Chapter 16

Cassandra hugs her knees to her chest as she stares into the crackling campfire. She sits in the dirt with her back against a fallen log, the crickets of the night chirping from within the dark forest.

Between the brush of the trees overhead, the sky is a deep blue canvas of scattered stars. The air is cool, but the fire provides enough warmth against her skin.

Eugene throws the last of their firewood into the flames, before sitting down next to her with an exasperated groan.

After being on the road for an entire day, they'd found it necessary to cook themselves a meal and rest before doing it all over again tomorrow. With their new destination in mind, and being one step closer to finding Rapunzel, they're going to need it.

Though Cassandra could have gone back to her own camp where her father and the rest of the guards are currently residing, she doesn't, and she isn't sure why.

The idea that she may actually enjoy the company of Flynn Rider is doubtful to her. In fact, it couldn't be more insufferable. Maybe she's only procrastinating going back to camp and facing her father after essentially betraying them by travelling with the enemy. Though, she's only doing it in order to find the missing princess. She has every reason to be doing what she's doing.

The closer they get to Rapunzel, the sooner Cassandra is going to have to face what exactly it is she's doing. Her father will be proud of her for finding the princess, which is all Cass has wanted her entire life. But Rapunzel, on the other hand… the princess will never forgive her.

Though, Cassandra supposes she's already screwed that up. The last time she'd spoken to Rapunzel hadn't exactly been the most pleasant. And now Rapunzel doesn't even remember her. Cass isn't sure whether that's a blessing or a curse. Maybe it's best that Rapunzel forgets.

Just thinking about this entire mission gives Cassandra a headache.

"You really think Lance will be able to help us?" she eventually asks Eugene.

"Well, he's more of a sailor than I ever was," he says, pulling his knees up and resting his forearms over them. The dim firelight flickers against his face, crackling softly beneath his voice. "That guy has pretty much sailed everything and everywhere. If anyone might know something about Donovan's ship, it would be him."

Cass' memories revert back to the captain's log they had found in the cellar, and the name that had been written at the top - The Scarlett Storm.

It has to be his. It makes sense Donovan would have a ship, considering the only way to get here from Ashford is by sea. Cassandra had sailed here with the royal guard on one of Corona's ships herself. Being a prince, it isn't surprising he would have a vessel of his own.

Cassandra can't say she'd ever expected to see Lance again. The first and only time she'd met him had been two years ago when he'd helped her save Eugene from being executed in the town square. It was so long ago.

After becoming a guard, she'd thought her time of being friendly with criminals had been over. Though once again, it seems she has reason to find him.

So, Lance had fled Corona with them too. When Cassandra had chosen to stay behind.

"Have you three, um… been together this whole time?" she asks.

The longer this mission goes on, the more it feels like her past is beginning to haunt her more and more – one that she'd never hoped to revisit.

"Lance and I go our separate ways every once in a while. He stayed with his crew after we all sailed here, but… we always come back to each other one way or another," Eugene explains. "Rapunzel and I, on the other hand, we've been together pretty much since the day we left Corona."

Though Cass isn't surprised to hear that, somehow it still bothers her. Her and Rapunzel had been inseparable too… once.

She can only imagine what fun they've been having together while Cass was away – training, fighting, suffocating, crying herself to sleep, feeling more lost than she's ever been. The list goes on.

"Sounds like you two are close," she mumbles.

Eugene's expression falls as he notices the glum tone in Cassandra's voice, and the way her somber eyes stare aimlessly at the ground, clearly bitter about the idea.

There's a silence that follows where Eugene isn't sure what to say anymore.

Maybe he shouldn't have said that.

"You know, she talked about you a lot," he tells her after a moment, watching her from across the campfire. His gaze trails away in thought as he fondly recalls the past two years he spent on the road with Rapunzel. "I don't think there was ever a day where she didn't tell me that something reminded her of you, or tell me a story about you two as kids."

Cassandra doesn't know what to think about that. If she's honest, she isn't sure she believes it. This entire time, she'd convinced herself that Rapunzel stopped thinking about her a long time.

Somehow, Eugene knows exactly what Cass isn't saying. As much as the girl chooses to deny it, he knows Cass is heartbroken. And though she insists she's only doing this mission because it's her job, Eugene knows that can't be all there is to it.

"I don't know what happened between you guys after I lost her but… I know she never stopped missing you," he says, hoping to ease her mind somewhat. And he means every word of it.

She thinks about the last time they'd seen each other. Clearly, Rapunzel had been hurt after Cass told her she was there to take her back.

