Hey, all. This is my first time writing a fanfiction about Tangled, a show I've found has grown on me. I always wanted to write for it, but when I sat down and brainstormed… I couldn't think of anything. I had a bunch of vague, half-baked ideas, but nothing to really build a narrative on. But then I figured… if I set this in The House of Yesterday's Tomorrow… and I tweaked a few things about the latter part of Season 2...

What you're about to read is the result of my brainstorm. It may seem a bit out-there, but give it a chance, and you might like it.

Naturally, a spoiler warning. Tread with caution if you haven't seen the end... unless you don't care about spoilers, in which case welcome abroad :D

The tips of Rapunzel's golden hair touched the rocky ceiling above her. She could feel the glowing strands scraping along as she walked closer and closer to the Moonstone Opal. Cassandra and Eugene stood behind her, watching as she marched to the beat of the gem's metaphorical drum. Suspended in mid-air, it shimmered with an otherworldly blue color that reminded Rapunzel again that this wasn't just any mystical stone. It wasn't a magical sapphire or a pearl enchanted by magics before her time; it was her destiny.

Her fingers, tentative and trembling, reached out to touch it. She drew a slow breath as her fingertips felt the temperate energy radiating off it. She was scared of what would happen if she touched it, how world-changing it would be if the Sun within her finally melded with its pale aura… but with her friends behind her, she knew she didn't have to be afraid.

They were with her. They were on her side.

Here goes, she thought, reaching out to it like a child reaches for her mother…

Only to watch, eyes wide with shock, as a gloved hand swooped in and grabbed it. The moonlit aura of the opal gem still burned vividly within Cassandra's hand as she pulled it back towards her expressionless face.

"Cassandra?" Rapunzel said her friend's name with a dreadful lilt of surprise. Her long hair fell to the ground and lost its glimmer as she asked, "What are you doing?"

The raven-haired bodyguard glared at her, her eyes as thin as slits. Something was wrong, and Rapunzel could feel it. She stepped back from her friend, and Eugene, sensing the same, grabbed his girlfriend's hand and pulled her back as Cassandra bared her teeth and squeezed the Moonstone Opal tightly.

"I'm fulfilling… my destiny!" came her tight-lipped answer.

There was a cracking sound in her hand, at such a pitch that only the bats of the cave could hear it. But the sound that followed was deafening: an explosion of pallid light shot from Cassandra's hand, drawing a shocked cry from her and knocking Rapunzel, Eugene, and Pascal to the wall of the cave. As she flew through the air like a tossed doll, Rapunzel's long locks of hair covered her eyes, so she was in darkness as the back of her head slammed into the stones. She cried out in pain as she hit the ground, then scrabbled to watch as Cassandra held her glowing hand towards the ceiling.

She screamed as she slammed the opal into her chest.

Black rocks burst from the ground around them and traveled to Cassandra like dutiful soldiers.

Another flash of blinding light, and Cassandra reappeared, reborn into something… darker. Her guards' clothes, which she had worked for her entire life, melted away in favor of a cyan hood and cape. Her suit of armor was replaced by a suit of raven feathers. Her hair, previously as dark as the wood of an oak tree, now resembled a blue fire.

There was a low, humorless laugh.

"I tried to warn you, Rapunzel..."

Cassandra looked at the princess, her eyes alit with righteous anger and her features marred by a hateful frown.

"… you have to be careful with who you trust."

Rapunzel's breath were ragged and scared. She panted in fear, her bosom rising and falling. Eugene's arms wrapped around her protectively, but neither of them felt safe as the magically-powered Cassandra stepped towards them menacingly.

This… this can't be happening, thought Rapunzel. This has to be just a bad dream…

Suddenly... Cassandra stopped in her tracks.

Her hand flew to her chest and clutched it, and the young woman's entire body twisted as she let out a pained scream. Her skin began to glow, starting tepid but quickly brightening until it hurt Rapunzel's eyes to see. A banshee-like howl of pain erupted from Cassandra's throat as she threw her head back and exploded into a pillar of light.

"CASS!"

