Rapunzel had been feeling on edge for almost a week now, since they had left the Dark Kingdom and had started to make their way back to Corona. She had so many conflicted feelings. They were so strong that it felt like they were tearing them apart, but what made it even worse was that she couldn't tell one feeling from another.
She was hurt about what Cassandra had done, upset with herself for ever making her friend feel this way, angry that her friend would make her feel guilty about being hurt, and scared, both because it seemed like her friend hated her, and she didn't want to lose her best friend, and because she was worried about just what Cass would do next.
And those were just the feelings she could identify that had to do with Cassandra. She was also missing Eugene, terrified for her home, because she hadn't been able to get the moonstone to save her people. She was also worried about Varian, similar to how she was scared about the Cassandra situation. She was worried about what Varian could do with the dangerous powers of the moonstone, and she was worried about his safety.
There were more thoughts, but those were the main ones that Rapunzel could both identify and was willing to let herself think about.
These thoughts had just been festering this whole time. Rapunzel desperately wanted to try to talk to Cass again, but as soon as she got a word out Cass would glare at her in furious annoyance, a look that looked far too similar to the way that Gothel would look at her whenever she tested her patience, and Rapunzel would close her mouth and fold in on herself.
She hated this. Rapunzel hadn't felt like this since she had left her tower. She hated feeling so weak, small, and submissive, like she had to lower her head and smile and nod, or else everybody around her would leave.
Adira was her one grounding presence. She seemed to know just when Rapunzel's mind was starting to take her back to her tower. Adira would distract her, bring her back before she completely lost herself.
They'd been travelling in awkward silence for a while before Adira abruptly stopped. She was smiling, a rare look for Adira. She was looking up at the sky where a flock of birds were flying. One of them broke off from the group and dove down towards them. As it got closer Rapunzel noticed that the bird was flying upside down, and she realized that this must be King Edmund's raven. He looked like any other bird, but Rapunzel would recognize odd behavior anywhere.
"Hamuel," Adira held her hand out. The bird cawed and flew towards Adira's arm. It clung to her, and Rapunzel cringed sympathetically when she saw how deep Hamuel's talons were digging in. Adira didn't seem to care though. She just stroked his feathers and then grabbed the rolled up pieces of paper that he was carrying in his mouth.
Adira looked at the papers and then offered one out to Rapunzel. "Looks like you've got a letter, Sundrop." Rapunzel eagerly took the letter. If Hamuel had been sent by King Edmund, then maybe this letter was from Eugene. Rapunzel would love to hear from him. She missed him so much.
Rapunzel unrolled the letter and smiled eagerly when she immediately recognized Eugene's handwriting. She quickly began to read it. With every word she read it was like a burden had been lifted off her back. Eugene was okay. They had easily caught up with Varian and Hector, who Eugene didn't think were direct threats.
Eugene seemed cautious about Hector, but he was trying to befriend Varian and earn his trust again. Rapunzel was glad for it. She knew she had messed up with Varian back in Corona, and not just because she had to break her promise. Rapunzel had still been new to the whole 'having friends' thing.
She'd been naive enough to think that if you were friendly to somebody and helped them, that was enough to be friends. She hadn't known that she needed to take some time to get to know him properly. Maybe if she did that then things wouldn't have gotten nearly as bad.
She was glad that Eugene was giving that time and attention to Varian now. Rapunzel didn't know if she'd be able to get a second chance with Varian, but at least he had somebody. Nobody deserves to feel alone. Rapunzel had lived eighteen years of her life feeling like she had absolutely nobody, and she felt sick to her stomach that she had made anybody else feel that way too.
The only bad thing about the letter was that Eugene mentioned something about a demonic threat, and asked her to look through the Demanitus Scroll to find a way to deal with an otherworldly threat. What was going on?
"Adira?" Rapunzel looked at the older woman, who was frowning in concern at her own letter. She seemed distressed. "Is something wrong?"
"Hector's getting worse." Adira said quietly as she rolled up her letter. "His demon is finding new ways of torturing him."
Rapunzel looked at her letter thoughtfully. Adira had mentioned Hector's demons before, but Rapunzel had thought she was just speaking metaphorically. That demon was just a fancy way of saying that his own thoughts were upsetting him, but Adira didn't often speak in metaphors. There was also the way that Eugene seemed worried about a demon too.
"Hector's demon, it's not a literal demon, is it?" Rapunzel asked slowly. Cassandra gave her an odd look. Rapunzel did her best to not look at her.
"Technically, no," Adira said. Rapunzel sighed in relief before she continued. "It's an ancient sorcereress who's been tormenting his thoughts."
