Twisted Destiny

Consequences

"Who ARE you?!" Cassandra demanded again.

"We must speak without witnesses." The man threw a hand out towards them. Rapunzel gasped as Cassandra, Varian and the young Royal Guard horses all glowed purple before collapsing. She checked on them and then looked at the man as he approached her. "Princess Rapunzel."

She slowly got up. "How do you know who I am?"

"I am Kline, the True Seer. I came to Corona because I saw you were going to do this, and that I had to stop you." He approached her. "Time travel is a very delicate magic, Sundrop. Even the slightest change can have dire consequences, and you've gone and caused so many ripples that the present is a mess right now."

"A-A mess?" Rapunzel asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's better that you don't see it. Let's just say that Varian and Cassandra are both quite fragile mentally and your offering them the possibility of a friendship they never had led to some...problems." Kline sighed heavily. "You see, Rose vanished and never returned. There was no sign of her, and Cassandra searched for her tirelessly before finally giving up and deciding that it must have been a prank set by one of the other Royal Guard children. Varian, who was already hurt by the loss of his mother, suddenly had a friend disappear on him, and he grew afraid to get close to anyone, to trust anyone, but he still trusted you, the Princess...and you know what happened normally with you and him. Cassandra took his side after going to find him after the blizzard because of their closer relationship and finding out what had been caused by your touching the rocks."

"Oh no." Rapunzel breathed.

"When Varian was defeated, Cassandra took him into hiding and then they followed you to the Dark Kingdom and stole the Moonstone together. Which led to some...well, you don't want to see it. It's ugly. And that is why I have come back here to set things right. Everything that happened here must be undone. No one must be aware you were here."

"Can they at least be friends? I mean, Varian was at Xavier's anyway." She pleaded.

"She only agreed to spend time with him because you gave Xavier the idea. She collected the box and left without a glance his way originally." Kline shook his head "We must undo everything you influenced."

Rapunzel hung her head. "...I just...wanted them to be happy. I wanted Cassandra to have had someone care about her just once."

"Cassandra's delusions about no one caring for her are false, and you know it." Kline said firmly. "The only thing 'Rose' would do is make things worse, and her early connection with young Varian would only lead to trouble when he inevitably is driven to madness and attacks you."

Rapunzel nodded. "I...I understand. What do we do?"

Kline pulled out the Saporian Wand of Oblivium. "We put everything back where it was and make everyone forget about you. I will cast a sleeping spell on the Kingdom, which will allow us to set things right." He waved his free hand and she gasped as she was changed into her true form. "There. That will be better to work with."

Rapunzel nodded and knelt down to lift Varian into her arms. "I don't want to leave him like this..."

"This is how it must be, Princess. We cannot alter the flow of time. Time travel is not meant for such things." Kline said gently.

"What is it meant for, then?" Rapunzel asked.

"Collecting seeds of an extinct plant, for one thing. Certainly not talking to people." He walked away from her. "I will return shortly, once the Kingdom is put to sleep. Remain here until I return."