A CONNECTION

Chapter 14 - A start to an exhausting day

Cassandra was standing next to him firing her own bow and arrow but kept having a bit of trouble because she was attached to Varian still.

Cassandra set down her bow thinking she could help Varian, when she looked over, he shot four arrows at once and each one hit a bullseye.

Varian pushed his arm up and back down in a victory punch towards the sky. "YES!!!!"

Cassandra was blown away by how fast he had learned. "Nice job!" Cassandra said giving him a pat on the back.

"Well, I learned from the best." Varian and Cassandra smiled at each other.

After another twenty minutes or so, Cassandra started getting a bit bored of the archery. Varian saw Cass getting a little tired of it, so both of them went and sat on a log that was in their area.

After a little bit of them sitting there silently, Varian spoke up. "Can I repay the favor?" Varian said standing up and holding his hand out to help Cassandra up.

Cassandra smiled as she took his hand. Varian walked her back over to the targets. "Watch this." Varian pulled out a small alchemy ball from his pocket. Varian threw the ball at the target and it stuck there in the middle of it.

"Bullseye!!!" He shouted excitedly as Cass was impressed he could throw that far. "You try."

Varian handed her one of the alchemy balls from his pocket. Cassandra took it, she thought it would be easy so she used her force to throw it but it wasn't enough and it stopped before it even reached the target. "What?!" Cass shouted out of confusion and a bit of frustration.

"Pfft." Varian let out a funny-sounding laugh.

"What!?" Cassandra asked playfully.

"You have to throw it a specific way." Varian pulled another one out of his pocket and put it in Cassandra's hand. Varian grabbed the edges of Cassandra's hands and started to hold them in his. "If you look closely, there is a liquid inside." Cassandra looked closely to see some kind of chemical inside that would swish and splash if you moved it. "So you have to throw it with a bit more strength, and if you can throw it with more of your whole arm." Varian held Cassandra's hand and demonstrated the movements without actually throwing it.

"You got it?" Varian said looking at Cass. Cassandra gave him a smile, as he backed away the best he could because of the handcuffs. Cassandra threw it and immediately got a bullseye.

"I did it!" She said excitedly.

"Ha!! You did it!!" Varian shouted also a bit excitedly.

Cassandra paused and gave Varian a smirk. "You want to try something a little crazy?"

"Oh, I'm ready as I'll ever be." Varian and Cassandra both held up their weapons and Cassandra threw three alchemy balls and Varian shot three arrows.

When all of them collided on the three targets, a giant explosion happened.

At first, Cassandra and Varian were looking at it with wide eyes. Then Varian started laughing. "Ha! I didn't know this chemical wasn't meant to be touched at that speed. "Well I guess we learn new things every day huh," Varian said with a bit of a laugh.

Cassandra smiled at Varian. "It didn't hurt you right?" Cassandra asked looking a bit worried.

"Nope, I'm fine," Varian said, brushing off some of the ash.

"Good." She said with a smirk as she kicked his legs on him knocking him to the ground. She managed to stay standing up.

"Oh, it's on!" Varian said playfully as he tugged on the chain holding them together. Cassandra lost balance and fell on top of him.

With her hair in Varian's face she leaned up as both of them started laughing.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!!?" Cassandra and Varian both startled looked over to see Rapunzel standing there.

"Oh, hey Princess," Varian said while smiling and waving at Rapunzel while having Cassandra still on top of him.

Cassandra became immediately flustered. "This isn't what it looks like." Cassandra stood up and pulled Varian up next to her.

"Ok? Then what was it?" Rapunzel asked looking at them.

"Nothing ok, we were just messing around... That doesn't sound right. Look it really means nothing, we were just ruff housing." Cassandra said trying to explain.

"What are you doing in here exactly?" Varian asked while wiping some of the dirt off him. 

"Oh, yeah. I know I said we could have our space for this activity but I heard an explosion and thought maybe I should check that out." Rapunzel said answering Varian's question.

"Yeah, who knew throwing an alchemy ball that was most likely explosive and firing arrows at it was a bad idea," Varian said calmly while making Rapunzel freak out.

"What!" Rapunzel screamed!

Cassandra put her hand on Rapunzel's shoulder ina supportive way. "It's ok, no one was hurt, and everything's fine. Why don't wejust move to your next activity."