Rapunzel let out a sigh as she looked up from a scroll she was reading. "I don't believe it."
"What? What is it?" Hookfoot asked.
"It's another incantation!" Rapunzel revealed.
"Another Sundrop incantation?" Cassandra asked.
"No..." Rapunzel frowned.
"The Moonstone, then?" Varian walked over to her to look over her shoulder. "The same person translated this one." He murmured.
"The Sundrop's power was to heal." Cassandra looked towards the pictures non the wall. "What's the Moonstone's?"
Varian frowned. "Wait, maybe you shouldn't test it out." He said as Rapunzel walked away from him. "Rapunzel!"
"Wither and decay. End this destiny. Break these earthly chains, and set the spirit free." Rapunzel paused, checked her hair, then shrugged before repeating it. "Wither and decay. End this destiny. Break these earthly chains, and set the spirit free."
This time, something happened. A flower died, and the ground and walls started to turn blue. "Uhhh, Raps?" Cassandra said nervously.
"Rapunzel, stop!" Varian said firmly.
She seemed to be in a trance, and then her hair turned black and broke free of its braids, drifting in the air like it was alive as she started to sing the incantation.
Varian clenched his fists as everyone fell to their knees around him, begging her to stop as they gasped for air. He glared at a lock of hair that was near him and pushed it aside as he angrily stormed over.
"Varian! Stop!" Cassandra coughed.
"If you get too close--" Adira started.
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Varian yelled, moving in front of Rapunzel. "CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE--What happened to your eyes?! They're black like ink!"
He looked past her at the others and then raised his clenched fist before he opened it and then pulled his hand back to slap her across the face. She fell into the water, her hair returning to normal, as he watched his glove burn away, leaving his uninjured hand exposed to the open air.
"Varian!" Cassandra yelled angrily.
"Oww..." Rapunzel whimpered.
"That was my mother's glove!" Varian fumed. "Are you awake now, Princess?!"
"Uhm...uh-huh." She slowly got up.
"Does it hurt?" He asked. She nodded. "Good. Rapunzel, do you remember when I asked about my father's past and Aunt Adira mentioned the Moonstone creating a plague? Congratulations, you just recreated that plague!"
Rapunzel hung her head. "I'm sorry, everyone."
Varian sighed and looked at his bare hand before he stormed over to take off his backpack and get his spare gloves out, putting the remaining one into the backpack where it'd be safe.
"How did you do that?" Adira asked him while everyone else went to Rapunzel's side.
"Do what?" Varian asked as he fastened his spare gloves on.
"Touch her. You should have lost the use of your hand. And the plague didn't affect you at all?" Adira's brow furrowed.
"I have no idea, Aunt Adira, I'm still processing it all myself." He replied. "I can't believe she just...she needs to listen to me!"
Adira looked thoughtful, then looked towards where Cassandra was fussing over Rapunzel's cheek.
--
Lance laughed. "Hey, buddy, y'know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say we're about to get eaten by a flower!"
"You are spot-on, and it looks like I'm going in headfirst!" Eugene laughed. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, huh?"
"Not these ones, my sweet." They heard someone say, and then the vines lifted them up higher so they could see Lucas standing by the flower.
"Oh, haha, it's that guy that creeps Varian out!" Eugene said, laughing.
"Look at you, too much of the happy-dust, hm? Darling, why don't you drop them over there. I found you something better." Lucas cooed.
Eugene and Lance got dropped on the ground and then they blacked out. When they came to, the flower was closed again, the vines were still and Lucas was leaning over them.
"Uh...what happened?" Eugene asked.
"You were almost eaten by a flower. I considered letting it happen, but then they'd be too distracted with their grief to be entertaining." He looked up as the animals all came in. "Oh, look. Your ride back is here."
Ruddiger ran up to them and chattered angrily at Lucas. "Calm down, I was helping them. They almost got eaten by that flower, see?" He gestured to it. Ruddiger gave an "I'm watching you" motion and then went to nudge Eugene and Lance into getting up.
"I know you were all...'buddying', but did you feel that wave of energy earlier?" Lucas asked, getting up.
"Uh...no?" Eugene frowned.
"You might want to go rejoin the princess. See you around, don't fall for any more traps." He vanished in a burst of green flame.
"You know, all that spontaneous combustion he keeps doing is gonna burn this tree down." Lance commented.
