/you don't have to believe every single thought/ that tumbles through your head/ just 'cause it sounds like you talking/
-turn out the lights, the crane wives
The three of them descended through the trapdoor, and Varian picked up a lantern nearby, revealing some sort of tunnel. Varian began to talk again- Y/n wondered if he was nervous, or if he simply didn't like the silence.
"Now," he began, "if my dad knew I was down here, he'd kill me." As Y/n and Eugene made their way over to him, Varian let out a nervous "heh" and continued talking. "Of course, if he knew what I was actually doing down here, he'd probably be impressed." He paused. "Or at least, I hope he'd be impressed." Y/n felt a twinge of familiarity at his words- at knowing you could try your hardest, and it still might not work, that your parents might still never find it in themselves to be proud. Sometimes, all you can do is tuck away those demons in your head- the self-hatred, the desperation. They're not worth fighting- or so they say. Who are you to think of advice like this? You're certainly not a good example here.
Eugene, Varian and Y/n continued walking through the dark tunnels using the lantern Varian was carrying. Y/n glanced around curiously, but all she could see was stone and support beams.
"These tunnels run through my entire village, which-" Varian held a finger in the air, before continuing to gesture, "make them perfect for my project."
"What project?" asked Y/n.
Suddenly, they came around a bend, where the tunnel opened up into a massive chamber. Occupying the chamber was a massive bronze machine, covered in screws, bolts and dials. The dials all glowed different colors, and pipes the machine's surface, running up to the ceiling of the cavern. Varian smiled proudly in the dim light, holding his lantern aloft. "This project."
Y/n was impressed- very impressed. While she didn't yet know the machine's purpose, it must have taken an extremely long time and immense effort to complete.
Eugene, however, shared no such sentiment. Inconsiderate. He simply raised his eyebrows, and commented "I don't get it."
Varian moved towards a long table that was set up parallel to the machine, standing next to a barrel that held some sort of luminescent red liquid. "Through the miracle of alchemy- not magic," he began, continuing to move until he stood next to a beaker holding a glowing green compound, "I have found a way to heat this entire tank of water with a single drop of my newest, yet-to-be-named compound," he picked up the beaker before continuing, holding it reverently, "which I'll call Flynnoleum!" He exclaimed the last part of this sentence proudly, holding the beaker above his head and looking at his audience of two, awaiting their reactions.
Y/n let out an impressed whistle and slowly clapped her hands together, but Eugene still seemed confused. "I still don't get it."
Varian was unfazed and set down his beaker, spreading his arms wide. "I'm going to surprise my village by bringing the people hot, running water!" he exclaimed.
"That's amazing!" said Y/n, taking a step closer to the machine and examining it. Varian beamed at her before continuing. "I've constructed five of these babies all throughout the caverns." The machine let out a shriek as steam spouted from the pipes.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." said Eugene. "These, these tremors... your machines are causing them?"
"No, no, no." said Varian smugly, putting a hand on his chest. "My machines are not causing them," he continued, picking up a pipette from the beaker, "the chemical reactions they trigger do." He used the pipette and dropped the smallest bit of Flynnoleum into the barrel, triggering a fiery explosion that nearly reached the roof of the cave, blowing his hair back.
"And no one else knows you're doing this?" asked Eugene incredulously, walking over to Varian. Oh, boy. Here we go. "Listen, kiddo, I'm no expert in..." he looked up at the machine, then back at Varian, "whatever this is, but anything that can cause earthquakes, cannot be safe." Eugene pointed at the machine. "We've gotta warn people about this!"
Varian looked dismayed, and started gesturing with his hands again. "No! We can't, okay? You gave me your word that you'd keep this a secret."
Y/n looked at Eugene, and tried putting on her best "innocent younger sister" face. "Eugene, I agree. It's not a problem- no one's gotten hurt yet, after all."
Varian gave her an expression of thanks before he started talking again. "Besides, I am an expert, and this is all perfectly safe."
Suddenly, a nail came loose and shot out from the side of the machine, skimming Y/n's hair and nearly hitting Eugene and Varian.
"Yeah, it, uh..." Varian smiled at them nervously. "It does that all the time."
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
"Team Awesome is ba-ack~!" exclaimed Varian, spectrometric press in his hands as he, Eugene and Y/n came back into the house.
Varian leapt up onto the wooden platform next to Rapunzel. "Now, Rapunzel, I know my tests have been a pain in the hm-hm."
"Aw, I wouldn't say pain!" said Rapunzel graciously.
