"Angel," Varian's voice enters my ears. I hear how strained it sounds, and I can deduce that he's also in a weakened state from Zhan Tiri possessing the sundrop stone and moonstone opal. "I know you don't feel well, but you can't back down now. Your kingdom needs you." His beautiful and normally smooth voice breaks as he speaks; my heart breaks as I realize he is on the verge of tears.
I nod, knowing he's right. Although it pains every bone in my body to do so, I slowly stand to my feet and wobble a bit, using Varian to steady me, just as he's always done before. Clenching my jaw, I send a glare to Zhan Tiri, daggers in my eyes. "Do you have your alchemy orbs and chemical solutions, Var?" I weakly ask while grabbing my wooden bow.
"You'd better believe it." He gives me a woozy smile but proceeds to pull several multicolored spheres from his pocket and position them between his fingers.
The sky around us glows an ominous red, almost as though nature herself is warning us. A fiery shade of crimson, the sky feels more like a bad omen than anything else. I can only hope that's the only shade of red I'll see today.
Zhan Tiri descends from Rapunzel's bedroom balcony down to the courtyard, knocking stone pillars over and causing the debris to fly toward us. The wind swirls around us and sends a chill up my spine. At least, I like to imagine it's just the wind that's striking such fear into me.
Eugene, mounted on Maximus, turns to face us. "Okay, listen up. I need everyone to get as far away from here as possible." He orders, pulling his sword from its sheath.
"But what about you, son?" King Edmund asks, a worried look on his face.
"I'm going after Rapunzel, you get out of here."
Lance's grip tightens around his sword. "Not alone, you're not. I'm going with you."
I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm not going anywhere, Eugene."
Varian puts a hand on my shoulder. "Me neither. This is our home; I'm going to fight for it."
I look at Varian and smile at him, feeling my heart warm at his words. I could hardly describe how joyous it is to hear him call Corona "our home." I know about a year ago he never would've said that.
Eugene nods, realizing he doesn't want to waste time arguing, and charges forward to the castle. The brave citizens of Corona ready their weapons and dash towards Zhan Tiri, prepared to fight. Before Varian and I join the herd, he takes my hand and stops me in my tracks.
"Angel?"
I turn to face him and take in his expression. Although he looks tired his gaze is fierce. Something I've learned about Varian, however, is that his not his face that conveys his true feelings, but his eyes. Hidden behind his flickering eyes, in the seemingly endless pools of blue, I see the little boy I met when I was only five. Sure he's grown into the confident young adult standing before me, but deep down, the timid little boy who changed my life for the better still lingers. He's scared.
I pull him into a tight hug and don't let go. "I love you," I mumble into the crook of his neck.
He wearily chuckles. "Heh...I was gonna say the same thing." His arms hold me close enough so I can feel his heart beating through his chest. I try to memorize the pattern.
As I listen to his heart, I can't help but think about us. About our trials and tribulations
The tremors finally cease, and I quickly run back into town to find Varian. "Varian?!" I call out. I let out a sigh of relief as I see Cassandra helping Varian out of an iron tube they must've hid in to stay safe. I dart over to Varian and quickly throw my arms around him. "Varian, thank goodness you're alright!!" I exclaim, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck.
He hugs me back, breathing a sigh of relief. "(Yn), I-I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to get caught up in..well...all of this." He mumbles.
"Varian, are you kidding? Sure, the near-death experience was scary, but today was the best day of my life. I've finally been able to experience life outside of the castle, and it was amazing! But the best part about it all was that I got to spend it with you"
We pull out of the hug and Varian looks at me with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Of course! You're my best friend, Var. It'll take a lot more than out of control water machines to scare me off." I say with a smile.
"Thanks (yn). I'm glad you're my friend." Varian gently says.
...
I ran after Varian. I was fully prepared to hike through the snow if it meant helping Varian's dad. Qurin was one of our family's closest friends, and I didn't want to let him get hurt. I expect to see Rapunzel following us, but when I look over my shoulder she was still standing in the doorway. "Varian, it's a state of emergency here. I'm sorry. We, we can't help you! Not right now."
