Chapter Text
The dungeon was old and dusty. Rapunzel picked her braid up off the floor as she made her way down. She wished for once she had worn shoes, even just a simple pair of sandals. She could tell her feet would be black by the time she got out of here.
She swallowed, passing the cells. The criminals looked up at her, surprised by the presence of the princess among them. She was slightly surprised herself. Eugene had asked her not to, but she had felt the necessity for closure. It had been eating at her since her argument with Uncle Monty. She would never get the chance to say this to Mother Gothel, but she could confront Lady Caine.
Taking a deep breath, she made it to the last cell where a young woman lay back on her cot. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were dark, but she seem relaxed. Lifting her head, she smirked at the sight of Rapunzel. “Well, don’t I feel honored? The Princess has graced me with her presence. And here I am without having dusted.”
“I wanted to talk to you,” Rapunzel said.
“Sorry, I’m busy at the moment,” Lady Caine rolled over, turning her back to Rapunzel.
Rapunzel cleared her throat, steeling herself, “I just wanted to say…what happened to you and your father was terrible, but it wasn’t my fault.” She took a deep breath, “You are responsible for your own actions, and you should not have tried to attack me or my father. If you don’t like me, that’s fine, but what you did was wrong, and I did not deserve it.”
Rapunzel let out a breath as she finished the words. It felt good to get them off her chest. She had been blaming herself for all these attacks for so long, and it had been tearing her up.
Lady Caine turned her head just slightly toward the jail cell doors. “That’s it? That’s what you came to tell me?”
Rapunzel swallowed, “Uhh…yes?”
Lady Caine let out a low chuckle. “You came all the way down to the dungeons, getting those pretty princess feet all dirty, to berate a person you put into prison? To make yourself feel better?”
Rapunzel blinked, “Uhh…that’s not—“
“I scraped my arm on the prison wall the other day, if you want to pour some salt into that,” She said, sitting up.
Rapunzel swallowed nervously, “I-I didn’t mean—“
“You meant to relieve yourself of your guilt,” she said, “Well, you’re right, Princess. YOU weren’t the one who dragged my father away when I was just a little girl. No, that was your father and your guards.” She got up, “YOU weren’t the one who forced me to scrounge for food to get by. You weren’t the one who kicked me down at an orphanage until everything good was gone, forcing me to run away.” She walked up to the cage door, “No, it wasn’t your fault. But when you returned you were perfectly willing to act as though nothing had happened. You dismissed all the heinous things your father has done to the people of Corona, so you could live your ‘happy ever after’ as the perfect little princess. So, yes, I hate you, Princess. I hate your perky little smile, your big blue eyes, and every damn strand of your signature golden head.”
Rapunzel clutched her braid to her chest, squeezing it to prevent herself from having her lip wobble. “It…” she said, “It still doesn’t…you still committed a crime…having a difficult childhood doesn’t excuse—“
Lady Caine slammed her hand on the bar, the clang making Rapunzel jump. “Excuse? I’m not looking for an excuse, Princess. No, no…this is rebellion. Rebellion for everything your family has done. Rebellion because you can’t just treat us this way and then sweep us under the rug like nothing happened!”
Rapunzel backed up a step. She swallows, “There are…there are better ways,” She said, “There are other…more peaceful things you could have done.”
Lady Caine snorted, “Sure. I suppose I could just have kissed a princess. That’d pull me RIGHT out of poverty.” Rapunzel balked. “Eh, you’re pretty enough. I’d be willing.” She reached out from the bars to Rapunzel’s hair.
Rapunzel backed up several steps, “Stay away from me!”
Lady Caine chuckled, “Ah, so she’s forgotten so easily that her former beau was once Flynn Rider, Corona’s most wanted thief.”
“He doesn’t do that anymore,” Rapunzel said, “Eugene has made up for all of his past mistakes and he’s—“
“Wait a second,” Lady Caine cut her off, her demeanor changing, “Say that again?”
Rapunzel blinked, “Eugene doesn’t—“
“Eugene?” she said, “Rider’s real name is Eugene? That wouldn’t be…Eugene Fitzherbert, would it?”
Rapunzel’s frown deepened, “You know him?”
Lady Caine bowed her head, chuckling. When she lifted herself again, she was full-blown laughing. Rapunzel stepped back again, confused. “Ahhh, thank you for coming down here, princess, that is exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear to get me through this.” She pressed her body against the bars, “And tell Eugene this: Madame Lilia has been captured once again.”
“Madame Lilia?” Eugene asked while eating dinner in Rapunzel’s suite.
