One Year Ago

Rapunzel knew something was going on with Cass but she wasn't sure what. Cass had been more distant lately, distracted and Rapunzel was determined to figure out what was causing that.

"Cass?" she said, walking into Cass's room at the Academy.

She saw Cass's back tense before she turned around. "Rapunzel. What are you doing in here?"

Rapunzel frowned. "You always let me come in your room. I wanted to see how you were doing."

"How I'm doing?" She scoffed. 'That's rich, coming from you."

"What… what are you talking about?'

"You should know how I'm doing. Because it involves Gothel."

Rapunzel tried not to flinch at Gothel's name. "Gothel? Your mother? What about her?'

"Cut the crap, Raps. I know the truth." She tossed a book at Rapunzel's feet. "I snuck into the Academy's archives and I found that book. It has the information on all the students at the Academy. And what I learned was interesting."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, picking up the book.

"Oh, I think you do." Cass walked slowly towards her until they were toe-to-toe. "That book told me the name of the woman who kidnapped you. Gothel. It was my own mother."

Rapunzel gulped. "Maybe there are other Gothels going around kidnapping babies."

Cass shook her head. "You and I both know that's not true. When I told you about how my mother abandoned me, you didn't mention that she was also the woman who raised you. Why did you lie?"

"I didn't lie. I just… didn't tell you the full truth."

"I took pity on you. I felt bad that you had grown up locked in a tower your whole life. But it was my mother who did that to you and you didn't mention that to me. You lied to me. You betrayed me. You stole my own mother from me."

Rapunzel stumbled back. "I never stole Gothel from you. Cass, she kidnapped me. And the reason I didn't tell you was because it hurt too much. She hurt me every day of my life."

She scoffed as a darkness entered her eyes. It sent a chill down Rapunzel's back. "My mother never laid a hand on me. I doubt she laid a hand on you."

"It wasn't physical abuse but psychological. When you told me Gothel was your mom, I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to ruin the image you had of your mother. So… I kept it to myself."

"That wasn't a secret you got to keep for yourself!" Cass shouted. "I had a right to know what happened to my mother. And guess what else I read?" She narrowed her eyes, looking a lot like Gothel in that moment. "You killed her."

Rapunzel had no words. She was still filled with shame over what she had to do to escape, despite what Gothel had done to her. There was no excuse so all she could do was hang her head.

"You're not going to fight me on it?" Cass asked before huffing. "You're even more of a coward than I thought. So much for our friendship. It was all a lie."

"Cass-," she started to say, reaching her hand out but Cass cut her off.

"I never want to see you again, Rapunzel. If I do see you again, I'm not sure what I'll do. I might even kill you."

Rapunzel gasped and backed away. It was clear from the anger on Cass's face that there was no talking to her now, so… she turned away and left the room, her heart breaking with every step. She thought she had finally found a new friend after Pascal died. Cass was right. Their friendship was a lie.

Cass was willing to throw their friendship away like it was nothing.

Rapunzel was all alone again. She didn't have Pascal. She didn't have her birth parents, whoever they were or wherever they were at. She didn't even have Gothel anymore.

She was utterly and tragically alone again.

But she wasn't going to give up.

So, when the next day came, she went back to Cass's room but she was nowhere to be found. She spotted Agent Tom walking through the hall and approached him.

"Where's Cassandra?" she asked.

"Cassandra is gone. She left the Academy and the Society for good." He didn't elaborate anything more as he walked away.

All Rapunzel could do was stand there and know in her heart of hearts that she had no one in her life she could trust.

And she wasn't sure she ever would.


1986, Cleveland, Ohio

All Rapunzel could think of was Cass's body, lying on the ground of the arcade with a bullet in her head from that teenage girl, Tiffany as she and Eugene entered the mall for… well, she couldn't quite remember how many times this had happened before. The time loop was messing with her head.

All she knew was that Tiffany was the assassin, Jennifer was the guardian of the clue, and Cass was back, also trying to kill her.

