Romance Fan Fiction ❯ Enemy of the Stars (A Stars Above Sequel) ❯ Chapter 13: Search and Rescue ( Chapter 13 )
“What do you mean she’s missing?” Cassandra demanded through her teeth.
“Exactly as I said it,” The older warrior responded, glaring at her. “We think Clarissa took her.”
“Well, no fucking shit,” Cassandra hissed sarcastically. “Of course Clarissa took her. Who else would?!”
“I don’t appreciate your tone.” The warrior said deathly, taking a step forward to try and intimidate her. But even though the warrior was nearly directly in her face and she was like 3 feet taller than her, Cassandra merely narrowed her eyes and stood tall, matching her deathly attitude.
“I don’t give a shit what you appreciate,” Cassandra spat. “How the hell did our daughter just walk out with a stranger without anyone noticing?! Especially considering you guys were supposed to be watching out for her!"
Instead of the warrior responding, the large women from before appeared. “We think that she had… connections from the inside.”
Cassandra’s pissed-off, worried glare snapped toward the older woman as she stormed toward her. “So you’re telling me,” The warrior hissed. The older woman didn’t back up nor did she move or back up. She held her ground. “That not only did you let a criminal get away,” She continued. “But now said criminal is running around god knows where with a two-year-old, our two-year-old, and yet, there still may be another criminal in these walls?! What kind of guard are you?!”
Instead of getting defensive like the captain of the guard did, the older woman stayed calm and kept her voice level. She was the leader, after all, and she understood where the warrior’s anger was coming from. “We’re doing everything we can to find her.”
“Well, it’s not good enough!” Cassandra shouted, her voice cracking ever-so-slightly, so much so it was barely noticeable. Rapunzel, who hadn’t moved nor said anything since they were told she was missing, finally snapped into gear. Rapunzel could see the warrior's muscles tensing which means she was most likely going to explode any second. She was pretty pissed off at this town's lack of caution as well but she knew that they needed their help.
So, before Cassandra could launch at the large woman who was only trying to help, Rapunzel grabbed her arm and pulled her back and away from the crowd. Cassandra was too pissed off to notice the nodded exchange that Rapunzel and the ‘queen’ had. While Rapunzel pulled her away, the queen turned back to her troops and busied herself while Rapunzel talked to Cassandra. “Cass, you need to calm down.” She said in a slight-hushed hissing voice.
“Calm down?! Calm down?!” Cassandra shouted through clenched teeth. “Because of these fucks, our daughter is missing and you’re telling me to calm down?! These fucking no-good ass-” Before she could finish her cursed sentence, because people were looking and the queen was narrowing her eyes at Rapunzel telling her that she needed to make sure Cassandra didn’t finish that sentence or there was gonna be problems, Rapunzel quickly pushed Cassandra away from the crowd of people and behind a secluded, abandoned building. She realized now that maybe telling the warrior to ‘calm down’ wasn’t such a good idea because it only made her fume more.
“Get ahold of yourself!” Rapunzel hissed. “I’m worried too but you need to calm yourself or we're never gonna find her!” Again, she realized that telling her to 'calm down' wasn't such a good idea but what else was she supposed to say?
Cassandra was pacing, her eyes mad with anger, before she stopped to a halt in front of the princess. “These people are the ones who lost her, do you really think that they’ll be able to find her?!”
“They live here, they know the area, they’re our only chance!” Cassandra didn’t seem to hear her as the warrior paced back and forth angrily, cursing all the way. Rapunzel knew that talking to the warrior wouldn’t do any good, especially if she was this mad. Rapunzel didn’t blame her for being mad, she was pretty pissed off herself. But Cassandra had always been horrible at… masking her anger. Rapunzel leaned against the wall, her arms crossed, as she watched Cassandra pace back and forth probably a thousand times, hands tightly tangled in her hair. Cassandra eventually let out a loud half-groan, half-yell before coming to a halt. During the groan, she ran her hands down her face and growled. But then she went silent but Rapunzel could still hear her cursing under her breath.
“You done now?” Rapunzel asked, her arms still crossed and an eyebrow raised. Cassandra merely shot her a death glare. “Guess not.”
“Ugh, how are you not-?!”
“I am,” Rapunzel said through clenched teeth, already knowing what she was gonna say. “But flipping out isn’t gonna find her faster. Now, are you calm enough to go back out there?” Cassandra hesitated for a second before giving her a meek nod but it was still very obvious how pissed off she still was by the expression on her face and her body language. Rapunzel just hoped she was calm enough to behave herself for the time being. “Alright, let’s go.” Cassandra didn’t say anything. She merely walked past her. Rapunzel let out a exasperated sigh.
The warrior and princess walked back to the main area where the troops and the queen still stood who were still talking. Before they made their way to the queen, the captain came forward and gave the still-ever-so-pissed-off Cassandra a smirk. “Welcome back,” The captain said with a snicker. “Are you done having your temper tan-”
Before she could finish, Rapunzel quickly held up her hand to stop her. She could practically feel the warrior’s anger coming off of her in waves. “Don’t,” Rapunzel quickly interjected. “Don’t set her off. Trust me on that.” Some gods must’ve taken pity on her because the captain didn’t finish her sentence.
The queen stepped in between them. “Are you calm now?” She asked, her voice calm and level.
