Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hector leaned against a branch, he began sharpening his knife. One of his bearcats, Nira went up to him and growled.
“Intruders?” He asked. The bearcat growled in reply. He rode his rhino, Talia, up to a hill. His two bearcats, Nira and Nyx followed him. He spotted a colorful caravan, he growled. It was his job to protect the Great Tree, he guessed this caravan was one of Adira’s ideas of how to ‘save’ the dark kingdom, but King Edmund last orders were clear, none shall enter the dark kingdom. And to do anything other than that was treason. And he looked at Nira remembering the last time someone tried to pass through the Great Tree. Talia bellowed. The group of the caravan looked up at him. Talia roared and began to charge as the caravan tried to escape, trees rustled as Talia ran right through them. Talia knocked into the side of the caravan and one of the people in it almost fell out. They were approaching a mountain with a two paths. The caravan split in halve, one taking the higher path and the other taking the lower. Hector followed the one in the lower path, he sent Nira and Nyx after the other one. Nyx began attacking the person on top of the higher caravan. Nira threw a small old man off the caravan, who fell on top of Nyx yelling 
“Giddy- up!”
Hector attached a chain to his caravan and began walking across. A girl with short hair threw a box at him, which he just cut in half.
“None shall enter the Dark Kingdom.” Hector said.
“This brings back memories!” The short one riding Nyx said. Nira shoved a stick inside one of the front wheels, causing the Caravan to fall off a ledge falling on top of the other half of the caravan, the caravan reconnected. Adira came in cutting the chain connecting Talia and the caravan. Hector leaped on top of the caravan.
“Adira.” The short haired one said bitterly.
“I see you’ve gotten yourself into another situation which I must rescue you.” Adira said climbing on top of the caravan. Adira and Hector fought, the clashed their swords.
“Adira? Yo. How’s my hair?” One of the people in the caravan asked. As they went back on top of the caravan Adira kicked Hector where he landed on top of Talia.
“You can’t protect them, Adira!” Hector said.
“You know this guy?” Short hair asked. “What does he want?” Another girl asked. Talia nudged into the caravan once more.
“Guys, don’t mean to be a backseat driver, but we’re gonna run off the cliff!”
He saw the caravan go over the cliff. He looked over the cliff and saw the caravan in the river.

Hector, Nira, and Nyx climbed down the mountain and approached the caravan. Hector snapped his fingers and Nira and Nyx searched the caravan, Hector peered inside, it was somewhat flooded and Nyx was holding torn piece of white fabric in her mouth. The caravan was empty.
“Look like our job isn’t done yet.” He kicked the caravan down the river. Nira and Nyx jumped off, he looked towards the Great Tree. 

Hector went into the tree. He climbed up to the halfway point, he began to continue climbing but then he heard a voice singing:
“Guess we all are born with parts to play
Some of us are stars, and some are just in the way
I know I was meant for glory
But that's never what my story brings
And yet I keep on waiting
When you have the passion and the drive
You expect your moment center stage to arrive
I show up with heart a blazing
Ready to achieve amazing things
But I'm left waiting in the wings
I hear my cue
And yet I'm kept there, waiting
Know what to do
And still I stand there, waiting
It's always someone else who sings
While I'm left waiting in the wings
And so I keep on keeping on
My chances come and then I blink and they're gone
Always overlooked unfairly
While pretending that it barely stings
But it stings, yes it stings
And I'll shed no tears
I'll only keep on waiting
If no one cheers
Well, I can keep on waiting
Who cares how loud
The silence rings
You'll find me waiting in the wings.”
He saw her slump down against one of the trunks. He sent Nira and Nyx, they growled at her. He grabbed her by the neck.
“You guys couldn’t take a hint? Now I got to finish you.”
“Let her go, Hector.” Adira said. He turned around.
“Heh.” He threw short hair to the side.
“Adira!” The one with long hair shouted.
“And just so we won’t be interrupted.” Hector cut down one of the trees separating Him and Adira from the people. Adira scowled, the bearcats climbed over the trunk. Hector charged at Adira. She dodged his sword they clashed.
“It’s sad to see the once mighty Adira waste her life on a fool’s dream.” He sneered.
“Talk about wasting lives…” Adira said before kicking him away. “You and the brothers spent your lives hiding something No one was even looking for.”
“The moon stone has the power to destroy the world. Keeping its existence secret was the king’s wish. And to do anything otherwise is treason!” He charged at her again. She knocked him to the ground.
“I’ve seen the sun drop’s power firsthand, Hector. And so will you when we return to the Dark Kingdom.” She said holding out her hand.
“That’ll never happen.” He said flipping her over and knocking her into a nearby tree.
“I’m sorry it came to this, sister.” He said in a low voice. He jumped on top of the trunk. “And now… for the so-called sun drop.” He held his sword up. “Leave her alone Short hair said holding her sword.
“Brave child.” Hector said. “Stupid but brave.”
“You want the sundrop? You gotta go through me first.”
“‘Kay.” He said. She charged at him but he knocked her down.
“You want to try that again? We’ll come on.” 
She grunted and tried to reach for her sword.
“Tell me, lady-in-waiting…”he stepped on her hand. “What are you waiting for?”
“Funny you should ask.” She said. She pushed him off the ledge. He yelled. 
“Cassandra!” Rapunzel called out as Nira and Nyx tried to push Cassandra off. She leaped out of the way. The two bearcats fell. 
As Hector fell all the vines broke. He reached the ground and grunted in pain. He looked up.
“The heart of Zhan Tori’s Tree.” He winced as he stood up.
“Hector.” A voice called out. He turned his head.

”Hector.” The voice called again.”Hector, take the spear out of the tree. You king told you to not let anyone past through the tree. You wouldn’t want to be charged for treason again, Hm? And it was your kings dying wish, you brother’s dying wish. You know what you must do take the spear out of the heart. For your kingdom, for your king, for your brother.”

“Forgive me for unleashing the evil that sleeps within.” Hector said raising the spear. “For King Edmund!”

Chapter Text

Glowing lime green vines shot out of the heart. Hector tried to stab the spear at them but there was too many. “Hector, relax let the tree take control.” The voice said.

“I don’t want to be controlled!” Be shot back the voice. The vines surrounded him. He gasped as his eyes turned a glowing pale green and he lost consciousness.

the ground rumbled, Rapunzel looked over the edge of the pit. 

“You hear that?”

”Yeah, in my experience growing rumbles never lead to good things.” Eugene said. The vines raised over the pit.

”All who enter the Great Tree of Zhan Tiri shall be destroyed!” Hector and the voice said at the same time.

”The tree! -- it's alive!” Rapunzel shouted.

”Do you remember when being chased by a rhino was the weirdest thing we had to do this weekend?” Eugene asked. The group tried to fight against the vines. A vine nearly grabs Cassandra and Rapunzel pulls her out of the way.

“Cass! Watch out! Gotta watch that flank.”

” Cassandra.” Hook foot says [Gets grabbed by a vine]”woaahh! Ahhh!”

”Hook!”

the group was grabbed by vines and Rapunzel was pushed against a a stump. they try to fight off the vines, Rapunzel wraps her hair against the vines. Eugene gets grabbed by vines.

”Raps wait, you can’t do that incantation again.” Cassandra says. She notices the spear.

”I don’t have a choice Cass.”

”Please Raps, that spear can kill it. Let me try to grab it. Trust me.”(grunting in effort)

Eugene screams

”Eugene! --I have to do this.”

“NO!” Cassandra yells.

”Wither and decay. End this Destiny. Break these earthly chains. And set the spirit free. Wither and decay. End this Destiny. Break these earthly chains. And set the spirit free. Wither and decay-“ the vines begin to loosen and drop.

”Rapunzel!” Eugene calls out.

”End this Destiny. Break these earthly chains- Lance go!”

“But princess.” Lance says.

”NOW! I got this Cass. Go.” Lance carried Eugene out of the tree.

”You heard her, let’s go.” Adira says.

”No I’m not leaving her. Raps, please let go.” Cassandra says.

”Break these earthly chains. I can’t. And set the spirit free.”

”What are you waiting for!” Cassandra asks.

”I can’t… control it.” Rapunzel says, Cass touches Rapunzel’s shoulder.

“Augh. Ahhhh!” Cassandra screams as her hand is burned.

”Cass! No!” the incantation stops.

” I could have stopped it, you should have let me try.”

“Listen. Your friend is right, Adira is lying to you. She- She may have you think she's helping you find your destiny but if you go to the Dark Kingdom, you’re doomed.” Hector says the vines crumbled and he falls “Ahhhh!”

”Rapunzel stay on the path. All our destinies lie within you. “ Adira says as she jumps into pit after Hector.

”Adira!” Rapunzel yells. Rapunzel takes Cass out of the tree as everything crumbles. Cass groans. The tree sinks down. Rapunzel sees Adira pushing a piece of rubble off herself and Hector. Nira and Nyx drag Hector away, Adira follows. “Oh Cass, your hand, are you okay?”

” Yes I’m fine.”

”Are you Sur-“

“I said I’m Fine.” Cassandra said.

“But you’re hurt.”

“I know and it won’t happen again.”

“So… What now.” Eugene asked.

“It’s your call Raps.” Cass says

“This path has been laid out for me, there’s no turning back. I am going to the Dark Kingdom.” Rapunzel looks at a black rock in the ground.

A green spirit flew out of the tree smirking cruelly.
“Guess who’s back my flower.”

Chapter Text

Adira followed the bearcats to a clearing. The sun was setting, so she started a fire. She looked over to Hector, he was still unconscious. His bearcats stood over him protectively. She could swear they were glaring at her. She stared a the fire, she remembered when Hector had gotten his bearcats.

 She and Hector were walking through the kingdom they had just finished training and were allowed to leave the castle, they heard shouting and went over, four teenagers were laughing, yelling and tormenting two small bearcats. Hector of course got mad, he loved animals and hated seeing them hurt.

‘Hey leave them alone!’ He shouted at the boys.

‘Oh what are you going to do Mutt!” One of them jeered. Hector growled he hated being called anything like beast, mutt, demon and such. The fourteen year old charged at the older teenagers. They pushed him to the ground he glared at them but before he could attack again Adira spoke up
‘I suggest you leave those bearcats alone or you’ll have to deal with me.’ 
The boys looked at each other and then ran away. Adira was a respected member of the brotherhood the boys didn’t want to fight her.
‘Dira! I can handle myself!’
‘You’re welcome.’ She said rolling her eyes.
‘Whatever.’ He said. He spoke two the young bearcats.
‘It’s okay, I wouldn’t hurt you guys, you’re safe me and Dira will protect you.’ He stroked their fur. ‘I know what you’re going through, I went through something similar, but I’ll help you like how Dira, Quiri and Eddie helped me.’
One of them licked his face, he smiled.
‘I’m naming you Nira, cause it rhymes with Dira my sister’s name, and your brother, we’ll name him Saros, after the king because him and Edmund helped me a lot and King Saros was like a father to me way better than my real father.’

Adira rode Hector’s rhino up to a hill, it had been about a month since they left the Great tree. Hector was still unconscious and she was starting to worry his animals were clearly anxious. She knew he was still alive because he was still breathing. She saw the dark kingdom.

”Home sweet home.” She said in monotone voice. The dark kingdom looked even worse than when they left it there were more black rocks. She spotted a gondola, she had to leave his rhino behind because she was too big for the rickety gondola. She traveled through the city, sh noticed houses completely destroyed by black rocks, she noticed all the old places she used to hang out in, in rubbles. She headed to the castle, she looked up and saw something fall to the ground, the ‘thing’ stood up. It was just Hamuel, Edmund’s raven. Hamuel looked at her and walked into the wall several times. She went through the entrance when she entered the throne room Edmund attacked her. She put Hector down and fought back.

”Adira? What are you doing here?” Edmund asked lowering his axe. Adira lowered her sword.

”I thought my orders were clear, no one enters the Dark Kingdom and you were not to come back.”

”My King the sun drop can neutralize the moon stone.”

”Adira the moon stone is too dangerous that is why you shouldn’t have come back. And where is the sun drop?” Edmund said.

“She and her friends are coming here.”

”No one is allowed to enter the Dark Kingdom! Why did you come here?!” Edmund said. “You were a fool for coming back.” He raised his axe.

”Hector is injured!” Adira called out. He lowered his axe. He looked over to where Hector was lying. He went up to Hector, for a second she thought he was going to hurt him but the King threw Hector over his shoulder and carried him to the old infirmary. He placed Hector on the infirmary’s bed.

”How did he get hurt.”

Adira told him all about her leading Rapunzel to the Great Tree and the events that happened. 

Chapter Text

Adira stared at Hector remembering the first time she met him.

Eighteen year old Adira knew prince Edmund and Quirin were hiding something. One day while they were at training she decided to do some snooping. She sneaked into the nineteen year old prince’s room. She had her sword out, she had no idea what to expect with those two boys. She saw on the bed was a boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen, he was really skinny and was wearing some of Quirin’s old clothes which were clearly too big for him. He was injured and his wounds were wrapped badly. The most noticeable thing was he has a scar on his nose which had reopened. She took a step closer and the floor made a creek she mentally cursed at it. The boy sat up looking at her alarmed, his yellow eyes stared at her he barred his teeth threateningly. He was scared of her. She lowered her sword and spoke in her most calmly voice.

”Shh, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you. Look Im not hurting you. Look I’m putting my sword down. See? It’s alright, okay?” 
He still stared at her but he tilted his head slightly. 
“What’s your name.” she asked. He still said nothing.

