(I was gonna wait till after church to publish this chapter but I'm inpatient, so here 🙂)

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"The Day of Hearts," Princess Rapunzel sighed happily as she walked the streets of Corona, her best friend following close behind. "Why does this Kingdom feel the need to celebrate something every two days?" Cassandra asked rhetorically.

"Come on Cass, get into the spirit," Rapunzel said, looking down at an old book on display, "look at all the names in Herz Der Sonne's diary." The princess then started flipping through the pages before suddenly stopping. "Do you think either of us will ever sign it? Wouldn't it be nice to have a boyfriend?" She asked, looking towards her friend.

"Raps, our kingdom is at war, and you're thinking about finding yourself a guy?" Cass responded. "You're telling me you've never once had the thought of getting a boyfriend?" Raps inquired then Cass sighed. "So what if I have, that was a while ago, I don't want romance anymore," the swordswoman answered.

"But what if you found 'the guy'? What would he be like?" Rapunzel pried. Cass then sighed in defeat, knowing that the princess wasn't going to stop till she answered one of her questions.

"Well, he would be strong, taller than me, and maybe a little older than me," Cass replied, "oh, and be able to give me a good sword fight." "You mean like Hubert?" Raps teased. "Ugh, no, he's handsome but such a knucklehead," the maiden replied. "So you don't want a knucklehead?". "No, do you?" Cass responded. "I don't really know, I think I'll know him when I see him," the princess answered, playing with her long brown hair.

"Raps, you do realize you're probably going to be paired up with the prince of some kingdom that'll help us win the war, right," Cass asked. "You mean like an arranged marriage? My parents wouldn't do that to me," the princess answered before a guard came up to them.

"Princess, your parents would like to see you," the guard said. The girls then followed him back to the castle. Rapunzel went straight to the throne room and Cass went to do some sparring practice.

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"I can't believe this!" The princess exclaimed later that day as she come into the castle training grounds. "What'd your parents say?" Cass asked, putting her sword in the sheath on her back. "I've been betrothed to one of the princes of Southern Islas," Rapunzel answered then sighed.

"Can't say I'm surprised, but I'm sorry Raps, that sucks," the swordswoman said and gave the princess a side hug. "I know, I don't even know which prince it is." "And there's no way to get out of this?" "Not unless the war stops before I have to marry the prince in two weeks," Raps replied before sighing again.

She looked around a bit, then noticed a black sword taken from the battlefield.  "I wonder what the Dark Kingdom is like," the princess suddenly asked. "I kinda do too, I've always wondered what they use to make their weapons," Cass stated, looking over at the sword too. "I've heard they have the best fruit." "Do you think they celebrate as much as we do?" Cass joked making Rapunzel laugh a little.

"Well, I have two weeks before I'm stuck in a castle with some prince forever, we could find out," the princess said with a smile. "Raps, I would be down for going on a rebellious road trip, just not to the kingdom we're at war with," Cass responded. "Oh well, I guess I'll go by myself." Raps replied then Cass sighed.

"You're not joking, are you?" Cass asked. The princess just smiled in response. "Fine, I guess I'll come with you," Cass said, rolling her eyes playfully. "Oh thank goodness, I didn't want to go alone," the eighteen year old responded with a sigh of relief, " so, what's the plan?"

"I can get you off the island without anyone noticing," the handmaiden said, "but getting over the wall is a different story." "I think I know someone who can help us with that."

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After dinner that evening, the girls snuck out of the castle and off the island with ease. Once they were on the mainland, Raps led Cass to a large clearing where there were a hot air balloon and a tall, somewhat muscular, bald man waiting for them.

"Arnwaldo, thanks for helping us," Raps said as she hugged the man. "Anytime princess, and I've told you, called me Al," the man responded. "And I've told you, call me Rapunzel," she replied, going over to the balloon.

"I've put everything you guys 'll need in the basket," Al stated, "you remember how to fly one of these, right princess?" Raps nodded.

