but all that made sense now. 

What confused Cass the most was how Rapunzel ended up becoming, well... Rapunzel. She was the most good-natured, imperfect, loving, forgiving, amazing person Cassandra had ever met and that was despite all the abuse. If Cassandra was put through such abuse - physically and mentally - she would have turned dark over time. But Rapunzel never did. She put up with it, blamed herself, counted on her mom to protect her… only to be pushed around and beat down.. And yet she still stayed the innocent, kind-hearted person that she is. What kind of woman could physically and mentally abuse someone as amazing and sweet as her? How is Rapunzel the way she is now? Those were the questions that didn't make sense to Cassandra. Cassandra clenched her jaw in anger as an image was put into her mind. Rapunzel, just a kid, being backed into a wall, begging for her life... asking, pleading, crying... for her own 'mother' to stop just for it to fall on deaf ears; all the while being blamed for why Gothel was doing what she was doing. Cassandra suddenly had a very strong urge to leave right at that moment, find Gothel and make her suffer for all the pain she put this amazing human being through. But she didn’t. Rapunzel needed her right now.

Cassandra was knocked out of her thoughts when Rapunzel's voice started becoming more... panicked. "I-I just don't get it... What did I do wrong? Was it all a lie? 18 years... for 18 years she told me she loved me. And she lied. She promised. I-I should've realized sooner... I-I should've.. I should've known... that it was all fake. I mean, all the signs were there! And yet, I missed every single one of them." Rapunzel sniffed as she frantically wiped at the building tears but they just kept coming. "I-I thought I could leave that all behind. I thought I could grow from it. But I didn't." She paused. "M-Maybe I did deserve it.. maybe I did do everything wrong. After All, all I've done since I returned to Corona is hurt the people I care about..." Rapunzel dug her hand into her hair as her voice shook. "...M-Maybe I did lead her to attack me... m-maybe I'm just that naive, stupid, idiot-" 

"Woah, woah, Rapunzel, slow down. Breathe." Cassandra placed a hand on the princess's back as she tried to catch her breath. Not knowing what else to do, Cassandra brought the princess into her arms and squeezed lightly. Rapunzel seemed to tense at first but she almost immediately relaxed. "Don't go into that mindset. There was no excuse, no excuse, for what Gothel did. Don't think for a second that any of that is your fault." 

"...I hurt Varian." Rapunzel whispered. "...I hurt you.." 

"It wasn't intentional-"

 "...And that makes it better?"

"...Well... at least you didn't go insane, try to kill your best friend then take over an entire kingdom."

"'Insane' is a strong word," Rapunzel commented. "I'd say... 'emotionally driven'."

"Again, you can't blame yourself for other people's actions." Rapunzel opened her mouth to respond but Cassandra already knew what she was gonna say so she beat her to it. "Even if you  'influenced' it. What I did, how I reacted, it was wrong. Very wrong. They were my actions, not yours." 

"Yeah, well," Rapunzel started. But then gently gripped her right hand and interlocked their fingers. "...Because of me, you were gravely injured. That was my fault." Cassandra couldn't even comment on that. As much as she would like to disagree, that time.. was her fault. "And yet, I still blamed you after the fact. I wasn't able to admit that... that you got hurt because of me."

"...Wait, so you never blamed me?"

"What?" Rapunzel pulled back to look her in the eye. "No, of course not. And I shouldn't have made it seem that way. I should've listened to you - but I was too stubborn to admit I was wrong and nearly got you killed. That's something I've never been able to forgive myself on... among other things."

Cassandra wasn't about to admit this, but the relief and closure of the fact that Rapunzel never blamed her.. she couldn't even describe the feeling it brought her. "Look, Raps," Cass started as she hooked her finger under her chin and slowly raised it so that they made eye contact. If she wasn’t imagining it, she would say the princess was blushing. "We've both made some pretty bad mistakes. But there's no point to dwell on it now - trust me - it'll only tear you apart. And besides that fact, that has nothing to do with Gothel. That was different - But Gothel was - is - a horrible, horrible woman and she should have never hurt you."

Rapunzel was about to say something but then realization struck her. "Oh my gosh, Cass, I've been so focused on myself - how are you feeling about all of this? She is.. your biological mother after all."

Cassandra couldn't help but smile. Leave it to Rapunzel to think of everyone else first despite being in a serious amount of pain herself... Cassandra raised her hand and placed it on the princess's cheek. "I feel nothing towards her, Raps. I don't know her, I've never known her, she means nothing to me. Maybe at first, I was... upset but now, I could care less. But even though she's not your biological mother... she was still the only mother you knew for most of your life. Not that she was a ‘mother’ anyway.. I mean, DNA isn’t everything."

Rapunzel looked down. "You know, sometimes I wish that I never left the tower."

"What?" Cassandra asked, confused. "Why?" That wasn’t right… Rapunzel just got done telling her that she wished that she had left sooner.

"Because maybe... it would have been better if I never returned to Corona in the first place. I mean, think about it Cass, ever since I returned Corona's been nearly destroyed like three times."

"...You've done more good than you have bad, Rapunzel. And trust me when I say, Corona was way worse before you returned."

Rapunzel tilted her head and asked confused: "How?"

"...Corona wasn't the way it is now. It was a ghost town - every little crime that was committed, even the smallest of ones, you would be thrown in jail. I mean, if I did what I did then, I would have been hanged immediately, no questions asked." Cass paused, then she blushed lightly and looked away. "...B-Besides, I'd still be alone if it wasn't for you."