Knowing that Cassandra was most certainly not, she decided to just do the talking for her to prevent another explosion. Also, Cassandra tended to give ultimate sass and sarcasm when she was pissed so she wanted to prevent that as well. “She’s calm enough,” Rapunzel answered for her quickly. Usually, Cassandra wouldn’t appreciate the princess talking for her but for once, she was grateful because honestly, she didn’t think that she would be able to control herself.
The queen seemed to take it for what it was and nodded. “Good,” She responded. “Anyway, we have a suspicion that Clarissa and Nova are still in the walls. Clarissa has always been problematic ever since she was a kid. She’s a decent fighter but she’s not very brave so there’s no way that she’d leave the grounds knowing Azriel and his shadows are still out there.”
“Wait a second,” Cassandra interjected, her voice filled with aggravation. Rapunzel tensed. “You say she’s been a ‘problem’ but yet you sent her to give us a tour??”
The queen gave her a confused look. “I did no such thing. Rena, one of the nurses who treated you two, was supposed to give you a tour but she had to take care of a patient last minute.”
“So she lied to us,” Cassandra said more under her breath than to anyone. Rapunzel’s eyes drifted down to how her fist clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palm. Rapunzel slipped her hand between them and gently grasped the older girl’s hand. Slowly, but surely, Cassandra’s fist unclenched and she hooked their fingers together, squeezing gently.
The queen nodded. “So it seems,”
“So, where do you think she went?” Rapunzel asked. Cassandra stayed silent as the princess rubbed her thumb in a comforting manner over Cass’s knuckles. It seemed to be calming her ever-so-slightly as Rapunzel felt some of the tension leave Cassandra’s body.
The queen and the captain shared a concerned glance. Neither liked that look. The queen looked back before sighing. “Somewhere we cannot go.” The queen responded, her voice slightly sullen. Rapunzel gave her a confused expression. Cassandra stayed silent. “The place is outside of our territory and belongs to another. We cannot enter there. You two can but…”
“...But?” Rapunzel asked hesitantly.
The queen shook her head. “It’s highly dangerous. Few have survived.”
“And what makes you think Clarissa is gonna be there?” Cassandra finally spoke up, her voice calmer than before but anger was still ever so present. “She’s a part of your ‘territory’ too, is she not?”
The queen nodded hesitantly. “Yes, but we’re led to believe that... She’s a part of the other one as well. You see, when our scrolls were stolen, we assumed that it was Carina because we had heard of her thievery in other parts of the land. She was in the walls, at the same time when the scrolls were stolen so we assumed it was her. But it was never confirmed.”
Neither questioned how the queen even knew that they knew Carina. It just didn't matter right now. "So, you think that Clarissa framed her?” Rapunzel asked.
The queen nodded. “Precisely,”
“So what exactly is this place?” Rapunzel asked.
The queen handed them a map. “It’s just outside the territory, north. It is said to be surrounded and guarded by skilled fighters as well as traps left and right. But that is all I know, like I said, no one has made the journey back; even some of my own fell to whatever lay on the other side. So I know nothing of the place. It will not be easy.” Cassandra busied herself with studying the map. The queen then gave her a pitied expression. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more help. We’ll keep an eye out from the inside.”
“You’ve been plenty helpful, thank you,” Rapunzel responded genuinely. The queen nodded and signaled to her guards to follow her.
“Good luck.”
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After their meeting with the queen and gathering up some stuff that they may have needed, Cassandra and Rapunzel stood at the door, getting ready for yet another dangerous barely-any-chance-of-survival-quest. Cassandra glanced at Rapunzel, who was getting Fidella ready, and although Rapunzel tried to make it less noticeable, she noticed how the princess stumbled ever so slightly. Cass frowned and sighed. “Raps-”
But Rapunzel snapped her eyes towards her and cut her off. “Don’t even,” She hissed. “I’m not staying here so don’t even try.”
“If this place is as dangerous as they say, you’re a liability.”
“Woah, thanks,” Rapunzel muttered sarcastically.
Cassandra sighed. “You know that’s not what I meant,” Rapunzel looked away and shook her head.
“I’m going,” She said in a ‘that is final’ tone. She then turned towards Cassandra and shot her a glare. “And I’m not the only one who decided to starve myself,”
“I’m not the one still severely underweight.”
“It’s me Clarissa wants revenge on, I’m not going to just sit back and let everyone else fight my fight. Besides, you heard the queen, there’s a possibility Clarissa had help which meant they’re still in town. This also means that they probably want you to leave me alone so they have an opportunity to attack. So it wouldn’t be smart to leave me here anyway. No matter what path we take, there’s a possibility of danger. And I rather take the one where we are together.”
Cassandra opened her mouth to argue because she desperately wanted to but then she closed it and shook her head. “I hate when you're right.”
Rapunzel gave her a half-smirk. “Yeah, well, I learned from the best, hm?” Cassandra rolled her eyes. She couldn't even be mad. She was honestly proud of how the princess looked at every angle instead of just rushing in like she usually did. Looks like she was finally learning.
“Yeah, yeah,” The warrior replied and Rapunzel’s grin widened at the fact that the warrior couldn’t even say anything more about it because she was the one who taught her how to look at every possible outcome. But then Cassandra’s annoyed expression, the same expression that she has worn since they found out, finally shifted into something else. Worry. “Do you think Nova’s alright?”
