Tangled After Ever After

Mistakes

A droplet dribbled to his temple, slipping down his nose and halting at the tip. Fingers divulged from around him, though it was only slightly recognizable.
The movement of leather brushing against his cheek, the reality of the gesture laced by clicking that pierced close. Another droplet fell following to the next, creating a slow stream down his face. He released a ragged breath as the liquid reached his chapped lips, tasting a tarty salt. As the fluid increased, so did the puncture wound from his side, gripping him to the stone floor. His mouth opened, though parched, alerted a scream through the dark that he found wasn't his own.
His globes became rounded crescents, creating a sliver of blurry hues. The darkening climax of Cassandra's fortress was flooded with dark flavors before they paled into a soothing cream.
The glossed image stretched in white, crackling the reflective mirage into a dribble as pinched shards crossed over his form, dissolving into dew drops from scenery change; bits of paring burst around them, that of the cold, digging increasingly into the skin; a puff was expected though; instead, it allowed for the flooding in his side to sustain.
He found himself breathing? His crescent look turned into a quarter as tears escaped.
He had thought that he would indeed have died with him gurgling in his own blood. Murdered by the woman he so wished to adore.
Varian's eyes glazed above the cavern as he had once done, spying a shadow cross over the morning light from the opening from above. Varian left the image, releasing his hold on the multiple shadows that had appeared around the entrance.
His head turned to his right, instantly finding Cassandra. Her dispelled form kneeled away from him; her glowing blue familiar transitioned back to her original olive green. Her hand froze around her sword as her other hand gripped her blackened tunic, draping it over her body. She wanted to hide her tear-stricken expression from him. Ashamed.
She sat inches from him, bringing her knees to her chest once more; her hand left her sword, grasping roughly onto her hair dramatically before pulling onto the strands, letting a scream echo.
Varian's body lay weak at the trauma that had occurred...but he had to reach her. He scooted his body close to her, finding his hands around her grasp as he dropped her intention of hurting herself.
Varian straggly pulled her into his arms as his cheek rested on the ground. To his surprise, she allowed his hold, nestling into his arms. Varian pulled himself up to a sturdy position with her hold still grappling. He began to stroke her shoulders, feeling a rough surface just beneath them; tears revolved to belching, sobbing screams, her grip tightening. Her head suddenly rolled back in anguish, pounding her fist to his chest,
"Why Varian! Why!?"
Cassandra sniffled, her head plopping over her fists, tears drenching the front of his shirt.
"...why...?"
Varian paused at her outburst, confused, until his gloved fingers began brushing through her hair again. Watching her body relax against his, he brought his head to her shoulder just as her voice cracked,
"I-I didn't mean to hurt you, Varian. Please believe me...there - I - I feel there's something inside," She brought one of her hands to her chest, "That I can't quite control. It- -It reminds me of her." Her teeth clenched, anger bubbled, gripping her fists tighter.
Varian's thoughts returned to the moment Zhan Tiri showed him of Cass. She was just a young girl. Her tears trickled over her distorted emotions as she watched her Mother abandon her for another. The heart-wrenching realization that her Mother would never return for her. And that everything she had strived to do had been pointless.
Holding Cassandra now, Varian realized that she was still the same little girl she was back then, consistently waiting and wanting for the pain of the past to be resolved over time.
Though...sadly, we can't always expect that.
His fingers left her hair, finding her back and pulling her in tighter,
"It's okay, Cass...It's okay...You're okay.."
Cassandra's sobs quieted to a breath of air, his words reaching her of reassurance. A hiccup escaped, eyes pulled away from Varian's chest to find her palms over his collar. Her face seemed surprised at his closeness before it rested in a confused sitting. Varian's hand fell from her back to her shoulder; still, she remained unmoved, without any sign of acknowledgment.
"Cass?... What's wrong? You've been - - strange lately. You aren't usually this quiet or this...resentful." Varian watched her ribs shake as she took a forced breath through his sentence, as her fingers stretched away from his shirt, lacing them around the hem of his collar tightly. Her globes glazed from his collar, almost making it to his eyes before she huffed in aggravation, placing her head on his shoulder as another tearful gasp popped.
A blush rested across Varian as his hand hesitated to pull gently through her curls.
He couldn't stop himself from watching her. It seemed almost unreal for him to see her character express such vulnerability. He knew it was real through the strength of her grip and hearing her soft sniffling.
