Once a Handmaiden Alternate take
As the disguised Faith walked with Rapunzel to a more private setting, the villainous Zhan Tiri snuck up behind her with an evil laugh and pulled off the shapeshifting cloak she was wearing, and Cassandra was exposed in front of the entire kingdom!
Rapunzel noticed the familiar face and gasped in shock and surprise. " Cassandra?!"
Cassandra began to freeze in sheer panic, unsure of what to say; while she definitely didn't expect Rapunzel to immediately embrace her, she was horrified at the prospect of her own best friend, and sister being afraid of her!
Except, she wasn't afraid of her; she just was so shocked at seeing her after everything that happened that she didn't know how to respond. Now that she thought about it, she wished she had been glad to see her.
To make matters even worse, the guards thought she was trying to attack the princess when she wasn't even standing in her normal defensive stance… could this have gone any worse?
One of the guards ran up to Captain Eugene, and his now-partner Varian. " Captain, we have a code red… Cassandra has come back to Corona, and she's attacking the princess!" he warned.
Eugene didn't want to believe him; he knew that even though Cassandra might've made some questionable decisions that she also did truly have the princess' best interests at her core being, but all that said he couldn't immediately trust her for what she had done in the past.
Immediately, he and Varian rode as quickly as they could into the gateway where Rapunzel and Cassandra stood face to face in the courtyard… no one even making a move; he decided to trust her.
Varian came up beside him, readying his gun until Eugene stopped him. " Hold your fire!" he ordered calmly.
" Rapunzel" Cassandra began. " I can explain everything.. this thing between you, and I it was a set-up!"
" Cassandra, stand down!" Eugene ordered.
" Eugene, wait!" Cassandra pleaded holding her hand out in a gesture that suggested surrender and/or even an attempt to make peace; he stopped inches from her but held out his sword with the most furious scowl on his face.
" Explain yourself!" He ordered.
Cassandra didn't waste any time. " Look it's not what you think: I was lied to about everything; Zhan Tiri used me as a pawn to try to gain our respective powers by constantly telling me Rapunzel wanted to destroy me!"
" You left her to die in the caves Cassandra, and for answers she never even had… that was petty, and just all-around heartless!" Eugene said tearfully.
" I know Eugene… I didn't want any of this; do with me what you will, but please just let me have a chance to make this right!" Cassandra begged remorsefully.
Just then, Rapunzel ran up to him. " Eugene, I know why she's here!"
Eugene was indeed angry over what Cassandra did, but at the same time he wanted to give her a chance ( if even the smallest) to make things right; that didn't mean he trusted her though. He turned to her with a death glare. " You make one false move… you're history!"
Cassandra didn't even pretend to misunderstand as the captain stepped aside. " Raps, look I know things look bad, but I promise you I didn't want any of this!"
Then Rapunzel did something Cassandra never expected: she smiled one of the brightest grins even she had ever seen and happily embraced her sister, and this time the latter actually accepted her gesture.
Just from this small act, Cassandra knew Zhan Tiri was lying about Rapunzel turning on her and even if Corona wouldn't forgive her, the fact Rapunzel did was more than enough.
" I'm so glad you're back, Cass!" Rapunzel cried happily making Cassandra smile herself.
" I'm proud to be back; I wish I never left." Cassandra replied shocking everyone including Eugene, and Varian who looked at his gun unsure of what to do until Eugene lowered it. " Put down your weapon… we won't need it after all." He smiled.
" You trust her?" Varian asked surprised, but also hopeful.
Eugene saw Cassandra, and Rapunzel embrace each other and smiled. " Now I do."
As they let go, Cassandra revealed the mirror. " Raps, you will never believe who I followed all this time!"
" Zhan Tiri?" Rapunzel teasingly guessed in a playful voice.
Cassandra was genuinely shocked. " How did you know who she was?"
" Come on Cass, she flat out admitted it; she even had the arrogance to say that she was the blizzard that almost froze Corona!" Rapunzel laughed.
" Well isn't she stupid!" Cassandra mocked.
They both laughed a moment before Rapunzel began. " Cass, I swear I had no idea you were connected to Gothel!"
Cassandra gently held her hand. " I know… to tell you the truth it was just me trapped in my own anger, and everything before… it was… I don't know why it happened."
" The moonstone only fed on it, didn't it?" Rapunzel guessed.
" It's better it did me than if it would've done you because then Zhan Tiri would've been able to gain both the sundrop and moonstone at the same time." Cassandra explained.
Then Rapunzel remembered what really happened back at King Edmunds' chamber: she was thinking she was being led to her destiny when it was really a trap, and because it sensed Cassandras' emotions more than her own, she wouldn't have survived.
" You knew all along, didn't you?" Rapunzel smiled.
" It took me some time, but yes… Raps, I never meant for this to happen I was just trying to protect you… even at the cost of our… our sisterhood; what have I done?" she sighed remorseful collapsing onto the ground.
Cassandra never felt more remorse in her entire life, and it was killing her so much so that it distracted her from what Zhan Tiri was about to do as she neared Varians' amber gun. Luckily, Rapunzel saw this, and ran as quick as she could pushing her sister out of the way just like Quirin did when Varian tried to experiment on the black rocks.
" Cass, look out!" She yelled as Cassandra fell onto the ground.
When she got back to her feet, she saw Rapunzel nearly encased in the amber, horrifying Varian who fired the gun. " RAPS!" She screamed, but then she remembered the moonstone could remove the amber and channeled her energy into it.
Within seconds, it broke, and Rapunzel climbed out unharmed, shocked and grateful towards her sister. Cassandra simply smiled as everyone watched in surprise at her turn; even Fredric was surprised yet grateful.
" Raps… how did you…?" Cassandra gasped.
" It pays to have the power of the sundrop flower to counter the rocks doesn't it?" she smiled.
Just like that, she managed to restore her friendship with Rapunzel even despite all of Zhan Tiris' lies, and although they still had to deal with her eventually… well you all know how that went for the evil demon!
THE END.