A Cassarian Story
Varian always knew that he cared for Cassandra. But he didn't realize how much until she was gone.
Six long years after Cassandra leaves Corona, she finally returns. Varian is overjoyed, but she comes bearing terrible news. A stran...
"The first orb!" Opal shouts. Her eyes are squeezed shut, and her nose is scrunched up from the huge, excited grin she is wearing.
Cassandra chuckles fondly. "Yeah, that's about the same face your father made when we found it."
"I wish I could have been there," Rapunzel sighs. "But I was back in Corona, breaking the bad news of my encounter with the Angst to Eugene."
"Trust me Raps, you did not want to be there for the next leg of our journey," Cassandra says. She turns back to face Opal. "I was already dreading our next stop to that awful island, but things didn't go well from the minute we arrived."
"I definitely wasn't prepared for it," Varian adds. "But we managed, like we always do..."
After exiting the hatch, the newly-discovered orb safely secure in Varian's backpack, the gang discover Ruddiger scurrying around the open field in the distance as a tall, bearded man furiously chases after him.
"Uh-oh, looks like we have company," Hugo says.
Varian realizes how good of an idea it was to leave Ruddiger up here, otherwise that man (whom he assumes is the owner of this property) may have found them out. He doesn't know what his raccoon did to tick the man off so badly, but it seems to have been the perfect distraction.
"Come on, we better get off of that guy's land before he sees us," Cassandra says. They quietly begin making their way back to the wooden fence, taking care not to be seen by the angry man who is now headed in the opposite direction.
After finally reaching the fence and hopping over it, they run quite a distance away just to be safe. Once Ruddiger loses the man and catches up with them again, they get out their Gliders.
"Here we go again..." Varian mutters after checking the map.
"Just try not to land in a tree this time, okay Freckles?" Hugo jokes. Before Varian has the time to retort, Hugo uses alchemy to blast them into the air once again. "Next stop, Terapi Island!" He announces happily as the others gasp and scream from the sudden motion of being shot into the air.
"Don't sound so excited," Cassandra says as they soar. "It's not a pleasant place..."
"A tropical island sounds pretty amazing to me," Abhu says. "Maybe it's just the negative way you see things."
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Wait, is Abhu actually trying to pick a fight with Cass now? And is he serious?! He's one of the most negative people Varian has ever met!
"Maybe you need to shut your mouth," Cassandra mumbles. Too low for Abhu to hear, but loud enough for Varian to understand. He lets out a soft chuckle, glad to hear a bit of the old Cassandra coming out that he's missed. He can tell that she notices his amusement, but she pointedly ignores him.
