Fanfic / Darkest Destiny

Darkest Destiny: A Tangled Story is a Tangled: The Series What If? fic, about what could have happened had Cassandra prevented Zhan Tiri from stealing her Moonstone in the final episode, and gotten both the Moonstone and the Sundrop. Now there's absolutely nothing that could stand in her way, so Cass takes over Corona for good and forces Rapunzel to be her wife. While the other characters struggle to find some way to defeat Cassandra, Rapunzel is left in the uncomfortable position of serving as Cass' Morality Chain and Living Emotional Crutch, while her friend descends further and further into insanity.

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This story contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Somewhere between a Downplayed and a straight example is the Captain. He was very strict with her, is partly responsible for Cassandra's You Are What You Hate with regards to her homosexuality, and even though he loved her, he never really showed it. He blames himself for her fall to darkness and thinks he was a bad parent.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Cassandra. Whereas in the canon Grand Finale she does nothing when Zhan Tiri jumps on her and snatches the Moonstone from her, here she actually impales her to death before that could happen.
• An Aesop:
  • Bottling up your feelings can only make you miserable, and if you keep it up long enough, you're just gonna snap at some point.
  • Our mistakes don't define us.
    • On that note, to define yourself as more than your mistakes does not mean that you stew in your negative emotions for too long. You need to put effort into more positive actions such as fixing what you broke, and fixing which parts of yourself are broken.
  • Long-term misgivings cannot be solved through grand gestures of affection and empty promises of change. It takes space, respect, honesty, consideration, and integrity— all of which Cassandra has yet to fully learn while trying to make her "marriage" to Rapunzel work.
• Affectionate Nickname: Varian calls Cassandra (only in the past or in his Wish-Fulfillment fantasies) "Cassie". Cassandra has taken to calling Raps "Blondie".
• Age-Gap Romance: One-sided Variant. Varian is still crushing on Cassandra after all this time. Played Straight in his Imagine Spots of if Cassandra had married him.
• All Girls Want Bad Girls: As she's giving Cassandra a bath, Rapunzel notes Cassandra's fall to darkness enhances her rough-around-the-edges appeal, though she doesn't excuse her actions like most users of this trope. Then Cass starts touching her in places she doesn't want her to and suddenly it's not quite so attractive anymore.
• Alliterative Title: "Darkest Destiny".
• All Just a Dream: Discussed by Rapunzel who states she sometimes has panic attacks at the notion that she never actually left her tower, and the events of the movie and the series could just be her way of coping with isolation and abuse.
• Alone with the Psycho: Rapunzel, of course. Varian also gets invited to dinner with Cassandra at one point.
• Amazon Chaser: Varian says in his flashback that he was attracted to Cassandra precisely because she was so unlike other women he knew.
• Ambiguously Christian: The kingdom probably has some form of Christianity given certain lines in the fic, and the Captain in seen praying at one point, but it's uncertain what kind.
• Ambiguous Situation: Was Cassandra really that nice in the real version of Eugene's dream in Chapter 14? Or was that just Wish-Fulfillment on his part?
• Ambiguous Start of Darkness: It is unclear when Cassandra first lost her way. Maybe it was the first moment where she denied who she was. Maybe it was when she found out who her mother was, or even the moment she took the Moonstone. Or maybe it was all those things put together.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Cassandra does this to Rapunzel. It hurts especially bad because she's deliberately doing it to break up Raps and Eugene's wedding.
• And Then What?: Cass thinks she wants to rule the world to make it better, but really she just wants to fill the massive void in her heart with some kind of purpose. Rapunzel points this out to her, asking if anything she does will ever be enough to make her happy, and that she never wanted any of this before.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Zhan Tiri dies at the hands of Cassandra, but the only reason to feel sad is that it's made Cass even more psychopathic and evil than before.
  • Similarly, nobody is going to miss the would-be rapists that Catalina killed (in fact, many people try to comfort her by stating that the men she killed deserved it). The only bad thing about her killing them is that it caused Catalina to lose control of her curse.
• The Atoner: Varian continues to want to make up for his prior evil actions.
• Author Appeal:
  • The author stated the flashback scenes of Varian pining over Cassandra are this, since they themselves also think Cassandra is hot.
  • The author has also stated that the flashback of the day Rapunzel first met Cassandra and instantly being smitten with her was this, as these were the author's own feelings towards the character.
• Author Tract:
  • Eugene's conversation with the captain is full of this once they get to discussing Cassandra's lesbianism, as Deliberate Values Dissonance is in full effect here. The Captain is a Noble Bigot, and Eugene does not approve, to say the least, especially given how it messed up his daughter.
    In spite of the man's bigotry and misplaced anger, Eugene sincerely hoped that he found (peace).
    Maybe then he would be able to see his own sins, instead of seeing them in places and in people where there weren't any.
  • Varian weighs the pros and cons of the Death Penalty when Cassandra reveals she wants to execute Andrew and his cohorts. On the one hand, Varian has benefited from Corona not having a death penalty himself, and worries about what it would mean for anyone arrested for crimes they did not commit; on the other, he admits he would be far happier never having to worry about Andrew trying to take revenge on him for his Heel–Face Turn.
• Author Vocabulary Calendar: The word "knightess" is used surprisingly frequently to refer to Cassandra before she went From Nobody to Nightmare. It is a real word, but still.
• Ax-Crazy: Cassandra will kill absolutely anyone who gets in her way or hurts Rapunzel.
• Backported Development: Apparently, Lance adopting Kiera and Catalina happened before the epilogue in this fic.
• Bad Liar: Cassandra is able to lie, except when faking empathy is involved. Then she just can't do it.
• Bathtub Bonding: Raps tries to invoke this with Cassandra at one point, and though it seems to make her open up a little, things quickly take a turn for the worse, and they start fighting again.
• Bathos: Eugene proposes to tunnel below Cass' Castle with giant gophers, which (even though he genuinely believes it would work) serves to ease the tension.
• The Beard: Cass says she forced herself to go on dates with guys to try to feel normal. It didn't work.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Varian once asked Cass if she'd be interested in having dinner with him some day. "Some day" turned out to be "after she's become a murderous psychopath with nigh-omnipotence". And it isn't a romantic dinner like he wanted it to be invoked(though that's probably for the best).
• Believing Their Own Lies: A large part of Cass' character is about deceiving herself. Like thinking she's a good person, or that she's happy, that she'll make the world a better place, that she's not gay (that one's in the past, obvi)...
• Beneath the Mask: Years of repressing her feelings have taken a toll on Cass, and underneath the snarky, confident woman she portrayed herself as was a fragile girl who doubted her every action and hated herself as well as the world for not letting her be herself.
• Beyond Redemption: Whether this applies to Cass is still up in the air. Adira thinks she is, but Cass' now-former friends disagree.
  • Arianna also believes this to be the case with Cassandra, berating herself for encouraging her daughter to not give up on a lost cause.