”My name is Adira.” She offered.

”Dira?” He asked in a quiet raspy voice that was clear to see he didn’t use much.

”Yeah ‘Dira works too.” She said with a soft smile.

”He still won’t wake?”

”No.”

“What happened he would never leave the tree.”

”Some intruders came into the tree he fed into the temptations of the tree and pulled the heart out I fear he released some demons.”

”then he won’t wake for a while.” The two of them left.

Hector was back in his childhood home.

”Hector I have an offer to make you.” Said the same voice as he heard in the tree. The voice changed and he saw a small ghost girl. “You miss her don’t you?”

”Leave me demon!” He snarled at her.

”Now, now.” She said with a mix of pity and how you would treat a dog you were trying to tame. “Didn’t your father teach you better?”

She smirked knowing that hit him. He let out a low growl, eyeing her carefully.

”I said leave demon!” He growled.

”Tsk, tsk Mutt. You shouldn’t yell like that. And if anyone is a demon it’s you Mutt.” She said. “But yes I will leave if you’re so insistent. But don’t you want to here my offer, I think you’ll really like it.”

”No. I. Said. Leave Me Demon!” 
“Tsk, alright but I’ll give you a gift anyway.”

He was still in his old home he noticed someone sitting on the chair in th e room. She had pale blonde hair and light blue eyes her beauty was like that of the moons.

He saw a six year old version of himself run into the room. He has scrapes on his hands and knees and was crying.

”Mami! I fell down! My hands hurt!”

”Oh my poor baby.” She said in a kind voice.

”Mami can you heal it?” The little version of him asked

”Yes my little Moondrop.” She said kissing his forehead. His younger self giggled. She placed her hands on the little him’s. She began to sing a song that she always sang to him as her hands glowed with a golden light. she sang the song he associated with his mom, with love and healing. He sang it to himself when ever he was scared or lonely or hurt. It comforted him. He found himself mouthing the words as she sang.

”Flower gleam and glow,

let your power shine,

make the clocks reverse,

bring back what once was mine.”

Little him dried his tears and joined their mom in the next verse.

”Heal what has been hurt,

change the fates’ design,

save what has been lost.

bring back what once was mine,

what once was mine.”

little him and their mom sang. Little him’s wounds healed and their mom placed a kiss on his forehead.

”My little Moonlight know that I will always love you.”

“Okay Mami, I love you too!” Little him hugged their mom. Hector felt tears fall.

Hector woke up to the sound of fighting he realized he was in the dark kingdom the place he swore to protect but never go back to.

He went into the chamber of kings and saw the caravan crew except Pretty Boy and the guy with the hook foot. Oh great Adira there.Long hair’s hair was glowing. Weird. Pretty Boy came in.

”Let her in she’s the sundrop!” Oh great this nonsense again.

”We have to get to the stone!” Sundrop says.

”We have to destroy the moonstone son!” King Edmund says.

”Son?” Sundrop asks excited.

”You finally got adopted!” Earring says. Hector connected the dots Edmund didn’t use son for just anybody. 
“Horace? He’s Horace?” Hector asked stepping out of the shadows.

”Oh great Crazy Rhino man is here too. Why wouldn’t he be.” Pretty boy says. Hector growls and Pretty boy takes a step back.

”Look guys I’ll fill you in later. Oh and I’m a prince. Probably.” He says.

Ah so he is Horace. After all these years…

sundrop goes to touch the chamber door. It glows. Okaaay Todally not weird, not at all.

”My ancestors swore to protect this place and the stone now their spirits will uphold this oath.” Edmund says. The statues’ eyes glowed and their ghosts came out of them.

”You know this is not how I expected to meet your family, Eugene.” Sundrop says to Pretty Boy- er Horace. The ghosts start to attack.

One of them grabs Earing and the chameleon. The chameleon licks the ghost’s eye and the ghost drops both of them.

”Adira catch me!” Earring shouts as he falls. Adira grabs the chameleon instead. Hector snickers not befor dodging the ghost of Vulcan Edmund’s great great grandfather.

”Love hurts.” Earring complains. Edmund and Adira fight. Sundrop runs to the door and Edmund tries to stop her but is pushed to the side by pretty boy.

”No! She mustn’t be let in!” Edmund shouts.

Hector kept fighting the spirits. “I’m loyal to the dark kingdom and the Moon! Why are you attacking me?” He says. The ghosts keep attacking him. Even if he kills them they keep coming right back. When he saw the ghost of King Saros, Edmund’s father, he took a step back, Saros was like a father to him. Earring figured out that that Adira’s sword made of black rocks could destroy the statue and destroy the ghosts. They destroyed the statues one by one. Hector took out his dagger made of black rocks and went up to the statue of Saros.

”Saros, my old king. Forgive me for this.” He said. As he climbed on the top of the statue. He stabbed down destroying the statue of his old king.

”So this mean’s Crazy Rhino Man is helping us?” Horace asks. Hector snarls.

“I’m taking that as a yes.” He answers his own question. Edmund destroys that last statue right before the ghost almost kills Horace. Sundrop, Horace and Lady in Waiting all enter the moonstone chamber. The chamber glows blue and sun drops hair raises up glowing gold. Sundrop takes a step and a blue brigade forms with each step. Rapunzel goes to retrieve the moonstone. Hector holds his breath waiting to see what would happen. He didn’t know here but he prayed silently that she wouldn’t die, he’s seen people get greedy or even for good reasons try to retrieve the moonstone and die a painful and torturous death that he wouldn’t wish on anyone. But she fails to retrieve it, instead lady in waiting grabs it.

”Cassandra?” asks Sundrop. “What- what are you doing?”

”Im fulfilling my destiny!” She answers coldly. Sundrop th e chameleon and Horace get knocked back. She gets armor made of black rocks and her hair electric blue.

”I tried to warn you Rapunzel be careful who you trust.

Lady in waiting gave some sort of story how she was the daughter of Gothel the woman who kidnapped Rapunzel. Sundrop was kidnapped? And Rapunzel stole her mother from her. From what he heard sundrop was a baby and probably didn’t want to be kidnapped.

Adira and Horace attack Lady in waiting and are pushed back. She’s in control of the black rocks. Hector readies his swords. He rushes towards her. She pushed a the black rocks at him but he dodges them with skill he knocked her on the ground unconscious and he grabs the moonstone. He place in on his cloak and it changes. He now wears a suit of black rocks similar to hers but the sleeves are shorter. He still has the brotherhood symbol on him but not the moonstone is placed on it glittering surrounded by black rocks holding it in place. His glows are now black fingerless gloves and the twin swords are now made of black rocks. He has a black band on his arm just below a interesting tattoo. His yellow eyes are as fierce as ever but his scar is glowing bright blue. He has a crown of back rocks on his head. He turns his head slightly looking at the group.

”I guess now I’m the bad guy.

Chapter Text

”I guess now I’m the bad guy.” Hector says. He turns to the group. He waits, trying to see what their next move will be.“Hector, give me the moonstone.” Adira says.
“Nah, I’m good.”

“Hector, you must know by now she’s the sundrop.”

“So, maybe I do.”

“The sundrop must reunite with the moonstone!”

“That maybe true, but I can’t give it to you. If she touches the moonstone she will die. I’m not letting that happen.” He said. “She is not trained, if she tries to neutralize the moonstone with out knowing how to do it. She will die.”

”But, Hector, I know you know how to do it. You could teach her!”

”even if I do she might still die.”

”We at least have to try!” Adira argued. Hector sighed.

”Fine, but what are we doing about her.” He pointed to Cassandra.

they tied Cassandra to a chair in the caravan and took all her weapons. She was glaring at Hector, who glared right back. He agreed to go with them to train the Sundrop, Adira had some business to take care of and had to go elsewhere. King Edmund was staying back at the dark kingdom. 

“So what’s your deal?” Hector asked. He leaned against the wall and began sharpening his knife. 

“What?” Cassandra asked.

“What’s your deal? It can’t be just that this Gothel person is your mother.” He said.

”I’m always overlooked and Rapunzel always overshadowed me.” She said. 
“So she’s a princess.” He said bluntly. “And you think that stealing the moonstone would help? How would stealing one of the most powerful objects in the world help? you don’t even know how to use it.” He asked.

“Do you know how to us it?” Cassandra asked. Hector raises his hand slightly and black rocks rise from the ground. He lowers his hand and they sink back down like they were never there. 
“Okay so you know how to use it. But why did you take it?” Cassandra asked.

”Look I don’t know the princess, I have barely ever talked to her, but    I know if she touches the moonstone she will die without proper training.” He said.

”But how do you know how to use it.” She asks. 
“In the great tree there were many chambers full of scrolls on things like the moonstone and the sundrop. I had a lot of time on my hands, so I read them. They taught me how to train, how to focus and not die. I’m going to teach Sundrop. If you had the stone if it didn’t kill you you still wouldn’t have full power over it.” Hector said, and with that he left.

He sat down outside where Earring was gathering fire wood, Horace- feels to weird-Pretty Boy was starting the fire. The Gremlin was with the horses. And Sundrop was writing in her journal leaning against a tree. She clearly has been crying earlier. He sat down next to Pretty Boy.

”Is Sundrop okay?” He asked. Pretty boy looked confused that he asked that.

”Rapunzel? I mean yeah, she will be.” He said.

”Betrayal always hurts especially if it was from someone close.” Hector says staring of to the distance.

”So Hector tell us a little about yourself. You seem interesting I’m sure you have some good stories.” Earring said coming over. Hector just glared at him.

”Well me and Eugene used to be thieves and had all kinds of adventures.” Earring said. “Like once we double crossed this guy called the Baron and it didn’t help that Eugene-“

”Um, we went to Vardaros, crashed a wedding and fought the Baron!” Pretty boy said.

”But there’s more we didn’t just-“

”Alright Lance, that enough, okay.” Pretty Boy cuts in. Hector stands up while the two bicker and walks over to Rapunzel.

”You okay?”

”Yep! Everything is okay!” She said. He raised an eyebrow. She sighed.

”No, I’m not okay. It hurts, her betrayal hurts.”

”Betrayal always hurts.” He says. She nods.

”I’m going to go talk to her.”

“Cass look I’m sorry-“ Rapunzel starts.

”Oh you’re sorry! Your sorry! Sorry doesn’t fix that my mother left me for you! Sorry doesn’t fix that I’m always overshadowed! Sorry doesn’t fix that I am always pushed aside for you!”

”Cass I- I didn’t choose for Mother to take me-“ 

“You have no right to call her Mother!”

”Cass I- sorry, your right I don’t.”

Hector was watching them, he understood both sides, the princess didn’t choose to get kidnapped but Lady in waiting had a point, he knew what it is like overshadowed by people, it hurts, he also knew the feeling of a parent leaving, his own mother had  left him when he was seven, he knows how it felt to have someone close to you leave like that. He remembered the nights he spent by the window waiting for her to come back, but she never did.

“You’re so gullible. Naïve. Immature. You get upset so easily if things don’t go your way.” Cassandra sneered. Each word stung. It reminded her of what mother said.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel and Eugene headed back to the caravan, they just went on a date, they both had a stressful week and probably needed the alone time. Lance and Hector were sitting nearby. Eugene put a necklace around Rapunzel’s neck. They kissed. “Ew, get a room!” Hector shouted at them. The couple froze. Lance laughed. Rapunzel headed back into the caravan it was nice spending time with Eugene but she did need to talk to Cass

“Hey Cass, Look I’m sorry about last time, I just wasn’t ready to talk. I am now, but I’ll wait if you’re not ready.” Rapunzel said. Cassandra looked at her.

”Yeah sure.” She said, but she looked away from Rapunzel. Rapunzel sat down and twirled a lock of hair that escaped her braid. 
“I upset.” Rapunzel admitted. “I’m upset you betrayed me. And I’m confused on why it happened. I’m hurt too.”

”Rapunzel, you always get the spotlight and I’m always pushed aside, ignored, overlooked. I’ve spent my whole life trying to be seen and trying to earn my place but I’ve had to work hard to get anything and you just were given everything. Your the star, the one everyone loves and I’m just a side character, just a servant to the princess.”

”Cass… look I know you’re hurting, but I have never seen you as just a side character, I have never seen you as just my lady in waiting. You are my friend, you are like an older sister to me, I look up to you, I have since I met you. And no it was not fair of your mother to abandon you, but I can’t change that, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I didn’t ask for her to take me and leave you. And Cass I’m sorry if I ever hurt you, I’m sorry if I made you feel over looked. I just wish I could fix everything and make everyone happy but I can’t.” Rapunzel said tears falling down. Cassandra didn’t know how to feel.

”Raps, I-“ Cass didn’t know what to say. Rapunzel suddenly smiled.

”You called me Raps.” She grinned. 
“Yeah I did.” Cass said.

“Dinners ready!” Eugene called. Rapunzel left the caravan and came back with two bowls of soup.

”Hector made it.” Rapunzel said giving it to Cass.

”You sure he didn’t poison it Raps?”

”No.”

They chatted a bit more.

Hector stirred the pot of soup they were making one more time, he sat down. Earring and Pretty Boy were talking. Pretty Boy looked over at Hector staring at him.

”Hey what does that tattoo mean?” Pretty Boy asks. Pointing at the tattoo on Hector’s right arm, Hector quickly covers it.

”Nothing.” Hector said.

”Come on tell us.” Earring says. 
“Is it a brotherhood thing?” Pretty Boy asks.

”No.”

”Just tell us, won’t hurt.” Earring says.

”Fine, if it will shut you guys up.” Hector says.

