Chapter Text
Cassandra hadn’t had a chance to visit the tunnels of the castle’s cavernous underbelly since returning to Corona, seeing as she had little need to sneak around this time, but she remembers the twists and turns by heart. There are a few structural renovations; the foundations hadn’t been particularly sturdy even before she’d skewered it with rocks, and thankfully Rapunzel had the sense to address the possibility of the castle collapsing on itself as part of the castle renovations on the whole.
She lifts her lantern and takes a turn down a fork in the path that she already knows leads to a dead end. It’s where she suspects Alphecca has been privately lurking when she’s not busy publicly lurking, and against her better judgement she wants to catch her alone. The mouth of the cavern forms a small underground geyser where the sea sweeps in from outside and spits up at the ledge, and Cassandra ventures as close to it as she dares.
The lantern’s light spills over the shimmering blue walls, and she finds Alphecca scuttling around the treacherous funnel, paying no mind to the roaring bursts of ocean that attempt to drag her under.
“Al?” She calls out, and Alphecca fixes her pulsating red gaze up at her. She’s all bare bones and eternal fire in the comfort of her hovel, and the sight of her like this sends an involuntary shiver down Cassandra’s spine. Alphecca clambers up the rock face with the elegance of a gecko, but makes no overtures of aggression as she joins her up on the ledge.
“Yeah?”
“Hey. I just wanted to talk to you,” Cassandra says.
“This isn’t about Shampanier’s tomb, is it?”
“No- what?”
“Nevermind. What did you want to talk about, then?” Alphecca asks as she takes a seat. Cassandra settles down beside her and sets the lantern down, careful to keep the flame away from the ocean spray.
“You know Death as like a person, right? And not just of her— you talk about her like she’s a friend.”
“Friend is a strong word. But we… she talks to me more than she does to most people, which isn’t much, but it’s… something,” Alphecca settles on.
“Why do you think that is?”
“Why do you want to know?” Alphecca asks, reminding her that she can be sharp in more than one way. Another burst of ocean spits up at them, and Cassandra sighs as the water is sucked away again.
“Why won’t she leave me alone?” she gives in. The empty stare Alphecca gives her is bizarre, and she twitches with the suppressed impulse to retreat.
“Because you’re supposed to be dead. I thought that was obvious.”
“I’m not the only one who’s ever died and come back,” Cassandra responds, hunching her shoulders. “But I’m the one she haunts.”
“Probably because you’re the only one who liked it,” Alphecca replies- then stills for a thought- then continues.
“The dying part, not the coming back part. If that wasn’t clear.”
Cassandra makes a distorted grunt of a scoff that catches in the back of her throat. Thankfully, Alphecca doesn’t press any further. The swell swirls below their feet and Cassandra’s mind mimics the current, sweeping out the old water and bringing in a new thoughtwave.
“How do you deal with it? Being dead?” She asks slowly.
“Well, technically I’m undead- or more technically, I’m simultaneously dead and alive, but I won’t bore you with the philosophy,” Alphecca replies easily.
“Thanks. You didn’t answer my question, though.”
“I don’t deal with it. That’s kind of my thing.”
Cassandra’s dry stare could wither tropical plants, and Alphecca huffs her empty ribcage for emphasis.
“Really- I’m not exactly the poster child for coping well with unlife. Yours isn’t so necromantic and endless, though, so I don’t see what the problem is.”
“I’m not asking for me,” Cassandra prods. “I’m asking about you.”
Alphecca considers this perplexing new novelty.
“I don’t know. There’s a difference between death and death. It’s like… when I was younger, there was this little song the adults would sing to the children. I remember loving that song, but I can’t remember how it goes. Sometimes I hear a melody that reminds me of it, but it’s never right. I’m the only person around who’s ever heard that song, and I’m never going to hear it again. That’s death, and it’s not the nice bury-you-in-the-ground kind that I want but it’s the one that I’ve got. ”
“It sounds like you’ve thought about this before.”
“I’ve had a lot of time to sit on it. Though honestly, I try to avoid thinking about it.”
“Sorry for bringing it up,” Cassandra says, hoping she doesn’t sound too sarcastic.
“It’s okay. I mean, we’re in it together, right?”
The beady red lights in the empty sockets of Alphecca’s eyes bore into hers. It’s delusional to imagine she can see the emotion in them, but at some point they flicker with something that looks like regret.
“I guess we are.”