The Tangled Dooms

Chapter 24

The sun was about to disappear. The shadows of the forest lengthened under the orange trees. A few birds returned to their nests to rest. This time had not yet come for Cassandra. The black-haired warrior was pushing back bushes and brambles with eyes torn between feverishness and apprehension. The tracks were indicating that the old woman, her mother, had gone in that direction. Maximus had confirmed this, without her letting him lead the way. Neither him, nor her other companions.

Since they left, she hadn't given a single look at Rapunzel. Eugene had noticed it as he followed her from afar. He didn't like this ambiance as heavy as bad weather. He had the same fear as before a thunderstorm refusing to break out. While Maximus kept following Cassandra, the former bandit turned to Rapunzel. The young girl with now short brown hair had stopped at the edge of a pond, Pascal by her side. She stared at her reflection with a fearful curiosity that worried the young man. Her once pink dress was covered with red stains everywhere. When Eugene appeared in the water beside her. Rapunzel looked away in shame.

"Are you alright?" asked the worried bandit.

When he placed his hand on her frail shoulder, the girl curled up, her hands clenched, and her eyes closed with force. Eugene wasn't sure what to do. He gave the chameleon a questioning look, but Pascal unfortunately had no more answers than him. Although, worried about scaring her, he nevertheless tried to turn her towards him, with no more force than necessary.

"What's on your mind?" he asked again, as delicately as he was holding a fragile bird.

The young girl let herself be reoriented and looked up, on the verge of crying, at the man to whom she had become so attached. Only this new and tender bond helped her doing so.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"You already said that," reminded Eugene with benevolence. "I told you. I'm okay."

"No…" insisted Rapunzel with her tired voice. "You don't understand."

The girl watched her clenched hands, still covered with stains of dried blood. She closed them, as did her pleading eyes, as if that could make it all go away.

"I could have killed you," she said with terror. "If he wasn't there… If you hadn't tried to… I could have killed all of you."

The bandit knew it was true. His heart clenched in dread at the memory of those crazy eyes and her scarlet hair. He had almost lost his life. It wasn't the first time, but he never thought he would approach death so close to the hands of someone who was now dear to him. Without the strange warrior in the green armor, the end would have been tragic. Still, Eugene took the young girl's clenched hands in his own. She looked up in surprise at his worried face.

"Rapunzel," he said delicately, "you didn't. And the person who tried isn't you. She isn't there."

"What if she returns?" feared the young girl.

"Then I'll still be there to make you come back."

The young girl remained frozen with uncertainty, plunged into Eugene's eyes. She desperately searched for the slightest trace of a benevolent lie. She only found sincere attention. She let a tear fall before throwing herself into his arms.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked as a weak pleading. "Just a bit longer?"

"As long as you want me to stay," answered Eugene.

Rapunzel had a laugh sounding more like a hiccup.

"It could be quite a long time," She admitted.

"That's fine for me."

The former bandit was light-hearted. He dared, at the sight of the young girl's wild strands before his eyes, to kiss her tenderly on the forehead. At first stunned, Rapunzel smiled and hugged him even tighter. Neither of them knew what they would do without the other one.

"Hey! Look at this!" Called Cassandra.

The lovers, a little disappointed by this interruption, hurried to join her. After crossing a wall of sharp foliage, they found their friend kneeling in the middle of a clearing. Maximus stood aside, both worried by the warrior's expression and troubled by what was in front of him. Eugene and Rapunzel discovered in the grass, as if thrown casually, Gothel's long red dress.

Eugene stood back as Rapunzel landed next to the raven-haired warrior. She had huge eyes on a livid face. Unable to grasp what she saw, she contented herself with raising a stiff hand in which Rapunzel discovered with a curiosity bordering on horror, a thin layer of dust. The same one that whitened the mud around the dress. The dead silence that reigned in the clearing oppressed Eugene too much.

"She was using your hair to extend her life," he shared with hesitations. "Maybe cutting them... "

He didn't dare finish his sentence when the troubled looks of his two friends fell on him. They didn't know what to think. If Gothel was indeed dead, there was no way they could get the answers they wanted. Rapunzel didn't know what to say to the one who turned out to be Gothel's real daughter. In a surge of benevolence, she tried to put a hand on Cassandra's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Without looking at her, Cassandra pushed the girl's hand away.

"Sorry?" asked the warrior lady.

An inappropriate laugh escaped her. Her lips remained parted, unsure of which word to let go. Cassandra gritted her teeth and rose to her feet, before turning on her heels and stepping stiffly out of the clearing. Rapunzel followed closely behind her, concern marking her face. Eugene did the same while keeping a certain distance. Pascal wanted to follow them, but Owl blocked his way with a wing. Maximus thought like the bird. They needed to be alone for a moment. After a slow but steady walk to the edge of a river, Cassandra froze near a tree. Rapunzel tried to call her, but the answer she received was carried by a freezing voice.

"You say you are sorry Rapunzel?"

The girl with the new brown hair stopped Eugene right behind her. The latter worried even more when Rapunzel jumped. Cassandra had hit the still tree with her fist.

"I don't even know if you have to," declared Cassandra. "My mother abandoned me to live with you. She imprisoned you. She used you like some fountain of youth. Rationally, you are more like the victim."

Rapunzel was confused. It was all true. Yet Cassandra's voice sounded out of tune. It didn't take long for her to hear her true feelings explode.

"Then why is it you that I'm angry at?!"

The former prisoner felt a deep terror at the look filled with hatred that Cassandra gave her. Her crooked face twitched in places and her teeth stood out like fangs ready to pounce on her. The lady warrior's fists were clenched and the links of the chain around her arm clicked to the rhythm of her trembling muscles. Eugene worried and stood ready to act, whatever he had to do.

