(Hi there! Hope you're all doing well :) Sorry this chapter took me a while, but here it is! :D enjoy! Suggestions and Reviews are appreciated!)
Cassandra clapped along to the joyous music as Rapunzel continued to dance around the square. Cass grinned at Rapunzel, giggling at her fun nature.
Rapunzel smirked as she skipped over to Cassandra, the music still going.
"Come and dance, Cassandra! I'm sure you didn't dance while you were away!"
Cassandra laughed. "No, No. You know I'm not the dancing type."
Rapunzel laughed back. "That ends today!" She yanked Cassandra towards her, pulling into the square and began spinning around.
The world flew by, almost in a loop for Cass. Around and around it spun, the same things showing up again and again.
"WoooHOOO!" Rapunzel cheered as her and Cass ended up in a heap on top of each other.
Rapunzel jumped up and held out her hand. "WHOO! Let's do that again!"
Cass held her head. Rapunzel was back to walking in a straight line, but she was struggling.
She stumbled and walked into Rapunzel herself, her head still spinning and her face slightly pale. She sneezed and stumbled into a cart selling flowers.
"HEY! WATCH IT!" The cart owner barked.
"Cass? Are you okay?" Rapunzel asked, concerned at the colour of Cass's skin slowly becoming increasingly pale.
Raps held out her hand, worry creasing across her face.
Once helping Cass up, Raps reached up towards Cass's forehead and placed a single hand on it.
"Hmm, you're a little warm, Cass." Rapunzel said, making Cassandra's blood run cold.
Even though Rapunzel's hand was cool and relieving on Cass's forehead, she couldn't let her day with Rapunzel be ruined with any sort of suspicion.
Cass grabbed Rapunzel's wrist and lowered her hand gently off her forehead.
"Wha-…?" Raps stammered, confused.
"There's no time for that!" Cass blurted out abruptly.
"I'm completely fine, Raps. We just spent the last fifteen minutes dancing, of course I'm warm."
Raps raised an eyebrow, slightly doubtful, but she supposed her best friend knew herself best.
Cass breathed a sigh of relief, attempting to mask her rapidly increasing heart rate and the sweat beginning to accumulate on her palms.
She delicately gripped Rapunzel's shoulders, desperately looking around for a distraction.
"I suppose we could look at the stalls-" Cass began, her eyes darting around.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Madame Ice Demon!" a familiar voice interrupted behind them.
Cassandra tensed up, her chest beginning to tighten from her illness. She quickly wiped her sweaty hands on her legs, before turning around to face him, holding in what felt like a loud, manly cough.
Eugene walked towards her with a wide smile across his face, a joyful spring in his step.
"It's been a while since I've seen your cold-blooded dragon lady face! What gives me the pleasure of seeing your scary face?" Eugene chuckled, teasing her in his usual manner.
Cassandra laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"Good to see you too, Fitzherjerk. How many combs do you own now? It's been several years, I'd say fifty….THOUSAND!"
Eugene laughed. "You haven't changed a bit, Bob Cut. I'd give you a welcome back hug, but I know that you still have the ability to slice me into a thousand pieces."
Cass smirked, an amused laugh escaping her lips. She tapped the handle of the sword, buckled to her back in its sheath.
"You know it, Fitzherbert." She chuckled.
Eugene laughed. "Is that a challenge? You know, you're not the only one who's been training for the last five months."
Eugene assumed a fighting stance and bounced from foot to foot lightly, balling his fists. His grin spread across his face as he looked at Cass.
Despite an eyeroll, Cass let out an amused chuckle. "I suppose that is a challenge then, Fitzherbert."
Eugene smiled. "Ah, a challenge you say! Well, CassAndra, would you be up for a little sword duel? On the same grounds as where the Challenge of the Brave was! Except this time, it would be 'The Challenge of the Brave….AND BRAVER!"
Eugene stuck his chest out proudly, hands on his hips.
Cass laughed and rolled her eyes playfully. "You've got yourself a deal."
"Aha!" Eugene exclaimed proudly. "Sunshine can be the referee! Let's go!"
Despite the tightness in her chest increasing, Cass beamed widely as Rapunzel clenched her hand tightly and they raced to the grounds.
Sweat continued to drip down her torso, whilst chills came on in fair doses. Every shudder, every pant, she continued to attempt to mask.
