Chapter 20


"Look who finally decided to come and rescue you, Flower." With an amused smirk, the woman shifts her gaze from Rapunzel to Cass. A darkness flashes across her eyes as she looks directly at her, "I must admit… I've been waiting a long time for this, Cassandra."

Cassandra keeps her sword held out in front of herself, glaring back at the woman standing at the opposite end of the shadowed room. This isn't at all who Cass had expected to find here, but learning that she is the person behind all of this is already enough for Cassandra to hate her.

It leaves a fire within Cassandra's eyes, having finally found herself face to face with Rapunzel's captor – the one who had kidnapped her, hid her away in this house and chained her to the wall for whatever sick reason. Cass doesn't need more reason than that to want to kill this woman right here and now.

The wound on Cassandra's lower abdomen is burning with a constant pain, soaking the bandages beneath her shirt in warm blood. Her head is dizzy. Her legs are quivering weakly from the lack of strength to keep herself upright. But she refuses to allow her ready stance to give in. Though it pains her, she keeps her knees bent, one foot in front of the other, her grip remaining tight on the hilt of her sword.

"You know my name," she breathes, warily.

"I know many things about you," comments Gothel with an eerie casualness to her tone. She takes a step forward.

However, the woman is barely able to move before Cassandra confidently raises her sword higher, also stepping forward. "Stay away from her," she challenges, sheltering Rapunzel chained and kneeled on the ground right behind her. Cassandra's eyes narrow with an underlying fury as she warns, "Don't take another step… I will kill you."

Paralyzed with fear, Rapunzel's gaze flickers between the two women. Even with Cassandra's back turned to her, Rapunzel notices a shift in what Cassandra's voice would usually be, now smothered with a heavy breathing beneath her words. She'd noticed the sweat on Cassandra's face from the moment she'd run in here minutes earlier, despite the freezing temperature. She notices the occasional wavering of Cassandra's stance, something that would otherwise never falter. Something's wrong with her. It makes Rapunzel's chest tighten with concern.

"Now, now, there's no need to be so serious," Gothel raises her hands, singing like a bird, "All I want to do is talk—"

"I'll do the talking," Cassandra's tone and expression remains hard. "Now, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna tell me where the key is for those chains and you're gonna let her go. And if you don't, I'll kill you and find them myself. Either way, I can't let you live. I won't risk you following us again."

Gothel throws her head back as she laughs, raising her fingertips to her chest. She shakes her head, "Oh, my dear Cassandra. My sweet, naïve Cassandra… Is that any way to greet your own mother? I must say I'm very disappointed in you."

Just like that, Cassandra's expression softens. She blinks in confusion. Her shoulders relax. She lowers her sword slightly.

A faint smirk appears on Gothel's lips at that reaction, satisfied with how quickly she was able to make Cassandra let her guard down. "My, my… Look how you've grown." Slowly, Gothel walks toward her, eyeing the girl's appearance. "So beautiful. Though, I suppose you have me to thank for your looks."

Cassandra raises her sword again, her walls instantly reappearing.

The tip of the blade appearing inches away from Gothel's chest causes her to freeze in her tracks.

"My… My mother is dead," Cassandra insists, fully aware of Rapunzel chained up right behind her, and the fact that she'd just allowed Gothel to get so close. She fights to maintain a strong demeanor, though her words are less confident than they had been before.

Then again, how else would this woman know Cassandra's name? Maybe Rapunzel told her before Cass even showed up here. But why would she claim to know 'many things' about her, when Cass is certain she's never met or seen this person in her entire life?

"Is that what they told you?" Gothel's eyes never glance down at the sword being pointed at her chest, but rather focuses on Cassandra's face at the other end of it, as if she couldn't be less bothered by the girl's threats. "Oh, I should've known. Those royals do nothing but put lies into people's heads. Just like they did with their precious princess. But I know the truth."

But nobody ever told Cassandra that her birth mother was dead. That's just what she convinced herself a long time ago, after so many years of wondering. It was easier that way, to believe there was some kind of closure and hopefully she could move on from the pain of it. But even so, there's no way the person who is holding Rapunzel captive right now is the same woman who gave birth to Cassandra, who has somehow crossed paths with her again after twenty-two years. It's ridiculous and highly unlikely. It doesn't make any sense.

The fact that this stranger would lie about something like that for whatever twisted reason makes Cassandra want to kill her even more. She's beginning to lose her patience.

