Unforgivable: A Redemption Citadel Twisted Tale

The Endless Night

Notes:

Hi, welcome to my twisted tales version of Redemption Citadel.
If you've ended up here having not read Redemption Citadel, you might get a bit lost, but basically: Redemption Citadel is the new name of the Dark Kingdom Citadel, Cassandra was journeying there when she got very ill from an infection in her leg. Varian, Eugene and Rapunzel are all there helping the town get set up as it's repopulated. She is saved by Varian, as she rests and heals, she and Varian get close. Though it becomes clear to her that she has feelings for Varian, there's misunderstandings and ex girlfriends, then – they go on a date, and the next night Cassandra agrees to be Varian's lover.... The issue is she told Varian this when he's dealing with dangerous chemicals, and he drops some. He thinks he has cleared them up but, in his rush, to get Cassandra in bed he dousn't notice that isn't the case. We start the story at the point where Cassandra and Varian have fallen asleep in each others arms after making love. You can find the original story here: Redemption Citadel - Chapter 1 - Froggy1988 - Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon) [Archive of Our Own]
For those who have read it: The idea for a dark ending came when I was writing the original- but I decided to take a break from the R.C world, I had a lot of ideas but they weren't fully formed – they're still not, but I know the start and I know the ending, and have a good grasp on who my OC's are so... let's go. A LOT of this will be familiar, I've included a lot of flashbacks to remind people of the storyline. Let me take you back to the night of the fire.
P.S. : The song isn't mine (rather obviously) they are: Into the West by Annie Lennox and Howard Shore, and a slight rewrite of Everything I ever thought I knew, from Tangled the Series.

"Varian!"

Cassandra startled awake at the shout. The door burst open and Eugene flew in. She was about to shout at him to get out, but she saw the wild determined look on his face and her blood ran cold. Something was wrong, very wrong. Varian was reacting quicker than she was, he was already pulling on his trousers.

"The babies?"

"What, no, this whole place is on fire! Come on!"

Adrenaline started to rush through Cassandra's body, leaving her feeling slightly breathless and dizzy as she collected her trousers from the floor and started pulling them on, searching for her boots.

"RYDER!" Cassandra's eyes shot to the door, seeing Eugene turn around, she knew that voice, it was her dad, and he sounded panicked. "I can't find Cassandra."

"She's here. Wait..." Eugene was trying to block the door, but her father pushed passed, took in the scene before him in a second and rushed to help her. She had been pulling on her boots, the confusion throwing things out of order. Her father pulled a blanket from the bed, wrapped it over her shoulders, covering her up, and pushed her sharply towards the door.

"Hurry, get out of here."

She turned around looking for Varian, she saw him, shirtless but booted just behind her, and she let herself be pushed into the corridor. Then they were all running as a group, her unlaced boots making her stumble as the ran through the empty corridor. Everything looked normal at first but as they ran, she started to hear a rushing crackling noise, and smoke started swirling around the ceilings, soon most the corridor was filled with it, blocking her view, heating the air and making her choke. She was heading towards the familiar corridor that led to her room and the great hall, but her father pushed her away, down a narrower corridor.

"Dad, it's that way."

"That way's gone." He said.

Cassandra looked around, starting to feel the creeping fingers of fear take over now. She saw Eugene and Varian mere steps behind them. When he saw her hesitating Varian rushed forwards and took her hand, giving her the strength to fight the fear and carry on down the unknown dark smoke-filled corridors.