Cassandra's Betrayal Rewritten

Prologue

Cassandra had always wanted more. She worked hard, only to fall flat. No matter her achievements, someone else always overshadowed her. Her dreams were put away to help others find theirs, and she never once had the chance of the spotlight. After so long of waiting for her turn, her wants slipped away, realizing that her aspirations were only ever going to be second-best and overshadowed. 

She was to be the lady-in-waiting, the helper, the friend, but never the main character. She gave up. Nothing she wished for would be as important as what others wanted, and she learned this through years of being at the castle, with everyone only ever focusing on one thing: finding the lost princess.

Her own father cared more about a missing girl than his daughter. The daughter who was actually there for the eighteen years, but was ignored. Her father may have been captain of the guard, but why couldn't he spend a shred of time with her?

As years past of searching, Cassandra grew bitter. She spent her time outside of the castle training herself to fight, like her father did, but never once did he pay attention to her rapid progress, or her desire to be a guard. Whatever she did, nothing was ever good enough for him. 

No one else bothered to be near her, and when she got the off-chance to talk to people, all the conversations would be about the princess. Why did everyone care so much? She understood the girl had been taken as a baby, and that she was royalty, but why care for so long? If a village child went missing, no one would put near the amount of effort they were putting in for the princess. They'd search for a few days, then determine the child was gone forever. No one else got eighteen years of attention for being lost.

And then finally, princess Rapunzel was found. She returned home on her 18th birthday, and the kingdom rejoiced. When she finally settled back home, Cassandra was appointed as her hand-maiden. She did not want anything to do with the princess. When it was announced she would be the hand-maiden to Rapunzel, Cassandra fought for days with her father. He was stern, however, and didn't budge on his decision. 

And so, Cassandra took on her duties. She didn't like it. How could she like the princess, when her father ignored her most of her childhood just to find Rapunzel? She held a grudge, but tried not to be too cold towards the princess. After all, it was her job to take care of her, no matter how much she hated it. As time passed, she slowly warmed up to princess Rapunzel. Even thought the two became close friends, there stayed an anger within Cassandra, an anger that would only build as Rapunzel gained more and more praise, while she stayed behind in her shadow. She hid her feelings, and eventually, they were buried deep inside her. Her memories of her dad ignoring her became forgotten along with them, but she never did get the attention she craved so much. Everything was kept far within, waiting for the moment something would break her and release them all.

Cassandra and Rapunzel faced many trials and triumphs together. They went adventuring, competed in challenges, and when the time came, fought against Varian. Cassandra lead the royal guard, just like she had wanted, but at the end of the battle, no one cared for her efforts. Rapunzel was the one who received the thanks and the fame. But that didn't break her spirits. She kept on, leaving the kingdom walls with Rapunzel, not for her won adventure, but to help the princess. Everything she did was to help the princess, she never got to do something for her own gain. But the journey was fun. They visited amazing cities, and faced challenge after challenge that lead them to the Great Tree. 

But the journey to the tree wasn't all that easy for her. The group had been lead by a warrior named Adira. For some reason, Rapunzel put all her trust in this mysterious new person, instead of listening to Cassandra. Cass felt even more sidelined, feeling the princess slowly slipping away. No matter how she pleaded, she could never convince Rapunzel to follow her word, instead following Adria's. 

And now they were here. They had spent months travelling to get to a tree where Rapunzel would find part of her destiny. That was found in the Hurt Incantation. By singing it, the world around the speaker would slowly die, including any human unfortunate enough to be in proximity. It had been used once, and Cassandra warned Rapunzel to not use it again, as their whole group had been put in danger.