Forget-Me-Not (Varian x Reader)

Chapter 44- The Truth Will Set You Free

Varian gives me a weak smile and slowly begins to pour the amber solution onto a protruding red rock. Unfortunately, unlike what we were anticipating, the solution didn't spark the growth of amber, but instead simply became absorbed by the red rock. Varian and I exchange worried looks. "Wh-What happened?!" I frantically question. "That should've worked, right?"

"Theoretically, yes!" Varian's eyebrows raise at the realization of the horrid truth. "Of course!" He smacks his forehead with his gloved hand a couple of times. "So dumb, Varian! Whatever turned these rocks red must've also changed their internal chemistry."

"You mean that solution only works on black rocks?" I ask with trepidation.

"Yes." Varian taps the almost empty flask. "Well, what's left of it. But...I don't even see any black rocks."

"Me neither..." I say, glancing around.

Rapunzel puts one hand on each of our shoulders. "I do." She gestures towards the top of the red rocks, where a single black rock had managed to escape the fear-inducing rocks.

"Okay..." Varian squints to see the rock. "This just got a lot harder."

"How are we supposed to get up there?" I ask. "It's at least thirty feet up!"

"We'll just have to climb up." My sister answers.

Varian laughs. "You're telling me that (Yn) and I gotta climb all the way up there? Nobody in their right mind would climb-"

Rapunzel cuts him off as she leaps onto the red rocks. "Race you to the top!"

The alchemist's face falls flat. "Oh come on."

"C'mon, Var!" I exclaim. "It can't be too hard, can it?"

Varian sighs as we begin scaling the massive machine and the red rocks. With every obstacle I climb over, the illusions of my fear eat away at me more and more. The repeated visions of my loved ones plunging from this height down who knows how deep is enough to make my palms sweaty and my heart beat through my chest. I take deep breaths and try to keep moving.

"Are you okay, (Yn)?" Varian asks, offering me a hand to haul me onto another rock.

I accept it. "Y-Yeah...the fear's really starting to get to me." I shudder as the sound of my parents screaming fills my ears. I try to shake it off.

Varian sighs. "I know...I can't get the images of my dad in the amber out of my head either. It's like the higher up we get the worse the fear power gets."

"Tell me about it..." I mutter, heading to the next part of the machine that can be climbed. I begin climbing up it, Varian following close behind. After a few moments of grunting, Varian loses his grip and goes plummeting off the side of the massive machine, screaming as though he's a banshee. "VARIAN!!!" I shriek, my heart plummeting to my stomach faster than Varian dropping down the seemingly bottomless pit. This is just like the illusions those rocks showed me...except now it's real. Fear pierces into my heart like a knife. The person I care about more than anything is about to perish right in front of my eyes. Right as I'm about to jump down after him and hopefully re-create that levitating thing Varian did to rescue me earlier, my sister's voice enters my ears.

"Hang on, Varian!!" Rapunzel's voice suddenly shouts, hurling her golden hair down to the alchemist.

Varian grabs it just in time, allowing all of us to take a breath of relief. Once Varian is safely back on the ledge we're standing on, I throw my arms around him quicker than Pascal could catch a fly. As I hold him in my arms, Varian tightly hugs me as though his life depended on it. I can feel his heart palpitating against my chest, and his body shakes like a leaf. "It's no use...I-I can't do this!!"