"So... you touched these black rocks, your hair grew back, the black rocks may be extremely dangerous, and we have no idea why your hair grew back. Yes? Correct?"
"Yeah, we thought you deserved to know how Raps got her hair back." Cass claimed.
"So, what are your plans? For the whole, uh.. hair thing?"
"I think I know someone who can help. His name is Varian."
"Varian...?"
"Uh.. who?" Rapunzel asked.
"He's an alchemist, and uhm, one of my..."
"best.. friends."
"Some say he uses magic, like a wizard.", Cass claimed. This almost made me choke on air. Magic..? Ahah.. Ahem.
"Wow, a real wizard?!", Rapunzel exclaimed.
"Very little is known about him. Luckily, (Y/N), here, knows where to find him."
"So.. this is where Varian lives? It's.. cozy! In a.. I-wish-I-said-goodbye-to-my-loved-ones-before-I-left, kind of way.", Rapunzel stated nervously, but still able to keep a smile on her face.
"Don't worry, Raps, he's not that dangerou--"
Suddenly, I spotted green smoke pouring from underneath the entrance door.
"That's... worrying." I say, a bit of nervousness in my voice as I open up the door.
"Hellooo? Varian?"
His lab seemed a bit more darker than usual.. and an absurd amount of purple fog flooded the room.
"Be careful where you step, Raps.", cautioned Cassandra.
"It's just fog.. I'm sure it's okay..!", Rapunzel is somehow still able to keep things positive. I'm worried about Varian--or at least, what he's working on. This fog seems toxi--
And that's when Cassandra accidentally stepped on one of Varian's boobytraps. I looked over and saw a purple liquid being drained into a domino effect chemistry experiment, and before I knew it, we were all stuck in...purple goo?
We saw a shadowy figure approach us, though I couldn't see much with the purple fog blinding my eyes. An ominous voice came from the figure,
"What do you want?"
"Uh.. hi! So sorry to bother you.. sir, but I wanted to ask you about my hair..? Since you're such a magic exp--"
"Magic?! I do not work with magic!"
"Well, technically it's not magic, it's alchemy--but yo..you know, don't sweat it..!"
The figure lifted up their protection faceplate to reveal,
"...Varian?"
"Oh! (Y-Y/N)! I didn't expect to.. see you today! ..Hi!"
I smiled at his nervousness. He amuses me.. in a way.
"So, err...what is this..?" Rapunzel questions, making a gesture to the purple goo below her.
"Oh! That-That is a chemical compound--of my own design..thank you.. You see, we have a bit of a critter problem, here-here in Corona and--! Through the miracle of modern alchemy.. I found a.. humane way to solve the problem..!" Varian goes on about the compound and ends up.. getting us out of it, as he tosses Ruddiger into a nearby closet.
"Ha..! Ha I am.. so sorry-! Yo-Your highness.."
"Your highness..? Haha.. you uh, know who I am..?" Rapunzel asks.
"Ha..! I mean, uh--how could I not? Aha--loo-look at your hair! Y-Your highness..." Varian says a bit sheepishly.
"Oh, please, just Rapunzel."
"W-Wow, really? Oh alright then--"
"Listen kid--Me, Raps, and my sister are here looking for some help with her hair--but what happens here, stays here. Got it?" Cassandra intimidated.
"Oh yes...this.. this... it's very...." Varian inspects the hair on an examination table. "...long. Oh! No--but don't worry, your hi--" Varian stops himself. "Ahem. Rapunzel..! I am sure that I, Varian, can unlock the mysteries of your hair--with the power of scie--!"
Before he was able to complete his sentence, the magnifying stand behind him turned around-- and.. hit him in the back of the head.
Knowing Varian for almost a year, I know this isn't good.
"Ow! Uh--Aha! N-No sweat--" Varian looks down at his hand, now painted with a drop of blood from his head. "I-It's just a littl--"
...And there he goes.
"Wh-hoah!" I exclaimed. Luckily, I was able to catch him before he hit the floor--and almost potentially hit his head again..
