Nothing Left To Lose || Tangled: The Series meets PJO/HoO/ToA

Chapter 2

The portal closed, leaving the unconscious teens to roll off Zhan Tiri, who slowly got up, dusting herself off and glaring at the people who had dared to interrupt her moment of triumph so rudely.

Cass glanced at them, and then recited, "Crescent high above, evolving as you go..."

Black rocks, glowing blue, rose up. The debris disappeared as the room rebuilt itself, spiky throne with blue flames and all. The cage that had held Varian, however, was gone. Cass hoped Varian was okay. He was innocent in all of this.

She turned her attention back to the sleeping teenagers as the ceiling finished itself. There were ten of them. A tan black-haired boy around 17, a blonde girl about the same age, a tan blond boy about 16. Glasses with golden frames lay beside him. A light brown-skinned girl with choppy brown hair about 16, a boy slightly paler than her with curly brown hair about her age, a brown-skinned girl with curly caramel-brown hair around 13, a boy with black hair in a buzz cut around 15. A girl with black spiky hair, a circlet of silver on her head, a spray of freckles across her nose, about 16.

A pale boy with dark feathery hair and dark circles under his eyes, angelic-looking, around 14, and a tan boy with blond curly hair, around 15.

Her friend took one look at the pale boy and growled. Cass was taken aback by the inhuman sound. "Handcuff him! NOW!" she ordered. "But..." Cassandra trailed off. But she didn't WANT to. This boy was innocent! He reminded her of Varian, with his dark hair, pale skin, and slender build. Varian... he had been like the little brother she never had. Then she had drugged him, kidnapped him, betrayed and abused him. He would probably never forgive her. Some of her felt like she deserved it. The other half argued, He got in your way! He betrayed you first! He deserved it!

Shut up, she told herself.

"DO IT NOW!" Zhan Tiri ordered. "Need I remind you of your destiny? He will get in your way! DO IT NOW!"

Slowly she knelt, and feeling awful, grew black rock links around the boy's wrists. She attached each cuff to the wall, hoisting the boy up into a sitting position in the process. The boy whimpered softly. Cass winced apologetically. The curly-haired blond boy, his sleeping face distressed, reached out his hand and touched the pale boy's knee. Both relaxed. "Cuff the rest," Zhan Tiri growled, "Or they will attack you to set him free, and your destiny will be out of reach!" Cassandra, guilt eating away at her, and with the thoughts they are innocent, they have done nothing to you, YOU ARE A MONSTER, gently pulled away the blond boy's hand and cuffed it to the wall. She cuffed his other hand and attached that to the wall as well.

She repeated the process with the other teens; one is younger than Varian; until they were all chained to the wall. "Satisfied?" she snarled at the no-longer-ghostly girl, feeling thoroughly sick. "Or should I go in search of more people to decorate my wall?"

"No, no; that's quite enough for now. You must understand, Cassandra, those particular teens were a threat to your destiny. I know these things, just as I know you are destined for greatness."

Cass looked at the chained, unconscious teenagers, and making a vow to stay as sarcastic and aloof as possible in order to avoid the guilt as much as she could, walked to her throne and sat down, waiting for them to wake up.

In Corona, two people sat up in their beds, processing the dream they had just had about Cassandra, a creepy girl, and a group of sleeping, captured teenagers.