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Chapter Text

They say you can never compete with a dead sibling. You know what’s worse? A missing sibling that comes back after eighteen years.

It had been bad before, with people not letting their kids near you and avoiding you like the plague, even your parents not quite knowing what to do with you, but now that your golden girl sister had returned, it was like you just faded out of existence. In one fell swoop, she had taken your position as heir to the throne, and the little love and caring your parents had for you and more. Not only that, to add insult to injury, Rapunzel was going around acting all ‘big sister mentor figure’ to you. She condescended your cynicism, which especially got on your nerves.

Even before she had made her return to Corona, your parents had made everything about Rapunzel. “Oh, if only your sister were here,” “If only your sister could see this,” “I’m sure your sister would be excellent at this…” Your sister this, your sister that. It made you want to tear your hair out. You thought that maybe Rapunzel coming back would make things better, but it only got worse. “This is so lovely, Y/N never painted like this,” “You’re so bright compared to your brother!” “Finally Corona has a worthy heir.” It stung, but you learned to numb yourself to it quickly. Pushing down the hurt, you moved on, hiding away in your room or the garden.

One perk of Rapunzel’s return was that nobody really paid attention to you anymore. Even the bad attention went away, like to the people of Corona, you had never even existed. That meant while before, everyone was whispering about you and your parents were fussing over everything you did, now you could have some breathing room. No more studying every rulebook and history book about Corona and the seven kingdoms, no more sitting in on strategy meetings to take notes… It was a nice change, although it was infuriating to see that Rapunzel, despite being the new heir to the throne, wasn’t doing any of the studying you had always agonised over. She did nothing and got everything. How was that fair? It was like she could do no wrong.

Even Cassandra, who had been kind to you despite your homosexuality, mostly because she was a lesbian herself, just didn’t talk to you anymore. Your only friend completely ignored your existence now. That was the worst part, probably. You had thought Cass was your best friend, and was the most reliable person in your life. Turns out, you were wrong. Rapunzel came along, and suddenly you were irrelevant to even her.

Nobody had noticed you were struggling before. That you were drowning in the burden of living up to an impossible standard, of having to be perfect for your parents. Now that your sister was back, it was even worse. Nobody had even once checked on you to see how you’d been doing. Nobody had asked you if you were okay with having your life snatched away from you. Nobody. Not one single person even looked at you as you sank, choking on the murky misery. Would they finally notice your silent cries for help when you reached crisis, or would they still turn their back even then? You didn’t know.

All you knew was that you kind of hated your sister.

Chapter Text

You weren’t sure why you were following Rapunzel and Cassandra to Old Corona. They’d given you a loose explanation about sneaking out and magical rocks, hair growing back, and someone named Varian, then dragged you to the stables. You didn’t want to go, but Rapunael called it ‘sibling bonding’ and basically chucked you onto a horse. As you passed the Snuggly Duckling, you felt someone watching you, and turned around. A person on a horse ducked behind some bushes, but it was obvious who it was. You nearly snickered at Eugene. Dumb bastard thought he was being sneaky.

“So, this is where Varian lives. It seems cozy,” chuckled Rapunzel nervously, “In an I-wish-I-had-said-goodbye-to-my-loved-ones-before-I-left kind of way.” You looked up at the towering door right in front of you. You weren’t sure exactly how your older sister had come to that conclusion, but didn’t question it out loud, sliding off your horse. The door creaked open, and some fog trailed out. “Just watch your step, Raps. Come on, this way,” Cassandra stepped in, followed by Rapunzel.

“Am I a joke to you?” you muttered under your breath, walking in through the door as well, but neither woman seemed to have heard. “It’s just fog, I’m sure it’s okay!” Rapunzel waved away some of the violet mist that filled the dark room. At the end, there was a door, smaller than the last one, with a small barred window that revealed nothing but glaring purple light.

The creak of a rope resounded, and you heard a small flame. Immediately, you looked up to see where the fire was, only to see a lit match attached to a wheeled toy with a sail sliding under a conical flask attached to a tube that dropped into a glass ball. “What the-” before you could finish your sentence, the ball, now heavier, pushed down the spring it was on and launched into the air at you, Rapunzel, and Cass’s feet. It exploded, expelling more purple fog. Immediately, you felt something clinging to your boots. All three of you coughed, looking down. There was a pink-purple substance keeping you stuck in place to the floor. You couldn’t help but admire the cleverness of the trap. “Fine!” Rapunzel said, “A booby trap!”

“Raps, everything’s gonna be- oh!” Footsteps sounded, and a figure with glowing yellow eyes approached in the fog. It took you a moment to snap out of your usual jaded haze, but long enough for you to dish out a snarky comment, “Are you gonna comfort me, or?”

The figure had some sort of mask and cloak or coat on. Voice distorted, they spoke emphatically, “What do you want?” Cass looked on edge, ready to fight, and you simply tilted your head. You hadn’t fully shaken off the numbness enough to care that much. It was a side-effect of learning to numb yourself to everything; It took time to wear off. “Um, hi,” Rapunzel greeted with a wave, “So sorry to bother you, sir. I… wanted to ask you about my hair? Because you’re such a magic expe-”

“Magic?” the figure, presumably Varian, sounded outraged, “I do not work with magic!” He flipped off his mask, and his voice was much higher and smaller without it. He had fluffy dark hair with a teal stripe that was slightly pushed down by the mask, greyish green eyes, freckles, and buck teeth. “I mean, technically, it’s not magic, it’s alchemy,” he flicked his wrist limply, “But, yeah, don’t- don’t sweat it.” Varian waved his hands about dismissively, and Pascal squeaked at him skeptically. Meanwhile, that was all it took to snap you completely out of the numbness. Oh crap, you thought, face heating up ever so slightly, A cute boy, my only weakness.

Nervously, Rapunzel laughed, “Got it. So, what is this?” She lifted one foot as far as she could, but the purple substance clung to her. Then the situation fully kicked into your mind. Oh shit. I’m stuck in chemicals. “Oh, it’s a chemical compound of my own design,” Varian shrugged off his coat, underneath which he wore a light teal shirt, brown apron, beige slacks, and dark brown boots. He tossed his mask to the side, revealing a pair of goggles, and strode over. “See, we have a bit of a critter problem out here, and through the miracle of modern alchemy I have found a humane way to solve the problem,” Varian plucked a raccoon you had just noticed from the slime and carried it over to a door, tossing it out and kind of making the humane part a moot point. “This is riveting, but could you get us out of here?” snapped Cass.

“Ha!” Varian patted down his apron, “Where is that neutralising parti-” The raccoon returned, squealing and running around Varian’s legs. He pulled out a stoppered flask out of a pocket with one hand and tossed the critter out once again with the other, kicking the door shut. Poor raccoon.