• A Bloody Mess: Zhan Tiri is the victim of this when Cassandra impales her with a black rock spike through her chest as the demon warlock leaps at her to steal the Moonstone. She is then reduced to a bloody, gory pincushion when Cassandra finishes the job by impaling her with a dozen more spikes.
• Book Dumb: Lance may be something of a buffoon, but he's not dumb. He manages to notice the glaring flaw in Eugene's giant gopher plan, and he's the only one who deduced the nature of Cassandra's relationship with Rapunzel. Lance, people.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Cassandra has appropriated Eugene's "Blondie" nickname for Rapunzel.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Catalina is shell-shocked after being forced to kill a bunch of rapists in her werewolf form.
  • Rapunzel is going through some things and explicitly says that in her situation she can no longer be the peppy Granola Girl she once was. However, invokedshe refuses to lose hope completely.
  • Arguably, the majority of them were already broken by the time the story started, and its events only exacerbated those qualities.
• Broken Ace:
  • Eugene can't keep up his suave, confident personality in light of everything that's happened. It takes Lance asking him to help find Catalina to make him stop Drowning His Sorrows, but only for a while. He's also not eating well, but neither is anyone else...
  • Cassandra herself is one, though it's mostly a carryover from the series.
• Broken Smile: Catalina gives a forced smile to Kiera when they part ways.
• Brought Down to Normal: Rapunzel has lost the power of the Sundrop, though she doesn't let that get in the way of her Chronic Hero Syndrome.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Cassandra says to Rapunzel that if she can honestly tell her she never once felt the same way about her as she did about Rapunzel, she'll leave them alone. Rapunzel can't bring herself to lie about it. Cassandra later states her ability to lie is one of the things that set them apart.
• Casual Kink: Varian seemed to enjoy fantasizing about the idea of Cassandra dominating him in bed.
• Catapult Nightmare: Varian wakes up from one of his like this, in Chapter 19.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • One of the reasons why Cassandra couldn't get along with Eugene was because he was the one romantically involved with Rapunzel and not her. This also adds another layer as to why Rapunzel's attempt at appealing to Cassandra by saying they're practically sisters didn't work.
  • Cassandra's more typically masculine traits and interests led to her being shunned by practically everyone around her, fueling her feelings of resentment.
• Character Development: Like so many of the tropes on this list, this is not a good thing here. Cassandra has gotten over her Irrational Hatred of Rapunzel, but replaced it with obsession instead. And with her newfound morality chain comes self-doubt. Cass may think otherwise, but she's much more frail than she used to be. Rapunzel even says as much in Chapter 17. On a lighter note, Cassandra is at least starting to be a bit more honest with herself about her feelings. Except when those feelings are guilt.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Rapunzel insists she needs to protect everyone, simply because she's their princess and it's expected of her. And that feeling of responsibility clearly weighs heavily on her.
• Closet Key: Rapunzel slowly figures out her feelings for Cass were not as platonic as she once thought. Unfortunately, it took Cass snapping and strongarming her into marriage to make her realize this.
• The Conscience:
  • Rapunzel tries to be this for Cassandra, but there's only so much she can do for someone who's so far gone.
  • Cass has a particularly mean-spirited one hanging around inside her head, who keeps telling her what an awful person she is and how she'll die alone after burning every bridge and every friendship she ever had. Cassandra sees this voice as her weakness from her handmaiden days.
• Continuity Nod: Varian really wants to have a goatee, apparently not to look evil, but because he thinks it would make him look mature or distinguished.
• Covert Pervert: Varian's Precocious Crush on Cassandra was not as innocent as it seemed at first. Varian mentally calls himself a creep for the way he acted.
• Cowardly Lion: Discussed. Varian thinks he's just a coward, but Eugene tells him otherwise, saying a coward wouldn't put his life at risk for the sake of his friends.
• Crapsaccharine World: Besides the Deliberate Values Dissonance, Corona also has a serious crime problem, up to and including child rapists and sex traffickers (it's a Dark Fic). Most of the inhabitants just pretend it doesn't happen, and that no one in the kingdom is the sort of person who Would Hurt a Child. It's even worse outside the main city.
• Crashing Dreams: A dream Eugene has about the good old days is interrupted by Rapunzel licking his face. He wakes up and discovers that it's actually Max.
• Cynicism Catalyst:
  • No one can crack a smile or joke to save their lives anymore, and it's all because of what Cassandra did.
  • More seriously, the Dark Brotherhood is much more willing to put Cassandra in the ground than the other heroes because of the Mind Rape they suffered at her hands.
• Damsel out of Distress: Early in the fic, Eugene, Lance and Kiera have to find Catalina who's gone missing. They find her in the middle of murdering some would-be rapists.
• Dark and Troubled Past: There are some flashbacks to Cass' younger days that show her childhood was far from happy. She was bullied because of her tomboyish looks and personality and hid her attraction to women because she thought she would be shunned for it, which considering her friends Medina and Hanna were persecuted for being gay, with Medina being sent to a convent where she later committed suicide, while Hanna had to run away and become homeless, she was likely right about.
• Dark Fic: You would not guess this from reading the story's title, but this is essentially the darkest possible timeline for Tangled. Complete with children losing their innocence and Eugene drowning his sorrows in a bar. Oh, and Cass is now a murderous psychopath (in the sense she's actually killing people here).
• Dark Is Evil: Cassandra mostly sticks to a variant of her Season 3 look during this fic, and tends to prefer her Moonstone-derived powers.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the show, which was itself a fair bit Darker and Edgier than the original movie.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Cassandra deconstructs the Psycho Lesbian. In the story, she is portrayed as delusional, emotionally-repressed, on the verge on a mental breakdown nearly all the time, and a murderous tyrannical dictator, to say nothing of her relationship with Princess Rapunzel, who she has forced into marrying her. Cassandra also makes it clear how much she hated Eugene for being the one romantically involved with Rapunzel. The story also shows how the social stigma regarding homosexuality inspired a lot of self-loathing on Cassandra's part and played a factor in her Start of Darkness and several characters such as Eugene, Varian, and Rapunzel herself stress that the problem with Cassandra isn't that she's attracted to women.
• Deity of Human Origin: Cassandra becomes a Celestial Being after obtaining Moonstone and the Sundrop. She is even referred to in-story as a deity.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance:
  • Very much the case with Corona and everywhere else, in regards to homosexuality. Though Corona is said to be somewhat better than most other places, it's still fairly backwards in this regard. Part of Cassandra's Dark and Troubled Past is having her friends Medina and Hanna persecuted for being a lesbian couple. Eugene and Rapunzel are the only ones explicitly shown to subvert this, Eugene having known plenty of "degenerates" in his years on the wrong side of the law, and Rapunzel being an All-Loving Hero Granola Girl. It helps that the latter is bisexual herself, though.
