You stood outside with Rapunzel who was currently forging a new pan. You heard the secret door open and turned around to see Eugene walking over to Rapunzel, "Hey, blondie. How are you holding up?" He asked.
"Me?" Rapunzel asked, "Fine." She said, dunking the hot frying pan into water, immediately cooling it, and creating steam. She then pulled the frying pan out and showed it to Eugene, Pascal, and You, "What do you think?" You nodded, it was a nice pan. Pascal gave it a chef's kiss, "It's not bad, right?"
Eugene looked at her, "You've been through a lot since we got back." He said, just trying to get her to talk, "Not to mention what happened with Cassandra." Your eyes widened, why didn't you notice before? Cassandra wasn't here? What happened to her?
Rapunzel laughed, "WHat? Augh, I mean, to tell you the truth, I haven't even thought about... that person." Rapunzel splattered paint on the pan. You looked at her skeptically.
"Rapunzel!" Eugene grabbed her that was holding a paintbrush, "You can't even say her name." He frowned, "There's a difference between setting feelings aside, and burying them so deep they change who you are." You suddenly thought of Varian when he said that.
Pascal hopped onto Eugene's shoulder, squeaking as if trying to back up his words.
The blonde-haired woman looked up at him, "What are you saying, Eugene?"
"What I'm saying is that you're not alone in this." He said, just trying to comfort her.
"I know." Rapunzel said, before mumbling to herself, "But maybe it would be better if I were." Your jaw dropped, what happened when they were gone for Rapunzel to say something like that?
Eugene must have heard it too, "What was that?" He asked, but was interrupted by Xavier clearing his throat. You all looked up seeing the man walk out.
"Am I interrupting?" He said causing you to chuckle to yourself. Always.
Rapunzel looked angry, "No. Heh. I'm just making a new pan." She waved it around, and you got a good glance of the Coronan Crest on it.
"Princesses, we need to discuss our strategy." He said.
Eugene took a step towards the man, "I'll be there in a second." Rapunzel said. Eugene and her shared a kiss before the man followed Xavier to the secret room. Rapunzel grabbed her bag and said, "Right after I take back my kingdom."
"I'm still here, you know?" You deadpanned, Rapunzel turned to look at you, her jaw dropped, "Yeah, you're gonna want to be more subtle than that." You shrugged, "Don't worry. I'm coming with you."
She shook her head, "But, you're injured!" Rapunzel said, reaching out for you.
"So? You aren't the only princess who needs to reclaim their kingdom, plus, I have a friend in there who needs a little persuading." You said.
"Varian." Rapunzel said, causing you to nod, "Alright, I see your point. Let's go then." She said, grabbing your uninjured arm and pulling you along.
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The two of you carefully snuck down to the docks to get closer to the secret tunnel. You heard some squeaks in front of you and grabbed onto Rapunzel, holding her in front of you. She gasped.
"Pascal! What are you doing here?" She asked.
You let out a sigh and looked at the chameleon as he squeaked at Rapunzel, supposedly giving her a lecture or something. You weren't so good at speaking frog.
Rapunzel let out a gasp, "What? No, of course, I trust you." She picked the chameleon up off the wall, "I just... thought of this as a solo mission." You looked at Rapunzel with one eyebrow raised, you were all face, you couldn't exactly cross your arms to sass her. Pascal did all the sass for you, he crossed his little arm/paw/claw/hand things and stuck his tongue out at her, "Augh, all right. I can never fool you." She smiled and then leaned down, "Check this out." She said before pulling the grate out from over the secret tunnel. She chuckled taking a glance over at you, "I know (Y/N) used this much more than I did."
Your face went bright red, "I- wh- What? How did you know?"
"Oh come on!" She laughed, "The only person who had no idea you were seeking out to see Varian was Dad." She shrugged, "Even mom didn't care."
You crossed your arms, pouting, "Shut up." You brushed it off and started down the tunnel, hoping the darkness hid how red your face was.
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The two of you made your way out of the secret tunnel and towards the castle. You snuck in through a window with a little help from Rapunzel, you were currently a bit-- handicapped.
You both pressed your backs against the wall behind you hearing the voices of Kai and Juniper, "Well, lately I've been into essential oils, you know, peppermint and eucalyptus or..." While they were talking you snuck around to the other side of the hall, "Huh? What was that?" They asked, you assumed that Pascal's squeaking alerted them. You heard the footsteps as one of the men started walking towards you.
"It wasn't anything. Come on. Oh, if you ask me, you should lay off the essential oils." Juniper said to Kai, who now turned around and started walking back towards the other man. you let out a quiet sigh. The three of you then started walking down the hall again.
"Kai? Is that you?" You heard Maisie's voice down the hall. You noticed a door next to you, you opened it quickly and pulled Rapunzel into the room, not wanting to deal with the woman who tortured you. You spun around to look at the room and noticed it was Cassandra's old room.
Rapunzel turned around and noticed the same thing, she looked sad. You were still confused about the whole Cassandra situation. Rapunzel looked through the room, a bit cryptically. She grabbed onto one of Cassandra's dresses and plopped onto her bed, crying into it. You sat down next to her and rubbed her back.
"I thought she would always be here." She said.
You sat silently, not hearing footsteps behind you over the sound of Rapunzel crying.
"Well, well, well. Look who we found." That voice was clearly Kai's. You spun around seeking Kai and Juniper walking towards the both of you.
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You sent the boy in front of you a sad look, "Varian."
"How could you do this?" Rapunzel started, her voice angry.
Varian smirked, "I want you to know I wish it didn't come to this. Especially not for you (Y/N). But when someone trusts you," He grabbed the bars, "and you betray them, well, this is what happens."