"A sorcereress?" Cassandra crossed her arms. "You really expect us to believe that not only is there a magical sorceress wandering around, but that she also has nothing better to do than annoy a crazy man?"
Cassandra had barely finished talking before Adira pulled out her black rock sword and swung it around, stopping it just inches before it sliced through Cassandra's neck. Rapunzel held her breath as she watched them anxiously.
"Don't you dare speak of my brother that way." Adira said darkly. "Especially not when he's the only reason why you didn't fall for Zhan Tiri's trap yourself"
"What are you talking about?" Rapunzel asked. She looked from Adira to Cass.
"Hector told me that Zhan Tiri was talking to you." Adira said. "That she was the one who convinced you to go after the moonstone."
"Nobody convinced me to do anything." Cass growled. "It was my own decision."
"Oh?" Adira raised an eyebrow. "So you've never had a ghostly little girl visit you and put the idea in your head?"
To Rapunzel's shock, Cass faltered slightly. "How...how'd you know about her?"
"Wait, Cass, you've seen her?" Rapunzel frowned slightly. "When?"
"She showed me my repressed memories about my mother." Cass said quietly. The pain in her voice broke Rapunzel's heart. "She reminded me of my destiny."
"She was trying to trick you." Adira said. Cass glared darkly at her.
"It wasn't a trick." Cass said defensively. "Whoever that girl was, she didn't make up the story about my mother. Gothel was my mother, and Rapunzel did steal her from me."
"I did no such thing." Rapunzel said stiffly, with a fair amount of anger. She was trying really hard to understand where Cassandra was coming from. Rapunzel knew first-hand just how much it hurt to grow up separated from one's parents. However, it wasn't Rapunzel's fault that Gothel had left Cass behind. Rapunzel hadn't asked her to do that, and she refused to feel guilty for being kidnapped and controlled her whole life for powers that she had never wanted in the first place.
"Just because Zhan Tiri told you the truth doesn't mean she has your best interests at heart." Adira said. She sounded upset. "There was something I was keeping secret from my brother, because I knew that the truth would only hurt him. Well, Zhan Tiri told him that secret, and now Hector will barely acknowledge me. The demon twists the truth and tells you just enough to get you to give her what she wants."
Cassandra's eyes darkened. "I'm not just some pawn in someone else's game."
"And yet you've allowed Zhan Tiri to move you how she sees fit." Adira crossed her arms. She was unphased by Cass' anger. "How long did it take her to break your spirit? How many sleepless nights did you have before your exhaustion and desperation finally made you cave and do her bidding? How many times did Zhan Tiri make you question your own sanity until you started to wonder what was real and what wasn't?"
"What are you talking about?" Cass crossed her arms. "None of that happened. I only saw her the one time. This decision was mine to make."
There was a raw fury in Adira's eyes, which was odd to see from a woman who was so guarded with her emotions. "You have now lost any sympathy I may have had for you. You fell for the demon's trap and were willing to betray your friends, your family, after just one interaction with Zhan Tiri. My brother has faltered, but at least he's been fighting her. At least he tried."
"Guys, please, can we not fight right now?" Rapunzel asked. Tensions were high. She thought that they needed to all just sit down, take a deep breath, and calm down. Adira was worried about her family, but she didn't have to take that out on Cass. And just because Cass was hurt by what Gothel had done didn't mean that she could blame everybody around her for her bad circumstances.
Rapunzel looked to Adira. "I'm really sorry about what your brother is going through, but just because you don't think Cass has suffered as much as him doesn't mean that she wasn't manipulated by Zhan Tiri too. You don't know what she said to Cass."
"I don't need you to defend me." Cass practically growled. Rapunzel rounded on her. She'd had more than enough of this anger.
"What do you want from me?" Rapunzel asked. "You said you wanted me on your side, but when I try to help you think I'm just patronizing you. If I let you do things on your own, you get mad at me for not listening to you. No matter what I do I can't seem to win with you, and I…" Rapunzel took in a deep, shuddered breath. Her shoulders fell. "I'm just so tired of playing your games, and I don't want to do it anymore. Not when you won't even tell me the rules."
"How I'm feeling isn't a game, Rapunzel." Cass snapped.
"Neither are mine." Rapunzel retorted. "But that doesn't stop you from toying with me, and I can't...I can't put myself through that anymore. I got it from Gothel, I don't need it from you too." Rapunzel's eyes widened in alarm as a terrifying thought came to her. "You...you've been doing a lot of things like Gothel lately."
Cassandra crossed her arms. "She is my mother."
"But you never acted like this before." Rapunzel said. "This kind of knowledge shouldn't change who you are so much. This anger, this rudeness, this superiority and feeling like your problems are more important than anybody else's, those aren't things that people are born with, they're things they learn. How could you have learned this behavior from Gothel when you never knew her?"