That was the last thing Rapunzel remembered before the light overtook her, and everything went black.

My eyes… they hurt…

Her eyes clenched. She reached up to touch them, to wipe the gunk away, and found them wet and dirty. Her fingers brushed the eyewax out, and untangled some of her long eyelashes that had fused together. A pair of emerald green eyes opened, and Rapunzel lifted her head off the ground.

"Ooh… my head..."

She tapped her temple, and when she felt no blood, she stopped to observe her surroundings. "Wh-Where am I?"

One thing was for sure: she wasn't in the cave anymore. The jagged black rocks and their pointed sharp tips were all gone… as were Eugene, Pascal and Cassandra. Her head titled from side to side, trying to pinpoint a familiar sign. The floor underneath her was smooth and reflective, so she quickly deduced that she was in someone's home. It wasn't like any home she had ever seen though… the interior was all red, and the design didn't boast wooden boards and windows but instead spiraling shapes… almost like a seashell…

Rapunzel gasped. "I-I know this place," she said.

"Indeed you do," said a voice behind her with the thick accent of a Frenchman.

Rapunzel screamed and jumped to her feet, spinning around so fast that her long blonde hair smacked her face. She brushed it to the side with her hand, and her eyes met the gaze of a familiar smirking man with snowy hair and thick, blood-crimson coat.

"Matthews," she snarled.

He checked his nails, lifting the side of his mouth snootily. "Or Tromus," he said, with the air of a man without a single care in the world. "Tromus also works for me."

Rapunzel's emotions were already in flux from what happened with Cassandra (that had to have been a dream, right? I mean, I just woke up, so maybe it was a dream and Cass didn't betray me!) but now her emotions flashed her messages of fear, confusion, anger, and alertness. It wasn't that long ago that Matthews (or Tromus, as he insisted like an ass) tried to sacrifice her to his dark master Zhan Tiri. She reached to her back for her trusty frying pan… only to grasp at nothing.

"Whoops… I guess I dropped it."

The man rolled his eyes. "I took your frying pan," he told her, "and hung it in the kitchen where it belongs. I shall use it to make an omelet tomorrow, and I shall think of you as I dirty it with yolk."

"You monster! That frying pan is sacred. A-At least clean it when you're done!"

Again, he rolled his eyes. "Are you done acting the fool?" he asked. "Don't you have more important things to worry about than your battered pan? 'Where are my friends, oh handsome Tromus?' Or maybe something like 'I thought we destroyed you and the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow.'"

"Um… yeah. I want to you to talk about those. And my frying pan." Rapunzel crossed her arms, stubbornly insisting on the point.

"You see, little Sundrop," he started, "I'm afraid you and your friends never escaped my lovely little home." He chuckled evilly at the confused look on the princess' face, and continued, his voice as silky as a spider's threads, "I see you're confounded, so allow me to explain: I put you and your silly friends in a trance that caused you to hallucinate everything. Zhan Tiri… the House vanishing… your adventures into the Dark Kingdom… all illusions crafted by me."

"What? H-How?"

She didn't need him to answer that. She knew how. She had known many witches and magic-practitioners in her life, but never before had she encountered something as arcane and powerful as the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow. If it could birth shadowy doppelgangers of her and her friends, and regress the ages of Cass, Shorty and Lance into babies and toddlers, it wouldn't be impossible to imagine it creating a dream world for them. Technically speaking, it had done so before, but then that itself would be a dream world... in a dream world?

"Someone should make a moving picture about that," Rapunzel said to herself. She then shook her head, her hair moving like a snake as she did. "Wait a minute… if Zhan Tiri was an illusion, then does that mean that you don't really serve him?"

He shook his head. "I serve this House. And believe me, Sundrop, the House is more powerful than Zhan Tiri or anything else in this world."

"My name is Rapunzel." Her tone was stern.

The man's eyes flashed with rage at her impudence. "As far as I'm concerned, Sundrop," he said in a voice colder than the northern tundras, "you're only than the carrier of the Sundrop. You are, to me, nothing but a walking magical flower that sprouted breasts."