"...Bring back what once was mine...." Varian's hair was wrapped with Raps' hair--he looked a bit doubtful that this was going to work. ".....what once was mine.."
"Better-?"
"Oh yea--" Varian looked down at his hand once more "N-No--!"
"Huh.. that used to work.."
"So, we've acquired some critical data about your hair--it no longer possesses its legendary healing power.." Varian thinks for a moment. "Progress!", he claims, lifting up Rapunzel's hair like one of his inventions.
"Now let's see exactly what this hair is made of..."
Varian moves some old cloth-curtain to reveal a machine with multiple tools above a wooden test area, each tool looking.. equally dangerous.
"This machine can analyze any substance for chemical makeup, bitopic composition, and urgu-structural integrity-- heh, I built it myself."
"Wow, Varian... this is.." I simply stared at the invention in awe. I wanted to inspect it more, but I let myself snap back to our main focus. "So, what will this test-?"
"If I'm right, this should tell us all there is to know about your hair, Rapunzel."
While I was intrigued by the device, Cassandra seemed concerned.
"Raps, are you sure you wanna--"
She had disappeared.
"Rapunzel-?"
"Let's do this!" Rapunzel re-appeared, now inside the machine. Cassandra sighed.
I mentally gasped when I heard there were 86 tests. Was this necessary? I mean, I'm sure it was, Varian knows what he's doing... right..-?
Suddenly, a skillsaw flew across the room in Varian's direction, who swiftly dodged it (and avoided death).
He doesn't know what he's doing.
"You're right, it's absolutely unbreakable!"
"But I'm betting you're not! Let her go-!"
"..Eugene-?" I thought out loud.
Rapunzel looked nervous. "Eugene...! Hey..-!"
"Blondie! You're alright! You wanna tell me what's going on here..-?"
As Rapunzel and Cassie tried to explain, and Varian was busy, err.. fanboying adorabl--.. ahem, I came to the realization that I had never met Eugene. Being Cassandra's little sister, I had to constantly hear about how irritating he was.. which kind of gave me a bad reputation for him. And though Rapunzel tried to convince me 'he's not all that bad', I tended to agree with my sister more.
"H-Hey! If you and (Y/N) come, I can show you something really special-! But- uh.. you have got to keep it a secret.."
Eugene's eyes lit up.
"Did you hear that everyone-? Varitas-! ..Var--"
"Varian!"
"A complete stranger wants to tell us a secret-!"
Cassandra and Rapunzel looked intrigued as we walked out of the lab.
As we were walking, Eugene started to interrogate Varian about the princess. Eugene's preachiness started to get on my nerves.. While Varian was explaining the situation in great detail, I started to notice things I felt I haven't noticed about Varian before.. Sure, they were obvious factors of him--like his buck teeth, the odd streak in his hair colored a light indigo, the patches in his shirt--that you could tell was getting old--and his scratched up goggles and gloves he insisted on keeping on all the time.. even when sleeping. But now, I felt like making more mental notes on these obvious facts. How did he get that hairstripe anywa--
"Now! (Y/N) and Flynn.."
The sound of my name caused me to perk up and snap out of my trance. Wait, we were at the shed already-??
"I believe I promised you two--"
Varian lifts up an object to reveal a hatch in the floor.
"a secret.."
"Wow...."
Saying I was shocked would be an understatement. Varian built these..? All...five of them--? By himself..? These things were huge..! Weren't these the water pumps he showed me last year..? Why hadn't he told me about this yet-?! This is extremely impressive! And uh.. extremely dangerous..-!
"V-Varian.. these things are causing the tremors-?" I asked, extremely concerned.
"No-No, my machines are not causing them, the chemical reaction they trigger do." He says, demonstrating with his compound.. resulting in a quick burst of flames.
Eugene looked about as concerned as me.
"Listen, kid, I'm no expert... seismo..quakatologist--"
"Meteorologist." I corrected.
"..Right.. err--one of those, but anything that causes earthquakes cannot be good. These things are dangerous, we gotta warn people about this--!"
"No--we can't! You promised you'd keep this a secret-! And besides, I am an expert, and this is all perfectly saf--"
In an instant, a screw from the machine shot out from the pressure, and only just dodged Varian's face.
