Rose stood with Eugene and Varian behind a stack of hay bales as they shot amber at fake Cassandras. The device Varian held made a loud noise as amber was thrown towards the fake Cassandras, amber spiraling up into large mounds. Once all the targets were hit, they all stood up and put their goggles on top of their heads.

"All right," Varian and Eugene hip-bumped. "Project Obsidian is a success."

"Project Obsidian?" The three of them turned to see Rapunzel walking up to them. Varian hid the device behind his back while Rose and Eugene held their hands behind them.

"Project Obsidian. It's a device that can destroy Cassandra-" Eugene bumped Varian and glared at him, "...'s self-esteem." Varian then quickly walked away.

"Eugene, we are not attacking Cassandra," Rapunzel told him sternly.

"Of course, we're not going to attack her, Sunshine. But I'm Captain of the Guard now, I have to be prepared to protect our people from any contingency." A blast went off from behind, and Rose turned to see Varian firing the device. Eugene started to talk again when Varian fired again. Rose glared at him.

"But I won't use this thing without your permission," Eugene said, taking out a paper that required her signature of approval. Varian walked up to them.

"Princess, believe me, I don't want to hurt Cass either, but we can't promise that she's not gonna try to hurt us," Varian explained.

Rapunzel looked down. "Okay. I will sign it to protect Corona. But, we won't need it because I know the Cass I love is still in there somewhere."

Eugene held up a quill to her, which she grabbed with narrowed eyes. With a worried look, she signed the paper.

Rose sat with Varian on the horse Fidella. They had rushed into Corona with Eugene and Max as soon as they got an alert something had happened. A guard ran up to them.

"Captain. Cassandra is in Corona. She's attacking Rapunzel."

Varian, Eugene, and Rose all shared a look, then galloped over to where the scene was unfolding.

They jumped off their horses with not a second to spare. Varian bent down on one knee, his amber device ready to fire. Rose and Eugene stood on each side of him, watching Rapunzel and Cass before them.

"Hold your fire," Eugene told Varian.

Then suddenly, there was a loud noise as amber started to encase Cass. A pleading look came across her face, and she became frozen in the amber.

Rose turned to look at Varian. Had he fired?

Rapunzel glared in Varian's direction. "I said we didn't have to attack her."

Varian's face showed that he hadn't meant it. "I don't know what happened. It must've malfunctioned."

Then suddenly, the amber started shaking, and they all looked to see the amber shatter as Cass broke free. "Project Obsidian, huh? Zhan Tiri was right."

"Cassandra-"

"You want me to be the bad guy?" Cass brought out a small bottle. "Fine, now I'm the bad guy."

"Cassandra, no!" Rapunzel held out her arms for her. But Cass threw the bottle onto the ground, causing blue smoke to cover the two girls. Rapunzel coughed, and Rose watched in horror as the princess fell to the floor, unconscious.

"No!" Eugene hopped onto Max and ran to Rapunzel's side. He picked her up and laid her on Max's back. "Max, Pascal, get the princess as far away as you can. Now!" Max galloped away in a rush, Eugene watching after him.

Rose watched as Cass struggled beneath a net the guards had trapped her under. She held up a fist, causing a black rock to throw Eugene into the air. More black rocks emerged from the ground, throwing the other guards away. Cages formed around the guards, and Rose was painfully reminded of when Varian was trapped in a black rock cage of his own, being held prisoner in Cass's stronghold.

Varian ran up to Cass as she sent more black rocks onto the guards. Rose followed after him.

"Cassandra, please. This is your home," Varian pleaded with her.

"Not anymore." Cass raised her voice. "Corona falls today!" She pushed Varian and Rose away with a black rock, then sent more towards the innocent Coronans standing around. Chaos fell around the kingdom and everyone ran around, trying to find a safe spot to take cover.

Cass turned in a circle, causing black rocks to form all around. She turned as Feldspar and Monty threw cookies at her. Rose admired their courage to stand up to her, but didn't think that it would help much. More people followed lead, throwing random objects.

But Cass was better than them. Black rocks formed at their feet, and as the rocks fell back into the ground, they took the dirt with them, causing the Coronans to fall into deep pits.

"Cassandra, I'm putting a stop to this right now!" Eugene yelled.

"Oh, ho, ho! This'll be good!" Cass exclaimed with a wicked grin. She lifted her hand, a black rock rising with it. A sword was attached to the top of it. Rose recognized that sword. It was the black rock sword Cass had used when she'd kidnapped Varian.

As she pulled the sword out of the rock, it collapsed, and she held her sword behind her, ready to fight.

"Please," Eugene held out his hand, "You were like a sister to-"

"Save it." A black rock emerged underneath Cass, and she leapt at Eugene, who stepped out of the way. Black rocks shot out of the ground, throwing Eugene all around. He landed on the ground with a hard thud. "That was not fair."

Varian rushed after Cass, the amber device set on his shoulder. Rose stood in place, not knowing what to do. She looked desperately around, raising her eyebrows in surprise as she noticed something glint in the sunlight. It was a bow. How had it gotten there? Not far away was a quiver of arrows.

Rose had practiced shooting a bow and arrows when she was younger. Her father had taught her. But it had been years since she'd shot a bow. Would she still remember how to use it?

Roses picked it up, slinging the quiver over her shoulder. She knocked an arrow into the bow's string and closed one eye. Watching Cassandra very carefully, she let go of the arrow. It just flew past her face. Cass looked up in shock and narrowed her eyes at Rose.

Varian continued to shoot amber at Cass, but she blocked them with black rocks. Rose shot another arrow at Cass, only for it to be knocked aside by a black rock.

"We have to fall back!" Lance yelled to Eugene.

"We are not falling back!" Eugene told him.

A sudden row of black rocks rushed towards Varian, knocking the amber device from his hands. When they looked back down at it, it was broken in half, sparking.

"Son, you cannot save a kingdom by being trapped inside it!" Edmund bellowed.

Rose, Varian, and Eugene dodged more black rocks. "Everyone, fall back!" Eugene yelled.

All of Corona ran out of the kingdom. Varian, Rose, and Eugene avoided black rocks as Cass threw the rocks at them. They just managed to miss them, just a few seconds before the deadly rocks.

Finally, Princess Rapunzel had woken up. But just a few seconds later, she rushed outside, and everyone followed. Rose watched the princess's face as she stared at her kingdom in horror. Corona was completely covered in black rocks. Rapunzel's worst fear had come true.