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Everything was silent. Varian wasn’t sure how long it had been silent, but he hated it. Just a few moments ago there had been yelling, but he wasn’t paying attention. He chose to ignore the screams and didn’t even notice when the screams went away.
Just a few hours before, he had used Ruddiger as a distraction so he could kidnap Eugene. He wasn’t happy about it, but he knew it would get Rapunzel to come to Old Corona. He didn’t think it would go this far.
He took a deep breath and shut his eyes. He thought about how Rapunzel had come alone into his lab. He was prepared for more people to come in, and was pleasantly surprised when he realized she had no backup. He was sure that anyone that tried to come in would get too caught up in his automaton attack outside to be able to.
He had caught her in his raccoon trap and revealed that he had her boyfriend chained to the floor. He explained that she had the Sundrop’s power, and his father was trapped by the rocks. He needed her to shatter the amber. She agreed to help as soon as he had poured part of his solution on a rock near Eugene.
At the time, Varian considered this a victory.
After that, everything was a blur. He had focused on setting up his drill, looking forward to saving his father. He thought about how, after months without his father, they would unite again in just a few moments. Maybe his father would be upset about everything he has done, but he would understand, right?
He was mostly thinking about his father, but he heard parts of Eugene and Rapunzel’s conversation. Eugene was begging Rapunzel not to do it while Rapunzel was saying she had to. Varian didn’t really care what they were saying, though, just as long as Rapunzel freed his dad. He turned the drill on, and that’s when the yelling started.
Rapunzel was yelling in pain. Eugene was yelling at Varian to stop it. The yelling dissolved into background noise as Varian focused on the amber. Why wasn’t it shattering? His father should be free by now, but it wasn’t working. He couldn’t be wrong.
“VARIAN!” Eugene yelled, finally making Varian pay attention to him. Varian whipped his head over and felt like throwing up at what he saw. Rapunzel was curled up on the floor screaming, her hair still in the drill, the drill still grinding into the amber. But seeing Eugene was even worse. He saw the amber growing closer to him as he tried to move away, but he was still chained to the ground.
Varian shook his head and looked back to his dad. I just need to drill it harder, then everything will be okay, he thought. His mind was clouded by thoughts of freeing his dad and he refused to think of anything else. He couldn’t be wrong. This had to work, what else could he do? He tuned out the yelling once again as he pushed the drill into the amber one last time.
After a few minutes, he pulled the drill away with tears in his eyes. He ran up to the amber. “I’m so sorry, Dad,” he sobbed. “I failed you again. ”
That was when he realized the room was silent. He closed his eyes, not wanting to know what happened or why everything had fallen silent. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and turned away from the amber. He saw Rapunzel lying motionless on the floor, her hair spread all around her.
His eyes widened when he saw Eugene a few feet away from her, encased in the amber. He was frozen, reaching out toward Rapunzel, looking scared.
He thought about when he was little, reading Flynn Rider books with his dad and thinking about how he wanted to be just like him. He was so excited the first time he went to the capital and saw Flynn Rider’s wanted posters everywhere, he even grabbed a few and put them near his collection of Flynn Rider books. Then there was the day he saw Flynn Rider himself barge into his lab when he was with the princess. At the time, he was sure that would be the best day of his life. The princess and his hero in the same room at once? He must have been dreaming. That was only 6 months ago, but so much could change in such little time.
And now here he is. He had killed the princess and trapped both his dad and his former hero in this amber. That’s when it hit him. Oh my god, I killed the princess, he thought, panicked. This was the last straw for him, the king would absolutely have his head for this. He barely had his daughter back for a year, and now Varian killed her.
That’s when he realized Rapunzel was still breathing. Varian sighed in relief and ran over to her. He picked up her hand and checked her pulse. Yep, definitely still alive, just unconscious, he assured himself.
He had gone too far. He could have just come back after the storm and asked for Rapunzel’s help again. (Well, or Rapunzel could have come to him, but he wasn’t exactly in a position to point fingers at the moment). He wondered if Rapunzel would ever forgive him, especially now that he had killed her boyfriend. Not killed, he thought. I can still get both him and Dad out.
He looked back over at his dad with tears in his eyes. His dad wouldn’t be proud of him after everything he has done. The whole kingdom hates him, and if his dad is ever freed, he would join them. The tears escaped his eyes as he continued looking at his dad. His only plan to free him had failed, what could he do now?
Suddenly, Rapunzel started moving. “...Eugene?” she mumbled as she woke up. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she started looking around. “Eugene!” she cried out. Her eyes fell on Varian, who was staring at her, crying his eyes out.
