You leaned down, picking up a few ribbons and bows, your arm was now almost completely healed and the doctor said you were free to stop taking the pain medicine and you didn't need a splint. He did say you had to keep it wrapped though. You pressed the bows to the walls, draping around some ribbons so it made a pattern. After finishing up with the ribbons you turned and noticed Eugene and Rapunzel talking in the doorway. The reason everyone was decorating was that it was Eugene's birthday. Your eyes widened, you quickly grabbed Lance and pulled him over to the doorway, unwrapping him from Katalina and Angry's ribbons.
"Heyyy- Rapunzel! Can Lance and Eugene pick up some things?" You asked, sending her a discreet wink. She nodded rapidly.
"Yeah! That's a great idea... there are still some supplies that we need!" She pulled Lance down to her level by his chain necklace, "Go with Eugene, make sure he's gone long enough, and get everything on the list of very important things."
Lance looked down at the map skeptically, "What? Oh. Oh, right. Right! Right." He stood up straight before looking over at the other man, "Eugene, come with me!" He said before pulling the other man out the door.
Rapunzel quickly shut the door behind her and let out a sigh, "Thanks, (N/N)." Your parents walked up to both of you.
"What's wrong, dear? You seem nervous." Your mother said softly.
Rapunzel nodded, "No, I'm just worried that Eugene suspects something." She said.
Eugene's father, whom you had just met for the first time today walked up confidently, "Relax, princess, he doesn't suspect a thing." He spoke, you took a glance at the bird on his shoulder, there wasn't a thought behind those eyes, "How could he? He has no idea today is his real birthday. I've even avoided thinking about it around him!" He paused, "Now... high-five Fredric to show camaraderie." You chuckled to yourself, watching as the bird tried to high-five itself with its talons before falling of the king's shoulder.
"Oh, you're right. This is gonna be the best surprise first birthday ever!" She smiled to herself, "And that's not all..." You raised an eyebrow watching as she ran out the door with Pascal. You and your mom shared a look before the woman beside you shrugged. The two of you laughed before she wrapped an arm around you.
✿✿✿
Finally, all the preparations were done. It had become dark outside and Eugene would arrive any minute now. Everyone hid in their places and Rapunzel turned off all the lights. She stood in the middle of the room, it was only a few seconds later before the sparklers went off and Eugene stepped through the door followed by Lance.
"Suprise!" Everyone shouted.
Eugene jumped back, shocked, "Aah! Uh... This is for me?" He asked, "Why?" Rapunzel stepped forward, smiling at the man.
"Because today is your actual birthday!" She exclaimed grabbing onto his arm.
Eugene took a glance over at his father, "it is?" He asked, earning a nod from the man, "Oh, wow! This party is for me! An entire evening where everyone gathers to pay homage to my existence?" He looked around the room, "Oh, how did I go so many years withou-" He was cut off by his father, speaking his mind again.
"Because I sent him away as a babe and his whole life was a lie." The man said. You winced, thinking about how unintentionally harsh that was. Everyone turned to look at him, furrowing their eyebrows.
Eugene's shoulders dropped, "Always a dependable ray of sunshine, Dad." He shook his head, turning away, "Well, bring on the cake!" He said before Attila wheeled the cake out on a cart. Everyone stepped around, circling the man, "Hold up... I don't mean to nitpick, but there are one too many candles."
"The cake just came out and you already counted all of the candles on the cake?" You asked, turning to look at the man.
He nodded, "It has to be perfect." Rapunzel sent him a look, he shrugged, "What..."
"Nope... nope. That's right. You're one year older than you thought, Eugene. Hooray, for another birthday surprise!" Rapunzel said, flinging her arms outwards.
Eugene laughed nervously, "You are so funny, but also incorrect. I am 25 years old." He pointed down to the cake, "The number of candles on this cake indicates that I am 26 years old. One year too many."
Eugene's father shook his head, "No, no. You're 26 years old today." You snickered to yourself earning an elbow from Rapunzel.
"Yup, that's right, 26!" She said. You heard murmurs and talk around the room about how he looked 26.
Eugene rolled his eyes, "Would everyone stop saying my age out loud!" Suddenly the cart started shaking and Shorty burst out of the cake.
"Happy 26th birthday, Horace!" The man then fell out of the lake, leaving Eugene standing in shock.
"Wow, "He breathed, "I am a year older than I think I am? This explains the lines on my eyes!" He looked over at you pointing to his eyes, "Are these crow's feet?" You heard Hamuel caw causing you to laugh.
Rapunzel shook her head, "Why don't you take your mind off your age and make a wish?" She said, helping him up and pulling him over to the cake.