His heart sank more as her tears continued, with her hand drifting from his collar to his back, allowing him to fully hold her. He nuzzled his face into her hair as regret seemed to pull through his reflection.
The instant memory of blame came not from anyone but from himself? How he pretended that everything was just as it was. He had moved on from his past and accepted his new. Believing that no scarring and tissue needed mending. Just a lie.
He squeezed tighter onto Cass.
She seemed to pretend just as often as he had. Every outburst of realism felt by her was unusual and twisted. But it was accurate and true, and she needed to be set free from it.
Why couldn't she see just how the same they actually are.
"Cassie?... I know you aren't one for many non-sarcastic sentences...but could you express your feelings? It might offer some sort of closure. I've seen you, Cassandra, every day that I've been with you. You shouldn't allow these emotions to control you. You have a voice. You can speak how you-"
"-the day I left...I was never planning on returning," Cassandra's voice cut through his sentence. He had expected to have to speak longer than usual.
"The heartache...the torment I had caused...was far too much for me to bear."
"But you were so-?" Her head turned away from him in shame.
"It was a lie. I didn't want to worry about Raps any longer. I figured it would be easier for everyone if I pretended to be."
"-Happy." Varian guessed.
"yes...happy," Her grip loosened around herself as she breathed deeply.
"But I was happy to be rid of Corona. To thread my own course instead of someone else's...However, knowing that I could only be free because of my mistakes felt awful. It made me wonder if I hadn't done what I did, would I have had that freedom?"
Her hand fled to her proper, viewing the uneven pattern beneath the dark leather.
"And yet what I soon realized, being off on my own, was that my 'freedom' ended up being a punishment which I soon found I...deserved?" She paused,
"Everywhere I went, the story of my villainy followed. I was seen as a monster, something to be feared and denied. All Corona and beyond held their anger with fear increased in my travels to the point that a few tried to take my life,"
"The more I allowed myself to wonder, the more I knew that no one would ever welcome me back to Corona."
Her voice roughened at the tip as her gaze turned to his bloodshot, Her face twisting into a rage, waiting for his response.
Varian's face furrowed, his eyebrows bending downward at her distress. He hesitantly grasped her hands, slowly adjusting them so they rested directly in front of him,
"I would have...and I will if no one else does, Cass?" Her eyes change from a lost dusty green to gray ash, a vacant expression distancing herself quickly from her sadness in a click.
She ripped her hands out of his, dragging her body away well, wrapping her arms back around herself, making her seem small and excluded. She shook her head with a tear-strained smile peaking through flustered,
"No. You wouldn't have. You would have despised me just as the rest have. Don't you remember...You created a weapon to destroy me!"
She glanced back at him with rage, only seeing Varian's confused expression, "Don't remember, really? Because I do. And how you even shot it!" She gripped her hands back over her head as her yell pierced the surroundings.
His hand touched her shoulder instantly, "No! Cass, that wasn-". Her hand snatched over his, daring his eyes to meet her probing gaze,
"No matter the familiar narrative we both seem to share. You have not had your life stolen from you. You have not sought revenge so harshly as I have."
The scraping of solid rock pricked his ears away from Cass. Another rock had slid forward as it had once done for him. He stood, Cassandra's grasp falling from around his wrist.
As she once again faced her own reflection.
The darkened stone reflected that of a spotless bedroom clinging in pale white and addressed in cherry wood. The only thing that stuck out about this room was...Cassandra? She was dressed in a white veil, managed over her hair, with a black robe drifting down in scratches of blood.
A look of blankness overtook the reflection as the owner glazed in and into her succeeding. She rested at her knees, her hands twisting to palm and palm. As though she were in prayer.
Varian observed her image, trying to understand why it would show such a strange sight before his eyes caught sight of a crippled paper clenching in her prayerful gesture. He turned his head upside down to fully observe the paper, finding Cassie's illustration. However, it wasn't her old illustrated image but a newly made resemblance. A signature lined the bottom for her arrest.
"Cass?" She focused on the image, her palms lingering to touch the reflection. As if wanting to understand the girl she was and the why of what she was.
Varian stared in silent distress. Trying to understand why the signature resembled..."Did Eugene... sign for your arrest?"