"So, what do we do?" Eugene asked as they stood within the mall, people walking by without a care in the world. "We know Tiffany is the assassin and the one to put us into the time loop. So, how do we break it? Or can we just go back to your tower? We know the location of the next clue. It's London, 1891. We can just go."

"No, we can't. If we try to escape the time loop without stopping it, we'll only be dragged right back and who knows what could happen? We could end up hurt."

"Hate to break it to you, Blondie, but we've been murdered countless times by now."

"You know what I mean."

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, I do." Then he sighed and flapped his arms down by his sides. "So, we just kill Tiffany? Is that it? That will break the time loop?"

"Yeah, it will. But she's the one in control of it so she must know that we know about it. Which means she won't make it easy on us. And we also have to deal with Cass coming for us."

"I saw Tiffany kill her."

Rapunzel flinched. For how much things ended badly between her and Cass, she never wanted her ex-best friend to die. "She's stuck in the time loop right along with us. We have to get to Tiffany before she gets to us, kill Tiffany, break the time loop, and then leave for the next clue. We have to find the Society's headquarters so I can find my parents. I don't know where else to look for them."

He placed his hands on her arms, immediately comforting her. "We will find them, Rapunzel. I promise. Even if I have to die a hundred times for you so we can find them, I will."

"I don't want you to die for me."

"And I don't want you to die for me."

She leaned her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. "So, we're in agreement. No more dying today."

"Totally on board. Couldn't be more on board."

"Then I think the best place to start is with Jennifer. She works for the Society. She might be able to tell us about Tiffany."

"How come you don't know her?" he asked as they walked through the mall. "Both of them?"

"The Time Traveler's Society employs a lot of people. Too many for me to know. Jennifer is older than me and Tiffany is younger. We weren't in the same class."

He shook his head. "God, now the Society is recruiting teenagers to be assassins? That's insane."

"I'm learning a lot more about the Society than I ever knew. And to think, my parents were the ones who founded it. I can't believe they would send assassins after me. I have to find them and get answers."

"Maybe someone new is in charge. Maybe your parents don't work for the Society any longer."

"Maybe," she murmured, hoping Eugene's words were true. That was all she had – hope.

She pushed it from her mind as they entered the workout studio and found Jennifer behind the front counter. She smiled as they entered. "How can I help you?"

Eugene leaned onto the counter. "You can start by telling us about Tiffany, the teenage assassin the Society sent to kill us."

Jennifer's smile faltered, then she sighed, and nodded. "I knew they were going to send someone. They know you're looking for the clues that will lead you to the Society's headquarters. They'll want to stop you."

"For seeking answers?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yes. And for cheating death. They don't like it when people don't play by the rules and neither of you are playing by the rules right now."

"Do you know Tiffany? Can you tell us where to find her?"

Jennifer sighed. "I've seen her around the mall. I could sense she was another time traveler, just like I knew you guys were ones too. Of course, I also recognized you two. The Society sent the guardians a picture of you."

"Guardians?" Eugene asked.

"People like me who guard the clues."

He snorted. "Well, you didn't do a very good job in stopping us, did you?"

"That's because I'm tired of the Society's bullshit. I know they're hiding things. I figure, if you want to reach the Society's headquarters, then be my guest. Though, it's a death sentence trying to get there. So, I wasn't too worried about you guys finding the next clue."

Rapunzel frowned. "Death sentence?"

"You'll see."

Eugene sighed dramatically and leaned across the desk. "Can you tell us where Tiffany is or not? We want to get out of this damn time loop."

"She likes the food court. She can't get enough of those fruit smoothies."

"That's right." He laughed. "She kept spilling a smoothie on me. Let's go."

Rapunzel lingered, looking at Jennifer. "What's going to happen to you? You helped us. Will the Society be mad?"

"Not if they don't know. I won't tell if you won't." She winked.

Rapunzel smiled before following Eugene out of the workout studio. They made it to the food court, which was huge. Tons of people were around, eating, drinking, and talking in groups.

But it wasn't hard to spot Tiffany. She was with a group of girls at a table, sucking on a smoothie.