Rapunzel's face flushed red with both embarrassment and anger. She was usually a kind and smiling girl, but this man, this house, brought out her darkest side. "Now, you liste-"

"Before you engage in a long and tiresome rant I won't be listening to," he interrupted, "wouldn't you like to see your friends again?"

She stopped, and her smile returned to her almost as quickly as it had faded. She clapped her hands excitedly, hopping on her bare feet. "Alright, you win. Take me to Eugene and the others. And Cass. I need to apologize to her for having such a terrible dream about her. I can't imagine I made her the bad guy in my dream world."

She didn't notice the dark shadow of amusement that passed over his face as she said that.

He clutched the doorknob of a large orange door – the shape of the handle reminded Rapunzel of a crab's pincers – and he respectfully waved his hand in front of the door, bowing his head like a butler rather than the dark villain he really was. Rapunzel stepped out of the room and into the familiar hallway. She turned her head and saw a large mirror. She took a step back, remembering the last time she dealt with a mirror in this place. Could it be…?

She looked at her reflection. Instead of the smile she was wearing, her reflection's mouth was scowling. "Yeah, it is the same," she said. She then tapped the mirror, and said, "I hope you're doing alright in there, evil-me."

"Kiss my ass."

"Ohoho, been a long time since I heard one of those words," said the princess. She waggled her finger at her reflection like it was a naughty child. "Remember, every time you say a bad word, an angel loses its wings."

Now would be a good time to remind the reader that Rapunzel had a very sheltered upbringing with mother Gothel, who, despite her many faults, hated profanity. And it's not like her servants at the castle would be swearing in front of her. When they stubbed their toes in private, they would gladly unleash waves of blasphemy and vulgarity. When they stubbed their toes in front of Rapunzel, they would murmur a meek "Bless me" lest the King have them hung for dirtying his daughter's ears.

"The second room to your left, Sundrop," muttered Matthews when he joined her in the hall. Rapunzel nodded and went to the room he indicated for her. When she opened it, her eyes and smile widened and she squealed "EUGENE!"

The brown-haired young man, upon hearing his name, turned his head, and smiled brightly as Rapunzel launched herself at him and drew him into a warm hug. They fell to the floor together, and the two of them laughed and hugged until Eugene let out a short choke. "B-Blondie… you're choking me..." he wheezed.

"Sorry," she giggled. She helped him to his feet, and without a moment of pause, Pascal appeared over the young man's shoulder and leaped to the princess with an excited chirp. "Pascal!" Rapunzel held the reptile in the palm of her hand and rubbed her freckled cheek on his face. The two smiled, embracing each other's presence, and he even lashed out his tongue to lick Rapunzel's face, earning a soft giggle from her.

"Rapunzel!" A boisterous voice cried her name. It was none other than Lance, walked to her with his convincingly charming smile. In the large man's arms, underneath his armpits, was Shorty, who waved his hand lazily. "Hello, Cinderella," he said. Rapunzel smiled, and returned their greetings.

She looked back to Eugene, who promptly assured her that "The horses are outside. I just checked. We're not even locked up in here this time! We can just walk out and leave whenever we want."

"That's amazing! Let's just grab Cassandra and… wait, where's Cass?"

The young woman's head flicked side to side, her eyes scanning the room for any trace of her snarky best friend. She blinked in fear a few times, then looked back to her lover. "Eugene, where is she?" she asked him.

"B-Blondie… you do remember what happened, right? With the Moonstone?"

"No, no, silly Eugene. That was just a dream. We were all in a dream world, and I guess I just had a dumb nightmare." She shook her head and laughed, though her laugh was too pitched and fake to even fool herself. "S-Seriously, where is she?"

"Oh, dear me, Sundrop… it appears I didn't tell you about Moonstone," murmured Matthews as he materialized in the room like a ghost from thin air. Lance screamed and threw up his arms in self-defense, dropping Shorty to the ground. The old warlock seemed to have no interest in either of them, though, as his eyes narrowed in on Rapunzel. Eugene drew her close, protectively, and Pascal hissed gutturally. That seemed to assume Matthews. His pale lips curled into a thin smile.

