Chapter Text
Cassandra was so fed up with all of this nonsense.
Like everything up until now wasn’t bad enough, really. First the Great Tree and the frustrating situation with Adira, then Rapunzel nearly murdering her with that stupid incantation, then all of her pitiful attempts of so called reconciling, then Cassandra’s unintentional use of that Saporian memory wand or whatever, and now that.
She new that they really shouldn't stay in here from the moment she first saw this place. The weird house made entirely out of shells randomly staying in the middle of nowhere? It just screamed trouble to her.
Not that Rapunzel was even listening to her warnings, of course. She and the rest of their party were already halfway into this building before Cass could even voice her concerns. So typical.
And this suspicious guy with strange clothes and even stranger accent was giving Cass all types of red flags.
“I never use one word when two will do.”
“Please, enjoy your stay… however long that may be.”
It was so obvious to her that this guy was up to something. But, of course, she was the only one of the group that saw something wrong with this entire scenario. She was almost getting used to frustration. Almost.
They needed to get out of here while they still can, she was sure of it.
At least in “their” shared room Rapunzel had nowhere to escape from her. She needed to convince her to return to caravan, or she may lose her chance.
“Something’s not right,” she grumbled, sitting on the annoyingly comfortable and dry bed.
“What do you mean?” Rapunzel asked without turning to look at her.
“I mean, why is this huge place just sitting here in the middle of nowhere? And that guy, or innkeeper, or whatever he is, just takes us in, offers food and a place to stay for the night without asking for a single coin? I’m telling you, it just doesn’t make sense!”
She stood up and came closer to Rapunzel, making it impossible for the princess to ignore her this time.
The blonde finally turned towards her. For a moment she looked almost concerned, but her expression quickly changed to that confident smirk that was making Cassandra insane for some time now, and not in a good way.
“Look, Cass, I know this is weird, but you’ve got to admit, this isn’t the weirdest thing we’ve seen on the road.”
Cassandra was ready to argue further, but before she could say anything, there was knocking at the door. Rapunzel went to open it just to reveal Eugene standing there with stupid, cheerful grin plastered on his dumb face.
“What are you two waiting for? Dinner’s ready!” he announced cheerfully.
Rapunzel tuned back to Cass with encouraging smile, which in different circumstances surely wouldn’t be that infuriating.
“Ugh, fine,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.
It wasn’t like she had any chance of convincing them all at once. And, after all, she was a little hungry.
She could only hope that her intuition was wrong for once and staying here for the night wasn’t such a terrible idea.
Except of course it was.
Or not quite, actually. It was way, way worse than Cassandra could’ve ever anticipated.
As she walked through the halls of this so called house with Lance and Eugene by her side and Owl on her arm, she pondered the events of the past two days in distaste.
The trouble began very early on. Even before dinner ended, all of their party, except for Rapunzel and Pascal, were trapped in some black and white mirror dimension with evil demonic doppelgängers replacing them in the real world. Stuff like that weren’t even that surprising to her anymore, except they could’ve avoided this entire ordeal if only Rapunzel and the rest listened to her for once.
“I said we shouldn't come to this place, but did anyone listen? No…” she grumbled, laying on the floor after another unsuccessful attempt of breaking out.
“No, we did not. But in our defence, we never listen to you,” Eugene responded casually.
“You know what, Fitzherbjerk, I’ve had about enough of yours…” she snapped at him.
She had half a mind to give him blow to the head just to have a moment of peace.
And maybe she’d actually do that, if Lance didn’t interrupt with his little speech about how bickering wasn’t helping anyone and they needed to work together if they ever wanted to get out of there. Which was, in fact, sort of a good point. Both Cass and Eugene reluctantly agreed to put their bickering aside, at least for the time being.
And then, for a brief moment, it seemed like perhaps everything was going to work out at the end. They did defeat the demons by working together. They shared a group hug, and then some nice moments near the fireplace.
Cassandra hated the decision to stay in this damned “house” for the night after all, but at this point she was simply too exhausted to argue with everyone else. And, quite frankly, even the floor of this demonic trap looked more welcoming than the weather outside right now. Maybe if they stayed together for the night, they will be able to spot any dangers waiting around.
The rest of the night was, surprisingly, relatively peaceful, without any new demon attacks or anything like that.
And the next morning front doors of the house disappeared.