"You would have found someone eventually, Cass. "

Cassandra slowly shook her head. "Growing up I was always seen as the 'strange' one. I wasn't like normal girls - I didn't dress up, I didn’t play with dolls, I didn't do boys... I liked to fight, get dirty, train.. and I guess people didn't like that. Eventually, after endless bullying and backstabbing, I decided I didn't need friends, that there was no one I could ever count on, and it would have stayed that way for the rest of my life. I thought that I was better off alone. But then you came along - and at first, I was hesitant. I mean, you and I are just so... different. Or at least, that's what I thought. You were the exact opposite of my personality - bright, sunny, outgoing, always looking on the bright side... And if I'm being honest, I wasn't exactly excited to be a newly found princess's lady-in-waiting. But I didn't really have a choice. It wasn't long before I realized that I was already letting my guard down and I've never done that with anyone else before. I've never been able to. I tried to deny it and push you away but you kept worming your way back into my heart and before I knew it, I was hooked. You opened up my mind to a lot of things and put a new perspective on everything. I was learning things about myself I didn't even know were a part of me. Whether those be good things or bad things - it helped me grow into a better person. Because of you, I had - have - friends that I can count on. At first it was only you - but then somehow, Fitzherbert and I became friends, then Lance, then, then Varian, then.. everyone else. You changed my life, Raps, in a lot of ways. Good ways. I had someone I could count on to have my back, I had someone I could laugh with and be myself... You were the only person who actually cared enough to look past what was on the outside and focused on what was on the inside. I mean - I didn't even know there was more to me that met the eye. I had been hiding from myself, my true self, for so long that I didn’t even know who I was.. And you somehow figured that out and more. And somehow, someway, you crawled your way into my heart and just... stayed. I probably wouldn't even be here today if not for you. And none of that would have been possible if you hadn't-"

She was suddenly cut off for Rapunzel crashing her body to hers into a tight hug as she hid her face in her chest. "T-Thanks Cass, t-that means a lot.." She mumbled into her chest and with how shaky her voice was, she could tell that it didn't just mean a lot but it meant everything to her. 

Cassandra smiled and wrapped her arms around the princess. "No need to thank me. I'm only telling the truth."

Rapunzel let out a weak giggle. "When do you not tell the truth?"

Cass couldn't help but smile at the sound she missed so much. "Hey, it's like, my thing." 

Rapunzel pulled back and gave her an amused smile then raised an eyebrow. “Your ‘thing?’"

"Yeah, my thing. Your thing is lifting spirits, my thing is telling what needs to be told." 

"Soo... like a good cop, bad cop sort of thing? We can use that for interrogations."

Cassandra couldn't help but laugh which made Rapunzel smile. "Why would we ever need to interrogate someone?"

"Who knows? There's always that possibility." 

"Mhm, okay, sure. Whatever you say.” Rapunzel giggled at her best friend’s usual sarcasm, the sarcasm she missed most when Cass was away, then Rapunzel smiled sweetly and placed her hand on Cass's cheek, which surprised the warrior enough to make her blush. 

"Thank you for coming out to get me, Cass. It was really sweet. I... I don't think I wanted to be alone anyway." 

Cassandra couldn't help but return the smile as she placed her hand over Rapunzel's. "You're my best friend - of course I would come out here. But next time," She poked the princess in the side, which made her giggle. "Try without lying because you knew very well that I know the true answer anyway. I don't want to have to corner you again."

Rapunzel giggled. "Now you know how I feel."

"Yeah, I think we switched personalities."

"Or maybe we just picked up on each other's traits and faults."

She paused then gave her a teasing smile. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Cass grinned. "As long as you don't take on a powerful magical artifact and use it to destroy a whole kingdom, I think we'll be okay."

Rapunzel couldn't help but laugh and the sound of it made Cassandra's smile widen. That's the first actual real laugh she's heard from her in a while. "I don't think that's gonna be a problem."

Cass gave her one last smile before she started to get up. "Well, we should probably get inside. It's pretty late and we need to actually sleep."

"Actually," Rapunzel started sheepishly, blushing lightly. "I was hoping we could stay out here tonight. It's just such a nice night... and... it feels like old times, you know? Sleeping under the stars... the view up here is amazing.” Rapunzel’s blush deepened as she looked down. “Y-You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, though…"

Cassandra smiled, ignored the last sentence, and sat back down. "Yeah, we can do that." Rapunzel took it for what it was, smiled, then scooted closer to her before she leaned her entire body against her and yawned lightly as she looked out at the open world. Cassandra smiled sweetly and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her even closer into her body. Rapunzel snuggled into it.

“...And for the record Cass, those people that shunned you and didn’t give you a chance… really missed out and lost something special.”

Cassandra couldn’t help the sweet smile that filled her face. “...Thanks Raps.”

Rapunzel smiled and snuggled closer. "I love you, Cass." Rapunzel mumbled and Cass could already tell that she was nearly asleep because her words were slurred.

Cassandra smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you too, Raps." She didn't get a response because she could hear Rapunzel's breathing even out and her body went slightly limp. Smiling, Cass took off her cape with one hand and wrapped it around the princess. "Sleep tight, Raps. And I promise... we'll figure this out." If she wasn't imagining it, Rapunzel let out a soft smile and snuggled even closer. Cass laid her head on top of the princess's and stared out into the starry night, secretly promising herself that she would never let Gothel hurt Rapunzel ever again.

And she was gonna keep that promise at all costs.