As Varian leads Rapunzel and me through the palace, I can feel my heart beating through my chest. The worry inside of me was growing stronger by the second. After all, I haven't been home since...the incident. What if we got caught?
Maybe we should've waited for the rest of the rebellion instead of rushing into things...
The dark halls of the castle are empty. Even when it was late at night, these hallways were always bustling with guards and servants. Now there was no one. I shiver at the sight.
I try to avoid thinking about what happened to them and keep my chin up.
The three of us slowly make our way through the servants' quarters, the only sound to be heard was the soft tapping of our shoes against the floor. The dimly lit candles that lined the halls cast our shadows onto the walls, creating an eerie sight.
I gasp as I hear a door open and stop walking. My eyes dart over to Varian, and he returns my worried gaze. My heartbeat quickens as I realize that Rapunzel was nowhere to be found. Where is she? Why isn't she here?! What if she was caught?! My thoughts race around my head.
Suddenly, I hear the soft sound of crying coming from one of the rooms. As I walk closer to the noise, my heart falls. The crying was coming from Cassandra's bedroom. I slowly peek my head into the room, only to find Rapunzel sitting on the edge of Cass's bed, holding her blue handmaiden gown in her lap. Tears are flowing down my sister's cheeks as she longingly gazes at the article of clothing.
I meekly enter the room and sit down beside Rapunzel. She doesn't look at me as I place my hand on her shoulder. "Raps? What's going on? Please tell me."
Rapunzel finally meets my eyes. Her bottom lip quivers as she looks at me. "(Yn)...Cassandra...s-she isn't coming home."
I could practically hear my heart shatter. "W-What do you mean?" I didn't want to know the answer.
"Cass betrayed us...she s-stole the moonstone." More tears fall from her green eyes.
"She what?" I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes, as I try to swallow the lump in my throat. "No...no, no, no. Not Cass. She wouldn't do something like that..." I choke out, trying to convince myself that what I was hearing wasn't true.
Rapunzel pulls me into a hug. Not one of her signature joyful hugs, but a hug that was expressing a shared pain. "I'm so sorry, (yn)."
The tears finally break free, and I begin to sob. I just got Varian back, and now I've lost Cassandra-The same Cassandra who would smuggle me second helpings of dessert, secretly stitch up my gowns after I tore holes into them, so my father didn't find out, trained me to fight, and listened to my deepest secrets. She was gone. I was betrayed...again.
If my own father could lie to me...if my best friend could try to take over my kingdom...and if the woman I saw as a sister could betray me...who can I even trust anymore?
Varian suddenly runs into the room. "You guys have to get out of here! They're coming!" He frantically exclaims, breaking Rapunzel's and my sisterly moment.
Rapunzel looks at Varian with worried eyes as we stand up.
Before we can do anything, the sound of heavy footsteps fills the room. "Well, well, well..."
We turn around and gasp when we see the Saporians standing there, blocking the doorway and our only way to escape. Clementine smirks. "It looks like our little alchemist found a couple of revolutionaries."
:-:-:-:-:
Rapunzel scowls as she grips the metal bars of the cell we were thrown into. "How could you do this?!"
"I want you to know that I wish it didn't have to come to this," Varian says, tapping the bars of the cell with his knuckles. I knew that this was all a part of Varian's act, so he didn't blow his cover, but it still hurt a little bit to see him like this.
"What? Erasing everyone's memories?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
Rapunzel looks at Varian with pleading eyes. "None of these people did anything to you!"
"It's not what they did to me...it's what I did to them..." Varian turns away. "And there...there is no way they will ever forgive me."
My heart breaks for the alchemist. Even if his pretending to want to erase everyone's memories was all an act, I knew he believed those words were the truth.
"How do you know if you don't give them a chance?" my sister asks.
Varian is silent for a moment before listing the reasons. "I kidnapped their princess, I almost killed their queen, I threatened their future queen, I put them in danger at (yn)'s birthday ball, I helped these guys take over their kingdom...you think anyone's gonna give me a second chance?" Varian's voice breaks. "I-I don't think so." He says, walking back over to our cell. "Making them forget is the only way to fix what I've done."
Varian looks at me with hollow eyes. I'm sorry. he mouths.
