Cassunzel Short Stories

Everlasting Secrets

Taken 4 years after the final battle. When Rapunzel and Cassandra were on an outing, it turns out, Gothel is alive. And she has a plan. She found a way to extract the sunstone powers from Rapunzel without even needing her hair. Downside is, this process is incredibly painful and will absolutely kill her in the end. But that isn't the main problem. They escaped... for now... but after the fact, Rapunzel's attitude changed. The only one who notices is Cass. Cassandra can tell her best friend is definitely not okay but whenever she asks, Rapunzel shrugs it off with an obviously fake smile and a "I'm fine". Cassandra could tell that there's definitely something she's not telling her. There's something she's not telling everybody. Cassandra has a feeling that there's a lot Rapunzel never told anyone about her time in the tower. There's something that... she's been keeping from them. Cassandra is determined to find out but Rapunzel is stubborn as hell and keeps pushing her away. She could tell that whatever it is, it's something big. When Gothel approached them and quite literally blasted Cassandra to the ground, Rapunzel seemed to be frozen as Gothel advanced towards her. Cassandra yelled at her to run or fight but she wasn't able to move. Cass has never seen Rapunzel act like that or seen such fear in her eyes. Ever since she had known her, Rapunzel had always been the one who ran into dangerous situations head-first without looking back. She never let fear stop her before or, in other words, she's never even shown her fear like she did when Gothel advanced towards her. She looked like a scared child. A deer being caught in headlines. Cass could even tell from afar that she was shaking and stuttering. Gothel had backed her into a tree and if Cass hadn't been able to get up, she'd probably be done for. Now, Cassandra was determined to find out what Rapunzel was keeping from her before it slowly eats her best friend alive. (This is starts off directly after their interaction with Gothel once they returned back to the castle)

Warnings: Talks about abuse and psychological trauma

It had been eerily silent ever since they were able to escape from Gothel. Rapunzel hadn't said a word and frankly, it was starting to worry Cassandra. Neither knew what time it was but they had to guess it was pretty late. Around 12 am, perhaps? Finally, the duo made it to the castle. Cassandra stopped directly in front of the stairs and decided to shoot her shot.

"Hey, uh, Raps... if there's anything that you need to-"

Rapunzel cut her off, already knowing what she was gonna say, as she turned towards her and smiled. A fake smile, Cassandra recognized. "Thanks Cass but I'm fine."

Cassandra looked away, hesitated then hesitantly asked: "...Are you sure?"

Rapunzel's smile turned somber for a second and if Cass was anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed it considering the princess rebounded quite quickly. Unfortunately for her, she was her best friend and knew her like the back of her hand. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"...Well..."

"I-I think I'm just gonna head in tonight, okay?"

"O-Oh, uh, okay.." Rapunzel gave her one last smile before she turned and started to head inside. Cass could tell almost immediately after she turned around, she wrapped her arms around herself and her smile dropped. "See you tomorrow?"

"Right, yeah, tomorrow..." Rapunzel responded somberly, like she barely even heard her. "Night Cass."

"Night..." The princess went inside and the door shut behind her before she could finish. "...Raps.." Sighing, Cassandra ran a hand down her face. Something was definitely wrong. Usually, Cass would wait until Rapunzel came to her like she asked Rapunzel to do for her all those years ago. Not that Rapunzel ever really talked about her feelings anyway. I mean, in her defense, Cassandra wasn't the best at... communicating or talking about feelings all those years ago. But she was better now - stronger - and she could be there for Rapunzel like she has always been for her too. She just wished Rapunzel knew that. With the reaction she saw from the princess during their confrontation with Gothel, so scared, so terrified, so frozen... she realized that there was something bigger being held in the princess's heart. And if Cassandra knew anything about immense pain... she knew that eventually, it will all overflow and come out in the worst way possible. Especially if she goes through it alone. Darkening her eyes in determination, Cassandra decided that she would try everything to help her best friend.