Varian sprinkled the contents of the bottle onto the slime around your feet, dissolving it. Fascinated, you watched it evaporate. “I am so sorry, Your Highnesses,” Varian laughed. You looked up at him. Highnesses? Plural? He actually gave a damn about you? “Your Highnesses?” you and Rapunzel said at the same time, but only your sister continued, “Wait, you know who I am?”

“Uh, how could I not?” Varian chuckled, “Look at your hair!” Then he turned to you, “And, of course, your famous flowers. Ha! Your Highnesses.” He pointed at the array of different flowers in your hair and clothing. It was true that you were kind of known as a botanist in the kingdom as well as gay. “Oh, please, just Rapunzel.”

“And Y/N.” If you care, you mentally added.

“Wow, really?” Varian seemed honoured, “Okay.”

“So!” he cut straight to the chase, circling around to see Rapunzel’s hair, picking up a chunk, “Fantastical stories of your hair returning have spread throughout Corona. Yeah. People say it’s magic, but personally, I don’t really believe that.” Varian let go of the hair and stepped away, “Now, as you have probably guessed, I am a man of science. Specifically, al-”

“Alchemy,” Cassandra interrupted, “We know.” Varian looked a mixture of surprised and disappointed. Cass continued, “Now listen, kid. We need your help. But let me make something clear. What happens here, stays here, you got it?” She picked him up by the collar, much to his alarm.

Once Varian agreed, Rapunzel laid down on an examination table, hair spread out along it as Varian looked at her hair through a microscope. Meanwhile, you looked around at the lab. It was amazing. Especially since Varian seemed to be about your age, it was impressive, too. “Oh, yes, this, this, ah, it’s very…” Varian murmured, more to himself than any of you, “Long.” The microscope creaked as he looked up. He pushed it down when Rapunzel glanced up at him. “Oh no, don’t worry, Your High- Rapunzel. I am sure that I, Varian, can unlock the mystery of your hair with the power of science!” Varian shoved the lens back, and it swung around a full cycle to hit him in the back of the head. You winced when you heard the thump. “Ow!” he yelped, hand immediately flying to the back of his head. His glove came back with a smear of blood on the palm. Looking queasy, Varian chuckled, “Heh. No sweat, it’s just a little…” Babbling, he fainted.

When Varian came to, Rapunzel attempted to use her healing incantation on Varian’s cut to no avail, her hair wrapped around his head. You had offered up the bandages in your satchel, but she had refused, insisting her incantation would work better.“Better?” asked your sister as Varian took the hair off of his. “Oh, yeah,” he swiped a hand over his cut again and checked it, only to come away with more blood, “Nooo.”

“Huh, that used to work,” frowned Rapunzel.

“Well, silver lining. We’ve acquired some critical data about your hair,” Varian picked up a lock, examining it, “It no longer possesses its legendary healing power. Progress!” You wanted to laugh smugly, but resisted the urge, instead moving over behind Varian’s chair to dab at the cut with antibacterial wipes and began to wrap it up, sliding the bandage that needed to go around his head under the straps of his goggles.

“Now,” Varian got to his feet not even a moment after you tucked in the tail end of the bandage, “Let’s figure out exactly what this hair is made of.” He took a whole bundle of it, grinning excitedly.

Chapter Text

Varian swiped a massive cloth off of a huge contraption made of various tools. It took a moment to fully take it in. “This machine can analyse any substance for chemical makeup, bitopic composition, and urgu-structural integrity.” He hit the examination table, and it bounced up. “I built it myself.” Impressive.

“Nice! Rapunzel cheered, and Cassandra looked confused. On reflex, you explained for her benefit, “Bioptic composition is a molecule that binds to two distinct sites on a receptor. At least, in the context of chemistry and substance design. Structural integrity means the ability for something to withstand a load. Like a bridge’s ability to hold people.”

“Exactly,” Varian shot you finger guns, walking over to a machine with a lever and several dials, “If I’m right, this should tell us all there is to know about your hair.”

“Raps, are you sure you wanna-” Cassandra started, but Rapunzel was already strapped to the examination board, hair pooling around her, “Rapunzel?”

“Let’s do this,” she grinned.

“Okay! Rapunzel. Now, um, this may get a little…” he scratched the back of his head where the edge of the bandages rested. “Exciting?” your sister cut in, and you had to bite back the urge to kick something.

“Um. sure! Yeah!” Varian grabbed the large lever with a smile, “That’s a good word for it.” He yanked it down as you and Cass watched from the side. The machine whirred, and Pascal jumped off it. The contraption began to swirl around Rapunzel and her hair. She yelped as it did, and sighed when it finally stopped with a ding. “Aaand there we are! Done,” Varian chirped.

“Alright, not super fun, but it’s over.”

Chuckling nervously, Varian rubbed the back of his neck, “Hah! Oh, sorry. Yeah, I- I meant done with the first test. But uh, don’t worry, only eighty-six more to go!” You seriously had to bite back a grin at that one. He hit the lever again, and a massive saw blade whirred, sparking against Rapunzel’s hair. Eugene walked in that instant, looking around, “Blondie!”

“Amazing!” Varian crowed, ducking the saw that had flown off, “You were right, it’s absolutely unbreakable!”

“But I’m betting you’re not!” yelled Eugene, “Let her go.” Instinctively, you took a step in front of Varian, as if your scrawny teenage self could serve as a half-decent human shield.

The machine righted itself, allowing Rapunzel to look up, “Eugene! Hey!”

“Blondie! You’re okay!” he gasped in relief, but then his expression turned serious, “You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on here?” Rapunzel and Cass exchanged a look, your sister chuckling nervously. “You know what?” Eugene didn’t bother waiting for a response, “I don’t care. I’m gettin’ you out of there.”

“Hey!” recognition lit up Varian’s eyes as Eugene ran up to Rapunzel, “You’re Flynn Rider!”

“No, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never seen you before in my life,” Eugene crossed his arms adamantly, “You can’t prove anything!” Chuckling adorably, Varian covered his mouth with both gloved hands, “I’m your biggest fan!” He ran over to a rope hanging from the ceiling, and when he tugged on it a curtain opened, revealing a little corner of books and a wanted poster. “Hey now,” Eugene’s attitude completely changed, “Flynn Rider, nice to be met.”

“I used to see your wanted posters all the time, you’re my hero!” Varian squealed, tugging on his sidetails. Cute as it was, it was messing with the bandages, so you couldn’t help but frown your disapproval. “Oh, well, ‘hero’ is a bit much.”

