Angel: No, I didn't skip this episode, because it's supposed to be right after The Brothers Hook. And I know this fact since Hook Foot isn't in this episode because he's already left with his brother, which happened in the previous episode. Only Disney+ has this episode before the previous episode, for some reason. All other sources I've seen have this episode listed after The Brothers Hook, which is the correct order.
I know that they should've talked about Cass and her injury in the previous episode, but I can't just change the order because it would make no sense to just write off Hook Foot before they showed us why he's not there. Continuity, Unknown XD
Cass is swiping left and right with her sword towards a bush. Lance and Shorty are sitting on rocks nearby. She continues cutting the leaves when her sword goes flying out of her right hand and into the dirt.
"You wanna gave it a break?" Lance calls out while eating a sandwich. "That shrub can only take so much."
"Thanks to Rapunzel, Harmony, and her little trick at the great tree," Cass tosses her sword into her hand. "I have to relearn everything using this hand, so breaks aren't really an option. Plus, we all need to be on our A-game. This is Westrabbit Woods. There are wild boars." She slices off leaves again, to which Lance scoffs at. "Slayer Wolves."
"Heh. Double," He scoffs twice and then she smirks.
"And...jumping spiders."
His eyes widen as he drops his sandwich. "Wha?! Spiders?!" He shrieks, jumping off the rock. He pulls out his dagger, trying to kill any spiders nearby.
Rapunzel is in a makeshift hammock using her hair, Harmony laying down next to her. Varian is sitting across from them. All three are in their old outfits.
"I get why Cass is mad at us—she told us for Harmi not to use the decay spell back at the tree, and she did, and Cass hurt her hand," Rapunzel continues to draw. Pascal squeaks a bit in worry for all three girls. "And then she lashed out at Harmony."
"Well, Cassie had her reasons..." Varian rubs his neck. "Not that I'm saying she was right to yell at Mona, because she wasn't. But…she did all that for something, right?"
"But if she had just listened to us and stayed out of it, this all could have been avoided!" Rapunzel looks towards Cass. "And I feel like we could work things out, but she refuses to talk about it!" Rapunzel grits her teeth, drawing furiously.
"Um...sis?" Harmony points to the right page and the blonde looks at it.
"Wow..." She's staring at a picture of an angry Cass with a clawed hand and sharp teeth. "Ugh, I didn't mean to make her look that angry..." Pascal cringes a bit at it, Daisy landing on Harmony's head, holding some blueberries between her wings.
"Aww, Daisy. Thanks," Harmony smiles as she takes some into her palm, eating one.
"You two can't stay mad at each other forever..." Varian raises a brow towards Rapunzel. Pascal nods in agreement while Ruddiger chitters, nodding his head. "None of us had any idea how powerful that incantation would be..."
"He's right. We're best friends with her, Rapunzel. I don't condone what she did or also what she said to Adira and me, but maybe if we spoke to her...we could find out why she did it."
"You're right, guys. I gotta find a way to get her to talk to us," Rapunzel frowns a bit.
"Rapunzel!" Cass calls out, and she rips the paper out of the journal. "They're back."
Eugene and Max walk up to the group. "You'll never guess what yours truly spotted with his gorgeous, brown eyes!"
Max just huffs, looking away. The three glance to each other and eventually he leads them to...
Rapunzel gasps at the two caravans. Both of them had taken a lot of damage thanks to Hector and his badgers. "The caravans!"
"Yep, found it myself," Eugene brags to her, "Well, Max helped."
Max huffs at him again, this time angrily. Eugene clears his throat. "Max found it. But I was instrumental in that I did not get in the way."
"You guys, this is amazing!" Rapunzel hugs them both.
"Now we won't have to walk the rest of the way there!" Harmony smiles a little.
Together, they get the caravans out of the water and in place...but one half falls down. A wheel from the second falls clean off.
"Uh, allow me," Shorty walks up to a lantern and plants it back in place for the other half...which also falls onto the grass. "I believe my work here is done."
"Ugh," Harmony facepalms at him.
"How are we gonna get these two back together without Hook Foot?" Lance gestures to the split caravan.
"Not to mention we have to fix the other one..." Varian looks at his caravan.
"Don't worry, buddy. We'll figure something out," Eugene places a hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's just gonna take a little TLC and a lot of glue."
"And a whole bunch of parts..." Lance looks at two planks. "Hey, blueberry! Got something to help us out?"
"Umm, maybe, if I take a look in the other caravan," She steps up to the second caravan, peeking inside. Rapunzel stares at Cass and gets an idea.
"No problem! Cass, Harmi, and I are on the case. We'll go get supplies."
Cass narrows her eyes in annoyance at this, knowing fully well what Rapunzel is trying to do. She sighs in defeat.
"Sounds good to me." She walks off on her own, Harmony looking up from the door.
"Pascal, Daisy, um, you two stay here, okay?" Rapunzel smiles as he sits on her hand. Daisy flies off Harmony's shoulder. "We need a little one-on-one time with Cass."
He gives a thumbs up in understanding, Daisy chirping with a nod.
"I'll make a list..." Harmony walks away from the caravan to get some paper. "Vari, can you check your caravan for me? I have an invention that might just work to help get everything back together."
