Romance Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Stars Above - A Cassunzel Fanfic ❯ Chapter 20: The Rush to Save Her ( Chapter 20 )

How Cassandra found herself bloodied and dying on the ground in the middle of a mystical cave, she had no idea. She couldn’t remember what happened. All she remembered was being incredibly pissed off, because they had another encounter with Gothel, and suddenly she was bleeding to death in the middle of the cave. Once they reached the mystical cave for answers, Gothel was already waiting for them. It didn’t end well. She must’ve blacked out from rage again and her guard was down. How stupid could she get? When would she learn to stop letting her anger get the better of her? She kept making the same mistake again and again.

She needed to get up but she couldn’t. She could only assume that her body was in shock due to the fact she couldn’t move nor could she feel the stab wound in her stomach. Both of those weren’t good things. She needed to get up. She couldn’t get up. She needed to. But she couldn’t. All she could do was weakly stare up at the rocky ceiling. Her hair fanned over her face and she could feel herself slipping into an unconscious state. She tried to shake her head to wake herself up more and reminded herself that she needed to stay awake. How did she get herself in this mess?

Cassandra’s head flopped to the side as her blue hair covered more of her face. That’s when she saw it. Through blurred vision, she could make out the bracelet, her bracelet, broken in pieces on the ground. Only one person came to mind. Rapunzel. Rapunzel was with her. Or at least she was. Where was she? Was she okay? Cass tried to look around but due to her blurring vision, she could barely see five feet in front of her. She tried to call out her name but found it impossible to do so. She was too weak.

She was about to try again but she didn’t need to. She heard a terrified “Cass!” and suddenly she was being pulled into the princess’s arms. She could vaguely feel Rapunzel place a hand over what she assumed was her gushing wound. She could barely feel it. That scared her. “C-Cass, hang on, okay? You’re gonna be fine.” She could tell that her lover was on the verge of tears. She wanted nothing more to comfort her, to tell her she was okay, but she couldn’t. But there was one thing that she needed to know.

Cassandra summed up the energy to raise her bloodied hand and place it on Rapunzel’s cheek. “You..” She wheezed out. “...okay?”

Rapunzel gave her a watery smile, a fake one, and placed her hand over Cassandra’s as she nodded. “I’m okay, I’m okay. But you.. you need to hang just a little bit longer, okay? I’m gonna get you out of here, you’re gonna be fine.”

Cassandra weakly shook her head as her hand fell back to her side. “You need to... get out of here. Too dangerous..”

Rapunzel frantically shook her head. “No way! I’m not leaving you here! Not in a million years! And nothing you do or say is gonna make me leave you!”

“R-Raps-”

"No, Cass,” Rapunzel said seriously. “I’m not leaving you.” She repeated. “We’re gonna get out of here together.”

“G-Gothel-”

“She’s gone, Cass. You scared her off. Y-You protected us - me - as always.. Now you gotta stay strong for me, okay?”

Cassandra could only weakly nod. Gothel destroyed all the messages and scrolls they needed for answers, but Rapunzel was able to save one. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. But at the moment, she wasn’t focused on that as she got to her feet and carried the barely conscious Cass to one of the walls and laid her against it. Rapunzel worked fast as she rushed to Cass’s bag of belongings and grabbed the first aid supplies before rushing back towards Cassandra. She didn’t waste any time as she removed Cassandra’s tattered shirt and inspected her wounds. That was when she noticed Cass’s eyes slowly closing.

“Hey,” Rapunzel gently patted the older woman’s face. Cassandra staggered as her eyes opened slightly, but not all the way. “Hey, Cass, please stay with me.” Rapunzel was doing everything in her power not to cry. She needed to stay calm. 

Rapunzel silently thanked Cass for basically destroying her dress so that she was dressed in a loose shirt and a pair of black pants as she took off her own shirt and tied it around Cassandra’s wound to stop the bleeding so she could focus for a second. Rapunzel inspected the wound and she sighed in relief for she realized it wasn’t as bad as she thought. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad. It was going to need stitches. And quick. Rapunzel realized she was gonna have to do it herself. She silently thanked her father for forcing her to take those first aid lessons.

With shaky hands, she took out the supplies needed which consisted of a needle, the stitching, bandages and the antibiotics that were needed. With skilled hands, Rapunzel removed her already soaked through shirt and got to work. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Cassandra but they didn’t have any numbing medicine and she couldn’t afford to waste a single second. Again, she noticed Cass slipping in and out of consciousness. She couldn’t allow her to go unconscious. Rapunzel was scared if she did, she wouldn’t wake up again. "H-Hey, Cass, Cass?"

"Hm?" Cassandra asked as her head, which was leaning against the wall, fell to the side to look at her, her hair falling over her face. She sounded so out of it. Rapunzel had to keep her quickening heart and heightened worry in check. She couldn't freak out on her. She needed to stay calm. If she started to freak out then Cass could slip right through her fingers and she'd lose her.

"You need to stay awake, okay? Talk to me."

"About what?" Cassandra asked, her voice weak, low and sluggish. It reminded Rapunzel of when they admitted to each other the night Cass was high on medication. Except this time, the risk was much, much higher. The poor girl was delirious from pain and blood loss.

