Chapter Text
Legends were numerous in Corona. Some were very well-known, others were not; some were almost entirely forgotten.
Zhan Tiri's legend was one of the latter.
The blizzard that hit Corona that year was cold and violent, making plenty of victims. Even though the tragedy ended thanks to princess Rapunzel, memories remained, and injuries had yet to heal.
At that time, nobody knew that Zhan Tiri's legend, born from a promise, was then going to create a storm like no other...
Demanitus' machine, using both science and magic, was a powerful weapon against the evil threatening Corona. The energy it created pushed away the violence of the storm to the very borders of the kingdom.
Zhan Tiri fought in vain, overpowered. She had hit Corona while it was at its weakest, taking the form of a blizzard; she had however not planned that after all this time, she would be defeated by the same machine.
The same man.
Pushed away from the castle, from Corona, she realized that she was going to soon disappear from this world. She had waited years for that moment, that chance to come back; and even though patience was one of her qualities, if she lost now, when would be her next chance ?
She would not be defeated this easily.
Gathering her last strengths, she searched for a way to attach herself to that universe. She was growing weaker, and knew that she needed to find an easy prey. A fragile creature, no matter its kind, would be enough to allow her to survive. So she searched for that specific individual, in the small village near her...
And she found him.
Zhan Tiri felt more than saw, in a house isolated from the others, the presence of a young, vulnerable, human.
Reachable.
Her choice was only a matter of seconds -she had neither the time nor the will to search for another host-, and she let the boy's energy guide her to him.
She was already weak when she bonded their two souls together; as a consequence, she didn't see his face or his surroundings as she immediately fell asleep, recovering her energy by draining his.
Varian was kneeling in front of the amber statue, tears flowing down his cheeks. He didn't know for how long he had been there, and he couldn't bring himself to care. No, the only thing he cared about at that moment was the statue in front of him, and his wild emotions that he couldn't begin to comprehend.
Your fault. He's gone, and it's your fault.
Of course, there was guilt. It was normal -he had grown used to it when disappointing his father in the past- that he felt guilty for failing his father one more time.
One last time.
You only bring misery.
He bit back a sob. He had tried so hard to prove that he was not a failure, that he could be better... for what ? He was a mess, a sobbing and grieving child -orphan, but he immediatly tossed the thought away-, and the worst part was that none of that would bring his father back. He didn't know what would.
He didn't know what could.
But in the storm of his sorrow was sleeping deep down something else entirely, something that was quieter and that he could only assume was... anger ? Varian had no idea where it came from, who it was meant to. Himself, surely. But, was it really ?
He rubbed his puffy red eyes but couldn't bring himself to put them to a rest, couldn't look away from the statue. For that reason, he had no idea what time it was, how many days had gone on, or even if the storm had stopped. He remembered feeling, sometime before -when exactly ?-, a sudden shiver as well as a persistent cold, like something was trying to suck the warmth out of him; but it had stopped -or had he simply gotten used to it ? He didn't know, didn't know-; so maybe the storm had stopped as well.
Ruddiger had also come a few moments before. After many vain attempts to soothe his boy and dry his tears, the raccoon had to settle for leaving him apples. The thought of his friend caring for his health would have been enough to make Varian smile, if not for the other, much more unpleasant things going on right now. At least Ruddiger was still by his side, patting softly his lap.
Why was he still here, watching a foolish, useless child cry ? Varian didn't know.
All that Varian knew was that his father was gone -for now, he would bring him back, they would be together again-, and that the person who was to blame was...
Was...
He didn't know.
Zhan Tiri came out of her sleep, her strength having partially returned to her. Her first action was to look around her -him-, gathering informations about her new host.
The first thing she noticed, beside how tight and messy the place actually was, was the huge yellow rock in the middle of the room. Narrowing her eyes, she saw a man in it -she would have been surprised if she hadn't seen or done weirder things by the past-. Assuming he was linked to her host, she looked around and saw the compounds on one of the table.
