Since my country (UK) is in lockdown due to the Coronavirus, I have been given plenty of time to work on some fics as well as watch a lot of Tangled.

This story begins to take place about a week after the episode, Plus Est En Vous and follows the story of Cassandra's meeting with her biological father.

I took some inspiration from Count Olaf from Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events, for Cassandra's father's personality, later in the story, so don't get too attached to him.

I do not own Tangled or it's characters.

Chapter 1- Destiny

Cassandra held Fidella's reigns steady, as she stared out at her beautiful surroundings. She had never realized how wondrous the world was, she had never really stopped to admire it, she couldn't imagine how amazed Rapunzel was when she went outside her tower for the first time. She was in the middle to a glorious-looking forest. The trees were extremely tall, with bright leaves and bird nests deep within them. From where she was, she could see a tall, grand-looking building overlooking the greenery. She couldn't help wondering who it belonged to.

It was early morning and her adoptive father, the former captain of the Royal Guards: Harold, was still fast asleep in the tent they had set up the night before, so Cassandra had left a note on his pillow so that he wouldn't worry. He had raised and cared for Cassandra since she was only four-years-old and loved her dearly.

He had taught her many things, such as, how to defend herself, how to manage weapons without getting hurt, how to earn her keep and that she needed to focus on the here and now, a lesson, which he, only recently, had encouraged Cassandra to abandon.

When he first adopted Cassandra, he had struggled to adapt to the fatherly role, completely unsure of how to take care of a little girl and pander to her ever-growing needs.

He had been especially stuck when it came to Cassandra's long, black tresses, he tried to do plaits but they came out straggly and lopsided, he tried a ponytail, but the ribbon would just fall off. The last thing he had tried was a topknot, which just unravelled itself mere moments after it was done up. Needless to say, he was relieved when the girl had decided that she wanted a bob, a few years later. He had also found things, such as buying dresses in the correct sizes and colours hard, as he chose ones that were either miles too small so that she could barely put them on, too big so that they completely swamped her tiny body, or in colours that she despised, such as, pink. However, after about a year, he found that he had finally got the hang of being a good father.

While he never spoiled, Cassandra, he did provide her with enough toys and books to keep her entertained and out of trouble. She had a big teddy bear, a group of wooden horses, a china Unicorn, a bunch of crayons in different colours, a china doll with wavy, dark-brown hair, pursed lips, and bright green eyes, dressed in a blue, frilly frock, and a multi-coloured spinning top, with paintings of birds around the edges, that she would take everywhere.

Around the age of seven, Cassandra was labelled as a strange, mischievous child. She liked to prank people, play hide and seek, challenge the royal guards to races, (which she usually won), perform cartwheels, climb up objects and learn about what it takes to become a guard, herself one day, she had been training since she was six, which some thought was too early, but Cassandra loved it.

The girl also had a sweet tooth, constantly lugging Harold to Monty's Sweet Shoppe, where Monty would treat her to bonbons, marshmallows, and all kinds of chocolate. The guards would also provide her with sweets, after every training session, which Harold would have to monitor, to make sure that Cass didn't rot her teeth.

Sometimes, Harold would have to go away with his guards on long missions (mostly related to the lost princess, Rapunzel), so Cassandra would feel very lonely at those times, especially since she didn't have many friends of her age. So, her father had decided to buy her a pet, to keep her company. The kind of pet he had in mind, was something like a dog, cat or maybe a gopher, but the pet that Cassandra really wanted, was an owl, so an owl was what she got, only if she promised to look after it. She named him Owl since she couldn't think of anything else. She was terrible at names, for instance, she had named her previously mentioned doll and teddy bear, Dolly and Bear.

Around the time she got Owl, she was being taught how to ride a horse, which she was really enjoying. She treated Owl and the horses with very much respect, and they grew to get used to her and view her as a fellow companion. She was very good with animals. She still was.

"Hey, Owl, how are you doing, buddy?" She cooed, as Owl gently landed on her shoulder and snuggled into her cheek. He hooted, when he saw the view his master was staring at, even he thought it was beautiful.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" She smiled, running her fingers through Fidella's dark mane.

Fidella neighed excitedly in response.

"Now, before we go exploring, I think we need some breakfast."

Cassandra dug into her pocket and pulled out an apple. She leapt from Fidella's back and quickly diced the apple with her sword.