Andrew suddenly breaks the silence as he places his hands on Varian's shoulders. "Yeah...there's been a slight change of plans buddy." He sneers, leading Varian away from our cell. "Now that she's back, we don't have time to wait for you to get your memory formula right."
"We are still using the formula you curated;" Clementine pipes up. "Qurinian explodes! It will turn Corona to ashes."
"wha-no, NO! We agreed nobody would be harmed!!" Varian exclaims, pointing an angry finger at Andrew.
Andrew rolls his eyes. "Relax, Varian...you don't wanna end up on the wrong side of history." He grins as he nudges Varian with his elbow. "You understand, don't you?"
I grab onto the cell bars, feeling the anger and rage bubble up inside of me. "The only one who's going to end up on the wrong side of history is you and your goons! You're never going to get away with this!"
Andrew laughs as he approaches me. "Well...if it isn't our little runaway princess. I've been wondering how you got away." He glares at me. "Why don't you shut up that pretty little mouth of yours before it gets you in even more trouble." Andrew pulls a dagger off of his belt and holds it up to the cell bars "...Unless you wanna be the first casualty of Corona's destruction."
"Don't you even think about it!" Varian warns, reaching into his pocket and pulling out one of his alchemy spheres. He holds it out and slowly walks towards the Saporians, forcing them to back up towards a cell.
"Are you betraying us boy?" Clementine grins, looking amused by the whole situation.
"I'm getting on the right side of history." Varian looks over his shoulder at me and winks.
"TAKE HIM OUT!"
Varian quickly throws the sphere at them, and it explodes in a puff of blue smoke. As dozens of bubbles float up from the smoke, Varian nervously chuckles. "Ooooohhhhh...sorry guys...that was a... yeah that was a bath bomb..."
The Saporians quickly grab Varian and shove him into the cell with Raps and me.
Andrew scowls. "He's made his choice. Let's move. We launch the airship in twenty." He announces, leading the Saporians out of the dungeon.
Varian sighs as he sits down next to me. "I can't believe it. I finally get my chance to stand up to them and prove that you guys can trust me, and I screwed it all up...just like I always do."
"You don't always screw things up, Var." I place a comforting hand on Varian's shoulder. "Look at what you've done so far. You just stood up to Andrew! That was amazing!"
A hint of a smile appears on Varian's face. "Y-You think so?"
I nod. "Just because you messed up, it doesn't make you a failure. Our mistakes make us human."
Rapunzel hugs her knees close to her chest. "She's right, Varian. What you did back there was really brave and selfless. I don't know what happened while I was gone, but you aren't the same Varian I fought during the battle. You've more than proved yourself."
Varian softly smiles, and Rapunzel returns it. I beam at the sight.
"Okay, this is very sweet, but honestly I'm offended."
We all look at the cell door to see Eugene and Lance standing there with smug grins on their faces.
Eugene smirks as he unlocks the cell. "I can't believe you were going to break into something, and you didn't even ask me. It's kinda my thing."
Rapunzel runs into her boyfriend's arms as the door swings open. "Thank goodness your here!" She happily exclaims.
Varian and I stand up to leave the cell. As we walk past Lance, he quickly blocks Varian's path. "And where do you think you're going, little man?" He asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
Varian looks up at Lance with a hurt expression.
"Guys," Rapunzel speaks up. "We're going to have to trust him."
Eugene scowls as he enters the cell to free Pascal. "After everything hair-stripe here has done, you're going to trust him?"
Varian winces at Eugene's words. After looking up to "Flynn Rider" all those years, hearing such harsh words from his hero must've felt like a dagger in his chest
"Yes. He's the one who made the formula that the Saporians are about to drop in Corona." Rapunzel places her hands on Varian's shoulders and smiles at him. "We need him."
Lance lets out an exasperated sigh and I glare at him. "He's coming with us."
Varian smiles at me and I wink at him. "Do you have it?" He asks with a cheeky grin.
I pull a small vial of liquid out of my pocket and hold it up with a smirk. "You bet."
Eugene looks from Varian to me. "What is that?"
"It's the neutralizing compound for the Qurinian." Varian explains. "I gave (Yn) the recipe so she could create it when the time was right."
I grin. "It's what's going to take back our kingdom."