“Rapunzel, I-” he stuttered, not exactly knowing what to say. “I’m so so sorry.” He descended into sobs as Rapunzel picked herself up off the ground and walked over to him, her back to Eugene.
“Varian…” she whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head and stepped away from her touch, still sobbing. He didn’t deserve for her to be this nice to him after everything. She hadn’t even seen what he had done to Eugene yet. Rapunzel looked at him, confused. He couldn’t speak through his crying, so he pointed behind her.
She turned around and saw Eugene encased in the amber and gasped. She ran over to him as Varian collapsed on the ground. He was ready for Rapunzel to hate him, to throw him in jail for everything he did, and he would deserve it. She didn’t say anything for a long time, she just stared at the amber.
She took a deep breath and turned back toward Varian, and he braced himself for whatever was about to happen. He knew Rapunzel was forgiving, but he knew he went too far for forgiveness. However, when she turned around with tears streaming down her face, she didn’t yell at him or try to hurt him. Instead, she ran over to him and hugged him. “I’m sorry for not coming when you first told me about your dad. I’m sorry I couldn’t help.” Varian shook his head.
“No, Rapunzel,” Varian responded. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done, and now I can’t even help either of them.”
***
Rapunzel had instantly panicked as soon as she had come into Varian’s lab and he revealed Eugene, chained to the ground. She couldn’t let anything happen to him, so she would have done anything for Varian to free him.
Which is why she thought she was going to explode when Varian poured his solution on a rock near Eugene. She screamed for him to stop and agreed to help free his dad.
“Rapunzel, don’t do this,” Eugene begged as Varian was setting up his drill. “You heard what he said, this could kill you!”
“If I don’t do this, he could kill you,” Rapunzel responded. “And if it works, both you and Quirin will be okay.” She smiled at him, hoping to hide how scared she was, but Eugene saw right through her.
“Blondie, I’ve died for you once, I’m okay with doing it again,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit, but it just made Rapunzel start crying harder. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be okay, but the chains wouldn’t let him get closer to her.
“I’m sorry, Eugene, I can’t let you get hurt.”
“Please, just get yourself out of here,” he begged.
“It’ll all be okay, we can both make it through this."
He sighed. “I love you so much, Sunshine.” He knew she had made up her mind. He didn’t want her to get hurt either, but he couldn’t even save himself at the moment, he had no way to save her.
“I-” Rapunzel started, but was cut off by her own screaming. Varian had started the drill, and her hair started glowing. She grabbed her head, the pain growing. Eugene was yelling to her, but she could barely hear anything. After a while, everything went dark.
When she opened her eyes, the pain was gone, and the yelling was gone. She was thankful for a moment, but then started to realize what that meant. Something had happened. “Eugene?” she called out, looking around. She looked at Varian, who was standing in front of his father, who was still encased in amber. That meant Varian’s plan didn’t work, she thought. Varian had clearly been crying a lot.
Varian apologized through tears. Rapunzel walked over to comfort him, but he wouldn’t let her. Instead, he pointed behind her and she finally saw Eugene. He was trapped in the amber, just like Quirin. She had no way of knowing whether or not he was dead or alive inside the amber, all she knew is he was frozen in time.
Her chest tightened as she realized she was in the same position as she was a year ago. He could be dead and she could do nothing about it, and this time her tears couldn’t do anything.
Immediately, she felt angry. Angry at Varian for trapping her boyfriend like this, and angry at herself for letting it happen. As her anger grew, she stayed silent. Suddenly, she realized that she was feeling the same as Varian felt just a few months ago. The most important person in her life was trapped by these rocks, and she had no way to help him. She would do anything to get him free, just like Varian did. During the storm, Varian had begged her for help and she said no, then never came back for him. She wasn’t sure she could have done anything, but it would have at least shown Varian that she cared about him.
She stood there silently, watching the amber as if something was going to happen. She was still angry at Varian for everything he had done, but she understood why he did it. She didn’t want to push him away again, especially since now they were in the same position. They both needed a way to shatter the amber. She just wished that she could have realized what Varian needed before all of this happened.
Finally, she turned back to Varian and apologized, wrapping him in a hug.
“You don’t have to be sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done, and now I can’t even help either of them,” Varian said.
She sighed. He was right, there was no way to help them. Neither of them had any ideas. “Well, I guess we can just work together to figure out how to get them free,” Rapunzel responded, trying to stay positive. Varian smiled weakly at her.