"Let's get back." Eugene said as they got up fully and held onto Maximus so he could lead their woozy selves to the others.
--
"Eugene!" Rapunzel cried with relief when they came into the scroll room. "You're back!"
"Rapunzel! What's UP?" He then collapsed with Lance.
"Eugene?!" She ran over to check on him.
Cassandra checked on them. "They just passed out. They're fine, Raps." She assured her.
Varian looked up from the scroll he was reading. "What do you think happened to them?"
"We'll have to ask when they wake up." Rapunzel sighed. "For now, uhm...we'll just have to wait."
--
After they woke up, they continued on through the tree. "I get he did it to wake you up, but couldn't he have used a gentler method? This is going to bruise!" Eugene said with concern as he looked at Rapunzel's cheek.
"I-It's fine. It's a reminder to not cause another plague." Rapunzel nodded. "We're fine, really. He was upset, and worried, that's all. He told me it might be bad and, well, he was right!" She chuckled awkwardly.
Eugene sighed and looked back at Varian, who was looking distracted by their surroundings as they walked.
--
Late in the night, they stopped at a platform and finally rested their weary legs. Eugene walked over and looked over the edge. "Whoa! Whoa. It's a long way down." He sat down.
"I guess this means we're at the halfway point." Rapunzel said encouragingly.
"I suggest we camp out here for the night." Adira said, looking weary herself.
"No way." Cassandra insisted. "We are getting out of this tree as soon as possible."
"Cassandra, unless you want to single-handedly carry all of us, that's not happening." Varian shook his head.
"Cass," Rapunzel walked over to her, "we could use the rest."
"Rapunzel, this place almost got us killed an hour ago!" Cassandra insisted.
"It wasn't this place, it was Rapunzel not listening to warnings!" Varian frowned. "It was whoever wrote the translation that got her to read it, not this place!"
Cassandra frowned. "How do we know that wasn't Adira's handwriting? She could have set us up for--"
"DID ADIRA KIDNAP PRINCESS RAPUNZEL AND LOCK HER IN A TOWER FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS?!" He roared, and Cassandra flinched back. "You're smarter than that, Cassandra. You know who translated those incantations."
Cassandra sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just...this place freaks me out."
"How do you think I feel, I've got Lucas watching my every move again! But we're all tired, so we're going to rest. If you're that concerned, we can take shifts guarding, okay?" He sat down and sighed, stroking Ruddiger's fur when he climbed into his lap.
"Cassandra, we're staying the night here. We're all too tired to keep walking." Rapunzel said, nodding.
"...I'll take first watch, then." Cassandra nodded.
Lance took off his vest. "Hey, Varian." He tossed it to him.
"Oof! Geez what do you have in your pockets, a boo--hey, when did you?" He pulled his "Flynnigan Rider" book out of the vest pocket.
Lance grinned. "Enjoy!"
Varian settled down to read, while Adira prepared food for everyone.
--
Rapunzel sighed as she curled up against the wall. She hated it, had been trying to deny it to herself, but Varian was right. Gothel had to have learned the incantation from somewhere, and the handwriting on the other incantation was the same. Gothel had been here, possibly more than once, in her long, long life. She had no idea of how long Gothel had lived.
"You're looking kind of glum, Your Highness." Lucas said from beside her.
She gasped and quickly got up. "Where did you come from?!"
"Thin air." Lucas chuckled. "Relax, I don't mean you any harm. I'm off-duty." He winked at her. "And I don't target girls."
Rapunzel looked around and realized no one else had noticed him yet. "... Eugene and Lance told me that you saved them. Thank you."
"Moping and crying never makes for a decent show." He shrugged. "So, what's got you so sad, hm?"
"Hey, Blond--WHOA!" Eugene ran over to them. "What do you want now?!"
"To talk." Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Is that not allowed? You come in my house and expect me to ignore you're here?"
Eugene sighed. "Just talk?"
"Just talk." Lucas nodded.
Eugene looked at Rapunzel, who smiled reassuringly. "...Alright." He nodded. "But I'm staying right here."
"Cassandra should be doing that, shouldn't she?" Lucas mused. "Ah well, she's got her own issues."
Rapunzel took a deep breath, then let it go. "Did Gothel ever come here?"