"Ta-da! Eight perfect slices!" She announced, grinning.

She passed the slices around, three for Fidella, three for Owl, and two for her, since her father would be making oatmeal, with blueberries and strawberries on the top, her favourite.

As she chewed the slice, savouring its sweetness, she sat down and pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a letter to Rapunzel, that she had scribed a couple of nights ago. She was intending to post it that afternoon since she and Harold were planning on visiting a nearby village to get some supplies for their travels.

She smiled as she read the letter to herself, knowing that Rapunzel would greatly appreciate it.

All of a sudden, Fidella's panicked whines pulled her out of her reading. She looked up to see a large figure, looming over her. The figure's face was completely hidden by a metal helmet, which was not unlike Atilla's.

Cassandra quickly retrieved her sword from her back pocket and held it in front of her in order to defend herself. She took several steps back, signalling to Fidella to do the same.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" She growled.

The figure didn't say anything, it just removed its helmet, releasing a grunt as it did so. The figure turned out to be a middle-aged man, with dark black eyes, a mop of light brown hair, that had been swept back and when Cassandra looked carefully, she could see a small gold earring, not so different to Lance's, sticking out of his left ear.

"Lower your sword, girl, you could seriously hurt someone with that." he sneered, knocking her sword out of her hand and into some thorny bushes. Without giving Cassandra a chance to respond to his actions, he continued, "my name is Philip Sonburg, the respected bodyguard of Sir William Barlett and I was just out on my morning stroll when I spotted you and wondered why such a pretty girl and her..."

He paused, spying Owl, who was resting on Cassandra's shoulder looking ready to attack, before continuing.

"...pets, were doing around these parts."

By this time, Fidella had galloped off, to wake the captain and alert him of what was going on.

"That's none of your business." Cassandra snapped.

The name: Barlett, stuck like a thumbtack in her head. She was sure that she had heard it before, but she wasn't sure where.

Philip glowered at the young woman in front of him.

"I would mind your tone if I were you, girl." He snarled.

He was about to reach into his shoulder bag for his dagger when a voice caught his attention.

"Philip!" The voice called. It was slightly gravelly but very proper and rich sounding at the same time, "what on earth are you doing?"

Philip and Cassandra turned to see a man, roughly 5ft4, running towards them. He had dark-brown, slicked-back hair, pastel-blue eyes, that glinted in the sunlight and a large, thick beard that took up all of his chin. He was dressed in a muddy brown suit jacket, a crisp white shirt and pitch-black tight trousers, with matching shoes. To finish the look, he had a small black and brown, striped bowtie, dangling from his collar.

"Sir William! I..." Philip started.

William held up a hand, to signal that he didn't want to hear anymore.

"Who is this girl, Philip?" He asked, glaring at Cassandra, "and why does she have an owl on her shoulder?

"I don't know, Sir. I just came across her and her bird, while I was walking! She pointed a sword at me!"

"Of course I did! Who wouldn't when they see a tall, brooding figure in a metal helmet looming over them?!" Cassandra hissed.

Willaim turned to look at Cassandra, and then back at Philip, a small smile growing across his features.

"She has a point, Philip," He said, as softly as he could, "I am so sorry, that my bodyguard has troubled you, my dear, please let me make up for it with a cuppa."

Due to her trust issues and a recent event in her life, that had something to do with a certain evil force manipulating her to belive terrible things, she wasn't entirely sure if she should have faith in this man. Was he really going to make up for it, or was it just a vile trick?

"I'm sorry, but I need to get back, my..." She began but was interrupted by Willaim's mealy vocals.

"Oh, I insist, it's the least I can do."

Cassandra bit her lip, as she heard a voice in her head scream:

"Stop it! Stop being so paranoid! Not everyone is out to harm you!"

"Alright," she breathed, giving Owl a small boop on the beak to reassure him, that everything was fine, "thank you for your kindness."

William noticed the glint of Cassandra's sword in the bushes and gestured to his bodyguard.

"Philip, please retrieve the young lady's sword at once."

"Yes, sir," Philip replied, glaring at Cassandra, as he slumped off.

A loud neigh from outside the tent shook Harold from his slumber.

He sat up in his sleeping bag and ran into Cassandra's area to wake her, only to find that she was gone.

"No, no, no! Not again, I can't lose her again!"