But this is what Cass asked for, isn't it? The princess had asked her to go with them they night they left, and Cass said no. She insisted they go without her, and to not worry about her. Therefore, she has nobody to blame but herself.

As much as Cass wants to deny everything Eugene is saying and push him away for putting all of these thoughts into her head, she doesn't.

Instead, she hugs her knees tighter to her chest, the tears welling in her eyes faster than she can stop them.

She tucks her shoulders up to her ears and turns her face away from him as if it will stop him from seeing her cry. Hating that she's becoming so emotional in front of Flynn Rider of all people, someone she couldn't care less about, she's frustrated that she'd allowed herself to get to this point.

Tears make people weak.

Cassandra roughly wipes one from her face just as it rolls down her cheek. She sniffles and swallows the lump in her throat, though she knows it's too late to hide it.

"I thought coming here would be easy," when she finally speaks again, her voice is hoarse. "After Rapunzel left, becoming a guard just seemed like the right thing to do. I guess I just… wanted to prove to my father that I could do it. Maybe then I might actually have a purpose in that castle. But without Rapunzel…"

Her eyes glisten again at the mere thought of it. Suddenly, she can't find it in her to go on.

"You know, believe it or not, I know how you feel," says Eugene.

With her eyebrows creased and tears dry on her flushed cheeks, Cass looks over at him, meeting his gaze for the first time that night.

"When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was prove myself to the world," he recounts. "Show them that I was so much more than what everyone thought I was. Because without some sort of title or reputation, I was nothing."

Eugene leans back on his hands, fingers digging into the dirt of the forest floor. He lifts his gaze toward the trees leaning above them, staring up at the starry night sky through the leaves. The plume of smoke from the fire trails upward and fades into the cool night air.

His heart soars as he reminisces, "Then I met Rapunzel. And I realized that loving her was so much better than any amount of money or fame I could've imagined."

Cassandra's heart clenches at that.

He looks over at her once more. "Now, I'm not one for advice, but… maybe you should think about what you need to do for yourself. Not for anyone else," Eugene shrugs casually as he realizes, "I told Rapunzel the same thing before she left."

Ironically, it sounds like something Cass would've told Rapunzel too a long time ago.

It's a good thing the princess listened to him then.

"So… she's happy?" wonders Cass.

Eugene's lips tug into a fond smile as he dreams about potentially spending the rest of his life with Rapunzel, after all of this is over. His voice is soft as he responds, "I hope so."

Despite everything, that actually makes Cassandra smirk.

It's something she has always wondered for the past two years – whether Rapunzel finally found what she had been looking for her entire life. Now, Cass finally knows.

"I mean, aside from being kidnapped and having her memories wiped but, you know… that's just a regular thing for us at this point," points out Eugene.

For the first time that day, Cassandra chuckles, merely from the fact that they're able to joke with each other now without her wanting to rip his throat out from how annoying he is.

Cassandra sniffles again, somewhat composing herself. "You know, I was never actually gonna kill you," she admits, though saying those words aloud is more difficult than she'd thought.

Eugene smirks, feeling a glint of satisfaction from hearing that. "I know."

Cass' mind wanders back to her father again, and the fact that she has yet to report back to camp. With whatever's about to happen tomorrow, who knows when the next time that will be. "The guard probably knows something's up with me by now. I guess I'll have to deal with that one way or another."

Eugene can't help but wonder, "What was your plan, then? Before any of this happened?"

The fact that she's willingly talking to him about it now is a relief, considering she'd threatened him to leave it alone the first time he tried.

Cassandra inhales deeply as she ponders that. "Find Rapunzel. Bring her back and hope I didn't run into you. Or face the consequences." She says it as if she has rehearsed it in her head a million times before - as if it is the simplest thing in the world.

If she's honest with herself, Cass has no idea whether she's still going to do it. Then she reminds herself that she has no choice, because she's a guard, and guards don't let personal feelings get in the way of business.

Whatever ends up happening, Rapunzel is still mad at her for coming here in the first place, and that crushes Cass more than she'd care to admit. Even if Rapunzel doesn't remember it.

She sighs hopelessly. "I just hope she forgives me after all of this."

"She will," assures Eugene. "I think you know better than anyone that Rapunzel isn't the type to hold a grudge."

But Cass tells herself she doesn't deserve to be forgiven. She doesn't deserve Rapunzel as a friend.

"Yeah," she stares blankly through the fire, hugging her own arms, "I hate that about her."