“Do you know her?” Rapunzel asked, still feeling confused.
Eugene gave a chuckle, swallowing a mouthful of food, “Madame Lilia’s a story book character, from the Flynn Rider series.” He took another bite of the dish that he couldn’t pronounce, “She was often kidnapped by various villains and troublemakers, so she could be rescued by Flynn.”
Rapunzel tapped her fork on her plate slowly, deep in thought, “But…Lady Caine seemed to be referring to HERSELF as Madame Lilia.”
Flynn shrugged, “She’s just trying to get in your head. I told you that you shouldn’t have gone down there.”
“Well, that’s the thing…” Rapunzel said, “She had points. It sounds like her life has been horrible up to this point.”
“Your life was horrible too,” Eugene said, “So was mine. Didn’t turn either of us on a vengeance spree.”
Rapunzel screwed up her face, “You…you were a thief, though.”
Eugene paused his chewing. Rapunzel instantly felt guilt wash over her. Eugene didn’t really like to talk about his own life that much. “I…made a lot of mistakes,” Eugene said, “But you showed me what life was really about.”
Rapunzel gave him a small smile, “I was going to say the same thing about you.”
Eugene instantly warmed, covering her hand with his own, then lifting it to place a light kiss on her knuckles, his eyes full of love. Rapunzel chuckled, “You’re right, I shouldn’t think about her anymore. I said my piece, and that’s the end of it.”
“That’s right,” Eugene nodded.
“So what if her father was taken from her? He was a criminal, right?”
Eugene swallowed awkwardly, “Yeah, that’s…that’s right.”
“So what if…if she was forced to grow up in an orphanage,” Rapunzel said, the guilt still eating her, “That wasn’t my fault, there was nothing I could do!”
“Yeah…wait, did you say orphanage?” Eugene asked. Rapunzel nodded, “And she knew my name, my real name?”
“Yes?” Rapunzel said, “Eugene, do you know her?”
Eugene screwed up his face, thinking, “There was a girl at the orphanage…she played Madame Lilia whenever we would act out the Flynn Rider stories…” He thought long and hard about it, “Actually…if I age her up a bit, give her different hair and add on tattoos…actually…holy…” He snapped his eyes open, “Oh my god, she’s Agnes!”
There was the sound of a clatter and they both turned. Cassandra was standing in the doorway, scampering to pick up the tray she’d dropped. “Are you eavesdropping now, Cassandra?” Eugene demanded of her.
“Buzz off,” She said, collecting herself. Thankfully the tray had no drinks on it, “I just walked in to take your dishes to the kitchen.”
“You can take mine, the Princess has barely started,” Eugene said, taking his napkin from his lap and put it on his plate.
“I’m not hungry,” Rapunzel said, “Cassandra, have you eaten? You can have mine.”
“You need to eat, Raps,” Cassandra put her hand on Rapunzel’s back.
Rapunzel did not seem as concerned with eating as the other two. “So…you knew Lady Caine as a child?”
Eugene swallowed, “Possibly…I mean, she looks very different.” He gave a half shrug, “I mean, I guess that’s what happens when people get older.”
Rapunzel tapped her fork again, “What was…what was she like?” She asked hesitantly. Eugene took a deep sigh, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” She said, despite desperately wanting to know.”
“It’s okay,” He said, relieving her. “Its just…it was a long time ago. Little orphan Agnes…she was…sweet, I guess.” He swallowed, “She was one of the younger kids who would follow me around all the time. I was one of the few at the orphanage that could read, so the kids just ate up all the stories I told them, none more so than Agnes.” He smirked, “She was always frustrated that Madame Lilia didn’t get to do as much. Whenever we had another of the kids play the villain, she’d insist on sword-fighting him herself. She was like my little sister, and I’d kiss her on the forehead instead of the lips when I ‘rescued’ her.”
Cassandra and Rapunzel listened with rapt attention. “What happened to her?” Rapunzel asked.
Eugene shrugged, “Dunno. When I was a teenager I realized I would never gain any kind of riches as Eugene the orphan boy, so, I left the orphanage and all the kids there behind, including Agnes.”
Cassandra screwed up her face deep in thought. “And…this Agnes…what did she look like before she became Lady Caine?”
“Why do you want to know that?” Eugene asked, crossing his arms and glaring at her.
“Just answer the question!” She demanded.