Varian and I stop in our tracks. "No! No, no, no, no!" The boy runs back over to Rapunzel. "Listen to me. My dad doesn't have much time. You two are the only ones who can help."
I walk up to my sister. "We can't just leave him! Varian needs our help! Please!"
"Your Majesty, please." Nigel enters the hall. "Whatever the boy's problem, it must be set aside. The storm's growing stronger by the second. We need you to make a decision!"
Varian's hopeful blue eyes begin to fill with tears. It breaks my heart. After all those years of knowing him, I've never seen him so sad, so broken...so scared. I couldn't stand to see Varian, my best friend, my other half, so upset.
"Please! Princess, you...you promised you'd help me!" Varian grabs Rapunzel's arms. "You promised!"
Pete and Stan suddenly come up from behind, grab hold of Varian, and drag him away. I dart after them. "Hey!! Put him down!!" I ordered. I grab onto the boy's gloved hand. "Varian!!!"
He grips my hand back and I blush ever-so-slightly. "(Yn)!!"
Before I can do anything else, the captain grabs my arms and holds them behind my back. "What are you doing?!? Let go of me!" I try to break out of his grasp, but fail.
Tears fill my eyes as Varian is pulled away. "Please! My dad needs help!" He pleads.
"Don't hurt him!" Rapunzel quickly says.
"Varian!" I call out, still trying to break free.
Varian's blue eyes meet my own. We stare into each other's tear-filled eyes. Varian manages to let out one final plea. "(yn), please..."
The tears finally free themselves as Varian disappears around the corner.
The captain lets go of me and I fall to the floor, sobbing. I cover my face with my hands as big fat tears roll down my cheeks. I hear footsteps walking away, signaling to me that I was alone.
I'm so sorry...
...
The tip of the drill suddenly shatters, and Varian turns off the machine.
I quickly rush over to him to see if he's alright. "Var...?"
The alchemist only stares at the broken drill and doesn't even look at me. Almost like I wasn't even there. "No...no...no...NO!!!" He shouts, shoving the drill to the side. He storms over to his desk and throws his papers and books in the air with one fell swoop of his hand. "THIS IS USELESS!!"
I flinch and back away from the boy, as he continues to break down.
"It's like it no longer holds the sundrops power!" He exclaims, staring at what remained of the precious flower. Varian stares at his desk in silence for a moment, clearly deep in thought. I slowly approach him as he picks up the flower. "The sundrop isn't the flower anymore..." He crushes the flower in his hand and lets the dust of the plant sift through his fingers and onto the table. "...It's Rapunzel."
I gasp and place my hand over my mouth in horror. "No...no...Varian, you don't mean..."
He looks at me and chuckles. "Oh, I do."
I shake my head. "You can drag me into your plans, convince me to steal from the king, but you cannot hurt anyone."
"And why not? This kingdom turned its back on me! Rapunzel turned her back on me!"
"I won't let you do this."
Varian grins. "And just how are you planning on doing that?"
"I'll warn Rapunzel; the royal guard will put a stop to your plans." I soften my tone as I look back at Quirin inside of the amber. "Look, Varian, we'll free your father, but hurting innocent people isn't the way to do it. Try to understand-"
The boy slams his fist on the table and I flinch. "It's you who doesn't understand! If Rapunzel cared about helping my father, she would've done so a long time ago! I'm going through with this plan, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Varian yells.
I cower away from Varian. For the first time in all my years of knowing him, he had scared me. It didn't take some crazy machine he invented to do it as he feared, it only took himself.
That's what scared me more than anything.
I look at Varian with sad eyes. I had finally reached my own breaking point. "Then I guess this is goodbye."
I begin to head to the door as Varian rushes over to me. "Wait! (Yn)!" He gazes at me with his blue eyes, and I could almost see the blue eyes I had come to know and love tucked away and hidden from view. He looked sad...broken...hopeless. "I'm sorry," he whispers.
I gasp as Varian blows a green powder into my face. A wave of drowsiness floods my senses as I inhale the substance. I slowly fall to the ground, feeling my body go limp with exhaustion.
The last thing I see is Varian leaning over top of me, watching as I fall asleep against my own will.
...