She sighed, her head plopping back onto her knees,
"Yes...he authorized the warrant. Corona demanded revenge for the destruction I had influenced. And knowing that I was out running free without punishment angered many. It was understandable,"
"Eugene thought it would be better if I turned myself in than having the entire country resulting in my capture. So I went willingly (and reluctantly) to a Convent...at least until everyone got over my betrayal, including Raps."
Her arms relaxed, lifting her head back up to face Varian once more; her hand came over her nose as a sniffle shook,
"Varian? How much more suffering will I endure to finally be happy?" He left the image,
"What?"
"I've slaved away for years with all my efforts being for nothing...You said something before that if I just wait...like I always have. Then. Someone will see my trying and finally give me the chance I've longed for...But kid! I can't wait anymore for things to get better! I can't. I've screwed up for the last time."
"It would be better if I just disappeared altogether..." He kneeled down anxiously, both hands falling over her shoulders,
"No! Cass, that's not what I-." Her hands gripped over his, pulling them back behind him, causing her to lean close. Cassandra's eyes blazed slightly in a grayish glow before they darkened almost to black as if they were tired of having to express the same shade?
Liquid slipped from her eyes, trickling gently down his face. Varian tried to twist out of her grip, but her fingers tugged him back more, refusing him from escape.
"-Then what are you trying to say!? I've waited long enough! So just tell me what it is you want from me?! I don't want to do this anymore, Varian. I don't want to be here anymore! I can't do it anymore!"
The breath in Varian's throat paused heavily, his eyes tracing from her unbelieved expression to that shadow behind. It twisted long, wrapping its arms around Cass, crawling up her neck and around her throat, releasing another tear-filled gasp, causing her forehead to find his shoulder.
He furrowed his gaze, waiting for an instant before answering, "I want you to be happy." Her head rose a bit, revealing only the slivers of her eyes. They seemed to drill into him, not believing his speech.
"I want you to know that I am here for you. I never meant to make you feel this way...I just wanted...to be understood." As his words sank into truth, her globes softened as she beheld his innocence.
"...You have no reason to apologize, Varian. I am the demon everyone betrays me to be...I am the last person to deserve happiness."
She took a deep breath once more as her eyes widened, staring into Varian's with tears, "Why can't you see me as others see me?"
The fingers of the shadow tightened over her form, touching gently over her forehead before its piercing nails dug into her frontal lobe; then the whole hand was submerged.
"What you think you see is a lie!" Another dry scream kindled her fury, stretching long from her lungs, "I am to blame for every experience I've ever encountered! I am responsible for my Mother leaving me. I'm responsible for pushing everyone away. I am responsible for siding with Zhan Tiri. I am to blame!"
Her fingertips pierced into his hands, tearing into his gloves. "AhhhAh! No! Cass...Ahh!..." He breathed deeply through the pain, giving Cassandra his most daring stare.
He spoke slowly, trying to reach through whatever was holding her within, "You are not to blame! You were hurt and alone with no one you could truly turn to in need. You may have done terrible things, but so have I. You need to remember that you aren't alone. You don't need to be alone. You don't need to hold onto your mistakes any longer. It will never change anything..." The shadow's hand rose from Cassandra's head to her hand; bringing her fingers back, it closed around into a tight, making a movement to collide with his face! Varian's arm came over to block him from the soon-to-be contact.
But nothing came?
Peeking behind fingers, Cassie's hand drifted from his face to her knees. The shadow that had once been present...dispersed? Her eyes grew wide as her closed fist rose across her face, trying to understand what she was about to do. Her other hand grabbed it roughly, bringing the clenched fist to her chest.
"Varian...I've taken far too many risks traveling with you." She shook her head, "I knew I should have just left without you. But I had to be a fool and allow you to drown with me. Now we're both screwed!"
Varian found his body, unintentionally, pushing away from the monster Cassandra claimed to be. Her tears ever increased as she watched him pull himself back from her.
She stood suddenly, her hand swiftly approaching her sword at her hip. She unsheathed it, her eyes piercing into her own. Her hair was strangled in a tight swirl. With her globes raw from tears. She glanced back down at Varian as she dropped her sword at his feet.
"You'll have to find a way to save your father. I've already hurt you so much. I can't allow myself to do it anymore." She turned in front of her damaged reflection, and the eyes of her other turned up at her.
"Save your father, Varian...make him proud."
Her foot reached around the reflective rock, moving to find another way out. Though as her foot caught beyond, Varian's gloved hand again appeared intertwined within hers.
