"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off?" Cass asked for the fifth time as I walked down the stairs from their apartment to the Lucky Cat Cafe that was already abuzz with customers. "It's really no trouble for me."

"I'm sure. I'm gonna ride my bike to the office and Mom will pick me up after."

She paused by the door. "So has everything worked out then?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's… complicated."

"But you're gonna talk everything through with her, right?"

"I'm gonna try to at least."

Cass gave me an encouraging smile. "I'm proud of you, kiddo. And I know things will work out between you two."

"But what if they don't?" I whispered softly, my grip on my duffel bag tightening.

"Then we cross that bridge when we come to it," she replied kindly, tucking a tuft of hair behind my ear. "Just be honest and open. That's the most you can do." Cass paused briefly before speaking again. "Are you sure you don't need a lift?" she asked again, causing me to laugh.

"Totally sure. I gotta head off before I'm late."

"Let me know how it goes?" she requested.

I nodded. "I will."

XXX

The employee break room at work had a TV mounted on the wall which was always playing the local news. I grabbed an apple from the fruit basket in the small pantry before settling down into an armchair in the corner of the room, relishing my short break before work inevitably piled up again.

"Hi Rapunzel!." Star Butterfly was a couple years younger than me. At only fifteen, I sometimes wondered how she even got hired as an intern. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that her dad, River, was really high up in the company. I would have thought that even then, there was some minimum age for people to start working, but it didn't seem so. Nonetheless, she was a bubbly person to bring around and was good at releasing any and all tension in the office with her optimism and charm. Plus, she was really good at what she did. "How was your weekend?"

"It was… eventful," I answered truthfully. "How about you?"

"It was great. I hosted a sleepover with some friends but this one guy Marco had to leave early. He went to this march thing with another friend from school. It was supposed to be from Town Square to City Hall but it got broken up."

"Oh… do you know what it was about?" I asked casually.

"Nope. He didn't say."

"Ah."

Star then started talking about the project her supervisor had her working on, and how she would have to quit soon since her sophomore year was starting in September, but in all honesty, I'd almost completely zoned out by that point. My mind had been fuzzy since the argument, and I didn't really have the capacity to think about anything. I couldn't even bring myself to think about Mom, much less whatever work I had to do or whatever Star was rambling about.

"...and the mayor's on TV," she ended her monologue.

"What, that time he was on for the fourth of July?" I asked, not really caring much about her answer. "The fireworks display this year was okay but I think he just didn't—"

"No dude, they mayor's on TV," she said, this time with more emphasis, pointing to the TV that wasn't in my direct line of sight. I twisted myself so that the screen was in view. There was the news anchor on screen and a small image of Mayor Lionheart which was probably gonna be enlarged into an interview since it looked like he was sitting in an office. What shocked me more was the headline that flashed across the bottom of the screen.

Peaceful Demonstration Halted Last Night Due To Police Intervention.

"Oh man. Where's the remote? Can you turn it up?"

Star reached over to grab the remote on one of the coffee tables and increased the volume. The news anchor's voice filled the break room as he read off the offscreen script.

"A peaceful demonstration was halted last night by the San Fransokyo Police Department, resulting in an outpour of online backlash," he began.

Online backlash? For or against us?

"The demonstration was rallying for legislative change with the intent of legalising incest under several conditions. This stemmed from an online blog which has several thousand members globally, including international users, though most are local. The organisation had gained sufficient signatures in a petition required by the nation's Constitution to propose a new law. Upon further investigation of the forum, participants and supporters had intended to march from Speakers' Corner at Town Square to City Hall and present their petition and the terms of which this law would be fulfilled when they were unexpectedly stopped by the police. Following the intervention, most participants left the scene, several participants were arrested, and all those arrested were released on bail.

The method of intervention had sparked significant outcry in support for the demonstrators under the argument that the march in no way broke any laws regarding public assembly. A statement was given by Officer Dipper Pines, who was responsible for making the arrests. Officer Pines explained that the arrests were necessary due to complaints from the public, however online supporters opposed this, arguing that public complaints held about as much ground as noise complaints, and that no public damage was actually done. Here's Mayor Lionheart with his statement from City Hall."