Rapunzel turned and gave her a reassuring smile. “She might be small, but she’s smart. And she’s our daughter. I’m sure she's fine. If she’s not...” Rapunzel trailed off before her expression turned angry as she walked past Cassandra. “I will finish the job.” She finished off, surprising the hell out of Cassandra with her un-Rapunzel-like violence.
“If I don’t first,” Cassandra interjected, running to catch up to her.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of when it comes to my family.”
Cassandra snorted. “Have you met me?”
“Nooo,” Rapunzel responded with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you tried to murder a woman that could easily overpower you.”
“What? That guard?” She snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
“No, Cass,” Rapunzel shook her head slowly. “The queen. Did you see her muscles? The woman is built like a machine.”
Cassandra raised an eyebrow. “Why were you checking out her muscles?”
Cassandra had to hide a grin when the princess’s face flushed. She still loved teasing her. “I-I wasn’t! B-But it’s not like you could miss them.”
“Mhm,” Cassandra smirked, giving Rapunzel a knowing look. “Sure.”
“S-Stop that,” Rapunzel mumbled, looking away from her intense stare. “She was intimidating.”
“I bet I could be even more intimidating,”
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. “It’s not a contest, Cassandra.”
"It can be,” The warrior commented with a teasing grin. Rapunzel let out an exasperated sigh.
“Just shush and let’s focus on saving Nova.”
Cassandra chuckled. “Right.”
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It didn’t take long before the couple found the place Nova was seemingly being held. To get to the heart of it, they had to go through a canyon though and neither trusted it. It was deathly silent and if the enemies wanted to trap them, they could with ease. They could easily cause a rock slide or corner them by coming from behind them.
“Are you sure there’s no other way to get there?” Rapunzel asked with uncertainty as she looked at the high walls and the slightly narrow passageway.
Cassandra studied the map before responding: “Nope, this is the only way through.”
“They’re bound to know that we're coming now and this would be the perfect place for them to one-up us.”
“I don’t trust it either,” Cassandra commented. “But we don’t really have a choice. Come on,” The warrior stated, taking a deep breath before she started walking forward, entering the rocky area. Rapunzel merely nodded and followed her. Both women walked cautiously, their eyes darting everywhere. The only sounds that could be heard were the click of boots on rock. As soon they entered the canyon, they felt as if something was wrong but having no choice, they continued forward.
As they made their way through the canyon, the feelings only heightened. They felt like they were being watched which, in reality, they probably were. Rapunzel thought she saw something in the corner of her eye but it moved so fast she couldn’t decide if what she saw was real or not. It was when she heard the rustling of clothes behind them that she snapped around but when she turned, nothing was there.
“Raps, what is it?” Cassandra asked in concern but Rapunzel merely scanned the area, her eyes narrowed.
“We are definitely being followed,” She mumbled eventually, not taking her eyes off the scene. The same sound of rustling clothes could be heard to the side of them and this time, Cassandra heard it too. She unleashed her sword and placed herself in front of Rapunzel.
“Who’s there??” Cassandra asked, trying to keep her voice slightly level so that she didn't cause a rockslide.
Whatever they heard seemed to go silent and still before it appeared. They were dressed in all black, from head to toe. “Who are you?” Cassandra demanded.
The cloaked figure didn’t respond. They merely narrowed their eyes before a slow smirk spread across their face. Before either could question it, their questions were unfortunately answered. Probably hundreds of cloak figures appeared; some surrounded them while others were at the top of the canyon, pointing cross-bows at them. Cassandra placed herself more in front of Rapunzel as she slowly backed up but it merely pushed them into the wall. They were trapped.
Cassandra was currently trying to come up with a plan to get out of this but then Rapunzel spoke up first. “Cass, I have a plan.” She whispered. Cassandra kept her eyes trained on the people in front of them but side-eyed her. “But you have to trust me.” Cassandra seemed to hesitate before the image of herself saying the same thing to Rapunzel a couple of years prior popped into her mind. Rapunzel trusted her then so she was gonna trust Rapunzel now. She slowly nodded. “Follow my lead.”
Suddenly Rapunzel pushed from behind her with her hands up and walked toward the main cloaked figure. Cassandra tensed when she saw the cross-bows follow the princess. It took everything she had not to yank the princess backward. “Oh no, you caught us!” The princess said, stopping a couple of inches in front of the coaked-shadow figure. She smiled at the suspicious cloaked figure. “You have us cornered. It takes real skill to do that.”
Cassandra could see what the princess was doing but would it work? Cassandra was surprised to see the cloaked-figure eyes shift ever so slightly. So they had a big ego, good to know. “Not many can trap the ‘star-crossed lovers’,” Rapunzel continued, using the name that society pretty much gave them. “Your trainer would be so proud. I suppose you’re gonna take us to your leader now?” The cloaked figure didn’t say anything.
