Chapter 1
“Cassandra...” A distant voice called her name.
Cassandra looked around in confusion. “Who’s there?” The voice only called her name again.
“Cassandra...”
“What do you want?”
“Beware...” Another voice spoke.
“Losing time...” A third voice spoke.
“Be aware of what?!”
“Rapunzel...” The first voice spoke. Cassandra stopped dead in her tracks.
“What?”
“Rapunzel...” The voice echoed. “....in danger...”
“What?” Cassandra repeated, taking a step forward. “What do you mean she’s in danger?”
“Hurry...”
“Hurry...”
“Hurry...”
“Answer my question! What’s wrong with her?!” Cassandra shouted frantically but the voices just started surrounding her, echoing from every direction. Cassandra looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint the voices as the world slowly started to fade around her. “Answer me dammit!”
“...Be careful...” Was all she heard before Cassandra shot up, breathing roughly.
Cassandra placed a hand over her heart as she closed her eyes to catch her breath before reopening them once more. Fidella was worriedly nudging her so Cassandra smiled and placed a hand on her snout. “I’m okay girl,” Cass slowly sat all the way up as she got to her feet. “But we need to go.” Fidella snorted and tilted her head in confusion. Starting to gather her stuff, Cassandra looked out at the distant land. “We’re returning to Corona.”
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Rapunzel’s first awakening thought was how hot she was. Her body felt sweaty and sticky as she tried to pry her eyes open. What happened? Where was she? As soon as Rapunzel could open her eyes, her eyes widened in confusion. She was in her room surrounded by doctors, her friends, her family... What the hell was happening? She tried to open her mouth to say something, but Eugene must have seen her awake.
“Sunshine!” He shouted, stopping everyone in their tracks as he rushed over towards her. “You’re okay...”
Rapunzel looked at him in confusion. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” She slowly shook her head. “You blacked out at dinner.”
“I... did?” Eugene nodded.
“How are you feeling, dear?” Arianna asked, placing a worried hand on her forehead.
“I feel... fine. I think?” Before Arianna could respond, suddenly Adira burst through the door. Now Rapunzel was even more confused. Wasn’t she supposed to be in the Dark Kingdom? “Adira? What are you doing here?”
“I called her,” Rapunzel’s father said, his arms behind his back.
“But why?”
“Because this is no normal illness,” Adira spoke. “It’s called the Black Death.”
“The what-now?”
“The Black Death. It’s the consequences for using the moonstones incantation.”
“There were consequences?”
“Only for you,” Adira confirmed, which only confused everyone else even better. Adira sighed. “You see, you are the literal embodiment of the sunstone. The decay incantation was never meant for you to say.”
“Then why did you let me?!” Rapunzel yelled back, sitting straight up.
“You just started reading before anyone could stop you,” Adira responded. “And by then, it was already too late.”
“...Too late?” Eugene asked. “Adira, what does this entail?” Adira went quiet. Eerily quiet. Everyone was starting to get freaked out.
“...Adira?” Rapunzel asked hesitantly.
Adira eventually sighed and turned towards the princess, actual sympathy in her eyes. That freaked Rapunzel out even more. “It means that you have a limited time to live,” Adira responded, never taking her eyes off the princess. Again, the room went quiet.
“...What?” Rapunzel asked eventually.
Adira frowned. “Let me put it this way... Since you used the incantation, now the curse itself has been placed in your body. It will spread throughout your body, making you weaker and sicker each day. Your hair will slowly turn black and during so, you’ll have some serious mood swings. Then eventually....” She trailed off.
“B-But I don’t understand... Why is it only taking effect now? It’s been almost 5 years.”
“That,” Adira responded. Everyone leaned in. “I do not know. I’m sorry, Rapunzel, I wish I could provide you with more information but unfortunately, the Black Death curse has been gone for centuries. It was said it was destroyed so I don’t know much about it.”
“How long does she have?” Eugene asked hesitantly.
“It’s hard to say... It’s different for everybody. At most, a couple months.”
Rapunzel opened her mouth but suddenly Rapunzel’s dad stepped in front of Adira, his face could only be described as pissed off. “You come in here, tell us that, then you claim you don’t have any answers?”
Adira only stood tall and faced him head-on. “I am sorry, your majesty, I don’t have any more information.”
“Well, you better figure something out! Because if you-”
“Frederick!” The king quickly shut his mouth as the queen glared daggers at him. Even he knew not to mess with the queen when she called his name like that. “It’s not her fault, dear.”
The king whipped his head to face her. “Then who’s fault is it?! It has-” He paused then the king’s eyes suddenly narrowed. ”Cassandra,” The king said suddenly, bringing up the old but familiar name with vengeance. “I bet she did this. I bet she knew that-”
“No!” Rapunzel shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “Cass would never do that! She’s the one who warned me not to say it in the first place!”
“Yes, Frederick, that isn’t fair.” The queen spoke up, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I say Cassandra has redeemed herself. She helped save the kingdom, afterall.”
The king only glared at her. “Yes but she was the reason why the kingdom needed ‘saving’ in the first place. And she lied to Rapunzel for months, who knows what other lies she’s told?”
“Cass isn’t like that, dad!” Rapunzel shouted but before she could finish defending her misunderstood friend, she went into a coughing fit. Eugene, who had been unusually quiet the whole time, rushed forward and gently patted her back. But then something started happening. Everyone watched in horror as Rapunzel’s shoulder-length mocha brown hair slowly started to trail up black. It stopped barely a couple inches but it was still very noticable.
Adira thinned out her lips. “...It’s started.”
Once her coughing fit ended, Rapunzel felt even more weak as she placed a hand on her head and groaned. The queen took a step forward and placed a hand on her forehead. God, she was burning up... “Dear, you need to get some rest.” All Rapunzel could do was weakly nod. The queen pressed a small kiss to her forehead before quickly ushering everyone out. But Eugene stopped in front of the doorway.
“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay by yourself?”
Rapunzel gave him a weak smile and nodded. “I’ll be fine.” Eugene gave her a hesitant, unsure look. Rapunzel only widened her smile. “I’m fine, Eugene.” Eugene seemed to hesitate a second longer before he sighed and eventually nodded then made his leave.
As soon as the door was shut, her smile fell. She turned onto her side and grabbed her pillow before pressing her face into it and immediately started crying.
She was most definitely not fine.