  • Also the case with gender roles, where women are expected to become housewives and bear children which led to Cassandra being shunned for wanting to be a knight. While Cass did not resent the women who fit in those perceived gender roles, even admiring the strength they displayed in taking care of their families, she always hated how everyone around her expected her to get married (which was its own problem) and have children.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Cassandra has no idea what she actually wants to do, just that she needs to do something that will make her feel whole, and loved, and important. Currently, she thinks Take Over the World is her best bet.
• Destructive Romance: Cassandra's relationship with Rapunzel has some abusive undertones in canon, but it's quite a lot worse here.
• Dissonant Serenity: Rapunzel does not like Pontius' attitude because he's always smiling, even though no one in Corona has cause to smile anymore.
• Does Not Like Men: Cassandra seems to have a little of this, saying she doesn't want to marry any "bumbling fools" who would just treat her as a baby-making factory.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rapunzel finds out her best friend and caretaker for many years had romantic feelings for her, and gets to recall all those times she gave her a bath or brushed her hair and feel really weird.
• Downer Beginning: Starts with Cassandra killing Zhan Tiri and completing her Face–Heel Turn, and just spirals further downward from there.
• Dragon Ascendant: The story begins with Cassandra killing Zhan Tiri for trying to take her Moonstone and then proceeds to obtain the Ultimate Power for herself.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Flashbacks show Eugene and Varian thinking about how Cassandra must see Rapunzel as her best friend or even as a sister when present events have made it clear that Cassandra has been in love with Rapunzel all this time.
  • Cassandra believes even if things went differently and she helped Rapunzel defeat Zhan Tiri, that she would have been executed for her actions. Anyone who's watched the show knows better.
  • Varian thinks Cass must be keeping Rapunzel imprisoned because of some selfish reason, like as a bargaining chip or the like, not considering the real reason.
• Dramatic Unmask: Eugene notes that Attila looks like a completely normal joe under his helmet, with no scars to indicate a life of crime, but then he notices there's a faded one that looks like it came from a branding iron. This implies he wasn't running from the law because of any criminal acts, but because he was running away from his master.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Eugene genuinely thought Cassandra loved Rapunzel like a sister. So did Rapunzel. Wouldn't be the first time they were oblivious to Cass' feelings...
• Driven to Suicide: Discussed. Cass' good side chews out her present self by telling her to not be surprised if she eventually finds Rapunzel hanged herself with her own hair just to get away from her. This is enough to give Cass a brief Heel Realization.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Eugene does this after realizing Cassandra won.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Cassandra. She's a moody drunk, though.
• Dysfunction Junction: Every single character with a POV in this story has some major issues they need to work through.
• Eldritch Location: Varian struggles to describe what it was like being trapped in the Lost Realm.
  "It's... difficult to describe, really. Nothing made sense... like a distorted dream that you can barely recall after awakening. The worst part about being there was how it changed us, though... With no rhyme or reason, we were all transforming into a myriad of different... things. Lance ended up gaining a bunch of eyes... Kiera turned into a balloon, I think, and... and the blue stripe in my hair became a snake that talked!"
• Enemy Within: Inverted by Cassandra's good side. She behaves very similarly to one of these, and vows she'll always try to stop her current, evil self. However, she is trying to make Cassandra realize that what she's doing is wrong.
• Enigmatic Minion: Pontius, Cassandra's only real underling and the only Original Character in the story, who is probably up to something.
• Everyone Can See It: According to Crowley, it was believed that Cassandra was Rapunzel's concubine back in her handmaiden days, noting the fact the two spent more time together than Rapunzel did with her own boyfriend. Averted, however, with pretty much everyone in the main cast, who had no clue about Cassandra or Rapunzel's feelings whatsoever.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Cassandra doesn't really understand the mindsets of anyone who isn't her. She doesn't believe Eugene truly loves Rapunzel, thinks Rapunzel is a naive idiot who mistakes infatuation for love, and doesn't get how Rapunzel can be so nice to her after all she's done. She can't even understand why the things she does would make her feel guilty.
• Evil Laugh: Cass likes using "Ohoho!"
• Evil Overlord: Cassandra becomes queen of New Corona.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A story called "Darkest Destiny" about a dark alternate timeline. More obviously, we have the subtitle, "A Tangled Story"... Which it is.
• The Exile: Cassandra gives this punishment to her father, the Captain.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Cassandra killing Zhan Tiri, announcing she's taking the throne for herself, and rebuilding all of Corona with the black rocks took all of a single day. Reading the story, you'd think it'd be more like three days or so.
• Family Eye Resemblance: In a flashback to Rapunzel's first meeting with Cassandra, she notes that there is something familiar about her eyes but doesn't know exactly what.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Cassandra's hair and eyes are blue and gold now.
• Fighting from the Inside: Though Cassandra can only blame herself for her evil actions, her conscience is fighting as hard as she can to stop her.
• Flashback B-Plot: Several chapters open with a flashback to before everything went horribly wrong, from the perspectives of various characters.
• Flying Brick: After obtaining the Ultimate Power, Cassandra can now fly, possesses Nigh-Invulnerability and has a Healing Factor. She also possesses the abilities of both the Moonstone and the Sundrop only much more powerful. She can also create projections of herself and see and talk through her black rocks.
• Foil:
  • Cassandra and Varian are foils to each other, as they were in Season 3.
  • Catalina and Kiera are this to Cass and Rapunzel, again building on their portrayal in the series. Catalina asks Kiera to leave her alone because she fears she's a danger to herself and others, and Kiera acquiesces. This is in stark contrast to Cassandra's inability to let Rapunzel go, and her never acknowledging the danger she poses to Corona. Catalina is the most important person in Kiera's world, and Rapunzel is the most important person in the world to Cass. Even if she doesn't know how to show it.
  • Pontius Maximilian III is one to Zhan Tri. Both of them emotionally manipulate Cassandra for their own goals but whereas Zhan Tri intended to rid herself of Cassandra once she served her purpose, Pontius knows that trying to usurp Cassandra would be suicide and it's better to just be her advisor as her aim to Take Over the World coincides with his and the rest of the Blades of the Holy Sun's own mission of making Corona the dominant force in the world.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Cassandra obtaining the Ultimate Power makes her increase in height and has her grow claws, fangs, and horns. She returns to her human appearance at Rapunzel's request.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Discussed by Cassandra when she accuses Rapunzel of letting herself be taken advantage of by Eugene based on how fast their relationship developed, also echoing some criticisms fans have made about it in the process.
  "Eugene was the first man you ever met in your entire life! You never even got a chance to explore your own wants and desires, and then all of a sudden, you're engaged to the guy that just so happened to stumble by your tower by sheer happenstance?"
• Friendless Background: Varian had no friends due to his interests in alchemy.
• From Bad to Worse: Read the synopsis. Everything went to hell the moment Cassandra killed Zhan Tiri.
• Functional Addict: Varian does this with his no-sleep potion to stave off nightmares, which also doubles as a G-Rated Drug. Justified since the entire point of the potion is to allow him to function better.