"Anything." Rapunzel responded without looking at her as she focused on her work. She needed to work fast but efficient to make sure she did it right. One wrong move and it would be over. She couldn’t risk that.

"Okay..." Cassandra responded slowly. "...How about how much I love you?"

Rapunzel couldn't hold back the giggle as she gave Cass a sweet smile. "I already know that though, Cass."

"I know," Cassandra responded. "But I like to remind you every now and then."

Rapunzel shook her head with a smile. "As long as you keep talking, you can talk about whatever you want."

Cass gave her a weak smile as she raised her shaky hand and placed it on Rapunzel's cheek; rubbing lovingly with her thumb. Rapunzel leaned into the touch but didn't stop working for a single second. "You know, the first time I saw you... I always felt a deeper connection to you."

"Yeah?" Rapunzel asked as she focused on fixing Cassandra's wound.

"Yeah," Cassandra responded. "It was almost instant. From the beginning, around you, I always felt so.. relaxed. It confused me, at first. I never felt that way around anyone before. For the first time in probably my whole life, I actually let my guard down on more than one occasion; being with you. I did and said things I would never do around anyone else. I realized quickly that I was already falling for you. You were just so... different. You were a dream; gorgeous inside and out. But not perfect, you never acted perfect or fake like other people of your status or others at all. You had flaws and I loved you even more because you didn’t act like you didn’t - you were, are, perfect to me. I wanted nothing more than to be the one to make you smile, to make you happy, to make you laugh but... you became out of my reach. I loved you way too much to ruin the relationship you and Fitzherbert built." Cassandra shrugged. "I guess that's why I resented him for so long." Rapunzel didn't respond as she focused on saving her life, but Cass knew that she was listening nonetheless if her guilt, as well as glowing, expression said anything to say about it. "I tried to find someone else, to fall for someone else.. out here but I couldn't. It always led back to you. I felt like.." Cassandra chuckled painfully. "I felt like I was somehow betraying you again if I got with someone else. It never felt right. Honestly, one of the reasons I left Corona was to exile myself. I already hurt you and the kingdom enough so I planned to never return and I hoped that over time, you would learn to live with it and be happy. I knew that you would be mad at me, when you realized I wasn't coming back, but I hoped you'd get over it eventually." Cassandra paused. "But... I couldn't stay away. I tried, I tried so hard but I always felt a pull pulling me back to you. I tried to stay away. I knew that if I saw you, my resolve would break. And it did. As soon as I saw you, I knew I could never leave your side ever again. When you agreed to leave Corona, to come with me, I had never been happier in my entire life. I wanted to show you the world - to show you all the places I found, all the mysteries I had yet uncoded, I wanted so badly to just show you everything you deserved to see. I didn't care how - I didn't care if I was just a friend to you, or more, all I knew was that I loved you and I wanted to bring you to new horizons." Cassandra chuckled. "As you can see, some setbacks go in the way."

Rapunzel looked up at her and gave her a sweet smile. Cassandra could see the unshed tears in her eyes. "We still have all the time in the world, Cass. After all of this is over, you can take me to those places." Her smile dropped slightly. "But you need to stay alive long enough to be able to do that." Cass could only nod. Rapunzel finished up the stitching as she wrapped Cassandra's torso with bandaging and hoped that it was enough. Cassandra still looked barely conscious as Rapunzel reached forward and pressed a hand to her forehead. She was so warm, she had a fever. A high fever. She was so pale.. Rapunzel took a shaky breath and reminded herself to be calm. She needed to lower her fever.

"Cass, I need to take off the rest of your clothes okay? You're burning up and I need to lower it."

Cassandra chuckled weakly. "Or it's just an excuse to see me naked."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. But the fact that she was cracking jokes made her calm down a bit. Rapunzel started to remove her clothes as Cassandra stared distantly to the side with barely open eyes. Rapunzel blushed slightly but kept her posture. Her body was covered head to toe in sweat - but she was shivering so badly. Rapunzel wrapped a thin blanket around her and hoped it was enough to lower her fever as well as keep her warmer.

"Raps?"

Rapunzel looked up and couldn’t figure out whether or not she imagined that. It was said so quietly, so weakly, she could barely even hear her. "Yeah, Cass?"

"I love you."

"I love you too," Rapunzel responded immediately. Cassandra smiled weakly and raised her hand to brush Rapunzel's bangs out of her face. Then it fell. Cassandra's eyes closed. "Cass?" Rapunzel asked. "Cass??" She asked a second time, this time more panicked. "Cassandra!" She gently shook the girl. "Cassandra, wake up!" Tears were streaming down her face as she quickly picked up the girl in her arms. She was barely breathing. She needed to get her out of there quickly.

With quick feet, she headed towards the exit, Cassandra tucked firmly in her arms as she rushed out of the cave as quickly as she could without reopening Cassandra's wounds. She was panicking, she was crying, she wasn't staying calm, but at that moment, she couldn't find it in her to care. The adrenaline rushed through her as she rushed to get Cassandra help.

It was then that she realized...

Cassandra stopped breathing.

Hi guys! I'm sorry for the short chapter! The next one will be out as soon as possible, I'm working on it now ^^.