Rapunzel finally put the last part of her plan in motion as she tilted her head, giving the most innocent smile she could muster. “I bet it will show them how strong and smart you are.” That did it. "You might even be rewarded." The cloaked figure’s eyes switched to one of pride and determination before they signaled to one of their guards to cuff them. “No need for that,” Rapunzel said, raising her hand to stop them. “We’ll go willingly.” The cloaked figure narrowed its eyes in suspicion. “You have us trapped and held at gunpoint, where are we gonna run off to? It’s not like we can fight you either, we’re completely outnumbered.” The cloaked figure seemed to accept that answer but before they could go far, the figure peered around Rapunzel and narrowed their eyes at Cassandra, staring at the sword she still held.
“Cass, I think they want you to drop your sword,” Rapunzel stated hesitantly, knowing that there was a slim chance that Cassandra would even do such a thing.
“What? Hell no.” Cassandra responded bitterly, proving Rapunzel’s point. The cloaked figure narrowed their eyes before raising a hand. Both women heard the click of the cross-bows, meaning they were just loaded.
“Cass, please,” Rapunzel begged. Cassandra met her eyes and with her own, she begged the warrior to just trust her. Something shifted in Cassandra’s eyes before she let out an exasperated sigh and dropped the sword, the sound of metal hitting rock echoing throughout the canyon. Rapunzel took an internal sigh of relief. It was then that one of the guards started pushing Cassandra with the back of their sword.
Cassandra growled but otherwise kept calm. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going, I’m going.” She mumbled sarcastically, starting to walk forward. Rapunzel followed.
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As the duo was led through the canyon, both studied the area, taking note of escape routes and tight places in case they needed to hide or escape. Cassandra then turned and whispered to Rapunzel. “So, what’s the plan when we get there?”
“Uh,” Rapunzel scratched the back of her head and gave her a sheepish smile. “I honestly didn’t think we’d get this far.”
Cassandra deadpanned. “You mean to tell me, you made me drop my only weapon, we are being taken to go knows where to meet their leader, and you don’t have a plan?”
Rapunzel gave her a huff. “Hey, I’m making this up as I go. We’ll figure something out.”
“You’re really bad at this.”
“I didn’t see you having any ideas,” Rapunzel glared. “Besides, we’re not weaponless,” Rapunzel stated, secretly showing the warrior a dagger she had hidden in the waist of her pants.
Honestly, Cassandra was surprised. “I don’t know whether to be mad or proud.”
The princess huffed. “I can plan things out too, you know. I don’t always run head-first into a dangerous situation without having a backup plan.”
Cassandra gave her another deadpan expression. “Rapunzel, that is literally what you have done since I met you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m more cautious now, so.”
“Today or from now on?” She teased. Before Rapunzel could respond, they were cut off.
“Quiet!” The main cloaked figure finally spoke. From the sound of their voice, they were definitely female. “We’re here.” What stood before them was a tall building, it was almost like a castle, but... way creepier. It kinda reminded them of the dark kingdom but the place gave them really bad vibes that neither could explain. There was definitely something that much darker about this place that either knew; something… evil.
But before they could reflect more on it, they were being pushed to move again. The couple studied the inside as they were taken through a long hallway. The inside wasn’t much different from the outside but just much, much creepier. They were suddenly taken to a room and a very large woman, who was much larger than the queen from the town, sat on a throne, her eyes narrowed. The throne she was sitting on kinda reminded both of them about the throne back in Corona that Cassandra destroyed when she had the moonstone. Sharp rocks surrounded the throne. Their leader stared down at them. Rapunzel swallowed and Cassandra tensed.
No one said anything. Deciding she was tired of it, Rapunzel took a step forward, trying to keep her voice level. “Where’s our daughter?” She demanded softly. The leader considered her and she took a second to respond.
She then responded with a simple, “Alive.”
Both women let out an internal sigh of relief. “So, she is here,” Rapunzel confirmed. “You better give her back or-”
The queen chuckled darkly and she stood up slowly. Rapunzel trailed off as she saw how large this woman really was. She was much, much bigger when she was standing up. “Or what?”
“O-Or-” Rapunzel tried to continue but she actually cowered and hid slightly behind Cassandra.
“It was a mistake for you two to come here,” The queen said, her voice dark and calm. Too calm. Deathly calm.
Rapunzel didn’t say anything but Cassandra stepped in. She didn’t care how large this woman was or the fact that they were surrounded, she wasn’t scared. “Give us back our daughter.” She spook, her teeth clenched.
“You’re brave for someone who doesn’t have anything to defend herself with,” The queen responded simply.
Cassandra merely narrowed her eyes. “I can take you down with one arm behind my back.” Rapunzel snapped her frightened eyes toward Cassandra. What the hell was she doing? She shouldn’t be taunting her! Rapunzel wanted to say something but she was actually scared. Which caught her off guard. Why the hell was she so damn scared? Why now?
The queen didn’t respond but merely nodded to one of her guards. One of the guards took a step forward and with a serious amount of strength, struck the warrior in the stomach, causing her to double over with a groan. “Cass!” Rapunzel tried to get to her but her path was blocked. The women standing before her were all incredibly strong, not one without at least 15 scars noticeable on their bodies. Rapunzel backed up. Goddamn it, why the hell was she so scared?!
The queen slowly descended down the steps, her heels clicking on the rocks before she stopped directly in front of Cassandra. Cassandra tried to glare at her but she was kicked in the stomach a second time before being struck across the face. She heard Rapunzel yell her name a second time but she was in too much pain to focus on it. Suddenly, the queen gripped her face tightly and narrowed her eyes. “You think you’re tough?” The queen asked, her voice dark and cruel. “You’re nothing.” She spat.