While looking for another way out, they saw some new weird, dangerous and completely random things, like tornado that almost sucked Cassandra into a void, a pack of huge dogs with pointy teeth and enormous room full of toys of all shapes and sizes.
Cassandra was dead set on getting out of this place as fast as possible, but of course the rest of her party was too busy playing with the toys to take anything seriously. She didn’t quite understand herself when she got distracted by a spinning top of all things. Maybe the exhaustion of the previous weeks was finally getting to her.
Whatever this was, it was obviously a mistake. She shouldn't forget for even a second where she was.
Lance, Shorty and herself were forced to spend the rest of the day in bodies and mind states of the small children, chased around by panicked Rapunzel and Eugene.
They only managed to turn them back to normal at the last minute. And though at first Cass was just overwhelmed with relief, the perspective of spending another night in this place without a possible way out was straight up terrifying.
But Cassandra was never the one to show fear or weakness, so she didn’t say anything.
She did, however, have a full intention of giving them all a talk about visiting ominous houses in the middle of nowhere and stranger danger and all of that stuff as soon as they leave this place. She couldn't believe she had to put up with a bunch of actual children in the bodies of twentysomethings.
But of course, the next morning they woke up only to find that Rapunzel, who was supposed to take the last watch for the night, disappeared on them completely.
So now they were searching through the corridors of the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, frantically looking for their friend.
At least she and Eugene did. Shorty also disappeared on them, but that was kind of normal behaviour on his part, and Lance was just willing to look through the kitchen, like he didn’t understand the weight of the situation at all.
Cassandra was so done with all of them.
“You know, this is a hoot, but we’ll cover more ground if we split up. Cheekbones, Sandwiches, you get that hallway.”
It wasn't like she was thrilled with the idea of staying alone in this place for even a minute, but the faster they'll find Rapunzel, the faster they can start working on getting the hell out of here.
“Oh, now she’s doing clever nicknames? Wonderful…”
She heard Eugene mutternto himself as he started walking in the opposite direction. She rolled her eyes.
After a while of wondering through the House’s seemingly endless corridors, Cassandra saw one of the doors opening by itself. There was strange glow coming out of it, and Cass should knew better then to step inside. She probably wouldn't do that, but a muffled female voice calling her name caught her attention.
“Cassandra…”
“Hello?” she asked cautiously, drawing her sword. “Rapunzel, is that you?”
Before she could realize that she already went inside, the door of the room closed behind her.
“Cassandra…” the voice whispered again.
For a brief moment the light in the room completely blinded her. When she regained her vision, she realized that she wasn’t in any room at all. Instead, she was standing in the middle of the forest.
Before her she saw what appeared to be a ghost of a little girl. She was entirely transparent blue colour. She was wearing an elegant, but definitely not modern dress and a simple head ornament with a gemstone of her forehead. Her hair was tied into two buns.
Cassandra never personally saw a ghost before, but she heard about Rapunzel’s adventure with Ruthless Ruth, and this… entity definitely checked all the boxes.
“There you are, Cassandra. I’ve nearly given up on you,” the girl said with a sweet, innocent tone that only made Cassandra squint at her in suspicion.
“Who are you?” she demanded without any pleasantries.
“A friend… or at least I’d like to be,” the girl answered with a pleasant smile. “Come.”
Recognizing that she didn’t have much of a choice at the moment, Cass sheathed her sword and followed the girl into the woods.
“Wherever you’re taking me, better have a blond princess,” she said.
Their walk through the woods turned out to be rather short. Soon, they were standing in front of a beautiful little cottage in the clearing. It was surrounded by the forest, and there was a cliff and little waterfall with a watermill. This place looked incredibly peaceful and picturesque. For a brief moment Cassandra had a thought that Raps would for sure delight in painting this place.
This thought was very short lived, however, as Cassandra was struck with unsettling feeling of familiarity. It was like she saw this place before, maybe in a dream.
“This place… feels… familiar,” she whispered to no one in particular.
The girl’s only response was pulling Cass inside the cottage. They came there through the wall, and that fact immensely disturbed her. She wandered if it was her that somehow became incorporeal, or maybe everything she was looking at was just an illusion.
She didn’t, however, have much time to think about that dilemma. After a few seconds she saw little girl with long, dark curls and hazel eyes, holding a little music box. Cass almost forgot how to breathe. Was this place memory of her childhood home? Will she finally get to know what happened to her birth parents, after all those years?
