On Trial is a Tangled: The Series fic that follows Cassandra shortly after the Sundrop and Moonstone are destroyed. While Rapunzel, Eugene, Lance, Varian, and a few others have forgiven her, the rest of the kingdom (especially the King) does not. She's ready to face the consequences of her actions...but the justice system of Corona is not as just as it looks, and she soon finds herself facing punishments far worse than anything she'd done as a villain...
Written by Flossy2003
, and available to read on Archive Of Our Own right here. It is a continuing fic, with the last update having been made January 2024.
Tropes found in this fic include:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In canon, Cassandra simply left Corona of her own accord once the Stones were destroyed. Here, she is arrested, isolated, imprisoned, tortured, sexually harassed, drugged, labeled insane, beaten, and almost sold into slavery. Poor Rapunzel isn't immune to this either, with the truth of how the King has manipulated the justice system causing her to see her father in a new light.
- Adaptational Villainy: In canon, King Frederic was angry at Cassandra for her betrayal, but was willing to forgive her (as she wasn't in her right mind for a while) and let her leave Corona peacefully. Here, he already hated Cassandra because she was the daughter of Gothel (aka, the woman who kept the princess from Corona for eighteen years). When Cassandra took her Face–Heel Turn, his hatred grew to the point where he thought he was justified in arranging for Cassandra to be isolated, tortured, and sold into slavery...and still thought it was a good idea to lie to his wife and daughter about it.
- What's worse, its heavily implied that Cassandra isn't the first person he's done this too...
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Several times, Cass' treatment gets so bad that she's crying and begging them to stop.
- Befriending the Bullied: What Madeleine does for Cassandra when it becomes clear she doesn't have any friends in the prison (as the other inmates had been ordered to bully her).
- Beware the Nice Ones: Rapunzel, full stop. She's happy to play with children, give people gifts, and paint beautiful pictures, but no sane person would threaten her loved ones. She might not have the power of the Sun Drop anymore, but that just makes her a Badass Normal.
- Big Damn Heroes: Pulled by Queen Arianna, Rapunzel, Eugene, Lance, and a guard entourage when they show up (unknowingly) right before Cassandra was supposed to be executed. The Queen also ends up pulling this for all of the women in the prison, as she shuts it down the second she sees the appalling conditions and learns about the human trafficking.
- Break the Haughty: Cassandra is locked in a cold room without a window or light source for several weeks, force-fed after she gets sick and stops eating, is abused/sexually harassed by James the guard, is forced to go through a mock trial with no one but Varian standing up for her, is forced on a prison barge, then into an asylum (where she's tortured under the pretense of "treatment"), then is almost sold into slavery before her friend from the asylum saves her...and she's arrested again a few weeks later. Along with that, her mental health deteriorates due to the stresses she's facing, with her suffering from horrible nightmares and guilt from what she's done.
- Call-Back: When Cassandra's crimes are listed, many of them are references to episodes in Season 3, with the "drugging and kidnapping of a minor" charge referring to "Cassandra's Revenge".
- Calming Tea: Madeline insists on making Eugene a cup of tea when it becomes clear to her that his guilt over Cass' condition is eating him alive.
- Catapult Nightmare: Even before her Trauma Conga Line really starts, Cassandra has a few of these. They get worse as the story goes on.
- Continuity Nod: When Rapunzel starts thinking that the King is lying to her, she asks Varian to make another dose of Truth Serum from Xavier's mood potion, like he did in Season 1.
- Comfort Food: When Queen Arianna visits Cass in her cell in one of the earlier chapters, she brings her several things, including a shawl and a box of blackberry pastries. It's while Cass eats these that the Queen tells her that she's strong enough to get through the trials she's facing. Despite not yet having faced the worst of her Trauma Conga Line, Cass takes heart from this visit.
- Corrupt Royal Official: The King's M.O. is to make sure that Cassandra suffers as much as possible before being sentenced to death via burning at the stake. As the Queen eventually proves, this goes against Corona's laws, and shows that the King has corrupted the justice system so that he can punish people however he wants note While Cassandra starts recovering from her long ordeal, Queen Arianna is giving the justice system a ''major'' overhaul.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- King Frederic has been manipulating the justice system for who knows how long simply so he can make sure that the criminals he thinks should be punished are given the harshest treatment possible. He forgot that his wife runs the government, too and will do everything possible to destroy that kind of corruption, even if he's the one causing it.