"M-Moonstone?"

Rapunzel sounded like a little girl that had just been told there was no Santa.

Matthews nodded. "I should've been clearer in my explanation, I apologize. You see… while you were in the dream world I created, I allowed you to pass through and project your spirits into the Dark Kingdom. It's a very complicated process, I shan't bore you with the details, but the truth is that you and her and your boyfriend did indeed make it to the Moonstone..."

Rapunzel felt her heart start pounding.

"...and she did snatch it away from you and fuse with it..."

Her breathing became labored, tainted with fear.

"...and she's now your enemy… for she did betray you..."

His grin was now shark-like.

"… and the best part, Sundrop? She's in my House right now… but she isn't your friend anymore. She's the vessel of the dark powers of the Moonstone Opal. Which means, Sundrop, that when you two meet again, it won't be Rapunzel and her lady-in-waiting Cassandra. It will be the power of the Sun against the power of the Moon… you two are enemies!"

Matthews was a formal man. He liked to seem regal and respectable, so nothing would ever terrify Rapunzel as much as watching him throw back his head in a long fit of hyena-like laughter that shook his entire body like a madman. He was laughing at her – her friend Cassandra was gone now, and all that remained of her was the Moonstone Opal… her enemy.

Two images of Cassandra flashed before her eyes. In one, the dark-haired girl put her hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. And in the other, the blue-haired girl stared at her with eyes of pure hatred.

C-Cass… why?

As Matthews' manic laughter echoed off the seashell walls, Rapunzel fell to the ground and began to cry.

Moonlight shone on the steel bars above her head. The moonlight did not stream through a window or a hole, for there were no holes or windows above her head. Above, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness. The silvery light did not originate from outside the cell. It did not, even, originate from the moon. The glow that bathed the small cell with a grayish blue shine was entirely from Cassandra herself.

When she had awoken, she checked her environment like she had been trained to do as a member of the guard. Though she felt no more allegiance to the guard – to the entirety of Corona – she kept their teaching close to heart. Cassandra, guided by the dim light that illuminated her hair, found that she was in a small cell somewhere underground. There were no doors. There was only the lines of metal above her, shimmering as if they had just been cleaned.

Was she in prison? Did she pass out? Was she unconscious for so long that Raps dragged her to Corona and had her jailed?

Cassandra grit her teeth angrily. It wouldn't be the first time she stole my destiny from me.

But the more she thought about it, the less it made sense. Mostly because if she was in a hole in the ground somewhere under Corona, Eugene would be standing above her, throwing peanuts and laughing at her.

There must be a third party, she thought. A third party that's dragged me down here. But who?

"Who."

Cassandra looked up as she heard the familiar hooting of an owl. "Owl," she said. As if summoned, her pet-owl Owl appeared above her, his hooks clasping the bars. The bird peered down at her, and Cassandra, in spite of herself, offered him a small smile. She reached up towards her companion, beckoning for him to stand on her arm.

Her smile faltered when he didn't.

Instead, Owl stared at her with bright yellow eyes, full of judgment. Animals couldn't talk (well, sometimes they could, as Cassandra knew from personal experience) but a pet and pet owner develop a bond that crosses that pesky little problem known as cross-species communication. Owl couldn't talk, but if he could, she knew he would be asking her why she did it.

Why did you betray her?

"Don't look at me like that," she snarled. Her cheeks pinkened, and she turned away with a flick of her hair. She turned too quickly, and ended up stubbing her toe into the wall.

"Goddamit… fuck!"

Her fists beat into the wall, and she huffed some angry breaths. She knew that her bird was still up there, watching over her like a faultfinding deity, but she didn't care. All she cared about was that she had lost her chance… again! This was supposed to be her moment, her destiny. No longer would it be Cassandra-the-ignored or Cassandra-the-servant-girl-that-we-gave-a-sword-to-so-she-feels-less-pitiful. She would be Cassandra of the Moonstone Opal; a higher being that the Corona and the rest of the world would recognize.

But she failed, and she lost it all. Everything she had worked for… gone!

