Note: We cannot tell you how many times we rewrote this chapter in our heads. There's honestly so much to cover here and we didn't want to risk approaching this the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it after all this time, and we hope you'll stick with us as we continue this story into the future. There are still a lot of new places to go from here, so stay tuned. Enjoy.

Rapunzel didn't know it was possible to spend an entire day in awkward silence until she actually had to do it. It wasn't like their party had been a cheery one beforehand, but even when the sun went down, and a cold wind swept over the grassy plain, none of them managed to say a single word to each other. Not when they were setting up their tents. Not when they were cooking their rations. Not when they ate. By the time the sky became littered with stars, the only sound that Rapunzel heard was the crackling of the fire she was curled up in front of. Adira had perched herself by a tree and had fallen fast asleep. The horses were lying down in the grass. Owl was keeping watch overhead. The silence gave her what she wanted since the beginning of their journey: Some time alone with her own thoughts.

She didn't realize until now how terrible that truly was.

She missed Eugene. She missed him so much. If he was here with her, he would say something like, "Cheer up, Blondie. Only Cassandra is allowed to be this dark and brooding." She couldn't help it. She wanted to see him smile. She wanted to see him crack a joke in an attempt to make her feel better. She wanted him to try to seduce her with that glorious smolder, and she could lovingly tell him that she thought his face was perfect no matter what expression he was making. The Eugene she saw in the Void wasn't the real thing. It was a façade. A tease. She couldn't even savor the moment because she couldn't let herself forget that the real thing was miles and miles away in Corona. She badly needed him by her side. It may have been ridiculous to think, but sometimes, he acted as her conscious. No matter how vain he could be sometimes, he had a way of soothing her doubts that no one else could. And God, did she have a lot of doubts.

Cassandra left the fire an hour ago. Ever since then, she had been sitting a dozen yards away by the river, quietly staring at the stream as it flowed along through the valley. Rapunzel hadn't taken her eyes off the back of her head. Talk to her. The voice was screaming in the back of her head. Say something. Do you really want to screw this up again? She's your best friend. You can't let this destroy that. It was easy for the voice to say that, but didn't it remember the last time they had been down this road? It all seemed so familiar: the guilt, the screaming, the travel, and the rest. Even Adira was here. On one hand, it almost felt like a blessing that it was all happening again. It almost seemed like the universe was giving her a second chance. But that also meant that despite all their best efforts to change, she and Cassandra were right back where they started two years ago. That couldn't have been good.

If it was a second chance, though, that meant she couldn't just stroll on over and chitchat and make everything okay. She had screwed that up once. This time, it was going to be different. If she was going to talk to Cass, she was going to do it right this time. And so far that had gone…well, to steal a phrase from Cassandra: It had gone to shit.

She didn't mean to yell at Cass. Really, she didn't. She was just so…so…okay, she didn't know what she was anymore. But she didn't want to be angry at Cassandra. She knew that much. Cassandra was suffering. Yelling at a woman who was easily going through the worst day of her life was an awful thing to do. She had that same terrible feeling when she had to break her promise to Varian. She knew how messed up it was, and yet she couldn't help it. It just sort of…came out of her. She didn't even know where it came from. Even right now, when she was staring at Cassandra, she felt this sort of mild fury bubbling beneath the surface. It wasn't due to anything obvious. She wasn't mad at Cass when she betrayed her. She was heartbroken, devastated, and yes, there was anger, but not like this. She was still willing to forgive Cassandra for what she had done, and the strange part was that she had done far more to hurt her back then. In fact, now that she thought about it, even when the Void showed her Cassandra's violent fantasies, she still didn't get that mad at her. Sure, part of that was because she didn't believe them, but it was pretty weird that she watched Cassandra murder her husband and thought to herself, Nah, that's not that bad. So, then what the hell was she so mad about?

"Oh, yes, Cassandra! Oh, right there! You're so good!"

Rapunzel frowned. Ah. Yes. That.

That, that, that…

Anyway, she couldn't sit there forever. At some point, she was going to have to go over there and talk to her. That was the promise she made. She explicitly said they would talk about it and everything would be okay, and Cass…dammit, Cass didn't even react at all. She had been acting so un-Cassandra-like that it was starting to get seriously worrying. The longer she put this off, the more she had to worry about it coming back to haunt her. No doubt Cassandra was stewing in thoughts of her own, using the silence to speculate how much worse the evening was going to become. It wasn't that Rapunzel didn't trust Cassandra's thoughts, but they didn't exactly have the best track record. She would have to act sooner rather than later.

"So, like…what's the deal with you and the annoying lady?"