"Sure thing, Mona," He smiles sweetly. "You're talking about your Fixer-Upper, right?"
"Yes, exactly! Thank you," She kisses his cheek, grabbing her quiver and putting it over her shoulder.
"So, lately, I just can't seem to stop thinking about Attila's cupcakes," Rapunzel tries to make polite conversation as she runs after Cass. Harmony walks besides her sister. "It's like when you have a song stuck in your head. But it's a taste that's stuck in my head, isn't that funny? Anyway...what about you, Cass? Anything on your mind?"
"Piranhas," She states simply.
"Really? Oof, that's upsetting, maybe we should talk about that," Rapunzel steps forward, Cass pushing her back a bit.
"No." She holds up an apple and throws it into the water below. A bunch of piranhas tear the fruit apart, one of them even eating the core. "Really big piranhas."
"Eep!" Harmony steps back a bit in alarm.
"This place is called Westrabbit Woods. Okay, that's a little disingenuous," Rapunzel comments as they walk off.
"Yeah, it's supposed to be irony," Harmony explains to her sister. "No one overlooks the name until they notice all the danger."
Cass looks up at some trees crossing over the river. "We'll have to use these trees to get across."
Rapunzel grips a branch with her hair, swinging across with ease. Harmony steps back a bit and runs towards the lake. She does a handstand and then pushes herself to soar into the air. She lands on the other side, dusting her skirt off. Cass simply climbs the branch, her feet slipping. She still has trouble because of her hand.
"Cass! Uh, let me help you-"
"No!" She shakes her right hand. "I'm fine, girls. Really."
The two give a sad look as Harmony ties her sister's hair back into a braid. She continues to climb until she reaches the other side. The princesses offer their hands to help her, but she jumps off. She stares at the two sisters, who say nothing about it.
"Looks like there's a town just over this hill," Rapunzel is holding a map, walking down the path.
"Let's be sure before we climb it," Cass whistles with her fingers and Owl flies into view.
"Ah, Owl's here," Rapunzel notices that she took the time to bring him, when the two didn't with their pets. "You know, I kinda thought this could just be the three of us."
"Oh, right," Cass replies awkwardly. "He-he just wanted to stretch his wings, so..."
Owl flies off to go check it out.
"Oh wow," Rapunzel murmurs as they arrive at the town, which is pretty much deserted. "Looks like the black rocks pushed everyone out of this village."
Harmony hugs herself sadly and Rapunzel places a hand on her back for comfort. She looks up at the blonde, who offers a gentle smile. The young girl returns it, glad that her sister is here to help her through this...
"Nothing we can do now. She still can't control it."
Harmony flinches upon hearing this. Cass holds up a box with a skunk inside and she tosses it over her shoulder. "Come on, we've gotta look through all of this before the sun sets."
"Look at this, Cass!" Rapunzel calls out as she's inspecting a cart. "It's an apothecary cart! It's got all kinds of tonics and powders and-" She gasps at something. "Oh, wow, a snow potion!"
"Eugene would hate that," Harmony chuckles a bit.
"Girls, come on. None of this junk works," Cass dismisses it, but is surprised to see that it actually does work. Harmony laughs in awe as she spins around, the snow getting into her hair.
"I wonder if there's a recipe book for these! I'd love to do this myself," She searches the cart. Owl opens his eyes as he's covered in snow, shaking it off.
"Oh, touche. But we're not going to fix the caravans by freezing them." She takes a book from the cart that has the Saporian symbol on it. "Wand of Oblivium...hmm. Erases what you wish to forget."
"I wouldn't touch that thing then," Harmony shakes her head as Rapunzel stares at the wand with a red ruby on it.
"Ooh, a memory wand!" Rapunzel takes it into her hand. "I wonder if it works?"
Cass rolls her eyes as Rapunzel puts it back, then she has a look of interest again as she takes it like she did before. "Ooh, a memory wand! I wonder if it works?"
Then she does the same action again: puts it down and looks at it. This earns a look of concern from the duo. "Ooh, a memory wand." She smirks at the two, elbowing them. "Did I get you?"
"Punzel! I can't believe you did that," Harmony lightly punches her in the arm with a small pout. "You actually did get me!"
"Ha ha! Sister prank!" Rapunzel pokes her cheek.
"You are such a jokester sometimes," Harmony slightly pushes her away, causing the blonde to laugh.
"Very funny," Cass snatches the wand from her, putting the wand and book back where they found them.
"Too bad there's not an 'open-up-to-your-best-friends-about-the-thing-you-guys-are-fighting-about' wand, huh?" Rapunzel murmurs to herself, hugging her arm. Only Harmony heard it as she steps forward a bit.
"What was that?" Cass looks up at them.
"Cass, we know you're mad at us. But we both did the right thing. We didn't have a choice," Rapunzel turns around to face her.
"Look, if you two feel that way, then it's fine. We're good," Cass looks away, "Come on, we should set up camp for the night."
Harmony sighs a bit. Getting Cass to talk was going to prove to be harder than they thought...which, in hindsight, they should've expected. She's not the one to talk about her feelings much.