“Leave her alone!” Rapunzel yelled, trying to move around the tough woman. But then the queen's deathly stare suddenly snapped to her and Rapunzel tensed. The queen roughly let go of Cassandra’s face before slowly walking toward her. The women that were blocking her path moved out of the way. Rapunzel backed up as the overly large woman, who was ten times her size, descended on her. She vaguely heard Cassandra mumble her name with a pained wheeze but she was too focused on the large women before her. Her fight or flight senses kicked in but she couldn't seem to move. Before she knew what was happening, she was suddenly slammed against a wall. But unlike other times were she was slammed against a wall, this one hurt. Badly. It surely knocked the wind out of her and she hoped it didn’t cause any other damage.
“R-Rapunzel!” She heard Cassandra yell but she couldn’t see her. The queen was not only blocking her path but was also the center of her attention. The queen smirked at having her prey pinned. She slowly lifted her hand and Rapunzel flinched but the hand slowly moved to the waist of her pants, grabbing the knife before raising her to her face.
“Naughty, naughty,” The queen spoke, shaking her head with a smirk. Rapunzel didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond. She was just too damn scared. The queen raised her hand and placed it on the princess’s cheek, once again making her flinch, her arms pinned to her sides. Why couldn’t she move them? “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” The queen asked, rubbing her face with the back of her hand. Rapunzel wanted to recoil away with disgust but her body was frozen to the spot.
“Leave her alone!” Cassandra was finally able to get to her feet, wincing in the process. There was something definitely broken from the inside. She pushed past the guards and launched herself at the queen but suddenly, before she could reach her, the queen spun around and pretty much caught her mid-air by her neck. She squeezed tightly, holding her above the ground as Cassandra tried to claw her hands away.
“C-Cass!” Rapunzel yelled. But the queen didn’t budge. With each passing second, she squeezed more and more, moving away from Rapunzel in the process. Still gripping her neck, she then slammed the warrior into the ground and continued to squeeze her neck. The queen's eyes were emotionless and cruel as she slowly watched the life fade from Cassandra’s eyes. Cassandra tried everything to go her off but she was just too strong.
In the corner, Rapunzel watched, her body shaking as she watched her wife literally have her life drained from her. It was when Cassandra let out a pained yelp that something changed in Rapunzel. She felt an anger like no other rise in her and she clenched her fists so tight, her hands were shaking. Her vision blurred and she saw red. It was then she felt a familiar but usually unwanted feeling arise in her. But unlike other times, she accepted it. The queen didn’t seem to notice Rapunzel’s sudden change in behavior but her people did. They all snapped their head towards the princess as the air became stuffy. Wind picked up around her and Rapunzel’s eyes turned black as her pupils turned a ghastly green color. “I said…” The princess panted. “Leave her…. ALONE!” With that, a blast suddenly blasted them all backward, the force of it so hard that it knocked some of them out. But, thankfully, it also blasted the queen away from Cassandra.
Cassandra wheezed and coughed as she tried to catch her breath, her hands on her throat. The warrior peered up and with blurred vision, she saw the princess. There stood Rapunzel, her eyes glowing poison green and her face twisted into an angered expression Cassandra had never seen in her before. Her body shook, she was panting, and her hair turned black and green and started trailing through it like veins. But it stayed the same length. The ground below her turned ash black as the wind surrounded the princess, blowing her hair. She was truly terrifying. Even the queen backed up. Rapunzel didn’t attack though considering Cassandra was still in the middle of them but Cass could tell that the princess was going to lose control at any second.
“Get the hell away from her,” Rapunzel spat, her voice dark and terrifying. Cassandra didn’t know whether to be terrified or turned on.
The queen merely narrowed her eyes and signaled her troops to attack. They didn’t. They hesitated, looking at each other in fear. “What the hell are you useless piece of shits doing? Attack her!” They shared another worried glance before they finally listened. One troop went first but she didn’t get far. With merely a flick of her wrist, Rapunzel blasted the woman into a wall, knocking her out on impact. Rapunzel’s eyes narrowed but she didn’t pay any mind to the other troops, she kept her attention trained on the queen. Honestly, that worried Cassandra. Her eyes were filled with rage like never before and the fact that she didn’t care that she probably just killed someone, worried Cassandra to no end.
Then all hell broke loose. Troops attacked but each and every one fell to Rapunzel’s wrath. Clearly, they weren’t dead, but they were defiantly seriously injured. Once they were all unconscious, Rapunzel stepped over one of the bodies and slowly walked toward the queen. The queen tried to attack her but Rapunzel had her trapped almost immediately as the princess tightly summoned some type of dark shadow mist and it wrapped tightly around the queen's neck. The queen clawed and gurgled but to no use. Rapunzel narrowed her eyes and made the mist wrap even tighter.
Cassandra quickly got to her feet despite the pain that followed. She needed to stop her. “Raps!” She yelled but Rapunzel didn’t even consider her. The wind was deafening. “Rapunzel!” No response. Cassandra was running out of time as she slowly saw the queen's body start to go limp, her arms falling beside her. Cassandra rushed forward and reached out to knock her out of her trance but then she stopped; remembering the first time she tried to knock the princess out of a trance while she was like this. She had a battle with herself as she hesitated. She stared down at her hand that was injured before, the same hand that was finally healing. Cassandra looked between the princess, the queen, and her hand before deciding with a determined look that she couldn’t let her do this. She would never forgive herself.
