"Maybe we can call the Saporians for a lift." Varian mused as they all sat around trying to think of a way across.
"Nah, there's gotta be some way in. Hector, don't you know?" Eugene looked at him.
"I haven't been back here in two decades." Hector admitted. "The black rocks weren't this bad before, and there was a bridge we could cross."
Adira nodded, looking thoughtful.
"Guys!" Rapunzel walked up to them. "I found a way across!"
They all got up and went to follow her. She smiled and pointed to an old, creaky gondola. "Ta-dah!"
"...Oh no." Hector paled.
"Are you scared?" Adira teased.
"No, absolutely not, I'm sure it is not as terrifyingly about to fall as it was when we were kids! And why it is out so far?!" Hector gestured to it anxiously.
"You're scared." Adira grinned.
Hector stepped back.
"Aw, come on! It's just a gondola!" Rapunzel said encouragingly. "Who's scared of a gondola?"
Something fell off the side and everyone but Adira and Rapunzel raised their hands.
"Yeah, high-fives!" Rapunzel went down the line clapping her hand against their raised ones. "I love these attitudes!"
"Blondie, that thing's a good fifty yards out there." Eugene pointed out.
"I can get it." Adira said, stepping forward. "I'm not afraid of it."
Hector fumed as she walked off to do so. "I'll get across, then wheel it back here for the rest of you." She called back to them.
"If the rhino gets on that thing, it's going to fall." Eugene said nervously.
Hector sighed. "He's right." He turned to Callan. "Wait here for us?"
Callan nuzzled him affectionately.
"Be careful, Adira!" Varian cried.
--
Adira slowly and carefully crossed the thin cable, trying not to think about the sharp rocks down below. She scanned the skies for any sign of the ravens and kept walking forward until she reached the gondola and dropped down into it.
"Okay." She said, going to the wheel. "Let's get you back over there."
It took a bit, thanks to the downhill slope, but she managed to get it back up the cable and docked at the tower where the others waited. Then she opened the door and stepped out. "Right. Let's get going, then."
Rapunzel smiled and led everyone into the gondola with her. Adira hopped on top of it to avoid the crowd and Cassandra and Lance took over wheeling them down.
--
Varian stood at the window, feeling anxious. Rapunzel walked over to him and sighed. "You okay?"
"I'm not sure. I'm happy to be here, but also terrified? I mean...how did it feel for you, when you first came back to the castle after living in the tower for eighteen years?" He looked at her.
"Kind of like that, actually. Like...everything was different, and I was excited but also...scared. Nervous. Afraid I'd be rejected after losing the only mother I'd ever known." She sighed. "It's...it's complicated."
He nodded. "It's complicated."
"Look out!" Adira called as they heard her unsheathing her sword. Then they heard blades clashing together and opened the skylight to see Adira fending off a man with a bear head.
"...That must be him." Varian said, chuckling nervously.
Adira kicked the door shut. "I'll hold him off. Get us over there!" She called.
"Faster, you two!" Rapunzel said, and Cassandra and Lance started to pull the lever back and forth to take them down to the castle.
"Agh!"
"Adira!" Varian climbed out a window before Hector could stop him and found himself staring up at the bear's head glaring down at him. His eyes widened with fear and then narrowed with determination as he nodded to Ruddiger, who lunged at the man while Varian climbed up.
"Varian!" Rapunzel climbed up after him.
"Adira's hurt!" Varian looked at her, then gasped and quickly caught Ruddiger before he flew off the side and held him close. Hector came up and blocked the axe coming for Varian, just as Eugene and Rapunzel got up on top.
"I don't think so, buster!" Rapunzel said firmly.
The bear roared and then knocked Hector aside before swinging the axe again. To his shock, Varian's hair glowed completely just as he did it and one of the the axe's blades was shattered. Before he could recover from the shock, Rapunzel had him caught around the legs and he was knocked down.
"Hector, get Adira down below!" Varian said, pulling out his sword and glaring up at the man.
"Right!" Hector lifted Adira into his arms and dropped back down into the gondola.
"Ruddiger, goo!" Varian said, and the raccoon grabbed goo gombs and handed them to Varian, who tossed them at the feet of the bear-man. He let out a roar as he found himself trapped and then Rapunzel, Eugene and Varian stood around him, Eugene yanking his axe from his hands.
"Alright! That wasn't so bad!" He said with relief. "Hector, is Adira alright?"