The small image of Mayor Lionheart enlarged, his broad form taking up most of the screen. I found myself subconsciously holding my breath as I waited for him to speak.

"The events that occurred last night certainly could not be seen as unprecedented," he began. "San Fransokyo is no stranger to demonstrations and protests, being one of the most liberal states when it comes to public assembly." Why did it seem like he was stalling for time by just listing off facts? "It is for this reason that I would like to personally extend my apologies to all those who were arrested yesterday."

He would like to what now? I thought in disbelief. Was he actually apologising? We got arrested. That kind of made us like… criminals. We were certainly treated like criminals. And he was apologising?

"The swift reaction time and action taken by the San Fransokyo Police Department is what makes us indebted to our efficient police force, but last night it was not used in an appropriate way. The mayor's office has come to the conclusion that the police had reacted too harshly to public complaints."

I could barely believe what I was hearing.

"Every person in the state has the right to public assembly in a non destructive way, and every person in the state has the right to present their thoughts on how we can progress further to me and my city council. It is for this reason that I hereby exempt those affected by bail charges. They may return to any police station within the city centre for the bail to be entirely refunded."

I pinched my arm hard enough to leave little crescent marks in the skin. Nope. I'm definitely awake.

"As for the proposed law…" Mayor Lionheart paused, eyes scanning over the documents splayed over his desk. He inspected everything carefully before speaking again, which took several, heart stopping minutes. "I as an individual cannot single-handedly pass such a large decision. It must first be deliberated with the rest of the city council."

I couldn't hold back a small smile. At least he wasn't saying no.

"While I understand that the moderators of the online forum would have liked to present their case to me in person following their march, the details of their proposal are available on their platform. Therefore, I will personally look over these terms, and should I need any clarification on aspects of their proposal, my office will be reaching out to them directly."

That was a little bit of a relief. I still found public speaking daunting at times, and I don't know what I would have done if I'd let my nerves make me mess up in front of Mayor Lionheart himself.

"I will convene with the city council in several meetings over the course of this week, and the decision regarding this law will be announced to the public on Friday at 3pm."

The livestream from the mayor's office cut off, putting the news anchor back on screen.

"Thank you, Mayor Lionheart. The news will be reported here once a decision has been made, so tune in for that. This is Peter Moosebridge reporting, and you're watching San Fransokyo News."

The news station then began to play advertisements and Star muted it once again.

"I think that was where Marco was last night," she said, looking at her phone, seemingly re-reading some old texts. "He told me that he, his friend and his friend's brother had to leave after the police got involved, and that some people got arrested for it. Wait… but that means…" The girl then thought for a few moments, coming to the realisation that Marco's friend and his friend's brother were probably there for a reason she hadn't previously anticipated. "Oh."

I gave an awkward laugh, not knowing what else I could have done. Meanwhile, my mind was running at a million miles an hour. I hadn't been able to check on the blog what with the arrest and the argument. By the time I got to Cass', I pretty much crashed immediately. I rose to get back to my cubicle where my laptop was, eager to see what this backlash was for myself.

A flash of recognition showed on Star's face as I got up, and she looked between the TV and me a few times. "Wait a second, isn't this the project that Jane has you working on?"

"Yup," I answered quickly. "Gotta go."

"Oh, okay, see you at lunch—?" she tried to say, but I was already gone.

I chucked the half-eaten apple into the bin in the corner and grabbed my laptop. When I opened it and loaded everything up, I saw that indeed the blog had blown up even more overnight, and there seemed to be a constant flurry of activity on our online forum.

In the time that we were planning the march, I'd met up with GoGo and she helped me make Hiccup co-moderator. It made it easier to split the work between us in terms of announcements regarding the march. Within the moderator's section, there was a new pinned post.