”Fair.” They both say. He shows it to them. It has a design of laurel leaves and then chains.

”It’s a slave’s mark.” Hector says. Pretty Boy and Earring stare at him. 

“Wait the dark kingdom had you know.” Earring said. 
“Years ago, the anti slavery law was passed when I was ten.” Hector says. “My dad and I were owned by a rich and powerful family, they treated my dad well enough, but treated me horribly. I was freed when I was twelve almost thirteen.” 
“But you said the law was passed when you were ten.” Pretty Boy say’s confused.

”Not everyone follows laws pretty boy.” Hector says. “It was your grandmother who pushed the law to pass, she helped free me. She was a great woman.”

”My grandmother?”

”Yes, Queen Zariah, Wife of King Saros, and mother of King Edmund, your Father.”

”Oh.” 
“It should be ready by now.” Hector says.

”What?”

”The soup.”

”Oh.”

“Dinners ready!” Pretty Boy called.

Chapter Text

The group was sitting around the fire. They heard a loud rumble, the group got out their weapons, the only one calm was Hector.  His rhino and bearcats ran down the hill. The group settled down realizing the rhino wasn’t going to hurt them.

“Talia.” Hector said. Hector look through Talia’s saddle bag, to look for scrolls, or supplies, to see if he had anything from the Tree. He pulled out a painting, it was one of his belongings he took from the dark kingdom. It showed him, Adira and …Talia. Oh he missed her. He remembered when he told her that he named his rhino after her. She only replied laughing. “Better than being named after a girl who’s famous for opening a box.”

He looked over at Horace. He looked so much like her. She would have been so proud of her son. He smiled thinking about the first time he met her.

Hector went out into the royal gardens. The party had been too loud for him and there had been too many people. He stared at the pond. 

“Hey.”a voice said. She had brown hair, a crown of pearls, a purple dress and necklace with a moon charm. “Was the party too loud?”

He nodded. “I’m Pandora by the way.” She said. This was Edmund’s girlfriend, he thought recognizing the name.

”I’m Hector.” He mumbled.

”Cool-“ she started suddenly stopping. She made a shushing motion. “Hey see that. That’s a blue spotted Toad.” She whispered pointing at a dark blue toad with bright blue spots that glowed.

“The spots tell predators that he’s poisonous. But the spots attract flies and watch.” She said that saw a fly flying towards the toad the toad quickly ate the fly.

”Cool.” He said.

”And see that flower it’s called a Talia, it also only blooms every full moon.” She said pointing to a flower that looks like a lotus. “It’s my favorite flower.”

”I’m going call you a Talia.” He said. She grinned.

”Hey what’s that?” Earring said, looking over his shoulder. “Is that Adira?” He asks.

”Who’s the other lady?” Horace asks.
”Your Mom.” He said smiling. “On her wedding.”

”Are you wearing Makeup?” Horace asks.

”Yes.”

eighteen year old Hector tied his hair in bun. He stood in front of Talia who was sitting on a chair. He was holding an assortment of brushes, palettes and other makeup items.

”Close your eyes.” He instructed. “Good now blink. Look right at me. Okay now look up. Perfect.”

He applied. Eye shadow, eye liner and other makeup.He looked at Talia, she looked amazing, with her brown hair in a braided bun, he’d placed dark blue and purple flowers in her hair. Her beautiful off the shoulder gown had short ruffley sleeves. The bodice was black with tiny white crystals. The skirt had layers of dark blue and purple. He all placed a talia flower as a joke. She had purple crystal earrings, and a black choker with an amethyst on it.She had a black crown on her head with a purple jewel on it with her veil attached.

”Wow she looks great Hector.” Adira said. He didn’t know if he ever saw Adira in a dress before. She looked nice. Her hair was in a braid. She painted her face half purple, to fit the theme of the wedding instead of its usual red. She the same earring and necklace as Talia and a similar crown.

”Now for your makeup Hector.” Talia said with a mischievous smile looking at Adira who smiled back. He sat there regretting ever becoming friends with the two as Adira painted his nails and Taila added makeup to him. The girls braided his hair and threaded purple crystals into.

”Is the torture over already?” He asks. 
“You’re so dramatic brother.” Adira says. 
“Here’s your dress.” Talia says. “Go put it on, princess’ orders.”

”I hate you.” He says. she stuck her tongue out at him. He puts on the dress anyway grumbling.

”Aw you look so pretty. But did you really think we were going to make you wear that?” Talia says, holding up a formal shirt and pants that match the color scheme of Adira’s dress. He snatched the outfit.

”If it weren’t your wedding, I would’ve strangled you for this.” He said leaving the room. He came back out. Talia held out purple earrings and a chocked that matched her and Adira’s and the same crown as Adira .

”No I’m not wearing that.” He says. A few moments later he gave in and put them on.

”Happy?”

”Very.” Adira says.

”You guys are just evil.” He says they smiled.

”Your Mom was weird. Loved her like a sister but she was weird.” Hector says.

”So what happens next? Or is that the end of the story?” Earring who insisted he call him Lance said.

”Oh there’s more.” Hector says grinning.

Queen Titania, Talia’s older sister came out in her dress and crown. She would act as the maid of honor and be the one who walked with Talia since there parents were no longer alive. we stepped out of the room and headed to the throne room. At the throne, King Saros stood next to Queen Zariah. He would officiate the wedding. Edmund stood with a new cape and his ancestral brotherhood clasp. His crown made him look even taller. Quirin stood next to him. Hector and Adira walked after the flower girl went, she was one of Edmund’s distant cousins or something like that. Adira and Hector were the bridesmaids since, Talia didn’t have many close friends who weren’t just friends with her cause she’s a princess. Then Talia came into the room. Edmund’s jaw literally dropped. She was stunning. The wedding proceeded and as soon as the bride and groom kissed, Hector heard a sound, He turn around and saw warriors from an enemy kingdom came in.

”Hell yeah! Tal I told this would be the best wedding ever!” Hector said grinning as he fought the warriors with his dagger.

”Adira protect the cake!” He said jokingly.

”Yes the Cake!” She joked right back. “My only weakness!”

”Oh you guys are so immature!” Talia yells. The warriors eventually retreated when Saros began fighting. After the warriors left they resumed the party, trying to ignore that the battle happened.

”Best wedding ever.” Hector said eating some of the cake. He was talking with Adira and Quirin. Talia and Edmund were about to leave towards the end of the party.

”Don’t make an heir tonight!” He called out to them. Edmund froze, while Talia burst out laughing.

”Hector!” Hissed Quirin.

”What?” The eighteen year old asked. Adira just shook her head.

 Lance and Horace asked him more questions. He looked at the moonstone it glinted in the sunlight almost like it was taunting him. He looked at Horace he should have deserved to meet his mother

Chapter Text

The camper continued on the road back to Corona and the rhino followed. Suddenly the camper must have hit a rock or something because it stopped moving.

”One of the wheels are broken and the part that separates the two sides is about to break.” Hector said looking at the damage. We weren’t going to be able to move for awhile. It soon became night and we had to camp out. In the morning Hector offered to fix the camper. We suddenly were attacked by these weird creatures made of rubies and a black jewel, they looked like  lions or something. 
“Oh come on!” Hector shouts. “I leave for five minutes and you are already attacked by monsters!”

He throws his hands up in exasperation. He readies his sword, charging at the monsters attacking them.

”You guys gonna help?” He asks the other nod and start fighting. 
“okay so that’s the last of them. What happened?”

”They just came out of nowhere, and attacked us.”

”Okaay. Totally not weird.” Hector says. “So where do we go next.”

”To the great tree pass.” Says Rapunzel. Hector freezes. 
“It’s the only way past the mountains.” Rapunzel says.

”No.” Hector says. “It’s not.”

”It’s not?”

”I lived in the area for 25 years. I know secret passages. We could take the mountain route it’s the closest to where we are.” He said.

”Okay.” Rapunzel said. “But I don’t think we can send the caravan up the mountain.”

”No but they can go around it, it will take more time but Talia knows the way, if they follow her they will be safe.” He says. They start to climb, the bearcats went first to scout for danger. The mountain was covered in snow, Rapunzel noticed Cass shivering and gave Cass her coat.

”Here you should be more warm now.” Rapunzel said. Cass gave her a soft smile. The keep climbing when Hector suddenly stopped them, they all stared at a small cottage on the mountain. Light came out of the window and smoke from the chimney showed that someone was there.

”This was never here before. Nira, Nyx scout ahead.” He said. Rapunzel knocked on the door.

”Hello?”

A kind looking old lady opened the door. “Oh you poor dears come in, come in to my humble cottage. You must be freezing.”

”I don’t trust her.” Hector whispered. 
“For once I agree with Hector.” Cassandra said.
“Oh she’s just a harmless old lady.” Lance said.

”It could just be an act.” Hector argued.

”Guys it’s freezing let’s just go inside.” Eugene said.

”Okay Pretty Boy.”

”stop calling me that!”

”Would you prefer Horace?”

”Ugh!”

They went in the cottage. Th eh sat on the sofas and chairs while Hector decided to stand not trusting the old lady.

”What’s your name?” Rapunzel asked as the old lady gave her a blanket.

”Oh dear me where are my manners. I’m Zara, what’s your name deary.”

”Oh I’m Rapunzel.”

”My that’s a pretty name, pretty like your hair.”

”um thanks.” Rapunzel said holding her hair. 
“Okay, enough of this who are you really? Zara.” Cassandra said.

”My dear I thought you never ask.” Zara snapped her fingers her disguise rippled.

”Mother?!” Cassandra and Rapunzel both said.

Chapter Text

“Mother?!” Both Cassandra and Rapunzel said.

“Guess who’s back.” Said mother Gothel, with a malicious smile, the only thing different about her is she’s a red ghost.
“Who the Fu-“ Hector was about to say. Eugene glared at him.
 “-Freaking hell is that?!” Hector says.

“H-how are you here.” Rapunzel. Rapunzel took a step back. everyone looked shocked and a bit scared. Eugene looked worriedly at his side like he expected to get stabbed there.

“Well you can thank your little friend for that.” She said looking at Hector who snarled.

“When he released the heart he released more than just the spirit of the tree.”
“Now let’s go on to the important part.” Gothel snapped her fingers and the cozy cottage turned into a horrifying dark tower, the rock beasts emerge from the ground, they let out an ominous growl. A rock cage forms around Hector’s bearcats and Shorty. Shackles form around Cassandra, Eugene, Lance and Hector’s arms a legs holding them against the walls. They all struggle. Gothel walks up to Hector,

“I see you have the Moon stone.” She says. Hector growls.
“Isn’t it funny, the Sundrop and the Moonstone in the same room.” “What do you want Gothel?” Eugene says. Gothel smirks and snaps her fingers. The couch that Rapunzel was sitting on turns into an alter, which chains trap her too, torches of an electric blue light up around the walls and alter. Rapunzel struggles as Gothel takes her hair and forcefully unbraid it. Gothel begins to sing a song that makes Hector freeze.

“Flow gleam and glow, Let your power shine” she sings the hair begins to glow.

“Make the clocks reverse, bring back what once was mine.” Gothel de ages her wrinkles disappearing. Hector struggles, the moonstone and his scar glowing a brilliant blue. Gothel stops singing and looks at him, “Oh you know what to do, don’t you, Warrior.”
“You think you can do, you’ll be strong enough to survive. But you know what happens if you do, like what happens the last time you used the moonstone, my master told me, you miss him don’t you? Just as you miss her, and your mother. Do you even know who your mother was, or better yet what your mother even is, Warrior? The knowledge could destroy you and everything you ever have known, Slave boy, that what they all called you, right? Because you will never be anything more than that lost child, unless you join us. Give me the stone, you don’t want it to end like last time. Zhan Tiri will get it one way or another.”

Hector blinked tears out of his eyes. This Gothel person was right, I’m nothing more than that lost slave boy who came from nothing and was treated like nothing. Who even was his mother? The only things he even knew about her was that her name was Luna, she obviously wasn’t a slave because she wore jewelry and slaves weren’t allowed that and the Masters never noticed her. And she had magic. And she obviously didn’t care enough about him, she didn’t even name him, his dad he understood, his dad saw him as a beast unworthy of love much less a name, and she left him when he needed her the most. He tried to shake these thoughts out of his head he needed Sundrop to be safe, Gothel was draining her life. He took a shaky breath and then another until his breath was even. He sang in a low voice

 “Wither and decay

end this destiny,

break these earthly chains and set the spirit free.” He saw dark tenderills begin to circle around Gothel and Rapunzel. He felt weak but kept singing. Gothels red glow was fading.

”Shadows of the night,

chase away the light,

gift me with the power to fight,

and set the spirits free,

the spirits free.

Hurt those I hate

take away their fate,

make them feel my pain

Let their life force drain,

make them suffer unimaginable pain

and set their spirits free.” He uttered the last words and passed out, the incantation draining him. The chains around all of them broke the rock monsters were forced back into the ground by the shadows. Gothel, no longer a ghost was being pushed back, by the darkness.

“Cassandra!” She yelled. “Join me and you will never be over shadowed again, you will be respected and feared, you will have power. You will never be pushed aside by the princess again.” Gothel said before she fell into a pit. Cassandra grabbed her and Gothel teleported them away. The rock beast jumped out of the pit and charged for Hector and Rapunzel as the tower crumbled around them.