He frantically searched around the large tent for his daughter and at long last, noticed the piece of parchment resting on his pillow. He grabbed it, terrified that it was a ransom note or something along those lines, only to find that it was a note from Cassandra herself. It read:

Dad, I've just gone for a ride of Fidella. I'll be back before breakfast.

Love from, Cass. xxx :-)

"Maybe the neigh was Fidella, maybe Cass has just come back." He thought to himself, calming down.

However, he wasn't calm for very long, as the neighing grew louder and more anxious.

He threw on some clothes and ran outside. He wasn't expecting to come face to face with a worried Fidella, neither was he expecting Cassandra to be nowhere around.

"Where is she, girl?" He asked, stroking Fidella, gently, before getting onto her back.

Fidella instantly began to gallop as fast as she was able, giving Harold a minimal amount of time to grab her reigns.

"Whoa, careful, Fidella!" He gasped, clinging on for dear life.

In a nick of time, they arrived in the forest, but Cassandra, nor Philip was in sight.

Fidella looked around in distress, panicking for her mistress.

"She was here?" Harold asked, examining his surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse of his daughter.

Fidella whined in response.

In the corner of his eye, Harold could see a mansion, looking out over the woodland. Maybe she was in there? The place looked eery to him. Honestly gave him the creeps.

It was made of grey stone, four stories tall, with two attic rooms that were visible from the front of the house, and a large tower, that was uncannily similar to the one that Princess Rapunzel had been trapped in for the first eighteen years of her life. The large, front garden that surrounded the house was the only appealing thing about it.

"It's worth a try." Harold mumbled to himself, carefully climbing off Fidella's back, "stay here, girl, I won't be gone long."

As he approached the large, brass gates that lead to the estate, he felt a chill run down his spine. The chill lingered as he walked down the garden path, and towards the front double doors, which had a knocker in the shape of a bear in the middle of the left one.

On one hand, he was hoping that Cassandra was there because he'd be scared out of his wits about her whereabouts if she wasn't, on the other hand, he hoped that she wasn't trapped in this terrible-looking place. Who knew what kind of people lived there.

"Can I be of assistance, Sir?" Came a timid female voice.

Harold made eye contact with a short, chubby woman with long, blonde hair and rosy cheeks. She was gripping a basket of wet clothes in her weak-looking hands. She looked exhausted, and the smile she was giving him was very plastic.

"I'm sorry, I was just looking for my daughter. She's rather small-built, with pale skin and dark, bobbed hair?"

The woman looked thoughtful. She smiled at him again, this time the smile wasn't as fake as before, it looked warmer.

"I think so, I think I saw her with Sir William, going into the mansion. I'll go and find her if you like?"

"Yes, that would be great. Thank you," Harold said, "would you like me to do take that laundry for you?"

"Oh, no thank you, dear, Sir would kill me if he thought that I wasn't doing my job properly. I'll just leave it here and come back to it."

Her fake smile returned, as she dashed off towards the servent's entrance of the house. Harold could only stare after her, wondering if she was alright.

Cassandra carefully sipped the tea from the tiny porcelain cup she had been given. It reminded her of the ones she had seen the king, queen and Rapunzel drink from back at the palace. Her former home.

She and William had been sitting in silence for a while. He hadn't even asked for her name. In order to entertain herself, Cassandra began to gaze around the large living room, admiring its curious beauty.

The walls were decorated in dark blue and gold, the floor was the fluffiest, white carpet she'd ever felt belief her feet, and the objects placed around the room looked extremely expensive.

There were three paintings on the wall above, the large, stone fireplace: one of a child with long, curly, dark hair in a braid. She was dressed in an ivory gown, that hung by her feet, which were clad in matching, shining slippers. She was clearly his child, the resemblance was uncanny, however, there was something in her face which reminded her of herself. In fact, there was also something in Willaim's features that reminded her of herself, but she couldn't pin-point what.

She shook it off and looked to the next painting. It looked much more recent. It was William, with who she assumed was his wife, who had long, dirty-blonde, wavey hair, sharp brown eyes and lips pressed into a fine line. In between the couple was the girl from the previous painting, who looked a lot older, in front of her, was a small, blonde-haired child, who was frowning, her arms crossed over her chest. She had similar hair to her mother, which had been twisted into a bun on top of her head. There was really something there that Cassandra wasn't sure that she liked very much.