"So, what's the plan?" Eugene asked, as they hid behind a pillar, keeping an eye on Tiffany. "How do we kill her?"

"With whatever we can get our hands on, I guess." She shuddered. "I just hate this. All this killing. It goes against what I was taught. What I believe in."

"Hey," he said gently, putting his hand on her arm. "We have to do this. If we want out of this time loop, we have to stop Tiffany."

"You're right. I know you're right. It's still hard."

"It's not hard for me. Little girl kept spilling her smoothie on me."

Rapunzel smiled before frowning. "Let's do this."

They stepped out from behind the pillar – only to run into Cass.

"You two aren't going anywhere," she said, holding up her sword.

"Cass, wait," Rapunzel said.

"No. You don't get to tell me what to do. The Society wants you dead for cheating death and I intend to kill you so I can finally reach the Society's headquarters and kill every one of them once and for all. I'm going to end this, Rapunzel, and you can't stop me."

"We want to get to the Society's headquarters too," she blurted out. "We can work together."

Cass scoffed. "That's bullshit. Why would you want to go to the Society's headquarters? You don't want to bring the Society down like I want to."

Rapunzel knew she couldn't tell Cass about her parents and them being founders of the Time Traveler's Society. Cass would want to kill them if she knew and that was the last thing Rapunzel wanted. She wanted the chance to talk to them and figure out how they became the founders and why the Society is the way it is – full of secrets and lies.

"As you know, the Society is sending assassins after us since they think I cheated death. I want to confront them myself about that. I too… want to end the Society."

Cass gave her a distrustful look but didn't attack with her sword, which was something. "You? Miss Goody-Two-Shoes? I never thought I'd see the day you'd want to bring down the Society."

"Well, they're trying to kill me," she said, shrugging.

"You're stuck in this time loop with us," Eugene interjected. "Don't you want to get out?"

This time, Cass fully lowered her sword. "Yes. I do. But I don't know who's causing it to get out."

"That would be me," Tiffany said from behind Cass.

Cass whirled around and faced the teenage girl. "You? You're… just a kid."

"I'm sixteen. Now, all of you are going to die." She lifted up a gun and pointed it right at Cassandra.

Rapunzel didn't even think.

She ran to Cass and pushed her out of the way as Tiffany pulled the trigger. The bullet hit her in the arm and sent her falling to her back. Cass stumbled and looked down at Rapunzel with an unreadable expression.

"Not this again," Eugene muttered as he barreled into Tiffany, knocking her over. He grabbed the gun from her and aimed it at her head.

She flinched. "Please don't kill me. I'm just a kid."

"You're the reason I died again and again," he growled. "You're the reason I had to see Rapunzel die again and again. No more lives for you."

"Stop! Hands up!" shouted a security guard.

Eugene looked over his shoulder at the security guard running at him. "Oh, shit." The guard smacked into him, tackling him to the ground. Tiffany got up and ran away.

Rapunzel got to her feet, clutching her bleeding arm. "Let him go. He's innocent."

"He had a gun pointed at a teenage girl," the guard said, digging his knee into Eugene's back.

"I'm going after Tiffany," Cass said so only she could hear. "I'm killing her and breaking the time loop." She started to walk away.

Rapunzel looked between Cass and Eugene on the ground. She couldn't just let Eugene get taken into custody by the police. It would be a hell of time getting him out of that.

The gun was lying on the ground. The security guard was too busy dealing with Eugene and calling for backup to even notice.

She grabbed the gun and pointed it at Eugene's head. His eyes widen. "Blondie, what the…" She hated herself for this but she pulled the trigger.

A bullet went right through his head, killing him instantly. The guard stumbled back and aimed his gun at her but before he could pull the trigger, she shot her own self in the head.

And woke back up outside of the mall with Eugene next to her.

They stared at each other for a moment before they hugged each other.

"Rapunzel, you shot me," he said against her head.

"It was the only way to reset the time loop. I couldn't have you going to jail." They pulled apart.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I got that but… still. You shot me."

"I hated doing it. Trust me."

