A Handmaiden's return

Chapter 2

"Hello Cassie, it's been a while," a familiar male voice said, Cassandra and Eden, turned around and saw a now-adult Varian.

"Varian?" Cassandra exclaimed, she was shocked by how much the young boy she once knew had changed. Varian was a lot taller now, he was at her height, his hair was the same as she remembered and probably the only thing that was still the same along with his blue eyes. Varian had now a scar in his left eye probably from the war and had grown a French cut beard which surprisingly it suited him well. He was also wearing his steampunk style outfit, consisting of a collared beige long-sleeved shirt, maroon vest, dark brown gloves with brown straps, brown pants a dark brown utility belt a tan apron, and last but not least a pair of dark maroon-and-khaki boots.

"You've grown well, Varian"

"Uh, Thanks"

The two kept staring at each other for a few seconds without exchanging a word.

"This is awkward" Eden murmured, the two old friends nodded in agreement it's been fifteen years since they last saw each other and things were so different right now.

"Come on, let me show you around," Varian told the two, Eden and Cassandra followed him as they entered the main area of the hidden base, Varian had created it by himself, the area itself was large and had many tunnels around it. Cassandra was looking around and saw people old and young sitting on the ground some had a blanket covering them. They were all weak and sick. Cassandra felt bad for them, wondering what had happened.

"Those people are new arrivals here, we are rescuing as many as we can, unfortunately, we can't save everybody but that's about to change" Varian explained, Cassandra was surprised by how serious and mature Varian sounded as he spoke. What had happened to that young boy she once knew and how much things had changed in her homeland?

"The rebellion started a year after Kreston took over Corona and killed the former King and Queen alongside Eugene… his goal was to marry Rapunzel because of her past with the sun drop and the Zhan tiri incident, well you know the story… A few people including me and some other familiar faces gathered everything we had and created this little base, our goal is to fight Kreston, free Rapunzel and take back our Kingdom but we cannot do it on our own" Varian explained how and why the Rebellion was formed, Cassandra didn't know what to say, her feelings were mixed with anger and guilt, knowing now the reason this Kreston ruined her sister's life and the entire kingdom's Cassandra felt responsible.

Varian noticed her facial expressions and his face softened, he knew exactly how Cass felt.

"Don't blame yourself, Cassie, it's not your fault"

"If only I was here…" Cassandra murmured, she was trying hard not to break into tears

"You would die, Kreston's goal was to destroy everyone who was close to Rapunzel, technically he thinks me and anyone associated with the rebellion are dead," Varian told her, he placed one hand on her shoulder for comfort, Cassandra's hands had turned into fists.

"But, if you join the rebellion, you can help us take the Kingdom back, you are the only one who can get Rapunzel to fight back" Varian offered her Cassandra looked at him and smiled, of course, she would join the fight, there was no way she would let her sister suffer.

"I'm in, I am not going to let my sister suffer at the hands of a maniac," Cassandra said firmly, Varian smiled, Eden was happy too now there was hope to get their home back.

"Alright, let's show you the rest of the base," Varian told them, Cassandra and Eden followed the young alchemist as he now entered a different room, what it looked like a meeting room, Cass saw a lot of familiar faces, she saw Lance, Hookfoot, Hookhand, Vlad, Attila, and the other thugs, they hadn't changed at all. She also saw Adira, Hector, and King Edmund.

Most of the people in the room were the same, a few of them were older such as Catalina, she was much older now but didn't she have a sister?

"Is that?" Lance questioned when he saw Cassandra, Cass smiled at him, she was happy seeing her old friends again. Varian nodded, many people in the room smiled when they saw her and stared at her with hope even Adira was happy to see her.

"Hey, short-hair it's been an awhile," She said, even though the two didn't get along very well, Cass was actually happy to see old faces.

"Hello Adira, it's nice seeing you too."

As Cassandra was greeting her old friends, a young boy around twelve rushed and hug Eden who was happy to see him.

"Ian!" Eden exclaimed as she hugged her little brother.

"Eden! You made it" the boy said.

Everyone greeted the two arrivals, they were both happy to see familiar faces but little did they know someone was watching them from the shadows. Varian stared at the shadowy corner and motioned with his head to the man to make his entrance.

"Never thought I'd see you again. It seems, even in death, I can't get away from you… CaSANDra" a familiar male voice said making everyone in the room to jump from surprise, Cassandra turned around and her eyes widened with shock-like she saw a ghost…

"FiTzHERbErT?!" Cassandra exclaimed with shock, there was Eugene and he was different than she remembered, for starters, he had grown a beard, he also was holding onto a wooden stick and used it as a crutch, his left leg was injured, other than that, he was the same as she remembered.

"Hi" He smiled, Cassandra was too shocked to reply she thought he was dead. Eden on the other hand who was standing next to her slowly approached her father.

"D-Dad…b-but I t-though…. I s-saw you w-with mom, wh-" Eden didn't know what to say, Cassandra noticed that she was trembling and that the young princess was close to having a breakdown.

"Eden…" Eugene smiled when he saw his daughter, he opened his arms waiting for a hug but instead, Eden just stood there, her shocked and surprised expression soon turned into anger.