Chapter Text

Eugene started up the fire, he still was shaken by the encounter by Gothel and Cassandra’s betrayal for the second time. He could only imagine how Blondie felt, she was unconscious from Gothel trying to use Rapunzel’s powers to revive herself. He went over to Lance and Hector. Lance was trying to keep Hector awake since Hector had a bad concussion but was exhausted from his moonstone trick.
“So why don’t you tell use about the dark kingdom?” Eugene said hoping to keep Hector from passing out. “Like how did the brotherhood work?”
“Well, the brotherhood was the three closest warriors to the king or crown prince. Me, Dira, and Quiri were the closest to Eddie. And then there were the guards.”

“The guards?”

”The guards, yeah the people who protect the kingdom.” Hector said before wincing as he tried to stand. He sat right back down. “I was the general.”
“Really?” Lance said with admiration.
“Yep became it at fourteen.” He said slightly smiling.

“Fourteen?! Isn’t that a bit young?!” Eugene said thinking about Varian, he hoped the kid was alright. Hector shrugged, “King Saros and the lieutenant was fine with it.” Hector then scowled. “Others didn’t like it and showed it. They often called me Slave boy and a lot of dehumanizing names and slurs. They disobeyed me a lot saying that they  shouldn’t have to listen to some Slave boy who acts like a Mutt and deserves to be put down.” Hector saw Earring and pretty boy looking uncomfortable.

”But I showed them, during my first battle.” Hector sighed and played with a ring on a chain around his neck.

“What’s that.” Lance asked. Hector stopped not even noticing he was holding the ring. The ring had a strange black crystal surrounded by tiny light crystals on a thick silver base.

“Oh.” He said. “My fiancé gave it to me.” He said staring at the ring.

Eugene sputtered.“You had a girlfriend.”
Hector grinned. “Yeah not exactly, his name was Silas.”
“He?” Eugene asked.
Hector gave him a deadpan look. “Yes he was a boy. I like men, they’re hot, though none more than Silas I sure hope he didn’t hear that, his head is already big enough.”

“So what was he like?” Lance asked.
“Oh, he was so arrogant, bigheaded and insufferable. Gods, I miss him. He was amazing, terribly annoying at times, but I loved him. He was so easy to talk to, funny and sweet at times. Was always there for me. I miss him.he was gorgeous, with that dark mass of curls, and those green eyes.”

“What happened to him.” Eugene asked. Hector gave a pained look, Eugene wasn’t sure if it was his head or the memories. Hector spoke in a low voice starring at the horizon.
“I killed him.”
Nobody said anything until Hector spoke up.
“This wasn’t the first time I wield the moonstone.” He gave a distant look. “Twenty six years ago a year before the dark kingdom was destroyed, I was eighteen and we were at war with enemy kingdom. The moonstone had been stolen by a powerful king who used magic to steal it. In the dark kingdom until you are twenty you are still considered a kid since you are not fully responsible or mature. In two years me and Silas were preparing to get married after I turned twenty. But we had to go on a mission.”

26 years ago

”General what’s the plan.” Asked a soldier.

”Half of us infiltrate the east tower following Captain Silas. The rest follow me!” Hector said. Silas kissed him,

”Silas what’s wrong.” He asked there was a look of regret in Silas eyes. 

“Whatever happens don’t blame yourself.”

”Silas?”

”Hector, mi amor todo estará bien.”

”Mi corazón por favor-“

”Hector go, lead General.”

Hector lead his army to the moonstone chamber he grabbed the moonstone, he grabbed it without getting burned up by its power. He ran out of the castle and hopped on his giant black wolf, Thanatos. He tried to get out of the kingdom but was being chased by thousands of soldiers. He realized the only way to get the moonstone safely back to the dark kingdom and save his soldiers was to use the stone. He closed his eyes and sang one of the songs his mother taught him.

”Wither and decay

end this destiny,

break these earthly chains

and set the spirits free.” He felt power wash over him. He saw blue light cover the kingdom, washing over than the land slowly decaying.

”Shadows of the night,

chase away the light,

gift me with the power to fight,

and set the spirits free,

the spirits free.”

the Black rocks rushed towards the enemy at lightning speed. The enemies screamed in pain as they were drained by the moonstone. They were speared by the black rocks. 

“Hurt those I hate

take away their fate,

make them feel my pain

Let their life force drain,

make them suffer unimaginable pain

and set their spirits free.”

The enemies disintegrated. The rest speared by black rocks. Hector kept singing unable to stop the moonstones power possessing him. The dark kingdoms soldiers ran back to the kingdom.

A wave of blue light ran over the kingdom. Silas was fighting the enemy king together.

”Little brother you think you can beat me? You little boyfriend might be powerful but maybe too powerful, you will die.” 
“That is a risk I am willing to take. I rather sacrifice myself as long as you die. I will protect mi corazón with whatever it takes. You will not reunite the crystals, you greedy selfish, bastard.”

”You are brave, Silas, it made sense why you got the power shard little brother. Father always was wise.”

”You will die Agustine, you are no longer my brother.”

a wave of blue light sparkling with lightning rushed towards them Silas held the king forward making sure he would be destroyed. Silas closed his eyes as the wave hit him awaiting the instant death. He quickly prayed to the three moon goddesses. “por favor protege Mi Corazón, por favor protege Hector.” The wave washed over him as he thought about memory of when he first heard Hector tell him that he loved him. He found Hector one day sitting on the roof. He found the 15 year old crying. 
“Hey what’s wrong?” He asked softly. Hector wiped his eyes. He looked at Silas with those brilliant fierce yellow eyes. His scar shone under the full moon. “Today means that it’s eight years since my mother left, since everything went bad.”

he didn’t know much about Hector except he had an abusive father and used to be a slave. He didn’t know that Hector had a mother. He did the math, it would mean Hector was seven when she left.

”Hey, Hey está bien.” He said trying to comfort the kid.

”tú hablas español?” he asked.

”Si. I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.”

”Si my Papa did. He was from somewhere else that spoke Spanish. My mom was from the dark kingdom. All I know is my last name was Noche.”

”So do you have any siblings.”

”No, but Tals, Eddie, Quiri, and Dira are enough. After all Quiri and Eddie saved me. And my Mama and Papa didn’t even bother naming me. Dira and Quiri named me after the first king of th e dark kingdom.” Hector stared into the distance. 
“I have like six other brothers.”

”yeah that’s a lot.”

”My dad was a king of another kingdom-“

”Of course you’re a Royal brat.” Hector said but his gaze said something else. Silas looked at the big he loved feelings bubbled inside him.

”Oy!”

”You’re my Royal Brat. Mi Vida.” Hector said leaning in, Silas brushed a tear out of Hector’s eye, his finger tracing the scar. They leaned into a kiss.

”te amo mi corazón.” Silas whispered. He expected Hector to back away but they kissed.the moon shining brightly on them almost like the moon was watching them and smiling.

Silas the thought about his favorite memory of Hector as he drifted towards whatever afterlife he was heading too, heaven or hell or whatever came next, maybe Valhalla or the Valley of stars.

it was the festival of the moon, also Hector’s birthday, his boyfriend was now 16, four more years until he’s an adult. He saw his friends leave the Castle, Adira wearing a dark blue suit with her face half painted dark blue to honor the moon goddesses, he was the same age as her and Pandora, they were all 20. Already adults. Quirin was wearing simple clothes and his brotherhood clasp, he was 22. Edmund was wearing his moon festival cape and crown, he was 21. Then Hector and Pandora came out, they both were wearing matching ruffley purple dresses, matching necklaces. Pandora had her hair in a bun and had her crystal earrings on. Hector had his hair in an elaborate braid with purple and blue flowers, he had crystal engraved fang earrings. They headed off to the festival. Hector pulled him on to the dance floor. Hector twirled him, they had gotten used to the stares that people gave them. the music started and Hector joined the girls. they all danced in unison. The music got upbeat and the dancing went faster, Hector sang along with the band. Silas loved his voice. He noticed Hector was singing the words in Spanish instead of English. He twirled Hector and looked at him lovingly. Hector’s dress ruffled as he danced. Hector looked so full of life singing and dancing. Hector looked beautiful. They switched partners until they were back to their original partners and the song ended. They then rushed to play fair games. Hector’s smile was contagious, Silas felt his heart beat faster, a smile tugging at his face. He grabbed Hector’s arm and brought him up to the roof of the castle and they began to eat some of the sweets and bake goods they bought from the fair as it reached midnight and the moon was at its highest, Silas put his arm around Hector as the fireworks began and they kissed. 
“Te amo mi corazón y te amaré por siempre.” Hector breathed.

”Te amo mucho mi corazón.” Silas said and they kissed again.

Silas opened his eyes and saw he was surrounded by white like the moon he looked and saw three tall woman staring at him, the three moon goddess he realized. The three moon goddesses were all one but were split between three personalities. The one on the left with auburn hair in a braid, black rock armor, and a raven on her shoulder, Diana the warrior. On the middle was a regal figure with black hair in a braided bun, dark sapphire blue eyes, a crown with a crystal moon on it. A dress with a starry design on it and a moon wolf at her side, Selene the queen. And one the right he saw a kind looking woman with pale blonde hair and light blue eyes her beauty was like that of the moons, she had a white mouse on her shoulder, Luna, the guardian, the guide, the mother.

”So, you’re Silas, son of king Alaric, of the stars.” Diana says. 
“So you’re the one dating our son. “ said Selene staring down at him. Silas felt his eyes widening.

”You have a pure heart.” Luna says.

”Our son will be devastated when he wakes.” Diana says.

”but it was important for what is to come.”  Selene says. 
“But it is still unfortunate, I wish we could see him again.” Luna said.

”Luna, you were the one who actually got to raise him, which is understandable, mothering is not my strong suit.” Diana says.

”But we had to leave him, no matter how much we wished we could have been there for him. He is strong. But Silas your death was important.” Selene said.

Silas stared at them. 
“It was either you or him. And you already know that if you fought your brother you wouldn’t make it out alive and our child is needed later on”

Darkness surrounded Silas as everything began to fade.

“I woke up after being stuck in a sleep for a month being weakened by the moonstones power. I didn’t know he died until I woke up. I don’t even know how he died, he shouldn’t have died the moonstone should have spared him he’s a citizen of the dark kingdom. But it must have been my fault.”

”I’m sorry.” Eugene said. Hector winced at the pain in head.

”It’s okay. I’m fine, I’m fine.” He paused. “I’m fine, I’m fin-I’m fine it happened many years ago.”

”but you just said your fine five-“

”I’m fine it’s just my head.” Hector said. Lance nods. Eugene checks Rapunzel’s head again, the fever was still to high. He heard a distant rumble.

Chapter Text

Hector’s rhino came into view with the caravan. Eugene was glad to see the rhino for once. Rapunzel and Hector were still unconscious. The rhino suddenly stopped. Bandits jumped out of the forest. 
“well, well. If it isn’t the princess’s little boyfriend.” A familiar voice said.

”Lady Cain.” He said. “Shouldn’t you be locked in the dungeons.”

”Your little scientist friend and the saporians let us out. You’ve been gone a while.” She said. 
“Boys.” She said snapping her fingers.

They were thrown in a cell in an abandoned castle. Hector woke up when they searched the caravan but he still was injured from the run in with Gothel and they threw him in the cell as well. They took the ring he was wearing. They tried to take the moonstone but it was encased with black rocks. The thugs left.

Hector’s bearcats growled from the cage they were in. Lance spoke up. “Hey where’s Shorty?” Eugene looked around. Everyone was here except Shorty. 
“‘M right here.” Shorty said a few moments later, twirling the keys to the cell while standing outside the cell.

”Shorty where did you get that?” Eugene asked.

”A ghost girl gave it to me.” Shorty replied. 
“Well give us the keys Shorty.” Eugene. 
“Wait.” Hector said. “Gremlin, what did she look like?” 
Shorty described her in the best way he could which wasn’t very good.

Hector sweared in Spanish. “That’s not a ghost, that’s Zhan Tiri.”

”You mean the demon?” Eugene asked. 
“No Pretty boy, I mean the frog. Of course I mean the demon.”

”So what do we do?” Lance asked. 
“We take the keys.”

”But you said Zhan Tiri gave them.” Eugene stated. 
“Do you have another plan to get out of here-“ Hector paused. “Do any of you guys have a hair pin?” 
“Uh yeah.” Eugene takes one out of his pocket.

”I’m assuming you can pick a lock.”

”Yes but doesn’t Zhan Tiri want us to escape.”

”Do you want to stay here forever instead of going back to your kingdom?”

Eugene thought about what lady Cain said about Varian and the Saporains. Eugene picked the lock.

For some reason there were no guards and they were able to leave the old castle. But then they were spotted.

”get in!” Eugene said as the thieves shot arrows at them. They traveled on until night

Chapter Text

Hector was sitting on a hill with Silas staring up at the stars.

”What do you think will happen when we die?” He asked.

”Well I think we’ll end up in a valley of stars surrounded by beautiful women.” Silas said.

”Ew, girls are meh. Men are hot.” Hector said.

”I think both are.” Silas says. Hector sticks his tongue out at him.

”Whatever. I’m going to probably die in battle, impaled by a sword or something.” Hector says.

”same.”  

the scene shifted 

Hector was in the forest with Silas. Hector had pushed his boyfriend in the river they were both laughing. As Silas got out of the river and they both sat down.
“That’s what you get for being a brat.”Hector says.

”Oy! I thought you loved me!”

”You were being annoying Las.”

”tu as un peu de tempérament mon amour.” Silas says.

”Hey! I might not speak French but I got what you said. I do not have a temper!”Hector said.

”Sure you don’t. Mi amor.”

“Eres un idiota mi amor.” Hector said smiling mischievously.