• Gayngst: In the backstory, Cass had a lot of this, especially after she became attracted to Rapunzel. She grew out of it once she gained enough confidence to act on her feelings (which is not a good thing in this case, by the way). However, she still sees it as a perversion, it's just that she doesn't care what people think anymore. It's also shown part of the reason she treated Rapunzel so badly in Season 3 was because of her frustration at the way she made her feel.
• Giver of Lame Names: Cass isn't really happy with the name New Corona for the kingdom, saying it's a work in progress.
• Go for the Eye: Subverted. A group of Coronans trying to force Cassandra out of the kingdom fire their crossbows at her with the arrows hitting her armor doing nothing until she takes an arrow to the eye and falls down. Just as everyone finishes processing what happened, Cassandra gets back up and pulls the arrow out, showing off her Healing Factor.
• A God Am I: Cass calls herself a goddess at certain points, but backs down after Rapunzel points out how she's sounding. It doesn't last. Some characters also refer to Cassandra as this, more out of fear than worshiping her.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Cassandra, even though barely anyone recognizes her as Queen besides herself.
• Godzilla Threshold: Catalina sees no other option for getting rid of her werewolfism except for going to Cassandra and have her remove it.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Cass has always been jealous of Eugene for being Rapunzel's boyfriend. A flashback shows that she also hated how he went from one of the kingdom's most wanted criminals to a member of the Royal Family by being engaged to Rapunzel because he happened to come across the tower where she was being held captive, seeing it as him just being lucky whereas Cassandra has had to struggle to succeed in a male-dominated field of work.
  • And just because Cass came out of the closet doesn't mean she's stopped resenting Rapunzel for her charmed life, either.
    It was always "Rapunzel did this, isn't she so amazing?" Or "Rapunzel did that, what a paragon!" And all the while, Cassandra could do nothing but trail behind her, trapped in her shadow as everyone knew her best as 'the handmaid who tends to the Princess' hair'.
• Guilt Complex: Varian has a big one. So does Catalina after her Damsel out of Distress moment.
• Hair Reboot: Rapunzel gets this for the second time now, just because Cassandra likes her better with the blonde hair.
• Have a Gay Old Time: Played straight (heh) with the very trope name itself at one point.
• Happy Ending Override: For Catalina and her lycanthropy. She ends up abducted by child rapists, loses control and murders them all, and by the time we see her again, she hates her curse and wants it gone.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: In the series, while Owl was initially loyal to Cassandra, he eventually turned on her after seeing how far she had fallen and tried to later act as her conscience. Those events still happened in this fic, but now he has gone back to being completely loyal to his owner, shaking off his previous concerns about her now that Cassandra has seemingly accomplished her destiny. Additionally, despite the fact that he had grown close to Pascal, he would not hesitate to eat the chameleon if Cassandra were to give the command.
• Heroic BSoD: The stress of having to help everyone in the kingdom, having to save Cassandra, being separated from Eugene, etc., finally gets to Rapunzel in Chapter 17 and she cries herself to sleep, no longer able to keep up her Stepford Smiler mask.
• Heroic Fatigue:
  • Cassandra sees her past actions from when she was good as this, sacrificing her own happiness and dreams for those of others out of a sense of goodness. Eventually, she just got tired of making herself miserable for the sake of her friends.
  • Rapunzel is trying desperately to keep the people of Corona happy while doing the same for Cassandra. Her situation drives her to a Heroic BSoD on several occasions, and Rapunzel admits she can no longer be the cheery and optimistic girl she once was.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: Cassandra has a Villainous BSoD once she realizes she hurt Rapunzel's feelings again and starts screaming for Rapunzel to hurt her out of sheer self-hatred.
  No, really! Hit me! I like it when you hit me! I deserve it for being such a fuck up! Punch me in the face, kick me in the stomach, throw your plates and bottles and what ever else at me! Shoot me with a fucking cannon! You know you want to, Princess! I took everything from you! I deserve to suffer! So please, just HURT ME!
• Hoist By Her Own Petard: Zhan Tiri is killed by the very person she manipulated and backstabbed multiple times, with the powers she told her to take for herself.
• Hope Bringer: Rapunzel, for the inhabitants of Corona.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Hector holds Rapunzel at knifepoint to try and get Cassandra to surrender the Moonstone and the Sundrop. It doesn't work.
• I Can Change My Beloved: Rapunzel feels she has to do this for Cassandra, not just because she loves her, but because making her see reason may be the only way to get out of this mess.
• I Have No Son!:
  • When Cassandra comments about the Captain drawing his sword on her, his daughter, the Captain responds that Cassandra was killed by the Moonstone and it "only wears her face as a mask now."
  • Hanna's father disowned after he found out she was gay.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Cassandra. One of her many flaws is that she goes about this in the worst way possible.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Enforced when Cassandra tells Varian to kiss her hand as a show of deference, saying I Kiss Your Foot would be going too far.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • Kiera hates the idea of not being with Catalina 24/7, but she already promised her she wasn't going to boss her around anymore.
  • Cassandra used to think this towards Rapunzel, but now she absolutely refuses to let her go. Cassandra's good self tries to remind her that if she truly loved Rapunzel she would put her happiness before her own.
• I've Come Too Far: Part of why Cassandra is so adamant about seeing herself as a good guy is because she can't live with the guilt of what she's done, and doesn't believe anyone would forgive her. So she deludes herself into thinking she's done nothing wrong.
• The Idealist: When the Captain recounts how Cassandra exiled him, Eugene sees it as a sign there's still some good in her, since she could have killed him or imprisoned him.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: Defying this is part of why Cass has decided to make Rapunzel her wife, having had a crush on her during most of her tenure as her handmaid and repressing it for just as long. Rapunzel for her part wishes she'd noticed Cass' feelings sooner.
• The Illuminati: In Chapter 21, Pontius is revealed to belong to an ancient cabal called the "Blades of the Holy Sun" that seeks to make Corona the dominant power in the world.
• Imagine Spot: Varian had one during his flashback about being married to Cassandra. It seemed to happen again in Chapter 19, but it was All Just a Dream.
• Implausible Deniability: What are you talking about, Raps? Cassandra is totally fine! She's not talking to herself or slowly being consumed by guilt over her actions, or anything! You must be imagining things.
• Incompatible Orientation: Varian with Cassandra. He's not trying to pursue her anymore, but he still loves her.
• Inner Monologue: Cass' old self sometimes calls her out on her Jerkass behavior in her own mind. She hates it and tries her hardest to ignore it.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Cass is often called "the usurper" by the narration. Justified since that is what she is.
  • What Cass has after gaining both the Sundrop and Moonstone is "Ultimate Power", which is ironically from a line in Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon about two opposites coming together in the name of love and goodness.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Eugene and Varian (AKA "Team Awesome").