I slide into Varian's path and his automaton comes screeching to a stop. "VARIAN, STOP!! THIS ISN'T THE WAY!!" I shout at the top of my lungs, hoping, begging, praying that he could hear me.
Varian's face was filled with the rage of a charging bull. Varian looks at me, then at Rapunzel, and suddenly gasps. "(YN) LOOK OUT!!" The automaton runs forward and shoves me to the side right as a giant black rock pierces through the exact spot I was previously standing.
My heart pounds through my chest as I stare at the rock that was moments away from killing me. I look up at Varian. He saved my life...
...
Varian looks genuinely surprised. "You're worried about me? After everything I did to you? You should hate me."
"I don't hate you! I won't say that I approve of everything you did, and I'm certainly upset that you tried to hurt people, but I don't hate you." I sigh and sit in the seat across from Varian. "Look, after everything we've been through, I know that deep down you never wanted to hurt anyone. Think about the countless hours you've spent trying to help others: trying to bring hot water to your village, helping Rapunzel with her hair, even just being my friend...deep down you have a good heart."
"How do you know that I haven't changed for the worse?" Varian asks, still looking at me confused.
"Because you saved me."
Varian blushes and quickly looks away. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I know that there's still good in you. We can't change the past, but we can still change the future for the better. I don't want to lose my best friend, and deep down, I know that you don't want that either." I take a deep breath and hold my hand out for Varian to shake. "So what do you say? Do you want to try and start again?"
I hold my breath, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
Varian looks at my hand and then up at me. He slowly extends his arm out and shakes my hand. "I-I want to try."
...
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."
...
"Varian! Look at me!" I quickly say. Once the boy turns his face to me I continue. "You can do this! Control your fear!"
Varian takes a breath. "It's not real." He tells himself. "I can do this!" Slowly, the red rocks on his arm begin to recede. "O-Okay..." he glances back at me and his eyes go dark. "(Yn)?"
The red rock is consuming my body at an alarming rate. Everything from my mid torso down is frozen by fear. In my exertions to calm down Varian, I had neglected my own problems. I understood that Varian had to be the one to rescue us all, so I decided to put him first. It's too late for me.
Varian rushes to my side. "(Yn)! (Yn)! We can figure this out okay? Please don't go." Tears fill his eyes as he watches my body become consumed by the red rocks. "I can't do this without you."
I give him the most reassuring smile I can muster as I try to hold back my tears. "Yes, you can. If anyone can do this, it's you. You are so much stronger than you know, Var." The rock crawls to my shoulders and down my arms.
Tears pour from Varian's blue eyes as his hand cups my cheek. "Please Angel...I-I love you."
My heart practically stops. "You...you what?"
Varian wipes the tears from his cheeks. "I love you, (Yn). I always have."
...
The earth comes closer.
The alchemist squeezes my hands and gives me a reassuring smile. "Don't think..." He breathes. "Just keep your eyes on me, okay? You have to trust me."
I bite my lip and nod. Fighting the urge to look down, I keep my golden eyes fixated on Varian and take slow breaths. "I trust you," I whisper.
As the words escape my lips gravity suddenly disintegrates.
We float.
A small grin rests on Varian's lips. "I knew you trusted me."
I chuckle in relief from the near-death experience. "Always."
...
At long last, Varian falls asleep, still holding me. I gently whisper three words to him, so softly that only he could ever hear them. Not because I was embarrassed to say them, but because these three words belong to him.
"I love you."
...
The memories swirl around my head in a whirlwind of emotion, faster than the winds of a hurricane. Joy, sadness, fear, anger...everything has led to this. Every moment with Varian has made us who we are. It hasn't always been easy, but it's made us stronger. We're a force to be reckoned with because we're together.
Win or lose, there's not a soul who I would rather be with.
Suddenly, a surge of energy shoots through me like a lightning bolt as I hold Varian close to me. We take a couple of steps away from each other in surprise. Varian's eyes meet mine and see they're a brighter shade of blue than they've ever been. His hair turns fully blue and begins floating in the air and defying gravity for the power surging through his body. Little cyan particles of light float around his body. He looks ethereal, like a being of another world.
"(Yn)...your powers..." Varian sputters, staring at me in shock.
"Yours too..." I point out. "They're back."