Cassandra's brows crease over her glaring eyes, her voice lowering dangerously, "I don't know who you are or what kind of game you're playing, but I'm not falling for it for a second. Now, do what I said. Let. Her. Go."

Gothel raises an eyebrow. "You still don't believe me? Well then, perhaps this place will jog your memory." She turns away with poise, beginning to wander around the room. Her footsteps brush softly along the hardwood floor. "Tell me, is it not… familiar to you? You have been here before, after all." She saunters to the end of the small bedframe against the wall, stroking her perfectly manicured fingertips along the foot of it. She sighs as she stares down at the bare mattress, as if lost in a nostalgic trance. "It seems like only yesterday I was kissing you good night in this very room. Reading you bedtime stories… Holding you when there was a thunderstorm."

It isn't until then that Cassandra realizes they're standing in a children's bedroom, though empty and abandoned. She'd been so focused on getting Rapunzel out of here that she hadn't noticed the faded floral wallpaper, stained, and ripped at the floorboards. She hadn't noticed the scribbled drawings on the bottom half of the walls. She hadn't noticed how small the bed was, fit for only a child.

Though everything is dark and cold now, and the furniture appears to have been collecting dust for years, it looks as if this room might have held life and colour once. The haunting sight of what it has become unsettles her.

Gothel chuckles lightly, snapping herself out of her own daze, "Oh, silly me. Of course, I suppose you were too young to remember. You were only a child when they took you away from me."

But the more that Gothel speaks, the more that Cassandra starts to believe what she is hearing. Because Gothel is right - Cassandra doesn't remember. She can't remember a thing from before her life at the castle, which means there's no way she can be sure where she even came from. And this place… Cassandra doesn't want to admit it, but it felt oddly familiar to her ever since she first walked into this house. Like she'd been here before, or seen it all in a dream. She just couldn't figure out why.

Slowly, Cassandra lowers her sword. "My… My father said I was abandoned when he found me."

"And that's just what they wanted you to think," chirps Gothel. "But don't you see? I never left you. They stole you from me, a helpless old woman, so that they could have you all to themselves, and raise you to be their little soldier."

"Cassandra, don't listen to her," Rapunzel begs, chains rattling as she shifts on her knees. "She's manipulating you! The bandits were working for her. She led the attack on Corona to get to me. She's the one to blame for everything!"

Cassandra doesn't turn at the sound of Rapunzel's voice behind her. Rather, she finds her narrowed gaze entirely captivated by the woman standing before her, as if scratching to recognize her facial features, to convince herself that Cassandra may even look like her - The woman who may very well be her mother, who Cassandra thought she would never, ever lay eyes upon. And yet, here they are, standing right in front of each other, in Cassandra's very own childhood bedroom. Could it really be true? She can't believe any of it.

Gothel had said she would bring Cassandra over to her side somehow, but claiming to be Cassandra's mother is not at all what Rapunzel had been expecting. Rapunzel doesn't know whether it's true, or merely some planned tactic for Gothel to get what she wants. All she knows is that everything about this feels very wrong.

Gothel chortles at Rapunzel's claim, as if it is entirely ridiculous, "She makes it sound like I wanted to hurt her, when in fact, I've done nothing but the exact opposite." Ignoring Rapunzel, her gaze focuses only on Cassandra. "You should be thanking me for saving her for you. Who knows what those men would have done with her if I hadn't stepped in when I did. A pretty girl like her… Free for the taking."

Gothel's words seem to go right over Cassandra's head, encasing her in a hypnotic trance, amongst a shifting mess of emotions.

Her thoughts are a jumble. The pain in her side is agonizing and makes her want to collapse from exhaustion. Her body feels hot. She can barely breathe. She's not even sure how she's standing upright anymore. She wants to ask so much, yet she can't find it in her to say anything at all. All she does is stand there, letting it all happen around her, her mind drifting away as the reality of the situation slowly hits her.

But Cassandra's father would never do something like that. He would never steal a child, and he most definitely would never lie to Cassandra about it. He said he told her everything he knew about that day - that the guards found her in a house in the woods, alone and abandoned. Why would he lie about her mother being there too?

A part of Cassandra tells her to listen to Rapunzel, to not trust a word this woman is saying if she really is the one to blame for what happened that night in Corona, because nothing makes her angrier than that. But at the same time… Cassandra can't explain how badly she has dreamed of this very moment.