”Oy!” Silas said as Hector splashed water on his already wet curls.

“Te amo, Las.”

”Te amo, Tor.” 

suddenly a cold wind came the trees lost their leaves and blackened, the grass died, the river that was once crystal clear became murky. Black rocks shot up everywhere.

”this is all your fault traitor.” Silas said. Hector looked up. Silas’ tan skin became pale, his eyes had deep shadows. Those beautiful forest green eyes now became tired and glazed over. His curls flatted, he was thinner and his clothes were ragged.

”Silas! Amor what happened-“

”Don’t you speak Tratior you did this.

”Las what do you mean?”

”you betrayed the dark kingdom, you betrayed the moonstone, you betrayed me.”

”No-“

”Look at yourself! Can’t you see you hurt everyone around you! You’re nothing more than a plague, a curse. A demon!”

”Silas- no- I-“

”Look at yourself!” Silas yelled.

Hector looked in the water. He had the black rock crown on, his skin was even more pale, he was skinner than usual and his cheekbones were more defined and sharp. His eyes looked fiercer than ever almost a golden color, gleaming in the light. His scar glowed. His hair was loose except for a few strands which were braided with diamonds and sapphires. His armor was sharp and his swords were bloodstained. He looked evil.

”You hurt me, you killed me. You killed Pandora and everyone who ever loved you. You caused your mom to leave you you caused you dad pain. He was right you’re not deserving of a name, and identity, love or anything you got. You are nothing more than a demon and plague.” 
the ice cold water sucked Hector in.

”I hope you’re happy with all the pain you caused.” Silas said. 

Hector woke up gasping for air. He  went out of the tent the sun still wasn’t up. Horace was sitting on a  rock.

”Couldn’t sleep?” Horace asked.
”No, you too?” Hector said.

”I keep thinking Corona’s in trouble. Lady Cain said that Varian is on the loose.” Horace said. Hector nodded though he had no idea who Varian was.

”Anyway Hector, since neither of us can sleep, why don’t you tell anyone story.” Horace said then looked embarrassed. “Um maybe one about my mom.”

Hector nodded understanding. “You want to know why you were named Horace?”

”Yes! Why such a terrible name?” Horace exclaimed.

”Well it was some boring old relative of your dads name and he thought ‘it would be noble and great name!’ Yeah no. I mean it does sound a little like the Egyptian god Horus. But me and your mom wanted to call you Flynn Rider after The Tales of Flynnigan Rider which we both loved. She’s the one who got me and your dad into it.”

”That’s funny, when I was a thief I used the name Flynn Rider.”

“Your mom would have loved that.” Hector said. “She was one of the kindest people I knew, except your Grandma of course.”

”Can you tell me about her.” Horace asked.

”Sure.” Said Hector smiling. “Her name was Zariah, which means flower or dawn, but some people who wanted her to have a more “traditional” Dark Kingdom name called her Demeter after she married King Saros.She had black hair she which she usually braided with gold or clay beads. Warm brown eyes almost golden. She had warm brown skin. She was one of the most beautiful people I met.”

”That doesn’t sound much like king Edmund.” Horace said.

”Unfortunately she wasn’t able to have kids. But Saros loved her. So he kept his marriage to her and used a surrogate mother or something. But she is Eddie’s mother in every way that matters.  Blood doesn’t mean everything.” Hector said. “She was like a mother to the whole brotherhood and guard. We all came from different backgrounds and cultures. Zariah was a Morracan Jew, Silas is half French and half Spanish. But we were all a family, and that’s one of the reasons we were a powerful army. And Zariah personally adopted me when I was fourteen, she was a mother to me something I hadn’t had since I was seven.”

Horace nodded.

”She was also extremely against slavery. When she was in her home kingdom her twin brother was taken by slavers and her older brother was killed trying to protect him. She personally help freed me, with out her I would have died when I was twelve. She was a great lady. She loved you.” Hector said.

”She did?” Horace asked.

”’Course. She raised you after the dark kingdom fell. Watched over you until you were five. Even visited me in the great tree.”

A little less than 25 years ago

Hector cried to himself. He was trying to act strong but he kept thinking that he should be in the dark kingdom right now, with Eddie, Quiri, Dira, Zariah, Talia and Flynn- he was not calling him Horace. But most of all he wish to be with Silas. Hector was now 20, today being his birthday. He and Silas planned on getting married a few weeks from now but that was never going to happen now.

he heard hoof steps approaching. No time for emotions he had a job to do. He saw a familiar woman chestnut brown horse. 
She walked towards him carrying a bundle.

”Tifl, it’s good to see you.” Zariah said smiling.

He gave a light smile. “I’m not a child anymore, just turned 20.”

She gave a sad smile. They walked to a stump and sat down. “I know. Right now Horace should be with his parents.” She said looking down at the baby who was sleeping. 

“And you should be at the ceremony right now.”

”Yeah, Talia and I already had a dress planned out.” He said.

”No doubt that you guys would imediently got to the festival right after, and don’t think I didn’t know that you snuck off to that.” She said.

”Guilty. But hey it’s not my fault my birthday happens to be on the same day as the festival of the moon.” He said.

”Oh I loved the festival, the dancing, the singing, the music, the art and the food. It was always so much fun.” She said.

”I was actually born on a total solar eclipse on a moon festival.” He said.

“That’s a good omen. On a total eclipse the first king, who Quirin and Adira named you after, won his greatest victory. That’s why we have the moon festival.” She said. They stayed for a while talking.

“When you were five she died and you were sent to an orphanage.” He said.

“We probably should make breakfast soon. The others should wake up.” Horace said.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel was now up. She was clearly upset about Cassandra betraying her. Eugene was concerned for his girlfriend. He was also worrying about what Cain said about Varian. He hoped the kid was okay. Hector was deep in thought. Thinking about what Silas said in his dream. Was he the villain? He also was thinking about Zhan Tiri. What is she up to? What is this Gothel woman’s plan. He watched a Eugene walked up to Rapunzel and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He walked away to let the couple take in private.

Eugene walked up to Rapunzel, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“How you holding up?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” She said. He raised his eyebrow at her. She was doing it again acting like it didn’t bother her.

”Blondie, just tell me what’s wrong.” He said.

She let out a sigh. “I’m upset about Cass. I thought that we were going to fix things and we’ll look where we are now.” She takes a deep breath. “I should have been a better friend, I should have noticed she was struggling. She just- she just always looked and acted so strong. I looked up to her, she just was so together all the time. And then, I guess she just cracked.”

“I don’t know how to fix things. But mostly I just hope she’s okay. I mean why did Moth- Gothel want her to come with her. It couldn’t have been just cause Cass was he daughter.” Rapunzel says.

”Cass was like a sister to me. And we all know she can defend herself.” He said. “But I’m also worried about her and Varian too.” Rapunzel nods, she brushed some hair out of Eugene’s face.
“While you were, unconscious, we saw Lady Cain she told us that Varian let her and her thugs out of the dungeon.”

”Oh no! Is Varian okay?” Rapunzel felt guilty, she should have helped Varian more, just like how she should have helped Cass. Why didn’t she see they were struggling? Why didn’t she help? “What if they blackmailed him or something to help them escape. He could be in trouble.”

”I know, I’m worried too.” He said.

They crossed over the Terapi Island. Had no problems except when Hector tried stabbing the Lorbs, they probably should have told him about the island before hand. Well actually they found a crystal that caused people to try to kill each other. But other than that it was fine.

”Well we’ll arrive the forest of No return in two days.” Hector announced.

”You’ve been here before?” Lance asked.

”Yep and Adira almost got me killed and Quiri eaten by a plant.” He replied.

They settled down for the night. Rapunzel had a hard time sleeping but eventually fell asleep.

She heard a cold voice speak.

”My flower, I told you to stay in the tower. But no, you didn’t. Now your ‘friends’ and your dear ‘boyfriend’ will suffer. Mother knows best you should have listened to your mother.” Said Gothel.

”Your not my mother you only want me for my hair.”

”Oh please I fed you and took care of you for most of your life.”

”No you used me. And Inhave friends now, family who actually care about me!”

“Oh please your ‘friends’ with two former thieves, a group of pub thugs, a misguided scientist, a girl who felt resentment towards you, a drunken old man, a frog and some horses. And you’re traveling with the current host of the moonstone. Do you even know how many people he’s killed? The second he gets the chance he will betray you. You should just steal the moonstone, not give him a chance to backstab you.”

…

meanwhile Hector was having his own dream like his other it started with a happy memory.

”Oh my gods! I can’t believe Silas proposed to you already!” Talia said. Hector grinned showing her and Adira the ring on his finger.

”Well Silas was always impatient. Won’t even able to wait two years. ” Adira said.

”He still has to wait two years to actually marry me.” Hector says.

”I know it’s early but I already have some ideas.” Talia said. She had her wedding coming up in a week. Hector laughed.

”Course you do Tals, I hope your kids inherit your creativity.” Hector smiled, Talia blushed embarrassed.

”Tor, me and Edmund aren’t even married yet, can you not talk about kids.” Talia says.

”Sure how bout we talk about your future grandchildren.”
“Oh shut up” Talia laughed.

the scene shifted, he was in the moonstone chamber but it was in ruins. He heard Zhan tiri speak

“Hector give me the moonstone, you know you are not fit to wield it. Give it to me and I can bring Queen Demeter, Queen Pandora, King Saros, and Silas back. You could have all the power you want.”

”What makes you think I want power?” Hector growled. “ Leave me demon.”

”Just think about my offer.”

Hector sat up. He would have loved to say that he hadn’t given a thought to what Zhan Tiri offered, but he did. But also he understood the concept of death and you can’t just bring people back. He remembered it took him until he was nine to realize his mom was never coming back. He had spent two years waiting be the window wondering when his mom was going to come back and tell him why she left. She probably moves to a town where the sun shone brighter, and married a kind rich man who could make her happy, and had nice normal children who weren’t like him, and died happy and content of old age and not even giving a thought to the son she left in a house where he was unloved, to a house that he new if he slipped up he could be sold to someone worse of beaten until he didn’t wake up. But he never resented his mom, she probably just didn’t want someone like him as a child or his dad as a husband. He at times wanted to run away. he heard footsteps approaching. He saw it was only Sundrop, she had asked him to teach her how to control the moonstone yesterday. He really didn’t know how to teach her, the moonstone was natural for him.

”So I saw you used the Decay incantation in the Tree try it on that flower.” He pointed an orange flower. 

“What if I hurt you?” She asked she didn’t want to hurt him. 
“Just do it, we want to get to the forest by tomorrow.” He said. She spoke the first line of the incantation. Nothing happened she tried again.

”If you sing you’ll have more focus.” He said. “But it still might take a few tries until you can do it on command.” After two tries she did it.

”Why didn’t you finish? Why did you not finish the incantation?” He asked.

”What? It’s only Wither and decay, end this destiny break theses earthly chains and set the spirits free.” She replied.

He laughed bitterly thinking of his dreams and Silas’ death“no there’s more.”

”What buy the scroll-“

”Was incomplete. You mean the one by Lord Demanitus? Yeah I read it. It was unfinished. There was more. He didn’t make just one scroll, but that’s his most famous. There are also more types of magic. His scroll also doesn’t talk about the three moon goddesses.”

”So what’s the finished version?”

Hector took a deep breath, trying not to think about Zhan Tiri, Silas or his mom.

”Wither and decay,

end this destiny,

break these earthly chains,

and the spirits free,

the spirits free.

Shadows of the night,

chase away the light,

gift me with the power to fight,

and set the spirits free,

the spirits free.

Hurt those I hate

take away their fate,

make them feel my pain

Let their life force drain,

make them suffer unimaginable pain

and set their spirits free.”

Rapunzel shivered the land around them died and she felt weak. Hector’s face was calm, despite the incantion.
“If the moonstone inaction had a extra part did the sundrop too?” she wondered.

”the sundrop incantation?” He asked. “What’s that?”

she sang. “Flower gleam and glow

let your power shine,

make the clocks reverse,

bring back what once was mine.

Heal what has been hurt change the-“

”Stop!” he said his face was pale “Where did you here that?”

”It’s the incantation Mothe- Gothel used to make herself young again. That’s the reason she took me she wanted the magic from my hair. Did you read it from the scroll?”

”No. my mom sang it to me.”

”Your mom?”

”She had magic that’s all I know about her. She would use that song to heal me. We would sing it together.” He smiled at the memory of all the time when he was little he would go up to her and they would sing together, whether he needed healing or just wanted to be with her. She taught him how to knit, crochet sew and embroidery, and she would sing while they did it.

“Do you know how she got magic or how she knew the incantation?” 
“No I never thought to ask until I got older.”

”How does the full incantation sound?”

”I’ll tell you later but let’s got to the forest of No return.

Chapter Text

“We’re almost at Corona!” Horace says.

They enter the city. It was completely silent and nobody was there.

”Is it always this quiet?” Hector asked.

“No, not usually.” Horace says.

”Hello?” Earring calls. He gets no reply.

”Let me try.” The Gremlin says. “Hello!”

A echo repeats it.

”There is someone!” He says.

”Shorty, that’s just an echo.” Earring says.
“You’re just an echo.” The Gremlin replies. Earring ignores him. “Hello? People?” Earring calls.

“People!” Horace says
“Is anybody here?” Sundrop asks

A man tumbles out of an alley way, spilling a bucket of green crystals. Hector draws his sword but the others seem to know this man so he puts his sword away.

“Oh! Oh dear, oh dear! Woe is me, I'll never meet my quota.” The man says going to gather the crystals. Hector picks up one of the crystals. The man looks up at the towering warrior. The man shrieked in fear.