Rapunzel heard a soft voice behind her and turned as Delilah planted herself directly next to the fire. She was munching on some leftover bread. She was a loud chewer. Very distracting.

Thank God for that.

"Who? Cass?" Rapunzel asked, letting herself get dragged into the conversation.

"Yeah. I mean, we were talking about it yesterday," Delilah shrugged.

They were? Yes, that was right. It was just yesterday, wasn't it? How the time seemed to fly…

"R-Right," Rapunzel said carefully. "I did say that."

"You and her were friends, and then you were enemies, and now you're friends again. How did that work out?"

"It's…complicated," Rapunzel admitted. She didn't know how much of Cassandra's past the woman would be comfortable with sharing. Most of it was public knowledge, but it seemed wrong to do it without her consent.

"I can tell," Delilah stated. "I mean, I guess you two are back to being enemies now, huh?"

Rapunzel scowled. No, no, no. That wasn't…absolutely not…

"We're just having a rough patch," Rapunzel grumbled. "We had some arguments, but it's better now."

"Exactly," the Psychopomp nodded. "That's why you aren't speaking to each other. It's all peachy."

Rapunzel had the sudden urge to snap at the assassin, but it wasn't like she didn't have a point. Plus, she had felt too angry the past few hours. Maybe Adira had a point as well about the curse affecting her mind. She sighed, hugging her knees close to her chest. Squeezing them made the scars hurt a little worse, so she just let them rest in place as she tried to clear her thoughts.

"Can I ask you something?" Rapunzel said earnestly. "Have you ever thought that you knew someone only for them to be…you know, different?"

Delilah snickered. "You do realize I grew up surrounded by assassins, right? I learned a long time ago that if you think you know someone, that only means they've done a good job at hiding themselves from you."

"But you don't think that about everyone, do you?" Rapunzel asked innocently. "I mean, not everyone wants to stab you in the back, or keep important things from you, or lie to you, or…" She trailed off. It was so weird how those were the first things that came to mind.

"Maybe not," Delilah admitted, finishing her bread down to its crust. "But it's better to assume that. If you don't have expectations for people, they can't disappoint you."

"That's certainly one way of looking at it. I just don't think I could ever not see the good in someone." Rapunzel stared longingly at Cass, and Delilah just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, so that's what it is. The Void showed you her fucked up thoughts, didn't it?"

Rapunzel grimaced. "I…"

"No, no, I get it," Delilah said calmly. "I mean, from what your pal Adira told me, she wanted to take over your entire Kingdom. A person like that is bound to have some messed up thoughts."

"You don't know Cass."

"And you didn't either, apparently. That's what this whole thing is about, right."

"No, I do. I just…" Rapunzel closed her eyes and pressed her head against her knees. "I know Cassandra isn't a bad person. She did a lot of bad things, but she was being used. She was hurt—I hurt her. I know that deep down, she's really this loving, sweet, caring person. But the thing is…I know I felt like that before. The first time she betrayed me, I had no idea it was coming. It wasn't like the signs weren't there. Seriously, Eugene told me directly: Cass is going to betray you. That should have been a clear sign, right? But I…I didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't comprehend that Cassandra would ever do something so horrible, so I refused to even consider it. My ignorance led to a lot of people getting hurt…including her. I've never been able to fully forgive myself for that."

"I see," Delilah nodded. "So, you're worried about her slipping down that path again?"

Rapunzel quickly shook her head. "It's not that. I know she won't try to hurt anyone else."

"What makes you so sure?"

Rapunzel tried to answer but stopped herself before she said anything. Really, what excuse did she have for putting her faith in Cassandra again? She saw those fantasies of her slaughtering the people of Corona, killing her friends and family. Even Cass may not have believed she could stop herself. The truth was that Rapunzel was still looking for the answers. The only reason she had to trust Cassandra was their friendship—though she didn't really have any idea what to make of their friendship anymore.

"You are so fucking gorgeous, Raps…"

"Look, my point is," Rapunzel continued, "there have been too many times in my life that I thought I knew someone only to be completely blindsided by who they really were. The woman who raised me for most of my life… kidnapped me from birth. She was using me for my magic and tried to lock me away from the world. I was eighteen when I finally escaped from her and met my actual parents. My friend, Varian? He was helping me try to learn about the Sundrop, and then all of a sudden, he was fighting against my Kingdom and wanted to capture me. And Cassandra…you get the gist. I always want to trust people. I want to see the good in them. But each time they betray that trust, each time they lie to me…it just gets harder and harder to keep believing in them. I…I wouldn't expect you to get that, being an assassin and all. But that's a big deal for me."