Her head slammed into the wall. She felt like she was on the verge of a tantrum. Oh, who cared if she was? No one was around except that dumb bird? No one cared for her when she was around, why would they care when she's alone?!

"Now, now," said a silky, accented voice. "Let's not destroy the walls because we're feeling sorry for ourselves."

Cassandra gasped and looked up, recognizing the tone. Owl was gone, and in his place, a white-haired man hunched over and watched her through the beams.

"Tromus," she snarled.

He checked his nails, lifting the side of his mouth snootily. "Or Matthews," he said, with the air of a man without a single care in the world. "Matthews also works for me."

"How are you… is this the House of Tomorrow's Yesterdays?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why do people always make that mistake? It's Yesterday's Tomorrow."

"It's supposed to have been destroyed. Vanished. Gone. Poof."

"And yet here it is. Funny how life works. Quiet down, now, and I'll let you out of your cage."

"You don't let me out of anywhere," she growled. She touched the ground, and out sprouted a large, sharp black rock. It rose to skewer Matthews like a shish-kebab, but the man simply yawned and snapped his fingers. The rock stopped growing, started shaking, and sunk back into the ground.

"What the- AAAAGH!"

Cassandra fell over in pain, clutching her head and raking her hands through her body. It felt like a thousand fiery whips lashing at her. "Make it stop!" she screamed.

"I'm not doing anything," the man insisted. "You're doing it to yourself. Your friend Sundrop had years to live with her powers of good. Your powers are of decay, and you've only had them for a few hours. To put it into terms you'd understand, imagine if a rookie Royal Guardsman decided to climb a mountain in a full suit of armor. I'd imagine they'd feel burning as well."

She barely heard a thing he said. She simply writhed on the ground until she felt the torture no more. She gasped and wheezed for tastes of air, and Matthews shrugged his bony shoulders. "Allow me to explain why you're here, and I'll let you free. Does that sound like a good deal?"

She didn't answer, so he took it as a yes.

Matthews told her much the same as he told Rapunzel. He told her about the dream world, about the power of the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow, about how she still betrayed her friend and absorbed the Moonstone. Something crept into Cassandra's heart when he mentioned that last one – something that oddly resembled… guilt.

Cassandra tried to push it out of mind, but the heartbreak and fear in Rapunzel's eyes – the woman she was supposed to protect, the woman she was supposed to be a friend to – made her shiver more than the coldness of her keeping cell ever could.

"Alright," she muttered, "I listened to you talk. Now let me out."

"Of course, Mademoiselle."

She hated being called that, and he knew it.

His withered fingers wrapped around the beams and he pulled them up. She heard shuffling for a few moments as he disappeared, then watched as a stringy rope fell to her. She climbed up, and when she saw Matthews waiting for her with his hand open to help pull her up, she refused to let him. She climbed out of her solitary confinement, and she breathed the new, open air. True to the seashell architecture, even the air was laced with hints of beachy saltwater.

She saw Owl standing on the frame of a painting that depicted some kind of ancient sea creature, still glaring at her.

"Come here, Owl."

She beckoned to him to come to her again, with more force in her voice, so he did, spreading his brown wings and flying to perch on her shoulder with the utmost reluctance. Cassandra sighed, with a mix of annoyance and guilt. She did feel somewhat bad now as she realized how she technically hadn't even given her bird a name…

But then again, that wasn't where most of her guilt was coming from.

"I'd also like to inform you, Cassandra, that your friend with the golden hair is in the building right now," Matthews piped up. "In fact, her and her friends are searching for you at this very moment. I can imagine that they don't plan to give you a group hug when they find you."

"I… I..."

"Don't worry, Cassandra. You have the power of the Moonstone Opal. You can surely protect yourself using that… as well as the many marvels of my House."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him. "Why are you telling me this? Why did you bring us here after I got the Moonstone?"

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the old man grinned, revealing rows of his sharpened teeth.

"Because… I knew the day would come when the drop of Sun and the stone of Moon would come into conflict..."

What the man said next sent shivers down Cassandra's spine.

"...and I always wanted to have a front row seat..."