All of a sudden, electricity burst from metal devices on the machine, electrifying Rapunzel's hair. "Okay... now I would."
"In a moment, this little guy-" Varian patted the side of the press, before giving it a kick- "will give us all the answers we want."
"Woo-hoo!" cried Rapunzel. "Answers!"
"So, Eugene," said Cassandra smugly, crossing the room and circling him, "got yourself a secret, huh?"
"If you want to call it that," said Eugene, "the kid- the new one, that is- has-" he stopped himself abruptly and spun to look at her. "Uh-uh! Nice try, Cass."
Y/n had been standing by Varian, trying to help him set up the press, when the room began to shake again. A raccoon fell out of the ceiling and scampered away. "Look, Raps." Eugene looked at her sister worriedly. "I think it's time to go. Now."
"Now?" asked Rapunzel incredulously. "You're kidding, right? This is almost finished!" Varian's machine let out another "ding", announcing that there were eight tests left.
Y/n and Varian were both kneeling next to the press, and Varian was showing her how he was connecting it to the other machine. Y/n was intrigued, and had just opened her mouth to ask a question when Eugene approached the two of them. "Can we talk?"
Varian laughed as the two of them stood up. "Of course! That's what Team Awesome does- woah!" In a brief moment, Eugene grabbed both of them by their shoulders and pulled them outside.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
"Kids, those things down there are dangerous!" said Eugene sternly, pointing his finger in their faces. Y/n wasn't quite sure why she was being roped into this discussion, but it was certainly more interesting than being stuck with her sister.
"Dangerous?" Varian said. "No, they're not dangerous, I- I have adjusted my calculations for every possible outcome!" Eugene put a hand on his face in exasperation and started walking away as Varian continued. "I- the margin of error is less than .56 percent." He paused, putting his hand to his chin. "Or... now, wait, or was it .57..."
"I don't know!" exclaimed Eugene, who got down on his knee, getting to Varian and Y/n's eye level. "Look, Varian. I think you're a good kid, a-a-smart kid, and you've got great intentions." he turned to Y/n. "And I know this is interesting for you, and you don't see the danger." Y/n bristled. She could see plenty of danger- she was sick of being treated like a naive little kid by all of these people. Still, Eugene didn't seem to notice this, and just kept talking. "But I'm asking you, pleading with you... for the love of my life," he nodded at Y/n, "your sister," he turned back to Varian, "and your entire village, to please shut off those machines until a seisma-quake-otologist can come and inspect them!"
Y/n knew she couldn't show any anger on her face without causing any problems, but it was growing harder by the minute. She was sick of people wanting her to do things for her sister- of assuming that she owed Rapunzel anything. Still, she knew how much the approval of Eugene meant to Varian- misguided as it may be. She turned to him now, and his expression was dismayed- yet Y/n knew that Eugene was close to getting through to him.
"Please." said Eugene, looking in both of their eyes. "Do it for Team Awesome?"
The ground shook again, and both Varian and Y/n stumbled, losing their balance. Varian's flailing arms brushed Y/n's for a moment, and it took every ounce of self-restraint she had to keep her face neutral. When the ground had settled again, Varian began to walk towards the house with the trapdoor. "I suppose I can turn them... down a bit," he said as he ran in the direction of the house, then stopped and turned around. "Y/n? Are you coming?"
Y/n allowed herself a small smile, and ran after him.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
A few minutes later, the two of them had reached the main cavern. Varian had been muttering to himself the entire way, filling the silence- Y/n was beginning to see a pattern. The machine was rumbling and screeching furiously, steam bursting out the sides, pipes rattling the ceiling. Varian ran ahead and tapped on one of its many dials.
"Okaaay, Varian." he mumbled. "I guess it was .57." Varian let out a nervous chuckle.
Y/n looked at him with determination. "What can I do?"
Varian took a minute and explained which bolts needed to be tightened, and what valves to release the compound from, before tossing her a wrench and running towards one of the pipes. Y/n ran in another direction, but she had barely made it a few steps before she heard glass shattering. Well, that doesn't bode well. "Oh, no..." said Varian, looking at her with dismay. "The Flynnoleum!"
"Oh, no..." said Y/n nervously, seeing the green liquid split on the ground. The compound couldn't come into contact with whatever that red one was- if a single drop had caused such a massive explosion earlier, she didn't want to know what a beaker's worth could do. Y/n's eyes locked on the base of the machine- red liquid was slowly seeping out the bottom. They couldn't let the Flynnoleum reach it.