Owl is sleeping on the cart that night Harmony looks up at the crescent moon, holding up her left hand against it. She looks between the moon and her hand, having a sad look on her face. She knew that she had to destroy the tree, but...
At what cost?
Not to mention, that interrogation from Cass was still hard to stomach. She sighs, a bang blowing out of her face. She could get why she reacted like that: her hand was hurt. But she had no right to accuse a teenage girl of being evil. She wasn't like Zhan Tiri! Not that she knew of, anyway...but she does know who she is: an intelligent, rational princess who had no choice but to use the incantation. And she didn't care what happened or what people would say, but she will try with every fiber in her being to use her powers for good.
Rapunzel tries to get comfortable with her hair as her pillow, but she opens up her eyes a few seconds later. "I can't sleep."
Cass opens her eyes, a book near her face. "Rapunzel, it's only been two minutes. Give it some time."
"Cass, I need to talk about what we all know is going on between us," Rapunzel sits up, glancing to Harmony. She nods and leaves to give them some time alone.
Cass opens her eyes again. "Raps, there's nothing to talk about. I never said I was upset."
Owl wakes up upon hearing them. "You don't have to."
"Oh yeah?" The lady-in-waiting challenges back. "What makes you so sure you know how I'm feeling?"
"Friends just...have a way of knowing," Rapunzel looks away. Owl looks between the two. Cass darts her eyes around, letting out a small sigh. The last thing she wanted to do regarding what happened is to talk about it. She can't face Harmony after her own words towards a vulnerable teenage girl.
"Raps, I said it's fine."
"And you keep saying that. But it's okay if you're mad at us. We're mad at you, too. We told you that we had it under control and you didn't listen. And then you yelled at my little sister. So if you're upset, then just tell me."
"And I told you I'm not upset-" Cass sits up, hitting her head against the shelf. "Ow!" The wand falls into her right hand.
"Please, Cass, I just want things to get better between us. We can't just push this aside and forget it, like it never happened! You got angry with Harmi for something that she decided to do on her own!" Rapunzel looks at her pleadingly.
"You know, I wish you would just forget about the whole thing!"
Suddenly, the gem from the wand starts to glow. The wand is surrounded in pink and then there's a flash before it's dark.
Neither of them knew how long it had been before blonde hair pulls a chair forward. Cass wakes up to see that she's tied in the chair.
"What?" She looks at the blonde hair everywhere, struggling to get out.
"Who are you...and how did I get here?" Rapunzel demands while holding a frying pan tightly. Cass and Owl stare at her in shock.
"Answer me!" Rapunzel points her frying pan at them. "How did you get me out from my tower?"
"You really don't remember?" Cass cringes up at her.
"Was it magic? Did you do magic to me?" Rapunzel questions in defense, circling around her. "It has to be magic. I mean, Mother said people will try anything to steal my hair. I was just in the tower two seconds ago, and now I'm here, so magic is really the only possible explanation."
She lets out a gasp as she paces around. "Oh my gosh! Mother must be so worried, and Pascal too."
Owl turns to Cass. "Hey, don't give me that look, okay?" She whispers to the bird. "I didn't mean to erase her memory all the way back to the tower!"
Rapunzel, having heard this, points her frying pan again. "So, you did use some kind of magic on me, didn't you?"
"Uh..." Cass glances to the wand. She can't really tell her the truth; it'll crush her! "No, no, I didn't use magic on you. But the reason you don't remember leaving your tower was because...ruffians." Owl hoots in surprise. "Ruffians used magic on you."
"Ruffians?" Rapunzel recoils back in alarm. Owl tilts his head at Cass, who bites her lip nervously.
"Yep."
The blonde gasps sharply. "Mother told me to watch out for those! And quicksand, uh, snapping turtles, molten lava, poison ivy, puppets, guys on stilts, the plague, riptides, wooden shoes—ooh, pointy teeth." She gasps yet again, facing Cass. "Did those ruffians have pointy teeth?"
"Oh! They're the pointiest! An-and they were after your hair, of course, and so-so they put you under a sleeping spell so they could steal you from your tower. But you see, we...we rescued you from the thieves."
"Who's we?" Rapunzel looks around for someone just Harmony reappears.
"Guys, you've been taking forever, what-"
She sees the situation, glancing between her sister and Cass. "...Um...wow, didn't mean for the talk to go that far..."
"Is she a ruffian?!" Rapunzel points her frying pan at the girl, who holds up her hands in defense.
"What are you talking about, Punzie?"
"How do you know me?" The blonde demands to the young princess.
"Look, look, look, look, look, we're on your side!" Cass protests to Rapunzel before she could knock Harmony unconscious. "You have to get back home to your mom, right?"
"What?" Harmony murmurs in confusion, completely astounded as to what's happening.
"We can take you there, you just have to untie me first," Cass smiles anxiously, hoping this word work.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Rapunzel asks cautiously as she steps up to the woman.
"I promise. And when I make a promise, I never break it," Cass tells her seriously.
"Me neither. Promises mean a lot to me, too," Rapunzel looks away. "I never break them, ever." She releases Cass, offering her hand to the both of them. "I'm Rapunzel!"