Squeezing her hand tightly, she reached forward and quickly rushed forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. It was immediate. The familiar but unwanted pain started from her fingers up to the base of her arm as she pulled her hand back with a pained gasp, the glove she was wearing disintegrated as soon as she touched the princess. That seemed to knock Rapunzel out of her trance. Rapunzel, hearing the pained yelp, eyes turned back to normal as she watched for the second time Cass’s hand burn up in flames. “C-Cassandra!” The shadows let the queen go and the queen fell to the floor, immediately falling unconscious. Rapunzel fell to Cassandra’s side as the warrior held the much worse burned appendage to her chest. Unlike the first time, it was in a much worse state and it trailed up almost to her elbow.
“You idiot!” Rapunzel yelled, gently grasping the burned hand in her own hands. “Why’d you do that?!”
“You didn’t hear me…” Cassandra mumbled, her voice filled with pain. “I couldn’t let you go through with it. You would’ve never forgiven yourself.”
“God, it would’ve taken less time for me to forgive myself if I killed her rather than hurting you!” Cassandra was about to say something but suddenly, the room they were in started to shift and move as rocks started falling. “W-We need to go.” She quickly got them both to her feet and she wrapped a hand around Cassandra’s waist to steady her before they both ran out of the room, barely making it out as the room caved in.
They ended up in an area full of dark corridors, the hallway seemingly endless. Rapunzel didn’t think too much about it though as she spun around and once more gripped Cassandra’s arm in her hands. The warrior was barely standing upright, the pain coming from her hand as well as her stomach nearly unbearable. Rapunzel winced and almost recoiled upon actually getting a close look at the damage. It was by far worst than the first time; her skin burnt to almost a crisp. Her hand was blistered, running all the way up to her elbow, and it was pitch black, almost like it was completely ash. Rapunzel couldn’t even touch it for fear that the skin would just peel off.
Rapunzel dug into her handbag and pulled out some bandages. “R-Raps, just leave it. We can deal with it later. We need to find-”
“Shut up,” Rapunzel said simply without looking at her. “I’m not gonna risk you losing your hand to an infection.” She started to gently wrap it or at least she tried. As soon as Rapunzel touched it, even if it was just the smallest of touches, Cassandra instinctively pulled her arm back with a hiss.
“Sorry!” Rapunzel quickly said, holding her hands up.
Cassandra took a couple of deep breaths. Despite her trying to hide it, Rapunzel could tell that the warrior was having a hard time breathing. She was panting slightly. “I-It’s okay, I’m okay.”
“No you’re not!” Rapunzel exclaimed. “That was really, really stupid Cassandra!”
“I admit, it wasn't one of my brighter ideas…” Cassandra mumbled. “But I panicked and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“And it was all for nothing!” She signaled towards the collapsed room. “There is no way that any of them survived after that!”
“It wasn’t like I knew that the place was gonna come down. All I knew was that I needed to get to you before you did something that you would end up hating yourself for.”
“So you threw yourself in the mix?! How does that sound smart to you?!”
Cassandra opened her mouth then closed it and looked away. “Again, it wasn’t one of my brighter ideas.” She mumbled, this time quieter.
“No,” Rapunzel said through clenched teeth. “It was incredibly stupid and dangerous. What if it didn’t knock me out of the trance in time huh?! And I ended up attacking you?! And you yell at me for jumping head-first into dangerous situations!” Before Cassandra had a chance to respond, the princess was already inspecting her other injuries as she hooked her finger under her chin and looked at both sides of her face to inspect the injuries that the queen left. Her eye was swollen and was starting to darken and she had blood dripping down from her lip and nose, which Rapunzel cleaned. Her neck was starting to bruise as well. God, Rapunzel wished nothing more that Cassandra let her kill that excuse of a human being for making her lover suffer like this. Other than that, from what she could see on the outside, Cassandra was fine. It was her hand and the inside that she was worried about. Being this close to her face, she could hear the warrior wheezing and her lungs crackling, her breathing ragged and coming out in pants. That wasn’t good. “Stupid idiot…” Rapunzel mumbled but this time, there was no bite to her tone, only worry.
“I knew you wouldn’t attack me,” Cassandra said after some minutes when she knew Rapunzel had calmed down a bit. “Even if you were still in the trance, I knew you would be able to stop yourself.”
“Yeah, like I did the first time?” Rapunzel asked bitterly.
“There were no shadow people to control you which was the only reason why you attacked me in the first place.”
“You don’t know that,” Rapunzel stated. “What they told us could be BS. Besides, you knew that you were gonna get hurt.”
Cassandra looked away. “I had to take that chance.” She whispered.
Rapunzel sighed and grabbed her hand again and with a much softer touch, she started wrapping her hand. This time, Cassandra didn’t pull away but the pain was so bad, it pretty much brought her to tears. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep them in. Rapunzel’s hand shook as she wrapped it without looking at her face but the more the bandages touched her, the more pain it brought, and with more pain, came more tears. Whether she wanted them to or not. God, why was she being so weak? She tried everything to hold them back it just hurt so damn bad. It wasn’t long before the warrior's hand started to shake uncontrollably. It was then that Rapunzel finally looked up to see her face and what she saw broke her heart.