"If anyone asks you, say we went to the Southern Islas so I can meet my fiancé," the princess said as she and Cass got into the basket. Once Al nodded, Rapunzel launched the balloon.

"We're gonna be in so much trouble when we get back." Cass said as they begin to drift towards the Dark Kingdom.

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They flew at a steady pace all night and well into the next day.

The girls watched as the sun slowly disappeared behind a mountain rage. They continued through the mountains and soon emerged from behind the last one, to see the most stunning scene.

The inky blue sky was filled with more stars then you could imagine. Rising from the horizon was the biggest and brightest full moon either of the girls had ever seen, the silhouette of the Dark Kingdom castle plastered against it.

They stared in awe, but the moment was short lived as something pierced their balloon. The balloon slowly started to sink lower and lower in the air. It hit the ground not too far from the huge chasm surrounding the Dark Kingdom.

"Stay in the basket Raps," Cass said, putting her long, curly, black hair in a high ponytail. She then cautiously climbed out of the basket. The first thing she did was look around to make sure no one saw them. When she didn't see anyone, Cass went over to look at the envelope of the balloon, soon finding a rip in near the top right of it, and another one near the bottom left. She inspected the balloon a little more before she saw a black arrow stuck in the left side of the basket.

"Raps, I think we were shot down," the woman stated, showing the arrow to her friend. "It's just one arrow," the princess replied. "Yeah, one arrow, they probably have thousands more just like it," Cass responded as she began looking through the stuff Al packed for them.

"I've looked through all of that already, he didn't pack us a patch, or sewing kit," Raps said after a second. "So we're stranded, great," Cass responded sarcastically. "We could go into the kingdom and see if we can get a sewing kit, maybe take a look around since we came all this way to see it," the princess suggested, getting out of the balloon.

"Raps, they shot us down," the swordswoman emphasized. "Maybe they didn't mean to," Rapunzel replied optimistically. "I wouldn't be able to hit a air balloon from the distance they hit us, that was not an accident," Cass stated. The princess shrugged in response, starting to walk away from the deflated balloon.

"What are you doing?" Cass asked, noticing that her friend was gradually getting closer to the wide black bridge crossing the chasm. "What we came here to do," Raps answered, "weren't you wondering what they make their weapons out of?"

"Fine, you win," the twenty-two year old gave in, realizing whatever she said wasn't going to stop her friend, "here, at least put this on". She then threw a dark purple, almost black, cloak to the princess. Cass found her sword, put it in her sheath, and put on a cloak nearly identical to Rapunzel's. The two girls then proceeded towards the bridge.

"I don't like this, Raps" Cassandra said as they stared at the bridge in front of them. "It looks sturdy enough, come on," the princess said, stepping onto the bridge, Cass followed close behind.

The two girls walked in silence for a bit before noticing something strange when they were a little more than half way across the bridge.

"Is it just me, or did it suddenly get brighter out here?" Rapunzel asked, breaking the silence. "Uh, Raps," the swordswoman responded. The princess turned round to see Cass staring over the side of the bridge. Rapunzel came to her side and looked down. Both girls were terrified by what they saw; the chasm below them was filled with thousands of long, sharp, black rocks, most of which were glowing a pale blue.

They stared for a moment longer before silently agreeing to get off the bridge as fast as possible and running to the other side.

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Once they were back on solid ground the girls hesitantly entered the Dark Kingdom.

They wandered through the streets for a couple minutes in silence. In silence? It was quiet? Wasn't this supposed to be a thriving Kingdom?

"It's such a beautiful evening, where is everyone?" Rapunzel asked, looking around as she walked, "It's not that late, right?" "I don't like this Raps, maybe we should..." Cass stopped mid sentence when she heard someone yell 'Watch out!'. An arrow suddenly struck the ground inches from the side of her foot, making her stop in her tracks; the princess kept walking. Cass looked where it came from and saw two men running towards her and Rapunzel.

"Watch out!" One of the men yelled again. The other jumped at the princess then there was a flash of blinding blue light.