Word count: ~2.0k words

Another birthday fic to one of my tumblr friends! To my friend Bori aka @/subrosasteath!

Our very first interactions were her creating the tangled au with me, and I just found it really fitting that I add a new part to it!

Just a recap, basically the cof tangled au is with tristan as rapunzel, sev as flynn, and veronyka & kade as the guards who chase after them. This scene takes place a bit after the first part, it's a replacement of the dam scene

"You have got to stop making people chase after us," Tristan panted, as Sev dragged him into an abandoned building.

"Look, I'd rather they not chase after me too," Sev muttered.

Well, Tristan supposed he couldn't really do anything about it. "What about that one guard. What's his name, Kade?"

"Well, he's an exception. What about you, what'd you think about Veronyka?"

"She's-she's cute. Wish she wasn't trying to arrest me though."

"It's part of the thrill though," Sev said, looking around to see if they were being followed. Based on the fact that Sev started dragging him towards a stairwell, he supposed that they were. "So you don't get the fuzzy feelings from the second person you see, but you do for the fourth?"

There was a slam of a door being kicked open, followed by two familiar people yelling.

"We know you're in here!" Veronyka yelled.

"Seriously, they caught up already?" Sev asked, speeding up.

Tristan followed him. He supposed that Sev was right, there was a thrill from running, wondering if Veronyka was going to catch up.

"Okay, so," Sev said, "we've got one weapon between the two of us, and only I have actual experience. We'll split up, Kade will probably chase after me, and I can deal with him while you find your way back down."

"We're splitting up?" Tristan repeated. "What if Veronyka comes after you too?"

"She won't," Sev said confidently. "She'll go looking for you."

He dragged Tristan by the arm and pulled into a hallway, then pulled out a lockpick and opened the nearest door.

"I don't think this is smart, and I'm capable of handling myself," Tristan told him.

"Great," Sev muttered, and Tristan couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Then handle Veronyka and sneak your way out this building. We're not too far from the nearest town, and there'll be a crowd as the festival starts." He pointed to a distant blob of colour in the distance, in the same direction of where the lanterns were going to be. "We meet in the crowd, it'll be easy to lose them again should they still be on our tail."

Tristan sighed. "Alright." Not like he knew much better. He didn't like the idea of splitting up, but there were only so many things they could do in this building. "Go."

Sev bolted out, and he could hear footsteps not too far from where they were. While Sev ran, Tristan stayed in the room, locked it, then looked to find a good hiding spot should Veronyka force her way in.

He heard one set of steps run up the next flight of stairs, heavy enough that it was probably Kade's. A door in the hallway he was in slammed open.

He found an old wardrobe and hid in there. Another door was slammed open, this one closer. Tristan held his breath, hoping that when Veronyka came in, she wouldn't go through a thorough inspection of the room. Another door slammed open, then a minute later, another. Tristan took in a breath and nearly choked.

The air smelled like smoke. If he listened carefully, he could hear faint crackling. It sounded like it was coming from his room. A fire? If there was a fire...

Tristan feared the flames, but was unsure as to why. He'd never even come close to making a mess in the tower with Rolan, only a tiny flame which had been stamped out immediately. It wasn't serious.

But there was a fire. How?

Tristan gently pushed against the wardrobe door to see how bad the fire was, but then the door next to his room slammed open. He froze. The idea of a fire of an unknown size scared him, but he couldn't risk getting caught. Just a few minutes. Once she left, then he could leave. His door was opened next, and immediately heard cursing.

"Oh, it's huge," he heard her murmur. "I need to find Kade."

Huge? That got Tristan to open the wardrobe doors, and oh, it was way bigger than he thought. It seemed to have started from the curtains--was that an arrow on the ground?--but unfortunately, it was spreading to separate him from the entrance to the room. He coughed from the smoke, watching Veronyka's retreating back.

"Veronyka!" he rasped out, uncaring of the possibility of being caught. "Veronyka!"

He choked again, doubling down. He really needed to get out. The window wasn't an option, due to the flaming curtains, so the only option was the door. But the white hot flames looked too hard to pass through, just standing near them was too hot. Was it even possible to make it out of here alive?

"Tristan!" Veronyka called out, and for a moment, he forgot where he was as Veronyka gazed at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

And then the moment passed in an instant, only for reality to hit him even harder. Fire. There was a fire and he was stuck--

"You need to hurry!" she said.

A slight ember sparked in his direction, and he stepped backwards. "I can't."

"I'm not going to immediately arrest you. Don't worry about that. We need to get out of here and now."

"I can't," he repeated, taking another step back.

He choked again, it was getting so much harder to breathe.

"Are you scared of the flames?" Veronyka asked, her voice softer than he'd ever heard it from before.

He mustered the strength to nod.

"I can't come in and save you," she said, "one of us needs the strength to get us out. I can carry you out, but I need you to try and get to me. I've been scared a lot, but I've learned to lock it up. I like to picture a stone wall and encase my fears inside. If the fear's trapped in there, it can't get me."

