Twisted Destiny

Mirror, Mirror

"Well, don't you look lovely today?" Gothel asked as she placed her hands on her cheeks. "Smoky eyes definitely work for you."

Varian stifled a laugh.

Rapunzel groaned. "And...she's talking to herself." She said, looking annoyed before she touched another mirror.

"Today, I received several compliments on my way into town. The bookseller couldn't believe how young I looked!" Gothel gushed.

Cassandra touched another one. "Someone told me I was breathtaking. Can you believe it? Breathtaking!" Gothel said excitedly.

"Magic mirrors." Cassandra said as they walked on.

"Andrew told me that the Communication Mirrors are derived from Magic Mirrors." Varian said as he looked around. "Now I know what he meant."

"It looks like these can trap images and play them back. Like a diary or something." Rapunzel said as she looked at more of them.

"Ha, and I thought your journal was annoying." Cassandra smirked.

"Still...It's nice to hear her voice again." Varian said, touching another mirror while Rapunzel went to light the fireplace and Cassandra looked at a large painting of her mother.

"I was paid the nicest compliment today. There I was picking out fruit and—" Gothel looked over her shoulder. "Oh, Cassandra. Would you be a dear and sweep a little quieter?"

Varian's brow furrowed as he watched little Cassandra look sheepish and walk away with her broom. "...I've never seen her like that."

"Really?" Rapunzel asked as she and Cassandra walked over to join him. "Because that was pretty normal for me. I did the chores while she went off to...I don't know. Apparently play with you?" She shrugged.

Varian shrugged, looking dumbfounded. "Wait." He paused. "She was never mean to me, like, at all. I mean, aside from scolding me for not being careful in the lab and hurting myself. But it looks like you two both have her being mean in common." He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he walked over to look at the painting.

"What are you getting at?" Cassandra frowned.

"What if she wanted a son?" Varian looked at Cassandra. "If you were a boy, maybe she would've treated you better. Maybe this is a case like the evil queen that was so obsessed with her own beauty that she killed anyone prettier than her and enslaved her stepdaughter before finally trying to have her killed when she grew to be prettier than her? Only, without the killing people part. Pretty sure Gothel didn't kill people unless they came between her and the Sundrop Flower."

"That...actually makes sense." Rapunzel said thoughtfully.

"...Oh." Cassandra breathed. "So...yeah, that...that does make sense. It also explains why she left Rapunzel alone in the tower for long periods of time while she spent time with someone completely unrelated to her."

"Well, when she wasn't off on a trip out of the Kingdom." Varian shrugged. "She also tried to seduce my dad, once or twice. Stopped after he threatened to throw her out in the rain."

Rapunzel stifled a laugh.

Cassandra reached out and touched the mirror again, watching it herself. "...Didn't she love me at all?"

"She probably did, she just didn't know how to show it. I mean...I think my dad loves me. He says he does, but..." Varian walked away.

Cassandra looked over at him, her brow furrowed. Was he right? Did her mother mistreat her and eventually abandon her because she wanted a son? And then, a few years after kidnapping Rapunzel, she found a little boy who had just lost his mother and was in need of a woman's care. The son she always wanted.