Oh, great. Another alchemist.
She pieced together the elements, and guessed that these solutions had something to do with the human statue in front of her. Taking notes of this, she decided to focus instead on the boy who was now linked to her destiny.
He was young, not older than fifteen years old, and even though his height was conforting her in her estimation, he seemed oddly thin for a boy his age. He had messy black hair, in which stood out a single blue streak. As for the rest, he had blue eyes -with dark bags under them, she rose an eyebrow-, freckles, and wore warm clothes -definitely to face the storm-.
Zhan Tiri couldn't help but feel like there was something odd about the scene before her eyes. The child truly looked like a mess, so thin and exhausted, as if...
She looked around once more as part of memories came back to her, and realized.
Everything was exactly like when she had first arrived, two days ago.
The kid hadn't moved.
Now, Zhan Tiri couldn't care less about his well-being : humans were pathetic, insignificant beings. If this child had chosen to neglect his basic human needs, then so be it.
But another element had to come into consideration : Zhan Tiri was now connected to him. He was her host, whether he wanted to or not; which meant that if he was to die, then she would cease to exist as well.
For that sole reason, Zhan Tiri gathered her energy and appeared next to him under the form of a little girl -someone innocent and reassuring-. "Hello," she tried to make her voice the sweetest she possibly could.
He was a child all on his own -the statue might have a role to play- crying his eyes out and neglecting his own needs. It wasn't hard to understand that he was most likely quite emotionally unstable.
Good. Broken children were easy preys.
She just had to lie and show some kindness and support so as to gain his trust, and he would be willing to do whatever she'd tell him to in no time.
"Hello." Varian quickly turned to face the unknown voice, startled. Next to him, Ruddiger chittered with concern, visibly confused over his friend's sudden change of behaviour; he soon took off, running away to hide under the desk.
Varian frowned upon seeing the newcomer, before wiping his tears away. A strange girl, entirely blue -if he didn't know any better, he'd assume it was magic- and dressed with nice old clothes was standing right in front of him, hands behind her back, smile at her lips. She was small, and yet Varian couldn't help but feel like underestimating her was a big mistake.
Everything in her gave an odd impression of hiding something much more... ancient. Powerful.
"Who-who are you ? What are you doing he-here ?!" His voice cracked, not only because he was a bit afraid -what even was happening right now ?- but also because of disuse, and speaking burned his sore throat.
The girl's only reaction was to raise her eyebrows while strangely looking at him, and Varian got, through the emotions shutting his reason, the horrible impression that she was... studying him, the state he was in.
"I am a friend, or at least I'd like to be-" Zhan Tiri had most certainly not been expecting him to immediately interrupt her, his confusion replaced with something sharper. "That doesn't answer my question." The boy said, and he had the audacity to look wary.
If Zhan Tiri hadn't so desperately needed to gain the boy's trust, she would have made clear then and there what kind of tone she allowed him to take with her or not. But alas, she had no choice but to 'befriend' him so as to be able to use him later.
What a pity.
Keeping her composure, the demon took on a concerned acting. "I saw you running around during this storm, so I was worried and thought-"
The result was once again immediate: clenching his hands into fists, the boy frowned. "Don't lie to me !" He raised his voice, even though Zhan Tiri wasn't sure whether he had meant to or not. His sudden outburst was however not what actually surprised her.
He had seen through her lie.
Zhan Tiri was a master in that field, having played yet so many fools with her words. In fact, she remembered, there was only one other person who had never fell for her lies.
It just so happened to be another alchemist.
She thought quickly. It was a true surprise, really it was, that such an insignificant child was able to see through her; but it didn't matter. The quick and sharp answers had confirmed her hypothesis of him being unstable; moreover, the boy had not seen through her fake expressions, just the absence of genuineness in her words. The solution was simple then : No more lies.
Half-truths would be hard to go by, but she could deal with it.
