And now, I see the truth.
[1x13] : "Cassandra Savage always thought that her father was a good man. She was finally proven wrong in 2166." Cassandra Savage & Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage/Vandal Savage's wife.
Author's note : I gave a name to Cassandra's mother, since she was not named in the show. Mention of dead characters and of past torture.
Cassandra Savage had always been a happy child.
Well… almost, in fact, there had been some exceptions, of course.
Sarah Savage, her mother, had been always here for her, always took care of her, she had made everything for her.
Her father, well… it was another story.
At least, he had tried.
Or so she thought.
She never saw her real face, she never saw the monster he truly was, well, not until she was ten years old.
Her father knew that the Legends would be there, one day, that they would come back, and try to stop him.
So, he had decided to prepare her…
The hard way, of course.
There was a reason to the fact that she knew how to endure pain.
She had lived it.
Her father had made that to her, again, and again, and again, until she was strong enough to support it, and hell, did it hurt.
Vandal had told her that he just wanted her to be strong, and that it was the only way to do so, and he had let her scream for hours and other hours, before letting her being treated.
And Cassandra hadn't understood.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, according to the point of view), her mother had never heard anything about it, if she did, she would have been completely against it, a thing Cassandra never knew.
Vandal had hidden it from her, he was pretty good at lying or at hiding things to people.
After all, he had hidden to his own daughter what a terrible man he was.
Time had passed, and he had done it again, and again, and again…
He never stopped.
She had screamed and cried, and begged her father to stop this, to stop the torture, but he never did.
There had been screams, pain, horror, terror, cries, tears, scars and blood.
She had finally healed, and then, she had understood. Understood that she could nothing against it, but, just accept the pain and learn to support it.
So, she had finally learned.
Being finally persuaded that all of this was just done for her own good.
After all, it was her father, he obviously knew what was best for her, right ?
Hell, didn't she know how wrong she was.
She was growing up into a bloody dystopian future – and she was not even aware of it – except that for her, it was the reality, and the present, and for her, her father was doing everything he could do to make things better.
Little did she know that he just wanted to conquer and rule the entire world.
Yes… Not the most subtle or original villain, for sure.
But the thing is that he was winning.
Her world fell completely the day the virus of the Armageddon was released on the entire world…
§§§§
2152
Per Degaton was just a freaking monster.
Oh, she already knew it before, he was a tyrant, and her father never stopped complaining about him and his decisions when he was talking to her about him and the world's situation in general, but…
It was going further than anything else she had been confronted to before.
Cassandra was looking around her and she was feeling nothing but despair and horror.
What this man had done…
Oh, God…
It was the worst thing she ever saw, the worst thing she ever lived.
The virus was now gone and most of the population had been eradicated from the planet, but for her, it was not the worst thing, since…
"Mom ?"
Since her mom had been killed in the process.
Everything was safe now, in fact, it was just as if the virus never existed, as if Per Degaton just never decided to destroy their world, as if the world hadn't ended for her, as if…
As if her mother was not dead.
She was outside when the virus had been released, and Cassandra hadn't believed it when she had heard that her mother was…
Dead. Had disappeared. Was gone forever.
She hadn't cried nor screamed, not even in her own room, not after what her father had taught her to be, not now, as she is just strength and iron, now that her father made her strong, she just can't be weak.
It doesn't stop her heart from breaking, it doesn't stop the pain to hurt her, it doesn't stop her to seek revenge on Per Degaton when she learns he is the one who ordered this.
When she learns that her father finally stopped Per Degaton, she doesn't question herself about it, if this is wrong or bad, she just feels a sentiment of relief, and she thinks her father did the good choice, not seeing this as a betrayal, but just as being justice.
Her only regret is that she didn't get the chance to do it by herself.
§§§§
She is seventeen years old when her mother dies, and it's at this moment that her father tells her about the Legends.
He had warned her about them, telling her that their only purpose was to destroy him, and that they would try to do anything to destroy her too.
And she had believed him, of course, he was her father, the man who had raised her, who had taught her everything she knew, who had formed her, who had trained her, so, why would she think that he could lie to her ?
And by the way, why would he do such a thing ?
(He never told her about the time-travel thing, well, he didn't tell her he was using it, so, she always thought that they were the criminals one, the outlaws, the one who needed to be stopped.
He never told her about his crimes, about the way he turned Per Degaton into the tyrant he finally became, he never told her about his implication with the virus of the Armageddon's disaster, he never told her he was the one who had killed her mother.
He never told her about Miranda Coburn and Jonas Hunter, about their deaths, about the way he killed them while they were innocent and just wanted to survive, he never told her he had destroyed and ruined Rip Hunter's life and that it was the reason why he wanted revenge.
He never told her the truth.)
Time and years had passed and she had never saw his real face.
§§§§
2166
And now, here they were.
They were here.
Cassandra Savage always thought that her father was a good man.
She was finally proven wrong in 2166.
It took time, but she did.
Her first impression, her first certitude, had been this…
Snart was wrong.
Because he had a wrong father certainly didn't mean that hers was too.
Oh, how blind she was !
Maybe that, in a way, she was trying to protect herself from the terrible truth.
The one which meant that, if her father was on the wrong side, then, what he had done…
All of this, the rebels' deaths, this war, the way the world was…
It was just his fault, and hers too, since she had assisted him.
Her father may not be a hero, but at least, he was trying to do his best.
Or so she thought and believed he did.
At the moment Snart and Gideon showed her the video with her father, talking about the project of using the Armageddon virus, she couldn't believe her eyes and her ears.
It just couldn't be possible.
It was a fake.
It couldn't be true.
§§§§
When she had realized how evil her father was, something broke in her, and she saw everything she had tried to hid to herself.
Per Degaton, who never was her friend, but that she remembered as being a nice boy, before Vandal Salvage became his mentor and began to poison his spirit.
Her mother, who was more and more furious at her father, because of what he was doing, and who didn't agree anymore with him and his choices, and hell, did he kill her purposefully ?
All the rebels and the anger in their eyes as they were looking at her or her father as they were fighting or killing them, and the fact is that she had never understood why.
Except that now, she did.
And then, Snart's words about the refugees aboard the Waverider hit her and took all their sense.
Her was right.
These people didn't deserve dying.
Just as her mother didn't as well.
Her father had killed her mother.
Her own father hadn't hesitated about using a freaking mortal virus which had killed her own mother.
He was a monster.
It was at this moment that she realized she would stop fighting for him.
She knew how wrong she had been, she knew that they were right.
Them, the Legends, her father's enemies, the rebels, all of them.
She knew what she had to do now.
She would go on the other side, the good one, this time, or so she hoped.
Since that now, she knew the truth.