"Well... I can think of at least one wish I'd like to have come true in the very near future." Eugene said, stepping towards the cake. You watched as Rapunzel began to pull a small box from behind her back. You tilted your head, it looked like a ring box. OH! WAS SHE GOING TO PROPOSE?
Eugene was about to blow out the candles when the wind blew, making the room go dark. You glanced over at the door as all the decorations got shifted by the wind.
"Swell party." You heard a familiar voice say. You spotted Cassandra walking through the door. Your jaw dropped out of all the times that she had to stop in it had to be during Eugene's birthday, "I'm guessing my invitation got lost in the mail?" As she walked forward you noticed she looked different, her hair was now blue and her skin had turned very pale.
Eugene frowned, "I think for the next party I'd like to have at least some input on the guest list." Cassandra pulled her sword from its sheath, scraping it against the ground and causing sparks.
"If you don't mind, I'll just help myself to a slice of this cake." She said, stepping towards the cake.
Rapunzel took a step forward, "It's..." She paused, before circling the woman, "Where have you been?"
"Helping myself, you might say." Cassandra said, cutting a slice of cake, "It's about time I helped myself, don't you think?" She cut off the top of one of the towers on the cake, "I thought a lot about how we left things... and it makes me sad."
Rapunzel nodded, "Oh, it makes me sad too. I-I miss you, Cassandra." She took in a breath before letting it out, "I want us to be friends again."
"Yeah... we both have things the other wants, which brings me to why I'm here." She turned around, "I want you to give me the scroll." You accidentally made eye contact with the woman before looking away nervously. She looked at you, she knew you knew something. She stepped forward, ignoring it for the minute, "Give me the scroll, and I'll leave Corona in peace."
Rapunzel shook her head, "Cassandra, I don't think--"
"Oh, I know." Cassandra tilted her head, looking at Rapunzel as if she were a toddler, "It's hard making decisions when the only friends you have left are ex-convicts, losers... and liars." She turned to make eye contact with you, "Yes. That's right. A liar. You lied to your parents about your powers, you lied to them about sneaking out at night, and you never completely told them what happened while we were gone did you?" Your eyes widened, "Mhm, I know. I have contacts."
Everyone turned to you. You wrapped your arms around yourself before Rapunzel stepped in front of you, prepared to defend you.
"I'll give you some time to decide." She chucked the plate she was holding, "Enjoy your party, Fitzherbert." You watched as she walked out of the room before sending one last glance at you, the coldness in her eyes made you shiver.
She knew you could read the scroll.
"Just to be clear- I think it's important. I did not wish for that."
✿✿✿
Lance, Eugene, Angry, Katalina, and Rapunzel all stood around in her room, "I can't give Cassandra the scroll." She said, nervous about the consequences. Everyone nodded, seeming to be thinking the same thing.
"Hey, I agree. On the one hand, if she gets the scroll, it could be the end of the world. On the other hand, she did say we would never see her again, so, you know, pretty big upside." The man said jokingly.
Lance glanced around at the people in the room, "Who knows what she's been doing since she disappeared." He said a frown on his face.
Angry, who was sitting on top of a globe that was spinning slowly, spoke up, "Probably practicing betrayal. Thinking a lot and doing harm."
"-reading." Katalina butted in.
Angry nodded, "Reading a lot about doing harm." Eugene stepped over and stopped the globe from spinning.
"So, Cass gets the scroll, total destruction of us, got it. So we should hide it. Yes? Where is it?" Eugene asked, taking a seat next to Rapunzel. Your eyes suddenly widened, the scroll was with Varian.
Rapunzel let out a sigh, "That's the other downside. Heh. I don't have it."
"If you don't have it..." Eugene started, "well, then who do have it?"
You and the man shared a glance before you said, "Varian."
✿✿✿
As you walked through the booby-trapped halls Rapunzel sent you a glance, "I don't want to pry... but earlier when Cassandra said that you hadn't told us everything about what happened when we were gone. What did that mean?"
You looked at the woman nervously before feeling calmed by her reassuring smile. Letting out a sigh. you mustered up the courage to tell her everything, "Well, first while you were gone I got kidnapped. At the time I didn't know that they were the Saporians, but they captured me and were planning to exploit me for my powers. Luckily I got away in time." You paused, "Er after they took over and I figured out who they were I tried to help Varian. After a bit, it seemed to work and he started leaving the door unlocked. I had so many chances to escape and come find you... but I didn't." You looked down at the ground, wringing your hands together.
Rapunzel wrapped her arm around your shoulder, "It's alright (Y/N), you were only trying to help Varian. You didn't cause a problem by not trying to find us. Okay?" She said, sending you a soft smile. You nodded before continuing to follow the others through the chamber.
The group of you walked down the stairs to the Demanitus Chamber, you were actually surprised that none of you had set off any traps. You glanced down and spotted the boy taking a swig from a flask, he muttered something about hot cocoa before being interrupted by Rapunzel.