“I’ve read every single book about you!” Varian came running up with a stack of books. You smirked. How would Eugene handle this? The books flew everywhere, and Eugene swiped one off his head, “Oh, well, um, you see, that’s not actually me. I just took the name from the book.”

But Varian ignored that, swinging around a sword wrapped in glow sticks, “Hey, hey, remember the time you dueled that evil knight, blindfolded?” He tore through the book, and although that would have made you wince in any other circumstance, you couldn’t help but smile a little.

“No, no, not me. Do you wanna put that down?” Eugene looked concerned at the sight of the shiny sword, stepping back behind a table. “Tell me about how you took on the Earl of Camembert!” Varian swung the sword around as Cass and Rapunzel talked. There was an obvious divide, with the two women simply talking, while the guys, you, Varian, and Eugene, were in a bit of chaos. Eugene looked kind of terrified of Varian, who was still talking animatedly, and you watched from the side, avoiding the sword. “Also not me,” Eugene raised a finger to correct the boy, “Would someone please explain to me who this child is? And what is this child doing here?” He gestured at Varian, then you.

“I’m Varian!” A flask fell into a watchglass, causing a small explosion. The table snapped in half, both Eugene and Varian flinching as the glass shattered right at their feet. Boy, were you glad you weren’t near that.

“Hot, hot, hot, hot!” yelped Varian, throwing the sword into Eugene’s wanted poster and incinerating it. “Oh, come on!” Suddenly, the whole lab shook, causing a bit of stone to fall to the ground. “What was that trembling?” demanded Eugene.

“Trembling? I didn’t notice any trembling,” Varian denied it so casually that had you not just felt that, you would have believed him. “Oh! Yeah!” he changed the subject quickly, almost forgot to get the spectrometric press! It’s the only way I can read the results of this test! Flynn Rider, Flower Prince, wanna come with?”

“Oooh!” Eugene said in mock-excitement, earning him a sharp glare from you, “No.”

“Hey! If, if you come, I can show you something really special! But, um, you’ve got to keep it a secret.” Varian lowered his voice at the end, eyes twinkling with excitement. It was a nice surprise being specifically asked to go somewhere with someone without the words ‘sibling bonding’ attached to it, so how could you resist? “You want to tell me a secret?” Eugene looked around at the room, “Did you hear that, everyone? Varitas- Var- Var-”
“Varian!”

“A complete stranger wants to tell me a secret!”

Varian led the two of you out of the house and over to the stairs down the bridge above the lake below his house. Right away, Eugene began talking, “Listen, buddy, I need you to tell me everything that the princess told you.”

“Oh, yeah, Well, okay, first, she said-” Varian began acting, “‘We’re looking for Varian.’ And then I said, ‘I am Varian!’” He used a fake deep intimidating voice for the last part, fists on his hips. He giggled, tapping his index fingers in the air as if counting off the syllables, “And then she said, ‘uh, hi, sorry to bother you, sir but I wanna ask you about my hair!’” He waved in a pretty good imitation of Rapunzel. He turned around, “Wait, oh, sorry, let me back up. I forgot to tell you about the raccoon trap. So, there was-”

“Yes, that’s great,” Eugene interrupted, and you almost glared at him again, “But what I meant is, tell me all the important stuff she said.”

“Mr. Rider, when the Prince and Princess of Corona speak directly to you, every word is important.” Eugene facepalmed, and it was your turn to grin. The cute boy thought your words were important.

Chapter Text

Bottles clattered as Varian scrounged through a shelf of them, “I know that press is here somewhere, Flynn and Y/N.”

“Again, it’s Eugene.” Varian ignored that, tossing a cloth off of yet another device that looked kind of like a cart with scrolls on it, “Here it is! And, once the tests are done, it’ll print the results on parchment paper, and-”

“That’s muy interessante, but getting back to what the princess said-” Eugene started, and you could have punched him for interrupting Varian again. Why wouldn’t anybody just let the boy talk? A loud rumbling interrupted him, and you and he both stumbled for balance, but Varian, being on one knee, was relatively fine. “Whoa, whoa!” yelped Eugene, “Why does that keep happening?” Tossing down the parchment paper, Varian scrambled over to where you two stood, putting one hand on each of your chests, “Flynn Rider! Prince Y/N! I believe I promised the two of you…” He crouched down on the floor, flipping open a trapdoor you had been wondering the purpose of since you walked in. A ladder led down into a dark stone tunnel. “A secret.” Varian gestured down the tunnel.

The three of you made your way down the ladder, first Varian, then you, then Eugene. Holding a lamp, Varian spoke, “Now, if my dad knew I was down here, he’d kill me.” He chuckled, starting down the tunnel, “Of course, if he knew what I was actually doing down here, he’d probably be impressed. Or at least I hope he’d be impressed. These tunnels run through my entire village, which make them perfect for my project.”

“What project?” Eugene asked. In lieu of a response, Varian led the two of you to a massive machine with pipes leading out of it and into the cavern walls. “Wow,” you breathed,

“This project.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Through the miracle of alchemy, not magic, I found a way to heat this entire tank of water with a single drop of my newest, yet to be named compound… Which I’ll call Flynnoelum!” Varian lifted a conical flask of glowing green liquid into the air, grinning with sheer excitement. 

“I still don’t get it.”

“I’m gonna surprise my village by bringing the people hot running water!” Now that was impressive. Hot running water would be a small miracle, as well as making things very convenient. It was ingenious. “I’ve constructed five of these babies all throughout the caverns,” chuckled Varian, stars in his eyes. Eugene, however, looked far less impressed than you were, “Wait, wait, wait. These- these tremors… Your machines are causing them?”

“No, no, no, my machines are not causing them. The chemical reactions they trigger do.” Varian took a pipette of the Flynnoelum and dropped it into a barrel of red substance, causing a column of fire to erupt from it. “And no one else knows you're doing this? Okay, listen, kiddo, I’m no expert in…” Eugene paused, “Whatever this is, but anything that can cause earthquakes cannot be safe. We’ve gotta warn people about this!”

“Well, objectively speaking,” you cleared your throat, “Tectonic plate movements cause earthquakes too, but that’s what keeps the geology of the earth moving.”

“Yes, exactly!” Varian said to you, then turned to Eugene, “And no, we can’t! Okay? You gave me your word you’d keep this a secret! And besides, I’m an expert, and this is all perfectly safe.” In a moment of perfect timing, a screw flew out of the machine, hitting a wall and getting lodged in it. “Yeah, it does- does that all the time,” Varian stammered awkwardly, “Come on, let’s go, we’re burning daylight!”

You and even Eugene followed Varian back up the ladder, retrieved the spectrometric press, and ran over to the lab. “Team awesome is baaack!” the other fourteen year old whooped, hopping onto the wooden platform of the testing contraption, “Now, Rapunzel. I know my tests have been a pain in the hm-hm.”