"I know." He smiled cheekily. "Just remind me to never get on your bad side."

They walked back into the mall and headed straight for the food court. Their memoires were fully back as they got more and more used to the time loop.

Instead of hiding this time, they walked right up to Tiffany. Eugene stood behind her while Rapunzel stood in front of her. Tiffany glanced up from the smoothie she was drinking. Her three other friends gave them curious looks.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Rapunzel placed her hands on her hips. "We want you to break the time loop. You want to kill us anyway. So why the time loop? When you kill us, it just resets everything. So why not end it and then try and kill us."

Tiffany shrugged. "It's more fun this way." She lifted her small gun from her purse. The other girls screamed.

Eugene ripped the gun out of her hand and stuffed it into his waistband. "If I'm going to jail for this then you're coming with us." He grabbed Tiffany from under her arms and pulled her out of her chair.

But she only swung the smoothie in her hands around and smashed it right into Eugene's face, making him stumble back.

She laughed as she took off running away.

Her friends looked around in confusion.

"Don't worry about," Rapunzel told them before walking over to Eugene. "We have to get her."

"Yeah, I know," he said through a face full of pink smoothie. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his face.

Then they ran after Tiffany.

And of course, ran right into Cass.

"Were you serious?" she asked Rapunzel. "About wanting to take down the Society?"

She tried not to hesitate. "Yes. Work with us to stop Tiffany and we can get out of this time loop and then we can go our separate ways. You don't have to kill me, Cass. And I won't stop you like I did before. You can bring down the Society. It's ok."

"Why the change of heart?"

Rapunzel knew the answer to that one. "I died. And it changed me."

Cass looked between her and Eugene before settling her eyes back on Rapunzel. "I want to believe you, Raps. We used to be best friends. But you hurt me. You lied to me about Gothel."

"I know. I know," she repeated in a softer voice. "And if I could take it all back, I would. I would tell you the truth – that Gothel was the woman who kidnapped me. I never meant to keep that from you. But isn't it time to forgive? You literally tried to kill me. You did kill me! Countless times. Cass, let's put this behind us and work together to get out of this time loop. Please."

For a tense moment, Rapunzel thought Cass would raise her sword and run her right through.

But she sighed and all the fight within her left. "Deal. I'm tired of being stuck in the fucking '80s anyway. Too much neon."

"Right there with you," Eugene muttered.

"Don't be funny," she said, pointing at him. "I don't like you. But I'm willing to work with you two to get out of this stupid time loop. Just don't piss me off again."

Eugene held up his hands. "No promises."

Rapunzel resisted the urge to shake her head at Eugene's antics. She walked over to Cass, who was standing so still, you'd almost think she was dead. Reaching out her hand, she placed it on Cass's arm.

Cass stiffened. "What are you doing?"

"Thank you, Cass. I know we've had our differences. And it's ok if we're never friends again. But I'm tired of us hating each other. We want the same thing from the Society – answers. So, let's go get them."

"I said deal. So what are we doing talking about it?" She pulled away from Rapunzel. "Let's go find that annoying teenager. I'm ready kill her."


"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Eugene whispered as they followed Cass through the mall, searching for Tiffany. "I don't trust Cass even if we had a ten-foot pole between us."

"I don't trust her either," Rapunzel admitted. "She's too stubborn to forgive so easily. But I think she's just as desperate as we are to get out of this time loop. And we're both looking for the Society's headquarters. She can help us."

"Or she might try and kill us again the moment the time loop is over."

"She might. But I have to hope she doesn't."

Eugene always admired Rapunzel's hope and optimism but right then, all he wanted to do was use the gun in his jeans and shoot Cass in the head, so they didn't have to worry about her. But he knew Rapunzel would never forgive him for that because no matter how bad of a falling out she and Cass had, they were once friends. And he suspected that if given the chance, Rapunzel would gladly be friends with Cass again.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Cass asked over her shoulder. "Me, I'm guessing."

"As a matter of fact, yes," Eugene said. "We were. How astute of you, Cassandra."

