Chapter 9
Don't freak out.


(Author's Note)
This scene in the movie has always made me laugh, because the two nearly died and Eugene (Or Cassandra in this AU) is just like "YOUR HAIR GLOWS?!" like, you just nearly drowned and you're worried about glowing hair, lol!

Oh well.
Enjoy this next chapter!

~ VarianLeAlchimiste


Varian and Cassandra popped their heads out of the river and grasped a hold of the grass-covered ground nearby, gasping and coughing.

"We made it!" Varian announced, extremely excited.

Cassandra looked at Varian, "Your hair glows." She was shocked.

Varian came out of the river, dancing and prancing around; "We're alive! We're alive!"

Cassandra, still worried about his glowing hair, said, "Didn't see that coming."
"His hair actually glows." She looked down at the ground, not even out of the river yet.

"Cassie..." Varian looked at her.

"Why does his hair glow?!" Cassandra looked at Ruddiger, who looked a bit like a rat at the moment with all his wet fur, and asked him, clearly concerned.

"Cassie!" Varian caught Cassandra's attention.

"What?!" Cassandra whipped her head towards Varian, surprised.

"It doesn't just glow." Varian smiled.

So did Ruddiger, but more in a smirk-like way than a bright, soft way like Varian did.

Cassandra raised her brow, very concerned at this point.
"Why is he smiling at me?" Her voice squeaked.


Meanwhile, the Stabbington Sisters were mad at Cassandra for running off like that.
"I'll kill her. I'll kill that Rider. We'll cut her off for the kingdom. Get back the crown!" Angry rambled to Red frustratingly.

Father Cap knew this was his time to interject, "Gi~rls! perhaps you want to stop acting like wild dogs chasing their tails, and think for a moment." He called out, walking towards them.

Angry and Red pulled out knifes and daggers on him. "Oh, please there's no need for that."

Father Cap threw the satchel down with the crown inside at their feet.
"Well if that's all you desire, then be on your way! I was going to offer you something worth one thousand crowns, would have made you rich beyond belief. And that wasn't even the best part. Oh well, C'est la vie. Enjoy your crown." Father Cap was about to walk off when Angry stopped.

"What's the best part?" Angry asked.

Cap turned around with a dubious smile on his face, "It comes with revenge on Flyianna Rider."

Back at the river campsite, Varian was wrapping his hair around Cassandra's hand, that had gotten injured during the fight earlier. (He had to avoid looking at it, or else he would faint.)

"So you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured hand." Cassandra said before letting out a wince of pain.

"Sorry." Varian pouted.
He finished it up. "Just don't...don't freak out."

Varian closed his eyes, calmed himself and then proceeded to start singing.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine."
"Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..."

Varian's hair began glowing a bright yellow, just like back at the water-filled cave.

"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design."
"Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine..."
"What once was mine..."

Varian slowly unwrapped his hair from Cassandra's hand, to reveal that her hand had been healed, and there was no wound to be in sight anymore.

Cassandra stared for a moment, and gasped and was getting ready to scream, "Aah-"

Varian suddenly stopped her by belting out; "Please don't freak out!"

Cassandra stifled her scream, "Aaaaaah... I'm not freaking out, are you freaking out?" She forcefully smiled like nothing was abnormal, "No, I'm just very interested in your hair and the magical qualities that it possesses..how long has it been doing that, exactly?" She asked.

"Uh. Forever, I guess. Father said when I was a baby people tried to cut it. They wanted to take it for themselves. But, once it's cut..." Varian pulled at his brown streak in his hair. "It turns brown, and looses it's power. A gift like that, it has to be protected."

"That's why Father never let me...That's why I...I never left the..." Varian faltered.

"You never left that tower." Cassandra helped him.
She asked, "And you're still gonna go back?"

"No..." Varian responded. "Yes." He corrected himself.
He sighed frustrated, "Ugh. It's complicated."

Silence, as if there hadn't been enough on this whole adventure between the two, indeed, once again, began and they stayed quiet for a very long time before Varian interrupted it.

"So, Cassandra Fitzherbert, huh?" He raised a brow at her.

She rubbed the back of her neck, "Ah yeah, well. I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Cassandra Fitzherbert, it's a little bit ah... It's a little bit of a downer."

"There was this book. A book I used to read every night to all the younger kids. The tales of Flyiannaigan Rider. Swashbuckling rogue, richest woman alive."

"Not bad with the men, either. Not that she'd ever brag about it, of course."

Varian interjected, "Was she a thief too?"

Cassandra frowned, "Ahhhhh, well no..." "Actually, she had enough money to do whatever she wanted to do. She could go wherever she wanted to go." She looked down, "And...and, for a kid, with nothing. I don't know, I... It just seemed like a better option." She sighed.

Cassandra glanced up quickly, "You can't tell anyone, about this, okay?"
"It could ruin my whole reputation!"

Varian smirked, "Ah, you wouldn't want that."

"Oh, a fake reputation is all that a woman has." She laughed softly.

She looked at Varian for a moment in his eyes.
"Um, well I should uh... I, I should get some more firewood." She stood up.

As Cassandra walked off, Varian stated.
"Hey. For the record, I like Cassandra Fitzherbert much better than, Flyianna Rider."

Cassandra looked a bit taken aback by this.

"Well, then you'd be the first. But, thank you."
And then she left...

However...