Siblings of Corona B2:Life In the Castle

Chapter 12

"Are you sure this is going to work?"  Cassandra asked.

Varian put his hands on his hips.  "Cassie, I am offended that you just asked me that."

"Sorry.  Let me refrase it.  How is this going to work," Cassandra corrected her question.

"Well,"  Varian began grandly as he pulled off the tarp that covered his machine.  "You strap either me or Rapunzel in the machine will do the rest."

"And you've tested this?"

"Yes... er...  kinda, but today we are going to get some answers," Varian said with confidence.

"And you think this is a good idea-" Cassandra had turned to look at Rapunzel but stopped.  Surprised, she turned back to the machine to find Rapunzel already strapped in.

"Let's do this!"

"I take that as a yes, then.  Ok.  I guess we're doing this." Cassandra shrugged.

"Three... two... one!"  Varian pulled the lever to the machine.

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Eugene and Lance were making their way to meet up with the siblings when they heard the bang.  "What was that?!"  Eugene asked.

Lance squeaked a yelp.  "I don't know, but I don't like it.  Is that smoke?"  He pointed towards Varian's room down the hall.

Eugene didn't wait to answer the question.  He dashed forward, and grabbed the doorknobs to the room.  "Kid?  Are you ok?  What's going on in there and why is the door locked?"

There was the sound of coughing coming through the door.

"That's it!  I'm breaking in!"  Eugene pulled out his lock picker and opened the doors.  He was immediately met with a wave of smoke.

Lance and Eugene burst into the room, finding Varian and Cassandra trying to get Rapunzel out of the machine that caught on fire.  Eugene pulled off his over shirt and dunked it in the pitcher of water.  Then he slapped the wet shirt against the flames until they were shuffled out.  Lance broke the restraints and pulled Rapunzel out of the machine.

Once the fire and danger was gone, Eugene turned around.  Cassandra was standing there, her face as pale as a sheet of paper.  Rapunzel was rubbing her head, trying to get breath of air while Varian slumped down to the floor, sobbing.

"What happened?"  Eugene panted.

"I'm so sorry,"  Varian hiccuped a sob.  "It worked fine earlier, I don't understand!"

"Hey, it's ok.  We're ok, Varian," Rapunzel soothed.

"No it's not!  What if you weren't ok?  It would be my fault!"

"Varian..." Rapunzel said sadly.  "We needed to give it a try."

Before anything else could be said, the room suddenly was flooded with guards.  "What happened?"

"There was a small fire," Lance explained.

The five were showed out of the room.  A few minutes later, Varian, Rapunzel and Cassandra were assured away and brought into the throne room where they were confronted by Fredric.

"What were you thinking? That-that thing could have killed the three of you!" Fredric thundered.

The three culprits shrank a little at the outburst. Varian rubbed his left arm shamefully, as he looked down at his feet. Rapunzel tried to come to her brother's aid. "He didn't mean for it to explode, Dad, or catch the room on fire."

"I know he didn't mean to!" Fredric shouted. The two flinched, but Cassandra managed to remain a stone. The king sighed as he slumped down on his throne. "Sorry, I should not have shouted at you like that," he sighed as he ran a hand down his face. "What was the machine for?"

"I-it was to analyze hair," Varian answered meekly.

"A what?" Fredric now sounded confused. "Why in Corona would you even need that?" he asked.

"Well, it's supposed to analyze the hair to see if it has some sort of magic properties or something like that. It's supposed to tell you if your hair is ordinary or... well... extraordinary..." Varian began to ramble a little after that, stumbling over his words a bit until the king held up a hand for him to stop.

"Varian," Fredric began, "Was this to test your's and Rapunzel's hair strands?" The fourteen year old bit his lower lip as he nodded. "Did I not say that there was nothing to look into them about?"

Varian lowered his head in shame and nodded slightly. Rapunzel stepped forward. "It was my fault, Dad. I encouraged him to make it."

"Rapunzel," Fredric gave her a stern glare, "Now that I know that I can not trust you to obey my direct orders, you are not allowed to leave the castle until I say otherwise."

The seventeen year old girl's eyes widened in horror as she opened her mouth to protest. Then she thought better of herself and clamped her mouth shut. However, she did not spare the king the look of anger and hurt in her eyes. He looked away in order to keep the feeling of guilt from clouding his decisions.

"And Varian," the king spoke sternly as he looked the boy's way. The teen was now tightly squeezing his right arm, many emotions plaguing him. He looked up at the king, biting his lower lip. Varian did not have to wait long before Fredric continued. "I forbid you to do any further thing that has to do with alchemy. You will not build, experiment, or even read of alchemy until further notice."

"But I-" Varian began to protest.

"That is enough. There is no buts about it. What I say is final and I don't want to hear another word about it."

"But I can't-" Varian felt himself going into a panic. How could he go on without doing the one thing he felt he was good at?

"I said enough!" Fredric stood up as he pounded his fist on the arm of his throne. Varian gave a startled jump. Fredric's gaze was as stern as ever. "And I mean enough!" the king repeated.

Tears sprang to Varian's eyes as he began to tremble. "You have no idea what you're doing!" he cried. "You're worse than Gothal ever was! At least she pretended to care!" Not able to take it anymore, he dashed out the room wiping the tears off his cheeks. 

"Varian!" Rapunzel called, but it did nothing to help. She turned back to her father, pain written across her face. "I want you to know that I will never give up and there's more to us than you will ever know..." her voice cracked with pain as she remembered the pain written on her little brother's face. With that, the crowned princess fled the room to go after Varian.

Fredric slumped down on his throne again and put his head in his hands. He looked up to see Cassandra turning to leave herself. "Tell me you understand. One day when you have children, perhaps you will..."

Cassandra had her back to the king. She merely turned her head to look over her shoulder. "No. Can't say I ever will. My mother kept Rapunzel locked up in that tower for seventeen years. Locking her in the castle is not much different. I don't see how you are any better than Gothal."

"I love my daughter, she didn't-" Fredric frowned.

"She loved Rapunzel's hair. She didn't want harm to come to Rapunzel either. There's a fine line between protecting my sister and abusing her. Varian too. This is getting close to it as my mother's was abuse." She reached the doors. "Oh, and one more thing, your highness," she turned to him. "Let me be clear when I say I will protect my siblings at all costs, even if it means from you." She narrowed her eyes before leaving the room.

Arianna was walking through the halls on her way to the throne room after hearing about the incident.  An odd sense of dejavu washed over her.  She barely managed to sidestep out of Cassandra's way as the teen stormed out of the throne room. Baffled, the Queen peeked in the room, seeing her husband sitting on his throne. He had a deep frown and looked like he was angry and hurt at the same time. Knowing that everything must have been handled very poorly, she knew that she was going to have to bring in the peace. She walked towards her husband, hoping to be able to work it out and fix whatever had just happened.