"Cassandra," Cass shakes her hand.
"W-Wait, what is going on here? Rapunzel, it's me, Harmony," The girl gestures to herself.
"It's so nice to meet you both! But...I don't think we've met," Rapunzel tilts her head at her sister. She points her frying pan at them both. "You two try anything funny, and I will pan you." She spins the frying pan, hitting herself in the head with it. She catches it with the other hand, gesturing to the two that she's watching.
"Can I talk to you?" Harmony leads Cass aside. "Okay, so thank you for not being hostile to me, and as you can see, I'm perfectly calm..."
"Yes...and I'm glad that you are," Cass smiles nervously.
"Cool as a cucumber..." Harmony takes a deep breath and then starts freaking out. "But what the hair is going on?! Is my sister okay? What happened to her?" She points to Rapunzel furiously.
"Um...so here's the thing...I kinda...erased your sister's memory."
"WHAT?!"
"Shh!" Cass looks towards Rapunzel, who doesn't seem to be paying attention to them. "I'm sorry! The memory wand fell into my hand and I didn't even notice! So then she wouldn't stop trying to talk to me, and then I said I wish she'd forget, and then...she did! She only seems to remember being in the tower."
"Cass, this is a big problem," Harmony whispers to her in concern. "If she doesn't remember anything, how are we gonna continue to the Dark Kingdom? We have to tell her the truth."
"...Here's a second thing...I don't think we should tell her...at all," Cass glances at the blonde. Harmony takes a deep breath, rubbing her temples.
"Okay, did you drink Xavier's mood potion again?" She mutters at this. "Because that's crazy, Cass. Do you really think my sister deserves to be stuck like this?"
"I'm not saying to leave her like this forever. Of course we're gonna get her memory back. I just...don't think we should tell her how it happened, that's all. Or that you two are sisters. It might be too much for her to handle."
"So you basically wanna lie right to her face and ask me to do the same?" Harmony stares at her in disapproval. "Cass..." She sighs deeply. "That's not healthy."
"I knew you wouldn't understand-"
"Understand what?!" Harmony hisses at her. "You erased the mind of my sister! She doesn't even remember us! And hiding the truth from her isn't the right thing to do! Not only that, I have to pretend that we're not related? If you keep this up, she'll take it really hard."
"I know, I know," Cass groans, placing her hands on her shoulders. "I get it, just...let me tell her on my own, okay? I promise I'll do it."
"I hope so...because if you don't, I will."
They walk after Rapunzel and then the next morning, they check the apothecary cart. "Okay, there's gotta be something here that can fix her memory," Cass checks the shelves.
"There has to be a recipe for a potion to reverse the effects somewhere," Harmony murmurs as she checks the other side.
"So are you gonna take me home or what?" Rapunzel calls out to them.
"Uh, just a minute, packing a few things!" Cass yells back, Owl hooting in disapproval. He doesn't like this anymore than Harmony does. "Again, no, I'm not going to tell her what happened right now! It'd turn into this whole big discussion about our feelings, and I don't do touchy-feely."
Harmony gasps sharply at this, stepping back a bit. "Cass! It doesn't matter what you do, you can't avoid it forever! I can't believe you!"
Rapunzel holds a box of potions, holding one up. "Ugh, the thought of opening up makes me queasy, Harmi," Cass shudders a bit. Harmony blinks at the nickname, which she hasn't used for the past few days. Behind them, Rapunzel turns her hair rainbow.
"Even so...you mind-manipulated my sister," Harmony narrows her eyes in defense.
"Right...so sorry about that, by the way," And she really meant it. The two sisters are very close and she didn't mean to break that up by having Harmony lie about who she really is. "Now, both of you help me do this!"
Harmony grunts in defeat. Rapunzel gets another head.
"Ah!" Cass notices something as Rapunzel then grows in size. "Here," She smiles at the little blue book that came with the wand. Owl hoots in surprise at Rapunzel and by the time Harmony turns around, Rapunzel has turned herself back to normal. She shrugs it off and turns back around to Cass, who's opened up the book.
"Hmm...the wand of oblivium can be reversed with a simple potion as follows..." She flips through pages...but there's a lot of ingredients listed. "I might have called it simple if it had 52 fewer ingredients, but hey, to each his own."
"They need to remind themselves of what simple means," Harmony rolls her eyes.
"Trust me, collecting them while we 'lead her home' is our best bet," Cass whispers as they stare at Rapunzel carefully putting the box down. "I'll undo the spell, and she never has to know. And remember, you can't tell her you're her sister."
"Sure, more lying to my big sister," Harmony says sarcastically as she places her hands on her hips. "That's ideal to our problem."
Owl flies after her and Harmony lags behind.
Rapunzel hesitantly lifts her foot above the grass. She's standing on the small stone wall that leads into the woods. Cass looks over her shoulder as Harmony stares at the woman. Then she remembers that her sister had never stepped outside the tower until she met Eugene, so this was almost the exact same thing for her.
"It's just...I've never walked on grass before..."
Cass stares at the ground. "Well, I'm sure you'll do great," She waves her forward impatiently. They need to find those ingredients, and fast.
