Chapter Text
Cassandra drags her little sister Rapunzel down the wooden stairs from their bedroom towards the living room.
“Noooooo!” her baby sister screamed and tried kicking and punching at the eight-year-old. “Nooooooo! Nooooooo! I don’t want to!”
“I don’t care!” Cassandra shouted back, tightening her grip. At the age of eight Cassandra was too young to be parenting, but she had no choice. With Gothel gone most of the time, often days at a time, she was Rapunzel’s sole caretaker. “Your hair needs brushing and washing and that’s final.”
“I hate it! I hate it! I want to cut it all off!”
“And I want a little sister who doesn’t fight me on everything!”
“I hate you!”
“I hate you more!”
The truth was, the girls loved each other very much. But being locked in a tower together all day, all night, day in and day out, had its disadvantages and one of them was that they certainly go on each other’s nerves.
Then there was the sound of clicking and wood moving. Cassandra gasped, letting go of Rapunzel and rushing down the stairs. “Mummy!” she shouted, excited for her mother’s return.
When the trap-door opened and revealed a large man wearing golden armour and holding a sword, Cassandra screamed.
Rapunzel did the same before running back towards the room. Cassandra tried to run, but the guard quickly grabbed her wrist. Cassandra screamed and thrashed, struggling as though her life depended on it, which in her mind, it did. Screaming at the top of her lungs until her throat burnt.
When she couldn’t scream anymore and she could barely breathe, she heard the soft words of the man. “Hey, it’s alright, it’s alright, you’re safe.” She looked up to see he’d removed his helmet while other guards were getting Rapunzel down from their room.
Cassandra must have screamed for too long because her head spun from lack of oxygen and soon the world went black.
Frederic rushed forward as the guards came down. “Is it..?” a part of him did not dare hope, but another part of him couldn’t help the warmness in his heart.
A guard smiled and nodded, moving his arms to reveal the four-year-old blonde he held in his arms.
Frederic felt tears fall down his face. “My baby, my Rapunzel,” he took the girl from the guard and stared with awe.
Rapunzel tried to make herself small, not sure who this man was or what he wanted with her. The way she hid made Frederic cry more, but there was plenty of time to explain. For now, he held her close to his chest.
“Thank you…” he wasn’t sure who he was thanking in that moment, the guards, the baby girl for being alive or the gods for hearing his prayers?
“Your Majesty,” the captain frowned. “She wasn’t alone.”
Frederic looked up, expecting them to have made another arrest, but instead he was holding a sleeping or unconscious child, with black colour hair and a pale complexion.
“She looks like the woman that was arrested…”
The captain nodded. “Probably her real daughter.”
Frederic nodded. “Well, it’s not her fault. She’ll go to Corona’s orphanage and I’m certain she will find a new family.” He looked up at the tower. “And a far more suitable home.”
The man nodded. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Cassandra woke up in a small room with no windows and a closed door. She was lying on a small mattress on the floor with nothing but a blanket lazily thrown over her.
“Mummy?” she called, but there was no response. “Rapunzel?” she tried again, taking deep, slow breaths. “Mummy?” Her breathing became faster. “Rapunzel?” she shouted as her breathing became ecstatic.
The door opened, but the figure that stood before her was unfamiliar. She screamed and backed away into the corner, hands tight around the blanket.
“Oh.” The woman who had come in knelt down to seem smaller. “I see you’re awake.”
“Go away!” Cassandra shouted.
“I see you’re also scared.”
“Where’s my mummy?!”
The woman frowned. “You don’t need to be scared of me. I’m here to take care of you.”
“No! Where’s my mummy?!”
The woman stepped forward and Cassandra tried to back further into the corner, crying as she hugged herself. “Don’t come near me! Go away! Go away!”
The woman just kept coming closer, hands reaching out to touch Cassandra. When her hand touched the bare skin of Cassandra’s arm, the girl bit down on the sensitive flesh in terror.
The woman screamed and backed away. “Okay! Okay!” She backed further away. “You need more time. That’s fine.” And she closed the door behind her as she left, locking it to ensure Cassandra couldn’t escape.
Cassandra fell to the floor, gasping for breath. She cried and held the blanket close. “Mummy!” she called, but nobody answered.
Cassandra was what the caretakers classified as a ‘difficult child’, it took them two days to get her to eat, four days to get her to stop hiding in the corner, an entire week to get her out of the little room and an entire two weeks to get her answering questions.
Up until that point, all they knew about her is she’d been raised in isolation and that her mother had been arrested.
“What’s your name?”
“Cassandra.”
“How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“Can you tell us a bit about yourself?”
“I want my mummy and my sister.”
“Your file doesn’t say anything about a sister.”
“I have a little sister, I do, and she needs me! I need to be with her!”
When they asked the guards about said little sister, they were told Cassandra was an only child, that the girl she called sister belonged to another family. They tried to convince Cassandra that she was an only child, but the eight-year-old was having none of it. “I want my sister,” she would cry and beg.
Cassandra had been in the orphanage for about a month when it was the Goodwill Festival, and all the orphans were taken to the courtyard to see the events. Cassandra was very timid, and the crowd frightened her. She clung onto her caretaker’s hand very tight and sucked her thumb.
She eyed every person in the crowd. Despite being told her mother was gone, she hoped maybe her mother would come find her. But so far, she’d had no such luck.
Then there was the sound of a man’s voice. “Citizens of Corona.”
The caretaker knelt down, “Guys, look, it’s the king,” she tried to get the orphans to pay attention and seem as polite and well-behaved as possible.
Cassandra looked up, but she didn’t find much interest in what the king was saying, but then she saw something that did interest her. Behind the king was a tall woman with brown hair and a beautiful purple dress. In her arms was a four-year-old girl with bright blonde hair who sucked her thumb just like Cassandra, head resting on the woman’s chest, probably scared by the loud crowd, just as Cassandra was.
“Rapunzel,” Cassandra whispered.
“Excuse me?” the caretaker whispered.
Cassandra let go of the caretaker’s hand and burst into a sprint. The caretaker was caught completely off guard. Cassandra had been stuck to her side just moments ago and now was halfway up the stairs. “Rapunzel!” she called.
Rapunzel turned her head, green eyes going wide, she gasped. Finally, her sister had found her. But then the guards snatched Cassandra up into the air. The girl screamed and struggled.
Frederic paused his speech.
“Oh my goodness,” the caretaker rushed over. “I’m so sorry! She means no harm. She’s confused.”
“Give me my sister back!” Cassandra screamed, trying her best to break free of the solid grasp of the guards. “Give her back! Thieves! Thieves!” she screamed at the king and queen.
Frederic recognised the girl from the tower, but Arianna just looked confused.
Rapunzel began to cry and Arianna held her closer, thinking the young princess was scared of the commotion and not scared because of the way her big sister screamed.
“You don’t have a sister,” the caretaker hissed, taking her from the guards. “I apologise profusely!” she told the king and queen, the guards and the crowd. “I’ll sort her out.” Her grip on Cassandra became so tight it hurt and only then did Cassandra quiet down, though she still cried and reached out her hands towards the blonde.
“Please,” she begged, but the caretaker dragged her away.
Rapunzel’s crying got louder.
“Oh, my poor sweetheart.” Arianna kissed the blonde baby. “I’m going to take her indoors for a nap,” Arianna said and left her husband to get the festivities started.
Had Rapunzel not been so scared and shy around the king and queen, maybe she’d have been able to tell Arianna the real reason she cried. Alas, it would still be a while until Rapunzel was brave enough to speak to the king and queen.