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This is it, Cassandra thinks to herself. The journey is finally over. The moonstone is right in front of us. Rapunzel will take it, and everything will be fine. All she has to do… is wait.
That’s all she has to do. She just has to stand there and watch while Rapunzel saves the world and becomes even more of a hero than she was before. They’ll return to Corona and she’ll be celebrated as the girl who solved the problem of the black rocks.
Parades will be organized in her name. Holidays will be declared to honor her efforts. The bards will sing of this moment forevermore. Everything will be fine.
‘And while they are celebrating her deeds, will they remember yours?’
It feels like her consciousness is pleading with her to accept this outcome, for the sake of her friend. But then there’s another part of her, a darker part, that’s screaming about how this isn’t fair. The part that knows Rapunzel would have never gotten here if it wasn’t for her. Rapunzel doesn’t deserve this.
She wasn’t the one who had to sit long hours after midnight watching out for threats. She wasn’t the one who had to pull her out of the fire every time she made a mistake.
She wasn’t the one who had to relearn how to fight without her good hand just because her friend was stupid enough to not listen to her.
Cassandra wasn’t good with friendship. She never had any friends before Rapunzel came along. And for a while there, it was just amazing. Rapunzel made her feel happy in a way she had never felt before. But the opposite was true as well. Cassandra didn’t know how to handle the way Rapunzel sometimes seemed to just not care about what she thought, how she kept not listening to her advice, the advice she was giving her because she wanted her to succeed.
She remembered the way Rapunzel reacted to her bitterness about losing her hand. At first she gave her her space. But she wasn’t the most patient fellow. ‘Why can’t you just go back to the way things were, Cass?’ She said to her once. Cassandra wanted to scream at her so hard. The way things were? Things haven’t been ‘the way they were’ since we left the kingdom. You think this is a joke? I’m risking my life every second I’m here, for your sake, and you’re just all smiles and sunshine about it. What is wrong with you?
But it’s not her fault. Rapunzel only ever wanted to do good. Solving the problem of the black rocks will accomplish that. It’s going to save the kingdom. Cass just has to wait a little longer. Like she’s always done.
She’d never told Rapunzel this, but she hadn’t wanted to go on this journey with her. She had just led the Royal Guard against an incredibly powerful foe. For the first time in her life, she felt appreciated. Finally, things were falling into place. All she wanted was to stay there, continue defending her kingdom, the way she wanted to since she was a child. She always thought that was her destiny.
But that dream ended ever-so-suddenly when Rapunzel told her she needed her at her side. She hadn’t had the courage to say no. Stupid, stupid Cassandra. Always putting her destiny on hold for the sake of other people. Always squandering every single chance at glory for the sake of friendship.
‘Rapunzel doesn’t know that’, she remembered. ‘She didn’t know that you came along for her sake only. How can you blame her for something you never told her about?’
‘But that’s the problem’, the other voice inside her head said in response. ‘Rapunzel just expects people to be kind to her. She doesn’t understand the sacrifices everyone’s making, and she never will. If your only friend doesn’t appreciate you, how can you expect anyone else to?’
She could just picture it now. She would return to Corona, and everyone would forget about everything she did. Forget about the way she led them all in the battle against Varian, forget that she was always the one saving Rapunzel and the others from dying. She would just go back to being a lady-in-waiting again while everyone raves on about how awesome Rapunzel is.
When you come back, will they even remember your name? Or are you just going to fade into the background, forgotten, like always?
Are you going to let yourself fade into the background, Cassandra?
There, her hand is almost touching the moonstone. It’s almost over. Only a few more seconds now, and Cassandra can go back and forget this ever happened. Forget about this harrowing journey where she sacrificed so much for nothing. Forget about being sidelined. Forget about the fact that she feels miserable and invisible in a kingdom of ingrates. That’s right. Just a few more seconds. She just has to WAIT.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
-No.
I’m done waiting.
Cassandra suddenly runs toward the moonstone and clutches it in her hand, letting its power course through her. She can feel her former friends’ eyes on her as she is reborn into something greater.
Before, she was a nobody. Now, she will be their worst nightmare.
“I tried to warn you, Rapunzel.” She says, in a spiteful tone. “You have to be careful who you trust.”
No more sacrificing. No more being a bit part in someone else’s story.
I’m following my own destiny now. And it’s going to be glorious.