"Cass, be a little more understanding," Harmony whispers to her friend, stepping towards Rapunzel. She offers her hand and the blonde suddenly felt this...feeling that she and this girl had a stronger bond...she takes the brunette's hand and with her help, Rapunzel touches the grass on her feet. She wiggles her toes, beaming as she picks up her skirt.
"Come on," Cass pulls her forward.
"Wait!" She lets go immediately. "There's no lava around here, right?"
"No, you're good. Lava-free," Cass smiles in amusement.
"Doesn't even exist in these woods, anyway," Harmony waves it off. "You'd have to get deep between the Earth's core and the mantle."
"Wow! You're pretty smart," Rapunzel smiles at her.
"Now, come on, let's keep moving," Cass grabs her hand, pulling them away.
"Do you read books? I love books! You must read a lot of them to have that level of intelligence!" Rapunzel starts talking Harmony's ear off, not that she minded. She deals with that on a daily basis almost.
"I read a lot," Harmony smiles weakly. She can't mention the fact that Rapunzel would read books with her, though...
Cass looks at what seems to be a carrot from the book, plucking one. Then she has to grab weeds, Rapunzel letting out a scream.
"Rapunzel!" Cass takes out her sword and rushes over. She cuts away a shrub, only to see that Rapunzel is pointing to a bunny.
"It's so cute!"
Cass puts away her sword with a deadpan look on her face. "Look, look!" Rapunzel wraps an arm around Harmony to bring her closer, pointing at the bunny. A small smile escapes from the girl.
Cass then plucks some plants with yellow leaves.
"Look at this! Oh my gosh, look at this one!" Rapunzel is admiring all the trees. "Oh! Look at this one!" She's about to touch some leaves.
"Whoa!" Cass grips her wrist, stopping her. "Poison ivy."
Cass climbs a tree, reaching out to a bird's nest.
"This is so fun!" Rapunzel exclaims, alerting the bird. It pecks at Cass, causing her to fall out of the tree.
"Told you to wait until the bird left..." Harmony sighs slowly at the lady-in-waiting.
Cass looks up from the book, taking some flowers. "Woo-hoo!" Rapunzel shouts as Harmony is drawing nearby. Rapunzel is swinging around a tree with her hair, just like when she was exploring with Eugene. "Best day ever!"
Cass smiles softly. She didn't think she'd ever see Rapunzel like this...
"What's that you're drawing?" Rapunzel stops swinging for a second to look over Harmony's shoulder. She quickly snaps the book shut as she was drawing her melancholy look towards her memory-erased sister.
"Stuff."
Rapunzel suddenly appears from a tree in front of Cass and Harmony, startling them. "Whoa! What's that?"
"Oh! It's, uh...i-I-it's a cookbook! We're making soup." Both Harmony and Owl give her a look. "A really super special soup." She pushes away Owl, giving Harmony a look to keep quiet.
Rapunzel gasps at the explanation. "I love soup, too! Mother always makes it for my birthday," She lands in front of the two. "Oh! We need to get you this special spice Mother uses, it's called minne. It has this bright, blue flower and it's so good!"
"No, no, no, that'd be too much trouble," Cass gets onto her feet. "We don't want our soup to hold you up from getting back to your tower. You do wanna get back as soon as possible, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" She smiles at the two, grabbing Harmony and running off in the other direction. Owl flies up to Cass, who slices part of a tree to get sap from it. She collects it with her dagger and places it into a small bottle.
"Oh, don't give me that look," Cass glares at Owl. "We did it, didn't we? That's the last of the ingredients. Raps! Harmi! Let's get going...Rapunzel? Harmony? Oh, no. Where did she go now? And with Harmony too?"
Harmony frowns up to Rapunzel as she's climbing a mountain to get some minne.
"I really think you should get down from there!" Harmony calls out to her.
"I know, but I have to get it! I suddenly have a strong feeling to tell you this, but I wanna get it for you both!"
"That's sweet, Rapunzel, really, but-"
"I almost got it..." She reaches out her hand and grabs it. "Got it! Cassandra will be so surprised!"
A goat suddenly chews the flowers off from the stems, chewing on them. "Hey! That's my minne!"
Harmony sighs, a hand on her forehead. The goat's eyes widen, looking to the minne then Rapunzel. He doesn't seem to care as he keeps eating it. Rapunzel groans at him and then slips a bit. Harmony gasps in alarm, sighing in relief when her sister doesn't fall.
"Rapunzel! Please, just forget the minne and come down."
"But I can do this, Harmony!" She looks towards the goat, glaring at him. "Bad goat!" She looks around and sees more minne to her left. Harmony follows her gaze, her heart dropping.
"Oh no...Rapunzel, don't."
She smiles and climbs towards it slowly. She loses her footing for a second, but continues scooching over to the left. The goat notices where she's headed and jumps above her, sliding down to the minne. He looks to the flowers.
"No! Aah! No..." She warns him as he's about to eat it. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No, you're not a bad goat, are you? No, no, you're a good goat! You're a good goat, and you're gonna let me have the minne, so Cassandra and Harmony can make a good soup."
Harmony frowns a little as she's still unsure about allowing her to believe all of this...