After a few more minutes, she pulled away from their hug and wiped away the tears that had started to spill. “So, you’ve been researching the rocks, right?” she asked him, hoping he might know something. He nodded and walked over to his desk.
“My dad apparently knew a lot about the rocks,” he said, picking up a book and opening it. “Apparently there’s some kind of counterpart to the Sundrop in another kingdom.”
Rapunzel smiled a bit, feeling hopeful. “So there might be a way to use that counterpart to stop the rocks?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he told her. “I guess it’s the best bet we have right now. The problem is, I don’t know where that kingdom is or what happened to it. And I can’t exactly ask my dad about it,” he added with a small giggle, hoping to lighten the mood. It didn’t work, it just made both of them even sadder.
“So we have to find a lost kingdom that no one knows about to find something that may or may not help us,” she summarized. Varian nodded. Rapunzel sighed, but refused to give up hope. “I guess we better start looking for clues.”
Suddenly, a cluster of rocks sprung up right beside them. Then more rocks formed in a line. Varian gasped and walked closer to them, intrigued. “I think they’re responding to our conversation.”
Rapunzel stepped closer, making sure not to touch it. She figured Varian’s lab had enough explosions as it was. “They’re making a path,” she realized.
“They must be bringing you to that kingdom!” Varian exclaimed, suddenly hopeful. She smiled.
“I guess we’re going on a road trip!” she laughed, grabbing Varian’s hand. “We’re gonna save our kingdom, and we’re gonna save your dad and Eugene.”
Varian beamed at her. This was the best he had felt in months. Finally he was going to help with something right, and his dad was going to be okay.
***
After that, Varian and Rapunzel had gone to tell everyone what happened, and how they were going to fix it. Her parents were scared, but understood that finding this kingdom was the only way. The two of them, along with Cass and Lance, would leave within the next few days, after they gathered the supplies they needed.
But for now, Rapunzel was standing alone in Varian’s lab, staring at the love of her life trapped in this amber. She had been trying so hard to stay strong this whole time, to keep a positive outlook and to stay hopeful. Now here she was, alone with two people trapped in amber that she could only hope would be freed after she went on her journey. She had refused to let herself think about the fact that her Dream could be gone. But now she was alone, and finally let her guard down. She couldn’t be happy or positive knowing he wasn’t okay.
“I’m sorry, Eugene,” she told him through tears. “I told you everything would be okay, but I couldn’t help you.” She sobbed. He had been there for her since the beginning, and he was always willing to sacrifice himself for her.
The things he said the first time they had been in Varian’s lab echoed in her mind. “I am not going anywhere without you. I love you, Rapunzel.” The building was coming down on them and he refused to leave her. Her eyes filled with tears. Now she was going to have to leave him here. She wished for nothing more than for him to be free from the amber so he could come on this trip with her.
She felt a lump in her throat as she continued to talk to him, wondering if he really could hear her. “I’m gonna find a way to free you, I promise, ” she said, falling to her knees on the floor in front of him. She was almost scared to make promises now that she had broken the one she made to Varian, but she knew for a fact she would follow through on this promise. She would stop at nothing to free both him and Quirin.
She was still mad at Varian for what he had done, but she was more mad at herself for not being able to stop it. Her useless hair didn’t even have its healing powers anymore, and it couldn’t save Eugene. She should have done something. She should have told Varian she wouldn’t help him until she knew Eugene was okay. She should have done something else, but she didn’t, and she would be kicking herself forever for that.
She managed to crack a smile and looked up at him. “I’m going to marry you the second you get out of this,” she mused, thinking about when he had proposed to her just 6 months ago. “ I see us raising our children here, and our children's children, and celebrating banquets of our own in this very hall for many, many, many, many, many years to come,” he had said. She wanted that too, she just wasn’t ready for it at the time. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, and she couldn’t imagine a future without him.
With that, she took a breath and turned away to leave. She didn’t know if her heart could manage looking at him any longer. He looked so scared and desperate and there was nothing she could do about it.
As she moved towards the door, she thought about the last moments she had with him, right before Varian had turned the drill on. He had told her he loved her, and she never got to say it back. He never got to hear it from her one last time. She wished she could have said it to him. In their last moments together, they were separated and full of pain. Rapunzel wanted to think back to their last happy memory together, but the past few days had been so full of pain. But the pain was never as bad when he was by her side. Any memory was a happy memory when they were together. She turned back around to look at him one final time, her heart breaking. “Eugene, I...” she stuttered, fighting back tears. “I love you too.”