“Aw, I wouldn’t say pain,” Rapunzel waved her hand, mildly irritatingly chirpy as ever. Stepping once again off to the side, you clenched your teeth. But once you realised you were doing it, you unclenched them and eased back into numbness. Electricity suddenly sparked all through the machine, hitting Rapunzel’s hair, which frizzed up. Her chameleon turned a bright blue similar to the artificial lightning, but otherwise seemed unharmed. “Now I would,” winced your sister.

“In a moment, this little guy,” Varian patted, then kicked his spectrometric press which began creaking and moving the parchment, “He’ll give us all the answers we want.”

“Woo-hoo! Answers!”

“So, Eugene!” Cass walked over to Eugene, completely ignoring you, “Got yourself a secret, huh?” Varian butted in with the reminder that seemingly everyone needed before you could, “Uh, and Y/N.”

“If you want to call it that,” Eugene and Cassandra just ignored that, but you were honestly used to it at this point, “The kid ha- uh-uh, nice try, Cass.”

A loud rumbling noise and another tremble of the ground snapped all of you to attention. “Look, Raps, I think it’s time to go, now,” Eugene insisted.

“Now?” demanded your sister, “You’re kidding, right? This is almost finished.” The bell signaling the end of an experiment dinged. Eugene sauntered over to Varian, who was kneeling by his spectrometric press. “Can we talk?” the man hissed through his teeth.

“Uh-ha, of course, that’s what Team Awesome does. Come on, Y/N- Woah!” Eugene snatched Varian and dragged him out the door. Curious, you followed. “Those things down there are dangerous!” your sister’s boyfriend yelled.

“Dangerous? No, they’re not dangerous, I- I have adjusted my calculations for every possible outcome. Uh, the margin of error is, is less than .56 percent- Or, now, wait, was it .57?”

“I don’t know!” Eugene knelt in front of the young alchemist, “Look, Varian. I think you’re a good kid- a, a smart kid, and you got great intentions. But I’m asking you, pleading with you, for the love of my life and your entire village, to please shut off those machines until a seisma-quake-atologist can come inspect ‘em!”

“A seismologist,” you corrected.

“Please!” pleaded Eugene, “Do it for team Awesome.” Varian looked more and more disappointed as Eugene spoke, and the sparkle died from his eyes. There was yet another loud rumbling, and Varian yelped, “I suppose I can turn them down… a bit.” 

He went in the direction of the machine he had shown you, and Eugene went back to the lab. You stood still for a moment, contemplating which direction to go. You had a feeling that maybe you should be more concerned, but forcing yourself to not care about being ignored meant you couldn’t bring yourself to care about much else until you reconnected to the moment. In the end, you decided to follow Varian to see if you could help with the machines. He was fast, so you had to run to catch up. The two of you clambered down the ladder and jogged down the tunnel. “Okay Varian,” the alchemist started talking to himself, “I, uh, I guess it was .57. Heh.” He tapped at a dial on the machine, and you peered around him. The whole contraption was rattling and letting out steam. Varian ran over to a set of pipes on the wall and started at it with a wrench, accidentally knocking over a flask of Flynneolum. It registered that it probably should not drop in you a second too late, and by the time you reached for it, it shattered on the stone floor. “Oh, no, the Flynneolum!” Varian gasped. He got on the floor, scrubbing at the pool of green. The pipes began to leak with the red liquid that reacted with the Flynneolum earlier. You absentmindedly realised that it would probably result in a reaction.

A series of explosions sounded from a little ways off, and Varian got to his feet, “Oh, no, no, the other machines!”

“I heard three,” you tilted your head, “That means there’s one left other than this one.” You dropped onto the floor and moved a chunk of rock in between the red and green liquids, stopping them from touching. “Oh!” Varian’s eyes widened, “Oh, oh! That’s smart. Okay, okay, we gotta get to the next machine.” You hurried back up to the surface and Varian led you to the last remaining machine. As you passed the lab, you faintly heard Eugene’s voice, “Varian! He’s gonna get himself killed!”

Bitch, how about me? you wondered, dodging a massive boulder. Looking back, you saw Cass running behind you and Varian. She reached out and grabbed Varian by the glove, “Listen, kid! We gotta get outta here!” You had to have a double take. You were actually closer to Cassandra than Varian was, and she had just casually ignored you. “No, no! Ugh!” Varian tried to free himself from her grip, “I’ve got three pumps to shut off, and I can’t let this happen again! Just take Y/N and go!” There was an explosion right in front of you, and you reflexively pulled Varian closer to you and away from it as a large pipe crashed down from the sky. Cassandra wrapped her arms around the both of you, and Varian buried his face into your shoulder from fear. Honestly, you couldn’t really feel much of it, in part because you really didn’t care if you lived or died.

But you cared if Varian did, and as much as she’d been ignoring you lately, Cass too. You realised that as the metal pipe crashed down over the three of you.

Chapter Text

Coughing from the dust, you crawled up and poked your head out the pipe, followed by Cassandra. The two of you yanked Varian up. “Thank you-” he started, but paused when you choked on some dust, leaning over the side of the pipe and coughing violently. “Oh, woah there.”

“Varian!” a man called out.

“Quirin, thank goodness you’re here!” said a townsperson.

“Uh-oh. It’s my dad.” Looking up to the source of the noise, you saw… absolutely no similarities to Varian other than hair colour, minus the teal. Cass pulled herself out of the tube and hopped onto the floor, followed by Varian, who helped you down. His father came running up, kneeling by Varian and putting one hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Are you okay? What happened?” You felt a pang of jealousy at the concern in his tone.

“Dad, I’m sorry,” mumbled Varian.

“Not again, Varian.”

Again? Just how often did this happen? Quirin got to his feet and turned away from his son. “But, dad-”

Interrupting his son, Quirin sighed, “Is everybody okay?” Cass patted Varian on the shoulder, and you put your hand on his other one. There were flowers falling out of your hair and clothes, but it was probably the least of your concerns. 

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As Rapunzel and Eugene talked, you stayed behind with Cassandra, both of you tending to your horses. The four of you set off back to the castle, your sister chattering animatedly to her boyfriend. I want a boyfriend, you thought to yourself absentmindedly, thoughts wandering to Varian. You decided that you would check up on him and the rest of the village to make sure he was doing alright at some point in the next few weeks. You may not have been the future king anymore, but the people of Corona were still your subjects, which meant it was important to assure that every last one of them were given help. Whether they took it or not, though, was up to them. It was kind of difficult to help people when they wouldn’t even let their children near you. Cass was the only person who you knew personally that was alright with you being gay. Rapunzel and Eugene didn’t know yet, and you would rather keep it that way. The last thing you wanted was for Rapunzel to have yet another thing to condescendingly baby you over. You wondered if Varian was fine with gay people. He was friendly to you, so maybe he was. Maybe he was gay too? Or bi or something else? You could hope.