"And why would that be a bad thing?"

Rapunzel was taken aback. She looked at Delilah as if she was insane. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, this girl seems to be causing you a lot of aggravation," Delilah noted. "She clearly doesn't seem interested in fixing things. I'm not going to act like I'm the master of social skills, but I know a doomed friendship when I see one. Maybe you'd just be better off if you stopped caring about her so much and, I don't know…let her go."

Let her go?

Let her go…

Now Delilah was telling her that. It was bad enough when Cassandra was saying it, but now this random assassin—this woman who barely knew her, didn't even know a single thing about what either of them had been through—thought that she could start passing judgment on them. Wasn't this conversation supposed to be a pleasant distraction? If she wanted to have these negative thoughts, she would have just kept sitting by herself. All Cass and Delilah did were think of the worst. Their friendship was doomed? What was that even supposed to mean? Why did they act like the best thing for her to do was end things? That wasn't what she wanted. Did any of them give a damn about what she wanted? What she wanted was Cassandra back by her side like things used to be, proud and boastful and eager and strong, and she wanted them to be normal, boring friends who could talk to each other like normal people and spend their lives peacefully in Corona—and maybe that didn't give Cassandra everything she wanted, and maybe it was selfish keeping Cass around when she wanted to go, but was it more selfish than Cass hiding her true feelings for years? Was it more selfish than taking the Moonstone just to spite her when she had no idea what she even wanted to do with it? Rapunzel could afford to be selfish. Just once. She had been selfless her whole life. She was allowed to want one thing to herself. That didn't make her a bad person. She was the one trying to make things better. She didn't…she wasn't…

She…

Dammit…

She didn't have an answer, did she? There used to be an easy one. They were sisters! Easy. Clean. But now, she didn't know what they were supposed to be anymore. She wanted to go back to what they used to have, but if that was all a lie, then what was she even trying to save?

Rapunzel sighed. Where was all of this anger coming from? She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She didn't have the voice for it. She didn't have the courage, either.

She needed to fix things.

Now.

"I'm…I'm going to talk to Cass," she muttered, tossing Delilah's question away. The assassin didn't stop her, however, as she stood up and regretfully made her way past the fire, toward the side of the river where Cassandra was sitting. If she had heard their conversation, she certainly wasn't acting like it.

With every step Rapunzel took, she felt her heart beating faster. It was just Cass, she told herself. There was no reason for her to be so nervous. Cassandra was her friend. Her best friend. They saved the world together. What was she so scared about? Cass wasn't going to turn on her again. She definitely wasn't going to be angry. It would be fine. Totally fine. Super fine. Fine, fine…fine fine fine. Rapunzel's knees were weak. Her fingers laced together by her waist. The heat of the fire slowly faded as she drew closer to the river, and the wind picked up, scattering a few strands of brunette hair across her face. She didn't try to brush them away.

She stopped a few feet short of Cassandra and stared at her. Quiet. Hunched over. She finally managed to get her breathing under control. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed Cass had fallen asleep. But she knew Cass was awake. Something in her gut told her.

She took a deep breath. Okay…here it goes…

"H-Hey, Cass," Rapunzel said softly. "How, um…how are you feeling?"

After hours and hours of planning, that was the best she came up with. How are you feeling? She forced herself to smile, but she couldn't hide the embarrassment in her voice.

"I, uh, just wanted to check on you," Rapunzel stated nervously. "There was a lot going on yesterday, and I…well, I wanted to make sure you weren't hurt. You're not hurt, right, Cass?"

Cassandra didn't answer. She barely moved, except for her gloved fingers gently sifting through the dirt by her side.

"You know, that's the most important thing to me," Rapunzel explained. "Your safety is what really matters. A-And you were really close to the Incantation y-yesterday, so…yeah…just need to know you aren't hurt."

Rapunzel waited a long while for Cassandra to respond. She distracted herself by looking anywhere else. The moon was especially bright tonight. With all of the stars accompanying it, it looked truly stunning. When was the last time she was able to appreciate the beauty of the moon like that? It felt like forever. The wind slightly picked up. She wished she brought a coat with her. She needed that, or at least another body to keep her warm.

Cassandra suddenly sighed, and all of Rapunzel's attention was brought right back to her. She barely heard the answer over the subtle wind.

"Just peachy."

Rapunzel blinked a few times in shock. Was…was that sarcasm? Actual Cassandra sarcasm? That…that was good, wasn't it? It was an improvement at least. Rapunzel gained a bit more confidence, her smile growing a tiny bit more genuine. She cleared her throat.

