"Hey, Varian!" I happily wave, poking my head through the doorway to the alchemist's lab. I notice Varian sitting at his desk, writing something down.
Varian glances up from the blueprints on his desk and beams when he sees me. "(Yn)! Hi!"
I make my way over to the alchemist and wrap my arms around him from behind, lovingly embracing him. I rest my head on top of his and peek down at his blueprints. "What are you working on?" I ask.
Varian smiles up at me. "These are the blueprints for the machine that's going to bring your parent's memories back."
My eyes light up. "Really?"
He proudly nods and stands up. Leaning on his arm against his desk, he smugly grins. "Pretty cool, right?" Suddenly, Varian's elbow slips on one of the many scrolls that cover the table, causing him to fall over. As Varian groans in pain, the scroll that caused him to collapse floats off of the table and lands directly over his head.
I pick the scroll off of Varian's head, set it on the table, and help him to his feet. "Are you okay? Anything hurt?"
Varian sighs. "Just my pride."
I giggle a bit and peck his freckled cheek. As Varian blushes, I smile. "Don't worry, I still love you. Thank you for working so hard to help my parents."
"O-Of course." He grins.
:-:-:-:-:
The blinding pink light of the machine illuminates Varian's lab, filling me with both nerves, but also excitement. As the machine whirs to life, lightning flashes around. My parents exchange nervous glances as I strap them into the machine. "Hang tight, guys," I tell them. "We'll have your memories back in no time."
Once they are safely secured, I send a thumbs up to Varian, who is cackling maniacally. Varian suddenly throws his wielding helmet to the ground, still laughing. "Ha-Ruddiger get out of my apron, that tickles!!" He says with annoyance as Ruddiger scampers out of his apron.
I burst out laughing at the scene as I amble back over to join Varian and Rapunzel. With his signature, as I like to call it, 'mad scientist smile', Varian pushes the lever of the machine forward, activating our last hope at returning my parent's memories.
As even more pink lightning flashes around the machine, Rapunzel nervously approaches Varian. "Are you sure this is going to work?" She asks.
Varian grins. "If my new machine works the way I think it should," he chuckles. "And it will, we are moments away from reversing the effects of the Saporian's memory wand."
"It'll work," I assure my sister. "It has to."
Suddenly, the machine begins sputtering, causing pink goo to splatter out of a pipe, coating my parents and Rapunzel in the sticky substance. As the power of the machine dies out, I feel my heart plummet. That was our last chance...now what?
"Where am I?" Dad suddenly asks. "And why am I so...gooey?"
"I'm sorry you guys," Varian says, giving Rapunzel and me an apologetic look. "I was so sure that this was gonna work."
I grab a rag and hand it to my sister so she can begin to clean herself off. "It's okay, Var." I gently say, feeling disappointment overwhelm me. "You did all that you could."
Rapunzel smiles a bit, and I notice an all too familiar creative twinkle in her eye. "Besides, I have another method up my sleeve." She assures, wiping the goo from her face. "Don't get me wrong. The power of science is impressive, but it is nothing compared to the power of love." The princess confidently proclaims.
Out of nowhere, another surge of pink goo shoots from the disconnected tube, covering my sister in another layer of the pink substance. Varian winces in disgust, while I giggle a bit. Ruddiger suddenly scampers over and grabs a pawful of the goo, and begins happily eating it. Intrigued, Rapunzel licks a bit from her finger and grins. "Mmm! Strawberry!"
Varian and I exchange a smile.
:-:-:-:-:
The sun was already sinking into the horizon by the time we got my parents to the palace courtyard. The sky was a beautiful shade of salmon pink, and the creamy clouds danced around the sky, some even forming hearts. It was as though the love in Corona was enough to even influence Mother Nature. The courtyard is dressed to the nines, tents set up all around, all decorated in shades of red and pink. Lace hearts with the Corona sun crest are strung between booths, and people from all over the kingdom stroll around.
"The day of hearts has always been your favorite day of the year because it's the day you professed your love for each other." I happily explain to my parents, leading them through the highly decorated courtyard, covered to the brim in pink and red hearts. "Every year, you would tell me the story of how you fell in love with each other, all while showing me your signatures in Herz Der Sonne's Diary," I say, showing them the podium in the middle of the courtyard where the diary is on display.
"Remember?" Rapunzel asks, standing in between Mom and Dad. The king and queen look at each other and shrug. I nervously look at Rapunzel, feeling my options running out. She nods a bit, and loops her arms through each of our parent's arms, pulling them together. "You guys! It's the day of hearts, not the day aparts!" She jokes, pushing them towards the diary.
I quickly flip through the diary, searching for my parents' names. I smile when I see their familiar handwriting, in delicate swooping cursive, the letters practically dancing with one another. I feel a strange sense of peace when I see their names together; it gives me hope that they can be this close again. "See?" I ask. "Don't you remember the way it felt to sign your names together?"
