Everything was fuzzy when Ezekiel came to. It took him a minute to orient himself, panicking at the position he was in. His hands were tied to the steering wheel, the crown tied to one hand as well. He woke when the yacht he was sailing on had crashed into the docks. He suddenly heard a surprised gasp from above him.
"Look!" A guard shouted, calling the attention of the other guards. "It's the crown!"
"Cassandra." Ezekiel suddenly remembered the night beforehand with stunning clarity. "Cassandra!" He shouted, hoping she was nearby, hoping she was safe. The guards pulled him from the yacht, laid him on the ground, and began cuffing him. "No no no no! Wait! Wait! Wait guys! Guys!" They began dragging him away. "-Cassandra!"
Unbeknownst to the rest of the Guards, Jake was watching the entire time. So he wasn't the biggest fan of Ezekiel, that didn't mean that he didn't want the best for Cassandra. He began to think, and soon a plan formed.
"Let's get this over with, Jones." Eve opened the cell door. He had been there for a little over an hour, pacing, worrying about Cassandra.
"Where are we going?" He asked. Eve gave him a stern look, before nodding to small slit window in the wall. He glanced outside and felt his blood run cold. The gallows, noose ready, glared back at him. He lightly touched his throat. "Oh."
"There. It never happened." Dulaque removed the final flower from her hair. She was tired of having her hair in her face back when they were in the village, so she braided it back and Ezekiel had helped her decorate it with flowers. "Now, wash up for dinner. I'm making hazelnut soup." Cassandra didn't respond, she simply hung her head.
"I really did try, Cassandra. I tried to warn you what was out there. The world is dark and selfish and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it." He pulled her into a small side hug before standing up and exiting the room, presumably to prepare the soup. Sunshine. Cassandra suddenly remembered the small sunshine flag Ezekiel had given her. She pulled it from her pocket and clutched it tightly to her chest. Nothing had ever caused her this much pain before. She decided that her father was right. The world was dark and cruel and she never wanted to leave her tower ever again. She laid flat on her bed, staring at the sunshine, wondering why it hurt so much. She glanced past the flag at the design on her canopy. She stared at the swirling chaos of flowers before scrunching her brows. She suddenly noticed same sun that was on the flag was in one of the flowers. And in the swirls. The star design. Everywhere. She sat up quickly, realizing it was in every aspect of her canopy. She was assaulted with images as she thought back to the celebration at the Palace.
"It's for the lost princess." The mosaic. The little red haired, blue eyed lost princess. A new memory burst forward, a mobile consisting of the sun in the center with the planets orbiting around it. The sunshine was the symbol of the royal family, why did it surround her. She remembered the tiara, she had tried it on, but felt nothing. She was suddenly overwhelmed, knocking into her bedside table as she stood quickly from her bed. She was the lost princess.
Ezekiel was being dragged through the halls of the palace, toward the gallows. He noticed the Stabbington Twins in a cell ahead of him and wrestled his way out of the grip of the guards, grabbing onto the bars of the cell they were in. "How did you know about her? Tell me, now!"
"It wasn't us." Henry told him quickly. "It was the old man! He tricked us."
"Old man..." Ezekiel suddenly realized. Her father was using her for her hair and he couldn't do anything about it. The guards grabbed him again. "Agh! Wait! No! Wait! You don't understand, she's in trouble! Wait!" He shouted as they continued to drag him.
Having heard the loud noise from the bedside table being knocked into, Dulaque set his spoon down. "Cassandra? What's going on up there?" Cassandra slowly exited her room, hands on her head, looking shocked. "Are you alright?"
"I'm the lost princess." Cassandra whispered.
"Oh, please speak up Cassandra. You know how I hate the mumbling." Dulaque reprimanded
"I am the lost princess! Aren't I?" She said, asked, much louder and with far more force. "Did I mumble, Father? Or should I even call you that?"
"Oh Cassandra, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" Dulaque seemed calm, despite the accusation/
"It was you! It was all you!" Cassandra shouted. Sensing that lying wasn't an option, Dulaque gave in.
"Everything that I did was to protect… you." The older man tried to trick her into pitying him, reaching towards her for a hug.
"Ugh!" Cassandra huffed as she pushed him away.
"Cassandra!" He scolded as he stumbled back. She began to descend the stairs, getting as far away from him as possible.
"I've spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power…" She breathed, sounding hurt.
