Dark Mer

8

When Varian woke up the next morning, he was in a bit of a mood, Rapunzel noticed. He seemed to be distancing himself from anyone and stayed in his corner wrapped in a blanket.

"So...what's got him so gloomy?" Eugene asked.

"I'm...not sure." Rapunzel admitted, walking over to kneel next to him. "Varian? Are you hungry?"

He shook his head.

"Do you need water?" She asked.

"Bad dream." He answered finally, his voice sounding hoarse. She frowned and pulled the blanket aside a bit to look at him. He looked like he'd been crying.

"Oh, Varian..." She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "What happened? Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "I...I don't want to think about it."

"Okay." She nodded. "Do you want something to eat? Something sweet?"

He shrugged, glancing away. 'His bad dream must've really hurt him.' She thought, thinking of her own bad dreams. They usually featured her kidnapper, who had claimed to be her mother for 18 years of Rapunzel's life and was dead now, taunting her and dragging her back to the tower.

She didn't talk to anyone about her bad dreams. She didn't blame Varian for not talking about his own.

She got up and went to get him a piece of cake, which she bought to him and offered it hopefully. He looked at it, then accepted it quietly before taking a bite. His eyes lit up and he looked at it, then her, then it again. "What is this?"

"It's chocolate." Rapunzel smiled. "Do you like it?"

He nodded, taking another bite eagerly. She smiled, glad to see him happy again.

"Varian?" Cassandra called.

He blinked and set his cake to the side before getting up and going outside, where the carriage had stopped. "What is it?"

"We need your help out here." Cassandra pointed ahead of them. "We can't get over those."

Varian stared in disbelief at the large black rocks blocking the road. "What...?" He breathed, walking towards them.

"Oh...yeah." Eugene walked up to him. "It's...pretty bad, actually."

"I did this?" Varian looked at his hands.

"But it's okay!" Rapunzel ran up to him. "You can fix it; we saw that yesterday!"

He pursed his lips. "Everything about my powers is related to suffering..." He said glumly.

"Varian?" Cassandra walked over and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Look, we all make mistakes. The good thing is, you can undo yours. So, why don't you get to that so we can keep going, huh?"

Varian nodded, looking around at the spikes jutting out of the ground. "Okay..." He stepped back and they went back to the carriage to give him space. He held out his hands to the sides and started to sing, the streak in his hair starting to glow with his eyes.

"Crescent high above,
Evolving as you go.
Raise what lies beneath,
And let the darkness grow."

He summoned another staff and spun it around before making a swinging motion towards the now-glowing spikes, which moved with his motions.

"Bend it to my will.
Consume the sunlight's glow.
Rise into the sky,
And let the darkness grow.
Let darkness grow."

He lowered to the ground and the glowing spikes lowered with him until they completely vanished. His hair and eyes stopped glowing and he groaned a bit, leaning on the staff.