“Feldspar!” Sundrop calls out.

“Princess!” The man, Feldspar says with relief. “Oh, thank goodness you're back!”

“Where is everyone?” Sundrop asks.

“Oh, it's awful! It's just awful!” The man says. He kinda looks like some crazy artist or something Hector thinks looking at the man.

“Everyone in Corona has been forced to quarry, mining these pesky, green minerals.” The man goes on. Oh! Oh! I gotta get
this in by nightfall!”

”What happened?” Hector asked. The man looked scared.

“I don't believe it. I'm going to the castle to speak with my father.” Sundrop says to the artist looking man.

“Well, I'm not sure
what good that will do.” The man states. “Your father is the one
who gave the order.”

Fucking gods. Dam that’s a plot twist. Hector winces when he thought that. That’s something Silas would have said to that.

“What?” Sundrop asks.

They went into the castle. The castle was very pretty. It reminded Hector of the sun. It was basically the polar opposite of his home. They headed into a throne room. There was a woman who looked like an older Sundrop with brown hair. And a stern looking man sat next to her.

“Mom! Dad!” Sundrop calls running to her parents.

“Oh, you guys!” She hugs them but they look surprised and uncomfortable.
“Oh.”

Hector sensed something was up and his hand went to his black rock dagger.

“I have missed you so much!” Sundrop says.

“Uh, Frederic?” The Queen says confused.

“Dad!” Sundrop says.
“Young lady, please.” The king says. Hector grips his dagger looking around the room for booby traps. Or places were guards or soldiers could be hidden.

“Young lady? Dad, what's going on?” Sundrop says.

“Ooh, this is awkward.” Hector says.

“Yeah.” Earring agrees.

“Definitely.” Horace says.

Sundrop looks confused” That medallion, it's--“

“Saporian.” Says a guy with a man bun with a bunch of people following him, they looked kinda strange. Hector draws his dagger.

“Hey, Raps, nice to see you again.” The man bun dude says.

“I'm gonna be completely honest.” Horace states. “Like I remember you, but I don't remember you-does that make sense?”

“It's me, Andrew.” Man bun dude says. “I nearly single-handedly felled Corona?”

Yeah Definitely evil,

The gremlin started snoring, one of the horses grunts angrily.

Evil man bun dude sighs “I took you for a ride in a hot air balloon?”

“Oh, less-attractive-than-me guy with the man-bun.” Horace says. “Yes, I remember you now.”

Evil man bun facepalms. “I've taken over Corona. Or as we now refer to it, New Saporia.”

“Long live New Saporia!” Says the people behind evil man bun.

“I'm sorry, but you, man-bun guy, and your flower children took over Corona?” Horace says.

Evil man bun chuckles”Well, this is only gonna take a minute.”

Purple smoke surrounds Earring and Horace.

“Eugene!” Sundrop calls as Horace and Earring are trapped in purple goop.

“What the goop?” Horace asks.

“Ew!” Earring says in disgust.

“Oh, we didn't do this alone.” Evil man bun laughs. “You might recognize my former cell mate.”

A kid who looks around maybe 15 walks in. He has a weird outfit, googles, a blue stripe in his hair and a fake goatee.

“Welcome home, Rapunzel.” The Nerd kid says. “Oh, I see you've already met my new friends.”

“Ah, Varian, my most

trusted adviser.” The king says.

“Varian?” Asks Sundrop in confusion. “Mom! Dad! Uh, don't you remember what he's done?”

Nerd kid laughs. “No, no. They don't.”

“They don't remember?” Asks Sundrop.

One of the people behind Evil man bun, short with light pink hair twirls a wand.

“That's a Saporian Wand of Oblivium! “ sundrop says gasping. “You have erased their memories!”

“Me?” Nerd kid laughs “No, not really. “Actually, as you know, I'm all about the science, but, uh, Clementine here, she added a bit of, uh, texture.”

“Magic.” Says the short witch.

“Yes. today, the King and Queen. Tomorrow, Corona.” Nerd boy says “I'm synthesizing the wand's power into a gas that will erase the memories of everyone in Corona.”

Ooh a evil plan

“ And I named it Quirineon,”

– wait Quirineon- must just be a coincidence.

“-so no one will ever forget they

turned their back on my father.” Said Nerd kid.

Hector raised his eyebrow that statement contradicts itself.

“But once the people are affected by this gas, they will forget that they turned their back on your father.” Horace says. “Yep that logics pretty flawed.”

Hector silently snickers.

“No! Y--“ nerd kid sputters. “So? You know what I mean!”

“I can't let you get away with this.” Sundrop says. “Hey, guys-- let's send these Saporians back where they came from.”

“Fuck Yeah!” Says Hector.

Horace face palms, “We need to work on your cursing.”

Hector chuckles to himself, that’s something Edmund would have said to him “ Nah I’m pretty good at it.”

Horace groans.

“I thought you might try to fight back,”  Evil Man bun says “Saporians!”

They engage in a fight. Smoke hisses and some of the others get trapped in goo.

“They got the alchemy!” Horace shouts. Hector jumps out of the way of the smoke. On of the horses rears and neighs.

The fighting continued as he was fighting Hector only heard snippets of conversation.

“I have to admit, I'm relieved that I have to fight you and not Cassie.” Evil Man bun says as he fights Horace. “Where is my old flame, anyway?”

“Sensitive subject.” Horace says.

“Oh, I've got more tricks up my sleeves.” Says Nerd kid.

“Bring it.” Sundrop says. Nerd kid throws an alchemy bomb at sundrop and her hair get trapped, Pascal steals one of the alchemy bombs.

“Hey, get back here with that!”

“Pascal!”

Hector is fighting one of the Saporians who are not well trained. He has no idea what happens but smoke erupts and he and the others crash out the window.

“Powerful stuff, kid.” Evil Man bun says. “This is gonna be fun. Come on.”

Someone coughs.

“Pascal!” Sundrop calls. “Are you all right, buddy?”

Pascal squeaks

“Is everybody okay?” Sundrop says.

“Give me a minute.” Horace says.

“There's a horse on me.”

The Horse grunts.

Hector sits up he moves his wrist and then winces. “We should go they may look for us.”

“I've got the rope!” The short witch says above.

“And there it is.” Say’s Hector under his breath.

“Ah! Cork fiber?” One of the Saporians say. “Clementine, you know cork cording chafes my hands.”

“Let's get out of here.” Horace says.

“What? We can't just leave! We've gotta stay and fight!” Sundrop says.  Hector understands but knows that it not smart to stay, they have to retreat and fight later.

“How do you think those Saporians would like a face full of frying pan... ness.” Sundrop says.

“Blondie, trust me.” Horace says. “Sometimes it's better to live to fight another day.”

They retreat.

“Guys, come on. They're getting away!” The Saporians yell.

“Quick! Over there!” They hide.

“We cannot allow the princess and her dad to interfere with New Saporia's takeover of Corona.” Says one of the Saporians. He looks at the box they are hiding behind.

“Ooh, do you see something?” The short witch asks.

“Yes.” The Saporian say.  “Look at these shoes of equine oppression.”

The Saporian groans.”Barbaric Coronans!” And they leave.

“Princess.” A voice whispers.

“Xavier!” Sundrop says whispers.

“The Captain of the Guards sent out many search parties to find you.” The man says opening a secret a passage. They follow down the stairs. “He has yet to return. But in the meantime...”

“Princess! You're back!” Says someone. Hector looks around the room he sees a small group of people. A thug with a big nose, another thug with a helmet and oven mitts, a lady, and a guy who was slightly glaring at sundrop.

“It is so, so good to see all of you!” Sundrop says. “Even you, Monty.”

She says to the man glaring at he.

“Hmm?” His glare softened,

“We stay hidden. Everyone in Corona now lives in fear, spending their days mining Varian's minerals.” Says the one they first met.

“What? The people of Corona are so brave. Why wouldn't they stand up?” Asked sundrop.

“We cannot defy the orders from the King and Queen. Any act of aggression against them is treason.” The man says. “But now that you have returned, the game has changed.”

“Hey, Blondie. How you holding up?” Hector heard Horace say to Sundrop. Hector wrapped his wrist in the corner they didn’t notice him, he didn’t care. Sundrop was fixing her frying pan.

“Me? Fine.” She put her frying pan in water to cook it down. The steam hissed.“What do you think? It's not bad, right?” She said holding up her frying pan.

“You've been through a lot since we got back.” Horace said. “Not to mention what happened with Cassandra.”

“Oh, I mean, to tell you the truth, I haven't even thought about that... person.” Sundrop said. Hector doubted that.

“Rapunzel, you can't even say her name.” Horace said. Sundrop began painting on the pan. “There's a difference between setting feelings aside and burying them so deep, they change who you are.”

Hector agreed he knew from experience but he stayed silent.

“What are you saying, Eugene?” Sundrop said.

“What I'm saying is that you're not alone in this.”

“I know.” She says but mutters something under her breath.

“What was that?” Horace asks.

The blacksmith clears his throat. “Am I interrupting?”

“No.” Sundrop replies. “I'm just making a new pan.”

“Princess, we need to discuss our strategy.” He says.

“I'll be there in a second.” She replies. Adding on last stroke to the pan. Horace and the man both left.

“Right after I take back my kingdom.” She says. She goes to leave and sees Pascal. The shortly talks to him then she and Pascal go into a secret passage. Hector follows behind she doesn’t even notice. He’s not going to stop her, he just doesn’t want her to get killed.

Sundrop gets caught by the Saporians, he follows behind, they placed her in a cell, she gripped the bars. Nerd kid stepped up.

“Varian.” She said. “How could you do this?”

“I want you to know, I wish it didn't come to this.” Nerd kid said. “But when someone trusts you and you betray them, well, this is what happens.”

“My kingdom needed me.” She said. “I couldn't do anything about the amber, and I had to stay. I never meant to break my promise to you, Varian. We were friends.”

“That's the beauty of my plan.” Nerd kid chuckled.  “In the end, when your memory has been erased, we can be friends again.”

“But you're only making it worse. None of these people did anything to you.” She said.

“It's not what they did to me. It's what I did to them.” He said turning away. “And there-- there is no way  that they will ever forgive me.”

“How do you know if you don't give them the chance?” Sundrop argued.

“I took their queen prisoner, I threatened their princess, I helped these guys take over their kingdom. You think anyone's gonna give me a second chance?” Nerd kid said. “I don't think so. No, making them forget is the only way to fix what I've done.”

“Yeah, there's been a slight change of plans, buddy.” Evil Man bun. “Now that she's back, we don't have time for you to get your

memory formula right. We are still using the formula you've curated.”

“Quirineon explodes. It will turn Corona to ashes.” Evil Man bun continues. Hector was hiding on the ceiling, he tightened his grip on his dagger.

“But, no. No! We agreed nobody would be harmed!” Nerd kid said alarmed.

“Relax, Varian. You don't want to end up on the wrong side of history.”  Evil man bun said. “You understand, buddy.”

“You're right.” Said Nerd kid gripped one of his alchemy bombs. “So I'm gonna have to ask you to step inside that cell.”

“Are you betraying us, boy?” One of the Saporians said. “I'm getting on the right side of history.”

Hector grinned from where he was hiding.

“Take him out!”the Saporian yelled.

Nerd kid threw down the alchemy bombs and bathe Saporians braced themselves but harmless bubbles just rose up. Hector internally facepalmed.

“Ohhhhh. Nerd kid said. “Sorry guys, that was a—Yeah, that was a bath bomb.”

Nerd kid was pushed into the cell.

“He's made his choice. Let's move. We launch the airship in 20.” Evil man bun said. The Saporians left and as they left Hector snatched the keys.

“All I ever wanted was for my father to be proud.” The kid said slumping against the wall. Rapunzel tugged on the bars.  “Of course, if he were

free from the amber now and saw everything I've done, well, he'd be ashamed.”

“You know... standing up to Andrew

just now was pretty brave.” Sundrop said, “Look... I know how much it hurts, to have someone you trust

let you down. I mean, after you go through something like that, how can you ever trust anyone again?”

Hector thought about his own relationship with Adira, and how he still felt betrayed by her.

“I don't know.” Nerd kid said. “That-- that's why I thought maybe if I can make you forget everything that happened, you know, we could

be friends again. Learn to trust again. But I guess life doesn't really work that way.”

Hector laughs. They turn to him twirling the keys. “This was adorable to watch but enough moping, we got a kingdom to take back let’s go.” He unlocks the door.

Horace and the others came.

“Took you long enough Pretty boy.” Hector stated. Horace was a bit reluctant to work with Nerd kid. The eventually agreed. They found the airship.

“There's enough Quirineon on that shipto destroy Corona ten times over.”

“Holy shit that’s bad.” Hector said.

“Is there anything you can do Varian?” Asked Sundrop.

“If you can get me on that ship, I think I can neutralize it.” Nerd kid said. They saw the king and queen step into a carriage.

“Take them to the outskirts of Corona to watch their kingdom fall. Once it's done, get rid of them.” Evil man bun says. One of tha Sporians drove the Carriage away.

“Eugene, I need you guys to free my parents.” Sundrop says.

“You heard her, boys. Let's go.” Horace says to Earring and the horses.

“We have got to get on that ship.”Sundrop whispers. They sneak in and hear Evil man bun speak.

“With this first barrel, we plant the seeds of a new Saporia.Let's just take a second to make sure that we are truly present in this moment.”

The Saporians close their eyes and take a deep breath. Rapunzel uses her hair to snatch the barrel.

