Twisted Destiny

Fall

Varian's body was trembling, but he ignored it. His heart was pounding in his throat, but he endured it. Cassandra was running wild, Rapunzel was pleading with her, begging for her to stop, but she shouldn't. People were being hurt. His finger rested over the trigger, waiting for Rapunzel's word. Eugene knelt next to him, Ruddiger on his other side and Andrew guarding his flank, just in case.

And then it came.

"Varian! Do it!" Rapunzel cried with desperation born from seeing no other way out.

He pulled the trigger, his body jerked with the recoil, and he watched as the solution sailed towards Cassandra and crashed into the black rocks covering her body as she turned towards Rapunzel.

It was instant, but it felt like it took ages to fully cover her body. She let out a soft cry of pain as she was engulfed, but he forced himself to watch. She deserved this. She did. And it wasn't death, it was just...Rapunzel would let her out once they'd prepared a way to keep her from escaping. A way to take the Moonstone. Or maybe, when the true vessel showed up, they'd just take it.

She wasn't dead. He knew this. She'd recover from it. It was just a temporary imprisonment.

It still ached to see her like that.

"Is...it over?" A townsperson asked anxiously.

The warriors around her were tense, watching. The Brotherhood, especially.

"Son!" Quirin ran to Varian's side, looking anxious. "Son, are you alright? I heard that—" He stopped and looked at the encased woman. "Oh...Varian..." He looked back at him and pulled him close.

It seemed to be over.

It should have been over.

A flash of blue light in the amber, a spark, caught everyone's attention. Her outstretched hand twitched inside the amber, her teeth clenched, and then the amber glowed blue before bursting apart, pieces flying everywhere.

"Dad, go!" Varian pushed against him and aimed his weapon again. Cassandra sent a wave of black rocks at him and he dodged out of the way.

"Project Obsidian, huh?" She asked tauntingly. "Cute! You've really come a long way from the night of the blizzard, haven't you?"

"Get her!" A guard yelled.

Varian couldn't understand it. Her armor was the same as before, completely unchanged. She had shattered his amber like glass. What would stop her?

"Cassandra, please!" Rapunzel pleaded. "This is your home!"

"Oh, you bet it is! But I'm remaking it my way! CORONA FALLS TODAY!" Cassandra drew her sword, her eyes and the moonstone glowing brighter.

The people screamed as Disciples came out of the woodwork and attacked with green fire. Ruddiger's ears folded back and he let out a low hiss before he changed form into a green one like the other Disciples and charged at one of them.

"Ruddiger, no!" Varian called, then focused his attention on black rocks coming his way, firing his solution at them.

"Cass, enough!" Rapunzel cried. "Power of the sun—"

"Not happening!" Cassandra pulled out a bottle and smashed it at Rapunzel's feet. She coughed in the blue smoke that came out and then collapsed.

"Rapunzel!" Eugene rode Maximus over and Varian fired at Cassandra to draw her attention away from Rapunzel, making her back up as he hopped off of Maximus and knelt next to her.