"..Ye-Yeah-! Heh... D-Does that all the time.."
After Varian set up the test result machine, we felt the.. third? Fourth--tremor? I wasn't sur--
"Hey, kid, you're... (Y/N), right-?" I hear Eugene whisper-talk to me.
"..Yes-?"
"So, you've known this Varian kid?"
"For a year."
"Right, you agree these machines are dangerous, I'm assuming, and I feel you can be one to reach out to him and talk some sense into him for this--because I know he won't be one to listen to me. Please?"
"....Oh! Ye-Yes! Of course!"
I led Varian out of the lab,
"Soo.. why did you want to.. talk.. to me..-?"
"Listen Varian, I know you're doing this for a good cause--but those machines down there are seriously dangerous. If you don't shut those off, I'm afraid you might end up exploding Old Corona-! And I want to trust you, but those tremors are making me more and more worried."
"..O-Oh! Well, if you're worried, I did some calculations- and-and the margain of error is 0.56 percent! ..or was it 0.57..--"
"It's not about that, Varian. That 'Flynnoleum' is extremely powerful, just one drop of it causes a sudden burst in flames--if you used enough of it, as said before, it can make this place fall down on us-! I want you to at least test this stuff before you take this risk. Please, you're not just doing this for me, but for your father, the princess, and Old Corona. I need you to shut those machines down befo--"
Abruptly, large cracks began to form on the floors of Old Corona.
"Varian! Are you--"
He's gone.
I rushed into the lab to get Cassandra's and Eugene's help--and to make sure Rapunzel was safe. It seemed Eugene had the same thought I did.
"Varian's out there! He's gonna get himself killed-!"
Rapunzel was struggling to get out of the machine.
"Get her out of here-! I'll get the kid--"
"Wait--!"
Cass stirred her direction towards me.
"Let me go with you, please. He needs me."
"(Y/N), I'm sorry, you can't-! It's too dangerous, and you can't get hurt because of me-!"
Cassandra left.
I looked back at Eugene and Rapunzel, and then to Cassandra running after Varian.
I needed to help him.
...But as I ran, I found myself way behind Cass--and not even close to Varian. Once Cass finally stopped Varian in his tracks, I saw a huge pipe hurtling towards them.
.
.
Wait, what--!?
VARIAN POV
I felt someone grab me, forcing me to stop abruptly. It was Cass.
"Listen, kid--we gotta get out of here-!"
"No--No-! I-I've got three more pumps to shut off--and I can't let this happen agai--!"
"Varian--!" I heard (Y/N).
Wait.. "(Y/N--"
Suddenly, Cassie had pulled me in towards her, and I felt something topple above us.
.
.
.
I heard a loud thud.. everything was black.
But that was probably because I was inside of a huge metal pipe.
Cassie had helped me out of the pipe, "Thank you-! ..m'lady..", I smirked.
She didn't look impressed. Or pleased.
In the distance, I spotted (Y/N), who had previously called out to me. I couldn't tell their expression, maybe worried, but they looked a bit hesitant to approach me. It's not like I would blame them, though..
"Varian-!? Varian--!"
"Uh oh--it's my dad.." I almost said under my breath.
"Are you okay? What happened-?"
"..Dad, I.."
I felt tears nearing the edges of my eyes, but I held them.
"I-... I'm sorry.."
"Not again, Varian..."
He turned away from me, as he spoke with his villagers over the catastrophe. The catastrophe that was my fault. After today, I doubt I could make him proud with something--anything. It felt like I was making mistakes left and right, my father constantly disappointed in me. The only person who ever pointed out my inventions and 'talent' was (Y/N).
And as I saw them again, I noticed they looked even more conflicted to approach me, and try to 'be there' for me. I didn't want to bother them, though. I simply gave them a smile that seemed to say 'You can go, it's alright.'
It seemed (Y/N) picked up that I needed to be alone, so they left.
I looked back at my dad, who was still trying to calm down my frantic townspeople.
I will make you proud-- One day, father.