(T-rated Ritual Sex? It's more likely than you think.)

"I've got it!" Rapunzel held the book aloft, rushing over to where Eugene was poring through some other documents.

"Whatcha got, Blondie?"

She grinned at him, bouncing excitedly on her heels and then shoved the open page into his face. "How we're gonna save Corona and Cass."

Eugene gave her a dubious look. "I don't know that she can be saved. Don't you have to want to be saved in the first place?"

"I know she's still in there," Rapunzel insisted, pulling the book back and looking down at it again. "I know the Cass we love is there. She just needs to be shown the light. And if this is what I have to do, I will."

Cass had been hurt deeply, Rapunzel also knew. And she'd played a part in hurting her. But it hadn't been just her, if only Cass had been willing to talk about it, maybe… maybe… Maybe things might have gone differently.

There was no use in dwelling on the past, at least not without Cass there to try to talk to about it. Which, as she knew, would be a huge problem anyway.

Eugene leaned over her shoulder, eyes flicking across the page as he read it. They widened slightly, "Is this saying what I think it's saying?"

Gently, he slipped his arm around her and squeezed before turning her around so he could look at her. To his credit he didn't seem to be dismissing the idea out of hand, "Do you really think that'll help?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Rapunzel lifted a hand to place it on top of Eugene's, "You know I love you, Eugene. But you have to know I love Cass too. And maybe there is some other way, but I don't know if we have the luxury of time to try to find it. The solution is right here. It's unconventional but it's right here."

"I never doubted how big your heart was," Eugene assured her. "But this isn't the kind of thing you should feel pressured to do by anyone, and that includes yourself."

"I mean, it wouldn't be unpleasant." Rapunzel looked down at the book again, her face heating up, "And it's not like I haven't thought about it."

Thoughts that had made her feel very guilty, for a variety of reasons. But as she looked back up into Eugene's eyes, she wondered if he was more upset than he was letting on. It was almost like he'd already known. And the last thing in the world she wanted was to hurt him. "Eugene, I won't do anything that will hurt you. We can find another way to reach Cass. "

"I know you won't, Sunshine. But … You are the sundrop, and Cass is the Moonstone. Seems pretty clear to me that to bring them together we have to bring you two together."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Just so we're one hundred percent clear and there's no misunderstanding here, in order to get through to Cass and stop Zhan Tiri we have to reunite the Sundrop and the Moonstone through…" She cleared her throat, "Carnal means."

Well., it specifically said 'joining of souls and bodies' but all the context clues in the rest of the page and the fact that the drawing showed two figures making love was kind of the give-away.

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded, "Yep. Clear as crystal. You and Cassandra have to have a private singing party between two. Naked." He shuddered, "Are you absolutely sure you're into that?"

"Cass is a beautiful woman," Rapunzel protested.

"Yes she is but she has the same personality as a snow storm and there are other beautiful women you could … " Eugene twirled his hands in front of him. "Join body and souls with. Like Hook-Foot's sister."

"She is gorgeous," Rapunzel breathed.

"Yeah, she is…"

She smacked him in the shoulder, though she couldn't help but smile. She knew, deep down, Eugene actually liked Cass, even loved her, but he had appearances to maintain. They had that kind of friendship.

Or they used to, anyway.

"What? I'm speaking the truth. If you ever need to get a woman out of your system, Bug-Faced-Baby-Eating O'Brien is your girl. I'm totally okay with that. She's got beautiful reddish-brown hair and eyes the color of the sky at night," Eugene sighed wistfully, then added. "Most importantly, she's not made of ice!"

"Eugene."

"Okay, okay." He held up his hands, "It's just … She's safe, Sunshine. She's got something like thirty girlfriends and-"

"Thirty-three and a half."

"Thanks Shorty." Eugene folded his arms, opened his mouth, closed it, then looked up, "Shorty why are you on the lights?"

"That's a very interesting story," Shorty slurred, sitting up and holding up his finger. He promptly lowered his hand and laid back down and immediately started snoring.