Back at the castle, you headed straight to the gardens after leaving your horse at the stable. There was a little area behind a series of bushes where you had been growing flowers since you were a little kid, and you loved spending time there. When you arrived, though, it was a mess, flowers rearranged out of your colour coded organisation system, your neat labels replaced with cartoonish paintings, the bee’s nest that held your only consistent friends, bees, gone. “Wha-” you stammered, tears welling up in your eyes. Your safe place, one of the few places you felt happy, had been invaded. “Surprise!” Rapunzel popped up from behind you, grinning, “Do you like it? I saw you coming here a lot and decided to spruce it up a little! I made the flowers more fun, added some colour to the labels, and got rid of the bees!” Tears rolling down your face, you dropped to your knees, “Wh- what did you do… What did you do to the bees?”

“Well,” oblivious, your sister continued, “I used a humane pesticide to-”

“You did what?!” you demanded, getting to your feet angrily, “Why would you do that? Was it not enough that you had to come here and take my life and best friend, did you really have to kill my only other friends and ruin my garden too?”

“I- But the bees didn’t suffer! And I was just trying to help you!”

“Well you didn’t! You killed them!” you sobbed, “Get out, Rapunzel. Get out!”

Rapunzel left, and you collapsed onto the ground again, crying your eyes out. Shakily you inhaled, “Okay, okay. Okay, Y/N. Okay. You can’t change the past. So what can you control in this shitty situation?” Deeply, you breathed in, then out, wiping your tears with your sleeves. “Okay. I can reorganise the garden. I can… I can help the people of Old Corona. I can. I can.” Doing more deep breathing, you got to your feet. It was too painful to look at the garden right now in this emotional state. So you walked over to the stables to go and do what you should have done before leaving Old Corona; Help your people.

Chapter Text

You rode to Old Corona on your horse. The closer you got, the more damage there was. You immediately spotted Varian pushing a huge shaft of rock with some effort. Jumping in to help, you hopped off your horse and ran over, helping him slide it up to the hole in the street. “Y/N!” he seemed genuinely excited to see you. Taken aback, you stared at him blankly. “What?” asked Varian, “Have I got something on my face?” He rubbed at his freckled cheeks, smearing dark rock dust all over his face. You laughed, covering your mouth, “You do now.”

“So do you!” he giggled. Then he leapt forward and smudged the dust on his gloves onto your face. “Hey! What the hell?” you retaliated by rubbing your hands onto the rock then smearing a fake goatee onto his chin. Varian snickered, running around behind the rock, “Hah! Try catching me no- Aah!” You vaulted onto the rock, running across it to tackle him to the floor. You already felt so much better.

“Varian!” Quirin’s voice boomed, “Son, there’s no time for playing around!”

“Apologies, sir,” you got to your feet, tugging Varian up as well.

“Oh, Prince Y/N,” Varian’s father got down on one knee, “It’s an honour-”

“Oh no no,” you shook your hands awkwardly, “There’s no need- It’s just Y/N.” It always made you kind of uncomfortable when people did stuff like that. Honestly, you preferred being treated as an equal to your people. After all, you were all human beings, so wasn’t it unfair that one should be treated differently? Besides, you would prefer that people said what they thought to your face instead of acting all polite to your face but whispering about you behind your back. “Y/N, then” Quirin stood up, “It is still an honour. What brings you here?”

“I’m here to help. I figured that you could use some assistance with restorations after the recent… incident,” you explained.

And so, you spent the rest of the day helping the Old Coronans with repairs all around the village. It felt good to take all the negative emotion and channel it into something productive and helpful. Once the village was back to being functional, the people went back home. You could feel that they were slightly less wary of you now, which definitely felt good. “Thanks for, you know, cleaning up my mess,” Varian walked with you to your horse, “And earlier too. And between me and you, if Rapunzel hadn’t returned, I think you would have made a great king.” Pride swelled up in your chest, and you smiled at your new friend, “Thank you. And you’re a great alchemist.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. You’re really smart! Teach me sometime?”

“Of- Of course! Anytime!” beamed Varian.

“Then see you soon, Varian,” you smiled over your shoulder as you mounted your horse. “See you soon!” the alchemist waved until you disappeared into the forest.

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You were pretty successful at avoiding your sister for the next few weeks while doing your best to restore your garden. Obviously, there was nothing you could do about your bees, much to your dismay, but you were able to reorganise the flowers and make new, proper labels with the flower name, scientific name, and properties. Rapunzel did leave notes in your room and the garden, all along the lines of ‘sorry about your bees but I was trying to help you.’ You might have accepted the apology and partially forgiven her for the mishap if it weren’t for her insistence that she had only good intentions. Good intentions did not excuse bad actions. They explained them, but never excused.

Once your garden was back to its previous state of order minus your buzzing friends, a loss that was still painful, you started to visit Old Corona more often to see Varian. He was working on his invention for the Science Exposition. Frequently, you found him hunched over his desk, testing various contraptions and chemicals. A sort of routine was formed, where you would go over to his lab every so often to see how he was doing. He was grounded after the Flynnoelum disaster, but it didn’t seem to bother the boy much. After all, he was an indoor person. He stayed at home and worked on his experiments without complaint. Varian wouldn’t tell you what he was making as it was, in his words, a surprise. Lately you had found yourself using your numbing method a little less, and you were actually excited to see Varian’s invention at the expo. All he would say was that it would blow your mind, which really wasn’t specific.

Today was one of those days where you sat in Varian’s lab as he experimented around. Notes were scattered all over his tables, and on the floor was a spinning barrel-like thing. Despite having no idea what Varian was doing, you did actually learn quite a bit about alchemy while spending time with him. He even taught you how to make those raccoon trap bombs, and similar bombs that did different things. It was fascinating, especially since there was some relation to botany. 

For the first time in a while, you felt genuinely happy.

Chapter Text

“Who’s ready for the expo?”

You were holding the ladder Cass was on to tie up the exposition banner when you heard Varian’s voice. Both of you turned around, you grinning, and Cassandra grumbling. Varian leaned on a cart with a vaguely trapezoid shaped… thing with a cloth covering it. “Hey, N/N! Cassie! Hey, you guys wanna see my new invention? Rumour has it, it is a shoo-in for the first prize in the contest.” Varian lowered his voice, stage-whispering with a wink, “I started the rumour.”