Mom examines the names as though they're written in a foreign language and not a sacred pact of love.
"Bringing up memories of love, huh? Feelings?" Rapunzel suggests, popping out of nowhere. "Getting that heart pumping? Du dum, du dum, du dum." She begins patting her hand against Dad's chest, imitating the sound of a heart beating.
Dad sets the diary down, staring at her with pure confusion. "I'm sorry dear, what are you doing?"
I quickly walk up to my sister and begin pulling her away from Mom and Dad. "Maybe we should give them some space, Raps?" I interject.
"You're right, you're right, you're right." She agrees, backing away from them. "You should see for yourself. Just let the love wash over you two lovebirds."
As Pascal pulls out a teeny-sized ukulele and begins strumming, Rapunzel nods her head to the rhythm.
Mom suddenly interrupts the tune. "Sorry girls, I just don't remember this."
"Neither do I." Dad agrees.
Rapunzel and I look at each other, worry flooding our faces. I step forward. "But...but you have to remember it! How could you forget such a fundamental part of your love?" I ask.
Rapunzel places a comforting hand on my shoulder, and stares at my parents, her green eyes full of worry. "If you can't remember falling in love, does that mean you're not..."
"(Yn), Rapunzel, we do care about one another," Mom gently takes our hands and leads us a couple of feet away from Dad. "But we are...we're such opposites! I want a life of adventure and excitement, and your father, well..." She gestures to Dad and I sigh.
Dad is showing one of the eggs from his prized egg collection to a very concerned-looking Eugene. I facepalm. In the fifteen years that I've known my father, he has never once expressed any sort of interest in eggs, but the second he loses his memory he starts collecting eggs like a madman. "Get a load of this beauty!" He exclaims, showing a light blue egg to the former thief. "I'm somewhat of a collector."
"Of eggs. I see that." Eugene says with uncertainty.
Dad's eyes light up. "You too?! I know a fellow egghead when I see one!" He exclaims, wrapping his arm around Eugene.
Mom sighs. "If we can't remember why we love each other, maybe we need some time to ourselves to figure it out." She slowly begins walking away, and Rapunzel and I stare at each other with worry.
"Wait...what?" We say in unison. "What does that mean?"
:-:-:-:-:
After Rapunzel manages to round up our team consisting of Lance, Catalina, Angry, Max, Varian, Pascal, and Eugene, we bring them into the castle study to prepare our battle strategy.
I begin pacing back and forth in front of them. "Alright, troops, the very fate of Corona is in danger."
"Pascal will give each of you a copy of my comprehensive plan to save it," Rapunzel informs, holding up her own scroll which contains the plan.
"Operation Royal Romance?" Lance skeptically asks, scanning the scroll in his hands. "Uh, this is about setting your folks up on a date? You said the fate of the kingdom is at stake!"
"Oh, it is at stake." I lowly say, joining Rapunzel at her easel, where her plans were painted out in pastel colors. Rapunzel flips the paper over, revealing a painting of the king and queen in a broken heart. "If the king and queen fall apart, other couples will follow their lead, and soon, all of Corona society will crumble," I explain as my sister flips another page to a painting of a war-torn kingdom, the king and queen in the center of the battle, fighting each other.
"You know what they say...as goes Corona, so goes the world." Rapunzel finishes, flipping the page to a picture of the entire planet blowing up. "Do you want that to happen, Lance?! DO YOU?!" She kicks the easel over, sending the pictures flying.
We turn back to our friends, who are trembling with fear, hiding behind a wooden table. "No! no! No, no, no, I don't want-no!" Lance cries from underneath the table.
Rapunzel smiles. "That's the spirit!!"
"So what's the plan?" Varian asks.
"Well, there's no reason we can't teach these lovebirds to fly again!" She happily replies, before her tone quickly shifts into one of determination. "And nothing is gonna stand in our way!"
:-:-:-:-:
After countless failed attempts at getting my parents back together, we had been whittled down to our final hope: a romantic boat ride on the seas surrounding Corona.
While Rapunzel, Eugene, and Lance took my parents down to the boat, Varian and I wait for them in the study. I stare out the window at the clear night sky, hoping to find some sort of comfort from the stars. Sadly, I do not.
Noticing my worried state, Varian stands up from the couch he was sitting on, sets his book down, and approaches me. "Angel, you've been looking out that window for the past twenty minutes. Why don't you come sit down?" He gently suggests, taking one of my hands and turning my body to face him.
"It's just...what if-"
Varian puts a finger to my lips. "Believe me, (Yn), I know how you feel, but I also know that stressing yourself out over your parents isn't going to make their memories come back any quicker. It's okay to take breaks. A smart person taught me that." He winks at me.