The goat eats the minne anyway, and she groans in frustration.
"Raps? Raps!" She notices Harmony looking up at something. "Harmi, where's your sister?"
She points upwards at the blonde. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me..." Cass slowly shakes her head. "Why didn't you stop her?!"
"I tried! She insisted on it! I even offered to get it myself so she wouldn't have to do it!" Harmony protests, gesturing to the mountain.
"Give me my minne!" Rapunzel snatches the other end with her hair, and it becomes a tug of war between the two. The goat climbs around her, pulling. She pulls him off the platform, sending both of them flying. Rapunzel lets out a scream as she falls until a hand grabs her arm just above the grass.
"Let's get out of here, shall we?"
"Shoo!" Harmony gestures for the goat to leave, snatching the minne from his mouth. His eyes widen at her and then he makes a break for it. "You naughty little goat..."
"I'm so sorry," Rapunzel grips the minne in her hands as they're walking down the path. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble. The minne was right there, and I just really wanted you both to have it since...you've been doing so much for me."
"It's not a big deal, Raps, really," Cass looks over her shoulder.
"Honestly, I'm just glad you're safe," Harmony hugs her sister.
"No, girls. Saving my life is a big deal. Thank you so much. Not just for this, but...for everything. I am so lucky to have people like you that I can trust. I don't know what I'd do here without you."
Harmony stiffens a bit since they're still keeping her from the truth, and she still thinks that Rapunzel deserves to know. Cass glances at the girl, Owl hooting. "...Okay, well...that's enough for one day, don't you think? We'll head north to the tower in the morning."
"Mm," The princess narrows her eyes in annoyance. "Cass, when are you going to tell her? You can't really expect to keep up this charade until her memory is fixed. We can't go back to the caravan with her like this!"
"Shh," She shushes the young girl. "Tonight, okay?"
"You better. I'm tired of having my sister not remember me..."
Cass throws the minne in the potion that night. It has to sit for 24 hours or else it won't fix Rapunzel's memory. The blonde walks up to the two, having gotten firewood.
"Hey, soup smells good!" She tosses the sticks in a pile. Cass reads the book, Rapunzel leaning against her arm. She plays with her fingers impatiently.
"It needs to simmer overnight, remember?" Cass closes the book. "We can taste-test it in the morning, and then we'll head to the tower."
"Sure. I just...maybe a small part of me doesn't wanna go back to the tower."
Harmony says nothing as she stares at Cass expectantly.
"Oh, wow, it feels good to get that out," Rapunzel sighs in relief now that she's said it. "The world is just such an amazing place, and...I don't know if I'm ready to give it up. I feel so bad saying this because my mother only wants what's best for me, and the world is kinda dangerous, but...isn't that what makes it exciting? And I feel so close with you, Harmi," Rapunzel turns to the princess across from them. "It's like we're...sisters."
Harmony coughs a bit awkwardly.
"Why are you telling me this?" Cass turns to the blonde.
"Because we're friends," Rapunzel smiles at her. "That's...what friends do, right? They tell each other what's in their hearts."
Cass looks away with a frown. If she hadn't wished to never talk about what happened, Rapunzel wouldn't be like this right now...
"Well, goodnight," She stands up, taking a hold of Harmony's hand. "Come on, we can have a little sleepover!"
Harmony smiles weakly, following after Rapunzel. Cass looks up at Owl, who simply turns away. She then looks to the teenage girl, who has sagged shoulders over the whole thing. She knew that Harmony was hurting because of their situation, but...she also knew that eventually, they'll have to talk things out. Like friends do...
"...Raps?"
Rapunzel glances over her shoulder. "Goodnight..."
Harmony sighs slowly at this, walking off with her sister. Cass looks to the fire as Rapunzel places her hair down. She spreads it out so that Harmony can sleep with her. They both lay down and look at the stars.
"Oh, wow! The stars are so bright tonight! Do you know any constellations?"
"Sure, that's the Little Dipper right there," Harmony points up at the stars, drawing the constellation with her finger.
"I have got to chart these!" She pulls out a certain piece of paper...and then realizes something. "...Wait..." She sits up slowly, confusing Harmony. "So, if the North Star is there..."
She gasps sharply. "We're going the wrong way!"
"Oh no," Harmony pinches her nose in disbelief. She knew this was going to come back to bite at them; did Cass really think that Rapunzel wouldn't notice the stars?! Then she sees the picture she drew of Cass earlier, whipping around to Harmony.
"Did you know about this?"
"Um, Cass? I just wanna say that I was right!" Harmony backs up a bit as Rapunzel storms up to her. They back up all the way over to Cass.
"You two aren't taking me back to the tower, are you?" She demands to Cass.
"What are you talking about?" She feigns innocence.
"You said we were heading north, but we're not," Rapunzel glares at her. "I chart stars, I know."
Cass chuckles nervously at her. "Rapunzel, look. I can explain."
"And why don't I remember drawing this?" Rapunzel holds up the drawing she made of Cass. She then snatches the book from her 'friend.' "You guys did use some kind of magic on me, didn't you?"
"Not me!" Harmony gestures to herself.