• Internalized Categorism: Cassandra saw her attraction to women as immoral and tried her hardest to repress it. As of the start of the story, she's not doing that anymore.
• Internal Reveal: Cassandra's real reasons for taking Rapunzel are not known to the majority of the cast, some of whom find out over the course of the story.
• Intimate Hair Brushing: Cassandra has a moment of this with Rapunzel, made all the more intimate because it reminds Rapunzel of when she was her handmaid and everything was fine.
• Ironic Echo: Cassandra repeats to Rapunzel that she comes second to no one. However, when she said it in "Plus est en vous", she was voicing her resement of being Always Second Best to Rapunzel. Here, she says it to mean that she will not come second in Rapunzel's romantic affections.
• Irony: Discussed by Eugene with regards to how Varian, who was once their Evil Former Friend, is now their best chance at defeating Cassandra, their current Evil Former Friend.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing:
  • Cassandra disparages her former self by using this trope. It's a sign that Cassandra sees herself as worthless and subhuman. She also likes the terms "husk" or "wretch".
  • Variation when Eugene has enough of Adira calling Cassandra "Short Hair" while she's telling them they should kill her, and tells her, "Her name is Cass."
• It's All About Me: Putting her needs above those of everyone else's is Cassandra's raison d'etre.
• Jerkass: Cassandra is this and much more, to anyone who isn't named Rapunzel.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The archdeacon is depicted as your typical homophobic religious type, fitting it with the fic's usage of the Deliberate Values Dissonance trope. That said, he's not wrong in pointing out to Cassandra how she doesn't seem to know or care to know about what Rapunzel wants in regards to becoming a mother. Cassandra balks at this, before insisting that they can just adopt some children.
• Knight Templar Big Sister: Kiera. If anyone tries to hurt Catalina, she will slit their fucking throats. She hasn't done it yet, but you probably shouldn't tempt her.
  If they had still been alive by the time she had run into that narrow alleyway, they wouldn't have been for long after her knife was stained with their blood; and Eugene and Lance wouldn't have been able to stop her from driving the blade into their necks over and over and over—
• Lack of Empathy: This is Cassandra's main obstacle in her attempts to be loved by her newfound subjects... as well as the fact she's a usurper with a tendency toward Disproportionate Retribution, of course.
• La Résistance: One is forming in response to Cassandra's usurpation of the throne.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Discussing his views on gay relationships, Eugene comments that invokedsome people have accused him and Lance of being together like that.
  • Cassandra chastises Rapunzel for entering into a relationship with the first guy she ever met and says it doesn't make sense for someone who was stuck in a tower for all her life with no human contact to do such a thing, and that she should have given herself more time to explore her own interests before committing to a relationship. The above is common invokedCassunzel Ship-to-Ship Combat rhetoric.
• LGBT Awakening:
  • Because she was so sheltered, Rapunzel never really thought of her attraction to Cassandra as romantic in any way until Cass confessed her own feelings.
  • In a similar way, Medina served as this for Cass.
• Like Brother and Sister: What Cassandra tried to pretend her feelings on Raps were. Somehow they bought it. Hell, sometimes even she bought it. Whatever it took to make her feel like less of a freak.
• Living Emotional Crutch:
  • Cass notes numerous times that if not for Rapunzel being alive and with her, she would either go completely insane or kill herself.
  • Catalina is this to Kiera, though not to the same level as Rapunzel is to Cassandra, naturally. As proof, Kiera actually manages to let go of Catalina, unlike Cassandra with Raps.
• Loss of Identity: Threatened by Cassandra to Varian: Since she cannot kill him, or anyone he loves due to having promised so to Rapunzel, if he doesn't obey her she'll use her authority and powers to ensure he'll never practice alchemy again. Varian does not seem fond of the idea, citing this trope as the reason.
• Love at First Sight:
  • Varian says this about his attraction to Cassandra in a flashback.
  • Cassandra doesn't buy into the idea that Rapunzel had this with Eugene, but given her Evil Cannot Comprehend Good and Green-Eyed Monster traits, she's most likely wrong.
  • Downplayed in that Rapunzel doesn't realize her feelings towards Cassandra have been romantic until much later, but a flashback to their first meeting shows Rapunzel always felt that Cass was the right choice to be her lady-in-waiting.
• Love Makes You Crazy: If possible, Cassandra is even more unstable now that she's accepted her feelings for Rapunzel.
• Love Triangle: Rapunzel is in love with both Eugene and Cass, though she wasn't aware of her feelings for the latter until the shit hit the fan.
• Made a Slave: It's briefly implied to have been part of Attila's backstory.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: Pontius' bodyguards Bernard and Henrietta. Bernard is a tall, muscular man who wields a claymore and serves as Pontius' muscle. Henrietta is an assassin and spy with magic rings that can render her invisible and silent to everyone around her.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Cass and Raps are the darkest possible version of this.
• Master of Disguise: Cassandra still uses her magic cloak.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • When Varian is berating himself for being a coward, Eugene tells him that there's more to him than that. invokedSince that's what Rapunzel would say.
  • And a meta one to the last episode of the series. Catalina tells Kiera when she leaves her that she loves her, and Kiera responds with an "I love you, too." While these are fairly generic sentiments, they were the same words that Rapunzel and Cassandra spoke to each other when they were saying goodbye, after Cass had her Heel–Face Turn. The reminder of that scene is quite bittersweet given the context of this fic, and it serves to strengthen Kiera and Cat's status as foils to the latter pair.
• Meaningful Name: In a flashback to their first meeting, Rapunzel notes that Cassandra's name means "the one who excels and shines over men" reflecting her desire to excel in a male-dominated line of work and her current status as a Celestial Being after obtaining the Ultimate Power.
• The Mentally Disturbed: Cassandra is a Played for Drama variant. As the story goes along, it becomes clear she has a severe mental illness or illnesses. It is, in fact, her only weakness at this point.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Cassandra looks at the mirror in Rapunzel's vanity. It reflects her as she was when she was a handmaiden.
• Mistaken for Gay: From their narrations, Eugene says this occasionally happened to him and Lance, and Varian also talks about being bullied and called a "flower boy" in Old Corona because he wasn't very stereotypically masculine.
• Mistaken for Romance:
  • Crowley tells Cassandra many people who worked in the castle assumed Cass had been Rapunzel's concubine, due to the way she hung out with her more than her own fiancé.
  • Eugene references how him and Lance were frequently Mistaken for Gay in the past, though it seems to have died down after he began his relationship with Rapunzel.
• The Mole: Varian's plan is to be this for La Résistance by helping Cassandra and reporting back to them. Time will tell if this will work.
• Mood-Swinger: Cass slides from psychotic rage to lustful behavior to a sobbing wreck over the course of most of her interactions with Rapunzel.
• Mood Whiplash: Eugene creates a plan to go inside the castle by tunneling underground. With what, you ask? Giant gophers, of course. Perhaps thinking about the simpler days makes him feel happier.