"She'll be okay." Hector assured him.
The bear-man struggled to escape the goo and Varian laughed. "Sorry, but you'd have to have the strength of a rhino to pull yourself out of there. I made it virtually indestructible."
The bear-man growled at him.
"Don't you growl at him, you attacked us!" Rapunzel moved between them.
They reached the other side and Varian looked forward, his hair flashing fully blue for a bit again as Rapunzel's hair also lit up. "It's calling." He said, then looked at the bear-man. "And we're going."
The man just growled at him again.
Varian reached into his pocket and pulled out the neutralizer. "Uh, is that a good idea?" Eugene asked.
"I can't just leave him here." Varian said as he neutralized the goo.
"Why not?" Eugene asked.
The bear-man growled. "Showing pity on me won't make me not want to kill you."
Varian put the vial away. "Maybe not. But my father had a mission given to him by the Moonstone, and I'm the fruits of his labor. I have to reunite with the Moonstone."
He faltered. "...Your father?"
"He's Quirin's son." Hector said as he and Adira climbed back out, Adira's side wrapped up with a bandage. "And the Moonstone's vessel. This is the Sundrop, by the way." He gestured to Rapunzel.
The bear-man looked at Varian silently, then hopped off the gondola. "If it is the moonstone's will..." He muttered.
They all felt relieved and got out of the gondola to follow the man inside.
--
"If you are Quirin's son, where is he?" The bear-man said as they approached a throne. He took off the bear-head and set it to the side, revealing a human head underneath.
"It's...complicated." Varian said, glancing away. "I...my father didn't tell me about my...about the Moonstone. He kept saying I wasn't ready. when the Moonstone sent black rocks to Corona to seek out the Sundrop, I tried to find a way to get rid of them using alchemy, like how I created the goo that trapped your legs. One of my solutions turned the rock into amber, and he was caught in it as it grew, p-pushed me out of the way to save me." He hung his head and Eugene placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I see." He nodded solemnly. "And now you have come for the Moonstone, alongside my son." He added softly, gesturing to Eugene.
"Pardon?" Eugene asked.
The man just smiled and walked off. "I will show you."
"Wait, excuse me?!" Eugene headed after him.
"Eugene?" Rapunzel called after him, but he kept on following the man.
Varian watched him go, then looked around the throne room. It was dark and bleak, but not too different from Corona's. The Brotherhood symbol was painted on the floor beneath them instead of a long carpet and the throne itself was on the same level as the rest of the floor.
He didn't actually know the way to the Moonstone and, while he could ask Adira and Hector, he felt it was right to wait for Eugene and his...father(?) to come back.
--
"Hey, wait!" Eugene caught up to the man. "What...what do you mean son?"
"I mean exactly what I said." He opened a door and walked over to a pile of papers. "Two decades ago, and then some, I was forced to send away my beloved subjects, as well as my son." He picked up one of the papers and showed it to him. "While it was too dangerous to bring you home, or even to make contact, I watched over you the best way I knew how. I had my ravens collect your wanted posters once you started to make a name for yourself. A thief is not a profession I would have chosen were I you, but there's all kinds."
Eugene looked at the wanted poster, one of his very first from when he was barely a teen. "You...all these years...?"
"Yes. I know it's hard to believe, and I understand if you're upset. But, I can tell, you are my son." He smiled sadly. "You...resemble your mother, as well as myself. And, I am pleased that you have grown up, despite your dishonest profession for a time, to be a good man."
"How do you know I'm a good man?" Eugene asked.
"I can tell a lot by looking into a man's eyes." The man smiled. "Now, we should be returning to the others. I am sure they are wondering where we are."
"Are you...you're not...upset we're here?" Eugene asked.
"While it would have ideally been Quirin to bring him, and I didn't even know he had this mission at all, the fact remains that the boy is a piece of the Moonstone. His hair is proof enough." The King started to lead him back. "I once sought to destroy the Moonstone, but perhaps just giving it a human vessel will be enough to end the tyranny."
"Can I...uh...take a moment? I'll catch up." Eugene said, and the King nodded and walked off while Eugene went over to the Wanted posters, staring at them in disbelief before he sat down next to them. "All this time...I've had family...I'm a prince...I...how am I supposed to feel about this? Is this how Varian felt when he learned he was the Moonstone? How Rapunzel felt when she realized she was the lost princess?" He held his head with a groan. "I don't know how to feel..."
He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Everything's different now."