“Varian!” you ran up and hugged him, abandoning the ladder. You forgot about it until Cass had to balance herself. Oops. But then again, if you were the one on the ladder, nobody would even think about holding it in place for you. “Oh. Hey, Varian,” Cass greeted unenthusiastically, “First off, it’s Cass, not Cassie. Secondly, I’m slammed, so-”

“Oh, yeah, I- I hear ya. Hey, so did I tell you that my invention can create an entirely new element?” Varian continued anyway, taking a step out of your embrace as he avoided your gaze, although he did briefly glance at you before announcing, “I call it-” he was interrupted by Stan the guard coming up to Cass. A frown crept onto your face. Was Varian ignoring you too? Of course, the moment you had a good thing, it had to be taken away. Did he like Cassandra? But then again, wasn’t she like twenty-two? It was probably just a dumb crush, nothing serious. Even if it was, Cass wasn’t one to condone that sort of thing.

While you were lost in thought, Cass left with Stan, leaving you with Varian, his invention, a half-hung banner, and a pot of stewing jealousy. The rope connecting the banner to one post came loose, and Owl frantically flapped to hold it up. Immediately, Varian ran over and hurried up the ladder to fix it. “Cassandra, looking good!” Rapunzel came running up with a massive pair of goggles that were clearly impairing your vision. Stiffening you ducked back behind a table a few metres back to avoid her. Varian looked around, seemingly confused at where you had gone. It could have been your imagination, but he looked a little disappointed. She, Eugene, and Varian began a conversation, acting all friendly. You clenched your fists. How could they act all buddy-buddy with Varian after leaving him and the rest of Old Corona when they needed help? It was infuriating. You crept a little closer so you could properly hear what they were saying. “And wait until you see my invention! I think, uh, everyone at the expo will be impressed,” Varian chuckled, “Hey, Y/N’s gonna be here, right? Not that I’m doing this for Y/N! But yes, he’s gonna be there, right?”

You tilted your head, confused as to what the hell was going on. First he ignored you, then he was asking if you were going to be at the expo? What was this? Eugene and Rapunzel exchanged a glance, and you decided to take this opportunity to slink away. Maybe you’d go back to helping Cass so you could be friends again. Wandering around the castle, you searched for her. Finally, you found Cass at one of the outside tables, fussing over the tablecloth and flowers. The flowers in the science setting made you think of sunflowers, which could be used as biofuel to power things. Maybe next year, you could join yourself with some botany-related invention. “There you are, Cass-not-Cassie. Oh- Hi Y/N!” you heard Varian’s voice which went up half an octave at the last syllable of your name. Looking annoyed, Cass turned to where Varian was leaning on a table, “We, uh, didn’t finish our conversation from earlier.”

“I did,” Cass began to pour juice from a pitcher into glasses on the table with a degree of finality. Varian chuckled, “Oh, you!” He was still refusing to make eye contact with you. Maybe you should retreat back into your numbness. You hadn’t for a while since you started hanging out with Varian, but it didn’t mean you lost the ability completely.

“Seriously,” Varian continued, “I’m getting ready for the expo and I think Y/N- I mean, you’ll be pretty impressed with my invention. Yeah. The only thing is, when I present it to Master Dr. St. Croix, it’s gonna take two people to operate it.” You crept back behind the table, hiding your face from view using the flowers. You knew what Varian was about to do. Ask Cass to help him, completely ignoring you. Sure enough, you were right, “Hey! Wanna be the assistant for the demonstration?”

“Asisstant?” demanded Cass, “What? Assis- No. Look-” she gasped when she poured too much juice and it overflowed onto the tablecloth. “No! I can’t catch a break today.” She ran off to get something to clean it with, and the spiteful part of you wanted to laugh. Varian strode over and placed what looked like a salt crystal, took the flowers out of the vase, and dripped the water from the stem onto the puddle of purple, dissipating it. It was impressive, but honestly in that moment you were more concerned about your hiding method being compromised. Varian had looked slightly alarmed when he lifted the flowers and you were just standing there behind them, but once again, simply acted like you weren’t there. It stung. Your supposed-to-be-friend dropped the flowers back into the vase, the vial of crystals back into his pocket, and crossed his arms.

“Varian, thanks for stopping by, but I wha-” Cass looked confused when she came back with a towel and the juice was gone, “The stain! It’s gone, but how?”

“Oh, simple-”

“Grapes are acidic, and when combined with the alkalinity from the barley grass and rock salt, the acid is neutralised and the stain’s adhesion is prevented,” you cut in, eager to impress. You knew about acids and alkalis before your little lessons with Varian, but it was him who had explained to you using rock salt as well to get rid of juice stains like that. Varian blinked, mouth hanging open slightly as if surprised you remembered what he told you, then cleared his throat, looking back at Cass, “Uh- yeah. What he said. Alchemy!”

“So, you’ve got a knack for this kind of thing. Any chance you’d want to-”

“Help you?” Varian said eagerly, “Yes! I- I mean, I’d love to. Hey! If, if I help you, you can help me and be my assistant! It’ll only take a minute!” You stared. So either Varian liked Cass, or really wanted her to be his assistant for the demonstration. Personally, you found the former more likely. “Um… deal,” Cass agreed.

“Great! We- we can be, uh, co-ladies-in-waiting. Aha!” As soon as he said that, Cass plopped a pile of laundry into Varian’s arms, “Let’s not put a label on it.” You held out your hands in a silent offer to help Varian with the fabric, but he refused, “Oh, oh, no! I can- I can handle this myself, thanks, though.”

So you, Varian, and Cass began cleaning up the castle. Although, you did work a noticeable distance away from them. Varian was eager to show off his alchemy and machines, and while he did glance at you for your reaction each time, he avoided you otherwise. Eventually, you kind of slipped away from them. Like last time, when you stepped back out of sight, Varian looked around, confused, but went back to talking to Cass. You could make out a few words, Y/N, impress, and like, but couldn’t figure out what he was exactly saying. You snuck away to your personal garden. It had finally been restored fully except for the beehive. There was a pang of pain that hit your chest every time you noticed the absence of the familiar buzzing noise. Usually, you would hang out with the bees when you were lonely.

But now, thanks to Rapunzel, you couldn’t even do that.

Chapter Text

Bonus points for finding the Great Gatsby reference

“You ready? Because a certain alchemist could use his assistant!” Varian brushed past the backstage area where you sat and through the curtain to talk to Cass. “Listen, Varian, I’m really sorry, but things have changed,” you heard Cassandra say, “I can’t help you anymore. I’m St. Croix’s personal-”

“Hello?” said the old scientist, “Security detail? I have moved my person in this direction.” What a prick.