"Right." Eugene shook his head, "Point being is that I love you, Rapunzel. And I know you love me. And I wouldn't want you to feel as though you couldn't explore parts of yourself like this. There are things you haven't seen and done that I really think you should see and do. It's just …"

"I get it, Eugene. O'Brien is safe because she's not close to me." She tugged his arms loose then wrapped her arms around him, resting her face against his chest. "But I want you to know you'll always be enough for me, Eugene, and I'll always love you, no matter what happens with Cass."

If all went well, there would probably be conversations the three of them would need to have.

Eugene kissed the top of her head, and Rapunzel snuggled in a little more closely. "The other thing is, I don't think you could do the whole casual sleepover thing with someone and we do have to stop an evil demon and the warlock that's mind controlling her, so Cass would have been my second suggestion anyway. And if I'm actually - I can't believe I'm saying this - actually honest, better her than anyone else." Gently, he held her by the shoulders and looked down at her, "So what's the plan?"

️

The castle was so quiet that Cass could hear herself think and that was a problem. Her mind was in constant struggle with itself as she second guessed each and every one of her actions.

There was no going back. She'd destroyed everything. Everything that had mattered to her, everything she'd cared about, everything she'd loved. There was no going back and she would have to lay in the bed she'd made for herself.

A voice in her head asked if it was really her fault that Rapunzel kept betraying her? But. she countered, was it Rapunzel's fault that Cass kept slapping away her offered hand?

Cass pressed her hands into her head and sat down on the bed, feeling like every time she was close to an answer or close to mending burned bridges something would happen and it would all collapse around her. Her destiny seemed to be completely out of reach, a destiny that she couldn't even see anymore.

Opening her eyes, she realized she had wandered into Rapunzel's room. Miraculously, the stones hadn't damaged it, leaving it almost exactly as Cass had remembered it. Her bed was just as comfortable as those times she'd laid in it, holding Rapunzel through nightmares.

"Huh," she said, the sound more like a half-swallowed sob that described the current status of her life in a single syllable.

There really was no going back. She balled up her fists, ignoring the tiny voice at the back of her mind telling her that was exactly how Zhan Tiri had wanted it. She was supposed to have torn everything down so she could see what her future was but all that remained was ash and sorrow.

There was a flash of movement, out of the corner of her eye. Cass responded instantly and in the space of a heartbeat she had Rapunzel pinned against a wall, the point of a knife digging into her neck. "What are you doing here?"

Rapunzel's throat bobbed, and Cass drew the knife back, watching a bead of blood dribble down that perfect, pale skin. "I'm here for you."

"Don't you ever give up?" It was a stupid question that Cass already knew the answer to. Rapunzel's persistence was one of her most attractive and irritating qualities and the day she gave up would be a day Cass never wanted to see. Not even in her current state.

"Just just let me say my piece," Rapunzel said. She wiped absently at the nick on her throat, looking at the blood staining her fingers, then met Cass's eyes with the vibrant green of her own.

The knife in Cass's hands started shaking. She was always so weak for Rapunzel and most days she could take that feeling and turn it into anger and let that fuel her but today, today…

Today Cass was having trouble finding the energy for it. Today she felt like she was so close to giving up. Everything was twilight, everything was shadows. Maybe that was her destiny.

So she gestured with her knife, "You have two minutes. And that includes your head start to escape."

Rapunzel smiled, seemingly knowing that Cass had just given away that she was her weakness via the option of a head start. But before Cass could change her mind, she stepped back a little bit and then suddenly disrobed.

Cassandra watched the dress flutter to the floor, then dragged her eyes up perfect, freckle dusted skin and a toned, healthy body. Rapunzel's breasts were the perfect handful of her dreams, pink nipples stiffening despite the warmth in the room. Cass's mind conjured up vivid images of exactly what she'd always longed to do to Rapunzel.

And yet.

And yet, despite the desire that coursed through Cassandra, despite the long-buried feelings that lay hidden and protected inside her cracked and broken heart, she could only wonder if this was some kind of trap.

Wonder if Rapunzel was bait and they just expected her to walk into the trap. Or that this was some kind of loyalty test from Zhan Tiri. Or a combination of the two. For all Cass knew, she was having some kind of mental break, but there were worse things to become lost in.

Her eyes finally reached Rapunzel's again and there was no deceit there, just that damned caring and compassion that always lit those eyes. But there was something else. Something new, something that Cassandra had only hoped for and never expected to see directed at her. Love. Desire. And a little nervousness but in a way that somehow made Rapunzel sexier.