“All right. Any second now. What is going on?”

“Drop something?” Sundrop says.

“You!” Evil man bun shouts.

“Varian, get your alchemy belt and neutralize the Quroneo--“

“Uh, Quirineon, Rapunzel.” Nerd boy says. “Say it with me, "Quirin"--“

They start fighting the Saporians. Hector raises up his hand and a volley of black rocks move towards the  two Saporians knocking them down.

The Saporians were trapped in Nerd kids alchemy bombs. There was only one burner the rest were broken.

“That single burner cannot generate enough heat to keep this ship in the air. If it crashes, it will destroy all of Corona.” Nerd kid said.

“What if we use the Quirineon?” Sundrop asked.

Yes! Yes! Heating the Quirineon will increase the temperature enough for the balloons to rise. We just have to get it high enough so that when it explodes, it doesn't destroy the city. You guys need to get off the ship.” Nerd kid said. “Rapunzel, I've gotta

clean up my own mess.

“No! You do not have a shield of magic hair that will protect you when this thing explodes. It's your mess, but it's my kingdom..”

Sundrop and Hector looked at each other, Hector nodded. “Just focus princess, keep your mind but let your instincts guide you. Hector grabbed the kid and despite the kid’s protests, Hector used the black rocks to get the kid to safety.

“No! Rapunzel!” The kid shouted.

The airship rose higher. They watched something golden and glowing like a miniature falling out of the exploding air ship. Rapunzel was fine

The entered a house and there was a big cluster of amber over black rocks trapping some one. He looked closer, it was Quirin. Quirin his older brother who didn’t always understand him but always tried, who was the one who found him and helped convince King Saros to let him join the brotherhood. He put his hand on the amber. He then went to the corner.

“Once I start this incantation, I won't be able to stop it.” Sundrop said. She had tried loads of times but she still had trouble snapping out of it.

“And it could seriously harm you and your father, so I'm trusting you to snap me out of it once your father is free.”

“You can trust me, Rapunzel.” The kid said.

"Wither and decay”

"End this destiny”

"Break these earthly chains”

“And set the spirit free."

The amber started melting.

“It's working.” The kid said breathlessly.

”Shadows of the night”

“It's really working!” The kid said.

“chase away the light”

“Ha! Dad!

“gift me with the power to fight”

“and set the spirits free”

“Wake up!” The kids said. He went to wake Rapunzel but his gloves burned away.

“Ahh!”

“Rapunzel, snap out of it!”

“Come one focus sundrop, focus.”

“the spirits free”

“Rapunzel. Rapunzel? You didn't give up on me. I'm not giving up on you.” The kid said standing in front of Sundrop. Sundrop gasped and passed out.

“Are you okay?” The kid asked. She sat up.

“Yeah.”

“Dad! Dad!” The kid said hugging Quirin. He laughed.

“You're alive!” The kid said.

“Oh, son.” Quirin said hugging him back.

“Dad, the note.What-- what did it say? I need to know.”

“All it said was, "I'm so proud of you, Varian." I always have been.” Quirin said. Hector smiled, Quiri was a good dad.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too, son.”

Quirin saw Hector.

“Hector is that you?” Quirin said.

Hector rolled his eyes. “No I’m king Edmund. Of course I’m Hector, do you even know anyone else with yellow eyes.”

Quirin laughed and hugged Hector, who hugged him back.

“I missed you brother,” Hector admitted. Quirin studied him and then froze, “Is that the moonstone? Hector are you trying to destroy the moonstone again! Why did you leave the great tree?”

Hector growled. “No I’m not tying to destroy the moonstone again. I was fucking eighteen when that happened, and I left the great tree because Adira brought Sundrop and friends to the great tree and it got destroyed. And the one called Cassandra tried to steal the moonstone and I stole it from her. Oh yeah and “Eugene” is Horace by the way.”

Chapter Text

Sundrops parents memory was bad, they didn’t really remember there daughter or anything, they couldn’t even remember is they liked each other. Sundrop became acting queen. Hector had been staying at the palace. The towns people were wary of him, he was just taking a walk yesterday and he just looked at a person and they cowered in fear. Sundrops powers were progressing, she had learned new abilities and could almost do the decay incantation without passing out, though she would still feel weak afterwards but was getting better at snapping out of it if she focused.

He had had trouble sleeping that night, something was bothering him. He had a nagging feeling that something was going to happen. He stared out the window, Corona was very pretty at night. He heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance, the throne room he guessed, based on the direction the sound came from. He gripped his dagger and headed to the throne room. As he walked through the hallway he saw Earring, Horace, Sundrop, and Nerd kid (who had been staying at the palace trying to reverse the memory stuff on Sundrops parents). He motioned for them to quietly follow. In the throne room were nine humanoid almost chameleon people. They had solid yellow eyes much like his own only a solid color. They all had identical red and white markings on their scaly lime green skin. They wore tan colored outfits in different styles decorated with strings of beads. Nerd kid tripped and the creatures all turned to them. Their eyes glowed as Hector met their gaze. He took a step back as some of his worst memories flashed through his head. Horace stood in front of Sundrop as the creature turned into the Gothel woman. Suddenly they all turned into the Gothel woman but they walked towards sundrop on all fours . They grabbed for her, and her hair. Sundrop looked so afraid of them, she held her hair close. “Stay back!” Said Horace. Another one changed onto Short hair and stood up.
“You can’t protect her forever, Fitzherbert.” Said fake short hair perfectly matching her voice. “What are you?” Sundrop asks warily. One of them let out a weird laugh.

“We are the Vrees Wisselaars, the fear changers, we can change, based off the people you fear the most, or the fears you associate with them.” They looked at Hector, eyes glowing again.
“Ooh you have a lot to work off of, and this one too.” They said turning their attention to Nerd kid. Hector didn’t spend too much time with the kid. He knew the kid liked science and had a pet raccoon, but he wasn’t too close with the kid. The creatures all made a weird clicking sound and turned their attention to Sundrop. We are to retrieve the Sundrop and Moonstone. He felt the black rocks holding the Moonstone in place stretch and almost protectively covered the moonstone only letting out a small glow. A few more creatures climbed through the broken window and turn into more Gothels, slowly approaching the princess, who tried to back away, shakily holding her frying pan in front of her. Four of the fake Gothels seized her, sundrop tried to fight beck but the Gothels had a tight grip. Their eyes glowed yellow once more and one spoke to Sundrop whispering something thing, and she turned pale.
“N-no! I’m not gullible or na-naive. I-“ she said shakily as if relieved a nightmare. Everyone snapped out of their shock. Horace attacked Fake Short hair. “I can protect Rapunzel.” He grunted holding his sword up to stop Fake Short Hair’s attack.

At the same time one turned into a fake Adira fighting Lance,

“I will never like an idiot like you.”
“Now that’s just cold, Adira would never say something, like that.” Lance said. The Fake Adira looked at Lance and turned back into their original form and walked away. Lance sighted and and turned around there was a little girl with red hair and a blue flower in her hair.

“Red!” Lance exclaimed. “When did you get here, where’s Angry?” He asked. He went out to touch Reds shoulder but she flinched away, she had tears in her eyes. “She’s gone, she’s dead.” The little girl’s voice broke. “Sh-I-we n-needed your help and and, you you wer-weren’t the-there.” She broke into sobs. Lance was trapped under a net.

The creature in front of them eyes glowed. Hector tensed, the creature was looking at the kid. He hope the kids fear was something easy to deal with like his raccoon running away or whatever, something easy to deal with. Instead the creature turned into Quirin, walking towards them with amber chunks dusted on his clothing. His eyes a solid blue, he was gripping a shovel.

“Dad!” Varian exclaimed. The Fake Quirin stared coldly at Nerd kid not blinking. He held up an amber chunk.

“You did this! I told you not to experiment with the black rocks.” “I was just trying to help!” The kid said stepping back.

“You’re always just trying to help! You never listen! I was the casualty.”

“But you’re safe now, Dad. Everything will be okay. I-I promise.”
“You’ve broken loads of promises, you could have killed me or hurt the village.” Fake Quirin leaned in front of Varian. “Why won’t you ever listen to me!”
Hector snapped, he had heard that too many times as a kid, ‘do this’, ‘do that’, ‘don’t mess up’, ‘don’t cause trouble’, ‘don’t be seen’, ‘act normal’, ‘listen’. Adults pretending to have his best interest but not actually caring. He knew Quirin. No matter how many years passed, Quiri isn’t like this, this isn’t real. Hector growled gripping his dagger. he pushed the kid back stepped in front of him.
“You’re not really Quirin.” He said. The creature stepped back smiling, their eyes glowing yellow. “This shall be fun.” They said with a twisted smile, neck snapping and twist form shuttering as it made many changes before turning into someone, Hector hadn’t seen since he was sixteen. He backed away unconsciously dropping his dagger. He hadn’t felt this scared since he was seven feeling his father’s rage for the first time, or when he was fourteen and convinced his father was going to kill him, or even when he was sixteen and seeing his father again after two years. He briefly remembered a time when he was really young, blissfully ignorant and naive, happy and content despite not being free, trying to be helpful to people who despised him and saw him as nothing more than property. He remembered his mother looking at him kindly,teaching him spells and how to sew. His father looking at him fondly, telling him stories of before his father was a slave, about his village and his sister Valentina, teaching him how to cook meals from where his father was from, but Hector failed to notice his father’s temper, the occasional looks of hatred, he never knew why his father snapped, but he did and his mother left, and so many things changed, that ignorant boy was forced to grow up and learn how cold the world really is.

“Hello child.” Said the creature looking unmistakably like his father. “What did your stupid boyfriend say your name was again? Hector? He was an idiot to date someone like you, got him killed didn’t you? Just like how you caused your mother to leave.” The fake version of his father growled.

“You’re not real!” He said. The creature only laughed and walked closer, the fake version of his father looked exactly the same as the last time he saw his father. He tried to keep his composure as the creature walked forward. He knew what was going to happen, no matter how strong he things he is, the only thing he’ll never be able to fight is his own mind, which the creature is taking memories from, he knows that he won’t be able to fight his father or even something that is just an illusion of him, because he’s afraid, and his mind will make it worse and deep down no matter how much his father hurt him, he still loves him, he still remembers the person who he stood on a chair next too gently showing him how to fold an empanada, but he also still tempers the person who used to beat him until he couldn’t stand and call him worthless as he was unable to fight back. With tears in his eyes he whispered to Varian,

“Go and don’t look back kid, you’re not going to want to see this.” He felt a blow on his cheek, the creature smiling, one thing he was glad his father never did when beating him, gave him at least hope that deep down his father still cared and didn’t take joy in hurting him. The world felt of everything felt slow, he heard noises but they were slow and hard to make out, his ears were ringing and nothing felt real. His breathing was either too slow or too fast. It was starting to her to breathe. Nothing felt real, he felt trapped in his own mind, he could only process pain and a few words spoken. He was reliving so many bad memories he want to curl up and cry. He felt half asleep half awake. He had felt the moonstone was trying to defend him. He made out a few words ones he heard too much coming from his father. Each word spoken through blows. “Worthless    Demon    Pain    Mutt    Caused    her    To     Go     Yellowed    Eyed    Devil   Engendro     Del    Diablo.” And a lot more unsavory words like the F slur. Nothing felt real right know, he had no idea what was going on. He tried to count, but his brain felt fuzzy, he tried to gain sense of his surroundings but he felt trapped in able to focus, he tried to control his breathing but each breath made his ribs feel on fire, he was trying all the tricks Silas showed him but nothing worked and think of Silas made his heart clench. He heard someone shouting his name. He felt a slash right across his face where his scar was, and his arms which had tried to stop some blows instinctively went to his face he felt a sharp kick on his probably already broken ribs, and everything blacked out. When he woke up again he was in Varian house.