"'Come here'? Shoot, that dame used to live here before we all got evicted." Lucas chuckled. "She probably came back a few times, yeah."
"Evic--Gothel was a Disciple of Zhan Tiri?" Rapunzel asked.
"Sure was." He hummed. "Hear she's dead now, though. Ah well, she lived a long life." He shifted his foot a bit. "Looks like my little bird is giving me the Look of Death. I'll leave you be." He walked off and jumped into the abyss.
"What did he want?" Varian asked as he came over to her.
"Uhm...just to talk, I guess." Rapunzel shrugged.
"Hm." Varian looked at where he went warily.
--
Honestly, she'd almost forgotten. After so long on the road together, Cassandra had almost forgotten about the woman that trapped Rapunzel for all of her formative years, forcing her to keep her young. She hadn't thought they would be finding reminders of her kidnapping out here, but there it was, right on paper. Rapunzel didn't say anything so she didn't think about it, but Varian had put two and two together and realized that it must've been Gothel.
She'd been so focused on protecting Rapunzel from the physical that she didn't even think she'd have to protect her from the memories, from the metaphorical ghost of the woman that hurt her. And this place was full of reminders of unpleasant things.
The art class had been traumatic for Rapunzel, though she'd kept quiet about it. Lance had also been through the experience, though he, like Rapunzel, hid his pain behind a smile.
And then there was Adira. She wasn't a reminder, well she kind of was one of the original quest, but she was a wild card. She had sworn to protect the Dark Kingdom, but she wanted to destroy the Moonstone. She was a sister to Varian's father and the feral man Hector, and Varian's aunt, though neither of them seemed to know what to do with with the revelation besides Varian asking questions about his father, questions to answers he'd been longing to know.
From what she was gathering, the Quirin Varian knew and the Quirin Adira knew were vastly different. It was like Varian had been raised by an evil twin or something, or maybe they just didn't know the man. Not that Cassandra knew him at all, she had seen him maybe once or twice and the big thing that stuck out to her was Varian's hurt expression when he scolded him with a disappointed tone without even hearing him out beyond an apology. Varian had then attempted to reach him, but his father had moved on and walked away while Varian started to literally pick up the pieces of his invention which, if Eugene was to be believed, was brilliant. Hot, running water? No more heating water over a fire and carrying it to the bath? No more cold showers? If he could actually get it to work...
But, that was his problem, wasn't it? Something always went wrong, one wrong variable - a loose screw, a digit, a broken promise, a drunk, old man, piercing, black rocks - always destroyed his efforts and he was left picking up the pieces, literally or metaphorically.
And then there was her. She didn't know why Rapunzel would bring her, if not to protect and serve her. That was her purpose, her role, why...
To be completely honest, she hadn't wanted to come. She hadn't wanted to leave Corona and the life she knew. She'd left out of duty, she'd joined Rapunzel to keep her safe, it was the King's order.
The King's order. The King's order had put Varian in chains instead of rehab, with sickening scars on his back and sharp, piercing screams that woke them up in the middle of the night. The King's order had put a grieving, desperate child under heavily-guarded house-arrest until he lost his mind and committed treason to try to get his life, his only family, back. The King's order had ended countless lives for little crimes because a grieving father with too much power blamed every criminal for his daughter's disappearance. The King's order had uprooted a flower and caused a sentient rock in another Kingdom to respond in a way meant to protect the place the Sundrop stood, and then try to reach her to call her to it.
The King's order had locked a traumatized daughter in a tower only a year after she escaped the one she'd been trapped in for eighteen years. Had, according to Rapunzel quietly confiding in her, intended to lock a fifteen-year-old genius practically-orphaned boy underground for the rest of his life as a slave to the Crown.
But, Cassandra wasn't just here because of the King's order. She was here because Rapunzel wanted her to be here. She was here for the same reason Lance and Eugene and Hookfoot were here. She was here, probably, as a friend.
She looked over at her and gasped, seeing Lucas leaving. She quickly got up and went to her. "What happened, where did he come from, are you hurt?!"
"Caaaass, I'm fine!" Rapunzel assured her. "We were just talking. Apparently, uhm, Gothel used to work for Zhan Tiri! Hah, isn't that funny?!"
She was not fine. Cassandra noticed Varian standing nearby and realized that, while she'd been moping, he'd probably been making sure Lucas left her alone.