• Moral Pragmatist: Adira's reasoning for that is that Cass is too powerful to actually subdue anymore.
• Morality Chain: Rapunzel has always been this for Cass, but now that she's become unhinged and wants to Take Over the World, she needs Rapunzel's mediating presence now more than ever. The idea that she could be causing Rapunzel emotional harm is the only thing Cass is able to feel genuinely guilty about.
• Mundane Utility: Cassandra cleans up the mess she made by killing Zhan Tiri by using her Yin-Yang Bomb powers. Granted, taking care of the corpse of the warlock who manipulated you and tried to backstab you is far from a mundane task, but why do anything like a normal handmaid?
• My Greatest Failure: Becoming evil is this to Varian, and he will forever live with the fear he will sink back into those old ways.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: In contrast to canon where he subverted the trope, Owl plays this straight in regards to Cassandra.
• Naked on Arrival: Catalina gets abducted by a couple of would-be rapists and is missing for the first several chapters. When she is later found having killed said men in her werewolf form and transforms back, she is completely unclothed, needing to be covered up by Lance's jacket. It's unknown whether her clothes were torn when she shapeshifted or if the two perps forcefully stripped her.
• The Nameless: Chapter 15's flashback has a religious zealot who Cassandra states has no name. Whether this means his name is unknown or he really never had a name is not told to us.
• The Needless: Cassandra has Eating Optional (a conversation with Rapunzel reveals that this had been the case ever since she took the Moonstone), is The Sleepless, and may or may not be immortal.
• Nerves of Steel: Old Lady Crowley couldn't care less about Cassandra's takeover of the kingdom, saying it's rather tame in comparison to others she's seen, and just goes back to working as the castle's maid under Cassandra.
• Never Bareheaded: Subverted with Attila, who removes his helmet to pay his respects to Shorty.
  Attila: I have nothing left to hide.
• Never My Fault: Cassandra defaults to this view of herself in most instances.
  "Everyone wants to paint me as some nefarious villain, a Zhan Tiri 2.0 who eats little children and drinks the blood of virgins! But I'm a hero, goddamn it! I have only brought peace and security to my kingdom, not destruction and death like all of you want to believe."
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Comes with having two magical artifacts inside you as opposed to one.
• The Nicknamer: Adira has continued this trend by giving Varian his very own nickname, as well as upgrading Cassandra to "Ultimate Short Hair".
• Nightmare Sequence: This is what Varian's initially pleasant Wish-Fulfillment dream of marital bliss with Cassandra turns into by the end of Chapter 19.
• Noble Bigot:
  • The Captain is a good man with regressive (compared to our present) views on homosexuality.
  • Varian was raised with traditional values and initially struggles to wrap his head around the idea of Cass loving Rapunzel romantically. But he gets over it when he realizes feeling ostracized and rejected for being different is not unlike what he goes through every day in Old Corona.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Cassandra invites Varian over for dinner, wanting to win him over to her side. He would later describe the experience as "harrowing".
• No-Sell: Cassandra does this to a sword through the chest.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Cassandra does this when she wants to make people uncomfortable, and to show she's the one with all the cards.
  Author's note, Chapter 16: Basically, this entire story can be summed up into 'Cassandra goes around making everyone uncomfortable' lol.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Cassandra's takeover of Corona creates this sentiment for the inhabitants of the kingdom, who have to adapt to a situation none of them ever thought possible.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Cass, as always, doesn't see herself as a villain and thinks she wants to take over Corona (and then the world) because she'll make things better for everyone, but she's just trying to find some kind of purpose for herself. And she'd probably only screw up the world further with her mind in the state it's in.
• Obligatory Swearing: Downplayed. It mostly happens around Cassandra. When Rapunzel swears, Cass actually expresses shock to hear such a word come from her mouth. Kiera swears quite frequently also.
• Obliviously Evil: Cassandra firmly believes she's a hero and tries desperately to shut up that little voice inside her head telling her otherwise. The one that's getting louder and harder to ignore with every passing moment.
• Old Shame: In-Universe, Cassandra constantly brings Varian's up to him at their "dinner." What is worse is that she does this not for any moral high ground, but purely to make Varian feel like absolute shit over his previous villainy.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Rapunzel expresses the idea that no matter what she does, the world will always see her as a "that poor girl who was rescued from the tower". She's probably just being hard on herself, but it's not unreasonable to think so.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • During a flashback to after the events in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow (when Cass began her Start of Darkness), we see Eugene worried about Cass' distracted and withdrawn behavior, explicitly calling it out of character.
    She barely even insulted him anymore - that alone was enough to convince him that something was definitely wrong here.
  • Lance lampshades that it's messed up that he's making more sense than Eugene in Chapter 19.
• Opposites Attract: Discussed by Cassandra and Varian. Cassandra questions why he'd fall in love with a tomboy like her as opposed to someone more bookish. Varian's reply is that he never expected Cass to be infatuated with someone like Rapunzel either.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Cassandra tries to test Varian by disguising herself as Rapunzel, but acts way too callous and unemotional. Naturally, he figures it out.
  Cassandra: I admit, acting is not my forte, especially when it comes to pretending to be such a precious little flower child like Raps.
• The Paranoiac: Carrying over from her portrayal in the series, Cass is mistrustful of pretty much anyone, and is constantly looking over her shoulder. She can't even wrap her head around the idea that Rapunzel might have her best interests at heart (understandably, given her actions).
  Rapunzel: I'm not disgusted by you for loving me, Cass.
  Cassandra: You...you're lying! You just want me to let my guard down, so that you can steal my power and render me worthless again! Admit it!
• Past Experience Nightmare: Varian gets these from the events of Season 1.
• Physical God: Cass can now do pretty much anything she puts her mind into. Except for, apparently, making magic babies. This is not that kind of fic.
• Point of Divergence:
  • The story deviates from the canon series finale when Zhan Tiri leaps at Cassandra to steal the Moonstone, only to be impaled by several black rocks.
  • Cassandra theorizes that Rapunzel would have fallen in love with her had it been her and not Eugene who saved her from her tower, and given that Raps treated her very much like she did Eugene back when she lost her memories, she might not be wrong.
    If only things could have been different... if only she could have been the one closest to her heart...
• Politically Correct History: Zig-Zagged. The world of Tangled as portrayed here seems to have period-accurate values regarding homosexuality, but don't appear to have any issues with race, given no one treats Lance badly for being black, or Adira for being Asian. However, they are both cases of Ambiguously Brown in the show.
• The Power of Hate: Cassandra is a firm believer.
• Precocious Crush: Varian has not been able to let go of his crush on Cassandra, not exactly the best position to be in considering her current state.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Varian tested a potion that lets the user become The Sleepless on himself, a prototype of which gave him hallucinations, mania and bleeding from the mouth, ears, and nose. The current version only causes mild headaches and nausea. He still finds it preferable to the alternative of having to endure horrible trauma and guilt-induced nightmares each night. Hey, did we mention it's a Dark Fic?
