Forbidden Love

chapters 5: The Next Morning

"Look out!" They heard Eugene call out after a moment. They looked towards the warning to see a Moonrock beginning to fall towards them. They quickly moved out of the way before it crashed to the ground, where the girls both stared at it for a moment.

"Sorry ladies, are you both okay?" The prince asked as he and Varian put down the saw they were using to cut down the Moonrocks. The girls nodded. "You two should really be more aware of your surroundings," Varian stated. "Sorry, we weren't expecting to be attacked by rocks when we came here," Cass retorted.

Varian picked up the large black sickle that was on the ground near him, then knelt in front of the black rock stump.

"Is she always like this?" He asked as he put the sickle flush with the ground, then swiftly swung it through the stump. "Yep, that's Cass for you," the princess answered jokingly. "Oh, I just thought she didn't like us," the archer replied. "I don't," the swordswoman stated. "Cass," Raps scolded. "Nah, it's fine. I did shoot you guys out of the sky," Varian stated. "You know, if you them to like you maybe stop bringing that up," Eugene whispered to his friend.

"I'm just not convinced you were the one who did it. Where did you even shoot from?" Cass asked then Varian pointed up at one of the castle towers.

"There's no way. Even if you had the aim, that's an impossible shot," the woman continued. "'Not impossible, just improbable. There was about a two percent cha- what do you mean 'If I had the aim'?" Varian interrupted himself.

"All I'm saying is that you don't seem like a master archer to me," Cass replied. "Why? Are you a master archer? Do I not fit your standards? Last I checked, archers don't carry swords," the eighteen year old stated. "Oh, you got me. I'm not an archer but pretty good at it." "Is that so? How many years?" "Four." "Cute. Try eight." "Eight years? With that aim?" "Okay! You've seen me launch one arrow. One!" "Yeah, and you missed." "I wasn't trying to hit you!"

"You think we should make them get along or just keep them apart?" Eugene joked, watching as Cass and Varian started yelling at eachother. When he didn't get a response from Rapunzel, the prince looked over at the woman. She was still staring at the fallen Moonrock, a cautious curiosity visible on her face.

"Its safe," Gene told her, coming to her side and putting a hand on the  fallen rock, "see." After staring a moment longer, Raps slowly extended a hand to touch the blackrock. "It's..." "Creepy? Intimidating?" The prince suggested. "Beautiful." Rapunzel finished, earning an astonished look from Eugene.

After a moment the volume of Cass and Varian's argument grew, getting Gene's attention just in time to hear the end of Cassandra's argument.

"You don't even look strong enough to do that, let alone to be part of the Brotherhood!"

Upon hearing that, the prince shot her a glare then looked at Varian to gauge his reaction and if he was going to retaliate.

To anyone else the archer would've just looked furious, but not to Eugene. He knew Varian as well as he knew himself, and what Gene saw on his face was pain. That statement hurt his brother. She hit below the belt and he wasn't about to let her get away with it.

"Hey!" He shouted, quickly going between Varian and Cass, staring the woman straight in the eyes. "Let's get one thing straight, Cassandra. He's a member of the Brotherhood because he proved he deserves to be. Usually that's enough for some respect but apparently not from you. We might need to personally earn it from you, but you will not speak to him that way again."

Eugene didn't give Cass a chance to respond, hearing Rapunzel ask her 'what did you say?' as he turned towards Varian.

"Don't let her get to you, V. You're a member, and you deserve it. If she doesn't respect you, get her to. Don't let her disrespect you like that," Gene told him.

"I don't even think I want her respect," the archer replied, "why would I want some foreigner's respect?". "It'd probably annoy her if you got it," the prince stated.

"That would be amusing," Varian muttered then glanced up to see Gene giving him a mischievous smirk. V briefly chuckled before continuing "fine, but I'm not breaking my back to impress her."

"I never said anything about impressing her," the prince replied. "It's either get her respect or impress her, and I don't think she's ever going to respect me," V stated. "Okay, but tell yourself you're trying the earn her respect. If you're trying to impress her you're going to do something stupid."

"Gene, the reason these two are stuck here is cause I decided to shoot down that balloon and you decided we should go out on a full moon, both of which were stupid decisions in hindsight." Gene stared at the archer for a moment before responding. "Well, can't argue with that. But you're going to fix your stupid decision." Eugene then turned to the girls. "You want some help fixing your balloon?"

"What?" Varian and Cass replied in unison. "V's an inventor," the prince answered, "he can fix it." "Gene," the archer growled. "Yeah 'Gene', we're good," Cass answered. "You sure?". "Yep, pretty sure I don't want you anywhere near our balloon." "Why? There something you don't want us to find?" Varian questioned. "I just feel like you'll mess it up more. You know what, if you want to help maybe find us a needle and thread," Cassandra replied. "I didn't mean today. What's the hurry?" The prince asked.

"Come on, Cass, we came all this way and we're not even going to take a look around?" Rapunzel added. "It's not that I don't want to stay-". "Yes it is." "Okay, yes it is, but it's dangerous here. When we get shot out of the sky I don't consider that kingdom safe." "Again, my bad," Varian said, "if I'd known you were in it I probably wouldn't have shot it down."

"Okay, how about this; you stay for a day," Eugene suggested, "Let me and Varian give you two the full Dark Kingdom experience, show you that it's safe here. Then me and V will help you with the balloon tomorrow."

Cass glared at the prince for moment then looked over to Raps to see the princess looking at her with pleading eyes. "Don't look at me like that. Stop it! No, no. Raps-". "Please, Cass." Cass looked at her for a moment longer before responding, "Fine! Fine, but Rapunzel does not leave my side." "Understood," Gene replied.

He looked over at Varian, back to Cass, then Rapunzel, and smiled.

"So, who's hungry?"