Cassandra had tears running down her face and that’s how Rapunzel knew how bad it must've hurt. Cassandra rarely ever cried and she’s never seen her cry for an injury, not even the first time it happened. Rapunzel could also see the amount of pain she was in with her eyes. They told her the whole story despite the warrior trying to hide it. Cassandra looked away because she didn’t want to make Rapunzel feel worse than she knew she already did. “Oh, Cass..” The princess’s voice broke as she raised a shaky hand to place it on her cheek. She leaned up and pressed a loving kiss to one of her eyes as she wiped the tears. “....I’m so sorry..” The princess’s voice broke, tears of guilt and worry welling up in her own eyes.
Cassandra immediately snapped her eyes back to Rapunzel’s and despite the amount of pain she was in, her self-will to take care of Rapunzel and make her feel better was by far much greater. The warrior raised her other hand and placed it on Rapunzel’s cheek before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’m okay…” It was a lie and they both knew it.
Rapunzel slowly shook her head. “No, you’re not.” She said softly.
Cassandra looked down, knowing in reality that she most certainly wasn't. “Okay, maybe not,” She admitted. It took everything she had to admit to that. “But I’ll be okay." Wanting to change the subject, she quickly added: "We should go find Nova.” Knowing she was right, Rapunzel merely nodded. Cass took a step forward but immediately winced. Without saying a word, Rapunzel grabbed her arm, the one not injured, and placed it around her shoulders before placing a steady arm around her waist. For once, Cassandra accepted the help.
“And you were worried about me getting hurt…” Rapunzel mumbled. “God, you can be such an idiot sometimes, you know that?”
“I know,” Cassandra responded softly.
“You need to stop this… I can’t watch you keep getting hurt because of me.”
“I know,” Cassandra admitted a second time before saying, sincerely: “I’m sorry. It was stupid, I know, but-”
“Yeah, it was,” Rapunzel said softly. “But it came from a good place of heart. I just wish you didn’t put yourself at risk.”
“Well, I’m still alive so that’s a plus.”
Rapunzel rolled her eyes. “Unless you have internal bleeding.”
“Please, she was large but she wasn’t that tough. A couple of broken ribs maybe but it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Rapunzel gave her a confused look. “When did you break your ribs?”
Cassandra shrugged. “When I was out on the road,” She responded. “Thanks to Carina. She got us caught during a job. Then, it was so bad, I couldn’t move for at least two weeks. So we’re already off to a good start.”
Rapunzel giggled. “I bet you hated being stuck in a bed for two weeks.”
Cassandra groaned but it hurt pretty damn bad to do so. Breaking her ribs was probably one of the worst pains she ever had to go through, even more so than her burnt hand from the first time. But now, her hand hurt so much worse than her possible broken ribs. “You have no idea. And it took so much longer for me to actually heal. And I had to go through it alone, Carina disappeared on me until I was good enough to leave.”
Rapunzel nearly scoffed at the audacity of that woman. She was still learning about the demented warrior but it never got any better. The more she learned, the more she hated the women. “I’m so sorry, Cass,” Rapunzel said sincerely.
The warrior merely shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now, I’m over it. I’m over her. I have been for a long time.”
“....How much did she wrong you?”
Cassandra took a chance to look at the princess and she could tell it was a serious question. Cassandra shrugged. Again. “A lot,” She responded. “I didn’t realize it then though. Well, deep down maybe, but I mostly just ignored it.”
“No one should have to be alone, especially when they’re injured and in a hospital…”
Cassandra couldn’t help but smile at Rapunzel’s Rapunzel like-behavior. Although Rapunzel’s skill of over-loving people could sometimes be annoying, Cassandra always admired that in her; her ability to care for others unconditionally no matter the circumstances. It was one of her favorite things about her. With her unburnt hand, the warrior slipped her hand into Rapunzel’s. “It’s in the past,” She commented, smiling at the princess. Rapunzel returned the smile. “Besides, I have you now, so none of it matters.”
Rapunzel squeezed the warrior's hand softly. “I love you too,” She responded, smiling. The warrior returned it. It was then that both women heard a cut-off cry. They immediately recognized it. “That was Nova!” Rapunzel said quickly as she tried to locate where the sound came from.
Cassandra didn't respond, she merely started searching around. “Nova!” Cassandra yelled into the abyss, looking around. “Make another sound sweetheart so we can find you!” It was silent for a good 30 seconds and the duo waited, their breaths being held, their hearts racing and their brains panicked. Suddenly, another cry could be heard.
“Mommy! Mama!” Their attention immediately was directed toward a door at the end of the hallway. They immediately started rushing but not without Cassandra almost falling over by the sudden movement. Rapunzel was going to stop her and run ahead but the warrior was already halfway down the hallway. Damn, talk about persistence. Before Rapunzel could stop the warrior, Cassandra kicked open the door.
Rapunzel could immediately hear her wheezing get worse as she caught up to the warrior. But they didn’t have time to dwell on it because what stood before them was a terrified Nova with a Clarissa holding her up, a knife placed close to her little neck. “Let her go, Clarissa,” Rapunzel spoke, taking a step forward, her voice dark and deadly.
