"Cassandra, what have you done?" Eugene asked as he continued to stare at his sister, horrified of her current state.
"I did what I needed to do." Cassandra defended as her glare glowed blue. "If I had listened to you, we'd still blindly trust Rapunzel."
"What are you talking about?" Rapunzel asked, still shocked and trying process what had happened.
"Don't play dumb!" Cassandra shouted, more black rocks forming around her. "You've known you were the Sundrop of the start!"
Rapunzel was stuck speechless. Her, being the Sundrop? What was she talking about? The flower she had brought from Corona was the Sundrop, not her.
"Cass, calm down!" Eugene shouts at his sister. "Listen to yourself, you know Rapunzel wouldn't lie to us about this!"
That seemed to anger Cassandra more. "I know what I saw! I saw her trying to reach for the Moonstone! She has been keeping secrets from us! If I hadn't stopped her, she would've betrayed us!"
Eugene shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe that, and you don't either! The Moonstone is messing with your head, Cass! Let it go and we can fix this!" He tried to approach her, reaching his hand out to her.
"STAY AWAY!" More Rocks formed around them, and the castle began to shake again.
As more rocks formed around them, Eugene pulled Rapunzel closer to try and protect her from getting hurt. The Prince noticed his sister, through the rocks, she seemed to look just as scared as he and Rapunzel were. She clearly had no idea how to control the rocks. Then he watched as ran out of the Moonstone chamber.
"Cass, wait!" Eugene called out to her. He made his way through the black rocks as he tried to follow her, but the black rocks were emerging, disappearing, and then reemerging right behind the Dark Princess. Eugene continued to call for her, but she ignored him.
Eventually, the castle stopped shaking and rocks blocking his way disappeared. Eugene ran through the castle halls, calling out of Cass, but there was still no response.
The Dark Prince ran outside the castle, realizing that she would've most likely left the castle. Once outside, he noticed the lack of black rocks around. Under different circumstances, he would've been happy. But the lack of Black Rocks scared him even more.
"Cass?!" Eugene shouted out, his voice echoing. "Cass, where are you?! Please!"
"Eugene!" The prince heard Adira call. Turning back to the Castle doors, the Brotherhood stood together.
They looked ruffled from the castle shaking so much, Hector held his arm, indicating it was injured, and the side of Adira's face was bruised.
"What happened?" Hector said in shock as he stared at the lack of black rocks around.
"Where's Cassandra?" Adira asked.
Eugene stared at them, he opened his mouth, but found himself unable to speak. He had so much to say, but the shock had rendered him mute. Soon, that shock turned into exhaustion as he felt his legs get weak.
The only reason he didn't collapse where he stood is Adira was able to catch him before he did.
"I'll get him to the Infirmary." The guard Captain told the other Brotherhood member. "Hector, go find Quirin and make he and everyone else are alright."
"She's gone." Eugene whispered.
"What?" Adira asked him.
"She...She's gone..." He replied, weakly.
The two warriors stared at Eugene in confusion and concern. Hector asks. "you mean Princess Cassandra? What do you mean she's gone?"
Adira moved past him. "We'll talk after he's seen a doctor." With Eugene carefully in her arms, Adira took the prince back inside the castle and led him to the Infirmary.
Adira and Eugene arrived in the Infirmary first. Adira was given a bandage patch on the side of her face and she had made Eugene lay in one of the beds in the Infirmary. He had told her he wasn't hurt, but Adira told him to remain in the bed until he regained his strength.
Quirin had bandages wrapped around his torso to treat a large scratch he had gotten from when the Black Rocks had scratched him, Hector's injured arm was in a sling, and Adira had had a bandage patched on the side of her face.
As for Varian and Lance, they seemed roughed up from everything that happened, but didn't look injured, much like Eugene and Rapunzel. Quirin still insisted that they rest in the Infirmary. Rapunzel took the time to re-braid her long hair, as Pascal sat on her lap.
"Way ahead of you." Lance had responded, more than willing to take a break.
"Dad, I'm alright." The young alchemist insisted. "If anything, I need to make sure you're alright. I can fetch you a salve or more bandages or-"
Quirin put a hand on his son's shoulder and gave him a small smile. "I'm fine, son. Just focus on making sure you're alright."
"We checked on Edmund." Hector said. Eugene held his breath, already fearing the worst. "He's still weak, but it doesn't look like he got hurt from earlier." Eugene tried to take some comfort in that, but he couldn't. How could he? Even if he's father was unharmed from Cassandra taking the Moonstone, he was still not okay.
"The Moonstone is gone." Hector announced. "It looks like the Black rocks are gone too."
Quirin frowned. "Why doesn't that make me feel better?"
"Because Cass has it now." Eugene replied. Everyone but Eugene and Rapunzel were shocked. "When she took the Moonstone, she couldn't control it, and she ran off when things were started to get really crazy."
Hector scowled. "How could she betrayed us? I'd expect this from her mother, but her?"
Eugene frowned. "Don't say that! Cass would never betray us! She did what she thought was the right thing!" He defended.
"Then why did she take the Moonstone and leave?" Hector asked. "If she wanted to help she could've just stayed with the stone."
"She was scared!" Eugene countered. "She probably wanted to leave before anyone got hurt!"
Hector scoffed, but didn't object any further.
Eugene then faced Rapunzel. "Rapunzel, what were doing in the Moonstone Chamber before I got there? And why did Cass accuse you of trying to betray us?"
"I swear, that wasn't what I was doing?" Rapunzel swore. "Miss Gothel said I could help if I-"
"Wait a minute, Gothel?" Quirin interrupted. "She told you to go to the Moonstone Chamber?"
The Princess of Corona nodded. "She said if I wanted to help, being in there would be the way to do so."