[New discussion thread]

Toothless_Dragon (he/him) [CO-MODERATOR]

[07-23-2034, 23:00:00]

MARCH DISCUSSION MEGATHREAD

As you most of you know by now, our peaceful march from Speakers' Corner in Town Square to City Hall was unjustly halted by the San Fransokyo Police Department due to 'complaints from the public'. Many were taken into custody, including moderators of the blog, and we were barred from pleading our case to Mayor Lionheart or proposing the law as we intended. Not only was this a blatant infringement of our rights to public assembly, the treatment by certain training officers was also unnecessarily harsh.

A new petition has been made to exempt those affected by the bail charges. This can be found under 'pinned posts' and I urge you to take two minutes to aid those who were unjustly taken in last night. Additionally, this discussion thread serves as a way for the community to discuss the march in greater detail.

EDIT: As of July 24th, Mayor Lionheart has pardoned all those arrested from bail charges. However, this does not diminish the fact that our opportunity to propose our law was stripped from us. We will continue to speak out until our voices are heard, and until the city council comes to the right decision.

Goofy_Monkey (she/her): I was at the march with my parents when we heard the sirens. The officer said the protest had to be broken up due to complaints from the public. While we left, I saw some who chose to stay getting yelled at even though they weren't resisting arrest.

Laughing_Cow (he/they): My sister and I were arrested and while I know other marches definitely had it worse in terms of police intervention, the way we were treated was really unnecessary. Officer Dippy Fresh, who was apparently only a trainee, put our handcuffs on way too tightly, even after we complained our circulation was being cut off, to the point where my fingers were almost purple by the time we were taken to the station. Like Goofy_Monkey said, we were also yelled at for essentially no reason. The police department was just doing its job, but they could have taken into account our own needs and treated us with more basic respect.

Grazing_Gazelle (they/them): What happened last night was total bullshit! There were no grounds for the arrests. The police department should be ashamed.

Excitable_Reindeer (she/her): I'm so sorry for everyone who went to the march and got caught up in everything that happened. Hoping that the city council makes the right decision.

The outpour of support online was definitely a huge comfort after everything that had happened. As I was reading over the posts, I saw a text from Jane pop up in the corner of my screen.

Jane: Can you swing by my office if you have time?

This wasn't too out of the ordinary. Jane's office was bright and cosy, so most of her conversations with her team were in there. It was right down the hall from my cubicle, so I made my way over without hesitation.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, entering the room after swiftly knocking on the door.

"Rapunzel, some sit." She smiled sweetly at me. "I have some updates for you on your personal project."

"What updates?" I asked innocently. Her smile lured me into a false sense of security, to the point where I completely didn't anticipate what she said next.

"The clients I had you take on? The ones with the online blog? We need to drop them."

If I was holding anything at that moment, I would have dropped it. "What? Why?"

"Have you seen the news?" she questioned like I was dumb. "They hosted a march yesterday. It was stopped by the police. We can't have that tarnishing the reputation of the company."

"But… but Mayor Lionheart pardoned those released on bail," I argued. "There were no legal repercussions."

"And not just that," she continued. "The law isn't likely to work out. I'm looking at this from a purely logical standpoint here. The company is definitely going to have to go through tougher times in the coming months, what with all of our part-time employees leaving for school until next summer. We can't afford to expend time and resources on these types of cases."

"But the people who will be making the law are progressive—"

"Mayor Lionheart is progressive," she corrected. "But the rest of the statesmen… not so much. The law needs to be passed by a majority, and the city council is full of conservative old men." The more she spoke, the more I realised she was right. The council was partially progressive, but overall majorly conservative. Mayor Lionheart may have supported us, but we needed to rely on him convincing everyone else.

"As much as I want this law to come into fruition for the support of our clients, I think it's ultimately unlikely, and that we should save ourselves from disappointment before it's too late."

"Jane, don't make me do this," I pleaded, leaning forward in my chair. "I can't just leave this project behind."