"Hi, Varian!" She called out to the boy, causing him to spit out the cocoa onto Ruddiger who looked extremely peeved before shaking it off and running over to you climbing up on your shoulder and chittering in your ear.
"OH!" Varian looked around, seeing you and the others, "Ah! Hi! Hi!" He spoke, you could hear the embarrassment in his voice, "I, uh, wasn't, uh expecting you... so soon." He placed his hand down on the table, "I mean, we did agree that I need at least five weeks of solitude to decipher this thing, so I thought I had some privacy, hm." He took a glance over at you, "Some solitude." He shrugged.
Rapunzel smiled at the boy, "Varian, don't be embarrassed." Varian looked like he was about to say something but was interrupted by Eugene stepping over.
"Hey, goggles, real quick. Do you have any anti-aging alchemies? Maybe some skin-tightening serum?" The man asked, you felt Ruddiger hop off your shoulder and climb over to a table.
You rolled your eyes at Eugene, "That's not why we are here right now." You reminded. Eugene picked up a bottle and a puff of smoke flew into his face, as it cleared you noticed he looked like an old man.
He gasped, "I'm getting older by the second!" You and the others started laughing at Eugene.
"Get the-- Please, be careful!" Varian leaned over, "That stuff is very delicate!"
Rapunzel let out a sigh of relief as Varian stepped out of the way, revealing the scroll, "Oh, thank goodness! You have the scroll."
"I do!" Varian nodded, "Oh, I do. And it took a while, but I composed this key to translate the text in its entirety." Rapunzel looked at the paper in awe.
"Varian! You're a genius! What's it say?" She said.
Varian and you stepped forward, the boy pointed at one side of the scroll, "This is the healing incantation. This is the decay incantation... and this, "He pointed over to the other side of the scroll, "oh, this is the third incantation." He glanced over at you, feeling comfortable talking towards you, "It would allow whoever possesses the Moonstone to wield complete control over the Black Rocks."
"That's why Cassandra wants the scroll," Rapunzel said.
Varian nodded, placing a hand on your shoulder and the other on Rapunzel's, "Yes, yes, but there's more! It says here there are four incantations, not three! But I can't seem to find it anywhere on the scroll." Varian said, picking up the paper.
"Uh, guys. You might want to stop talking about the..." Lance fake cleared his throat, "ehem, secrets of the scroll, ehem!
You looked up the stairs, spotting Cassandra standing very ominously at the top, "Don't stop on my account."
Varian's eyes widened, "Cass!" He looked happy to see her, you assumed he hadn't heard about what happened. You placed your arm in front of him, holding him back.
"Varian, don't get any closer!" You said. Rapunzel nodded, stepping in front of the two of you. You leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Hide the scroll. We cannot let her get her hands on that incantation."
The boy looked over at you slightly confused, "But the scroll is worthless without the Translation Key." You let out a sigh before facepalming.
"Well, then it sounds like I need two things," Cassandra said, before pulling out her sword and making her way down the stairs. Eugene and Lance ran forward.
Eugene pulled out his own sword, prepared to fight, "Get that scroll out! Blondie, I got this!" Eugene ran up the stairs and jumped towards Cassandra, swinging his sword at her. As soon as he hit her with the weapon, his sword shattered, "Her armor is made of the rock!" Casandra kicked the man down the stairs, toppling Lance and Maximus too.
Cassandra spun around and sliced one of the support beams, causing the machine in the middle of the room to begin falling slowly. The metal ball that was connected to it rolled down the stairs right towards Eugene, Lance, and Maximus.
Rapunzel wrapped her hair around you and Varian and pulled the two of you out of the way. The ball broke the table next to you. You glanced over and saw Cassandra running towards the three of you.
"Give me that scroll, Rapunzel!" She said, swinging her sword at the blonde woman.
Rapunzel held her hair up, blocking the attack, "Cass, let's just talk!" She said.
Nervously, you grabbed Varian's hand and pulled him back towards the table, not wanting to get involved in the fight.
"Oh, sure, let's have another chat about how my mother chose you over me," Cassandra said. Your jaw dropped, did Cassandra actually think that Gothel cared about Rapunzel?
Rapunzel shook her head, "Cass, Gothel took me and held me against my will. It wasn't my decision, you know what!"
"Well, was it your decision to push her out a window?" Cassandra asked.
Rapunzel pushed Cassandra back, "You weren't there! You have no idea."