Eugene held up his hands in surrender, “Well, lets see…last time I saw her, she had really long hair—nothing on you, Rapunzel, of course—and it was like, browner? I think she’s died it slightly red since then. No tattoos, obviously…but now that I think of it, she did have a scar, right on her arm where Lady Caine’s tattoo is. She was always self-conscious about it, no wonder she got the tat to cover it up. The scar looked like a little hook or a sickle or—“
Eugene was cut off as Cassandra choked on the water she had taken from Rapunzel’s plate. She coughed and cleared her throat, Rapunzel patting her on the back, “A sickle?” She finally managed, her face red, “You're SURE it was a sickle?” She curved her finger and put it on her shoulder, “Right here?”
Eugene frowned, “How did you know that?”
Cassandra swallowed, “I—I think I knew her too. Or, I knew an Agnes with a sickle scar on her shoulder. It was before she was Lady Caine. I never knew her last name, I just…she looked so different when she was trying to kidnap people I didn’t even realize it was her.”
“Well, she did have all that make-up and stuff,” Rapunzel said.
“Still,” Cassandra said, “I should have realized…she didn’t say anything, why didn’t she say anything?”
“She might not have recognized you either,” Eugene said, “I mean, I meet people all the time, and then we run into each other again years later, and we don’t even realize, and—“
“It wasn’t a run-in,” Cassandra said, “Agnes came around the castle a number of times, and she and I…we were close…”
“How close?” Rapunzel asked.
Cassandra swallowed, “Very close…”
“Well, look who it is!” Cassandra turned at the voice, “My favorite castle guard.”
Cassandra couldn’t help but smile as Agnes sauntered up to her, “I’m still in training, Agnes,” she said.
Agnes waved her protest away, “We both know you’re already better than half the guard. Probably more.”
Cassandra shrugged, humbly. “Well, most of them have only been training a few years. I’ve trained all my life.”
Agnes chuckled and threw her arms around Cassandra’s neck, “And that’s why you’re my favorite.” She leaned in to kiss her lips.
“Agnes!” Cassandra protested, pushing her back, “Not here! I’m on duty!”
“Oh, come on,” Agnes said, “No one’s going to try and breach this one little section of wall. Why don’t you take a quick break?”
“Its my job, Agnes!” Cassandra pushed Agnes off of her. Agnes looked down at the ground, dejected. “Hey—I’m—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push so much—“
“No, no, you’re right,” She said, sniffling, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come here.”
She turned away, but Cassandra lightly grabbed her arm, “Hey…wait, it’s okay. What’s wrong?”
Agnes turned back, sniffling, “Its just…some of my father’s people found me today.”
Cassandra blinked in surprise, “Your father?”
“It just brought up a lot of bad memories—and—and—“ a tear leaked out of Agnes’ eyes.
“Hey…” Cassandra said, collecting her in her arms, “Hey, it’s okay…it’s alright…”
“I’ve just had a really bad day,” Agnes wept into Cassandra’s shoulders.
Cassandra sighed, lightly stroking Agnes’ long brown hair. “It’s okay, it’s okay…why don’t we go somewhere more private, and you can tell me all about it?”
Cassandra lightly pushed Agnes hair out of her face behind her ear as she sniffled, her eyes just starting to get red and puffy. “I’d rather just…take my mind off things, you know?” Agnes said.
Cassandra smiled and gently kissed her lips. “Sure, love. Anything you want.”
They found a storage closet to make out in. Finally, there were loud noises coming from outside, “What is that?” Cassandra asked.
“Probably just nothing,” Agnes said, grabbing Cassandra’s face and pulling it towards her again, but Cassandra was fully distracted now.
“I should probably just go check it out.” She got up and opened the door to chaos.
A number of men in black clothing were scaling the wall, lugging large bags of unnamed treasures over their shoulders, all being pursued by guards.
Cassandra drew her sword and cut one of the lines, the man on it dropping to the ground. She engaged him in combat, slicing the bag open and letting the jewels and gold spill out onto the ground. She tried to subdue him, but at the last moment she felt a blow to her head from behind.
She looked up from the ground and saw the fuzzy outline of Agnes, shooting a grappling hook over the castle wall, and looking down at Cassandra, “They made me do it,” She said, getting the man Cassandra had been facing to climb the line, “I really am sorry.”
The last thing Cassandra saw before she blacked out was Agnes climbing the wall and disappearing from her life.
Eugene and Rapunzel’s eyes were wide as Cassandra finished up her tale. Eugene shook himself, breaking his own spell. “I have questions.”