Eugene stared intensely at Rapunzel. "What exactly did Gothel tell you to do?"
"She told me to approach the stone." Rapunzel explained. "I did, then my hair broke free, it glowed, and it started to float around. Miss Gothel then me to reach for the stone, but before I could, Cassandra grabbed it first."
The room was quiet for a moment. Varian broke the silence. "Sounds like she knew quite a bit about the Moonstone and Sundrop. Wonder why she didn't talk to us about it."
The Brotherhood didn't like that. "Has anyone seen her at all since all of this happened?" Quirin asked.
No one said they had. Adira spoke. "I'll have some guards keep an eye out for her, and Cassandra."
"Did Gothel tell you anything else?" Eugene asked. Rapunzel looked reluctant to speak up, but Eugene encouraged her. "Rapunzel, please. You're not in trouble, I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt us, just please. We need to know."
Rapunzel was still hesitant, but spoke. "She just spoke about how so many people have been hurt for all this, she told me what happened to your father." She admitted quietly.
"She did?" Eugene gasped.
The blonde princess nodded. "Yeah. She said if I listened to what she said, I would be able to help so no one else got hurt. I hadn't known it was so bad. I told you I would do what I could to help, Eugene."
The Dark Prince frowned as he continued to listen. He didn't want to hear anymore of this. So he quickly got out of the bed and walked out of the Infirmary, ignoring his friends calling him.
"Leave him be." Quirin suggested as Eugene left. "Give him a moment to himself."
"I'm sorry." Rapunzel said. "I wasn't trying to upset him. I just want to help."
"Its not your fault, your highness." Quirin insisted. "Its just that...Its a long story."
"There was one thing Cass said." Rapunzel said. "She said I was the Sundrop? What is she talking about?"
The room was quiet again, confusion in the atmosphere. But Varian once again broke the silence. "Its a theory." He explained. "I theorized that when your mother was healed, the Sundrop's magic left the flower and went to you. And it looks like Cass and Gothel thought the same."
Rapunzel was flabbergasted. Pascal climbed to her shoulder to comfort her, but it did little to aid the blonde. Remembering what Cass had said to her, Rapunzel realized the truth in that accusation.
"I didn't know." She promised. "I swear I had no idea, if I had known, I would've done something sooner."
"We believe you, Princess." Adira said.
"More secrets." Hector growled. "In Corona and within the Dark Kingdom. When will the secrets stop?"
"I don't know." Varian replied. "But I'm going through those scroll pieces, so once I do that, that might be able to reveal what we need to know."
"Alright." Quirin said. "But for now, let's get some rest, we can continue our work when we've all recovered from the shock. Your highness, you should do the same. You can stay here if you want."
"No, I'll head to my room." Rapunzel insisted. Then the group walked out of the Infirmary.
Prince Eugene walked quickly through the halls, ignoring the damage around him, most likely caused from when the Black Rocks struck during Cassandra taking the Moonstone.
'He still couldn't believe Hector was so quick to declare her a traitor. It was like everything she's ever done for the Dark Kingdom didn't matter anymore. Cassandra may be no-fun at times and very bossy, but she was one of the most, if not THE most, dedicated person to the Dark Kingdom. Everything she did, it was for the sake of this kingdom and their family. Whatever she did, he knew she was doing what she thought was the right thing.
Gothel, however, he could completely believe she would betray them. But he didn't think she would know more about the Moonstone or the Sundrop. She had always been more interested in getting power through the throne, and being pampered like a goddess. What would she need the Sundrop or the Moonstone for? And how could she manipulate Rapunzel's desire to help like that?! The thought made his blood boil. And then she had the nerve to use his father to do so!
"Father." Eugene thought, stopping in tracks. Eugene realized his father could've been killed today. He was already so weak, he wouldn't have been able to escape if the Black Rocks came after him. It was only a miracle that he was unscathed during all of this. The thought terrified him, more than he was willing to admit.
Eugene continued to walk through the halls. But he decided now would be a good time to see his mother's portrait. Maybe that would calm him down.
But when he arrived to the painting, he saw that it was destroyed. There were scratch marks all over it, it was beyond repair. If he hadn't seen it as often as he did, he probably wouldn't have been able to tell the painting was his mother in hall.
Eugene felt his heart shatter. It wasn't enough that his sister was gone and his father would most likely die soon, but now this painting, the one thing he had to remember what his mother looked like, was destroyed. With no way to repair. The Princess fell to his knees and quietly sobbed.
He had never felt more alone than he had right then and there.
Cassandra wasn't sure how long she had been running. It felt like she had been running forever. By the time she had finally decided to stop, the sun had already set.
The black rocks had stopped popping out around her, which seemed to calm her down. At least she wouldn't bring destruction wherever she went. Looking around her, she realized that although she wasn't entirely sure where she was, she knew for a fact that she was far from the Dark Kingdom.
A part of her wanted to go back. But she figured it would be no good at the moment. Maybe when Eugene had a moment to calm down and understand why she did what she did. Eugene had always been stubborn and impulsive, surely he understood she was only doing what would help their kingdom. She was merely fulfilling her destiny.
"Destiny." She thought. The enchanted girl had told her she had a great destiny, that she would be the one to save the Dark Kingdom, to become its queen. She said that she trusted Cassandra to do the right thing. But at the moment, Cass wasn't sure she was. She had been confident in what she was doing when she took the Moonstone, but now, she felt lost.
"What is my destiny?" She asked allowed as she sat on the ground.
"Your destiny is to become who you were always meant to be~." A familiar voice sang.
Turning to the shadows, Cassandra stood and put her guard up. But when she realized who it was, her eyes grew wide.
"Mother?" She gasped.
Gothel stepped out of the shadows and smiled at her daughter. "Hello, Dear."