Her entire life, for as long as she can remember, she'd wondered where she came from. She remembers being only eight years old, hoping she would one day find her real mother again, to see her, or even just to know that she was still alive, somewhere out there in the world - that would've been enough for her. Because maybe then she might've believed that she was once worth something to somebody. That she wasn't just a nobody that came from no where. That she had something to hope for. A family, maybe. An explanation as to who she was. A place where she belonged.

Eventually, she buried it all away. And now… The answer to every question that Cassandra has ever had since she was a little girl is suddenly at the edge of her fingertips, standing right in front of her.

Yet somehow, she can't find the strength within her to ask a single one of them. Why did you leave me? Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you come back for me? Did you ever want me? Did you ever love me?

"I can only imagine how confusing this must be for you…" Gothel's voice is soft and soothing, as if comforting a frightened child, "But you're not so heartless that you would actually kill your own mother, are you? Because you know I would never do anything to hurt you." She slowly walks across the room again, from the bed to Cassandra. "The woman who birthed you, nurtured you, took care of you..."

Cassandra has never been so confused, so relieved, so scared and sad and angry all at once. She's so overwhelmed that her face begins to crumple with emotion at the words she is hearing, her brows pressing together in an attempt to fight it. A tightness appears in her throat. Tears are glistening in her eyes. Her sword is held loosely by her side now, threatening to slip from her blood-stained fingers.

"The royals left me childless, for twenty long years," laments Gothel. "I can only imagine how lonely you must have felt. Abandoned… Left behind… Lost…"

Cassandra's breath hitches as she begins to weep softly, the tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Hearing it all said aloud brings her right back to how she had felt for so long. Like she's a lonely little girl all over again, crying herself to sleep, telling herself she was worthless, and that nobody wanted her. Not even her own mother.

"But now fate has finally brought you back to me, where you belong," Gothel finally comes to a stop in front of her. "And oh, how I've missed you, sweetheart."

"She's lying!" shouts Rapunzel. "She wants to kill you, Cass. She's saying anything she can to get you to trust her!"

But Gothel doesn't acknowledge Rapunzel. Doesn't listen to her, doesn't even glance in her direction. Her gaze instead remains focused on Cassandra, as if it is only the two of them in the room. "I've been watching you, Cassandra. Ever since you and the princess escaped the kingdom. I knew you would come to Rapunzel's rescue, and I knew you would try to take her away from me. But I'm afraid I can't let her go."

Cassandra can barely believe any of it. Gothel had been following them this entire time. She'd been there all along, and she knew who Cassandra was. All those days living at the cabin, hunting in the woods… Cass had felt like she was being watched. She felt like they weren't alone out there. The bandits weren't the only ones following them.

Gothel is so close to Cassandra now that she can easily reach out and touch her. "You can stay here," she coos. "The three of us can be a family. We can start over. I can be your mother again, and everything will go back to the way it was supposed to be."

Her gaze glances downward to the pendant of a golden flower clasped around Cassandra's neck, peeking out from beneath her cloak – the necklace that she has worn for as long as she can remember, never quite knowing where it came from.

Gothel reaches her hand out, gently pulling it out from beneath Cassandra's cloak and holding the pendant between her fingertips.

Cassandra lets her.

"Don't touch her!" Rapunzel jerks against the chains that restrain her.

"I remember when I first gave this to you," murmurs Gothel, "And you've kept it after all these years. Surely, you must still feel love for me, the way I have always loved you." Her hand then moves to cup Cassandra's face, wiping away her tears with a stroke of her thumb.

The feeling of Gothel's hand against her face only makes Cassandra cry even more. The tears continue to pour down her cheeks until she's sobbing silently, uncontrollably, with Gothel's gentle and motherly touch soothing her in a way, yet paining her all at once.

It cures something within Cassandra that she didn't know was broken until now – the child within her that had been craving this for so many years. It draws her into a blissful trance that she's not sure she ever wants to get out of, because Cassandra can't even begin to describe how good it feels, or just how long she has waited to hear any of this.

Because after everything that happened to her, all the loss and grief of losing the people she loved since she was only thirteen… Her father, Arianna, Frederic, they're all gone. They left her, just like everybody else. She thought her birth mother left her too. But now she's here, asking Cassandra to be hers again. It's almost too good to be true.

Which is why Cassandra finds herself sobbing so hard she can't even speak or move or do anything anymore as Gothel promises her the world, tempting her with her words, "We can be together, and you'll never have to feel lonely again. All of that pain will finally go away… Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

It is. She wants it so bad.

