A fellow Cassarian shipper hosted a Cassarian Month in August 2023, and I decided to turn my entries for it into a month of different AUs! So here they are, along with short stories to go with the art!
Cassandra has had a rough year. After kidnapping the queen, forcing the princess to help her, and attacking Corona all in an effort to free her father from his amber prison, she was thrown in jail... for a brief time. She managed to escape, and helped a Saporian named Andrew take over Corona. But she began feeling guilty over her actions, and when Princess Rapunzel returned from her life-changing journey, Cassandra changed her tune and helped Rapunzel regain control of Corona. Thankfully, the kindhearted princess welcomed Cassandra back with open arms.
Rapunzel also freed Cassandra's father using a new incantation she learned on her travels. The young alchemist is extremely grateful to the princess, and is now living happily with her father in Old Corona again.
But as happy as Cassandra is to have her father and the respect of the princess back, she is disappointed that Rapunzel's bodyguard, Varian, didn't return with her and her friends. She heard that he betrayed the princess, stealing the Moon Stone for himself when Rapunzel was supposed to be the one to take it. Now he's out there, somewhere, doing who-knows-what in an effort to get back at the princess for reasons that Cassandra can't understand or even comprehend.
How could Varian have done the things they say he's done? She recalls the day of the Science Expo, how dedicated he was to his duties and how he chose to save her from receiving serious injuries... She can't imagine the brave, kind man that she developed a crush on becoming what Rapunzel says he has now become.
But it isn't long before she sees his transformation for herself. Varian shows up in Corona just as Cassandra begins making serious progress on translating the incantations on the scroll for Rapunzel. He looks so different, with his blue hair and even brighter blue eyes and an armor of black rocks... She barely recognizes him.
As if the things he has already done weren't bad enough, he decides to kidnap Cassandra for the information she translated from the scroll. He takes her into the forest, uses her own alchemy on her to force her to tell him the Moon Stone Incantation, and uses it to create a tall tower made from the black rocks. Cassandra is both terrified, and impressed.
Up in the top of the tower, Varian plans on waiting until Rapunzel arrives. He knows she will come to rescue Cassandra, and he is ready for her. But Cassandra can't allow herself to sit back and watch quietly.
"Varian, your angry. I get it," she tells him. "Believe me, I know what it's like. But you are making a mistake..."
Varian listens for a few moments as Cassandra recounts how dangerous the path of hate and darkness is. At first she believes that she may be getting through to him, but his expression only grows increasingly irritated.
"Var, trust me! Becoming the villain isn't the answer," she tells him.
"Is that what you think I am?!" Varian shouts angrily, whirling on her. He tries to convince her that what he's doing is justified, and that she and him are nothing alike. She lost her way, and he chose this path. But the more he tries to convince her, the more it seems that he is actually trying to convince himself.
With one final attempt, Cassandra reminds Varian of all he has to hold on to. If he continues on this path, he'll eventually lose everything until he has nothing left to lose.
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But Varian doesn't want to hear it. He encloses Cassandra in a cage of black rocks, and holds her hostage high in the air outside his tower until Rapunzel arrives. The princess comes with her friends to rescue Cassandra, and Rapunzel and Varian use their powers to fight each other until Rapunzel comes off victorious. Or so she thinks...
Cassandra is still in shock at witnessing what Varian has become. She could see on his face that he still has some doubts within. She can only hope that, one day, he will realize that what he is doing is wrong and come back to the light. She wants her old friend back, the man who was willing to risk his own safety to save her, not once, but twice. The man she cares for so deeply. He is still in there, somewhere.