- Once Madeline learned where Cassandra had been taken after being sold, she simply ran there without any real plan, even though the man who bought Cass is a violent drunk. If not for Cass' warrior training kicking in, they both might've been killed.
- Easily Forgiven: Played straight with Rapunzel, Eugene, Lance, Varian, the former Captain (Harold Gonzales), the Queen, and even Adira. All of them understand that Cass was being manipulated by a demon, and that she's truly sorry for her actions.
- Everyone Has Standards: Everyone agrees that Cassandra deserves to be punished for what she did under the Moonstone's influence...but once they hear about exactly what the king arranged to happen to her, they agree that he went too far.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Lady Caine, despite hating Cassandra for her loyalty to Rapunzel (and helping to get her arrested in the first place) is horrified at some of the "treatment" Cassandra's received due to being deemed crazy. She's also one of the first prisoners to tell the Queen the truth about Madame, the prison, and the human-trafficking ring.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: A surprisingly sad example. When she's in the hospital, the nurse asks if she can do anything to help calm Cassandra down. Cassandra asks if they have any stuffed animals, specifically an owl. Said owl reminds her of her trusted pet, who abandoned her after she took over Corona. Once she's hospitalized again in Corona, it's noted that she keeps a plush owl in her bed at all times, as it helps keep her calm.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The warden of the prison is trying to reassure the Queen that everything is fine and that there's nothing she or the princess should be worried about. Literally two seconds later a guard comes rushing in, saying that Cassandra's dying and might not live to see her execution. The Queen shuts everything down right then and there.
- Internal Reveal: Under the influence of wine spiked with Varian's truth serum, the King and James the guard reveal the truth about Cassandra's punishment, as well as the fact that her trial was practically a kangaroo court and that they intended all along to sentence her to the worst punishment they could. Rapunzel and Arianna are left heartbroken and betrayed by this revelation.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: James the guard is this, one hundred percent. He takes sadistic pleasure in torturing the prisoners (physically and mentally), forbids Cassandra to even speak unless given permission, and its implied that he's been sexually harassing her. He even tries to cut out her tongue at one point, only being stopped by Eugene. Varian later admits that James wasn't much better while he was in the dungeon, as he beat up the teenager and did something to Ruddiger that left the poor raccoon traumatized.
- Kangaroo Court:
- Even if Cassandra had been trying to defend herself during her trial, it's clear to the reader that she was never meant to win; the jury box is fully of people who clearly dislike her, the king is the one passing sentence, James is behind her making sure that she doesn't try anything (while whispering taunts/threats in her ear), and all of Cassandra's friends (especially Rapunzel) were all but forbidden to attend. The only one willing to defend her is Varian, and he wasn't even supposed to be there. It's made worse when the reader learns that despite being officially sentenced to three years' imprisonment, the King has already arranged for her to be taken to the worst prison in Corona.
- Subverted with James' trial. This time, the jury is impartial, Queen Arianna is passing sentence, and there are multiple people to provide testimony (including Varian, one of his victims). The only reason why James clearly isn't going to win (despite trying to defend himself) is because everyone knows that he's guilty as sin.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Madame has spent years torturing, bullying, even selling imprisoned women and treating them like garbage. So it's more than a little deserved when Queen Arianna orders her arrested, in her own prison, right in front of several of the people she'd spent years torturing. And to top it all off, she never got that trip to France...
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Madeline, a sweet older woman who befriended Cassandra when she needed it most, does this when she learns that the Madam at the prison has been involved with human trafficking, and Cass is her latest victim. Never Mess with Granny, indeed.
- Minion with an F in Evil:
- A lot of Corona's guards clearly feel bad for the level of punishment Cassandra's facing, with some of them clearly thinking that this is too harsh a punishment.