Weak. Cass was so weak that trap or test she'd couldn't do this anymore. Every time she was with Rapunzel, she had to force herself to be angry. She had to dig and dig, deeper and deeper to find the reasons she'd been angry to begin with.

She's using you the voice whispered and for the first time Cassandra asked herself who's voice that was.

Because here was Rapunzel, naked and vulnerable and open to her. The knife clattered to the floor alongside a few stray tears. "Raps … what are you doing?"

"Look, I know this is a hard sell," Rapunzel said, shifting on her feet and rubbing her arm with one hand. "But I need you to trust me."

Those words nearly allowed the fire of Cass's anger to reignite, "Trust you?!"

"Okay maybe that's not the best way to start this," Rapunzel held her hands out, approaching Cass like one might a wounded animal, which probably wasn't that far off the mark. "I know I need to earn that trust back, Cass. So I'm going to tell you exactly what I'm doing."

She stopped in front of Cass and looked up at her, close enough to touch. Cass kept her hands clenched tightly at her side. When Rapunzel took her right hand and began tugging at her glove, she almost recoiled, but something inside herself stopped her.

"I'm waiting," Cass said, back ramrod straight and eyes trying to focus on something that wasn't Rapunzel's nudity. She was more beautiful than any dream which was patently unfair.

"I'm going to preface this by saying this isn't the only reason," Rapunzel said. She got Cass's glove off and stared somberly at her scarred hand. Then, gently, she lifted it up and kissed a fingertip. It felt like a warm ray of sun after a cloudy day. "The sundrop and the moonstone must come together and be united as one." She looked back up at her, dropping the glove onto the ground before kissing another finger tip, and then her palm. "You're the moonstone, I'm the sundrop."

Gently, she placed that hand over her left breast and held it there, "United. Two halves of a singular whole, joined in soul and in body."

Whether it was the softness of Rapunzel's voice or that of her breast, Cass felt her breath stolen from her lungs. Unconsciously and with a shaking hand, she kneaded and stroked at Rapunzel before squeezing. Raps shivered, breath hitching, as she pulled the glove off of Cass's other hand.

The heat of her anger was quickly changing to another kind entirely, but she had to ask, she had to know. "What's the other reason?"

Rapunzel kissed her other palm, "It was suggested that I should explore parts of myself, and there's no one else in the world I want to explore this with but you, Cass."

"What about-"

"-who do you think suggested it?" Raps let go of her hand, sliding her own Cass's hair and then digging her fingers into the back of her scalp. Any other questions slipped away when their lips met.

The rest of the world vanished from Cass's senses. There was only Rapunzel's body next to hers, her skin under her hands and the taste of her lips on her mouth. It was better than she'd ever imagined, and she'd imagined quite a bit in those moments when she'd allowed herself to.

She was pushed back, armor falling away from her body like discarded scrap until Cass fell into the bed. Rapunzel lay on top of her, chest to chest and the kiss deepened, a pressure building everywhere their bodies touched but most especially over her heart.

That cracked, broken thing began to mend.

Cass groaned, sliding her hands down Rapunzel's body, needing to touch her, to feel her to be able to believe this was really happening and not some fever dream or elaborate fantasy. She felt real and warm, and she didn't shy away from Cass's scarred hand.

Withered might be the better word for it, skin blackened from when Rapunzel had been out of control chanting the decay incantation. Cass could accept now that that had been an accident, even if it hadn't been easy to accept and she could argue that if Raps hadn't been so wreckless with her own damn safety then-

Rapunzel whimpered, kissing Cass's jaw and her neck, her own hands exploring, burning Cass's skin with every trembling touch as that ache in Cass's chest turned to warmth. She let the argument go to focus on the important things.

"Oh," Rapunzel slid her hand between them, then she lifted her eyes to Cassandra's and asked uncertainly, "Is this okay?"

"Yes," Cass gasped, cupping Rapunzel's cheek and pulling her face up to kiss her as her vision grew watery.

Rapunzel groaned softly, and her voice was breathless when she pulled her head away, "Just tell me if I do anything that's not."