"So be it," she sighed. "I just didn't want the truth to scare you." Because she needed his cooperation and trust to achieve her goal. "But I am what you mortals would call a ghost."
This time, he looked at her in disbelief, and the demon knew she had caught him off guard; it however took him little time to put himself together and then open his mouth, ready to contest. To cut him short, Zhan Tiri left the ground and flew around, secretly enjoying the way he looked at her with terror, before she went back to standing.
"I was lured here because of your need for help," her expression grew sympathetic as she outstretched one of her hands in his direction, "and you do strike me as someone who could use some of it."
It took Varian some time to recover from his shock. At first, he had thought that this was impossible : ghosts, like any magical creatures, simply couldn't be real. This had to have a perfectly normal explanation.
But did it really ? Despite his best effort, he couldn't justify what he had just witnessed. There was no way a human being could do that without any scientific equipment.
Then, he thought more about it. The rocks, mysteriously unbreakable... Rapunzel's glowing hair... He had never admitted it out loud, but there was no logical explanation for that as well.
No other than magic.
That was stupid, but there was no other way; especially since that time, he was sure that the girl had told him the truth. So, for the time being, he... accepted to believe that she might possibly be a ghost.
This should have been a clue as to realize that he wasn't in his normal state -on top of the suspiciously nice girl literally breaking into his house, that he hadn't send away yet-; however, Varian was actually unstable mentally and emotionally, and even though he wasn't aware of this fact, she was. The demon's smile grew wider as the boy turned to look at the amber behind him. So desperate. So broken.
Such an easy prey.
Varian looked at her again, and the despair was met with distrust. "What could you possibly want that could justify breaking into my house to offer me 'help' ?"
Oh, alright. The boy had some bite and reason left after all, enough not to fall into her trap immediately. The high suspicion though was unusual -a ghost offering help sounded like a pretty good offer-, and that led Zhan Tiri to guess that he may have some trust issues, left by an event she had yet to learn about.
Her smile did not waver though; she wouldn't give herself away, not for that kind of things.
She didn't answer, and Varian finally stood up from where he was, his tone sharper than he noticed. "Were you really expecting to come here, making me an offer, pretending to be the hero, and that I would just blindly follow ? That I would put all of my trust on one-one person, just because, so I would pay the consequences in the end when it-it backfires ?" Varian missed the way Zhan Tiri slightly frowned at his oddly-too-specific critic. "I don't want your help, I don't need it. I will free my father all by myself, if it's the last thing I ever do. Go away and leave me alone."
He walked past her without giving her one last glance, and Zhan Tiri knew the discussion was over for now; that the boy was convinced to have full control over it.
What a fool.
Although the alchemist may have been wary enough to send her away, he had in no case won this round. Just by looking at him, talking to him and observing his reactions, the boy had -unbeknownst to him- provided Zhan Tiri with many, many informations that she would later be able to use against him. Sure, he would be harder to work with than she had originally thought, but he also had some qualities that she was sure to exploit, for example the anger he wasn't even aware he possessed.
Most of all, the child had just lost his father, who was the man in the amber. He was therefore grieving, but above all, he was missing a protective figure, someone there for him, listening to him and helping him in his time of need.
Someone caring.
"Very well," she said with a sigh, seemingly complying to his desire like a parent would with their child. "But if you at least accept that kind of help... don't forget to eat and sleep. You will need it."
Varian froze before turning to her with an unreadable expression, but the little girl was already gone.
The alchemist remained still a moment, lost in his thoughts, before slowly turning back to the desk in the corner. Hesitantly, he reached out for the apple left there, and took a small bite as his friend raccoon came out of his hiding place; Ruddiger chittered, a bit troubled by what had just happened but overall happy to see his friend finally feeding himself.
Zhan Tiri, though not under her 'physical' form, watched the scene with satisfaction.
Everything was going as planned.
Soon enough, she'll be free. Soon enough, the alchemist would be hers to use. He had no other choice but to come around.
And he would accomplish both of their destinies.