She frowned a bit; it was her role to keep creeps away from Rapunzel. And yet, she'd been failing left and right, letting Varian get close to her despite knowing his intentions, letting Adira even though she was an unknown.
"...Yeah. Funny." She finally said, her brow furrowed.
"Yeah, it's... it's like, no matter what, I can't get away." Rapunzel's voice was shaking now and Cassandra sat next to her as Eugene sat on her other side. "Wh-What if that dream back then was right? What if she's not really gone?"
"Lucas confirmed she was dead, and he has no reason to lie for her. He's a creep but an honest one." Varian assured her. "The most you have to fear is her ghost hanging around, but you've never seen that, right?"
"R-Right." Rapunzel nodded.
"So, relax. She's just a memory now." He walked off to get back to his book.
"...I really can't figure that kid out." Eugene frowned.
Rapunzel and Cassandra nodded, and then Cassandra got up. "I gotta get back to my patrol."
"Oh, uhm...be safe." Rapunzel nodded.
Cassandra walked off, glaring at Adira as she passed her.
--
Rapunzel sighed. "Hey, Eugene, has Cass seemed a little...tense to you?"
"Uh, you mean any more than usual?" Eugene raised an eyebrow. "I mean, she's always been angry, impatient and brooding, not to mention distrustful."
"I-I know, but I thought she was feeling a little better. But, ever since we left the island...no, even before that, it's been hard to connect with her." Rapunzel admitted.
"Let me put it this way." Eugene stretched out a bit. "Have you ever had a normal conversation with her dad? She was raised by one of the strictest, meanest, most spiteful guys I know, and I know a lot of guys. Frankly, if I hadn't done anything but was being detained for weeks by that guy and his goons, I'd probably consider going into crime, too."
"What do you mean?" Rapunzel looked at him.
"I mean, Varian said it himself, he was dodging the Captain's sword for weeks." Eugene sighed. "Cap probably taught Cassandra to act like every unknown is an enemy and to not trust anyone with a criminal reputation. I used to be a thief, so she doesn't trust me. Plus, I'm dating the princess which is," he did air-quotes, "'suspicious', because I must have 'ulterior motives'. And then there's Adira, who is an unknown. She at least knows what Varian is planning, he's made it pretty clear: Get the Moonstone, save his dad, and probably beat the crap out of your dad and, frankly, I see no reason to stop him from getting a few hits in. No teenager's back should look like a scratched up tree-trunk."
Rapunzel nodded, looking guilty. "You're right..."
"As for Cass? She's the same as she's always been. She's always 'on-duty', Sunshine, I don't think she knows how to relax. I mean, we've certainly been trying to teach her and she's been kind of learning, but she's gone full bodyguard mode here and, honestly, I don't blame her." Eugene got up. "Come on, smells like food's about ready."
Rapunzel nodded and got up with him. "I just wish she would talk to me."
"Not everyone wants to, and pushing only makes it worse." Eugene said gently. "But, if you want to try anyway, well..." He nodded towards Cassandra.
Rapunzel nodded and walked over to sit next to where Cassandra was sitting. "Done with patrol?"
"Nothing to report." Cassandra sighed.
"That's...not why I'm here." Rapunzel sighed. "I know you're upset about us taking Adira's advice."
"It's not just Adira." Cassandra sighed. "I can understand when you don't have a choice because of Varian holding our home hostage, but even before we picked him up, you've been..." She looked to the side. "When did you stop trusting my judgement?"
Rapunzel sighed and moved in front of her. "Cass, you are so important to me, and the closest thing I will ever have to a big sister. I value your advice more than anyone's. But, as future Queen, I have to think about what is best for everyone. I already screwed up once as Queen for one day, and I'm trying to learn to be a better one. And that means listening to advice from everyone, not just you, and sometimes I have to think for myself on what to do." She took her hands gently. "So, I ask you, please start trusting my judgement. Because, listening to others instead of myself is what put Varian behind bars for months at my father's mercy. I need to start trusting my judgement, and I hope you will do the same."
Cassandra looked down at her, then over at Varian, who was curled up with his book again, lost in the adventures that filled his childhood before it was ripped away from him by an accident and a King who didn't care about him beyond making him a useful tool.
She sighed and looked back at Rapunzel. "Okay, Raps. I trust you."
Rapunzel smiled and hugged her.