• The Promise: Kiera and Catalina promised to always watch each other's backs.
• Protectorate: Rapunzel is this to Cassandra.
  Cassandra: My first priority is Rapunzel's safety. She's always been my first priority. Even if none of you can see that.
• Psycho Lesbian: Cass has most certainly become this in this story, what with forcing Rapunzel to marry her and everything. Also a deconstruction as the social stigma regarding homosexuality has inspired a lot of self-loathing on Cassandra's part.
• Psychological Projection:
  • Cassandra projects her own duplicitousness and lack of trust in others on Rapunzel at one point.
  • Varian also does this to her in his flashback, assuming Cassandra sees him as annoying and creepy.
  • Cassandra chews Varian out for his actions in Season 3's first episode, saying he's only out for himself and erased the king and queen's memories so he didn't have to deal with the guilt of what he'd done. Cass isn't erasing anyone's memories, but her Never My Fault is as strong as ever.
• Pull Yourself Down the Spear: Well, sword in this case. When she's fighting her father, Cassandra deliberately lets herself be impaled on his sword to show him that she's so powerful he can no longer hurt her.
• Rabble Rouser: Pontius convinces a mob of Cornans trying to overthrow Cassandra that she is not their enemy and spinning her villainous actions, such as her taking the Moonstone, as only acting for the good of Corona and that their real enemy is Saporia.
• The Rant: Every chapter ends with a message from the author explaining the circumstances and thought process behind each of them.
• Rape as Drama: Nearly.
  • Catalina almost gets raped by a bunch of ruffians, only to show them that The Dog Bites Back (or werewolf in this case). She's still shaken by the experience, especially the fact she couldn't stop herself from killing them all.
  • Eugene worries Cassandra might do this to Rapunzel, and his concerns are not unfounded. Cass is offended by this, though she certainly has no problem invading Raps' personal space and touching her in sensitive places whether she wants to or not. One of the tags for the story is "Dubious Consent".
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cassandra's mind likes to give these to her.
  Cassandra's mind: The only thing you're good at is tearing people's lives apart. Rapunzel, Eugene...Father. You've done nothing but spread your own misery to each of them, to all of Corona. If bringing everyone down to your level is the only way to make you happy, then...
  Cassandra: Enough. Enough...!
  Cassandra's mind: ...Then you truly have become the bad guy.
• Sadist: Cassandra enjoys making people squirm or suffer. At one point she admits to bringing up Varian's invokedvillainous past because she wanted to make him feel like shit.
• Sanity Slippage: Cass is falling apart in this story. Even with all her awful behavior and constant betrayal, it's depressing to see.
• Satanic Archetype: People sure like comparing Cassandra to The Devil in this story, as she's an Evil Former Friend who rebelled because she didn't want to live in someone else's shadow. She's also a Physical God with all sorts of abilities now, which helps.
• Secret Test of Character: Cassandra does one to Varian, to see if he would betray her. Fortunately, he figures it out and avoids pissing her off.
• Seen It All: A literal goddess with seemingly infinite cosmic powers seizing control of the kingdom by force? Mrs. Crowley says it's actually quite "tame" compared with other hostile takeovers she's seen.
• Self-Duplication: Cassandra has shown the ability to make at least one of these, though it's just an extension of herself. She calls it her "reflection".
• Self-Mutilation Demonstration: Cassandra cuts into her face with a knife in front of the castle's kitchen staff to demonstrate her Healing Factor. One of them faints, much to her amusement.
• Shadow Archetype: A minor character in Varian's flashback is a religious zealot who tried to explode a school full of children, and was stopped by Cassandra. When asked by Varian why he would do something like that, Cassandra's speculation of his motives sounds like she's describing her future self.
  There are people in this world who are...angry. They become so full of anger and hate, that it just...seeps out of them over time, or in some cases, it explodes and is indiscriminate of who gets harmed in the aftermath. That man, whoever he was, became twisted over time. It probably wasn't any one thing that drove him to do what he did. Likely, whatever demons he had ate him up over the years, until he snapped.
  But at the end of the day, he is just a sick man who needs help.

• Shoo Out the Clowns: Shorty dies.
• Shout-Out:
  • Does Cassandra's heterochromatic blue and yellow eyes remind you of anyone? Maybe another resentful, villainous lesbian with an abusive mother and a name that begins with "Ca-" and ends with "-ra"?
  • Subtle one to Batman (1989) (wouldn't be the first time) when Varian wonders if he's crazy for trying to meet with Cassandra.
    Perhaps he was mad. Perhaps he would join Cassandra in her spiraling insanity, and dance with her atop the castle under the pale moonlight.
  • Cassandra claims to Varian that she is only bringing "peace and security to [her] kingdom".
• Shown Their Work: Rapunzel at one point brings up the concept of Exceptionalism.
• "Shut Up!" Gunshot: Pontius fires a warning shot from his crossbow to quiet down the crowd who are trying to kill Catalina for being a werewolf.
• Sinister Surveillance: Cassandra's black rocks serve as this for her, though she can only look through one of them at a time... for now.
• Skinship Grope: Played for Drama and called out by Rapunzel when Cassandra does this to her.
• Sleep Deprivation: Varian is forcing himself to do this with his potions.
• The Sleepless: Cassandra due to her winning the Superpower Lottery. Also the members of the Brotherhood, and Varian while under the effects of his anti-sleep potion.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Surprisingly, very little has moved away from canon, even in spite of being a Dark Fic. Even as far gone as she is, it's clear that Cassandra can still be redeemed. Thou Shalt Not Kill is still largely in place (for the good guys at least). About the only thing more cynical about this fic compared to canon is the Crapsaccharine nature of Corona and the rest of the world.
• Solar and Lunar: Cass compares Rapunzel to the sun and disparagingly compares herself to the moon, with its dim light that's only a pale reflection of the sun's brilliance.
• Split Personality: Cass has officially gotten to this point in her Sanity Slippage by Chapter 18. And both of her personalities despise each other.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Raps has to keep everyone in Corona from panicking at the situation. Fortunately, she has a lot of experience with this trope.
    If she was not Princess Rapunzel, the girl who always smiled and found a way to overcome any adversity thrown her way, then she was only a stupid, naive, gullible child who was useless to everyone.
  • Cass also tries to pretend she's happy and emotionally stable, particularly to Rapunzel.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: We only get to see Cassandra act genuinely nice and caring (without any Kick the Dog moments) when she's talking to Fidella. Not surprisingly, she gives Fidella to Varian.
• Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Rapunzel has the most sympathy for Cass, followed closely by Varian, who knows what letting yourself be consumed by hatred feels like.
  • Hector, easily the most unsympathetic member of the Dark Brotherhood, gets this reaction from Eugene when he dies.
• Take Over the World: Cassandra's (current) goal, upgraded from her original one of revenge. It's for their own good - the world needs someone with a strong guiding hand like Cassandra.