I smile a bit and exhale the breath I've been holding. "Okay."
Varian leads me over to the couch and sits down, his back against the arm of the red piece of furniture. I sit down beside him and position myself so that my head is comfortably lying on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. Varian's arms wrap around me, and he holds me close to his body as he rests his head on top of mine. I softly smile to myself in his arms, feeling nothing but comfort from my boyfriend.
We do not exchange any words as we lie there; no words need to be said.
Varian rubs slow circles on my back and I snuggle into him as he does so. I can't help myself but wonder, how does he always know exactly what I need?
I lift my head ever-so-slightly and look up at my boyfriend. My eyes meet his innocent blue ones. "Thank you, Var. I needed this."
He smiles at me. "You're welcome, Angel."
Moments later, the door to the study bursts open, and Rapunzel rushes into the room, Dad's arm linked around hers. Dad is soaking wet, and violently shivering. Nigel, Lance, Mom, Eugene, and another man who I recognize as King Trevor follow behind them. "Nigel, we need a blanket and a bowl of soup stat." Rapunzel orders.
As she sits Dad down in a plush armchair across from the couch me and Varian are lying on, Eugene and Lance pop up behind our couch, and rest their arms on the back of the piece of furniture. Lance wiggles his eyebrows when he sees us. "Well, well, well...what do we have here?"
Varian and I quickly sit up, our cheeks turning red. "Can it, Lance!" Varian quickly counters, rolling his eyes.
I stand up and leave the two, choosing to go check on Dad. "What happened?" I ask Rapunzel, who is wrapping a blanket around our father.
"Well, things were going great, until King Trevor showed up out of nowhere and knocked Dad in the sea." Rapunzel scoffs.
I groan as I steal a glance at the scrawny blonde king, who is chatting up a storm with Mom. "That guy gives me the creeps," I mumble.
My sister nods in agreement.
"Your soup, your highness." One of the maids, Faith, says, entering the room carrying a tray of chicken noodle soup.
Rapunzel thanks her and brings the soup to Dad. "This will warm you right up, Dad." She says, placing the tray in his lap.
"Oh, thank you." He smiles, still shivering.
Rapunzel and I kneel on either side of the king to keep him company, when our sweet moment is interrupted.
"Oh, how is he?!" King Trevor questions, fake sincerity written all over his face. "Has he improved?!"
I scowl. "He's fine."
"No thanks to you," Rapunzel adds.
King Trevor ignores the comment. "Oh, mournful day! Poor fragile Fredrick has come down with the sniffles!" The scrawny king shoves me to the side and grips Dad's shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "Oh! And see how he shivers!! WHY MUST BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?!? If only my strong, capable arms could have shielded him from the water's chill!"
I roll my eyes as I pick myself off the floor and dust off my (pants/skirt). This guy is more dramatic than Eugene on a bad hair day...
Rapunzel and I exchange a worried glance as King Trevor begins spoon-feeding Dad. "I must compliment you on what you've done with the kingdom," He says to my sister. "It's always been a jewel of a kingdom, but with you in charge, it truly shines."
Rapunzel nervously chuckles. "Ha ha, thanks."
"Alas, I wish I could stay, but I'm taking Trevor Jr. sea serpent watching tomorrow." He says, just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"Sea serpent watching?" Mom suddenly asks, setting down the sword she was fencing with. "Really?" The slightest bit of intrigue fills her eyes.
"Yes." King Trevor nods. "Majestic, beautiful creatures they are." He slowly approaches the queen. "You wouldn't like to join me, would-"
I dart in between the two of them and cut King Trevor off. "Sea serpents? Please...those creatures are mediocre at best." I pretend to be disinterested and notice Mom's excited face slowly fade. I feel a bit guilty, but this is for the good of the kingdom. "They're just giant water lizards. Trust me, I've read dozens of books on mythical creatures and they definitely aren't that exciting."
King Trevor scowls but quickly regains his composure. "Well, all the more reason to go and see them. Those books of yours must be outdated because the sea serpents are anything but 'mediocre.'" He steps around me and offers a hand to my mother. "So, what do you say, your majesty?"
Mom smiles brightly. "I'd love to!" She says without a hint of hesitation.
Rapunzel quickly approaches us. "Um, excuse me, King Trevor? May we speak with you for a moment?"
"In private?" I add.
Rapunzel and I don't wait for a reply as the two of us whisk him away from our mom. We quickly step into the hallway and Rapunzel nods at me once we're alone. I nod in reply and grab one of the many frying pans Rapunzel and Eugene have hidden around the castle for emergencies. Rapunzel takes it, and in one fell swoop, smacks the back of King Trevor's head rendering him unconscious.
Rapunzel holds up her hand and I high-five her, neither one of us looking away from the king.