The Sleeping Alchemist

Part II

Warning: Gayness. Anyone who's homophobic or doesn't like this kinda stuff, leave now. You have been warned.

The boy opened his light blue eyes, groaning at his awakening. While he rubbed his eyes, he absentmindedly petting his raccoon, Ruddiger, trying to get his brain to wake up. Ruddiger chittered a good morning, getting off of his sleeping bag as he began to get up. He grabbed his apron and shoes and put them on and walked out of the tent, seeing his friend Cassandra already up.

"Morning, Varian." She greeted happily. Or happily as you can get with Cassandra.

"Morning Cassi-Cass." Varian replied, catching himself. Once upon a time, he was allowed to call her Cassie, but those days were a long time ago. Back then, his dad was still around and not stuck in unbreakable amber that he, Varian, had created. Ouch, still a little sore there. "Raps is out with Pascal and Max getting things for breakfast, Lance and Eugene are still asleep, along with Altair." At the mention of the young noble, Varian felt his face heat up a little. Oh, the poor boy was so hopelessly gay for him. He didn't exactly understand why, but he was, and he was kind of terrified out it. He had never felt that way about a girl, let alone a guy! Cassandra just rolled her eyes at him. It was so obvious they liked each other! A few minutes later, Rapunzel, her loyal chameleon friend Pascal, and the fierce horse Maximus returned, bringing a handful of berries and fruit for Lance to make breakfast with. She giggled when she saw Varian.

"Morning!" she said, waving as much as she could with her arms full of berries. "What?" Varian asked her. She giggled again and pointed to his hair. Cassandra looked at what she was pointed at and burst out laughing. Rapunzel put down her berries, quickly ducked into the tent that she and Eugene shared, bring out a brush. She went over the young alchemist and started brushing his hair.

"Bed head." She quickly said. "Ohh." he replied, standing still. After a few moments, and a lot of brushing (Mainly tugging, seriously, does he wrestle something in his sleep?) Varian's hair was back to normal, his blue streak in his bangs standing out, his goggles securely atop his head, as usual. They sat down in the center of the camp they made for the night and started talking, waiting for the others to awake. (Mostly Lance, since he's usually in charge of making breakfast.)

Once everyone was awake and Lance made breakfast, they group was silent as they ate. And quite a group they were! The Lost Princess of Corona, her former thief boyfriend, another former thief, the captain of the royal guard's daughter, a 15 year-old alchemist, and a young noble who ran away from home.

After all of them ate, they started to pack up camp to continue their quest to follow the black rocks. Altair noticed that Varian's been really quiet this morning. He gave box of supplies to Cass, and walked over to where the boy was sitting, absentmindedly petting Ruddiger for the fourth time this bright and sunny morning.

"Var, are you okay?" the purple and pink haired teenager asked his friend/Crush. Varian looked up, pulled from his thoughts. "Hm? Oh, hey Al." he replied, going back to pet Ruddiger, who seemed to be liking the attention.

Altair say down next to him. "What's wrong? You've been quiet all morning." Varian shrugged a shoulder. "Just been thinking about this dream I had last night." he admitted.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Altair asked kind of hesitantly. Varian thought about for a moment before nodding.

"I-I dreamt about Mia." he confessed. "Whose Mia?" Al asked. "My godmother. Honestly, she was more of a mom to me." He smiled before it quickly faded. "I remember when I was little, she would sing me this lullaby she wrote, just for me."

"Really?" Varian nodded, a small smile coming back. "Whenever I was upset or had a nightmare, she would sing it to me. Sometimes I would sing along."

Altair chuckled, picturing a young woman and baby Varian singing along to a lullaby. 'Cute! Like him...' he thought to himself. Once he caught what he was thinking, he blushed and looked away.

For a few more minutes, Altair just listened to Varian rant about the fun times he had with Mia. In no time, he had a pretty good picture of a lovely young woman who clearly meant a lot to his friend. "What happened to her?" Altair asked after Varian was done describing the first ever alchemy experiment they did together.

"She, um. She disappeared. There was a storm giant on it's way to Corona and she beat it." "All by herself?!" Altair exclaimed. Varian nodded. "She had magic and trained a lot, so it's not that surprising. But, she overdid it, again, and fell into the water. I never saw her again." he told him, a tear starting to cascade down his face. Without missing a beat, Altair used a finger to wipe them away.

Varian's cheeks and ears started to redden. Realizing what he did, Altair blushed red as well and pulled his hand away. "Sorry!" he said, worried that he crossed a line. "No, it's okay. I-it was comforting."

Meanwhile, Rapunzel, Cass and Eugene were watching this, this train-wreck, happen, some smiling like crazy, others face palming about how obvious they're feeling for each other were. (*Cough* Cassandra *Cough*)

Soon, they had packed up camp was were on their way again. About an hour had passed when he heard a cry. "Help! Someone, please!" It was a woman's voice. Everyone had turned their heads to see a young woman holding a swaddled baby run out of the forest. Aww~!

"Someone, please! I-I need help!" she cried. Cassandra and Rapunzel went to her to try to calm her down. "M-my family and I were on our way to Asteon when our caravan was attacked by bandits. I managed to escape with little Lily, but my husband and my older son and daughter are still with them, being held hostage. Please!" she exclaimed, begging them for their help once again. The poor woman...

"I'll help." a voice chirped up. It was Varian. The way the woman pleaded, it reminded him all too well of that day when he begged Rapunzel to help his dad. If he could help, then he would.

The woman smiled and ran over to him, hugging him as best she could, being mindful of her baby. "Bless you, child." she thanked him over and over again. "Well, we're not letting you take on bandits by yourself, so count us all in." Eugene piped in, getting off of Max and putting a hand on Varian's shoulder. The woman smiled at all of them. "Thank you, all of you." she said, beginning to cry again. After giving them directions and being told by Varian to wait there until their return with her family and caravan, they quickly set off.

Meanwhile, Mary was running through the forest, trading her pirate clothes for something more suitable for traveling. Her braid practically flew as she ran, following the black rocks that she overheard were the same rocks that the princess and her friends were following. Her mind was racing almost as fast as her legs, thinking back of coming home and seeing Quirin, who was a brother to her, trapped in amber that she suspected was Varian's doing. She didn't blame him, of course, he had good intentions and only wanted to help, but still it was unsettling to say the least. No matter hard hard she hit the amber with her sword or her spear or any other weapon she had at her disposal, which was quite a lot if you think about it, in the end, there was no evidence that she tried to break it.

She went onto the isle of Corona to look for more information when she overheard some village women talk about how Varian had left to join the Princess and her friends in their journey of following the black rocks that had been spreading all over the mainland, only coming closer. Mary didn't hesitate to get some supplies and head out as soon as she could. After all, she had told Amber and the rest of her crew that she would be away from at least 2 weeks, probably longer. They were all tough girls, and Mary knew they would be fine without her.

And now she raced through the forest, her powers and adrenaline and her wish to see Varian again giving her the extra boost she needed to find them before nightfall. At least, she hoped she could catch up to them before nightfall. Maybe her mother's spirit could help her...