"No, no, Raps, that was the ruffians! We saved you from them, remember?" Cass gestures to herself.
"Cass, this is getting out of hand. We have to tell her the truth!" Harmony insists to her.
"No!" Cass hisses at the girl.
"Maybe you did, but only because you wanted my hair for yourselves. And what is she talking about?" She points to Harmony, who glares up at the handmaiden.
"Cass erased your memory and made me lie about who I was. I'm not her partner, I'm your sister."
"Harmi!" Cass yells at her.
"Liar! And to think, I risked my life getting you that spice. Mother was right about everything!" Rapunzel swings her hair at them.
Owl hoots in front of the two, who are tied up upside down. "Okay, okay, so I shouldn't have lied to her! And I shouldn't have made you lie to her either," She looks towards Harmony, who says nothing. She cuts them free, turning to the princess. "Harmi...I'm really sorry I made you do this. You were right, we should have told her. But I need your help."
"...You made me hide the truth when in reality, you just wanted to make this go away," Harmony closes her eyes, arms crossed. "Are you really that willing to not talk about things that you were gonna let her go around not knowing what really happened? My sister and I have never lied to each other. Ever...and now when she gets her memory back, she's gonna hate me for doing that!" Harmony covers her eyes, starting to cry.
"No, no," Cass tries to get her to stop crying. She hated seeing that from the girl, and she's already done it to her three times... "That's not true. She'd understand...Rapunzel loves you a lot, Harmi. She would never hate you. And I'm sure that when she's back to normal, she'll forgive you."
"This wouldn't even have happened if you had just TALKED to us!' Harmony whips around to her, a bit angry. "I wanted to tell her the truth! I wanted to avoid this!"
"i know, I know...but you're the only one who can find her so that we can fix this. Please help me. We've got to find her before she gets herself into trouble!"
She looks up at Cass, and by her look, she wants Rapunzel back just as much as she does. "Cass...I wouldn't even know where to look. This is her before the tower, and I don't know that Rapunzel..."
"Can't you use your senses? You're the moonstone, you can sense the sundrop! They're connected, and it should be possible."
"Maybe, but I've never tried it..." Harmony takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Her hair starts to glow blue, which has never happened. She opens up her eyes and takes off towards the right.
Rapunzel pushes past leaves as she runs. "Everything's gonna be okay, I can find the tower myself. I'll be okay, as long as I don't run into any-"
She stumbles upon Shorty, Varian, Eugene, and Lance, screaming. She slides to a stop in front of them. "Ruffians!"
"Where?" Eugene asks in fear as Lance hugs him.
"Ruffians!"
"I think she means us," Varian whispers to them.
"I will not let you steal my hair!" Rapunzel grabs her hair, running off.
"...You could probably stop hugging me now," Eugene states to both Lance and Shorty.
"Something's wrong with Rapunzel," Varian glances behind them.
Rapunzel continues running while holding her hair.
"Blondie!"
"Princess!"
"Long-haired girl whose name I can't recall at the moment!"
"Rapunzel!"
She's hiding behind a tree as she glares at the four looking for her, gasping at something on Eugene's shoulder.
"Princess!"
"Rapunzel!"
"They have Pascal!" She doesn't seem to notice his look of worry on his face. "They are not gonna get away with this!"
"No time for details," Cass and Harmony run up to them. "We have to find Raps, she lost her memory, she thinks she never left the tower. We'll cover more ground if we split up."
They look to each other before splitting up. "Oh, boy, that's a lot to take in. I'm gonna need a moment."
"And for the record, it's Cass' fault!" Harmony tells him.
"Ha ha!" He laughs at her boastfully, the girl recoiling back a bit with wide eyes. "Yeah, nice one, Cass! ...No, strike that, that proud moment's not helping."
"Eugene! Focus!" Cass calls out.
"Right! We need to find her! But hey—this is fresh-out-of-the-tower Rapunzel, right? She's inexperienced. We've got the upper hand!"
Or so they think...
"Alright, Shorty," Lance stands to the tiny man. "Keep your eyes peeled."
Shorty looks around for her, only to get snatched by blonde hair from the tree above him.
"...Shorty?" Lance looks to see that he's no longer there. "Shorty?"
Leaves rustle, alarming him. "Shorty?" His voice is now high-pitched out of fear. The leaves from the tree continue to rustle and he whimpers, backing away. This was just as bad as spiders! His foot touches a trip wire. This sends a rock to another round one, which rolls down some logs that are cut up to make a ramp. It rolls to a domino-like pile of stones, and once they've all fallen, they go to a pile of sticks. The sticks hit a hammer with a cut stone tied to it, which cuts up a nest. The egg goes flying, hitting more stones and then a log. The log rolls down and cuts off another rope, sending a flying log towards Lance.
He screams as he runs away, but ends up getting trapped inside. "Oh...ow."
A spider web appears right behind him, with what looks like to be a large spider appearing... Lance turns around to see that it's just Rapunzel with claws, a headdress made of a skull and leaves, and mud on her face. The spider web was actually made out of her hair. She screams at him and he screams too. This goes on for at least a few seconds before she chases him away.