• Talking to Themself: Cassandra's Inner Monologue is so harsh on herself that she tells it to "Shut the fuck up" at one point. Progresses to literally talking to herself during her meeting with Varian, and then finally into The Woman in the Mirror Talks Back by Chapter 18.
• Terms of Endangerment: While talking with Varian, Cassandra refers to Eugene and the other members of the rebellion as "our friends", even though she's long stopped being their friend, and the feeling is mutual.
• That Man Is Dead: Cassandra only wishes this was the case with her former self. Everyone else (aside from Rapunzel) has this opinion of her as well, describing her as "a monster that wore [their] friend's face".
• There Are No Therapists: Not in the nineteenth century.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Cass impales Zhan Tiri through the head once, then stabs her several more times for good measure. Post-death, she later crushes her body into pulp and incinerates it with the Sundrop's power.
• This Cannot Be!: Cassandra's reaction to seeing her original appearance in a mirror.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Mostly intact with the heroes, but subverted with Adira and Kiera. Lance says outright that their group doesn't take lives.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After an incredibly long, awful day (more when you consider he wasn't sleeping), Varian is forced to fall asleep, something he was scared of doing because every time he did, he had horrible nightmares about his father or the current situation. But he instead dreams that everything is fine, and Cass has become his wife, like he always wanted. invokedKind of bittersweet, since it means Varian can only feel happy when he's denying reality. It turns into a Nightmare Sequence, naturally.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Adira argues for putting Cass down for good, but the others aren't so sure.
  If, by some miracle, we are able to find a way to challenge her, we must not hesitate to pull the trigger when the opportunity presents itself.
• Took a Level in Badass: Cassandra is now pretty much a Physical God.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Cassandra, big time. Even her canonical self seemed to draw the line at murder.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Varian has this opinion of Pontius, Cassandra's new royal advisor, since he just tells her everything she wants to hear, and that's not what she needs right now. Rapunzel also chastizes Pontius for doing this.
• Troubled Abuser: Cass has no qualms about forcing Rapunzel to marry her against her will and watching her every move and breaking promises she makes to her, but she also hates seeing her miserable. Sometimes seeing the effects of her actions on Rapunzel is enough to drive Cass to tears. Doesn't stop her from doing it, though.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Angry has completely dropped any pretense of childish innocence and tells Eugene she'll kill anyone who lays a hand on Catalina.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • The whole story is kicked off by Cassandra realizing Zhan Tiri was going to betray her and retaliates before the latter can take the Moonstone. Cassandra even calls out Zhan Tiri for underestimating her.
  • When the heroes and the kingdom of Corona try to stand their ground against Cassandra, she isolates them on an enormous black rock tower, showing just a small part of what she is capable of now that she has the Ultimate Power.
  • A panicked Hector threatens to kill Rapunzel unless Cassandra gets them down safely and surrenders the Moonstone and Sundrop. Cassandra gives him the chance to stand down and then kills him when he mistakenly cuts Rapunzel with his dagger.
  • Eugene, Adira, Quirin, Edmund, and Lance try to attack Cassandra after she lets them down from the black rock tower with the intent of cutting her reign short, only to discover that the Cassandra that greeted them was just a "Reflection", a projection of herself that she can see, hear and talk through.
  • The Captain reluctantly tries to kill Cassandra under the belief that she's too far gone. Cassandra willingly lets him stab her with his sword which just passes through her and gets encased in black rock.
  • A group of Coronans armed with crossbows, swords, and various crudely made weapons try to take back Corona from Cassandra. She takes arrows and crossbow bolts being fired from all around her with no issue, until one hits her in the eye and she seemingly goes down. When the crowd thinks that is the end of Cassandra, she stands back up, yanks the crossbow bolt out, showing off her Healing Factor, and then retaliates by trapping them in black rock.
• Undying Loyalty: Attila wants to help overthrow Cassandra out of loyalty to Rapunzel, since she was the one who defended him and exonerated him in the first season of the show.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Flashbacks show that, even knowing what she did about her heritage, Cassandra still wanted what was best for Rapunzel, and even Eugene. She even expressed wanting to attend their wedding. Present Cassandra despises Eugene and is a tyrannical sociopath and Domestic Abuser to Rapunzel.
  • Even while struggling with issues like her lack of traditional femininity and repressed anger and resentment towards her father and a bully in the Royal Guard named Derrick, Cass was willing and able to open up and relate to Medina and Hanna when she meets them as a teenager. She doesn't even hold the fact that they're a lesbian couple against them, despite some internal jealousy towards Hanna.
• Villain Protagonist: Cassandra is the Big Bad and several parts of the story are from her perspective. There are also various flashbacks that show how she became who she is now.
• Visionary Villain:
  • Cassandra plans to create a world free of suffering that is under her rule.
  • Pontius Maximillian III is a member of an organization called "The Blades of the Holy Sun" whose goal is to make Corona the top power of the world.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: This is what Eugene and Cassandra used to be, having bonded over their mutual love of the princess. Sadly, that very same thing is what would make them enemies later.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: This is what Cass thinks she is, but she's not doing it for the right reasons.
• What Is This Feeling?: Cassandra finds herself perplexed by her own guilt.
  It was maddening! Why should she feel guilty for taking what was rightfully hers?? Why should she feel bad for finally attaining her destiny??
• Why Can't I Hate You?:
  • More like "Why Can't I Stop Loving You" but Varian's feelings toward Cass haven't changed since those days.
  • Rapunzel is the same way, asking herself how she can enjoy Cass kissing her so much instead of feeling nothing at all.
    The fact that she was still thinking about the goddamned kiss made her hate herself all the more.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The heroes are unsure why Cassandra spared their lives when they were at her mercy. Some of them think she's just too crazy to think straight, others think there must still be some good in her. The real reason is probably because she knew it would make Rapunzel hate her.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Cass thought attaining Ultimate Power would solve all her problems and make her happy, but she's obviously unraveling much more than before.
• The Woman in the Mirror Talks Back: Handmaiden!Cassandra appears in front of a mirror to give CrazyDictatorBitch!Cassandra her usual dose of why her present self sucks.
• Write Who You Know: In-Universe, Rapunzel once wrote a story with characters very clearly based on Eugene and Cassandra, out of frustration at not being able to get them to be friends.
• Yandere: Cass has a lot of Green-Eyed Monster for Eugene and his relationship with Rapunzel, and now she has the power to act on it. She would have killed him outright if not for the fact Raps would never forgive her for it. Even before her Sanity Slippage, she told Varian she'd kill anyone who tries to murder Rapunzel if it's what it takes to protect her.
• Yes-Man: Pontius Maximillian III, who offers to become Cassandra's royal advisor. She, being the Horrible Judge of Character she is, accepts.
• Younger Than They Look: Kiera and Catalina are described as "adolescents" in the fic. They really don't look it if you go by the series depiction of them.

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