Clarissa laughed. She laughed. “I don’t think you’re in any position to give demands, princess,” She pressed the nice closer to her neck, causing a scared cry to erupt out of the 2-year-old.
“You’re sick,” Cassandra spat. “Kidnapping a two-year-old just because you got rejected and blasted into a wall then holding her at knifepoint? Of all the human beings in this cruel world, you’re one of the worse.”
Clarissa narrowed her eyes and pressed the tip of the neck against her neck. “You better watch what you say.” Cassandra tensed and this time, she stayed quiet.
Clarissa smirked. “Good. Look, you can shut up.” It took everything in Cassandra to not respond with a snarky remark or attack her right on the spot. They needed to get Nova away from her first.
“You don’t want to do this,” The princess tried to reason with her.
Again, Clarissa laughed. “Don’t even try to use that ‘I’m better than this’ manipulative shit. I know all about you, princess,” Clarissa said with a smirk. “And I take pride in being a cold-blooded killer.” Then her voice lowered as she looked Rapunzel up and down and licked her lips. “I always get what I want.”
Rapunzel narrowed her eyes and as she met her daughter's terrified eyes, something changed in her. She took another step forward, and Clarissa took a step back. Then with the most deadly voice Cassandra had ever heard her use, she said: “If you don’t let her go, you’ll be very, very sorry.” It even nearly made Cassandra shiver.
“Oh please,” Clarissa responded with a roll of her eyes. “What are you going to do? Blast me into a wall again?” Rapunzel didn’t respond. Cassandra could feel something change in the room. She watched as the princess’s fist tightly clenched, again so tightly, it was shaking. She could see the princess's eyes shifting from her normal color to a dark venomous green. Cassandra had to back up. Oh no, not again…
But Clarissa just had to push her one more time. She had no idea what Rapunzel was truly capable of. “You know, killing the weak ones is my favorite thing to do. I just love to hear them scream…” It was when Clarissa pressed the knife more against the little girl's neck and a cry of pain followed that Rapunzel snapped. It all happened so fast. One second Clarissa had Nova and the next she was shot backward, making her drop Nova unharmed who got up and ran to Cassandra as soon as she was free. Rapunzel slammed the demented warrior into the wall with the shadowed mist from before.
“You’re a sick, twisted, scum of a human being,” Rapunzel said through clenched teeth, her voice filled with a rage like Cassandra had never heard before. She was directly in the warrior's face at this point as she pressed her more firmly into the wall with the shadow mist. “And I’m going to end your pathetic little life.”
Clarissa smirked, her teeth stained blood red. “Go ahead,” She said. “Show your family the kind of monster you really are. You don't fool me, princess. No one is as kind and compassionate as you claim to be.” She whispered that part.
That made Rapunzel stop. In the corner of her eyes, she glanced at Nova, who was hiding in Cassandra’s shirt. She then met Cassandra’s eyes who were begging her to stop, to not let her win, that this wasn’t her, that she was better than this. She then looked back at Clarissa and narrowed her eyes dangerously, she raised her wrist towards her, her eyes glowing. Cassandra tensed. She knew she couldn’t stop her, and god knows that women deserved a fate worse than death, but Cassandra couldn’t let their daughter watch her own mother kill another person. She was about to stop her but she already realized it was too late and there was nothing she could do other than hide Nova’s face away from the scene. The poor girl was already scared enough.
Cassandra watched as Clarissa’s eyes switched in the realization that her bluff didn’t work. The demented warrior waited, her face twisted into an unreadable expression. But instead of Rapunzel killing her, the princess raised her palm above Clarissa’s head and with the weird shadowed mist, she blasted directly above her, merely inches away from taking her head off. The wall above her had a gigantic hole in it now, parts of it still fire hot. “You’re not worth it.” Rapunzel eventually said with a cold tone as she backed away. Clarissa slowly slid down the wall, her eyes wide in horror and fear at the fact that she was merely almost killed. That’s what Rapunzel wanted, to show her what she was capable of.
“Let’s go, Cassandra,” Rapunzel said, walking past her, her voice still on edge and pissed off. Cassandra merely nodded but she couldn’t help but smile.
---------------------------------
Outside the dark castle, Rapunzel finally let out a sigh of relief. “That was pretty cool,” Cassandra spoke, catching up to her.
“I told you nothing gets in the way of protecting my family.”
“Nah, that part was hot,” Cassandra commented, whispering slightly so Nova wouldn’t hear her. Rapunzel wanted to reprimand her for speaking of such a thing in front of Nova but a blush betrayed her. “I mean the part where you kept full control.”
“....Trust me, I almost did lose control. But I couldn’t do that to Nova. The poor thing has already been traumatized enough.”
As soon as the little girl heard her name, they heard a small “Mommy…” It caught Rapunzel off guard considering the little girl hadn’t said that ever since she basically told her that she never wanted her. The little girl pulled back and looked at Rapunzel before reaching her hands, her little eyes filled with tears. Rapunzel gave Cassandra an unsure look but the warrior merely smiled and handed the princess the 2-year-old.
Nova immediately clung onto Rapunzel, digging her face into her neck. Rapunzel wrapped her arms tightly around the little girl. “I got you, sweetheart.” She said softly.
“I got you.”
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