Lance babbles in fear in the log, running right past Eugene. "Lance?" He falls down, breaking the logs into pieces.
"And then, and then, it's, like, it just came out of nowhere, it was like a stealthy, jumping sp-p-p-pider ghost!" He stammers, hiding behind his friend.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, what happened?" He asks in concern, and Lance grips his collar.
"Shorty! She took him! She took him...!"
"Lance, he's right over there," He jerks a thumb to Shorty, who's leaning against a tree.
"Yoo-hoo! Hey, fellas. Quick question: how good are you at untying knots?" He's tied to the tree, shocking both of them. They both gasp, their feet getting tied up by hair. They end up dangling in the air.
"Upside down, we're upside down." Rapunzel slides onto the ground from the tree. "Okay, Rapunzel, maybe I should have given you a little more credit. I mean, this is an awesome trap, but you can stand down."
"I can't now...especially with your ruffian friends!" She pulls down another part of hair, Varian, Harmony, and their pets landing near the tree tied up.
"So...she's as smart as I am..." Harmony smacks her lips. "That's something I never expected from her getting her memory erased."
"She probably got it from you!" Eugene accuses her.
"Eh, if she did, I'm impressed," Varian shrugs a bit. Rapunzel holds up a clawed arm, smiling widely. They all cringe...and then the piranhas arrive in the water. Harmony opens her mouth in shock. Lance babbles in fear.
"Let Pascal go, or I will drop you!" Rapunzel threatens them. "And then your little friends can be next!"
"Oh...shoot," Harmony closes her eyes. She forgot Rapunzel left Pascal with them.
"Look, Sunshine, Pascal's just fine, but he's not with us, he's actually looking for you-"
"No! I don't believe you! Mother said everyone is a liar and a thief out here...and she was right!"
"Rapunzel!" Cass calls out as she runs up to the blonde. The two are dangerously close to the piranhas.
"You! You lied to me, too, along with her!" Rapunzel points to Harmony. "Don't try to deny it!"
"Is it possible for this conversation to happen when we're on the ground?" Eugene shouts to them.
"If I get out of this, I promise I will never eat another fish as long as I live!" Lance pleads with his life. "Except for tuna. And salmon—aah! Okay, just tuna!"
"Alright, alright! Yes, yes...you're right, Rapunzel, we did lie."
"I would never lie. I was forced," Harmony points out to her.
"And...I did force Harmony into it. I did use magic on you, and this potion will bring back your memories," Cass holds up the bottle.
"Memories...?"
"I erased some of your memories. I didn't mean to, I...Look, I'm not big on talking about feelings, and I didn't wanna tell you or Harmony how mad I really was about what happened at the tree. And I guess I was so angry that I took it out on Harmi. So, I...I kept it all in...until I lost my temper."
Harmony and Varian both stay silent.
"And how do I know you're not just lying again?" Rapunzel glares at her.
"...Friends...just have a way of knowing," Cass smiles a bit. Harmony grins up at the woman. Cass holds up the potion as Rapunzel stares at her softly. She slowly walks up to her, lifting up Lance and Eugene.
"Oh, thank goodness."
"So long, evil fishes!"
Rapunzel takes the potion, smiling...but the branch snaps and the two fall in anyway. Harmony and Varian both cringe, looking away.
"Tell my story!"
"Oof, ouch," Harmony winces at them.
"Probably should've set them free before you took the potion..." Varian murmurs quietly.
Fidella, Silver, and Max push the now repaired caravans back into place with help from Lance, Eugene, and Varian. Luckily, Harmony's Fixer-Upper helped them out…once she fixed it from almost beyond repair, of course. On a rock nearby, Rapunzel is back to normal, she and her sister finally talking to Cass.
"And I could have beaten the tree without the decay spell if you two had just trusted me. And I definitely wouldn't have lost my cool towards you, Harmi. So, that's why I'm still angry, girls. But still, I never should have even touched that wand, or ask your little sister to lie."
"It's okay, Cass. I get it," Rapunzel smiles softly. "And I'm not mad that you asked her to do that."
"But, girls...? I won't always be mad at you. I'll get over it...that's what friends do."
"I'm sorry for using that dumb spell and for lying..." Harmony hugs herself. "I know that these powers don't define who I am, but I need to learn how to control this better...my whole life..."
Rapunzel takes their hands and hugs them both. Harmony smiles into the hug, returning it. Together, the caravan is restored, Pascal pulling the lever and wiping off his forehead. Eugene and Lance's clothes are a bit tattered due to all the piranhas.
"Phew! See? I told you we'd get 'em back together."
"Yeah," Lance laughs a little. Rapunzel lets the two down, holding their hands.
"Harmi...you will always be my little sister. And I will never...forget that."
Harmony smiles and Rapunzel gives her a big hug. "Sister hug!"
"Punzie!" She giggles, feeling so glad that this whole memory ordeal is over...
Varian looks on with a small weak smile. They may have forgiven him, but Corona…not as much by the time they get back. His actions were his own to place blame on…he just has to find a way to make them all forget what happened. That was the only way he sees it now. If he could just create a way to spread it through Corona…then it could work.
And he'll do it on his own. Without telling anyone.