"Cassandra!" This time it was a plea for forgiveness. Forgiveness he'd never achieve.
"… but I should have been hiding… from you!" She finished with a shout, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Where will you go?" He asked suddenly, descending towards her quickly. "He won't be there for you."
"What did you do to him?" She asked angrily, balling her fists.
"That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes." Dulaque growled, stepping towards her.
"No." Cassandra gasped in terror.
"Now, Now. It's all right. Listen to me. Everything is as it should be." He reached out to run a hand through her hair.
"No!" She grabbed his hand before it could touch her fiery locks. "You were wrong about the world, just like you were wrong about me." She shouted, throwing his hand away from her. "And I will never let you use my hair again!" She backed away from him as he fell into a mirror from the force of her pushing him away. The mirror shattered as Dulaque grunted.
"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy…" He pulled the dagger from his sheath, closely following behind her.
Eve took over taking care of Ezekiel, walking him in front of her. They came to a locked door. Eve knocked, expecting it to open. It did not. "What's this? Open up!"
A smaller door that served as a sort of porthole in the larger door opened. "What's the password?" A familiar face smirked back at the duo. Flynn.
"What?" She asked, somehow sounding annoyed and confused all at once.
"Nope." Flynn chuckled.
"Open this door!" She demanded, stepping in front of Ezekiel, trusting the two guards behind her to keep an eye on him.
"Not even close!" He shook his head with a smile.
"You have three seconds." She told him very seriously, glare plastered to her face. Unintimidated he stared back. "One!" She shouted. Ezekiel jumped slightly when a thug silently took out one of the guards from beside him.
"Two…" She continued, not noticing. The other guard was taken out just as swiftly. Ezekiel realized that it was a rescue mission.
"Three…" She quickly turned around, gasping at Ezekiel standing alone, both guards taken out. Attila, one of the thugs, hit her with a frying pan, effectively cutting her out of the fight.
"Frying pans! Who knew, right?" Ezekiel laughed as they freed him from the cuffs. Flynn opened up the door, letting them through.
"Aren't you coming?" Attila asked him.
"I'll make sure she's okay." He nodded toward Eve. He turned to Ezekiel. "We've got people all over the Palace to help you escape. Help your princess." Three guards yelled as they ran towards them, but they were distracted by Ulf and taken out by Vlad, two other thugs.
"You're ride is just up here. Remember, he's on your side now." The hook handed thug quickly led him to a small corner in a courtyard.
"Who?" Ezekiel asked, clearly confused.
"Me." Jake answered, pulling him onto his horse.
"Oh." Ezekiel paused. "You brought them here?" Jake chuckled in response, grasping the reins. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Jake raised his hands to give the commands to the horse, but Ezekiel stopped him again.
"No really. Thank you." He gave him a heartfelt smile before it turned into more of an awkward grimace. "Uh. I feel maybe this whole time we've just been misunderstanding one another, and we're really just–huh—"
"Jones for the love of God!" Jake exclaimed frustratedly.
"Yeah, you're right, we should go." Ezekiel held tight as Jake cracked the reins. The horse picked up speed as guards began chasing them on foot, but they were coming to a wall and a dead end.
"Stone…" Ezekiel sounded nervous as they got closer to the wall. "Stone!" He screamed in terror as the horse leapt, by Stone's command, directly over the wall. Ezekiel panted in panic while jake laughed, jumping off the horse.
"This is Max. He's a fantastic horse and he'll take you where you need to go. I'll make sure the guards get thrown off then I'll come to the tower and help you guys." Jake patted the horse before walking through the clearing. Ezekiel took the reins, filled with new motivation.
"Okay Max, let's see how fast you can run." Ezekiel pulled tight on the reins, Max neighing in response, then they took off toward the tower. Max truly was a fantastic horse, getting there with incredible alacrity. "Good boy Max. Go find Jake and bring him back here." Ezekiel turned toward the tall tower. "Cassandra? Cassandra, let down the rope!" He called, remembering what she had told him her father used to say. After a moment the rope tumbled out the window, and he began to climb. "Cass, I thought I'd never see-" He cut himself off with a gasp. Fire roared in his ears as pain filled his body. Cassandra was tied and gagged, yelling at him through the fabric. Ezekiel stumbled forward and fell to his knees, grasping for his stomach, revealing Dulaque, holding a bloody dagger, from behind him.