“Do you recognize that child?” the ghost asked in a gentle voice.
Cassandra was too stunned to even react to this question.
“Wind, please,” the little Cassandra said, holding the music box to a woman hidden behind the privacy screen.
“Not now, darling. Mummy is in a hurry!” the voice that answered child’s plea was harsh and annoyed, and Cass felt huge weight in her chest hearing it.
“That’s my…” she whispered, watching the hooded woman approaching the mirror.
She took the hood down to examine her face in the mirror, and Cassandra felt like her whole world just fell apart in that one single moment.
“Mother,” the little ghost finished for her. “Yes, it is.”
While Cass didn’t ever see this woman personally (or at least as far as she could remember), she saw enough of Rapunzel’s drawings to recognize her immediately. Her features, her curled hair, her eyes, even her dress… There was no shadow of a doubt – it was Gothel.
Cassandra was petrified. There was a whirlwind of emotions raging inside of her at the moment, and she firmly refused to either identify or acknowledge any of them.
So she just stood there, helplessly watching the sad scene playing before her.
“Are you going to see the castle? Can I come?” her younger version asked, sounding excited about the possibility.
“Absolutely not, Cassandra!” Gothel growled at her. “You know your place is here.” Seeing that her daughter looked at the floor, saddened, the old witch only rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Oh, stop with the pouting, it’s very unbecoming.” She then crouched down next to the child, to briefly touch her face, tone of her voice turning into false sweetness. “Now mother needs to rush off for just a teensy tiny moment, but I won’t be gone long and this cottage isn’t going to clean itself, you know!”
Her fake laugh was extremely unpleasant. She straightened and rushed to the door. Little Cass came right after her and hold her little music box to her in a pleading gesture.
“Mama?” she begged quietly.
“Oh, must I do everything?”
Gothel lowered herself to Cass’ level again and begrudgingly wound up the music box. She rolled her eyes and gave little girl another brief, forced smile.
“Thank you, mama,” the genuine gratitude in little girl’s voice made adult Cass sick to her stomach.
“Yes, dear.”
And with that, Gothel was gone, leaving her little daughter alone, forever.
Cass was observing her younger self dutifully cleaning the cottage, smiling and humming to herself, and she felt her heart shatter to thousand sharp little pieces.
“You know, Dolly, I guess that isn’t anything new, after all,” little Cass said to her rag doll, smiling sadly. “Mama knows how much I love her, but she’s always too busy to notice me. So I’ll just do what I’m supposed to do, and wait here until she returns.”
She dusted off little paper heart left somewhere on the floor and placed it back on Gothel’s pillow, and adult Cass felt like she couldn't take it anymore.
“It was always the same,” she whispered, not sure who she was addressing. “I always kept on waiting like that. For a glance, or a touch, or a shred of affection, really. That things that always come with strings attached. For me, at least.”
There was clear bitterness in her voice, as she observed the child version of herself wrapping herself in a blanket and sitting on the windowsill, waiting for her mother that she will never see again.
Everything happened so quickly after that.
The sound of a chase in the distance.
Royal guards storming in the cottage, led by the younger version of Cassandra’s father.
He knew who my mother was, Cass realized, and that thought sent another blow of pain through her shattered heart. He lied to me.
“Where is she?! Where is the Princess?!” The Captain yelled, causing little Cass to run to the door.
“Mama?” she cried out, staring at the tall figure in the distance, holding a little baby with a long blond hair in her arms.
The guards rushed in her direction, but she drew her sword and cut the ropes of the bridge in one swift motion.
Cassandra heard the sound of the music box shattering, as her younger version dropped it in shock, realizing she was just abandoned by her own mother.
Then Gothel got on the horse and escaped to the distance, never to be seen again.
“Mama?” Little Cass took a few steps forward, like this could somehow keep her mother by her side.
“No one’s going to harm you, little one. You’re safe with me,” the Captain whispered, putting his helmet on little Cass’ head.
She burst into tears.
“I want my mama…” she stammered between the sobs, as Captain pulled her up and carried her outside of the cottage.
Present Cass fell to her knees. She couldn't held back her own tears anymore.
She tried to reach for the music box, but it disappeared along with everything else. Moments later, she was back in the forest in the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Cassandra.” The ghost girl reappeared by her side. Her gentle voice was so sympathetic, it was almost unbearable. “Sometimes the most painful truths are the most difficult to remember. You always felt outshined by Rapunzel, haven’t you? And you always will. Unless…”
“Unless?” Cassandra’s voice got a hard edge even she didn’t expect from herself.