"HOW COULD YOU DAD! I SAW YOU, MOM SAW YOU DYING… WE CRIED, WE WERE BOTH PRISONERS IN OUR OWN HOUSE FOR FIVE YEARS THINKING WE HAD LOST EVERYTHING AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE US A SIGN THAT YOU'RE ALIVE?!... W-Why" Eden shouted, she broke down in tears, Eugene approached her, the young princess fell onto his arms hugging him, she buried her head onto his shoulder crying and sobbing Eugene stroked his little girl's back. Meanwhile, Cassandra was staring at Eugene with a similar angered expression, Eugene noticed it.

"I-I-I missed y-you… D-Dad" Eden sobbed Eugene hold his daughter tightly he had missed her and her mother too…

"I missed you too"

After a few minutes of hugging each other, Eden had calmed down now, Eugene touched her cheek and examined his now-grown daughter's face, the last time he saw her she was nine, now she is fourteen.

"You're so big!" He exclaimed Eden giggled she had missed her dad so much.

Eugene turned his gaze on Cass who had now a blank expression on her face, he gulped, he knew this expression too well and when Cass made that face, it could only mean one thing… he was dead.

"Thought maybe I won't be here to talk you for long, because when your auntie makes that expression… it means I'm in trouble" Eugene told his daughter who turned and saw her Aunt who still had that blank expression, Cass slowly approached Eugene, she had her sword out pointing it on him, Eden backed away slowly, she and her brother watched as Cassandra pinned their father to the wall, pointing her sword on his neck, she was breathing heavily.

"Give me ONE good reason to not chop off your head right now" She hissed, Eugene laughed nervously he didn't like it when she was this mad, especially when she was mad at him.

"Uh…well-"

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER! INSTEAD, YOU LET YOUR DAUGHTER AND MY SISTER TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF THE MANIAC" Cassandra yelled at him, everyone else just blinked, no one even dared to interfere and calm Cass down because they knew it wouldn't work.

"Wait, did you just called…"

"SHE TRUSTED YOU WITH HER LIFE! WHY DID YOU leave HER SUFFER HUH?!" She kept yelling at Eugene

"Well, she trusted you with her life too, why didn't you come ba-"
"YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHY FITZHERBERT"

"Couldn't you at least… visit, all these years? She missed you a lot, you know" Eugene replied, Cassandra's expression softened a bit, but she still had her sword pointing his neck.

"I know… I-I missed her too, I wanted to visit but so many things happened and I lost the track of time" Cassandra explained, it was true, she wanted to visit them for years now but ever since she became Lieutenant in the Arendellian army she had a very busy schedule and since Arendelle had a war to deal the past three years, she just couldn't.

"Look, Cass…I know you and I never really got along well but please, let me explain" Eugene told her, Cassandra finally put her sword away, she was calmer now but she was still mad at him for letting her sister suffer all this time, he better have a good explanation for all this.

"It all started five years ago, The Kingdom was still thriving me and Rapunzel were happier than ever until… We received a message from the rising Histruck Empire, their Tyrant wanted Rapunzel's hand in marriage in exchange for peace" Eugene recalled the events that lead to the war between the Histruck Empire and Corona, he finished the sentence with disgust. Cassandra's hands turned into fists when she heard that…

"Raps…" Cassandra murmured, oh how she wished she was there, she would make the Histruck Tyrant regret sending that message, even thinking about it.

"We denied of course…Even if Blondie considered it at fir-"

"SHE DID WHAT?"

"You know her, she'd do anything to make sure that the people she cares about are safe" Eugene explained, Cassandra sighed, it was true, Cass knew Rapunzel too well, she'd definitely pull something like this off.

"And that's when everything went downhill, the Histruck Empire, of course, attacked us and we were unprepared, many people died, including the former King and Queen, Catalina's sister, Kiera or you might remember her as angry, Varian's father, Quirin and… your father" Eugene finished, Cassandra's eyes widened. No, he couldn't be…

"W-What?" She exclaimed, not wanting to believe it.

"I'm sorry Cass, he died a few days ago, he got killed in a mission trying to free Rapunzel but he got caught and executed by Kreston himself." Eugene sighed, he saw that Cassandra was trembling, she was about to break into crying, something that was unlike her… But how could he blame her, she had just learned that her father had been murdered by the same person who has captive her best friend and sister.

So many people she knew have died, the King and Queen were like second parents to her she knew them since she was four. Quirin, Varian's father, they might not have the closest relationships but she knew him well, he was a good man, he didn't deserve to die like this and Kiera or Angry, was just a child, an innocent child, sure she was at her twenties when she died but still, she was so young and had her entire life in front of her. And of course, there's her father, he was a good man, he for some reason had stopped writing back five years ago now she knew, it was because of the war, and their last letter… they had argued about something, she can't even remember

Cass fell on her knees, tears streamed down her face, she didn't care if people she knew were watching her she didn't care if Eugene was watching her in this state.

"And I never got to say goodbye" Cassandra murmured, Eugene placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He had no idea how to comfort her. Cass had closed her eyes as she was crying, Eugene was stroking her shoulder comfortingly and surprisingly she didn't shove him away, she actually needed it.

After a few minutes passed, Cassandra had stopped crying, she opened her eyes again but instead of being sad, she was angry and determined, everyone in the room stared at her with concern, they had never seen her this determined before.

"He will pay…"