"You." An ominous voice cuts into the air like a sharp knife. Zhan Tiri's glowing eyes land on Varian and I, and our flickering hair. She lets out a roar and storms over to us, thrashing her claw-like hands in our direction. "You're the ones who've been getting in the way of my plans!!"
I shrug. "Sorry, not sorry." I give Varian a smirk, finally feeling my energy restored and my spirits renewed. "You ready?"
He shoots me back a smile. "As I'll ever be."
Zhan Tiri's hand swings toward the two of us like a bear's paw swiping at its prey. Varian nods at me. I quickly leap a dozen feet into the air using my newly charged powers, while Varian uses his moon energy to power up one of his alchemy spheres. Chucking it at Zhan Tiri, it explodes on contact with her skin, covering one of her entire tentacles with magenta goo and trapping it in place. She trips forward and her whole body goes crashing to the stone ground.
"Now that was satisfying," Lance comments.
The force of her fall is enough to send a shock wave across the courtyard. "Eugene!! Go find Rapunzel!!" I cry. "We'll hold her off!"
"Good thinking!" He exclaims, already on the move.
The Coronians rush over to the demon and begin attacking her while she's down, using swords, pitchforks, and other miscellaneous items as weapons. I feel my heart beam with pride from seeing the people of Corona fighting with such bravery and determination.
While Zhan Tiri is down, I quickly rush to one of her wrists and try to seize the moonstone from her. "Var, a little help?!"
He rushes to my aid at light speed and quickly begins attempting to remove the stone. Even with our combined super strength, we're unable to steal it back. "It...won't...budge!!!" He grunts.
A low chuckle escapes Zhan Tiri as she begins to recover from our blow and rise once more. Varian and I go up with her, refusing to let go of the moonstone. I try to ignore the spinning sensation that flows through me from being up so high. "You may be powerful," Zhan Tiri sneers, pulling the two of us off of the moonstone and clutching our bodies in her massive fist. "But you can't beat me. You're young, inexperienced, and foolish." She squeezes her fist, and me and Varian cry out in pain. Using her free hand, she begins making cages made of yellow rocks sprout from the ground like weeds, trapping all of the Coronians. "I've grown tired of this." She flatly speaks.
I don't know how to explain it, but the nonchalance in her voice is petrifying.
Without warning, she grabs Varian with her free hand, separating the two of us. I manage to wiggle one arm from her grip, and I extend it towards my boyfriend. "VARIAN!!!"
"(YN)!!"
As discreetly as I can, I flatten my palm and begin to summon my powers, begging Demanitus to help make this work.
"You two have really been getting on my last nerve." She scowls with the annoyance of a mother trying to calm her rowdy child. "Normally, I'd finish you off right here and now." Her threat stabs into me. "But I think you can still be of use to me."
Varian and I exchange a horrified glance. It doesn't take a genius to know where this is going.
"I love you." I mouth
Right as he mouths my words back to me, Zhan Tiri clenches her fists and begins draining our powers from us. A bloodcurdling scream leaves my lips as I feel my sundrop essence being sucked away from me, leaving me feeling weak and hopeless. The pain throbs through my veins, and it feels unbearable.
I can't let her get away with this.
I can still save Varian.
Using all of the remaining power I feel within me, I channel it all into the palm of my hand. My heartbeat quickens. I bring my free hand into the air and aim it at Zhan Tiri.
"ANGEL, DON'T!!!" Varian screams, desperation in his voice, and tears flowing down his cheeks.
I meet his eyes. Tears well up. Longing glances are exchanged. My throat becomes dry. I know what I have to do.
"Don't forget me."
Stealing one final glance at the boy who is everything to me, I turn to Zhan Tiri, who is painfully oblivious due to all the magic entering her body.
I take a breath, and blast my final amount of power right into Zhan Tiri's eye, temporarily stunning her. She releases both me and Varian in shock, and we begin plummeting towards the ground.
I slowly close my eyes. I know Varian will have enough power left to save himself from the fall. I also know he won't be able to save me in his weakened state.
As gravity sucks me closer and closer to its harsh reality, I've accepted my fate.
And I'm okay with it.
Until I'm stopped in midair.