Once again, though, she shook it off and moved onto the next painting. However, as her eyes met it, she really wished they hadn't.

She couldn't control the shocked scream that arose from her throat.

Her mother, Gothel, was glaring right back at her.

"What's wrong, child?" William asked.

"Don't tell him anything," A voice in her brain seethed, "he wouldn't understand!"

"No...nothing! Sorry, I thought I saw a...um...spider, but I didn't, it was just my imagination!" She lied, stumbling on her words.

Even if it hadn't been a lie and she really had seen a spider, she wouldn't have screamed, she wasn't scared of spiders or any kind of insect unless it was poisoned.

"I see." He replied. He clearly didn't believe her, "I also saw that you were taking great interest in my paintings. The first is my daughter, Violet, who is a lot older now, the second is my wife, Etta, our second daughter, Karen, and I. The last one..."

There was a long, agonizing pause. William frowned, looking solum.

"The last is of my previous relationship and my poor child. Over twenty years ago, I met her in a pub, we got talking, and she told me her name, Gothel. We dated for several years and married in 1812. Two years later, Gothel fell pregnant. We had a little girl, and she chose her name. It was something like, Clarissa, Christine, Caroline..."

"Cassandra. Her name is Cassandra." Cassandra replied, without thinking twice.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I am her. I am Cassandra...Gothel was my...mother." She said, bitterly, feeling slightly nauseous as she uttered the words Gothel and mother in the same sentence.

Willaim stared at her, a stunned expression on his face.

"Cassandra?" He asked, "is it really you?"

"I think so," she muttered, "but if it is true, and I am your daughter, I want to know why I didn't grow up in your care and why you never bothered to find me, after all these years."

"Oh, Cl...Cassandra, I promise you, I never wanted to leave you, my darling. You were so beautiful, still are, and I loved you so much, still do, but your mother and I never did have the happiest of marriages. We fought like cat and dog, making you cry all the time. It terrified you, but your mother just wouldn't stop."

"I can quite well believe that." Cassandra murmured, knowing full-well that Gothel had never cared for her or Rapunzel.

"I found out her secret one night, I found out about the flower that kept her young, and I freaked. She wasn't the lady I thought she was and I felt so betrayed, that I thought that it would be best to leave. I tried to get you from your crib and take you with me, but she did everything within her power to prevent me from doing so. I had to give up. I'm so, deeply sorry, my love."

"It's ok." Cassandra said, softly, "it wasn't your fault."

"I promised myself that I would find you again," he continued as if Cassandra had never spoken, "and now I think I have."

Then, William did something unexpected. He stood up and opened his arms out to her, a wide grin across his face.

At first, Cassandra hesitated, the trauma of her past and fear of being abandoned came flooding into her mind. But then she looked at the warmth and excitement in Willaim's face. He was so happy to see her after all the time they had spent apart. She knew how to defend herself, she had her sword on her, so if he tried to hurt her, she would be okay.

She entered the embrace and waited for him to do something horrible, like stab her in her back with a dagger, like Andrew had tried to do two years prior. But nothing happened, she was released from the hug, completely unscathed.

"So, are you still living with your mother, or do you have a family of your own now?"

Cassandra bit her lip, feeling anxiety swell-up in the pit of her belly.

"Neither. I was adopted by an army captain, when I was four, mother abandoned me. She still the Princess of the Kingdom of Corona, and chose her over me. I am best friends with the princess now, although, what mother did tore us apart for a while, to put it simply. I did some absolutely disgraceful things to people I loved during that time, under the control of an evil force, and the powerful moonstone."

Cassandra didn't see, William's face, curl into a malicious simper when she said the word: Moonstone. William snapped out of it quickly, however, and smiled at his daughter, a thought crossing his mind.

"I see. I would like to meet this captain." He said, completely disregarding what Cassandra had just said about Rapunzel.

"His name is Harold, and I'm sure he'll like to meet you too. He'll be glad that I found a member of my biological family, I'm sure."

"I hope so."

At that moment, a voice sounded in the doorway. It was a chubby woman, with long, blonde hair.

"Sir Willaim, there's someone looking for this girl? He says he's her father."

"Ah, the captain," William beamed, "send him in."

Cassandra felt a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long while: hope. Hope for the future. She had finally found her destiny: her father.

Or so she thought...

I hope that you've enjoyed the first chapter! There is definitely more to come, so stay tuned!