Cass stared at her a moment, thinking of trust and thinking of how there'd once been a time when she'd trusted Rapunzel with some of her most personal secrets. This kind of intimacy was a return to that. A return to trust. Trusting Rapunzel. Loving Rapunzel.

Not that she'd ever stopped loving Rapunzel.

She struggled to remember how to breathe as Rapunzel's hand and fingers caressed at her, the other sliding into her hair and tangling there. The words just spilled out, "I know I can't expect you to forgive me."

"I forgive you anyway." Rapunzel kissed her again and Cass held her closer, warmth spreading outward from her chest and her skin starting to sing as they moved against each other, lost in the shared pleasure of two bodies becoming one.

All of Cass's senses were attuned to Rapunzel as their world narrowed to a point. It was as though all of reality had collapsed until it was just the two of them, Moon and Sun intertwined, one the reflection of the other but no less beautiful in its glory. There was only their love and their connection and nothing else in the universe save the joining of their bodies and souls.

Light flared, blinding in its intensity.

And when Cassandra lay spent, Rapunzel curled into her arms, she cried like she never had before.

"It's gone," Rapunzel said, once Cassandra's tears had slowed. She brushed her thumb under each of her eyes, smiling. Her hair no longer carried the color of the sun and yet it still somehow glowed to Cass's eyes.

A little giggle escaped Rapunzel as she gazed at Cassandra, "That was. That was wow …"

"Amazing. You're amazing." She ran her fingers through Rapunzel's hair, reveling in her joy. Reluctant to say anything, to break the spell and return to what they had been before, she asked, "What now?"

"We defeat Zhan Tiri. And after that, I guess it depends on what you want."

Looking into Rapunzel's eyes, Cass wasn't sure exactly what it was she really wanted. Her own destiny, maybe, but was it something that Rapunzel would be or could be a part of?

"What if my destiny takes me somewhere else?" Cass asked.

"Then we'll be right here when you come back," Rapunzel promised, dragging her nails lightly up Cassandra's hip. She kissed her nose, then started to slide out of the bed, but Cass pulled her back in.

"Not yet," she whispered. Cass wanted to commit all this to memory, just in case. "Just a few more minutes." Her voice broke, "I missed you, Raps."

There was so much she had to make up for, and she would start with helping Rapunzel defeat Zhan Tiri.

"Hey," Rapunzel whispered, caressing her face. "Look at me."

Cass met her eyes.

"I know you're hurting and I know you're going to feel guilty for a long time. But I need you to know that I never lost faith in you or in us. I always knew, I always knew that the woman I loved was still inside, underneath the hurt and pain and rage."

Her fingers dug into Rapunzel's side, the memory still fresh in her mind, "Secret weapons, Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel frowned, clearly wrestling with the guilt, "I had to protect Corona, Cass. You know that. If things had been different, if it was Eugene or my dad or someone else, you'd have advised me to do the same thing. But I really, really didn't want to use it, and I still don't know why it went off like that. That wasn't my intention."

"Okay." Cass nodded. "I just wanted to hear that from you, without… anybody else whispering in my ears."

"I'm sorry."

"I guess I can forgive you." And as soon as Cass said it, she knew it was true. Her brow furrowed, "Wait, can we back up a little bit?"

"You missed me?"

"No, after that."

Rapunzel darted her eyes, "Secret weapons?"

"Raps…"

She laughed, eyes twinkling, "The part where you're the woman I love?"

There was a conversation that needed to be had there about what that could mean and where Cass's place could even be in Rapunzel's life. Cass had felt like she was second fiddle most of her life and as wonderful as it was to have Rapunzel in her arms right now, she didn't want to go back to that. But she wondered if she would be second in Rapunzel's heart after all, watching that twinkle. Rapunzel loved so strongly and so unconditionally that maybe … Maybe.

They didn't really have enough time for that, not right now and Eugene would need to be a part of it too. So she let herself accept Rapunzel's words and admit out loud the feelings that had been haunting her for years, "I love you too."

After all, one didn't go through that kind of rage at someone if you didn't love them.

Rapunzel stretched out against Cass, sending shivers running through her. "I wish we could lay here all day."

That made two of them. Cass smoothed back some of Rapunzel's hair, "Consider it incentive to win?"

Rapunzel grinned, "Together, we can do anything."

And Cass believed it.