- Madeline, despite working for the Madame as a cook and server for the prisoners, is a kind old soul and befriends Cassandra when she needs it the most. She even gets her away from the man who bought her and gets her some medical attention.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Eugene's reaction to how bad Cassandra's mental health has become, especially after the disaster with the two "psychiatrists".
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Eugene, after catching James the guard trying to cut out Cass' tongue, fires him and has Cass kept in her room for a few days to physically and mentally recover. The King fires him for this and has James replace him.
- Only Sane Man: When she's recovering from her ordeal, Cassandra is assigned two psychiatrists...whose practices would make any real psychiatrist scream in horror and frustration. They don't treat Cassandra like the traumatized adult she is, but like a misbehaving child. Only the nurses attending to Cassandra suspect what's going on, and it's because of them that the two women are fired before Cassandra's mental state gets any worse.
- Papa Wolf:
- The entire reason why Cassandra goes through her long list of traumas is because the king thought she deserved the worst punishment possible both for her crimes against the kingdom and her crimes against Rapunzel.
- The former Captain of the Guard won't tolerate anyone harming his daughter. He knows that Cassandra needs to pay for her crimes, but he can tell the difference between punishment and abuse, and he won't let anyone abuse his daughter.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Queen Arianna knows that criminals have to pay for their crimes, but she knows where to draw the line. What's more, she remembers that criminals are still people, many of whom simply need the right guidance to turn their lives around.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Queen Arianna. After her husband's crimes are discovered, she takes full control of the government (with Rapunzel aiding her). She shuts down Corona's worst prison, fires an incompetent captain, and does her best to make sure Corona never sees such corruption again.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When Eugene catches James about to cut Cassandra's tongue out after paralyzing her with a drug, he has James removed from duty and sets Cass up in her room for a few days to recover. The king is furious when he hears about Eugene's actions, and fires him for it.
- Shown Their Work: While the land of Corona is fictional, some of the horrific "treatments" given to Cassandra when she's believed to be insane were actual practices done in asylums in the 19th century, believing that they aided with mental health. More often than not, however, these practices caused negative physical effects on the patients, who sometimes had their mental health deteriorate further due to the stress of the treatment. The "psychiatrists" who come to help her later on aren't much better, as they treat her more like a misbehaving child than an adult who's been through a serious trauma...which, unfortunately, is similar to how mental health patients were treated at the time.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Eugene is struggling with his guilt over not doing more to help Cassandra (especially after the "psychiatrists" talked him into chaining Cass down. Madeline more-or-less tricks him into coming to the kitchen with her. She makes him a cup of tea and assures him that, despite the guilt he feels and some of the anger/fear Cass has towards him, he is not to blame for what happened, and that Cassandra will see that once they actually talk.
- Trauma Button: After Cassandra is rescued and starts to recover, numerous things are this for her, from anything referring to losing your voice, public execution, force-feeding, imprisonment, to being scolded. Thanks to the ice baths and electric shock therapy in the asylum, even taking a bath is this for her. At one point she gets upset that she can't read her favorite books any more because most of them contain some kind of trigger.
- Trauma Conga Line: Poor Cassandra gets a practically endless one from the moment she's arrested in Chapter 1.
- Unexpected Kindness: Madeline has no reason to be nice to Cassandra, but she chooses to be kind to her (telling her stories, comforting her, and even bringing her dog to see her) simply because she can see that the girl needs a friend. She's one of the few good things to come out of Cassandra's TCL.
- Villainous Medical Care: A really messed up version. When Cassandra gets sick in Madame's prison, she's given an assortment of medicines that actually make her sicker, electroshock therapy, and most of her cries for help or that she's sick go ignored out of pure sadism. The only reason Cassandra gets medical treatment at all is because they need her alive... so she can make it to her execution.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Varian gives his father one when Quirin suggests that Cassandra's mysterious disappearance is a good thing. Quirin states that some of Cassandra's crimes, such as kidnapping and drugging him, are hard to forgive. Varian states that, while what Cassandra did was wrong, he did things that were just as bad when he was a villain. He finishes by asking why he's worthy of forgiveness, and Cassandra isn't? Quirin has to admit that Varian has a point.