"Then why don't you make me understand?" Cassandra started before being interrupted by Ruddiger jumping on her and crawling all over her face. The raccoon then jumped off, "GET OFF!" Cassandra yelled, watching as the raccoon ran over and grabbed the scroll from Varian's hand. Cassandra followed the rodent, causing Rapunzel to try and lasso her with her hair. She caught her leg and Cassandra fell to the ground. Pascal hopped over and grabbed the scroll from Ruddiger's mouth.
Rapunzel tried pulling the woman back but she counteracted by digging her sword into the ground. Cassandra quickly pulled her foot out of Rapunzel's hair before she went to chase after Pascal. Rapunzel groaned before following Cassandra, leaving you and Varian by the table. The boy quickly grabbed your hand and pulled you behind the table.
"Varian, we have to help!" You said, about to stand up. He pushed you back down shaking his head.
"You..., you can't! I can't let you get hurt!" He gripped your hand tightly, you let out a sigh before nodding, as soon as you caught your breath you heard a loud creaking noise, you peeked over the table to see the giant machine in the middle falling over, towards Eugene, Lance, Ruddiger, and Maximus. You saw Rapunzel catch it and let out a sigh of relief, soon Cassandra walked over and grabbed the scroll from under Rapunzel's arm.
You and Varian shared a look. He quickly grabbed some vials and mixed them together, creating some sort of concoction.
"Oh, Varian, (Y/N)." Cassandra whistled. You turned around and peeked behind the table, the woman lifted her sword and chopped the table in two. You and Varian stood up, his arm in front of your protectively.
Varian and you were pressed against the wall, Cassandra was growing closer, "I-If you want to read that scroll, you are gonna need our Translation Key." He pointed over to the chalk drawings on the wall next to your paper ones. The boy then tossed the contents of the vial on the wall, erasing everything that was there, "Ha! And now that I've destroyed it, you'll never know what the scroll says because the only translation in earthly existence is locked safely away in our brains! Boom!" You let out a disappointed sigh, knowing that the boy had just given away the only way to translate it.
Cassandra chuckled, coming to the same realization, "Is that a fact?" She asked.
Varian did a little victory dance, "Oh, yeah!" He then gasped before backing up more, his back pressed against you, "I should not have said that out loud."
"Then I guess you two are coming with me." She said, an evil smirk on her face. Cassandra grabbed a vial from the ground next to her and threw it down to the ground. As soon as the smoke erupted you felt woozy. You dropped to the ground, your vision going dark.
✿✿✿
You gasped as you woke up, you looked around frantically, finding yourself tied to a rock next to Varian. The boy was sound asleep, you nudged his book slightly. You heard footsteps from in front of you, Cassandra stabbed a painting and threw it to the side with her sword.
Varian groaned, finally waking up. He suddenly came to the realization that he was not in the Demanitus chamber, "Huh? Ha, uh. Where are we?" He asked, his eyes widened as he quickly turned to you before letting out a sigh of relief.
Cassandra leaned down, "I need that third incantation, Varian."
Varian shook his head, "Never." The woman nodded, expecting that.
"I knew you would say that." She said, before stepping over to you and grabbing you by the collar of your shirt, "I didn't just bring her because she knows the incantation. I know your secrets, I know you care about her." She held her sword up to your throat. He squirmed where he was, trying to get up, "It's no use Varian. So tell me, what's the third incantation?" She pressed the sword harder against your throat, you let out a whimper, feeling the blade against your skin.
"FINE! Fine, I'll tell you the incantation..." He paused, waiting for the woman to drop you.
Cassandra dug the sword into your skin more, "I'm waiting for you, Varian."
He clenched his teeth, a glare on his face, before reciting the incantation, "Crescent high above, Evolving as you go, Raise what lies beneath, and let the darkness grow. Bend it to my will, consume the sunlights glow. Rise into the sky and let the darkness grow." As soon as he finished saying the incantation Cassandra dropped you. You tried to crawl away but she grabbed your arms and pulled you back towards the rock, binding yourself wrists and securing you to the rock.
Varian looked over at you concerned, "Are you okay?" His eyebrows furrowed, showing concern in his face. You nodded, taking in some deep breaths.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." You said before hearing Cassandra start to repeat the incantation. The stone that was embedded in the armor started flickering, almost emitting electricity. Her hair started floating. You and Varian's jaw dropped. Rocks started sprouting up from the ground.
"What is that." Varian breathed.
Yours and Varian's jaws dropped, "We are so dead." You said, watching as the rocks grew and formed a tower.
Varian nodded, "Agreed."
"Let the darkness... grow." Cassandra said, grinning evilly up at the tower. You and Varian closed your eyes as the tower let off an eruption of dust. As soon as the dust cleared you opened your eyes and looked up at the tower, your jaw dropping once more.
"Sheesh." You breathed.
Cassandra grinned again, "Home sweet home."
You and Varian shared a concerned look, "We're so dead." You breathed.
✿✿✿