Secrets of an Alchemist

Peril on the High Seas: Part 6

(Wooo, I'm back! Did ya miss me? Admit it, you missed me!)

(Chapter warning: Violence in accordance with the show)

The silhouette of a large ship appeared through the mist. On the deck stood Rapunzel, who was wearing a pirate hat.

"Avast ye, mateys!" She yelled. As the pirates were distracted, Varian tossed the ropes that had bound him into the water, swiftly kicked out, and swept his pirate guard's legs out from under him.

"Wha- hey!" The pirate exclaimed, before falling flat on his back.

"Fire!" Rapunzel yelled, and another volley of tomato-fruits splatted onto the deck, nearly missing one of the red-haired men. Eugene gave a laugh as volley after volley of fruit hit the deck, sending the pirates scattering. Varian rushed over and began to untie Eugene and Max.

"Quite the dramatic entrance!" Varian called over to Rapunzel. She smiled.

"Ah, it's kind of my thing!" She called back. Varian cringed as a wave of pain rushed through his injured shoulder. He gave another tug on the ropes, but they wouldn't budge. Rapunzel quickly noticed his struggle. "Varian, catch!" She yelled, tossing him his sword. He caught it and sliced through the ropes binding Max and Eugene to the anchor. Just then, a pirate screamed as he was splattered with fruit and fell overboard.

"Man, do I love that girl," Eugene sighed, looking at Rapunzel.

"You can fanboy over your girlfriend later, right now we have to go!" Varian exclaimed. Eugene nodded and took off down the plank, towards the ship. Then, the two red haired men stepped into his path.

"Going somewhere, Eugene?" One of them asked while the other cracked his knuckles. Varian gave them the most done expression in the Seven Kingdoms.

"I really don't like you two," he muttered.

"Hope you're not picky, cause there's only one thing on the menu," Rapunzel from behind them. "There's more where that came from. Fire!" Another volley of fruit was launched at the ship, but it was sliced out of the air by Lady Caine. She gave an evil laugh.

"Oh, come on, even you can do better than that, Princess," she smirked, pointing her sword towards the boat.

"I plan to," Rapunzel smirked right back. "Lance, Foot, now!" Lance and Hook Foot covered the torches on the edge of the boat. Varian's eyes widened.

Oh, crap, he thought. We're dead.

"Aw, now what are you gonna do?" Lady Caine asked mockingly.

"Oh, I'm not doing anything," Rapunzel returned. "He is." The hulking firefly flew up and hovered above the ferry. It snorted and dove at the ship, swooping right over the red haired men's heads and making them duck. It dove back down and released a blast of fire, setting part of the deck ablaze. The red haired men, however, began advancing towards Eugene, Max, and Varian. Max picked up a sword off the ground.

"Your friends are gonna make us angry," the one without and eyepatch growled.

"A couple of happy-go-lucky guys like you? Heck yeah, they are," Varian replied with a smirk, twirling his sword like a baton. The red haired men growled.

'Take 'em down," one told the other. Max began sword-fighting with the big, black horse, and Eugene began parkouring off barrels to jump onto the wooden mast above their heads. Varian eyed a rope next to him. A few moments later, Varian landed on the beam next to Eugene. Quickly, the red haired men climbed up and chased after the now-running Eugene and Varian as Max and the black horse dueled below. Though Varian was fast and agile, the two men had him beat with pure brute force. Consequently, the men steadily forced Eugene and Varian backwards along the mast. Varian took a vial out of a compartment and threw it at one of the men, but he batted it away and it fell to the deck with a small explosion. Nearby, Cassandra straight-up punched a pirate overboard, and Lance and Hook Foot out two more. Running out of options, Varian watched Max knock back the black horse, then vaulted onto his back. Eugene landed a moment later. Max and the black horse began to duel once more. The black horse was forced backwards. But, just as Varian thought they would win, he heard someone land at the canons behind him.

"You know what? To heck with the plan," the eyepatch-less red haired man said, standing next to a cannon. "I'd rather take my chances sailing this barge to the main land." He lit a match against the cannon, and Varian's eyes widened. "Say goodbye to your girlfriend, Eugene," the man muttered, lighting the cannon. Eugene swiveled and Varian leapt off of Max's back.

"Wait, no!" Eugene called out, jumping down from Max and running after Varian. As Varian was about to reach the cannon, the other red haired man appeared from the shadows. Varian saw the flash of a blade and, before he could react, saw the man thrust a dagger into his side. Varian cried out and fell to the deck. Max gave a startled whinny and punched the other horse.

"Varian!" Rapunzel screamed at the same time Eugene yelled "Goggles!" One of the red haired men turned Varian over, and he stayed limp for a moment, then gave a small smirk. He sat up on his elbows, pulled the dagger out of his shirt, and then took out the manual of Corona rules that Max had given him.

"What do you know?" Eugene laughed. "That thing isn't completely useless!" Varian somersaulted to his feet and stood next to Eugene. Varian tossed the book up into the air, caught it and then smacked both red haired men in the face, knocking them out cold. Eugene sprinted towards the lit cannon and tried to snuff it out with the book. "Hey, Law-and-Order!" Eugene called out to Max. Varian vaulted onto Max's back and held on tight as he galloped to the cannon. Varian pulled out another vial, uncorked it, and dumped the contents onto the lit cannon, effectively putting it out. "Thanks, Hairstripe," Eugene smiled, ruffling Varian's hair, which proved to be difficult with the goggles. "Uh, question, why didn't you use your magical potions earlier?" Varian glared at him.

"Alchemy, Eugene, not magic. And, in the heat of the moment, I kind of forgot I had them. Most of my alchemical supplies were wrecked when we crashed on Tirapai island, and I completely forgot that I had stored a few extras of my most useful solutions in the compartments in my sword," Varian rambled.

"Well, thank goodness for that," Eugene said in reply. With a kick of his legs, Max knocked over the already-leaning mast and covered the remaining pirates with its sail, capturing them.

🧪

Varian stood with Rapunzel and Eugene on the end of a dock, watching the ferry sail off into the sunset.

"I gotta say," Rapunzel said with a laugh, turning away from the water. "That was not how I expected this trip to go."

"I mean, has any of this trip gone how you thought it was going to?" Varian asked. He gave a small smile. "I showed up, didn't I?" He added playfully. Rapunzel pulled him and Eugene into a tight side hug.

"And we're very happy that you did," Rapunzel beamed. Varian closed his eyes, smiled, and melted into the hug. He was finally kind of feeling like... like he belonged. Like he had found a family. Eugene gave Rapunzel a small kiss on the forehead, then broke free from the hug and walked down the deck. He walked past where Hook Foot was leaning on a railing, scarfing down fruit.

"Hey, Foot, keep off the railing," Eugene advised playfully.

"Oh, yeah?" Hook Foot asked, annoyed. "Or else what?" Eugene tossed a fruit to Hook Foot, and he leaned back to catch it, which sent him tumbling over the railing.

"Or else that," Eugene replied with a smirk.

(I'm back, baby! It feels so good to work on this again! Here's to many chapters of SoaA to come!)