She scowled. "Just… stop. We're on a mission to find that little girl and break the time loop. I don't have time for you two to be gossiping about me."

"We used to gossip," Rapunzel said to her.

Cass blinked before looking away. "That was a long time ago."

Everyone dropped the subject and kept their eyes peeled for Tiffany. She was a trained assassin of the Society, which meant she knew what she was doing. There was a cruelness to her that freaked Eugene out. The fact that she put them in a time loop so she could watch them die over and over again was sick.

Guess that's why a corporation shouldn't train teenagers to be assassins. Teenagers were already little psychos. Eugene would know – he used to be one when he was in high school.

Granted, he spent most of his time getting high but he also spent a lot of time stealing shit. He never used to be a good person but Rapunzel made him realize he could be good. And he had been trying ever since.

"Where would she be?" Rapunzel asked, looking around.

"I would say the food court but not anymore," Eugene muttered. "Unless she went back to get another smoothie. Girl is obsessed with them."

"She knows we know the next clue. She could be anywhere."

"What is the next clue, exactly?" Cass asked. "I died before I could find out."

Rapunzel opened her mouth to speak but Eugene cut her off. "We'll only tell you once you help us stop Tiffany."

Cass scowled. "Seriously? You distrust me that much?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "You literally killed us again and again."

She huffed but didn't say anything more. She knew he was right.

"Tiffany is still a teenage girl," Rapunzel. "Other than getting smoothies, what else do teenage girls do at a mall? Especially one back in 1986?" Her eyes landed on Claire's, the jewelry store that looked like it was hand-tailored to appeal to teenage girls. "There."

Cass took one look at Claire's and shuddered. "Do we have to go in there?'

"Is someone afraid of the little teenage girl?" Eugene mocked.

She glowered at him. "I'm afraid of what the assassin who was trained by the Society can do."

"Well, I'm not," he said and puffed his chest out as he walked into Claire's.

The entire store was decorated in purple and pink, which was kind of a nice change of pace from the bright neon of the rest of the mall. But the sight of tons of teenage girls made Eugene nervous. Teenage girls could be ruthless. He knew that well. When he was back in high school, he had been with his fair share of girls who had ended up crushing his ego.

He was looking around for Tiffany when he heard a guttural scream. When he turned to look, he saw Tiffany was running right at him with an ear piercer gun in her hands. She tried jamming it into his face but he ducked out of the way at the last second.

He tripped over a shelf full of bracelets and yelped as he fell onto his ass. The gun in his pocket fell out and skidded across the floor. Tiffany jumped on top of him and tried stabbing him with the ear piercer gun. The other girls in the store began to scream and then there was a stampede of teenage girls running for the exit.

Rapunzel ran over and pushed Tiffany off Eugene. Tiffany jumped right back up and tackled Rapunzel next. She was savage in the way she kept trying to stab Rapunzel in the eye with the ear piercer gun.

Eugene tried pulling her off Rapunzel but Tiffany was stronger than she looked.

Cass sighed and walked over and pointed the tip of her sword against Tiffany's cheek. "Back up. Now."

Tiffany did.

"Now drop the weapon," Cass said.

Tiffany's face contorted into rage but she dropped the ear piercer gun.

"Now, get on your knees so I can cut your damn head off."

"You're never going to reach the Society's headquarters," she said, getting onto her knees. "It's impossible. All the clues in the world wont get you there."

"I've been known to do the impossible." Cass smile savagely. "Now, you're going to die and get us out of this time loop." She lifted her sword and swung for Tiffany's head…

…right as Tiffany picked up the gun from the floor and shot Rapunzel in the stomach.

Cass's sword made contact and she sliced off Tiffany's head.

Rapunzel fell onto her back, gasping for air. Blood was seeping from her wound.

"No!" Eugene shouted, rushing over to her.

Cass turned to Rapunzel and a brief flash of concern crossed her face. Tiffany's dead head laid on the floor while people ran around them, screaming and screaming.

"Is the time loop broken?" Eugene asked, pressing his hands against Rapunzel's wound. This was the third time an assassin had succeeded in hurting her. He wasn't going to lose her again.