"My kingdom needed me." She said, "I couldn't do anything about the amber, and I had to stay. I never meant to break my promise to you, Varian." She justified, "We were friends."
Varian smirked, "That's the beauty of my plan. In the end, when your memory has been erased, we can be friends again." Varian slowly started pacing.
"But, Varian." You started, causing him to send you a sad look, "You're only making it worse."
Rapunzel nodded, agreeing, "None of these people did anything to you!"
Varian turned around quickly, "It's not what they did to me," His voice broke slightly, "It's what I did to them. And there-- There is no way that they will ever forgive me." He said, you could hear the sadness in his voice.
"How do you know if you don't give them a chance?" Rapunzel asked.
You noticed the Saporians evil grins turning into frowns, Rapunzel was getting to him. How come you spent almost a year trying to help him and it took Rapunzel finally coming back to realize that he can fix things in a not so evil way.
Varian's eyes widened, "I took their princess prisoner, I hurt her!" He gestured to you, "I-I threatened their other princess. I helped these guys take over their kingdom!" He paused making eye contact with you, "You think anyone's gonna give me a second chance? I don't think so." He gripped the bars, "No, making them forget is the only way to fix what I've done."
"Yeah," Andrew interrupted, "there has been a slight change of plans, buddy." Andrew stepped up and grabbed Varian's shoulders, he turned the boy around, "Now that she's back, we don't have time for you to get your memory formula right."
Clementine smiled, "We are still using the formula you've curated. Quirineon explodes! It will turn Corona to ashes!" Varian pulled himself away from Andrew's grip.
"But-- no! NO! We agreed nobody would be harmed!" The boy pointed a finger at Andrew.
The man tried to calm him down, "Relax, Varian. You don't wanna end up on the wrong side of history." The boy grew angry, "You understand, buddy?" You sent Varian a pleading look.
"You're right," Varian said, you grew disappointed thinking he was staying with the Saporians, "So I'm gonna have to ask you to step inside that cell." Your eyes widened as you looked up at the boy. He pulled a chemical bomb from his pocket and pointed it at the Saporians.
"Are you betraying us, boy?" Clementine asked as they all stepped back.
Varian pushed them back, "I'm getting on the right side of history." He said preparing to throw the chemical bomb.
"Take him out!" Clementine said as Varian chucked the bomb. It exploded and Varian backed up towards the cell you were in.
All of you looked at the Saporians who were surrounded by bubbles, "Oh, sorry guys. That was a... Yeah, that was a bath bomb."
The Saporians grabbed Varian and threw him into the cell, locking it behind them.
Andrew frowned, "He's made his choice. Let's move." He motioned for the others to follow him, "We launch the airship in 20." They all walked out, leaving the four of you to sit in silence.
Varian turned around facing you, "Are you okay?" He asked taking a glance at your wrapped arm.
You shrugged, "I've definitely been better." You said, taking a glance at his sad expression, "I think it broke when Andrew threw that bomb at us, I probably landed on it when I fell."
Varian frowned, "Sorry." He said before sitting down and leaning against the wall. He pulled his bandana over his mouth. Rapunzel tried prying the bars open with her bare hands. You sat down next to Varian, softly rubbing his back. "All I ever wanted was for my father to be proud. Of course, if he was free from the amber now and saw everything I've done, well, he'd be ashamed." Varian said, leaning into your touch, but you didn't notice.
Rapunzel turned around, spotting the two of you sitting together, "You know, standing up to Andrew just now was pretty brave." Rapunzel sat down on the opposite side of you and Varian, "Look, I know how much it hurts to have someone you trust let you down. I mean, after you go through something like that, how can you ever trust anyone again?" You wondered if she was talking about Cassandra.
Varian took a quick glance at you, "I don't know. That- that's why I thought maybe if I could make you all forget everything that happened, you know, we could be friends again." He paused, almost unsure of what he was saying, "Learn to trust again. But I guess life doesn't work that way."
You grabbed the boy's shoulders and leaned him back so he was looking up at you, laying in your lap, you leaned down close to him, "Idiot. I always knew that you would come back to the light." Varian snickered before softly pushing your face away. Both of you glanced over at Rapunzel and smiled.
"Okay, this is very sweet. But honestly, I'm offended." You all looked up and spotted Eugene and Lance standing outside the cell, "I can't believe you were going to break into something and you didn't even ask me!" Eugene unlocked the cell door with a set of keys, "It's kinda my thing."
Rapunzel got up from her seat and ran over to Eugene, "Thank goodness you're here!" You and Varian also got up. Varian walked first, bumping right into Lance's chest. He looked up nervously.
"And, where do you think you're going, little man?" Lance asked, crossing his arms. You snickered lightly behind Varian. Lance reached forward and rubbed the fake goatee of Varian's chin. The boy let out a sigh.
You elbowed him with your uninjured arm, "It wasn't a good look." You said causing his face to go slightly red. Lance and Maximus snickered.
"Guys, we're going to have to trust him," Rapunzel said.
Eugene took a few steps forward, causing Varian to back up, "After everything Hair Stripe here has done," You grabbed Varian's hand, comforting him, "You're going to trust him?" You saw Varian look down nervously. Eugene walked past the two of you and unlocked Pascal who was locked in a big ball chain.
"Yes." You said confidently, leading into Rapunzel's next words.
"He's the one that made the formula that the Saporians are about to drop on Corona." She said. You felt Varian tighten his grip on your hand.
You sent him a comforting gaze, "We need him." You said, he turned to you. A smile graced his face.
You, Rapunzel, and Varian walked off, leaving the boys behind very skeptical.
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