"Okay, I'll try it," he said, closing his eyes.

He pictured a stone wall. Sturdy, a material that couldn't catch on fire. The fires licked at the wall, but couldn't pass through. It burned stronger, and he added more layers. Maybe it wouldn't be enough, but it needed to be good enough for now. Tristan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he ran through the flames, clutching his hair as the heat burned. Warm arms dragged him out, and he was cradled against a soothing body. Those same arms picked him up.

"You're stronger than you look, Veronyka," Tristan said, wrapping his arms around her neck.

Her face was filled with determination, and she didn't turn to look at him, but she smiled. She continued running while carrying him, heading down a flight of stairs.

"Weren't you going to look for Kade?" he asked.

"He can take care of himself."

He nodded. "I don't think Sev will leave him there either."

"You really think so?" The tone of her voice wasn't quite disbelief, more like hope.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, I don't think Kade would leave him there, either."

"Why did you save me?" he asked.

The arms holding him tensed. "I don't want you to die," she said, facing forward.

The fire was starting to spread rapidly, and Tristan wondered how they were going to be able to escape.

"Thank you," he said, leaning into her.

They went down the last flight of stairs, but the exit to the building was completely engulfed in flames. There was no way they could get out of there...

"Crap, it's everywhere," Veronyka hissed, turning around as she jumped over a small patch of fire. She brought them into a room. "This is the place with the least flames."

As she stopped running, she fell to the floor, arms holding Tristan carefully so she wouldn't drop him.

"Veronyka," Tristan called out, choking.

The smoke was so much worse, his vision was starting to blur.

"I don't..." she gasped out, "I don't have the strength to carry us anymore."

"I'll do it then," Tristan declared, pushing against the floor, only to find that he had no strength left. "God, it's all my fault. He was right, I'm too weak for this. Not only did I put myself in danger, I put Sev, and Kade, and you..."

A hand cupped his cheek, and he looked up to see Veronyka staring at him. It was the gentlest touch he'd ever felt, he just wanted to melt into it. "Who? Who told you that you were too weak?"

"My father," he said. He could still picture Rolan's dark gaze.

"He's wrong," Veronyka said, staring at him intently. "You're strong, you managed to get away from us countless times. Doesn't it mean something? Though, I get it. It's awful being told you aren't good enough, it's part of why I joined the royal guard. My sister thought I couldn't, so I proved that I was capable."

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her in years."

"It's a much more noble reason for being out here mine," Tristan said. He expected her to glare at the reminder of why she was chasing after him, that she saw him as a criminal who was assisting another criminal in stealing the kingdom's prized possession. But she didn't glare, didn't flinch, just continued staring at him with the softest of smiles. It gave him the courage to continue. "I just wanted to see the lanterns. Sev found me, and we snuck out of my home so I could look at the floating lanterns."

"That's really the reason you came all this way?" Veronyka asked.

He nodded. "Isn't it stupid that I had to rely on someone else? That I couldn't even just travel there and back without getting in danger?"

"How come you've never done it before?"

"I couldn't just leave. It's only because of Sev that I could leave home in the first place."

"It's not stupid," she said, her voice a mere rasp.

The flames approached them as she slumped, her eyes fluttering. Tristan held her hand, painfully aware of the burns she must have suffered so she could try and save him.

"I had to protect my hair," he confessed. "I have magic hair."

Veronyka looked at him dazedly, and it was then that he realized something. He quickly started singing, using whatever strength he had to rest his hair on top of Veronyka, hair glowing yellow as his throat hurt. Veronyka's eyes opened wide.

"The window," he rasped.

His eyes fluttered shut, and he could vaguely feel those soothing arms pick him up again.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"..stan..."

"Tristan..."

"Tristan!"

Tristan sat up, wincing at the harsh sunlight in his eyes. Veronyka sat right in front of him, the relieved look on her face brighter and gentler than the sun.

"Are w--" he rasped, and Veronyka quickly gave him some water to drink. "Are we safe?"

"Yeah," she replied, "thanks to you."

His heart had been pounding, but just looking at her soothed him. "You're the one who carried me out."

"Still, you healed me. Don't worry, I won't ask about it unless you want me to."

He smiled. "Thank you. What about Sev and Kade? Are they safe?"

"I haven't seen them," she said. Tristan frowned. "But I see hoofprints heading towards the village, I think they might be Jinx's--Kade's horse."

He let out a breath. "That's where Sev told me to meet him."

She nodded, then began to pick him up again. She set him down on her horse.

"Where are we--"

"I told you I wasn't going to immediately arrest you. I'll take you to the village, it's the least I could do for you." She then climbed on behind him. "Let's go."

while i have a couple cof drafts, i likely will not work on them. idk, depends on how i feel, because it was fun writing for the cof characters after such a long time. ig we'll see