Cassandra sighed, annoyed. “Yes, I used to be a castle guard, usually women aren’t allowed but my father was Captain, so I was trained. Yes, I lost my position because I abandoned my post that night and allowed robbers to get in. Yes, my father arranged for me to be a handmaiden after the incident. And yes…” She swallowed, “I am a lesbian.”
Eugene nodded, taking in the information. “Okay, that answers all my questions.”
Rapunzel, meanwhile, looked between the two, confused. “What’s a lesbian?”
Eugene and Cassandra occasionally forgot the extent to which Rapunzel had been isolated in her childhood. They looked at each other, having their typical silent debate about which one of them would explain the new term this time. Usually Eugene gave in, but this time it was settled when he said, “You are one, you should explain.”
Cassandra gave her typical annoyed at Eugene sigh again, “It…It just means that I like girls.”
Rapunzel blinked. “Well, I like girls too. I like everyone!”
“No, no sweetie,” Eugene said, “She means liking girls romantically. So, just like I love you, and you love me, Cassandra loves…” Eugene motioned over to Cassandra and froze. Several things clicked in Eugene’s mind, allowing him a moment of clarity he rarely experienced. He watched Cassandra, who was still looking at Rapunzel, her gaze a combination of amusement at Rapunzel’s lack of knowledge, uncertainty in how she’d be treated, exasperation at having to explain this…but overwhelming her face was a look of love. It was the same expression Eugene knew he gave Rapunzel every day. Like a stone had landed on his head, he was hit with 3 little words: Cassandra loves Rapunzel.
After a stretch of time, Cassandra switched her gaze to look at Eugene instead. The love was gone, replaced by a realization of her own. Cassandra knew that Eugene knew her feelings. And now Eugene knew that Cassandra knew and….they both knew, is the point.
“Eugene?” Rapunzel asked when he had been silent for to long.
“Girls!” He finally finished his sentence, “Cassandra loves girls.”
“Oh,” Rapunzel said, “I didn’t know you could do that.”
Cassandra sighs, “Its not as common. In some places—many places—it’s looked down upon.”
“Oh, that’s horrible,” Rapunzel said, and she grasped Cassandra’s hand. Eugene was fixated on the color rising in Cassandra’s cheeks. “If anyone ever looks down on you for who you love, you come right to me, and I’ll deal with them.”
Cassandra looked into Rapunzel’s eyes and smiled. Then her gaze flickered to Eugene again, and she quickly pulled her hands out of Rapunzels, “Um…I’ll just…take these dishes down for now. You really should eat,” She said, quickly collecting Eugene’s used dishes and heading for the door.
The second the door closed behind her, Eugene shot up, “Um, you know, I forgot something, to talk with Cassandra about…just…um…” He swallowed, unsure how to finish his lie, “I’ll be right back,” And he sped out, closing the door on Rapunzel’s confused face.
“Cassandra!” He called, but she did not slow down. He ran after her, finally meeting up outside of the kitchens, “Cassandra wait, we need to talk about this—“
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Cassandra said, trying to push past him.
“Yes, there is!” he said. Cassandra huffed, waiting for him to get out whatever he wanted to say. “You…so you really love..”
“Your girlfriend?” Cassandra said, harshly, “Yeah…”
She finally did push into the washroom, which was thankfully empty, so Eugene had no qualms following her. “This all makes so much more sense!” He said, “I’ve always wondered why you hated me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Cassandra said, intentionally splashing him as she drew a wet rag from a bucket and started scrubbing at the dirty dish, “I hate you because you are a deeply unpleasant person. You’re selfish, egotistical, arrogant—“
“I get the picture,” Eugene said, crossing his arms grumpily.
“But…” She said, “You make Rapunzel happy. So, I’m not going to try and get in between that, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It wasn’t, actually,” Eugene said, “Come on, Cass, I’d hoped you’d know me better than that, at least. I’m just…I’m worried about you, I guess. I know how hard it can be to be around someone you love when they don’t return your—“
“Don’t,” Cassandra said, splashing him again, “Don’t you dare pity me, Rider. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.” Her calm voice was mismatched against the fierce way she scrubbed at the dish.
“Right.” Eugene said, “Well, if you’re sure…”
“I am.” She snapped, “Now leave, go back to your girlfriend. I have work to do.”
Eugene sighed, wanting to say more, but empty of words. He made his way to the door before looking back. “In two days, I’m going to propose to Rapunzel again,” He said. Her back was turned, and he couldn’t see any reaction, “Just…if you were looking to take a day off any time soon—“
“Go away, Rider,” She said.
With one last sigh, he closed the door behind him, and left her to sob over the dishes.