Chapter Text

Fear, all Hector felt was pain and fear. He almost laughed. It’s hilariously really, how no matter how ready you think you are, to face your fears or go through something you know is going to be bad, you’re never ready.
His mind drifted to the last time he saw his dad.
He was sixteen.
Sixteen year old Hector woke up in his room, due to being in the brotherhood Quirin, Adira and him shared a tower. They each had their own bedrooms and bathrooms, but shared a kitchen, which was well stocked with spices and herbs, and a common room with a rug, comfy chairs, shelves of books, portraits, and a big fireplace. Hector’s bed had a lot of pillows, ever since he discovered the comfy pillows the castle had when he was 14 he took a whole bunch. Dira gave him some too. They were nothing like the stiff fancy looking ones in his old Master’s house. Or the hard as rock pillows his dad had, not that he was allowed, but nice and fluffy. He also had tons of books, a closet with a strange mix of dresses and armor, a pillow nest where Nira and Saros slept. Chestnut, Silas’ deer was sleeping in the common area. Silas himself was still asleep, on the floor of course. Hector had had another nightmare, so they had sat and talked until one o’clock. He knew what today was. Zariah liked to have a little parade to get to hangs out with the people, fun for the children, and see if anyone needed help. He chuckled, Zariah as a mother and ruler was always very kind and made sure everyone was okay. He first met her when he was twelve Zariah had busted down the door, in his Master’s house. She had went to investigate after hearing a rumor and saw him being beaten in the central room, she marched over to his master, right as he was about to be struck again and took a lash to the arm. She didn’t even flinch when the whip struck her, her amber eyes had a fury he could never forget. From his barely conscious form he saw her staring over him, glaring at his Master with harsh anger in those almost gold eyes, her reddish brown hair, her golden olive skin, her tall frame, her face stern and unwavering, she had never looked more regal. She then said some very harsh words to his Master for hurting a child, disobeying the law, and owning another person like they were property. She also may or may not kicked him in the private area, like really hard. She still had a scar on her arm, but she wears it with pride. He grabbed a long sleeve black tunic, with slight ruffles, embroidered with a gold color design of marigolds and swirls along the hems. He tied his hair in a bun, a lot of his hair escaped it, though, framing his face. He put on eyeliner as usual, to look fierce. People really didn’t like his wild, unnatural looking, slightly animalistic eyes. He frowned at then blue scar on the bridge of his nose, he hates it, a reminder of the day his mother left. He put on a necklace that had a chunk of amber with a mosquito in it, a gift from Talia, obviously. From the floor Silas was stirring. He groaned and slowly sat up, he rubbed his neck and back.
“Bonjour Sunshine, comment vas-tu aujourd'hui, mon amour.” He said, his voice still slightly tired.
Hector just smiled at him. Silas stood up , walked over and hugged Hector. Hector tried to push him away.
“Te amo, mi Corazón.” Silas whispered in his ear.
“I hate you, it’s too early.” He grumbled. Of course he didn’t really mean it, he loved Silas with all his heart. He loved Silas more than he loved anyone else before, more than his past boyfriends. He looked at Silas’ face, those thick curls, the forest green eyes, big, near puppy dog eyes, his mouth pulled in an amused smile.
Silas was a lot of things, though he made a lot of mistakes, was really impulsive, and arrogant he was never stupid. Hector thought Silas was probably going to regret all his tattoos when he’s older, but Hector also loved them. The roses on his arms and neck, roses were a symbol of his kingdom, showing it would always be a part of him, even though he’s no longer tied to it. Raven wings on his back, ravens birds of magic and intelligence. Along with a million other tattoos.
Hector despite his age and how he grew up, he quickly ascended ranks, he was the general of the dark kingdom army, powerful, respected, feared, and completely head over heels in love, one look at the man who stole his heart, and he had the urge to call him a stupid buttface or just kiss him. He sighed.
“Si, you should change.” He said.
Silas looked at him. “Ay merde! You’re right Hec!”
Silas kissed him on the lips, Hector melted. He knew he had an image to uphold, but fuck he loved his boyfriend.
They went to meet the others. Zariah was in a beautiful green and blue dress; with scarves. She had flowers and beads in her braided hair, but no crown. Zariah’s mom had been a Persian Jew who hide her heritage when she married Zariah’s father who had a kingdom in northern Africa, Zariah’s mom was not royalty but the king of Zariah’s home country still married her mother. Zariah was wearing her Star of David necklace.
Talia was wearing a colorful bandanna with a matching vest over a plain black dress and boots. Her hair was in a low ponytail. Adira was wearing civilian clothes rather than her usual armor same as Quirin. Edmund and King Saros were both wearing slightly less formal clothing than usual. Silas had on a green vest over a tan shirt and navy pants his hair was in its usual bun.
The parade started of nice, there was music, dancing, people in colorful clothes, Zariah was handing out food she had made, there was more food too, children were running and laughing and everything was great.
Hector was sitting by the well chattering with the children painting on the street. He was telling stories. The kids listened intently to his stories.
“Why do you look kind of like a girl. Like you wear makeup.” A kid said bluntly after one of the stories.
He blinked at the kid. “Uh, I just do. Dunno, I’m still a boy, I don’t want to be a girl. I still like dresses and makeup sometimes, but I’m still a boy.”
The kids just nodded and then asked for another story.
Silas then came over and the kids abandoned Hector to grip Silas’ legs and arms to have him pick them up. They giggled as he lifted them in the air, one by one. Silas then went over and kissed Hector on the lips, Hector pushed his boyfriend away.
And then stood up grabbing Silas by the hands to where people were dancing, the kids followed. The kids were doing their own silly little dances while Hector spun Silas.
He caught a glimpse of Adira pouring a bucket of water on Quirin who yelled at her, he chased after her and she ran away laughing .
Talia was feeding Edmund a bit of something, then his eyes widen and he downed a glass of water before reaching for another. Talia giggled into her hand. Zariah was talking to an older lady, who had a scarf on her head. Saros was chatting with some of the guards.
And then Zariah had them go to the bad area. Hector felt a chill run down his spine, he shouldn’t have ignored it.
Zariah was handing out blankets to the less fortunate, she was so kind. Then they passed a house that made Hector stumble a tiny bit. Silas gave him a concerned look,
‘I’m fine.’ He mouthed.
He hoped he was wrong about whose house it was.
Zariah knocked on the door. A man opened it, he had short dark curly hair, brown skin, cold brown eyes, a thin frame, stubble, a cigar in his mouth, a gray tank top and muscular, scarred arms. He glared at Zariah.
“What do you want?” He say speaking, cigar still in his mouth.
He then looked past Zariah, his eyes fixing on Hector.
A look of anger had a flash of surprise, then a flash that Hector might have imagined of happiness , then sadness, grief and then settling on anger.
“¿Por qué estás aquí?” His pápa said.
“Es-estoy aquí con mi familia.” He was shaking, he thought after two years he would be braver, but he’s not.
“Soy tú familia, mutt.” His pápa raised an eyebrow taking the cigar out of his mouth to spit. His pápa took a step closer.“Pareces una chica.”
“Hey leave my boyfriend alone.” Silas said stepping in front of Hector who was frozen in fear. The others had no idea how to act.
“I always knew you were gay. Nunca pudiste actuar normal.”
Hector felt rage boil in his blood. He clenched his fists, he was still to scared of the man who raised him to fight back but he didn’t have too.
“What’d did you say to him?” Talia said her tone dangerous.
“I said he’s a faggot.” His pápa looked unafraid. “Always so weak, he couldn’t get his shit together and fight back like a man. He’s the reason his mother left, he’s a pathetic excuse of a man.”
Zariah had had enough, she stormed forward and yelled in Hebrew, a language her mother taught her.
"התרחק מהבן שלי, אז תעזור לי אם אי פעם תנסה לפגוע בו.״
She punched his pápa in the face. She then went over to him and stood next to him. Her and Silas’ faces were filled with rage. Adira kicked his pápa in the groin for good measure. Edmund, Quirin and Saros all just stood there shocked. Talia went to Hector and just rubbed his back asking if he was okay.
He didn’t know if he was okay, he was shocked, scared and he wasn’t even fully sure how he felt. He felt numb, he just wanted to go back to the castle.
Hector’s pápa retreated in his house.
Saros spoke up. “Let’s go back.”
Silas held Hector tight. “Mi Corazón, are you comfortable going back to the parade or do you want to head back to the castle?”
“Castle.” He rasped.
“Okay guys let’s go. Zariah, are you okay?” Talia said.
Zariah was clutching her hand, she quickly held it to her side. “Hmm? Oh, I’m fine. Hector, sweetie, are you okay?”
“Mo- Zariah, I’m fine, let’s go.” He said his voice had an angry tone, but he wasn’t really angry he just wanted to curl up.
When he got back to the castle the rest of the night he curled up with Silas, Chestnut and his bearcats by the fire in the common area, sipping tea and trying not to think about his dad and how scared he had been.

Chapter Text

Hector groaned as he opened his eyes.
Everything fucking hurts.

He goes to sit up and hisses in pain. After rubbing his eyes he observes the room. He is lying on a cot in the middle of what looks to be the attic of a cottage. In the corner lying against the desk, nerd kid is fast asleep, drooling on the book he must have been reading. Nyx spots Hector, and excitedly bounding towards him, knowing over the chair nerd kid was sitting on in the process.

“Who?! What?! Huh?! Ow!” the kid says as he suddenly wakes and the chair falls backwards.

The kid gets up and rubs his head, he looks surprised to see Hector.

“Oh! You’re up! I should go tell Dad.” The kid runs out of the room, nearly tripping over a wrench.

Hector looked more closely at the desk, the book looked to be a journal, with a picture of Quiri and the kid drawn on it. He also spots what looks to be a squirrel made out of metal and screws.

Interesting.

Images of what had happened right before he was unconscious flooded through his brain. His breath sped up, aggravating his broken ribs, each rapid intake felt like a flaming knife in his chest.

Nope nope nope nope.
He shoves all those memories in the back of his mind. He knew it wasn’t healthy, but it’s what he had to do. Luckily before he could get lost in the thoughts Quirin came in with a bowl of soup in his hands, and his kid followed with medical supplies. Quirin set down the soup on a small table next to the cot. The kid handed the supplies to Quirin.
“Hello brother.” Quirin said; he knelt down and began rebandaging Hector’s injuries.

“Hey Quiri.”

“You know if you wanted to see me again you don’t have to get hurt.” Quirin said.

Hector snorts.

“Was that a joke? I never thought I’d hear the great warrior of the Brotherhood Quirin joke.” He teases.

Quirin smiles back.

“What’s the brotherhood?” Nerd kid says.

“Quiri! You didn’t tell him?! Does he even know about me and Adira? Oh Nerd Kid, you have a lot to learn about your dad.” Hector says.

“Don’t call me that.” The kid grumbles.

Hector began swearing up a storm as Quirins hand pressed against a wound.

“Hector! I know it hurts, but I don’t want you teaching those words to my son.” Quirin scolds.

“I’m not a little kid, dad.” The kid says.

Quirin’s expression softens. “You’re right, you’re not a little kid anymore. I- I am proud of you. I only ever acted strictly because I loved you, and wanted to protect you.”

Hector just sits there not wanting to interrupt the moment between father and son.

“But I only pushed you away.” Quirin continues. “Ever since your mother… uh-I had already lost so much, I was afraid to lose you. I had tried to hide the truth of the black rocks from you, since they had hurt the ones I loved, and I didn’t want you getting hurt; but you did get hurt. Maybe not physically but you were left alone, and- if only I had tried to work with you and not shield you from the truth. You reminded me so much of your mother, I had always loved your inventions, even the one that failed. I should have been supportive. And I should have told me about my past, about your heritage, it’s something you should have had the right to know about. Varbear, I’m sorry, I-”

Varian interrupts him with a hug. Quirin starts sobbing and hugs back.
“Dad, it’s, it’s okay you're here now.” He said, then let’s out a small laugh “You haven’t called me Varbear for a while.”
“Uh, while this is a really cute moment, and I hate to interrupt, but Quiri can you finish wrapping my wounds?” Hector says.

Quirin chuckles and wipes his eyes. He continues bandaging the wounds while he and Hector tell Vairian about the Dark Kingdom, the brotherhood, and each other. Laughter and chatter fill the house as the family bond.

Adira looked upon the house, sadness flickered in her, she longed to join, but she still had work to do. Though she wouldn’t mind taking some leftovers of a past meal Quirin had cooked.

What! Quirin is a good cook.

Hector was kinda enjoying his time in his brother’s house. He got to enjoy Quiri’s cooking again, catch up for lost time, and get to know his nephew. The teen was funny and smart, and Hector enjoyed talking with him. He knew Varian had done some wrong things and he could see the guilt in his eyes, guilt familiar to him. Guilt he held for so long, and there are pieces of the guilt that he still holds onto, that keeps him awake at night. Hector saw how whenever Sundrop came by how the guilt in his nephew doubled. Sundrop was patient with him, trying to make sure Varian was okay; She also carried guilt in her eyes, over Cassandra and over Varian. Hector saw how the guilt was eating the teen up. He decided he needed to do something. He walked down the stairs to the kids lab, the place where Sundrop melted the amber surrounding Quiri. Varian was deep in concentration mixing together colorful liquids. As soon as he put the hot pink liquid in the yellow liquid, it bubbled and sizzeld, then blew up. Luckily Varian was wearing goggles and didn’t appear hurt, just frustrated. Hector began to walk forward then faltered as Varian tugged off his glasses and threw them to the ground, he picked up his journal and tossed it, it slide right near where Hector was standing, he then threw everything off of this desk, growling in frustration, his raccoon quickly scurried away.

“Useless! I always mess things up! UGH! Why can’t I do anything right?! All I do is hurt others!” Varian said, tears running down his face.

Hector picked up the journal and walked towards the kid . “I think you dropped this.”

Uncle Hector?!” The kid said and then tripped on one of the papers on the floor.
Hector had rushed forward and caught the kid before he could fall.

“Thank you.” Varian said, embarrassed. “How much of that did you see?”

“All of it. It’s okay we all get mad.” Hector said.

 Varians shoulders slumps and he collapses in his chair putting his hand over his face. Hector puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey do you want to talk?” He offers.
“I guess.”

Hector pulls up a chair and sits down. “What's wrong?”

Hector doesn’t really know how to talk to kids, or comfort people at all. He tries to copy how he remembers Zariah comforting others.

“I-” Varian takes a breath. “I had a lot on my mind and when I messed up with my alchemy, I guess I just got stressed out.”

Hector nods.

“I know dad forgives me, but I still feel like I’ve messed up, I did mess up. I don’t know how to fix things.” Varian began getting more comfortable talking to Hector.

“I know how that feels. I almost leveled my entire kingdom due to grief. You’re a good kid and if you use that big noggin of yours, you can fix anything. Glad I met you.” Hector smirked and tapped Varians forehead.

Varian eyes lit up, and he raced over to his desk to begin to sketch ideas.

“Considering what we saw with those shape shifters, Zhan Tiri, The demon the princess and the others mentioned, will continue to send more threats so what if I used the power of alchemy to create weapons to fight against them, arm the guards and use that as a way to make up for my crimes!”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Hector said as he ruffled the kids' hair.