"Because you would do anything for Rapunzel, wouldn't you?"

Yes. She would.

"Stay with me." Gothel's voice is loving and threatening all at once as she brushes a strand of hair behind Cassandra's ear, "Be my daughter again… or I'll kill her."

"No!" Rapunzel's gaze is fixed on Cass' backside, wishing more than anything that she would just snap out of it, turn around and meet Rapunzel's eyes again. "Cassandra, listen to me. Don't do it. She's getting inside your head. You don't have to be the hero this time. Please, for once, don't put your life in danger for me again! You can still walk away from this!"

Because Rapunzel knows that Cassandra will do anything for her, without hesitation. But she also knows the truth. Gothel won't kill Rapunzel. She'd made it clear she needs Rapunzel alive, for her magic. It's only a trick to get Cassandra to do what she wants, to make her let her guard down, to give in completely before Gothel decides to strike.

And the sight of Gothel touching Cassandra's face like that, like she's going to kill her at any moment, when Rapunzel knows that Cass would never let anyone get so close to her… It leaves a fury boiling inside of Rapunzel that she can't describe. It makes her fear that Cass might actually give herself up, that Gothel's lies might actually work on her. And by that time, it will be too late.

"Give in to the love you've always craved, Cassandra. Make that sad, lonely little girl inside of you happy again."

Casandra's knees are begging to give in beneath her. She's lost so much blood that it leaves her head heavy and her thoughts a haze. The pain in her side sharpens with every breath that she takes. Her mind and her body are so weak that she can't find it in her to fight it anymore. As the words echo in her head, begging her to do just what Gothel says, all she wants to do is fall into it all.

She wants nothing more than to be happy again.

Faintly, Cassandra's lips tug into a broken grin, and she leans her tear-stained cheek further into Gothel's hand.

Gothel smiles at her – a soft, reassuring smile that tells her everything is going to be all right. That this is the way it's supposed to be. That she made the right decision.

Then Cassandra stabs her sword directly through Gothel's stomach.

Gothel jerks forward from the suddenness of it, a strangled grunt escaping her tightened throat.

In an instant, Cassandra's eyes flicker from sorrow to pure hatred. A snarl appears on her lips, her jaw turning rigid. Her brows are creased tightly together. She's holding her breath. There's a burning fire behind her eyes. Tears roll down her reddened cheeks as she glares coldly into Gothel's wide eyes, just staring helplessly back at her.

Cassandra steps closer. There's a noise of squelching flesh as she slowly forces her sword further through the woman's body, completely protruding from the backside of her.

She stops when their faces are inches apart. "You were never my mother," Cassandra growls in a low voice, "And I don't need you."

Gothel gasps desperately for air, though it sounds like nothing but a pathetic choked whimper. A splash of blood shoots out from between her lips, splattering against Cassandra's face. Her eyes are bulging in shock, her paralyzed hand remaining frozen on Cass' cheek. Then her fingertips go limp, and her arm slowly falls to her side.

Cassandra's father didn't steal her. He saved her. He took her in when this woman abandoned her. He loved her in a way that Gothel never did.

Despite everything, Cassandra had all she needed at the castle. She had three parents who loved her – her father, the king and queen who took care of her and treated her like their own daughter. She had a family. Gothel leaving was the best thing that ever happened to her, because it brought her home.

It brought her to Rapunzel.

With a forceful lurch, Cassandra yanks her sword out of Gothel's body. When she does, the blade is soaked and dripping with blood. She steps back as the woman falls forward, crumpling lifelessly on her side.

Gothel's eyes have fallen closed. She doesn't move. She doesn't make any more sounds. An expanding pool of blood forms beneath her, seeping between the floorboards.

The room is encased in silence.

"Cassandra…" Rapunzel croaks, brokenly.

Cassandra only continues to stare blankly down at the woman laying dead by her feet, breathing heavily. Her entire body is hot like fire, her skin coated in sweat. A wave of nausea nestles in her stomach. Her head is overcome with dizziness, and she staggers backward.

Her sword slips from her grasp, clattering to the ground. The pain in her side becomes numb. Her head sways. Her eyes roll back and slowly fall closed. The next thing she knows, her knees have folded beneath her and she can no longer hold herself upright.

She hears the faded sound of Rapunzel shouting her name, ringing in her ears. Then Cassandra collapses, and everything goes black.