He blinked down at his enclosed fingers around the wrist of the strong guard. He squinted at her face and turned away, not bothering to attend to him anymore. He bit his lip as a sudden realization formed, caking his face with dew-like spheres.
He can't keep reaching back for her. They've gone through this same...
She's said to him...many times that she wanted to leave. And now he's pushed her so far that it has let her become trapped against her thoughts.
Varian can't keep holding onto her? He can't keep pushing her to do what he want her to do. She has to make that decision for herself.
This was his fault.
His other hand climbed over his other, pulling him from his grasp. Cass turned roughly, a confused expression placed over her. He squeezed his hand to his chest, trying to stop the tears as they looked at Cassandra with much need. He shook his head, refusing to break contact with her,
"I won't force you to stay anymore, Cass. I'm done trying to make you see something you're unwilling to see...If this is what you think is best, then...I'm not going to stop you this time. Just know that I'll always be here if you need me. Huh-!" Her hands rounded around him, bringing him close as her fingers stroked his hair. She felt her lips press close to his ear as a brisk amount of air spiraled from her lips,
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry! I didn't mean...I didn't know that you would be involved. I just - - I made a terrible bargain, and I can't take it back. She promised to let me and everyone else go if she destroyed Corona. It was the only option that she gave...I'm so sorry!" Her tears broke as she gasped. She pulled back quickly from the embrace, eyeing his appearance with sadness before her expression dropped to determination,
"I did warn you."
Before Varian could process what was happening, her hand moved to him, ripping his satchel from his side and quickly pulling it across her shoulder. Cassandra pushed him back to the ground to keep him distant from her at her escape, pausing slightly at his confused expression before she moved down to her sword, re-sheathing it instantly. She collided with the reflective stone of her past, not bothering to turn back at the young alchemist.
A blue glow blasted from the stone, erupting from her. Instantly kicking her back into the cavern.
"What?!" She tried again with more force, but she was bolted back just as before. Her feet hit hard to the soiled ground as her fist punched the mounted surface before they sped towards Varian, picking him up by his collar with so much force that it tore the fabric, sending him back to his knees!
She picked him up by his shoulders, making complete eye contact, "What did you do!" A smile prickled from the boy's quivered lips as he eyed the dissipating glowing bag, "I had a feeling you'd betray me. Your strange behaviors. Talking to yourself in the middle of the night. You're yelling and screaming at me irrationally...so I took my own precautions."
The bag bubbled in another set of a glowing blue hue as the essence of the satchel evaporated; taking the map and its contents,
"Alchemy." He grinned, his tears soaked dry.
"You idiot!" She squeezed tighter onto him, making him give out an ache of pain, but he couldn't show weakness. "No, I prefer precocious. Now that I know who you really are, Cass, you're going to tell me exactly what you're planning and what deal you made. And this time, you will do it under my circumstances, not yours."
Her grip loosened, causing him to fall to the ground, but this time, he was ready. He landed steady on his feet, giving straight eye contact to the shifting guard. "You planned this from the beginning."
"No. I didn't truly believe you would betray me. I thought you would leave then, and I was to blame. But now I see that I was right to do so. If I just continued to push you hard enough and never let you go, the rope between you and I would never have broken. I'd still be bound to you blindly. But now I can finally see who you truly are."
"The person you were warning me about. The demon. The monster. The fear...of Corona." She huffed as her fist pulled to her sides. Trying to keep her emotions in check knowing she had been outsmarted.
"I truly am sorry, Varian. I had to do whatever it took. But I didn't know I would betray you in the end. I thought that we could work together. You'd get your father, and I'd get my freedom...Perhaps we can still work together now that you know more than you did." She pulled her hand out towards him. He pulled closer, judging her, as she had once done when he had mentioned his 'apology.'
"No."
"What? Varian, how do you expect to get out of here and find your way...you need me as much as I do you. We have to work together. It's the only way-."
"-We'll guess what. You would have left me just a few minutes ago...And just so you know. Your attempt at an apology is never going to fix the load of trauma between you and me. You betrayed me, and now you'll pay for it." He gripped her hand roughly, as he had once done long ago, which released a prickly sensation to rush over him. Varian's heart hammered in his chest as he allowed the scarred part of him to rise from the fallen ashes of his esteem.
"The trust I had for you is gone. Congratulations. Now... you going tell me everything."