Nevertheless, Rapunzel remained still. In that enraged look, she saw what she had felt a short time ago. Rapunzel's heart clenched in grief and, to everyone's surprise, leaped forward to surround Cassandra in her arms.

"Because she was your mother," whispered Rapunzel.

Cassandra was impassive, mesmerized by this surreal situation.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the dumbfounded warrior lady.

"I know what you are feeling," answered the young girl. "The pain, the treason, the anger, the confusion… I know what it is."

Cassandra wanted to scream that it was wrong, but deep inside she knew the truth. She had seen how fury had taken hold of Rapunzel. Would she have been so monstrous with similar powers? Part of her hoped not, but another saw a certain legitimacy in it. Rapunzel wasn't lying. She knew how her friend was feeling, what this crazy old woman had left as a mark on her heart.

"I'm really sorry," repeated Rapunzel.

Cassandra understood in this embrace that Rapunzel was not apologizing for having taken her mother. She apologized that she was suffering because of this unfair situation. Cassandra bit her lip, her eyes closed angrily.

"Why wasn't I enough for her?" Asked Cassandra.

"You are amazing Cassandra," whispered Rapunzel. "You are a loyal, honorable and an impressive fighter. You are more than enough for many people."

Cassandra remembered one person. All the good memories by her side filled her heart with a joy that almost made the tears that she was holding back overflow. Her gaze fell on the bandit she had hunted down before. He gave her a small smile accompanied by a sympathetic look. She remembered that he had done everything to save her and that he had fought alongside her instead of running away when it would have been easier. It was her own injury that had finished angering Rapunzel. It meant that her fate worried her. The warrior lady softened and finished resting her head on her friend's shoulder. Her fury didn't make sense. Her pride cracked for a moment.

"I need to see my dad," she admitted.

"Of course," agreed Rapunzel before letting the warrior return to her proud, yet tired posture.

"I hope he is fine," added Cassandra, quite worried. "This invasion was terrible."

"Not too much I hope," added Eugene with an amused smile. "He seemed pretty determined to send me to jail."

The two women gave him a partially amused smile.

"Don't worry," reassured the warrior. "I'll tell him you did way enough to deserve the king's pardon. By the way, the queen wanted to meet you, Rapunzel."

"Really?" said the young girl, quite surprised. "Why?"

"I don't know," explained Cassandra," but it seemed important."

"Then we should go," declared Eugene. "After these hectic days, we need some rest."

Rapunzel hurried over to the converted bandit and grabbed his arm. The latter helped her to get on Maximus and everyone began to make their way to Corona. Pascal landed on the shoulder of his old friend, who stroked his head with gratitude. Owl landed on Cassandra's and Eugene led the way. As they walked forward, the brown-haired girl took one last look back. Despite all the hatred she felt, a small pinch tickled her heart at the sight of a red piece of fabric in the middle of the bushes. She didn't know if she would ever return to the tower, but what she did know was that it would take time to heal from all these years at Gothel's hands. Happy memories had become as artificial as a play of dolls. She had no idea what Gothel had thought before she disappeared, but she hoped, strangely, to be a part of it, one way of another.

Earlier

To run. Run away as far as possible. Gothel had nothing else in mind. Was it all over? Impossible. She had managed to escape for so long. How could she lose everything? Rapunzel had turned into a monster. Strangers had found her refuge. Nightmarish creatures were invading the forest. She had stabbed this young girl. Mother Gothel had stabbed her real daughter. She pushed back a branch that scratched her back.

What was Cassandra doing here? She should never have been there. She should never have met her again. She no longer existed. Why did the whining little girl she left behind reappear like this? This child who was always under her feet asking her for stupid songs and games should never have come back. Gothel stumbled over a rock.

Her ankle was on fire. Pain impaled her leg. She didn't want to feel it, but it ran through her whole body. She hit the ground with a furious fist. No reaction. Only the suffering added to her hand pricked by the stones. Gothel gritted her teeth; She tried to get up quickly, but an explosion in her ankle caused her to collapse.

The old woman cried out with an anger that the trees didn't bother to resonate. Her voice was lost in the leaves. There was nothing she could do. She wanted help. The noises around her, was it one of those hideous creatures running through the bushes? Gothel was shaking. She wanted to call for help. Her call was lost in the woods. No one was there. No one would come.

In the middle of the wood, lost in a clearing, Gothel crawled. Her fingers dug into the earth until they blew for a millimeter of advance. Then an icy feeling pierced her heart. Her breath uncertain, she saw the flesh of her arm become thin, her skin stained and a strand turning the color of ash. Gothel screamed her refusal, tried to pull her hair out. She didn't even have the strength anymore. Her voice weakens. Her breathing became awfully complicate to maintain as her muscles were devoured, her bones appeared under a shroud of crumpled skin. She didn't want to close her eyes here, in the mud and dust.

Between two branches, she perceived a golden glow. She remembered a similar reflection, as she brushed through a cascade of hair. She remembered the emerald eyes that looked up at her tenderly then. A tenderness like that in the slightly darker gaze of another girl who always stand next to her after a long day. She couldn't do anything. At least she wanted to see those eyes again. One last time. Then an imperceptible, unruffled, unstoppable breeze slipped casually over her. Dust rose and darkness fell. There was only a piece of cloth left over silence and worms.

Thanks for reading my fiction.

Don't forget to share and review.

I see you next time for a Bonus Chapter with a new princess, battle and so much more.