•Your Destiny Is Magical• Cassarian story

Chapter 13

Eugene p.o.v.

I slowly opened my eyes. My head hurt. Everything hurt. I blinked a couple of times to get the dust out of my eyes.

I felt like I had been laying there for an eternity, so I sat up, careful to not hurt anything, and looked around. What I saw is something I hoped I never would see. Corona, but everything was destroyed. Roofs of houses collapsed, parts of walls scattered across the streets.

As I stared at the ruins, I felt some kind of anger starting to boil deep within my mind and body. Also guilt, for not being able to protect my city, but mostly anger. Cassandra's betrayal hadn't really hit me until now. Guess I didn't really believe she would do harm to us. She had been like a sister to me. Granted, an annoying sister you only put up with because you have to, but still family. Speaking of family, where was Edmund? Where was Varian? Where was Rapunzel?

Rapunzel. At the thought of her, I immediately jumped to my feet.
I heard something fall on the ground, and looked down to see a large piece of metal, which apparently was hiding my legs the whole time. I didn't notice, didn't care.

I ran across the streets, trying to find other people. Without success. As I desperately ran and looked around, thoughts of yesterday (was it yesterday? How long had I been out?) started flooding back into my mind. I shuddered as I thought about how Corona had turned into a battlefield in mere seconds.

I was in a sword fight with Cass. Ofcourse, she has an advantage; the black rocks. Whenever I tried to hit her with my sword, a rock got in the way and pushed me back, leaving each time a bruise that would surely become visible in the next couple of days.

Eventually, because of exhaustion and the rocks constantly hitting me, I blacked out.

A wave of sadness washed over me as I continued my hopeless search. Surely there would be a lot of deaths. I noticed a tear fall as I thought about all the people I may have lost. But then, a familiar voice calling me pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Eugene!"

I turned around and felt relieved when I saw the alchemist running towards me.

"Thank God you're okay! I thought I'd lost you!" He said as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Varian! W-what happened? Where is Rapunzel? And the rest of Corona?" I stuttered. Remembering the gas that made Rapunzel pass out, I started panicking even more.

"Don't worry, they're all fine. No one got really badly injured. As for the princess, she's still unconscious but I believe she's okay."

That calmed me down a bit. They're fine. She's fine.

"Where are they?" I asked, more calmly now.

"Snuggly Duckling."

I nodded.

"Okay, I'll go there," I said and walked a few steps. Then turned around, noticing he wasn't following. "You coming?"

He shook his head.

"No, I was send here to look for survivors, like you, that weren't at the pub", he said.

I raised an eyebrow, then shook my head and grabbed his arm. "No, there is no way I will let you search alone. What if you encounter her? I'm coming with you."

"Eugene, no offense, but you look horrible! You need to see a medic first before you do anything else!" He replied.

"Then at least have some other guards come with you."

"They thought it would be safer that I went alone, seeing I was probably the only one she wouldn't attack when I should run across her", Varian said and he smiled. "Really, I'll be fine."

I sighed. Thinking about it, it probably was true. And the temptation of going to my family was just too big to resist. I was so, so tired. And everything hurted. My head was throbbing. So, hesitantly I nodded. I know I shouldn't let him go alone, but I couldn't really think clearly.

"Alright, but if you're not back in a few hours, I'll be sending guards to look for you."

He nodded and gave me one last big hug, but not too hard so he wouldn't hurt me.

"I'll be careful", he said as he pulled away. Then he raised his hand for a high five.

"Team awesome?"

I smirked and gave him a high five.

"Team awesome."

~~~

Varian p.o.v.

I am getting way better at lying I thought as I continued to walk through the ruins of Corona. As I turned my head and looked at the figure of Eugene one last time before continuing, I felt kinda bad for letting him go back alone. But I just had to see if she was okay.

I really don't know why, but my mind wouldn't rest until I knew she was fine. As I rounded a corner, I broke into a run. I last saw her entering the castle, so that's where I went looking first.

I burst through the doors and ran inside. I searched the hallways, shouting her name. As I looked for her, I noticed the castle looked horrible. Wallpaper torn off the wall, paintings that were so damaged I doubted they were savable.

Black rocks forced me to slow down. They were basically everywhere, so sometimes I had to jump over them, or bend over so I don't hit my head.

As I passed the throne room, I heard a light sobbing. So I peaked. And there she was. But my heart broke when i saw the state she was in.

She was sitting on the floor, her arms covering her head as she sobbed. I slowly walked over to her.

"Cassandra?"

She quickly looked up, eyes wide.

"Varian? What are you doing here? Go away!" She said and looked away. Her voice was hoarse.

I ignored that and crouched down next to her, grabbing her hand. That broke something in her. She really stared crying and covered her mouth as she looked at me. That was the second time I've seen her cry, and each time it broke my heart a little more.

"I'm so so sorry, I-I ruined everyone's lives! I... I didn't mean to." Her voice was barely a whisper at the end, but I could still understand her.

I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look me in my eyes, while desperately trying to calm her down.

"Please, Cassie, you ruined no one's live," I tilted her chin up, "and I know you didn't mean to."

Sometimes actions mean more than words, so I pulled her against my chest and rested my chin on top of her head as I whispered reassuring words until she calmed down.

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