"Not to worry," she said casually. "I'll find you another assignment that can be completed in the time you have left here before you go off to college—"

"But I don't want another assignment!" I protested. "I need this to be what I do." Dropping the project would mean that Mom was right all along. That I should never have taken the job in the first place. That I should have never mixed my work with my personal life. It would mean no more exposure other than just being a measly blog in the black hole that was the internet. It would mean that I failed.

"Rapunzel, you've done a truly commendable job up until this point, but this is where we have to stop," she said gently as she rose from her chair. "Our clients will understand—"

"No!" I rose to meet her, standing so I was just a bit shorter than her. "I don't understand. Nothing concrete has been said. Ringling's name isn't even on any of the public advertisements so there would be no way of knowing for sure that we're involved. I've worked on this for months and I can't just let one mistake ruin it all."

Jane paused to study me. "You're not remembering right, Rapunzel. You've only had this assignment for less than a month and…" Then, a look of recognition crossed her face as she connected the dots. "Oh. I think I get it now."

"Do you?" I questioned, wanting to make sure what she thought was right.

You… you're the one who… started it. You're our client."

"I made the blog earlier in the year," I affirmed her assumption, not even afraid to say it if it meant changing her mind.

"Goodness…" Jane looked stunned to say the least but quickly recollected herself, only the faintest bit of shock left in her expression. "I did not expect that."

"I fought so hard to put it up and keep it up and now it feels like everything's crumbling down around me. So I'm begging you. Please don't make me give it all up. I've come too far to just do that." I was ready to get down on my knees by that point.

She looked torn, glancing between me and the door several times before speaking again. "Look, Rapunzel. I admire what you're doing. I really do. But we have to end it before things get out of hand."

I paused to think before suddenly getting a lightbulb moment. "We don't have to end it."

She sighed sadly. "Yes, we do—"

"But we don't, though," I insisted. "I can take on any other project you need me to, and I will work my hardest to get them all done, but we don't need to abandon the blog entirely. No advertisements will be made or posted until Friday, once a decision has been made. If the law is approved, we can go on as normal. If not, then fine. We'll… I'll drop it," I quickly corrected myself.

Jane considered my words carefully, seemingly thinking over my proposal. Finally, after several heartstopping minutes, she spoke. "Okay. But only because I can tell this means a lot to you. I wanted to fully support our clients in their cause, and that still stands even though I know the clients have been you this whole time. I want to fully support you in this."

I could have hugged her at that moment. "Oh, Jane, thank you!" I gushed, grinning from ear to ear.

She gave me a small smile. "Just don't let anyone know you're still on the job, alright? I don't want either of us getting into trouble."

I nodded firmly. "Yes ma'am."

XXX

The rest of my day was spent liaising with new clients Jane had paired me with. It was a more private thing this time. Not really advertising specifically, but rather a couple who wanted designs done for a wedding. It was a good distraction, but as the little hand on the clock in my cubicle inched closer to five, I felt my nerves flare up inside me again. Maybe I was rushing into this. Maybe I wasn't ready to talk things out yet. As the first few people began to clock out for the day, I made up my mind.

Yup, I thought. That's it. I'm not ready for this. I'll just text Mom and let her know and tell her I'll see her tomorrow. Yes, that's exactly what I'll do.

Before I could pull out my phone, I reflexively flinched. I could hear sirens in the distance and the memories from last night's arrest — had it really only been last night? — came flooding back. The sirens, the handcuffs, the police van, the station. My heart raced just thinking about it.

Thankfully, there were subtle differences in the sirens used by different emergency services in San Fransokyo, and I'm pretty sure this time they were coming from fire engines instead of police cars.

Minor freak out aside, I pulled my phone out while my pulse evened out again. Mom had sent me a text earlier that morning saying that she'd see me at five, but other than that, there were no other notifications from her. However, the notification I did see made my blood run cold.

It was a notification from the San Fransokyo News app flashing menacingly on my screen.

At least 9 taken to hospital for their injuries after a fire broke out at the Marc Davis Building on Hyde Street. Fatalities have yet to be confirmed.

Fear coursed through me, rooting me to the spot.

The Marc Davis Building.

That was Mom's office.