Tangled After The Series - There's No Such Thing As 'The End'

Chapter 13: The amber warning light

*~*~* One week later *~*~*

     It was the early hours of the morning on one first days of December, Varian and Cassandra were sat next to each other on the rug in front of the fireplace in the sitting room. Neither had been able to sleep through the rest of the night, both awoken by the terrible dreams. Jagged crystals of amber were imprinted in Varian's mind – that being the recurring nightmare every night since the solution got taken, so much so that each night he put off going to sleep and busied himself with work, hiding his exhaustion in the day mostly by locking himself in his lab or his room. But it didn't stop his body crying out for rest and growing amber haunted him after he collapsed into bed or fell asleep at his desk – sometimes waking up with a blanket draped round his shoulders - no matter how hard he resisted.

     But this was the only night that week when someone had knocked on Varian's door after he decided that he might as well get dressed for the day, he was just pulling on his gloves when he answered the door and found Cassandra standing there – also fully dressed. There hadn't be any need for words, they had just linked arms and strolled through the Castle until it became too cold and Cassandra had lit a small fire in the sitting room.

     The snow had fallen lightly but steadily all week but had stopped yesterday. A blanket of it covered the ground outside. An apricot glow bled through the windows, signalling the close arrival of dawn.

     "Oh!" Rapunzel exclaimed from the doorway, "Sorry, we didn't expect anyone else to be here,"

     Cassandra smiled, "No problem, come in." Rapunzel sat herself down on one of the couches, Eugene following her in. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

     Eugene shrugged, "Woke up early and didn't feel like we could go back to sleep."

     "We tried not to wake anyone," Varian said, and Rapunzel smiled.

     "Hey we saw your Dad outside," Eugene said to Varian,

     Varian chuckled, "He insisted on joining the night shift, I tried to tell him he didn't need to but he said he wanted to do something in return for you letting him stay here." Eugene and Rapunzel laughed. "He'll come in in a minute when the night shift and the morning shift switch."

     "Morning everyone!" Pete called when he walked past,

     "Morning Pete!" they replied. Everything was normal. Until...

     There was a commotion in the corridor, feet pounding, and armour clanging accompanied with a chorus of, "Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through! Watch out!" Stan and another guard arrived breathless at the door. "Princess! Captain! Varian! You need to come with us! Quickly!" Stan cried,

     "What's happening?" Rapunzel asked as Eugene jumped up and reached to pull her up. Cassandra frowned and tugged out her sword from across her back.

     "It's all your parents!" the other guard shouted. Rapunzel, Eugene, and Varian went white as ghosts then took off running after the guards, Cassandra and Eugene helping Rapunzel along. They followed the guards right to the front doors of the Castle and burst out onto the balcony looking over the courtyard.

     Rapunzel choked. Eugene doubled over like someone had punched him the stomach. Varian leaned against the railings to stop himself from collapsing.

     They saw their parents. But they didn't like it.

     Some Corona citizens had drifted down the main street to the gateway when they heard a hubbub coming from the Castle. All of them put together couldn't look as shocked and distressed as the three of them. They walked down the slope, towards the middle of the courtyard, Rapunzel gripping onto Eugene. She reached up...