Y/n dropped her wrench and grabbed a nearby towel for herself, not having protective gloves like Varian did. "We have to clean it up!" she cried, frantically trying to scrub away the glowing green liquid. Varian did the same with his gloves, but neither of them were achieving any results, and the Flynnoleum still inched steadily closer.
As Y/n frantically scrubbed, she was drawn to a glint of green in the corner of her eye. A small vial of Flynnoleum was rolling on the floor, shaking from the tremors in the cavern.
Huh... this could be useful. Y/n dropped the towel and picked up the glowing vial, tucking it securely into one of the pockets of her pant leg.
Y/n picked up her towel again and tried pushing the liquid around, splashing it, anything she could think of, but there was just too much- the Flynnoleum just kept spreading.
Varian gasped at the proximity of the two liquids, and stood up, his expression panicked. He grabbed Y/n's hand, and pulled her behind him as they both raced out of the cavern.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
The two of them ran, the ground beneath them erupting in flames as they did so. Random explosions littered the street, and while Y/n had no idea where exactly the fire would catch next, she refused to give up on Varian. If he was determined to shut these machines off, then so was she. After all, Y/n didn't have much she cared about these days- so if Varian did, she was certainly going to help him with it.
Y/n looked up at Varian's house just in time to see a large portion of it collapse. She didn't mention it- Varian would find out eventually, and she was more focused on not losing him in the debris. Suddenly, Y/n saw a shape moving towards them in the clouds of dust. Cassandra. Y/n shook this off and kept running- maybe they could reach the machines before Cass reached them.
However, the two of them barely made it a few more feet before Cass grabbed their arms, trying to pull them back. "Listen, kids, we've got to get out of here!"
"No!" Cried Varian. "No, no, we've got three more pumps to shut off," he stopped pulling away for a moment, catching his breath, before trying again to yank his arm away from Cassandra, "and I can't let this- happen- again!"
With one last tug, he had freed his arm from Cassandra's grip, sending her flying backwards and making her let go of Y/n. However, a second later, an explosion rocked a nearby building and sent a metal pipe flying in their direction.
Thinking on the spot, Y/n grabbed Varian's hand and pulled him close to her, internally pleading for her life as she squeezed her eyes shut.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
Thankfully, Y/n's risky move had paid off- with a loud crash, the pipe landed perfectly around her and Varian. Both of them caught their breath in the semidarkness, just grateful to be alive. It took a moment before Y/n realized just how close the two of them were, and she silently thanked the shadow for making it dark enough to hide her face.
"We're alive!" exclaimed Varian in disbelief, laughing. While Y/n could barely see him, his voice echoed inside the pipe, and Y/n started laughing as well, until the two of them had dissolved into laughter in the darkness.
When the two of them had recovered from their initial shock, Y/n pulled herself out from inside the pipe with her arms, resting her upper body on the rim, then turned around to lift Varian up as well.
"Thank you," he said with an exhale, "milady." Y/n scoffed humorously, grinning at him, but her face fell when she saw her three companions all reuniting with each other- none of them even seemed to notice that she wasn't there. Rapunzel and Eugene were sitting in the rubble of Varian's lab, and based on the patterns in the stone, it looked like they must have been protected by her... hair?
Of course. Because everything circles back to Rapunzel and her magical hair.
"Varian!" Y/n heard a deep voice cry out. She glanced over and saw a large man with brown hair, wearing a red shirt, calling out Varian's name and searching through the rubble. "Varian!"
"Quirin!" exclaimed one of the townspeople. "Thank goodness you're here!" Quirin, huh?
"Uh-oh." said Varian, his face falling just as hers had a moment ago. "It's my dad."
The two of them climbed out of the pipe. Barely a second after they hit the ground, the man- Quirin- had rushed over to Varian, putting his hands on his shoulders.
It took Y/n a moment to see the resemblance- where Quirin was bulky and built like a bear, Varian was smaller and leaner, with darker hair and wider eyes. Still, there was no mistaking the tone in his father's voice.
"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked, putting a hand on Varian's hair and looking at him with worry.
Varian looked down, like he couldn't bear to meet his father's eyes. "Dad, I'm... I'm sorry."
Quirin shook his head, seemingly coming to the realization that Varian had, somehow, caused all this. "Not again, Varian..." he closed his eyes, not looking at his son.
"But- Dad..." said Varian sadly, his voice trailing off as Quirin stood up and turned away from him. Varian lowered his head in shame, and Y/n put her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a gesture of support- she wasn't very good at this. This isn't fair. He doesn't have to believe everything his mind is telling him right now- even if it sounds like him talking.
