Chapter 51- Light of the Sun

                                    

                                          
Rapunzel, Eugene, and I slowly travel through the tower, weaving in and out of black rocks and climbing over and under the wreckage of Rapunzel's old home. The deeper into Cassandra's tower we go, the brighter my hair streak glows. The unknown of it frightens me, but it also welcomes hope into my heart; perhaps we're getting closer to Varian. 
After walking in silence for a long while, Rapunzel speaks up. "Getting in here was too easy." She says as we turn a corner onto another flight of stairs. "We could be waking into a trap." Pascal squeaks a bit in reply, and my sister smiles at him. "Good idea. Think you can get in without being seen?" The small reptile nods and Rapunzel smiles. "Be careful, buddy." She pecks the top of his head. 
"Good luck, Pascal!!" I loudly whisper as the chameleon scampers off. 
The minutes slowly tick by, and Rapunzel becomes more on edge the longer Pascal is gone. After about twenty minutes of waiting, she finally speaks up. "This is taking too long. I'm going up there." 
As she begins walking away, I quickly grab her wrist, stopping the princess in her tracks. "Hold on, Raps."
"What if you can't convince her to come back?" Eugene questions. "What if the only way out is to...?" He can't finish the thought, but we all know what he was going to say. 
Rapunzel quickly speaks up, a little too defensively. "This is Cassandra. Not some monster." 
I stare at my sister with misty eyes. "We're just worried about you, sis. I-I can't lose...I can't lose anyone else." 
The blonde's stern gaze softens, and she wraps her arms around me. "I'll be alright, (Yn). She'll come around. I have to believe that."
I pull out of her hug and give her a small, but hopeful smile. "Then I trust you."
"If you believe that, then so do I," Eugene adds, kissing his girlfriend's rosy cheek. 
Rapunzel gratefully smiles at both of us. "Thanks, you guys. Let's go rescue our friends."
:-:-:-:-:
As we finally reach the top of the tower, Rapunzel reaches into her blue cross-body bag and pulls out a folded-up piece of black fabric. Upon closer inspection, I realize that it's her embroidered black cloak. She hands it to me and brings her voice to a soft pitch. "Put this on. Your glowing hair might give us away." She instructs.
To avoid making any unnecessary noise, I only nod and slip the cloak on over my body, taking extra care to cover my hair with the hood. I give her a thumbs up, and we enter the top of Cassandra's tower. 
My jaw drops in awe as we enter what appears to be a throne room. The mid-afternoon daylight shines through the multitude of skylights in the ceiling, casting rays of light into the black rocks that populate the space. The room is completely scarce, aside from the massive throne constructed out of black rocks in the center of the room. 
"Pascal?" I hear Rapunzel call into the room. "Come out, buddy."
We scatter throughout the room to track down Pacal and Varian when Eugene speaks up. "(Yn)...I found Varian." 
My heart pounds through my chest as I dash toward Eugene, praying that Varian is unharmed. "Is he okay?!?" I frantically ask.
Eugene only points out a door-sized hole in the wall. I peek out the hole and at the long black rock that protrudes out from it. A circular cage rests at the end of it, and worry wells up within me as I wonder how we're going to save my boyfriend. "Varian!!!" I exclaim, desperately hoping that he isn't injured. Without thinking, I step out into the long beam that separates Varian and me.