“Unless you finally stop grovelling at Rapunzel’s feet and take your destiny into your own hands,” the ghost explained cryptically.
“What do you know about my destiny?” Cassandra spat at her, caught off guard.
“Your destiny belongs only to you, Cassandra. As your friend, I merely wish to give you my best advice. I am a true expert of all things magic. You see, my dear, there is very few people in the world that have potential to use mystic forces. These people are called “the Vessels”, since they have space inside of them that can be filled with magic, with power. Your mother was the Vessel and so are you, Cassandra. Rapunzel is a Vessel as well, of course, but she’s a Vessel filled with the magic of the Sundrop. This power leaves no free space inside of her. She can’t have any more magic than she already does. But you, Cassandra, on the other hand… you’re not even aware of full extent of your possibilities.”
Cassandra pondered her speech for a moment.
The implications of the girl’s words were obvious, her not-so-subtle suggestion clear, and yet…
“Are you suggesting that… I could…” The thought was totally absurd to Cass. “I could take… the Moonstone… for myself?”
“Of course you could, if you only wanted to do it. All of those fools who tried to take it until now didn’t have even a part of your potential, Cassandra. And your princess, well… Her Vessel is already full with the power of the Sundrop. If she tries to take any additional power for herself, it will quite literally tear her apart. It’s only you who can really bear the power of the Moonstone, Cassandra.”
“And why should I believe a single word you said?” Cassandra snapped at her, too overwhelmed to even entertain the thought at the moment. “I’m still in the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow. It’s not like anything good happened in here until now.”
“I understand you have no real reason to put your faith in me, my dear,” the ghost admitted kindly. “However, listening to me may actually be your only chance, your only hope of surviving the damage that Rapunzel has done to you…”
She looked at Cassandra’s injured hand with a mix of suggestion and compassion.
Cass felt her blood run cold.
She knew her withered hand wasn’t healing at all. In fact, the rot almost seemed to expend up her arm during last few weeks. She was doing her best to convince herself that it was just in her head, that she was being paranoic and the curse wasn’t actually slowly consuming her body…
But what if that girl was right?
“I understand that it has to be much for you, my dear,” her companion interrupted her panicked thoughts. “I’ll leave you alone for now. You undoubtedly need some time to process everything and make a decision that’s best for yourself. Farewell for now, Cassandra…”
Cassandra didn’t know for how long she just sat there, completely petrified by everything that happened, too overwhelmed to even think at the moment. Deep down, she was grateful for comforting presence of Owl, who was sitting on her arm, trying his best to somehow help his distressed friend.
When finally the door before Cass materialized again, she run to it like her life depended on that.
When she got outside, she saw all of her friends, somehow including both Rapunzel and Shorty, already staying outside, and the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow turned into dust. All of her party looked at her with mix of fear and cold determination, like she was some kind of monster which could attack them at any moment. Their looks only lasted for a second or so, and they most certainly weren’t meant for her. Her friends probably just expected another monstrosity crawling from the depths of this godforsaken place.
Cassandra was aware of all of that, but in her current state it was difficult for her not to take their stares personally. Some stupid little remark that Eugene made at the sight of her wasn’t making the situation any better.
And neither was Rapunzel, who threw herself at Cass to crush her in a hug. The older girl couldn't bring herself to hug her friend back. Not after everything she just witnessed.
“Cass! Oh, thank goodness you’re safe!" Rapunzel exclaimed, and for a moment she sounded like she actually cared. "Are you alright? Where were you?”
After a few moments the blond finally let Cass out of the unrequired hug and grabbed her hands instead.
Cassandra instinctively pulled away. She didn’t want Rapunzel to touch her hand, or to touch her at all, really, not now, not ever.
“I’m fine, Rapunzel. Let’s get moving, huh?”
Her tone felt flat and unconvincing even to herself, but she went ahead of everyone before Rapunzel could ask her any questions.
“Okay, then,” princess’ tone was a little uneasy, but she thankfully didn’t try to press the issue for once. “Time to hit the road. Destiny calls.”
Cass was glad that none of the others could see the look on her face at the moment.
The words of the little spectre from the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow rang in her ears.
“You finally stop grovelling at Rapunzel’s feet and take your destiny into your own hands...”