"Is everybody okay?" asked Quirin, addressing the crowd.
"Quirin, what do we do?" Everyone in the crowd began talking, muttering amongst themselves like a nervous flock of birds. "It was terrible!"
"Varian, I..." Y/n began, trying to think of something to say- but it seemed like Varian didn't even hear her as he sank to his knees in the rubble.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
Rapunzel and Eugene had decided that the group should head back to the castle. While Y/n didn't love the idea of those two deciding everything for them, she also thought it was best to give Varian space after everything that had happened.
Rapunzel had freed their horses from the same alchemical solution that she, Cass and Y/n had been trapped in using a compound from Varian's lab, and Y/n mounted hers while Eugene and Rapunzel talked.
"I'm sorry you didn't get those test results, Blondie." Eugene was saying.
Rapunzel caved instantly. "I should never have kept a secret from you! From now on, no more secrets. Ever."
Eugene raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Well, what about Cassandra?"
Rapunzel looked back at Cass, who was tending to her own horse. "That's... between her and me."
She sighed. "Okay, fine. The truth?" Rapunzel paused, and Y/n made an extra effort to make herself fade into the background. They barely ever noticed she was there anyway, and if Rapunzel wouldn't tell her anything outright, Y/n would just have to use her own power- eavesdropping. Er- that is, subtle listening.
"You know how I said I just... woke up with my hair long?" said her sister nervously. "Well, I didn't."
"The night before, Cass kinda helped me break out of Corona." That's right- Rapunzel had been confined to Corona's walls under martial law.
"Oh, I knew it!" exclaimed Eugene victoriously, and laughed. "Oh, she's gonna get in so much trouble!"
Y/n was making a point not to look in their direction, but she could practically sense the expression on Rapunzel's face, and Eugene corrected himself. "That is, of course, if anyone were to find out- which they won't, because this guy-" Y/n heard a saddle clink, and guessed that he had helped Rapunzel up- "is a vault."
Y/n's expression went to one of suppressed disgust as Eugene climbed on the saddle behind her sister, and the two of them began riding. Y/n slowly urged her horse forward, keeping close enough behind the two that she could continue listening in on Rapunzel's words.
"You should have seen it, it was a crazy night!" her sister was exclaiming. "She showed me these black rocks, and I know it sounds so weird, but I think they're what made my hair grow back!"
Rocks? Y/n wasn't quite following. Her horse softly sidestepped another one of Varian's traps, and a raccoon that was caught in it.
"Hey, after today?" Eugene said, "Nothing sounds weird."
"And then, when I touched the rocks?" said Rapunzel. "They started chasing us."
"Rocks chasing you?" asked Eugene. "Now we're back to weird."
Cassandra's horse passed Y/n, seemingly not even noticing them. Why did I expect anything less? She tries to save me when she has to, and is just going to pretend like I'm not here as soon as her "hero moment" is done.
Rapunzel scoffed. "Yeah, well, Max was there, and once we got far enough away from them... they stopped growing."
The two of them went quiet, and Y/n's horse fell into a steady gait as she reflected on what she had just learned.
The changes in Rapunzel's hair were caused by some sort of black rock, and whatever it was, it could move, and had a connection to her sister. Of course it did. Didn't everything? Y/n sighed. Whether or not thoughts like these were correct was an issue for another day- but what answers would she find from restating these facts in her head? What good had ever come of it before? I know you can't stop thinking these things, but dwelling on it won't get you your throne back. That... that is definitely an issue for another day.
She reached down to the pocket of her pant leg and felt around, pulling out the vial of Flynnoleum and holding it up to the sunlight. She wasn't quite sure why she had taken the compound... but she had no intention of getting rid of it now. Y/n pocketed it again, making sure it was secure- she could put it in her room when she got back.
More importantly, however... What was wrong with her back there? Y/n was always calm and collected, and she took pride in having complete control of her emotions- but around Varian, all of that just... flew out the window. She had repeatedly caught herself smiling, laughing, blushing... it was unlike her.
And yet, Y/n couldn't quite deny the rosy feeling she got whenever she thought of his voice, or his face, or the pure joy in his face when she had complimented him. But more than any of that, one thing both confused and excited her- the fact that, for the first time since Rapunzel had come home...
Heck, for even longer than that...
She had felt happy.
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
thank you all for reading! episode one is finally over. just a quick note- this fic is mostly taking place in episodes where varian appears, and we're skimming over some other parts. so, with that in mind... who's ready for the expo?
-leviathan and yuki