"And whose fault was that?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not mine." Rapunzel snapped. "You're acting so much like Gothel, but everything that you know about her comes from what I have told you."
"I have memories about my mother." Cassandra said defensively.
"Memories from when you were so young that you barely remember them at all." Rapunzel said. "You were just a little kid. You didn't even know what she was doing. N-no, you have to be basing this off of what I've told you." Rapunzel's breath quickened. It wasn't like her to show her anger and fear so much, but she couldn't bring herself to stop talking.
"I-I was traumatized," Rapunzel said, finally letting herself use the word that Adira insisted applied to her. "I confided in you. I trusted you, and you're using everything I told you against me. W-why? Why do you h-hate me so much? I don't understand."
"Princess," Adira put a hand on her shoulder. "I think you need to take a break."
"B-but-" Rapunzel didn't really want to stop. She'd been trying to talk to Cass for so long now, and it was only now that she could get the words out at all. Rapunzel was worried that if she stopped now then she would just break down and wouldn't be able to say anything else. She felt like this was her only chance.
"Rapunzel," Adira's voice was firm, but kind. "Trust me, you should stop now before you say something you come to regret."
Rapunzel took a deep breath and reluctantly let Adira pull her away. She expected Cass to say something bitter and spiteful, but she was strangely silent. Cass just watched silently as Adira dragged Rapunzel somewhere more private.
"Are you alright?" Adira asked.
"I don't know." Rapunzel said. "I really don't know anymore. I just...it hurts. Everything hurts, and I can't make it stop."
"I understand the feeling." Adira said. "I can't tell you how many times me and Hector have gotten under each other's skin. It's taken me years to learn that I need to give him space. Communication may be the key to all relationships, but when that communication is harmful and toxic, sometimes it can be better to take a step back until everybody is calm."
"But it's been a week." Rapunzel desperately. She wanted to put this bad blood behind them, but she couldn't. Any time she tried, she just made things worse.
"And Hector and I have had a strained relationship for twenty five years that we are only now starting to get past." Adira said. "I'm not saying you need to avoid talking to Cassandra for the rest of your lives, but it's alright for you to give yourself some more time. There's no shame."
"Then why do I feel so ashamed?" Rapunzel wrapped her arms around herself.
"Because you expect more from yourself than you do from anybody else." Adira said. "Do you resent Varian for needing some space from you?"
"No." Rapunzel said quietly. She was hurt that she couldn't help Varian the way that she wanted to, but she would never blame him for it.
"So why should it be different between you and Short hair?" Adira asked. Rapunzel was quiet. She believed that it was completely different, but she couldn't figure out exactly how.
"Just give it time." Adira said. "You've been hurt, so allow yourself to feel it before you try to figure out how to move past it like nothing happened."
"I-I'll try." Rapunzel brushed her hair behind her ear. She took a deep breath. She was okay...actually, she was far from okay, and that was okay. She could give herself time from Cassandra, just as soon as she did one more thing first.
Rapunzel walked back to where they had left Cass. She had half expected her to have run off while Adira wasn't paying attention to her, but Cass was still right there, waiting for them.
"Rapunzel-" Cass started. Though Rapunzel hated to do so, she held up a hand to ask her old friend to stop.
"Wait," Rapunzel said. "Please. I-I want to be able to talk to you. I want to work things out, but I don't think I can do it right now. I'm not trying to dismiss you, or ignore what you're saying, but I want to listen to you without completely freaking out. And I have some things I want to say too, but I want to say it without yelling and throwing around accusations. So can we wait? Please? Just a little longer?"
Cassandra stared at her for a long moment before she sighed and begrudgingly nodded. "I-I guess I need some time to work out exactly what I want to tell you too." Cassandra scowled, more out of frustration than true anger. "I just feel so hurt and angry and...and scared right now, and it's just so much easier to focus on the anger than think about the others, but clearly getting mad isn't getting me what I want."
Rapunzel gave her a shy smile. "I guess we both have some things we need to work out for ourselves." She offered her hand out to Cass. "So, temporary truce?"
Cass stared at her hand for a long moment before she accepted the hand. "Truce." When Rapunzel heard her agreement she felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. They hadn't resolved anything, all they'd really done was delay things, but Rapunzel was already feeling much better.
For the first time since they had left the Dark Kingdom Rapunzel actually felt genuinely hopeful for the future. She didn't think that things would go back to the way they had been before, but that didn't mean that things wouldn't be okay again. Who knows, maybe things would actually improve. Rapunzel certainly hoped so.