"Oh. That's good to hear. I, um, you know…I was worried about you. A lot, actually. That's a big relief."

Cassandra huffed. "Yeah. It is." She barely put any energy into her voice. It sounded low and gravelly, devoid of emotion. Rapunzel awkwardly looked away. She had to say something next. Pick a topic. Anything.

"God, you do have a dirty side, don't you? Guess you couldn't always be so sweet and innocent, Raps."

Rapunzel clenched her fists. Nope. Not that. Something else.

"Look…about earlier," she said quickly. "I'm really sorry I snapped at you. Telling you to shut up, a-and playing the Princess card…that was wrong of me. You didn't deserve having me yell at you like that. You were just trying to look out for me, and I was really out of line. I could try to make excuses for it, but it's not acceptable for me to act that way toward you. I really wanted you to know that. If I hurt you at all, and if there is anything I can do about it—"

"Don't worry about it," Cassandra cut her off. "It's fine. I don't care."

Rapunzel gave a defeated groan. Here she was again at the moment of rejection. Just like when Cassandra burned her hand. Just like when they dropped into the Void. Just like when she saw that damn vision. Every time she waited, it got worse and worse. She could either suck it up now and get this conversation over with, or she could back off and give Cassandra the space that she wanted. It wasn't really a choice.

Rapunzel took a few steps forward and dropped down to her knees directly beside Cassandra. Cass had no idea what to make of her, awkwardly turning her head away so she wouldn't have to see Rapunzel's pained face. The Princess took a long breath to clear her head.

"Cassandra, this…this isn't fair. I know it's not fair. It's not fair that you had to go through any of that. It's not fair that you had to show me any of those secrets. It's not fair that I have to keep pestering you about this even though I know you don't want to talk to me about it, especially after I said that I would give you space. None of this is what you deserve. And, if I can be completely honest…I am furious at you. I'm so mad at you over all of this, and you know what? That's not fair either. None of this is your fault. I know that it isn't, but I am still upset that we have to go through this. I wish…I wish you would have just told me about all of this sooner. I wish you wouldn't still be afraid to talk to me about these feelings after everything we've been through together."

Cassandra clenched her jaw. "I'm not afraid of anything."

Rapunzel sighed. "Okay, afraid, angry, annoyed…whatever. My point is, Cass, that the reason why I'm so upset is that I can see that all of this is hurting you. This has clearly been hurting you for a long time, and I hate that. You may not believe this, but…I really do want you to be happy. I know with how much I mess up, it may not seem like it. And I know that I failed…so much." Her eyes drifted down to Cassandra's hand, and every instance that she had ever wronged her friend flashed before her eyes. "But…I still love you, Cass. Our friendship has gone, um, kind of all over the place over the past few years. But, the one thing that hasn't changed, no matter what we go through, is how much I care about you. You may not care, but whenever I see you in pain, that hurts me, too."

"So why don't you—"

"Leave? No," Rapunzel said sternly. Cassandra was slightly stunned. It was almost enough to make them meet eye-to-eye. Almost. Rapunzel was determined to pull her back from the abyss, though. Her anger was flowing again, but this time, she had a clear focus. She wasn't going to let herself get distracted or put up with this anymore. If she didn't fix this now, she was never going to, and Rapunzel didn't quit on anything. Especially not her friends. "I know you may want me to stop caring. I know you want me to hate you. You told me it yourself. But I can't. I won't. You are the first real friend I ever made outside of my tower. You are the first person who taught me that I could trust people again. I am not going to sacrifice all of the love that I have for you just because it's easier to give up than to fight for it."

Cassandra bitterly frowned. It was the first true, genuine emotion she showed since they left the Void. She was contemplating something. Rapunzel could only guess as to how severe it was.

"You do realize you were happier without me, right?" Cassandra said coldly. "You don't have to lie to yourself."

Oh, that. Of course, it was that. She would never be able to live that one down. She almost had to laugh at how no one seemed to understand it.

"Okay, do you know that the first time I saw your dress after you left, I had a breakdown?" Rapunzel admitted. "I'm not kidding. I had been trying to put on a happy face for everyone. I was desperately trying to convince myself that it was going to be okay, that I really was going to be fine without you. I…I saw your dress, and that was literally all it took to break me. I don't know why either of us are pretending that your betrayal actually benefited me somehow. The entire time you were gone, I was waiting for you to get back. Even after you left Corona for good, I can't tell you how many times I wanted to know where you were and how you were holding up. I actually wrote a letter to you every month—sometimes every week—that I knew you were never going to see, just because I wanted to feel like I was still close to you. I only learned to accept you leaving at all because you told me how badly you wanted to. The idea that I was happy without you is just nonsense."