"Yes," Cass said. "Tiffany is dead."

"Which means if Rapunzel dies here, she'll stay dead. We need to get her back to her tower." He lifted Rapunzel into his arms.

When Cass didn't move, he said, "Whatever. Come with us or not but I'm getting out of here and saving Rapunzel."

And then the security guard ran into the store and pointed his gun at them. "Everybody freeze." He saw Tiffany's decapitated head and flinched. "What the fuck?"

"Get out of my way," Eugene growled. "I need to save her."

"No one is going anywhere," the guard said.

Cass rolled her eyes. "Get out of our way." She swiped her bloody sword at the guard and it made him jerk back. That was enough to give them a way out of the store. Eugene took off running with Cass at his side.

They had only ran a few feet when the mall began to rumble and shake. It was just like in the pyramid and in the maze. Eugene almost dropped Rapunzel.

And then, right before his eyes, that same sun symbol appeared on the wall.

"What the…" Cass muttered.

"Let's go," he said, shaking himself out of his shock. He picked up his speed and hurried for the front doors.

But then the security guard began shooting at them.

"When did mall guards get guns?" Cass said.

"It was the '80s," he responded.

She grunted.

They had to skid around people as they ran for the escalators. Cass careened down them while Eugene had to go slower, lest he drop Rapunzel. Her eyes were still open but she wasn't moving or talking.

"I got you," he whispered to her as he slowly walked down the escalator.

She blinked up at him, breathing raggedly.

He reached the bottom and took off running, right as the security guard sprinted down the escalator.

"I got this," Cass said, whirling around. She sliced out with her sword and knocked the gun from the guard's hand. He stumbled back, screaming. She laughed as she caught back up with Eugene.

"I would say impressive but I don't want to give you a compliment," he said.

"Like I would even need a compliment from you," she retorted.

They managed to make it out of the mall and around the side of it to where Rapunzel's tower was. Cass followed behind as he entered, setting Rapunzel on the ground.

Her tower immediately healed her.

She slumped to the floor, breathing heavy. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"But you did it. You survived. We survived." He grabbed her hand. "We broke the time loop."

She cupped his face. "I know." Her eyes flicked up to Cass, who was hovering behind Eugene. "Thank you for stopping Tiffany."

"Yeah, well…" She shrugged. "I wanted out of that damn time loop too." Cass averted her eyes.

Rapunzel stood up and walked over to her. "So, are you coming with us? To find the next clue? We both want to reach the Society's headquarters. No use fighting each other on the way. Assassins have been chasing me and Eugene ever since we started this journey. We could use your help. Your fighting skills."

"Since you two are the only ones who know what the next clue is, I don't really have a choice."

"You always have a choice, Cass. You can come with us. Put aside our past and work together. We don't have to be friends again. But we were always good at working with each other before. We can do that again."

Eugene wanted to tell Rapunzel that no – no way he wanted Cass coming with them. But he could see the determination in Rapunzel's eyes. She wanted to mend things with Cass.

Cass eventually sighed. "Fine. We can work together."

"As long as you promise not to kill us," Eugene muttered.

"No promises."

"Blondie, we can't work with her."

Rapunzel sighed. "Cass, you have to promise not to try and hurt us again. Can you do that?"

Cass looked straight into Rapunzel's eyes as she answered. "Fine. I can do that. But I'll take my own time machine. I'm not traveling with you guys in your tower. It's too… cramped in here."

"Fine by me," Eugene said.

"So, we broke the time loop," Cass said, placing her hands on her hips. "Where are we off to next?"

Rapunzel smiled. "London, 1891."

Eugene knew this journey wasn't going to be easy when he embarked on it with Rapunzel but now that Cass was joining them, he knew it was going to be doubly difficult.

For one, they didn't know what the next type of clue would be. And two, he wasn't sure if they would ever find the Society's headquarters and find Rapunzel's parents. And three, he was scared that Cass would kill him in his sleep.

London, here we come, he thought. Here we come.


Until Wednesday!