“A personal security detail,” chuckled Varian, “Must be a big deal. Although I thought we were supposed to, y'know, impressY/Nsohe’llbeimpressedwithmeandyoutwocanbefriendsagain.” He said the last bit very fast, and you couldn’t quite catch most of it. You only heard the final word or two very clearly. “Don’t worry about me. I am sure I can find another assistant in the next five minutes.” He walked backstage through the curtain, and you jumped to your feet, “Hey, Varian! I can be your assistant!”

“Ohhhh, no, no, no!” he yelped, to your dismay, “No. Nope. No. You ought to be in the audience watching my demonstration. Not onstage helping me.”

“But I can-”

“Nope! No, no, I’ll find someone else. Bye!” Varian ran off, leaving a disappointed you behind. Why was he avoiding you? Did he not want to be friends anymore?

The judging began, and you ran around the back to stand in the audience and watch the demonstrations, a pit opening up in your stomach even the numbness couldn’t make you ignore. You watched St. Croix dismiss person after person, even your sister. As it turned out, even the golden girl couldn’t do everything. “Behold!” Varian walked onstage theatrically, and you felt giddy just seeing him. You heard Shorty fumble around behind the curtain and burst out as well, “The power of ag, uh, auh, that guy! Go. Do the thing.” Varian facepalmed, and you let out the smallest little giggle. Varian’s gaze immediately snapped over to you, but he turned away right after. Ignored again. Clearing his throat, he shot Shorty a look. “Oh, yeah,” the old man opened up the curtain, and Varian continued in his performative voice, “I give you, the Elemental Remogrifier!” The crowd, and even Dr. St. Croix, gasped.

So that was what he had been working on. It looked far more refined than the prototypes you had seen in his lab. “Assistant?” Shorty scampered over with a chair and sandbag, climbing atop the piece of furniture and pouring some sand into the opening of the barrel. “The rotation causes friction, which heats the sand, while the counter-centrifugal force promotes particle compression,” Varian explained animatedly, “The end result? Fifty pounds of sand turns into…” Dramatically, he stopped the machine and reached into the barrel, “This.” People exclaimed as he pulled out a shining purple crystal. “I call this new element…” Varian looked over at you, making eye contact for the first time that day, which made you far happier than it should have, “Y/Nlium.” He looked down fondly at the purple element, and your head spun. This whole time, you thought that Varian was doing all of it for Cass, but maybe you had been wrong.

But of course, nothing good lasted, and Shorty fell asleep, falling backwards off his stool. That alarmed a goat, who kicked Big Nose, sending a knife in his hand flying at St. Croix’s face. Luckily, Cass caught it just before it hit skin, but the damage had already been done. “Despite its lack of flair and panache,” St. Croix pulled the knife and Cass’s hand away from him, “I was almost inclined to give your device a mediocre assessment.”

“Flair?” Varian asked, confused, “What does that have to do with-”

“However!” interrupted the older scientist, “Considering your assistant nearly lanced my nasal cavity, I’ve no choice but to disqualify you. Next.” The sparkle died out from Varian’s eyes completely, and he started carting his device off stage, disappointed. Pushing forward to the front of the crowd, you yelled, “You can’t do that! His assistant’s got nothing to do with the actual device! That’s not fair; You know he’s well worth the whole damn bunch put together-”

“You stick to… prince-ing, I will stick to sciencing. Got it? Hmm?”

You glared at St. Croix, ready to go up there and physically fight him, but the curtains burst open, and a cloud of pink fog rolled out. Varian, who had been dejectedly walking offstage, frowned, covering his face. A dark haired lady dressed in bright pinks and teals came onto stage, spouted a bunch of gibberish, most of which weren’t even real words, and launched some chocolate into the crowd. “Now, this is science!” St. Croix seemed actually excited for the first time during the expo. They call this guy a scientist? The lady continued dramatically with her exaggerations and fake words, unveiling a ridiculously ostentatious creation. It was just a metal ball floating using magnets decorated with some fake jewels, nothing special at all. To your utter confusion, everyone looked thoroughly impressed except you, Cass, and Varian. 

“But, what does it do?” Varian asked the excellent question.

“Uh-” the lady looked stricken, clearly not having expected someone to question it, “The real question, kid, is what doesn’t it do? No, here, have some chocolate and shut up.” You had to physically stop yourself from snarkily commenting that that list would be much more extensive than the one Varian had requested. Had the crowd not been tight and pushing about, you would have climbed onto the stage to cuss out the woman. Shocked, you watched as St. Croix gave her the first place ribbon, and Varian trudged offstage, staring at the ground. You followed him to the fountain and sat down beside him, “You should have won.”

“It doesn’t matter,” sighed Varian, “The truth is, all I really wanted to do was impress you. I thought if I showed you what I was capable of, you might see something in me. Something special. I was just being dumb.”

“Varian,” you put your hands on his shoulder so he would face you properly, “Of course I see something special in you. You’re clever, brilliant, creative, kind… The list goes on. Varian smiled at you, placing his hands over yours. Heart racing, you quickly turned the attention away from what was currently going on between the two of you. "And see, looks like the old bastard did like your invention, after all.” Varian looked up to see St. Croix fiddling with his machine. 

“Master St. Croix!” he called, running up to the Elemental Remogrifier, “No! No! Don’t! You’re- you’re building too much pressure!” St. Croix shoved Varian away with the back of his hand, “Back off, boy! I’m a scientist.”

“Don’t!” Varian cried as the man pulled on the large lever. The contraption whirred, and the whole thing exploded into the air, bouncing around before flying back in your direction. “Somebody do something!” screamed St. Croix. Cass came running up and shoved Varian out of the way. The machine hit your arm with a nasty thud, then hit St. Croix full on, sending him flying, “Double disqualified!”

“Ah!” you cried out in pain, dropping like a ragdoll onto the ground. The machine flew to the stage, replacing the first place lady’s magnetic sphere. Varian got to his feet, running over to where you were and falling to his knees beside you, “Y/N! Y/N, are you alright? Is something broken?”

“Ow, ow, ow,” your vision was blurry from tears of pain that you couldn’t control.

“Oh, no, no, no- There’s a really bad bruise, but I don’t think it’s broken-”

“Come on, kid,” Cass yanked Varian up, “We’ve got a job to do!”

“Wait, but Y/N-”

“No time! He’ll be fine!” You were not fine, actually, but whatever.

The Elemental Remogrifier was sending out sparks of green lightning. “Ohh, this is bad,” Varian bemoaned, “Introducing counter-centrifugation to the magnetism could result in… Well, that.” A whirlpool shot up through the air, causing a mini cyclone. Pulling yourself to your feet, you looked up at the artificial storm. Then, a wooden board flew from behind you and hit you directly in the back of the head.

Then, everything went dark.

Why does this shit always happen to me?