Nothing was going to come between her and spending quality time with Rapunzel after so many months.
The satisfying sound of her sword being unsheathed echoed in Cassandra's ear.
She ran her fingers up and down the sword, the shiny surface reflecting in the sun.
Her smirk and competitive grin smiled back at her in the reflection in the sword. Her reflection gave the impression that her cheeks were slightly more flushed than usual, but she simply brushed it off as probably a smudge on her sword.
She pulled her green jacket off and set it down beside her.
"Ah!" Eugene sighed happily, stretching out his legs in a lunge and flexing his biceps.
He proceeded to strike a couple more…interesting poses, while continuing to flex his arms, of course adding a couple of smoulders in fair doses.
"See sunshine! This is how you win a match! If my smoulder fails, my muscular self will surely be the backup plan!" Eugene exclaimed proudly to Rapunzel, earning nothing but several eyerolls from Cassandra.
Satisfied at the sharpness of her sword, Cassandra rose from her seat and clutched it tightly, attempting to hide the sweatiness of her continuously reddening hands.
"Well, Fitzherjerk, I hate interrupt your showing off in front of the ladies, but I believe you owe me a challenge?" Cassandra chuckled, clutching her sword tightly.
"Well, well, well, Dragon Lady, since you've seemed to have concluded your staring at yourself in your sword's reflection, may I ask that you take your position?"
"Staring at my own reflection? Ha! That's rich, coming from you!" Cass sniggered.
Rapunzel blew into a silver whistle, causing both of their heads to turn.
"Positions please!"
Taking a few steps back from Eugene, Cassandra inhaled deeply. The increasing tightness in her chest plagued her thoughts, but she kept a determined and focused stare at Eugene, still attempting to be intimidating.
Eugene raised an amused eyebrow. "Are you ready to get your butt kicked, Dragon Lady?"
Cassandra opened her mouth to let out a snarky reply, but a frosty chill travelled down her spine, causing her to shiver.
She longed to put her jacket back on, but it was a warm spring September morning, and that would only further raise Rapunzel's suspicion.
Rapunzel's loud whistle suddenly interrupted Cassandra's thoughts
"Weapons up! And fight!" Rapunzel cheered.
Cassandra locked eyes with Eugene as they shuffled in, their swords intimidatingly extended from their hands.
Cassandra did her best to keep herself up. Her legs felt like jelly and every step felt more cautious than the previous one.
With a cheeky grin spread across his face, Eugene suddenly lunged forward, and with a almighty jump, swung his sword into Cassandra's.
CLANG!
Cassandra grimaced slightly. Despite being only a brief noise, the clang of the swords felt like fifty bell towers ringing in her ear at once.
CLANG!
As she swung her sword towards him as a counterattack, her head pounded every time the swords made contact with each other.
CLANG!
Cass shuffled back slightly, growing breathless by the minute. Her clothes began to stick to her hot and feverish skin, her heart almost pounding in time with her head.
"Is everything alright Cass?" Eugene asked, growing slightly concerned at how heavy Cass was breathing.
Cass raised her head. "Of course!" She replied, trying to maintain her composure for as long as possible.
The sweat dripping from her hands was making it more and more difficult to hold her sword.
"And you better watch out, because I'm COMING FOR YA!" Cass called out, rushing towards Eugene with her sword.
Eugene laughed. "Oh no you don't!" He stuck out his sword, chuckling.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The sounds of the sword hit Cassandra's head like she was being hit in the head with an
ice-pick, over and over. She ran around Eugene, her knees growing more and more weak by the minute.
The more she jumped around, the dizzier she got, the more she swung the sword, the sweatier she got.
With a final lunge, she raced to Eugene once more.
CLANG!
Breathless, Cass attempted to swing at Eugene. She stumbled again and again, attempting to ignore it.
On her final lunge she knew something was wrong. Something wasn't right.
Without warning, her knees gave way. She topped backwards and the next thing she heard was Eugene scream.
A horrible realisation washed over her. She had fallen on top of him!
It took a moment for Cass to properly process what had happened. Her pounding head and heart engulfed her thoughts, and her shivering and excessive sweat soon became painfully obvious to her.
"CASS!"
(Author's note: I'm aware that it said, 'Warm spring September morning'. I'm from Australia, and that's spring for us in the Southern Hemisphere.
Anyway, That's it for this chapter! Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! :)