"I don't know. You seemed pretty happy to me," Cassandra stated, but Rapunzel rejected the idea outright.

"Well, things aren't always like they seem," she said defensively. "That thing you saw, about us being stronger without you…do you know why I wanted to believe that? Do you know how I was able to put on a brave face so soon after you left?" Cassandra seemed interested—or at least, Rapunzel thought so. There were only the subtlest changes in her facial expressions, but Rapunzel felt she was making enough progress to continue. "The first thing I wanted to do was go after you. I wanted nothing more than to find you and try to bring you back. But after you left, Corona was in shambles. The Saporians had just tried to take over, Mom and Dad lost their memories, and I was forced to become acting Queen to make sure the Kingdom didn't fall apart. I talked with Eugene about it, and he said that no matter how much it was hurting me for us to be apart, I needed to be strong for our people. I needed to show them that despite everything that had happened with the takeover and the black rocks, that everything was going to be okay. We needed to tell ourselves that we were going to get through it and become stronger. And he told me…" Rapunzel's voice softened, and she smiled lovingly. "He told me that you would come back one day…and when you did, I needed to make sure that you had a good home to come back to. I would have thrown it all away at a chance to bring you back myself, but he made me realize that you needed the space. He convinced me that it would work out in the end. If he didn't, I probably wouldn't have been able to stay calm at all. Everything I did to make Corona better, everything I did to cheer myself up: I only did that because I wanted it all to be perfect when you finally came back to me."

She didn't mean to say the last part. Bring her back was all that she meant. Not to her, specifically. It just sort of…came out that way. Not that Cassandra really cared. The corners of her mouth twitched and she scrunched her nose, but that was the most Rapunzel got out of her. She steadied her breath, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck.

"Cass, listen: I know that I've made so many mistakes. I…I know that. I've caused you a lot of pain over the years, even when I didn't mean to. I'm a…I mean I can be…you know…"

Rapunzel struggled to say it. Cassandra curiously glanced at the Princess as her flustered babbling got the best of her. Her entire body tensed up and she groaned uncomfortably, and it took every ounce of strength for her to finally say what was on her mind.

"I can be a huge dumbass, okay, Cass?"

Cassandra sat up straight. She didn't believe her ears. She had never heard Rapunzel swear before. It was like hearing an alien language or seeing a ghost. She didn't actually comprehend it. Of everything that Rapunzel said, only that was able to fully draw her attention and knock her so far out of her trance that she was able to stare Rapunzel directly in the face. The poor Princess's cheeks had turned a deep shade of red, and she became small and sheepish, hiding her faces behind the strands of hair the wind kept blowing into her face.

It was, honestly, fucking adorable.

Cass let out a breathless smile, still in disbelief of what she had just heard. "I mean…yeah. I guess you are."

"R-Right," Rapunzel sighed nervously. "But I…I don't want to be. I want to be the best friend I possibly can be. And I know that this isn't going to be easy—for either of us. Everything from yesterday was just so weird and overwhelming. It's going to take us a while to sort through everything. I mean, you know it's been, well…a lot to process."

Cassandra bit her lip and casually shook her head. "Yeah. I know."

"But I want to at least start working things out," Rapunzel said. She repositioned herself, turning to face Cassandra and sitting cross-legged, patiently putting her hands into her lap. "I want to understand you, Cass. I want you to tell me what's bothering you—and if you aren't comfortable with this, I get that. This is probably the last conversation you'd ever want to have. But we can't really afford to delay this any longer. You are my best friend, Cassandra. Nothing you tell me is going to change that. So, please, even though it's hard…can you at least try? For me?"

Was she going too hard? Too soft? She would never be able to tell. The last thing she wanted was to push Cassandra away from her again. Making her feel like it was some kind of burden she owed her was probably the worst way of going about it, but she was going off of instinct. Whatever came to her heart, she blurted out. It wasn't exactly the careful, collected strategy she had been planning earlier, but it got Cassandra to smile. That had to count for something.

Right?

Cassandra tiredly pinched the bridge of her nose. Some of the life returned to her face. She was still deathly quiet, but there was a gentleness there that Rapunzel had been desperately missing.

"I…I don't even know where to begin," Cass admitted. Rapunzel shrugged in response.

"Wherever you want. I'm in no rush."

Wherever she wanted, huh? That was quite the option. She could talk about absolutely anything, and yet, as all things tended to do, she inevitably found herself drift toward the beginning.

"So," Cassandra began uncomfortably, "I guess I…sort of…fell in love with you a few years ago. Sorry."