Chapter Text

When you came to, Varian was flying, Cass clinging to his leg. Confused, you blinked to make sure you weren’t seeing things. When you realised you weren’t hallucinating, you started to panic. Getting hit by a freaking board had thrown your whole numb and detached thing off. You got up to try and help, only to see Rapunzel’s fan contraption being pulled over. “He needs to create a counterpole to the vortex’s critical velocity!” Varian yelled.

“Max has to run backwards!” you clarified. The horse obeyed, and Varian managed to reach the lever, pulling it to shut off the machine. He and Cass both fell to the floor along with the machine. “Woo hoo!” cheered Rapunzel, “We did it!”

“Uh, yeah, no thanks to your baby brother,” Eugene jerked his head in your general direction. “Excuse you?” you got to your feet. You had been frustrated and upset all day, and you were on your last nerve now, “I’m the one who clarified what Max has to do, and besides, I was passed out with an injured arm!” 

But Eugene had already moved on, clasping one of Rapunzel’s hands in both of his, “Blondie, hands down, your best invention yet.” He kissed her hand, completely ignoring your protests. Grumbling, you walked over to where the first place ribbon was on the floor, trampled and dirtied, but still in one piece. You walked over to Varian, who was fastening a piece of Y/Nlium onto a necklace. “Hey,” you pinned the ribbon to the strap of his apron, “I believe this was meant for you.”

“And, um, this was meant for you,” Varian handed you the purple necklace, and you fastened it around your neck. Beaming, you threw your arms around him in a tight hug, which he returned. You ignored the throbbing in your upper arm where you had been hit with the machine, as well as the back of the head. After all, you were familiar with blocking out pain. “I thought you hated me,” you whispered.

“I could never hate you.”

“Thank you.”

“Uh, anyway! I should probably start… cleaning up this mess,” awkwardly, Varian pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck.

You smiled down at the necklace, rubbing the purple crystal between your thumb and forefinger. “Do you like it?” Varian leaned forward eagerly, “I actually got the idea after seeing a cluster of these strange, black rocks by my village.” Cass and Rapunzel looked up from where they were clearing out some debris, “Black rocks?”

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Varian led Cass and Rapunzel to the black rocks, followed closely behind by you. When she came close to the rocks, your sister’s hair began to glow, and the rocks shined bright blue. “Fascinating,” whispered Varian, “The rocks are demonstrating an actual physical response. To you.” Then he turned to face you, and looked startled.

“Wh-what?” you frowned, then you caught a glimpse of your reflection in the rock. You looked perfectly normal, other than the fact that your eyes were a shockingly luminous gold.

Chapter Text

One advantage of nearly nobody caring about you meant you could get away for days at a time and no one would notice.

That was what you did after the expo. For the next few weeks, you stayed at Varian’s lab, the both of you doing endless amounts of research on the black rocks. But even still, neither of you could find a reason for why your eyes had turned gold. However, Varian, with a little assistance from you, did find a potential vulnerability in the rocks’ chemical makeup that if exploited, could potentially get rid of them. But neither of you could figure out exactly what. During your research, even more black rocks sprouted from the streets, destroying everything in their path. Although neither you nor Varian could find a way to destroy the rocks, you had been going around helping people build around the spikes. Over time, the people of Old Corona grew fonder of you. You’d even befriended a raccoon who kept slipping into the lab, which Varian named Ruddiger. Nobody in the royal family really actively helped them out, so having you around was a nice change for them.

“Y/N! Y/N!” Varian came running into the lab, where you were testing the pulp of various flower petals to see if they could do anything to the rocks. You had a hunch that maybe because they had shown a physical reaction to you and Rapunzel, they could be linked to the sundrop flower or something similar. After all, Rapunzel had the sundrop’s magic in her, and it was likely that you could have some residue in you. “My dad and I are going to see your dad about the black rocks! I’m packing ham sandwiches- you should come with us!” You winced. You hadn’t had to see anyone in the castle for weeks and just spent time with people who actually appreciated you, and you were reluctant to go back home. “It’s like a road trip! It’ll be fun! Please?” Varian looked at you with those sparkling puppy eyes, and how could you say no?

That was how you found yourself standing outside the throne room with Varian, eavesdropping on Quirin’s conversation with the king. “What?” exclaimed Varian when his father bullshit about some bountiful harvests and requested more land. “Dad! None of that was true! Wha- Old Corona’s being destroyed!”

“Old Corona will endure. You’ll have to trust that I can handle this.”

“How?” demanded Varian, “How can I trust anything when my own father just lied to the king’s face?”

“That is enough, Varian,” Quirin said sternly.

“Ye- yes, sir.” Quirin walked away, and Rapunzel came out into the hallway from the throne room. Meanwhile, it was taking all your well-trained self control not to throw some punches. “Varian?” she asked, “Is everything okay? And Y/N, I just realised, I haven’t seen you in weeks! Have you been hiding in your garden again?”

“No,” Varian crossed his arms, “Rapunzel, we came to see you and Y/N’s dad about the rocks in Old Corona.”

“Yeah, but your dad just said-”

“My dad lied. Things have gotten worse.”

“How much worse?”

“A lot worse.” You could tell Varian was remembering the rocks piercing through houses, disrupting roads, destroying buildings… It was terrible. “Don’t worry, Varian. I haven’t forgotten our agreement. We’re gonna figure out the mystery behind these rocks. Together,” Rapunzel placed her hands on Varian’s shoulders, “Just give me until my father returns. Everything is gonna be okay, I promise.” Varian smiled at that, looking more hopeful. “Wait, father is going somewhere?” you frowned.

“Oh, haven’t you heard, little bro? Mom and dad are going on a break for two days, and I’m going to be the temporary queen!”

“Wh-what?” you laughed, “Wait, wait, do you even know how to rule? Wouldn’t it make more sense if I took over? After all, I have been studying and preparing for this my whole life!”

“Of course I know how!” Rapunzel scoffed, waving dismissively, “I’ve been tailing dad for the past week. I learned a lot!” You wanted to point out that that was hardly anything compared to the nearly fourteen years you’d been learning to be king, but Varian did first. “Hey, uh, Rapunzel? I gotta agree with N/N on this one. He’s been a great leader in Old Corona.”

“But that’s just a smaller scale! This is the whole kingdom we’re talking about, kids!”

“I- I’ve been- But I’ve been working for this for my whole life! And the people- what if you mess something up, and people get hurt?”

“No one will get hurt!” your sister laughed, “Don’t be such a Nervous Nellie! Everyone makes mistakes. And you know what? As your big sister, I say you have to stay in the castle for these next two days while mom and dad are gone.”

You had a horrible, horrible feeling about this.